Fairway Rollin' - Scottie Scheffler’s Tour Championship and Presidents Cup Team Reactions

Episode Date: September 1, 2026

House and Nathan break down Scottie Scheffler’s Tour Championship victory and put what he’s done into historical context. Then, they look back and pick the moments that defined this season before reacting to the reveal of the Presidents Cup team.(00:00) Welcome to Fairway Rollin’!(02:47) Scottie Scheffler (–16) wins the Tour Championship(06:51) Where does Scottie now rank among the greats?(20:39) Highlights from the 2026 PGA Tour(25:52) Presidents Cup roster reveal and preview Comcast Business. Get reliability, security, and savings in one. Try ZipRecruiter FOR FREE at https://ziprecruiter.com/FAIRWAY The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit https://fanduel.com/playwithaplan to learn more about the resources and helplines.Hosts: Joe House and Nathan HubbardProducers: Tucker Tashjian and Mike Wargon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello friends and welcome to this golf program unlike any other. All right my friends, let's do this. This is Faraway Roll. A golf program on the Ringer podcast network and on Netflix. My birdie buddies, my par saving pals, my eagle enthusiasts. I am your starter Joe House, joined as is our way by my incomparable accomplice, our PGA tour boots on the ground. Nathan Hubbard, the two of us are together virtually, but we've spent a lot of time together at each other's company, a couple great meals, a couple, well, I can't say great rounds of golf, one great round of golf, great in terms of where we put our feet, and the

PGA tour has wrapped itself up with a bow. We're going to talk about that, and we are taping live as the President's Cup for the United States and the international teams. The captain's selections are being made. Nathan and I are going to wager on who can come up with, at least for the U.S. side, the six captains picks who gets closer. But look, let's just get the pegs on the ground and get going. Hey, hey, my par saving pals. This episode is brought to you by Comcast Business.

Do you run your own business? Well, bring your A game with the total solutions advantage from Comcast business. The more you add, the more you save. Get started with a qualifying internet package for as low as $60 a month when you add an advanced solution. Plus, new customers ask how to get up to $1,500 in prepaid cards. Limited time offer, prepaid card offers end September 13th, 20th. 26. Restrictions apply. Call for details. Nate Dogg.

How's your back nine? Well, it is pretty solid in always except my game at the moment, but I'm going to fix that over the next, I don't know, two or three days. I'm going to get a sword at house. How's your back nine? We have spent a lot of time together lately. It's been lovely. Yeah, wonderful, wonderful back nine for me, not as good as Scotty Shefflers. And, you know, the tour championship for all of its efforts to establish some modicum of drama.

We kind of got it. You know, both Hovland and Ryan Garard came out and bogeed. So poor Ryan Gerard double bogeed it. Never really recovered. He shot even par for the remainder of that round. It wasn't great. Hovlin was out there fighting super hard, but he couldn't get a put to fall, which left the door open. Only one player in the final three groupings of the President's Cup shot under par, and that was Scotty Sheffler, and that was appropriate.

Yeah, I think even more appropriate was the way that he used these playoffs to slam the door on the players. the player of the year conversation, which going into them after Windham won at BMW, suddenly we weren't 100% sure. And it just, there really was no comparison, right? And I think he finished first in so many categories, we don't sort of need to go through the entire list because I think everybody did. But scoring average, birdie average, bar breaker, bogeyed, void, and strokes gain total, on and on and on. Greens and Regulations scrambling. Yeah.

Pudding outside 25 feet. Pudding outside 25 feet. Hold on a second. Top five. But I think that is what was so fitting about the way that he ended up winning this tournament was he finished first on approach. And that was the thing that as we assessed his year, looking at all of these second place finishes, we sort of said, man, the iron play has taken just a little.

little bit of a step back this year. It's actually his putter that has saved him. Well, his putter nearly drove him to pull his hair out. He put great on Sunday. But I mean, he was 22nd in putting on Saturday and he was swearing his ass off. But he finished first on approach. And that to me was just the reminder and that final signal that this is an incomparable golfer save for a handful of guys out there. I mean, statistically, this is the 18th best season ever since 1983 and this is what we thought to be a quote unquote down year for Sheffler and to finish the season a with a win exactly the way he started at amex but to finish the season with the best iron play in a year in which it felt like not a regression but just a slight step back towards the norm

just felt sort of perfectly poetic for a guy who at this point in time you know the only question that sits in our head is, is he playing in an era where there are so many good golfers that his ability to dominate the major category the way that Tiger did might leave him historically in an unfair comparison to some of the greats who've come before him? Because statistically, he is playing as well or better as the greats who've come before him. Yeah, and I love where we are smack dab in the middle of grabbing this stretch of excellence out of Scotty and dropping it into a tiger overlay. Like the number of wins between age 28 and 30 when you're looking, you know,

tour wins, majors. Now, Tiger's ahead, right? And Tiger's ahead because Tiger was winning majors before he was 28. But, you know, we got Scotty to his 22nd tour win by the age of 30. and we have what now four majors. Yep. So he cemented himself already as an all-time great. The interesting thing as we project Scotty, where do we think he ends up? And one element to me that jumps out is

the golf swing doesn't strike me as one. I'm going to knock on wood. That in and of itself is going to create stress slash distress over time. That's the point of the footwork. The funny footwork is because he is not posting up on that left leg and subjecting that left leg to undo stress and duress. He's getting around.

