Fairway Rollin' - Tiger Woods Picks Up Momentum and NBC’s Mike Tirico Recaps a Wild Weekend of Golf | ShackHouse (Ep. 56)

Episode Date: March 12, 2018

Geoff Shackelford and Joe House discuss Tiger Woods's second-place finish at the Valspar Championship (2:56) and how the rest of the field fared this weekend (9:19). Then the guys are joined by NBC's Mike Tirico to talk food at the 2018 Winter Olympics (24:44) and the "old guy" element at the Masters (27:39). Also, stay tuned until the end to hear about how you can enter ShackHouse’s latest contest, "Knock off the Rust," and win a couple of great Callaway prizes (51:52). Read more about Tiger's finish at the Valspar Championship on The Ringer:   •  Rediscovering the Joy of Watching Tiger Woods on Sunday Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, everybody on today's Shack House, we are going to discuss Tiger Woods in the Valspar Championship. He almost pulled it off. And, of course, it was a, I don't know if it was a spectacular final roundhouse, but it was a great final round. There were a lot of things to chew on. And we're going to look ahead to the Arnold Palmer Invitational. And we're going to talk to NBC Sports lead man at the Olympic Games. He's a man of many talents, Mike Torrico on the show today, which, of course, is brought to you by Callaway, who are currently sponsoring. the $1 million fan beat challenge presented by Golf Channel.

And it continued this week. They've got two more weeks at Bay Hill and Austin House. It's a new live action, play-along game with trivia, predictive play questions, all sorts of cool prizes, lots of rogue, a lot of cool Callaway stuff. So go to golfchannel.com fanbeat challenge or check out the link, which I'll post on the show notes at Jeff Shackleford.com for a chance to play along with and pick up some great Callaway equipment. house. Yeah, I like this game quite a bit because it mixes live action forecasting prognostication

with some like historical context stuff, which has been a real test of how quickly I can Google from a separate machine. The answer, I have to tell you, my skills are not that great. I'm, but I bet there's, you know, I bet the youth are all over it and doing quite well at this. I have the best I've done so far is kind of middle of the pack but it's a fun way to pay attention to the rounds. What do you got on House of Carbs this week? Jack, it's March Madness. So of course we have to tackle the proper March Madness menu for Thursday and Friday. No one better for such a discussion than the ringer's own Mark Titus from One Shining podcast.

And of course, the L.A. resident sports bar expert Craig Gaines, aka the chief is on. we also have Andy Greenwald on because Top Chef wrapped up. And we have a nice discussion of food news with Juliet Litman down in Austin, Texas. And of course, we get some tidbits, some tasty morsels from her on her trip down there. Speaking of One Shining podcast, the NCAA tournament is upon us. The brackets have been announced, are being announced, I believe, as we're recording. That already stink. You're mad, huh?

At UCLA, playing. Who, Shaq! That's not very. Very good. I don't know what to tell you. That is so wrong. Go on. Also, our friends, check out the ringer.com. There's an awesome article right now called the Heist Trophies. This is a fun read, Shea Serrano, Jason Concepcion. They're giving out awards to all the great heist movies. Jack, it's time. Let's get into the Shack. All right, House, how about that 44 footer on 17? I thought we had the potential for just an

epic finish. We almost did. And then there was that buzzkill hole location on 18, but ah, he's back. He's back. Look, as long as there are holes to be played and is within, if the math permits it, you know he's going to pull something out for us. I mean, it was a really frustrating round for all that the tiger lovers out there, like myself, because it was pretty clear that he was grinding. It was a grinding kind of a day. Not one where his irons were as sharp as

we'd seen over the previous three rounds. And his putting was still quite good, but he wasn't dropping bombs with the exception of 17, the way he did through the previous three rounds. But look, Shaq, four straight rounds under par on a track that he is unfamiliar with. And a formidable track at that. It really was. It was defensive golf, I felt like. I mean, that was kind of the vibe.

And if you look at some of the people who are on the leaderboard, it's kind of the guys who are, tend to be a little bit more patient and plotters. And I don't know if Tiger loves that kind of golf that much. I think he probably does right now because he feels like his experience gives him an edge. And Innesbrook, if you look, they've produced some older winners.

Yeah. It's, yeah, it's an experienced golf course. This is a classy leaderboard of grown-ass men. Well, mostly classy, but,

um, let's not get too far. But, uh, yeah, let's talk about, uh, you know, pedigree.

This is a pedigree. How about that? You like that better? Yeah, I do. But I loved watching the way he, you know, kind of carved it up and really stayed patient. And, you know, the one that'll kill him was the three putt on 15 that he hit that beautiful shot, reaches a green and two and left himself with a too long of a put. And that was the first kind of so, so stroke for that birdie put on 15. But, you know, that, again, he's been away a long time.

