WEBVTT - Fire Drill 026: Cut Day at the U.S. Open 0:00:03.880 --> 0:00:06.120 But it changes weekly. We're used to having guys being 0:00:06.160 --> 0:00:08.559 number one in the world. I mean we had Gregg 0:00:08.680 --> 0:00:10.760 for ten years and then we had Tiger for twenty 0:00:10.800 --> 0:00:14.040 years and changes week to week. I mean, Scottie clearly 0:00:14.080 --> 0:00:15.440 was the best goal from the world the first four 0:00:15.480 --> 0:00:18.240 months of the year, but not even close. You know, 0:00:19.760 --> 0:00:22.759 Dustin said his turn. I mean John's had his turn, 0:00:24.280 --> 0:00:27.520 like it's it's JT's clearly. When I see JT play 0:00:27.600 --> 0:00:30.240 up close, I'm like, it's amazing to me that anyone 0:00:30.240 --> 0:00:33.600 can beat that guy. So I just think it's, um, 0:00:33.640 --> 0:00:35.520 it's a bit more fluid than it's ever been. We've 0:00:35.520 --> 0:00:41.680 never had this many people capable of meting number one. 0:00:42.840 --> 0:00:57.640 Put another log on the fire nobody hears give it time. Hello, 0:00:57.720 --> 0:01:01.560 Welcome back to another Fire Drill podcast. Is Alan Shipnuk 0:01:01.680 --> 0:01:04.959 coming from the country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts. On my 0:01:05.040 --> 0:01:08.759 left is Michael Bamberger. On my right Ryan France beamed 0:01:08.800 --> 0:01:13.160 in from Melbourne, Australia. Jeff Ogilvie. Guys is a pretty 0:01:13.160 --> 0:01:16.600 eclectic leaderboard. There's some there's some world class players, there's 0:01:16.600 --> 0:01:20.000 a nice mix of underdogs. Kind a chance to watch 0:01:20.000 --> 0:01:22.559 the country club play out now for two rounds. Let's 0:01:22.560 --> 0:01:25.160 get just opening thoughts on what we think about this 0:01:25.280 --> 0:01:28.280 United States Open. We'll start with you, Ryan, I mean, 0:01:28.319 --> 0:01:30.360 I love it. We're looking at the board right now. 0:01:30.880 --> 0:01:35.240 We have in the top five. Hayden Buckley won a 0:01:35.319 --> 0:01:42.160 playoff in a qualifier Tuesday morning to get in. Nick 0:01:42.200 --> 0:01:45.000 Hardy won a playoff to become a first alternate that 0:01:45.080 --> 0:01:52.000 took five holes in fourth. Matt Naysmith, Patrick Rogers, I mean, 0:01:52.040 --> 0:01:56.160 it's it's a dream come true. Jeff, what have you 0:01:56.280 --> 0:01:59.640 seen so far from you know, watching on your Telly 0:02:00.000 --> 0:02:07.800 and what's really captured your your fancy there? I don't know, 0:02:07.960 --> 0:02:09.520 it's it was a bit of a different day, right. 0:02:10.160 --> 0:02:13.720 The course has played a lot easier this afternoon. I 0:02:13.720 --> 0:02:15.600 think the early late guy's got a bit stiff on 0:02:15.639 --> 0:02:18.480 the draw. It appears they're having a bit of a 0:02:18.520 --> 0:02:22.360 good time this afternoon. Rory looked like he could make 0:02:22.360 --> 0:02:26.680 a twelve. There was out in the third hole. Yeah, 0:02:27.080 --> 0:02:29.680 but he made a miraculous double, really good double, and 0:02:30.560 --> 0:02:32.400 he's back in the mix. It rhymes in the mix. 0:02:32.480 --> 0:02:35.480 Colin's playing well and as Ryan says, as a mix 0:02:35.520 --> 0:02:38.760 of qualifiers and sort of other players. I mean, Hayden 0:02:38.800 --> 0:02:40.760 Buckley's gonna have a big day tomorrow. Is probably gonna 0:02:40.760 --> 0:02:42.239 be out in the last group on Saturday in the Open. 0:02:42.280 --> 0:02:43.720 That's going to be a big day for him. That'll 0:02:43.760 --> 0:02:48.880 be exciting. So yeah, some heavy hitters floating around, Brian 0:02:48.919 --> 0:02:50.639 Harmon's going to be sneaky. It'd be a pretty good 0:02:50.639 --> 0:02:52.120 course for Brian Harmon. I would have thought sort of 0:02:52.120 --> 0:02:54.640 scrambling sort of place. So yeah, it's interesting at the moment. 