Fairway Rollin' - Recapping the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am With 'Bachelor' Host Chris Harrison, Plus Tiger Woods Prop Bets | Shackhouse (Ep. 53)

Episode Date: February 12, 2018

On this week’s show, The Ringer’s Joe House and Geoff Shackelford discuss a fairly lackluster AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am finish (2:09), an incredible field in the upcoming Genesis Open at Riviera (36:08), and Tiger Woods prop bets (14:32). The guys are then joined by 'Bachelor' host Chris Harrison just minutes after he played this week’s Pebble Beach Pro-Am (45:57). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Shaq, we're back. It's the Shack house. How you doing? I am doing great. But not quite as good as our boy, Phil Mickelson. Did you see what he did this week with the Calloway Rogue driver? Yeah, how about that little sub-zero, a little nine degree and the sub-zero Faraway Wood? That was beautiful. A little second place at Pebble Beach. Nice work, Phil. I'm telling you, if he could have got it on the green on 18, I was about to get a little bit of excited.

could have put a little pressure. That was a juicy shot. Yeah. It was right there. It was right there. Well, we're going to see it again next week, right? Absolutely. Phil's dialed in.

He's got the rogue. He went to the store on February 9th and got the new clubs. Oh, I don't think he did that. I'm sure he did not do that. I'm sure he did not do that. So next week's event, the LA Open, he had a lot of very positive things to say about where his game is and what his, he has modest expectations.

he's playing to win, but how about some tickets to that thing? Can you hook me up? Oh, it's going to be a hot ticket this week, House. This is the best field we've had in my lifetime. How about that for a statement? Best ever. Yeah, it's going to be a hot ticket. I mean, it's hot with Tiger, but you throw in Rory, Justin, Jordan, Phil.

It just goes on and on. Dustin Johnson, it's beautifully stacked. So this is a perfect tournament to be getting tickets from Seekkeek. Oh yeah, Seat Geek's your friend. The best app for buying and selling tickets to sporting events. You can get $20 off your first SeatGeek purchase on any gamer sporting event, like the Genesis Open. All you have to do is use promo code House. Download the Seatgeek app or go right to Seatgeek.com.

All right, House. It's that time. We're going to talk all things. PGA Tour, AT&T, Genesis Open, and we're going to talk to Chris Harrison of The Bachelor today. on the Shackhouse. Let's go. House, greetings from the soon-to-be-home of the PGA tour next week here in Los Angeles. How are you today? Oh, did that final round of the AT&T knock you out?

I mean, no, no, come on. Ted Potter Jr., you're going to remember this win for decades. Yeah, that was deadly. I took a little siesta about the 15th hole. This is the beautiful thing. And I think Pebble Beach has finally, you know, CBS and its partnership with Pebble and this event, they finally just own what this is. This is the annual nap event. It's the Sunday nap.

They should honestly get, you know, this would be a perfect event sponsored by somebody like Lisa mattress or, you know, any of the fine pillow makers or mattress makers out there. Or honestly, couch, because that's where I was. And I'm sure there's a lot of people like me. Get on the couch. get nice and comfortable. Here's the problem, Shaq. And this is not a criticism. It's just we have the Super Bowl was last week,

so we're in a little bit of a sports lull. It's the first Sunday after football season. And you look out at Pebble Beach, and it's absolutely beautiful. You know, it's stunningly and visually. So how about the poppies on eight? I mean, talk about the flower bed on eight, Shaq. I know you love it.

Oh, yeah. You see my Wizard of Oz tweet? I felt very old. None of the kids responded. I thought I thought the no laying up guys. I thought I'd get some I'd get some of the precious M's to go, oh, that's hilarious. And then I realized, oh, no, none of them was seen the Wizard of Oz. This is so sad.

Yeah, you're not supposed to talk about that. That movie is from 500 years ago. Wow. I thought it was timeless. But so, House, now, I'm not going to bore you with the full wonky architectural thing. I just wrote a post on my website, Jeff Shackleford.com, about. why that flower bed shows you why they need a master plan. The most beautiful place on the planet Earth in golf.

And they decided we need more color. We need to have Dorothy and Toto remind themselves that they're going to see the wizard. And it just looked hellacious. Like, what are you doing? Come on, guys. It was the perfect addition. It's poppy. It's the sleep-inducing flower for my Sunday nap in this tournament.

I mean, they were riding those flowers hard and they're not even native. They're South African. My mom found it there. She sent me a text unbeknownst that I had done the tweet or made fun of it and said, what's with these Gazanias or what I don't know what the heck. I've already tried to forget what they're called. They're not even real poppies. The California poppy doesn't bloom for another month.

I don't know. I don't know. Somebody had too much time on their hand. Well, they have until 2019, until June of 20, 2019 to get it all worked out because the open is back there, which is that, that I'm looking forward to. And the U.S. Amateur this August, which I'm hoping to get to.

So it's fascinating that you found it as boring as I did. And what's odd is that you had Jason Day, Duss of Johnson, Phil Mickelson, all with chances to make a run. And this is just one of those weird events house where they just couldn't do it. Ted Potter Jr. played great. It was beautiful. He was emotional after. It's just one of those things. It should have been more exciting.

I don't know why it just didn't catch fire. Obviously, the pace of place is brutal. That's it. That's the answer. I mean, it's just the pace. There's no way to generate genuine tension when there are such enormous gaps in time between when the guys on the leaderboard are taking shots. And so, you know, I think the right thing is you just embrace it. Like, I honestly am not killing CBS for their coverage.

It was... Oh, it's not their fault that it's moving at this weird pace. Just keep doing what you're doing. It's nice and quiet. It's Sunday afternoon. I have... I can switch back and forth with the Cavseltics. The Cavaliers kicked the Celtics butt, so I was fine with that.

