Speaker 1: I miss a green, for example, I'm already upset. When
Speaker 1: I find my ball in the bunker, I'm really upset.
Speaker 1: And when I find my ball.
Speaker 2: In a brid egg Frida egg, the dreaded Frida egg,
Speaker 2: Frida egg, fridagg.
Speaker 3: Bride egg, Lie, I'm about ready to run off of
Speaker 3: the hump. All right, Welcome back to another edition of
Speaker 3: the Friday Golf Podcast. Today, Joseph and I are going
Speaker 3: to discuss some underrated under the radar Master storylines. We're
Speaker 3: going to do our Big Masters preview next week, but
Speaker 3: in the meantime, we figured we would cover a few
Speaker 3: storylines that might be a little bit smaller, a little
Speaker 3: flying under the radar. As we are in the in
Speaker 3: the last stages of Masters lead up, it's exciting that
Speaker 3: the first major of the year is here. But first
Speaker 3: let's get to in and out. Joseph, what are you
Speaker 3: in on?
Speaker 2: At the risk of being too similar to last week,
Speaker 2: I'm in on the Valerio Texas Open, having a better
Speaker 2: field this year and potentially a little bit better of
Speaker 2: a weather forecast than in some previous years. This is
Speaker 2: a place I've always felt like if the field were better,
Speaker 2: people would have a more favorable opinion of the tournament,
Speaker 2: and it's often been like one hundred degrees. It's great
Speaker 2: golf course for testing professional golfers. I'll write more about
Speaker 2: that for Club TFE, but I think there's a potential
Speaker 2: that this is going to be a really fun tournament.
Speaker 2: It's looking like it's the forecast is going to be
Speaker 2: in the seventies and the eighties with some wind, which
Speaker 2: is a really good way for that golf course to play.
Speaker 2: So I think people may really enjoy watching this tournament
Speaker 2: that's been sleepier in the past, but this year we've
Speaker 2: got Rory Morikawa, Spief Ludwig, Max Homa, Fitzpatrick, like a
Speaker 2: lot of big names compared to some years previous. So
Speaker 2: I think it's gonna be a great tournament and I'm
Speaker 2: pretty fired up about it.
Speaker 3: I think an underrated tournament ever all the time is
Speaker 3: the week before a major, because you start to see
Speaker 3: players kind of working it out, and I think, like,
Speaker 3: I think you got to play within the two.
Speaker 1: Weeks before a major.
Speaker 3: You got to either play the week, you know, like
Speaker 3: at the Houston, or you gotta play this just having
Speaker 3: a pencil and a scorecard in your hand before in
Speaker 3: the lead up of a major, I think is so
Speaker 3: important so that on Thursday you are not just feeling
Speaker 3: that that kind of pressure, uncomfortableness that tournament.
Speaker 1: Golf presents you.
Speaker 3: So I think the week before majors are are super underrated.
Speaker 3: We'll get out, We'll get to my out. Which is
Speaker 3: kind of the opposite, but I do love I love tournaments.
Speaker 3: The week before majors. You just kind of get to
Speaker 3: see where players are at. Likewise, like I'm excited to
Speaker 3: see where Brooks and ram are at this week at
Speaker 3: Live Miami. Just I think those are the two guys
Speaker 3: that I'm kind of watching. Maybe you could throw camp
Speaker 3: Smith in there also for the Masters, but you know,
Speaker 3: just to get a check on where these guys games
Speaker 3: at heading into the Masters.
Speaker 2: I'll probably add walking Nem into that for me. I mean,
Speaker 2: I'm pretty interested seeing where he is entering the Masters
Speaker 2: as well.
Speaker 3: I feel like I've seen a lot from him. I
Speaker 3: don't I don't necessarily need to see more from him
Speaker 3: in the lead up. I think I think I've seen
Speaker 3: a lot from him this year, you know, in the
Speaker 3: sense of that one I'm in on, I'm in I'm
Speaker 3: in on Houston and Memorial Park, I think I've been
Speaker 3: in on him.
Speaker 1: I think I've I've been a champion of him.
Speaker 3: I thought that this last week it got the needed
Speaker 3: spotlight that it deserves. The last really three years since
Speaker 3: this golf course was reworked by Tom Doak. We have
Speaker 3: a number of podcast episodes of but with Tom talking
Speaker 3: about this project throughout its stages, from the planning to
Speaker 3: construction to opening of this golf course stages.
Speaker 1: But I mean, I thought this week it really shined it.
Speaker 3: Obviously, getting out of the fall, getting into this part
Speaker 3: of the year where you have this master's lead up,
Speaker 3: the tension for golf, the audience for golf is bigger
Speaker 3: this time of year than it is in the fall.
Speaker 1: It really shined it.
Speaker 3: And obviously it had a really good field, and I
Speaker 3: thought it put on a really, really great tournament. So
Speaker 3: I thought this was a I'm super in on Memorial
Speaker 3: Park as a tournament host, as a golf course. There's
Speaker 3: a variety of reasons. I thought the design really holds
Speaker 3: up well to modern golf. Short grass, low rough, really
Speaker 3: fascinating greens with small targets that you have to hit
Speaker 3: in order to score. I think what we we saw
Speaker 3: really I thought It was highlighted extremely well with the
Speaker 3: setup on Sunday was you have to be in the
Speaker 3: right place to hit an approach close there, and if
Speaker 3: you're not in the right place, it's going to be
Speaker 3: hard to make a birdie. And if you try and
Speaker 3: make a birdie, that's when you bring bogies or worse
Speaker 3: into play out there. I thought, you know, listen, like
Speaker 3: that golf course along with the Houston market, you're talking
Speaker 3: about one of the five biggest markets in the country.
Speaker 3: That golf course in Houston should have a signature event
Speaker 3: if you want to talk about building up the PGA Tour,
Speaker 3: building up the product. This is one of the best
Speaker 3: combinations of market and golf courses. Maybe you know behind
Speaker 3: Riviera in LA the best combination of market and golf
Speaker 3: course that the PGA Tour has. This should be a
Speaker 3: signature event.
Speaker 1: It is.
Speaker 3: They have the opportunity to draw a big fan. This
Speaker 3: is a golf course that anybody can play. It's a
Speaker 3: tremendous test. I walked away kind of thinking like, could
Speaker 3: this sneaky be a PGA Championship venue.
Speaker 2: I don't think that's crazy. It's an amazing golf course.
Speaker 2: I think specifically having to miss around the greens in
Speaker 2: the right spots is something that you don't see that
Speaker 2: often on the PGA Tour. I mean, it always matters,
Speaker 2: but it mattered much more at Houston at Memorial Park
Speaker 2: than at a lot of venues. The only part I'd
Speaker 2: probably disagree with Andy, I don't think the field was
Speaker 2: that strong, but the talent within the field elevated to
Speaker 2: the top right. It was a compelling leaderboard down the stretch.
Speaker 2: Obviously Scotty Scheffler was in the field, but outside of Scheffler.
Speaker 1: Now of Scheffler, there weren't.
Speaker 2: A ton of Like the Leira Texas Open is going
Speaker 2: to have a better field, and I totally agree with
Speaker 2: you that if Memorial had a better field, this could
Speaker 2: be one of the premier events on the PGA Tour.
Speaker 2: I'd love to see it as a signature event, especially
Speaker 2: given the accessibility and the size of the market. But
Speaker 2: just the golf course in and of itself is worthy
Speaker 2: of having a signature event. So with all those factors,
Speaker 2: I'd fully support that it being deemed a signature event.
Speaker 3: Hey, I'm going to jump you on my out just
Speaker 3: because it's going to relate to this conversation go ahead.
