WEBVTT - U.S. Open Recap 0:00:06.160 --> 0:00:07.960 It's the Son of a Butcher podcast. We come to 0:00:07.960 --> 0:00:12.320 you every Wednesday. This week a little US Open recap. 0:00:13.039 --> 0:00:17.680 Wyndham Clark gets his first major championship. I mean, what 0:00:18.040 --> 0:00:23.800 a impressive, impressive performance from Wyndom Clark. I think the 0:00:23.800 --> 0:00:26.960 beginning of twenty twenty two is outside the top one 0:00:27.080 --> 0:00:31.840 hundred and fifty in the world and now firmly, firmly 0:00:33.000 --> 0:00:38.840 inside the top fifteen and a major champion now. And 0:00:38.880 --> 0:00:41.519 it's just been a rise and it's something that I 0:00:41.520 --> 0:00:43.120 think a lot of people that have watched his golf 0:00:43.120 --> 0:00:47.080 swing over the years and seen how much confidence he 0:00:47.120 --> 0:00:51.760 has listened. You won't find a more confident golfer than 0:00:51.800 --> 0:00:54.720 Wyndom Clark. I mean, he rivals Brooks Koepka in confidence 0:00:54.840 --> 0:00:59.400 and I think that's a massive, massive asset. Someone that 0:00:59.440 --> 0:01:02.640 he works with on the mental game, Julie Ellien, who's 0:01:02.640 --> 0:01:05.479 a very very dear friend of mine. She was quoted 0:01:05.520 --> 0:01:08.880 as telling him stay cocky on Sunday. Every time that 0:01:09.040 --> 0:01:12.240 you hear everybody talking about Ricky Fowler's name, stay cocky 0:01:12.440 --> 0:01:14.920 and play well enough so that they start saying your name. 0:01:14.959 --> 0:01:19.839 And I think the the Sunday, the performance from Wyndham Clark. 0:01:20.360 --> 0:01:22.560 Some of the up and downs that he made on 0:01:22.600 --> 0:01:27.240 the front eight and nine, he could have made anything, 0:01:27.720 --> 0:01:29.440 and that was one of the I think one of 0:01:29.480 --> 0:01:33.880 the things about La Country Club. We saw Dustin Johnson 0:01:33.920 --> 0:01:37.160 make an eight by just hitting it in a bunker, 0:01:37.880 --> 0:01:40.120 missed the fairway by maybe five yards on two and 0:01:40.520 --> 0:01:44.280 ends up making an eight. Wyndham Clark and everybody saw 0:01:44.360 --> 0:01:48.800 on the eighth pole part five, where you're looking to 0:01:48.840 --> 0:01:52.440 try and pick up a shot, he hits just a 0:01:52.520 --> 0:01:56.040 little left and is staring double bogie in the face, 0:01:56.560 --> 0:01:58.520 takes a hack at it doesn't move it. If it 0:01:58.520 --> 0:02:00.880 does move it, it doesn't move it very far. Then hits 0:02:00.880 --> 0:02:03.680 it over the green and then just hits an unbelievable 0:02:03.760 --> 0:02:07.160 chip shot. I mean, just if you haven't been there 0:02:07.240 --> 0:02:11.160 and you haven't played that golf course, TV doesn't do 0:02:11.200 --> 0:02:14.960 that justice. That was down a massive, massive slope, gets 0:02:14.960 --> 0:02:17.720 out of there, and then on nine he could have 0:02:17.720 --> 0:02:20.600 made anything there as well, no green to work with. 0:02:21.360 --> 0:02:25.880 Somehow makes the downhill ten foot that if you're gonna 0:02:25.880 --> 0:02:28.920 win a major championship for parr you have to make those. 0:02:29.880 --> 0:02:35.320 The up and down on eleven was just rediculous. How 0:02:35.360 --> 0:02:38.359 good that was because when he hit it over there, 0:02:38.400 --> 0:02:41.840 I'm thinking, okay, now this is you know, he'd been 0:02:41.880 --> 0:02:45.480 a little bit shaky on eight, a little bit shaky 0:02:45.520 --> 0:02:49.000 on nine, and then misses the green left on eleven, 0:02:49.040 --> 0:02:52.119 and I'm thinking, Okay, He's played so good up until 0:02:52.160 --> 0:02:54.200 this point. He's made all the putts that he's needed 0:02:54.240 --> 0:02:58.720 to make through three days, and he just hit an 0:02:58.800 --> 0:03:02.320 unbelievable shot. I keep saying unbelievable because that's he just 0:03:02.360 --> 0:03:04.799 couldn't believe that he could hit it where he did 0:03:04.840 --> 