Fairway Rollin' - Ep. 16: PGA Championship Recap

Episode Date: August 1, 2016

Geoff Shackelford and Joe House discuss deserving PGA champion Jimmy Walker (6:00), the PGA of America's series of mishaps (17:00), the bright spots from the telecast (24:00), the PGA Championship's identity crisis (33:00), and Ryder Cup roster implications (40:00). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today on Shackhouse, Jimmy Walker's epic win in the PGA Championship, the incredible week at Baltus Roll, and all sorts of other good stuff we're going to kick around from the end of the major championship season. Shackhouse, of course, is brought to you by Callaway Golf, makers of the Chromesoft golf ball, the ball that changed the ball. How did it change the ball? Chrome Soft brings fast ball speed and incredible soft feel to characteristics that did not go hand in hand until Calloway developed the ChromeSau's new dual-court technology. Test the Callaway Chrome Soft golf ball today and also don't be afraid of that Truvice technology. It's really, really cool stuff. Let's go to the Shack House. House, how about that PGA championship?

How about it, Jeff? Yeah, it took a while to get going. It was like a horse. It was a deep closer, you know. You just kind of kept waiting and waiting. But then we had that great rush at the end. And Jimmy Walker won the PGA championship over Jason Day. and it was as Billed, those par fives at the end made things interesting.

So let's talk about Jimmy Walker for a second. Okay. Where did this come from? Another old guy. Not a millennial. And it's kind of been the theme this season, especially the second half major, Stenson and our boy here, Jimmy Walker. What's going on? Well, yeah, especially if you looked at his finishing the majors prior to this, this year. year he hadn't done much i think t-29 at the masters miss a cut at the next two uh but if you listen to his interviews it was one of those things it just reminds you what a wacky goofy game this was he found something on his last nine uh the the sunday before last week and then he he mentioned he played those money games that he likes to play with phil you know he's in that group of uh of guys

who play to kind of hone their rider cup match skills and then also just to make a practice around interesting and he actually said that really was kind of important for him to kind of have a grinding practice round to test out whatever this little he didn't really reveal i'm sure he will what it was that kind of keyed in his swing and got his game going and then you know he's always been a good putter he's always been super long and those are pretty good things to be in golf and when it all comes together as it did for him and then his body held together as he said he has fought some injury issues. It, you know, it was, I guess I would say it was not a huge surprise,

except for the fact that he just hadn't been, his form had been pretty, pretty poor up to this point. Yeah, we've seen Jimmy Walker get hot before and look unstoppable. And when he gets on one of those runs, like he has, you know, a couple times over the last 24 months, he especially gets this short stick rolling. It was the thing that made me feel like he was a deserving champion. He putted the best of anybody and everybody this week. I don't know if the stats back that up, but to my dumb, you know, TV viewing eye, he was making putts from all over the place. The put that he made on 11 yesterday afternoon, the putt he made on 17 yesterday afternoon.

And the two putt on 18 was no small thing. He played the best, you know, Tita Green, but especially putting on the Greens. And so I felt like he was a worthy champion. I was very impressed, I have to say, though, by Jason Day. What a gutsy performance for a guy that did not, it didn't appear to have his A-game, his A-plus game. But I absolutely loved what he did, especially on 18. I don't know what iron that was. Was it a four-iron that he hit to 14 feet?

Yeah, from 250, what was it? 54, I think. Uphill. Somebody tweeted how close was that to the plaque with Jack's one iron, which is funny. But then he made the putt, and he walked the perimeter of the green and stared back down the fairway. He wanted to make sure that Jimmy Walker saw that what he had done,

it was the only way to manufacture a little bit of drama, a little bit of tension, because they were not playing in the same two-sum at the end of the tournament, which is something that I think, You and I both did not like format-wise. Yeah, no. I think we'll kind of pick on the PGA and all that in a minute. It really is amazing what a difference that can make in a tournament.

That said they were at least within the vicinity of one another. It could have been a bigger fiasco, frankly, based on some of the weather reports, if Sunday had not gone well weather-wise, where we could have had people finishing a day before other people who might have been in the clubhouse, so they were a little bit lucky there. I just also think that people should kind of recognize everything that Jimmy's gone through. He's one of those stories. I mean, he's not the greatest journeyman story of all time,

but he is a great journeyman story and that he is a little bit of a late bloomer. And he had to kind of really campaign and his wife got involved with getting Butch Harmon to help him get to this next level and great web.com player, but then dealt with some injuries. and then he just has this really cool different passion. He calls himself an astro imager, and NASA uses his images, and he's got this whole thing on the side, and his wife is a former journalism major.

