Fairway Rollin' - Koepka Wins and Mickelson Disappoints at the U.S. Open | Shackhouse (Ep. 68)

Episode Date: June 18, 2018

Geoff Shackelford and Joe House break down Brooks Koepka winning his second straight U.S. Open (02:15), the difficult nature of the course (17:50), Phil Mickelson’s abuse of the rules (34:40), and Fox’s broadcast of the tournament (51:30). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, everybody, Father's Day may have passed, but guess what? You still have until June 20th. You heard about it. You know the offer, 40% off the summit backpack on OGO.com through June 20th using the code Shaqaos. OGO, the maker of the world's best bags, especially the Summit backpack. That is a great laptop backpack combo bag. Go to OGO.com.

Check it out, 40% off code Shaq House. Jack, today's show also. brought to us by our friends at Proper Cloth, who are the leader in men's custom shirts. ProperCloff.com. Ordering custom shirts has never been easier. Creating your custom shirt size by answering 10 easy questions is how you do it. Shirts start at 80 bucks. They'll be delivered in just two weeks. A perfect fit is guaranteed if a shirt doesn't fit. Proper Cloth will remake it for you for free. And that makes the whole process risk free. For premium quality, perfect fitting shirts, visit propercloth.com slash shack house and use gift code shackhouse to get $20 off your first custom shirt today.

House greetings from Southampton from the media center here at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, whereas you have wisely pointed out, Brooks Kepka has won the wacky, weird, exhausting 2018 U.S. Open. What'd you think? I had a lot of thoughts. There's a lot to chew on. I, in the first place, sent you a note this morning asking you for the mood because it was at the end of yesterday's round. I expected it to be funereal. I was wondering whether or not. Funereal, I work with funereal.

But anyway, yeah, I know what you mean. There, especially in the media center, if it felt like a morgue for all the body bags that needed to be dragged in after. the afternoon round. If folks were writing an obituary for Mike Davis for his responsibility, whatever hand he played in the setup yesterday. So I was curious to see what the redemption theme, if there was perhaps the Phoenix rising from the ashes in the air mood-wise this morning, what was the feeling this morning as things got going? If I had to characterize it, It was a combination of still just complete shock at what we saw from Phil Mickelson and then just complete apathy, fatigue. Are you kidding me with the golf course going the way it went?

But I would honestly say around here, most people were discussing Phil more than they were discussing the golf course this morning. And that's just in the media center. But I think that based on the reaction we all get now from social media, the instant feedback, that was a legitimate. thing because people were more torn on that. The setup was just, it's exhausting to continue to talk about and to believe that it actually happened again. But it was, it was an incredible Saturday. So yes, it was a quiet, it was a fairly quiet and uneventful day here, mercifully, I think, for most of us. Well, let me ask you this. So I don't want to go, we're obviously going to talk about Michelson. We're going to talk about the course setup. But I want to talk about Brooks Kepka.

Because, you know, the golf course set up today was susceptible to scoring. It was there for the taking for somebody to do what Tommy Fleetwood did, which is go out there and try and grab the golf tournament out from under the leaders. And, you know, the same thing. Kudos to Patrick Reed for the early move that he made. What I liked very much about today's round. And I don't mind the overcompensation is what I'm. Sounds like I'm detecting in the way you're describing this. But I'm going to pat the USGA on the back for this overcompensation with,

obviously they saturated the course with water overnight. And the pins were all in flat places, not near any edges where they were very susceptible to balls rolling down and off into crazy places and created a scoring opportunity. And we had a lot of classy names on the leaderboard. coming in and it was really, you know, up to the players to determine amongst themselves who the winner was going to be, which is, I think, what we want out of our national championship, right? It is. It's just that you also want there to be a little bit of that edge to the final round, and they just couldn't go there after what happened Saturday. So I think that's why it felt

a little bit flat. The crowd was a little bit smaller. And I think the players just had a certain mojo taken away from them. It's a little different than the normal U.S. Open Mojo rally kill where they're just beaten down. I think it's more here. It was just an uncertainty of, okay, well, every day we've had something different and a lot of it's manipulated. Saturday was a mistake. So the feeling was one of, it wasn't quite the normal U.S.

Open final round tension, but I do not want that to suggest in any way that Brooks Kepka is an unworthy champion. In fact, I'm thrilled that he won this tournament in the way he did because I was really getting a lot of fatigue and actual and even concerned for the way his win at Aaron Hills was characterized. It's so unusual. The only sport in the world where somebody goes so incredibly low and puts on such an incredible display and somehow it's viewed as maybe not up to the standards of other wins. Well, now he's won back-to-back, two different golf courses, two different situations. Yeah, they're both kind of open and link style, if you

will. But other than that, the dichotomy between the two wins is huge. And I just love that he did that and now puts him in a very special place in the history of major championships in the U.S. Open. Yeah, an exalted place. And I think it bears note, here is Brooks Kepka's last five U.S. Open, or actually his open career, because he had some T4, T-18, T-13-1-1. Now, those So that's five, the five most recent U.S. opens that he's played in. All top 20 finishes. Three of those five are inside the top five. I mean, this guy is a U.S. Open killer.

And it was apparent from today's round. We saw it last year implacable, not capable of being unnerved, walking with a certain measured pace, clearly breathing. and each and every time he was confronted with something that looked impossible. And the Fox broadcast guys, you know, a couple times there, especially on that back nine, the shot out of the rough on 12, his ability to get up and down on 14. That was awesome. They looked, right, they were certain, he was staring certain bogey in the face and fought his way around

and played, executed every single shot he needed to execute to keep, momentum on on his side and just close the thing out. And I mean, just some of those up and downs were incredible. There were so many great iron shots while Dustin Johnson was, was not hitting great iron shots and looked a little bit, I think just just hadn't recovered from the shock of, of what happened yesterday on Saturday as we record this Sunday night. So it's just such an impressive thing to win two of these and on this golf course

and scramble the way he did and the whole package. It just speaks to somebody who has a level of patience and refusal to get truly bothered, although he was a little annoyed after Saturday's round with some things that, but he chose not to go there in his comments, as did most of the players. I mean, they addressed it, but they chose not to go down that path. I even messaged a couple of players who I know are very opinion, and they're smart. They don't, they didn't want to get bogged down in it. I think Paul Eisinger even kind of praise the guys for wisely keeping their focus on trying to win the tournament.

