Fairway Rollin' - The Genesis Open, Confident Bubba Watson, and Happy Tiger Woods | Shackhouse (Ep. 54)

Episode Date: February 19, 2018

The Ringer’s Joe House and Geoff Shackelford recap the Genesis Open (01:10) and talk about how difficult its 10th hole is (06:30). Then they discuss the confidence present in Bubba Watson’s game (14:40) before breaking down Tiger Woods’s performance (26:10). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today on Shack House, we're going to talk all things Genesis Open. And this week in Tiger Woods, it was a great, great Genesis Open here at Riviera. And, of course, it was a great weekend because the ChromeSoft House is now in stores. Go out and get your X, your Chrome Soft. And do watch that new Flow Motion video. Or did you watch it, House? I watched it. Here's what I was looking for, Shaq.

I was looking for the graphene, you know, not the Gets. gang green, but the graphene. This apparently the... Well, check it out. The full motion video is on the Calloway Golf YouTube page, and it is a nice reminder that Calloway Chrome soft golf balls are made in the USA.

Hey, let's go to the Shack House. Welcome to the Shack House, part of the Ringer podcast network, which is also home to House of Carbs and the ringer.com where you can find some amazing MBA All-Star weekend coverage. Greetings House from

somewhere in Santa Monica Canyon here in Pacific Palisades. I'm still at the media center. It was a beautiful, unbelievable week here at Riviera. I don't know how much you got to saw, but wow, did we have amazing weather? What a fun, fun week here at the RIV. Yeah, so this

was another example of the West Coast swing taking all that it has to, you know, everything about the way it appears on television, the guys and short sleeves and it snowed here Saturday, snowed here on the East Coast. We got it.

I mean, it was probably six hours coming down heavy. Enough for, now it's mostly mouted off because we had 45 degree data here, at least in D.C. So most of the snow is gone. But I'm watching yesterday afternoon. And you earlier in the week were sending pictures of the food trucks and, you know, the lobster roll. You know, I'm not, I'm still on chili. I mean, I'm literally eating chili. on Saturday watching, you know, the replay.

But, you know, that's the whole point, right? That's why what this West Coast Swings all about. Well, it is. It's a variety week to week. I was just thinking about that, that, you know, it's just so unique to have desert courses and courses on the ocean and the Riviera is near the ocean, but it's cuckooia grass and a totally different dynamic.

And then this year, the weather was not a factor, thankfully. We have plenty of years here that the weather's going to be an issue. We had some San Anna winds in the morning. And by the way, house, freakish, how similar the draws ended up being. I apologize to all those. But the weather ended up being a morning wind and afternoon sea breeze, a light one. And we didn't quite get one of the big winds that I thought would hurt the afternoon. Yeah, so you were, we made some forecasting.

We tried to help. Oh, I stunk this week. Well, no, I mean, we both had one guy pretty much. I had Martin Laird on a top 20 play. and you encourage folks to go ahead and make a little investment in James Hahn. And the rest of our picks, you know, I had some guys. I wondered when Shay Revy was going to close, you know. Shee Revy, that fantastic establishment has been all the rage, lines out the door to Shea Revy.

Shee Revy shut it down this week. Yeah, he did. So he had a nice run, nice West Coast swing. A lot of the usual characters had their fun on the West Coast, and we probably won't hear from them for a while. That's okay. That's how they subsidize their income. Then it's their time of year. James Hahn did have a nice week.

He teased me for a while there, and I thought he was going to position himself. But it was a really bizarre tournament here in that how packed the leaderboard was. Usually Riviera separates just a little bit more, but House of Greens, I don't know if it was, it came through on television, but the greens are so firm here. And they weren't, they never got that shine, that brownness or the purple. but when you walk on them, it was shocking. It just shows how good, how crisply the players hit the ball, how good the grooves are. Let's be honest, they really help them a lot.

And these guys keep their grooves so sharp, and the tour van guys are switching stuff out. And it really showed on a week like this. Because, you know, I know Riviera's greens. I know firmness. And when I walked out on them, I was just astonished at how good a lot of the iron shots that we saw were, where they take the one bounce and then just check.

So it was, but that also brought the field together. And it looked like we were going to have kind of an incredible pile up for a while there. And then Bubba Watson, two-time winner here already. And he just becomes a different human being here. And it's just fascinating to watch. What a week he had. I mean, it seems like every one of these wins. He's had a crazy week.

And this week he's at the Celebrity All-Star Game at Staples. He plays his second round and he drives down. down there. How cool is that? Then he goes and heaves up a beautiful airball and gets swatted into Isle 14 by Tracy McGrady. And he was the Genesis open. Yeah, I mean, it was it was mega bubba. I mean, it was the most bubba of all Bubba. But here's the thing. I want to make a quick comment on the speed of the greens. And, you know, one thing, I feel like we missed. It was a stat I saw in the handful of days leading up to the start of the play. And I'm sorry.

