No Laying Up - Golf Podcast - 1139: Early Augusta Notes + Lauren Wins In Vegas (and calls in!)

Episode Date: April 6, 2026

We kick off tonight’s pod in a celebratory fashion as Lauren Coughlin calls in after winning the LPGA event at Shadow Creek. Then Soly drops some notes from his first day on the grounds at Augusta National before we recap Saturday’s ANWA finale, JJ Spaun’s win at the Valero, and some assorted news and notes heading into Masters week.  TimeStamps: 00:00 - Intro, LC + Shadow Creek Recap 31:00 - Soly’s Sunday at ANGC 47:30 - ANWA  1:09:00 - JJ Spaun - Valero Recap 1:23:45 - News and notes + DJ’s Notebook Support our Sponsors: Titleist AT&T Arccos Golf If you enjoyed this episode, consider joining⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ The Nest⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: No Laying Up’s community of avid golfers. Nest members help us maintain our light commercial interruptions (3 minutes of ads per 90 minutes of content) and receive access to exclusive content, discounts in the pro shop, and an annual member gift. It’s a $90 annual membership, and you can sign up or learn more at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠nolayingup.com/join⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Subscribe to the No Laying Up Newsletter here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://newsletter.nolayingup.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Subscribe to the No Laying Up Podcast channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@NoLayingUpPodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Be the right club. Be the right club today. That's better than most. How about him? That is better than most. Better than most. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the no laying up podcast. Solly here, joined by my guy raising the roof like it's 2003 DJ Pi.

Hello, pie, man. Hello, Solly. What a great day. What a great day. Got to spend some family time. Weather's finally popping here. We all got to watch our good friend. Lauren Coggle and get a dub out there in Sin City.

Just life's good, man. Great to be here. Very, very busy weekend. It was 2003 when they were racing the roof. Maybe a little late on it, but, Big Randy might be in Vegas, actually, right? Oh, that's true. 96.

Yeah. Or that was Phoenix. That was Phoenix. Yeah. We'd take that off line. But it was a while ago. Big Randy's here. Hello, Big.

Hi, guys. Glad to be here. Solly, where are you, are you in the manor house? Are you in the den? Where, for anybody watching? Where are you? Johnson's office or something. I got a.

moody, moody house here in Augusta, Georgia here, getting, got in today, drove up today, went to Augusta. I might tell you guys a little bit about it. If you'll come around the fire, join, grab up Randy, and come join me here and I'll tell you stories of your of Augusta National. But we're going to talk about that. We're, of course, going to talk about the Augusta National Women's Amateur. We have, as mentioned, Lauren Coglin wins the Iran coach championship by five at Shadow Creek. J.J. Spahn wins the Valero. Jeremy Gandon of France, Bernie the last last three to win the Lecom Sun Close Classic on the Corn Ferry Tour. Got a bunch of stuff in the notebook, Golf Digest Report on Prototaped Golf Balls and just

tons of news and notes. So let's get into it. Before we do that, the most played driver on the PGA Tour showed out once again Sunday at the Valerial where each of the top four players was playing a tidalist driver. Three to the last four events on the PGA tour have seen the winner and runner-up finishers play a tidalist driver. Among them this week was Robert McIntyre, who put his GTS2 in play, immediately following a fitting session last week in the UK at the

title's performance center at Woburn. He's one of 34 players this week at the Valero playing a new titleless GTS driver in just the second week since the new models launched on tour. That 34 number also is more than any other brand's total number of drivers. So stay tuned to Titleist social channels

for more updates on the new GTS drivers as the tour seating process continues here over the coming weeks. Big shot Bob was shouting out the ability to shape the ball with the driver, which is three. I love, I love hearing that. You don't hear a lot of that in pro golf these days.

You know, it's a lot of guys hitting it high, hitting it straight, hitting it long. Big shot, Bob's like, man, it's windy out there. I got to be able to shape this driver, which he was doing. So that was, that was exciting. But you should have hit that with his second shot there on 18. Possibly. He shut the studio down on that one. That was a tough.

I don't know what that club was. I had that in my notes. It looked like one of those like super old white fair wave metals from like 2000. You know, you don't talk about raising the roofs, though. It looked like one of those really old. Taylor made three woods or something. I got to get in the Daryl survey. But where are you, man?

I should say, we're awaiting a call from the champion out in Vegas, LC. She might be calling in here shortly. So if we cut off one of your stories or something, don't take it personally. But if you want to just take it until she calls, that would be great. I won't take a person. Listern's going to be devastated. That's going to be really, really tough. I think maybe my favorite moment of the weekend was, you will get to it, obviously.

Aster's tally hitting the bunker shot into the water. That was not my favorite part of the weekend. That was, that was devastating. But Sully immediately, man, really makes you think about that up and down. I made from back there,

huh? The whole team was just like, God, that's all we can think about. It was the first thing that popped into my head. It was in my mind the whole time. It was very degrees. I got to shoulder that one.

I know. It was very degrees of difficulty, though. It's kind of an incomparable because if you remember, I was actually in the harder bunker. Right, exactly. Not totally. 100%.

level oh wow i think is my story getting interrupted already we're already interrupting you're already preempted elsie we asked soli to just vamp but we're going to cut them off congratulations thank you guys how about that how about that how hard all right how hard is that golf course it's so hard i mean there's just like clubs where it's just like okay like can't hit anything else but this club is probably not going to stay on the green but hitting it in that part of not on the green is the best so that's where we're going to I can at least make bogey from there. It's a hard golf course, but you love it, clearly.

I mean, what is it about this place that, you know, you just tend to go apesh shit on? I think you're not only like, you can't just fire at things. You have to, like, be really particular about where you're hitting stuff and using slopes and things like that. So it's not like, oh, I just aim at the pin. Like there's some holes I'm aiming like 30 yards left of the pin trying to hit a slope.

And so I don't think a lot of girls are used to having to do that. given like that we don't play typically this firm of golf courses all that often. And so I think that's part of it. But I don't know, I just, I feel like I see the greens really well too. Like I've putted really well the last year as well. And I'm, I made a ton of putts this week. So I don't know, it just seems to just suit my game pretty good. For sure.

Just to follow up on that. Karen Stupples on the telecast said the setup this week was as hard as any major venue. in recent memory. I mean, I would imagine you maybe agree with that. Besides the firmness, is there anything else that really plays into how difficult Shadow Creek is? Yeah, I think, again, it's just like around the greens, there's so much slope and there's so much slope on the greens that if you get in the wrong side of something, it's so hard to even just make bogey. And I think that's, I mean, I just think it's like, you're going to miss greens. It's just like not like we're weeks where like, oh, you know, you can hit 17 greens this week or 18 greens.

It's like you're going to miss a lot of greens and you have to miss in the right spots. And if you don't do that, and I think that's very much like what a major is. Like you have to know where to miss and misappropriately and then also get it up and down, which I feel like I did a good job of two this week. Is it hard playing? I mean, you'd rather be more shots ahead than behind. But is it a little bit hard playing golf with that big of a lead? It's kind of unavoidable thinking about like, oh, I just got to not screw this. Is that what, take me where your mindset actually is.

Probably not because you're still one by five. I think it definitely creeped in just, but I think I didn't really know where I was. There's like no scoreboards really until you get to nine. And so I had no idea like what anybody else was doing. Obviously, I really only knew what Nelly was doing. And so once I got to nine and realized, oh, I got like a six shot lead right now, that's when I was like, okay, not that I'm going to play non-aggressive, but it's just like, now that I'm going to change my.

game plan because that's clearly what got me there. But yeah, I mean, I'm going to, like, laying up on 18, like, I probably wouldn't have laid up on 18 if I really needed, like, Eagle or something. But it's just there was no point. And I was kind of between clubs and it's just like, why, why do that? Why I put that stress? Elsie, you, this is your first win since, gosh, going back to 2004, yeah? 2000?

What, 2020, 2020, 2020. Sorry. Sorry. Just win in the U.S. though in a while. First win in the U.S. Yeah. Yeah.

Did anything feel different this week? Did you feel like the game was trending? Like I know it hasn't quite been the end of last season in the beginning of this season that you wanted. What was different about this week? I think last week I actually played like extremely well, T to Green. I was trying another putter for the last two weeks. I was trying one of the ping onset putters. just to see if I could kind of help with my like pole that I tend to have.

And I finally was just like, God, I just like can't look at this thing. And I had, luckily I had brought my old putter back and brought with me just in case. And it was like, oh, this thing looks so good when I looked down at it. But I think that was really the only thing that was missing. It's like I was testing out some different stuff to kind of start the year. Like I put in new iron shafts. I was kind of testing out some driver shafts. And I ended up putting my old driver shaft in last week.

And that finally started going really good last. week. And so I felt like the pieces were coming together, even if it didn't necessarily, like, show the last couple weeks. I knew the irons were really good. And so last week was figuring out the driver. And so, like, this week was figuring out the putting. And it was as easy as just switching back to my old putter. Lorna, maybe this is, you know, I've been watching a lot of the master's recap stuff from last year and hearing Rory talk a ton about Bob Rotella. And I don't know if we've talked to you, at least like not publicly about working with him and what, what, what, that's like, but hearing Rory talking about him, hearing you talk about him kind of privately.

I'm just, first of all, I'm like, what's that like? And second of all, I'm like, why is everybody not calling this guy? Like everybody. It just seems like a no-brainer. But what's it like working with him? I mean, Bob's great. He's got amazing stories. I mean, name a top PGA tour player and he's probably worked with them at some point if he's not still working with them currently. So he just has so much wealth of knowledge. And it's just he's just easy to talk to. I've been pretty fortunate that he lives where I live in Virginia. And so I literally just go play golf with him.

That's all I ever really do. And we just like talk about stuff. And if I really, really need anything, like I give him a call. And most of the time, it's like routine. And especially with putting and not thinking about result. Like I definitely found myself, you know, thinking about winning like through nine holes, especially once I saw the lead I had. And so I think it was just trying to stay in,

focusing so much on my routine as best I can, acknowledging that it's okay that that's where my mind went. Like I really want to win. But getting back into focusing on my routine and just thinking about that. And if you can do that, a lot of good things will happen. Elsie, I think like I am dead ass serious. I consider this a major victory.

I like the venue, the setup, the leaderboard, like I think it's more impressive than virtually every Chevron that's been contested. Except for the one you almost won. That was a really great job. Except for that, yeah, that would have counted for sure. But in all, in all seriousness, like this has to really, I don't think you need confidence, but like it has to feel good winning like this on a difficult venue.

I guess my question, how much do you enjoy playing difficult golf? Do you wish there was more difficult golf out on tour? Yeah, I mean, on Friday afternoon, I got to like the ninth hole and like I hit I it was blown pretty good obviously on Friday and I hit the shot exactly how I needed to exactly where we were talking about and I hit it to like 15 feet and I just looked to my caddy and I was like this is so fun like everybody's been complaining about this and I'm like it is so fun executing a shot like that guessing the wind right judging how far you need to land it especially when they're this firm and I'm like that's like I literally was like this is so freaking fun I don't know why everyone's complaining like I mean, I get it when you're not executing. Like, that's definitely not fun when you're making bogeys and doubles and stuff out here. But, like, I was having a blast. It was also, like, my third week with a new caddy, Jack, and I really, really like him a lot.

He was great out there. He was keeping me, he's so funny and so dry. So that was pretty, we were, he catty's at Augusta and he has for 37 years. So, like, we were talking a lot about master stuff kind of leading up to that. So it was, there was a lot to talk about. Jack, uh, Jack lit me on fire. when I was down at the first event of the year. Yeah, yeah, tournament champions.

Because I still had the bib on. I didn't even notice I had the bib on. And I was like, I was going into player dining to like grab dinner lunch or something. He goes, man, you're, you're really proud of that bib. I'm like, yeah. Yeah, I don't even want to get kicked out. Yeah, okay, thanks, Jack. He's hilarious.

He's so dry and like so many one. So it was a lot of fun. I was happy to have him. I mean, doing it in our third week together is pretty, pretty cool. Lauren, how do you, I'm going to try to get you to say this out loud because I'm watching you, when I'm watching you play and I'm watching this smile in your face right now, like, what I, what I sense right now is you in your own head just being like, I'm so good. Like, I'm so good right now.

