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Speaker 1: It's the Son of a Butch podcast. I am your

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Speaker 1: host Claude harmon US Open week and the famed Oakmont

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Speaker 1: the tenth playing of the US Open at Oakmont. Listen.

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Speaker 1: This is I think one of, if not the hardest

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Speaker 1: US Open venues they have. I think it's one of

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Speaker 1: the hardest major championship courses in the game. I think

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Speaker 1: it's one of the hardest golf courses on the planet Earth,

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Speaker 1: to be honest with you, and the way that they

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Speaker 1: have it set up this week, it's brutal. There's just

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Speaker 1: no other way to kind of describe what it's like.

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Speaker 1: The rough is brutal. The greens are going to be

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Speaker 1: firm and fast. I mean, these are greens by the

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Speaker 1: weekend might get up to thirteen fourteen fifteen on the

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Speaker 1: stint meter. It's been wet, They've had a lot of rain,

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Speaker 1: but I think the golf course is going to dry out.

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Speaker 1: So one of the interesting things this week is the

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Speaker 1: golf course has been, believe it or not, pretty soft

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Speaker 1: so far through the practice rounds, and by the time

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Speaker 1: Thursday comes around, it's going to be a different golf course.

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Speaker 1: It's going to be a different golf course than the

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Speaker 1: players have been practicing on the greens are going to

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Speaker 1: be faster. The greens are going to be firmer. The

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Speaker 1: fairways are going to be faster. The fairways are going

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Speaker 1: to be firmer. It's just a ridiculously hard golf course.

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Speaker 1: It's just no way about it. And if you look

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Speaker 1: at the scores. First US Open Championship nineteen twenty seven,

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Speaker 1: Tommy Armor was your winner. Plus thirteen was the winning score.

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Speaker 1: Nineteen thirty five plus eleven, Ben Hogan nineteen fifty three

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Speaker 1: minus five. Jack Nicholas won here in sixty two minus one.

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Speaker 1: Johnny Miller nineteen seventy three shot five under, Larry Nelson

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Speaker 1: eighty three, four under Ernie Els ninety four in the

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Speaker 1: playoff five under on Hell Cabrera two thousand and seven

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Speaker 1: to one here plus five, and then Dustin Johnson won

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Speaker 1: the last time we were here almost ten years ago

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Speaker 1: at four under. I was out on the course today

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Speaker 1: walking the practice rounds. Gil Hants, the famed architect who

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Speaker 1: was in charge of the restoration here, he told me

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Speaker 1: he thought even parr was probably going to be a

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Speaker 1: safe bet winning score. You know, the membership here wants

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Speaker 1: it to be fifteen to twenty over. I mean, the

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Speaker 1: members at Oakmont are famous for loving the fact that

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Speaker 1: their golf course is really really difficult, is really really hard.

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Speaker 1: They'll tell anybody that will listen how fast the greens

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Speaker 1: are all the time. So I thought it was interesting

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Speaker 1: and talking to go Hants on what the USGA want.

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Speaker 1: Do they have a score in mind? He said no.

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Speaker 1: I asked him what he thought. He said even parr,

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Speaker 1: But he said I don't really have a score in mind.

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Speaker 1: I just think even par sounds about right. But the

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Speaker 1: membership at all of these major championship venues want their

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Speaker 1: golf course to play as hard as humanly possible for

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Speaker 1: the best players in the world. I don't know why.

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Speaker 1: I think it's an ego thing. It's not something that

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Speaker 1: I think is really cool. I just don't know why

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Speaker 1: they want the best players in the world to struggle

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Speaker 1: on a golf course that they struggle on. I guess

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Speaker 1: that's the thing. I guess that it's such a hard

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Speaker 1: golf course and they play it that they want it

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Speaker 1: to be as difficult as possible. But the golf course

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Speaker 1: is almost two hundred yards longer than it was in

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Speaker 1: twenty sixteen. They've enlarged the greens by almost an average

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Speaker 1: of twelve hundred square feet. And when you think about

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Speaker 1: this golf course was made using a couple dozen mules

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Speaker 1: and one hundred and fifty men and they kind of

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Speaker 1: pushed all the dirt around. And talking to Gil Hans,