Actually, you know what? I think I saw it on Thursday after everybody teed off, which is this fact. I believe it to be the case that the winner of the Genesis Open, the L.A. Open, this event at Riviera, for some number of years in a row has been at least 30 years old. And I think that that is a refurb. reflection of the kind of challenge that Riviera poses the strategic nature of it. And, you know, kind of, it requires both an emotional maturity but also a game maturity because of the decision making off the T and the positioning off the T that's so crucial,

especially with what appears to have been done in the way of some architectural impactings. You know, the trees on 13 and whatever it's gone on. on at 10. Let me hear you talk about that. Well, that's fascinating you say that because I hadn't given that any thought at all. And so I went with the Bubba Watson, Cameron Smith, Patrick Cantlay group today. And I would say that those two youngsters, Cantlay and Smith, and they are very young players still and immensely talented. But there is no question that they hit a few shots that that really kind of cost them and they were shots that I watched

at the time thinking, ooh, strategically that really isn't your brightest play there. And Bubba made a couple of mistakes, but his mistakes were, looked to me more like execution than mental. And he just carves his way around the course so beautifully. And he was so patient today.

That's what was so fun to watch. You know, yesterday he attacked and shot 65. 65, Shaq. And then today he kind of recognized that the golf course was definitely tougher and one where he had to be patient. And then nothing against Cantlay and Smith, who both played very nicely. But they definitely had moments where you felt like they were a little bit young. And Riviera does expose all sorts of things. And we'll get to Tiger in a bit.

You know, it exposed a lot of mistakes for him. And really, this week, because of the... the firmness and the speed of the greens, it heightened every mistake. And it's hard for people to picture it. I know every year Gary McCord explains Kikuyu on the air and you see balls hit those fringes. And their Matt Morton and his crew have got them firmer and tighter than ever before and getting the ball to advance out of them. But House, it's still very hard to explain to people how difficult it is to chip around this golf course

or even to approach the greens, because everything around it is, it's just got enough softness, and then the contrast with the firmness of the greens is just bizarre. It's different than anything else in golf. I've always thought the collars and approaches should be another grass, a Bermuda grass or something that allows it to, allows people to run the ball up more.

Because Kikuyu is just a great fairway grass, but it's just goofy around the greens. So it's not my, it's bizarre. But it takes experience to deal with it. takes a little bit of patience too. There was a very cool example of what you're describing on Saturday's round where Phil, I think it was 12, went just a little bit off. He was maybe four feet off and he elected to chip and two or three groups later and he chipped it close and, you know, of course, Phil did Phil. But the guys were commenting on kind of the wisdom of that play because it was a very

puttable ball, but the commentators were observing, I don't remember who, were saying, you know, that because of the kikuyu and the unpredictability and the stickiness of it, that the chip is probably the play, and not

two or three groups later, I'm almost positive it was Kantley who had it, and it looks so puttable, but he, you know, he couldn't judge how hard to hit it, and it was a downhiller. So it got caught up in the kikuyu, and left him, Kakuyu, left him like a six-footer or something.

Now, he made it because he's a badass. But it was a real prime example of what you're describing. I also, and I want to talk about 10 before we get to Bubba. I want your views on how Bubba got to be Bubba again, because I have a theory. But 10, because it fits this what you're describing in terms of the tenth hole, indeed. Yes. The uniqueness of the grass and, you know, sort of the challenges posed, Ryan Moore on Saturday had what looked to be one of the most unfair experiences I've seen.

I don't know if other guys encountered this as well. Did you see Ryan Moore on 10 on Saturday? I did. Yes, I did. I was behind the green. Yes. So you saw him from under the trees. It took him a long time to figure out what kind of.

Everything takes him a long time, house. Everything takes him a long time. When he decides which hole in his belt loop, and he is looking, Morsefeldt, congratulations, Ron. Yeah, tightened it up. Right. Very nicely. That's 45 seconds in the morning to figure out which hole he's looping that bell through.

Oh, my, anyway, please go on. Well, in any event. painful. It was, he hit a shot to like six feet or so, and it had just a little bit of side action, the chip shot. the chip shot and it ended up all the way off the green, all way at the bottom of the hill, leaving him

you know, with a third shot because he drove the ball into the tree line. The second shot looked like it was going to give him six feet for birdie and it ended up all the way at the bottom on the other side of the hill. And it was just the, you know, 10 just felt a little tricked out.

