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Tyler:
0:31
Welcome back to the whiskey and wisdom podcast to everybody. This is your host Tyler y'all. Unfortunately, Chris Kellum was not able to join us today in this beautiful venue of river landing. However, I was able to bring on. Larry George. Larry George. He
Larry:
0:48
is the golf pro. Yeah. Well, director of golf and hospitality. Perfect.
Tyler:
0:53
I like that title better.
Larry:
0:55
Yeah, I like it a lot better too. Sounds
Tyler:
0:58
good. Look, before we get into that, we did commandeer some whiskey over here. We are going to drink on some Royal. Very good. It's always a classic. You can't go wrong. Along with our whiskey here. Since it's classic, we're taking it neat. So we're going to start back at the very beginning, taking it classic. Tell us a little bit about yourself.
Larry:
1:18
Hmm. I am at the ripe old age of 60 right now. Realize the older I am, the dumber I was earlier in life, but I grew up in the Wilmington area. Went to Breckenridge, Colorado after college, and that's where I found my wife of 32 years. I hope that's the correct math. But we came back after two years out there and started working in the golf business at Landfall and knew right off the bat that the golf industry was for me and it really become my life as far as work and Friendships and relationships and families, which the membership at any club you're at is really becomes your family if you care about them. And so that has I've been here for 20 years and hope I'm here for the rest of my working career. That's great.
Tyler:
2:13
So you're one of the very few original Wilmingtonians, it sounds
Larry:
2:16
like then. Yeah. I was born in Savannah, Georgia, but I came here whenever I was five. So that's pretty much a Wilmingtonian. Yeah. Got two brothers. We all still live in this area. Very close, close family.
Tyler:
2:29
Oh, that's awesome. So what brought you out to Breckenridge from Wilmington? Because that's complete opposite, you went from the coast to the mountains.
Larry:
2:35
Yes. I love skiing. And what Lauren said to us before how she missed school, I did not. I needed to get far away from it. So I wanted to just go skiing, get really, really good. I was already good, but I wanted to get better. And Worked for ski school out there at Breckenridge. That's where I found Patty. Knew that I wanted to, I love skiing. Lived out there for two years, probably would have stayed out there forever. But decided to come back here and I will say start a career. So that's what we did.
Tyler:
3:05
So how hard was it to get Patty to come to the coast
Larry:
3:08
from the mountains? You know, it was not, it was not hard. At all. I think at the time she was in love and so she was willing to follow me all the way back here. Long way to go. The first year she was here, she lived in the ocean cause you know, we have humidity here and they do not have humidity out there. She's from Montana. So you
Tyler:
3:30
said you started over at landfall, right? Yeah. Yeah. And so when you started in that capacity, were you Kind of going all in there and knew that this is what you wanted to do right away, or did it take a little bit of kind of getting your feet?
Larry:
3:43
I knew what I wanted to do before I went back there. I had worked grounds maintenance there before during college, and then I ended up going to Breckenridge. And whenever we were coming back, we said, you know, one of us needs to work in the golf business. The other one needs to work in the airline business. We're young. And we thought it actually, prayers were answered. I, I think I applied at like 13 or 14 different golf courses and none of them were hiring because I was so green and new. And I went to a friend of mine that I had worked for that was the director of golf and president at land for the time. And I said, listen, I just want a job. I work for free. And Drew Pearson was very good to me. It was not. I was already probably 26 years old, so it was not hard. I was mature. I had good work ethic, so it was not hard to I'll say shine above the other talent that was there. Yeah. They, they were just young, they were still having a good time and I was past that time. Very good.
Tyler:
4:44
That's probably more important to them than the, the experience on the
Larry:
4:48
grounds. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. They wanted somebody that was honest and they would work hard.
Tyler:
4:52
Yeah. So I couldn't even imagine what it'd be like to work rounds crew on a golf course. Cause like, especially out here too, it's just immaculate everywhere. Yeah. So the attention to detail must be like second
Larry:
5:05
to none. Good leadership is what a good superintendent this it's amazing to me because I play the game So whenever I play the game, it's a game. I'm not looking at everything when they play the game They see everything out there if anything's out of order if there's a spot on a green that's the size of a dime They'll know it. It's just amazing good superintendents mean everything. So we're
Tyler:
5:27
recording this now. It's in November So I know it's not Probably as green as it possibly could be in the most prime conditions, but it still looks beautiful out there. How are you able to accomplish
Larry:
5:37
that? Obviously we have two good superintendents here Chris Humphrey and Chris Futrell. They have been here longer than I've been here. Okay, so they know the place In and out without without them. I do not believe we would be in the condition that we're without a doubt that credit goes to them. That's awesome. Very good.
