Fairway Rollin' - A Look Back at 2020 With Chris Vernon

Episode Date: December 8, 2020

House and Hubbard tee up to look back on golf in 2020 and the restart, upsets, and worst bets. They are joined by Chris Vernon to talk about the year's highlights, lowlights, and everything in between. They also discuss Vernon's viral Masters recap video, along with some great events to look forward to in 2021. Hosts: Joe House and Nathan Hubbard Guest: Chris Vernon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

this golf podcast. Unlike any other, oh yeah, you've done it. We are here. It is a season ending. Fairway, Role! The Golf Podcast on the Rigger Podcast Network. I am your starter, Joe House. Birdie buddies, par saving pals, eagle enthusiasts. It is with a tinge of sadness that this moment is upon us. The last tournament of the year, stroke play, tournament featuring PGA tour players, blah, blah, blah, is upon us. It's in the rearview mirror, but that gives us an occasion to go ahead and look backwards at everything that happened in 2020. The only way to take care of that business, of course, our PGA tour correspondent on

the ground, Nathan Hubbard, we'll be joining us as special guests, our own beloved Verno, Chris Verdon, who set the world on fire during. the Masters, we're going to break down to everything that we saw, share some likes, some dislikes, some unfaves, some unfaves, whatever. My birdie buddies, the first tee is open. It's a three ball to end the season. We're going to go over there and let out a little leash. All right, fellas, Chris Vern and Nathan Hubbard.

What's happening, boys? Hey, oh, thanks for having me, House. I want a recount. What do you need a recount on? I need a recount on the rookie of the year vote. why do we need a recount? We have the rookie of the year for the season that ended in September, and now we have a new season and, you know, new things are happening.

But I think the 2020 rookie of the year might be Victor Hovlin, not Scottie Sheffler. I understand what you're getting at. So here's what we're going to do. We're going to do 10 good minutes on the Mycoba Classic, the tournament that just wrapped up. It turned out to have a really terrific field. We talked about this last week. And I think it really delivered in terms of quality golf. We got to see some stars, do some star-like things.

We got to see some guys who've disappointed us, do some disappointing things. It really did in many ways, kind of serve as a microcosm for all that we experienced over the 2020 golf season. Victor Hovlin took it down. Nate Dogg, you were clearly impressed. Give us a quick take on. on what you saw over the weekend. Well, it's a good end to the year of Hovlin, Morikawa, and Wolf, where we might have thought Hovlin was getting lost in the shuffle,

even though he's kind of been an automatic top 20 since the restart. He's been hitting the ball great, but he just had not been able to get over the hump, and this turned out to be a quintessential ball strikers tournament with the weather in particular. It was so soggy. They could just throw darts. and distance was not at a premium.

And Hovlin just through darts. Top five Tony ended up, you know, retreating through the course of the back nine on Saturday. And we saw some of the younger crop of guys who really just have not really been able to break through this fall, which is why we've seen the likes of Sergio and Stuart Sink and Brian Gay all win in tournaments when some of the guys like Emiliano Grillo

who had this thing in his hand and lost it, guys like that who have not been able to get it across the line. So it was a fitting end to see Victor step up now at 23 years old, get his second win, drive the Norwegians crazy, get us maybe starting to think that there's a little more balance in the force when we have a Ryder Cup a year from now. And, you know, fittingly, he led the tournament in Greens and Regulation. He did 85% of the Greens.

and when you do that, you're going to have a good chance to win. You have to give it up. Verno, did you get to see some of the golf this weekend? I did. You know that it was like a year ago. I said, I'm betting on Hovland every single week until he wins. It's probably one of the five tournaments I haven't bet on Hovland. Of course.

I only had, I had him in a parlay with HV3 to win their matchups. So that ended up pay. It was like plus 285. So that ended up coming through because HV3, thank God, was paired with Gary Woodland. So I was able to get that one done. Look, I find Hovland to be one of the top five, maybe three most likable guys on the entire tour. The smile, the laugh, the ridiculous amount of honesty. Like he'll, he constantly is like giving interviews about how like my chipping sucks or even yesterday.

I don't know if you guys saw this after it was over. He said, I don't really feel good. I'm very good in pressure situations. I don't feel comfortable in those moments at all. Yeah, I love it. I love it. I know. Who says that, though?

Nobody feels comfortable in those situations, but nobody ever admits to the fact that they don't feel comfortable in those situations. And so I think this guy, you know, I'm very, very hopeful that this isn't like a one. that he can start to really string together a bunch of wins because I think he is fantastic for golf because anybody that watches him ends up liking him because he's always smiling. He's got this great demeanor about him. He's incredibly self-aware, you know, and I think this was actually very, very good, you know, as we're doing this season-ending deal because, you know, as Nathan was mentioning those three

guys and kind of what they have done with Wolf and Morikawa and Hovland. And I don't know if you guys saw Kyle Porter from CBS put this up, but those three guys, Hovland, Wolf Morikawa. 18 months ago, all of them were amateurs. And now, updated as of today, they have six wins, three major top tens, one major win, all ranked in the top 15, and they've won $17.6 million combined. So, I mean, if we're looking for an influx of new

and exceptionally likable talent, like to me, that's, it's, yeah, Haven won this, but the story is the grander story, which is these,

these kids that are coming up are absolutely unbelievable and likable to boot. You know, are they going to go to Baker's, Bay together. Well, are they going to plan their spring break trip? I mean, we got those three. Who else would go with them? Scotty Sheffler?

Who else would go with them, Nate? Maybe one of the other amateurs coming out of Oklahoma State right now, who they just seem to be a factory at the moment. What's interesting about this Hovland win, you know, we've seen, we've really seen him coming for a while. He's one of those players who really from a young age was marketed to us as here he comes, right? He won the US AM. Okay, but even through the corn fairy tour playoffs where he went back to get his card two years ago, he was the focus. They really was a lot of hype about the kid.

And that can be pretty tough, as we've seen some of the other amateurs stepping up who, you know, they get a lot of hype. They hit the stage with the pros. They don't always do their best, right? But he was low AM at the U.S. Open. He was low AM at the Mass. that year when he played. And our guy, Justin Ray, put out the stat for me that blew me away, which is there are only six guys since 2000 who've won their second PGA Tour tournament younger than Hovlin. And that's Spieth, Garcia, Rory, John Rom, Anthony Kim, and then Siwu Kim. So that's a pretty good group to be in with this guy. And I think that what Verno said, you just got to look at Wolf Morikawa and Hovlin now and say,

we got a great generation of young players who, with DJ being player of the year up in his upper 30s, and now the Bakers Bay guys that we talked about, right? Thomas and Spieth and the rest, they're sort of in the middle generation. I mean, they're starting to get pushed from below by all these guys who came up, having their swings videoed from the time they were two years old,

having all of the access to technology and coaching that even guys like Justin Thomas didn't necessarily have. So I love to see even the best players in the world now who are in their late 20s getting their heels nipped by guys who are still freaking 21, 22, 22, 23 years old. Yeah, I love it as well. I put Scotty Sheffler in that same class. Those are the four youngsters.

