Speaker 1: Happened to bump into Jerry McElroy and the and the
Speaker 1: elevators as we were on our way up here, and
Speaker 1: he was holding a pizza and going to the the elevator.
Speaker 1: I said, good luck tomorrow, and he said he's playing
Speaker 1: quite nicely, isn't he? And I said he is. And
Speaker 1: he said it would be good for the game of
Speaker 1: golf if you want it, and I said, can't argue
Speaker 1: with that. Put another log on the fire. Nobody hears
Speaker 1: give the time. Hello, This is Alan Schipknuck back for
Speaker 1: another Fire Drill podcast. Michael Bamberger, Matt Ginella, RNA Clubhouse.
Speaker 1: We're here on the balcony of the russ As Hotel.
Speaker 1: It's late Saturday night. Pretty epic day of golf today.
Speaker 1: The leaderboard nothing but great players. But it's clarified a
Speaker 1: little bit. It with Rory and Victor Holland at the top.
Speaker 1: There was a little clucking from Matt Fitzpatrick and others
Speaker 1: about the course set up. So Michael, let's start there.
Speaker 1: What do you think of how the old course played
Speaker 1: and what it revealed about the players on the board?
Speaker 1: Are we are we burying the lead that Matt began
Speaker 1: his birthday by hanging out with Joe Lacava as midnight
Speaker 1: struck here in the Russak's Hotel. Worth mentioning, Yeah, we're
Speaker 1: worth worth mentioning, Matt, Happy birthday, Happy birthday to you.
Speaker 1: You know, Alan and I have a great friend and colleague,
Speaker 1: him ideas when we were having this conversation with him
Speaker 1: on our way to dinners today, and the question is
Speaker 1: is this golf course holding up? Yes or no? If
Speaker 1: twenty underwins, would you say that this golf course held
Speaker 1: up or not? And there are lots of different ways.
Speaker 1: You and I have both argued at two different ways.
Speaker 1: I'm saying overall it's holding up because we get a
Speaker 1: great leader order, we're gonna have a great Sunday and
Speaker 1: it's a great tournament. Yeah, I mean I agree with that.
Speaker 1: The fact is you would like to see the players
Speaker 1: hitting longer clubs into the greens because that creates more
Speaker 1: of a dispersion. Well, there's more danger in play, possibly
Speaker 1: more recovery shots and getting too funk your spots. But
Speaker 1: it is what is. It's burnt out super fast golf course.
Speaker 1: The ball goes too far, So the test that's being
Speaker 1: presented is still fascinating. I mean, the RNA's come up
Speaker 1: with some very spicy pins and they've asked a lot
Speaker 1: of difficult questions and the players have mostly answered. But
Speaker 1: it's still fun to watch. And today when when Sat
Speaker 1: Larry is holding out for eagles and birdies were flying around,
Speaker 1: I mean, it was fun. It was thrilling. So Matt,
Speaker 1: what are your thoughts on how this course is play? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean it's it's it's like the course for me,
Speaker 1: it's links golf links Scoff. The defense to link Skoff
Speaker 1: is the you know, in large part the elements. I mean,
Speaker 1: you can't to to you know, to sort of you
Speaker 1: just have to just change expectations. And it's let's say
Speaker 1: it's a par seventy. There's no there's no really no
Speaker 1: real part five. Just let it be a part seventy.
Speaker 1: I mean what who cares? Like, is anybody bothered by
Speaker 1: that that, you know, someone's a lot under par um.
Speaker 1: Some people are bothered, I'm on golf Twitter, like they're
Speaker 1: offended that the scores are low, where we would just
Speaker 1: argue that that's the lowest total wins. You know, someone's
Speaker 1: gonna shoot two seventy or two sixty five or two
Speaker 1: sixty two, they're they're the winner. Par is a construct.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's probably the legit par sixty eight for
Speaker 1: some of these guys, But it's still the guy who
Speaker 1: takes a few of strokes. And that's what the game
Speaker 1: has always been about and always will be about. Michael
Speaker 1: jumping here. Well, i'm you know, I'm I'm with that.
Speaker 1: I'm with that in fury. Uh Having said that, it's
Speaker 1: a little bit the whole discussion of thirteen und augusta National.