She keeps an eye on a reporter's house. Every once in a while you get a little pushback on Twitter from the wife, but she's great, Aaron, and a lively personality. They're not the, I mean, there was that scene at the end. the kids come out and she's crying and she's a beautiful blonde and you know you think oh it's just kind of that classic tour story but there's a lot more to these people than the usual tour player and wife and family and i think i guess that you know he's a very popular winner in the press center he's an interesting interview too he'll kind of look at you sometimes you think

you've asked a kind of a rude question or something he'll give you this look but he's just kind of thinking through his answer he's very careful with his words and and i think it was fascinating he was in shock yesterday. I kept kind of waiting for him to show the more eloquent Jimmy, and he was not he was fine, he was a good interview, but he was in shock. He really, it was fascinating. He was definitely

like some of these guys got into his own, and then when the thing kind of ended and he had to snap out of it, it was hard for him, and I think that's neat to see. I always enjoy that. Me too. I thought, I found it endearing, to be honest with you. What I did not find endearing was a performance of Rory McElroy.

And I wasn't really impressed by Jordan Speeith either. We had Jim Nantz on last week, and we asked Jim, what do you think about the big three? In the first place, that narrative that was what we were looking at entering the season. And then, you know, hit the prospects for the big three in this tournament. And of the big three, it was only Jason Day that showed up. I mean, Jordan did have kind of a late push yesterday where he did, you know, it was like slightly interesting. It looked like he might go on a little tear. but he wasn't able to sustain everything.

And Rory, look, you know, there's a problem here. This is the second major this season where the dude has been on the final hole of his second round with the ability to, with, you know, whether or not he's going to make the cut hanging in the balance. And homie has hit the eject button both times in a very dramatic fashion. so dramatic it almost appears and this is not a conspiracy theory it almost appears deliberate like he is is aware of where you know that he just doesn't have his game that whatever issues are are befalling him with the putter are infecting the other aspects of his game and rather than see it through see through the weekend you know uh all he needed was

Bertie on 18 on Friday to make the cut. And, you know, 18 obviously played the easiest of all the holes at Bouti this week. And what he did was leave a chip in the cabbage short. You know, he had to chip twice out of a spot that was not that unlike what, where Jimmy Walker found himself on 18. And just not up to it. What do you think about the performance of the so-called Big Three? Well, I thought it was very consistent with their years. Jason was great, but maybe just slightly less great than he was last year.

And he's managed his year very well and paced himself. And the only bummer, I think, is that he's not going on to Rio because I think he would have won the gold medal or been very close there. But that said, you know, he can look at the air, even though it didn't include a major chance. championship as one that he paced himself well and put himself in contention at that last one in dramatic fashion and hit a brilliant shot on the last hole. And he can move along from there. Jordan just kind of continued everything that's been going on with him where you just sense it's just not clicking. It's close. The talent is still immense and there. And now maybe it's a good thing that he's going to shut it down for a few weeks. And we'll see what he does in the playoffs, how hard he grinds at that.

And then, you know, I would love to see him kind of shut it down, glide through the playoffs, and then just kind of find his game at the Ryder Cup again. I feel like match playing all that will really do it. And then, Rory, you know, his short game, there's a problem there. It's not getting better. It's getting worse. He now is fighting how's the perception that he's more in love with the gym than working on his short game.

And that's something that can put. put a player on their defensive, and we've seen it happen before with a few players. And I think that's going to be something that weighs on him and bugs him, because I think he likes the way his body has developed and that he looks like an athlete and all that stuff. But he just, he seems kind of, he seems just off. And he's getting married this year, so I don't know what he's going to do to kind of hit the reset button, but I don't know, you know, he's an international traveler.