Speaker 3: I am out on Harbortown as an elevated event. I
Speaker 3: love Harbortown, I love the golf course. I think it's
Speaker 3: a unique, different test. But I am completely out on
Speaker 3: signature events after major championships. If I'm the PGA Tour
Speaker 3: and I want to make these signature events a big deal,
Speaker 3: the last thing I'm going to do is put them
Speaker 3: at the week after a major championship, which is going
Speaker 3: to dwarf them. It is going to make them feel irrelevant.
Speaker 3: It's going to make them feel small. It's going to
Speaker 3: make them feel casual in comparison to the Masters or
Speaker 3: the US Open, with the Travelers following the US Open.
Speaker 1: This is just a bad idea.
Speaker 3: This is not I know that the players are playing
Speaker 3: and they're close by, but this is not a good
Speaker 3: idea going from Augusta National to Harbor Town and deeming
Speaker 3: it one of your premiere signature events. Like, you're you're
Speaker 3: doing multiple things. You're you are You're making the signature
Speaker 3: events feel smaller by putting them next to a major championship.
Speaker 3: You're also cannibalizing men's pro golf. To me, and I guess, like,
Speaker 3: where there's there's a push and pull here is the
Speaker 3: PGA Tour doesn't own the Masters or the US Open.
Speaker 3: But to me, the week after the Major should be
Speaker 3: maybe if you want to still have opposite field events,
Speaker 3: it should be something like that.
Speaker 1: Or no event.
Speaker 3: Because a major championship, for gaulf like, you're still talking
Speaker 3: about the Major championship into Thursday, Friday of the week
Speaker 3: following a major. The tournament ends on Sunday afternoon, and
Speaker 3: there's discourse then about the Major for at least the
Speaker 3: next four to three to four days.
Speaker 1: You shouldn't have a big event right after that.
Speaker 3: There needs to be space, there needs to be time,
Speaker 3: and that's going to make the sport more popular is
Speaker 3: by allowing space, allowing these big events to hold space.
Speaker 3: And they should be thinking the same thing about signature events.
Speaker 3: We should have signature events, and then we should have
Speaker 3: space afterwards for people to talk about our signature events.
Speaker 3: When you pile these events on top of each other,
Speaker 3: you are cannibalizing the impact of any of them feeling
Speaker 3: really big outside of the majors.
Speaker 2: I agree, Andy, I'd probably take it a step further,
Speaker 2: which is even more limiting, But I probably wouldn't want
Speaker 2: to have a signature event the week before a major either,
Speaker 2: because no, most people's attention is going to be on
Speaker 2: the major. So yeah, you need to let these breathe.
Speaker 2: Every time somebody wins a major, it feels like they're
Speaker 2: gonna it's only a matter of time before they withdraw
Speaker 2: from that signature event. Right, that's directly week after, like
Speaker 2: some of the guys who have seen the or.
Speaker 3: They go and miss it, or they go and miss
Speaker 3: the cut. That's the other off sure, right, Like they
Speaker 3: go there and they shoot one over par over two
Speaker 3: rounds or finish if they make the cut, they finished
Speaker 3: tea like it was like John Rahm spent Sunday afternoon
Speaker 3: in the booth, Right, he wins the Masters, and then
Speaker 3: at Harbortown on Sunday afternoon he's calling golf because he
Speaker 3: finished T forty two and didn't care. That's the problem
Speaker 3: is that nobody cares about the event after the Masters.
Speaker 2: I agree, and no one's I thought the Travelers last
Speaker 2: year was really sleepy. Obviously, they got a good finish
Speaker 2: with Keegan Bradley winning, and that was feel good for
Speaker 2: a lot of people. But I think both Harbortown and
Speaker 2: Travelers had no energy coming into them and relied on
Speaker 2: an exciting finish to cut of save the event. Those
Speaker 2: venues also, frankly haven't held up particularly well to modern technology.
Speaker 2: Those are two events that need to be looked at
Speaker 2: and scrutinized pretty closely, because I think we could get
Speaker 2: some very low energy tournaments the next coupley.
Speaker 3: Well, and this is where the Houston thing, right, like, yeah,
Speaker 3: what are we doing? We get heart, We're going to
Speaker 3: hilton Head Island. I would love to vacation at hilton Head.
Speaker 3: I would love to play Harbor Town. But is that
Speaker 3: one of your premier events? Is that should that be
Speaker 3: one of your premier events versus Houston and one of
Speaker 3: the biggest media markets. Opportunity to build out like a
Speaker 3: lot of stuff around the event because there are millions
Speaker 3: and millions of people in the metro area, hotel and
Speaker 3: also a great golf course. So like to me, like,
Speaker 3: what are we doing here? This is this is a
Speaker 3: market and a golf course worthy of a signature event
Speaker 3: hilton Head Island, Like how many fans can conceivably go
Speaker 3: to an event there?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 2: And again I think the playability the golf course is
Speaker 2: just much better for testing professional golfers at this point, right,
Speaker 2: that's that's somewhat subject preferential. But I pushed back there
Speaker 2: gets a little overrated as a professional golf test.
Speaker 3: I think we should have a wide range of different tests,
Speaker 3: and Harvardtown presents a different, unique test. If we have
Speaker 3: if all the all the golf courses that host signature
Speaker 3: events have a similar test, we're going to have a
Speaker 3: similar skill set of players. I would liken this to
Speaker 3: different courts in tennis. Some players are better on clay,
Speaker 3: some players are better on grass, some players are better
Speaker 3: on hard courts. The best players are great at all
Speaker 3: of all of the course, all of the different surfaces.
Speaker 3: In golf, we should have precision cores.
Speaker 1: We should have.
Speaker 3: Courses that are long and narrow. We should have courses
Speaker 3: that are kind of open, like open and have like
Speaker 3: an opportunity to play a lot of angles.
Speaker 1: And we should have links courses. We should be we should.
Speaker 3: Have a really wide range of tests that formulate who
Speaker 3: the best players are. And over time, if you have
Speaker 3: a circuit, you're able to begin to say, like, man,
Speaker 3: that guy is just a links player. We play three
Speaker 3: signature events a year on links courses, and this guy
Speaker 3: just like every year, year and year out he makes
Speaker 3: his hay on links courses or Hey, this guy like
Speaker 3: Jordan Speith plays awesome at Harbortown.
Speaker 1: You know why is that?
Speaker 4: Look?
Speaker 2: I agree, I'm not advocating for one type of setup.
Speaker 2: I just think Harbortown, at this point in its life
Speaker 2: and where technology is gotten, I think it's compromised that
Speaker 2: course a lot. I know, I understand, I want a
Speaker 2: variety of tests. I'm not saying everything should look the same.
Speaker 2: Pebble Beach is totally different, and I'm fully supported being
Speaker 2: a signature event. I'm not saying every golf course should
Speaker 2: look like Riviera or Memorial Park. But I just in general,
Speaker 2: I tend to think that we've overrated Harbortown a little
Speaker 2: bit in the test that it presents.
Speaker 4: But I think that.
Speaker 3: There is like an aspect of the history of Harbortown
Speaker 3: and what that golf course meant for golf design that
Speaker 3: you know, the launching it really launching of Pete Die's
Speaker 3: like mainstream appeal as a golf architect that does put
Speaker 3: it into a stratosphere that you know, I think there's
Speaker 3: there's significance to the history behind it, and I agree
Speaker 3: with that like where my problem with Harbortown is a
Speaker 3: signature event, moral lies with where it is a like
Speaker 3: sleepy resort, uh and be where is on the schedule
Speaker 3: the week after a major which it has no hope
Speaker 3: of ever having any Jews.
Speaker 2: Agree And I think something we can probably agree on
Speaker 2: as you're talking about Harbor Town's legacy and its history
Speaker 2: going back to Pete Dies Early coming onto the scene,
Speaker 2: legacy and technology are working against one another right now,
Speaker 2: and the PGA Tour needs to realize that if they
Speaker 2: want to tout legacy and they want to play on
Speaker 2: some historic courses, having the game at the right scale
Speaker 2: is more conducive to that than just letting it grow
Speaker 2: out of control.
