WEBVTT - Fire Drill 031: On the Eve of The Open 0:00:04.080 --> 0:00:08.840 We've all been moving through this game together as journalists, 0:00:09.039 --> 0:00:13.760 as players, as caddies, as fans, as you know. This 0:00:14.120 --> 0:00:20.759 all has been culminating to me to this event, this venue, 0:00:21.400 --> 0:00:24.280 this time in the history of the game of golf. 0:00:24.920 --> 0:00:35.240 It's this massive intersection with all of it. Put another 0:00:35.360 --> 0:00:49.239 log on the fire nobody hears given time. Hello and 0:00:49.280 --> 0:00:52.480 welcome back to their Fire Drill podcast. This is Alan Schipnuk. 0:00:52.560 --> 0:00:56.760 I am joined by Michael Bamberger and Matt Janella, who's 0:00:57.240 --> 0:00:59.480 tuned in from the Jigger in here. We're all in 0:00:59.480 --> 0:01:02.120 sant Andrew, but we've retreated to our neutral corners. Of course, 0:01:02.640 --> 0:01:06.680 Matt is somewhere more exciting than our hotel rooms. So, uh, 0:01:07.440 --> 0:01:09.120 what does the scene there, Matt bring it, bring it 0:01:09.160 --> 0:01:14.759 to life for our listeners where I'm at a MasterCard event. 0:01:15.160 --> 0:01:19.400 Trevor Immelman just held court and uh talked, you know, 0:01:19.680 --> 0:01:23.640 poetically about the sort of the nostalgia of being in 0:01:23.680 --> 0:01:26.839 the Jigger in for the one hundred and fiftieth playing 0:01:26.880 --> 0:01:29.679 of the Open Championship and his transition from playing to 0:01:30.360 --> 0:01:34.960 TV and talking about the golf course and how this 0:01:35.080 --> 0:01:37.760 is going to be a really fast week. I mean, 0:01:37.800 --> 0:01:42.560 the ball is going to not stop moving. And the 0:01:42.600 --> 0:01:45.000 only thing he made a great comment about the only 0:01:45.040 --> 0:01:48.480 thing that that the ball is up against his time. 0:01:48.520 --> 0:01:50.360 The only thing that will stop the ball is time. 0:01:51.080 --> 0:01:54.040 And that you know he thinks twenty under is in 0:01:54.160 --> 0:01:57.040 play and that fifty nine is in play. Without elements, 0:01:57.480 --> 0:02:03.000 this golf course is vulnerable. He's justin Thomas to win. Interesting. 0:02:03.040 --> 0:02:05.160 I mean, it's been fun to watch the practice rounds. 0:02:05.200 --> 0:02:07.320 It's it's certainly a racetrack, even though we got a 0:02:07.320 --> 0:02:11.440 little shower of this afternoon. But um, it's funny. I 0:02:11.480 --> 0:02:13.040 wish they would just cut all the rough down. That 0:02:13.160 --> 0:02:15.000 there's more rough on the old course has ever been. 0:02:15.080 --> 0:02:17.520 I think in these conditions it'd be more fun if 0:02:17.840 --> 0:02:19.919 if they shaved all the grass down like the old 0:02:19.919 --> 0:02:23.600 Augusta National and really the old the previous old course, 0:02:23.600 --> 0:02:25.440 and just let the ball run forever it would it's 0:02:25.440 --> 0:02:27.160 not gonna stop that winds up in a bunker or 0:02:27.200 --> 0:02:30.480 in the hole. And um, but Michael, what have you 0:02:30.520 --> 0:02:33.040 seen from the golf course that that you like? As 0:02:33.040 --> 0:02:34.959 we're here on the eve of the Open, well, I 0:02:35.639 --> 0:02:37.799 would just say I have a totally different view that 0:02:38.160 --> 0:02:41.600 Trevor Immelman is a lot more about tournament golf than 0:02:41.680 --> 0:02:44.880 I ever could. But to me, an old course that 0:02:44.960 --> 0:02:48.240 plays super fast like this is really really challenging because 0:02:48.320 --> 0:02:52.040 it's so much guesswork. Um, I just I don't see 0:02:52.080 --> 0:02:55.560 how guys could possibly get to twenty under if, if ever, 0:02:55.800 --> 0:02:59.720 if every t shot you're afraid about, you can't stop 0:02:59.720 --> 0:03:03.320 the ball from going into a bunker, and once you're 0:03:03.320 --> 0:03:05.720 in the bunker's all hell breaks loose. You can't stop 0:03:05.720 --> 0:03:08.200 the ball from going over the eighteenth green. You know, 0:03:08.240 --> 0:03:12.000 there's numerous things that every single hole, even the