WEBVTT - Takeaways from the 2024 PGA Championship 0:00:00.040 --> 0:00:02.520 I miss a green, for example, I'm already upset. 0:00:02.640 --> 0:00:04.920 When I find my ball in the bunker, I'm really upset. 0:00:05.000 --> 0:00:06.320 And when I find my ball. 0:00:06.120 --> 0:00:08.960 In a bride egg Friday Egg, the dreaded Frida Egg 0:00:09.039 --> 0:00:11.880 Frida Egg, Frida Egg, Brian Egg Frida Egg, Bride Egg Lie, 0:00:11.920 --> 0:00:35.080 I'm about ready to run off of the humps. Welcome 0:00:35.159 --> 0:00:38.479 to the Friday Egg Golf Podcast. I'm Garrett Morrison, and 0:00:38.560 --> 0:00:42.600 today we're doing takeaways from the twenty twenty four PGA 0:00:42.760 --> 0:00:48.280 Championship won by Xander Schaffle. This is Schaffle's first major 0:00:48.320 --> 0:00:53.240 win after many many yellow Wikipedia squares in the past 0:00:53.280 --> 0:00:56.800 seven years, and he did it in very impressive fashion, 0:00:57.240 --> 0:01:00.880 posting a sixty five at Valhalla Golf Club on Sunday 0:01:01.280 --> 0:01:05.080 to edge Bryson to Shamba by one stroke. We're going 0:01:05.120 --> 0:01:07.240 to get into all of that and what it meant, 0:01:07.360 --> 0:01:10.920 but first I want to talk about Echo Golf shoes. 0:01:11.600 --> 0:01:15.520 So the latest shoe from Echo Golf is the LT one. 0:01:15.840 --> 0:01:19.720 This is a sneaker style modern design and what I 0:01:19.800 --> 0:01:22.280 like about Echo is that they always have something new 0:01:22.360 --> 0:01:26.559 up their sleeves with their kind of shoe technology. 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If you get a substandard 0:02:05.800 --> 0:02:08.079 or just average shoe, you're gonna need to replace it 0:02:08.120 --> 0:02:11.080 because golf shoes really take a beating. But with that 0:02:11.120 --> 0:02:14.480 go you get real quality, real durability, and a shoe 0:02:14.480 --> 0:02:17.240 that's gonna hold up against all the walking and the 0:02:17.240 --> 0:02:19.920 weather you can throw at it. And that's why players 0:02:19.960 --> 0:02:23.919 like Lydia Coe, Eric Van Royan, and Henrik Stenson wear 0:02:24.080 --> 0:02:28.080 this shoe. So shop the Echo lt one and other 0:02:28.200 --> 0:02:32.920 Echo products at Echo dot com. All right, here to 0:02:33.000 --> 0:02:37.200 give some higher level takeaways on the PGA Championship are 0:02:37.840 --> 0:02:40.720 two people. First of all, we've got Andy Johnson. How's 0:02:40.720 --> 0:02:43.840 it going, Andy, Oh, it's going great. Just excited to 0:02:43.919 --> 0:02:47.680 talk about another major. And also here with us is 0:02:47.800 --> 0:02:50.000 Joseph Lemania. What's up, Joseph? 0:02:50.080 --> 0:02:51.920 How you doing, Garrett? Andy, I'm excited to do this. 0:02:52.000 --> 0:02:53.200 It was fun, all right. 0:02:53.320 --> 0:02:56.480 So Joseph, when we start with your first takeaway from 0:02:56.520 --> 0:03:00.160 the twenty twenty four PGA, what do you got sure? 0:03:00.760 --> 0:03:04.240 My overarching takeaway as I was reflecting on what we 0:03:04.280 --> 0:03:07.680 watched this past weekend, is kind of how quickly eras 0:03:07.800 --> 0:03:12.840 change and Scotty Scheffler and Xander Schaffley are pretty clearly, 0:03:13.840 --> 0:03:17.280 at a minimum, the two best Americans in the world 0:03:17.360 --> 0:03:19.799 right now and arguably the two best golfers in the 0:03:19.800 --> 0:03:22.720 world right now. I was just looking through some numbers. 0:03:22.720 --> 0:03:26.320 At the end of twenty seventeen, Jordan Speith and Justin 0:03:26.400 --> 0:03:29.880 Thomas were the second and third ranked players in the world, 0:03:30.120 --> 0:03:33.120 and since the start of twenty eighteen, they have six 0:03:33.360 --> 0:03:37.120 top fives between the two of them in majors. Scotty 0:03:37.200 --> 0:03:40.040 Scheffler and Xander Schaffley have six top fives in major 0:03:40.120 --> 0:03:44.520 champions in major championships each since the start of twenty eighteen. 