And then I just, you know, put it on for the last couple holes, kind of caught a little shut eye. And, you know, I'm ready for my Monday. And I think that we need to note that this was a historic tournament for television golf. So about last week at the Waste Management, that Kentucky game on Saturday ran 45 minutes into the golf. And then the next day they had some bonus coverage house. They made unbelievable history today, and I believe yesterday, where CBS actually came on with the normal start of the broadcast on the golf channel and then said, now we're going to CBS that the game is over. And so there was bonus coverage and they actually started on time. Now, do you know how many years we've been trying to get something like this to happen that it finally did?

And I think all the people out there who griped on social media deserve credit. I'd think the University of Kentucky and John Calapari should take credit for that horrific game that ran so obnoxiously long that I would imagine somebody at Waste Management picked up the phone to Sean McManus and said, WTF, this is absurd. and it was sensational today. We got the start. It was beautiful. And it was the way it should be. We got to see the best players in the world playing the most beautiful stretch of golf holes in all of tournament golf. And so history was made.

Literally how this has been going on for 15 years or so. Really, well, it's really been obnoxious during the length of the Golf Channel contract. Because we've gotten this pre-coverage. on the golf channel and then you say, why are we disappearing for a half hour? Remember, they used to call it the graphics changeover, you know, like somebody took the floppy disc out and had to put the new Chiron in. I mean, I actually remember that era. So there was that history this week.

And then we had some sensational play from some top players. So, you know, we both had a nice little siesta. I want to. George Spie Still has got some punting issues. Oh, my gosh. We'll get to him in a second. But I do want to just put a bow on this seismic change in our experience as golf viewers, how we watch tournaments during college basketball season. Are you writing about this or one of your colleagues writing about it?

Yeah, I'm going to do a blog post. And I'm sure a few other people already have noted it on Twitter. I've seen a few things. And so it is a breakthrough. It's a breakthrough, but the thing that is stunning is that it really seems to have been the result of, the product of the fans and sponsors, finally complaining loudly enough and having put the sport on notice that folks aren't going to stand for it, that people have expectations in terms of viewing the product and enjoying the product that in the 21st century, it ought to be the case that it's, you know, from the beginning of a broadcast to the end of a broadcast. The fact that they were able to do it in such short order between last week's colossal debacle and this week seems to suggest that it has always been possible.

Well, there is a little bit of a backstory. I found out that going into the season, they had planned to remedy this with some element of bonus coverage. And for whatever reason, and Golf Channel didn't get together and figure that out for that Saturday at the Waste Management. And that precipitated a little bit of bonus on Sunday there. And then this weekend being a lot better. So it's very exciting that they did that in the off season, but it was not so exciting that they didn't get together on that. There's another thing, and we don't want to make this a television show.

But I don't know if you notice if you saw any of the Golf Channel coverage, CBS is doing like the plain wrap version of a telecast for them. And then they wheel out the tracer and the blimp shots. And they literally have gone. There must be something there that we don't know about because they not only, I get the tracer and the bizhub camera and a few of those goodies that are more costly and require different talent. And, you know, they can only work so many hours before the quality of the product drops.

But the blimp is up in the air. and they did not show blimp shots on the golf channel coverage all four days of this unbelievably beautiful place. And people do love as sleepy as it can be. They love watching the blimp shots. So there's a little bit of a production struggle there that is not, again, helping the viewer and not helping the PGA tour. And I think that's where Jay Monaghan might want to pick up the phone and get a little conference call between all sides and say, we need to get that tracer going a little earlier. Can we warm it up maybe?

on the pre-broadcast. No offense to the golf channel, but this isn't a tournament where I have to be watching, you know, at noon. This isn't one where, or whatever time their coverage started. This isn't one of those where I'm dialing in so that I can see, you know, guys.

A lot of people are. I can't invest the six hours on this one. That's three nests. Sure. But remember, a lot of people have it on the background. They're doing some stuff at home. Of course. It's, the point is that AT&T spends a lot of money and there's just no excuse to not try to put forward a better product.

You know, that's a coherent thing of something. So it's it's, these are all things though that are, we, we, we kind of get mired in them, but they're so vital to the way the sport is perceived. And, and, you know, how I feel about Tracer and Trackman data, most people watching have no idea what that trackman data is, but it just looks cool. It looks modern. It says we're, and by the way, today, uh, it was fantastic watching the difference in some of the numbers between Dustin Johnson and Ted Potter Jr. on the trackman.

The, the launch and the carry and oh, my Lord, they are playing a different game. That was fantastic. That was the highlight of the tournament for me. What I was awake to watch today was that, that dramatic difference. It really was unbelievable. And what made it so enjoyable, and this goes back to the point you observed earlier, which is you don't want to bore people too much with what the architect had in mind and what the goals of the design, the course design are intended to produce.

But it demonstrated that unequivocally, unambiguously, without a doubt, Pebble Beach is up for anybody who wants to give it the long ball trial. Go ahead and go nuts. Hit it 365 yards down there. The score doesn't necessarily translate into scoring, and that is part of the absolute brilliance of Pebble to me. Yeah, and Dustin just didn't have much going with his wedges, and that's something he's improved this year.

And he mentioned after the broadcasts, he's going to be fine-tuning those, going into Riviera, where he's a defending champion and probably has a fantastic chance of dominating there, again. I mean, dominating in terms of length or dominating in terms of running the field off the It's a par 68 for him. And it's it's a lot longer than Pebble Beach for a number of reasons.

