Fairway Rollin' - Spicy Match Play Pairings, Top WGC Picks, and Phil’s Calves | Fairway Rollin’

Episode Date: March 26, 2019

Joe House is joined by Chris Vernon to discuss this week’s Tiger Woods news and the new course at the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play event, and then later offers his top four picks for the weekend (3:00). Then The Ringer’s Megan Schuster drops by to hit the panic button on Patrick Reed’s swing, marvel at Phil Mickelson’s calves, and highlight the spiciest matchups in the Match Play event (44:00). Host: Joe House Guests: Chris Vernon, Megan Schuster Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, welcome to The Ringer Podcast Network. This week on The Ringer.com, it's 1999 movies week. Already up on the site, we've released parts one and two of the top 50 movies of 1999. And later this week, Shea Serrano is writing about The Matrix. Andrew Goudadarro is writing about cruel intentions. And Rob Parvilla argues why being John Malkovich is the best movie of that year. You can also check out the Big Picture podcast to hear Sean Fennacy, Amanda Dobbins, and Chris Ryan share their top five favorite movies from 1999.

Check out those articles on the ringer.com and listen to the big picture wherever you get your podcasts. Hello, friends. To this podcast unlike any other. What a celebration. We are here. I love using that gym dance voice. We're just a handful of weeks out from the Masters itself. You've made it, my friends.

Welcome to Fairway, Role! The new golf podcast. on the Ringer Podcast Network. I am your starter. Joe House. This broadcast is brought to you, presented by our outstanding pals at Callaway Golf, the makers of the Chrome Soft Golf Ball,

which includes the Chrome Soft Truviz, that none other than former president, George W. Bush, used to make his first ever hole in one. This was last week he took a picture. He used the black and yellow true viz. And I have to tell you, my birdie buddies, I hope Alan Shipnuck of golf.com,

golf journalist extraordinaire was paying attention. Alan keeps complaining on Twitter about not having any holes in one. Hey, Alan, buddy, I'll send you a couple dozen of these black and yellow Callaway true viz and maybe you could hit one of them into the hole. Anyway, we've got a great show today, my par saving pals. We are previewing all things WGC match play down in Austin, Texas. Verno gives out some insane final four picks. I give out some more credible final four picks.

We're probably going 0 and 8, but we ask you our faithful listeners here, Fairway, Roland, give a listen to our picks and tweet at Berno or I or both, us and let them know how many of our let us know how many of our eight picks we got right whoever gets closest is going to get some golf balls from us going to be some of these calaway true viz maybe alan ship neck will participate of course shoostee is here with some golf social some delicious batch ups phil mickleson's calves and patrick reed is in search of something the first tea is open let's walk over with our good pal chris vernon and now on the Chris Vernon.

Yo, Verno. I can't believe that the week I take the favorite and I've one stroke back going into Sunday and the odds were bad.

I knew. But how is Dustin Johnson plus three on a Sunday? In my wildest dreams, I thought that was locked up out. And sure enough, at the vows

far. Dustin Johnson goes plus three and does not end up taking home the trophy. I can't believe it. So we gave out, you gave out both Dustin and who gave out two, Bubba. Yeah, and Bubba actually was right. I thought I had a chance. Right there.

Well, he did have a chance. I gave out Stenson. So, you know, not our best. Kudos to Paul Casey. That's a legit back to back. And he stared right down. the barrel of DJ and said, you know,

bring it on. And then, you know, he was completely unfazed by it. What do we attribute DJ's completely lackluster plus three? Not a birdie in the round, Berneau, not one birdie out of DJ.

It was so ridiculously out of character. I have no idea what to make of it. Right? Because it's just, you know, listen, these guys, every single week, we're seeing this house when you will watch them and they look like the most dominant guy on earth

and that has certainly been true of he and Rory McElroy and then every once in a while they, I don't know, I think they were so used to them being extraordinary that when they play like 99% of the guys out there, it becomes shocking,

but it shouldn't be shocking. Inevitably in golf, there are going to be days where you're plus, three. Like you just didn't have an amazing round. This is relevant because we're sitting here in the position now wanting to prognosticate a little bit forecast what will transpire at the WGC event down in Austin, Texas. This is the match play event, the only event on the calendar that is that match play format. A very, very fun format.

Nice innovation by the tour sticking it right in the middle of March Madness. So everybody's got bracket on the brain. And I think this format that they've arrived upon where every single player is guaranteed three matches. So the folks that actually attend the event get to see their heroes for at least three matches and the TV viewing public gets to see their heroes guaranteed for three matches. That's smart as well. The interesting thing so far to me based on, you know, the change in venue, this Austin golf course, a lot of quality champions at this place. I mean, a lot of guys with pedigree. We're talking about major winners.

And there's also been this trend of guys who have won on tour in the year that they go out and win this WGC match play event. Now, that's just setting the stage on this because what we always talk about first and foremost, as you know, Verno is this week in Tiger Woods. Tiger, Tiger, Tiger. So here we are. He took a week off. He kind of messed around a little bit at the players after, you know, he pulled out of Arnie's tournament with the next strain.

And then he came out to the players and he was, he was a little, you know, little plus, little minus. He enjoyed a chuckle with Kevin Nah. How would you describe your expectations? for Tiger this week and this matchplay event? Hard to know because it's a new course, so we don't have some kind of great history with him being there.

The other thing is he used to be, I mean, you know, we always hang on to, you know, our greatest memories, but it used to be certainly in the early 2000s. When you got into these matchplay things with him, you were dead. And there was that intimidation factor, which we've talked about no longer really exists,

whether it's in the big tournament or whether I think it's like a match play situation like this. He doesn't carry himself that same way anymore. And obviously he doesn't have that. I feel like a lot of these guys, it's kind of like when Mike Tyson was in his prime, he felt like these guys had lost before they ever walked into the ring. Sure.

And that's what it was like. and I just don't, it's not that when it comes to match play. And obviously, the last time that we saw him in this situation is kind of a haunting memory of that, you know, it ended the season so awesome with that win coming off of being, you know, flooded with fans at Bell Reeves, and then he wins there at the end of the year, and then the Ryder Cup was a disaster. Yeah, well, and, you know, hopefully, let's just get this out. I'm going to repeat it every chance until the next Rider Cup planning committee convenes.

