WEBVTT - Final Insights into Royal Troon and a 2016 Open Lookback 0:00:00.040 --> 0:00:02.520 I miss a green, for example, I'm already upset. 0:00:02.640 --> 0:00:04.920 When I find my ball in the bunker, I'm really upset. 0:00:05.000 --> 0:00:06.960 And when I find my ball in a frid Egg 0:00:07.160 --> 0:00:10.600 Friday egg, the dreaded Friday Friday, Frida egg brid Egg 0:00:10.640 --> 0:00:12.959 Frida egg bride egg Lie, I'm about ready to run 0:00:13.000 --> 0:00:38.560 off of the hump course. Welcome to the FRIDAYGG Golf Podcast. 0:00:38.760 --> 0:00:42.320 I'm Garrett Morrison and at long last, it is Open 0:00:42.600 --> 0:00:46.840 Championship Week, the last men's major championship of twenty twenty four. 0:00:47.360 --> 0:00:51.280 We'll be starting tomorrow at Royal Troon Golf Club in Scotland. 0:00:51.720 --> 0:00:54.440 So today Joseph Lamannia and I thought we'd look back 0:00:54.480 --> 0:00:57.120 on the last Open held at Royal Troon, which was 0:00:57.280 --> 0:01:01.200 in twenty sixteen and which everyone remember for the incredible 0:01:01.400 --> 0:01:06.880 Sunday duel between Phil Nicholson and Henrik Stenson. So Joseph 0:01:06.880 --> 0:01:09.679 and I rewatched that final round, which is available for 0:01:09.720 --> 0:01:12.800 free on YouTube, to see what, if anything, it can 0:01:12.880 --> 0:01:15.959 tell us about what to expect this week at Troon. 0:01:16.600 --> 0:01:19.480 We'll also discuss some early reports on the condition of 0:01:19.520 --> 0:01:22.000 the course and the outlook of the weather, and we'll 0:01:22.000 --> 0:01:25.480 offer a few picks and predictions to wrap up the episode, 0:01:25.920 --> 0:01:29.040 But first a quick word from our sponsor, Club Champion. 0:01:29.280 --> 0:01:32.319 Club Champion helps golfers of any skill level play better 0:01:32.400 --> 0:01:36.440 golf through custom fitted and custom built equipment. They have 0:01:36.600 --> 0:01:40.640 extensively trained master fitters who use an in depth, data 0:01:40.720 --> 0:01:45.480 driven tour level fitting process. They use industry leading technology 0:01:45.520 --> 0:01:48.520 like track Man and sam Putt Lab to record your 0:01:48.600 --> 0:01:52.640 data in real time. They have sixty five thousand hitable 0:01:52.680 --> 0:01:56.080 head and shaft combos in the shop, including all of 0:01:56.120 --> 0:01:59.160 the new twenty twenty four brands, and they're pretty easy 0:01:59.200 --> 0:02:00.960 to find. They have a one hundred and twenty plus 0:02:01.000 --> 0:02:06.040 studios nationwide. Club Champions fittings produce real results for every 0:02:06.200 --> 0:02:10.200 level of player, including an average of twenty extra yards 0:02:10.280 --> 0:02:14.079 off the tee. Finally, they offer a perfect fit guarantee, 0:02:14.120 --> 0:02:17.320 so if you're Club Champion custom built clubs don't deliver 0:02:17.480 --> 0:02:19.640 what you see in the hitting bay, you can go 0:02:19.720 --> 0:02:22.840 back within ninety days and get them adjusted so that 0:02:22.919 --> 0:02:25.880 they perform how you want them to. So, for Frida 0:02:25.880 --> 0:02:28.720 Egg listeners, this is the deal the Club Champion is 0:02:28.760 --> 0:02:31.640 offering right now. You can use the code fried Egg 0:02:32.040 --> 0:02:34.720 to get fifty percent off the cost of your fitting 0:02:35.120 --> 0:02:37.760 with the purchase of a club, So go to club 0:02:37.880 --> 0:02:41.880 champion dot com and book You're fitting today again. That's 0:02:41.919 --> 0:02:52.040 code fried Egg all one word. All right, Joseph, Let's 0:02:52.080 --> 0:02:55.880 get into our discussion of Royal Troon as the Open 0:02:55.960 --> 0:03:00.320 Championship approaches. First, I want to talk a lot little 0:03:00.320 --> 0:03:03.600 bit about what we've heard about the course so far 0:03:03.800 --> 0:03:07.720 this week. We are recording this on Tuesday, and of 0:03:07.760 --> 0:03:12.200 course the tournament starts on Thursday. What we've heard so 0:03:12.360 --> 0:03:16.640 far is that the