WEBVTT - Takeaways from the 2024 Open Championship 0:00:00.040 --> 0:00:02.800 I miss a green, for example, I'm already upset. When 0:00:02.800 --> 0:00:04.920 I find my ball in the bunker, I'm really upset. 0:00:05.000 --> 0:00:06.920 And when I find my ball in a fried. 0:00:06.720 --> 0:00:10.039 Egg Friday egg, the dreaded Frida Egg Fridaygg, Frida Egg, 0:00:10.080 --> 0:00:11.280 Brian Egg, Frida Egg. 0:00:11.119 --> 0:00:13.239 Bride Egg Lie, I'm about ready to run off of 0:00:13.280 --> 0:00:13.640 the hump. 0:00:37.240 --> 0:00:41.200 Welcome to the Fridaygg Golf Podcast. I'm Garrett Morrison here 0:00:41.240 --> 0:00:45.400 with Joseph Lamania and Andy Johnson, and today we're doing 0:00:45.479 --> 0:00:51.080 takeaways from the twenty twenty four Open Championship. This episode 0:00:51.120 --> 0:00:53.600 happens to be brought to you by good Walk Coffee, 0:00:53.720 --> 0:00:58.560 our official coffee partner. 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You can pause, skip, or 0:02:02.040 --> 0:02:06.120 cancel your subscription at any time on the website. So again, 0:02:06.360 --> 0:02:11.119 Goodwockcoffee dot com slash Frida Egg. All right, let's get 0:02:11.120 --> 0:02:14.520 started with takeaways from the twenty twenty four Open. As 0:02:14.639 --> 0:02:17.680 usual for our major wrap up pods, I'm joined by 0:02:17.760 --> 0:02:21.239 Andy Johnson and Joseph Leamania. Andy, how you doing. 0:02:22.160 --> 0:02:25.920 I'm doing great, Garrett, I am. It felt nice to 0:02:26.160 --> 0:02:29.239 sleep past like five am for the first time in 0:02:29.280 --> 0:02:30.680 a few days today. 0:02:30.919 --> 0:02:32.239 That was that was delightful. 0:02:32.960 --> 0:02:35.480 So, you know, just kind of getting recalibrated on a 0:02:35.520 --> 0:02:39.960 normal schedule, although I do love the open schedule covering 0:02:40.000 --> 0:02:43.360 in the States where most majors. We kind of like 0:02:43.440 --> 0:02:48.400 it's like a morning till nighttime day for four days straight. 0:02:48.840 --> 0:02:51.520 These days like you get time to have like your 0:02:51.560 --> 0:02:52.280 normal life. 0:02:52.919 --> 0:02:54.600 I agree with that. The day, all of a sudden, 0:02:54.680 --> 0:02:59.040 seems really long when you're covering the Open from the States. Joseph, 0:02:59.080 --> 0:03:00.000 how's it going with you? 0:03:00.639 --> 0:03:04.240 I'm doing great. I think this tournament inspired me more, 0:03:04.360 --> 0:03:06.880 like been more excited to talk about golf after this 0:03:07.040 --> 0:03:09.240 particular tournament than any other one this year. So I'm 0:03:09.280 --> 0:03:11.040 really excited to do this all right. 0:03:11.080 --> 0:03:14.080 So just to set the scene here, our twenty twenty 0:03:14.080 --> 0:03:17.520 four champion Golfer of the Year is, of course, Xander Schaffle. 0:03:18.280 --> 0:03:21.280 Xander shot sixty five in his final round at Royal 0:03:21.320 --> 0:03:24.760 Troon to win by two shots over Justin Rose and 0:03:24.880 --> 0:03:28.920 Billy Horschel. Also in the mix were Tristan Lawrence. I 0:03:28.919 --> 0:03:31.919 think we all learned how to properly pronounce his name 0:03:32.600 --> 0:03:35.240 this week, though A shotguns start is still muddying the 0:03:35.280 --> 0:03:38.640 waters with that. Russell Henley was in there, Shane Lowry 0:03:38.760 --> 0:03:41.400 was in there, but really it was kind of a 0:03:41.680 --> 0:03:45.280 three golfer race between Shaffle A, Rose and Horschel, and 0:03:45.320 --> 0:03:49.160 Shoaffle A pulled away at the end. So Andy want 0:03:49.160 --> 0:03:52.120 we start with you, what is your first takeaway from 0:03:52.280 --> 0:03:52.840 this tournament. 