Fairway Rollin' - Brooks Beats Rory for First WGC Victory | Fairway Rollin’

Episode Date: July 29, 2019

Joe House is joined by Chris Vernon to talk about Brooks Koepka’s win at the World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, discuss his showdown with Rory McIlroy in the final round, and anoint Brooks their player of the year. Host: Joe House Guest: Chris Vernon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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That's 80 bucks. promo code F-A-I-R-W-A-Y Snapkitchen.com. Hello, friends. Welcome to this golf podcast, unlike any other. This is a special emergency edition. We're giving out player of the year because Brooks Kevka, he was matched up with Roy Macaroy. It was number one in the world against number three of the world. Brooks

delivered the goods, which means we hear it Faraway. Roll! Have an obligation to deliver the goods to you. I was in Memphis, Tennessee at the beginning of the week with Memphis native son, Chris Vernon, and we had to get Verno on the line to give us we had to put the cherry on top

of this beautiful golf Sunday. Let's just Up on with Chris Vernon. All right, now on the line, a man that was there to witness the whole beautiful thing. Coming to us live from Memphis, Tennessee. What a blessed golf season. Chris Vernon, unbelievable. I have borne witness to the Alpha.

Brooks Kepka in the flesh. And I don't know if you remember this. But Joe House, upon your arrival to Memphis, Tennessee, you texted me and said you were in town. And I said, well, certainly you must be hungry. We only have a limited amount of time to eat everything you possibly can. Let's meet up. And the first person you saw when you arrived at the restaurant was not me. it was a massive cardboard cutout of Brooks Kepka.

This is true. Which you took a picture with and I was looking back through my photos and I thought it was destiny. It was destiny. Here's the thing, Vernault. Here's how dumb we are. Know it with that omen. That omen. It was barely, it wasn't even a full hour that I had been in Memphis.

Tennessee. Why didn't we immediately pull up the odds and bet Brooks Kepka right then and there? Well, luckily, by the time the pairings were announced, it was maybe the greatest thing that's ever happened. So while last week on Fairway Rowland, I jumped all over you. Deservedly. In the British Open, you talked me out of Brooks Kepka versus Rory McElroy. I did it. But here we are in Memphis, Tennessee, round one, Brooks Kepka versus Roy McElroy. Round two, Brooks Kepka versus Rory McElroy. Round four, Brooks Kepka versus Rory McElroy.

I mean, it was, listen, you must be living right because I'm jumping on you. I'm talking how I'll never forgive you. When is this going to get to happen again? And then literally the, literally the, the event that is in my hometown, three out of the four rounds, not only was that the matchup, giving us the opportunity to take Brooks Kepka over Rory McElroy, but I followed them all three of those days. I went out of my way. Oh, it was, it was, so the pairing for rounds one and two, for those that did not watch, one of the groups was Rory McElroy, Brooks Kepka, and Jason

day. The group that was directly in front of them for Thursday and Friday of the tournament was Jordan Speath, Matt Coutcher, and Justin Rose. So I would consistently jump up two holes ahead of these guys and I would get to watch all six guys play. And then I'd run back ahead. What a strategy. What a strategy.

What is unbelievable. Think about all those majors that you have. have across those six players. It was incredible because I've never, you know, I've always, I don't know what your experience is about live events. I have always, you know, I've been blessed in that typically when the event comes here, there's somebody that knows somebody. It's a big small town. And I typically get tickets into one of the air-conditioned, you know, beautiful venues that they have all over the course. So it might be in the St. Jude box or it might be in, the FedEx box or it might be in a myriad of places all around the course.

And so I'll go watch a little golf and then I'll be like, all right. And then I'll go into one of the air conditioned place. And that's kind of how I've experienced it. And sometimes, you know, I'll make sure I'm keeping up on TV. But it's usually hotter than hell. And I ain't trying to walk around a course all day. And this was the first tournament, I think in my life, that I have spent the entire tournament. And I had tickets.

I gave them away to the air condition. And I walked the course the entire time. And I'd never, you know, I've always been one of those that's like, it's great to watch it on TV. And it is great to watch it on TV. It just so happened that the groups, I was so fortunate because the groups were the way they were. Who do you want to see the most anyway? So I was going to get to see every Kepka shot, every Rory shot, every Jason Day shot, you know, in the first couple of days shot. And then obviously in this final round today, I could watch those two guys.