It's asking a lot to think that he's going to be perfection from beginning to end. And any golfer, any guy on the PGA tour is going to maintain that standard throughout four days of a tournament. It's just doesn't happen that often. So he's just, unfortunately, raised the bar so high for himself that people, I think, they'll probably are already forgetting, you know, what he's been through and where he's at. And it's like, okay, yeah, now he's got to win. And then, you know, Bay Hill this week sets up beautifully for him. But I think all in all, just the way he looks and the way he's carrying himself, what a sensational week. And then, you know, to go into a golf course he didn't know and he's a horse for course kind of guy.

And that's got to give him so much confidence that he did that because he doesn't like to be taken out of his comfort zone. Well, second time in three weeks in that regard, right? I mean, because he's not exactly, he doesn't play PGA National every single year. He doesn't have to play the Honda Classic. He never won there. Yeah, and the end played Riviera in 12 years. Right. So look at it and let's think about the pedigree of those tracks

and what they require of golfers. I'm, you know, obviously my butt smooching of the Tigray is well established and well known. But let me add this to the list of admirable things that he's embarking upon this season. He's playing courses that are outside of his comfort zone. And, you know, other than the miscut at Riv, Pretty good.

Well, we'll see what happens going forward, too. He's got some interesting scheduling decisions, but nobody really cares about that right now. It's all about the Masters, and he's now 10 to 1. Oh, my God, that's preposterous. All I can think about is that he went there in 2015 and finished fourth with not nearly the game he has right now, and certainly not the reps and the rounds and the sense of calm in his life that he had,

that he has now compared to then. So 10 to 1, I actually believe, is a very reasonable number for him now at Augusta. It really is hard to see how he won't play very well there unless he has a terrible, terrible luck of the draw situation. Well, he's going to play well there, but 10 to 1 to win is still bad odds. Well, they're bad.

Well, but that's a different topic. I mean, all these odds are, I mean, Jordan Speets 11 to 1 right now. Oh, my God. He should be 11,000. into one. It's he should, yeah, he should doubt, I mean, his track record's nice there, but yeah, he's over two-footers and he's not really

sniffing much of the cup on him. He hurt my feelings this week. I thought that was hard to watch. Well, I didn't, yeah. The culprit for him was the poa in kind of the California vibe, but that's just not it. I mean, he's got to go see Dr. Bob Rottella. That's where he's got to go next.

No, he needs to go sit on a beach and read a thriller and Okay, same difference. I think he's trying too hard now at this point, and that's the danger, of course. But, I mean, that's his personality, and that's the nature of this game that you keep searching. And the problem is we also know that you keep searching like that. And every once in a while, you actually find something, and it turns it all around. And we certainly have a history of people who have gone to Augusta and found something that they didn't know was there.

people who had, I mean, I was Mark O'Mara. I was interviewing him this week down at the Champions event. He said his game was terrible when he went there 20 years ago and won in 98. Ben Crenshaw, course, had almost no game in 95, and he was grieving at the loss of Harvey Pinnock. And Carl Jackson told him a couple little things, and he wins the master. So I'm never going to write anybody who has a great track record at Augusta off because, and Spieth would be in that category already at this point. his career just because that place seems to do weird, crazy, amazing, magical things to the people who love it and the people who know how to play that golf course.

Well, in that vein, and speaking of guys who look like there are several thousand leagues away from any kind of spectacular performance, based on what you've seen of Rory McElroy so far this season. Well, that's my feeling as well. But you just offered a narrative that suggests the... ability that magic and it's it's tough to argue with who do we think that he has that that switch to be flipped inside of him well i not at augusta i don't think just because he's had so many big numbers there and he he hasn't had that that moment like speeds had uh where he can recall

the the positive memories or bubble watson can go there and and and just for whatever reason uh feel something i'm not i'm not feeling it with rory the the short game still seems to be an issue and the consistency he just seems to be kind of flashing signs of who he is and then other moments he's not and I have no idea what I didn't get to see him obviously this week I wasn't there so

I don't know what's going on but but hey you know he's a very talented guy so who knows but he's certainly not on the list right now of those at least the first 10 I mean look at you know look at all the people Rose and Garcia are playing well Paul Casey has got had some great

moments at Augusta and just won the Valspar championship and is, you know, there in that group house we talked about, we're going to be watching Tiger and Phil and the young guys, and it's going to be those kind of guys in their 30s and that are going to come charging down the lane and while we're not watching and they're going to sneak in. You're so true.

And this is, here's what I want to say one thing. This is going to sound like a knock on Paul Casey. And to be fair, it probably is. But that was the most Paul Casey. win of all Paul Casey wins, right? He's not really a consideration. He shoots 65 on the final day, several groups, you know, away from kind of the final group and is able to go sit in the clubhouse for an hour and 15 minutes.

