Fairway Rollin' - Bill Simmons on How to Survive Riviera Golf Course and the State of Golf in 2021

Episode Date: February 17, 2021

House and Hubbard tee up to talk about the latest events from the Pebble Beach Pro-Am before The Ringer's Bill Simmons joins to talk about the course that is Riviera for the upcoming Genesis Invitational (19:23). Then House and Nathan take a look at some of their favorite value picks for this week's upcoming tournament (47:35). Host: Joe House and Nathan Hubbard Guest: Bill Simmons Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello, friends, and welcome to this golf podcast, unlike any other. We are out in California for another edition of Fairway Roll. And the golf podcast on the Rigger Podcast Network, I am your starter, Joe House, as is our way, our PGA tour correspondent on the ground. Nathan Hubbard will be joining us, and we have a special guest coming on. mid pod because we are down in Los Angeles, California this week. So we had to tap the Hollywood talent to help us figure out what's going on in Los Angeles this week.

The first tee is wide open. Nate and I can start off as a two ball, try and hit one down the middle. Hey, Nate dog. House, we gave them burger. We gave them. We, I'm using the Royal Wee. You gave them burger. We gave him Streelman.

We gave him Cam Davis. I mean, this is the kind of week where you can take advantage if you're paying attention, can't your house? Well, we talked about the sort of, you know, lackluster in terms of star talent field that was assembled for Pebble. And we lamented the factors that drove that outcome. But I will tell you, having watched the tournament, the stars all. all came out and the real star of the show was the unbelievably beautiful Pebble Beach as it should be.

The golf course was sensational. It was absolutely the star of the show. And kudos to CBS for the unbelievable presentation of that golf course. There I say, unprecedented presentation of that golf course. Yeah, we got to give a little bit of credit. to Fox who showed it for the U.S. Open really the first time from the ocean because they used drones, right? And they really were the ones who taught us what Pebble could look like. And, of course, Nance lives on the damn course. So he knows where the best places to be are. He got married on the

seventh green for crying out loud. So it was nice to see the CBS guys, the whole team, really grab it and show it in a beautiful way. And we said it earlier. Did you miss the amateurs? I did not. Did you miss the amateurs? I did not. Right. Did you miss Monterey, C, C?

Kind of. You know what? I've played Monterey, so I like the vibe of it. But I understand the point you're making. I don't totally understand why we can't get shot tracker on Spyglass, because Spyglass is actually, at least it certainly this time was the harder of the two. It's more of that sort of like heat. hidden secret gem.

Yeah. So it's a little weird that we don't get a, get a much of a view into it. There's a few cameras on the course, obviously, but there were, there were ways that this thing

could have been covered a little bit differently, but it just visually was a beautiful week on the PGA tour. That's it. And that's exactly what we want from this event on the schedule at that moment, you know, the week after the Super Bowl,

as the sporting world collectively catches its breath, we want to see an iconic golf course. We'd love to see more of the world's best players on it, but the group that we had of those top players, yes, and we had another extraordinary performance from Jordan's beat this week. We probably should talk Jordan first because he really was the story.

I mean, it was another close but not quite there, right? He hung in this tournament, really thanks to two holeouts. And he was much better off the T than he had been in Phoenix, certainly in terms of shots gained. I think he was like 37th off the T, although, of course, they didn't measure it

at Spyglass, so we don't know for sure. But he was 110th in driving accuracy. So that's still the issue. You know, the putter lets him down, if you look at the stats, again, he was 131st in shots gained punting, but he was sixth in Puts per Green. So I really think Jordan is in a great place.

I loved everything about his comments. I did not love the back nine on Sunday, in particular the decision on that par 5-14th hole, which we can talk about. But I am so happy, golf is so much better when Jordan's back in the game, and he's clearly on the up. And then, you know,

that star power, that's what catches the collective sporting public's interests in eye. And we had, again, another fun opportunity to hear from just folks that are fans of sports. to be chiming in. Second consecutive week, Jordan Speath held at least a share

of the 54 whole lead. You know, didn't close the door, but we're fine with it. The New York Post ran a headline that Speeth choked, which is, you know, laughable and obviously

a clickbait exercise. You do you, New York Post, and never stop. Never stop. But, you know, it's just awesome. Look, another,

at Phoenix and Pebble, Speedth has hit a combined 75.7% of greens and regulation. This is a Justin race debt. 76% GIR and averaging 1.7 strokes gained approach. That is good. That's how you win golf tournaments, Nate Dogg. Well, the New York Post is wrong that he choked, but he did come into this day with a two-stroke lead.

And he was in neutral or backing up really through a lot of the day. while other people were laying it down, in particular the eventual winter burger. But the hole that, you know, the hole where he had a chance to hit a green, he should have hit the green, and where the tournament really turned was that par 5-14th hole.

He laid up, he had 119 to the hole, it's uphill. It was cold and windy all week long. Guys were taking 45-minute hot showers afterwards to sort of defrost, we're in three layers. But he and Michael got into a long bat. Michael is catty got into a long back and forth on that shot. And Jordan was saying, you know, Michael's saying he needs like 135 to get it there, to carry it all the way because of the wind, because of the cold.

And Jordan literally thought it was about 110 because he was so juiced up, was talking about the adrenaline he was feeling. He just got over the ball and felt the wedge in his hand was the right one. Michael tried to talk him out of it. And after about 45 to 60 seconds worth of conversation, Jordan finally said, look, this one's on me, stepped up and proceeds to hit it 1004 yards into the short, short left rough. He goes on to make boge, takes a ton of pressure off the field. And at that point, he really was out of the tournament. It wasn't clear who was going to win because in the moment, we did have a great leaderboard.

