Speaker 1: The build up to what is about to unfold, and
Speaker 1: for all the reasons we've already discussed, I just it's
Speaker 1: just almost too much to comprehend. I got thoughts in
Speaker 1: my head, can't get them Joan nothing what I'm thinking about.
Speaker 1: Thoughts in my head, can't get them out. Not think
Speaker 1: what I'm thinking about? Hello with this zilence, Chip knuck
Speaker 1: back for another fire Drill podcast. It is Masters Week,
Speaker 1: best week of the year. Too many not all. Um
Speaker 1: It's been quite a build up. It's always a long
Speaker 1: preamble from the last Major until the Masters. This year
Speaker 1: was extremely um action packed with all the all the
Speaker 1: subplots and everything else. So here to unpack it all
Speaker 1: at Michael Bamberger, Matt Janella, gents, thanks thanks for doing
Speaker 1: this pleasure. I mean, come on, we're talking to the master.
Speaker 1: I mean, this is like when I lived in the Northeast.
Speaker 1: This sort of was the week in which you allowed
Speaker 1: yourself to think that spring was about to spring. You
Speaker 1: know what I mean. It was this was when we thought,
Speaker 1: like when we got back from covering one of them,
Speaker 1: you know how many Masters have we been going to this?
Speaker 1: That was when you could start playing golf again. So
Speaker 1: there's that I've generally just already build that excitement. But
Speaker 1: also I just think the Major, the current state of
Speaker 1: the game, the majors are even more major, and the
Speaker 1: Masters has always been an amazing major. And now it's
Speaker 1: even the theater about what's about to unfold. It is
Speaker 1: just I just can't wait. Well, now it starts a
Speaker 1: week early with you know, with the Annua, which was
Speaker 1: must watch this year with Rose, and people are still
Speaker 1: debating whether should have laid up or not on the
Speaker 1: fifteenth hole. It's like the Master now, Allan, Allan, Allan, Yes,
Speaker 1: they're not debating. Let's yeah, well, okay, let's just so.
Speaker 1: I mean, I know it's only one person, maybe two,
Speaker 1: the dad and the and the winner for he didn't.
Speaker 1: I didn't hate it. She was playing to win. It's
Speaker 1: like a birdie there and the tournament's over and like
Speaker 1: she was trying to go. She was going for the juggular.
Speaker 1: I thought it was cool. But Matt, Matt, that's why
Speaker 1: our distinguished colleague was a cartboy, not a caddy. At
Speaker 1: the Pebble Beach legs, though there aren't really there are
Speaker 1: too many water hazards there. Mother is a big lake
Speaker 1: left of eighteen. I don't see Allan, it's an absolute layout. Well.
Speaker 1: One of the great pleasures of watching the UH the
Speaker 1: Augusta Nasheal Women's Amateur was Bones visit. You could hear
Speaker 1: his discomfort. He was just dying to take the bag
Speaker 1: off of Rosing's father's shoulder and get in there. He
Speaker 1: was so bothered by the whole thing. The one thing,
Speaker 1: the one thing I miss about Bones being back on
Speaker 1: JT's bag is Bones the broadcaster, the ouncer, the color commentator.
Speaker 1: I just I miss him well, especially anything Augusta related.
Speaker 1: I mean, he's so authoritative on the piets and anything
Speaker 1: but the masters. He takes now he has seen a
Speaker 1: lot of it in his life, but he takes bad
Speaker 1: course management personally. So like if Jean Vandevelt does something,
Speaker 1: he's still bad at Jean Vandebilt. It's like John Vandeville's
Speaker 1: trying his best, but Bones can't see it though. And again,
Speaker 1: Alan and I were both standing there in two thousand
Speaker 1: and six in the eighteenth fairway, and the one thing
Speaker 1: I noticed is Bones was just not They just were
Speaker 1: not talking to each other. They just were not having
Speaker 1: any conversation. So yes, he had taken it personally that
Speaker 1: Phil was doing what Phil was doing. That's great. Well, yeah,
Speaker 1: so it's amazing. How and we've talked about this before,
Speaker 1: Michael and I how just the Masters used to be
Speaker 1: this small invitational and it was an important tournament, but
Speaker 1: there was an intimacy and it was, uh, you felt
Speaker 1: like you were guests of this little club. And now
Speaker 1: the campus has become supersized. It's kind of like this
Speaker 1: golf Disneyland. And and now Master's Week. I mean even
Speaker 1: Sunday you have we're taping Sunday evening here. It's you
Speaker 1: have the drive chip and putt. You have all a
Speaker 1: lot of players are starting to begin their Masters preps,
Speaker 1: including Tiger walked around with some wedges and a putter
Speaker 1: as he has did back in twenty nineteen late on
Speaker 1: Sunday afternoon, and you have bernhard Longer hitting balls on
Speaker 1: the rains next to kids warming up for the drive,
Speaker 1: chip and putt. Like there's this this intermixing of the
Speaker 1: events and the cultures of it all is it's a
Speaker 1: fascinating part of the preamble that didn't even exist, you know,
Speaker 1: four or five years ago. So Master's Week just gets
Speaker 1: bigger and bigger, just just like the Augusta National Footprint. Well,
Speaker 1: we're here, we are. I should take a second, we
Speaker 1: should take a second and talk sponsorship really quickly, because
Speaker 1: you're talking about drive, chip and putt and while you're
Speaker 1: talking about a lot of transcendent eyes coming to the
Speaker 1: to the game this week, this weekend, this upcoming week
Speaker 1: and weekend. And I finally have the definitive answer, by
Speaker 1: the way to a question in which I know we
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Speaker 1: of school soon. Fire Pit fifteen gets you fifteen percent
Speaker 1: off promo code fire Pit fifteen Robin Golf guys excited
Speaker 1: to have them be a part of what we're doing.
Speaker 1: And um, their sets are on the way from my
Speaker 1: uh son and daughter and wife, and I look forward
Speaker 1: to breaking them in. Matt. How how many clubs do
Speaker 1: they want you to start with your you're a ten
Speaker 1: year old kid, you're athletic, but you're new to golf
Speaker 1: like your son. How many how many clubs do they
Speaker 1: want in the best seven or nine? Seven to nine?
Speaker 1: I think is good. A couple, you know, a couple
Speaker 1: a driver and maybe a hybrid and like a five wood,
Speaker 1: you know, some sort of you know those three clubs
Speaker 1: a putter obviously, and then like a five and a
Speaker 1: seven iron or a wedge you know, from you know,
Speaker 1: seven to nine clubs essentially nice that's what Michael plays now.
Speaker 1: An yeah, John Ashley, you know, I mean one of
Speaker 1: the great things about you know about the Goat and
Speaker 1: where my family plays golf is they have the Kid's course,
Speaker 1: they have the Goat Teas, they have a forty eighteen
Speaker 1: hole golf course. They can climb the ladder literally in
Speaker 1: one place, and um, and they're gonna be doing using
Speaker 1: it rob They're gonna be doing it using Robin golf clubs,
Speaker 1: So that's cool. We should note that Robin Golf is
Speaker 1: going to be sponsoring everything we do this this week.
Speaker 1: Michael and I will be typing regularly pretty much every day.