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Speaker 1: he was saying that the idea was to go back

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Speaker 1: and look at old aerial photos of kind of the

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Speaker 1: thirties and the forties. So they've tried to take some

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Speaker 1: of the greens back to what they originally were. But

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Speaker 1: it's just there's just no way to describe how hard

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Speaker 1: it is. Seven three hundred and seventy two yards long

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Speaker 1: now parse seventy And if you look at the last

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Speaker 1: nine winners, eight of them have something in common. And

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Speaker 1: the eight winners of this tournament have all been multiple

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Speaker 1: major champions. This is just a hard golf course to

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Speaker 1: get lucky on. Birdies are very very rare ego or

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Speaker 1: I mean, the next thing possible unless you're holding out.

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Speaker 1: So I'm going to keep saying this on the podcast.

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Speaker 1: It's just hard. And in walking around the practice truts,

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Speaker 1: I mean there is double, triple, quadruple bogie lurking on

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Speaker 1: all eighteen holes. Every single hole from start to finish.

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Speaker 1: So mentally you know that. I think the players know

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Speaker 1: that going out right, they know that the winner is

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Speaker 1: going to have to deal with some crazy stuff. He's

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Speaker 1: going to have to make a lot of palls. The

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Speaker 1: winner is going to have to make a lot of

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Speaker 1: fifteen footers twenty footers for palls, because if you get

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Speaker 1: out of position here off the tee, if you get

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Speaker 1: out of position, I mean I was in a practice,

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Speaker 1: walking a practice. Who and watch Terrell Hatton miss a

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Speaker 1: fairway by five yards five steps? Really, I mean five

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Speaker 1: yards being generous, it's five steps. I've walked it off

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Speaker 1: five steps. Took us almost ten minutes to find it,

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Speaker 1: and when we found it it was so buried. He

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Speaker 1: tried to take a lob wedge, made the hardest swing

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Speaker 1: you can possibly make and maybe advance to the golf

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Speaker 1: ball three yards five at a push. And then if

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Speaker 1: you miss the greens, you're in really really deep rough.

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Speaker 1: You could get completely destroyed by the lie that you've got.

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Speaker 1: And then I think the issue here is the roof

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Speaker 1: is so thick that you have to be aggressive out

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Speaker 1: of the rough, otherwise the ball isn't going to go anywhere.

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Speaker 1: The club isn't going to go anywhere. So you have

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Speaker 1: to hit these shots around the green complexes here at Oakmont,

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Speaker 1: your chip shots, if you're in the rough, you have

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Speaker 1: to hit them so hard. But the fear is that

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Speaker 1: you're going to hit it so hard it's gonna go

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Speaker 1: over the green right and then you have to hit

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Speaker 1: another one. So the trap and the trick is to

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Speaker 1: hit the golf ball hard enough to get it out

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Speaker 1: of You'd much rather hit it on the green to

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Speaker 1: thirty forty feet then to not hit it hard enough

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Speaker 1: and not get out of the rough and have to

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Speaker 1: hit it enough. So you're going to see some crazy

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Speaker 1: short game stuff. I just don't know when the rough gets,

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Speaker 1: you know, five to seven inches long around greens where

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Speaker 1: they are very undulated. A lot of these greens either

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Speaker 1: slope from front to back or back to front, from

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Speaker 1: right to left or from left right, and I'm talking

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Speaker 1: severely pitched from front to back, back to front, left

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Speaker 1: to right, right to left, and the greens are going

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Speaker 1: to be running once the tournament starts. The greens are

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Speaker 1: going to be running thirteen fourteen, fifteen on the stip meter,

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Speaker 1: and it's going to be windy and it's going to

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Speaker 1: be hot, so they're going to bake out and it

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Speaker 1: is a very very difficult test of golf. Let's just

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Speaker 1: go through the holes. First hole, part four, just four

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Speaker 1: eighty eight. I mean, fairway isn't really big. It kind

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Speaker 1: of you hit out. You hit the fairway, then you're

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Speaker 1: hitting down the hill to a green that severely slopes

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Speaker 1: from front to back. So a lot players in the

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Speaker 1: practice rooms trying to figure out do they land it

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Speaker 1: short and then try and let it run. The thing is,

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Speaker 1: you want to be putting from the back portion of

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Speaker 1: this green, regardless of where the flags are, because then

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Speaker 1: you're putting uphill. If you're on the front part of

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Speaker 1: the green on one and the pin is anywhere on

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Speaker 1: the back, you're basically putting straight downhill and there's a

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Speaker 1: lot of movement. So if you miss the green, you're struggling.

