Fairway Rollin' - Food and Golf in New Orleans, Plus a Masters Inside Look With Amanda Balionis | Fairway Rollin’

Episode Date: April 23, 2019

Joe House is joined by CBS sportscaster and Callaway emissary Amanda Balionis to talk about her culinary expectations for the Zurich Classic in New Orleans and share her experience from the Masters (2:45). Then Chris Vernon joins to offer his picks for the Zurich Classic (34:00) before The Ringer’s Megan Schuster drops by to chat about Tiger Woods wearing his new green jacket at his own restaurant and predict the walkup songs for the players at the Zurich Classic (53:15). Host: Joe House Guests: Amanda Balionis, Chris Vernon, Megan Schuster Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Brought to you by our friends at Callaway Golf on the Ringer podcast Network. I am your starter, Joe House. We are still trying to make sense. out of Tiger Woods winning the Masters. This week's show, very blessed to have Amanda Ballionis from CBS Sports, who was physically there all week long at Augustine National. Amanda walks us through her experience on that Sunday. Of course, Verno was on.

We do a couple picks on the Zurich Classic, but we try to make some sense out of what the hell happened to DJ down there in South Carolina. And then Shusty comes on and we're talking about some golf social, these walk-up songs at the Zurich classic. It makes this tournament a little bit of fun. We try and break down the best music. Let's just get on to the first tea.

It looks open right now. We're getting waved on. Let's go ahead and let out a little driver, my friends. My evil enthusiasts, we are in New Orleans. So the only way to get our guests on the tea is with our buddy, Amra. Are you available? Well, bam, on the tea.

Amanda Ballionis. All right, my friends, on the line, you know her from all of her incredible appearances on CBS sports. Most recently, she's been on a tear with the golf broadcast. Amanda Ballionis, welcome back to Fairway Rowland. Thanks for having me back. Well, look, you came on the very first show in January. A couple things have happened. I don't know what you're referring to.

Well, I want to start with perhaps the biggest upset of 2019, which is this. I follow you on the Instagram, and I recommend that everybody do so. It's a great, you're a great follow. All kinds of walks of life, golf life, celebrity life, yoga life, puppy life. You got it all covered. But I saw you yesterday. This is the biggest upset of 2019 now, Amanda. You were drinking or you were drinking a beverage that was not coffee.

You had your feet up on the table. It was a beautiful view. You're at Hilton Head. What were you drinking? I know. Well, you know, sometimes I've been told drinking like four plus top the coffee a day. It's not good for you.

So I decided to balance it out with Michaelob Ultra, low card. It's still pretty healthy, right? Yeah, so I couldn't tell how many you had there. It didn't look like you had enough for me. But I will tell you, Miccolo Bolter is one of mine. Now, they don't sponsor this podcast. They're welcome to if they'd like to,

in addition to our great friends of Calloway, obviously. But I'm going to give them a shout out. Yeah, of course. I'm going to give them a shout out because they are one of the beers that I enjoy on the golf course. It's a light one you can power through one or two or seven. or eight, depending on your proclivity. And it gives you a nice, you know, you're not, you don't feel way down at the end of the

round. You just get that, get to your happy place. And that's all we're after, right? Right. I'm just trying to get to my happy place without getting a gut. And it's really difficult to do, actually, those two things at the same time. But that, but that's a full ballad trip feels like the good balance for that. This is, this is a perfect segue.

As always, you as a broadcast professional know how to tee these things up. you just arrived in New Orleans, Louisiana, right? Yesterday or today? I did. I got in yesterday. Yesterday. Now, let's tell everybody, we'll get to some important golf talk in a minute.

But first, we have to cover beer and food because you're in New Orleans and that's what the draw is this week. What was the first New Orleans meal you had? Don't disappoint me, Ballionis. I know. And actually, I told you I was going to try to stay in my room last night and not immediately get on all of the delicious food that is New Orleans. But I did go to Emerald's restaurant and had an amazing meal.

One of the first things I ate was the Charboralot Oyster. Good. See? All right. Bam. Can I do that? I mean, I'll just go ahead and do the terrible. Bam. Right out of the box there. Okay. Well, good. The Charbole, I mean, that is a, that's a New Orleans classic. it had the Parmesan, right? Did you have some of the Parmesan on there? Yeah, of course. Give me all of the things. Yes, the butter and the Parmesan.

Yeah, okay, good. And then I'm saving my obsession with our bignets for Sunday night. Because I've designated this year Sunday night, it's heat night. So I get to eat all of the things that I crave at every single stop for like just one night in the week. So those are when I'm going to put down about six vignets at Cafe Dumont with a nice coffee. Well, I'm going to. I mean, I admire your commitment. I admire your discipline.

You know that the, and this is not intended as any disrespect to the Zurich classic, but this golf tournament has a reputation on tour as being like primarily the premier food destination of all the events that the guys play on throughout the year. You really, or you're telling, or you're telling us right now. that you are going to mainly lay off until Sunday? Is that what you would have us believe? I am because the problem is, actually, last year, this event, I ate by way through New Orleans and I still have, no regrets over it. However, someone did tweet me on Sunday, helping me how glowing I look pregnant

and how sad they're going to do when I take my maternity leave to which I had to respond oh no i'm not pregnant it's just a new orleans food baby no way hold on you had a new orleans food baby i did and i wasn't even like i was like yeah i know how this happened and i actually don't have any regrets about it because i've been eating the best food of my whole life Oh my God. I didn't think that my admiration for you could grow anymore, but that is outstanding. I'm so proud of you. That makes me so happy. Thank you. But I understand. Okay. Yeah. So this year, we're not going for a food baby. That's fine. I get it. I'm with you. We're going to try to avoid the food baby until Sunday night when people can't make fun of me for it on camera.

