WEBVTT - Takeaways from the 2022 Open Championship 0:00:00.040 --> 0:00:02.800 I miss a green, for example, I'm already upset. When 0:00:02.800 --> 0:00:04.920 I find my ball in the bunker, I'm really upset. 0:00:05.000 --> 0:00:06.320 And when I find my ball. 0:00:06.120 --> 0:00:09.319 In a bride egg Friday Egg, the dreaded Frida Egg, Friday, 0:00:09.560 --> 0:00:12.040 Frida Egg Egg, Fridagg Bride Egg Lie. 0:00:11.920 --> 0:00:14.080 I'm about ready to run off of the hump course. 0:00:37.000 --> 0:00:39.720 Hello and welcome to the Frida Egg Podcast. My name 0:00:39.760 --> 0:00:42.879 is Garrett Morrison, and today we have takeaways from the 0:00:42.920 --> 0:00:47.920 twenty twenty two Open Championship. So by the weekend at St. 0:00:47.960 --> 0:00:51.040 Andrews it was pretty much the Cameron's versus the Rory's. 0:00:51.560 --> 0:00:54.720 On Saturday, Cameron Smith and Cameron Young started in the 0:00:54.760 --> 0:00:57.040 final group of the day and right in front of 0:00:57.080 --> 0:01:02.200 them were Rory McElroy and his smiley Rwegian doppelganger, Victor Hovelin. 0:01:03.880 --> 0:01:05.960 By the end of the third round, the two pairs 0:01:05.959 --> 0:01:09.679 were flipped McElroy and Hobland at sixteen under and the 0:01:09.720 --> 0:01:13.880 Cameron's four shots back. The phrase match play situation may 0:01:13.880 --> 0:01:16.520 have come up in the Friday newsletter and I may 0:01:16.520 --> 0:01:19.319 have put it there. Look, I thought that the odds 0:01:19.319 --> 0:01:22.800 were that either Rory or Victor would shoot sixty nine 0:01:22.840 --> 0:01:25.480 or better on Sunday. That would mean that Smith or 0:01:25.560 --> 0:01:28.880 Young would need to post sixty five or better. I 0:01:28.880 --> 0:01:30.959 didn't think that either of them would do it, and 0:01:31.000 --> 0:01:35.720 I definitely did not imagine that they both would. Cameron Young, 0:01:35.840 --> 0:01:39.160 who's a twenty five year old PGA Tour rookie, deserves 0:01:39.200 --> 0:01:41.360 more treaded for what he did in that fourth round 0:01:41.640 --> 0:01:44.560 than he'll ever get. He shot a seven under sixty 0:01:44.560 --> 0:01:47.360 five that included a three put, a drop from a 0:01:47.400 --> 0:01:50.360 gorse bush, and an eagle tooth on the eighteenth hole. 0:01:51.160 --> 0:01:53.400 Young now has a runner up in the Open to 0:01:53.480 --> 0:01:56.520 go with his T three at this year's PGA Championship. 0:01:56.840 --> 0:02:01.040 It's been quite the rookie campaign. Stretch at the Old Course, 0:02:01.440 --> 0:02:04.360 all eyes were on two players, four time major winner 0:02:04.440 --> 0:02:10.200 Rory McElroy in Australian short game virtuoso Cameron Smith. The 0:02:10.240 --> 0:02:13.200 decisive stretch was the first half of the back nine. 0:02:13.760 --> 0:02:17.040 Rory wasn't making many mistakes, but he also wasn't making 0:02:17.200 --> 0:02:20.600 any putts. After a two putt birdie on the tenth hole, 0:02:21.000 --> 0:02:26.240 he basically stalled out, recording one boring par after another. Meanwhile, 0:02:26.560 --> 0:02:30.200 Cameron Smith reeled off five birdies in a row. He 0:02:30.280 --> 0:02:33.880 hold putts from five feet sixteen feet, eleven feet eighteen 0:02:33.919 --> 0:02:37.040 feet and five feet again en route to a back 0:02:37.160 --> 0:02:41.040 nine thirty. About an hour later, he was the Open champion, 0:02:41.440 --> 0:02:44.760 one stroke ahead of Cameron Young and too clear of 0:02:44.840 --> 0:02:49.480 Rory McElroy. So those are the basic facts to talk 0:02:49.520 --> 0:02:52.000 about the deeper storylines of the twenty twenty two Open. 0:02:52.440 --> 0:02:55.240 I have three interviews for you. The first is with 0:02:55.360 --> 0:02:58.959 Jamie Weir of Sky Sports to describe that remarkable final 0:02:59.040 --> 0:03:02.600 round up as Joseph