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Speaker 1: I mean you're just struggling the next hole. Another part four,

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Speaker 1: three forty six. I think a lot of it will

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Speaker 1: be club selection off the tee. DJ in the practice

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Speaker 1: rounds who won here in sixteen. He hit one of

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Speaker 1: his seven woods just to make sure he got the

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Speaker 1: ball and play the Pharaohs pretty ride Noah Kent, who

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Speaker 1: I teach the amateur. Noah almost drove the green twice,

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Speaker 1: so he was choosing driver to get it up there.

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Speaker 1: But that green slopes severely from back to front right,

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Speaker 1: and there's all these little nooks and crannies where you

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Speaker 1: can kind of put the pin on two right. So

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Speaker 1: I do think that accuracy off the tee is I'm

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Speaker 1: an accurac sea off the tee on all these holes

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Speaker 1: is going to be really really important. So I think

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Speaker 1: on two it's going to be how far up do

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Speaker 1: you want to try and risk getting the ball? So

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Speaker 1: obviously the closer you get it, the easier the chip shot.

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Speaker 1: I watched Scotti Scheffler in one of the practice rounds,

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Speaker 1: hit it to the middle of the green, had a

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Speaker 1: little bit too much spin this was on Tuesday, and

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Speaker 1: spin it all the way back off the green and

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Speaker 1: roll back and he had a twenty yard pitch shot.

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Speaker 1: So it severely, severely slopes from back to front. And

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Speaker 1: then the third hole on the left hand side of

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Speaker 1: the third hole the famous church pew bunkers. This is

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Speaker 1: one of the hardest par fours on the planet Earth.

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Speaker 1: Four hundred and sixty two yards uphill so you're hitting

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Speaker 1: to an upslope, and then the green has a massive,

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Speaker 1: massive false front, and a lot of the approach areas

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Speaker 1: here at Oakmont they're basically like putting green. They're rolling

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Speaker 1: ten on the putting green. So specifically on the third hole,

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Speaker 1: if the ball kind of gets on to the front

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Speaker 1: edge and then rolls off, it's going to roll a

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Speaker 1: long way. Then you're chipping back up the hill. You

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Speaker 1: obviously don't want to go over this green because in

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Speaker 1: sixteen it was basically just like the front it was

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Speaker 1: false front shaved down, so if you went over the

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Speaker 1: green you had the same thing. It would roll all

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Speaker 1: the way to the bottom part of the redesign and

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Speaker 1: the restoration on three as they've taken out that back portion,

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Speaker 1: so it's just rough. They're going to tuck pins kind

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Speaker 1: of all over the place. And that's the thing about

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Speaker 1: these greens, and the green complex on the third hole

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Speaker 1: has a lot of slope to it from right to

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Speaker 1: left right, so where they put these pins, it's just

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Speaker 1: I just can't describe how hard it is. Fourth hole,

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Speaker 1: one of the par five's just six hundred and eleven yards.

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Speaker 1: You have to get this in play off. The tee

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Speaker 1: and then the green. I mean, really there are a

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Speaker 1: lot of slopes. There's a back portion to the fourth

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Speaker 1: green that's kind of on a little bit of a shelf,

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Speaker 1: and then everything around the back portion in the right

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Speaker 1: portion of the fourth green just basically falls off. But

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Speaker 1: you've got the church pew bunkers all the way down

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Speaker 1: the left hand side six hundred and eleven yards. I mean,

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Speaker 1: you've got to hit a really good drive to be

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Speaker 1: able to get to where you could go for it

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Speaker 1: the layup area. Most of the guys, if they can't

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Speaker 1: get to they're probably going to be going in with

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Speaker 1: something kind of right around one hundred and one yards,

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Speaker 1: around one hundred yards in two thousand and seven. In

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Speaker 1: twenty sixteen, easiest hole on golf course, So this is