course is in good condition, that 0:03:16.680 --> 0:03:19.480 there's a little bit of bounce in the fairways, but 0:03:19.520 --> 0:03:22.480 that the greens are going to be softer and maybe 0:03:22.600 --> 0:03:26.720 slower than expected because it's been a wet spring in 0:03:26.800 --> 0:03:29.640 the UK, it has not been hot and so the 0:03:29.680 --> 0:03:34.160 course hasn't really had a chance to bake out yet. 0:03:35.000 --> 0:03:38.600 It's also possible that, you know, the RNA just hasn't 0:03:38.640 --> 0:03:42.120 pushed the greens super far so far. But if the 0:03:42.160 --> 0:03:45.080 greens are a little bit softer than expected, how do 0:03:45.120 --> 0:03:47.920 you think that that changes things going into the tournament. 0:03:48.640 --> 0:03:51.520 Yeah, I would love to see it firm, obviously, I 0:03:51.560 --> 0:03:55.760 think most people would Windy Firm thinks test is probably 0:03:55.760 --> 0:03:59.360 the best version, but I think the main things it 0:03:59.480 --> 0:04:03.760 changes is that short sightedness is not as much of 0:04:03.760 --> 0:04:07.160 a penalty, so it allows you to be a little 0:04:07.160 --> 0:04:09.760 bit more aggressive on some of your approach shots, and 0:04:09.800 --> 0:04:13.040 then there's just a little bit more predictability on your 0:04:13.080 --> 0:04:15.560 iron shots and getting your distances right because it's not 0:04:16.120 --> 0:04:20.200 as subject to the bounces that the greens might generally 0:04:20.240 --> 0:04:22.960 have otherwise, and if they're a little bit slower, it's 0:04:22.960 --> 0:04:25.159 just a little bit easier to get your numbers correct. 0:04:25.200 --> 0:04:27.880 So we'll see how they play. I'd love to see 0:04:27.880 --> 0:04:29.839 it get a little bit firmer and faster, but as 0:04:29.839 --> 0:04:32.080 you mentioned, given the conditions this summer and the weather 0:04:32.160 --> 0:04:35.160 that they've had in that area of the world, it's 0:04:35.200 --> 0:04:36.839 probably not a realistic expectation. 0:04:38.160 --> 0:04:40.760 The other thing we've heard is that the weather can 0:04:40.839 --> 0:04:46.839 be will be probably a bit unpredictable. There's low confidence 0:04:46.880 --> 0:04:51.520 in the details of the forecast so far. But right 0:04:51.560 --> 0:04:54.240 now what we're hearing is that there could be some 0:04:54.360 --> 0:05:00.840 kind of storm or some windiness Wednesday evening leading into morning, 0:05:01.560 --> 0:05:05.400 and just general kind of like rains here and there, 0:05:05.560 --> 0:05:09.640 winds here and there. We don't know really what to expect. 0:05:09.720 --> 0:05:12.039 So what have you seen from the forecast so far? 0:05:12.120 --> 0:05:15.159 And how has that been factoring into your thinking about 0:05:15.200 --> 0:05:17.000 the about what to expect. 0:05:17.240 --> 0:05:19.040 Yeah, I'm not putting too much stock in the weather 0:05:19.080 --> 0:05:22.440 reports at this moment because as we know, that can 0:05:22.520 --> 0:05:26.440 change quickly. I think a unique feature of Royal Troon 0:05:26.520 --> 0:05:30.080 that's worth spending time thinking about is the routing and 0:05:30.120 --> 0:05:34.720 how generally the prevailing wind your downwind on the front 0:05:34.839 --> 0:05:37.560 nine and into the wind on the back nine, and 0:05:37.560 --> 0:05:41.680 so just thinking about weather and timing of when you're 0:05:41.680 --> 0:05:44.039 playing is a big deal. That's something that was that 0:05:44.080 --> 0:05:47.120 played a crucial role in the twenty sixteen Open Championship 0:05:47.120 --> 0:05:50.039 that I'm guessing we'll talk about. It kind of reminds 0:05:50.080 --> 0:05:53.160 me a little bit of the ocean course at Kiowa 0:05:53.240 --> 0:05:56.000 Island in the way that the routing like you're headed 0:05:56.040 --> 0:05:58.400 one direction for one nine and then another direction for 0:05:58.440 --> 0:06:01.760 the other for another nine another tournament, Phil Mickelson did 0:06:01.760 --> 0:06:06.440 pretty well, And so it's not the best comparison necessarily 0:06:06.680 --> 0:06:09.480 the Ocean Course and Royal Troon, but in thinking about 0:06:09.520 --> 0:06:12.560 weather patterns and how that can impact play, I don't 0:06:12.560 --> 0:06:14.000 think it's an unreasonable comparison. 