0:03:07.480 from that position. And then I think the shot of 0:03:07.520 --> 0:03:11.560 the tournament fourteen, you know, watching Royal McElroy right in 0:03:11.600 --> 0:03:14.919 front of him, hits a really good drive and then 0:03:15.440 --> 0:03:20.400 hits it onto the green in an opening from forty 0:03:20.600 --> 0:03:24.079 to fifty and the opening that he ran it up 0:03:24.160 --> 0:03:29.440 is probably five to seven yards wide, and you hit 0:03:29.480 --> 0:03:32.720 it in the bunker left or you get up on 0:03:32.720 --> 0:03:34.840 one of those collars like we saw Rory McRoy get 0:03:34.920 --> 0:03:37.520 up on. I mean, you could make anything. And then 0:03:38.000 --> 0:03:41.560 hung on down the stretch bogie on fifteen, and then 0:03:41.920 --> 0:03:45.720 he just did what he needed to do. And I 0:03:45.720 --> 0:03:48.640 wouldn't say this. I mean, I'm gonna go on a limb. 0:03:48.680 --> 0:03:51.000 I think you could see this coming from a player 0:03:51.040 --> 0:03:56.120 like Wyndham Clark. Like you said, massive, massive amounts of 0:03:56.400 --> 0:03:59.960 self belief. Some people see that as cocky. Some people 0:04:00.040 --> 0:04:02.680 see that as arrogant. I've been lucky enough to be 0:04:02.720 --> 0:04:06.440 around some of the greatest golfers on the planet. They're 0:04:06.440 --> 0:04:09.320 all cocky, They're all arrogant. You can't get to number 0:04:09.320 --> 0:04:11.480 one in the world if you don't. Some of them 0:04:11.480 --> 0:04:14.560 do it quietly. I think Scotty Schffler does it quietly. 0:04:14.600 --> 0:04:17.760 But Scotty Scheffler has a tremendous amount of self belief. 0:04:19.120 --> 0:04:24.839 Rory McElroy, Yeah, probably the most fan favorite player in 0:04:24.920 --> 0:04:28.240 the game right now. Rory has an incredible amount of 0:04:28.279 --> 0:04:31.080 self belief, and I think you have to have that 0:04:31.160 --> 0:04:33.640 as a player. And I think we saw Wyndham Clark 0:04:34.560 --> 0:04:36.600 reach a lot of the potential that a lot of 0:04:36.640 --> 0:04:40.279 people thought he had. But I loved his interview afterwards. 0:04:40.320 --> 0:04:42.000 He said, listen, I think I'm one of the best 0:04:42.000 --> 0:04:43.640 players in the world. I've always thought I'm one of 0:04:43.680 --> 0:04:46.800 the best players in the world. And let me tell you, 0:04:46.839 --> 0:04:50.839 I would much rather have a player think they're a 0:04:50.880 --> 0:04:53.599 great player than to have a player question it. So 0:04:54.160 --> 0:04:58.000 I think it was a great story. A lot of people, 0:04:58.279 --> 0:05:01.040 and I'll be honest, include myself. I was pulling for 0:05:01.120 --> 0:05:03.919 Ricky Fowler. I worked with Ricky for a long time, 0:05:04.640 --> 0:05:06.400 my dad's worked with Ricky for a long time. My 0:05:06.480 --> 0:05:10.080 dad's now back working with Ricky. I thought it was 0:05:10.120 --> 0:05:12.240 a real step forward for Ricky. I thought the way 0:05:12.279 --> 0:05:17.159 he played Thursday and Friday showed that his game is back. 0:05:18.240 --> 0:05:21.440 It's back to where he can start winning tournaments, where 0:05:21.480 --> 0:05:25.240 he can start contending in major championships. Didn't have his 0:05:25.279 --> 0:05:28.480 best stuff on Sunday. I think part of that is 0:05:28.520 --> 0:05:31.000 he hasn't been there in a while and it's a 0:05:31.000 --> 0:05:33.479 big stage and he didn't get off to a great start. 