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Speaker 1: one of the legit birdie chances. Everything kind of funnels

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Speaker 1: to the middle of this green, but they will tuck

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Speaker 1: the pins on four. The par five kind of in

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Speaker 1: a bunch of different unique areas. The fifth hole another

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Speaker 1: part four four hundred eight kind of a little bit uphill,

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Speaker 1: so you can't see the green. It's a blind t shot,

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Speaker 1: but it's kind of going to be a wedge. So

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Speaker 1: this is another of I think a birdie chance. I mean,

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Speaker 1: you definitely if you hit this fairway, your probably I

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Speaker 1: mean the three hundred yard mark is going to leave

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Speaker 1: you right around one hundred yards in. So I think

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Speaker 1: a lot of players will will kind of figure out

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Speaker 1: where they want to hit it off the tee. It's

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Speaker 1: the second smallest green on the property, so it's a

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Speaker 1: tiny green, but you're going in it with a short

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Speaker 1: iron or a wedge. The first of the par threes,

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Speaker 1: the sixth hole, downhill two hundred yards, you have to

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Speaker 1: hit this green. There is a lot of slope, I

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Speaker 1: mean a tremendous amount of slope here from right to left.

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Speaker 1: So anything on the right hand side is going to funnel.

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Speaker 1: The back right, I think is going to be an

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Speaker 1: interesting pin position because if you're trying to go at

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Speaker 1: that and you miss it, you are in severe off

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Speaker 1: the bunkers around the sixth hole not a bad option.

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Speaker 1: But yeah, Part three over two hundred yards, the seventh hole,

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Speaker 1: Part four four hundred and eighty five yards. They've put

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Speaker 1: a bunker that wasn't there in twenty sixteen on the

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Speaker 1: left hand side, and it's right around three hundred to

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Speaker 1: carry that. But this hole kind of plays into the

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Speaker 1: prevailing wind, so it's going to be into the wind.

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Speaker 1: But again you have to hit the fairway here. Three

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Speaker 1: hundred yards kind is going to give you that one

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Speaker 1: eighty to one seventy five range to a green that

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Speaker 1: is severely undulated and it slopes from left to right,

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Speaker 1: So on the previous hole, it slopes from right to left.

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Speaker 1: On the par four seventh, severe slope from left to right,

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Speaker 1: and the runoff area on the front portion of this

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Speaker 1: green kind of funnels. Anything on the left side of

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Speaker 1: this green to the front flags is going to funnel off.

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Speaker 1: A bunch of guys were going down in front of

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Speaker 1: the bunker on seven, down at the bottom and hitting

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Speaker 1: all the way up to the left hand portion and

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Speaker 1: letting it then roll back to where the flags were.

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Speaker 1: There's a right hand kind of a front right pin

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Speaker 1: position on seven that if you go at it, you'll

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Speaker 1: be challenging the bunker. So yeah, it's really really hard.

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Speaker 1: Part four almost five hundred yards long. The eighth hole

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Speaker 1: almost three hundred yards into the wind. I just don't

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Speaker 1: know how I feel about it. Three hundred yard Part three,

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Speaker 1: I mean, is there skill involved in that? I mean,

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Speaker 1: I just don't think there's a lot of skill involved

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Speaker 1: in that. I mean, there's no real club selection choice.

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Speaker 1: It's either going to be three wood for some players,

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Speaker 1: it's going to be driver for a lot of players.

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Speaker 1: But again, a lot of area to run the ball onto.

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Speaker 1: The front of the eighth it's very flat, it's very

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Speaker 1: very firm, very very fast, but the green does kind

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Speaker 1: of pitch a little bit from back to front. And

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Speaker 1: then the ninth hole blind t shot ditch on the

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Speaker 1: left hand side of the fairway, So if you miss

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Speaker 1: a fairway on the left, you're in this kind of

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Speaker 1: ditch that runs all the way down from the clubhouse.

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Speaker 1: If you miss it to the right, you're in Bunker's

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Speaker 1: second hardest hole on the golf course last time they

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Speaker 1: were here. So it's a tough hole and it's uphill.

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Speaker 1: Bunkers on the right are no bargain. I mean, it's

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Speaker 1: just just one of the most demanding holes on the property.