All right, good enough. I admire the commitment. Now, look, I have to ask you, we have to begin. You spent an incredibly long stay in Augusta, Georgia. Were you there 10 days or longer? Longer. I think I was there for a little over two weeks. Oh, my God.

So the first. Are you recovered? I think so. Today's kind of a. chill day from trying to get all my sleep and naps and relaxation in. Yeah. You know, it's funny because like that, being in Augusta Georgia, you're just so amped up the whole time. Like, it is, it's such a crazy feeling. So it took me all of last week really to like start to come down and unwind, which I'm pretty high strong, but it usually doesn't take me that long to come down.

but yeah the energy there is just it's unlike anything else and especially after you know the two weeks that we had there women's amateur and then obviously what we're going to talk about

what happened on Sunday at Augusta National it's just yeah it's taken me a while to come back down for sure so I'm glad that you you mentioned the women's amateur

the Augustine National women's amateur the first time it's ever been competed this very cool opportunity for amateur women to come play on the grounds of Augusta National. And you were there for the entirety of that tournament. I'm just fascinated by, you know, kind of two things.

In the first place, what was the vibe like? You know, because it's as much smaller could meaning. You know, it's not that traditional masters kind of feel where the city is bursting and it takes a long time to get to get around and everything. It was a much more like intimate kind of vibe. What was that experience like? Yeah, you know, it was awesome. And I didn't know what to expect.

And I think that was the coolest thing about being a part of the inaugural, Augusta National Women's Amateur, as none of us knew what to expect, you know, not even the women competing. And I mean, Augusta National, they, I mean, you know, and everyone knows if you've ever watched the Masters or been to the masters, there's no detail that is less just not thought about, right? And it was the same exact treatment like we see at the Masters with paying attention to detail. That exact thing was applied

to the against the National Women's Amateur. And it was so cool to see these women amateurs arrive at Champion's retreat where the first, you know, two rounds were contested. And every day witness them, like allowing it to sink in what they were actually a part of, you know, because it was pretty relaxed, like the first day, first two days. And then on the third day, they all got to drive down Magnolia Lane. And there was, you know, they got, they had a chairman's dinner with Chairman Ridley. They got to play their practice round. Then everyone, whether you made the cut or not, you got to play your practice round

with an Augusta National Caddy plus a guest. you know, so a lot of the kids have like their moms or dads with them, moms and dads with them. You know, so they got to experience things that nobody really gets to experience. And then the final round happened. And Jennifer Cup Show is such a great example of this. Of course, she went on to win and she did what, five under on her final six holes with an eagle on 13. It was just, it was too big good. I mean, she was unbelievable.

But at the beginning of the week, you could tell she didn't really think that this amateur event was going to be one that stuck out to her in her amateur career. And by the time I was doing the sit down interview with her with the trophy after she had won, I mean, she was getting choked up. And she was telling me this by far is the most important victory I've had in my amateur career. You know, so it was really cool to just watch the progression. of the women understanding what they were just a part of. And I'll tell you, I had no idea what to expect in terms of patrons that were going to be there for that final Saturday round. Yeah. And I went, well, you know, I basically lived there for a month.

So I was going to gym. And my gym was actually near the entrance of where everyone was going to go in for the women's amateurs. And I was in traffic getting, trying to go to the gym. Wow. Because there were so many people getting there. So it was, I mean, it was for sure. And more people than you could ever expect showed up to watch these make history. It was loud.

I mean, it was, I was on the practice facility doing a tribes dip and putt challenge with Nile Horan and one of the other participants, Olivia in the Happy. And when Jennifer Cupto won, so we were about, you know, we were a couple hundred yards away. she won and Nile looked at me and said that was a tiger roar. Like it was that loud on the golf course when she won when she put in that final pie. So I mean, that's awesome.

Yeah. I mean, it was, it was unbelievable. So, yeah, to start the Augustine National experience with that week and then roll right into the masters, you couldn't ask,

you really couldn't ask for a better lead in and then obviously a better result. Yeah. So let's talk about your master's week sort of proper. What was your set of responsibilities? The CBS broadcasts were primarily Saturday, Sunday, right? Right. So we start our broadcast, though. I mean, our digital coverage is unbelievable that week.

So my roles were, I was doing the interviews with players at the practice facility on a show called On the Rain. So I did that Monday to Friday. And then it would stay after and do the interviews for our late show as well that airs, you know, later in the evening every night, too. So once play began on Thursday and Friday. So that those are my main responsibilities, you know, in addition to just making sure I was all caught up on every transcript, every interview, watching the round,

as I said, Thursday and Friday. and then obviously Saturday, Sunday, we got it going on the Masters on CBS, which is just the best thing on the planet. Yeah. Well, so let's set the scene. Now, during the course of the week, what was the sentiment?

How did it feel in terms of possible winners? Because, you know, one of the storylines we talked about going into that week was, like, the wealth of talent, how deep the field was and how many guys were playing, came into the Masters playing well and how it really felt like it could be kind of a shootout scenario. And then Bryson and Brooks go out on Thursday. They go low. Brooks is, you know, obviously won, you know, two of the last three majors and, you know, showed up in in form that was unexpected because of the diet thing that he'd gone through. And Bryson, yeah, I still can't

it over that. Bryson, you know, with all the wins that he had, you know, last year, not that surprising for those two guys. And then you started looking at the leaderboard. And each day that at the end of the day, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, lot of major winners at the top of that leaderboard. How was the feeling there in terms of like being on the grounds and when you were interviewing guys coming off the course? How did it feel? Yeah. I mean, the overwhelming sentiment just on the course when you're out there walking, listening to patrons, you know, even in the TV compound, like, whatever it was, everyone just couldn't believe what an amazing leaderboard we had. Like, we all felt just so lucky to be there at this master's because it felt

so special, you know, it's, it was unreal when you look at that leaderboard on heading into the weekend, the best players in the world were playing their best golf. you know, at, you know, at arguably the best tournament in the world. I mean, it was just, it was so cool. It was so cool to just witness it and be there and see it and feel what that was like because everyone was feeding off of the excitement that was happening on the golf court. You know, it was just, it was unbelievable. And yeah, it's a player coming off of the course.

