Fairway Rollin' - Jordan Spieth Has Risen! Plus Story Lines With Alex Myers

Episode Date: April 5, 2021

Jordan Spieth emerges victorious and secures a spot at the Masters! House and Hubbard tee up to break down Spieth's win at the Valero Texas Open (01:36) before sitting down with Golf Digest's Alex Myers to go through the best story lines and predictions heading into Masters week (16:56). Host: Joe House and Nathan Hubbard Guest: Alex Myers Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello, friends, and welcome to this golf podcast, unlike any other. What a time to be alive, my friends. Oh, yes, we have done it. This is Fairway Rowling on Masters Week. The Golf Podcast on the Ringer Podcast Network on Masters Week. I am your starter Joe House, joined as we are every week by our PGA tour correspondent on the ground,

Nathan Hubbard on Masters Week. And of course, we have a very special guest to help set up the storylines all of what we might anticipate out of Master's Week. Alex Myers from the Golf Digest is on. Now, Birdie Buddies, just a quick heads up. We recorded this podcast in two segments.

we got out a bunch of our storylines with Alex Byers as the weekend was developing. We had to jump right on for this second segment. Me and the Nate Dog are here. Sunday night, he is risen. Jordan Speath just won the Valero, Texas Open. The first T's wide open. So Nate Dogg and I are going to stroll over and put one right down the Jordan Speeth middle. Nate Dogg, he did it.

I never stopped believing. I mean, he is risen. He is risen. That's all we can say. We really don't deserve all of this good fate and good fortune. We recorded a bit with Alex Myers, and there were balls up in the air when we got together as the weekend got going. We wondered, is John Rom going to have his baby? Will a golf gods intervene?

and produce a new addition to the ROM family right as the Masters arrived so that ROM does not have to jump away from being in the lead on a Thursday or something. We didn't, Jordan Speeth was trending. He looked great Thursday, Friday. We said, look, I mean, it would be pretty fun if the guy came out and grabbed one. Bam, here we are. And just an hour ago, Brooks Kepka is tweeting at our boy, Verno, Chris Vernon, about the master's update.

What a time to be alive. I don't know how I feel about Speath bringing it in with 51% driving accuracy and 58% greens and regulation. It's going to change the way we think about him for this week for a whole bunch of reasons. But it doesn't matter because he closed the door

and he was being nipped at by none other than where the hell is Charlie Hoffman? Where the hell is Charlie Hoffman? Charlie Hoffman was up Jordan Spee's ass all day long today. And it was glorious. Yes. And Charlie fought like hell. I will miss him at the Masters.

Look, we have waited so long for this. And I've been a truther, as you know, the whole time about Spieth. Is it weird that down the stretch I secretly wanted Charlie to win so that Jordan would have a better chance next week and that we'd see Charlie Hoffman in the first round of the Masters? I don't, I don't, well, seeing Charlie Hoffman in the first round of the Masters was kind of worth it. And if Charlie had gone out and done something crazy like Eagle D 18 and Jordan, you know, part it and then they ended up in a playoff and then Charlie won. Like if Charlie went out and won the golf tournament, that would have been fine. I did not want Jordan Spee to collapse down this stretch. I wanted him to keep his pedal on the, his foot on the gas on the gas pedal.

He did that. I mean, the way he played 17 was absolutely beautiful. He hit 10 to 14 fareways today. He had seven birdies today, only one bogey, and the putter's working. And he had that presence. He had that old familiar speed, that confidence where he's got blinders on. You can almost see the blinders on either side of his eyes. He puts his head down.

He gives a low fist pump. I love the Jordan Speed fist pump. I forgot how much I enjoyed the Jordan Speed fist pump. And Nate Dogg, look, his last win was in 2017, but he becomes just the fifth player in the last 30 years with 12 wins by age 28. So that's how many wins. He 11 wins, you know, up to 17, and now he got his 12th. And by the way, the other guys that share that attribute, Tiger Phil, Rory and J.T. Good company.

Starting with the West Coast swing, you could see this was going to happen. It was just a matter of time. There were a couple of shaky weekends where you still thought, he's still a little bit in his head. You know, the celebration and the interview after this round was a little subdued

relative to what I thought. I mean, he got emotional when he saw Annie walking off the green. And you could tell that this one meant a lot to them. The announcers said this is the first win that he's had since he's been met. married. But they obviously been together for a long time and she's been a part of that journey. There was, it just was a little calmer than I would have thought. I suspect that either in the

news conference, which we know is happening now or later, there's going to be a rush of emotion come out of him. He was almost, he was a little bit in shock, I think. I agree with you, but I also wonder in terms of his reaction to this and how good he feels about it, if not to take anything away from the enormous achievement, but it's about major letters. It's a major one. It's the major one.

It's not the PGA or the Masters. And he's still going to be staring down the 12th hole this week at some point under pressure. And he's either going to think about what happened or he's going to think about what could be. I'm very much in the latter category. I mean, this is the thing that we haven't experienced with him is that how red hot, incandescent hot, white hot he gets when he gets on his heaters and when he's in his in his fields. You know what I mean? 78 yards on the 17th hole and he puts it to, you know, four and a half feet. He needs a chip on 15.

He leaves it short out of the bunker, I think, and leaves it short at the front of the green and chips it and it only needed one more rotation to go in for a chip in birdie. Like when he's got that kind of command of his game, then you know, then you know. We're worried about his driving accuracy, though, aren't we? Not at the Masters.

