WEBVTT - Open Championship Preview 0:00:06.160 --> 0:00:08.080 It's the Son of a Butcher podcast. We come to 0:00:08.080 --> 0:00:09.680 you every Wednesday. 0:00:10.360 --> 0:00:13.920 The Pot is back. Took a couple weeks off, took 0:00:13.960 --> 0:00:15.920 a much needed holiday last week. 0:00:16.520 --> 0:00:18.680 I've been in Europe. This is week four on the 0:00:18.760 --> 0:00:21.800 road for me. So and I am at the Open 0:00:21.880 --> 0:00:27.240 Championship Hoylake for the last major of the year. And 0:00:28.240 --> 0:00:31.760 what are we going to get? John Ram wins the Masters. 0:00:32.560 --> 0:00:37.040 We have brooks Kepka winning the PGA, Wyndham Clark winning 0:00:37.120 --> 0:00:40.800 the US Open and now Hoylake. Who is going to 0:00:40.880 --> 0:00:46.000 lift the claret jug defending champion is cam Smith. Cam 0:00:46.080 --> 0:00:51.800 one recently about a week week ago on Live and 0:00:52.280 --> 0:00:56.840 Roy McElroy won on Sunday at the Scottish Open. So 0:00:57.240 --> 0:00:59.600 they were the two that were fighting down the stretch 0:00:59.800 --> 0:01:02.640 at St Andrews last year. They're both coming in here 0:01:02.680 --> 0:01:05.759 in fantastic form. Are they going to make a run? 0:01:06.680 --> 0:01:10.240 I think obviously everyone is expecting Roy McElroy. 0:01:09.760 --> 0:01:11.160 To make one, make a run. 0:01:11.280 --> 0:01:15.160 He won here in two thousand and fourteen. He comes 0:01:15.160 --> 0:01:17.760 off of winning the Scottish Open and he got it done. 0:01:18.040 --> 0:01:20.400 I think the way that he won the Scottish Open 0:01:21.400 --> 0:01:25.040 very very windy link style golf course which believe it 0:01:25.120 --> 0:01:30.120 or not, hasn't always suited Rory's game. When he did 0:01:30.120 --> 0:01:33.560 win in twenty fourteen, obviously it wasn't the kind of 0:01:33.920 --> 0:01:37.000 Classic Open championship conditions, but. 0:01:37.040 --> 0:01:37.560 He got it done. 0:01:37.600 --> 0:01:39.360 I thought it was a really big win for him, 0:01:40.040 --> 0:01:43.120 coming off the way he played at the US Open, 0:01:43.240 --> 0:01:45.880 and I think Roy's got a point to prove. I 0:01:45.880 --> 0:01:50.480 think with everything that's happened over the last year, all 0:01:50.520 --> 0:01:53.720 the stuff that happened with Live, the current situation, with 0:01:53.880 --> 0:01:57.160 where we are today, which if you can tell me 0:01:57.200 --> 0:02:00.600 where we are today in professional golf more than I do, 0:02:00.680 --> 0:02:05.080 because I still think we're a lot in the dark 0:02:05.600 --> 0:02:08.160 as to what actually is going to happen. But I 0:02:08.200 --> 0:02:12.600 definitely think Rory comes in here playing some amazing golf. 0:02:13.080 --> 0:02:15.360 And I had a ringside see I was down at 0:02:15.360 --> 0:02:20.480 the Live tournament and watched Cam Smith. He shot sixty 0:02:20.480 --> 0:02:24.120 three one day and hit nine greens his short game. 0:02:24.520 --> 0:02:28.360 But the way he puts the golf ball, I just 0:02:28.400 --> 0:02:30.440 don't know if you can find someone that puts the 0:02:30.480 --> 0:02:35.920 ball better than him right now. He is a pure, 0:02:36.440 --> 0:02:40.919 pure putter, very similar to the runs that we've seen 0:02:40.960 --> 0:02:46.280 Jordan Speith get on. Cam has this amazing ability to 0:02:46.480 --> 0:02:49.960 make twenty five thirty footers when he needs to. Sometimes 0:02:49.960 --> 0:02:53.280 it's for Birdie, sometimes it's for Parr. And I think 0:02:53.320 --> 0:02:57.320 because he puts so well, it kind of overshadows how 0:02:57.560 --> 0:03:02.679 just ridiculous his short game is, which is it's pretty dirty. 