Speaker 1: My Room overlooks the fairway. Here. I'm literally on the
Speaker 1: on the cross path on eighteen with a window cracked open,
Speaker 1: shades pulled, and at six thirty I thought I was
Speaker 1: I thought it was. It was a half state of
Speaker 1: dream and reality. I was woken to the call to
Speaker 1: the first tee of Paul Laury from Scotland, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: and a nice round of applause and that, and there
Speaker 1: was the start of the open championship. Put another log
Speaker 1: on the fire. Here is get the time. Hello, welcome
Speaker 1: back to another fire drill podcast. This is Alan Schifnik.
Speaker 1: Michael Bambergers here in Scotland in the press room. Matt
Speaker 1: Janelle is here in Scotland in the Russi's hotel and Um,
Speaker 1: it was the first rounds in the books. M here.
Speaker 1: It's been an incredible day of golf. Let's let's just
Speaker 1: get into it. Um, Michael, what did you see out
Speaker 1: there that Um that caught your eye and and just
Speaker 1: your thoughts on the day. Just a wild, wild range
Speaker 1: of scoring. Uh, you know, it's amazing. I think Cameron
Speaker 1: young shot of sixty four here and you know, you
Speaker 1: want to do some simple math and say, oh, is
Speaker 1: gonna win this thing. I just never see that thing happening.
Speaker 1: But you know, I want to come to the old
Speaker 1: courses defense. How about you, guys? Man, I I it's
Speaker 1: just amazing to me how this looks like it's like
Speaker 1: the him alays where we're watching one big putting contest.
Speaker 1: I mean, with the exception of the occasional bunker shot,
Speaker 1: this has been a big put show and it's you know, honestly,
Speaker 1: I'm I'm enjoying it. Yeah, I mean the course is
Speaker 1: playing incredibly short. I mean mcilroy on the fourteenth hole,
Speaker 1: part five, you know, it's six D and something yards.
Speaker 1: He had a little wedge into it. I mean it's
Speaker 1: just the ball doesn't stop rolling, but it's still not
Speaker 1: easy to get it close. I mean because the Greens
Speaker 1: are just as firm and uh, the RNA had had
Speaker 1: some spicy flags out there where they used the mounding
Speaker 1: and the banks of the of the Greens. Is Defense,
Speaker 1: which I think is fine and Um, and so I
Speaker 1: agree that you're saying, Michael. I mean it's Rory's word
Speaker 1: was fiddly. I love that word. The Brits use it
Speaker 1: to describe like kind of a course that you can't overpower.
Speaker 1: You have to you have to finesse and uh, if
Speaker 1: you play perfect golf, like like Cameron Young did, ahead
Speaker 1: of the wind, then there there's definitely a score out there.
Speaker 1: But I mean three under was good for tenth place
Speaker 1: most of the day and it's not like the entire
Speaker 1: field is going low. I mean if you play perfect golf,
Speaker 1: it's it's there for the taking. But Um, there's definitely
Speaker 1: the course can bite back. And when and when you
Speaker 1: say that, Alan when you look at this spoard and
Speaker 1: you've got a lot of good golfers on the spoort,
Speaker 1: I don't see any of these guys doing a second
Speaker 1: day what they did today. For one reason is it
Speaker 1: took six hours in the wind to play this thing.
Speaker 1: Nobody can be mentally strong enough, except for Jack Nicholas
Speaker 1: and Tiger Woods in their primes, to do that on
Speaker 1: back to back days. Maybe rory to some degree, but
Speaker 1: I mean it will wear you out just stand that
Speaker 1: long in the wind and try to play golf shots
Speaker 1: on a fifthly golf course. But by the way, we
Speaker 1: started by saying for round one is in the books.
Speaker 1: I'm I'm still seeing golfers play the a t though
Speaker 1: this the round is still going. It's PM local time
Speaker 1: and golf is still being played without, without any irony.
Speaker 1: I mean it's, it's, it's it's still light out right
Speaker 1: my my bad eye, and let's and let's, let us
Speaker 1: and let us and let us know, without irony, that
Speaker 1: Matt's wake up called today was, um, the call to
Speaker 1: the tea at six thirty five of Paul Laury, you know,
Speaker 1: group number one, now on the table, and company. That's
Speaker 1: a great story this morning. Tell the tell the readers
Speaker 1: about that. For the listeners, I mean the I had.
Speaker 1: I had one of the greatest twenty four hours in
Speaker 1: my life as a professional in the golf industry, which,
Speaker 1: you know, ended with on the heels of an hour
Speaker 1: and a half worth of sleep and my my room
Speaker 1: overlooks the the fairway. Here I'm literally on the on
Speaker 1: the cross path on eighteen with a window cracked open,
Speaker 1: shades pulled, and at six thirty I thought I was,
Speaker 1: I thought it was. It was a half state of
Speaker 1: dream and reality and my whole day then, my day
Speaker 1: had ended an hour and a half before with reflections
Speaker 1: of visiting old Tom's and young Tom's grave sites at
Speaker 1: the stroke of midnight with a few former colleagues at
Speaker 1: golf channel, after we jumped fences and scurried under fences
Speaker 1: and and and found their grave sites. And then an
Speaker 1: hour and a half after I fell asleep, I was
Speaker 1: woken to the call to the first tee of Paul
Speaker 1: lury from Scotland, uh, you know, and a nice round
Speaker 1: of applause and that. And there was the start of
Speaker 1: the one Fiftie Open Championship and uh, it was tremendous.