first 0:03:12.080 --> 0:03:15.880 with the burn, every single hole has something that can 0:03:16.000 --> 0:03:18.880 really go wrong. When the course is playing so fast, 0:03:18.960 --> 0:03:20.800 you can't control your golf ball. So I would not 0:03:20.840 --> 0:03:23.440 agree with the assessment that it's playing fast. Therefore we're 0:03:23.440 --> 0:03:27.080 going to have low winning scores well, and the greens 0:03:27.080 --> 0:03:29.519 are super firm, so you look at I mean, Jordan 0:03:29.600 --> 0:03:33.120 Speed said earlier in the week that this is the 0:03:33.120 --> 0:03:36.440 most important week for lag putting there is because even 0:03:36.480 --> 0:03:40.600 a well struck short iron may trickle forty or fifty 0:03:40.640 --> 0:03:42.440 feet pass. You know, you know they're going to be 0:03:42.520 --> 0:03:44.960 using that. One of the defenses of the course is 0:03:44.960 --> 0:03:46.640 the swales and the humps and the hollows on the 0:03:46.680 --> 0:03:48.400 greens and they're gonna put. I'm sure the pins in 0:03:48.440 --> 0:03:52.119 some challenging spots, so there's going to be a lot 0:03:52.200 --> 0:03:54.480 of challenging two put especially if you're putting in the wind. 0:03:54.640 --> 0:03:57.520 So I agree. I mean, I guess the X factors. 0:03:57.520 --> 0:04:00.280 If you can drive a handful of part fours, which 0:04:00.320 --> 0:04:03.680 is certainly possible out here, and you can two put those, 0:04:03.800 --> 0:04:06.440 there are birdie chances. But I think there'll be a 0:04:06.480 --> 0:04:09.160 really wide dispersion of scores. I mean, someone who's really 0:04:09.160 --> 0:04:11.320 playing well and the putter fields good in their hand, 0:04:11.320 --> 0:04:12.800 they could shoot a low one. But I think you 0:04:12.800 --> 0:04:14.720 can see a lot of seventy six and seventy eights 0:04:14.720 --> 0:04:18.480 where guys just are overwhelmed by the precision that's required 0:04:18.520 --> 0:04:21.320 in the patients and all the questions that are asked 0:04:21.360 --> 0:04:25.160 by this golf course. I was talking about these puttings 0:04:25.160 --> 0:04:29.040 and lag putting, and Roddy car is here in the 0:04:29.080 --> 0:04:33.120 crowd and asked Trevor about a player like will Zlaturus, 0:04:33.520 --> 0:04:37.159 who obviously has control of his golf ball, but being 0:04:37.360 --> 0:04:43.160 having sixty seventy foot eighty foot putts could expose that, 0:04:43.480 --> 0:04:47.760 you know, a faulty putting stroke like that's like, that's 0:04:47.800 --> 0:04:50.840 something that these guys aren't used to so and Trevor 0:04:50.880 --> 0:04:53.880 was saying, yeah, that's a really good point. Roddy Car 0:04:53.880 --> 0:04:57.479 obviously son of the great Joe Car who was three 0:04:57.520 --> 0:05:00.520 time British am Champ, and Roddy Car made the winning 0:05:00.560 --> 0:05:03.120 putt on the eighteenth hold of the Old Course to 0:05:03.200 --> 0:05:06.279 win the Walker Cup in front of his legendary father, 0:05:06.360 --> 0:05:09.520 who was the first Irishman to be the RNA Captain. 0:05:10.480 --> 0:05:13.120 Brought that point up. They were having this ongoing conversation 0:05:13.160 --> 0:05:17.400 about how putting is going to be a huge factor 0:05:17.440 --> 0:05:19.640 this week, and it's not just from five feet or 0:05:19.680 --> 0:05:22.239 ten feet, it's more from fifty feet and seventy feet 0:05:23.640 --> 0:05:26.280 you could say, seventy five yards even, you know guys, 0:05:26.279 --> 0:05:29.560 Will put from way way off the green. Tiger did that, 0:05:29.760 --> 0:05:31.960 willing me think what year was it so dry? I 0:05:31.960 --> 0:05:33.960 guess that would have been No. Five when he one. 0:05:34.200 --> 0:05:37.359 He was putting from wildly far off the green. But 0:05:37.480 --> 0:05:40.560 just a quick note on Will's alad horse. Having watched him, 0:05:40.640 --> 0:05:42.920 you know, pretty closely in the three Majors, so he 0:05:43.040 --> 0:05:47.440 played really beautifully, not really well beautifully. I think lag 0:05:47.440 --> 0:05:50.279 putting is a tremendous strength for Wills alad Horse. It's 0:05:50.279 --> 0:05:52.520 really six feet an end when things get a little dicey. 