Fairway Rollin' - Taking on the U.S. Open With Will Zalatoris and Major Golf Story Lines With Kevin Clark

Episode Date: June 14, 2021

The U.S. Open is upon us and it feels so good! House and Hubbard are joined by The Ringer's Kevin Clark to talk about the major's upcoming story lines, including why golf should embrace beefs like Brooks and Bryson's (02:09). Then they are joined by Will Zalatoris, their favorite to win the U.S. Open, to discuss sizing up the competition and what it means to step your game up for a major (39:09). Hosts: Joe House and Nathan Hubbard Guests: Will Zalatoris and Kevin Clark Producer: Steve Ahlman Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mike and Jesse talk about sports at the sports cards market and how to make money with this hobby on sports cards nonsense. They'll let you know who you should be buying and selling and give you the occasional fantasy football advice. Check out sports cards nonsense on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello friends and welcome to this major golf podcast unlike any other. It is a major week. Some would say the majorist week here on Fairway Road. Oh, Lynn, the Golf Podcast on the Ringer Podcast Network. I am your starter.

My eagle enthusiast, my birdie buddies, my par-saving pals. The U.S. Open is staring us right in the face, and it feels good. I'm so happy about this time of year. We're getting great tournaments coming all together in this gigantic jam-packed 50 event, schedule only one way to kick off the week, my birdie buddies. And that is with, of course, our PGA tour correspondent on the ground, Nathan Hubbard, and joined by the Rigger's own Kevin Clark, who's got a nice story coming up on a couple of B words, a couple of beefy boys, and added bonus this week, my par saving pals. Who's played the majors better than that?

and Will Zalotaurus over the last of four events? Well, I'm going to tell you the answer is nobody. Will Zalotaurus on this podcast, helping us get the week off to the correct start. We're going to go ahead and tee off as a three ball, Clark House and the Nate Dog. The first tee's wide open, my eagle enthusiast, let's get stroken.

All right, boys, Kev Clark, my handsome band, Nathan Hubbard. We're all together. Kav, how you doing, buddy? I am ready for the U.S. Open. I'm ready. I'm so fired up for a major goal. I'm excited for the Bryson Brooks,

whatever you want to call it, feud rivalries to maybe come to a head. I'm excited to see what Phil does is I feel like there's, the thing about this U.S. Open House is when I was looking at the stats earlier and putting my bets in, this is a big guns tournament. There's not going to be a lot of Cinderella's year.

This is going to be the guys we talk about every single week in contention. And that's why I think this might be the most compelling major of the year for me. Wow, I love it. Nate Dogg, how you doing? I'm doing great. Kevin, we got to ask the question. Let's get right to it. We haven't seen the pairings yet.

Is there any way they put Brooks and Bryson together? Well, yes, there is. if they understand where the sport is going and they need to bring this up, right? I mean, this is one of those things where Formula One made an amazing documentary about its sport over the past four years. And if you, you know, listen to Rosilla's podcast or part of my take or any of these places, you understand that Formula One has exploded in popularity because of this documentary. And one thing they did was they made the document. about the elephant in the room, which is some people just don't like each other.

And sometimes there's two dudes of Ferrari who are really upset at each other. And they made entire episodes about that. And that's a sport leaning into it. And golf needs to realize that there are a million reasons to like golf. We love it for a bunch of reasons other than rivalry. But if you want to get an extra layer of intrigue, of the casual fan, of people, I don't know who like golf, people I know who don't like golf getting into it, you have to lean into Brooks rolling his eyes at Bryson or them saying something on the green, you know, where they're just sort of going at each other a little bit in a passive aggressive way. That is an extra layer. And I think at some point you have to lean into the elephant in the room. And that's why I'm interested to see if they do it this week, Nathan. What do you think the answer is, Nathan? Well, we talked about it last week. I think they got to put Patrick Reed on. And then, you got the last two winners and the guy who won a Tory last and just lean in.

It's, you know, there's been a lot of chatter in the golf press about, is this good for the sport? Is it not? We're all talking about it for crying out loud. And they just got to, they got to look the racehorse dead in the mouth and smack it and put them in the same group. It's got to happen. Well, it's not just us. It is, you know, larger than the golf community, the golf commentariat, who I include us among. it is a matter of, you know,

greater sporting public consciousness here the United States of America. Kevin, you have a story coming up this week on the ringer.com about this very interesting phenomena, this moment between Brooks and Bryson. Give us a little preview of what you're thinking, what we're going to see. Yeah, I mean, first of all, golf is not set up for rivalries.

And there's a lot of reasons for that. Number one is that there's no guarantee that these dudes are ever going to face each other in a heated moment. whereas let's just say, okay, Brady and Manning, we knew when the schedule was coming out, when that was going to happen. If it's boxing, we know eventually Packe L and Maywe,

they're going to get in the same ring. Golf's not like that. I mean, first of all, golf, I was thinking about it earlier today. First of all, your biggest rival in golf is yourself, right? Like, imagine. Is this an ad for the PGL, Kev? No, I'd probably an ad for the match five or whenever, whenever these dudes actually go on pay-per-view against each other.

But I just think that, you know, the House and I were joking around before this podcast about, you know, I was looking up some of what is considered the biggest feuds in golf history. And it's not a long list. It's things like Paul Asinger against Sevi-Biesteros. It's Tiger going against guys, but Tiger's obviously not going to play it up. It is just a little bit, you know, there's some obscure cheating incidents with guys over the years. Normally it's obscure. guys in obscure tournaments. Some of them rise to the A-list level, but we never really saw prolonged kind of hatred on a big scale. And that's why I think there's really never been anything like this in the modern pro game. So the element of it in particular that I think, and I'm interested in, I can't wait to see the story, is the public life nature of the competitors, because everybody's living a public life. life now and and the guys control their own storylines. They're not written by journalists any longer.

And that's different from all the iterations of previous rivalries that you're describing. The only thing that I worry about as it relates to the USGA and this is the reason I think they're not going to pair them together is, you know, what does it do to the competition? does it take away from the status, the stature, the great play that we expect out of other guys. It will be its own story, whether they play together or not.

The golf gods, letting the golf gods decide whether or not they're going to play together does have kind of a rich wrinkle to it as far as I'm concerned. Like if they get close enough in score, the golf gods just might have it turn out that Saturday or Sunday we see them together out there. So I'm inclined to think,

that the USGA will want to have something that feels traditional Thursday and Friday in terms of a normal U.S. Open, but who the hell knows? How much of this do we think is for show? I mean, we got $40 million that's up for grabbing the PIP. They clearly are bringing in their corporate sponsors into it. They're using their social media accounts. They're using it to get more exposure. Is any of this wink-wink, or is it really rooted in real dislike between, it really Brooks headed at Bryson. I'm not sure Bryson has dislike for anything other than eating normally.

