Fairway Rollin' - The Return of Brooks Koepka, and Club Pro Michael Block Steals the Show at the PGA Championship

Episode Date: May 22, 2023

House and Hubbard start the pod by reacting to Brooks Koepka notching his fifth major win at the PGA Championship this weekend, discussing where this puts him among the top golfers in the world, and explaining its significance for LIV Golf (02:03). Then, they discuss the standouts at Oak Hill, including club pro Michael Block and his top-15 finish, Scottie Scheffler, and Viktor Hovland (22:20). After, they talk about players who underperformed, overperformed, and met their expectations (44:50). Hosts: Joe House and Nathan Hubbard Producers: Donnie Beacham Jr. and Eduardo Ocampo Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hi, I'm Issa Kwanga and I'm Ryan Hunt and we co-host Stadio, a football podcast on the Ring of Podcast Network. Twice a week, Musa and I talk about the goings on in men's and women's football around Europe and sometimes around the world. We like to zoom in, we like to zoom out, we like to make some silly references.

So if you like soccer or football, make sure you search for Stadio, a football podcast on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Think we got it? Yep, that's good. Friends and welcome to this, PGA. championship recap show.

Brought to you by the Rigger Podcast Network and our good friends at Fandul TV. This, my friends, is Faraway rolling. A show on the Riga Podcast Network and Fandul TV. I am your starter, Joe House. Joining me is my incomparable accomplice, our PGA tour, and PGA championship boots on the ground. And he was in Rochester, New York, Nathan Hubbard.

It's a two ball. We are underway to celebrate the return of a champion. Let's go. Nate Dogg. How you doing, buddy? Woo boy. Heck of a weekend house. This was a big time golf tournament.

It felt big. The crowds were great. The venue was great. And let's be honest, the champion is great. I mean, here we go, Nate. Please allow me to reintroduce myself. My name is Brooks. Now, I'm not going to keep doing it.

Don't call it a comeback. I really want to keep doing it. I can't say. I'll tell you, it's fine. You did it, but I will say the last thing that we said on Wednesday evening after we'd been on the ground, we'd surveyed the scene, we'd heard what people said, we'd looked at the course, we saw the weather. there was one thing that you asked us to close with. And we said, what is it that stood out? And it was

Brooks Kepka in his press conference and on that course telling us the truth house. The first time that Brooks Kepka has really told us the truth was that Netflix special. And since that time, it is like you and I were at the U.S. Open last year. Father's Day, weekend. And he was lying to us. He had lied to us for two years about his health. He lied to us to our face about whether he was going to live, taking the check, getting his brother paid, getting him in. And he just, he was, he was nasty, man. You could just tell there was something not right about him. There was a meanness. There was an anger. And I think the more that he opened up about who he was and sort of got in touch with his own emotional vulnerability that started with that Netflix

special. But continued this week as he looked right in the camera and said, I know why I lost the masters. My game is better than it was. I spent a ton of time. I didn't sleep that night. I figured out why. And I'm here to win this golf tournament. We said Wednesday night, watch out for Brooks. And sure enough, you and I texted this morning, that Amanda interview he did like, last night, he said, I'm not going to tell you my tricks, but I am doing it differently. I promise you, I'm going to show up. And the dog did it. The dog did it. Now, I wonder if we're looking for inflection points, his win last fall on the live tour, where he came into, you know, whatever the press conference version is of that situation and cried. He cried real tears.

They didn't look like fake tears to me. And the, the, the, the tears he explained were attributable to the fact that he was not sure that he could ever win again. It goes right back to the point you're making about what we observed from him, the genuine self-doubt, the footage that was captured at the Masters in 2021 when he's walking away saying, I don't think I could compete with these guys. I certainly can't compete with Scottie Schaeffler. And now here we are. He was right on the brink with the Masters, and he came out and validated it basically with this absolutely masterful handling of Oak Hill

speaking of a masterful golf course. A master class in a renovation by Andrew Green restoring Donald Ross's treasure. But Brooks was all about it all week long. I mean 66, 66, 67, I lost a fine bottle of wine to you because we wagered this earlier today. at what the number was going to be. I had him at 71 or over,

and you said, no sir, me, Mr. House. Brooks Kepka is here to grab this thing by the throat and take it home with him. And by golly, even with Jim Nance

saying he has one hand on the trophy on the 16th hole, which Jim Nance knows better than Nate Dogg. Hmm. He did it. He did it. He did it. Listen,

I followed him at Harding Park during the PGA Championship three years ago. During the pandemic, there were no fans. That was when he was injured, but not telling the truth about what was going on because he wasn't wanting to admit that he was hurt. I am telling you, I followed his group. He had a trainer who had a credential who he was hiding behind trees and lying in the grass and having the trainer come over outside the ropes and stretch him out, move his hips, move his legs. He was hurting.

And that was the start of that downfall. And it just was a different Brooks than what we had seen. I mean, by the way, do you remember, you remember when Joe Buck screwed up the name of his girlfriend the first time he won the U.S. Open because it was such a shock. Nobody knew who this guy was. And he got the wrong girlfriend as they wrote on the cart. Now, this is one of the most scrutinized golfers in the sport. And in a lot of ways, one of the most scrutinized athletes because, you know, He is equal parts divisive, lovable, and unknown, if that's even possible, right?

But three years, this guy, that was the start of his demise. And I think that's why today, in the press conference, he said that this one was the sweetest of the mall. It takes a lot to get through the self-doubt that we were witness to. Behind the scene, Shirley, on camera, and House, you and I have joked a bunch about the fact that some of that was Shirley staged. And by the way, how weird that Jenna was not there. I mean, you think she's jealous that she was not on camera today?

Oh, she's got the baby coming. Come on. It's okay. It's going to be a little well. No, listen, we're happy for them. But that's part of Brooks's emotional evolution, right, is to get to this place where he's comfortable with who he is. I think, to be honest with you, the only thing that that guy's not comfortable with in

this moment in time, and I know this is going to drive you nuts, we can debate it. but there's one thing in his life that he's not comfortable with. And that's the fact that he's on the live tour house. So we are going to debate that. It's true. A thing about that in the press conference, did he? Well, this was, he didn't say anything about it when he was standing with the man, receiving the giant trophy. We haven't yet seen the press conference.