0:02:54.639 --> 0:02:56.360 It's it's it's kind of perfect in that no one's 0:02:56.360 --> 0:02:57.959 getting too beaten up and the guys who are playing 0:02:57.960 --> 0:03:00.440 well a scoring well. I like the Jeff has always 0:03:00.440 --> 0:03:03.840 tuned into the draw like that. I got that's how 0:03:03.919 --> 0:03:06.200 pros think. You and Justine Reid, you're really focused on 0:03:06.240 --> 0:03:11.120 the draw on a comparison. Yeah, my good double is 0:03:11.120 --> 0:03:13.360 not a phrase you're here too often either, And it 0:03:13.440 --> 0:03:16.440 was an incredible double honestly. I mean yeah, like Jeff said, 0:03:16.440 --> 0:03:18.120 he could have blown himself. Roy could have blown himself 0:03:18.160 --> 0:03:20.440 right out of that tournament. And h he's bounced back 0:03:20.440 --> 0:03:22.560 with a couple of birdies. So he's now as we speak, 0:03:22.600 --> 0:03:24.359 he's tied for forth with a couple of holes to go. 0:03:25.240 --> 0:03:26.720 What have you seen that you like, Michael, Well, it's 0:03:26.720 --> 0:03:28.839 just neat just as you're framing this thing. I mean, 0:03:28.880 --> 0:03:31.600 it's you know, major major stars in the game and 0:03:31.639 --> 0:03:33.800 the major people that you know that Ryan has in 0:03:33.919 --> 0:03:37.080 his phone book but others do not. But you know, 0:03:37.200 --> 0:03:39.320 we haven't mentioned Scottie Scheffler. Scott a show for when 0:03:39.320 --> 0:03:41.160 the Master's Golf Tournament this year, and here he is 0:03:41.160 --> 0:03:44.080 contending on a completely different kind of golf course, which 0:03:44.080 --> 0:03:47.080 tells you that he must be very damn good at golf, 0:03:47.120 --> 0:03:49.800 which we know he is. I mean, Scheffler makes back 0:03:49.800 --> 0:03:51.840 to back bogie's the middle of his front nine, he's 0:03:51.840 --> 0:03:54.960 at plus two that the cut is projected for plus three. 0:03:55.080 --> 0:03:56.960 I mean he's he's on the cut line and then 0:03:57.040 --> 0:04:00.640 he roars home in thirty one guess to three hundred harum. 0:04:01.360 --> 0:04:03.560 I mean we haven't. We had a nice little break 0:04:03.560 --> 0:04:05.640 from Scottie Shelfer for a few weeks, but here he 0:04:05.760 --> 0:04:07.680 is again. It's it's weird when you look at the board, 0:04:07.720 --> 0:04:10.080 it's like the good scoring, Oh, it seems to just 0:04:10.160 --> 0:04:13.160 come in bunches for you know, three or four holes 0:04:13.200 --> 0:04:15.920 in the stretch of nine holes and the other nine 0:04:16.000 --> 0:04:19.599 might be very ordinary. But we've seen a lot of that. Yeah, 0:04:19.640 --> 0:04:22.040 that you know, there was a there's been a little 0:04:22.080 --> 0:04:26.400 flakum that I've detected on golf Twitter because they were 0:04:26.440 --> 0:04:29.160 watering the greens this morning and then a little a 0:04:29.200 --> 0:04:32.480 little rainstorm came through and it's like some people think, oh, 0:04:32.480 --> 0:04:34.800 they've already lost control of course on Friday morning. Others like, oh, 0:04:34.839 --> 0:04:38.160 the usg has gotten soft. But Jeff, you're discerning eye. 0:04:38.200 --> 0:04:40.080 Do you like the way of the greens are holding, 0:04:40.480 --> 0:04:45.800 releasing and running out? Well, I'll go back to the 0:04:45.880 --> 0:04:47.440 draw thing a little bit. I think it's a little 0:04:47.640 --> 0:04:52.120 fair for the guys who've played light early for that 0:04:52.160 --> 0:04:55.120 sort of thing to go on, you know. Um, But 0:04:56.600 --> 0:04:59.440 I mean it's sometimes you get right out of no way, right. 0:04:59.520 --> 0:05:01.240 You don't really expected if they felt like they need 0:05:01.279 --> 0:05:03.000 to put a bit of water on the grains um 0:05:03.120 --> 0:05:06.039 to sort of protect the integrity, and it doesn't so 0:05:06.080 --> 0:05:08.159 it didn't get to it out of hand, and um, 0:05:08.240 --> 0:05:09.880 they didn't lose the grains in the middle of the tournament. 