Speaker 1: You could have eighteen times here. Is it really the
Speaker 1: road hole if you're not hitting the foreign and uh no,
Speaker 1: is it really a part four eighteen pole if everybody
Speaker 1: in the field can drive it with a three wood
Speaker 1: or seven wood, as I think Dustin Johnson h a
Speaker 1: hit here, you're using in iron. So um, there would
Speaker 1: be no dialing back. There's no dialing back any ball
Speaker 1: to the point that this would they still wouldn't be
Speaker 1: able to drive this green days like today, there's no
Speaker 1: there is no uh in theory thought, unless we go
Speaker 1: back to featheries and persimmons, this this golf course on
Speaker 1: days like today, they'd still be way under par. They're
Speaker 1: really good at this game. This is. You know, this
Speaker 1: is none indictment on anything other than there's no wind,
Speaker 1: right and I and I would I would add to that, Matt,
Speaker 1: this is a golf course that even at these teas,
Speaker 1: but we wouldn't played at these teas that anybody can play.
Speaker 1: And you would never say that of oakmon at seventy
Speaker 1: five hundred or August National and seventy five hundred or
Speaker 1: Tulsa worry were this year this, you know, And that's
Speaker 1: part of the greatness of this is that I think
Speaker 1: the ordinary golfer can watch this and sorry to relate
Speaker 1: to it. You know. I asked this of Rory after
Speaker 1: the round. He said, you uh. I said, how do
Speaker 1: you feel about, you know, using your putter as a
Speaker 1: chipper basically? And he said, you know, if it's good
Speaker 1: enough for me, it's good enough for you guys. And
Speaker 1: that's fun for that's fun for all for a first
Speaker 1: all to see. Yeah, all right, so let's let's talk
Speaker 1: about Rory because he's the man of the moment. I mean,
Speaker 1: this is clearly his tournament to win. There was a
Speaker 1: little magic dust there when you hold out on number ten.
Speaker 1: You know, those are the kind of shots to flip
Speaker 1: a whole tournament, like thinking when he hit in that
Speaker 1: bunker he might make a five. Instead he makes a two,
Speaker 1: and him in Hobland of obviously separated themselves. The crowd
Speaker 1: is clearly on Rory's side. I mean, he's just become
Speaker 1: the conscious of golf. He's such a great ambassador. He
Speaker 1: hasn't won one of these in almost a decade. I mean,
Speaker 1: the whole world wants Rory to do it. Is he
Speaker 1: going to do it? Guys? On the subject of Rory
Speaker 1: being the crowd favorite, I actually recorded Rory coming up
Speaker 1: eighteenth Fairway, which you know again was definitely by far
Speaker 1: the most applause of anyone. Jake let him hear it. Yes,
Speaker 1: it would be great, great, great for golf if if
Speaker 1: Rory wins this thing. But you know something, let's with
Speaker 1: all due credit to Rory this Victor Hovland is a
Speaker 1: tremendously likable guy and plays. I didn't know he's such
Speaker 1: a great driver, and so you told me about it,
Speaker 1: because when I've watched the Blaze hit Drew in a
Speaker 1: crooked But I guess if you look at this as
Speaker 1: he's a great driver, Interestingly, Rory shown you don't have
Speaker 1: to drive a great here. You just gotta drive it
Speaker 1: in the right parts of the of the right roof,
Speaker 1: which this case is the left ruff. Yeah. I mean
Speaker 1: he was a little wild with his driver. That's the
Speaker 1: only bugo I saw. And Rory, I mean, the rest
Speaker 1: of the game looks fantastic. Matt, what are your thoughts
Speaker 1: about what this moment means and Rory's place in it? No, well,
Speaker 1: we said it, I said yesterday, you know, or just
Speaker 1: talking about and noticing back to a dare and all
Speaker 1: of what's happening live related. I just think he's been
Speaker 1: he's been poked into a focus that I don't think
Speaker 1: we've really seen from Rory in quite some time. He's
Speaker 1: he's got more of the just seems like more of
Speaker 1: an edge right now to him, to his competitive self,
Speaker 1: and I think that's gonna that ultimately he's gonna bode
Speaker 1: well for him. I happened to bump into Jerry McElroy
Speaker 1: and the and the elevators as we were on our
Speaker 1: way up here, and he was holding a pizza and
Speaker 1: going to elevator. I said good luck tomorrow, and he
Speaker 1: says he's playing quite nicely, isn't he? And I said
Speaker 1: he is, and he said it would be good for
Speaker 1: the game of golf if he won it, And I said,
Speaker 1: can't argue with that. I mean, and I think Rory
Speaker 1: knows all that is well aware, and I you know,
Speaker 1: I can't help but think that I'm looking for Rory
Speaker 1: to win. I would love to see Rory win. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean more to the point, it'd be good for
Speaker 1: Rory McElroy. I mean, he is in the prime of
Speaker 1: his career and in this long major drought. He's won
Speaker 1: the FedEx Cup, He's won the Race did you buy,
Speaker 1: He's won the Players, He's won all over the world.