But do you think this is at all for show, Kev? I think that Brooks understands exactly what he's doing and how to win the PIP. And I think that there's a lot of things here. The fact that he monetized the Brooksie video and sold it to Mick Ultron. shows a level of self-awareness that is actually just brilliant. Again, it comes into sort of just how modern this all is.

It's not only going on Instagram on a Friday afternoon, but you're selling it off as a promotion. So I think that this wouldn't have happened if this was 15 years ago in the same way. It'd be a little more private. I mean, again, there's so many, there's so many dudes. House now we're joking around. There's no La Bradford Smith here, right, of modern golf,

where it's just like, were you just using this as motivation or whatever? it's more about these guys are going to understand exactly how to play into what 2021 demands. So yeah, is it for show? Yeah, this would probably be behind closed doors if it happened 2002. Let me ask it this way. Does this serve Brooks Kepka? Every time he talks shit, he doesn't play well. All this stuff happened this week.

He came back. He missed the cut. He said, oh, I'm fine. I'm just focused on next week. It doesn't seem every time he opens his mouth outside of the golf course. course, he comes on the course and doesn't deliver his best. Is it just distracting for him? I don't know. I feel like maybe last year, I think it was at Harding where he made those comments and said DJ's on a closer and all that. I think that this is how he gets up for these events.

And one thing that we've seen over the past four years is that he has a supernatural ability to get up when everybody is trying to get up. And there's something there's something there with him. And I like, you know, Bill Walsh used to talk about how there's no such thing as clutch. It's just about doing, being able to operate at the same level you're always at when everybody else is losing their heads. And I think that there's something there with Kepka where he likes to raise the stakes a little bit. And yes, he has faltered sometimes, but he was second a couple of weeks ago in a major championship. He's always in the hunt. He has the game for Torrey Pines.

he can win this tournament absolutely. I don't know. I mean, it's a really hard question to answer about whether or not what happens in his head once he raises the stakes. But I feel like he's comfortable. He's comfortable turning the heat up on everybody, including himself.

I think that's what I've drawn from the last couple of years. He's definitely a guy who derives incentive by seeking conflict. He's definitely a Sikh conflict kind of guy. And as we've talked about, the evolution of this interaction between these two guys. Nate has a couple of times referred to his, you know,

um, uh, move as like this stuff she's going to he wants to stuff Bryson in the locker kind of, kind of vibe. And that, and I think that that's basically right. Like his overall approach to it. And it is, I think, consistent with how he thinks about himself as being,

um, mentally his mental fortitude as an advantage over the rest of the field. and he's talked about it for a few years about not being cowed by the moment and that he thinks of that as an advantage to himself, the comment that he made about he really only feels like he's up against 10 guys or so or five guys in a major. All of that is part of the same kind of mindset to me that speaks to his fire, the fire that he uses to go perform. And I'm glad you mentioned the second of Kiowa. like we had no idea what version of Brooks Kepka coming into the week we were going to get because of the physical challenges. Bro just keeps getting hurt. But you know what?

If he can walk on two feet and he can swing a golf club, he's going to finish in the top five of most majors that he plays. And it just seems like that that's where we're at. So, you know, good on him. I'm going to play a top five bet on Brooks this week at the U.S. Open. You can count on it. I would also say that there's something, there's something with Phil, fill out Alford Brooks and Keowa. And I kind of feel like if you're Bryson,

the only path at consistent success is to go right at Brooks and take dead ain't. Well, how does Bryce, how does it even compute for him? Right now he's taking it as, he's, oh, this is just fun. We're all having a good time. You know, this is great for the game, all that stuff. and Brooks is going right at Bryson and Bryson's not going back at him and I think the only way this ends

the only way this feud ends is for Bryson to get in the mix with this and out Brooks Brooks that's the only way this ends one and some would say that him putting on all this weight and getting more physically imposing is part of his response because yeah you know

one of the funny vignettes early in this exchange this back and forth was them going you know, face to face on a putting green at a tournament after Brooks had called out Bryson for slow play. And Bryson's telling Brooks's cat he wants to tell him to come say it to my face. And Brooks like, I'll come say it right to your face. And then he did. And then they made a joke about who would win that fight if there was a fight. And Brooks and Bryson said, I don't think I would win. And Brooks had said, you're right. You wouldn't win. And now I don't know. I don't know.

I don't know now who would win that fight. Nate, who would win that fight between these two big boys? I want to see it. Who cares? I mean, I want to see it. Like, everybody's like, oh, they should just put them in the match. Fuck that. Let's put them in whatever Logan Paul's next thing is supposed to be.

Just put on the gloves and go do it. I'm sure, you know what, for the right amount of money, and there's no doubt that the Paul brothers can come up with the right amount of money. You know, that thing could, I feel like the tour would get in, in the way of that. I feel like the tour would say no. I mean, they would have to be PGL guys

before we would see it. It feels like. Kevin, you mentioned Phil. Nate, we have to talk about Phil. Give me your odds on Phil Mickelson winning the U.S. open this upcoming week. I mean, he's 55 to 1 right now. He's ahead of Matt Fitzpatrick.

He's ahead of Neiman. He's ahead of Corey Connors. he's ahead of Garrick Higo right now. Not for long, maybe. I mean, his odds are zero. He's not winning the U.S. Open. There's no chance. None.

Nathan, how long does this victory tour for Phil last? Two years? Yes, exactly. I mean, he might even not play. He might even not play and just sit in the clubhouse with the Wannemaker and drink, you know, Cabernet out of it this week. I don't think he needs. He just spends the next two or three years,

just not taking golf shots and just walking around the course, giving the thumbs up to everybody. Like, they just know what golf shots can only sullied at this point. So I think he just become sort of a guy who hangs out for the next couple of years. I think he's good right now, House. No, I think you guys are dead wrong. You're not getting back on the fill train. Well, I,

year and a half of just slander. Just in this respect, I do believe in Bones. I believe what Bones Backey has to say about his former boss. And Bones recently was interviewed. He said, that there's no question that Phil believes he can win this U.S. Open. And there are a lot of elements of comfort in place with this. He'll be sleeping in his own bed.

He knows Tori as well as he knows any golf course on the planet. He's had, you know, even it couldn't be any easier for him to get as many reps as he wants. And, you know, his own, you just mentioned, speaking of, you know, mental fortitude, he's got that alpha. If he is the current reigning major champion holder in professional golf, why not me? I feel like Phil could walk out there and say, I feel like he's going to take it dead serious.

