Fairway Rollin' - Tiger Woods Falters and Jason Day Makes a Comeback at the Wells Fargo Championship, Plus: Looking Ahead to the Players Championship | ShackHouse (Ep. 63)

Episode Date: May 8, 2018

Joe House and Geoff Shackelford link up in sunny Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, to recap the Wells Fargo Championship (02:00) before looking ahead to this week's Players Championship (20:30) and making predictions for the biggest non-major tournament of the year (39:00). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On today's Shack House, it's all things the players championship, the final players championship in May. We will pull at your heartstrings and make you so sad that it is moving back to March. Or not, I don't know. But, of course, House, today we are brought to you, as always, by our friends at Calloway, who on May 18th are going to roll out the Odyssey XO putters. That's EXO when you see them in print, but they're XO. How is you were drooling? We are in a car together. Yeah, bah.

Very, very high-tech studio here in Pontevichre Beach. We're in person together. And you were looking over my shoulder at the Exo putters. And I know you were not drilling at the Rossi, but in fact, the 7S. The 7S was catching my eye, Shaq. That Exo can't come out soon enough. May 18th is just a week after my birthday. Hint, hint, hint.

Yeah. Well, don't go to Callawaygolf.com. Go to odysseygolf.com to go look at these because they are really cool. the industrial design. There is a design aesthetic to these that is very different. And if you're into industrial design, sparse, kind of simple lines, with the usual white hot face, you're going to love these. So go to odysseygolf.com.

I just love the way the alignment sets up. I'm rushing over there, odyscogoff.com. I'm hot on your heels. Sheck, speaking of hot on your heels, seat geek, it's time for tickets. Not for your baseball team or my baseball team, but there's probably some great concerts to be had. Seekekek is the best app for buying and selling tickets to sporting events, concerts, and more for $20 off.

Your first Seatgeek purchase on any game or sporting event, all you have to do is use promo code house. That's promo code H-O-U-S-C.C download the Seatgeek app or go right to seatgeek.com. All right, House, we are here in Pontevedre Beach, and this is Shaq House, part of the Ringer Podcast Network, which of course is also home to your wonderful House of Carbs, which I listened to on the flight down, and I learned a lot about bourbon.

I was very intrigued by all of the techniques that that gentleman employs. I will tell you, Shaq, I enjoyed having that conversation with Tray Zeller, Jefferson's bourbon. I learned a lot about bourbon in general, but more specifically, the grand voyage that he took the Jefferson's journey on, it left me, it was a breathtaking tale. I mean, I couldn't believe it was a funny, I don't want to. want to steal the punchline, but this is probably the most expensive bourbon ever made in the history of bourbon making. Also, don't forget, Shaq, the NBA playoffs are going on right now.

Ringer.com has you covered in all things NBA playoffs. But who? Who is thinking about the NBA playoffs when the players championship is upon us house? We are here. It has been played for 45 years. This will be the 45th playing, that is. And House, it is moving back to March. And you're going to hear a lot about that this week. But I'm very excited. We are in person together. We're over on the Valley course. We've just been shooting some things with our friends at Calloway. We played a whole pitifully. You put a little bit of a nice mark on my rogue on the face. You didn't do any damage to it. That's where you're supposed to strike that rogue. It's a beautiful day. It's supposed to be a beautiful

week. There is something at the end of the week that might be a little bit ify. But that's a long way off, so we're not going to worry about that. This is an event now that actually is building some history, but it also gives us a little bit of a headache when trying to figure out who might play well here. Of course, the TPC sawgrass has hosted since 1982, 37 years ago, that Jerry Pate jumped into the lake, and Pete Dye's design was unleashed on the world. And we were having an interesting chat before the show. You played here.

You had a great time. but you did feel like there was a little something missing in the golf course. What was that? What do you think that was? Well, there's two things about it. And the observation I was making is I've played it one time and I'd like to play it again when I'm driving the ball a little bit better. Yeah, well. Well, I played it in March, speaking of March.

And, you know, as an East coaster, my game was not in mid-season form, let's just say. but the premium on driving the ball in the fairway here, there's nowhere to miss left or right. So it's not a forgiving kind of a venue. But the other thing that just left it a little bit lacking in my experience. I'm glad that I played it. I'm glad I tried it. But the weird drainage stuff, the man-made swales all over the course,

I understand that design concept, but they produce this effect. And we experienced ourselves on the hole that we played 10 feet in front of the hole, basically in the center of the green, is a drainage. Yeah, a catch basin. And it took out the possibility of playing a low shot in, which is what I was trying to do and have it release out. It hit the basin, the face of that basin and basically got stuck. Well, this is the thing with Pete Dye.

