No Laying Up - Golf Podcast - 1173: Kicking off the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills GC

Episode Date: June 17, 2026

Early news from Shinnecock! Join us as we get you set up for the 2026 U.S. Open: ball talk, course updates, reaction to a bunch of pre-tournament press conferences, news & notes, final picks, and a bunch more! Presented by Titleist. Support our sponsors: Titleist - the #1 ball in Golf! Rhoback - code NLU for 20% off at https://www.rhoback.com AT&T - Connecting Changes Everything Looking to travel this year, check out East Sands Golf Co.: https://www.eastsandsgolf.co/nlu Join us in our support of the Evans Scholars Foundation: https://nolayingup.com/esf The NLU email newsletter: bi-monthly updates on all things NLU: https://newsletter.nolayingup.com/subscribe Join The No Laying Up Nest: https://nolayingup.com/join 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 in? That is better than most. Better than most. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the No Laying Up Live show,

presented at always, as always, by our friends at Titleist Wednesday, kicking off the U.S. Open at Shinnock here live. Thank you for joining us on a Wednesday afternoon. A lot to catch up on today. Solly joined by my esteemed colleagues, Mr. Big Randy. Hello, Big. Hello, Solly. T.C. is here. Hello, Sally. Big day for me. God save the king versus my Croatians. I'm house divided. I'm torn. DJ Pye is here. Hello, Dej. Greetings, guys. Ready for a big week. Let's get into it.

A lot to cover. We are going to chat some of the news and developments of the week. As it relates to the championship, we're going to stay on U.S. Open here. for quite some time. Check in on some press conferences, some quotes. DJ's got a little game prep for us. We're going to make our picks to win. Of course, our picks not to win. Also going to check in on the back half on some bigger news items that expand just beyond the championship. Rory had some quotes this week. Big announcement today from the USGA on the proposed rollback, all of that. So we'll get into that on the back half of the show. Didn't mean for this to be a transition right into the fact that we're brought to you by Titleist. Get a quick shout out there. We got some great inside the

Robes content out on social this week, including a cool look at a practice round with Jackson Quiven. Go check out the titleist YouTube channel. They make a lot of great stuff on there. And that's it. They want us to get right into the show. Guys, we got some, the talk of the week so far, the wind forecast for Thursday. It is massive wind gusts into the 40s. I think it's even higher projected now. I sent this graphic over to Cody earlier from Windfinder. I don't know if that's an approved wind site tc uh but i'm seeing gus in the upper 40 miles an hour uh now in the early afternoon up to 47 miles an hour uh around 3 o'clock tomorrow afternoon are we worried are we excited are we scared uh tc i'm going to go to you first it's it's it's without

knowing what model they're working off of i can't know if it's approved or not uh but directionally it looks it looks correct uh i'm excited i'm excited i think uh You know, Boddenhammer, one of the hammers was saying that they slowed the greens down to about 10 and a half to get ahead of it. We'll listen to that clip shortly. Bodenhammer explaining the setup and whatnot here shortly. The thing that they concerned me a little bit was him talking about the directional wind change heading into Friday and then especially Saturday where it starts coming out of the northwest. That could bode problems for some of our fun hole locations. Randy. So we'll see. As long as the greens, I don't care how fast they are. They damn well better

be firm, though. All right? Talking to both the hammers here. Reports are iffy on that as of now. I spoke to someone in the field. They said fairly receptive was decently receptive was the review. I had to think about down. It had to be downwind for me to think about it bouncing too much into the wind with a wedge. I got to worry about it spinning back at times. Again, that's as of Wednesday. But they're very clearly concerned about a potential stoppage in play tomorrow. If the wind that Neil and I saw on the media day was gusts into the

low 30s, I really don't even know if what they've done to slow it down will be enough to stop play. If it reaches if it reaches 47 miles an hour tomorrow, I don't think, I think it could be a five and they may have to stop play tomorrow. Randy, you're laughing at all this? It's going to have gust of

47, you're laughing over there? You think it's funny? Literally. Literally, before we went live. DJs like, what's up with all these Twitter weather people? Just like predicting an apocalypse. Like I don't know, man. I refuse to get sucked in. Listen, if it blows and it is hard A.F.

Tomorrow I'm going to be super happy. I'm just not going to set myself up for that. We're coming in low expectations year after year. I get tricked. So we're not doing that again. We're, we're just letting the tournament come to me. We're going to wake up and we're going to see what's going on tomorrow. Who's tricking you big? Because the US,

every time the USG gets up there. Sometimes you saw. No, you're like, oh, it's going to be so hard Saturday. We're not pushing. We're not pushing the golf courses what they say pretty much every year. Every year. Every year. Like, well, it may have blown 15 today.

We can't, we can't get it that tough. It may have blown. So I feel like some of it's on you, Sally. Some of it's, you know, it's just a different era. I will say the era I grew up with. Is this actually setting up for a nice progression through the week? If it's windiest on Thursday, then by the time we get to Sunday and there's not crazy winds, it firms up, there's a nice, a nice ramp up, kind of the anti-whatever his name is with the PGA of America,

Carrie Haig. That's what they just goal was. That's exactly what they said their goal was. That would be lovely, PC. I, you know, I hope to see that. And not only that, let's just thin the. heard on Thursday. You know, let's, let's make it really brutal. Let's thin things out and then we'll make it a real proper escalating escalating test after that. Yeah, 18 old cuts. We might be giving up.

We might be seeing a wave of WDs. How great would that be? If you don't break 90, you're out. Straight off. That's easy. That's easy. Well, I think I've just gone from a concern of, I don't have a concern that's not going to be hard enough. The bigger concern would be if the wind is blowing golf balls off the greens. And they have to stop play. That, that's a right now it's a bigger. Let me clarify. I don't think like scores are going to be astronomical tomorrow. I looked at golf odds.com has the over under low score tomorrow at 68 and a half. So like they they think it's equal, it's minus 1.30 to clear 68 and a half. But essentially it would say there's a 50, 50 chance that somebody will shoot 68 or better tomorrow, which I would think would come from the morning wave in all likelihood there. Golf odds.com. Is that a thing? I don't know. I had, I was just looking for the winning score number.

somewhere. And that's where I found that there. But anyways, let's get to, let's hear from Boehmer himself talking about what they're going to do tomorrow with the setup, with the waves and everything. Here's him speaking for a couple minutes here about how the forecast has altered their plans a little bit. Leaf blade hydration. This place just dries down like nowhere else I've ever experienced. And we need to watch it and be very careful. Green speeds, our target green speeds that we intend to play is mostly in the mid tens throughout the day. Again, our goal was 11 a half to 12, but that's come down. We know that hurt for him to say, but I was a good move. And then I think the other couple things that we've done, we've actually modified our setup plan.

We have really taken the wind direction into account and where we can position those whole locations in places that will account for the wind, but it'll also give us our best chance to so we can just play in those types of winds. The last thing that we'll do, and I want to talk about this just briefly, is we will syringe the greens on Thursday and Friday. Just wait, Randy. And just to be very clear what syringing is, it involves a very light application of water

to hydrate the grass leaf blade to prevent wilt, most importantly, to preserve turf health, and to reduce stress on these poanua greens. And poana reacts differently and quit more quickly than most other grasses in these types of conditions. So we think syringing is very important. But again, syringing on both Thursday and Friday, we've communicated this to the players,

is really important. We believe that it will present a more consistent playing presentation to both the morning and afternoon waves, both days. It'll be consistent across both days, which we think enhances competitive fairness. This is also a practice that is used on a regular basis right here at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club. In fact, if you ask the club, they'll tell you they do it daily.

