No Laying Up - Golf Podcast - 843 - The Amazing Nelly Korda + USWO Preview

Episode Date: May 29, 2024

We begin our US Women's Open preview pod with some thoughts on today's news that Lexi Thompson will retire and not play a full-time schedule beyond the current 2024 season. Then, it's time for a look at the incredible season so far for Nella Korda, her evolution on and off the course, and how long this run of dominance will continue. We wrap the pod with a preview of the week ahead at Lancaster Country Club with a detailed look at the course and who it potentially favors. We also give our pick to win (guess who!) as well as some surprise contenders and who'll miss the cut. If you enjoyed this episode, consider joining The Nest: No Laying Up’s community of avid golfers. Nest members help us maintain our light commercial interruptions (3 minutes of ads per 90 minutes of content) and receive access to exclusive content, discounts in the pro shop, and an annual member gift. It’s a $90 annual membership, and you can sign up or learn more at nolayingup.com/join Support our partners: Yeti - customize your next order for Dad ahead of Father's Day Mizuho Titleist - the #1 ball at this year's NCAA Championships 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 expect anything different ladies and gentlemen welcome into the no laying up golf podcast it is us women's open week and we got a great preview show today my name is randy joining me today cody mcbride cody did you have a nice relaxing Memorial day weekend? I did a little beach trip, but ultimately some sad news in the world of golf. Also a very, it's a sad weekend for me most of the time, but try to put my, my best foot forward. Remember a ton of teammates that I've lost along the way and try to celebrate their lives a little bit and everything they gave for me big.

So yeah, it's tough. It's a hard weekend. And also joining us, Mr. Tron Carter, TC, how was your weekend? Amen. It was good. It was good. Definitely try to take some time to reflect a little bit, but yeah, good weekend and stoked for the US women's open.

Lancaster is going to be a treat, I think. Randy, I think we're in for a proper US open. I'll put it that way. I hope so, TC. We're going to get into the course and just going to see if you might have a weather forecast. We're going to do all that in just a second. Let's quickly, since we have convened here, we need to go over Nelly winning again. We're going to get into a few Nelly topics,

and then we're going to preview the tournament this weekend, the second major of the women's season. And then some miscellaneous stuff at the end. But Cody, before we get there, who do we have to thank? Who's our proud presenting sponsor? Yeah, Big, of course. Want to give a shout out to our friends at Yeti. You can visit them at Yeti.com. And, you know, it might be US Women's Open Week, but they finally have their Father's Day packages available online.

There's tons of options on there. You can get stuff personalized. You can customize it. It doesn't matter if it's, you know, hard cups, soft cups, koozies, buckets, you name it. I also want to give out a shout out to a couple new seasonal colors that they have out there, as well as the new French presses, both in, I think, 34 and like crazy big one TC. They're impressive. I seriously cannot wait to get my hands on one of these, but you can check them out as long as well as their fabulous coolers, hard coolers, soft coolers,

you name it, all at Yeti.com. Thank you to Yeti for supporting our LPGA content all year long. We wouldn't be able to do it without them. So thanks to Yeti. The seasonal colors are fire. I was at my local hardware store yesterday. And I was like, man, I was so great. I almost bought one on the spot. I want to know like their branding team is so good when it comes to this stuff. It's it's crazy how they're just like they figure they figure out the perfect little changes is like it's not a normal orange. It's not a normal blue. It's crazy how they're just like, they figure out the perfect little changes is like, it's not a normal orange, it's not a normal blue, it's always just like a little

bit off and it just makes it stand out. Yeah, they're phenomenal products and I don't know, I like something with like matte, as long as it's got like a matte coat on it, I think it absolutely crushes. Well, we are recording some, some late breaking news on this Tuesday of us women's open week. And we have just found out that Lexi Thompson has announced her retirement at the end of this season. And Cody, let me, let me throw it to you.

I don't think this is the most surprising news. I don't want to speak for you though. What are your, what are your general thoughts by the timing of this and might we see Lexi continuing to play perhaps the Aramco team series or do you think she truly is gonna walk away entirely from professional golf? Well I find it interesting that the statement that they released is that she's no longer going to be playing you know this is gonna be her last season of full season of professional golf. And you can read into that to whatever you want. And we've talked about it before on this podcast that there's that she plays

in the majority of their Aramco team series events. She's a big supporter of everything that Aramco and the PIF does and who knows what is going to go on there. And before we get to speculation of what she's going to do, I just wanted to like give her a shout out because she's 29 years old and she's been doing this for a very, very long time. And I think... This is her US Open, right? It's crazy. 18 US Women's Opens. That's nuts. And we can go all the way back to 2007. She was a 12 year old. That's when she first qualified for her very first US Women's Open.