And Brooks just did that better than anyone. And to do what he's done with how little he's played this year and this wrist situation and the freak injury at the players, I just cannot be more impressed with how he looks so comfortable out there with so little golf under his belt this year. And I mean, I had a wrist injury myself from golf. And it's arguably the worst injury. to have. Some people will make the case for shoulder and back, of course, but the wrist is not a great one. So I have incredible admiration for what he did. Besides Fleetwood, and I think we need to talk to Fleetwood. Was there anybody else today? Oh, my gosh, what a round. Let's be clear.

And again, I'm not taking away from it. But there were about five practice roundhole locations. I mean, they were just dead center. But it doesn't matter. This place is so hard. And he had a legitimate chance at 61 that he gave himself great looks at 16, 17, and 18. Just, wow, 18 was incredibly great look, especially compared to the shots we were seeing for the day. We heard going in, we talked about it on the preview show, we'd heard from our European sources that he was a man on a mission and in a special place, and boy, did he show it today. Wow. Second 63 and found around U.S. Open history with alongside Johnny Miller now. and and the missed put on 18 that left edge i mean it just felt like that was going to be the difference

it really felt like you know when he missed it whatever time that was this afternoon i'm sitting watching it i remembered us talking about the golfing jesus i know i gave him out as a potential winner i had a little bit i've allocated i allocated a little my own capital to that and uh i thought you know what that edge that that he just he thought it was an inside the whole putt and he just kind of slightly missed to the end. Wow, he did not miss by much. Yeah, Aiziger called out. He thought it was both the misread and a mis-execution, which was, again, a nice little perk of the microphones in the cup. I believe that sound was picked up by. It could have been, could have been by someone else,

but I'm pretty sure it was that. And that was, that was fascinating to see that. But they're hard greens to read. I mean, Dustin Johnson had a similar uphill putt on that green yesterday, and I don't know how he couldn't have not hit a better put. It was just a stunning three-putt yesterday that didn't look like he hit one bad pun in all three. So it's a strange green, hard green to read too. I'm not making excuses either way. It's just we saw it kind of all week. A lot of a lot of putts on that green people struggled with.

And not because of conditioning either, just a hard green to read. Yeah. Were there other, any other rounds that caught your attention today? I know I sent you a note when Ricky dropped to 65. Yeah, absolutely. It's just what a phenomenal comeback after what went on Saturday. And I don't know what went on. I saw nothing of his round. I really didn't have time Saturday to really take a deep dive into what on earth went wrong. But good on him for coming back and posting such an admirable round after a horrible day. You know, the one that obviously stands out, for me, it was the run that Patrick Reed made. I mean, several people made runs. I'm very surprised at Justin Rose's struggles today, final round 73, but, you know, Reed Post 68 and you just felt like that was one that was very close to a 65 that would have put him in a tie and we'd be playing a two-hole playoff this evening. And he will probably

scratch his head at a few things that happened. But, you know, he put himself in position, made a nice run. But, yeah, obviously the perplexing one is Dustin Johnson. He just looked looked so good after two rounds. Yeah, this is what this one's, I just have to wonder. Yeah, we had a fun, well, there was, did you see the Wayne Gretzky interview when he was on Fox? Oh, I did not see it. He was sensational. He was absolutely sensational.

So myself, Ryan Lavner of GolfChannel.com and Bethann Nichols of my peer at Golf Week, we all were listening. And we all got up and we all started walking out the door and we all looked at each other and realized, oh, yeah, we're all. but we're all going to go hunt down Wayne after that interview. And he revealed some really interesting things. I got to go back into my tape and get a transcribe. But he really went, made a case for Dustin's sensitivity to the game in his appreciation of it, his knowledge. He's just sort of a natural savant of sorts when it comes to courses.

And I think it'll be interesting in time, if you can get them in the right setting, when he's had a chance to reflect on this week, if the setup Saturday got to him, if he saw what happened and somehow, and kind of deep down inside, took that the wrong way. It just got the best of him somehow.

I don't think so. I think it was just he played two good rounds, and it was that day, that one day of the tournament that wasn't so good. And then it just the whole thing got, exacerbated by what was going on with the setup and the tough conditions. So we'll find out. I think it'll be interesting.

But it just was fascinating how his body language and the whole vibe around him changed from the first two days to me. Now, I will say this is a thing. And I'd be interested in seeing going back and looking at some old stories and seeing whether the metrics back this up. I just have this perception, this impression, this observation that when he misses Putt, when he misses short putts early in around and finds, you know, uh, something confusing.

I, I, I recall this occurring. I feel like at Riviera, I know what happened at Chambers Bay, um, where he, he,

if he gets a little bit, um, uh, uneasy about what's going to happen on the greens. It, it, it, it,

it is, in the, in the past been a thing where, if you watch him miss a put, a short putt, early in the round, it feels like you can kind of anticipate how the rest of that round's going to be. And then when you, when he shows up the next day, I wondered, I wondered to this morning. I mean, this afternoon, as the, you know, the round arrived, is he going to show up with the swagger,

the DJ swagger, or is it going to show up still kind of like trying to find his way? And it's just because of the greens, I feel like, but it affects everything. Well, and it happens. It's not unusual for somebody to have something like that. I think it's a great observation. These greens, he, he, again, the Fox mics picked him up two different times today that I heard. Now, I was out on the course for a while during their round and watched some of it. But I did, he, two different times he called out bumpiness.

