Fairway Rollin' - J.J. Spaun Wins the U.S. Open!

Episode Date: June 16, 2025

House and Hubbard fire up the microphones after the conclusion of the U.S. Open as J.J. Spaun secured the first major win of his career (0:00). Then, they share their thoughts on the course and its conditions (0:45). Later they discuss Bryson DeChambeau missing the cut (23:35) and Rory McIlroy’s behavior through the weekend (28:35) The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Hosts: Joe House and Nathan HubbardProducer: Brian H. Waters Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello, friends, and welcome to this golf podcast, unlike any other. This is Fairway Rolling. The golf podcast on the Ringer Podcast Network. I am your starter Joe House joined, as is our way, by my incomparable accomplice, our PGA tour boots on the ground. Nathan Hubbard, Nate Dogg, we have finally a winner of the 125th U.S. open at Oakmont, and it's just like everybody had dialed up, JJ Spahn. Pure chalk, buddy. I don't, I don't believe what I just saw. Was that good house? I think it was good in the end.

I'm not sure they should have been playing on that golf course. I'm definitely sure that the weather delay dramatically changed what happened. I'm also definitely sure that J.J. Spawn took a hell of a lot from his second place at the players and had big fucking stones coming down the stretch, four birdies. A lot of other guys took a big dump. I don't know what to tell you. JJ Spawn is a major champion.

Where do you sit right now? Did you enjoy this? I mean, was this the best nap you've ever had? Was it good? Yesterday was an incredible nap. And we'll get to, you know, overall, trying to make some sense out of, out of this particular major.

But, you know, kudos of course to JJ Spahn. Let's give JJ his flowers. He is one of two players to finish a U.S. Open at Oakmont with the Bertie Birdie. It's JJ Spahn and Ben Hogan. He made the longest putt of anybody the entire week on the 18th hole. Now, he did get an incredible. A bit of good luck. And he deserved it after the incredible run of bad luck that he had on the front nine with the 40.

But yes, he puts himself in rarefied air by shooting 40 on the front nine and winning a major. I will say this, State Dogg, it was dramatic. It was dramatic down the stretch. I was mentally preparing myself for singing the praises of Robert McIntyre, who for my money, shot the best round. of the late groups. Well, he did. Well, he did.

Two under. Fantastic. I mean, he was also, it was a very, how do I say, a very girthy two under. Like,

it was, he was thick. He had two bogeys through three house. And then one bogey the rest of the way, an eagle and three birdies. I mean,

he was, suddenly you realized, oh boy, okay, he won the National Open of Canada. He's won the Scottish Open. open. He's been there in the pressure of whatever that environment is. Is it different? I don't know.

But yeah, he brought it home. And then, I don't know. JJ Spawn to me looks like his soul left his body. And he just put it in drive and did something down that back stretch. I mean, the bogey on 15, you'd say, oh, geez, well, that was tough. Well, you saw what happened to Sam Burns on 15 to get a double. I mean, I think just getting through 15 is the whole point. and 18 birding those coming in. Really big stones. I expected JJ to go away just because you're like, well, all right,

you know, there's some other quality players. Vic's going to figure it out. Also because he shot five on every one of the first five of all. Well, but in hindsight, this is the lesson of the golf this year, isn't it, House?

It's Rory continuing on and finding a way to push through. And it's JJ today. He did not hit bad shots on two. He had a tarot. He had a rake on three. That shot on two hits the pin and rolls back 45 yards. Most people at that point are like, man, this is just not my day. But this is the tournament for people who can suffer.

And he's five over through six makes, you know, another bogey only one more coming in. I mean, he really, that rain delay, let him reset. And I do believe that the experience that he, had at the players. That's a big boy golf tournament and you don't really understand until you're down there. The crowds are huge, especially coming down the stretch. The crowds there are bigger than they were today at the U.S. Open. And there's more energy on that 17th hole. And for whatever reason, JJ peeled that little fade cut on the drive on 17 and that was it. And yeah. And he talked about in his interview that particular shot, it wasn't just Bertie. Like, you know, he had a very,

very good look at Eagle and how he had hit that in his practice round. And so it fit his mind's eye perfectly. But your point about the hour, and he said so, and we are taping this immediately upon the conclusion. So we will see all the interviews over the course of tonight and into early this week where he shares, you know, in sort of deeper detail what exactly was going through his head. But he acknowledged that that hour was an incredible,

important hour for his reset and that, you know, he immediately came out and had, you know, two birdies very early in that, in that backside after. 12 and 14, yeah. Yeah. And that clearly put him right back in the sort of killer mentality that we saw out of him really through the first three rounds, Nate. Yeah, I got to say, I want to, listen, JJ deserves all the flowers. Like, I, he was tough.

And that's all you can say. He was tough when a lot of guys. I mean, Sam Burns shot an eight over today. I mean, poor Adam Scott shot nine over today. Both those guys in the last group just got eaten up coming out of the rain delay. I want to talk about the rain delay, but I'd like to just start with the course overall because I feel a little bit like we were lied to coming into this thing, which is to say that the rough was not the determining factor of this tournament.

