Fairway Rollin' - PGA Championship Recap: Xander Schauffele Secures First Major, Scottie Scheffler’s Arrest, and Winners and Losers

Episode Date: May 20, 2024

House and Hubbard give their reactions to the PGA Championship, starting with Xander Schauffele’s first career major win and whether the course deserves any criticism (01:44). Then, they discuss some of the key players and story lines of this tournament (14:39), including Scottie Scheffler’s arrest and its effect on his performance for the rest of the weekend (24:52). Finally, they go through the winners and losers from Valhalla (32:39). The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Hosts: Joe House and Nathan Hubbard Producers: Eduardo Ocampo and Tucker Tashjian Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Literally boots on the ground. He is at the Louisville Airport. This is your BGA championship recap podcast coming to you directly. Moments after Zander Shafley sunk the winning birdie putt on the 18th hole. The Nate Dogg. How about it, buddy? Valhalla delivers the goods. Well, there's been a lot of chatter that maybe it didn't.

But I think when you step back and look at this leaderboard, this was a tournament that is going to go down. I mean, there's going to be a lot of chatter about whether they're going to come back to Kentucky for all kinds of reasons. For the Scotty Schaeffler arrest for the way that the course played, Zander just won with the lowest score to par

in any major ever. But boy, it was a good week. And when you look, it's hard to argue with the results of these PGAs, even though we seem to dissect a heck of a lot about what they actually do with this course. well let's try if we can and be fair to the golf course in the first place you arrived as the tournament started in that Thursday, Friday times timeframe, right? So because of the precipitation that came through, the golf course played soft for the entirety of the tournament.

We never really saw a firm golf course, right? Well, look, I think we give a lot of credit to Carrie Haig for his setups. And I think he's got to take one on the chin for this setup house because... Wow! I think the greens were too slow. It wasn't just that the course was soft. The greens were too slow. They were like eight and a half to nines.

Seriously? On the same meter at the beginning of this tournament. And today they probably were 10 to 11. But I mean, I think these are probably played in the five slowest speed. of any course that they've played on tour this year. And I think when you add that together with the height of the rough, which was just not high enough. Okay.

If they had narrowed these fairways by about five yards and had the rough a little bit higher, I think this course would have played more like a major. It just, the conditions just did not feel like a major, and there's no way around it. I think the result it's hard to argue with. We had an exciting finish. It came down to 18, like it always seems to at Valhalla.

But I think if you're going to throw some stones, you can do that at some of the choices that were made with this course set up. Well, let me push back gently. In addition to Xander, who has been, you know, in the lead on the back nine this year at the Players' Championship at Quell Hollow last week, he finally gets across the goal line. He's a worthy winner. Then you have Bryson D. Shambo, U.S. Open champion. Then he have Victor Hovlin, who dominated the Tour Championship.

FedEx FedEx hit Thomas Detry, congratulations for his push-up. But major-winner, two-time major-winner, Colin Warcawa, major winner Justin Rose, major winner,

Shane Lowry, Scotty Shephyler finished tight eighth, Justin Thomas, two-time PG-PGA. Like, a bunch of classy names on this theater board, buddy. Yeah,

no, there really were. And so I think, you know, the flip side is when you get the best golfers together in the world, the best golfers on any course

ought to generally rise to the top. So I'm not sure that that, in and of itself, was a, you know, was a determination of the course set up. But I'll just say, look, it was fun. I heard Seth Waugh this morning say that he was expecting a shootout. And I think they just resigned themselves after the rain that came through to the fact that the course was going to be soft. It certainly was penal in some places.

I mean, when you go through the list of guys today, you know, Colin shot even par, Sahith, two over. Like some of the guys who were in contention, and again, you know, in those moments, the course plays harder, but for the guys, for the guys who are feeling the pressure. But it wasn't like a cakewalk. Shane Lowry followed a 62 with a 70. So there were panel, the course penalized bad shots. It just didn't penalize just okay shots in the way that majors usually do. I enjoyed this one. I think that's fine. But I do think we're going to start to have a conversation around what it, what a, major golf course really looks like in this era of technology and super strong players and what should it look like? And I won't surprise me, House, if the U.S. Open this year down at Pinehurst is as brutal a test as we are ever going to see after Augusta and after Valhalla.

Well, I'll say this. In the first place, the USGA really doesn't have to do anything to Pinehurst to get that thing, you know, in condition where it's going to be a formidable, formidable challenge and, you know, the low score is going to be in the territory that we expect out of a U.S. Open in that, you know, four under to seven under kind of range if we get there. I mean, you know, right around par has been very good at Pinehurst in the past. But the one thing I will say, your point is very well taken. Two things we heard as a weak approach. Somebody speculated.

I can't remember it was a caddy. Somebody on the grounds we heard on Wednesday, 20 under was very much in play. that was the forecast and then here we are. We talked about the number being 20. All the coaches, all the kids just said it looks like it's going to be 20. And again, it's the first time two guys have finished over 20, 20 or better, and you've got the lowest score to par. And again, I think it's okay.

This was fun. There was energy. There was real intrigue down the stretch. We had big names at the top of the leaderboard. I think you and I should talk about some of the guys who weren't at the top of the leaderboard. and what that means for them because there wasn't much excuse. Let's put it that way. No, no argument.

