Fairway Rollin' - Bryson's Caddie Trouble, "The Match", and the John Deere Classic

Episode Date: July 6, 2021

House and Hubbard return to talk about the latest in the world of golf —and a lot has happened! They begin with the trouble Bryson DeChambeau had (01:06) and how it could be presented during "The Match" this week. They also discuss who will be a favorite for the John Deere Classic and look ahead to the British Open next week (30:21). Hosts: Joe House and Nathan Hubbard Producer: Steve Ahlman Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The postseason is here and the Ringer NBA show has you covered with real ones, group chat, the answer, and Ringer NBA post game. Check out the Ringer NBA show on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello, friends, and welcome to this golf podcast unlike any other. You've been off for a little bit, but we are back, baby. This is Fairway Roll! The Golf Podcasts on the Ringer Podcast Network, I am your starter. Joe House on the line.

Our main guy, our PGA tour's correspondent on the ground. He's been on the ground at some PGA tour stops. My birdie buddies, Nathan Hubbard is here. The first tee is wide open. Nate and I are a two ball today. Let's go get stroking. Nate Dogg.

How's I've been amongst the people. You have been amongst the people. Now look, I want to try and set the stage here. We took a little break after. the U.S. Open. And by the way, we talked about it in the recap. Nice winter for us. We were on John Rom. John Rom did it for us. Wonderful. He deserved it. It was a wonderful U.S. Open. We took a little break. And, and, you know, it was like looking at the calendar. You say, I was kind of a quiet moment on tour that the players all love to play at the Travelers

Championship in Connecticut. And I wondered is, is the fact that, you know, the guys are going to have to fly from San Diego to Hartford going to diminish the attendance, the enthusiasm, any of the, you know, the high class output of that event. No. One of the strongest fields ever. Great field at the travelers and within an incredible outcome followed up by, you know, the event in Detroit, the Rocket Mortgage, again, another incredible multi-hole playoff. outcome. Now, we're going to talk about the travelers because you were physically there up in the Greater Hartford area. But look, I just want to lay some facts out about all the stuff that's been going on during our break. So your brother, Mark Hubbard, he beat Bryson D. Shambot at the

travelers. And then Bryson's caddy quit. And then Bryson missed the cut at the rocket mortgage in Detroit. These are just facts. These are facts. These are facts that happen. Use golf facts. Use golf facts. That's right, Justine. Use golf facts. I bet Justine has an opinion on Bryson. Bryson's caddy quitting.

Mark Hubbard beat Bryson. Bryson's caddy quit. Bryson missed the cut. That happened. And then in Detroit, speaking of things that happened, Phil Mickelson, because he's on this tour,

to promote the match four, which is happening, really it's about to start as we're taping this podcast. And I have a significant amount of money invested on one of the two teams and we'll talk about that in a moment. We will. You might be the only one who's watching this. But Phil both played in the travelers, which he never plays in and played. And then he played a rocket mortgage. Also weird in Detroit. Another event, he'd never, you know, I mean, it's only been on the calendar for three, four, five years. Yeah. But I mean,

at Detroit Golf Club. Yes, yes, yes. But, you know, he's out marketing in advance of the match. So he does a couple events that he wouldn't do otherwise. That's it. But for whatever reason, he chose the, a very weird small fry, local news story as a thing to put on blast on Twitter every day of his being in that golf tournament, which was super weird.

And I don't know why he did it. But then we had a great playoff at the end of that event with three worthy competitors. And I was rooting for Jack O'Neiman after he played the entire tournament with no bogeys whatsoever. And then bogey is the first playoff. Golf is hard. Golf is hard. Anyway, so all that stuff happened. Lots of stuff out there that happened in these few weeks.

And I also, my own self, have been playing a lot of golf. And I'm going to give some shoutouts to all the people I've been playing golf with. in the meantime. Where should we start, Nate Dog? Well, we got to start with being on the ground in Hartford because I will tell you that I got to talk to dozens, dozens of birdie buddies. Nice.

We just really appreciate the support. It was great to talk to them and hear how they enjoy the pod and even get some shit. So thank you for saying hi. and thanks for listening to Fairway Rowland. It was good to connect with people. It just felt good to be out there with fans, even though I think they only had about $10,000 a day.

And that made actually for kind of a weird scene on the course where these mobs were following just a few groups and everybody else was playing to nobody. But it was still good to see the people out there. Even if on occasion, they're still getting a little rowdy. They're getting a little rowdy. And that, I think, is the,

right segue to the Bryson story. And I say that, well, go ahead. Go ahead. You finish. I say that because Bryson played behind Mark on Sunday. And I sat there and watched him and Tim Tucker on the putting green and then over to the range and then after the round. And the thing that I just want to tell you, and it's going to be very interesting to see how Bryson acts and, you know, how he presents himself during the match, because that guy does not have a lot of joy right now. And it is palpable.