We cannot be competing the Ryder Cup on foreign soil a week after, less than a week after the tour championship. You've got to figure it out powers that be. And the television dollars, NBC, hey, NBC, get in touch with your pals at the Royal and Ancient and at the USGA and remind them how important. those sponsorship dollars are that TV money is. It was a disservice to everybody who enjoys the Rider Cup to have our boys flying on an airplane from Atlanta across, you know, to two different, three different time zones to Paris, France, and expect, you know, great results out of that team. Tiger just wanted to sleep.

It was apparent from the entirety of the experience. Now, having said all those things, I'm going to repeat this. every time we talk about the Ryder Cup on this show. Having said all those things, we take no indication of Tiger's frame of mind, his match play capacity. He is the OG. He's 33 and 10 in this event.

And even with, you know, he put up a valiant fight, by the way, against John Rom on that singles Sunday. It was the best golf he could muster. Now, Rom won the match on like the 17th hole or so.

16th or 17th, but, you know, Tiger did all that he could. Tiger still has a winning singles record at the Ryder Cup. He's 4-2-2 in singles matches, and he's 33 and 10 in this particular match play thing. So he's a, he's a singles match play OG. I just wonder, go ahead, go ahead, talk to me. We did forget, we did forget one thing. We forgot about the unbelievable. Tiger versus Phil, which he did not.

He didn't destroy Phil in that thing either. And I know that was true. But, yeah, again, he looked like he needed some sleep. He wanted the season to be over. He looked like he was still suffering from a little bit of that turkey, turkey overdose. He had some triptophan working. I understand that because so did I.

So did I. I don't blame the man. But, you know, you're right. I hope you're right. I hope he like that this is just the, that it wasn't. didn't used to be the format for him, but that this is still the format for him that you don't want to see him in your bracket

and you don't want to have to face him heads up. I hope you're right about this. I just, it's been a while since he felt like you were staring down the barrel of a gun. How about this? I don't think I'm right. I mean, I don't think we're going to see the OG. I think he's using this. He knows it's a guaranteed three matches on a course

that some folks have likened to Augusta because of the speed of the greens and the slope of the greens, the topography of the greens, is such that it does give a faint impression of Augusta. And honestly, that's my best guess as to why he's playing this event is, again, to keep getting that rust off

to make sure that he's healthy. He's really just working towards one thing, and that's Augusta, Georgia, in two weeks. Well, I'll say this. I do think he wants to get the rounds in. I also think that when he was winning this thing, you know, three times in a short amount of time 10, 15 years ago, I just feel like if you would have seen the draw

and you would have seen the rookie of the year in his bracket, you just said, oh, that guy, he's moon-speat, right? The guy's probably going to try to get his autograph. Whereas now, rookie of the year goes in there, and you're like, hey, I don't know, man. I'm not so sure that. Yeah, I'm with you. you. I'm with you. Well, so let's set modest expectations. Do you think that he wins his group?

He's in a group with Patrick Cantley, Brantznetter, and you mentioned Aaron Wise, the rookie of the year. Nice Callaway guy, by the way, Aaron Wise. Those are the other three guys in his pod, group 13. Do you think that Tiger wins his pod? I would not bet on it. Wow. Okay. That's a stay away from Verno. Stay away from Tiger advancing out of his pod. I'm with you. I'm with you. possible to pick, by the way. This thing is so, you know, much like you were talking about, I was kind of like the NCAA tournament. It's also like the NCAA tournament

in the sense that it's entirely random, right? You're talking about a very, you're talking about how do you play within X number of holes the same way, it's like, all right, you got 40 minutes. And sometimes the ball

rolls out if you're central Florida or you miss a wide open three at the buzzer in the first round versus Auburn. And now those teams very well may be like final four teams, but they were just, I mean, you know, their opponents, they had them dead to right possibly. And so I feel kind of the same way. It is so hard to pick this thing because it just feels like, all right. And I know that Bubba Watson, I mean, did he ever say anything positive by,

the way. I was reading his quote this morning and he's like, it's a miracle if I win this thing. And actually, I think it's kind of stupid the way the format is. I'm like, geez, man, you're such a freaking Debbie Downer all the time. I love him. I love him. He just does him. Bubba doing Bubba at all times. Never change. Just be your authentic. Whatever pops in your head, Bubba, let it out. I mean, here's the only thing we know that's predictable about this tournament. the winner is going to be a high class, high pedigree winner. Here's your last five winners. Bubba last year, DJ the year before that, Jason Day the year before that,

Rory in 2015, and Jason Day back in 2014. Those are all major winners, major performers on the major stage, high pedigree guys. Now, the runners up in some of these years have not been that high quality. probably beat the pants off Kevin Kisner last year. So you have that kind of, you know, dichotomy, right? You have on the one hand somebody that could get hot. And part of the thing to remember here also, Verno, this is kind of a marathon.

You have to win seven matches to win this thing because you go through your first three. You advance to the round of 16, you know, 16, 8, final four, and then you have to win the final day. That's, you got to be prepared for a lot of golf. So it's got to be somebody that's fresh enough. That's why somebody like Paul Casey, I don't have going very far because we know that guys that win one week going into the next. And it's a short week for him. He won Sunday and he's coming out on Wednesday to play more golf.

I'm just saying I'm not. And I think Paul Casey will be fine. I'm just saying he's not on my pick to win. But let's go ahead. Now we're going to do final four. We're going to, you and I agreed before. we got on here today that we would try our best to give out a final four. This is going to be the Callaway Epic Flash final four picks of the week.

And as you know, Verno, Callow, Calloway deployed innovative flash face technology that was created by using artificial intelligence. That's the best kind of intelligence. That's the kind that works best with me. And machine learning, that's much better than Joe House learning, to promote faster ball speeds, Calaway continues to have the most PGA tour driver wins of any brand. In fact, just this past weekend, uh, wins on both the LPGA tour and the web.com tour.

And this is a cool stat. Both of those wins were by non-staffers. So you have non-Calaway people continuing to put this epic flash driver into play. The Calaway Epic Flash, the most worldwide tour wins of any driver ran in 2019. You got one, Verno. Did I get you one? I don't have the flash yet. Oh, we're working on it.