Like, can you describe kind of what your confidence level is right now and your belief in yourself is right now? I mean, it's funny because like last, all last year, I was like, am I going to be able to win again? that's all I was thinking about last year. Am I going to be able to win without Terry cadding for me? Am I going to be able to win just at all of it? Was that the best golf I'm never going to play in my life? Like last year was really hard. Just I think just the transition from being like kind of under the radar to like now people like kind of know who I am.

That was a big transition. Having like sponsor stuff was a big transition in off weeks. So I think my confidence definitely was like. like not good last year. And even kind of coming into this week, I feel like I still kind of was like not really sure. But yeah, after today,

I feel pretty good. Close enough. Are you hanging in Vegas? What's, are you going to go party? What's the plan? I mean, we have a 6 a.

flight out in the morning because I hate red eyes. So I don't, I don't know yet. I haven't really got to talk to John all that much yet. I just did photos and I'm about to have to go do media now. So. Okay. I got, I'm sure we're going to be doing something with Casey and John because we were supposed to be staying with them tonight.

So. Just walk right under the plane at 6 a.m. Come on. That's whatever. All right. I know. I know, you know, John got a fishing boat after the last, the last dove. There's a big purse this week.

Is he beating you up for anything else or what? No, I think we're good now for a while. I'll just keep putting it in the bank for now. Well, congratulations. Thanks, guys. Way to go, L.C. That was awesome. Cheers.

Cheers. Cheers. All right. Well, that was earlier than I thought we would get her. So thank you very much to Lauren. I realized we didn't really introduce it. If you don't know the backstory, like Lauren Coglin was one of our original young hitters back in about 2019, I think, when she was on the Epsantor. Is that when we started?

I think so. Yeah, I think so. Start started sending a DM to Tron. Just, hey, you know, listen to the pod. You guys ever consider, you know, throwing any weight behind you? a mini tour golfer back when yeah she was on the smetcher tour at the time and i ended up going to get coffee with her and just absolutely loved everything about her and uh yeah it's been a friend of the friend of the pod friend of the program friend of just a friend uh ever since so it's uh truly

it's weird we said this came and played in the nest invitational tournament won it one year if you uh yeah we're talking about having great caddies yeah that's right uh uh we want it that year. If you're, yeah, if you're very curious about Lawrence towel that she's got, the kind of like NLU towel with the,

with the like sort of day glow, uh, logos on it. Yeah, that's from that NIT, which is always makes me, makes me smile. But it's,

it's funny, man. It's, we've said this a lot like when Max wins or, or other people like that. It's just, it's weird how normal it feels. It's like,

oh yeah. That's, yeah, she looked at Nellie played in the last group and just pushed her over a table and like, Yeah, I mean, it's, it's toast. See ya. Later. It's, it's just crazy how normal it feels to watch her just be one of the best players in the world. She's just the Dan Hurley jiff right now. She's like that. Yeah. Truly. I mean, it's head all up on. Yeah. Yeah. Just not.

Just sitting on 20. Hit me. Hit me. Just awesome. Awesome. I'm so excited for her. Gosh, yeah. Well, I think, I think with that, I think we just. just keep going with LPJ, the Ramco at Shadow Creek, get the, get the rest of the, the notebook out here. The best stat I think that I've found, uh, golf channel posted this late during the, uh, the final round broadcast. Uh, after round one, there were 20 people under par. After round two, there were 10 people under par. After round three, there were five people under par. They ended up with four people under par. Uh, this, Randy, this does not happen a ton on the LPGA, a setup like this, a test like this. No. And the best thing is, like, if you've watched this event, the old match play, Shadow Creek's wild. And it plays like this every year. And I was, I mean, I was expecting it to play difficult. I did not think it was going to play this difficult. I think I was trying to do a quick count. Like, I think there were 33 rounds in the 80s this week. PTI? Yeah. Like we're looking at a PTI probably, I mean, well over two for sure. So. Proper test index for those that don't know. Yeah, this is a proper test. Like truly you look back at, you know,

I think of the U.S. women's open at Lancaster. The U.S. women's open at Olympic, but like that's how difficult this played this week. And it's just wonderful. I love it. I guess my question to you guys, you know, we talked to L.C. about it. She loved it.

It's great when you're playing well. We don't get this. Like this will be the only non-major setup. that's remotely close to this. Plus seven made the cut Friday. Just to, you know, that's absurd. Do you guys, like obviously we've been banging the drum of setup stuff. And I would like the LPGA to do more with their setup to help identify the true best players, right?

Like LC talked about, you know, playing 15 feet away from the pin is the proper shot. You just don't get that most weeks. Or if you miss the green in a certain spot. you're dead. You know, they just don't get that many weeks of the year. Having said that, Shadow Creek is kind of one extreme, but this is the type of golf I like. Like, I have no problems watching, you know, good shots get rewarded with birdies. And then, you know, you can make a double bogey pretty easily out there. Dej, I'll throw this to you. I don't know if you watch quite as much women's golf as I do. Like, does anything about the difficulty turn you off to the, to the product? because I think that is one of the things I hear is like, ah, casual fans, they're just going to think it's poor golf, but I don't know.

I don't really buy that. I'm curious what you think. This is sort of building the plane as we're flying at take here. But I would say what would get me of women's golf, like mostly casual fan to tune in is golf course, first and foremost, usually if it's a course that I really want to see, like,

you know a certain playing style. The second thing is big names. Is it, you know, is it names I somewhat recognize? Is it storylines I like following throughout the year? And then down from there, I mean, like a pretty distant third is like, oh, are there a bunch of birdies flying around? I think that's pretty, you know, sometimes you can marry those up. But I'm looking at this test at Shadow Creek.

And I'm like, man, it's pretty great leaderboard, pretty great separation of skill. Good. Yeah, like good players played really good, you know? And I think that where some of those criticisms can have some legs, I think is when we've talked about this a lot on the men's side for sure, is when you have quote unquote hard setups that also just turn into like arbitrary reward. Yeah. Piece of shit fucking putting contest. I forget what they're POS, FPS, FPC. That's what that is.

That's what happens too often. Yeah. Or even it's almost like the flip side of that, is always when it's like. when the wrong things get punished, when you get super, super, super narrow fairways and really thick rough and everybody's missing fairways and there's no actual, it just puts everybody in a blender.

And it's like, let's just kind of see who randomly plays well is not the same as what we watched it, Shadow Creek, which I think was a real test of golf where the good players played good. You know, and so I don't know. It's kind of a roundabout way of saying that it definitely does not turn me off to watching it. I had a blast watched it

this afternoon. And I love when it feels like there's consequence. It would have been a really interesting tournament without Lauren. I mean, that's the thing with some of these hard setups, though, is like there was so much very, you did not know what was going to happen. I mean, Lauren had a big lead early in the week, and it kind of was drifting a little bit yesterday on Saturday. And it was just like, dude, it could go any which way for her today. And by the time I got off the course at Augusta today, she had a six shot lead. I was like, whoa, I knew all options were on the table here, but I did not expect that one of all things to come in and check my phone. And it,

But that kind of variability is what you're looking for. What happens too often on the LPGA tour, Randy, I don't the PGA tour for that matter, is mistake made, oh, that's okay. He or she is fine there, and they'll probably figure out a way to par. But it was like, if you made a mistake at any point of any hole, you had to make an excellent shot to recover and make par.

And you could hit two excellent shots and make a birdie and drain a put, but it puts so much more of a test on so many other aspects of your game than just like mid-range putting, which is just like what the broadcast defaults is showing on repeat. and it just, it lulls you to sleep on men's or women's side. So making it work backwards of putting all the shot, so much shot value in individual shots. And just like watching like Leon McGuire and LC play the 18th hole yesterday where McGuire's

coming in with a hybrid, LC's coming in with, you know, mid to short iron there into 18. And it's a different test of skill. Like LC has a distance advantage and she was able to flex it on that hole. But you better be accurate at Shadow Creek as well. it was a really good test. And I know the major championship months are kind of all played during hot. You know, the majors that move around

US Open and PGA are not good times to go to Vegas for major championships. I don't think Shadow Creek's going to elevate into that. But they've got a hit event here, having a stroke play event at this golf course, and I hope it's there for a long time. And Randy, to finish this thought,

a very good reason to believe the new leadership of the LPGA tour is quite pleased and is seeking out, this kind of test and know that I think people will like want this out of the LPJ product. Yeah. Just to serve as quick down the leaderboard, like let me just read you the top 20 is just like these are world now it's not every world class golfer, but there are no fakers really, right? Obviously LC, Leona McGuire, you mentioned tied for second with Nelly. Miu Yamashita major winner, Akia EY was tied for fifth.

Ronning Yin shot 67 today, round of the day. Like, holy shit, she's a major winner. She's tied for 7th. Even somebody like Carlotta Saganda, you know, great ball striker. She's tied for 9th. Nasa Hataoka tied for 9th. Lydia Co. Allison Corpoo's tied for 11th. Jojo Kim, who was looking for her third straight win this week,

undone by a Saturday 79, but she's tied for 13th. Charlie Hall's tied for 15th. Angel Yin loves difficult golf. She's tied for 15th. And I'm glad to see Gino Tiswis. Titicum tied for 17th. This was kind of another week where it's like, Gino, we got to see a little something to beat that dome golfer rap.

So I just, yeah, I love it because I look down at the top of this leaderboard, and I'm like, there's real ball strikers. You know, nobody's faking their way around Shadow Creek for four days. So, you know, obviously not every week's going to be Shadow Creek, but getting these golf courses a little bit more firm, you know, getting the greens a little bit more. firm not making it target practice i think it is a better television product especially when you mix in some of the enhancements that we see with the golf channel product more tracers more you know

drones a little better cameras like it's all building to a better broadcast so i am excited about that i think uh sallie building on what you said to one of the things i found interesting about today and i think dovetails with this conversation is yes Lauren made it boring at times but also because at Shadow Creek, it wasn't boring. Yeah. It was like there were, there were a lot of times. I waited forever to tweak because I was so nervous to Jigsden. As a big, big Lauren fan, I'm kind of like, ah, five is, five's great.

I would love if it was like nine or ten, though, because I'm seeing what Nana Kurtz Madsen's doing out there. And I'm seeing like, you know, H.J. Kim shoots 79. Yeah. Okay. Okay. This, like, it can get out of hand quickly here too. And so, I mean, the dream is you find, you know, I think the dream for TV, Randy, is like,

you find, you find, you find. this is such an obvious statement, I know, but you go to like the ANWA where you do have both, right, where you do have like the dividing line is so like defined. And also you can make birdies and also you can make triples. Like that's, I think the ultimate dream. But if I got to miss on one side, you know, if it's if it's kind of either Shadow Creek or it's pro-am style, everybody's making birds. A wild horse that we saw last week. A horse, yeah.

I really, I got a kick out of. And actually I'd ask you guys, because I think it's an interesting question. I loved, Sully, your question last week, who won? Did the field win or did the golf course win? I feel like L.C. might have won, but I think Shadow Creek beat everybody else. Yeah, yeah. That seems right. I will say LPJTor has got to be a little bit better prepared for setups this tough in terms of pace of play.

And there was some major backups, especially on Saturday for group weight, I think, when they got to the 13th hole, something like that. I don't know. Like LPGA has not afforded the luxury that the, you know, the men's events are usually afforded on the, you know, throughout the summer. I had to think, I had to think this whole thing. But the whole thing for the LPGA is lining up, their players to play in the TV window.

And they do not have big ass windows like the PGA tour has. So they're a little hamstrung on that front. But at the masters, at the ANWA and in the good PGA, four events were they able to shape this out, you've got to leave a tea time gap somewhere in there or else like one bad rule. on a really difficult golf course where there's going to be a lot of bogeys also is literally going to snake all the way back for eternity. Like every you're just,

you're just going to be buttoned right. If there's one group that gets backed up, that's why the gaps are important because it just serves as like a, a natural, you know, if there is a something that happens up ahead, it gives the back end of the traffic is not going to bump right up against it. But that was, that was a tough part for national television audience to see that on Saturday.