They, their energy was through the roof too. You know, everyone was just so excited. I think to be there is the guys were excited to be playing well. Yeah, it was an overwhelming energy and excitement, I would say. That was the way I would describe it from start to finish. It had a completely different feel than probably any other tournament I've been a part of. Yeah, I'm glad that you mentioned the excitement of the guys coming off the course through kind of the entirety of your experience with it, because that's the thing I'm most interested in hearing your experience of on Sunday.

You know, because the tournament remained, you know, open to, you know, we didn't know who was going to win the golf tournament until really Tiger birdied 16 and DJ missed his birdie put on, on 18. That's really what set it up for Tiger to have the two-stroke lead. As guys came off the golf course on Sunday, what kind of vibe were you getting? Yeah, you know, it was interesting because, listen, you have a chance to win a green jacket. You don't win the green jacket that year. It's not going to be great. You know what I mean? You're not going to feel great.

But when you consider the personalities who these guys were, and I think this to me is what separates the elite players that win often to the players that maybe don't, It's every single one of these players that I talked to after Sunday, when they did not win, you could tell they were like, yeah, I let this one get away, but there's going to be more. And they were still proud of their performance. They were, of course, disappointed. But they also were all very vocal about how special it was the Sea Tiger Woods win again. You know what I mean? I mean, the only thing I think you need to see to understand what this meant to everyone in the world of golf was,

when you go back and watch the massive broadcast on Sunday, how many players and past champions were waiting for Tiger outside of scoring? I mean, that, it was a huge amount of guys, you know, and players that didn't have to stay and congratulate him, but they wanted to do that in that moment. I thought I learned a lot from Dander Schaulay. We all know he's a stud player, right? There's no questioning that.

He's already a World Golf Champion. He's seen so many wins under his belt for such a young age. But when I spoke to him on Sunday, he was so positive and said to me on air, I proved to myself that I can win this tournament. And I still get goosebumps thinking about it because just his mentality walking off the golf course, it wasn't like, man, that was my one chance to win a major and I let it get away. He walked off thinking, yeah, I can go do this. Let's go.

and I just feel like that might have been a turning point in his career where we now see him start to compete and start winning and, you know, he's going to be in contention, I feel like, in most major championships. I really feel like he proved a lot to himself on that Sunday. You know, and Francesco Malinari. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, it's just, I mean, same thing. Like, yeah, was he disappointed?

Of course he was. But he knows how good he is. And he knows that there's going to be more. And so that, to me, was the vibe. Same thing with Brooke Kepka. You know, I asked him, the first question I asked him was, you know, the last major championship, it was how you're waiting for you at the PGA. And now you just waited for him as he won the next major and the Masters.

And what is this like? And he went on to talk about this multiple time with multiple outlets, but just talking about how, you know, how inspiring that comeback was and what that means to the game of golf in general. So, you know, I think everyone's disappointed, but obviously there is a little bit of a difference when you have a comeback story like we just saw from Tiger Woods because we don't get many of those comeback stories to that level, in my opinion, that then we saw on that Sunday. Yeah, you're right. And that's not even a matter that you have to say is in your opinion. It's, this is going down as one of the all-time great comebacks in the history of American sports. How was it? So where, where? From your vantage point, could you see a scoreboard? Like, how are you able to keep track of what was happening? Yeah.

I mean, well, my setup, I always have, you know, I always have monitors. I'm watching the broadcast. So you're surrounded by TVs. Okay. Yeah, yeah. So I'm watching it the same way the viewers are. Only I obviously have my ISD in so I can talk to my producer and stuff. But, yeah, I'm watching it right along with everyone else.

So you were in the minute. Now, did any of the guys coming off in those last groups linger a little bit to watch what was happening? Yeah, I mean, they all did not where I was, but I could see them. And yeah, they all stayed in and watched it in its entirety, which was, again, I mean, I think that just put the point of emphasis on how special this was. Because most players after, you know, I hate saying losing a major championship because, I mean, it's, you know, whatever. But after not winning a major, most guys would want to get out there as quickly as possible,

and that was the complete opposite of what happened. Yeah. Now, did you cross paths with Tiger after he won at all? No, I did not. It was, obviously, he goes right to Jim Dance and Butler Cabin and does his thing. But, you know, I got the chance to interview him every day, you know, prior to Sunday. And I kept walking away after every interview thinking, man, this is the most positive, upbeat, and focus. I think I've heard him, you know, in a very long time.

So he just had a different vibe to him that week, you know, and I think that really came across on camera, too. It really did. It's so true. I had that observation. You're so on point with that. I did a radio hit on Friday afternoon after he finished. So we got to see, I had the benefit of seeing his reaction to his Thursday round and his reaction to his Friday round.

And the folks on the radio thing said, what do you take, you know, sort of make of his, his demeanor right now? He seems so, so chill. And I said, I'm honestly, like, blown away by it. because it really was like a kind of a validation of what we suspected he was kind of up to in the first part of the season. There was this sentiment, you know, on the Monday of Master's Week when you were sort of, I was talking to folks and asking, how do you think he's going to do? And what should our expectations be for him at this week?

and he hadn't really threatened to win any tournament up to the Masters. And there was some, we were kind of wondering aloud, is this kind of deliberate? It's not like he would ever go play it not to win, but is this, is his focus so, you know, tied exclusively to the Masters that he's satisfied with just getting the work in, getting the rounds in, he's building towards something, which was sort of different this year. than last year where he was still kind of finding out what he was capable of physically and mentally. And he was so self-possessed in those interviews Thursday and Friday.