And I love over the course of this year, all the workout videos. Scotty Studd workout video. I'm into it, man. Well, look, we're you could, that's, that's house. Yeah. That makes house happy. That's great. That's right.

I want to come back on the major point because this is a year in which Scottie did not win a major. And in Jack Nicholas's call it 19 prime years, he only had seven years where he didn't win a major. In Tigers, call it 12 prime years. He only had three where he didn't win a major. And almost nowhere did the greats who got to eight majors or more miss two consecutive years without winning a major. So in a lot of ways, from a historical, the big majors matter, if that's where in the same place that Rory seems to be right now, if that's where Scotty really is at the end of the day.

And I'm not sure he's as fussed by these records. I think he wants to win. I think he gets a lot more right now out of winning a regular PGA tour event than Rory does. But still, at some point, he's going to care about the historical comparisons in the majors. And in that case, there is a little bit of pressure going into next year to,

to try to get one to keep pace. Because four, for the quality of golf that this guy has played, five years in a row, PJ Tour Player of the Year, to have only four majors during that span is, first of all, incredibly impressive. But in historical context, right, he's got a chance now to keep pace to blow past most of the golfers who have ever picked up clubs professionally.

Yeah. And look, in his down year, he finished tied for fourth at the Open Championship. He finished tied for fourth at the U.S. Open, and he finished second at the Masters. So, you know, that's, he's around the hoop. You just couldn't, you know, especially that U.S. Open, that's what will stick with me, was the opportunity on that back nine, speaking of back nines. Yeah.

He had Wyndham Clark in his sights. He had him next to him. And it was a type, even though Sam Burns did his level best to try and grab the thing, it was kind of a hand-to-hand combat situation where, you know, Scotty had Wyndham kind of where I would say he wanted them and just couldn't get any putts to drop. He did have some very nice proximity numbers over that back nine on Sunday at Shinnecock. And he certainly had the entire crowd rooting for him. Yeah.

because they were not rooting for Wyndham, and everybody wanted the outcome, that story of Scotty winning on his 30th birthday. Yeah. But he couldn't get there. And that's just how it goes, right? It's just how it is. You got to be, I mean, that was what Tiger just said time and time again

that he learned from Jack is you just got to put yourself in contention enough in golf and you're going to get wins. And the thing that we got spoiled by with Tiger was he had so much dog in him, that when he got into contention, you saw a lot of what we saw on Sunday this last weekend, which was guys around him wilting instead of giving him a real run for his money, the way that Jackson Coyvan did in Minneapolis, the way that, you know, the way that, as you said,

Wyndham did at the U.S. Open at Shinnecock this year. So I think the quality of Scotty's competition through the field is stronger today than it probably was for a lot of Tiger's career. But we're now in that rarefied. air where this is a guy who has a he's got a sheet of rock right now that is being held to carve out his face on the Mount Rushmore of all time and the way that he finished this year for me was uplifting and inspiring because it just shows how he cares and when he needs to turn it on and there's a door to slam this guy can do it he's got some of that tiger dog in him even as his

floor is as high as almost any floor that we've ever seen in the history of professional golf. So makes me even more excited for next year. We've got a Ryder Cup season. We've got a bunch of these young guns who are coming up. And I think you and I are going to have some interesting debate if we can get this Ryder Cup conversation in before the picks actually come out and we know about them. But we've got these young guns now chasing. And we've really got Scotty now not playing against Rory or Brooks or Wyndham. He's playing against history at this point. And that's what's going to be fun to see how he goes and grabs it. Yeah. And by history, that just means Tiger and Jack. I mean, it's just how many more times are we going to be

talking about Scotty accomplishments in the context of Tiger and Jack? One fun theme from last year, and we will get to the President's Cup conversation here shortly. You know, we sort of were wondering aloud around the proposition of Scotty Schaeffler as the, you know, by far, you know, he's proven it across the board in terms of the quality of the golf where we were wanting for charisma. We were wanting for character. How do you feel like that sort of developed over the course of this season? Because. I ask, you know, he's got a little bitch in him. He does.

And the bitch comes out now and then. And so which way is that? It came out with his caddy. It came out on the putting surfaces of Eastlake. I think it's great. I think he can have a little more access. That's the way you're going to go with it. Yeah.

Generally speaking, I'd rather that than the vanilla stuff that he does during the course of the regular interview. I mean, the PGA tour has done a really good job on the media. side of following these guys when they win. Well, we didn't have a lot of follow this year, I should say, and showing what it's actually like that the champion goes through from the time they put out on 18 until basically they go to bed and all the obligations and the interviews on the golf channel and the radio and the sponsors and the guy who's coming up giving him the random putter that he doesn't really want, but he's got to be kind and make 10 minutes for and pretend that he gives a shit like

putting the replica Ben Hogan putt like all that shit. we just didn't get to see a lot of Scotty doing that because Rollup didn't get the crew up and running with this series until kind of mid-year, and Scottie hadn't won. So what's been fun about these couple of weeks is, you know, between Memphis and here is that we've gotten a little bit of that behind the scenes insight. And I'm okay with the little bitch. I think all we wanted from him was the humanness, which can be flawed, right? can be fun because so much of his demeanor on course has just been vanilla. And as you said, the most exciting thing that has ever happened to Scotty Sheffler is getting arrested out front of the PGA championship and nobody knowing who the fuck he was.