Speaker 1: I just sat there and with my eyes closed and
Speaker 1: listened to another couple of groups go off until Phil Nicholson, uh,
Speaker 1: was called to tea and then I had to get
Speaker 1: up out of bed and pull the shades open to
Speaker 1: watch him, watch him stroll across the Cross way to,
Speaker 1: you know, a couple of calls of let's go fail,
Speaker 1: let's go fail, and uh, and and they were off. I. Um,
Speaker 1: I wasn't out there, but from reading, from reading some
Speaker 1: of the the press accounts and the transcript, sounds like
Speaker 1: maybe Ian Poulter got got a little heckling or a
Speaker 1: smattering of booze. Um. Did you happen to hear Poulter
Speaker 1: go off, Matt, I did. I I was listening to
Speaker 1: a wide variety of players go off. I didn't hear
Speaker 1: any any booze and it just seemed that that just
Speaker 1: does not seem like this crowd at all. It's not
Speaker 1: say it didn't happen. It would be. I was listening
Speaker 1: thinking would there be something like that? I didn't hear
Speaker 1: anything like that at adare manner and not nothing audibly
Speaker 1: to the point where they could actually hear it. But anyway,
Speaker 1: if it happened, I didn't hear it. Interesting, alright, just curious.
Speaker 1: But how it sound from the fourth floor of the
Speaker 1: russaks hotel? So also Alan, he's very English. Well, yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean that's not necessarily a good thing when you're
Speaker 1: playing in Scotland. But we won't get in. Probably why
Speaker 1: that that would be more inclined to have the booze.
Speaker 1: WE WON'T DREDGE UP. You know, fifteen cent tree politics
Speaker 1: share on this podcast. But so cam young goes out early.
Speaker 1: He's he's sort of them. He's he throws a marker down,
Speaker 1: I mean the tip of the CAP. I mean the
Speaker 1: guy is probably gonna be rookie of the year on tour.
Speaker 1: He's he's had some really good finishes. He made an
Speaker 1: awesome run um at at southern hills. So he's a
Speaker 1: legit player, and not say he can't hang around, but
Speaker 1: to me that the man of the hour, the toast
Speaker 1: of the town, was rory mcelroy. I mean to shoot
Speaker 1: such an effortless sixty six where he was almost never
Speaker 1: in trouble and even even the one bogey he made,
Speaker 1: he's right in front of the green and he said
Speaker 1: he got too cute with a chip and it took
Speaker 1: a bad balance and you know that happens. But he
Speaker 1: looked totally in control, not only of his golf ball
Speaker 1: but also his emotions. The crowd was very much on
Speaker 1: Rory's side. Um. You know, I think we've talked a
Speaker 1: lot already this week about how much this open means
Speaker 1: to the game of golf and then how much it
Speaker 1: means to the players to win a and open at
Speaker 1: St Andrew's. And as rory has become sort of the
Speaker 1: this global ambassador for the sport and probably the most
Speaker 1: beloved figure in the game. I mean everyone wants him
Speaker 1: to get this one and you could just feel that
Speaker 1: energy in the crowd. I went out there and walked
Speaker 1: a bit and Um, so let let's talk about rory.
Speaker 1: I mean Michael. You follow him his whole career. Um,
Speaker 1: what did you see from him today and can you
Speaker 1: put in context what this victory would mean if he
Speaker 1: can keep going? You know, I think it's a little
Speaker 1: bit like playing for right now, not to turn this
Speaker 1: into a political discussion of another sort too quickly, but
Speaker 1: he is playing for traditional golfing values, you know, and
Speaker 1: not this upstart live golf league, and in that sense
Speaker 1: it's a little bit like playing for your nation or
Speaker 1: your or your continent in the Ryder Cup and Um.