She ended up shooting 86-82, failed to make the cut that year. She was the youngest player ever to qualify for the US Open until in 2014. Of course, at Pinehurst when Lucy Lee stumbled upon the stage eating all the ice cream in the world. But Lexi, she's 29 and she's been playing the highest levels of professional women's golf for such a long time. And I think it warrants a discussion here because in total she has 11 wins on the LPGA Tour. She has two European Tour victories, one LPGA of Japan or Japan Ladies Professional Golf Association Tour. Of course, she only has one major that was in 2014 at

the ANA, now it's called Chevron. But I think she's put herself in position so many times. I think she has like 12 or 13 top fives and major championships along the way. And really like the last three or four years, she's like completely ignored the Evian because she doesn't even consider that a major championship, something that we have in common with her. And she just doesn't like travel and do it. She's played a very limited schedule.

And if you go back and look kind of when like most people are maturing out of college, Lexi was maturing out on the LPGA tour. And that's when you first started seeing her, started to take more time off and put more focus on her mental health. And I think it was very interesting that in her video that she posted today, when she announced her retirement,

that she talked about kind of being in the spotlight and how long she's been in the spotlight and she's kind of looking forward to the next chapter in her life, whatever that may be. So before we get to the ifs, what's and maybes of what she potentially could do in the future, I think it's like a good time to shine some light on a very, very long career of her traveling the world with a family that has its own craziness going on it and like doing it at the highest level. T.C. what do you got? Yeah, I got a comp for you guys for her career on the men's side. I know we're always trying to provide context and such. I'm going to say Sergio Garcia. Came along at a young age, won one major, had a boatload of close calls otherwise, played

worldwide, went to live towards the end. We can see that with Lexi. Battled some injuries as well. Kind of went off the radar for a while due to wrist injuries or elbow injuries. So yeah, I think, you know, but always felt like, hey, that, you know, great player, great career. Maybe there was more there. Maybe they could have squeezed a little bit more out of it. So you know, bottom line, I think Lexi kind of shouldered the burden of women's

golf at large. And I give her a lot of credit for, you know, I've been very critical in the past times of some of her interactions with the media on the flip side, I will say by all accounts on the LPGA tour, she's she's been a, a, she kind of did the requisite amount for, I would say she did the requisite amount and then some in Pro-Am's and sponsored dinners and showing up when the tour asked her and needed her to show up. So I think that's admirable and you know, she deserves to be celebrated. Yeah, I think if you if you would ask anybody at the LPGA tour there they would say that there's no better kind of you know star that they've had at their complete disposal the last 15, 18 years than Lexi.

She says yes to every obligation that they that they need from her and she's kind of gone about it doing things her way but also making sure that everybody and every person company that the tour touches is happy. And she's always kind of, you know, carried that, which is interesting because the way that she started with LPGA tour was not, I think, you know, she truly is a trailblazer. I mean, she changed the way that the LPGA, the rules are written when it comes to age and how many sponsors exemptions versus unrestricted sponsors exemptions and being able to play in Monday qualifiers if you're not getting a sponsors exemption if you're under the age of 18 and made it so the next generation and we already see them now whether that was Lucy or Nellie or any of these

other people who are so young can take advantage of it and come out because they're choosing to forego college and have the opportunity to truly get out there and play. Big, what do you got? The Sergio comp is a great one, TC. I had not thought about it along those lines, but you know, even relationship with media and fans and I think there are a lot of parallels there that makes that a good comp. And I'll say Lexi, I think framing it on, she really carried the burden for the LPGA by virtue of like her being for a long time there,

like the true American star that everybody, at least domestically was kind of pinning their hopes to. She came along, right as Michelle Wee West's career was winding down, obviously, before Nellie now. And so Lexi was that it girl for a long time. And I can't imagine being in that position, just like full stop, right? At that age.

As an 18-year-old girl being like, here you go, you're the face of this. Right. I mean, growing up, I just have an experience from the male side, but growing up and navigating your teens and early 20s is hard enough away from any type of public spotlight. And so when you are thrust into the public spotlight and add on being a female and what that entails oftentimes in our world and on social media and et cetera, et cetera, it just, for her to carry herself the way she has is really impressive.