Well, let's make sure that we give Zander his flowers because he has been playing extraordinarily consistent golf. And we've been critical really with him about back nine performance when big time victories have been within his grasp. Well, he put out that big time performance that he needed, the up and down on 17. and then following that up with a birdie on 18 to win the golf tournament. That's the kind of cajones we've been begging for, and he showed it to us, Nate Dogg.

Yeah, big, big, and really 18 wasn't up and down. I mean, that stance that he had it in the bunker was tough. Like, it's just never going to come easy. And so down the stretch to see him hit those shots when, you know, candidly, we got a little nervous yesterday that maybe Zandard missed his moment, right? It was, the round was fine, but three under on that day, when that course was getable, particularly with the double on 15, where he just hit a shot that he just never going to understand. But, you know, he surrounded that with three birdies to keep him in that fight, to keep that lead,

and barreled his way into today and took a strong punch, a strong punch from Bryson. Well, yeah. But, but, you know, when you shoot, and I think, honestly, I also worried on 10 today, when you saw him take that three wood out of the bunker. Yes. Yes. Yes. And the announcer said it. They said, this just doesn't feel like the right moment to do this. Because down around that green on 10, it slopes very steeply downhill. There's actually some of the worst rough on the course is around that green.

It's not particularly big. It just felt like that was a moment to take a breath, try to make Bertie from, you know, the third shot out of the fairway, and take your medicine at worst, you make par there. So I think he made it a little more interesting than it needed to be with that shot. And when you compare that with 15 on Saturday, those were those Xander moments where we sometimes start to question, hey, can this guy actually do it? But closing with, there's just, there's nothing to say. 65 on this day was super strong. The only guy who shot better was Bryson, you know, quite honestly, Scotty, because I washed it all day, Scotty shot better. Scottie shot better.

He just didn't quite score better. But this was a great round from the guy who seemed to get his big Xander moment out of the way on Saturday and hang in there today. Great call. Great call. Getting the big Zander moment out of the way. Let's just go through some of the stats for Zander and see if we can drill down into what made him so good. He was first in Greens and Regulation at over 83%. He was tied for first in Sand Saves, got up and down 100% of the time out of the.

Sands. He was third in scrambling, 10 out of 12. Obviously, no shocker. He was first in strokes gain total. He putted very well, 12th in strokes gain putting. And he not only led this field in birdies with 25, he had the most number of birdies in the history of any major golf tournament. So, you know, he just, it's been the form, though, that we've seen from him. There's never been a question about his ability. It's just, you know, what's between his ears on a back nine. And the driver really didn't let him down. We didn't see that right push, that right, you know, overfade.

And he was able to stay in it. Like hitting in the bunker on 17 and getting up and down was absolutely marvelous. His stroke gain around the green on balance turned out to be average, but he had it when he needed it. up and down on 17, up and down on 18, right? Yeah, this course, you know, Mark laid it out for us at the beginning of the week, didn't he? He said there are some absolutely do not go zones on every hole. But if you miss it in the other spots, it's actually a very manageable golf course.

And so, you know, you saw that shot where JT chipped in on 13. He was in the death zone. That was an incredible chip in. Very lucky, I'm sure he would say, great moment for the tournament. But that was an absolute death zone. Nobody but Justin had any chance from up there. But there are other places on that hole where the miss, you were able to make, you were able to make parr.

You were able to, you know, 12 is a great example. And this is some of the challenge with this golf course. 12 comes back up the hill to an elevated green. If you firm up that green, coming in with a relatively long tee shot, you've really got no chance. There's just no way to stop it. But the pin in a, in a back right location today, if you missed it right in the bunker,

you could actually get it up and down, even though you were short-sighted. And so, you know, missing it long and left, you're dead. But I think the players understood that this course was going to make you hit a shot and you had to miss it properly. So that's why we saw Morikawa, for example, yesterday on Saturday, play mediocre.

I mean, he was 36th on approach. He was 50th in putting, but he still ended the day tied for the lead because he really missed his shot. in the right places. He was second around the greens because of that. Not so much because he was hitting great wedge shots. He'd shipped fine.

It was more because he was missing in the right places and making those shots manageable. Well, that was, you know, depending on whether you want to be glass half full or glass half empty about it, one of the observations made about the golf course. Your brother walked us through it, as you mentioned, but that most guys were playing to the same spot,

for the most part across the entire 18 holes along the way, that there was not an enormous amount of variety in strategic decision-making. And to your point, at the top, there wasn't enough sort of room for OK shots to turn into bad position the way that we're accustomed to with majors. Yeah. There really were a lot of ways to skin the cat at Valhalla, as it were. There should be no ways to actually see.

skin a cat. But pardon the one of the choice. So to speak. So to speak. But you know, if you look at just sort of the final stats on the leaderboard across the event, you know, Lowry Rose and Horschel all putt really well relative to their shots gained approach, which were really average to worse than average, right? But it was the putting them up there. It was very clearly that off the tee,

Shafley, Deshambo, and Victor really were able to shine. And yeah, Shafle and Victor hit it well on approach. But then the reason that Dietrich and Morikawa even hung in this thing was, as you mentioned, they were great around the green. So there were a number of ways for guys to hang in at this course. It wasn't just doing one thing really well. And I think that's probably a credit to the course and the setup, which is to say it let a lot of players do something well and be in it.