We're taping immediately after the tournament, my birdie buddies, as you would expect us to do. And we'll see the press conference. Somebody will ask him and we'll see what kind of answer he gives, the tone and tenor. and, you know, sort of take it from there. But I do want to pick up on one of the observations you made. His competitiveness at Harding Park, he did come back and validate that with his performance at Kiowa. He walked with Phil in the final twosome on that Sunday at Kiowa. He did.

You know, overcoming injury, we still think that there was an injury situation in his life at that moment. But, you know, clearly between that time in 2021 and, you know, this time in 2022, he came to grips with something about his own competitive abilities and decided that the live option was the best option for him. He is now Nate Dogg in absolutely rarefied air. He and Jack Nicholas and Tiger Woods are the only three guys in the modern stroke play era to have three PGA championships. He and Jack Nicholas. He and Jack Nicholas are the only guys to have won three PGA championships in six years. Damn! We'll see a bunch more of these kinds of accolades. He is now one of 20 players to have ever won five majors.

Damn! He has more majors than Roy McElroy. Damn! We're going to get to Roy McElroy. But yes. We're going to get to Rory. But you know what? You referenced Kiowa.

And I think you dialed back to the live win. I think it was the Kiowa tournament that got him the win today. Because Trevor Immelman and Jim Nance were talking all day about his pace of play and how he was slowing it down. And so very clearly, before he tapped in,

he was fake brushing shit out of the way. He was, you know, marking, stepping back. And all he was doing was trying to slow himself down, slow the pace down, because he's a fast player. And they were rightly saying that at the Masters, he was stuck behind Cantlay, who got bus chucked for a bunch of guys who were slow. By the way, he's slow, too, but, you know, as the DNA share of a guy who's not the fastest player on tour, I can tell you that, you know, it happens from time to time. But he, it was not about the Masters. They thought that this strategic change was because he was slowed at the

masters and, you know, ostensibly pissed off that he was playing so slowly. That was not it. Kiowa, 2021 PGA, he's playing with Phil Mickelson. And Phil, if you recall, after the round, Brooks said he brought out all the tricks. He oked doked me. He okedoked me. Okie doke doke was Phil slowed it way the hell down. Yeah, he did. And it threw Brooks and Brooks knew it. And he's hung on to that. And when he sat in that chair last night with Amanda and said, I'm not going to reveal my tricks, tricks is the same word that he used to describe what Phil Mickelson did to him at Kiow in 2021.

And the trick today was he was going to slow it down. Yes, for himself. But secondly, because he knew it was going to affect the guy he was playing with, who was Victor Hovlin. Now, as you rightly pointed out on our text thread, the real competitor always was going to be Scotty Schaeffler, not to take anything away from Victor, who I think held his own today and made some progress. But do not lose sight of how important that 2021 Kiowa victory by Phil Mickelson over Brooks in which he used the witchcraft to slow things down was and how much it drove his decision, his aggressiveness.

And the way he slowed himself down today, that's what got him the win. So let's just emphasize the point. If we are looking for evidence of this, I don't think there's a better example. Speaking of our text thread, you know, I posed to you the question as it was occurring, Victor Hovlin's debacle on 16 repeating the same misfortune that befell Corey Connors. And it really is very quick aside. What a reminder. Like these guys never, ever, ever in a million years, think they're going to hit a bad shot.

No. I mean, Victor Hovlin surely was aware of what happened to Cory Connors yesterday. He certainly, you know, observed it, you know, either by way of watching highlights or hearing about it. They were in virtually the identical position and he repeated the mistake. But to go back to the Brooks point, I asked you live, do we think that this does anything to Brooks? He's waiting around. He's waiting around. He's waiting around. Hovlin finally resolves his whole situation, hits it up, and then Brooks takes a pitching wedge. It's stones the ma-effa.

Stones it. Exactly right. So it was like, okay, game over. That's fine. Brooks, I mean, look, it's exactly what you're describing and referring to. And he's just built for it. Now, in the threads, in the conversations along the way, this is the curious conundrum with Brooks Keppka and how history will treat him.

And I love that we have Jimmy Buckets as the reference. Timmy Buckets. Playoff Jimmy, right? Playoff Jimmy. Playoff Jimmy, for whatever curious reason, it's tough to look at his regular season performances, and he's never all NBA first team, but he waits for the playoffs.

He's sneaking around, and then he's like, hey, it's playoff time, prime time, lights are on, let's go get this done. And just another. absolute giant trophy for Brooks Kepka, right? I mean, name, I mean, the only other individual sport that I can think of other than bowling is tennis. So name a non-major tennis tournament that you would allow me to cut off your left hand

if Nadal or Federer or Djokovic didn't win that you think they won. You know what I mean? Like, we don't pay attention. And that's right. kind of where we're gravitating here, isn't it? Because you just had, and we're going to talk about Liv, but you just had the guy who we were kind of, I mean, Cam Smith was a big one.

Cam Smith was the one we were most fond of the time. He was the biggest one because of having just won the Open Championship, a historic Open Championship. In hindsight, they made a great call in bringing Brooks over because he was the dog. But, but, you know, I feel, like Brooks just he's the one who you would have thought they would

be celebrating right now. And the truth is he just this is not a, look, you and I are not going to change our viewing habits I don't think House because of what just happened. And everybody

who's on team live right now is going to try to pretend differently. That's not on them, to be honest. because they've got great players. That's the thing. They've got great players. They've got a lot of guys in the top 20. By the way, Michael Block is also in the top 20.

No, it doesn't take anything from Michael Block. Nate Dogg, we're going to do this, but let's take a quick break, and then we'll get into it and fully break down the live context to all of this. And we want to talk about some of the other players because there were some other outstanding performances, but let's take a quick break.