Lamannia to discuss what Smith did 0:03:02.600 --> 0:03:06.360 well from a course management perspective and how McElroy fell 0:03:06.400 --> 0:03:09.400 short in the same area. And last up is the 0:03:09.400 --> 0:03:12.240 Friday Egg Zone Andy Johnson to reflect on the old 0:03:12.280 --> 0:03:16.480 course itself. Right, it was a great championship. So let's 0:03:16.480 --> 0:03:24.800 get to it, all right. I am here with Jamie Weir, 0:03:25.360 --> 0:03:29.320 Sky Sports golf correspondent and somebody who has been known 0:03:29.360 --> 0:03:33.200 to root a little bit in a very classy way 0:03:33.800 --> 0:03:38.560 for Rory McElroy. So first of all, how are you doing, Jamie? 0:03:39.200 --> 0:03:40.920 Yeah, it's also great. 0:03:41.760 --> 0:03:44.480 It's a hard one to take that, and you know, 0:03:44.480 --> 0:03:48.120 I've got to remind myself that, however inconsolable I'm feeling 0:03:48.160 --> 0:03:50.080 at the moment. Rory mclury is probably feeling one hundred 0:03:50.120 --> 0:03:53.480 times worse, but Luke A just felt as if this 0:03:53.640 --> 0:03:55.120 was the one. It was kind of almost written in 0:03:55.120 --> 0:03:58.440 the stars. It was his destiny to win this historic 0:03:58.560 --> 0:04:01.880 one hundred and fiftieth Open at the Home of Golf 0:04:02.680 --> 0:04:06.520 on the week that perhaps Tiger played the Old Course 0:04:06.520 --> 0:04:08.760 for the final time. It just it all seemed too 0:04:09.080 --> 0:04:12.000 perfect and it ended up, you know, it was too 0:04:12.040 --> 0:04:14.320 perfect to be the case because he just got. 0:04:14.280 --> 0:04:17.160 Run doing today by an absolute machine in cam Smith. 0:04:17.200 --> 0:04:21.000 But you know, Rory macur will be back, but this 0:04:21.040 --> 0:04:22.960 one will be a hard one to take, and it's 0:04:23.000 --> 0:04:24.279 going to leave a bit of scar tissue. 0:04:24.279 --> 0:04:27.279 Who died. I WoT the full eighth with with Rory 0:04:27.279 --> 0:04:28.760 and with Victor today. 0:04:28.800 --> 0:04:33.320 And you know he hit eighteen greens in regulation and 0:04:34.000 --> 0:04:37.560 had no bobies in a scorecard and had thirty six. 0:04:37.360 --> 0:04:39.120 Pots and that's kind of the story of the round. 0:04:39.880 --> 0:04:40.920 So a hard one to take. 0:04:40.960 --> 0:04:43.279 But my goodness, hats off when you shit sixty four 0:04:43.320 --> 0:04:46.080 on the Old Course, when you shit thirty on the 0:04:46.120 --> 0:04:49.600 back nine on a Sunday to win an Open championship, 0:04:49.880 --> 0:04:53.240 you've got to say that you deserve that Claret jug. 0:04:54.040 --> 0:04:57.919 So before we get too deep into the Rory stuff, 0:04:58.600 --> 0:05:01.480 I'd like to give Cam and Smith his due credit 0:05:01.880 --> 0:05:06.000 for what was one of the great final rounds in 0:05:06.120 --> 0:05:11.040 major championship history. No doubt what. I know you're following 0:05:11.040 --> 0:05:14.440 the final group, but yeah, what what what would be 0:05:14.440 --> 0:05:17.719 your characterization of the way that Cam Smith played the 0:05:17.720 --> 0:05:18.720 Old Course this week? 0:05:19.680 --> 0:05:23.480 Well, it's just obviously for those that have watched the 0:05:23.520 --> 0:05:25.359 coverage this week that you'll be aware of the loop 0:05:26.160 --> 0:05:29.120 at the Old Course where you've got sort of seven, eight, nine, ten, 0:05:29.200 --> 0:05:31.760 eleven all crossing each other and then twelve et off 0:05:31.760 --> 0:05:35.000 and head back towards the town. And I was walking 0:05:35.040 --> 0:05:38.520 across the seventh fairwee, well, actually across the sort of 0:05:38.520 --> 0:05:42.800 eleventh just as Rory was putting out in seven. And 0:05:42.880 --> 0:05:46.000 at that point we were thinking, this is Rory's for 0:05:46.080 --> 0:05:49.320 the taking. Surely, you