0:03:53.840 --> 0:03:57.480 I mean, I think my first takeaway is I think 0:03:57.480 --> 0:04:00.560 we have to reassess where Xander Schaffley is in the 0:04:00.640 --> 0:04:05.240 hierarchy of best men's professional golfers. This major year with 0:04:05.440 --> 0:04:09.200 top tens in every major and two wins, not to 0:04:09.240 --> 0:04:11.560 mention a second place of the players, which you know 0:04:11.680 --> 0:04:16.120 kind of goes untalked about, is an extraordinary year in 0:04:16.200 --> 0:04:18.880 the biggest events. I think that's what we want from 0:04:18.960 --> 0:04:22.320 golfers in general, when when you talk about, you know, 0:04:22.520 --> 0:04:24.760 what a star player is is you want them to 0:04:24.760 --> 0:04:27.000 show up in the majors. You don't want them shown 0:04:27.080 --> 0:04:31.840 up to you know, Heritage or TPC Craig Ranch and 0:04:31.880 --> 0:04:35.280 winning by eight and that being the triumphant moment of 0:04:35.320 --> 0:04:38.279 the year. You want them to be in the arena 0:04:38.520 --> 0:04:42.200 and really contending for major championships. And I think Xander 0:04:42.279 --> 0:04:46.320 Schoffley he was a great all round player. I think 0:04:46.360 --> 0:04:49.840 he was a great major championship player before this year, 0:04:49.880 --> 0:04:54.680 but he started working with Chris Como, added a significant 0:04:54.680 --> 0:04:58.440 amount of yardage and now we see an ultra elite 0:04:58.760 --> 0:05:02.919 Major championship player that is the better the tougher the 0:05:02.960 --> 0:05:08.479 golf course, the the more well rounded the test, the 0:05:08.839 --> 0:05:12.200 more it suits Sanders Stoffley's game. I don't think it's 0:05:12.279 --> 0:05:15.279 out of this question, out of this like, out of 0:05:15.279 --> 0:05:18.120 the realm of possibilities that he is the most well 0:05:18.200 --> 0:05:21.799 rounded player in golf. It might be just a fact 0:05:21.800 --> 0:05:25.159 there are no weaknesses in his game, and I'm super 0:05:25.360 --> 0:05:29.880 excited to see where it goes from here. Xander to 0:05:29.920 --> 0:05:32.520 me seems like a player that's got the makeup just 0:05:32.560 --> 0:05:35.440 based off his career. There's not really any injury risk. 0:05:36.360 --> 0:05:40.200 He's consistently improved. So what do the next three four 0:05:40.320 --> 0:05:43.039 years look like for Xander Stoffley? And could we be 0:05:43.120 --> 0:05:46.240 talking about, you know, the best player of his generation? 0:05:46.960 --> 0:05:49.880 Andy, I mean you said it, the major championship performance. 0:05:50.320 --> 0:05:52.719 Xander now has played in thirty majors and he's finished 0:05:52.720 --> 0:05:55.760 in the top ten and fifteen of them, so fifty 0:05:55.800 --> 0:05:58.080 percent of his majors he's finished in the top ten 0:05:58.960 --> 0:06:01.279 I've seen. I don't have the full list of players 0:06:01.320 --> 0:06:03.960 like who have finished in fifty percent of their top 0:06:04.000 --> 0:06:06.640 tens and their first thirty starts. I know Brooks Koepka 0:06:06.720 --> 0:06:10.680 did it. It's rare though, and we will see how 0:06:10.680 --> 0:06:12.520 it ages. I'm sure that's a percentage that will go 0:06:12.600 --> 0:06:14.960 down over time, as it does for most players, right 0:06:15.000 --> 0:06:17.320 like once once he's thirty seven. I don't think we 0:06:17.320 --> 0:06:20.400 can expect him to continue at that clip, but I mean, 0:06:20.400 --> 0:06:23.520 he's in elite territory. There aren't many golfers who boast 0:06:23.520 --> 0:06:26.000 a fifty percent top ten clip in majors, and he's 0:06:26.000 --> 0:06:28.720 been doing it since Aaron Hills right when he when 0:06:28.720 --> 0:06:31.800 he burst onto the scene first major, his first major, 0:06:31.960 --> 0:06:34.880 right he finished in the top ten. So it's reasonable 0:06:34.880 --> 0:06:36.719 to talk about him as one of the best players 0:06:37.000 --> 0:06:39.040 in the world right now. Agree that he's more well 0:06:39.120 --> 0:06:41.960 rounded than somebody like Scotti, who clearly has deficiencies with 0:06:42.000 --> 0:06:44.400 the putter. Who else are we even talking about as 0:06:44.440 --> 0:06:46.040 being as well rounded as Xander Schoffley. 