Fairway Rollin' - Ep. 5: Patrick Reed

Episode Date: April 27, 2016

12th ranked professional golfer in the world Patrick Reed joins ShackHouse to talk about playing in the Olympics, preparation for Oakmont, his favorite city to eat in, and his near win at the Valero Texas Open. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Oh, A.OK. It is the last week of April. May is upon us. We've got this compressed schedule in the PGA tour. You know, it felt like a month that we've been away from this podcast, even though it was barely a week, even 10 days, whatever. But I am ready, raring to go. We have a couple of kind of lower-tier tournaments coming up here.

We have New Orleans and then another quiet one the week after. But then things get going, and I'm ready to jump all over at Jeff Shackleford. Yeah, usually Mays a little bit dull. Although even, you know, like last week's event and the Quail Hollow event should have a good feel coming up. And New Orleans gets good players because they basically pay. appearance fees with the sponsor forcing certain people there. So it actually is kind of gone from May used to be just kind of dreary to even right now we've got some cool stuff. And I'll tell you, last week's Follaro, Texas Open was not an event I had anticipated watching, but I kind of knew I had to write a little

column before and I remember, you know, weird stuff happens at this place. It's a kind of dreadful looking golf course on TV, the TPC San Antonio. But, you know, it's one of those places house where cool stuff happens. And so they had an amazing finish. Patrick Reed and Charlie Hoffman dualed. Billy Horshaw was in the last group. Ricky Barnes was in contention, but it was actually really cool because Hoffman's kind of had trouble sealing the deal. And then there's Patrick who's just been having a quietly good year.

And hey, guess what, House? We got Patrick Reed on the phone. So let's go listen to what we had to talk about with Reed. I know he's one of your favorites. Yeah, he is. I had him. I had some money on him at the Masters. I'm going to have some money on at the U.S. Open.

Welcome Patrick Reed. Joining us now is Patrick Reed, four-time tour winner. He has over $12 million in career earnings. He's ranked 12th in the world, and he's joining us from Houston. Patrick, how are you? I'm doing well, you guys? We're great. We're really appreciative that you're on here today, right, House?

Absolutely. Thank you very much for taking time out of your busy Callaway schedule to get on here with the Shackhouse crew today. All right, so we're going to go right for the jugular here. Valero Open, awesome play down the stretch by you. Both House and I watched and were just totally fascinated, like everybody else who watched, with the 18th hole. You hit a drive kind of down the left side, and you were sort of blocked out by trees, and you just pulled off. I think one of the best shots we've seen in a long time on the tour. Tell us first, was the weight as long as it seemed as it did to those of us watching on TV?

That was probably even longer. I didn't have any opportunity to actually watch it, but I'm sure I would think they would have to cut to commercial at some point because we were there forever waiting on the group in front. But, you know, how they had that golf course set up on Sunday, they allowed that if you hit a decent drive, you could go forward to two. And, you know, I knew there's one of those situations, down by one going last I needed to make at least four. And, you know, so it was go bigger, go home. And, you know, I did all I could put the pressure on Charlie. And, you know, unfortunately, just wasn't quite enough. Was all that time to think about that shot? Was that a good thing in that

case because when we were watching on TV, it just seemed like it was so much time to just think about what could go wrong. Yeah, you know, in the position where you're one back going into the last and you're having to wait, it's not as quite as one of the situations where you start thinking of the things that could go wrong. You more try to kind of think of making sure you're making the right decision because if you have a lead going in the last hole, then that's when you start thinking, oh, what are the bad scenarios that could happen? You know, in my situation, more just, all right, well, I have to pull this shot off so I can give myself an opportunity to make a three or a four to put the pressure onto Charlie.

And, you know, I hit that great shot there on 18. I felt like I made the chip and then the top of the revolutioner are too short. And, you know, he made a great putt to have me on the hole and to clip me by one. So that's really interesting, Patrick. The one thing that you just said that I kind of wondered about watching it, you were thinking that four was a necessary score. Did you think about laying up at all? No, I did not.

I'm an aggressive player as it is, and I'm normally a drawer of the golf ball. With the wind down and off the right, I knew that from where I was, I had a chance to hit that three iron and rope it around the tree, and it should be enough. And I knew at worst case,

it would have been just short, and I would have had a chance chipping up and I had to give myself a situation where I had a chance of making three. I felt like if I laid back up to 80 or 90 yards, you know, I could hit it to five, four feet and, you know, rolling the putt. But where Charlie was sitting in the middle of fairway, just a clear shot to the hole with a hybrid in his hand, I was like, well, you have to go for it. There's really no option at this point to lay up.