0:05:09.920 --> 0:05:11.360 I mean, I guess that's the right call, but it's 0:05:11.360 --> 0:05:13.240 always disappointing when you get on the wrong side of that. 0:05:13.279 --> 0:05:15.680 I'm sure there's a lot of angry boys in their 0:05:15.680 --> 0:05:19.080 hotels this afternoon watching this and the wind dies down 0:05:19.120 --> 0:05:20.839 and it's a bit softer than than it was for 0:05:20.839 --> 0:05:24.839 them yesterday afternoon. So, um, you've got to you've got 0:05:24.839 --> 0:05:26.200 to do what you've got to do. It's always a 0:05:26.240 --> 0:05:28.160 shame when they maybe kind of get it a bit 0:05:28.160 --> 0:05:30.120 wrong before the day, if they have to bring water 0:05:30.160 --> 0:05:33.120 out during the day, But you've gotta do what you 0:05:33.120 --> 0:05:36.000 gotta do. Yeah, well, it was you know, it was 0:05:36.040 --> 0:05:37.760 supposed to be forecast to be in the in the 0:05:37.839 --> 0:05:39.599 high eighties, which I think it is right now, But 0:05:41.680 --> 0:05:44.000 in the morning it was a little cooler, and they 0:05:44.000 --> 0:05:45.320 thought there was going to be a storm that might 0:05:45.360 --> 0:05:46.880 come in, and then they forecast it was going to 0:05:46.920 --> 0:05:48.520 blow away, and then it actually did come and dump. 0:05:48.560 --> 0:05:52.000 So it's been Yeah, the meteorologists have been out foxed 0:05:52.040 --> 0:05:54.040 by the golf guards. They kind of were wrong a 0:05:54.120 --> 0:05:56.919 couple times. But it's that that's the greatness of an 0:05:56.920 --> 0:05:59.400 outdoor sport. I mean, it's it's it's quirky and you 0:05:59.400 --> 0:06:02.040 just never know what gonna get. But from from watching 0:06:02.080 --> 0:06:03.400 from a far Jeff, you like to where the golf 0:06:03.400 --> 0:06:07.640 course is playing. All that said, I mean, it looks 0:06:07.640 --> 0:06:09.560 perfect as I said, it looks like it's rewarding the 0:06:09.560 --> 0:06:13.880 guys who are playing well. It looks super tough, looks 0:06:13.880 --> 0:06:16.200 like you can get in a lot of trouble, which 0:06:16.320 --> 0:06:17.920 is like a US Open. You can be playing really 0:06:17.920 --> 0:06:19.159 well and you just go along and you get one 0:06:19.200 --> 0:06:20.840 little bad shot. You're getting a really awkward spot and 0:06:20.839 --> 0:06:25.040 you make a double really quickly. But as I said 0:06:25.080 --> 0:06:26.360 that the good shots seem to be going in a 0:06:26.440 --> 0:06:28.480 good place that they're getting home on part fives, which 0:06:28.480 --> 0:06:30.240 I think is fun. Sometimes you get these opens and 0:06:30.279 --> 0:06:32.240 they just make the part fives. No one can get home. 0:06:33.960 --> 0:06:35.760 So it's kind of fun to see eagles and a 0:06:35.800 --> 0:06:39.120 few birdies and a few others. And as I said, 0:06:39.240 --> 0:06:42.920 I'm always I don't really the score relative to part 0:06:42.960 --> 0:06:45.440 I don't think it is that important. People think it is, 0:06:45.520 --> 0:06:48.440 but I don't think it's important at all. I just think, well, 0:06:48.600 --> 0:06:50.680 you want to identify the best players for the week, 0:06:50.720 --> 0:06:52.880 and this looks like it's identifying some pretty good players. 0:06:53.600 --> 0:06:55.560 Still a lot of guys in there, so it's obviously 0:06:55.640 --> 0:06:59.600 not crazy hard yet. But I'm sure the USG you'll 0:07:01.040 --> 0:07:03.360 feel like it's maybe been a bit easy this afternoon, 0:07:03.400 --> 0:07:06.800 and that it'll be a little different tomorrow morning. Yeah. 0:07:07.120 --> 0:07:08.599 I think it looks like it's playing great. It looks 0:07:08.600 --> 0:07:10.720 like a really fun place to play. I'm not a 0:07:10.760 --> 0:07:12.200 fun place if you're not playing well, but if you're 0:07:12.200 --> 0:07:13.800 playing well, it looks like that's sort of an enjoyable 0:07:13.840 --> 0:07:16.200 open to play it from afar, I wonder if any 0:07:16.200 --> 0:07:18.520 of you guys have insight into this, because I surely 0:07:18.600 --> 0:07:22.480 do not. They had a great US Open here in 0:07:22.560 --> 0:07:24.560 sixty three, a great US opreneur Needy. They had a 0:07:24.600 --> 0:07:26.760 great Writer Cup here in ninety nine. It looks like 0:07:26.800 --> 0:07:29.800 they're gonna a really great US Open here. Why is 0:07:29.880 --> 0:07:32.640 this golf club not getting the respectrum love that it deserves? 