0:05:52.560 --> 0:05:55.760 But he's got beautiful distance control that I've seen, Allen, 0:05:55.800 --> 0:05:59.840 have you seen otherwise? Yeah, No, he's he's I mean, 0:06:00.000 --> 0:06:03.800 putting stats are actually quite good for the season and 0:06:04.480 --> 0:06:07.000 mid to long range. I agree. He looks really smooth, 0:06:07.080 --> 0:06:09.320 and it's just it's just when the closer he gets 0:06:09.320 --> 0:06:11.479 to the whole, the more the putter can wobble. And 0:06:11.640 --> 0:06:14.720 you know it's purely psychological, right because the stroke looks 0:06:14.720 --> 0:06:17.560 great from twenty five feet so, but even so he 0:06:17.640 --> 0:06:19.880 still makes a lot of them. It doesn't necessarily look pretty, 0:06:19.920 --> 0:06:22.520 but it's like Billy Mayferd. They go in so you'll 0:06:22.560 --> 0:06:26.880 take it. But that's what's so fascinating about this golf course, 0:06:27.120 --> 0:06:30.640 is this this battle between power and finesse and which 0:06:30.680 --> 0:06:33.160 style is going to prevail and everyone can play the 0:06:33.200 --> 0:06:35.920 golf course differently. I mean, we've been talking about it 0:06:35.920 --> 0:06:38.400 feels like for a month since we got here, and 0:06:38.720 --> 0:06:40.160 I just can't wait to see how it's going to 0:06:40.200 --> 0:06:43.320 shake out. I mean, it's the most fascinating golf course 0:06:43.400 --> 0:06:46.600 there is to watch these guys play and what is 0:06:46.640 --> 0:06:53.480 your level of excitement Michael extremely huh. You know, you know, 0:06:53.600 --> 0:06:57.440 it's really neat Tiger in the press conference yesterday, Like 0:06:57.839 --> 0:07:00.400 there's been a lot of talk appropriately this is one 0:07:01.320 --> 0:07:03.599 one hundred and fiftieth playing of the of the of 0:07:03.640 --> 0:07:06.039 the Open Championship or is it one hundred and fiftieth 0:07:06.080 --> 0:07:08.640 anniversary of the first part of me for not knowing, 0:07:08.880 --> 0:07:10.840 But one fifty is the number that we do now 0:07:11.280 --> 0:07:17.000 and and Tigers start in nineteen sixty. So yeah, okay, 0:07:17.040 --> 0:07:20.440 that helps. So the one hundred and fiftyth playing of 0:07:20.480 --> 0:07:24.520 the Open and uh, you know, boiler play question to Tiger, 0:07:24.760 --> 0:07:26.840 you know, does this one feel more historic than the others? 0:07:26.880 --> 0:07:29.680 And Tigers like, yeah, it actually does. And I think 0:07:29.720 --> 0:07:32.240 what's happened in this particular Open, there's been a lot 0:07:32.280 --> 0:07:35.440 of emphasis on Bobby Jones, on Jack Nicholas and Tiger 0:07:35.480 --> 0:07:38.040 Woods and winning at Saint Andrew's and Bopa Bopa Bob 0:07:38.080 --> 0:07:41.840 generation generation, and I just feel like the any Open 0:07:41.920 --> 0:07:45.040 at St. Andrews is a cause for golfing celebration. Of course, 0:07:45.720 --> 0:07:49.080 this one is at an even higher level because of 0:07:49.120 --> 0:07:52.440 this number one fifty and because we're really thinking about 0:07:52.480 --> 0:07:55.520 that for American golfers especially, but that line from Jones 0:07:56.400 --> 0:07:58.680 to Nicholas to Tiger Woods as we never have before. 0:07:58.760 --> 0:08:00.960 So you know, it's interesting here, trevel immam and bring 0:08:01.040 --> 0:08:04.320 up Justin Thomas, you know, who would love to win 0:08:04.720 --> 0:08:07.760 his third major championship here and has been getting the 0:08:07.880 --> 0:08:11.520 stick for weeks, if not years, some Tiger Woods about 0:08:11.560 --> 0:08:12.800 you know, when you're gonna win something other than a 0:08:12.880 --> 0:08:16.560 PJA championship. U. So, I think the stakes are high 0:08:16.560 --> 0:08:21.160 and the excitement levels are really really high. What have 0:08:21.200 --> 0:08:22.560 you felt in the air, Matt. You've been sort of 0:08:22.600 --> 0:08:26.200 hopping from rooftop to rooftop and you've been sort