Fairway Rollin' - Patrick Reed Wins and Rory Mcllroy Disappoints at the Masters | ShackHouse (Ep. 61)

Episode Date: April 9, 2018

Geoff Shackelford and Joe House share their reactions to Patrick Reed winning the Masters (02:00) and break down a disappointing showing (for them) from Rory Mcllroy (06:30). Then they discuss the highs and lows from the tournament (28:30) and give their early picks for the U.S. Open (55:30). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On today's Shack House, we will discuss Patrick Reed's stunning Masters win, a valiant effort by several young stars, and more from a sensational week in Augusta. But House, of course, we have to acknowledge that the Masters was won by an Odyssey putter, which is made by our friends at Calloway sponsors of the Shack House. Pretty impressive performance on the Greens for Odyssey this week. It's the second major championship. They've won the putter count, the LPGA and a inspiration, and now the Masters. They're the number one putter in wins across major worldwide tours this year.

And, of course, we know it's that wonderful microhinge and white hot face and all that good stuff. And House, give me some tickets for a Dodger game. Jack, of course, the best way to get Dodgers tickets is Seekek. Seat Geek is the best app for buying and selling tickets to sporting events, concerts, and more. For $20 off your first, Seat Geek purchase on any game. or sporting event, all you have to do is use promo code

house. Download the Seekek app or go right to seek geek.com. Greetings from the Shackhouse, part of the Ringer Podcast Network, House. I'm in the podcast studio here. Just feet away from where Patrick Reed just blew us away

with stories, with humor, with laughs, with tears after his master's performance. Actually, he didn't do any of those. He was very good in his post around press conference. An incredible performance, winning the Masters, amazing play. He almost became the first player to do the unthinkable, four rounds in the 60s at Augusta National. He held off an all-star cast of incredible young talent. Your thoughts, sir. Well, Shaq, I have to begin with your thought,

which I loved. Oh. The very first text I get from you, like seconds after Patrick Reed is walking off the 18th Green, he's in the embrace of his beloved Justine and her highly questionable floral print pants, and he gives a dapp to Bubba Watson, and his son administers a high five. It looks like it had Patrick wincing. He recoiled from it. And the text I get from you is, it's a good thing. The bar here in the media center is open up here to us media in about 45 minutes.

Now, what comes to mind also, our good. pal Kevin Van Valkenberg at ESPN. He had a tweet out right afterwards. He gave out master's grades. And he gave Patrick Reed an A plus. And the plus, Kevin says, is the two middle fingers of Patrick Reed crossing and forming the plus sign. Now, Shaq, I ask you, can't we be happy? Can't the media be happy with this Patrick Reed victory? Well, I'm in a good mood that it was a sensational masters. And I'm in a good mood that we saw wonderful performances and the deserving winner who was clearly the best player, I think. But, you know, he's somebody who doesn't give us a whole lot to work with. And you know, writers were people in the media center.

We love people who give us something to play with, to, you know, to feel, to flesh out. And Patrick makes us work. He makes us work very hard. And, and, and, you know, and doesn't give us a lot of access. So I will say it was, I think, a record long line for the bar in the pre-lineup stages. I didn't even know people line up in advance. I'm usually actually working. I went up there and saw the line 35 deep, and they weren't even open yet. But that could lead to some wonderful writing tonight.

Well, here's the thing, Shaq. I've got to give it up to Patrick Reed. I believe that today he goes. got himself on the correct side with the golf gods. You and I talked about this after the Valspar, where he showed up in Tiger Red, the golf gods looked down from above. They saw Patrick doing his thing out there in the lead at the Valspar entering the 18th hole. He rips a drive down to the bottom of the hill. We're talking about that Tampa tournament. And he hits a ball. And he hits a ball, up onto the green and he's got the

W in his sights and the golf guys look down and say, oh, Patrick, I see you in Tiger Red. We have something for you, my friend. And he three puts the green. And Paul Casey walks away with the W. Now, here's the thing. Today,

Patrick showed up in Azealia Pink. And I know there's a background story to this, and I can't wait to get the pantone for this azalea pink, Shaq. Do you think he should go to that as his Sunday color now?

Don't you think? I think he should. Now, Shaq, I am a guy that likes the data. So, you know, I got to, the data didn't help me with my allocation of capital necessarily this week when I'll go back a look at a week ago. But here's some interesting facts about Patrick Reed. Before the Thursday of this 2018 Masters check, Patrick Reed had never shot under 70 at Augusta National

and two of the last four times that he's played at this venue. He's missed the cut. This week, he leads the field and birdies better. 24 total birdies and Eagles combined. He rose to the challenge anytime. he was confronted by any kind of adversity. And I'm going to say that he played golf with a defiance. I believe that he played golf defiantly, Shaq.

What do you think about that? Yeah, I think that's a great way to put it. In the post round press conference, I was going to ask him because he said he stuck to his game plan, which, again, from the writer's perspective, strictly, selfishly speaking, it doesn't give us a whole lot to work with. And I was going to ask a follow up on that.

But then how's he, to your point on defiance, he opened up a fascinating little can of worms, a fun one. He said that one of the things that really helped him today was hearing on the golf channel the discussion with Noda Begay and some of the other analysts picking who they thought would win. And Noda was the only one who thought he had a chance. The rest all said it wasn't going to be Patrick. And he said not, maybe didn't give the answer you would expect.

He said that took a lot of pressure off of him. And I was blown away by this on a number of levels, of course, because most Masters champions discuss how one of the toughest things about this day is how long they have to sit around and deal with the fact that they're sitting on the lead and how they kill time. And usually, of course, is you can imagine. imagine, they kill time by doing anything but thinking about golf or watching live from the Masters. So he did the opposite of what you would normally do and watch that show.

And so I raised my hand and asked the follow up and he gave an okay answer. I said, because I mentioned this is something that former Masters champions have an issue with. And he said, yeah, I watch golf all the time. If I have an afternoon time, I watch it all morning, I watch European tour. I assume he watches morning drive, all that stuff. So I think that's really fascinating that a little bit of an insight into how his mind works, that he took that discussion. And I'm sure there's a little bit of anger in that.