It is just the nature of this club and the nature of this property to preserve turf health and so on. In fact, I think in his, I didn't see it directly, but Rory mentioned this in his familiarity of this the other day. Think about it as when you go into the grocery store and you go into the produce department, And you reach for that head of lettuce and that little mist comes on above and hits your hand. That's all we're doing to the putting greens. It doesn't impact playability. It hydrates the leaf blade. And when it evaporates, it keeps it cool enough so we don't lose the friction on the putting greens.

God, that's good stuff. That's a great explanation. I don't think I could have read that back prior to listen to that of exactly what the process and point of surrendering the green is. I'm sure you guys will find a reason to hate this. As long as it's Thursday, Friday, that's fine. It ruined the championship. He says it will not affect the playability. It's just to hydrate the leaf blade.

I love the guy. I'm a massive bone-in-haver guy, first and foremost. Because listen to him talking about any topic. I think he's such a clear communicator. Love hearing from him. I really appreciate maybe I'm projecting here, but I really appreciated him putting it in terms. Let me put this in terms of the trap-drawn guys can understand it here.

It's like when you go to the grocery store, guys, Like, you know, you know what that's like. You guys talked about that. You're speaking right to Randy and TC with that, with that explanation. And it's not cauliflower. It's a head of lettuce. Of course. It's right.

That's right. Exactly. I don't know. I mean, I think as long as they're, listen, playability's fine. As long as they don't have to stop play, that's the first priority here. And then I hope as we get into the weekend, it's like, all right, you know what? We are going to push the golf course a little bit. We are going to, we got 60 guys left or 65 guys left, 60 in ties.

And we're going to, we're going to get frisky. Like maybe they're going to burn all the, all the shitty hole locations, Randy. So all they have left are just the really diabolical ones for Saturday and something. I didn't think about that. I mean, that'd be great. Listen, and what I'm going to remind myself, we saw 66. We saw in the first round in 2004, TC, we saw a 30. whole lead at six under par.

So I just come back to, you know, how we talk about flights. Like, if you're not missing one out of every 10 flights, I feel like you're doing the travel a little wrong. Like, if we're not losing the course one every 10 opens, I feel like the USGA is doing it a little bit wrong. So they get a past it. So yeah, I hear the playability Thursday, Friday.

I hear being able to get guys to complete all 18 holes. That's not what he said. about trying to make it uniform across way you know it's like golf is an outdoor sport i welcome some unpredictability and variability in that i have slight reservations there that is not what he said that is specifically what he was trying to try not to say he was saying it does not affect the playability it's strictly to prevent the wilt the wilt the wilt that happens in the poana and again i'm no agronomist and all this but like i talked to him about this when i was up there for media day and it was very much like a we learned what happened in o four and 2018 we should have learned it before

2018 but didn't we mess it up again we understand from this green staff that maintains it on a day-to-day basis exactly how they keep the wilt out of the poa and that's what's not going to happen here again i don't there's they're not dousing the greens like they did uh when they lost control of it and it was too late in 04 is is that's what that's what i think he's trying to get out in front of it like that's not what's happening here in between waves we're going to sprinkle some mist on these greens it's going to prevent the wilt and it's going to play the same rather than it wilting by the end of the day and us losing the golf course before we get to the weekend. That's fine.

That's fine. Listen, we're not doing the setup thing all week. Shinnickok's a great test. I don't think they have to trick it up. But I just, I hope they don't get too cautious. Like I hope it's, it's the representative of Shinnock. That's all we're saying. I love what you were saying to, T.C.

about the different wins. I mean, I feel like we're, fingers crossed. You never know what you're going to get until you get it. But it's like we're in for one of, truly one of the most complete tests. ever. You know, I mean, Shinnickok is, it's a test of all facets of the game. It's, it's kind of the most complete test we have in the U.S. Open Rota, you know, the U.S. Open Rota. And we might get it in all the different wins, too. I mean, that's just like, I don't know. I'm trying, I'm tempering my expectations because I'm getting very excited

for, for this week. It's going to be great. I think it's, it's, I can't recall ever, I can't recall the last U.S. Open that I was like, first shot 6.30. Okay, I'll be there. I will be there from the, from the, it's, from the jump i'm going to want to see exactly how this golf course is playing in a championship i'm very excited excited to see uh one of the big storylines going into uh this championship of course scottie sheffler going for the career grand slam he was asked about this uh in his press conference uh he gave a detailed answer of what that means it was a pretty close to nihilistic uh scottie uh all over again here but we have this uh clip of him talking about the this potential achievement

You know, it's kind of a funny thing. It's like, yeah, if I win this tournament, that would be amazing. But I think then I show up the next week and it's like, okay, now Scott, he's won the Grand Slam. He's won all these golf tournaments. Now where do we go from here? And so no matter what, I think as a player and as a professional athlete, you're never going to live up to the expectations of people. And I think sometimes that's a little bit of the fallacy in our sport is that like, oh, man, if I win the U.S. Open, then I'm going to be satisfied. I'm going to be, you know, I've won all the tournaments, then my career is essentially over,

and I've accomplished everything I could want to accomplish, but then I think the goalposts are always just moved further and further. You know, if you took my career from where I was as a college player, I would have, you know, extremely overachieved being in this position. I wasn't the best college player. I had a decent college career, but by no means was I, you know, can't miss type of prospect. You know, the guys that I came out, that I turned pro at the time were better than me. You know, there were guys, you know, you look at like Colin Morcala and Hovland and Matt Wolfe, you know, those guys were winning tournaments immediately when they turned pro and I had a little bit of a slower burn in terms of the development of my career.

And for me, you know, would it be a dream to win the U.S. Open? Of course. But at the end of the day, like I, the Grand Slam has never been a motivating factor for me. You know, I always just wanted to be the best version of myself. And that got me this far. And so when it comes to this golf tournament, you know, like I said, I'm going to step up on the first tee, remind myself that I've done everything possible I could in order to play well. And now it's just a matter of going out there and trying to execute. And, you know, kind of going back to enjoying the competition versus feeling like you have to win for some reason. I kind of believe, Scotty, when he says that, like some of it's kind of just like, all right, man, really, you just don't really care that much about the Grand Slam.

But from everything we've heard and learned from him over the years, I'm like, I kind of believe him. It's also probably part of the mindset that I think has helped contribute to him just being like one of the most successful golfers of all time already. Yeah, it's like when you get in one of those arguments where, you know, both sides are kind of right. And you're like, well, that's not that fun to say it like that. Like just, I don't know, just come a little hot. Either it's super important or I don't care at all. You know, just give me something hot takey. But yeah, you listen to all that.

You're like, man, what a logical, what a logical but kind of boring point of view. You know, I think what a well-adjusted point of view that is. Randy, what do you think? Is he a choker or is he going to get it done? Give you something good. If he doesn't win this week, he's dead to me. Let's go over from the lettuce aisle to the mute case. It's fascinating, man.

You just don't hear this a lot. I don't think from golfers or even from pro athletes often, just talking about, I just want to be the best version of myself. It's admirable, it's commendable. I appreciate that he is thought. like this and he's willing to share those thoughts from time to time. I just think he's

really interesting for that reason. Just contrasting that with Rory like 12 years or 11 years or whatever it was of just gripping the steering wheel as tight as physically possible trying to win the career grand slam and that being your career and life goal essentially.