It's in progress. I got one. I'm in Mexico. I'm putting that thing to use. I'm still killing the rogue. With good reason, because the rogue, I'll go far. I love the rogue.

And you know what? Calloway has a bunch of tour guys still using the rogue as well. So we rep the rogue. We like the rogue. But the epic flash is where it's at. This adoption by all the non-staffers, I think it's double digits now across all the professional tours of non-Calaway people that have been playing this thing putting into use. Anyway, go ahead. It's absolutely true.

The other night I was at an NBA game and a guy stopped in the hallway and I thought I was certain he was going to ask me about some NBA thing. And he was like, do you have that epic flash yet? And I was like, I have a got what yet. And he goes, I got it. And he goes, that is the most unbelievable driver. That's true story. Guy stopped me in the hall. Now, the beginning of the sentence was when he stopped me, he said that he had found my driver.

This true story. I had, years ago, I had this old Nike driver, and I cursed loudly and threw it, and it stayed in a tree. how long ago was this? It was last summer, last summer. Oh, a year ago. Yeah, a year ago. Prior to the road. I mean, that Nike belonged to the tree.

You know, for whatever reason, I could hit the thing. So it's like one of those, you know, when you see these guys, you know, when you see these guys, they'll say like, what's in their bag? And it'll be like, you know, you can get on eBay for five. bucks or Tommy Fleetwood won with a pair of Nike blades that you could buy for 150 bucks. I got it. I got it.

It was almost a nostalgic thing. But anyway, that nostalgia wore off and it came where I couldn't hit it. And I myself was in match play between one of my buddies unfortunately a significant amount. And I

got so mad that I threw it in the tree. And so this guy stopped me and then told me that he had he had found my driver at this golf course. And he asked me if I wanted it back. And I was like, no, give it. Like, no. I don't want it back. And that's when he went into this monologue about the epic flash and about how it's the greatest drivers that ever had in life.

And I was like, well, I'll be. What a promo. A smart man. Very, very smart man, Bruno. Well, let's proceed on the heels of that into some, some, uh, some prognostication here. Why don't you give your final four, and then I'll share mine.

All right, so I want to get you, I want to see what you think about this line of thinking. So the first thing I did was obviously I was looking at all the odds, and then I was looking at all groups, right? Because the odds are going to reflect, probably what kind of draw these guys got and who's going to have to face who.

That being said, I also wanted to look at, we're winding down to the master, right? Yes. So who needs this badly? I get that it's a WGC, and I get that there's tons of money on the line. But you've got to be in that top 50, and the only other guy, assuming he does not already have an automatic qualifying,

that's going to get into the Masters is somebody that wins that last tournament, Texas, right? That's right. So now you've got to, there's these guys that are like right on the outside looking in, and it's pretty good names. Jim Purick, it's Russell Knox, it's a pun-on, it's Lee Westwood,

Luke List, and I think he was the last guy to get in the field Luke List was. And so I'm like, well, how much, you know, do you buy that? If I'm using that line of thinking, like, okay,

for some of these guys, this batters a lot for, because they really want to finish. Some of them need to finish in the top four of this. in order to be able to get that slot to the masters. Do you buy that? I do buy it,

and I look specifically at one of those names you mentioned, Jim Furich, because he is not to jump your narrative, in the so-called, you know, the real genuine group of death. I mean, his pod is absurd. It just worked out that way. It's Jason Day, Phil Mickelson,

Henrik Stenson, and Jim Furik. And honest to God, you know, I have no way of distinguishing among those four guys. I guess, you know, based on current form, recent form, Mickelson has looked a little lost. Stenson is showing signs. Jason Day finished inside the top 10 at the players. And obviously, Furek finished second at the players and then acquitted himself nicely down at the Valspar. but out of that group, Furek is the most motivated

to go try and play his ass off. I think he has to win at least twice in his pod or maybe win the pod to crack the top 50. Well, we just saw him a couple of weeks ago, throw a 60-something up on the weekend. And we know that this golf course, this golf course,

while it has a reputation of, you know, bombers can have a good time there. You don't necessarily have to be a bomber to perform well, you know, case in point Kevin Kisner last year. Yeah. So I'm thinking like, all right, who is, who is built for it? And then I'm kind of looking at their bracket. I'm going, all right, who's going to get picked off?

I got a little worried that Alex Noren is in his bracket. I know we talked last week about how we have this concerned about we need Brooks Keppka eating cheeseburgers. But we've also talked about. his odds are long at this. Yeah. The odds, I mean, usually don't get kept like this.

And so he's got the long odds, but maybe it's for good reason. But one of the things we've talked about is his tendency to get bored. And what can alleviate said boredom? And that is having to go heads up with somebody. I do think that this is the kind of thing where it's like, all right, now it's the person of the guy who wins and who loses.

and I like guys in those particular spots, I like the ones that I feel like are built for it. Like heads up, they're ready to go up against you and they really want to win. So in terms of I was trying to find long odds because I tried the long odds and then I tried the short odds and now I went back to the long odds

and I'm like, I'm kind of in these groups. But I kind of think he can get out of his group and obviously that's the first thing to do. the other one was when Bubba said what he said, which is the miracle if I win and he was so down on the format. Now watch,

he'll probably bangle everybody. But there was something, I mean, I guess obviously when you hear Austin Country Club, maybe that is what persuaded me a little bit, but I'm like, what if, why is Jordan Speeath like a million to one?

I know he has played like crap. But if the guy is ever going to get a, Back Together House, wouldn't you think Austin Country Club is a place? And I always liked him as a guy that like, all right, it's me versus you now who's going to win. Like, I do feel like he's the type that he keeps standing over a 25-foot putt to beat me. Like, I'm still worried. I'm still worried. Like, I do think he's that kind of guy. We've been waiting for him to show up at this venue is a quarter finalist back in 2014, but he's only come out of the group stage once in the last four years. And that was at the height of his powers a few years ago. This version

of him, I just, you know, he's a, he's a stay away for me. And again, again, I say he's built for it. And then it's in my head that like, oh, he's built for it. And it's like somebody like Rory's not that I watch Rory, you know, stare down the barrel and just. just bangle people every week now. So, like, I don't, and Ricky Fowler, too, for that matter, right? Yeah, yeah. Like, these are guys that, these are guys that I thought, oh, he's not a 25-footer to beat me. He ain't beat me.

