Fairway Rollin' - Tiger Woods at the Valspar Championship and Phil Mickelson in Mexico City: The Old Guys Might Be Making a Comeback | ShackHouse (Ep. 55)

Episode Date: March 6, 2018

On an emergency edition of 'ShackHouse,' Geoff Shackelford and Joe House discuss Phil Mickelson’s breakthrough win at the WGC-Mexico Championship (2:13), USGA’s new report on driving distances (17:21), and the news that Tiger Woods will play the Valspar Championship (28:20). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, everybody on today's Shackhouse, we are going to discuss Phil Mickelson's epic win in Mexico City. We're going to talk about Tiger going to the Valspar, and we're going to talk about all sorts of fun stuff on the distance issue. House, it should be a thriller. But, hey, speaking of distance, did you see how far? Speaking of distance. How far, Phil Mickelson hit that sub-zero driver, that nine-degree rogue driver. Oh, and Michelle Wee won over in China with House. What do you think she was playing?

Well, I know it was rogue, but the credit. I can't believe this club she has in her bag shack. It's a rogue driver. Well, that's all you need to know. Phil's got the sub-zero. She's got the rogue driver. Anyway, great to stand both. But that's not the one.

What about the Michelle Wii 11 would? What's the loft on an 11 wood? She's got a 25-degree rogue 11 wood. That's badass. She's got a five-wood. She's got the rogue. She's gone totally rogue. So deal with it.

I love it. Hey, House, what do you got coming up on House of Carbs this week? This week, House of Carbs, international correspondent. And Andrew K. From the New York Times is on to describe to us what the world missed out on in terms of the wonderful Korean food in South Korea at these recently closed Olympics. We're also having the ringer's own Chris Vernon from Memphis, Tennessee to come on and walk me through the proper way to think about fried chicken at Gus's world famous fried chicken. They just opened up a ranch here in Washington, D.C. So I'm dying to get over there.

but I'm not going to do it until Verno gives me the instruction. We also have a couple great things to check out on the ringer.com. There is a fantastic article that went up today by John Gonzalez on Sam Hinky, Trust the Process. And also it's March, Shaq, which means the madness is about to descend upon us. Check out one shining podcast with Titus and Tate. That'll be going full steam for the next three weeks. And how, you know how happy I am when I hear you have writers on the pod.

I love Rappaport. I love all those. But hey, let's go to the Shack House. Let's go to the Shack House. So what did you think of that Mexico City Championship? That was kind of exciting. I kind of shocked myself. What are you talking about?

Kind of exciting. WGC events can lay some eggs. Let's be honest. That one was tight. There were a lot of people who could win that, which I think is credit to that tight golf course and those cauliflower, Poa greens. Now those house, those are Poet Greens

that Phil Mickelson knew from his youth that I know, the kind where you just watch the ball come to an end. It's rolling. It's rolling. And then it just sort of sits sideways, you know. That didn't happen to Riviera at Tori Pines. But how about Phil winning at that golf course? He played well there last year.

It's a tight golf course. And yet he kind of overpowered it at times. And by the way, how many puts did he almost make? He should have won by like seven. That's it. So it's so many things to talk about. So many things to talk about. First of all, I love,

The whole event, this was a perfect validation of going abroad for an event like this. For many reasons. In the very first place, you have crowds that are not sort of, you know, well versed in sort of the etiquette that these pros expect. And so we had some funny scenes yesterday afternoon. First of all, Phil hits the spectators on a punchout. I believe it was on 11 because they just couldn't wrangle the spectators to get them far enough out of the way. It just looked like there was a communication gap. And then the photographer that almost stepped on JT's bowl in the playoffs.

That was spectacular. Like you never see that. The dude was like, why are you pushing me? I loved it. Yeah, I don't think the people in the press center probably enjoyed it a whole lot. I'm sure there was some scrambling going, oh, no, who was that? How did we give him a sticker? Oh, you ve.

That could have gotten ugly. But JT, but, but how's to your point? Justin Thomas, the players took it in stride because they sense a positive energy. The people are ooing and awing and they're excited for them and they want to see beautiful shot making. And they don't want to tell them that their girlfriend's ugly and yell Baba Booie and scream mashed potatoes. and the players, I really sense that it just takes the whole thing up a notch the way they perform. I couldn't agree more. I could not agree more.