I know that those three guys were all competing against each other collegiately 18 months ago. Sheffler came out ahead of him, but he's just a tiny bit older than those dudes. But I think he fits in that class of young up-and-comers that are pushing upwards. Verno, so this weekend, we're going to go ahead and also talk about guys that let us down a tiny bit as you watched the Mayacoba. Who left you wanting a little bit more? Brooks. Look, I follow them on Instagram, him and Jenna.

just looked like an unbelievable time there. They were there for the beach bar. I think you're right. But you got to make the cut and give me more content. I mean, I got to get at least two more days of content. Well, I will tell you why.

You can't be flying out of there. I mean, she was really, she really turned it up a notch. She, I mean, they were really enjoying this beach club. They were, there was like a falcon outside.

They were like doing a bunch of falcon. You know, I mean, it was just a very entertaining Instagram weekend from the Sims Kepka group. And for that to end short because of not being, by missing by a stroke, it's unacceptable. We were definitely cheated. Nate, how about you? It's Tony Fienow again.

I mean, I think we overplayed it a little bit. The winning score was 20 under. He was four under on Thursday. He was five under on Friday. So he was in the mix. But he made the turn Saturday at five. under, including a hole in one. And he shot three over on the back, and that was the end of it.

I mean, at some point, Tony Finole's got to take a step back now and say, by the way, like a few other players on tour at the moment, Ricky Fowler, a few others, and say, what have I got to do to take it to the next level? Because if Victor's winning twice, breaking the Puerto Rico curse, there's absolutely no reason that Tony Fienow should not have already won three, four times on tour and he has got to figure out what it is that's preventing him from getting there.

It's putting with that weird, the way he holds a club. It could be, but you know, it drives me crazy. I love him, and every time he goes to putt, I'm like, come on, bro. But did you see Joel Damon freaking putt like Happy Gilmore on

purpose this weekend? He just split his hands and just started slapping at it and he made a ton of putts. He made a ton of putts. He was rolling the rock. What do you try something? Well, look, the Fienow's problem to me

isn't putting. He's got a mental problem. Yeah. Because he was in the fairway on the 11th hole on Saturday. I sat and watched that hole back nine of Tony Fee now because I just I continue to be surprised.

I don't know why, but I just find him so fascinating with the amount of talent that he has that I sit and watch, you know, when he's in the lead, it has my attention. So I just want to see when that, when that pressure, it occurs to him. He sees his name at the top. What's going down? It happened at Memorial. And then it happened again this week where he's in the mix. His name is in the top five on a Saturday. And something goes awry. And where it goes awry most

prominently is with his wedges. It's off the T and with his wedges. He's in the middle of the fairway on a 360 yard par four, 11th hole. And he tits his wedge over the green, which, you know, he was firing at the pin and he made a three-yard misjudgment. That's okay. But then he came back up over and his shot, you know, his recovery shot also ended up off the green. And he two-putted for bogey. Like that's just not championship level golf.

It's just that level of precision. And I don't think it's talent. I think it's psychological. Of course it's not talent. Right. I mean, that guy is, he is an absolute freak of nature.

Like he, you watch him some weeks and he'll be 27 after the first nine holes. Like he gets on these streaks where it's just like there's very few like him where you can just, you could watch for two hours and you could look up and you just watch him birdie eight of nine holes. Like he just gets on these, he gets locked in on these streaks and it's crazy how awesome he is. And the same thing happens in the other direction. I mean, he got up on the T after that bogey and smashed one into the woods. And by the way, very quick digression. This whole thing where, you know, people talk about, you know, the distance challenge,

the criticism of the players being too good and, you know, the resistance to the idea of bifurcation, which is the players playing under certain limitations and the rest of us play. by a different set. The part of the argument people make is the beauty of golf as we all play by the same set of rules. And once again, we were reminded by watching this golf tournament on Saturday afternoon that that is utter and complete bullshit. Those guys, that mother effort hit the ball 10 yards into the woods.

And they went in the woods and found it. And he pointed it out to the rules official and they declared that it was embedded. and he got a two club length free drop that put him outside of the woods and had a clear shot, you know, at the green. If you or I were playing, any of us were playing with our buddies under any circumstances and hit the ball in the woods, and we're lucky enough to find it in the first place, this idea that the ball was embedded and that you get free, free relief for that. Try and explain that to your pal, try and explain that, right, you know, to anybody that you're playing.

for cash against. It's absurd. Anyway, that's enough on that way. It's hard. It's hard to pile on on the guy, but he turned pro in 2014, and his biggest career highlight is dislocating his ankle at the Masters, right? In the whole in one competition. It's the thing.

He's most noteworthy, right? Most notable, notorious. And he is such a wonderful guy. And as Verno said, he has all the talent in the world. This is just one of those examples of it's time. it's time for a different coach. It's time to give somebody else a chance. If he really wants it,

it's time to give somebody else a chance to take all that talent and turn it into a killer of a golfer. What's not clear is, does Tony Fienow want it? Or is he happy to make a ton of money and be on a lot of leaderboards and be with the group that he has around him

based in Salt Lake and in Utah and be happy there? I don't know. He's got to want it to make the change. We're going to learn a lot. about Tony Fanow over the next couple months. I think he just moved, too, like within this last year.

Because he became friends with Mike Conley, who used to be the point guard of Memphis, and I asked, Conley had become fast friends with him that was playing golf with him, and then I asked this last time I saw him, and he said, he moved. And I was like, what? His golfing buddy,

he's golfing, but he moved from Salt Lake. I was like, oh, no. Well, he's got to be the only PGA tour player to have made his home in Salt Lake City like a place where you can only play golf four months out of the year. I mean, you know, or whatever, five months of the year. But yes, he did relocate, I believe,

to the L.A. area. Is that right, Nate? Do you know? Do you remember? I had him in Arizona with Boyd-Summer Hays, but maybe real quick, we'll look it up. That's fine. Either way. Well, the other guy that I want to make sure that we talk about because it was kind of a mixed bag for this guy, and he's a super-duper star.

He was by far the leader in the odds to win this this tournament. And he almost damn near did as Justin Thomas. And, you know, this weekend was another good reflection indication of the kind of season that he's had, which is very close, but not quite getting across the goal line, but still all that talent in the world and putting a charge in the field as he came up the leaderboard on Saturday and put him in position to win on Sunday. And then the putter went dead quiet on Sunday. dead quiet, Nate. I still feel like he's taking a big step up, though, don't you guys?