know, Victor looks like a rabbit 0:05:49.360 --> 0:05:51.800 in the headlights. It's just not going to happen for him. 0:05:52.000 --> 0:05:54.840 And it felt like a two horse race and we're 0:05:54.880 --> 0:05:56.200 looking at the leaderboard. I was with a few of 0:05:56.240 --> 0:05:57.120 the other boys. 0:05:56.800 --> 0:06:01.080 With Cale Porter and with Andy and a few. 0:06:01.000 --> 0:06:02.800 Of the other guys, and we're just looking at leaderboard, 0:06:02.880 --> 0:06:05.279 thinking yeah, I can't really see anyone making a run 0:06:05.360 --> 0:06:08.600 from that pack. And then as we were on the 0:06:08.720 --> 0:06:11.600 tenth and Rory had that incredible live plot to leave 0:06:11.640 --> 0:06:14.240 himself a tap in birdie at the tenth, there was 0:06:14.279 --> 0:06:17.120 a huge cheer to my left and it was calm 0:06:17.160 --> 0:06:20.080 holding for a birdie at the eleventh, and at that 0:06:20.240 --> 0:06:22.320 point you just kind of thought, hang on a second, 0:06:22.440 --> 0:06:24.880 cam Smith really isn't not far that far back, and 0:06:24.920 --> 0:06:27.320 if he gets on a heater with his puster, which 0:06:27.320 --> 0:06:27.960 he's prone to do. 0:06:28.080 --> 0:06:29.320 We saw it saw Grass. 0:06:29.080 --> 0:06:31.640 Back in March, then he's still a threat. And that 0:06:31.720 --> 0:06:33.240 proved to be the case. I mean, the rattle up 0:06:33.240 --> 0:06:37.480 Birdi's at ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, Then to hold 0:06:37.480 --> 0:06:41.040 that huge power saving pot at the seventeenth, and you know, 0:06:41.080 --> 0:06:43.279 a simple tap in birdie at the eighteenth as well. 0:06:43.640 --> 0:06:44.960 I mean it's some performance. 0:06:45.160 --> 0:06:48.600 And you know, I honestly thought when he had when 0:06:48.600 --> 0:06:51.520 he got sixty four and Friday here and hold what 0:06:51.640 --> 0:06:53.680 it was, a two hundred and fifty three feet of pots, 0:06:54.000 --> 0:06:56.480 I thought, that's unsustainable, that's not going to carry on. 0:06:56.680 --> 0:06:58.760 That proved to be the case because yesterday had an 0:06:58.760 --> 0:07:01.400 absolute stinker with the butter, it just went stone cold. 0:07:01.760 --> 0:07:04.480 He had that aberration of the thirteenth where watching him 0:07:04.480 --> 0:07:06.920 play that like watching like looking in a merrit That's 0:07:06.960 --> 0:07:09.000 the way I play golf, and I just thought, right, well, 0:07:09.000 --> 0:07:12.560 that's his race run. But to have two sixty fours 0:07:12.640 --> 0:07:14.680 during the Open Championship, one on Friday and one and 0:07:14.720 --> 0:07:19.440 Sunday having fair play to the guy twenty under par, yeah, 0:07:20.000 --> 0:07:23.080 some players and me and that when that totter gets hot, 0:07:23.240 --> 0:07:24.559 it is red hot. 0:07:25.440 --> 0:07:28.360 Now, what most of us see on TV when we 0:07:28.400 --> 0:07:32.560 watch Cameron Smith is the incredible putting and the ability 0:07:32.640 --> 0:07:34.600 to just make puts from all over. It's almost like 0:07:34.680 --> 0:07:38.080 Jordan Spieth in twenty fifteen, where if he's outside of 0:07:38.120 --> 0:07:40.920 twenty feet it doesn't matter. You think the ball is 0:07:41.000 --> 0:07:43.440 going in the hole when he gets going. And he 0:07:43.560 --> 0:07:46.760 just seems to be mentally bulletproof with the short puts, 0:07:47.400 --> 0:07:49.360 with any puts that he needs to make, and he 0:07:49.400 --> 0:07:51.760 seems to have some magic with those longer puts. Now, 0:07:52.080 --> 0:07:55.440 that's obvious, right, We can all see that on TV 0:07:55.560 --> 0:07:57.880 pretty easily. We can also see the creativity with the 0:07:57.920 --> 0:08:00.920 short game. Is there anything about Cameron Smith's game that 0:08:00.960 --> 0:08:04.640 you think people don't understand as well having not seen 0:08:04.720 --> 0:08:07.520 him in person. Assuming they haven't seen him in person. 