Like that's the most interesting thing. I think you fast forward now two years later, we understand who he is as a human being a bit more. And I think he's I think he's a bit more beloved because we've seen him with his kids a little. bit. We've seen him, you know, bitch at his caddy. Okay, fine. He's a human being. I like it. All right. So I would also offer that I thought his little turn on Happy Gilmore, too. It's a goofy thing. But, you know, he was very comfortable with it. Like, I mean, I'm sorry that I'm confessing out loud that I actually watched it far enough to get to that point. But I mean, you know, there was, that that was, you have to have a certain kind of swag to pull that off. At least he wasn't in Hawk. Right. That was pretty good. I will tell you, I don't know if you saw this. I think it wasn't

one of the ESPN make a wish things, but he at the Travelers Championship had a kid and a family. They surprised the kid. The kid, you know, is facing the challenge that, you know, the particular challenge he's dealing with, but he's an aspiring young golfer and has a decent swing and identified Scotty as his favorite golfer. And so they made arrangements for him to be at the travelers with his family. And Scotty played the 15th with the kid and then went over to the 16th. And they had set up this little temporary umbrella thing out in the pond, the lake. And, you know, there is, that's one of the traditions there with the pros.

They do a thing where they try and hit balls onto the umbrella. And the caddies do it all day. Yeah, exactly. That's right. During the practice runs. And they had, you know, the kid try it a little bit with Scotty's clubs, which was great. But there was a very natural, this was like some of the strongest Scotty content I encountered over the entire year. And I thought it was a real testament to just him sort of understanding what this means to the kid and to the family.

He was crazy. He and Ted Scott played off of each other so well. They had a great sense of humor. and they embraced the kid. I mean, it's kind of what you would hope for out of it, but I hadn't really seen Scotty in that kind of environment. I dug it, Nate, Doug. Well, there's a, I don't want to say darker, more cynical part of this,

but part of the reason that we're so intrigued by this is one of the formulas for Scotty's success seems to be that he prioritizes his faith in his family above the sport. He's competitive as hell, but that's the story of Scotty, is that those are the most important things in his life, and it makes what happens on the golf course less of... It's how he manages the fact that 90% of the game is between the ears. But the reason that that matters is Rory, Phil, Tiger,

all in their own careers, have had pretty dramatic falls, maybe less so Rory, because Rory's was really that gap where he just couldn't win. But he did have the... the being put out as the puppet for the live stuff and then getting betrayed he did have the puppet he basically led the tour he was the the voice of the tour he was the face of the tour for quite a bit and he was undercut he did have the weird announcement on the week uh the same week that scotty got arrested that rory you know was was separating from his wife and then they

then they repaired there there has been drama there we all have Tomorrow morning, Tiger Woods is going to walk into a quarter, at least his lawyer is, and maybe change his plea on this DUI. We've got the shipnuck stuff around Phil that is now very well documented. Look, the most recent grates have had struggles, and they've had real personal struggles that have, in some cases, endeared us to them, in other cases blown up their position in the world of golf. this is the next guy.

And so understanding what those chinks in the armor could be, what's the human part of him, I think is important, particularly given how much of his success to date appears to be rooted in the faith family stuff. So I think it's just helpful to get to know him. And I think it is only good for the game, for him to slowly but surely let people in in the way that he is doing.

Again, always on his terms. But in a way that at least helps us understand the man behind what is a massively exploding myth at the moment. Yeah. And you mentioned that that secret sauce, that is the other element to me that contributes to the notion of longevity, that pulls into line of sight the possibility of getting to double-digit major wins. It's the combination of having the physical capacity to do it, but also, being so centered in his life. And who knows? I mean, we don't know anything about, you know, if there are demons lurking, you know, somewhere. But what we've seen, what we've experienced

over these last three years when he's been the most prominent athlete in golf, it's been pretty relentless that he's, you know, grounded and centered. Yeah. The combination of his wife and his faith. And he's got, he's built a community for himself where that is constantly being reinforced. He's surrounded by his family. We see it every time there's a major or this tour championship thing. His family writ large, everybody there for him. That to me speaks well of the longevity proposition. Yeah, I think you're exactly right.

You know, there's a couple. And as I think about this season, I mean, I think there's a few more things to wrap up on in the Tour Championship for sure. But as I think about this season, for me, there's really four stories. and I'm curious to get your thoughts. It is the implosion of Liv. It is this Scotty statistical season that didn't actually result in a ton of wins, but the way that he closed it

and what felt almost like an aberrition, multiple deviations from the norm around the number of wins that he should have gotten for the quality of play. It's Rory's back-to-back win at the Masters, which I think is sort of, of historical in its own way and his subsequent sort of struggle to get over the the inspiration hurdle. And then I think it is the emergence of these young guys. And that may be the last on that list,

but I think it really does matter. Yeah, there were a couple of those young guys in this tournament this week. None of them really performed particularly admirably. But by the end of the tournament, there was just no doubt sort of who the top dog was. Were there any other takeaways for you that are not sort of President's Cup related from what you saw? I was happy to see Rory Rally these last two weeks after a piss poor performance in Memphis to show us that he still gave a shit. We got the usual, you know, top 10-ish, top 11, but never really in contention moves

from Ludwig and Tommy, which maybe is going to be their sort of defining thing. We got, you know, some great Cam Young, some awful Cam Young, which seems to just be Cam Young. The theme. Yeah. Yeah. Anything else that sort of trickled out of tour championship for you? Like super impressive Sunday 66 out of Alex Fitzpatrick. This is an Alex Fitzpatrick podcast.

