Speaker 1: I miss a green, for example, I'm already upset.
Speaker 2: When I find my ball in the bunker, I'm really upset.
Speaker 1: And when I find my.
Speaker 3: Ball in a brid egg Friday Egg, the dreaded Frida
Speaker 3: egg Friday Frida Egg brid.
Speaker 2: Egg, Lie, I'm about ready to run off of the
Speaker 2: up course.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Friday Golf Podcast. I am Andy Johnson,
Speaker 1: your host, and today I am excited to chat a
Speaker 1: little bit about the Ryder Cup. We haven't talked about
Speaker 1: the Ryder Cup on this podcast. Uh, obviously it's one
Speaker 1: of the huge subplots to the rest of the year
Speaker 1: in golf. We have one major left, we have the
Speaker 1: Open Championship. Our podcast will be out on as it
Speaker 1: traditionally is, before the Open, but I thought that this
Speaker 1: was a great time to chat about the Ryder Cup.
Speaker 1: A quick note just you know, for you guys, if
Speaker 1: you're looking for a golf course podcast, a golf course
Speaker 1: specific podcast, I thought Garrett and Matt did an awesome
Speaker 1: job on the Designing Golf Podcast breaking down Royal Port Rush,
Speaker 1: so I would go check that out if you're looking
Speaker 1: for a little bit golf course content before the Major.
Speaker 1: As well as our video on YouTube Royal Port Rush
Speaker 1: preview video which we did so. I am joined today
Speaker 1: by Joseph Lamania from Friday Golf as well as Sean
Speaker 1: Martin from the PGA Tour. One of my favorite people
Speaker 1: in the world of golf to talk golf with is Sean.
Speaker 1: Sean is the senior manager Content Development of the PGA Tour.
Speaker 1: There's a comma in there. They use commas and titles.
Speaker 1: Sean is so big. Thanks to Sean for joining. Before
Speaker 1: we get to Joseph and Sean, this podcast is presented
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Speaker 1: at MBUSA dot com. Also, just a quick note, Ludwig
Speaker 1: in the field at at the Open will be a
Speaker 1: big factor in the Ryder Cup. He's a Mercedes guy,
Speaker 1: so check that out. Check out MBUSA dot com and
Speaker 1: big thanks to Mercedes for presenting this podcast. All right,
Speaker 1: let's talk Ryder Cup. Joseph Sean, welcome on. You get
Speaker 1: you guys. Want to give one one quick open nugget
Speaker 1: that you're excited for before we get into the Ryder
Speaker 1: Cup discussion.
Speaker 2: Does this coount as one of our things? Is a
Speaker 2: pre thing?
Speaker 1: Now, this is a pre thing, pre thing, This is
Speaker 1: an unplanned pre thing just off the top of your head,
Speaker 1: Ryder Cup thing, open championship thing that you're.
Speaker 2: You're Open championship.
Speaker 1: I think, oh, open Championship. I met We're the week before.
Speaker 1: We're still you know, this is kind of multi service pod.
Speaker 2: Now I think big thing for me. I think in
Speaker 2: light of this pod, doing some research, it's going to
Speaker 2: be a big factor in team selection, just points wise.
Speaker 2: But then also I think Rory obviously a big thing
Speaker 2: looking forward to. I think been kinding up and down
Speaker 2: a couple months after the Masters win. But I'm sure
Speaker 2: Port Rush and beth Page or two things that are
Speaker 2: circled on his calendar, and so it'll be interesting to
Speaker 2: see how Rory shows up for port Rush. I was
Speaker 2: talking to Paul Hodwanick on our staff before he departed
Speaker 2: for overseas, and I love that Rory and Shane last
Speaker 2: time we were port Rush really showed the blessing and
Speaker 2: the curse of a hometown major. There's like the crowd
Speaker 2: support that you get that third round. I'll never forget it.
Speaker 2: At port Rush when Shane Lowry shot I think sixty
Speaker 2: three to take like a four or six shot lead,
Speaker 2: they were were acting like he'd won the tournament. It
Speaker 2: was an incredible scene. They're practically carry him on his shoulders.
Speaker 2: But then obviously he saw it to with Rory, just
Speaker 2: the pressure and what happened to him there without you know,
Speaker 2: getting his first t shot will be so I think
Speaker 2: it might have our conversation. It's a huge for team selection.
Speaker 2: And then too, I think just seeing you know what
Speaker 2: Rory we see rock up to the first team this year.
Speaker 1: I totally I think like the home game thing is
Speaker 1: like it can be like a It's totally like a
Speaker 1: blessing or a curse. Like you if you get off
Speaker 1: to a good start, I feel like it's like the
Speaker 1: greatest thing ever. But there's also this element of like
Speaker 1: golf courses that you know really well, you also know
Speaker 1: like all the things that can go wrong on them,
Speaker 1: like and sometimes if you go watch like somebody that's
Speaker 1: played a golf course their entire life, I'll never forget.
Speaker 1: I played a Usam qualifier at a golf course I'd
Speaker 1: played hundreds of times years ago, and I played one
Speaker 1: of the holes one way my whole life. And we're
Speaker 1: playing this Usam qualifier and literally I'm seeing everybody hit
Speaker 1: driver on this hole. And it was a hole that like,
Speaker 1: because I had played it so many times as a kid,
Speaker 1: I just always thought the play was like just you know,
Speaker 1: I hit it to the one hundred and fifty yard marker.
Speaker 1: Play in that way. I watch all these and it's
Speaker 1: like it's funny every time. I've never forgotten that because
Speaker 1: then I just started hitting driver in the hole got
Speaker 1: so much easier. And it's because like you just have
Speaker 1: this like built up memory of playing a golf course
Speaker 1: and you have the way that you play golf course
Speaker 1: your whole life. So anyways, I and also then you
Speaker 1: also know all the bad spots. So anyways, that's a
Speaker 1: quick tangent, Joseph, what about you, Andy?
Speaker 3: That is just classic back in the day, Andy playing
Speaker 3: the angles laying back. I mean, that is the most
Speaker 3: Andy Johnson anecdote that I think you could give. Learning
Speaker 3: that hitting driver makes holes easier is the perfect way
Speaker 3: to start this podcast.
Speaker 1: You know what, I think that you are under rae
Speaker 1: the way this hole is set up. And also this
Speaker 1: was way before this is way before any of the
Speaker 1: data revelations. This was probably before Twitter existed. It was
Speaker 1: definitely before Instagram existed when this happened.
Speaker 3: Fair enough, all right, the thing you probably.
Speaker 1: Were You were probably like five years old when this happened, Joseph.
Speaker 3: Who knows? Who can say the main thing I'm looking
Speaker 3: for at the Open Championship, I think a really interesting
Speaker 3: storyline is how does Scotty putt? And we've seen the
Speaker 3: return this year. He's being branded as a much better
Speaker 3: putter and he has been a much better putter. Is
Speaker 3: that like, has he truly become a good putter? Or
Speaker 3: no offense sean or the PGA Tour setups like consistent,
Speaker 3: he's kind of learned how to put on those. And
Speaker 3: when he goes overseas to grainier, slower greens where you
Speaker 3: have to strike your putts better, can Scotty Hank can
Speaker 3: he gain a shot a day on the greens or
Speaker 3: something like that or does he finish tied for seventh
Speaker 3: and we look at it as another like ball striking
Speaker 3: exhibition where the putter held him back. I think that's
Speaker 3: a huge storyline going into Port Rush.
Speaker 2: I do need to bring something up. I texted Andy
Speaker 2: about this. I think Scotty's open record is underrated. I
Speaker 2: think he finished twenty first in Saint Andrews in twenty
Speaker 2: twenty two. That was the year that he was in
Speaker 2: contention through two or three rounds that had a bad
Speaker 2: final round and the reason was revealed later. I think
Speaker 2: it's the tour championship. Someone asked him about it and
Speaker 2: he had what amounted to basically an ingrown hair on
Speaker 2: his butt, A painful, painful injury, an unlikely one, but
Speaker 2: it made it hard to even pick his ball out
Speaker 2: of the hole. And bendever said to grind Through that
Speaker 2: I don't want to go into too much detail, but
Speaker 2: it's on his transcript from the twenty twenty two Tour
Speaker 2: Championship and then Royal truon last year. John Wood, who
Speaker 2: was on the ground following it, called one of the
Speaker 2: best ball striking grounds he's ever seen. During that third round,
Speaker 2: when the conditions were awful, wind is blowing across the
Speaker 2: golf course, I said, Scotty worked in both waves in
Speaker 2: the wind to flight his ball and curve it into
Speaker 2: the wind. And then you remember he almost hold that
Speaker 2: three wood on seventeen. I think Scotty was a victim
Speaker 2: of the draw there at the Open. So I think
Speaker 2: the story behind Scotty's Open record I think I think
Speaker 2: that's better than what it looks like on Wikipedia.
Speaker 1: Listen. I think he should be the best Open player.