No, sir, re, not me. No. You're not. No, not one bit. 10 of 14 fareways and his misses are not you know who was missing fairways today that cost him Matt Wallace Matt Wallace and Charlie Hoffman Charlie Hoffman kept going right down the back nine he hit it in the bunker twice on the you know with shorter clubs in his hand and then he went right on 18 and couldn't you know that tree that was in his back swing wasn't really in his back

swing exactly and he smashed it um whatever the the fairway would or hybrid that he hit up there. But he had to try and chip and make Eagle. I just, we look at, we look at his stats for the week, Jordan. He's fourth an approach. He's third around the green. He's sixth in putting. He's first overall. But off the T's 38th. And his accuracy, he's T78. So I, it's the Masters. I know. I just, and the stats say only two people have ever won the week before and gone on to win the master. So I just just, just, just, There are five people that have done it, but just two in the last 60 years.

Fair enough. One of the home was Phil. So, like, you know. So it's doable. Yeah. I just wonder if with Brooks storming in and deciding he's going to play unless the kneecap unhinges itself in the practice round. And Rom getting the baby out, the golf gods broke the water, made it happen. Do we think that Jordan is more or less of a favorite based on the fact that he just won?

there's going to be some emotional release that's either going to help him or he, you know, he won't be at his top. How do you feel? I think he's going to be buoyed. He's not yet 28 years old. He's a young fella. That's the thing, right? Like, it's very hard for me at my advanced age to go back into when I actually had some athletic prowess, when my athletic acumen on the hoops court and as a fledgling golfer was at his highest when I could. really compete at stuff.

Once you get that vibe, you're in that zone. I think it's, you just stay in it. He's been there for a while. He'll be exhausted, probably like tonight or maybe tomorrow night. There will be a night where he needs a great 12 hours of sleep, but then bam,

he's back at it. And I think with the, like, you know, he has unparalleled strokes gained at the Masters. Like in the history of the masters, he's in the top five of across the stroke gain total. And one of the stats that we talk about with Alex Myers in the second part of our chat today is a tweet by Kyle Porter from CBS where Kyle Porter showed in the years that

he had good success at the Masters, his strokes gained total coming into the event was, was very, very impressive. And right now he was like, he's like 10th in strokes gain total. And that's going to improve overnight tonight because of, of how well he just did. We are never going to be able to put enough weight on that 61 on Saturday. You said it.

At the waste management open. Because he goes on to finish T4 the next week at Pebble. He's tied for third. At the RIV, the next week, he's tied for 15th. API, he finishes T4. He had kind of a weird player's where he made the cut but finished 48th.

He was, you know, made it to the final eight in the, in the, in the, in the, a Dell match play. I mean, it just unlocked him. That will historically be the round that unlocked Jordan Speed. He will be on the podium this week down in Augusta. And we have all, you know, the very best of golf media will be down there. I know somebody will ask him that question about that unlocking, the unlocking, the unblocking,

whatever you want to call it, the great release, the greatest release. that has restored him. And I am very interested and excited to hear how he describes it because the thing with him that makes him so compelling is the real-time, candid, mental gymnastics that he's living through and sharing with us

and sharing with us, exactly. You said it. That's why he's my favorite golfer. He's the first guy who was fully comfortable telling us what's in his head. I mean, even the catty conversations today with Michael were insane. I mean, he actually had a three wood on 18 on that second shot.

And then he's like, no, no, no, God, no, it's an eight iron all day in eight iron, which he then pulled into the scoreboard. Which was amazing because those guys were standing there waiting for like 12 minutes. Maybe it wasn't that long. It felt like. And then they got to that point.

Like, dudes, you had almost 50. 15 minutes to have this conversation that you're having right now. Like you could have made the decision. Somebody was playing slow. I don't know if it was Anurban Lahiri ahead or somebody was playing pretty slow because he was waiting a lot on those last few holes. Well, you're right. No, that's true.

There was definitely some slow. But I think 18 has that backup effect because, you know, everybody goes for it in two. Well, I hear you making proclamations about the masters. I think we should just tell everybody run from us because. We gave you Charlie Hoffman. We gave you Chris Kirk. We gave you Matt Wallace. All three of them finished in the top six.

Where did my boy Cameron Tringali finish? Top 20? Tringali finished ninth, sorry. So, yes. So top 10, I forgot about Tringali. How dare you? It was obvious that you put Jordan Spieth on your fantasy team this week. And if you filled out with the rest of those guys, you won.

And so that's great for you if you did it. If you didn't, you know, we're going to revert to the means. so run like hell from our master's picks. I don't know. We have a lot of smart people coming on to help us with master's picks this week. Of course, Justin Ray will be on the Wednesday show and we'll go through all the analytics. But like, you're right. We're brilliant.

We're just going to go right down the middle with the top guys. And then we need to find some sleepers. Do you have any early feel? So we're going to talk to Alex Myers. He's got some guys in mind. But down the card. And I know it's the Monday, master's week Monday.

I have the ingredients, by the way. Are you familiar with the drink, the unofficial drink of the masters, the azalea? I am familiar with it. Can you give us the proportions and the ingredients? Well, the proportions are going to be off because I like more alcohol in my ratio than the other ingredients. But I will say, I've been drinking this crafted cocktail.

They're a little outfit down in San Diego. And they have, so the ingredients and an is. azalea are pineapple juice, light on it. It's vodka or gin, whichever you're whether you're a vodka gin or a vodka person or a gin person.

That's your starter. It's supposed to be two ounces of one of those two. Then it's a little bit of pineapple juice. Like, I don't like things super sweet. So it calls for up to two ounces. Mine would be like half an ounce to a full ounce. One ounce of lemon juice, not lemonade lemon juice.

And then you get the beautiful azimps. color with grenadine. Ah. That's how you get the hint of those flowers, the pop. And then if you want to garnish with a lemon wedge, please feel free. I'm drinking that with that crafted cocktail. They make a thing called jalapeno pineapple. So I like it.

A little spicy. Yes. So it's Monday of Master's Week. We have the drink. You're going to hear in the second part, my birdie buddies, if you didn't order the taste of the Masters, you are shut out. They sold out two weeks ago. But you can make your own egg salad.