0:06:14.600 --> 0:06:17.880 Yeah, And the unpredictability is a common thread right at 0:06:18.000 --> 0:06:22.520 at Kiowa the weather can be one thing in the 0:06:22.560 --> 0:06:27.040 morning and another thing in the afternoon very easily, and 0:06:27.440 --> 0:06:32.320 none of it typically matches the forecast exactly, so it's 0:06:32.320 --> 0:06:34.359 tough to put too much stock into it. But we 0:06:34.400 --> 0:06:36.880 could see a wave split again, right, That's a distinct 0:06:36.920 --> 0:06:40.960 possibility whenever you have an open championship, but especially one 0:06:41.200 --> 0:06:44.559 on the west coast of Scotland where things just seem 0:06:44.640 --> 0:06:48.720 to be a little bit dicey and hour to hour 0:06:49.360 --> 0:06:53.560 out there by the ocean. So in any case, we 0:06:53.880 --> 0:06:56.600 have heard a couple of things from players so far 0:06:56.680 --> 0:07:01.400 this week about the golf course, things from press conferences 0:07:01.400 --> 0:07:04.720 that I found interesting. The first is that a lot 0:07:04.720 --> 0:07:07.960 of players seem to agree that it is a tale 0:07:07.960 --> 0:07:10.800 of two nines. In fact, a couple of different players 0:07:11.000 --> 0:07:14.440 use this exact phrase, a tale of two nines, that 0:07:14.560 --> 0:07:18.200 if you're going to score at Royal Troon, then you'd 0:07:18.200 --> 0:07:22.800 better do it on the opening nine, because the closing nine, 0:07:22.840 --> 0:07:26.120 the homeword nine, is going to be really tough. There 0:07:26.240 --> 0:07:30.640 aren't a whole lot of opportunities for easy birdies coming home. 0:07:31.280 --> 0:07:34.160 Has that been your general impression looking at the course? 0:07:34.960 --> 0:07:38.200 Yeah, And I really like this quote that friend of 0:07:38.200 --> 0:07:42.200 the pod Sean Martin, the PGA Tour had tweeted, he's 0:07:42.840 --> 0:07:46.640 apparently this is a quote from Tom Watson that he 0:07:46.680 --> 0:07:48.800 said of Royal Troon. It's sort of like playing the 0:07:48.880 --> 0:07:50.920 Chicago Bulls. You know, at the end of the game, 0:07:50.920 --> 0:07:52.480 they're going to be coming back at you, so you 0:07:52.520 --> 0:07:54.880 better get off to a pretty big lead. And yeah, 0:07:54.920 --> 0:07:58.680 I think that's appropriate. It's being echoed by players some 0:07:58.760 --> 0:08:03.440 pretty gentle handshake type holes to start, and then you're 0:08:03.480 --> 0:08:05.800 playing into some beefy holes on the back nine that 0:08:05.920 --> 0:08:08.160 often play into the wind. So I agree that that's 0:08:08.160 --> 0:08:09.760 how I envision it playing out as well. 0:08:10.560 --> 0:08:14.000 I really liked how Iona Stephen put it in the 0:08:14.160 --> 0:08:19.400 Golf Digest every whole video the script was written by others, 0:08:19.400 --> 0:08:23.040 but she was the narrator of the video, and what 0:08:23.120 --> 0:08:28.160 she said was that the first six holes are heaven, 0:08:29.120 --> 0:08:32.880 the next six holes are purgatory, and the final six 0:08:32.920 --> 0:08:36.400 holes are hell. That's not an exact quote, but that's 0:08:36.440 --> 0:08:39.480 the spirit of what she was saying. Basically, those holes 0:08:39.480 --> 0:08:42.839 going out along the coastline are your opportunities, you know, 0:08:42.920 --> 0:08:46.160 a few sub four hundred yard par fours and just 0:08:46.200 --> 0:08:49.120 some opportunities to get up near the green with your 0:08:49.160 --> 0:08:53.000 tee shot, especially for these players. And then the middle 0:08:53.040 --> 0:08:55.280 stretch of the course, things get tougher and tougher. You're 0:08:55.280 --> 0:08:59.479 in some more choppy land, you have some more uncomfortable 