95: JUNIOR GOLF PHENOMS YANA WILSON AND ALI MULHALL

We love us some junior golf. And when two local players from our beloved valley took home some major hardware at Augusta National last week, I just had to reach out and get them on the show.

Yana Wilson and Ali Mulhall are two WILDLY talented golfers who will be making a name for themselves on the professional tour in a few short years. They joined Joe and Matt for a quick interview about their time at Augusta for the Drive, Chip & Putt, what they thought of the place, and to settle rumors about the Pimento and Cheese sandwiches.

It was a pleasure hosting them for this little interview; we loved hearing their stories and how they have grown up with the game. Also, a big thanks to Jim Wilson, Yana’s father, for helping us make this happen!

We’re certainly looking forward to seeing more from them. Hopefully, that can include a few MAJOR titles like the US AM, The US Open, and the Augusta National Women’s Amateur.

Be sure to give them a follow on their socials;

Yana – @yana54lv
Ali – @gatormulhall

Audio Version

Episode Chapters

00:00 – Intro & Masters Weekend Reflections
01:33 – Yana & Allie’s Drive, Chip, and Putt Wins
03:14 – Putting on the Greens at Augusta National
04:56 – When They Started Playing Golf & Practice Routines
07:55 – Favorite Golf Courses in Vegas and Beyond
10:16 – Packed Summer Schedules & Upcoming Tournaments
14:42 – Favorite PGA and LPGA Golfers
19:16 – What’s in the Bag? Club & Equipment Breakdown
23:44 – Advice for Young Golfers & Competition
26:58 – Sneaking to the Pro Shop & Meeting Bryson DeChambeau
29:17 – Augusta National Women’s Amateur Ambitions

Full Epsiode Transcript

Welcome back to the Chasing Daylight, everybody. We’ve got a special interview series for you this afternoon or this morning, whenever you are tuning in. This past weekend was the Masters. Well, the Masters just happened. Yeah, the Masters just happened. It’s kind of, I mean, I know it’s you know not everybody knows about that, but um us golf nerds really do kind of freak out about it. Um but before this weekend, there was something else that happened in Augusta, and that was the drive chip putt finals. And we are thrilled to have on the show Jana and Allie, both from Henderson here in Nevada, are joining us. How are you ladies doing today?

We’re doing good.

So congratulations to the both of you.

Great thank you.

And Yana, this is you repeated, right?

Yeah, yeah, I repeated.

So um Allie, this was your first time going?

Uh no, it was my second time.

Your second? Oh, you went last year as well?

Yeah. Or 2018.

2018. Yeah, well, yeah. Um, so how did you how did you what age division was that that you were in?

I’ve uh 1213.

1213. And how did you do?

Um, I took seven for first year and then one this year.

Nice way to come back. Yeah. Very good. And then Yana, you won both times. I mean hello, hey stud. How you doing?

Uh it took so many tries to get there. It’s not even funny.

But well, I uh funny story. My daughter competed against you in a drive chip hut when it was held at Aliante, the qualifier.

I remember that day.

Yeah. Um and I was like, wow, my daughter won’t be playing golf. Because even then, I was like, wow, you you have some skills. So thank you. Um, let’s get into Augusta. I mean, um, I’ve never been there. I mean, I’ve been waiting for almost 48 years to get there. Joe’s been waiting 35. Um you guys are in your teens and you’ve been there twice. So tell us from your perspective as young women in the game, what was it like being at Augusta for you?

Go first, you can go first. Okay. Um, it was magical just to be on the ground to see where they’re where the pros get to play, and now you’re there and you’re putting on the same greens they do. It’s amazing feeling. Yeah, it was just such a historical place, and like just to know that you get to putt on the same greens as they get a play on, it’s just amazing. And it was a great opportunity.

So how fast are the greens?

They’re faster than most, that’s for sure.

Nothing like we have here in town, right?

No, nothing. Nothing, nothing. Nothing.

Not even close, nothing. That’s sad.

I don’t think so, no. They were like almost they were they felt like artificial grains, but like they’re real. It was like it was crazy.