It definitely took guys out down the stretch at the end. Don't get me wrong. It got super wet. Justin Thomas was all over Twitter saying, I'm not sure we should be playing right now because the whole course, to be honest, was casual water after that rain delay. And definitely when we got the rain down the stretch. But like I'm looking at JJ's stats. I'm looking at Victor. I'm looking at Bobby Mack's stats for the week. And, you know, JJ Spawn was 31st off the T, fine. 28th T to green. But he was second in putting. Bobby Mac, fourth in putting for the week. Victor, who was third on approach and, second T to Green was 50-5th in putting and lost this golf tournament. I really think that it turns out at Oakmont in its current incarnation, the short game mattered a heck of a lot more than just off the T. And I think that's why Bryson missed the cut. I think Bryson treated this like Wingfoot. He told us he was going to do that in his YouTube video. And at the end of the day, accuracy definitely mattered and it played a part, but it was the guys who really could roll the ball well that made the

difference in this tournament and guys who played extremely well but did not have the putter working. I'm looking at you, Terrell Hatton, fourth on approach. I'm looking at you, Carlos Ortiz, sixth on approach. I'm looking at John Rom, fifth on approach, fourth T to Green. All of those guys were in the 30s or 40s in terms of putting and that was what got in the way of them winning. It just was a different course than we thought, even though it changed significantly after the rain delay, I just think for the week, what you needed to win out there was slightly different. and JJ's conservatism was what won this golf tournament for him. Yeah, for sure, if you look inside, like, Fairways hit and Greens and Regulation,

he was inside the top 10 in Greens and Regulation and Inside the Top 20 and Fairways hit. So those points of emphasis coming in, and we said that accuracy is- Mar-a-R-R-Rown yesterday, right? He just kept making pars. He's not a guy, and this was part of the assessment coming into this, that hits the ball a mile, and he finished the week 36th in driving distance, which is perfectly fine. And, you know, surrounding him are guys that you don't necessarily think of as,

you know, the biggest bombers out there. The thing with JJ grabbing it, the guys lined up behind him are all guys that if they had won, any one of these next four names are all guys that I regard as capable of winning a major. it wouldn't be that great of an eyebrow razor. Robert McIntyre won two national championships last year. The Canadian and the Scottish, and if he'd added the U.S. would have been, yep, Bobby Mac, the lefty.

Would have been the first lefty to win the U.S. Open. Hovland is around the hoop. Like, Hovland's, you know, it's going to happen. It's going to happen. After today, I'm sure it's going to happen. He has a U.S. M and he's the low M. he has on his resume, a low M at a U.S. Open.

So him winning a U.S. Open, sure. He's a little bit, princess in the P, like he just is always feeling something weird in his shoe, but he's, he is just too good. He's going to win a tournament. And today he did not have his best game. That's for sure. Shot three over. He's still third at the U.S. Open. Yeah. Cameron Young, who is now quietly creating a resume of successes in majors, you know, it's kind of like, you know, we have mixed feelings about, you know, whatever personality piece of it. Want to playoff. Want to qualify, I want a big playoff against Ricky and a few other big names to get in over those guys.

And then, you know, certainly, certainly brought it to fruition. I still think about that eagle he made on 18 at St. Andrews. Like it's in him, right? House, it's in him. It's in him. It's in him. And Tyrell Hadden, who's, you know, had a distinguished career and definitely capable of winning a major. Do you think it's in him? I think it got the course got the better of him today. I think he, had this major in his hand. He had through, with three holes to play, four holes to play, the live betting had Terrell Hatton as the

favorite. With good reason. He was hitting the ball the best. I mean, his approach on... And you know why he didn't win. Well, honestly, I don't even think it was that bad of a shot on 17. I mean, yeah, he got

an Oakmont break on 17 and that ended the tournament for him. I mean, you just can't have that kind of dance that kind of lie. I just would argue that coming down the stretch, he was in his own way from a head standpoint. Like, you got to find a way to be disper.

If JJ... I don't know. He was even standing on the T and 17 in terms of his back nine. His body language and the way he was acting out there on 14 and 15, if he had had the breaks that J.J. Spahn had had in the early part of the round, he never would have come back.

The point of this... He would have walked off the golf course during the hour-long break. But can you suffer through it? And he was acting on 14 and 15 and 16 like he'd been completely screwed. I think it caught up with him today. And you're right. He didn't get a terrible shot on 17. I just didn't think there was a chance for him to grab the tournament by the throat.

And I do think that the way he expunges his emotions gets in the way. J.J. Spahn, did you see when that ball hit the pin on two and rolled back? He didn't flinch. I mean, there were times where he was like, what the fuck? You could see him in his eyes over the course of those first six holes, that kind of reaction for sure. But yes. It's just not the same thing. I mean, the craziest as we look at this leaderboard, John Rom, who was never a factor,

briefly looked like he was going to win today and finish T7. Scottie Schaeffler, who was never a factor in this golf tournament, briefly looked like he might get in at three and finish T7. Brooks Kepka hung around. Rory McElroy, for all the shit we gave him, shot 300. and is going to top 20 in this golf tournament and finish one stroke behind Adam Scott. This thing was a mess out there. It was a mess.