0:08:59.520 --> 0:09:04.080 tea shot and looks on your approaches into greens. And 0:09:04.120 --> 0:09:07.040 then the holes coming home are just tough, tough, tough, 0:09:07.080 --> 0:09:09.560 a lot of long holes, a lot of long irons, 0:09:09.960 --> 0:09:12.120 and just a lot of trouble that you can get 0:09:12.120 --> 0:09:15.559 into and you know, some incredibly penal bunkers and things 0:09:15.600 --> 0:09:18.160 like that. So I like that way of thinking of 0:09:18.240 --> 0:09:21.560 Royal Train in kind of three phases. But yeah, opening 0:09:21.679 --> 0:09:25.680 nine versus Final nine, that's really gonna be a big 0:09:25.720 --> 0:09:26.400 theme of the week. 0:09:27.720 --> 0:09:27.880 Now. 0:09:27.920 --> 0:09:30.280 The most interesting thing that I heard from a player, 0:09:30.840 --> 0:09:33.079 and I wanted to get your take on this, Joseph 0:09:33.679 --> 0:09:37.840 was unsurprisingly from Tiger Woods. He always says the most 0:09:37.840 --> 0:09:41.520 interesting things about the courses that they're playing for major championships, 0:09:41.520 --> 0:09:44.280 so it's no surprise that he came out with this one. 0:09:44.320 --> 0:09:47.920 But what he said basically is that you'll see a 0:09:47.960 --> 0:09:50.800 lot of guys laying up to the same spots on 0:09:50.880 --> 0:09:55.320 these holes, especially if it's windy. So you know what 0:09:55.440 --> 0:09:58.240 he said exactly. This is the quote, he says there 0:09:58.280 --> 0:10:01.679 will be occasional areas where with the right wind conditions, 0:10:02.160 --> 0:10:05.160 guys can be aggressive, especially some of the longer hitters, 0:10:05.320 --> 0:10:08.280 they can be aggressive. It does allow for that, but 0:10:08.440 --> 0:10:11.520 in general, if we get the wins we're forecasted, I 0:10:11.559 --> 0:10:13.920 think we're all going to be playing from about the 0:10:14.000 --> 0:10:17.640 same areas. This is kind of something I saw in 0:10:17.679 --> 0:10:20.800 twenty sixteen, something that we saw in that final round, 0:10:21.000 --> 0:10:23.920 the duel between Mickelson and Stenson. A lot of the 0:10:23.960 --> 0:10:25.960 time they were kind of playing to some of the 0:10:26.040 --> 0:10:29.160 same areas and fair ways. Do you think that's going 0:10:29.240 --> 0:10:31.400 to be what we see this week or has the 0:10:31.440 --> 0:10:33.680 game changed a bit since twenty sixteen. 0:10:34.160 --> 0:10:36.240 Didn't know we're going to be getting into this right 0:10:36.240 --> 0:10:38.720 off the top, Garrett, But it's actually one of my 0:10:38.800 --> 0:10:42.439 favorite attributes of Royal Troon. I think people could take 0:10:42.480 --> 0:10:45.680 the other side of this and argue that it's boring 0:10:45.720 --> 0:10:49.360 when people play into similar spots, But it's not as 0:10:49.400 --> 0:10:53.959 if the holes are cut off at driver length. There 0:10:53.960 --> 0:10:57.320 are a couple that play that way, but generally speaking, 0:10:57.440 --> 0:11:01.120 a defining characteristic of Truon is but the fairways are 0:11:01.400 --> 0:11:05.280 relatively narrow, often about twenty eight to thirty yards wide, 0:11:05.679 --> 0:11:10.079 but then get narrower at driver length, and they don't 0:11:10.640 --> 0:11:13.520 then just widen back up to where you can bash 0:11:13.600 --> 0:11:16.160 driver if you're one of the longest players. So there's 0:11:16.200 --> 0:11:19.800 a lot of penal pot bunkers in the fairways in 0:11:19.880 --> 0:11:23.600 strategic positions that you need to avoid, and that's why 0:11:23.640 --> 0:11:26.680 you're gonna often see players hitting things like iron wood 0:11:26.720 --> 0:11:29.680 off of a lot of the t boxes. But I 0:11:29.679 --> 0:11:31.760 don't view it as a negative. I think those shots 0:11:31.760 --> 0:11:34.640 in and of themselves, the firmer the golf courses and 0:11:34.640 --> 0:11:38.280 if there's wind, are demanding shots in their own rights, 0:11:38.880 --> 0:11:42.640 and it's not like everyone's just getting up and hitting 