Speaker 4: So I think we can probably agree on that.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, oh yeah, that's a great point too. I
Speaker 1: agree with that point.
Speaker 2: Oh what I'm out on, I'm going to pivot and
Speaker 2: kind of piggyback off of you a little bit. Something
Speaker 2: I've bounced around in my head a lot. I think
Speaker 2: where I've landed. I'm out on major championships, getting FedEx
Speaker 2: cut points, and I think there's a good case to
Speaker 2: be made either way here. But I think I've pretty
Speaker 2: much landed on giving FedEx cut points, distributing them at
Speaker 2: major championships is kind of an admission from the PGA
Speaker 2: Tour that their events will always play second fiddle to
Speaker 2: major championships because the season long race. Let's say a
Speaker 2: player won three majors and didn't even qualify for East Lake.
Speaker 2: Let's just say because you weren't giving points at majors.
Speaker 2: People would say, well, this doesn't feel like the season
Speaker 2: long race, like you don't even have this player who
Speaker 2: had the best season. But I think that's kind of
Speaker 2: the point. If you want to build a special season
Speaker 2: long race, like these aren't PGA Tour events the major championships,
Speaker 2: it's not. I think the entanglement between majors and the
Speaker 2: PGA Tour obviously a hot topic between OWGR and a
Speaker 2: million issues you can get into in which the game
Speaker 2: is too tangled coupled between the PGA Tour and the majors.
Speaker 2: I think this is another example where the PGA Tour
Speaker 2: could elevate its p by actually removing its scoring system,
Speaker 2: decoupling it from majors.
Speaker 4: Where do you land on that?
Speaker 3: It's an interesting idea, and I think like there's always
Speaker 3: been this thing of like you know for years it's
Speaker 3: like you get fifty extra points if you went a major,
Speaker 3: Like there's no way to actually accurately represent the majors
Speaker 3: in the FedEx Cup, because if you accurately represented what
Speaker 3: a major championship wins in terms of points, it would
Speaker 3: make all of your other events look silly. I agree,
Speaker 3: this is not a PGA Tour event. It's set up
Speaker 3: by other people. It's you know, it's not a not
Speaker 3: a PGA Tour event. They get a fraction of revenue
Speaker 3: from it. I kind of agree that. Being said, I
Speaker 3: think it could go two ways. I think when you
Speaker 3: make decisions and changes, there's lots of unintended consequences. And
Speaker 3: I think, like you could there's there's a vacuum where
Speaker 3: you could conceivably see this elevating the PGA Tour events.
Speaker 3: But I think there's also a vacuum that could make
Speaker 3: people care less about FedEx Cup points. And you laid
Speaker 3: it out like say, say say well and and part
Speaker 3: of this live creates this too. But let's just say
Speaker 3: Windham not Windham Clark. Let's just say let's say Matt
Speaker 3: Fitzpatrick wins two majors this year but does nothing in
Speaker 3: PGA Tour events.
Speaker 1: It would make the.
Speaker 3: PGA Tour look really silly if he like didn't make
Speaker 3: it to east Lake. But as you said, that's a
Speaker 3: different it's I think it's a it's a it's a
Speaker 3: you could you could go both ways on this. I
Speaker 3: think that's the thing. It would be an extraordinary risk,
Speaker 3: and I I don't know if if a billion a
Speaker 3: multi billion dollar organization can can feasibly accept that type
Speaker 3: of risk.
Speaker 1: I am all for shaking things up.
Speaker 3: This seems like a huge step, and I don't necessary
Speaker 3: you know, listen, it's uh. I like the idea that
Speaker 3: I think there are positives to the idea.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's where I've landed. I've thought about it a lot.
Speaker 2: I think you are admitting by not doing it that
Speaker 2: your your events are way inferior to major championships. And
Speaker 2: if east Lake is special and guys have done well
Speaker 2: in majors but haven't done well in any of the
Speaker 2: PGA Tour events, like, it'll it if they if it
Speaker 2: matters to them, If that fits Patrick, if it matters
Speaker 2: to him, then he needs to play better in PGA
Speaker 2: Tour events to qualify for the PGA Tour season end race.
Speaker 2: Majors aren't PGA Tour events, so I think I've landed
Speaker 2: on being out on them giving points.
Speaker 4: But I understand it's not that easy.
Speaker 3: I think the other thing, the other thing looming with
Speaker 3: everything going on in men's pro golf is that the
Speaker 3: the players really the PGA Tour play or who are
Speaker 3: standing in the way of really getting the game back together.
Speaker 3: And I think live standing in the way of getting
Speaker 3: the game back together too. But they need to understand
Speaker 3: they're all getting equity in the PGA Tour. If you
Speaker 3: have all the best players back together, I think that's
Speaker 3: actually bad news for the major championships. I think the
Speaker 3: current setup of golf is extraordinarily beneficial to the majors.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah.
Speaker 1: If all the.
Speaker 3: Players are together, they can begin to negotiate with major
Speaker 3: championships about their revenue sharers, which with these championships produce
Speaker 3: the most revenue of any events on the annual golf calendar.
Speaker 3: And I mean in terms of revenue splits, the players
Speaker 3: get very little of it. If they're all together and
Speaker 3: they're all all equity holders of this entity, they can
Speaker 3: begin to negotiate against it. Because the majors need the
Speaker 3: players they have to have the top players in the game.
Speaker 3: As long as it's split, they're going to have they
Speaker 3: have no negotiating power. So I just think that in
Speaker 3: terms of the players, if you are if the tour
Speaker 3: has so much more opportunity to begin to elevate its
Speaker 3: events if all the players are together.
Speaker 2: I didn't know where we're going here today, But if
Speaker 2: you're hinting at maybe some of the reason that the
Speaker 2: Official World Golf rankings have been hesitant to give points
Speaker 2: to Live being kind of protecting the status quo, if
Speaker 2: you're suggesting that is something I agree with. So that
Speaker 2: is a I feel like that's kind of an elephant
Speaker 2: in the room to an extent, Like how malicious or
Speaker 2: nefarious do you think some of those actors are being
Speaker 2: versus just protecting the integral of the system. I do
Speaker 2: think there's a case to be made that they're a
Speaker 2: little bit worried about some of the gained leverage that
Speaker 2: players would have all being together and actually trying to
Speaker 2: get a bigger share of the revenue. So I didn't
Speaker 2: know we were going there today, but that is something
Speaker 2: I have felt.
Speaker 3: If I'm August National, I want nothing to change with
Speaker 3: my current arrangement with the best male professional golfers because
Speaker 3: I give them a very small percentage of the revenue
Speaker 3: I generate on a week, and I generate a ton
Speaker 3: of revenue that I am able to use every year
Speaker 3: to make enhancements that make us more money the next
Speaker 3: year and the more money the next ten years. And
Speaker 3: I think like there is a little bit of an
Speaker 3: undercurrent of you know, listening to the USGA, the US
Speaker 3: Open funds a lot of what the USGA does, The
Speaker 3: PGA Championship in the Ryder Cup fund a lot of
Speaker 3: what the PGA Championship in the the PGA.
Speaker 1: Of America does, the Open funds.
Speaker 3: You know, the players get very little of that money
Speaker 3: in comparison to the way other sports leagues operate. And
Speaker 3: that's just in the only way that that would change
Speaker 3: in the long term is if all the players are together.
