Fairway Rollin' - Brian Harman Dominates the Drama-Free Open Championship. Plus, Winners and Losers.

Episode Date: July 23, 2023

House and Hubbard recap this year’s Open Championship, starting off with Brian Harman’s dominant performance (01:46) and some of the major story lines from the weekend (10:25). Then, they go over their winners and losers from the tournament, including Max Homa, Viktor Hovland, and Scottie Scheffler (19:37). After, they offer some early Ryder Cup thoughts before discussing their final takeaways from the weekend, including Jordan Spieth’s performance and the broadcast (44:41). The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming, please checkout theringer.com/RG to find out more or listen to the end of the episode for additional details. Hosts: Joe House and Nathan Hubbard Producers: Eduardo Ocampo and Mark Panik Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What's up, everybody. I'm Brian Barrett, former Boston Sports Radio Guy, and now host of the new Ringer show Off the Pike that'll cover all your favorite Boston teams and stories from Fenway to Foxborough to the Garden and beyond. We're reacting to all the biggest games and moments with episodes at least three times a week featuring myself and some of your favorite guests at the Ringer and in the city. Plus, if the Celtics or the Patriots make a surprise trade, if the Red Sox's going to run, or if any news breaks, will drop instant reaction. episodes too, so you're always up to date with the latest chatter. Get in on the action and follow off the pike with me, Brian Barrett now on Spotify. Hello, friends, and welcome to this Open Championship Recap show, podcast and broadcast on Fandul TV, a show unlike any other. My friends, we have done it.

This is Faraway Roald. Brought to you by the Ringer podcast network and Fandul TV. I am joined as is our custom here on Fairway Rowland by my incomparable accomplice. Our PGA talk correspondent on the ground. Nathan Hubbard, we have a champion. He has the claret jug. He hasn't said anything about what he might do to some animals afterwards. Nathan Hubbard, congratulations to Brian Harmon.

we got the turd in the punch bowl we talked about in the preview show j ray called it this is why you listen and watch fairway rolling we asked him always at the british open there's a guy who's the turd in the punch bowl who's competing at the end maybe he becomes ben curtis maybe he just is a challenger this was a dominant performance by the turd in the punch bowl house j ray told us Brian Harmon. I think it's disrespectful to call him the turd in the punch bowl. What? Not only because it's not befitting a champion of the champion golfer of the year,

but also because it's disrespectful to the homie, Norm McDonald. Did you see the post by our brother Alex Myers? Yes. Our homie from both digest, Alex Myers. Norm McDonald loves Brian Harmon. And by the way, so much Brian Harmon fan. Yes. Yes.

I'm a huge Brian Harmon fan. I mean, he was 1-25 to 1 to win this tournament. We just always know that in one of these tournaments, there's a guy who you don't expect. And he couldn't be more gracious at the end. The story is actually fantastic. The challenge that he went through, sleeping on a five shot.

He is, you know how hard is he slipped on a lead five or more of the three final rounds? He's the first guy to do that here since 1934. This was a really massive mental hurdle for him to overcome. And this is a guy who's got the most top tens in the last six years, 29 of them, without a win. And he talked openly about how his mind races. It gets cluttered. He's struggled to close some of these tournaments.

He's had a 54-hole lead before at Aaron Hills in a major, wasn't able to get it done. This time he just persevered. This was a very, very impressive and dare I say dominant win house. He's one of six players to win a major by six or more in the last 25 years. He just wouldn't let anybody get close. I mean, he just managed his game. He managed this golf course. And it will be fascinating.

You know, it is our way. here on Fairway Rowland to get the recap rolling as quickly as we can for all the eagle enthusiasts and the part saving pals out there. It will be fascinating in the interviews to come over the next 24 to 48 hours to hear Brian tell us about how he went about managing that mental challenge because you just described it. It is of rare precedent that you go to bed on a Friday, you go to bed on a Saturday with a lead of that size and, you know, manage your psychology, manage your emotions, whatever's going on with his team. His family was nowhere to be seen. They all had other plans. They're in Syracuse.

Right. Yeah. And his parents are out on the keys on some kind of lobster hunt. I mean, take care of business. Why not? Yeah. I mean, who wants to sit in that weather? I agree. But I think that could have had something to do with it, House. It just felt like, you know, the course reporters kept saying he's been in a bubble all day with his caddy. He hadn't talked to anybody else. And it just, at the end, the only hint he gave us was when he talked to Carr at the end, he said, yeah, he was asking me how the con club was doing. How are the kids? So they had a clear plan to just keep him grounded, which what was hard about this, I think, I mean, besides the fact that it was pouring rain and you had John Rom and Rory and Fleetwood and everybody

chasing, that's hard. But it was really hard about this. is there are only two outcomes for Brian Harmon waking up this morning. He's either Jean Van de Vandeveld and Greg Norman level of choke, or he's got his name on the trophy and he finally validates a career, wins a major. It was a completely binary outcome.

And that would have been the level of choke that we saw. And every time he took a step back, the bogey on five, he follows it right up with two puts, a 14-footer, a damn near 40-footer on 6 and 7. And at just at that point, it just felt like this thing is totally over, didn't it, House?