That fucking guy coming from where he came from and to now he is an absolute. Probably the fifth story on the year is getting in. Yeah. getting on tour with his brother and then delivering. He was going to be on tour next season, even if they hadn't won because of how excellent he was playing just in general, right? If he had been stuck on DP World Tour stuff, I have no doubt there would have been additional wins

and or high enough finishes over enough of that season for him to be on that, you know, pass-go card for the, for the DP World Tour guys directly on the tour. Yeah, he's exempt into every major now, though, and he's into all of the elevated events next year, and none of those things would have been possible just coming up through DP World Tour. So I agree with you.

You're right. He was able to accelerate that, he and his brother. Yes, and this is the thing that we love about this way of golf, is you got to go earn it. And guess what? He had an opportunity, and he went and earned it. You know who else? Went and earned it.

Jacob Bridgman this year. Yeah. What a finish for Bridgman. An awesome finish for Bridgman, and we will see what happens from over the next few minutes in terms of him getting picked. But, I mean, this is a 26-year-old who started the season with eight straight top 20s, including that win at Genesis, which he qualified for because of his play earlier in the year. It wasn't given to him. T-5 at the PGA, T-8 at the players. T-5 at the players.

Then he only had one top 20 the rest of the season, but he got into the BMW or, you know, he finished 9th, T4 at the Tour Championship. He's an incredible putter. He only missed one cut this season. And so, again, those are the stories of guys who went out and actually earned it when given that opportunity that I think are the best that this sport has to offer when you look down roster beyond Scotty Schaeffler. Why should I give a shit?

Well, it's because you get, you know, the Alex Fitzpatrick should have a quick 30-minute, you know, doc on that season. And I think depending on how things. go with Bridgman here. It could be the same for him. Hey, hey, my birdie buddies. This episode is brought to you by ZipRecruiter. Hey, look, everybody out there is looking for the breakthrough technique with their golf swing.

I was just with a very famous person, not Bill Simmons, who was turning his head as he came down with his down swing and turning his entire body away. But I will tell you, he was making exquisite contact. he broke out a video of this. It was pretty bizarre. But look, if you're hiring, you don't need bold tricks to stand out. Only ZipRecruiter. Try it for free at ZipRecruiter.com slash fairway.

It shows only the most interested candidates first, and candidates can even send a personal note saying why they want the role. No wonder four out of five employers who post on ZipRecruiter get a quality. candidate within the first day. Try it for free at ziprecruiter.com slash fairway. That's ziprecruiter.com slash fairway. Meet your match on ZipRecruiter.

Let's do real quick, President's Cup. Three, as expected, and I'll just go through the whole list. Here are the six guys that were on by virtue of the points that they secured by their excellent play. Scotty, Wyndham Clark, Sam Burns, Cam Young. Colin Moracawa and Russell Henley. And then as predictable as the sun coming up in the east, the next three, the first three selections,

you and I are not controversial for either one of us, Xander, Chris Goderup, J.T. So now it gets interesting, right? Yeah. Real quick before they come back from commercial break. Who are your final three? And, you know, there's 25 eligible, everybody's eligible,

But, you know, the points-wise, you know, the next handful of guys have names like Akshay and Ryan Garard and Patrick Cantlay. Where are you going? I'll tell you. I woke up, and I don't think he's going to do this, but I think because of J.J. Spawn's shoulder injury, because if I compare Akshay's season at 24 to Ben Griffin's season, you're not going to see hardly any difference. Akshay 10 top 20s, including a win, four top tens total. You know, Ben Griffin had four top tens total. Nine of 25 events, he top 25, but he had six missed cuts, five top 40s or worse.

His best finish in those last five tournaments was a T-42 at FedEx. Like, I would go young guys. I would take this opportunity to just put Jackson Coyven in. I would take this opportunity. I think Bridgman maybe earned it with the Tour Championship. I think you actually have to tip your cap to him. And Bridgman's only 26. So I think about Bridgman, I put Coyven in.

And boy, you know, you got to look hard at Akshay. I just, Akshay missed eight cuts this year. And the driver has been a little bit wonky. He had top 20s at BMW and the Tour Championship. He had a win. Again, four top tens. So that's a young guy who I think you could make the case for, but he's 14th in points. I just would lean in and I'd pick three of Coyven, Akshay, Bridgman.

And I think you've got to give a little bit of a consideration in this moment to Brennan and James. I know they're not going to do it. But Ben James is not even, you didn't mention Thor. Yeah, I think Thor is there. I passed over Thor just because he wasn't up there on the point side of things. but neither was Ben James. I just think Ben James, eight pro events at 23 years old.

He's got four top tens, including a T-4 at Corrales, and third at Wyndham to close the season. He's got as much of a case as Jackson Coyven does, seven pro events, three top 25s in a win since, you know, coming out at the U.S. Open, really. In his previous pro tourneys, as we know, a year ago he'd been four or four top 11.