He went to Scotland. He was inspired by the courses there. And then he added his own twists. He was kind of like your bourbon guy. He was inspired by a lot of different things like all the great artists or craftsmen are. And he was inspired by a couple of architects, Langford and Moreau, who did a lot of beautiful work up in the Wisconsin area. So he kind of melded the link-style look. But the one thing that Pete's always done is kind of create drainage right down the middle

and not create sort of natural swales to take the water to a left. lake if there's a major brain. And it's a big difference between, it's a philosophic difference between his thinking and Tom Fasio's of the world versus sort of the minimalist. Because we like to see things seem natural. And those things take you out of that natural element. So it's definitely, to me, it's a design defect because I think you can create all the cool movement, but actually drain the course properly. The interesting thing. It's very wonky stuff.

But it's one of those things. It's important because it takes you out of the walk in the park element. And this is the thing about it in terms of what we like to do here on this show, which is try and anticipate who's in form, try and give out a couple winners, who would we expect to see as a winner. And this place makes it nearly impossible to forecast any particular results. Because you get guys, it's either the very, very heights of glory or it's a miscut. And that's not the catch basin's fault.

Well, that is, but I think we have a theory on that. We kicked around, at least my theory, my working theory, I don't know about yours, but it's that there are very few driver holes left here on the TPC Sawgrass because they have been very adamant about not adding excessive amounts of length. And I think when you take driver out of the player's hands, it prevents those really top players, somebody like Jason Day winning last week, even though he's won here. it makes it hard for them to separate themselves.

And so you really have a golf course that rewards somebody who gets kind of hot and a little bit lucky sometimes. And it's an odd mix. It's definitely an odd mix. And I just wish there were a few more driver holes. I think that would really help the whole feel of the course and make players like it more. Well, you mentioned Jason Day. Let's go ahead and get out of the way.

Right into the prognostications. No, I'm going to pat him on the back for last week at Quayl Paulo. And also, you know, talk to you a little. bit about, I'm wondering sort of what your thoughts are on this theme that seems to be developing to my eyes. I was happy to see Jason Day on another difficult venue really just sort of grind out a victory. That's two grind him out victories for Jason Day this season. And the narrative that I'm sort of touching on here, Shaq, that's caught my eye is the resurgence of these guys. Now, Jason Day's 30. He's not in his mid-30s. He doesn't sort of, he does not as old as Bubba.

He's not as old as Phil. He's not as old as Tiger. But he's also not a 20-something. He's in between that group of guys in their 24 to 27 range and the mid-30s guys. But Jay Day, with two wins this season, two tough. I was going to say tough ass. We have an e-label. You already, yeah, we've spent that.

Tough-ass later. Tough-ass venues. That credit long ago. I mean, Tori and Quail, and the way Quail was set up, it was made for, and I'm I don't know if you caught much of it. I was traveling, so I caught a little bit of it. It made for, I'm sorry to say this, a disastrously boring Sunday. The scores were between plus two and minus two of anybody that mattered. I watched the rebroadcast last night and it knocked me out.

I was on Pacific Time and it just put me right out here in Florida. It was a beautiful somnambulant. Yeah, you don't get that every day. It was. I mean, there were a few moments and obviously the way that 17th Hall was playing and the way the ball released in the case of his shot, that was pretty cool. Very dramatic. Some of those monster drives were thrilling. Aaron Wise, our pal, a rookie on tour this year, hit a beast of a drive on 16.

Yeah, so did Jason, yeah, both of them. 383 for Aaron Wise. Yeah, that's, it's a thing. It was about 60 yards a roll, but that still means he carried it 320. He's longed it. He's longed the Irn Wise. He's longed the Wise. But your point is that we are seeing those veterans,

in their prime, excelling, and kind of something we, I think we thought and anticipated that while everybody was looking at Tiger and Phil and the young guys, that that era of player in their late 20s to early 30s would actually kind of sneak by and play well, and it's happening. Yeah, and I'm excited by it. It's good. It doesn't give me any clear sense of what to do this week, and I feel like I'm not alone in this respect. And again, we're not jumping all the way to picks yet.

No. But anytime you go online and look at odds and see five guys at the top all tied at 14 to 1, you know that Vegas is just throwing up their hands. Well, this is the history here. And I think it has a lot to do with the golf course. And it has a lot to do with the inability of anybody to really stand out and say they love this place and dominate. And that's not necessarily a bad thing because, you know, it isn't all about your gambling. No, no, I, you know, this is one that I lay off because you just can't get a feel for it.

That may be the angle, too. I mean, you might put a little taste on a couple things just to have a reason to watch on Sunday, other than it is fun. You know, the thing to be fair to this place, it always produces, this is going to sound really ridiculous, but you'll indulge me. It produces a, I don't have a choice. A true champion. And by, you know what I'm saying by that is the guy that wins, and again, this is going to be so self-evidence sounding, is somebody that has gotten hot and then is able to maintain that all the way through 18, and there are plenty of places on 16 and 17 and 18 to jump up and derail, which we like very much.