I mean, it was like the opportunity of a lifetime, honestly. And it was so good. Yeah, the golf gods really were shining down on Memphis this week because, you know, it had the potential because of just the scheduling and the fact that so many of the guys competing this week were flying directly over from Northern Ireland. Like 30 some odd guys got on a charter, a federal. charter Sunday night and flew overnight down in Memphis directly. And, you know, with the combination of just that, that jet lag effect and the possibility of that hot Memphis

weather getting cooking, but, you know, the guys bounced back pretty quickly. And the weather we had, I was there for it. We had thunderstorms Sunday. We had thunderstorms Monday. But by Tuesday, another round of thunderstorms, but it had the effect of cooling it all out. Everything was chill, bro. So you got to walk around on Thursday and Friday. The weather down there was absolutely lovely. And what you're describing in terms of having this mega star power in the threesomes,

that is exactly the intended effect of the WGC format. It's the top 50 players in the world, plus guys that have played on the Ryder Cup, plus guys, you know, who have won in some international events. So they really try hard to build fields that are representative of the world stage. And you got, I mean, at least you got double-digit majors in two groups, just by virtue of your little strategy there because of how they were all matched up there. You cut, you know, 10 majors worth the players there.

Well, and for today, it is the first time ever. that Rory McElroy and Brooks Kepka have been in a final group together. So, I mean, listen, no disrespect to Fitzpatrick. But I'm sitting there on Saturday and I'm like, do not screw this up. I do not like, because I don't want to be bouncing around. By that we mean Matt Fitzpatrick, just be average, please. No offense. Look, I mean, I'm like, do not birdie 17, do not birdie 18.

I mean, like, because the last thing on earth is you want to see him getting the number. And so those guys are split. Right. Right. So it ended up being Fitzpatrick and I believe Leishman. Yeah. And then there was, and then ahead of them was John Rom. Yeah.

He was doing some big things. Yeah. He certainly had moments. So it was interesting. There were so many people. I mean, thousands and thousands of people. And you can only imagine the amount that were following that group. But if you would run up.

run up. So I would run up and try to get ahead and get up on a hill so that I could see somebody finishing a hole and then the second shots of whatever group was behind them. And so I saw Rom make some pretty great moves on the scoreboard there for a minute. And then Fitzpatrick, he had, I mean, he had an unbelievable eagle on 16. I actually caught two guys doing it. The first one was Bubba Watson. Yeah. hits his second shot from the fairway. He puts it, you know, they put the tabulation up on the jumbo tron behind the green. It said three feet 10 inches.

You know what? I had that measurement also. That's how, I was watching all that money in my wallet. If it all went out three feet, 10 inches to the bookie because I had Justin Thomas going up against Bubba. And on 16, Bubba just shut the door. Okay, you could probably blame me for that one a little bit. All right.

The magic of the St. Jude's shoes was not enough to take down Bubba Watson. No, you know what? And Bubba really tried his hardest. He hit two balls in the water on 18. I know. But Justin couldn't make a putt all day. So Thomas was not up to it. Okay.

But not to, I mean, not to be outdone, Matt Fitzpatrick, just a few groups later, he stands up in the fair way on 16. It's a par five hits it. House,

it on the board. I checked. I was like, is that right? Because he had marked his ball already by the time I ran up there. It said two feet, two inches from the hole. And I'm like, you have got to be kidding me. So at that point, he eagles that. And it's just, and I'll, I tell you this, on the back nine, Kepka gave Rory opportunities. 100%.

He gave him opportunities. And because he is just an overwhelming alpha. who just he's got this swag that is the one thing you know i don't know if it comes off on tv this guy like you feel it coming off of him he's walking his frigging postures unbelievable his chest is out like he just looks like he like i mean he looks intimidating in the sense that he he has this aura of confidence that is just like it just beams off this guy and you see him walking around and you're up close next to him and then you even see his reactions to things versus other guy's reactions to things and he is so cool

and obviously the frigging guy he showed up 40 minutes before his round today so let me i want to i'll tell you about that i watch his press conference afterwards he said that's not that uncommon for him he says he does not on sundays show up at vans and then menus much before 55 minutes before he's his tea time. And this week, it turns out he talked about at the press conference. He was a little under the weather. He was feeling kind of sick all week. And they asked him about it.