Speaker 1: We'll be podcasting throughout the week. I think we're gonna
Speaker 1: wrangle Jeff Ogilvie for a few of those pods. So
Speaker 1: thanks for Robin Golf for the sponsorship. So let's let's
Speaker 1: look ahead to this this Master's there's there's so many
Speaker 1: things percolating, not least you know, brooks Keepka's now one
Speaker 1: Tuova's last six starts. How much weight do we put
Speaker 1: on that because they're on live unknown? You know this,
Speaker 1: this master has become such an important yardstick for all
Speaker 1: those guys who went to the other tour, and you know,
Speaker 1: they're they're sort of playing for their credibility, to prove
Speaker 1: that they still got it, and all the slings and
Speaker 1: arrows about exhibition golf and carts and shotguns, and I
Speaker 1: think they're going to compete with quite an intensity. But
Speaker 1: other things, you know, Rory looking for the mythical green jacket.
Speaker 1: You've got this battle for number one, Scheffler trying to
Speaker 1: go back to back, You've got the like of Ram
Speaker 1: and other people who are trying to cement their standing
Speaker 1: as at the top of the game. I mean, Michael,
Speaker 1: what as you look atter this masters, what are you
Speaker 1: most keenly interested in? What? What are you most excited about? Well,
Speaker 1: I'll answer for the broad public for us, because there's
Speaker 1: such interest in Rory because he's been so out in front.
Speaker 1: You know, Alan, you have alluded to this several times
Speaker 1: and it's taken me a while to Ashley grasp but
Speaker 1: that Rory mclroy really is the biggest name in golf
Speaker 1: right now. He's the only person this week who can
Speaker 1: complete the career Grand Slam and um, and I think
Speaker 1: they'll be He's been playing some great golf, he hasn't
Speaker 1: won a major and forever, so I think going in that,
Speaker 1: you know, for people who are not falling golf keenly
Speaker 1: but followed to some degree, people want to know ken
Speaker 1: this guy closed the deal? He can he win the
Speaker 1: career Grand Slam? Um. Think about the last shot that
Speaker 1: Rory hit at Augusta Nashville, that whole out from the
Speaker 1: bunker are on Sunday afternoon. You got him the second
Speaker 1: place last year, which is his best finish, and he's
Speaker 1: he's actually been a top ten machine at Augusta that
Speaker 1: just a lot of them have felt a little backdoor
Speaker 1: ish and he hasn't really been in the thick of it.
Speaker 1: But across tenny two holes, he tends to shoot a
Speaker 1: score that puts him not not that far from from
Speaker 1: the top. So it's just can you get incrementally better?
Speaker 1: Can he tighten it up? He's had played a lot
Speaker 1: of mediocre first rounds. Can he got off to a
Speaker 1: hot start? Like? But I agree, I mean all eyes
Speaker 1: on Rory Um. There's also got him Tiger Woods. We
Speaker 1: haven't seen him with a golf club in his hand
Speaker 1: for a little while, and he's he's always a huge interest.
Speaker 1: If there's there's any course where he where he turns
Speaker 1: into a chess match and and Tiger can can just
Speaker 1: rely on his knowledge and his magic hands and his
Speaker 1: his his ability to think his way around a golf course.
Speaker 1: I mean, you would think would be Augusta National. What
Speaker 1: about you, Matt, what are you looking forward to? I
Speaker 1: mean that the storylines are just it's endless. It's endless.
Speaker 1: I can't believe you know, I'm just right, Cam Smith.
Speaker 1: You know where is he at you know, yeah, Brooks
Speaker 1: is one thing, but like Cam Smith and what he's
Speaker 1: done the last couple of years in the big venues,
Speaker 1: in stages, his short game, and what he did at
Speaker 1: the old course and where I think he kind of
Speaker 1: sits in the game of golf with a real like
Speaker 1: I don't really give a shit kind of an attitude
Speaker 1: is very dangerous and uh and this golf course obviously
Speaker 1: suits him. You got guys like Jason Day, Adam Scott,
Speaker 1: justin Rose. They've shown a pulse. They love this golf course.
Speaker 1: It seems to like them. And obviously Patrick Reid, Rory Brooks.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know Scheffler by the way, I mean, like,
Speaker 1: you know, is he gonna is he gonna defend? I
Speaker 1: mean Xander Schoffleigh here is playing really good, feels really confident,
Speaker 1: really likes this golf course, it likes him. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's it's just endless. And again to me, the majors
Speaker 1: have become more major, and I just I can't wait
Speaker 1: to consume all of this what's about to unfold. I
Speaker 1: agree with that the major's have become more major, and
Speaker 1: then this particular major is more major yet because we
Speaker 1: didn't really have much of a president's scup. So since
Speaker 1: the last round of an incredible British Open at the
Speaker 1: Old Course of the three of us were there for
Speaker 1: that cam Smith shooting that thirty coming home to beat
Speaker 1: Rory McElroy who was the sixty three whole leader. This
Speaker 1: particular major with live versus the PGA Tour, you know,
Speaker 1: the cam Smith's versus the Rory mcelroys has just so
Speaker 1: much extra emotion to it. To use Allan's word, it's fraught. Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna retire that word for the short term. Thank
Speaker 1: you for pointing that out. I mean, the most anticipated
Speaker 1: dinner in the history of golf. No, it's not the
Speaker 1: Wednesday Night Golf Writers Awards ceremony. It's it's Tuesday night,
Speaker 1: the Champions Dinner, you know, which is kind of this
Speaker 1: tired old tradition, like I really don't care who serves what.
Speaker 1: Year to year it's I just rolled my eyes. But
Speaker 1: this year it's like it's it's like a mid East
Speaker 1: Piece summit or something, and um, you you bring all
Speaker 1: these wild cards together, from Gary Player to Bubba Wattson
Speaker 1: to Phil Mickelson like anything, if you if you tell
Speaker 1: me on Wednesday morning, someone got their eyes stabbed out
Speaker 1: over dessert. I would, I will totally believe that. I mean,
Speaker 1: anything could happen there despite there's this this you know,
Speaker 1: very thin veneer of southern gentility. I mean it's a
Speaker 1: lot of egos, it's a lot of bitterness, it's a
Speaker 1: lot of everything. So who knows what's going to happen.
Speaker 1: I can you know, look at JP McManus program in
Speaker 1: Ireland had a dare. There was it was there was
Speaker 1: some tension, it was there was some concern they'll live
Speaker 1: players and and and tour players were all going to
Speaker 1: be under one roof, but on behalf of J. P
Speaker 1: McManus and what he had done and what you know,
Speaker 1: sort of the the genteel sort of nature of this event,
Speaker 1: there was no problem. And I think if you take
Speaker 1: a Austin National, a champions dinner, everyone's got a green
Speaker 1: jacket on and you got Ben Crenshaw leading the way,
Speaker 1: and it is what it is like. I just I
Speaker 1: just don't I don't see anybody being the one. You know,
Speaker 1: you know, it's like a company party. You want to
Speaker 1: show up late, you want to leave early, and you
Speaker 1: don't want to be the one they're talking about the
Speaker 1: next day, and I just don't think anybody wants to
Speaker 1: be the one that they're talking about the next day
Speaker 1: on the on that Wednesday. I agree and I disagree, Matt.