We do, and it is an amazing finishing stretch and made better, I think, by being now the playoff holes if they go to an aggregate playoff. Let's step back, though, a little bit and just talk about the tournament itself. it's a tournament that is the best title to win outside of the four majors, I believe, because the perks alone are incredible. I think the players believe it too, because the paycheck, speaking of perks. The paycheck is significant. The bonuses, the exemption, the overall way they treat you here is second to none. They take a lot of their cues, obviously, from Augusta.

And I think the criticism I would have is they sometimes take too many cues from too many places and instead of just kind of relying on the fact that they're just what they are. It's a great event and be comfortable with that. And they've done that more in recent years. That said, there's been a little bit of an identity crisis since this move to May. I love the move to May. I thought it's strengthened the tour schedule. And the golf course has, for the most part, played really well with the Bermuda grass.

It's been excellent. There were a couple years of Greens. Didn't look great. They putted well. There was one year where they lost. control of the golf course a little bit. They had kind of an odd weather forecast, and that was unfortunate. But otherwise, it's been a success.

But I've only covered it House in May. I never came to a player's in March. This is year 12 in the May date, and it's the final one. So next year it'll move to about three weeks before the Masters. The PGA Championship will be probably, we don't know, we were going to get the schedule this week, but they've delayed. that. Okay. It will probably be the weekend of the Preakness, which would be not next weekend, but the following. So basically, a little later than the players are getting away from Mother's Day,

which hasn't been great. Yeah, I'll be honest. The pink out is nice on Sunday, but you can imagine there are a lot of moms who would rather be doing something besides watching the fine golfers of the world. Yeah. So I think it will benefit greatly going back to Mark. because everybody who covered it said the energy was just different. The energy is actually, it's a younger audience, younger crowd here in May, because a lot of the snowbirds have moved back north. But they just say in March, there's something about it, the combination of the different winds, the diversity of the crowd, the energy is, and that pre-master's tension is there. And then I have a very strong view that the TPC of Sawgrass has slipped a little in people's mind. because it's now not an overseeded with ryegrass golf course.

What's that mean? What's that mean? Well, you know, cool season grass in the desert and a lot of Florida courses will oversee to get that lush, deep green and better playing conditions in the wintertime. The difference, though, is in high definition, Bermuda grass just looks very dull and gray. I mean, we're looking at a golf course here that's beautifully conditioned outside our Ford Flex window. The Ford Flex Studios, not brought to you by Ford. And you can see it just has kind of a Bermuda grass has a grayness to it. And then over here we have a, this is a different grass. Looks like a cuckoo a little bit. It almost does. Yeah, it's a zoisia. And it's got a little deeper green. So I think when they oversee the course, it will just pop more. The key, though, will be,

do they oversee the ruffs? The old Pete Dye original TPC was fairway to Sandy Scrub. And a lot of us have been begging them to go back to that. I'd like that. And it'll play firmer and faster if they oversee it now. All the stuff they've done under the hood on the golf course is amazing for drainage, except those catch basins aren't so hot. Don't like them. The water goes underneath so they can get it firmer and faster. And in March, there's the Bermuda no matter how good it is.

And I mean, these superintendents are amazing what they do, how tight the turf is. It still just doesn't get that release and run. So March, I think, will be better. in a lot of ways. But if they could get rid of rough and get back that look, I think it would be phenomenal. It's just hard. It's a hard look to pull off. And it's obviously there's a resort element here too the rest of the year.

Well, they can have the resort function. You can have all that come into existence coincident with resort season down here, right? Like, because I've been here the first week of March. And I will tell you right now, I played in long sleeves with a jacket and long pants and some form. of headwear that was intended to keep my head warm through the round because, you know, it's easy to play down here and have it be in the 50s bumping up to 60. And those winds that you mentioned, the March wins, for sure, you know, that's a real thing. Right.

Those breezes, when it's only in the 50s, you know, it's a feels-like temperature that's starting to put you into the 40s. And I like very much the idea of that challenge and what that kind of represents. I think that weather variance is a nice kind of interruption to like the perfect. All we do is watch guys walk around in short sleeves all the time. Yeah. Until the open championship. Right.

And a lot of people lament the players having lost that. And some of them, of course, like it because they want the 17th hole to turn into a freak show, which I don't think is much fun. I happen to like what we've seen in May, which are some pretty spectacular shots on that hole. But as you know, there's kind of an element that likes to watch the Daytona 500 to see a car crash as opposed to great skill and driving. And so that's just a philosophic thing. Let's get to some interesting news related to the tournament and Tiger Woods. But before we do that, I unveiled and whipped out my new MacDady Four Wedges house. You whipped them out?