It is palpable. He, look, I tweeted an image after the round on Sunday where Mark sitting there drinking a beer and relaxing. And Bryson's in the background signing autographs. And let's be clear, he stopped, he signed everything for all the kids, he's got a standard selfie pose that he does with every kid. He gives a lot of his time.

And he's never going to get a, enough credit for the fact that he always stops when, you know, a child is hollering at him for something. But it was just clear there's no joy in him. Tim Tucker was 50 feet away from him at all times during that practice session. He went over to the section of the range that was far away from the fans. He has a couple of guys who are his like attendees who are hustling around, but he and Tim Tucker were not talking to each other. But as Bryson would sort of walk away from fans, his face just sort of would go blank. He is not experiencing a lot of joy right now. So my question for you, and that is a really interesting observation,

when I saw the news about the split with Tucker, and we've seen Bryson repeatedly insist that the back nine at the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines... Bad luck. Right. And not just that, but that it fit a kind of... luck outcome that doesn't really alter his own ability to process the world, to prepare for the next tournaments, to prepare for what's next in his professional life. And yet my sneaking suspicion, and this is what I want to ask you, is that he hasn't really come to terms with what a catastrophe that was. It was an abject catastrophe. It was a series of bad decisions, bad. judgment that Tucker himself could clearly not have any influence over on that back nine.

And that to me is the thing that led to this dissolution. And maybe they'll get back together. They've already broken up and gotten back together once. They're like J-Lo and Ben Affleck. There's been lots of people out there that have broken up and gotten back together again. And Tucker seems maybe you need. uniquely positioned as a, uh, one of the few people on planet earth that, that, you know, can be inside of

Bryson's orbit and, and help Bryson be successful. But, uh, it is pretty apparent from all the reporting that I've seen and from what you're describing right now, Tucker initiated the breakup. Tucker quit. Uh, and he, um, as you would expect, took the high road in, you know, being very, very, very, very quiet. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no tellings of tales outside of school. He was effusive in one text. He said, I love the kid.

He's swinging well. I think he's going to win this week. That's it. That's it. Because he knows exactly. He's a smart guy, clearly. How so. But what do you think?

Well, I think it's, I think that's fascinating that, that you're thinking about it from that angle because I actually, I think you are right. And I think there's a second vector here. And that is what was readily apparent on the ground. They had, his group had the biggest crowds consistently all week, but half of that crowd is rooting against him.

I mean, there are guys with T-shirts now with his face and his logo that say, let's go Brooksie on them. There were a lot of young guys drinking white claws, following him around, heckling him. Uh-huh. And look, there. look, there's something different about Bryson. There always has been. He's not wholly comfortable in his skin.

And this happens a lot with really talented people. It reminds me of like John Mayer a little bit, which is like John Mayer with, you know, maybe less duchiness. But like John's super talented, but he just doesn't know how to present himself in a way that doesn't seem affected. And Bryson comes across that way for me too. I just think it would be naive to think that the strength, great up abuse that he's getting online and in tournaments would have no impact on him.

He has not been able to completely focus. He doesn't deal well with criticism. See last year's Rocket Mortgage when he yelled at the camera guy for, you know, potentially messing with his image. He's so scientific about strategy, but in particular the mechanics of his golf game. That starts from a place of being a control freak. He wants all the data, all the information he can get because he really believes he can control the outcome. But guess what? Image is not something that you can control. And he's obviously tried. It is more art than science, and the lack of ability to control this is impacting him.

So you describing this and his own artlessness, and it's fascinating that you put it that way to me. It really resonates is reminiscent of a lot of the criticism that I can remember in my head and in my ear. my mind's eye of Bubba Watson. There was a whole time in like the mid-2000s, right on the heels of Bubba's success where, you know, there was a kind of a churlishness to some of his public persona. There was kind of he was short and apparently ill-tempered sometimes. And what we've come to understand and appreciate with Bubba is that,

He suffers from some, you know, a kind of, you know, challenge, mental challenge. I don't, you know, he's never said for sure that he's on the spectrum. I haven't heard him confess that. But certainly the behaviors are consistent with what we understand now about high functioning autism and folks who, you know, share that, that paradigm. And I'm not suggesting anything about Bryson's behavior that, you know, it's for him to tell us if, you know, that that's something that fits his own particular approach to the world. That's in his, you know, part of his recipe. But as you're describing what you're observing from him and his own sort of inability to navigate it and how all of it. of these things might have a role playing together. It does make me think of Bubba and some of what Bubba went through. Well, I think he's got a unique challenge, which is that, you know, he's playing

consistently some of the best golf in the world. He's also inviting a lot of visibility into parts of his life. We've talked about the hour-long video that he published from the tournament in Dallas, the Byron Nelson that week with the rain, and how it was actually interesting. It was also weird. And that's kind of the story of Bryson. And it's why he engenders so much interest. It's why he's got a real legion of fans. And it's part of why he's got a legion of haters. But I do think that in the Brooks v. Bryson narrative, which is going to crescendo today, somebody will say something about it during the match. But, I do think we sort of look at Bryson as like he and Brooks are these big, beefy, like, almost superhero guys.