It kind of really did put you on notice. And this is the thing I said on the radio head. Like he really is giving off this vibe. Like he's planning on winning this golf tournament. Well, I mean, I knew it from when I interviewed Justin Thomas, the Tuesday or Wednesday before the tournament on the rain show. and asked him who he's gotten the most advice from around this golf course. And one of the first things he said to me was,

Tiger stopped giving me advice. Oh, wow. And I was like, oh, I was like, it is on, you know? I mean, because he did. I mean, for the last a lot of years, Tiger has taken it upon himself to take a lot of these Jupiter guys and beyond under his wing and give them tips and give them his insight. And he stopped doing that this week.

He was not going to help anybody because he was, like you said, he was finally ready and thought he was capable of winning the masters. That's so good. It's so good. So when did you leave? Did you leave the Monday after? I did. The Monday after.

And then I had to actually fly right to L.A. for another thing. And then it came. Then where did I go? Yeah. And then I flew right to Hilton Head. To Hiltonheads. You know you're not supposed to do that.

L.A. is not supposed to be part of the. itinerary. You're supposed to just get in the caravan and drive with everybody the two hours up to Hilton. That's the whole point of Hilton Head. It's just catch your breath to get a breather. There's a fun little, fun little project happening that will be seen soon. Okay. All right. It was worth it to bounce out to L.A. You are the hardest working woman in golf media. So don't let me get in the way of your hustle. Speaking of your hustle, dessert classic this week, we've already established that you're going to resist the temptations of all the food,

the wonderful spread that they have out there. It's a cool event. I like that we've kind of broken up, you know, the sort of monotony. Maybe that's overstating it. But I like an event that's not a traditional stroke play event at this point in the calendar, you know, with kind of a thing where guys can have a little bit of fun with it. And, you know, It's a little bit of a different vibe altogether. It just feels like, you know, it's a little more relaxed. Have you encountered any... When does your work start in terms of, you know,

when you start talking to the guys and getting prepared for this? Yeah, I mean, I'll be talking to some of the guys tonight at a Zurich event, but it is. It's such a fun. It's just a really fun week. I think it's fun for multiple reasons. One, like you said, it's really nice to have just a change-up in, you know, in structure. It's fun to go up and it's not seeing it up, you know, this week the same way,

the same way as we always see. So the team event in itself, I think, is such a great thing for the PGA to work into the schedule. I'm sure guys would maybe want even more of this, but, you know, beggars can't be choosers. I think one team event right now is awesome in addition to obviously, President's Cup and Rider Cup. But it's also cool because they get to experiment with the walkout songs, right? So just, hey, how can we incorporate things that are successful in other mainstream sports and do they work here in golf, which I think is so important to continue to push in our game?

As we talk about growing the game, as we talk about skewing younger, in order to do those things, you've got to try out new ways of doing things. You know, it's just you're not going to change by saying the same. So I love that they do that. And then, of course, it's always fun to see how these players choose their partners, you know, when Brooks and his younger brother play together and team up. Or guys, maybe you didn't know had some, like, really long friendships that they decide to go up and play together. Or, you know, even if it's just they had the same sponsor and it's a sponsorship pairing, whatever it is,

usually what ends up happening is those guys end up getting to know each other better and you see new friendships that sometimes come in really handy for rider cups or president's cup down the road. So it's really fun just to walk how this format changes the dynamic on the golf course, off the golf course, and for years to come. So yeah, it's super fun from start to finish. Yeah, and I'm psych for it. Now, I'm going to let you go in a minute, but I can't let you go until you make a pick. You got to make a pick for the week. There's some formidable teams out there. You mentioned, you know, we have the Australians, Jason Day and Adam Scott are together. You mentioned the Ryder Cup affiliation, potentially, obviously Sergio and Tommy Fleetwood are, you know, forces to be reckoned with.

If you had to make a pick, it's Tuesday that we're taping this. Who's your sort of early week pick? Who are you feeling right now? I think it's really hard to bet right now against Adam Scott and Jason Day. You know, Adam Scott was playing so well at the Masters until that final day. Jason Day was also playing extremely well. So, yeah, I'm going to go team Aussie. And then my one B pick would be Kevin Kisner and Scott Brown. Because I think, like, his is obviously playing really well right now, too. and those boys from Aiken, they love playing with each other.

They were in contention here a few years back. So, yeah, those are my two teams. Okay, I like that Kisner Brown one. They're still available right now. The odds for them are like between 30 to 1, 33 to 1. That's value. They were the 54-hole leaders last year, and they lost in a playoff two years ago,

and the boys from Aiken are Aiken for a W. you. I mean, you know, I like that Kisner Brown combo. I'm going to leave it on that cheesy note, Amanda. I'm looking forward. I'm so stealing that. I'm stealing that and I'm not giving you any credit for it. Well, if I see it on television, you know you're going to get a bunch of text from me. But what I really want to see is the Sunday Instagram. I want to see the Benyés. I want to see the iced coffee. Hook it up and enjoy the week. We'll talk to you again soon. Thank you. All right. Thank you. All right. Talk to you again soon. As always, my enormous thanks to Amanda Ballioners.

Can't wait to have her on again. We have Chris Vernon coming up next. But first, podcast peeps, do you miss when sports networks covered just the news and highlights without all the yelling and the fake debates? I know that I do. And that is why I'm watching CBS Sports HQ. What is CBS Sports HQ? you, it is a free 24-hour sports network that's built for sports fans like you and me.

Love that I can get tons of highlights, analysis, and instant game reactions. Everything that matters about that game without diving into all the peripherals, political, social, like on other sports networks. And if you enjoy placing some bets, maybe allocating a little capital, competing against your friends in a fantasy league, Their experts are always dishing out top picks and advice to help all of us win. Check out CBS Sports HQ. It's always on and always free.