It didn't sort of just become a bomber's paradise, which is sometimes the concern with really, long, hardcore, oh kill. That was the concern at that week, right? Well, there was one guy who made it look like a little bit like a Bombers Paradise. And I wanted to play a little bit of glass half full or glass half empty with three other guys right there at the top of this leader. But let's start with Bryson D. Shambo, glass half full or glass half empty for you with Bryson's performance this week. I mean, completely half full.

I mean, this is. Full, full. Look, the eagle on. 18 on Saturday was the loudest roar of the week. It happened in front of us. And I don't even think it was topped by JT's wholeout on 14. He was still the goofy YouTuber. It was, he was less awkward, but the crowd missed Bryson. And they were thrilled to have him back. They were as energized by him as any golfer on the golf course. And I mean, look, see, just there at the end, CBS cut away before Zander even talked to Morikawa

to show Bryson like ducking under a rope from the range to come back in Greece. Bryson was driving the ratings. He was attracting people. He had a new girlfriend in player dining that was being talked about in lots of ways, particularly after not... Interesting.

Interesting night dog. After all of the chatter from his live team where they were supposedly trying to talk him out of trying to find a girlfriend on Instagram. him. So, I mean, he just, like, it gave us everything that we wanted. It gave us Bryson in all his best ways. He was the last guy on the range last night as we pulled out of the lot. He was there even longer than Victor. So it just, it had all of the makings of a great Bryson performance. And he delivered. And, you know, I think more than anything, he's a guy who you're going to miss when we go to Colonial next week. He's a guy who you're going to miss at these elevated events. It just, he's one of those guys who you just, golf is always better when he is in the mix.

That's a literal fact. I have no comments, no edits, no suggestions. I was so happy to see him. There is no debating how electric and magnetic he is. You don't have to love him, but your eyes are drawn to him. Because he understands the idea of energy. of entertainment in

connection with professional golf. He knows he's on television. He's also very, very, very good at TV. Strokes gained off the T. Second, strokes gained around the green. Six. Strokes gained total. Second to Xander.

Driving distance. He averaged over 330 yards. Longest drive of the week. By the way, he was first in driving distance. First with the longest drive of the week. 360 yards. Two eagles, you know, 19 birdies.

Like it was just, the golf was there. He scrambled terrific. 90% scrambling, 18 for 20 in scrambling. And, you know, what was the putting? Looking at the camera and saying,

let's go. I mean, for the event, you know, putting, he was 18th. So, and he just really, the game is in good, This is a guy who, he got overshadowed by Brooks for, because Brooks is the guy who supposedly steps up at majors, and I'm sure we'll talk about Brooks in a second. But Bryson DeCambe,

since he's gotten his body back to a non-inflated, full of, you know, whatever he was putting in it. I mean, he looks great. The swing is there. It's clearly a more repeatable motion. He's healthier. I think Bryson's back. you and I think so. We in our forecast this week, I loved Bryson this week. I have a bunch of exposure to him across the board.

It would have been a very profitable week for me if Bryson got across the goal line on the Fandall Sportsbook for me personally, but I had him covered with top fives and other stuff because I just thought the combination of what we were hearing in terms of the opportunities

for guys who pushed the ball far enough down the golf course. Plus, you know, what we've seen from him, I was so impressed by his master's performance. That really resonated with me. The fact that he went into a place that doesn't fit him and did so well. So glass half full for Bryson, where we love to see him. We can't wait to see him again.

We just have to wait until the U.S. Open. Victor Hovlin, glass half full, glass half empty for you. Well, definitely glass half full. I mean, especially after KVV's story this week came out about how much he has been just down rabbit holes of information. tinkering with his swing since he won the FedEx Cup and made it through the Rider Cup and how it's really, you know, from outside perspectives, mess with his swing. He's taking almost a manic approach to swing improvement, a tinkerer, if you will, to the point where he just was lost. And minutes after

that story came out this week, it was announced that he'd returned to his old coach, Victor had. And it's a little bit like, wow, just add water. I mean, he told our friend Jason Sobel yesterday that he almost withdrew from the tournament earlier in the week because he was so shocked at the what not shocked he was just so dismayed at how poorly he was playing and he thought why would I even go if I don't feel like I can compete well he competed house well he certainly competed it was the version of Victor hovland I mean nobody saw it coming I do give credit to all the betting buddies out there that looked at the odds and said Victor that these odds is an auto play.

Kudos to you for having the fortitude to jump in the pool. But to your point, to the great story by Kevin Van Balkeberg, dude was lost. He was lost until he was found. And he was found at this golf course in these moments. Now, the only thing,

the only thing, the only thing that I don't love is he has this reputation. He's earned it as being a killer down the stretch. And he had Bertie Putt on 17. super duper crazy makeable birdie putt on 17 and birdie putt on 18 and neither one of them found the bottom of the cup.