Well, I will say this. I will allow for the possibility that somebody came out today and shot a 63 or maybe even lower, right? It's like the opportunity was presented. And when we go back and go through the shots gained and greens and fairways hit, I think we're going to see some superlative numbers. The difference between Brian Harmon and everybody else, what was his putting and that never wavered he never ever through any at any point over the course of the four days um encountered anything where we lost confidence in his putting because he didn't lose confidence in his putting his stroke was confident the entire time so i wouldn't have said i don't know if i entering today if he hadn't won i would have called it a choke necessarily we we need

to see it play out before we give it a characterization one way or the other because somebody could like I said, you know, both Rory and Rom. I mean, if he shoots two over, if he shoots 73 and somebody shoots, you know, one of the guys in the six or seven range comes out with a 63. You know, if Cam Young has shot 63 today or 64, would that have been a choke by Harmon? Yes. In this weather, with a five or six shot lead heading into the final round of a major, championship. The thing that Brian, I thought, did very well today was he played very defensively.

It wasn't like badly conservative, but he just aimed for the middle of greens, made a few puts and took care of business. I just think in this weather, when the best shot score that we saw out there today was four under, nobody really, and Tom Kim was the closest, like nobody was really going to get that 62. Yeah. Well, Scotty went out and shot the 64, you know, him and Brooks. Brooks went the other direction. Brooks was like, where's the, where's the PJ? I got to get out of here. I'm ready to get back to the floor.

I want to warm up a little bit. You guys go take care of his baby mama. But Scottie's like, I'm still here. Well, I just go out and shoot six. I might as well get around this golf course. So he showed that there was score now. It was before it seems like it was before

the waves of rain that really saturated the guys in the latter half of the field and the portion. of that came in. But I do think that the point you made about Mr. Harmon, he knocked a few putts in.

I mean, he had 106 putts J. Ray stat. It was the fewest in the past 20 years. You asked Jay Ray to help us conceptualize the putting performance. It was a once-in-a-generation putting performance, as evidenced by that. I mean, the problem is

Jay-ray pointed out, we don't have great data going back much further than that. That's a whole other conversation for a whole other time. But I mean, how's he gained over four, he gained over four shots in the first round. He gained over four shots in the second round. The third round, he gained just under a shot.

That was his quote unquote, worst putting performance. And he held on to his lead. And today he gained over two. I mean, this was, he was a man among boys with the flat stick. The only thing to do is to give flowers to Brian Harmon. we tried to conjure up storylines whereby some of the other folks we might have been rooting for that the golfing public might have been rooting for could have been competitive

none other than Tron Carter flew overnight no laying ups T.C. Pardon me. Flew overnight to get to Hoy Lake for this today's round to watch his beloved Tommy Fleetwood. I mean, talk about a wet fart of a plane ticket. That's a tough one. Yeah, that's a lot of travel to watch Tommy Fleetwood. It's a bad use of time. And look, there are some narratives that flow from this tournament house that we'll talk about over the course of the show today.

Because the story is Brian Harmon, yes, and congrats Brian Harmon. But there are bigger stories than that. There's the story of Rom and the 63. yesterday. There's the story of Rory once again striking the ball and the putter just letting him down second on approach on a Saturday and almost last in putting. There's the story of Tommy Fleetwood that you just mentioned, ever the bridesmaid, never the bride. And it's getting old. I felt so sorry for him over the weekend as it came from a celebration into almost a funeral, right? And then there's the story of the guys who missed the cut,

who some of whom, you know, we have dramatically, dramatically reshaped the look of the U.S. Rider Cup team and the European Rider Cup team since the Masters when we thought we knew everything, House. That's a very fun storyline. And one that we will just nibble on a little bit today. But we will bite in lustily over these next couple of weeks

because what we have in front of us now, By virtue of guys who missed the cut at this Open Championship is a really interesting next two weeks with the Rocket, no, no, the 3M in Minnesota. And then the Windham down in North Carolina, right? Yes. Justin Thomas and Kalamorakawa better play some golf. They better play some decent golf. I know what the points say in terms of where they are right now. And look, I'm not going to overly dramatize it as we sit here right now because the combination for JT, he has to, he's not a lock for the playoffs.

I mean, he's on the outside looking in for the playoffs right now. So this is like crucial step on the pedal time for JT. Morikau is different. He has the opportunity in the playoffs to distinguish himself and reassure everybody that he deserves his spot on the Ryder Cup. I mean, Sam Burns feels like he's on the outside looking in. I mean, and he won the match play this year. Yeah, he's got to be on the out right now. I mean, I think Zach Johnson gave some pretty positive remarks about J.T.

on Friday that suggested he's not hitting the panic button. But when you look at his results house, oh, my gosh, he's missed the cut in the Masters, the U.S. Open and the Open. He finished T-65 at the PGA. He missed the cut at the memorial. He missed the cut at the rocket mortgage. It looked like he'd bounced back the week before in Hartford with a 62. But that was a day in which, you know, a day after, Ricky almost shot a 59.

So the course was playing pretty easy. And it just, he's lost. I do think having watched Ricky, having watched Jordan go through this, he knows this is a temporary blip and it's just going to take time. and I think, I think Zach Johnson wants to put him on the team. But to your point, the question is who's got to go? If he's on the team, then one of Sam Burns and Cameron Young or Kegan Bradley are not on the team. And boy, Cam Young seems like he's starting to get his game in shape first T to Green this weekhouse. Yeah, Cam Young doesn't, isn't doing it for me.