No need to pay a subscription fee or have an expensive cable package. Just download the CBS Sports app on your phone, buyer TV, Roku, or Apple TV to start watching today. Now on the T-Bam! It's Chris Vernon. All right, birdie buddies, as we do here on Fairway Rowland. On to help us figure out some picks, some selections, some wagerings. Chris Vernon is on the line.

Yo, Verno! Yo! My boy. I must tell you how, we came down from the Masters, flip on last weekend, and very surprised at what was a rather fantastic field considering it was the, I'm ready to watch Dustin Johnson run away with it after his second place at the back day. He looks like Dustin Johnson that we have gotten used to over the course of the last year. And then he must have had the most awesome Saturday night that anyone has

ever had. Because Sunday was an unmitigated disaster. Hey, now look, we're going to try and connect some dots. this is the second time that it's happened this season. Now, DJ is the number one player in the world, and his performance this season has been outstanding. I mean, he's been on a tear between, you know, he's got the W down in Mexico, a bunch of top fives, you know, fifth at the players,

tied for second at the Masters. Two tournaments this year, Verno, though, where he was either, you know, in the lead or a little bit behind, and in either the final group or close to the final group. And that was down in Tampa, Florida at the Valspar, where he went out and shot a 74, didn't have a birdie in the final round. He was in the final group, but he did not win, shot a 74. And then here in his own backyard, South Carolina, a 77, a Sunday 77.

Now, we don't really traffic in conspiracy theories here, Fairway, Rowland, very much. much. But Tampa, Florida, there's a couple ways for a gentleman to go find some, you know, off the course enjoyment. And I believe that that DJ in his own backyard in South Carolina, you know, maybe had a group of friends and family around for some Saturday night enjoyment. I'm, that's, I'm just trying to make some sense out of, out of something that doesn't make any sense otherwise. You get what I'm picking up. Yes, because here's what we know.

He obviously had a beat on the course. He was fine. He was rolling on Saturday. That Sunday looked like, I mean, he was the 200th ranked golfers. The other thing is at the beginning of that tournament, I'm watching at the beginning house. And before the delay, speed comes out, and it's like birdie, birdie, birdie, birdie,

Like first four holes. I'm like, oh, hold on now. Looking like old Jordan's feet. Yes. And then he gets done by the weekend. I read yesterday that he is, he is ranked, speaking of 200th. He is ranked over 200th in Sunday scoring. 200th house.

200th. You know where that number also appears is his strokes gained off the tee. He is driving the ball terrible this season. He is one of the 10 worst players off the tea on the PGA tour. And, you know, we're still waiting for, it seems like it's just those six inches between his ears. That is the main obstacle to all this. Now, he did show us a few glimpses at the Masters. He reminded us of what he's capable of and how comfortable he can get. And, but he never really, you know, put on that speed charge where we saw his name on the, on the first page of the leaderboard and start to get, you know, any reason to get excited

about him. But it just seems like it's going to be this season of an ongoing challenge for him. And at some point, he will figure it out. And he's just going to win one of these tournaments when we kind of don't expect it. And he'll figure out, you know, just getting off the tea thing. but the weekend performances are out of him are befuddling because you know what he's not doing? He's not going out in Tampa and he's not out with his buddies in South Carolina.

That's not the explanation for why he's not having a good time on the weekends. But we'll just continue to monitor. We'll have to do a little deep dive maybe as this goes on and see if we can't try and make sense. I know he's trying to make some sense out of it, right? do you know yeah of course he is and i thought you know leading into the masters he had done some interviews saying you know we finally figured it out you know what was wrong i'm like no you did no you didn't no you didn't really figure it out and so i would tell you that i checked the odds before the final round of the of the tournament this past weekend and

Johnson, you know, they'll post like to win and they'll post, he was minus 120 to win, okay, he was in the lead,

minus 120 to win. And top five, this is what kind of, this is how crazy this was. For Dustin Johnson to be in the top five going in with a lead on Sunday was minus 2,000. I don't,

I mean, that's terrible. He wasn't in the top 30. Well, he finished tied for 28th. So he wasn't in the top 25. He barely cracked the top 30. He had the second worst score of the day. It's just outrageous.

So who knows what to make of it? Probably nothing. I bet, like you said, started off this whole conversation. He got his money's worth Saturday night. That's my suspicion. If I had to guess, I would say. Because it's like the Valspar and the heritage, you know. it would be great to get those Ws,

but he doesn't, he doesn't really need it. He doesn't have to have it. And I just, I was surprised that I thought we were going to get one of the, hey, you got this monster name that's in the lead going into a Sunday. It's going to be kind of fun to watch.

I certainly did not expect to be watching what I did. And speaking of not knowing what to make of it, what the hell is this tournament this weekend? I love New Orleans. So do all. I don't know about this whole team stuff. Well, we have Amanda, I can't speak. Amanda Ballionis is our guest from CBS Sports.

And she and I were talking about how, you know, it's kind of a nice break from the relentless charge of stroke play, you know, that the guys are on. And because the schedule is compressed, it is nice to have something that's kind of a different walk of life and there is some intrigue.

They use this event to try some stuff out. The guys have walk-up music. Do you recall this? Do you know they have walk-up music? Yes. It's funny to see what they choose. The guys show a little personality.

We get to see which guys choose which guys to partner with. So sometimes there are relationships you didn't know that they were out there. There's friendships that that go way back that we were not aware of. And they play this format on Thursday and Saturday.

It's better ball. So that's where both guys play their own ball and whoever has the better score. That's the score that they record for the team. And then this is something that folks quibble with. The Friday Sunday format is alternate shot where you can have some crazy blow-up stuff. Now, some folks don't like that they do. alternate shot on Sunday because it feels like a little bit gimmicky. But this whole thing is kind of an exhibition as far as I'm personally concerned.