We complained about the strength of field. But when you got Paul Casey, Jordan Spee, Daniel Berger, Patrick Cantlay, all sitting up top there, Jason Day, sniffing heels. it's a, you know, the cream definitely rose in this one. But that, that 14th hole is what opened it up for the rest of the field. And at that point, it really became about Lashley versus Berger. Mav made a nice, you know, a nice little run at the end, but you had a sense it was going to come down to those two guys. And by the time Lashley, you know, four putted that green, you had a sense it was just about Berger and whether he was going to birdie or eagle the last hole.

Yeah, I mean, Madh McNeely, to his credit, hit two unbelievable shots on 18 to create, you know, the possibility if there was any stumble whatsoever out of Berger, could have had a playoff and that would have been wonderful. And kudos to Matt, Mav,

you know, that's exactly what you want to see. You want to see a guy pushing hard, push the pedal down, you know, get on a little bit of a hot streak and go out and try and grab the tournament. and Berger did not permit that. Boog was not standing for any of that bull.

Pucky, the way he finished that golf tournament with Eagle on 18, that's what we want. 65 on the final day. That's what we want. Top 15 guy in the world, the legit, you know, the highest ranked player, him and Cantley there, out there just, I got to go win the golf tournament, going out and doing it.

that's what we want. And so kudos to boog, you know, ball don't lie. That was getting the job done. Speaking of ball, don't lie, there are a couple of funny and little anecdotes off to the side. Did you see the exchange with Joel Damon and, you know, our homie and Sun Kang? Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. So the back history here is that Joel Damon and Sung Kang have played together. and there was one particular episode where they did not see eye to eye. He was actually here in the DMV here in the Washington, D.C. at the TPC right up the street from my residence. And Kang hit a ball into a hazard and chose a drop point that Damon believed was inaccurate.

I think I'll put it, I'll try and be polite with it. He didn't think that Sung dropped his ball, where on the line that the ball entered the penalty area, I guess we're calling it now. Yes. And he argued vociferously and they had a rules official come in. And from Joel's perspective, he believed that Song Kang was outside the bounds of the rules. And he said so. And lo and behold, the golf gods gave us this past Sunday an opportunity for these two gentlemen

to be in each other's company again at Pebble Beach. and they played together. Head to head, Damon ended up beating Sun Kang on the day. Kang bogeied the 17th and the 18th, and he was asked about it. The homie Dylan Deithier at golf.com had an exchange with Damon and said,

yo, you know, that was interesting. You guys got to play together. You ended up beating him. And all Damon wrote back was, ball don't lie. Well, he'd tweet. read it out the pairing as soon as he got the text from the PGA with an oh shit emoji face.

And we know that Kang showed up on the first tee and said, my friend said I should push you off a cliff. But they were very friendly and good-natured about it. And I think the general air between them, if not completely cleared, certainly was cordial and they had a nice round together. So that's all, that's what you expect out of the gentleman playing this gentleman's game, right? It shouldn't go without saying that almost everybody in the clubhouse after that incident and in many times since have come up and supported Joel Damon, which is to say, hey, you know, there are guys out here who need to be called out on that behavior. It can't be, we've talked about this with the Patrick Reed stuff at nauseam. It can't be a game of integrity if there are people who aren't held to the highest standard. And Joel had the, you know, it takes a lot to call it a fellow competitor out on tour.

There are some potential repercussions. You don't want to look bad. Everybody's trying to help everybody out. At the same time, hey, are we playing by the same rules or not? And so I think Joel did the right thing in that situation. He's always stood by it. He's got a great sense of humor, as we know, so he can sort of handle some of the heat that comes with it. But if you're given a guy heat for enforcing the rules, you're inherently supporting break

the rules. And so Joel did the right thing. It was good to see that Kang could take it in stride and we can move forward. That's exactly right. I mean, the whole premise of how these guys regulate one another, the implementation of the rules relies on the integrity of the players themselves and all of them working together collaboratively to protect the field. And so if one player observe something that looks like it could be questionable. It is that player's obligation to go to his fellow competitor and say, you know, what's going on here? This looks like it might be out of order.

Can we come up with some resolution? Because they all depend mutually on each of them adhering to the rules as closely as possible. And that's why Damon is beloved for what he did and standing up. up for the for the principal and standing by it. And it's not surprising that that, you know, everybody holds him in high regard for that. I wanted to talk about very briefly, another sort of rules element to the telecast and to what we observe.

We had two guys this week put their golf club behind the golf ball and the golf ball moved. And in, in both instances, they had to take penalties now. It was Mav McNeely in the rough on number five. think, and it was very bizarrely, Russell Knox, in the fairway on number one. But the interesting thing to me is not so much that they had to go through the exercise of talking to the rules official and determining that the penalty should be levied. It's the practice of putting the golf ball so proximate to the rear of the ball, putting your club so proximate, that there's any

risk whatsoever that the ball's going to move. And you as our PGA tour, correspondent on the ground with a guy that's out there competing on the PGA tour. Why do you think it is that we're seeing this with this frequency? Because we saw it. John Rom did it on the 16th hole at the memorial last summer. It was imperceptible except for to the TV eye that his ball moved. But again, the same thing. His golf club was as he prepared for the shot, put it right behind the ball.

What's going on with this thing? better high definition cameras and, you know, more thoughtful cameramen getting into position. I feel like we're just, we've got more checks and balances than we used to have. But the players know both Knox and McNeely summoned rules officials to explain what happened. Yeah, I think just in a lot of cases, they're still getting used to the fact that this happens. I mean, those players summoned rules officials, but let's talk about the hundred that. that didn't summon the rules official, right? Rom being one of them at the time.