0:08:07.920 --> 0:08:08.960 Well that's a good question. 0:08:09.320 --> 0:08:13.000 I mean I was the indefinable quality about cam Smith, 0:08:13.800 --> 0:08:16.640 and I think this probably is still pretty obvious to 0:08:16.680 --> 0:08:18.200 be honest, if you watch him on Telly, is just 0:08:18.240 --> 0:08:20.760 how gritty a competitor he is and how he just 0:08:20.800 --> 0:08:21.760 never knows when he's beaten. 0:08:21.800 --> 0:08:23.000 He refuses to lie down. 0:08:23.640 --> 0:08:26.000 I mean, he's had some pretty rough moments in his 0:08:26.400 --> 0:08:29.119 young careers in the twenty eight, but he's at moments 0:08:29.160 --> 0:08:32.880 where he's throwing tournaments away with I remember what tournament was, right, 0:08:32.960 --> 0:08:35.760 went out of bonds on the seventy second hole to 0:08:35.840 --> 0:08:38.200 lose a tournament, and you know those are body blows 0:08:38.240 --> 0:08:42.040 to take, but to win the players and the fashion 0:08:42.080 --> 0:08:45.560 he did back in March with how many greens did 0:08:45.559 --> 0:08:47.600 he want put in that final round like thirteen or 0:08:47.600 --> 0:08:51.280 something ridiculous, and then to go out and do pretty 0:08:51.360 --> 0:08:55.559 much the same today. I mean the final round of 0:08:55.720 --> 0:08:59.000 an open at Saint Andrews. To shoot thirty in your 0:08:59.000 --> 0:09:02.880 back nine, you have to be so mentally strong to 0:09:02.920 --> 0:09:06.720 do that, such inner belief, especially when you've got the 0:09:06.760 --> 0:09:09.360 crowd favorite ninety nine point nine percent of the crowd 0:09:09.400 --> 0:09:13.280 all pulling for the guy in the group behind you. 0:09:13.400 --> 0:09:16.000 I mean, it just it takes some serious stones to 0:09:16.000 --> 0:09:17.559 do that. And there are a few Aussie fans around 0:09:17.559 --> 0:09:19.679 today cheering for cam Smith. There were definitely a few 0:09:19.760 --> 0:09:22.160 cheers I heard from from up ahead when those pots 0:09:22.160 --> 0:09:25.160 were ruling in. But I mean the mental resilience of 0:09:25.200 --> 0:09:27.600 the guy after the disappointment you would have had yesterday 0:09:27.600 --> 0:09:29.800 in his Saturday round is something else. 0:09:30.080 --> 0:09:33.800 Yeah. Now, one of the great WTF moments that I 0:09:33.960 --> 0:09:38.040 had today was looking at the scoreboard after the second 0:09:38.120 --> 0:09:41.600 to last group had finished and seeing that Cameron Young 0:09:42.120 --> 0:09:45.439 was all of a sudden in solo second at eighteen 0:09:46.120 --> 0:09:51.120 sorry at nineteen under, and ahead of Rory McElroy, who 0:09:51.120 --> 0:09:54.200 went on to par the eighteenth hall and finish in third. 0:09:54.880 --> 0:09:59.599 And so Cameron Young's round almost seems destined to be forgotten. 0:10:00.120 --> 0:10:03.640 But he shot sixty five today. I know, how did 0:10:03.679 --> 0:10:06.720 he know? Again, I know you were following the final group, 0:10:06.760 --> 0:10:09.120 but how did he do that? What happened? 0:10:09.840 --> 0:10:10.160 I know? 0:10:10.240 --> 0:10:13.480 Well, I again, I'm just having real information relayed to 0:10:13.520 --> 0:10:16.319 me as I'm in the group behind. But I understand 0:10:16.360 --> 0:10:18.640 that he missed a he made a bogie at nine, right, 0:10:18.679 --> 0:10:20.320 which almost feels like a double bogie. 0:10:20.480 --> 0:10:22.000 Yeah, and then he has a very. 0:10:21.880 --> 0:10:26.479 Short pot at which all was it thirteen or fifteen maybe. 