And, you know, let's go ahead and start the conversation. Lots of folks will be having a similar conversation. Did you like it? Did you enjoy it? Was it fun? Look, I was not enjoying it yesterday. I wasn't. And I had to really check myself to say,

Is it just because of the names on the leaderboard? Like, is this course really filtering for the best golfer? And you and I had this exchange offline, and we kind of settled on, you know, it may or may not, but it's settling for the guys who are playing the most conservatives. That's what Adam Scott did. That's how J.J. Spawn played to get themselves into those two last groups. I thought Burns was a little bit more valiant. And we've seen it coming from Burns.

He shot 62 in Canada, almost one last week. and he's been playing great over the last month. But I think that the way they set this course up just wasn't going to reward any swashbuckling whatsoever. The only place where you were rewarded for taking a little bit of a risk was on 17. And JJ just hit the shot shape that mattered there. For the rest of this course, it really was, can I hit the green and can I make those lag puts?

And I think that in hindsight, you know, that's what they set up for. Now, do we like it? I don't, I mean, there was drama. down the stretch. There was a moment today we're at a five-way tie for first at plus one and suddenly it was interesting. I got to give him credit for that. I think without the rainstorm, it's a different tournament and we're all talking about how, man, do we really like this or not? How did you feel today? Because yesterday, you took a nap through it. I took a nap through it. I mean, did the best golfer of the week one win? Was it just the most conservative golfer? When you look at the top 20 in the

aggregate, it's sort of hard to shake a stick at. With JJ Spahn coming out, on Thursday and dropping the 66 and saying this place works for me. And then he validated it with what he shot on, what did he shoot on Friday? Friday he shot a 72.

Yeah. And then Saturday 69. Three of the last four. And then yeah. The Saturday 69, even with the bogey on 18, you felt like maybe he was fading a bit and then that was it. That's why I didn't have a lot of faith in JJ coming in today because that that drive into the rough on 18 just took him out of it. And you thought, okay, he got a taste of it now. And he fumbled it a bit on the 18th tee. That's what we're going to see. And I actually think the hardest shot that he hit all day was that drive on 18 today. Because you're pumped up from that birdie on 17. You know all you need is par. You're thinking back to Saturday where you bogeyed 18. You're thinking back to Friday where you bogeyed 18. And you go, man, can I even get to this little sliver of real estate? And that was,

when I thought, oh my God, my brother texted me then it was like, JJ Spawn's going to win the U.S. Open. It was over at that point. I don't know if I would, I considered it over. It was a very like comfortable drive for him. He was non-plus. That was a bit of it.

There was a serenity to his body language. I thought that when he, after he hit that drive, but he still, that was a nervey put where he was. If Hovland, it'll be a forever fun. What if? if Victor Hovlin had not hit his approach to there

and giving him literally the perfect look at the behavior of the put in the speed, would JJ, you know, what if Hovlin had stuffed it? What if Hovlin had put it to six feet? I think it's a lot of fun, what-ifs. There's a lot of what-ifs. I just think on the week he was second and putting overall.

I mean, let's just, that's right. He lost a stroke, 1.63 strokes driving on the front. He gained over half a shot driving on the back. three under on the back is it's just 32 is incredibly impressive coming in that excuse me I'm saying 32

he shot 33 on the back you're talking about today yeah yeah no no no doubt I mean that that's exactly right no it was 4032 he said sorry yes he shot he did yeah you had it right

you had it right he shot it's super impressive that's right yes we asked for guys to go grab the golf tournaments what else you want three under on the back at a U.S. Open when, by the way,

Adam Scott and Sam Burns, who have a legit chance coming out of the weather delay, just cannot seem to find a fairway and are getting in that wet stuff. It's a very impressive finish. I mean, so, was this a good tournament?

Like, thumbs up, this is what you want, this kind of level of suffering, and at the end of the day, it created some drama, and so we're happy. Course setup, okay? The course set up, okay? up what was fine. I will say

I didn't love it. There was an energy missing and I don't think NBC did itself any favors during the hour long rain delay by taking us to 2008 and Torrey Pines where there are gigantic stands surrounding

the greens and Tiger Woods at the height of his powers and the roars coming out of those crowds and while I'm watching the soporific Carlos Ortiz. Right.

It's the sleep inducing. You know, my man going out now, it's the best finish. I think it's the best finish. I have to check with Justin Ray. Best finish ever by a Mexican in the U.S. opens. So congratulations. I mean, Carlos was even keeled and played great and I'm happy for him.