Speaker 1: I agree on the surface that will happen. Everyone will
Speaker 1: apply to each other, even though Bubba Gary Player especially
Speaker 1: fill to a lesser degree. They are half nut jobs,
Speaker 1: and you don't know what's going to come out of
Speaker 1: their mouth on any given day. But then there's what
Speaker 1: you know. Then it's like everything in life, there's what's
Speaker 1: being said, and then there's what's not being said, and
Speaker 1: what's not being said will be in their minds. So
Speaker 1: you don't really have the camaraderie, you don't really have
Speaker 1: the regaling of the stories. You might be going through
Speaker 1: the motions of it, but I mean you need a
Speaker 1: John Updike level novelist to really sort through it all
Speaker 1: and tell us what's really going on. I think when
Speaker 1: we're really going to see the tension of the two
Speaker 1: line dinner show up is Sunday night, if it's cam
Speaker 1: Smith versus Rory again. And then knowing these yahoo's who
Speaker 1: you know, they like to say how genteel the patrons
Speaker 1: are there but really they're a bunch of redneck yahoo's.
Speaker 1: They might go crazy on Sunday if it's if it's
Speaker 1: if it's let's say it's Justin Thomas or you know,
Speaker 1: any any red meat American, you know, Jordan Spieth versus
Speaker 1: Patrick Read or any of the of the livesters. I
Speaker 1: think it'll be a nutty scene on some I think
Speaker 1: you see something like we've never seen before, a gustinessh Well,
Speaker 1: you know Ian famously, Ian Wosenham got heckled in Amen
Speaker 1: Corner of the Year he won and that fired him up,
Speaker 1: and you know that was kind of the height of
Speaker 1: when all the Europeans were winning the Masters every year
Speaker 1: and there was a sort of low okey xenophobia. It
Speaker 1: will be fascinating. I mean, I think you both are
Speaker 1: right that Ben Crenshaw's presidence. You have Jack there, you
Speaker 1: have Fred Ridley, who um is like the school principle.
Speaker 1: So I think I think it'll be okay. But we
Speaker 1: all know a guy named James P. Harry. He was
Speaker 1: he was legendary editor at Sports Illustrate, and he coined
Speaker 1: I don't know if you coined it. He introduced me
Speaker 1: to the term smile fuck and they all use that
Speaker 1: a lot of talking about the Masters and Augusta National
Speaker 1: folks like they smile fuck you there they pre hear
Speaker 1: to be like nice and and accommodating, but then then
Speaker 1: in the end you never get your way and you
Speaker 1: get pushed around. Like so it's just gonna be it's
Speaker 1: gonna be a fun, fun bit that everyone's gonna be
Speaker 1: focused on and smile fuck or also known as blessed
Speaker 1: that bless your heart like that it's other. Oh and
Speaker 1: then there's some one McCallum, you just love love the death.
Speaker 1: But and then whatever came after the butt was the
Speaker 1: guy that had the chance. Uh yeah, just a quick
Speaker 1: just a quick smile. Fuck Uh. When Wosom was playing
Speaker 1: that fourth round, his playing partner was Tom Watson. And
Speaker 1: Tom Watson, you know, it really was. It was a
Speaker 1: great playing partner that day. And I think really from
Speaker 1: from it was just by the book, he was straight,
Speaker 1: kind of like what Tiger was. Later. Um, Tiger may
Speaker 1: have actually had more warmth than Tom Watson, which is
Speaker 1: really saying something, but I digress. So Watson said to Woosom,
Speaker 1: just do what Don January used to do in these situations,
Speaker 1: just not and say fuck you, Fuck you very much,
Speaker 1: Fuck you very much. You got him through that that round.
Speaker 1: This podcast has escalated quickly. Um, But to talk about
Speaker 1: you know, poseic golf matters. You know, when we talked
Speaker 1: about who who's a favorite this week? I mean, unfortunately,
Speaker 1: if you've looked at the forecast, there's a lot of
Speaker 1: rains supposed to start falling. So a guy like Cam Smith,
Speaker 1: if it's firm and fast and crispy, uh, that that
Speaker 1: sets up the short game magic that if it if
Speaker 1: it plays long and soft, then of course we all
Speaker 1: know that favors a guy like Rory and or Brooks
Speaker 1: and some of the bombers. And so the weather August
Speaker 1: is always volatile this week and I don't put too
Speaker 1: much stock into the forecast four days out, but as
Speaker 1: of this moment, it looks, it looks a little looks
Speaker 1: a little grim. So um, you know, oh, Patrick read
Speaker 1: another guy who's gonna be at that dinner on Tuesday
Speaker 1: night who's a little unpredictable. So you know, when when
Speaker 1: when the course is really firm, guys like Reid and
Speaker 1: Cam Smith I think go to the front ranks. But um,
Speaker 1: if it's playing, if it's playing in a different different
Speaker 1: way than they lose a lot of their advantage. And
Speaker 1: we should also mentioned the thirteenth hole, which is m
Speaker 1: which is going to be a huge talking point. And
Speaker 1: I was, I was thinking about this on the flight.
Speaker 1: It's like, I almost think that the scoring average is
Speaker 1: gonna go down because more guys are going to wind
Speaker 1: up laying up and you know, from one hundred yards,
Speaker 1: you're gonna knock it on the green, either you make
Speaker 1: the put or you don't. I think there'll be a
Speaker 1: lot fives, whereas going for it introduces the six and
Speaker 1: the seven, and I think, if if you know, that's
Speaker 1: something that we're all going to watch closely to see
Speaker 1: how that whole plays out, because the last thing you
Speaker 1: want is for it to turn into one hundred yard
Speaker 1: Part three, which it very well could if it's playing
Speaker 1: soft and I'm playing long. So that's another subplot to
Speaker 1: keep an eye on. Well. Scheffler talked about it. You know,
Speaker 1: when you go back into that tunnel to hit that
Speaker 1: t shot. He could hit a three wood before and
Speaker 1: had an easier time drawing his three wood. He has
Speaker 1: a harder time drawing the driver like he does the
Speaker 1: three wood, So he's just going to hit driver out
Speaker 1: straight and just try to draw it as much as
Speaker 1: he can have that, you know, next shot in I
Speaker 1: would agree with you Alan that I think the scoring
Speaker 1: average may actually go down even if they're hitting, even
Speaker 1: if they have more yardage into that hole as an
Speaker 1: approach shot, because there's just going to be less people
Speaker 1: going forward and playing to that their magic yardage with
Speaker 1: the eighty one hundred or whatever that number is, and
Speaker 1: just getting a little more specific on the pin, and
Speaker 1: maybe there will be more birdies, less eagles, and a
Speaker 1: lot more parts less bogies. I was surprised to read
Speaker 1: the final accounting is only thirty five yards longer. I
Speaker 1: thought it was going to be lengthened, just given what
Speaker 1: they were doing there and how much land they have.