Yeah, today. Oh, no. And then I hit some shots. And I didn't expect a big leap, but they are way big. You have to check out what Roger Cleveland has done with those wagers. Do you have those in the bag? I do. And you almost hit the pin to save par.

I won't tell. I won't ruin it for everybody. You'd have an opportunity to save par on the hole that we played. And it went right over the cup. If it hit the pin, I don't think it would have gone in because of the pace. But it was a very nice low. It did have that check and spin. Oh, the crews are ridiculous.

Yeah. They're unbelievable. Yeah. Well, they're in stores now. So go check them out. the Mac Daddy fours. MD4. Yeah, now I'm still on the fence.

I still love my old kind of spatula of 60 degrees. So I've got to do some work on that before I make that leap. That's a really cool club, especially when you hit it out on the toe like I do. Yeah, well, I also want to give a very quick shout out to our good pals at ZipRecruiter. Are you hiring and do you know where to post your job to find the best candidates? It's hard to find great talent. need great talent for a successful podcast. We have great talent on our production team here at Ringer Podcast Studios, so I don't think that they need to do anything in that regard,

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Go to ziprecruiter.com slash shackhouse. All right. So the first two rounds will feature a pairing of Ricky Fowler, Tiger Woods, and Phil Mickelson. And some of you will be, by the time you're listening to this, it may have started. But House, I don't know who would be unhappy about this grouping. I was kind of hoping this would have happened on the West Coast swing since they're West Coast guys. And it just seemed like a natural. And it really is stunning how rare it is that these two get to play together.

Whereas Justin Thomas, Jordan Speeth, Ricky Fowler, another featured group that will be on the Golf Channel and PGA Tour Live featured coverage, I believe have played together 495 times in the last year. We're really riding the speed, Thomas, saying a little too hard. I think they're even getting sick of these bearings. But Tiger, Phil, Ricky, I think is sensational. I think it's sensational as well. I would like to make one small edit. It feels like Tiger and Phil are real genuine OGs from an era there in the late 90s to the early 2000s.

And Phil, you know, throughout the 2000s. Both of those guys obviously have tremendous success through the first decade of the 21st century. But I want another OG with them. And I'd like somebody to kind of old school. Now, I don't know if he's in the field this week. week because who knows what the hell's going on with his lawsuit with the PGA tour. They might have just banned him from the premises, but I think it would be hilarious.

I think it would be hilarious if Vijay Singh was the third to go with those two. Like, Ricky is as rock star. Ricky can have his own group. He could be a group of one and still have go 10 deep and people would want to see him. It feels like it's, now he's up to the challenge of being with Phil and Tiger because that's going to be a party. 18 party holes out here at Sawgrass. and they're they're thank god it's the stadium course right because you know it's going to be packed

viewing every on the surrounds and every t-box um ricky just just adds to it it feels like overkill i want something like a little bit clever uh i don't know again i have no idea whether or not vj's allowed anywhere near here oh oh oh quite the contrary really yeah even though he's suing the tour uh you know we have a media center that's a permanent building right off the clubhouse and it has a great little lunchroom that the rest of the year is for BJA Tour staff. It's very health food driven. And guess who comes and has lunch because he loves the prices there and the healthy food? B.J. Singh.

Panavidra's finest, Vijay Singh, who's also suing the BGA tour? Oh, why not? I think it's a little bit weird that you sue them and then come mooch off the employee. That's not the employee rate. Who doesn't like a healthy food? Who doesn't like healthy food? He can have his own chef. I would not have put VJ.

That is a, if you want to, if you want to just have the ultimate buzz kill for that group. Now, Tiger can tolerate VJ, I think. Phil, of course, I don't believe, can stand him in any way. That's old school. I like it. I want to see old school. Yeah, I get what you're saying. I mean, I would have been interesting.

Like Stenson is a former players champion. Ricky was 12 years old the last time Tiger and Phil played together in this tournament. And they've only played together 11 times, or this is the 11. time they've been intentionally paired together. That's amazing. What's Rory Sabatini's nickname? Is he the filthy Texan? What do they call him?

The stick him up? He really has a... And why are you nominating him? Well, he's from that era. He's another one. Or Polter. What about Polts? Now, Pulter would have been interesting.

Polts thinks he's the one of the top five players in the world. He said that 10 years ago. And he almost won a players. If he had won that players, I think, yes. That would have been a fine choice. And he would certainly liven things up. But, or, you know, there is the possibility that they just don't put anybody with them. They could have just gone out as a two-sum.

Easily gone out as a twosome. No doubt. Anyway, I think it's great. The tour did it and announced it. It's unlike them to announce it early like that and sort of overshadow a tournament at Quail Hollow. But they really didn't overshadow it. They just did it so that the media and television could ask them after their round. Are you looking forward to it?