Right, right. But by the way, he's playing in Austin. This guy is a, he's a Texas legend. I know, I know. If he's ever going to get it back together, if he's ever going to, like, reclaim his spot as one of the great players in the world, don't you, feel like it would be at the Austin Country Club? I mean, of all things. He has a ton of familiarity. He has a huge track record of playing there. He's played there a million times. He's super

familiar with it, but it hasn't helped him in years past. Now is exactly the time for him. It would be great for the story. You know, I'm always rooting for a great story to have him show a sign of life right before the Masters because that just amps up how juicy the Masters would be. Okay, so I know he's a big favorite. I know he's amongst the favorite, but I thought Thomas got a great pod in terms of advancing. I mean, Keegan Bradley hasn't won a match since, like, 2012 or 13,

and the other two guys have never even been in it. And so I do like, again, you're just trying to get out of that first one. And so when I'm looking through them, and I'm looking at strength of player versus the other three guys, how much do the other three guys concern me about beating them heads up? And Speeth, by the way, is in Bubba's. So that'll be extremely interesting, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So you've said three names so far. You said, are you? Kepka, Spee, Thomas. Okay. Who else did I write down? Well, yeah, there's got to be one more. I'm looking at the regions. Okay, Poulter, because he can, now, look at the region.

There's Poulter because he's 40 to 1. Guys got a 33 and 10 record. And you know in these match plays, like he's the kind of guy you play against. And like he hits a putt and he's like, you know, humping the green and going crazy. I mean, I don't think he's an easy got to play against. He's got, he's so electric. So Poulter, he's in the same region as Kepka. So you have to choose Cheeseburger or singles, you know, match play champion.

Match play greenshomper. so I like I feel like Kepka I don't know man I just feel like he's not going to get bored and I actually think that if the the humping you know going wild

barking and yelling and the crowd going crazy whatever that's just going to piss him off more and I fake him even less forward well here's the thing my concern with Kepka I'm fading Kepka

and I'm fading them for two reasons one because I'm petting all my guys I'm a petty son of a bitch and he went out and he had a lackluster players championship. And then we found out after the fact that he'd gone through this weight loss regime and no cheese burgers and all that. So first of all, I'm petty. So I'm not picking. I'm fading him because I want to punish him. But I also don't have any assurance that whatever is going on physically is far enough in his rear view mirror.

Now, it was supposed to be the case that you were supposed to. to enjoy his first cheeseburger a week ago from today or yesterday, whatever, you know, a week ago, I don't know whether it was a good cheeseburger or not, Verno. So I'm staying away from the guy that doesn't know where his body's at or where his strength is at. I'm fading him. Oh, give you a break. How's your getting into the quality of the cheeseburger?

The point is he ate it. That's what we needed. Do we know that he ate it? I didn't see a picture. Where's the proof? We just need him to regain his powers. And he was talking shit to Phil Mickelson about his calves on Instagram. I love it.

Well, Phil Mickelson's calves are the ninth wonder of the world. And Megan Schuster and I are going to break down those calves and the commercial that the fake commercial he just shot because I can't get enough. It is the single most important aspect of his game at this point. So you're going to do. I will say, I will say the, one thing I worry about Poulter is the group is Kisner Mitchell and Tony Fee now. Because I like Fee now, but, I mean, listen, Poulter's record is pretty stellar.

You know, and he's been playing well. Yes, all those things are true. Yeah, Poulter, you can't sleep on him in this event. Let me pull up the record real quick here. I have it sitting here. 33 and 10, right? Oh, I'm sorry, 28 and 14. Is that right?

28 and 14. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I've got it. Pretty good. Pretty good. I think this and you eat cheeseburgers. I don't care about the quality of it. So, all right,

Brooks, Thomas, Molinari, I had down as a guy to look at. He was 5 and O with the Ryder Cup, right? So, I mean,

I just saw him, and maybe I know you made every excuse in the world for Team America, but Molonari was good. That didn't change. Yeah, Molonari went out there and kicked ass,

and I'm not going to do anything to diminish. what Molinari did. I will say, yeah, look at Poulter, 27 and 15. He won it in 2010. He won it in 2010 and Final Four,

two other times and a quarter finalist last year. Ian Poulter is made for this. So I'm fine if you want to ride him a little bit. I kept knocking him out. So I can have Speed Thomas, correct?

It does not have to be the final. Yes. That can be the final. No, no. Yeah, you can have to be Thomas. That can be the final. If that's the final that you like, you can have that. That's the thing.

Okay. Those are the two buddies. The two buddies in Austin, Texas. What a story. Well, I'm going in a slightly different direction. I'm riding this trend of non-U.S. players. We are on a streak here, Verno, of non-U.S. born players winning these events.

We have Paul Casey. this week. We had Rory McElroy the week before. My man, Frankie Molinari, the week before that, that's three in a row. It's fairly unprecedented to have four non-US players win in four consecutive weeks. But here's my final four for this event.

Here's the reason I'm worried about Justin Thomas. I like him quite a bit. I wanted to put him in the final. But the region that he's in has Jason Day, Tiger Woods and Rory Macaroy in it, and I'm not going against Rory McElroy until further notice. There's just nothing that anybody's going to say to me

to make me think. Now, it does set up in that region to be a beautiful, glorious rematch of the Ryder Cup, Justin Thomas, against Rory McElroy to advance to the final four. I have those two together. That's delicious, but I'm just not going against Rory with the form that he's in right now.

But I, so I have. By the way, by the way, Rory, DJ, all of these, again, I'm looking at the odds when I'm doing this. Yes. And of course, those are the best players in the world. I was just trying to find people that are longer shots. And I know Thomas is aren't that great. Those other guys were to leave. I'm with you.

Because I think that the format is worse. I mean, golly, it's taken short odds in this format is death, I think. Death, death. Roy's the only one that I have advancing to the final four, and I'm not giving him out as a winner. My other three guys to round out this final four, Frankie Molinari at 25 to 1. I agree with you on this idea of Rider Cup mojo carrying him through.