Tyler:
5:59
So what brought you from Wilmington out here to River Landing?
Larry:
6:03
You know? Not to confuse you, but whenever I was at Landfall for seven years and Patty and I wanted to go back out west went to a place called Colorado, well in Colorado Springs, a place called
Load full transcript
the Broadmoor. Okay. It's it's a five star, five diamond resort, wonderful 700 room just unbelievable and ended up working there for two years and my father passed away. And at the time I had a, I still had a sister that has cerebral palsy. So it was very important for me to come back to this area and try to help my mother with my two brothers. Race her. You know, she passed away. Maybe. Seven years ago, eight years ago at 47, but she is the reason probably the greatest gift besides life itself for all of us boys. That's really neat. But that's, that's what took us out to the Colorado Springs to the Broadmoor. And then we came back here because We packed it up, said we're coming back here no matter what. While we're driving across the country, a friend of mine called and asked if I wanted a job at Echo Farms. And I said certainly. Didn't have a job, I just knew I was coming back. So I stayed there for five years. And then in 03 is whenever I started here. at River Landing because this, they started in 96 that opened up and I had played it actually before I went to the Broadmoor to work. And you could see at that time, 18 holes, how good the Murphy family wanted to make it. And it was great. Then it continues to be great with 36 holes. It's just tough to beat. Yeah.
Tyler:
7:39
It is a beautiful facility out here. That's for certain. And so I'm not sure how much you know about the history of it, but what made the Murphy family want to build this facility out
Larry:
7:47
here? You know, Wendell Murphy tells a great story that he had a business that was doing good and every time he would hire an executive, the executives would choose to live in Raleigh or Wilmington. And it really came down to their spouse that. Needed something more than living in the country. So. He obviously wanted to build to build 18 holes because that's what everybody did they play golf So he put his brother Pete in charge and I with Pete's vision river landing has Materialized to what it is today. The plan was never 36 holes It was never to have a 55, 000 square foot clubhouse It was to bring something that some of that Business people working for the Murphy family farms at the time, something to be proud of and live in Wallace, North Carolina. Obviously, real estate changing, times changing. They sold a lot more property than they ever thought they would sell in Wallace, North Carolina. And you know, the membership predominantly has come from the north, but there is still Ample southern charm here too. Absolutely. So in 96 it started, but in 99 we went to 27 holes, and 2006 is whenever we went to the last 9 to 36 holes, and I think, I think the Murphy family is very proud to call River Landing home, and I can tell you Clyde Johnson, the course designer for both courses was here less than a month ago, and he is still. Very pleased with everything here because it's done, right? Oh,
Tyler:
9:26
yeah, you can definitely tell for sure So my other question for
you is I've seen and heard that you're quite a good golfer yourself
Larry:
9:34
That's a relative term. It depends if you, you know, like the memberships typically older, when you hang around them, you look younger at 60 the same way with golf. I am I'm a good athlete. I've pretty much picked up everything easily. It's probably because my schooling wasn't as good as it should have been. Like I'm sure Lawrence is, but love golf have played for a long time. I started when I was 13, my. Grandfather took us to the golf course. My brother, Jeff and I, he's two years older, but we had broken out a lot of the windows in the neighborhood not understanding the game at all. Just knowing we could hit this little ball and it go a long way. Love the game. Still like to compete. I compete decently, probably not quite as good as I used to. But again, whenever you understand the golf business, It is a business. I'm a golf professional. I'm not a professional golfer. Like you see on TV. I've been able to qualify in a couple of PGA tour events that have been very special. The senior PGA I played in last year. So I still like to compete. That's
Tyler:
10:44
awesome. Is that kind of what keeps the, the love for golf kind of burning inside you as the competitive
Larry:
10:50
portion of it? You're, you know, you're playing the course itself when you go play now, will you gamble a little bit? Absolutely. Love it. Love to rib. Love to, love to. To win a bet and it cost you more in the bar than what you want. Yeah, that's the fun of it with fellowship and friendship That's what the game brings. But if I'm out there by myself It's still competitive because you're really trying somebody who was smart enough to make par, you know 72 and now you go out there and you try to beat it every time, right?