when he's going to find time to kind of quiet down and find his game. And then, of course, the Zika virus has come to South Florida where he lives, so I don't know if he can even go home since that was one of the reasons he couldn't go to Rio. So he's got a lot on his plate, and I think that we've learned a hard lesson, not that you and I were big three, big four, big five advocates. I mean, I did an April Fool's post on that, and I just can't stand the term. and I think hopefully people have realized it golf's a very hard game. There are a lot of very talented people who play the game

and that, yeah, sometimes it is nice to have that little veteran seasoning and we learn that again this year that it isn't necessarily a young person's game yet. Well, I'm sorry to say that I was sucked in and I lost more of my capital than I care to confess on the idea that Rory was just one round away, that he was he's been since the masters ready to string four together and maybe that's part of why I'm extra bitter today after the eject this past week but we're going to talk about the broadcast and the PGA of America and its challenges with fielding a full tournament under major conditions

but before that we have a couple words from some friends of ours My friends, you've heard us here on the Shack House talk about a lot of things, our stylish clothes, our golf balls, our tequila, and our underwear. Today we're pleased to have the opportunity to talk about something slightly more personal and also hopefully use this podcast for the forces of good. All of us have friends and family that have been affected by the scourge that is cancer. We're very pleased today to announce a collaboration between Shackhouse, the Ringer, and Calloway Golf with a terrific charity called Golf Fights Cancer. Golf Fights Cancer is an organization that taps into the passion and generosity of all golfers to raise much-needed funds for cancer-related organizations and families living with the awful disease. Golf Fights Cancer inspires golfers and empowers them to take action. and make a difference. Funds raise make a tangible and immediate positive impact in and on the fight against cancer.

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Now, House, I polled the website readers at jeffshacklefer.com, and it was a landslide. They still say the USGA had a much worse year than the PGA of America. And I haven't written my rebuttal yet. I didn't want to taint the vote house. But as a tournament watcher, I would actually say that the PGA's week was worse than the USGAs. And here's why. The USGA at the U.S. Open and the U.S. women's open, they were dealt situations that were very difficult.

They didn't handle them maybe as well as we'd like. But they were really tough situations. The PGA of America went to Baltis Roel, Baltie, which by the way, you were vindicated on Baltie, right after we did last week's show, I sent you an article, so congratulations on that. But they went to the place where in 2005 they wanted to protect that lead-in audience to Sunday 60 minutes, did not move the tea times up an hour, and made everybody come back the next day because of a thunderstorm that was definitely in the forecast. And so it was one of the real screw-ups of all time. Thankfully, Phil's got them off the hook, like these great players tend to do, made a great finish.

Tiger didn't have to fly back from Florida for a playoff or anything, not that he would have made it. He was long gone. So they come back to the same place. They have a situation Saturday where they've got storms in the forecast. Again, they don't want to budge on the T times, I guess, to get that rating on Saturday and the T times later in the day. Of course, it leads to another situation where it's not pretty. Sunday's forecast is worse. And they got lucky Sunday that all that worked out.

Then you throw in the fact they actually cut a whole. in the wrong spot. Now, House, these are professionals. These are supposed to be the best at what they do. You know, you can give out a wrong pin sheet, but to actually cut it in the wrong spot, just completely make

that mistake and not have anybody catch that. That is just awful. That is amateur hour like I can't comprehend. So they were salvaged by two things. One, the players performed beautifully at the end to help us forget those things. And number two, Mark Coons, the

superintendent and his crew somehow made those playing areas playable, even though they played lift clean in place, which was very unfortunate and something they said they wouldn't do. And then they did it the next day. So they were salvaged by those two things. But for me, from a tournament function, wonky, geeky kind of perspective, terrible week. So I know you, though, had a kind of bigger picture issue with them. Well, I am, yeah, I did. You've convinced me, though.

I was prepared, you know, it's going to take me a long time to get over the USGA's mishandling of the Dustin Johnson rules fiasco. But, you know, when I think about what you just laid out, the case you made for the mistakes of the PGA of America, not the PGA tour, the PGA of America, two different entities. I have to, I'm coming around your way of thinking, for this reason, all of the problems the PGA and counter this weekend were foreseeable. They were anticipatable. Yeah. They knew that there was bad weather in the forecast. They've been through hosting this tournament under bad weather circumstances. At that course.

At that course. And still, we had a series of mishaps that really impacted, to me, the enjoyment of the weekend. In the first place, Jason Sobel did a great. great job on ESPN making the case that they could have completed the entire third round on Saturday if they'd gone to split T's and threesomes and if they'd kicked off right around seven in the morning. The bad weather on Saturday didn't arrive until nearly 2.30 in the afternoon if they had just taken that modest step, which other majors have done, including the the Open Championship of putting players in threesomes and moving up the start time, split T's,

that you could have had the whole third round completed. And this was the biggest complaint for me, permitted a repairing of all of the competitors so that the guys could play with each other. The guys at the top of the leaderboard could play with each other on Sunday because this is the one thing I felt we were cheated of. And you mentioned that the PGA of America was lucky that Jason and Jimmy were approximate enough that Jason could look down the fairway at Jimmy. They should have been playing together. We don't know.