He has no problem going mono-imano with anybody. He came out with his brand new Calloway Golf Clubs at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, put a 64 on the whole field. I love where Frankie Molinari, Frankie Onions, as we like to call him, Frankie Chipola, that's the Italian version. I also like my boy, John Rom. I just like the form that he's in,

available at 20 to 1 to win the whole thing. I have him in that final four, advancing in a region that features Xander Shafley and Sergio Garcia and Dustin Johnson. Now, I'm fading Johnson for two reasons. one, I believe that he's going to have his hands full against Hideki Matsuyama out of his own pod. And his own pod also has Brandon Grace, who has kind of a sneaky, he can get streaky inside of a match play format.

We've seen it before. So I have Ram going up against Matsuyama and then Ram advancing into the final four. That runner up finish Ram had a couple years ago was impressive. I just don't think DJ cares enough. And that's what I attribute that Valspar thing to. It's like he just shows up. He's got whatever game he's got. He's not going to, he's unflappable.

He's not going to be disappointed if he doesn't, you know, make every put. And if he doesn't make every putt, then he can get bounced. So I just want to go against the chalk a little bit with that one. So I have John Rahm in there at 20 to 1. Rory's my only chalk. He's in there at 8 to 1. Frankie Molinaria, 25-1, and then I have in this region where you were looking at Tony Fee now, and you were looking at Brooks Kefka.

The guy that I have coming out of that region, Verno, none other than Louis Oostezen. Don't sleep on Louis. The runner-up, by the way, at the most recent tournament played on the PGA tour, the Valspar, he went out and shot two under to grab second place alone. Louis Oosteis and available right now at 40 to one to win the event. And he has a terrific track record in this event. Now, listen to Louis's credentials here. So, Verno, listen to this, 19 and 10 in this match play event.

He was the runner up at this venue, Austin Country Club, to Jason Day in 2016, and a quarter finalist on two other occasions. and his road to get to the final four here is only loaded with guys that I think he can stare down, look in the barrel of the gun and take out. Now, he has Fleetwood in his pod. So Oostezen could lose right out of the box because Tommy Fleetwood has both a decent, you know, match play, singles kind of record and is in form, as we've observed. but I just like Ooste Hazen's 40 to one odds here

and I think his track record of success at this particular venue tease him up well so he has to face down Tommy Fleetwood to get out of his pod and then he's up against Fienauer Kevka and then he's up against Frankie Onions oh no that would be in the final four and then he's up against whoever's that comes out of that Bryson D. Shambo thing so I like Oostezen

I think his path, none of the names that I just mentioned are names that blow me away. I will say Tommy Fleetwood could poke a hole in this whole thing and blow it up. But those are my final four. John Rom, Roy McElroy, Frankie Malinari, and Louis O'Sizam. All right. Then I've got a, the one pod that I've got to change is I've got to change the one that's got DJ as the one seed. Yeah. Because I've got, I've got Steve Thomas, Kepka, and then in that top pod, that's where you're

going ROM. You know what? I'll take a flyer on Westwood. What? Now look, you talked about guys that need to do something to stay in the top 50 to play in the Masters. That gets me my guy, because I mentioned him earlier, that gets me that guy that needs to be, if he gets to the Final Four, he gets the Masters. Okay. So one last hurrah from Lee Westwood, huh? There you go. Lee Westwood. I mean, that's, those are long odds. What are his odds to win? Do you have that handy? I don't. I don't have

Westwood. No, no, hold on. I'll pull it up. Probably 3,500 to 1, right? Now, look, he is, Lee Westwood, 17 and 19. What he is is a match play veteran.

This is his 18th start. He was a semi-finalist back in 2012, but as you say, he's got to do something. Now, look who he's got to face down. That means if he's going to come out of his pod, that's Dander Shafley, Rafa Caboio,

who had a good run. a couple years ago. I'm out on Rafa by the way. He screwed me in the players championship. Tyrell Hatton, who's been good in this match play event before. And then in the other pods that Westwood's going to have to conquer

Sergio Garcia and then if he comes out of the one. Now we don't think anything about Patrick Reed. Patrick Reed has his wife reaching out to swing coach gurus to help him with the swing. And then Johnson and Matthew. Let me go. Let me go.

ahead and tell you and the listeners that this is the first year and probably three or four years for the NCAA tournament that I have not lost a final four team or a eventual national champion that I had picked in the first round. Whether it was Virginia, Michigan State, whoever, right, over the last three or four years. This is the first year that I've gotten them right for the NCAA tournament. I still down to the Sweet 16 have all my final four teams remaining. That being said, I think it is probably going to carry over to golf. I fully expect all four of my guys. All four of them are going to get knocked out in the first round.

So I in no way am endorsing anybody, right, taking these picks. For anything other than fun, if they are right, I'm going to brag my ass off. And if they are wrong, I'm going to say, it's match play, it's impossible to pick. And I tried guys with long off. Listeners beware. He went Westwood, Thomas, Speeth, Kepka. Listeners beware.

Verno's already disclaiming his picks. House went Matsuyo. No, wait a minute. House went Ram, Macalroy, Molinari, Oostazen. Those are your Callaway Epic Flash picks of the week. Hey, Verno, we'll reconvene and see how we did. I'll talk to you next week.

All right. Listen, with that's eight guys, they're all different, right? All different. They're all different. eight different guys on how many final four we get right we've got eight pick we'll set that as another bet that we can let the listeners go in on and maybe we'll give out some callaway for it i have these beautiful chrome soft truevis golf balls maybe we'll do four so those are eight

names tweet at us tweet at verno or or you know uh you're at chris vernon right at chris vernon show yeah at chris vernon show all one word i'm at house from dc We gave out eight names. Give us your over, under, on how many we get correct. The winner, whoever gets closest, we got four dozen Callaway Chrome Soft, Truevis golf balls, maybe like the one that President George W. Bush hit a hole in one with last week. That's what we'll give away. So just tweet at us.

We'll keep a running tally of everybody that came in on this. And we got some golf balls for you to kick off the season. Now on the East Coast, it's time to play some golfer. And how many of that? How many of the final four did we get right? Oh, look, there is definitely going to be a listener, too, that comes at us with zero. You know that. I would.