Now, all credit to him, he shot the 65. He didn't waver one bit. He showed great Cajonis through the snake pit and got up and down every which way that he needed to. But, you know, the knock on Casey is he's in the final. two or three groups, and we've seen this, you know, some number of years now. But kudos to him because that was an ass-kicking performance on an ass-kicking course. And look at this leaderboard.

Casey, Reed, Woods, Sergio, Sabatini, Sabatini, Justin Rose, Jim Furrick, Jason Cochrak, Webb Simpson, Brandon Grace. Like, that is a, that's a lot of firepower. And Hadwin had a nice round against a top 12. finished for Hadwin. Yeah, well, he loves that place. He loves that place. Let's talk about the fact that we confirmed a very important piece of information today, House. We confirm that the golf gods are very much working on Sundays. They are watching. They are taking note. And they are spreading their unique blend of magic that only the golf gods can muster up. Do you know what I'm referring

to? Do you have any thoughts where I might be going with that? I suspected it might have might have to do with the 18th hole. It would actually start before that. It would start with the idea that Patrick Reed was trending on Twitter. And he was trending. Yeah, trending. How about that? I didn't know that.

My Twitter had 15 entries. They all said Tiger. That was my trend. I opened up the trend line on Patrick. And it was a series of things berating him for wearing the Tiger red shirt and black pants, which he's been doing a while in his defense. A long time, yeah. But I think there is a fair point to be made that he did it in the same tournament

at the same time that Tiger Woods was in contention and was playing within a few yards of him. And that maybe, I mean, I can't think of an equivalent. I've tried to think of different versions of equivalencies in terms of mimicking your hero. and then actually doing it when the hero's there. And I feel like the golf gods made their point, went on 18 with that total rally killer of a whole location, which I wasn't thrilled about. But when he hit his first putt short and needed to just two putt to send it into a playoff,

and it hit up into the ridge, went up into the ridge, and then rolled right back to his feet, and then he had to try to hit a wedge to haul out for the championship. That's just my read. Maybe you saw it differently. The only way the golf gods could have made their point any more emphatically would have been a red and black thunderbolt that came down and struck that ball and sent it back down. I'm pretty sure the golf gods weighed in.

I'm right there with you. I enjoy Patrick Reed in the villain sort of role. I like, I don't remember who said he is our Ian Polter. there obviously there is you know i think more than one person has made that observation um and when he's he's playing well he's fun to both root four and to root against because of of his slightly demonic demeanor and i mean the the cut that he took and apparently he's practicing the what is the proper golf term for the flying winged elbow what is what is that recoil action that he had gone there with this uh with that three wood yeah i don't know what she

call that. He was really ripping it. The chicken wing? I mean, yeah, I guess it is a little bit of a chicken wing, yeah. It is impressive, though. He was going after it. That T-shot on 18. I mean, that, you know, and that's one where Tiger played 18 very conservative, and he took a rip at it and gave himself a shot. He didn't hit a very good second shot,

but Tiger played it so conservatively there, and it seemed like Gary Coke was a little down on that choice. I just want to give a quick shout up. I want to give a quick shout out to Gary Coke who basically murdered. our pal cousin Sal. Cousin Sal tweeted about two hours ago,

two and a half hours ago, three hours ago that he had Justin Rose. He played live win odds over the weekend and that he had picked Justin Rose. Not 10 minutes later, Justin Rose has a sand shot and I'll be gosh darned. In fact, I don't know if we have an e-rating on this or not,

if we're explicit. I'll be goddamned if Gary Coke didn't go on air and say, well, he's been perfect from the sand all week. And Justin hit it right into the fringe and two putted for bogey. I mean, he could not have put a bigger whammy. And it went all downhill from there. I think that was on 12. If I was cousin sell, I would be sending in some, at least some tweets at Gary Coke.

Well, Gary, I don't even know if Gary's on Twitter. I don't think that he'll care. I'm sure he won't. He's well aware, though, of the announcer jinx. I mean, he did it. He killed him. Now, Johnny will be back, I believe, next week at Bay Hill. It really feels like golf.

By the way, I don't mean to interrupt you. I am interrupting you. Yeah, I interrupt. How about this? And again, I might have to curse. No effing coverage gap. What about the idea of going right from the golf course at $259 on the golf channel and turning on to NBC?

I mean, I'm going to have to come up with some glowing, loving reference for the NBC and we're going to talk to to Rico. I'm going to kiss Terrico's ass. I'll give him credit for it. Three o'clock. There's golf. I see Tiger on my television screen at three o'clock. That's what I'm talking about, Shaq. Well, they were rewarded on Saturday.

They had a 3.26 rating, which you know, to people in other sports, probably isn't very exciting. But that was the highest rated third round broadcast on any broadcast network of a tour event in 12 years since the 2006 Bridgestone. And, of course, the highest

rated broadcast of any form of the VALSpar championship. So the man is delivering some eyeballs and then, you know, it's just NBC has that that nice, clean transition, which is always a special thing. Yes. It feels like golf. Professional golf. It does. A professional presentation of an entertainment product, Jack.