That's all. Yeah, it's it has spilled over the edge and it's now a, it's a, it's just a bizarre hole and it's one loathed by the players which is really unfortunate for such a great hole. I can't think of one player this week

that said they love that hole or they love playing it. I had some conversations that were really fun with players and I didn't hear anybody even come close to liking it at this point and I don't blame them. We've had a drought so everything is as dry as can be here.

as Kukuya can be. And the green is just, it just is so small and it sits on that little spot. And the margin for error is absurd. And it really is, there's still skill involved in certain whole locations, but there is quite a bit of luck involved in a lot of the strategy and cool angles and things are really kind of not making a whole lot of sense right now. And they're really, I'm not even sure. I love to beg people to lay up.

I begged Bryce and Deschambeau to consider it, and you can imagine how far I got there in that conversation. I did get the last laugh getting to watch him in the first round, leave one in the bunker. And he did look at me as he walked off the green, and I just said, it's just a thought. And he sort of gave one of those kind of snorting laughs, which I don't know. That was really the time for me to have conveyed that to him. Well, Shaq, you know the rule is no laying up, Shaq. Exactly. Yeah, I know, I know. Well, he would lay up on a hole, I think, if he had figured out a way that it was smart for him. And that's why I enjoy a conversation with him about it. Some guys just don't even want to go there. But yeah, so it's a little bit of a goofy hole in a year like this where everything's so dry. If we had some rain, it would be more palatable. But they've played with it too much. And it's like that thing that's been injected too much with Botox and pulled and pride at. And it's just, it's still fascinating to watch and it's still exciting to have it in the

midst of the round the way it is with the 11th hole after it. It's such a, that's what's so cool about Riviera House is the ebb and flow of the design. I mean, you just look at today, we were looking at the leaderboard and Spieth was out ahead, and there he was, three under, and if he birdies 10 and 11, even just one of them, wow, suddenly he's really in the mix going in the back nine. And he ends up seven under par, and he ends up, shooting 35 on the back. But those two pars, wow, if he makes those two birdies,

suddenly he is really in the mix. And we've seen that here many times. And I love that about, you know, this course, again, compared to the other West Coast swing course, is totally different ebb and flow to the rounds with the first hole being easy and the last hole being hard and all that kind of stuff. So it's just a, it's a fun course that way.

Well, that's the perfect segue shack into this very important question for today, which is, how did Bubba get his Bubba back? Well, he got his weight back, but he won't tell us why he was ill or what it was. It's a paper cut or something like that. But he, well, obviously, how he has two courses on the PGA tour that he likes and he can play well, Riviera and Augusta. So I'm just getting here is part of the, I think, the biggest hurdle. And don't underestimate how much mojo he gets from that whole All-Star appearance. and going down there and seeing his buddy Bieber and letting Tracy McGrady put him in his place.

And Bubba claimed – Bobba had some great lines about that. You know, he was trying to help him get a 10-day contract and pad his block shot total and all that fun stuff. But – and the air ball was an attempted alley-up, stuff like that. So he gets a lot of confidence from all that. And I think it's fun for him and it kind of makes him – it feel like it. a star, of course he goes down there and they're most of the people are like, who's this skinny guy? Right.

They don't know who he is. Sure. And he even told a funny story about that with Tracy McGrady's son. Yeah, he had no clue. But, you know, just watching him play, it was exact same Bubba as the years that he won here. He just creative, hitting the ball both ways.

Can hit a big draw, big cut, and can put these greens beautifully, play some, plays quickly. for the most part. And it's just, it's fascinating to see. I mean, you look at his stats, though, you know, and it wasn't anything life-changing.

You know, we got into the stats a lot with Tiger and obsessed about it, but, you know, 46 of 72 greens and 32 of 56 fairways. These are nice numbers. But, you know, everything just kind of adds up to solid and good, decent enough scrambling and good putting. And the power when he needs the power, and then he can hit iron off a bunch of teas. and hit it a long way.

So it's, it just sounds like he also, his wife has let him know that, you know, there's a point where the whining and the feeling sorry for himself and all the other neuroses just got really old. That kind of came out in his press conference today. So that was interesting to hear that she had kind of put her foot down and set him straight a little bit. Well, that is interesting to me because the biggest change to my way of thinking in my observation is his golf ball. Oh, that was a sore subject in the press conference. Meaning what? Did somebody ask him about it?

Oh, yeah. Oh, it came up. And what was his reaction? I mean, what is there to be sore about? He had house, he changes equipment all the time. He's got different ping irons all the time. He's got different woods. Loves his ping, blah, blah, blah. And yeah, he was, he was not very thrilled with that question. Well, I admire the loyalty.