So I would see him in this moment. The only other person that I could see them pushing hard, there's two. I think it's Ryan Gerard, right, who as we talked about, 27 years old, 10 top 25s this year, six top 10s, including two seconds and a third, third at the Tour Championship. I mean, he just played great in his last six events, gain shots in all categories in the last five of six. That's a guy who's hot and playing well. In my heart, I want to go Gary Woodland because I really feel like it'd be a fun story.

But he had top 20s and eight of his last 16 events. but I think finishing 29th at the Tour Championship maybe lets the captain off the hook on picking him. I would just take this opportunity to put some youth in. We haven't had this in a while. Give these guys some reps. You could have talked me out of J.T. even though J.T. definitely deserves it. I just think you could have talked to me.

You could have said, let's go with Bridgman. Let's go with Akshay. Let's go with Coyven and pick another young guy, Brennan or, yeah, like you said, Thor, somebody like that. put him in the mix and let's just roll it against an international squad that has never really had a chance. Where are you? So my last three are Garard, Akshay, and I'm sorry to say Paddy Ice, Patrick Cantlay.

Really? And the Cantlay element is because of where he ended up on this points list and the fact that he finished T12, second, and T-21 in the playoffs. and it just sets up for a combination of young guys and vets. And if you're I, he's 10 and 4 in President's Cup matches, he is an identifiable American player in the matchplay. He has an identity that's not, you know, one of the slowest plotters on tour who I can't stand to watch.

He has an identity in these matchplay, international and Ryder Cup. And if you're trying to do Rider Cup, you know, dress rehearsal, Patty Ice has got to be in the middle. Yeah, I mean, he gained almost two strokes on approach per round through his last four tournaments. It was just the putter that was awful. So I want his approach play in the alternate shot. I get nervous about the putter,

but I think you're right. I mean, he's been tough in these things. It's just if ever there was a year where you could leave him off and give somebody else a turn, this felt like the one. Yeah. Well, I can tell you. right now that he's on. Yeah. Of course he is. I don't think there's any doubt.

Do you think the Captain Brandt? I mean, you know, if Patty Ice is smelling it, you know, then he's got to be on it. But what that means, so you think next would be Akshay and Bridgman or who? I have Akshay and Garard. I think Garard over the course of the season, you know, that the sustained high-level play, you know, in different, that that serves the goal to me of an infusion of a young player. I would prefer Garard to Ben Griffin. For sure. I mean, to me, they're sort of he had a better season. Equivalence, but right, Ryan played better. And Ryan has some dog. I loved that vignette that was captured where some asshole yelled, get in the bunker on a T-Bour

And he tells him, not in the bunker dog. Yeah. And, you know, I, I like the personality that we've seen out of, um, Garard. You just got a giant check, which got, has to help sort of boost his overall confidence in himself. And I think this is a good stage to get a dress rehearsal out of him. Yeah. I mean, and again, part of the problem with the Nathan idea of let's go pull three or four young

guys is like, there's Michael Brennan at 24. He's got three top 25s in a win. in his last five start, including a T-10 at the BMW. Like, he's got as strong a case of young guy playing well as any of these other ones. And I didn't even have Thor on the list. And Thor's got to win to. So it's hard to sort of pick from that group. I just think if there's something we've learned from Captain Luke Donald, it is.

You got to put these guys in and get them the reps. The earlier you start, the better. That's right. So how do you feel about the six that were, you know, auto-tick? for the U.S. side. If those are those same six end up on the Ryder Cup, how do you feel about that? I feel good about everybody on that list,

except Russell, because I don't love the way that Russell Henley performs in the clutch. But I feel like Sam Burns playing his way on so they don't have to constantly pick him to be Scotty's guy. Scotty needs a guy, and it is Sam Burns. So I feel great about that group. Zander and Goderup, as you said, should be locks. JT.

Obviously, I mean, JT suffered from the injury, right? He only played 17 events. But in nine of those 17 events, he had top 20s. He only missed one cut, and that was his first event back from that back injury. T4 at PGA, T8 at players were his only top tens. But those were big events. And I think if he had continued that course of play over 25 events instead of 17, he absolutely would have made his way to the Tour Championship.

Well, I'm here to tell you, one of your instincts well-founded, Jacob Bridgman is on the President's Cup. I'm announcing it right now. They just showed him. And I'll tell you why. It's the putter. Let me hear it. Yeah, okay.

Okay. It's because he started the season with eight straight top 20s. He had this break in the middle where there wasn't much doing T5 at players, but then he only had one top 20 the rest of the season until he gets to BMW, where he finishes 9th and T4 at the Tour Championship. If I'm Sned's, I love the putter for alternate shot format. I want the best putter on tour on the team, given that he is also demonstrating over these last two weeks that he's in form. He statistically, and I haven't had a chance to update this, for a long time, the first portion of the season, was one of the most accurate drivers of the golf ball.

He was super good in terms of fairways off the tee. I'm 94% certain that I'm getting that right, that, you know, the combination of the putter plus the accuracy. certainly has the length, but that means that somebody, that means Akshay is definitely not on this team. Aksh is not on this team. Aksh is probably not on this team. And the reason Akshay is not on this team is because he was just too inconsistent even with the win this year. And again, he had 10 top 20s and the win at API, but he missed the cut at the Masters

at the PGA and at the Open Championship. Eight total missed cuts this year. And the driver has been awful, awful, awful, awful. And so I think that is the reason to keep him off is in alternate shot format, if he's putting guys behind the eight ball out of the gate. And if he's not having one of his on weeks, you've just got to earn it. And that's a thing that I think a few of these other players, again, J.T, way more consistent week and week out. His floor is a lot higher than Aksh's. For sure.