Speaker 1: It's not like he's lost his game. He's been playing
Speaker 1: an except on high level, but he just can't get
Speaker 1: it done at these majors. And part of it is,
Speaker 1: you know, there's there's an element of Rory where Michael,
Speaker 1: You're an old beat writer for baseball, Like he's more
Speaker 1: of a thrower than a pitcher, right, Like he's got
Speaker 1: it kind of has one speed where I got like
Speaker 1: camp Smith, he's got a curveball. He's got to change up.
Speaker 1: And that's always been the tee with Roy. When you
Speaker 1: get at these super exacting tests, you have to play
Speaker 1: a little different. It's just it's not the Phoenix Open.
Speaker 1: You can't just smash and grab, and so that becomes
Speaker 1: the question, like at the critical moment, can Rory's wedge game,
Speaker 1: can his lag putting, can those things sustain? Because that's
Speaker 1: what's going to decide this thing. And also to that point,
Speaker 1: you know, he's one of his major's unsoft wet golf
Speaker 1: courses and this is a dry field League golf courses,
Speaker 1: he says, And you know, you're always trying to show off,
Speaker 1: you know, Jeff Ogilby has taught this to us. Even
Speaker 1: these elite golfers, not even they're trying to show off
Speaker 1: all the time. They're trying to show off to themselves
Speaker 1: and to their brethren. And I think I think Rory's well,
Speaker 1: he has said it that you know, I would like
Speaker 1: to show the fact that I can win and you
Speaker 1: were in any kind of golf course, but he really
Speaker 1: never has not at this level. So it would be
Speaker 1: neat to see him when on a dry golf course.
Speaker 1: But I would take a little bit exception of one
Speaker 1: thing you said, Alan, you know, you said Rory needs
Speaker 1: I think really truly when it's all I think golf
Speaker 1: really does need a likable Now, any of these guys
Speaker 1: really who are in contention, right down to Scottie Shuffler too,
Speaker 1: Dustin Johnson his own way, they all have a likable quality.
Speaker 1: But Rory right now has become a face of the game.
Speaker 1: Not just sort of like for its quote establishment values.
Speaker 1: I think more like really the face of the game
Speaker 1: what golf stands for, which is, you know, a certain
Speaker 1: grace under pressure, be there in good times and bad.
Speaker 1: You know you have your hand ready to shake the
Speaker 1: guy in defeat. Rory represents all these values that are
Speaker 1: really you can call them old fashioned values, but to me,
Speaker 1: really they're just basic core golfing values. And and you know,
Speaker 1: the world's in a funny place, and golf is in
Speaker 1: a really odd place that his never you know, we've
Speaker 1: all been following Skim alone time. We've never seen a
Speaker 1: period like this in golf. So in that sense, yes,
Speaker 1: of course it would be great for Rory, but it
Speaker 1: really would be great for golf to see Rory win
Speaker 1: this thing as well. Having said that, well, we root
Speaker 1: for the story. Rory's probably the best story we could
Speaker 1: be rooting for. Oh yeah, well, I root for anarchy
Speaker 1: and chaos. So I was kind of pulling for Dustin Johnson,
Speaker 1: like in my own little way today. You know, he
Speaker 1: flagged a couple of shots in the first few holes
Speaker 1: and he looked so locked in made two quick birdies,
Speaker 1: is like, okay, here comes Dustin um. But he lost
Speaker 1: his way. And what was interesting is it was Dustin's
Speaker 1: round was a great rebuttal that the old courses overmatched
Speaker 1: against the bombers because he got completely out of his
Speaker 1: out of his game by humps and hollows and pop bunkers.
Speaker 1: He just missed a few shots and the ball ran
Speaker 1: away and he was left with a tougher shot, and
Speaker 1: he got completely mental and he was starting yepping putts.