He didn't even see it. And I think some of that may be that the players aren't seeing it in the rough. They're not seeing the ball move. You know, whatever it is, what we know is the rules officials are using the cameras now to really enforce it. I think that's a good thing. And I think the extent to which, you know, Patrick Reed got a bunch of shit for patting down rough with a three wood before hitting an eight iron, you know, we're finding that

he probably wasn't the only one who was stretching the code a bit. And so these guys are going to have to know that they're under scrutiny and it's going to be better for the game as long as it doesn't slow it down. I at least appreciated that the rules official with Russell Knox came out and walked with him down the fairway and explained it to him instead of holding up the group. All right, well, let's get back to the winner. He deserves a little bit of accolades for what he did in terms of, you know, beginning to end, winning this golf tournament outright.

We knew on Thursday after the five under at Spyglass, which again was the harder of the courses, that he was in the mix. But the thing that was really impressive for me was he just had that disastrous 18th hole on Saturday, where he gave away the lead, put Jordan alone in the last group with a double on 18. And you sort of assumed he was not going to come back from that. He has been Jordaned before. We've seen him, you know, lose to Jordan most memorably at Hartford when Jordan. you know, put the sand shot in the bunker to win and moshed with his caddy. But Berger really has had a more successful past few years, obviously. Two wins in Memphis.

Then he disappeared for a little bit. But then he came back from that restart to win at Colonial and now Pebble. And, you know, I mean, the guy has got in just since the return to golf, he's got two wins, five top threes, seven top tens, 12 top 25s. He's made 15 of 17 cuts. This guy came off the Corn Ferry Tour in 2014. with JT. He's always been underlooked. He's

a guy we got to think about as a rider cup player and he's got to be a legitimate major contender at this point. Yeah, that's the part that I he's on the rider cup. I mean, unless he gets hurt, he's on the rider cup this coming year. And we want him on the rider cup. I mean, at this level

of play and the fortitude, one of the quotes that I saw that I loved also from the golf.com story, he talked about winning a golf tournament is like having a heart attack on every hole, which, which, you know, that, that, that candor is great, but it also is kind of like the feeling watching coming down the stretch of, of these guys, you know, it, it resonates, especially if you have a little juice

on them. I mean, I had picked him in my one and done. You gave me kudos at the outset. He was my guy. I was rooting very hard for Daniel Berger. This week, I had my own mini heart attack at each one of those holes. But yeah, he's now officially in the conversation as candidate to win a major this year. And expanding that pool to, you know, include now maybe Jordan Speath. Yes, Daniel Berger, yes, all of the guys that are, you know, in that conversation, kind of ordinary course over the last 10 months. It's an awesome thing to have, I would say.

Yeah. We just have treated him as a little bit order. historically because he hasn't sort of had that big breakthrough win. That 253-yard three-wood on 18, followed by 30-foot eagle putt for his fourth eagle of the tournament, second of the day, seven under round of the day. We got to talk about him every week as being in contention. I'm just bummed. He dropped out of the rib this week.

He needed to rest, and he also has spent some time with his girlfriend. But the only thing I will say, he got hurt. That's part of what derailed him. Well, speaking of the RIV, we forecasted at the outset of the pod. We are indeed in Los Angeles, California this week. We had to go big for our guest this week, current L.A. native. None other than the podfather himself, Bill Simmons, was available to join Nate and I. What's up, BS?

And a guy who got crushed at Riviera. So I feel particularly equipped to be on Faraway Rolling. Well, let's talk about that. you've played Riviera, I played Riviera. Nate, not only has played it, but it's like, you know, nearly in his backyard. Have you played it more than once, Bill? I only played it once, and I never wanted to play it again. Why?

Yeah, why? What are you talking about? The last hole broke me. It seems so much easier, you know, when you're watching it on TV and they're sailing it over that basically that giant wall of hell. Even as you're looking at it, it's an optical illusion. You're like, oh, that seems pretty high. I'll still make it over that.

And then it just crushes your soul. It neuters you. It makes you feel like just like all the testosterone has been drained from your body like it was a blood IV. I can't tell you how discouraged I was by the end of it. It's such a beautiful course too because as you guys know, I love real estate. I liked watching. I liked walking around the course and there's these beautiful homes hugging the course that's really unique compared to like, you know, a typical golf course. So you really feel like you're in this prestigious old school part of LA. The course is

beautiful and you just want to do well. And by the end of it, you feel like a failure. Nate, you've played it more than once. And a lot of what BS is saying is resonating. I've only played it the one time. But what's your sense? Having played it from our level of golf, your reaction to it. Yeah, it's devastating if you're not good at golf. So it's devastating for me. But the thing that you don't totally pick up on TV is how much of a bowl it's in, it just runs down a canyon from 18 and 1 and 10 all the way down that sixth hole that has the crazy huge bunker in the middle of the green on the par three.

And sometimes they put that hole above it, sometimes below it. But you don't get the sense on TV. just how much elevation change there is. And as Bill said, you're coming up 18, and it's like the course architect was like, oh, shit, we have a lot more elevation to gain and just put a huge wall of hell, as he said, in front of you. But there's a lot of holes like that

where the greens run off in really aggressive ways. So this is that quintessential second shot golf course where the whole location from day to day makes a huge difference for how they play from T to Green. And it also, house, it set you up at the top because you have that first, first T, you're right in front of the clubhouse and you just want to like hit it straight, basically. And you have a lot of room for air on both sides. Hit it straight. It's pretty easy to par that hole with two good shots.

