No Laying Up - Golf Podcast - 1174: Thursday at the '26 U.S. Open

Episode Date: June 19, 2026

Wyndham Clark (-6) opened a four-shot lead before play was suspended due to darkness. Seven players sit T2 at -2, including Matt Fitzpatrick, Dustin Johnson, Gary Woodland, and Jon Rahm. Rory McIlroy, Ludvig Åberg, and Bryson DeChambeau are among the notable names at -1. Join us as we break down all the action from the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, including Down the Leaderboard, fog/wind/weather discussion, news and notes, and much more. Plus, Zac Blair (T29) joins the show to discuss his round and his expectations for the week. Presented by Titleist. Support our sponsors: Titleist - the #1 ball in Golf! High Noon - Sun's Up! Golf Pride - 20% off with NLU20 at https://golfpride.com 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 him? That is better than most. Better than most. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the No Laying Up Live show, presented as always by our friends at Titleist.

Day 1 of the United States Open is in the books. I did not say round one because there are still 50 golfers, I believe, on the course, as play was called. due to darkness. I am Sali, joined by my, the first malcontent to my right on the screen, Mr. Big Randy. Hello, Mr. Big. That's how we're doing it. I was showing up with a good attitude tonight. I was going to be cordial, but I see how it's going to go. Sure. I'm the one that pushed you over the edge. Another malcontent is here. Hello,

Mr. T.C. Did they call it for darkness? It looked like there was some light there. Did they call it for just in respect for Mr. Flynn? we'll have to check with the hammers on that one. DJ Pye is here as well. Hello, DJ. Hey, Holly. How are you, man? I'm doing, I'm doing great.

It's good to be with you guys. I'm great. I had a great day watching golf. It's a major championship week, and there's one thing you can count on footjoy will be the most worn shoe this week at the U.S. Open. That's right.

Since 1945, Footjoy has been the number one shoe on tour. And this week at Shennecock is no different. That's over 80 consecutive years that players of the highest level of the game have chosen Footjoy as their shoe of choice. Footchu has shoes for every player, whether you prioritize style, performance, traction, stability, or comfort. You'll see many different styles in play this week from the athletic styles like the ProSL

and the hyperflex to the iconic premiere series. Footchut also just dropped their second Legends series release on Tuesday with leading menswear designer Todd Snyder. These things are fantastic. You have to check these out. There are two limited edition styles, the Premier Series Packard and the Premier series marquee with each design inspired by the sea, sand, and summers in the Hamptons. You can check them out at footjoy.com before they're gone.

Or you can check them out probably shortly here on screens. I think T.C. is pulling one out of the box. There they are. They are fantastic. They show up at my doorstep. And I wish they didn't tell me out of it. I'm such a hyperflex guy now because they keep sending me great, great, premier ones, and I want to wear them.

So shout out to footjoy. Footjoy.com. Find it before they're gone. DJ, take us away. Yeah, let's start where we got to start. What did we know and when did we know it? What do we know right now, guys? Wyndham Clark is your leader by four at Chinatock.

He is through 16 holes sitting at 6 under. We have a whole host of guys. We've got seven guys at two under par. And then we've got another host of guys at one under par. All in guys, there's 17 people under par as we close the book. We get ready to close the book. on round one of the U.S. Open just for a little bit of comparison sake. There were 10 guys under par last year after round one at Oakmont.

Can I, just before we get into how we're doing, how we're feeling, how we're looking, can I, can I go through some first round leads just over the last, the last couple years here? Just to level set. 2025, 2025 first round leader four under par, winner ended up at one under par. 24 first round leader 5 under winter ended up at 6 23 8 under winter was 10 22 4 under winter was 6 21 4 under the winner was 6 20 20 20 doesn't count uh but it was 5 under the winner was 6 but nobody else was even under par and 2019 at pebble beach 5 under the winner was 13 so you're telling us to trust the process i'm just saying that historically the process has a brave wingfoot super intense who tried to hold the line in 2020. He just got run over by Bryson, but he tried to hold the line.

No, what I am saying is it does tend to kind of, it stays pretty close to where we're at after round one. You know, and we did have a weird situation today, which I'm sure we're going to touch on with lots of win, lots of softness, lots of slowing down with the greens. But in reality, Wyndham Clark is the only guy that at this point has mega taken advantage. I mean, there's a lot of guys under par, but nobody better than two.

And there's a lot of people just kind of bunched pretty tight. I mean, it's kind of 68 to 74 is the vast majority of the people in this field. So with that said, TCL, I'll start with you. How do we feel? How are we looking right now? I thought it was a great first, what, they started at 9-30-ish. There was a fault. They started early.

Yeah, yeah. but but like it like like like in earnest the you know the golf started in earnest 930 i thought from 930 until about 3 or 4 p.m it was delightful viewing i was very i was chuffed greens were a little soft but it's like hey you know what i'm fine trust the process uh you know i had no issue with like they they showed harry higgs ripping a wedge off of 10 green and it's like no you got to control your spin that's part of the deal too no issue with that at all. And then the wind

that Sali told us about last night. Wind finder said. Did not materialize. And so D.J. When you say, will you apologize first? Absolutely fucking not.

I will absolutely not apologize. You're riled people up. You're getting a run on paper towels at the grocery store. Everybody's just like. Yeah, they were out of water and cereal. You guys in your ivory towers. Hang it on the light. He's hanging on the flagpole there at the clubhouse.

So, so, Dej, you were saying nobody took advantage. Yes, like that's what it appears when you look at the scores relative to par. But I think the scores should be like minus one was a really, really,

really good score in the early wave. And then I felt like I was watching guys looting during a hurricane or or after a hurricane. sorry, like in the eye of the storm once the wind stopped. Windham, country music sensation, Ryder Cowan, Max McGreevy, Dustin Johnson headed to five under for a while there. Woodland, Rom, like just a total late day crowning. It was a disgrace.

It was desecrating the great man, Bill Flynn. And listen, I understand why they did it. And you know what? I'm offering amnesty. I think that they can, like, it, I'm not mad. They just got to fix this tomorrow. We got to ramp it up a little bit tomorrow, dry it down, and then it better be ready to fucking rock on Saturday.

That's where I was, I wanted to go with you guys. If we're up, I didn't, I mean, nobody liked what happened in the last couple hours there. They got boned by the fog delay pushing back the morning, like the morning wave got really boned. Who got to play? Who got crowned? Yeah. I guess we'll get to that later. But having to play even more golf in the wind, getting bumped back in the afternoon.

The afternoon guys had a sweepstakes to close out the day. I truly, just truly, really don't know what. We saw balls this morning on the seventh green, getting up to the hole and starting to roll backwards with the wind that they had. And it got worse than it did at that point. I don't know how you set up a golf course to survive that, to not get blown off the course early and still like really challenge these guys when the wind gets down to 10 miles an hour at the very end of the day.

That's where I like, you can be, I think it's very fair to be like, ah, fuck, they didn't like that, they did not end well. Everybody that got off work, turn on the US Open and saw Wyndham Clark just absolutely feasting stuff again and making Eagle getting to six under. Like I'm sure some of that reaction is, is reasonable. It was, it was a Baccahnalia for him. He was treaching himself and grape. I just don't know what you could have realistically expected them to do with what was in the

forecast, what they said they were going to do, what they said a month and a half ago about how they're kind of rampant. They're not going to have the course be as fast as possible on Thursday. And with the worst forecast they could have had, I think you have to extend a little bit of grace their way. Now, I will say, I'm a little concerned with their ability to press the gas at this point. They're not good. It's an overcast day tomorrow.

I don't know how much they can dry it out between now and then. And I don't know what they're, I don't think they're going to be heavily incentivized to until Saturday. And I don't, I, I am concerned. to how much they're going to be able to press it. If they can't dry it, like, it was sunny and it was windy all day until the end there. And then it was sunny. How is it not dried out already?