Cam Young had his opportunity. He had that nice top 10s. He had that nice top 10 at the. masters and then had the opportunity to go validate it at the pga championship and at the u.s open and as far as i'm concerned there's too many other guys that are deserving of it here's the thing that i the cynical thing that i want to posit to you right out of the box this will be a recurring theme out of house on the question of jt in the rider cup the rider cup is an exhibition it is a made for television event the pga of america

and the World Tour, DP World Tour, are combining for the purposes of a great exhibition between these regional superpowers and want to put on a great television show while football is being played college football on Saturday and pro football on Sunday. What television show do you want to watch, Nathan Hubbard? The one that has Keegan Bradley and Sam Burns in it,

or the one where Jordan Spieth and his homie, Justin Thomas, are paired together out there, avenging America across the pond in beautiful Rome. I think I want to watch 15-time winner Justin Thomas. And I think we're going to see 15-time winner Justin Thomas. There is still some intrigue because somebody got to go. And does that mean it's Keegan?

Does that mean it's Sam Burns? Does that mean it's Cam Young? I think we're already crossing Tony Fienau off that list, which is interesting because we're coming up on some tournaments that he's won before. Somebody could still really play their way onto this team. For sure. In the course of the FedEx playoffs. Yes.

Yeah, absolutely. And look, here's the thing with JT, cynical subtangent B. I just went through cynical subtangent A. Yes. If he does not perform, it would not shock me if there is some kind of a mystery injury that appears on the scene and he and captain zach come to an agreement that j t is physically unable to perform but assistant captain j t got to be in the room j t's in the room either way no however you slice this up nate dog jt's in the room i think that's a i think that's a

great point we'll just see where we end up because i think uh zach johnson's going to have some very, very tough decisions to make unless these guys really start to separate themselves. Because speaking of turds and punch bowls, there are a few at the bottom of this list right now. I mean, we could make a case for Denny McCarthy House. Ricky Fowler's on this team, full stop, and he's 12th in points prior to the open. So there's still, there's still a lot to shake out here. I'm not feeling great if I'm Sam Burns. I'm not feeling great if I'm Cam Young, to your point. You got to have Colin Moracow on the team. Kegan Bradley, man, that that could be a very, very harsh exclusion. Do you got to have Colin Moracawa on the team? I mean, he's number one

on the PGA tour in Strokes gained approach and I think he's ninth points or whatever. Show me, show me all of the great clutch performances by Colin Warcawa. I honestly think, Nate, when we do the year in review as this plays out. And I would love for him to shut me up. He and DJ played great together. I want, I want him to shove it in my face. But here is the thing that I'll pause it. That's true. Has he recovered from the six stroke choke job in Hawaii? That's my question. Has Kalamorakawa recovered from choking away a strict six stroke league at the very beginning of the, you know, the, the, the hit and giggle tournament in Hawaii, which has a lot of money associated with it. I mean, it's not a full on hit and giggle, but I wonder. I have my doubts. Let's just, I'll put it that way.

You think it's still in his brain, still in his brain, even after the rocket. Not that, but when you lose confidence, when that confidence takes that blow, how do you recover it? And I haven't seen great evidence. of him. I've seen so many miscut, so many big opportunities on the biggest stages where if you're that guy, you show yourself to be that guy. But this will be an ongoing conversation. We don't need to do the more coward deep dive now. We need to do something, though. I mean, not now, but I mean, look, we're talking about all these guys. Brian Harmon is on the team. So, I mean, Zach Johnson whispered that in his ear and said, welcome to the team as he greeted him as he walked off the course. So he's on the team. Wonderful. Which means Sam Burns or Cam Young or Keegan or I guess Morikawa is off because

Ricky Fowler is on. So then one of those guys is not going to make this thing probably no matter how well they play from here on out because, by the way, you might have made the case if Max slips out of the sixth spot that, you know, he hasn't performed well in the majors. Max had a pretty good day-to-day house. This is Max. first top 10 in a major. We finally got a little bit of Homa this weekend. Well, Night Dog, I'm so pleased for you to introduce one homie Homa, one Max Homa, into the conversation at this point in the conversation, because it's a perfect time for us to do winners and losers. Max Homa, open championship winner, his very best performance

in a major. And I wonder, I wonder, if we can. can get some, an opportunity to chat with him, get some insight, just hear him speak publicly. The fact that he was abroad and away from everything, if that had any impact on the pressure that he's been putting on himself this year for a good major championship performance, do you have a perspective on this? Well, he had his wife and young son there. So we know that that he at least had the family part that I think some people have pointed to as a potential distraction, which I don't actually believe. I think he's actually lasered in and played a little bit better since becoming a father and getting the hashtag perspective house. But this was a good week for

Max. You know, around the green wasn't his best, but he was fifth off the tee for the event. He was 26th in putting. There were moments where I felt like you wanted to see him throw that pedal down, but you would have said the same thing about just about every other chaser in this tournament other than John Rom, who really turned in a killer performance on Saturday that we were looking for. But I think for Max, his attitude this week with the no fucks given written on his hand, with talking about how playing with Rory on Saturday, again, like my brother played with Rory on Saturday, the Canadian Open two days. I know how crazy that is.

Can't imagine what it was like on Saturday at the British at Royal Liverpool, for crying out loud with a lot of expectations that Rory was going to make a run. And Max spoke very positively about the experience. Said he hit good shots. It was tough conditions. Wasn't Max's best day, to say the least. But he felt really good. His post round comments were not the usual Max beating himself up. I mean, he was only 67th an approach on Saturday. So it wasn't like he had a great, great day. But he definitely mentally approached this with a lighter attitude. And I think you're probably right, that being away from the constant questioning that the American press have given Max, which has essentially been, when are you going to get this done, allowed him to break through on this.

