Fairway Rollin' - U.S. Open Recap: Bryson Wins With an All-Time Shot and Rory’s Heartbreaking Loss

Episode Date: June 17, 2024

House and Hubbard are here to give their reactions to a wildly dramatic U.S. Open, starting off with Bryson DeChambeau's overtaking of Rory McIlroy for his second major and whether this is an all-time choke job by Rory (01:46). Then, they discuss why Scottie Scheffler couldn’t get it going this whole weekend (25:42) before going through the players who impressed and disappointed the most (36:16). The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Hosts: Joe House and Nathan Hubbard Producers: Eduardo Ocampo and Tucker Tashjian Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Y'all, it's the Midnight Boys. Poo-Bee-Boo! And we're opening up the kitchen again to talk about the Bear season three, returning to Hulu on June 27th. That's right, the Midnight Boys are taking over Prestige TV. How you feeling, cousin? Cousin! New restaurant, new takes, new ups, new downs, new season. I'm wearing to go, Chuck.

That's what I'm talking about. Make sure you plug in to the Prestige TV feed. Van and I will be talking about every single episode. of the bear. That's June 27th on the Prestige TV feed. Hello, friends, and welcome to this golf program

unlike any other. Yes, my friends, this is Fairway Roll. The U.S. Open Recapped on Vandal TV and the Ringer Podcast Network. I am your starter Joe House, joined by

my incomparable, inimitable, accomplice. Our boots on the ground. He was down at Pinehurst, Thursday and Friday this week. Nathan Hubbard is here. It's a two ball. We have a champion. He has the U.S. Open Cup in his arms right now.

He has a Crusher's hat on his head. Bryson D. Chambot, Nate Dogg, is the U.S. Open champion, the 124th U.S. Open champion. I'm at a loss for words. Who cares? You're speechless. Who cares? He played great.

Holy! Farking snot. That is the biggest joke I've ever seen in the history of golf. It's worse than Vandeveld. It's worse than Jordan on 12 at Augusta. That is the worst. He'd made 496 puts inside three feet in a row. I don't care that Bryson finished with a great shot out of the bunker.

That was Rory's to win. It's been his to win two years in a row. He should have won St. Andrews in 22. in the battle with Cam. This is the worst that I've ever seen in golf. I mean, Norman, yes, he had a six-shot lead at Augusta, but it's Augusta and things happen. And I don't know, Faldo at least won at 20.

Maybe Norman. This is the worst house. It's the worst. He just got in his car and drove away. There's no other story. Bryson choked a three-shot lead, and Rory choked a two-shot lead. This is the worst.

So I'm going to quibble with you a little bit. I mean, I wasn't sure how hot you're coming in here. I'm devastated. Bryson walked onto the first team with the three-shot lead, and then Rory, through extraordinary play, closed the gap. So what kind of choke? If we're qualifying our chokes, the choke was that the golf tournament was there for the winning with four holes.

left with five holes left. House. Data Golf says in this round, he gained 2.2 strokes putting, and he choked the U.S. open with two putts inside three feet on 16 and 18. He finished eighth in the field statistically in putting, and you and I know that he finished dead last. That was the worst. He made bomb after bomb to close the gap. I mean, he was making punts all over the place.

He was making punch that nobody else was making. He was showing us the talent that he possesses. You know, there was a lot of conjecture overnight. Is there anybody in the field that can close this gap? Or, you know, the only way the gap could really be closed is if Bryson threw up all over himself. Which he tried to do. Well, I think he held on. This is the thing.

I'm glass half full with Bryson. The 71 in view of. of how infrequent he was fighting the fairway off the tea. The poor guy couldn't find a fairway. Because he got lucky, House. He got absolutely lucky. He hits six fairways. Did he get lucky all day?

Yes, he did. He hit six fairways. Pavon was stuck in wiregrass. A bunch of these guys were dead stuck in wiregrass all day. Bryson mostly had shots he could work with. His shot, his recovery on 18 was. brilliant, but it wasn't like he was deep in a bush there. He was six of 14 fareways. I mean, he only made three bogies today. It wasn't awesome, but I mean, he still actually statistically

gained shots off the T and on approach. It was the putter that had done so well in round three, where he'd gained over three shots in round three, round four. It just wasn't working. And those, I'm sure, were the nerves. And there was some weird energy out there. I mean, we'll come back to what exactly was going on in the crowd. Look, an incredible performance from Bryson. If he wins this thing by three, I'm sitting here going unbelievable. I'm so happy for him.

I just, it, you got roerified. This is the worst way for this to end. Like, after 13, everything looked awesome, and we were going to get this great, Rory makes the birdie, and here we go. He bogeied three of the last four holes house to lose by one, including missing two, three footers,

which are the only three footers he's missed all season of 500 that he's taken. So I love this role reversal. I love you being the guy that's so hot. When we sat together with Justin Ray and then again on our final preview show, and you asked me for my expectations for Rory, my expectations were a top five and a top 10 and a top 20,

and we collected all of those. He doesn't win. He can't win. Look, how about this, Nate Dog? Consider the fact that he hit a seven iron on 15. And his caddy, and kudos to my crew for pointing this out, his caddy did not want him to hit seven iron. His caddy wanted him to hit eight iron.

And his catty turned his back on him. And his catty gave him the Michael Grellar's stare. I don't agree with this. And then Rory promptly launched that mother effort over the green. You walk up to the 18th T tied for the lead, a chance to save par and then go on to a playoff. What the homie does is blast

a driver, not a three wood, not a fairway finder. It's not a long hole for these guys, 18. No, it's not. He hits driver into a place that gives him trouble. He has to punch out. His play to the hole was excellent

except for it was above the hole. And those above the whole buds are hard. You're the guy who's been asking for a caddy change for three years. and now you're defending his caddy in service of this. So does it change your view? It's not, I'm not defending them. I'm saying that it's a dysfunctional relationship.

There isn't an adult standing there saying, dude, cut it out. We're not hitting fucking seven iron on 50s. I just F-bombed on television. I'm sorry. Can we go to 30,000 feet for a second and contextualize this? Let's do it. Let's do it. On Tuesday before the PGA Championship,

Rory McElroy inexplicably filed papers for divorce. and well not not inexplicable well no inexplicably on a on a Tuesday before the okay okay he didn't have to do it the Tuesday before a major great point any

great point Nate though he did it you know the whole narrative that he has to deal with in the press that he says stood in front of microphones for years and answered when are you going to win another one it's been 10 years he files papers makes the drama decision that only gets buried because scottie

Sheffler gets arrested and thrown in prison for an hour. It goes sort of away. Then he, inexplicably, the week of the U.S. Open, I mean, good for them. I'm so happy for their family, makes the decision to reconcile. But sort of it becomes public the Tuesday before the U.S. Open. So there's all that happening. Then put his personal life aside in his professional life. The greatest embarrassment of his career prior to today happened almost a year ago,

June 6th, when the commissioner of the PGA made an announcement and did the thing on CNBC where he announced after throwing Rory out to be the puppet for the world about the PGA tour's anti-PIF and anti-Liv stance that these two things were coming together. And on Tuesday, it sounds like, if you believe Alan Shipnuck, it sounds like they're going to announce the framework of a new deal, where these two things are going to come together after all of this time. And the worst part of it, the most sort of historical piss on my grave part of it,

is that Live champion number two, because Phil is number one, but Live champion number two, Bryson DeShampo, just inherited his second U.S. Open because Rory missed two, three-foot putts. I mean, this is awful. Inherited. Wow. Inherited. What a word. Amazing.