Speaker 1: What works well when the conditions get went like ball
Speaker 1: striking is like the premiere. You know it's hard because
Speaker 1: you talk about like Augustin National you say the same thing,
Speaker 1: like right, but you know, there's a reason that the
Speaker 1: best players play the best in majors right consistently. And
Speaker 1: for the open, where you can get those like really
Speaker 1: tough crosswinds and those really difficult conditions, that is an
Speaker 1: opportunity for or someone who hits the ball like Scottie
Speaker 1: to really separate themselves from the field. That being said,
Speaker 1: I think the slow greens where you actually have to
Speaker 1: hit a putt is something to watch. Per Joseph's thought
Speaker 1: is like these greens are much slower, so what you
Speaker 1: see is like longer strokes on six foot putts. And
Speaker 1: you know, I think like what gets miss construed as
Speaker 1: skill putting is like the reality of like pro golf
Speaker 1: in America is that putting's really about just like hitting
Speaker 1: a line, and the greens are so fast that if
Speaker 1: you hit the line, it's going to go in. When
Speaker 1: you have slower greens, you have a wider range of stroke.
Speaker 1: So you know, if you use this for a cross sport,
Speaker 1: analogy is like you know, PGA Tour golf putting wise
Speaker 1: is like a quarterback who just has to make short throws, right,
Speaker 1: It's like that's the skill when the greens get slower,
Speaker 1: you you have to make the short throws still, you
Speaker 1: have to have the short stroke putting, but like you
Speaker 1: also have a wider your stroke has to be good
Speaker 1: at at a longer level too, because you have long
Speaker 1: putts that are slow that you have to hit hard,
Speaker 1: So your dynamic range of putting stroke is much greater.
Speaker 1: And that would be my case for links golf and
Speaker 1: slow greens illuminate more skilled putting. Just just to follow
Speaker 1: the data would say something different, I know, just to
Speaker 1: follo up.
Speaker 3: On I don't know the data would say something different, Andy,
Speaker 3: but just to fallo up on Sean's point, Like Scotty
Speaker 3: does have a good Open Championship record, I believe we
Speaker 3: have three years of Open Championship strokes gain data. He's
Speaker 3: lost strokes putting in all of those, and he's lost
Speaker 3: strokes putting a lot of places over the last three years.
Speaker 3: But it's not like that his Open Championship record defy
Speaker 3: as some of the narrative around him potentially struggling with
Speaker 3: the potter on these types of greens, like it has
Speaker 3: been something that if he had put well at Truon,
Speaker 3: he absolutely could have won that golf turn he probably
Speaker 3: would have won Night Golf turn.
Speaker 2: The interesting thing with slow greens, you know, so when
Speaker 2: Scotty puts poorly, it looks like he desails, and you
Speaker 2: would think slow greens would help him because you can,
Speaker 2: in theory, just hit it a little harder without the
Speaker 2: worry of that kind of running out right, Like I
Speaker 2: think a lot of us, probably, you know, we weren't
Speaker 2: as let's say, finally tuned as a PGA Tour player,
Speaker 2: but you'd take a little shorter stroke and accelerate a
Speaker 2: little bit more. But now I think guys are so
Speaker 2: dialed with kind of the tempo and pace of their
Speaker 2: putting stroke that they, just, like Andy's saying, take a
Speaker 2: longer stroke to hit at that extra distance on the
Speaker 2: slower green versus just you know, putting a little more
Speaker 2: pop into it. I'll at brand Snedeker, but it's interesting.
Speaker 2: I think Scotty, when he puts poorly and misses those
Speaker 2: short ones, it looks like he's de selling on them.
Speaker 2: I almost feel like maybe on the slower greens, if
Speaker 2: you just pull a more pop into stroke to make
Speaker 2: up for the you know, less get on the greens,
Speaker 2: might be a fix. I don't know, I'm not a
Speaker 2: putting instruction This could be horrible advice.
Speaker 1: Maybe we should get us putting instructor on real quick,
Speaker 1: see if one's available, and see if they can join.
Speaker 1: All right, let's get to the topic of the of
Speaker 1: the podcast, the Ryder Cup. Scottie Scheffler is on the
Speaker 1: American team. What we did for this podcast is we
Speaker 1: each prepared three I'll just call them storylines that we
Speaker 1: are paying attention to for the rest of the year.
Speaker 1: For the Ryder Cup. It could be European team, it
Speaker 1: could be US team Sean. Since you are the you
Speaker 1: come in from a different organization, we'll give you the
Speaker 1: right to go first. Here. Joseph, you can go second.
Speaker 1: I'll back clean third.
Speaker 2: Here sounds good. You know, I wish you always had
Speaker 2: Kyle Porter on here. I love Kyle, but this is
Speaker 2: just somewhere we don't agree. You know, Kyle loves the
Speaker 2: story of the European camaraderie and the motivational films and
Speaker 2: the chemistry and how it all works together. And to me,
Speaker 2: I think the Ryder Cup in this era is a
Speaker 2: logistics contest. And I think that honestly, jet lag might
Speaker 2: be United States' biggest enemy and they don't have that
Speaker 2: this year obviously, So I think of all the advantages
Speaker 2: of being a home golf course course set up being one,
Speaker 2: I think the United States has severely mismanaged its travel
Speaker 2: when it's had long road trips recently, going back to
Speaker 2: twenty eighteen, part of that was scheduled unavoidable. The Ryder
Speaker 2: Cup in France was the week after the Tour Championship,
Speaker 2: so literally those guys had to hop on a red
Speaker 2: eye Sunday night after Eastlake can get into Paris Monday morning.
Speaker 2: You look at the twenty nineteen President's Cup, which, if
Speaker 2: you remember, the US was down three points going to singles.
Speaker 2: They played the Hero World Challenge the week before. Obviously
Speaker 2: Tiger was the playing captain. I'm sure that had a
Speaker 2: lot to do with it. But again they arrived in
Speaker 2: Australia the Monday of after a long flight, whereas a
Speaker 2: lot of the international team played the Australian Open the
Speaker 2: week before. And then last year you have a month
Speaker 2: between the Tour Championship and the Ryder Cup, and yet
Speaker 2: again the US team takes the Sunday night red Eye
Speaker 2: the week before or the Sunday before and arrives Monday
Speaker 2: morning and you're behind the eight ball. You're getting off
Speaker 2: that red eye flight, You're just trying to stay awake
Speaker 2: to go to bed at a normal time. You're probably
Speaker 2: sleep walking through practice. Now you do have that extra
Speaker 2: day because the Ryder Cup starts Friday, but I think
Speaker 2: in hindsight, when you look even at player quotes, and
Speaker 2: I think even Zach Johnson's quotes later in the year,
Speaker 2: they realized that was a big mistake. The team also
Speaker 2: got sick that week. You can't control that. But if
Speaker 2: you look at it for last year's President's Cup, it
Speaker 2: was in Montreal, so we're not talking big travel, but
Speaker 2: that team arrived the Saturday before, and they said a
Speaker 2: big reason was they learned what a big mistake it
Speaker 2: was arriving that late to a road Ryder Cup. And
Speaker 2: so I think luckily we've learned. I would be surprised
Speaker 2: if the US team doesn't arrive at the latest Sunday
Speaker 2: before a to beth Page. You do have that month
Speaker 2: between again the Tour Championship and the the Ryder Cup,
Speaker 2: which I think doesn't work to the US advantage because
Speaker 2: the only thing in between is the event in Napa,
Speaker 2: Whereas one thing in Europe's favor is they.
Speaker 1: Have a year you have to play that nap event they.
Speaker 2: Have to or you either you go to beth Page
Speaker 2: and you have a three to four day team bonding
Speaker 2: practice event like the European team did last year, because
Speaker 2: I think you wouldn't take a month off before major.
Speaker 2: I don't think you should take a month off for
Speaker 2: the Ryder Cup. And then Europe they're going to have
Speaker 2: a similar thing what we saw in twenty twenty three,
Speaker 2: where they have a lot of good events on their
Speaker 2: schedule to play and get momentum and bond you've got.
Speaker 2: You know, you have the Tour Championship, which a lot
Speaker 2: of their guys will play, but for the guys that
Speaker 2: don't make it, the British Masters is the same week.
Speaker 2: Then you have the OMEGA European Masters, and after that
Speaker 2: you have the Irish Open, which this year it's at
Speaker 2: the k Club which is a very American style venue,
Speaker 2: whereas last year is at Royal County Down. I don't
Speaker 2: think that's a coincidence. And then twoaks for the Yder Cup,
Speaker 2: you have the BMWPGA, the European Tour, the DP World
Speaker 2: Tour's biggest event, and so I think the US gets
Speaker 2: to avoid big travel and I think learned from that,
Speaker 2: but the schedule, they still need to plan a way
Speaker 2: to hit the round running and be successful for Beth Page,
Speaker 2: which I think we saw a Royal Montreal with them
Speaker 2: arriving early, which was a conscious decision based on Rome.
Speaker 2: But I think they just need to make sure that
Speaker 2: the week's leading in the Ryder Cup are used the
Speaker 2: best possible way that they can, which includes rest of recovery,
Speaker 2: but also includes practice and preparation.