And then it comes back to second hole, same thing. Like, pretty straightforward. And you're feeling good about yourself. And then over the course of that front nine, it just starts to suck the life out of you. There's this, oh, I can do, oh, did I just get an eight? Oh, shit. Oh, I hooked my drive a tiny bit. Oh, I'm in the trees.

I have no way out. I have to like have a drop. And then by the time you get to the turn, you're reeling a little bit. And then I can't tell you how to press in the 18th is. Well, I do. The first hole is that iconic right adjacent to the clubhouse. You know, you walk out the door and you're basically in the T-box. the whole thing is out in front of you.

Hold on. Go even backwards. Driving to the course, it's this old school, awesome LA thing. And you really can feel the history. Like it feels like Bob Hope and Johnny Carson, you know, we're probably playing there 40 years ago. And so that clubhouse in the hole and you go in and then the tea, the putting greens there and the tea and then keep going because that tea is like a part of the whole experience.

Yeah, right. And, you know, you can see the entire expansive property in front of you. My reaction when I got to play it was how gigantic the place is, like the scale of it. It's just an enormous piece of property. And you start from up so high and you can see like Nate described the entire canyon. And it's pretty wide open, right? There aren't like a lot of trees obscuring views and stuff. And part of the anticipation of playing it when you're standing up there is I can't wait

to go see what it's like from the ground once I get down there. And, you know, it's a wonderful starting hole. Par five for everybody, us and the pros. The pros all basically treated as a birdie hole. If you don't burdy the first hole as a pro, you're behind the field already. It's honestly probably the easiest hole on the golf course. Well, and for us Schleps, it's like if you don't par that hole coming out of the gate, it's going to be a long day.

Yeah, that's exactly right. But BS, we'll get more in depth about Rivier and what we're anticipating out of the exemplary field that has assembled. This is the best field at Riviera, the event coming up since the Masters. But I wanted to get your quick reaction to kind of the state of the golf world through the first part of 2021. We've had a Jordan Speed sighting.

We had a Patrick Reed rules conundrum already. How are you feeling about golf in 2021? I'm feeling great ever since golf came back. I think it's been very few winners from the pandemic. but I would say professional golf has been a winner, not just because we got Nathan to come on fairway rolling pretty regularly now that he looks like the lead singer from Creed. But the ability for them to just generate a star du jour

pretty much every week. Or think about Bryson Mania and how that was going for a while. And then it goes to the next guy. And now just this year, you mentioned there's a Patrick Reed week, there was a Brooks week, my guy Brooks. then last week, Berger steals it, but Spieth is still lingering.

And then we haven't really heard yet from the guys that we honestly really care about the most, right? Rory. DJ has been quiet so far. El Tigray, always kind of lurking, looming. And then we still haven't heard from Beefy Bryson. I don't know what he's doing.

Maybe his 2021 weight program weightlifting. Maybe he's got some new tricks. I don't know. Where's he been? What's he doing? Well, he's trying to figure out why he was passing out, and I think he figured out that when you have a diet that is 100% protein shakes, it's not great for your body. So he's now focused on get gut health and engaging

the right parts of his brain. Yeah, mix in some broccoli. Isn't it weird that like what historically probably would have been thought of as the stuffiest most closed down sport was the first to really go hard at embracing and overtly talking about gambling? And it feels like that has had so much to do with the sports resurgence, not just on TV and people watching it, but also rounds played. Totally agree. I know, House, I don't know if you know this,

but you can actually gamble on golf during the tournament, like between rounds, during the rounds. Were you aware of this? I've heard. I've heard of this, yes. The thing going forward, other than the annual tradition of Mark Harbour cockties in us on a sassad.

and then just a double bogey out of nowhere, right? As Nathan Sending us the excited text, I really think this is it. If he can solve that thing, that'll be my favorite golf story of 2021. But if I had to rank it for me personally, having a healthy Brooks, which it seems like he's healthy, that would be number one. Whether DJ can kind of grab the throne here, you know, coming off the Masters, whether instead of just being considered, oh, he's the most talented. golf are alive to where we could actually leave 2021 thinking DJ's the best.

This is we are now in the DJ era. I don't think that's inconceivable. And then, you know, out of the young guys, which one out of like John Rom, Moracawa, like all those kind of 28 and under, John Ram's under 28 still? Oh, yes. Which 28 and under guy is going to grab this season by the balls? I think those are the three things. Tiger, I've kind of, I feel like he's shut.

not as wide at that Masters. And I don't expect to see him have another great moment. Do you guys? No, because he had back surgery at Christmas time. And, you know, they forecast that he will be back and able to compete in this year's upcoming Masters in April. But, you know, we'll see. But it's fine, right?

Because he's in eminence. We are at his event here in Los Angeles. And that's the role that he's in. It's the Blake Griffin thing, right? where you can just have one too many surgeries and at some point your body's not going to be the same. I don't know how he did it at the Masters two years ago. I feel like as we get some distance from that

when you think about, in the Tiger documentary for however you felt about it, did a really nice job of setting up how it was only three, four years ago when his life was in complete turmoil. I think as we get some distance from that Masters, I think we'll realize what an incredible achievement that was at given how beat up his body are, he was. So anyway, I don't see it from him. And then for me, like just Brooks versus DJ is kind of the

underlying. Can this heat up subplot? Can this become a thing? Well, and will Bryson inject himself into that debate? I mean, really, we should just have like a tag team wrestling match with those guys just to figure out who is the better fighter. But I don't know, Bill, just to get back to your Tiger Point real quick, the other person who fell off the map is Phil Mickelson. who can't seem to make a cut right now, was plus 10 last week. Yeah, he's 50. But Tiger's not that far behind.