Yeah, the pace, the pace is, I don't know. know if we've really made any progress on the pace of play i think they were over five hours as a two ball on saturday i don't know what today that's that's that's that's for randy i'm like dude you wanted it tough it's going to be tough and it's you're gonna it's gonna take longer to hole out when it's tough and new the greens are that fast and it's not as same as a tv viewer it doesn't really matter as much to me but it is a pain in the ass if you're on the ground yeah um agree i think they The only other thing I want to mention, Solly, heat check, Nelly,

third consecutive runner up, this time tied for second. Like I said, with Leonna McGuire. Are we still positive with- Yeah, this is great. This was way more fun this time. I'm like, oh, no, we don't need you win this one. We're rooting for you every week, but not against L.C. Like, yeah, I mean, she's obviously playing great golf.

You know, she's not like getting, she's beat by a different player this time around. It's somehow easier to be, a little bit sobery, a little bit more sober on this to be like, yeah, she's playing awesome golf right now. And, you know, it'd be a pretty darn big coincidence if she just, like, finished second in the Chevron here in a few weeks. Like, she should be considered the favorite for that, I think.

Over, would you agree with that over Gino? Yeah, I think so. I, I will note that Nellie missed a shorty on. She's done, man. That was a good run. She's not two out of the last three. No, she's toast. dude okay maybe might be playing randy might be clogging the basis might be playing might be getting

too many shots on goal that's right your chances i know i was only going to say i thought very very interesting nelly missed another like two-footer i forget it was the bogey on six or eight uh but golf channel went to the miss short putt montage for nelly which you know they had that pre-packaged the last you know each of these last three weeks she's missed very short putt so still kind of in there. That's the thing that makes me nervous. But I do think Nell, like, I think her game is right where she needs it to be. Like, I'm not, I think it's more good than bad these last three weeks,

even though she hasn't been able to chase down any of the eventual winners on Sunday. She's obviously playing very good goal. We do a Maya Kulpa as well from last week for us, applying that she's to switch to the mallet when she has, in fact, used a mallet quite often in her career. Maybe she should go back. Maybe go back. the point. Maybe.

Yeah, maybe, yeah. Maybe. That was the thought brought up last week at like 10.30 p.m. Please forgive us for that one. So thank you. AT&T believes in connecting people to greater possibilities and they do that through a network that keeps people meaningfully connected to those who matter most, friends, family, and more. So the moments that matter feel closer and clearer because it's not just about being

being more connected. It's about being better connected wherever life takes you. When the connection matters, it has to be AT&T. Find out more. the ATT.com backslash connect to change AT&T connecting changes everything. I actually saw this up close and personal today. Guys, you know, behind the ninth green, just like ripping some cover off there and doing whatever they're doing under the wires of Augusta National. Connecting.

As somebody to AT&P. The hell out of that. Absolutely connecting the shit out of that place. Yeah. You look connected. You're up at Augusta? We're not even missing a step, man. It's great.

Connecting changes everything. I love it. Well, hey, speaking of Augusta, sorry. you got cut off earlier. You're, you're up at the national. It got to be a got to be kind of a who's who up there today. You know, Green Jackets still fit this year? I feel like Sunday is kind of the, that's where the, when the players play up there.

Everybody's there on Monday, you know, stuff in their face with peach ice cream sandwiches. But Sunday is when the real heavies are out there, I think. Today was such a treat because I roll up and it starts to drizzle a little bit. And it was quieter in the press building that it has been in the past on Sundays. And this is been the best day to go, I think, because there's no, patrons there there's it's not an official day but the media are allowed to go take a shuttle i hate the patrons you can hang near the first t nine green 10 t 18 green and it you just don't know who's coming next like you you have no idea and that it was kind of raining and there was like no other media

people standing there this time around and in the past there's been a bunch people you know you always have some conversations and like see some balls come into 18 green and you don't know who it's gonna you see a swing from 18 Fairway and you're like, who's this going to be? Oh, that's Sergio's move. Like, holy crap, here comes Sergio. He's playing with Dustin Johnson and who are the two guests they're bringing up here? And like, Marco Mirra and Gary Player play together. And it's just, it's awesome. So I gathered up as much Intel, talked to as many people as I could for, you know,

about an hour and a half, probably standing there behind 18. And I got some notes if you guys would like to hear some other reporting from the ground. Please. So guys have talked about this. If you listened to our podcast this past week, Maddie Kelly, walk through this as a caddy as well. This is from an interview we did back in 2020, but about how you show up and you,

you know, you start talking, catty start talking to each other about what's new. You know, did this change, did this change? I experienced that a little bit today. Two different caddies gave me two different,

uh, summaries of what greens change. So it's kind of rumors, kind of, you know, you look at something and you start imagining, am I imagining that this change? Did this really actually change?

But from one caddy told me 11, 13 and 14 and 14 were resurfaced. And a different one told me 11, 14 and 16 have been resurfaced. surface with one group being very, you know, convinced that 16 was a little bit different in some spots and whatnot. And I am convinced. And so obviously Hurricane Harvey, I believe it was, that rolled through Augusta at the end of 2024. And we saw in April 225, a different look at Augusta. 10th hole looked different. The background of a bunch of shots were different because a lot of trees fell in that time period. I think even more have fallen near the 10th to the point where I was standing there. I'm like, I don't ever remember being able to

to see these cabins this clearly. And I don't think you stay on that tea anymore and really feel like you have to hit a hook at all. I watched Michael Brennan hit a tee shot off that. And Ollie his catty lined him up to like, A, that tree distance as you could see completely. Like it's 350 to that one, just like right at that. And he hit like a straight ball with driver right at that tree. And to the point where I was kind of, man, I don't kind of feels like it's missing something, honestly. And I hope I'm not imagining this. And I know that it was noticeable last year when you got to 10 that there were way less trees, but it felt like even less than last year. So I don't know if any more have fallen or have come down for whatever reason.

But maybe Rory took him out now that he's got some more power around the club. Maybe a Stadler thing that runs some juice around. You know, maybe a Craig Stadler now that I got the dove. Why don't I get the chainsaw out? I'll tell you what's true. I was going to take down. I did ask Mr. Player when he came off 18 Green, what is the total number of rounds at now that where you

you have broken your shot lower than your age. Of course, it is 3,439, which I think is up over 100 from, of course, from last year. He says he's playing four or five times a week. He gave us that story when he walked off 18 green last year at this time. Told the same exact story again about how Trevino, you know, says, well, shit, you're 90. Like, all you got to do is roll out of bed and not double bogey every hole and you're going to break night. So he told that exact one again. But I honestly, the azaleas are bucking as well.

A lot of his alias out there. I was going to ask. Yeah. Are they blooming too soon? A little too soon, but I can't, I couldn't leave that top area, but I could look all the way out and see down to 13 up on the hill there. And there are some azaleas. And right in all near the press building, there's tons of azaleas.

And it's quite lovely, Randy. I forgot about Dustin Johnson, just in general. He has a Celsius bag. Sure. Again, don't know if we- flexing on TC. And when he got dosed out in Nebraska, couldn't stop shaking the ball.

Because I thought that was Tiger Space, being in the energy drink bag, but anyways, I see a group coming up 18, and I see what looks like a very professional-looking golf swing, miss into the bunker right on 18. And I was like, oh, that's pretty poor. I wonder who missed that one, walk up. It's Rory.

And I was like, oh, that should look pretty familiar. I've seen you do that there. We know what that shot's all about. On 18. And his dad is coming up as well. This was publicized that they were, you know, as a master's champion, he can host people on the Sunday before the master's.

now and Jerry hits it left of 18 green. He's like behind the ropes and he's hit, has hit a tough pitch and it hits it down there to about six feet. And after he, as he gets ready to line up the putt, he says, I'm going to make sure I get this right. He said, I'm going to hold this one and I'm going to go down to my knees. Come pick me up, Harry, as he as he lines up to hit the put and he drains it. And like everybody went nuts and applauded and, you know, a big hug there.

And it was just, I don't know. If you haven't seen Rory talking about every whole of the final round of, and we'll talk about this probably at the end of the show as well, but you haven't watched that. And that, first of all, it's an incredible, incredible piece of content for a variety of reasons.

But it just like- Do that instead of listen to this pod. 100%. Yeah, 30-7 minutes. We got your download. That counts. But just like,

I don't know, man, you just view like a, you could be a pretty, you know, I wrote up a tweet on it and I posted. I'm like, yeah,

it's kind of corny. I'm like, yeah, It's corny, but like this is like a father and son after the years of torment he's had about trying to win this tournament. They get to play, you know, their first round. Rory has said this week he's anticipates enjoying the masters a lot more than he ever has now. They're just about this cloud hanging over him and like them getting Harry there as well. Jimmy Dunn and Michael Walth were there as well.

And I don't know, just look like a really fun special day out there for that group. And they were they were jovial coming off 18 green. I talked to all of them for a little while. It was great. I think we just talk about that now, Sally. The video that the Masters put out was outstanding. I also watched the Rory documentary, the one that he kind of co-produced with his production company on Amazon Prime.

The two are very starkly different from each other, but both really solid, very, very additive watches. Some of the documentary, as you might expect, is turned up. There's some dramatization. I think it breaks the cardinal sin of just no recreations ever. I don't think we ever need to recreate anything for a documentary. I think that's always a bad idea. But other than that, I'm like, man, I just had a smile on my face like the whole time watching it.

Wait, what were they recreating as somebody that hasn't watched it yet? Like was it CGI or what do you know? No, no, no, no, no, no, no. The, Rory's the thrust of the piece. Shout out to Bob Rottella, a lot of burn in this episode. The thrust of the doc is kind of Rory. He's like, what are you going to do differently this time you've tried and failed so many times at Augusta? And he's like, well, I'm going to just create my own, I'm going to create my own universe.

I'm just going to be in my own world. You know, he said a lot of those quotes after he won and has said a lot of them over the last year. And, you know, I'm not going to, I'm just going to put the blinders on, do my own thing. And so they kind of would fade into these shots where they went back out to Augusta. You know, they went back left of 15 and had them recreate the hook and back to the first tee and back to the 18th. And so occasionally they'd be like, he's in his own world. Do you get it? Not that big of a deal.

I didn't mean to double click on that that hard. Just, you know. Sorry, you got me excited there with some like, you know, maybe some graphics or. No, no, no. They weren't using, you know, nano banana to do some AI recreations. Although I'm sure others have. Solly, the reason for all of this is I was thinking the same thing as you. But in my head, I'm just like, oh, man, am I being too like cheesy about this?

what and I'm like fuck that man if you can't like if you can be cheesy about this like I don't know if you are like cynical about this stuff at all like god you're just spending too much time on the internet and and just like I just playing the wrong game I had it I was at such a smile the whole time watching him recreate you know talking to like listen to him talk about the shot on 17 listen to him talk about the shot on seven with Harry how much he didn't want him to hit it and I see a window like give me all of that stuff man it was so good I would say if it, admit, this is directed to myself as well. If you start to feel any cynicism towards that, you need to just take in less content.

Yeah. Because it's like I get, there's a shitload about the Masters. It is very possible to OD on Master's stuff. I'm pretty close heading into this week. But the one with Augusta, I thought was one of the greatest pieces of content, golf content I've ever seen in terms of like what makes Rory special, what makes him what so endearing to a lot of people, I would include myself in that group is the vulnerability of so much stuff.

And it's not just the personal stuff. Like I just can't ever imagine Tiger getting up there and specifically describing multiple T shots being uncomfortable for him. And like why it went wrong on 14, why it went wrong on 17. And I remember Tiger hit this shot in 2019. And, you know, I was, he walks you through the exact emotion. We've heard him describe the shot into 13, what went wrong there being on the up. But he talks about all the things that made him uncomfortable. And then how when he gets behind all.

of a sudden he gets back into go mode it's like oh my god and he goes i was thinking about the shot in the 16 all day long and because it was such an uncomfortable shot for me it was a bad number and i'm like dude that's what it looks like when i'm watching like all of the emotions of how i imagine it to be like he is confirming all of that and just makes you feel present for that entire ride and it and he you know was crying at the end talking about what it was like to share that moment with harry on the final green and uh it's it is a lot of rory content coming on this, but like reliving it through that lens was really, really special. And the Amazon documentary was really special of like just understanding the

the master's one, it was about 2025. It wasn't about the past. And the Amazon one was about the past. It was about the struggle to get this thing done and over the line. And really, you know, it is a lot right now, but it is really good complimentary pieces and something I enjoyed leading up into this. So I wish, sorry, last thing on film corner here, but I wish they were a little more complimentary. There were, there were a lot of redundancy, just kind of going through and talking about each thing. And here's what happened on nine and here's what happened on 18 and here's what happened on 13.