0:06:47.040 --> 0:06:49.880 I think the other thing everybody golombs down the fifty 0:06:49.920 --> 0:06:53.760 percent top ten. To me, maybe what's more impressive is 0:06:53.800 --> 0:06:58.040 eight top fives. I mean, over over twenty five percent 0:06:58.040 --> 0:07:01.200 at the time he's played major from his first one. 0:07:01.839 --> 0:07:04.080 You know, a lot of times you have that skew 0:07:04.240 --> 0:07:08.000 of like your first seven majors, you could kind of 0:07:08.040 --> 0:07:10.920 just throw out the window. I saw people comparing camp 0:07:10.960 --> 0:07:15.320 Smith's first majors before Live and majors after Live, and 0:07:15.360 --> 0:07:17.600 it's kind of like, well, it's a junkstat because you're 0:07:17.600 --> 0:07:21.080 going back to twenty thirteen. You know, was Xander he 0:07:21.160 --> 0:07:24.720 has come on the scene. I mean he he's sectional 0:07:24.880 --> 0:07:29.160 qualified into his first Major and like effectively since then, 0:07:29.600 --> 0:07:33.520 he's been a top ten player in the game. Before 0:07:33.560 --> 0:07:37.080 that Major at Aaron Hills, I think there are real 0:07:37.160 --> 0:07:39.480 questions whether he was going to keep his card because 0:07:39.480 --> 0:07:41.720 it had been a struggle, and now he's been a 0:07:41.720 --> 0:07:44.920 world class player since and he just continues to improve. 0:07:45.400 --> 0:07:48.040 So who is the player of the year this year 0:07:48.080 --> 0:07:50.760 on the PGA Tour? Can we start that debate right now? 0:07:51.560 --> 0:07:52.840 I'll let Joseph answer that. 0:07:54.240 --> 0:07:58.560 Look, I think it's this is maybe what everyone's gonna say. 0:07:58.720 --> 0:08:01.760 I think it's into not indisputable, but I feel very 0:08:01.760 --> 0:08:05.400 strongly that if any player is teeing it up tomorrow, 0:08:05.480 --> 0:08:08.520 like I'm taking Scotty Scheffler against anybody else in the 0:08:08.560 --> 0:08:10.760 field and feeling really good about it. But to me, 0:08:11.680 --> 0:08:14.120 I do believe that Xander Schoffley should be the player 0:08:14.160 --> 0:08:17.640 of the year, considering he won two major championships and 0:08:19.320 --> 0:08:21.920 all due respect to Scotty, like it's been a ridiculously 0:08:21.920 --> 0:08:26.120 impressive year, but wins in limited field events, though they 0:08:26.160 --> 0:08:29.120 are extremely impressive and there's a lot of depth of 0:08:29.160 --> 0:08:32.600 talent there, those aren't going to age the same way 0:08:32.720 --> 0:08:35.839 ten years from now that Xander's two major championship wins are. 0:08:35.960 --> 0:08:38.319 So Xander finishing in the top eight and all four 0:08:38.360 --> 0:08:41.520 majors this year with two wins, that does more for 0:08:41.640 --> 0:08:43.599 me than wins at the Arnold Palmer and at the 0:08:43.679 --> 0:08:46.960 RBC Heritage and things of that nature. So, Eileen Xander 0:08:46.960 --> 0:08:47.719 at the moment. 0:08:48.120 --> 0:08:52.720 I think the other thing about it is the variety 0:08:52.960 --> 0:08:58.040 of major wins Valhalla to Troon, it's a big it's 0:08:58.080 --> 0:09:02.360 a drastically different up in course. And I think, like, 0:09:03.240 --> 0:09:08.400 if we wanted to nitpick Scotty, He's got two major wins. 0:09:08.440 --> 0:09:11.199 Xander's got two major wins. Both of his are at 0:09:11.320 --> 0:09:14.640 Augusta National, which seemed like a place that fits his 0:09:14.720 --> 0:09:19.760 game perfectly. I don't think like Scotty's had chances, but 0:09:19.800 --> 0:09:23.320 there hasn't been the major that slipped through his fingers. 