of 0:08:26.200 --> 0:08:28.400 behind the velvet rope a little bit here this week again, 0:08:29.320 --> 0:08:31.560 what what what is the what has the atmosphere been 0:08:31.600 --> 0:08:37.120 like that you've been able to partake in? I think, 0:08:37.760 --> 0:08:40.800 you know, I'm looking I'm literally looking at looking at 0:08:40.800 --> 0:08:43.719 a sign that says everything has led to this. This 0:08:43.800 --> 0:08:47.920 is like a big sort of marketing slant of what's 0:08:48.040 --> 0:08:51.520 what's transpiring here? And but I come back to it 0:08:51.600 --> 0:08:55.880 because it actually feels like for me personally, for my 0:08:55.960 --> 0:08:58.800 love of the game. Michael, you know you got emotional 0:08:58.920 --> 0:09:02.160 even in the previous podcast just talking about sort of 0:09:02.200 --> 0:09:06.600 just this. I keep saying like this, being here, being 0:09:06.600 --> 0:09:08.880 a part of this at the Old Course, the one 0:09:08.960 --> 0:09:11.760 hundred and fiftieth, playing all that I've learned about Old 0:09:11.760 --> 0:09:14.040 Tom Morris the last few months as we've been preparing 0:09:14.080 --> 0:09:18.160 these this multi series package on an homage to what 0:09:18.200 --> 0:09:21.000 he's meant to the game, getting to know Sheila Walker, 0:09:21.080 --> 0:09:25.679 his great great granddaughter, me and my life and my career. 0:09:26.120 --> 0:09:29.200 I'm looking around Scott Tally, I've been working with for 0:09:29.320 --> 0:09:31.760 twenty five years, who works with Jack Nicholas, Who's been 0:09:31.880 --> 0:09:34.640 very emotional being here. He got the keys to the city, 0:09:35.120 --> 0:09:42.480 literally getting you know, noticeably and physically emotional about reflecting 0:09:42.520 --> 0:09:44.959 on his time and his relationship with Saint Andrew's in 0:09:45.000 --> 0:09:48.280 the Old Course, Tiger, knowing what we know about Tiger, 0:09:48.920 --> 0:09:51.720 sort of the passing of these batons from this other 0:09:51.800 --> 0:09:56.600 generation to whatever's happening to this next generation. Bumping into 0:09:56.679 --> 0:09:59.440 so many different people, places and things. We've all been 0:09:59.520 --> 0:10:05.679 moving through this game together as journalists, as players, as caddies, 0:10:05.960 --> 0:10:10.360 as fans, as you know. This all has been culminating 0:10:10.400 --> 0:10:17.280 to me to this event, this venue, this time in 0:10:17.320 --> 0:10:20.800 the history of the game of golf. It's this massive 0:10:21.480 --> 0:10:26.280 intersection with all of it and just bumping into Mark 0:10:26.360 --> 0:10:30.880 Mulvoy on the street. Mark Mulvoy, famous legendary editor and 0:10:30.920 --> 0:10:35.600 publisher of Sports Illustrated. Who hired you? Alan, Who you 0:10:35.679 --> 0:10:40.200 worked for? Michael? Who I worked for? Who? Like everybody 0:10:40.360 --> 0:10:43.719 is here, this is all happening, and it just it 0:10:43.800 --> 0:10:47.800 feels like it's one big great massage of the soul 0:10:48.280 --> 0:10:51.320 as it relates to my relationship and our relationship with 0:10:51.360 --> 0:10:54.080 the game of golf. When Matt said, I think we 0:10:54.240 --> 0:10:57.280 both I'm sure we would both completely agree with and 0:10:57.440 --> 0:11:00.000 of course it didn't even need to be said by 0:11:00.120 --> 0:11:02.320 by Map. For our listeners who may not follow a 0:11:02.320 --> 0:11:05.160 game as closely, it's such a time of a people 0:11:05.160 --> 0:11:07.440 in the game, no matter where you think about, no 0:11:07.480 --> 0:11:09.640 matter what you think about live golf or the Department 0:11:09.640 --> 0:11:13.480 of Justice investigation, and there's such you can look at 0:11:13.480 --> 0:11:14.760 in a black and white way, you can look at 0:11:14.760 --> 0:11:17.120 a nuanced way. However, you just look at it. But 0:11:17.440 --> 0:11:19.480 we're going to get a break from all that because 0:11:19.520 --> 0:11:22.040 golf's been played on this golf course for hundreds of years, 0:11:22.440 --> 0:11:24.280 and this tournament has been played for you know, one 0:11:24.320 --> 0:11:27.720 hundred and fifty plus one hundred and fifty times anyway. 