We'll never know. And it doesn't diminish Jimmy's win at all that the circumstances worked out this way. But we'll never know how he might have performed with Jason Day standing next to him for the entire round. And I thought in view of all of the ways they could have mitigated. that issue to have not taken the steps. And I know each way, each decision they made iteratively, there was a certain logic behind why they didn't want to go to split T's and threesomes on Saturday, and why they declared there would be no lift clean in place Saturday night and then immediately moved

off of that on Sunday, and why they declared they wouldn't repair, and then it turned out they probably could have accommodated a repairing. I understand the logic behind each of those. But in the aggregate, it really undermined the enjoyment of the total tournament. To me. I don't understand the logic. You do, I don't. The logic is very simple.

It's television. They are consumed with pleasing their television partners. And then the irony of that is their television situation is a mess. They have a contract that they signed years ago, the previous regime, that stuck them with a lot of parameters and things that are really take down the championship. or us. So that's where I don't get the logic. Your TV partner, in particular, TNT, CBS, less so, but TNT in particular is not serving you well. And so why are we compromising a championship, A, for television ever, if it's supposed to be this major championship, but B, one that's really not even doing you a service the way they're presenting the championship. So look, this is the

I'm getting high-pitched, house. I know, and you heard me high-pitched, especially when it comes to Rory in my capital. God. Damn it. Oh, yeah. You need to get. You know, there's there's two things going on here. And me and my good pal, Bill Simmons, talked a little bit about the identity crisis that the PGA championship finds itself in because of, you know, this curiously, underwhelming portrayal of the tournament on television. And I thought Martin Kaufman did a nice job in Golf Week. yesterday, I guess it went up last night, of sort of running through a summary of the ways that the telecast fell short. The curious thing is TNT ended up showing more of the tournament. I bet. I haven't sat down and counted up the hours, but I bet TNT covered more of the tournament than CBS because of the Saturday washout. And TNT is wonderful. You and I both huge NBA fans. We love Ernie Johnson. We love TNT for all of the ways that they innovate when it comes to the NBA product.

We don't understand why when it comes to golf. We don't see that same kind of commitment to the product. It's just once a year that TNT is involved in this. And I hate to heap on. They did have a couple of things. There were a couple aspects of the telecast I loved. I loved Amanda Ballionis and Mike Weir. I thought Amanda.

How about that? Mike Weir. You know, two folks with genuine golf credentials asking questions of the players that were informed questions that are built on things that the players themselves had observed. And Weirsey with his, yeah, I called him Weirsey. We're pals. No, we're not. Somebody alleged that I look like him at some point. I don't think that's possible. Yeah, maybe a foot taller version.

Yeah, I was going to say on three times his size. Another 100 pounds, too. That's right. But no, I thought both of them lended a credibility to the TNT telecast. That's right. It was welcome. And TNT did try some of the technology

with the ProTracer and the slit screen. Not nearly enough. But on balance, my biggest complaint is the lack of coverage. It's a major. Why do I have to wait hours for the telecast to start? Why is it only online? and where is the rebroadcast? I work during the day.

The competition is being held during work hours Thursday and Friday. I would like to come home and watch a little bit of the tournament just to see Rory miss all those puts. And I especially like to see him hit the eject on Friday. I would have liked to have seen a little bit more of DJ to see if I could get a feel for what was going on there. It looked to me on, you know, online review that he, kind of checked out. As soon as he hit a little bit of a bad stretch, he kind of checked out. And I don't, I'm not going to kill the guy after the season that he's had. He's kind of entitled to, you know, one bad performance and wanting to sort of just get out of there, which is the way

it looked. He only shot two over on Friday, but all the damage was done on Thursday. I would have liked to have watched some of the tournament, though, on a rebroadcast. Do you get what I'm saying? Well, yeah, ESPN spoiled us at the Masters. I believe really, actually the rebroadcast may have predated them. But anyway, Golf Channel, ESPN, all the other majors that have had these events. Even the U.S. Open, I believe they did a truncated rebroadcast. Spoiled us because, as you mentioned, people work. People have DVRs.