0:09:23.360 --> 0:09:24.959 Really would you agree with that? 0:09:25.679 --> 0:09:29.400 Yeah, sort of, Like I mean, he just doesn't he 0:09:30.440 --> 0:09:33.760 didn't have as much history as Xander does at this point, 0:09:33.800 --> 0:09:37.360 he doesn't have the experience of toiling for years and 0:09:37.400 --> 0:09:41.680 coming up short in major championships and then finally breaking through. 0:09:41.720 --> 0:09:44.080 Scotty's story is a little bit different. He had a 0:09:44.240 --> 0:09:47.520 very quick ascent once he got on the PGA Tour. 0:09:47.600 --> 0:09:50.600 I mean he was kind of, you know, working toward 0:09:50.640 --> 0:09:54.160 that level for a while. But once he broke out, 0:09:54.320 --> 0:09:56.760 he really broke out, and he did so fairly early 0:09:56.800 --> 0:10:00.040 in his PGA Tour career. So yeah, it's just a little. 0:09:59.880 --> 0:10:04.640 Bit different it to me, like Scotty is I called 0:10:04.679 --> 0:10:07.560 him on the Shotgun Start, like a major championship zombie. 0:10:08.400 --> 0:10:11.640 It's like he's he's like un he just is unkillable, 0:10:11.840 --> 0:10:13.640 Like it's just always gonna be around. 0:10:14.480 --> 0:10:15.400 It's like always. 0:10:15.760 --> 0:10:18.120 But to me, like a lot of times he either 0:10:18.200 --> 0:10:22.240 has it and he's gonna win and and we've seen 0:10:22.240 --> 0:10:26.840 that at Augusta National twice now, or it's like this, I 0:10:26.920 --> 0:10:30.600 finished eighth, But I never really you never really felt 0:10:30.600 --> 0:10:36.040 like he had control, right. I think that's an interesting 0:10:36.080 --> 0:10:38.680 thing because even Xander, when you go back, he had 0:10:38.720 --> 0:10:41.400 a lot of majors, Like there was a moment in 0:10:41.440 --> 0:10:43.880 time and during the Carnoustie Major where you're like, he 0:10:44.040 --> 0:10:48.600 is winning this tournament. And I don't think we've really 0:10:48.679 --> 0:10:51.840 had that with Scotty in any major outside of the 0:10:51.880 --> 0:10:55.000 two that he's won. And it's just it's just and 0:10:55.040 --> 0:10:58.400 maybe it's just Scotty gets the deal done and and 0:10:58.520 --> 0:11:01.480 Xander didn't. But it's just something I've noticed, Like even 0:11:02.040 --> 0:11:04.440 lacc last year, he had a great chance, but he 0:11:04.480 --> 0:11:07.600 did nothing on Sunday, right, there's never a point in 0:11:07.640 --> 0:11:10.080 that major where you were like, Scotty's gonna win. 0:11:11.400 --> 0:11:13.079 Yeah, I mean, I think I think it's that if 0:11:13.080 --> 0:11:14.680 he's putting, he wins. 0:11:15.040 --> 0:11:16.360 Yeah, I mean. 0:11:17.840 --> 0:11:22.600 And it's interesting that the fastest greens where a lot 0:11:22.640 --> 0:11:25.480 of times, a lot of analytics people say Putting's devalued 0:11:25.520 --> 0:11:27.959 the most at at the Masters, is the one that 0:11:28.040 --> 0:11:33.360 he's won twice. I don't you know, you if you 0:11:33.360 --> 0:11:36.520 want to compare the major's numbers between Scotty and Xander, 0:11:36.640 --> 0:11:42.720 twenty one events for Scotty now twelve top tens, eerily 0:11:43.240 --> 0:11:48.120 very very similar, six top fives, so you're basically like 0:11:48.480 --> 0:11:54.640 running the exact same percentages effectively like identical percentages. And 0:11:54.720 --> 0:11:59.520 I think so Xander's got twenty three top twenty fives 0:11:59.520 --> 0:12:03.640 and third events. Scotty has sixteen and twenty one. I 0:12:03.640 --> 