0:03:44.920 --> 0:03:49.000 They've both been incredible players in majors. And Xander Schoffley. 0:03:49.680 --> 0:03:51.680 I know he hasn't won, and he's had a reputation 0:03:51.760 --> 0:03:55.400 for not closing, but this shouldn't it really shouldn't sneak 0:03:55.480 --> 0:03:57.960 up on anybody that he won. He's been an unbelievable 0:03:58.000 --> 0:04:01.040 golfer and now it's kind of solidified himself is arguably 0:04:01.040 --> 0:04:03.240 the second best player in the world. It's pretty remarkable 0:04:03.280 --> 0:04:06.200 how quickly things can change from six years ago when 0:04:06.480 --> 0:04:09.040 guys like Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth were young and 0:04:09.080 --> 0:04:10.600 at the top of the world rankings. 0:04:11.240 --> 0:04:15.400 I think this is just like the way golf works, right, yeah. 0:04:15.680 --> 0:04:17.440 At least in the modern era, at least in the 0:04:17.480 --> 0:04:19.520 twenty first century, right, this is how it's been. 0:04:19.920 --> 0:04:22.400 Well. I think it's the idea of like you have 0:04:22.440 --> 0:04:25.159 these these groups of players that are roughly the same 0:04:25.200 --> 0:04:28.400 age like they are they are roughly you know, Scottie's 0:04:28.440 --> 0:04:33.160 a little bit younger, but Xander Speed jt are all 0:04:33.400 --> 0:04:36.839 in the same age range, and different people mature and 0:04:36.920 --> 0:04:39.480 hit their peak and golf at different ages. This is 0:04:39.880 --> 0:04:43.120 because it's not such an at it's not like a 0:04:43.240 --> 0:04:47.080 supreme athleticism sport like the NFL. You know, the you 0:04:47.160 --> 0:04:50.640 are going to age out of the NFL. Some players 0:04:50.720 --> 0:04:54.560 are their best selves at age thirty five, Some are 0:04:54.600 --> 0:04:57.840 the best at twenty two, Some are the best they'll 0:04:57.880 --> 0:05:00.440 ever be at twenty eight. And I I think what 0:05:00.480 --> 0:05:04.040 we're seeing is this group of players. You know, when 0:05:04.440 --> 0:05:06.880 it's all said and done and they're maybe all forty, 0:05:07.080 --> 0:05:09.039 we'll be able to sit back and say who was 0:05:09.080 --> 0:05:12.279 the best of them? But right now I would agree 0:05:12.279 --> 0:05:14.480 with that. I mean, I think the thing that's amazing 0:05:14.520 --> 0:05:19.680 with Xander he qualified into his first major. He qualified 0:05:19.680 --> 0:05:22.880 into the US Open at Aaron Hills, finished T. Five, 0:05:23.720 --> 0:05:26.760 and has since played twenty eight major championships and has 0:05:26.800 --> 0:05:31.120 finished in the top five and a quarter of them. 0:05:31.240 --> 0:05:34.080 I mean, he was a nobody at that US Open 0:05:34.160 --> 0:05:36.599 at Aaron Hills. That's when he burst onto the scene. 0:05:36.640 --> 0:05:39.520 He was struggling on the PGA Tour in his rookie year. 0:05:40.040 --> 0:05:42.839 He burst on the scene. And now we look back 0:05:42.920 --> 0:05:45.760 and it's like, Wow, this guy is one of the 0:05:45.760 --> 0:05:49.440 best major championship players you know that we have. And 0:05:49.560 --> 0:05:53.120 one of the reasons is like, if you think about Scottie, 0:05:53.240 --> 0:05:55.960 if you think about Xander, if you think about the 0:05:56.120 --> 0:05:59.640 players that play great at a lot of different major championships. 