0:10:26.360 --> 0:10:28.280 One of them? Yeah, there was. And also there was 0:10:28.320 --> 0:10:31.920 a three put on the first hole that didn't look good. 0:10:31.960 --> 0:10:33.920 You'll be thinking, You'll probably be thinking this is the 0:10:33.960 --> 0:10:36.000 one that good way because you're right to go and 0:10:36.000 --> 0:10:40.080 shot sixty five in the final round of an open. Yeah, 0:10:40.120 --> 0:10:42.000 it's still not the best score of the day, and 0:10:42.040 --> 0:10:44.079 you lose by one is a bitter pill to swallow. 0:10:44.920 --> 0:10:47.600 But my words nineteen hunder part are on the old 0:10:47.679 --> 0:10:50.959 course in his very first experience of an open. You know, 0:10:51.360 --> 0:10:53.960 links golf takes getting used to for some players, and 0:10:54.200 --> 0:10:58.120 Cam Young has absolutely taken it in his stride and Yeah, 0:10:58.200 --> 0:11:00.600 to shoot a sixty five and it gets the clips 0:11:00.679 --> 0:11:02.679 while you're playing partner, that's. 0:11:02.520 --> 0:11:03.559 Going to be a kick in the teeth. 0:11:04.040 --> 0:11:07.160 Yeah, I mean maya Kolpa sort of. I wrote yesterday 0:11:07.200 --> 0:11:09.400 in the Friday newsletter that I just didn't see this 0:11:09.559 --> 0:11:12.640 being anything other than a Rory versus Victor show, and 0:11:12.720 --> 0:11:15.000 maybe one of them would drop off and the other 0:11:15.040 --> 0:11:17.640 would stick with it. I did not have both of 0:11:17.640 --> 0:11:21.000 the camerons shooting under a sixty five or under it. 0:11:21.120 --> 0:11:24.040 I just didn't see that in the cards at all, 0:11:24.679 --> 0:11:25.199 and I did. 0:11:25.360 --> 0:11:27.960 I also did see Saturday, not after what they both 0:11:27.960 --> 0:11:30.080 did on Saturday. I thought on Saturday they just looked 0:11:30.120 --> 0:11:30.320 at the. 0:11:30.600 --> 0:11:33.960 Stuffing knocked out of them, and you know, a pair 0:11:33.960 --> 0:11:36.520 of sixty six is from Rory and Victor. It felt like, right, well, 0:11:36.600 --> 0:11:38.440 you know it's going to be We're going to be 0:11:38.520 --> 0:11:41.360 destined for another sort of jewel like we saw in 0:11:41.440 --> 0:11:44.520 seventy seven with Watson and Nicholas, or six years ago 0:11:44.520 --> 0:11:46.920 at true with Michelson and Stenson. It just felt like 0:11:46.960 --> 0:11:49.320 this is going to be Macro and Hoveland going toe 0:11:49.360 --> 0:11:52.400 to toe, blow for blow, Bertie for Bertie. But Victor 0:11:52.559 --> 0:11:54.800 just looked like, I said, a rabbit in the headlights. 0:11:54.800 --> 0:11:56.040 He just looked so. 0:11:57.679 --> 0:12:01.480 Uncomfortable basically out there, I thought for the front nine, 0:12:01.520 --> 0:12:04.320 just looked so in control, and to be honest, looked 0:12:04.320 --> 0:12:06.840 in control for eighteen holes, but just could not get. 0:12:06.640 --> 0:12:07.720 A single pot to drop. 0:12:08.040 --> 0:12:09.720 I mean, I think I saw Justin Ray just tweet 0:12:09.800 --> 0:12:14.720 something like he had thirty nine potts in his second 0:12:14.840 --> 0:12:17.240 round at s and Andrews in twenty ten and he 0:12:17.280 --> 0:12:19.520 had thirty six pots today and those are the two 0:12:20.120 --> 0:12:23.440 rounds in his entire major career he's had the most potts. So, 0:12:24.520 --> 0:12:28.000 I mean, obviously the greens here are absolutely massive, but 0:12:28.040 --> 0:12:29.959 it's very rare that you have eighteen greens in a 0:12:30.040 --> 0:12:33.600 regulation in your final round boogie free and you still 0:12:33.640 --> 0:12:34.760 end up not winning. 0:12:34.800 --> 0:12:38.280 And you started the day for ahead of the two 0:12:38.320 --> 0:12:40.920 guys who ended up beating guy. I mean, that is 0:12:41.040 --> 0:12:44.960 just that I don't know, Justin Ray can probably dig 0:12:45.000 --> 0:12:48.560 it up, but that's gonna be visual occurrence. 0:12:49.240 --> 0:12:50.360 Yeah, the record bicks. 