It's easy to make. There's online Dustin Johnson made pimento cheese according to the recipe. I don't know where I encountered that. But if you want the pimento cheese recipe, track it down. It's on there. DJ's making it. And then just get yourself situated. You know, barbecue's not hard to come by.

Grilled chicken's not hard to come by. No. Egg salad can be made out of the eggs from. from Easter Sunday. Let's go. That's exactly right. Speaking of let's go. We have this great conversation with the homeboy Alex Myers, all teed up. Let's jump in. Let's do these storylines. We have number one storyline with Jordan Speeth, number two storyline with John Rom and number three storyline. How many, we're going to, if we're lucky, we're going to have Verno, if you can break away from corresponding with Brooks Kevka. We're going to have Chris. We're

going to have Chris Vernon on the show that goes up Wednesday to give us a preview. How many do you think he's going to do? What's the over under on Verno Masters updates? He usually only does like two, maybe three at most. Well, he's feeling the pressure. He's feeling the pressure right now. He is feeling the pressure. It blew up last year and now Kepka's calling him out. So I think we're going to have fewer, but they're going to be intense. I think he's, I think he's targeting three. Great. That's a great number. I'm here for it. I have my azale. We'll be making some egg salad sandwiches. Let's jump over and talk to the homie, Alex Myers, and get some of these storylines ordered up here. All right, my par saving pals, as you know, it is our strong and firm conviction that we must begin a major week with the major storylines. And we go to major league talent for such information. a good friend of ours from Golf Digest.

Alex Myers, senior writer, author of the grind, co-host of the Be Right podcast. Alex Myers is Master's Week. What's up, my brother? Hey, it's great to be here, man. Thank you so much for having me on. I am so fired up. In fact, I even, it'll come out next week in the grind.

I even wrote a little song on the piano for the Masters. So I'm very excited this year. Things are getting back to normal, hopefully. last year was, you know, last year was nice, but it's back in April. Alex, it's not that awful one week in April song that gets jammed through serious PGA Tour radio, is it? No, I don't think so. Okay.

It's not my, I took a very common melody and, you know, one of those things. That's fine. That's fine. I can't play piano, but I'd learn by watching YouTube just to play this song. Like, I literally can't play chopsticks even, but I learned how to play this song. So it's not great. But hopefully it works. No, no, you don't have to undersell it.

Come on. Let's tease it. It's going to be on the grind next week. Golf Digest content pumping because it is a master's week. Homi, you are physically going to the Masters. That is correct. Yes. I'm especially excited.

Again, last year was crazy. Only a couple people went. This year, it's still very limited. Not only with the patrons, as we're hearing, but also with coverage. You know, that beautiful media center that you're going to see photos from everybody is going to be very spread out. Hopefully all the food is still there. Yeah.

I'm sure there'll be food. Now, look, I hate to begin this podcast on a sad note, but I sent a screenshot to my partner in crime here, the Nate dog. It's so disappointing. So, taste of the Masters, the greatest invention and innovation, possibly in Masters, history, which is a wonderful package, pre-package arrangement of all of the master's delicacies. They launched it. They unveiled it for the November Masters. And God bless the good folks down in Augusta.

They brought it back for this master's, Alex Byers. I went online and we're recording this a full week in advance of the actual tournament. Sold out. No. Sold out. That just shows you what a hot seller it is. It's crazy. And speaking of food-related items, those shirts, the new shirts with the sandwiches on them.

Yes, right. Those are going to be hot sellers. You better buy those now. Are they going to be gone? Can you just put an egg salad sandwich in like a FedEx envelope and send it to me in house when you're down there? Yeah, Myers, we're going to send you an order. I want one of the T-shirts. I need two sandwiches.

You'll get a, I need a hat. Look, the garden gnome is over my shoulder. He's up there. I got the gnome. Yeah. The gnome is cheaper. It's cheaper. It's cheaper to order beer from there and have it shipped.

to us than try to buy it normally. That's a great point. So speaking of great points, this Astor's tournament is happening less than five months than the preceding major Masters tournament, which was November. And I was going to start off with,

you know, what do you think will be different except for that's dumb because we know everything's going to be different. Everything will be different from the November masters. Among the whole of the course conditions, the fact,

that there'll be patrons, you know, we're on the normal sort of tournament cycle here. Among all of the various storylines relating to this April Masters, what jumps out at you that is kind of the most appealing? Well, I mean, again, I do think, like you said, everything's going to be different. I think back in April, course, playing a little faster. We heard Jordan Speeth talk about that the other day. I talked to actually Adam Scott, who played it earlier this week, and he said it's looking like it's kind of back. Not that normal, November ended up not being that crazy. I mean, it definitely was a little softer.

They had that rough grown up, which was unusual. You had no fans there, obviously, which was unusual. That's why Bryson lost that T shot on the third hole, which wasn't even that bad of a shot. So we're not going to see crazy stuff like that happened, which is good. But I think just a little bit of a return to normalcy. You know, I think we all kind of got used to those no fans and the silence. And we kind of said, this is kind of nice. You can hear the players. But now that we hear the fans again, we're kind of like, no, I like the fans, right?

It was missing something. So I think just that in general, it'll feel more like a normal master's. I don't think 20 under is going to win again, like DJ. But could DJ win again? Of course. I mean, it's only been five months. He's still the best player in the world. Do you think that they were threatened by that 20 under number?

Like, in other words, do you think they step back and said this coming year, we're going to do something about this to bring the scores back? I don't. You know, I don't think they're, you know, the USDA is kind of known for that or at least has been known for that. I don't think the Masters cares as much about that, especially because it was this anomaly in the schedule in November. So even people pointing to the 20 under, you kind of say, I know we ran a story

even today on Gulf Digest about whether it should be an asterisk or not. Of course, it shouldn't be. But just the conditions were a little different. There was a lot of rain. Right. And it was a lot of rain. So, you know, it's probably a reason why there was 20. It's probably a reason why Cameron Smith posted four scores in the 60s, the first person to ever do that.