And, you know, look, we're going to reload the Max Homer Cannon for next year and hope that this time he's found the thing mentally that helps him to play these tournaments better because he just watching him play that golf course, he looks like he's in the upper tier. He belongs on the top 10 of a leaderboard on Sunday. I'm giving you a thumbs up because I agree wholeheartedly with that analysis and it also is a wonderful segue into other guys that I feel like we need to put in that same conversation. How about Tom Kim? Tom Kim discussed on this very program and our preview show with the Justin Ray. His numbers, although they aren't, you know, numerous rounds.

at Lynx Golf, his numbers at links golf suggest a real comfort. There is something about Lynx Golf that appeals to Tom Kim. It is why Justin Ray was bullish on his fortunes and he came out and validated it. He's the other guy alongside Scotty Sheffler with a delightful 67 today. And his 67, a little more meaningful in the sense that, you know, he started to put himself in a decent positioned a challenge for the tournament if there was any wobble or wiggle out of Ryan Harmon. It turned out there was no wobble or wiggle. But Tom Kim

out there doing the stuff now as we mentioned on the show a couple times. I had him circled as a guy to keep eyes on this season. I think this season was the seasoning of Tom Kim, if you'll indulge that kind of thing with me.

But you know, so he wasn't out winning five times this year. Right. But very nice. Very nice performance here. Well, listen, he's won twice in the last year, starting with Windham a year ago, and then he won in Las Vegas, and we thought, here he goes, because that came after his super joyous and fun performance and very strong performance at the President's Cup. And we thought it's going to happen. He got onto these harder courses, starting at the hit and giggle in Hawaii, and he just hasn't been able to fully break through. He's played OK, but he just hasn't really been in contention.

Now, these last two majors house, I think he's finally grown up, tied for eighth at LACC, and now this performance here, you suddenly step back and go, all right, hey, Brian Harmon won this tournament by being first in putting. Tom Kim across the entire tournament was second in putting. And the thing that has been his weakness, which is off the tee, he was 32nd for the event. So a pretty good upgrade over where he's been. You combine that with his shot making, and it does feel like he's matured, or as you said, seasoned over the course of the last month and a half over these two majors.

Another guy that I want to give a little credit to, you know, acknowledge some accolades. Sure. Victor Hovland is a major golf performer. No, well, why do I get that reaction out of you? He's shot two over today. The bogey on one just took him out of it. I feel like you're right. he seems to have the game for this thing,

House, seventh an approach across the event. But there just always seems to be that thing, that one thing that befells him. It felt Fleetwood-esque to me today, House. Wow. So I'm glass-half-full on Victor, because I feel like what he did this year by the top 15 performances across the majors.

He went from one level of, I'm scratching at it, I've never finished inside the top 10 of a major. Now he's on the leaderboard. You're looking for him on the leaderboard on Saturdays and Sundays. And that means that he's around the hoop and you expect him. He's so young, so talented. And another guy that feels, is the correct word implacable?

Did I mess this up? Imperturbable? What's the word? He doesn't get bothered easily. Pick one. That's fine. He doesn't get bothered easily. He's unflappable.

But I think he he flapped. He flapped today. He was too over. when everybody else in the top 20 just about was under par. And this is the thing with Victor. I'm going to tell you, the Victor thing, he's right on the edge here, because he's one of these golfers of this generation in the post-Tiger diaspora of talent that is now spread fairly evenly across the top 20 to 25 golfers in the world,

Brian Harmon coming in at 26th this week and winning this. the open over the likes of the guys who are standing there. Is he definitely going to be in the mix and winning all the time? Or is he going to be one of these guys who, because there are 30 to 35, call it, guys who came in this week and could have won this tournament like a Brian Harmon, like a SEP Straca, like a Tom Kim, like a Cam Young, who haven't gotten there? Do you see Victor really getting himself into the I win two to four major category? Or could he be in the Fleetwood Bridesmaid category?

He's so crazy young and so talented. The performance that he put on at the Memorial. Now look, this performance at the Open Championship is the first time that he finished inside the top 15 since the Memorial. He only played a few times. But you know, not, not didn't really distinguish

himself. And honestly was not anywhere near the leaderboard, Thursday Friday, not really putting on a performance where you're like, oh, you know, here comes Holland once again. But they arrived on Saturday and reminded everybody that he, you know, he's got the game to be right there. I think because of the youth and just the, the nature of his game, how solid the ball striking is. Now, we did say the same thing about Colin Morcawa.

And we didn't imagine a world in which Morcawa would lose, you know, the confidence, the ball striking is still there for Morcawa. But other aspects, of his game are absolutely lost. Hovlin to me seems, I don't know, maybe just because of the recency bias of his performance in the majors this year and his performance in the elevated events, I think of him, you know,

I think he's taken a half a step above Colin Moracawa, and I think that between the two of them, I would bet on Victor Hovlin to win a major before I would bet on Moracawa. The next between those two to win a major is Victor Hovlin for me. Where do you put him relative to Zander Shuffley, who, by the way, finished T-17 this week. The putter was not hot.