Speaker 3: Do you think that's something for not necessarily Brian Roll
Speaker 3: app not to derail it, like a full month off
Speaker 3: between the Tour Championship and when the Ryder Cup is
Speaker 3: historically played, Like you could pretty easily sell me that
Speaker 3: pushing back the Tour Championship a little bit kind of
Speaker 3: makes a little some sense from both a weather standpoint
Speaker 3: and there being less of a layoff between, Like playing
Speaker 3: NAPA is not the best preparation for playing the Ryder Cup.
Speaker 3: I don't know. I'd be surprised if I guess eight
Speaker 3: years from now there's still that that significant of a gap,
Speaker 3: or that there's not a better event placed between them.
Speaker 2: I don't know, what do you instead of playing NAPA.
Speaker 2: I think a four day trip to beth Page Is
Speaker 2: is the solution sufficient. I think it's the better option
Speaker 2: of the two. Yeah, but a month off is too long.
Speaker 2: I don't know exactly what goes in with this coordination.
Speaker 2: Obviously we saw in COVID all the organizations kind of
Speaker 2: coordinating schedules have done before. But a month off is
Speaker 2: a long time. And really the DP World Tour has
Speaker 2: some big events between the Tour Championship and the Ryder
Speaker 2: Cup that really give an opportunity to kind of gain
Speaker 2: some momentum like we saw in twenty twenty three.
Speaker 1: I it would be cool if they did like some
Speaker 1: sort of event at beth Page before and had like
Speaker 1: I mean, that would be like you know, you talk
Speaker 1: about like ways to make cool stuff and make the
Speaker 1: tour more like you know, approachable and different things you
Speaker 1: could do a whole like if they actually did matches
Speaker 1: that they created content around while they did these practice sessions,
Speaker 1: you know, and treated it like you know you always
Speaker 1: see like the footage of like the Dream Team scrimmages, right,
Speaker 1: Like these things would be really neat content ideas as well,
Speaker 1: you know, I wish Paul McGinley was here to push
Speaker 1: back on the On the camaraderie side of things, I
Speaker 1: don't think.
Speaker 2: I don't think it hurts, but I think that I
Speaker 2: think you have two pretty evenly matched teams, and I
Speaker 2: think that the advantages are in course setup and logistics,
Speaker 2: and I think those are really the difference in the
Speaker 2: Ryder Cup. I think I always say to Kyle, if
Speaker 2: the camaraderie thing was so big, you know why didn't
Speaker 2: work in twenty twenty one or twenty sixteen. Or I'll
Speaker 2: buy into the huge I'm not saying it doesn't help.
Speaker 2: The guys talk a lot about the logistics. You know,
Speaker 2: being so well ronic gives them confidence because they don't
Speaker 2: have to think about anything. They know where they need
Speaker 2: to be, when they need to be there, who they're
Speaker 2: playing with, how to prepare. It eliminates a lot of questions.
Speaker 2: But I just I'll believe it has a humongous impact
Speaker 2: when it leads to a winning a road Rider Cup.
Speaker 2: And actually going back to the events thing, I like
Speaker 2: what the USCA has done with the Walker Cup in
Speaker 2: recent years, where like in twenty seventeen when the matches
Speaker 2: at LACC, the USAM was like two weeks earlier at Riviera,
Speaker 2: so both teams could play. This year the Walk Cups
Speaker 2: at Cyper's Point in the Usam's at Olympic Club, so
Speaker 2: both teams can play. And so I think when you
Speaker 2: doing that where you allow both teams to play in
Speaker 2: a tournament two weeks ahead of time, they're both kind
Speaker 2: of preparing the same. You get people they get a
Speaker 2: chance to play competitively two weeks ahead of time, and
Speaker 2: then they get to go see the venue in plenty
Speaker 2: of time. Like I kind of like that idea and
Speaker 2: that execution.
Speaker 1: Something I had which I'll just butt in here. I'm
Speaker 1: screwing up the order, but it's my podcast, so I
Speaker 1: can do that. I thought a nice question I have,
Speaker 1: what's the best setup of Beth Page for the Americans?
Speaker 1: You know you brought up setup. Is it no rough
Speaker 1: really like short rough and you know is in softer
Speaker 1: or is it thick rough and like kind of more
Speaker 1: the PGA Championship style set up that we saw a
Speaker 1: few years ago. Or do they do what they did
Speaker 1: with Hazel team where they really like mow the rough down.
Speaker 1: I think that's a fascinating question because in a way,
Speaker 1: the European team looks a lot more like what those
Speaker 1: prior US teams like before the turnover and that European
Speaker 1: Ryder Cup roster where they were trotting out Ian Polter
Speaker 1: Lee Westwood. You know, these these shorter, more precise players
Speaker 1: from a different era. Now that European team is filled
Speaker 1: with a lot more pop, a lot more long hitters.
Speaker 1: I'm really fascinated as to how the US looks at
Speaker 1: course set up and figures out how they have an
Speaker 1: advantage there because this team and I think like some
Speaker 1: of this, like the back half of the roster, is
Speaker 1: going to depend on that. But they do not have
Speaker 1: a lot of like what I would call bombers on
Speaker 1: the team, don't. I don't know how you go about,
Speaker 1: like what your avenue of setting up Beth Page is
Speaker 1: with their current team method makeup.
Speaker 2: I want to leave that to Joseph. That's his area
Speaker 2: of expertise.
Speaker 3: I think, yeah, I think it depends on who fills
Speaker 3: out the back half of these teams. I think there's
Speaker 3: a pretty good case that Team ussays would be in
Speaker 3: their best interest is having shorter rough and allowing some
Speaker 3: of the good iron players and recovery players to potentially
Speaker 3: have a chance I don't think these skill sets are
Speaker 3: going to be that different between the teams, which is
Speaker 3: probably one of the biggest stories coming in. They have
Speaker 3: their mix of long hitters. You got Bryson, you got Rory,
Speaker 3: You've got the shorter, accurate Fleetwood and lowry. Team USA
Speaker 3: is going to have that too with your JJ spawns,
Speaker 3: potentially Russell Henley Morikawa. So I actually don't think these
Speaker 3: skill sets are going to be drastically different, but you know,
Speaker 3: potentially speak on the team crafty iron player from the
Speaker 3: short rough like I think Bryson obviously has a tendency
Speaker 3: to bash it around and get a little errant and
Speaker 3: could be somebody you want to lean on. As TMUS.
Speaker 3: I think there's probably a pretty good case that you
Speaker 3: want to cut the rough down, especially since they will
Speaker 3: be small favorites and I believe should be small favorites,
Speaker 3: and generally the shorter the rough, that's there's going to
Speaker 3: be less variance. So I'd probably lean as Team USA
Speaker 3: towards cutting it short. But again we don't know the
Speaker 3: full team yet.
Speaker 2: I think you can go graduate a rough, which I
Speaker 2: know Joseph is a big proponent of, and there are
Speaker 2: some potential captain's picks where you could kind of load
Speaker 2: this team and make them a more kind of accuracy
Speaker 2: bias team. They'd be probably some controversial picks, but you know,
Speaker 2: if you really wanted to like suit a team to
Speaker 2: a corese setup style, I think you could kind of
Speaker 2: make some of your captain's picks some more accurate players
Speaker 2: depending what happens over the last two months. I'm still
Speaker 2: a big proponent of like just pick the best players
Speaker 2: at the time or who've proven themselves over a good
Speaker 2: period of time.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's one of the tricky things though about
Speaker 1: about the date that you eliminated with like a month off.
Speaker 1: It's like, you know, we see how much golf can
Speaker 1: change in a month, right, Like you think about like
Speaker 1: the month after the Masters. Where where we were at
Speaker 1: after the Masters, and then where we were at one
Speaker 1: month later completely different. You know, players that are hot,
Speaker 1: like you know, like sam BYRN seemed completely out of
Speaker 1: the picture for a Ryder Cup spot. Now he seems
Speaker 1: like probably going to be on the team. So I
Speaker 1: think the I think the thing is that's tough with
Speaker 1: with picking the hot player. It's easy if it's right
Speaker 1: after the tour championship, it's a lot harder to when
Speaker 1: it's a month after and two.
Speaker 2: I think that's where it's a little bit harder for
Speaker 2: the US team with the smaller like field sizes in
Speaker 2: the playoffs where obviously you want all you guys to
Speaker 2: make it to East Lake, but they probably won't, and
Speaker 2: so their season ends at BMW. Let's say so, they've
Speaker 2: got another week off in addition, whereas the European Tour,
Speaker 2: they've got an event in Scotland the week of the
Speaker 2: FedEx Saint Jude. They've got the Danish Golf Championship, which
Speaker 2: you know amount of candidates for the captain's picks or
Speaker 2: some Danes. And it's a period where some guys last
Speaker 2: time in Ludwig and Nikolai Hoygard like they separated themselves
Speaker 2: or established themselves as captain's picks in those weeks where
Speaker 2: a lot of guys were competing in the Fedest Cup
Speaker 2: playoffs and if they were American they'd be sitting at home,
Speaker 2: whereas as Europeans they can go back over to the
Speaker 2: DP World Tour and play in some of those events,
Speaker 2: earn their captain's pick with their play and then join
Speaker 2: the rest of the team and go play like the
Speaker 2: Irish Open and the BMWPGA, which the BMWPGA in twenty
Speaker 2: twenty three is huge. That European team, I think like
Speaker 2: they all finished like top fifteen, They spent the whole
Speaker 2: week together, they repaired together, and then they made a
Speaker 2: quick trip over to Rome to get ready for the
Speaker 2: Ryder Club.