Like that's not a knock on Carlos at all. It just was. There wasn't that run. There wasn't somebody coming from the back. There was, if you were, you know, whatever the opposite is of that triple crown, you know, preakness finish where the announcers getting down the stretch they come. It just

didn't feel that way. But that kind of is how they set this tournament up. Yeah. And it did seem like in terms of, you know, some of the breaks that guys got, there was a little bit more of a random

aspect to this. Yeah. Now, I don't think it's fair to to complain because the, you know, the identity of this golf course, the identity of this particular major, the identity of this national championship is... Sufferfest. It's to see who can, you know, withstand the bad breaks. And so we literally had what, you know, this thing intends to produce.

A 40 on the front followed up by a 32 on the back that included in one-hour rain delay. can we really complain? It did feel a little, I did hear, you know, and I think it's a fair complaint amongst some friends. It gets a little tiresome, you know, the chopping out of the rough, you know, thing. How many more times are we going to watch this? The bunkers were super penal.

Bunkers were way harder than the rough, man. I think rough was 50-50 this week. I think bunkers were 20-80 in terms of like 20% likelihood to get out. It was a lot harder out of those bunkers than we understood coming in. I'm going to put you on the spot. What did Mark Hubbard think? Mark Hubbard was on pace to make the cut on Friday.

He was on the number for quite a bit into the back, and then he ran into a couple of challenges and put himself. He texted me that it is, as far as he's concerned, the worst miscut of his career, he thinks he let six to 10 shots get away, and they were all strategic. He feels like he's hitting the ball, as well as he has ever

and putting the ball as well as he has in a very long time and that he made a bunch of tactical errors. And for that, he said, I hate this fucking course, but I respect it. And it ate at him on the weekend that he wasn't out there because he felt like he was playing well, but that's exactly what should have happened.

You know, if he made strategic tactical errors, like you're supposed to get your teeth kicked in and it happened. He made a triple, you know, by hitting the right side of the fairway on 11, you know, without the triple, great.

Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play? But, you know, he felt like he was two swings from being plus two heading into the weekend, but it was his own, he owned it. It was his own tactical strategic mistake. I think there's a lot of players who, if they're being honest with themselves, were on the other side of the cut line, big names this week for the same reason. My birdie buddies by par saving pals, Fandul is dialed in for the people. EGA tour. And so should you. Because right now, new customers can bet $5 and get $200 in bonus bets if you win.

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Yeah, I let's go ahead and get in. I mean, we said John Rom, Scotty Schaeffler, both the top tens. Like, you know, both tied for seven. Zander, yet another, you know, underpar final round to finish T12. Rory with, you know, all of the drama attendant to his week, including, you know, by his own admission, a some ambivalence. about whether or not he wanted to make the cut. But he went out there and made it just, you know, just fine.

And then she fired off a Sunday 67 and another top 20 for Rory. He and Rom with the two rounds of the day at three under. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. In a major. I do think it's fair. Let's go ahead and take on Bryson because this was, I guess, a great disappointment for,

for golf fans, for the golf community, for the broadcast. For me, personally it was. Yeah. What do you make of Bryson? I mean, if you're 132nd and approach in 123rd in putting through two days, you're going to miss the cut. I mean, that's all there is to it.

I think he is one of those players who made a tactical error, and he told us up front that he thought this was wingfoot, and that he could just whack at the ball and then go get it. And I think the USGA learned from wingfoot. They were happy to have Bryson as a champion, but I think that that course, the way they set that up was maligned, rightly so, because there was only a handful of guys who had a chance to win that week. And if you look at this leaderboard, this is why I think the top 20 finishing positions are really instructive this week and why I think I'm in Mark's camp. Like, I kind of hate the course, but I respect it and I appreciate it because you got everybody on this leaderboard from Christian Bazaed in Hood who can put his face off but is never going to light up, you know, the driver to a 45-year-old almost in Adam Scott, to a couple of unknowns to, you know, guys who are the traditional, you know, best players in the world who can bomb it to JJ Spahn, who in a lot of ways, you know, had no business sort of being on this leaderboard, Ben Griffin, again, guys who playing well right now. now performed well at this course. But on Bryson's case, I think he treated this like a

bomb and gouge course, and there is nuance and sophistication to the way that you play it. And I think he just didn't give it the thinking man's approach. And, you know, I mean, House, if we go back, you know, Bryson's the only guy who, they gave us that stat, who's shot over par in the final round, I think, and won the golf tournament. I mean, something like who'd shot 40 you're on the back and won the golf tournament. And last year was papered over something with Bryson. Now, let me just be clear. I think Bryson's an awesome golfer.