The energy was palpable. You could feel it and it added to the dramatics of that back nine from Phil. I also, we cannot talk about this event without the beautiful announcer who's who I don't remember the gentleman's name. I should have looked it up ahead of time. Oh, the hole in one call? The hole in one call. I swear to God, I want to pay whoever. it is, whatever that broadcasting

entity is, I want that as part of this podcast. It is literally, lyrically beautiful. I love it. It's so, it's music to my ears every time I hear it. Oh, I mean, it's not a surprise that I would love that, but oh my

God, the stupendo swing, the yardage that he does in Spanish. I mean, he really brings the Spanish language, the beauty of it, and how appropriate it is for sort of sports. They go hand in hand. The energy that he delivered. Oh, I mean, I could just listen to it again and again and again. I love it so much. Yeah, it really was spectacular. And it was great they showed it so much. I put it on my site,

the Instagram post that the tour put up. If you haven't been to Jeff Shacklefer.com, it's up there on a range of Instagram posts from the weekend. It was spectacular. And another highlight, and you're right. It's just a, another reason why going international has been sensational for this event. I hate losing, I hate where they place it on the schedule. I think it's just lousy for everybody. I think that'll be remedied next year, but we'll see. Well, fingers crossed.

It's funny, I'm interested in your take on this, and I have a couple other comments, but I think I'll save it for when we're going all the way through Phil, because Phil's own performance this week. and I do mean capital P performance that had nothing to do with the golf was just other, it was it was Uber Phil. It was the, he had to win this event after all the things that he did. But I'm going to set that aside because I do want to do like 30 seconds on this golf course. So this golf course on television kind of sucks. Yeah.

And I, it's because of the trees and the inability to really get sight lines. Yeah. And we're accustomed to seeing a lot more open air. But having said that, I kind of fell in love with the golf course on Sunday because of what it was requiring on the guys on the one hand, but also because the guys could score. So I loved the last three holes. I really loved the last four holes because 15 is a par five also, you know, created this cool opportunity. But 17 looked hard as hell. And guys kept flying into the middle.

Yeah, and it was jumping off the back of the green. And any kind of tug left would go down into the water. And it created this real unique advantage for Phil. And 18 was holdable because JT. Fing holding it. But he's not the only one who did that. Guys were getting close. And I remembered it from last year. And now it's made this kind of indelible mark on my thinking around this golf course.

And I still think it sucks. but I kind of have it kind of, I've warmed to it a little bit. What do you think? Yeah, it just looks, it looks tired. That's probably why you find that it sucks. And you're right, it's claustrophobic with the trees. But I think to your point, what it's, you know, and I don't want to get too wonky on the, the routing architecture stuff here, but it breaks a bunch of rules that we've gotten used

to that the 18th has to be a long hard par four. The first hole has to be something that gets people away. Well, what's the first hole there? It's drivable. And it makes that first shot of the day kind of important. important. It kind of sets a whole tone, as we saw with a few people. And then the last hole, you know, we've seen many times now. Short par fours at Inverness and an Olympic club are actually kind of fun finishing holes, especially that one when that front pin is sort of a, you know,

you hit a great shot and it rewards you. If you don't, you're in trouble. And the players know that, and that's a great dynamic. So I would, I mean, that place, it was designed by an old Scottish golf pro and it shows it has great bones. You just wish it could just freshen it up a little bit and then keep that cool, kind of wacky ebb and flow that it just shows you like any artistic thing that if you try to follow rules and parameters, they're usually not as good as when it's something that's a little bit offbeat. Yeah, I think it really did have kind of a charm, and I very much liked the irregularity

of the putting surfaces. It was like, welcome to my world, homies. That whole experience, this is part of why I kind of probably warmed on it. It is not that unlike, that dissimilar from courses that I would play here in the northeast section of these fine United States. But speaking of great bones, let's talk about Phil. He wanted to win. He got a win. Now he can go to the Masters Confident.

It's fantastic for everybody, really, the Masters for golf. and it's an old guy coming down the stretch and getting to a playoff with a young guy. It's the thing that we kind of hope to see and it's fantastic. We've been craving it. This has been so far. Is it fair to say the old guys are back? I mean, Bubba, Phil. Unbelievable.

You know, DJ is no longer part of that youth set. It's been a really nice like back and forth between the youth and the old school. And Tiger with the, you know, his performance at the Honda, and I'm knocking on the, would, you know, if we get anything out of Tiger this week, if he makes the cut, forget about it, right? I mean, it's two feet down hard on the gas pedal, but can we quickly talk about Phil's capital P performance that had nothing to do with his outstanding performance on the golf course? I mean, this is also, I believe, to me, this is my, you know, what are you referring to? The Spanish speaking or the, uh, the, uh, thinking that a fellow player was a media member coming

to bother him on the green. You mean, just all the usual Phil things. Asking Tyrell Hatton how to pronounce his name. Yes. Giving Sharma a rules ruling. Yes. Like Phil's in charge. Let there be no doubt.

Phil mother effing Mickelson is in charge, y'all. He's on top of his world. And this is why, I mean, it's too late now to put any, allocate any capital to him on the masters. The prices, I'm sure, are terrible. But he's in the mix. What are you going to say? He's right there.