0:03:02.919 --> 0:03:05.800 His short game is unbelievable. He played a practice round, 0:03:05.840 --> 0:03:11.760 so yesterday Tuesday, played a ninth hole practice round. It 0:03:11.960 --> 0:03:15.959 was Brooks Koepka, the Ryder Cup captain, Zach Johnson, and 0:03:16.000 --> 0:03:20.000 then Adam Scott and Cam Smith and I got to 0:03:20.040 --> 0:03:23.760 walk nine holes, got to watch Cam and I talked 0:03:23.800 --> 0:03:25.840 to him a little bit about his putting. And I 0:03:25.840 --> 0:03:30.000 think it's something that anytime you're around someone that does 0:03:30.040 --> 0:03:34.040 something so well, I want to try and ask them 0:03:34.040 --> 0:03:36.040 as much as I can about how they do it, 0:03:36.280 --> 0:03:40.000 why they do it. And I've heard Cam before talk 0:03:40.040 --> 0:03:43.000 about how he doesn't have a lot of mechanics. But 0:03:44.400 --> 0:03:46.600 his coach, Grant Field, who I had on the pod 0:03:47.440 --> 0:03:49.720 about month month and a half ago, if you haven't 0:03:49.720 --> 0:03:51.720 had a chance to check that one out, it's fantastic. 0:03:52.200 --> 0:03:54.400 But Cam kind of does the same thing every time 0:03:54.440 --> 0:03:57.960 when he warms up. He uses a putting mirror for 0:03:58.040 --> 0:03:58.720 his eyeline. 0:03:58.840 --> 0:04:00.480 But in talking to Grant. 0:04:00.560 --> 0:04:03.760 One of the things that he works really really hard 0:04:03.800 --> 0:04:09.360 on is aiming the putter and consistently aiming the putter 0:04:09.880 --> 0:04:12.680 for the line that he's choosing. Yeah, so obviously everyone 0:04:12.760 --> 0:04:14.720 listening is going to say, yeah. I mean, of course, you. 0:04:14.760 --> 0:04:16.359 Can be a good putter if you aim the putter. 0:04:16.640 --> 0:04:25.040 But ask yourself how diligent and how constant you focus 0:04:25.200 --> 0:04:27.960 on aiming the putter. I think a lot of people 0:04:27.960 --> 0:04:31.160 are worried about their stroke. They're worried about the mechanics 0:04:31.240 --> 0:04:34.560 of their stroke. But you've got one of the best 0:04:34.560 --> 0:04:37.480 putters on the planet and one of the best putters 0:04:37.480 --> 0:04:41.840 I've ever seen, and he doesn't really have any mechanical thoughts, 0:04:42.400 --> 0:04:46.640 and he focuses a lot on aiming the putter consistently. 0:04:46.800 --> 0:04:49.440 But I think we were on the sixth or seventh 0:04:49.440 --> 0:04:51.200 green yesterday and I said to him, he was, you know, 0:04:51.279 --> 0:04:53.080 hitting some putts, and I said, you know, what do 0:04:53.160 --> 0:04:57.880 you think about when you putt? And he said, I 0:04:57.880 --> 0:05:00.479 don't really think that much, but what I do think 0:05:00.520 --> 0:05:03.520 about a lot is the speed that the ball is 0:05:03.560 --> 0:05:06.320 going to go in the hole. And again, that's another 0:05:06.480 --> 0:05:09.599 kind of comment that sounds like a throwaway comment. 0:05:09.640 --> 0:05:10.000 Oh yeah. 0:05:10.040 --> 0:05:12.839 Obviously the speed at which the ball goes in the 0:05:12.880 --> 0:05:17.080 hole is important. But for a guy like Cam, I mean, 0:05:17.240 --> 0:05:22.000 he's focusing on aiming the putter consistently, and he's focusing 0:05:22.080 --> 0:05:24.240 on the speed at which the ball is going in 0:05:24.279 --> 0:05:27.080 the hole. He said that he likes to pick out 0:05:27.240 --> 0:05:31.640 a spot and kind of putt to that kind of 0:05:31.760 --> 0:05:34.440 general area of where that spot is. But when you 0:05:34.520 --> 0:05:41.440 watch his stroke, he definitely doesn't have that long follow 0:05:41.480 --> 0:05:43.640 through that I see a lot of