Speaker 1: He was he was just he put it off the
Speaker 1: green like like, that's how out of the chances of
Speaker 1: Dustin Johnson topping into shot the balls sitting on a
Speaker 1: te Well, that tells you that the old course can
Speaker 1: get in your head like no other. So that to
Speaker 1: me was the ultimate rebuttal. People say, oh, it's obsolete,
Speaker 1: it can't hold up, like big bad Dustin Johnson got
Speaker 1: the back of the hairbrush from the old course. And
Speaker 1: when it was thousands of people last week, did did
Speaker 1: you top any shots. No, this guy top me. He
Speaker 1: was my partner. He also did top any there. It's
Speaker 1: made that there was five six hunders. Those were no.
Speaker 1: One the lowest score today. Five people shot six hunder
Speaker 1: and them went early. When the three of them went early,
Speaker 1: when it was you know, calmer, Yeah, the greens were softer.
Speaker 1: That makes what Rory and Hovland did all the more
Speaker 1: impressive because they went they went late. But nevertheless, like
Speaker 1: the scoring is not crazy low. I mean, these are
Speaker 1: best golfers in the world. You give them a course
Speaker 1: but no wind. That's playing probably effectively six thousand yards away,
Speaker 1: the balls rolling, they're gonna make birdies and that's okay.
Speaker 1: Also effectively at part sixty six, when you talk about
Speaker 1: basically three four or five drivable part fours, no, no
Speaker 1: unreachable part fives, Rory hitting what driver wedge into a
Speaker 1: part five that's over what six hundred yards long? So
Speaker 1: basically talking about a part sixty six course so on
Speaker 1: that basis part is not even really a meaningful term
Speaker 1: anymore in a lot of ways. But clota part of
Speaker 1: sixty six gold what it is I did? I did
Speaker 1: bump into Joelacova last night upstairs at the bar. He
Speaker 1: was just very calmly having a beer amongst a couple
Speaker 1: of the Golf Channel guys, and Uh, I got again
Speaker 1: invited down to the table. I hadn't seen Joe in
Speaker 1: like eighteen years. It was really it was really amazing
Speaker 1: to sit down next to him. He looked he looked tired,
Speaker 1: he was exhausted and uh and when asked sort of,
Speaker 1: which is actually in my story that we'll be publishing
Speaker 1: tomorrow morning on Firepit Collective dot com, just about you
Speaker 1: know what was it like? He's just, you know, we're
Speaker 1: we're upset. I mean, we wanted we missed the cut.
Speaker 1: That's it's it's you know, Tiger was upset. It was
Speaker 1: all about out. You know, Tiger is out to win.
Speaker 1: Joe Lecavo was here to win. They didn't make the cut.
Speaker 1: It didn't feel good to him, didn't feel good to Tiger.
Speaker 1: It was a a is a bum bummer situation. That
Speaker 1: being said, he obviously was able to appreciate the moment
Speaker 1: he said that was happening on eighteen and when asked
Speaker 1: at the table about was that rehearsed, allowing it was
Speaker 1: that coordinated amongst the group players and caddies to allow
Speaker 1: Tiger to go up the fairway on his own, right
Speaker 1: out of the gate, right from the tea box. And
Speaker 1: he said, no, that was that's just an unspoken rule.
Speaker 1: And everybody was very aware that this was going to happen.
Speaker 1: The Tiger was going to have this moment by himself
Speaker 1: over the bridge, up the fit middle of the fairway,
Speaker 1: waved to the crowd, have that moment on the green
Speaker 1: on his own. Everybody moved away. The bummer being obviously
Speaker 1: that he didn't make the birdie Joe said, Tiger didn't
Speaker 1: call him in for the read he had it. This was,
Speaker 1: you know, he was upset that that didn't go in
Speaker 1: obviously asked him what they and he also someone said,
Speaker 1: did it look like there was Rory and Tiger were
Speaker 1: going to have a little bit of an exchange there
Speaker 1: in the middle of the fairway because Rory was coming
Speaker 1: off the first tea and watched Tiger's tea shot on eighteen,
Speaker 1: watched where it resulted, and Rory was kind of in
Speaker 1: the path of where Tiger was walking up and Rory
Speaker 1: kind of stopped at his ball. Tiger really kind of
Speaker 1: just walked by. I mean, there was you know, and
Speaker 1: and when asked, was there ever thought that Tiger would
Speaker 1: go over and talked to Rory And Joe said that
Speaker 1: would never happen, and out of deference to and respect
Speaker 1: to Rory and being in his round, Tiger would never
Speaker 1: want to do that. And in fact, you know, I
Speaker 1: think there was some internalization of feeling bad for matt
Speaker 1: Max and Matthew Fitzpatrick almost that they were dealing with
Speaker 1: all that was going on with Tiger, that there was
Speaker 1: you know, they felt bad and that that that could
Speaker 1: have contributed to mat missing the cut. You know, Max
Speaker 1: is very respectful and deferential to Tiger in his place
Speaker 1: in the game, and Joe was feeling like maybe that
Speaker 1: had some sort of impact. Now, Matthew obviously righted the
Speaker 1: ship and had another great day today. But and then
Speaker 1: I asked, lastly, what was the exchange as you guys
Speaker 1: embraced on the side of the green, and Joe said,
Speaker 1: he said to me, I love you, buddy, and I
Speaker 1: said back to him, thanks for having me. That's awesome.