0:05:34.560 --> 0:05:40.200 But I expect good things from Ricky Fowler going I 0:05:40.279 --> 0:05:43.680 said to some people that know Ricky well that I 0:05:43.680 --> 0:05:46.760 thought Ricky would win before the US Open. He hasn't 0:05:46.800 --> 0:05:48.560 done that, but he had a legit chance to win 0:05:48.560 --> 0:05:51.040 the US Open, and I can definitely see a situation 0:05:51.120 --> 0:05:54.600 to where Ricky Fowler has more chances between now and 0:05:54.640 --> 0:05:58.440 the end of the year to win major. He's got 0:05:58.480 --> 0:06:00.680 a chance to win another major at the British and 0:06:01.080 --> 0:06:04.080 he's got chances to win more tournaments so definitely, I 0:06:04.080 --> 0:06:06.520 think his game is trending in the right direction. I 0:06:06.560 --> 0:06:09.560 think it has been a very smart move for him 0:06:09.560 --> 0:06:13.240 to go back to my dad. But Harmon, I think 0:06:13.240 --> 0:06:16.919 my dad brings a tremendous amount of calmness, tremendous amount 0:06:16.920 --> 0:06:21.320 of stability, a tremendous amount of confidence, and I think 0:06:21.360 --> 0:06:23.080 they're working on the right stuff. I think his golf 0:06:23.080 --> 0:06:25.200 swing is working in a really good position. I like 0:06:25.279 --> 0:06:27.440 the position that he's got at the top of his 0:06:27.480 --> 0:06:31.640 back swing. I don't see the club as flatt and 0:06:31.800 --> 0:06:34.640 is kind of laid off, and that change of direction, 0:06:34.800 --> 0:06:40.200 that transition. Ricky's got a fairly quick, fast tempo. I 0:06:40.200 --> 0:06:43.560 think Saturday night, the eighteenth hole was I wouldn't say 0:06:43.560 --> 0:06:47.360 a turning point, but it's a big two shot swing 0:06:47.440 --> 0:06:52.000 right Wyndham Clark just flags an iron shot, big club twirl, 0:06:52.680 --> 0:06:57.400 gonna make birdie. They're playing in the dark, yet another 0:06:58.279 --> 0:07:03.600 mystery decision by the USGA. We went early on Sunday 0:07:03.920 --> 0:07:06.960 and they couldn't have gone early on Saturday. I don't 0:07:07.000 --> 0:07:09.080 know if that's the USGA choice. I don't know if 0:07:09.080 --> 0:07:13.880 that's an NBC choice, But I talked to Ricky at 0:07:13.920 --> 0:07:16.360 his Caddy and he said they were struggling to see. 0:07:16.360 --> 0:07:18.960 You if you saw Wyndham Clark's interview on Saturday night, 0:07:19.320 --> 0:07:21.360 he said he thought the lack of light affected Ricky. 0:07:21.640 --> 0:07:25.640 Ricky three putts and there's two shots swing and it 0:07:26.000 --> 0:07:28.880 looked very different going into Sunday. But I think Ricky 0:07:28.960 --> 0:07:31.240 is making the improvements that he needs to make, and 0:07:31.280 --> 0:07:34.480 I think he's trending in the right direction. I mean, 0:07:34.520 --> 0:07:37.960 what can you say about Rory McElroy. I've said this 0:07:38.040 --> 0:07:40.720 on the pod a number of times. I'm a massive, 0:07:40.880 --> 0:07:43.600 massive Rory McElroy fan, both on and off the golf course. 0:07:44.080 --> 0:07:47.920 But I thought the golf he played last week was 0:07:47.920 --> 0:07:53.280 was pretty solid. He drove the ball very, very well. 0:07:53.760 --> 0:07:55.760 It looked to me like he had gone back to 0:07:56.680 --> 0:08:00.480 hitting the high bomb nuke draw. Sometimes Rory moves around, 0:08:00.640 --> 0:08:03.720 likes to fade it, likes to cut it. I think 0:08:03.760 --> 0:08:06.160 he plays his best just my opinion. I could be wrong, 0:08:06.200 --> 0:08:09.000 but I think Rory plays his best when he is 0:08:09.080 --> 0:08:11.440 hitting the draw, specifically with the driver. He moved the 0:08:11.440 --> 0:08:15.040 irons both ways. But when Rory is able to stand up, 0:08:15.760 --> 0:08:18.119 and we saw that on the first hole, very first 0:08:18.520 --> 0:08:22.800 first hole, an eighteenth hole, very very wide fairways the 0:08:22.840 --> 0:08:25.240 eighteenth hole some of the widest fairways I've ever seen 0:08:25.280 --> 0:08:27.320 for a US Open, and I've been to a lot 0:08:27.320 --> 0:08:29.880 of them, but I thought some of the drives that 0:08:30.000 --> 0:08:35.119 Ry McElroy hit all last week we were really impressive. 0:08:35.240 --> 0:08:39.680 And listen, it's been nine years since he's won a major. 