All right, my eagle enthusiast. The Brooks Kepka press conference is officially happening right now. Nate and I sitting here with pen and paper, at least me, because I'm an old school kind of guy, furiously scribbling down notes. We got a couple of really, really, really, really interesting nuggets, Nate Dogg, right? I mean, the live question was asked and in a couple different ways. And he was, he's proud of it, right? No, he's not. He thinks the tour that he belongs to is uncool and he dodged every single one of those questions and talked about it in the context of himself and his own accomplishments.

He dodged the question about Greg Norman. He said, now, you know what? I don't know. I talked to my wife. We have not heard him talk about smash, his team, that he supposedly has franchise ownership in. It doesn't matter. And you know what? This is kind of what the majors are about now, House. It's about getting all the best golfers in the world together. And I think the guys who run, and they are guys who run the PGA, the Masters, the U.S. Open, and the Open, are thrilled with these developments because you have healthy tension between the players that is now sort of dissolved in terms of the animosity between the guys themselves. The tours still have the drama, which spills over into the actual events. And from here on, there's only four

times when we can see all the best players in the world. And you know what? There's some best players over on the live tour. Most of the best players are on the PGA tour. But man, Brooks Kepka ran away from some of those questions, didn't he? It's fine. He did the Brooks Kepka version of, you know, I will acknowledge my circumstances. But ultimately, this is about me and how I handle my own business. And, you know, I could kind of do it anywhere. You just said it, it kind of kind of doesn't matter. That's the point that I think I agree with. And certainly the majors are the place. Now, we did get a tiny bit of flavor at this tournament that was different from the Masters because it's a different environment altogether when you're not at the Masters and not

being observed constantly by the green jackets. There was some booing on the first tee, right? There was. And I think that dissipated pretty quickly, I got to say. It started the way that that first T is set up, it is literally the same T as the 14th. And you've got a whole lot of clubhouse bars around there. And you got some upstate New Yorkers for whom this is probably the first time they felt temperatures over about 45 degrees in seven months. So I don't really attribute the initial reaction so much. as I attribute the final reaction. I think what this does for me, look, you've got to separate the players themselves from the tours and the product. And as we sit here and watch, we said at the beginning of the year house,

first of all, we thought a live player is probably going to win a major, but we also said he's got to win a major for it to be relevant. This live player is probably the worst possible winner for the tour, because he's not going to go out there rep. He's not going to talk about Smash. He did give a high-five to Bryce and DeChambo that you thought

looked warm and loving. I thought looked awkward and like he didn't really want him there along with all of his other bros who were jumping over the ropes to get in with him. But at the end of the day, my sense is, as golf fans, it's going to make the majors more important because Cam Smith, by the way, had round of the day out there. And maybe you can be disappointed with his performance in the Masters and the PGA because we thought he might win. But he's got that. dog in him and he's going to win another major and we know it. I'm not, you know, DJ didn't play terrible this week. There's some other guys out there who played pretty well.

Bryson seems to be back. Dude, Bryson came out of nowhere. We didn't see this Bryson performance coming from anywhere. Now, we did try and construct a narrative where we tied winged foot to this place. That was what the players themselves. That's what your brother said in terms of similarities and, you know, the kind of demands that the golf course put on the players. But I asked you, you texted me, you put it on the Twitter machine.

You know, you said, we might have to keep an eye on for Bryson. And my question to you was, is he healthy? Like, I never know the answer to that. He's clearly healthy, Nate. Well, he's healthy. And again, what this just means is that I think four times a year for now, we're going to see the best golfers in the world together. It does not, at least according not to the Twitter survey I put out,

change the way people feel about watching live. And that's what's sad about what's happened to the sport over the past year. Because the sort of dilution that's happened across the tours. Now, look, Scotty Sheffler just took over the number one world ranking. Do you believe Scotty Sheffler's the best player in the world? Kind of. I mean, I honestly, sure. Do you think Brooks finished second at the Masters and first at the PGA?

Well, we're not measuring this, Nate, by the player of the moment, the player du jour. Now it is the case. That's a problem with the World Golf Rankings House. I understand that. And I do think there is merit to the idea of measuring overtime for sure. And I don't have any problem with Schephler scrambling into the top position because over time, I believe that he's played against the best competition for two years now. And his wins and high placement against the best competition has earned him that spot.

the same is true of John Rom. It's fantastic that Brooks Kepka is one of three now. He certainly replaced Rory. We came into this year saying that the three were Brooks and Scotty and Rory. And Rory, we ain't got no Rory, no, Mo. I mean, Rory's got a- You were mad. You were mad at your boy for the first time.

He's got a hill to climb still. Well, look, I think we've exhausted the lived discussion. Let's talk about some of the players and performances at this championship, because it was really, one that, you know, it made its mark. The golf course made its mark. The championship made its mark. And many players made their marks, including,

let's just jump right in here, the home boy himself, Michael Block. That was an all-time underdog performance. All of New York that was present there on the grounds was supporting him. And I think all of America, everybody that was watching, the thing that was popping up in my thread is,

ACBS, we want to see the guy. Show us the guy. Come on. Well, listen, you and I texted at the beginning of the day, and I will tell you that every private thread that I was on was like Block shooting five over. Like, nobody. Nobody believed in Michael Block today, except apparently Michael Block, who, if you'd been paying attention, started slowly each day and then had a little bit of a rally. And for some reason, they came out of commercial and Nance goes, this just happened seconds ago. And he's standing on 15. I was like, no effing. What? No effing. Plapow. Right? I mean, look. Pop pow! Plapow! I mean, he was sixth in putting overall this week. And that is why he ended up where he was. He did nothing else remarkable except the hole in one. Let's be honest. But, I mean,

it was incredible. But he just played good golf. The thing about today that was, so great is he should not. Those storybook fairy tale media generated things always die out when the chips are down. He's playing with Rory. He makes bogey on one and you're like, all right, you know, that's the last. We're going to see him. And they kept, you know, swinging back to Rory in the block, duo every now and then, mainly following Rory. And you'd see, okay, he's at two over. Okay, he's at one. Okay, he's hanging around. Like maybe he's in this thing. Gets to 15. It's just perfect. But then, of course, you think he's in trouble, right? Because he makes another bogey.