And it's like they suddenly went to Jack and Arnie teeing off at the Masters as the sort of honorary starters. We really are now in the post-Tiger and Phil era for the first time. We all are going to be accepting that when Augusta rolls around this year. And House, don't you think what we've seen with Tom Brady, the goat, seven rings,

what we're seeing with LeBron, year 18, chance to win the MVP, and the way athletes and other sports have extended their careers, I think Tiger could have been that guy if he didn't put so much weight on his body, which led to all these cascading effects and his knees going and his back. And basically, he didn't have the build to sustain the kind of stuff he was putting on. I'll be interested to see you this generation, basically the Rory DJ generation. one of those guys might be able to succeed into their mid-late 40s if they do a lot of the stuff that we're seeing from Brady LeBron

with the machines, the dieting, just all that stuff. We haven't seen a really talented golfer put all that stuff together yet. It wasn't going to be Mickelson. Mickelson, it was always, you know, he was always holding on for dear life with conditioning. Tiger would have been the guy, but his body broke down. So could we see DJ play 14 more? years at a high level, like maybe.

I totally agree with you. The funny thing with Mickelson, and one aspect that's not so funny, is it kind of dawned on him too late for him to put it in because he is a person who has that curiosity, that instinct to be fiddling with stuff.

It just never clicked for him that his body should be one of the things that he treated the same way that he treated his golf clubs and all his analytical approach to yardages and everything. And he also had a bout with a a kind of arthritis that he had to get to the bottom of, and that derailed him.

But it is now in his late 40s, early 50s, he has this coffee potion. He's doing all this fitness stuff, and he's going to turn into a fitness spokesman. It's just too late to have an impact on his professional golf career. It just doesn't feel like the guys are learning, though. There's nobody with a more violent swing than Bryce and DeShambeau,

and he's doing whatever focusing on your diet means, he's doing the opposite of it, right? So we'll see. You think it might be a more classic swing like Thomas or maybe even Speath if he can resurrect the ghost here who's going to play deep into his 40s. But I would say it would be a shorter guy, right?

It would be like a 510, 511 guy, lower to the ground. That's JT. That's Chief. Yeah, less chance for something to go wrong versus some of these bigger tall guys. But I'm not going to discount DJ. He continues to be, you know, all indications, the best athlete among the five best athletes on tour. And you know, we,

you occasionally hear about injuries with him. He did have surgery on his knee at the end of the 2019 season. He fell down the stairs and missed the masters. There's a lot of that. We hear a lot of falling down the stairs. We hear a lot of like tight back when he goes, you know, when he shoots consecutive 80s in Minnesota. Oh, he had a tight back. And then he came out and he not, not only did win the Tour Championship. He shot 30 under in Boston. So like and to Bill's point where where Bill's as saying, you know, is this going to be the year of DJ where he just grabs it? Because look, he's by far the best player in the world. He's been the best player in the world for six months. He dominated. He's plus 575 this week for crying out loud. He dominated the tour championship. He won the

Masters. He was on the, you know, he had a chance to win the PGA Championship last August. He's by far the favorite to win the masters. And as you mentioned, six to one odds to win this golf tournament. Those are terrible odds. You can't play him at that price. But look, if he's healthy, then he's the, he's the out there. He's the lead horse. And then we have Kepka and Spieth and Rory and, you know, Rom and the other top five, top six guys, JT, right. We feel like Brooks. We can step up. we feel like Brooks is at least noticeably healthier this year. By a long shot.

Whatever his leg issue was that led to the surgery and then he had a backslide last fall, he couldn't play the U.S. Open. And then this win at Phoenix, he looked good. And part of what Nate and I talked about on that show that helped us feel confident

and he's got a little belly working. Nice little pouch working on punch, punch and pouch working on Brooksie. Well, he's 24 to 1 for this tournament. coming up and DJ's plus 550 on Fandall right now. I don't know. If Brooks is healthy, should he be 24 to 1 for any tournament that we care about? That seems, just feels like he should be in the top six going forward now that we know he's

healthy again. I think there's a little recency bias with some of this stuff. You know, John Rom's 12 to 1. Brooks is 24 to 1. Does anybody think John Rom is a better golfer than Brooks? I mean, he's been more consistent. but I just felt like Brooks will be back in the conversation. And then going forward, I can't believe we're going to have the Masters in how many weeks,

less than two months, right? Yeah, we're less than eight weeks out from the Masters in April. And they're going to have patrons, also known as fans. Nate, are they having fans at Riviera this week? Not only they're not having fans, they're not having any family. It's going to be dead out there. I think there's a few sponsors who they're putting up in a few boxes. but literally nobody's going to be out on the course.

I think that's an overreaction. And I'm pro safety on this stuff. It's Los Angeles. It's Los Angeles. I mean, this is what's happening in L.A., buddy. It's outdoors. They should at least have one family member per golfer wearing a mask. To basically ban people from coming to this is ludicrous to me.

L.A.'s opened up a little bit. We have outdoor dining. You know, we're trying to inch back to being a society again. I know I feel bad for Nathan. This is his favorite weekend of the year. And he can walk to the golf course for Christ's sake. I got a lot of creed songs I can sing at home. Eyes wide open.

Can't you caddy for him? He doesn't need me caddying for him. I don't want to be the guy arguing over whether he plays the eight iron or nine iron and taking the blame for that. House, out of the young guys, who are you focused on for 21? Which one? If you could pick a young guy, who's the young guy you're picking? The young guy that I like this season is Victor Hovlin.