Speaker 1: And you know, I remember at Valhalla when Nicholas was
Speaker 1: saying goodbye to the PGA Championship and him and Tiger
Speaker 1: repaired together the first couple of rounds and everyone was
Speaker 1: looking for this passing of the baton moment, and there
Speaker 1: was one. It happened on Friday. Jack was going to
Speaker 1: miss the cut. They came to like a little bridge
Speaker 1: and they both stopped, and Tiger was like after you,
Speaker 1: you know, showing a deference, and Nicholas is like, no,
Speaker 1: after you and Tiger went first. I was like, okay, there,
Speaker 1: we got it. We needed that. And just that little,
Speaker 1: you know, Rory given the tip of the cap, it
Speaker 1: just feels like it's in the stars for him to
Speaker 1: win this thing and to sort of bring it all home.
Speaker 1: Tiger's gone, we need a new new boy king. It's
Speaker 1: got to be Rory. He's the only logical choice. But
Speaker 1: he's got to win this for that to happen. And
Speaker 1: and and that, Joe made mention of the idea that
Speaker 1: the RNA knows what they're doing by having U, by
Speaker 1: having Rory go off at roughly what would be the time,
Speaker 1: and then stacking JT right behind him, so JT was
Speaker 1: on the T with bones on the bag. And and
Speaker 1: Joe loved all of that. He thought that was that
Speaker 1: was really well done, well orchestrated, and definitely watched the
Speaker 1: fact that JT and and Bones were watching, and I
Speaker 1: think Shane Lowry was actually called to the t and
Speaker 1: Shane Lowry was like not going to hit his T
Speaker 1: shot and have anything to do with what was happening
Speaker 1: for Tiger finishing off and essentially paused and waited and so,
Speaker 1: you know, out of respect to what was happening, and
Speaker 1: it was it was watching Tiger. Tiger is such a
Speaker 1: golf nerd. He was watching Justin Thomas swinging very closely. Uh.
Speaker 1: He wants to see what his buddy's doing. You know,
Speaker 1: he's just swinging good or not? Can you get back
Speaker 1: in this thing or not? In fact, what we do
Speaker 1: on our buddies trip of our partners over there, we
Speaker 1: got how's he swinging? Yeah? Okay good? Yeah yeah yeah No,
Speaker 1: It's true. So this is Roy's open. It has to
Speaker 1: be Roy's open if if calamity strikes, and you know,
Speaker 1: he shoots seventy four, like I mean, Holland would be
Speaker 1: a great winner. He's he's charismatic, he's fun loving, he's goofy.
Speaker 1: You can go on Spotify and listen to his heavy
Speaker 1: metal playlist. You know, he puts it out there for
Speaker 1: the public. Um. You know, he's in the death metal
Speaker 1: and all that stuff, like the kids love it. Um. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so so so so yeah. I mean, Scheffler is so
Speaker 1: good at golf. I know. So that was interesting because
Speaker 1: Cam Smith I tweeted us at one point. Watching him
Speaker 1: hit chips and pitches around these greens is just such
Speaker 1: a pleasure. I mean, Michael gave him the old bit
Speaker 1: confidence that it was like Sevy like and but the
Speaker 1: rest of his game kind of left him today and
Speaker 1: he didn't put great and he looked a little overwhelmed
Speaker 1: by the moment. So I'm never have a thirty six
Speaker 1: sol leader who goes south on Saturday incomes back on Sunday.
Speaker 1: You know, mentally you sort of get out of it.
Speaker 1: It's really really hard to get back in it. I
Speaker 1: think he's gone. Yeah. I mean we've got yeah. And
Speaker 1: I mean Kevin Young has played amazing golf, and you
Speaker 1: know he's overlooked because he's a rookie. He's never won,
Speaker 1: but this performance will clinch Rookie of the Year for him.
