Speaker 1: I miss a green, for example, I'm already upset.
Speaker 2: When I find my ball in the bunker, I'm really upset.
Speaker 3: And when I find my.
Speaker 1: Ball in a Bride egg Frida egg, the dreaded Frida egg,
Speaker 1: Friday Frida egg, Brian Egg, Fride Egg, Bride egg Lie.
Speaker 2: I'm about ready to run off of the.
Speaker 1: Pawla. Does La have the worst fans in sports?
Speaker 3: God? I think after this week, I think everybody would
Speaker 3: want you to believe that. I mean, we do have
Speaker 3: a reputation. I don't know if I want to include
Speaker 3: myself in that group, but we do have a reputation
Speaker 3: for showing up late this morning events, for being casual watchers,
Speaker 3: for you know, leaving after the seventh inning, you know,
Speaker 3: the whole thing. So I guess when you think about it,
Speaker 3: there we are pretty down the line in terms of
Speaker 3: the best fans in sports. But I don't know. I
Speaker 3: think I would say that we're still pretty passionate about
Speaker 3: most sports. I think if you go to any Laker
Speaker 3: game or Darger game, you'll see that. Golf, though I
Speaker 3: don't know about that. It was an interesting one out
Speaker 3: there this week, for sure.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and we'll talk more about that later. The somewhat
Speaker 1: odd atmosphere, but that atmosphere wasn't necessarily the fault of
Speaker 1: sports fans. As somebody who grew up a Lakers fan,
Speaker 1: I feel the impulse to defend LA sports fans and
Speaker 1: point out that it's hard to get anywhere in the city.
Speaker 1: I can understand why somebody might not want to go
Speaker 1: to a sporting event or might not get there exactly
Speaker 1: on time.
Speaker 3: You know. Yeah, I think if you want to have
Speaker 3: a critique about the LA Sports team, you had to
Speaker 3: have lived here at least a minimum of two years
Speaker 3: to truly understand the situation that goes on here in
Speaker 3: terms of sporting events and traffic and just all of
Speaker 3: that stuff. So yeah, I think it's a little more nuanced.
Speaker 1: All Right, you're listening to the Frida Egg podcast. I'm
Speaker 1: Garrett Morrison. That's Paalo Youghetti, a staff writer for ESPN.
Speaker 1: Later in the show, I'll bring on Joseph Lamanna to
Speaker 1: talk about the venue, which was of course LA Country Club.
Speaker 1: But first Pallo and I are going to run down
Speaker 1: the main competitive storylines. Wyndham Clark was our winner at
Speaker 1: ten under Roy McElroy was one stroke behind and solo
Speaker 1: second followed by Scotty Scheffler, Cameron Smith, and a three
Speaker 1: way tie for fifth between Tommy Fleetwood, minwoo Lee and
Speaker 1: the fifty four hole leader Ricky Fowler. So PLO, what
Speaker 1: exactly did you do on Sunday at LACC, Who did
Speaker 1: you follow? What was kind of your plan or agenda?
Speaker 3: Yeah? I think everybody was sort of hoping for the
Speaker 3: final group to be Ricky and Rory, right, and then
Speaker 3: when it wasn't, I think it became pretty clear to
Speaker 3: me what I would do in terms of who do
Speaker 3: I follow. I think the Scotty Scheffler and Rory mcl
Speaker 3: group was the one that most people were following outuld say.
Speaker 3: It was a big crowd of kind of following them,
Speaker 3: and I think part of that was because a lot
Speaker 3: of people, myself included, thought Scotty still had a real
Speaker 3: shot after finishing Eagle Birdie, and I thought, you know,
Speaker 3: he seems a little bit inevitable in terms of how
Speaker 3: he just rises up to the leaderboard no matter how
Speaker 3: well or poorly he's playing. So yeah, I followed Rory
Speaker 3: and Scottie and just kind of watched him go through
Speaker 3: the front nine. I think the front nine is such
Speaker 3: a fun set of holes to watch, especially for a tournament,
Speaker 3: because they are, you know, as we saw it, pretty gettible.
Speaker 3: They were not as gettable on Sunday, I would say,
Speaker 3: especially for Rory, who just had a you know, it's
Speaker 3: a tough thing. You know, you look at those fifteen
Speaker 3: to twenty feet or whatever however you want to describe them,
Speaker 3: and you know, most of the time they're not going
Speaker 3: to go in right, and so it was tough watching
Speaker 3: him grind over a lot of putts that were a
Speaker 3: few inches from going in or you know, had a
Speaker 3: shop it just did not catch the right break. So
Speaker 3: I watched Rory for the front front nine, then kind
Speaker 3: of bounced a little way back and forth in the
Speaker 3: back between you know, Winhem and Ricky's group and Rory's group,
Speaker 3: and it was pretty compelling there down the stretch in
Speaker 3: terms of needing, well not needing, but Rory needing Clark
Speaker 3: to Falter and still having no shot at a Bertie
Speaker 3: since the first goal. It was pretty crazy scene in
Speaker 3: that sense.
Speaker 1: What were some of the most memorable individual moments out there,
Speaker 1: whether they were golf related or not. What kind of
Speaker 1: comes to mind as an image that will stick.
Speaker 3: With you I think standing between fifteenth ten and fourteen
Speaker 3: green was a pretty compelling place to be when Rory's
Speaker 3: group was first coming through, because you know, he had
Speaker 3: that the drop that he got that from the from
Speaker 3: the ball in the bunker, and then you know he
Speaker 3: had the power put that he needed to say part
Speaker 3: and missed it. So just watching that him moving on
Speaker 3: to fifteen and then just a few minutes later seeing
Speaker 3: the shot from Wynham Clark to second shot come in
Speaker 3: and land on the green to have a shot at eagle,
Speaker 3: I think that's the one that will stick with me
Speaker 3: because it was kind of it felt at that moment
Speaker 3: that the tournament was over. Obviously, then when it went
Speaker 3: on to bogie, I believe what fifteen.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah he didn't Yeah, he didn't get up and
Speaker 1: down from behind the green there.
Speaker 3: Right, So there was still more golf to play. But
Speaker 3: I think if I were to look back, that's kind
Speaker 3: of the moment where I was like, oh, okay, this
Speaker 3: one's over, Like Rory once again, couldn't just you know,
Speaker 3: make the right putts to be able to stay in
Speaker 3: this and to be able to win. That That's when
Speaker 3: I felt like, because that second shot into fourteen green
Speaker 3: was incredible way when him, Like I think everybody sort
Speaker 3: of realized that at the time, like, all right, that's.
Speaker 1: Game unbelievable shot. And what it showed is that Wyndham
Speaker 1: Clark was fully ready to win the tournament, because you
Speaker 1: don't hit that shot in that moment unless you're ready,
Speaker 1: and so that's what he showed. And even if he
Speaker 1: bogied the next hole, it was a two shot swing
Speaker 1: on that hole, and so that was really you know,
Speaker 1: when you look back on these tournaments, you can identify
Speaker 1: any number of turning points. Going back to the first
Speaker 1: hole of the week on Thursday, Rory missed a short
Speaker 1: put on number eight. That was a big deal, but
Speaker 1: fourteen was really just kind of the symbolic representative moment
Speaker 1: of that swing where Wyndham was just hitting the ball
Speaker 1: so well that he was able to hit it from
Speaker 1: two eighty two to twenty feet under the most intense
Speaker 1: pressure possible, whereas Rory was, I mean, he was just
Speaker 1: a little bit off. He was hitting the ball so well,
Speaker 1: but he's Rory McElroy. He always does that, and that
Speaker 1: wedge into fourteen just wasn't good. It wasn't the type
Speaker 1: of wedge that you hit when you're truly in major
Speaker 1: winning form, and it's a testament to his talent, his
Speaker 1: ability that he was even able to be so close
Speaker 1: in spite of not having all of the components of
Speaker 1: his game together.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think I was struck by just the margins, right,
Speaker 3: how fine those margins are in terms to Rory, because
Speaker 3: you know, I wasn't there at the Old Course last
Speaker 3: year when he had the lead and just could not
Speaker 3: do enough to to you know, to hold off Cameron Smith.