players struggle with. 0:05:44.160 --> 0:05:47.440 There is definitely a hit. It's something that my dad 0:05:47.520 --> 0:05:50.799 believes very very strongly in I think Tiger Woods, who's 0:05:51.279 --> 0:05:53.240 one of the greatest pure putters of all time, as well, 0:05:53.279 --> 0:05:57.040 there is a definite hit. And I think if you're 0:05:57.120 --> 0:06:00.800 struggling with your putter, one of the thoughts that you 0:06:00.839 --> 0:06:05.800 could use is creating a consistent collision between the club 0:06:05.839 --> 0:06:09.080 and the ball how you strike the golf ball when 0:06:09.120 --> 0:06:13.920 you putt. And Cam hits a lot of really good putts, 0:06:13.920 --> 0:06:16.839 as all great putters do. And one of the other 0:06:16.880 --> 0:06:18.840 things that my dad always says about great putters is 0:06:18.880 --> 0:06:22.479 their putts have the go in look. Cam's putts always 0:06:22.520 --> 0:06:24.200 have the go in look. They always look like they're 0:06:24.240 --> 0:06:27.000 going in. So I think he comes into this week 0:06:27.040 --> 0:06:33.159 as defending champion on good form, having just won. He 0:06:33.240 --> 0:06:35.479 knows how to get it done. He knows what it 0:06:35.480 --> 0:06:37.400 takes to win a major championship, and he knows what 0:06:37.480 --> 0:06:40.800 it takes to win a Claret Juck. As I mentioned, 0:06:40.839 --> 0:06:47.039 Rory comes back twenty fourteen. He won here seventeen under. 0:06:47.520 --> 0:06:52.400 Ricky Fowler finished fifteen under in twenty fourteen, Ricky just 0:06:52.440 --> 0:06:55.719 coming off I think one of the most important wins 0:06:55.760 --> 0:06:59.320 of his career. He'd gone three years without a win. 0:07:00.040 --> 0:07:03.320 It's the job done a couple weeks ago at Rocket 0:07:03.320 --> 0:07:06.960 Mortgage in Detroit, and I think that was a huge, 0:07:07.040 --> 0:07:10.800 huge win. He's finished second here before. Does Ricky now 0:07:11.080 --> 0:07:14.840 find some form in the major championships? But I think 0:07:14.920 --> 0:07:18.040 Rory will come here with a lot of self belief. 0:07:18.960 --> 0:07:20.160 He'll obviously come back. 0:07:20.040 --> 0:07:24.080 Here knowing that he is won here before and lifted 0:07:24.120 --> 0:07:27.200 a Cleric jug. I think the I wouldn't say it's 0:07:27.200 --> 0:07:30.800 the difficulty, but the constant theme with Rory McElroy is 0:07:31.280 --> 0:07:34.680 he won two majors in twenty fourteen. He won here 0:07:34.800 --> 0:07:37.440 at Hoylake and then he won the PGA at Valhalla. 0:07:37.720 --> 0:07:40.280 And I've said this before on the pod. I've said 0:07:40.320 --> 0:07:43.440 this before in interviews. If someone told you in twenty 0:07:43.480 --> 0:07:46.640 fourteen that in twenty twenty three, when we came back 0:07:46.680 --> 0:07:50.040 to Hoylake, that brooks Kepka would have more majors than 0:07:50.120 --> 0:07:53.800 Rory McElroy, I think people would be surprised. I don't 0:07:53.800 --> 0:07:56.720 say that because like coach brooks Kepka. I say that 0:07:56.800 --> 0:07:59.240 because to me, that's a testament to the greatness of 0:07:59.320 --> 0:08:02.680 Roy McRoy. I think most people in twenty fourteen when 0:08:02.680 --> 0:08:06.680 he won here at Hoylake, I think most people would 0:08:06.720 --> 0:08:11.480 have they never would have believed that he didn't win 0:08:12.040 --> 0:08:15.800 double digit majors by now. That's how prolific his talent is. 0:08:16.200 --> 0:08:19.440 That's how dominant Rory can be. But it has been 0:08:19.800 --> 0:08:23.720 nine years since he's won a major championship. And I 0:08:23.720 --> 0:08:27.160 don't think it's a question of if Roy McRoy is 0:08:27.200 --> 0:08:29.320 going to win another major. I think it's a question 0:08:29.400 --> 0:08:34.440 of when. But when that happens, I think it's important. 