0:08:40.600 --> 0:08:45.440 I'm as shocked by that as anybody. But he keeps 0:08:45.440 --> 0:08:48.400 giving himself chances. But this is now three weeks in 0:08:48.440 --> 0:08:54.000 a row, Memorial, RBC and the US Open where Ry 0:08:54.040 --> 0:08:59.079 McElroy is in the last group A Memorial and RBC 0:08:59.720 --> 0:09:03.120 and doesn't get it done, where everybody is expecting him 0:09:03.160 --> 0:09:05.560 to win, and then he's in the second to last group. 0:09:05.559 --> 0:09:07.760 But I think a lot of people were picking Rory 0:09:07.800 --> 0:09:10.520 to win that tournament, to win another major championship, to 0:09:10.520 --> 0:09:13.320 get to five, to break the duck that he's been, 0:09:13.679 --> 0:09:15.760 the cycle that he's been on of not winning one 0:09:16.280 --> 0:09:19.320 since two thousand, was it twenty fourteen, I mean, it's 0:09:19.360 --> 0:09:22.319 just it's crazy. I mean, it's just crazy to think 0:09:22.360 --> 0:09:25.240 that it's been since Valhalla that Roy McElroy has won 0:09:25.280 --> 0:09:29.320 a major championship. I think they get harder to win 0:09:30.720 --> 0:09:34.280 the longer he goes without winning one. Because the question 0:09:34.440 --> 0:09:37.320 every week that he plays major championship is he's one 0:09:37.400 --> 0:09:39.240 of the favorites, but can he get it done? But 0:09:39.920 --> 0:09:43.559 I think his game is it's made for major championships. 0:09:43.800 --> 0:09:48.000 It really is. I think he is made for major championships. Yes, 0:09:48.040 --> 0:09:50.400 he hasn't won a major in nine years, but Roy 0:09:50.480 --> 0:09:52.599 McElroy is going to have. I think he's going to 0:09:52.640 --> 0:09:57.240 have another legit chance at Hoylake. He's won an Open 0:09:57.320 --> 0:10:02.800 Championship before, so I fully, fully suspect that Rory McElroy 0:10:02.840 --> 0:10:05.720 will be in the mix come Sunday, late Sunday afternoon 0:10:06.640 --> 0:10:12.559 at Hoylake for the Open Championship. And listen you can see. 0:10:12.880 --> 0:10:17.480 I thought Roy looked different last week. I really did. 0:10:18.240 --> 0:10:21.080 I think everything that's gone on in the last couple 0:10:21.120 --> 0:10:24.840 of weeks in golf, it looked like Rory was focusing 0:10:24.880 --> 0:10:26.800 more on the golf and less on some other suf 0:10:26.880 --> 0:10:29.640 I saw him finish on Saturday night and come out 0:10:29.640 --> 0:10:32.920 of scoring and go straight from scoring into locker room. 0:10:32.920 --> 0:10:35.959 I didn't see him give any interviews. He looked all 0:10:36.000 --> 0:10:39.920 business last week. He didn't really I didn't see him 0:10:39.920 --> 0:10:41.760 talking to a lot of people. I didn't see him. 0:10:41.960 --> 0:10:45.319 I saw him being very, very focused. I saw Rory 0:10:45.400 --> 0:10:48.839 last week kind of doing the same thing that Tiger 0:10:48.840 --> 0:10:52.000 Woods didn't major championships. He didn't talk to anybody, didn't 0:10:52.000 --> 0:10:54.280 really give a lot of interviews, didn't really answer a 0:10:54.320 --> 0:10:57.480 lot of questions, and he looked all business last week. 0:10:57.480 --> 0:11:03.120 And he comes up one show he's got the game right. 0:11:03.200 --> 0:11:06.800 I mean he is. I mean, he's Rory McElroy. He's 0:11:07.400 --> 0:11:11.360 to me, he's one of the most dominant players of 0:11:11.960 --> 0:11:16.200 this generation, and I just love the way he plays golf. 0:11:16.400 --> 0:11:19.400 And he's going to win another major championship, if it's 0:11:19.400 --> 0:11:22.920 not at the Open Championship in a couple two three weeks. 0:11:23.480 --> 0:11:25.880 He's going to be one of the favorites going into 0:11:25.880 --> 0:11:27.720 the Masters, He's going to be one of the favorites 0:11:27.760 --> 0:11:30.240 going into the PGA next year. He's going to be 0:11:30.240 --> 0:11:35.040 one of the favorites going into the US Open and 0:11:35.120 --> 0:11:37.760 the Open Championship. So I think we saw some good 0:11:37.760 --> 0:11:41.160 things from Rory, and we've definitely seen some very very 0:11:41.160 --> 0:11:44.200 good golf from Rory of the last three weeks. He's 0:11:44.240 --> 0:11:48.080 playing his fourth tournament in a row, which he doesn't 0:11:48.120 --> 0:11:50.600 normally do. It's a designated event on the PGA tour, 0:11:50.679 --> 0:11:53.640 So there were a lot of players that are playing. 