0:12:09.040 mean they are like effectively running identically identical numbers in 0:12:09.120 --> 0:12:12.960 these majors. Xander just has a little bit more sample size. 0:12:13.559 --> 0:12:17.360 It's pretty interesting, Like, I don't you know I would 0:12:17.600 --> 0:12:19.480 I would have been I think it would have been 0:12:19.559 --> 0:12:21.240 crazy at the beginning of the year to say that 0:12:21.400 --> 0:12:24.640 Scotty and Xander are pretty close. But after the two majors, 0:12:24.679 --> 0:12:28.040 it's just amazing. I guess I'm always reminded at major 0:12:28.120 --> 0:12:31.439 years like how much majors matter, like what the weight 0:12:31.520 --> 0:12:34.440 they add to something. And for Player of the Year, 0:12:34.720 --> 0:12:37.640 I think this is you know what it all comes 0:12:37.679 --> 0:12:39.679 down to. The ultimate prize. 0:12:39.360 --> 0:12:41.480 Comes down to the FedEx Cup. You know what would 0:12:41.480 --> 0:12:44.960 be a really what would be a funny situation is 0:12:45.000 --> 0:12:51.560 if Scotty won the Net Championship at East Lake and 0:12:51.840 --> 0:12:55.199 Xander Shaffle actually won the tournament, Well, that would be. 0:12:55.160 --> 0:12:59.800 Fun Xander has won that tournament the gross division a 0:13:00.000 --> 0:13:03.160 couple times and not great at that course, and not 0:13:03.440 --> 0:13:07.280 won the net tournament. And I from what I gather 0:13:07.640 --> 0:13:11.800 from this is a this is a shotgun start special 0:13:11.880 --> 0:13:18.000 unsubstantiated rumor that he is quite disgruntled about this fact 0:13:18.160 --> 0:13:19.600 and that that it may have been. 0:13:20.360 --> 0:13:22.640 Like I I agree with him. 0:13:23.480 --> 0:13:26.680 How come if you win the gross event there is 0:13:26.720 --> 0:13:28.920 not counted as like an official win. 0:13:29.320 --> 0:13:31.960 Because if you go to wow gr page it is 0:13:32.080 --> 0:13:33.480 counted also. 0:13:33.760 --> 0:13:36.079 Not to take it in a different direction, that's very 0:13:36.080 --> 0:13:38.760 different than takeaways from the Open, but some of the 0:13:39.720 --> 0:13:42.680 official World Golf Rankings, board members and the talks of 0:13:44.040 --> 0:13:48.000 why Live doesn't get points being there's some conflict between 0:13:48.440 --> 0:13:52.440 team success and individual success. I mean they do give 0:13:52.440 --> 0:13:55.600 OWGR points to the Tour Championship, which you could argue 0:13:55.600 --> 0:13:57.320 there's a little bit of a conflict there and if 0:13:57.320 --> 0:13:59.360 you're playing for your net score your gross score, so 0:13:59.440 --> 0:14:02.520 maybe a little bit of a contradiction in there as well. 0:14:02.559 --> 0:14:04.400 But that's that's a little bit of an aside from 0:14:04.480 --> 0:14:06.000 an Open Championship conversation. 0:14:06.600 --> 0:14:09.040 Food for thought. Why don't we get back to the 0:14:09.080 --> 0:14:11.480 Open Championship unless there are any other notes on this 0:14:11.520 --> 0:14:13.840 discussion we're having right now, Andy, do you have something else? 0:14:14.120 --> 0:14:19.320 I just have on Scotty both major wins, he was 0:14:19.920 --> 0:14:24.200 the fifty four hole leader, and maybe that's just he's 0:14:24.240 --> 0:14:26.440 the front he's the front runner, he's the front runner. 