Tyler:
11:20
Mm hmm. So I assume that you've played all 36 holes here pretty often. Is that yeah.
Larry:
11:26
Yeah, right. Yeah without a doubt. I probably play in the golf business Most people do not play as much golf as I do. I'm, first off, my wife, Patty, loves to play golf. So we can always play when it's light, longer in the day. We'll go out and play nine just about every day. Most golf professionals have families. We don't have any kids. And so, we're out there a lot more than what most golf professionals
Tyler:
11:53
are. That's really neat. So when you're out there playing even just the nine holes, Do you find a new way to hit the ball almost every time you go out there? Or do you pretty much have a feel for what you're gonna do when you stand up to the team? I
Larry:
12:04
think you pretty much got an idea playing the course as much as you do, you know Golf is about Making the lowest number you can make. It's not necessarily about perfect shots. I'm a perfectionist, so you're always trying to make shots. You know, did you shoot 67 a day? Yeah. Was it a good 67? It could be. It could be a bad 67, which everybody would kill for a 67. Right. But you, you want to, to calculate your shot, the yardage. The wind, the shape, and then you, you draw a picture in your mind and then the goal is, can you duplicate that? That's what you're trying to do. That's why when we hit some balls on the range, we were talking about set up a little bit more talking about how to make the ball spin one way or the other, the trajectory, by the way, you set your shoulders, those, those are things that I call it an addiction. It's a good addiction, but you want to go out there and create those shots that are in your mind for
Tyler:
13:27
someone. I guess like myself because a lot of our listeners tend to be like young professionals and a lot of the conversations I have is we know we should be on the golf course because everyone talks about in the business world That that's where the deals are made and fellowship is made and the community is made What is some advice that you would give to someone in their late 20s early 30s that are interested in the game of
Larry:
13:50
golf? the first thing I would tell you is to Not spend your money on new clubs But to spend your money on instruction, whenever we were young, we certainly didn't have we were not members of a country club. We didn't have money for lessons and I related to trying to graduate high school. With no teachers, because that's what happens. I would go to UNCW where you went to school. I'd go out in the open field before any of those fields, wherever they are huge. And I had me a shag bag of balls and I'd hit them and I'd go to the other end and I'd hit them back because I couldn't afford 5 for a basket of balls. But instruction is critical to. Improvement and probably as much satisfaction as anything. Yeah. I think
Tyler:
14:40
it makes a lot of sense too, because I've spent a lot of money at top golf. And as you could tell when I was out there, I never got any better at hitting it. Cause I never had any instruction, right? So I've hit tons of balls, but until getting the instruction, I definitely hit the best balls that I ever have having the instruction by you. So I do appreciate
Larry:
14:58
that. I'm happy to do it. Learning golf is. Fun. Teaching golf is even more fun to watch people get better, which you saw that in 20 swings that you swung.
Tyler:
15:08
Right. Yeah. I was, I was pretty impressed when I first asked the kid, do you mind going to the driving range? I thought you were going to look at me and be like, you think you're going to get a better swing and like the couple minutes that we have, but you enthusiastically. It led me out there and helped me with my swing right away. I mean, it's not perfect by any means, but it sure got a lot
Larry:
15:27
better than it was. You were eager and that's what, if somebody's eager to do it, that's half the battle. And you're, you look like a person that would not give up. You'd continue to do it and hopefully you'll come back and hit
balls in a play sometime.
Tyler:
15:40
Oh, I certainly will. Yeah. It's definitely on the, on the close midterm radar. My next question, just because Chris isn't here and he likes the, Ask someone off the wall questions. Okay. So, if, what is your favorite golf club and why?