Speaker 1: He's clearly got a lot of game. Like. It's a
Speaker 1: big ass but no one thought Louis Eustism was going
Speaker 1: to do it. So you never know, um other other guys.
Speaker 1: I mean he kind of sputtered coming in unfortunately. I
Speaker 1: mean the thing about the old course, it's so amazing
Speaker 1: to me is on the last ten holes you have
Speaker 1: four drivel par fours and you have you have a
Speaker 1: par five like it ain't over till it's over. And
Speaker 1: then of course you have seventeen where Roy was lucky
Speaker 1: not to make a six today really like, so anything
Speaker 1: can happen. Um, But I mean, you know, Cebu Kim
Speaker 1: is the nightmare for all the sports writers because he's
Speaker 1: so so good at golf and he could do it
Speaker 1: and that would be a bit of a letdown. I mean,
Speaker 1: Dustin no, but I can I can never not think
Speaker 1: about him. Do you remember the President's Cup when they
Speaker 1: had these people serenading on the first team and they're
Speaker 1: they're singing, there's a song. As you know, Michael being
Speaker 1: a hip hop historian, it's like see shaking head, shaking head.
Speaker 1: It was the greatest press conference ever. So every time
Speaker 1: I see it's like I see Woo Kim. So I'm
Speaker 1: just gonna share that at that press conference, Tiger, he
Speaker 1: was the only person who was so maybe furic. Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: that was a wild one, that it was like that
Speaker 1: it was a classic. But I mean, it just feels
Speaker 1: like both Victor Enry have so much firepower. It's hard
Speaker 1: to imagine that one of them is not going to
Speaker 1: shoot sixty seven and win this. But I know you disagree.
Speaker 1: Just I mean, Sheffer driving par fours and coming from
Speaker 1: behind and nothing to lose and play and loose. H
Speaker 1: I think, really truly, if it weren't any either of
Speaker 1: those two, I think it would be Scheffer if I
Speaker 1: had to actually bet, we bet Chuffer. But you know,
Speaker 1: I always say this about Sam Burns and other people
Speaker 1: and you know who just looked like they could and
Speaker 1: they should and they might probably won't. But I will
Speaker 1: say Dustin Johnson with some red ass could be dangerous,
Speaker 1: like embarrassed, you got humiliated out there missing two footers,
Speaker 1: topping shots, like if he comes out and just lets
Speaker 1: it go like he could shoot sixty three. But I
Speaker 1: don't know, I really think I think nineteen is a
Speaker 1: good number. I think the winning scores mean nineteen or
Speaker 1: twenty at this point, So you'd have to do something
Speaker 1: crazy if you're not you know, Rory or Victor. But
Speaker 1: it just feels like this is Rory's open and I
Speaker 1: hate to say this because we all love it. If
Speaker 1: he doesn't get this one done, like its where do
Speaker 1: we go from here? As Rory fans and chroniclers because
Speaker 1: he's been in every major this year and if he comes,
Speaker 1: if if he gets skunked, I shuddered even think about it. Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: let's see, let's see what happens. It's gonna be exciting. Yeah, Matt,
Speaker 1: you wrote you mentioned earlier, you wrote up Old Tom
Speaker 1: a visit to Old Tom. It was, it was. It's no.
Speaker 1: I wrote up sort of my week and all the
Speaker 1: connection points, you know, again going back to the idea
Speaker 1: that my first week at SI was as the golf
Speaker 1: photo eder, was Tiger's first tournament as a pro, and
Speaker 1: then having this kind of emotional send off at St. Andrew's,
Speaker 1: and then also coupled with the fact that there's so
Speaker 1: many people here that have connection points, you know, much
Speaker 1: like to you guys to my life in golf. Right,
Speaker 1: So all the different relationships, the Davis says now as
Speaker 1: the Paul Spanglers, the Mark Mulvoy's, uh, you know, Marty Carr,
Speaker 1: who's led me into you know, to all these little
Speaker 1: different moments, and so just kind of a kind of
Speaker 1: connecting all the dots of my life and professional life
Speaker 1: through an event like this here one hundred and fifty
Speaker 1: at thee because where do we go from here? That
Speaker 1: that's actually the question that I think as it relates
Speaker 1: to golf in general, Like, certainly for me, like this
Speaker 1: is such a huge moment, Like where do we go
Speaker 1: in the game of golf? Right after this is overcome Tuesday?
