Fairway Rollin' - Brooks Koepka Squashes Tiger’s Run at the PGA Championship | ShackHouse (Ep. 75)

Episode Date: August 13, 2018

Geoff Shackelford and Joe House recap the major win that almost was for Tiger Woods (2:00), chat about Brooks Koepka’s rise to excellence (13:00), and review the performances—good and bad—of some other notable players in the tournament (31:00). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, everybody, welcome to another edition of Shackhouse brought to you by our friends at Callaway Golf, makers of the Odyssey putter that won the PGA championship count again and won the major count on both men's and women's tours this year. And, of course, they are the maker of the new red ball. You've heard us talk about it. It's a face balance mallet putter with red ball scope. It's got that Versa High Contrast alignment and a white hot RX insert. Go check it out at your local golf retailer ASAP.

Shack, today's show also brought to us by our pals and proper cloth, the leader in men's custom shirts. Are you having trouble finding shirts that fit? I think, you know, here's the thing, Shaq. I don't think Brooks Kepka is, well, unless you think that's a tight fit that's like too tight, but go on. I have a lot of things to say about Brooks Kepka's clothes, mostly complimentary. But I will say this, Phil, Phil found a shirt that fit and then promptly missed the cut. So I'm not sure if that's the right. Yeah, well, I guess that that's always, it's better to look good than to feel good.

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Visit propercloth.com slash shaggo. So use gift code Shackhouse to get $20 off your first custom shirt today. And now let's get into the Shuck-O. Wow, you're in an awfully good mood. I thought I was going to have to console you. I thought we were going to have tears and crying breaks. You sound so happy. Shaq, that was an un-

After the 2018, B.J. An un, yeah, we're talking about the 2018 PGA championship. The Tiger Woods show on Sunday. What are we talking about? So look, I'm disappointed. I'm crestfallen. I, on the other hand, though, so many positives. I felt so much better about today than I did on Sunday just three weeks ago,

three and a half weeks ago. Really? At the end of the Open Championship, he went out to try and win. the tournament check he was trying he was out there taking names and and and kicking butts and he just was not going to have it now he didn't have all of the game but he had most of the game i mean the put on 11 what are we talking about oh the put on one oh my that little wiggle oh that was so cruel uh and the one on 11 i i just couldn't believe that didn't go in that was amazing he still made eight birdies in the final round, shoot 64, 66 the round before, 66 in the second round.

Incredible play. It didn't have his best game, Tita fringe today. And as he noted, he scrambled, got it around, but some of those iron shots were absolutely spectacular on 13, on 15. I mean, 15, look, Shaq, I have to tell you, I'm going to confess right up front. I might have changed my underpants as many times as Tiger changed shirts. I mean, Tiger change. It was glorious the number of shirt changes.

By the way, quick subtangent. I'm all in on the shirt change, the mid round shirt change. There is a great... Mid round, how about start of the round? It's like a quarterly shirt change, but go on. Fantastic. I'm in. I'm all in. Give me, script me 16 shirts.

and while you're at it, give me a couple hats to go with it. I mean, you know, if the weather requires it, I have no issue whatsoever. I actually felt like it changed the bojo a couple times. Now, that's obviously ridiculous, but I'm just telling you, I quite liked it. It really was kind of a funny thing. What's he going to come out? Where next? Today was the beautiful red and black, the glorious red and black.

and all of America was buzzing. My phone was buzzing. The computer was buzzing. The television was buzzing. I'm not allowed to talk about my pants, but they were buzzing as well. Yeah, I figured they were for a while there, and I figured they aren't now.

And the shirt change, it really was spectacular, how much he has been sweating at Belrieve. He was sweating a lot at Firestone, but really a lot at Belreve. But whatever makes them happy, whatever makes them feel good, I'm sure somebody at Nike had to overnight some shirts there just to get him through the week, especially with the necessary red.

So let's not be disrespectful first to Brooks Keppka House because I never like ignoring the champion when they clearly won. They clearly played the best golf. He joins Gene Saracen, Ben Hogan, Jack Nicholas, and Tiger Woods as the only players to win the U.S. Open and the P.G. in the same year. That's a pretty nice set of names to be a part of. He was just couldn't be stopped. He couldn't be annoyed. I mean, he had a couple of puts that you thought, well, that suddenly wasn't so special. But that iron shot on 16, the T shot on 17, it just was a spectacular display of golf. He did kind of what we had discussed in the pre-show, that if he were to play the game he's capable of,

either use the power that he showed off at Firestone or used the long irons that are better than probably any player in the game right now. And he did. He did both. And then his short game is very solid to excellent. And he held off an incredible number of players, some of whom got flustered by the Greens today. I noticed how, by the way, as an aside,

I felt like the Greens spiked up more today. They weren't great any afternoon. But it just felt like today if, I don't know, maybe there was a little less of that. Oh, after I put out, I'll tap a few to help the guys behind me thing. Or maybe they may have taken the treatment down. They may have added a second mowing another double, you know, it went from a double cup to a triple cut. I don't know. But it just seemed like they spiked up a little more.