And still didn't win, lost by five shots. So I think even the masters, even if there were a few members who were like, man, I don't want them tearing up the course like that. They're going to say, well, it was in November. It's not real condition. So again, I don't think 20 other is going to win again, but I also don't think they're going to go crazy hard the other way trying to, you know, teach these guys a lesson or something. It is the case that if we get sort of traditional April conditions and already that the weekout forecast is imagining no rain whatsoever. So it will be just what Adam Scott shared with you, what we heard from Lee Westwood a couple of weeks ago, how firm and fast.

this place is going to play. And we will eventually in this discussion get to, does that favor anybody? Does that give us a lean one way or the other? But I'm not ready to get to your picks. I mean, I know you got the column up already. Your early forecast is 13 best bets. But look, we're still collecting information and data and things can change between now and first T-ball in the air.

But I did want to touch on something, speaking of first T-ball in the air, and get your thoughts on this. It is a historic and groundbreaking moment for this master's event in 2021 in terms of the group that will tee off together, the ceremonial first tee ball. So you have Gary Player and Jack Nicholas who've been doing it, but they're going to be joined by Lee Elder, the first African American to ever play at Augusta.

That all by itself is. is, you know, meaningful. And the club has announced a bunch of initiatives in terms of partnering with historically black colleges and universities and other sort of scholarship opportunities. As it relates to Lee Elder's involvement, how have you been thinking about that? First of all, it's fantastic. And I think everybody's going to love it. And, you know, I think there were some people in November like, well, why isn't it happening

now? But again, I think it's going to be so much better back in the April date with some fans there. some patrons, sorry. I think it's just going to have a bigger impact for that reason. But I want to give a shout out to, and this is not me round-nosing here. Our editor-in-chief, Jerry Tarty, really kind of made this happen. He wrote a column about this saying Augustine National should do this with no knowledge that it was going to happen or anything like that. And that kind of got the ball rolling here. And, you know, it's funny because I think old Augusta National, not that he told them what to do, but old Augusta National would almost not do it just because someone else suggested it.

But more Augusta National, I think like you mentioned, the partnership with the HBCUs and, you know, I think they were pretty involved with the COVID testing and, you know, the women's AM on site this week for crying out. Right, right. And obviously the women's AM, exactly. So this is a new Augusta National in these last few years. I mean, you can look at their history and point at this or that, but they seem to really be want to do the right thing, at least now and going forward. And I think they should be applauded for that. But again, I applaud Jerry Tarty as well from Golf Digest for kind of getting the ball rolling on that. And that should be a really cool moment with Lee Elder joining those other two

legends up there on that first team. Well, I got to ask you just because if I don't house will, is there any chance that Tiger Woods shows for this? Man, it's such a shame to not have him on site for such an important moment. I agree. And it's sad because even in his darkest times before this crash. He did always find a way to get there, at least for that champion's dinner, to show his face. I, you know, I haven't heard anything, so I'm not revealing anything or anything, but I just, I would be stunned if it does happen. It's hard to imagine given where the injury. Exactly. Exactly. And, you know, why even risk something else having a setback or this or that? I mean, he would have had to make an incredible recovery from

those surgeries so far. So I wish I had breaking news that we're going to see Tiger or something. I wish, but I doubt it. Now, I will say, I mean, we have seen him now joined the broadcast with Jim Nance via Zoom, that kind of stuff. Who knows? Maybe he gets in the mix that way. Maybe we get to see him at least in some level, but it'd be hard to imagine him walking the grounds at Augustine National,

unfortunately. Yeah, and I'm not prepared to rule anything out as it relates to Tiger Woods. and maybe there will be some kind of limited appearance where, you know, whatever crutches or even wheelchair, whatever needs to happen, it is such an important moment for the tournament to have the elder there. I would hope that if Tiger is physically able to do it, that he can join the group there. But speaking of the Champions Dinner,

which is also, I think, at least it's slightly lower, importance of lower importance than the elder, but here comes a pigs in the blanket question. Yeah. How about, how about DJ's menu? I mean, the entree's is like, bro, you know, what are we doing? But who cares? I don't care. If we got, Nate, if you and I had won the masters and we were going to go have this dinner, it would be a whole dinner of the lobster corn fritters and the pigs in a blanket, right? Yeah. This looks like he wanted to go to Sizzler, but he realized he had to go to the Masters. Yeah, Meyer, so go ahead.

Tell it, let's go through the menu. Adminidly, when I saw it come out yesterday, I did think for a second, it might be an April fool's joke. I mean, that's like, because you see pigs in a blanket right at the top there, and you're like, no, come on. I mean, no way. But, no, I mean, it's legit. And, you know, you got to give him credit.

It's, it's funny. I mean, guys who win try to insert a little personal. flair here or there, whether it's what country they're from or whatever. And so this is his way of doing it, you know, a little, I don't even know what to call pigs in the blanket. It's just, it's so, it's so common man. I mean, I love it. I just, I like it. The rest of the menu, though, I mean, you know, he's got steak. He's got sea bass. Adam Scott, Adam Scott said, I hope he brings some good wine. That's all he was kind of really caring about. But I can't imagine that'll be a challenge. My only quibble at all is with the fish.

I mean, he's, he, he hails from South Carolina. He could easily tap into some of that low country tradition and fair. There could have been a, exactly. That's it. What, I mean, you know, you're right. That could have been his. Yes. And you can definitely take the lowly catfish and elevate it.