So before we get to Mike Tariko, is there anything else on the VALSpar you want to wrap up? You want to, you know, Paul Casey's 33 to 1 for the mass. Masters now, House. I don't know. And he might even shoot up a little bit more after this. The only thing I'm, you know what I'll do in terms of research for that? I want to see his fourth rounds and sort of where he's been positioned on the leaderboard. He's a credible, he's a credible candidate for the Masters, no doubt. I mean, he plays well at the Masters. I think he has at least a few top tens. But I want to look at those, that Sunday fourth round performance to really get my bearing on Mr. Casey. How about Patrick Green at 80 to 1? Are you feeling any love there?

I'm out. I will say one thing, though. It was interesting and curious that the top three places at the Valspar, this is my finishing touch. How about Team Nike? It was Nike, Nike, Nike. I almost went on the Twitter to say, I don't care if they went one through 10. You're not going to get me in any of those shirts without a collar.

But Patrick Reed at least had the courtesy to wear a collar. And Paul Casey, I believe, had a collar as well. And I believe he doesn't always have a collar. No, he doesn't. I believe he may be phasing the colorless look out of his life, which is, you know, it's one of those age-appropriate things. I think you can pull it off when you're 23. I don't know about. What about 42 when you're the tiger?

When you're built like he is and you're ripped and you have a, what was it, 128, whatever the number was, the highest swing speed on the PGA tour so far recorded this year. Tiger don't hurt him. You can wear a tank top as far as I'm concerned. Yeah, 129.2. Don't hurt it, Tiger. Don't hurt it. Yeah, I mean, that is one question that I think some people have brought up fairly. Is he going to go so hard at it that he could hurt himself?

But I just don't think that after everything he's been through that he would be pushing it like that. If he didn't feel like the back and the body were there to be pushed. Yeah. So good for him. I think it's fantastic. It's fun to watch. And I'd be curious when we talked to Mike Tariko about this, but I think getting that distance back house is just so important to his confidence

and his restoring of his aura and the intimidation factor for him. Because he loves that. And we've wondered how he would get that back, especially this new kinder, gentler guy. I mean, you could see after that put on 17 today, it was not the, you know, yeah, here I come. I'm sticking it. I'm Tiger.

It was more of a small. mile of like, that was pretty good, I got to admit. That was, that was, you know, I'm pretty good. But it wasn't, it was a different kind of reaction. And I loved it though. But it's a little softer. Let's be honest. It's not the tiger of all. But, but, but, but I think he's going to get the aura through the distance and the power and, and then the crowds. I mean, it has to just be, it has to be deflating when you're in the leading group. And, and 10 times as many people are watching the group in front of you. It's got to be a mess for somebody. So two thoughts on that point. I mean, obviously, you know, momentum as a concept in sports has been derided and ridiculed. And I understand kind of why and that the metrics don't tend to support it. But there is no doubting that the Tiger Buzz, you know, always manages to will something unexpected into the mix. And that, you know, I don't know what you want to call that 44.

put putt on 17. But if everybody's rooting for it, then you can't just decry it. But in terms of your astute observation on the driving distance, I have two thoughts. In the first place, it is absolutely clear the point you just made that he derives so much confidence from knowing he can pull that out when he wants to pull it out. Now, the thing we observe today is that he didn't necessarily go soon. super distance because it was pretty apparent that he was grinding today. And here's the thing I want to keep an eye on.

First of all, please stay healthy. You hear me knocking on wood? Please stay healthy. The thing that I'm psyched about is the Stinger. Because the Stinger is what is going to help him win majors at venues like Shinnecock Hills and Karnoosti. He doesn't need to hit the ball 10 miles down the ballpark. to win at those venues.

Those are strategy venues, and that's what I'm excited to see. Yeah, no, and I think he's stubbornly, for whatever reason, he resisted the stinger, and Ennisbrook forced it on him with the wind. And by the way, once again, you saw what a great wind player he is and how much wind is still a great neutralizing factor for the bomber game. And earlier in the week, you know, when he was describing the condition, It was clearly, you know, when he says it's more difficult than people probably realize watching on TV, you know it really is getting to them. So House, before we call Mike Tariko, I just wanted to give you a little heads up because I know you were dying to know.

But it was a very nice rogue week for Sam Burns until that double bogey late, which I know you're still grieving over. But it was a great, great week for him to continue the great play from the Honda Classic. And of course, he did it with his rogue driver featuring the Aldo Tor X shaft, and he had the Sub-Zero Fairway Woods. And, of course, Sergio Garcia, you know, who's just still just building up so nicely to the master, so quietly. While everybody's watching everything else, he's just going to keep chipping away. And he's going to bring his little rogue sub-zero with its leading the field and driving accuracy at 300.5 yards per drive. How about that? Listen to you with the technical data.