And he kind of, if you look at the transcript, there was a little anger behind it too. But he also felt like, yeah, nobody thinks I'm going to win. And that helps. So good for him to be able to do that. Well, Shaq, I think there's a nice follow on to this observation. that also relates to the psychology of Reed. I believe that he took great inspiration from being paired with Rory McElroy. We know from having observed him at his highest level that he derives motivation from the psychological

edge that he thinks that he has with Roy McElroy. Now, whether or not he genuinely possesses that edge, it doesn't matter. He believes it. In retrospect, my friend, I believe we were done a great disservice by having Rory in the final round because I think Patrick thinks that he owns Rory. I think he does now, especially. Yeah. And I almost wonder if Rory's a little bit intimidated by him or maybe. I don't know if intimidated is the right word. I mean, they're comfortable pairings and there are uncomfortable pairings. And it's hard to say, but you do have to wonder. I mean, Rory also may have just had the traditional post-65 letdown. A few players and people, former players, mentioned that this morning

when we were all discussing who could win. It's tough to come back from a day like that with that much adrenaline. Check, I thought he was showing a little of enthusiasm, but I want to talk a little bit further about this Rory Patrick coupling because it sets up a very juicy storyline. It's only April, but we're talking about. talking about a very juicy storyline for the Ryder Cup. Is there any way that our U.S. captain, Jim Furek, can engineer?

How can the golf guys need to look down? We need five for five matches. We need Patrick Reed to be against Rory in every one of the Ryder Cup matches this coming fall. Well, I think you'll get the speed pairing again, and you'll certainly get a couple of matchups will happen by accident if nothing else. It's probably the one bummer for a lot of people, the Ryder Cup, that they don't have a draw like they do at the President's Cup. It's a blind draw, and it's sort of luck of the draw. I think you'll get your wish.

I'm not worried. It's obviously a disappointing day for Rory to play the way he did. And, you know, just looking at his numbers after the round, he had a few more putts today. You know, he'd been averaging 26 puts, the first three rounds. He had 31 today. And I kind of jumped on that for a little piece. for golf week. But then his quote was really

interesting. It was really more in his mind, not the way he actually putted, but he left himself in really tough places to make putts from. And I certainly am not going to doubt that that is a correct theory. But I think it was a very good week for him.

And this is one where mentally for him, he saw himself as having positioned himself and he just didn't get it done and he also got beat, whereas he's kind of beat himself pretty badly in a couple of these other instances. So I'm sure he'll still be annoyed.

I mean, did you see Ricky Fowler's press conference? That was a fascinating listen. It was a totally different tone of voice for him, whereas I think Rory was, leaves us a little bit more optimistic as does Jordan Speed. I think Ricky deserved to be enthusiastic about that round. Oh, no, no, no. No, he was incredibly dejected in the press conference. you know, and in a way that was good, though, it was as if, oh, I played really well.

I just did everything I could and I didn't win, but I'm going to be better from this. If that makes sense, it was not his usual sort of monotone thing where he's just, yeah, I'm cool. And we're going to throw out the usual cliches. He felt this in both the great way and the bad way. And his comments were really interesting. He said, this is the first time that he really felt comfortable at a major. And I thought that was fascinating. He says he's now ready and that he really felt like that 65 Saturday when he didn't feel good at all.

Nothing felt right. He goes out and shoot 65, that that's going to be the thing that he takes from this. So it's really interesting how all these guys had a lot of dynamics involved with each of the runner-ups. And then obviously there's just, there's a tension there too because they have sort of a love-hate thing with Patrick. It's pretty clear. I want to go back to Rory because I feel like you might let them off the hook a little bit. Now, I don't think Rory should be taking anything positive from this week

other than finishing in the top 10 again, I guess, and then he played all four rounds of the first major of the season. But look, look, his ceiling is win. The point is you're in the final grouping. You're trying to complete your career grand slam. And you have an opportunity against a guy who has never been there before. You have the upper hand. You're Roy McElroy.

You know what it's like to go around the golf course under these circumstances. You should not be out there making unforced errors. Shaq, this little statistic, he hit eight greens today, Shaq. The bogey on five was garbage. Look, look, part of this for me is that I still resent last season. I'm not over it. I want the great talent of the game. The incandescent talent possessed by Rory McElroy.

I want him to use that talent and not squanderous. So to his credit, he arrived this season in form. He's healthy, he's ready to play. He played very well in the Middle East. He came over. He had a couple of questions of performances. He sorted out his putter and he burned down Bay Hill. He was absolutely on fire.

It gave us all great anticipation for this master, Shaq. And he had a terrific 65 yesterday. He's jumping up and down his fist pumping. But today is the day. It's time to put up or shut up. You're in the final group and you're the guy with all the majors. And he doesn't deliver. And Shaq, I just can't abide a 74.

I can't handle an over par performance in that position by Rory McElroy. If he shot even par, I might have been able to accept it. He put up a good fight. He just didn't have a day. Over par is not getting it done, and I'm not willing to be gracious about it. Yeah, five bogeys. I'm looking at his card.

I missed the early part of his round. I went out for a walk, and so I didn't see those first five holes. I picked him up at a later point, and it was pretty much. He had just flatlined by that bogeon eight pretty much did him in. That was unacceptable. So yeah, I understand your point.

I have no problem with that. I get it. And you're right. We probably let them off the hook sometimes a little bit. But gosh, I guess I'm conflicted. Obviously, there wasn't a lot of wind today. The golf course was softened just as we thought it would be by a little bit more rain Saturday night. And this was just everything that he loves.