0:11:42.640 --> 0:11:45.559 a simple four iron into a generous landing area and 0:11:45.600 --> 0:11:47.960 then everyone's flipping a wedge, and so I think it's 0:11:47.960 --> 0:11:51.240 a little bit more dynamic than that. Wind is a 0:11:51.360 --> 0:11:54.160 massive factor, and to Tiger's point, there are a couple 0:11:54.200 --> 0:11:59.960 opportunities where, especially if you're downwind which tightens your dispersion, 0:12:00.840 --> 0:12:03.000 there are some opportunities to let it rip a little bit. 0:12:03.040 --> 0:12:05.000 I think the third hole is a good example to 0:12:05.080 --> 0:12:08.040 look at, and in the right condition, some of the 0:12:08.040 --> 0:12:10.320 longest hitters may be able to push their tee shots 0:12:10.400 --> 0:12:12.640 up near the green, which is a risk worth taking, 0:12:12.679 --> 0:12:15.720 right if you take on a risk with a driver 0:12:15.800 --> 0:12:18.520 in it. It's the difference between having one hundred and 0:12:18.559 --> 0:12:20.920 twenty yards in or one hundred and sixty like that's 0:12:21.000 --> 0:12:22.560 not as good of a risk to take. But if 0:12:22.600 --> 0:12:24.920 it can be the difference between having one hundred and 0:12:24.920 --> 0:12:28.000 thirty yards in and having like thirty yards in, like 0:12:28.160 --> 0:12:32.000 going over a hazard versus laying back behind it, that's 0:12:32.040 --> 0:12:35.760 a risk that there's quite a bit of payoff involved in. 0:12:35.800 --> 0:12:38.680 So in the right conditions, especially downwind, which again does 0:12:38.720 --> 0:12:41.119 tighten your dispersion, there are going to be some opportunities 0:12:41.160 --> 0:12:42.720 to be aggressive off some of the teas. 0:12:43.000 --> 0:12:45.559 Now, a final thing that Tiger said that I wanted 0:12:45.600 --> 0:12:49.520 to note. This is an observation just about links golf 0:12:49.600 --> 0:12:51.480 in general, I think, but I like the way that 0:12:51.520 --> 0:12:54.439 he put it. He said, over here, you can run 0:12:54.480 --> 0:12:56.440 the golf ball one hundred yards if you get the 0:12:56.520 --> 0:13:00.160 right wind and the right trajectory. It negates some one 0:13:00.200 --> 0:13:03.200 of the high launch conditions that most of the times 0:13:03.240 --> 0:13:07.080 you see on the tour that populate the world nowadays. 0:13:07.720 --> 0:13:10.560 And so maybe this is sort of wishful thinking on 0:13:10.600 --> 0:13:13.600 Tiger's part, but I think there's a kernel of truth 0:13:13.640 --> 0:13:18.160 to it that you know, distance off the tee on 0:13:18.600 --> 0:13:21.880 a links course where there's wind and firm turf is 0:13:21.960 --> 0:13:26.640 not so much a factor of high launch and pure 0:13:26.679 --> 0:13:32.000 ball speed as it is situational awareness, the ability to 0:13:32.080 --> 0:13:37.160 control trajectory and the ability to maximize your distance in 0:13:37.280 --> 0:13:40.679 any given situation depending on the conditions of the ground 0:13:41.200 --> 0:13:43.520 and the wind. And so I think that's something that 0:13:43.920 --> 0:13:47.280 gets at something that I really appreciate about the Open Championship, 0:13:47.679 --> 0:13:51.280 and it's that you see players, older players who truly 0:13:51.320 --> 0:13:55.800 know how to control their shot shape and everything else 0:13:55.840 --> 0:13:59.079 off the tee being able to compete with some of 0:13:59.120 --> 0:14:03.000 the bombers because they're able to get distance in different ways. 0:14:03.800 --> 0:14:06.600 I don't think it's an original observation about links golf. 0:14:06.840 --> 0:14:09.400 This is often said, but I just like the way 0:14:09.400 --> 0:14:12.720 that he phrased that. That's something that I do like 0:14:13.520 --> 0:14:15.120 when it comes to this tournament. 