I think Bryson went out and won the golf. tournament. And I'm positive of it because he hit the ball in a terrible spot on 18 with his driver that he couldn't count on all day long. But he's in charge. There's no question in the relationship between him and his caddy, what's going on there, what the decision making is, any of that kind of stuff. And he saved par. He did the thing that was in front of him. He went and won the golf tournament on the last hole of the tournament. He went out and did the thing we asked. Go win. did it. And I will say to you, on the grounds all week long. Yeah, let's hear it. There was a halo around Bryson DeShambo. Okay. I mean, I talked to multiple Ryder Cup players. I talked to multiple

big-time caddies, all of whom to a man said, this guy has something. Because if you remember what he did on 18 on Thursday and Friday, he made magic happen both those days. And everybody just, between Valhalla and this, they came to understand, like, the showman is back. He's been working on his game, and you and I talked about it. We didn't talk about Bryson. We thought Bryce had no chance. After the press conferences and the word from the ground,

I said to you on our Tuesday pod that I think went up Wednesday, I said to you, I think Bryson has a chance because this guy got a taste at Valhalla. And NBC, to their credit, was really leaning in. And I think because Dan Hicks was at Wingfoot, winged foot. and he's a member of Wingfoot, he was really leaning into the fact that Bryson got nothing. He had no crowd when he won that U.S. Open.

There was nothing. There were two people applauding and they were like the cart girls at Wingfoot. And what happened just from day one, he was the entertainer. He sort of embraced that crowd. There was carryover from Valhalla and the energy was going and going going.

And for the first time, I didn't hear people bitching about Bryson being Bryson. Okay? let's just leave it at that. I heard caddies and players talking about how the game and the tournaments

and the energy is better when he's there. And so every part of me was excited for him to win today. I just at the end of the day, hate how it happened. I wish he had done a Martin Kimer

and won by eight, to be honest. This just is painful all the way around because Bryson darn near choked this tournament. Well, I mean, he did the thing that was the hardest thing,

which is you're in the house. Saturday night with that three-stroke lead. And really, if you go shoot even par, you should win the golf tournament. Yes. And he said as much walking off. They said, what's it going to take to win? He said, Farway's Green's two putts.

Yeah. And I think it is the case, to be fair again to Bryson, that he really was dealing with some kind of physio thing. It, I believe, whatever. Did you hear what happened on the range this morning? No. Tell me. he measured his driver face and decided that there was some kind of indentation, and he swapped it out on the range this morning.

Oh. And that is why he was wild today. I am absolutely sure when he gets in the tent, they're going to ask him about this, and he's going to say, yeah, I don't know, blah, blah, blah. I mean, they asked him a little bit, but he switched out the gamer for a different club, club face. And he's going to say it was broken and indented. But like, Bryson is a tinkerer in the way that Victor is a tinkerer. Bryson has had more success with it than Victor has, but it sure felt like through, you know, most of the round that he had made a fatal decision that took his

gamer out of the bag, brought in a new face because he's so maniacal about the faux science of it, and was missing fairways as a result, and that, yeah, he was dealing with those lies that were not perfect and he got a lot of good ones. Those were 50-50 at best. I watched a lot of balls go in there. He was fortunate today to not have a worse round, but he was dealing with them and handling them. It's just that he never, I don't think he would have been in there if he hadn't made that decision. Now, it may be that he shows that driver and it really was broken and that was just the luck of the draw, but I suspect that this was the tinkerer in him almost costing him a U.S. Open. So let's be fair. He is an unparalleled.

tinker. We we we we don't thinker we ought not to mention any other professional golfer maybe in the history of the game in the same breath as this dude. The interview last night included the viral um well circulated observation that he likes to put his golf balls in a bath of Epsom salts to um see which amongst the the balls that he's playing with um have have a heavier side and then he marks which side is heavier when he puts them in play. And so what made the rounds was Bryce and salty balls. So I mean, that that that's where we're at with this dude. Plus a one of a kind set of irons perfectly customized that folks, you know,

with with a curvature face, you know, the science of which, you know, he just got them approved prior to the majors of this season. play he put them in play at the masters after just having gotten them so an unparalleled tinkerer to be certain but um i think there there also could be in addition to what you said about whatever was the impairment to the driver face i do believe also there was some kind of physical thing i'm not making excuses i'm just saying he had all of the stuff in front of him in terms of the size of the challenge and then and then he met the challenge i just am still still kind of stuck on your disappointment that doesn't capture it.

No, you're, you're, you're, you're, Rory was eight under on the 15th T and Bryson won the U.S. Open in regulation at six under par. You know what's amazing is Rory missing two, three footers.

If only, um, we had his putting coach. You know, he works, I've heard he works with the, with the putting coach, right?

He was devastated. He looked so drunk at the end. Oh, my gosh. He was devastated. Brad Faxon didn't have anything to say about the... All he said is, I don't know how he comes back from this. That's what he said on national television. He would know. He would have an idea of it. Maybe this will be not dissimilar. Now, I mean, Rory's supposed to go play up in Hartford, Connecticut. Oh, my God. It's another signature event. So we will see it. I wish we could get Fanduil to put up odds on whether or not he actually goes and plays. No, I mean, the internet is full.

The internet is full of videos of him literally spinning tires out of the parking lot. He took no questions. He and Harry got into the Lexus and they slammed on the accelerator and got out of there. That kind of speed would have been helpful on the putts on 16 and 18 house. Well, the 18 putt, I know that putt. That's a put that's familiar to me from the golf that I play at my. little club here in the Washington, D.C. area, where the greens are 13, 14. If you're above the hole and you don't show up with conviction, it's very easy to have

a putter face a tiny bit open and let the damn ball go off to the right. I wish I haven't less, far less experience with those. Yeah, we need, look, props to Bryson on that shot on 18. Okay, out of the bunker. It was 55 yards out. 55 yards out. No one had gotten it close. You've got to get it up over a ridge stop. It's a U.S. Open.