Maybe. First of all, knowing Tori and being suited and liking Tori are very different things are from Michaelson. Yeah. He's had a very weird history with Tori. But yeah, I don't know. I mean, you know, Phil had such a strange run into the PGA.

It was completely against the kind of the run of play that he would have any success there. So I guess we can't count him out in anything here. But I honestly feel like, I feel like there's a group of people who are made for this tournament and this setup and this course. And Phil is not in. I don't disagree with you at all. I think the weather, you know, the length, there were so many things that made Keewa a Phil course for that weekend. the left-handed wind, everybody was talking about that favored him. He got a couple of breaks, then he took advantage and closed the door.

I don't think that's going to happen this week. The only thing that I'll say, and it's on the length point, is if he drives the ball the way that he drove the ball at Kiowa, he's in the mix. I mean, if he drives the, but if he has the combination of length and accuracy that he had at Kiowa, then, you know, top 20 feels reasonable. I'm definitely going to bet him to top 20. That just feels like, you know, good, good protective, uh, wagering. You don't think, you don't think this was a dead cat bounce at the PGA. I mean, I get it. It's the last probably, probably.

It's a pretty good bounce, though. I'll say that. I agree. Probably was, but so what. But I mean, let's be clear, you bet against him to make the cut at Augusta. I did. And I lost that. But you know what?

I made all that money back. And then some when I bet humongous on him and Charles Bar. to beat Steph Curry and Peyton Manning in the match, which was, thank God. Thank God. This is, and that was it. Losing that bet, all I had to say was like, here are these four guys, which one of these guys made the cut at the Masters last month? The answer was, was Phil McKeough, okay, that's who I'm going to bet on.

And that worked out pretty good. I just felt like a lot of things conspired between the course and some of the fading of other players at PGA. I'm so happy it happened. It's great. but it felt like Tiger at Augusta two years ago. We should be grateful for what we saw and stop expecting that he's going to compete with the 15 guys

at the top of the odds board who all have a really legitimate chance to win. I mean, this has got to be the deepest potential favorite field that we've had in a long time at a U.S. Open. I'm not saying this is the case, and obviously the different golfers, but Scott Van Pelt was on Rissillo last year, I think, and they were telling tiger stories. And SVP, who knows Tiger well, said he thinks that the Masters was sort of the tiger

thinking that everything was right with the universe. And he would say, whatever happens after this, I'm good, right, for his golf career. And I kind of feel like when you have a moment, like Philat Kiowa, you can't, when you're 50, you can't not have that moment and just say,

you know what, I'm good, I'm playing with house money, I've shown I can do this. I'm not, you know, it doesn't get into a sort of drive or motivation or whatever. Obviously, he's always getting motivated. Obviously, he wants to go win a bunch of money on the PGA tour and the Champions Tour and all that stuff and the PGL or whatever, whatever you want to do. But I just feel like that's as to a win of that magnitude, there's always going to be a letdown after because of just what it means to your life.

I totally agree with that. And that's why I'm only going to do a smaller wager on Phil for top 20. And that's it. That's the extent of it. House, I just got to, I got to ask you something here. I'm just, I'm staring at it. this odds board. And I'm remembering back to the fall when the U.S. Open happened. And Bryson DeCambeau, I mean, that win, it wasn't quite, you know, Tiger winning at Augusta and do we need to change a bunch of courses. But like that win fucked up Rory McElroy's golf swing. Well, Rory McElroy fucked up Roy or McElroy's golf swing, but continue. Yeah, because he's chasing that win. My point is like it was such a dominant and impressive win. Here we are back at a U.S. Open that's going to be long that's going to have lots of rough where, you know, guys who can hit it and then

use their wedges and swing speed have an advantage. Bryson DeShambos the fourth favorite. I don't get it. Well, he's out of form. He only has one top 10 in the last six tournaments that he's played in. So that that's helped it. What's his number right now on the board you're looking at? 16 to 1 on fan. You know, that's like that. 16 to 1. That's a decent number. I mean, the formula is what you just described. It is hit the ball far. Don't be, you know, the rough is supposed to be five inches.

We've seen, you know, they're going to do a five inch rough, a three inch rough, you know, just all the first cut off the fairway. The canyons might come and play, but in any event, the rough should not be a factor

for him. He should have an advantage. And then it comes down to a punting contest. And the one thing I'll do, problem. Well, then the one thing I'll do before we get, you know, too far into this week is, is the deep research on, on Bryson on Po. Because, you know, this is West Coast Poa, which is not different even from the Poa that you get on the East Coast in the Florida venues, the South Carolina venues that have Poa. So, you know, that part of it, I don't have a good feel for yet. But he's got two out of the three important elements. So according to our friends of Fantasy National,

because I've got the database in front of me. He is eighth on Po. That's a good number. That's good. So there's a couple of numbers I want to point out. Number one, Bryson is number one, obviously off the T and stroke scanned. He's number one in approach shots over 200 yards. He's really good. I think he's in the top 15 on par fours between four and 50 yards and 500 yards.

Number one at annoying 30 minute YouTube videos. A number one. And there's no one particularly close in that regard. And a lot of things point to Bryson being the statistical favorite here, except he's Bryson and Brooks is a little bit worse at everything and he's Brooks. And that's when I look at these two guys. Literally, it's junk science. It's me going, ah, the science here, science alert, the science says Bryson, as it always does.

And the golf says Brooks. Well, there's a bunch of other guys out there. I know. I'm just talking about those two guys. John Rom coming off the island like Napoleon and just mowing back through the field after having a win ripped away from him feels like I get why he's the favorite right now

in fact his odds are so in such a place I don't know that you can bet him to win this week. You can't except for I'm going to. I'll do a tiny, I'm going to do Win Place show. I'll do Win Place show on Rom because sometimes, occasionally the most obvious answer happens to be the correct answer and you know there does now have the added element of this karma vibe yeah to him after what happened at the memorial and you know again yet this is the thing especially with rom the horse for the course thing holy shit like

he's he he um won the memorial last year in pretty dominant fashion he was about to do the exact same thing again in an extremely dominant fashion like everybody else was was on a different planet altogether and now we're coming to a place where he has even more success, even better track record, even, you know, more comfort, another guy who's got, you know, all kinds of roots and connections to this venue and, you know, I'm just not going to be out there with my pants down on John Ron, that's all, so to speak. I got you. 10 to 1 is in number there. And I think I I think Ram

and Bryson and how are we feeling about DJ right now? So two two things very quickly for me. DJ does not play at Tori hardly ever. Right. And he also doesn't have great success when he plays Tori. I think he has like one top

20 you can find going through his history over the last 10 years. And really that's that's the entirety of the DJ's story. at Tori. Look, I am a believer in DJ. I think he is coming in, I wasn't a believer, but this past week, he came into a course he has not seen that he definitely hasn't played. And at least the first two and a half, three days, he played great. I think he just lost his focus down the stretch this afternoon and tripled the last hole. But, you know, DJ did not play the way he wanted to at the Masters. He did not play the way he wanted to at the PJ, obviously. And I think it may be time for him. His game is absolutely. informed based on what we saw this week. Well, he's been quiet.