0:05:59.680 --> 0:06:02.760 You know, there's one constant major championship post site, so 0:06:02.800 --> 0:06:05.159 that means you're playing three new courses every year in 0:06:05.200 --> 0:06:09.680 these four majors. What translates at every golf course in 0:06:09.720 --> 0:06:12.160 the world is if you are very good at everything, 0:06:12.480 --> 0:06:15.840 every skill in golf. And Xander Schoffley, for his career, 0:06:16.120 --> 0:06:19.520 has been really good at everything, and he hasn't seen 0:06:19.880 --> 0:06:22.640 you know, like we see people have these performance dips. 0:06:22.760 --> 0:06:26.160 He hasn't really had these performance dips. He's sneaky, been 0:06:26.360 --> 0:06:29.359 like one of the most consistent players that we have 0:06:29.440 --> 0:06:31.800 in the game of golf. Like he's always been rock 0:06:31.839 --> 0:06:34.080 solid driver the golf ball, always been a rock solid 0:06:34.120 --> 0:06:37.680 approach player, always been a good good round and on 0:06:37.760 --> 0:06:40.120 the greens. And now he's taken that off the t 0:06:40.320 --> 0:06:44.200 game to a whole new level. And that's what's pushed 0:06:44.279 --> 0:06:48.560 him into what, as Joseph eloquently said, this elite company 0:06:48.560 --> 0:06:49.000 in golf. 0:06:50.360 --> 0:06:55.359 I've got an analogy for Xander. So when I was 0:06:55.400 --> 0:06:59.680 in college, I worked in the admissions office at my college. 0:06:59.720 --> 0:07:01.520 This was kind of like my job. When I was 0:07:01.520 --> 0:07:01.960 a student. 0:07:02.440 --> 0:07:05.080 You were saying yes and no. You were the guy. 0:07:05.279 --> 0:07:09.120 No, no, no. I did not have that responsibility though. 0:07:09.160 --> 0:07:13.000 Those are the admissions officers. I was just astudent. I 0:07:13.040 --> 0:07:16.400 was given tours, I was making spreadsheets, I was doing 0:07:16.400 --> 0:07:18.560 stuff in the office. Those are my. 0:07:18.560 --> 0:07:21.480 Roles doing the backwards walk and talk exactly. 0:07:21.640 --> 0:07:24.280 Yeah. I got really good at walking backwards through you know, 0:07:24.360 --> 0:07:27.480 city streets and stuff. But I spent a lot of 0:07:27.520 --> 0:07:30.600 time around admissions officers and got used to how they 0:07:30.680 --> 0:07:36.480 talked about applicants. And there were kind of two or 0:07:36.760 --> 0:07:41.200 maybe a few more, but two major categories of applicants 0:07:41.280 --> 0:07:44.920 that would get talked about. One would be the applicants 0:07:44.920 --> 0:07:49.760 who had like one extraordinary skill, like this person is 0:07:49.800 --> 0:07:53.520 a violin prodigy. This person is a you know, a 0:07:53.640 --> 0:08:00.400 four star linebacker recruit. This person does one thing really 0:08:00.440 --> 0:08:03.640 really well, like won the national debate competition or something 0:08:03.720 --> 0:08:07.840 like that, and that gives them kind of a unique 0:08:08.240 --> 0:08:12.400 profile in the applicant pool. The other type of applicant 0:08:12.440 --> 0:08:16.200 that could be successful would just be the well rounded applicant. 0:08:16.320 --> 0:08:21.840 Somebody who did everything really well, had pretty high SAT scores, 0:08:22.480 --> 0:08:27.560 pretty high grades, was involved in a nice array of activities, 0:08:28.280 --> 0:08:32.240 did some sports, just just had everything and you got 0:08:32.240 --> 0:08:34.960 a sense that this person would come to that college 0:08:35.480 --> 0:08:39.240 and provide some of that same steadiness, and I think 0:08:39.320 --> 0:08:43.640 that's Xander Schaffle. He is the well rounded applicant. He 0:08:43.960 --> 0:08:47.320 is I think, probably at this point, going to be 0:08:47.440 --> 0:08:51.600 top fifty just about every strokes gained category for his 0:08:51.800 --> 0:08:55.080 entire career. But the thing is, and this is why 0:08:55.120 --> 0:08:58.600 I think it's hard for me to get invested in 0:08:58.720 --> 0:09:00.640 Xander Schaffley, and I wonder if you guys feel the 0:09:00.679 --> 0:09:06.800 same way. He's not like the best in any given 0:09:07.480 --> 0:09:12.360 skill set. Aside from being well rounded, he's not he's 0:09:12.400 --> 0:09:15.080 a great driver of the golf ball. He's not as 0:09:15.120 --> 0:09:18.840 great a driver of the golf ball as Rory and Bryson. 