So that was like if I, if we're if we're splitting hairs, but it's just good to have him back. It's great to have him at the top of leaderboards. And I mean, he finished fine, strokes game putting 30th, but it was the ball striking that we know about him.

Strokes gained a poached. He finished six, uh, six, in greens in regulation, strokes gain off the T, also sixth, you know, right there exactly what you would expect third

in strokes gain total, like, you know, not a big shock. He scrambled very well, which has also been a knock against him, over 80% scrambling. So, you know, but for two, what were they? 12 foot puts, 15 foot puts?

Like, yeah, he had it all together. He was there. All right. Last one for glass half full, glass half empty. at the top of the leaderboard. How are you feeling about Colin Warcala? You know, I don't feel great. I think Colin was in a position to win this golf tournament and the putter once again let him down.

He was 76th and putting today. He was 50th yesterday. The approach play both days was really middle of the pack. And you just got the sense. I mean, he made his only birdie of the day today on 18. Clearly, it was a tough go for him. So I didn't love what I saw out of him in a moment in which it felt like, given Zander's, you know, historical vulnerability, if Colin in that group had been able to push him a little bit harder,

you know, he might have been able to sort of play some of the mind games that we saw Phil play with Brooks at Kiowa. Yeah, sure. Colin, to his credit, 11th off the T, second around the green, sixth in scrambling. So all the short game, touch stuff was good. The problem was the putter. We all watched it. He was negative for the weak putting strokes game.

And, you know, it is, I wondered about glass half full, glass half empty because it's now the second major of the season where Conmore Cow is in one of the final two groups. So I didn't know which way you wanted to slice it. Like he's speaking of going back to his coach. Well, I mean, you know, he eliminated. fading down the stretch. And the Masters, I don't love fading down the stretch,

you know, basically the entire last round at, at Valhalla. Yes, no argument. I mean, he was just stringing together pars. Now,

if he could have done the Valhalla thing and gotten a little hot on the back nine, he could be, we could be talking about him, you know, potentially playoff bound. He just,

to your point, never really got it there. But, you know, I do think that this return to the coach, they found something. They found something because, look, two very different golf courses, different style of play altogether.

My concern with Borakawa coming in was, is he long enough? But that was no issue whatsoever. Yeah, I mean, you had 10 holes today that played under par. And the course overall played a stroke in three quarters under par. So I just think that round from that guy, he's going to look back and have some regrets. and but you're right that look 12 months ago we were saying Colin Mark Howard just a guy and starting to wonder if you got to put an asterisk on you know on the PGA win because there were no fans and so on and so forth he's certainly back playing to the caliber that we had come

to expect from him I think it's going to take you know there's just there are a lot of great golfers out there right now house and so what we're finding is the guy who wakes up with that killer instinct on Sunday is the guy who wins. there's just no space for a sort of passive approach on a Sunday. Yeah, you're right. All right. Well, look, I saved it for last. This is the all time.

This is, look at this thing. This is the Stanley Cup size, glass half full, glass half empty. We got to do it. You just spent two days walking with this guy, Scotty Sheffler. What an odyssey. The weirdest golf tournament of any number one player in the world in professional golf history. tree. I mean, I'll just put it out there. I defy somebody to come up with

weirder circumstances. No, it was one of the strangest things that I've ever been a part of for sure. It was an incredibly strange day for golf. And it was an incredibly strange weekend for Scotty. I mean, we played with him on the weekend. I got a lot

of time with his dad. Got a little time with Scotty. I was sitting there when he walked into player dining, came back into the clubhouse after they released him from prison. It came straight. morning on friday morning he came straight in he saluted the crowd uh who were gathering eating their eggs grabbed a plate of eggs sat with his team approved a quick statement uh started to tell the story um he had a little bit of bruising on his left arm um it was very clear from that moment that scotty

was shocked at what had transpired and that he certainly from his own words and from the words of multiple eyewitnesses in the media who were there, that Scottie was not the aggressor. But I can tell you this, Scotty woke up on Saturday and was in tears, and he was just sad about the incident. You can imagine that on Friday, his body was firing so much adrenaline

that he just went out and played the round. But by Saturday, Meredith flew in that morning, or it came in on Friday with a newborn, but he just wasn't himself. And you could tell it from the opening hole all the way through that round. And candidly, the start of today, he bogeied out there. And then as the round went on, though, House,

he just started to do the classic Scotty Schaeffler thing. And we were sitting there with a front row seat where the ball striking just started to get so sharp that he was dropping balls. I mean, we made the turn, and he's won under. And, you know, he birdies 10, but not in a really meaningfully impressive way. Mark had an eagle putt that lipped out.

And Scotty sort of made a comebacker for Bertie, but had to get up and down for Bertie. And then he stepped up on 12 and just stoned it. And from there, you could tell, boom, he was off. 13 hit a great spinner back and makes the put. 15 makes a relatively long one. 16 tucks it in tight. And you're thinking, oh, my gosh, here we go. Is he going to get top five?