And he said, you know what? People show up to work sick all the time. All I had to do is hit a golf ball. He said he was saving his energy. He, all he did was putt and, uh, and do some short game stuff. I saw him in the bunker. He said, you know, by Sunday generally, he doesn't. even feel like he needs to hit balls. And he said because of the conditions today,

it being hot out there. And, you know, he, he knows this golf course. He says, this is potentially his favorite golf course on tour that they play so that the press conference today. But he said, you know, I didn't, I don't need to go waste energy hitting balls. I need to, he needed to save that energy. So it was both a flex to show up 45 minutes. He acknowledged and, and the media folks were saying like, people started getting. a little worried. Like, it's 45 minutes. Where the hell is Brooks? And anybody said, you know, that's my thing.

I wanted to ask you, you just gave us that rundown on the body language, which is so intriguing. What was the crowd like? Was the crowd 100% rooting for Brooks over Rory? Or was it split? What was the vibe like? No. I think

Rory is the more popular. Wow. I think so. I think that's probably true. I think people wanted Rory to do great. I think maybe more familiar. I mean, listen, there's a... Well, he's been great longer, you know what I mean? Roy's been around longer.

He has. He's been great longer. They feel like that, you know, I mean, there's an awareness of him. I think that there was a, I think people wanted him to do great. They wanted him to do great. Listen, how, there's a lot of betas in this world. There sure are a lot of bees. You got your A's and your B's, Murdo.

That's what it was. They see themselves in Rory. Wow. They don't see themselves in Brooks Kepka. Old Jen is walking down the sidelines watching him. Yeah, they're like, can I get that girl? Nah, I can't get that girl. No, there's nothing.

They have nothing in common with Brooks Kepka. And I have always been one of those where it's, I look at these guys like that. And it's kind of like rich people, right? There's some people that sit around and they bitch about rich people all day, right? Whereas I always wanted to be rich, right? Like, I don't bitch about them. That's what I want. And so I look at guys like Brooks Kepka and I go, God, how awesome.

Like this guy, right? I don't sit there and resent him. I sit there and, like, envy him. Like, can you imagine? Like, this guy's got so much swag and he's so good at golf. Well, I mean, come on. Yeah. got, you should, did they show the girl on TV?

Which one? She has, she has a skin tight Nike. Oh, yeah, they showed her. Yeah, they showed her. Hey, it's a black Nike air dress. I'm like, he's got his home girl in the sponsor. Oh, you know that. You know that?

Of course. Nike, you think Nike's going to miss that opportunity? All I'm telling you is how many times you've seen, I don't know, you, you ain't ever seen Amy Mickelson in a KMPC shirt. That's fair enough. Fair enough. I want to do a couple, a few superlative. So this was Brooks's first world golf championship. Uh, and he was the first winner on tour this year. This is a stat from our homie Justin Ray. Brooks is the first winner on tour this year, uh, to lead the field in both

scrambling and strokes gained putting. Now, let me tell you a stat. I'm going to ask you a question. Uh, Brooks had 18 putts between five and 10 feet. How many of those? 18 putts do you think he made, Verna? Between 5 and 10? Yeah, between 5 and 10 feet. So, and he had a bunch of those today. He's par saving puts from like 6 feet, 8 feet, you know, he had a couple. I would be shocked if the number is any lower than 15.

Well, very, very well done. He was 17 of 18 between 5 and 10 feet. Well, I mean, look, you know why? I mean, I'm only saying that because I was there. I can't remember. Rory missed a gang of them. So this is the difference. Rory putted poorly today.

He putted great yesterday. Rory went 62, 71, I think. And Brooks, hold on, I'll pull this up right now. Brooks just went 64, 65. And the difference was 100% the putting. It was all putting. Rory on the front nine made barely 20 feet worth of putts after making like 150 feet of putts on on Saturday.