And, you know, I did basically all I could on 18, but, you know, I was 16 and 17. seem to be where the tournament was lost for me. I'm missing the two pretty good looks for Bernie and him making two solid pus to keep his one-up lead. Yeah, and the other fun thing you wouldn't have known because you didn't see the telecast, but you took a long time on the chip on 18, and Charlie was in the back bunker kind of looking like he was going to have a tough

up and down, and Falo was kind of shocked that you were taking so much time with that wed shot, and then when you almost made it, he kind of went, oh, it was almost like, I can't believe he was really trying to make that. You know, you left the two inches short. It was an unbelievable shot. But you clearly were, that was your whole thought of it was trying to hole out that wet shot. Oh, for sure. I knew where Charlie was in that bunker. In previous years, the golf course had been a lot firmer. And with all that rain that came in, the greens are a little softer to that back left bunker where he was,

it was a bunker shot that you could easily hit it to five feet, four feet. I was sitting there thinking to my mind, well, he's got this shot. And, you know, just, you know, just, you know, just, Just one of those things I knew I could get that thing on the ground rolling once you got. I was like, all right, we'll read this correctly and, you know, hit that one good, that one perfect shot. And it was close. All I needed was a revolution or two more because it was a, it was dead center. I thought it was in. My brother-in-law thought it was in because where we were, it was kind of up and over that ridge.

And, you know, anytime you can have a kick in birdie and at least put a little bit of pressure on him and, you know, he made that clutch pot. Yeah. So we saw the quote afterwards. and both loved it. I'm still first loser. You have eight top 10 so far this season, but the mindset for you is W or nothing. Is that right?

Exactly. You know, to me, when I'm out here playing, it's not about finishing top 10, not about making the cut, it's about going to get Ws. And, you know, I feel like I let one slip away there. You know, yet I'd never had the lead in the tournament. So I actually never got the lead.

and I felt like even with how I was playing on Friday through Sunday because I didn't really feel like I hit the ball that great. And I felt like I putted okay. And, you know, to come down Sunday still have a chance going on that back nine and making that clutch putt on 15 to get to one down and, you know, to not make one of those on 16 and 17. We're hard to swallow. By the same time, at the end of the day, it was a good finish,

but not where I wanted to be. Now, Patrick, you, yeah, the question, was pretty, pretty, got a lot of people's attention, you're still the first loser and all that, and you are talking about wins, but this is an Olympic year, you're 12th in the world, are you, and of course, the format, a lot of people don't understand it, but if there are four Americans within the top 15, they all make the Olympic team. So right now, you're the fifth American. As much as you're thinking about Ws, do you still, you know, look at a week like that and go, well, I've picked up some real ranking points for my possible bid to make the Olympic team?

Yeah, I mean, after the fact you think about that, but really, you know, Dustin's playing so well, and he's played so well recently that, you know, I need Ws and I need to, you know, I need to get up there and, you know, win some golf tournament. You know, anytime you can represent your country, it's awesome, and I just need to go out there and hopefully close one of these out and put a little bit more pressure on the guys. So you're right there now positioned. If any of the four guys ahead of you slide out, you're in, you definitely want to play in the Olympics. Is that right?

Oh, for sure. Like I said, any time I can represent my country, whether it's a President's Cup, Ryder Cup, Olympics, you know, just that pride to be aware of the Stars and Stripes, you know, means a lot. If I have the opportunity, I'll be there. Are you surprised at the number of players of late have decided they don't want to play in the Olympics, or is this something that kind of amongst tour players, everybody sort of expected a few people to kind of drop out before the drug testing gets more intricate and before everybody starts to get too close to the games and too committed and all that. Is this something you thought would happen, or are you a little surprised?

Yeah, it's kind of hard to say because, you know, all those guys, I'm sure, who have pulled out, they pulled out for a good reason. Honestly, I don't know enough about the reasoning behind why they're missing, whether they had prior obligations where they had family reasons or you know things like that so you know it's hard for me to tell and that's the thing about golf is just kind of one of those things that with how many events we have throughout the year people have different schedules and you know a lot of people are just you know going to look at events you know whether it fits their schedule whether it's one those things that they're going to try to fit in their schedule it sure those guys have good you know

good reasons because knowing the guys that have they're not guys that are just going to So speaking of schedule and trying to fit things in, you're still a pretty new dad. Your daughter is coming up on, I think, her second birthday. And you're trying to map out a schedule. What surprised you the most about being a dad? Yeah, I think the main thing is just trying to juggle schedule and juggle with time. because, you know, when you're out on the road, you always want to spend time with your baby and your family.