It's just longer on the scorecard. And the wind tends to blow a little bit more. And this week we're going to have some bizarre weather it looks like. So it's going to it's going to favor a longer hitter again, a little. little bit more than maybe Pebble Beach did. But yeah, I'm very bullish, obviously, on him this week. So let's talk. Let's talk to Riviera. You mentioned it at the outset. This is going to be the best field that this tournament's ever had. I think so. Is it hard to argue that? Yeah, I just think when you look at the quality of star power for us to have when you think that there are going to be these

these groups where, let's say, you know, gosh, Charlie Hoffman, Alex Noren, these guys who are playing as well as anybody in the world, they're going to be completely lost in kind of the mix this week. Thomas Peters is returning. He finished second last year. There won't be anybody out watching him. I mean, we've got Spieth, Thomas, McElroy Johnson. Gosh, it just goes on and on. These are, and then obviously Tiger hasn't played here since 2006, and that's going to be, people are excited. I mean, I'm getting a lot of requests for directions on how to get there and how to park and what to do. And so people who haven't been to this tournament in a long time are eager to come out.

And that's exciting for us. And we thought that was going to happen last year with Tiger. But this year, when it's not just Tiger, it's other names, you know, just Rory is such a draw to people. It's huge for the tournament. I mean, Phil, the Phil kind of be really, yeah, he was our main draw for many years. And then he took a couple of years off and he came back last year. And for him to just sort of be one of many is sensational. Well, here's the thing.

I'm sure you as a Los Angelesan, is that what you're called? Los Angeles Angelino. Angelino, yeah. Angelino, you're aware of this. The NBA All-Star game is next weekend. Which will be interesting. Interesting, yeah. I don't know how that's going to impact things in terms of attention for the event. I'm not worried about attention for the event. There are so many golf heads in the NBA community.

And, you know, the NBA community shows up en masse. This is like the NBA Super Bowl. You know what I mean? Like it's such a massive event. There's going to be buzz from that community, that crowd coming over. because let me tell you what, those guys want to see Tiger Woods play golf. So you can count on, you know, guys like Steph Curry and Andre Aguadala, who we know are deep sort of golf heads anyway. But it's going to be, I mean, I think you're going to see 30, 40, 50 NBA dudes going around, you know, in their VIP tents. You know, we're not going to be with the riff and the raft check.

Don't, don't get me wrong. There aren't a whole lot of VIP options. Plus, you know, if Riviera, you, it's a lot of. It's a great place to just get out and walk and follow a group. It's probably the best course on the tour for that. And you can pop between the nines so easily the way the routing works. And so Phil's on one nine, tigers on another, or Spieth and Thomas are split up. You can pop back and forth.

I'll never forget a few years ago when Anthony Kim was something and significant, he was out and Chris Paul was following him. And Chris Paul on this part three is a, It was a pro am, so it was casual. But Anthony was obliviously. He was out there. And he started yelling his name across the fairway. And Anthony just thought it was some heckler and he ignored him.

And then finally the catty kind of like nudged him. Like, I think you might want to acknowledge that. And he looked and he just came running over. He was just thrilled. But Chris Paul went at least nine holes of the pro am with him. So he's a serious golf nut. And he'll be in, will he be here for All Star Week? Of course.

Yes, of course. They all come. All-Star games. I can care less. Yeah, anyway. That's great. Well, good. Maybe we'll see a whole bunch of the guys. We'll take a little roll call. And is the dunk contest Saturday? Saturday night.

So these guys have some time during the day, both Thursday and Friday. That's when I would expect to see the most folks out there. But you're going to be there. Starting with, well, you'll be there all week, obviously, but the pro-am is Wednesday. Right. And so you'll be. We actually start tomorrow for those who will be listening to this really early. Jordan Speeth is playing in the Collegiate Showcase tomorrow.

And he's played that the first two years they've had this. I believe this is year three. I might be year four. Anyway, he's played every year. He usually plays with one of the owners of the Dodgers, who's a big University of Texas alum. This year they only have six players, but it's six players for one spot. And last year, Sahith Thagala of Pepperdine qualified, ended up making the cut. Doug Gim, who was the finalist in the U.S. Amher, is one of the players.

So it's a fun thing. I wish they had a few more players. There's a player from SC. He's a player from Kentucky. University of Texas has three players. So that tells you how this works. This is a booster-driven pro-am. and they get a spot in the field.

It's great. It gets a little attention to college golf. And so we start off with that Monday. They close the course to practice rounds Tuesday, which is a rant I think I've done on the show. This happens at a lot of PGA tour events. That used to be one of the days that I loved as an aspiring golfer to go out and you maybe got to talk to a player or videotape their swings. And of course, now nobody would bring a video camera. They just use their phone.

But it would be a chance for a young player to kind of just see their own. their heroes practice and all that. So I don't know why this is a case. But anyway, and then Wednesday Pro Am and Thursday through Sunday, I've heard rumors that Tiger will play early on Thursday and late Friday, which will be cool. Because Friday afternoon used to be a big, big day at the old L.A. open and its many iterations as the Glenn Campbell and the Nissan and all that good stuff. So that should be pretty exciting Friday afternoon. We have a little turbulence in the forecast. Nothing deadly. in terms of like a wipeout day, but we do have some possibly of a cutoff low house

that's going to circulate and possibly just kind of bring some showers now and then. Okay, that's fine. That just means it's going to be playing longer. It will, it will. But I actually got to spend a little time with Matt Morton, the superintendent yesterday, and got to talk to him a little bit about how things are gone. And it's, you know, we've had no rain here, how.

So Riviera does not oversee the right. rough. So it's light rough. So that should be good for Tiger and some of the bombers. That's been the setup the last few years. They do have some high, super high rough and some spots. I think the tour came in and hacked a few of those down. I'm not positive. But yeah, so Riviera should be good for, much better for Tiger in terms of setup. Well, let's talk about what that means in terms of the greens. Now, the greens are really quick and they're firm. Yeah, we've had very little rain. They're Poa Green. So one of the things that's a little unusual with Tiger and some of the other guys, Jason Day, you heard it at Tori is a lot of them really get poet, the Poa greens of Riviera get in their head. Well, let me, let's let's talk about that because I want to talk about, I want to have that conversation in the context of guys that we like this coming week.