And behind the scenes, we've seen it from Bubba to Matthew Wolf to others. Like, the mental health component of this game is difficult. And by the way, Aaron Rogers has talked about that, speaking of the match. And you just can't help but wonder if the scrutiny and the criticism pierced a little bit of the veil. And to your thoughtful point, let's not forget that he also had a massive meltdown on the course. he should have won the U.S. Open. He was in the lead after the eighth hole. He should have won the U.S. Open.

So I don't know where he goes from here, but I can tell you that he's going to get a little time outside the States, which will probably be good for him. But he's got some sort of course correcting to do. It wasn't that long ago, where there was the video of him on the range and he'd thrown his clubs at night all over the range. He was exasperated.

That was before he put on the weight. That was before he really became the center of attention. Back then, he was just the innovator. I think he's going to continue to innovate. I just hope that some of the vitriol pairs back at the moment, because there's something going on underneath the surface that feels Matthew Wolfey, that feels Bubba Watsony. So let's see, we're going to have a whole new set of data points

by the time this podcast goes up, because, as you say, we're going to have an unvarnished four hours at least four hours, it seems, of Bryson in the match. And he's going to have to be, you know, they're going to ask him to be witty. And in these exchanges with Phil, it fills, you know, Phil's a masterful MC. He's demonstrated to us over the course of the match since its inception and then his own perception with his success on social media, his own ability, his own instincts. to be successful on social media.

In every respects, except for this most recent one, which we're going to talk about, this is the dumbest thing ever. But, like, Phil can do a masterclass on, you know, live, sure, you know, interface. And we'll see whether or not Bryce, how Bryson handles it. He just posted a video to Instagram where he's, like,

shadow boxing as he gets on a helicopter and sort of gives the let's F and go to the camera. So he's playing the part. And we'll see how he does. Well, and on top of that, and I'm glad that you mentioned it, more data points as they relate to Bryson will come from first how he performs at the British Open. He doesn't strike me as the kind of guy so far who's going to do great in a links kind of environment. Now, St. George's isn't a pure links play, but we haven't seen his name atop of British Open leaderboards. and then the data point that I'm really interested in and you kind of referenced it

is him going to Japan as part of Team USA and his compatriots for this Olympics event, Zander Schaftley, Justin Thomas, Colin Warcawa, and in some respects, it's kind of an opportunity for him to be outside the states to maybe help hit the reset button. And who knows how those young guys, you know, it's a nice mix of guys with tour experience and, you know, Collins, the youngest of that group. But like, building towards the Ryder Cup, so whatever camaraderie they're able to establish, if that's a thing.

I think it's a thing. But needs to be a thing. Like playing for your country, playing for your country in the Olympics. And is that the kind of reset that will be helpful? Will Bryson become a hero? We talked about this in connection with Or was it the U.S. Open Where he was very at ease

And it seemed like a big contingency of fans Were pulling for him Which felt like a sea change in sentiment And maybe that will keep building But it's it's an ongoing saga, right? Well, I'm glad he's going to be there with those guys We've been talking about since last September concerns about the chemistry and the Ryder Cup

And that was a long ways away back then, but it's close now. And the Bryce and Brooks thing, you're never quite sure how much of it is for the PIP, the money, and for show, they're certainly playing it well. But, but I, you know,

there's, there's a difference between what we're seeing from the Americans and what we're seeing from the Europeans. And there's a reason why the Europeans with, at least from a world golf ranking standpoint, a usually inferior team on paper, win their share of

rider cups. And, and if you ask the people in the room, they tell you it's because of chemistry. So there is a lot of work to do. And Steve Stricker has got his hands full trying to figure out how he's going to pick a team given, you know, we're talking about Brooks and Bryson, but we've also got the Patrick Reed, Jordan Speeth stuff and that spills into other people in the clubhouse. So it's going to be a very, very interesting month as we as we accelerate towards Ryder Cup. I agree with everything that you just said. I want to go back to Hartford. because I want to hear about some more of your own experiences on the ground there.

Were you able to stay for the entire eight-hole playoff at the end? No. You got the F out. Yes, I left. I took the picture with Bryson and Mark, and then I got in a car and I drove to Boston. And I got to Boston before the playoff was over. Of course.