And, you know, the great thing is Justine and Windsor Well, they travel with me to almost every single event. So it makes it a lot easier for me. You're always on the road with us. So I'm able to spend a lot of time with her and watch her grow up. And, you know, it's awesome. It was, you know, I'd never expect it to be this much fun.

You know, I've always heard about, you know, once you become a parent, there's a lot of other responsibilities and everything that comes with it, which, you know, has been awesome. And, you know, it's one of those things that is so much fun. And, you know, even though I had a really long day today, I mean, we were up to 1130 last night playing around, you know, just having a blast. And those are moments you're never going to forget.

And those are moments that you cherish and are so much fun to be a part of. And, you know, I can't wait for later tonight to do the same thing. Does your wife miss Canning? Yes, she does. She says it's actually hard outside the rope. and the good thing is she's always part of it and she's always out there walking practice rounds with me,

helping me figure out a game plan for the golf course. So Kessler myself and Justina are all on the same page and know exactly what we're trying to do on. Even though she's not technically caddying during the turnaround, she's gone through everything with us Monday through Wednesday to get us prepared and, you know, ready to go as if she was in the ropes for tournament days.

That's wild. I didn't know that. That's interesting. So we have Oakmont coming up for the U.S. Open. You haven't played there, right? I've not. So a golf course like that, old golf course, a lot of local knowledge required, you know, crazy old greens. There is some strategy. There's some semi-blind stuff.

It's a great golf course. But it definitely has some local knowledge elements. So when you go, when you look at a place like that and you talk to them about the golf course, and will you do anything like hire a local caddy or talk to some of the pros who work there, Is there anything special you'll do in preparing for that U.S. Open at Oakmont? It just kind of all depends. You know, I don't like to treat events as if they're larger than others. I like to treat a golf tournament as a golf tournament

and go into it and prepare the same way as I do week in and week out because I feel like then I don't put any extra pressure on anything. Make sure you hit quality golf shots and make sure you make putts. And at the end of the day, whoever's hitting their lines and hitting full control or golf ball hitting it where they want to. The golf course could be completely tricked out and everything, yet you're still going to be able to shoot a low number. And, you know, so that's just something I've always wanted to do.

So a little bit different direction, something near and dear to my heart. What's your favorite stop on tour food-wise? What city do you love? Norland. I love Norlands. I love New Orleans food. Oh, coming up. Oh, yeah.

In a matter of hours. You know, unfortunately, we're not playing there. Yeah, we're not playing there this year. But, you know, the oysters, the seafood, the, you know, French cuisine, chop house, New Orleans, steakhouse, all those places that are just seeing the season where there's crawfish. I mean, it's probably the only pro am on tour that when you play in the pro em, you actually feel 10 pounds heavier when you get done after six hour pro am. you do any other program you play.

So why know New Orleans this year just because of the crazy crowded schedule? Yeah, it just didn't quite fit the schedule because we always like to play Wells Fargo at players. And it just, you know, I'm trying to cut back a little bit, especially with last year. I was way 37 to 30. I knew I needed to cut it. Yeah, there's also Olympics and Ryder Cup in there. So, I mean, this is a season that's going to go all the way up to damn near Thanksgiving, it feels like. Oh, yeah.

It's going to be a longer season, it seems like, for everybody than prior. But at the same time, if you're playing some good golf, it can be a lot of fun. All right, Patrick. We do a little thing called the Speed Round on this show. It's normally House and I, but we're going to make you answer some short questions, hopefully easy ones, hopefully nothing too grueling here. The Speed Round is presented by our friends and your friends at Calloway, who remind you to quickly head on over to CallawayGolf.com slash community.

and sign up for their Callaway community. House and I are signed up there, so check it out. All sorts of cool stuff. Things from equipment junkies, ways you can maybe get some prototypes, all sorts of cool news, and, of course, learn about this podcast, maybe even ask a few questions. All right, Patrick. First question, favorite golf course on the PGA tour.

Double. All right, favorite non-golf sport? College football. that's an easy one. And that makes you an LSU fan? An LSU fan and Notre Dame fan. Oh, what's Notre Dame? I actually played golf at Pebble with Brian Kelly.