Okay. Let's go ahead and, you know, I want to compare some notes. Now, now Phil, again, was his ball striking was outstanding. The ball that he, hit on 16, I mean on 17 today. Did you have a chance to see that? I did. That was beautiful. And that green was firm. What was that? Was it a six iron? Oh, no. No, that was probably, that's what Harry Potter Jr. hit there. It was a, it was, I think it was a, I think I heard eight iron, but I'm not positive. I'll double check. I just. Remember, Phil's loss might be. What is it in the rogue irons that, there's, you know, there's that, is it the, is it the X? I have the X. Yeah, what kind of guy? I have the X. Yeah.

You have a slightly stronger loft in those. It's a strong loft. That's right. Yeah, Phil might have a slightly stronger light. But he also is long and he hits it a long way and he uses a Chrome Soft X. And he hit a beautiful. It was an outstanding fade, right? What a birdie. It was a fade for him.

Yeah. Yeah, it was a fade. Oh, God, it was so nice. It was the closest I saw anybody get on 17. So ball striking with those beautiful rogue irons. And, Shaq, let me tell you, there's a box on my. in my living in my dining room right now and you know i haven't i i'm saving it i really this weekend it poured rain here in in the dmv and it's and it's uh it's slightly milder today but it's still

cold and i really am saving the unveiling the unwrapping i think that's a thing that the kids do the kids like take video of unwrapping unboxing sure sure the unboxing yeah of i don't know i don't know if i'm going to do that or not because i'm incompetent at something like that but uh i'm really looking forward to what these things look like. But I can't do it until it gets warm enough when I know as soon as I take them out of the box, I want to go directly to the range and start banging them around. So I'm holding tight. I'm showing some discipline for once. Yeah, that's impressive. And they are in stores now, by the way. So just in case anybody was wondering, the Calloway Rogue Irons, a pretty exciting day on February 9th, for those of you anxious to go hit them, go get fit,

go try them on the trackman and see how they feel. There's a couple different variations. And we just discussed them last week. So keep that in mind, but nothing too complicated. It's just that some people like House need a little extra delafting in their irons. And there's nothing wrong with X. All right. So look, you started in on one of the facets of Riviera coming up here that I'm fascinated by not to overdo it, which is the Poa Greens. How is the Poeer Greens here at Riviera so different from the Poe of Green's at Pebble? Well, for starters, Well, two things. At Pebble, you have some amateur golfers who are walking on them who, let's just say,

maybe don't walk with the attention to detail that a PGA Tour Pro walks with. So you get some heel marks and different things. And that's always been in the years when the greens get soft in the rain, that with the soft spikes getting a little buildup on the mud, all those invisible craters used to drive guys nuts. They've obviously taken the maintenance game up multiple notches. and I thought the ball looked to me like it was rolling beautifully at Pebble as good as ever. Obviously, there was no rain.

So it's the same grass. It's actually not a grass. It's technically a weed, Ploena. And it's just something that the ball just doesn't cling to it like a bent grass or even some of the new Bermudas. And so visually for a lot of players, and you heard Jason Day mentioned he adjusted his putter because he didn't like the way it was sort of felt like it was almost. pushing the ball into the green. Guys have different views on them. But generally, what's interesting, House, for all this discussion of Poa and certainly a big part of White Tiger, I believe, stopped coming here for a while because Riviera's greens weren't as good.

That said, most of the great putters in the history of the game have loved making putts on Poet greens. And some of the best greens in the world are that sort of modeled mix of Bent and Poa and their surprise. purples and greens and dark greens and light greens. And it's a great grass and it can hold up the traffic. And now with modern maintenance practices, they can make them a lot smoother. So that's the nice thing at Riviera. The downside is it's a big field. It's 144 players.

And no matter what, they are going to get a little bit beat up during the course of play. With that context, though, we just watched some guys here at Pebble put pretty well. One guy that did not put well was Jordan Speath. What's going on with him? Well, I watched a stroke a few times, and it looks like something's not quite. He just doesn't look comfortable or it doesn't quite look great. I don't know if he's gripping it too tight. He missed a short one after a bunker shot in the final round today,

and it was not an attractive, like kind of through stroke. It was a little bit of a. It wasn't yippie, but it was. a little stabby, yeah. It was a stabby. He said yesterday, it's in his head a little bit. Yeah, he said it's an alignment thing. Like he's he's subconsciously standing over the ball in a different way.

And he hasn't been able to force himself back into the position that produces the sort of most success. But for a guy like him at the, you know, and we're going to be lucky enough this season around the Austin event, I think we're going to have Jordan's coach. So I don't want to say too many bad things. I'm just kidding. I wouldn't say bad things about Jordan anyway. But I think Cam McCormick is coming on. I just, it just is so unsettling for,

you know, a viewer like me, a fan like me who regards Jordan when he's on as one of the very, very, very, very best putters from length. He always has been a little bit suspect from six feet in, it feels like,

but from length. And he just looks lost. Statistically this year, it's a huge, decline. I don't think there's a whole lot to be concerned about. He's been sick, which they mentioned today. I did not know. He's been under the weather. And I just, every great putter has had moments where they've gone, not yippy, but they've lost the feel and gotten into their head that they are not going to make this putt. And it happens even to him. So he's had a few

lulls, though, already. I don't recall one with the short putting quite this, uh, blay. And, but that just doesn't, to me, it's not a big deal. It's, some people would say it's a little bit tricky to write the ship on these kinds of greens, but I would counter that, like I said, I think somebody like him who's putted unbelievably well at Riviera and likes the place and loves polar greens, won at Pebble Beach last year. I think it's actually the best place for him to be trying to work it out. Okay. And yeah, he's going to be there tomorrow.