Speaker 2: And you know what the best representation of some of
Speaker 2: those ideas in practice is that within the official World
Speaker 2: Golf rankings, you get one hundred points fixed for winning
Speaker 2: a major championship, and the players championship is fixed at
Speaker 2: eighty and capped at eighty. The reason for that, I
Speaker 2: don't think you have to read too far into it
Speaker 2: is that if it were actually just based on field strength,
Speaker 2: the players would outrate some of these major championships, like
Speaker 2: the Masters.
Speaker 4: But through the Official World.
Speaker 2: Golf Rankings, they've decided to fix the majors at one
Speaker 2: hundred and cap the players at eighty. I think that
Speaker 2: is a you don't have to be too conspiratorial brained
Speaker 2: to understand why that's beneficial to the governing bodies and
Speaker 2: to maybe we make one more leap that the Official
Speaker 2: World Golf Rankings is kind of a mechanism of retaining
Speaker 2: the status quo. So I didn't know we were going there today,
Speaker 2: but I.
Speaker 4: Like that all right.
Speaker 3: Before we get into our Master's storylines, a huge announcement,
Speaker 3: huge announcement from Friday Golf and Shotgun Start.
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Speaker 3: We used to do a coffee subscription years ago through
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Speaker 2: I mean I just keep it simple with Starbucks every day,
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Speaker 3: We gotta get that change, We gotta we gotta get you,
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Speaker 3: All right, Joseph, Let's get into our underrated, under talked
Speaker 3: about sleeper storylines. For the Masters. Give me your first one, Andy.
Speaker 2: I don't want to be too harsh with this one,
Speaker 2: but I do think there is a very good professional
Speaker 2: golfer who people think very highly of his game and
Speaker 2: needs to do something in major championships before being crowned
Speaker 2: elite I mean, or even very good. Sam Burns is
Speaker 2: playing excellent golf this year. He is, I believe he
Speaker 2: had four straight top tens earlier in the year, coming
Speaker 2: off a couple finishes that aren't as strong, but he's
Speaker 2: shown some serious form. He's played fourteen majors in his career.
Speaker 2: Does he has won top twenty. He tied for twentieth
Speaker 2: in the twenty twenty two PGA Championship. Outside of that,
Speaker 2: no top twenties. I think sometimes you see that with
Speaker 2: these golfers who are really good with a wedge and
Speaker 2: a putter, that when they get moved to more demanding
Speaker 2: major championship like setup longer, more long irons, and short game,
Speaker 2: they don't have the same results. You're not at PGA
Speaker 2: West anymore. He's kind of the anti Cam Young, where
Speaker 2: Cam Young's not as good with the wedge and the putter,
Speaker 2: but much better with hitting the driver a little straighter,
Speaker 2: just a better overall ball striker with some of the
Speaker 2: long game. He's done exceptionally well in his young major
Speaker 2: career so far. I want to see some more of
Speaker 2: that from Sam Burns. I think this Masters's.
Speaker 3: Torus would be another great example of the opposite of Burns.
Speaker 2: Sure, same with Aideki Matsuyama. Right, Like, there's multiple examples
Speaker 2: you could throw out there. Like, that's again a big
Speaker 2: part of why I advocated so much for Cam Young
Speaker 2: over Sam Burns last year at the Ryder Cup, because
Speaker 2: Marcos was a little bit more of a major Championship
Speaker 2: like setup with long irons.
Speaker 4: We need to see something from Sam Burns.
Speaker 2: Don't want to be too critical, but we're starting to
Speaker 2: accrue a big enough sample size that if he wants
Speaker 2: to be considered a great golfer, he needs to do something.
Speaker 2: This year is a prime time to do it. So
Speaker 2: that's an underrated storyline for me.
Speaker 3: All Right, I'm going to go along the same lines.
Speaker 3: I echo your Sam Burns. I'm gonna go with a
Speaker 3: guy that's had a lot of major championships success but
Speaker 3: has been in a bit of a lull and like
Speaker 3: as he's aging into his later twenties. I think there's
Speaker 3: a big question of have we seen the best of
Speaker 3: this player, Klin Morikawa. Okay, obviously he's got two major championships,
Speaker 3: but that was a long time ago. We're now bordering
Speaker 3: on four years ago for those major championships, and you know,
Speaker 3: we haven't seen him really win a lot. He won
Speaker 3: the Zozo in the fall, he hasn't won a an
Speaker 3: event in like the regular season, like you know, the
Speaker 3: the season for golf, nonfall event since the Open in
Speaker 3: twenty twenty one. So my question, you know, is kind
Speaker 3: of centers around you know, what is Colin Morikawa an
Speaker 3: elite top ten talent? Is he one of the ten
Speaker 3: best players in the game or is he just kind
Speaker 3: of like another really good professional golfer. And I think
Speaker 3: three years ago he was without a doubt, oh this
Speaker 3: guy might be the next great player. And I think
Speaker 3: now that's a that's a big question. And I think
Speaker 3: this major season, the Masters in particular, I think is
Speaker 3: a really good course fit. He's played well here. We
Speaker 3: haven't seen him contend in a major since the Masters
Speaker 3: in twenty twenty two, So what what is Colin Morikawa's
Speaker 3: kind of like major championship future. Is he a guy
Speaker 3: that's going to get to four five majors or is it?
Speaker 3: Is it kind of too and done?
Speaker 2: I think that's completely fair. We Calin Mari Kaala has
Speaker 2: been a little bit frustrating over the past couple of
Speaker 2: years where he disappears at times when you think he's
Speaker 2: gonna play great golf and then he pops up and
Speaker 2: wins the Zozo by multiple shots and you're like, well,
Speaker 2: where's that been in big golf tournament? So I agree
Speaker 2: Calin Morri Kala does need to show it. Yeah, he's
Speaker 2: coming out. He's played four majors, three top twenties. He
Speaker 2: needs to get in the mix in one of these.
Speaker 2: I'm with you, yeah like that.
Speaker 3: That that fifth at the Masters in twenty twenty two
Speaker 3: was a very non competitive.
Speaker 4: Fifth, right, Yeah, he needs to get in the mis.
Speaker 1: Him, him and Rory played like they were never really
Speaker 1: in it.
Speaker 3: And they both played they had great Sundays and and
Speaker 3: and got like great finishes, but they weren't really in
Speaker 3: the tournament.
Speaker 1: You didn't think, oh, that guy's gonna win.
Speaker 2: And frankly more, Kala hasn't done a whole lot so
Speaker 2: far this year, So I think it's an open question
Speaker 2: of where his game is right now.
Speaker 1: I mean, he hasn't done much the last two years
Speaker 1: outside of that Zozo.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he almost won Rocket Mortgage last year. He was
Speaker 2: in the playoff and then I mean he was kind
Speaker 2: of in the mix at toy and then he kind
Speaker 2: of sent away the tournament at Capua. Yeah, but that's
Speaker 2: not a lot of contention. And those aren't the most
Speaker 2: high profile events either. So it's time to see Callimore
Speaker 2: Kawa on a big stage again.
Speaker 3: You saw him at Kapalula last year and you're like, oh,
Speaker 3: this is going to be a big year. Like it
Speaker 3: looked like he was running away with that event. It's like, oh,
Speaker 3: more Kawa this is And I just think, I just
Speaker 3: wonder what what is he at this point? Is is
Speaker 3: he a superstar or is he an above average PGA
Speaker 3: Tour player?
Speaker 1: And I think that's a real question.
Speaker 2: I think what stands out to me andy watching him?
Speaker 2: This is a random tournament to pull. But when he
Speaker 2: won the WGC Workday at Concession, that was a pretty
Speaker 2: cool golf tournament and he looked so good. Then he
Speaker 2: wins to Open a few months later, Like we haven't
Speaker 2: seen that. Colin Morikawa in quite some time.
Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly, I think, and I think listen, like this
Speaker 3: is one of the things.
Speaker 1: That is hard.
Speaker 3: Is like, when you reach a different level of star,
Speaker 3: you have less time to be who made you the star?