0:11:28.280 --> 0:11:32.360 And it has nothing to do with the Department Justice 0:11:32.400 --> 0:11:35.679 investigation or live golf or greed or anything else. It 0:11:35.800 --> 0:11:39.360 really is about playing for a jug and that's, you know, 0:11:39.480 --> 0:11:44.280 on a very primitive, weird, funky public golf course where 0:11:44.400 --> 0:11:46.120 this time and night, you know, it's what is it here? 0:11:46.120 --> 0:11:47.839 It's nearly ten o'clock at night as we're doing this 0:11:47.960 --> 0:11:50.240 at Saint Angew's time. I've been on the golf course. 0:11:50.360 --> 0:11:52.719 I'm sure we all have. At ten o'clock at night. 0:11:53.040 --> 0:11:55.560 Weird animals come out of the gorse and the heather 0:11:55.640 --> 0:11:58.000 at this time. You're like animals like you've never seen 0:11:58.080 --> 0:12:00.600 before in your life anywhere. Like they look like rabbits, 0:12:00.920 --> 0:12:05.080 but they've got like a shark's tail, and weird, weird animals. 0:12:05.320 --> 0:12:08.600 It's a weird golf course. None of the holes makes sense, 0:12:09.080 --> 0:12:11.280 you know, as as Fred told me the other way, 0:12:11.320 --> 0:12:13.880 it's like Fred Couples. It's like, you know, Gary Player 0:12:13.920 --> 0:12:15.480 told me I played the course all wrong. It's like 0:12:15.559 --> 0:12:17.120 I didn't know any other way to play it. There 0:12:17.160 --> 0:12:20.240 are so many different routes to the whole. And so 0:12:20.280 --> 0:12:23.719 I think we're in for four great days. I think 0:12:23.800 --> 0:12:26.720 Michael's been smoking the fescue, not just chipping off of it, 0:12:26.880 --> 0:12:34.600 but well share for God's sakes, Jesus. I mean, it's 0:12:34.640 --> 0:12:37.160 funny because one thing that's great about the Old Course 0:12:37.280 --> 0:12:41.920 is these intensely nerdy discussions about the how each hole 0:12:41.960 --> 0:12:44.360 should or could be played. And you see this on 0:12:44.400 --> 0:12:47.120 golf Twitter. You're here in the pubs. It certainly be 0:12:47.120 --> 0:12:50.400 a talking point in the telecast. You know, the bunkers 0:12:50.400 --> 0:12:55.400 are all famous, the whole names, the double greens. You know, 0:12:55.400 --> 0:12:57.840 there literally is three or four different routes to play 0:12:58.440 --> 0:13:02.000 every hole, like you know, say the Principles nose. Who 0:13:02.000 --> 0:13:06.800 would name a trap the Principles Nose. It's fantastic. I mean, 0:13:07.080 --> 0:13:09.080 it's so what you think about, Like like when Bethpage 0:13:09.120 --> 0:13:12.360 hosted you having Bethpage hosted the PGA Chamship, there was 0:13:12.440 --> 0:13:14.240 one way to play every hole. You had to try 0:13:14.240 --> 0:13:17.600 and fit it in that the narrow fairway between the rough, 0:13:18.040 --> 0:13:20.040 the long rough and the and the deep bunkers, and 0:13:20.080 --> 0:13:21.240 you just had to hit it to the middle of 0:13:21.280 --> 0:13:25.120 green and try and two put it was. It rewarded excellence, 0:13:25.120 --> 0:13:28.720 but it was boring as hell. And the Old Course 0:13:29.120 --> 0:13:33.000 it's so free wheeling. I mean, all, all three guys 0:13:33.000 --> 0:13:36.199 in the group tomorrow can can play the whole completely differently, 0:13:36.200 --> 0:13:38.800 different clubs off the tea, different lines of attack, and 0:13:38.880 --> 0:13:43.280 so it's just it's such fun viewing for for even 0:13:43.320 --> 0:13:46.480 casual fans, but especially the more so fisticate golfan and 0:13:46.640 --> 0:13:48.280 especially those use who have been lucky to actually play 0:13:48.320 --> 0:13:49.680 the course and we know how we played the whole. 0:13:49.720 --> 0:13:52.480 Like there's just something magic about the viewing experience of 0:13:52.840 --> 0:13:58.600 this tournament on this golf course. But by the way, 0:13:58.640 --> 0:14:01.720 I mean, these guys right now wind at their backs, 0:14:02.400 --> 0:14:05.280 they're hitting three irons to the green off of eighteen. 