He went dark on us for a little while. And I don't know if I would characterize the performance at Congaree. And by the way, let's do a very quick shout out. Congrats to Garrick Higo in his second ever event on U.S. soil. Now he's on the PGA tour. Now he's going to the Masters next year. I mean, we have been looking at, you know, non-U.S. players in some of these unique circumstances.

We talked about it at Kiowa and here again at Congaree when we were preparing for, you know, what's going to happen. And we were like, oh, the euros should be because we had, we've been sleeping on the South Africans. Let's stop sleeping on the South Africans. I'm going to pick some Eric Van Roy and finish 10th. Wilco Neynebber, the longest hitter on the planet, not named Bryson. And by the way, he almost exceeded Bryson's high water.

mark this season for longest drive average. All these South Africans are doing stuff. Both Garrick Higo and NeNebber are playing at Torrey, so that's going to be fun. And also, we'll pour a little out for Chess and Hadley. Feel bad for

a guy that, you know, played beautiful golf all the way up to the last three holes. And, you know, just to be blunt about it, he's a second tier guy. He has one win on tour. Yeah. And, you know, who's his, his, his,

tournament to win and he couldn't close the door. And then it was Harris's and then it was DJs and all these guys. I mean, this is, this was the worst event on tour this year as far as I'm concerned. It was lost by four guys and Higo inherited it. Whoopee. Okay. I mean, you know, made me out on Congerie. Wow.

Yeah, I, I kind of liked looking at it. It was easy. I didn't have to invest too much energy into watching it. It was good to see DJ out there. I was curious about Higo, so curious, in fact, I told Kevin this earlier. I bet on Higo this morning at 16 to 1 to win this golf tournament. This is why you're crowing about it. I mean, no, I'm not.

All I wanted to say is congratulations. We're taping this at the beginning of U.S. Open Week. We're tackling all these U.S. Open topics, which is proper. A tournament just happened, and we're giving shout out to the tournament that just happened, including my bank account. Did you see anything out of Ty Hatton? that you like this week? Sure, of course. He was right there.

He finished one shot out of, you know, a playoff, and he was scuffling. He scuffled to a 10 under tie for third. So, yeah, I like what I saw at a tie hat. And it's the same kind of vibe as what you're dropping to me about DJ. We haven't seen him. He's been dark for a little bit. Ty played decent, I think, at Qio.

I have to look and see where he ended up ultimately. There's 18 guys. his favorite ahead of him right now. He's got the same odds as Justin Rose and Paul Casey and Webb Simpson. So, I mean, I'll put top 20. I'll play a top 20 on Ty Hatt and why wouldn't I? Well, let's go ahead and talk. So you're on the right vibe here. Under the radar studs, who are we overlooking? Who haven't we talked about on this podcast yet that we ought to be talking about, thinking about who's going to surprise us? I want to start with a couple of names. The X-Man had a pretty, good performance at the farmer's

insurance in his own backyard. He had a top five finish. He was okay at at Kiowa. I think he top 10. We saw him right on the brink of greatness at the Masters. What are we

feeling about the X this week? I'm feeling like he's going to get run over by the rest of this young field. I'm looking at the top 15 guys. I want Xander to not always be the bridesmaid, but it feels right now like I can put a finger on six to eight guys in front of him who are either worth your money or have a better chance of getting in front of him.

I mean, when are we ever going to see Rory at 20 to 1 again coming into a U.S. Open? So I'm glad you mentioned Rory because that's another under the radar stud. And 20 to 1 is a pretty unbelievable price. And the last time there was an opportunity like this was Rory at 20. to 1 at Quail Hollow and then he went in 1. So what are we going to do? We promised ourselves that we would never let Rory or JT

get to 19-20 to 1 again and not bet on them. And guess what? JT's at 19 to 1, Roy's at 20 to 1. I think you got to lay it there. What are you going to do? I did a couple picks earlier this afternoon just because I got a hanker in for it. I don't

have J.T. or Rory in anything right now. And I that probably changes with Rory. I think that this is a pretty simple golf tournament. And I'm sure there are going to be some adjustments when we see the setup, you know, hopefully they don't pull in Aaron Hills that they did it a couple of years ago and they wuss out and change everything on Wednesday or whatever. I think we're going to be fine.

And I think it's just the bombers. And there's going to be no miracles here. And it's going to be guys like Bryson and John Rom and Brooks and Victor Hovlin who can hit the crap out of the ball from from any. where I think he's, I'm looking right here. He's sixth off the T and strokes gained. It's going to be guys who are good off the T and then it comes down to putting. And I think that there are some guys who I say, okay, maybe they're sleepers, guys like Vegas, you know, Wyndham Clark gets the crap out of the ball off the tea.

I've got Brian Harmon in a bunch of lineups, you know, guys like that. Wait, wait, Brian Harmon. Brian Harmon does it. Brian Harmon is a short knocker. No, but he, I, in my statistical model, he came up a little bit. I think he's got some nice. And it makes sense. He played fine in Aaron Hills, which was supposed to be a bomber, you know, joint. And he was second to Bryson. And he was given Bryson, little run of Bryson.

Brooksie, Brooksie, Brooksie. Brooksie is who he was paired with for the last round there. And, you know, Harmon's a stay in the fairway guy. So, you know, staying in the fairway at this place. And it's supposed to be firm and fast. Nate, isn't that, though, what we're hearing about the condition? Yes, slick as can be, I don't think we're going to have the U.S. Open guys losing control the course on Friday night like they did last year. But this is going to be hard and fast. Harmon is 33rd off the T in strokes gained and 12th in putting. And so I think that will always, if you're within the top 35 in both categories, that gives you a chance.

Yeah, I'm sitting here with my thumb up and not up my butt. Well, I, you know, if we're looking at guys further down the board, you remember who finished second at Wingfoot? Not Matthew Wolf? It was. Oh, okay. Is Matthew Wolf playing? Is he playing?

He's 210 to 1. Is he playing in the golf tournament? He's on the board. I mean, I wish him the best of luck. I want him to be good at competitive golf, but like, what would I bet a dollar on him? Are you out? I'm out. What are you talking about?