I just found that interesting of like yeah, I'm sure I'd love to win all the majors. But like you're going to be on to something else as soon as I do that. So it's not the end of the road. I just on that interesting. I would argue with Rory this week is maybe more important for him than for Scotty, where I think Rory needs to validate

his U.S. Open, like to really have the career grand slam because that U.S. Open at Congressional, like that wasn't a U.S. Open. It's like a decaying. That was like a signature event. It's like a decaying accomplishment. You know, it's going to be, it's like that back to the future photo. It's going to be gone here before we know it.

We need to get a new one in there to restart the clock. normally this is where I fight you on these things T.C. I did watch back some of that. It just balls stinted over. Yeah, that was not a good U.S. Open. It's amazing how perception changes. That was the first U.S. Open I had ever gone to.

And I was just on site the whole week. Just like, this is the most amazing thing I've ever seen, which it was. But now if I'm looking back at that, just, yeah, it'd be funny if I was hopping on the podcast every night now. What a fucking, what a joke. This is because they need to stop this fight. You know, funny how it's changed.

Stop play because of how balls wouldn't stay on the greens because they're spinning too much potentially. Exactly. Scotty weighed in on Shinnock as well. Kind of a lot of the discussion we were talking about with Fairway With and whatnot. But hearing the number one player in the world describe that as probably a little more interested in hearing us. So here's Scotty talking about setup.

I feel like the USGA is, I think, doing a good job of trying to strike a balance between having things be the most difficult they possibly can be, well also still rewarding shots hit that are really good. And I think in with the way the game of golf is going, guys are getting so good, it's getting increasingly harder and harder in order to have winning scores be over par or whatever, you know, somebody would want them to be. It's getting increasingly harder, I think, for that to happen. And when you look at this golf course specifically, a good shot off the team more often than not is going to end up in the fairer. I think sometimes it can turn.

into a little bit of a bomb and gouge type test when nobody can hit the fairway. I think you can have fairways for sure that are too small where it's just like, and if they get really firm then all of a sudden nobody can hit the fairway and then it's like, all I'm probably not going to hit this fairway, I better just get up there somewhere so I can get up on the green. I think the USGA, and what's really good about, I think some of these major championship setup is a little bit of the variety that we see from year to year on these courses and, you know, this course without having wider fairways, but then the greens play really, really small.

So I think you kind of have an interesting kind of paradox between those two, you know, wide fairways and greens that play quite small. I guess just to quickly follow up on that. I think with the widening, some people will say, well, driving accuracy won't be as important. What would your reaction be to that? I'd say driving accuracy is extremely important. There might be a couple holes, but, I mean, you put a 20-mile-in-hour wind out there. These fairways, how firm they are, not going to play super wide.

I think when you look at your poor T-shots and you're going to be hitting into the rough in this fescue, it's going to be virtually impossible to get the ball in the green. And I think that's really good. I think when you hit a drive into the fairway, you should have a chance to hit a really good shot and get on the green. And then when you miss the fairway, for the most part, it should be a challenge to get your ball onto the green. I think with the high grass you have around these fairways,

it provides that challenge. I think when you get further out into the crowd, since there's no real thing to block it, then you can kind of get a little bit lucky. But if you're hitting the ball barely offline out here, you're going to have some trouble getting the ball out onto the greens. Okay. It's good stuff, man.

I mean, I think that's the, that's bottom line in it. Plenty of width off the, off the T, but if you missed a fair way, you are going to die. You know, it's like, that's, I think what we're looking for. That echoes what the old hammer, Boddenhammer, not the new hammer, Kevin Hammer, was saying the Flynn quote, right? Like, I want your anxiety level to increase as you get closer to the green on this golf course. That's so good. Good rule of thumb.

can i can i something scotty touched on just would like to throw to the group uh the phrase i would like to see good shots rewarded that has never sat well with me uh either a shot is good or it's not i i have issue and i feel like it comes up this week what does it mean wanting a good shot to be rewarded like it's it's either a good shot or it's not depending on where it ends up i i don't understand that. Well, are we process-based or are we results-based, Randy? Kind of reminds me of this whole baseball stats discussion. You know, are we, are we forward-looking? Are we backwards-looking? I can give you my attempt at an answer to that, Randy, if you'd like it. I think we saw recent examples of that at Aronimic, where you're driving the fairway and pins are

up on knobs and you're likely to just end up on the green 35 feet away from the hole. you've got no reward for hitting a good shot off the T there. If you're in the rough, you have a run up open to the green. You can get it to the same spot. The guy could get it in the fairway. It would be like you didn't really get a reward for the good shot off the T. There wasn't like a shot value exchange there by hitting a good shot. And a good shot and a mediocre shot or an average shot might end up in the same location

on setups that are too extreme can lead to some dull golf, I certainly think. Whereas when there's a possibility that you can earn your way, close to the hole, I think, is the most exciting golf that you could possibly watch. I think the other element of it is... That makes sense. I think the other element of it is just when the margin gets so sharp that it's like, you're within the margin of error and it's just complete luck, whether it stays on that tier or whether it hits that knob and bounces the right way.

Which, again, I'm saying that academically. I'm like, from an entertainment perspective, that's kind of all we're looking for. Is it luck? Is that exactly. But yeah, I think once it gets to a point where it's like nobody can hit that small of a target, then we're, you know, it starts to become circus golf in the eyes of some of these guys. Which again is that's the line we're trying to walk. And frankly, I feel like we've been hearing a little too much, you know,

I think they're doing a good job striking that balance. You know, I feel like we haven't heard that for about 70 years. You know, you're a little too comfy at the USO, man. You go back and you do some of these deep dive, you know, these deep dives. And it's like the setup versus the players is kind of supposed to be, you know, journalism versus advertising, church versus state. Like these are supposed to be two opposing sides of the house. And we're kind of, we're getting a little cozy.

That's so well set. Yeah. Also, Scotty, it's not like these are the, like these players are so much better than the players in the past. What else may have changed? Yeah. that's that's that's where yeah i i it's all it's like creating a test in today's era when everybody's got chat ch pt uh to give you all the answers it's it's it's it's this the the curve has gotten harder on the setup side on the usga side while golf has gotten easier uh on the

on the player side right and i think it it leads us to this this constant debate randy of just that how how thin that line is that where i feel like we become less good friends during u.s open week and that's that's fine contentious that's That's fine. That's fine. That's fine. I will, you know,

next week is a new week. We'll go back to being better friends. It's totally fine. It's such a good way to the produce aisle. Exactly. Such a good way to put it. Randy would rather see Cardage at the USO but to be Sully's friends.

That's how much he wants this. I think that's the best way to illustrate it. I never understood it before. But now I get what's on the on the line. And I think there is a chance for some circus golf. Like there's going to be a lot of circus golf this week. But I think it's good. The point being.

The bad shots are what's going to lead to the circus is where I think the Venn diagram overlaps for me and you. I think you would be totally fine seeing a good shot, just end up over the 11th green and completely fought. And it's not a good shot, he would argue. So that was my, but when you put it in the context of like, I hit a good shot off the T to position myself here to give me a better, you know, when we're talking about a good shot that has happened instead of like two guys playing a shot into a, a pin location. I would argue then, yeah, TC, like, if you get it close, it's a good shot. Like anything else, it's like, it's just not a good, like, sorry, it's not a good shot. But I, when you talk about like compounding from the T to position, it does make more sense.