0:08:35.040 --> 0:08:37.160 I think the longer he goes without if he goes 0:08:37.160 --> 0:08:42.120 another cycle this year in twenty twenty three, with everything 0:08:42.120 --> 0:08:46.080 that's been going on, with everything that he volunteered, for 0:08:46.920 --> 0:08:49.680 with the PGA Tour, with everything that the PGA Tour 0:08:49.800 --> 0:08:53.560 asked him to do. I think it's interesting that no 0:08:53.640 --> 0:08:57.720 press conference at the US Open. I don't think he 0:08:57.760 --> 0:09:00.880 had a press conference at Hartford. There was no press 0:09:00.880 --> 0:09:05.560 conference last week at the Scottish Open, and I don't 0:09:05.600 --> 0:09:09.400 think he's done a press conference yet here at the 0:09:09.440 --> 0:09:13.840 Open Championship now. For someone that has been a very, 0:09:14.000 --> 0:09:18.000 very vocal spokesperson for the PGA Tour, I think it's 0:09:19.360 --> 0:09:22.400 I think it's interesting that someone that has been the 0:09:22.400 --> 0:09:27.080 most vocal person in the game has chosen not to 0:09:27.160 --> 0:09:30.600 do press conferences. 0:09:31.000 --> 0:09:32.160 I don't know what to read into that. 0:09:33.000 --> 0:09:35.840 Rory said it Hartford he was just going to get 0:09:35.840 --> 0:09:38.319 back to playing golf, didn't want to answer a lot 0:09:38.320 --> 0:09:40.600 of the live questions that he was constantly getting asked, 0:09:40.600 --> 0:09:44.080 and then in Scotland last week said if liv was 0:09:44.080 --> 0:09:45.720 the only tour that he was going to play on, 0:09:45.800 --> 0:09:50.600 he'd retire. So I think the longer Rory goes without 0:09:50.960 --> 0:09:54.040 winning another major, the louder the drums are going to beat. 0:09:54.200 --> 0:09:57.439 And I think he is one one of the favorites 0:09:57.440 --> 0:10:01.240 this week. I think he's I think you can tell 0:10:01.280 --> 0:10:03.680 that he feels like he is out to prove something. 0:10:03.679 --> 0:10:07.559 He's out to prove that he is Rory McElroy. And 0:10:08.200 --> 0:10:13.640 I also think that in his mind, Rory sees himself 0:10:15.080 --> 0:10:19.520 as kind of the leader of the PGA Tour and 0:10:20.080 --> 0:10:22.959 if he wins, and if he wins major championships, I 0:10:23.040 --> 0:10:26.199 think he It's just my opinion, but I think he 0:10:27.160 --> 0:10:30.400 thinks that's a win for his cause, which is the 0:10:30.400 --> 0:10:34.560 PGA Tour. But I think he will come in this 0:10:34.640 --> 0:10:37.079 week with a lot, a lot of. 0:10:39.160 --> 0:10:39.559 Buzz. 0:10:40.040 --> 0:10:44.720 I think he's every I mean, obviously Golf Channel, all 0:10:44.840 --> 0:10:48.439 the people on social media, they're gonna they're gonna paint 0:10:48.520 --> 0:10:50.120 him as as the favorite, and I think you can 0:10:50.160 --> 0:10:52.200 make an argument for that. So I want to thank 0:10:52.200 --> 0:10:55.520 our partners at RAPSODO. If you've been listening since the beginning, 0:10:55.600 --> 0:10:59.000 you know I'm a massive fan of RAPS mobile launch monitors. 0:10:59.160 --> 0:11:02.080 They're easy to use, extremely portable, and provide the same 0:11:02.160 --> 0:11:06.280 metrics competitors do for a fraction of the price. 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I was here in twenty 0:12:33.520 --> 0:12:36.720 fourteen and I wanted to share an interesting story. 0:12:37.400 --> 0:12:37.920 It was funny. 