You know, I'm sure he got a humongous check for playing those balls. Yeah. But that's the one noteworthy difference between last season when he completely fell off the map. Yeah. And, you know, a trend line this season that, again, you know, looks like we're getting a version of Bubba that this is like a total bonus because you and I were talking at the very outset of our show season about how excited we were with the array of talent because guys aren't hurt and guys are ready and, you know, we're catching tigers back. So it's like a, you know, 15 to 20 deep in terms of interesting guys who can compete. beat and win. And by golly,

a couple of those observations validated already. Jason Day, you know, went out and won at Torrey, you know, a name from last year. And DJ you know, looked like he was poised to just run away with the whole thing and, you know, has a

stumble for him, which is still a top 20 finish at RIV. But nobody said anything about Bubba being back. If Bubba's back, I mean, that really changes the whole deal, doesn't it? It does. It really does. And the other thing he touched on, I mean, besides the pooh-pooing the ball idea, that that was important. And, of course, watching how he plays, he needed to play a real golf ball. But the Ryder Cup thing that we thought, some of us thought would be a wake-up call for him getting passed over. He brought that up today in the press conference. And I think it did, it finally has sunk in that he needed to change a few things. And he added the career builders. he's done some things with his life that are different in his approach.

It took about a year between the, so it was a year with that ball. And then this finally coming to realize that he was given a gift in that being the 14th captain and really, even though they really didn't want him there. And he was seventh and points. And that it is a reason to motivate oneself. And now he talked to us after in the sort of the non-TV part about, how much he wants to go there. And Bubba in France will be quite fascinating, given his pass there with some of his thoughts on the place.

But I'm with you. It's such, I have my feelings about him when you see him on the lousy side of Bubba. But when he's on and he's in a great mood, he is so much fun. And I just love watching him play, the artistry of it, and the feel and, you know, Clearly he loves Riviera. He spoke about how it allows him to visualize things so easily. And it does. It's a beautiful shot-shapers course, and it's why Hogan loved the place so much. And most tour courses don't do that and get your juices flowing if you're somebody like him.

He's so retro. He's so, you know, Trevino and just old school in terms of that. And he has a little Trevino in him, too, and the stubbornness. So that's something that the difference is that he loves Augusta. he hated Augusta, but yeah, fantastic for the sport. And I'm just thrilled that maybe we'll have this great run. And he just adds one more player to mix. I did not see what his master's odds were prior to this weekhouse, but I did see he's now down to 28 to 1.

Well, I'm going to buy right away. I mean, you know. You're going to have the whole field by the time we're done with. No, no, I'm only on three or four guys right now. the one thing about Bubba that one tends to forget, pro tracer was made for Bubba Watson. I know. I mean, it is.

I thought he was showing off with it on 15 today. I mean, he started it so far left. I'm like, he's just doing that for the tracer. But look, you know, the thing that I felt like on Saturday,

when he hit the ball into the trees on 13, and it ended up in the middle of the fairway, I saw Bubba's going to win. And that would have been a good moment for a dummy like me to jump on and look at the line. odds and see what I could have got Bubba at. Now, he was in the lead at that point, so it wouldn't have been terrific odds, but you could have probably still got him at, you know, five to one, six to one, maybe higher than that.

But that's when it felt like it was going to be his tournament. Then he chipped in on, what was the chip in on Saturday? I know today he chipped on on 14, which was, you know, that was the clincher. That was the clincher. It was. And the reaction was phenomenal. And then he told the whole story afterwards. it was great fun about that he hit it pretty quickly because he really had to go to the bathroom.

And he and Cameron Smith had a little fun joke about that. So you'll see that in some of the stories. Good. Anyway, I think that's about we need to get to the big cat. But of course, we have to, of course, discuss what everybody was talking about last week. The Callow he won the driver count at the Chubb Classic. I mean, that was huge, right? The Rogue.

Where is the jail break? This week? The Chubb is on the champion. The PGA Tour Chamber. The Chubb down in Naples? That's right. Yeah, you know, Calloway took the top spot despite the fact that they only had three staffers in the field house. Now, think about that.

Three staffers in the field and you win the driver count on the Champions Tour. That means that 90% of the guys using it. And we know those guys don't not like to spend money if they don't have to. I mean, they're not walking into the shop. And, well, maybe they are. I don't know. A couple of them. You never know.

But anyway, that's a pretty cool stat. They're using the Sub-Zero, I think, out there on the Champions Store. and it's pretty awesome to see the adoption of rogue by the old guys and out here on the regular tour and the LPGA. They're loving it. Well, I just want to... Did you see Phil's T-ball on 18 today? I did not.