0:11:54.080 --> 0:11:56.960 They're playing a lot of golf, and it's going to 0:11:56.960 --> 0:12:04.680 be interesting to see how Hartford plays out. A player 0:12:04.679 --> 0:12:07.280 that I really really like. I like his game, minwou 0:12:07.320 --> 0:12:11.000 Lee finished I think tied for fifth. His sister is 0:12:11.000 --> 0:12:14.640 a major champion. His sister has a great golf swing. 0:12:14.679 --> 0:12:16.600 Minwu's got a great golf swing and he's a really 0:12:16.679 --> 0:12:20.040 really cool kid. Three four years ago, he would kind 0:12:20.040 --> 0:12:21.680 of use Dubai as a base when he was on 0:12:21.720 --> 0:12:24.440 the European Tour and he would hang out at my 0:12:24.520 --> 0:12:27.920 academy at the L's Club in Dubai, and you know, 0:12:28.000 --> 0:12:31.080 on Saturdays and Fridays when we would have all our 0:12:31.160 --> 0:12:37.760 junior junior camps and junior development courses, we'd have a 0:12:37.800 --> 0:12:40.240 bunch of games and be testing the players, and it 0:12:40.280 --> 0:12:43.920 was always cool. My god, Jamie McConnell, who runs my 0:12:43.960 --> 0:12:46.360 academy out there, who's been on the pod, would send 0:12:46.360 --> 0:12:49.280 me videos of Min Wu just you know, hanging out 0:12:49.280 --> 0:12:52.160 with sixteen seventeen year olds, fifteen year old kids, you know, 0:12:52.240 --> 0:12:55.280 going through skills test and trying to get better. So 0:12:55.600 --> 0:12:57.800 I thought that was a really cool thing to see. 0:12:57.960 --> 0:13:00.640 I think He's got a very very bright, bright future, 0:13:01.240 --> 0:13:05.120 and I think he's a player to watch. Tom Kim 0:13:05.720 --> 0:13:08.719 lit it up, had it going. I think he's a 0:13:08.760 --> 0:13:11.920 player to watch. I think I think the ceiling in 0:13:11.960 --> 0:13:15.640 the runway for Tom Kim is really really high. But 0:13:16.840 --> 0:13:21.080 Wyndham Clark is a major champion. And don't be surprised 0:13:21.679 --> 0:13:25.520 if Wyndam Clark keeps winning golf tournaments. And don't be 0:13:25.559 --> 0:13:29.640 surprised if Wyndam Clark gets inside the top ten or 0:13:29.679 --> 0:13:32.360 the top five in the world, because he is legit. 0:13:32.960 --> 0:13:37.120 He has a legit game, and there is no one 0:13:37.240 --> 0:13:41.719 that believes that he should be where he is more 0:13:41.760 --> 0:13:44.760 than Wyndom Clark. I think the emotion that he he 0:13:44.840 --> 0:13:50.280 showed and everything that he's gone through with losing his mom. 0:13:50.480 --> 0:13:53.559 He's a national champion. He played college golf at Oklahoma 0:13:53.600 --> 0:13:56.960 State and then senior year transferred to Oregon and they 0:13:57.000 --> 0:13:59.920 won a national championship. So he's doing all of the 0:14:00.200 --> 0:14:03.720 right things that you need to do to become a 0:14:03.720 --> 0:14:07.679 great player. And you win a US Open and it 0:14:07.720 --> 0:14:11.240 puts you in a very very different category. And he 0:14:11.280 --> 0:14:15.360 has his first major champion ship. So John Rahm, Brooks 0:14:15.400 --> 0:14:19.480 Koepka and now, Wyndham Clark, those are your three major champions. 0:14:20.160 --> 0:14:23.680 Who is going to get the last one? The Open Championship, 0:14:23.720 --> 0:14:27.000 I think is probably the most wide open of all 0:14:27.040 --> 0:14:29.200 the tournaments, all the majors, because you just don't know 0:14:29.200 --> 0:14:33.040 what you're gonna get from a weather standpoint. The golf 0:14:33.040 --> 0:14:35.680 course will be lynxy. Is it gonna run fast? Is 0:14:35.680 --> 0:14:38.200 it gonna be hard? Is it? What are you going 0:14:38.240 --> 0:14:41.280 to get? So I'm really looking forward to getting over 0:14:41.280 --> 0:14:48.080 there and checking that out La Country Club. I'm gonna 0:14:48.080 --> 0:14:52.120 be honest. It did not to me. It's just my opinion. 