So that was the difference. That was that was Ram's thing too. Rom in that opening round, he made every putt. I mean, every putt. He opened the tournament eight under. He was eight under in the first day. I mean, he was,

I think that night was like minus 170 or something to win the tournament. Yeah. I mean, that's how good he was putting. And it's interesting you say that about the, what would you say it was five to ten feet? Five to ten feet was the range that Brooks absolutely killed it from. I read something recently. This is maybe a day into the tournament or right before the tournament. Because the context was Dustin Johnson has been great here. He's won twice. He's played amazing on this course. In fact, he won it last year. But it said, hey, maybe you don't want to count too much.

on him because this year on tour, and I found this shocking. Maybe that's the, I'd have to go deeper into the numbers, but all I know is this one. And they said he was like 185th on tour this year at putts four to eight feet. You're telling me that Brooks Keppka was like 98% from that. I mean, and so even with shorter parameters, that has what has been, has been. he felt Dustin Johnson, a guy who I think was, you know, certainly one of the big favorites coming into this weekend and was never really heard from in a serious manner. Same kind of deal. You know, I mean, he four-putted one of the first four holes in on Thursday for good,

and then scrambled back to get a reasonable number by the end of the day. But yeah, that's really bothered him this year. And I don't know. It's interesting, right? Because how can you, these guys, they, sometimes you'll watch them. You know that Dustin Johnson's going to go, can go on a run where he makes 98% of them. But I was waiting for it. That's just not where he is this season. His ball striking stunk too. I mean, he had a chance.

He birdied, I think it was number two. And then you come up to number three, which is that par five where most guys have 200 or less in. And he had, I think he was right at 200. yards and he pulled out, I don't know, with six iron and smack that son of a bitch right into the water and bogey the part five and like, well, okay, that's it. You know, he's not going to go on a run. You can't boge. There's only two part five on the golf course. So, uh, for something happened with DJ. I'd be interested in see, you know, it's not a coincidence. It doesn't seem that he, uh, parted ways with Claude Harmon the third and his high school coach,

or college coach that's had a prominent role with him all season. I mean, his whole career had, you know, more of a prominent role. I don't know what happened with him since the PGA. I'll tell you this on the flip side, Kepka on, and I posted this picture, on Wednesday morning, you know how early, because I was picking you up at the hotel and you were doing the shows with me during the week. Yes. I mean, I was out there before 7 a.m. on Wednesday morning.

All right. And that's a day where, like, guys can get in a practice round or something if they want to. And when I walked up to the course, there was one player there, one. And I'm talking for a long time. And it was Brooks Keppka. He's the only one. And guess what he was doing, Howes? Pudding.

That's right. That's right. And so I think he comes off as one of these guys that, It's just, I don't really care about golf and what's the point. Just get up there and hit the damn thing. You know, it's a, it's a frigging golf ball. Just, you know, just get up and hit it and whatever else. But, like, I think, I think he comes off like it's just natural.

Like, he's just a natural, but I think he's fooling everybody because I am telling you, I was there. And there was one player there at 7 a.m. 7 a.m. He's out there. And he's out there grinding. That's exactly right. You know what I'm saying? Like, he doesn't want. you to know that he's working harder than everybody else. All right, quick break.

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Here we are now Sunday evening, and he led the whole field in putting. And he led the whole field in short game. And what did he do when he got to the golf course today, 45? minutes early, worked on his putting, worked on his short game. So I think he kind of is, is tuned into what, what, you know, he needs to work on and what's going to differentiate him, what's going to separate him from the field. He acknowledged in his press conference that he is just on an incredible role and how in control he feels of kind of everything. They made a point in the press conference of, you know, reminding him that he won four and a half million bucks today because not only did he win the WGC event, but he also sewed up the Wyndham

rewards, which is this new $2 million reward that you receive for ending the season with the most FedEx cup points. So he's got that locked up. And then he's, there's like one mathematical possibility on this Aon Risk Reward Challenge, which is a season long challenge. They pick one hole every event, every venue and the best performance on those holes over the course of the season. That's a whole other million dollar reward, I think. He won that sucker too. Alex, Norne may catch him. By the way, speaking of Alex Norn, I want to give a quick shout out to our good friends at Callaway Golf, makers of the epic flash. Alex Norn put into his bag, Verno, a brand new epic flash, Fairway Wood, a 13 and a half degree. He remembered,