0:09:19.559 --> 0:09:23.320 He is a really really good approach player, a great 0:09:23.360 --> 0:09:27.640 approach player, but he's not Colin Morikawa or Scotti Scheffler 0:09:27.960 --> 0:09:31.480 in that respect. And by the same token, he doesn't 0:09:31.559 --> 0:09:36.360 have any notable weakness. There's no vulnerability that helps you 0:09:36.480 --> 0:09:39.520 to kind of relate with him or or feel that 0:09:39.520 --> 0:09:43.920 there could be something unpredictable or exciting in the way 0:09:43.960 --> 0:09:47.400 that he plays golf. He's just gonna kind of bludgeon 0:09:47.520 --> 0:09:52.360 courses into submission with his well roundedness. And that's that's 0:09:52.480 --> 0:09:56.840 how I've come to understand Xanderschoffle. 0:09:56.240 --> 0:09:59.120 At this point, well, the best, the best golfers are 0:09:59.160 --> 0:10:02.080 the most boring, right. 0:10:01.600 --> 0:10:04.520 Well, Scotty Scheffler is the best golfer in the world. 0:10:04.960 --> 0:10:06.960 But to me and a lot of people might not 0:10:07.040 --> 0:10:09.800 agree with this, and people's reactions to Scotty Scheffler have 0:10:09.880 --> 0:10:12.880 been kind of funny in the past couple of years. 0:10:12.920 --> 0:10:17.200 But obviously he took on a new identity during during 0:10:17.200 --> 0:10:20.000 this tournament. Now he's now he's the felon, but or 0:10:20.040 --> 0:10:24.880 the alleged felon. But you know, Scotty I find really 0:10:24.920 --> 0:10:30.880 compelling to watch because he is prodigious in his approach 0:10:30.920 --> 0:10:34.040 play and short game. He if he's not the best 0:10:34.040 --> 0:10:36.920 in the world at those things, he might be one 0:10:36.960 --> 0:10:38.600 of the two or three best in the world. So 0:10:38.679 --> 0:10:44.439 you're seeing something truly virtuosic when you see Scotty Scheffler 0:10:44.520 --> 0:10:47.640 hit an iron or hit a chip around the greens. 0:10:48.240 --> 0:10:52.079 His putting is a vulnerability. You know, sometimes he's really good, 0:10:52.160 --> 0:10:56.040 but we've seen him truly struggle in that area, and 0:10:56.080 --> 0:10:58.840 I'm not sure we've seen anything similar from Xander where 0:10:58.840 --> 0:11:02.520 we have this, you know, kind of separation or divergence 0:11:02.600 --> 0:11:06.360 between different skill areas, which to me, makes a golfer 0:11:06.760 --> 0:11:08.360 fun to watch, you know, I think of Jordan Speed, 0:11:08.440 --> 0:11:10.160 think of Rory, I think, you know, think of the 0:11:10.200 --> 0:11:12.839 golfers that are really fun to watch. It's they're great 0:11:12.920 --> 0:11:15.520 in a couple of things, and maybe they have a 0:11:15.600 --> 0:11:16.640 vulnerability or two. 0:11:17.240 --> 0:11:19.600 Well, I guess the only the only area where I'd 0:11:19.640 --> 0:11:22.000 push back a little bit, Garrett, is that Xander's become 0:11:22.040 --> 0:11:23.760 a really good driver of the golf ball. 0:11:24.280 --> 0:11:26.439 Well, is he the best? Is he? Now? Do you 0:11:26.480 --> 0:11:28.559 think he's like as good as Rory or Bryson? 0:11:28.679 --> 0:11:30.800 He hits it straighter than those guys do. And I 0:11:30.800 --> 0:11:34.440 think a huge part of the Xander story that Andy 0:11:34.520 --> 0:11:36.920 kind of alluded to. He had one of the most 0:11:37.000 --> 0:11:40.400 consistent best years of any golfer in twenty twenty three. 0:11:40.480 --> 0:11:44.200 He was very good, rock solid all year. He then 0:11:44.800 --> 0:11:48.200 started working with Chris Como late near the end of 0:11:48.200 --> 0:11:51.040 twenty twenty three and picked up a lot of ball speed. 0:11:51.240 --> 0:11:54.600 He's now top ten in ball speed on the PGA 0:11:54.640 --> 0:11:57.559 Tour this year. He's gone from being a good driver 0:11:57.600 --> 0:11:59.440 of the golf ball to a great driver of the 0:11:59.440 --> 0:12:01.640 golf ball. Why I agree with you, Garrett, He's not 0:12:02.160 --> 0:12:04.520 the best driver of the golf ball in the world. 