So that comes down to what we have left is Ryan Garard or Jackson Coivin. Yep. because if you have Bridgman and, yeah, so let's, let's see. I think he's going to go with Gerard, but I, well, we're assuming JJ's off because JJ's shoulder injury is real. He missed the cut at three majors. He had a top 40 at the open, so he did not play well in those big, in those big events. And we're assuming that Ben Griffin, you know, is a convenient leave off because his year was

just not up to par with some of these other guys. Right. So let's refresh and see where others. There's Ogilvy up there talking. So we have at this point right now, Godder up, yes. That's Jacob Bridgman. Okay.

The international side, Nick Taylor, sure. Sung Jay deserves it. Rio Hissatunei deserves it. For sure, he deserves it. There's Patty Ice, okay. Very happy to have Sungay back in the mix. I guess we were. we are for these last picks i mean nico etchevaria not surprising yeah that's a good one

although although nico yeah nico did not do well for us at the bmw when we thought he was he was trending in a great way core let us down a little bit classic president's cup uh yeah we're getting no wild cards here it doesn't sound like from the international side they're just trying to put the best players in they can let's see this is that we're we've got to be down to the last election here for for both sides um and we have it narrowed down to garard and coivan right is it yeah i garard like i'm saying it both ways yeah i know let's just say the g man all right the g man right what will i mean what they do go ahead yeah i i i the g man has a stronger case uh even though he doesn't have a win uh he just t9 t8 and a third of the tour championship in his last six events so and

And again, gain shots in all categories in five of his last six. He's playing very, very well. And this is a tough predicament to be in because you got, listen, he's an under 30 guy. He's 27 years old. So if you're going to make the youth movement about Jackson Coyven, did Ryan, did the G-Man earn it? I feel like he kind of did. That's the problem. I feel like he did.

Anyway, so they're stringing this out. So we'll move on. Um, in other, other, uh, we're going to do some end of season superlatives, but we have a fall season, you know, still in, in front of us after the, the president's cup, this kind of sprint for, for positioning. Um, this season, are there five events or there are four events? We know there's an event in Austin. They'll go to Bermuda. They'll go to Mexico. Um, they'll end at, at, at, um, sea island. What am I forgetting? Are they going to do. No, no, we got, we got eight. We got that we got Asheville. We got. We got to, we got to. We got Asheville. We got Utah. We got Japan. We got Bermuda. We got Vodonté in Mexico.

We got Los Cabos in Mexico. We have Austin. And then we have Georgia, the Sea Island. So the Austin Championship formerly, what was it called? I've already forgotten, house. What happened? Duh, the Duh, the Austin Championship. Okay.

Well, so that I think is going to need a sponsor. It's like when the International Olympic Committee, like when the Russian athletes just have to have the rings, there's no sponsor. So it's just the PGA Tour logo right now in all of the, all of the things. It's great. But yeah, there's eight events. I think the tour is fine with that. I think the tour is fine with that too. I think they might.

You know what? We should talk to the ringer. Maybe the ringer. It could be the ringer event in Austin. I'd love to go down to Austin. Catch some Texas, some barbecue. We'll go to a UT game. We'll get ourselves some bar.

They probably didn't schedule it so that it would not be same weekend as a UT game. Who knows? I mean, you got Formula One down there, too. It's November 12th to the 15th. But yeah, I think, look, the fall, this is the most important fall that has ever existed. And the reason for it is that there are going to be so many changes in 2028 that you have got to be in position at the end of the season, like these guys who just made it through the Tour championship, the guys who made it to the BMW, to make it into. that championship tracked. And so getting into,

first of all, keeping your job is job one, but getting into spots into the top 10 at the end of the fall is going to get you into those early elevated events. Those give you free points, more money,

position yourself. It just matters so much to play well. That's Bridgman's story from this year, is when you start as well as he did, you qualify. And And you go, we got Texas at LSU, by the way, that weekend. So they're not home. Yeah, so they're not home.

So that's fine. But the, this fall is going to matter. And I think we're going to see some guys from who, even guys who maybe, who just played this tour championship, in addition to going to Japan, which Xander sometimes does, which Mark Howe sometimes does. I think we're going to see a few of them play a couple events in the fall, not just a couple over on the DP World Tour. just to stay fresh because this is going to be the biggest year for everybody.

And just as there have been in years past, some really big names on the outside looking in, if you're on the outside looking in next year, going into 2028, there is no pathway for promotion. And so you're going to be stuck. So think of the names that we bid a Bon Voyage as it went from the Wyndham Championship qualifying for the playoffs to the top 70. So these are some names.

Tony Fee now probably should. should play some fall events. I expect to see Brooks Kepka this fall. Yes, you will. I think I think we should see Jordan Speath because there aren't sponsor exemptions waiting, you know, in the wings for the 2028 season. He'll still probably get whatever those exemptions are, those invites where he gets to build up FedEx Cup points by finishing, you know, in the top 30 of those events and getting enhanced points. but that's not so I you know who knows for sure but um he Shane Shane Lowry yeah uh Max Homa Harris English uh these are guys who all Jackson Coyvin himself uh these are guys who finished outside the top 50 who they've got their cards but they're

going to be you know 51 through 60 gets in to those first couple of elevated events so they're going to expect to see the young guys especially come out guns blazing. Like this might be young guy season. Yeah. This is where Michael Brennan put himself on the map with the win at Utah. He's the defending champ at Utah and he put everybody on notice. But look, that could be where Ben James comes out and gets his first win.