It was stone-cold, and that's what kept him from being more competitive. But Zander, I can't throw any stones at Zander. Zander's got the game. He's around all of these tournaments, but he's not winning him. And I feel that we're seeing some of that from Victor. Fine if he's young, if you want. But he's of this generation house where pretty soon, a year from now, if he hasn't been really in that mix and going and grabbing one of these tournaments by the throat, you're going to look at

him differently, I think, than the way that you just articulated it. How does he compare to Zander? He's much younger than Zander, much much younger than Zander. Far fewer major performances than Zander has a long way to go career-wise. And, you know, reminder, if he didn't plug the ball on 16 at the PGA championship, right? Like he was, he was right there. It was, it was. It was It was his tournament. Like, that's what we want to see. I want it to be true because I love the guy and I love his game. I want you to be right that he just needs a few more turns around the sun and to hang

around the hoop. I want it to be true. I'm just stepping back after Brian Harmon wins the open over a pretty stacked leaderboard, which is just a reminder that there are only four of these a year and that there are a bunch of really good guys in this generation who may get boxed out because guys like, because guys like Brian Harmon can put their faces off and steal it from you. Yeah, Hovlin is not in that category. I don't think Hovlin, to me, he's above Cantlay and Xander already.

His U.S. Amateur Championship at Pebble Beach, that does it for me. That's a major. Speaking of, you know, Brian Harmon, this is his second major. I just wanted to make the record, make sure everybody understands the record on this. He has won a USGA championship. He won the junior in 2003. at Columbia Country Club. Columbia Country Club, home of Joe House.

Well, I mean, you know, and other esteemed greats out there, Tony Cornheiser, Michael Wilbon. But yes, Brian Harmon, two majors now on his resume. But hoblin to me in a different tier than Zander and Cantlay. Let's keep going through some of the winners and losers. Let's try and tackle Rory. What are we going to do with Rory, Nate, Doug? I don't know what to tell you.

I mean, except for the miscut at the Masters, his last seven majors, seven of eight, you know, if you think about the 23 Masters, where he missed the cut being the exception where we know he was dealing with a lot mentally. I mean, he's beaten 97% of the guys that he's played. It's just been rounds like this Saturday round, where he's 13th off the T, second on approach.

got every look in the world, just like last year's fourth round. And the putter is 67th in a field of 76 guys. It just, and it didn't feel like he was making bad strokes the way that Scottie Schaeffler is making bad strokes house. But it, we will get to Scott. Yeah, but it did feel like it just, there's some part now. It's all mental. And in, in an odd way, Brian Harmon was able to quiet the demons and focus himself and just go play golf and execute shots. Rory seems to be able to do that and put himself in position, but just not drain the putts. I think if you're Rory McElroy, you come away from this year feeling incredibly confident. The game is there. I think he said he came into this tournament as confident as he's ever felt in a major coming off the win in Scotland.

And it's going to be there. And it's going to be there. It just is. I think he will rue the U.S. Open. He should have won that. We've talked about that many times on this show. There was no reason he shouldn't have put the pedal down and gotten it done. But a two under today was perfectly respectable. It's just Saturday when he had the chance to make a few more birdies and put some pressure on Harmon, he just wasn't able to do that. Same putteritis. Same thing. U.S. Open, fourth round, open championship, 2020, fourth round. Saturday, open championship 2023. Same thing. I mean, the

ball striking is there. The greens in regulation, the proximity to the hole. They all suggest a performance where you would think the score is going to be three or four strokes better than it is. Yeah, and again, today he was fourth in putting. Now, a lot of that was because of the bomb he made

early on, but still, I mean, he putt the ball well today. It's just stringing that together for four rounds seems to be his white whale. And, boy, you know, listen, Julie Elyne is the therapist who's worked with Max, who's worked with Wyndham Clark, and I'm sure Rory's working with somebody. But that's probably the last piece of his game.

Because other than that, he was, I think, you know, one of the two, certainly three most competitive guys across all four majors this year, masters aside. It just felt like he had a chance that he just didn't grab by the throat this year. And I don't, I am still glass half full on your boy, though. I don't think this is an eternally cursed guy.

Do you feel better or worse coming out of this tournament about Rory winning another major? I feel fine. I felt fine coming into this week. Well, no, I didn't think he was going to win. I thought that the way that he won the Scottish is the most likely way for him to win a major. Accidentally making a butt on 18? I would, you mean, it wasn't that. It wasn't that.

It was deliberate. he did hit the two iron up there from you know with the yardage and and with with under those weather conditions it was a an all-time iconic shot and it will be remembered for him as part of rory's you know hagiography now but yes yeah the the rory canon of course um didn't think that he was going to do the back-to-back that's all um so i was prepared for a good performance i wish he threatened a little bit more but bryan harmon really didn't let anybody thread. And that's just, you know, how it goes in these majors sometimes. Let's talk about Scotty Sheffler now, who was on a string, on a streak that had us perhaps getting one by us, I mean me,

out over our skis in terms of comparing him. And it was because the numbers were there, comparing him to Tiger. And the reason that the comparison held some water is because he kept doing it. He was showing a consistency that we haven't seen since Tiger in terms of the quality of outcomes, the quality of performance, top five after top five after top five, top 10 after top 10 after top 10, not finishing outside the top 12 since October of last year. And, you know, the, there was no indication coming into this week that we were going to see, you know, a significant wobble in his execution. But ultimately, we did talk this through with Justin Ray and you were more forceful about it than I was.