0:12:04.679 --> 0:12:06.839 Scotty Scheffler is a better driver of the golf ball 0:12:06.880 --> 0:12:09.600 than Sander Shoffley is. He's now on that top tier 0:12:10.280 --> 0:12:13.400 and that's the most reliable skill in golf. So agree, 0:12:13.440 --> 0:12:15.240 he's not the best in the world at driving the 0:12:15.240 --> 0:12:16.720 golf ball, but he's right up there. Now. 0:12:17.280 --> 0:12:21.160 I think that you're onto something, Garrett, and I think 0:12:21.240 --> 0:12:25.680 this plays into my big takeaway. One of my big takeaways. 0:12:27.080 --> 0:12:30.200 This has been the problem with Scotty Scheffler is like 0:12:30.280 --> 0:12:33.960 and I think people think he's boring. I think he 0:12:34.679 --> 0:12:38.480 you know, he kind of chuckles and shrugs off everything. 0:12:39.440 --> 0:12:44.319 But I think what happened to him on Friday, we 0:12:44.400 --> 0:12:47.920 now have a new superstar, a super duperstar in golf 0:12:48.040 --> 0:12:49.760 because he got arrested. 0:12:50.360 --> 0:12:53.040 The crowds on Friday were unbelievable with him right. 0:12:53.160 --> 0:12:58.200 Yes, there is an all new human interest in Scottie 0:12:58.200 --> 0:13:03.520 Scheffler because of what happened, the craziness of Friday morning 0:13:04.240 --> 0:13:09.320 in him being arrested. It sounds like reports by KVV 0:13:09.440 --> 0:13:11.800 at No Laying Up are that the charges are likely 0:13:11.840 --> 0:13:15.120 going to be dropped. But this was the moment he needed. 0:13:15.679 --> 0:13:19.840 It provided some relatability it gave I think the thing 0:13:19.880 --> 0:13:23.800 with golf people glomb on to people that give them 0:13:24.120 --> 0:13:27.679 something that they can say, I'm a fan of this 0:13:27.800 --> 0:13:34.280 guy because of this. For Scottie Scheffler, the Friday round, 0:13:36.040 --> 0:13:38.600 like everything that went into it, him talking about stretching 0:13:38.640 --> 0:13:41.000 in the jail cell and then going out and shooting 0:13:41.040 --> 0:13:45.280 sixty six after being arrested, unsure of whether he was 0:13:45.320 --> 0:13:48.120 going to make the tea time, being the lead story 0:13:48.160 --> 0:13:51.680 of the morning Sports Center that came on early. Sports 0:13:51.720 --> 0:13:56.320 Center came on early because of this story. Like think 0:13:56.360 --> 0:14:00.960 about that. It was a preposterous story and for anybody 0:14:01.000 --> 0:14:03.480 listening that doesn't know what happened, he got arrested on 0:14:03.640 --> 0:14:09.040 the way to the golf course and it was unsure 0:14:09.360 --> 0:14:12.520 of whether or not he was going to make his 0:14:12.600 --> 0:14:14.960 tea time. There was a delay because of the tragic 0:14:15.080 --> 0:14:20.000 death of a volunteer, John Mills. Very sad in that regard, 0:14:20.400 --> 0:14:24.320 but he made it. He ends up getting released from jail, 0:14:24.720 --> 0:14:26.680 makes it to the tea time, he got charged with 0:14:26.680 --> 0:14:30.720 a felony, makes it to the golf course and then 0:14:30.760 --> 0:14:33.280 goes out and shoots sixty six. I mean, it was 0:14:33.600 --> 0:14:36.680 this is the moment I think, like everybody's been like, 0:14:36.720 --> 0:14:41.920 we have this like supremely talented, dominant star player, but 0:14:41.960 --> 0:14:45.160 nobody likes, nobody cares about him. Nobody cared about him. 0:14:45.480 --> 0:14:49.480 Now people have reason to care about him, and Xander 0:14:49.720 --> 0:14:53.960 in that regard has not had anything near a moment like, 0:14:54.200 --> 0:14:57.680 if anything, Xander's had opposite moments where he's been contentious 0:14:57.720 --> 0:15:03.560 with media or he he was allegedly requesting money to 0:15:03.640 --> 0:15:06.560 play in the Ryder Cup, like he's had the opposite 0:15:06.600 --> 0:15:09.760 type of moments. You would think getting arrested would be 0:15:09.800 --> 0:15:13.120 a negative, but in this case it ended up being 0:15:13.160 --> 0:15:13.840 a positive. 