Speaker 1: I believe Matt, you've seen it much more recently than own,
Speaker 1: or I would have thought you could go much farther back,
Speaker 1: and I thought they would go much farther back. Well,
Speaker 1: it looks way back there, as Scheffler told me, it's
Speaker 1: way back there, but you know, I think thirty five,
Speaker 1: maybe thirty five yards back from where they had tipped
Speaker 1: it out. That's still that's still a big difference when
Speaker 1: you're talking about that specific corner and fairway run out
Speaker 1: and trying to hit that hit that burn as berm
Speaker 1: as you're trying to like get that as he said,
Speaker 1: I'll start using the land a little more to accentuate
Speaker 1: sort of any kind of any kind of draw to
Speaker 1: his driver, which which he has a hard time doing.
Speaker 1: But um, you know, it just looks just like eighteen,
Speaker 1: just like fourteen, just like seventeen every time, you know,
Speaker 1: just like five. And when you look back, you're like,
Speaker 1: that just seems so far back there. I can't believe
Speaker 1: the distance they're playing, you know, different from from members
Speaker 1: tease to the back teas to your point in your article.
Speaker 1: You know, you just dropped two pretty incredible articles on
Speaker 1: fire pick collective dot com Michael and the and the
Speaker 1: rollback article again is you know, I know we kind
Speaker 1: of have see it differently. Um, but I thought, you
Speaker 1: know that some of the points you made are are
Speaker 1: are valid and in terms of the way the game
Speaker 1: is supposed to be played, I just you know, I
Speaker 1: just question why just the ball, why not the club?
Speaker 1: Why not the loft of the club, why not you know,
Speaker 1: why not you know, from an agronomy standpoint, why not
Speaker 1: have the fairways be a little longer instead of you know,
Speaker 1: tighten fat. I mean, I just I think there's so
Speaker 1: many other different versions of what could also take place
Speaker 1: to sort of account for length. So that's it, I mean,
Speaker 1: so one, and that that story you wrote, Michael got
Speaker 1: a tremendous amount of engagement. I mean, when I tweeted,
Speaker 1: I said, it's it's so nice in these contentious times
Speaker 1: of you know, Michael Bamberger's thoughtful, measured takes on these
Speaker 1: issues and which I wholeheartedly endorsed. But one comment I
Speaker 1: thought was interesting. A guy said, well, why do you
Speaker 1: why do we want to go backwards? You know, every
Speaker 1: other sport evolves. That's true, the players do, but the
Speaker 1: playing fields don't. Basketball courts same side. It's always been,
Speaker 1: you know, baseball diamonds and and ballparks are pretty much
Speaker 1: the same as they've always been. Like the golf course.
Speaker 1: Because of the way the players play it, the golf
Speaker 1: courses have totally changed. And so this again, and you know,
Speaker 1: we saw this with the the ANUA. That's one of
Speaker 1: the delights of that event is that it's the old
Speaker 1: club values like what made Rosing second shot on fifteen
Speaker 1: so fascinating which she had. She was hitting lumber right
Speaker 1: like I mean, Sergio and others hit eight or you
Speaker 1: know when Sergio was sitting those great shots in the
Speaker 1: fifteen the year he when he was in eight iron,
Speaker 1: and a professional golfer with an eight iron has a
Speaker 1: much tighter dispersion. There's not that much danger. It's coming
Speaker 1: in so high and it's going to hold that green.
Speaker 1: But a hybrid things can get wonky, and and so
Speaker 1: that that's what's cool is it's it's about bringing back
Speaker 1: the sense of something something could go terribly wrong here,
Speaker 1: and that just doesn't happen with short irons at often.
Speaker 1: I mean every now and then Guy Whood a truly
Speaker 1: horrendous shot. But when you get the long clubs, I mean,
Speaker 1: and you and I were talking about the soft line
Speaker 1: that that shot that rose was reminiscent of sev by
Speaker 1: Asteros in eighty six. You know, he save you should
Speaker 1: have won that year instead of Jack. But he hit
Speaker 1: this sniper into the pond at fifteen and he pretty
Speaker 1: much never recovered right that that that one shot haunted
Speaker 1: him forever and led him down this path of changing
Speaker 1: his swing. And so but he had a four iron
Speaker 1: and you know with the four iron things can go bad.
Speaker 1: He give Zevya nine iron, He's probably gonnknock it on
Speaker 1: the green. So anyway, we've we've had the ball debate.
Speaker 1: But it will be interesting to see how it all
Speaker 1: plays out this year. There'll be so much scrutiny on
Speaker 1: that one hole and just how the course plays in general,
Speaker 1: because it's the one yardstick we have which they always
Speaker 1: go back the same place. Just two quick notes on fifteen.
Speaker 1: In the annals of fifteen, Francisco Molinari's played there is
Speaker 1: one of the biggest disasters ever and doesn't get talked
Speaker 1: about it enough because he blunked it in the water
Speaker 1: on twelve. He still is in complete position to at
Speaker 1: least playoff, if not flat out. When that tournament Tiger's
Speaker 1: leak in oil but really not hitting quality shots, and
Speaker 1: he makes an absolutely inexplicable lay up shot and an
Speaker 1: inexplicable third shot that leads leads to a double. So
Speaker 1: it really nutty. Nutty things can happen on par fives
Speaker 1: when guys think they can reach and they camp, and
Speaker 1: it's Riese Jones and Riese's father, Robert Trent Jones. This
Speaker 1: guy put those water hazards in really made him what
Speaker 1: they are today. You know, it's not quite accurate. And
Speaker 1: say the course that McKenzie and Jones intend abuse. They
Speaker 1: didn't know that the water, the water hazards are going
Speaker 1: to come in so Penal, but they have and they're
Speaker 1: really do define the course unless it's driver eight iron
Speaker 1: like it was for Tiger on thirteen, the last time
Speaker 1: he won, just to the point on thirteen going thirty
Speaker 1: five back. I don't you guys might know. I've never
Speaker 1: really made a study of this. I'm sure if you
Speaker 1: just watch the TV enough TV, you know how many
Speaker 1: guys you're hitting three wood at five ten versus now
Speaker 1: we'll hit driver at five thirty five. They'll bomb it
Speaker 1: password that three wood is yeah, Now Shuffler can't turn
Speaker 1: it over and then he's chipping out from the woods
Speaker 1: and he'll lay up and then he'll he'll still have
Speaker 1: a put for four. But a lot of guys will
Speaker 1: hit that wide fairway. They will use that bank. Now
Speaker 1: with driver a little lower, a little hotter, a little
Speaker 1: more down the hill, they still might. I don't. I
Speaker 1: guess what I'm trying to say is now AUGUSTA National
Speaker 1: Figures out everything, but I'm not sure they. Of course,
Speaker 1: the whole will actually play even longer if i've what
Speaker 1: thirty five it's about an angle, though, I think it's
Speaker 1: it's really about by backing them up and and and
Speaker 1: having it have to the ball have to be going
Speaker 1: so straight for so long before it can actually start turning.
Speaker 1: I think that's actually that that that angle, that's what's
Speaker 1: going to be the biggest factor on getting it around
Speaker 1: that corner. To me, that's that's my sense of of
Speaker 1: from a strategic standpoint, is if you're hitting, if you're
Speaker 1: hitting a draw, if you're not able to sort of
Speaker 1: sling it out and and go wide right because you're
Speaker 1: in that back the further back that you're in a tunnel,
Speaker 1: so you have a lot of wigg can't sling it,
Speaker 1: You can't hit a big hook. That's why, right, that's
Speaker 1: why Fred used to have his feet outside the tea
Speaker 1: box and and and hit the through it as hard
Speaker 1: as he could with actual hook, which was neat to see.