And you're like, all right, now we got a problem. He's got to finish top 15. They didn't even have the sense until it was right at the moment. He had that chip from the freaking gallery on the left side on 18 to be like, holy crap, if he doesn't get up and down, he's not an automatic into next year. And they had sent out all the tweets about how he could get into the master's. He could get special temporary membership on the PGA tour. If he finish his top 15, he could get into PGA next year.

And suddenly here we have the big drama moment. Thank goodness for the trampled down rough over there. But he gets up and makes that putt, which was the hallmark of the week. And man, all you can do is give the guy props because every other one of those Cinderella usually fades in that moment with Rory, you just expected it. It was just great. I mean, Michael Block forever, baby. Yes, that's right.

I will say they did a couple times as we approached the 18th hole, acknowledge that if he could have could hold on. And they did show the shot from the rough. You know, his drive on 18 was a skew and askance and he had some kind of fairway wood in his hand. I mean, I don't know, maybe it was a five wood

or three wood, but he wasn't able to hit the big power cut, the pull cut that was called for and instead, you know, a tiny bit of a double cross left. I think the fans helped. I mean, truly a man of the people. Oh, yeah. Hits it

Among the fair partisans there in New York. No, no. Vinny from Pittsburgh gave him a foot wedge for sure into the trample-down grass. I'm counting on that. New York represent. And then he had a good-looking lie. There's still an impossible shot that he flew up and landed softly in the rough the way he needed in the first cut. And then it rolled out very gently and let him have the 10-footer.

Golf guys don't lie. That's it, Nate dog. That's exactly right. So kudos Michael Block. I, you know, funny thing in my text thread with Pals is like, what does he do about the Royal Golf Club? Does he, does he tender his two week notice on the plane ride home or does he stick it out? What does that mean? Like, because do you think he's going to get 10,000 sponsor exemptions from here?

Oh, no, no, no. I'm not talking about sponsor exemptions. I just mean other ways to make money. Other ways to be a person, the public facing, outward facing PGA of America, you know, the club pro of the year, right? Well, look, you saw the video footage from his club. It feels like they might be willing to give him somewhere between, you know, 30 and 300 days off to go do this because it reflects well on them. They're going to be happy to have him. And Godspeed, old man, because that really, finishing it on a Sunday, there is nobody.

privately who was believing in this guy. Nobody. None of the players. Maybe Mark Hubbard, but none of the other players who wanted to kick Roy's out. Well, we had all of a full-on underdog story, which we so rarely get. It's why the PGA championship is so good because they grab, you know, 20 of these tour professionals. And most of the time, not tour professionals, I'm sorry, professionals from the PGA of America walk of life, club pros. And it used to be 25. They whittled it down to 20. And usually it's like one or two make the cut and they give us a, you know, seven minutes of air time with them. It's like the amateurs at the masters. That's exactly right. And it's fine. But it's why it's what's great about golf. Yeah, buddy.

And anybody and everybody plays it. And in most of these situations, anybody and everybody could potentially qualify. We are only two weeks from the longest day in golf where some. some total wacko is going to qualify for the U.S. Open. And let's hope that he has half the week that Michael Block does, because it's these stories that are really the fun sort of undercard to the competition that was happening at the top today, even amongst the best players in the world. Well, let's go ahead and talk about some anybody's and everybody. Let's go ahead and move over to now. The kind of grades that we want to give out, you know,

We mentioned a bunch of guys in the top 10. I think they all get superlative grades. I don't want to, though, overlook or rush past a couple of names in this top 10 list. So Scotty Schaeffler at some point has to figure out his putter. He just has to figure it out. Five today with miss puts on one and two that were potential round changers. And I mean that in the sense that, like, it might have instilled the confidence in him. He's clearly lacking confidence right now with the putter.

It wasn't a grotesque putting performance, no, ultimately, right? Like, stats-wise, I think he was top. That's 35th in putting. But he was first tee to green, third off the tee, eighths, an approach, seventh around the green. I think if he's 20th, you know, he started Saturday four over on the front. He finished Sunday, four under on the back. if he had just course corrected his Saturday round. And we knew this was coming because he's followed up all of his crappy rounds with great ones in majors. And this is the consistency and probably why he has assumed the number one ranking, Brooks Kepka and the lack of credit for his wins on the live to or notwithstanding. Scottie, and by the way, I mean, Rom won the master six weeks ago. So everybody chilled the F out. It's great that we have all these guys who are competitive. I just wish we saw them more often. But Scottie, and by the way, I mean, Rom won the master six weeks ago. So everybody chilled the F out. It's great that we have all these guys who are competitive. I just wish we saw them were off. But Scott. But Scott,

has got to figure out the putter. We knew it was the problem. We spoke about it this week coming into it. He missed a shorty on 18 last week that wouldn't have won the tournament at the end of the day, but certainly would have gotten him in the clubhouse and put some pressure on the guys coming down the stretch. This is his problem. I think back to the Masters, which I know you always tell me on 18, it was the pressure

and it was the moment, and that's fine. But it is that mid-range short puttut that occasionally befuddles what is otherwise an unflappable golfer and human being who this is his white whale when he conquers that putter the thing is he's so good he's going to win every time you and i are in lockstep on that i honestly all the way into the midway through the back nine still thought that he had a very good chance of pulling this out because of how hard the finishing stretches there you're like lakers fans and the pressure now i want to make sure before we get to victor hovlin who deserves his own sort of mini discussion here.

Let's talk about the other two guys that shot 65. So there are three guys in the top 10 that shot 65 today. We mentioned Camp Smith. Do you mean the two that Justin Ray called out on our podcast this week? That's what I'm talking about. Birdie buddies, Eagle Enthusius, Pard saving Pals. If you are not watching, our preview shows are listening to the preview podcast with the homeboy Justin Ray.