I just say jailbreak technology, and I, my own self, I'm excited. We're going to talk about this at the end of the show. My trip, I leave tomorrow for Seattle. I'm going to get crazy with the jail break technology, Shaq. Believe that. All right, let's call Mike Tariko. You all know him from the NBC sports coverage recently of the Olympic Games. And, of course, from years and years of coverage on Sports Center, covering golf,

covering every sport really known to Manhouse. And we had him on the show previously, House. It was just me one-on-one with Mike, but now we're going to get him on the line to talk a little bit about Tiger Woods and just kind of everything Mike is up to. And as he comes back from Korea and gets acclimated with golf again, so let's talk to Mike. Yes. All right, Mike Tariko has joined us. He's back from Korea. Mike, the Winter Olympics were just tremendous, especially for those of us on the West Coast.

It just seemed like all the great events were, and just the perfect amount of the right time for us here. and just, it was such a joy to watch. You did a great job. Thank you for joining us today here on Shackhouse. Well, thank you, Shack. It worked out great for the West Coast, and everybody comes back. Hey, we are being acknowledged on next. We feel like we're stealing from the East Coast after all these spoiler alerts.

It's a slow way of personally paying back. So, Mike, here's the thing. I very much enjoyed the broadcast, and, you know, the delivery, to our homes. Here's the thing. I have a particular interest in the food aspect of an experience

like what you just had where you're abroad. How much were you able to take advantage of the local cuisine? The broadcast center used to have a McDonald's for many years when McDonald's was an official sponsor.

The particular basis that was much like the food you'd find. the U.S. For the games during Kim Chi, where you pick it, you see it, but it was delicious. And say, if you're going to go to South Korea, so keep that in mind, house for your next trip.

It's my next trip, exactly. All right, so Mike, when you went over there, you went into Fall Olympics mode, and I don't know how much you followed golf from afar. I know you follow everything pretty closely, but you really had to do a deep dive on a lot of different sports. if I had told you when you sort of return here to the United States and started getting your time and preparation,

getting really focused on the masters and some of the other tour events, that Tiger would be where he is right now. Would you have believed it? Or would you have said, yeah, that's what I expect. Is this, where do you put this? Time difference, especially the Thursday. So I got to see a decent amount of golf. So I was able to watch golf.

I go back to last year when for Tiger, and I said, just finish. And then stack finishes on top of finishes. And when he went to Dubai and didn't finish, that was like, okay, that's a setback. And obviously there was another surgery. So I think having seen that, plus knowing it was such a significant last chance surgery, if you will, I don't think we could have sat here on what he did. So even if he didn't win, it would be progress. And when I saw him smile of satisfaction, of course he wanted to win.

And of course, no, nothing short of winning satisfies him, but I think he knows he can do it now. And I don't know if he knew Sunday morning when he woke up if he could do it again. So I think that alone. So, Mike, I believe, correct me if I'm wrong, we're at the moment in your schedule where you are now about to pivot over to full-time golf and then some horse racing as well. Is that right? Yeah, good. Awesome. So here's –

Good. So here's my question for you. One of the things that Shaq and I talked about at the very beginning of the year that was kind of tantalizing and nobody better than you to help us contextualize this is the moment in golf right now where there are a bunch of accomplished players that are sort of advancing in age, like guys in their mid-30s and early 40s, that if healthy can stand up to this youth movement that we're. we've kind of seen over the past couple of years. As you're sort of thinking about your upcoming broadcast season, what do you think about that particular dynamic? Thinking about this for a minute. I'm going into the major season at Houston.

Just think in the last four weeks, let's take Tiger out of the equation for a second. And I tell you that, Oba won, Mickelson beat Justin in a playoff, and Paul Casey, who's had trouble on Sundays, but as a really good player, shot what is you, 65? Shot 65 on Sunday to go

to go win. You know, on a tough golf course. If it just gave you that alone, you'd go, okay, let me put that on top of we've got everything you could ask for coming into the Masters even if Tiger doesn't win. You saw that he can.

You saw that field. I caution to say this without really giving it thought, 20 years I'm going to let Shaq follow up, but I have to tell you, I knew you were the right guy to ask that question that you should see the hair standing up with the back of my neck right now. That was, it's so exciting. I can't really contain myself.

Yeah, we just need the weather to hold now. But, yeah, last year we had a lot of guys playing well going in, but it didn't have the Tiger Phil element, Mike. And do you think that that's one of the things that is, I mean, obviously right now what's going on in tennis is really special with Roger Federer. but I've always believed that golf is the one sport where you get this clashing of generations and we may actually get it. Every key moment in the history of the game, there's been this, and it feels like we're headed towards that

where these young guys are going to get one last crack at the old guys and the old guys are going to get to show them what it's all about. Do you cherish that part of the game, the old guy element? A thousand percent. Because in tennis, you don't have the hands. I think, and this will be an interesting conversation to have, maybe getting beat up in the ride. And Patrick's a costume on Sundays.