Speaker 3: I'll go with my first one then, kind of going
Speaker 3: off both of what you guys have said. I think
Speaker 3: this is a we're really putting home home course advantage
Speaker 3: to the test here, and like the concept of home
Speaker 3: versus the setup, because I do think this setup will
Speaker 3: not be necessarily favoring one side or the other like
Speaker 3: we've seen in the past whistling straights like at le
Speaker 3: Golf Nationale. Those are two pretty extreme setups and teams
Speaker 3: with very different skill sets. Now those skill sets and
Speaker 3: the talent gaps are much closer, and I personally, like
Speaker 3: I've I believe a lot in the home advantage. And
Speaker 3: it's a cool question across sports of why that even exists.
Speaker 3: Is it because of travel, which again both teams are
Speaker 3: getting better at. Is it because of the crowd, which
Speaker 3: I do think is a significant factor. And you watch
Speaker 3: tennis tournaments where sometimes the home crowd like does seem
Speaker 3: to boost the local player. During the NBA Playoffs, they
Speaker 3: talked about how role players tend to do better at
Speaker 3: home versus on the road, Like, where does that home
Speaker 3: advantage come from? Is an interesting question, and I think
Speaker 3: we'll get another data point around it after this Ryder Cup.
Speaker 3: Is it the better you know? Is it the back
Speaker 3: end of the roster, those guys struggle in the away crowd.
Speaker 3: It's just an interesting inflection point the Ryder Cup and
Speaker 3: how much home course advantage matters when you have two
Speaker 3: pretty similarly skilled teams on a setup that shouldn't favor
Speaker 3: one necessarily more than the other team I say, blows
Speaker 3: out Europe, it's going to go a long way towards
Speaker 3: furthering that narrative.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's that's one of the more compelling aspects of
Speaker 1: this year's Ryder Cup. I think that you laid out
Speaker 1: is that we've seen this like huge advantage to the
Speaker 1: home team to the to the point where like after
Speaker 1: last Ryder Cup and after France, and you know, there
Speaker 1: was discourse of is should this exist? Should the home
Speaker 1: team get to set the course up because it's causing
Speaker 1: these blowouts and there hasn't really been like if you look,
Speaker 1: the Ryder Cup hasn't been very close. But this year,
Speaker 1: I think like the makeup, I always go back to
Speaker 1: that Whistling Straits one where it's like, oh, the US
Speaker 1: is going to win the rec of these forever and
Speaker 1: you looked at like the European team and I think
Speaker 1: like one of the stories out of that was like
Speaker 1: the the next wave of European players is actually continental
Speaker 1: europe player European players, and you're seeing that come true
Speaker 1: and their power players and they you know this this
Speaker 1: team looks so much different than twenty twenty one, where
Speaker 1: like the team, the type of player is very similar,
Speaker 1: and it it's just you know, this is this is
Speaker 1: the year, and you know, I think like something you
Speaker 1: can you can pull on off of this is like
Speaker 1: the US team has so much more to lose than
Speaker 1: the European team, and if they lose this, like it's
Speaker 1: going I feel like we're going to have another situation
Speaker 1: of like what do we do to fix the US
Speaker 1: Ryder Cup? Like that's gonna be the discourse if they lose.
Speaker 2: I think twenty twenty three was a wake up call,
Speaker 2: like I'm going back to the travel thing. Like I
Speaker 2: think you look at post twenty fourteen Ryder Cup, the
Speaker 2: task Force Air you can call it, and the US
Speaker 2: had won six of seven team matches entering twenty twenty three,
Speaker 2: and that was like they dominated in twenty sixteen a
Speaker 2: Hazel team, twenty seventeen Presidents Cup they almost ended on
Speaker 2: Saturday twenty twenty one Ryder Cup's record setting, and I
Speaker 2: think that twenty twenty three was a real wake up
Speaker 2: call for them. And you know, Jim Fierrich talked after
Speaker 2: the President's Cup last year of like it was the
Speaker 2: players who decided to get in the Saturday before at
Speaker 2: Royal Montreal, and I think that's new of like players,
Speaker 2: you know, they're very protective of their time. When would
Speaker 2: you hear of a guy saying, oh, yeah, let's get
Speaker 2: into Saturday before before And so I think and then
Speaker 2: you saw a lot of the usual pairings I think
Speaker 2: kind of get disrupted at the President's Cup as well,
Speaker 2: like they were, you know, Scotty and Russell Henley paired together.
Speaker 2: Well Sam Burns, I kind of wrote tongue in cheek
Speaker 2: like in the story I wrote that day. But like
Speaker 2: Sam Burns, who's from like small Town, Louisiana, paired with
Speaker 2: a couple of Californians in like Calinmorre Collo and Patrick
Speaker 2: Cantlay Like it's guys that maybe he normally wouldn't And
Speaker 2: I think that I think twenty twenty three was a
Speaker 2: wake up call that like they were on such a
Speaker 2: great run that I think they thought they could show
Speaker 2: up Monday morning, it'd be fine. And I think now
Speaker 2: maybe they realized that that that's not the case.
Speaker 1: All right, Sean, what's your next thing?
Speaker 2: My next thing, I think is the back end of
Speaker 2: the lineups. I think Joseph when he said it about
Speaker 2: role players in the NBA Playoffs, I think, I think,
Speaker 2: I don't know if it's gonna be one on the
Speaker 2: back end. I think the Ryder Cup format does force
Speaker 2: your back end of your lineup to be a little
Speaker 2: bit more useful because you have five matches in three days,
Speaker 2: and so you know, basically playing all five is anathema nowadays,
Speaker 2: so you're gonna need to use It's not gonna be
Speaker 2: like nineteen ninty nine where Andrew Coltart and maybe Yarmo
Speaker 2: sat until Sunday. And so I think I think both
Speaker 2: teams like their first eight spots are set, and I
Speaker 2: think that really it's the back end where I think
Speaker 2: there's a lot of questions marks per usual, and I
Speaker 2: think really looking at Europe, I think that their last
Speaker 2: three spots. I was looking at names and there's really
Speaker 2: no one that I think pops out of, like this
Speaker 2: guy's definitely on the team named to fill it, Whereas
Speaker 2: I think I can make a decent case for nine
Speaker 2: through twelve on the US team.
Speaker 3: Are you not including Rose? Are you not including Rose?
Speaker 2: In that he was he's on like my candidate's list,
Speaker 2: but ever since the Masters, he's played pretty poorly.
Speaker 1: I I had, so one of mine relates to this,
Speaker 1: and we can just lump this together. I had the
Speaker 1: European I think there's only one spot on the European team.
Speaker 3: Wow.
Speaker 1: So I wrote down the names here and it's like
Speaker 1: get when you when you have a question, like get
Speaker 1: to me, say like no, Rory Fleetwood, Terrell Hatton, Bob McIntyre,
Speaker 1: Shane Lowry, Sepstraca, Ludvig Abert, h John Rahm, Justin Rose, No,
Speaker 1: Victor Hovlin. And that's eleven. Maybe Rasmus. I have Rasmus,
Speaker 1: who's seventh in points.
Speaker 3: I think Rasmus is a question mark.
Speaker 1: So that's I had ten. I had question mark around Rasmus.
Speaker 1: It's like, I think though where he is in the points.
Speaker 1: He's seventh, seventh in points, but.
Speaker 2: He hasn't he has no top tens this year. I
Speaker 2: mean I have nine guys. I have all the guys
Speaker 2: you named except for Rose. I have as a maybe.
Speaker 2: I mean Roses twenty three in the world ranking. It's
Speaker 2: built on two incredible finishes runner up finishes at the
Speaker 2: Open last year and the Masters. But since then he's
Speaker 2: played horribly. He's played really poorly. Plug your ears. But
Speaker 2: Thomas Deetrie has a win but hasn't done anything since then.
Speaker 1: I'd like to point out that University of Illinois great
Speaker 1: Thomas Deetree was not listed.
Speaker 2: I think, you know, I think Rasmus probably gets on
Speaker 2: the team and that gives you ten. But then I
Speaker 2: mean you look at their their points list. You know,
Speaker 2: Roses ninth, Matt Wallace is twelfth, Jordan Smith is thirteen,
Speaker 2: Nicholas nor guard and then honestly, I think Rasmus Nierguard
Speaker 2: Peterson I think could show some stuff in those couple weeks.
Speaker 2: I think he's honestly like you're Ludwig of this year
Speaker 2: for them.
Speaker 1: I think I think I think R and P is
Speaker 1: probably their best choice for the twelve guy. If I
Speaker 1: was gonna pick one, just based off of like what
Speaker 1: I watched him at the US Open. I'm really impressed
Speaker 1: with his game.