I mean, do they play the whole other, you know, damn near half around? I mean, the guy you got to feel bad for over these last two weeks is Wayne Birch. Wayne Birch is the caddy for Troy Merritt. He is the founder of the trap golf fashion line.

And he stuck around and watched the playoff between Kramer Hickok and Harris English at Hartford. And then he was on the bag for Troy Merritt, who, you know, unfortunately lost in the playoff on the fifth hole to Cam Davis this week. So he's watched two of his guys losing very long dragged out playoffs. I will say this, at least in Detroit. They played a bunch of different and interesting holes. God forbid we ever have to watch the 18th hole at Hartford again. It's given us two amazing moments is the Jordan Speeth sand shot after he hit his drive into the tree.

And the Dustin Johnson 350 whatever yard drive last year where he finally got off the Schneide. And that really pushed him towards the great year that he had winning the FedEx Cup and then winning the Masters in the fall. But man, I don't ever want to see that hole again. We got to do better with playoffs. As it relates to that venue and that setup, I do understand the attraction of that natural amphitheater. It is by far the largest gathering. It's the easiest place for everybody to come and participate. And, you know, Harris English didn't make a put for Bertie, a very unlikely put to, to, you know, put a score up on the scoreboard that ultimately, you know, created the opportunity for him to be in the play.

So another iconic kind of moment as far as that tournament is concerned. To me, there's an easy fix for that particular tournament, that venue. Here is the playoff. 15, 18, 15, 18, 15, 18, until somebody's won. 15 has to be in the mix. It's right there. You can walk directly from the green drop 15 to the T-box on 18. That's exactly right.

It's right there. And the fact that it doesn't play a role in a playoff is just ridiculous. It's one of the most pure risk reward plays. they have on tour. Yeah. It's a terrific hole. It played great. I don't know why we didn't see it, but it is what it is. They'll learn from it. They know how silly that looked and they'll, they'll fix it. I'm not so worried about that. The lesson for me through both these playoffs, though, is that it's really, as Joel Damon so eloquently said after he won earlier this year, it is so freaking hard to win a golf tournament. And it is. I mean, you know, yesterday in Detroit,

two days ago in Detroit, Cam Davis just didn't seem to want to win. I mean, he just, he had look after look after look. And it was really the story of Cam Davis, which is that he strikes the ball unbelievably well. The putting has always left something to be desired. But he had looks to win in regulation.

He had looks on every hole, and it took Troy Merritt, just coming up a little short on the part three and not being able to get up and down for him to win. It's just a reminder of how hard it really is to win and how much dang luck is involved. Well, think about the circumstances, of Cam Davis even being in that

playoff. He chipped in on 17 from the you know out of the sand for Eagle. Yeah. Now this is that like kudos to the Rocket Mortgage, the folks, you know, running that thing. The setup created this opportunity for Sunday

where all of the leaders, there was a leaderboard, you know, a couple moments there. It was like eight guys have the exact same score at the top of this leaderboard. It was awesome. I really, you know, It was like, it's fourth of July weekend. We're just chilling. It's fourth. I'm in between barbecues.

It was great to have it on the TV screen. And, you know, the golf was, was good. Alex Norn went out and put up a number. I mean, he was hustling around out there. It was excellent to see. Yeah. And he missed a short one on 18 that would have put him into the end of the playoff. It's the Alex Norn story.

I know. It's just a bummer. And then the Coke rat crusher was out there for half a minute. I got excited for Jason. broke rack coming down the stretch. I thought he might be the one to Eagle 17 and Birdie 18 and put a number as he went into the clubhouse. But in any event, the 31 was great. And the fans were strong. Very strong. So let's go ahead and, and, you know, shout out to, to Waki Neiman. Shout out to Cam Davis. Shout out to Troy Merritt. Shout out to Alex Noren. All those guys coming down. Hank Labioda,

who I had, we didn't have a show. So I didn't give him out of. as a sleeper, but I did text a few friends that Hank was a guy to keep an eye on. He, he, he, great to see a guy like that. And this is the thing, Kramer Hickok in the playoff with Harris English. At these events, we get the opportunity to see not necessarily the name guys, just guys that are on the constant grind on the constant hustle, have a week and show themselves to be absolutely right there with the very best in the world, right?

That's right. And again, when you are playing. your fantasy golf when you are placing some bets. These are the weeks where you can actually outperform the field if you just pay a little bit of attention during the course of the season. Because, you know, as we know, there's only five guys in the top 50 playing this week in, in Iowa. And while some people would say, well, maybe that's not a tournament.