He hits it to 3 feet 11 inches. It is an enormously clutch shot. And by the way, do not forget, Bryson also missed a three-footer on the back nine. So it felt like when Rory missed it on 16, the golf gods were like, No, no, no. Not like this. Not like this. We're not going to let Bryson and Rory come down the stretch the week before we announced the live PGA tour merger, whatever's going to happen.

And with all the personal drama, we're not going out with Miss Puts. And boom, boom, it happened. You're like, okay, it felt like, okay, the playing field is leveled now. I can sort of live with it, right? I would have been saying the same thing if Bryson missed that shorty and that's how Rory won. I would have been like, God, I just, we deserved better because the energy was. so great and the drama was so great. But man, I just, when he gets yippy, he didn't recover.

He didn't recover from the miss putt on 15. He didn't recover from the first short misputt. I mean, on 16. He didn't recover. Well, so the difference between him and Bryson was Bryson after his three putt Gack immediately rips driver on 16 as far as anybody got it

and then had a beautiful look at at Bertie and damn near rolled it in and then hit a beautiful iron shot into 17 and damn near rolled that in. He was still in control of his game and trying to win the effing golf tournament while Rory from 15 on

looked like he was trying to hold on and you know what golf does to you if you're just trying to hold on. That's what we got out of him from my perspective. I mean, it's just there are just no words. I think that you you bring up a great point,

which is that I don't think, I mean, Rory right now is so far ahead in the FedEx Cup. He's going to make the Tour Championship. None of it fucking matters. The only thing that matters is four times a year

from here on now. The power, he's negotiating the Piff deal. Like, they're going to come together in two years. You know, there's going to be legacy stuff. The only thing,

that we're going to talk about from here on out is, can this guy win another major after 2014? And I have texts from players and me and you in my inbox saying he's never going to win another. Do you think it's possible after

this devastation for him to win another? Of course, definitely. 100% yes. How close he was at St. Andrews, how close he was last year at LACC. I expect him to be super close one to get at trune. He can win. But do you expect him to miss two, three footers?

I mean, oh my God. It's up to him. It's him. He has to get that out of his head, out of his system. And I, you know, whatever it takes. He's definitely been seeing a therapist in his personal life. Has to be, right? Has to be, right? Yes. Of course. So, so are we changing therapists? Are we, what are we doing now? Because this is a, again, I don't hold anything against Harry. I have no ill will towards him. I just don't think. That's a relationship. That's the dude that's on the effing golf course with you. And he's been riding shotgun for every effing choke down the stretch. It's not a knock on that guy or the relationship with that guy or him being comfortable with that guy.

Put Nile fucking horn on the bag if that's what he takes. He shouldn't be comfortable. That's the problem. You're right. He can't be because he's not good enough in between the six inches between his ears. He's not good enough. That's the issue. So anyway.

But not even anyway. I mean, it is the most fascinating in this moment. It could have only gone one of two ways, right? It was either going to go to Bryson and there's going to be all this talk about, and rightly so, by the way. Hey, this was fantastic. Ratings are going to be up for sure. Feels like it.

And everybody's going to go, this is what golf can and should be. The number one player in the world was a no-show this week. And this was unbelievably intense. high drama, just incredible television, as much as NBC made some best efforts to not show the good stuff and have trucks go out.

What are we doing? Oh, amazing. Again, we have no featured groups, really? On the weekend? Like, what? We'll have our chance. We'll do it in a second. No featured holes.

Like, no, like, come on. Look, man. Just, yeah, we'll get there. But I just, this was we've had for three years now this sort of epic you know one party versus the other thing and it came down finally like in a big way on 18 not that these two guys don't like each other

but in advance of what is definitely going to be an announcement about these two things coming together and how and why and the you know the protagonist and the bad guy and you know the heel turned hero we'd had all of the drama and I just look we're going to remember it for for that drama But just, like the wet fart on 16 and 18, I just wish that we'd had one of these two guys,

the golf gods, I don't know, maybe they're going to give it to us at the open, but I just wish one of these two guys had grabbed it by the throat. And Bryson is sitting in front of the cameras right now in the media center. And he's trying to tell everybody that the bunker shot was the shot of his life.

And it was an outstanding, outstanding shot. I kind of think he's got a good argument. But was it really the shot of his life? Like, I feel like he made, I feel like the chip in it by the hollow was better. I feel like, you know, I just, it was a good shot. No, it was to win the U.S. Open. It was much better than a good shot. I'm sorry.

Considering the circumstances. This is how it happens. Rory McElroy lost the U.S. Open for the second year in a row. And this time was 1,000% worse than last year and last year hurt. Way worse. This was way worse. I appreciate it. But Bryce and DeShambo did not grab this thing by the throat.

Don't kid yourself. Rory lost it. Oh, I'm still not sure that I'm all the way there with you. Because Rory, to have put himself in position to where he was with the three birdies on that back nine, when it was time to go out and grab it, we're only complaining because of how close he got. And he was really the only guy in the field capable of closing a gap, right? Like, Bryson didn't just serve it up. What do you remember about St. Andrews in LACC?

What do you remember about his game those two days on Sunday? He just couldn't make puts. He couldn't make puts. Exactly. And what did he do today? Well, this was way worse. This was like incalculably worse. No, he made every putt.

You're saying it. He was doing it. He made puts all day long. That's what was so brilliant about his round today. And what was so shocking about watching him, he made puts on 10, on 12, on 13. And suddenly you're like, okay, it's off. he's doing it. And we get to 15 and

and we get to 16 and that's it. And then 18 just destroys us. So I just think like he was doing everything we asked him to do on the back nine at St. Andrews in LACC. He was finally doing it. And he was doing it. It's not like, yeah, he made all the putts he was supposed to. It's just or he wasn't supposed to. Yeah, well, he missed. He was made. No. All right. Well, look, you, he missed it to who was supposed to.

You were 25 minutes in. I think I've made my case. Yeah. Sorry. You mentioned It's distraught. You mentioned fleetingly the number one player in the world. Scotty Shephardt did not have a good week. He didn't have a good, it started off ominously with the haircut. Like, you know, he went in and got some kind of hair cut. It looked like that Barbara might have chopped his head off, at least his golfing head

because he had no game whatsoever. He never found a feel for the greens at Pinehurst. he never, you know, his around the green was still good, but he finished, I think, 70th out of 74. He made the cut on the number and then finished 70th out of 74 guys in strokes game putting. We were back to that old Scotty. Here's the thing, if you want to be charitable to Scotty,

going right from the memorial, going right from signature event, Jack Nicholas, this is the thing. I mean, seriously, come on. What are we doing? Three. It's what we talked about last week. It's atrocious. It's an abomination.