0:12:50.400 --> 0:12:52.080 We was sure that Rory finished third and the shot 0:12:52.120 --> 0:12:54.480 behind Camy, and I think he would have already the 0:12:54.520 --> 0:12:56.160 eighteenth if he wasn't trying to go for it with 0:12:56.200 --> 0:12:57.920 that hit. You knew he had to hold that chip 0:12:58.160 --> 0:13:00.960 for two to get into a playoff. Where is if 0:13:00.960 --> 0:13:02.920 you need a birdy to get into the playoff, you 0:13:03.000 --> 0:13:04.480 lag it up and leave yourself a little tap in, 0:13:04.520 --> 0:13:04.800 don't you. 0:13:04.920 --> 0:13:07.520 So it probably could. 0:13:07.400 --> 0:13:09.920 Have been, you know, a sixty nine for Rory and 0:13:10.280 --> 0:13:12.319 nineteen under par, but that still wouldn't have been That 0:13:12.440 --> 0:13:13.800 was still have been one shot too many. 0:13:14.840 --> 0:13:17.400 Okay, So let's talk about that final game of the day, 0:13:17.760 --> 0:13:20.760 Rory and Victor you followed it. What do you think 0:13:20.840 --> 0:13:25.000 will be a moment or image from that group on 0:13:25.160 --> 0:13:26.880 this day that will stick with you. 0:13:28.280 --> 0:13:31.559 I think the moment when, which was a huge sliding 0:13:31.600 --> 0:13:35.520 doors moment, was when Rory had a bite and then 0:13:35.559 --> 0:13:38.280 he put it around eight to nine feet perhaps for 0:13:38.320 --> 0:13:41.040 Birdie at the ninth and it just slid by. And 0:13:41.080 --> 0:13:43.680 that was the first moment where I kind of thought, ah, okay, 0:13:43.679 --> 0:13:46.000 he doesn't have his potting boots, and in recent weeks 0:13:46.360 --> 0:13:48.000 that has been the strength of his game. 0:13:48.000 --> 0:13:50.280 He's potted so well well did he' pot of Brookline? 0:13:50.800 --> 0:13:53.400 And when that one slid by, I was just like, oh, man, 0:13:53.440 --> 0:13:57.120 he really needs a part to drop here. And you know, 0:13:57.200 --> 0:13:58.719 if he'd hold that, and I think you would have 0:13:58.720 --> 0:14:00.960 given him a three shot buffer, I think that would 0:14:00.960 --> 0:14:03.280 have just sent the message to the group in front 0:14:03.280 --> 0:14:05.000 of the cams if they looked up at one of 0:14:05.000 --> 0:14:08.760 those yellow scoreboards and saw, okay, Rory McRoy suddenly eighteen 0:14:08.840 --> 0:14:11.960 under Parnoi, then that would have been a real killer 0:14:12.000 --> 0:14:15.319 blow And that could be the moment that Royl maybe 0:14:15.400 --> 0:14:18.600 look back and think, ah, man, that that was the 0:14:18.600 --> 0:14:20.760 moment I just let it slip through my fingers. But 0:14:20.880 --> 0:14:24.480 I you know, I don't know how much scar tissue 0:14:24.480 --> 0:14:26.960 this one's going to leave. He's spoke on Tuesday about 0:14:26.960 --> 0:14:29.560 this being the holy grail to win and open at 0:14:29.560 --> 0:14:33.800 Saint Andrews. Everything this week, the fact that he missed 0:14:33.800 --> 0:14:36.200 the last open here in twenty fifteen when he would 0:14:36.200 --> 0:14:39.960 have been the defending champion because of his injury, the 0:14:40.000 --> 0:14:42.640 fact that he spent the week, you know that he looks. 0:14:42.880 --> 0:14:44.680 He was smiling from ear to ear at the Champions 0:14:44.720 --> 0:14:46.560 dinner and the other night. He spent the week talking 0:14:46.560 --> 0:14:50.280 to the greats like Jack Nicholas, Tiger, obviously Gary Player. 