Right. Right. Now, I don't want to say that's unusual for him because we don't usually hear his comments. But those cool microphones picked that out. Those mics were, there's another, we'll get into it. later on, but there was another thing they picked up that I, you and I, I think may have discussed on Thursday with Jordan Speeith. Anyway, but so that, the Greens may have just gotten into his head a little bit, but, you

know, they were, they were, I wasn't thrilled with the bumpiness complaints all week because I thought they were pretty darn amazing. Today, they were a touch bumpier because they all, they didn't go after them in the mowing. I think they did a single, I just did a normal double. cut instead of a double cut, a roll, or some sort of a double cut, double roll. And that was how they slowed them down and then just added a ton of water. So that may have been, you know, they got to them a little bit. And that is one of the reasons the USGA took the course up a

notch on Saturday because they had throttled back a little and the greens were in the view of the players a little bit bumpy. And so that led to kind of, that was one of the, contributing factors of that mess. Well, I think that's the right segue. Let's talk about that glorious mess. Where do you want to start? I mean, I feel like, I actually feel like we really should start with Philhouse because that's kind of how the whole thing began.

And I don't know. It's a tricky one. But he denied that the golf course setup was what fueled. his escapades. So you tell me, what do you think? Do you think that we should start in order? No, let's talk about Phil. Obviously, we're going to talk about Phil.

Okay, let's stay with the golf course. I'm confused by this idea that it wasn't the setup. If it wasn't the setup, then what was it? Well, we'll get to, I'm just going off his answers. So we'll get to that. Okay, so the golf course set up for those who don't know, I'm sure they do by now, just about, If you've watched any of the coverage, you probably know that the 2004 setup here was a debacle for the ages.

And it costs some people probably the championship, most notably Phil Mickelson, who putted off the seventh green on Saturday, which was just one of many situations with the golf course getting too firm and fast and the greens getting out of control in 2004. So, of course, we came into this tournament with the USGA pledging that they would not let that happen again. And it was a moisture problem. And they had all the tools and all the wisdom to prevent that from happening again. So they did a great job. As we know, Thursday, there was a very strong wind forecast. And they adjusted the course accordingly. And we got through that day beautifully.

All systems go. Friday, we had the rain in the morning and kind of a beautiful, unique clouds, cloudy sky afternoon with sun. And then there was Saturday House. well Saturday I was a tale of two golf courses obviously so this is what I at least from what I've consumed what I've read what I've understood in terms of the planning and so forth we know that the golf course was fair for a batch of players in the first part of the day right and it's not that uncommon to have this phenomena where you know guys and you know the draw affects you know a guy's performance. So like some, it's often the case that guys who play earlier in the day

have an advantage over guys who play later in the day or vice versa. That's not that extraordinary. Correct. What I think is extraordinary here is the, the collaboration between, I guess, the USGA and the maintenance team, you know, identified a course set up for Saturday that was intended to pose a challenge with a certain wind disposition in mind. Like there was a forecast for a certain amount of wind. And that generally happened. And that, right. But they,

they, uh, didn't forecast in some way, shape, or form in terms of the planning. Not true. But, okay. Well, this is what I'm asking. It's a question. Let me put it in the form of a question. By three o'clock, several of the pin positions were not, where, we're basically unplayable.

I mean, you know, especially on the back side, right? 13, 15. I saw Justin Rose's putt. I think it was on 18, where he breathed on it. And it rolled 17 feet by to the left from the view. I don't know how many other you're sitting there. You have a good feel for, you know, what holes were most impacted.

And we know what the scoring ones. But every green on the back nine was the ball was rolling and rolling and rolling. There were just some that were worse whole location. and others. Right. So what, you stop me. I'm asking the question. What happened? They knew what was going to happen. So I kind of meandered out to the course and I do this every year. I just tag along and watch them do the setup and kind of stay off the green as much as I can and just watch and chat with Mike. And it was really a great session. Everybody was in a great mood. They felt like they had the course just dialed in. And I thought so too, looking at it.

Everything looks super. But obviously, you know, they underestimate this golf course, well, they have in the past, and they did again, just how much it dries out here, how bright it is, how incredibly windy it can get. And the forecast, though, I have to tell you, the forecaster here got it absolutely right. And I was a little disappointed that Mike blamed that after the round, that the wind exceeded the forecast. We went through all sorts of recordings of winds in the area. We could not find anything that exceeded the forecast in any way. So that was, nah, the forecaster really nailed it.

And so it just was a situation where it was a combination of they underestimated how much it would dry out. And then they just put several holes in spots that were not great. And a lot of the whole locations I saw didn't really pass the IT. test. You just kind of looked at them and you went, well, I can see that's fine. It'll work, but it looks forced or it looks a little bit out on the edge. And I think that's ultimately why a lot of the players don't like US Open setups. They're used to the PGA tour, giving them one. That's not easy, but they give them ones that look good and they fit the eye. And anyway, so that was what I saw out there. And then, of course, as the day went on, it just became

apparent that things were going bad pretty fast. When we were hovering around the Shinnock Hills Pro Shop, which was where the scoring was, some of the caddies coming in started saying they're losing the course. And Curtis Strange told us, you guys need to go talk to the players and caddies. They're losing the course. And then we got caught up in the fill thing. And by the time we were in that, it was snowballing on the golf course. And, you know, ultimately the problem house is that they resisted the urge.

And I respect this to a point. to go out there with the hoses and just put a little water on them. The problem is, as you know, if you watch the feature we did on the golf channel, nine-minute feature that could have been about 30 minutes on the whole setup in 2004, it was just a little bit of water that made the Greens playable again. And again, it's not the greatest look. It's certainly different than a groundscrew at a baseball stadium going out and wetting down the infield.

But I don't want you rather have that. and a brief play stoppage and bringing the greens back to reality and dealing with the arguing from some players that they got a bias over others, then what we had, which is, again, the feeling that people who play in the morning just got a disproportionate advantage because of something related to set up and not because of just simple mother nature intervening like at the British Open.