And he's got a great practice green right outside of the media center. that he was grinding on last year, and I expect to see him out there quite a bit. And to me, it's just not a, it's not yet something to be too. I mean, he still ended up having a very nice week this week with kind of a ragged game, which is why he's different. He just kind of grinds through it. So I look for him to have a nice week at Riv. A nice week.

But let's talk about the guys that really have a chance to win. And then we're going to turn to this week in Tiger because, you know, It is this weekend Tiger. Tiger's back. He's in L.A. You have some props for us. But let's talk first. It's only Sunday.

I reserve the right as the week goes on. In fact, maybe I'll tweet at you. I'll say, here are my four or five names. And you tweet back at me and let me know if you agree with it. Because, you know, our fans aren't there. The Shackhouse listeners like to this would be a good one to allocate some capital on, I think. I think so. I have not, unfortunately, found any nice odds list.

things for this week's Genesis. I poked around before the show, and that's one of the negatives of us recording here on a Sunday night, but I'm sure people will find them, and I think we'll have a pretty good idea. They're going to be some fun prices. I went back and looked at last year's leaderboard, just because I like to see who played while the previous year. I forgot about West Bryant 63 on Saturday, which was really cool, and it'd be, I think, a nice week for him to kind of get the year going. He loves Riviera, and he loves putting those greens. Again, another outstanding putter who has no problem whatsoever on on these kinds of greens. And they're beautiful.

There's there really isn't a whole lot of excuse unless you're, you're just somebody who doesn't like the way the ball bounces sometimes. So. Okay. Keep an eye. Keep an eye. Wes. Lee,

you mentioned Tommy Peters. Well, yeah, he's making his PJ tour debut in 2018, finished second last year with Scott Brown, which I know how you talked all season. about Scott Brown's second place here. I totally forgotten about

that one too. Charlie Hoffman, of course, the West Coast Swing Man played great last year. Had a nice final round 67, but obviously it was all about Dustin Johnson. He won by five and shot 66, 66, 64, 71. That 71 was basically, to me,

a three-over-part round. So I think that he's the way he's playing, it's just going to be kind of fun to watch. Really, it's going to just be a luck of the draw situation, I think, in his case. Ollie Snyderjans had a T-8 last year and is playing some nice golf right now on the tour. Another guy to watch. Good weekend, Phoenix, didn't he, Schneider Jans?

He did, he did. And another one who's fun to watch, I think, again, on the prop bets, a former winner at Riviera. Charles Al the 3rd had a – it just seems to always play nicely at Riviera, as somebody to just kind of keep an eye on. Well, he's really made a career out of the West Coast swing. I mean, he's now an officially, like, legendary West Coast swing status. Like, if you have a fantasy thing or a one and, I don't know if you play him one and done because he doesn't win, but he's got, you know, his top tens and top fives are,

are rampant. He loves the West Coast. So help me. Kevin, Kevin, is one more person who had a great finish last year who played it decently there at Pebble Beach. He saw he was, he was paired with.

now I'm drawing a blank. Was he paired with Jason Day? No, he was paired with anyway. He was in one of the last few groups there. Yeah. I have, tell me why, if I just walk in and put a little bit of, you know, a little taste on the four guys that finished second. Mickelson, Revy, Day, DJ. I mean, that feels like a pretty good start.

Well, we have no did day. So that would be a bad one to try to, uh, to bed on. I didn't realize he was taking the week off. But, yeah, Ted Potter and Chesrivy are both playing. Uh, so those two are, are there for the taking. I don't know how Riviera sets up for those two. And, you know, given what I laid out about this, I feel like it's just going to be a power golf course. You know, the, the, the part five's, the first holes, uh, a part four, really, the U.S.

Saminer played it as a par four, the USGA did. But the two back nine par fives are pretty stout, and they become more reachable. But there's still two holes that really, really favor the long hitters, as to the two of the back nine par fours, the 12th and 15th. The 18th doesn't, it tends to play downwind as big and long as it is as a par four when you're there in person. You just go, my gosh, this hole's massive. This is ridiculous. To them, it just is not a hole that plays that long. So it's a long hitters golf course.

I mean, Jimmy Walker played very nicely last year there, Johnny Vegas. It's a place where you're without that high rough, you're able to swing pretty freely. Well, here's a guy who we saw for the first time state side this week. And I was impressed that he came over and made his debut, you know, basically to sort of acclimate to West Coast time as much as anything. And that's Rory. Let me hear what you think about Rory's chances. this week. Well, he played very well here, and he kind of had a debacle on the sixth hole that sidetracked him.

And he, no, what are you talking? Are you talking about it? What did you say? I said a five wood. I recall him being in contention, and it was two years ago, I think. It was. He was in the middle of a fairway. Oh, okay.

He was within two shots of the lead. Oh, yes. And he blew a five wood, you know. peeled off right, like my kind of miss. Yeah. A high, soft, sloppy, lazy, you know, flyer left, flyer right. Well, he was in great shape. And to me, my memory of the day was more of just his inability to have any concept of

the speed on the greens the last day. He had putted very nicely up until Sunday and then just started powering putts. So I think it's a great golf course for him. He likes it. he loved when he played here a couple years ago. He stayed in Santa Monica. He had a great gym. It's a short drive.

And he just commented on what a fun week it is. And the golf course sets up to his eye. And he will not be the center of attention. And that might inspire him to play a little bit better and become the center of attention. And wouldn't that be cool? I mean, we're anxiously awaiting the pairings. But it sure would be fun if the, if our friend Steve Rantoul

when he was putting it through the algorithms and the computer there at the advanced trailer, somehow managed to get Rory's name with Tiger Woods. Just a thought. You think that's all it is? You think people would be interested in that? I think that would get a few people out to watch. I would kind of, you know, want to see

every moment of it. But here's the thing. I understand that and I find that appealing as well. Me personally, the one I'm rooting for, Tiger and Phil Mickelson. That's who I want to see next to each other. That's a thought that's crossed some people's minds. And I think that would be equally juicy, the old guys. And I have to, you know, I have to ask on what the, you know,

they have a pairing system and ABC grading system. Right, right, right, right. And I need to, I need to check and see what, what if Tiger, Tiger and film, that actually might be more likely. they may be more in that scenario likely to have the computer put them together. But there is a storyline pairing. They do have the ability to manipulate it now. I would hope so. It's a fun. It's a tournament that's on television.