0:14:05.400 --> 0:14:09.440 They're they're literally having conversations about how two iron is 0:14:09.480 --> 0:14:13.600 too much off the eighteenth tee. Uh. I mean, this 0:14:13.640 --> 0:14:16.319 is this is zaniness right now, Like what's going to 0:14:16.400 --> 0:14:19.080 actually transpire what they're going to be hitting off teas 0:14:19.160 --> 0:14:21.200 or how they're gonna be hitting on Some are saying 0:14:21.240 --> 0:14:23.040 they want to hit less off the teeth so they 0:14:23.040 --> 0:14:24.760 have more club in their hands so that they can 0:14:24.800 --> 0:14:26.880 actually get some spin so they can have a chance 0:14:26.880 --> 0:14:30.240 of stopping the ball on the green instead of hitting 0:14:30.280 --> 0:14:34.320 you know, instead of I don't know, this is I 0:14:34.400 --> 0:14:36.800 just have a feeling this could take on a whole 0:14:36.880 --> 0:14:41.480 new character and life because of what is going to 0:14:41.520 --> 0:14:44.680 be the conditions and the speed of the fairways. What 0:14:44.880 --> 0:14:47.600 Matto said the beauty. What Matto said is that it 0:14:47.680 --> 0:14:51.320 shows that the course is totally counterintuitive in golf's counter intuitive. 0:14:51.320 --> 0:14:53.920 It's like, you know, Brian Harmon and Lee Trevino talking 0:14:53.920 --> 0:14:56.040 on the range the other day and they're talking about, 0:14:56.080 --> 0:14:57.960 you know, Brian's lefty, but I'll just say, you know, 0:14:58.080 --> 0:15:00.480 lead foot, rear foot, left, you know, tip right in 0:15:00.520 --> 0:15:02.680 the golfer, left foot, right foot. It's like whatever the 0:15:02.840 --> 0:15:05.920 left foot's doing, the rights doing something else, and everything 0:15:06.000 --> 0:15:10.200 works in counterbalancing golf. So like when the ordinary golfer thinks, 0:15:10.240 --> 0:15:12.880 oh fast course, you can drive it. You know, we 0:15:13.000 --> 0:15:15.080 who drive it to twenty can drive it to forty. 0:15:15.280 --> 0:15:17.520 They hate that. And what Matches said is so true. 0:15:17.640 --> 0:15:20.800 They'd rather hit a longer club in with a lofted club, 0:15:21.000 --> 0:15:25.000 hopefully off some actual grass and possibly well not possibly 0:15:25.200 --> 0:15:28.280 spin it and stop it because that that they can control. 0:15:28.360 --> 0:15:30.720 So you know that, but not everybody's really going to 0:15:30.800 --> 0:15:33.640 have that creative breakthrough where they can where they can 0:15:33.680 --> 0:15:37.520 think that way, which probably means is actually probably a 0:15:37.680 --> 0:15:41.240 very small number of players who have both the golf 0:15:41.280 --> 0:15:46.520 skill and the and the really the intellectual nature like 0:15:46.600 --> 0:15:50.200 Tiger and Nicholas have, and other winners here have had 0:15:50.200 --> 0:15:53.040 over the years, Bobby Jones to be successful here, it's 0:15:53.040 --> 0:15:57.240 probably actually a very short list, right. Well, I want 0:15:57.280 --> 0:16:01.160 to talk about Tiger because there's much focus on him. 0:16:01.200 --> 0:16:03.440 There has been every tournament round he's played this year. 0:16:03.480 --> 0:16:05.800 But I think there is a sense in the year, 0:16:05.800 --> 0:16:08.080 even though he hasn't said it, like this is his 0:16:08.200 --> 0:16:11.400 harah at the Old Course and maybe even for the 0:16:11.440 --> 0:16:15.400 British Open in general and the um because it's going 0:16:15.440 --> 0:16:19.600 to be such a chess match out there. Could is it? 0:16:19.640 --> 0:16:21.800 Can we dream? And it's a flat course, easy to 0:16:21.840 --> 0:16:24.240 walk at warm temperatures? You know Tiger when when the 0:16:24.280 --> 0:16:26.360 temperatures getting the fifties, like you can get it an 0:16:26.400 --> 0:16:28.600 open that's not good for his back. It just seems 0:16:28.640 --> 0:16:30.720 like everything's kind of aligned. Has been almost boughb me 0:16:30.760 --> 0:16:34.200 out there, like can we let her sell dream that 0:16:34.200 --> 0:16:39.480 that Tiger the master strategist and tactician, the greatest thinker 0:16:39.480 --> 0:16:41.920 in the game along with Nicholas, Like is it possible 0:16:42.400 --> 0:16:45.080 that he can just finagle his way into contention? On 0:16:45.080 --> 0:16:49.720 this golf course. I mean, obviously it's possible. There's no 0:16:49.800 --> 0:16:53.880 way it's not possible, So therefore it's possible he is 0:16:54.000 --> 0:16:57.560 tiger fricking I would say it's Tiger's tiger fucking woods. 