0:15:14.120 --> 0:15:16.160 Yeah, it really worked out for Scotty Scheffler. And by 0:15:16.200 --> 0:15:19.040 the way, if you are somebody who didn't know about 0:15:19.080 --> 0:15:23.239 Scotty Scheffler's arrest and are still listening to this podcast, 0:15:24.080 --> 0:15:26.360 send me an email Garrett at the Frida Egg dot 0:15:26.400 --> 0:15:28.240 com and I want to I want to hear about 0:15:28.240 --> 0:15:29.480 how that happens. I know. 0:15:31.240 --> 0:15:33.920 Who I'm envious of them. 0:15:34.000 --> 0:15:38.080 Yeah, exactly, I know you've got like a proper media diet, 0:15:38.160 --> 0:15:41.720 I guess, but yeah, I completely agree you know this, 0:15:42.720 --> 0:15:46.840 And I think that Scotti Scheffler's vulnerability with putting over 0:15:46.880 --> 0:15:51.480 the past year and a half or so registered less 0:15:51.840 --> 0:15:55.640 as an appealing vulnerability because he was kind of unwilling 0:15:55.680 --> 0:15:58.640 to talk about it in a real way, right, he 0:15:59.040 --> 0:16:01.440 wasn't He didn't want to go there when he was 0:16:01.480 --> 0:16:03.880 asked about it, And so I think that that's maybe 0:16:03.920 --> 0:16:09.080 one reason why it took this incident on Friday for 0:16:09.280 --> 0:16:12.440 people to kind of see Scotty in a new light. 0:16:12.520 --> 0:16:16.200 And it was genuinely shocking. On Friday morning, I'm on 0:16:16.240 --> 0:16:19.120 the West coast, right, so I'm getting to stuff usually 0:16:19.200 --> 0:16:22.000 later than most people are getting to it. But to 0:16:22.040 --> 0:16:26.080 wake up in the morning and to open up my 0:16:26.160 --> 0:16:28.920 Twitter app and the first thing I see is a 0:16:29.000 --> 0:16:35.080 mug shot of Scotti Scheffler. That was unbelievable. I mean, 0:16:35.120 --> 0:16:38.760 it was just a complete shock. And then everything that 0:16:38.840 --> 0:16:41.160 happened after that was like as if it was in 0:16:41.200 --> 0:16:44.080 a dream. It was truly an incredible day. 0:16:44.520 --> 0:16:46.960 I think it was crazy to me. I was out 0:16:47.200 --> 0:16:50.960 Saturday night in Austin. I didn't realize maybe this is 0:16:51.080 --> 0:16:55.240 night everyone knew about Scotty Scheffler, and including people who 0:16:55.280 --> 0:16:57.600 didn't follow golf at all. I know it was on 0:16:57.680 --> 0:17:01.040 CNN and on major news outlets. I didn't realize the 0:17:01.120 --> 0:17:03.600 extent to which it had broken out of the golf 0:17:03.640 --> 0:17:05.680 world and even out of the sports world, Like people 0:17:05.680 --> 0:17:08.760 who pay no attention to golf were texting me about 0:17:08.800 --> 0:17:12.440 Scotty Scheffler. A moment like this doesn't feel like it's 0:17:12.480 --> 0:17:15.160 happened in a long time. Maybe since Tiger winning the Masters, 0:17:15.400 --> 0:17:19.679 where where golf really breaks out into the public consciousness. 0:17:19.480 --> 0:17:23.119 Yeah, or or I mean Tiger's Tiger's car crash, but 0:17:23.160 --> 0:17:26.639 that that obviously was of a very different nature. 0:17:26.920 --> 0:17:34.720 Partnering with the Saudis broke them out or allegedly allegedly. 0:17:32.480 --> 0:17:35.000 We've had a few moments when golf has broken into 0:17:35.040 --> 0:17:39.200 the public consciousness recently, and weirdly, Scotty Scheffler getting getting 0:17:39.240 --> 0:17:42.840 arrested is almost the most uh, the most wholesome of 0:17:43.560 --> 0:17:45.280 of some of the ones that we've named. 