But that's just a fear of imagination. And, you know, the next time he wins, I'll try and put a word in to help him out with Yeah, pigs in a blanket, though. I mean, that is classic. I mean, it's like, that's even lower on the totem pole than Buffalo Wings. I mean, you know, you just put that at the back to you just don't expect. Listen, if Bryson wins this year, you know it'll be nachos next year. Yes. Yes. But he will not be eating at this dinner. And I want to ask you, you can push back on this a bit, but it has felt like we've got a powder keg that's ready to blow since he really since the restart,

but certainly since the U.S. Open. And it feels like the last domino to fall is him winning the Masters before part of the golf world goes into a complete meltdown freak out. Do you get that sense that people are worried that Bryson's going to win this thing? And if he does, do you believe that there are serious ramifications for course setup

and the like going forward? I really think that, kind of stuff is is is in the works already. I mean, it's it hasn't obviously the USG hasn't come out and said what they're going to do, but they've kind of said we are going to address this at some point. So I think Bryson's win at the U.S. Open has already, you know, got the ball rolling on that. If he were to win here though, by 10 shots or something crazy, um, yes, could that speed up the process for sure? Would there be a lot of golf Pierce not happy with that? Yes, I work with some people who would not be happy.

Yeah. So I agree with you. We're kind of, you know, he won that US Open, but now people are like, all right, let's get back to, you know, normal this year, see if he can keep it up. He's been a little more under the radar so far the last couple months. But no, you're right. If he, if he does it on this stage, I mean, there's so many more people are going to be watching obviously this Masters than they were the U.S. Open last year in the fall.

So it could have a big effect. And, yeah, I mean, hey, I'd like to see it. I love, I love Bryson just for the content he brings. He's the new content king. He's taking the crown from Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods. He is the guy. Everything he does, man. He has people going crazy for, and I mean, winning in Augusta, you can't do anything

bigger than that. I want to touch on one of the things you just mentioned, which is the anticipated increase in eyeballs on this, this masters and really this major golf tournament as compared to the majors that took place in 2020. I share your view that this very well could be an enormously watch, a very, very, very popular television moment. And I saw a little, I got to cut a glimpse of a bunch of the innovation that CBS is imagining. They're going to bring back the drones.

They're going to have some of the sophisticated camera stuff. Do you have a feel for the presentation? Now, ESPN has Thursday, Friday, and then CBS through the weekend. and there's streaming options. And of course, the Masters.com has it's any guy you want to see at any point. If a guy swings a golf club, you get to see them,

which is just the very best thing in the world and the thing that we all aspire to in our golf lives. What's your sense in terms of the TV presentation? Well, yeah, I mean, kind of exactly what you said. I mean, this is the one tournament where now, you know, you'll still get a few people on Thursday chiming in, why isn't this on CBS yet? what's going on, you know, but you got to get with it. You got to get on this app. You got to get

on the website. You can see everything. And it is incredible. And they started this a couple years ago where you could see every shot. And you know, there's not an announcer, but you see the shot. Now it's where it's live. I know the Players Championship did that as well. It's very exciting time right now for a golf fan because for so long we were in this dark ages of, you know, two hours, three hours of coverage. At least in the past few years, we've had the expanded coverage on channel. Yes, sometimes there's that little window before you get to the coverage on the main network. But now we're getting more and more where you can watch almost every shot live. And that's, I mean, why shouldn't you be able to watch every shot live? It's 2021. We can watch every play of a

football game or a baseball, you know, so why not? So I think that's just the, what I take from it is the presentation is it's the one tournament where you literally could go, you know, walk down the street to buy a bag of chips or something and still be watching it on your. your phone and not miss anything. And I think that's so cool about the masters. And they go all out with the technology. Obviously, they're partner with IBM for millions of years. And they go all out with that this week. So you get a good show. The only thing that's going to keep the ratings down, obviously is Tiger not being there. But otherwise, I think you're right. I think we could have set all kinds of records this year. Are they still going to pump in the fake bird noise?

You know, they deny that. But it's so, I mean, it's so obvious. Come on, man. It's. It's. It's ridiculous. That same bird has been there forever. Let me ask you about, you know, you've thought a lot about storylines and players coming in. We got a golf tournament happening in San Antonio right now. It's sort of replaced the traditional Houston open warm up. And there's some guys who've entered that thing

because obviously this is the last chance to claim a spot. Right. How much weight do you put on performance this week at that course, in that wind, coming into the Masters? and of course that's a question in and of itself. It's an even heavier question because one, Jordan Spee. Yeah, this is a Speeth question.

Yeah, is T2 through four holes as we record this? Yeah, well, I mean, he's obviously the name that's jumping out at me. I haven't made a lot of bets this year. I'm trying not to make as many. But I did make a bet on Jordan Speefe when he shot that 61 in Phoenix. I made a master's bet. He was 50 to 1. And even though he hasn't won a 10,

tournament. He's moved all the way down to 14 to 1. So I love that bet. Obviously, I love how he's playing. To your point of how much am I worried about this specific week at Valero? Not as much, but as we have seen, especially in recent years, you do have to be playing at a decent level before you win the Masters. You don't just come out of nowhere and win the Masters. So, but Jordan, like I said, Jordan's already done that. I think it's six out of seven top 15s, a few top fives in there. He's not gotten the job done on Saturday and Sunday. We know that. He hasn't won a tournament since the 2017 open. But I think he's playing well enough. I think he's 10th right now in strokes gain T to Green. That's a huge number coming in to Augusta. We've seen

the irons are getting better. We've even seen his driving get better. He's taken the big number out of place. So I'm very encouraged by how he's been playing going forward. And yeah, so I wouldn't look too much at Valero specifically, but definitely in these couple months running leading into the Masters. Yeah. So, and you just mentioned the, um, excellent, uh, strokes gained performance of Jordan. Uh, Kyle Porter from CBS, um, sports had put up a tweet, uh, this week a couple of days ago that showed the correlation between Jordan's strokes gain performance in the events leading up to the Masters and then his ultimate master's performance. There, there's a, there's a, there's some reason to be a little bit enthusiastic about how this is going to go down. Now, but, but,