Yeah, I did my list. We didn't it. I'm not using it today. I'm morning drive of my top five going into the Masters. And I went Justin, Sergio. I moved Phil up to third. I had Bubba fourth and I had Dustin Johnson fifth. No, beef. No. Did you see that putt? You know, I haven't been alarmed by his putting. And I don't want to get off Phil too much here. But the putting thing has not alarmed me. And then he had a two foot three inch put on the first hole on Sunday. And House, his, it's in his head. He had a, he didn't, his forward press had a jerk to it. It wasn't his nice, clean, put the putter down, you know, a couple practice strokes, boom, forward press, boom, hit it, go in. It had like this quick, like, double stab in the forward press. And I went, oh, no, that's, it's gotten to him. So the goodness is, though, he's now going to go to some greens that he can take the Poa element out of his mind.

But, oh, I'm by no means, am I ruling him out at Augusta the way he plays there? But I just, you know, Justin Thomas has been nothing short of spectacular again. And his performances at Augusta so far have been not contending great, but he has not done anything that makes you say, well, he can't play that plays. He's shown he's getting to know the place. And then, yeah, I think Sergio just deserves the attention going into there as a defending champion. Plus, he's just playing very good golf. so there's no reason to discount him.

But Phil, he said he needed a win. He got a win. And when he goes there with confidence, he's incredible. And he finished second in 2015, so he's not been so great the last couple. But the antics are spectacular. But by the way, he cleaned up a lot statistically. That golf course, it doesn't take much to miss it.

But his strokes gained on all categories was sensational. In fact, his worst category was putting if you go by strokes gain. So he cleaned up the driving especially. Let's talk about the driving because, you know, we talked a little bit about the rogue driver. And, you know, obviously we have a little bit of an interest in that. But, you know, he's hitting the living hell out of the ball. And he's showing a confidence that is, you know, a kind of dramatic departure from what we saw all of last season. Yeah, for sure.

And that's, you know, no, no, it's a combination of things, obviously. and he certainly has worked through quite a bit to get to that point. So he's definitely going to have to stay on it. You know, he can't just act like it's all there. But now he gets to take a little bit of a breather and savor of victory. That's scary when he's like that. I couldn't agree more. When he's feeling himself and let there be no doubt, Phil is feeling himself.

Yeah, that's beautiful. That's that performance yesterday, capital P. Oh, my God. I'm so happy to have it back in my, life. You know what experience I had yesterday for the first time since now, look, we, I don't know. Do we want to know how detail are you going to get? Like, or what are we doing? Yes, it's okay. This is, okay. I don't know whether or not this show has an E rating, but I'm not, I'm not venturing into the E for explicit just yet. Since Speeth's back nine at the, at the,

at the open championship, as I like to call it. Yes. I literally had the hair standing on end and his put on 16, I jumped, I was sitting, I jumped up two arms in the air when that putt on 16. And I loved nothing, you know, I want to go give Tyrell Hat and a kiss on the mouth because he showed Phil not just the line, but also the speed. And Phil just drained it. Yeah. The putting was actually, I felt bad when I looked at the stats, but I wasn't surprised either. The putting was just spectacular the whole way.

I mean, the putt in the playoff, it finished behind the hole. How does this? How did it not go in? It's just incredible. And by the way, J.T. hit his put there and started walking again. And by the way, that putt wasn't, that was not worthy. He did that at Riviera a couple times.

And he had one that was embarrassing. It went in. That put was not that far off. I mean, he knew he hit it hard, but it went right over the left edge of the hole. Yeah, it turned the way he expected it to turn. He just hit it too hard, which is why he was dissatisfied. I mean, but 62, 64, that's kind of freakishly good. And so he's not going to leave there going, oh, gosh, what a rough week.

He lost the first hole of sudden death. And gosh, he cannot be. I mean, it's so rare. It's one of the stranger plights of the professional that they shoot 62. And then the next day, it's always 10 shots higher. And to come back with that was just, and then the whole out was phenomenal. So great week. Now, House, what did you think?

think of seeing guys hit gap wedge on 160 yard part three. How did that make you feel? Give us your deepest thoughts on that. All things considered, it's irrelevant because they're playing it. It doesn't matter to me what club. It's already the case that those guys play a game with which I am not familiar with clubs that I have no understanding of. I, you know, notwithstanding my performance, my outstanding performance in January in the, the Callaway simulator with my rogue X irons hitting the 7 iron, 1097 yards.

Oh, geez. Okay, I'll stop. I mean, it's just funny. But, you know, it's the interesting thing always to me with the guys, it doesn't matter what stick is in their hands. it's like what is their process? Like I'm more interested in how they come to the choice and what particular target they have in mind. Like that's the stuff that's interesting to me as opposed to like the actual sticks. Interesting.