I think he ran out of gas a little bit coming down the stretch. He had a put on 17. He probably wants back. And on 18 just wasn't able to get up and down. for par. So I think the energy there started to wear off. But at the start of the week, house, you and I said, they better get Scotty now because he's never going to have weirder circumstances than a Saturday with a substitute caddy who did his absolute best and was not remotely close to what Ted Scott would have done with Scotty. Scottie was pretty

much by himself out there. Mark was more of a caddy for Scottie, I think, to be totally honest. And to be fair, for Scotty's replacement caddy, I'm sorry, I don't have the gentleman's name off the top of my head. The only person really on planet Earth that could be inside those ropes and help Scotty get his, his, his, his spirit, his psychology, his brain, his, you know, yeah, he needed exactly right. Pastor Ted Scott, he needed, you know, the, the, the, the, the, the calming influence of Ted, the right word at the right time by a guy that, that,

you know, he's been through it with. Now, if we're going to talk about Scotty, we want to make sure that we acknowledge the incredibly sad circumstances in which, you know, that accident occurred and what transpired with Scotty.

And, you know, the PGA of America and Valhalla, I think have some accounting, right? There needs to be some, responsibility taken, some culpability here for sure, because lots of reports from on the ground about logistics not being great, about the buses that were used to bring people in and out,

not being necessarily, you know, the, like the safest situation across the way. What was your observation? Yeah, I mean, we just pulled out of there less than an hour ago, and there are people streaming along the side of a four-lane highway walking from various adjacent parking lots just on the side of the road. And multiple times, just us pulling out of there, we had to hit a break faster than we wanted to because people were crossing the road. Now, that is not a knock at any of the staff that was working. I think everybody was trying their best. There just was some suboptimal points of entry there. There really was only one major point of entry, which is where this terrible accident occurred where the gentleman lost his life. But, you know, I can tell you

there, the text that went out in the morning that delayed the tea times, very clear to me. Scotty hadn't received that yet because he wouldn't have even been on site five hours before his tea time. And so he, from his mind, was scrambling to get in there. And this happens all the time of these tournaments. Everybody knows the courtesy car. It's marked. It has signs in the, they got hang tags. They got numbers on the windshields. They've got. They've got. decals on the side of the cars and they get waved in and I think that you had circumstances where you had somebody who had shown up to conduct the investigation of the tragic death and probably hadn't had the training about how all that was going to work and my guess is all that said from everything

that I saw and heard let me just say that I think cooler heads are going to prevail here the crowd was hugely supportive of Scotty he and his team did and said everything right and in supporting law enforcement and, you know, appreciating the work of Louisville Police Department. Well, also, I think, you know, everybody understood that somebody was a little, probably a little aggressives. And I think, I think those charges are going to be dropped by Tuesday. Yeah, I don't, I don't know if they'll drop all the charges by Tuesday, but certainly all the trial. He's not going to have to come up here for the arraignment on Tuesday. And there's no chance that by the time, no, he's not coming back. They're going to, they'll reduce enough.

he doesn't have to show up for the arraignment. But in any event. That may be true, but he's not going to be a felon. That's for sure. Yeah. By the time the U.S. Open arrives, there will be no charges. And, you know, I'm told he is still planning to play the Charles Schwab this week. He's not going to play the pro am, but that he is still planning to come out and play in Dallas,

which was a surprise to me. But that would imply that, listen, if he's not playing the, proam. That might mean he's going to be here on Tuesday. But I think he's going to be in Dallas by Wednesday in Dallas area and ready to play the new course out there. So what do we do? Do we say, I think we have to say glass half full. Oh, I think absolutely glass half full. He top 10 with a brand new baby at home and after getting arrested and put in jail. I mean, unbelievable glass have full. And if you can't, if you can't keep Scotty out of the top 10 under these circumstances,

you're never going to keep them out of the top 10. That's it. Well, let's do some winners and losers. And I want to get to some losers first. I'm sure you do. Because there are some people. Now, I'm interested in your take on this. I'm going to start with a guy that I haven't yet made up my mind, although, yes, I have. Rory, winner or loser?

Look, a top 12 is nothing to scar fat, but he lost by nine. And, you know, he started the tournament on Thursday, six under, makes a bogey on 17. It doesn't make a birdie after 13. And then, you know, his Friday is when that tournament got away from him. A double bogey on 12 just shut down any momentum that he possibly had to really be in it. And by the time Saturday rolled around,

he started to go on a little bit of a run, but made the turn at 10 in four under. and bogeied 14, bogeied 16, and he just never really was a factor. Yeah, it felt like, it felt like,

you know, we looked up and saw him on the leaderboard at two under at the turn, but you just could tell. He didn't totally have it this week, and it was what we spoke about coming in, was did he expend too much energy?

Did he fire off the grand finale of the fireworks last week instead of this week? Rory's playing well, but I'm just not sure that, you know, between New Orleans and Quail Hollow last week, that the game was quite as sharp as it needed to be to come in here. 54th an approach today, you know, for the tournament, Rory was 25th. The putter really is what let him down.

48th overall, he just didn't make a lot of what he saw. Well, Nathan, as far as I'm concerned, that makes him a loser because he, it was in control of the one distraction, life distraction, big energy suck, which was the filing of the divorce papers. Did it really have to be the week of a major? You tried to talk me out of him. You told me, then he went out and shot that 66 on Thursday. And I said, oh, we have Rory in his ultra-sociopath compartmentalization mode. Let's watch this MF for go burn the house down.