0:14:15.280 --> 0:14:18.240 And I think as part of that it's important to 0:14:18.280 --> 0:14:21.400 recognize that part of the reason that that works at 0:14:21.400 --> 0:14:24.120 Truon is because the gorse bushes, which often sit off 0:14:24.160 --> 0:14:28.120 the fairways, impose a very stiff penalty. It's not like 0:14:28.240 --> 0:14:30.840 finding just a little bit of rough like we see 0:14:30.920 --> 0:14:34.120 on a lot of PGA Tour weekend and week out 0:14:34.160 --> 0:14:37.320 tests where you still have a shot. It's a scary 0:14:37.360 --> 0:14:39.640 penalty when you go into the gorse bush, especially on 0:14:39.680 --> 0:14:43.160 some of the holes out there. So just another another 0:14:43.200 --> 0:14:46.040 thing to motivate players from being a little bit more 0:14:46.080 --> 0:14:48.160 conservative off the tea. I think off the t this 0:14:48.200 --> 0:14:49.200 golf course is amazing. 0:14:49.480 --> 0:14:54.080 All right, let's get into the twenty sixteen rewatch. You 0:14:54.120 --> 0:14:57.800 and I went through the final round telecast, which I 0:14:57.840 --> 0:15:00.600 believe was the sky Sports telecast. I think that sky 0:15:00.640 --> 0:15:06.040 Sports this was like their first effort at an Open 0:15:06.160 --> 0:15:09.800 Championship Final round telecast. I think before that it was BBC. 0:15:10.000 --> 0:15:12.760 But so we got the sky Sports version of it, 0:15:12.880 --> 0:15:16.080 not the US version of the telecast, and so it 0:15:16.120 --> 0:15:20.080 was quite good, you know. It's this is something that 0:15:19.320 --> 0:15:23.520 you notice when you switched to what people across the 0:15:23.560 --> 0:15:26.440 pond have access to, that it's a very good and 0:15:26.560 --> 0:15:31.080 insightful piece of television. But in any case, I came 0:15:31.200 --> 0:15:34.880 up with a few categories to go through, some awards 0:15:34.880 --> 0:15:38.000 that we could give to different aspects of the final 0:15:38.080 --> 0:15:40.760 round and the play that we saw, you know, is 0:15:40.800 --> 0:15:44.920 this copying the rewatchables podcast, who could say, you know, 0:15:45.280 --> 0:15:49.680 it might be inspired by a segment on The Rewatchables, 0:15:49.680 --> 0:15:52.960 but we're doing our own version of it here. So 0:15:53.040 --> 0:15:55.200 I wanted to start with what you think is the 0:15:55.280 --> 0:15:58.760 coolest hole based on what we saw in the twenty 0:15:58.800 --> 0:16:01.840 sixteen final round. And I want to talk about a 0:16:01.880 --> 0:16:04.680 hole other than the postage stamp, which we kind of 0:16:04.840 --> 0:16:08.360 went into in depth in the podcast that I did 0:16:08.400 --> 0:16:11.560 with with Sam Cooper a few days ago. So what 0:16:11.640 --> 0:16:12.800 was the coolest hole that you saw? 0:16:14.080 --> 0:16:18.160 I think the eleventh hole at Royal Troon might be 0:16:18.200 --> 0:16:22.240 one of my favorite golf holes in professional golf, not 0:16:22.440 --> 0:16:27.160 just at Royal Troon obviously. It's a burly par four, 0:16:27.240 --> 0:16:31.320 plays almost five hundred yards, often plays into a prevailing wind, 0:16:31.840 --> 0:16:37.240 and that tee shot is incredibly intimidating. You've railroad down 0:16:37.280 --> 0:16:40.960 the right side, that's out of bounds, gorse on either 0:16:41.040 --> 0:16:43.840 side of the fairway, kind of a little bit of 0:16:43.840 --> 0:16:47.840 an awkward angle to hit the tee shot we saw 0:16:47.840 --> 0:16:50.480 in twenty sixteen in in Rewatching It that Henrik Stenson 0:16:50.640 --> 0:16:53.360 believe he took threewood off the tee pulled it a 0:16:53.400 --> 0:16:56.560 little bit but not much, and was basically in the 0:16:56.600 --> 0:16:59.520 first cut not too far from the gorse that lines 0:16:59.520 --> 0:17:02.479 the left side, and his view of the green was obscured. 0:17:02.960 --> 0:17:06.399 There's so much going on on that whole visual intimidation 0:17:06.520 --> 0:17:10.240 off the tea, some obscured site lines into the green. 0:17:11.280 --> 0:17:15.000 Super difficult hole, probably one of the most intimidating tea 0:17:15.040 --> 0:17:19.439 shots in professional golf. Maybe in an Open championship Rhoda 0:17:20.000 --> 0:17:24.080 up there. You know, I remember Thomas Peters snapping his 0:17:24.160 --> 0:17:27.000 club and throwing it into the gorse bush in this championship. 