You are doing this wrong. If you like money in your pocket, you will listen. and or watch and you will take notes and you will go speculate in these markets that produce gigantic returns. $10 on Kurt Kittiyama turned into $375. The same was true of Cam Davis. I mean, maybe I'm getting the odds a little bit wrong here, but both Cam Davis and Kurt Kittiyama finish off with incendiary 65s, T4 those two guys. And there they are in the same tied position. with bryson d shambone now coming into this week uh you might not have thought of those guys at the top of of your own card but justin ray found some reasons to put them on your card so please

we just implore everybody um shoutouts to j ray shoutouts to cam davis shoutouts to kittiyama um i want to cam davis's drive on 14 was just sick sick was spectacular that eagle just was money but he he played incredible the whole day he did uh i A sneaky guy in the top 10 that I feel like I want to say something about. Patrick Cantley shot at 68 today. No, 66, pardon me, 66, 4 under today to finish inside the top 10, one under. At the beginning of the week, you put me on notice, you reminded me that we might have to, and by we, I mean me, start thinking about Patrick Kentley a little differently because he has

an adult on the bag. He has Joe Likava on the bag and we think that it might be channeling and funneling a positive vibes all around, yes? Yeah, I think the issue for Cantley was Saturday where he shot 72 and 74 on Thursday was not to start for sure. Look, he was 44th in putting this week and that is the reason why he didn't perform better. He struck

the ball beautifully. He was second off the T. It's just for Cantlay. This was not about anything other than, look, we've seen him in sort of clutch moments have a little bit more difficulty, at least in your mind. That's what you've witnessed. I think his second round was pretty flawless. I think he just has got to find ways. But even in his second round, he was 60th putting. So he's got to find a way to get that putter hot. I do really like Patrick Cantley at this point. This felt to me like more of a backdoor top 10. then sort of gutted out. He was never in the mix house. I mean, Justin Rose was more in the mix. I agree. Shane Lowry was more in the mix heading into the weekend. So this is one where I think

can't Lake can step back and say, wow, did I not have my best stuff, but I still top 10. Let me get a little bit warmer and closer with my caddy. Let me get to California down the street from where I went to college. And let me see if I can't get myself into contention for real at a major in basically a month from now. All right. Well, I want to talk about a guy that was in contention for real. And now has been kind of been contention for real, three straight majors. He was in the final group with Roy McElroy at the 150th Open Championship.

He was in one of the final three groups at the Masters. And he was in the final group with Brooks Kepka today and almost went hand to hand, mono imano. you know, he was up for the challenge. He had one misfortune, one failure, one execution issue. Otherwise, you know, we might have been talking about some kind of fun thing like a playoff or whatever. But Victor Hovlin is that guy. Now, before we get into Hovlin and really give him the flowers he deserves, I have this question that I want to put to Jay Lindberg. It's this. Has anybody at that company ever watched a major? I just don't know. Why would they dress him that way? Why would they dress him

like that? I think they think it's safe because of Ricky Fowler, but it's the same thing as putting Sam Ryder in the joggers. When did Ricky Fowler win a major? Look, look, this isn't a rocket science. Okay. Go back. Look at the shirt worn by the major winner over the last 25 years and and find me a shirt that's as ugly as that. I just don't understand why he needs the additional setback right out of the box. He's on the tee. I look at him. It's like there's no chance he wins.

You can't win showing up in a shirt like that night, dog. I'm sorry. Well, you're right. I want to break one piece of news, which is that Parker Coody stayed in the Knoxville open on the corned ferry tour and dropped out of the Charles Schwab at Colonial. next week, which leaves a spot for Mark Hubbard? No, he's already in, you jackass.

For? Michael Block? Yes, baby. No way. We're playing Colonial next week. Oh, my God. That's amazing. The Fields back to 120 with Michael Block in on a sponsor exemption.

That is fantastic. Fantastic. What great news. That takes that. Now, we already love Colonial because it's such a venerated track and it deserves all the love that it gets. And I honestly think, Michael Block's game might work.

That's right. If he can keep the right. It could be, right? Distance is irrelevant. And by the way, the distance was not an issue for him anyhow. Pretty good accuracy wise. Let's keep the butter going, Michael Block. This is great news.

Well done. Great job by the Charles Schwab folks. Anyway, Victor's shirt sucked. It should be burned to the ground. Why would you wear it? I agree. Listen, you're a little bit more of a fashionista than I am. You wear suits or suits.

or sport coats on airplanes. I wear like Lulu Lemon sweats pulled up over my calves. We could not be different in our fashion sensibility, but we are absolutely aligned on the fact that you've got to stop showing up in the bullshit. None of us are wearing that bullshit. You're not going to make it cool. Come on. Yeah.

Let him dress like a winner. Let him be like, you know, white on white. I don't mind like a little bit of a fashion thing, but let him dress like a winner. You didn't Brooks will wear that? Okay, that's enough. Let's talk about his game because it was awesome. Yes. It was awesome, right?

What was the one thing we talked about on the text thread before the round started? What were you worried about and what was I worried about? I was worried about his around the green performance. And what did you see today, my friend, from Victor Hovland in the fourth round because I'm looking at his shots gained around the green in the fourth round. He was fourth overall. and for the event, he was a respectable 12th. That is a completely different narrative than what we've heard from Victor.

What was I worried about House? Off the T, which flew in the face of the conventional wisdom, and his off the T numbers going into the final round were quite good, but you were worried because you saw a particular bend. You saw this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, misshapen, uh, bend to certain T shots. So you worried about, it begins with an F. It's a four letter F word and it's fade, right? Yeah.

Yeah. And we saw the fade on one. He actually pulled a couple left today, but it was that fade on 16 that ultimately ended him in the bunker. Brooks, again, was 60th off the T today. But Victor was 66th. And I think that is at the end of the day. I mean, those are just stats.

But if you think back in your mind to the round, when he got into trouble, it was those fades right. The driver is what led him down today for the event. He was 33rd overall, which fine, but like he barely gained shots off the T for this event, which is unvictor-esque. So was gaining shots around the green for the tournament. So I think for Victor, who has now, I mean, he's now got a seventh, fourth, and a second in his last three majors, right? Yes, yes, yes.

And I think he learns from this. I mean, this is the longest we've ever seen him go without smiling. It must have been so hard for him to not crack a smile for four hours. I think he was focused. but the short game was absolutely great. He had his worst putt of the day on 16 after he'd put it in the bunker. And as soon as he hit that bunker shot, he just knew. He knew it was over, right?