Speaker 1: And that adds pressure and we've seen the pressure that
Speaker 1: just trying to win the master's Tournament, Um has on
Speaker 1: Rory and Um, I expect he's gonna play, you know,
Speaker 1: three really good rounds of golf, but to get it
Speaker 1: done all the way through Sunday evening in the seventies
Speaker 1: and hole is, no matter how good his golf is,
Speaker 1: no matter how strong his head is, it's a very,
Speaker 1: very tall challenge. Yeah, it's interesting because, oh, go ahead, no,
Speaker 1: I was just saying that. You know, I I get
Speaker 1: all that and I seem I think that's like that's
Speaker 1: very obvious to me at this point of Rory's sort
Speaker 1: of life and career. It's really all about trying to
Speaker 1: get it done under pressure, like he's got to continue
Speaker 1: to try to uh make up for past, you know,
Speaker 1: hiccups and but I think he's been poked. I think
Speaker 1: he's been poked, he's been perturbed, he's he's been reinvigorated
Speaker 1: or refocused in terms of the competitor in him and, Um,
Speaker 1: I think going back, you know, to the Canadian open and,
Speaker 1: you know, even watching him and and seeing him at
Speaker 1: a dare manner at the JP program and and knowing
Speaker 1: what this means, I just get the sense that there's
Speaker 1: the the childlike competitor in Rory has been has been,
Speaker 1: you know, uh prodded and and I think that there
Speaker 1: seems to be in an extra layer of focus to
Speaker 1: him the last couple of weeks and it has a
Speaker 1: lot to do with live and it has a lot
Speaker 1: to do with the fight for competitive being annoyed. He's
Speaker 1: he's annoyed by the fact that he's going through all
Speaker 1: this and I think he knows that the way to
Speaker 1: continue to silence all this and let his game do
Speaker 1: the talking. He's as opposed to his talking doing the talking,
Speaker 1: is a better way for him to go about his business. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's really well said. I mean coming into this year
Speaker 1: the backstory on Roy the majors was he would get
Speaker 1: stage fright on Thursday, and he was. He had all
Speaker 1: these terrible first rounds. I kind of blew him out
Speaker 1: of the tournament and he's conquered. I mean there's three
Speaker 1: straight majors. He started with a really great round, put
Speaker 1: himself around among the leaders and he talked about this
Speaker 1: a little bit after his round. Now the challenge becomes Friday.
Speaker 1: It's backing up one great round with another, because at
Speaker 1: both southern hills in the country club he kind of
Speaker 1: retreated a little bit in the second round and instead
Speaker 1: of taking the you know, the tournament by the throat
Speaker 1: and really putting his stamp on it Um, you know,
Speaker 1: he was his play was a little defensive and a
Speaker 1: little soft in the second round. So now he has
Speaker 1: a new challenge. Can he keep going forward and can
Speaker 1: you build on this, on this round? But I thought
Speaker 1: it was impressive that he played with so much patience
Speaker 1: and restraint because, you know, roy has so much firepower.
Speaker 1: He could he could try to overpower this golf course,
Speaker 1: but he he was very disciplined. He had a game
Speaker 1: plan and he stuck to it and and when he
Speaker 1: got in trouble on a couple occasions, he just got
Speaker 1: himself out of trouble real quick, played semi conservative shots
Speaker 1: and Um and, as you were saying, Matt, you know,
Speaker 1: Roy's lag putting was beautiful and when you think about
Speaker 1: the strengths of his game, that's not something that gets
Speaker 1: mentioned very often, but he had. He had some terrific
Speaker 1: two putts from six eight feet and even some from
Speaker 1: off the green, like on the road hole. You know,
Speaker 1: he was way short of that Green. He rolled it
Speaker 1: up there and save par. So it's exciting. I mean,
Speaker 1: as Michael said, there's still a lot of golf to go,
Speaker 1: but Um, roy is the right man at the right
Speaker 1: time and it would be a thrill if he can
Speaker 1: just keep himself in this until the bitter end. And
Speaker 1: he doesn't have to do very much to do that tomorrow.
Speaker 1: In other words, tomorrow is not the round to put
Speaker 1: pressure on yourself. I mean, he's going to be playing late.
Speaker 1: You know he had a good first round. If you
Speaker 1: shoot seventy tomorrow, it's it's terrific. UH, and I don't
Speaker 1: know what his mindset has been after you know these
Speaker 1: last three majors where he played first good round, good
Speaker 1: first rounds, but tomorrow he all he has. You know,
Speaker 1: Tigert uses is forever. All he has to do is
Speaker 1: play rory mcawrey golf. He doesn't do anything exceptional at
Speaker 1: all to just hang around, hang around, to hang around
Speaker 1: and then be there come, come Sunday. Having said that,
Speaker 1: you've got a lot of talent all over this golf
Speaker 1: course and s good. You Know Scotty Shuffler and you
Speaker 1: know Cameron Smith. I mean you know Dustin John. UH,
Speaker 1: that Dustin hasn't been a factor in a long time
Speaker 1: and Um, I think, as with rory, but in a
Speaker 1: different way, this lift stuff is maybe um stimulated dustin
Speaker 1: in a way that he needed, because he's just been
Speaker 1: coasting and for a guy who still has so much
Speaker 1: game to not even factor, I mean he's been, when
Speaker 1: he's going on two years out of even any kind
Speaker 1: of win anywhere. So Um, for him, for him to
Speaker 1: make a strong push, I mean you would think if
Speaker 1: you make a list of guys that were born to
Speaker 1: win on this golf course, he would seem to be
Speaker 1: a he'd be on that Short list. So Um, he's
Speaker 1: a really intriguing. Name, Um, anyone else on the board
Speaker 1: that captures your eyemat? Well, say heath the gala. I
Speaker 1: mean we were just we're just watching and Gawking at
Speaker 1: him and his game. I mean I just I just
Speaker 1: love the way he plays Golf. I love that he
Speaker 1: wears links Ole. He was out there in in in
Speaker 1: one of my favorite link soul hoodies. Uh, and he's
Speaker 1: at the old course. It's like he plays Goat Hill
Speaker 1: Park when he's in oceanside California. To go from Goat
Speaker 1: Hill Park and and pepperdine to win the you know,
Speaker 1: the open championship of the old course. We're in a
Speaker 1: link soul hoodie. I. How can I not relate, to
Speaker 1: relate to that. Uh, and I and he's he's got
Speaker 1: a lot of DJ in him just with his his
Speaker 1: his his length, his his stride, his presence, his demeanor.