Speaker 3: And this one, you know, there's some differences, but this
Speaker 3: one just felt like there was just none of the breaks.
Speaker 3: He wasn't getting any other breaks, you know. And I
Speaker 3: think he even talked about it after his round. He
Speaker 3: said on fourteen, on that web shot, you know, I
Speaker 3: would have waited maybe fifteen twenty more seconds. The wind
Speaker 3: might have been differently and the guts might have died down,
Speaker 3: and that would have been the right shot, you know.
Speaker 3: And it's like it's crazy to think about that. Those
Speaker 3: margins are so fine in that way that you know,
Speaker 3: fifteen second way could have you know, could have been
Speaker 3: the difference, right, or a putt that drops the other way,
Speaker 3: like the putt on eight. I think that's the one,
Speaker 3: and he said it, he said he would want to
Speaker 3: have that one back, the putt to short put for
Speaker 3: Birdie that he missed, and just all these little moments,
Speaker 3: you know. And I think fourteen kind of really embodied
Speaker 3: that in some ways because I thought that was a
Speaker 3: hole where Rory could really go after it, right. I mean,
Speaker 3: the hole doesn't totally fit his shot shape in some ways. Right.
Speaker 3: But and then he just hit a drawer right into
Speaker 3: the rough and it was like, okay, like that's the
Speaker 3: place where you need it to go for a green
Speaker 3: in two And not a lot of players, I felt like,
Speaker 3: did that, which is what made win him's you know,
Speaker 3: second shot that much more impressive.
Speaker 1: Not a lot of players hit the green at all, right,
Speaker 1: There were some who went for it, but a lot
Speaker 1: of them ended up left on the fifteenth tee or
Speaker 1: somewhere around that green. It was so hard to hit
Speaker 1: that green in two because you needed to be supremely
Speaker 1: long and supremely accurate in order to cover the distance
Speaker 1: of that hole in two shots. But Rory is one
Speaker 1: of the few players out there who can do that
Speaker 1: fairly regularly, just cover the sheer distance. He is capable
Speaker 1: of doing that, and so that's a hole that really
Speaker 1: gives an advantage to long players. Right, You've got to
Speaker 1: be long to carry that bunker and you've got to
Speaker 1: be long to get on that green and two and
Speaker 1: so that's where Rory needs to take advantage and not
Speaker 1: make bogie. Now, what are some of your observations. You know,
Speaker 1: we should be talking a little bit about Wyndham Clark
Speaker 1: here obviously, but one more question about Rory. What were
Speaker 1: some of your observations about his state of mind or
Speaker 1: his approach to the game, you know, beyond the fact
Speaker 1: that he was just kind of missing putts like he was,
Speaker 1: he was a little bit the putts weren't falling, and
Speaker 1: sometimes that happens, But what were some of what was
Speaker 1: your sense of where he was at mentally during this round.
Speaker 3: I think, you know, I think he looked pretty focused.
Speaker 3: I think he it was admirable that he stuck this
Speaker 3: game plan right. He was not he was not overly aggressive,
Speaker 3: and I think this goes for the whole week. You know,
Speaker 3: he seemed to manage the golf course really well. He
Speaker 3: hit the right spots, you know, and he always had
Speaker 3: a shot to go for it in two and Yeah,
Speaker 3: I think he just played really smart golf, and he
Speaker 3: was really focused, and I think kind of like at St. Andrews, right,
Speaker 3: it's like you kind of wish that maybe he would
Speaker 3: have been a little more aggressive insurn spots, but then
Speaker 3: he could have also been out of it. I think
Speaker 3: something I think about is some of those up and
Speaker 3: downs for cars too that he had on the back
Speaker 3: nine were really impressive as well, So it's like, if
Speaker 3: one of those doesn't dropped in, we're not even discussing
Speaker 3: how slim the margins were. So yeah, I would says
Speaker 3: he was pretty focused, he's pretty locked in, and I
Speaker 3: think he just he said afterwards, I executed my game plan,
Speaker 3: which you know, you can't fault him for that, right,
Speaker 3: And I think the scene afterwards was pretty pretty remarkable,
Speaker 3: just to see him dealing with, you know, the realization
Speaker 3: and the acceptance of just coming up short again and
Speaker 3: getting closer and closer but not being able to just
Speaker 3: get over that home.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Roy is in this weird position right now where
Speaker 1: he gets a lot of scrutiny and even a lot
Speaker 1: of criticism for his shortcomings, precisely because he's always on
Speaker 1: that big stage. He's always in contention where somebody like
Speaker 1: Scotti Scheffler in this tournament. Yeah he was there, but
Speaker 1: we're not going to criticize him as much because he
Speaker 1: wasn't really all that close on Sunday, right, And so
Speaker 1: you know, there's a there's a tweet that Kevin van
Speaker 1: Volkenberg sent out that I that I liked, where Kevin
Speaker 1: says Roy play today should absolutely be critiqued. But it's
Speaker 1: kind of fascinating that we save our strongest criticisms for
Speaker 1: athletes who finished second, as opposed to third or fifth
Speaker 1: or twentieth. Being almost great annoys people more than being
Speaker 1: slightly worse. And that's a good summary of kind of
Speaker 1: where we are at in the Rory McElroy story. The
Speaker 1: player who ended up winning was Wyndham Clark, and when
Speaker 1: we got to the end of the tournament, I'd to
Speaker 1: be perfectly honest, I was a bit at a loss
Speaker 1: as to what to say about Wyndham Clark's victory, except
Speaker 1: that he played extraordinarily well on Sunday, in spite of
Speaker 1: maybe not being completely on form, getting in a couple
Speaker 1: of nasty situations on holes, and being able to get
Speaker 1: up and down, especially on eight and nine on eight,
Speaker 1: he was in the baranka and he had a hard
Speaker 1: time getting out of the baranka, but once he did,
Speaker 1: he got up and down for a bogie where a
Speaker 1: lot of players might have done something much worse. And
Speaker 1: then on nine, he was in a bunker. We're sort
Speaker 1: of on the edge of a bunker to the left
Speaker 1: of the ninth green and basically in an impossible spot,
Speaker 1: a spot where he had to play well away from
Speaker 1: the hole and let the ball kind of trickle back,
Speaker 1: and he got that thing up and down, he got
Speaker 1: his his chip shot within you know, eight to ten feet,
Speaker 1: and he sank the putt. Those were two big, big
Speaker 1: time up and downs in a spot where he could
Speaker 1: have really let Rory back into this thing. So that's
Speaker 1: those are kind of my big take takeaways for Wyndham Clark.
Speaker 1: But say you were kind of writing a game story
Speaker 1: about him, Yeah, what are some of the things that
Speaker 1: you would focus on.
Speaker 3: I think that's something I've realized. What we're speinking about
Speaker 3: is the last few majors, if you love, We've had
Speaker 3: a couple guys who have ended up in the leaderboard
Speaker 3: going into someone they were close the leaderboard and everything.
Speaker 3: So this guy's going to fall away. Right, it's not
Speaker 3: not one of the premiere players in golf, so they're
Speaker 3: gonna you know, I don't. I don't give him much
Speaker 3: of a shotgun at this time, and like this time,
Speaker 3: Windham felt like that guy, except he went out there
Speaker 3: and did it right. So I think he kind of
Speaker 3: We've had a lot of really good elite major winners recently,
Speaker 3: and I feel like he's kind of I don't want
Speaker 3: to say he's not one of those players, but he's
Speaker 3: definitely an exception right to the last few major wins
Speaker 3: in terms of pedigree. But he went out there and
Speaker 3: did it, Like I think that's the thing is, you know,
Speaker 3: with that shot on fourteen, I would say the short
Speaker 3: game was probably would save them in a lot of places.