Well, that means we're disrespectful Rory. No, we can't just, no, you're out. We, we, we, I'm not, I won't tolerate any disrespect of Rory. All right, Verna, we got it. We'll talk next week and see how we did. Thanks, buddy. All right, thanks, huh. My bogey buddies, quick break to share with you a word from our friends at ZipRecruiter.

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ZipRecruiter.com slash rolling. Oops, zipRecruiter.com slash rolling. Let's get this. WWW stuff. Correct, my birdie buddy. ZipRecruiter, the smartest way to hire. And now on the T, Megan Schuster. Yo, Shusty.

House, how are you? I am A-OK. I'm in Mexico. I'm down in Mexico. Myakoba. Shoestie, it's spring break. And I'm in search of one L. Tucan.

I'm down here looking for L. Tucan. Oh, my goodness. Any luck? Well, so far, I've heard that he may be on vacation himself, but he's back. He's supposed to be back on plant this week.

So I'm hoping that there will be a chance encounter. I have a giant wallet full of money that I intend to give him to help compensate, overcompensate for the inglorious injustice that greedy bastard Matt Coocher perpetrated. It required all of social media and all of the worldwide web, the entire internet to come down on Coucher to get his, get his wallet open and squeeze out something fair for El Tucan, who all he did was navigate Koocher around to his first victory in four years. Like way, way to come up off of it. Way to pay it forward there, Kooch, buddy. Anyway, I intend to pay it forward, uh, Shusty, believe me.

Good, good. And I'm happy to hear that L2Kan is on a very, very deserved vacation. He truly earned it. And I'm happy to hear that. Yes. So hopefully you will, there'll be some pictures of he and I embracing, it might be in front of the giant billboard of Couture that they have down there. I can't be responsible for whatever happens in that picture with my hands, whatever gesticulations I might be performing as it relates to Coucher. But I know my arm will be, one arm will be around my boy, L.2 can because he's a man of the people and he deserves it. Yes, I can't wait to see it.

Can't wait to see it on the gram. Well, speaking of seeing it on the gram, how about a little bit of golf social this week? We have an old familiar friend who's made her glorious, not his, her glorious reappearance on the social scene. Please, let's share it with all the Fairway Rollins. Well, House, did you start to feel the earth shift a little bit on Thursday? Because I certainly did. Will Gray from Golf Channel tweeted out Thursday that our good friend Justine Reed

is back in the news. She apparently during or after sometime during Patrick's round reached out to swing coach David Ledbetter to see it's not confirmed if she texted or called. There have been conflicting reports. But apparently at some point during Patrick's round, she had had enough of his swing,

reached out to Ledbetter to ask if he could give Patrick a lesson ahead of the second round. And we're talking about this is at the most recent Valspar tournament where he missed the cut by 123 strokes, right? Yes, yes. So she texted him during the Thursday round, which during which Patrick shot a 77,

so understandable. Apparently they had a session together Friday morning. It didn't really help. Patrick tried a 75 and missed the cut. But apparently they had a second lesson. He stuck around on Saturday, had a second lesson. And he can led better confirmed on a serious XM show

yesterday on Monday, that he is officially joining the Patrick Reed team and they are going to stick together in the lead up to the Masters. I'm holding my belly because I don't want to laugh. I have so much respect for David Ledbetter. And, you know, his, his resume precedes him. His credentials precede him. He's a legendary teacher. But this sequence of events, the piece of this that precedes all of it is Patrick Reed at

the Players Championship observing that he had finally worn out his iron set. He'd been playing Calloway irons that were specifically made for him while he was under contract to Calloway. He is famously not under contract with any manufacturer at the moment. And he finally had beat those Calloway blades up so much that he needed a replacement. He said he worked with the good people at Titleist and came up with something that was such a replica, such a wonderful facsimile of the Callaway clubs that he was playing, that it was a seamless transition. And this was through the first three rounds that the players were he shot in

the 60s. I haven't heard anything further about those tidaless irons, Chusty, since he shot 78 on Sunday, followed up by a 77 at Valspar, followed up by a 75 at Valspar. I don't know if it is the crashman or the tools that's responsible here. But I do know that Calloway's got brand new apex irons out right now, including the four iron used by none other than Frankie Chipola, Frankie Molinari for a hole in one. The first time he put this apex 19, four iron into play in tournament play, he hits a hole in one with it the Thursday of the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

These golf clubs are not used by Patrick, Reed. So that means they are the number one iron on tour. Yeah, Patrick has certainly struggled without those Calloway irons. I will say he's currently tied for 126 in strokes gained off the T, 149th and strokes gained approach to green, 160th in greens and regulation. It's just, he's a mess, truly a mess right now. Those are bad numbers. Those are not good numbers. Really, really bad. And that's after starting the year with five straight top 25 finishes. so hopefully lead better can get things sorted out. But I just.

Well, how about this? Yeah. Oh, I'm just thrilled to have Justine back in our lives. Well, it's time to hit the panic button. And Justine is the one panicking because we're two weeks away from the Masters and he's the defending champion. He gets to go walk in there with his rib-eye dinner, his rib-eye macaroni and macaroni and cheese. Now, by the way, I would never say anything bad about a rib-eye macaroni and macaroni cheese. Oh, absolutely.

But I'm going to say all kinds of bad things about his game. those stats you just walked out are terrible stats for somebody that has aspirations on defending a title at Augusta National and notwithstanding his own familiarity there from his background and his college playing days. You come into Augusta in that kind of form, you go home on Friday night. You just, so the entirety of Patrick Reed's experience at Augusta this coming week may be enjoying this dinner with all these other champions, slapping it around.

for a couple rounds and he's home in his own bed Saturday morning. Yeah, you're right. Justine definitely seems in like saving face mode. Patrick was asked about her decision to reach out on his behalf. He said that he is full confidence in her decisions and, quote, the great thing is we're basically on the same wavelength, her and I, because of that, before I even finished my opening round, I didn't even have to tell her basically to reach out to lead better.

So it sounds like they're potentially on the same page. I don't know if Patrick's just trying to back up Justine publicly or what's going on. But he's got to figure out something fast because that could be a very embarrassing round for him at Augusta. Go team read. Go team read. Go for it. Go team read. That's that's all I can say.