I would hope they would be able to figure out a way to get some eyes on it. And nothing going on in sports other than the All-Star Week. Right. All pitchers and catchers report, there is that. Don't care. Exactly. it's a long way from the from the season starting so yeah it's a great week it's east coast prime time viewing late in the telecast yes it is yeah all that so i hope they they listen to us a little bit that that but again the the wealth of riches this year in this tournament in terms of being able to put certain people together is is really cool uh so anyway all right well let's let's let's um let's jump over let's just go hard and heavy in our man in the tiger here um you've You've got some props for us.

Let's hear what they are. Yeah. So they're not, I can't say that they're the greatest prop bets I've ever seen House. But of course, you have your make the cut or not make the cut. Make the cut. How expensive is it? Yes, is a minus 140. Yeah, I don't like that.

No, plus 110. Will he be within five strokes of the lead at any point Sunday? They note that he must make. the cut for that action. No kidding. Oh, thanks. Well, I guess, I guess technically we could have a lot of rain and we could be playing the second round on Sunday and that would be, yeah. Anyway, yeah, that's a plus 140. That's not nearly enough juice. Give me something to work with. Really? Okay. Will Tiger hit in the pot bunker in the middle of the six screen, plus 150? I like that a lot better. I mean, you know, really? See, five of the leaderboard on Sunday. Yeah, why not?

well i mean it's fine but it's like you're not even getting one and a half to one on that where's the last time he was within five they should get you at least to one and a half yeah yeah all right here you go how many fairways will tiger was hitting the first round uh over 4.5 minus 115 under 4.5 he's he's gonna hit over over 4.5 like i'm guaranteeing it now and how expensive is that what's the price that's a minus 115 on both that's what i let now we're talking That's just paying to Vig. That stirs you. That's nearly even money.

And I feel like I'm with you. I don't go against Tiger. I made that declaration. The 2018 season is upon us. That's one where I could get into it. I like it. That's a good one. So mark that one down.

All right. Driving accuracy percentage, they have a 32.5 over under. Again, minus 115. That's not very bullish on the man's driving. What is the number? What was the number of Tori? What did he end up at?

It was in the 20-something range, wasn't it? Yeah, it was. Actually, it might have even been, I'll have to pull it up, but it was not good. But, okay, so let's discuss. Riviera has a little rough. The fairway lines are, I would say, on average, 25 yards, 27, 8 in a few cases. I think 24 is the absolute minimum. So that's narrow to me, but Torrey Pines had a few that were really slim.

And so I think that I think he's got a good chance on that. I really do. Okay. I don't understand this one. Well, Tiger Woods received more broadcast time than the winner during the final round. I don't know how they're going to tabulate that. That's just terrible. I don't get that one.

What are the odds? Just so I can hear it. Yes, minus 150. No. Okay. Yeah, plus 120. No. And then more broadcast time during the 2018 Genesis Open.

Tiger Woods minus 115, field 115. Obviously, you'd take the field and that. That's just them being sarcastic, I think. Well, I wish that was a real prop. I mean, if that's a real prop, let's go, you know, I got a mortgage payment. I'd like to redirect. Come on.

But that can't be a real bet. So, okay, I got it. Do you want to talk a little bit about Tiger's odd relationship with Riviera because I had to write a column about this. So a lot of it is fresh. And I went back and did some reading and remembering. And he has an unusual history here. I'm not going to call it a checkered pass because he almost won one year.

He had a great shot. But I believe the reason he stopped coming here in 2006 was a combination of a few things. He played here. He's played the LA Open, whatever version you want to call it. Now the Genesis Open 11 times as a golfer, nine times as a professional. He did have that tie for second in 1999. He flailed his second shot right on 18. It hit a cart pass.

It's easy to do if you've played Riviera. There's this horrible cart path right next to the 18th green that is really not that far away, especially with a fairway that's pitched left to right. It's pretty easy to lose it there. And it went to a concession stand. He needed to make birdie. He ended up not making birdie or any else won. He did not come that close to winning again.

And 2006 was the last time he played here house. That's 12 years ago, Shaft. Yeah, yeah. It was a while ago. So he... I wasn't married back then. I didn't have a kid. A lot has changed.

A lot has changed in the world. He... had a bad incident on Friday afternoon. There was a surprise rain, and Stevie Williams did not have the umbrella in the bag. And Tiger was a little under the weather already. And he got wet. He got more sick. And then, to add to the enjoyment, he got in his car and for some reason was staying east of the golf course.

So when you play in this tournament house, you cannot stay east of Riviera. you will have a miserable week. The traffic going east every day is the worst it is all year because UCLA is in session. Hollywood is full bore. Award season is going. Every school is in session. And there are several private schools right by Riviera on junior high right across the street. So he got stuck in like an hour and a half of traffic withdrew the next day because he was supposed to come back the next morning.

And he did not. And that was it. We never saw him again. I always felt like part of it, too, was scheduling premasters. It just didn't quite fit in with the flow of his schedule. And then there were the Poet Greens of Riviera, which they were just not very good back then compared to the way they are now. They were fine, but they could get pretty bumpy. And they are so much better now.

The place gets much less play. It's very private. And so he has no, well, he doesn't know this, but I'm sure he's heard the reports that it. it's a lot better than it used to be conditions-wise. So that is why he has not been here. Since he's been here, the 10th hole has become basically a par three and a half that the entire field tries to drive. So it's going to be really fun to watch and play the great 10th hole.