Like, it's just in terms of popularity, in terms of perception, whether or not the finishes and the results are necessarily there as the other years. And, you know, part of that is just like when we were kids, if you're being on the cover of a video game matters, you know what I mean? And the guy was on the cover of a video game. And he's like, he's been out there and he's been doing podcast and stuff and he's been talking to people. And it feels like he's always in the mix in the golf conversation.

When somebody's shitting on Bryson, he's like standing up for him with Matt Fitzpatrick. And the other thing is, he's there more often than not. You know what I mean? He's rather consistent. And if he doesn't win it, he's good all the time. And you can kind of, and there's something about this was what frustrated us with DJ for so long. It's like, yeah, he might be like murdering everybody. And like the next week he might just like not make the cut.

or he just may not be around. It's like, why aren't you just the dude every week? And it feels like to me, even though it's not as many wins and he's not like the player of the year, it does feel like, you know, Thomas is a guy that you've been pretty regularly been able to count on that, like, he performs as one of the best players in the world much more regularly than some of these other guys

because you wonder, like, why isn't DJ there every week? Why isn't Kepka there every week? Why isn't Rory there? there every week. Like, Thomas is pretty much there at the top more than any of the others. It's a great point that you made about the rise in profile. And to me, it really started with his on-course commentary, his agreeing to participate in the match.

And what he did out there in the public eye when there was nothing else on the entire sports calendar, you know, the most watched golf event of the full calendar year was that match event. with Tiger and Phil and Peyton and Tom Brady. And Justin Thomas was effing awesome. Well, the President's Cup thing, too, with the whole I love me some me and him play with Tiger. And it goes back to that.

Like he's kind of bumped. I'm just saying for the purposes of the American sporting public, you know, what us sports fans when we see, his profile for sure became heightened over the course of this summer. And he had a damn good summer and a damn good fall. I mean, what do you think, Nate? I think besides maybe Brooks, but I think Justin Thomas has the most appealing, like widespread appealing personality

of any of the top golfers that exist. And I think he wants to be great. He has that drive to be great because we get these Justin Thomas faces when he's not doing great. And he has some weaknesses right now. We saw too many times coming down the stretch since the restart,

Justin Thomas blocking his drives right. when it mattered. And it cost him tournaments, including some majors this year. So he has got to figure out, he's another one of those guys who is so close. I'm with you, Verna, I think he was probably the most consistent golfer this year. He was the easiest guy to bet on in some capacity because he showed up every week. Like you said, he never had a round where he shot back-to-back 80s the way the DJ did, or where he disappeared for a few tournaments, the way that Rom did, certainly at the beginning at the restart. So I think he's the guy who we step back and go, man, he's still only got one major. And he talked extensively this year about how get, especially around the PGA, about how getting

that second one has been harder than getting the first because he's put a ton of pressure on himself. He knows the rarefied error that he joins by getting that second major. He is great enough to do it. And to probably get six, seven, eight if he, if he really stays with it. But there is, there is just like, his other Baker's Bay buddies in Spieth and in Fowler there is a little bit of mental vulnerability

that we've seen with him down the stretch where he doesn't just put the knife right into the throat and he wants to it's not out of desire it's not the Tony Fienow

syndrome or maybe even the Ricky Fowler syndrome where you're like I'm not sure this guy cares enough to go kill the beast he wants to kill that beast there are just these moments where he doesn't deliver

I thought his best golf of the year came with bones on the back. And that was when he was with you, right? Furno, when he played Memphis. And so you just wonder if there's some subtle changes that they will make between now and the time we see him in Maui to get him over that hump. Because this is a guy who needs to win a major next year.

There's no reason he can't. And I think if you, you know, all three of us, we're going to do some prognostications. for the 2021 season. Once the calendar flips and we kick off with Farrowa Rule, and in 2021, we'll do our forecast for, you know, Player of the Year, surprise a year, all that stuff. But if you ask each of us right now,

my guy for Player of the Year next year is indeed Justin Thomas. I mean, it's just, and to me, it's not even really that close. I think he's definitely going to win a major next year, and it might be the Masters. Well, and you're walking into those prime years, too. you know, this, we're right there, right? This is when he's of that age. He's got the experience.

He's played a lot of these courses many times. And so a lot of times it comes with experience. It doesn't happen fast for everybody. And sometimes it can be a curse if you win a ton of them very early, right? That's the different. Look, he is the exact peer of Jordan Spee. And look and look at how those two have diverged. over the course of the past two seasons.

That's exactly right. Well, speaking of diverge, we're going to diverge from this conversation on the Myakoba. It was a beautiful 2020 season. Kudos to the PGA tour for getting all these tournaments in and getting, you know, the guys through, talk about a traveling enterprise that took on that logistical challenge. And really, by all indications, really successfully navigated. went from city to city to city. Most of the guys were able to do it in a healthy way without too much challenge.

So, you know, and I personally definitely appreciate, you know, all of that effort that went into them putting on those tournaments successfully. And we got to see some great golf. And let me just say this, a shout out to the broadcast crews on those. Now, I was very lucky during the course of this quarantine to be able to go to the FedEx event. they credentialed me and so I was able to go out to and watch it and I one of the things that will be a lasting memory obviously it was probably the strangest sporting event I have ever covered in my life just being out there and following along and I am five to ten feet I mean it was literally me on like at one point I was following a group with Rom and Fowler and

that group that he had at FedEx. And it was Rom's wife and Ricky Fowler's wife and me and maybe like one other guy, like walking around with that group, like watching them, right? And to watch it, and even on that PGA live, I will tell you guys, if you watched how few people they have there doing those broadcasts and those cameramen, you would be absolutely stunned. And it will be burned in my memory forever. There was a shot that, you know,

because that's like one of the featured groups on PGA Live, right, that you get to see in the morning. There was a guy who's, you know, he's probably, I don't know, mid-40s, I would say, maybe early 50s. There was a cameraman who's walking around with a portable camera and he's behind John Rom on a shot that he is taking in on a par five. And so, Rom swings it, he gets the shot. The guy sprints maybe like 150 yards over to where Ricky Fowler is to jump behind him to get his shot.

And this is how they're doing this shit. And that's how they put that thing on. They don't have a lot of people out there. There is like a bare bones. The way that, and just as a viewer, when you see it, because I know people bitched a lot about TV. coverage this year. If you saw it, you would be absolutely amazed. It even looks how it does as a viewer on TV because they just don't have people at those things like they usually do. I mean, there's a hundred million TV stands everywhere when you go to a big tournament.

There were nobody even on those stands. There's like people running around and it's like five, it felt like five people were broadcasting the damn tournament. And so that's the other thing, man, the broadcast teams on these to be able to pull off putting those on so we could all watch them, they deserve a massive kudos because that was, that was some BS having to do that.

I mean, you're 50 years old. You know that dude's like, I didn't sign up for this shit. What am I doing running around? I'm sprinting from golfer to golfer so everybody can see every shot. This is crazy. Yeah, but Nate, you got to attend in person a handful events.