Speaker 3: I think interesting follow up on both of those. Nierguard
Speaker 3: Peterson excellent driver of the golf ball, which will be
Speaker 3: at a premium. The biggest knock is that he has
Speaker 3: done almost nothing in strong fields. He's a T twelve
Speaker 3: at the US Open, and outside of that, there's there's
Speaker 3: he was playing Challenge Tour for a lot of twenty
Speaker 3: twenty four. Like, there is not much to point to
Speaker 3: on his resume. He's other player I think that we
Speaker 3: haven't mentioned that we should is David Pooge, who, despite
Speaker 3: being on Live and you know, we don't see him
Speaker 3: as often, he's an excellent driver of the golf ball
Speaker 3: and he's shown some promise too. Why I'm bringing both
Speaker 3: of those up together is that at the BMW International
Speaker 3: last week Luke Donald played with one of them. I
Speaker 3: believe I believe he was. Yeah, he was paired with
Speaker 3: David Pooge and then Dodo Molinari was paired with rasmusnierguard Peterson,
Speaker 3: So I do think those guys are on the radar.
Speaker 3: And them being paired together, which I know that they
Speaker 3: have some influence in being able to weigh in on,
Speaker 3: I think is evidence that they're looking at those guys.
Speaker 1: I mean, just one other name, one other name we
Speaker 1: have not mentioned, veteran major champion Matt Fitzpatrick, who Sergia
Speaker 1: has shown some life. He's got two top tens, you know,
Speaker 1: and he had a good finish at the PGA.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: I think a goal you know, Quail and Beth Page
Speaker 1: aren't are actually fair comps. So that would be one
Speaker 1: that I would just I would just put on the radar.
Speaker 1: I mean, if they wanted, they wanted to go experience.
Speaker 1: I mean that team when you look at it, if
Speaker 1: you if you have Rasmus is in the eleventh spot
Speaker 1: and Fits is twelve, that is a team that's got
Speaker 1: some like real bona fides and.
Speaker 2: Fits is showing some signs of life and switching to
Speaker 2: Mark Blackburn, So that is an oversight probably on my part.
Speaker 2: I think he's trending in the right direction real quick.
Speaker 2: On David Pooge, he better from here on forward. Be
Speaker 2: reference in the shot and start is David Puige Gyasiel's brother.
Speaker 2: I want to make sure that's a guarantee. And then
Speaker 2: there are a couple young players at the top of
Speaker 2: the race to Dubai. Like you look at Laur Cantor
Speaker 2: is third in race to Dubai. He played well enough
Speaker 2: this year to at least crack the top fifteen in
Speaker 2: the world ranking and has a candidacy. The people in
Speaker 2: Europe are very excited about Martin Kouvra. He's in a
Speaker 2: feature group this week at the Genesis Scottish Open. And
Speaker 2: then you've got Christopher Wright hand another one of those
Speaker 2: young kind of continental players. I was fifth in the
Speaker 2: raceist Dubai, so maybe some outside candidates.
Speaker 1: Do you think Kevin Waugh will be able to play
Speaker 1: on the on the on the international team at mcdona, No, you.
Speaker 3: Don't get to pop bunkers.
Speaker 2: When I was a you or Brandon had said when
Speaker 2: someone told you it was Patrick Waugh and not Patrick Roy,
Speaker 2: that blew their minds. I remember that exact moment in
Speaker 2: my childhood as well. I was like, I don't understand
Speaker 2: how that doesn't make sense.
Speaker 3: It's just to I guess not necessarily Tiebo, if we
Speaker 3: want to keep going. But I think if you made things,
Speaker 3: if you stop things right now, I think Matt Fitzpatrick
Speaker 3: would be in my top twelve. He's trees trending in
Speaker 3: the right direction. And I think Justin Rose similarly, like
Speaker 3: those are guys that you expect to show up. So
Speaker 3: Fitzpatrick's results from one are.
Speaker 1: I would be astonished, you know. I think, like I
Speaker 1: think Justin Rose probably could miss every cut the rest
Speaker 1: of the year, and he's on the team because of
Speaker 1: his his track record at Ryder Cups. I mean, you're
Speaker 1: talking about like a legend who almost won a major
Speaker 1: this year, and like I think, like you've seen him
Speaker 1: be able to just like flip the switch.
Speaker 3: I beg it was one of major last year.
Speaker 2: Yeah, real quick to former Mighty Ducks goalie Gee Abar.
Speaker 2: I don understand how it wasn't Guy Herbert but Gieber.
Speaker 3: I guess I'll just go off this then, since we're
Speaker 3: talking back.
Speaker 2: In the teams, I think the fun thing is both
Speaker 2: teams are gonna have to like bypass some guys on
Speaker 2: their points list, which is gonna be fun discourse.
Speaker 3: I think that's kind of where I'm going with my
Speaker 3: second one. I think the Patrick Reid discourse is going
Speaker 3: to be all time fun if he has a good
Speaker 3: finish at the Open Championship. That if he doesn't have
Speaker 3: a good finish at the Open, it's not that strong
Speaker 3: of a candidacy. If he finishes top eight, top ten,
Speaker 3: outperforms a lot of these other guys on the bubble,
Speaker 3: you have to consider putting him on the team. And
Speaker 3: that's where so many of these conversations are gonna unfold.
Speaker 3: It's gonna be about the boys club. It's gonna be
Speaker 3: the opposite of the Justin Thomas discourse in twenty twenty three.
Speaker 3: We're gonna learn about who has the power in the
Speaker 3: locker room and does Kegan Bradley have the goal to
Speaker 3: extend him a captain's pick. That conversation is going to
Speaker 3: be very, very fun. So I think that's one of
Speaker 3: the most fun things to watch for with the Open
Speaker 3: Championship generally, in this Ryder Cup, do they even consider
Speaker 3: Patrick Reed And you know, obviously almost won the Masters
Speaker 3: this year, was in the mix late just one on
Speaker 3: liv If he finish his top ten at the Open
Speaker 3: Championship and you're not considering him. I think that's pretty
Speaker 3: crazy with the.
Speaker 1: With the US roster. Sean, you mentioned eight guys locked in, Joseph,
Speaker 1: I think you said something so much.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think seven the top seven I lost, nine are.
Speaker 3: Locked, nine are locked.
Speaker 1: You just I'm just going to run down the list.
Speaker 1: You guys where I'm at with eight, and you guys
Speaker 1: agreed disagree. Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schoffley, JJ Spahn, Russell, Henley Bryson, De'shambeau,
Speaker 1: Justin Thomas, Colin Morikawa, Keegan Bradley is can't Ley locked in? Yes? Yeah,
Speaker 1: so that gets you to nine.
Speaker 2: He was like my very first of my next level.
Speaker 1: So I say eight, eight or nine, Sam Burns could
Speaker 1: get you to ten.
Speaker 2: Yeah? Yeah. And then I think, I mean, honestly, I
Speaker 2: think Ben Griffin ate. I think Barring just falling off
Speaker 2: a cliff, maybe literally a port rush and injuring himself
Speaker 2: like is a lock. I mean the guy that his
Speaker 2: MC at the Deer ended a run of six right
Speaker 2: top fifteens, which was a TA at the PGA, winning
Speaker 2: Colonial runner up, a memorial and a T ten at
Speaker 2: the US opening that span. Now, obviously there's a lot
Speaker 2: of time left the lock and change. And it's interesting too.
Speaker 2: You know, you had that quote after Oakmont where Adam
Speaker 2: Schreiber JJ spond swing coach said like, oh yeah, Keegan
Speaker 2: told us no rookies are going to be picked. They
Speaker 2: have to make the team. But then today on golf
Speaker 2: we dot com, Keagan refuted that and said he did
Speaker 2: not say that. So I don't know.
Speaker 1: That's what I was gonna say. If there's no rookies
Speaker 1: outside of automatic births, you know, then then p Reid
Speaker 1: maybe bumps up.
Speaker 2: What about I mean, what about if Brooks does something
Speaker 2: in the Open?
Speaker 1: I think that I don't think that Brooks is even Yeah,
Speaker 1: I guess like, yeah, that's yeah. I had that same
Speaker 1: thought though, as like if he finishes third at the Open, I.
Speaker 3: Think you need to give him a little more credit
Speaker 3: than that. Even though I'm not super inclined to pick Brooks,
Speaker 3: I think he does. He's in the mix if he
Speaker 3: finishes fifteenth at the openin's T twelve at the US Open.
Speaker 3: Like I wouldn't be super inclined to pick him, but
Speaker 3: I think he's probably pretty squarely in consideration. Having won
Speaker 3: five major championships.
Speaker 1: Won the PGA at Beth Page obviously, you know course
Speaker 1: history does matter per read.
Speaker 2: You know who else won at one age talking about one.
Speaker 1: Of FedEx Cup event.
Speaker 3: Before that, Beth Page, Wait for it, Lucas Glover.
Speaker 2: Lucas Glover.
Speaker 3: It's not crazy consideration, but it's not crazy.