I'm not going to say there were pincushion. greens, but they certainly were holding and not a lot of win. Those are the ingredients where he can just dominate. He loves those conditions. He's not a big fan of win. And he had everything lined up for him there and he didn't do it. And that's going to, it probably will really bother him at some point. But, you know, Reed on that game plan issue again, he just didn't give us a whole lot in

the press conference, but he did finally start to cave on 15. He mentioned how, you know, there was a drive. He hit way down there. he was blocked out by the trees and he kind of hit that little punch, pitch, whatever you want to call it, layup. And he admitted that probably in recent masters, he would have tried to pull off some miracle shot. And that was about the closest he came to admitting that he's learned to play the golf course better. And he says stick to his game plan. But I think that's what it really is, is he's learned the nuances of the course.

And he and his brother-in-law is caddy are really, really, really, uh, dead. discipline when it comes to taking notes and doing their homework and his little team there, his performance coach, Josh Gregory, is really, really good at that kind of a thing at picking a part of golf course and saying, hey, you know, you need to do this there. And so I think that's a perfect contrast to Dustin Johnson, who has more talent. But I don't know how much reflection he's doing in practice rounds or after the rounds about those kinds of things or in the heat of the battle how much he's doing that. So kudos to Patrick for working hard at it and doing that kind of thing.

Yeah, I would love to hear more details like that, places where, and this is hard for us right after the round to get a guy. He's got a green jacket on. He's being ushered all over the place. And the members are sitting up in the clubhouse waiting to host him for a dinner. And so we don't get to have a long session as we didn't with Sergio last year. So I think in time we'll probably learn more about this and be more excited about certain elements of the wind

because I think that's what we love about the master's house. I mean, you were here this week. We all have seen the golf course. Even if we haven't been to the Masters, we know the holes, we know some of the nuances. And it's the most rewarding tournament because we know the golf course. We're part of the fabric of it,

the way the patrons are involved. And it just feels like, like something it's our, it belongs to everybody, even though it really only belongs to 300, very wealthy men and five, five women now, by the way, we're up to five. And I think that's the genius of this tournament that getting to go to the same venue every year. We, we even feel like we know the course and we love seeing somebody learn from their mistakes and overcome them. And so Patrick fits in that, in that mode of champion. Now, I want to do some highlights and low lights with you as a way of sort of conquering,

but I do want to have one last thought on Patrick. I was reminded again, the master's winner always gets a couple breaks. Sure. Yeah, well, 13 was the one they'll show forever. Yeah, well, hitting the hole on 17 also was a pretty damn good break. Interesting. Okay. That putt looked like, watch the replay.

It looked like it was going to go by 12 feet, 14 feet. You're right. Because it went down, Nick the flag, and then it was still a five-footer, but you're right. You're right. It was probably 10 feet. Now, I mean, in some respect, that's skill, right? He putted it and it hit the hole. He putted it from 35 feet away.

Amazing first putt. That putt is so hard. It's so impossible. Yes. But, you know, the difference between winning and losing is Jordan Speeth having a makeable 20-footer that burns the edge. Jordan Speeth standing on 17 at 14 under burns the edge of a very makeable put.

And we're in the full speed thrall. I mean, I'm on my knees singing Hosanas, right? Because he's at 14 under on 17. He has charged all the way back from nine strokes down. It's an incredible, incredible speed performance. And the difference between winning and losing at Augusta is his put burns the edge. Patrick's catches enough of the hole to completely slow the thing down

and let him have a five-footer comebacker that he he sinks, you know, all the guts in the world, that guy. And that's, and he wins the championship. Yeah, I would throw in Ricky's second shot on 17.

You know, on television, that green, we've seen it all these years from behind, and it looks like a big green. I don't know if you guys went and looked at it all during your time here this week. It's one of my favorite greens to, to walk by and look at because I would say,

have all the ones here that television doesn't do justice to it's it's definitely that one and and i uh i saw that shot ricky hit and and he noted it after the round it was literally a matter of inches away from from staying up and having a beautiful really simple makeable birdie putt uh and and then he you know it it spins off and and there's goes his chance and then he goes and he makes a beautiful birdie on 18 and misses by one and i i think that was probably the one that that will just be painful for him because the shot he hit was so, so excellent into that, that difficult green. So you're right. And then, of course, Jordan, now he's over the 12th hole.

I loved his reaction on that. Wasn't that great? That was awesome. What a great moment. I raised my arms. Yeah, Jordan. Hell yeah. That's not something you see very often from a great player on that hole and in that

moment. And I mean, the crowd, I just love that. Yeah, under those circumstances, that's incredible. That's why the people love Jordan Speath. Now we just kind of figure out how to how to, how to, help him on that tea shot 18 in his defense you know i was talking to a couple of the riders up in the beverage line i my my my cocktail is sitting at my my it's called the confusion uh and it's sitting at my station house it's not here in front of me for the pot but uh one of the writers was was commenting on

uh what a bad tea shot was i'm like wow i went out there on my little walk around today and i just stood behind the the tea and it is such an awkward tea shot and you really have you want to hit a cut and that tree overhangs, and it's very doable what he did. So I know that he'll, now the shot on Friday was just a snap hook quacker bad T-shot. Yeah, that's a bad T-shot. That's fine. I mean, he was feeling so good. And he was truly genuinely horrified and shocked at what happened.

I'm sure he just pulled it just a tiny, tiny bit. And still, they're old pines and they're not that dense and to catch that one thing. It didn't have to catch that branch. You mentioned that I was down there early in the week and with my good pal, Bill Simmons. And one of the things that we insisted on doing was that he insisted on doing. He wanted to see 18 with his own eyes. We walked up behind the T-box and looked in. He was, his jaw hit the luscious green turf.

His jaw was all the way down. And then we walked the length of the hole up. And he's like, I cannot believe how. hard this effing golf hole is. Yeah, it is. The combination of length, where the bunkers are, the face of the bunkers, it looks like, you know, they're 20-foot sand dunes is the way it looks if you, if a normal human being climbed in. And so he, and I think he tweeted about it today, you know, just how incredibly challenging, what a daunting visual challenge 18 is. And most of these guys come in and

they just, they, they eat it up. I mean, Ricky's performance today under that pressure was, you know, again, I give him a voila, like, you know, kudos kudos chef, but, you know, the big point about that challenge and the visual intimidation of it, and Jordan really just caught a branch. All he did was catch a branch. I mean, that was really it.