His face went ashen and pale. I almost don't blame him for missing that putt and making double. Although in hindsight, he could have put a lot of pressure on Brooks if he makes bogey there and then birdie the 18th, right? Yes. But look, Brooks might have played 18 or 17 differently in that case anyway. I think this is this is all green thumbs up for Victor Hovland. I just want to see a gosh darn different color shirt on him.

Well, here's the thing. One of the themes that we keyed in on this week, and I kind of wagered accordingly because I agreed with the sentiment, was that this tournament has this inclination to produce first-time major winners. And we circled names like Cam Young, and we circled names like Xander Schaulay and we circle names like Patrick Cantlay and we looked at Top Gun Tony and Victor Hovland is in that category but I think Nate Dogg that he has put himself above that class now it's Captain Obvious time the three straight top tens in the majors kind of emphasized the point but he is a different animal he is he has on his resume winning the USAM and he did and he wanted to Pebble Beach. So, you know, he's got that mentality. He's, he's got major game. We know it. He keeps showing it. So if he shows up at the U.S. Open and the Open Championship and takes

one of those down, no surprise whatsoever from, from House from D.C. I'll tell you that. No. And House, here's what I'll say to you. Jack, as we know, finished second in majors 19 times. Brooks just spoke today just now about how many times he's finished second in majors and what he learned from those. Victor Hovland has an advantage over all of those guys that we spoke about because he's been in the mix. And as he said, coming out of the round, I didn't play that badly. Brooks just went out and won it. And I really do think he's allowed to hit one shot. I mean, for one of the best ball strikers in the game, after Corey Connors was in that same bunker and hit the same shot,

like it's almost creepy. That's going to be a little haunting shot. But you got to see Victor step back and say he was nails today. He played under par. He made some really big putts. It's just Brooks played better. And I think this is going to benefit him down the road. We got to not forget that he knows how to play these majors.

And I mean, insane birdies on 13 and 14 to really put the pressure. I mean, this is part of why the finishing nine was so exciting. Brooks Bungles 13 and has to save par with like a 12 or 13 4 footer. Yeah, one of the biggest. And Vic is just putting it on him. You know, birded that 13, went on and birded 14.

He's like, I'm right here. We're going to keep going. And then I was glad to see him kind of finish off with the birdie on 18 to put himself in the position to tie for second. It was classy. He deserved it. It was classy. Yeah.

And I think he looked like he was in the zone coming down the back. I'm never going to understand that swing on 16. I think if we sort of open up his brain, he would tell us that he, I mean, what does he do differently? I think he thinks he's one of the best ball strikers in the world and he can get over the lip. I mean, I mean, that's it. He didn't think he was going to miss. They never think they're going to miss. How did Brooks, how did Brooks get the ball up over that lip on 11?

after he kind of sculled a four iron into the base of that that ridge just in the sand. But Victor couldn't get a ball up over that that ridge on 16. Different shots, different shots. I get it, but it's just still... That position, the ball so far down underneath his feet, that position in that 16 bunker,

watching it now twice and watching the same result. It's so effing hard. The thing that's surprising is like he had a nine iron but like, what would you say? I feel like if I handed you a nine iron, you could get over it. I don't think that at all.

I think he mishit it. I would need a 60. He clearly mishit it because he pounded it right into the term. But enough. We are Victor Hovlin believers now. And, you know, it's nothing but upside and kudos for him.

But Nate Dogg, when we come back, we are going to run through, you know, we'll do some superlatives. We have some guys we want to give flowers to. And then we have some guys that we'd like to give other things. to wrapped up in a brown paper paper bag and they don't smell very good.

Let's come back and do that. All right, Nate Dog, we're going to do three categories here because, you know, some guys really impressed us, performed the way that we wanted them to. Some guys were fine, you know, they gave out a reasonable performance, reasons for hope, and then some guys flat out plugged it in the bunker wall. So we have plugged in the bunker wall. we know who that that that's a bad category we have laid up on 14 because strategically that could make plenty of sense and strategically that could lead to birdie so that's a reasonable thing

and we'll we'll say there's positive aspects to it and then birdie on six which is really speaking of rarefied air i think a few guys did it today but birdie's on six were very few uh and far between and hard to come by that's the truly supertative performers so let's start with plugged in bunker wall. Name a couple guys for me that really let you down. Let let you know, guys who had to take penalty strokes for the performance. Well,

it starts with Cam Young, who I really thought was going to play great this week, in part because it seems like Justin Ray always knows what he's talking about. But this felt like close to home, the beard was shaved. We heard that off the T was the preeminent stat this week. Cam Young disappointed me. Sung Jay,

who I know you were excited about. Well, you tried to steer me in the proper direction. The flying, you know, don't fly to Korea before a major in the U.S. The week before and then fly back because, oh, I'm going to do it. Super bad call. Ricky Fowler, I was disappointed in because he's really been trending positively and been one of the best players, top 10 players on the tour coming into this. And I felt like this could be a course that he played well.

At missing the cut was a bummer. You know, I'll tell you, Tom Kim has got. a step up in these hardcore situations. He did great at Quail Hollow, but since then, he let's say he got the win in Vegas and he's still a classy, classy, classy player who I love. But, you know, the takeaway from this week was he was in the mud in his pants washing himself off in the creek and it was highly unsurious for a kid who I think, you know, ought to be in the conversation of being one of the top, you know, 15, 20 golfers in the world. So I will say I kind of loved it.

I loved him. The Tom Kim, the Tom Kim, the Tom Kim mud bath. Just not the performance. I loved everything about him. I love this kid. I want him to play better. To me, the takeaway is that he's fighting his way. I mean, he truly is, you know, this is really a proper rookie season, you know,

where he really is on tour for every event. He's learning these places. These venues for the first time. That's exactly right. He's learning how to work. There's no doubt. Everything that goes along with us. So we'll cut him a little bit of slack.

Anybody on your side who disappointed you? Yeah, Nate. So at the top of my list of disappointments, Matt Fitzpatrick, who really, he pulled me in with that performance at the heritage. He played well at the Masters, won the heritage in a playoff. And in terms of a course fit, I really thought that O'Kill had some alignment with Brookline, where he had all that success of the U.S. Open, he was 120th in strokes gained off the T. He was 118th in strokes game putting.