0:14:50.880 --> 0:14:54.000 It just felt, as I said earlier, like written in 0:14:54.040 --> 0:14:55.920 the Stars, that this was gonna be Rory's week. We 0:14:55.920 --> 0:14:58.560 were going to see him standing on that eighteenth green 0:14:58.680 --> 0:15:01.840 at the Old Course, the Clark jug with the whole 0:15:01.920 --> 0:15:05.040 of Andrews hanging from their balconies, the crowds packed in 0:15:05.080 --> 0:15:09.720 the grandstands just screaming for Rory, and it just wasn't 0:15:09.760 --> 0:15:12.280 to be. And it's a hollow feeling, and I think 0:15:12.320 --> 0:15:14.080 it's a hollow feeling for many golf fans. 0:15:14.680 --> 0:15:16.440 And we've got to address the elephant in the room. 0:15:16.480 --> 0:15:18.560 As well. It's kind of a hollow feeling for the 0:15:18.600 --> 0:15:19.560 game of golf. 0:15:19.360 --> 0:15:22.280 Because the rumors, if they're to be believed, are that 0:15:22.360 --> 0:15:26.320 Cam Smith is heading to live, if not next week, 0:15:26.400 --> 0:15:30.960 then imminently or perhaps after the President's Cup. So to 0:15:31.040 --> 0:15:34.920 have the champion golf for the year playing, you know, 0:15:34.960 --> 0:15:37.680 on the exhibition tour is going to be a bitter 0:15:37.680 --> 0:15:39.200 pill for the RNA to swallow. 0:15:38.920 --> 0:15:40.320 And for a lot of golf fans as well. 0:15:40.440 --> 0:15:43.560 And it would have been a warm, fuzzy, cozy feeling 0:15:43.560 --> 0:15:46.080 inside if it had been Rory. But you know what, 0:15:47.000 --> 0:15:50.160 sport can be cruel, and today was a cruel, cruel 0:15:50.200 --> 0:15:51.640 day and I think a lot of us are feeling it. 0:15:52.480 --> 0:15:56.680 On a scale of one to ten. How strong do 0:15:56.720 --> 0:16:00.920 you think the rumors are of Cameron Smith going to live? 0:16:00.960 --> 0:16:03.760 Because I've heard those rumors too. We've heard a lot 0:16:03.800 --> 0:16:06.960 of rumors lately about a lot of different players, and 0:16:07.280 --> 0:16:09.440 there's been a lot of smoke and in some cases 0:16:09.480 --> 0:16:12.960 there hasn't been much fire. Smoke do you think there 0:16:13.120 --> 0:16:16.080 is around Cam Smith and Live and do you think 0:16:16.080 --> 0:16:18.640 it's safe to assume that there's at least something of 0:16:18.680 --> 0:16:19.360 a blaze there? 0:16:20.160 --> 0:16:23.280 Yeah, Well, you know, rumors start for a reason, don't 0:16:23.280 --> 0:16:26.120 they end. All the signs are that Henry Stenson is 0:16:26.120 --> 0:16:28.160 going to be going soon, which will obviously create a 0:16:28.280 --> 0:16:31.400 huge storm for Ryder Cup Europe to have to deal with. 0:16:31.480 --> 0:16:33.480 He'll be stripped to the cap and see they'll have 0:16:33.520 --> 0:16:34.880 to find a new man. It will be a huge 0:16:34.920 --> 0:16:37.960 feather in the cap for Greg Norman to get him. 0:16:38.320 --> 0:16:41.080 And then the rumors that I'm hearing from speaking to 0:16:41.080 --> 0:16:43.840 people on the ground here that the Aussie trio of 0:16:43.960 --> 0:16:47.600 Adam Scott, Martin Leishman cam Smith are all potentially going 0:16:47.680 --> 0:16:48.359 to jump. 0:16:48.600 --> 0:16:52.360 After this year's President's Cup with quil Olough. So those 0:16:52.440 --> 0:16:54.120 rumors are around for a reason. 0:16:54.320 --> 0:16:56.480 Now, what we don't know, we've seen in so in 0:16:56.520 --> 0:16:59.920 recent weeks, so many players just do huge unexpected u turn, 0:17:00.200 --> 0:17:02.120 usually in the up direction. Bryce saying I'm happy in 0:17:02.160 --> 0:17:04.720 the PGA tour. A week later he joins Live DJ 0:17:04.720 --> 0:17:06.280 saying I'm happy in the PGA to a few months 0:17:06.320 --> 0:17:09.160 later he joins Live Now there could be reverse few 0:17:09.200 --> 0:17:09.840 turns as well. 0:17:10.080 --> 0:17:11.080 All this stuff. 0:17:11.280 --> 0:17:13.120 Cam Smith could have a contract sitting on the table 0:17:13.160 --> 0:17:15.080 to Live Golf and he could suddenly decide, do you 0:17:15.160 --> 0:17:19.000 know what I've just won the Claric Jug at s Andrews. 0:17:19.200 --> 0:17:20.320 This is what it's all about. 