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Speaker 1: So you get through the ninth, then you go the

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Speaker 1: downhill tenth part four four forty seven. It was one

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Speaker 1: of the narrowest fairways on the golf course. Bunkers on

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Speaker 1: both sides, and there's kind of a ditch that kind

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Speaker 1: of intersects, so the green severely slopes from right to

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Speaker 1: left and front to back. Birdie putts are almost non existent,

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Speaker 1: so downwind there is runout and you could run out

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Speaker 1: into one of these ditches. So I do think this

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Speaker 1: is one of the greens that you can use some

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Speaker 1: creativity with to depending on where you want to land

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Speaker 1: the golf ball. But a very very difficult downhill par four,

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Speaker 1: and then the eleventh hole up the hill three point

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Speaker 1: ninety one, so you're hitting up to kind of a plateau.

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Speaker 1: If you don't get it all the way up on

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Speaker 1: the top of this plateau, then you're kind of hitting

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Speaker 1: off of an upslope on an uphill hole anyway, which

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Speaker 1: the ball can balloon on you. But the green is

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Speaker 1: somewhat flat. On eleven, there's a little bit of slope

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Speaker 1: from back to front and from left to right, but

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Speaker 1: it is one of the flatter greens on the property

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Speaker 1: at Oakmont, and at only four hundred yards. If you

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Speaker 1: hit a good t shot, hit the fairway, get it

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Speaker 1: up on the top. Yeah, I mean it's I don't know,

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Speaker 1: it's a makeable birdie putt, but second easiest green to

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Speaker 1: hit in regulation in sixteen seventy six percent of the

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Speaker 1: field hit this green, so again it's one of the

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Speaker 1: shorter holes, the shorter par four, and it gives you

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Speaker 1: a little bit of a break. And then the two

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Speaker 1: par fives at Oakmont on the front six eleven, on

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00:16:04,160 --> 00:16:07,760
Speaker 1: the back six hundred and twelve yards, it's going to

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Speaker 1: take three really really good shots. There's bunkers on both sides.

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Speaker 1: The green slopes severely from front to back, so any

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00:16:16,960 --> 00:16:21,000
Speaker 1: shot into this green is extremely difficult. To hold the

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Speaker 1: green at the par five twelve, so you've got two

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00:16:23,440 --> 00:16:28,120
Speaker 1: birdie chances on the par fives layups. You gotta make

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00:16:28,160 --> 00:16:30,240
Speaker 1: sure you don't hit it in one of the there's

305
00:16:30,240 --> 00:16:31,920
Speaker 1: a bunker left of the green, so you've got to

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00:16:31,920 --> 00:16:33,880
Speaker 1: make sure that you don't hit it here. But a

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00:16:33,920 --> 00:16:38,120
Speaker 1: lot of creativity around the green here. It's going to

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00:16:38,200 --> 00:16:40,880
Speaker 1: take a lot of figuring out where to land it.

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Speaker 1: Thirteen par three, one hundred and eighty two yards. The

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00:16:46,360 --> 00:16:49,520
Speaker 1: green is almost I think it's forty two paces long,

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Speaker 1: bunkers all the way around it. Yeah, I mean you

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00:16:53,560 --> 00:16:56,520
Speaker 1: got to stay below the hole. Anything that gets above

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Speaker 1: the hole at the thirteenth you're gonna be putting straight

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Speaker 1: down the hill, I mean, and so let's see, you've

315
00:17:02,040 --> 00:17:04,280
Speaker 1: got a birdie chance below the hole and you run

316
00:17:04,320 --> 00:17:07,320
Speaker 1: it three feet past right now, you've got a three

317
00:17:07,359 --> 00:17:12,400
Speaker 1: foot pot down basically a mountain on ice. That's how

318
00:17:12,400 --> 00:17:14,399
Speaker 1: fast the greens are, so you've got to keep it

319
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Speaker 1: below the hole. On the thirteenth, fourteenth hole another powerfuller,

320
00:17:18,280 --> 00:17:21,119
Speaker 1: one of the shorter portfols three hundred and seventy nine yards,

321
00:17:21,960 --> 00:17:23,720
Speaker 1: pretty much straight off to tea. It's going to give