0:12:37.920 --> 0:12:39.880 We went out yesterday and played a practice round and 0:12:39.880 --> 0:12:41.640 we were waiting for the group in front of us 0:12:41.640 --> 0:12:45.200 to go off on the first hole and Adam Scott 0:12:45.240 --> 0:12:48.400 was there and Brooks was there, and Scotty and Brooks 0:12:48.440 --> 0:12:51.240 were there first and they said, hey, you want to 0:12:51.240 --> 0:12:54.559 play and Scotty said yeah, I've got cam Smith to 0:12:55.480 --> 0:12:58.680 join us. And I was like, Brooks was like cool, 0:12:59.240 --> 0:13:02.160 and then Zach Johnson joined. Who's the Ryder Cup Captain? 0:13:02.160 --> 0:13:04.320 I think a lot of people read into that yesterday. 0:13:05.040 --> 0:13:07.439 That wasn't by design. I was walking up to the eight, 0:13:07.800 --> 0:13:11.440 walking up to the first t and Zach Dunton was 0:13:11.480 --> 0:13:13.840 walking along beside me and he came up and said. 0:13:15.200 --> 0:13:15.680 Are you go? 0:13:15.840 --> 0:13:17.680 Are you guys going out? His Brooks going out? I 0:13:17.679 --> 0:13:19.559 said yeah, he's going out right now and he said, 0:13:19.600 --> 0:13:22.480 oh cool, I'll join up. I thought it was really good. 0:13:22.520 --> 0:13:24.480 There were a lot of really good conversations. They talked 0:13:24.480 --> 0:13:28.840 a lot about the Ryder Cup, and they talked a 0:13:28.880 --> 0:13:33.240 lot about the selection, which I think you'll you'll all 0:13:33.280 --> 0:13:37.040 be hearing more about as we get closer to the 0:13:37.120 --> 0:13:40.360 Ryder Cup. But I think it was really important. You know, 0:13:40.440 --> 0:13:42.920 Zach made a comment that the Ryder Cup is the 0:13:43.000 --> 0:13:46.080 Ryder Cup. It's not the PGA Tour Ryder Cup, It's 0:13:46.160 --> 0:13:50.280 the Ryder Cup, and he wanted the best players from 0:13:50.320 --> 0:13:55.120 the United States playing on that team. So whatever side 0:13:55.160 --> 0:13:58.920 you're on of this live PGA Tour debate, you're going 0:13:58.960 --> 0:14:02.360 to see pretty positive you're gonna see Brooks kept on 0:14:02.360 --> 0:14:06.480 this team. And I wouldn't be surprised if you see 0:14:06.720 --> 0:14:09.080 on the American side, if you saw another live player. 0:14:09.120 --> 0:14:11.280 There are a lot of people listening that won't like that. 0:14:12.240 --> 0:14:17.800 But unless they changed the rules, brooks Keepka most likely 0:14:17.920 --> 0:14:20.040 is qualified for that team. And I think Zach is 0:14:20.040 --> 0:14:23.720 going to look at other players and how they are playing, 0:14:23.840 --> 0:14:29.280 and if that player is playing on live. It seemed 0:14:29.320 --> 0:14:34.360 to me that Zach didn't seem to be against picking 0:14:34.880 --> 0:14:38.080 players that are playing well, regardless of where they're playing. So, 0:14:38.680 --> 0:14:41.640 but in twenty fourteen, I had set up I was 0:14:41.680 --> 0:14:44.720 working with Ernie Els at the time and had set 0:14:44.800 --> 0:14:46.960 up for Ernie Els to play. 0:14:46.800 --> 0:14:48.080 A practice round with Brooks. 0:14:48.640 --> 0:14:53.360 And you know, Ernie was a big, you know, big 0:14:53.400 --> 0:14:55.680 star at the time, had won they had won his 0:14:55.760 --> 0:15:00.440 fourth major in twenty twelve up at Mirfield, and he 0:15:00.480 --> 0:15:02.320 was a four time major champion, and any time that 0:15:02.360 --> 0:15:05.040 I could get Brooks out with a guy like Ernie El's, 0:15:05.320 --> 0:15:08.000 it was a great learning experience for Brooks. My dad 0:15:08.080 --> 0:15:10.600 used to do that for Tiger Woods when he was 0:15:10.840 --> 0:15:13.160 growing up, when he was younger and qualifying for all 0:15:13.160 --> 0:15:14.800 these majors. He'd set up for him to play with 0:15:14.840 --> 0:15:18.240 Greg Norman, He'd set up for him to play with 0:15:18.400 --> 0:15:20.840 Sevi Bias Steros, He'd set up for him to play 0:15:21.440 --> 0:15:25.720 with Raymond Floyd, some of the old school, old guard guys. 0:15:25.760 --> 0:15:27.760 And that's one of the ways I think Tiger learned. 