Well, speaking of compounding, too, I think what gets me so pumped about a week like this and when I'm so amped to watch featured group coverage essentially and just watch somebody build and build and build and build. It's just how fast it can all go away on any of these any of these golf holes. You know, when you get to a point where like you're saying, solid with the over under, first round lead might be two under, three under. Like it just takes so many, like so many good shots, not great shots, but just so many good shots in a row, so many bad shots avoided in a row to just stay in the fight because there's just a six or a seven or an eight kind of looming where it's like, oh my God, how the fuck am I going to get those back?

It's just such a, that's what I'm most excited for this week. All without penalty shots either. I mean, there's going to be very, very few penalty shots. I think there were like three balls hit into the pond. I think I saw in 2018 on the sixth hole. The rest is to find the golf ball, hit it and find it. Some of the reports we've seen have been that the rough is not like, it's not a total, you're not completely dead over there.

Like you can catch some good lies over there. There is trampled down rough. Obviously, outside the. rope line. So big misses, you'll have a possibility to to find some decent lies in there. But I know it's a priority for the USGA to have, if you're going to have fairways that wide, like they're going to have the rough be punishing. And I'll be curious to see how that, how that takes effect throughout the course of the week. Yeah. Well, it's, it's kind of course, too, where it's just like a constant interrogation. Like you said, like there's nowhere to,

there's nowhere to let your, your foot off the gas. You got to just both hands on the steering wheel. And it's not like you're going to make a bunch of doubles and triples. You're just going to make bogey you know it's well 20 20 footer for par over and over and over again and then you're going to have a 15 footer for bogey and it's it's just really stressful that's what it's when you when you say it like that it's like driving in like a really heavy rainstorm yes you know when you just start a snowstorm yeah five hours of just like all right this isn't we're not going to drive off the road but like I need to stay locked in here is it you're just exhausted after those drives. And I feel like it's it's going to be one of those, which is great. And I want to see,

I want to see some guys reach their breaking point. I want to see for sure. We will. It's going to happen. We might have to look for them a little bit, but it's going to happen. I do too. I totally do too. I think we all do. I think it's the path to getting there that's difficult. You brought up like your rainstorm. So like that, it's, that's happening down here. Summer is here in Florida and it's right around the corner for the rest of the country. What do you guys vibing on right now? Because we know Roebuck is vibing with summer. Randy, what's, what's, what's, yeah, what do you want to shout out right now?

We're going to go around the horn with our Roeback shoutouts. So I've gotten my hands on the all active shorts, which are, I actually had them on our tour sauce trip. I slept in them. They were great to kind of throw on to go to bed. But now that I'm home, I've wore them to the gym yesterday. They're just an all around. nice, comfortable.

I get them lined. You can get them lined or not lined. It's a good rollerblading short. That's good to blade, good to play tennis, good to do just anything athletic. I really enjoy them. TC. I got it on right now.

The long sleeve performance polos. It's, I go down to, I go down aside. They're just, oh, it's like great sun protection here in Florida.

I wear these with the grit shorts. It's my daily uniform. Dej. It's like Steve Jobs. He just, I just know I'm going to pick the same thing every day. The Blitz Tech T, I love. Went for a run yesterday, not to brag.

And it's just, it's just perfect, man. Perfect workout shirt. It's great. Super comfortable. Like you said the other day, so hard to work out and something else after you've, after you've done that. It's great.

It's kind of ruins it. Highlands hoodie for me. I got several of these, multiple different colors. We've got a little N-L-U logo on this one. Roeback.com, R-H-B-C-K-com. Code N-L-U. We'll get you 20% off your first order.

through the end of this week. They make awesome stuff and they are great supporters of our content. You are ready to play a little game, Dege? Sure. Yeah, I would love to. We got some, we're just going to do a little this or that. Pretty easy. I got a million of these things.

So we can whip through them quick. We can take our time or we can just kind of give your answer and go on. Some of them I'll throw to you guys. Specifically, some of them all, you know, I'll want to hear from the whole group. I think any major championship these days has to probably start here and i think that's scotty or rory uh so i'll start with you scottie would you like to elaborate or do you just feel it's just scottie

randall uh it's a good one these days yeah it's a good one i'll go scotty tc tc i'll go rory i'll go rory uh scy look stuck looks stuck looks little stuff looks little stuck. I don't have a whole lot of, I know, and I only trust your eye, Randy. Also, you know,

Scotty's like, Rory's in that, I know we're going to do boned or crowned this week. I think Rory is firmly in the crowned wave along with Tommy

Ludwig. Oh, Scotties in that one as well. Okay. USJ might have stacked the deck with the big names in that early, late wave.

Yeah. Yeah, I think Scottie just, he seems to not have the vibes going on with the wind right now either. I'll be interested to see what happens. I think for the first time in a long time, I'm going to trend towards Rory, which I think means probably just hammer Scotty on the betting markets. But just so impressed with Rory's chipping. I feel like I said that the other day, but we kind of slept on that at the Masters a little bit, just how good he was off some of those tight lies and short grass around the greens.

That's going to be a massive ask here this week. And it just kind of turned into one of my favorite players to watch around the greens. And I'm excited to see that this week. But I can't get out of my head, though, and I've seen this floated around. I don't know who to credit with that is like, you know, literally, if you judge players based on their ability in the wind, guess who's number one at that also? Yeah, for sure. I think I'm just bored of picking Scott.

No, no, I know. I know. I am too. But like even like more so than his normal rate, you know, under normal circumstances to other players. And like we mentioned in the preview, like his chipping from short grass is better than anybody else as well. And this is the hardest place for that. So it's not. Just go back to the memorial. Him and Teddy. They got it worked out though, man. Maybe they worked it out. Out of the system. Have they? Yeah. I don't know. It could have been like better better there, you know, than here. Maybe it's, that's a good place to figure it out. But anyways, we can move on. TC. Zander. or ROM? Give me Ron. Johnny Rom. You're back on the Rombo. Johnny Rombo. Yeah.

Did we decide that? Did we save that for later? Not currently a dude. I have some issue with that. You can't lose it for like six years. It's a year. You're locked in for a year. I hope Cam Young plays well this week.

You guys got a horse in this one? I'm Zander. I've worked myself into a little bit of a lather with Zander's US Open history. You convinced you move the needle on that one for me as well, Ray. I'm going to go Zander. Lloyd line fine lather.

Randy, Bryson versus the cut. I think it's a missed cut week. I really do for Bryson. The win, just all the variables. I don't trust his short game at places where you really got to have

that deaf touch. I know he can get the putter going, but I don't trust the chipping in those Mondo wedges. I'm going miscut. How did he win at Piner's? It's crazy. Yeah. That one ended up being more Bombers delight than we,

than was expected. He did keep Brando mean that week. He can't keep getting away with it. He did keep getting really good lies in the shit all week. I agree completely with everything you said, Randy, but I think he still makes the cut. I don't think it's going to be a good week for Bryson, but I think he makes the cut.

Sounds like the new drivers, really good I'm gonna say he makes the cut I think I'm also I'll say that he misses the cut just for fun uh all right God save the queen uh toss up here Harris English versus Aaron Rye Sully bad timing here Croatia just scored oh sorry if anybody has it tapes yeah the title really it's God save the king right now too right yeah I'm just receiving that is coming across my dog a little behind that emails I've been trying traveling. Who was it again? Harris English and Aaron Rye.