And it got a little excitement going for the week. Let's look. I mean, Quail Hollow could have stood on its own. It didn't need to play in this in-between mode of are we going to be in a major kind of layout or we're going to be in a regular tour stop kind of layout. It really felt like it was a little bit of suspended redefinition in terms of what's – they played it at a massive length. Oh, and they shortened it last week. That's the scary part. It beat the hell out of the guys.

And nobody really putted great, you know. It's amazing. It's gone from one of their favorite courses to one that the players just kind of say, well, they treat us. great and they do. They do. And it's in great shape. And when they, when you hear those buzzwords, that's when you know, uh, they, they really don't like a lot of the changes. It's falling out of favor. Johnny, Johnny Harris is, uh, their favorite guy who, who, uh, kind of runs things, uh, there. He's a benevolent dictator of Quill Hollow and a great, uh, humanitarian and all that, but he's over-tinkered with the course. And it, it's lost some of that, uh, the, the soul that it

had had, I think when the, when they went back there, you know, the tour had been there a long time ago and then came back. And it's just, that's what happens when you, you over tinker, I think. And, but that said, it's still very good. It's still better than most of the courses they play on the tour and a great championship. Although there are questions whether it will continue there because he really has aspirations to hold major championships. And they have a president that kept coming. Yeah.

So we'll deal with that later when that happens. All right. So Players Championship, what else do you want to cover? Do you want some tidbits to think about for handicapped? Yes. Let's just start. Let's give out the couple ideas here. Well, here's one for you. Don't bet the Florida angle.

You know, there's that sort of view that West Coast guys love West Coast courses and Florida guys love Florida courses. And I believe I subscribe to that, as you know. I just think that's a grass thing. Yeah, sure. Here. The way that kids were raised. Yeah. Only seven of the last 22 players championship champions.

have had a Florida residence at the time of their victory. That's one in three. That's not a good number. So, yeah, Duval, Tiger was two of them. Fred Funk, Sergio Garcia at the time, Stenson. Yeah, Funk's not from Florida. Fowler. Nobody had a residence here.

Yeah, I know. I get it. And he still played a lot of golf here. Yeah, for sure. It was kind of a home course thing. So we don't have a lot of two-time winners at the TPC Sawgrass, just couples, Elkington, Sutton, Davis Love and Tiger.

So that's select company. And then, you know, we've had some great winners the last in the May editions with the Phil winning the first in 2007. Sergio Stenson, Fowler, Day. So those are all guys who like this time later. Super. Yeah, it's a nice group. Great pedigree among that group. Yeah.

So that's about all I got in the way of those kinds of. I got a couple things for you. How about this best cumulative? This is from our pal, our new. go to, Justin Ray, senior researcher at the golf channel. My good, well, well, you, you, I haven't heard you pimping J.R. on here too much. I mean, I know. I'm just saying.

For years, he's the best, best step follow on Twitter. This is best cumulative score to PARs. We try and think about guys with a little bit of track record here. Not that that necessarily matters, but if you're making a nice, make the cut parlay, this would be, you know, some guys to mention, we got four guys. Over the last five years, the best. the best cumulative score to par. Rory McElroy is 29 under.

Sergio Garcia, 27 under. Adam Scott, 22 under. Frankie Molinari, very quiet 21 under. Now, I was surprised when I saw this about Rory. Because I don't have, when I think about this tournament, he doesn't come to mind as a guy that just comes in here and kills it the way that I can picture Sergio. here kind of year after year on the leaderboard or on the top five or coming in on Sunday

with something, you know, low and doing something, you know, pretty interesting. And here's the reason for Rory to be on that list. He was tied 35 last year, tie 12 in 2016, and then tied eight, tied six, tied eight in the previous years. So that's sustained competence, but not sustained excellence, I would say. Well, and that's, sort of the track record, what we see here pretty consistently with several people. Yes. I think the bigger issue with him is what kind of mood, for lack of a better word, is he in? He admitted to having a postmaster's depression that the wife basically had to kick him out of the house to go practice.

And I thought that was really a powerful admission. And one that, I mean, I love to hear that because you have to think all the time, that he's put into his career and getting ready for the masters and to come that close and not get it done on Sunday has to be devastating because he knows how few chances there really are. I know everybody likes to think, oh, it's a game you play a long time. But really, when you step back and you've done this long enough, certain guys realize, holy cow, the window is really not that big. And so it'll be interesting to see how he bounces back. Same with Ricky, too, because he was devastated Sunday night. at Augusta, but I viewed that as a positive, that he wasn't just riding this off as the usual.

He made some amazing admissions about that it really was the first time he felt like he deserved to win a major and be there and had the entire package to win. So I've looked for him to take a big leap from the Masters. Rory, I'm kind of, I'm just wondering about those comments were fascinating. I think it may take him a little while longer to recover. I was of the same mind as you in terms of those comments and how revealing. And to Rory's credit, I kill him on this podcast with some regularity because I just have such high hopes and expectations of his talent.