0:16:57.600 --> 0:17:00.320 I mean that's that's I mean, you know, eighty two 0:17:00.360 --> 0:17:04.240 and fifteen doesn't happen by accidents. So and I think 0:17:04.280 --> 0:17:10.359 there's regardless of whatever he's dealing with physically, spiritually, emotionally, 0:17:11.080 --> 0:17:14.240 like you don't think he doesn't want to make one 0:17:14.440 --> 0:17:17.439 last you know, you know, fist pound on top of 0:17:17.440 --> 0:17:21.480 a table to the rest of the generational stuff that 0:17:21.560 --> 0:17:26.160 he's created. In terms of the competition, I mean, all 0:17:26.200 --> 0:17:29.480 the ribbing that he's giving is actually ribbing himself, Like 0:17:29.720 --> 0:17:32.920 this is the way he winds him stuff up. There's 0:17:32.920 --> 0:17:35.840 tales of him at a dare manner, going out in 0:17:35.880 --> 0:17:42.560 the morning, practicing playing eighteen holes, bally Bunyan, flying back, 0:17:42.840 --> 0:17:46.280 taking a nap, going out hitting balls for an hour, 0:17:47.200 --> 0:17:49.600 then going out and chipping and putting around the greens 0:17:49.600 --> 0:17:53.600 for an hour until dark. Like it's not like he's 0:17:53.640 --> 0:17:56.040 been laying in bed and just saying, oh, I'm this 0:17:56.080 --> 0:17:58.240 is gonna be my swan song. I'm gonna miss the 0:17:58.280 --> 0:18:01.680 cut and I'm gonna wave goodbye. He's like he's spending 0:18:02.119 --> 0:18:06.880 entire days practicing. Today he stopped at seventeen, went back 0:18:06.920 --> 0:18:10.960 over to the range, hit more ball, Like I mean, 0:18:11.280 --> 0:18:14.560 would any of us actually be surprised given all that 0:18:14.640 --> 0:18:17.560 we've just said about the way this course needs to 0:18:17.600 --> 0:18:20.840 be played, how it's going to be a tactician, How 0:18:20.880 --> 0:18:23.760 it's going to have to be someone who can spend 0:18:23.800 --> 0:18:26.560 four rounds without finding a bunker, like he's already done. 0:18:27.680 --> 0:18:31.359 I mean, if he's in the final pairing on Sunday, 0:18:31.440 --> 0:18:34.520 we'd all be really surprised about the fact that we 0:18:34.560 --> 0:18:37.560 allowed ourselves to be surprised that he's in the final pairing. 0:18:39.040 --> 0:18:43.240 What do you think, Michael, I agree with. I agree 0:18:43.280 --> 0:18:53.360 with that Tiger can bunt play bunt golf as well 0:18:53.400 --> 0:18:55.240 as anybody. And this is going to be a bunt 0:18:55.240 --> 0:18:59.320 golf course. And I mean, like you showed at Hoylake, 0:18:59.680 --> 0:19:03.400 you know, he took he took much off much, he 0:19:03.400 --> 0:19:06.160 took much less club off the tay to consistently play 0:19:06.520 --> 0:19:08.639 away from the bunkers. I think I think there he 0:19:08.680 --> 0:19:11.400 won seventy two holes without being in a bunker as well, 0:19:11.480 --> 0:19:14.760 and very sell. He very seldom. I know, he had 0:19:14.800 --> 0:19:18.080 no three putts that I can recall, and he put 0:19:18.960 --> 0:19:21.960 it's a fabulous putter in the wind. He's a fabulous 0:19:22.080 --> 0:19:26.119 lag putter. He has said numerous times that you know, 0:19:26.280 --> 0:19:28.840 it's not the putting and the chipping, it's the driving game, 0:19:28.880 --> 0:19:31.359 and that you know gust and National in southern hills, 0:19:31.400 --> 0:19:34.800 but especially gust and National. Without a driving game, there 0:19:34.800 --> 0:19:38.480 really was no chance. Plus the walk, you know here, 0:19:38.520 --> 0:19:46.480 the walk he should be relatively easy and unless it's crazy, 0:19:46.560 --> 0:19:49.439 crazy low, I think he can't contend the way he 0:19:49.480 --> 0:19:52.680 played Royal Melbourne. I mean, you know, his body is 0:19:52.800 --> 0:19:55.040 way more beat up now than it was at Royal Melbourne. 