Did they drench it too much? I'm not an agronomist. I don't know. I still think there's a lot of sentiment out there of like thinking that syringing means that they douse the greens in between the waves to make it playable in the afternoon. Like, I don't think they douse the greens between the waves. I think they just,

doused him overnight and beforehand, like the last couple of days to keep it relatively soft. And I know why they did it. I know that the USGA is not in a position to like you could see it in Mike Juan's presser with one of the hammers, but actually both of the hammers were there. But when he was kind of comforting Boddenhammer when he was saying like, hey, they're 10 and a half. You know, I know this this hurts you. But like you could tell Juan and kind of put the fear of God into him. And he's like, hey, we can't lose the locker room. Like with all this rollback stuff and the purse stuff and all of that, I get it. So, like, I know why we're in this situation.

I just worry that they're going to lose the locker room in the other direction. Rory and Ludwig and Scottie. Scotty and Fleetwood and those guys being like, hey, like, I played a totally different tournament. Okay, but there's wave draws. There's wave draws in golf tournaments. Like, that's not their fault. Like, there's wins sometimes in the morning. It is. That's the, we don't, this happens to the open

on the scale. It was a pro-am pins and soft greens. I'm team sally on this one in that it was watching Rory McElroy this morning, shoot one under and obviously Sam Stevens shoot two under, but I watched a lot of Rory's round and it's just like, man, that was a really, really, really, really good round of golf that he played. He deserved to be under par. And it's just, yeah, they play two different golf courses, which to that point, it's not like you can,

stop in the middle and be like, okay, let's firm this place up before the afternoon wave goes out so that it's equitable. It just is, that's the way it goes. I will say what they shouldn't do though. On the other end, the Masters and it helped them win it this year. Like that's, yes. Yeah. Yeah, and that sucked because it was, it got progressively softer as the week went along. They have a chance to fix this.

Don't throw any water on it tonight and then syringe the hell out of it before the afternoon wave tomorrow. And then we reset completely heading into Saturday. Make this. Equitable. We got to keep it. I think that's right. Randy, you want a little solo here? We're playing Freebird right off the jump here. First song of the set list. You want a solo for a while? I got Tron. I was just kind of noodling out in the audience while he was going. I don't have a whole lot to add. It's on the hammers now. I truly, you know, it's we're America's watching. The world is watching where we go from here. I think the positive, where I'm taking the optimist view here is I think today was a survival.

test. They had to get through the big, big question marks. For the players? No, no, no, for the for the USGA. I think they had to get through today without any major, major, major, major disasters. And now it looks a little more normal, quote unquote, the rest of the week where I think

they can, they kept it, they had it where they wanted it. I think they kept it where they want it. And they can pull, pull some levers now that they have the big question marks behind them is my hope. We'll be down a little bit tomorrow. I'm not giving you guys a fucking forecast. ever again. Are you kidding me? I asked for approval from you on that particular forecast.

And I told you, you didn't even know what model it was. Yeah, we weren't comfortable. 40 to 50. It's like a stranger given me. Never going to touch 40 to 50. It's like a stranger given my kids, like, you know, opened Halloween candy. I'm like, I'm not playing that game. And where were you at? Where were you at with your forecast? That's supposed to be your job. I was trying to do your job for you. I just said, I'm just, I'm not, not you just wanted to just want to just want to be able to live. shots on Thursday night. He's working on a lot of trap draw stuff. He's monitored all kinds of. You can only monitor somebody think.

I hate that we're here because, again, there was so much of today was one of my favorite days of watching golf I've had in a long time. The early golf was so good. Even the early afternoon golf was still really, really, really good from the second wave. I mean, watching guys like Rory hit, you know,

Roy and Bryson in the evening as well, like both hit, where he hit like 187 mile an hour T shot off 16. Bryson hit 193 off of it. Neither of them hit it as far as Tommy did, who hit it 177 miles an hour because he had half the height on it. Like the shots that were required in the early part because of the wind, needing to ride the left to right wind to get to the back pin on 17 was awesome. And then having to ride the big right to left ones on 9 and 18,

just made for some really, really good shots. A ton of good strategy on number one. Some guys going for it and kind of hitting it up by the green. there was just a lot of real golf going on. Balls spending on the greens that we don't have to love, but we have to, like you've said, have to understand why that's happening. That seems to be a general consensus among the players.

I think there was, it flowed really well in the morning, too. Like the coverage was really good. I think they got a lot of commercials in during the fog delay. I was going to say, was that a factor of the fog delay? And then they just, I think so. It was just good TV. And out of the afternoon drag,

not even just because of the scoring. I just thought the commercials got super ramped up and it was a little bit, a little bit less enthusiastic. But man, it's like, I think it's the best US open venue still, like by far. I don't think there's any,

anyone that even comes close to it. And the fact that we got, we got wind, man. Like, that's the thing. I don't want to sit here pretend that we didn't get wind today because we got a shitload of wind.

In, at night, tonight, DJ drove up all 403 yards down wind. Like, the wind was still, the wind was still blowing into the night. And it's a venue that's going to almost, guarantee us wind is why it's a good you know a reason to love it and we're still going to get more throughout it's going to be playable but a factor throughout the rest of the golf and it should give

them the license to push the courses they see fit again but Friday I just don't expect them to do that i that's what i especially with how much golf they've got to play tomorrow they got to get everyone these guys finished push it tomorrow morning don't dry it down overnight and then be extra cautious midday and then Saturday let's let's like if we get it a steady progression, I'm good with it. And, Sally, like, I was totally with you on Shinnecock is, I think, like, through 3 p.m., even 4 p.m. today, I was like, man, Shinnecock freaking rules. And I still feel like Shinnecock freaking rules. Like, you're just seeing, you're seeing everything out there. It's by far, you know, don't let Todd Lewis pollute your

thoughts with his Torrey Pines takes. It is by far. They put out another video, by the way. I don't know. I don't know if it was damage control, but they put what out with Brandl. That was a little more ball knowing. That was good stuff. He was still all over Brookline so much anyways. But yeah. Let's, last thing.

I just want to caution though, T.C. Tomorrow, there's guys that are on, that it still have six holes to play. And if I'm, if I'm you and if I'm the USGA right now, I want everyone to finish tomorrow. I want to be able to push it Saturday.

Like, and if you have round two bleed into Saturday, then I think you can end up in a spot where they're like, well, do we, can we go straight to the, Saturday, faster, firmer, cut, you know, weekends set up here when guys are still finishing round two, that's where disaster might lie. So again, I'm terrified of what's going to happen on the show tomorrow night.

But I think there's a good chance tomorrow is still not nearly as fast as we'd like it to be. And with the goal being, we've got to get everyone through the golf course tomorrow. I don't know what time, like, is it just as soon as the guys finish up tomorrow, the guys are off 1 and 10? I would assume so. I don't know if they've announced that since we've gone on, gone live. But yeah, I would assume that's.

Yeah, because you got a 650. What's the restart? Do we know what the restart? It's 6.35 a.m. All second round tea times have been moved back 15 minutes. So they're just turning and burning. That's not bad. You can really do it then.

Yeah. How are they doing that? because the first tee time was 635 this morning. First he done was 635. Oh, 6.30? Okay. I don't know. I don't know.

Well, clearly they had plenty of daylight to get stuff done, even with the delay of a couple hours this morning. So, all right. Let's get in some of the specific rounds here. Bigger, I want to start with you. What was,

who do you think had the most important round of the day today? You take that in any direction you want, positive or negative. What was the most important? When Big Randy's looking at this, board. He's using his he's running through his proprietary models. What's the thing that's going to be

bold, circled, highlighted? This is capital I important. I think it's Rory McElroy. I think Rory put up a hell of around this morning. 69. He bogeied eight and nine. Looked a lot better for most of the day. I think he is in just

the honey hole for a U.S. Open. I don't think you ever want to be My theory is you don't want to be Wyndham Clark. You don't want to have a big lead after round one during round one. Just stay in that drafting position, hang with the Peloton, get to Sunday, and then separate. I thought Rory, he played in tougher conditions this morning. I just was very impressed with the round he put together. He played proper golf on a proper golf course.