And then it just turned into soft Rory until Sunday when he gets a backdoor top 15. I saw him on the putting green today. He walked up to Scotty. Scottie said, hi, hi, Roars. Rory joked and said pretty uneventful week, I guess. And Scotty laughed. And Rory said, well, you took some noise away from me, so I appreciate it. So I think he understood that probably Scotty getting arrested took a big spotlight off him.

The thing that's frustrating for me is he didn't capitalize on it. He just didn't. It just never felt like Rory was in the mix here in any meaningful way out after the front nine on Thursday. Yeah. So he's a loser, but only because our expectations were high. They're Rory high after what he did at Quail Hollow. But let's get some real losers. Shane Larry fired a 62. Like Rory had that in him. That's right. For sure. Lori had that in him. The course was there for the taking coming out of Quail Hollow, you would have expected a day like that. And he just wasn't able to pull it together. Real loser number one, John Rom. John Rom. Do you think that given the choice that he made? last fall.

It's a F ton of money. It's $600 million. That's an F ton. I mean, I would emphasize it even more if we weren't on television. It's a double F ton. It's a lot.

I mean, dude don't play no competitive golf. So, you know, stumble around and, you know, bellyache and bully,

it's not compelling and it's not good golf. Yeah. I watched him sit and watch Zander finish on Thursday and his, eyebrows were up in that, ooh, John Rom face. And he turned to his team and he said, you know,

he's the only man to ever do this twice and has only happened three times. So he is aware of the history. He knows what's going on. He's also carrying very, very expensive bags. And, you know, his family's wearing very expensive jewelry that like looks like millions of dollars. And so, you know, I don't know. I didn't buy it before because I thought Rom was just a dog. But man, the results speak for themselves right now. Yeah, he's not relevant to genuine, competitive, big time, big stage golf. And it was one of them house. I do think it bothers him.

Well, I will tell you, it was one of my most profitable wagering strategies. I found every matchup that he was in and faded him. And I gabbled on him to miss the cut at nearly plus 240, which tells you the fact that he was only plus 240 to miss the cut, right? The probability suggests that he will not miss the cut at that number, but he did. Speaking of fellows on that side of the fence, I was so disappointed. Come on, Brooks Kepka. This is your tournament. This is your kind of venue.

It was set up perfect. A 74 on Saturday? What are we doing out here, Brooksie? Yeah, well, that's the day that he's really going to rue because he shot a five under today. He shot a five under on Friday. he shot a five under on Thursday, on Thursday, you know, I mean, no, he, he shot a five under today. He shot a three under on Friday, and he shot a four under on Thursday. So it was all there for him.

It just, he just got going right out of the gate on Saturday with a bogey, made a double on five, which is a tough hole, no big deal. Nine, there was no excuse for bogey and nine. And I can tell you that because I watched Mark do it. and that turned his already tepid frown into a giant grumpy guy frown because that was so i i just think brooks um this one got away from him a bit and i do think it comes back to the question that you're asking though i mean i would tell you that the live guys really really disappointed here if it weren't for bryson i mean that they were really nowhere on the radar in a meaningful way there

were some cam smith sightings but not really wakeneyman who we keep waiting for the breakout. You know, congrats on your four under today, but it just, it doesn't feel like these guys are loaded up for the four rounds that it takes to compete in a major. I mean, even DJ, who rallied on Friday to make the cut with the three under comes into the weekend and plays even par on Saturday. It's a great 500 today when it doesn't really matter, House. Yeah. Well, DJ, he's a nobody now. Like, when are we going to see any? relevant golf out of him. I don't even put them on the list. He doesn't make the cut literally for me. But we're hearing from these guys. Let's just be clear. We're hearing from these guys after their

performances, Brooks, after the Masters, he rallied his team. He wants to get everybody together. He was embarrassed. You know, DJ on the Netflix show full swing saying, you know, it's going to make me work harder. Well, no, it's not. No, it's not because you're not playing enough golf in a competitive way to put four rounds together. And that's the thing that John Rom's going to have to think. about here is, and I think that's why we heard his comments earlier in the week being, you know, he got pooped on for him, but I think that's why he remained friendly to the PGA tour. He wants this to happen sooner rather than later. He understands what it takes to fire his competitive juices and pretty clear it's not happening there right now. Yeah,

I'll give a shout out to Dean Bermester, who is the second highest finishing live guy, only because I had him. I'd observed how well he was playing. We have some friends on the side who were, who said the guys striking it as well as anybody. So top 12 for him with a 70 today. I mean, if he could have done anything, he would have, it would have been a top 10. And that dude would be at the Masters this upcoming year. But yeah, I do want to make sure that we also cover Ludwig Oberg, miss cut after taking off Quail Hollow with the knee. I'm not ready to call him a loser because of all of the factors, the combination of youth, were not exactly positive what's going on with his health, even though he said the knee was swollen, but it wasn't really, he could have played if he had

to. What's your take on where Oberg ended up? I think that Ludwig was genuinely a little bit injured. I think it bothered him. We saw him with a sleeve on the knee. I don't, I don't, this one, I can't wait a scene with the U.S. Open. I think this one we give him a pass on. Okay, good. I'm happy to hear it. Let's do some positive take. Mike's. Before you go, before you go, House, tell me.