Major champion Aaron Rye. H.E. Give you H.E. for sure. H.E. is so good at the U.S. Open. I don't think he's ever missed a cut here. Or at the U.S. Open, that is. I don't have a strong lean, so just give me Aaron Rye for funsies. Let's do kind of, I don't know about the main event, but certainly one of the most provocative undercards.

Fleetwood versus Sam Burns. Oh. T.C., you don't even have to dignify this with an answer if you don't want. Thank you. It's more for the other for the other bloke. And if anybody's going to join me on the Sam Burns train. Sure. I'll absolutely ride with you on that one. We'll go Burns.

Sam, God, I, T.C. Has never done it for it. I think Tommy is like, Tommy's going to do one of his top 10. I'm going to take Tommy. This has got to be cool for you, T. This is your opportunity, your only opportunity to pick Tommy this week. Oh, no, no, no, we're not abiding by that. Also, I'd like, do you have a mayor?

You're as a gordon. The group, sorry, around Sam Burns putting. Justin Ray's stat. Yeah, you said he was not a good putter under pressure. I said I would doubt that. Justin Ray said he is not a good putter under pressure. I haven't checked this myself, but I would never go against Jay Ray. So I would, of course, may a couple of that.

So, yeah. That's big of you. Thank you. Glad it's a really two-way street of just recognizing things we've said here, holding each other accountable. to promises we've made. Put this one in there. I think this one's clear early, late,

versus late early. It seems like late early is going to have a potentially a tough go of it. Tougher. Yeah, tougher. But like the other way of still is going to have wind to deal with. The severity is just going to be, you know, and there is a difference in that. But it's different if it's like,

oh, you get, it lays down for one group and it blows medium for the other. if I'm on the bad side of a draw, I'd rather have it both be windy and my side be worse than that alternate option, if that makes sense. I think the other thing too is like with that Rory Ludwig Tommy group or some of those other groups in that distinct part of the wave

where they're going off 10 early on the bad day after they do the water management in the morning, like they get 10, 11 right out of the way early and then get to the way early and then get to finish on, you know, and I know seven's dicey as well, nine's an extremely tough hole into the wind, but it would be like 10, 10 and 11 are where you can really make the biggest mess.

I think they should do like a, is that Olympic club where they just, they send certain groups off 11 or 12? Yeah. I feel like they should start groups on 12. Yeah. Yeah, 10 and 11 should be the last holes you've got to play at the day. To be clear, T, all right, nine runs west to east. and

okay south wind is going to put seven and eight into the wind nine is going to be off the right for the wind that's projected for tomorrow and that's still like uphill yeah it's crosswind into a cross wind like it's still tough it's yeah there's a great clip of Rory hitting an approach shot I forget where I saw that

you just like watch it in the air with the flags whipping in the background of how much that ball's moving it from right to left like it's gonna be some shot making this week boys just just for for those keeping track a few of the people in the early late wave are Kepka, Cam Young, Goderup, Rory, Ludwig, Tommy, Scotty, things of that nature, people in the late, early wave, Bryson, Victor, Fitz, Zander, I think the Speeth and Rom going tomorrow afternoon is like,

I don't have ever been more excited to watch a group than that, truly, playing with the great man, Justin Rose. I mean, that's just full IV into my, into my arm tomorrow. That's, I can't put the slow drip on, or syringing. Yeah. Rosen's leaf blade hydration tomorrow at D.C. Rosen's beef are always playing together. It's incredible.

I don't know how this happens this often. And maybe, yeah, there's a little history there between those two. Fitz versus Morikawa. It's the best one I could come up with. It's a good one. There is a good one. I think Morikawa is kind of underrated right now. I think I'm going Morikawa. He was one of my five. You got to remember the five in the draft. Fitz is such a, such a trendy pick for a good reason. I mean, he drives it straight. He hits his

iron's great. He's one of the best chippers on tour. He's like, yeah, probably the most, certainly the most underrated three-time winner in a season that I can remember. Morikawa's got a new perspective. True. Yeah. We might have dad back. I'm selling more call up. Which means you should probably buy.

Triple Costanza. Randy, underpar winner versus over par winner. God, I hope it's over. My head's telling me it's going to be like one or two under par. But I hope it's over. I think we would take that, Randy, right? T.C. I hate that that's where.

we're at but yeah i think we would take that but i i just the degradation of where we were 15 years ago uh let alone 20 years ago we're slipping the the over under is 278 and a half which is one and a half under par uh is the is the set line i saw on golf odds uh there there is nothing better than when one player's under par and everybody else is over par that that's good stuff i do i can get down with that that that's a true champion and then this stats been going around. Only three players ever have played the U.S. Open at Shinnock and finished under par, which is

insane. It's insane. Obviously, the contributing factors to scores being a little bit lower this year would be the wider fairways, the careful maintenance of the green so far, and the reports we've heard of the greens being relatively soft at this point. Could lead to some early round decent scores,

but. No Mike Davis. I would, how many, what's the overrunner, how many guys will be under par? one and a half if the over you know if that's the winning line

one and a half probably yeah it's great we'll see I had I had dehydration versus the leaf blade but I think we've covered that

I think we're I think the leaf blade sounds like it's going to win that one yeah continuous play versus the wind are we going to have continuous play

are we going to see a stoppage Solly what say you I don't know this is the part I can't predict it going to have him with the weather. I can only read it. No, he's in rain. He gets mad at me and he's, you know, yelling at me five years later

for something I said on some preview. I don't think that there will be a stoppage in play. I think they'll be able to keep the balls on the green base. They just seem as prepared for this as they possibly. There is not sneaking up

on them that the wind could blow really hard tomorrow. So. It's true. I think, unfortunately, they do have a really good plan. Unfortunately, I think they've been thinking about this one. TC, seventh hole versus the 11th hole. Give me the 11th hole.

I think with the cautiousness of, you know, knowing, listen, these are the problem children. Knowing that these are the problem children, I think 11's just got more teeth. It's got,

you know, like 7's a tricky green and it's obviously elevated, but 11's just on another level as far as, the bad shit that can happen there. You can start playing ping pong. 11th pole versus the 10th pole. Give me 11 still.

I mean, I think 11 is, like, you know, if we were going to get a strong east wind or a strong straight west wind, I would say probably 10, but give me 11 because I think it's going to be either, you know, down or, you know, off the left all week. Data golf had a great just a look into where the worst places to miss were on the golf course just based on like how how how much how many strokes you're losing in certain spots three of the four worst places to miss on the entire golf course long left of 10 long right of 10 short left of 10 the next the worst place to miss is obviously long left of 11 and then after 10 the next three places are all around the fifth green long.

left of five, short right of five, and long, I guess this is to a variety of different pins as well. But basically 10 and 5 are the worst, the hardest greens to hit around other than going long on 11. Let's talk about the defending champ here at Chinatock. Brooks versus Chris Goderup, TC. I think this one's after your heart. Give me Goddard.

You drafted high on Godorup. Honestly, I like both of them this week, but I'm long Godderup. I'm gonna go Goder up as well. Just the health reason is enough for me with Brooks. Goddard wins. Is he a dude, Sully? I feel like whoever wins this week has to be a dude. It could be the only test, the only proper test we've ever seen.

It might be the only dude, whoever wins this week. No, I'm not willing to say that. Exactly. You guys are risky, risky things you're staying right now. I had that one on my list. Dub versus P. Like, Okman was a good test last year. And I mean,

is anyone who won a nominee spawn to be a dude? Like, let's not get swept up. I could carried away. Give me pee. Randy Dougt versus P. Yeah, it's got to, I mean, it's a good one, though. Everything I believe in this life, it's got to be P. Supposedly P's been up there for weeks.