As our PGA tour correspondent on the ground, I mean, I know that's not your only credential. But you got to see it your own self. And I'm Sharon Verno's appreciation and affection for everything that went into the successful production of those things. You witnessed it with your own two eyes. Yeah, they did a great job. He nailed it. These guys were sprinting all over the course.

And the most ridiculous thing was the finicky few players who can't focus and will leave them unnamed at the moment, but who would get pissed off at these guys running around. in their back swings and, you know, just sort of blaming camera guys for, because there were no fans out there, right, to sort of absorb some of the noise. So the players maybe didn't appreciate that job as much as the rest of us should because we saw a lot of great golf that those crews put on for us this year.

Well, this is the perfect kickoff to our awards and rewards. We're going to give out a bunch of shoutouts here, mostly positive, couple negative, you know, we can't be, it's not all sunshine and birdies here in in 2020 and i'm glad we started off on that note just you know recognizing the success of of what the tour was able accomplishment and all that the everything the effort wise everybody put into it so on this show on fairway rolling like it's fine player of the years dj rookie the year scottie sheffler like okay great we're not going to have any discussion or debate around any of that because at the end of the

day you can listen to any show if you're interested in those kinds of debates and those kind of discussions and recognizing all the stories and everything the beefiest story of the years obviously bryson the best non-beef story to me and i'll let you guys chime in on this was sophia popoff winning uh the british open out of absolutely nowhere the women the l pga british open um that was a pretty spectacular uh story since you know the restart of golf any any non bryson stories catch your attention verno well first of all just on the whole bryson thing because he has been a topic all season long i will say as someone who i'm not a bryson guy um i was there in memphis when he you you mentioned the before mentioned rules officials when he called over

the rules official to say there were fire ants that were around this boy i mean he just he just greats on me. He does. He grates on me. And he's, but I will say this, in a sport that individual sports having great characters is

a huge plus. And the fact that he is on the cover of all these magazines and he creates debate and he also creates controversy, even within the PGA, with guys like Matt Fitzpatrick making statements and then Justin Thomas firing back

about like he's a topic he just is he is a topic and he is something a lightning rod and we haven't had a lot of those you know what I mean in golf and the fact that you could there's very few guys that like outside of the you know people arguing about like tiger and jack right like if you were going to sit around a group of your buddies and you started like if somebody just said if you're out with your buddies get beers And somebody's like, you know who I love? I love Bryson DeShampo. God, I love this guy.

Do you guys follow him on Instagram? Like, at least three guys will be like, oh, and start groaning. And then everybody's talking about it. I do appreciate that he's gotten into that realm, right? Where it's actually somebody that is an interesting sports discussion that elicits some type of response from you no matter what. Whether you like the guy or you can't stand the guy. The fact that he's so polarizing, I think that helps the sport quite a bit. And he clearly took over this past season.

There's no way around it. I agree with you. I think if we expanded the lens on what it means to be player of the year, you'd give it to Bryson just because, as you said, he fueled conversation like, I don't know, anybody has since Tiger, right? No. Remember, the year started with him, like, feuding with Brooks Kepka. That's right. And then he moved to these weird-ass self-promoting Instagram stories.

You know, like he won the U.S. Open and then had that super awkward, contrived, forced moment where he saw his family on the big screen in front of him, which just, like, is going to go down as the weirdest, most awkward golf moment since the Tiger Stevie high five miss at the Masters. He did the tin cup moment with the three wood at Muirfield where he just refused to concede that you can't hit a three wood

out of Jack's Rough, going out of bounds, hop in the fence, arguing with the ants, arguing with the rules officials, yelling at cameramen, and then he finished the year, telling us at the Masters that he's so dizzy he could barely stand up. I mean, we might lose him before 2021. How about the one where he, when he won, and he came out, and they're doing the, our girl, Baleonis is doing the interview,

and he goes into this whole speech about how he's, you know, all this working out, all these protein shakes, all this stuff. He's not doing it for himself. He's doing it for you. He's doing it for you at home to show you that you can do it. You know what I mean? Did anybody can do this? You know what I mean?

Like he's not doing it for himself. He's doing it to be an inspiration. And I'm, of course, doing like the universal jackoff sign on my couch at home. Like, I shut up, dude. Like, you're doing it for me, really? Like, you're in the gym at five of the morning. So you're such an inspiration to me. Like, get over yourself.

He has no self. awareness. None. Absolutely none. We need him in the game. And so it's been a bright spot that really pulled golf out of the abyss. And I think put a whole lot of attention on it and grew a bunch of the betting around the game. And we know that the overall, you know, House you've quoted a bunch, that rounds played have gone up. So he's good for the game, love him or hate him. And certainly, as you said, House, the beefy of story of the year. I agree with you on the best non-beef story

being pop-off. I mean, she just was terrific and everything around that story, the way she played that back nine on Sunday and held off a bunch of challengers was great. The second best story for me of the year was DJ. And it was just him hanging on because we've come to expect the screw-up.

And so his wins earlier in the year were nice. Winning the FedEx Cup was great. But through the Masters, man, I felt nervous for this guy. And there just was this sort of coming of full circle of a guy who everybody sort of was universally rooting for. And I can't help but wonder that whether the good energy that he sort of elicited from the fan base helped him get over the hurdle. I really was happy to see him win. I had two things.

The Patrick Reed cheating shit, hilarious. You know what I mean? Like that was just commentary all the time. You know what I mean? And it's still people making jokes about it. With good reason. Yeah. And everybody now like watches all of his shots.

all the time. They're like, ah, he's camping down the grass, and he's messing with his ball in the world. You know what I mean? Like, he really is,

it's almost like something out of a movie, you know? He's got to have a villain. No, but he's like, he really is like the bad guy that you're like worried about. He's trying to pull one over on you,

right? Oh, there's that Patrick Reed again. You know what I mean? The other one, and I don't feel like I'm being a prisoner of the moment anymore because of how far,

how long ago. ago it was now, but it's from the Masters. I will never forget the Tiger 12th hole ever. Watching that unfold was like my heart getting ripped out of my chest. Like, you know what I'm like, it was, I don't know, like, because he came back and he was unbelievable the rest of the way, right, to enable to put that round together. But to watch the greatest golfer I've ever. seen look like me.

Like I never in a million years. Like I don't know what kind of odds you could have gotten on that. There were odds on him having a right, like a hole that it was like 10. Yeah, yeah. A double, a 10 or worse on a golf hole. He'd never done it in his entire professional career. And the odds even, you didn't get a terrific payoff if you bet on it. Well, the other thing is this.

You remember he won that tournament because of that hole. That's right. That's the symmetry of it. Yes. Everybody else dunked it. Right? Yes. Everybody dunked it.

It was like everybody else cratered. He knows it's not a birdie hole. He played it out to the left and just got his par and moved on. And the rest is literally history. And then to watch a year later where I'm sitting there going, yo, if he gets on a birdie streak, he could get in the mix here. And this, he turned into me. For 10 minutes, for 10 minutes.