It's just the best. And here they're playing back-to-back groups and club twirl and the whole deal. And Patrick Reed, that terrible weather day, when Tiger was the only one was Rider Cup, I guess a couple years ago, when Tiger was the one guy who went out with Patrick to walk, and just that stuff. And I hear these guys in back-to-back. group's competing. When the

Mickelson JT playoffs, just thinking I was thinking about and how adoration of being four plays can win. And you brought up the cross to me even three. Well, I'm going to knock on wood right now because I don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves.

But I do feel like we are being rewarded schedule wise by having the majors this year at the venues that they're taking place because we get both Shinnecock and Carnusti with this rich deep field. What do

you think? I mean, it's way too early to ask for any handicapping or horse you know, horse picks at this stage. But what do you think about those venues and the depth of the fields we're going to have? Oh, Mike. Mike got him going.

I was there yesterday. That was a wild race yesterday. I don't know if you saw it. It was nuts. I was there, rainy Santa Anita. Oh, my gosh. Anyway, please. Carry on. I dipped into a little derby prep yesterday, so I was ready for you. Yeah, you know, the interesting

thing about the majors is I feel like we haven't had, number 99 Carnusti was bizarre because of the stuff everywhere he wasn't supposed to and had six paces wide or something. It's a little more than six, but not much. All that, all that stuff.

But you do have some legendary golf courses. And, you know, with respect, this morning on Golf Channel, you think it's going to win. I said, well, it's the beauty of the sport. And I think it's one of the reasons I love it so much. It's the one sport. You know, we just saw the NCAA what kind of teams Arizona State have. Are they a good shooting team? How do they go up against our two, three? It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter that case he was an hour and a half ahead of Tiger and ahead of

Justin Rose in the last group. It didn't matter. He posted a number and nobody could catch it. And that's the beauty of this sport. And that's why when you start to handicap, who's going to win where and there are so many factors that go in, but you never know the day the guy's going to make Puts and Tiger on Sunday for the most part he played pretty well but it just wasn't there some days it clicks like it clicked for Casey on Sunday and who knows if this is going to open up his winning

courses I think to your point they usually give us great champions it's rare that 6099 an oddball champion gets spit out of a great golf course for a major so hopefully Mike last thing that interview this morning you did with Cara you talked a little bit about Tiger and the aura and house

and I talked about this a little bit earlier in the show because the one thing that I really saw that was so different in person at Riviera and Tori is that Tiger's no longer the old Tiger of going into sort of the Hogan mode and he's very chatty. He's acknowledging kids and fans. And like you said, that smile after the roundhouse and I also discussed his smile after the birdie putt was a little bit different. You've seen him in action a lot. You've covered some of his his wins in the Open Championship and been there and interviewed him. Do you feel like eventually he's going to get back to that old style, less chatty guy? Or do you think he can be this newer, slightly kinder, gentler, tiger, but still have the toughness?

Do you like that? Yeah, I do. It's the opening up to the other guys, most people. and sometimes people would give us grief for all you need to do is ratings for the tour all year, including air constantly. I think the reason is pretty simple. When he gets over a shot,

you get the feeling he might do something you haven't seen done before. We can go through the series of the top ten shots. He gets over a ball and you just feel like the guy can make magic happen. And that was gone. And then for some point Sunday, you were thinking, you know, the old Tiger would have made this. He probably won't.

You heard Dan and Gary in the booth. And then just when you're thinking, you know what, he's not going to do that again. He does it on 17. Gentleer and all the four people start flying to Vegas and putting their money on Tiger. He's going to have to drive the ball

better. Yeah. This would maximize it. He played a lead towards a U.S. Open strategy. It's a little different. You need to... Yeah, absolutely. Well, he's made an improvement. each week and I think that's probably what he's clinging to the most and certainly what I I mean Riviera maybe you could call it a little bit of a setback week but it could also just be the he just may have an odd vibe at Riviera but so Mike where will we see you next?

Probably Augusta. Okay. I'm a stop video team which is a black madness off the top of everybody's list for a couple hours. Awesome. Well, thank you. We'll let you get to your Arizona State Scouting report. and I house will get to listen to me bitch and moan more about UCLA having to go to the playing game but now at least you know to the people in L.A.

we get to really hear the USC fans grovel so it'll be fun. There you go. As Curtis said, we started together 21 years ago and it's truly happy and every shopping somebody unhappy. All right, well thank you so much, Mike. We appreciate you taking the time. Yeah, thanks, Mike. We can't wait to see you down in Augusta. Stay in your house.

Look forward to it, man. You're buying dinner, so I look forward to it. You got it. You got it. Well, great talking to Mike, and we thank him again for taking a little time on a Sunday nighthouse. You got to finally chat with Mike on the show. I had them all to myself a few years ago. So a couple more things.