It is. It's too much. It's too much. Like, you know, and that golf course in Mirfield is hard as F. It's a super difficult track. And there's no way. Radically different tests. Everything about it's got bluscious, rough, thick rough,

putting greens that are flat. compared to what you encounter at Pinehurst, turf conditions that are radically different, a totally different style of golf. Now, to be fair, there were guys that managed to play well at the memorial and then showed up. I mean, Zander, once again, you know, collecting very quietly. Where did he finish?

I know top 10. Did he get across the line in top five? No, we thought he would. He finished T7. He shot 200 today. Play great. Yeah, 200 days. Because he's great.

I mean, Dan, there, right there once again. No, unequivocally. I think you make a really important point. And I think, you know, when we talked early in the week about the case against Scotty, there wasn't much to hold on to except seems like a one-shot lead at Jack's Place is not as mentally easy as some of the other wins that he's had. And that may be the sort of burden of all that and everything he's dealt with in the last week or excuse me, month since Valhalla and the charges.

and everything. That was the only case for why he wouldn't play well. But as I got on the ground and started talking to people, I have to tell you, a lot of players and caddies told me that they thought he was going to struggle this week. And they thought he was going to struggle because Scotty Sheffler for as long as we can remember

has been shooting at pins. Yeah. And Scotty Sheffler for as long as we can remember has been, you know, criticized for missing the shorties. That wasn't his problem this week. We didn't see a lot of Scotty Shepler misses three-footers, four-footer, the kind of putts that Rory missed today. He just struggled to read these things from the 8 to 28, 30-foot range,

which at this course, you have to aim away from the hole, be satisfied with that result, and then make the putt. And the putting obviously was a problem for Scott. And he was very transparent about the fact that he just could not read these things. Listen, if Scottie can fire it a pin, can fire 30 feet left. So I think his ball striking this week was fine. He just could not get his brain around the greens. And look, when Scotty Sheple doesn't win a golf tournament, it's because he doesn't putt well. He was fourth on approach on this event. So he was tempted to green. Usually when

Scottie puts mediocrely, that means he's going to be fine and he's probably going to win the golf tournament. It's just that this week, the putter, it wasn't that he was making bad strokes. And I think that's the difference between where Scotty is today and where he was a year ago. A year ago, he was making bad strokes. He had a putter that the arc wasn't right. The line was not, he was not able to his lines. Today and really the entirety of this week, the stroke was fine. He thought he was going crazy. He just could not read where these things were going. And sometimes you have a week like that. Yeah. And, you know, he confessed, um, in addition to the fatigue that he was experiencing that he just didn't

you know upon reflection have enough prep time he didn't have enough experience to your point Nate dog hitting out of that native area like he just it's not it's it's a unique golf challenge and one that he couldn't because

of what was going on in his life and this ridiculous schedule build into his schedule a week to get to Pinehurst and play it and go go around you know quietly and feel it I mean because Because he had a baby, which is good.

It's a good thing. He had a baby, and so he didn't have time to go to Piders for a week. That's a fair tradeoff, right? Your first kid, that's okay, right? Yeah, absolutely. You know, there's a stat that I'm just sort of flipping through here that I haven't seen anybody post yet, but they probably will at some point. So I'm just going to surface it here.

You know, today, the course played the easiest of the four rounds. And overall, let's put it that way. It played under two shots over par. I'm just going to very quickly interject, kudos to the USGA. They gave us an opportunity to see this golf course show out and let the golfers go play it. Anyway, keep going, please. Yeah, well, no, I think that's the point. It played a stroke and a half easier today than it did yesterday.

But even with it playing easier, the lowest round to par didn't happen today. Today, the lowest round to par was three under. And every other day, we had somebody shoot lower than that. And so there was something about these pin placements in the way that they managed the course all week, which now looks highly contrasted to Valhalla, by the way, that kept all of the performances within a certain bound, right? Which kept it kept it close. And it's not to say that 30 guys had a chance to win, which you sort of felt like when we woke up at Valhalla, somebody could have made a run. But for Pavon, who you would say, well, he wasn't even in contention, he finished one over. He finished three shots out and solo fifth, right?

Hideki, who it looked like was making a run for a little while, finished even. I just think they did an excellent job with this course. I mean, we knew coming in, there was a lot of talk about how special it was, but they didn't go crazy in embarrassing people. Yes, you could make a triple bogey, but you could also make birdies with really good shots. And I think they've learned their lesson from those years in which it just felt like the course was too much of the story and not the competition. And today the competition was the story. And you hear my heartbreak and my angst and my whiny, you know, ass like, you know, all of the things that I'm complaining about because I just hated the way that this ended.

And really all it's about is that emotionally I'm heartbroken for Rory because I just hate the heartbreak. But, you know, the competition was awesome. And the ratings are going to reflect that. And the USGA should be super proud. And I do think that Mike, the head of the USGA, deserves an enormous amount of credit for getting it, for getting it and for turning this tournament into an extraordinarily fitting national open. Yeah, so I was interested and curious to hear from you what you were hearing on the ground

because it did seem like over the Thursday, Friday rounds, that there was an undercurrent of like, is this? Is this set up fair? Is it fair? Is there scoring available here? Is this going to be, you know, a war of attrition? And we're going to end up right around par. You're shaking your head.

Yeah, you and I traded texts about this on Friday, I think, or maybe Thursday after Mark's round. And I was surprised, because I could tell that you had been paying attention to the telecasts in here in the commentary. And as I watched a lot of the telecasts, those. first two days when we weren't on the course, I was sort of taken aback, and it felt like the guys who were running, and I'm not going to point fingers because everybody, I think, did, you know, everybody's doing their best. But to create drama, they were talking up the course. They were talking

up the wind. They were talking up the green firmness and fastness. And so, wow, oh, that's going to be the social accounts were posting Mark, you know, his first shot, he was the first shot. He was the first guy, second guy off on Friday, he stuck it, he literally stuck it on one to one foot, ball almost goes in, it rolls off the green. You know why it did? Because he didn't have good spin control. And because you can't land it on the hole, you got to land it five to ten feet above the hole. It was exceedingly, not one time did Mark walk off the course and go, that's ridiculous. Nine green on Friday, he played in the morning and was like, man, I watched a couple guys fly off the back. I decided the bunker was the place to go.

He hold out for Bertie from the bunker, but he was like, I just chose that as the play, and it's going to be ugly in the afternoon. But nobody on the ground was talking the way that the telecast and the announcers were talking. I think that was massively over-dramatized. I think it was borderline fake news to create the drama.

This was a scorable, getable course in a fair way. That's why we saw Morikawa go low yesterday. It's why every single day, except today, somebody shot four under or better. And today, you know, you had a number of three unders that were out there. Sam Byrne shot three under. Russell Henley shot three under. Tony Fenow shot 300.