Speaker 3: The flock shot, I guess, if you want to call
Speaker 3: it on the eleven was ridiculous, and I think that
Speaker 3: if I were to just just think about him, it's like, Okay, well,
Speaker 3: he had to overcome a lot of narratives, right, a
Speaker 3: lot of the Ricking narrative, the Rory narrative, even the
Speaker 3: Scotting era, right, but he just did it by literally
Speaker 3: literally hitting all the right shots. And I think that's
Speaker 3: maybe the way I would frame it and then kind
Speaker 3: of look at his winners. He just hit all the
Speaker 3: right shots at the right time, even on eighteen Saturday,
Speaker 3: that shot he hit into eighteen and making that Pott
Speaker 3: what you kind of just have to hand it to
Speaker 3: him at that point, right, because he just hit the
Speaker 3: right shots at the right time. And whether you know
Speaker 3: that means he's here to stay and we'll compete in
Speaker 3: further majors. I don't know. Golf is so deep, right,
Speaker 3: but I think for this tournament he was the best
Speaker 3: player in terms of shotmaking and also just recovery, which
Speaker 3: this course demanded of a bunch of players.
Speaker 1: The question about Wyndham Clark's future is obviously very hard
Speaker 1: to answer. We don't know if he's going to stick
Speaker 1: around at this level. He very well could, and we
Speaker 1: could end up in a situation where this championship is
Speaker 1: looked back upon, sort of like the Aaron Hills US Open,
Speaker 1: which Brooks kept go one. At the time. I remember
Speaker 1: people were kind of like, well, that's kind of random,
Speaker 1: Brooks sort of seems boring. That's a bit of a
Speaker 1: disappointing major, And yeah, that's kind of the outcome here.
Speaker 1: We have a bunch of guys in second, third, fourth
Speaker 1: place who maybe would be more exciting winners because we're
Speaker 1: more familiar with them and we want to see those
Speaker 1: players rack up majors and start to get into that
Speaker 1: historic conversation. And sure Wyndham did not deliver that this week,
Speaker 1: and maybe he'll fade away back into the middle of
Speaker 1: the pack as some past major winners have. But there's
Speaker 1: also a possibility that he becomes a Brooks Keepka type
Speaker 1: because he does have the game for that. This is
Speaker 1: not a this didn't feel like a flukey win. He's
Speaker 1: super long, he is a great iron player. He has
Speaker 1: a terrific short game that holds up under pressure. So
Speaker 1: he has all the skills that he needs. And whether
Speaker 1: those stay as sharp as they were this week is
Speaker 1: completely unanswerable right now, but it's very possible.
Speaker 3: Yeah. So what I'm hearing is when Clark.
Speaker 1: Brooks, Yeah, that's gonna that's gonna be the headline from
Speaker 1: this podcast. That's going to get aggregated.
Speaker 3: Yeah. No, but it's it's a great point. I think
Speaker 3: you're right. I think he has the makings of being
Speaker 3: able to stick around for a while, and I think
Speaker 3: I don't know I think maybe the golf course too, right.
Speaker 3: It's you guys have talked plenty about how different at
Speaker 3: the US Open test it has been. Obviously there's been
Speaker 3: a lot of bad discourse about the subject as well
Speaker 3: this week. But you know, maybe it just kind of
Speaker 3: fit him, fit him well, and then if they go
Speaker 3: back to a more quote unquote traditional US Open, maybe
Speaker 3: it doesn't fit it well. Right, So I think that's
Speaker 3: something to think about too going forward.
Speaker 1: Well, let's talk a little bit about something related to
Speaker 1: the golf course. We'll talk more about the architecture and
Speaker 1: those matters with Joseph Lamannia later on in this podcast.
Speaker 1: But you are an La native, as we kind of
Speaker 1: implied at the beginning of the pod La Country Club
Speaker 1: was a sort of controversial venue this week, or became one,
Speaker 1: not just because of its unusual design, but because of
Speaker 1: the atmosphere on course as it came across on TV
Speaker 1: and some of the questions about how the club and
Speaker 1: the membership contributed to creating that atmosphere through their demands
Speaker 1: about the size of the crowd and where people could
Speaker 1: go on the course and all of that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1: And you know, I was on the course for a
Speaker 1: few days, I can say that those concerns are valid. Right,
Speaker 1: there are some things to say about the atmosphere on site.
Speaker 1: What did you make of that issue overall? And maybe
Speaker 1: speaking specifically about Sunday, was it different then?
Speaker 3: Yeah? I think it's funny because I feel like I
Speaker 3: maybe should have seen some of this coming. I went
Speaker 3: to the course way early in the process. The USGA
Speaker 3: had first looked they we got to walk the course,
Speaker 3: and first thing I thought it was, how are they
Speaker 3: going to get fans in here? Like it's such a
Speaker 3: weird setup for watching golf, just built into that canyon
Speaker 3: most of that course, and how are they going to
Speaker 3: get fans in there? And they were like, oh, we're
Speaker 3: going to build out a few things that they're building
Speaker 3: the bridge over Ulster. So but but I think there
Speaker 3: was just like a there were starting from a bad
Speaker 3: place in terms of like how to create these big appears. Right.
Speaker 3: That's that's one issue. I think The other thing is, yes,
Speaker 3: as was reported, I think Joel bel from Golf Digest
Speaker 3: reported that the club tried to almost buy all the
Speaker 3: tickets right, and and and and there was there was
Speaker 3: definitely a sense of a corporate vibe for for you know,
Speaker 3: during a lot of the tournament. And that's not surprising.
Speaker 3: I mean, this is a club that you know, I
Speaker 3: think when I went the first time for that, for
Speaker 3: that first look, there was like no no photos and
Speaker 3: no phones in the in the in the clubhouse, you know,
Speaker 3: like just all these very distinct rules. And that's not
Speaker 3: dissimilar to other country clubs across the country, you know,
Speaker 3: I would say, but in la I think that takes
Speaker 3: a you know, it goes up, goes up a level,
Speaker 3: if you will, I And that's the reputation it also
Speaker 3: has in the city. It's not considered the more or
Speaker 3: less the anti celebrity club. It's they don't want any fuss,
Speaker 3: they don't want any kind of like fanfare. So on
Speaker 3: the one hand, it's kind of shocking that they allowed
Speaker 3: this tournament to be there, right, But on the other hand,
Speaker 3: they are very golf focused in terms of they love
Speaker 3: their golf course and wanted to showcase it. But it
Speaker 3: sounds like they wanted to showcase it in a very
Speaker 3: specific way to a very specific type and amount of people, right,
Speaker 3: And so that's where I think the issue is. You
Speaker 3: know that being set on Sunday, I thought the atmosphere
Speaker 3: was great. I mean, I think there are definitely more
Speaker 3: people on hand. I think it felt like and I
Speaker 3: don't have proved it back this stuff, but I feel
Speaker 3: like they let fans go into places where maybe they
Speaker 3: weren't letting them in before, or maybe they were just
Speaker 3: more fans and that's what it felt like. But it
Speaker 3: definitely felt like in some spots it was more crowded,
Speaker 3: especially on eighteenth that kind of going up one and
Speaker 3: down eighteen. It was a great atmosphere and I think
Speaker 3: like people really came out in full force. I don't know,
Speaker 3: it's just it was different. But it did not feel
Speaker 3: like that all week, right, So I think that's where
Speaker 3: you kind of notice the difference between Sunday and the
Speaker 3: rest of the days. And you know, maybe part of
Speaker 3: that is the LA fandom aspect about where they are like, oh,
Speaker 3: we'll go Sunday, you know, we won't go Thursday, Friday, Saturday.