And to remain, to truly remain a fan favorite. I mean, we've all been to several events now in person and without fail, Lexi Thompson, if she's not commanding like the most crowds, she's right there. I mean, as far as autographs and gallery and just the attention that is on her is really unparalleled. And so I think putting all that together where

I net out, she's just a fascinating person. And I think selfishly, I would have loved had she didn't need to let all media in. She didn't need to let media in all the time, but I wish she would let somebody kind of plumb the depths of her thinking and really write an authentic kind of account of this time from her perspective. And maybe that's something we can get down the road when she's had a chance to reflect or whatnot, because I think she's just such a fascinating story

for all of the reasons that we've said. But I just don't feel like as a fan, as an observer, as somebody that follows women's golf, there hasn't been that like payoff where I really read or watch or consume something that like makes me empathize and connect with Lexi. So I don't know. It's kind of a strange one.

It's not a shock. We'd heard rumblings even midway through last year that she was kind of thinking about shutting it down and you never quite know how accurate or true those are. I could see her playing a random major maybe here or there on some type of an exemption. But yeah, it's weird because she hasn't really had that like big of a schedule. So it's, I don't think we're really gonna miss her week to week on the LPJ tour, just because, you know, she hasn't won in like four or five years. She's not really in contention that much, but she's just a personality that's going to be absent. And I think that's kind of the biggest thing at this moment.

I think the other thing is like her, I don't think her swing was going to age all that gracefully with all the trauma on her wrist with each passing impact. trauma on her wrist with each passing impact. So, you know, maybe this is just a herbian proactive too, you know? Yeah. Yeah, I agree with all that. I think the other thing too, TCU, when you talk about like the wear and tear of your body

and the wrist and everything, it also doesn't help to like, you know, she really has embraced fitness on the women's side of the game more than anyone else. And you can see that by her body, you see that by her, the way that she posts and it's truly a passion of hers. So when you're like talking about rest and rehab in order to play high level golf, and I think part of that probably should include like dialing it back maybe a little bit to protect that wrist when you're in the gym, like not going full

strength on everything. Like she kind of hasn't done that because it's truly like, I would say it's more than a hobby for her. And I think when we talk about what the next stage in life, like people have talked about, you know, Lexi's always had ambitions to own her own gym and to get into like the women's development side of golf. And I think she's kind of the person that would be perfect for that. And you just kind of wait and see what her overall schedule will be. But super into fitness, like I said, wants to own an own gym. And that's before we get into any other potential collaborations or partnership for what could be an expanding role in the ladies European

tour via potential PIF investment there. That would be really interesting. We still don't quite know where the women's game is headed. Well, let me ask you this. What's the one thing you'll remember most about Lexi? I hate going negative, but I mean, Olympic club. Yeah, that was tough. Like that was just because it felt almost pre it felt like you're watching it in slow motion and you knew what was going to happen. Having the penalty called on you, but not called on you.

And like that whole delayed debacle of I can't even remember which event I think that was at the ANA one year. It was ANA, yeah. Like just bad, bad. It was always one of those things where, you know, I think the running jump, I mean, it's not a joke. It honestly happened and Olympic definitely wasn't the only occasion, but like she would run out and like get such a huge lead. And she would almost need that because like you always knew that there was like this, this nine hole period of like, most of the time it's, it's, I hate to say it, but like when the pressure is there, like you just

didn't know if, if her game was going to stand up to it. Yeah. I would say congressional is a perfect example of that. Yeah. Right. But I flip it on it on on its head and be like, man, what a absolute like killer when it comes to Solheim Cup and Solheim Cup appearances and having like the team around her and, and we saw this last year, like, you know, protecting Lexi when I don't think like Lexi really needed protecting, like just just hit a bad shot out of that bunker. And like, it became a lot more than it actually was. I think there's plenty of highs and lows out there that you can you can pick. It just is it's interesting when you look at it and you're like wow some of those lows are the ones that

that are going to stick with you the longest and I know they stick with her probably the longest too. Yeah I think it's the close calls and and the whats. And I know that's not necessarily the most fair. But I think absent of, again, she doesn't owe it to us, but I think absent of like some type of not reckoning or like, I don't know if Lexi really loved playing professional golf, you know? She never quite looked into it, right? So it's like part of me, I hope she goes and does her own thing. And it's like, if you don't want to be involved in golf, like go walk away.

You don't need to give this game anything more. I think she has spent, as you said, Cody, she has spent years and years and years saying yes and pouring herself into sponsors and fans and doing what she can to advance the game. I just want a definitive profile of Lexi Thompson, I think. And I think that's what, with her walking away and not really feeling like we've had that, I just feel like there's a bit of a empty spot where I don't know what to make of this 15-year career. And maybe that's the beauty of it. That's kind of the beauty of sport, right?