replace his rogue three wood. I know you have a rogue driver. I'm trying to get you into the Epic Flash driver. We'll work on that. But Alex Noren was on the bubble for potentially having to go out and work for his card. But because he ended up tied 12th today with that Epic Flash three wood, Flash face technology, face cup, jail break, all more distance for all kinds of players, you and me included. Norin managed to lock up his, his card today. So Shat, shouts to Alex Noren for in the reason that he made this you know he's not in the top 50 right now because he hit kind of a a dead spell along the way I think he had a minor injury as well but he's he made this event because he was on the Ryder Cup last fall and then he came in and

validated it by finishing tied 12 so I had to give that that little shout out to Noren there how perfect um you know I I will say this because you had asked me earlier about the Rory and Brooks thing I don't want to to act like Brooks Kepka didn't have people cheering for him or fans, right? Because that is true. And over the course of the past couple of days, you know, you were talking about how much he loves Memphis. And Memphis is one of those cities that's got a chip on the shoulder. You know, I always say, if you love Memphis, Memphis will love you back. And no, I mean, this guy, they should sign him up for the Convention of Visitors Bureau because he just on and on about St. Jude and about FedEx and about how much

that places changed his life and about how this is one of his favorite places to go on the entire tour. I mean, you say that kind of stuff in a town, right, that already is sitting there, you know, you know what I mean? Like people, people say whatever they want to say. Because it's not a huge market. It's not, right? They're coming from, uh, people are watching Royal Portsmouth, you know, last week. Yeah. And then it's like, oh, now they're going to Memphis, you know, like, Port Rush. I know it. Yeah. And, and, and, and, or, Yeah, Port Rush. And so now you see the, I think you see him every time he was in front of a microphone for, you know, the five to seven days he was here. He was talking up the course. He was talking up the city. He was talking up St. Jude. And there is nothing that can make you more beloved than that. Nothing. Except, I mean, and, and obviously he was frigging awesome. He was at peak of powers. Think about this. We're together tonight because, you know, he won player of the year. locked it up. There's no reason to talk about player of the year any further. He's got it.

He's won back-to-back players of the year. But I think if you just look back 12 months ago, 13 months ago, he has been a revelation both in terms of the quality of his golf and grabbing that. I mean, we're just, I don't know how many texts you sent me. The alpha is in the house. He's there. The alpha has arrived. But how about this? He's also, uh, gotten, very comfortable in his own skin behind a microphone. And he's been very forthcoming. And he keeps showing this emotional intelligence, what you just described in terms of him relating to the people of Memphis and, you know, showing them his own appreciation and, you know, putting out to the world his own affinity for the place. That's, that's very classy. And I'm not, I don't believe it's

cynical in any way, shape, or form. He looks like a totally earnest, totally. You know, he's doing it because it's in his heart. And look, and I'm going to tell you this. You know how you know it's earnest is because he was saying this kind of stuff. You know, when he made his big St. Jude visit was 2017. That's two years ago. I told you I went to the tournament last year. And I went, I went and watched Brooks Kevka.

I went and followed along. He was not like in, he was not like one of the major guys that ever. everybody was following. And I say this to tell you that when I went out to follow him, I went to go seek him out on the course. It was me, Jenna, and about eight other people. I was right. I was right next to the guy. That is a year ago, House. Yeah. That's a year ago. One year ago, I walked up and am one of eight people watching him tee off on the island green at 11. and then within a year's time, there were tens of thousands.

It was packed. It looked great on television. I mean, it was, I mean, you know, when people say throngs, I mean, it was, you just had to like, you just had to try to find a spot. And luckily, Southwind has a ton of hills. So you can, as long as you can get to one of the top of the hills, then you can see the fairway. You could see the green.