Speaker 1: Yeah. And maybe the people who had tickets to this event,
Speaker 1: whether they were corporate guests or LA members or some
Speaker 1: of the lucky few who managed to get publicly available tickets,
Speaker 1: of which there were not many relatively, maybe a lot
Speaker 1: of those folks were somewhat complacent about it and said,
Speaker 1: I've got this ticket, you know, well, you know, I'll
Speaker 1: go on Sunday whatever, right it's And whereas you know,
Speaker 1: when you have an event that's more accessible to the public,
Speaker 1: there's maybe more competition to get on the site and
Speaker 1: see something, and so you're excited about going on Thursday
Speaker 1: because maybe that's your only chance. I feel like a
Speaker 1: lot of the people who were there, you know, were
Speaker 1: comfortable in their opportunity to see some golf, and so
Speaker 1: maybe they didn't feel that impulse to get there on
Speaker 1: Thursday and create a great atmosphere.
Speaker 3: But you know, but I will say, like I think
Speaker 3: that's the part that was a little tough to kind
Speaker 3: of square, which is if you go to rub every year.
Speaker 3: I've been there the last two years, right, and the
Speaker 3: tournament gets special on the weekend, and the atmosphere is
Speaker 3: great and people come out for golf, and I would
Speaker 3: say buy in large. LA has become pretty big golf
Speaker 3: down in terms of the golf interest, the golf playing,
Speaker 3: you know, just there is a lot of that has
Speaker 3: been a ton of that the last two years or
Speaker 3: so since the pandemic, and I think there's a lot
Speaker 3: of really passionate golf fans out there, and maybe just
Speaker 3: if there would have been a little more accessibility to
Speaker 3: the golf course, both on the ground and just getting
Speaker 3: into ket wise, I think we could have gotten a
Speaker 3: better atmosphere and a better vibe for a tournament that
Speaker 3: you know deserved it, right, And so I think that's
Speaker 3: a little bit of the Well, we'll see what happens
Speaker 3: next time, right, and if they do come back to LA.
Speaker 1: One regret I have here is that the USGA didn't
Speaker 1: push harder for the interests of the common fan. And
Speaker 1: I think that the real shame here is not necessarily
Speaker 1: the limited capacity. I think they probably could have gotten
Speaker 1: more fans on site. As you mentioned, Riviera is packed
Speaker 1: into an LA neighborhood as well, and you know, they
Speaker 1: managed to get a bunch of fans out there and
Speaker 1: create an incredible atmosphere. So I don't know. Maybe there
Speaker 1: could have been more people at LA. I'm not sure,
Speaker 1: but the ratio of tickets that the public had access
Speaker 1: to was too low this time, and I think you
Speaker 1: could feel the effects of that on site, and for me,
Speaker 1: it goes against what a national championship should be, what
Speaker 1: a national open should be. It's called the US Open,
Speaker 1: right for God's sake, and it's still open to players,
Speaker 1: but it's got to be open. It's got to be
Speaker 1: open to the public. This has got to be the
Speaker 1: people's championship. And yes, it's being held at some of
Speaker 1: the most exclusive clubs in the nation, but for the
Speaker 1: week that the tournament is happening, it has to have
Speaker 1: the feel of a people's championship. And they didn't achieve
Speaker 1: that this week, and the USGA needs to own that,
Speaker 1: think about that and try to push a little bit
Speaker 1: harder for the public inch next time. In my opinion,
Speaker 1: that's just my take on it.
Speaker 3: No, I agree. I think there's kind of a funny
Speaker 3: dissonance right between like this open tournament open to all players,
Speaker 3: should be open to all fans going to like you said,
Speaker 3: these exclusive clubs, right, and and that really kind of
Speaker 3: just displays golf's me right in a very very very
Speaker 3: open manner. And but I think you're right. I think
Speaker 3: that's kind of the the important thing going forward. If
Speaker 3: they do decide to come back to la is you know,
Speaker 3: you kind of if you're going to bring in the
Speaker 3: US Open, if you're gonna let it come to your club.
Speaker 3: You're going to have to deal with everything that that
Speaker 3: that implies, right, and you know what it looks like
Speaker 3: next time, we'll see. But I think that's going to
Speaker 3: be a crucial thing going forward.
Speaker 1: Here's my solution, Palo renov Griffith Park.
Speaker 3: There we go, now, now we're talking, yes.
Speaker 1: Come on, come on. There's a lot of room out there.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 1: It's been years since I've been there, so I don't
Speaker 1: know what the access points are like. They might be
Speaker 1: a little harry, but yeah, but you know, listen, they
Speaker 1: have two courses out there. I think they probably have room. Man,
Speaker 1: if they turned that into the golf course that it
Speaker 1: should be, the George Thomas golf course that it should be,
Speaker 1: and at least made one of them sort of national
Speaker 1: championship worthy, that would be That would be a great
Speaker 1: place for the People's Open in LA And I trust,
Speaker 1: I trust that the fans would come out for that
Speaker 1: kind of event and create some craziness.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, no, that you kind of just spurke my
Speaker 3: brain trying to think about how that would even be
Speaker 3: possible At Wilson.
Speaker 1: That'd be tough, but it would have to be a renovation,
Speaker 1: not a not a pure restoration. There's been a those
Speaker 1: courses used to be out in the you know, all
Speaker 1: of these courses in LA used to be out in
Speaker 1: open space, right and since then the city has converged
Speaker 1: on all of them. Same deal with Rancho Park, a
Speaker 1: great public facility but pretty hemmed in by neighborhoods now
Speaker 1: and so you know, it's it's tough to find, you know,
Speaker 1: the great public course that that can host these championships.
Speaker 1: And that's why we see so many private courses doing
Speaker 1: it because they have the resources to do the things
Speaker 1: that need to be done to their course to to
Speaker 1: be able to even come close to hosting in the
Speaker 1: first place.
Speaker 3: Not every city has a Tory Pines, So.
Speaker 1: That's right, yeah, yeah, for better, for worse, Tory Pines
Speaker 1: is unique yet, I mean, we focus on the architecture
Speaker 1: so much, but listen, Tory Pines is a hell of
Speaker 1: a great venue for getting spectators, in allowing people to watch,
Speaker 1: and being open to the public in those senses. It
Speaker 1: is the gold standard. All right, Palas, So are you
Speaker 1: basically done for the year with U with a big
Speaker 1: golf tournament? So you're not going to Hoylake, are you?
Speaker 3: No?
Speaker 1: I am you are going, Tolake, oh man, that's awesome.
Speaker 3: I didn't.
Speaker 1: I didn't realize that was part of the plan.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I didn't. I didn't. I didn't know I was going,
Speaker 3: but I found out recently a few weeks ago that yeah,
Speaker 3: we'll be heading up there. So we're excited for that.
Speaker 3: I've never even been across quote unquote across upon ever
Speaker 3: in my life, so I'm excited to go over there
Speaker 3: and you know, watch some golf and hopefully to play
Speaker 3: some golf too.
Speaker 1: All right, Well, I'm jealous, but I'm also very excited
Speaker 1: for you, So that should be fun to follow. People
Speaker 1: can find your writing at ESPN dot com. And thanks
Speaker 1: for coming on the pod.