I grew up watching them every Saturday. And, you know, I just loved them. And, you know, I had the opportunity of playing my first year. I played, well, one of my years, first year in Pebble, I played with Jimmy Dunn and Brian Kelly. It was so much fun playing there with Brian Kelly and Jimmy. We had such a blast. And, you know, coach and I keep in contact.

a little bit. And, you know, I hope, hopefully you can get up there and see a game and then go over there and watch LSU play some football as well. All right. You already told us your favorite dining city on the PGA tour. But let's go inside the clubhouse a little bit. Best player dining or family dining on the PGA tour, because, you know, a lot of people don't know there's some pretty cool free spreads in the clubhouses. Yeah, you're going to love this one. New Orleans. Oh, shocking. Shocker. Yeah, just on the player dining, I mean, New Orleans has such a large spread. You know, it's not just that the food's so great, but they have such a variety.

You have so many options. And normally you have about two or three, maybe four options on, you know, on a normal player dining. But in New Orleans, you have like eight to ten. And you kind of walk around, you're like, hmm, what do I want? A little bit of this, a little bit of that. Next thing you know you have almost two plates full, and you're like, well, I can't eat all this. Let's see, what is the hole you most enjoy playing on the tour? I would say the 10th at Windham.

You know, it's where I had my first one with Justine on the bag. You know, I went from complete turmoil by when my T-shot went right, and then the volunteer, basically, that it was inbound by 10 yards, going even close. And now all of a sudden I had a bunch of joy, and then Jordan goes and hits it to 15 feet. and Justine and I were looking at the down, and she's pointing, you know, to thread the needle through the trees and hit up there to eight feet and make the put to win, by far, not only the best, my favorite hole, but the most emotional hole I've ever played. Sweet. All right. That's pretty tough to beat, but so I'm going to, of course, end it with a downer.

Hole you least enjoy playing on the PGA tour. Man, you stop me out. I mean, how do you feel about those finishing holes at TPC Sawgrass? They don't look, 17 and 18, just, well, 18 especially, it just doesn't look fun to play. It just looks hard. I mean, it's not fun, but it's a great golf hole. Yeah. You know, 17's, I think, more hype than anything. Mm-hmm.

It's only a pitching wedge. Yeah. But. So there's no hole that you, like, lie awake at night, dreading the next day kind of thing. Yeah, that's good. That's a good one. That's why he's 12th in the World House. I know it.

I think. All right. Well, that's good that you don't have one. You despise playing, and the commissioner will be great. you won't get fined for saying anything negative on this show. So all in all, Patrick, it's been a pleasure. We know, especially it's been a long day. You've been doing some stuff with some shooting and all that cool stuff,

and you just had a great finish at the Valeros. So House, anything else you wanted to cover with Patrick that I forgot about? No, I just continued good luck. I'm really looking forward to seeing you in the U.S. Open. You've had a couple great opens here back-to-back years, and I'm excited to see you at Oakmont. so good luck through the rest of the year. I appreciate it, guys.

It was a lot of fun. Thanks for having me. All right, thanks, Patrick, for that. We really appreciate you joining us here on Shackhouse, which is presented by Calloway Golf, the number one iron in golf. Their irons have a face built to change the game to push the industry further and performance farther. If you're not playing an iron,

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I put them in the bag. I can't wait to get out there and actually use them. They're just in the bag at the moment. But I love them. Beautiful. All right, House. So, interesting week in golf, as usual whenever Tiger decides to come out of whatever hibernation he's in. And he's done some interesting stuff. My colleague Tim Rosefort reported a few times that he was doing some stuff, hitting some balls, maybe playing a few holes. And then Tiger showed up at the junior clinic at Sage Valley, this kind of high-end place. It's like the Masters for Junior Golf, and it's Nike got him there.

I mean, let's be honest. But still, cool that he showed up. Rory did it last year. and he put in two days. You know, he did a clinic. He stood on the first tea. He went to dinner at night, hung out with the kids, got some heart rates up severely when he stood on the first tee,

watching him tee off. I got to tell you, the footage of the kids teeing off, unbelievable. Like, their tempo looked absolutely astonishing with Tiger Woods watching them. I just was so impressed. So that was really great. He looked a little stiff, a little rigid in the back. And then he opens his course in Houston here on Monday. We're recording this on the 26th, so that was the 25th.

And he played, and he said it was the first round of golf he's played since Windham last year, which contradicted Tim Roosevelt's report. I don't necessarily think Tim had it wrong. You never know what Tiger. He has been known to bend the truth a little bit when he likes to. He loves to get revenge with writers, and he loves to try to make him look bad and dump things on Friday nights and all that. It's just a weird leftover thing from his scandal and he needs to get over.