Like, it was out there for the getting. It also sort of insulated there is not a score over three over until you get down to Tom Kim at 26th. So the guys who were playing well didn't get unfairly punished or just, well, there's a massively bad break that's going to screw me out of eight shots. This was a fair course, and I think the telecasts probably massively over-dramatized that in a way that, at least for a knowledgeable golf guy and you, had you come away just fed with information that was not the way the players were thinking about on the ground. Let's do some glass half full, glass half empty. Some guys deserve flowers in the category of glass half full. how about Patrick Cantlay showing up and, you know, contending for the entirety of the golf tournament in a season which has felt like basically a sacrifice. It's his turn to sacrifice a professional golf season because he's participating in intent, intently and intensely in the negotiation about, you know, sort of the future of the professional golf tour.

And it clearly has impacted his game. But I was reminded as I was trying to be generous about Patrick Cantley because, let's be honest, I was not rooting for him to win. I don't know anybody that was rooting for him to win. I don't think anybody on the grounds was rooting for him to win other than his extended group of friends and family. But his performance at the Ryder Cup, I feel like put us on notice that he's got a major win in him, that, you know, it is fair now to say he's the most talented without a major

win and this performance to me was a was a breakthrough performance we finally have a top five out of patrick can't lay where he's on the leaderboard uh you know in the top 10 all week long and and you know came out and validated now he shot even par on saturday and sunday and that's the difference but go ahead let me hear it let me hear it let me hear it this is one of the best putters on the planet and that's what was so great about his performance at the rider cup he was 65th in putting today he missed extraordinary makeable putts on four, on five, on six, on nine, on 12, on 16. It was, Patrick Cantley legit should have won the U.S. Open with how well he struck the ball today. He was fourth

T to Green today. He really, the putter, which is ostensibly his best club. He was third in ball striking for the week, seventh T to Green for the week, 10th putting for the week. But today, that putter completely evacuated the premises when he needed it the most. He finished it four under. The winning score was six. He missed six legitimate, makeable putts where he lost over half a shot,

almost per putt. He ought to have won this golf tournament if his putter was hotter. So I'm with you that I think, you know, from a big picture standpoint, this was a weekend which Cantley at least showed out in a major, right? But on the weekend,

70-70, it just wasn't there. And so I think I am extremely forgiving of the guys who are in the middle of these negotiations, with one exception, Rory McElroy, because Kentley's been living this for a super long time. And I think we saw, again, Spieth, where are you? Adam Scott, you know, okay, but not really hanging out. Like the guys who are on the board, this has been a massively big burden for them. But, you know, in the heat of battle, Patrick didn't show up in the way that we wanted to. I do agree with you, though. You know, when we came into today,

everybody was talking about the guys who could win, no one really felt like Patrick Cantlay was a guy to do it. And there was a sense. Cantlay to top five was not going to be the worst bet today. No, you're absolutely right. We touched on briefly, both during over the course of the week

and in this conversation today, both Zander and Hadeki. Just mark it down right now. Those two guys, it's a U.S. Open. Mark, and go ahead. You saw it from Hadeki. No, no, full props to you. You told us that Hadecki was going to play well,

and there was a time on Saturday when Hadecki could have won this golf tournament, don't you think? I mean, you really saw it coming at Memorial. You saw that Sunday round, and you recognized the momentum. And of all the guys who played there, he had stress-free because he wasn't really trying to win, but you could see the game was there. You understood that the fades and the way that he likes to hit it

were going to be, you know, super, super helpful here. Again, you know, Sunday. putting wasn't awesome, but from a Hadecki perspective, you really knew this was common house. Well, all I'm going to say is, you know, just circled them now. We're at Oakmont next year.

Hideki and Zander, assuming good health, we'll knock on wood for good health, both of them. Both of those, I'd love to bet it right now. Top 10 at Oakmont, is Anders Schaftley and Hedeky Matsuyama assuming good health. Yeah. Let's talk about your boy,

Ludwig Oberg. who was for two days, Nate Dog, validating, vindicating, and showing you to be a great golf thinker. And all that happened, he finished tied for 12th. Like, hello, this is a young dude who keeps showing up at majors

and keeps showing up at venues for the very first time and be like, yeah, I'm just going to go around, I'm going to get around here and, you know, for a long time. He was threatening. and then it's just, it's not a knock in any way, shape, or form. To me, it's a staying experience.

He just, you know, it doesn't have the loops at venues like this. That's all. I think you're right. Look, he built up a bunch of scar tissue this week that is going to help him going forward. And between the masters in the U.S. Open, we've seen him in the heat of battle make some bad decisions. There's no other way to say it. Sure, sure.

And that was 13 on Saturday. which he tripled, and he should have just taken his medicine, and two today, which he also tripled, and he should have just taken his medicine. Now, it is fair,

like he made four other bogeys today. You know, he made three other bogeys on Saturday, but I think those two holes cost him contention at the tournament, right? I agree. And he finished one over,

T-12, and made two triples on Saturday, between Saturday and Sunday. So I just think glass is massively half-full for Ludwig. Oh, my God, yes. A guy playing the U. open for the first time to win would have been unprecedented. And he almost did it, but for basically

two holes. So I think this builds up, not just the scar tissue, but his sort of dispassionate approach to the game feels particularly suited for this challenge mentally. And I think he is going to continue to learn about when to be conservative and when to be aggressive. Augusta, you recall, coming down the back nine, he made some overly aggressive choices that cost him. And again, here, in the heat of the moment. He made some choices where he could have taken his medicine and just, he just made some inexplicable choices

that, you know, to your point on caddy, I wish his caddy had been a little more forceful, but when you got a guy on the club who is clearly a top five player in the world and is astounding you with what he's doing, maybe even the most veteran caddies don't have the balls to step in and say, hey, step back, why are we using wedge here?

Or, hey, step back, why are we putting this instead of using wedge? There were just those moments that just reeked of inexperience. There was nothing about performance or execution that worried me about the future of this kid. Welcome back. Top Gun, Tony, a beautiful 67 final round here at Pinehurst. We love to see Tony Fee now collecting top fives at major championships. He would, to me, you know, ride shotgun with Patrick Cantlay as a guy that's very, very due, overdue

for a major breakthrough, a major win, it wouldn't shock me if he wins next year at Oakmont or he wins next year at Augusta. I think that's a very solid call. And again, the 13th hole on Saturday, just like it undid Ludwig, around the same time it undid Tony. And he just went across the green and back,

and it just was a mess. And again, if he only bogeys that, he's in a playoff with Bryson right now. So I think Tony comes away, and goes, I know I have the game. I know I have the discipline. I got to make a few better choices when it counts. But it's not like Tony absolutely,

I mean, he was incredible on approach this week. And we think about him as bomb and the driver, but he was first on approach this week. And if that continues with his T to Green game, he's going to make enough putts and make those decisions. I think it's all positive vibes for Tony from here. I'm happy to see him back. He's such a just sort of a welcome,

warm-hearted human being, that having him in the mix, I don't know, it just makes, it just makes tournament more fun. It's better. It's better for golf, yeah. A couple guys I'll give gutsy performance awards to. Colin Morcawa battled back from being four over on Friday and showed up Saturday and shot at fired off at 66, got himself inside the top 15. So his year of good performances at majors continues.