Speaker 3: Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1: All right, let's take a quick break and then Joseph
Speaker 1: Lamanna will join me to talk about LACC. This episode
Speaker 1: of the Frida Egg Podcast, and indeed this week of
Speaker 1: the Frida Egg Podcast and the Shotguns Start podcast, was
Speaker 1: brought to you by b Dratty. B Dratty has been
Speaker 1: a big supporter of the Friday Egg from the beginning,
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Speaker 1: The first day I was at LACC, I wore a
Speaker 1: Sportlo along with a Champ hoodie from zero restriction. There
Speaker 1: was a bit of a marine layer in the morning,
Speaker 1: but as the day went on it warmed up a
Speaker 1: bit and so I took off the Champ hoodie and
Speaker 1: just went with the polo. And both were just sort
Speaker 1: of perfect for the conditions, perfect for walking, and if
Speaker 1: I had been playing golf, it would have been perfect
Speaker 1: for that as well. Later in the week, I went
Speaker 1: with the Sanders Polo on many days. In general, things
Speaker 1: were kind of heating up a bit, so I was
Speaker 1: going with short sleeves for most of it, and the
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Speaker 1: Thank you to B Droddy for supporting us this week,
Speaker 1: for creating the B Droddy House and making it all possible.
Speaker 1: Really appreciate it. Let's go back to the episode. All right,
Speaker 1: I'm here with Joseph Lemanya. We're gonna talk about the course.
Speaker 1: The architecture at LACC was a big topic of discussion
Speaker 1: this week. So Joseph, why don't we dig right in.
Speaker 1: What are some of your what is one of your
Speaker 1: major takeaways about this golf course? What do you want
Speaker 1: to start with this?
Speaker 4: Yeah, well, thanks for having me. I'm super excited to
Speaker 4: do this. I think it's interesting that you run on
Speaker 4: course and I was locked in watched pretty much every
Speaker 4: shot that was hit all four days, So it's cool
Speaker 4: to have the on site perspective mixed with somebody who's.
Speaker 2: Just watching a lot of shots.
Speaker 1: So, and by the way, related to that, the on
Speaker 1: site perspective is important and it gives you a lot
Speaker 1: that watching on TV doesn't give you. But a lot
Speaker 1: of people assume that it's better, but it's not necessarily
Speaker 1: because when you're on site you miss so much.
Speaker 4: Yeah yeah, I mean too that I generally, like my
Speaker 4: dream scenario is generally to be on site like Wednesday,
Speaker 4: Thursday and then leave and watch the rest.
Speaker 2: Yeah, because you get both.
Speaker 4: But I don't know if I have like a one
Speaker 4: overarching takeaway. I thought the golf course was awesome, and
Speaker 4: some of the criticism I think is a little unfair.
Speaker 4: The one major question I have, and I would be
Speaker 4: interested in your perspective on this and maybe some of
Speaker 4: the people you were talking to who are more knowledgeable
Speaker 4: than just me sitting on my couch. Did we miss
Speaker 4: an opportunity to maybe see it a little bit firmed up?
Speaker 4: And I thought Saturday was the opportunity for that. I
Speaker 4: do think we missed a little bit of that one
Speaker 4: note on that it never really got that firm And
Speaker 4: I think this course played a little more bomber friendly
Speaker 4: than it would have if it had been firmed up,
Speaker 4: which would have made the fairways play a lot smaller
Speaker 4: and more narrow. So I'm sure like the Wyndham Clark
Speaker 4: T shot on eighteen. We'll probably get into that. But
Speaker 4: if that's much firmer, it might miss the fairway, and
Speaker 4: there's some other fairways out there that it would have
Speaker 4: become a little less of a long iron. Just hit
Speaker 4: it as high as possible and stick it. You might
Speaker 4: have seen some craftier off the tee play if it
Speaker 4: was a little firmer, But I don't know that it
Speaker 4: needed to be. I mean, it played really well. What's
Speaker 4: your opinion on that?
Speaker 1: Well, I have like a number of different ways that
Speaker 1: I've been thinking about that this week. First of all,
Speaker 1: I definitely agree that it could have been firmer, and
Speaker 1: I would have been a bit more entertained if the
Speaker 1: greens were less receptive to wedges, et cetera. And so
Speaker 1: you know, first off, yeah, I definitely acknowledge that. But
Speaker 1: a few things to keep in mind. One, it's been
Speaker 1: a very wet winter in California, extremely unusually moist at
Speaker 1: LACC throughout this year, and the course is holding all
Speaker 1: of that. You can see it in the barankas. They're
Speaker 1: not dry, they're full of vegetation, and that's pretty unusual.
Speaker 1: That course is usually pretty sand belty kind of in
Speaker 1: appearance right now, it's green. And that's not just because
Speaker 1: the USBA was out there with hoses watering down the
Speaker 1: entire thing. They couldn't have done that. That's just because
Speaker 1: California has had a wet winter. So that's one thing.
Speaker 1: The other thing is that during the tournament itself, we
Speaker 1: had relatively little sunshine, and the one day that we
Speaker 1: had of full sunshine was Saturday, and that's when the
Speaker 1: course really started to get a bit fiery. And it
Speaker 1: didn't get all the way there, but it was the
Speaker 1: firmest day. I wasn't on site on Sunday, so I
Speaker 1: can't really compare it, but I think it was the
Speaker 1: firmest day. You could see some dust in the air
Speaker 1: instead of there being a little bit of moisture in
Speaker 1: the ground when I sat down, for instance, you can
Speaker 1: feel the moisture when you sit down right on Saturday.
Speaker 1: That wasn't there. It was dry. So that's another thing.
Speaker 1: The conditions didn't really assist super spicy turf realities. You know,
Speaker 1: it was a lot closer to the edge than people
Speaker 1: thought it was, but it really wasn't riding that edge
Speaker 1: in the way that like Shinnecock Hills did in twenty eighteen.
Speaker 4: And here's two other points. Because I'm a little hesitant
Speaker 4: to be like it should have been firmer. I'm holding
Speaker 4: back on that for two reasons. One, if you do
Speaker 4: push it too far and things get a little bit unplayable,
Speaker 4: not to go full Zach Johnson, you lost the course.
Speaker 4: But it does actually undermine the quality of some of
Speaker 4: the shots out there, and you might you might compromise
Speaker 4: a lot of shot value. So it's hard to push
Speaker 4: it all the way to the line. But here's the
Speaker 4: other point. I don't think I've heard this point made,
Speaker 4: but I was reflecting on this a lot Saturday night
Speaker 4: and into Sunday morning. LACC has tremendous variety right whole
Speaker 4: fifteen playing eighty one yards, but it was you had
Speaker 4: to be super precise. Then you've got a stretch of
Speaker 4: three brawny par four's coming in sixteen seventeen eighteen. To
Speaker 4: achieve a proper firmness level that plays correctly for all
Speaker 4: of the shots that are required is extraordinarily difficult, because
Speaker 4: it might have been cool to see it firmed up
Speaker 4: for how would play off the tee or some approach
Speaker 4: shots where you have an eight iron in But then
Speaker 4: is it even possible? Can you even hold shots on sixteen?
Speaker 4: Seventeen eighteen?
Speaker 2: Does it work?
Speaker 3: Then?
Speaker 4: Was fifteen might have been impossible if it were any firmer,
Speaker 4: And that's I think. I hadn't thought about it a ton.
Speaker 4: But when there's such variety long irons like short irons,
Speaker 4: it's hard to argue that one level of firmness that
Speaker 4: would be super firm would play play well for.
Speaker 2: All of those different shots.
Speaker 4: So I was trying to reel it in a little bit,
Speaker 4: like maybe it could have been a little firmer, But
Speaker 4: overall thought the setup was excellent.
Speaker 1: So aside from the firmness issue, aside from the turf issues,
Speaker 1: what were some other observations you had about the course.