And I'm just watching it like, I can't believe. He dropped in the trap. Drop in the trap. Never in a million. So like I'll never forget that as long as I live. The Masters comes at a price and winning the Masters comes at a price. And he apparently had a little bit left open on his tab still. So I think he paid it off finally in that hole.

Yeah. And that may be the golf gods, right? That could be the golf gods extracting their tax at that moment. I mean, there is a kind of mystical, universal, carmic kind of logic to it. I get pick up what you're dropping Nate Dogg. I do since we're talking about Tiger. Let's talk about, you know,

he had a very lackluster performance post restart. And we were hypothesizing that a lot of it had to do with, you know, him really focused on the masters. And we were waiting to see something to get us excited. And then lo and behold, he showed up at the Masters and he was awesome. I mean, you know, he did set the sporting world on fire, including a little bit of a video that we're going to talk about in a couple minutes here,

where you, your own self, Chris Vernon, were inspired enough to give him a little shout out. But I want to talk about, you know, one of the things that came out of what was going on with Tiger seem to have been his effort to try and balance home life and competitive golf life. And we have coming up here in a couple weeks, he's playing in this PNC championship thing where they take 20 guys that have won majors or the players championship. And then they're allowed to pick a family member. And they just go around at the Ritz up in Orlando. It's just a fun thing to watch on TV.

But we get to see him with his boy. and there is a lot of chatter out there about the quality of golf game that this kid possesses and there already is plenty of observation out there that the kid is not short on competence. So we get to see Tiger with his boy in a couple weeks.

Verno, how are you anticipating this? How are you feeling about that? Number one, our sons are around the same age house. And so, and I think Charlie's close, right? So mine is about to be 11. Yeah, mine's 10. Yeah. And I think Charlie's close to that, right? I think you're right. I think he's close too. So, I mean, like, there's just a symmetry on all of it in terms of my life. He's not far off, no matter what age he is. But just getting to, look, anytime we have got a glimpse into Tiger Woods in a different way, I mean, did anybody not just go

absolutely bananas when they saw those trailers for the two documentaries that are coming out. Like, see what we just did with Jordan with this last dance, right? It's like anytime you can get a glimpse into him acting a different way. And I think it is an opportunity if it plays out to see a side of Tiger Woods that nobody has ever seen before, right? Because I've told you before, I had a buddy who roomed with the, he was big buddies with O'Meer's kid. And so he ended up being down in Florida going home with his buddy. So he was staying with O'Meer, and they went out and played one day. And Tiger showed up out at the course and jumped on with him.

And I was like, what was he like? And he's like, dude, he was blaring rap. He had like, he had like spinners on his golf cart, right? Like rims on his golf. And I was like, wait, this is like 10 years ago. And I'm like, what? And he's like, he was the coolest. Like nothing like you, right?

Like there's a corporate. Yeah, buttoned up tiger. Of which, yeah, and he was just going out there to put his buddies. And so people I know that have met him or been around him have all liked him and thought he was super cool. And it was different than what my perception necessarily would have been. And so any glimpse of him, and there's nothing more human than being a father. So seeing him interact with his child would be something I would, I would, it's something that you would never get to see under any. other circumstance, right?

Well, that's it. I mean, the lore of Tiger is his dad coached him. And we're now moving, House, to your point earlier, I don't know how great the game's going to be in competition going forward. But we're getting to see Tiger as a coach for the first time. Thomas talked about it this week, about how he's slowly but surely starting to milk Tiger for a bunch of insights. Tiger's starting to do some of the instructional videos that,

that all these secrets to his game that he held to his vest when he was just that hyper-killer competitive tiger. Tiger 2.0, he's this sort of warmer, you know, great sort of father of the game watching what Jack and Arnie

and Gary Player sort of did for the game. He's moving into that role a little bit more. And so there's going to be, this is going to be a fun way to see his kid and how his kid approaches the game, how he coaches him, you know, whether he puts up with the shit

in the way that, you know, Earl Woods did not put up with any of Tiger's bullshit and kept him focused, you know, whether he's jingling his keys in his pocket as Charlie's swinging the way that Earl used to do. Like, it's going to be really interesting to see what he passes on, both to his own son, but now as he takes on this role of sort of statesman of the game,

what he starts to pass on to the rest of us to help us figure out how to hit the ball better. It is also much different. I don't know if you've ever taken your kid outhouse, but I have with mine. And my son, the level of anger that he has when he messes up. Like, he plays basketball, football, baseball, he plays everything.

The level of anger and frustration that derives from him hitting a bad golf shot, he reacts differently than he does in any other sport. Nate, you have your boy out there, I know. I do. He turns 12 in a little bit. He's great at throwing the lob wedge. I mean, with us. They get so mad. And I sit there and I look and then of course, you know, then I go play and I see like the fact that I've slammed my club into the ground and I'll think about how I reprimanded him for how mad he got it.

I mean, it just doesn't matter how old you are. You go absolutely, you just lose your mind when you hit a bad shot. Well, speaking of losing one's mind, let's jump into some more of these awards and rewards. And we're going to kick off Verno. it's time. We got to talk about this. Now, just to set the stage, I can't imagine there's anybody listening to this podcast that has not seen your performance on the master's updates in 2020. But like for context purposes, you've been doing these updates for damn near 10 years longer than that, right? Maybe so, yes. Long enough even for GQ five years ago or six years ago

to give you a shout out. But for some reason, because of 2020, being the way that it is and just where the sporting public's mind and attention is and the current generation of fans of golf, your master's updates this year caught a buzz and boy, oh boy, did they take off? Yeah, weird. It's really strange because we have done them for a long time. Now, I will say for the last couple of years, the video element, you know, obviously changes things dramatically.

It was a radio bit for so many years. And so once it became a video element and we could add in like dancing mascots and stuff, I knew that they had done better over the course of the last couple of years. But this year was way different. And I don't know if it's different in part because it was in November instead of April. That could have played a part in it. Honestly, like I told the guy for Golf Digest, I honestly think we just needed the crappiest year ever. and, you know, so many of the things that have happened this year,

whether it was COVID or the election or it was anything. People just argue and bitch and hate each other and are mad all the time, right? And the fact that, like, you could do something that would make people laugh. Like, I don't know. Maybe there's part of it that it was just like, hey, this is silly. It's laugh. It's lighthearted. and it's not, you know, the cesspool and the of negativity

that you feel every time you open up social media, right? It's something that you could actually communally share with your friends if you thought it was funny. And like, there just hasn't been that much. It's honestly like even that much entertaining or humorous this year. And so I don't think it was, I don't even know if it was our best one, honestly. but it was just like given all the circumstances and the year. And I do think that you brought up the point about the young group of golfers,

that helped a great deal. Because these guys, guess what? They grew up on hip hop and they grew up. And they're having this fight about how they stupid, stupid. You know, it's almost like the protection of the game with the hoodies. And, you know, they're fighting over stupid stuff and this whole tradition. And they want it to be more inclusive. And so I think that's part of it too, right?