Speaker 1: He's really he's really kind spirited guy. I watched DJ
Speaker 1: for eighteen holes at a dare and he did not
Speaker 1: miss a shot. He was hitting, he played, he is
Speaker 1: he is hitting the golf ball. He's in total command
Speaker 1: of his game. In fact, he was reading his own
Speaker 1: pots Um. He had his brother in law on the
Speaker 1: bag at a dare and you know, I again I
Speaker 1: mentioned that the that we had a caddy who could
Speaker 1: help and read putts and and he he wasn't interested.
Speaker 1: And Uh, he could have shot eight under easily and
Speaker 1: he missed a lot of short but so it's funny
Speaker 1: that his putting was off in terms of I guess,
Speaker 1: maybe the reds Um. For Him to win this, obviously putties.
Speaker 1: He's gonna have to have great reads and great putting.
Speaker 1: So and he seems like kind of a classic links
Speaker 1: player who's not so focused on mechanics and just hit shots,
Speaker 1: like I saw on the telecast play some really fun, tricky,
Speaker 1: spinny Um shots that just showed a real flair and
Speaker 1: a real understanding of what you gotta do out there.
Speaker 1: So that that I you know, I haven't I haven't
Speaker 1: seen as much of his game as I would like
Speaker 1: to this point, but from what I saw today, like
Speaker 1: he seems to get it and Um, you got you
Speaker 1: got a root for young players like that who who
Speaker 1: just take on the challenge and they're they're not playing
Speaker 1: track man golf and and they're they're they're just they're
Speaker 1: just making, you know, hitting golf shots. So that that
Speaker 1: was cool. He's having fun. A model for the a
Speaker 1: model for that would be John Daly. UH, John Daily
Speaker 1: and Dustin Johnson are actually very similar in a lot
Speaker 1: of ways. Mega, mega talents uh don't have their nose
Speaker 1: in the artage book. Uh, played by feel, do their
Speaker 1: own thing and can't be dictated to. And if John
Speaker 1: Daily could come here and and and win here on
Speaker 1: the old course, uh, with Sabat like skills, uh, I
Speaker 1: think Dustin Johnson could do the do the exact same thing.
Speaker 1: You don't have to do it, you know, the Jack
Speaker 1: Nicholas Way, or the Louis tizing way for that matter. Yeah,
Speaker 1: all right. Let let's talk about Tiger Woods, because you
Speaker 1: guys last night were ready to annoint him the champion.
Speaker 1: I kind of stayed quiet in that debate because I
Speaker 1: didn't quite share your belief, but I didn't want to
Speaker 1: be Debbie Downer. Um. But you know, there's gonna be
Speaker 1: days when Tiger doesn't play well. But it was startling
Speaker 1: to watch him come out on the first hole, uh, Um,
Speaker 1: and dump it into the into the burn and make
Speaker 1: it and then hit a hit, a nice pitch, and then,
Speaker 1: you know, basically with a three FT or like that
Speaker 1: that double bogey was such a Gut Punch. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: there's some hard holes in the old course where bogey's
Speaker 1: fine but number one is not. Is Not a double
Speaker 1: bogie hole. And so Um, what what can we say
Speaker 1: about about tigers seventies six to day, which put him
Speaker 1: in a place. He's still in it all right. Why
Speaker 1: is he still living at Michael? Let's hear it. You
Speaker 1: know he's Tiger I. I agree with the Alan completely
Speaker 1: that he has had over the course of his career
Speaker 1: a lot of bad first souls, including Augusta national, you know,
Speaker 1: driving it crazily offline here, you know, to drive it
Speaker 1: in a divot hole or you know, hit a foreign
Speaker 1: into a divot hole on a on a perfect shot
Speaker 1: and then dumping in the burn. He said Augusta wind
Speaker 1: hit in his press conference afterwards. I don't know. Uh,
Speaker 1: it's hard to imagine. There's a hard and of Gusta
Speaker 1: win that's going to prevent you know that it's gonna
Speaker 1: knock the ball down twenty yards, because you should be,
Speaker 1: you know, at least five yards. Uh, past that whole
Speaker 1: but tiger woods, at the peak of his powers, had
Speaker 1: so much mental strength it would be even with having
Speaker 1: the red ass of having your first shot finishing a divot,
Speaker 1: it would be almost impossible to imagine not keeping the
Speaker 1: ball dry and making at worst of five Uh. And then,
Speaker 1: of course, in his prime he would have come back
Speaker 1: from the double bogey. And that takes mental resolve as
Speaker 1: much as anything. And how much meant to resolve can
Speaker 1: any one person have? So, you know, it's uh, this
Speaker 1: game reveals your inner life like nothing can, and I
Speaker 1: think we saw actually a glimpse of of Tigers in
Speaker 1: her life today and it's it's a tough place to be.