Speaker 4: I think I have one main positive and one potential
Speaker 4: negative that I would like your opinion on to maybe
Speaker 4: keep me in check. So I think the biggest positive
Speaker 4: for me is that I feel confident. And there's no
Speaker 4: way to know this, but I feel confident that when
Speaker 4: most people were watching the golf tournament, when players were
Speaker 4: going to a particular hole, the fan had context for
Speaker 4: what that hole was about to test because there was
Speaker 4: variety and these holes have character. I think people knew
Speaker 4: whole thirteen, like, gotta be precise on that t shot
Speaker 4: or it goes way right and down the slope. Fourteen,
Speaker 4: the par five, I think people were pretty familiar with
Speaker 4: really short par three. On fifteen obviously, whole six, the
Speaker 4: semi drivable par four. I think people knew they're probably
Speaker 4: nine to ten holes that somebody who doesn't even follow
Speaker 4: golf that closely, if they watched multiple days of play,
Speaker 4: they knew what was coming. And I think that's a
Speaker 4: tremendous compliment to pay a golf course. So like Augusta
Speaker 4: in that way, I think some of these holes had
Speaker 4: a bunch of character and clarity.
Speaker 1: The clarity of design is terrific at LACC. The features
Speaker 1: are big and bold, and the lines that you can
Speaker 1: take to attack the hole or to play a little
Speaker 1: bit more conservatively are really well defined and easy to see.
Speaker 1: And so yeah, that's that's definitely a huge part of
Speaker 1: why I enjoyed La North so much. I know a
Speaker 1: lot of people didn't, but just personally totally agree with
Speaker 1: that assessment. So what's your negative?
Speaker 4: So one potential negative. We always talk about shots of consequence, right,
Speaker 4: I want there to be you should.
Speaker 2: Be rewarded for a good shot. If it's if you
Speaker 2: hit a bad shot, there should be some penalty.
Speaker 4: I do think being a little bit critical of maybe
Speaker 4: the t shots on three, eight and eighteen. Three and
Speaker 4: eight are sort of funnel fair ways where there wasn't
Speaker 4: a whole lot required out there. You could kind of
Speaker 4: just hit it into a big area and it was
Speaker 4: gonna bounce down into a pretty advantageous spot. Now, I
Speaker 4: don't know if that's something to be critical of the
Speaker 4: architecture about or if I'm just I think there's a
Speaker 4: difference between viewing a golf course purely through the lens
Speaker 4: of architecture and then viewing it through the lens of
Speaker 4: it being an entertainment product and a test of professional golf.
Speaker 4: And I think those shots failed a little bit as
Speaker 4: far as the entertainment value and how well it's testing
Speaker 4: players because they're hitting three woods on three and eight
Speaker 4: into really wide areas that it was just gonna.
Speaker 2: Bound down all end up in the same place.
Speaker 4: So is that do you, as somebody who's more informed
Speaker 4: on architecture has more of an appreciation for some of
Speaker 4: just frankly more knowledgeable. What's your reaction to me being
Speaker 4: a little bit turned off by that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't know if I agree with that that premise.
Speaker 1: I don't think I am more knowledgeable. I think I
Speaker 1: probably am a little more familiar with how with how
Speaker 1: amateurs play lacc right. I've played it a couple of
Speaker 1: times myself. I don't hit it as far as Rory McElroy,
Speaker 1: and so for me that the experience of playing La
Speaker 1: north Is is different. And so I can say first
Speaker 1: of all that you're right on the money with the
Speaker 1: drives on number three and number eight. Those ones stuck
Speaker 1: out to me too as ones that just really didn't
Speaker 1: work for this field, in this tournament. But there is
Speaker 1: definitely a reason for that. There's no room to move
Speaker 1: those teas back. So those holes are basically the same
Speaker 1: as they were in nineteen twenty eight. They're the same length,
Speaker 1: and players are hitting driving irons so much farther than
Speaker 1: people used to hit hickory drivers in nineteen twenty eight. Like, truly,
Speaker 1: that is a situation we're in.
Speaker 4: If you moved it back, do you think those holes
Speaker 4: play significantly better? It would be, would be my counter argument.
Speaker 1: I think so. I think so, And here's why. On
Speaker 1: number three, the idea is that the baranka or the
Speaker 1: finger of the barank. It's kind of a tributary that
Speaker 1: cuts up the left center portion of that fairway. Is
Speaker 1: sort of the risky carry hazard. That's what it's meant
Speaker 1: to be. If you carry that, then you've done well
Speaker 1: and you're gonna filter to this one spot at the
Speaker 1: bottom of a goalie in the fairway. That's about a
Speaker 1: two hundred and fifty yard carry back in nineteen twenty eight,
Speaker 1: that was a hell of a carry. The other option
Speaker 1: on that hole is to play up to the right,
Speaker 1: and there's a couple of places that you can end
Speaker 1: up there. You can end up on a side hill,
Speaker 1: or if you're pretty precise and you decide to aim
Speaker 1: basically well away from the line of the hole, you
Speaker 1: can kind of get up on top of a hill
Speaker 1: there at the edge of the fairway and have a
Speaker 1: nice view of the green. And so that is the
Speaker 1: other option. Frankly, it is the option that I've used
Speaker 1: when I've played the hole. Because I cannot reliably carry
Speaker 1: my driver two hundred and fifty yards. I can't really
Speaker 1: make that carry, so I have to play out to
Speaker 1: the right on that hole, and it is a very
Speaker 1: different experience.
Speaker 4: But with I think with the firmness and how short
Speaker 4: probably the grass was in the fairways, I thought, and
Speaker 4: I would have to go back and look at some
Speaker 4: shots that were hit pretty high up the right side,
Speaker 4: they're still kind of funneled down into the same area.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, yeah, And that's a factor of the severity of
Speaker 1: the ground right, but also just how far everybody was
Speaker 1: hitting those shots right, because even if they hit them
Speaker 1: way up to the right, they were hitting them more
Speaker 1: than two hundred and fifty yards and so they made
Speaker 1: the carry right. That's the reward on that hole for
Speaker 1: being able to hit a ball that far. For somebody
Speaker 1: who doesn't make that carry on a consistent basis, you
Speaker 1: play up to the right and your ball does not
Speaker 1: funnel down to that main goalie that everybody ended up in.
Speaker 1: But yes, everybody was in that goalie. It was covered
Speaker 1: in divots by the end of the week. The hole
Speaker 1: really didn't work very well for this field. Kind of
Speaker 1: the same deal on eight and eight was a bit
Speaker 1: of a disappointment. I should have seen it coming. I
Speaker 1: love that hole for amateurs, but the thing is everybody
Speaker 1: in the field can get past those bunkers on the
Speaker 1: left and just throw their ball into that big slope
Speaker 1: past the bunkers on the left and let it filter
Speaker 1: down next to the baranka. And they can do it
Speaker 1: with a driving iron. A lot of them hit threewood
Speaker 1: off the tee, some of them hit hybrid. I saw
Speaker 1: Gordon Sergeant just hit a long iron out there, and
Speaker 1: the thing is, yeah, you can do that on that hole.
Speaker 1: The ball runs way from the left down to the
Speaker 1: bottom of the hill. But again, it's sort of like three,
Speaker 1: where the assumption was when that hole was built that
Speaker 1: not everybody would be able to make that carry, and
Speaker 1: the reward for being able to carry those bunkers to
Speaker 1: get past that trouble was being able to get that
Speaker 1: advantageous position so that you could go for the green
Speaker 1: in two. But there are a lot of other options
Speaker 1: on that hole, you know. Just giving this as an
Speaker 1: example of how Immortal would play this hole, you could
Speaker 1: legitimately play it where you go out to the left
Speaker 1: short of the bunkers, you are away from the branka,
Speaker 1: and then your option is to go out to the
Speaker 1: right with your next shot and lay up short of
Speaker 1: the green and leave yourself a wedge or a short
Speaker 1: iron in. But nobody took that option because they just
Speaker 1: didn't have to. I mean, they can make the carry
Speaker 1: and so that's the reality.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's what Maybe I was a little bit disappointed
Speaker 4: because I think the design of Whole eight it's the
Speaker 4: anatomy of like a brilliant par five where you get
Speaker 4: the reward for going down the right side of the fairway,
Speaker 4: you don't have to hit as much of a draw
Speaker 4: into the green. Like, I was so excited to see
Speaker 4: that hole and it just didn't live up to the
Speaker 4: standard that.