Before we get to enthusiasm and where your best bets land, and again, this is beginning of the week. So we will give you appropriate wiggle room if some information changes. But I want to get your sense on a couple guys who maybe we would just cross off right now. Are there any? And I'm mainly thinking of, I mean,

I'm not talking about the old master champions who were just out there for two days of a great walk. I'm talking about like the big time names. Are there any crossoffs for you? Well, I mean, this is probably going to burn me. He'll probably win by 10 shots now. But I'm crossing Rory Macroy off the list. I wonder. You know, November, we all thought, man, this is perfect for him, a little softer conditions. He was playing well at the time. Now he's not playing well at the time. It's back to the firmer conditions, which, you know, he's got a nice track record. And Augusta, don't get me wrong, but he is not one. And it's more, though, again, the form that he has shown, he is way down

the marks in strokes game this year. And he flat out, after missing that cut at the players, Normally I wouldn't care if a guy missed to cut the players because that's just the coochiest tournament ever. But he came out and said that Bryson basically got in his head and he tried to increase his distance. I mean, you're Rory McElroy. You're a four-time major champ. You're one of the longest hitters already. You're the best driver on tour or maybe other than Bryson. And you're trying to catch up to Bryson.

Are you crazy? And so that's kind of throwing him off. And so I just, you know, I think this is the seventh time he's going for that career grand slam. And usually it's kind of like, well, he's got to get it eventually, right? Not this year. So writing him off. No, Rory. Well, it shows the pressure that these guys are under to win this tournament to win a major.

Rory, of course, feeling it because it's been a long time. But there is a list of a lot of guys, in particular those up-and-coming 20-somethings, who have the spotlight bright on them coming into this tournament. who stands to feel the most heat coming out of this if they don't win? Well, it's tough because, you know, I don't want to say someone like a Victor Hovlin yet. I just think he's too young. But John Rom, for sure, he's kind of getting to the point of, okay, man, you're number two in the world, number three in the world. You've won a bunch of tournaments.

Every time you go play in Europe, you win. I mean, it's too easy for you almost when you do that. haven't you won a major yet? And he's put himself in position at majors. He put himself in position at the players. He's not gotten the job done. So I think he's probably the guy of that younger group that has the most pressure. I mean, you know, of course, an older guy who hasn't won a major yet would still be feeling that pressure, although, you know, the Ricky Fowler is not even, he's not going to be in the tournament. He's just trying to make a cut right now. Exactly. So that's different. But I think of these younger guys, because you're right. I mean, it is such a

big difference. Just look at Kalamorakawa. He won the PGA championship at such a young age. He has so much less pressure on him now these next few years where even those guys who turned pro at the same time, Hovland and Wolf, they're like, man, this guy already beat us to a major. And then if you're a ROM, you're thinking, this young guy already beat me to a major? I mean, that's got to hurt. So I think Rahman would be the guy who jumps out at me the most, having probably the most pressure. And unfortunately, he has this baby hanging over his head. He doesn't even know if he's going to play. Yeah. So that to me is the built-in walk-away excuse. And, you know, what I personally am rooting for is that, you know, this podcast is going to get published on Monday.

That in the meantime, between we're recording on a Friday and Monday, he has the baby and he's able to participate in the birth. And then we see him down there at Augusta. Think about that baby bump. That would be perfect because he's a guy who I think it was maybe three, or four years ago. I bet on him to win. He finished fourth. He was in the hunt. And I said, you know what? I'm going to pick him basically to win the Masters until he wins. I think he's going to do it. I'm with you on this. Exactly. So he's my guy every year. I'm going to have to make a second pick because, again, he basically flat out said, if you're thinking of betting on me, be careful. So I didn't like hearing that. But you're right. Maybe the baby comes soon.

Maybe, you know, Danny Willett, the baby came right before the Masters. He was able to play. So you never know. sometimes the golf gods shine down on you. That's exactly right. Well, speaking of baby bump, I don't know if you saw on the Twitter that, or the Instagram, all the social medias, Brooks Kepika got engaged.

And the reason that I'm referring to the baby bump is because the homie has a beer belly right now and it's mother effing spectacular. I am so happy to have this version of a brooksy. and the Mikkelab Ultra folks, I'm not sure if they're happy or sad, but is he, I mean, maybe he's drinking enough and

whatever, but this version of Brooksie. Now the thing is he got engaged. It's the week before the Masters. He had knee surgery three effing weeks ago. What are we hoping for? Is there any hope at all for Brooks Kepp could come out and play well?

Man, I hate, he's another guy I hate picking against, but I'd kind of written him off. Now, when these pictures come up. He's on his knees looking like he's moving around. Yeah, on his knee. He's on the knee. So the knee looks pretty good if he was able to get down. Now, again, though, we have to remember that was a month ago. So, because they, I'm the most stunning thing about all this is that Jenna Sims waited a month to let everybody know. So those pictures, if they're from a month ago, you know, I don't know about the knee. But I can't expect too much from him. It's just so much going on.

off the knee surgery. We know how much he struggled with the knee last year. I thought he was over those problems when he won at Phoenix. That was actually my big hit of the year, betting wise. So I was, I was like, man, Brooks is back. He's my man. Never going to doubt him again. But kind of have to doubt him again coming into this. But I don't have to say those pictures, too. What a beautiful Nike ad. You know, she's wearing that dress, but she's got these, like, clean, like Nike sneakers on. He's got the white sneakers. Might have been pre-planned. I'd have been pre-planned. I don't know.