That's a place where you can really separate wheat from chaff pretty quickly. Yeah. If you're into, you know, trying to come up with some selection. Now, we'll get there in one second, but we have to talk about the 313. We have to talk about Phil Mickelson. We can dispense with it kind of quickly.

I thought Amon Lynch did a perfectly fine job in golf week. He was, he is kind of the, to me, the authoritative voice that properly put all the everything in the correct perspective. Which was what from your, from your view? Just that like you're not entitled to a coddling because you show up at a golf tournament and to conflate, you know, what a local reporter might do in terms of identifying something that's newsworthy. And there's no question that the item relating to Phil was newsworthy. To have a newsworthy item that runs in the newspaper, coincident with the event,

does not impact necessarily the quality of the event or the quality of the sponsor or the charities that are all lined up there. And it shouldn't be the case that a player who might be treated in an unflattering way uses that, you know, story as a basis for saying, well, I hope you all enjoyed my one-time visit here. I mean, seriously, dude, just you didn't have to say anything about it in the first place. And in the second place, just get over it. Get over yourself. I think we got to contextualize it with why the hell is he playing travelers and why the hell is he playing rocket. And I think it could have been just fake beef, man. I think he's laser focused on the PIP and on promoting the match.

And I'm not even sure that he really was upset about it. The PIP has created the weirdest incentive structure in the history of golf where lots of people are losing their damn minds and services some of this money. and it's funny to see. It really separates the guys who think about themselves as a business from other guys who think about themselves as a golfer. My takeaway on this one was

Phil does not seem to want to back down over it. And that's fine, I suppose, but I hope he comes back to Detroit because the people of Detroit were great. It's a good, important tournament that does a lot of great in the community. And when people like Phil show up for tournaments like this,

everybody went. That's all true. And, and, uh, you know, I, every step of, of, of, of the, along the way of him interfacing with people on Twitter about this just to me reflected, you know, a tone deafness, but whatever. I mean, you know, he, he's the guy who flew over to Saudi Arabia to get his two million dollar appearance fee and told all of us that we'd get over it. And, you know, that's fine.

That's, you can go ahead and have that perspective, homeboy. We can also criticize you for, you know, being selfish and short-sighted. That goes with the territory. So do your thing, bro. And, you know, congrats. The match, you know, is up against the NBA finals. I hope it gets, you know, some looks. It definitely got a lot of looks for me in the run-up to this moment.

Yeah. It is interesting, though, that he prioritized playing in Hartford and Detroit. and the match over really fully prepping for the British Open. It says something about the satisfaction that he took from the PGA and maybe even how hungry he is going forward. And listen, he's entitled to focus on other things. I agree. Look, he won the PGA.

It's all gravy. I mean, I hope. That's kind of where he is, right? I'm glad. I don't have any problem at all with, you know, building up the match. I just don't get the idea of like picking a fight with, a guy who is who's little literal job as a journalist is court reporting he's not he's not even a sports journalist he calls the guy out by name because uh you know the dude did uh you know a 900 word story

in the in a publication that has a hundred thousand in circulation you know and and the story was behind a paywall at start so like that's a weird thing to amplify and to use as the touchstone for remaining in front of the public consciousness. Now, everybody in Phil's camp is like, yeah, what do you, you know, that's, that's shitty. Why would, you know, leave Phil alone. You see that the media is out to get, you know, and all that, all the nonsense around biased media, which I just can't take much more of anymore. But he did stay relevant through the entirety of that golf tournament by maintaining that beef.

Brison defending champion missing cut and firing caddy by the end of the week. And Bryson not showing up for interviews after either one of his two rounds. Yeah. Apparently by mutual decision. That's a joke. So here we are on the brink of yet another major championship staring us in the face. The British Open is barely 10 days away as we tape this, maybe like nine days away, a whole slew of great, great, great players flew over for the Scottish,

which is kind of a nice tradition. I really admire, you know, the Scottish Open occupies a really like cherished place on the, on the calendar. And a bunch of guys like to get over and get acclimated to the time difference and the weather. And so a lot of band, a lot of, a lot of high wattage players. We got Rory over there. John Rom is at the Scottish Open. JT is at the Scottish Open, Zander's at the Scottish Open,

Colomorcawa, I'm sure I'm leaving out. And then, I mean, Fleetwood and Terrell Hatton, the UK, kind of guys that you would expect, the Euro players are all there lined up to play in that event. And domestically, it's the John Deere, but I don't have a great feel as we sit here right now for which way I want to lean on the British. The only guy that I know for sure that I'm going to have something on is Louis Eustazen.

No matter what happens between now and the start of the tournament next Thursday. I might have gone online and do it right now. Really? Louis Eustazen. You know what I'm going to bet him to do? Top five. Yeah. No, top five.