He just was done in by the putter and there's no coming back from it. It just, it absolutely killed him on Friday. It killed him. I couldn't watch. I stopped watching. Every time he had a five-foot putt, I tweeted this. I had to use my safety word. I couldn't, I had to get myself out of the situation. I couldn't watch them any longer. You can see how petrified he is and it comes through the television and it goes right into my brain and it makes me afraid and it makes me want to run away from the television, Nate, dog. 129th in putting on Thursday, 146th on Friday. I mean, House, 70th in a field of 76 on Saturday. And today, even with the run that he made, I mean, you know, he was, he finally sort of figured it out and was 14th. But for the event, he's 74th of 76 guys who make the cut. And it just, it is, there is this weird thing in golf where the more you talk about

fight club, the more you get punched in the face, which is to say, like, sometimes the narratives prove themselves to be true. This one, we've been watching, we've been seeing it, everybody's been seeing it, and it's time to do something different because it's not unfair to statistically make the comparisons that we were making, because there's only one other guy who's ever struck the ball like this, this consistently for this long a period of time. And that is Tiger Woods. The difference is Tiger made the putts. And Scotty's not making the putts. Scottie, could have won five more times this year, five, if the putter was remotely in shape. I couldn't agree more.

And yet, I still think this season can be characterized as a success for Scotty. Yes. And we'll do a little bit of this now that the four majors are in our rear of your mirror. He did win the players. The fifth major. Randall made a case, Nate Dog. Randall made a pretty compelling case. and his short game was in order

and his putter was in order. Are we going to do this? I don't think we're going to do it on this show, but thank God for Brandel. The players, the fifth championship, the fifth major, are we doing it? No, we're not. But listen, we're going to call the FedEx Cup

more of a major than the players, and I'll tell you why. Eastlake is where he lost it last year. He lost it to Rory. And so I am intrigued for the next month of golf for that reason. because Scotty Sheffler has an Achilles heel that now needs work, needs acknowledgement, needs to be addressed, needs something to change.

He is close to the top in the FedEx Cup. He has as good a chance as anybody to go win this a year after what was really a disappointing, really disappointing moment for him, letting Rory back in that, given that Scottie really had the year and probably deserved to win that FedEx Cup. So while we make a lot of fun of it, and who knows, with the LivePGAT, tour merger. Maybe this whole thing will get blown up. But so long as there is a FedEx Cup, and if it matters, this will be the year for me that has the most intrigue to see how Scottie Schaeffler responds. What is he going to do over the next six weeks to try to patch this

leaky boat, take advantage of what he's got, and go write a wrong that probably is one of the biggest blemishes on an otherwise stellar transcendent resume of a pro golfer. Here's something that I want to posit. I want, I want, you. you to give me a reaction to this. I would like to use the time between today, July the 23rd, 2023, and, you know, whenever the first playoff event,

you know, that, that fortnight as we're about to get that one going, because that's how they talk about it in the FedEx Cup for sure. I want to talk to some smart people about what, what can Schaeffler do between now and then to just go deep and try and fix it. this. Can it be done? It's three weeks, right? Three weeks before we're really up against the playoffs. Is there anything? Is that enough time? It is. How so I say yes. I say yes because look at

Sepsraka, who had a brilliant T2 today, who's one of the hottest golfers on tour right now, one in Iowa. Another Georgia Bulldog. Yeah, I say Iowa. It's in Illinois, but it's a joke. It's an inside joke in my family. He wanted the quad cities because he made a slight adjustment to the putter. The toe was up. And he just put his hands a little bit higher, put the putter, which had the output of flattening the putter relative to the surface, gives him a much straighter follow-through. And lo and behold, he wins at Quad Cities. And he darn near came back. I mean, listen, my money would have been on SEP Straka in a playoff unless, I mean, Rahm would have gotten into it. So all bets are off there. But it sure felt like SEP Strocka today

was striking the ball extremely well. So I think you can make these changes in a short period of time and have success with the putter house. You do remind me, Jason Cochrack, famous live golf for Jason Cochrack. We had him on Fairway Rowland a couple of years ago

after he won the Colonial, and he talked about a putting change that his caddy helped him with. His caddy, I ought not to try and pull it. And it was something where all of a sudden he started having extraordinary putting performances. I'm sure there are other examples of this that we can go find.

It is a fun, full circle moment that we're kind of landing upon here. We started this season with a big three saying to each other, okay, what do we expect out of the big three, this upcoming, you know, tour season. And what we got was John Rom out there winning four times, you know, through the Masters. And then we thought, oh, you know, there's our golfer of the year, even with Scotty's players championship, which was very, very good. And then Rory, with opportunity at the U.S. Open to maybe do something about it.

reemergence of Brooks is an absolutely wonderful story, but look at the three as we're going in here. If you had to pick one of the three to go win the FedEx Cup, I mean, you know, we hold that in questionable esteem, which I think is appropriate. But if of those three, how would you handicap it? John Rom looked like the baddest man on the planet starting Saturday morning to me. I think he, I loved how he hung in there. today when it was clear it wasn't there. I loved him yelling at himself for blowing the wedge on 16. I loved the intensity. I loved how the history mattered to him when he found out that that 63 was the first time it had been shot, a 64 or a 63 had been shot at Liverpool on Saturday. I just, John Rom had taken, we hadn't seen him the most. You know, he definitely, we spoke about,

had that postmaster's hangover where he went to Harbor Town and then he went to defend in Mexico. That's probably more golf than you would like to do after a win like this. I promise you this. We're not going to see Brian Harmon in Minneapolis next week. And we may not see him at Wyndham. We may not seem he's not going to show up until St. Jude probably. It's fine. You should go enjoy himself. You got to take the time to enjoy yourself. And Rom probably didn't get the chance to do that. And I think that may have contributed to the midseason mez. But John Rom looked like the baddest man. out there. He was the one, if I was