Just a thought. So just in broad strokes, do the different conditions open up the door for a different kind of player? Are they going to be that extreme? Well, again, it depends. It all depends on the rain and everything else and how dry the course is. But it's weird because in one way, it does open it up for a different set of people, but it actually closes it for another because I think it gives more of an advantage to the veteran

player with experience around this course. That's why you always hear Phil Mickelson saying, I love to see the fire in Augusta. He loves to say that. He wants the fire there. He thinks that the subtleties he likes to say around the greens. It makes those subtleties play out even more. And it's not all the putting wise, but it's where you're landing approach shots. You know, you don't have to be hitting it tight every time.

But if you're hitting it to the right portion of the green, you have an easy two put where if you're just a little off, you catch a slope that's maybe firmed up a little. Now you're playing defense. You're hoping to avoid a three putt. So there are these fine lines there. And the experienced player, a guy like Mickelson, who's been over 20 times or, you know, Tiger, if he was coming, they love that because they think the more times they've been there, they've just been building this knowledge.

You know, this is the only course where the guys don't go and get that detailed, you know, lasered yardage book thing with all the slopes and the grid and all that. No green books allowed. Exactly.

The stuff that Bryson likes to use, they don't have that here. So you do have to rely a little more on the local knowledge and your experience. So I do think it's going

to open it up for, for, you know, maybe a more experienced player. Not that we ever see rookies win, but, you know,

even some of these younger guys, they might need another time or two to get adjusted to this. Yeah, and we saw a really impressive performance out of Sung J.

him who was a rookie. Well, as you look at the list this year, any, any rookies. Now look, we're not going to be idiots on this podcast for a rare moment, just for a second. We're almost always unusual. Yes. So no rookie is going to come out and win this. But name a first timer or two that you have an eye on that you have high hopes for.

I'm interested in your take on Will Zalotaur. Oh, wow. Well, I mean, as a fellow Wake Forest guy, it's hard for me to knock him. You know, one of the best iron players already. So he would be a guy like a Sung J.M. who could probably could jump right in there and hang. You know, he's not a great putter. That's probably what's holding him back the most. But iron play and how consistent he is, he has been so impressive, you know, starting with that run he had of top, I think 15s on the corn fairy tour last year. And then, you know, you us open, he's in the mix and everything else. No, I like him. Again, it's hard to pick a rookie to win, but certainly his name just seems to pop up on the leaderboard almost every week. So that wouldn't surprise me. Does our guys, Anders Schafly stand a chance or is he getting passed by by the guys of his generation? I don't know what's going on with him the last couple months because he's a guy I always pick. I'm always a sucker for him because, you know, he puts himself in contention in these big events over and over again. But he's actually off this year. And maybe it's, I don't know, maybe it's a

Bryson effect as well or something else. He's, he's not living up to the strokes game that I've seen from him before with this approach out, with his drive. You know, he actually missed a couple cuts. He had, he had a streak of top 25s that was approaching record level. And then he didn't do it at a World Golf Championship, which there's no cut, which kind of surprised me. Then he missed a cut. I think at the players. So again, while I said before, I'd love to pick him, but there's so many guys that are kind of out there that you want to pick. I can't pick a guy who comes in struggling like he's been. And it's very uncharacteristic for him just because of how consistent he usually is. But I don't think he's being passed yet by his generation by any means. But no, he needs to get

going in a hurry. And unfortunately, I just don't think this week is going to be it. Okay. So let's get serious. I think there are like, you know, five guys right now early in the week that I absolutely, if I was going to allocate a little capital, I'd sprinkle various sort of doses. If I had 100 units to play with, you know, I'd split it up amongst these five guys. I have my five guys in mind. Who are you looking at? Who do you think really has a chance to win this thing? All right. Well, again, I can't not pick John Ron because if he wins and I don't pick him a I'll be really upset with myself. So John Rom, for sure.

I think another guy, a sneakier guy that I like is Paul Casey. I know. Oh, I'm so happy to hear you say that. All right. There we go. Now, again, the only thing that scares me is, of course, he's never actually won a major. So, you know, I kind of worry a little about guys like that, you know, Westwood, Casey, those guys. I mean, there's probably a reason why they've never quite gotten over that hump.

I hate to say, but I still like him for being. up there. Maybe if you have a good bet on him, I think he's probably, he's in that 40 to 50 to 1. If he's in that final group or something, maybe you hedge a little. So I like Paul Casey. Kamorkawa is frankly the best iron player on tour. He got a little taste of Augusta last year in November, so he's not a rookie. So, you know, I think he could make some noise with that. Justin Thomas, of course, another great iron player. Tough to look away from him. And then, I mean, again, I hate to be naming like obvious guys, but I'm going to

Justin Johnson. I mean, how are we not going to do DJ? Got to do DJ. I mean, it's a fact. No one has ever defended a master's title in such quick fashion as Dustin Johnson. I mean, five months since he just dominated the field and blew away the course. And this is a guy who had had a nice. trend, which is kind of what Justin Thomas has, by the way, getting better every year in the five

starts he's made here. Dustin Johnson had kind of done that until this past year. You know, he had the runner up to Tiger. He had a T4 another time. He'd kind of been making a move. So this wasn't just because it was in November or anything else like that. I mean, obviously Dustin Johnson is the best player on the planet. If he plays well, he's the best. He's going to win. So again, that's boring. It's tough to bet him when he's eight to one odds. But Man, if you're building any sort of a lineup or you're in a pool and you have to pick a big guy, it's hard not to just go with Dustin Johnson. I mean, it's the obvious play, but it's the smart play.