Speaker 3: And I think if you look at Morikawa, he has
Speaker 3: more off the course responsibilities than he ever had when
Speaker 3: he was a young player, when he was a standout,
Speaker 3: unbelievable college player. When you win two majors before the
Speaker 3: age of what twenty six, you all sudden enter the
Speaker 3: stratsphere and I you know, I wonder, you know, it's
Speaker 3: just one of those things like is is is the
Speaker 3: work the same amount of work being put in that
Speaker 3: used to be put in?
Speaker 1: And I think that I don't know. I have no
Speaker 1: clue about.
Speaker 3: That, but I do know that there are more demands
Speaker 3: on his time than ever before in his life.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I guess for me with Colin, it's I think
Speaker 2: the only concern. I mean, I think very highly of
Speaker 2: his game. He has multiple things at any given point
Speaker 2: that could come and bite him. Like he's not the
Speaker 2: longest off the tee. He hits it dead straight, but
Speaker 2: he's not the longest. His short game isn't always solid,
Speaker 2: and the putting can be hit or missed, So when
Speaker 2: you have multiple parts of your game that can be
Speaker 2: a concern in any given week, it's hard to project
Speaker 2: him to win. Like he's not on nobody's on Scotty's level,
Speaker 2: but he's got he's multiple steps from being on Scotty's level.
Speaker 2: And I think, especially with the lack of pop off
Speaker 2: the tea on some of these more demanding golf courses,
Speaker 2: his iron play has to be unbelievable to cover up
Speaker 2: some potential short game deficiencies. So you're asking he needs
Speaker 2: to really be on.
Speaker 3: He's always going to be compared to Hoveland and at Wolf,
Speaker 3: and I think Matt Wolf for this uh this discussion,
Speaker 3: has has kind of removed himself from the discussion. But
Speaker 3: with Hoveland, I think that's like a it's an interesting
Speaker 3: comparison because Hoveland, you know, you're getting elite tea to
Speaker 3: green play tea to green tea to approaching the green
Speaker 3: play week in week out. The putter, I think is
Speaker 3: more reliable for Holand and the short game has gotten
Speaker 3: to a respectable level. Like I think when you look
Speaker 3: at the true superstars, they have always almost always have
Speaker 3: three very very dependable skills and usually there's one flaw.
Speaker 3: And with more Kawa, I think what you've illuminated on
Speaker 3: is the lack of pop and the putting can can
Speaker 3: both be problems.
Speaker 2: The short game can be a problem too. I mean
Speaker 2: it's not always I wouldn't call his short game rock solid.
Speaker 2: It's certainly not elite, and frankly we're seeing that with
Speaker 2: Hoveland a resurgence in the short game last year, and
Speaker 2: then this year it's kind of regressed back to a
Speaker 2: little bit of a questionable level. So that may be
Speaker 2: another underrated story, maybe not so underrated, so I won't
Speaker 2: use that one up.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think Victor Hovelin falls into the top tier
Speaker 3: storylines for me, I didn't want to, but I think
Speaker 3: it's he'll always be him and Morecow will always be
Speaker 3: compared because they turned pro.
Speaker 1: At the same time, I think.
Speaker 4: All right, shall I get to my second storyline?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 2: I think for me always at Augusta somebody. You just
Speaker 2: have to pay attention to Patrick Reid and why I
Speaker 2: think he's particularly he hasn't been very good this year.
Speaker 2: He hasn't, but it almost it's never really mattered too
Speaker 2: much his form to when he shows up to the
Speaker 2: Masters T four last year, T thirty five, the year
Speaker 2: before wasn't great T eight, T ten, T thirty six,
Speaker 2: and then a win obviously in twenty eight eighteen, so's
Speaker 2: he can play in the Masters the rest of his
Speaker 2: playing career. He's not qualified, though, andy for any other
Speaker 2: majors this year, and he's outside the top one hundred
Speaker 2: in the official World's Golf Rankings with limited access as
Speaker 2: a live player to getting those Official World Golf Rankings points.
Speaker 2: So I mean, for Patrick Reid, this Masters isn't just
Speaker 2: an opportunity to add to his legacy with potentially winning
Speaker 2: another one or registering another top finish, but it's also
Speaker 2: a much needed, scarce opportunity to get some of those
Speaker 2: Official World Golf Rankings points or finish highly enough to
Speaker 2: qualify for some of the majors the rest of the year.
Speaker 2: It's a big It's a really big golf tournament for him,
Speaker 2: specifically in an amazing course fit. So I think Patrick
Speaker 2: Reid's a really compelling story to watch. I never doubt
Speaker 2: him at this place.
Speaker 3: I mean, in a way, the Masters is probably the
Speaker 3: best place to qualify for other majors for any of
Speaker 3: the live players in the field.
Speaker 1: That are not qualified for the other majors.
Speaker 4: Why do you say that?
Speaker 3: Just it's a small field. And if you finish high
Speaker 3: in this event with a small field, that like take
Speaker 3: out the older players and you know, some of the
Speaker 3: past champions, some of the other exemptions, like you know
Speaker 3: you have like the Latin American Am qualifier. You take
Speaker 3: out those players and it becomes a very small field
Speaker 3: with a lot of different qualifications that are at stake.
Speaker 3: And you know, you in any tournament, you immediately can
Speaker 3: can shrink the field of players you're competing against because
Speaker 3: half the field is not going to play well.
Speaker 1: That is like just math.
Speaker 3: And in this case, you have probably about twenty or
Speaker 3: fifteen players that shouldn't really be that are there because
Speaker 3: of past success or you know.
Speaker 1: So, so you.
Speaker 3: Take like an high eight ninety player field and you
Speaker 3: have removed it down to it's like a twenty five
Speaker 3: player tournament if you're on your game, and then you know, so,
Speaker 3: then you're all of a sudden the qualification standpoint, like
Speaker 3: was it top twelve gets in next year's Masters, And
Speaker 3: then I think it's uh, I can't remember what the
Speaker 3: exact thing is for for the US Open, but you know,
Speaker 3: if you're playing well and you're one of the players
Speaker 3: that you know that is in it's in their prime.
Speaker 3: It it is, it is not an unreasonable thing to
Speaker 3: to use.
Speaker 1: The Masters to qualify for the other three majors, Right, And.
Speaker 2: You could just do it on points alone, Right, You
Speaker 2: could finish second and get a bunch Official World Golf
Speaker 2: Rankings points and jump up a bunch of slots. Like,
Speaker 2: there's so many points at stake in a major championship
Speaker 2: that you can really move your way up. So again,
Speaker 2: Patrick Reid, even when he doesn't play that well, finds
Speaker 2: himself doing pretty well at this golf tournament. If he
Speaker 2: shows up with a little bit of game, like, that's
Speaker 2: that's somebody who cold finish in the top five. I'm
Speaker 2: excited to watch him. He plays obviously a creative style
Speaker 2: of golf, and I'm just excited to watch him play here,
Speaker 2: especially with what's at stake.
Speaker 4: All Right.
Speaker 3: This is almost like always something that I think about,
Speaker 3: and I think we had like a real breakthrough this
Speaker 3: year with Nick Dunlap winning the Amex. But the idea
Speaker 3: of a young player, an amateur that potentially contends on
Speaker 3: Sunday to win a win the Masters I think this is,
Speaker 3: you know, something that we've seen. Obviously, Sam Bennett was
Speaker 3: a player that contended pretty deep into the tournament, into
Speaker 3: the tournament. But this year, you know, you have a
Speaker 3: number of young players. Chrystal Lamprect is one to keep
Speaker 3: an eye on. The guy's got a lot of game.