Yes. He won down in Mexico right before the end of the year, and he's shown some good staying power. I just think he's got incredible talent. He won the U.S. amateur a couple years ago out at Pebble Beach. And Kalamarkawa was the young guy who, who threw down the gauntlet, like, hey, Matthew Wolf, hey, Victor Hovlin, I'm just going to go win a major.

You guys can catch up if you want. And Morikawa set a standard with his ball striking. But I think Hovlin has a combination of distance and ball striking. So out of the young stud crew, Hovland is kind of my guy. But I'm expecting this year big things out of Roy McElroy. We've been talking about it. You say this every year. I'm so tired of this.

Ever since we gave you a podcast, this has been your big prediction every year. Get a new act. And guess what? He hasn't fucking won. He just said, you know, he can't. He hasn't won a major since 2014. I mean, it's breaking my heart. He hasn't won a tournament since 2000 and the Canadian, I think, at 2019.

Is that right, Nate? Yeah. Rory's having some great Sundays. He needs some great Fridays and Saturdays to string it together. People, I don't want to say they overrate Rory, but I think they really just like when he's involved and they get excited to make him one of the guys. And I think he's been a little more up and down than maybe the reputation, House included. I'm one of those people.

For your young guy prediction, can I factor this in? Please. So for the young golfers, sometimes it's swung by the location of where PGA and where U.S. Open is. Like Morikow and the PGA last year, it was the course he had been playing forever. I think it's interesting U.S. opens at Torrey Pines this year. Is there a younger guy, like a San Diego type of background that might have the advantage? Because I know Mickelson, but he's 50, but who's the young guy that would have the advantage there? There's two.

It's Patrick Cantlay who's played great in California. And it's Zander Schofley. Zander, the X. Absolutely at this point, just due for a win. He's been hanging around the hoop a long time. The only reason he doesn't get it is because it's between his ears. He's got all the game in the world. He is a little bit like Rory in that we're expecting more of him than he's delivering in terms of wins.

But underneath the surface, he's still one of the five best golfers out there week in and week out. Do we believe in X. X going to give it to you. We keep picking him to win these majors because his performance at the majors is outstanding. His performance on big, difficult golf courses is outstanding.

His performance when the fields are at their very best is all outstanding. He's collecting top fives when he's playing against the best guys in the world. The thing that he has not been able to do is jump across the goal line and take one down. He played Tori. couple weeks ago at the Farmers Insurance Open and had his best performance by far there professionally.

So does that portend for us looking at Tori for the U.S. Open in June? A great story, Native Sun, a guy that we all expect is going to be kicking ass for many years to come. This is where is his breakthrough moment. That's a good story. I like that story. I really believe in the guy who's played the course of shitload of Times Theory. I think it's a real advantage. It's like if you're a basketball player,

if you're playing some court that has all these different bounces on the court where the ball bounces differently and the rim and the basket and you're used to the shooting background, it's just going to be an advantage. I feel like golf's the same thing. Well, and so you would say that if you played a course that frequently, like you could even win it, like say if you had a broken leg, right? Yeah.

That's Tiger. That's Tiger. There you go. Maybe we get one more resurrection of Tiger, who won with a broken leg in the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines. That could be, but when his back problems are finally behind him enough for him to play competitive golf, that would be a nice story. You guys like that PGA Commissioner.

He should just make an announcement that Tiger is allowed to use all the performance enhance the drugs he needs for the rest of his career. We've decided to wave all the rules for Tiger. Whatever he needs to do. We need more Tiger. He's allowed to do whatever he wants. Nate, are they piss testing every week? Like, how's that going?

I think they're stabbing people in the nose. They're more focused on Corona right now than I think they are on what might be in the urine. Nate's two biggest failures with his brother was, A, not convincing him to just do a late-nighties baseball level of PDs. And then second, just to stay single until it was like 45. He just failed on both, but he's still been a supportive brother. It's a good relationship. But you went over to you on the things that matter. If there was a drug, if there was a chemical that could make his arms grow so that he could actually

swing the club fast, we would have been taken it since he was 14, but he was born with these little dinosaur arms and it's just, it's all he can do to hit it straight and get it out there. What about the PGA championship? Is that Kiwa Island? Which I vaguely remember from a while ago.

Who has the advantage of that one? Rory won the last time it was down there. But why is it not DJ as the South Carolina son? Of course it is. It really is DJ, but you know, because DJ's got the more recent major win, although we will have the Masters between now and that PGA event

at Kiowa. And so who knows? What if Rory goes and wins the Masters? More interestingly, Jordan Speeth this week after the resurrection is partial resurrection is 33 to 1. Okay. Let's talk about this week. Let's get serious. Let's try and give out some winners. Well, we will, but just really quickly, what are Zod's going to be for the Masters? Handicap him right now. We have the Masters odds up right here. So, DJ is in the lead at 7 to 1. Rory is 11 to 1. Beefy Bryson and Rahm both sitting there at 12 to 1, along with J.T.

JT at 12 to 1. Brooksie at 14 to 1. X going to give it to you at 20 to 1. And Jordan Speed the bailable right this second at 25 to 1 for the 2021 U.S. Masters. I don't mind it. I don't mind it. How about for this week? All right.