0:14:26.440 --> 0:14:30.320 Everyone thought Shane Lowry was where he gets out, and 0:14:30.560 --> 0:14:34.800 I could see it like overcoming Scotty Scheffler with the 0:14:34.800 --> 0:14:38.239 way he hits the golf ball is like a seemingly 0:14:38.440 --> 0:14:44.760 insurmountable task. But without the putter, without that putting prowess 0:14:44.880 --> 0:14:47.000 it is, it makes it a little bit harder for 0:14:47.120 --> 0:14:49.840 him to come from behind. You know, you have to 0:14:49.880 --> 0:14:52.600 make birdies. And I think that's the thing when you 0:14:52.640 --> 0:14:56.920 look at Xander's round, I mean a final round sixty five, 0:14:57.400 --> 0:15:00.560 just bogie free, didn't have a par putt longer than 0:15:00.600 --> 0:15:06.120 three feet, Like he put together a masterclass yesterday, and 0:15:06.320 --> 0:15:09.000 the only way you do that is with just supreme 0:15:09.120 --> 0:15:10.040 all around skill. 0:15:10.720 --> 0:15:14.240 Yeah, he was awesome. And I think that the part 0:15:14.280 --> 0:15:17.040 of the solution to this question that we're asking about 0:15:17.040 --> 0:15:21.000 the difference between the way that Scotti Scheffler wins majors 0:15:21.000 --> 0:15:23.400 and the way that Xander Schaffle seems to win majors 0:15:24.360 --> 0:15:27.600 is that Scotty's ceiling is just really really high, and 0:15:27.640 --> 0:15:31.520 when he's putting well, he runs away and hides. Xander 0:15:32.040 --> 0:15:35.920 grinds you down through overall excellence, and that wins you 0:15:35.960 --> 0:15:37.640 a lot of tournaments. That gets you a lot of 0:15:37.720 --> 0:15:42.040 high finishes, but it doesn't necessarily make it so that 0:15:42.120 --> 0:15:45.320 you run away with tournaments in the way that Scotty 0:15:45.400 --> 0:15:48.720 is clearly capable of. So it's an interesting contrast between 0:15:48.720 --> 0:15:51.160 these two players, and the fact that their last names 0:15:51.200 --> 0:15:54.560 are Schaffle and Scheffler's just hilarious to me. My wife 0:15:54.640 --> 0:15:57.760 still doesn't know the difference between them. When she sees 0:15:57.800 --> 0:15:59.800 one of them on the leader board, she can't figure 0:15:59.840 --> 0:16:02.160 out which one they are, And that's just kind of 0:16:02.400 --> 0:16:05.040 a funny thing that's happening in golf right now. We've 0:16:05.040 --> 0:16:08.000 got Xander Schafflin, Scotti Scheffler. But to get back to 0:16:08.120 --> 0:16:11.760 Royal Troon and the Open Championship, Joseph, I'm curious to 0:16:11.800 --> 0:16:13.560 hear your first takeaway. 0:16:14.160 --> 0:16:18.800 My biggest takeaway from watching this was that nature has 0:16:18.840 --> 0:16:21.640 a way of making you feel small, like when you're 0:16:21.640 --> 0:16:24.040 battling the elements when there's wind. 0:16:23.920 --> 0:16:27.680 Like nature finds a way. Is that the Jurassic Park motto. 0:16:28.600 --> 0:16:30.800 I've never even seen Jurassic Park, so I can't speak 0:16:30.840 --> 0:16:31.000 to that. 0:16:31.200 --> 0:16:34.480 But I've never seen Jurassic Park. Oh my gosh, Will 0:16:34.560 --> 0:16:39.920 Knights hasn't seen ace Ventura. Oh he has now, well, 0:16:40.120 --> 0:16:43.280 Joseph you're gonna have to watch Jurassic Park. You can't 0:16:43.360 --> 0:16:46.480 use the generation Z card here. I'm sorry, you've got 0:16:46.480 --> 0:16:47.680 a Jurassic Park. 0:16:47.720 --> 0:16:50.920 There's other higher priority movies on my list, so maybe. 0:16:51.000 --> 0:16:56.040 But with natural topography, with wind, I think nature has 0:16:56.080 --> 0:16:59.080 a way of making you feel small and therefore making 0:16:59.120 --> 0:17:03.400 the shots big. And some of that might be subjective 0:17:03.480 --> 0:17:07.000 and just being a human being faced with big scale 0:17:07.040 --> 0:17:10.000 you're by the ocean. But also, I mean wind does 0:17:10.480 --> 0:17:12.679 is a natural rollback. The ball does not go as 0:17:12.720 --> 0:17:15.719 far in the wind, and some of that's designed. Some 0:17:15.760 --> 0:17:17.719 of that's the way that Royal Truon is set up, 0:17:17.760 --> 0:17:20.800 with wide misses getting crushed in the gorse bushes and 0:17:21.119 --> 0:17:23.639 it's really scary to stand up there and rip a driver. 