Doesn't it still play over par though? Yeah, or right around par most years. Yeah, so it's not a par three and a half. It's a par four in a quarter. I meant that in that the mentality is that the T-shot, the layup is all but gone for maybe one-fourth of the field. And that's a different mindset. And then the two back nine par fives that were always really, really tough, especially

the 17th, are more reachable and more guys go for them. So there are changes. And then the course has been lengthened. And he's seen some of that lengthening. Some of the greens have changed. There's more short grass. So it's a very different golf course. But I think in general, he's going to really like it because it is.

is not like Torrey Pines and the way it was set up in terms of that high, high, rough. Although he really never complained about that. He seemed to embrace that. So I think he's going to have a good week. It'll be interesting to see how much he scouts, of course. He's supposed to come into the media center Tuesday. So he will probably play early Tuesday morning and then come talk to us and do some of his, fulfill some of his duties for a tournament that benefits his Tiger Woods Foundation.

All right, Shack House Pals, as promised on the line as he drives away from Pebble Beach, having just completed a very successful pro-am with his partner, Jason Day, a top 10 finish on the line, Chris Harrison of The Bachelor. Hey, guys. Hey, Chris. Yeah. Thank you so much for doing this. The great Chris Harrison.

I'm in the car heading south. Oh, sweet. You got out of their fast. Perfect. Perfect timing. All right, well, welcome to the Shackhouse. Thank you for doing this. Congratulations on a great week at Pebble Beach. Thank you.

That was for a first time, I think it went about. So first time and you get Jason Day. Tell us who you know and how that came about. Right. I'm asking me, how did you get Jason Day? Wow. So you had a front row seat today for a guy, you know, that was, you know, that playing for an opportunity to win the golf tournament.

And the things, you know, I'm here on the East Coast in cold and rainy Washington, D.C., but sitting and watching what jumped off the screen two things. His short game, how he kept himself in it on the back nine especially, and then the par that he made on 18. So talk about being there, you know, live and in person for that show. All right. So this is a big deal to get invited to this and then play in front of crowds. The whole thing, give us your kind of your highlights of the week. What kind of surpassed expectations?

How did you feel out there? All of that. I mean, was it as fun as it looks like it is to play in that event? Yeah. I'll tell you that first and foremost. It really is, you know, what's flowing through your body, just the grind and being that front of people. You know, look, if I'm hosting television, that's fine, but I'm not used to that. So, you know, with Jason Day, even Steve Stricker.

but then you had a kid like Merritt who needed to finish in the top 10 today to make the U.S. and even on 18 when his ball went in the tree and that 18 was, I didn't know what to do. Jason and Steve Strickers up in the grandstand. I didn't know what the hell was going on. And that's always the thing, Chris,

that when you're watching on television, you got to think on Sunday has to be so hard for the amateurs when you're in the middle of this tournament to be in the middle of that. You've got to have times where you just just want to hide because you just don't want to be in the way. Yeah. But it was, yeah, I was playing for millions of dollars.

So this is. So Chris, how did you play? How did you yourself play? Having going, you know, this being your maiden voyage under circumstances like this. I hit it in front of all those people. Yeah. So I had three PGA pro playing fast. Have you ever played before significant?

crowds. Yeah. I played in some. There is nothing to this level. Now they put you to work. Oh, go ahead. When you know that Jim Nance and Nick Faldo are up calling your action, I mean, come on.

I look over and there's Doddy Pepper and I'm like, this is ridiculous. And your Truvice, you were playing the Truvice and Ian Baker-Finch gave you a little shout out for playing the Callaway ball. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, shill, chill. We have another Chromesoft ad to do it. So please, let's do it. Well, I just got to give a huge shout out to my boys, Chad Coleman, Harry Arnett. I was playing the Apex Iron, the Epic Drive.

Right. Right. When I first saw it in. Yeah, very much so. House, should we grill them a little bit about L.A. golf or is anything else about the AT&T you want to? Well, I want to, Chris, you know at the ringer, you have a huge group of fans and, you know, the Bachelor Party podcast hosted. by Juliet Littman and Amanda Dobbins. I hit them up for a question to send your way.

And they wanted to know, the Bachelor Party podcast wants to know, when you're taping the show, when you're doing your daily gig for The Bachelor, how much golf are you able to get in? I get a South Carolina, and I played there for three days straight. Oh, lovely.

If there's a good course around, believe me, I'll find it. Yeah. So just for our listeners, You are an accomplished golfer. What's your handicap? Oh, I thought you were a single digit. I'm sorry. Oh, wow.

I should be. I just don't get to play enough. Yeah. And it's my power for us on here on the West Coast. Right. House, he just played the AT&T, Pebble Beach Prime. He didn't kill anybody. He didn't hit anybody as far as we know.

That's that is proficient golf. That's fantastic. Come on. Yeah. He can play. I know. There were times, and, you know, you show that I'm not doing today, I have no idea where this ball's going. Now, Chris, what's the, you mentioned being tired at the end of the day.

It's exhausting. Is there a big kind of nightlife scene with this and parties? I know they put you to work this week on something related to, I think CBS is going to air it. Or did they already air it house? Did you, did you catch it? They did the part three. Yeah, they did a million dollar part three. contest.

And, you know, yeah. Yeah. Oh, that's awesome. Well, you got to have some fun up there. And you stay at the lodge, I hope. So you just walk to stuff. Oh, nice. That's pretty nice, too.

Oh, that's the best. Yeah, that's the best. Yeah. And the weather was. Yeah. So now you moved to L.A. Where the tour's coming this week in around 2000. And did you move here to go to work for TVG?