I don’t know how to describe it, but did it take you a while to get used to them? Or did you have uh how much practice did you get on them?

Yeah, I got like five minutes for mine.

Oh wow.

Yeah. Um well I didn’t adjust very well because I hit my first putt like four feet short, but I think Allie did pretty good.

Um so it’s awesome that you guys have won that. Uh we’re super proud. We’re honored to have, you know, you just amazing talents in the valley. Um, let’s dig into a little bit of the history. I mean, you guys are so young, so your history is is kind of short in the the grand schemes of things. But so um Allie, we’ll start with you. How long have you been playing and and what well say what age were you when you started?

I’ve been playing for about 11 years. I started when I was about three.

Three? Wow. Oh my gosh. And Yana, what about you?

Um I’ve been playing for about seven years, and um, I started when I was seven.

Wow. Hey, Dio, I know he’s only two years away from starting.

Yeah, I’ve been putting wedges in my son’s hand. He’s he’s a year old, and you know, just just trying to get trying to get him there.

Um so how how often are you guys playing a week?

Um, well, you go first. I play about two or three times a week and then I practice every day.

Do you do you have a course you practice or you practice at home or do you have a uh fitting place that you go to?

I practice at Reflection Day and like Okay.

Is that at the the training facility out there at Reflection? Yeah. At the old falls course? Oh nice.

Yeah, that’s a great spot out there.

I haven’t gone out there. What what do you like about that versus legacy or some of the other places?

What what’s it’s like a golf course, more like everything like a ring course.

Right.

Nice.

It feels like you can get a bunch of shots out there. And they also have don’t they have like short holes that are like kind of tucked away in the back or no?

Uh yeah.

And Yana, where’s what’s your uh what’s your weekly routine like?

Um kind of the same as Allie’s. Um I practice two or three times a week and then practice every day, work out every day, and you know, do school every day. So that’s about it.

It’s a life. What a life. So when did you when did you fall in love with the game to where you want to compete, or is it just it’s just you’re so good at it, you just love it that way, or is there is there something that has attracted you to the sport?

I feel like I really fell in love with it when I was nine years old because that’s when I um really found my game. That’s wherever it kind of really started, like getting all competitive and actually traveling to tournaments and stuff. So I think just meeting new people and traveling to new places is what really makes me like love the game, but also that just the game itself, trying to beat the course every time just really makes me fall in love with the game every single time I play. And my dad’s a PJ professional, so he’s it’s also gonna be hard on it.

Oh, that’s a nice perk to have. Yeah.

Yeah.

So um, what is what would you guys call your home course?

Um mine would be Reflection Bay. And mine’s a legacy.

Legacy? Nice. I like Legacy.

But I will practice out at Reflection Bay sometime.

Yeah.

What is we’ll do some QA stuff here. Uh what is the your favorite course? We’ll we’ll do the Vegas one since we’re based in Vegas. What’s your favorite course that you guys have played in Vegas?

I have like three. Um my top favorite is TPC Las Vegas. And then I really like Boulder Creek and Reflection Bay.

Did you play Reflection Bay when it was the old routing? Or do you like it better with the new routing? Because they they flipped the nines. I don’t think we’re I don’t no, I don’t think we they a couple years ago they flipped it, and I liked finishing on 17.

Oh, the nine. Oh, I do remember the nines. Yeah, yeah. I like playing where the part oh wait, no. They both parts on number eight. Or 17 or 8, I don’t know.

Yeah, the the hole that where the green jets out into the lake, the the one that’s always on everybody pictures.

Yeah.

That’s that was 17, and I liked it much better then.

I think the I like it the other way around.

Same, yeah, that’s what I think too. Yeah. I mean, either or you can’t beat it. It’s a good spot.

Okay, so since you guys both travel and play all over the place, what is your top courses you’ve ever played?

Um mine is Pine Hearse number two.

Pinehurst number two. Wow. That’s a nice one.

Good one.

Yeah. Yana.

Um, mine is Willowrun Golf Club. That’s in South Dakota. It’s just such a beautiful golf course, and I love it out there.