And I'm going to give a shout to Tommy. Fleetwood. Another guy. No, you're not. Backdoor top 20 today. Come on, man. T-16, two under for the weekend. I know.

Go down the list. Find all the guys who shot two under for the weekend. Well, he was two under today. And par yesterday. So, yeah, this is. Saturday, Sunday, two under. That's pretty good. It is.

It just, it felt like a top 20 Tommy kind of thing. It never felt like he was. Look, on Friday, there was a moment where Colin was going to win this thing. We were talking about Thomas Detrie on Friday as well, even into Saturday. Oberg, we know. Sergio, okay, fine. He played sort of average and finished T-12.

And by the way, kudos to him. Kudos to him. But wasn't really competing. I feel that way about, you know, Connors and Thompson and Burns. But like Xander, there was a moment. Hedecki. Pavon was in. So I think Colin certainly surfaced himself as a potential contender.

It just never felt like Tommy was going to get there. He played super solid. and that's awesome, but this is the Tommy Fleetwood thing. If Tommy had played the way that Tony Fienau had, I'd feel differently, right? Where he really was up on that leaderboard, and there were a few moments where you could have believed. I'm not sure you, in your heart of hearts,

ever really believed that Tommy had a chance this week after the opening round on Thursday. No, no chance. No chance whatsoever. But I'm just recognizing, observing as we think about... It's generous of you. Well, and if we're going to do our DFS lineups and our... you know, we're going to make bets like top 20 for Fleetwood at the U.S. Open still is pretty solid. But obviously we don't want to spend any more time on Rory. And Rory was by far the biggest disappointment.

But who else did you have your site set on that let you down this week? Anybody? Yeah. I mean, I think we did not pick Justin Thomas to do much this week. but I think the performance was a continuation of sort of concern. I was disappointed in Sung J.M. Because I felt like he had momentum coming in. You know, Wyndham Clark continues to sort of confound

after the start of this season that felt like it was really going to be special. Amazing. And I know you bet it. And, you know, good for you for connecting like the capitalist that you are. But Tiger Woods was disappointing this week. I really felt after that round, the first half of the round on Thursday, that he was going to be in the mix here.

And it looked awesome. I enjoyed it so much. He just can't play. You can't play. It's not, I mean, it's not a knock. I love watching him play when he was making par, like him, you know, rolling in Bernie. And the crowds, I loved it.

I was there. I was captivated by it. He just can't string 36 holes together. He has no chance. He's not physically able to. You said it, and I didn't, I really thought that he was going to play better in the way that he was talking. And I think when he got off the course, he spoke about, I mean, his game was in way better shape here than it was at Augusta. Sure.

I think that's undeniable. I just think the execution, he just, he's not playing enough for the putter to go in. And every major, he seems to be surprised that, you know, I just couldn't make the putts. Well, yeah, because you're not out there week in, week out, grinding with the putter. You might be on the practice range, but it's something different, right? Yeah, it's something different. I mean, we did cash that Tiger, Victor Hovlin missed the cut parley. We did catch. Let's go there. We did. We did do that. I think there's the between the ears thing that you and I should mention, which is that both Max and Victor missed this cut. And I don't think it was a Max between the ears thing so much because he played very well on Thursday. He had a terrible round on Friday that just crushed him. But I really believed and I know that he and his caddy and his team believe that he,

he broke through at Augusta this year. That was a meaningful, meaningful step forward. And I think they're probably really disappointed at the performance, both Valhalla and here, because this wasn't about him preparing in the wrong way or mentally not being ready for the approach. He just didn't play well. And I think, look, that's going to happen with a guy who's at Max's level,

which is to say an outstanding world-class player, but not a Scotty Schaeffler, Rory, in this moment, right? So he's going to have some off weeks. It just feels like more so than the mental part of this got to him. It was that the physical and the game just happened to not be there. So it'll be interesting to see how he performs at the Open. If you remember last year, that's where he had his first sort of breakthrough at a major and felt like he played the best that he had.

So I actually expect him to do well. Victor feels lost. Victor was on the range a ton again. And it just seemed like it was back at Valhalla for a while and then, p'paw. and even at the memorial where we saw it for a bit and then it disappeared. He's still tinkering. He's still baking. It's just a reminder.

Very few guys can do this and reset their swings overnight. The other thing, and maybe we have a tiny bit of advantage, like in terms of the information that we get. Like, he's kind of going through stuff in life. He's a kid. He's found that Florida might not be to his liking. He's moving back to Stillwater. That's the news that I heard. Like he just can't like get himself settled.

He burned the golf world down. He was indisputably by far, by a long shot, the best player in the world at the Tour Championship. That was not very long ago. And he's back in the lab. He's firing coaches and hiring coaches. And, you know, there's something about him just sort of getting settled into what kind of professional he's going to be.

I had previously dismissed out of hand the idea that he might you know jump over to live I'm not so sure no I'm you know the what we've seen in terms of these big swings yeah from him you know it might be the case that

taking a giant paycheck might be the thing that he needs I'm just not sure that he is massively insecure about his belonging out here I think he knows he's not you're right you're right about that and I think a lot of the guys who've said yes to that check either have been fueled by some insecurity or, you know, financial stuff,

which in the Bryson case, it was somebody give me love. In Phil's case, it was I want to check, right? Yeah. In Victor's case, there's, he's just a different, he's a different bird. He always has been, you know, he eats alone a lot in player dining. He is, as you say, I think, a little bit of everybody likes Victor, nobody's close with Victor. And that's not his fault or anybody else's fault. It just is where it is. And he's going to find his way. He's still a young guy. That's a kid. He's a kid finding his way. Absolutely right. Everything we saw is what it is. But, you know, he versus where he was at the Tour Championship and at that Rider Cup where he just was awesome, he set the tone on that first hole with that birdie. Everything from there has been

down into the right instead of up into the right. And I hope that he can find his way because we surely have seen some glimmers of it since Valhalla. Last guy that I was disappointed in was Kepka. I wanted, I thought Brooks Kepka started good, didn't it? Yeah, it did. And then, you know, Thursday, he was on the board.

In that Thursday round, though, he was, you know, well under par and then kind of faltered down the stretch and ended up with just an even par round. And then refused to talk to the media and did some silly stuff, but all you, the questions are boring. And then he gave a one-on-one interview to Eamon Lynch and Aiman Lynch. Yeah.