And DJ, for that reason, I think it was important. I think the lead, you know, if you're looking for the leader, my true leader, you start right there at Rory McElroy, one under par. I think that's right. I think he drove it better than the strokes gained are going to illustrate, especially considering he played in the windiest stretch, especially considering, you know, that that was his struggle coming into this week over the last couple starts was just can he get that driver going? can he get that big left miss out of play? And he kept it pretty much in control, kept the ball in front of him, and then took advantage from there. So I'm with you big.

I thought he looked very, very under control for the most part. Great day putting, great day with the irons. I just think that's a wonderful spot to be in right there. Also, fun stat, he made an eagle on the fifth hole. And it was the first, what was it, his fourth eagle in the U.S. Open, but first one on a par five, which was kind of a jarring, a jarring stat.

He had three others on par fours. I remember him, he had one at congressional. I remember he back spun in. Hold out, yeah. I remember, I'm trying to think of what the other ones were.

Did he have one? Was there a drive-bable four, a Chambers Bay maybe when he went on that run? Probably, probably. Would have to think. Don't know. Anything else on Rory? Yeah,

Rory was really, really sharp today. I mean, I mean, finished the day with bogeys on eight and nine, which we're playing really, really hard at that point of the day. I mean, eight, eight and four are really two of the holes that like really flipped around in the afternoon that were not nearly as hard. But it's easy to forget how hard those holes were playing in that moment.

And so he kind of just finished on a little sour note. Like it was really even a better round than that than that one under par round. He, you know, the shot he hit into nine, his 18th hole was ball above his feet, went off the right and he just got it riding too far and ended up leading to a bogey. You almost wish like he got some bonus points for shooting that one under. Yeah, that one under in the tougher conditions. So, I mean, yeah, the positive there would be like he probably played the best, really, of any of the big names. And you hope that would continue through the weekend. You just, yeah, you don't just get getting a lap by five, getting the bad side of the draw up against Wyndham,

which we shouldn't discount Wyndham completely. I know we're probably going to get there. No, we can say good things about Wyndham. about win them. Yeah. Just. And, I feel like you would

you would look at this with anybody else and say, man, the sustainability models don't, don't love this. Yeah.

I might surprise you a little bit here, T.C. of like, this is more of a week where I'm keen to I don't want to say throw the ball striking

or stroke skating numbers out. But it's just like, dude, you're playing the bad side of the wind, like your numbers are just going to look like shit.

It's super hard to get close to the hole. Your approach numbers aren't going to be very good. And putting is going to be a big part of this. And it's not like a PGA tour golf course right now that you're putting on, that you have a hot day or get really hot. And it's kind of flukier back and forth. This is like major championship putting. And I think it's going to be really, really important who puts the best.

I mean, a lot of the variance in the scoring today was described by putting. and Ludwig had a great day on the Greens and it doesn't I don't know that stuff doesn't scare me as much as in a tournament when you're playing a lot more real golf in terms of the shots you're hitting

and the choked up shots and the different things you've got to play I don't know I don't feel quite as strong about sustainability models this week well putting yeah putting's only going to get more important as it goes on to theoretically right

as the greens are firming up and now if you can hit the ball closer to the hole with softer greens it's like the lag putting is just going to become more and more of a factor. Yeah. No, I mean, Rory's putter looked awesome, as did Ludvigs. And we can talk about Ludwig next, I guess. But that was the one today for me that he was over par on the two par fives.

He bogied one on the back nine, pared the one on the front nine. Made a couple long putts overall that kind of made up for that. But, you know, kind of evened it out. But the putter looks rock solid. And yeah, just pleased with what I saw from Ludwig. Like Ludwig, Tommy and Rory all in that group.

Like, I think that group played the best golf of anybody all day, those three guys. That was great. At least until Dubb. That doesn't... Dub and Gary Woodland eradicated him. Exactly.

I watched a ton of that group this morning, I did a lot of people, I'm sure. But I want to shout out. Paige McKenzie, I thought was awesome on the ground. Just like, There's so many interesting elements to all of the shots at Shinnock, and I felt so locked in watching that entire group,

you know, just the chips around 13 and the lies that they had in the rough and how that was going to affect where they needed to land it and all that stuff. It was really good viewing. And she was just on it. Like it was just a, and those three guys put on a ball striking fiesta this morning. And you can bring the fiesta anywhere you go with the high noon tequila Seltza Fiesta Pack.

You can grab it in the eight pack or now there's also a bigger 12 pack. If you're looking for a Moss Grande Fiesta, the Fiesta Pack features exclusive tequila flavors, blood orange and prickly pear alongside two tequila favorites, grapefruit and lime. I'm on strawberry tonight. I've saved the strawberries. I really like the tequila strawberry ones.

All are made with real tequila and real juice perfect for any fiesta, no matter where you plan to throw it. find the high noon tequila, Seltzer, Vesta Pact, nearest you at high noon spirits.com. High noon suns up. Can I,

can I throw a vote for most important round? It's not over yet. He's got two holes left, but Bryson DeShambos missed the cut at the last two majors that he's played. He was not highly touted on this here podcast coming in. He had it to, what,

three under at one point, two under at one point, two under before making a bogey seven. I just thought that was like he desperately needed to get off the bus and survive that that wind, you know, flying the ball like a million miles in the air. And I didn't know how that was going to go. If he was going to miss a bunch of, like get blown out to sea and miss a bunch of greens and not be able to chip. And he ended up, you know, kind of weaponizing that driver and bringing some of these holes to their knees and then taking advantage. So it was, it was the

golf he's kind of quote unquote supposed to play. And it was a, you know, who was good to see him do it. The drive on 12 was I mean, it was road assisted, I think. Even that is jarring to get to the road. Put the road in play.

Yeah. Yeah. And then I don't know. I was a little bit taken aback by the bad shot he hit into five, but then he got up and down from long, long of five. And like that,

that on the ground view that they had, behind that green of him like just like that's so good put shinnikaga a few times that's what i felt like the entire day is like like just chipping to a tabletop spot from the tightest grass in the world into the wind and i'm like man like i'm not good enough to hit this shot and bryson was so i think that shot proved more to me than than maybe any other shot he did today because like the chipping's been what we've been worried about with him. This is the spot where I will say the softness of the greens takes the most bite out

of the course, though, of watching these guys hit these pitches and back into the wind, especially and be able to stop it very close to the hole is the part that is. That part is harder for me to watch than the approach shots. I think the approach shots, there's still some, you know, controlling your spin and some interesting elements of those, but a couple of the, like Scotty getting up and down from even longer left there today and just pitching right by the hole and stopping it was sick like it was a really good shop and it was like ah i don't feel like you're supposed to be like you're sorry so you are saying that you were uncomfortable watching some of this this evening yeah i've said that i didn't like

what happened this evening i thought you were glowing i thought you were glowing this after most of the day was great viewing randy most of it was great so many shots getting rewarded oh my god you had to be in heaven you know what randum All or nothing with you guys. Yeah. Thank you, Dee. Just got a little bit of backup here. I'm with you.

The opposite side here, some of these shots weren't being punished enough. All right? Big, that's where I'm at. Come on, you know I want to see some punishment. Solly, what do you got? What was the most important round of the day? He struggled to start, and he should have been my pick. Like, I wanted to pick him so badly.

I bet real American dollars on him. I am such a massive bitch for not. taking him. I defaulted to Scottie. I do not think Scottie's going to win as we're sitting here. Matt Fitzpatrick. I think Matt Fitzpatrick is going to win the U.S. Open. I shouted him out in the storylines in the preview

pod and I did not have the guts to pick him and I made a drastic mistake. He was two over par through his first six holes and then made five birdies from then on out and he just looks the part. I know again he benefited very much from the good side of the draw and finished there

with a bogey on seven, but he's two under par and I he's my guy to pay he's my my pick uh from here on out as we're as we're going from Thursday night I'm not even sure he's my pick for low fits wow that's a good head was was one over in the morning wave played really great golf like one birdie two bogeys just grinded his face off let's do an apology that's what bothers me TC about the the wind laying down this evening it just just like those rounds this morning that guys grinded for the 71s the 72s they just don't mean as much usg a need to make this right god did you guys are you guys are the ones that want to simulate the

games you guys want to take this from a game that's not played on the field you just want the computers to simulate it holy shit what is the solution what is the solution that you're looking other than i wish the wind would have kept blowing yeah they should remember their projected end time was blow the horn three seven o'clock look how flustered they are d's look at This is where I think You got to respect our guy Stevie McDonald's I think he would have just

Throwed this one out He was to the morning Or Randy's subjective scoring Nothing else counts Yeah Like who's the real leader? Right Lori?