0:17:20.359 --> 0:17:23.959 Looking at that Clark jug and seeing Nicholas Palmer player 0:17:24.119 --> 0:17:27.480 woulds Foald bias Steros seeing those names in the Clark 0:17:27.560 --> 0:17:31.800 Jug as he fits this evening in his bedroom before 0:17:31.840 --> 0:17:34.040 he drifts off the sleep, probably hugging that Clark jug, 0:17:34.200 --> 0:17:37.520 Perhaps that changes his mind again and he thinks, this 0:17:37.560 --> 0:17:39.840 is what golf's all about, and I want to stay 0:17:39.920 --> 0:17:42.200 and win more majors and create a legacy and put 0:17:42.200 --> 0:17:44.359 my name in the history books rather than just go 0:17:44.480 --> 0:17:49.320 and accept a squillion dollars to play exhibition golf. So 0:17:49.359 --> 0:17:52.440 who knows what's going on between cam Smith's two years 0:17:52.440 --> 0:17:56.480 at the moment, but it would be a massive blow, 0:17:57.440 --> 0:18:00.240 I think, just for golf in general if the Open 0:18:00.320 --> 0:18:05.360 champion was to join live and let's hope that if 0:18:05.359 --> 0:18:07.960 it is the case that that offers on the table 0:18:08.200 --> 0:18:09.919 that Sobey's reconsidering it right now. 0:18:10.240 --> 0:18:13.360 Yeah, And you know you described a thought process there 0:18:13.440 --> 0:18:17.080 that we might hope cam Smith might go through. But 0:18:17.240 --> 0:18:19.240 the other side of that is that he could equally 0:18:19.280 --> 0:18:22.240 go through the thought process of well, look, I have 0:18:22.280 --> 0:18:25.960 a bunch of exemptions into majors now totally, and I 0:18:26.000 --> 0:18:28.160 don't have to really worry as much as some other 0:18:28.200 --> 0:18:31.600 people do about being able to play in the majors 0:18:31.680 --> 0:18:34.240 if my world ranking kind of goes off a cliff. 0:18:34.760 --> 0:18:37.199 And so that's present as well. And I think that 0:18:37.280 --> 0:18:39.600 this has been hanging over the entire week. You know 0:18:40.000 --> 0:18:42.280 a lot of us haven't wanted to admit that live 0:18:42.440 --> 0:18:45.600 is a factor at this championship because it just seems, 0:18:46.400 --> 0:18:50.480 you know, to kind of disrespect this open at St. 0:18:50.520 --> 0:18:54.720 Andrew's to be talking about live. But guess what, that's 0:18:54.760 --> 0:18:57.480 part of what made it feel significant for Rory to 0:18:57.520 --> 0:19:01.840 potentially win, because he has been the main anti live 0:19:02.080 --> 0:19:05.920 voice in golf, and if he won, then that would 0:19:05.960 --> 0:19:09.240 have been bigger than just Rory winning his fifth major. 0:19:09.359 --> 0:19:12.920 It would have meant something for this kind of existential 0:19:13.000 --> 0:19:16.560 battle over men's professional golf. Did you feel that in 0:19:16.600 --> 0:19:18.399 the air today at St. 0:19:18.440 --> 0:19:19.040 Andrews. 0:19:19.320 --> 0:19:22.639 Yeah, I mean I've I've definitely made a conscious effort 0:19:22.680 --> 0:19:24.760 this week to try not to talk about it because 0:19:24.760 --> 0:19:27.199 I don't want it to overshadow you know, this historic 0:19:27.240 --> 0:19:33.000 moment for the sport at this historic venue. But the 0:19:33.000 --> 0:19:34.560 final part of the tournament drops it. 0:19:36.040 --> 0:19:36.880 Six to fifty five. 0:19:36.960 --> 0:19:38.960 Pm our time over here in the UK this evening 0:19:38.960 --> 0:19:40.840 and at six fifty six pm its seeds. We're talking 0:19:40.840 --> 0:19:44.919 about Live again because this is a fractious moment in 0:19:45.000 --> 0:19:46.840 the game of golf. We don't know what's going to 0:19:46.880 --> 0:19:49.359 happen next. We don't know what decision all of the 0:19:49.400 --> 0:19:53.760 majors are going to take regarding the tour that Live 0:19:53.800 --> 0:19:56.960 Golf and whether players on that can participate Peyton Majors. 0:19:57.200 --> 0:19:59.480 That's still a huge unknown factor. There's still a huge 0:19:59.560 --> 0:20:02.400 question mark. It would be very difficult to imagine Open 0:20:02.480 --> 0:20:06.119