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.
Speaker 2: Ball in a fried egg Friday egg, the dreaded Frida Egg,
Speaker 2: Friday Frida Egg brid Egg, fridagg bride egg, Lie.
Speaker 3: I'm about ready to run off of the hump course.
Speaker 4: Welcome back to another edition of the Friday Golf Podcast.
Speaker 4: I am your host, Andy Johnson. Today I'm super excited.
Speaker 4: I am joined by Friday Golf's Kevin van Valkenberg and
Speaker 4: Joseph Lamania. We are doing our monthly check in where
Speaker 4: we will just kind of bat around a bunch of
Speaker 4: topics on pro golf. We recorded this on Friday of
Speaker 4: last week and now we are two for two and
Speaker 4: twenty twenty six of having pre recorded deep discussions about
Speaker 4: Chris got her Up and Chris got her Up then
Speaker 4: going on to win, so just you know these conversations.
Speaker 4: It was kind of an in depth conversation about got
Speaker 4: her Up did happen before he won this week, which
Speaker 4: probably only adds fuel to the fire of what we
Speaker 4: were talking about with Chris gotterr Up, who is now
Speaker 4: the fifth rank player in the world of golf, which
Speaker 4: is pretty wild crazy ascension over the last eighteen months
Speaker 4: for got her up. Obviously a ton of talent. So
Speaker 4: before we get to that, today's podcast is brought to
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Speaker 4: Thanks to our friends at golf Genius. As always, we
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Speaker 4: out at Golf Genius. All right, let's get to Kevin
Speaker 4: and Joseph. All right, Joseph, Kevin excited to gather here
Speaker 4: in February.
Speaker 5: We've got a a fun theme. I wanted to get
Speaker 5: out ahead of this.
Speaker 4: I always, you know, I like, I like the block
Speaker 4: of being the first podcast to do way too early
Speaker 4: Masters storylines. Hell, I wanted to do this The way
Speaker 4: I kind of viewed this as is in a vein
Speaker 4: of like what am I watching the next couple of weeks.
Speaker 5: We've got kind of a murderer's.
Speaker 4: Row of events coming up with with Pebble and and
Speaker 4: and riv and then you go down to Florida and
Speaker 4: you're in the heat of Masters prep. So I wanted to, uh,
Speaker 4: kind of get this on the blocks. And obviously you
Speaker 4: have players. I guess you know. One thing I didn't
Speaker 4: know that we were going to talk about until yesterday
Speaker 4: was is the Master's the second major now?
Speaker 5: Because the PGA Tour says it is?
Speaker 4: And do you guys have any takes on the on
Speaker 4: the PGA Tour's new marketing slogan that this is major
Speaker 4: for the players?
Speaker 6: I saw where Shane Ryan reached out to the PJ
Speaker 6: Tour and was like, hey, guys, like, what's going on here?
Speaker 1: Like what are you hinting at? And their response was basically.
Speaker 6: Like, oh, you know, people have always thought it was
Speaker 6: like really a major competition, So we'll let the you know,
Speaker 6: we'll let the masses decide what they think or whatnot. So,
Speaker 6: you know, just that kind of cutesy wink wink thing
Speaker 6: I find. Listen, I've been on this block for a
Speaker 6: long time. The majors are made up designation, Like there
Speaker 6: is no like there. Since there's no governing body in sports,
Speaker 6: you can't really like have someone decide what is or
Speaker 6: isn't a major. Essentially, what got decided as being what
Speaker 6: is or isn't a major was decided by Arnold Palmer
Speaker 6: and a bunch of media people that Arnold Palmer was
Speaker 6: friendly with, namely like the Pittsburgh Post Gazette sports editor.
Speaker 6: Paper doesn't even exist anymore, unfortunately, So it's like, it's
Speaker 6: it's silly to me to be like, how daries on
Speaker 6: this as major? Andy, I know you're on. The Western
Speaker 6: Lam was always or the Western Open was always a major.
Speaker 6: You know, Walter Hagen won five of those so it's
Speaker 6: not like you know that what has and has been
Speaker 6: a major hasn't been malleable throughout history. So I guess,
Speaker 6: like what I think the PGA attorney to do is
Speaker 6: just put together another blog cabin and wine and dinahs
Speaker 6: and us media types and make us decide what is
Speaker 6: or is it a major?
Speaker 2: Kevin, I understand that the definition is malleable and has been.
Speaker 2: We need to hold the line.
Speaker 5: This is not a major.
Speaker 2: Live golfers aren't even allowed to play, and this is
Speaker 2: not a major championship. And I think my biggest issue
Speaker 2: with trying to do it, if people seriously want to
Speaker 2: try to do it, is that you can't then retroactively
Speaker 2: give people majors when they were playing back nines not
Speaker 2: knowing it was a major, and the pressure that's involved
Speaker 2: in trying to win a major. I understand that's been
Speaker 2: done before, but we cannot let it happen, and we
Speaker 2: need to hold the line. Four is it also just
Speaker 2: a good number. We do not need a fifth.
Speaker 6: It all is perfect to agreement, Joseph, there is no
Speaker 6: other need for majors. Sorry, PJ Tour, you missed out
Speaker 6: like you never should have. Let the PJA of Americas
Speaker 6: break off, you should have broke off. You made a decision,
Speaker 6: now own that forever pulled the line.
Speaker 4: I mean, but then Don Raya would be the president
Speaker 4: of the PGA Tour right now. The I agree. I
Speaker 4: agree with the premise. I think the hardest part about
Speaker 4: winning a major is the back nine, and no back
Speaker 4: nine represents that more than I guess the National where
Speaker 4: people just like collapse and or people just can't get
Speaker 4: out of the out of the blocks because the the
Speaker 4: pressure and the expectations and the you know, anticipation. I
Speaker 4: think there's something about, you know, the beyond the players,
Speaker 4: whether they deserve to be a major or not. You
Speaker 4: don't just get to announce that you are the first major, too,
Speaker 4: Like there's something about the order, and there is something
Speaker 4: extra about the Masters because of the first major from
Speaker 4: the you know Open or what used to be the
Speaker 4: PGA in August.
Speaker 5: That eight month wait.
Speaker 4: Actually adds to the pressure on the first te of
Speaker 4: the Masters because somebody hasn't felt that major feel in
Speaker 4: eight months.
Speaker 5: That adds to.
Speaker 4: The layers of the Masters, and that's another reason why
Speaker 4: the players can't just be a major. Interestingly enough, I
Speaker 4: think something that that comes to light with the with
Speaker 4: the PGA, and I didn't expect to get here in
Speaker 4: this podcast with the PGA moving or with the PGA
Speaker 4: moving on to new CEO, Terry Clark is hired. And
Speaker 4: while the PGA Tour is kind of, you know, really
Speaker 4: heavily throwing around the scarcity schedule, and from things that
Speaker 4: I've gathered this the schedule would yield potentially a early
Speaker 4: August finish with a singular finishing event, no playoffs. All
Speaker 4: of a sudden, this opens the door wide back open
Speaker 4: for the PGA Championship to move back to August. It
Speaker 4: is actually of the rotating venues. You know, when you
Speaker 4: look at the American rotating venues, it's the one that
Speaker 4: has the most free dates versus the US Open, which
Speaker 4: is kind of locked in till twenty fifty on where
Speaker 4: it's going. And that would open the door to I
Speaker 4: think like they've been kind of picking through scraps of
Speaker 4: venues that work for them in May. That would open
Speaker 4: the door for a lot of really interesting venues. And
Speaker 4: if the tour ended their season, it's like a final
Speaker 4: event and then you have a Major after that.
Speaker 5: I think that's actually kind of compelling for golf.
Speaker 2: One question on that would be maybe this shouldn't be
Speaker 2: the end all be all, but like PGA Frisco August
Speaker 2: at PGA Frisco is not a good time to host
Speaker 2: that tournament. And I don't know, maybe that means that
Speaker 2: PJ Frisco isn't a heavily featured golf course in the
Speaker 2: PGA Championship future venue list, which would be totally fine
Speaker 2: with me. But that would seem like kind of a
Speaker 2: big issue that they were so committed to that facility
Speaker 2: and I thought that was a big part of their
Speaker 2: future plans. Like, so you're going to try to host
Speaker 2: a tournament in Dallas in August, like that would not
Speaker 2: go well?
Speaker 6: What if PJ Frisco becomes the neome of the PGA, uh,
Speaker 6: you know of America just a sunk costs.
Speaker 1: You tried, it didn't work.
Speaker 6: Now you just need to walk away from it, you know,
Speaker 6: like the embarrassment is what it is, like you did,
Speaker 6: it just didn't work.
Speaker 4: I believe there's only one PGA Championship awarded to Frisco
Speaker 4: and it is next year.
Speaker 5: Okay, so I'm writing a level it could.
Speaker 4: Be a solvable situation. It's you know, I think there
Speaker 4: is a you know, in terms of some wisdom that
Speaker 4: Seth Waw bestowed on the general golf public when he
Speaker 4: was the CEO of the PGA, he described the process
Speaker 4: of locking in dates into the twenty fifties as quote
Speaker 4: unquote irresponsible.
Speaker 5: And this is, you know, if they.
Speaker 4: Were to potentially move back to August or consider it,
Speaker 4: the the fact that they have a free schedule is
Speaker 4: very compelling and just you know, to give listeners an idea.
Speaker 4: You know, we're we're we just hosted at Quail Hollow,
Speaker 4: we had Valhalla the year before. Venues that are all
Speaker 4: of a sudden open for the PGA if they go
Speaker 4: back to August chamber Spay.
Speaker 5: I think a prime time.
Speaker 4: Augus guest event at at Chambers Bay, where you're deciding
Speaker 4: a champion and watching pivotal weekend rounds at nine pm
Speaker 4: Eastern would be very popular in a dead zone of sports.