Louis, Louis, the top five. That's fine. That's fine. I thought you were going to bet him to win. I was like, hasn't he proven to you that that's not going to happen? But you can't do it. And he won't do it. It doesn't seem.

Well, Ricky Fowler is going to win the Scottish Open just so you know. Okay. That would make him a two-time winner of the Scottish Open. It would. It would. I think the game is on the rise. I think he's going to play great over there. Thomas keeps complaining about the weather on Instagram.

So I'm starting to feel like maybe he, all these guys who spend all this time in Florida, they get over there and they're like, oh, it's summer in Scotland. It's not summer in Scotland. It's always, it's always meh in Scotland. Yeah, right. And it's going to be mad at the British. So we'll see how they hold up.

Well, let's go ahead and do a little bit. We did spend some time looking at the John Deere dance card, you know, as is our way here. We'll sprinkle a little bit out there. Go ahead and name some names for me of who you got your eye on for the John Deer. Well, you got the favorites, I think, of Burger and Streelman and Brian Harmon and Sung Jay. We talked about two guys that I'm really interested in. I like Alex Norrin and Hank Libyota coming off. You know, Naurin was T4 last week. He had a great Sunday around.

You know, his shots gained approach and putting were top five. Leviota was T5 of the Travelers, then T4 at Rocket. He's 24th in Greens and Regulation on tour this year. So that's what this tournament, this is a pretty easy course they're about to play in Iowa. And so the key is you've got to get on the green and make some putts. I also, I really like Russell Henley. T-13th, the U.S. Open, T-19th at Travelers, but he had terrible Sundays, both those days, and still delivered those finishes.

There will not be the same kind of guys chasing him as there were in those two tournaments. So he's got three top fives this year, 16th in scoring average, 18th in greens and regulation. He just feels really do. I want to hear your top ones, but the other thing that I'd guide the audience towards

is, hey, we got five tournaments left before one of the great parts of American sport that never gets its due, which is this relegation that happens if you don't make the top 125. And there are a lot of guys right now who are hovering around the top number 125 in FedEx, who are in danger of having to go back to the web or the corn fairy tour and defend their card. And so you look at those guys around 125, Sam Ryder, Brian Stewart, Michael Thompson,

defending champion Dylan Fratelli, Ches Revy, Austin Cook, Bo Hoag, those kinds of guys who, if you look at their finishes this year, you'd go, oh, God, I don't love it. they're coming off four miscuts in a row or whatever. At least Bo Hogue, like, made the cut by a stroke. He putt poorly, but he could have had a higher finish last week. But those are one of those guys, two of those guys, if you're trying to fill out the bottom of your fantasy lineup right now, those guys have extra added incentive to be super focused this week in a field that's weak.

I mean, the Scottish Open literally has twice the world ranking points as the John Deere does this week. But one of those guys is going to be looking to lock up their card. so somebody from that group is going to finish in the top 10 this week. I love it. And by the way, you're reminding me, there are still British open spots available for anybody that's not qualified. There are three at the Scottish and five at the John Deere, which feels like an imbalance. But I'm on, you know, some big names and sometimes, you know, the obvious answer is the correct answer. I don't have any problem with playing Sung J.M. this week.

Yeah, what are we doing as you're one and done? Well, I've already played him. This is going to be a tough one. Jason Sobel likes Kevin Strealman. Yeah. And that's a definitely potential candidate. Did you use Harmon? I have not used Harmon.

I don't think. Did I use the Bulldog at the... No, I didn't use him for Austin. Okay. He loved him in Austin. Yeah. Harmon is obviously a great selection. Yeah.

And, you know, lots of pedigree in the Midwest. I'm going to run with Sung Jay in a DFS lineup. I like Cam Davis, like just catch a guy on a heater. Let him be on a heater. There's no palpable difference in terms of setup between Detroit and what he'll find here at this venue. I like some guys down the card whose names were seeing, you know, Pat Perez has been playing better lately. Who was he paired with recently where they were out? Oh, Homa. Perez and Homa were together.

I think at the travelers and were out, you know, chopping it up. Homa played pretty good as well, right? Yep, Max is fine in the little form. I thought actually he was going to make a run on Sunday in Detroit. And he didn't have it all together, but you can see Max is starting to peek it up here. And then I'm going down the card as I like to do. I like to find a sleeper that's a horse for a course. And shout out to Rob Bolton.

I love Kyle Stanley this week. Interesting. Bolton calls out the fact he is eight out of ten for making the cut. He has five top 25s. His scoring average in 36 rounds at this venue is 68.75. You know, and he's a ball striker.