Is that fair? He's not doing anything else. It's not playing. It's great. It's so unfair. I like Pee in that one for sure. we need to get uh cam young was i don't think cam young made my my either oars that's tough that's an indictment of the last couple weeks uh but we need to get pee in one of those photo shoots like like cam young

was in for that like that hampton's laundry magazine that was going around i think we need to get pee in one of those i miss some of the lifestyle stuff that peeve's doing that ferity episode or he's got all that black and white checkerboard stuff i mean it's just it's great uh he's got a like he's got a whole whole new aesthetic like he's got this team team read bag now that's he's got that massive oath he's one of the oath keepers there it is Cody there's the modern luxury Hampton's magazine great look from our guy came young it's kind of a shackett it is saw it as a generational hater big shot bob versus foxy I'll give me bob not been a great year for Bob,

but he's a more proper player than Foxy is. They're calling him Knob, McIntyre. It's pretty withering. What else we got? Jordan Speath versus the top 20. Has it had a top 20 at the U.S. Open in years. I'm not seeing it, guys.

Don't love it. I'm not seeing it. I'm seeing it. I'm with you, see it. Give me Speed top 20. How about Jackson, Coivan versus the top 20.

Can I interest anybody in that one? Sure. I'll put his face off there. Yeah, I'll play that one. Super curious to get some eyes on him. He's been hanging out. You got a lot of riding on that. Is he pro or is he not pro?

He's not pro. It's not pro. Not gross. Not gas. Okay. Are you changing your team? Are you still your team's on the field as far as the draft? I think my team's on the field.

I feel good about my other four guys. And I think Coivin's just going to be like, leave no doubt. Oh, Randy. this guy that didn't even count finish top 20 Randy won this one your best bet might be for him to win so that he takes so much money

out of the system that your other guys take it out of the system it would but that's what I'm saying takes it off the board so nobody else can get it I think that would just go to the oh I guess it would just be distributed

to somebody else that would be the opposite of what I'm saying I guess those guys would be at the year no no no I'm saying for our pool for our for our game is what I'm saying but I don't know. We'd have to get into the easy office pool back in

and see how they would handle that one. It accepted it, so we'll see what they do. I think they just mirror whoever else he ties with. Oh, well, now we've got a whole total exoneration. Wow, that kind of calls the entire thing into question then, right? Yeah, that might be a little unfair, actually, because it wouldn't split it. It was a perfect draft.

I had a perfect draft. We might need to look into that. We'll do some math on that in the back end. A couple more. Mason Howell versus Miles Russell. Give me Russell. Miles this week. Yeah, let's do it.

I was going to go opposite of that. I'll take Howl. I'll go I'll go Miles Russell. Beach guy, playing in the wind. Something like that. I don't know. And then TC straight up.

I don't know how we quantify this or what it even means. Is it going to be a boning or a crowning? Unfortunately, I think it might be a crowning. a skeleton with a crown on top of it. You have to, you have to withstand some small bonings,

but you're going to get crowned in the long run. That's what I got. Good, good stuff. I hope everybody took notes on where everybody stands. We can revisit that later. And yeah, go into the comments if you want to fill it out as well. If you get them all right, you know, maybe, maybe, can we send them something, Cody? Maybe if you get, if you get them all right, I think Randy,

Randy will come to your house. I think that's right. I'll watch Sunday morning with you. Play tennis or, you know, whatever. You could fill this skid care routine video. And I mean the comments in the YouTube, not in the live chat, like in the actual YouTube. But you got to get all. There's like 20.

You got to get them all right. Yeah. You got to get them all right. Including boning or crowning. Yeah, boning or crowning. How are we going to determine that? Like, do we determine on a daily basis if there's two two boning days and two crown days? I think we'll know at the end of the week.

I think it's a Sunday night question. Yeah. We got to just go on balance of the whole week. Get in there. Get in the comments, connect with people. Just like our friends at AT&T. They believe 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 clear because it's not just about being more connected. It's about being better connected wherever life takes you. When the connection matters, it has to be AT&T. To find out more, head to ATT.com, backslash connect. to change AT&T connecting changes everything. All right, let's do it. Official picks to win the 126 playing of the United States Open Championship. Randy, I'm going to start with you.

Who's your pick to win? My pick is Xander Shoffley. I knew it. Yeah. I'm going to make a little, I'm going to make a little, you know, Colorado is a legal state. I might throw a little harder and greenbacks on my guy, Xander. I love that. We also in the graphics have not to win.

So we can do both at the same time. Who's not going to win? Well, I put Scotty and Rory in there. I didn't feel that good about either. And then Bryce and I'm just not feeling good about at all. So I wanted to get a couple. Solly, can I go next? You can.

Because I also pick Zander. Wow. And for the first, I don't like it, T.C. I don't like how it makes me feel. I don't even know if I think he will win. I'm just trying to, you know, I'm, I just, I don't know, I feel it. Guy is a US Open predator. Cody, we had a couple of graphics that, uh, the folks at Data Golf put in their,

their live blog. First of all, he's never finished outside the top 15 at this event. Uh, it's, that's bananas. He played nine US opens and he's finished in the top 15 in every single one of them. That is the tied for the longest top 50 top 15 streak at any, major championship. If you can see this here, Phil finished in the top 15 in nine masters in a row. Tom Watson finished in the top 15 and nine masters in a row. Zander has done it at nine US opens in a row. He's built for, he's built for this championship. He does everything

well. He's mentally very steady, doesn't shoot himself out of these golf tournaments and he plays well when it gets hard, which is the other graphic. This is kind of a measurement of basically when you get outlier hard rounds. Who does the best? best, it's Zander. He's the guy that rises the most when the going gets tough. And so, I don't know, Randy, I think he's a good value. He's kind of a sort of underrated for a guy that won two majors a couple years ago. And I'm with you, man. I'll ride with you. Let's do it. A little forgotten. Just a little forgotten. You know what's super interesting about that? If Zander does win, we're a master's away from the Grand Slaia. Right. I know. It's incredible.

incredible. And I had Bryson as my player who will not win as well. We'll see. Feels a little cheap based on how far away he's been in the last couple majors. But also, I mean, he's what, like the, I don't know. He's a top 10 favorite for sure. So does feel super cheap. I can go next, Cody, if that works. I also have Bryson not to win. I should have been, I should have been more palsy that I actually was. And this is my picks are just, I hate it. I hate everything that has to do with it. Say whatever you want.

You can make fun of it. I hate that I'm doing it. I've been everywhere down the map. I've lost sleep over who I think is going to win this week. And I defaulted back to the safest, most dull pick. I think I've picked him for all three majors so far this year. I just can't, I know as soon as I don't pick him, he's going to win. And I think maybe we're due for a more interesting championship if he doesn't win

and we string this U.S. Open Chase out. doing this for everybody when I say I think if you're not watching on video sally pick Kirk Kadyama to win he didn't say that out loud uh I just I I I I think it's going to be an incredible test uh I think it's a test of who's the most in control of their golf ball and even if he's playing less than perfect uh I like the the fact that at the masters I walked away was just like man if this tournament was like you know 78 one holes that there were nine more holes I like, you know, Scotty was going to chase Roy down and win this thing. Didn't, you know, quite work out that way necessarily at Aronimic,

but it just, this one's going to feel like a more grueling 72 whole test to the point where I think he can outlast everybody. I don't expect like eight shot masterclass Scotty win, but I think it does set up well for him to win this championship. And the short grass around the greens, I think the long grass around the greens at Oakmont, I think was kind of nullifying a big advantage that he potentially has. and, you know, shots screaming to the green, kind of stop in all the same places.