Speaker 2: I mean he's top thirty in the vetex of he
Speaker 2: I mean if he makes it the East Lake and
Speaker 2: some guys don't, I think, like, look, you don't have
Speaker 2: to pick it based on one week. But he's had
Speaker 2: some flashes. He's an incredible like driving accuracy guy. If
Speaker 2: you want to build out some foursome teams around it. Look,
Speaker 2: the two thousand nine US Open was wacky as far
Speaker 2: as like the draw was insane. Ricky Barnes said the
Speaker 2: US opened thirty six whole scoring record, like Tiger finished
Speaker 2: I think fifth, and he won his side of the
Speaker 2: draw by like three shots. Because it's just a total
Speaker 2: draw disparity. So I'm not advocating for the two thousand
Speaker 2: and nine US Open a factor into the selection process,
Speaker 2: But like Lucas is having a solid year and brings
Speaker 2: like a very particular skill.
Speaker 1: Set, I am advocating for sixteen years ago to have
Speaker 1: a heavy influence on what you know, Ricky Barnes, maybe
Speaker 1: we should be considering Ricky Barnes.
Speaker 3: I think, though, what you we're all touching on is
Speaker 3: that this ten to twelve spot is really up for grabs.
Speaker 3: We haven't even mentioned Maverick McNeely, who has a strong case.
Speaker 3: He's finished top thirty five, top forty in all the
Speaker 3: majors this year, has some really good finishes outside the majors,
Speaker 3: a couple of thirds, finished second at Tory like, he
Speaker 3: has a decent candidacy, and that's where this next month
Speaker 3: is going to determine how they round out the back
Speaker 3: end of that roster. Spief is another name where he
Speaker 3: he's he's withdrawn his most recent finish, Like is Jordan
Speaker 3: Speed healthy? Like I would put him on the I'm
Speaker 3: inclined to put him on the team. But the back
Speaker 3: of the spot's ten to twelve, or if you want
Speaker 3: to call it ten to sixteen, Like, there's a lot
Speaker 3: of discussion as to who's occupying those spots right now.
Speaker 2: I do think with mav I got to think high
Speaker 2: correlation between success at Tory pines at that page black
Speaker 2: and he finished second of the really get off the tea, Yeah,
Speaker 2: Genness is there. He finished fifth Memorial, which is I
Speaker 2: feel like a quasi major. And then you do have
Speaker 2: a guy who's coming off back to back fourth place finishes,
Speaker 2: who's known as a generational driver of the golf ball.
Speaker 1: On New York's own Camon Cameyon, A gun to your head.
Speaker 1: Who's your back end of the US roster right now?
Speaker 2: I have I'm not gonna go down the points I had,
Speaker 2: Ben Griffin, I think, Keegan. I think we haven't mentioned
Speaker 2: Harris English. He's tenth in points. I think with another
Speaker 2: solid two months. He was on that twenty twenty one
Speaker 2: team toy. They wanted Tory, and then Patrick Cantlay and
Speaker 2: Sam Burns round out my team. Yeah, it ended right now.
Speaker 2: I don't know exactly how many spots you picked there.
Speaker 2: I have nine as locks, including Russell Henley and Keegan
Speaker 2: Bradley and a lot of those names you mentioned Andy,
Speaker 2: including Cample. My final three in right now would be
Speaker 2: Sam Burns, Jordan Spieth and Ben Griffin, and then subject
Speaker 2: to change with the Open Championship. I do think that's
Speaker 2: an opportunity for people to really move in and out.
Speaker 2: The thing was stif he's gonna be one of those
Speaker 2: guys who he's gonna have to do some work to
Speaker 2: make it to East Lake, and I mean I think
Speaker 2: even you know, make the top fifty. And so is
Speaker 2: he a guy who if he is.
Speaker 1: Don't think forty spster's exemptions into east like.
Speaker 2: They did not. Yeah, he's forty six in Fedest Cup points.
Speaker 2: So like, hypothetically a guy who doesn't eve qualify for
Speaker 2: BMW and then you make him a captain's pick after missing,
Speaker 2: like sitting out for two events, and it's hard, I think,
Speaker 2: to pick a guy, you know, even if other candidate,
Speaker 2: you get into this quasi thing where it's like, do
Speaker 2: you then hold it against guys who play in those
Speaker 2: two events but don't play well over a guy who
Speaker 2: was sitting at home and you know, didn't have to
Speaker 2: play in them basically a time, I mean speed. Obviously,
Speaker 2: he finished third at beth Page in twenty nineteen with
Speaker 2: like gaining ten strokes on the greens, so I wouldn't
Speaker 2: really it doesn't feel very replicable. But at the same time,
Speaker 2: I think the thing with beth Page is the greens
Speaker 2: are like really flat and it's possible to do it.
Speaker 2: It was kind of like the deer if you look
Speaker 2: at the stats from the deer last week. Guy's tons
Speaker 2: of guys racked up just huge weeks on the greens,
Speaker 2: and so I think if there is a place where
Speaker 2: you can rack up strokes on the green is probably
Speaker 2: best page because the greens are pretty flat.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't know. I struggle.
Speaker 2: I don't He's not on my team right now, but.
Speaker 1: Well I do that if you're arguing that, wouldn't you
Speaker 1: like what about Denny McCarthy.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he had I mean Speed is in like he's
Speaker 2: in what I call Missouri. He doesn't show me categories.
Speaker 2: You know, he's in the show me state.
Speaker 3: One thing Speed has going in his favor, just that
Speaker 3: we haven't hit on, is he is a much better
Speaker 3: driver of the golf ball than he's been at most
Speaker 3: points in his career, like consistently driving the golf ball
Speaker 3: very well. So I think there's still question marks there.
Speaker 3: If it ended today, I'd take him. But if he
Speaker 3: doesn't show up at the Open Championship for a couple
Speaker 3: of weeks, he misses out on the playoffs, like he's
Speaker 3: not in.
Speaker 1: Yeah, for me, I think you almost go chalk points
Speaker 1: till ten and then you then you have can't lay
Speaker 1: and Burns at fourteen and fifteen. That feels to me
Speaker 1: like nobody's gonna yell about who you picked Harris, so
Speaker 1: be Harris English Ben Griffin and then you have can't
Speaker 1: Lay and Burns at fourteen and fifteen. I think like
Speaker 1: Cam Young's Cam Young. If he plays well in the open,
Speaker 1: which he has played well at opens, like he he's
Speaker 1: a bona fide major championship player, like all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: then you look at it and it's like, well, he's
Speaker 1: played played really well at Oakmont, played really well to open,
Speaker 1: and like it almost feels like you'll have to take him.
Speaker 2: Honestly, Burns too has been in the mixing majors recently.
Speaker 2: I think he was second going to the last round
Speaker 2: at Troon and then played poorly ten nineteen and the
Speaker 2: PGA this year and then t seventh US Open, which
Speaker 2: really until the rain delay, looked.
Speaker 1: Like it was his.
Speaker 2: You don't love her.
Speaker 3: I'm one of the biggest Cameron Young supporters in the world.
Speaker 3: I think he needs to show he needs to do
Speaker 3: a little bit in the next month to be a serious,
Speaker 3: big Cameron guy. You are.
Speaker 1: One of the things I heard anecdote I heard about
Speaker 1: about what was going on at the end of Oakmont,
Speaker 1: which you know I was curious about, like, you know,
Speaker 1: why the water was affecting certain guys. More is like
Speaker 1: the ball was effectively like hydroplaning, and if you hit
Speaker 1: a cut, all the guys were just hitting it where
Speaker 1: they on their start line, but the ball just doesn't
Speaker 1: move because of the water. And that's why you know
Speaker 1: Burns hit that shot way left right. Is that the water.
Speaker 1: It's like basically they you know, uh, the all the
Speaker 1: guys that hit cuts like and just they struggled coming
Speaker 1: down the stretch.
Speaker 2: I think I'm not a scientist. I don't have like
Speaker 2: a guy spirting my golf balls and putting on a
Speaker 2: launch monitor. But I mean you do have less friction
Speaker 2: I think on the face when it's wet. What that means.
Speaker 2: I'm not going to I don't want to go there.
Speaker 2: I don't want to look at the comments.
Speaker 3: If I try to explain it to say, I feel
Speaker 3: like I'd be over my skis too. But JJ Spahn,
Speaker 3: it's a nice cut.
Speaker 2: I know.
Speaker 1: That's the thing that that I was wondering if there's
Speaker 1: like something about the way he strikes it that's just
Speaker 1: like different than I think like he does compress it
Speaker 1: a little bit more than like a Sam Burns.
Speaker 3: Sim Burns is not a great ball striker, that is true.
Speaker 1: So I don't know, just an anecdote that you know,
Speaker 1: I threw in there. Last things I've already used all mind, So.
Speaker 2: Sean, go ahead. I'm trying to we you know, as
Speaker 2: per usual, kind of zigged and zagged out of a
Speaker 2: lot of things.
Speaker 3: I can go if you want me want of you go.
Speaker 2: I just try to see what's still in my notebook.
Speaker 3: An honorable mention was Ben Griffin playing a Max Fly
Speaker 3: and does that impact people in the future if he
Speaker 3: gets left off the team because he plays a Max
Speaker 3: FID to more people just you know, go into the
Speaker 3: accoushnet family a serious one. I think the Team USA
Speaker 3: captaining and how the narrative changes around the advantages that
Speaker 3: team you're up just being a much smarter in game
Speaker 3: decision maker. They've always handled the logistics a little better,
Speaker 3: as you've illuminated, Sean, but especially with potentially Keegan as
Speaker 3: playing captain, the question of how competent Team USA is
Speaker 3: and should Keegan be a playing captain? How all that unfolds.