It was truly something that was probably avoidable with a little bit of moisture. And that's kind of where I stand on it. And just seeing what it did to some of those leaders and how people who teed off and finished before the leaders teed off were able to suddenly be in the final pairing on Sunday like Daniel Berger and Tony Feeneau. Yeah, so that's a perfect expression of the issue and the problem. And here is the reason why the USGA deserves the vitriol that it received yesterday. and then, you know, as the post hoc reviews come in this week,

they are going to get blistered for that portion of Saturday, and it's going to be deserved. And here is the reason to my way of thinking why it is well-founded. They plan these effing tournaments so far in advance. The USDA has the benefit and the resources of working with the courses to take into account nearly every single. variable that's out there. The only variable that the USGA cannot replicate in terms of a course set up or, you know, anticipating how weather conditions may be, the only thing they can't control

and replicate is the number of players walking on the greens and how those, all those feet on the greens. It's the players in the caddies. That's the only variable. And you could, if you really wanted to, get a rehearsal of that, have USGA day at Shinnecock and invite all the members out. and say, look, we're going to give this a test drive. But I flatly reject the idea that they couldn't anticipate the combination of the sun, the brightness of the sun and that level of wind, and how quickly the course dries out and how quickly those greens under that stress lose water and become literally unplayable for a certain portion of the field. No, it's certainly an issue, and I think that you bring up, there are many layers to this. They do one event of this magnitude a year. They haven't been here for 14 years.

They come to courses every 10 years generally. But that said, Olympic Club, they've had problems and thinking that that fog keeps that place moist and it dries out in crazy ways during the U.S. Open. Pebble Beach, frankly, has been taken right up to the edge. And this time of year, it bakes out. And guess what? It was blowing 18 to 25 there today. Somebody up in Northern Cal sent me that and just said, good grief. It was really blowing there.

And it dries out in crazy ways. And they struggle with that. So it's a real, it's just a, you probably hear it to my voice. It's just a bummer because I got to tell you, the superintendent here, John Jennings, and his crew are so awesome. And the place looked so good. And, you know, there was another subliminal element. this whole thing house. The greens today were so brown yesterday, so brown in the afternoon,

and the fairways are so green. And I know that a lot of viewers just watching home and go, what's going on here? That doesn't look right. Well, you know, when you get out on the greens, they're better than they appear. But all in all, what it boils down to is they take greens to these speeds. And, oh, breaking news, by the way, there is, it is bustling in the media center. Everybody is moving around. That must mean the pizza got delivered to the food. room. So it is a... We'll get into the pizza quickly. Don't worry. No, it's okay. So the situation going forward is just, it's so problematic because you just know the quality of the people doing the maintenance, the work they put in, the product that they put out there. And we are in a

situation where modern green speeds don't match old golf courses. We have a distance situation where these guys can overpower a course. So the USGA to keep that tension and that edge of the U.S. open, puts holes in spots that are extreme. And it's just kind of a well-worn story. And things are kind of out of whack and out of balance. And so here it's, but it's just unbelievable.

It happened again, given what happened last time and the pledges that this wouldn't happen. And so this is going to be an ongoing story. It's exasperating. It shouldn't be. It's not a sprating and the damage it does. Why is it an ongoing story? What's the point?

What are we solving for? One player was under par as we entered Saturday. So what are we trying to accomplish? What are we trying to accomplish? What's the goal of the competition? Are we trying to distinguish the best golfer? Are we trying to distinguish the luckiest dude who showed up at the right time? I mean, here's the thing.

As the course dried out and we could all see it drying out, your suggestion. How about this? We're going to take a half hour. everybody, you know, stop. We can interject in between the tea times. There's plenty of daylight out there, build into the schedule, though, you know, a half hour to send the grounds crew out at one point and let folks complain. I mean, the players may, you, you articulated it quite well, this idea of, you know,

the morning guys got to play the course the way that the, um, USGA intended for it to be played. Yeah. Right. It was sensational. And then there was, there was a nice, um, uh, bell curve. of good performances, mediocre performances, and bad performances, exactly what you want out of that test. Why were the guys in the afternoon unduly punished

because the USGA did not properly account for the way that this golf course behaves having in their back pocket all the information that they need to understand how it might go and build into that some kind of planning mechanism. Where is the plan B? And this is why we're upset and we can't have any more of this. It diminishes and demeans the championship

and it confirms. It provides this bias against the USGA, against what they're after, and it makes possible a lot of folks, casual observers and even fans of the game, to watch what Phil Mickelson did

yesterday on the 13th green and a lot of people just wave it off. Like, you know, that's crazy Phil being crazy Phil. So let's catch our breath. Let's Let's talk a little bit about our friends at Callaway. And then we're going to talk about Phil Mickelson. And it's not going to be a good conversation, Jeff Shack,

but I can tell you that right now. I'm guessing not. So, yeah, hey, House, one of the cool things here at the U.S. Open Practice Center, they had the Truvist Stars and Stripes Ball out there in baskets. Yeah. And, of course, they are still available for a limited time. July 4th is looming. So just so everybody knows, it's red, red, white, and blue peckes.

pattern has the stars and stripes, has, of course, the incredible ball speed, the soft feel, and the control you expect from ChromeSoft, plus the patriotism built into. So go to Callowagolf.com. If you want to check out a little bit more about the ball, they're in retail. They can be ordered at Callawaygolf.com, but they're about to run out. And I couldn't believe how many players were using them around the green. And, you know, that ball, by the way, how it was just before we leave, a few people, of course, were rolling their eyes like they, as you know,

I get the heat for using the Truvice and I could care less. I love it. And the sales would confirm that many other people they're loving them. But it was developed as a practice ball. So it was cool to see guys out there using that. And I don't know if they know that. I'm pretty sure the Calloway guys do. But a couple of the non-Calaway guys might not have known that.

Anyway, they might have learned something. They may get some Chrome soft in their life. Anyway, I'm heading back to L.A. The Dodgers, of course, will leave as soon as I get there. but the cubbies are coming to town soon. What am I going to do? I need to get to a game. You need tickets.

You need tickets. About a quick thank you to all our pals at seat geek buying tickets check. Can be complicated and confusing. But when you need to go see Dodgers cubbies, there's an easy way to do it. Get yourself to Seat Geek, the smartest, easiest way to get tickets to every type of live event. Catching your favorite musician on tour, shopping for perfect gift. What's the next holiday after where there will be gifts after Father's Day? You don't really give a July 4th gift.