0:17:45.600 --> 0:17:49.879 Well we're talking Xander and Scottie. I do want to 0:17:49.920 --> 0:17:53.040 say I think that, like the discourse when we zoom 0:17:53.040 --> 0:17:55.440 out on the year is going to be Scotty would 0:17:55.480 --> 0:18:00.680 have won at Valhalla if if if he hadn't got arrested, 0:18:00.840 --> 0:18:06.639 And I like just really dislike that take. I think 0:18:07.320 --> 0:18:11.320 he played really bad on Saturday. Now, could it have 0:18:11.440 --> 0:18:15.320 been partially because he was emotionally and mentally exhausted from 0:18:15.520 --> 0:18:18.560 the day before. Absolutely, but like we don't get to 0:18:18.720 --> 0:18:23.640 like we don't get to live in this world right out. 0:18:23.720 --> 0:18:25.600 He got out of jail, and I don't want to 0:18:25.600 --> 0:18:27.639 be harsh. He got out of jail. He played a 0:18:27.720 --> 0:18:31.760 great round on Friday, and he played like crap on Saturday, 0:18:32.119 --> 0:18:36.320 and like maybe something would have been different, but like 0:18:36.440 --> 0:18:38.920 a lot of other things could have happened differently too, 0:18:39.119 --> 0:18:41.960 Like you cannot play that game. I think golfers are 0:18:41.960 --> 0:18:45.600 more susceptible than anybody to this where they love to 0:18:45.640 --> 0:18:48.720 be like, well, I shot seventy five, but let me 0:18:48.760 --> 0:18:51.640 tell you about the lipouts, let me tell you about 0:18:51.680 --> 0:18:53.880 that bad bounce, And they don't look at like any 0:18:53.880 --> 0:18:56.560 of like the good things that could have that happened 0:18:56.880 --> 0:19:00.560 from it, Like you know, Scotty could have missed his 0:19:00.640 --> 0:19:05.920 tea time, you know, and not to mention like Xander Schoffley, 0:19:07.040 --> 0:19:10.760 I mean, he played outstanding golf. He shot a sixty five, 0:19:11.280 --> 0:19:15.800 a sixty five on Sunday. As the leader, that is 0:19:15.960 --> 0:19:18.800 extraordinarily hard to do. I feel like we've become so 0:19:19.640 --> 0:19:26.840 conditioned to seeing leaders shoot sixty eight, sixty nine, seventy 0:19:27.040 --> 0:19:30.639 and I know we'll get to probably Valhalla, but like 0:19:30.880 --> 0:19:34.119 to go out and shoot sixty sixty five as the 0:19:34.200 --> 0:19:38.760 leader on Sunday extraordinary and none of the discourse should 0:19:38.760 --> 0:19:43.159 be Scottie one would have won if because it's just 0:19:43.240 --> 0:19:45.920 he was too far back. I could get a little 0:19:45.960 --> 0:19:48.480 behind it. If it was like he finished two shots back, 0:19:48.520 --> 0:19:50.720 he finished eight freaking shots back behind. 0:19:50.840 --> 0:19:55.240 Yeah, well instead of seventy three on Saturday, he would 0:19:55.240 --> 0:19:57.840 have had to shoot sixty five right in order to 0:19:57.880 --> 0:20:02.639 be tied with Xander Schoffle. And you know, although Scott 0:20:02.640 --> 0:20:06.520 he played really well on Thursday, my perception of his 0:20:06.640 --> 0:20:09.320 game is that it was a little bit ragged in 0:20:09.359 --> 0:20:13.760 some respects, and so when he shot seventy three on Saturday, 0:20:14.160 --> 0:20:16.960 it didn't really come as a surprise, and not just 0:20:17.119 --> 0:20:20.040 because he had had kind of a harrowing experience the 0:20:20.119 --> 0:20:24.200 day before. It was because, you know, certain aspects of 0:20:24.240 --> 0:20:27.800 his game just didn't totally seem sharp, which is the 0:20:27.840 --> 0:20:30.920 first that we've seen that from him in a while. 0:20:31.040 --> 0:20:34.320 But was always going to be coming. You know, he 0:20:34.560 --> 0:20:37.440 can't keep up what he's been doing for the first 0:20:37.640 --> 0:20:41.720 few months of this year forever, all right, why don't 0:20:41.720 --> 0:20:45.600 I do my takeaway here it is related to Valhalla, 0:20:46.200 --> 0:20:47.199 so we can get into that. 0:20:47.359 --> 0:20:47.840 Here we go. 0:20:48.560 --> 0:20:52.480 Now, most of what I'm going to do here actually 0:20:52.880 --> 0:20:56.640 is I'm going to try to play Devil's advocate with Valhalla, 0:20:56.800 --> 0:21:00.200 because I think the three of us broadly agree about 0:21:00.200 --> 0:21:04.760 this golf course and its status as a major championship test. 0:21:03.840 --> 0:21:07.600 I don't think we need to worry. I don't think 0:21:07.680 --> 0:21:09.919 anything is coming back to Valhalla anytimes. 