All right. What else do we got? I know there were some something, you know, some legs that made an appearance this week. Yes, yes. Phil's calves, Phil Mickelson's calves are back in the news house, just like we all expected. So Phil's calves initially started getting a lot of attention after the PGA tour decided to allow players to wear shorts during practice rounds and proams. He tweeted out a photo of himself playing in shorts and the world quickly latched on to his very muscular calves house. Extremely like shockingly muscular calves.

So Phil decided to continue his his lower leg tour this week. He tweeted out a video called Phil. Phil Kondo Cavs, which was basically his own personal workout video. During this video, he essentially said that he has calves like Adonis, and he repeated that multiple times. He also said that it was part one of potentially a five-part series. So I'm very curious to see if we have more Phil Cav workout videos to come. Oh, God, I'm praying for it.

It might be the case, Shusty. We might need a new segment on Fairway Rowland this week. in Phil Mickelson's calves. Because we really, we don't have much to talk about with his golf. He's been kind of all over the place a little bit after his win at Pebble Beach. And I have no idea what to expect in terms of the match play. He is in the pod of death, the group of death, along with Furek and Justin Thomas. And who am I forgetting?

Another, oh, Jason Day. An incredible, incredible. That could easily be a final four in this event if these guys were in different regions. and yet they all landed in the same pod, which is obviously a pod anomaly that I'll let the mathematicians responsible for these rankings and assignments explain how it is that those four guys could end up in the same grouping. I think it was just the way the ping pong balls came out of the machine,

but that's a bad draw for all those guys involved there. But yeah, so we're going to pay close attention to Phil's calves, probably more attention to his calves than his golf game. Until we get to the Masters where the sentimental, you know, the sentimentality of Phil at the Masters will take over and we will celebrate him in some pants, hopefully. Yeah, yeah. You never know with him at Augusta.

He could, you know, have a breakout performance and kind of write the ship and the roller coaster that he's been on. Or he could miss the cut and continue this spiral. But either way, we'll have some Phil content hopefully to celebrate. Oh, it goes without saying that we will have full content. He is committed to it. He is a, he, nobody's embraced social for a guy that that's been on for all of five months. Right, right. He's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's social rookie of the year. I mean, he's already wrapped it up as far as I'm concerned. He doesn't have to do anything else to win,

certainly golf social rookie of the year, but possibly social across every single platform, uh, rookie of the year. Um, so I'm in Mexico. Uh, I, I, I, I, I, send a note to you saying let's let's find some spicy matchups here in these first uh these first groupings these first uh pod competitions um and you picked out a handful uh let's go through who you picked out and and and what you like about it yeah uh so the first match that i wanted to highlight uh comes to us this friday so we have to wait a few days um but it's john rom against matt coocher uh this one i'm excited for from a variety of perspac perspectives, both from a personality standpoint and from a golf standpoint. I cannot wait to see how

John Rom does up against Matt Coucher, you know, who has his own personality traits, some of which we've already discussed today. But also from a golf standpoint, John Rom made the finals against Dustin Johnson this event two years ago. He had a top 10 finish last weekend at the Valspar. Coocher is really fun to watch in match play, and he's advanced in this tournament six of the last eight times that he's played and he won in 2013. So I think that one will be really fun and hopefully very competitive. It's a really interesting dynamic because you don't know which of the positive signals that are in the background for these guys will carry the day. Like you just mentioned how hot ROM is. He reached the championship match in his in his debut and then he

didn't win a single group match last year. But he's been crushing the last several weeks on tour, an incredible series of top tens, the 54 whole leader of the players. And, you know, we can't forget his meaningful victory against Tiger Woods at the Ryder Cup, meaningful personally to him. Yes. As a real, like, validation of his golf career, you know, a bucket. opportunity for him that he was able to check off.

So he's got match play chops. Cooch has a look at Cooch has a 24-9 and 3 record. He won this thing in 2013, final four in 2011. And, and, you know, his steady play is, can be a perfect thing to, to ride. So, okay, very well done. I agree. That is a Habanero levy level matchup. My next

group that I wanted to highlight, basically the entirety of group 14, but specifically, I'm basically just here for any match play around that includes Ian Polterhouse. Oh. Just, I'm here for it.

I love watching him play. I love watching him get under people's skin. Obviously, the format that he, you know, completely thrives in. It'll be especially fun that he'll be playing against Kevin Kisner,

who made the finals here last year, Tony Fee now, whose Sunday singles win over Tommy Fleetwood was one of the U.S.'s only highlights at the Ryder Cup last year. So I just think it's a fun all-around group, and I think every match in this group has the potential to be exciting.

Well, I want to be respectful. We didn't even mention Keith Mitchell, who is here on his match play debut, but has been extraordinarily hot, nearly incandescent over the last several weeks. He keeps showing up on leaderboards after winning the super tough Honda and fending off, holding off, holding at bay, Ricky Fowler and Brooks Kepka in that event.

You know, he had 18 footer to avoid a playoff and he sunk it. And since then, just keeps showing up on leaderboard, showed up on a leaderboard at the Arnold Palmer, shut up on the leaderboard at the player. So don't want to sleep on Keith Mitchell. This is a very, very rich pod. Ian Poulter, the OG 27 and 15 match play. Kisner with less experience, but 8,4 and 1 showing good match play chops.

How could you ever say no to Fee now? How you feel like a dummy sleeping on Tony Fee now? He won his individual match, as you mentioned at the Ryder Cup. And he was just chomping at the bit at the Ryder Cup to play as much as possible. I like the OG angle here. And in that vein, I'm going to have an OG meal tonight here at the Mayakoba. I'm going to have a glorious chila quile. That's a breakfast dish.

But I'm going to go ahead and have that as an appetizer with a little shredded chicken. That's some egg. And they do have a beautiful roja salsa. So that's for this pod 14. That's my, that's my chilaquile meal. An OG chilaquile for the OG Ian Polter. Incredible. I love it.