Yeah, I guess that's right. Well, in any event, if there's a gift to be given, Seekek is a great idea. You're looking for a last-minute deal to see your favorite team. That's what you're doing, Shaq. Seekkeek helps you find the best seats at the best prices fully guaranteed, saves you time and money by searching multiple ticket sites. You can compare the prices and find amazing deals.

And we love this part of it. Most bang for your buck. It's grading. tickets so you can suss out value as you look. Do I want to be undercover? What's the best value if I want to sit up the third baseline? You get the every purchase fully guaranteed. You can shop for tickets on Seekkeek with confidence. Make it your go-to app for finding the best deals on every type of ticket. Sports, concerts, comedy, and theater. Best of all the Shackhouse listeners get $20 off their first Seat Geek purchase. Just download the Seat Geek app and

enter promo code house today that's promo code h oh you s e for $20 off your first seat geek purchase seek geek right seat right now right from your phone so house did you read the column that i wrote about phil mickleson or or uh some of the other commentaries on uh what phil did on saturday of the u s open hitting a moving ball i did i did and i will tell you my two favorite reads. I probably read 10 different takes, 10 different. And then I wouldn't use the word, they weren't different. There was a common, there were a lot of common takes. But I just started reading and catching up. You are correct. You and Kyle Porter, I felt like got it. Oh, yeah. I read Kyle. I sat next to Kyle on the shuttle ride home and I will open it up.

I have, I have, I just finished Feinstein and Brian Walker had takes and now I will, so what was Kyle's take. You know, basically that the USGA had available to it, the clear path, which was to disqualify him and they chose not to do it. And on the one hand, you know, Kyle was trying to put himself in the shoes of a lot of folks that consume golf casually and otherwise that weren't that offended and I'll look at Zany Phil being Dainty Phil. But you also have to like, if you just sort of measure it out, there are genuine consequences

that affect a lot of other people in this thing. including, of course, the integrity of the game, and you can't just brush that stuff aside. And he didn't go too technically deep with the rule book, but you have to understand the rules to understand the pass that Phil got. Yes, yes. So I believe it was a pass, and I believe it will be one that he has a hard time living down.

I got hammered at house on Twitter, hammered by people just, what, ridiculous assertion that his legacy will be, I said perhaps Tarnished. The headline, of course, was all they read. None of them actually read the piece. A large number of SEC fans, I'm just going to note that for some reason, that seemed to be a common threat. I don't know why, but a lot of gators and tigers and tide types.

But a day later, I feel pretty strongly the way the Fox Telecast opened, the way Paul Asinger addressed it, where really every former play. that I've heard from on site from Mark Lai right now, who's sitting right in front of me to Brandl, Shambly, to David Duval, to Paul Azinger, on just a wide spectrum, Justin Leonard, Trevor Imelman just trashed him, just absolutely ripped him to shreds.

And ultimately, I thought Ken Schofield, the former European Tour Commissioner, just he was on right before me this morning on Golf Channel, and I said, well, what do you think, Ken? And he says, just simply, you just, you, there is no place in the game for a professional golfer to hit a moving ball. I don't know what the equivalent is in another sport house that might be turning around

and throwing up a jumper into the crowd. It really, it was an astonishing moment because I was sitting here in the press center and we were all, we were all just minding our own business on Saturday morning kind of going out, it's going to be a snooze today. It's not that much going on. I just had that vibe. And then, I mean, the look on some of the. the faces here.

We really all were in shock for a good five, six minutes. Just going, did he, wait, did that, did that really just happen? And I thought Joe Buck did a, I mean, Joe Buck had a great week, but I thought his call of that was just sensational because that was, that was a hard thing to call. It was shocking. Let me ask you if you, I walked in off the golf course. You know, I was at the, the very end.

the memory of my three-day memory gas, of course, that's right. And I was ready for my afternoon cocktail at that point. It occurred as I'm walking in. I sent you a text yesterday. I look at my phone. 2.28 p.m. What, wait, what? What did Phil just do?

You wrote back to me, holy F, he lost his mind. I mean, that was the exchange we had in the moment. What was Buck's call? I didn't hear it. I didn't observe it. It was just a great sort of reaction that you would hope that he would have and he captured the gravity of it that because I think it was again I'm going now he's a professional and this is what he does and he's paid a lot of money to to be on when something

happens like that whereas we're a group of writers sitting here and twiddling our thumbs and thinking about what we're going to write today and watching on a screen and and and seeing somebody who a lot of us have a great deal of respect for and and enjoy watching play do something. something so out of nowhere like that. And then, and then to come in after the round and presented the way he did was just staggering. It was, it was bad enough what he did on the course, but you could, you could sense, okay, but he's just going to come in and say, I lost it. I just got annoyed.

I got, I got, I got, just fed up with my game and the fact that I really. I realized I wasn't going to win in Shinnock Hills. I can't believe I did that. I'm embarrassed. I apologize. If the USGA wants to disqualify me, they should. And it would have been it. They would have died.

But then he comes in and with a smile and he's laughing and he's patting himself on the back. And he's proud of the fact that he was the smartest guy in the room and knew the rules. And he's just been dying to use this opportunity to, okay, now the pizza announcement has occurred in case you had noticed by the noise. I haven't seen some of these people move this quickly in years. So, but to, to suggest that he was thinking about at some point on the 15th Green in Augusta employing this tactic. And then to tell people who believed he was bending the spirit of the rules to toughen up, that's what led me to sit down and just say, this is devastating and a lot of fronts. And ultimately, I think those who were pushing back, I understand that they love Phil and they feel like saying that is out of line.

But I wrote it from a place of thinking of how his peers are going to react. And I'm pretty sure that as the night went on, some of those little nuggets that came out that he called Mike Davis, that he was questioning things. And Amy revealed the day his wife that that he was beginning to regret this, that he did begin. to think, forget the, forget the fans' perception, forget the media's perception. He has to think about the perception of his fellow players and his peers out here. And I'm guessing as they now wrap up the tournament and watch it, they are not going to think very highly of what he did at all. Yeah, we're going to get, let there be no doubt.