Sammy Stevens At two Why can't we can stop play For abnormal conditions one way Why can't we stop play for abnormal conditions The other way That harm half the field

That the whole field is not privy to I think they should have blown it Solly, I think my concern, I guess, for Saturday is if they're going to get a wind switch and it's going to come more out of the West, Northwest. And Boddenhammer is super worried about seven green on that one. That's better than Southwest, though. Like, Southwest is going with the Redan. Like, the one that they had is the one that goes straight with the Redan.

He was just saying he was, he kind of called that out as like, hey, Saturday's. Like it may not be as strong, but with the wind shift, it might be a little bit different beast. And we have to be just as, just as precautionous there. Jesus. I like this comment from who's this Rolo 36 suggests that they stop play when a jerk takes the lead. I think that's. I like that. Yeah.

I think that's in the spirit of what you get through. I don't think Wyndham can destroy this locker room without, like, them hearing it on the first T or the 10th T. It's right there. Well, they're, get this, they're not in the locker room. Oh, that's true. They have a special services. That's true. This is starting to feel like the Manhattan Project.

Like, we're just playing a freaking U.S. Open. Why does it have to be so difficult? And I know the answer to that question. Wait, wait, wait, why does the setup have to be so, like, why does that be so difficult to set up? Yeah, the USGA's training. Like, they got to split the atom this week. And it's like, guys, we're not, we're not asking for that. We just want like a relatively difficult U.S. open.

It's all that's all we want. It's all we want. I think we can keep teasing that question out. And then we're going to end up in an hour and a half equipment discussion. It's absurd. It's absurd. Gorey, I have three and a half shots over part today, big.

That's a pretty hard day of U.S. Open golf. How much of that was due to the first 10 hours and how much, and how much did the last two and a half hours or three hours pull off of that? Yeah, it was a good. Yeah. It was a good full shot, more than a full shot from the morning to the afternoon. A full shot less in the afternoon.

Morning wave was 3.87 over par, afternoon wave 2.75 over par. And I bet if you took it to like the back half of the afternoon wave, it'd be another shot. Yeah, I think a lot of that. Like, I think they should dock those guys. It was melting quickly. First T tomorrow.

Or like, stroke them. Yeah. For playing the under bed. Yeah, for the crime of playing in the afternoon. The computers, what? The computer boys over here want to stroke you because it wasn't fair. Did you hear anybody complain, any player have anything bad to say about the setup? No, GMAC was pissed.

That was too easy. Yeah, I know. And like, man, if we're not pissing some players off, I just think we're doing it wrong. I get, I get, sally, that it's still played over par for average today. But like, nobody's losing their mind. nobody's visibly frustrated and I think that's a big miss I don't disagree with you I don't I think it is a again back to just the extreme caution that they had to take I think if there was not the 40 mile an hour forecast that we all saw they wouldn't have had to like freak out

before which could which could have been a false like it could have been inside job but it could have been a sorry asking the right questions T's like that that that totally resolve them from setting the golf course up difficult. Rory out that they needed. Yeah, that's right. That's why you shouldn't be listening to these officials or these experts, D.C. Doing your own research. I should fly to play.

Rory talked a little bit about this after the round. I think we have that clip, Cody. Yeah, look, the greens are pretty slow and quite receptive. And, you know, I think they need to be at this point. I mean, it's a challenging golf course already. you put you know 30 mile of our winds on top of it it you know it tests the best players in the world pretty well so yeah I think they you know they were prudent with the with the course setup and they made sure to you know I think especially with you know starting with

156 the first two days you just want to get everyone around you know without too much issue and you know they've they've set the course up for that, at least, at least today. There you go. Couldn't have said it better to myself. And I think that I get, if you're not pissing anybody off, have you pushed it far enough? But I also, on the other side of the spectrum, I don't think the best players in the world want this tournament to be easy.

Like, the best players want it to be hard. So if you're, if you're getting solid praise from the top players, I think that, I don't see that necessarily as a bad thing. I think because those guys are not going to want it to be like a PG. tour setup also. So if you have a lot of the best players saying, like, I think you did a really good job with it, that's playing into their hands, the fact that it's a challenging and good test. Like, they want it to be challenging. So I hear, I hear your side of it. I do. Depending upon the player, I'll be very curious to hear the, the thoughts tomorrow night regarding the setup.

And I also want to reiterate, I am not handing down a final verdict today. That will come Sunday. I recognize everything that I'm just saying. We got some paths that aren't looking good ahead of us. I feel like Sallie's coming out of, you know, the capital or the palace. And he's trying to reason with the protesters. Let me explain why I voted that way. There's so much you guys don't understand. Am I Antifa in this?

Like, I think if you, I think if you, I think if you asked Rory that question at 10 p.m. tonight versus that was at what, 2 p.m. 3 p.m. this afternoon. He might have a slightly different answer. But that would be unfair, I think. Like the wind laying down is not anybody's fault. Like, who's he taking up with God? This is on you, God. I also don't think the wind was as strong as what they were anticipating to be. Blow it at 7 p.m. Eastern. If we could only do it all, over again. TC for the love of Christ,

will you take us down the leaderboard? Please. Let's get it. We got to get out of this. I don't even know how to. Well, we got little Sammy Stevens at T2. Pride of Wichita. What a weird start for him. I think he came out, hit one shot, got blown for the fog delay,

came out, chunked the next one, made double on his first hole, and then just absolutely grinding it out and took the lead at the US Open. I mean, I feel like he's I feel like he should have a four shot. I'll lead over Wyndham Clark based on his round and everything he went through. So there's an eight-stroke difference in the waves in this scenario?

Yeah. It's subjective, Sally. All right. Then we got Ryder Cowan, Country Music Sensation, Ryder Cowan. I saw this day when we did the U.S. Open qualifiers are country music stars. Of course I saw Ryder Cowan. I thought it was even too. It was like uncanny valley.

I was like, I can't even put that one in there. You know what the craziest part about Ryder Cowan's round was today? He was a hundred and twenty-second and strokes gained approach. Wow. That might be the sustainability models we're looking at. Can I say I couldn't be more in on his aesthetic. How was he not a country music star? I love, love what he's got going on.

It's great. the camo hat the whole whole deal uh i like i am noticing a trend here between sam stevens rider callan max mcgrie vrata carlin max maccgrieffi both oklahoma or okoma state guys you've got ludvig who went to texas tech you got sam stevens who's from wichita like there's some some dudes who know how to play in the wind here uh so that's that's certainly a theme uh and then you've got you got Maddie Fitz, we talked about him. DJ. Wow.

Dustin Johnson. He had it rolling, made the double on six towards the end there after he made four birdies in a row. You got nervous with the TZ and play. Well, he had the T.C. and play on six or on five. He bottled it. And he bottled it. And then it kind of sent him into a tailspin. So we'll see what happens there.

Woodland looked great. was rolling the rock kind of you know he had his white party outfit on there Johnny Rombo solid big round for him too what are you seeing I feel like they weren't really even showing him this afternoon

they got so locked into the DJ Wyndham group but bogey free from him just snuck in birdies on 12 and 17 he made an absolute bomb for one but yeah he's hanging right there T2 a lot of golf left to play but he's very much in it

I feel like Steve was doing some really uncomfortable stuff. They might have needed to move the cameras off that group. I think that was like, every time they cut to even for me, every time they cut to speed, I was like enough of this stuff guys. We don't need to see this right now. Solly, real quick,

is there a way that they, like serious question, is there a way that they could normalize the strokes gain stats among the two waves? I don't, you aren't really turning to the computer boy tonight. I don't know. I'm sure they could. Yeah, I don't know how to do that.

Okay. I'm just wondering. Max Grazerman, Neil was stoked about this one. Also did not great approach play, but chipped well. It's not like Ben James. Yeah. Really impressive. I mean.