Speaker 4: You also open up, you know, the renovated Madina three,
Speaker 4: which we will we will see this year at the
Speaker 4: President's Cup. I think that's going to be one of
Speaker 4: the more compelling PGA or you know, championship golf courses
Speaker 4: of the next thirty years.
Speaker 5: There's no real space for it for a US Open.
Speaker 4: It's a huge media market Chicago obviously, then you get
Speaker 4: the likes of Aaron Hills in Whistling Straits. Furthermore, like
Speaker 4: when you think about sheer population density, the number of
Speaker 4: people within four to five hours of those places that
Speaker 4: can attend, and what a great time to host in
Speaker 4: that area. So I think that is a fascinating topic
Speaker 4: of discussion for the PGA. And while we're talking about
Speaker 4: you know, this is all done by the PGA Tours, uh,
Speaker 4: you know, marketing campaign.
Speaker 5: But yeah, I just I.
Speaker 4: Think the this is Yeah, I didn't really expect this
Speaker 4: year to be a year where you have these huge
Speaker 4: underlying stories that are happening in the background of the
Speaker 4: golf that aren't you know, really around live. It's more
Speaker 4: around what does the PGA Tour look like moving forward?
Speaker 4: Because I think everybody expects to see wholesale changes and
Speaker 4: then how does everything fall around that. And I think
Speaker 4: the PGA, you know, with the with their new CEO
Speaker 4: of Terry Clark, is kind of a lynch pin here.
Speaker 2: The other part of all that that I don't know
Speaker 2: that really got brought up. Somebody can check me on this,
Speaker 2: but the college football schedule just also got altered for
Speaker 2: next year, and I believe now is supposed to the
Speaker 2: final is what the weekend before the super Bowl. So
Speaker 2: if the PGA Tour was thinking about still because people
Speaker 2: have said that the Tory week this week still would
Speaker 2: have worked the week before the super Bowl. But now
Speaker 2: if that would be possibly competing with college football, the
Speaker 2: college football final, I wouldn't think that's something that Brian
Speaker 2: Rolapp wanted to would want to steer into. So I
Speaker 2: would maybe be further amo for starting the season after
Speaker 2: the super Bowl. I don't know, but I thought that
Speaker 2: that was probably a relevant announcement with the college football
Speaker 2: finally getting I don't know, Ken if you have any
Speaker 2: thoughts on that.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I just wonder so much how how much of
Speaker 6: a winning strategy is to just be like, oh, we're
Speaker 6: so worried about football, like we got to keep away
Speaker 6: from football. Like I kind of feel like, differentiate your product,
Speaker 6: you know, make it, you know. Maybe so it's not
Speaker 6: specifically lined up in terms of the exact same broadcast window,
Speaker 6: but you know, sometimes golf can be a good like
Speaker 6: entree to the actual football like later in the afternoon
Speaker 6: or evening, like maybe just find ways to not go
Speaker 6: directly up against it, but don't don't be so scared
Speaker 6: of it that you're gonna alter your entire schedule just
Speaker 6: to avoid it. I just say Andy Chambers Bay was
Speaker 6: number one on my draft picks of of PJ venues
Speaker 6: that I would like to see return.
Speaker 1: I feel like, uh, it.
Speaker 6: Got a raw deal and I just really want to
Speaker 6: see something come back there because I think it's a
Speaker 6: cool venue for pros.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you just you just think about what they can
Speaker 4: do in August, and it would be incredible. And it's
Speaker 4: just you know, there's some venues in and listen like
Speaker 4: they they almost need to lean in that, Hey, we
Speaker 4: aren't the we aren't the us GA.
Speaker 5: We know we're not the us GA. We aren't going
Speaker 5: to get the top flight.
Speaker 4: But are there other venues that make a ton of
Speaker 4: sense for us UH to go do because of markets?
Speaker 4: And one that just got discarded with you know, no
Speaker 4: second chance is Chamber Spae. You know, I think they're
Speaker 4: they're super thirsty for for pro golf, high level of
Speaker 4: pro golf. And you know what a great you know,
Speaker 4: kind of tell vision product. When you think about it,
Speaker 4: you know, it's it's it's a waterfront, uh late late
Speaker 4: broadcast window golf like that.
Speaker 5: That is a great combination. Let's get to.
Speaker 4: The way too early Masters storylines. As I said, I
Speaker 4: think this is a way to kind of a way
Speaker 4: you can kind of view a lens. I think, like
Speaker 4: if you think about other sports, like you're constantly talking
Speaker 4: about regular season and and does this work for the
Speaker 4: postseason or is this a recipe that can get you
Speaker 4: to the super Bowl? You know, it's always viewed through
Speaker 4: the lens of of of majors, and with the Masters
Speaker 4: less than two months away, this is this is the
Speaker 4: time to start to think about about stuff. And uh,
Speaker 4: I'm curious what uh what are what are some storylines? Joseph,
Speaker 4: Why don't you lead us off?
Speaker 2: I mean, yeah, it's fun to zag a little bit,
Speaker 2: but I think we'd have to We have stars, Scott Scheffler.
Speaker 5: I want to let him down because I knew I
Speaker 5: didn't need a list them.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's more fun to start with somebody a little
Speaker 2: more off the board, which I'm sure we'll get to.
Speaker 2: But the more I think about it, I think Scotty
Speaker 2: Scheffler finishes his career with at least four Masters, Like
Speaker 2: I think a fifth is very in range. He has
Speaker 2: completely dominated. It's a golf course that is so perfectly
Speaker 2: well suited for him. And I don't know, I've been
Speaker 2: thinking a little bit about the combination everyone talks about,
Speaker 2: like iron play and short game and the little power. Yeah,
Speaker 2: we know that. I think the ability to control your
Speaker 2: driver the way Scotty does and hit really high ballflight
Speaker 2: pure iron shots is a combination that not that many
Speaker 2: golfers have. I think a lot of guys can hit
Speaker 2: the really high iron shots, but then they're not always
Speaker 2: the most in control of their golf ball off the tee.
Speaker 2: It is such a rare combination to have both of
Speaker 2: those things that, Like, I think Rory's a great example
Speaker 2: where when he's driving it well, like we know he
Speaker 2: can win the Masters, but obviously the driver can get
Speaker 2: a little bit away from him, and so he has
Speaker 2: that high, towering ball flight, but sometimes it gets a
Speaker 2: little bit out of control.
Speaker 1: Scotty has just.
Speaker 2: This unique combination of having both those skills plus a
Speaker 2: world class short game. He's gonna be one of the
Speaker 2: strongest favorites we've had at a Master's in a long time.
Speaker 2: And yeah, I don't think anybody should be anywhere close
Speaker 2: to Scotty right now. Despite sure of a bad round,
Speaker 2: we're recording this during the waste management. I don't think
Speaker 2: that bad round. He played men a whole lot. He's like,
Speaker 2: it's not going to be fifty to fifty. But I
Speaker 2: think there's a very good chance Scotti Scheffler's winning his
Speaker 2: third Masters in April.
Speaker 6: I look, I think he's I might go over Joseph
Speaker 6: even on five jackets, Like I think we're really I mean,
Speaker 6: he's thirty, like crazy, you know, probably twelve more years,
Speaker 6: thirty more years of legitimate Masters like contention where he
Speaker 6: would be among the favorites, if not the favorite, it'd
Speaker 6: be the favorite probably for the next five to six years,
Speaker 6: barring any kind of injury. And it just said, no,
Speaker 6: course is set up better for him just in terms
Speaker 6: of great iron play, great short game to recover putting
Speaker 6: is kind of uh, you know, minimized, but even still
Speaker 6: like he's a very good putter now. So yeah, I
Speaker 6: think we could be looking at like it's probably like
Speaker 6: Nicholas's record of eighteen is out of like range, but
Speaker 6: I think six masters.
Speaker 1: Yeah, maybe that's that's with more realistic than you'd think.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I I mean, you think about like the crop
Speaker 4: of real challengers right now, it's kind of weak. I
Speaker 4: think like there is like a world where where Scotty's
Speaker 4: kind of like choked some players out, you know, and
Speaker 4: he's had had this this effect and impact on golf
Speaker 4: where people have size tried to to chase things to
Speaker 4: improve because of the bar that Scotty has set and
Speaker 4: maybe has had some negative impacts. I'll jump in here
Speaker 4: one of my big stories I'm kind of watching right now.
Speaker 4: I'm going to just call them the down bad group.
Speaker 4: Players with very lofty expectations from the general public, media
Speaker 4: appears themselves, who are not performing at the level that
Speaker 4: we would expect at this point in their career. I
Speaker 4: have in this group Ludwig who's taken a clear step back,
Speaker 4: and it's it's very early. So you know, my kind
Speaker 4: of framing of this is like one of these guys,
Speaker 4: which ones of these guys are going to show life
Speaker 4: so that they can be a first page Masters betting
Speaker 4: favorite in the sense of a real challenger.
Speaker 5: And all of.
Speaker 4: These players I think need a kind of like a
Speaker 4: seismic directional shift from what we've seen to feel that way.
Speaker 4: So I've got Ludwig, who's obviously contended the two Masters.
Speaker 4: He's played in real contention, Xanderschoffley, Colin Morikawa, who is
Speaker 4: a ace at Augusta National tremendous track record, but also
Speaker 4: is playing You know, I would say the worst golf
Speaker 4: of his career, Victor Hovlin and Jordan Speed, which one
Speaker 4: of these players is going to flash and show some
Speaker 4: sort of life. And I think, like I put Speed
Speaker 4: kind of on the very end of this list.
Speaker 5: I threw him on here.
Speaker 1: Joseph's face you thought you were.
Speaker 5: I just threw him on here.
Speaker 4: You know, the track record had Augustus good even with
Speaker 4: recent bad things. But like, if Jordan Speed moderately good golf,
Speaker 4: you're going to start to hear the Augusta things. And
Speaker 4: he's shown he can compete even when he's playing poorly.
Speaker 1: Oh on, Joseph, He's shown he can compete Augusta.