0:19:55.320 --> 0:19:58.520 But he was the best golfer in the field, I 0:19:58.560 --> 0:20:01.440 mean at Royal Melbourne. Numerous people have told us. I 0:20:01.440 --> 0:20:04.919 dont think Jeff Ogilby has sold us that that was 0:20:05.000 --> 0:20:09.280 all guile in golfing, sophistication and intelligence and shot making. 0:20:09.960 --> 0:20:12.199 I only watched on TV, but I couldn't believe how 0:20:12.480 --> 0:20:16.359 how how he played some of those souls and uh, 0:20:16.440 --> 0:20:24.359 you know this this course is Royal Melbourne on steroids. Really, Yeah, 0:20:24.359 --> 0:20:29.040 that's a great point and it's also an interesting you know, 0:20:29.240 --> 0:20:31.440 Tiger went into his press conference and really threw down 0:20:31.480 --> 0:20:35.080 a marker. Not it was about live golf, but it was. 0:20:35.119 --> 0:20:37.679 It was a more. It was also his worldview. You know, 0:20:37.720 --> 0:20:39.600 you gotta earn it, you got to earn everything in 0:20:39.600 --> 0:20:42.879 this game. And he almost seems offended, though I know 0:20:42.960 --> 0:20:46.280 he's offended by this shift in the sport where guys 0:20:46.280 --> 0:20:49.960 are getting guaranteed money and the competitive nature of the 0:20:50.000 --> 0:20:54.919 actual tournaments has been reduced and devalued. And if there 0:20:55.000 --> 0:20:56.800 was ever a week that Tiger's gonna have the red 0:20:56.840 --> 0:21:00.520 ass more than usual, it's this week because he's just 0:21:00.680 --> 0:21:04.159 he's finally kind of taken a stance on I'll live golf, 0:21:04.200 --> 0:21:08.639 and it offends him as the ultimate competitor, as the 0:21:08.720 --> 0:21:12.160 ultimate grinder. And so it's like, if he has one 0:21:12.359 --> 0:21:15.680 last lesson to impart on all these whipper snappers and 0:21:15.720 --> 0:21:18.600 all these guys who have been uh, you know, basically 0:21:18.680 --> 0:21:20.720 subservient to him throughout his career, they're like, you know, 0:21:20.800 --> 0:21:22.359 he wants to remind them one more time, like this 0:21:22.400 --> 0:21:24.199 is how it's done, boys, This is the level of 0:21:24.240 --> 0:21:26.320 desire you have to have. I'll get up at three 0:21:26.320 --> 0:21:29.080 in the morning to get my body work in and 0:21:29.119 --> 0:21:31.280 he's pushed himself really hard. As you said, Matt like him. 0:21:31.359 --> 0:21:33.320 He's walked a lot of holes, he's played a lot 0:21:33.320 --> 0:21:36.879 of golf like he's he's leaven no bullets in the 0:21:37.000 --> 0:21:40.480 chamber like he it's he might shut it down for 0:21:40.560 --> 0:21:43.320 nine months after this. And so he's pushing himself to 0:21:43.320 --> 0:21:46.480 the absolute limit. And it's very admirable and inspiring to see. 0:21:49.600 --> 0:21:53.119 Now you you know, I go back to talking to 0:21:53.160 --> 0:21:56.520 Pat Perez, you know, in that bar that night after 0:21:56.840 --> 0:22:00.399 the JP McManus program and Pat Perez entire would have 0:22:00.760 --> 0:22:04.399 known each other forever, I mean, and Pat Perez is 0:22:04.440 --> 0:22:07.239 like Tiger wouldn't even when when Pat Perez went up 0:22:07.240 --> 0:22:09.520 to talk to him, Tiger, you know, yeah, shook his hand, 0:22:09.520 --> 0:22:11.199 but didn't even look at him when he shook his 0:22:11.240 --> 0:22:15.160 hand to him. And there's a wild, you know, big 0:22:15.200 --> 0:22:18.119 rumor he Deki Matziyama's going to Live right after the 0:22:18.119 --> 0:22:21.840 Open Championship, and that you know that they the Live 0:22:21.960 --> 0:22:24.920 wants a DECKI knowing his global presence and bringing all 0:22:24.960 --> 0:22:27.320 of Asia with them, that that's going to be their 0:22:27.400 --> 0:22:29.840 marquee guy, and that they're going to pay more for 0:22:29.960 --> 0:22:33.440 him than any other player by far, almost double triple 0:22:33.880 --> 0:22:36.919