Larry:
15:56
Hmm. People ask me this often. I have played probably 75 of the top 100. There are so many different aspects of the game and course layout conditions that relate into that. So I have never and even for Chris, I'm not going to choose one, but I will tell you if something's in the top 10, that's how my friends know if something's really, really good or not. You know, we've been to Ireland and play Royal County down. Oh yeah. Fabulous maybe number one in the world whenever you look at rankings Royal Dornick in Dornick, Scotland, which is where Donald Ross grew up and you can see why he became a course designer and the course designer that he is. Fabulous place. Personally, I like. Golf courses that are traditional and you look at it and if it fools you when you look at it, I like it. I do like hard which is not necessarily for everybody. You want fun, but I find fun and challenge you know, if, if you look in the country. Pine Valley in New Jersey is absolutely phenomenal. I've yet to play Augusta or Cypress. But I've played Oakmont. I go to Sandhills in Nebraska, and everybody would say, Nebraska? In the middle of the Sandhills, which I think is... If I remember right, 20, 000 square miles of sand hills, and they're not hills, they're sand mountains. But there's a course out there called Sandhills Golf Club, and it is just golf. You spend the night there because it is in the middle of nowhere, and you just play 36 a day, and that, that's probably a special place that I've played over the last 15 or 16 years, if you go play five days in a row, 36 holes a day, you eat breakfast, lunch, dinner, have a great time with friends but the course is what makes you keep coming out. So I, you know, I'm not going to pick one, but I'll tell you that it's very close to my heart. Yeah.
Tyler:
18:10
Have you ever played Kiowa in South Carolina?
Larry:
18:12
I played all the courses at Kiowa. The ocean course is probably the one you're thinking about. They've hosted a PGA, and a Ryder Cup, which was in 91, that was unbelievable. People don't understand the pressure. And these guys that play professionally, that do it on a day in, day out. Basis just do fabulous. And then they turn around and under the gun, you know, they hit a ball in the water that they would never hit in the water. Right. Never. But it's just a pressure of competing for your country is what they're doing. Yeah. But yeah, you've been there to Kiawah.
Tyler:
18:45
So, my, my full-time job, other than the podcast, I'm a financial advisor. Okay. And my senior advisor, one of his buddies played in the PGA Mm-Hmm. game that was there a couple years ago. Yeah. Yeah. Awesome. Yeah. My senior advisor got to be his caddy. So he, he really enjoyed going out there and hanging out with all the guys and
Larry:
19:04
was he able to make the cut? Do you remember?
Tyler:
19:06
No. He said that it was not the best game that he's played.
Larry:
19:09
I understand that statement. Well, yeah.
Tyler:
19:12
But yeah, that very similar to what you said too, when the pressure is on and you have the cameras out there and you're just hitting balls that you never would have hit before is exactly the way that he described it out there too. They said that course in particular is more difficult than average courses.
Larry:
19:26
Would you say that's true? Absolutely. And they have made it easier since 91 when the Ryder Cup was there and they, they needed to, because people would go there and they wouldn't want to come back. Why? Why do you want to beat yourself up like that? But it is a, I don't even know what they charge anymore, but it is a wonderful, wonderful golf course to have right here in South Carolina. Yeah.
Tyler:
19:48
And what makes that? Golf course so much more difficult than the average golf course that's
Larry:
19:53
out there for there. It's about landing area There's not as much a landing area there and you know, it's Pina whenever you hit a ball off the fairway Where is it going to be? Is it going to be in water? That's costly. Is it going to be in sand? That's costly Again 91 and I played it before then the wind blows and when the wind blows, which Scotland and Ireland, that's what happens. That's why I love it over there so much. That's what makes it hard to control. You have to see different shots and I'm used to playing here in the States, right?
Tyler:
20:29
I didn't even think about that being in other countries and how the, the wind would
Larry:
20:34
play in the course. Yeah. It's amazing. You know, Texas, if you go out there, everybody can hit a low ball because the wind blows a lot and you learn to do that. The higher your ball is, the more the wind is going to affect it, the more it'll take it offline. That's interesting.
Tyler:
20:48
I never would have thought about that, but it makes a lot of
Larry:
20:51
sense. Mm hmm. Well, there's probably not much win in top golf, but I bet there's a little bit, but not much. Not when you're hitting shots.
Tyler:
20:59
Yeah. Not, not that far out. Yeah. It's not too bad. So I played out in Las Vegas before and that was interesting out there versus South Carolina. Yeah. Huh. You can like tap that thing and it flies.
Larry:
21:10
Huh. Yeah. Lower. I guess density, the ball flies a lot further. Whenever I was in Breckenridge, I played out there and the course is at 9, 600 feet and you know, a shot that you would hit two eighties probably going to go three 20. I mean, it's amazing. The difference, just how light the air is.