Yeah, right, a text interview, which actually was kind of illuminating. I thought it was a good exchange. I enjoyed it. But you didn't have them on your card house, because you understood that there's some level of distraction for most of these live guys. And they did not show well this week, other than the guy who's in it for something. other than golf. He's in it for attention. Bryson and

Sergio are your top live finishers. I didn't get a chance to see where did Hatton end up? Did he end up top 20? Did he fall off? Yes, he tumbled a bit and ended up. So Kepko was tied for

26. Yeah, no, Hatton had shut seven over today and finished T-26. Well, there it is. Yeah, there you go. So Hatton and kept a tough day. T-26. Yeah. And of course, after talking about Terrell Hatton and, you know, the wonderful comment that he made that was super fun about how, yeah, now all these guys get to

come to my level, which is to be out of their effing minds for a whole week. So they know what it feels like. They didn't actually put a camera on Hatton at all today because you know he was going bonkers through that plus seven round. So anyway, whatever. Yeah, yeah. I was, I, Cam Smith, you know. Sleep well. Right.

Sweet princes. Yeah, yeah. He was 70th in putting today, which means he missed a ton on the greens. And I did not see hadn't. And so I just did not see a lot of middle fingers and cursing under, there was an opportunity to at least bring that fun to the mix. But look, again, just to re-center that, it is a conversation with the ROM withdrawal middle of the week. And we said, God, it just.

Well, at least he had this self-awareness to not go humiliate himself again. Understanding where he is with his game and, you know, what he did at both the masters and at Valhalla. He's like, you know what? I don't need to go do this again. Phil did not have that self-awareness. And what Phil and Tiger do from here is probably the most interesting old guy question that we've got

because Phil seems content. He was the first guy with a tweet out about how great Bryson was and what an incredible victory and celebrate, celebrate, go crushers and all the shit. Tiger, on reflection, was like, I cannot tell you whether this is my last U.S. Open. We'll see.

Yeah. Because Tiger's not going to show up and suck. He cares too much about it. And Phil will maybe keep showing up. I mean, listen, KVV wrote a great piece about Phil, you know, making the point that, like, his exemption is going to go away. And, you know, we'll see. How many more U.S. opens is he going to get into from here? Will he actually be able to play?

Find the U.S.GA. I probably grant him exemptions because this is a guy who's finished runner up more than anybody. Yes. But I do think it is, it reminds me a little bit on a bigger level, but of the Samprasogacy stuff and how different those two guys were and how are they going to go off into the sunsets and the perception of them each was different than the reality behind the scenes. And so we're going to learn a lot about the men based on how they handle what is very clearly the end of their ability to be competitive in these events. All right. Let's talk about the broadcast and then wrap. this thing up. I know you were there on the grounds Thursday and Friday. So you didn't have to. Well, I'll say this. The entire production on Thursday on the USA network, as soon as I could find the USA network,

it was pretty good. I kind of enjoyed it. It was like, this is where it is. Okay, it's in my cable package. I can find USA. And then I could just leave it on. And, you know, those Thursday and Friday rounds are absolute marathons. And so they're going from team to team to team. But I thought that by and large, NBC acquitted itself well on Thursday. Friday is when you started doing it's on the peacock at this time. And then it's there's some, I can't even remember whether there was a USA portion and maybe a tiny portion on NBC. And when you, when I have to start doing that, and it's the streaming thing, which is an abomination. I just watch it on my computer. Because I mean, like, I, I remembered that I canceled Peacock immediately after the football game.

And I was so proud of myself. I tried to log in and I'm like, oh, I don't have credentials because I canceled this horrendous B minus product. And you know what? I'm pet on my own back. I'll just watch the thing. Do you remember the game that we got it for? Was it like a Tampa game or something?

It was a, I mean, it was a, it was a playoff game, wasn't it? Yeah, I know. It was. So was it chiefs or was it? What was the game? No, it definitely wasn't Chiefs, I don't think. But you have no idea what was on the cock. I don't remember.

It was a good enough game. I mean, they got humongous ratings. The Dolphins game, I feel like. Maybe so. Oh, that Dolphins Chiefs game.

It's what I'm saying. Yeah, it was a good. I mean, that was a fun game. That was a fun game. Yeah. So I'm glad we got it,

but we canceled it. And do you wish that you'd paid for it? I mean, I didn't pay for it this week. It didn't compel me. Pay for what? What am I going to pay? Pay to watch golf?

Get the F out of here. You're out of your mind. Somebody else make decisions about which pairings they should show me in real time. I mean, this is like literally the thing I was thinking while I was watching Patrick Cantway plot along. Like, he's sitting there on this transaction committee. Like, this is the vision, the shape and scope. Does he have the self-awareness to understand that he is part of the product? Like him being entertaining, him being somebody compelling and interesting person,

rather than somebody that all of us have to. avert our glance because it takes him, you know, half a minute to get to a put and half a minute to get to into position to take a shot. Does he understand that the TV product, the thing that people will pay rights for, that he's an element of it? Anyway, I'll set it, setting that aside. There was a huge snafu on Saturday that they lost some kind of power. There was some heat wave issue, heat, heat issue with some version of, of, of,

the production and it went into like 1970s mode for a stretch of time. One of the trucks went down and they just were struggling and, and you know, they, they talked about it. I don't, I don't really. Me either. You know,

ding them for that. I mean, gracious. I actually thought that, you know, Brandl's thing about sort of clarifying that the live guys knew what they were getting into when they went to live, which is why they weren't going to qualify for the Olympic.

was totally reasonable and important to point out. And there was a little bit of chatter from some of the golf media community like, oh, give it a rest with your live thing. I didn't think he was derogatory at all. I think it was important to say, well, yeah, it's true. Bryson's not going to play for the U.S. Or maybe he is now because he won. The criticism that I thought was fair enough was, like time and place, right?

I guess, but it wasn't like he went on a rant. Like he's gone on grants on the Golf Channel. I thought it was important context for people to understand. that those guys knowingly made a choice and that that's why they are where they are. He had to do it because they had to talk about the Olympics on the NBC because they better get some, they try to find some eyeballs to watch them Olympics on NBC

since Caitlin Clark ain't going to be there. Yeah, exactly. Well, look, I just want to bring it full circle house just to sort of put a bow on this one because the chatter right now online as we record. First of all is, hey, Bryson was very great. in the press conference, and obviously, as usual, a little bit awkward. So I want to ask you a question about him first, and then I want to ask you a question about Rory. The question on Bryson

is, do you buy it? Do you believe that this is a new and improved Bryson? Do you believe his press conference yesterday when he said, I am a changed guy, and I've learned from my mistakes, and I don't have regrets because everything's a learning experience, but I know that I did some things wrong, and I'm committed doing them better? Do you believe that, or is this still a guy who doesn't really know who he is and is constantly putting on a show. Can't both those things be true? I think that indeed he is doing his version of what he thinks is like being engaging, being entertaining, right?