Yeah, and he, otherwise, he really, I mean, I think he hits a great T shot and gives himself a chance at Bertie and maybe a 62, which is unbelievable. But he, he made, you're making me cry. I know. He made, made very clear after the round how satisfied he was with the day. I went out when I was doing my

little walk around. He was on three and his agent slash manager Jay Danzy came up to me and just said I've never seen him like he was before this round because I just said something like, well, good start. And he goes, I've never seen him. And I think what he meant was it was some combination of confident, calm. And ready to go. And I mean, to think about how close he came to shoot. That's scary. At least 63 today.

And again, no offense to Nick Price or Greg Norman. Their 63s were incredible with different kinds of equipment. But a 62, I don't care where all the whole locations were in those conditions. The master's final round. I mean, it's one of those. I'm sure Jordan's going to think about a lot that he just about put up arguably the greatest final round

in major championship history and one little branch possibly threw the whole thing off. So that's got to be an interesting feeling for him. But I would say that just seeing his interview with our friend Amanda and reading the transcript,

he won't take this in a negative way that he will build off of this. How could he? How could he? Oh, you know, it can happen. You never know. Yeah, I guess you. Yeah. As a competitor, for sure. Yeah. Sometimes it can be devastating. Well, let's do some highlights and low lights. But first, let's have a nice word from our pals at Calloway. Well, yes, of course, our friends of Calloway who had Bill Simmons on last week on Calloway Live. Do you know, did they fit him for a rogue driver house? They did. He's got a whole bag of rogue stuff. He threw up an Instagram of it. He went rogue. Believe me, Shaq. Wow. He's got the jail

break technology with a new hourglass-shaped titanium bars that are 25% lighter. Nice going, Bill. Awesome. I just want to say, I love those bars. My three wood. That three wood is so. You've never seen the bars. They're inside the face. How can you tell? You can see them. You can see them from underneath. There's one, two little bars. It's exciting. Yeah, well, they give you that faster ball speed. Yes, Shaq, increased ball speed, which hopefully translates into additional distance. I know that that's not your number one favorite thing. But speaking of number one favorite things, how about a word from our good pals

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I should have sent you down. I have a great... Six Georgia Beach ice cream sandwiches. If I just had three RX bars, my favorite, my beloved blueberry instead of that, I think I would be feeling a little bit healthier. But go on, please. Don't let me. I'm a coconut chocolate kind of guy.

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attest to that. No, I've been a long time. I gave my recommendation. I like the coconut chocolate. I'm also a fan of the chocolate sea salt. You like blueberry. What else do you like? I haven't had a peanut butter and chocolate. I need to get into that. That's not the option that I know. The peanut butter is excellent, too.

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We have to start with the Butler Cabin. ceremony, don't you think? Okay. Well, what is it for you? A high or a low? It's still so awkward. It just, you know, Sergio looked like he'd rather be somewhere else.

Of course, Doug Gim, who's just a super guy from the University of Texas, we have the awkward low, low amateur interview, and Doug did beautifully. I thought he represented Coach Fields in the University of Texas admirably. But it was awkward. I didn't know if Fred Ridley

was auditioning to become part of the CBS golf team. Now, in the past, the chairman have asked a lot of questions, and it seemed like for whatever reason they were trying to reprise that, which unfortunately has generally never been a good idea. Hort Harden infamously asked Sevi how tall he was, to which Frank Chirkinian later said he just put his face in his hands and shook his head. It's always been an awkward,

ceremony. I guess I kind of like the awkwardness of it. It's in an entertaining way. It's just, it's bizarre though, because then they go outside and they have a beautiful ceremony out on the putting green and everything's a little bit more relaxed. But yeah, so, and then Fred Ridley and Sergio, he almost knocked Sergio over when they got up from the chairs. And it's just an unusual moment. And then Patrick, you know, they didn't have the usual. They at least got rid of the after they put the jacket on, that sort of awkward like four cameramen clapping and he smiles at the camera.

You know, they used to do that a lot and it just didn't work. So they at least went right to the tape on that. Well, I do have two observations. I have grown accustomed to it so I like how stilted it is and how unlike any other human interaction

that I ever observe anywhere it feels. My question is, my first question is, it seems as though, they suck all the oxygen out of that, the building, because the guys all walk in and hold their breath. Like if they breathe, if they take a breath,

are they concerned that the ghost of Bobby Jones will somehow come and bespoil their energy in some way? Now, I would like to breathe some of the ghosts of Bobby Jones. I think that might help me with my over-the-top casting move. They're worried about the ghost of Clifford Roberts. Bobby Jones thought the whole thing I think was kind of funny. It's more Clifford Roberts. It is funny.

The other thing is, I mean, the rigidity. There's posture. There was good posture today. I mean, it seems like there might be a metal rod inserted. It seems appropriate to not in honor of the tournament. Say where I think the thing might be going in, but boy, oh, boy, are they upright? Yes. Yes, very, very outstanding posture on display.

wonderful role models. But, and then Patrick said it was a size 44 that he put on, he thinks. So there you go. No comment. No comment. We don't know who the member was who provided it, but I'm sure we'll find out. No doubt. Okay.

What else? What do you go? What take away? The tracer was, I wouldn't call it a disaster on CBS, but it was pretty much useless because they used a yellow line and you couldn't see the ball as it flew after it hit its high point and started to come down. So next year, we need red. We need red next year.

I want to do a segment on CBS and the broadcast. You didn't sit and watch the broadcast, did you? I had it on. But once I came back from the course, I'm kind of going between Amen Corner Live, which I love, and also then the CBS broadcast. So I see enough of it, but I also miss a lot. So this is, you're not the only one who misses a lot. Anybody who watches CBS broadcast also misses quite a bit. and CBS was properly being pilloried for their choice of golfers to cover.