Speaker 1: But here's a guy who will love it, Bubba, Bubba,
Speaker 1: send up there and hit the slice you've ever seen
Speaker 1: in your life. Now, let me think slice for him
Speaker 1: as a hook for us. Yes, yeah, yeah, and that'll
Speaker 1: will too, and that's a that's a little you know,
Speaker 1: it's very insidery. But um, the casual fan bride doesn't
Speaker 1: know that with the modern equipment, guys on the top
Speaker 1: players fade their drivers way more than they draw them.
Speaker 1: It just it's just it just is the the shot
Speaker 1: shape that that that the technology promotes low spin. It's
Speaker 1: just easier to kind of hit a little bleeding fade
Speaker 1: than it is a hard draw. And so I mean
Speaker 1: DJ only plays a fade, Brooks only plays a fade,
Speaker 1: so that that adds a whole other layer of intrigue
Speaker 1: into that hole. And so um yeah, it's it's rice
Speaker 1: and d right soon as you sham boat for seventy two.
Speaker 1: So wingfoot never saw him hit a hook shot. Yeah,
Speaker 1: as hard he hit as hard as you can hold
Speaker 1: on for dear life. Yeah. So Tiger wenty one and two,
Speaker 1: thy nineteen, no hook shots, no drush, yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's um. So except for that that second shot on
Speaker 1: fifteen on Sunday, that was five iron, that was gorgeous,
Speaker 1: and that thing true four yards it was. But they
Speaker 1: can all job mid irons. Yeah. Yeah, So this is
Speaker 1: what's so great about the Masters is we all have
Speaker 1: such an attachment to the golf course and we know
Speaker 1: it so intimately. I mean, if you ask me to
Speaker 1: describe the fifteenth hole wingfoot, I would struggle for a while.
Speaker 1: I might get there eventually, but the fifteenth hole at
Speaker 1: I guess the National Every golf fan can picture it.
Speaker 1: They know the history, they know the lore, they know
Speaker 1: who's won and lost a tournament there, and it's just
Speaker 1: what makes this week so much fun having, you know,
Speaker 1: having been there fairly recently, I walked away with so
Speaker 1: much respect and admiration for what takes place at that level,
Speaker 1: for those players to win that golf tournament at that course,
Speaker 1: with those pins and those green speeds, you know, at
Speaker 1: that length, I can't believe how unsettling that golf course
Speaker 1: is when you're trying trying to hit approach shots, you know,
Speaker 1: chips around the green, puts for that matter. You know
Speaker 1: it from a from a driving standpoint, you know you're
Speaker 1: you're gonna have to sort of at some point you're
Speaker 1: gonna have to move the ball, you know, and it
Speaker 1: and it helps if you hit a high, high draw
Speaker 1: or a if you're a lefty, you know, big high cut,
Speaker 1: but you've got to you also got to hit it straight,
Speaker 1: you got to hit it accurate. The greens within those greens,
Speaker 1: to me is what is unlike almost any any you know,
Speaker 1: Royal Melbourne, maybe I would take this to me, is
Speaker 1: just the precision and demand for creativity. You understand why Tiger,
Speaker 1: why Phil, Why Zach Johnson or or or Mike Weir
Speaker 1: or you just you understand why these guys, Bubba, why
Speaker 1: they've why have they've won it this golf course. It
Speaker 1: takes such a different style to be great at this
Speaker 1: at Augusta National. And it's why I think we generally
Speaker 1: have these incredible leaderboards come Sunday as people are firing
Speaker 1: on all cylinders. I just it's the golf course is
Speaker 1: something unlike anything you know in the world. And I
Speaker 1: would I would add to that, man agree with all
Speaker 1: of that. I don't know how anyone who's ever been
Speaker 1: there appreciates golfers watched it closely couldn't agree with that.
Speaker 1: I would add to that. Green side chipping, green side
Speaker 1: shipping is harder there than anywhere. Pitch shots over those traps.
Speaker 1: You got no grass underneath your golf ball, and extremely
Speaker 1: and I don't think people realize the undulation. I know
Speaker 1: even as a member of you know, outside the ropes,
Speaker 1: as a patron walking around, you go down to the
Speaker 1: tenth hole until you actually stand below the tenth green.
Speaker 1: If you're trying to chip up to a back pin
Speaker 1: on ten, that elevation is so much you can't see anything.
Speaker 1: It's you're so far down. It's like fifteen t twenty
Speaker 1: feet down below the green. You don't realize what a
Speaker 1: false front that I walked. Again, I am in awe
Speaker 1: of what I have now seen over the years at
Speaker 1: that golf course. For the players who are playing well,
Speaker 1: shoot sixty five sixty five at Augusta on those conditions
Speaker 1: is just like that's it identifies. It just identifies the
Speaker 1: best player. And I always will and I and I
Speaker 1: and on thirteen and in your article, Michael, you talk about, oh,
Speaker 1: there's only one real part five. But I also think
Speaker 1: that the reason why Augusta is so compelling is because
Speaker 1: there's a lot of half pars, a lot of four
Speaker 1: and a halfs, a lot of three and a halfs
Speaker 1: like thirteen. Is that I mean, sorry, three is a
Speaker 1: three and a half. I mean that the halfs, the
Speaker 1: half side. The only thing I hope they don't do
Speaker 1: to thirteen is make it not a half. Like the
Speaker 1: worst thing they could do to fifteen is make it
Speaker 1: not apart four and a half like. That's why it's
Speaker 1: so compelling to me, that temptation, and that's what I
Speaker 1: think the golf course is filled with is half pars.
Speaker 1: Five is a part five is a part four and
Speaker 1: a half. Great that also that volatility is what it yields,
Speaker 1: and that's why we love this venue more than almost
Speaker 1: any very very well said. I completely agree with that.
Speaker 1: I've heard Phil talk about this, and you know he
Speaker 1: does some some design work, and he says, I want
Speaker 1: on any course, I want the hard holes to be
Speaker 1: really hard. I want the easy holes to be really easy.
Speaker 1: And that's where you get a lot of action. And
Speaker 1: the Augusta National is the quintessence of that. I mean
Speaker 1: all on that basis. Why was it complaining about the
Speaker 1: long part three at Marian so three and a half,
Speaker 1: So three and a half for the whole field. Why
Speaker 1: shouldn't be a three and a half for him? Well, yeah,
Speaker 1: although Mike Dave because the wind switch. Mike Davis afterwards said, yeah,
Speaker 1: maybe it was too far it's an outdoor sports has
Speaker 1: been noted many times, but no, so yeah, now I
Speaker 1: guess it's cool and just you know, for those of
Speaker 1: us in the typing trade and really anyone who's inside
Speaker 1: the gates. I mean, it's such a gathering. You know,
Speaker 1: everybody's there, not only the players, every agent, every family member,
Speaker 1: every power broker, every member of the golf establishment, um.