Speaker 2: I was hoping for.
Speaker 4: And then the other the last nitpick I'd probably have
Speaker 4: is Whole eighteen, which I was already worried wasn't a
Speaker 4: great finishing hole. I didn't think it was a particularly
Speaker 4: exciting hole to finish on Wyndham's Drive on Sunday. I
Speaker 4: think there's a legitimate gripe like that was well mishit
Speaker 4: and it ends up in the fairway. You can make
Speaker 4: the argument, well, then he didn't have an opportunity to
Speaker 4: make Bertie if you go a little bit left.
Speaker 2: But nobody was really making Birdie there.
Speaker 4: You just got a bunch of pars and then maybe
Speaker 4: some bogies for some of the shorter hitters, so I
Speaker 4: don't think that was a great finishing hole. But to
Speaker 4: be fair, I don't think eighteen at Augusta. At Augusta
Speaker 4: is a great finishing hole, and no one complains about that,
Speaker 4: So overall I felt very positively about LACC. I'm just
Speaker 4: articulating the nitpicks and other than that thought, it was
Speaker 4: tremendous variety and really good test. Like whole five, probably
Speaker 4: one of the coolest holes I think we've seen in
Speaker 4: I mean, I won't say one of the coolest holes
Speaker 4: in Major championship history, but I think whole five was.
Speaker 2: Like a strong, strong golf hole.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that was a pleasant surprise for me because that's
Speaker 1: not a hole that I had picked out as one
Speaker 1: of my favorites when I had played the course. But
Speaker 1: in the tournament that hole is fascinating. I mean, the
Speaker 1: green kind of runs away a little bit. There are
Speaker 1: certain pin positions that are so hard to get to.
Speaker 1: You have to hit great shots on that hole in
Speaker 1: order to be successful. One note on eighteen. There's a
Speaker 1: reason that fairway is wide. It's really a hole that's
Speaker 1: built for nineteen twenty eight, where covering the distance that
Speaker 1: that hole is would require a running shot into the
Speaker 1: green on your second shot. Everybody would be hitting a
Speaker 1: shot along the ground into that green in order to
Speaker 1: get there. And now that's not the case, and so
Speaker 1: the strategy of the hole that in the width of
Speaker 1: the fairway don't make as much sense for this field.
Speaker 2: Then where does that leave us? Right?
Speaker 4: If you know that going in, Because if they had
Speaker 4: narrowed it, and just to play Devil's advocate, if they
Speaker 4: had narrowed it, I could see some fried egg ethos
Speaker 4: being like, this is compromising how it was supposed to
Speaker 4: be played right and kind of going that angle. But
Speaker 4: it might have played better for modern professional golf.
Speaker 1: I mean better, it would have been more punishing.
Speaker 4: Do you think they should have I mean, what do
Speaker 4: you do about that in the future on a whole
Speaker 4: that you know, hey, this isn't gonna play particularly well
Speaker 4: for the modern player because they used to have a
Speaker 4: you know, a super low running in thirty yards, but
Speaker 4: now that's not how players. They're gonna have a seven
Speaker 4: iron in What do you do about that? Do you
Speaker 4: still set it up the old way to adhere to
Speaker 4: George Thomas's original vision, or do you contrive the set
Speaker 4: up a little bit.
Speaker 2: I don't know the right answer to that question.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you roll the ball back is what you do.
Speaker 1: I don't know what the right answer is either. I
Speaker 1: don't think rolling, but the ball back it would really
Speaker 1: bring that hole back into play. It's one of those
Speaker 1: holes that's, in my mind, really a relic. And overall,
Speaker 1: I'm okay with a couple of holes being a relic.
Speaker 1: There's a couple of holes that Augusta National that are
Speaker 1: sort of relics. They just don't play at all like
Speaker 1: they used to play. But I'm okay with them being
Speaker 1: preserved from a museum perspective and the fact that the
Speaker 1: game has moved past them. That's one part sad and
Speaker 1: two parts inevitable. But to narrow that fair way doesn't
Speaker 1: make that a great hole. It just makes it more punishing.
Speaker 1: And I'm sure a lot of people would have loved
Speaker 1: to see Wyndham Clark get in the rough there, right.
Speaker 1: It would have required required a more accurate drive, and
Speaker 1: in that sense, if that's better, then that's fine. But
Speaker 1: I think that also people if Roy McElroy had been
Speaker 1: in the same position and hit the same kind of
Speaker 1: you know, banana sliced drive, that was nonetheless, one eighty
Speaker 1: balls speed, so he must have hit it decently well,
Speaker 1: or maybe the equipment is just that ridiculous. If he
Speaker 1: had been saved in the same way by the width
Speaker 1: of the fair way, we would be having, I think
Speaker 1: a different discussion about this.
Speaker 4: If Rory were one up going into eighteen and that
Speaker 4: happened to him, I think I'd have the same reaction
Speaker 4: like you would.
Speaker 1: You know, you're intellectually consistent. I'll give you that, Joseph.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 4: But all that is to say, going back to the
Speaker 4: earlier point of there's a difference between maybe appreciating great
Speaker 4: architecture versus a modern entertainment product. And I will say
Speaker 4: I think it's a fair knit pick of a major
Speaker 4: championship to conclude on a hole that is maybe a
Speaker 4: little bit boring, not a lot of scoring, that's much
Speaker 4: different than the rest of the course. Same way, I
Speaker 4: think it's a fair criticism of Augusta. And I think
Speaker 4: one of a key ingredient of an awesome modern entertainment
Speaker 4: product is a little bit of uncertainty going into the
Speaker 4: last hole. I think that's part of what makes Sawgrass compelling,
Speaker 4: is that if you're three up going into seventeen, it's
Speaker 4: not over and as a sports fan, that's compelling. So
Speaker 4: if somebody says, hey, LACC was boring for me, I disagree.
Speaker 4: I think it was awesome. If somebody says there were
Speaker 4: some t shots out there that didn't play particularly well
Speaker 4: in eighteen felt like a dud, I can't push back
Speaker 4: too much on that.
Speaker 2: I would agree. But overall, this notion that.
Speaker 4: We shouldn't go back to LACC to me is crazy,
Speaker 4: Like that was an awesome brand of golf. If you
Speaker 4: didn't appreciate it, that's fine. I'm not going to try
Speaker 4: to tell you you're wrong. But I thought it was
Speaker 4: a great, great test.
Speaker 1: You know, Joseph, I think that's really well put, and
Speaker 1: I agree with basically all of it. Anything else you
Speaker 1: wanted to cover.
Speaker 4: I have some thoughts on like the whole Rory discourse
Speaker 4: and did he lose or did Windham win? I think
Speaker 4: this turns into a binary did Rory lose or did
Speaker 4: Windham win?
Speaker 2: Here's what I will say.