Speaker 1: And I would just want to say this too, but
Speaker 1: I mean he showed a lot of grace and a
Speaker 1: lot of class really coming in after the round and
Speaker 1: answering every last question, which he has done pretty much
Speaker 1: his whole career, but even today it was with like,
Speaker 1: you know, a little bit more, almost definitely depth, but
Speaker 1: also sort of wistfulness, like I won't be doing this forever.
Speaker 1: And I saw oh it to the game just to
Speaker 1: explain myself and I and I think he should get
Speaker 1: I think he's I mean, he does get credit for that,
Speaker 1: but he should get probably more. We just watched him
Speaker 1: walk up the eighteenth fairway and he had driven it
Speaker 1: into the Valley of sin and then he three putted
Speaker 1: from there. Almost four putted, I mean drove. He hit
Speaker 1: that third part by four, four FT, maybe five five.
Speaker 1: He made a good part coming back to save par
Speaker 1: and off the cap and gave a nice to wave
Speaker 1: a decent crowd. UH, still still there, you know, but
Speaker 1: it was. It was well past nine o'clock in the evening.
Speaker 1: There wasn't a crazy crowd and it's I just was
Speaker 1: feeling a little sad that if, if this is, if
Speaker 1: this is it for him and the and the open
Speaker 1: on an afternoon, late evening. Um, it just looked sad
Speaker 1: all that. You know, it just he just looks broken.
Speaker 1: He does. And then when he's climbing up the you know,
Speaker 1: I've noticed this a lot over the years actually, but especially, uh,
Speaker 1: since since the car crash. Uh Uh. He puts on
Speaker 1: a brave face in terms of his walk and in
Speaker 1: his actual literal face and then the second he's done
Speaker 1: it sort of all comes washing out. And when he
Speaker 1: walked over that bridge that takes you from the eighteenth
Speaker 1: green to the to the scorer's scoring area, the limp
Speaker 1: was much more pronounced immediately. And then when he was
Speaker 1: done with his press conference and he had to walk
Speaker 1: down four steps. You know, in his youth, of course,
Speaker 1: like any you know, young person, he would have hopped
Speaker 1: down the steps and he's literally holding onto the is
Speaker 1: it called the door jam, you know, the side of
Speaker 1: the door and sort of gingerly, understandably careful he walking
Speaker 1: down these steps. So you know, we're seeing a guy
Speaker 1: with a lot going on in his life, physically and
Speaker 1: emotionally mentally. Yeah, and it was interesting because even early
Speaker 1: in the round, I mean obviously when you take a
Speaker 1: double bag on the first hole and any human being
Speaker 1: that's gonna be an emotional letdown. But I mean his
Speaker 1: distance control was so off today. I mean there was
Speaker 1: he was coming up twenty, thirty yards short with iron,
Speaker 1: you know short irons in his hands, and he flew
Speaker 1: some Greens. I mean you still get you'll get hard
Speaker 1: bounces and you get run out, so it will put
Speaker 1: you in weird spots, but he was doing it on
Speaker 1: the fly. It just felt like he didn't have any
Speaker 1: feeling in his hands and it certainly showed in his putting.
Speaker 1: I mean his speed was off all day long and Um,
Speaker 1: these Greens didn't really change overnight. I mean he's been
Speaker 1: practicing on this speed and it just, it just kind
Speaker 1: of you just didn't have it today. and Um, you know,
Speaker 1: tiger is not immune to other emotions. You Know Rory
Speaker 1: talked about Um. You know how keyed up he was
Speaker 1: for this round and you kind of have to get
Speaker 1: over that and just settle into playing golf. We know
Speaker 1: how badly tiger wanted it. He prepared so hard this week.
Speaker 1: I mean he pushed himself harder than it for any
Speaker 1: other round this season really, and as far as the
Speaker 1: pre tournament prep and you know, it just he may have,
Speaker 1: it's funny to say about Tigers. He may have been
Speaker 1: a little overwhelmed by the moment, you know. and Um,
Speaker 1: it's okay. It happens to every athlete, happens every human.
Speaker 1: But Um, there there is an element of melancholy because
Speaker 1: we know the end is appears like it's near and
Speaker 1: everyone was hoping there'd be something special and something miraculous
Speaker 1: that he could summon on this golf course that means
Speaker 1: so much to him. But he just didn't have it.
Speaker 1: I Alan I completely agree with that assessment and I'll
Speaker 1: tell you why. Because for years like his whole career.
Speaker 1: He geared himself for, you know, sixteen or twenty, you know,
Speaker 1: maybe twenty four rounds and that was amazing how he
Speaker 1: would do that. But this year he really was gearing
Speaker 1: himself for one round in particular and that was today's round.