Speaker 1: And there's just an energy around that too. Especially you
Speaker 1: know last year in the run up to Live Golf's launched,
Speaker 1: it was you could it was pulsating. There's a lot
Speaker 1: of meetings going on off campus that helped define who
Speaker 1: was going to stay and who's gonna go. And and
Speaker 1: this year, you know, there's everyone who sits on the
Speaker 1: board of the World Ranking, um, you know, governing body.
Speaker 1: They're all gonna be there, like there's gonna be some
Speaker 1: quiet conversations and uh you name it, like there's it's
Speaker 1: just it's the one week that nobody ever misses in
Speaker 1: the golf world. And so uh and then there's all
Speaker 1: the parties and the dinners every night, there's all the
Speaker 1: schmoozing around the tree. Like I do look forward to
Speaker 1: the Masters, just from an interpersonal standpoint, everyone is there
Speaker 1: and you can get a lot of work done, and
Speaker 1: you can see people you might only see once or
Speaker 1: twice a year. And I was trying to explain to
Speaker 1: someone who's not really in the golf why why this
Speaker 1: is such a big week, and it's not. It's an
Speaker 1: incredible tournament golf course, we know that, but a lot
Speaker 1: of it. There's a lot more that goes into the
Speaker 1: week for those those who do this for a living,
Speaker 1: and that's what just makes it extra fun. I think
Speaker 1: I'm unfortunately not going to be able to be there.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be I'm gonna be off in Brewster, Washington
Speaker 1: and gamble Sands with David Kidd, which is going to
Speaker 1: be amazing in itself. But I'll be back on Friday night.
Speaker 1: And so the question Saturday the Masters at goat Hill Park,
Speaker 1: It's it's this, It's the Saturday Masters. You play for
Speaker 1: sort of a modified green jacket on Sunday. I've been
Speaker 1: invited to a couple of parties, Oh Masters Sunday, and
Speaker 1: I've said, there's no chance I'm going to a party
Speaker 1: on Sunday. You need to I need to be on
Speaker 1: my sofa sort of maybe close you know inner circle
Speaker 1: family members. You have to hear everything, you have to
Speaker 1: see every shot. You got to lock in to what
Speaker 1: you gotta lock in. So and I'll be well, you know,
Speaker 1: you know you guys, I mean you guys. This is
Speaker 1: what you do. This is your thing. You know. I
Speaker 1: can't wait to read all that you read write. I
Speaker 1: can't wait to hear all that you say, you know,
Speaker 1: especially Ogilvie's perspectives obviously are cherished. But I am gonna do.
Speaker 1: I just can't wait to be on my sofa on Sunday,
Speaker 1: you know, hearing everything I've I've said, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: no party like having a party on Sunday. The Masters
Speaker 1: mean you don't. It means you don't really actually care.
Speaker 1: Doesn't make sense to me at all, do you, Michael,
Speaker 1: do you have a favorite Master as you've covered, because
Speaker 1: what was your first one? It was in the eighties, right, No,
Speaker 1: it was late, very late ninety six. No, what we're there,
Speaker 1: Yeah it was it was. I never got there for
Speaker 1: the mPire. I never went for the in Car. I
Speaker 1: don't think I ever went. I went. I went two
Speaker 1: of us to to play it, luckily enough, but no,
Speaker 1: I never cover one until ninety six so that's why
Speaker 1: I'm barely into the parking. Now, how do you get
Speaker 1: a parking Oh, you don't even get that thing anymore.
Speaker 1: But anyway, no, no, I've only started going forty. You
Speaker 1: gotta get to forty masters and then then they give
Speaker 1: you a piece of the Eisenhower Tree. You get little
Speaker 1: plaque and you get your own parking place. But so
Speaker 1: you'll get there before h maybe, Yeah, this is like
Speaker 1: twenty eight or twenty nine for me. We're probably close
Speaker 1: because I missed I missed one because of you missed one, Alan, Well,
Speaker 1: I missed Chilly. I missed one an three year o
Speaker 1: two when I was in the office. Um, I'm working
Speaker 1: as an editor. I didn't make that. We're not we're
Speaker 1: not talking. We're not talking about that one. And then yeah,
Speaker 1: I had a one year vacation after I sneaked in
Speaker 1: the Butler cab and the Green Coach put me on ice.
Speaker 1: So I've missed two since ninety four whenever that math
Speaker 1: computes at but uh yeah, yeah, a piece of the
Speaker 1: tree is the thing. He like. It's actually kind of
Speaker 1: funny that the Eisenhower Tree fell over, but instead of
Speaker 1: just getting rid of it, they've like preserved it, and
Speaker 1: they used the wood for all kinds of ceremonial purposes.
Speaker 1: That's what they tell you. Maybe system. I'm shocked with
Speaker 1: all the connections at August National House. I'm shocked that
Speaker 1: there was a proper obituary in the New York Times
Speaker 1: for the Eisenhour. Why do you why don't you write that?
Speaker 1: That would have been That would have been a great
Speaker 1: cheeky column. I'm now I feel cheated. Alan, tell me
Speaker 1: if I have this correct. Scheffler, I know got Player
Speaker 1: of the Year from the Golf Writers, but that's on
Speaker 1: the basis of his entire year, no matter where you play.
Speaker 1: Is that correct? Is that? How? Yeah? So that that's
Speaker 1: actually I know. I know I voted for camp Smith,
Speaker 1: so I didn't I don't see. That's the thing that
Speaker 1: that is. What is cool about the Player of the
Speaker 1: Year from the Golf Writers is it's not defined as
Speaker 1: it's just player of the year. And so if you win,
Speaker 1: you know, in Australian December like camp Smith did, like
Speaker 1: that factored into my vote. And if you win on
Speaker 1: other tours, including one that has Roman numerals, that be
Speaker 1: a factor in your vote. Like it it's not you
Speaker 1: have a spectacular writer cup, you could add that or
Speaker 1: if you have, you know a bunch of seconds and
Speaker 1: put heat on winners. Yeah, it's just and so every
Speaker 1: now and then it's left to the golf riders to
Speaker 1: right or wrong where you know, the tour players they
Speaker 1: vote for. It's a popularity contest and politics gets involved.
Speaker 1: I guess that could happen with the golf writers as well,
Speaker 1: but we try and I'd like to think that we're
Speaker 1: we're we're agenda free where people are just voting who
Speaker 1: they think the best player is. And I think Scheffler.
Speaker 1: You could definitely make the case to vote for Cheffler.
Speaker 1: I just saw cam Smith winning on those two incredibly
Speaker 1: different courses, Sagres and the Old Course just set him apart,
Speaker 1: no question. Yeah he got my vote as well, so
Speaker 1: um yeah, I mean it becomes interesting thought exercise. If
Speaker 1: brooks Kepka wins a maj Journey, wins four live events,
Speaker 1: does does he get Player of the year? Like how
Speaker 1: do we how do we assign value? It's going to
Speaker 1: be left to the golf riders to assign value to
Speaker 1: winning on on the live tour because no one else
Speaker 1: takes it seriously. Let's say Brooks win, or any any
Speaker 1: player on live wins a major if this is second
Speaker 1: in another win, wins the European Tour event um and
Speaker 1: whins three times on live? Does it does it nudge?
Speaker 1: Does it give him a little bump? I don't know.