0:14:52.480 --> 0:14:55.680 It just didn't feel like a major. It really didn't. 0:14:55.720 --> 0:14:59.040 It felt like a new tournament on a golf course 0:14:59.040 --> 0:15:01.840 that no one had really. The golf course looked fantastic 0:15:01.880 --> 0:15:05.080 on TV, and it looked fantastic in person. There were 0:15:05.080 --> 0:15:07.640 players that liked it, and there were players that didn't. Brooks, 0:15:08.120 --> 0:15:12.640 Matt Fitzpatrick, Victor Hovlin. They weren't big fans. There were 0:15:12.640 --> 0:15:15.520 other player I'm sure Wyndham Clark's a fan, but I 0:15:15.600 --> 0:15:21.160 didn't hear en mass players and caddies just raving about 0:15:21.160 --> 0:15:23.480 the golf course the way that they normally do it 0:15:23.520 --> 0:15:26.240 at major championships. When we go to great golf courses. 0:15:26.720 --> 0:15:28.400 It felt flat. I mean, I think if you were 0:15:28.440 --> 0:15:31.160 looking at social media, there were a lot of people 0:15:31.240 --> 0:15:34.520 talking about it. It was next to impossible to walk. 0:15:34.560 --> 0:15:39.160 It was a very, very difficult spectator course to watch. 0:15:39.240 --> 0:15:41.440 There were a lot of t boxes that you couldn't 0:15:41.440 --> 0:15:44.480 get to, there were a lot of green complexes where 0:15:45.720 --> 0:15:48.960 you weren't necessarily able to get around them, and it 0:15:49.200 --> 0:15:52.920 just seemed like and I think due to the location 0:15:53.720 --> 0:15:55.680 right in the middle of Beverly Hills, they'd got two 0:15:55.680 --> 0:15:59.600 golf courses, but there were a bunch of reports that 0:16:00.040 --> 0:16:02.400 ticket sales weren't nearly what they normally are, and you 0:16:02.440 --> 0:16:07.680 could tell and listen major championships. The fans, in my opinion, 0:16:08.560 --> 0:16:13.320 play a huge role in major championship golf, and there 0:16:13.480 --> 0:16:22.520 was a definite subdued, corporate country club kind of feel 0:16:22.680 --> 0:16:26.760 to last week. And I'm just being honest, I'm just 0:16:26.760 --> 0:16:31.520 giving my opinion. I played that golf course before, I 0:16:31.560 --> 0:16:34.360 played it before the Gilhans redesign. It's one of those 0:16:34.360 --> 0:16:39.920 clubs in America to where there are more rules than 0:16:39.960 --> 0:16:46.600 you can read. It's very exclusive, and it just didn't 0:16:46.640 --> 0:16:48.880 have that. Like I said, I just I keep going 0:16:48.880 --> 0:16:50.800 back to it. It just it just didn't have that 0:16:50.840 --> 0:16:54.360 major championship feel to it. And I think the fans 0:16:54.440 --> 0:16:58.280 not being there in full force like they normally are 0:16:58.360 --> 0:17:01.160 played a big, big role in that. You just didn't 0:17:01.200 --> 0:17:03.560 hear all these roars that you normally hear from all 0:17:03.600 --> 0:17:06.719 over the golf course when somebody does something. You'd hear 0:17:06.760 --> 0:17:11.440 it occasionally, but yeah, it was the golf course I 0:17:11.480 --> 0:17:16.280 think was I heard funky from a player, I heard 0:17:16.359 --> 0:17:20.440 gimmicky from a player. I heard unique from a player, 0:17:20.480 --> 0:17:22.120 which is never a good thing when someone says it's 0:17:22.200 --> 0:17:25.960 unique and they don't back up the reasons why it's unique. 0:17:27.320 --> 0:17:29.760 So I don't know. I think the I mean they're 0:17:29.800 --> 0:17:32.920 going back there, I think, but I think they've got 0:17:32.960 --> 0:17:34.720 to find a way when they do go back there, 0:17:36.560 --> 0:17:38.199 they've got to find a way to get more fans in. 0:17:39.400 --> 0:17:43.399 There were just tons of rumors about why there weren't 0:17:43.440 --> 0:17:46.080 fans there. Did the membership buy up the tickets so 0:17:46.160 --> 0:17:48.080 that the golf course didn't get beat up? I mean, 0:17:48.680 --> 0:17:51.159 you just you just heard a lot of different things. 