So I'm just, I'm running down to get to the next. next big hill that I can get up on so I can see the next shot or that I can or if I could try to get up against the ropes where I think they're going to hit it because I do I do know the course pretty well but I'm just telling you a year ago you and it's so weird how a year can change this because guess what there's last year I mean it was like there was nobody on the course I I remember being, because I was in 18, I was in a box on 18, and you would see like, you know, people scattered here and there. And when Dustin Johnson came up 18, every single person at that course. Now, he was, of course, in the final group, but still, they all went from Phil Mickelson to Dustin Johnson.

that's who everybody. If you weren't following one, you were following the other unless they were like a relative. You know, like that's who drew the crowds. And now this year, Phil Mickelson was done before I even got out to the course this morning practically. Yeah. And Dustin Johnson, it was like, I mean, I'm sure he still had people, but I promise you it wasn't nothing like what these guys had this afternoon. That was insane. This was the heavyweight bout.

I mean, we weren't going to get number one in the world against number three in the world. Now, again, we have been incredibly lucky this entire golf season. And part of why I'm now on this corner of loving the way the schedule plays out, we had in the final two groups at the Masters, Tiger Woods and Brooks Kepka and, you know, Tony Fienal, you know, they were playing in threesome. but we had great names at the Masters. We had Dustin Johnson and Brooks Kepka, you know, one group apart where they could definitely, you know, Brooks was here in the Roars as DJ was making his charge at the PGA championship at the U.S. Open.

Brooks was one group ahead of Gary Woodland. So Gary was definitely hearing what was going on. And then at this WGC event, we had Rory and Brooks, mono and mono, coming on down. Let's just get it on. one stroke separated them when the day started. Now, you and I did have a point of view on this. Roy versus Brooks. Well, I do want to thank the Vegas odds makers.

You should see my list of thank yous. I had made a whole list of thank yous. The last one, you go ahead and get your thank you out. It's the same one. I have it right here. I'm looking at it. I mean, putting him plus 175 when he has one stroke off the lead and tied with Rory McElroy.

I'll tell you this. I almost think that this is how crazy this is. Oh, and we do need to put this as aside. The other great thing about this is that Brooks Kepka went and won and grabbed it by the nuts that wasn't a major. That's right. Because you want him to, you want him to be the guy that when he's in an event, it's like, oh, watch out for this dude. Right. And he showed.

And I know it's a WGC event and there's more money on the line and whatever else. But it was not a major. It does not go in that category of a major you've won. It's a tournament that you've won. He won three times this year and two, two events were not majors. He had one major win and two non-major wins. Right.

So the Vegas bookmakers, like, I mean, I've talked about this virtually the entire season. If he's paired with Matt Fitzpatrick, I feel less confident about it. Oh, that's funny. Okay.

I'm not kidding. Not me. Matt Fitzpatrick. And I adore his golf game. No, I'm just saying. But he looks like he's 16 years old. I think Brooks would have showed up an hour and a half before. I think he would have, you know, I just don't think it gets the juices flowing.

Like he knew he, you better believe he knew it was him versus Rory and he was going to rip his heart out. I have to agree with you. I just can't come up with a It went exactly according to form I mean you put out on on Twitter You know how much you were licking your chops last night It was insulting And a lot of people

You know there was a lot of Rory Rory truthers out there And I'm not sure where they're coming from And then I don't mean to Ireland I guess I'm not gonna get I'm not trying to say a bad thing I like um Jason Sobel

Uh the Action Network Who you know pointed out a bunch of stats that supported Rory coming into this. And I looked at the whole thing and I was like, you know what? There is no chance that Roy McHaw is beating Brooks Kepka. I mean, you could go through the stats and all of it. It just ain't going to happen. No.

And it was three days of it. I mean, every time. Well, no, no. Now, I would say, Roy beat him on Saturday. No, they pushed. No, no, hold on, hold on. Rory shot 62 on Saturday. Oh, no, no, no.

They weren't a matchup. I'm sorry. They were not a matchup. Yeah, that's right. They were not a matchup in that. That, yeah, right, right. So they were not a matchup on Saturday. They were, because they were in the same group on Thursday, Friday, and Sunday, they were a matchup bet. Yes. And it was never, like, you see some of these matchup bets and like one of them, I can't remember. Maybe it was like Saturday. You know, you'll catch like, you know, like we were talking about Justin Thomas versus Bubba Watson.

and you may have to lay 155 on Thomas until the odds kind of get beat down a little bit but like you were never having to lay more than 125 for Kepka. So he beat he beat Rory, he shot 68 on Thursday. He pushed Friday then. He pushed Friday. Yep, he beat them on Thursday.