South Dakota, wow. So what now that’s I mean, that’s not like a bold statement. What what’s some of the other notable noticeable course notable courses that you’ve played that you you know so to everybody? I know because I know you’ve played some big courses, some popular ones.

Um I like TP. Oh, what was it? TPC Metal Beach. That’s a really nice one. South.

Yeah, I’m looking at the looking it up the course right now. Anytime we hear courses that we don’t know about, that we we gotta check it out.

Yeah.

So what what is the rest coming up for summer? Um, you you know, you got this nice, great big accolade with the drive chip putt, but I know you’re both competitive golfers, and drive chip putt is I mean it’s cool, but it’s not, you know, competitive golf. It’s it’s skills challenge. What’s your guys’ schedule coming up? And what’s your summer gonna look like?

Um, I have a couple tournaments in the next two weeks, two or three weeks. I have the border wars against Utah, and uh the US Open qualifier, and then my summer is packed. We travel all across Miami, Utah, and Nevada playing a tournament.

That’s crazy. You’re doing the same thing pretty much, Yana?

Um, yeah, I have the actually the USGA four ball coming up with one of my uh with my partner, Rihanna Mission. Uh she’s local here, and we’re leaving, I think, next week to play. But other than that, my summer is very, very busy. A lot of uh USGA qualifiers, um AJGA tournaments all over. Um, and then Rolex at the end of the year.

Yeah, um, where’s the four-ball at?

Um, that will be at Merado. I think is it country club or golf club? That’s in Dallas, Texas.

Man, you’ve already you’ve played probably way more courses than I.

How many how many courses do you think you you’ve played?

I don’t I don’t know.

That shows you the different level that we’re on. I keep track of all the courses I’ve played and the states I’ve played.

Do you collect anything from the courses you play or pencils, anything?

Pencils, yeah. Um normally I collect pencils from like the tournaments I win or like do really good at. No, I don’t really connect pencils. I don’t really either.

Yeah, I collect golf balls. It’s a whole different world.

If I only collected pencil pencils from places I’ve won, I wouldn’t have any. So um you talked about US AM qualifying. Are you guys is that one of your goals is to get into the amateur?

Yeah, but there’s also a lot of other US GA terms that we love to get into.

Now I I was doing a little research earlier and and Yana, I saw that you’re ranked number 15 on the A, what is it, the AJ G A?

Is it 15 now? Okay, yeah. Yeah, I am.

Is that is that an improvement or have you dropped or you uh yeah, I dropped.

I thought I didn’t do too well in three tournaments because I use I was number six before, but I dropped a little bit.

But so what what is because I know like the world golf rankings for the professionals, they have you know all the professional tours, they get points for it. How are how do you rank because I I looked for you, Allie, and I didn’t see you on the AJGA.

Are you Yeah, I don’t really play a lot of AGGs. I’m also playing on like uh state championship.

So how do you know where you guys stand as far as like a w a world junior ranking?

Is there an official world junior ranking or um I JGS uh junior golf scoreboard, that’s I I feel like that’s pretty official sometimes, but sometimes I feel like it’s kind of rigged. That’s the main one, but I I feel like AJG is a really good one because it’s true. Like um the courses that you play like they’ll have a course rating and it’s really true rather than like course rating that they put at.

So what are the yardages that you guys are playing at? Just to let everybody know.

Over 6,000, yeah. It it ranges from 61 to 64.

Yeah.

Wow.

And do you keep an official handicap?

I honestly don’t know mine as of right now. Mine’s mine’s probably somewhere around there, too.

Oh my god. That is awesome. Oh my goodness. Uh I got a list here to think it was going through. Okay, um, LPGA or PGA, doesn’t matter. Who’s your favorite golfer? Allie, we’ll start with you.

Um I like Leslie, Costman, and I guess. And then I have two favorite LPGA players, Minji Lee, Patty Telvetonic, and and then Justin Thomas for PGA.

Patty just got a big win last week.

Oh yeah, she’s she’s actually one of my friends. I know her. Oh, really? Oh, that’s awesome! Yeah, yeah. I played a few rounds of golf with her whenever she was back at UCLA.

Wow. Very cool. Yeah. Did you did you beat her? No.