And here's, like, there was a lot of that stuff where there's a, the only thing I kind of bumped on. And I kind of thought this going in probably. But with, it's great like Rory co-producing it is, is, you know, obviously you get access to him. you're never, ever, ever going to get if he's not co-producing it. But there's also a lot of stuff that he's like, he's telling you that almost weirdly, like it's just so hard for him to convey the gravity of what everybody is feeling in, in that moment where it ends up feeling like a lot of telling instead of showing. And even though he's telling it 100% genuinely, even though he has very genuine tears in his

eyes, even though he genuinely is like expressing exactly what he was, he's doing everything he can to express exactly what he's feeling. I still, the things that, like, made me tear up is watching all the people at Hollywood Golf Club and watching all the people, like, around the greens. And watching, I'm like, man, the doc should have been a little more about, like, what Rory means to everybody else. Because, like, that's, I think, the thing that made this so unique.

And there was little glimmers of it, but they didn't really go super duper hard on just like, no, Rory's everybody's, well, maybe not everybody's anymore, since the live stuff kind of popped off. But for most golf fans, like Rory is their guy. And that's what I will think about like for the 2025 Masters. It's just like, oh, my God, my guy did it. And that's why I almost, you know,

who knows how much visibility they have kind of between the two things. But it's like the Augusta piece is Roy recounting everything. And I almost would have preferred a doc that was a little bit more. Yeah. You know, kind of about fans. but that's just my two cents. You should watch both. They're both really good.

Yes. Yeah. Randy, did you see the CBS, the golf on CBS trailer for the Nance thing that's coming out? Because that I thought it was a different kettle of fish. Yeah.

I believe there's a third I wish I could have a lot of retrospective coming out. And it's just, it was tough. The promotional trailer was the dumbest thing. I've ever seen. Like ever. Like if you're,

you don't have to watch it, like whatever you're picturing, it's worse. It's, it's, it's, it's just, it's just,

it's just, it's sure the actual piece will be fine. The actual piece will be fine, but the commercial. It's not a comment on the piece. Yeah. I was like, man, this, this,

whatever you spent on this, just fuck, can we maybe just get another drone or something? Whose vision was that? Yeah, tough. It's so many questions. Yeah,

it's like a guy and a girl walking into a movie theater and he's like hyping it up. She thinks they're going to go, see a movie, but he's just describing Rory winning the Masters and that's what they're going to go while. It was, oh, it's scary. Sometimes at time.

Is it a drama? It's every, it's tough. Like, I think they're trying to get my mom with that, but I'm not even sure they it's exceeded with that. I was trying not to say that in case my mom listened to the pod this week, but yeah, that's, I think the, I don't think Peg's going to catch this one, but I think they're going for Pegg with that.

I turned it off to go watch the Rory video after we, after we made that call. Anyway, sorry, what, we're talking about. Give you the last words. I had a question real quick, Solly. Yeah. Was today the drive chip and putt? Did you get up there in time? No, I got up, I got up mid-afternoon. I did Easter at home this morning, big. But no, I got up. Yeah. I regret to inform I did miss the drive chip and putt. But it is, I mean, I do love that Sunday, man. Just going and it's the only, you know, I just, I watched like Tom Watson come up and just like, he's got an open championship bag. Like it's the open is like his sponsor of his bag, I guess. I just like see him reach into the bag and like pull out cash for a caddy and give it to him right behind 18 and then just like he walk it's it's hard to describe how empty it is. I mean, it's just like I'm sitting there. You can't take pictures, right?

And you're just watching Tom Watson walk under the oak tree at a guy. I mean, he's started to look older. Of course. He is older now and you're just like it's such a unique. I mean, this is not a new take here that you can't bring your phones into Augusta and take photos. But like it's such a unique one of one place. I'm just like I'm watching a legend of the game. walk around a place where he's won green jackets and he's walking by himself right now.

And this is just a memory that's going to be in my head. I can't, you know, I can't take a photo of this. And I just a very bizarre place to be on a Sunday evening. But it's weirdly, weirdly peaceful. So, that's great. Who is the very first shot you saw? Harris English, I think, was the first one. He flushed.

He actually didn't flush it. He did not flush it and I came up short on nine, but I watched it. It's some chips. And I can report very good thudding going on around those greens with some, uh, with some chips and approach shots coming into them right now. Very good thud. It was drizzling out there, but it just didn't. It wasn't the kind of rain that was going to soak the greens

or put them behind schedule in any way. I think they're in very, very, very good control of the golf course and the greens as of as of today. Hell yeah. But Nick, like Horgard, he agreed with me as well on 10 in terms of like just being less trees and feeling like he could just bomb it right over the corner of that one. And I think that's pretty much all I had from today.

I don't know who the guests are that go and play with the past. I mean, it's all different groups of people, but it is people just walking off this golf course just like with grins, like touching their earlobes. It's just, you know, just out of this world experience, get to play, you know,

the day before Masters Week with past champions and everything. Because of why Gary Player did bring his grandsons. I thought I was going to ask him about that, but I didn't want him to get him worked up. He was in such a good mood as well. So he didn't eat any grass this year. year. That you saw.

Yeah. Yeah, that's true. But at the Anwa on Saturday, which feels like a long, long time ago now, Astris Talley took a one-shot lead into Augusta National over, I hope I get this right. Maya Ortengrin. Tengrin, I think. Ortengrin. I had it ready yesterday and I knew I was going to choke.

And Maria Jose Marin. And Astris Talley was standing on 11T at 15 under par, bogey-free on her round. Bogey Free is the championship as well. Made a 5 on 11. Hits into the back left bunker on 12. It's into the back left azaleas and trickles into the back left bunker. It's true. It was not close.

It's kind of offsetting crownings because, you know, Maria had a friend, had one Fred couples up on the front bank and then Asterisk had one bang out of the the azaleas. So the crowning's offset. Hits it in there, but it's a little on the down slope and then proceed. to hit it into Ray's Creek. I think she panicked a little bit. She dropped.

They were predicting before she even dropped it that it was going to plug. If she dropped, I think Bones mentioned that. It did kind of nestle in its own spot. It hits another one into Rays Creek. Has to go then across the bridge to the other side to hit on. Eventually made seven finished in a tie for fourth. Maria Jose Marine would go on to win the Columbia over wins by four shots. and a remarkably impressive final round.

Had a little nervy issue there on the 15th hole, but she would then proceed to Bertie 16 and removed all suspense down the stretch. Shot 68 on the day, finished 14 under 1 by 4 shots over Andrea Robelta. What's your guys lasting memory, though, of the 2026, Anwa? God, I think it's how mopey asterisk tally was just down the stretch. And that, I'm not, I really am not throwing shade. like she's a 17 year old you know but i i think one of my favorite things about this event is these kids and and most of them are kids i feel comfortable saying that like they do wear

their emotions on their sleeve like that and so i just it you you just knew exactly what she was thinking and it was a little tough to watch but it's also like this is you know this is a formative moment for her and this is a big competition so i and no shade to maria jose marin like super worthy champion respect her career unbelievable golf nobody respects her career more than i do uh but i feel like this was more about asteris and not getting it done it felt like to me uh at least on like through hold 12 and then the rest of the way was it was really just a coronation for maria Jose. Yeah, devastating. Just a devastating five minutes of TV there, but also can't look away. And it's kind of exactly why you go to Augustin National and things start moving quickly.

And oh my God, she's dropping there. And oh, my God, it went in again. Like just a lot of, uh, all the context. All the context. Yeah. We've seen it. That's what's funny is the, this is so fucking weird. but the first thing that popped into my head was just like, oh my God, Spieth, like he's free. The curse is over. Like whatever genie, whatever witch, like just hit him with that at 26.

It's over, man. Yeah, we're free. We're free. I'm really sorry for Astros Talley. She seems great and that's brutal. But yeah,

it's kind of like a, what is that? The cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Like you're just got to wear that until the next, until the next meltdown happens, I guess. But Spieth.

It made me really consider putting some nuggies on sweet this. That is interesting. I really love that theory. And for those that don't know, like Astros Talley is a star and has been a star. I mean, she's runner up with the US AM, running up the US junior in the same year. I just mentioned she's still just 17 years old. Absolutely bombs it. We went out and filmed some with her.

You actually played with her out earlier and about a month ago. Maybe my second. Second lasting memories. A lot of people. All the creepy. Yeah, did you guys just say, Neil just played nine holes? She just can't stop hitting it over the green,

which is a long left. Funny tweets. Yeah. So I think it was great, great things ahead for her. And maybe, hopefully is a little easier for her to take this. And lessons to be learned from it.

Like, I think she's going to be a massive favorite to win this thing next year. You have to, you have to assume that, assuming her game stays in place. Similar to the Rose, the Rose-Zang arc, right?

Like, you know, similar meltdown and came back and did it. the next year. But with louder tools than we are used to seeing from the top junior women's players. Like absolutely bombs it. We post a little video there just of all the high school kids

just like geeking out over how far she was hitting it and like has a chance to be a really transformative player when she makes a transition to the pro game in terms of having a wide set of skills. I would hesitate to call it complete at the moment. And I truly, truly don't ever

think I've ever critiqued anyone's professional or amateur's technique in any way on this podcast ever. Like, it is not my expertise, but. However, I, I, I, I'm watching her stand into this bunker shot on 12 with a quite square club face. And I'm like, wow, this is, this is some talent right here. Like, I, I don't know how you would hit this shot with a close face. And then it's like, oh, no, you didn't.

It just went, it went directly. And then did it again. And then went long on 15 and, like, also just played. that shot with a very, I'm like, that was just one of the very, very few times. I've watched golf on television. I'm like, I feel like we're in a decent spot here to be like, why are you not opening the blade a little bit on this for a little higher descent angle and softer landing and a little bit more spin going into these shots that are going to require it here as you're chipping

towards water. That was one of the only times ever I've been like, huh, okay, maybe we have some short game stuff to iron out here at some point. I don't know her game well enough to know if she has a considered a week short game, but I would guess that is something we do not see a repeat of from her. Sure. Yeah, there's a bit of a college kickers element to BeyondW, right? Where it's not, not everything's fully optimized. So you're watching this golf course that you have, like you said, all the context on,

you know, what every shot on every hole is all about. And you're watching, yeah, some people that are very nervous. And there was a quote going around. I think it was from Gabby Herzig's article about the Stanford women. I think it was Andrew Ravelda that said it. basically like there there were a couple different players that were both like I would rather win the Onwa than ever win on the LPGA like maybe a major Rwelta yeah which was just a like a big if true I think kind of kind of moment for me that's that's wild that was very concerning to me very telling I've written them off in their but it is there is something interesting about this tournament and like are you miss out on a shot to win the masters like

all right, give it a shot next year. Like if you miss out on your shot to win the ANWA, I mean, do you stay amateur to get another shot? Like, it is a limited window to get a chance at one of these. And you graduate kind of from Augusta. And you're not, as it stands now, you're not coming back to play competitive golf here. And there's a different kind of pressure on that.

So I get where you're coming from on that. And it is a really unique tournament in that regard of like you kind of only get one or two maximum really good shots at one of these. Yeah, which I think maybe, I don't know, it feels like maybe we do this every year, but I don't know if that begs the question of like, should you get more than one shot at it? You know, like, do they need to, I don't want to say need. Like, it just is always, it always, that feels like it cuts both ways and, and almost like the, it's a shame tends to win out for me a little bit.

Randy, you kind of, we were talking about it. You kind of said this too where it's like, oh, great. We get to watch Astor's Talley, like trying to slay the dragon for, for, for, for, 30 more years. I don't know. Actually, we don't. And it's like, yeah, that that does kind of, it kind of sucks. We must be like 25 and still haunted by that mistake at Ray's Creek. It's like, we're not going to get to find out.

Yeah. So I don't know if that leads to a larger discussion or we just kind of, you know, do that year. Yeah, I had thrown something in here. This was the seventh competition. They missed the one year because of COVID. So seven on was now. And I'm just curious how you guys think about. this event. I think it's mature enough to, like, is it good enough as it is? Does it need to evolve?