Sounds fantastic. And I think this group will end up being fantastic, too. What else do we got? We have another OG matchup. This one is not quite of the match play level that Ian Polter is. But Phil Mickelson will be playing against Jim Furick on Thursday, which I think this one is mostly just fun to think about in my head, but there are also a few real world stakes.

Fierick's been great lately. He finished second at the players, obviously. He had a top 25 finish at the Valspar this week. And he needs a high finish this week to qualify for the Masters House, which is something that I would definitely love to see. It wouldn't feel right to not have him there. And also, though, Phil has not traditionally been great in this event. I am optimistically hoping that this sort of weird roller coaster season of his

will kind of circle back this week and that his form will come back ahead of the Masters. So this is my sort of optimistic pick, but I think it could be fun nonetheless. Yeah, this is one where it's two old friends. These guys have been playing golf together for 500 years. They clearly like each other. Phil played a big role in the Ryder Cup over in France at Furex request and B. Hess. Hest. Like, this is my margarita match up, right? If I can just do everything in terms of this experience, I'm enjoying down here. I just want to sit back with a beautiful drink, make sure it's getting refreshed. as often as possible.

These guys have played, you know, 200 matches. Phil is 24 and 14 in this match play format. Furek is 1918 and one. Neither one of them have ever won this match play event. Phil's been there 15 times. His best result is twice as a quarter finalist. Furek, this is his 18th match play start. Best result was in 2015.

He lost to Rory in the semifinals. And I think that was the 2015 was the match play event that Rory actually went on the win. So no knock on Furek for that. But this is one where you wonder like this would be one if the tour was able to pull it off and convince the guys. Just put mics on them. Totally. Let the banter be like those not the stilted banter. Right.

Poor tiger and poor Phil had to generate for that silly Vegas thing. Now that that is going to work out. I think that will be fun and funny eventually. They just had to knock the rust off. But let these two guys, two guys who are super comfortable playing together, Phil Mickelson, Jim Furrick, the old guard,

the OGs, go ahead, mic them up. Let's hear what they have to say. Let's hear them, give the needle. I'll sit back. I'll have my margarita and I'll have it on the rocks.

Yeah, this matchup would be completely incredible to have be miced up. I can't even imagine the kind of stories that they would tell. It would also be great, like you said, because if, you know, the full pressure isn't on them to entertain us for the entire day, it would be great to have some little commentary interspersed. It would be really incredible. It would be really incredible.

Okay. You got one more for me? Yeah. Last one. This one is purely, purely narrative-driven as one of the people in this matchup has not been playing well at all this year. But I'm locked in on Jordan Speeith against Bubba Watson on Friday. day. And for a few reasons, for a few reasons. Speed has obviously been pretty much a disaster this year. And so far, I haven't really seen any signs and make me think things are turning around.

However, Bubba, who won this event last year, is coming into it in possibly the most apathetic fashion we've ever seen from a reigning champion. Basically, his whole media tour over the last few days has been a call to eliminate this event altogether in like an anti-match play sentiment. So I'm thinking maybe, maybe, big maybe, if Spieth gets a win here over the reigning champ gets a little bit of his confidence back, maybe this helps him slowly right the ship. Maybe I'm just being a little too optimistic. Well, I'm with you. So Verno actually gave out Jordan Speath as one of his final four contestants in this thing. We tried to come up with final fours. Verno is so narrative-driven. And he feels like he's on a hot streak.

He has entered this Sweet 16 in the NCAA basketball pool with every one of his final four contestants still alive. Wow. An unprecedented condition. So he's just feeling his final four swag. And he gave out, you know, he gave out Lee Westwood and Jordan Speeth. I mean, oh my gosh. Crazy to some.

Now, when, when Verno and I were talking about it, I observe, I love a good story. And I want to believe what Jordan Speath said, which is at the players, he found something with his putting that he feels like he can build on. Okay. We don't have any good signs. I don't think as it relates to his iron play. And that is what has really been letting him down from my perspective. But if you found the putting and the putting works, that's conquering one big issue. And let's go ahead and build on that.

It would be so good on March the 27th and 28th and 29th, two weeks out from Augusta to see a sign of life from Jordan Speath. It's really important for him because I think if he can get just a little bit of that confidence back heading into Augusta where he's traditionally played so well, obviously outside of a few key holes that didn't go his way. But it would be really great to see him pick up a win over a tough opponent here, get a little bit of most. mojo going, play hopefully well at Augusta and maybe finish out the year on a high note. So this is one where it just feels like it deserves a shot. This is a shot of tequila for me. I don't know your particular tequila of choice. I'm going to try and find some La Familia down here. There you go. I know that's something that they feature up in Los Angeles. I was lucky enough to enjoy that at the Bel Air Country Club recently. Not that I rubbed those kinds of shoulders every day in the week.

We'll see what they have down here at mycoba. Shusty, that is a delightful dish, a beautiful set of appetizers as we walk into the Sweet 16 round. Thanks for joining, and I'll talk to you again soon. Talk to you later, House. All right, my fairway friends, there we go. That is Fairway Rollin. Quick reminder, listen to Verno and I give out our eight selections for the final four.

I have four, Verno has four. whoever gets closest tweet at us at chris vernon show at house from dc let us know how many you think we're going to get right you're going to have to do this before tomorrow morning when the thing gets going uh closest to our eight how many we get right out of the eight is going to win four dozen chrome soft golf balls including some true viz that president george w bush ex president george w bush used to hit a hole in one last week uh quick reminder on the show schedule. We're going to get our recap of the WGC match play up quickly Sunday evening. We have to start our master's preparation in earnest. So Sunday night into Monday,

you're going to hear some early thinking on the Masters the following week. Monday, April the 8th, our Masters preview show will be up. Stick around all week long. There will be rigor master's content that entire week, including a master's midweek recap after the Thursday round. That's Thursday, April the 11th. Right after the Thursday round is complete, we're going to give some gut reaction to what we've seen out there. I bet Charlie Hoffman or Justin Rose will be in the lead. And of course, we'll be recapping with a brand new green jacket on somebody's body that I bet $10,000 will be other than Patrick Reed. Patrick Reed's not going to be putting on that jacket again come Sunday night. Somebody other than Patrick Reed will break that show

down and have that recap for you immediately after the Masters. Until then, my fairway friends, let's keep rolling.