And every time we see a performance like what he did at Bay Hill, where he just basically comes in and sets the whole place a blaze. He just lights it on fire with the putter especially. It just creates exactly. it spoils us and it reminds us what he's capable of. So I very much liked that self-reflection, that introspection. I liked it so much last week. I liked it so much last week.

He was my one and done pick for this Quail Holly thing. Now, it didn't work out. He did go out and shoot on Thursday a 68, which was like, hey, okay, this is my guy. He's the familiarity of the place and, you know, walking around and recalling. I was hoping for some of those, that memory trigger, you know, just sort of like, hey, all right, I feel good. I feel comfortable. This is a place where I've, you know, owned the joint a little bit. And nobody's kind of up to my level.

It didn't carry through all the way through. But, you know, this, that mindset that, you know, and a little bit of, you know, good form, I don't know what to do about this week. I would sit that one out and watch see what he does. I think he's in a recovery phase, probably with an eye really on Carnusti. Not Shinnecock. Obviously, Shinnecock is certainly important to him. But I think, I don't know, I just think it's going to take him a little longer to recover from that after those comments. But he's one of those people who also lays it all out there.

And he maybe does that to, well, no, I really believe it's genuine. I really do. And I think that's why he's one of the few golfers that transends the sport that people outside of golf find him appealing. Because they listen to him interviewed and they hear somebody who speaks his mind and is not afraid to issue an opinion on things that other guys flee from. Well, we've gone about 33, 34 minutes into this recording. And we haven't. We've mentioned his name in a couple of different contexts, but we didn't talk about the man's game at all. What about the status of one Eldrick title?

I mean. Now, that was an interesting performance last week. Yeah, yeah. It is this recurring phenomena of one aspect of the game of abandoning him. And this was by far, by far, his worst putting outing of the season, which is weird because he's been a good putter at Quail Hollow before. So I didn't see that one coming. But as we come in here, they changed it a lot. They have. That's it. I'm so glad. I'm so glad. I think he, I don't know.

I'm not going to say he quit. They're basically different greens now. Yeah. They're not the greens that he played on. I do wonder if there was a little bit of a shutdown element there mentally. Because at least if you're a strokes game believer, ball striking wise, it was his best week of the year. I do believe.

I am a stroke game believer. I still hit some quackers there. But the putting was atrocious. It was the worst performance he's had on tour of the season, probably. He seems like, now these greens have changed a lot here, too, and they're different grasses and different things have happened over the years. And next year, they'll be different because they'll be overseeded. But he is coming back to a place where he has mostly good memories, few horrific ones of WD and that kind of thing. But obviously, the better than most moment, the U.S. amateur.

and the back-to-back dubs. Yeah. So let me ask you this. We touched on this earlier. You talked about this being a venue now that takes driver out of people's hands. And here's what I'm interested. Because now we're tired to think about, at least I am, how's the U.S. Open at Shinnecock shaping up?

What's that setup going to be like? I'm anticipating a venue that takes driver out of folks' hands. We're looking for a stinger, we're looking for a bullet, we're looking for a fairway finder. That's my early sense of what Shinnock's going to be all about. I like this event this week as a referendum on whether Eldrick Tiger Woods is prepared to try and conquer a venue with that style of play. What do you think? I agree completely. And I hope we get a little bit of wind, so he's really forced to play the Stinger.

Yeah. Yeah, it's probably the number one question most people ask. If you're at the market and you start talking golf, it always, you talk Tiger and it invariably comes back to, why doesn't he just hit the stinger off every team? And it's a complicated issue. It's, I think he gets such a boost from distance. It's a confidence, clearly, right? But how much confidence can you get when they start going all over the place? and he is, when he's on with his irons, he's incredible.

And why he doesn't want to be in the fairway more, I don't know. It sounds like from what I'm hearing at Chinatock, the narrowing they did last fall, the last minute narrowing will prompt that. And the rough immediately off the fairways is pretty nasty. So. No first cut, huh? No, well, there's an intermediate cut before you get to the natives. Yeah.

And that's sod, that new sod is really tough stuff. So hopefully, yes, and there will be wind, and it will be a golf course that there are already several holes that aren't driver even when it was widened out. Sure. So, yes, so this week should be a good referendum on that. And other than that, though, it's more about just kind of seeing how his overall game is. And I would say the same for Mickelson. I mean, this is going to be, this U.S. Open is going to be to the golf fan more about Phil than Tiger because he played so well at Shinnecock. And they're going to beat us over their head, you know, in the run-up in the week before or two weeks before.

I'll be guilty of that myself. I want you to do it. That's right. We're working on a feature at Golf Channel on the brouhaha and the debacle of the course setup last time. And Phil, you know, Phil, when he looks back at the U.S. opens it that he was cost, that one is the one where the setup probably killed him more. He didn't do anything wrong. He didn't hit a bad shot. He didn't hit the bad shot.