Like, it's going to be a better test of ball striking. And he is still the best at that, even if he's not at the height of his powers. So boring, hate it. I don't care. Give me, Scotty. Congratulations. Thanks. No, don't congratulate me.

T.C. Don't look at me. Sali, technically, I made my picks for this championship two years ago. So maybe hundreds of years ago. Yeah, it was Tommy then. It's Tommy now. If you're not going to let me have that, give me pee or godder up, but it's Tommy. All right.

You feel me? No. No. You said you were going to stop picking up for majors if he didn't win Port Rush. I said he's going to win Burkdale and or Shinnecock. You said when you picked him for Port Rush, you did the one and done. I will never pick him again if he doesn't win and he did not win. And here we are.

That was a listen, man. We've all said a lot of things, you know. Yeah. You get the heat of competition. What is it? Is it? Gotcha? I don't want to belabor it.

And then, gosh, what else we got? Who not to win? I got Bryson, of course. Bryson's not going to win. I've got Zander as well. I threw this in, yeah, after the fact. But yeah, Zander, I just can't see. I can see him finishing seventh, eighth.

I just can't see him winning. It's a dope jacket you got it on in that photo, TC. Thank you. I like that one. Anything else? U.S. Open Chittacock related before we get into kind of some of the news of the day. What are you chuckling about, Randy? No, I just love D.Z. I love the juxtaposition of I just can't see Zander to win this. He'll top 10, but then I did pick Tommy to win. It's good art. It's good art.

Do you want to explain the nuance there of why those two things are different or you want to just leave that on said? No, I'll just leave that there. The real one's no. For the viewer to interpret. Does Xander shot 63 in the final round of Shinnickok before? I don't think he has. To check my notes. I don't think so.

All right. Let's get to some of the news of the day. USGA and R&A and PGA Tour and DP World Tour all combined to make an announcement that came out right before the USGA press conference today about the rollback. You know, concerns that have been raised. they acknowledge that they have concerns about distance increases, consequences of failing to address them. And they've had these feedback processes, a whole bunch of stuff that we're not going to get in the details of them. But they changed, proposed change to the overall distance standard was going to be coming into effect in 2028 for the pros, 2030 for the rest of us.

That was the last update that we had heard from them. But they announced today two significant developments have emerged in the efforts to address the impact of distance on the game. one. Feedback from the golf industry on the notice and comment related to the date of implementation of the updated ODS testing approach indicated that the majority support a single date of implementation, which is 2030, versus a two-date phased implementation of 2028 and 2030. That's item one. Second, constructed discussions between the governing bodies, PGA leadership, and PJTor Player Advisory Council, TPP World Tour leadership, and other stakeholders. You know, three key outcomes. one, recognition the distance continues to increase at the elite level.

Two, a concern by the tours that the updated ODS testing approach may not achieve desired results. And three, a collective willingness to reconsider alternative approaches that may more materially impact the pace of future distance increases while minimizing disruption to the overall Gulf market. Again, given these developments, the R&N and USJ will take the appropriate amount of time to assess the range of possible options and determine the path forward. Again, they're going to work closely with the key stakeholders, including the PGA tour to review, test, and implement options that have a meaningful impact on distance at the elite level. And they will ensure the elite game does not become two one-dimensional while continuing to emphasize the importance of shot making. No change of the ODS testing approach until January 2030. While these options are evaluated, confident in the path forward, yada, yada, yada. So big development today.

A little bit of what this is and what this isn't. Sure. I think is helpful, at least as I understand it, and you guys, you guys check me if any of this is wrong. But I think what this isn't is, okay, well, now we're not rolling the ball back and all of it's out the window. I saw that take in a lot of spots. I think what this is, is in so many words, probably an admission, definitely admission, that the way that they were going about it was not going to work, which I think was had kind of become the talk. point or the concern, the growing concern over the last couple weeks, especially since the PGA and the news about Cam Young's golf ball already being conforming. And I think there were just a lot of loud voices that were saying, you know, we said this at the time, but chapter one of this conversation is should we roll back the ball or not? There's a lot of people still on chapter one. Chapter two is how are we going to do it? And I think a lot of people didn't quite get to chapter two where it's like, oh, wait, the way that this is going is not going to be the outcome that

people like us who desperately want to see the ball or the equipment rolled back in some way. I think we were not barreling towards a solution that was going to accomplish that. It was going to really make the high-launch, low-spin players longer, and it was going to make everybody else shorter, and it was probably barreling towards making the game more one-dimensional. So the way I read this today is the USGA and kind of the probably the professional golfers really backing the USGA down a little bit in that regard and saying, hey, this is not going to accomplish what we're trying to accomplish. We need to reconsider what's going on. And the USGA is saying, great, but we still need to do something. And now it's just a matter of what they're going to end up doing.

TC, is that your read on the situation? Yeah, it jives. I think there's, yeah, it's a, it's a, I think it's the right decision in a shitty, uh, process, right? It seems like shorter ways I hit it. Yes. Yeah. And, and, you know, I'm more pro governance and rollback than ever, I think. It's just a matter of, uh, I think there's multiple ways to do it. And I think there's, there should be multiple ways like multiple tools in the toolbox, not just the ball. I think it should be like, Neil's a big proponent of T height or driver size or, or, I think the ball's a part of it.

But I also, you know, I want to see, like, I like the emphasis on shot making and, you know, just that side of things as well, like playing with creativity and not just making the game one note. What I, you know, and I don't think that this is the USGA getting back down into not doing anything. I think it's them getting refocused and all right, you know what? We've made mistakes along the way.

We've learned from those. And like, it's now or, never like we have to do something because what the the you know the whole distance report is what was that 20 years ago 22 years ago and we're we're you know we're 24 years on from that we're seven or eight years into this process the whole comment period it's like at this point it's like if you're a stakeholder you get to you know put in your two cents your opinion and it and it sounds like bifurcation is back back on the table as well Friday They had a conversation with Mike 1 after the press conference and indicated,

I'm paraphrasing that bifurcation is back on the table. That was the first we'd heard of that, I think, was from their reporting after that press conference. But it is, I've used this analogy before and it's where you're kind of back to square one here, which is you'd rather be at the bottom of a ladder you want to be on than halfway up one. You don't. I think that's a big thing for me today as we're getting off away from this ODI. this testing standard that has proven to be incomplete,

perhaps improperly tested on actual pro golfers, and kind of leading to this kind of behind this, you know, these silly rumblings you hear out there, like look what is going to happen to Cam Young, and it's going to kill Russell Henley, and it's going to kill Brian Harmon, and leading us to a path where this problem gets worse. And I think, again, there's a million parts of nuance of this conversation.

And again, I want to emphasize, like, I think and I hope and I really, really, really hope that the new focus of this is not rolling back the golf ball, which is a singular thing. And it is a focus on reintroducing and refining the balance of risk of hitting the ball far. Right. And that can come from a variety of ways. That can come from driverhead size. It can come from a whole bunch of scientific stuff that, like, I will hand up say that is where my technical knowledge stops.

and it goes to the engineers to figure out how to find that balance back. But a straight up engineered rollback of just the ball is not going to go as far can have a negative effect on the game. And that's where I think we were headed. And we're off that train. So now what's it going to be? And if bifurcation's back on the table makes things a lot easier, it really does. We can shorten the driver length.