Speaker 4: We only focus on a couple things, and like a
Speaker 4: couple holes, narratives take shape. This whole idea of like
Speaker 4: was Rory aggressive enough? Was he conservative enough? I think
Speaker 4: his game plan was very good. Where I believe he
Speaker 4: lost the tournament, so to speak, was on Saturday. We're
Speaker 4: focusing so much on he couldn't make a put on
Speaker 4: Sunday and you know, terrible wedge on fourteen, which I
Speaker 4: agree with, like fourteen was a big mistake, but he
Speaker 4: missed on Saturday. He had a very straightforward up and
Speaker 4: down on four that he did not convert. He had
Speaker 4: a very straightforward up and down on six that he
Speaker 4: did not convert, and he didn't take advantage of number
Speaker 4: eight from the fairway. To me, that is where the
Speaker 4: tournament was lost. And he played exceptional golf almost the
Speaker 4: remainder of the tournament. On Sunday, sloppy three put on eight,
Speaker 4: didn't execute on fourteen. I just mentioned five shots and
Speaker 4: he lost by one, Like let's not overreact. And the
Speaker 4: only other thing and then I've said my piece is
Speaker 4: that this idea that Wyndham Clark is this like mich Liz,
Speaker 4: this long shot like Sean mckeel type story, I think
Speaker 4: is misguided. He's been tremendous this year, Wyndham Clark. When
Speaker 4: he won the Wells Fargo, a designated event, people were saying, like, okay,
Speaker 4: he's probably a Ryder cupper. Like Wyndham Clark is a
Speaker 4: great golfer. He's having a breakout twenty twenty three. He
Speaker 4: hits the ball long way. I think the setup was
Speaker 4: good for him. He's been gaining like a stroke per
Speaker 4: round with his irons, and he's a fabulous putter.
Speaker 2: Like, let's stop with this.
Speaker 4: Narrative that he wasn't a deserving champion, Like, I don't
Speaker 4: think it's fair at all.
Speaker 1: If you listen to podcasts that sort of minutely track
Speaker 1: new players coming on the scene, whether it's like Fantasy
Speaker 1: podcasts or the Shotguns Start, you know where they have
Speaker 1: three shows, three times a week and they talk about
Speaker 1: a lot of different players. Wyndam Clark has come up
Speaker 1: for years, right. People have been saying for years, this
Speaker 1: guy is really really good. I mean just you know,
Speaker 1: maybe he hasn't had the results yet, but my god,
Speaker 1: he just profiles out to be an extraordinary player. That's
Speaker 1: been the word on Wyndham Clark. That's not hindsight twenty twenty.
Speaker 1: This is not a Sean mcheel situation. This is this
Speaker 1: is a great player and he may not continue at
Speaker 1: this level, but it seems like he could all right,
Speaker 1: let's take one more quick break and then Joseph and
Speaker 1: I will be back to do some recommendations. Our next
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Speaker 1: the US Open, I went with my travel packs. I
Speaker 1: was there on site for a little while, and one
Speaker 1: of the things that happens when you're traveling and covering
Speaker 1: a golf tournament is that you don't exactly eat healthy food.
Speaker 1: I mean really appreciated the media dining situation that the
Speaker 1: USGA provided. It was very very good, but a lot
Speaker 1: of the food was pretty greasy, which I love you know,
Speaker 1: and I was very happy to eat it, but it
Speaker 1: didn't exactly provide the best nutritional value. So having those
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Speaker 1: for recommendations, Joseph, What are you recommending this week?
Speaker 4: Well, I would think normally here I would give some
Speaker 4: kind of music recommendation because I listened to a lot
Speaker 4: of different music, But I am running dry right now,
Speaker 4: and the main recommendation that I think I could give
Speaker 4: that's not golf related. I recently watched a movie I
Speaker 4: loved and I had never heard of it.
Speaker 2: It's called In the Name of the Father.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, Daniel day Lewis.
Speaker 2: Daniel day Lewis, who h who? I love.
Speaker 4: I didn't even know this movie existed until like three
Speaker 4: weeks ago. I watched it, thought it was incredible, and
Speaker 4: I would highly recommend it. Cool movie where the theme
Speaker 4: is truth and it is a true story. It covers
Speaker 4: the some civilian bombings between the British and the Irish
Speaker 4: and somebody gets falsely accused. Thought it was awesome. I've
Speaker 4: recommend it to a couple people who have all liked it,
Speaker 4: and I would recommend it to anybody. Sounds like you've
Speaker 4: seen it, Garrett.
Speaker 1: A long time ago. I was a big movie nerd
Speaker 1: when I was a teenager, and so I watched a
Speaker 1: lot of great movies like like that then, and I
Speaker 1: had a bit of Daniel day Lewis phase. And I
Speaker 1: think it was maybe the first Daniel day Lewis movie
Speaker 1: that I had seen, and so I fully thought that
Speaker 1: that was his native accent because he is so completely
Speaker 1: absorbed into that character. It's brilliant, all right. So what
Speaker 1: I'm recommending is a little bit flimsy by comparison, honestly,
Speaker 1: but it is golf related. And just this morning, Tom
Speaker 1: Watson sent out an open letter to j Monahan and
Speaker 1: the PGA Tour, and I don't think he's necessarily saying
Speaker 1: anything super new here, But what I appreciated about it
Speaker 1: was its clarity. It set out the issues really clearly
Speaker 1: about the proposed partnership between the PGA Tour and the PIF.
Speaker 1: But what I just most appreciated about this was Tom
Speaker 1: Watson's willingness to actually engage with the issues, not just
Speaker 1: to wave them off and say, I'm a golfer, I'm
Speaker 1: not going to concern myself with this stuff. This is
Speaker 1: not my job to be an expert on these matters. Instead,
Speaker 1: he's saying, no, I'm taking responsibility to learn about this stuff,
Speaker 1: and he admits at a couple of points, I don't
Speaker 1: have all the information about this. I know a little
Speaker 1: bit about it, but I need to learn more and
Speaker 1: I need to ask questions. And he does a great
Speaker 1: job of just not letting anything off the hook, and
Speaker 1: I think that's a great model for leaders in this situation.
Speaker 1: There's been a void of leadership in this situation. There's
Speaker 1: been a void of moral leadership. Specifically, people have just
Speaker 1: completely abdicated that responsibility to be moral leaders. And so
Speaker 1: I don't know where this is going to go with
Speaker 1: Tom Watson, whether he's going to eventually acquiesce to the
Speaker 1: situation like so many other people have. But his willingness
Speaker 1: to kind of reckon with complex issues and put something
Speaker 1: out there that alone, I think I commend, And for
Speaker 1: that reason alone, I would really recommend that people go
Speaker 1: read this open letter. It is a touch long, It's
Speaker 1: longer than most of what people read on Twitter, but
Speaker 1: I think you should seek it out.
Speaker 4: Look, Garrett, speaking truth to power. I'm not sure our
Speaker 4: recommendations were that different.
Speaker 1: After all, are we comparing the troubles to the PGA
Speaker 1: Tour's current situation. Yes, well, that's a great place to end. Joseph,
Speaker 1: thank you so much for coming on the podcast. I'll
Speaker 1: talk to you again soon. Thanks for having me. It's fun.
Speaker 1: This episode of the Frida Egg Podcast was edited by
Speaker 1: Matt Rushis. Thank you Matt, and in fact, Matt was
Speaker 1: out there this week at LACC along with Cameron Hurtis,
Speaker 1: taking some terrific photos of the action at the US Open.
Speaker 1: We've been publishing those photos on Twitter and Instagram and
Speaker 1: in our stories for the tournament. So all credit to
Speaker 1: Matt for not only being a great podcast editor, but
Speaker 1: also being a very talented photographer. So if you would
Speaker 1: like to support the Frida Egg, the single best thing
Speaker 1: that you can do is join Club TFE. This is
Speaker 1: a content offering that also comes with benefits like early
Speaker 1: access to events and discounts and the pro shop and
Speaker 1: stuff like that, but the main offering is in our
Speaker 1: Club TFE website, where we publish content that's exclusive for members.
Speaker 1: This past week we had a great video that Andy
Speaker 1: did on every hole at LACC, or at least one
Speaker 1: feature from every hole at LACC, and we also had
Speaker 1: some different things going on with LACC and US Open
Speaker 1: themed content, as well as a course profile that I
Speaker 1: wrote on Rustic Canyon, which is of course that's not
Speaker 1: far from LA that's public, really well designed and that
Speaker 1: I highly recommend that you seek out if you're.
Speaker 3: In the area.
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Speaker 1: you for listening, and we'll be back again soon