Speaker 1: We'll see they'll get three votes. I mean it's like
Speaker 1: it's not just not I mean, I'm not saying that
Speaker 1: right or wrong. I'm just saying it's just not going
Speaker 1: to happen amongst the golf riders. This is not gonna happen. Yeah. No,
Speaker 1: I mean it definitely skews towards the traditionalist. But if
Speaker 1: you think of like like uh, kept kept going. He
Speaker 1: won at Bethpage. You know it was playing dominating golf
Speaker 1: for three days. Well a lot of people have played
Speaker 1: dominating golf for three days. And then he had a
Speaker 1: lousy fourth round and you know he won because nobody
Speaker 1: else played great. And it's a beth Page Black, it's
Speaker 1: a super hard golf course. We're luck and go wrong
Speaker 1: and the rough was off. But fifty four holes is
Speaker 1: not seventy two holes. I think they should get points
Speaker 1: and they should get consideration from us, but it really
Speaker 1: isn't the same yeah, the more. I mean, if if
Speaker 1: the PGA Tour had made all their events ninety holes,
Speaker 1: Tigger would have one hundred and twenty wins. I mean
Speaker 1: the more. The more holes you play, the more opportunities
Speaker 1: for the best player to separate himself. There's no question.
Speaker 1: But I you know, I will say, having been at
Speaker 1: at enough live events, it's more of a sprinter's mentality.
Speaker 1: When you know at the outset you have fifty four holes,
Speaker 1: they become precious and that first round takes on a
Speaker 1: lot of weight because if you shoot seventy three or
Speaker 1: seventy four your toast, there's not enough time to make
Speaker 1: up ground. And so you know, when a sevent two
Speaker 1: whole event gets shortened fifty four, it feels weird if
Speaker 1: you know you have fifty four to begin with, and
Speaker 1: that's your mentality and you got to make every single
Speaker 1: one count. You know, That's just that is what it is.
Speaker 1: But anyway, we can save this for another podcast. But
Speaker 1: but again it's going to be it's just all it's
Speaker 1: all swirling in the dog woods, all this stuff, and um,
Speaker 1: you know there's been a million jokes about it or
Speaker 1: all the live guys are gonna you know, go home
Speaker 1: on Saturday night because they think there's only three rounds.
Speaker 1: And uh, you know this and that, like it adds
Speaker 1: a whole element to to to this week and I'm
Speaker 1: here for it. What else do we need to talk about?
Speaker 1: What else is going on in this masters that demands
Speaker 1: to be discussed? Well? I think I think, first of all,
Speaker 1: we just came off a good week of at fire
Speaker 1: Pit Collective three part podcast Tony Gwin's Greatness. If you
Speaker 1: haven't listened, took me two years to put together a
Speaker 1: lot of great voices. Um opening day obviously, this week fun,
Speaker 1: if you like baseball, if you like gin, uh, please listen.
Speaker 1: Thank you for listening. Michael, you just dropped two h
Speaker 1: two great stories. Um Alan yet another big week, I
Speaker 1: mean book excerpts and then next week. The plan being
Speaker 1: from a content standpoint, as you talked about daily stories,
Speaker 1: multiple podcasts, all the socials that go with that, and
Speaker 1: and and you know, live from the grounds for both
Speaker 1: of you. So I just think setting up this week
Speaker 1: coming off last week an wha. I'm not a drive
Speaker 1: chipping put guy at all. I wish I really wish
Speaker 1: it would go away, to be totally honest with you,
Speaker 1: but Anna was amazing, and and here we go. I
Speaker 1: just think we can't get to we can't get to
Speaker 1: Thursday morning fast enough. It's a long build up, I mean,
Speaker 1: the Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday of Master's Week. To me, you
Speaker 1: feel like they last a month because everyone everyone's there
Speaker 1: and chomping at the bit, especially this year. I know,
Speaker 1: I don't know, I don't know how the players do it.
Speaker 1: I mean, and you see some of these first timers
Speaker 1: by the time I get a Thursday afternoon, they're exhausted
Speaker 1: because they've played too much and they spent too much
Speaker 1: time there. They're just they're trying to soak it all in.
Speaker 1: But it's kind of the same thing for reporters, like
Speaker 1: we're just ready to go and getting through the first
Speaker 1: half of the week as always has a challenge. But uh, well,
Speaker 1: we will, we will service the readership. They'll be fun
Speaker 1: stuff for sure. Mike and I'll be writing every day
Speaker 1: and we were we know, we're working on the podcast schedule.
Speaker 1: We'll certainly do Thursday, Friday and Sunday, and we're gonna
Speaker 1: we're gonna try and steak another one in probably on Tuesday.
Speaker 1: We have a Laird Shepherd Grind coming out Grind episode
Speaker 1: on Laird Shepherd, who we followed through two last year's Masters.
Speaker 1: He won the British Amateur, got to play in the Open,
Speaker 1: then got to play in the Masters and the US
Speaker 1: open Um, and so we're putting that out on Tuesday
Speaker 1: with an updated update podcast on sort of where he's
Speaker 1: at with his life and career as now a professional golfer.
Speaker 1: So that's definitely coming out on Tuesday. It's it's a
Speaker 1: great episode. Happy to get get another Grind episode out
Speaker 1: into the world because there's tremendous intimacy with with Laird
Speaker 1: and his friends, and we chronicle this this epic comeback
Speaker 1: he had in the British Amateur. He eight down with
Speaker 1: the nineteen holes to play in this thirty sixth Hoole
Speaker 1: finale and came back in one is one of the
Speaker 1: all time great comebacks in the history of you know,
Speaker 1: big time golf. And and then without spoiling too much,
Speaker 1: the Master's Week was a challenge for him and how
Speaker 1: he how he dealt with that. So that, yeah, that
Speaker 1: that that's something to look forward to as well. So
Speaker 1: all right, well, um, I think we've touched them all
Speaker 1: for now. It's going to be a heck of a week.
Speaker 1: We are delighted to be tour guides for the golf
Speaker 1: fans out there. Thank you to Robin Golf for the sponsorship.
Speaker 1: Um matter, Michael, any final parting thoughts, Well, it's all
Speaker 1: you know, just uh, it's a delight to be able
Speaker 1: to have this opportunity to talk about you know, people
Speaker 1: say like, oh, what's been the difference for you from
Speaker 1: you know, your old job, which is more of a
Speaker 1: writing job to this job is just the writing of
Speaker 1: the podcast. And U It's like, I can't believe this
Speaker 1: is considered a serious part of my payday because it's
Speaker 1: so easy talking about golf, because it's fun. The mechanics
Speaker 1: are getting the microphone on. I mean, come on, So
Speaker 1: this is a great week and we have a good
Speaker 1: time doing it, and I hope people enjoy listening to it.
Speaker 1: Someday we'll release the super cut of getting Michael's microphone
Speaker 1: dialed in. It'll be like it it'll be like one
Speaker 1: hundred and ninety four minutes of testing microphones and but
Speaker 1: that today's not but when Mike hob when Mike Murphy
Speaker 1: just trotted on in there at age ninety two, is
Speaker 1: ready to get aspirational least like wow aspirational. Yeah, a
Speaker 1: good stuff. An last thoughts, no, just uh, godspeed guys
Speaker 1: getting there and can't wait to uh can't wait to
Speaker 1: read and hear all that we'll be coming up with.