0:15:27.840 --> 0:15:33.000 He learned how the greats of the past did things, 0:15:33.120 --> 0:15:34.800 and I think it was a huge part of Tiger's 0:15:34.840 --> 0:15:36.880 learning curve. That was something that was really important for 0:15:36.960 --> 0:15:42.120 me at that early stage of Brooks's career. But obviously 0:15:42.200 --> 0:15:46.280 Brooks idolizes like everybody does. They idolized Tiger Woods. But 0:15:46.640 --> 0:15:51.560 Brooks's real idol and he had a serious man crush 0:15:51.600 --> 0:15:54.280 on him and still a little bit does today. Was 0:15:54.320 --> 0:15:57.480 Adam Scott. I mean Scott, he has always been you know, 0:15:57.560 --> 0:16:01.840 the golf swing, the way that Adam care himself, the professionalism. 0:16:02.360 --> 0:16:07.240 Adam is a very, very classy classy player, and he's 0:16:07.240 --> 0:16:10.200 a classy person both on and off the golf course. 0:16:10.360 --> 0:16:12.960 So I knew that Adam was going to join us 0:16:13.080 --> 0:16:16.520 for that practice round, but I didn't tell Brooks. And 0:16:16.560 --> 0:16:19.680 it was so funny that day back in twenty fourteen, 0:16:20.480 --> 0:16:23.440 Adam walked onto the he was walking towards the first 0:16:23.480 --> 0:16:26.360 tea and Brooks was like, is Scotty joining us? And 0:16:26.360 --> 0:16:29.480 I was like, yeah, Scotty's joining us in the group, 0:16:29.840 --> 0:16:34.240 and he was pretty nervous. Adam had never met him, 0:16:34.280 --> 0:16:37.480 and I asked Brooks and I asked Adam yesterday, who's 0:16:37.520 --> 0:16:40.880 the fourth in the group. And I'm drawing a blank. 0:16:40.920 --> 0:16:42.800 They're drawing a blank. I'm sure it'll come back to 0:16:42.800 --> 0:16:47.200 me at some point. But they played a match and 0:16:48.320 --> 0:16:51.080 Ernie said, what's the team's and Scotty said, well, I'll 0:16:51.080 --> 0:16:54.560 take Brooks. And so it was raining, it was blowing. 0:16:55.880 --> 0:17:00.680 Adam had Stevie Williams on the bag and so everybody 0:17:00.680 --> 0:17:03.640 got up. First hole is a little dog leg from 0:17:03.800 --> 0:17:05.720 right to left. I mean, one of the things about 0:17:05.720 --> 0:17:09.439 Hoylake is it is it favors long hitters, and it 0:17:09.480 --> 0:17:12.400 favors people that can drive the golf ball. And you're 0:17:12.440 --> 0:17:14.879 going to need to drive the golf ball well this 0:17:14.920 --> 0:17:16.760 week if you're going to have a chance to win, 0:17:16.880 --> 0:17:19.359 because you can get it in a bunker up against 0:17:19.480 --> 0:17:22.840 face and you're looking at making double. You can hit 0:17:22.880 --> 0:17:25.840 it offline, get a bad lie, hit it in a 0:17:25.880 --> 0:17:30.040 gorse bush, hit it in the thick, thick rough and 0:17:30.080 --> 0:17:33.080 you're staring double bogie in the face. So everybody gets 0:17:33.160 --> 0:17:36.080 up and hits Ernie gets up and hits Adam the 0:17:36.119 --> 0:17:36.560 other player. 0:17:37.400 --> 0:17:39.000 Drive me crazy. I can't remember who this is. 0:17:39.520 --> 0:17:44.520 And then Brooks got up and just absolutely hammered a drive. 