So I don't really quibble with it. And I do think I love the idea of one guy putting the other guy in bad position and seeing if the guy can can scramble out of it. But there's no real rhyme or reason to, you know, trying to pick folks. although we have some pretty interesting team. So we go ahead. I saw the Patrick team. Yes,

Team Patrick. Can't lay and read. Is that right? Yes. Yes, sir. Yeah. 12 to 1 odds to me, but the odds are great. I know the odds are great.

And I kind of view this like I did our 64 tournament. Like, I don't know how to bet on this thing. I know my boy, my boy, HV3 is paired up with some dude name, Love Lady. I was like, that's an awesome man. I I would that's one we'll have to ask HV3 about you know, his relationship with Mr.

Love Lady and how they came up with. Now I do think there is a little bit of value out here. Now the the chalk for this tournament is Jason Day and Adam Scott both of whom are coming off of an outstanding master's

performance. Jason Day had one of the low rounds of the day on Sunday and, you know, finishing the top five, I believe. And Adam Scott was right there in contention until Sunday. Those guys are in top form. You also have... That's actually called Team No Emotion. Well, they're Australian.

What do you want me to do? Team boring conversation. I guess that's right. And then you have Tommy Fleetwood paired with Sergio. So you have that Rider Cup vibe. you know those guys will be feeding off of each other. That's a pretty good one. You have a team, I stole this, Pat Mayo, who does a great show every week for Fantasy National.

He called him Team Sherlock. That's J.B. Holmes and Bubba Watson, Holmes and Watson, Team Sherlock. I like that. That's two bombers. And those two bombers are available at 18 to 1. You know that that's one where they might feed off each other. trying to hit the hell out of the golf ball. And Bubba Watson has played this golf course pretty good.

And then Brooks Kepka is playing with his brother. And there's some intrigue there because his brother doesn't have any status at all on, on like any tour. And if Brooks carries him, you know, if Brooks gets hot and, you know, first of all, he can help his brother collect a check. But if they win, his brother gets two years status because the winners get the same status as though you're winning a regular PGA tour event. Well, what we need to happen is for, it's Chase, right?

Chase Kefka? Yes, exactly. Yeah, we need him to carry Brooks. That's when we would get real trauma, right? If they're just using like all of his shot. I, well, that's, I'm, we're going to go ahead. We'll do, uh, we're going to do a, uh, a real quick epic flash pick of the week. Calloway continues to have the most worldwide driver.

wins, Verno. Most PGA tour driver wins of any brand this year. The Epic Flash is the number one selling driver model in the United States. Calloway, the number one driver brand. You know this Epic Flash. They use artificial intelligence to develop this flash face technology, you know, machine learning. And you and I have been on the machine trying to do some learning, trying to figure out who the hell might win this thing. I just went through some names. I just went through some names. The odds aren't great for the chalk. Out of the names that I mentioned, maybe somebody you've been looking at otherwise.

Do you have a pick for us this week? I like the Patrick team. Okay. They're right there at 12 to 1. Can'tley obviously is hot. He had a great performance at the Masters. Then he validated it with a tie for second at the Heritage. I don't know about Patrick Reed.

He seemed like he was content to just pass along. the green jacket at the Masters. I'm not sure. I just thought it was two, like, these are two good guys. I mean, not good, like, personality-wise. They're both good players, and they're also not guys that I'm too terribly worried about, you know, blowing up. You know, like, you could see that Sergio Fleetwood thing going like a hundred different

way. Yes, if they are, if they locked in, they could be amazing. but who knows? I like it. I feel you. I'm going to go with... They're just kind of both steady. I feel like they're like, you know,

steady guys that when you pair them together, they're going to have like a birdie put on every hole and it's just going to be a matter of whether they make it or not. Well, and Reed's, you know, well-earned reputation for team golf. I mean, he's had a lot of success playing team golf. So he's playing with a pretty steady guy. If Cantley doesn't get him out of position,

you know, you feel like Patrick, you know, he can set aside whatever form he's in individually and come out in the team thing and ride that kind of team vibe. And it's some success. They're out there at 12 to 1 right now. Those aren't great odds. But, you know, for the kind of form that Cantlay showed, he's been in the mix to win both the Masters and the RBC Heritage. That feels like, you know, not the worst. I'm going to go with guys that have been around the leaderboard in this event.

the past two years. I'm going with Kevin Kisner and Scott Brown. They're available right now at 30, between 30 to 1 and 33 to 1. That feels like value. They had the 54 whole lead at this event last year and they lost in a playoff two years ago, two boys from Aiken, Georgia, who clearly like each other and like playing with each other. And also, I've seen Kevin Kisner with a couple cases of beer on the back of his cart. That's enough for me. I think for this kind of format, you know, that that would be a thing, by the way. If they want to innovate, let the guys put a six sixer in, you know, in the caddy bag and let them walk around and, you know, there ought to be an opportunity with a sponsor. They pop the top. Let them have a cool one while they're out

there walking around. Let's really let this thing breathe a little bit. You know what I'm saying? Oh, yeah. And let them act like they would. Because this is, it's kind of like, what if we could get rid of, you're already halfway or more than halfway there in terms of getting rid of a lot of the buttoned-up stuff. Like, what if, I would like it for to be, like, the same way that me and my buddies go out and scramble, let them gamble on it. Let them talk. Let us, let us, you know what I mean?

Let us, you know, get the boom mics around them where they could, uh, they could go double or nothing on the on the putt. Let them gamble on it. Let them drink. Let them do just like every other guy does when they go out there on the weekend with their buddies. That's exactly it. I couldn't agree with you more. I want to see kids yell out, you know, at Kepka or whoever they're playing with.

Yo, Brooks, $100 closest to the pin. I mean, this is the kind of stuff that we do. Let's really let it play out. I had this buddy. I had this buddy who was one of his, one of his, one of his college friends that he was very close with was from Florida. Long story short, he put it together, and he ends up in a situation where his buddy's dad was friends or like an acquaintance of Tiger down in Florida, right?