If you were interested in the decision-making process that Jordan Speath underwent, on 13, after having birdie 12 and pulling himself within a stroke of the lead, he hits his drive. It just barely lands, advances six inches or so into the pines straw. He has a clear shot to the green. And CBS, in its infinite editorial wisdom, elects not to show he and Greller going through the process of what club to choose. And in fact, they together changed their mind about what club to use. Unbelievable discussion.

It was amazing. An amazing discussion available only to the viewers of the broadcast who are consuming Amen Corner Live on their computers. Correct. Yep. In fact, it's funny you bring this example up because I, on my feed, was on CBS, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw Amen was there, and I immediately hit the button. And you're right. It took him a while to get to that. And that's just a seminal moment in the history, especially after last year when Jordan pulled out the What Would Arnie do line, which is one of my all-time favorites. And you're right. I noticed that today in general, that one thing that that Lance Barrow's really, really good at is knowing when to not to show shots, but to actually get to let that moment breathe. And you know Spitz going to chat and you know your sound guys are out there and they're going to get the sound.

And you're right. They kind of mess that one up. And that shot was amazing. The line did not look good at all. Right. And on the pine straw and to make that contact and hit that shot. was just incredible. Yeah, so that's not a kind of mess up, Shaq.

That's an F-minus as in F-U-CBS. Like, he's having an all-time epic round. The course record is in jeopardy at that moment, and we don't get to see him. And for all of the reasons that we know about Jordan Speath, like we as the consuming public adore that... Not just the moment, but the process of it. Sure.

We know how analytical he is. Sure. And that's the genius of the 13th hole, which was what we did a feature on Golf Channel about, that that moment is what doesn't happen very often anymore, where the player has that, that kind of do I, do I, do I not moment? And it was, so they're so rare now because they all, I mean, what, Patrick had 186 in. and they so rarely are stuck there. Really, the only thing that prompts those discussions is a pineal situation. By the way, House before, and I'll put it in the show notes on my website at jeff shacklefer.com.

The good folks at Classic Sports TV always do a breakdown of the number of shots we see from the networks in the major championships. And CBS, just a quickie, I'll just give you the top six here. On the final round, they showed Patrick Reed 71 shots. they showed John Rom next to 58 Rory McElroy at 58 Ricky Fowler at 44 shots from his round and 48 of Jordan's speed shots the next closest was Tiger Woods at 18 so the the problem with that is Rory having shot 37 on the front

yeah became less and less relevant which with each swing on the back and Jordan was making his move and we needed to see every single Jordan Speed swing live. We needed to see every, I didn't, I don't want it on delay. I saw on

Twitter that what Jordan did on 13 before I saw it on television. That just can't happen. It can't happen. No, it can. You ought not to be broadcasting the event if that's, if that's what's transpiring. It's tricky. It's a tricky event

now and you're, and with things like Amen Corner Live and featured group cover, and all that. And this has been something they've dealt with the last few years. It exposes how long it takes for them

to show certain shots. And did you see the picture? I'm going to post it on my site later that was on Instagram, golf gods, and a couple of others

had another. There's somebody who has the perfect monitor set up with all the different feeds and just has different monitors. And it really is

the only way to watch it. Although, you know, the people who have direct TV out there, I'd love to hear what they think, but I know they had a pretty cool setup this year with the ability to do that kind of a setup on one screen. But yeah, something, it's really, you really only can do it with multiple screens. And I will be fair with CBS. It would be nice for the collaboration with the

master's to at some point produce a shared recognition and acknowledgement of interest in the sport and can we have the broadcast come on before 2 o'clock on Sunday and before 3 o'clock on Saturday? I mean, I know it's been too much to ask in the past, but we're kind of there. We're kind of ready. The consuming public, you know, all of the numbers across the board in terms of the ratings and the interests and so forth, if ever there's a time to capture the audience interests and give everybody real TV time, we're there. We're there. This is the era. Yeah, there's no question, especially in a year like this, where you had some really great names out there early, that it looked pretty bad that you could go online and pull up the feeds for Amen and featured group. And featured group had Jordan Speath.

So you could watch him getting off to this great start. And they had a couple of very nice special shows, but those shows should have been. probably an hour at least before and there should have been probably another hour because by the time they come on and set things up it's it's off and running and i would agree with that i also defend the masters though and their less is more approach that there is something to the fact that the masters is something that makes people tune in who don't normally watch golf and they want to keep it a tight tv show they don't want it to become this all day thing part of it uh It just may be tradition, but I think part of it is they really do believe that,

that they want to keep it exciting and tight and that you have these other feeds now if you're a golfer, but there's still so many of us who just want to see those feeds on a big television screen, and that costs problems for them. I'm one of those people. And you're one of those people, yeah. That feeds right into what I'm going to call was a highlight. We're however many minutes into this show, and we're just now talking Tiger and Phil. Tiger finished plus one because he he he he bogeed 18 I mean he had even in his sights and Phil finished

plus two which is a hell of a rebound considering he was you know at plus eight at one point yesterday or plus how did he how how did he take it yesterday uh Phil finished with 74 yesterday oh okay 79 the second round you're thinking of he he battled back Well, no, I mean, the 79 and then he tripled one with the whiff yesterday. So, I mean, he had himself up at plus eight, plus nine, you know, well up in that territory and a battle all the way back to plus two. Now, I have this, it's not a theory, but I'm interested in your reaction to this. Having watched both of those guys over the course of the week and honestly observing them physically with my own two eyes, down there in the practice rounds, Tuesday, Wednesday,

then watching the actual play Thursday. I don't know how to say this delicately. So I'm just going to sort of say it the awkward way. It's going to come out. I don't think old guys can play Augusta and win. And it's a weird thing because Fred couples made the cut once again this year. And Bernard Longer. And Bernard Longer.