I wish I could gamble on this because none of my picks for the week really hit. But there is no doubt that we are going to get. get contrite fill we're going to get chastened fill he's going to say now that I've had the time to reflect and think about this I hold nothing more I mean I can almost write it myself

there's nothing more important to me than the integrity of the game and what I did was not in line with the regard in which I hold the game I mean I'm telling you he should hire me I'd come in and write it for him tonight but it's a he disgraced himself there's just no way

around it right it It could be funny and it could be ha ha, but the problem is with him finishing here, two impacts. Money, there are guys around him that are going to be impacted by his place, his finish. He's going to accept the check for his finish this week and rider cup points. Now, I don't know whether or not rider cup points are going to be, are going to matter for how far down he finished on this leaderboard. But those are two impacts that right away that come to mind for me. as potential consequences of him finishing out the tournament. And he shot 69 today.

So he took it, he went out there and he hustled his ass off and played some real good golf. I mean, I think Justin Rose would have liked to have shot 69 today. Oh yeah. DJ would have liked to have shot 69 today. I mean, you know,

there's some guys who really would have loved to have had the round that left he had. So I just, you know, it's going to go, it's going to be a while before anybody gets over this. Yeah, now I'm watching, you know, Connor walked by. I have not read his piece yet, but he had an interesting quote from the standard bearer that at the time Phil said, I don't know what my score was and I don't care.

Of course, you know, his story changed when he came in that he knew exactly what he was doing. But here was the more disturbing argument that I heard from a lot of people. Well, if he wasn't in contention, so what's a big deal? And so I asked all these people, so what, first of all, by the way, had he shot, I got 74 yesterday, 73. Oh, yeah, he's in contention. So the way the day unfolded. But how do you draw the line between what's in contention and not?

When it's just simply poor behavior, it's just so, because he, first he hits a horrific put. Okay. So first take man up and take responsibility for a bad put. Hey, Evan? And then second of all, he, you know, to claim that this was some. grand vision of his that he's been thinking about doing is really disturbing. You don't play golf to. It's outrageous.

It's an outrage. To bend the spirit of the rules. And I'm not a rules freak. But come on, man. You've got to have some respect for the spirit of the rules. And to show that. And then the USGA bungled this two ways. One, their discussion with him was on the course.

They always bring these guys in and look at it on video and have the discussion after the round. For some reason they did it on the course. Then they buy his story, hook, line, and sinker. Okay, fine. Maybe he gives the committee man a good explanation. You know, the people involved or... What do you mean? I don't understand that. Thomas Pagel is in charge of the... There's no explanation. He intentionally hit a moving ball. What could he say? What's the explanation? Did you intentionally hit the moving ball? Yes. Well, guess what? The videotape sure does say so. But he took, the rules allow because he took a stroke at a moving ball, as opposed to just stopping it.

Shut the fuck up. Yeah, I know, I know. Okay. Yeah, we don't want to go out of that rattle. Sorry, F-bomb, Lynn. So then here's the second thing that the USDA did that I didn't understand. And we asked, okay, so did you hear what he told us in the media, what he told Curtis Strange, and the fact that he and B. for laughing about it.

And did you, so compared to the explanation you got on course, when he since then revealed this intent element, did you take that information and reassess? And they chose not to. And they had an avenue, as you know how some reading some of these fine explanations, to determine this to be a serious breach of etiquette. It's a concept that allowed, It allowed them to, it's under a rule that allowed them to basically keep Tiger in the tournament in 2015,

but it also allows them to send him home and send him on his way. And they chose not to do that. And David Fay on the broadcast, who does not like to put himself out there on these situations, said he would have made that case for that. And most of the pieces I read felt that would have been the proper way to, go about this because once you have a player kind of openly admitting the intent and the intent to bend the spirit of the rules, I just don't know what the negative is in making an example out of him unless the concern is that the average sports fan out there will say,

what a weird sport, man, what's going on? But how, I just don't know anybody who saw that who knows anything about sports who would look at that and and although I shouldn't say that I got 400 replies from them all telling me good for him for knowing how to work the rules um but most people I don't think would fault the USGA for disciplining somebody who behaved that way right no chance no chance no chance I mean the thing that that letting him play today's round permits what it interjects into the conversation is a lot of cynical thinking from people like me who say, well, who's the, who's the one of the two biggest names left in the field? Who bought, you know, for all those people in New York, New York has a love affair

with Phil. Yeah. All those Sunday ticket holders for their father's day around who want to drive out to Chinnecock Hills from the city or the surrounding burbs in New York, they want to see Phil. Do you think that entered into the thinking? The USGA is receiving a huge check from Fox and they have the option. we're weighing. Do we kick Phil's ass out of the tournament today or do we let him go ahead and play it on out on Sunday so that people get the benefit of seeing him some more?

That's cynical thinking. And I'm owning that cynical thinking. Yeah, no, I think it's actually even a little bit beyond that. So you probably don't know much about Frank Hanigan, but he was the old executive director of the USGA and he used to write commentaries before he passed away that I would post on my site

and a very curmudgeonly man. and a brilliant, brilliant man and funny as can be. And he had an ongoing issue with his former organization that they made too many decisions out of a desire to be loved. And this was another one of those decisions where you sense that had it been Vijay Singh or Patrick Reed, they wouldn't have had a problem pulling the trigger on the rule 1-2 as opposed to the one they chose, even though I do understand their explanation. It's some wacky stuff. but they could have then gone to the breach of etiquette clause.

And I'm pretty sure that many other players would not have gotten the benefit of the doubt of fail. But they want to be loved to a point where, and this is what's so disturbing about this for me, is that they are people who are in charge of the rules of golf. And when push came to shove, they didn't. Not only did they not show an interest in considering that option, they really kind of worked to almost clear fill in a way in their comments. And I thought that the way Joe Buck pressed John Bowdenhammer and Mike Davis in the booth was absolutely brilliant and also stunning.