0:17:27.000 --> 0:17:30.000 That wasn't shown on the telecast, but like, it's a 0:17:30.000 --> 0:17:31.639 hole where you're going to see some blow up. So 0:17:31.800 --> 0:17:34.639 I think that's one of the coolest holes in professional golf. Garrett, 0:17:34.720 --> 0:17:36.280 I'd be curious your opinion on the eleventh. 0:17:36.920 --> 0:17:40.600 I wonder if Thomas Peters club is still there, if 0:17:40.640 --> 0:17:42.360 they made like a little statue out of it. That's 0:17:42.400 --> 0:17:43.879 the kind of plaque though, I'd like to see on 0:17:43.920 --> 0:17:49.320 a golf course. Yeah, yeah, I love eleven. You know, 0:17:49.359 --> 0:17:51.679 I just I like the way the fairway moves, you know, 0:17:51.720 --> 0:17:54.040 in the landing zone, the way it kind of starts 0:17:54.080 --> 0:17:57.520 away from the railroad and then moves on a diagonal 0:17:57.560 --> 0:18:01.400 to the railroad. So Basically, the more aggressive you want 0:18:01.400 --> 0:18:03.119 to get, the farther up you want to get on 0:18:03.160 --> 0:18:06.600 the whole, the more you kind of have to adjust 0:18:06.640 --> 0:18:09.200 your line toward the rail roat, which is super uncomfortable, 0:18:09.520 --> 0:18:11.520 and it's all blind like you can see a little 0:18:11.560 --> 0:18:13.160 bit more out to the left there, but if you're 0:18:13.200 --> 0:18:16.640 going to the right, if you're going straight down the fairway, 0:18:16.680 --> 0:18:19.600 then then you're basically completely blind. And I think that's 0:18:19.640 --> 0:18:25.160 a that's a t shot that's so uncomfortable for players 0:18:25.160 --> 0:18:27.959 these days, because it's just hard to come up with 0:18:28.200 --> 0:18:30.880 a point to aim at. Even on the tenth hole, 0:18:30.880 --> 0:18:33.640 which is also a blind tea shot, you're hitting over 0:18:33.800 --> 0:18:38.320 like a big set of dunes and like waste area 0:18:38.400 --> 0:18:41.040 type bunkers, and so there are various things that you can, 0:18:41.160 --> 0:18:43.919 various reference points that you have you can once you 0:18:44.000 --> 0:18:46.520 know the course, you know the basic dimensions of the fairway, 0:18:47.080 --> 0:18:49.280 But on eleven, I think that it's just kind of barren, 0:18:49.600 --> 0:18:53.080 like there's not much to hook into when you're when 0:18:53.119 --> 0:18:55.359 you're trying to come up with an aiming point, and 0:18:55.440 --> 0:18:57.960 that's that's a tough thing for players who are more 0:18:58.080 --> 0:19:01.240 used to kind of certainty and everything being out in 0:19:01.280 --> 0:19:07.080 front of you, as the phrase goes, So it wasnother hole, Yeah, 0:19:07.160 --> 0:19:10.600 another hole that I like. Seven. I just think it's 0:19:10.680 --> 0:19:13.800 a This is a fun drive and pitch hole. This 0:19:14.080 --> 0:19:16.680 was I believe, the most famous hole at Royal Troom 0:19:16.720 --> 0:19:21.119 before the postage stamp was designed for or took on 0:19:21.200 --> 0:19:25.919 its current form for the nineteen twenty three Open. But 0:19:26.480 --> 0:19:30.000 really fun t shot with lots of different options. Off 0:19:30.040 --> 0:19:33.720 the tee. The fairway kind of wraps around a dune 0:19:33.760 --> 0:19:36.959 that's on the right side of the whole corridor, So 0:19:37.000 --> 0:19:39.439 the fairway kind of swings out to the left and 0:19:39.480 --> 0:19:42.960 then slants back to the right before straightening out for 0:19:43.040 --> 0:19:46.920 the approach to the green. Short left is kind of 0:19:46.960 --> 0:19:50.560 the safest spot to be, but it's the least advantageous. 