And I kind of got a chuckle out of that. I mean, some of those worm cams you saw putts and they were from. frightening. They were, they were scary. Uh, and a few guys clearly had some issues with them at times, but that said, look how many puts were made. Yeah, I mean, the two things about the course. So I'm glad that you mentioned the pre show, the preview, the Shackhouse preview that went out last Tuesday, uh, afternoon. We hit a few things on the mark and it, it doesn't happen often enough. I'm going to, I want to pat you on the back and I want to pat me on the back. We got a few things right, Shaq, you predicted low scoring conditions. Not only did we have the low score under 63 and a half.

We had two 63s on Friday, but the low score for the entire tournament, that number was 267 and a half, which was all you needed was 13 under to get that. Brooks blew right by that. We also talked about, and this was something that was interesting, the players validated it after you got your sort of first on the ground reaction. In the first place, the overwhelming sentiment in terms of how to be successful at this golf course was hit the ball in the fairway and then hit the ball on the green. And Pat Perez had something funny. He said, you know, the strategy here is to hit the ball on the fairway.

And then, you know, don't miss the green. And I don't really have much to say beyond that. I think, but I do think that over the course of four rounds, you saw some of the players like Kisner and some of the guys who weren't in that power division, finally kind of get overwhelmed by it. And so I think over the, because early on, the leaderboard looked just like past leaderboards at Belrieve, where there was this peculiar mix of names and some people that you didn't expect to handle the course after the rain had been softened and who are, not handle it, but not score

quite as well and, and maybe get worn out by the length of it. And it took a while to kind of weed out some of those players. and it ultimately did end up being a bomber's golf course, I felt. And I think that's when maybe Tiger got in trouble a couple times today. The rhythm just wasn't there with the driver like it was the first two rounds. And I don't know if that was trying to get the ball out there. But they seemed to find something on the 10th T shot, and he hit that gray T shot on 12.

And then 17 was kind of shocking because he's really been hitting that cut so well. Yesterday, the cut shot on 17T. I mean, it was just effortless. I mean, I saw the first one of those I saw this year was at the players. And then he did another beauty at the 60 at Carnusti. And that's the one. I mean, there's so many shots. Those two putts we talked about.

But that T shot on 17 is the one when he's sitting on the jet tonight after, you know, like sitting on ice in the clubhouse for about 15 minutes. And he's got a little cocktail on his tray in front of him. That's the one that's going to bug him. because he, I really felt like for the first time he had the mojo fully back where he felt like he had the crowd and he used it to his advantage. And he knew if he got it out there on 17 and got there in two like yesterday. Oh, and that three putt yesterday on the third round. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

That one had to really sting. But he knew if he could have done that, that that just changes the atmosphere for Brooks on those, those holes, possibly. So that's the one I think he'll ultimately lament, especially the way he's been hitting that, that beautiful little fade that goes about 320. I have a question for you on that topic. Through the first nine holes, and we'll talk about some of these remarkable statistics over the course of today's show. But I was communicating to somebody, well, if we could get it out. I was communicating with somebody and I said, if I was Joe La Cava, I would take his driver. I would walk up to him, look him right in the eyes and break the driver over my legs and throw it on the ground.

Tiger, here's your driver. Now, on the back nine, and this was this common thread, this common theme that we've seen from him this season, this is another thing that I got a lot of input and commentary from golf lovers and friends. Where is Tiger on the back nine? He's had this push on Saturdays and some Sundays where on the front nine, he really titillade. he's showing he's stringing together birdies he's showing some positive momentum he's firing a pins and then for whatever reason he hasn't been able to sustain on the back nine now yesterday is understandable he played 29 holes of golf it was a major it was hot as balls he was he probably wore seven shirts yesterday so so not putting the pedal down on that back nine but he he was in

such possession of his game such possession of the ball striking skill that he demonstrated. So coming into the back nine today, the open question was which tiger? Because he bumped, he had just enough. He's an unbelievable, scratched together front nine performance three under.

Oh, for seven on the fairways, eight one putts, an incredible all-time front-nine performance. And then he reached the back nine and the big open question is, can he do it? Can he sustain?

Can he? persevere will he push through and you know what it looked like he might because he stood up there on the 10t and annihilated the driver and i'm glad that joelikava didn't break it yeah no he needed the power out there and he he still feeds off it he still feeds off it no matter clearly uh wild it gets with that and he also hits that cut usually really well with it and and i'm sure that's why that shot will bug him um so well and and he hit he hit driver great on the back until 17 He did. He did. Good enough. Yeah, and he hit a beauty off 18. It was fascinating, by the way, how many guys were playing a straight shot or a cut on that 18th hole? You know, we heard so much how it was a right-to-left course. And Kepka really likes to hit, looks to me like he hits a nice little left-to-right shot more comfortably. So it ended up really that bias was really not in Belreve as a driving test.