0:17:51.200 --> 0:17:56.440 But yeah, it felt to me a little flat. I've 0:17:56.440 --> 0:17:58.000 been to a lot of US opens, I've been to 0:17:58.040 --> 0:18:03.320 everyone since gosh, two thousand and I've been to every 0:18:03.600 --> 0:18:06.600 US Open for the last decade, and I went to 0:18:06.640 --> 0:18:09.719 a ton before I went to US opens in the eighties. 0:18:09.720 --> 0:18:12.359 I went to US opens in the nineties. I went 0:18:12.440 --> 0:18:14.520 to a bunch of US opens in the Tiger Era, 0:18:14.720 --> 0:18:21.159 and last week was the most subdued and flat that 0:18:21.240 --> 0:18:24.879 I've been to. And if I'm honest, it's probably my 0:18:25.080 --> 0:18:28.320 least favorite one that I've been to in my entire 0:18:29.160 --> 0:18:32.679 you know life. Now, I'm a massive LA guy. I 0:18:32.760 --> 0:18:34.639 used to live in LA. I know a lot of 0:18:34.640 --> 0:18:37.560 people don't like Los Angeles. Traffic's terrible, but I spent 0:18:37.560 --> 0:18:39.679 almost three years in LA and it's one of my 0:18:39.720 --> 0:18:44.639 favorite places in the world. It was a great host town. 0:18:44.760 --> 0:18:48.480 There were, you know, all the manufacturers, a bunch of 0:18:48.480 --> 0:18:52.480 the organizations. Everybody was having parties. I mean La Beverly Hills. 0:18:52.560 --> 0:18:54.240 I mean it showed out. I mean it was great. 0:18:54.280 --> 0:18:55.680 I mean there was a bunch of stuff to do. 0:18:56.359 --> 0:19:00.719 Food's great, the ViBe's great, the weather's great. But in 0:19:00.720 --> 0:19:05.160 my opinion, the golf course and the week just felt 0:19:05.359 --> 0:19:09.920 something felt different. Maybe maybe it changes the next time 0:19:09.960 --> 0:19:12.320 they go back there. Maybe the golf course changes. I 0:19:12.320 --> 0:19:16.800 don't know, but it did feel a little bit, like 0:19:16.840 --> 0:19:18.840 I said, I just keep saying the same word flat 0:19:19.560 --> 0:19:23.600 and subdued. And it was an interesting It was an 0:19:23.600 --> 0:19:28.320 interesting week, but everybody's playing the same golf course. And 0:19:28.760 --> 0:19:32.040 I think it was a big boy golf course, but 0:19:32.119 --> 0:19:35.600 it was also it was a small golf course for 0:19:36.720 --> 0:19:40.359 certain players. I think one of the things I did 0:19:40.440 --> 0:19:43.480 like about L A c C As a major championship 0:19:43.520 --> 0:19:47.119 venue is we saw a big mix of different types 0:19:47.160 --> 0:19:51.439 of games on the on the leader boards, right, I mean, 0:19:51.440 --> 0:19:54.080 we saw a guy like Brian Harmon, who listen, Brian 0:19:54.119 --> 0:19:56.600 gets it done very differently than Rory McElroy and Wyndham 0:19:56.600 --> 0:19:59.680 Clark gets it done right, you know. And so I 0:19:59.680 --> 0:20:03.480 think we I saw the golf course you could play 0:20:03.520 --> 0:20:08.280 it maybe different ways, but it did seem like if 0:20:08.320 --> 0:20:11.800 you hit the ball a yard offline, you could be 0:20:11.880 --> 0:20:16.359 making X. And I don't know if that's a great test. 0:20:17.760 --> 0:20:20.760 And then there were just some holes, especially on the 0:20:20.800 --> 0:20:24.159 back nine, that you know, it's like they can't you know, 0:20:24.200 --> 0:20:27.680 they weren't, you know, the thirteenth hole, the fourteenth tee, 0:20:29.160 --> 0:20:31.840 you know, there were no spectators out there. There were 0:20:31.840 --> 0:20:35.800 no spectators around really the fifteenth green, which is this 0:20:35.880 --> 0:20:39.080 tiny little green, and you know they played it at 0:20:39.119 --> 0:20:42.679 eighty something yards brooks Keepka may double on an eighty 0:20:42.800 --> 0:20:46.760 something yard part three and four putted. I thought that 0:20:46.880 --> 0:20:50.919 was kind of cool. It was fun to watch the 0:20:50.960 --> 0:20:55.520 best players in the world control a little eighty ninety 0:20:55.560 --> 