And this is one of those ball striker kind of joints. He has eight consecutive, he has seven consecutive cuts that he's made in a row. row. So Kyle Stanley, if you're trying to round out the card a little bit, he's going to go on there for sure for me. Well, it's a week in which, again, if you're paying attention and you've got that guy who you've noticed at the top of the leaderboard, that's a good time to bet him because he's got about 2x the odds that he's going to play better this week. You just don't have anybody in the field who is an absolute killer right now. So it's wide open. Now, this is going to go up after

the match has concluded. But with all the confluence of events surrounding Bryson D. Chambot and Aaron Rogers over the last three weeks or so, I have placed

an uncomfortable amount of money on the combination of Phil Mitchinson and Tom Brady. Why do you do this? For posterity, I wanted to be on the record that because I had a hundred anyway. I like the idea of

an underdog team that has some chemistry. The idea that they've been there before, they've been in this format before. It will not feel weird to them. I perhaps have a little bit of rose-colored

glasses when it comes to fill after what he did in the last fall version. No, the version that he did of this event when he beat um, Steph Curry and, uh, Peyton, you know, I, I, I just feel like Phil now has this whole thing dialed in. And so he has an advantage over anybody else that, that he'd be playing against.

With the only exception of, of somebody he wouldn't have an advantage over is Tiger Woods. Tiger Woods. Yeah. Yeah. So I, and, and all of the, the disarray that Bryson seems to be in. And maybe Aaron Rogers too. So one of the things I heard that helped me, feel confident about the uncomfortable wager I made is we saw we saw pictures like some of the team associated with this iteration of the match we're posting pictures over the weekend of Tom

Brady playing this venue out in Big Sky Montana no such similar pictures of Aaron Rogers no and I've come to learn to Aaron Rogers I believe arrived Tuesday morning for his Tuesday afternoon round now he is by quality

of plays if he's like four strokes better he has his index is like you know index and handicap four strokes better than Brady. But Brady also advantage of having been in the thing before. Well, you know, this is where he goes, this is right near Yellowstone. Yellowstone Club where he goes, yeah. Right. Exactly.

So he has that natural affinity and comfort as well. So those are all the factors figuring in. Now, having said all that, and I bet it a number of times over the last several weeks. Having said all that, the thing that could happen that I'm willing to countenance is that being in this small venue, no crowds, whatever, will have a liberating effect for Bryson. And Bryson might come out and shoot 14 under. Right. Because he has he's the quality of player. And Rogers also like away from distractions and just like, oh my God, I'm so happy to just be playing golf.

And I don't care that it's on television. I don't feel any stress because it's just golf. and I'm the next host of Jeopardy, so suck it. Right. It might have the same liberating effect for Rogers, and then I'll just lose all my bets and I'll lose all my money. That could happen. And you're okay with that?

Yeah. Yeah. Mark in Hartford played the pro-am with Dan Orlovsky, who spent a good three holes trying to convince us that Aaron Rogers is going to the Broncos. He may yet do that. He's not doing it this season. He said there's no chance he plays this season. Oh, I'd like to bet that.

in Orlovsky. You have his number now. Your pals. Let's gamble on that. Okay. I think he would. I think he just says, Shepter says, no way. He's not going back. I'm happy for both of those guys. That he will actually sit it out if he has to. He's not going to sit it out. He's going to go play.

And I'll gamble with all of the NFL insiders on this one. Happily. Happily do that. And I could go over two. Both of those bets could be over. I'm glad you gave Orlovsky the shout out. been playing, here's a thing that you and I

have some golf catching up to do. And by you and I, I mean you, because I've been playing a ton of golf. I, I, I managed over the last six weeks to get a full stroke knocked off of my index, my handicap, because I'm in the middle. I'm working. I'm out there grinding.

Okay. I just, my, I, I, nobody needs to hear on this podcast what my swing flaws are, but I just need to incorporate some consistency in the form of a more reliable draw. And that necessarily means it's, it's a grind and not every round is going to be a low 80s

or, you know, what I, what I'm always hopeful for, which is in the high 70s as a double digit handicap. So I'm out there grinding, but I'm getting my loops in. And I know I've mentioned a couple times here that the Columbia Country Club here in the Washington, Greater Washington, D.C. area

Yes. And Chevy Chase, Maryland. Our home is hosting the national championship for, for girls age 18 and under. It starts in a week. And so there have been a lot of folks coming into town, media folks, and I've been super lucky to play with people. I play with Mike Trostle of the USGA.

He's like the resident historian. His job is like senior content, you know, whatever. But awesome dude, walked out onto this golf course and dropped a 74. Like it was, you was just, you know, oh, it's, it must be a Wednesday. Let me drop a 74 on it. that was very, very wonderful. I went off up to North Jersey and played in a member guest

at the Manusquan River Golf Club. Super hidden gem Manusquan River. That's one that way. I'm going to insist the next time we're both in New York. I'm going to get us down there. We're on a Manuswan? Yes. The pro is Chris Dimick.