And that was partially also the softness of the landing areas. that kind of allowed guys to choose their their shot shape. I mean, Kepka just blasted it through every sort of natural right to left bend. I mean, his T-balls on 17, on 18, his T-ball, I think on 15, if I'm remembering it correctly, he was just, you know, putting the ball exactly. It looked like he was drawing sort of a 10-yard circle and then hitting the ball right to that spot. And then on 17 and 18, he just took, you know, he put. put both feet down on the pedal.

He put his left foot down and then he took his right foot and he put it on top of the left foot and he slammed it down as hard as he could on the pedal and the, you know, hit the lemon daylights out of those two T balls. So, you know, incredible, incredible, incredible performance out of a guy that, you know, we thought was a good fit. I'm very pleased. I finally gave out a winner in terms of a tournament champion. I put him out on the Twitter on.

on Wednesday because at 20 to 1 coming into this event. Now, the thing that that helped that value is he didn't play the Masters. But what an awesome what if, huh, Shaq? Amazing. What a year. And the Open Championship he had really, it was, as I recall, just one really disastrous round. And the third round and the otherwise was incredible in the majors this year. So, three that he played.

Yeah, look at these. Yeah, look. So a couple stats. I have to always dial up Justin Ray from the Golf Channel to give me some immediate context. Here are the American players since World War II to win three plus majors at age 28 or younger. These are good names, Shaq, Jack Nicholas, Tom Watson, Tiger Woods, Jordan Speeth and Brooks Kebka. Welcome to the club, Brooks Kebka. Yeah, that's amazing company.

Listen to that about this one. Brooks Keppka's total today of 264 ties the lowest 72 whole number in major championship history which was our boy Henrik at the 2016 Open Championship and you mentioned at the beginning the guys this season

I mean the guys in history to have won both the U.S. Open and the PGA in the same season. It's Saracen, Hogan, Nicholas, Woods and Kepka. So this is a fellow with gigantic, gigantic muscles. Yes, he does have large, very large muscles, guns that he definitely shows off. It really is an amazing look.

It almost looks like something that Central casting came up with to correspond with Gary Players rant about what the players will look like in, in, 20 years, only it's now. And he loves his gym. I mean, going there Saturday with DJ, and of course, nobody wants to pose for a photo with him. Great story. I love that story.

Isn't that wild? Yeah. And he just kind of goes about his business. Well, I want to say this. And I don't mean it is any offense whatsoever. And this is the comment I'm going to make about his outfit today. I mean, first of all, he must like the sleeves to be tight, you know, to be a, uh, uh, completely constrained around the bicep because there was no free flow whatsoever.

They were firmly in place. They were they were ensconced on the bicep. But the observation I had is he walked many times I looked at this guy and I'm saying, if I go to the gym tomorrow and I say, I need a private appointment. And this is who walks up to me. I say, oh, I'm in good hands. Look at this gentleman. And the outfit that he had on was really, it was a course to gym outfit.

And I want, you know, we've, we've heard about the customizing that clothing manufacturers are doing in terms of guys, you know, the cut and the, you know, the way they want things. I wonder if he and Nike have collaborated on something. I'm not even making a joke for once on something that has him feeling that sort of that pumped up kind of feeling that he must get at the gym. Now, I don't think he wears the clothes he had on the golf course today in the gym. But he coulda. He could have. No. But yeah.

No, I think you're right. I think it's part of his look. And, I mean, Tiger was in that phase for a while around 2006 and 7 when he was at his most pumped up and built up. And he wore stuff that was look pretty similar, really, not that different. So yeah, sure. Of course it's part of his look. He knows it gives him an aura. It gives him an intimidation factor.

And that's kind of what I think I like most about him is he's just not. out there to be everybody's friend. He's just out there to play and win. And for whatever reason, in the regular tour events, it doesn't happen quite like it does in the major championships, where he just takes it to another level of focus. And he's now won these three majors on three pretty different golf courses and different styles of golf that were kind of called upon. And I think that, for me, is what is probably most impressive about the play. I love it. Cicke was crazy firm and such a kind of a conservative attacking mode.