That, my friends, and just to emphasize it, tied for 132nd in driving accuracy, that is your ticket to get the hell out of Western New York. We don't call it upstate New York. It's Western New York, right, Nate. That's right. That's right. We don't call it upstate.

It's Western. It's Western. I also thought that Waki Neiman might do something. I know that I'm kind of a Wachian Neiman truther, but as I looked at the live guys and kind of tried to pick some guys that I thought might

do something. I had him on a list. Sam Burns didn't show up, but you know, that's kind of the... Taylor Gooch complaining about not getting into the U.S. Open misses the cut. This was the time to do it. I mean, he definitely did not did not show as well as we were hoping for. I'm disappointed in my long shot, Gary Woodland,

who missed the cut. You know, we thought, but he was a long shot. Well, let me ask you, because I know we're going to move to the, to the mediocre category, which was, what, laying up on 14, right? Yeah. No, yeah, yeah, yeah, laid up on 14. Yes, that's the mediocre category. Well, there's a guy. And when you walk through the players parking lot at the PGA Championship, they have spots for every historical winner, including those who are on there, which is pretty cool if you know that there's a previous winner who's not there. You can go grab Slocum's parking lot or whatever. Parking spot.

But the guy who had the best spot was a two-time winner and defending champion, Justin Thomas. Yes. I love the putt on 18 to make the cut. The rest of it feels like a continuation of where we've been. What's your assessment of JT coming out of this PGA championship? So Nate Dogg, I can't really put my thumb on what it is because I don't think Justin Thomas can really put his thumb on what the thing is. It's not a single miss off the T. It's not a single miss with the irons.

It's a confounding sloppiness with both. And I wonder if there's something going on off the golf course that we're not aware of. We think we have a line on one of his great pals. I think we're going to get Smiley Kaufman, who's doing a tremendous. job with NBC on their broadcast this year. I think we're going to have Smiley on the next couple weeks. Let's ask Smiley if there's something going on with JT because he's just really in search of it. We saw it today. He went off with Phil, which was hilarious because they barely made eye contact with each other throughout the round. I was up early watching a lot of it. JT. immediate,

like first thing off the TV, yanks it left. It's like, what's going on here? What do you think? Do you think there's anything? Well, I think we should also ask Smiley what's going on. with me because I said Jeff Slocum, but I meant Jeff Slu-man. It's fine. It's fine. It's fine. Look, I just think he's searching. He's a guy who, if you think about what happened after his last PGA tour win, or PGA championship win, he really struggled to find it. And as he's told us, it was as hard, harder to win the second one than it was the first. And that's what I think. I think he's in a little bit of a post-major slump, which we see every now and then including House from our master's champion, John Rom, who was great on the telecast per usual

today, was great on the telecast when he was playing because he dropped so many F-bombs. Oh, this was the true F-bomb tournament. There were mics all over this golf course, Nate Dogg. Speath was F-bombing. It was great. Rom really, I mean, he leaned into the PGA for that 11th hole, which sucked because you can't put the pin anywhere when the hole is a par three and it's 248 yards because you can't stop the ball. So the pin has to be in the middle. And the whole thing, there was just some circus

act. Like it was, it was very close to the piece of shit fucking putting contest moment from the AMX a few years ago where he came back and won the next year. But Rom is in a little bit of the doldrums, which he's allowed to be in. Yes. And he has fulfilled a number of obligations that I think or to the tour, to his pride, to his spirit to grow the game. He showed up in Harboretown the week after he won the Masters. Nobody plays the week after they won the Masters. But he did and played very respectably. He showed up in Mexico as the defending champion. Nobody goes back to Mexico when they win the Mexico open, just like nobody goes back to Puerto Rico or the Dominican Republic because they don't have to. Those are events that they'd like to miss. But he did it. So kudos to

this guy, because it's about his integrity. And to be honest, I think he's just a little worn out and tired. do think he's going to take a break here. We'll certainly see him at Memorial. It's just going to affect how we think about the U.S. Open. This is a U.S. Open winner. He's got all the skills. This is a place where he loves to win in California. Ostensibly, he probably is going to be the odds on favorite coming in. But I do think he's had this hangover that he's got to shake because he's been fulfilling these obligations. Is he going to get enough time between now and then to get himself fully ready mentally? Yeah, fair enough. And we were caught. with him this week in our forecasting on the discussion with Justin Ray and you know that the challenge of winning you know back to back majors and you know just just life being in the way let's move on to the laid up on 14 so this is like a glass half full kind of category no no reason to to really be angry at these guys some some some green shoes some glimmers of hope I'm going to let you go first I have a few names as well yeah I'm

For me, it was backdoor Patrick Cantlay. You're going to disagree with the last guy that I have, but before I get to him, I thought Cam Smith was never really in contention, but just like his 61, last week at the end of the live event, his 66 today was pretty fire. And, you know, he had low round of the day. Morikawa actually, I think, played a little bit better than we gave him credit for. I just feel like in the big moments right now, he's not stepping into it. But this is kind of more cow. It's like when he finds the putter, he's going to strike out. I have to say I felt like Rory belonged in this category, as disappointed as you are in him,

because I did not have highest expectations for Rory coming in at all. I went to dinner with our buddy Jason Sobel on Thursday night or Wednesday night. And I just turned to him and I said, something's not right with Rory. And he's like, something is not right with Rory. And so people who were around the grounds this week could tell that he wasn't all the way back. So I actually thought the way that he hung in there this week was respectable. I'm much more interested in what he's going to do in the U.S. Open and the Open. You might be surprised, but I completely agree with you.

I honestly think that this was a very, like, credible showing in view of what we saw of him at the Masters and at the players championship, honestly, like the weight of all of that plus whatever unspecified thing might be going on. In addition, he mentioned it very briefly in the press conference this week that something outside of golf might also be weighing on him. I thought this performance was perfectly respectable. I thought he might catch fire. He came out looking pretty hot. I thought today he might get it going. It just wasn't in the cards. But another top 10 in a major, I'm just going to say we're trending.