Speaker 1: It's going to be this is one one for the ages.
Speaker 1: I mean, this is going to be. This is unlike
Speaker 1: anything we've ever seen in all the years. You know,
Speaker 1: my first Masters was nineteen ninety seven. Uh, covered, you know,
Speaker 1: there's just nothing the build up to what is about
Speaker 1: to unfold, and for all the reasons we've already discussed,
Speaker 1: I just it's almost too much to comprehend. Alan, Alan,
Speaker 1: all right, let's go to this on what's your dream
Speaker 1: to some last group off Sunday afternoon. Oh that that's
Speaker 1: easiest question of the night. It's Rory and Patrick Reid.
Speaker 1: I mean, tour verses live. You have the chosen one
Speaker 1: against you know, the dark Lord like, it's it's mythical,
Speaker 1: it's shakesperiod, it's it's Greek like. I mean, it would be,
Speaker 1: it would be fantastic. I don't agree because the rooting
Speaker 1: interest is so obvious there where it's like camp Smith,
Speaker 1: He's he's a likable guy. Yeah, well some people would
Speaker 1: just but it's well, I mean, okay, actually the honest
Speaker 1: answer is Tiger against Phil for all the same I
Speaker 1: was like, I was like, why I'm trying to I'm
Speaker 1: trying to deal in reality, not science fiction, like what
Speaker 1: could happen? But but yeah, I mean that would that
Speaker 1: would be fun. I mean, Dustin actually is playing well.
Speaker 1: He kind of tweeked his back a month ago, but
Speaker 1: he he's rounded into form. Like I think he's dangerous,
Speaker 1: especially if the courses saw off. Like, how about the
Speaker 1: fact that we've been talking golf for fifty minutes now
Speaker 1: and have barely mentioned the name of five time Masters
Speaker 1: winner Tiger Woods. Yeah, that's kind of a sign of
Speaker 1: the times, it is. I mean, Tiger's I think if
Speaker 1: the course was bone dry, I think Tiger be more dangerous.
Speaker 1: It's not it's not that Allen. Tiger's got to get
Speaker 1: We don't know what's going on in Tiger's life. We've
Speaker 1: never known. But Tigers should be way ahead of this
Speaker 1: golf ball thing, way ahead of you know, make the
Speaker 1: drivers smaller, make the course shorter. Whatever. His natural honest
Speaker 1: position is, uh live golf, of course. Uh, but he's
Speaker 1: just not there. But he's not. I'm just good. I'm
Speaker 1: just I'm just I think physically for Tiger Woods, you
Speaker 1: know again, the undulations of Augusta Nashville. I mean, forget
Speaker 1: the skill. I mean, we know he's got the skill
Speaker 1: to hit the shots, to be able to walk that
Speaker 1: golf course four rounds plus whatever he's going to do
Speaker 1: from a practice standpoint. It just I just don't see it.
Speaker 1: I just don't see it happening. Augusta National. You know,
Speaker 1: old course. Maybe Augusta National is not an easy walk,
Speaker 1: especially a guy who basically has you know, one leg.
Speaker 1: But I'm talking about like Tiger Woods, like the Nicklas role,
Speaker 1: even then Nick Price roll the Rory role now of
Speaker 1: real thought leader in the game, We're not hearing that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he had to trigg his girlfriend in the thinking she
Speaker 1: was taking a vacation, like so they could move her
Speaker 1: out of the mansion and break up with her, which
Speaker 1: is led to how did that go? How did that
Speaker 1: go for her? Which is led to a huge lawsuit,
Speaker 1: Like it's it's hard to play. Every top golfer will
Speaker 1: tell you it's hard to play golf if your mind
Speaker 1: isn't clear. And when someone has a sick parent or
Speaker 1: they're going through a people in the personal life it
Speaker 1: always shows in their scores. And Tiger's life is just
Speaker 1: so messy. It's so messy. But also again, we don't
Speaker 1: I don't look to Tiger to be the one who
Speaker 1: sort of leads people in a in a in a
Speaker 1: way like with the thoughtful, like Rory runs circles around him,
Speaker 1: you know, in situations like that. I mean Phil you know,
Speaker 1: has done it in the past, but also like steps
Speaker 1: on his own foot when you know when he gets
Speaker 1: to the mic and does you know the Watson things,
Speaker 1: or does like just flies off the cuff. But Tiger
Speaker 1: is just not. So many people want Tiger to be
Speaker 1: something so much more than just like a really good golfer,
Speaker 1: and he's not any of those things that we all
Speaker 1: want him to be. He's not. He's not, he never was,
Speaker 1: he never will be. He's he's flawed, we're all flawed whatever.
Speaker 1: He's just not the He's not a verbal leader of
Speaker 1: people in which we all sit there and think, Wow,
Speaker 1: that was really deep and meaningful, and that's the way
Speaker 1: it needs to be done. When you're carrying a tampon
Speaker 1: around a tournament round so you can slip to someone
Speaker 1: as a joke. He might be forfeiting your your place
Speaker 1: as the moral arbiter of the voice of the sport.
Speaker 1: It's just it's just not a natural role for the guy.
Speaker 1: It's just not I mean, his words have weight because
Speaker 1: he's Tiger Woods, but it's it's just doesn't come easy
Speaker 1: for him. And um, so it is to use one
Speaker 1: of his favorite expressions, it is what it is. But
Speaker 1: he's still Tiger Woods. I mean, he still has some
Speaker 1: magic in his hands, like he could go out to
Speaker 1: two sixty seven on Thursday and turn and placed upside
Speaker 1: down like anything's possible. But the chances of his foot
Speaker 1: and his back and his knee and his neck and
Speaker 1: his achilles and all these things feeling good four days
Speaker 1: in a row and letting him do what he needs
Speaker 1: to do to beat highly optimize twenty something athletes, like
Speaker 1: it's asking a lot. But yeah, I think, Um, I
Speaker 1: don't know. Well, we'll all watch Tiger keenly, but I
Speaker 1: don't think this is his master's so but we'll see. Well,
Speaker 1: this will be fodder for for the Thursday and the
Speaker 1: Friday podcast. So, um, all right, we tried to end this,
Speaker 1: we kept going. Now let's end it. We'll release the listeners,
Speaker 1: but it's always always a lot to talk about. So
Speaker 1: for Michael Bamberger and Mattanella, this is Alan Chipnuk. There's
Speaker 1: another fire drill. We will be coming at you all
Speaker 1: week long from Augusta, Georgia. Thanks for listening, and for
Speaker 1: now that's the end. I've been big, played the win,
Speaker 1: made a fortune with my shot game. Man. I ran
Speaker 1: the table. Never thought I could fall them and win.
Speaker 1: Hit me like a cannon the ball and now I
Speaker 1: can't shake this losing the street. Every road I take
Speaker 1: is a dead end street. Our thoughts in my head,
Speaker 1: can't get them out, trying not to think what I'm
Speaker 1: thinking about. I kind of thoughts in my head. Can't
Speaker 1: get them out, trying not to think what I'm thinking
Speaker 1: about