I was 11 at the time. I I could barely hit the ball.

Oh, I’ve seen you at 11. You can hit the ball. Don’t don’t. Uh so um, are you guys both gonna play for your high school team?

Yeah, we both play for the same high school team as of right now, but I don’t know what’s gonna happen in these next two years because our schedules are both super big packed.

So at what what high school is it? Is it Green Valley? No, Coronado. Coronado. Oh, yeah, nice. Right up here, that’s right down the street. Yeah. Yeah. My daughter just started at Liberty. So Coronado is actually closer to my house, but she’s zoned for Liberty. So interesting. It’s weird.

Yeah.

Um, so uh I’m sure the Coronado coach is probably thrilled that you guys are.

I’m pretty sure we made coaching out, yeah.

Um, so is I mean, is like state like locked up? Is that a done deal? You are you guys that confident, or is there a bunch is there I know there’s a lot of good talented junior golfers in this town.

We have a good team.

Yeah, we have a really solid team this year. It’s pretty much stacked with a ton of talent, but I don’t think we have do we have state this year? I don’t I don’t think so. Yeah, but I know that the boys have a season, but we don’t.

So wait, wait, wait. The boys had a season, but you didn’t?

Well, because of COVID. Yeah, they’re having a season.

Wow.

Oh, that’s the boys’ team or something.

Yes.

Now, could would they let you play on the boys? I’m sure there’s a couple of the boys that you guys can beat, right?

Oh, yeah.

Shh. Don’t worry, we won’t tell. No, we’re gonna tell everybody. Oh, that’s awesome. Uh, so what is let’s start, uh Yana will start with you this time. What is your short-term goals?

Uh my short-term goal would be to um win the USGA four ball and um qualify for the for the US Open.

Nice. And you can do that, right? There’s no age restriction, right? As long as you go through the process, you can do it.

Yeah, or qualify for like all the USGA tournaments or most of them. There’s a lot of them that I’m trying to qualify for thought.

And is Ali that pretty much your same goals as well?

Uh yeah.

Nice. And what’s what’s the long-term goals? What do you guys what’s your I’m sure LPGA? Um, do you have college ambitions? Do you what what’s uh what are you looking to do?

Um I I would really like it would really be an honor to play on one sometime in the future and also make it to the LPGA and be number one in the world.

Nice, good goals.

Yeah, you take the birds right out of my mind.

Are you do you have a university in mind? Are you looking at that route, or do you want to go just get out on tour as fast as you can?

I’d like to go on tour as soon as possible, fresh out of high school, but if if um there’s like an unexpected kind of deal, or if I have to go to college, I I would like to go to USC UCLA at Stanford.

No Lady Rebels. Hurts right here. What about you, Allie? Do you have a college in mind?

Um I’d like to do it at LPJ, right?

Nice. Nothing wrong with that. Yeah. Alright, so let’s start with uh what’s in the bag. And we’ll go we’ll go with Allie first. What uh start with your top of your bag, your driver, fairway woods, do your irons and your wedges, and then wrap it up with your putter.

Alright, um, I have a tailor made, M3 driver, and then um uh tailor made, and five, three, and five wood, and then seven ninety iron for the gap wedge, and then uh building like nice.

Good setup. Yana, what you got?

Yeah, me I have a tailor made through driver, and then callaway wood, three wood to eleven wood, and then I have um calloway iron six through nine iron and then pigeon wedge. I don’t know if that counts as an iron, but then um title of wedges 58 and 54, and then I have an even roll putter.

Ooh, even roll. Even roll. Okay, golf ball. What uh what golf ball are you playing?

Uh titles. And then I play a title of AVX. Avia, oh yeah, see? I’ve heard.

Yeah, Matt was playing those for a while.

I I I am a golf ball weirdo. I I go through golf balls like crazy.

Okay, I do too.

Okay, so Yana, with a last name Wilson, I’ve seen you do some promotions for Wilson. Is a stacked bag of Wilsons in your future.

Yeah, yeah. Oh hopefully we we should I think I think we have to ask them to send me some clubs pretty soon because I gotta go try them out.