And Aaron Hills was the ball ran a little bit and the greens were much firmer than obviously this week. And it was, you know, a game where he had to play his power game. And then this week was just a pretty aggressive attacking golf course inland with trees and narrower and a lot more rough than Aaron Hills right off the fairways. But as you saw, you know, know, probably the shot, I'd love to have been on top of the lie on 10, but, you know, Peter Kossis, that made clear it was not a great lie. And that 10th hole, that green sits up really high and there's kind of a big valley in front of it. And if you have a heavy lie in the rough, you can, it gets a little scary. I mean, he's not going to chunk it in the creek, but he,

he muscled that just over the green. And I think he was probably almost shocked that he did that. And that was probably a case of his strength, really being in a, and, and, and, he muscled. advantage that he was able to work that through that that rough house the rough was unreal how much it grew from from because remember on the preview show i was amazed how much they lowered the rough cut and it was dry it was dry fescue so not only was it lowered but because the grass blades were dry you know you get the club through it better than when the grass blades moist and man they knew what they were doing they and carlos araya and carry hag the uh the guys who put the golf course in front of us this week just did a masterful job of taking the place that was not in the best of shape coming in

and managing it to get us through the week. I was amazed how much grass they kept on the greens with the heat they had. And the rough, that cutting down was perfect because by, really by Thursday or Friday after that big rain on Tuesday, the stuff had really responded. It loved that rain and it responded. It was a factor on the weekend. But again, the setup was good, so it wasn't like it overwhelmed the golf where we had stupid wedge out rough or anything like that. It was just a, it was a slight penalty just enough to really derail a few people at times. So I want to elaborate on that point a little bit. Should we take a break first, but I do want to talk about Bell Reeve, the setup. I want to talk about the crowds. I mean,

goodness gracious. Yeah, yeah, I have a few, I have a few thoughts on that based on a, a, column I wrote for golf week. But, Hey, House, did you notice in his opening round 71? We won't talk about the 86 in the second round. Steph Curry, bringing out the Chrome Soft X golf ball

in the web.com tour's Ellie Mae Classic. How about that? He had the almost all Calloway bag, the rogues, the epics, the 71. But it was, the guy's amazing. The guy is amazing. This is the all-time disappointment of the golf summer.

I know. Why did that event have to go up against the PGA? Like, web.com guys, guys who run that thing, you know that you have a shot at getting Steph and you know the positive buzz from last season. It was wonderful.

It's rough. I'll tell you what, it's just, I could go on a real tangent. The U.S. women's amateur was this week. The European tour had kind of a cutting edge new men's and women's event at Glenn Eagles. Nobody should be playing tournaments during the men's four majors. I'm sorry. I know that sounds ridiculous and we have to do these events. We have to get through the season. And it sounds like

we're worshiping the men's majors. We are. Yes, those four events should there should be nothing else. And it's, I mean, it's just terrible. Like, again, the U.S. Women's Amateur, nobody even knew it was going on. I mean, and the U.S. Amateur starts next week at Pebble Beach. And it's And it'll, I mean, that one's fine. It's not up against the PGA. But anyway, the web.com, I don't know why they're playing an event against the major. It's just, it's just strange. And I hate it.

But anyway, our friends at Calloway provided Steph with, with a wonderful bag of clubs from his fitting at the Ely Calloway Performance Center a couple years ago. He updated the bag a little bit, house at the L.E. May, including the Chrome Softex. He got a little graphing infused. Oh. Dual Fast soft core. soft fast dual core. Now dual

dual soft fast core. It's dual soft fast. It's dual fast. It's dual core. It's triple dual. For the three ball Steph Curry. He shot 71 on the first day. It was stunning. It was beautiful to see. He came back. He was four over, then battled all the way back.

And he had a very reasonable, makeable put on his final hole of the day. And he burned an edge. And he should have, by way of if his putting over that, that back nine had held true, he should have made that put and he should have entered the next day even par. Now that he's an amateur,

so he shot 86 the next day. But that's enough about Steph Curry. Obviously, he made the right choice play in the Callaway equipment. Yeah. So let's talk about Belrieve. Yeah. How,

it's, I wrote a column for golf week that will be up here soon about how this was the end of the Jones family era of golf course. set up and golf course design. And I'm glad, though, that the week played out the way it did. Other than, obviously, we'd love to see the greens not quite be so soft or the rain come along and kind of messed up the day for some fans and all that stuff. But House, the people elevated this event, like really no event that I've been to in terms of,

Not only did they make it a great television show with the size of the crowds and the volume, but I truly believe that if you looked at the players, the way they were when they rolled in, they were a little tired from Firestone. It was hot. And they're thinking, oh, geez, here we go. And I really truly believe the people of St. Louis elevated them and gave all of them, this injection of a little bit of life that reminded them you're in a major championship. We are very happy to see you.

We've been dying to see you guys here since 2008 when you were here with the PGA tour event. And Tiger even mentioned this. He singled them out on Saturday after the round, how positive the fans were. I mean, there were a couple of boosies, a couple of yellers. But all in all, and I went out whenever I walked out on the golf, Of course, the conversations I had were so cool. The people are so knowledgeable. You know, the best fans in baseball moniker came to mind

because I was just blown away at how much they were resilient in really hot weather and how pleased they were to host these guys. And I think the players fed off of that in a way that we don't necessarily see, except maybe at the Masters? So I got to tell you, I could not agree more. It was my observation sitting here in not quite as hot Washington, D.C. And I watched a ton of this tournament as much as TNT would permit me. And that's a whole other conversation for a whole other time.