But anyway, I don't think he's going to tee it up a quail hollow, but I also never rule anything out with him at this point because he has just shown up at the Masters. Ready to go. Did you take a look at some of those swings and some of those videos? Did you have a reaction? Yeah, I sure did. And I have to tell you, I forgot how much I enjoy watching Tiger play golf. and I was one of the people whose heart rates went up a little bit watching him take full swings.

He was hitting some of those two irons stingers. He was, he hit driver a few times. And I understand exactly what you are saying, Jeff, about the way he looked physically. He wasn't finishing high. He wasn't in kind of a full torque, reversy position at the end of any of those. swings, but I don't care. I didn't care when I was watching it. I'm very, very, very excited.

We're going to see Tiger Woods play golf this season. I don't know when, you know, it's going to be. And I honestly don't really care. I want more than anything for him to come back when he's fully healthy and not, you know, most unlikely to have any of the mishaps or missteps he's had before where he wasn't 100% physically. want them to be 100% physically, and I want them to play in a bunch of events because golf is more fun when Tiger's playing it. Yeah, it is. And it just, I tell you, the thing that I like the most

was the tempo and the body language, other than what you mentioned about the finish, was very good, was very relaxed. He looks very at ease with himself and in public and hitting shots in front of people and knowing everybody's watching every little move. So I thought that was the most impressive part. I just, and I know he's Tiger Woods, and I know that he doesn't think any other way, but I know it'd be like Kobe coming back in a rehab game in the D-League, and it's sort of beneath him, but she just wish he would sort of like ease into this whenever the comeback is in a fun way. Just, I don't know, show up at a web.com event or, you know, playing the member guest at Metalyst or the whatever the event is that he just kind of do some quirky stuff like.

that and just kind of ease into it, but it's Tiger. I'm sure he's just going to show up somewhere big like the players or maybe Jack's tournament memorial where he's, you know, he tends to be a horse for a course. So he's going to go somewhere where he's comfortable. You want him to flip the script a little bit. I don't have any problem with the idea. I subscribe to the point of view that you're espousing here. We want him to ease into it.

But anywhere that he shows up with a golf club, it's going to be a big event. It's going to be craziness. I don't think I'm the only one that's, you know, hankering for some tiger, assuming he's healthy and ready to start playing again. So whatever moment he shows up at whatever golf course he's prepared to start playing competitively again, it's going to be a big event. It's going to be massive media and it's going to be massive crowds. So might as well go to a venue that can really handle that,

a place like Quail Hollow, a place like the players. I mean, I would say, you know, do it in a way that, kind of fits what he's accustomed to in terms of the nature of the competition and a place that's familiar to him and let him work out some kinks. I mean, you know, the worst, he's not going to embarrass himself any more than what we saw in, like, Phoenix last year with the chipping yips, that kind of thing. We've seen him at sort of golf bottom, I feel like. So, you know, to me, he should show up wherever he's most comfortable.

and if it's one of those big, big places, big courses, big events, that's fine with me. Yeah. Well, and he is very comfortable at the places, all of them coming up. And I'll tell you, again, I just keep thinking about that body language because he just, he needed to get away. He needed to clear his mind. And some of us kind of wondered if this was that time and if he did it. And I know some of it's wishful thinking, but I, I know some of it's wishful thinking, but I, That was the vibe I got was like he just looked very at ease.

He didn't look bored or he didn't look disengaged. He just looked like he was kind of relaxed and had let go of some stuff. And hopefully that leads to, I don't know, some cool appearances here and some decent play. It's just hard to imagine he'll jump right in and be amazing again. But if he can just go out and be respectable and have some great rounds, have two great rounds in a tournament, kind of chip away at it and by years in be doing something special. That would be amazing for golf, obviously, and sure make a lot of it sure would be a lot of fun to see what he kind of does in the mix with kind of the group of people who are playing well now.

Yeah, that's the point to me. I want to see Tiger against this group of kids. I want to see the old dog with these young pups and see what he has up his sleeve. but it's going to require that restoration of form. You want him at his sort of tiger. We're not going to get his best because he's 40 years old now. But whatever he can muster at this stage of his career, which is still got to be quite a bit, right?

I mean, you know, he's not a senior citizen yet. And he looks physically, you know, pretty good. You know, he's obviously been working out. and the tempo that you mentioned was pretty confidence-inducing. So, you know, fingers crossed. But I love to see him on a golf course with all these young dudes.