And he lost by two. And there was a moment where it cost him two shots. And you just, that's the one where I know he, it's got to be a hard one to think about. So it's going to come up a lot as we get back there. And he's actually scheduled to give us a press conference on Tuesday of this week, which when most of you will now already listen to it. Maybe. Maybe. Yeah, we'll see if he, he doesn't like to do those much these days.

So we'll see. But so I think going, that might be good for Tiger is my point that there is going to be, so much focus on Phil going into Shinnock. But the good news is we have a lot of different interesting storylines in golf. We were discussing earlier before the show. I was looking at the 95 Shinnock program and who the stars were in the game and nothing against those people. But when you look at some of the players they were highlighting

as the marquee names coming into the U.S. Open at Shinnock Hills versus the wealth of riches we have now, it's definitely a more intriguing. Different era. Different era in golf. Yeah, I mean, there are guys that I love and grew up worshipping and all that. But you just say, wow, when he came along and then Phil came along and what those guys have brought to the game is just different. All right, well, let's get serious.

I love this storyline that we have not yet touched on. And again, it was brought to my attention by my brother Justin Ray. Well, you're just working his Twitter account today. Well, just because you go on here and it's like a couple of nuggets, right? Always nuggets. This is a nugget that I love. This week, I don't know if you're aware of this, five different potential number one players depending on the finish at the players. I am not aware of that.

You know, I'm not a big world ranking. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sure. No, that speaks to a lot of different things. The guys want to be number one at some point. If they get a bonus, yeah. Well, I mean, you can always say was I ever number one? And Jason Day has taken that very seriously.

I think there was a bit of an ego blow when he lost it. He admitted that it meant a lot to him to get to that point. I think there are other people who look back on it and go, great. But how many majors did you win? But there is a financial element now, too, for these guys to reach that point. That's fine. I'm fine with that. So who are the five, if you don't mind?

This is what I'm giving out because I want to see. I'm going to name these names. Then I want to see if you've got a feeling about it. Justin Thomas is one and Dustin Johnson's. obviously another one. Speath is not that surprising. Jordan Speath. John Rom has been sort of hovering in that top five.

Just a second. Jordan Speeth has a chance to get to number one this week? I guess if he wins. I don't know how the math works. But this is the most surprising one to me. Justin Rose has a chance to be number one in the world if he wins this golf tournament this week. And I don't know if the other guys have to finish out of top five or top 10

for him to get all the way up. But the math is there. for Brother Rose to be number one in the world. Huh. That's fascinating. So I just said five names. Are any one of those names jumping off the page at you as a serious contender for this week's players championship? Speath would be the one that I'm most intrigued by because I feel like this is a golf course,

the way he has made himself into one of the best iron players in the game, that he should thrive out here. And you don't need a lot of, you don't need that overwhelming. power here and he should love the shots into these holes. But as we discussed earlier, Pete die creates a sense of awkwardness that some people never overcome. Some people love Pete die golf courses and enjoy and embrace the quirk and the look. I don't know where speed stands on that. In fact, I think maybe I just got my press conference question. What are you talking about? And how about this? Let me remind you. He'll actually, that's a topic, I think he actually would be, he would enjoy discussing because he likes, some feedback.

I think he likes Austin Country Club where the match players played. I can't say overwhelmingly, but it's something I guarantee you he's given thought to. Well, in view of his history here at this joint, you have this in front of you? I do not. 2017, missed the cut. Yeah. 2016, he missed the cut. But 2015? He missed the cut. 2014 tie for fourth Yeah and he had a great chance to win

There you go, that's right So again That's where this golf course is just so bizarre That's it, that's this joint You're either at the very very top Or you're going home on Friday Yeah well what else is there To discuss in the world of golf

I mean I just would love to try and come up With a name or two to give out to all of our listeners See I was trying to change the subject I know I'm going to give one name I'm going to give Frankie Molinari It's 60 to 1. I'm not recommending anybody allocate any capital on the players' championship this week because I just have an impossible time coming up with a name.

But I like, you know, he's been in decent form. I played him a couple times. I played them in the Masters, as a matter of fact. And I played him in a make-the-cut bet, I think, that worked out for me. He's another guy that's pretty consistent across the board in terms of tied six last year, Tide 7 the year before, didn't play in 16, and tied 6 in 14. So maybe he's a nice top 10 play, you know, put a little cash on a top 10 for Frankie Molinari. But that's about as far as I'm willing to go.

Yeah, this is a week where you had some fun prop bets, just looking at some of the winning scores, how many times 13 under his won. You know, just be more fun to bet some over-unders on those things. Yeah, I like that. I like that. Intriguing to come up with water balls on 17 or aces. Good week for props. It really is, and unfortunately, we're just not quite there at the golf props being what they should be. Yeah, they're not all cooked up because we're recording this on a Monday.