322
00:17:23,720 --> 00:17:26,320
Speaker 1: you pretty easy shot. So this is one of the

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00:17:26,320 --> 00:17:29,440
Speaker 1: easiest greens on the on the golf course. It's pretty

324
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Speaker 1: flat and it's a legit birdie chance. So the green

325
00:17:33,840 --> 00:17:37,840
Speaker 1: complex is easy compared to a lot of some of

326
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Speaker 1: the other greens around here. There just aren't a lot

327
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Speaker 1: of birdie chances around this golf course or on this property,

328
00:17:44,520 --> 00:17:49,639
Speaker 1: so you have to take advantage of these opportunities that

329
00:17:49,720 --> 00:17:53,280
Speaker 1: you have. And the fourteenth with the green being pretty flat,

330
00:17:54,080 --> 00:17:57,840
Speaker 1: it's not super super long, it's a hole where you

331
00:17:57,880 --> 00:18:00,960
Speaker 1: could take advantage of it, and there are just so

332
00:18:01,200 --> 00:18:05,119
Speaker 1: few of those on this golf course. Fifteen pole another

333
00:18:05,160 --> 00:18:09,239
Speaker 1: part four five hundred and seven yards kind of a

334
00:18:09,280 --> 00:18:13,639
Speaker 1: blind t shot, and the fairway slopes pretty severely from

335
00:18:13,720 --> 00:18:17,240
Speaker 1: left to right, so amid to long iron. This is

336
00:18:17,359 --> 00:18:20,639
Speaker 1: a very big green. It's one of the biggest greens

337
00:18:20,640 --> 00:18:24,520
Speaker 1: on the golf course, almost fifty yards long, somewhat flat,

338
00:18:24,600 --> 00:18:28,640
Speaker 1: but there are little kind of slopes and knobs where

339
00:18:28,640 --> 00:18:33,560
Speaker 1: they can kind of put pin positions. Sixteen Part three,

340
00:18:33,960 --> 00:18:38,760
Speaker 1: two hundred and thirty six yards long. Yeah, long iron.

341
00:18:39,400 --> 00:18:43,520
Speaker 1: It's a big green. There is a severe false front

342
00:18:43,680 --> 00:18:45,920
Speaker 1: at the front, so anything on the front that doesn't

343
00:18:45,960 --> 00:18:47,639
Speaker 1: get on the putting surface, if it just gets on,

344
00:18:47,720 --> 00:18:50,560
Speaker 1: it's going to roll all the way back. So the

345
00:18:50,600 --> 00:18:54,600
Speaker 1: par fives are over six hundred yards, the par threes

346
00:18:54,880 --> 00:18:58,280
Speaker 1: over two hundred yards. I mean, it's just it's crazy hard.

347
00:18:58,400 --> 00:19:03,040
Speaker 1: This golf course is a couple of different strategies three

348
00:19:03,080 --> 00:19:06,720
Speaker 1: hundred and twelve yard Part four, so a lot of

349
00:19:06,720 --> 00:19:08,720
Speaker 1: guys will be definitely going for the green. I mean,

350
00:19:08,800 --> 00:19:12,240
Speaker 1: unless it's massively into the wind. I think you're gonna

351
00:19:12,240 --> 00:19:14,320
Speaker 1: see everybody kind of take a chance and try and

352
00:19:14,440 --> 00:19:16,920
Speaker 1: see if they can somehow get it up there close,

353
00:19:16,960 --> 00:19:18,800
Speaker 1: maybe get on the putty surface and try and eke

354
00:19:18,840 --> 00:19:21,560
Speaker 1: out a birdie. If you lay up, you're laying up

355
00:19:21,640 --> 00:19:23,720
Speaker 1: kind of into that two fifty to kind of two

356
00:19:23,800 --> 00:19:27,720
Speaker 1: seventy five, range right around kind of one ninety. But

357
00:19:27,920 --> 00:19:30,119
Speaker 1: this is the smallest green on the golf course, so

358
00:19:31,040 --> 00:19:33,720
Speaker 1: drive a par four, but a very very difficult green

359
00:19:33,840 --> 00:19:36,440
Speaker 1: to try and get to. And then the iconic eighteenth hole.