That like there's so many guys that are in the PGA now or that are now the golf coaches. They're the golf people that matter on social media and Twitter and whatever. So many of these guys that help drive that within the golf committee and the writers. It's just younger people now. It kind of filtered out.

You know, it's not, you know, I don't want to disrespect any of these guys. Like, you know, like, like Dan Jenkins would never have laughed at that. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. He's in a different lane, that's all. But that was the guy. You know what I'm saying?

I know. I know. I know. Or it's like the people associated with golf and golf media have changed dramatically. That's true. In the last two years. Well, and Scott Van Pelt, who was one of the guys who got a hold of that thing, said, I think if I play this in Butler Cabin right now, the world will implode.

right, which was a hat. That's right. But it's one of those important, like, as we've seen over the last couple of months, there's been a growing of the game. I felt like this video was a part of that. I have a quick question for you on how many pounds the dancers in the mascot costumes lost? Because those things have got to be hot as hell. Can you auction those spots off next year for charity,

or does it require a special type of dancer? No, we should actually auction those off. So I will tell you, there's two. one of them is on the show of me every day. He does social media. His name's Devin Walker. He's in his 20s. He's in good shape.

He's the kind of guy that would still dance at a club. The other one is a guy named Alex who does social media. He was like the left shark of the bit. Yeah. Well, he was the bumblebee who was a show stealer. And the reason he's a show stealer, he moonlighted as Rocky the Redbird at Memphis Redbirds game. He is a legitimate AAA mascot at night.

He goes and wears, so he couldn't have been more comfortable. He knows his way around a T-shirt fan. Yeah, so like when people just say, oh, if people, he put some people in costumes, these are real professionals that I had. That's right. This is not a rinky-ding operation. I got real professional sports team mascot. But be honest.

Be honest. You went to bed on Thursday night. This thing had blown the hell. up. And you're coming into the office on Friday. Are you thinking, how am I going to top this? No, I think we've got to make this better. This has to be somehow that we've got to attempt to make this better. We'll never get as much traction as we will with the first one. But we've got to pray that some of the, that we need, look, part of it is you need some of the stuff to break, right? Tiger Woods being too under in the course of that was very, very helpful.

But I think honestly, like by the time we got the day two, at that point, we've been doing it a long, long time. You know, maybe we've put in our Malcolm Gladwell 10,000 hours on Masters updates. And so that's what we do what we were doing. So we had like mad confidence by the time we got to Friday, I think. And then obviously, look, there's not, it's not that much long. longer until the next masters. It's funny you said about auction off because the one thing, I've done a bunch of

like golf podcasts and like interviews and whatever since it came out. And I said, I was so upset that I think it's been three years, maybe it's 2017, since Charlie Hoffman has tweeted. And I was so upset that we did not like that somebody hasn't gotten to him on that. But somebody... Where the hell is Charlie Hoffman? Yeah, I think it was Travis Fulton's podcast that I did where the interviewee asked me about Charlie Hoffman and about getting him all. And I was like, oh, my God.

Yeah. Like, if he doesn't make the Masters... He's not making it. I actually think my boss... I will reach out to... If my boss, my boss would do it, too. Like, because you've met him, how he's a huge golf fan. fly him in.

If I could fly him in and get him to be a part of it. These possibilities are endless furneau. I mean, the room for creativity here. If Charlie Hoffman showed up in the video, that would be, then I might, I might like do like John Elway and just leave after the Super Bowl. That would take it up another.

You know, Paul Casey is inside the top 50 in the official world golf ranking, so he's not going to be available. But we definitely need his. smiling face to make it to make an appearance as well. Why is Paul Casey always smiling? Nobody knows. Are they veneers?

They're beautiful teeth. I don't know if they're veneers or not. Verno, one last question on this topic. When you saw all the traffic and everything that was happening, you got a shout out from the Around the Horn guys. SVP gave you the shout out. Jenna Sims on her Instagram talked about how funny it was. Which one, out of all the folks that chimed in and gave you some dapp on this thing,

which one tickled you the most? Which one did you, do you're like, oh my God, this guy, you know, or this gal? The Van Pelt one was obviously amazing because he was on the broadcast. Yeah. So that one was, that was so cool. Most shocked by far was the Genes Sims. That I was, because what that meant, you knew she's with Brooks. Yeah.

So in the first video, if you see my producer, Rosa, he is wearing a shirt that says Brooks Freaking Kepka. So when she had put that up, I, I DM'd her and I said, yo, this made our day. Thanks so much. I hope you guys saw the first video, because that was the second one that she posted. My producer, and she goes, we saw this shirt. We absolutely loved it. And I was like, bro, Brooks Kepka, the idea that Brooks Kepka is watching this video

on Saturday at the Masters is like, I mean, like, and my producer happens to be wearing a Brooks freaking Kepka shirt. Like everything about the, because the Genesis one, it meant that Brooks Kepka was watching that video and liking that video. And the fact that that was true was absolutely mind-blower.

Yeah, but bro, it's what you said. Everybody needs a laugh. Nobody needs to laugh or feel, you know, needs to break the tension of that experience more than those guys, right? I'd be surprised if we went through the list of everybody that was down there if there were, you know, 15 players who made the cut who hadn't seen it. I believe that all of them saw it. You know what I mean?

I do wonder, there's probably, yeah, look, it probably, you know, they pass around phones. and whatever. But the guy that runs the golf tournament in Memphis, text me, and he had, before the Jenna Sims thing, on that Saturday morning, he had gotten a text from Michelle Wheat. And so I was like, no way.

Because she was on the broadcast, too. The idea that Brooks Kefka was listening to that is insane to me still. All right. We're a handful of categories left to cover off. I want to know from you guys, your experience in terms of who you felt comfortable wagering on. Who is your most...

Why don't we do these in tandem? Who is your most trustworthy wager and your least trustworthy wager? Who could you not figure out who cost you money? Nate, Doug, you go first. Your most trustworthy wager and your least trustworthy wager.

Most trustworthy wager was fading Jazz Jane Wattonon who is the worst manipulator of the official world golf rankings that has ever existed. He started the year 40th in the world by doing well on a bunch of Asian tours, tour events against nobody. He missed the cut in every PGA tour event that he played that had a cut. He finished 53rd or worse in all of the no-cut events, including FedEx Memphis.