Speaker 3: We saw him leading the Open last year. You've got
Speaker 3: Dunlap obviously in there. I'm just throwing Ludwig in here
Speaker 3: because he's you know, last year, he was in college
Speaker 3: at this time, he's gonna be a first timer. I
Speaker 3: think there's there's a real chance that we see one
Speaker 3: of these young players. Neil Shipley's another name, finished runner
Speaker 3: up at the at the USAM to uh to Dunlap.
Speaker 3: So like these are these are the players kind of
Speaker 3: to watch and I always I think it's a matter
Speaker 3: of time. I thought, you know, five years ago, is
Speaker 3: we were going to see an amateur win a PGA
Speaker 3: Tour event.
Speaker 1: We saw that this year.
Speaker 3: I don't think it's unrealistic to think, the way the
Speaker 3: game is going, the talent in the young ranks, to
Speaker 3: see an amateur contend late or even potentially win a
Speaker 3: major championship at some point in the next ten to
Speaker 3: fifteen years.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean the the US Open that Bo Hostler
Speaker 2: contended in. That's still a fond memory for me of
Speaker 2: a major championship in the past fifteen years. Like he
Speaker 2: was in contention pretty late. I mean, was he his
Speaker 2: final group, right.
Speaker 3: I think that's like Saturday he was. Then he kind
Speaker 3: of fell out, I think if I remember correctly. Another
Speaker 3: one would be Paul Dunn and Jordan knee Breuge in
Speaker 3: the Open maybe twenty fifteen, that was or twenty sixteen.
Speaker 3: They played really well. I think knee Brugie finished T. Six,
Speaker 3: so it can happen.
Speaker 2: I think the one you got to keep in mind
Speaker 2: with the Masters, it's a pretty low variance tournament that
Speaker 2: elevates talent in a way that's much more difficult for
Speaker 2: a long shot to compete. So of all the four majors,
Speaker 2: I'd probably say the Masters is the least likely spot
Speaker 2: for that.
Speaker 4: Definitely say that.
Speaker 3: But the PGA is the least likely because they don't
Speaker 3: have amateurs in it.
Speaker 2: Well, okay, if you're just if you're specifically using the
Speaker 2: amateur designation, that's fair. I thought you're talking any young
Speaker 2: Ludwig first timers. But sure, that's fair. But yes, long
Speaker 2: shots are going to have a tough time at the Masters,
Speaker 2: so that'd be the one caveat. But I'd love to
Speaker 2: see it any in particular that you think.
Speaker 3: I think Kristelle Lamppractice is one to watch. I don't
Speaker 3: know exactly how he's played this year in college golf,
Speaker 3: but the guy is a stud.
Speaker 1: He's got huge tons of speed.
Speaker 3: Plays at Georgia Tech, won the he won the British
Speaker 3: Am last year. He's six foot eight, he absolutely mashes
Speaker 3: the ball, and I just think he's got a ton
Speaker 3: of game. He he's felt what it's like. He went
Speaker 3: at Liverpool. I think he shot sixty six or sixty
Speaker 3: five in the opening round and listen, like the guy's
Speaker 3: note now knows what it's like to be, you know,
Speaker 3: on the leaderboard in a major championship. And and I
Speaker 3: think like he's got a ton of game, so he'd
Speaker 3: be my my. I think he's an overwhelming low am belief.
Speaker 3: But I think you throw Dunlap in there, and I think, like, listen,
Speaker 3: like Ludwig being a first timer in a year removed
Speaker 3: from college is kind of an interesting storyline. He wouldn't
Speaker 3: be on my on my big storylines, but he's an
Speaker 3: interesting like, how's it this guy's in the top ten,
Speaker 3: he's playing.
Speaker 1: His first master at age twenty three.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and again this will be another bigger storyline. But
Speaker 2: Wyndam Clark's never played to masters either, which is crazy
Speaker 2: to think about.
Speaker 1: So he's what three at four in the world now.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so that might be jumping the gun on big storylines,
Speaker 2: but just in the.
Speaker 3: First time, first time or the biggest story is Peppy
Speaker 3: Peter Peter Malnotty.
Speaker 4: Yeah, how do you like Malnatty's chances?
Speaker 1: Don't love them?
Speaker 4: How about you? All right? Should I go to my
Speaker 4: third one? Yeah? Go for it.
Speaker 2: My third one is kind of again related to some
Speaker 2: of the conversations we've already had about the for better
Speaker 2: or for worse importance of the official World Golf rankings,
Speaker 2: whether you like them or not. Olympics slash President's Cup qualifying.
Speaker 2: A lot of points are at stake in the major championships,
Speaker 2: as we've already mentioned multiple times in this podcast, and
Speaker 2: the Olympics is just something that nobody ever really mentions
Speaker 2: that that's so close from here, and the way you
Speaker 2: qualifies via the official World Golf rankings, So if you
Speaker 2: want to be. If you want to be competing in
Speaker 2: this year's Olympics at the Golf Nationale, you're gonna have
Speaker 2: to do well in the majors, especially if you're on
Speaker 2: live right, that's your only way that you can get in.
Speaker 2: So I think that that's an interesting storyline the President's
Speaker 2: Cut Part two. Obviously, without live golfers there, it's it's
Speaker 2: may not be competitive and that event may not have
Speaker 2: as much juice as it should have. But who knows, Andy,
Speaker 2: I don't know where you are on the Olympics if
Speaker 2: you think it has potential to be special. But this
Speaker 2: is how you get in, so pretty big. The Masters
Speaker 2: is a pretty big opportunity for some of those hopefuls.
Speaker 1: I mean.
Speaker 3: Talk about something that is a huge, huge event in
Speaker 3: terms of like the greater sports world, the everybody loves
Speaker 3: to throw around, grow the game. I don't know if
Speaker 3: there is an event that has more opportunity to garner
Speaker 3: new fans than the Olympics because it's the Olympics, and
Speaker 3: like people can just pass by golf, like I don't.
Speaker 3: I don't think there's another Is there another golf event
Speaker 3: that has that like passer by potential?
Speaker 2: Probably not I'm trying to think, maybef, You're walking around
Speaker 2: Saint Andrews and there's an open championship going on, but
Speaker 2: that doesn't really count.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so you've got this like unbelievable passer by opportunity,
Speaker 3: and nobody ever talks about it in golf.
Speaker 1: We don't even know.
Speaker 3: Like it seems to me like it feels like players,
Speaker 3: the top players are just trying to figure out excuses
Speaker 3: on why they don't need to.
Speaker 1: Play the event.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's been the history of the Olympics, and golf
Speaker 3: is like, how do I get out of this? I
Speaker 3: don't nobody's asking questions to the players, like hey, Rory,
Speaker 3: are you going to play in the Olympics this year?
Speaker 1: Because I think that's a big question.
Speaker 3: I don't even know, if you know, like with what
Speaker 3: the Olympics does to the golf schedule, we've seen it,
Speaker 3: like it puts the golf schedule kind of in shambles.
Speaker 3: So I don't know who's gonna even play in the
Speaker 3: Olympics this year. I mean the South African South Africa
Speaker 3: is one of the great golf countries. All the best
Speaker 3: South Africans for the most part, are playing on liv
Speaker 3: They aren't getting World Golf Ranking points, So are any of.
Speaker 1: Them going to be in it?
Speaker 2: I don't think so, because I don't think they're gonna
Speaker 2: qualify because it's not I mean, it's based on your
Speaker 2: official World Golf rankings until you hit sixty players that
Speaker 2: fill out the field, and it caps it basically caps
Speaker 2: at two per country. There can be four if you're
Speaker 2: all in the top fifteen, but after that.
Speaker 1: The US, the US gets four and that's it.
Speaker 4: Right exactly.