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get in on some me yundies house i think i'm going to have to get a few of those for my trip to rio i may be the only person going to rio it seems uh i don't know if you've been paying attention i'm sure you have it's kind of hard to miss nobody seems to want to go to the rio games uh and that's not entirely true yet but house i got some i got some fresh intel about these dropouts i want to hear what's going on all right so adam scott is out now he had been telegraphing that a while so not a big shock he got ripped though in australia they were they were rough on the guy.

Louis Oostazen, Charles Schwartzel, South Africans, both out. Captain Gary Player, who will be there in Rio, is not pleased, as you can imagine. And the way things are going, Gary Player, they may go so far down the world ranking list, and he might actually play in the Rio Games if they keep this up. He might be a South African representative, yeah. So I threw out a little something on my blog today, where I noted, because I've been getting hammered on Twitter with this point that people are, the conspiracy theories are already up. Hey, all these guys, you notice they're dropping out right before the drug testing kicks in

that gets a little more rigorous, the blood testing, all the looks for the HGH, all that stuff that's not a whole lot of fun to do, much more than the current BGA tour drug testing, which is just kind of mildly awkward after you finish around a golf. So I threw that out on the website, and I got a little note from somebody who's very unbelievably credible who didn't like the jab I took at a couple of the guys in suggesting that. And I wasn't suggesting there were drug cheats. I just mentioned that that element of the drug testing is about to kick in. And some guys may just not want to have anything to do with it. And this person said, well, guess what? Those guys want to have families and they're worried about the Zika virus. And I said,

well, why didn't they just say that? And apparently they've been told absolutely do not mention the Zika virus. That is not a kosher thing to bring up. Just say you're not playing and move along. And so this is kind of a brewing thing that there are players who are concerned that they would contract the virus. And then obviously if they want to have families down the road, there could be some birth defect related issues that would come with that in their minds. And so they are choosing not to go to Rio. Your deepest thoughts. Yeah, it's interesting. Nothing about it is weird.

The decision isn't weird. I understand the thought process. I understand their assessment of the risk. Those are all young guys who may be thinking about, you know, enlarging their families. What's weird is who's telling them not to give the reason for not going? Like, what is it a secret that Brazil has a, you know, is ground zero for the Zika virus? I'm going to guess it's some combination of the IOC, the International Golf Federation, the Rio organizing committee. It could be any number of people who are kind of all behind the scenes getting nervous about this.

You know, Vijay threw that out in his litany of excuses, but of course he also mentioned his desire to pick up some FedEx Cup points this fall, so who knows what he was yammering on about. His not playing is just obnoxious on so many levels because he had actually said, I want to carry the flag for Fiji into the stadium. And now he's talking, picking up FedEx Cup points at the Wyndham and the deer. You know, like, give me a break. But these guys, I guess I understand the thinking and I understand the desire to not share that information or not have it blow up into a big issue. But obviously people look at the golf course and it has water on it and they think, well, they're all going to get bit by mosquitoes and then take back this virus. That seems to be the thought process.

Seems a little extreme to me, but I don't know enough about Zika virus to say otherwise. So I think it's just going to be kind of a looming story. I really hope it doesn't become something that just overtakes the games, and especially the golf, because the course is so cool, and I think it's a great opportunity for the game. Yeah, it looks like we're going to get enough of the top guys. it's a field of 60, right? It's a field of 60 off the world ranking.

In the top 15, you can have up to four people from your country. Otherwise, it's a limit of two. So that's why our guest today, Patrick Reed, he's the fifth American at the moment. So if any of those people before him decided not to play, he would move up as the next American. Or the way he's playing, and he is playing awfully well, he's 12th in the world.

That's not too far off from making it on. world ranking points. Well, I'm with you. I'm hoping for the best possible field. I'm disappointed in the names that are dropping out, but that's just from a purely selfish, you know, want to see the best competition kind of thing. I don't begrudge those guys not playing in it, and especially if that's the reason. I don't have any issue with it at all.

I guess from the perspective of the players and their agents and their reps and the various governing bodies, they don't have to say anything about their reasons. reason for not going. So not mentioning Zika is not that big a deal. But it does provide an immediate kind of context for why what was otherwise kind of a curious group of dudes pulling out. It is a coincidence that the drug testing timing is kind of looming. And, you know, those three guys, I wouldn't think that any of them would have any particular

concern with drug testing, but the Zika makes perfect sense. Yeah, no, they just don't want to go through the blood testing and all that when they know they're not going. So that's why they're saying Sayonara. No, I don't think they have to worry about that from the other point of view. I don't think that Louis and Charles are injecting themselves with steroids. I think that's pretty clear when you look at them. Yeah, they have golf bodies. They don't give that appearance.