I'm just curious what your take is on this event. I guess within the larger context, maybe, of Masters Week. Is that the right way to, like, think about it? I guess, you know, I don't know. Like, are they eventually going to get away from Champions Retreat? There's just a few little things where I'm like, it still kind of feels like Augusta has their cake and eats it too with this event. And I just don't, you know, as this event gets 10 years in, I just don't know what maybe the future holds here. And I'm curious if you guys have any thoughts. It's hard, Randy. It's like it's a private club in Georgia that can do what they want, right?

It's not the USGA. I think I could get up on a soapbox and be like, this is wrong. If it's like, is the governing body of the United States Golf Association is short changing the women in some way. right, right? It's their club. They can kind of do what they want. They give us, you know, a taste of some things. And this is a positive development, this tournament without a doubt. Like, I really enjoy watching it every year. It's fun to put on Wednesday and Thursday. Champions retreat is not Augustin National. We know that. But it's a good table setter for what you're about to get and watch a bunch of young, budding professional women, but they're amateurs. Like, go around a golf course. We're very familiar with dealing with nerves and pressure like you would never believe. and is a great appetizer for the Masters. Like, it's a positive, really nice tournament. And is it perfect in that regard of like, you know, how would I feel honestly if they played three rounds at Augusta?

Like, would I be maybe a little worn out by getting to Masters Week? Like, potentially. Like, that's been the master's model. It's been to give you some, but like, not, you know, not overstuff. You not leave you, you know, incapable of getting the second course down. So I love a female women's masters, of course. Like, who wouldn't? Like, I think that's the big elephant in the room, right?

And I, but it's where I'm like, dude, it's not, it's not my club. It's, I know, I know. I see what you're getting at, though, for sure. And I think it's almost two different questions where it's like, is this as far as we can take it during master's week or as a part of the master's festival? And I kind of see why the answer might be yes, right? You can only do so much. So I think what you're saying is right. If it's three rounds here and then it's drive chip and putt and then it's three.

days of practice rounds and then it's four days of the master's like that's it's a lot of just that's a lot of green whatever that the master's copyrighted pantone is it's a lot of that for two weeks so i get that i think it does leave me wanting a little bit on you know well man it seemed to work somewhat okay in the fall like can we do of you know is there a chance to book in the season a little bit and have a you know the men in the spring and the women in the fall that is not like you said, Saul, it's not my place to suggest for them to do that,

but like would watch would be great, would be great to bolt the ANWA onto that as a part of, you know, as a part of that. But then it's like you lose, you know, all the infrastructure that comes with the masters and you lose Rory showing up to go watch the final round and shaking the

champion's hand. Like there, it is, it's a hard spot, which is where I feel like we always kind of circle back to the same place each year where it's like, yeah, it's not perfect,

but man, is it additive? Like absolutely. And to have an event like that, say what you will. But like whether you believe this or whether it's good or whether it's, there's a whole other, you know, there's a lot to dig into. But like to have an event that's seven years old where the best college players in the world are saying I'd rather win this than anything on the LPGA is fucking impressive.

If that's how they feel about it, then that certainly carries a lot more weight than how I feel about it, I guess. I think my only, I think it's a great point about the master. week specifically. Like the main dish is Thursday to Sunday this coming week. Like, obviously. I think if I were to suggest maybe one change to kind of like meet everybody in the middle, let's make Fridays round a competition round. Like let's have two rounds at Augusta. Because I think, like nothing against Maria Jose. It's one thing to go around Augusta National one time, but to like have to play. the second nine a second time under pressure sleeping on the lead you know i i just in introducing a little

bit more of that like a weird shit can happen at augustin national uh i i guess i would like let's make it a 72 whole 72 whole event and let's play friday and saturday of competition rounds would be like maybe we could get there at least yeah but yeah i doubt they'll change at this point but i don't I don't think anything's going to happen, but it's, I can dream. Yep. I want to give a shout out to our friends at Arcos, the official game tracker of the PGA Tour smartest platform in golf. We have an upcoming tournament, as you just mentioned.

There was just a tournament at Augusta. There's going to be one coming up right here. Has this, you know, thinking about how would, what would it be like to play Augusta? Let me tell you, Arcos has the data on that, all right? We actually have, if you're watching this on YouTube here, a little deck, a little of information of how Arcos golfers have played Augustin National. Those that have played it are usually good players that are tracking on Arcos, about seven handicaps. They still average about 72, which is 10 over par from the members T's the

T's the biggest thing. It's not off the T. It's the approach shots. What did I say? 72. Okay, it's 82. It's like guys are really good players. The biggest thing is it's not off the T. It's approach shots in putting. They're losing most of the shots into the greens. Then they're three putting them anyway. average of three, three puts around, which is not, you've seen the humps and bumps in Augusta Greens.

That is obviously not a surprise there. But we just said it last week. Honestly, so pumped that we could finally talk about the new Arcos Air. Been using it for a few months now. Honestly, getting back into doing the ads, it encouraged me to go play two rounds of golf this past week. It's so much fun. Putter got hot on Thursday.

I gained 4.4 shots on the Greens alone. Almost pulled a T.C. I almost had five 30s in a row. But it is undoubtedly also telling me my short game sucks, which is been, I was kind of like, I must not be entering this right. It's like, no, you chip like me, handicapped. It is what it has told me.

But if you haven't learned anything about it or don't know about it, it is sensorless technology where it's a wearable. It's packed with advanced GPS and motion tracking that tracks all of your shots with tour level accuracy. And it works because of the data. They've tracked over 1.5 billion shots. They know what's a real shot and what's not. The limited inventory, they have, they sold out once already.

And I think they have inventory back, but inventory is limited. So if you want to get one, go. get it now. Go to arcos.com, ARC-C-C-O-S-Golf.com. It's Arcosgolf.com. You can use code N-L-U-15, get you 15% off. You'll learn a ton about your game. You'll want to play more golf. I've been a better driver of the golf ball, strictly learning about how much penalties were actually affecting my score from the app.

I'm dead serious. I play more wise and make better decisions off the team using some of their course strategy stuff in there that Edwardom. And there he's done, Matt Fitzpatrick. It's a great, great product. our coastgolf.com and i'll you 15 for 15% off i'm one of those people so every time we do one of these reads i'm like god come on weather come on man come my dog i want to go start measuring stuff see wherever we're at i'm excited i'm excited it's gonna tell me i'm like a 16 handicap something and i don't know that's exciting like what am i actually like horrible i want to be i'm being

dialed it can't measure your mind though randy that's true you know or the dog anything else we need to clean up on the on the on the one i assume you guys saw the bailey shoemaker viral free shot thing uh i think that was from thursday's round i want to say she spent a long time pulled you know pulled the trigger several times to not actually make a swing um i know she's coming back from an injury some like nerve type damage so I don't want to make light of it. But I guess the question is, should you be out there with that much uncertainty?

Like at a certain point, it's like, what do you owe maybe yourself or your fellow competitor? It was just so hard to watch that I'm like, you can't play golf like that. What are we doing? Yeah, it was a video that was heavily, heavily, heavily circulated in a lot of places. And, you know, then it becomes, I don't know, it's just a tough conversation.

I'm with you, Randy, like, I get the reasoning behind this happening and understanding that she's dealing with Y word related, you know, something. It's hard to describe. I don't know the feeling she has, right? But I'm assuming it's like a fear of the, you know, the injury of the nerve catching at some point in the swing. And it's just multiple pump fakes in the swing. And it's really tough. And it's got to be really hard on your playing partners. And I would imagine if I was to fill in the blanks again here, Randy, it's like, all right, I'm still dealing with this, but I'm like, not going to.

miss the ANWA like you know you know I'm just not missing it I don't care if I'm a battle through it it and it's feeling good feeling good and then cut some holes like this thing pops up and there's kind of not much you could do about it um it's tough it um would you feel differently talking about it if it was a professional I I'm like am I being too harsh owner by by ripping this are we all being too harsh like piling on on social media when this something like this happens is like uh I struggle I think a pro would get just as much great like I just think it's I think about Kevin

nod the players a decade ago was just like eviscerated not that that was right either but yeah I'm with you

saw I but two things can be true as as you you know as tends to be the case very frequently in life both very sorry

that that happened super empathetic to anyone coming back from injury and also like yeah if that's against the spirit of the rules

then it's against the spirit of the rules. Like I, but that's where I'm also like, man, it's one clip on social media where I'm kind of like, I probably don't need to weigh in

is sort of where I, where I tend to land is that maybe defer to the rules officials on that one. If they're all like that, then that's tough. We shouldn't be doing that. If they're not, that I'm like, I probably don't need to,

you know, be weighing in on based on one swing. It's just kind of a, I don't know, just kind of, I might just kind of fade back into the hedges on that one instead. This is also her fifth start at ANW. Not that it, you know, you only get so many. I think you're trying to bring her up, man. No, no, no, I think you have the correct take. It's probably

just something we don't need to comment on. But it was such a tough watch. Like, you can't watch that and not just, oh, just makes a skin crawl. It's tough. There's also like, if you watch it in a vacuum and someone's like, do you think this should be a penalty? I'm like, hell yeah, absolutely. Like, that's not it. But that's what I'm like, but luckily I'm not the rules official. So nobody should care what I have to say about this. But that's where it's also like where I don't,

we always say like should this be a penalty. But again, and I don't know the specific on what pace of play guidelines, but like the penalty is you get, you get bad times when your group is out of position and you get multiple of them. That's when you get penalties. Like that's what it happens.

So like. Then they should change the rule. Yeah, but you also aren't, you can't go around like timing. every shot under my proposal you would is what yeah there's not going to be a subjective referee where like if you just do something totally unbecoming for every golf tournament in the world for every group at every go yeah yeah yeah make them pay diameters yeah yeah yeah make them pay ring them up it just always this conversation just always seems like you know very easy

in principle very different in in in application execution and there's people that that write rules and enforce them all over the place and they haven't been able to figure this one out leaves me to say it's not as easy as we'd like to make it at times is is my overall point. The hell but wonder what our guy, CB Buckner, what I had to say about that. I got that with you. Baseball did the pitch clock. How hard can this?

That's one ball. There's like 70 balls in play at a time. It's not that easy. Oh, man. But also, if you're looking at this, how is it not a penalty as you're looking at it is where it gets really just conversation is really good.

well. Indeed. Should we move on to the PJ tour? Sure. What happened there today? Deep, deep into the show already here, guys. The Valero, Texas Open, where JJ has officially respond. In the truest sense of the term, JJ has respawned. Big shot Bob McIntyre, led by two over Ludwig Oberg. When play was called for weather on Saturday, they'd played about six holes,

which meant that we were going to have a marathon day today as we're recording on Sunday, started about 745 a.m. They had to play whatever, 28, 30 holes, something like that. Players were in threesome, so they did not repair for the final round, which is an interesting, interesting nugget.

Another interesting nugget, Rainey, I thought you'd get a real big kick out of this one. Big Shot Bob was aiming to become the third consecutive lefty to win the Valero. After Akshay and Brian Harmon, could have been a lefties paradise. I know you're really flagging that for your, or Akshay is going to win Augusta.

Yeah, I love it. Big shot Bobby on there too. Now you got me convinced speed. The curse. I know. He's off his feet. Man, I can't wait for the master's preview tomorrow. Somehow this isn't the master's preview.

But it was not to be for our guy, Big Shot Bob. JJ Spawn played his front nine and one under and then went Bertie Eagle on 16. And the driveable 17th was fun today. Close to clubhouse lead of 17 under. And on a day when I think there was about seven players that either had. had or tied the lead, shared the lead at some point. No one is able to run him down. Ludwig shoots a final round 70 to finish two back.

Matt Wallace finished birdie, Bertie, Bertie, to finish one back. McIntyre made a run. He made a go of it at the driveable 17th. Hit it up there to about 15 feet. Ludwig stuffed it as well with the three wood. And Bob made,

uh, made eagle, but he could not burdy the 18th to force a playoff. 18 was a real golf. TC and I have the list. The wind flipped. TC and I have the list of true par fives. You know, par fives are endangered species in our world today.