Speaker 2: But I don't you're not gonna you'll get to sixty
Speaker 2: before you'll hit South Africans unless they play super well
Speaker 2: in the majors, and the cutoff is after the US Open,
Speaker 2: so they're not even gonna get the chance in the
Speaker 2: Open Championship to rack up any points. So it's a
Speaker 2: little bit of a funky Yeah, I agree with you.
Speaker 2: We're just not talking about it at all. Some players
Speaker 2: have already voiced that they don't want to play. We'll see.
Speaker 2: I don't know who's going to be playing in that.
Speaker 2: Who's going to be the fifty fifth golfer.
Speaker 3: I mean, the nice thing is that you have like
Speaker 3: a lot of talent, a lot of depth in some
Speaker 3: new countries, some different countries, and I think that's one.
Speaker 1: Of the I think the Olympics.
Speaker 3: Golf in the Olympics will hit you know, it's it's
Speaker 3: ultimate potential when you see somebody from a non typical,
Speaker 3: non golf country win a gold medal.
Speaker 4: Are you thinking what I'm thinking?
Speaker 1: China, India?
Speaker 2: I was thinking Toasty. I don't know how kind the
Speaker 2: golf national would be to Toasty, but he's got a
Speaker 2: chance of qualifying the toast fan Have you thought about that?
Speaker 2: Have you thought about him in an Olympic uniform?
Speaker 3: I mean him in the Olympic village would be just amazing, amazing.
Speaker 2: It's not far fetched. I mean, Grio's gonna qualify before
Speaker 2: Toasty would. But I mean if he has a good
Speaker 2: next couple of months, he's not qualified for the Masters,
Speaker 2: but it's not out of the realm with possibilities that
Speaker 2: Toasty could qualify.
Speaker 3: I mean that, And that's like the neat thing when
Speaker 3: you start to like I mean Joaquin Neeman and Chile.
Speaker 3: You know Toasty there the You know, there are a
Speaker 3: lot of like exciting different countries. I always think about
Speaker 3: Belgium in this like and that's kind of I think
Speaker 3: where the the Olympics has dropped the ball. I saw
Speaker 3: that they announced they're going to do the mixed competition.
Speaker 3: But the other aspect of it is the team competition.
Speaker 3: Give these like if Belgium beats America in or the
Speaker 3: US and in golf for a gold medal, and like,
Speaker 3: this is something that could happen, conceivably happen. They have
Speaker 3: three very good tour pros in D three, Adrian Dumont,
Speaker 3: Deshassart and Peters. That is, it is not inconceivable for
Speaker 3: them to beat the US team. If you do that,
Speaker 3: it would have a massive impact on that country. Goes
Speaker 3: for yeah, South Korea, same goes for uh like Argentina.
Speaker 3: If Toasty and Grio beat the US, like that's an
Speaker 3: unbelievable story. It's it's not inconceivable for even like some
Speaker 3: of these countries for the four hundredth ranc player in
Speaker 3: the world to play at a high level and beat
Speaker 3: the twentieth rank player in the world. That's the difference
Speaker 3: between like it's taking basketball decades for these other countries
Speaker 3: to compete with the with the US that has such
Speaker 3: a dominant amount of talent. But we're getting to the
Speaker 3: point where it is a really good tournament. The US
Speaker 3: is still the favorite, but there's a conceivable, there's conceivable
Speaker 3: pass that the US doesn't win. They have to play
Speaker 3: really well to win. They have to play well to win,
Speaker 3: and they have to have their best their best players
Speaker 3: playing with the with it with golf. Not having the
Speaker 3: team competition is the biggest miss, and I think it's
Speaker 3: been hit on so many times and talked about so
Speaker 3: many times, but that's it's really hard for to galvanize
Speaker 3: fans around individuals compared to galvanizing fans around a team
Speaker 3: represented by your country in the Olympics.
Speaker 1: I mean, this is a layup.
Speaker 2: I agree, and I haven'tly thought about this, but as
Speaker 2: I'm thinking about it now, I kind of hate that
Speaker 2: there can be four from the from one particular country
Speaker 2: if they're in the top fifteen, Like that kind of
Speaker 2: ruins it a little bit for me as I'm thinking
Speaker 2: through it, like it would be kind of nice to
Speaker 2: just have all two person teams so you could compare
Speaker 2: apples to apples a little bit more. Here's how this
Speaker 2: country did, Here's how this country did. I understand getting
Speaker 2: more star power into the field, but especially when it
Speaker 2: doesn't mean that much to a lot of these golfers. Unfortunately,
Speaker 2: I kind of wish it was just two per country.
Speaker 3: I think it would be really cool if you had
Speaker 3: an individual tournament, a stroke play tournament, and then there
Speaker 3: was and it could be thirty six holes or whatever,
Speaker 3: and then there was a match play component for countries
Speaker 3: that had three that you could qualify three people. You
Speaker 3: expand the field from sixty to maybe it's one hundred,
Speaker 3: and all the countries that qualify three players are in
Speaker 3: the team tournament, and the team tournament then goes to
Speaker 3: match play with the top four or eight teams and
Speaker 3: there's three or two rounds of match play, and that
Speaker 3: you get your winner with three players.
Speaker 4: Don for that.
Speaker 3: Also, the mix think about Canada. Think about Canada would
Speaker 3: have a team, you know.
Speaker 2: The mixed idea that they're throwing around for the twenty
Speaker 2: twenty eight Olympics, where it'd be you know, maybe two
Speaker 2: men from a team and two women like that Also
Speaker 2: is a pretty cool format for this, So I'd be
Speaker 2: in on that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, So anyways, that should be I didn't expect our
Speaker 3: Master's pod to devolve into Olympics chatter, but that's it.
Speaker 3: The last thing I have is Jason Day Jason Day,
Speaker 3: to me is just an interesting He's still playing golf
Speaker 3: at a high level, and I think he is one
Speaker 3: of the great Masters players We've seen this, like players
Speaker 3: that have incredible Masters record that just never never get
Speaker 3: the win. To me, also, Jason Day, when you think
Speaker 3: about his career, his legacy, it doesn't feel like one.
Speaker 1: Major is enough for his career. For who he was,
Speaker 1: I think he's.
Speaker 3: Constantly like for eighteen months of his of his career,
Speaker 3: he was by far the best player in the world,
Speaker 3: and he was extraordinarily great in months that he wasn't
Speaker 3: the best player in the world. Here's his Master's record
Speaker 3: twenty eleven first Masters T two, twenty twelve, w D
Speaker 3: twenty thirteen, third, twenty fourteen, T twenty, twenty fifteen, T
Speaker 3: twenty eight, twenty sixteen, T ten, twenty second, twenty seventeen,
Speaker 3: twentieth in twenty eighteen, twenty nineteen, T five Obviously, then
Speaker 3: twenty twenty, twenty twenty one were where he kind of
Speaker 3: had his troubles in his career with the injuries. Cut
Speaker 3: cut T thirty nine last year doesn't tell the story.
Speaker 3: He was cruising early in that tournament and then he
Speaker 3: got Vertigo. He was it looked like he was one
Speaker 3: of he was the only guy that was going to
Speaker 3: catch Koepka on Friday, and then he gets hit with Vertiko.
Speaker 3: I think this guy the Masters represents his best opportunity
Speaker 3: to win a major. We always see these kind of
Speaker 3: players that win a major late in their career that
Speaker 3: that's like kind of that icing on the cake. He's
Speaker 3: about the same age as when Sergio won his Masters,
Speaker 3: and I just think Jason Day should get to two
Speaker 3: majors in his career.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's funny you say that. I was thinking a
Speaker 2: lot this weekend about the difference between one and two
Speaker 2: majors is just absolutely massive. Like one can happen like
Speaker 2: that can be kind of fluky, but the list of
Speaker 2: people who has two, like that's a much more established,
Speaker 2: impressive list where you really feel like you've solidified your career.