Okay. Well, you've given me two different points to work with there because we had the distance report today. I know you've read it two or three times from the USGA and RNA. And the timing is interesting coming after that event. altitude where you see those freakish kinds of things like a gap wedge from 160 and, oh, I don't know, you know, 400-yard drives and things like that. So the report's out. Now, you know, I've been on this topic for a long time. So there's two schools to what you just said, House. There's the school that, now, I've played the game long enough to remember that I could relate to the professional

and people loved that connection. And now we clearly are no longer at that point when you You see some of the distances they hit the ball. And whether that connection is important to return or not is going to be one of the topics of this discussion. And then obviously the other one is that you can only design holes. I mean, I was watching a Twitter debate today where a golf pro is complaining that a hole is no longer challenging to him. And an old golf pro was trying to explain to him, you know, while you used to try to have to be on a certain side of a fairway to get the best angle and you were hitting a six iron in the green. And the young guy was not understanding that it's very hard to design to give him the challenge that he was asking for with these distances. And that's kind of at the heart of the USGA and RNA's position on this.

So there's a lot of anger and confusion and all that between the viewpoint that is this just for the pros? Is this going to affect the amateur golfer? It's basically an entire mess that was then made a lot worse when the piece. PGA of America and PGA Tour basically came out and poo-poohed this report and said that we think everything's hunky dory. And so we now have a war house between the five families were at war again. You know what? Clemenza said it has to happen every 10 years or so. And there's going to be blood.

Well, it's going to be bloody. Well, set this up for me. Who's taking what position? The USJN RNA issued a report just saying, look, there was a spike. distance last year. And they made a statement that they've completely ignored in 2002. They haven't completely ignored it. Well, they claim there was a line in the sand. Correct. And they've just, now, and we've blown right past that. And you can make the argument for better or worse. I happen to make the argument from the architecture point of view that it's, it's been worse because it's been

expensive for courses to adjust. But they just issued this saying we need to now do more study based on last year's numbers, which were up on all but one tour, and the web.com tour was a huge spike. And within minutes of this or a few hours, the PGA tour and the PGA of America, both came out and in different ways said, we just don't see the issue here. And they kind of tainted the discussion by sort of leading people and their members are trying to lead them a certain way. So it will be difficult for the governing bodies to have a good discussion on this. That's all I wanted. Because what's going to happen, House, is it's going to get ugly, and then we'll end up with a tweak or a solution that everybody hates

as opposed to a more meaningful discussion kind of leading to something that makes sense for the average golfer, the pro golfer, the golf course, the manufacturers, all the parties involved. And that's not going to happen now. It's going to be a free-for-all. Here's what feels like to me is the biggest challenge, which is defining the problem. And the thing that I have difficulty getting my own head around is so they just played, the pros just played a track at altitude that probably played for them yardage-wise.

I mean, what, 6,200 yards? Yeah, a little more than that. probably 67. Okay. Okay, but like a full thousand yards less than what they're accustomed to playing here in the U.S. kind of weekend and week out. And in the first place, it wasn't like scoring went crazy. Like it was not a 30 under winner, and it wasn't a total birdie fest.

And then the second place, the strategy and the shots required of guys were still a crucial element of the success and some guys blew up. I mean there were guys on the plus side all over the place now you can, I don't know what to attribute it to and I don't need to single guys

out but some notable names were we shot plus numbers this week. And so I just wonder like you know we have been in this discussion talking about primarily the ball and whether or not restrictions to the ball

are appropriate because there is a concern about classic courses being outsized, outmoded, outdated. But is that really the case? If we went to Marion with an event next season and these guys played Marion when it's firm and fast, what scores do you think are going to be attained? And, you know, what are we trying to solve for here in terms of this distance thing? Yeah, the scoring is a tough one for me to settle on because, for instance, Marion's a great example. If you talk to players, their number one U.S. Open that they despise the most was it Marion. And that breaks my heart because Marion's an amazing place.

It was a beautiful week in a lot of ways, seeing that place back in the rota and looking so amazing. But they had to resort to some set up things that the players, here we are five years later, are still citing as ridiculous that, they felt ultimately impacted scoring, but more importantly, they felt like it took away the element of skill. And so ultimately for the pros, the discussion that's going to have to happen is why is golf different than every other major professional sport that regulates equipment to ensure that skill is a big part of the game, tennis, baseball, those sports. that hard of a thing to answer? Like, they play different parks. Baseball is a good analogy. They play in a different ballpark.