0:07:33.080 --> 0:07:35.160 Witness that oak Mine is like they're playing the US 0:07:35.240 --> 0:07:37.840 Open there every other year from here to eternity. And 0:07:38.040 --> 0:07:41.960 this place can't catch a cold. Because my uber took 0:07:42.280 --> 0:07:45.280 seven and a half hours to get here. I believe 0:07:45.360 --> 0:07:49.400 it's infastrul. I don't know. It's an awesome place. Yeah, well, 0:07:49.400 --> 0:07:51.239 I mean you're onto something there, Ryan. I mean it's 0:07:51.280 --> 0:07:53.200 a it's a smaller build out. They just don't have 0:07:53.240 --> 0:07:55.560 the footprint here, which it seems expansive. You know, we're 0:07:55.600 --> 0:07:58.200 in this giant whatever racketball facility or whatever it is. 0:07:58.720 --> 0:08:01.280 But there's when you walk around, there's there's not the 0:08:01.360 --> 0:08:04.120 gigantic corporate villages and there's not as many tents, and 0:08:04.200 --> 0:08:08.280 I think this is not as financially rewarding a venue. 0:08:08.320 --> 0:08:10.080 They just they can't they can't get bring in the 0:08:10.160 --> 0:08:14.880 corporate entertainment. And I don't know, I haven't delved into 0:08:14.960 --> 0:08:17.680 the ticket sales, but I feel like the crowds are 0:08:17.680 --> 0:08:19.239 not as big as they have been at some other opens. 0:08:19.280 --> 0:08:21.080 And you know, it's just a little bandbox. It's hemmed in. 0:08:21.560 --> 0:08:23.480 As Ryan said, it's hard to get people in and out. 0:08:23.640 --> 0:08:26.520 So it's the Fenway Park of golf courses. That's a 0:08:26.640 --> 0:08:29.680 perfect comparison. So I just I think that's probably you know, 0:08:29.960 --> 0:08:32.320 it's a great insight as you said before, follow the money. 0:08:32.400 --> 0:08:34.480 I think it's one of those deals where it's a 0:08:34.559 --> 0:08:37.559 net place. They're going to come back every every Periodley 0:08:37.600 --> 0:08:39.160 so we can talk about Francis we met and all 0:08:39.160 --> 0:08:41.520 that that fun stuff, but it's not in the rotation 0:08:41.559 --> 0:08:44.719 because it might. It's just not a lucrative venue. And um, 0:08:45.160 --> 0:08:47.560 it's sad, but you know, the USGA, the US Open, 0:08:47.600 --> 0:08:49.760 we all know kind of floats whole organizations, so if 0:08:50.160 --> 0:08:51.720 if they can take a big hit, they just can't 0:08:51.720 --> 0:08:54.719 do it that often. Yep, it makes Jeff, do you 0:08:54.760 --> 0:08:56.760 have any any insight into that at all from your 0:08:56.880 --> 0:09:03.400 USJA conversations over the years. I think that's unfortunately. Alan's 0:09:03.480 --> 0:09:06.480 exactly right. I think it's a commercial operation and they 0:09:06.600 --> 0:09:10.800 fund the whole the whole year based on the back 0:09:10.840 --> 0:09:12.920 of the us Open, so they have to do it. Yeah, commercially, 0:09:12.960 --> 0:09:16.480 I think the places like um that are a bit 0:09:16.520 --> 0:09:18.480 easier to get to. Obviously Oakmont a winner for them, 0:09:18.679 --> 0:09:20.880 you know, Pebbles obviously a winner for them, the merchandise 0:09:20.960 --> 0:09:24.080 and that sort of stuff. So yeah, I think it's 0:09:24.160 --> 0:09:25.800 purely that sort of decision, which is a shame, but 0:09:25.880 --> 0:09:28.480 it's the it's the realities of the modern world, right. 0:09:28.520 --> 0:09:32.160 We need the USGA to keep control of golf, you 0:09:32.240 --> 0:09:34.040 know what I mean, in the country and a lot 0:09:34.080 --> 0:09:36.000 of the world. So they need to fund their operation. 