Speaker 1: I don't think he went to Augustin National. I think
Speaker 1: he had much of a chance. We so it happened
Speaker 1: in the southern at southern nils that even play in
Speaker 1: the US Open at the country club and he's probably
Speaker 1: wise to do it. So the one thing he really
Speaker 1: needed to go well was this one round today to
Speaker 1: set up the Friday round. And it didn't. And I
Speaker 1: think you're right. I think, uh, you know when your
Speaker 1: body is good and you're in every major and you
Speaker 1: know if this one doesn't work out, you got the
Speaker 1: next one. Is disappointing if you don't play well. But
Speaker 1: he doesn't have that. He had everything geared towards this
Speaker 1: one round and I think Um just as a as
Speaker 1: a as an issue of mental frailty. Uh, it is
Speaker 1: understandable and Matt and I were saying yesterday nobody gets
Speaker 1: geared up and ready and prime to play meaningful rounds.
Speaker 1: Let the legend grow rounds like Tiger Woods does, but
Speaker 1: life interferes. It's important to remember it's not just the leg.
Speaker 1: I mean there's a guy who had five actories before
Speaker 1: the car crash and and compensating for the leg. Then
Speaker 1: you know, if you're playing a lot of golf and
Speaker 1: you're compensating for the leg, that can cause a lot
Speaker 1: of other shoes, not only, you know, not only in
Speaker 1: your swing but just physically. So again, I think broken
Speaker 1: is probably the best word to describe him. He's he's
Speaker 1: he's he's not right. Well, just very briefly, just beyond
Speaker 1: the physical issues, I mean, I know this is really harsh,
Speaker 1: but it is true. Something happened that morning that changed
Speaker 1: the course of his life and it's a tragedy and
Speaker 1: we don't know what happened or why it happened or
Speaker 1: how it happened, but we know that it did happen.
Speaker 1: And he's an you know, presumably he's an honest person
Speaker 1: with himself. He must recognize that. So in additional the
Speaker 1: physical pain he's enduring, there has to be a tremendous
Speaker 1: amount of mental pain. It's like what happened on that
Speaker 1: day and we don't know the answer, and I'm not
Speaker 1: pretending I do, but we can imagine that tiger must
Speaker 1: be asking that question, because how could any sentient human
Speaker 1: being not pose that question to himself for herself? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean it wasn't a fender bender. He was traveling
Speaker 1: at an incredible rate of speed. I mean there's an
Speaker 1: element of recklessness, or maybe something more than that. That Um,
Speaker 1: that has gone on. Accounted for your right and Um. So.
Speaker 1: So now tiger t is off tomorrow right around ten
Speaker 1: am local time, which means he'll be finishing call it
Speaker 1: three thirty. Um. That's probably the peak of of the day. Right.
Speaker 1: Everyone who wants to be at this tournament is going
Speaker 1: to be there, potentially an incredible scene on eighteen. If
Speaker 1: you know, it looks pretty likely he's gonna be missing
Speaker 1: the cut. I mean we know tiger is gonna fight
Speaker 1: hard no matter what. He's not gonna give up out
Speaker 1: there and if he gets off the hot start, then
Speaker 1: who knows? But Um, let's let's just say, you know,
Speaker 1: it's clear he's not gonna make the cut and it's
Speaker 1: going to be an emotional moment because I think there's
Speaker 1: definitely a sense of farewell. He's probably never gonna play
Speaker 1: another open at the old course, you know, in five, six,
Speaker 1: seven years, and Um that seems highly unlikely. And who
Speaker 1: knows if I'll ever make the plane flight over here again.
Speaker 1: Who knows if he's even going to turn up but
Speaker 1: next year's majors at all. I mean there's so many
Speaker 1: unknowns for this guy. So I think everyone's sort of
Speaker 1: girding themselves for what's going to be, uh, some sort
Speaker 1: of goodbye tomorrow. We won't know how significant it is until,
Speaker 1: you know, years from now, but it could be very much.
Speaker 1: You can imagine his personality type. If the two extremes
Speaker 1: are Hogan, who turned his back on tournament golf, and
Speaker 1: Arnold Palmer, who couldn't do it, obviously tiger was. My
Speaker 1: personality type is much closer to Hogan. So you're absolutely right, Alan. Uh,
Speaker 1: we don't know how meaningful this round tomorrow is going
Speaker 1: to be in terms of closing chapters. And we're talking
Speaker 1: about a golf course where he's now, you know, an
Speaker 1: honorary remember the R and a and what he flat
Speaker 1: out says is his favorite golf course in the world.
Speaker 1: It's it's powerful stuff, it's poignant and it's moving and
Speaker 1: it's wistful. I know where I'll be tomorrow. Uh, tomorrow
Speaker 1: afternoon here St Andrews, which is processing all of it.