Right, but golf has something that baseball doesn't have where it can return to the very place where the game started and it goes to places that a lot of these people in golf revere because we're getting to go back and enjoy the history and see players play the same course. But obviously, they're not playing it quite the same way. And with a few little tweaks, what wouldn't it be more interesting to see? them play those courses with modern equipment, but closer to maybe hitting approach shots from the place that people have generally hit approach shots from before.

And some people don't believe that. Some people believe it's just progress and let them hit it as far as they can. And it's the way of life and all that. And other people don't believe that. And generally, the places that host these events don't really like spending money to change their course for one week out of 20, 15, 10 years, whatever their places in the rotos. So it's a very complicated matter. And it's a, it'll be a to be continued.

We'll have lots and lots of opportunity to talk about this because there's going to be news on it each and every, you know, twist and turn. It'll be interesting to see. It, the way it kind of went down today, it could really, it could kind of die quickly or it could. it could escalate. Really, it's all going to, they basically have left the tie and vote up to Fred Ridley and the master's people. And that's going to put a little more pressure on him. So I'll add a little intrigue to the early week master's discussion.

You're right about that. So House, you know, here I am telling you about the technology side of things. Now, one of the things that I've wanted to see technology-wise forever in televised tournament golf is something interactive and there have been people behind the scenes who've tried to do cool things. So I know you read my post on the Calloway million dollar fan beat challenge that was presented by Golf Channel. I'm just getting all the partner plugs in here. But come on, it was, this is finally what I've been hoping to see when people are sitting there watching a golf and they have their phone on their tablet. They can actually play a interactive game, a second

screen experience essentially. And it did what I hoped, which was obviously there were trivia questions that were just general, but then they weaved in stuff related to the actual golf you've been watching. And this is something that I know people who've tried to get the tour to do this. I have all the admiration in the world for Calloway and Golf Channel and Fanbeat, actually just getting this by the tour. It's probably, you know, helps that Jay Monaghan's more open to these kinds of things. But anyway, I will ask you in a minute if you checked it out.

But if you haven't, just before I forget, it's golf channel.com slash fanbeat. to learn more about it. The next three tour events, it's running. If you didn't get to play with it at house, you can play with it and have some fun and kind of be interactive while you're sitting there on the couch on Saturday watching some golf. And every chance, every round offers a chance at the million bucks. And, you know, someone got close last week. They had 22 of 25 questions.

So did you get to tinker with it at all? I did. And that's the right word at this stage. I tinkered because. Well, that's new. It's going to take a little time. Yeah, and I'm a, I have multimedia ADD. I mean, that's kind of the other reason I didn't want to go there, but that was the other reason I said Tinker. You know that about me. I probably have, I have the TV screen. I have a computer screen. I have a phone screen.

And, you know, I may or may not have earbuds in listening to something else altogether. But that's, that's kind of like how, that's my decompression. Yeah. And probably something I should take up with a psychologist. But I very much enjoyed, you know, there were smart questions for smart people who are into the game. But there was also enough, you know, sort of open-endedness. Exactly. Like, who wants to be a millionaire? You know, you got to work into it a little bit.

That's it. But no, I'm excited. I hope it's fun for people because, let's face it, people over the course of a long broadcast need some stuff that's interactive and fun, I think, going forward. And fan beats got a nice track record on this. So they will have their opportunity watching the Valspar championship this week, which got a lot more interesting. It already had attracted a good field before Tiger decided to enter last week.

And he also, of course, is entering at Bay Hill, where we knew he would play. And ultimately, he had to just get in another tournament before the Masters, and this made the most sense. And I think it's fascinating. He's going to return house to a place. He hasn't been since the old J.C. Penny Classic, which you probably may or may not remember. No, no, I do not remember the J.C. Penny Classic. The pleaded pants were flowing.

Kelly Keeney, who was his partner. She wore these. I don't know if you saw any of those photos. They were spectacular. Oh, my God. It was the best. What an incredible era. That poor young lady.

Why did she let them dress her up that way? I think she was having a little fun with it. trying to, especially wearing the Sunday Tiger Red. That was terrific. So that was 1996. And so he hasn't been back. And this is a big deal for him. He doesn't, he's a horse for course, man.

He does not like to go places that he doesn't know where to stay, where to eat, and what to hit on the 12th hole. Well, let's do a very quick aside because you did make this point. And it's worth sharing with the show. Those listeners, which is how cool an event is a mixed field event. and that kind of innovation, we're due for it, right? That's 20 years ago, 22 years ago. Yeah. It was, you know, the last, like, really on a big professional stage

with the mixed field kind of thing. So what's wrong with that? Let's have a little bit of that feel back. The women these days are hitting the ball miles down the golf course to the combination of equipment and ball and their own physical acumen. You know, I, for one, am into it. Everything tells me this one's on the sponsors, that the tour, Jay Monaghan, who with Andy Pastor kind of orchestrated this switch of the Zurich Classic, has been trying to do it with the men and women.