They don't want to delete certain things. They don't want a six-hour telecast. And there's just something convenient about flipping on the TV. And there it is. And so we've been spoiled now by having that luxury with golf channel. And so again, this contract was done a while ago, and TNT's got very lucrative reruns they want to show. And they're not committed to golf. They do this once a year, and they commit for a week.

But they have a contract, and that's it. And so, you know, if CBS Sports Network was doing the first two rounds, I guarantee you that rebroadcast will be on a loop. But this is the arrangement that the PGA is saddled with for three more years, house. They will begin negotiations on a new contract with the networks, I would assume, late next year, or maybe midsummer next year. And that'll be an interesting bidding war. I think CBS smells a little bit of a threat because Sean McManus spoke to Martin Kaufman in that piece you mentioned. But I thought CBS had a good telecast. But the telling thing, House, and I wrote all about this, and we won't belabor it, but I wrote about it on my site,

they save a lot of their bells and whistles for their telecast. And that's something else we've been spoiled by with a little more synergy. Even on the week-to-week tour events, when it's CBS Golf Channel, let's say, there's less of that going on. And I felt like I sensed more of that than normal, that T&T was not able to use or CBS just chose not to use some of the things that they then use on their own broadcast, which I kind of get. But like you said, TNT ended up being on

as much and vital hours. And so you're watching this broadcast out of the 90s or the early 2000s. The music is just tired and the graphics are everything about it. You're just not getting a lot of information. And what it tells you, though, because we're talking about it, is how much television can tell the story of a major championship and give it the feeling of a major or not give it the feel of a major. Yeah, so we have a speed round coming up.

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who were on those same wavelengths. But the first one, obviously, is this identity issue. House, you and Bill Simmons on last week's Friday, Rowland, talked about this and the PGA being kind of the Australian Open of golf, only I would say almost weaker now, identity-wise, because of the telecasts, as we just outlined, but also some other things. What would be your number one thing to inject a little more identity into the fourth of four majors. So one thing that Bill and I talked about, and he attributed and gave you credit for this idea, so I guess I'm going to give you credit for it as well.

I'd love to see the PGA Championship feature the iconic golf courses on the West Coast with a lot more frequency. I'd love to see Pebble and Tori and Riviera and maybe even LACC in a rhoda, every two, three years for a whole variety of reasons. In the first place, you know what is not happening out in California in August? Or any other months of the year. Right, right. Well, that's an environmental crisis that is probably beyond the scope of the show.

But, right, no, we're not dealing with downpours and rainstorms and thunder and lightning. The other thing that I love about the West Coast hosting events is how it makes for primetime television watching. So it ought to be an easy sell to the PGA of America and its television partner to get out there on the West Coast and show these great venues in prime time and let the PGA gets the best field every year, year in, year out. let's see the best players on these terrific West Coast golf courses. Well, I think the PGA of America would agree with you, House. The problem is that a lot of those venues, you mentioned, the USGA's kind of grabbed, or there are places like the Olympic Club who dream of hosting another U.S. Open. And so they've run into trouble trying to find venue.

I mean, Tori Pines, they wanted desperately, but I think Tori Pines either wanted a bold package or they wanted the U.S. Open, and they ended up going with the U.S. Open. I think they wanted a Rider Cup thrown in, and the West Coast is tough to do the Rider Cup on. But you're absolutely right. You know, there have been many columns written over the years about West Coast venues, and Pebble Beach was even nominated as an annual venue, and I don't know if the Lodge just didn't want to give up August.

It's a prime season to visit the lodge, but they are sticking with their U.S. Open rotation, a rota of every 10 years. But I mean, I feel like Chambers Bay, as poorly as that went in some ways, was a course that I thought the PGA of America might go to and try to grab for the reasons you laid out. And for the reasons we laid out earlier, TV ratings are obviously so important to these people, which is depressing. But, you know, West Coast venues deliver bigger ratings.

So it's something that Pipe of Aqua, the CEO, is trying desperately to do. They have Harding Park lined up. for 2020, which I think is a disappointing choice. Wouldn't have been my selection, but at least it is in the West Coast, and it gives them flexibility on the next Olympic year to either play in May. They could go a lot of different months there, and they've laid out scenarios of an October, a May, or even another, hopefully not another July PGA. I think it'll be on one of the ends of the season. House, my nomination, and it's pretty well-known. the people who've read my website for a while, an international venue on these Olympic years.