No, no. All right, House, last topic before we wrap it up here. I took a little heat this week. And I think you got thrown in on some of the Twitter mentions. Yeah, I loved it. Yeah, I bet you did. You never had my back. But I just kept waiting for the reply like, no, no, no.

So just in a nutshell, last week, our dream millennials, Ricky Fowler, Jordan Spee, Smiley Kaufman, and Justin Thomas went to the Bahamas, Baker's Bay, a very high-end, very exclusive resort. And the first day they Snapchatted some videos of them out, shirtless, playing golf, having fun. It was great. It was really nice to see. And then it just continued for four days.

And I wrote a post on my website Monday that was a little too much. And frankly, some of the dancing drunk on top of golf carts and jumping off second floor buildings into bodies of water was not the greatest message that I thought to the young people who absolutely worship these. guys. And if you go to a golf tournament, you know I don't like playing the, it's for the children card. But when you go to golf tournaments, you know how impressionable these kids are and how much they worship these young guys. And so I just thought it was, I thought it was overkill. And I

think there was a promotional component. Ricky has a relationship with Casamigos Tequila, one of the, which is a wonderful tequila, by the way. And Baker's Bay and Mike Melton, a fine developer of Discovery Land Projects, amazing places that he creates. And Ricky has a a relationship with him and they, they, you know, do some stuff together, outings or whatever. And so I'm sure Ricky threw up some Snapchats and it was great publicity and maybe the bill was a little bit reduced. Whatever. Who knows? Who cares? Good for them for doing it. But I just thought it was overkill. I thought it got a little out of hand. So I wrote a commentary that it really shouldn't be lauded the way it was. And oh, boy, did I hear it from the M's?

Generation millennial was not pleased. I got about 40 or 50 clinics. would get off my lawns, you know, all that kind of stuff. And I'm fine with it. I still feel fine. I still feel like it was overkill. So you were roped in a few times by people and you didn't bite. So you've been very quiet. I have no idea where you stand on spring break 2016 and how it's going to grow the game to no end according to many people. Your take? So let me just put it out there. I always have your back. dude. I'm always on your side, even when we disagree. This is going to be one of those times when I disagree. I have to tell you, I think you need to lighten up a little. I mean, the thing to me

that is most appealing about it and also most foreign, and I'm going to, I'll just talk about myself, because you are media savvy, you are technologically savvy. I'm still kind of trying to catch up with Twitter. I mean, you know, I barely have a Facebook presence, for goodness sakes. And Snapchat is completely a foreign language. But the thing with the kids these days is the whole thing made them relatable. And that's kind of the vibe these days. The reason I think that Steph Curry enjoys the current standing he has in the NBA,

He's the most popular player in the NBA. Kind of to the chagrin of LeBron James, by the way. I don't think LeBron likes this very much. But there's no question that Steph is the most popular player. The shoe sales, the jerseys, the crowds that come out to watch him play, you know, do his warm-up, his shoot-around in advance of games. It has been a phenomena this whole season. And part of that appeal is the dude is relatable. He's six-foot-three, six-foot-four with a lot of.

high-heel shoes on, and if you bumped into him on the street without sort of knowing who he was, you wouldn't say, oh, that's the number one basketball player on the planet. So for this group, for Spieth and Fowler and Smiley and Justin, those are young guys doing what young guys do, and they just happen to have the benefit in this day and age of sharing it with us in kind of real time, which is something. that I can easily kind of imagine myself doing and using very poor judgment, I'm sure, 20 years ago, 25 years ago, and I'm very glad that none of this technology existed, because Lord have mercy what might have been captured on the cameras back then.

But I think those dudes were speaking a language to their peer group and then kind of, you know, beyond that made sense for them, that, that, um, and made sense kind of to, to that group. And I don't, I don't think that I didn't find any of it, um, crossing the line. I understand your point on, on kind of the quantity. It didn't need to be four days. We got it, guys. You're, you're not wearing shirts and you're playing golf barefoot.

And it's an awesome time. And for sure, you've been drunk every night. Because every one of the morning, um, uh, picks and, and, uh, slow vids you know they they all were heavy litted or wearing hats and glasses yeah but i that that's my view on it it it was it was an uh an exercise in um letting us kind of get some insight into how they blow off some steam and it was it was to me like very relatable i can you know um think about my own self at that age and think about um you know 20 some things uh that fit their their demo blowing off steam the exact same way.