0:20:57.399 one hundred yard web shot. I think one of the 0:20:57.440 --> 0:20:59.720 things that was that everybody was trying to figure out 0:20:59.760 --> 0:21:02.480 is do you tee it up? You tee up a 0:21:02.520 --> 0:21:06.280 lob wedge from Ady Art. If you do it tends 0:21:06.320 --> 0:21:09.720 to add more spin, the ball goes further, So I 0:21:09.760 --> 0:21:13.119 think club selection, I think that part of it was fun. 0:21:13.680 --> 0:21:17.280 But the eighteenth hole, for a finishing hole, it had 0:21:17.320 --> 0:21:20.199 one of the widest fairways I've ever seen for a 0:21:20.240 --> 0:21:24.240 major championship. And I mean, I think the jury's out 0:21:24.280 --> 0:21:31.679 on whether it's good, whether that's bad. Early in the 0:21:31.680 --> 0:21:34.520 week we get the news that the PGA Tour Commissioner 0:21:34.600 --> 0:21:38.640 Jay Monahan is taking a step back from the PJ 0:21:38.840 --> 0:21:42.520 Tour due to health reasons. I heared as many people 0:21:42.600 --> 0:21:46.240 last week. There were as many rumors last week that 0:21:46.359 --> 0:21:48.880 Jay was very, very ill as there were that there 0:21:48.920 --> 0:21:52.240 was nothing wrong with him. And this was just is 0:21:52.280 --> 0:21:55.360 this the way out for j I don't think I've 0:21:55.400 --> 0:21:59.600 ever I've been around professional golf pretty much my entire life. 0:22:00.080 --> 0:22:02.560 You know, my dad played the PGA Tour when I 0:22:02.600 --> 0:22:05.159 was young. I'm told that I was on the PGA 0:22:05.160 --> 0:22:07.400 Tour two weeks after I was born, in the back 0:22:07.440 --> 0:22:10.719 of the station wagon, and pretty much the majority of 0:22:10.720 --> 0:22:14.560 my life. I'm fifty four years old, I've been involved 0:22:14.600 --> 0:22:19.040 with professional golf at some level, and really for the 0:22:19.119 --> 0:22:23.359 last fifteen years, it's been the major part of my life. 0:22:24.200 --> 0:22:31.520 And I've never seen a time where an entire sport organization, 0:22:31.760 --> 0:22:34.640 whatever you want to call it. You had everybody there 0:22:34.720 --> 0:22:39.080 last week, and literally, to a man, no one has 0:22:39.359 --> 0:22:42.680 any idea what's going on in professional golf. They don't 0:22:42.720 --> 0:22:44.680 know if this merger is going to happen. They don't 0:22:44.720 --> 0:22:46.760 know what's going to happen with Live. They don't know 0:22:46.840 --> 0:22:49.560 if players who turn down live contracts are going to 0:22:49.600 --> 0:22:51.840 get money. And not only do the players not know, 0:22:52.080 --> 0:22:55.640 the agents don't know either. The manufacturers don't know. No 0:22:55.680 --> 0:22:59.560 one knows what's going on in professional golf right now. 0:23:00.520 --> 0:23:04.480 Maybe Jimmy Dunn knows, maybe Ed Early knows. Yeah, Sir 0:23:04.640 --> 0:23:08.719 Jay I guess they know, but I just don't know 0:23:08.880 --> 0:23:11.720 anyone else that I've been able to talk to that 0:23:12.520 --> 0:23:16.720 isn't in the dark like everyone else. So I think 0:23:16.720 --> 0:23:21.520 it's a very very interesting time because nobody knows what's 0:23:21.560 --> 0:23:24.879 going on right now in professional golf. I thought the 0:23:24.920 --> 0:23:30.040 week from a PGA tour versus live standpoint, I really 0:23:30.080 --> 0:23:35.919 didn't see a lot of animosity or you know, people 0:23:36.160 --> 0:23:38.119 really talking about it. I just see everybody was just 0:23:38.200 --> 0:23:41.360 kind of saying, hey, we don't know. And you would 0:23:41.359 --> 0:23:43.000 talk to somebody and you would say to somebody on 0:23:43.000 --> 0:23:45.280 the range, hey have you heard anything, and they'd say, no, 0:23:45.520 --> 0:23:47.320 I haven't heard anything, and somebody would ask, hey have 0:23:47.359 --> 0:23:49.280 you heard that? And then I think one of the 0:23:49.320 --> 0:23:52.920 things that's frustrating right now for everyone involved is right 0:23:52.960 --> 0:23:56.760