Speaker 5: There's so many there's probably twenty.
Speaker 1: Bad golf Lash year he was top fifteen.
Speaker 2: Okay, talking about winning, I think there's probably twenty names
Speaker 2: that are winning. But this thing before Jordan Speed, But
Speaker 2: go on.
Speaker 4: But anyways, so I this is that down bad group,
Speaker 4: but it ties to Scotti where like you look at
Speaker 4: the OWGR or you look at Data Golf or wherever
Speaker 4: you wherever you want to get your new your your
Speaker 4: news and your rankings for from you know, I know,
Speaker 4: our live our live listenership, would you know probably has
Speaker 4: some other form of ranking service they want us to
Speaker 4: look at. But like you look at the contenders, like
Speaker 4: the in terms of like who's playing the best golf,
Speaker 4: and you know, with Xander being on this list, like
Speaker 4: Xander's playing right now and I don't you know this,
Speaker 4: He's playing as if he's the forty fifth best player
Speaker 4: in the world.
Speaker 5: You know.
Speaker 2: What, he looks bad right now.
Speaker 4: And you start to look at the list and it's like, okay,
Speaker 4: so there's Rory obviously, but then it's it's forty five
Speaker 4: year old Justin Rose. There's Tommy Fleetwood, Major list, Tommy Fleetwood,
Speaker 4: Russell Henley who's not going to win the Masters. I'm
Speaker 4: just gonna put that out there. He's not going to
Speaker 4: win the Masters. Bob McIntyre, nice player, JJ Spawn, Ben
Speaker 4: Griffin who's never played a Masters. Justin Thomas is obviously hurt.
Speaker 4: Then you get to Harris English, Sepstraka, Alex Norin like
Speaker 4: you know, The next person who I'm intrigued by and
Speaker 4: would I would say, is an intriguing player to.
Speaker 5: Watch right now is Hideki Matsuhama.
Speaker 4: But you know, you start to look at this list
Speaker 4: and and one of the things that Scott He's done
Speaker 4: is that three years years ago you look at the
Speaker 4: top ten in the world and you're like, this is stacked,
Speaker 4: Like what a great time to be a golf fan,
Speaker 4: what sublime young talents are in the sport, And right
Speaker 4: now you look at it, and I don't I don't
Speaker 4: know if this is directly tied, but it seems to
Speaker 4: me that while Scott He's ascended, there are ben some
Speaker 4: players that have flat out self destructed.
Speaker 6: Do you think the two are related or do you
Speaker 6: think that it is Actually I think they are. Really
Speaker 6: you hinted at that, and I would I would be
Speaker 6: interested to unpack that a little bit more. Just I mean, look,
Speaker 6: the one conversation, though, I think would lend evidence that
Speaker 6: what I would point to is like Marikawa just being
Speaker 6: like completely baffled, you know, not Lasher's matches, but the
Speaker 6: year before about like, hey, I've got to hit five
Speaker 6: iron into like the fifth hole. He's hitting eight iron
Speaker 6: like that's just an impossible ask for me.
Speaker 1: And you know, did.
Speaker 6: Markaua has he been trying to sort of gain a
Speaker 6: little distance a little bit And that's why the short
Speaker 6: game looks horrendous right now. Is is just kind ofgleck that
Speaker 6: or lost the plot with that, Like I don't know,
Speaker 6: I mean, I would be interesting to see if you
Speaker 6: guys think how closely tied together those Scotty's ascendants is
Speaker 6: with the regression.
Speaker 4: I think it absolutely is, because what is you know,
Speaker 4: the interesting aspect of Scotty's process and persona is it's
Speaker 4: like just business as usual. You know, we have a
Speaker 4: we have like a you know, a saying that's becoming
Speaker 4: prolific within our company of like run the damn ball.
Speaker 4: Scotty's process has run the damn ball personified. Like he
Speaker 4: just wakes up and he says, we're going to half
Speaker 4: back dive and it's like I'm going to do my
Speaker 4: grip work. You know, it's it's well popularized. We've talked
Speaker 4: about this on the spot a ton. This simple process
Speaker 4: that he just does over and over and over and
Speaker 4: over again, and he's just reinforcing his golfer DNA over
Speaker 4: and over and over and over over again, and this
Speaker 4: golfer DNA has over whelmed his peers, overwhelmed them. And
Speaker 4: what I think it's done to them is it has
Speaker 4: forced them to try and get out of their golfer
Speaker 4: DNA to to reach a level that they aren't at,
Speaker 4: and that's where you're seeing some of this regression come from.
Speaker 4: I think Xander's a unique case with this group of
Speaker 4: like there was an injury, but at the time at
Speaker 4: that at the time of the injury, really you were like, wow,
Speaker 4: like Xander, you know, Scotti's one, but Xander's two, and
Speaker 4: look at this like skill set that like really is
Speaker 4: comparable to Scotty in some regards. I think these a
Speaker 4: lot of these other guys, and I mean Jordan Speedt's
Speaker 4: like the quintessential of this, like has just basically lost
Speaker 4: his fingerprint as a golfer over the years.
Speaker 5: But you look at the other guys.
Speaker 4: With Morikawa, I don't really know what's going on with Ludwig,
Speaker 4: but you know, Victor is his own kind of basket
Speaker 4: of trying to search for that dragon. You know that's
Speaker 4: gonna like trying to slay the dragon constantly. In the
Speaker 4: New One, he got to the top of the game
Speaker 4: with the FedEx Cup, where you know people are like,
Speaker 4: this guy might be the best.
Speaker 5: Player in the world, but he's still searching for something else.
Speaker 4: I think that they're the world golf rankings and what's
Speaker 4: happened to the top flight who we believe the top
Speaker 4: flight contenders. It's just so many have fallen off that
Speaker 4: it lends me to believe that Scotty has had to
Speaker 4: do something with it.
Speaker 6: What's issue about that theory, Andy, is like you look
Speaker 6: at like Fleetwood and Rose, who've kind of been at
Speaker 6: maybe the raised their level a little bit, is that
Speaker 6: they were kind of established and who they were before
Speaker 6: Scotty ever appeared on the scene, unlike some of those
Speaker 6: sort of you know, younger guys who are of his generation.
Speaker 6: I think you could make a connection of like, hey,
Speaker 6: those guys kind of knew what they're DNA was and
Speaker 6: they didn't really mess with it just because the next
Speaker 6: Tiger arrived.
Speaker 4: It's it's actually fascinating, right You think about like who's
Speaker 4: raised their profile the most, and it's Russell Henley, Tommy Fleetwood, and.
Speaker 5: Justin Rose.
Speaker 4: A forty five year old Russell Henley's got to be
Speaker 4: like thirty eight off the top of my head, Younger
Speaker 4: thirty six or thirty seven, Fleetwood thirty six or thirty seven,
Speaker 4: all you know, and then Bob McIntyre's kind of the
Speaker 4: outlier here, but it is I'm fascinated by what Scottie's
Speaker 4: psychological impact is on golf right now. That might be
Speaker 4: the most, you know, the most un you can't you
Speaker 4: can't statistically prove what he's doing, but all signs point
Speaker 4: to he is overwhelming people.
Speaker 6: Rory might be the only thing keeping him from going
Speaker 6: like secretary at the Secretariat at the Belmont, Like if
Speaker 6: Rory's flay falls off all of a sudden, the gap
Speaker 6: between Scotty and everybody else is going to be so
Speaker 6: vast like it, Yeah, I don't know, but people even
Speaker 6: showing up at major so that that gay.
Speaker 4: That that's where you can get kind of tantalized of
Speaker 4: Xander two years ago, twenty twenty four, Xander because he
Speaker 4: had he didn't have Rory pop in the bat, but
Speaker 4: he there's so few guys that mix. Like what Rory
Speaker 4: can do to Scotty when you watch them play together
Speaker 4: is it's like, Okay, Scotty is.
Speaker 5: Unbelievable.
Speaker 4: Approaching the Green but Rory's really good when he's on
Speaker 4: approaching the green and he's hitting from twenty five or
Speaker 4: thirty yards ahead. Xander reached this apex in twenty twenty
Speaker 4: four because he wasn't as long as Rory, but he
Speaker 4: was in the in the discussion, you know, he's hidden
Speaker 4: one eighty one eighties consistently ball speed numbers, and that
Speaker 4: he's mixing. I'm also a top ten iron player in
Speaker 4: the world. With that, I have a great short game,
Speaker 4: and I'm a great putter like he's mixed. Yeah, if
Speaker 4: you think about the blueprint for beating Scotty at this point,
Speaker 4: we've seen I ironically like no names beat him, which
Speaker 4: is very actually tiger like. Like you think about who
Speaker 4: won the Houston Open over him a couple of years ago, Yeager,
Speaker 4: Yeger beat him, which is like, uh, but where you've
Speaker 4: seen I think where the blueprint to beating Scottie is is.
Speaker 5: You do have to overwhelm him a little bit off
Speaker 5: the tee.
Speaker 4: You have to earn your advantage there to get the
Speaker 4: shorter club to approach with and say, hey, Scotty's unbelievable
Speaker 4: with an eight iron in.
Speaker 5: His hand, but I can match that with a wedge
Speaker 5: in my hand.
Speaker 2: You kind of need him to have a bad putting
Speaker 2: week like that is, if he has a good putting week,
Speaker 2: I don't think we're anybody else really has a chance
Speaker 2: of winning this year's Masters. But the overall theory Andy
Speaker 2: is interesting. I do think you have to look at
Speaker 2: it case by case, like maybe this will age poorly.
Speaker 2: And I'm sort of not on an island, but I
Speaker 2: think the Ludwig is regressing storyline is being way overblown
Speaker 2: right now. He had a really bad week at Tory,
Speaker 2: but the back half of last year Ludwig was pretty good.