The only cut he made was the Masters where he went on to finish 51st. So that was the most trustworthy bet. My least trustworthy bet was Rory McElroy. I mean, I just, just there was always a one up here we go it's coming he's background followed by or proceeded by what the hell is going on with rory mackleroy round so i just could not get a feel for him and i just i couldn't trust him i understand verno who who'd you have most trustworthy and it is by a wide wide margin was matt wolf i got sucked in on the george gankis instagram so i was aware of Matt Wolf, right? And then I watch these Matt Wolf things all the

time. And so this was a great season. I mean, I think he ended up in the top 10 in the FedEx Cup. And so you know, just betting on those, you know, you could get really good odds on some of those tournaments on top 20s and top tens.

And so Matt Wolf just became a guy that I was betting a lot. I mean, I don't even want to talk about it this year. Because it's, I think we did this last year house or maybe the year before and it's the same friggin' answer. It's every year.

I believe in Xander Schafly. Yeah. Bro, he never wins. I know. Yeah. Ever. What? He never win.

Why do you not? Like you're always there. Like you, I know you've got a chance, man. Like you're right there. And I'm like that's it. All right. Next year. He's going to nab one of the majors. He's a problem.

And even this year, like, you know, and he had been so great in those majors. I mean, I've lost a lot of money on Zander Schauchle. I mean, a lot over the over the last two years. Because he sucks me back in. And I'm like, oh, he's in fourth going into Sunday. Shit. Here we go. Finally.

And then he's better. I lose again. Well, you just need to hold your nose and. pay for the odds in the top 20s. So you have it covered. So in your deep down in your stomach, you're not feeling sick that he gets so close to that Sunday, you know, giving you that return of 23 to 1 or 28 to 1 on pulling one of these down. And instead, you just have to be happy that you bet, you know, 350 to win 250. And you won your 250 and it covers off whatever exposure that that you had. I had two

favorite bets and two two guys that made me happiest through the season. Betting against Bill Mickelson was very, very profitable for me since the restart. Except with the match. Well, this is the thing. This is the whole story, Nate.

I bet heavily against Phil at the Masters. And by a long shot, I got quite a great return on betting against Phil. Every matchup that was available in a head-to-head matchup at the Masters, he lost. He lost to everybody that he was paired up against, including Jordan Speath. The one bet that I lost with Phil through this entire, you know, from June till

now, was that he would miss the cut at the Masters. And he made the cut at the Masters. Well, for the purposes of this match thing with him and Charles Barkley and Steph and Peyton, that's enough for me. Like, he, they, they, they, uh, Vegas put him in, installed him as an underdog with Charles Berkeley. And I think that's because Vegas smartly wisely saw the American, uh, public. They know the American betting public better than, than, you know, uh, I know my own son. And they said, they, they put, you know, Peyton and, and Steph in his favorites because they know that people have been watching Charles Barkley's terrible golf swings for 25 years.

so they're like, look, we're not going to pay off here. But Phil Mickelson is the only real professional golfer of that crew and he made the cut of the mass. Just why we got that one right. That one was good for us. We bet on Phil. We told everybody to bet on Phil. And that was the right moment, the right circumstance.

I also will bet on him anytime he plays a champion's event. I mean, you know, he's undefeated so far, I think. I also want to give two special shoutouts for the Daily Fantasy guys. out there. It is commonplace that you're doing your daily fantasy for a tournament and you get down to the end and you put together your amazing lineup and you've got $6,000 left. And so now you're just going through names and you're like, all right. Like you try to find somebody to like, you know, fill that last spot. Because I don't want to change my entire lineup. Two guys, one at the beginning of the season, one at the end of the season that honestly like won me weeks

on that were Doc Redmond. Yeah. Doc Redmond. Sure. And Tyler Duncan. Yeah. Yeah.

The other guy. Two guys that won me weeks because, and I was completely unfamiliar with their work prior to the week that I selected them. But I became huge fans

for that weekend. You appreciate their catalog. Yes. And they came through for me big time. Well, my other guy most reliable for me was Harris English.

When he came back after the restart. He was really on fire. He just pulled out a whole streak of top 20s, a top 20 machine after the restart. His best finish was second to DJ when DJ won Boston at 30 under. Terris

English, you know, beat the rest of the field at 19 under. He had a missed cut in his very first event back but then his ball striking was insane. He finished solo fourth at the US Open and he's also in the 2021 season again. He just finished, I think,

sixth in myacoba. He was fifth the week before. You know, Harris English is going to be showing up on my dance card because he helped me a lot with with matchups. And, you know, the, the guy that I look for matchups, I would hunt these matchups. The guy I ended up, you know, being frustrated with was Hideki. Hideki was the other side of this, right? Hideki never got it going after the restart. And they went to a bunch of venues where Hideki has a good history. And it looked like he was a good selection. And he barely finished in the top 20 in any events. The one that really killed me was the U.S. Open, where I had him to win.

And he was, you know, on the leaderboard in the top four slots through the first three rounds quite a bit. But the guy, he just can't make a putt. He just flat out, cannot putt. He had a dozen different opportunities on Saturday and Sunday to start to create some momentum up there at Wingfoot and really, you know, show himself as, guy that come down the stretch Sunday might be, uh, capable of, of grabbing the thing. And he just, you just, you know, he hits the ball to seven. He hit it to, to, to, I think, eight feet on number seven on Sunday, uh, and, and had a chance. And he just, the punts don't even get close. They don't even touch the hole. So Hadecki, uh, was a guy. I went against,

I want to know, we have two other categories. I want to get some input on what, I, I know my answer for this one. The most likely to steal your girlfriend. Now, this is, we're all married and have our own situations, but most likely to steal your girlfriend, Nate, who do you got? It's not a debate. It's Tom Brady with his pants split. That rear end?

Is that the one? I mean, at the match when he bent, like Tom Brady was... I know, we saw it. Those Under Armour pants were not up to the task. They weren't. And we actually got insight on this pot a couple weeks ago that maybe it was the microphone stuff, the pack that broke his pants.

I don't believe it. Anyway, I don't trust Tom Brady with his pants. around anything. Who are you worried about? I mean, it's still, look, I know that everybody's like, is kind of danced around the DJ passed, but come on now. Now he's got the green jacket and the master's swag and whatever.

Come on. That's a good point. This guy's got a history. They're still just engaged, by the way. They're still just engaged. They're not married. They're just engaged. Well, and the other thing is this, it's not like a, it's not like a hypothetical.

Like he actively has. So, like, I don't think it's, I don't think it's fair to compare other guys to somebody that actually would. All right. Well, I'm picking somebody that I have no indication at all that he's anything other than the sweetest soul on earth. But when I see this dude and all the skill that he possesses, I'm intimidated. by it, so I'm just worried. My pick for this is Scotty Sheffler. Oh, wow. He's a youth. He's a young fella. He's a giant man. He's six foot three. He looks like he's carrying around about 200 pounds, 2205. He's got a beautiful smile and a beautiful

head of hair. And with all that town, he's got that whole Texas thing going. He's born in Dallas. He went to University of Texas down there in Austin. He's got some of that McCona. He's vibe, right? Like, you wouldn't put your, your beloved one within 10 miles of Matthew Beconaghani. I'm worried about Scotty Schaeffler. Like, you know, and again, I have no Indyke. He just looks like the sweetest guy ever. He's quiet. He's unassuming, but I don't want him anywhere near my lady. I don't want him anywhere near my lady. Yeah, that's right. The guys like that are intensely dangerous. See, that's it. You're catching what I'm talking about. All right, last way, we're to put a bow on the year with a toast.