They were out there. I just got to say, House, I watched them. Well, they were having so much fun out there, those two. They, I bet they're at a bar right now. Just talking about the round, just kicking back and sharing some laughs. I'm being completely sarcastic. Those two, I don't think they said to a word each other all day. I don't think they like each other very much.

And they are both really slow on the greens. Well, I'm just observing with, you know. I think it's an interesting question. Those two guys, you have Vijay, who's 55 years old. Right. Who started off the tournament, you know, 71, and then closed out. He had two rounds under par, 55 years old. The thing about Phil and Tiger that, you know, this is to my own, you know, dumb way of looking at things,

it's just too hard at Augusta. It's such a physical challenge. Yeah. It's such a like physically imposing walk, let alone, you know, the strategy and the shot making and all the rest of it. And neither one of those guys looked like they were moving great to me. Yeah. So, I mean, that's, again, not a perfect eye, but that's just an observation. What do you think?

Well, no, it's definitely a question I had when looking at this leaderboard of kind of all of our young studs at the top. and those old guys who've been playing pretty well, fading a little bit. You just do have to wonder if it's a combination of the relentlessness of the greens and those first two rounds, five hours and 40 minutes on greens that are, I mean, the 11th green, I swear, I think was 15 on the Stip meter on Friday afternoon. I sat up in the patron observation platform. Oh, congratulations.

I heard that euphemism on one of the feeds the other day and laughed. And, but that kind of speed, the wind changes and the topography is so severe. And you do have to wonder if the combination does make it hard for, as you say, a lot of old guys can get around there and know the place and just know the shots and they can get it around. But can they win with the way it's been lengthened and the difficulty of it and the relentness? of the test and frankly the narrowness of some of the holes right you know the seventh and the 15th and 17th i don't know if people i'm sure all the people all great people who said hello this week to you and i and who listened to the show and we thank them all for doing so i'm

sure those people were looking at some of those holes too that and the way they don't translate on television as to how narrow they are and i actually wrote a piece for golf week kind of hoping that the new chairman will actually open a few of those up. But I think you have a point. I just gave the old guys. The top 30, a quick scan. And I'll let you go ahead and check my work. From my eyes, there's one player who's 40 years old or older in the top 30.

And you know who it is. It's my guy, Hendrik Stenson, who turned 42, who really did have. Great week. You know, I was rooting for him to get the hot hand today. I wanted him to come out and, you know,

not just because I had a little a capital allocated, but he was right on the threshold a couple times it felt like this week of really busting out and going low. He just couldn't, you know, stringing anything together. Yeah, five parties today.

I'm giving, I'm telling you, I'm looking at this list, the top 30, I believe he is the only player, Paul's Cooch. Uh, yeah, Cooch is a similar age, so that would be... Is he 40?

That would be one. Okay, so it's just Cooch and Centson are the only two in the top 30 at 40 years old or older. Um, so I don't know. I, in the past, it seemed like the attributes of a master's winner was a player in his kind of, and, you know, in fact, the statistical, uh, composition of a player. of the past master's winners is a player in his early 30s that with a certain, you know,

amount of experience at Augusta National. Patrick Reed, you know, is against form, against the mold. Yeah, yeah, yeah. In the same way that that speed is as well, breaks the mold on that. But go ahead. For the record, Coutcher turns 40 in June.

Oh, my bad, Cooch. He's 40. But Paul Casey, Paul Casey is, who had an unbelievable run today. And he is actually 40 years old, which a lot of people forget. He's a pretty young-looking guy. But yeah, what a stretch Paul Casey had going. He birdied 11, 12, Eagle 13, birdied 14, and birdied 15. And then he finished bogey-bogey.

So that's, he shot, you realize he could have shot 63 very easily today. Oh, I'm aware. I was watching. That was going to be a highlight. because I had him in a top 10 play that felt like it was a million miles away. And then all of a sudden, you understand that 7 under is indeed a T-10. And he finished at 5 under with bogey-boge close out to his round. In that same main, how about a shout out to Tony Fee now?

Let's give a highlight, super highlight and a high five to Tony Fee now. 66 today, Shaq. And how about if he makes the birdie on 18, he sets a new master's record for most birdies in a row. He burdies six of the last seven holes, and he had a great look at birdie on

18 to make it seven in a row. And yeah, he wasn't even walking that well. I mean, I'm sure he's sitting somewhere with his ankle up in the air and the ice on it. What a sensational week for him. And a learning experience that you don't run backwards uphill after

making a hole one. Wasn't it, how about when Charlie Hoffman makes a hole in one? You just have to wonder, yeah, he's looking at Tony Fee now, he's running around, he's excited, but he had to be thinking, wait a second,

wait a second, don't repeat it, don't do what he did. I don't think that Charlie had any concern and nobody who observed Charlie, he knows Charlie's physique had any concern about Charlie, you know,

doing something semi-athletic and putting himself in harm's way, the most amazing thing, speaking of that Charlie Hoffman highlight, and the reason that it makes sense to talk about phenos because they were paired together. Charlie Hoffman made hole in one from the wrong side of the hole. You never see a hole in the hole and one from that side. How did that ball bounce right, Shaq?

It just took a funny little move off of the back of the bunker. You know how it is off the back of a bunker? It's not even normal. My balls do not, when I hit the back of the bunker, they don't go in the hole. That was amazing. So yeah, good for him and another. I mean, it was, the crowd got their money's worth today. I didn't sense they were overwhelmingly thrilled about Patrick winning, but they got a great show. And they had what you'd hope for. I think we all hope for is it was interesting up to the end. And, and that's, I think the ratings will be sensational. But more importantly, the people who watched will, I mean, I'm very satisfied by the week that I just felt like it was, it was. it lived up. Ultimately, it lived up to the hype, right? Because

yeah, Patrick Reed was not somebody we would have penciled in. We warned, though, everybody that like a great horse race, everybody's looking at the favorites and hoping for a couple of long shots, and it's kind of the person we probably should have realized was trending and is the

at the prime of their career just kind of came up on the rail and blew them all away. And good for him. But I mean, and you obviously had a satisfying week because you came down and then you got to watch it and, and you got a, you got some podcasts out of it. I can't wait to listen to the House of Carbs discussing the food.