Speaker 1: There's gonna be more. Now, there's gonna be great. And
Speaker 1: so it almost feels like you're at the end of
Speaker 1: the of the ice cream cone and it's gonna be
Speaker 1: You're gonna do you want to ever take that last bite?
Speaker 1: Because tomorrow is going to be that last bite and
Speaker 1: then we're gonna have to see what's next to well,
Speaker 1: I hope man. At some point the readers of the
Speaker 1: Firepit Collective dot com will get to read a story
Speaker 1: by you about your experiences with Tiger at a Sports
Speaker 1: Illustrated photo shoot in nineteen ninety eight involving not just Tiger,
Speaker 1: Tiger and Tiger or Tiger and other tigers. Yeah, that's
Speaker 1: coming for sure. I just if you're listening to this podcast,
Speaker 1: you've probably been following our adventures all week long. Let
Speaker 1: me thank you. Check out Matt story. It's going to
Speaker 1: post Sunday morning, and it is a lovely kind of
Speaker 1: first person journey through the golf world and all his
Speaker 1: adventures and would I would really recommend that highly because we, uh,
Speaker 1: we've been a lot of places collectively, and it's it's
Speaker 1: fun to share them. You don't want to hog the experiences,
Speaker 1: We want to share them. That that's we're we're the
Speaker 1: eyes and ears of the fans, like we're here to
Speaker 1: take them places they can't get to otherwise. So we
Speaker 1: take that responsibility seriously. There's no other sport that could
Speaker 1: have the co mingling that this sport has none. There's
Speaker 1: no other place they could have as much co mingling
Speaker 1: as this. So just the fact that you know that
Speaker 1: Matt was with Joe Lacava last night and then we're
Speaker 1: telling old Tiger stories at at dinner to night. Well
Speaker 1: and while we're out here taking this podcast on this balcony,
Speaker 1: Paul Azinger just wandered out just to take in the view,
Speaker 1: you know, yeah, like David Fantasy, like it's just golf
Speaker 1: people come out your years and which leads us to
Speaker 1: the Rusick's Hotel, which is has been a big sponsor
Speaker 1: for all things fire Pit Collective this week, So thank
Speaker 1: you to the Rusick's Hotel for the access to this
Speaker 1: these these porches, these decks that overlook the eighteenth Fairway.
Speaker 1: They've put a lot a ton of money into this
Speaker 1: place and who everybody's delight. It has changed the accommodation
Speaker 1: world in Saint Andrews, so highly recommend. We also have
Speaker 1: to thank Link Soul obviously the clothing company that we
Speaker 1: all love, and John Ashworth is a part of this
Speaker 1: story that posts tomorrow. So thanks to John Ashworth and
Speaker 1: Links Soul. Seed Golf, the Irish based golf ball company,
Speaker 1: is a new sponsor to us and looking forward to
Speaker 1: getting to know them more. Part points our boys Brandy
Speaker 1: Niebert and Kevin Quinley who have developed that new app
Speaker 1: on how to Wait, how to Score the Game and
Speaker 1: again I'm using it for golf with my kids, so
Speaker 1: high highly recommend. I think this is a lot about
Speaker 1: the mcloys that they're choosing to stay at this hotel.
Speaker 1: The word I heard is I think they are part
Speaker 1: of the investment team into this hotel, which is and
Speaker 1: I saw Keith Mitchell today he missed the cut by one.
Speaker 1: He's up upstairs with his brother and his sister in
Speaker 1: law and his new wife. As of January, they were
Speaker 1: having a great time up there overlooking the golf, watching
Speaker 1: the golf as fans. It was. It was really fun
Speaker 1: um and the and he said he loves everything about
Speaker 1: this place. The only thing that is a knock is
Speaker 1: also part of the reason why it's so much fun
Speaker 1: is pace of play. That the drive of part fours
Speaker 1: and the criss crossing of the routing as back in
Speaker 1: the back end ends up resulting in six hour rounds.
Speaker 1: And he said that was the only the only little
Speaker 1: bruise on this whole this whole event. But on Sunday,
Speaker 1: on Sunday, we won't have that at all. Uh just
Speaker 1: to speak connections for one more minute. So we had
Speaker 1: David Farerty just us inning here. We got friends from
Speaker 1: Ireland right here as well. Shane and Noel Fleming are
Speaker 1: in the house and they saw Rory's chip in so
Speaker 1: that was nice. And so David Farerty was playing golf
Speaker 1: with Michael Benn and m Rory mclroy's teacher before Rory
Speaker 1: was even born. Uh So like you know, speak of
Speaker 1: connections that you're writing about in your abust tomorrow. Golf
Speaker 1: is so rich with them. It's it's sexual reporters dream.