Speaker 2: A lot of it is on the DP World Tour,
Speaker 2: but Ludviig's still twenty six, and we talk all the
Speaker 2: time on this podcast about the best players hitting their
Speaker 2: strides between twenty seven and thirty five. Ludwig has now
Speaker 2: finished in the top ten of both of the first
Speaker 2: two Masters he's played in, and he's just now hitting
Speaker 2: that peak where we start to expect more consistent results.
Speaker 2: So like in Ludwig's case, I actually don't think. I
Speaker 2: don't think the wow he's on the downturn and we're
Speaker 2: seeing and decline is going to age super well. Like
Speaker 2: I think six months from now, we're going to be
Speaker 2: having a very different conversation about love big so Xander, Yeah, injury,
Speaker 2: like I think it is case by case. And the
Speaker 2: one other name I don't think you mentioned is John Rahm,
Speaker 2: who I think has a very good chance of winning
Speaker 2: the Masters outside of Scotty. So is it Scotty's dominance
Speaker 2: that we've seen a little bit of regression from some
Speaker 2: of these guys, or is Scotty just so much better
Speaker 2: than everybody else that it looks like that when these
Speaker 2: golfers aren't actually getting appreciably worse, Like I think John
Speaker 2: ram has gotten a little worse. Xander's definitely gotten a
Speaker 2: little worse post injury. But like Kevin's saying, like Tommy
Speaker 2: Fleetwood's playing the best golf he's ever played, Rory Plat
Speaker 2: has elevated his level last year, I don't know that
Speaker 2: it's true that everybody's getting dissuaded by what Scotty's doing.
Speaker 6: You know, Joseph, your loving point reminds me of something
Speaker 6: my football reporting days, where I used to cover the
Speaker 6: Ravens and was read a lot about Joe Flacco, And
Speaker 6: you know, there's always a debate about this flack elite
Speaker 6: is flacko progressing whatever. And remember asking John Harbor about
Speaker 6: something once and he was like, you know, you guys
Speaker 6: think of progression as like a chart that like it
Speaker 6: just kind of goes up like this, but in reality,
Speaker 6: it's more like a staircase, like it goes up and
Speaker 6: then it flattens, and it goes up, and it flattens
Speaker 6: and it goes up. So you know what our expectations
Speaker 6: for for Ludvig are probably going like that, but the
Speaker 6: reality is is like he took that leap and maybe
Speaker 6: like we're sort of in one of those brief flat
Speaker 6: lines where it kind of is going to go up
Speaker 6: again in a little bit. And look, you're right, nobody
Speaker 6: seems like a better course fit for the Masters than him,
Speaker 6: and a lot of its from early results, so we
Speaker 6: could see that sort of flip all of a sudden,
Speaker 6: it's like, oh, Ludvig's back, when really, you know, we
Speaker 6: just were kind of in one of those little lulls.
Speaker 2: And like JJ Spahn had a breakout year. Was he
Speaker 2: thirty four last year, like we're talking Ludvig's twenty six.
Speaker 2: Like I do think there needs to be a little
Speaker 2: more grace with us getting a little bit reacting super
Speaker 2: strongly to what we saw in an event in January.
Speaker 2: Like the whole conversation around the Masters is going to
Speaker 2: change after the players and golfers are going to start
Speaker 2: to turn it on a little bit. I wonder, Andy
Speaker 2: to your theory about like broader themes influencing play if
Speaker 2: the new schedule in a little bit more of an
Speaker 2: off season is going to lead to some slower starts
Speaker 2: into us overreacting to some January February results. I think
Speaker 2: love thing could have this thing turned around within three
Speaker 2: weeks and we won't even remember what happened to Tory Pines.
Speaker 4: It's like the trend of players not playing preseason football
Speaker 4: and then they come out week one and look a
Speaker 4: little sloppy, and it's like, well, like how much stock
Speaker 4: do you want to put into week one and week two?
Speaker 5: Yeah?
Speaker 4: Fair analogy, Kevin, what's your first what's kind of your
Speaker 4: first storyline you want to hit on?
Speaker 6: I kind of want to think about, like, is Chris
Speaker 6: got her up emerging to be.
Speaker 5: On my way?
Speaker 6: I figured you guys might have that on one, but like,
Speaker 6: this is someone who's aggressive, who's just a really good
Speaker 6: driver of really good iron player, has a lot of
Speaker 6: different shots, can shape the ball different different ways, you know,
Speaker 6: and as young and to where you're like, holy shit,
Speaker 6: like this might be you know, the beginning of something
Speaker 6: really great. And you know, I think like that Scottish
Speaker 6: Open win last year was sort of like a like whoa, like, oh,
Speaker 6: this is a real player. This isn't just like a
Speaker 6: you know, a you know, a fluke here. I mean
Speaker 6: that this is someone who can play on real golf courses,
Speaker 6: you know, re Renaissance Club notwithstanding, but this is someone
Speaker 6: who can play in a lot of different weather and
Speaker 6: I think just he's kind of the player I'm in
Speaker 6: some ways most interested in this season early on, because
Speaker 6: like now we're reaching part like okay, like you're going
Speaker 6: to be in all the majors, can you contend in one?
Speaker 6: Like I don't know if winning one is a realistic thing,
Speaker 6: but he's good enough to contend that great at part
Speaker 6: rush too yeah oh yeah.
Speaker 4: Just as like a you know, just a side and
Speaker 4: I know Scotty had an awful first round, but you know,
Speaker 4: you talk about ascension and getting Scottish Open. He stares
Speaker 4: down Rory in a final round and wins. You know,
Speaker 4: it's a big time, big time round, less consequential round,
Speaker 4: but still you know you are kind of a player
Speaker 4: de joure of the early season.
Speaker 5: What does that earn you?
Speaker 4: In Scottsdale in the first round pairing with Scottie Shuffler
Speaker 4: and you go out and beat him by ten? Guy,
Speaker 4: I think the guy has the most importantly, Like all
Speaker 4: these guys have incredible traits, incredible talents. I think the
Speaker 4: thing that I like about got Her Up the most
Speaker 4: is the attitude and the effective I know I belong
Speaker 4: here and I am this good. You know, there is
Speaker 4: what I feel like with got Her Up that shines
Speaker 4: through the most beyond just the power the sheer traits
Speaker 4: is he seems to believe he belongs in any moment
Speaker 4: that he finds himself on the golf course.
Speaker 2: I'm with you. Something I was working on that I
Speaker 2: had put out this week was looking at early major success.
Speaker 2: It was a thing I was focused on with within
Speaker 2: the context of Ludwig, but looking at guys over the
Speaker 2: past like fifteen sixteen years who in their first full
Speaker 2: season of majors and I just said full season being
Speaker 2: they played at least two Because I didn't want these
Speaker 2: random like they started as an amateur three years before
Speaker 2: they actually started playing major. So first season with at
Speaker 2: least two majors, how did guys do it? And you
Speaker 2: go and look at who had early success in majors,
Speaker 2: and almost all of them have gone on to do
Speaker 2: something impressive to win, Like the top five names are
Speaker 2: will z Ala Taurus who then got hurt. So it's
Speaker 2: a little bit of it. That's a sad one. Morikawa
Speaker 2: who won multiple Scottie right comes out has immediate major success.
Speaker 2: Obviously we know what scott He's gone on to do.
Speaker 2: Jason Day, it's another person who pops up goes on
Speaker 2: to be the world number one. Last year was Chris
Speaker 2: Gottrup's first year where he played at least two and
Speaker 2: he had the second best but at least by strokes
Speaker 2: gain from a strokes gain standpoint, second best performance of
Speaker 2: any player last year who played in at least a
Speaker 2: weekend or two weekends. I might have written, but it
Speaker 2: was Scottie number one at three and a half strokes around,
Speaker 2: and then it was Chris Gottrup at two and a
Speaker 2: half strokes around. Played well at Oakmont and as you mentioned,
Speaker 2: Andy like was involved late at Port Rush, So it
Speaker 2: might be just staring us right in the face that
Speaker 2: the guys who show this at an early age, especially
Speaker 2: who have projectable skills with the ball striking. He's a
Speaker 2: great driver the golf ball, really good iron player. It
Speaker 2: kind of gets like, wait, why not Chris Gotter up,
Speaker 2: Like it might be just be an obvious one that's
Speaker 2: looking us right in the face that of course he's
Speaker 2: going to play well in majors this year.
Speaker 4: That's kind of how I felt last fall. I feel
Speaker 4: like Joseph, we did something on breakout players last fall,
Speaker 4: and I think I've said, like, I think Chris gotterup
Speaker 4: ends up being a top ten.
Speaker 5: Player in the world, top twelve player in the world.
Speaker 4: And I do think that it is staring us right
Speaker 4: in the face, like this is a guy that goes
Speaker 4: anywhere in the game, translates, and then he has the
Speaker 4: mentality like not scared.
Speaker 5: I think like I you know, listen like.
Speaker 4: I I've you know, over the years, you get to
Speaker 4: know guys that have accomplished a lot in the game,
Speaker 4: and you know, you resoundingly, resoundingly like you end up
Speaker 4: in conversations talking about people that maybe never got to
Speaker 4: where you thought they would get to or win one
Speaker 4: of the things that you thought they would want. And oftentimes,
Speaker 4: what I've found in talking to the best of the
Speaker 4: best is that their common response is, you know that
Speaker 4: guy just doesn't have it that in the moment, you
Speaker 4: see it on their face, and and I think that
Speaker 4: is like an underrated It's it's you can't really synthesize it.
Speaker 4: But it's so different than all the other sports in
Speaker 4: a way, like people like you see this late in
Speaker 4: an NBA game or a college basketball game where it
Speaker 4: becomes non reactionary and guy misses late game free throws
Speaker 4: and then they're choke artist.
Speaker 5: Right.