50 years ago, this is when Tiger is Tiger. And so my buddy gets to go play golf, like just at their home course with him. And I was like, so what was it like, so what was it like to even talk to you or whatever? and he was like, he was the coolest. And I was like, what? And he was like, dude, he's got this. He's got a freaking golf cart with like rims on it. He was blaring rap the whole time.

And I'm like, wait, what? He's like, yes, dude. It was just like how you would think. I'll never forget my opinion changing so much that like everything I see on TV and whatever I would imagine, then he just, you know, if he's just playing at his home course, he's hanging out he's got his own cart with the ribs on it he was blaring rap music while he's playing golf you know listen to music on the course and i'm like good grief like i would love to get to see these guys acting how they act yeah that's exactly right now there is a video of kisner this is when i knew i was going to love kisner uh where he got he he he had a whole crew of his pals calloway uh help with this i think uh you can look it up kevin kisner uh i think he the the the the the the legend is that he got kicked out of his club because they were racing carts as part of this

video. But they put six cases of beer and he's out with all of his buddies, none of whom are any good at golf. He's the only one that's, you know, they're good. They're like the rest of us, right? They're like, you know, single digit handicaps, some of them and some double digit handicaps. And they all talk smack to all of them. There's like 12 of them out there playing and the carts are racing around. There might have been a cart accident. But that's when I knew that Kevin Kittner was going to be my guy for life because this is what, you know, just to your point, like, I want to see what these guys are like, you know, in terms of enjoying the game of golf. Like, it is interesting because of the version of professional golf that we watch, you don't,

you can't really tell who's having fun. The guys who win, those are the guys who have fun. But what about everybody else? They haven't any fun out there? Right. Or is it just a job and they can't. You know what I mean? mean, you know, they just need to decompress like somebody else with this.

It's like a rink of a day job. That's exactly right. Well, we have it set up. You're going with Team Patrick. I've got Kisner and Brown. And we'll compare notes next week. See how we did. Thanks, Verno.

You bet. Thanks, huh. Now on the team, bam. It's Megan Schuster. Yo, Shusty. How you doing? I'm amazing, House. How are you?

I mean, I'm good, but not as good as a certain dude down there in Jupiter, Florida, who's walking around in his normal gym attire, but he's dressing it up with something a little bit extra. Our pal is on the prow, Shusty. I got to say, I don't think anyone's doing quite as well as our man in Jupiter, Florida is these days. But in honor of recording with you and talking about this topic house, I just had to tell you that I'm also wearing a green jacket today. So great times, great times. Your commitment, your commitment to the content is nothing short of admirable shoes.

Thank you. Thank you. So a little refresher on Friday night, five days, a mere five days after his master's win, Tiger Woods was spotted out at the Woods Jupiter restaurant, his restaurant in Florida. He was out with his girlfriend, Erica Harmon. And, you know, his fit was pretty, pretty inspiring house. I got to say, he decided to pair. his newly minted green jacket, along with a Nike dry fit shirt, a baseball cap, and gym shorts,

as if he was coming straight from the gym and just had to throw on a jacket to make it into dinner. So we had to talk about this. I mean, does the masters have any rules about where you are allowed to wear the jacket? Because if they didn't already, it feels like those are coming. Well, I don't think it's aware, but they do have an expectation in terms of the overall present. They do have a like it's not a stated policy, but there is kind of an unwritten understanding that if you're going to wear the jacket, you'll have on at least like some slacks, some loafers, even, you know, designer jeans, something that really, you know, where the jacket is paired

properly with the rest of the ensemble. Now, look, this is Tiger on number five and Tiger on number 15. his fifth master's, his 15th major, and I guess he just wanted to show his swag. I had a few questions that I wanted to ask you. I wanted to know kind of what went into this decision if it was sort of a premeditated look where he was like, you know what, I'm just going to go out, I'm going to wear my gym clothes, it's going to be a whole look, or if he was just like shocked by a spur of the moment dinner request, had this thing in his trunk and decided to throw it on ahead of dinner. Now, there's no chance that the green jacket is in his trunk. There's no,

he, there's no way. Now, even, even with him feeling himself, you know, in his own feels, the jacket is on a hanger in a place of prominence. Because, you know, he gets it for a year. I believe, now, I like the idea of this spontaneous dinner invitation. I think he's like, okay, sure, yeah, I'll come on over now. Let me see. I want to add a little spice. to this. I want to add a little flavor. He's, because by Friday, he's caught up on his sleep. He's done with all his media stuff.

And now it's time to like, go ahead and, and be the master's winner a little bit. He's done it a whole bunch of times. And he's headed to his own restaurant, which is a, you know, familiar environment. And he knows what kind of patrons are going to be in there.

And he's just going to give everybody, honestly, Tiger, this is Tiger. as a man of the people, Shusty, I believe he put it on to give everybody at the, at the restaurant, the added thrill of not just him showing up

on a Friday night, unannounced, unexpected, but that green jacket showing up on a Friday night takes it to a whole, I mean, the picture that we saw was some random dude in,

you know, pink pants or pink short holding up his baby. And there's Tiger and a green jacket said it next to him. Yeah, I think you're right. I think there was a little bit of a showmanship involved because all the photos from it that I saw, they weren't like promo shots or like, hey, look at Tiger walking into the woods with his green

jacket on it. It was all like snipes from like inside the restaurant where people were like clearly sitting down to dinner and saw him walk past and were like, oh, let me get a quick picture of this, which was just great. It was really funny to see. Yeah. So good on them. I hope there are another like 150 examples of this. I hope it's kind of like one of these things where it's, what do they call it? The gnome or the, you know, where's Waldo? He just shows up in the most random-ass places, you know, walks of life that you kind of wouldn't think of Tiger.