I'm I out? He's out. I'm not out. He's out. What do you want me to do? He hasn't played golf in four months. He's on the board of 210 to one. That's all I have to say. So we've covered. We got Rory. We got Zander. We got JT. We got Brooksie. We got Bryson. We got DJ. How are we 35 minutes into here? Nobody said Jordan Speeth yet. What are we doing with Jordan Speeth, fellas? So I was actually going to ask you this question. So Speets at 298 yards off the tee, okay, this year. And that's only a little bit behind some of the guys that I'm taking as strong off the tea. Hovland is only, I think, just a little bit above 300. Cantley is a little bit above 300. Is this a course for Jordan Speeth House?

I don't know the answer to that because here's the challenge I'm confronted with. I thought that Jordan Speath was going to really take to Kiowa, the challenges of not necessarily landing the ball in the middle of the green at Kiowa, but instead needing to manufacture PARs and save PAR from all kinds of different crazy lies and misses. And Jordan's ability to do that, his unique ability, his unique magic, I thought was going to translate. Now, he finished 30th or 28th or something at Kiowa, but here's the thing about Tori.

My Mind's Eye has two high water moments. It has the most recent event there, which was Patrick Reed not hitting hardly any greens and regulation whatsoever. I mean, I think he was like one of the lowest greens and regulation performances to actually win an event. This is a Justin Rastat that like, you know, in 25, 30, 40 years. And then we have, again, I go back 2008. Tiger won that golf tournament from off the green.

He won that golf tournament by chipping in from unbelievable places on Saturday and saving par from unbelievable places Sunday and then again on Monday. So if the course requires that kind of saving par magic, And there's evidence that that's the case, then how can I not love Jordan Speeth? How could I not love Jordan Spee? Well, because he missed the cut in January. Kev, where are you on him? I have been consistent on Speeth, which is that if Speath makes a run and I'm not a part of it,

I made my peace with it. I committed at the beginning of this year to saying, Spith cannot win consistently. And even though I have evidence in front of me that says that's not correct, I just have too many guys on my dance card to get him into my weekly, into my heart for my weekly bets. Well, I think you make a fair point. And by the way, we do have some evidence.

It's recent evidence. He had a two-stroke lead on Sunday against Jason Cochrack. Yeah, at Colonial and was not able to get it across the goal. With all of Dallas reading for him. With all of Dallas reading for him and doing the weird thing where Cochrack would, he would miss shot and they would kind of quietly cheer that thing. It was one of those deals. Kind of like a tennis match a little bit.

Look. It was extremely uncomfortable. And speaking of Cochrak, friend of the pod, Jason Cochrack on last week's show, we came up with a drink and we're going to send you some. So this is how we're all enjoying this upcoming U.S. Open. We're going to drink the Coke Wack Crusher. And we'll go through the ingredients in a second. But this pod goes up Monday. Wednesday, we are up.

And this pod, by the way, mentioned at the top, these fine gentlemen with all of our storyline takes. And then major performer Will Zalotaurus, he's coming up in just a minute. Later this week, Justin Ray. And another surprise PGA tour stud, who has a W in just the last couple of weeks on tour. And then we're going to try and set up another one of these live

experienced joints. I think they're still calling it Spotify's locker room. I think it's still the locker room. We'll get together Saturday night and then Sunday we are up with our live reaction to whatever happens in this crazy tournament. But the Coke rack crusher, Ron

Coke rack, Kev, work with me. It's bourbon, it's ginger shrub, it's club soda, and it's got a little bit of lemonade. Splash. Just a splash. Just a splash.

Give me your reaction. I love it. I love it. The lemonade is a great touch. Did you come up with this? It's a variation on some drinks that I've been drinking, but, you know, we had this bourbon that Coke rack is an ambassador for. And I was like, let's come up with a nice summer bourbon drink,

a nice Father's Day drink for the fathers out there. And a beautiful U.S. Open, it's a sipping drink, I think. You can enjoy any, and by the way, the most important thing, you can join more than one. And maybe more than two, probably more than three, especially in advance of our locker room Saturday night. I'm prepared.

I love it. I love it. I actually have a co-crack on some dance cards this week. He's on mine, and he has a good track record at Tori. Will Zala Torres also on my dance card, and I hope he goes on yours. He's on all of our dance cards here at Fairway Rowland

because let's jump over and talk to our new very best friend on the PG. tour will zalotaurus all right my birdie buddies we are cooking with gas now the u.s. open is staring us

right in the face and we have a major league performer here to help us break it all down no one on planet earth has played better in the last handful of majors

than this dude right here our thanks to jillette for making the homie available. Will Zellotaurus, what's happening? Man, what an entrance. I love it. Thanks, dude. Yeah, well, go bigger, go home. And by the way, I think you're kind of familiar with that.

I do want to begin on a little bit of a somber note. Here's my question. How are you feeling? Are you over the crushing disappointment of your worst major performance of your career so far? Yeah. You're a tie for eighth at Kehoe Island. Yeah, fire average.

everybody, right? Whole rebuild. Oh, man. How was that experience? Because one of the things that we've been marveling at, in addition to obviously Phil's, you know, otherworldly unprecedented thing, but there were fans and there was like fan energy and it was a big golf course with a big time vibe and big event. How was it like actually being out there inside the ropes?

It was like kind of going back to normal. I think really that was the players was. close. Like players was like the closest one where we'd been back to normal since COVID hit. But I mean, the PGA felt like a major championship. Everyone's out there. You know, the booze is flowing. Hearing all these, you know, all these guys chirping me. And, you know, it was, it was great. I mean, that's what it's so much fun now. It's nice to, you know, instead of going out, making like a birdie and possibly being in contention and you hear like four claps and now, it's just like, you know, you make a 10-footer for par,

and you're like, oh, what, what did that guy do? What, you know, what was that for? But who was that? You know, in the lead now, you know, it's just, it's fun. It's way more fun. But I'm so glad I'm done with that golf course because that place is a beating. I think I hit nine three irons one round, which I think if I hit four a week, that's like kind of about average.

Did you feel like the fans were in line? I mean, that's an issue that seems to be permeating across American sport right now. Is there some guys who, like you said, the beer and alcohol is flowing, but there's some guys who are pushing the envelope out in the crowds. Are you guys feeling positive energy? Is there some dangerous energy? What's it really feeling like out there? Yeah, I mean, it's in a weird spot.

So, like, a couple tournaments this year, they've done the tickets where it's all you can drink boots. So the tickets are, like, astronomically high. where it's like, you know, $3,400 for a one-day ticket, but they get free booze. And so it's like, you know, 9.30 in the morning, I'm T-52, teen off at Colonial. I'm like, don't care at all. Well, I do care, but I'm just like, yeah,

I'm not thinking about winning the golf tournament. I'm just trying to work on what I'm working on. And, you know, whatever I shoot is what I shoot. Like, it's one of those kind of tough days where you're, like, defeated, but still, you know, in it and trying to, you know, get some momentum. And it's like 9.30 in the morning. And I think your brother was playing in front of me. And so it was slow.