I did not. I gave up on him when he bogeed 15. I know. I devoted my time to the people named Bubba. Well, another top 10 finish for Phil. So we like this trend line. Three in a row. That's the first time since I think 2009 for him, which that's going to make him very happy going to Augusta.

When he is hitting fairways, I'm telling you, when he's hitting fairways, and I know he's got the rogue bomber in there, it's got to be the sub-zero. He is right there with kids that are 20 years younger than him. He is hitting the effing daylights out of the ball. It is. It's amazing. The club head speed, same with Tiger, who we're going to talk about in a minute. You're going to remind me of how I'm going to sleep well. Yes.

Well, I was going to say that that's the difference between this week's event and last week's event. There was some genuine interest, some genuine attention this week. So I wasn't worried about falling asleep. But if I had been inclined to fall asleep, I tell you the Helix sleep mattress, there's nobody on the planet like you, Shaq. So why would you buy a mattress built for everyone else? working with the world's leading sleep experts, Helix Sleep, developed a mattress that is customized to your specific height weight and sleep preferences so you can have the best sleep of your life

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Plus, you get 100 nights to try them out. For a limited time, Shaq, get 50. $50 off your mattress order when you go to helixleep.com slash shackhouse. That's helixleaksleep.com slash shackhouse. Helixleksleep.com slash shackhouse. 50 bucks off. Do it today. So House, that latest shackhouse you just yelled out reminded me that I believe I did some very important demographic research this week here at Riviera. And I can tell you that based on the number of shack houses that I got screamed at. And of course, you know, people are looking at

grown men yelling that out at me and thinking, what is wrong with them? There's nothing wrong with them. Tigers, and they like their tiger. It was about a 10 to one ratio on shack houses with a tiger gallery versus a above a gallery. So we thank you. I thank all the nice people who said hello this week. And I appreciate you coming out to the RIV, even though the ticket was $65 at the gate. But the weather was pretty sublime. And the man was here. And it was so fun having him here. I'm a little bummed that he left for the weekend. On the other hand, it did allow me to see some other golfers since I had to follow every shot. And I wrote four columns on him this week for Golf Week. That's enough. I have all, I've said all I can about the man. But what do you

want to know, House? What do you think? What did you see? What was your reaction to a miscut, a 72, 76 performance? at Riviera where he's never had a great track record to begin with. Right. So here's the thing I'm interested in hearing your diagnosis for the number one ailment that is he's confronted with at the moment. We obviously know he's having a problem with cutting the golf ball with his driver. You know, he still can't hit that cut that he wants. And we saw that he had putting challenges, but I don't think that was,

that was the, if we did the real diagnostic, Those two things were kind of obvious. What would you say was the thing that was befalling him? Definitely the iron plate. And he knows it, and it was almost shocking how bad a couple of the iron shots were, either middle of the fairway, but mostly the ones on the par three's. Those par three iron shots he hit both days at the sixth hole and one at the fourth hole and a few others, one at 14.

It was unbelievable. If he does those at the bear trap this week at the Honda, you're going to get the, The NBC, oh no, NBC's not doing it this week. Sorry, it's the CBS crew doing the sound. Hopefully they'll have the NBC tradition of the microphones by the lakes and you'll get the big Kiplunks if he hits those. And these would be not even getting near the rocks. We won't get any ricocheting.

These will be right in the serious Klaplunk zone. And that's to me what stood out as something that had him and had him a little bit, I think, confused as well that he would hit some so bad off the tee. The driver, you know, the second round, he brought the left side in play, which he had bragged about earlier in the week that he didn't have as an issue.

The right shot is weird, and Rory touched on it after the round. There's a spin issue he's having with his driver. He changed shafts, but the way the ball's coming off the face, when he misses it a little bit, He still hits some beauties, but when he misses it, it takes this weird ball flight. And it's almost a knuckleball thing that veers right.

But again, I felt like driving-wise, I know the numbers weren't great, and the day he was missing it left, he was not missing it badly left. And he was giving himself chances, but the iron play was just really, really hurt him. And really, really the difference in the sound and everything when you compared it to McElroy and Tom. was noticeable. So do we have a forecast? I'm interested in your take on this. So consecutive weeks, it feels almost like a,

you know, a sin to observe this. He's never won at Riviera, and he's never won at the PGA National. Yeah. And he's playing these two venues that are notoriously tough tracks. Now, he has had some success at PGA National. The very last round that he played there was in 2012, I believe.