But yeah, hopefully, I have a a new set of the CBs coming. I just they’re just not available yet. They’ve sold out of them so fast, and I’m I’m not high enough up on the important list to get them sooner.

They look so nice, though. They look really nice.

Oh, they feel so Yeah, they feel really good. Really good. I haven’t tried them out yet, but so are are either of you like golf nerd techie stuff? Like you when you see a golf bag, you’re looking at it to see what shafts or what heads or any of that stuff, or are you just just casual golf?

No, I I don’t really um no. No, yeah.

Are either of you like track man simulator people?

Yeah. Yeah. Um I have a track man and I absolutely love it. Um I use it pretty much every single day just to know my carry distance and my numbers and everything. Plus, there’s this really cool thing on there. It’s like a wedge combine. Combine that is so much fun to do. I love it.

Um, do you feel that it’s helped you?

Yeah, after it’s helped me. I think I won like maybe six tournaments, including qualifying for the four-ball. Um, it’s got it’s really helped me and improved my game.

Yeah, I mean, nowadays you have to have a a simulator or something, um, you know, to be able to compete. I mean, you gotta know. How about uh watching golf? Do you guys s watch golf every Sunday or do you guys follow the tours a ton?

Well, not a ton, but I like watching it when I have freakings. Oh, that’s like the only thing that plays on my TV. And I watch it all the time. It’s it’s really fun to watch.

Yeah, it’s like the only channel on my television. Oh, it’s it’s yeah, pretty much non non-stop for me. My wife absolutely hates it, but I love it. So who were you rooting for when the Masters came down? Who who was uh who were you pulling for?

I wanted Jordan to win. And I was pulling for like three, but my top pick was Tony, but I also wanted Justin or Bryson to win.

I was pulling hardcore for Xander. Xander’s my favorite, and that was uh that was a tough, tough uh second nine there.

He’s gonna have some scar tissue for a while.

He’s he is a baller, he’ll he’ll turn it around. He’s gonna win one.

What is some advice that you would give to not only young women like yourself that are playing the game, but to parents who have young kids that want to get in the game?

Um, kind of whatever she just said. So But yeah, just keep practicing, keep your head down, and just keep grinding, you know. Uh trust the process, right?

My uh daughter, she liked playing um when she was young. Uh I take her out to the course a lot, and she did the drive chip hut a couple years, made it to Arizona one time. Um but I started her at U.S. kids golf, and she absolutely hated the competition side of it. Just didn’t like it. She wanted to go out and play and have fun, but she hated the competing side. So for you guys, the competing side of it is like enthralling. You want it. Did is that something you’ve had forever, or did it grow?

I think I’ve always had it. I’m very competitive in everything I do. Yeah, same with me. I started, um Ali was already playing whenever I started, and she was like one of like she really motivated me to just to just practice hard every single day because she kept beating me and beating me over and over again. So I I wanted to win, I thought.

So when you guys when you play together, do you is it often that you guys play together, or is it like pretty much your practice partners?

Uh pretty often, yeah.

Okay, so is there like a tally going of who’s skin? Skins match or anything?

No, I feel like we’re pretty relaxed around each other. We don’t really try to compete that much. We still want to win, but we’re still friends and basically.

Uh see. Yeah. I wanna I want to beat him so bad every time we play.

That’s like me and my dad. My my dad and I are just okay.

So, Jan, have you beaten your dad?

Oh yeah.

Oh yeah. Sorry, Jim. Sorry, Jim.

I beat him when I was 11, but he doesn’t want to admit it. I was after school at Desert Willow. Which he was like, that’s not even a real course. But he didn’t want to admit it.

Have you done it on a real course?

Yes, I have.

And Allie, have you beaten your dad?

Yeah.

That is so awesome. That is so awesome. That’s awesome. You got anything else you want to add?

Um did you guys hang around at the Masters that weekend? You guys left, right?

We stayed for the practice round, the Monday practice round.

Yeah.

We didn’t run into each other, though. We were all over the place. Oh yeah. I was on like hole 14, 13, and 12, and then we went shopping.

So what what was the most like crazy thing when you guys were there that seemed unexpected?