0:09:36.080 --> 0:09:38.160 If this is their main vehicle for it, it's you've 0:09:38.200 --> 0:09:39.880 got to do it. But you need to have these 0:09:39.920 --> 0:09:44.079 ones somewhat regularly, not always maybe the country club, but 0:09:44.160 --> 0:09:46.640 the venues like this, because it just adds just a 0:09:48.360 --> 0:09:50.520 whole lot of credibility to the tournament, a lot of charm, 0:09:50.600 --> 0:09:52.240 and you need that history and you need that the 0:09:52.320 --> 0:09:54.920 old stories to sort of keep the US Open being 0:09:54.960 --> 0:09:56.280 the US Open, right, So you've got to put it 0:09:56.320 --> 0:09:59.160 in every now and then. This is really far afield, 0:09:59.200 --> 0:10:01.760 But since I'll make this very brief, it's sort of 0:10:01.800 --> 0:10:04.040 my theme for the day, Jeff, have you become a 0:10:04.080 --> 0:10:06.320 student of US Open history at all? Because I've got 0:10:06.360 --> 0:10:08.480 a very narrow question. On the chance that you have, 0:10:12.520 --> 0:10:15.280 probably not all by the sounds of your I'm gonna 0:10:16.080 --> 0:10:17.719 I'm gonna give it a try. I'm probably the only 0:10:17.760 --> 0:10:20.000 person is just hit in this thing. Everybody knows that 0:10:20.120 --> 0:10:22.640 Francis we Met is the first American to win the 0:10:22.760 --> 0:10:26.480 US Open, except for the fact that he's not. Johnny 0:10:26.559 --> 0:10:29.360 McDermott is the first American when the US Open and 0:10:29.520 --> 0:10:31.719 Francis I went to the we Met house today, which 0:10:31.800 --> 0:10:34.160 was super cool and interesting, but I'm just a little 0:10:34.200 --> 0:10:36.800 freaked out. I happened from Philadelphia, where McDermott was from. 0:10:37.160 --> 0:10:38.960 But you know, Francis we Met was a twenty year 0:10:38.960 --> 0:10:41.520 old caddy. Well you know McDermott was a Philadelphia caddy 0:10:41.559 --> 0:10:44.199 as well. Why does we met get all the credit. 0:10:44.280 --> 0:10:46.520 By the way, the twenty five cent Francis we met 0:10:46.640 --> 0:10:49.000 stamp is sales for about two hundred dollars on eb 0:10:49.200 --> 0:10:53.080 right now, And nobody ever talks about poor Johnny McDermott. 0:10:53.080 --> 0:10:55.719 It's well, it's the Eddie Lowry photo, you know, the 0:10:55.960 --> 0:11:00.559 little the little sea urchin or a street urchin, you know, 0:11:00.760 --> 0:11:03.079 thirteen years old trailing down the ferry. That photo is 0:11:03.160 --> 0:11:06.640 so iconic, and it's just there's so much folklore and 0:11:06.800 --> 0:11:09.480 beating you know, Ted Ray and Harry Varton, like, who 0:11:09.480 --> 0:11:11.679 did Johnny mcdermotby? Can you tell us right now? Michael Student, 0:11:11.760 --> 0:11:14.000 student of US Open History. Yeah, that's what I thought. 0:11:14.080 --> 0:11:16.040 There you go, you just answered your own question. I mean, 0:11:16.520 --> 0:11:18.679 you know, these they were the two dominant You had 0:11:19.280 --> 0:11:22.720 the US the under the gritty underdog against the imperial 0:11:22.840 --> 0:11:25.040 power of England. I mean, there's so many things going 0:11:25.080 --> 0:11:29.280 on there, but yeah, I think you answered your own question. Yeah, 0:11:29.440 --> 0:11:31.160 very quickly. Do you have you ever even looked into 0:11:31.200 --> 0:11:38.600 this or thought about it? Not until now? Yeah? Yeah, 0:11:39.480 --> 0:11:41.640 I'm probably pretty good in US opens back into the 0:11:41.679 --> 0:11:43.960 eighties and the seventies, maybe even not that fat back. 0:11:45.720 --> 0:11:51.000 Don know, lou Graham's putting style. Now, Jeffy did win 0:11:51.040 --> 0:11:53.679 at me Dinah, but he was elbows out, crazily elbows out. 0:11:53.800 --> 0:11:55.920 All right, we move on, I will say. I mean, 0:11:55.920 --> 0:11:58.719 the fun thing about excavating history is by getting to 0:11:58.720 --> 0:12:01.640 watch all the Curtis Strain highlights this week, because of 0:12:01.679 --> 0:12:03.959 course he wanted at the country club such a I 0:12:04.040 --> 0:12:07.400 love his action. But the white shirt, hot red pants, 0:12:07.520 --> 0:12:10.920 white shoes is undefeated. What a look. It's just gorgeous. 