And I think he shot 62 that day, charging from way behind. Now, Rory ended up winning that event. But what's your feeling on Tiger getting around out there at PGA National? I think a made cut will be a big hurdle and accomplishment this week. The short game was sensational. He didn't put as well as the second round. But he, it's just strange. He hit a couple of shots that weren't great around the greens,

but mostly he made some amazing up and downs. And he had the, I thought, the best-looking short game in the group with Thomas and McElroy for the most part. But, yeah, I just think right now that's going to be kind of the next goal, is just make the cut there and go from there. The thing that's frustrating in watching house, is that he's enjoying what he's doing again. He looks like he loves being out there.

He loved being out there with Rory and Justin Thomas and being the big cat and having a huge crowd and bringing the energy back to this place on a weekday that doesn't happen, and he knows that. He feeds off of that. So there's no sense that he's uncomfortable physically or mentally. I mean, there were a couple T-shots where I thought he just didn't feel good about that T-shot.

just hit it and knew it was just not happening. The 11th hole, the second day, the one that stayed up in the tree. He no longer watches it. As soon as it's bad, you have to watch the ball. You can't go off his body language. He just goes for the T no matter what. The twirl is, you know, a good getaway. So that's the weird part.

You feel like he feels good. He looks good. He's having fun. And then he makes Bertie, starts off nicely, a couple of bars, Bertie. and then there's a dumb bogey and then another birdie and then another boge and it's up and down. And I think that's just the rust.

I think it's just that, you know, he really just, he says he hasn't played much golf in two years. I would argue that it goes even back more than that. And so I think that the only thing that bothers me, house, is I, he's so good on the course now and chatting with his peers. Any kid who yells out Tiger around the T's, unless he's about ready to hit a shot.

He acknowledges him through balls to kids, which he just never used to do. And it's almost like he's not concentrating enough, if that makes sense. That he's almost, the focus is so loose that he's not, he's not 100% old tiger. And maybe that's what he just plans to do. He's never going to be the Ben Hogan Hawk guy again.

And maybe, you know, that's fine. It's interesting. He said that, you know, the thing that he's trying to do here is, is basically, I'm going to paraphrase here for a moment. He's basically trying to find that muscle memory again in terms of tournament golf. But, you know, it may be that he only, I don't know how much he needs to be effective because I think sort of in terms of the emotional intelligence that you're describing, when he gets the game part locked in and he's got that sort of comfort level

where he is sort of more in touch with his surroundings, he's not back in that, you know, the world be damned mode. Yeah, yeah. I honestly think that that's going to be pretty. interesting combination. I mean, all this is building to just an impeccably tantalizing Augusta. I mean, that's the way I feel right now. Yeah, and I think he, that's the thing that you sense around him is that he just, I didn't feel like other than a few shots where he barked out a comment at the stupidity of the play, you know, just an uphill chip where he'd leave it five feet above the hole and an impossible little

downhiller. Yeah, there were a couple times he really got mad at himself. But otherwise, I didn't sense this urgency that he needed to really start buttoning this up now. But it also, House wasn't, I didn't sense that he feels that way because he just doesn't care anymore. I just think he's kind of on a Ben Hogan plan to really focus on the majors and everything else. He just really ultimately is about just getting out there and performing and enough and walking and hitting shots and getting used to everything again. And I think that's a fantastic approach. But I do think at some point his patience is going to start to run out when he doesn't perform basics that he used to do without even thinking. And that's, you know, a six iron on a par three and missing the green eight-yard short where, again,

Again, here at Riviera, you're not in a lake, but you're in a lake at the bear trap at the Honda, and you're in Race Creek at Augusta and things like that. Yeah, well, he needs four rounds. He needs to make cuts. That's the important thing. But it was that for us here, I can just tell you in L.A. It was sensational the size of the crowd. You know, it was very cold.

Well, I'm sorry. How dare you? For us. Don't you dare use that word. You know, it's in the low 50s with a little sand. It wasn't than usual. It's very crisp in the morning. It was sweater weather.

Congratulations. Two layers, and it's a hard course to get to. And the price was a little bit high, I think. And the outpouring of interest and support to come out and see him early. Then the crowd goes a little ugly on Friday, and Rory called that out. Justin Thomas called that out. But again, it was sensational. It's amazing how many kids come out and love talking.

And yeah, they've never seen him play in his prime or frankly at all. So anyway, all that was a home run. His foundation, everything's going really well here with the tournament. Genesis is a sponsor that's going to put a lot into this. And so he, you could sense there's a pride in having brought this, being a part of this kind of coming back. And this tournament really had been kind of neglected. And so I love seeing that you can sense that from him. He wouldn't even throw us those bones.

By the way, our Tuesday press conference went on forever. He was phenomenal. He just was given great answers and was in no hurry to leave. And none of the rounds, the post-round interviews was in a hurry to leave. So all that is just like he's a different guy. It's great fun to get to cover him when he's like this. Well, so now we have the opportunity to observe, you know, whether or not that is the kind of prevailing dynamic with the T-E-Gray.