Speaker 2: I agree Jason Day feels of the caliber to notch
Speaker 2: that second major championship. And I think especially last year,
Speaker 2: he was playing such good golf entering the Masters. He
Speaker 2: was coming off a good finish at Dell match Play,
Speaker 2: had played i think all top twenties between AMX and
Speaker 2: match Play, which was seven events entering the Masters, and
Speaker 2: then we didn't really see that much from Jason Day
Speaker 2: the rest of the year. He won it Byron Nelson
Speaker 2: finished T two at Liverpool, obviously a big, strong finish,
Speaker 2: but since then he's really been hit or miss. I'd
Speaker 2: love to see Jason Day in contention.
Speaker 1: Many second place finishes in majors he has.
Speaker 4: I don't how many does he have?
Speaker 1: Five?
Speaker 4: That's tough.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's uh that's like, you know, the sliding doors
Speaker 3: of major golf is there's only one winner and a
Speaker 3: lot of people that come close. And uh so he's
Speaker 3: got eleven. He's got eleven top five, top five major
Speaker 3: finishes in his career.
Speaker 4: Obviously similar.
Speaker 2: Not to throw a fourth one, but another player who
Speaker 2: the reason I was thinking about this, I think will
Speaker 2: go down as maybe one of the most underrated players
Speaker 2: of the last two decades. One major championship doesn't feel
Speaker 2: like enough. Great fit here Justin Rose. I mean, it's
Speaker 2: it is crazy to me that Justin Rose could finish
Speaker 2: his career with just one major, and that doesn't feel
Speaker 2: like it should be that way.
Speaker 3: It's it's this is there that are kind of last
Speaker 3: few years. I think, like you you get into these
Speaker 3: especially now. It used to be forties, but I think
Speaker 3: the golf's kind of shifted. These are two players that
Speaker 3: are in their late thirties and it's you know, they
Speaker 3: might have a couple more spins around here. I think
Speaker 3: Jason Day, you know, he's had a decent year. He's
Speaker 3: got three top tens on the year. I think he's
Speaker 3: somebody to.
Speaker 4: Watch Roses forty three.
Speaker 3: But yes, yeah, that's a good point. So all right,
Speaker 3: that does it for me? You got any parting thoughts?
Speaker 2: And now it's going to be an amazing tournament. I
Speaker 2: think we'll get some more storylines as the Valera Texas
Speaker 2: Open and as de Rale un folds, like there will
Speaker 2: probably be some storylines entering there. So just excited for
Speaker 2: the tournament.
Speaker 4: All right?
Speaker 1: Do you have a recommendation?
Speaker 4: Can I? Can I give one that's completely random? Mandy?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I've been thinking about this documentary I watched a
Speaker 2: while ago called Bill Cunningham New York. Do you know
Speaker 2: who Bill Cunningham is, Andy, I do not. It's a
Speaker 2: famous photographer and there's an awesome HBO documentary about him
Speaker 2: doing his job in his daily life, and he's just
Speaker 2: in fatuoy with taking pictures of fashion that he sees
Speaker 2: in everyday life. Never was wealthy, he never cared about money,
Speaker 2: lived in like a tiny apartment, was super well connected
Speaker 2: because of all the people that wanted him to photograph them,
Speaker 2: famous New York Times photographer. Extremely refreshing watch about somebody
Speaker 2: that's just fully invested in what they like to do.
Speaker 2: I think it has mass appeal. I watched it with
Speaker 2: my mom. You can watch it with your significant other,
Speaker 2: however you want to watch it. I think most people
Speaker 2: would like it just a little bit different. Totally nonsports,
Speaker 2: but that documentary is really stuck with me.
Speaker 1: Great, great recommendation, my recommendation.
Speaker 3: This is kind of like a part add but we
Speaker 3: have all of our events as of Tuesday, so the
Speaker 3: most likely day you're listening to this podcast are launched
Speaker 3: and available. So Frida Egg events. We've got some amazing venues.
Speaker 3: You know a couple. I'll highlight Hollywood Golf Club, one
Speaker 3: of the best courses that very few people talk about.
Speaker 3: Walter Travis design absolutely mesmerizing greens. That's one to look at.
Speaker 3: Chambers Bay. We are hosting a tournament the day after
Speaker 3: the Pacific Coast Amateur. It will be in the best
Speaker 3: shape that Chambers Bay will be in all year. It
Speaker 3: is also, I think, from what I've heard from locals,
Speaker 3: a very good deal in terms of pricing for two
Speaker 3: rounds at Chambers Bay. That's in the middle of the
Speaker 3: summer in Seattle. I haven't been there. I'm excited. I
Speaker 3: think I'm going to try and go to that one.
Speaker 3: I haven't been to Seattle. I really want to go
Speaker 3: to Seattle. So that's one that I would highlight. And
Speaker 3: then two other ones Essex County one of the best
Speaker 3: Donald Ross courses in the world and Prairie Dunes one
Speaker 3: of the best golf courses period in the world. So
Speaker 3: those are a few that I'll highlight. You can check
Speaker 3: them all out at proshop dot Thefrida Egg dot com.
Speaker 3: All of our events are there, so uh, come out,
Speaker 3: hang out.
Speaker 1: Uh. They are a great time.
Speaker 3: Really, like the whole ethos of Bride Egg events uh
Speaker 3: is like they're built around like, how would you want
Speaker 3: to have a day of golf at a really great
Speaker 3: golf course.
Speaker 1: It's all about the golf.
Speaker 3: It's you know, uh, we play, it's fun, you meet
Speaker 3: really cool people, other people that are really into golf.
Speaker 3: I think that's you know that's what what people are
Speaker 3: there to do, and uh yeah, they're they're a great time.
Speaker 3: I know you've attended a few as a as a
Speaker 3: patron before you before you worked here.
Speaker 4: Amazing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, of the ones you mentioned, I've played two of
Speaker 2: them as part of Fridagg events, the Hollywood Golf Club,
Speaker 2: the Walter Travis in Deal, New Jersey, and then Essex
Speaker 2: County Club in Manchester by the Sea. Those were two
Speaker 2: unbelievable days of golf. So I cannot recommend those enough
Speaker 2: and I'm sure the other ones are just as good.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we have them all over the country, so if
Speaker 3: you're if you're trying to stay regional, you can do that,
Speaker 3: or if you're trying to travel somewhere, I would you know,
Speaker 3: like I think the Seattle one, the Chambers Bay one
Speaker 3: is a great one to do like a weekend away.
Speaker 3: So all right, big thanks and thanks to Matt Rushes
Speaker 3: for editing and producing this podcast.
Speaker 1: We will be back.
Speaker 3: I'm excited about this. The next podcast I have it,
Speaker 3: I have the file. I'm gonna devour it, probably before
Speaker 3: it goes up. But Garrett is back with his Great
Speaker 3: Courses series and the topic is augustin National He has
Speaker 3: a great guest, Josh Pettitt, who put together the marvelous
Speaker 3: Mackenzie Reader book. He's previously been on the podcast to
Speaker 3: talk about Mackenzie, but they go deep on Augusta National,
Speaker 3: the latest in the Great Courses series, which previously has
Speaker 3: documented the old Course sunning Dale, Uh, Royal Melbourne and
Speaker 3: am I forgetting one? Those are National Golf Links, National
Speaker 3: Golf Link South America. So those are the previous four episodes.
Speaker 3: If you haven't, those are amazing. Garrett's done an amazing
Speaker 3: job with those episodes. I cannot wait to listen to
Speaker 3: the Gusta National one. But yeah, that's uh, that's what
Speaker 3: what we have and next, you know, next time we
Speaker 3: do this pot it'll be Master's Week. So big thanks
Speaker 3: to Matt for producing all this stuff and uh excited
Speaker 3: for the next kind of two weeks here