Yeah. Well, no, we were good. I mean, because we were hitting so many golf shots. We were okay. But there are some guys that, I mean, they were just so, I mean, so loud and drunk. And I'm like, one guy dropped a couple of F bombs. There's kids there. And I'm just like, come on, man.

Like, you know, and I think that's where I think some tournaments are starting to learn that a little bit where it's like, okay. You know, we can we can do this. this like we can have people back, you know, but I don't know about this whole all you can drink thing. I think that's a little dangerous, especially if guys are screaming F bombs at 10 o'clock in the morning on, you know, we've got a couple of kids around. So it's a little different, but I personally though, I mean, being the happy Gilmore poster child or whatever the hell you want to call me, right? The, uh, the ruckus is great. So I don't, I don't mind it. It does seem like the ruckus might be slightly less out at Tori.

And I want to talk about your experience earlier this year at Tori and what you're anticipating with this U.S. Open. So you had a great experience at the Farmers Insurance, another top 10 finish for Will Zalotaurus. No effing surprise this year. But you mentioned Kehoe of being, you know, gigantic and giving out a beating. What are you anticipating out of Tori?

I mean the exact same thing. I mean, the only difference is Tori will be kind of, well, they'll be really similar. The thing with Tori is it's super wide from trouble line to trouble line. But, you know, there's just, you know, and you can hit it kind of everywhere and not get a penalty shot. But the thing is the rough is so penal and it's going to be so long that driving will. be imperative. They're going to play sneaky really similar. I mean, I think the only difference is just San Diego. Granted, we've had some weird weather there through the years, but I mean, it should be money. I mean, it should be really, really good weather. I'm expecting, yeah, I mean, if they're

going to grow up the rough and getting it, and I've seen some of the, what they've done to a couple of spots. I mean, it's going to be full-blown U.S. Open, you know, hang on for dear life. Take me through what you learned at Augusta, particularly on the back. I mean, we're going to talk till we're blue in the face about your results at the majors and your results overall. You got seven top 10 finishes this season. Second at Augusta, T6 at the last U.S. Open T8 at the PGA. What I want to know is, with all these finishes, have you gotten that battle tested in the heat down the stretch trying to grab a golf tournament experience? It looked like you got some of that at Augusta. Has that, helped you get ready to go

actually win one of these fucking golf tournaments? Yeah, that's actually a really good question because Augusta was a little weird where it's like, start off birdie, birdie, all right, you know, Hadecky makes bogey, now I'm one back, made a kind of a dumb decision that I

don't really regret on three where I'm just trying to chip that thing up to 20 feet, make park, get out of there, and it's like start off birdie, birdie, I mean, it's going to be known. Now I'm tied with Hedekhi pressures on, you know, immediately, you know, pedal to the metal. So once I got to the back and I think I bogey 10 and 12 and made a bad far on 13, which was hilarious because I, Corey Conner's night hits like 40 and 60 feet.

Might have even been longer than that. And Corey literally was on the exact same line as me and he literally hit the pot like 10 feet in front of me. And I'm like expecting a read. I'm like, okay, you know, you make this nice. you know you got a mind going make him hear it and then he literally leaves a 60 footer more than halfway short I'm just like

oh my God like and so like I'm kind of you know now I'm a look yeah it was just it was funny but it was kind of like after I made far there I was just kind of it was almost like deflating where it's like you've been in contention for 65 holes and now you're

five or maybe even six back I don't even remember and then I'm walking down 17 and I see Hadeki put it in the back water and I'm like this kind of isn't really over here. I mean it kind of is but it kind of isn't like you finish birdie-burdy you might have a backdoor chance if he collapses. So I birded 17 which and then you know saving par on 18 I didn't realize it was going to keep me one short. I thought I needed a birdie just to be with you know possibly within one but I think that the fact I just I remember.

remember so much about it. And I remember the fields. I just remember the fearlessness where it's just kind of like, I'm not, you know, I'm not scared to, you know, maybe make a double or here or whatever. It's like, this is, this is what you've wanted to do your entire life. I think it was a really cool feeling. I think it's something that I'm going to draw back on in the future where, you know, if I'm in contention that when, you know, any golf tournament in the near future, it's like leave nothing behind. I mean, there's no reason to shy away from it now. So did your hands feel different? Did your arms feel different?

Or was it just comfortable? I mean, you really did look fearless that day. Yeah, no, I was fully comfortable. I mean, nothing. I thought Saturday was probably a little bit more nerve-wracking. Right. Because it kind of meant a little bit more to me. You know, final group of a major of a tournament, you've always wanted to win.

You know, I could go shoot myself out of this golf tournament. And then it'll be like, oh, well, you're not ready yet. But the fact that I kept myself in it. and was able to still contend, I think really freed me up for Sunday. It's like, hey, you put yourself in the situation now. I mean, you got nothing, I mean, leave nothing behind. I mean, this is it.

I mean, my caddy said it best. I mean, you know, it's like the old military line. Weapons free boys. I mean, there ain't no rules of engagement here. This is it. Yeah. Well, the message I'm hearing here, if I can segue just a bit,

is is not sweating under pressure. So let's talk about this Gillette thing a little bit, right? 72 hour deodorant. Now, I will confess, I was like a tiny bit disappointed that the Gillette piece was not about any kind of their, their shaving weapons, so to speak,

because you and Max Homa are homies, Homas got arms of like a gorilla. The homie Homa. Like, I thought we might get an Instagram story of you shaving Homas back or something. Because like he might be the hairiest. dude on tour, right? No, I'm up there with him.

He and I could, we could have a, we could have a contest, that's for sure. They donate it to locks of love or something. This is a, it's a deodorant, the 72 hour sweat protection. What are you guys doing? Yeah, so it's going to be super fun.

The 72 Club, we're, Max and I are partnering up with them, and we'll try to lower, you know, get your handicaps down. And, you know, you lower your handicap, you actually have a chance to go play in this little tour championship out in Whistling Straits come September right before you're actually right around the Rider Cup. So it'll be super fun. This Thursday, Max and I are going to make a really cool

announcement. So I'll be looking out for that on our social media. I'll actually be on Instagram. My handle's at Will Zalotauris. It'll be fun. Maybe I could teach that goofball something about social media since he needs all the PIP help in the world. Not enough money flowing his way from that yet. So I'm sure you can help them out. Mike, I got a question for you as you think about approaching this U.S. Open. Look, you know, some people say you came sort of out of nowhere, but there's a big leap that you made from being on the corn ferry to where you are now. In 2018, I think you played six events on tour. You missed all the cuts except Peeble. You were T-68. Can you, what's the gap between these insanely good results that you've been delivering and winning?