0:17:24.359 --> 0:17:25.840 You know, if you hit it, if you mishit it 0:17:25.880 --> 0:17:27.520 a little bit, it could go on the train tracks 0:17:27.520 --> 0:17:29.800 on eleven. Like, there are all these instances at Royal 0:17:29.840 --> 0:17:32.560 Truon where you can get yourself into trouble. But I 0:17:32.600 --> 0:17:36.439 think what has this major solidified for me is that 0:17:36.560 --> 0:17:40.080 so infrequently in professional golf is is it a battle 0:17:40.160 --> 0:17:44.040 against nature? And I think the Open Championship has really 0:17:44.080 --> 0:17:47.640 distanced itself from the other Majors and from every other 0:17:47.680 --> 0:17:50.600 tournament that we watch most weeks that it is a 0:17:50.600 --> 0:17:53.520 battle against nature. Augusta does a great test it is 0:17:53.560 --> 0:17:56.960 the furthest thing from a battle against nature. That's like 0:17:57.000 --> 0:18:00.320 the most unnatural golf course you can come across. Hurst 0:18:00.440 --> 0:18:02.600 was great, right, but that's not that's not really a 0:18:02.640 --> 0:18:06.480 battle against nature. Like it's warmed the balls flying forever. 0:18:07.160 --> 0:18:09.879 This felt like a true battle against nature. And I 0:18:09.880 --> 0:18:12.919 think the Open Championship has really given itself an identity 0:18:13.400 --> 0:18:17.119 more and more as golf feels more homogenized and overly manicured. 0:18:17.680 --> 0:18:20.280 I was I was talking to my neighbor last night, 0:18:20.560 --> 0:18:24.800 and my neighbor is A. He's like A he's like 0:18:24.840 --> 0:18:29.720 a writ writer and podcaster in the outdoor space. And 0:18:30.119 --> 0:18:34.679 he's like a big surfer, very very casual golfer. Hasn't 0:18:34.680 --> 0:18:37.520 played golf in like ten years. He says he watches 0:18:37.760 --> 0:18:41.320 ESPN Plus and said he he said, the thing that's 0:18:41.359 --> 0:18:44.800 stuck out to him, he's like the the that golf 0:18:44.800 --> 0:18:48.680 tournament was super cool and it was unbelievable to watch 0:18:48.720 --> 0:18:53.520 these guys fight against the elements. And he's like, usually 0:18:53.560 --> 0:18:56.320 I turn on the TV and it just doesn't everything. 0:18:56.480 --> 0:18:59.680 There's a sameness to everything, and he's like, I love 0:19:00.359 --> 0:19:03.440 and if you think about like he's written a lot 0:19:03.520 --> 0:19:08.520 about surfing, surfing is an outdoor sport that the wave 0:19:08.600 --> 0:19:10.720 is going to be different all the time, and there's 0:19:10.800 --> 0:19:14.920 that idea of like, you know, surfing against the elements 0:19:15.000 --> 0:19:18.639 of the wave, right or outdoor sports you think about 0:19:18.640 --> 0:19:22.919 like different, whether impacting how you ride a bike or 0:19:23.000 --> 0:19:23.800 run a race. 0:19:23.960 --> 0:19:25.120 Like there. 0:19:26.480 --> 0:19:29.879 The element aspect of golf like that, I think was 0:19:30.040 --> 0:19:32.760 one of the things that made this tournament so amazing 0:19:32.960 --> 0:19:35.480 was the changing winds. The way the golf course played 0:19:35.520 --> 0:19:39.719 differently every day gave it this like Okay, there's something 0:19:39.720 --> 0:19:42.359 new to attack. And I know that every golf course, 0:19:42.400 --> 0:19:45.160 every every round can't be like that. Not every golf 0:19:45.160 --> 0:19:48.399 course is on you know, on the ocean, you know, 0:19:48.520 --> 0:19:53.360 on an island in the ocean, right, But there are 0:19:53.480 --> 0:19:55.840 things that they can do from a setup standpoint to 0:19:56.400 --> 0:20:00.880 break the homogenization of professional golf. I just don't think 0:20:00.960 --> 0:20:04.120 I think we're so far away from ever having that 0:20:04.200 --> 0:20:07.800 type of mentality where we think about like every day 0:20:08.040 --> 0:20:10.760 is a new test. And I thought that's one of 0:20:10.480 --> 0:20:14.640 the things the big themes of this week that resonated 0:20:14.800 --> 0:20:18.320 with a lot of people. Was the idea that every 0:20:18.400 --> 0:20:21.919 day was drastically different there and it was cool. You 0:20:21.960 --> 0:20:25.439 turned on the TV. I can't wait to see what 0:20:25.560 --> 0:20:26.719 they're battling today. 