Okay. Well, I think at some point we should have a longer chat about this because I also tried to weave in and we didn't even touch on it, write Thompson's piece on Tiger. And I think it just struck me, one, because there was a lot of, there's always this sort of revisionist tone that these, and it's the recency bias that you've talked with Bill about on your shows many times. You know, look how great these guys are. Look what jerks. Those people were just right there. When you read Wright's piece and you realize the depth that he went into to try to explain to people why Tiger went wrong, I also wasn't comfortable with that because I guess I just feel like I love the game. I love watching golf.

I love knowing enough about these people to relate to them. I'm never comfortable with this need to know so much in the case of some people or to know so much about. why they went wrong so that people watching can feel better about how they attached themselves to somebody who turned out to be kind of living this weird dual life and so I just I'm always wary that there's a line that gets crossed with privacy and needing to know so much about people and and it gets us away from why we I would hope ultimately we love watching these people play golf because the sport is interesting and great and fascinating and then the personalities

accent that as opposed to the personalities and what we know about them and how relatable or not they are driving why we watch golf. And so I would love to discuss it more with, I don't know, we'll have to think of somebody who, you know, maybe Wright Thompson or somebody who's delved into these things who's probably smarter than you and I combined that could weigh in on this. Because it's kind of a big picture topic, I feel. I think it's more than just Snapchat and millennials and all that. Yeah. And the part, to be fair to you, you, part of the way I read your piece and when I watched your chat with Kara on Golf Channel Monday morning, part of what you seemed to be objecting to was the media kind of fawning on these guys.

Oh, yeah. What a great set of four young bros just out, you know, doing their thing. And I thought that was part of your objection. Is that right? It's the objection. My objection is to then taking it to the next level and going, and aren't they better than everybody else? And I said, are we lucky to now have people who are actually real humans? Because nobody else in the 400 years before these people who've played golf were interesting, funny, lived it up, all these different things. That's what I really resent it. I mean, I really find it obnoxious in a way, the recency bias that ignores that there were so many interesting people in the game. going really, you know, through every generation there were characters and Walter Hagen did things that were so much crazier than these guys ever dreamed of that if they just did a little reading, they would appreciate that. And so, yeah, that is what probably bothers. I don't care

about the fan reaction that people get a thrill from that and makes them like these guys more. It's more of that there are people who should know better and who are not. So we will leave it at that because we could go on all day. And I do think it's fun stuff. And I think we'll, I think we'll try to find a cool way to approach it. I do want to mention a few more things, House, before we go. Please do. Yeah, remind people that if they listen to podcasts, of course, the Channel 33 network is phenomenal. Bill has just been cranking out some amazing podcasts on the Bill Simmons podcast.

Network lately, just listen to one on the way over here, and another awesome conversation. He is really getting some amazing guests. But people who love podcasts also love streaming video content. Ted House. And I don't know if people know this, but if you've got Roku and I do, you can install the Callaway Golf Channel now to check out great instructional content, all free, stuff like 30 seconds to better, quick, useful golf tips from pros to improve your game. And of course, all the Callaway Live episodes are there. You can go back and see the ones with guests like the Ford CEO, Alan Malawi, who I'm not usually a CEO interview watcher, but he is somebody who I think

is just one of the most fascinating minds in business, and it's a great chat with Harry Arnett. Music mogul Irving Azov is another great show. There's also a great little hilarious controversy that was set off in that show where somebody barked out One Direction and it led to a whole thing that people thought Irving was now repping One Direction, cool stuff.

And even myself, I'm on one of those shows. And Jimmy Dunn is also on Cattleway Live, who Patrick Reed referenced earlier in this show. so and that is a very, very emotional episode. It's not the usual lighthearted fun stuff that you get on Callaway Live, but well worth the watch. So it's the best of Calloway on your TV. Calloway's Apple TV app is also coming soon, which has very exciting news. So I recommend everybody check that out, check out Calloway community, and of course, House and I are on Twitter.

House from D.C., right? Yeah. And you can include him on tweets when you bash me about Millennium. and he will not reply. So you'll be very safe. I'm at jeffshackleford.com. House from DC.com. Has it been updated with any Masters Food stuff? Maybe we could think about that house? No, I'm woefully behind. All right. Remember to check out After the Thrones hosted by Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald. It's available after every episode of Game of Thrones on HBO now, HBO Go, and even HBO proper. Winter is here and Chris and Andy are ready to break it down. Also check out the channel

33 podcast this week. We have Robert Mays with a draft preview and round one reactions. That's the end of our show, everybody again. Thanks, everybody at Callaway, Channel 33, The Ringer, all that great stuff. Make sure you sign up for the Ringer newsletter. Thanks, and we'll talk to you soon. Check hose!