And it's going to be, you know, the way I'm going to ask it is best taste in red wine. And what I'm interested in is just your take on the most worldly soul. Who do you think you would love to sit down and have a delicious, beautiful steak and maybe, you know, some, some shrimp cocktail. And then you break up the bottle of Chateau Lafitte. Who's going to, who's your pick for that one? I mean, it has to be a non-obvious. I want to pick somebody that's non-obvious than the tigers and the Justin Thomas is. And obviously the best of the best would be super fun.

I will tell you, and I've really changed on this because you know I hated on him a lot over the years, but I got that golf pass thing. Yeah. You know, and I guess he's part investor on that deal, Rory McElroy. I have found him to be so intensely likable on everything that I have watched. And I've listened to him on like those whoop podcast. I just like I just like I just like I mean the more I watch him and I watch him on those videos like he's beat me down to the you know my guy. It was always kind of like you know I don't know Brooks is the alpha and this guy's the beta and whatever.

But like you watch him and he seems like intensely delightful. I really, I like him a lot. Like I find him to be so nice. And everybody that, everybody that's come into contact with him says he's like, like that's true. Like he really is authentically that nice. The other thing is I like listen to his voice.

You know what I mean? He sounds so different to me. I like that. I like that accent. The feeling might be mutual. The feeling might be mutual. He might like, you know, I'm sure he saw the videos.

We got to get him a shout out for that. I just, it really is strange in between, like, his media stuff that I feel like I have taken so much of it in over the course of the past three to six months, like really during this quarantine. And I find myself liking him more every time I watch or listen to him. What about you, Nate? I agree with that one, by the way. The right answer on red wine is always Miguel Anheel Jimenez. and we should hat to because he set the record for most starts on the Euro tour this year. But for me, right now, it would be none other than Jordan Speeith, Jordan's who we would sit and I would get all of his plans to make a huge comeback and dominate 2021.

Let's go. That's pretty good. Man, I love that. Yeah, I was thinking in a slightly different direction, but I'm not going to touch either one. of those outstanding selections by you guys. I was just thinking to somebody like Henrik Stenson. I want like a vet

who's probably got his best days behind him, but has been on tour for what feels like 40 years and has those stories. And I want a Euro guy because I think the Euro guys have lived a little life. I mean, we've heard, speaking of Rory, Martin

Kimer told a story over the last handful of months that they the European tour pushed out. You know, the story I'm talking about, Nate. The writer cup sex story. The writer cup sex story. And there's pretty good indication that it was indeed Rory that was responsible for waking up some folks on the hallway.

But I just get the vibe, the sense that those dudes are like, they live a little bit freer and looser. They get along a little bit better. And, you know, I just feel like there's some stories out there of things that have gone on on the European tour that feel like it would be. kind of eye opening, you know, expanding the horizons a little bit. That's the way that I'm going to say it,

the polite way I'll say it. You can't go wrong with a guy like Stenson. I think you've got to bring Jimenez along to loosen up Stenson, because I think that's been Jimenez's role for years, is getting all the Euros to drink and lighten up. You know who could stand to join that crew is your boy Spieth, you know?

A couple guys that'll have him, you know, feeling comfortable letting his hair down a little bit. By the way, do you know what? Speaking of red wine, do you remember the tournament right before you had just left here, House. So this is July of 2019. I have never told you this. That was the showdown.

Rory was up, what, two or three on Sunday going into the Brooks thing, right? Yes. Yes. That Saturday night, our buddies, Andrew Michaels, one of their great restaurants downtown, held a birthday party for Jordan's feet. And everybody was down there, and Rory was King O. Wine. So there you go. It stands to reason.

There you go. The next day, he ends up losing to Brooks and is like mad about it, whatever. And if you remember, at the end of the year in that third championships, he kicked his ass. He did. He kicked his ass. Verno, my question to you is, we didn't have inside information. You're plugged in. You're Mr. Memphis.

Nobody could pick up the phone and give you a quick text. I know. Rory's in here blowing to join up. Well, they already knew I had a max bed on Kepka anyway. Oh, that's why it's. That's the answer.

That's the answer. Hey, Verdo, we got a max bet on you, my brother. We can't wait for April to come around. It's going to be unbelievable. Is there any way we could talk to you into doing updates all four days? I mean,

I know that it means. you had to go to work on Saturday and Sunday. But you got to give the people what they want. I know. We're going to work on it. And I got that a lot. And, you know, I didn't want to get in an argument with people because I phrased that so badly about the whole we don't do weekends.

It wasn't like we don't do weekends. Like what I meant was the show is not on weekends. We do Monday through Friday. And I have a full crew. Right. Like it's not just asking me. No, that's what you got to bring everybody in. I know.

well we have a video producer too that's right that's right she gets she gets two days off so right like I'm telling her hey you got to come in on Saturday and Sunday to produce a five minute video that we got to edit we got to get out for Twitter like that's what we're doing

but we may actually we may have to do it when it comes April there's a 2021 is full of promise we'll get this crew reconvene once the year kicks off proper we got to give out some prognostications some forecast our picks for the year. But fellas, I want to thank you very much for coming on. It was an unbelievable

2020 calendar year, an unbelievable tour year. Shout out to some folks that supported us. We shout out Calloway for their support always. They supported us the beginning of the year. And then to our friends at Heineken beer, we enjoyed Heineken many times watching many of these events. Our friends at Whoop, they helped us figure out after too many Heineken's. what was going on with the biarrhythms and so forth, maybe, you know, how to get the sleep. And our good friends at Fandul for pulling off the Fairway Roland Doe contest, we got, you know, a beautiful blue jacket made up. And we were able to give some of these DFS cats a little bit of cash for their successful prognostication. Special shout out to the winner. He took down the jacket and some cash on the series.

That's Alex Pacelli. Maybe we'll get Alex. on at the beginning of next year and hear some of the insights of how he did it. I sucked at it. I think I finished around middle of the pack. Nate, you did better than I did in the Fandu Roland Doe, didn't you? I did all right, but I do not have the jacket. So that's all that matters. Well, they, they made me one, but that's because my face is on the stupid show. So that was, that was very, very kind of them. Anyway, thanks to everybody for listening to all my birdie buddies, our par-saving pals, our eagle enthusiasts. We're taking just a short break. but we will be back once 2021 gets rolling along.

And we hope while you enjoy the holidays and are able to socially distance, navigate all that stuff, that you're able to hit a few fairways out there. Until next year, my friends.