And they tried to do something, maybe not a team event, but something at Capulah. And it's just a matter of finding that sponsor. It's kind of shocking to me after the Zurich that a sponsor has and said, wait a second, how fun would this be to get the men and the women together? And they, I mean, Ennisbrook hosted that event for 24 years. And it was a fun end of season thing. And like you said, the way the women are hitting the ball now, it would be fun. The European tour did add women and a mixed captains team to their golf sixes event coming this summer. So they're trying to.

So it's going to happen. But we need a sponsor to get their head on straight and realize they're going to get some attention. No doubt. Well, it's a time and place thing. It's right time, right place. So it's going to happen. I'm happy about it. But let's talk about Tiger in Tampa.

At the snake pit. Do you think he's going to have any trouble finding some place to eat or someplace to relax in Ebor City? I think it'll be okay. I think he'll get some good advice. Yeah. Yeah. I'm not too worried. It's a good challenge for him, though, to kind of get out of his comfort zone now.

And he looks so comfortable playing that I think it's the next logical step. And I think he will enjoy the challenge of trying to kind of relearn a golf course. It's got all new grasses and all that stuff since he was last year. It's a totally different place. It was a monster of a course back in the late 90s. Now at 73040 it's considered kind of a shopmaker's course or something like that that's code for. You don't hit as many drivers as you might prefer. But it does have good pedigree.

It produces good solid champions, right? It does. And the players love it. And they really do feel like it's a – In fact, a few have really felt like it's their best Florida swing golf course if there's much of a Florida swing left. Yeah. So you have Justin Rose and Sergio's there.

Jim Fiorick's team up. And of course, George Spee was a last-minute ad. But I think he was probably playing there all along. And of course, Adam Hadwin, who spoke to us last year after winning the Valscourt, is returning to defend his title. And probably an outstanding selection once again if you're looking for not doing too much homework on your prognostication this week. Well, it's still early in the week. This show will go up. We're recording Monday.

It'll go up tonight or tomorrow. I will do my weekly thing now. I like this sort of getting to Wednesday and then trying to come up with, you know, some names. I got, I did a pretty good job this week, Shaq. I don't like to pat my own back too much. Well, please do because because I have no padding to do here. So you pat away. Well, I felt bad because the only one that you took any issue with was Bubba.

And then Bubba went out was on the leaderboard. It was in the lead early on Thursday. Then he came back. But he played better than I expected there. I really didn't think he'd like that place at all. Well, he had a top 40 there last year. he had a T-38, which is like, you know, congratulations, except for his season last year was otherwise extra crubble, exa-cruble,

ex-cruble. What was that? Exacruble. Like shit is this, as I believe. Oh, okay, thank you. Because, you know, and God bless Dan Hicks, he talked about this. He was very direct about it. Bubba couldn't shape the ball that he's accustomed to.

He played a ball that he couldn't shape. But he did, you know, reasons. well at this track last year. And that's why I thought he was an interesting, you know, name to put on the, on the sheet for this week. And he finished a 10 under, which was, you know, I think that's a, he was definitely inside the top 15. I don't think he was a top 10.

But this week at Val Spar, I'm just looking for ball strikers. That's why Sergio is like interesting. That's why Schwarzel, who's had good experience at this place, is interesting. Somebody like Kevin Streelman's not a crazy name. name to me. I think he's had some experience, some good, good experience here. And I think it's kind of a sneaky moment for Jordan Speath. I'm glad he's in this field. I think this is a, you know, he's in an interesting position because of his putting woes. But you mentioned it. He's, he's no longer, the poa is behind us. Yeah. And so maybe this stabbing, you know, it's like he's got a

beautiful piece of steak in front of him is the way he's treating the golf ball. We can help him with that. We can give him much more smoother, longer cuts at the thing. The name you left out, though, who will probably be my pick in my fantasy league is Patrick Cantlay, who just missed going to a playoff last year with Hadwin. And that was only his second start back from the layoff. So I'm going to let you have Jordan. I'm going to take Patrick Cantley this week because he's just playing so beautifully and he obviously likes the place and we'll be coming in while rested and I'm trying to find a price on him and I don't have it yet.