This was a true par five. Golf Channel had a great win graphic up or NBC. I forget if it was a network or I don't even know. I was watching on my iPad. They had a, that's a tough, tough. That's a little bit damning. But they had a, they had a graphic up that basically said, I think the scorecard yardage was like 610 or something.

and with the wind, it was playing adjusted to 721 yards. There were 10 birdies there in the final round. So big shot Bob hits went out there into, I think he was in the fairway, wasn't he? Yeah. And was trying to ship a three wood up there as close as he could to the green and just absolute toe hook into the mud. It's just just a gross, gross golf shot. And then was not able to get it up and down. So JJ Spock is your is your winner at the Valero for JJ.

This third PJ tour win. His second at the Valero. He's got two Valeros at a U.S. Open, which is which is kind of sick. And straight up just kind of comes a bit out of nowhere. So I'm going to go to you for reaction. We were just talking about him. Your comment. Yeah.

Just talking about him. His game was rounding into form. Look out for this guy in the upcoming events. Solly called him quote a replacement level player last week, which was true. He had he had missed four, four cuts in his last six starts. That was a compliment, actually. Yeah. like bad cuts too the short the little the little dolphin little boy cuts at the

signature event the symbolic cuts more than anything uh just putting up abysmal numbers uh with putting kind of had fallen off in like just about every category uh finally found some things that clicked this week second in strokes gained approach 16th and putting uh yeah and just just a a good uh good turnaround for our guy j j because like we had we covered a couple different times like yo, this guy was, it wasn't just the U.S. Open last year. He almost won the playoffs. He almost won the players. He was a, they played solid at the Ryder Cup.

Like he was a stud last year and just had completely, uh, fallen off. He had some, I don't know if you guys looked at his, his post round press conference at all, but, uh, he had some really good stuff. And honestly, I, I could hear some echoes, uh, of what Lauren was saying. Yeah, about her kind of career year in 2024. And JJ's take on it was like, man, I won. the, you know, I felt so free all of last year because I had, I was never supposed to be the guy. I was always just a guy.

And all of a sudden I was playing my best golf ever and it just all felt like such a bonus run. And once I won a US Open and I was close at all these other events, like I just started putting so much pressure on myself to be that guy every single week. And it just kind of, it sounded like it just kind of suffocated him a little bit once the calendar, like once the heater stops, you know, like once the, the calendar turns over and it is like, no, we're actually. actually into a new season now. It sounded like he was just very open about like trying to figure that out and how it felt to, you know, how it felt to like back up a career year like that. And it sounded like the, the lights got a little bright for him. And this week, he was just like, he was talking about it's like, it's so funny how golf works, man. Like this was the week where I was like, hey, I'm finally okay with whatever game I got this week is the game I got. And everybody

always talks about the cliche. You don't have to play perfect to win. You don't have to do yada yada and he's like i just finally like remembered that this week and he goes out and wins i mean it's just very weird game is how he's gonna be a great trivia answer of that guy playing a rider cup man he's like not only that people were riding for him to be on this rider cup team or i guess he did automatic qualify but um he his putting of the last so far this year is like and i put this in quotes like let's go back and look at the shot tracker bad like at this he's losing almost a shot per round on the greens which is He's second worst worldwide.

Chandler Blanchei in terms of putting so far this year. Like it's been really, really bad. Neil had the chance to bring this up last week, didn't, but now piled on me on social media this week to say the ball striking has been good as just the putting. He got that from his brother of chibated a week late on a take. Yeah, I'll own this. They are together today.

I'll owe that one. I called him that he had, you know, he'd come, I was, I said I was somebody I was lower on than I was the beginning of the year and he was an easy answer on that. And I'm still believe that. Like, I don't think he's out of the woods on that with one great week. But I mean, yeah, it was certainly not rooting for it. So it, this was happening. I guess he was, he had just finished that JT was walking off 18 green. And I, I, I guess, I never would think of like JT and J.J. Spawn being buddies, but I'm sure there's a Ryder Cup tie there of some kind, like McIntyre at the Eagle 17 and they're like his dad was updating him on that.

And JT was like, oh, he was upset about it. He's like, oh, no way. And like raced inside to go watch the end. So and maybe the team dig it along a little bit better than we realized at Beth Page. But yeah, good for Jerry. Great little side door. Side door nugget there on the, uh, on the TV USA chemistry. I love, I love it.

Yeah, I hope he, I hope, uh, there was something kind of slain here. I, I, I wouldn't, you know, I'm not going to overinflate this that I became just like the JJ Spawn super fan. But I feel like I enjoyed the run more than most last year. I got a kick out of the kind of late career. Like, holy shit, I might have figured it out. Type of feeling. I think it reminds me of people like Lauren.

You know, we were kind of talking before we came on. I even think their golf swings kind of remind me of each other. Maybe I'm not a golf swing guy, but they just have very compact, very like old school style golf swings that I just really like watching. And I don't, I don't know. I get a kick out of them. draw out that analogy, Dege, because I was thinking the same thing. I'm like very similar winners we had with JJ and Lauren. I mean, JJ's 35, Lauren's 33. They both won their third tour event today. They've struggled in the past losing a card, you know, fought through adversity

to kind of gain a footing on the tour. And like you said, like, we heard Lauren say, like, what clicked? And I went back to my old putter and I, you know, I had a good putting week. And it seems like that was kind of the case with JJ finding a putter out of nowhere. So, yeah, I there's nothing off putting about j j spawn and i think that's like i don't mean to damn with faint praise there but i i don't like root against him and i'm not it's not a turnoff when he's in when he's in contention coming down the stretch like he's like okay j j spawn you know and it helps it's a compliment as i can give him maybe well it helps that nothing about oakmont felt like fluky you know like i just feel like we don't get fluky major winners anymore i mean who knows famous last words we'll see what

happens this week, but it's, uh, it's just really hard to unsee when somebody goes out and just kicks the door open like that. You know, you kind of have that in the back of your head forever to the, to the point where it's like, well, now when he's playing shitty, it's like, well, come on, man. Like, I know I didn't make that up. Like that's not, come on. That's not who you are. Don't retroactively make this a fluky win. Like you earned that. Like you, you, you beat that field on a really, really tough golf course. He did say, he said, um, I'm just, I was just looking through his transcript looking for him talking about putting but i was spiraling every week not hitting it how i wanted to then changing my swing and working with my coach and neglecting the short game of putting

next thing you know my whole game was a mess um and i don't know that we've heard max talk about that of like working through your swing you yeah who cares about my putting i'm putting for double like uh you know doesn't matter so um yeah yeah good for j j j is he an interesting guy next week probably not no or this week i'll triple down on that I don't know about that. I don't know. The U.S. Open win is his only major top 10. So I think that's still, you know, kind of a bit of a barrier there.

Saul, you want to throw any bulletin board material out there? I will apologize if he top tens. How about that? Okay. Other kind of down the leaderboard news and notes, Ludwig, we mentioned finishing T5. I believe that makes it since Riviera, T20 at RIV, T3 at Bayhill, T5 at Valero. bit of a Nelly adjacent situation

Well, if I can throw T.C. under the bus. You know, T.C. was all over Nelly in the comms today. And I nary a word said about Luddvig. No, no, no. He did me. And he said, don't let these guys shit on Ludwig. That's so scummy.

I think we got, is Ludwig a fluffer? I think he's a fluffer until proven otherwise. Like, I don't know what else. He doesn't win enough yet. It's been an early crowning for Ludwig. And I take some responsibility there. Like I'm not, I'm not jerking.

Glass houses. Yeah. You know why I won't let T.C. get away with it because of the female stuff he pulled back in the day. And every time female, we got some notes on feed out here. Had a high finish. It was the guy can't win. The guy can't win. Doesn't win.

He won six times. No, it's not a big deal. Let me shoot today. Let me see what you shot today. He just missed on the playoff by. By 12. Yeah. He's one of the final groups.

71, 78. I did look up. I knew they didn't repair, but I didn't get to watch the golf this afternoon. And I came to the press center and saw Finale finishing out five under. I'm like, why is he fit? What is,

oh, 78. It's not good. Anyways. Good fit though. It's so, it's, he's in a really interesting fleetwoodish spot right now of like,

in grand, he got that, you know, obviously he won Genesis. He won RSM. Like we've seen him win. But it's, it's fresh in our memories of like getting up near the

top of the leaderboard and doing the wrong stuff. Really, really hard. So obviously at the players and today, back nine was. I mean, do you blame it on conditions? Of course conditions. It has a weird a little, but like he's leading in the final round. I just don't know if we're as critical. You know, maybe we need to be more critical.

I think this, yeah. I think this we, so I get what you're saying with the, with the Fino stuff. You got to, you got to play good a lot in order to be labeled. not that good. You know, you've got to constantly be on people's mind and finishing in the top five to be like, this guy stinks. Super weird how we treat people like this. There is.

I'm aware of that. But I want to be opposite TC on this and I want TC to own this at the same time. A couple things. I think that he's the rare instance when he says like, oh, the players like, you know what? I thought about it. And I'm kind of over it. I'm like, I kind of believe him. Actually, I don't know, man.

I think he gets over this stuff like pretty quick to the point. he might be the player I'm most excited about watching this week. Huge week for him. Right? And that was going to be the second thing. It's like T5 at the Valero. He didn't get it done in like a weird 36 whole day. Like who cares?

If he's leading going, you know, on the third hole on Sunday at the Masters, he doesn't get it done is like, yo, all right. Now we can have a different conversation. But if he's leading third hole in the Masters, would you be more surprised if he got it done or didn't get it done sitting here right now? Like I right here right now, I'd be more surprised if he got it done. Yeah. Yeah. It's a good framing of the question.

And I would agree with you. I'm a journalist. Thank you. And I think that's kind of the bummer right now for me, because I like Ludwig. I think he's going to play great this week. I think he's going to. It's like in my top 10, but I don't have confidence he's going to win. And that's like a weird place to be.

Will you pick him not to win this week, then big? Yeah. Tune in tomorrow to find out. Yeah. I don't know who I'm going to pick to win tomorrow. I have no idea. I know. I know.

We're going for the three Pete, Dej. I know. It's crazy. Well, that's a lot, feeling a lot of pressure. Did you read the data golf email today about, uh, should I? Uh, well, no, it just makes us look. It just makes us look like captain obvious. No, no, no.

It's just like, oh, the last four years, they were just the most obvious people were going to win. And they did. Uh, and now this year, we don't have that first. Anyway, listen to the master's preview tomorrow. Elsewhere at the Valero, uh, Michael Kim, friend of the program, 66, 69 in the last two rounds, first top 10 of the year for him. Congratulations to Michael Kim. Matt Wallace.

That was his first top. 10 of the year after 64 in the third round. A tough day for Kevin Roy with no repair. He kind of like stayed in the final group 74, 72. That's a tough spot to be. Trying to get out of the way yet. Yeah. So much money still.

Yeah. I felt like that on some tourism trips. I think. Kevin, I can feel you there. Yeah, I felt you in the way as well. Looking ahead to next week. Fun one here. just a little bit of follow-up, plenty of content posted this week.

You know, first of all, the statement from him, he's now abroad and seeking help. He said, quote, I know and understand the seriousness of the situation I find myself in today. I'm stepping away for a period of time to seek treatment and focus on my health. This is necessary in order for me to prioritize my well-being and work towards lasting recovery. I'm committed to taking the time needed to return in a healthier, stronger, more focused place, both personally and professionally. I appreciate your understanding and support and ask for privacy for my family, loved ones, and myself at this time. This was kind of accompanied by just tough police footage that got leaked, published. I'm not even really sure

of the arrest, the sobriety test, the hidden sitting in the back of the car, hundreds of thousands of memes, posts that, you know, Randy, you had a big breakdown. You were going to talk about the funniest memes you saw. Is that right? I'm going to be doing that tomorrow on my channel. We're running some counter programming to the Masters preview. Yeah, just a mega bummer continues. I don't know how much more we need to cover that.

Other than to say he obviously is not going to be at the Masters. Nora Phil Mickelson, who's not going to be there. Just quickly on that deed was just like. The update here is we pretty, I mean, a lot of people were harsh in the feedback after it happened to say like, go get some help dude. And he's, he's waved the white flag and is going to get some help. I think it's a tough week like to watch all that stuff unfold and to get all the images and all of that and have the pile on that as happens all, you know, happens now with Tiger Woods. But I think there is like, there's some good news in that of like, of not being too proud on this one and say I'm like, let's let's move forward. And we know of the specifics of the help he's getting.