I mean, here was the partner network of Fox, the USDA. And Joe was asking questions as you would hope to address sort of the general observer of this incidents main concerns and and confusion and it was it was an incredible scene um and and he did a great job of doing it without being being mean and so i i think it's going to be an ongoing story i don't think it's going away anytime soon and and again it's not it's not something about i want a yeah yeah you get a lot of the answers as you know how it's about oh it's just you old fuddy dutties and and and trying to know that's not no no no it's no it's the look of it.

And by the way, and this is going to get into the betting situation down the road if a guy did this. And as Paul Asinger said, you know, he's suddenly, wait a second, this is the kind of thing where then one player sees it

and somebody else tries it. My God, if this went on and became a, like the backstopping became something that became a practice, the game would just, it just would just be considered a farce. People would not take professional golf seriously.

It's an, it's an integrity of the game thing. That's why it's not going to go away. That's why it shouldn't go away. That's why he should apologize properly. And that's why I think there should be some additional kind of punishment.

I don't know what form or shape it might take, but it's about the integrity of the game. Now, since this is a TBD, you know, this is going to be an ongoing conversation. Let's go ahead and talk about you just heaped a lot of praise on Joe Buck.

I want to talk about the Fox coverage. I got to see a fair amount of it over the course of the four days. And I will say a couple things. Two like big picture things. One big picture thing, I think they really got comfortable this year with the tone of treating this thing like the big time event that it is. It just felt important.

The way that they presented the coverage and, and, you know, the entirety of all the folks that they brought in, they had a really great rotating cast, not just of, of, um, that folks handling the announcing responsibilities, but, um, you know, luminaries from, from, from across the golf world, are offering insights and commentaries. Well, okay. Now let's, let's hold on. Let's calm down a little. The five minute interview with, uh, Bill, Bill Hammer of I'm not a Fox, uh, morning show watcher. Okay. Is he, that's not a golf luminary. some about life in the Hamptons.

That was a little year-out plan with your people and the member guests, but that interview was painful. But anyway, not because of Holly's fall, by the way. That was just some Fox Synergy thing that somebody said, oh, Bill lives in the Hamptons and loves, he'll mention CB McDonald. Yeah, yeah, that's great. That'll be perfect for the announcer changeover. Kind of made me long for a CEO interview.

Anyway, but yes. So the other thing that I very much liked, and I, I don't know how to solve this. We've complained about it in connection with other events. Now, you can't have this for every tournament, but the wall-to-wall coverage is just awesome. I mean, the fact that you could, whatever time I was up this morning, I put it on, I don't know what actual time it came on. I just know that when I was up and about, I was watching golfers play Shinnecock Hills,

you know, professional golf in one of the four majors. That's awesome. That wall-to-wall coverage component of it is excellent. Yeah, and they struggled with that the first couple of years, I think, the length of that telecasts. And it seemed like their new announced rotation. I had a few people complain there weren't enough announcers, so they can't really win. But I thought that, it felt like they were really fresh down the stretch on what is really a hard day to stay focused, especially after yesterday, which had to be an incredibly taxing day for their crew and for the announcers because, yeah, I just, like I had a five-minute appearance on

live from last night to discuss the weather and the setup. And, I mean, it's stressful in the sense that I'm choosing my words carefully. And there are a lot of different things on the line. You don't want to say incorrectly and or make poor accusations. Well, that's five minutes. I, you know, to try to carry that over that length of a broadcast. And obviously, David Fay was put in a very awkward position. as the most recent executive director before Mike Davis, and he was involved in the 2004 event, which we documented. And, I mean, it was a total deja vu all over again situation.

So I felt like that was the case. And then, I mean, brilliant move, brilliant move by Fox to have Curtis Strange do that interview with Phil Mickelson. Phil made him wait a long time. It pulled Curtis off the golf course from the league. But it was such an important interview. And only he could have that gravitas as a two-time U.S. Open champion to look him in the eye, I think, and convey concern. And maybe, I mean, I thought Curtis, I stood right there.

I was kind of down low in my little tape recorder on my phone. And he conveyed enough disdain without being rude. And his tone spoke volumes. And now if Shane O'Donohue, who was doing interviews projected that tone, well, he's, you know, Shane O'Donohue working for Fox and he's a television person. This is Curtis Strange, a two-time U.S. Open winner, a great, great golfer. And so brilliant move there to have him handle that. I thought that was a huge. I don't know how it looked on the coverage because, again, I was down there listening to it and kind of trying to take it all in.

And on the tech side house, what stood out? I mean, obviously, the mics and the cup were just huge on so many fronts. I felt like they cut back a few things. Well, I mean, they may have the World Cup, you know, maybe thinning things out a little bit too. Fox is spread pretty thin right now. The cost benefit of the tech so that we had audio difficulties, was that on Thursday? Yes. And what was there?

I never went. Oh, we don't need to read the. transcript of what was picked up. Yeah. And they did. They had an outage and they had some things picked up on microphones that weren't good and then just with some noise that was picked up. So yeah, they struggled with some sound. But obviously the tracer is sensational, all the graphic stuff they do with pointing where the flag is. And look, they really are, continue to set the standard for what we want in major tournaments in terms of presenting the competitive golf in a way because you cannot see the ball, especially at a venue as bright as shen. cock you can pick it up off the players club you can try and guess what direction without the tracer the tracer we would be lost yeah and they man when you see how that works and what it takes to get that tracer it's it's hard work when you see how many guys are in the crew out in the fair way to do it but gosh it's worth it yeah like like Tommy Fleetwood's eight second shot on 18 that beautiful tracer of that that's like you know could have been an iconic uh uh u.s open shot

Yeah, absolutely. And it's something that they're very passionate about. I thought they did their usual great job of kind of capturing the architecture, either due to the arials or the maps. And they gave you a good feel of this golf course. So to me, it was a solid broadcast. I think that a lot of people were critical of the sound situation, understandably so. Those things happened. and it's rough, but all in all, I'm with you. I will take the mistakes or the things occasionally not working for the effort that they make to go the extra mile. But it also shows you how polished in terms of production values CBS and NBC are. So there's got to be someplace that kind of captures what we want and kind of pushing things forward, but also being technically sound. But golf is tough. It's really a tough sport to do.