And the PGA of America looked at it. I don't know why they ended up going with Harding Park in 2020, but 2020 was a year they could have said, hey, we've got to take the PGA internationally, get away from the Olympic Games, and they could have gone to Australia. And at the end of their summer in February, they could have aligned where maybe in eight years or four years they go to to an Asian venue, which would have been an enormous international event. And I just feel like that was something that would have given that event. Identity isn't probably the right word house, but it would have given it a level, a cachet internationally.

And I think it would have just elevated the PGA championship in a way that would make up for going to some mediocre courses or these years where we're in these. I mean, next year's in Charlotte House. I looked at the radar yesterday. The only place there weren't red, vicious thunderstorms in North Carolina yesterday was Charlotte, which was nice. But it was a war zone down there. There's no way they're finishing that tournament without a few delays next year. And so, extraordinary efforts. It is a bummer.

I love your idea. I especially am fond of the Australia idea. Australia has acquitted itself so nicely on the international stage. in February. How great would that be? I just, the last sort of semi-criticism, why would the PGA of America seed the international flavor to the WGC events? I mean, the WGC events have come in. The opportunity is there because nobody is competing on the international stage with getting the very best players out of the U.S. And, you know, so that's, I wish there was a way to get this international thing accomplished, but it isn't going to be through any of the already existing

majors. No, no, no, no. All right, what do we got next on the speed round front? I've been told that people are interested in hearing how our prognostication of forecasting might have gone. I will say I have some regrets. We did have kind of a thesis around the idea of bomb and gouge that the guys that hit the long ball might have an advantage. And I kind of loaded up. I had some DJ. I had some Tony Fee now. I had you and I both loved J.B. Holmes. I had a little Gary Woodland. I mean, a bunch of guys that fit that profile. All of them missed the cut. I mean, even Rory. Rory's pretty damn long off the T, you know, and was all performed well for the most part off the this week, but also missed the cut. So this is, I'm going to have to be satisfied with giving out to

all of our friends and listeners, three out of four major winners. I did not identify the major winner. I did have a brief fleeting moment. I was thrilled by Brandon Grace climbing up the leaderboard Sunday. I thought it could be that awkward scenario where he throws up at 11 or 12 under and is sitting there for many hours waiting for Jason and Jimmy Walker to come in, staring at that 12 under number. It was not meant to be. We did hit a couple props. We did hit on the score. You were very emphatic that it would be under 271.5.

That was an easy winner. And we also – Good. There was only one guy, I think. The other one was a 64 and a half for a single round. low score. I think it was only Robert Streb 63 that went under. So that one was a little more nerve-wracking. I meant to send Robert Streb a thank you note on Friday with that score. We also talked about will there be four maiden winners, you know, four winners this year of the major tournaments

who are first-time winners of majors that hit. That was only an even money wager. And there was one on Will the winner be from the U.S., that one had a long track record of success at Belty, so happy to hit that, but sorry for not giving out a winner this time, my friends. Well, you got Rio

in a smaller field, and you will have some insights from Gilhance who will be our guest on next week's show to tell you who it's going to favor. Oh, I'm excited. Yeah, and that's really helpful. Yeah, yeah. It should be 30 players, you

should be able to pick from, but I think it has a chance for a fun long shot. I've already got my eye on Johnny Vegas and Mateo Manasaro, who got in kind of last minute, but was very involved in the Olympic process several years ago in trying to get representing golf. So I feel, and it's a good golf course for both of them from what Gill has told me. So we'll get more from Gil on that and some more insights on who the Olympic golf course in Rio will favor. Because Hey House, the Olympics. The opening ceremony starts Friday, August 5th, and the golf starts just six days later.

So we're not far away. I can't wait to allocate some more capital. All right, last speed round question. Jimmy Walker just jumped right into the mix on the Ryder Cup. And the four guys looking on the outside of the Great Eight looking in are my man, Bubba Watson, Pat Reed, Matt Coocher, and Ricky Fee. Fowler. If the Ryder Cup was to start today, those guys look like pretty good locks as captain's pick. Is there anyone else worth discussing even? Bill Haas, Daniel Berger, who else besides

those four guys? Yeah, I think that, I think that Haas is an interesting one for Davis-Love because he's currently 14th and he ended up being his dad's pick at the President's Cup and performed quite admirably. And he has, man, he's such a great guy, he's such a talent. He's just somebody you want so badly to have on the team. And yet this year, you know, he's been kind of an enigma. And I think that's going to be a tricky one for Davis Love and his army of vice captains.