Yeah, we ate every sandwich except for the barbecue beef because they were out at that hour. I mean, the barbecue pork, the pull bar, the pole part there, but we, Simmons and I went the next day. You could have stopped playing. The media center. We, we have them here. I could have slipped one out to you. Oh, no. Well, you know, if Augusta L.

let me text, I would have sent you a note asking for that backup plan. But of course, you're not allowed to have communicate. We're living in the 70s still when you're inside the gates at Augustin National. There's no way to communicate with other human beings other than bumping into them literally. So there is that. We couldn't, you know, figure it out. Now, had you actually had a Georgia peach ice cream sandwich until this week? No.

You had not. Yeah. This was my first time. Oh, God. The last time I came down, I tried to buy them on the way out. They were sold out. In fact, they had signs on the coolers sold out from handwritten signs when I was down in 2016. So sad.

They did not have that issue this year. Every single cooler was packed to the top and they kept refilling them. I brought home extra. You'll hear this on one of the podcasts we did last week. Dr. Bill found my stash of the ice cream in the freezer. We came home for one of these, you know, these. these corporate social outings that the week is peppered with. And around midnight, 1230, I wanted one of my little ice cream hits and it was gone.

Dr. Bill did me in. Dr. Bill, yeah. And now I can't wait to listen also, Bill and Bill with you on Bill's show this week. So that's going to be a fun listen. I heard, I mean, it sounded like Dr. Bill. Bill's dad had a great time. Oh, he was effusive. With his praise.

He was a highlight. I mean, I've listened to him for years. I know. He's not an easy man to please when it comes to his sports. He's demanding. He sets a high bar. So that's great to hear that it exceeded his expectations. It did.

It did. You'll hear him say it. It does for most people. But still, it's fun to hear. Absolutely. What else? Have we got everything covered? Is there anything else hot off the presses?

We need to kick around. anything come through, but let's just do this real quick before we close out. It is ridiculous to talk about this because today is April the 8th. June the 15th is a long ways off. And I know that with all due respect to the PGA tour or the PGA players championship, I'm not interested in forecasting a winner for that event because it's impossible to do so.

No, I want to talk about your early, early, early, early horse for the U.S. Open. Ricky Fowler. He already brought it up. Oh, yeah. He didn't even hesitate. He brought it up after the round. He loves the golf course. He's been there a bunch. I know he's played it quite a bit. I think he's friends with a member. And he has talked about it in other settings as well, that he loves the golf course. Again, it's very hard to describe. I've never heard an athlete who sounded so different than he normally sounds and dejected. And I listened to it and went, oh, oh, this was this was a great week for him. And then you read his comments and I was just fascinated. He doesn't give us anything. Yeah, if Patrick Reed gives us very little, Ricky gives us less. And he, for him to come right out and basically admit that this was actually the first time he really felt comfortable in a major, I think is just incredibly fascinating. So he needs a good tea time draw, but Ricky's,

right now coming out of this week, I think the person to think about most at Shinnock and he'll be hungry. I love it. I'm tracking three guys. I'm not prepared to make my, you know, Nate, identify a horse this early out. But I do, I will have very, very heightened interest in these three players over the next six weeks. I can't wait to see what my man Cameron Smith does. I don't know if he's here for extended straight or not.

Sixty-sixth. He is a player. That's a dude with major pedigree. Let there be no doubt. He is, and I think, you know, he just gets up for the majors. You know, the T5 here felt like it came out of nowhere because he was 71, 7270, and then he wanted everybody to understand where he's gotten that bag. And that was a 66 today.

The other two names I'm interested in, and we touched on Tony Fienow a little bit ago, just too much game for that guy. That guy has so much game. And he's another one who really is up for the majors. I mean, he had a pretty great run at Whistling Straits a couple years ago. And here he is under duress with the T-10 at the Masters. I feel like maybe, let me hear your thoughts on this. Did we get a breakthrough finally with John Rom?

I think so. Although, okay. So he had a great. great week, a phenomenal week. And he said he was only sad really about the shot on 15. 13 yesterday he brought up. But, you know, that explosion, though, on 16T where he just pounded the club into the tea. And then it's like, John, haven't you watched the Masters? The ball's going to funnel down to the bottom. Don't you know this whole location? And he did have the same sheepish grin that Tiger had when he was bothered, he thought he left the ball up high when the pin was down low on, well, the day you saw the birdie on Friday.

And at the T, Tiger did the same thing. He thought he'd left it up there. Well, of course, John Rom did too, and he just absolutely pummeled the club into the ground. It's like, dude, oh, my gosh. That's his charm. Now, I love John Ron for that. He is the only player. There's difference between fire and then just kind of this uncontrolled rage where he might break a club.

I don't think we could call it on control. His weekend was 6569. I just want to give him props. Now, he was in the midst of a bad stretch on Thursday. When we watched, when he got to 17 box, he was disappointed with a putt he'd missed on 16. But he hit a drive right on 17, and he gave us our only audible F-bomb of the day.

We were sitting adjacent to the 17 T-box, and there were a handful of players who wanted to use. use bad words. Kyradesh, Affie Barnrat, had some choice words as he walked away. But the Raminator gave us the F! A good one, a good, juicy one.

For the whole patronage there, around the 17 box to enjoy. But look, I think the thing with him, the talent is indisputable, his world ranking proves it, him getting a little

taste of what it takes in terms of the strategy, the planning, the discipline, the word you used for Dustin Johnson, which is such a great word. And I now think that this exuberance

is the polite way of putting it, is how he immediately processes and then moves on because he finished up, admirably today. He did. He did. You know, he bogey's 15. That was painful.