Yeah, I'm not prepared to give out any names yet. I'm just, these are just names of interest for the show. I'll do it on Wednesday. But let's talk a little bit more. What do you think Tigers capable of this week? Because, you know, we, I think Riviera just in terms of a venue that he hadn't played in a super long time that he hadn't

have great success on and then you know it posed a big challenge to him and you know it's not like his kind of course his kind of setup and he hit the eject button do you what do you anticipate for this week? I think he's going to

keep it going and play beautifully in fact I think this golf course will maybe actually allow him to be a little bit more aggressive and continue kind of this run that he's on of just gradual improvement. I mean, the two standout numbers that were just positively shocking at the Honda were the driving distance was spectacular. And then the proximity of the hall, which I know a lot of

people struggle with, but, you know, there's only so much you can look at statistically besides green and regulation to tell you that somebody's improving with their iron shots. And he improved by about, what was it, about 10, 15 feet on average from Riviera. And so it showed that he figured something out and made some adjustments. And that to me is just, you know, it's got to be baby steps at this point. And he's making pretty big steps week to week. I'm right there with you. And I'm very, very heartened to hear you being bullish on Tiger, not bearish, but bullish.

because I'm there. I mean, I don't need any more persuading what he did at the Honda all the way through. The stuativeness is the way that I'll describe it because he didn't again have an A plus game. He hit the ball very solid, but, you know, a lot of pressure on the scrambling. And his putting, I would call it like we're in like an 80 to 85 percent tiger zone right now, putting wise, right? We're not, we haven't jumped over into the 90% yet. That's where I'm, I'm, going to get excited. And that's what we saw out of Phil. Phil's putting is so effing good right now. If Tiger just nudges a little bit closer to 90% of the tiger putting zone, things are going to

happen. I mean, it's going to be very excited. I'm going to earn the E for explicit check. I'm telling right now. It is freakish. They're at ages where your short game is supposed to be the thing that kind of let you down. And both of them, and Phil, I mean, Phil's short game has never wavered in any way. I mean, there have been a few moments of putting issues and moments of less than perfect putting putting up. But the short game has been in general, just spectacular. And it's just been a matter of putting it all together with the ball striking. And now he did it. And I don't know, Tiger, to me, it's even more amazing if you subscribe to the view that he had the chip yips for a while. I never quite did, to be honest, fully.

And then when you think about how little golf he's been playing. I mean, he has to be getting so much confidence looking at where he was a year ago and knowing how much he could practice and seeing guys who are just grinding like Rory or Henrik Stinson or whoever you want to take your pick. and he's beating them on not a whole lot of reps in his lingo. And that's got to just, he's just got to sit back and kind of like, oh, yeah, I'm still, I'm still at my core a superior being as a golfer than just about everybody out there. Imagine what will happen in a little bit of time when I kind of get used to this new fused back. Yeah, well, that's got to just got to give him. you know, on the plane ride home and he and he pours a little cocktail on the jet.

He must put his feet up and go, oh, man, I can still feed these guys. Well, here's the thing to me. And I hope I'm going to go, I'm going to go in a corny direction here. I'm confessing it right up front. But after, well, corny in the sense that like, I'm hoping, and it appears to be the case. We're just avid observers, huge fans, you know, lovers of his game. he had a near-death experience last summer. He damn near drove himself into a tree.

Let's not put this in the league of Hogan getting hit by a bus here. No, no, no, no. All I'm saying is you made an interesting point there about where he physically was a year ago. I'm talking about the combination of physical and emotional. He was clearly experiencing a drug problem last summer. Some kind of, I mean, he had a narcotic-induced carcuit. car crash, right? Yeah.

Like, so there was some issue going on there, and he seems to have gotten in touch with whatever the drivers of that were and has, you know, conquered it, managed it, figured out a way to, you know, not be under the thrall of whatever those things were delivering to him. And he's like physically and temperamentally, right? this is the thing that everybody keeps marveling at in the stories that I'm reading this season is his temperament where his head seems to be at how lucid he is, how connected he seems to be to the moment and to the fans and to the sort of people around him and everybody's loving this new gentle, gentle tiger.

But I think a lot of that has to do with not just what you mentioned, which is the physical place he was at a year ago, which was unable to perform. but also like, you know, beating back some demons, it feels like to me. And that's why I'm confessing it's a little bit corny, maybe some pop psychologizing. I'll own it. But look, you know, if one of us went through that experience, that's life altering. He has two young kids and he damn near crashed his car off the side of the road. Yeah, no, he's acting like somebody who is grateful for the second chance.