But the observation you just made about the fans. and I will give credit to the selection. I expressed skepticism about Belle Reeve as a major venue for this 100th event. I believe it acquitted itself beautifully. And the thing that I didn't anticipate and I probably, I didn't have any way of assessing this, it was a wonderful venue to have fans close. And they could have deep, deep galleries.

There was a ton of people. I'd be interested in seeing the numbers of, folks through the gates. Yeah, I did get a few taps on the shoulder and a few emails and a few messages that people did feel like they oversold it a little bit. They were having trouble finding some places to sit. But again, they had massive crowds. Probably needed a few more grandstands.

Okay. Well, that was the one. But the PGA does this a lot. They oversell their events and the Ryder Cup in particular where there are only five, four, five, four groups on the course. in the matches of the team matches and then obviously singles play. But yeah, so that was the one. But again, they didn't sit there.

You never had an incident where a guy backed off a shot because people started yelling that they couldn't see or something like that, which has happened quite a bit in recent years. I mean, just just class all the way. And I think whatever deficiencies there were in the setup or architecture, that, I believe, were there. They just made up for it. And then the players just, I mean, the passion they brought from the difference between the weekend versus what we saw, like what I saw Monday and Tuesday, body language-wise was incredible. Well, I want to be fair, to the extent that the PGA oversold, that had the effect of, you know, creating this pretty intense. environment on that on that back nine and by contra distinction the u.s.

open did not sell out one of its rounds shack i mean it's supposed to be our our nation's championship uh so i i my bias would be to go in the direction the pga went i'm going to tell you right now i had chills up the neck down the arms watching tiger exit the green on 18 and yeah that long walk across that bridge and the huge wave of humanity and the outstanding cheer for him. I mean, the, the, the, the, the, the, the tiger is back. I mean, let's just say it, Shaq, he is, he's back. And, and those were his people.

And he said it on Saturday and he'd said it again today. Everybody buoyed him and it really elevated his own play. And I, I don't, you know, it's a chicken and egg thing. You know, it's, I'm, I'm happy that he's, had the play available, right? Like, because there was this early in the week suspicion, this concern that he might be by now. And I think Frank Nolabolo gave some voice to this exhausted. Like he might be, he hasn't played competitive golf over this kind of time period.

And you mentioned it. Yeah, this is the explanation for why Firestone was a little scratchy. His performance, he just took the week off. He didn't touch a golf club. He went to Switzerland before Firestone. And then I think he glides. through Firestone. Yeah, he saved his energy beautifully. I mean, I just, to be, his performance is so incredible on multiple levels. The one you're talking about where he was a year ago. And then I just

don't know if this is a golf course that, that I didn't think it was one that would inspire him. And, and I'm, I'm not sure, you know, he's ever going to say that he's, he's not going to name another, you know, child, Belreve. But he, he clearly just got in a role, on a role and in a mode there where he started seeing things. And I mean, he's exhausted tonight for sure. And I won't be shocked if he takes off a playoff event just to get recharged. But wow, what an incredible performance. Several others, though, House, we should probably note besides the people of St. Louis,

Belrieve and Tiger and Brooks Kepka, I don't know if you want to hit on any of the other members of the race here this week. well i i uh was very impressed by adam scott it looked like a performance that was entirely inspired by and driven by his commitment to honor his friend jared lyle and it looked like to me that adam scott you know the the entirety of his uh performance was attributable to um him wanting to honor jared and he just you know at this stage of his career it's a very bizarre thing to say Adam Scott doesn't strike me as having enough game to win another major. I will be surprised if he wins another major. He just doesn't seem to have to me, and by game, I mean the combination

of mental and physical, physical he's there. Like, you know, he's got all of the tools. You forget how far he drives a golf ball when he's in a groove and you forget how accurate he can be with wedges. The thing that's been missing for a little while with him has been mental and it's been a combination of trying to figure out the putter, you know, the crazy long putter up to his neck deal. And just, you know, having success at life. I mean, he's got kids and he's got a, you know, he's settled down in life and he's got a great life. But I thought his performance over the week was really a testament to Jared. Do you agree with that? I think it was. Fowl made a big deal about that. I think part of it is just Adam has been struggling for a while and the putter thing

really got him down with the USGA and anchoring. And a lot of people are very unhappy with what he's doing now in puttering. Pudding, they feel like he's anchoring. Yeah, because it looks like he's anchoring. Yeah. And I see, I get a lot of those messages on Twitter and I just don't know what to say. I mean, the whole anchoring ban now is just, uh, uh, looks rather, rather silly. And, uh, and a lot of these players who are kind of going back to putting with it, not maybe, you know, just brushing their shirt or whatever it is, it's kind of made a mockery of it in a way. And I don't blame them.