Let's get into this week. How about DJ versus John Rom? DJ minus 152. I don't like laying all that juice. It feels expensive to me. You like being in the plus on those matchups for the most part. You're right about that. I'm constantly hunting value by way of nearly even odds for the head-to-head

matchups for tournament purposes. How about this one? Nathan. Brooks versus Beefy Bryson. Brooks plus 138. Head-to-head against the beefy one. So I'm betting that. No matter what,

I'm betting it because it's just flat out value. Look, the thing with Brooks and the reason why you mentioned earlier, his odds are in the 25 to 28 to 1 class for this. He has not played well at this venue. But so what is the point, right? If he has made a real effort to be out in California, he played out in the desert at Palm Springs. And then, you know, he went out to the desert in Arizona. He played Torrey Pines for the first time and forever so that he could go check it out for the purposes of scouting the U.S. Open. I like this version of Brooks. I like his gut where it is right now. I'm taking Brooks Kepka in that head to head against John Rom. I'm on the other side. Bryson was T5 here last year. He's better than he was last year.

We haven't really seen him play in a serious golf event since the Masters. I think Bryson's going to bring the heat and win. Oh, wait. This was Bryson the game. against Brooks? Yeah. Oh, I said Beefy Brison. I thought, okay. Well, I'll still, I'm still going about it. I don't care. Who did you think you were up against? Rom. Rom. I thought he was up against Rom. But Bryson last year, top five, 15th the year before. Bryson likes this golf course. And there's a track record here for big hitters. The last, you know, Adam Scott won last year, but before that we

have DJ. We have Bubba Watson. We have J.B. Holmes, like guys that bomb the hell out of the golf ball. So Beefy Bryson, very comfortable at this track. Well, the weather's going to be perfect this week. So it's going to be warm in 70s, basically all four days. So the ball's going to be flying. One more bet. Patrick Reed, rules violation minus 700. Actual crime where he gets arrested plus 1,000. What do you have? He's not playing in this tournament. So the rules violation will have to be with his wife or with buddies, which I mean, decent chance of that. I like, have you noticed, I don't know, apologies, if you've talked about this before,

I don't think you have. The golf in 2021 really resembles, like, the WWF that we grew up with where guys have these different gimmicks, right? Like, Patrick Reed is just a heel. He would have Captain Lou Albano as his manager or the, you know, the wizard, whatever that guy's name was, or Freddie Blassie. Beefy Bryson would, was like that kind of Tony. Atlas big guy that you never thought could actually win the title,

but could be in some good matches, stuff like that. You're just going down the line. Everybody's got like a gimmick, like in wrestling. Like Brooks's gimmick is, don't fuck with this guy. If you're in his group in a round four, he's the new tiger. He just has this ability to make other guys fold that are around him. So what's that? The Polish hammer?

Is he, does that make him the Polish hammer with the WWF analogy? No, he's almost like the Andre the Giant, where it's like, He's not, he doesn't have the championship belt, but he has this different kind of championship belt of, you just don't want to, this is the guy you don't want to fuck with. And then Fee now, I guess Fee now would be Tony Atlas,

where it's like, oh, I can't believe he didn't win the WF title again. I can't believe he didn't realize the manager is going to trip him, like just like completely falling apart in the last minute of the match. But I do like that everybody has a gimmick. Like that should be a, that would be a fun podcast where you just went through each golfer's gimmick. Mark Hubbard has the snail.

He might be, well, I don't want to disparage any of the wrestlers from that era or Mark Hubbard. So I won't say who I think Mark Hubbard most closely resembles. I do like, who's the Bob Backland? Who's eating their breakfast and having their vitamins and getting ready to do the step test? Is that Spieth? No, it's like an undersized golfer who's consistent. like one of the five eight guys.

JT? Yeah, it's like JT, I think. I thought JT and Spieth were the bushwhackers, but we'll go, we'll go JT on. I have to go. I have to leave. I have stuff to do. Bill Simmons.

I love you guys. It was great to see you. Rivier 18th Logan fuck off. Yeah. Okay. Thanks, guys. All right, as always, our thanks to the podfather,

nice of him to grace us from Hollywood for this event in Los Angeles. Nate, we have some picks, to give out. I have, you have to help me with my one and done this week. We had a very successful venture on that. I moved from like 3,000th place to like 800th place in the Pat Mayo, one and done league because we got burger in there. Do I use my question to you is, should I go ahead and burn a stud horse right now? It's a stud horse tournament, but it has this

kind of schizophrenic outcome. Like we either get a winner that's in the top 20 kind of ranking or you get a winner that's like, you know. James Hahn. Yes, exactly. Or John Merrick or something crazy like that. What do you think I should do? This one feels like a big boy tournament. I know. It really does. There, you know, some of those years when you've had non-traditional winners, let's put it that way, you've had weather being an issue, a lot of rain, and so there's been some lift clean place. It's going to be perfect and pristine. We had a bunch of rain a couple weeks ago, so the rough's going to be up. This is as close to a, a major outside of the players. This is as close to a major, non-major tournament as we have.

Talk me out of picking Bryson. Well, we just haven't seen him. And he went over to Europe for one of the money grabs. You know, this is a guy who, you know, works and tinkers. And most golfers don't come back from being non-competitive and just drop it down and play great golf in their first tournament. So that's the reason not to pick Bryson is you might say he needs a few reps to get super competitive. That's probably the only case I got. Okay. No, I'm sold. I'm sold.

What about, I can't pick Hideki. I won't pick Hideki. I like Hideki this week. Everybody for your DFS lineups for your fantasy lineups, I like Hideki. He has a very nice track record at the RIV. He's actually been playing four finishes of 11th or better at RIV. and he's been pretty decent this year, but not up to Hadecki level. I can't play him to win a golf tournament until he wins a golf tournament again.