Because he's basically going home. I mean, he can sleep in his own bed if he was inclined this week coming up at the Honda. Yeah, no, I know. And, you know, it's a hometown homecoming. And what you're describing in terms of the fans and, you know, the outpouring and his sort of ability to navigate it and his disposition and all of what you're talking about in terms of his friendliness with the press. and the press conferences, let's see.

This is a real good test of where his head is at. And that's really what we're talking about right now. Because I subscribe to the idea that the game will get there. Like, I'm not worried about the game coming. The consistency of the short game is what is, you know, to me, the most, you know, again, tantalizing aspect of feeling like he's back. because I think he'll figure out driver before the first week of April, and I think he'll have the irons worked out as well. As long as that short game stays, you know,

in the kind of shape that it's in right now. But what we want to see is his headspace, right? I don't want him psyching himself out. So I like, you know, coming into this weekend. We got another great field this week, Shaq. Yeah, and the Honda always does attract. Yeah, they're the guys who like the West Coast guys. They're the Florida guys, and this is their bread and butter.

And I am impressed they have a great feel because there has been a slow erosion of affinity for this course. It looks to me how it's like his last, by the way, his last Florida performance was the WGC Cadillac at Doral in 2014. 14. It's been a little while. But he'll be glad to get back on his new native turf. the cuckooia and poa was something that he'd kind of forgotten about how difficult it is and this is really all cuckooia you know troy pines is kind of masked so um but yeah i i think everything you said is is is very true and it's it's all and all very positive and we here in

l.A of course are very grateful because it's it's just rejuvenated the the event no matter what how many days he played i don't know if you noticed how you probably can't tell from television but the crowd today was as big as any crowd I've seen since the Fred Couples' heyday years in the 90s when he was like Mr. L.A. and everybody loved to come out and see Freddy. So that's Tiger again. There we go. So I have done no research on the Honda Classic. And based on the general crappiness of my picks this week, it's probably best that I have stayed away from looking at the Honda.

So the only thing I can do is as I sit here in the media center, and it's me and Mark Williams of the PGA Tour left. I can look at the scores and tell you who played well this week. But did you have any advance scouting efforts to reveal? I'm with you. It's just too early for us to weigh in. And I think what we should do the same thing we did this past week, which is come Wednesday, we'll compare some notes on Twitter

and try and give out a couple more winners. Now, you know, we probably talked about, six names each or so and we had one name from each of those groups, one name from your crew and one from mine. We got to do a little bit better than that. And I haven't yet, you know, figured out what kind of defining characteristic or trait that I want to point to as being, you know, sort of the key other than, you know, the guys that are putting great at this event. And, you know, this is one where the putter has to work. Now, Sergio makes his U.S. debut this week.

Yeah. And he has some great experience at this venue. So that's just a name I'll throw out there early. A guy that I'm psyched to see is Kyridash, Affie Barnrat, making his U.S. debut hot off the heels of winning in Perth in the Sixes, right? Yeah, last man in the match plan. He pulled off the big win. He's a great player.

It's going to be fun to see what he does. Hopefully he'll dress better. I love the way he dresses. I don't, don't. You do you. You do you, Barnrat. Don't change a damn thing. Pete Weber, special.

Oh, my Lord. It's outstanding. Oh, the lime greens and the ho. We got Sergio, Justin Thomas, Tiger, Patent Kassire, who, you know, Rory, who's won here, I mean, it's a pretty damn good field. Four out of the top 10, 10 out of the top 25. You know, that's some wattage.

It is. And I'm not ready to do anything names-wise yet. Well, then we'll take to the Twitter with some thoughts. And I'll look at a few things myself because I'm kind of curious. And I did get to see, I didn't get to see as many players this week as I normally do because I was on Tiger duties for golf week. but I saw enough to probably have some thoughts and see who's kind of the Florida guys

who are going to perk up. I will say I really enjoyed watching Cameron Smith today and Patrick Cantley, if he played a little faster, I'd really enjoy watching him. But he was a fun one this week, House. It was really neat. So last thing I just wanted, but I do want to tell you about this

because it's a really fascinating thing for our sport. You know, we have a hard time getting the guys down here to the media center now. They really want to come off the green, get a few quotes out there and move on. And here's somebody who has really struggled with interviews. And he came down, and he was so good at answering questions. And so many of the writers here, some of them who covered him before. Patrick Cantley, yeah, excuse me.