And it's a Robert White. It's a 100-year-old track that has kind of a parkland. vibe that's up high and then you go down to the water towards the manisquine river but as you proceed down you can look out into the atlantic ocean it's just marvelous so you have this whole set of holes that are routed around that have a full on water feel to them the breezes and everything just fantastic what's the drink of choice you can order what you want there was a ton of transfusion I don't know if they had their own.

I was because it was member guests, I was in my own fields. I got it. Drinking my, my drinks, which at this time of the year, it's tequila and soda. Okay.

With maybe a splash of lemonade, maybe a tiny splash of love, but tequila and soda is the key at the stage of, tequila soda and a lemon. And then if I want to get juicy, I put a tiny bit of lemonade in there. But, you know,

it's coming together. And so, how is your game? Where are you? We got to get your game together. Well, you were supposed to come out. We were going to play. But at some point, we're either going to play East or West in the next two months, and we're going to

take a lot of video and hopefully bet as much money as you bet on the match. Well, hopefully I'll have winnings from the match. And then I'll feel very comfortable putting it all up and losing it all again. We have a whole bunch of British Open, the Open Championship,

shows to do next week. We're just forecasting for all the birdie buddies, the par-saving pals out there. We're going to be on our grind. We're going to have a Monday storyline show up. We're going to have the Wednesday with Justin Ray, God willing. And then we'll do the Sunday recap. There will be in between there. We'll probably pick a time or two for some green room reactions. Always love the open championship because it's in the first part of the day. So we can go ahead and- Day drinking. They, yes,

that and then go play afterwards. That's the point. Which is, which is absolutely wonderful. And I think if we're lucky we're going to get Kevin Clark back on here. If we're lucky,

we're going to get Kevin Van Valkenberg, who's one of the guys I played with in the last couple weeks. Ooh. From ESPN, who's a superb golf mine. He just did a bit with the, um, no laying up guys where they took a look at majors in the like the 2009,

to 2012 range and we're like, what if Twitter back then is what it is today? I think that's the conceit. But I've saved that. That's like a road trip pod for me to listen to. But KV on with those guys is always a treat. And we're going to try and get KVV here on the Fairway Rowland. So that that will be good.

I want to give a quick shout out also to speaking of somebody that we've had on this show for major storylines. He is our dear buddy, Joel Beale, from Golf Digest, who just in the last couple weeks published a story about, you know, taking a look at Billy Mayfair and coming to a realization about his own self and shared a very powerful story about identifying as high functioning autistic. As an adult, you know, I highly, highly, highly recommend anybody who hasn't seen this story. It's just go to the Golf Digest and look up Joel Beale.

you can find the story. He is a dear pal of ours, and I was so impressed. I haven't had a chance to reach out of him to him personally, but I wanted to make sure we gave a shout out here on the pod, make sure all the Eagle enthusiasts, the Par Saving Pals, check out J.B's story because it's pretty incredible telling of some of the things that he's experienced and a sharing of sort of his place in the world and his approach to the world

that really moved me. House, I agree with everything that you just said. It was a very moving piece, and I hope everybody goes and reads it. I am looking at the pregame for the match, and Phil on his left hand has a bunch of ace bandage or tape around his fourth finger

and his index finger, extending all the way down his hand to his wrist. And I don't know if it's like KT tape, but this does this does not look good. Do you want to change your bet? No. Are you sure? I don't care.

I think it's all a put on. I think it's like in the same way that teams don't always tell the truth about injuries in advance of very important battles. I think this is a put on. I think that the whole thing is an affect. Okay. And I think it's part of Phil's strategy. Anything to get his opponent to feeling inappropriately comfortable.

Okay. That's who's a better master of the mind game than Phil Mickelson. I don't know, Tiger Woods, I guess. I worry that he's conned you into betting on him. So I just wanted to give you one last chance to get out on this. You've had your ups and your downs with Phil dating back to the November masters. And I just wanted to make sure that you're locked in. And I hear you say, lock me in, Nathan.

I'm locked in. That's it. I'm locked in. Okay. And on top of that, we are locked in, Nate Dog, the British Open the Open Championship at Royal St. George's is right around the corner. We've got some great shows coming up. I hope everybody makes a little bit of money on the John Deere. Enjoy the Scottish. It is an embarrassment of

riches. You get to watch the Scottish in the morning and the John Deere in the evening. How wonderful is that? Everybody, par-saving pals, Eagle Enthusiast, get your bets down right now for the Open Championship. Louis Eustace in the top five. And hopefully I'll have a dollar or two to put on it after this, this match. Nate, dog,

always a pleasure. We will talk to you next week. Thanks, house.