And I don't think this is going to be the one, but I do want to just give a shout out to Hadeki for filling out roster purposes. Tell me why I shouldn't pick JT. Because there would be another time to use him. Okay. Save JT for a major. That's what you're saying. But I sure feel like, well, and he may still be in mourning because his grandfather passed. That's a good point.

And it absolutely affected him in Phoenix. He had no energy and no interest in playing that Sunday in Phoenix. He certainly has been distracted since then, assume that they had some services. So, you know, that would be the reason not to pick JT. Well, those were my two, you know, I liked the idea of using, if I was going to use, use a big gun. Those two were the most eligible because I definitely don't want to use DJ. Have you burned Cantley? I have not used Patrick Cantley, Nate Dogg. He's your guy. He's your guy because he won at the Zoso out here in Los Angeles. He has been super

competitive these past couple of weeks. He shot 62 on Friday at Pebble or on Thursday at Pebble last week. He plays great in California. He seems to be super healthy. This is somebody to be very, very afraid of right now. Bam, watch that. I just took him. He's all going right into my lineup. I absolutely love the form. The thing that I like the best about him is he could have one at Pable Beach, but he putted badly. And that's not what Patrick Cantley does. Patrick Cantley doesn't put badly. That's his single best thing. If there's anything that's fixable in his game, it's his putting because that's what he's best at. I love this Patrick Can't Lay Angle. That's my one and done pick for this week. I mentioned

Hedecki, who else do you have on your dance card as potential interesting plays this week? So Max Homa is in great form right now. He was T7 last week. He played well in Phoenix. He was T5 here last year. He's an L.A. guy. Games in best shape. It's been period. probably even better than when he won at Quail Hollow. So this is a guy who is, you know, if you at all like to put green down on guys who have momentum, I think Max is your guy. So I really do think Cantlay is the pick this week. He almost got it done out in the desert.

He, you know, he won in Zosel like we talked about. He should have won in California last week. So he is teed up to do it. But there's a couple of the guys further down. Vaughn Taylor, and I know it's Vaughn Taylor. but he was T-21 last week. He was T-13 here last year. He's a guy if you've got a top 30,

if you've got to fill out the bottom of a DFS card, it's worth looking at. We've talked a lot about James Hahn. James-Hon did not have a good week last week. He missed the cut, but he played well in Phoenix. He was T-13 here last year. He has won at Riviera before.

He just always tends to peak his game for this tournament. He's a little bit like Strealman. We gave you a Strelman last week, and sure enough, Strelman played great as he always does at Pebble. This course is, you know, he's sort of the Streelman of Riviera, James Hahn is. And then lastly, Russell Henley is sitting there at 70 to 1. He was second and in contention last year heading into Sunday.

He blew up with a plus four in that round and Adam Scott went on to win. But I just love the way he's been playing. He's got two top tens and nine tournaments this season. And his stats are pretty tight. Ninth in approach, 10th in driving accuracy, sixth in scoring, 10th in green, 6th and scrambling. Pudding has been the one thing for him that's kept him from

frankly winning a couple of golf tournaments. I like Russell Henley at those odds. Okay. I love it. I have two guys that fit that class of way down on the odds board. At 150 to 1, I'm looking at J.T. Poston.

And I'm looking at J.T. Poston because he has been putting well on Poa, ranked first for putting. on the Po at Torrey Pines a couple weeks ago, his ball striking has been pretty good as well.

Tied for 11th at the Phoenix and a tied for 18th recently as well. And he has a nice trend lined at Riviera. He was gone 30th, 28th, 17th. Just again, I'm looking for a guy

way down the card who's in decent form, who showed some capacity to perform well on the Greens and also likes the place. J.T. Post and he fits the bill for that. I'm also looking at, and this is not going to come as that big of a surprise because we keep seeing his name out here, fair amount. And I am looking at available at 100 to 1 odds on Fanduil, Cameron Tringali. Now, Trengali, he fits the mold of a guy who has played well at Riviera.

He's finishing the top 30, six times in nine starts at the RIV. Also playing well recently, finishing inside the top 20 at three straight events. I like him both in a matchup kind of way as a guy to round out a DFS lineup. I mean, 100 to one odds, you know, it fits that trajectory with this golf tournament of either a favorite wedding or a crazy long shot. Why couldn't Cameron Trangali be the long shot in this one? He's also on the all-time nice guy team. So this is a good that you can feel good about spreading your money on him. Two other guys, just to mention, you can do the research on quickly.

Mark Leishman is coming in the form. Mark Leishman plays well out in California. Mark Leashman plays well. on poa the corollary with tory uh is there he's around uh 70 to one and wakine neiman is coming back he played he finished second at both the events in in hawaii uh and then we didn't hear anything from him for the past month um 55 the one he's got the skill we're expecting big things out of him this this whole 2021 season so another guy to keep an eye on and on that note nat dog we gave out you know like eight names but can't lay is the one that's the horse

that we're going to jump on and ride. A couple long shots with Tringali and who the Han you like. Han, Von Taylor. Yeah, Han and Vaughn and Vaughn. Yeah, there we go. There we go. My birdie buddies, my par saving pals. Our thanks to the pod father dropping in early in the 2021 season, helping us set up some

storylines. Nate, you know, you could just walk over to the Rive and stick your nose through the fence, maybe, right? That is the plan at the moment. All right. Well, we are back next week. We will have a winner to this golf tournament and then we'll be looking forward to WGC event down in Florida. Until then, wherever you may be, please stay safe, stay warm and try and hit one down the middle if you're able to find your way to a golf course.