We're going to do a little preview of Bay Hill, and then you're going to announce our little contest that will be tied to your return to golf. Knock off the rust. Knock off the rust. Our first giveaway of the season check. I first give way of the season. It opens with some miners gigs in Sea Island before you hit the world tour. Yes, sir.

Yeah. So before we do that, though, let's talk about Bay Hill. And just a quick kind of overview of the field. Obviously, Tiger will be there. You know all about him. Hideki Matsuyama probably will make a little run at it. He needs to get his game in gear. He played decently there a couple years ago.

so he's making his return from resting his wrist. They have five of the top ten in the world house with 12 of the top 25. A couple of interesting names, I think, to keep in mind besides, well, I'll get to names to keep in mind who are people you might want to pick in a fantasy league or something. But A.J. McInerney is making his first tour start since being at the massacre in Las Vegas. He's a web.com tour player. and tied for 10th at the Shriners in November. So keep an eye and a rooting interest in him.

I'm rooting for him. I'm rooting for him. That's easy. Yeah, that's very cool. Doc Redmond, the U.S. Amrard champion, has been given an exemption. As has Colin Moracaba, who's just won a college event at Carincia in Los Cabos. He plays for Cal. He was on the Walker Cup team.

This guy is a, first of all, he's like a movie star with his presence, and then he's just a hell of a player. So he's gotten a sponsor exemption. that's one of the fun things that Bay Hill Invitational. It gets to invite people. And so they've invited some amateurs and some different guys. But as for playing well, obviously, Mark Leishman is defending. Kevin Kisner played very well last year. But Terrell Hatton had a T4. Adam Hadwin is not returning this year.

He finished sixth last year. I'm not sure why he is not returning. But everybody else who played very well last year, House, if you pull up the leaderboard, is returning in the field. People like Tommy Fleetwood. Roy McElroy, Charlie Hoffman, and Justin Rose had a very nice tournament until final round 73 last year. So there are plenty of people to look at

who are playing well, who also have a little bit of a body of work at Bay Hill because it very much is, of course, that players either love or hate. I think a lot of it has to do with course setup. They tend to have a little bit more rough, and that's the way the king wanted it, and that's the way he gets it.

Well, I'm looking for two guys. that perform well here historically. And one of the things that I like very much about the string that we're in that you just alluded to is these challenging tests in the lead-up to the masters. You go from the PGA National. The WGC event is its own unique standalone thing in Mexico,

and I don't really sort of factor that in for the purposes of the point I'm making. But the event we just had at Innesbrook and now Bay Hill, these are all events where the winner tends to shoot between like nine under and say like 12 under. So good stern challenge. Two guys that need to show me something,

Ricky Fowler and Roy McElroy. And if either one of them has pretensions of doing something big come the first week of April, I feel like we need to see a spark. It doesn't necessarily mean that they have to win or they have to top 10. but we need to see one of those guys go low. I want to see a 63 out of McElroy, you know, just once between now and Augusta.

And Ricky, I don't know what to attribute, you know, what feels like a kind of flat season from him. He doesn't seem like he's really got the putter rolling yet, but it would be nice to see him kind of join the mix. Yeah, absolutely. And this is a place where he plays decently. So I think there's time. I wouldn't put too much

I just wouldn't put too much stock in what he's done this year forget Torrey Pines he can't play well there and he's been pretty consistent otherwise so it's not like he's been you don't sense anything going on with him like you do with McElroy and Speeth right now so no no he's just been flat I want the spark I want to see Ricky come out and kick some ass and take some names

that's all and he may also just be pacing himself there could be that would be fine I would support that yeah I would look for him to to take it up a notch because you're right. He needs to. And of course, Mark Leishman will be defending and he's another elite player who if he starts showing some signs of life, another

guy, as if we don't have enough to factor into as we go to the Masters. Pedigree. Pedigree. House, before we hear a little bit about your trip and the fascinating contest you have conjured up,

I've already been pondering my numbers to try, not that I need to win any of the clubs in question, and not that I'm eligible, but I want you to know before you tell us what's in your bag for this, that our wonderful podcast here is presented to us by Callaway makers of the Callaway MacDady Four Wedges. Now, Sam Burns had four MacDaddy Fores. These are the new ones. Roger Cleveland's made a few little tweaks.

I've got them. I've hit them. I'm loving kind of, he added a little more out on the toe, the retro vibe to him. And I'm going with the different lofts. I'm liking these kind of alternative lofts. Now, Sam Burns has 46 degree, 52, 56, and 60, which is kind of traditional. Sergio, interestingly, last week went 48, 54, 58. So have you got some macdadi fours in the wedges?