0:12:11.000 --> 0:12:13.480 And seven stall that look, or maybe Curtis stall it 0:12:13.559 --> 0:12:17.800 from Stubby and Curtis is inside. He's really coming inside, 0:12:18.040 --> 0:12:21.280 I know. But it just works, man, it's here. Yeah, 0:12:21.559 --> 0:12:24.199 the whole thing is neat. So Ryan, let let's go 0:12:24.240 --> 0:12:25.760 back to some of the names on the board, because 0:12:27.040 --> 0:12:29.760 you know Hayden Buckley, well let's call Mark cow had 0:12:29.800 --> 0:12:32.240 just made a birdie on his seventeenth hole, so Buckley's 0:12:32.280 --> 0:12:34.760 now dropped to a second place. But what can you 0:12:34.800 --> 0:12:36.599 tell us about this guy? And if there's any of 0:12:36.640 --> 0:12:39.559 the other somewhat unknowns on the board, who who you're 0:12:39.679 --> 0:12:42.720 interested in? This is this is your stage where let's 0:12:42.760 --> 0:12:44.839 hear it yet. Actually I was just pulling up a 0:12:46.400 --> 0:12:50.120 screen shot to tweet out it is super interesting of 0:12:50.320 --> 0:12:54.240 Hayden Buckley's story. It was an interview I did with 0:12:54.360 --> 0:12:58.040 him when I was writing for the PGA Tour, and 0:12:59.280 --> 0:13:03.560 he was not recruited so at all, like literally at all. 0:13:05.360 --> 0:13:07.680 He didn't have any college offers at all, didn't play 0:13:07.679 --> 0:13:11.439 any big junior events, and his swing coach, Chris Harder, 0:13:12.600 --> 0:13:16.719 played for the coach played at Austin p for a 0:13:16.760 --> 0:13:19.760 coach named Mark Larow and Marc Laro eventually went to 0:13:19.800 --> 0:13:25.079 the University of missus Missouri. So Chris Harder, who was 0:13:25.120 --> 0:13:27.959 Hayden buckley swing coach at the time, called Mark LaRoe 0:13:28.040 --> 0:13:30.679 and said, Hey, I'm telling you this kid is going 0:13:30.760 --> 0:13:34.440 to be really good, and Marc Laroux was like, I'll 0:13:34.480 --> 0:13:38.040 take him almost as like a favor as a favor. Yeah, 0:13:38.600 --> 0:13:41.520 Hayden Buckley got one percent scholarship to go to the 0:13:41.640 --> 0:13:44.880 University of un Missouri. And now I was leading, well 0:13:45.080 --> 0:13:48.280 a minute ago, was leading the US Open. That's so cool. 0:13:48.720 --> 0:13:51.760 How about Nie Smith or any of the other guys? 0:13:51.920 --> 0:13:53.760 Who else do you want to I mean, Nick Hardy 0:13:54.040 --> 0:13:57.600 uh posted a story today about he pulled the Billy 0:13:57.679 --> 0:14:01.559 Madison with a with a player in the Big Ten Championship. 0:14:02.040 --> 0:14:05.120 A teammate of his at went to the went into 0:14:05.160 --> 0:14:08.600 the woods to take a piss pete all over his pants. 0:14:08.760 --> 0:14:12.200 Was a freshman, super embarrassed, and Nick Hardy went into 0:14:12.240 --> 0:14:15.760 the woods pete on himself so his thing would feel comfortable. 0:14:15.880 --> 0:14:17.840 They went on to win the Big Ten Championship. Very 0:14:17.880 --> 0:14:21.240 true story. It's it's trending currently on Twitter. Couldn't he 0:14:21.320 --> 0:14:22.960 have just offered him a pep talk? Did he really 0:14:23.000 --> 0:14:24.960 have to take it that far? It seems aggressive, but 0:14:25.120 --> 0:14:30.280 it's fine. But he is a great kid, super talented, 0:14:30.320 --> 0:14:33.680 as battles some injuries this year on the tour, and 0:14:34.840 --> 0:14:37.240 obviously he doesn't care. No one's thinking about it. But 0:14:37.320 --> 0:14:41.080 he's way way down at FedEx Cup points and like 0:14:41.280 --> 0:14:43.600 he has to in the back of his mind have 0:14:43.720 --> 0:14:46.760 to think about even keeping his card, So this week 0:14:46.920 --> 0:14:50.680 is just hugely important from that aspect. Obviously he's not 0:14:50.800 --> 0:14:52.960 thinking about that now he's won back at the US Open, 0:14:53.040 --> 0:14:56.320 but a good a good week will go a long 0:14:56.400 --> 0:15:00.040 way in just getting his card. I