Was that your first gig here? I did. Yeah. As a sportscaster and Oak Racing Network in L.A. Oh, yeah. I'm a big horse racing fan and big TVG fan, and that's on too much here. But so when you got here, were you a golfer then? Yeah, I was.

I kind of see I was playing in some. I just need to get good enough that I could shoot in the 80s on that rabbit hole. So were you, when you first moved here, were you kind of a rancho Westchester guy, and then you've kind of moved up to being able to join a club? I played a lot of Encino Balboa. Okay. Which is, for those, in the middle of Encino, California. Yeah, House had to hear me rant a little bit in our pre-show.

I went over to Rancho and hit balls the other day. I was very unhappy with, and I'm not expecting it to be Sherwood. But, you know, I had to pull out a few real golf balls to actually know where the ball was going. It's the LA City is not thrilling. So how's, you know, Chris is coming back back to L.A. Chris, are you going to come out to watch any golf or Riviera?

You have to go back to work. Well, right now, what, 12 years ago? Yeah, a little more, actually. Yeah, and stuff them out whenever I can. Nice. Beautiful, awesome. Do you know who you're playing with on Wednesday? I don't. Not sure.

Oh, yeah. Jason. Well, who knows? Maybe you'll get, you know, one of the top five guys in the world, because Jason, I think, is just outside of it. Well, we really appreciate you doing this. We know it was a whirlwind day and finish, and it was fun watching and seeing how it all came together. It was a little bit of a, it was a bizarre finish. I'm sure that the vibe out there probably conveyed that to you.

It came through on television, but we really appreciate you taking the time after a long week to kind of fill us in. Yeah, and he had to wait a lot on 17, too. It was tough. As you know, it was a backup there. The one thing you'll see, Chris, your caddy's pants come through loud and clear, buddy. Yeah, you know what? Chip Hunter. Yep.

He did it. Well, thanks so much for coming on, Chris. We really appreciate it. All right. Thanks, Chris. Drive safe. Bye. Well, thanks again to Chris. That was awesome.

How do you think you would want to play in a pro am like that? Shaq, come on. A thousand percent. Yes. Here's the thing, though. Chris mentioned this. You have to be, you know, I would want my caddy to be carrying a bullhorn because we need to give out the incoming. I mean, look, the ball's going left, the ball's going right. I don't know which way the ball is going. The other thing is we know from that event in particular, that pebble event, the parties are legendary.

I think I might be coming in a little dragon. I might be dragging a little bit. Yeah. Yeah. I can, well, but I think a drink by the fire pits at the Spanish Bay as he laid out. That is, you don't even have to stay at Spanish Bay, by the way. If you just want the fire pit experience, you can go there and it's a very expensive drink, but it is such a cool place.

They have the bagpipe every day at, uh, uh, Sun. said, oh, it's, it's, I, yeah, you could, you could get through it, I think, House. Life goals. Life goals. Now, the good news is if you played House and you were hitting golf balls in the crowd, you're going to be hitting them with Chrome softs. So, I mean, the bad news is it's got, you know, for the people who get hit, it's got the graphene, which is 200 times stronger than the steel that was isolated in 2004 by two scientists who won the Nobel Prize. However, we know that the Chrome Soft is soft. And I think, I think you, even though you're probably a Chrome Soft X guy. I think you should play the regular

Chrome soft because it's just a little bit softer than the X. So when you do hit those people, yeah. Forgiving for me and for them. Absolutely. So yes, those are the new Chrome Soft and Chrome Soft X are coming and they'll be in Truviz too and just the way Chris Harrison played them in the

AT&T, Pebble Beach Pro M. So House, what do you got on House of Carves this week? What are you excited about? Well, let me first say, midweek, our old pal, Adam Rappaport, we have them on Once a season, the editor-in-chief from Bon Appetit comes on. Is this like his third appearance? Well, because we had summer and then we had fall.

Oh, season. Oh, I thought, I'm sorry. I thought House of Cards Cards Cards. You're talking seasons of the seasons. I'm talking food seasons. But you know what? I'll encourage everybody who's listening to this because it's going to drop first thing Monday morning. Until the next house of carbs drops, if you haven't had a chance yet, make sure you go on and listen to this.

an unbelievable discussion I had with Eric Ride Home, Eric is the creator and executive producer of shows, many shows on ESPN, many beloved shows like Pardon the Interruption Around the Horn, highly questionable. He's working on the new show with Bomani Jones and Pablo Torres. But Ride Home was diagnosed in his 40s with Phileac disease, and it was a real life changer. And we had a very insightful conversation about how it was. impacted his life and his career. I really commend that podcast to people. Beautiful.

And what do you got going to, I'm listening to and from Riv this week. I got a busy week of Riviera. I'm going to be out tomorrow. Yes. And all day, I'll be tweeting away. And I think you're right. We need to when we get some numbers. Maybe I'll get a little intel on the range about who's striping. I mean, I did

say Jason Day was hitting it great at Tori. I just kind of backed off it when he did that hole. I got the sore back in the pro.m. Turns out he probably just didn't want to play in the Tori Mines Pro Am. So I'll see what I can find, what I can watch out there. But yeah, I'll be doing a lot of coverage for golf week and my website. And it's going to be an exciting week. Golf channel.

I'm going to have reports all day on morning drive. And we're going to go out and throw some golf balls around and do some stuff showing the golf course. I'm excited. Like I said, the forecast is mostly good. There's a little kind of funky turbulence that could make for some intriguing moments. And we've got a great feel. So, can't wait. Yeah.

It's going to be awesome. We're back next week, I think. We're up for either another Sunday night recording or early Monday so we can get up the results of his eminence, the tiger in this outstanding field that's all pulled together, right? Absolutely. So I can't wait and look forward to chatting with you about that, listening to House of Carbs. And, of course, everything else on the Ringer podcast network. And is there anything else, House that?

Until next week, my friends, let's get into that show. part of the Ringer Podcast Network.