If we were to kind of fill in the blank, I think we could kind of estimate what that might be. Going overseas to get the privacy he needs to do this is a good outcome of this, I think is worth calling out. Yeah, I hope so. I hope it, yeah, I hope it goes well. I was mentioning Phil also not playing the Masters, citing a personal health matter in his family.

Joining those two together, that means this is going to be the first Masters without. Tiger and Phil in 32 years since 1994, which is just a heavy heavy stat. It does stink. Yes, it does.

I was going to follow Phil this week. That would have been fascinating. I forward to that. Yeah. Scottie Schaeffler and his wife Meredith had their second child. A boy named Remy, possibly named after Ratatoui. Who knows? I've been watching that a lot with my son. He is nine days old. Already out at the Masters. Sully, he's already

on a hot on your trail. You know, you guys both got there today, it looked like. So no beeper situation at Augusta, which is, which is huge. Do they allow beepers? I didn't really, I don't know if that's in the media regulations. I think for past champions, thank you, you really have your phone. And then a couple other things I just, I had in here, a couple other notable master's absences. They're probably more.

These three just happened to jump off the page. Ricky Fowler is going to miss out on the Masters after missing the cut this week in Texas. I think you needed to, did he need to. to win this week, I think, to get in. I don't know that he was particularly close. But that's now five times and six years that Ricky's missed the Masters, which kind of was a jarring stat to see. He's only played it once since the 2020 Masters.

Tom Kim, Sully, your boy. I'll just say, hold on, double-click. And Ricky, obviously, is, you know, when we were talking about that Fleetwood, Fienow, now maybe Aberg, like Ricky was right there, you know? For sure. Yeah, yeah, 100%. anyway.

Tom Kim, first time missing since he qualified for his first one in 2023. Solly, will you apologize? Probably not. I will apologize.

Really? Yeah, I've apologized for Tom Kim like eight times. I got too high on Tom Kim, okay? It's not an international superstar. Hell yeah. All right.

Thanks. We've done this a million times. Don't be surprised on this one. I thought he meant that one. That was good. Yeah, that was good. And Big tone. This one actually kind of sucks.

Did you make this? Big tone is not in the Masters. He has not missed a major since 2017. And he has not qualified for the Masters. Wow. How did he, does he getting sponsor exemptions in all these majors? How was he getting into all these majors for so long?

The no laying it up podcast was telling me the guy sucked. Guy stinks. He just keeps, he can't finish better than 10th. He just stinks, man. He does. I have to relieve some of that. release some of that swing speed

reserves now. Yeah. Will he show up for the part three concerts too? Oh, man, come on, dude. You're a bad guy.

That was a good one, Big. I think that brings us to the end of kind of PGA tour coverage. We're going to do a little, I got just a notebook

full of stuff here, guys. We can move through some of these quick. We can linger on some of these. God, I've been chomping at the bit for this first one

because I think it maybe is the news of the week. and I was bummed that we you know, it didn't feel right to sneak it in during the LPGA section. But Randy, can you explain what's going on at Memorial Park? Oh, my God. This is in my notebook to discuss. Oh, God. Memorial Park, they're building.

Okay, so take you back to when the Chevron was at Mission Hills in California. It was the, you know, whatever. It used to be a lot of things. but they had a little like pond right there off the green and the winter would go and jump in the pond poppy's pond it was it was a thing they continued it at the carlton woods where they were the last three years it was a very murky disgusting pond but people jumped in highlight highlight of being down at that tournament of champions i mentioned earlier it was asking mouse sigo all about just tell me like spare no details tell me everything about the pond if you could

It was just great here it heard. That was scary last year. She couldn't swim. Right, exactly. She told her, but she couldn't swim. But we're happy to report the tradition will live on. So, yeah, long story short,

millions, tens of millions, hundreds of millions of people the world over have said, will the winter be jumping in a pond at Memorial Park? There's no water off the 18th green. Surely, this is one of the best traditions in golf. We must build a pond. So they are going to build a pond.

Um, this pond will, I'm sure Tom Doke's heads exploding, but the pond's going to be like right of 18 green. It's going to stretch down to the fairway. It's going to be a prominent pond. It's not going to be ready until the 2027 championship. So you're saying, okay, we can go one year without the pond, like whatever. Hell no, we can't. No, they're going to spend $60,000 to build a 15 by 10 foot, essentially swimming pool. That's going to be four and a half feet deep, just so the winner can jump in it at

near the end of the tournament. And what a colossal waste of money. I think, listen, it's great to have traditions. I just don't think like the jump into Poppy's Pond was a tradition that necessarily had to leave. It did not. Mission Hills. Move.

That does not travel. No. And I think once the tournament went to a new course, make your own new traditions. Like it should have been over then. And certainly it should be over this year. but that they're doing this and that they're proud to do I just like take that $60,000 and just give it to some charity. Somehow big, big lost power, big had his internet cut by these LPGA overlords.

I don't know what happened mid-rance there, but I believe what Randy was saying is that this was a disgrace and I can't believe we're spending this money on a temporary swimming pool, which is. And just take the money and donate it to Ch. That was just very well-timed cut out. But now it, I like to see it to get very worked up about that. It was a double-chre. I think I saw it and was like, ah, and that was an April Fool's one from yesterday. I missed that. And T.C. like, called it out.

I was like, I thought this was April Fool's and it was not. And I was like, no, no, no, they're not actually doing this. There's no way they're actually doing this. I'm going to reserve, listen, I'm going to reserve judgment on the surface. Does it sound incredibly stupid? Yes, it does. but let's just let's just wait and see let's just wait and see when we get uh you know we get that first player splashing down into that temporary pool i just i don't want to be on the wrong side

of history too early big you're back i'm gonna wait and see i've been wait and see mode on this one time swimming pool they got to go outside to smoke a cigarette during the middle of that right i think here we are and i think my screen's in part i'm sorry if you're why i got so fired up I lost power here early. D.Jer in wait and C mode. I've seen enough. Dumbest thing I've heard. It just pisses me off.

All right. Moving on down the notebook. Solly, we're getting Shotlink on the Corn Fairy Tour. This is great. I haven't even processed this yet. This is good for, you know,

is this great for the casual fan? TBD. You know, if you like following the Corn Fairy Tour really closely. Yes. Great for us. I think great for prospecting. great for, you know, knowing a little bit more about these guys that are coming up.

Excited for that. Big, another one. Michelle Wee is playing the U.S. Women's Open at Riviera. How are we feeling about this? Well, I liked the, I think it's good, right? I was, she had made the announcement previously that the Women's Open at Pebble Beach was her last. I think there was some stain not only in my round with Michelle, just kind of putting bad stuff in her head. But then she had to play with Onica the first year round.

and that sucks. So I'm glad Michelle's coming back. Let's do a proper send-off. Don't pair with Onica. Let's do it right this time. Here, here. I like this story. I think you sent this one over.

Derek Ernst, famous winner of the Quill Hall event way back in 2013 or something like that, probably. Is caddying at the Masters next week for Jackson Harrington? Good note from Brentley Romine. He's now an assistant golf coach. and is going to be caddying at the Masters. Kind of a,

you never know if you're going to be back at the Masters. You assume you're going to be if you're a PJ Tour winner. It never happened for him, but he's coming back in caddying. First participant to then return to caddy since they believe Tripp Keeney caddy for his brother, Hank, in 1999.

Fun stuff. Big, I know this one was in your notebook as well. LeBron has gone viral for all the wrong reasons, Big. He's in an homage to Kyle Porter. We all know. Only Kyle can know how he's feeling.

We all know, man, there's one city. He even trashed my home to where I live in the city. Nobody even wrote. Nobody even cared that he also said Milwaukee is also a shidle that he doesn't like to play it. He said he doesn't like going to Memphis. Memphis people are just beside themselves. But we go live to Big for his reaction here. I stand with the people of Memphis.

Bad karma for LeBron, especially as you're heading into the playoffs. Don't like it. I haven't watched that video yet, but the clips I did see looked quite entertaining. I think I will. I don't watch a ton of those style of YouTube videos, but I think I do want to go watch that one. Congrats to those guys for pulling LeBron on that one. Yeah, it's great. I knew he was going to end up in a YouTube video somewhere, and I'm glad he ended up there.

Those guys do good work. Yeah, and a lot of great just reaction to reaction to react. I mean, it was, that one broke the, broke, contain outside of the Gulf, the golf space, which was both good and bad for LeBron in this instance. I'm heftier news golf digest had a report this week they had gotten their hands on a couple of rolled back prototype golf balls that they deemed you know I don't want to mess up any of the language here but essentially two balls that would be deemed conforming under the new rule and they did some serious testing on those golf balls to show how those were going to affect a bunch of different players at various skill levels I thought it was very interesting read something something fun to look at. They had a, they spelled out their whole methodology and what they were doing and what kind of spin rates and what kind of launch angles. A lot of different stuff that they were, they were looking at it and they kind of said, hey, here's what the results were. I don't know if this was an all encompassing.

This is exactly how it's going to go four years from now and this is, this is rolled out. I don't know if this was more of a science experiment with two golf balls. I don't know, Saul, if you had anything more or less on that. Yeah. It was, it was an interesting read nonetheless. left. It's one of those. We can either make this a two-minute convo or like a 45-minute combo. We're going to try to keep it on the two-minute end. We're happy to break this out maybe in a future week, maybe not into Masters Week, but it's an interesting

robot test, I think, of two in-feary balls. They do not list who the manufacturer of it is. And they do a little bit of analysis within it to show like, oh, okay, prototype A is probably going to get thrown out for somebody at this speed and it's probably more likely you should compare prototype beef between like a Russell Henley swing speed and a Roy McElroy one and how the the scale slides, all that stuff to say basically what what they reach a conclusion in it that is you know a robot you know it reached a kind of a broad conclusion in it of it's going to

be relatively smoothed out of the distances effect across different swing speeds etc which I think is like a fair conclusion based on testing it on robots. For everything we've heard from outside of this test, it's going to be a lot more complicated as players try to work their way around this test, either by optimizing launch this way, optimizing, spin this way, a bunch of stuff that I am not a PhD level to be able to speak on definitively, all of it to say this eventual application of this, of the rollback, which is what I'm most concerned with,

is going to be difficult to capture by robot. and I'm already veering into the 45-minute discussion of that to say, like, too long didn't read is, if it goes like this, like relatively smooth, the distance will drop a little bit at the highest levels. Not a monumental amount, not a monumental amount for average Joe golfer is a takeaway of this as well, which is kind of consistent with the USGA as said. All that to say, I think we're all a little skeptical that it's going to play out exactly this way because golf is played by human beings and not robots.

but that's that's not a shot at the test. I know a lot went into this, and I have no problems with their, with their process other than to say, I guess our suspect nature of this rollback is the way the rule is written is more of the cause of concern of the leaving it open to being able to sneak past it. And that not, by nothing nefarious,

that's not what I'm saying, just that I don't know if this is going to be enough of a governor on guys, you know, kind of being able to figure out how to still optimize their driving distance. Long answer, sorry. The two-hour version of that podcast is going to be on Sally's channel. Exactly. Tomorrow.

I got Tiger meme. Solly's got rollback. The main channel will have Masters preview. But it's on my secondary channel, not my primary channel. Yeah. Big, I'll throw this one to you. Golf, Saudi, and the Piff. Sounds like they are going to have more women's events in North America in 2027.

Of course, this week's LPJ episode was a, or an episode event was a co-sanctioned event with the LET presented by a Ramco and Piff. Sounds like they are, they made it very clear. This was an ESPN story I think I was reading. They do not want to be LiveGolf 2.0. It sounds like they are not really float in a trial balloon for like a women's version of live or anything like that. We have had a Ramco series tournaments played in the states regularly already.

Those are not co-sanctioned with the LPGA, even though LPGA players have played in them. So the point of this is all, it sounds like the PIF is willing and interested and excited to continue to spend money in women's golf. And it sounds like the LPGA and the LET and some of the more organized bodies are excited to take that money and host more events. Is that a fair summation? I think so. Yeah. I, you know, it's not on the calendar this year, but there was an Aramco event in Houston. I could see a few more joint LET LPGA events, perhaps, or maybe a Ramco, you know, straight sponsors, an LPGA-only event.