That was the morning wave. Yeah. Just clean golf. One under par 69. Just one bogey on the very, very, very difficult. Seventh hole, which played as the third hardest hole on the entire course today. just second professional start up in the top 10 after round one very impressive stuff yeah if you missed it last week made his pro debut in canada took the 36 whole lead then shot 79 unfortunately

he was he was unfortunately careful by 79 uh real nl u heads uh people who watched the uh week week in life walker cup video will remember him as the guy that was terrified to eat the caesar salad uh my guy which was great yeah that's right i forgot i didn't i couldn't i couldn't the pieces together why you were such a big ben james guy but uh there you go also uva guy you know your wife went to uva you got a good connection there i love ben james keep so i think one other thing about just like how dissonant the evening was where you you've slacked us something earlier you're like man there's like what there's been like one birdie or no birdies on four all day they were like for most of the morning there was like no birdies on two or four like in the early part of the day like after several groups had gone through and by the end there was only nine birdies by the end of the day on four but it was completely completely different i think i saw a stat where like speed hit one 326 yards i think i saw it in the day of the day scottie or somebody scotty hit at 249

uh on that hole of how different of a win they they had to play on that hole uh to keep it rolling brian harmon doing stuff we'll we'll keep monitoring that corey conners at one of the worst puts like it looked like a putt i would hit down the stretch there i mean he was one of those let left the head cover on puts it was like an 18 foot put and he probably left it five feet stabbed it uh i do not think we need to worry about corey connor's moving forward Ben Coles stoked to see that. One on Corn Ferry Tour, basically, you know, got him through. Like, didn't have to go to, or no, no, sorry, that was posting that didn't have to go through.

He did go straight to qualify. And went, went through qualifying, qualify the next day. He's playing good golf. You know, love, love seeing him take advantage of this, this easy wave. Anhele Hidalgo, Sali, the Golden Bear 2.0. Guy putz like Jack Nicholas. Farber. With the fluorescent.

Like me. With the fluorescent Puma shoes on, which, what do we think of Ricky's outfit today? I kind of liked it in the fog. Yeah, that's fine. Yeah, it's fine. It was a lot. The shoes, all white with the shoes, it was, I don't know, a little bit. interesting in my older years i can't get find myself getting worked up about these things that's that's

how i feel takes a lot more for me to get worked up uh next one i've got keith mitchell oh my god he shot 41 on his first nine and then he turned he shot 29 coming in for just a just a really smooth 70 uh tc the first player in u.s open history the history of this great championship to have one nine in the 20s and one night of the 40s i mean that's that's that's That's sick. And you would much rather have it be your first nine in the 40s and your second nine in the 20s. Exactly. And I just think you wanted to be Keith Mitchell, too.

You know, like, I think that he's, that's befitting of our guy. I just, I love that. I'm sure he's staying at some billionaire's house down the street. He's probably talking about opening some break tonight. Talking about opening some rape. Cody, will you flash the tweet from our man, D.Ruff? It's funny. This is, it's close to hope.

Yeah, if you're listening on the pod, this is a picture of, how would you describe his face here, Randy, just kind of, disgruntled a little bit. Kind of drunken and ready to fight sort of vibe. Hair, very disgruntled. Just stumbling back to the house after the bars to look for a pledge to drive you to Taco Cabana, I think is, it's just, that's it. The man, Dave Ruff, always.

always bringing the high octade stuff up in the zone 101 for d man oh so as as a pledge at one point my life let me just say you better have had a cigarette on you for for a guy looking like this you had a light yeah and a light no doubt you'd be in big trouble if you didn't have a cigarette uh also just the uh keith's nine holes was the fourth best nine hole score uh by stroker gain on the PGA tour since 2010. Besting Ken Duke's front nine at TPC Sawgrass in 2016. The only three nines that were better. Nick Watney had a back nine, 28, to 21st, Farmers. Paul Casey had a back nine 27 at 2014 Byron and Sergio had a back nine 27 at Bridgetown in 2014. That's the best nine hole scores that we've seen per day to golf.

I think another guy I'd like to I'd like to call out. We saw it at the tail end of the broadcast this evening on the cock and NBC Sports Network. Mr. Zach Blair, he started his day with a birdie on 10, and he finished his day with a trip in birdie on nine. And I think he's here to tell us a little bit more about it. Hey, whoa, how about that? What's up, CB? How are you guys?

The Rainer Man. Yeah, yeah, just got off the golf course, got off the course, got some food. and go got to do it again in like 10 hours what's what's the food situation when you get off the course how do they have dinner for you that late how do you find food at this hour ordered a pizza from dominoes and picked it up and just got back to the house all right what it did you go with thin crust half cheese half pepperoni okay all right tell us about this afternoon like the way What was your, we've been just ranting and raving about how some of us. The late wave guys got absolutely crowned.

And, and, you know, the wind died at, what, 6 p.m. 6.30. Was that your experience out there? Yeah, for sure. I think, you know, it was blowing a little bit on, I would say, 10 through 14. And we got to 15T and got like a pretty, like it started whipping pretty good and I was like oh gosh here it comes and then about when we got to number one after we hit our t shot on one it kind of you know laid down a bit and uh I mean towards the end for sure I think once we got once we hit our t ball on five um it was like as good as you could

get right it was you know blowing still but you know nothing like it was early and you know early in our round or what those guys kind of dealt with, I think, for most of their rounds in the morning wave. So it looked like we were going to kind of get the bad end of that day and ended up, I think, obviously, getting the little better end of it. And so naturally, you feel like they should not water the greens at all tonight and then syringe the hell out of them midday tomorrow after you guys finish, right? We had heard that they just soaked them last night, like puddle. on the green, you know, just absolutely watered them big time, you know, thinking that it was going to be

the crazy winds today. But yeah, I mean, they were really, really soft even towards the end of the day, even after all the wind. So, you know, I don't know what the weather's supposed to be like tomorrow. I'm sure they're still going to be a little cautious. But, yeah, I don't think they need to go quite as heavy on the water as they did. What setup was? What? What? was like your anything that you you weren't expecting from like a hole locations or just holes that played tough or like you've played you played in 2018 at shenicock as well how did it compare no i didn't no okay yeah tc regrets the air he's just played shinnock yeah i'm yeah um i mean you kind of saw it as easy as you could get it right i think a lot of the

pins were pretty generous and yeah, the greens were receptive, obviously. But, you know, I don't think there was anything too crazy out there either way. You know, you still got to hit good shots. And I think, honestly, through like, you know, through like 10 or 11 holes, it was kind of like still two under leading. So, you know, or three under maybe, you know, someone was at three. So it was kind of like, well, even being the easiest it can be, you know, it's still showing its teeth a little bit here and there. And then if you miss, you know, if you miss and get the ball running, you know, the ball goes so far away from the greens on a lot of the holes that, you know, that's where kind of a disaster is. But there were a lot of balls that I saw stop in places that I wouldn't have

expected them to stop, you know, around the sides of greens. So it'll be interesting to see, you know what happens i guess the next handful of days zeeb did any uh just with the conditions that you've seen did it affect anything strategy wise for you in terms of like oh normally i would do this on this hole but now that i don't have to fear this i've adjusted my strategy a little bit from from place to place not really i i mean i honestly kind of went into the week going like if i could hit the middle of every single green um you know he'd be in a pretty good spot so you know there there aren't besides like one is you know fairly getable if you hit a good t ball i did not

um 13 where the pin was today if you hit a good t ball it was pretty getable i did not um and then all the other holes you know it's like i'm hitting you know i'm hitting you know nine wood into four and you know i'm hitting five iron on you know seven and i'm hitting seven and i'm and five iron on six so you know there's not too many spots out there where i'm like well i can i can go kind of chase this one down just because again like the ball you know when it does get off the green they just go forever you know and then you get in really bad spots so there was nothing with the conditions where i was like oh i can take this one on because it's still you know pretty tough Dude, your stats are epic today.