Brian Harmon, I would have kept my eyes on and just said, as long as I'm in front of John Rum, I'm going to be okay. I do want to make sure that we recognize SEP Straka as a Georgia bulldog their Justin Ray put out the last time we had one, two from the same college, I

don't know when in a major, but Seppstraka rider cupper, this is the Rider Cup you know you've been saying it's a dunk it's an American dunk the more we're seeing out of these these Euro guys I don't feel this way

anymore I don't feel this way yeah I'm wondering I'm terrified I was going to put it this way you're terrified now you love you love Vic they got with Scotty putting right now so now we got Vic Rom Rory on the other side

I mean we can fill in a heck of a lot of other players to be worried about Tommy Fleetwood's going to strike the ball great. He's going to be a great partner in alternate shot. We got SEP Straca playing really good golf. I mean, thank God that this tournament isn't for basically two months or the competition isn't for two months. Maybe we can cool off SEP Strake. But, you know, look, there are a bunch of guys to be very worried about on the other side. Bobby Mack looked really great at the Scottish. You got, I don't know, are they going to put Ludwig Gayberg on the team? Because he's scaring the show. shit out of me. I mean, we got a, Terrell Hatton didn't even burp at this tournament, and he's sitting

out there. So when you counter that with our team, which you feel good about the play of a few guys, but will Wyndham Clark and Brian Harmon carried into the Ryder Cup? I don't know. That doesn't feel great to me, house. And if we end up excluding some of our traditional dogs, because they're, they're just not playing well enough. Well, then I start to get a little nervous. Well, I think you have plenty of reason, Nate Dogg, to be nervous, but we still have two months. And there are many storylines yet to be written over these next five or six weeks, especially in the identity and character of the U.S. team. But all of a sudden, it's a lot more fun. It's a lot more fun to try and forecast who is going to be on this U.S. team. And, you know, how are we going to put our

best foot forward. Last thought on this championship. I want to make sure that we talk about the broadcast and talk about the British Open, the Open Championship and the place that it occupies in our sporting consciousness. But your boy, Jordan Speath, a guy who will feature prominently in the Ryder Cup conversation, how are you feeling about Speeth? Not great, House. Not great.

I didn't love the Saturday play. I just, I think it's, he still looks to me like he's figuring it out. And even the last time that we saw him win this tournament, he was all over the place, but he had that swagger and that confidence, that underlying knowing, you know, the go get that. And it's not there. He's still fighting something in the way, whether he hasn't fully, realize the swing, whether, you know, the putts that we sometimes see fall, they didn't do it. Did, do you come away more confident? Well, to your point, before I answer, I wonder if the

wrist is still a thing, right? Because he was, he had an injury that was sufficiently worrisome that we thought he was going to pull out of the PGA championship. Yeah. Especially in advance of, of what we understood that rough situation to be. And then he went out and made the cut and looked to be, you know, physically fine. But I wonder if that's a thing still, Nate,

Doug. I don't know how else. He was eight T to Green this week. He was 72nd in putting or something ridiculous. Like he was, he put for this event the way that Scottie Sheffler putt. And he had some chances that he just didn't convert on. And those are the ones for me,

these last couple years of of Speethism, they've been marred by puts he should have made that he used to make when we believed him to be basically the best clutch putter on tour. That's how he won the open by recovering with great ball striking and then making the putts that other people couldn't.

It's a little Rory-esque in the way that we're seeing the putter fail him in some of these situations. The thing for me with Speeth is I feel like it's been a long time since we saw him string a bunch of birdies together and put us on notice. You know, nobody's, we still. Like Rom 63 on Saturday.

Yeah. Yeah. And we still have occasion a few times the last couple of years, even with Rory, not, you know, getting across the goal line with Rory coming memes. You know what I mean? Rory can string him together, can put us on notice that he's caught fire. When's the last time Spieth caught fire? We were like, oh, here comes Jordan.

You know, let's watch this one. In a big setting, I don't know that we've seen it in a while. I mean, I'm thinking about what he did at Harbortown, where he really made a good run on Sunday, and he had the crowd buzzing. And he really, you know, that was the last, I was walking with that group and saw the energy of that crowd. That was a, but it was Harbortown.

The week after the Masters, it's not the same thing, right? I mean, we're talking about a guy who he was fifth at the memorial, fourth at the Masters, but in neither of those situations did we feel like, hey, you know, he's really going to go grab and win that tournament. So it has been quite some time. I mean, the last that I'm thinking about is maybe that comeback round at Phoenix is when we got excited. I don't know. You tell me. Yeah, I haven't.

I'm not the speak truther on this podcast. I'm the Rory Truther. It's me. It's me. I can't tell you. problem. It's me. And it's been a while. And we've had a lot of top fives, but not sort of like go win at top fives. And, you know, he's got some work to do. This is one of those guys right now who, after getting cut at the U.S. Open and being on the board here, but not much, he's got some work

to do here coming into this offseason. He'll get through that President's Cup. All these guys are going to take a lot more time this fall. The schedule's going to be structured for that. And I do think that space between the middle of September at the end of this Rider Cup and January, when we start back up at Capulua, this is going to be, you're going to separate the men from the boys because we're going to see some of these guys have to go back to work. You know, it's a great point. And Speeth was one of the most outwardly vocal guys talking about how exhausting the schedule was this season. We do when we think about this season have to remind ourselves. It was a one of one.