Speaker 1: I mean my first week at sports illustrated as the
Speaker 1: golf photo editor, uh, while key opened. Uh, that was
Speaker 1: the first week that I that I became the official,
Speaker 1: you know, golf photo of s I, and we have
Speaker 1: mark Mulvoy here and we all worked together at S
Speaker 1: I and and coming back to you know, I'm we're
Speaker 1: already wistful over the fact that we're just here at
Speaker 1: this open and what it all means. So the idea
Speaker 1: that tiger maybe, you know, taking that cap off one
Speaker 1: last time, waving goodbye to this crowd, waving goodbye to
Speaker 1: us right, waving goodbye to us, all of us, Um
Speaker 1: that has has that are here and who have made
Speaker 1: this journey or or witnessing all this. It's that. I mean, wow,
Speaker 1: it could. It's going to be a powerful moment. I
Speaker 1: remember Jack, remember Arnie, remember Tom Watson and Um, you
Speaker 1: know what we'll be telling grandkids about about being here tomorrow.
Speaker 1: And it is incredible because those guys were in their
Speaker 1: sixties or older, you know, and and here's tiger, who's
Speaker 1: Uh mid forties, but it's Um it's just, you know,
Speaker 1: the the most dominant Golfer of all time. There's no question,
Speaker 1: and I think there'll always be the sense of of
Speaker 1: what might have been. If, if, if things have gone
Speaker 1: differently away from the golf course. But that's just that's
Speaker 1: part of what's what's made this last act so poignant
Speaker 1: is thinking about what could have been and what might
Speaker 1: have been and making peace with what is not just
Speaker 1: for Tiger but for us. When when you won here
Speaker 1: in two thousand and five, you know, I wrote the
Speaker 1: game story for S I and I I got. He
Speaker 1: played the last round with a laugh the ball and
Speaker 1: I got a lack the ball alone and lath ball
Speaker 1: is like this guy should win opens at the old
Speaker 1: course forever because he's just too good and too smart.
Speaker 1: And that seemed right. But then there was also Dan
Speaker 1: Jenkinson said the only thing can stop him as a
Speaker 1: bad marriage or bad back. Well not. Both those things
Speaker 1: could be correct and you know, we don't know the
Speaker 1: answer yet, but we can see the direction that it's going.
Speaker 1: Still cheers going on behind me. It's tent golf right now.
Speaker 1: I've now I've now changed rooms. This has been an
Speaker 1: interesting open for me logistically. But if I look out
Speaker 1: my window I can see the top of the press
Speaker 1: tent and I can Um, I can get a little
Speaker 1: glimpse of the bay and I heard those cheers as well.
Speaker 1: So I don't have quite visual you do, but I've
Speaker 1: got the ombat noise. It's amazing, so cool. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: can add a beautiful sunset too. I mean the pink clouds.
Speaker 1: What a time to be out on the golf course.
Speaker 1: I mean the poor Irish kid who had like the
Speaker 1: four twelve tea time. He's he's playing under playing through
Speaker 1: quite a scene out there. You know what I'M gonna do?
Speaker 1: I'm gonna Tomorrow Morning, I'm gonna Hook up my microphone,
Speaker 1: I'M gonna stick it out my window. Uh, it's not
Speaker 1: a euphemism for anything other than I'm just literally gonna
Speaker 1: stick my microphone out the window and I'm gonna Record
Speaker 1: the start of tomorrow's play and we can play that
Speaker 1: as part of tomorrow night's podcast. I love that. I
Speaker 1: love that all right. Well, I think I think it's
Speaker 1: best to end on this wistful moment Um. We'll see.
Speaker 1: I mean he's still tiger woods. He might have so
Speaker 1: much red ass sill shoot sixty eight tomorrow and make
Speaker 1: the cut by, you know, two strokes, like it's anything's possible.
Speaker 1: But Um, you know that that's what makes that's what
Speaker 1: makes this game fun. Anything can happen. So any any
Speaker 1: final thoughts? Michael? You know, I it's an interesting common
Speaker 1: because I think that he played angry golf and hard
Speaker 1: golf and hit it hard golf and it worked really
Speaker 1: well at Augusta national, and then he had the ability
Speaker 1: to change speeds and make the pitch shots and the
Speaker 1: ship shots in the pudding. But here that's not gonna
Speaker 1: work because now, I mean, you know, rory played a
Speaker 1: six yard part part five with the driver and a wedge,
Speaker 1: but this course right now is fiddly. Is Rory says,
Speaker 1: inquires so much vaness. There's no overwhelming this golf course
Speaker 1: with strength or red ASS or anything other than real
Speaker 1: really patients. Uh Uh. And I think we're gonna see that,
Speaker 1: you know, for the next for the next three days. Well,
Speaker 1: I can't wait. I wonder, you know, eight under today.
Speaker 1: Do we think? Do we think the winning score based
Speaker 1: on sort of what's happening? I guess it's really just
Speaker 1: all just a matter of the wind right. I mean
Speaker 1: that's the only that's the only thing. But you know,
Speaker 1: something around eleven, twelve under, ten under could potentially win it.
Speaker 1: Is that? What is that what we're thinking? It could,
Speaker 1: especially if if the weekend wins are strong, which has
Speaker 1: been forecast in some places. I mean, again, no disrespect
Speaker 1: to Cam Young, but let's say, let's say Rory, rory
Speaker 1: is a de facto leader. You know, if you shoot
Speaker 1: three or four tomorrow, that's a great score. That gets
Speaker 1: into nine or ten and then, you know, five under
Speaker 1: total on the weekend would be amazing if you're in
Speaker 1: the leads up. Michael, excuse me, Michael, I said fifteen.