Speaker 4: The thing with golf is like every shot has that
Speaker 4: period of time, and that insurmountable pressure that you feel
Speaker 4: just gets heavier and heavier the later you go into
Speaker 4: a tournament, and and it is just not getting off
Speaker 4: the bus on Sunday, right. And you see this happen
Speaker 4: time and time at some events. And I think Rory
Speaker 4: probably would talk eloquently about his struggles at Augusta National,
Speaker 4: and in many years he didn't. People were like, why
Speaker 4: can't he get started well? Because you feel this immense
Speaker 4: pressure that makes it you know, He talked about this
Speaker 4: year with like the first tea, like there's the most
Speaker 4: nervous I've been ever, Like some players in their makeup
Speaker 4: cannot hand that. And I think that's where you see
Speaker 4: slow starts to majors. What you highlighted on. Chris Goddrup
Speaker 4: played last year his two biggest tournaments as a professional,
Speaker 4: in the US Open and the Open Championship, and people
Speaker 4: will huff and puff about, Oh, you guys are I
Speaker 4: think he finished T twenty three or T sixteen in
Speaker 4: the US Open, T twenty three.
Speaker 5: Ye people are, oh, oh T twenty three, Like.
Speaker 4: You guys are. This is his first major as a pro.
Speaker 4: I believe, maybe second.
Speaker 2: I think he had started one. I'll have it up once.
Speaker 5: But anyways, like at a time he played in this
Speaker 5: is his third.
Speaker 2: He played in the US Open in twenty twenty two,
Speaker 2: one PGA in twenty twenty four, and then this was
Speaker 2: just it was really his first start as being like
Speaker 2: an established.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you come out and you you I think I
Speaker 4: believe he led the field and driving and he and
Speaker 4: it's just like part of this, like he plays this
Speaker 4: stretch of golf.
Speaker 5: I think he has it is my greater point.
Speaker 2: I guess the question would be the short game, right, like,
Speaker 2: I don't know, I don't know that we know. I mean,
Speaker 2: his short game numbers are actually pretty good looking through
Speaker 2: it now it's his debut, if you want a nitpick,
Speaker 2: we do see a little underperformance and players master's debut.
Speaker 2: So like maybe, but to Andy, to your point about
Speaker 2: not being overwhelmed, I think that could be a mitigating factor.
Speaker 2: There a little bit that he won't show up and
Speaker 2: be completely awestruck by everything he's seeing, like he might
Speaker 2: just be a gamer and ready to play it. So yeah,
Speaker 2: I think it might be staring us right in the face.
Speaker 6: Speaking of people who do not feel like gamers at
Speaker 6: the moment, Andy, like, would you buy or sell more
Speaker 6: Kawa going forward? In the just idea of like we're
Speaker 6: going to see a bounce back. I mean I don't
Speaker 6: love the like, oh, you know he won his team
Speaker 6: majors during COVID, there was no actual pressure, like you know,
Speaker 6: there's still pressure of like you know, you're coming down
Speaker 6: the back night of a major.
Speaker 1: I think some of that is overblown.
Speaker 6: But if we are talking about like do you have
Speaker 6: it in the moment when you don't have to be
Speaker 6: actionary when you have to think through your shots, Like
Speaker 6: is some of that overwhelming Marikaua now to where he's
Speaker 6: just sort of scrambled on certain things where his limitations
Speaker 6: are starting to show up more and more.
Speaker 4: I think it's a puzzling situation with Colin Marikawa. The
Speaker 4: clip that obviously went viral early the week of the
Speaker 4: Phoenix Open with him chipping is alarming. I think chipping
Speaker 4: short game struggles for the best players in the world
Speaker 4: befuddle me completely.
Speaker 5: I do not understand short game.
Speaker 4: If you want to be a competent short game player,
Speaker 4: all you need to do is be fundamentally sound and
Speaker 4: be able to read the lies. And I think that
Speaker 4: the crazy thing about Morikawa, and you can just see
Speaker 4: it clear as day on that chip, is this is
Speaker 4: a guy that's won to majors. He has been routinely
Speaker 4: one of the five best players in the world, and
Speaker 4: the fundamentals look awful on the chipping, and I think
Speaker 4: we've seen this, like having a bad short game that
Speaker 4: you can't trust is a recipe for coming up short
Speaker 4: in major championships because you are eventually going to have
Speaker 4: to get up and down. You're going to have to
Speaker 4: save those critical pars and winning majors is totally about
Speaker 4: keeping your momentum pointed forward. And oftentimes the par saves
Speaker 4: from hairy situations that you get up and down because
Speaker 4: you know you can dump it over here and it
Speaker 4: might not be the easiest chip, but it's doable. Are
Speaker 4: the things. I mean, that's what makes Scotty magic. Like
Speaker 4: you could look at Scotty and his majors and so
Speaker 4: often the pivotal moment and you think about like the
Speaker 4: obvious one, the clearest day one was when he chipped
Speaker 4: into the Masters on the third hole. But you go
Speaker 4: to last year at Port Rush, there was you know,
Speaker 4: in the in the final round, he's just trying to
Speaker 4: nail down the door.
Speaker 5: There were up and downs.
Speaker 4: I you know that that lead that fueled that kept
Speaker 4: him out in front. You know, there's always these chippens.
Speaker 4: To me, that's one of the things that goes underrated
Speaker 4: about Rory McElroy. If you watch Pinehurst when he didn't
Speaker 4: get it done in the middle part of the of
Speaker 4: his final round, there were extraordinary up and downs that
Speaker 4: kept him in it when he was kind of hairy.
Speaker 4: So anyways, I think, like with more Kawa, I don't
Speaker 4: know I kind of thought he was going to rebound
Speaker 4: this year. But I mean, if you can't figure out,
Speaker 4: like I don't understand how you haven't found a coach
Speaker 4: that can get you fundamentally sound on the short game
Speaker 4: when your job is to play professional golf.
Speaker 2: Just would add his putting has also been horrendous the
Speaker 2: last year. And when you're talking about a player who
Speaker 2: already is a little bit limited speed wise, he's he's
Speaker 2: not like Russell Henley lanth off the tea, but he's
Speaker 2: he's giving up distance to the top guys and has
Speaker 2: multiple other holes in his game the short game. You're
Speaker 2: referencing Andy and his putter has been awful since last year.
Speaker 2: That you have to be incredible. He has to put
Speaker 2: on like the one of the best iron displays to
Speaker 2: be playing from behind guys. It's just it feels like
Speaker 2: there's too much that has to go right for Colin
Speaker 2: to be a serious contender.
Speaker 6: I think we thought, you know, this is a generational
Speaker 6: iron player. You know he's, oh, he has the same
Speaker 6: dispersion with a six iron that most people have with
Speaker 6: a nine iron. All that talk, like, yeah, we thought
Speaker 6: that that was going to make him be a contender.
Speaker 5: Forever.
Speaker 6: We just didn't sort of see that these other holes
Speaker 6: might emerge within his game. But I I may I
Speaker 6: was wondering kind of at the Ryder Cup, like, is
Speaker 6: this the last team make American team that we see
Speaker 6: markw make for you know?
Speaker 1: Ever maybe like, yeah, it's it's.
Speaker 6: Kind of harsh to put it that way, but look,
Speaker 6: we're talking about like a lot of younger guys are
Speaker 6: going to sort of start to put more pressure on him.
Speaker 6: And would you right now like take Colin Mark Howe
Speaker 6: over Pearson Coudi or Michael Thorbjornsen on the President's Cup, Like,
Speaker 6: I think that would be an insane sort of decision
Speaker 6: to to do what the Americans have often done, which
Speaker 6: is like sort of, well pick the guys who have
Speaker 6: experience as opposed to like pick the guys who are,
Speaker 6: you know, like the next coming. And I feel like
Speaker 6: there's a good chance that the game is sort of
Speaker 6: starting to slip.
Speaker 1: From markwa Now.
Speaker 6: Look, we could look dumb when he finishes T ten
Speaker 6: and Augusta or I could look dumb, but it just
Speaker 6: doesn't feel like it's trending in the right direction now.
Speaker 4: Joseph, I don't know if you've done any data analysis
Speaker 4: on this, but i'd i'd be you know, this is
Speaker 4: prescient with Brooks right now.
Speaker 2: Putting related.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm just curious if the numbers beare this out
Speaker 4: because I think this is just like you know, if
Speaker 4: you've been.
Speaker 5: Intertwined in the golf in golf, you kind of know this.
Speaker 4: But I think something we don't put enough credence to
Speaker 4: is that putting gets just exponentially harder as you age.
Speaker 4: You don't have the nerves, you don't have the naive
Speaker 4: you don't have like the naive approach it.
Speaker 5: It is kind of part of golf that gets.
Speaker 4: Harder when you enter your thirties and forties, and and
Speaker 4: I think you see skills deteriorate, and we've seen skills
Speaker 4: deteriorate historically, Like it gets harder to be a great putter.
Speaker 4: And I think a lot of it is like you
Speaker 4: lose your innocence, as Padrick Harrington would say, and like
Speaker 4: you know, you listen to you listen to Rory talk
Speaker 4: about chasing the feeling when we had him on the
Speaker 4: shotgun start where he's like, I was trying to chase
Speaker 4: that youthful ex uberants, like that that spirit and that
Speaker 4: love of the game and that care free attitude. You remember,
Speaker 4: do you remember when when people putted it with the
Speaker 4: pins in and during COVID and with the rule change
Speaker 4: and Adam Scott you know, got off to a great
Speaker 4: start he had and people asked him like about putting
Speaker 4: with the pin in and He's like, it just reminds
Speaker 4: me of being a kid on the putting green and
Speaker 4: putting into those little the you know, the little mini
Speaker 4: size flags on a putting green. Putting is is like
Speaker 4: so much harder. When you get older, you think about
Speaker 4: more stuff. When you get older, you're more aware and
Speaker 4: that you know, with with with what you said about
Speaker 4: Colin's putting, you know, also deteriorating that he was never
Speaker 4: a natural putter.