Tyler:
21:29
One of our favorite questions to ask is what would
you describe as success? So, whether that's in the game of golf, professionally, or, or personally, or all three. Hmm.
Larry:
21:42
I guess the first thing I'd say is success is enjoying the game. It is a game. It's supposed to be played as a game. And if you're not enjoying it, I would be the first to tell anybody to stop playing it. Right. It, it can, it can. Show your character. And it's easy to get upset. If getting upset made you better, I'd say get upset, but it usually makes you worse. I've not seen many instances on that, but success is enjoying the game because that's what it is. It's just a game from a business standpoint. It is a business for me, and it's really about making the membership happy their guests happy and creating an experience which I've never had a bad day here never had a bad... Review or somebody come in and say, the golf course is bad or this was wrong. And it echo farms where I was for five years. It was a big difference. It was something that you're trying to, to make people happy and you didn't have the same facility that we have here. So jobs pretty easy, making people happy. The game, if they're unhappy, it's probably because they didn't hit the ball as good as they wanted. Not because the course was in bad shape.
Tyler:
22:56
Fair enough. So with what you do around here, with the business part being said, what does your day to day look like?
Larry:
23:04
A lot of running around. Yeah. And when I say that, you know, with the director of hospitality title, we have a hotel here, 70 rooms. We also have some cottages and suites, but we have a mad bull restaurant, right? We own the convenience store across the street on top of the 36 holes in this clubhouse. Okay. Thank you. My job's the biggest part of my job is two things. It's managing managers, making sure they have the tools that they need to do the job that we want them to do. The other is really dealing with the membership and the customer base, making sure they've got great experiences. And if they haven't. Which, nobody's perfect, but hopefully we can try to find a way to make them happy. Yeah.
Tyler:
23:46
Yeah, I didn't realize that you were in charge of the, the hotel and the MADBOR and everything out
Larry:
23:51
front. Oh wow. It's something that happened after Florence five years ago, I guess, five and a half. The GM had left at that time, our director of hospitality. So they asked me to step in. It's, it's a, a unique role here at River Landing that is a little different than Most clubs, but working for the Murphy family. I would say this They do think some things different, but they like a quality Venue if that's a hotel or if that's the Convenience store or the mad boar or this clubhouse. They do everything right and they're willing to challenge Themselves to do it the best way possible. They're not just going to listen to necessary trend that the industry may tell them to do
Tyler:
24:35
Talk about making it
more challenging. Can you tell us a story about how mad boar was made?
Larry:
24:39
You know, Pete Murphy, which is Wendell's brother, that wanted to bring something to this area he actually went overseas, and I can't remember, I'm pretty certain the bar came from Ireland. Have you been in there? I have. Yeah. Yeah. It's awesome. Awesome place. But he had the vision to make it what it is. And, you know, we originally started with the right side being a, a fine dining and we were doing that because of the membership and what they were looking for and the mad boy restaurant. The other side was really there for the day to day meat potato kind of people that I am. And Somewhere down the road you realize that people weren't looking for fine dining, they were looking for casual Fair. They wanted, they wanted to have a good time. They wanted to sit in a pub and, and drink a beer or whiskey and talk and have a good time. And so it sort of has metamorphosed into that situation. But you know, if I remember correct, it would have been in 99 whenever they built the mad boar. Oh wow. Okay. And it still looks fabulous. It's a great restaurant. Yep.
Tyler:
25:47
And I really appreciate the electric chargers that are out front to side, drive a Tesla. So anytime and come back up to Raleigh or to visit my wife's family, this is clearly the spot that we stop at too. So we go, we charge and come on into mad
Larry:
26:00
board. That's perfect. That's sort of what we were hoping and envisioning when we did them.