0:19:50.960 --> 0:19:54.200 Short right requires challenging some bunkers on the right side, 0:19:54.680 --> 0:19:56.800 and maybe your approach is kind of blind from over 0:19:56.800 --> 0:19:59.439 there because you're hitting over the dune, and then you 0:19:59.520 --> 0:20:01.480 have options to go long and I think a lot 0:20:01.520 --> 0:20:04.240 of the players in this tournament are going to look 0:20:04.640 --> 0:20:06.520 to get up by the green, depending on where the 0:20:06.560 --> 0:20:09.399 tea is and what the wind is doing. But I 0:20:09.400 --> 0:20:12.600 think we'll see some variety of play on seven. But 0:20:12.720 --> 0:20:17.320 in twenty sixteen. Both Phil and Henrik laid up on 0:20:17.400 --> 0:20:19.320 this hole. Were kind of laid up on this hole. 0:20:19.560 --> 0:20:21.680 I'll have to look at my notes. I know Henrick did, 0:20:22.119 --> 0:20:23.760 and he was kind of out to the right a 0:20:23.760 --> 0:20:26.800 little bit on his layup. Phil actually, I remember now 0:20:26.880 --> 0:20:29.440 pushed up a little bit more, but he was kind 0:20:29.440 --> 0:20:31.560 of on the left side and ended up with kind 0:20:31.560 --> 0:20:33.879 of a weird lie where he wasn't able to get 0:20:33.920 --> 0:20:36.480 any spin on the ball, and so there was some 0:20:36.680 --> 0:20:40.080 variety of play there. Laying up was a legitimate option 0:20:40.200 --> 0:20:43.680 for players in twenty sixteen. Maybe we'll see players being 0:20:43.680 --> 0:20:46.760 more aggressive this year with the hole because the fairway 0:20:46.880 --> 0:20:50.080 is fairly wide up by the green, and I think that, 0:20:50.600 --> 0:20:53.880 you know, players will see an advantage and getting up there. 0:20:54.440 --> 0:20:57.720 But that's a very interesting hole, and the green side 0:20:57.800 --> 0:20:59.880 is just beautiful. It's kind of set between these two 0:21:00.040 --> 0:21:02.439 dunes and kind of benched in there, and it's a 0:21:02.440 --> 0:21:05.800 classic Links Golf green site. So I really like seven. 0:21:06.080 --> 0:21:08.080 I can't speak too much on it, Gere, because I'd 0:21:08.080 --> 0:21:10.679 be getting ahead of myself and to potentially the next 0:21:11.160 --> 0:21:12.440 award that we're doing here. 0:21:12.520 --> 0:21:16.440 So okay, so the next award is coolest green complex. 0:21:18.520 --> 0:21:22.240 I picked the seventh, and of all the awards we did, 0:21:22.880 --> 0:21:26.400 this was probably the most challenging one for me because it's. 0:21:26.200 --> 0:21:28.800 Hard to see the greens on the telecast, right, Yeah, 0:21:29.000 --> 0:21:30.959 and maybe you just see where the pen is and 0:21:31.000 --> 0:21:33.000 you see where the ball lands, and it's a little 0:21:33.000 --> 0:21:33.480 bit hard. 0:21:33.359 --> 0:21:36.280 To tell, and you might have a differing view. I 0:21:36.280 --> 0:21:38.679 don't think the appeal of Royal Truon, at least for me, 0:21:39.200 --> 0:21:43.159 is the green complexes. Necessarily they're pretty small and they 0:21:43.160 --> 0:21:46.080 don't have a ton of contouring then at least to 0:21:46.160 --> 0:21:46.639 my eye that. 0:21:46.960 --> 0:21:49.879 I it's subtle contouring, it's there, right, And some of 0:21:49.920 --> 0:21:52.480 them are a little bit modernized, which is you know 0:21:52.520 --> 0:21:54.719 what we see at Open Championship venues these days. Some 0:21:54.760 --> 0:21:57.760 of the greens aren't don't don't quite feel antique. They 0:21:57.760 --> 0:22:00.160 have some of those little runoffs and stuff that Mackenzie 0:22:00.240 --> 0:22:03.160 but like to put into green complexes that they rebuild. 0:22:03.560 --> 0:22:06.480 Yeah, I don't think they strike fear. The green complexes 0:22:06.480 --> 0:22:08.679 strike fear into players the way that a lot of 0:22:08.720 --> 0:22:11.679 green complex is doing professional golf. But what I like 0:22:11.720 --> 0:22:17.000 about the seventh recurring feature of this golf course is 0:22:17.000 --> 0:22:20.080 that generally the greens are narrower in the front and 0:22:20.119 --> 0:22:24.040 then expand in the back. They often have a pop 0:22:24.080 --> 0:22:26.720 bunker short right and short left and like a little 0:22:26.760 --> 0:22:29.199 neck that you can run the ball up. Running ball 0:22:29.240 --> 0:22:31.960