0:17:44.600 --> 0:17:48.119 If I remember correctly, not everybody hit their best drive 0:17:49.560 --> 0:17:52.040 on that first hole back in twenty fourteen. But Brooks 0:17:52.040 --> 0:17:57.000 stood up and just hit a hammer fade. And we 0:17:57.000 --> 0:18:00.600 were walking down the fairway and Stevie Williams looked at 0:18:00.680 --> 0:18:04.320 me and he said, where's this kid play? I said, well, 0:18:05.119 --> 0:18:09.359 he's just finished fourth in the US Open at Pinehurst 0:18:09.440 --> 0:18:12.080 that Martin Kimer won. He was on the Challenge Tour, 0:18:12.200 --> 0:18:14.399 and you know he's playing, you know, half in Europe, 0:18:14.400 --> 0:18:18.920 half in the States. And Stevie said, man, that's sound 0:18:19.000 --> 0:18:24.040 with the driver. That's a different sound. And I think 0:18:24.240 --> 0:18:27.000 Brooks knocked it stiff on the first hole. Birdied the 0:18:27.000 --> 0:18:29.320 first hole and Scotty said, well, that's my partner. And 0:18:29.440 --> 0:18:32.359 you could just see that that Brooks was some of 0:18:32.400 --> 0:18:33.840 the nervousness that he had. 0:18:34.200 --> 0:18:36.399 But there I think the rain really. 0:18:36.160 --> 0:18:38.800 Came in that day, and I think what we played 0:18:38.840 --> 0:18:42.640 played one to three four. 0:18:42.680 --> 0:18:43.920 I think we played. 0:18:43.600 --> 0:18:48.560 About five six holes and Brooks never missed a shot 0:18:48.720 --> 0:18:51.520 and it was blowing twenty and it was raining sideways 0:18:52.160 --> 0:18:55.280 and there was a par five I want to say 0:18:56.119 --> 0:19:01.320 six maybe and straight in the wind. Brooks hammered a 0:19:01.440 --> 0:19:07.320 drive and he hit this low bullet stinger three two 0:19:07.359 --> 0:19:10.040 iron underneath the wind, got it up on the front edge. 0:19:10.080 --> 0:19:13.080 And Stevie Williams, who you know Caddy Tiger for all 0:19:13.119 --> 0:19:16.560 of his major championships, just said the majority of them 0:19:16.600 --> 0:19:19.280 except the one in twenty nineteen, just said, man. 0:19:19.840 --> 0:19:20.560 That's different. 0:19:21.080 --> 0:19:24.520 And in later years Stevie went on to write an artist, 0:19:24.520 --> 0:19:28.080 you know, got asked about, you know, good players, and 0:19:28.119 --> 0:19:29.639 he said, you know, the quality of strike that he 0:19:29.640 --> 0:19:31.639 saw Brooks kept at a very very young age, and 0:19:31.680 --> 0:19:34.840 I think it was really interesting, you know, coming back, 0:19:35.200 --> 0:19:37.199 you know, we talked about that practice round and in 0:19:37.200 --> 0:19:39.240 twenty fourteen, a lot yesterday when we were in the 0:19:39.280 --> 0:19:42.040 practice round with Adam scott and we were talking about, 0:19:42.200 --> 0:19:44.560 you know, just I was talking with Scottie about how 0:19:44.800 --> 0:19:49.680 crazy things have become and how everyone's lives have changed 0:19:49.760 --> 0:19:52.720 and where everybody was in twenty fourteen versus where they 0:19:52.760 --> 0:19:58.000 are in twenty and twenty three, and it was pretty special, man. 0:19:58.320 --> 0:20:00.600 It was a proud moment for me and and looking 0:20:00.640 --> 0:20:02.600 at you know, that was right at the beginning. I 0:20:02.600 --> 0:20:04.600 think I was two years in and working with Brooks 0:20:04.600 --> 0:20:07.240 and to think that, you know, almost a decade later, 0:20:07.280 --> 0:20:09.640 he's got five majors and has done all the things 0:20:09.640 --> 0:20:11.480 that he's done and gotten to number one in the world, 0:20:11.520 --> 0:20:15.280 and you don't get those moments off in life, those 0:20:15.400 --> 0:20:18.480 those moments to kind of reflect, and Scotty and I 0:20:18.520 --> 0:20:25.200 talked a lot about it yesterday. You couldn't talk about 0:20:25.200 --> 0:20:27.840 Hoylake without two thousand and six. I was here for 0:20:27.880 --> 