Speaker 2: My mind's going a lot of directions now. I think, yes,
Speaker 2: I believe it is born out that you get worse
Speaker 2: and putting as you age, but I would think that
Speaker 2: would be I think most of that happens after the
Speaker 2: ages that Colin is currently. Yeah, Like I think that's
Speaker 2: you're talking about somebody in their late thirties. I also
Speaker 2: wonder how technique factors into some of this too, and
Speaker 2: that is there something technical happening as Colin's trying to
Speaker 2: work out his ball striking that then like manifests itself
Speaker 2: in his putting.
Speaker 1: I don't know.
Speaker 2: Luke Kurdanin had just put out an awesome video about
Speaker 2: how Justin Rose's full swing impacts his putting and how
Speaker 2: changing to the claw has taken his putting to a
Speaker 2: new level. Like just the interaction between what you're trying
Speaker 2: to do with your ball striking and how that impacts
Speaker 2: your putting. I wouldn't be shocked if something's happening like
Speaker 2: that with Colin. So I don't know, but it doesn't
Speaker 2: look good right now.
Speaker 6: You know what I always think about it is the
Speaker 6: one exception to that, Andy is there our boy Phil Nicholson,
Speaker 6: who got like his best putting years were from like
Speaker 6: two thousand and five to two thousand, like fifteen. He
Speaker 6: got to be like a significantly better putter by going
Speaker 6: to that claw thing or whatever he did then then
Speaker 6: what he was when he was younger.
Speaker 1: But like that, you're right last.
Speaker 4: Night, propose to sure did Phil get more delusional as
Speaker 4: he aged less self aware?
Speaker 1: You know what? You might be?
Speaker 6: Honest, Some them there just further and further into the
Speaker 6: realm of fantasy. But you're right, like the greats are
Speaker 6: riddled with a lot of guys who just lost it.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 6: Tom Watson famously like just kind of completely forgot how
Speaker 6: to put into his thirties when he was like truly,
Speaker 6: you know what, it could have been one of the
Speaker 6: all time greats if he had putted better through his
Speaker 6: his thirties and early forties.
Speaker 1: And Palmer kind of lost his putting.
Speaker 6: Stroke too, Like there's a lot of stories like that
Speaker 6: where guys just lost their nerve.
Speaker 2: I think the part I would want to really drill
Speaker 2: into is is that losing your innocence and all this
Speaker 2: mental stuff which I wouldn't want to dismiss, like I
Speaker 2: think could be could also be like the your vision
Speaker 2: and like little things that like that that can make
Speaker 2: a big difference, like you're trying to fast twitch fibers
Speaker 2: and stuff, and we I love just in general the
Speaker 2: topic and golf of Andy. I know you talk about
Speaker 2: this a lot, Like one part of your game, you
Speaker 2: swing a certain way that helps you get driver, but
Speaker 2: it makes you struggle with your wedge, Like is there
Speaker 2: something that as you age, it is very difficult to
Speaker 2: cling to good ball striking while also having the steady
Speaker 2: parts of putting. And I don't know the answer to that,
Speaker 2: but I think it is true that you get worse.
Speaker 4: I think that you know, this is an underrated part
Speaker 4: of Scotty's putting transformation. Underratedly impressive part of Scotty's putting
Speaker 4: transformation is that we have seen I mean, once you
Speaker 4: feel the pressure of the putter as a great ball striker,
Speaker 4: one of the things is that everybody is everybody lives
Speaker 4: under this warped expectation that they should make more puts
Speaker 4: than they should and a lot of those putts live
Speaker 4: in the world where elite elite ball strikers hit approach
Speaker 4: shots to a lot and they can tend a lot.
Speaker 4: They're on TV a lot, so you notoriously see them
Speaker 4: missing a lot of putts and a lot of putts
Speaker 4: that like that, there's like a weight to that, and
Speaker 4: we saw it. I think like the poster boys for
Speaker 4: this is Adam Scott and Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood through
Speaker 4: the years, like these are the guys where it's like god,
Speaker 4: they aren't they but they also just put themselves into
Speaker 4: that zone where you're where you're statistically not supposed to
Speaker 4: make this putt, but it looks like you you know,
Speaker 4: it's another chance, it's another opportunity in that makeable range.
Speaker 4: And that's one of the amazing things with the work
Speaker 4: that Scotty's done with the putter to get it back
Speaker 4: on the tracks is like God, he just he has
Speaker 4: these putts that are from an expectation standpoint, like the
Speaker 4: ones that tricked your mind and lead to frustration.
Speaker 2: I also think Andy, on top of that, it is
Speaker 2: harder to make a putt under pressure, and when you're
Speaker 2: in contention, you're having to put more under pressure. And
Speaker 2: I also think this ties into what we saw at
Speaker 2: the Ryder Cup last year and people just saying that, Wow, team, Team,
Speaker 2: you're up put so much better than the US did.
Speaker 2: Like I think when you struggle to put, we do
Speaker 2: see that more under pressure. And I think that is
Speaker 2: not just this little myth that's thrown around you standing
Speaker 2: over a nine foot or late on Sunday. It is
Speaker 2: totally different than Sunday morning when you go out T
Speaker 2: forty five and you rock it.
Speaker 1: Up to T eighteen.
Speaker 2: So I would also there's more to it just than
Speaker 2: the consistently hitting shots on TV. I think there's actually
Speaker 2: another underlying reason there I.
Speaker 4: Would point out too, the ones that are blessed, there
Speaker 4: is something that pressure does that that can that can
Speaker 4: actually make everything simpler, which is a you know, and
Speaker 4: it goes to what we were talking about with like
Speaker 4: you know, some guys have it, that just have the
Speaker 4: knack and the moment in golf, and it's like when
Speaker 4: the pressure heightens, it actually slows everything down and allows
Speaker 4: people to get into tunnel, which is it's a magical skill.
Speaker 5: It's a it's you know, in In.
Speaker 4: I think there's probably like a lot of former athletes
Speaker 4: that are listening that probably are nodding their head. Is
Speaker 4: like those moments in time when you get there are
Speaker 4: and and for there are some people that are so
Speaker 4: gifted on the greens and I and I'm thinking about like,
Speaker 4: you know, it's what cam Young said after the Ryder Cup.
Speaker 4: You know Justin Rose started doing Justin Rose things like
Speaker 4: that is someone that seemingly in the moment on the greens,
Speaker 4: things seem to slow down and he he executes and
Speaker 4: he makes these putts that you know, you you just
Speaker 4: don't expect to see people repeatedly do in the highest
Speaker 4: of stakes.
Speaker 6: So I would like for that reason, like if I
Speaker 6: had a wish list for this year, it would be
Speaker 6: that Bryson would contend with Scotty in a major. Because
Speaker 6: Bryson's a really good pressure putter. He's shown it like
Speaker 6: in majors that got up and down everywhere in that
Speaker 6: Pinehurst US Open, and I think that would be fun.
Speaker 6: Like one of the things that does kind of unnerve
Speaker 6: Scotty is when putts start, you know, not going in
Speaker 6: for him, and that's when the emotion that he you know,
Speaker 6: took years to kind of overcome and learn to sort
Speaker 6: of be even keel, Like you can still see it
Speaker 6: where he's like wanting to snap his wedge over his
Speaker 6: knee in Phoenix because he's having a crap day. Like
Speaker 6: if you could get someone who would really put that
Speaker 6: kind of pressure on Scotty and keep making putts, keep
Speaker 6: making putts, they could make for really compelling back nine
Speaker 6: of a major. And I think we've seen Rory, you know,
Speaker 6: play great against Bryson. I want to see Bryson play
Speaker 6: great against Scotty. I want to see rom like throw
Speaker 6: lightning bolts back and forth with Scotty. I think that
Speaker 6: that would be high on my wish list for this year.
Speaker 2: Well, Andy started this pod by saying that the premise
Speaker 2: was things to watch over the first few months in
Speaker 2: anticipation of the Masters, to see who might be a contender.
Speaker 2: Not I think if you're gonna we're going to talk
Speaker 2: about that specific topic, like watching what Bryson's iron how
Speaker 2: his iron play looks at the beginning half of this
Speaker 2: year leading into the Masters. It's a little harder to
Speaker 2: see on live, but that is a huge story. That's
Speaker 2: what kept him from winning Majors last year. His iron
Speaker 2: play was not good. He was missing left it happened
Speaker 2: at Quail Hollow. He overturned some irons. So I do
Speaker 2: think that's a big storyline, A skill related storyline to
Speaker 2: watch this year is if Bryson's irons look pretty good
Speaker 2: going into the Masters, totally changes his outlook as a player,
Speaker 2: versus if we see what we saw last year.
Speaker 4: I think Bryson's one of these storylines. As you said,
Speaker 4: to watch, He's obviously gone from you know what's wrong
Speaker 4: with Bryson at Augusta. You know the parse sixty seven
Speaker 4: us said fried Egg. We're tracking, you know, Bryson versus
Speaker 4: legends of the Masters when they're you know, playing out
Speaker 4: their final days Sandy Lyle, you know, like versus Bryson,
Speaker 4: one of the great tilts of all time. Now it's
Speaker 4: the last three years been pretty good. Last year, you know,
Speaker 4: he's he's you know, fifty fifty four hole or fifty
Speaker 4: six holes into the Masters and it all of a
Speaker 4: sudden looks like he is going to win the tournament.
Speaker 4: I'm very very that is a big storyline for this
Speaker 4: year is what's the Forum going in? Obviously there's a
Speaker 4: lot of you know, there's always going to be a
Speaker 4: lot of drama, interest and around Bryson. I think that's
Speaker 4: you know, whether it's the equipment right now, it's the
Speaker 4: live contract situation and what he's going to do next year,
Speaker 4: but playing some some quality golf before the Masters, and
Speaker 4: then I would expect to see him, you know, right there?
Speaker 2: Can we talk about somebody else? You mentioned that if
Speaker 2: it isn't story of one a, it certainly should be
Speaker 2: right there. You want to talk putting transformations. Scotti's is
Speaker 2: the second best of the modern era camp. I do
Speaker 2: think it's worth spending a minute talking about Cameron Young.