I'm thrilled that his YouTube stuff has worked in ways that I never saw. He's had vision and he gets all the credit in the world for it. He's so important to the sport of golf right now. And over the course of the last year, he has really struggled in big moments. he really has. He struggled at the Masters. He struggled with the PGA. He even struggled at the U.S. Open last year when he won. And I think the next step for Bryson is to actually stop tinkering and worrying so much about the swing. And it's going to be the mental part for Bryson, which is hard to say out loud because there are going to be some moments where Bryson's going to be fine. He's going to be a front runner anytime the crowd is going nuts. But the thinking, the real strategy part of it that isn't just hit the shit out of it and wedge it in is the next step for the guy. I think he's going to. to get there because I think he's just mercilessly driven, unlike some of the other stars that we've been throwing some darts at on this pod. But there is more that Bryson can do. And it's the mental part that I'm most interested to see how he takes his science and applies it to the art

of emotion. Yeah, because I do think there are two prongs to what you're observing. And science is definitely an element of it. It does seem like he is still trying to fine tune his setup. He is not happy with whatever ball he's playing with. It still has too much spin on it. And it doesn't seem like, you know, his approach numbers continue to confound us. They continue to be a work in progress kind of thing. But to your original point, the strategy element, he only hit 13 of 28 fairways. He was tied for 99th at that. And he only hit 20 of 36 greens in regulation. So he was not able, once he got off the fairway, he wasn't able to get on the green

in regulation at Oakmont in the manner that he did. And I will confess, I was thrown off the scent because of the video. Now, obviously, there is an enormous difference between playing a golf course

when you're just out, you know, with the video camera and your pals, having a great walk and the ability to find fairways under those circumstances as opposed to U.S. Open Championship golf. And I don't mean to equate the two,

but for him, I wonder aloud, is there really that big of a difference? It's him in his, you know, whatever sort of comfort place he's in. He hit Fairways on the video we watched. He wasn't missing. He was like, you know, he was finding it. He played from the properties. So I just think he wasn't afraid of missing Fairways and he should have been.

He should have been. I agree with you. And it was apparent immediately, you know, on the front nine in his first round. Let's talk about the weird odyssey that we hopefully are coming to an end with Rory. He once again, he gave a pre-tournament press conference. Fuck you guys press conference, yeah.

And then he didn't give a press conference after the first round or the second round. And then he came out Saturday. and appeared before the press. We won't belabor it, but it was super weird. It was weird. It was not like him. What are we doing?

Like, if that's, I'm not going to complain, but like. The Golf Channel guys know him Wellhouse, and they're up there saying something's not right with Rory. I don't know whether it's in his personal life. I don't know if it's just the hangover from 11 or 14 years, depending on how you want to count it, of pressure and pain. and pain, has he finally allowed himself to absorb being hung out to dry by the tour, you know, through the whole live stuff? I mean, it just has been so much where he's been kicked and taken it. I give him some grace on the performance. I don't really give him grace for being pissed at Sobel or whoever he's pissed at for the driver story. Like, I want him, he is such a guy who's

in touch with his own emotions. I want him to be brutally honest about what he's angry about. And he can be angry about 11 to 14 years of of being everybody's punching bag, although that sort of undermines the reality of him being loved in the way that he was at the Masters. I mean, to me, what I'm, what I'm frustrated by is it's dimming the moment of, to me, one of the top 10 golf moments of the last, top five golf moments the last 10 years, him winning at Augusta. Like, I just, I think it's Tiger winning in 2019. I think it's the broadcast they showed today when Tiger does the double fist pumps. It's Phil probably winning at 50 plus years old. And maybe, you know, I don't know, you can pick one or another out of the final five.

But I just, it's a weird state of mind for him. It's not tied to the release of the driver thing. It's tied to, I think, a complicated set of the body releasing. It's like when you and I go on a golf weekend together and we drink too much and our body just starts retaining a bunch of fucking water. and then we come home in for three days. We're peeing or whatever we're doing. We're getting rid of it. And slowly the body lets all this shit off and you get back to normal.

I think that's what's happening for Rory. Maybe so. I mean, you know, I had my own post round episode in the last handful of days. I'm not going to go into all that. Shout out to the nurses at GW. Shout out. Shout out to the nurses at GW University Hospital. Yes, indeed.

I will say this, this. I do think it's a combination of, some stuff going on personal wise and for sure that master's hangover element and whatever sort of you know impact that that's had he's not been able to reset yet um and that's not you know uh do you think we can bet on him dating a Kardashian in the next year oh uh cardat now he does I don't think that's his type I get I think we have a feel for what his type might be I don't think that's it's not in that direction that's what I would say that's the delicate way I'll I mean, look, I'm saying that flippantly. I don't mean it. Just like,

something is not right. And I don't mean to suggest I've heard nothing that it's tied to his personal life. I hope his personal life is great. I really do think that this is just a master's hangover. And I hope he gets himself right and then gets himself fired up for Royal Port Rush. Because now that Scotty didn't win, now that Rom didn't win, but they both at the end of the day played fine, I think those are, you know, definition backdoor top tens to say the least. but it does feel like we've got a more wide open field. I mean, Scotty, Scottie was not happy with his game the first couple of days out there.

That's for sure. He was not the guy that we saw winning by four and five sort of kicking everybody's ass. And that's okay. Like it's not realistic to expect him to stay at that level. He gave it to Randy Smith, didn't he? Gave it to him. Yeah. Well, he did.