0:20:27.280 --> 0:20:30.760 Yeah, and you know you don't even get this every 0:20:30.760 --> 0:20:35.160 week in links golf. No, we didn't get it at 0:20:35.160 --> 0:20:39.800 Saint Andrews with Rory and Cam. We didn't really get 0:20:39.840 --> 0:20:43.480 it at Hoylake with Brian Harmon. We got a little 0:20:43.520 --> 0:20:45.240 bit of it. We got a couple of days of 0:20:45.320 --> 0:20:47.359 really interesting weather, but we also got a couple of 0:20:47.400 --> 0:20:52.480 days of low scoring conditions and fairly placid weather. This 0:20:52.520 --> 0:20:58.040 week was perfect. But you're more likely to get this 0:20:58.200 --> 0:21:01.159 kind of weather to get this kind of battle against 0:21:01.160 --> 0:21:04.520 the elements, as Joseph is putting it, if you play 0:21:04.600 --> 0:21:07.240 more links golf. I don't think there's any other way 0:21:07.280 --> 0:21:10.840 to manufacture this. Andy. You said there are some set 0:21:10.920 --> 0:21:13.600 up things that you could do to make every week 0:21:13.920 --> 0:21:15.520 more like this. What do you think some of those 0:21:15.520 --> 0:21:17.359 things are, because I think that they're always going to 0:21:17.400 --> 0:21:17.959 fall short. 0:21:18.119 --> 0:21:20.639 I just think I think when you go to a 0:21:20.680 --> 0:21:24.199 golf course, when you're hosting an event at a golf course, 0:21:25.000 --> 0:21:27.919 I don't think it's unreasonable when somebody's playing for twenty 0:21:27.960 --> 0:21:30.879 million dollars, when there's a twenty million dollar perse that 0:21:30.960 --> 0:21:34.280 the player's job should be to get prepared to play 0:21:34.400 --> 0:21:37.760 every tea box at the golf course. I think they 0:21:37.800 --> 0:21:40.760 already have an issue with early rounds, like the early 0:21:40.880 --> 0:21:44.440 practice rounds. The value of a practice round ticket or 0:21:44.840 --> 0:21:47.240 attending a practice round is diminished with the less and 0:21:47.320 --> 0:21:49.720 less practice rounds that people play. 0:21:49.720 --> 0:21:50.920 Make these guys prepare. 0:21:51.440 --> 0:21:54.240 I'd love to see sometimes they play a five hundred 0:21:54.280 --> 0:21:57.840 yard hole three hundred and twenty yards the next day. 0:21:58.280 --> 0:22:01.600 I think, like we see that when you change things up, 0:22:01.760 --> 0:22:06.000 and what this week like when things change, it flummex'es players. 0:22:06.440 --> 0:22:07.960 And I don't. I don't. 0:22:08.080 --> 0:22:11.199 I think there should be rather than a test that 0:22:11.400 --> 0:22:14.320 everybody knows the questions for and you have you have 0:22:14.359 --> 0:22:17.000 three days to prepare for the questions you know are coming. 0:22:17.840 --> 0:22:20.280 I always thought a test in school where you didn't 0:22:20.280 --> 0:22:23.880 know what the questions were was a more challenging one 0:22:23.920 --> 0:22:26.639 where you had to prepare for everything. And then the 0:22:26.680 --> 0:22:29.440 test came out. Oh, I thought they were going to 0:22:29.560 --> 0:22:32.080 use this team, but they didn't. I swore that they 0:22:32.080 --> 0:22:33.919 were going to ask me a question about this, but 0:22:33.960 --> 0:22:38.440