And please, from there, tell us about your trip. I do indeed, Shaq, have a couple macdadi wedges. They are at the moment unblemished. I have swung them in my... office only so they have not yet touched turf and I'm very excited I will tell you what caught my eye especially because I got a little bit of Phil fever last weekend I'm I'm psyched about this PM grind I'm gonna have to hook up some PM grind I think the the high toe and the and the you know the super lofts the 60 and the 64 degree I don't know what I would do with the 64 degree but

it just seems like it'd be fun to try I think you could hurt people and hurt yourself I would Really? You know, whenever people want to talk about taking, when they're discussing equipment issues in the game, well, for a while, it was take the 64 degree away. These guys, it's not fair what they do. It is so hard to hit a 64 degree wedge well. It's ridiculous that that is somehow a de-skilling club. But anyway. So please. No. No. When you, now, so on this trip, do you have, is there some poor instructor that will be having to work with you and some of the other people? We have a couple of them. I'll name names next week. You have a couple great instructors from Sea Island lined up. We have instruction in the mornings of each of the days. And then we're actually having a playing round on Tuesday. These guys have a lot to work with in terms of they can take this to the instruction in a whole variety of ways. This is the 2018 version of Knock Off the Rust.

So first rounds of the season, first instruction of the season. Here's the contest, check. And let me see here. you think. So we want folks to go on to jeffshackleford.com and enter in two numbers. This is kind of a shackhouse thing. Okay. I'm writing this number. I'm playing three rounds down at sea island. 54 holes. I'm playing seaside, retreat, and plantation. These will be my first rounds of 2018. The 54 holes means there's a possibility of 54 pars. I don't think I'm going to make 54 pars. My index is in the middle of the 13s.

Yeah, I don't think that's happening, especially if you're trying to hit a 64 degree wet. One of the numbers we want from our podcast pals, how many pars will I have? How many pars over those three rounds? It's probably not going to be 54. Yeah. The other number that we want from our podcast pals, our Shackhouse homies, what is the low round, the low Thursday round at Bay Hill? You don't have to name the guy, but what is the score going to be?

So two numbers. You go to Jeff Shackleford.com. You register there. And then you can put it in underneath. Jeff is going to post the show as he always does on the website. Go there and register and then enter in two numbers. House Pars, low round Thursday. We're giving out two prizes.

Great prizes, Shaq. The two winners, and this will be the closest to the number, because I'll be very impressed if anybody gets this exactly on point. We're giving away a beautiful brand. new rogue driver and a beautiful brand new OGO travel bag to help everybody get their game in order at this stage of the season. Jeff Schoeckelford.com. Two numbers.

House pars at Sea Island. Low round Thursday. Beautiful new rogue driver and an OGO travel bag. So the driver's first place, the OGO second. Well, no, no, I'm prepared to give away two winners. The driver in the bag. I mean, I think, you know, this is our first giveaway of the season. Let's give away, Shaq.

Okay. I may, I may ponder. I'm going to sleep on it. I may ponder a bonus prize for somebody who, for the grand total of those two numbers. I love it. I love it. You do it, Shaq. So quickly, just so people know, I've redesigned my website, you do have to register to comment now, but it's not hard, people.

The trolls are not happy, but I had to do it. So there are two ways. You can log in on a social account, Facebook or Twitter, and I'll put little instructions because my host, Squarespace, decided to use like a size six font for those options. Or you can register on Squarespace.com, which there will be a link if you're not a registered commenter already. And I will have instructions in case you're not able to kick that up on your own. House, I think that just about does it. We packed a lot in.

The only other thing, you know, I should mention is you can keep track of this tour. Now, I'm not going to be posting scores because I don't want to tip the hand. We will leave the entries open until Thursday noon, right? That I think is fair. That lets everybody, you know, think about this and, you know, get a perspective on the round at Bay Hill. Thursday at noon on your website. And you can keep track at House from D.C. is both my Instagram and my Twitter.

We would be putting up pictures. stories as we knock off the rust with this beautiful rogue equipment. And my compatriot, my cohort, Adam Rappaport, the editor-in-chief from Bon Appetit, will be along for the ride as well. His Instagram is at Rappo4. At Rappo-4, he can see delicious food on his Instagram as well as us banging around with some golf clubs. Yeah, I love his Instagram account.

I love his Snapchat style stories. Of course, they're Instagram stories. But I'm hoping for a few of those. in the golf, and a few of those of the food you plan to eat. Yeah, so it should be... Count on that. Southern's sold barbecue shack. Yeah, just kind of also interested in your impressions of Sea Island and that little

world down there, and it's a golf place that people really love. So my sympathies in advance to the instructors and to the wildlife of the sea island area. And please, try not to knock off the paint on your rogue, okay? Just the rest. I can. I'm not making any promises. All right. Well, it should be a great week at Bay Hill. I'm going to be down there a little bit early in the week for some golf channel duties, but then I will be back and we will be talking to everybody next Sunday night again,

perhaps after a Tiger Woods victory here on the Chicago part of the Ringer podcast network.