0:20:31.600 that Open Championship as well. Tiger Woods won eighteen under 0:20:32.720 --> 0:20:37.000 one driver the entire week. It's one of the hottest 0:20:37.320 --> 0:20:40.880 major championships that I've ever been to. It was a 0:20:40.880 --> 0:20:46.520 absolute heat wave here outside of Liverpool. There were no 0:20:46.680 --> 0:20:48.879 fans to be bought. Everyone was there's not a lot 0:20:48.920 --> 0:20:51.320 of air conditioning in the houses that everyone's staying in 0:20:51.320 --> 0:20:53.520 in the hotels, and it was a heat wave. 0:20:53.600 --> 0:20:54.920 It was in the mid nineties. 0:20:54.960 --> 0:20:58.399 Every day the golf course was like concrete. It was 0:20:58.680 --> 0:21:01.280 the fairways were like runway. The balls were bouncing, the 0:21:01.280 --> 0:21:05.320 balls were rolling, and it was ridiculously hot. There wasn't 0:21:05.320 --> 0:21:09.160 a tremendous amount of wind, and other than the first day. 0:21:09.160 --> 0:21:12.560 For the last three rounds, Tiger, if I remember correctly, 0:21:12.600 --> 0:21:14.920 I don't think Tiger he had one driver all week, 0:21:14.960 --> 0:21:16.359 and I think it was in the first round. So 0:21:17.119 --> 0:21:19.760 for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, he never hit a driver. 0:21:20.359 --> 0:21:23.640 He basically just hit a lot of stingers, a lot 0:21:23.640 --> 0:21:26.680 of irons. The ball was going miles And in two 0:21:26.760 --> 0:21:29.280 thousand and six, I mean that was when Tiger Woods 0:21:29.400 --> 0:21:32.280 was you know, head and shoulders above the rest. He 0:21:32.320 --> 0:21:35.040 was in full kind of old school Tiger mode. Was 0:21:35.119 --> 0:21:37.520 working with Hank Haney at that time. His win percentage 0:21:37.560 --> 0:21:40.680 was through the roof and it was not long after 0:21:40.720 --> 0:21:44.399 his father died. And I think everybody remembers if Tiger 0:21:44.480 --> 0:21:46.920 on the last hole when he putted out kind of 0:21:47.080 --> 0:21:50.280 you know, collapsing in Stevie Williams's arms and you know, 0:21:50.359 --> 0:21:52.480 crying his eyes out because it was the first major 0:21:52.560 --> 0:21:54.560 championship that he was going to win without his father 0:21:54.640 --> 0:21:56.520 being able to see it. And I think it showed 0:21:57.119 --> 0:21:59.679 a very very human side of Tiger that you know, 0:21:59.720 --> 0:22:02.040 not of people have ever really gotten to see. So 0:22:03.320 --> 0:22:07.400 two thousand and six Tiger Woods eighteen under, twenty fourteen, 0:22:07.600 --> 0:22:13.040 Rory McElroy seventeen under. I mean, we went out today. 0:22:13.720 --> 0:22:16.719 I was in a practice round today Wednesday. It was 0:22:16.840 --> 0:22:20.800 Brooks DJ and Gary Woodland and it was raining when 0:22:20.840 --> 0:22:23.800 we teed off, and you know, I thought maybe they 0:22:23.800 --> 0:22:26.680 would play only nine holes, but everybody said, listen, we're 0:22:26.720 --> 0:22:28.840 probably going to have to play in the rain unless 0:22:28.880 --> 0:22:29.640 it's lightning. 0:22:30.480 --> 0:22:31.800 They don't really stop. 0:22:31.560 --> 0:22:36.560 Play at the Open Championship unless it's really really high winds. 0:22:36.560 --> 0:22:38.960 These are link style golf courses, so there's no water 0:22:39.280 --> 0:22:41.320 that's going to collect on any of these greens because 0:22:41.320 --> 0:22:45.000 they're you know, they're so sandy, and that's one of 0:22:45.040 --> 0:22:50.000 the great things about links golf. But it was windy today. 0:22:50.000 --> 0:22:53.600 It was really windy yesterday afternoon for the practice. 0:22:53.320 --> 0:22:55.679