Exactly. Who might the kid from you. I can't remember who I'm thinking. and stout. That's the one. We are, we are waveling. We really are. Maybe, you know, Thor gets another one. Maybe Coven gets another one. Yeah. And those guys going against Jason Day and Spieth and home, like, there's going to be real intrigue in the fall because when you look around the corner to 12 months from now, people's fates are going to be very, very different. And some of the old guys will not be able to have

the kind of, you know, Snedd's one down in Myrtle Beach, and that saved his career in a lot of ways. But the only reason he was able to play that event is, right, in a year from now, he wouldn't necessarily be able to get into the events in the way that he has. So there's a lot on the line in this fall, like you said, we're going to see that wave of youth going against some guys who are still scrambling to keep their long-term jobs on the big tour that's going to be there in 2028. Jackson Subur, Johnny Kiefer, Keegan is on the outside.

So what a mix we're going to get. We should get across these events. The last international player, Nate Dogg, the Beezer, Christian Bezadenhout. I like it. Makes some sense. He's got, you know, well, they're saying two top 10 finishes on tour this year. It wasn't a great Beezer year.

But this is where you get, This is where you get into the problem with the President's Cup. The bench is just not deep enough if Christian Bezaden Hood is getting drafted in after a year. I feel like he's played in it before. I'm sure we'll have all of the... Yeah, that's not the issue. Information and records. His best finishes were in some of the opposite field events, right?

I mean, he had a T-8 in Puerto Rico. He had a T-6 in Myrtle Beach. I mean, look, he played okay coming down the stretch here. So I understand why they brought him in. And candidly, he only missed three cuts this season, which is a decent level of consistency. But in the aggregate from a top 25 standpoint, you know, he had six across the whole season.

So this is where, again, for the U.S., you can take some risks. Because what you're thinking about if you're the captain is, who do I have that can beat Christiane Pazadenhoot? And the answer is a lot of fucking guys. Probably a bunch of them. Oh, we're at commercial. So, so we're, they, what a surprise. They're really, you're stringing us out here on this sixth selection by Captain Snedeker.

And will, will it capture our imagination? Who do you think he should pick? Gerard, I think Gerard earned it. You don't think he should pick, you don't think you should pick Coivin. Garard's young. Look how young Garard is. Yeah. No, Coivin needs to do more, right?

All he did was getting in the top 70. If he had made it to the top 50, if he had played great in Memphis and, you know, earned his way into the second playoff event, I could get there. But after his win, you know, it wasn't just a string of dominance. He didn't collect top five. Yeah, I think there was one or two ways to go. It was either you got to go with Gerard and you got to go with Bridgman and Thomas and Camas. or you got to go with three or four young guys to just seat it and give them all that exposure because really on record, I get the Coyven got the really dominant win, but Ben James actually

arguably played better over the course of the same time up on tour. And to your point, there's a bunch of other guys. So if we're not going to just start the posse of guys who start to build the chemistry and learn, then picking one out of the hat is harder. I also think back to Nettaker's comments when Kovin won where he said, listen, it's going to have to be earned. And it sounded like Snedds really was focused on the standings and on the body of work, not just a victory. And by the way, that's why Aksh is not on this team. Akshaw won an API.

But he also missed the cuts. A badass win. And I could buy a signature event at a badass golf course at that time of season. That's why I was kind of bullish. And I like, you know, he's only 24. I will say, I guess there's still a long show. possibility that Ben Griffin could make the team. Sure.

And that would be for the purpose of creating that continuity. Sure. Right. That continuity of Rider Cup, President's Cup, upcoming Rider Cup. You know, does that through line matter? JJ at least had a win this year. Yeah, for sure. Three top tens, including at Truist and Travelers.

So he has a case that he played well. And if he doesn't make it, it would, to me, I think it would just he communicated something about his physical well-being to the team and took himself out of consideration because otherwise I think he would have a perfectly valid case to be on it. I mean, he's 10th. He's 10th in the points. J.T. at 11, Bridgman at 12, Kentley at 13 are already on the team. So he'd have an argument. If he makes it, it will be because he said, I think I can go. If he doesn't make it, it means they talked and he said it would be better for me to rest, give me a break and,

you know, let me get the recovery that I need to get ready for the next season. It is going to be interesting, though. If you leave off Ben Griffin, who's eighth and points, you're going to end up taking a bunch of guys who finished, you know, behind him now in the list of actual, like, the distance between the guys is not that much. much in points, right? Like if you look at like Ben Griffin has 5,200 points, Patrick Cantlay has 4,200 FedEx Cup points, but the difference between Griffin at 8th and Sam Burns at 4th is as much as the distance between, you know, Griffin and Cantlay. So these guys are bunched up a little bit.

But what, here we go, drum roll, please. Here we go. Are you ready? Yeah. These guys get it. The 12th selection by the U.S. I. Jackson Coyvin. Yes. These guys get it. They get it. Reminder, this is a product that is up against college football and the effing NFL, the third week of September, whatever, fourth week of September. And they do get the benefit of some eyeballs because they, to the credit of this format, play Thursday.