146th off the T, eighth in approach play, 137th in chipping, or strokes gained around the green, fifth in putting. Yeah, I mean, I had a sick finish with the putter. I mean, I made, I legitimately made the best putt I've ever made in my entire life on seven. I kind of pulled a five iron, you know, missed it long left, which isn't terrible, hit like a very bad, chip that, you know, went past the whole 15 feet kind of front of the green. And this putt was like a, I mean, it broke probably eight feet. And I was telling the Russian, I was like, we can't even try and make it. I mean, we have to try and lay up like a foot right. Maybe, maybe it can, you know, stop somewhat by the hole. And I mean, it was just perfect speed, kind of like dying and just kind of

kind of caught the footprints perfectly and started coming backwards and went in. The best pot I've ever made, I would say. And then I follow it up on eight with a 20 footer for par and then, you know, make the bomb from off the green on nine. So it was a, you know, grinded, grinded it out for sure. Can I ask, how do, I want to ask you about qualifying into this because you've made it out of Springfield Country Club four times now. What is it about that place?

And how would they Zee-B-proof Springfield Country Club? You know, it's like 6,000 yards. So for one, I can reach both par fives. And, you know, I play that place how a normal tour player plays basically every week where, you know, I'm driving a couple of greens and knocking it on the par fives with iron. So it's nice to play somewhere where, you know, it definitely plays to my strengths, right? I get a bunch of wedges and, you know, you got to kind of know where to hit it and you have to have a pretty good short game and, you know, some creativity, putting. And that's, I feel where I kind of excel putting, you know, where I can really see the ball breaking. And, you know, most weeks, it's like the greens are, you know, every put, it's like inside the hole and I'm like so bad at that. I struggle so bad reading the greens when I can't see like a lot of movement on it. So at Springfield, you know you get those type of puts that are seven footers that break four feet that you know really really take like the a lot of imagination and and kind of marrying the line and the speed so um that that place

is just really cool uh i love playing there and you know been lucky to get out of there a few times Zach i we had an event there a few years ago and i basically set up the golf course i was like hey we just put the pins where they have it for us open sectional qualifying and everybody's just so pissed at me at the end of that. So hard. So hard. Yeah. You know, they've gotten better set up-wise, I would say, in the last like two or three years,

there's been a couple of changes in pins that, you know, you don't have like balls, you know, rolling off the green if you don't get it to the hole. Because there were a few hole locations that, you know, you actually had situations like that, where they if you didn't make it, you just had to put it over and over again. The first year I ever went there, that's how the pin was on one. They got it a little more left than they have it now. And if you missed it, it just kept rolling off like back down to your feet. You had to make it.

And then there's a few more that they've just kind of toned it down a little bit, which has made it, you know, for me, kind of nicer. You don't have the crazy, crazy, you know, big numbers if you screw up. All right. So tomorrow you play well. You get, you know, you get done. Are you going over to Don Quixote's place for an E9? That would be nice.

I mean, certainly in the, potentially, potentially. Either way. If you don't make the cut, I'd still be. I would absolutely be over there if I was you. He's probably playing 54 over there on Saturday. doesn't make the cut. It looks pretty sick over there right now. I drove the, the kids' daycare, like school place is kind of over that way, and I have to drive by it when I go take them and pick them up, and it looks spicy over there right now. Nice.

All right, ZB, we're going to let you go, get a little rest, and you got an early riser tomorrow, but thanks for piping in here, and best of luck. Let's watch play some golf this weekend. Thanks. See you guys. Thank you, Zee, B. When the test is at its toughest, the best players in the world lean on what they trust. That's why golf pride grips have been part of more major championship wins than any other grip brand with over 80% of Tor pros choosing to play them, and not a single one of them paid to do it. At that level, you're not leaving anything to chance, especially not the one connection they have to the club. That same attention to feel consistency and control is not just something reserved for tour players. It's the same thing that helps you hold the club a little more confidently over a post.

put or feel like you know where the face is to impact. The grip is a piece of your equipment that's easy to overlook until you switch into something that actually fits. If you're not sure what you should be playing, head to golfpride.com. Check out the grip finder. It'll walk you through a few quick questions around feel, texture, size, help you dial in the grip that fits your game. Listeners of the pod get 20% off a full set up to 13 swing grips and one putter grip

with code NLU20 at checkout. Nest members, you get 25% off with. the one-time use code that's in your member profile. That's your Nest member profile. Again, NLU20 at checkout for 20% off 14 grips. Golf pride, the number one grip in golf. And if you need to know how to change your grips, Neil made a video that was about three hours long for Nest members.

You can go watch that as well. He absolutely messed up the loft of the lives of his clubs. He's never been the same since. So if you have any questions, you can reach out to Neil directly. It's going in for a lot. lesson. Maybe it's like you just need your clubs adjusted, big dog. Neil also texted us earlier. He said, I'm starting my journey out east. It was like he was setting off to, it was like Lewis and Clark hitting. You might have a better chance

sailing out there than drive it out there. We'll see. What was that just, you know, we've talked a lot about the golf course already. What was, what were you guys's favorite shots to watch out there today? We are still, you know, it wasn't perfect this afternoon, but it is still US Open at Shinnecock. I mean, what was, uh, what were some of the moments? who was like, man, this is, this place is unlike anywhere else. 10's electric. I mean, just electric. It's awesome.

The specific, like, shots into greens or shot, like, actual shots that were hit. Because the shot that brought me to Shinnock was Patrick Reed nutmegging himself from the right rough on 14. I've never seen a player hit a ball, like, just go more directly left off a club face. I was theorizing that. I think he hit it off the inside of the hazel out of that rough. and the only angle we had made it look like it almost went through his legs. It went so far left.

It was just such as, there weren't that many like, oh, this is a U.S. Open moment right here. But that was one of the shots today that absolutely got me. I looked at ROM on 18. It was similarly, we were talking about it. I mean, it was just the perfect example of width of the fairway. But if you miss the fairway, like, you're just completely hosed. You know, he was a couple steps off of that big giant fairway at 18. and it was like, good luck, man.

Like, I don't know how this is going to get you. Like, you are, now you have to take your medicine. You know, and it was just a very good kind of perspective of value. Like, everything's kind of in proportion to each other in such a good way. And it was just, that was kind of a fist-pumping moment of like, yes, this is how it's supposed to be playing. There was another one of those to each fucking shout it out on either four or eight. And I always get those two holes confused with Ludwig. He was in the left rough.

I think it was four. and like just how much he leans on Joe Scoverin in that lie like Schavern gets over and he's like if you thought I put bad thoughts in Ben's head he's like oh this could go anywhere here and just like it didn't even look like he made any decision there he just totally let Joe take the lead here and he's like what bunker am I worried about here he's like we're laying this up because this could go left this could go right and he's gesticulating all over the place and I just I like that part of like oh the player just totally let the caddy decide what we're doing here, how we're laying up, where we're laying up, and we're going to figure it out

from there was it was the opposite of like, hey, hit it anywhere golf and go figure it out. Which I think is interesting, circling all the way back to, to Wyndham Clark is he's been playing, he's been scoring extremely well. He's been playing really, really good golf. He's also been hitting some big foul balls. And obviously, not today was not that that day. He drove it great and was able to pin his ears back in attack. But man, the golf course gets really compelling if you start hitting it off line with the driver. And I'm, you know, not being mean-spirited and saying I'm rooting for that, but that is, it's something to watch because some of those TPC Craig James and, you know, the Canadian

Open, there were a couple of spots that were just like, dude, you can't keep getting away with these, man. And it was, so it would be interesting to see if that reappears. What's the stretch of holes called at TPC Craig James? The ranch? It's just the one. The ranch. Yeah, 17.

is the ranch but then he played the ranch anymore big dog yeah that he played the rink in canada so yeah they got so many triangles you know this place is all triangles they need to come up they need to name one of these triangles i don't know what you call it i think for me the um shots that just made me feel really alive i'm not sure if it was speed pulling his drive off of 10 into the hay or missing an eight-footer on on two or nine-footer on three or a nine-footer on or just generally speaking, just not being able to get the ball in the hole. That was fun.