He did. And again, the replaying of Tiger Woods at, at Tori is just a reminder of how hard it is to stay. at that level of excellence for so long a period of time. And Scotty is the closest thing that we've had, but he's not going to do that every time. And he's going to have, you know, these weeks where, relatively speaking, Scotty wasn't in this. And it was easier to get in the house before the rain delay for the most part. And on and on and on, I think those guys had an easier time on the course today than the guys down the stretch. But it does make the British very, very interesting, very interesting.

You just talked about Zander, who is clearly coming back. Put not his best this week, but well enough, right? Fought, fought the whole week. Yeah. I mean, the craziest thing with Scotty is you never see him in the 50, near 50 off the tea. And that's the thing ultimately. He putted well, even though it looked like he wasn't putting well. For the week, he putted well.

He finished inside the top 30. If you said coming into Oakmont, Scotty will put inside the top 30. I said, great. Maybe I'll go ahead and bet on some of these super short. 47th off the T ain't right. It's just wrong. He was so good on approach and around the green that I think that was the frustration that we started

to see. His T degree numbers being 47th off the T was still 12th. I mean, he was mad about the fact that he just couldn't get himself to the fairway because the rest of the game was there. He finished he was 29 to 56 and Fairway's hit. He was finished tied for 53rd in fair and

that category. That was the story that we got from Okmont, right? Was if you can't hit the fair, I mean, that's the U.S. Open. That's right. The fact that he finished T7, this is the guy with the highest floor that we have seen since Tiger Woods. It just is. And so a top 10 bet on Scotty Sheffler right now is free money, it feels like. But it does make Poor Rush so interesting.

Can Rory get himself back on the horse in his home? Can Shane Lowry coming back to the scene of the crime, right? Terrell Hatton, who really has to feel like he let this one slip a little bit. All of these guys now, it feels like there's more parity across, you know, we've complained about the fact that we don't have a Tiger Woods. Then Scotty started to break out. But now it does feel like, hey, give it a month. We're going to see these guys at Hartford.

Then we're not going to see him for a while until the Scottish. And it's really going to be who does the work over the next month and shows up. It feels like a really fun horse race. I want to welcome Brooks Kepka back to competitive major golf. Good, good to have him in the mix. He showed just enough after Thursday. I said, oh, let me dabble a tiny bit. Then he came out and shot of 74.

You know, there goes my money, which is fine. It's good. It's, you know, you want him to feel invigorated enough by a major to show up and finish inside the top 15. And this kind of a venue, this kind of challenge used to be in his wheelhouse. I mean, you know, his performance at Bethpage, you know, certainly suggests that he could be capable here. And we'll see. I'm not sure about him at Port Rush.

Although, no, no, no. Remember, he was paired up with J.B. Holmes. It was Port Rush where he was. Is that where J.B. Holmes played it in like a seven-hour pace round? And just, by the way, the same thing that Phil did to him to geek him over and win the PGA. Yeah. Now, Brooks was not in the final group, but he was in the final. three or four groups in that event.

How'd you feel about Brooks? I mean, this would have been the most Kepka-ish thing that's ever Kepka, if he actually showed up and did this. I mean, I give him some respect. I think he cared more about the Florida Panthers games that happened during this tournament than whether he won. But it is nice to see him back.

You had seen him in Virginia and said there was sort of palpable tension in the air. He doesn't seem to be happy there. They don't seem to be particularly happy with him. On the other hand, this is a guy who's never given a shit about anything other than the majors. And so it was cool to see him show up and just get a little flashback. So he crushed it off the tea, which is what you would expect out of him. And he did have the performance in terms of hitting fairways. And he did have the performance in terms of Greens in regulation.

But, you know, inside the top 25 and Greens in Regulation, in Stroves Gain approach, was fine. You just can't be in the 40s in putting. And I don't even know if I really hold that against them because Oak Monson one of one in terms of putting and, you know, guys that come in with tremendous track record putting wise, Sam Burns is one of them. Danny McCarthy is one of like, if you go to the strokes can putting, Justin Thomas, you know, didn't sniff the cut. No, no, he didn't. And by the way, a lot of guys did sniff the cut. That's why I'm not like, like Gary Woodland was around it. You know?

Like Thomas didn't seem to be totally around it. I think Phil, a lot of people want to jump on Phil because he had a tough finish. He's playing pretty good golf, you know? For a 55 year old? Yeah. So I got, I got no, you know, but what this place does is what you saw Wyndham Clark do to the locker room, right? It appears, at least from reports, that Wyndham Clark, Clark walked in that locker room and blew it the fuck up after missing the cut again at a major

championship. I'm not sure, you know, I'm not sure Wyndham feels like his game is in the same place that say Ludwig does, right? Ludwig for a while, certainly on Friday, it felt like maybe he was going to be in this mix and you and I were going to look silly for, well, you, you were the leading the charge on him missing the cut and you were right at the end of the day because despite that 72 on Friday, on Thursday, excuse me, you know, the 76 with no birdies on on Friday was his problem. And once again, you know, around the green, he lost strokes. Yeah. I mean, Ludwig to be is just going to be a work in progress.