Speaker 1: The whole game is reporters dream, and this week has
Speaker 1: been a reporter's dream as well. Yeah, well that's well said.
Speaker 1: And tomorrow it's finale. I feel like we've been in
Speaker 1: San Enters for a month. That's not a complaint. It's
Speaker 1: been It's been a great time. We've all had way
Speaker 1: too much fun. But you know, it's it's finally Here
Speaker 1: is what the build up has been all about. We're
Speaker 1: gonna crown that champion golfer over the year. They're gonna
Speaker 1: it's gonna it's gonna be memorable no matter what. It
Speaker 1: could be epic if it's rory. And I know I'm excited.
Speaker 1: I know you guys are excited. So we'll have one
Speaker 1: more of these pots tomorrow night and we'll um, we'll
Speaker 1: have a champion and we'll put a bow on the week.
Speaker 1: But any final thoughts where we go, are we going
Speaker 1: to have no Matt It might just mean yeah, Michael,
Speaker 1: we'll handle a logistics mark. You just show up and
Speaker 1: because one thing, Ship and I are good at Yeah,
Speaker 1: the Butler cabinet. I think you get in the Rusticks Hotel. Well,
Speaker 1: oftentimes a parking lot for the press as far away.
Speaker 1: And they have shuttle trust and Michael one year about
Speaker 1: he would not write shuttlebus the whole year, no matter what,
Speaker 1: and he pulled it off. So yeah, this is one
Speaker 1: of the joys of the job is sneaking around, right,
Speaker 1: we know that to be true. No. Five, I watched
Speaker 1: from the RNA clubhouse, so that was a major snake
Speaker 1: and all required was a blue blazer and a striped tie.
Speaker 1: Well as as we're looking out at this a dark
Speaker 1: and fair way. Of course, I go back to twenty
Speaker 1: eighteen when the open was at Carnous Steve, but we
Speaker 1: stayed in Saint Andrews because why not. It's so much fun.
Speaker 1: And me and Sean Zac went out there and with
Speaker 1: a couple of clubs and played the eighteenth hole in
Speaker 1: the dark under the moon. And I don't like to brag,
Speaker 1: but I didn't make an incredible par and it was
Speaker 1: it was. It was a great time. So yeah, there's well,
Speaker 1: we'll see where we can get. Tomorrow night we may
Speaker 1: be delivering pizza to Rory's room knock, knock, Oh, mister mackelroy,
Speaker 1: we have your pizza that you ordered. Actually that light
Speaker 1: bulb moment right there. All right, let's turn the readers.
Speaker 1: Oh yes, no, no, that's all. I got Sean mckiel's
Speaker 1: room service meal that way Sunday night when he won
Speaker 1: at Rochester. So weird things do happen in other places,
Speaker 1: but more weird things happen here than anywhere else. Well,
Speaker 1: one year at the Mercedes Championship, I was staying next
Speaker 1: to Yester Parnovic and the Ritz Carlton. I just randomly,
Speaker 1: and the players are so spoiled. Every night they get
Speaker 1: a gift, and one time they just left it outside
Speaker 1: of Yespur's door, and this amazing display of chocolates and
Speaker 1: sweets and cookies. I stole it and I enjoyed it
Speaker 1: all week long. And yeah, like I eat like twigs
Speaker 1: and berries. He wasn't gonna eat it. But anyway, I'm
Speaker 1: feeling if Rory wins, you guys are gonna have to
Speaker 1: sneak in anywhere. He will be upstairs at the Russishole Hotel,
Speaker 1: hanging off the edge, partying and drinking out of declared
Speaker 1: jug You guys might even drink out of the jug. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'll get COVID for Rory's Clare jug for sure. Um,
Speaker 1: all right, let's let the listeners go. Thank you for
Speaker 1: sticking with us. As always, there's a fun time. We'll
Speaker 1: do this Sunday night, Michael. I'll be writing on Deadline tomorrow,
Speaker 1: which is always a thrill Sunday night. Game stories and
Speaker 1: columns are always a blast for us to do. It's
Speaker 1: the ultimate sort of adrenaline keeps us you at least, Michael.
Speaker 1: And that's it from the eighteenth hole at the Old Course.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening. Put another log on the fire. Nobody hears.
Speaker 1: Get the time