We can shorten T height. We can decrease the driver head size and we can change the ball a little bit. Manufacturers won't like it. The players aren't going to like it. I think there's still a lot of headbutting. on that front to be had. But we're kind of back to the drawing board here with all options being on the table

is a better path, I think, than the one they were on. If they were going to waste all their political capital on pushing this testing standard through, I think it would have blown up in their face and we would have not been anywhere closer to our goal here. Well, I think just to put a finer point on that too, like the other,

the reason it was going to blow up in their face is because the PJ tour wasn't going to go along with it. Correct. So for all the people who are like, well, you got to do something. It's like, well, you really don't, man, because if you put forth a bad rule and everybody ignores it, then you've just spent a decade or two decades or two and a half decades,

whatever, using all of this capital that you have on pushing through a rule that doesn't get followed and now nobody's going to listen to what's going on. So it just creates this shitty situation. We were talking about it earlier where it's like, I feel very ripped in half where I'm like, I want the USGA to not kow to certain people. I want them to be,

and the RNA, to be the governing bodies to push through what they think is best. But man, that has to be the right, that has to be the right thing. And so I, it's just, I don't know. I don't want to speak out of both sides of my mouth. I'm like, you should have rammed this forward because I don't think it was the right thing. But we got to be in a situation where they have the power to do that. And it's just, yeah, it still feels very far away, which after eight years is just eminently frustrating.

Rollap comes from the NFL where they change the rules all the time. They change them every off season. They have a rules committee and change the kickoff or they change the, you know, the extra point length, that sort of stuff. Like I think if you showed him data or showed him something that prove that, hey, this is going to make this a better product. I think he would go along with it. And the other thing is now the tour can't say the tour and the PGA of America,

Derek Sprague saying, hey, we didn't have a part in this or we didn't have any say here. It's like, no, there was a very clear comment. period. I think now the USGA can almost keep better receipts on that stuff and say, you know what? Like all of you were party to this. We did this together and this is what we all came up with. Yeah. Yeah. And I hope that that it's in good faith that people like Mav McNeely or Adam Scott or Tiger on the future competitions committee can say, hey, you know what, this is what's best for the game. And it's not just rank and file bullshit. you know, from, from guys who, who just, you know, want to hit the ball as far as possible.

Yeah. I mean, there's a ton of questions still to go from this, but I think one, again, if bifurcation's back on the table, like opening that up is, there's still a world where you need, like, the PGA tour guys to agree with this. You needed to either way, like, again, we were heading towards a disaster zone where three of the majors were going to be played with a rollback golf ball in the PGA championship and PGA Tour events were going to be played as they were. So you're going to, you know, finding an agreeable solution on this is going to be very difficult,

knowing how against the bifurcation, the governing bodies, or sorry, the OEMs have been, and that they don't, they want to make products that they can market and sell to people. And making specialized products, a whole R&D department just based around professional golf is not, is where like, I think that line of while minimizing disruption to the overall golf market is, like, man, I don't really, I still don't know where we're headed. And I don't think it's like going to be an easy path. I'm pretty much guarantee it's not going to be an easy path. And again, I'm encouraged by their willingness to change to back,

to back off and say we had this wrong. They didn't say those words, but like it's kind of what this admission is. But I still see some headwinds, man, of getting this all the way through, you know, just looking at, you know, 200 different player opinions and all of that is going to be, you know, when you can't even get long. of those people to agree that there is a problem. Hopefully 125 player opinions. Yeah.

Agreed. So, Randy, do you have any thoughts? Speaking of which, yeah. Sorry, no, no, no. You guys said it much better than I would have. Well, how do you... Speaking of which, yeah. Sorry, last thing, because I do think this is what we've talked to Randy about in the

past, but bifurcation back on the, back on the menu, I just, that has always been the thing that's made the most sense to me. It's always been the thing that, you know, if you know, if you know, if you're you want to go to certain golf courses, you can, like, it's just a lot easier to ramp up the, ramp down the pro equipment to, to do all kinds of other things than it is to try to scale everybody back. I know that there, there's a little bit of a, from my cold dead hands with the, with the general public. But Randy, I feel like you've always had an interesting thoughts or feelings on that. And I don't know if I'm oversimplifying it or how you, how you feel.

I, I, I see myself both ways, Dege, to be honest. Like, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, part of me understands the average weekend golfer like who cares man if if he's hitting equipment that isn't going to conform to this new rollback that the tour and elite amateurs are going to play like i i get that what i think is a bit undersold in this discussion though is one i think your average weekend golfer probably wouldn't notice too big of a difference in whatever ends up coming of this, quite honestly. And two, I would be for normalizing 6,000-yard golf courses,

and let's play a little quicker. And, you know, I think there are some upshots to the public casual game that perhaps could go along with rolling back some of the equipment, whether it's, you know, the clubs or the ball. The public is so dumb, though, Randy. I know, and I know they tried this with the T-It Forward campaign, but like it just, you know, you get back from Scotland, we're playing like 4,800-yard courses that are like, that was all the challenge I needed, quite honestly.

So I do think there's an opportunity to perhaps like get people playing length that is more in line with their skill and ability. And perhaps, again, that just speeds things up. I don't know. No, 100%. That's why I think distance increases are pointless overall to our enjoyment of the game because we're all in charge of the challenge we pick when we go tee it up. And like, if you roll back my equipment, 10%, I'm going to move up a set of T's. And like the game makes better sense on a smaller scale.

And the farther and farther equipment goes, the more I'm going to go back to try to seek the challenge that I'm trying to get out of a golf course on a particular day to the point where like there's a spot where the scale of golf makes sense. and we were living in that scale for like 40 years prior to this boom in the late 90s and into 2000s, and then things are getting on a completely unsustainable path. Like it's really not that much more complicated than that. But it's still one of those things, man, there's a lot of people now that have grown up hitting massive driverheads and golf balls that don't spin that aren't going to like be, you know,

I don't think the golf world's going to balladas and persimmons. But I don't know. But we could send the pros there is what I'm saying. yeah, I think that's where they're going to try to go next. And I'm fascinated to see. I could not play. I don't know what the odds on favorite would be. Or I guess, sorry, to misuse odds on there, TC,

but just what the favorite would be of like what category they're going to go for. I don't think it's going to be golf ball the way it sounds like. So maybe it is just back to 300 C drivers. But I don't know if that. anyways so uh that's going to do it uh we read some rory quotes from earlier in the week we're going to save those for pride till yeah we'll save those because i want to i want to dig into those completely because i thought they were like both malicious and naive and like just really shitty from rory as mentioned we'll save that for sunday thank you for that tc uh but thank you

everyone for tuning in here uh you have another preview from this past monday if you haven't caught that one if you're still jones and for some pre u.s open content got a little deeper on And we have a breakdown of Shinnock Hills, the golf course, from last week as well. We will be live, of course, at the end of every round of play. Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Neil's going to be out there in person on Friday and Saturday of this week. A big shout to Titleists for supporting all of our live shows this past week.

Friends, Roeback and AT&T as well for supporting today's show. Anything else I missed, guys? Not a thing. Hit that subscribe button while you are here. and stick with us for the rest of the U.S. Open week, and we'll see you back here tomorrow night. Everyone enjoyed day one of the U.S. Open. Earlier we get to bed, the early it's going to get here.

So I will see you guys tomorrow. Good night. Cheers. Gregl.