Nobody's calling them out as violating the rules. So they're going to keep doing what they're doing. And it's, I hope it doesn't become something that gets, gets nasty with people calling these guys out. They probably just need to review the whole thing. But he's a, yeah, I should have known House on Friday. I did morning drive, bright and early. And I just stood there and watched him hit balls for about 10 minutes.

And I put up a photo on Instagram because he was just, he was on this role. And you could just see the pep in his step. And I should have, I should have sent you a little tip that Adam Scott's really, he's, he's feeling it right now. I didn't. That would have been nice. Well, but you just don't, I mean, the way he's been going. It's just not something you expect. but he just had that, that, that, that energy going.

And, and, I mean, he really hung in beautifully against Brooks and, and I had a chance up until that, you know, last hole to put a little pressure on him. So, uh, yeah, great week for him. Um, well, I'm ready to say some bad things about some people. What about you? Okay. Yeah. Uh, well, I don't, I don't have, well, okay, I'll let you, I'll let you, uh, I don't know who this is. So, so, so, so please.

Talk. Well, I, I, I have only. there's only one guy I want to say a bad thing about it. I'm not really, you know, I'm not going to go crazy. And before I do that, I do want to tip my cap to Justin Thomas, who I, this morning, early in today's round, went ahead and live bet as a potential winner for today. I loved his attitude right out of the box. I love the firing at pins. He gave it his gosh darn all. He was right there. I mean, the birdie on 11 was hair raising. That was all. awesome. You know, he hit that three wood up the hill. Crack that, crack that poor boy in the noggin. Chipped to a place that is an impossible, you know, uphill, thick part of the grassy slope. It falls over onto the green. Oh, it's a six footer for birdie now. I mean, just insane. And it made me feel good that I went ahead and live bet him. He couldn't keep it up. But, you know, two,

par today for the defending champion. Tip of the cap. A slap in the ass, and I guess it's my own fault. Rory McElroy, I just don't know how many more seasons we're going to go, golf seasons were going to go,

where he really, now he was standing on the first tee at the Masters on Sunday with a chance to win. He wasn't up to it. He came through the, missed the cut the U.S. open. He tried a little backdoor action at the Open Championship with the Eagle on 14.

He didn't have another birdie after that. He should have birdied 18. That would have really created a little bit of pressure some interest. He hit the ball all the way down. I mean, he hit a 385-yard drive at 18 and didn't birdie 18. That would have, or did he burdie 18 after a bogey? Either way, he finished at 6 and he should have finished at 7. He birdied 17.

He bogeed 18. that's it that's what it was yeah so i i knew there was a birdie bogey mix in there um this just a very lackluster performance now there was some video this morning that was very interesting of him and jordan spith having what appeared to be like a real technician kind of conversation so i wish i'd known before this week before touting rory as a horse for this course and having observed you know, some of the trend lines that I thought were, were very positive. I liked what I, quite a bit of what I saw at Firestone,

and I didn't think he was very far away, but his wedge play was so indifferent. I mean, his problem wasn't so much a T-ball, but the indifference with him becomes, you know, if one aspect, I think we talked about this on the Tuesday show, if any aspect of his game is missing,

it has this effect of creating an indifference across the whole board and I just resent his talent resent going missing it continues to go missing he's not a young guy

and these chances to really set himself as a legendary player of the game he's the only one this is why I get so worked up about it he's the only one with the talent to me that rivals Tiger talent

and he has that same incendiary attitude and the ability to really focus and channel. It's what he did at Bay Hill this year. And it went missing at a major. And I just, you know, there are a finite number of majors when you're going to be young and pliable and healthy and strong and not have kids and not have other stuff going on in your life. Go kick ass, Rory.

Please. So that's my disappointment. Okay. I don't have a strong feeling either way. I feel like his open championship performance is enough to be something that is special for him. And he can look back on at the end of the year and say I overcame the kind of golf that I haven't played well on. And he can also still have a lot of positive memories down the stretch. But he did say after the round, he's having some swing issues.

It sounds like he may pass on the first playoff event to try and iron those. out and it doesn't the swing doesn't i'll be honest it doesn't look as good to me as it used to look i agree the swing plane looks a little bit a little bit different it may not be i i don't i haven't studied to swing closely enough but just the the visual test it just doesn't quite look um the same and and quite as natural to me kind of like his issues with with putting his putting was really atrocious at belry many players had trouble on the greens for obvious reasons but okay well so you resent you resent his performance that's fine you're you're allowed to do that I want more I want more the other guy and this is just you know I'll be fair to him I'm not going to

kill Ricky somebody made a point after his Thursday round like hey talk about guys on in the in the world top 30 who haven't won a major how could you leave out Ricky um it it was deliberate uh yeah I don't know when we're going to see something from him that makes me believe that he's ready to win a major. Something's going on with his swing as well. It's so flat. It's crazy flat. And I don't believe it's been that flat all season long.