Randy, what was your highlight? I was just going to say, just the par 5-16th as a whole entire whole, I just want to shout out whenever you get a par 5 that's playing as the fourth most difficult hole, which it did today, stroke average of 5.37. Guys, this was a real ass par three today.

Or five. Excuse me, part five. I remember I was watching some of the Scotty feature group. Like he didn't have the firepower on his second shot to cover that inside bunker with his second shot. He was flummoxed by that. It just was a true, true, true three shot par five. And so I have to mention that one.

The early way, the closest anybody got in two shots was 92 yards to the pin. God. Bryson, I mean, Bryson, like you mentioned earlier, he had whatever that was, 193 ball speed or something off that T. he had it 259 yards. He had 160 in for his third.

I mean, it's like, and that was driver three wood. It's the, Aaron, I think it was Aaron Oberholzer, whoever was doing the feature group coverage was basically saying like the effective yard is like 750 yards out there today.

Like it was, TZ, put it on the list of, of the last remaining true power. I was I've played it. ZB hit the fairway. He had $3.90 in from there. And it was the best because if you missed off the T, like the hole just became like, can you actually get there in three?

And if you hit the fairway, it was still like, I remember Tommy laid up a three wood. I think it was, you know, trying to lay up a three wood, blew it away left. Because even if you're laying farther back, there's all kinds of bunkers you've got to think about. It's just an awesome hole to watch. It's one of the best, like best designed. holes as far as angles and just yeah the way you're the way you have to navigate your way through it's

crazy uh i would i would say another usGA thing i would like anybody that that played in the morning today should have a like their name should be a different color on the leaderboard for the rest of the like that tc i feel like that's the least we can do because otherwise like all this is going to wash together we're not going to know like we're going to have to dig a level deeper um you're getting in with a i tc you might need to set up your own model. That would be the way to do it. Going down the leaderboard wise,

anybody that you guys were like just really disappointed in today. Hovland was on my list. I thought maybe he had found something in Canada. Ball striking was massively improved. And he laid an egg today, which was a bummer. Scotty.

I mean, I know he got it in the house at two over, but he sucked. Like he was bad, like really, really sloppy. double boge on eight,

just sloppy bogey on six. Four was playing really difficult, and he made a nice up and down save on five. And he had a decent back nine, but again, just bad bogey on 13, and then played 16 very poorly. He just,

he didn't get away with anything today. And, you know, just it was not a, not a good round of golf. He was on the range afterwards, Randy, with Randy Smith,

look he was barking at Randy Smith a little bit about something related to the grip. He's just, the vibes are not strong here. He's missing right. And, yeah. Is he stuck?

He's a little stuck. A little steep. And as Neil. I wouldn't say I'm disappointed. It was more validating maybe, but as we were doing our player draft, you know, it's clear everybody's kind of going down the data golf rankings looking for the top players or the model or whatever.

Well, then they're just picking the best players, obviously. But we just kind of kept blown right past. see Wu Kim. It's just like nobody's going to touch him with a 10-foot pole. And I'm like, he's playing really good golf. Are we being unfair to see Wu Kim? But then I was like, he doesn't really show up in the majors and just 77 today. It's, which stinks because I want him to, I want him to show up, man. He's a, he's a character. Character's welcome, especially when we're on USA. You know, so I just, that was, again, not necessarily disappointing, but a little bit of a they are who we thought they are

situation. Anybody bummed about Xander? Well, that's where I was going, T.C. I think Xander failing to take advantage of being in this late afternoon wave is disappointing. T.C., we apologize for P? Honestly, I will. Although I think P might be battling something. I mean, plus two in the morning wave, not like not horrible.

That's not bad. That's not bad. He made one birdie. He birdied five, uh, double one 10 to get a. started but uh i guess he started on one but um yeah i think he's battling some adversity he's got that big ass cold sore i was gonna say battling something on his face he and he had it's so big it might just be a busted lip i don't know he had his oathkeeper's outfit on today courtesy of the red white and blue uh you know a lot of red there was

he's got his vista jet hat on i think i think p p comes out of fire tomorrow after I think P will be right in the thick of this thing. Randy, your guy Morikawa, just making sure that he is just not involved in the after three over through 17 in the afternoon. A little shock because I was out on him. I was disappointed this morning. I thought Brooks was going to cobble together

like a 70 or 71. And he ended up making two bad doubles, one on eight and then one on 18 and shot 73. I thought that should have been like two shots better. The great man, Tim Rose. Yeah, not great.

Pudder looks awful. Cam Smith, DC, you drafted him this week. He made a triple on seven. We haven't talked about it about seven, by the way. Seven's one of the most ridiculous golf holes I've ever seen. A major championship golf.

Like, it is so freaking hard to hold that green. I don't know what the final numbers ended up being in terms of how many players. They flash this graphic on have the only pinnable space. I should say only space on the green that is 3% grade or less. Exactly. What's on the screen right now.

Pinnable is all relative. Pinnable is in the eye of the holder. Thank you. 40 guys hit the green out of 135 that played the hole today, which is obviously the lowest of any hole in the field. Didge, you were all stoked about Toasty's stats? Yeah, I was. We had something special going on.

I don't know if we've, I got to check if we ended the day this way. But at one point today, he was leading the field in strokes gained off the T and he was last in the field in strokes gained approach, which is which is pretty rad. As of he's first in 2.51. He is last in approach.

And he is first in off the T. So fly the banner, at least according to the data golf stats here. He is first off the T and last in approach. that's and for good measure anti anti-scilycock that's just not what you're not what you do he's 146th he's 146th then putting to you putt in the shit out of it for good measure like honestly it's kind of an accomplishment that he shot 78 today what did he do with his approach shots I'm like trying to look through and figure this out like he missed the missed the green from uh from no doubles

fairway missed the green from four fairway uh missed the green from five fairway way, missed the green from six fairway. He's like consistently awful iron shots. Missed seven green. He missed the green from eight fairway. He missed the green from nine fairway. Looks like he, no, he sucked one back to his feet. It looks like on 10.

How many greens did he hit? He missed 11. Let's see. He hit six greens after hitting 12 fairways. That's impressive. All right. So, Sallie. If, yeah, A, maybe he was up too late watching Argentina last night.

Messy was nasty. If he sucks a ball all the way back off of 10 green, all the way back to his feet, does the next shot count as approach play or around the green? Yeah, I don't know the official answer. I think there's a certain yardage that it would come back to that I think it would still be considered an approach shot, like a second approach shot. okay yeah i don't think it's just so impressive like no catastrophic shots just just consistently it like shit bad it was the ultimate mr flin round as you pointed out tc you know he talks about

wanting to uh he wants your anxiety to grow as you get closer and closer to the hole and i think fly the banner you know he rocked him he lost he gained shots on approach on three approach shots today had a zero on one and then lost on 14 of the 18 shots. That's so impressive. From Stewie there, Randy. Maybe he was getting good shots that just weren't rewarded. Who are we to say they weren't good shots? I guess we don't know.

One guy I'd like to just make a culp of myself on Chris Godderup, 75 today. I know it was in the morning. Drove it, drove it well. Approach play was lackluster. Shipping was awful. just not a good round you know made five birdies but just too much too much bad stuff in there

got got completely bodied by the by the par threes what seven and eleven I think yeah yeah j jay spahn got to clean it up not dude stuff spawn shot 77 uh today he was one of one of my draft picks um if you're if you're interested in tracking our standings of the teams we picked on monday dj's

first, Wyndham doing a lot of lifting. In that one, I'm in second, Neil, third. What does that mean? They're all on the team. No, I just mean like you have some cut watch. The rest of your team's kind of on cut watch. So like you better hope Windham.

Yeah, and one of my team is leading by four. So I'll take it. It's early. Is this off of projected earnings? Projected earnings for the week. It's tough because Randy's in fifth and Jackson Cleveland's in 49th, projected to make the cut. Sanders Shavley's making

33K off of 49th right now. Coyvin's not making anything. His team is on the field. My team is on the field. A little disappointed in Manhattan while we're here. He closed with a double bogey to shoot 74.