Now, him in his own restaurant, that's his walk of life. Right. But I'd love for him to just take the green jacket on this, on this tour, his fifth, this unbelievable once in a lifetime comeback moment. Take the green jackets some places it hasn't been. I mean, you know, has it been to Iceland? Has it been, you know, in the hot springs? Has it seen the Northern Lights?

Let's let's let the thing out a little bit. You know what I'm saying? Could you play with it at other major tournaments house? Like, or even just, you know, bring it to the driving range just to intimidate everybody around you. I think the range is more likely. I mean, I don't think he would, he would dare wear it. It would be disrespectful to wear it.

in anything that look like actual play. But, you know, showing up at whatever the dinners of the week, if he goes to the PGA Championship, you know, in New York and shows up at a couple of the events of the week, the run-up to the week in the jackets, sure, like, you know, you're sending a message like, hey, you remember, it was just a month ago. I'm back. But just in case you needed another reminder, here it is. Here we go, boys.

It's on. Yeah, I'm here for it. I'm 100% let's do that thing. Yeah, I fully support it. I want to see it at Dodger Games. I want to see it on his next fishing trips. Maybe like MacDaddy Santa 2.0 with the green jacket. I'm ready for all of it.

Yes, ready for all of it. Speaking of ready for everything, this week, the Zurich Classic down in New Orleans, Louisiana. It's a little bit of a breather, a little bit of a relaxed kind of vibe. Team golf. walk up music, food is kind of the main event as much as anything else. And in that respect, a little bit of an Odyssey. Oh, speaking of Odyssey, Odyssey, the number one putter in golf this week at the RBC Heritage, the number one putter in play, 49 putters in play at the RBC Heritage.

Odyssey, number one in worldwide usage and number one in worldwide wins by far this year. Shane Lowry had one in his bag, and he was out there doing great things with it. He was a brand new XO model made for him, XO 2 Ball Stroke Lab putter, and he had a damn good week with it. So Odyssey is doing its thing out there. Callagoff.com is a place where you can check out your own Odyssey configuration.

Speaking of the Odyssey of this event, I mentioned the Walk Up music. We were fortunate enough to be taping this as the, information about the various elections came out. I haven't had a chance to look at the list yet, Chusty. Talk to me about who's doing what with these songs. Yes, yes. So my favorite part about this tournament,

and this just started last year, is the fact that Saturday after, you know, half or however many of the groups are cut, the remaining groups left get to choose their own walk-up music for Saturdays round. So this just started last year. It was a new kind of thing. People were feeling it out. There were lots of Metallica choices.

there was a nice Hakuna Matata selection from Charles Schwartzel and Louis Oosteisen. And this year, it seems the selections have not necessarily gotten a lot more original, but they are released and there are some fun ones. So I think the first thing that I wanted to talk to you about was I came into this wondering who and how many groups would pick Old Town Road and Baby Shark. And it turned out that those people got the meme hints. So four different groups picked Old Town Road, including Harold Varner the 3rd and Tom Love Lady,

which I just have to say, I think that name, those two names, along with that song choice, is like my favorite pairing of the week already. That's funny. We have a special. Verno mentioned that HV3's plan with Love Lady. I can't wait to hear how those two came together,

what the friendship is about. But just on the name basis alone, it's really the best. It's just incredible. So proper. And then we also have two groups that pick Baby Shark. So if all those teams make it through to Saturday, expect to hear a lot of both of those jams. And I have to say, the pairing that I think I was most looking forward

to seeing what they picked was the duo of Pat Perez and Jason Duffner. I was hoping it would be original, and it was. It's a song called 2019 by Bazanji, I think. And if you, like me, had not heard of that artist before today. I found an article about him from back in 2015 that said he was in a spike. racking rapper slash dentist. So leave it to those two to pick a song from an original artist. Deep cuts out of Pat Perez and our boy Duff Daddy. Not that surprising that those two would go way, way deep and off the off the playlist with their selection. I am looking for, you know,

I did a quick scan of the list not very much rap this year. The guys are. You guys are going more in a kind of a rock thing. The Old Town Road doesn't count. That's a country song as far as I'm concerned. It should be number one on the country list. They got to figure that out. All I see, I see a Drake, a little Wayne, Lil Wayne, pardon me,

and a biggie small. Hudson Swofford and West Roach are doing a little bit of biggie. But, you know, I expect a little bit more rap out of the groups. But it's a good representation. I'm not sure. Now, let me ask you. I'm going to put you on this spot. You have your, at this event, you've made the cut, you're walking out there Saturday. What are you persuading

your partner ought to be the walkout music? Oh, that's a tricky one. I'd have to think about that. Do you have one in mine house? Well, I do, obviously. I have a couple things because I, you know, house really sets it up, you know, a few different options. Obviously, the classic I'm house by EPMD. And then I would have my choice of either playing the EPMD version or the good gentleman at Rage Against the Machine did an updated rock version. So then I might, you know, it could be a half and half vibe. But I would have to persuade my partner that I'm housing is the right thing to come out

to. It's got a great vibe to it. So I don't think it would be a hard, hard thing to persuade. Would you go in a classic direction? you go for something more contemporary, Shusty? I think I'd go a little more contemporary, maybe some nice Beyonce, throwing something down, you know, just throwing that in the mix. Not a lot of female artists on this list either, so you got to represent there.

I like that. Yeah, so I think, you know, probably something along those lines. I will say, I will say along the rap vein, like you were talking about, one of my favorite choices of this week was the Kepka brothers going with bad boys for life by Diddy. Which is also, if you remember, House, the song that Gronk and Tom Brady used in an Instagram video after they beat the Chiefs in the AFC championship game. So it was pretty good. A lot of traction for that song lately.

Yeah. Well, I mean, you know, all the heroes are playing that song. We're rooting for big things out of the Kepka brothers this week. All right, Shusty. We'll see on Saturday. Who makes the cut and what songs come out? We'll compare notes next week on it, okay? Yeah, that sounds great.

All right. Talk to you.