Speaker 2: And I'm not just saying that because that's a long
Speaker 2: running bit that I've always been very pro Cam Young,
Speaker 2: but he's going to be thrown around often as somebody
Speaker 2: who could win the Masters, like leading into it, I
Speaker 2: think in all types gambling previews, you will hear his
Speaker 2: name consistently, and I think it is absolutely warranted and
Speaker 2: what he has done with his potter. I've been watching
Speaker 2: his Phoenix Open first two rounds. He's been in a
Speaker 2: featured group, and it is unbelievable how different of a
Speaker 2: potter Cameron Young is now, and that he's not having
Speaker 2: his best ball striking day and from fifteen feet eighteen
Speaker 2: feet like he's consistently making them or at least scaring
Speaker 2: the hole. So I do think all jokes aside about
Speaker 2: it being a bit that in thinking Cameron Young is
Speaker 2: going to win at some point, he is a really
Speaker 2: good name to keep an eye on and watch his
Speaker 2: iron play, kind of like Bryson's going into this tournament,
Speaker 2: going into Augusta. He's played the Masters four times. First
Speaker 2: year missed the cut, second two year top tens, and
Speaker 2: then the last year his fourth year, was really struggling
Speaker 2: with his game in the spring and missed the cut.
Speaker 2: But another person that pops up on that early major
Speaker 2: success type of leaderboard that I referenced earlier. I mean
Speaker 2: Cam Young has had what four or five top tens
Speaker 2: and majors already in his career. He's he is somebody
Speaker 2: wh should keep an eye on it. It's not a
Speaker 2: there are a lot of long shots that'll get thrown around.
Speaker 2: I think that probably don't have much of a chance
Speaker 2: of winning. Like I think Brooks's chance of winning very
Speaker 2: very low. Cam Young has a real chance of winning
Speaker 2: this Masters.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, listen, I think him and got her
Speaker 4: up probably stories young young up and comers. How they'll
Speaker 4: you know, I don't think, you know, I think Cam
Speaker 4: Young's probably passed the up and comer stage. It's you know,
Speaker 4: he's reaching his his prime. And where does he get
Speaker 4: to is a is a compelling question, you know. I'd
Speaker 4: like to point out he has a one percent win
Speaker 4: percentage on the PGA Tour. That being said, if you
Speaker 4: look at this major success rate, like in terms of
Speaker 4: he's one of the ten, probably the ten best players
Speaker 4: in majors over the last five years, is that safe
Speaker 4: to say?
Speaker 5: Yeah?
Speaker 2: And he was did a lot of that being a
Speaker 2: terrible putter, and now he's legitimately a good putter, Like
Speaker 2: that is a He's a totally different player than Liverpool.
Speaker 1: You know what, I love Joseph Is.
Speaker 6: I was standing not far away from this when this happened,
Speaker 6: is at when Brian Harmon won his Open championship.
Speaker 1: You know, Cam Young finished I think eighth that year
Speaker 1: and final Dylan what's that?
Speaker 2: He was in the final pairing did not send?
Speaker 6: It not go well right, and and Dylan the Scherk
Speaker 6: kind of grabbed him and was like, hey, you know,
Speaker 6: what do you feel about this?
Speaker 1: Like your first top ten in a major? How you feel?
Speaker 6: And Cam Young was like, it means nothing, It means
Speaker 6: absolutely nothing. I am kind of disgusted with the way
Speaker 6: that it went. And I was just like, man, this
Speaker 6: is someone who has much higher expectations for himself than
Speaker 6: I had. I was like, oh, like, you know, didn't
Speaker 6: you know in the final pairing didn't maybe go is
Speaker 6: what you'd hoped, but you know, you still can build
Speaker 6: off this first top ten to major. No, he was
Speaker 6: just very dead and I thought like that kind of
Speaker 6: shows like he's still really like wanting to figure this out.
Speaker 1: And I thought that was kind of a cool moment.
Speaker 2: Think he's on the list of people who has a
Speaker 2: little it factor, and we saw that at Best Page.
Speaker 4: I'm gonna just throw out this is my always uh,
Speaker 4: I'll always be a defender of this, especially as I
Speaker 4: enter this bracket of this age group. The old can
Speaker 4: an old sneak out a major. I'm looking at Justin Rose,
Speaker 4: Sergio Garcia, Adam Scott, and I'm gonna throw one more
Speaker 4: name in the ring this year who has entered this
Speaker 4: lexicon A con of of of great Augusta national players.
Speaker 5: Jason Day.
Speaker 1: How old is Jason Day?
Speaker 4: Yeah, he's an old, thirty eight, thirty eight, thirty eight,
Speaker 4: He's officially crossed across this threshold. Is there a way
Speaker 4: that one of these guys could just sneak sneak a master,
Speaker 4: steal a masters? I think like the two turns that
Speaker 4: set up the best for these guys are our Augusta
Speaker 4: and you know, small field, big time course history advantage
Speaker 4: where you know the course, you can, you understand it,
Speaker 4: you don't get overwhelmed by the moment. You you know
Speaker 4: where you pick your spots. And the Open Championship.
Speaker 5: To me, these are kind of.
Speaker 4: The four the four players where you just want you know,
Speaker 4: and you know Sergio maybe not on everybody's radar. But
Speaker 4: as a nostalgic youth watching the Tiger Sergio duels and
Speaker 4: the Sergio always coming up short throughout my lifetime, these
Speaker 4: are just guys that I I just want. I want
Speaker 4: them to get one more, one more, and I would
Speaker 4: love to see it. I think obviously Justin Rose is
Speaker 4: going to be on everybody's bingo card.
Speaker 5: Uh.
Speaker 4: But these other, these other three can they can they
Speaker 4: find something in the next couple of weeks. Jason Day
Speaker 4: obviously got off to a great start on the year.
Speaker 4: Can they find something that gives them real hope at
Speaker 4: the Masters?
Speaker 1: No?
Speaker 5: No, I want to believe.
Speaker 6: I want to be with the Andy, but I just
Speaker 6: I don't see Sergio being able to do it. I mean,
Speaker 6: obviously Rose, I think there's a real that's the best
Speaker 6: chance of all right. I think Adam Scott's chance came
Speaker 6: and went at Oakmont. You really only get one last
Speaker 6: kind of great ride as a late forties guy, like
Speaker 6: you're climbing to contention. That was Adam Scott's like a
Speaker 6: very normal round, you know, a even par round wins
Speaker 6: that major championship for Adam Scott, and it's like such
Speaker 6: a career validation. You know, I wanted that so bad
Speaker 6: for him, but I think that that came and went.
Speaker 6: I honestly would say I have more faith in like
Speaker 6: Dustin Johnson finding something for a weekend at an Open
Speaker 6: Championship or at a Master's then I do like a
Speaker 6: Sergio or Adam Scott being able to make putts down
Speaker 6: the stretch. Like there's still a lot of talent in
Speaker 6: Dustin Johnson. He's not as long comparative lead to the
Speaker 6: field as he once was, but you know, this is
Speaker 6: someone who's contented in Open championships before. Like I could see,
Speaker 6: you know, Birkdale being an interesting sort of setup for him,
Speaker 6: and you know it's obviously his major. He's not in
Speaker 6: all the majors that much further going on, so you know,
Speaker 6: it probably is like his time might be running out
Speaker 6: in the sense of other than the Masters, where he's
Speaker 6: going to be in for another, you know, twenty years.
Speaker 6: But this is I still like DJ's chances better than Sergio's.
Speaker 6: I just don't see it happened in for Sergio. A
Speaker 6: lot of stuff had to go right for Sergio to
Speaker 6: get that one. Talk about someone who maybe didn't have
Speaker 6: it in those moments in a lot of ways. I
Speaker 6: just don't see the stars aligning for that.
Speaker 4: Again, I think the unknown with DJ is what does
Speaker 4: does Miguel to to energize him as a player, you know,
Speaker 4: the addition to of to the four aces maybe.
Speaker 2: Could be We've never seen the effect that having Miguel
Speaker 2: t Whenna on your team has on a player. True
Speaker 2: who can say situation No, I don't think. I think
Speaker 2: Justin Rose is a legit contender.
Speaker 5: Andy.
Speaker 2: I think Adam Scott. I worry that, like that's an
Speaker 2: underrated storyline for the year, not just the Masters, Like
Speaker 2: is Adam Scott kind of done? Which would be really sad?
Speaker 2: But his last year outside of Oakmont was not super promising.
Speaker 2: And I do worry a little bit that we don't
Speaker 2: have a lot of time left with Adam Scott.
Speaker 5: What's uh, what's the you know one thing?
Speaker 4: I don't know if anybody will matches the consecutive majors
Speaker 4: that Adam Scott's rolling down and anytime soon? What's the
Speaker 4: what emptying out the notebook, any any last thing you
Speaker 4: guys want to get in here? There's one player we
Speaker 4: haven't talked about.
Speaker 6: Good question, I think, I mean, look, I kind of
Speaker 6: just because I like him so much as a person.
Speaker 6: I'm really hoping for a Max Homa bounce back a
Speaker 6: little bit. You know, he's played okay in the first
Speaker 6: start of the season. I know, Joseph, Yeah, you're you're
Speaker 6: reluctant to see it. I mean, look, he was a
Speaker 6: top ten player, you know, a couple of years ago,
Speaker 6: and is he a top thirty player?
Speaker 1: Like is?
Speaker 6: I think, you know, that might be a more realistic
Speaker 6: ceiling to what it is. He certainly says that he's
Speaker 6: kind of rebuilt things and feels really good, feels comfortable
Speaker 6: putting the club in certain positions now that he didn't
Speaker 6: last year. Like his comeback is you know, kind of
Speaker 6: just as interesting, if not more so to me than
Speaker 6: speak I'm not take away like the you know, personal
Speaker 6: sort of love I have for him. You know, I'm
Speaker 6: not super convinced that this is a realistic thing, but
Speaker 6: I'm rooting for it. And you know, maybe having played
Speaker 6: well at Augusta in the past, like could show some
Speaker 6: signs there. If he builds gets in some confidence and
Speaker 6: builds on that, maybe we're trying it in the right direction.