0:21:10.240 --> 0:21:13.760 Well, yeah, exactly, it's there. Isn't like it's almost like 0:21:13.800 --> 0:21:16.280 punching down at this point. It almost feels too easy. 0:21:16.680 --> 0:21:18.560 But we have to be real about what we saw 0:21:18.800 --> 0:21:22.080 this this this past week because it was you know, 0:21:22.280 --> 0:21:26.199 it it affected the competition that took place. But in 0:21:26.240 --> 0:21:30.720 any case, my my broad takeaway about Valhalla is that 0:21:30.840 --> 0:21:35.920 this course is exactly what we thought it was. This 0:21:36.000 --> 0:21:38.119 is this is what we were saying all week. And 0:21:38.400 --> 0:21:40.720 you know, I think that there's maybe this perception out 0:21:40.760 --> 0:21:43.280 there that were Valhalla haters, and that the fact that 0:21:43.320 --> 0:21:46.800 there were some compelling moments on Sunday at this championship 0:21:47.200 --> 0:21:50.840 is proof that we were wrong about Valhalla. But look 0:21:50.880 --> 0:21:53.720 at what we were actually saying about this course and 0:21:53.800 --> 0:21:56.719 the Rona run up. We were saying, this is not 0:21:56.920 --> 0:22:01.919 a super serious Major championship test, but it's going to 0:22:02.000 --> 0:22:06.879 produce a stacked leader board, a bunched leader board, and 0:22:07.040 --> 0:22:12.040 probably an exciting Sunday. So yeah, this course is exactly 0:22:12.080 --> 0:22:15.040 what we thought it was and I do appreciate that, 0:22:15.560 --> 0:22:18.840 but I wish people would understand where that comes from 0:22:19.160 --> 0:22:24.200 and what that costs, because you know, the Thursday, Friday 0:22:24.200 --> 0:22:26.960 and Saturday weren't nearly as interesting, at least to me. 0:22:27.720 --> 0:22:30.840 I mean my other takeaway and this isn't even changing. 0:22:30.960 --> 0:22:33.920 This is just playing off of what you're saying, Garrett. 0:22:34.320 --> 0:22:36.640 One of my big takeaways from watching this week, which 0:22:36.640 --> 0:22:40.040 is not a new thought. No golf course in the 0:22:40.080 --> 0:22:42.840 world can really test the best golfers in the world 0:22:42.920 --> 0:22:45.280 under the conditions that Valhalla was in this past week, 0:22:45.320 --> 0:22:48.000 where it's soft and there's no wind. So I do 0:22:48.040 --> 0:22:50.639 think that that is a relevant part of the conversation. 0:22:50.760 --> 0:22:53.359 You can have tests that are more interesting than what 0:22:53.400 --> 0:22:56.320 we watched, but there's not a good test for professional 0:22:56.400 --> 0:22:59.679 golfers when there's no wind in greens or that receptive. 0:23:00.040 --> 0:23:04.000 Even the Masters in twenty twenty, the COVID year where 0:23:04.040 --> 0:23:07.240 Dustin Johnson ran away with it like that wasn't anywhere 0:23:07.240 --> 0:23:10.000 near the most compelling version of Augusta National when it 0:23:10.040 --> 0:23:12.560 was wet like that and soft. So I don't want 0:23:12.560 --> 0:23:15.359 to offer too strong of a defensive Valhalla because I 0:23:15.400 --> 0:23:18.600 was disappointed in what we saw this past weekend, even 0:23:18.600 --> 0:23:20.960 though it's kind of what we expected going in. But 0:23:21.000 --> 0:23:22.320 I do think that is a relevant part of the 0:23:22.320 --> 0:23:25.000 conversation that if it had been firmer and faster, the 0:23:25.080 --> 0:23:26.960 course would have been much more demanding. Would it have 0:23:27.000 --> 0:23:29.239 been a good golf course? No, Like, I don't think 0:23:29.280 --> 0:23:32.480 it fundamentally changes shot value in a way that makes 0:23:32.520 --> 0:23:35.000