How about you? Yeah, I don't think that any of the four that are outside looking in right now, Bubba, Pat, Reed, Coocher, Ricky Fowler should be leapt over by anybody on the outside, but we have the whole FedEx cup run still in front of us. And so we will see out of all the guys that are currently on the list, the ones I could see falling out of the grade eight, you know, Brant Snetiker has been pulling this rabbit out of his hat, you know, on the cusp of not making cuts and then sneaks right in and then has, you know,

a decent round on the weekend to sort of stick around. And there is real merit to that, to that stick-to-itiveness. It's kind of the opposite of what Rory McElroy has done this season. But he, I haven't, yeah, I haven't seen a lot of Snetiker this season. Really since that round he had at Torrey, that 69 he shot at Tori in February. He hasn't really wowed me. So if he dropped out of this mix, it wouldn't, it wouldn't shock me. What about you?

in terms of guys that are on the list now that might fall out and who might slide in. Yeah, I know. I mean, it really is an all-star group there right at the bubble. And now I wish I knew the answer to this question house, but I don't know what if the Olympics are providing. I mean, our four American Olympians are all right at the 9, 10, 11, 12 spot on the Ryder Cup team. And I don't know if they get any points. I know they get world ranking points.

and they get credit for a start on their respective tour playing in the Olympics. But I'm pretty sure there's nothing there in terms of rider cut points, which is too bad because they are representing their country. But I guess the guy I'm most fascinated by is Bubba, just trying to understand where he's at and what he's going to do. He's going to play the travelers and then roll into Rio, kind of on short notice, which might not be the worst thing. So he's the one that I'm – I just – I would love.

I love having him on the Ryder Cup team as a media person. I don't know how he fits with the team in the team room. I'm going to guess that Matt Kutcher and Ricky Fowler fit a whole lot better. And whereas Bubba and Patrick Reed are sort of enigmas. But gosh, I think we all want Patrick Reed on the Ryder Cup team based on the way he played last time and that we want to see, you know, no offense to Matt Kutcher and Bubba Watson, but we want to see the younger guys develop into Ryder Cup players and fans because it makes them great representatives of their country,

they're fun to watch, and we also know that the Ryder Cup develops people as players. It seems to somebody like Jimmy Walker, who played in the last Ryder Cup, and now he's won a major championship, and he's part of those matches during the rounds. So I tend to root for the younger guys to make the team on merit

because they tend to get overlooked by captains who tend to like veterans. Yeah, that's why I'm psyched. Kepka is kind of firmly in the mix. He's in the fifth spot right now. Yeah. I mentioned Daniel Berger, who could really be there but for the injury that he I think the health is, yeah, the issue there.

So if he can get over that and string something together. But it'll be a fun next, what do we have before the Rotter Cup, six weeks, give or take, seven weeks? No, it's going to be great. And what's nice to see is so many players who will be part of those teams playing well. And the European team is starting to really shape up. I mean, Andy Sullivan, who we discussed, at another, showed some really nice moments of Baltus roll.

And obviously, Henrik Stenson is going to be a big team leader there for Europe. So the great events keep coming, which we knew this year would have. But I feel like the Ryder Cup is setting up better now for a good quality match, whereas it was feeling earlier in the year like the Americans might be dominant. Yep. All right, well, that's it for this week, Shackhouse. We have an exciting guest in Gilhance next week. I will be in Rio, all things, travel, safely, willing, all that good stuff, House.

And, of course, as always, our friends at the Ringer are providing great content and giving us the opportunity to do this show. And Friday, Roland was outstanding last week if you didn't catch it. House and Bill Simmons discussed the PGA Championship. And, of course, if you didn't hear our episode last week with Jim Nance, it's a, the conference, just skip right past House and a, discussing our picks in the BGA Championship and just go about 45 minutes into Jim Nance. He was sensational house. And I just thought a lot about that conversation. Yeah, it was a great conversation. All right, great. Well, thank you all for listening. We'll talk to you from Rio next week.

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