And this place is, it was a tough property, man. Dusty, bumpy roads. That wears those people down trying to get around a golf course. You now, when you see one like this where they don't come very often, you realize the value of roads and some of the things that make it easier for a broadcast crew over the course of such long days to just cut down on a couple of the little mistakes or whatever it is. But all in all, good grades.

I think we're going to see great grades tomorrow, you know, from the television folks. It'll be interesting. I'll be curious. Yeah. I think it's going to be great grades. Yeah. And again, I didn't see a lot, big chunks of the coverage. But I think they'll probably focus in on the coverage of Phil and then getting the interview

with Mike Davis and John Bowdenhammer and good on them for going in and facing up. And of course, by the way, we should know it, and we've been on the setup. But there was a key distinction in this. Mike did admit error, which the folks in 2004 absolutely did not do and dug in. If you want to see that, it is a stark contrast to what Mike and John did, especially Mike when they came in the booth. And I linked that feature on my site. It's apparently going to stay up, even though we have all sorts of footage. So we're very proud of it.

and I worked on a with a producer named Dominic Dostoli, and it was, and now it's kind of fascinating to look at in light of what we just saw this year. And it probably puts things into context for those who did not watch that 2004 U.S. Open. House, any, I mean, there's just so much we could do, but any important notes that we should know from the member guest, any, you know, observation. you were done with the event by the time the fill thing happened, so there probably wasn't a lot of chatter right on that. Yeah, so I love hearing kind of what's going on in golf, or how people saw some of this stuff.

One parting shot for you, Shaq. Here's one for you. The top 25 fishners. Now, it's a big number of folks going through T25. Nine major winners in the top 25. So classy leaderboard, exactly what you want out of, out of this event, you know,

a really nice mix of guys who aspire to, to jump through and, and, you know, crack the become first time major winners. Some old souls, Steve Stricker in there, still kick along with a top 25. How about him and Sherrick?

Hang on. Yeah, exactly. Yep. And then, you know, guys that you would expect, Hedeky's in there, Stenson's in there, Berger, you know, that's a pretty good showing for him. And then I, so I like sort of how we are positioned as the open championship looms on the horizon at the end of July.

Can I just, yeah, I do too. And, you know, who knows with Tiger and Phil, what, what that's all about. But the open championship is one that's made for both of those to me is the most likely candidate for them to play well. But House, I wanted one betting thing. I don't want to go down a rat hole, but I talked to you out of the 65.65 and a half over under. It held up, obviously, until today's setup. And I'm curious, you know, as sports betting becomes legalized,

and here was a situation where they basically artificially influenced the course set up because they had made a mistake. and I just wonder how some people who took the over are feeling in light of what occurred. Thoughts? I would say, I would say, if it was me and I had taken the over, I would be disappointed, but I wouldn't be, I wouldn't feel like an injustice was done because you understand when you place that wager that one of the variables. that you can't control, but you know that that is out there is course set up. And if the wind had blown in the morning, you know, there was a forecast for higher

wind today. And we were expecting this was, you know, a lot of folks who had wagered on Tommy Fleetwood were hoping for that wind to arrive about when it was forecast. But what if the wind had come in in the earlier part of the day and notwithstanding the setup and that, that would have eliminated? There were only two guys that did it. It was Fowler and Fleetwood that went under. So I wouldn't have left this with a sour taste in my mouth.

Okay. That's good to know. I just was curious. By the way, one of the names you mentioned, of course, was Daniel Berger House. Yeah.

And this week. And he, you know, that was just an amazing round yesterday. And so he got a great experience being in that last group, getting announced at that incredible scene at the clubhouse here. And House, you know,

he has a fascinating bag. he of course uses an epic driver, but he is a rogue man with the fairway wood. And it's a four wood. It's a 17 degree. And I just thought that was kind of a cool setup. I did not know that. And of course,

by the way, house, the rogue fairway wood features jail break technology, which I think you know. And I think I even hit like two or three maybe on the screws in the two rounds we played.

I also hit some really screwy ones. But anyway, it's the number one selling fairway wood model in the U.S. Just thought I'd point that out from our friends at Callaway. Callawaygolf.com. Well, I just like that there's a forward.

I might have to get a forward in my bag instead of the five wood. Don't, don't try it. You're not Daniel Berger. But go on. I have to send you back your wood that ended up in my bag. I will do that when I get home. Go on. Yeah, we're not going to name names.

No, we don't. I will pass along our thanks once again to proper cloth, the leader in men's custom shirts. We might have some trouble finding shirts that fit. We know Brooks Kebka is going to have. have a hard time finding a shirt that fits after he's making the Hulk muscles all week long and how he conquered Shitticock Hills. At propercloth.com ordering custom shirts has never been easier you create your custom shirt size by answering 10 easy questions.

Shirts start at 80 bucks and are delivered in just two weeks. Perfect fit is guaranteed if a shirt doesn't fit. They remake it for free. That means the whole process is risk free for premium quality perfect bidding shirts. visit proper cloth.com slash shackhouse and use gift code shackhouse to get $20 off your first custom shirt today. All right, house, we're going to digest this U.S. Open. And then just like that, we're going to be getting ready for the Scottish Open. We've got Tiger Woods and the Quicky coming up in your neck of the woods.

Excuse me, the National. It's no longer the Quicken Loans. And then just like that, it'll be the Open Championship. So exciting, fun time, part of the season. Can't wait to keep talking more golf with you. Yeah, I mean, we're right now in the full throws of early summer golf. I couldn't be more excited. We're going to cover those things as well as some delicious things I might be eating at the national here in D.C.

On all of our upcoming Shagos broadcast, which are all part of the Ringer Podcast Network.