They play golf on Thursday and Friday. So they'll get some eyeballs before America shifts. entire all of its attention to America's favorite effing pastimes. I mean, it is playoff baseball season, you know, in that same time frame. But do you want a compelling story? I love it. Put this young stud on a big stage, Nate, Doug. Yes.

House, here's the thing. The international competition that matters is the Ryder Cup. We've gotten our ass kicked the last couple times. You've got to do something different. And thankfully, Thankfully, Sneds made a decision that is going to cost him nothing

because Jackson Coyven going head to head with the Beezer. I love the Beezer. He's a sweetheart of a guy. But like anybody, you can put anybody on the U.S. You put Mark Hubbard head to head with the Beezer and it's a fair fight. So take the pressure off of Coven,

drop him in the mix. Is he doing it for eyeballs? I don't care. He's doing it because we got to do something different. And when you look at the other side of the house on the European side, when it comes to the Rider Cup, it's part of why they've had the success

is indoctrinating these kids early on. It's why you take Justin Thomas over JJ or Ben Griffin or somebody else because Justin Thomas does have some of the culture from those eras in which the U.S. team was winning. So I think this is a great call. I feel badly for the G-man because he played really well. I understand now I really believe more than anything. You've got Bridgman who was the statistical best putter

on tour this year, you've got him paired with Jackson Coivin, who everyone says is the best putter that they've ever seen. And I think when you think about alternate shot format, that there maybe is a method to the madness from Snedz on this. Well, I pulled up his international competition resume, Coivin, because he's been on this, you know, very high stage competing in the highest competitions. He's played in 2022, he played in the junior. President's Cup representing Team USA. He played in the 2024 Arnold Palmer Cup. He played in the 2025 Arnold Palmer Cup.

He played, and I'm not sure exactly who they go up against in that. He played in the 2025 Walker Cup. So that is, you know, the highest level. And now the President's Cup. So that's a pretty good resume in terms of international match play experience. and it probably beats. Now, I'll sit down and do this side by side. It probably beats Ryan Garards, you know, to be honest.

Well, I think it probably, look, yeah, the Arnold Palmer Cup is the AM equivalent of the President's Cup and that they're playing against the rest of the world as opposed to Europe. Okay. Yeah, so Walker Cup is Great Britain in Ireland. Right, exactly. So it's collegiate players, not amateurs. But yeah, I mean, I think you're right, but more acutely, like, what are we doing here? Like we're trying to, this is a 21 year old kid who may be the next stud who got a win in Minneapolis.

Let's go. Like I think it's, I think it is the right decision. I wish, candidly, I wish that he'd put more young guys, but I'll take one because it's so obviously, the team and chemistry part of this is so obviously the formula to success. The Europeans have whipped our ass with that. And so let's start building that now. And from a culture values standpoint, it's not just an NBA All-Star game where you just throw them out on the court and hope that, no, there is something about the continuity. And it's absolutely worth this risk.

I wish they'd taken more. But it does light a fire, I would think, under somebody who was left off like Ryan Garard, like Akshay Batia, like Ben Griffin, who'd been in it. And all of those guys, I mean, you know, some of the names that were. talking about playing for positioning this fall the homie homa covered himself with glory in both the rider cup and the president's cup you know the rider cup in rome he was one of the standout performers there i'm sure he would love to play well enough to earn his way back for the rider cup right yeah i i just jordan spieth is not on an international team for the u.s i mean he didn't earn it doesn't i mean this It doesn't deserve it.

No, it's just amazing. I mean, Brooks Kepka, not on this team. Like, it's a pretty interesting changing of the guard moment. And I look, for me at the end of the day, the reason that you give this to Bridgman over guard is Bridgman won at Genesis, huge tournament. Biggest big boy. Field, big boy golf course. I think it's a, I think, I think SND's did really well here.

I'm pleased with the outcome. Well, Nate, dog, we're going to have a chance to break it all down even further here on We're taking a little bit of a break, as is the entire golf world, to get ready for this President's Cup at Medina in Chicago. But we will be back the week before to give some preview, some thoughts, some potential wagering angles for sure. I mean, you know, are we just going to flat out lay it with the U.S. team. They are enormous favorites. I saw as high as like minus 380, something like that. I'm not sure where it is right the second.

but we will have all those things mapped out. And look, use this break wisely, my birdie buddies. It is golf season. I will share a story of my recent visit to Los Angeles and some sit-down time I got with none other than Larry David. Hey, dog. Yes, I got some uninterrupted time with Larry David. We'll show her that story in the upcoming Fairway Roland.

But get a peg in the ground, and please, let's all him straight out there. Must be 21 years older, older, and present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino, or 18 plus and present in D.C., Kentucky, or Wyoming. Gambling problem. Call 1-800 Gambler or 1-800, My Reset, M-Y-R-E-S-E-S-E-T. Call 188-7-8-9-77 or visit ccpg.org slash chat in Connecticut or visit MD Gamblinghelp.org in Maryland. Hope is here. Visit Gambling helpline, MA.org or call 800-327-50-50 for 24-7 support in Massachusetts or call 1-8777.7.5-0 for 24-7 support in Massachusetts or call 1-8777. 8-8-hope-N-Y or text hope-N-Y in New York. For Louisiana, call 1-877-770-8667.