Speaker 3: I think it'll be a There are going to be
Speaker 3: a lot of sweeping declarations made after this Ryder Cup
Speaker 3: as to a Team USA understands what they're doing, and
Speaker 3: I think some of those things the optimal pairings, that's
Speaker 3: a big one, right, I have more confidence that Europe's
Speaker 3: going to do that properly than Team USA. I think
Speaker 3: hiding people in best Ball and four Balls is another
Speaker 3: huge thing, and you get to see kind of who Europe,
Speaker 3: who they acknowledge, are their weaker links, Like, does Team
Speaker 3: USA do that appropriately? And how do they make decisions
Speaker 3: once the competition starts, right, once you see how people
Speaker 3: are playing. I feel like that's a big area where
Speaker 3: the smart captains distinguish them. So how they make decisions
Speaker 3: once the competition starts, sticking to your game plan versus
Speaker 3: adapting to information as it comes in. So watching Keegan
Speaker 3: navigate that potentially as a playing captain, I don't know,
Speaker 3: are you leaning on people like Kevin Kissner? Respectfully? I
Speaker 3: don't know how much I trust some of the vice
Speaker 3: captains a Team USA.
Speaker 2: So I think on this one this was a cluse.
Speaker 2: I think I think it was like a half thing.
Speaker 2: I had Eduardo mon Auri thing kind of fascinates me.
Speaker 2: I think, you know, Luke has always been super data driven,
Speaker 2: Like his assent to number one was kind of the
Speaker 2: first success story for Stroke's game. Like him, I pact
Speaker 2: oss really leaned into the data to help Luke kind
Speaker 2: of optimize everything. And obviously he was teammates with Eduardo
Speaker 2: on the Ryder Cup and you know, contemporaries with on
Speaker 2: the European Tour, but Europe had that great run with
Speaker 2: a different kind of data consultancy, And was just the
Speaker 2: fact that the Ryder Cup was in Italy last time,
Speaker 2: like just a little bit that pushed Eduardo over and
Speaker 2: got him into the team room versus like that other group,
Speaker 2: and then it's turned into this huge success story or
Speaker 2: is that just a quick incidents that I wonder about.
Speaker 2: But I do think there's so much belief in in
Speaker 2: Wardo and the data because so many guys use him
Speaker 2: for their personal game, and so they know him as
Speaker 2: a player, they know that he can speak the language.
Speaker 2: They trust him from like both the qualitative side of
Speaker 2: having that player's experience and the quantitative And I do
Speaker 2: think like the hard thing with data is to sell
Speaker 2: people on it when it gives counterintuitive findings like that's
Speaker 2: the whole thesis of Moneyball, Like you literally had a
Speaker 2: best selling book and movie about that. Like people have
Speaker 2: trouble buying in when it goes against their longly held beliefs.
Speaker 2: So I think there's a huge advantage with Eduardo because
Speaker 2: guys trust him. On the Keegan side, I actually think
Speaker 2: the Keegan captaincy. Here's my positive been on and why
Speaker 2: I think it could be a good thing. When Fierich
Speaker 2: was talking about the President's Cup last year and like
Speaker 2: his picks, like he admitted, like you know, they get
Speaker 2: to Paris late, he admits, like his decisions are coming
Speaker 2: into late to last minute, and he's like this time,
Speaker 2: like in twenty twenty four, when the picks were made,
Speaker 2: we'd already like set our parents, like we knew our
Speaker 2: teams and we made our picks, like which I mean
Speaker 2: the way he said it made it sound like a
Speaker 2: break from standard operating procedure for the US. If Keikan
Speaker 2: is gonna be a playing captain, like it forces them
Speaker 2: to stick to that of like we need to set
Speaker 2: these teams weeks ahead of time, so we're not making
Speaker 2: decisions on the fly. And so I kind of like
Speaker 2: Keegan playing of like cause I think what's going to
Speaker 2: get the best out of the US team, Like, yes,
Speaker 2: you can have marginal gains and kind of pairing guys
Speaker 2: up with you know, the right statistical matchups. I think
Speaker 2: the bigger thing, frankly, is just getting those decisions in
Speaker 2: early so guys know what they're doing. Like the US especially,
Speaker 2: I think their players are very routine based. I think
Speaker 2: a lot of the like discourse we've heard of, like
Speaker 2: unhappy players in the last few maybe Ryder Cup losses
Speaker 2: is like too much stuff happening last minute and too
Speaker 2: many like wild cards or unexpected pairings or whatever. So
Speaker 2: I think, honestly, if the way the US plays best,
Speaker 2: I think Europe they have high belief, Like the culture helps,
Speaker 2: the numbers help, They've high belief in that and they
Speaker 2: feel like ready to go and they feel like their
Speaker 2: team has put them in position to succeed. I think
Speaker 2: the way to get the US players to feel that
Speaker 2: way is just tell them ahead of time, like this
Speaker 2: is what you're doing, this is when you're doing it,
Speaker 2: go out and like and do it. And I think
Speaker 2: the predictability and setting that framework is the way to
Speaker 2: get the best of the US team. I think he
Speaker 2: is a plane captain, kind of forces them to do it.
Speaker 1: I think the tricky thing with like presetting it is
Speaker 1: we see this like weekend week out on tours, like
Speaker 1: some weeks you just don't have it, And like I
Speaker 1: think there's like a lot of over analysis with the
Speaker 1: Ryder Cup where it's like some weeks, like you know what,
Speaker 1: like seven of our guys kind of played like dogs
Speaker 1: this week, and that happens on tour week in week out.
Speaker 1: We see that like what happened? I just played bad?
Speaker 2: Then you b laid out too, Like, hey, you two
Speaker 2: are going together, but if one of you stinks like
Speaker 2: you're playing with this guy, these are backup plan or
Speaker 2: plan B.
Speaker 1: That's like where I think like that it's identifying hot
Speaker 1: hands is so important, you know, and identifying who is
Speaker 1: like the guy that would be leading the PGA Tour
Speaker 1: event if we were playing this week and then riding
Speaker 1: that is like a very underrated aspect of the Ryder Cup.
Speaker 1: Is like not sticking to your guns and being like
Speaker 1: this is like we are going, you know, is like
Speaker 1: maintaining some flexibility something like that. We all agree that
Speaker 1: Keegan's on the team right now, I'd be like shocked
Speaker 1: if he wasn't how much does he play as a captain? Like,
Speaker 1: does this like make him?
Speaker 2: Is he?
Speaker 1: I couldn't imagine him going out twice any day. One
Speaker 1: of the things that's unique about Keegan is I think
Speaker 1: he like pairs well with a lot of different players
Speaker 1: because he he's just a professional ball striker. He hits
Speaker 1: the ball really well. He has for twenty years. He's
Speaker 1: been like a very good in his limited Ryder Cup,
Speaker 1: President's Cup, He's been very good. Does it does him
Speaker 1: being a captain put a cap on? You know, he played,
Speaker 1: He's gonna play three matches or two matches.
Speaker 3: I think you think he hits the opening t shot.
Speaker 1: I mean, there's all this politics too to him playing
Speaker 1: like I I just I'm shocked that the US put
Speaker 1: themselves in the situation where they have it.
Speaker 2: I think you put him in the Friday and Saturday
Speaker 2: morning sessions, maybe first up, first match, and then he
Speaker 2: has a chance to play, and then he has the
Speaker 2: rest of the day to play. I think if you
Speaker 2: put him in an afternoon session like then you're just
Speaker 2: asking for chaos because he's out there playing, he comes
Speaker 2: back in. You got to get the you know, teams
Speaker 2: in for the next session within I think an hour
Speaker 2: of play ending, and it's just a scramble, and so
Speaker 2: I think you put him out in the morning. Honestly,
Speaker 2: it's kind of like a high school golf match. Your
Speaker 2: coach usually you know it goes out and plays ahead
Speaker 2: of you, but you, uh, you put him in the morning.
Speaker 2: You put him on like the first match, and then
Speaker 2: he has the rest that he plays and he has
Speaker 2: the rest of the day to kind of observe and
Speaker 2: make picks and with assistant captains and set pairings and
Speaker 2: all that.
Speaker 3: By the high school golf coach goes out and plays
Speaker 3: in the morning before you do.
Speaker 2: Yeah, or the coaches the usually I think when I
Speaker 2: played the coaches, the coaches, I think played like the
Speaker 2: middle group was the coaches. So you had like four
Speaker 2: groups of players and the coaches and the like. That's
Speaker 2: all they did. I mean, like they weren't sitting on
Speaker 2: part threes picking clubs for you.
Speaker 3: One thing.
Speaker 2: And I think going back to the team thing, I
Speaker 2: think like we love because it's the one time in
Speaker 2: golf we get to kind of nitpick like roster building
Speaker 2: decisions and play like sideline GM. But like the reality
Speaker 2: is twenty of the twenty eight matches are basically a
Speaker 2: guy playing his own ball. Twelve singles matches, eight four
Speaker 2: ball matches. Like, yes, you can coordinate guys who birdy
Speaker 2: different types of holes and have different skill sets, so
Speaker 2: you're not you know, you're hamming and egging it. You're
Speaker 2: not overlapping birdies. But like, in reality, like the majority
Speaker 2: of the matches are guys playing their own ball.