I think the first time he came back from the actual car accident, he had an edge to him that suggested real, at least with us in the press, real hostility, as if we were the ones delivering the monologues every night in front of millions of people making jokes about him. And this time, there's none of that. There's sort of a, yeah, I've gotten a free pass here. And this is kind of fun being Tiger Woods again. And then, you know, just getting out there and getting that, the energy of the energy of the. the fans. I mean, there are a couple of Yahoo's, but he still is getting, I mean, just the way he reacts to the kids is so fun. These are kids who've never seen him in his prime. You can tell by the age in their voice. And that has to just resonate with him with his kids, but also just like,

oh my gosh, this is incredible. These kids don't even really have a reason to worship me and they do. And that's got to, he's taking that responsibility. And I think it's impressive. Now, House, more importantly, back to our pocketbooks, I have to withdraw my Patrick Cat Lane nomination because the guy who finished second last year in the Valspar championship isn't playing. What? Oh, my Lord, I'm going to have to, I'm going to look into this. We're still figuring out the field. We'll get these picks out. Dad is on my, is a Facebook follower. I'm going to, Dad, Dad, well, whoa, well, Patrick finished second. He's playing unbelievable. Is everything okay? But I'll give you one here. 55 to 1, Cameron Smith. this kid is awesome.

I was talking about him with Ben Crenshaw, who has been watching a lot of the golf, and he started asking me about him. And I said, yeah, he's really an impressive young player. And you, yeah, so 55 to 1, he's been playing very nice golf. One of these weeks, he's going to pop and get that. Nice name drop with Ben Crenshaw. Yeah, I thought that was a nice one.

I also like Cameron Smith quite a bit. You put him on my radar And he Won at Zurich last year Correct Okay So you know He ought to be kind of rounding

In the form Yeah At this point of this season Speaking of Rounding into form Yes Yeah I am I mean the Chrome soft is round

It has beautiful form It's made of graphene And all sorts of other It has graphene in it It's not made of graphene No I was getting to the other the dual soft-fess core and the larger inner core. Come on, it's complicated, but it's rounding in a shape because the Chrome SoftX just won both on the LPGA tour last week with Michelle Wee and the PGA tour with Phil Mickelson last week.

Yeah, so not that complicated. It's a winning golf ball. That's what it is, Shaq Daddy. Speaking of winning golf balls. Yeah. I am poised a week from today. I will be getting on a jet plane and heading down to Sea Island. Have you ever been to down to Sea Island in Georgia?

It's been a long time, and I'm very happy for you to finally get out and test these road clubs and get out and play some golf. I don't feel like this is something that I should be that exuberant about because, you know, I had kind of wanted to get an invite. I know. Well, you had it, and then we couldn't figure it out. I mean, you're a busy man with a busy life. We're going to knock off the rust, 2018 knock off the rust. We did the same thing last year. All I want to do is advise our faithful listeners to be on the lookout.

We're going to put up a competition. We have some incredible stuff to give away Shaq. This is the first giveaway of the Shaq. Oh, season. Obviously, we are loaded with rogue stuff and very excited to give away some rogue. And we're also going to have some cool OGO, both travel and carry golf bag items available for your golf enjoyment, your golf travel schedule, whatever you may be thinking about knocking off the rust, Calloway and Oggio, some great stuff we're going to have.

So how does this, how do we follow this? How do we win? Well, this is where we'll announce that you and I are having a show. This is the other thing I wanted to mention. So we are having shows all the way now through the Masters. There are no breaks. All the Shackhouse listeners will be on every week because we're officially building to the Masters. There's less than a month. We're in. We're in there. We're inside the window shack. Yeah, yeah, yeah. One or two might be a pop-up, but just remember this one when we disappear for a few weeks in August.

Yeah, that's right. So we will have for next week's show an announcement of how folks can enter and where to enter and what we're going to be playing for and all that kind of stuff. But I just wanted to sow the seed. Start thinking some rogue thoughts out there, my golfie homies. And just, I know you have security detail issues, but could you just give us a little sense? Is there an instruction component to this trip or is this just golf and knock off the rust? This is golf. This is instruction.

This is knocking off the rust. And there's also, I've been told, I wonder if anybody can validate this. They're supposed to be a barbecue joint. Oh. That is, they've rehabilitated an old gas station. And they're doing some beautiful smoking. And I've seen some of this meat. I believe it's called Southern Soul Barbecue.

That is on the itinerary. If anybody's got another suggestion, I mean, I want to eat a little bit at the resort. See, I've got it pretty good. reputation for some good food. But if anybody's got some St. Simon's Island recommendations of must tries, you know, I'm hoping the fried green tomatoes are in season.

I'm going to try to get a fried green tomato while I'm down there. Beautiful. Yeah. Well, great. Well, we look forward to hearing about all things, Sea Island and your golf and giving out some stuff and hopefully talking about a thrilling Valspar championship on next week's show. Well, this is just a teaser. I'm not

going until next week. So I just wanted to set up the fact that this thing is coming. Oh, you don't leave until after our next show. Yeah, right, right. Well, I just wanted to sow some seeds. I get everybody excited, right? And I need my food recommendations. Ah, that's smart.

Well, put it out on the Twitter. You know you'll get the love. Yeah, thank you. All right, well, we look forward to talking to everybody next week here on the... Shackho! Part of the Ringer Podcast Network.