There'll be some on Wednesday. Maybe I'll put out a little Twitter. You know, I like to give out a little bit of juice to give us something exciting to watch. There's some tournament props that are out early yet. Will there be a playoff? Will there be a hole in one? Will the winner play in the final pairing? But those are kind of boring.

Oh, yeah, there are some interesting stats on that. if you poke around on parings related. But all and all, it's not too thrilling. I'm going to put something on, will the winner play in the final pairing in the final round? That no is plus odds. That's a plus

145. So for your $100 you get back $145. I'm going to bet no on that one. I like that one. I like the guy. I like that Ricky sneaking from way back angle. I don't think Siwu was in the final group last year, was he? I believe he was. Okay. Well, that's

fine. I'm still buttoned no. I've forgotten a lot about that. You forgot about the Melville Sea Woo? Polter was amazing last year. He was in such fine for him. He was so, when he's on, he's so much fun. Yeah. He saved bogey from a shank, so that's the Ian Poulter experience. All right. Anything else you want to cover?

I mean, Augusta National's begun work on the fifth hole. Patrick Greed's win was equated with Donald Trump winning the presidency by Ricky Fowler. No, none of those. You don't want to buy it on. things that I don't want to talk about. You don't want to get near those. Let's see. What else?

Shinnecock, we're going to get all over that soon. The schedule revamp will not be released this week in hopes of saving the Houston Open. So we don't need to sit back and wait and see and hopefully they can do that. And then some other pieces will fall into place. It should be otherwise, though, a sensational players week. A great week. The weather looks awesome. I know we saw it spied a little rain possibly on Sunday, but that's so far out.

Yeah, so the Thursday and Friday should be fun. Obviously, Goff Channel will be on, I believe it. I want to say it's 11 Eastern Time. So this would be a good week for people to, if you're really into PGA Tour Live, you can now get as part of that ESPN Plus package. Okay. So if you want to see Tiger and Phil and then the Speeth Thomas McElroy pairing, this is going to be a good week to get those.

Maybe that's why they got the announcement out in advance. But anyway, so that's now available as part of that ESPN deal, which that's the best way to get PGA Tour Live. That was a very nice thing that you just did for them. They should pay us for that. They should. They, they, I just don't want to, I'm trying to cut down on the number of emails saying, why can't I watch Tiger and Phil on the golf channel? It's like, well, there is another option and it's now part of ESPN Plus, which is, what, five bucks a month or something. So I'm not a court cutter.

So, you know, I love my cable TV package. You know me. I'm like Simmons. I just like to flip. I'm a TV nut job. The cord cutting is beyond us. But anyway, oh, I know what we need to talk about. What's that?

That jailbreak technology that I put on display out on the TPC Sawgrass Valley course. Yeah, you did get a little pro-tracer love. It kind of was a love. Nothing I did with those rogue fairway woods would make anybody want to buy them, which is why nobody should ever go by seeing me hit these shots when these do end up online. Know what I was going to say, House, it's really fun to go on to CallawayGolf.com. Now that Chris Villardo and the team have redesigned it. Oh, we're giving a shout off to Barlow.

They've made it much easier to play around and script out a club, design a club the way you want. It was easy before. It's even easier now. So go to Callowagoff.com. And even if you're just bored and you want to play around with different clubs, see the pricing, the specs, change some colors. You can go over and personalize some chrome softs too. Nice.

Anyway, CallawayGolf.com. Newly redesigned looks absolutely sensational. And there's all sorts of great content there as well. Links to Callaway Live and all that good stuff. All right. And who do you got coming up on House of Carbbs or is that a sensitive question? No, it's not sensitive. We're having GQ Food Critic and editor Brett Martin is coming on.

He's done his top 10 restaurants. Oh, nice. The best restaurants in America at the moment. Good. 18 months of hard work into it, recording that. And, of course, you can also still give a listen to Trey Zeller from Jefferson's Bourbon. That's a really fun, a little bit off the beaten path kind of show. That's up right now.

And Brett Martin will be up in a couple days, so check out the House of Carps. Beautiful. Well, we are coming to you from the TPC Valley course and a beautiful Ford automobile. I'm looking forward to a great player, especially because we're going to have weather. We've got a great field. and we will come back and talk to you very shortly. Plus, we have an exciting guest. We can't quite reveal yet next week.

Yeah, it's going to get you excited about the Byron Nelson classic, the AT&T, Byron Nelson at a big, brand new and possibly very controversial golf course. Oh, I don't know about the controversy. We'll talk about it. But we'll have a good champion to talk about because the players always gives out a good champion. We'll have that to talk about at the end of next week. But until then, please. Please check out this week's Shaggers part of the Ringer Podcast Network.