It's in his head. He's always done that. But he's gotten better at it because it is something that's gotten less sort of affronting and annoying? Well, I mean, you know, he's had success. Do you think he's more self-aware and self-reflective? No. No.

Okay. So those were talking points you feel like. That's different. I mean, well, because he's gotten smarter. Like, he keeps doing media. Like, he's got the reps. He's got these doing an enormous amount of media now. And he understands, like, that guy, to the point that you made Thursday and Friday about what people are saying on the grounds,

it's great to have somebody who understands that this is an entertainment product. The money is for the entertainment. The money isn't because these idiots can hit the effort. Nothing golf ball 300 yards. Who cares? 400 yards. I don't care about that. What I want is the entertainment.

I want the drama. And that homeboy delivers the entertainment and delivers the drama. Okay. So my corollary to that, and then I'll have a second worry question. But I believe my crazy conspiracy theory that I think is not very crazy, coming out of today and listening to the chance and the timing of them, I believe that there were people on the ground paid by Liv who were chanting USA. when price I hit.

The Nate dog drops this hot fire take here at the 62nd minute on Faraway rolling. Wow. So you and I could have you and I could have started

that chant in a crowd if we had been paid to go do that. And then other people would have picked it up and run with it. If somebody wants to pay me to do it, I will gladly do that.

That is my conspiracy theory. It was stiff. It was weird. It was close to microphones. It was odd times. I believe that in the midst of this negotiation and a desire to go, how do we translate the popularity of this guy into ratings?

Because anytime he plays on the CW, nobody tunes the fuck in. How do we go get it? Let's turn this in an election year, da-da-da, into a guy who's friendly with the Trumps. Like, let's turn this into a thing where he's the new Captain America since Patrick Reed isn't here. That's my crazy conspiracy theory. You can shoot it down.

But I think those guys, there were some people on the grounds who were chanting because they heard it. And they were like, cool, I'm in. But the guys who started it were paid. What's weird to me and why I'm not going to wave you away and tell you to put the tin foil hat back in your butt where it belongs is like who are we saying this to? He wasn't paired up with Sergio and he was with Matthew Pavon.

Like poor, poor Matthew Pavon didn't do anything. He's just out playing. He's so happy. Ludwig yesterday. Yeah. Yeah, like are we yelling at Ludwig? He doesn't care. That's why it was weird.

He's Swedish. Yeah. I agree. If it had been Bryson and Rory, now you're talking. That's a, now that's a, that's a writer cup potential rivalry, right? Absolutely. That's got the meat and bones to it. Something was not right.

And as always with this guy, some ain't right with that boy in the best way and sometimes not the best way. You know, his team was supposedly yelling at Damon Hack at the golf channel at some point. I heard that. There was weird. There's weird stuff. nice to him, I thought. He was.

So let's just see where this all comes together, because that all comes to the core of the question, which is do you believe it or not? But last question, Rory left without answering questions. Phil, when he hooked it into the tent and lost the U.S. Open, he answered questions. Van de Veld, when he blew the Open championship,

he answered questions. Norman, when he blew the masters, he answered questions. What do you make of Rory, out of the parking lot and not talking to anybody on the week in which his personal life evolved in a public way and on the almost you know now at this point 10 years in from winning his last major championship so a couple things in the first place he did the same thing at valhalla got got the f out right when he finished his round no no no post round interview we went to belfast for crying out

yeah got on the airplane and flew home bigger picture more importantly he did the same same thing after St. Andrews. And he really disappeared. This was the one thing that I thought, I was, maybe my single biggest disappointment with the first season of full swing on Netflix was they did a whole

rory, you know, honorarium and included him not winning that golf tournament. And then he didn't win. And then it's two weeks later and he's out like at some kids charitable effort kind of thing. like, you know, being generous with this time with kids. Hello, what was he doing in those two weeks?

What happened in the two weeks? How did he go decompress? What did he do? What was the mindset? How did he get himself, you know, back ready for a competitive golf? So I think that's really what's in front of us here. After this U.S. Open, I, like I said earlier, 50-50, whether he shows up in Hartford, whether he's able to get himself pulled together.

You could see the tour saying to him, buddy, if we're going to announce this big, big time deal on Tuesday, it would be great for you to be there to help shepherd some of this. You're on the transaction committee. You're not on the board, but you're on the transaction committee

and you up at Hartford, championing this combination and the vision for the tour, it's got to be a tough spot for him because you were absolutely right with your passion. about it, it is devastating. He is devastated. And he's not going to be less devastated by Tuesday, Nate, Doug.

Well, that's going to be the interesting historical reflection on this tournament. Did Bryson win it? Did Rory lose it? Both things can sort of be true. Is Bryson legit and reformed? Is this more of the act? Can Rory win or is he destined to be the bridesmaid from here on out? just fascinating drama, everything we wanted.

The answer to all those things is yes. Yeah. And my only hope is this week as we go forward, we're going to see an announcement soon that gets golfers back together. And then my second hope is that from a broadcast standpoint, that we start to tell all of the stories that make this kind of an event so wonderfully intriguing,

not just on a Sunday of the U.S. Open when all this drama is happening, but find a way to capture that energy and electricity into more of the year and more of the events and more of the stories that exist. So it's going to be a very interesting couple weeks in golf. Today was good for the game. And after a year in which, God, almost nothing has been good for the game. Sleep well tonight. Bad for Rory, good for the game. Nate Dogg, we did it. It was amazing week. Great job by Mark Hubbard. I know that he didn't have the Sunday that he was hoping for, but he really acquitted

himself well around this joint for three rounds. And man, if only that whole in one, what was it, 15? 15. God. Why couldn't that just gone in? That would have been a wonderful cherry. It was right there. But I'm not going to mention anything in terms of performance because we have a rule here on Fairway Rowland. But thanks to him for coming on this week and helping us set up this week. You know, kudos to the USGA. I think they you know, have proof of concept now that Pinehurst as a focal point of their

rhoda certainly makes a lot of sense. The World Golf Hall of Fame cited there earlier in the week they had the, you know, they unveiled the gallery and then they had the inductees, all that stuff was great. It's really good moment for the USGA. And look, we're hot and heavy now. We have another signature event. Then we're off a couple of weeks. We're into the Scottish Open, then we're going to have the British Open, the Open Championship. And then the Olympics, there is a lot of golf in front of us, a lot of storylines yet to be written. Nate Thug, my birdie buddies, my eagle enthusiasts, my par-saving pals. We are always grateful to you for joining us along this crazy ride.

We'll be back this week. I mean, not just the big-time news we expect. It's another giant purse event. I hope all the fathers out there and the non-fathers were able to get a peg in the ground. It was a beautiful day throughout most of the country. And if you were able to do so, I hope that you were able to hit him straight out there. You must be 21 years old or older, 18 years old or older in Washington, D.C. And present in select states.

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