I am, I don't want to be identified as a love big hater. I am not. I like his game. No. He's a strong player. You've just identified when he's not at his best and he has not been at his best. Yeah, and so, you know, I don't have any, I don't take any particular pleasure. I do take pleasure in giving out to all the Bertie buddies out there, the Wyndham Clark, Cameron Smith, Parley on missing the cut.

I did feel good about that. Now, Wytham Clark, I understand why he was so frustrated. He was playing well enough. And then he just had, what he really had was blow up holes. And then he went out and went and did exactly the wrong thing. And we'll see. There's something going on with him. Yeah, I'm sure those stories.

Netflix episode is not aging well right now. It just, I mean, now is the time when your sports therapist needs to step in and help and get you through and get you, you know, more level-headed and work it through.

And listen, you know, sometimes people just need to emote and erupt, but destroying the clubhouse at Oakmont. Come on, man. It's not a right. Come on, man. And the fact that they let that,

so here's the thing that you know, um, he's not making any friends because lots of times they'll keep that we wouldn't hear about it. No way. No way does that get out? So somebody's intending, you know, he's not making friends right now. Yeah, he's not making friends.

Walking Neiman just want to make the observation plus 10, you know, so we're still waiting for the breakthrough. I mean, he did finish inside the top 10 at Quilho. Good. That's still his best performance in a major. I was once again disappointed with Tom Orkawa, who for a minute there, I thought, you know, might be in contention. He putted pretty good on Friday.

I thought Friday's round turned into a 74, but, you know, he opened with the 70. I thought Friday he had a chance and then he just ran into trouble and couldn't get out of his own way. Patrick Reed, another top 25. So that's glass hat full for Patrick Reed. He's had a very good major season. I think he's in the conversation around the Ryder Cup. I do. I think he's going to need something incredible at Port Rush, though.

I think I think you're right, but I think they got to think about it. I mean, you know, just looking at this. Jay J.J. Spawn is in now. J.J. Spawn is in. And by the way, Ben Griffin just top ten. Ben Griffin. He's got two wins. He's in.

Ben Griffin's in. And guess who else is in? Probably Sam Burns is in who, you know, finish second at Canada. and seventh here. So suddenly you're starting to fill up some spots, but I, you know who's out? I think if you're,

Jordan Speeth, who finished T-23, not bad. Yeah. Not bad. He's out. Second on approach for the week. I don't know if that's right. But, you know, suddenly, and this may not be a good thing for Team USA,

suddenly the Burns-Sheffler pairing is reignited. And, you know, you got, I mean, Keegan Bradley's playing well enough today wasn't great. But, you know, I mean, he's playing. well enough that on the telecast, they're openly surmising that he's going to be playing captain. And Kisner kept his mouth shut and said, I'm not, I'm not taking the bait on that one, which means it's a real and active conversation. So you put all these things together on top of the guys who are absolute locks in Morikow.

I think Thomas is a lock. I think you got to have Brooks Keppka. I know Xander Schaughley. And I know Scott Schaeffler. I'm not sure about Brooks. I'm not sure. No, no. I think Kepka and Spieth are going to have to come up with, you know, something. Something at Port Rush.

That's even more reason to be watching Port Rush then. I mean, because here, look, Nate Dogg, second place to the U.S. Open, Robert McIntyre. Third place, U.S. Open, Victor Hovlin. Tied for fourth U.S. Open, Tyrella, Tide for seven. John Ron. My buddy. Like, a little unnerving, a little like, you know, if you're on the U.S. is on the U.S. team now.

So like I hope that JJ brings the nuts he showed today. It's the guys that we just said. Look at the U.S. guys. It's Sheffler, Burns, Griffin. Russell Henley is on. I'm just telling you right now.

That's why like Brooks. I'm telling you he's on. Brooks and Speeth are not on. And Russell Henley is on. And I mean, obviously Xander and Brooks has to do something. I mean, it's time to start in serious about this.

Spee's going to go to Iowa and win. Or he's going to go to Quad Cities and win. And I mean, it's, like, we'll see. We'll see. I'm not counting out Jordan's beat yet. Okay. All right. But I agree with you today, if I had to make that choice because of the, the selections that I've got to make.

I mean, yeah, it's, it's, Kegan Bradley has a very, very difficult job this, this go around. You know, we thought that Zach had a tough one because he kind of had to decide was he going to take Lucas Glover or the tried and trues. Well, they lost with the tried and trues. and in fact, you know, he's injected himself on the T and screwed up a couple of things that speed. I mean, I'm never going to forget him stepping on the T-box. But it didn't lose the, it didn't lose the Ryder Cup. We were going to get our ass kicked. And we're going to get our ass kicked at Beth Page, unless some of these guys pick up their game.