But yeah, he birdied 14 and 13. Yeah. And as you noted, really, yeah, he did have that bad stretch on 13. But wow, did he have, I mean, excuse me, on Thursday. But his stretch from round two, really to the end until the 14th hole today was incredible. And his game looked awesome. And he hung in there beautifully. And no, it's a, it's a phenomenal week for him as well.

I mean, there are a lot of players. Look at Bubba. So Bubba didn't quite have it. He still shoots nine under. He had a good game. But every time I saw him, you could just tell the attitude was looked to me like it was really good. It was just me. I agree with this.

He just didn't quite have something dialed in. Well, I have a thought on that. So a T5 for him is great that way. Again, Stenson was super steady. This is a great performance at a place he's not finished strong at and had a good finish at. So I want to quickly make an observation on. Bubba and I think you're absolutely right. He played, he had a real chill this week.

Now, and I think he's a wonderful name to keep in mind as Shinnecock approaches because what, what, no, no you say. Why? Why not? I just don't think he's a USGA set up kind of guy. I just don't think he, I think he shuts down mentally on those. Now he is maybe maturing a little bit and maybe that'll change and we get closer, but I just,

it's a different kind of mentality at a U.S. Open golf course like that. No doubt. and he has a whole string of miscuts at the U.S. open. So don't get me wrong. But I'm interested in as the time approaches, as June or mid-June approaches, what intelligence we're getting about the setup and so forth.

The one thing I'll say about Bubba that made me confident that he was not going to win this week, and I didn't allocate any capital at all. Did you see his shoes? I mean, you can't win with, with, you know, bright green high tops. I get this fashion statement. I'm glad that he's comfortable enough in his own skin. for that, but we played fashion statement last year with the colored balls and it didn't work out so hot.

So maybe like, you know, and Bubba, by the way, typically pretty fashionable. I enjoy his scripting. I think he, you know, he really brought the visor back. I like his white on white approach a bunch of times. He wears black very well. Hands a man to Bubba Watson, but come on, dude. Yeah. The funky colored hot tops.

Okay. Yeah, I wore my canoes. Was that what you asked me? Did you wear the green canoes? Yeah. Of course. On Thursday, I gave them up. Yes, this week, of course.

We didn't coordinate that very well. It's probably best we didn't. It wouldn't look right. I agree. My green canoes got a lot of compliments on them. But we weren't playing in the Masters either. We were patrons at the Masters. We were just strolling.

Sensation. I'm very, I'm really excited because, you know, we've been hyping this thing for months and it arrived. And yeah, it would have been fun if Tiger and Phil contended a little bit more. But everybody else who. was playing well coming in. I mean, look at Justin Rose, put himself in position today and to be hovering around in case Patrick Reed faltered.

And then Justin Rose kind of blew up on the ninth green and I was walking by and still shot 69. But we talked about all these different names, Paul Casey. Justin Thomas had kind of the same week he's had the first few times at Augusta. But all in all, it just felt like it, I feel like it lived up to the billing and it sets us up for some fun in May with the players and the Zurich. And as we build to two sensational major venues coming up with Shinnecock Hills and Carnustis.

So we have to be pretty jazzed, I think, about the state of pro golf. The only thing I asked for out of the Masters is a, you know, a winner who earned it. And Patrick Reed went out and earned that

W today. So all kudos to him. I, uh, greatly enjoyed it. I was rooting for, you know, the sporting guy in me who was rooting for somebody to come up there and push it into a genuine tie so he could fuel that

pressure. But, you know, he beat it back. He really dealt with the adversity beautifully. He had birdies when he needed them. So kudos to Patrick and his size 44 jacket. Yeah, and I think ultimately what, you know, with all the discussion we've had with the kind of the

fan behavior and some different things that have been going on. I think people do need to remember. It's just even if you don't like Patrick or he rubs you the wrong way, it should be satisfying that somebody did what you just described. He, you know, he faced all these different hurdles and he overcame them and he clutched up and he performed. He gave us some amazing shots and beautiful shot making and he was smart at times. And I find that very satisfying to watch. You know, that's what makes golf. different than a lot of other sports, that you have the ability to kind of take all that in

and the game moves slower. And there is a beauty in that, though, when you could kind of take in a golf course, we all know, a place we all know, even, you know, people, Dr. Bill and Bill Simmons, who don't watch a tour golf like we do every week. They still know the masters. They know the shots.

And it's fun when we all get to kind of see that. And it kind of does what it does. every year. It's a tradition unlike any other. Oh, I went there. But it is. You did it. You did it. All right. We got to wrap up, but I got to plug a couple things. So we've got coverage on my website, jeffshackover.com, golf week. This week we've got, if you're looking for some postmaster stuff,

of course, don't forget Bill Simmons was on Calloway Live last week. And this week, Sandra Shafley is on with our friends at Calloway. The X-Man. Yeah. So I'm looking forward to that. And I'm looking forward to that. And I'm looking forward to catching up on your house of carbs with Adam Rappaport talking food at the Masters. And it should be a nice time to kind of unwind and take in all the fun content and then regroup for the coming months. Absolutely. Oh, and by the way, we left that one.

And there's a Ryder Cup waiting at the end of the year that's just getting mind-bogglingly good in terms of the possibilities. It just gets better and better. It's incredible. Yeah, this was a U.S. 1, 2, 3 finish, which is the first time that's happened in some, you know, 30 years, 20 years. It's been a long time since the U.S. has finished 1, 2, 3. So on that point. But some good European names here, you know, McElroy, Casey, Rose is still playing well, Stenson.

So there's been a little concern that the veteran forces on the European side might not do much. And by the way, Ian Poulter, who won last week, could earn his way onto the team and get into the mix. And, I mean, that just, how about a Reed Poulter match? What could go wrong there? We can only dream. Poulter played in the Masters. He's won this year. He better be on the team.

Well, it's a long way to go. He made the cut, T-4-4. There he is. Got a ways to go. So, all right. House, anything else you want to get to, or is this the end of this? This is the end of this master's? Shack host, part of the Ringer podcast network.