Speaker 3: I think that's a very good point with all the
Speaker 3: core spit stuff, like the one guarantee is that you're
Speaker 3: playing the ball on Sunday, right, And the foursome I
Speaker 3: think interestingly with Keegan, you're saying he should play in
Speaker 3: the morning. He's a good foursomes player. So the hard
Speaker 3: part you think that would make some sense.
Speaker 2: The hard part there is us traditionally wants to go
Speaker 2: out first with four balls as the opening session to
Speaker 2: get a lead. Right now, you could be saying, like,
Speaker 2: lead it off with foursome's you know, take the pain.
Speaker 2: If you can split the opening foursome session, that's really
Speaker 2: momentum on your side.
Speaker 1: But well, like the other aspect is like what if
Speaker 1: Keegan goes out and he's your best.
Speaker 2: Player, He's also your oldest player, so.
Speaker 1: Well not if they take Lucas Glover.
Speaker 2: That's a good point.
Speaker 1: You know, I have disappointed in there's been noe Brian
Speaker 1: Campbell this course multi time.
Speaker 2: That's your thing, that should be your thing.
Speaker 3: He's not in the Open.
Speaker 1: I think spot.
Speaker 2: You have won multiple times and not even be in
Speaker 2: the top fifty in the world ranking is.
Speaker 3: Something like, I wonder what Luke Donald and Dodo if
Speaker 3: you pressed him, how much would they pay out of
Speaker 3: pocket for Campbell to win the Open Championship next week?
Speaker 2: Has that? I mean, I think in Wardo Molinari's played
Speaker 2: as many majors this year as Brian Campbell.
Speaker 1: Guys that are just just being I mean, he brought
Speaker 1: it up.
Speaker 2: It's a great story. I mean, I like, like, I
Speaker 2: love the story. It's a great story.
Speaker 1: I was.
Speaker 2: I texted you I wanted the Lipski Campbell. You know,
Speaker 2: playoffs just an old school Big ten matchup to you know,
Speaker 2: teams in leather helmets just playing smash mouth football. Northwestern.
Speaker 1: Northwestern shouldn't even be considered like ten team at this point.
Speaker 1: Play played basketball in a high school gym.
Speaker 3: Also, Brian Campbell played has played all the first three
Speaker 3: majors and Ward only.
Speaker 2: Played the open.
Speaker 1: At the end of this He's getting into the open too.
Speaker 1: As of now, he's they got like six spots and
Speaker 1: he's like third on the He who knows is camp
Speaker 1: is Cam Davison.
Speaker 3: I don't think so, Nod.
Speaker 1: It's tough guy. He's never going to play an open.
Speaker 3: I think this is again though, this is illuminating how
Speaker 3: Davis Thompson is probably not going to be on the
Speaker 3: Ryder Cup team. We haven't even mentioned, like right, we
Speaker 3: never even mentioned what happens if he goes on around
Speaker 3: the next few weeks, like the back end is up
Speaker 3: for grass.
Speaker 2: We know it's also okay, hear me out. This could
Speaker 2: be wild. But like saw Hith has been injured much
Speaker 2: of the year, Saith comes back healthy. No, now he's
Speaker 2: been out for a month with an injury. It's a
Speaker 2: big lost. I think it's a bigger he didn't. I
Speaker 2: think it's a bigger loss. It's a big loss for
Speaker 2: decent size loss for the US team.
Speaker 3: There's a better chance that I'm on the team than
Speaker 3: I did want to know.
Speaker 2: I was at the twenty nineteen PGA at Best Page,
Speaker 2: and I think that you know where they drop fans
Speaker 2: off matters, but like that Page is a tough course
Speaker 2: to get around. Fan wise, there's gonna be like eight
Speaker 2: hundred thousand people there, don't get me wrong, but like
Speaker 2: nine nine is like your first spot from the clubhouse.
Speaker 2: And I'm very curious see how they like disperse fans
Speaker 2: because you have that section of like one I think
Speaker 2: fifteen through eighteen are on one side of the street
Speaker 2: because it's the story of like Keegan at Saint John's,
Speaker 2: like they would play on Mondays when Bethpage Black was
Speaker 2: closed because they'd sneak on a number two across the road. Like,
Speaker 2: I'm very curious to how they disperse fans to get
Speaker 2: them like evenly dispersed, because the distance from one tee
Speaker 2: to nine green is out there.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you've heard the first t is
Speaker 1: good atmosphere.
Speaker 2: I've also heard Bethpage Black is an extremely difficult golf course.
Speaker 3: Do you think they should even evenly disperse the fans
Speaker 3: or should you stack them on the high leverage holes
Speaker 3: and really moneyball it.
Speaker 1: Well, I think they should rope off the holes that
Speaker 1: they think don't matter.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, just rope them off.
Speaker 2: I think one of those latter holes have like limited
Speaker 2: viewing around the green, like just because of topolicy.
Speaker 1: Maybe some hospitality sent definitely. All right, last question that
Speaker 1: we're done with this podcast. If you're going to predict
Speaker 1: a winner right now, who you got?
Speaker 2: I think it's the United States. I think the home
Speaker 2: field thing, the home course I think matters. I think
Speaker 2: that the trend continues. I think it's just enough of
Speaker 2: an advantage to kind of tip the scales. But I
Speaker 2: think it's I think it's the US team.
Speaker 3: I think it's Team USA close. I do think that
Speaker 3: this is not going to be a blowout. Think we
Speaker 3: get a close one. I think both teams will be
Speaker 3: pretty prepped and optimized, and the home course does matter,
Speaker 3: as Sean's illuminating. I also think TUSA has trended a
Speaker 3: little better in the last couple of months than Europe has,
Speaker 3: like Straca's fallen off a little bit, and some euro
Speaker 3: Rory isn't playing as well as he was at the
Speaker 3: beginning of the year. So I would say fifty six USA,
Speaker 3: and I think they win by like a point or
Speaker 3: two points.
Speaker 1: I'm uh, I'm taking the Europeans. I think that uh.
Speaker 1: I think the US has a lot to lose and uh.
Speaker 1: And I think if the Europeans, like I think, they
Speaker 1: fit the golf course really well, uh for the first time.
Speaker 1: You know, they did not fit the last time they
Speaker 1: came to America with whistling straights and uh, I think
Speaker 1: then it puts if they can keep it close, then
Speaker 1: there's just so much pressure on the Americans to win,
Speaker 1: because if they don't win, then it's like tear it
Speaker 1: all down. You know, we might see we might see
Speaker 1: like Tom Thibodeaux as the next captain of the US team.
Speaker 2: Of the US everyone plays five matches, do you have
Speaker 2: Thomas Ditrie scoring the winning point?
Speaker 1: You know with d T d TRIEU D Tree could
Speaker 1: win this week. You know at the Open he's played,
Speaker 1: He's actually played well at the Scottish On's the scott Shopen.
Speaker 1: He's on on the team. All right, Sean, you got
Speaker 1: any big projects coming out?
Speaker 2: I'm actually on PTO this week, taking time out of
Speaker 2: a little home staycation to do this podcast.
Speaker 1: How much I want to get on you, haven't you?
Speaker 3: No?
Speaker 2: I think you know, I think we got some stuff
Speaker 2: around East Lake and kind of year or two of
Speaker 2: the restoration. I think it'll be fun with that golf
Speaker 2: course is having grown in a little bit more, they
Speaker 2: can kind of utilize some more of kind of the
Speaker 2: fingers and plateaus and angles that Andrew Green built into
Speaker 2: the course. I think year one obviously, when you're restoring
Speaker 2: golf course in one year's time, like it's pretty fresh
Speaker 2: and new when when the tournament comes back there. So
Speaker 2: I think year two will be fun to watch, maybe
Speaker 2: kind of utilize poll locations and stuff a little bit
Speaker 2: more with east Lake, But that's kind of next on
Speaker 2: my radars. It's definitely our playoffs, Joseph.
Speaker 1: You will be in Northern Ireland excited for you to
Speaker 1: go over there, and you'll have a lot of coverage
Speaker 1: on the website. But thank you guys. This was fun
Speaker 1: and we'll chat soon. Thank you, all right. This this
Speaker 1: episode of Friday Golf Podcast was produced and edited by
Speaker 1: p J. Clark. He was cheering on every time the
Speaker 1: name cam Young was mentioned, as I mentioned at the top.
Speaker 1: We will be back later this week with h with
Speaker 1: Billy Billy Horschell uh previewing the Open Championship. Name that
Speaker 1: I feel like the American team is sorely missing. Now
Speaker 1: that I say that, you know, we haven't edited. We
Speaker 1: haven't recorded yet, so there's always subject for some recording
Speaker 1: melt down to happen. You know, I don't want to
Speaker 1: usually don't like to jinx myself, thank you for listening
Speaker 1: and UH we'll see you at UH. With Port Rush
Speaker 1: coming here open last major of the year, I can't
Speaker 1: believe we made it here.
Speaker 3: M