Well, let's try to eat the elephant a different way, which is of the top 10, 20 guys. Who are you crossing off the list? I mean, I'm seeing Tony Fienow's about to miss a cut. You know, we just had a conversation about Xander. We got Patrick Reed out there. Who do you cross off and say, this is. not going to be this guy's week. Yeah, I mean, I think Xander, we could start there. I think Rory start there. I think Brooks, if he even plays. So it's weird because usually,

or at least we've been kind of blessed in these majors recently where like all the big guns are firing on all cylinders. It's not really quite the case this time. So I'm writing off those three guys for sure. Yeah, phenow. I'm not picking him to win, have his first win in five years be the Masters. No, no, thank you. Not, not picking him. Yeah, I mean, you know, a lot of people are picking Westwood based on his recent run. No, no, no, no, nothing like that. So, you know, there are a lot of guys that, that, that I can actually feel pretty comfortable crossing off. And, and, you know, now I'm so dumb. I had already mentioned him, but when we're naming the five guys, I got to kick someone off and put Jordan Spee back in. I was waiting. So I was waiting.

I was waiting. Because yes, I had the, not only because I have the 50 to one bet on him, but he's shown a lot these past few weeks where, again, a lot of these other guys who were crossing off just, just haven't been that sharp. Well, I think Jordan Speeth, I'll be, we're Speed truthers over here at Fairway, Rowland. And always have been. For me personally, a Sunday final to some of Jordan Speeth and Patrick Reed has some intrigues. And Patrick hasn't really been, you know,

loud on tour since he won out of Tori. But he certainly is comfortable in this venue. He knows where to put the ball and where to land the ball. So, hey, we are always looking for a great story here on Fairway Roll. And I think that's a pretty good story. That would be amazing. I mean, any speed, I mean, look, the golf fandom is starved for a speith win. I mean, we've seen these last few weeks how excited people are getting on Thursday and Friday.

And yes, Saturday, that's 61 in Phoenix. It was electric. And he draws, I said before, Bryson is the content king, no doubt about it, because he just does so many wacky things that, you know, like this workout video he just posted. I mean, what is he even doing? But, but speed is clearly the most popular guy out there right now. I mean, people want him to win so bad. they bend over backwards making excuses for why he doesn't win. I mean, clearly there's something, I hate to say, mental going on on these weekends

because he plays great Thursday through Saturday. But any combination of speed in the final pairing with another big name, I mean, Patrick Reed would be amazing because of their history. Bryson would be unbelievable. DJ going for another one. You know, another one of these young guns coming up. John Rom, maybe the baby gets called, you know, something crazy. do you like that. I mean, that I think you're right, though. I think any dream scenario starts with

Jordan Speeth in the final round, just based on the reaction he's been getting in recent weeks. Well, on the sporting world, you know, he plays such a prominent place in our sporting consciousness because of all the success he had at his, this is, and it was sustained success, all those majors, he was racking up. So every time there was a major golf tournament, the sporting world turns its eyes. And there's Jordan Speeth for a couple years. And it, the incandescent, run that he was on. Well, you have, my friend, an incandescent run in front of you this upcoming week down in Augusta, Georgia. Let me hear, I'm going to let you go in a second. I just want to know what's the first food run. Now, I know you have access to the array of wonderful delicacies in

the media chamber. I'm not talking about that. When you step outside onto the grounds and they'll be out, you'll be able to mix with the patrons. What's your, you'll be able to mix with the patrons. what's your go-to? What's your first item? Well, let me hear the order. The chicken sandwich is all my favorite. Amazing. Amazing.

It is so good. And the best part is in the morning, they put it on a biscuit. So you can have it for breakfast. Yes. And then, you know, we'll have a couple of them for breakfast. Let's be honest.

And then at lunch, you have it on the normal bun. And it is just out of this world. So that's my favorite. And the best, part, guys, is that in the media center, they actually have a stand set up. And it's got all, it's all the same stand food out there. So it's literally like you have your own stand in there and you just grab, grab, grab, grab, grab, again, this is what it used to be. So I'm hoping it's

the same. But so the chicken is is my favorite by far. That gets me going. And then the chocolate chip cookies are really good. And then, oh, oh, oh, the last time I went, I finally had the ice cream peach. it's unbelievable. Unbelievable. I'm like always just a chocolate dessert guy. So I'm not, I was like, oh my God,

it's unbelievable. It's on these like snickerdoodle cooking things. Yes. It's the one thing they can't ship. You have to be there for that way. Exactly. You have to.

Yeah. So sorry, guys. I mean, I'll try to ship it, but you can't. We'll get you our order. There'll be some t-shirts, some hats,

maybe a gnome. Nate's got a couple things I know. Alex Myers. Thank you so much for coming on. It's going to be an unbelievable. week, safe travels, and we'll be looking for you on the broadcast, home boy. Thank you guys. Thanks for having me on. I'm looking forward to it so much. Enjoy the golf, everybody. See you.

Thanks, Alex. All right, my par saving pals, there we go. What a show. What a way to kick off Masters week. I know you're excited. So here's what we have lined up. First of all, get yourself over to the ringer.com this week. A couple pieces will show up on the website, Katie Baker. the inimitable Katie Baker doing some of her stuff and Lex Pryor's

also got something in the can. In terms of these podcasts, we've got you covered. The Monday show is up. You have a great way to start off the week. Wednesday,

our annual tradition with Justin Ray, we sit down, we go into some analytics, we try and get deep, we try and produce some winners. All we're trying to do here is give out a couple winners

here, Fairway, Rowland. And if we're lucky, we'll pull down the mega super duper online sensation, Chris Vernon for 15 to 20 minutes to talk about his master's updates. And maybe he's got a couple picks for us as well. Then we are back right after the green jacket is slipped on somebody's shoulders. Sunday evening, Nate Dogg and I will be here on the podcast waves ready to drop whatever it is that we will have observed through the balance of that, that beautiful masters. My birdie buddies, have a great week. Enjoy the content. We're back Wednesday.

Tune in and hear us give out some wonderful winners.