360
00:19:37,200 --> 00:19:39,400
Speaker 1: I think it's one of the best finishing holes in golf.

361
00:19:39,560 --> 00:19:43,360
Speaker 1: You just got to stand up and hit the fairway

362
00:19:44,119 --> 00:19:47,359
Speaker 1: and then stand up and somehow get the ball on

363
00:19:47,359 --> 00:19:50,840
Speaker 1: the putty surface. So the clubhouse is in the background,

364
00:19:51,040 --> 00:19:54,800
Speaker 1: and you know, it's an old school golf course. It's

365
00:19:54,960 --> 00:20:00,359
Speaker 1: just it's hard. The eighteenth hole five hundred yards. Dustin

366
00:20:00,400 --> 00:20:03,199
Speaker 1: Johnson hit a six iron from one to ninety in

367
00:20:03,280 --> 00:20:07,719
Speaker 1: sixteen when he won, And yeah, it's I just I

368
00:20:07,760 --> 00:20:11,160
Speaker 1: can't say it enough that the test that this golf

369
00:20:11,160 --> 00:20:14,680
Speaker 1: course demands from your game, the test that this golf

370
00:20:14,720 --> 00:20:18,400
Speaker 1: course demands from your short game. You know, the USGA

371
00:20:18,560 --> 00:20:21,720
Speaker 1: want the golf course to test all elements of the game.

372
00:20:21,760 --> 00:20:24,040
Speaker 1: They want the players to have to hit all the

373
00:20:24,040 --> 00:20:27,560
Speaker 1: clubs in their bag, and they do like making us

374
00:20:27,640 --> 00:20:30,160
Speaker 1: opens difficult. And I think we're going to see carnage.

375
00:20:30,160 --> 00:20:32,959
Speaker 1: We are going to see some good shots, we are

376
00:20:33,000 --> 00:20:35,679
Speaker 1: going to see some birdies, But we are going to

377
00:20:35,720 --> 00:20:38,920
Speaker 1: see a lot of players struggling to make par. You're

378
00:20:38,960 --> 00:20:41,879
Speaker 1: going to hear the announcers say that is an unbelievable

379
00:20:41,960 --> 00:20:45,840
Speaker 1: up and down. That is an unbelievable par. It's just

380
00:20:46,000 --> 00:20:47,640
Speaker 1: that type of golf course. And when you go back

381
00:20:47,680 --> 00:20:49,200
Speaker 1: and you look at the people that have won here,

382
00:20:49,720 --> 00:20:52,000
Speaker 1: Dustin Johnson, one of the greatest players of the modern

383
00:20:52,040 --> 00:20:56,080
Speaker 1: generation on hell, Cabrera doesn't get nearly the credit he

384
00:20:56,200 --> 00:20:59,480
Speaker 1: deserves for the ball striking he had. Ernie L's winning

385
00:20:59,480 --> 00:21:03,360
Speaker 1: here in nineteen ninety four, Ben Hogan's won here. Jack

386
00:21:03,440 --> 00:21:06,240
Speaker 1: Nicholas is one here. So this is a big boy

387
00:21:06,240 --> 00:21:11,720
Speaker 1: golf course that demands great play from great players. And

388
00:21:12,080 --> 00:21:15,400
Speaker 1: the way that Rory drove the golf ball last week,

389
00:21:15,440 --> 00:21:17,760
Speaker 1: the way he drove the golf ball at Quail Hollow,

390
00:21:18,119 --> 00:21:20,720
Speaker 1: He's been talking about trying to find a driver because

391
00:21:20,800 --> 00:21:24,679
Speaker 1: his driver failed testing at the PGA. If Roy doesn't

392
00:21:24,760 --> 00:21:27,879
Speaker 1: drive it good here, he's going to struggle. Everyone is

393
00:21:27,920 --> 00:21:29,840
Speaker 1: going to struggle if they don't drive it well here.

394
00:21:29,880 --> 00:21:33,680
Speaker 1: But for the favorites, guys like Rory, guys like Scotti, Scheffler,

395
00:21:33,760 --> 00:21:36,879
Speaker 1: all the superstars, you have to drive it well and

396
00:21:36,920 --> 00:21:40,520
Speaker 1: then you have to be really, really smart with your irons.