love it. The 0:15:00.160 --> 0:15:03.840 stories never stopped being interesting and as you've said already 0:15:03.840 --> 0:15:06.760 a few times on this podcast platform, it that's really 0:15:06.800 --> 0:15:11.280 what this tournament's all about. But also, uh, just the 0:15:11.360 --> 0:15:14.400 spring of the variety of of of names and embody 0:15:14.480 --> 0:15:16.920 types on the board. I mean, could there be anyone 0:15:17.560 --> 0:15:21.680 more slender than than Matthew Fitzpatrick in this field? And 0:15:22.480 --> 0:15:27.160 I mean Will's elet would Will's eleturs? Okay? Uh, Brian 0:15:27.240 --> 0:15:31.440 Harmon is diminutive, and then you got enormous oversized people 0:15:31.640 --> 0:15:35.160 like like Scottie Scheffler and uh. But Mark cow is 0:15:35.240 --> 0:15:37.400 very normal physic But I guess like when we first 0:15:37.440 --> 0:15:40.720 started seeing Tiger Emerge and VJ and others, it was like, oh, 0:15:41.200 --> 0:15:42.840 it's you know, it's going to be the end of 0:15:42.880 --> 0:15:47.000 the Larry Mises, but it's really not. Actually, there's a 0:15:47.040 --> 0:15:48.720 lot of different ways to get the game, to get 0:15:48.760 --> 0:15:51.680 the ball around the golf course, well, especially of course 0:15:51.760 --> 0:15:54.680 like this that's you know, playing sevent two hundred yards 0:15:54.800 --> 0:15:56.800 maximum and they're setting up a little bit shorter like 0:15:57.400 --> 0:16:00.800 so it really is more finesse and more position, more precision. 0:16:01.040 --> 0:16:05.360 But um me, no, I love that this is I 0:16:05.680 --> 0:16:08.520 called Rory a wee lad in a tweet and and 0:16:08.680 --> 0:16:10.440 some people took exception you could deal with the short 0:16:10.480 --> 0:16:12.400 guys on Twitter are like that's he's an average height. 0:16:12.440 --> 0:16:15.320 I said, really, oh please, he's a little wee, right, 0:16:15.800 --> 0:16:19.320 he's short. Yeah, that's what I mean. I'm towering over 0:16:19.520 --> 0:16:23.080 him and he hits it seventeen d past me. I'm sure. 0:16:23.240 --> 0:16:25.360 I mean I said he's become the most towering figure 0:16:25.400 --> 0:16:27.040 in the game. I mean, I was having some fun. 0:16:27.120 --> 0:16:30.160 But I think we lad of it. I'll stand by that. Um, 0:16:30.600 --> 0:16:32.560 let's talk about a couple of the names at the 0:16:32.560 --> 0:16:35.760 top of the board. Because Colin Mark Cow somehow all 0:16:35.800 --> 0:16:39.160 he's accomplished in his career already, he seems somewhat overlooked. 0:16:39.320 --> 0:16:42.240 And if you were to get a third major championship here, 0:16:42.280 --> 0:16:45.040 it would just it would be gangbusters. And this is 0:16:45.080 --> 0:16:47.120 what I wanted to ask you about, Jeff, because you know, 0:16:47.160 --> 0:16:49.560 Mark Cow has always played this beautiful sort of butter 0:16:49.720 --> 0:16:52.480 cut and highly reliable, and he just started decided to 0:16:52.480 --> 0:16:54.040 start drawing the ball and I was like, yeah, I 0:16:54.080 --> 0:16:56.120 decided to play a draw and so learning to trust it. 0:16:56.240 --> 0:16:58.480 Like it always amazed me when guys get to the 0:16:58.520 --> 0:17:01.080 mountaintop and they seem to have the game figured out, 0:17:01.240 --> 0:17:03.200 they keep tweaking and experimenting. What is it in the 0:17:03.240 --> 0:17:07.800 golfers mentality that makes you keep experimenting? When when you're 0:17:07.800 --> 0:17:10.560 playing great golf and you seemingly have achieved your dreams, Like, 0:17:10.640 --> 0:17:15.840 why keep messing around? I don't know, we're all doing 0:17:15.920 --> 0:17:21.600 We're idiots, really, I don't know. It's the nature of 0:17:21.640 --> 0:17:23.720 the game. I mean, we're sort of strivers to get 0:17:23.760 --> 0:17:28.000 to this point of golf. You're kind of pretty stubborn anyway, 0:17:28.280 --> 0:17:31.440 you know you have to be. It's just the nature 0:17:31.440 --> 0:17:34.359 of the sport. So I I don't