Speaker 1: That was this morning when we were just kind of bussing.
Speaker 1: I think that's a that's a great number, Um and,
Speaker 1: but it is so weather dependent. I will say the
Speaker 1: RNA they've they've trotted out some new pin placements. Even
Speaker 1: guys who played this course a lot and turn rounds
Speaker 1: that haven't seen Um, I think that they're recognizing how
Speaker 1: short is playing. They're going to use all the humps
Speaker 1: and hollows and Swales on the Greens for Defense and
Speaker 1: there's gonna be some very, very challenging pins, which is fine.
Speaker 1: By me I mean, Um, you know, it's you gotta
Speaker 1: do something to make an intion. If they're gonna have
Speaker 1: short irons, you can't just give them easy pins. So, Um,
Speaker 1: who knows that? I think. I think anything from twelve
Speaker 1: eighteen is in play. It just depends on the wind
Speaker 1: the UH. You know, I forget when we uh how often.
Speaker 1: Some like some guys play the dunhill links here every
Speaker 1: year and they really really know this golf course and
Speaker 1: I sort of forget that because we're not here very
Speaker 1: often and rory, of course, is one of the one
Speaker 1: of those guys. Dustin Johnson is too, to a lesser degree.
Speaker 1: Uh So, I think it's like Augustin national in that way,
Speaker 1: where experience does count for a lot, even though guys
Speaker 1: have won their first time here as well. Um, uh
Speaker 1: so I think we're gonna see a very elite leader board.
Speaker 1: You know, we already have a good leader board. Will
Speaker 1: have a better leader boarder by the end of Friday or,
Speaker 1: you know, a leader both. More failure names and that's
Speaker 1: only going to increase over the weekend. You know, decades
Speaker 1: ago calm Montgomery told me he had a formula for
Speaker 1: choosing the winning score you take the first round lead,
Speaker 1: you double it and you add one. So eight hundred
Speaker 1: times two, that's sixteen plus one is seventeen. So that
Speaker 1: would be collins very unscientific method. He said it's remarkably accurate.
Speaker 1: I've never actually done the math on that, but Um,
Speaker 1: so anyway, that's what's fun is not knowing right like,
Speaker 1: because if the temperature drops and the wind comes up,
Speaker 1: it's just a survival test. And if the wind dies,
Speaker 1: then it's it's guys are gonna attack and it changes
Speaker 1: hour to hours. So it's kind of fool hardy to predict,
Speaker 1: but that's the business we're in. Yah. Well, I'm going
Speaker 1: to bed early tonight, early in terms of the the
Speaker 1: standards of of the or the precedent that's been set
Speaker 1: throughout the pacing of of my my travels us two
Speaker 1: and a half weeks Um and I promised to have
Speaker 1: a ton more energy tomorrow and looking forward to uh,
Speaker 1: walk in some more golf with you guys and and
Speaker 1: taking it all in and watching what's gonna Happen, certain
Speaker 1: most certainly with both Tiger and Rory Matt don't be
Speaker 1: surprised if the first name you hear tomorrow morning is
Speaker 1: Mark Calquebeca? Yes, he's. He's in that first group and
Speaker 1: I think they'll give h well, I don't really know
Speaker 1: how it works in the second round, but but typically
Speaker 1: if you've got a an open champion winner in the threesome,
Speaker 1: he gets the honor on Thursday for sure. I don't
Speaker 1: know if that would if that would apply for Friday,
Speaker 1: but anyway, you he'll he'll hear the long American name,
Speaker 1: Mark Calcaveecki at some point, uh, between six thirty and
Speaker 1: six thirty sixty five and six forty tomorrow morning, or
Speaker 1: eight hours from now, as we like to say. I
Speaker 1: love it. I love it. But before we go, let's
Speaker 1: let's tip our caps to our sponsors who help us, Um,
Speaker 1: come to these tournaments and bring all this fun coverage
Speaker 1: to golf fans. So thank you to link soul Um,
Speaker 1: to seed golf, great little off ball company from the
Speaker 1: side of the Atlantic. Um, part points are o g s,
Speaker 1: our favorite scoring APP UM and and the rustick's hotel,
Speaker 1: who have been very gracefuler hospitality, dinner and dinner there tonight.
Speaker 1: It was it was quite a view from up there
Speaker 1: on that that rooftop deck and uh, I've been taking
Speaker 1: good care of Matt all week. So, Um, we appreciate
Speaker 1: that and, of course, to you, the listeners. You're you're
Speaker 1: the most important part of this whole deal. Thanks for
Speaker 1: tuning in. We will be back at you after the
Speaker 1: second round the salent Schipnuk. That was Michael Bamberger and
Speaker 1: Matt Janella. This was another fire drill podcasts from St Andrew's.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening. Goodbye. Put another log on the fire.
Speaker 1: Are we hear us? Get the time? H