397
00:21:40,520 --> 00:21:43,840
Speaker 1: You've got to put it in positions to where you've

398
00:21:43,880 --> 00:21:46,000
Speaker 1: got to think about, Okay, if I could try and

399
00:21:46,040 --> 00:21:49,360
Speaker 1: get this close but be above the hole, is it

400
00:21:49,440 --> 00:21:53,000
Speaker 1: more prudent to be below the hole? And then I

401
00:21:53,040 --> 00:21:55,000
Speaker 1: can be a little bit more aggressive with the putt

402
00:21:55,040 --> 00:21:57,479
Speaker 1: because the golf course over the four days is going

403
00:21:57,520 --> 00:21:59,679
Speaker 1: to change a lot. It's going to get firmer, it's

404
00:21:59,680 --> 00:22:02,720
Speaker 1: going to get faster. So I think you will see

405
00:22:02,760 --> 00:22:06,280
Speaker 1: the usual cast of characters on the leaderboard. This golf

406
00:22:06,280 --> 00:22:10,640
Speaker 1: tournament always grows up someone maybe that isn't a household name,

407
00:22:10,800 --> 00:22:16,640
Speaker 1: isn't a superstar, but expect chaos. This is golf chaos

408
00:22:16,840 --> 00:22:20,880
Speaker 1: in its purest form. And I think the winner here

409
00:22:21,720 --> 00:22:25,359
Speaker 1: will also have to win the golf tournament, win the championship,

410
00:22:25,600 --> 00:22:28,359
Speaker 1: hold the trophy, be a major champion. He'll have to

411
00:22:28,400 --> 00:22:31,680
Speaker 1: win it not only with his body, with his stamina,

412
00:22:31,920 --> 00:22:34,000
Speaker 1: but he'll have to win it with his mind as well,

413
00:22:34,080 --> 00:22:37,280
Speaker 1: because you have to think your way around this golf course,

414
00:22:37,280 --> 00:22:39,720
Speaker 1: and it's the type of golf course to where you

415
00:22:40,040 --> 00:22:43,920
Speaker 1: just cannot switch off. There are no holes out here

416
00:22:44,040 --> 00:22:46,680
Speaker 1: where you can go Okay, I can just cruise through

417
00:22:47,520 --> 00:22:50,080
Speaker 1: three or four holes here and just you know, make

418
00:22:50,119 --> 00:22:53,760
Speaker 1: a bunch of pars. Every single hole here. It seems

419
00:22:53,800 --> 00:22:56,639
Speaker 1: like it's a struggle to make par, and that's what

420
00:22:56,680 --> 00:22:59,480
Speaker 1: the USG likes. The members here love it. The players

421
00:22:59,720 --> 00:23:02,920
Speaker 1: are and needs time off after this one, because as

422
00:23:02,960 --> 00:23:06,119
Speaker 1: I said, this is a big, big ballpark. It's a

423
00:23:06,160 --> 00:23:09,160
Speaker 1: big boy golf course. And the winner here this week

424
00:23:09,200 --> 00:23:12,320
Speaker 1: at Oakmont for the twenty twenty five US Open, he

425
00:23:12,400 --> 00:23:15,120
Speaker 1: will have had in My uncle Dicky used to say,

426
00:23:15,400 --> 00:23:18,960
Speaker 1: he will have to golf his ball, and I'm excited.

427
00:23:19,520 --> 00:23:21,639
Speaker 1: It's going to be a war of attrition. You're going

428
00:23:21,680 --> 00:23:23,359
Speaker 1: to see some crazy stuff. You're going to see some

429
00:23:23,400 --> 00:23:26,160
Speaker 1: big numbers from the best players in the world. And

430
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Speaker 1: the third major of the year. I think the majors

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Speaker 1: that we've had up to this point pretty damn good.

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Speaker 1: And I'm expecting the same thing this week. So hope

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Speaker 1: everyone enjoys the twenty five US Open from Oakmont. It's

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Speaker 1: always a privilege and pleasure to be here. And yeah,

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Speaker 1: buckle up, kids, this will be exciting. It's the Son

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Speaker 1: of a Bitch podcast. We will come to you next

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Speaker 1: week with a wrap up of the third major of

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Speaker 1: the year,