Speaker 2: I'll throw one like real long shot, but I think
Speaker 2: somebody that is interesting to pay attention to in the
Speaker 2: early half of the PGA Tour season is Rasmus Nyerguard Peterson,
Speaker 2: who had a really impressive win in Australia back in
Speaker 2: the off season. Not the off season, but some people
Speaker 2: I really respect think very highly of his game. And
Speaker 2: he's another guy that came out to some success last
Speaker 2: year in majors. He played well at Oakmont, believe he
Speaker 2: finished what T twelve, really good ball striker and he's
Speaker 2: kind of ascending on that similar he's twenty six, similar
Speaker 2: age to Chris got her Up. I just think he's
Speaker 2: somebody to keep an eye on. Is a real long shot.
Speaker 2: He got in via his win at the Australian Open
Speaker 2: in December and yeah T twelve at Oakmont last year,
Speaker 2: like early major success, pretty big unknown, but there are
Speaker 2: worse names you could pick. I think he has a
Speaker 2: better chance of winning than a lot of people that
Speaker 2: get floated around.
Speaker 6: I'll just like a real quick notebook dump Andy, I'll
Speaker 6: just throw out I mean I mentioned theor Barenson and
Speaker 6: Pierson Coudie obviously like they're young talented people like but
Speaker 6: Michael Kim, like winning the French Open, you know, is
Speaker 6: Michael Kim like a top fifteen American player. I mean,
Speaker 6: I think you could make the case that he might be.
Speaker 6: So I don't know, like if we can build a
Speaker 6: little bit on that, But you know, he he played
Speaker 6: pretty darn well throughout the course of last year, and
Speaker 6: I think that there's a chance that you know, again,
Speaker 6: he's a top thirty player in the world.
Speaker 1: Is that his ceiling? Maybe, but maybe there's you know.
Speaker 6: Some some times to flash a little bit in there
Speaker 6: and win a couple of events.
Speaker 4: I'm gonna address. We haven't talked about Rory McElroy entering
Speaker 4: a Master's for the first time without without the the
Speaker 4: no Masters win hanging over him. Is there any do
Speaker 4: we have have any any sort of thoughts on is
Speaker 4: Rory freed up? Is this going to be kind of
Speaker 4: a celebratory Masters? What do you want to see from
Speaker 4: Rory the next eight weeks?
Speaker 2: Really good iron play? I think, I mean the so yeah,
Speaker 2: I mean, the Potter was incredible last year. It's like
Speaker 2: one of the most slept on stories of last year
Speaker 2: that Rory took his putting in to just a completely
Speaker 2: different level. He's always you know, he's going to have power.
Speaker 2: We know that, like, hopefully the driver looks decent, But
Speaker 2: I don't know my expectations for I don't know what
Speaker 2: to expect of Rory this year. I think probably why
Speaker 2: he wasn't one of my top storylines, Like I could
Speaker 2: completely see a little bit of a down year, celebratory year.
Speaker 2: The Champions Dinner is going to be an unbelievable event
Speaker 2: that people are going to be going nuts about. I
Speaker 2: can only imagine what that will be like for Rory emotionally,
Speaker 2: right before starting the Masters, I could see a big letdown,
Speaker 2: but at the same time, like he's the only person
Speaker 2: that has been doing this consistently for nearly twenty years,
Speaker 2: and it feels stupid to discount that Rory McElroy like
Speaker 2: could be in the mix on Sunday. So I think
Speaker 2: my expectations are kind of low, and I think it's
Speaker 2: really hard to go through what the emotions that he
Speaker 2: will go through the days leading into the Masters and
Speaker 2: then turn it on for a player that's been inconsistent
Speaker 2: at times at Augusta. But I wouldn't Yeah, I don't
Speaker 2: want to be too dismissive. I'd say my expectations are
Speaker 2: fairly low.
Speaker 6: Though they was talking about like peaking at the right
Speaker 6: moments and swimming like I'm tapering. Oh no, I'm peaking
Speaker 6: like I'd like to see him peak at the right moment.
Speaker 6: So I don't really care what happens with Pebble, don't
Speaker 6: really care what happens with the players. Already crossed those
Speaker 6: things off his list last year. It seems like it
Speaker 6: would be hard emotionally to get up for those things
Speaker 6: again when you just accomplish them. But I would like
Speaker 6: him to sort of really dial it in as we
Speaker 6: kind of glide into the Masters, and if not the Masters,
Speaker 6: then a little bit beyond right, like he a major
Speaker 6: on Adding another major to the total would be I
Speaker 6: think a great year, no matter what happened for Rory,
Speaker 6: because nothing else is kind of really relevant in terms
Speaker 6: of how we'll view him historically. So however it goes
Speaker 6: this year, as long as one of those wins, one
Speaker 6: of those peaks results in a major, it's a success.
Speaker 4: You know, you look at his career, I think you
Speaker 4: can reliably count on five more good years, really good
Speaker 4: elite years that would put him at a you know,
Speaker 4: you think about if you get Rory to forty in
Speaker 4: relative form in what I mean by that top five
Speaker 4: player in the world, you look at a career of
Speaker 4: a twenty year top five in the world career that's
Speaker 4: just not going to exist very often in the post
Speaker 4: pro v one four hundred and sixty cc.
Speaker 5: Driver head era of golf.
Speaker 4: And if that major total gets to six, seven or
Speaker 4: eight in that period of time, he have one of
Speaker 4: the greatest careers of all time.
Speaker 5: Obviously, there's going to be a lot of retro.
Speaker 4: Active look backs of of Rory's year last year. There
Speaker 4: is going to be a lot of I think the
Speaker 4: the feeling on the grounds of the Master is going
Speaker 4: to be very festive because of the you know, last
Speaker 4: year result. If he's able to compartmentalized and and and
Speaker 4: kind of put it in get into gear and into
Speaker 4: the tournament again, I'm I'm fascinated about how, you know,
Speaker 4: we might what we might see, and obviously, you know,
Speaker 4: having those good memories to go back from, even in
Speaker 4: a tournament which he won completely in his own way.
Speaker 4: You know, it's totally unique, you know, recipe for winning
Speaker 4: at Augusta National with large amounts of mental mistakes, but
Speaker 4: also with you know, some of the most extraordinary shots
Speaker 4: we've seen on or pressure of any player. So I think, listen,
Speaker 4: I think we need to see a lot of contention.
Speaker 4: Is the blueprint is last year, a lot of contention
Speaker 4: leading into the Masters.
Speaker 2: Just to your point, Andy, because you mentioned his longevity,
Speaker 2: I was looking it up as you were saying that, Yeah,
Speaker 2: if Rory can, he has finished every year since two
Speaker 2: thousand and nine with at least one top ten in
Speaker 2: a major championship. If he extends that through twenty twenty eight,
Speaker 2: he'll be the only player besides Jack Nicholas to ever
Speaker 2: do that in the strokeplay era. So I mean, just
Speaker 2: like a remarkable level of consistency for twenty years to
Speaker 2: be competitive every year, year in and year out. So yeah,
Speaker 2: it doesn't seem inconceivable.
Speaker 4: I mean you look at it. It's like I think
Speaker 4: it was the Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits. It's like,
Speaker 4: I don't think he's been outside owgr top fifteen since
Speaker 4: the maybe the ankle injury that he had with with
Speaker 4: the soccer. He is a crazy, crazy career and I
Speaker 4: think like, yeah, we're we're in the We're in the
Speaker 4: kind of the final chapter, and I'm really excited to see,
Speaker 4: you know what, what's written down you know, I.
Speaker 6: Just looked it up and I was surprised to see this,
Speaker 6: But in twenty twenty one he actually dropped to sixteenth.
Speaker 5: That was right around the Ryder Cup.
Speaker 6: Right, Yeah, following a streak of eleven years inside the
Speaker 6: top fifteen.
Speaker 5: It's insane, it's crazy.
Speaker 4: So that's obviously big story for the for the year.
Speaker 5: Gentlemen.
Speaker 4: Thank you. You know, we we had a second segment.
Speaker 4: We'll just we'll just save that for another time. We'll
Speaker 4: chat soon. Joseph, You've got, you know, a lot of
Speaker 4: stuff coming out down the pipe. Kevin, you will be
Speaker 4: out on the road at Riviera in the near future.
Speaker 5: Anything you guys want to plug.
Speaker 6: Yeah, just if you're a listener of this podcast, please
Speaker 6: sign up for the Friday newsletter.
Speaker 1: I think we're really cooking and humming.
Speaker 6: Joseph Scott great analysis of the tournaments every week, and
Speaker 6: Brennan and I are sprinkling in here things here and there.
Speaker 6: You got Garrett, got Meg got Andy occasionally drop some
Speaker 6: insights of knowledge. So please, I think we're really we're
Speaker 6: just even we're on the staircase ascension at the of
Speaker 6: the newsletter.
Speaker 1: We're just keep going up.
Speaker 2: I think the only other thing that all three of
Speaker 2: us have been working on in a couple others. Keep
Speaker 2: your eyes peeled maybe for some anonymous type of feedback
Speaker 2: we've gotten from some players in the game that may
Speaker 2: be coming out soon.
Speaker 3: Hell yeah, all right, thank you for listening to another
Speaker 3: edition of the Friday Golf Podcast.
Speaker 5: We will be back next week.
Speaker 4: Obviously, we've got the Pebble Beach and Riviera. We're kind
Speaker 4: of in the murderers row here of early season golf,
Speaker 4: and we will chat with you next week. Big thanks
Speaker 4: to p J Clark for putting together this episode.