And does that feel like it's more or less than the leap that? you made from when you started on corn fairy to where you are now? Yeah, I mean, that's a good one. I mean, basically, I went to Kew School in 2019, 28. It was the end of 2018 for the 2019 season. And this first stage, super dejected, sat down with my coaches. We're sitting there talking about playing mini-tour events and just kind of game-playing the next year, you know, doing mini-tour events on Monday qualifiers.

and I basically, Josh Gregory gave me a practice routine and just said, dude, stick to this. Your job is just to get better and eventually results will come. And I was not expecting him to come that quickly, but I Mondayed into the Panama Championship, which that qualifier is 90 for two spots in January and shot 64 and got through. Really, from then on, that was like, okay, you know, we actually, you know, it's nice to just have some sort of momentum going and slowly worked my way onto the corn ferry and had special temporary status out there, but then kind of hit another roadblock

where I got to the corn ferry tour finals and I missed two cuts on the number and then finished like 15th of the tour championship where I make one of those cuts and just have a nice weekend. You get through it. I could have got my card. Yeah.

Yeah. And so now I've got to sit on my butt for three months thinking about how it literally could have been just one shot over a two-week span. You know, and I'm sitting there with the coaches and we're just like, look, I need to understand my golf game better. I want to be able to fix myself faster. So I can turn these miscuts into made cuts and possibly get my tour card that way.

And came out and kind of had a nice start and then COVID hit. So I had another four months to really just work on my golf game. Just get better is what Josh always tells me. It's like it's not about going out and being on the router cup or winning a major. It's like just get better at golf. You know, enjoy the process of it, which I hate that cliche, but it's true. Yeah, yeah. And really, that's all we've done for two years.

I mean, I wish I could give you something more special than that. But it's just been, you know, no matter if it's been a Corn Ferry Monday or, you know, a regular tour event, it's just been try to get better at whatever you're working on and kind of look at the macro instead of the micro. So we tried to go a little deep on some Zalotaurus background here. We have a connection to Wake Forest, an old classmate of year. Grace Dixon. We tried through her pops. We're friends with James Baby Doll Dixon,

the infamous agent to get some Will Zalotaurus college stories. He came back. He's like, the kid's clean. He's like, I got nothing. I got nothing. So we don't even have a cake stand out of you,

but I do want, I am interested in the story. Man, I got some good friends. Yeah, whoever is covering for you. It's unbelievable. I love it. It's amazing.

But I am interested in the story of how a Texas kid ended up at Wake, and a lot of Texas people are very angry at Landy Watkins, because that's the story that I've heard out there. I don't know if that's true or not. A large story short, I was born in San Francisco and then moved to Dallas when I was nine. I grew up with Landis kids, Tucker and Travis are two of my best buds. And Travis played at Wake, and it came time for me to start. start looking at schools and Lanny just said, you know, hey, go look at it.

You know, it's obviously it's got a great rich history. It's a new practice facility. You know, he never really like just said, hey, like, you need to go here. It was just like, yeah, if you want to go look at it, go look at it. And it's a top 30 school on top of one of the richest golf programs and, you know, the history of the NCAA. You know, every day you walk into the facility there. you walk by the one statue on campus that's of Arnold Palmer. You know, and then I ended up getting offered the Arnold Palmer scholarship to go play there.

So, you know, kind of what I tell people is my decision is kind of made for me. I'm going to get a scholarship on Arnold Palmer's name to go to one of the best top 30 institutions in the country and then also be a part of a pretty rich history. And so like I said, it was just kind of a no-brainer. You are third in shots gained approach right now on tour. You are 127th in putting. You don't have a FedEx Cup rank because the PGA tour is completely fucked up, and apparently you're not going to be in the Tour championship for no good reason.

But you're 29th in the world. How much better can you get, Will? I mean, you got a long way to go still on putting, it looks like. Is that your focus right now? How do you think about getting even better from where you are now? Yeah, you know, the thing that this year has been a little bit different than last year for me, and it's obviously, you know, the spotlight is different. But last year, I consistently potted really well.

And this year I've had some higher highs and some lower lows, which has been, it's bizarre to me, because it's like I have weeks like Augusta where I'm making 100 plus feet of putts a day. And then I've had weeks like Colonial where I'm missing everything it feels like. But then on Thursday, weirdly, it was like plus 2.8. Yeah, you're making a shit ton of you guys.

You make a lot of great. I've been very hot and cold, even though that my, you know, you look at my finishes, you're like, oh, wow, he's such a consistent player. And I'm like, no, I'm not. I'm doing it very differently every week. So, I mean, Josh and I've really worked hard on it. We've kind of, we tinkered too much kind of over the last month and a half. We were really trying to get back to some fields with Augustine.

We did it in some different ways. And I think that's why I've been so hot and cold. but I think these last two weeks, I mean, I needed a break. Now my body was starting to really break down. I played 14 out of 18 weeks. You know, it really caught up to me. And so it was kind of nice to just hit the reset button, get some rest, put some working with Josh.

But I've got a long, I do have a long way to go. I mean, I'm absolutely. I mean, I thought that on the West Coast swing, I don't think I hit the ball very well, but I potted really well. And then, you know, so far, you know, really after since quail, I've hit it amazing. I've just made nothing. So it's just been a very hot and cold, bizarre year. But then you look at it and you're like, wow, it's one of the most consistent players out here.

I'm like, well, I certainly don't feel that way, but I'll take it. Well, but maybe that portends well. You mentioned your comfort putting on the West Coast swing. And I was interested in asking about the Poh Greens at Torrey, right? Because you putted pretty well. I didn't look up the strokes gained results, just the top 10 finish, the tide for 7th, I think you had at the farmers. How do you feel about those greens?

They will be different in June than they were in February, but still, like, does your, your, your eye like them? Yeah, I do. I mean, like I said, I first learned to play the game in San Francisco. So I'd used to the Poana. I've always, I've had a lot of success on Poena. you know, it's going to be crusty. It's going to be bouncy.

I mean, that's just poana, you know, especially late in the day. They're going to get super bouncy. But, you know, the biggest thing out there is just make sure you've got good speed. I mean, that's kind of something that really I felt that, you know, the two best parts of my game are, you know, lag putting and actually ball striking. And really, that's part of the reason why I've struggled with the putting recently. It's just my lag putting just been garbage. Yeah.

it lately. I'm looking forward to getting back. There's something about that place that I just, I should never feel comfortable looking at a 500-yard hole that's dead straight with six-inch rough and trees, but for some reason I love that place. Besides yourself, then, so we're picking you to win the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines.