But we've said so much about Gulf Saudi and that. So like leaving all of that behind, if we can get good events at good venues, I think that's a win for the women and for the LPGA fans. so we'll see i look forward to the broader l pga schedule redo hopefully next year yeah uh all right moving down the notebook the notebook here jim nance was taking barrel fire for claiming he has not seen bryson hit a shot this year uh i believe this came on the masters me and jim nans shaking hands the master's pre-call jim was like i think he was very transparent very above boards got to ask a question about bryce he goes to be honest you know i watched his youtube videos with my kids

outside of that, I don't really, I don't really, I haven't watched them play a whole lot. Anybody, anybody mad as hell about this? So many real people were mad as hell about this. Sorry, I'm jumping the gun. If any of you have an answer here. But my thought is like Jim's not on the broadcast to like break down how much Bryson's like pronating on his back swing. And, you know, there's other people that kind of do that stuff.

I think Jim's pretty focused on, like, what's going on in front of them. So I don't know. That said, it. I'm sure he's following it week to week and knows that he's playing well. And also he didn't say, like, he might be watching the live highlights on YouTube. I don't think he was just saying that he only watched Bryson's YouTube channel. Like I, it also just doesn't fucking matter. Also, he does play in the middle of the night and like Singapore and all the other.

And no one is. Yeah, it's tough to catch, man. It's tough to catch. Yeah. I think he's, yeah. If I was Jim Nance, I just don't know that I'd be doing that either. This is a good one, Salli. This was a story from the West Virginia Metro News.

That's kind of connecting. I know you're a subscriber. Connecting the dots here, some accounting dot connecting going on. Tide, it basically connects a company that's tied to Omni appears to have bought the debt. I think it was, God, either $2 million or $20 million, both numbers would sound believable that the Justice family had

on the Greenbrier. I would hire higher. Yeah, I think it was 20 million. I think the Justice family has been just like this debt has been a shit show on the Greenbrier and they're lapsing on interest payments and all of these things. And it sounds like that debt was bought by a company that is like very much tied to

Omni Hotel. So it's just an interesting don't have any more information, but a potential watch this space. Yeah. Obviously, we're big Omni fans. You know, Greenbriars sounds sick. I've never been there. But it sounds sick, you know, and the history is unbelievable. The golf courses sound very cool.

And it just seems like it's ripe for probably a little bit of elbow grease and some serious people maybe getting involved, but I've never been. It's such a ridiculous, like, throwback of like, yeah, you would never build any of this like it is now. Like, it's like a big mansion. And it's dated, but it's. up to date and it feels dated in the next room and it's up to date and uh it's been almost i've been back in seven or eight years i guess but um it golf course it the old tpc l white is very very fun um and i've never i'm played in the other golf course it's there up but casino everything

it's a it's a my family still goes there all the time the train tracks it run right to the front door you know it's a great story i learned a bunch of that in the cb mcdonnell stuff and now it's come out that they actually did have a government bunker underneath yeah that's right which is kind of tour. All right, moving down. There's new trailer out for full swing season four. Take that for what you will. I thought I actually looked pretty cool and potentially good.

I think he's very heavily focused on the Ryder Cup. Give that trailer watch if you're bored. Bomb TC's not here. I just think we need to really. He was supposed to be deducted it because of this news item. Tommy Fleetwood has inked a deal with Blackstone as a new hat sponsor. This feels like it happened a while ago.

Tough for a couple reasons. I think one, just the ghoulish nature of of the business. And two, just one of the worst logos I've ever seen. One of the worst hats I've ever seen. It's just bad.

It's just a bad looking hat. So just tough all the way across the board for T.C. I think he's really, I think he's looking inward and kind of reeling out of how he's going to handle this week. I think this got our guy down bad. I think this. this was a real body blow to TC. I'll be curious.

We got to get him on the record for a comment next week, but this is bad. I don't know what the sports books have, but I feel like it's, you know, minus 10,000 that he's going to have one of these Blackstone hats for one of the live shows this week. I have to, I have to assume. There's no way he doesn't already have one. Speaking of just merchandise and apparel, this, this pissed me off, straight up. I've done such a one. 180 on the Malban stuff,

uh, vis-a-vis Jason day. No, I'd stand by what I was saying earlier. Now they've gotten all the logos off there, you know, and he's come into his own. And yeah, I was,

I wasn't wrong. I was just a little, maybe a little early on those, but the, uh, the stuff they've got him in now just absolutely whips. And genuinely, there's no bit.

There's no irony. There's no anything. The bird watching stuff is so sick. And it's another instance of the trap draw, being a half. step ahead of the rest of the world. We were early on tipping. We're early on all these infrastructure problems

that are going on. We're early on bird watching. And Malban has got him head to toe in birds. Just one of the greatest capsules I think we've seen. I love it. But Augusta won't let him wear the pants. According to Brian Juffer, I believe this is Sports Illustrated.

They won't let them wear these bird pants. It looks like kind of like a toddler sort of like pajama outfit. What do you really like zoom out? But once you get in there. The details are unbelievable. Great story about Malban, just texting Jason Day, all these bird calls. It's just, it's, it's great stuff. I couldn't be, couldn't be more in on this. It could be more out on Augusta forcing him to wear solid colored pants, which sounds like unnecessary tyranny. Okay, that's the rule. Yeah, yeah, I don't,

I don't know if it's a rule. No, it's not a rule. It's an eye test, which usually obviously would support, but this is, I don't know. It is a tough spot. I just, I think you look back at some of those old masters in the plaid pant that they're trying to do something like that i just i don't know i hate that we can't we can't have this this week can i just use this space and platform to just say if there's a there's like five different given any given week like bird instagram reels please stop people will probably definitely stop please stop i i i i i i'm going to block anybody that sends it to me i'm good like That would be great.

If you take a screenshot, then Sally blocked you, then send it to Neil, Neil, give you a pro shop credit. I don't like birds. Make fun of me for loving trees. I love, that is my old guy thing. I love landscaping now. Okay, send me landscaping stuff.

Send me all of the trees that you possibly can. All right, but please stop send me the bird stuff. I don't care. This is like when Brooks and Bryson, what Brooks was doing the Mick Ultra, you know, if you heckle Bryson, to get you a beer or whatever, whatever it was. Hey, guys, it's Brooksie. Yeah.

I'm with you. The bird outfit, legitimately sick. It's so sick. He's got the bird watching vest. Can't believe I'm saying that. Yeah. It's cool. It's great. It's great. It's what we should be doing, you know. God, it's a lot of apparel here. This was reported in our slack that the four aces are heading to Under Armour. I did some further review. Apparently this happened in January. I think actually we can cross this off the notebook. We don't need to go too much. deeper into that.

Randy, your guy, Jason Kelsey is going to be on the mic for the par three contest. Kind of a tough mad lib all the way across the board there.

You're everywhere. Yeah. Probably wasn't going to watch the part three contest either way, not against it. I'm just, you know,

at limited hours in the day and wish everybody will who is going to watch it. Honestly, we're going to be on the part of this. Part three contest is, is, I don't want to say it's running.

It feels quite, it feels quite tired at this point. And usually I'm not a, let's get the Kelsey's involved kind of guy. And it very well might be a disaster. But I just, I don't think we're really protecting all that much on the Part three contest, if we're being honest. It's fun to look at the cute kids running around their outfits. It's a, it's one for the family.

It's not really for the, we get the four days of golf for us. Just give them the. That's right. Yeah. Yeah. We get enough. We're good. Last thing I had here.

This was, this was a cool one. I got a, I got a letter in the mail. It's kind of a free ad here. but I go a letter in the mail from a company that started called Dear Pards that our guy, Dave Bazden is working on. You know, he's done some great artwork for us over the years. He started a postcard company, Randy. I thought you'd get a kick out of this.

And it's, it costs $5 a month. And you get a new postcard every month with a with a stamp on it. It mails you a custom postcard with a great, like a great, you know, illustration of a cool golf scene. and then you send it off to somebody. Send it off to one of your golfing partners. I just thought that was a great idea. There's a lot of stuff that I'm like,

oh, this is an answer to a question nobody's asking. I'm like, oh, this is one. I'm like, I would legitimately send this to somebody. So be on the lookout. I'm a new subscriber. Be on the lookout for any of my postcards coming your way. Are you going to get back into the big, like, writing letters? I was just listening to making of the masters on the way up here.

Letters were a big thing back. Right. Yeah. Big, big thing. So I will not make any promises that I'm going to get into letters because I, this is like a trap-draught goals thing. I would love to be like, yeah, no, I think I'm definitely going to write three a week. And then I just won't do any. And then it'll just fall off.

But what I could do. It seems approachable. That's what I'm saying. Feels very approachable. And Dave's great. And I love looking at his pictures, just custom writing involved. It was just a, it was a little heartwarming, you know, kind of thing getting off the starting block. So I wanted to shout them out.

that's what I got in the notebook, guys. That's a wide-ranging conversation today. I did not think we were going to get two hours out of this one. Holy smokes. Every week, man. We're excited at the last too. Busy, busy, busy. Time in the golf calendar.

A lot ahead. Speaking of which, Masters Week is here, we'll have a ton of content for you coming this week. We're going to have a preview episode. We're going to go live around 4 p.m. Eastern Time, no longer, a podcast YouTube channel.

That'll be in your podcast feed overnight, doing our official master's preview. We're going to do a Wednesday afternoon show as well. A little kickoff show, a little frothing show. A lot always happens between Monday and Wednesday. We're going to do all that and do our final check-in before play starts Thursday. We'll have live shows brought to you by tidalist Thursday through Sunday. Myself and Neil are going to be on site.

Neil gets in a little later this week. But I'm going to be out scouring the grounds every single day. And we're going to be doing lots of shows. It's going to be a great week. It's the best week of the year. and we get so much awesome engagement and interaction with everyone. So get in the chat, come and watch live after every round of play. And we'll have lots of things to laugh about, I'm sure.

Maybe, maybe a Baluga's Big Board on Wednesday, maybe, which I only say just from a, if you've got a note, if you've got a nugget that you want considered for the big board, you know, send that over to NG Shoe, see if he could work that into his models. It'd be really interesting. It'd be very interesting if we had one of those. for Wednesday. But no, I'm very, yeah, I'm, I'm chomping at the bit. Again, I listen to the audio book, making the masters on the way up for the drive. I've listened to it before, but just, again, just like reiterating all the history of the event. And that's not what the shows are going to be

about this week, but it is just like a, holy shit, man. Like, well, you just like, like, little something in there where it's like, yeah, Clifford Roberts had, like, some engineers put a little flat spot in the fairway on nine because like where his drive was, was going to end up, you know, it was going to be on too severe. And you go out there and look at it. And you go out there and look and it's still there. Like, it's, it's still there. And you can see the little, the little flat spot. And, God, I wrote down a couple other just amazing notes of, like, details of,

do you know, Augustel had a senior PGA, like before it became the senior PGA back in 37 and 38? Did not know that. German prisoners of war worked on the course at the end of World War II. Like when they came over, they, they were stunned to see that New York City was still standing because all the propaganda had said that New York City had been leveled by the Germans. But they worked on the golf course at the end of the world in 44

and end of 44 and the beginning of 45. Probably one. And ruin in seven. Yeah. So there's just like so much amazing history, man. And I'm very excited. Anyways. Will you send me a postcard if they got one in the gift shop?

I will see if I can. Yeah. That's a good call. And if you haven't already, go check out. The return of wild world of golf this past. week on our YouTube channel. Last Man Standing, which we filmed at Casa de Campo earlier in January, a little bit of a little top shelf, top chef, you know, Survivor, uh, documentary, if you will, uh,

of that, a very, very fun reality series that we did, which was best comment. Best comment I saw with somebody be like, this is, this is so stupid. It's like a worst version of top chef. Like, yeah, no, that was like. Yeah. You got it. Yeah, no, that was kind of the point. That was the idea.

Yeah. So check that out. It was, it's been, we've enjoyed seeing the feedback on that one. Greatly appreciate everyone watching that one. So two hours right before Masters week. We got to pace ourselves this week, guys. Oh, we're limbering up, man. We're getting ready.

We like a lot of those people to Valero, you know. We are stretched out. As a prep week. Yeah, that's right. Stretched out. So thank you everyone for tuning in. Join us 4 p.m. Eastern Time on Monday for a live preview of the 2026 Masters. And thank you very much for tuning in tonight.

Crack on. Cheers!