Tyler:
26:04
Yeah, it was very smart because we've driven by for years prior to me having my car and we'd always say hey We need to go stop there sometime that place looks really cool Mm hmm, and we're always trying to get one place to another pretty quick So we never stopped and I'm like wouldn't hurt to stop and charge right now. So now it's an excuse to go to med boy That's
Larry:
26:23
probably a good Thing for Tesla drivers that you probably take life a little bit slower and enjoy things. And that's, I'm sort of like you used to be. I'm always in a rush to go to the next thing and enjoying life. You got to slow down a little bit, which I have at 60, but just a little
Tyler:
26:38
bit. That's something I learned in my travels. So I used to live in Pennsylvania. So my family was in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. And so I'd go up and visit my family when I was in college and. I would see how short of a stop I could make at each rest stop and try to get up as quick as possible. So where I've come now with having this vehicle, I know I have to stop every four hours or so to charge at the, at the longest. So just kind of taking the time to enjoy the journey more so than the destination at that point. So yeah. And having the mad boar here definitely helps that experience because there's plenty of other places that you can stop the charge that aren't near as nice or fun. Yeah,
Larry:
27:20
if they don't do the mad boar,
a lot of times you'll see them walking over to the convenience store to get whatever they want while they're sitting there. So it works out.
Tyler:
27:28
Yeah, that was the other thing that's nice too, is like if you just want to grab a quick water or something, you just walk right across the street, so it's in the perfect spot there for that. So one of my last questions for you is if you could tell your younger self one thing, what would it be?
Larry:
27:43
Hmm. Wow, that's a good question. I certainly would not have done a lot of things that I've done. as A Christian, I would certainly sit there and have done better. But I guess probably it'd be my faith to put more time and effort into glorifying God's name and spread his word. Really? That's what I would think. I would have loved to have found golf earlier to the, yeah,
Tyler:
28:10
no, I love that one too. That's something that I've kind of been focusing this past year on as well as kind of looking back and where could I have spread the word more or better. That I had in the past. So that's definitely in the forefront of my mind too. So I greatly appreciate you sharing that with us today so now more on the River landing side. What's the best way for people to find you or learn more about? River landing
Larry:
28:33
riverlanding. com would be the first thing but what I would tell anybody You know, we have a lot of residents here I love to challenge people whenever they come in here to go look at other communities. They're all beautiful. I'm not saying that, but I think what we have to offer here is a special, different, unique you know, we had originally planned to go back to Wilmington whenever I didn't work anymore, but I doubt that ever happens. I think we're going to stay here the whole time.
Tyler:
29:07
I don't blame you. It's beautiful out here. One of the other things I wanted to bring up too is A lot of my friends have gotten married out in this area too. Your wedding venues are... So I think that's amazing. I wanted to shout that out for you all. Thank you very much. And
Larry:
29:22
We do a few, more than a few. I was going to say, I'm sure it's more
Tyler:
29:25
than a few. Just the small friend group that I had when I first moved up here, there was quite a few. And what I was telling you all before as well. About 10 years ago when I first moved down here before I got into podcasting and everything, I was a DJ and I had the opportunity to come out here quite a few times and DJ some weddings too. And I was always super excited. The food out here was always amazing that you guys catered and everything. So,
Larry:
29:48
you know, you, you've got anywhere from rustic and river lodge. to host a wedding to upstairs in the ballroom or at the Celtic court. We've done a few weddings out on property. So there's so many options for anybody. I will tell you a funny story. One of my assistants was the first person that I. Realized, got married the second time here. He got married his first time here and probably four years later, got married the second time. That
Tyler:
30:18
pretty funny though. It's good that it's very telling that he's willing to come back twice though.
Larry:
30:21
Very true. I think we gave him a decent discount, but there's, there's so many places to have a wedding here that again, unique. And I can tell you this from a pricing standpoint, if you want to compare us to what other people are. Offering. That's probably why we have so many weddings here. We're pretty successful.
Tyler:
30:40
That's awesome. That's very good to know. We'll make sure you are. You married? I am
Larry:
30:44
married. Okay. Yeah. Second time. Just, just one time.
Tyler:
30:48
Yeah. One, one wife and kids. So how many kids? Two kids. I have a three year old and a one and a half year old boy. Yeah. So they've been running me around. Yep. Both just got over sickness. That's why for anyone listening, I sound more like a duck than I do on here. So I wanted to thank you so much for coming on the podcast today and allowing us to come out and taking a look at this beautiful facility that you have and giving us a small tour and helping me actually drive the ball straight and not miss it near as often. So I greatly appreciate
Larry:
31:21
that. Thank you. You're very welcome, Tyler. Enjoy the day, bud. Thank you. Cheers. Cheers to you.