But besides yourself, name some other guys that you've played with over the last six months or so that have impressed you. And we're not saying say anything bad about anybody. We're saying who else that you've encountered over your time here over the last six months or so are some names that we might be interested in paying attention to as potential great performers out there. You're talking about for the U.S. Open? Yes, sir.

There's a guy named Jordan Speeth who's been playing some pretty good golf lately. Never heard of him. No, never heard of her. Yeah, he's been a really good friend and kind of almost big brother to Scotty Sheffler and me. And by Big Brother, I mean, he's just beating us to a pulp for the last 15 years of Jeter Golf. And now up to the professional levels. But, yeah, besides that, don't waste your money. I like you guys putting the money on me.

That's what we're going to do. So you talk about Scotty. When Mark came up off Cornfrey last time, he was like, Scotty Sheffler, been kicking everyone's ass and he's going to keep kicking ass. We got the first Corn Ferry Tour graduating class coming up next fall in two years. Is there anybody down there right now that you look at and go watch out for this kid? I have my hand up because I have a name. I want to ask you, this was on my list.

I mean, I don't mean to answer for you, but Cameron Young looks like he's pretty good golfer. Cam, when he is on, is unbelievable. I mean, I think between Cameron Young, Davis Riley, oh, man. Yeager's been playing some phenomenal golf. Yeah, he has. But, I mean, for young guns coming up, I mean, Cam Davis, I mean, Brandon Wu has played some pretty good golf, too. I mean, he's, I think he's, if you were to take his season, there's so far of what

he's played and put it next to mine, I think we literally have made the same amount of points, the same amount of dollars. And they've just completely flown under the radar. I mean, Sig has played good. but I mean, I lived with Davis Riley for almost a little over a year, actually, here in Dallas. But, yeah, when Cam's on, I mean, I'll give you one quick camp story. But so Cam in college, we had a kid on a recruiting trip. Cam had something with school.

Parks his car in the parking lot and like right by the fourth tee, which we weren't able to, we weren't supposed to do that, whatever. So he puts his shoes on the parking lot. So he plays four through nine. He eagles four, no warm up, birdie's five, he parsed six, chips in on seven for Bertie, then makes like a 20 footer on eight and chips in on nine. So he made six threes, no warm up, put his shoes on in the parking lot, hits 18 golf shots and goes home. We've told that story to so many guys because you're like, yeah, you know, what's Cam like about his game?

And I'm like, he can just do stuff like that. We're just like, where did this come from? You've literally, you haven't hit a golf ball in three days, no warm up. You've basically got your shoes on tied. I mean, you got your pants falling down by your ankles and you go out and should make six threes. I mean, you're like, oh, my God. So you can do stuff like that. Yeah, I, I'm sorry for answering the question, Nate, but we had the longest day of golf.

And Cameron Young was the medalist at the qualifier in New York. And, you know, another Wake Forest grad. and also the son of the pro at Sleepy Hollow. And that's a name that, you know, speaking of setting aside some couple dollars and watching this kid come on tour and go ahead and start, you know, making a couple investments.

I think we could do okay. You just talked about six threes in a row. We know that you are a hoops guy. Have you been watching these NBA playoffs? My warriors are out. So I've been kind of passively watching. So, but yeah

I mean I'm still rude for the Warriors even though I live in Dallas I kind of passively root for the Mavs and that was one of the weirder series I've ever seen so it's a weird year I mean I think the Nets obviously I mean

Katie is kind of dead for me but I still root for him a little bit why he's dead to you because he left the Golden State is that why yeah I've been used Joe we were used But he came to you. He chose you over anywhere else on planet Earth.

He chose Golden State. Yeah, I know. But still, it just doesn't. We had, we could have want, we could have been the Lakers that, or, you know, Lakers or Celtics of like the 80s. And he just said,

no, man, I'm good. I'm glad enough to this. If he hadn't, if he hadn't torn his Achilles, it was going to be another ring. It was going to be another banner. Yeah.

Because the Warriors definitely would have beat Toronto. All right. Well, look, you gave us more than we could have asked for WZ. Thank you for the time today. The next time you come on, I want to talk about your bio says that you're a foodie. And then I watch you with the PMT guys and they said, Will, when you win the Masters, what's your master's dinner? And you said steak and potatoes, brother, we got to work on that.

But we'll save that for the next interview, the next time you come on. Yeah, you got to know your demographic. If I go in there and I start saying, yeah, I want to do a dim sum dinner or something like that. I mean, I trust me, I love dim sum. Living in San Francisco, I love all kinds of food. You can get me any night of the week you see me doing something like dim sum, pad, tie, anything. But, you know, if I'm going to be sitting there with all these major champions and I'm the new kid and I'm coming in there with dim sum and this is the first time I meet Tiger Woods and all these other guys. and they'll be like,

oh, this kids are a little different. I'm like, yeah, I'm like, I might go a little conservative on it. Don't blame you. We're not boycotting you.

We're not going conservative on your performance at the U.S. Open, my brother. Thanks for coming on. We got to the Gillette 72 club. You can enter in scores. And Max Homa and Will Zala Torres will look at your terrible scores. And maybe your terrible swing and try and help you with an opportunity to play at Whistling

straights. Thanks for coming on today, buddy. Thanks, guys. Really appreciate it. All right, there we go, my par saving pals. That is how you start a major week, a major show. We got it. I want to remind everybody, jump into

the Fairway Roland Doe DFS contest. Once again, up this week. The link is live as we speak right now. even if you did not enter a lineup for the Masters or for the PGA Championship, there's still cold hard cash. You probably can't win the jacket, but there's still lots of money.

You can win money, and money is a good thing to win. Jump on a Fandul, go to their golf tab, and Fairway Roland-Doh is sitting right there. It's like a $5 contest. It's cheap. So jump in and enter a lineup while you're at it.

We, as I mentioned in the conversation, have a bunch of shows this week. we are doing this major properly. We are back Wednesday with Justin Ray, special guest PGA tour. His initials begin with the P and a C. He's one in the last two weeks. I'll let you figure it out. And then later this week, we're going to jump into the locker room for a little

live reaction, perhaps, of the Saturday, moving day as we size up how Sunday is going to go down. And who knows, maybe there'll be a locker room on Sunday for some of the last holes and then Nathan and I for sure will be back Sunday night with a recap immediately after the gigantic US Open trophy whose name is escaping you right now has been awarded until another couple of days by Bertie Buddies list. Go ahead and hit him straight out there.