And I don't know if it's, it sounded like perhaps somebody made some reference to him. Does he have an injury right now? Yeah, he had an oblique injury. I think he was wearing something underneath. If you looked, it appeared there was something under his shirt, some sort of support, like a, you know, not, not the, just some sort of brace.

And so, yeah, he was swinging, I think, at about 80 to 90 percent. It sounded like, which in a way may have helped him a little bit. When did he get hurt? I don't know. He said something about, I think it happened, I think it happened early in the week. He just felt something, but he, he downplayed how much that was hurting his game. So I thought, I thought, for a guy with an injury, played pretty great. So how about that?

He played pretty great for a guy with an oblique injury of any sort. Any kind of discomfort or any kind of equipment he had to wear. I just, I'm, I'm ready for him. I'm ready for him to win. I mean, he hasn't been in a final two-sum since when. I mean, the last win that he had was the Honda, right? I could look it up, but that sounds right. I didn't mean to put you on the dot.

No, no, no, I'm trying to remember. And I can't. nothing's coming to mind at the moment, but he, yeah, it hasn't been a spectacular year. And I just wish he wouldn't stay around after the round for the, to greet the winner. Oh, come on. Him and Tiger. Well, Tiger just finished the round. Ricky was a little bit earlier.

And I, I just think it's time for him to worry about Ricky. Well, that would be my only, my only piece of advice. I don't have any problem. I don't care about the social media stuff. Butch Harmon has made a comment about that. What if it was this? You want to be a Kardashian? That was a little strong, I thought of Butch.

But I understood what he was getting at. But, um, look, I think it was a Rider Cup thing. I think these guys are all gearing up for Ryder Cup. Here are the names. Kepka, DJ, J.T. Patrick Reed, Spee, Fowler, Bubba. And Webb said. Yeah, Webb played nicely today. Solidified that eighth spot.

God. I mean, why can't, Tiger, I was looking, I was wondering, hoping, if Tiger wins today, does that pump? Yeah, he would have bumped in. Yes. Oh, no. Oh, no. Now I'm mortified. Now I'm bitter. Now I'm crying. You wanted tears, Shaq. Now I'm crying. I told you that. Oh, what? Is this, is this, is this it? Is this it for the qualifiers? Yes. He's in. Yes, Jim Furrick will sit for, sit for. a half hour tomorrow and talk about the eight people. And then he has a few more weeks to look at others for his picks. And he's got some interesting decisions to make.

Obviously, tigers on the team. Tigers on the team. Tigers playing golf in the rider. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And Phil, I believe, is a lock and has been already basically been told he's on the team. So, yeah, the U.S. team is still in very good shape. I don't know what Captain Furik will make of the weeks of Kisner, Fienow and Shafle.

I don't know what he does with those. I think he just keeps waiting for the playoffs. But they don't have anything to worry about. They have a lot of people who are very good golfers playing very well. If you look at the leaderboard this week. This supposedly greatest team on paper ever in the history of Europe, which we will get into as we get closer to the Ryder Cup, which is actually starting to annoy me.

I'm going to go back and look at some teams in Ryder Cup history. So we can we can drop some names like the 87 team that was loaded with Hall of Famers. The European team is is not leaving Belrieve feeling that great. But they got a long way to go. They still have they still have a few weeks for some people to get their their games in shape. So we'll get to that going forward. I actually do have one little bit of resentment I would like to share. I realize now when you were when you were discussing when we were discussing the crowds at Belreve,

for whatever reason, Peter Kossis was kind of pushing the point of how few media were out there following Brooks and Adam. And also, really, the crowds weren't as large for the final group. And I don't really know what he was getting at. I'm not sure what he's thinking. This has happened through the history of the game. When a legend is making a run on Sunday of a major, that's where everybody's at. And it's happened before. It means nothing in terms of a statement about Brooks Kepka and Adam Scott.

It's just you have a legend, potentially making the first ever, by the way, comeback major championship win of his career, not leading going into the final round. Thanks to the fine listeners who noted this, that that would have made today extra special. If Tiger's 15th would have been his first come from behind. How about this? I'm going to, I don't want to interrupt. No, no, that was it. I just want to get that out.

You know what? The media is doing what, what they do and photographers, if they're not getting photos of this moment, there were still photographers back there and still cameras and still fans. So I don't really know what the point of that was. But he loves all of us anyway. So I don't know what. I think that's really what he was getting at.

Well, it was his, Tiger 64 today, his lowest ever final round. score in a major. So anybody having any observation about any eyes on any other part of the golf course other than Tiger Woods,

you can shake it and bake it, brother, put it in the oven. I don't care about what any of the I don't know what the sideways point is. I loved the array of cameras and then 15 deep on every green

on the back nine. That's the way it's supposed to be. I'm sure the TV numbers are going to be through the roof. This is golf in all of its glory. This is major golf. This is what it's supposed to look like. And it was enjoyable from the beginning to the end. You're not going to be able to take me down from the high that I'm riding off this performance by the Tiger today.