know. We've all 0:17:34.400 --> 0:17:38.520 done it. Chase something that we don't have. He swings 0:17:38.560 --> 0:17:40.200 it so good, he'll work it out. I don't know why. 0:17:40.359 --> 0:17:42.680 I mean, when he's universally praised as the best iron 0:17:42.720 --> 0:17:44.240 player on tour, he would sort of mess with that. 0:17:44.840 --> 0:17:46.280 But I mean, maybe he had a run of three 0:17:46.320 --> 0:17:47.960 or four tournaments in a row where he had where 0:17:48.000 --> 0:17:50.760 he had sort of left right winds and left pins 0:17:50.800 --> 0:17:52.440 and he couldn't get anywhere near him and it was 0:17:52.480 --> 0:17:54.280 frustrating him a little bit, a few weeks in a row. 0:17:54.359 --> 0:17:55.920 And we'd come to home one day and says, I'm 0:17:55.920 --> 0:17:57.240 going in a draw if I want to compete with 0:17:57.320 --> 0:18:00.360 Rory or something like that, And it gets your head 0:18:00.400 --> 0:18:02.960 and then we all think none of us, or at 0:18:03.000 --> 0:18:05.680 least I didn't, and I think most of us you 0:18:05.760 --> 0:18:08.720 don't think there's anything you can't do, you know, so 0:18:08.960 --> 0:18:11.080 stubbornly you just work on it, and you just assume 0:18:11.119 --> 0:18:12.840 when everything's going well and you don't hit any bad 0:18:12.880 --> 0:18:15.320 shots like Colin did for so long, you just assume 0:18:15.400 --> 0:18:17.879 that you can just keep doing that any way you 0:18:17.960 --> 0:18:19.840 want to. You know, it's not until you sort of 0:18:20.440 --> 0:18:23.240 open Pandora's box a little bit that you start realizing, my, 0:18:23.359 --> 0:18:27.120 perhaps I shouldn't have gone down that alleyway because it's 0:18:27.160 --> 0:18:29.879 hard to find your way back. I don't know. We 0:18:30.000 --> 0:18:32.600 all do it, though, I mean commented it for a 0:18:32.640 --> 0:18:34.520 long time. Westwood struggled for a long time in his 0:18:34.600 --> 0:18:37.720 middle of his career. I mean, well even Finch he 0:18:37.800 --> 0:18:39.400 did it with his driving, trying to hit a bit further. 0:18:39.440 --> 0:18:40.600 He just come off the open, you know what I mean. 0:18:40.640 --> 0:18:44.879 There's we've all it's history shows that golfers have been 0:18:44.920 --> 0:18:48.840 doing that sort of thing forever. But clearly he's managing 0:18:48.880 --> 0:18:51.040 it fine and he's on top of the leaderboard. But yeah, 0:18:51.080 --> 0:18:54.560 it's it's just a stubborn golfers, I think, and I 0:18:54.640 --> 0:18:57.320 think you get bored. I think practicing the same thing 0:18:57.480 --> 0:18:58.800 day and day in and day out, and you just 0:18:58.880 --> 0:19:01.119 want to want to try. I know Curtis has said that, 0:19:01.280 --> 0:19:03.040 you know, he felt like you needed to try different 0:19:03.080 --> 0:19:04.880 things because he's getting tired of working on the same 0:19:04.920 --> 0:19:07.680 thing day after day after day. But having said that, 0:19:07.720 --> 0:19:10.800 I think, you know, a couple of casual comments or 0:19:10.880 --> 0:19:14.320 maybe not so casual mint comments and interviews, we can 0:19:14.440 --> 0:19:16.200 run with it all day long. But the reality is, 0:19:16.280 --> 0:19:17.960 you know, if it's a left pin, right pin, short 0:19:18.119 --> 0:19:21.040 long pin at Markows skill level, he's going to play 0:19:21.040 --> 0:19:22.760 the shot he needs to play. He's gonna fade it 0:19:22.880 --> 0:19:25.760 or draw. It's not like he abandoned one shot and 0:19:25.920 --> 0:19:29.119 one swing in the favor of something else. You know, 0:19:29.240 --> 0:19:31.199 they're way way I mean, Jeff would know this far 0:19:31.280 --> 0:19:34.280 better than I. They're way too fine tuned machines to 0:19:35.560 --> 0:19:38.600 completely get rid of one swing in favor of another. 0:19:38.800 --> 0:19:42.520 Would that be accurate, Jeff, Yeah, I mean you're right. 0:19:42.560 --> 0:19:44.040 I mean he can hit every shot. I mean it's 0:19:44.119 --> 0:19:48.360