No offense to JJ Spawn. He's earned it. It's just not like if JJ Spawn is four or five on your roster, you're feeling awesome right now relative to the other guys. Nothing against JJ who just stared down a bunch of guys. It just yikes. The only thing I'll say with respect to Kagan and his hard decision is he will not feel

obliged. He will not feel compelled to do whatever the boys club thing. That's why I think Patrick Reed has a real chance. Interesting. Interesting. But how can you have Patrick Reed and not Jordan Speed? Who's Patrick going to play with? I'm kidding. Patrick can play with anybody. Patrick can play with anybody. I mean, I just

think, you know, who's going to take more energy from that crowd at Bethpage? that's the other reason to put Brooks is it's going to trigger for him there's three there's three things that Brooks Kevka plays great at it's the US Open it's the PGA and it's whatever the fuck's happening at Bethpage I think you're right about that

and especially the home soil thing it didn't get the juices flowing for him in Italy but it will they will be flowing up there at Bethpage and Bethpage certainly suit him any last thoughts anybody you want to get flowers to No, I still just can't. I just can't figure out whether you think that this was a good tournament or not.

And if you're sort of nonplussed, like, should they have done anything different other than hold off and continue on Monday? Like, if TV ratings weren't a factor, you don't play the last six or seven holes, I don't think. In the conditions that the course was in with the water that was on there in that manner. The problem is, I think, and I'll get this detail from folks that were up there when we have a chance to, beginning of this week to have the conversations. You couldn't really get a big concentration of fans surrounding things. So it just was missing pop. And it was missing pop.

LACC was the same way, brother. It was. You're absolutely right. I think they've got to figure out what they want to do here because this is another U.S. Open that feels like the tournament in Jackson, Mississippi, right? it feels like it's not attended with the energy that it ought to. Now, 18 was great when JJ made that putt. 18 was amazing because it's surrounded.

It's a natural amphitheater, but not enough of this golf course sets up that way. And there were grants. I don't disagree. It definitely is hard. But, you know, this is a television product at the end of the day. Because if, you know,

you can have nobody be there and go compete golf tournaments and put it on TV. People showed up at Tori. We saw what happens when there's real energy and enthusiasm. Tori isn't the best place to watch a golf tournament. I'm telling you, I walk that course as many times as any spectator has. It's not awesome. And you do come up 18 and the people are there.

The rest of the course a little bit less. But it had a lot more than we did today. And that's not a knock on any of the folks of Pittsburgh who came out. No, no, no. The weather was awful. But it's the piece of property. It's the land. How do you move people on the land and where can they be?

where do you put them so that there can be, you know, a real sort of fan experience that's applicable on TV. Yeah. And this is where, you know, and shout out to Brian Rolap, who's the new CEO of the PGA, a good human being with really interesting ideas who's going to bring a lot of experience from, you know, the most popular American sport where he's been C.O. to come in. But, you know, like, there, is anybody bringing, we got cart girls in golf on golf courses. Have we got cart people delivering drinks out there?

How do we get more people out on the court? And this is the thing where I don't think there's much to take from the team golf or 54 holes or the shotgun start from live. But you were there and you know that they have figured out how to make an on-site experience that is more fun than most of the PJ tour events on the ground, right? And so like, let's just, we don't need to play fucking the chain smokers in the background to make a golf tournament fun. You can do a little bit more in terms of hospitality and the overall.

all experience. And I think the USGA is doing a really good job, but I would like to see us continue to think about how to bring energy to that tournament. Because on a day like today, when you're looking at that leaderboard and we're all in our group techs going, is this fun? Is this not? I think this is fun. Oh, wow, it's dramatic. But it doesn't quite have the energy of, say, the Masters did. Or when Rory was going to head, right, Rom was going ahead to head with Schephler, you'd like to at least have an on-site experience that mirrors, you know, the drama of five guys tied at the top with six to play. Yeah, that's right.

And how to get that to deliver to home, where we can feel that, you know, sitting where we're, you know, sitting at home. Because they got it at Pinehurst. We felt it at Pinehurst.

We did. The closing stretch at Pinehurst, there was plenty of people in places. And that's also a hard piece of property to put people in. And we're back at Shinnecock next year. And I'm trying to remember, I was there for a good portion of it.

but I can't you know that that also is kind of a tough one people-wise there are the closing holes for sure I'm trying to think Brooks came home he held on and fought off Tommy Fleetwood I know it might be another tough one

we might might feel like this a little bit listen the US Open is about suffering as fans we suffer a little bit too but you know what we're coming back this is not a this is not we know what it is. So let's appreciate what it is.

We got something very different at the Masters. We get something different at the PGA, and we're going to get something very different at rural Port Rush House. I can't wait for us to dive into that in just a couple weeks. Yeah, right around the corner, Nate, dog. We will be looking forward to that, my birdie buddies, my part saving paths, my eagle enthusiasts. What a time.

Hope everybody had a tremendous Father's Day, those who were able to celebrate. And between now and the British show open. I hope you're able to throw a peg in the ground, the Open Championship. And if you're able to do so, please, let's hit them straight out there. Must be 21 years older, older, and present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino, or 18 plus and present in D.C. Gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler, or visit RG-Help.com.

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