It is worth pointing out, Wyndham Clark has missed the last two cuts at majors. I'm glad that you reminded me. Wyndham is on this board. He goes in the loser category. He's in a funk. Something happened at the Masters. Yeah, especially after the way that he performed through the players

and the early part of the season, API for sure. We really felt like he was number two to Scotty coming in to the big majors to start the spring, and it just hasn't materialized. So he's a U.S. Open winner. He's going to be the defending champ. It will be very interesting to see whether he's able to get his game in shape

between now and then combination of playing Memorial and whatever else he's going to do before. But he's got a little bit of work to do to get this thing turned back around. Yeah, I don't love Wyndham Clark at Pinehurst. He doesn't have that kind of game. Like, you know, I'll stake it right now and fade him and take it on the chin.

Everybody listening watching the program. If you want to punch me in the face, if Wyndham Clark goes out and defends his U.S. Open title, I'll take all the egg, but I don't see it. I do believe there was something that there was a gentle disruption in the force psychologically with his second 18 at Augusta where a bunch of guys were confronted with circumstances. They didn't anticipate.

It was very hard to manage. Justin Thomas, you know, missed the cut by by bogeying out over the last several holes, even though, you know, he bogeed or double bogey, the last four holes, Justin Thomas, to miss the cut after being under par. And that was an experience, like Wyndham Clark did the same kind of thing. And I don't think that he's really recovered from it. That's my Wyndham Clark, you know. He talked a big game after his first round and, and Wyndham's a good guy.

So it's not a knock on Wyndham at all. We want him on this show. I mean, even though I just said, I don't think he's going to win the U.S. open. I want him to come on. Yeah, yeah. But he's searching a little bit right now, especially in these tournaments. I'm interested to see what happens over the course of the next month. Let's give

some flowers to Justin Thomas. Native son, Louisville, gets us, collects a nice top 10. Yep. Shows us that quality of, you know, top-notch golf every round under 70. So he didn't really have. He started

off a little slow on Thursday with just a 69, but across the board, it's the version of Justin Thomas that, you know, is captivating and what we want to see. The strokes gained performance, you know, he finished seventh off the T,

fourth around the green. The problem was the putter. 75th in putting, minus nearly three and a half strokes putting. JT, it's Valhalla, it's your spot. It must be the case, Nate Dogg, what you said about how slow those greens were? Because JT's played Valhalla

a billion times and something was it something got in his way it was really difficult for guys to get to the hole i mean i saw guys leave an eight footers short left and right and and i think um it it just again they they you tried to get yourself to believe that they were that they were that they were that slow but you're sitting there you're in the saturday major pressure and it's just hard to do so i really did expect j t to reel off one of those 62 63 type scores with the course like that. But, you know, like he said, I'm capable of it. It's just whether I can go out and do it. And I think by the time he got halfway through that round on Saturday, he just hadn't had that big run. But he certainly acquitted himself well on a week in which, in a lot of ways, he was the tournament host. I should have included this guy in glass half full, glass half empty. It's not too late. We'll do it right now. Our boy, we love him. Sayhith Tagala. Finished today at 73 after going 65, 67, 67, and putting him in one of the last few groups on the day. How are you feeling about Sahith?

Well, I feel like Sahith could not be a better human being. I also feel like Sahith may not realize how good at golf he is yet. Oh. And this is one of those processes that's going to be learning. So I'm going to tell you a glass half full. I really didn't like the performance today on a super getable course at a time in which it wasn't just spotlight on him and Xander, right? there were a lot of guys bunched.

It was time to go. You know, the top players at the top of this board who we, at the beginning of the week, identified as potential winners. For the most part, they all went. Scotty went. You know, Victor went. Bryson went on and on. So I think Xander obviously went.

So I think he's going to be a little bit disappointed with the performance. You hope just because of his youth, he's going to take from it and learn. And he'll figure out a better approach to Sunday next time. time. Look, you need some reps in a major, even if it's an easy major with a course that's set up for you. You need some reps. And this was an important rep for Sahith Tagala today. Yeah. And the numbers bear out. He was very good putting. He finished top 10 punting. He was seventh in strokes game. Pudding, his driver let him down. His driving accuracy had him a tide 33rd. His strokes gain off the T. He ended up 45th. He also didn't chip very well. He was 65th negative

strokes gained around the green. And that was with chipping in. That was with chipping in on 15 yesterday. Great point. Great point. All right. Well, I think we're kind of close enough to the recap here. I do want to make sure we talk about Tiger Woods.

He did play. He played golf the first two days. He made it through the first two rounds. As anticipated, it brings me no pleasure. to say when we're sitting there looking at our cards that you ought to bet him to miss the cut. I did bet him to miss the cut. The odds were like it was minus 200 or so

on the Fanduals sports book. But I've happily laid the juice from a betting perspective. But, you know, I wonder if, and this is the question I'm going to pose to you, his going around the golf course in this manner and not really competing in any way, shape, or form is the kind of, I'm going to use a small,

age humiliation that will push him towards the status that he seems to head it in anyway, which is like this emeritus, this ambassador kind of status, as opposed to. He absolutely doesn't want that he's told us he is not going to do and doesn't want. So how many more times will he come out and humiliate himself in this manner? I don't know, man. I mean, that course is hard to walk. It is longer than you think. There is sneaky elevation.