We're trending. I also, speaking of trending, want to give credit. to a couple other names. We talked about Tyrell Hatton, a T-15 super respectable. Jay Ray, you know, clued us in on him. So hopefully everybody cashed a little bit on him. And I'm happy to see Tommy Fleetwood kind of around the hoop again. You know, another inside that the top 20. He's a, he's, he's charismatic. We love his ball striking when he really gets it going. Best golf in years he's playing right now. We like it. Those are a couple of names and I'm pretty happy.

with. And then I'll end it with your boy, Jordan Spieth, who we were just worried about. We were worried that this wrist injury, especially at this venue, that he might not be able to play. And he gutted it out inside the top 30. House, his team tried to talk him out of it this week. They did not want him to play this tournament. They just felt like it was too risky. He had general okay from the doctors, but everybody was on edge. Because It really was the wrist injury that got him into trouble a number of years ago and sent him on that spiral after the British Open. And so there was some real concern about him playing this week. I am happy to say our boy came out unscathed.

I'm going to be surprised if he plays the Colonial next week only because I suspect he needs a little bit of time to fully recover from this, based on the amount of tape we saw on and around his wrist. But listen, if you can't give Flowers of Jordan Speeth when he screams, please just hit one good. effing iron right into the cameras and the mics, you're missing something. So he's got to get an award from us just for that. All right. Let's do the super superlatives. This is the Bertie on 6th group, the true rarefied, rare performers of the week, all the flowers to these guys. Brooks is obvious. Victor Hovland is obvious. We did the fantastic finish by Scotty. Let's talk a little bit further down. I'll start.

Rice and Des Chambot. Welcome back to major golf, right? I'm happy to see you, buddy. I am. I'm happy to see the insanity. I'm happy to see a little bit more, I don't know. I guess a little bit less of him is the truth.

Like, he's more palatable. A lot less of him. Smaller sizes and smaller quantities. I'm absolutely thrilled to have him back on this tour, not on this tour, but back in the spotlight playing well. It's just more fun when he's around doing this stuff. It wasn't surprising to see him be kind of mediocre today, if we're being honest.

But it was thrilling. I mean, it was even. And he really, of the guys in the top 10 other than Rose was the only guy who wasn't under par, but golf's better with Bryson in it when he's playing well. Because Bryson is a story. He's always a story, Nate, dog. he's perpetually interesting. His approach is unique.

It's a reminder of the skill that he possesses, how great he was off the tea and approach. And, you know, he's constantly tinkering, constantly searching. His interviews are interesting. They're not boring. And, you know, I want to see him around the leaderboard. I honestly thought that he had the possibility of giving Brooks a challenge

coming from one of the behind groups. mainly because he's kind of implacable, right? He doesn't, he's not a guy with notorious blowups other than what he did on the back nine at Torrey Pines at the U.S. Open handful of years ago. The one that John Rom won. I mean, Bryson is, you know, a guy that can get across the goal line and the wingfoot parallels were there. Any other guys really deserving of flowers from your perspective?

No, I appreciate Justin Rose at his age hanging in there. He just kind of did Justin Rose things. I mean, the big takeaway for me, House, now is we've got a U.S. Open coming Father's Day weekend. It is not far away. And suddenly coming to LACC in the backyard, baby, a course that we know very well that we've played a bunch so we can talk a lot about what happens on the ground, a course that backs up to the Playboy Mansion. You can hear the monkey cages from this course. I hope that's the only thing. at this point has been sold to much more benign owners.

That's a relief. That probably is the only thing. But the big thing is that coming into this tournament now, we just have an incredible Kentucky Derby-like horse race, except hopefully without all the deaths. We got Brits Keppka playing terrific. We got Scottie Schaeffler, who just is unsinkable. We've got Bryson DeShambo, U.S. Open winner,

suddenly back on the scene. We have Rory trending up into the right. We have Cam Smith flashing his brilliance. We've got Max Homa. Probably you're going to get the best odds on Max tomorrow morning that you will have for the past year on the U.S. Open. He did not play well at this PGA championship. There is stuff to build on, but it was disappointing for him. I still think you got to always take something on Max Homa in the Southern California area.

We know he plays extraordinarily well. So we just have all of these convergent waves cresting in the same place, in the same moment in time in Los Angeles in just a few weeks. This is gearing up to be one of the most exciting majors that we've had in a very long time at an epic and incredibly different course than we've seen in a long time as well. Yeah, I can't wait to see it to lay eyes on it in this setup with this US Open. You didn't even mention John Rahmas, you went through all those names. I mean, it's a really an embarrassment. He's the obvious. An embarrassment of riches.

And the one thing as we size this thing up that we'll have to try and mind meld on, can we get ourselves comfortable at all with the idea of a first time major winner? Because the PGA championship was we were in that mindset. I don't know if I can get there with this thing. I don't either. I don't either. I just don't either. This course is so hard. And we have so many dogs now in the fight.

you know, coming in, guys with the dog in them in the fight. I just don't believe that there's going to, but that said, House, we were reminded this week. We had a sense that there was going to be a first-timer. We thought about those Tony Fina. And it was Victor who was up at the top.

This is the fun of golf right now, is you got now 25 to 30 guys who will not make your eyebrows go way up when you see them in first or second on the leaderboard. It's the post-type. renaissance of golf. It is split players now between two leagues that have good ones on both sides. That's why we got excited for the, and we got to keep getting excited for these majors, because it's going to tell us time in time out in the moment, forget the world golf rankings,

forget the bots on social media. These four events tell us who right now in this moment is the best player in the world. Today it was Brooks Kepka. Well, we have three and a half weeks to talk it through amongst ourselves and with all the guests that we have lined up for all you eagle enthusiasts birdie buddies par saving pals out there i hope you agree that we gave brooks kepka don't call it a comeback all of the flowers that he deserved and that you enjoy the tournament as much as nathan i did my birdie buddies we shall be back as as soon as can be as soon as we recover from this thing with more fairway rolling on these these fairways if you have the opportunity, spring is upon us, get a peg in the ground,

and please let's hit them straight out there.