No, it was really special. So we thank all the players for putting on a great show and bringing it this year in the majors. It was a really special year. We knew it would be with a couple of the venues on the schedule, and I think it played out that way. A little bit crazy at the U.S. Open at times, but these last two majors are as good as you can possibly get in terms of drama and variety of players

and cool stuff going on and clutch, clutch performances. And it's just so fun to see. And that was kind of the gist of my piece on the end of the Jones family era houses. We're really, we have shifted, and obviously some of it's the technological. and the guys being able to overpower courses more. But we don't, and, and Kerry Hague had a couple of whole locations that looked to me like they were almost on the fringe. But, but for the most part, the mentality is, and you heard Kerry say it early in the week, possibly,

this is about showcasing the players and letting them show their talent. And down the road, nobody's going to care what Brooks kept a shot. They're going to remember that it was a great championship, big fans, Tiger, Woods, an incredible play by both him. And then, you know, just a few weeks ago, Francesco Molinari to hold off a legend. And, and when the players are freed up to play like this, it's just, it's just so much more enjoyable, so much more satisfied. I'm so, I'm so glad you said that. This is the thing about Bel-Reeve that I will take away. That back-nine was an electric back-nine because it had opportunities. So all the love, big hugs and smooches to carry Hague, big hug and

smooches to Belle Reeve. It had on that back nine opportunities. Brooks Kepka had to make birdies on, on 15 and 16 and 17 to lock up this championship because the tiger was on the prowl because there were opportunities on that back nine for him to go get the job done. So I give my tip of the head. I'm glad that you gave, gave the shout out to Kerry Hague. And I think the setup for today was was, was exquisite and it was just enjoyable from the minute I sat down to start watching all the way through. I love, I mean, I thought Thomas Peters was going to shoot 60 for a little while. Wow. There was a bunch of crazy, crazy performances going on today, Shaq. Yeah, it really was.

And it seemed like it was just a perfect blend of just tough enough, but but gave the guys a few whole locations to go out. So House, as always, our show is brought to you and me and everybody else by our friends at Callaway Golf. Everybody go to Callowaygolf.com. There's all sorts of cool stuff up there to check out and also some fitting things. Of course, go get fit if you're really serious about golf clubs, but you can do all sorts of cool custom stuff. Let's go to the beautifully new redesigned Callawaygolf.com. You'll love it. House, we're going to take a brief break here because I know you need to gear up for the playoffs. I need to get my voice back. I was shouting at the TV too much today. But, I mean, our real focus, let's be honest, down the stretch here is how the playoffs

shape up for the Ryder Cup. It's going to be a fun few weeks. Captain Ferrick's going to keep that running point total. Thomas Bjorn's going to be watching for the European side. And I think it's just going to be a sensational run. We've got Ridgewood Country Club hosting one of the players' favorite golf courses. A playoff event there is at the Northern Trust should be spectacular. So everybody seems healthy other than a few guys saying they're a little banged up,

ready for a break. And I can't wait to see what goes on. on in the next couple of weeks and into September. Speaking of spectacular, Shaq, I mean, let's not bury the lead. You and I are going to be together this coming week. I mean, we're just two days away. We're going to be walking on, this is my very first time. I've never set foot on Pebble Beach.

I'm coming out to California to meet you so we can walk around at the U.S. amateur, the men's U.S. Amateur is being competed at Pebble Beach. I mean, I'm really not worthy. not only do we have Tiger on the back nine dropping hot hot bombs and Vern Lundquist calling his shot on 16 I mean I can barely contain the excitement but three days from now I'm going to be at Pebble Beach with you walking those hollowed grounds and getting you know history history lesson so we'll be taking the pictures we'll be throwing up the

Instagram stories they'll be doing we'll be doing the Twitter and you know what I'm hoping you and I get a chance to play a little golf while we're together we'll try we'll see there's Yeah, there's some golf in the area. I heard there's good. I heard there's good golf on the Monterey Peninsula. Obviously, Pebble Beach and Spide Glass are booked up Monday and Tuesday for the U.S. Amateur stroke play qualifying, but I'll see what we can dig up for another golf option. I can't wait to see you. I can't wait for you to see. We'll take some pictures.

I know that. I know that. I know. Oh, you're going to. I can't wait to see you see Pebble Beach for the first time. So it'll be really cool. Just try. Remember, these are young amateur golfers.

This is a big opportunity. for them house no screaming no orgasmic screams across the link i will i will not do that i will bring extra underpants but that's just for the terrain that's just and my my enjoyment of a sweater and a sweater and extra underpants to enjoy what god has wrought bring your tommy johns and and bring some layers you you got it that's it and we'll be so check out all our instagram at jeff shack at house from dc We'll be documenting the beautiful trip out to the Monterey Peninsula this week. But in a few short weeks, we shall be back with the Jack House. Part of the Rigger Podcast Network.