It was wet. you know, by the time, you know, I mean, the late early stuff was not a help to him. I think it just, Friday with the delays, probably interrupted his routine. So I just think, by the way, he was in contention coming into Friday to definitely make a cut. I mean, if he'd shut two under on Friday, you could have seen him very easily do it. But it just, at this point, you know, I don't know. I don't know how much longer he will roll himself out there and allow. himself to play this kind of golf because it just it was not competitive not competitive and

i don't see a circumstance under which that's going to improve pinehurst is hard as f to to walk as well it's a super long walk it doesn't have it's about his body no yeah it really like it's not the swing the swing is good the putting stroke was fine like you know he acquitted himself fine on thursday it's just i think the turnaround is too much for him and in the same way that the live guys mentally aren't in four straight rounds. Tiger Woods right now just can't do four straight rounds physically. It doesn't appear. Yeah.

Well, TBD with Tiger and we'll just keep an eye on it. He says he wants to play one more time before the U.S. Open. We'll see whether or not he does it. I mean, I'm sure he'd love to play Memorial, but it seems like at this stage with where his body is, it doesn't seem like it's in the cards. I saved this for last. You are literally in the airport at Louisville.

all four rounds at a major championship. We're going to do glass half full, glass half empty for a guy who finished tied for 26. He shot at 65 on Thursday and followed that up with the 68 on Saturday, Nate Dogg. Mark Hubbard, homeless hubs. How are we assessing the week for homeless hubs? Yeah, I think it was a great week for him. I think Saturday was just weird. It sucked.

There was no momentum in that group. neither he nor Scotti could get it going. I think he looks back on the round today on Sunday and he will tell you it's glass half full or glass half empty. I hope as he thinks about it, he hit the ball a lot better today, struck it well, put decently well, made a boneheaded swing with a wedge on 13 that just derailed the round.

But I think he acquitted himself well in a major. I think he just, he started the week thinking he could win this thing. And that's the first time that's happening in a major. He told us that on this very show. He told us that. And he played well enough Thursday and Friday to do it. And I think Saturday it was not nerves. He did not wake up nervous.

He was loose. Mentally, there was nothing to say. Just went out there and did not have the feels that he'd had the first two days. And you know what? As he got off the course today, he's like, well, that's the difference between me and the number one player in the world, which is that, you know, when Scottie loses the fields, he can get him back a little bit faster. But I think it certainly gave him some energy

to keep working hard because he knows he belongs out there. He can easily, easily, easily see himself to a top 10 this week. Yeah, I mean, and the numbers are there. The putting was excellent. He backed up a little bit, but still finished 21st strokes game putting. He finished in the top 20 with birdies with 19 birdies. his sand game was good

finishing the top 20 there putts per greens in regulation he's tied for 13th like you know there all these things just reflect the proof that he belongs his driving accuracy was excellent tied for 16th with that those are all

positive signs that show where he belongs right yeah I think there's a lot to feel good about this week and he will do that when he gets out of the fog of being bummed that he didn't win this golf tournament but that's where I'd much rather he be than, you know, getting excited about T-42. Indeed.

Well, Nate Dog, I'm excited. That was an awesome major championship with a bunch of awesome names. Congrats again to Xander Schaftley. We didn't think you could do it, but he did it. I mean, I really was looking at that stretch of 15, 16, 14 through 17, really, which one of these is going to be the one with the push right, the block right, but he told us to F off.

And, you know, we did have him a bunch of different ways. Everybody, Justin Ray, for sure, helped us, you know, steer towards Xander in terms of high placing. It's just you have to be shy about betting him to win no longer. His resume has the major on it, that we all, it certainly fits the description of the dude with all of the quality finishes. And I wouldn't be surprised now to see more. It feels like he's a PGA championship kind of winner,

although Augusta, maybe one time he'll get hot at Augusta because he does play it very well. But kudos to Xander. Kudos to our team. Kudos to our producer, Eduardo Ocampo. Kudos to Justin Ray for jumping on with us on Monday. Kudos to Mark Hubbard for coming on. We try to give him the podcast bounce at last two rounds.

Kudos to our boy, Pat Mayo, who was ready to jump in on a moment's notice. if the Nate dog got hijacked at the airport. We were worried. But Pat Mayo and the Pat Mayo experience. Shout out to Mayo. Check out his content. We are in it religiously. My birdie buddies, my part saving pals.

That's it for Faraway Rowland this week. We're taking a week off to catch our breath. Nate's got to go planes, trains, and automobiles to try and get himself back to L.A. But we'll be back. The Canadian Open is on the horizon. And then it is a sprint to the U.S. Open. Until then, my friends, throw a peg in the ground and please let's hit it straight out there. You must be 21 years old or older, 18 years old or older in Washington, D.C.

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