They pushed on Friday. Rory beat him on Saturday. And then Brooks just went ahead and took care of the business. And Saturday, I can't remember who Rory matchup was, but obviously he won that. And Kepka, I don't, I don't, I don't recall who they were placed with on. Oh, yeah, that's right. Right.

Because they weren't in the same group. No, they were not the same group. That's right. So that doesn't count. That doesn't count. No. Okay. All right.

They were the actual matchup bet. Because a lot of times they'll put them at like the beginning of the tournament. Yeah. Right. Before they're even matched up. So you can just bet the best guys versus the best guys who's going to win. But in this particular. one. It was a matchup bet because they were in the same group for three days.

Yes. And I mean, that one today, that's come on, give me a break. He's won back. I texted you. I told you he'll have this flipped by four. He did. It wasn't even close. And then on six, he nailed about a 25 footer. Yes. And I was like, all right, let's go home. Because, I mean, you just, like, you can't, you can't withstand that. Like, if this guy's going to knock down, 25 footers too. And you know, like, I don't know how to explain this to people. Like, it's, it is different. Like, it's not the huge fist pump or something like that. But like, he makes it. And then he's just like, again, like, pokes out his chest. Yeah, you know what that is. It's that. It's that BBE. It's that big Brooks energy. Yes. And he's like, yo, you like that shit.

You know what I'm? Like, I mean, he's like, that's how, that's how you. That's how you. feel like that's there is a weird thing that happens with him when something good happens and it is is so like it feels so dominating you know what I mean like like like like you you you have no chance versus me and and you know if you're if you're any kind of regular human being and I I know Rory is you're sitting there going like oh shoot but that's what I was going to say he didn't make Rory miss those puts. Rory hit the ball better. Yes, he does. That's right. That's the point. He looks at him and Rory knows he's a lesser man. Just that's the way it is. It's just the way it is. You ever been around a guy like that just looks at you and you're like, geez, this guy.

Like I am not this guy. Well, Verno. It's got it all over me. I got you up late. I have to give out a bunch of thank yous for an incredible week in Memphis. Before we get to the thank yous, I want to give a quick shout out. There was an alternate, there was an opposite field event this week. You know, the WGC only had 64 players in the field. So there was, the regular PGA tour was out in Reno. And I'll be gosh darned if we didn't get another one of these young college kids coming out and kicking ass. He's been served notice, Colin Morikawa, who lost to Matthew Wolf on the 18th hole.

they both had chances at Eagle. Wolf made his and Morikawa barely missed his. Morikawa pulled it down today. So now Colin Morikawa is inside the top 50 going into the playoffs. Two kids playing college two months ago, Verdo. He's played six pro starts and now he's on the playoffs, the FedEx playoffs. Tell me this kid doesn't go to Oklahoma State too. No, I don't remember where Colin went.

I don't remember. But he was in those, he was playing in those championships. I mean, Oh, you know what? Is that the one that had the, uh, no, it wasn't Matt.

Who was the one? Cause Hovland had the run in two of them where he put up like best amateur scores. Yeah. That had been put up. Hoblin won low amateur at both the masters and the US open. Yeah. Is this kid Stanford maybe? Colin Morikawa is Stanford.

I think you're absolutely right. Okay. I think I remember that thinking about the, the tiger connection. Um, but they, uh, the other thing is that wolf kid he's oklahoma state and then and then hovland is

oklahoma state yes it's been a hell of a run and they have that documentary on the golf channel it's been a hell of a run for swinging pete well these kids swing and pete is is so on these kids they're they're showing up ready verno i mean they're serving notice uh i was lucky enough i asked uh and i'll go gonna do our thank yous now but i sat down had fried chicken with Danny Willett. The fried chicken did not turn into top 10 for him. I'm sad to report. He didn't eat it, did he?