Could have used a little bit around from him. I would maybe players to watch tomorrow. I put Cam Young as kind of sneaky becoming a forgotten man. here. He's like 40th. He was too over today in the morning, but kind of ball struck the shit out of it.

And so I don't know, maybe just didn't drive it well in the wind, couldn't make any putts, but the iron play is there and the iron play is going to continue to be important. So that's a maybe by low situation there. Any concerns about the potter?

Hell yeah, TC. Big concerns. All right. If we can't, we can't read, we got to bring in the caddies fine. We got to bring in another friend to help the two of them read. Looks like we're pulling a lot of puts. Big, big, I don't know what's going on. He has so much tape on his wrist too.

Yeah, he's got a lot going on there. A lot of golf left, man. A lot, a lot, a lot of golf left in this tournament. Not overreacting to win them all the way at the top, not overreacting to much of anything at this point. If you guys had to guess what winning score would be right now as you're sitting here. And do we trust the USGA or not? part of the question i don't trust randy but what's your what do you think the winning score will be then

and again there's only one guy south of two under here you know like i let's see let's see let's see let's see how much he doesn't trust him bananza uh i think the winning score is going to be six under i was going to say a lot of fives in the comments that's a lot of trust then I'll say four. I don't like that. I think like, like Randy, looking at the PTI today, how many guys are under par right now? We've got 17 guys under par. Completed rounds, T.C.

We're at 0.5 PTI. And if a lot of these guys who are under par get in the house under par, it's not, it's terrible. It's not good. And that's what the tough morning. par 70 is a tough on the PTI index. not when the stroke average is like 77 and a half it's not because this is par 70 I would like to

also just admonish anybody who said that this was Patrick Cantley's week because it's not Patrick Cantley's week who who you know you are I saw some stuff online that was I saw some really troubling chatter there was a chat coming across the wire we don't rather yeah but do you think it's going to be an under par or overpar winning score i think it'll be like two under do you think we get any biblical days

i wouldn't dare weigh in on that after you guys how you guys treated me here tonight i wouldn't even possibly try to read a forecast to you i like that we have wind emojis like we got wind emojis still coming do we have detective emojis i don't know do we have detective emojis i don't if there's no, the detective. Detective was taken off the case. Detective might be drinking on the job, T.C. He was four over today. One thing I haven't heard Bowdenhammer speak on it.

I don't know if he's been asked this, and I would like somebody to ask him this, is the 10 and a half thing, was that for Thursday, or is that for the championship? Because they got through this day, can they make the greens faster? I believe I saw something that they're sticking with the plan for tomorrow. but I got to

that was just kind of a fragmented quote so I need to get more details on that but it sounds like they're not drastically changing anything tomorrow which I think would jive with like let's get all the boys through and then it's a new golf tournament on Saturday

which again is just it's just hard to argue with it I know I know but we just got to make sure it's like it's like hitting a fade like we just got to make sure Saturday is actually difficult then Yeah.

I agree. They have to move the pins around. That's one element. Like there's only so many easy spots on these holes, these greens. Yeah, I'm guessing they won't release the pin sheet tonight with round one not being completed.

Is that fair to say? Doesn't that, like doesn't that kind of bone the guys? Like, everybody was able to do research last night and their plan last night. Everybody kind of practiced all the whole locations. It's,

I don't, I don't think there's a ton of potential research that goes into it. So I think they'll be okay. That came from, Bonhammer was on Live From and said we're sticking to the game plan, which is green speeds will remain the same for tomorrow, but we'll adjust for the weekend. Okay. There's hope, Randy. There's hope.

Randy, I think it is completely fair to shred them if this weekend is not a standard deviation more different. difficult. Like they have said that. I said that a month ago, what we've learned, we let the golf course peak too early in 2018. We're not going to make that mistake. We expect it to ramp up. That's the curve they should be graded on. They said that part out loud. I will absolutely ride with you this weekend if it does not get more brown faster and firmer because that will be a big, big disappointment. You can't have a Jeff Yang. You got yourself a goddamn deal. Hell yeah. God, this is I'm going to go to bed in such a better mood now. somebody do you have the image Cody somebody somebody DM me on Instagram today I forget what the exact quote is if you can show it please but

can you let Randy know that listening to him talk about a US Open over PARs like a 14 year old still thinking this is real it's way too logical to be having these takes you guys just ruined it for any of our young listeners I just want to believe that's all

I'm going to East Coast, T.C. They should be in bed. You know what? I can't believe 80 minutes into this. I got to throw this out. We were kind of light on the Tommy Talk tonight. Oh, yeah, thank God. Trust the process. Yeah, for sure. He was wearing a Mongolian cashmere sweater. Which was almost so good.

Almost. I'm a big, I like the cardigan. I'm a big cardigan guy, but the big golf ball emoji was really unsettling and unbecoming. A lot of people. were texting me or you know deeming me as well just concerned that his pants were gonna they were they were back as a sale yeah it's kind of like fluff with the smoke it's a little too helpful with the wind direction uh it was like i mean this in like a complimentary way like an ugly round from him like a impressive 70 uh i thought of like it if someone looked up felt like he was he was unhappy with a with a shot and

getting it in at 70 um was was impressive i telling you what man that that up and down he had like he pulled it long left on on nine on his final hole i mean tough shot you know one of the harder approach shots on the course and he hit a he had a good not great chip and then he buried the put and like i don't know two three years ago that's the put that doesn't go in or that's the chip that's 10 feet instead of seven feet it's i think he's gotten better on the margins yeah it's our thing with him's those Thursday putts, man. We just got to,

we just got to make more of those Thursday putts. Do you see? That's the Tommy putt that we just can't have. Well, no, what we need to avoid is like the second round 78 or 77 that he had, you know, in 20, you know, what was that, 2017 or 2018 last time they had it here. Yeah. Cody, I think we have a giveaway tonight? Yep, you guys kept trying to cut me off.

Solly, I appreciate everybody coming through. Of course, these shows. We're going to give some stuff away today. that it was hashtag wind. I'm sorry, TC, I'm sorry big, it wasn't the conditions is that you guys exactly wanted, but we got a long ways to go here still.

So it was for like 10 hours. I still will maintain that for like a long time today. Well, now what they wanted. I know. You want 14 hours. And I didn't know these guys were so big on the even splits. Like he has to be fair and the computers have to win. John Pettit 4-8. 4-4 is our winner of the of the live chat contest here tonight.

So what do you know, Cody? Email me, Cody. Cody at no laying up.com, please. Sorry, trying to write it down. Anything else before we wrap, guys. We know, let's get it in. It's a long week. Delightful episode, guys.

I thought it was going to be contentious. And I think we found common ground. We found it. I got through it. I think there's hope there, right? We got, we got through it. I was nervous about this. We agreed to continue the dialogue.

We'll circle back. We'll circle back on this. I threw this internal earlier when Sali, of course, was still being the weatherman and was talking about all the wind was still out there, but T.C. and Randy just weren't picking it up clearly. I don't know if you guys remember seeing this, but the weather one that's like, It's all I rode his boat out there at TC and Randy just walked my ankle. It's like one of those guys that's, you know, hanging on to the, to the light post.

And, you know, people are just like drinking a beer walking down the street in the background. Yeah, very, very just hitting 240 yard drives just because he stinks guys. It had nothing to do with the rain anyways. That is good this morning. It was good this morning. That is going to do it for tonight's show. Thank you to Titleist, High Noon and Golf Pride. Cody on the ones and twos, Matt, running the social.

Everybody up in the chat, ZB for chiming in as well. We'll be back. Neil will be on site tomorrow. He will have the on-site report for us calling in from the Media Center tomorrow night and Saturday as well. So thank you everyone for tuning in. As always, during our major weeks, hit a like on the video. Hit the subscribe button on the No Layup podcast YouTube channel if you can. and we'll see you back here tomorrow night.

Crock on. Cheers. Hey, y'all. It's Kelly Clarkson with Wayfair. Ever order furniture online and wonder what if? Like, what if it doesn't hold up? That sofa was four days old. You should have ordered from Wayfair. With Wayfair, there's no what if.

Just style you love and quality you can trust. Visit Wayfair.ca. Wayfair, every style, every home.