There has never been a season in the history of professional golf where you had the best players coming together with this frequency, with the stakes elevated in the way they were. And both like the stakes of fighting off the rival league and the actual like economic benefit available if you,

if you performed well, that clearly had an impact on some of these guys. I'm willing to put speed in that category. And, you know, his wife is carrying along their second baby as well. So that could be part of it too. Nate Dogg.

I want to make sure that we touch on the broadcast. I have some thoughts. I'm not sure whether or not I, because the Open Championship is so fresh, it's in our rearview mirror, I'm worried about coming out with the hot take

machine. I'd like to hear it. But let's go ahead and let's talk about the the broadcast a little bit. What did you see, House? What did you see? Well, I, this, this tournament occupies a very, like, romanticized place. And it's for, for golf nerds, right? We love the idea of waking up and turning it on and seeing another part of the world.

At least I'll speak for myself. I love all of these things. I love coffee golf nerds. You do. Yeah, shout out the shotgun start guys. I, I adore coffee golf. It's just awesome. Up, you know, pattering around the house.

Nobody else is up. I have it on. And, you know, we're seeing most often challenging conditions. And it's, there is something romantic about it. This golf tournament on Thursday and Friday was dead. I mean, it's just, I can't, I can't pinpoint why it had no pop. There was no conversation amongst me and my pal. There was no, you know,

We're texting each other. We're bored. Yeah. Why do you think that is? I don't have a good answer. It didn't look great on television. It didn't feel like, you know, we got a lot of Beatles memorabilia and nostalgia.

Yes. Sort of woven through the broadcast. They tried to give us the Jimmy Roberts five-minute pieces when what we really wanted was golf if they weren't going to be showing us a million commercials. So it was a combination of the course probably looking a little bit flat. We didn't have the vast sweeping camera angles and shots that were used to from the first three majors. And I don't know if it's that they weren't flying the drones, but it just didn't visually look as compelling. And then I think, look, that Brian Harmon,

again, all credit, and I'm excited for a really wonderful guy. to break through and win this tournament. It wasn't as fun of a storyline as Tommy Fleetwood was. And when Tommy threw his own feces all over the course on Saturday in so many ways, that's a little bit of an exaggeration, but just didn't make the run.

The air just was out. It was just out of the room. Yeah, part of it for me, and I think, you know, look, we went back to back with NBC broadcasts with the U.S. Open and now the Open Championship. And I think NBC, we tried to be fair.

They were dealt a little bit of a bad hand with LACC as the venue for the U.S. Open because of the challenge of, you know, getting cameras in places to capture how dramatic the elevation change. And the canyon, the two canyons that golf course is set in, it had the effect because everything was on top of kind of washing out some of the real flare of that venue. this experience, and I don't know if it was true for other people, it felt like they couldn't find the golf ball. On Thursday and Friday, and I don't know if it's a function of, you know, the tech that's available on the ground or the fact that it's going, you know, that you're using European technology and camera speeds to capture, you know, if there is some difference between what the Euros are able to do tech-wise

and what we're able to do. But the number of times that we couldn't find, no, somebody told me there is like a shutter speed rate, like something like that. Well, because there was a number of times, especially Thursday and Friday, they couldn't find the golf ball. They found it when it was at rest.

We lost sight of it as it was in the air. And I don't, that's not a thing that happens very often when we're watching golf broadcast domestically. I don't know. Am I wrong about this? No, we had a lot of, is it in the bunker, is it not? I don't know, we'll see, let's find out. And I love Asinger. I love his story. I love a ton about Asinger. You know, he's had not the best two majors on on television. And I mean, when you start, when you start being wistful for the Faldo morning broadcast appearance, you know something's going on. But yeah, it was, it was very hard to follow. And again, again, Again, this was not just the rain on the camera. We get that a lot.

I get it. Also, like, could we equip these guys with some towels when we know that they're about to shoot before we cut? I don't know. Well, look, I'm going to be generous because I think the ratings are going to end up being brutal. And, you know, that's what happens when you get a leader that gets out by a number of strokes. And then just, you know, puts the hammer down and his name is not Tiger Woods. Yes. But Nate Dogg, we have in front of us a really interesting period of golf for many of the reasons that we identified over the course of today's show.

We have in front of us guys fighting to make it into the playoffs, including one Justin Thomas. We have guys fighting to make their way into the Ryder Cup. And so we'll just be covering that here on Fairway Rolling over the next six weeks. and starting with this coming Tuesday, we're back with at least a podcast here on Fairway Rowland, previewing the 3M in Minneapolis and getting into some of these storylines about guys that need to take care of some business.

Thanks to all our birdie buddies, our par-saving pals, our Eagle enthusiasts out there for sticking with us. Hopefully there was a little return on investment. We did say, and by we, I mean Justin Ray, Tom Kim and Brian Harmon. So hopefully folks took that Brian Harmon and translated that into an action item. Our thanks to our producer, Eduardo Ocampo,

our thanks to Fandul TV, our thanks to the Ringer Podcast Network and the podfather who wanted Rory to finish second as usual. It came very close. But look, it's golf season. Please run out there, throw a peg in the ground. And if you're able to do so,

let's hit them straight out there.