Yeah, so um, we tried to sneak in the pro shop actually. Um, because my friend from the my friend that qualified or that went to Augusta last year, um, she was she was she actually like was able to get in the pro shop somehow. So I was like, how did she do that? So we tried going to the pro shop. We snuck around all the security guards and everybody, and then we saw Bryson coming out, and we were like, oh my god, Bryson. So I was like, hey Bryson, and then he was like, Hey, and he was like, What are you guys doing here? And we were just hanging around. I was like, Yeah, we’re just hanging out. Um, trying to get in the pro shop though, because I went I was kinda lauding him. I said, I went last year, um, and I bought some really cool stuff. I was trying to get in this year, but I I’m not sure if it that’s gonna happen. He actually checked for us. Let me go check on that for you guys.

Oh wow.

Yeah, that was crazy. Nice.

I love hearing stories like that. Yeah. So uh one of the things that I hear from everybody that’s been to it is you don’t realize how hilly the course is.

I mean, I hung around the concessions and just like three holes, but I think walking because there was like a shortcut, and I had to walk up eighteen. And eighteen is such a hilly hole. It’s it’s straight uphill. It’s I don’t even know how the pros hit it that I mean the pros, but how did they hit it that far up the hill? It’s like insane.

Wow, you don’t really see that on the I wouldn’t think that.

You hung you hung out at the greens, too.

At the concession than they look way more they’re a lot hillier.

So you hung out at the concessions, is that because the sandwiches are so good?

Yeah, they also have these really good moon pies too. They’re giant. I don’t have it this year, but I’m gonna do it.

Is that the peach is that the the peach ice cream sandwich? Is that one too?

Those are really good.

So is is pimento and cheese legit? Is it worth all the hype that it gets?

Yeah, it’s I think it it’s worth more than what it gets. But the egg sauce sandwich is really good, and there are no palmers to spot on.

So what do you know what you have to do to get into the um the Augusta women’s amateur? Do you know is there what has to happen in your golf life in order to get in there to play in that?

Yeah, so you have to I think it’s top, I think 75 or 100 if you’re in the nation, but you have there you have to play wagger rings events. Yeah, USGA and also what was it? I think tournaments that are just Wagger Rank, which is women’s amateur golf ranking. That’s uh that’s the one that they like kind of account for Yeah, because all the college girls and all the amateurs are playing in that.

Yeah, so is that something you guys are gonna is that one of your goals is to get there to play that?

Yeah, that’s what we that’s what I’m gonna say. Yeah, interviewing.

So we we talked about this a little bit on last week’s show when our friend Trey was over, and he was wondering if the Augusta’s the Augusta Women’s Amateur is going to overtake the US amateur as a tournament that players want to win more. Do you think that’s gonna happen, or do you still think the US Am holds the big title?

I think it might happen just because it’s got Augusta and the LPG. And I think it holds more history. Yeah. Even though it it’s even been it’s only been played for like two years, but I feel like over time it will hold like I think it’ll be involved. Yeah. Because nobody gets to play there except like the PGA tour. Not even all the guys, not even every guy on the PGA tour, yeah.

Yeah, and I mean you have to be invited. Well, um, I want to give a shout-out to your guys’ Instagram accounts. Yana, it’s Y-A-N-A 54 L V. What’s the 54 for?

Um, that’s 18 under, so you know, Vision 54. Um, that’s kind of just the goal.

Nice. Like Chase 54. Nice. And then uh Allie’s is Gator Molehall, G G-A-T-A-R-O-O-R, M. Let me try that again. It’s Gator Molehall, G-A-T-O-R-M-U-L-H-A-L-L. What’s the gator about?

Uh, my daddy was nicknamed Allie Gator, so that’s what it was called.

I like it. Well, ladies, thank you so much for coming on the show. We really appreciate it. Want to give you a huge congratulations. Um, we’re definitely going to be following you uh your careers as you you go off and win more titles and hopefully uh get into the U.S. Open and win some amateurs and keep tearing it up.

Thank you so much.

So good luck and uh stay in touch.

Thank you. Bye.

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