He came down twice this week to the media center. And just the whole setting and the situation. And his personality started to come through. He's obviously matured and he's been through a lot. and has repressed a lot of emotion and is very, you know, he doesn't suffer fools. He really doesn't like dumb questions and he's kind of got a Duval thing going there. But it was really a breakthrough week for him here in terms of the eyes of the press. And it just, it was a reminder, too, of how bad the interviews are when we would get people just off the round.

And when we have just, you know, 10, 12 minutes to sit there and ask follow-ups and, and just throw out random stuff. Did you ever come out to the tournament and things like that? And then all of a sudden he was telling this great story about going to the Masters. He didn't want to be there. He just lost a tournament. He told this great story about sitting on the putting green watching Ben Crenshaw, just roll 60 footers down to within a few feet of the hole,

just having a good time and all feel. And then he just said he had turned over to my right. And there was VJ and he was hooked up to these sensors. And there were four people analyzing every little movie made and every put. and they were measuring it. And he just said, I learned at that moment the kind of putter and player

I wanted to be. And just stuff like that. So it was really neat for us to kind of get to know him a little bit better. And, you know, he's somebody who I've always kind of thought, hmm, he just is really, he either really resents us or he just doesn't have much to say.

And I have a totally new perspective on him. And, yeah, I ended up T4 and minus 9 and another great UCLA performance here at Riviera. So just wanted to throw that out there. another one of those fun little things that that I get to enjoy is a perk of the job and getting to spend some time

with some of these guys and it was very cool. Let me ask you this. Now, I said his name and I can't recall whether it was on the show or whether it was in our prep as I was kind of saying, you know, here's the way I'm looking for some real dark horses and there was odds for him

you know, I was just looking at guys odds to win a major and I mentioned him and I and you You gave me a hard time. Me? Yes. It must not have been on the show. No.

Would you, have you changed your mind any? I mean, if I told you, I put a little taste on the idea of him winning a major and it was like in the 50 to one neighborhood. Is that still wasted money? On who? I'm sorry. Patrick, on your guy. Patrick Cantley. Yeah, we're having a little technical issue here in the media center.

Yes, because he's a good putter. Okay, great. Simple is that. There we go. I think that's the right note to end on, although before we go, I want to talk a little bit. Now, you know, Golf Digest has its annual equipment ratings. They give out medals for all the new equipment that come out. I know.

The Callaway Rogue irons, gold medals across the entire board, you know that I am a Rogue X kind of Guy, Shaq, because I love what they've done with that particular line of the new rogue irons. It is a distance enhancer. They have the lofts driven way down. Do you know they have a 42 degree pitching wedge? Yeah, that won't. I love that. That's what I need.

This is my kind of stick so I can take my pitching wedge when I'm playing with the 20-somethings and not feel like, you know, it's the functional equivalent of an iron for me. I don't care about the... They give everybody a gold medal. Here's what I know about the rogue. This is all I'm going to tell you. I'm going to leave you with this.

I know two people. I'm an apex guy. Okay, so I'm not into the look of these game improvement irons, I think is one way to put it. I know two people... I'm in need of game improvement. We've played together. You know this about me.

They are more fickle than me. They are as picky as it gets. and they both have switched to Rogue already, and they absolutely love them, and they didn't think they would. And that, to me, I don't care what the hot list panel says. They love everything. Let's talk to the real people.

And let me tell you, if you knew these people, and you knew that they made the switch and liked it, I'm still astonished, frankly. I'm actually going to try and hit them now just because they've actually said that. But I'm an apex guy. I love the apex. I can't hit mine. Mine are still in my box.

I'm leaving them in the box until there's. no more risk of snow. House, so the Winter Olympics, your guy Chang was on, regular of the House of Carbs. Did you catch some of those appearance? I've been pretty busy with the tournament, but he did some pretty cool features. So I bet you're trying to get him back on the show again. I'm working on him. I'm working on it, I believe it, Shaq, between his experience in South Korea and his new show,

Ugly Delicious coming up on Netflix. Yeah, Dave Chang is an old friend. friend of the House of Carb. So we're always working to get him. And the stuff about his experience, I was watching mainly on Twitter and Instagram to catch the stories because those are the little doses that I enjoy. But the features on NBC were terrific. So, yeah.

Cool. All right. Well, I look forward to the next episode of House of Carbs. And I thank you for indulging me for rubbing it in on the weather here. But, you know, when we have a great week at Riviera, we've. had our share of dogs. So we got to really enjoy it when we don't get any rain and we get a great finish and four beautiful days of golf on one of the world's best courses. Well, look, we promised the good people that we're going to make some selections for this week.

Part of the Florida swing kicks off the Honda Classic and we'll do some name exchanging on Wednesday. Because we are the Shack. Part of the Ringer Podcast Network.