Gus's world famous fried chicken did not translate to a world top 10 performance. But he did have the chicken, so that was good enough. But I asked Danny, you know, what he thinks about these group of kids. And he's just, he's, he was speechless because

they're coming in so ready, so prepared, so fearless. They're just playing fearless golf already. But let's do some thank you, Verno. I got to thank you first and foremost for being an incredible host, having me down to Memphis.

I was so charmed by Memphis. We had a bunch of incredible meals together. Everybody that I came in contact with was so friendly. That southern hospitality on full display the whole time. So thank you to the city of Memphis. Thank you to the Memphis Grizzlies. We got an incredible few hours with the, DM Zach Clyman and the president of the Grizzlies, Jason Wexler.

Wexler. My boy, Wex, who's up from just outside the DMV here. He's in the M. He's got a Baltimore connection. I have to thank your daughter for going to sleep nice and early for us tonight so we could get together for this. I'm thanking Lexi at Callaway. We had a great time with her. She helped us all around Memphis with the picks. also have never been in a golf truck and Lexi enabled me to get into the Callaway truck you were there with me for the first time ever I had never been on site to see where those players go

to get everything tweaked and fixed before a tournament ever even starts and that was incredibly fascinating like when we walked in there they had just redone the grips for Sergio Garcia and they were talking about some of the other tweaks that guys wanted to get done before the tournament. But I didn't even understand necessarily the way that all worked with the truck coming there at the beginning of the week. And then they're gone for the weekend.

They make the tweaks and then they're out. Yeah, it was incredible to get to see that up close and personal and see. I mean, those are master craftsmen who are responsible for the tools of guys that are playing for millions of dollars. And so it's serious business. That's absolutely right. I mean, that's a shoutout. I think that's our boy, Mike Flynn. Is that who hosted us in there?

I believe it was, Mike. Yeah, that was an unbelievable tour that he gave us. And then I'm going to thank the Chris Vernon show for having me on for a couple days there. We enjoyed ourselves Monday and Tuesday, got to talk to the tournament director. I know he's happy, right? Oh, my God. Did you see him? Have you heard from him yet?

Good grief, of course. Yes, I saw Daryl throughout the entire tournament. In fact, I texted him last night and I'm like, I mean, you want to talk about living right. Because I mean, when that pops up that it's going to be Kepka and Rory. I mean, it's one thing to have all of these guys in the field. It's quite another to have them going head to head. I mean, it's the first time. You got to remember, it's the first time that Memphis has ever had an event like this.

Like I think, you know, you might, like, say like last year or maybe the year before, one of these odd years, you're talking maybe like two, three of the top 50 players. It was just not an event that, you know, it would be great when Dustin Johnson came. But like I told you, Phil Mickelson was getting crowds. I mean, Daniel Berger won it two years in a row prior to Dustin Johnson. Daniel Berger can't even play in this this time. That's how good the field is. Yeah. I mean, it's ridiculous.

And so, you. might get, you know, a couple guys here and there, but to get the field that they did and then have it play out the way that it did with the best golfer in the world playing the best and going heads up against one of, I mean, certainly you would have to say just in terms of sheer fame. I think, I think, I mean, Phil, Phil is still the most famous. But I would say Rory is probably second, wouldn't you? Oh, if, if Tiger's not in the. event. Yes.

Tiger is number one by 500 miles. But the maximum amount of people could name this guy. Yeah. I think probably Rory, maybe Dustin, Dustin Johnson. Well, Rory's been, like we said, Rory's been better longer. You know what I mean? Roy's got four majors. So, and he's been doing it since, you know, 2010, 2011.

That's coming up on a full decade now. So I was initially surprised when you said, you know, the fans were pretty supportive of him. But hey, look, our man of the hour, the alpha is in the house. Brooks Kepka, the coronation is appropriate. He is the player of the year, Verno. My thanks to you for coming on this impromptu edition of Fairway, Rowland. We'll be back in a couple weeks when the playoffs get going. We'll be looking for some matchups to take advantage of.

Thank you, my brother. Let us always get Brooks Kepka versus Rory McHawley. My kids going to. College. Your kids going to college. Save them to college. Thanks, Brooks.