It can be whatever we interpret it to be. But I think she's a fascinating, fascinating character. And I think aside from the close losses, probably just the juxtapositions, right? Her signing so many autographs, but at the same time, being prickly with the media oftentimes, or, you know, that that violent swing, but but the sheer athleticism of it, there's just all kinds of different give and takes with her. It's like a dichotomy.

Yeah, yeah. So I, gosh, it wouldn't surprise me if she played really well this week. I know we'll get into that later. It feels straight up, right? Yeah. I know. I wonder what kind of announcing this to the world. I'm sure it's been weighing on her for a long time. It's not like she woke up tomorrow and or yesterday and decided it. So who knows? She might have another run and you know, she'll she'll play out the calendar year. Could she potentially be like the youngest Solheim Cup captain ever? If they're like, Hey, Lexi, you want to be captain? She's like, Yeah, sure. Like,

just sign me up for like the next four of them. I'll do that through my 30s. Like, I know everybody. Yeah, yeah. She's only gonna to want to do domestic ones, though. That may be every time we're home for the next 10 years. Just give me those. All right. Well, let's let's we're we'll we'll have a couple of things on Lexi in the remainder of the show, but let's let's keep it moving here. Before we get into the US women's open, we didn't really have a chance to debrief Nelly winning the Mizuho Americas open.

Of course. What is that? The Mizuho Americas open. Do you know who Mizuho is? I think they're a sponsor of ours. They're not the equipment company. Is that right? Cody, are they like some type of bank or something?

That is true. Big. This is, of course, brought to you by Mizuho, and their fabulous tournament, the Mizuho America's Open. Who is Mizuho? They're a top global corporate and investment bank at Powerhouse in Japan. TC loves that.

And the Americas is the fastest growing region for Mizuho globally. It's the only institutional business in the Americas. If you're an avid golfer, you're listening to this podcast, of course, you're familiar with brand ambassadors, Michelle Wee West, excellent host again for the second year of the Mizuho Americas open. And let's talk about it big. You mentioned that we've been off for a couple of weeks, but the tour was also off last week. We had a busy week up in Wisconsin.

Everybody was together, but, um, you know, Nelly, the Sierra Nelly, it rolls through. I don't know what else he got. No, I know. I, I, I mean, I think it just needs to be said, right? We, we saw her five consecutive tournament win streak come to an end at the founders. A few weeks back. Rose Zhang won that tournament in an absolute shootout over Madeline Sagstrom. And so what does Nellie Cordo do?

She had never, well, this is only the second year of the Mizzou, but she did not play last year. So coming in, new venue, new course, just had a historic streak stopped. And so she comes back out and she duels the only other multi-winner on the LPGA this year, Hannah Green. They play together the final round. Nelly clips her by one, wins for the sixth time in seven starts, eight starts overall this year. I mean, it's just incredible.

Nellie is doing everything that we could have hoped for. We talked about Lexi having this burden of being this American star that people are pinning their hopes on. Well, Nellie's doing that right now and she's doing it in spades. And I don't know, I almost think this win, my question to you guys,

I almost feel like this one is just as impressive. Maybe the chevron being a major that's a little bit more impressive. But I would stack this one up against any of the other four just in terms of sheer impressiveness. And it would have been so easy to show up to this and just turn in like a tide for 23rd or whatever, get some work in before the women's open.

But she won. And I love that it was her and Hannah on Sunday. Hannah played really well, was undone on the 72nd hole by a wayward drive and got out of position and ended up making bogey to lose by a shot. It was a fabulous tournament. And I'm just really happy Cody that that the Nelly Cordo train is, it's still rolling and we might be picking up speed. I think it is picking up speed, buddy. For a year to have this, I know I said this a couple of weeks back too, but for

a year to have this run in the way that the LPGA calendar lays out, I mean, it's perfect for somebody who's riding a hot streak like this because they stay hot. They get a week off before these major championships and then they can just keep running. I don't know. Like, I don't know all what Nellie did last week in her week off, but I'm sure her golf game like didn't get worse. Yeah. She, uh, I mean, I think it's almost like a better thing that it's not like she played poorly at Cognizant either. She finished T7. Like I think that like looking back that may, if she does win this week at US women's open

or wins, you know, let's say KPMG women's PGA or one of those, like maybe the best thing to happen was to kind of stop the streak and reset things a little bit and take some of that pressure off. But, you know, she basically validated last week, Hey, the first, like you said, Randy, first time seeing a new course and comes right back out and wins and proves that the T sevens, the fluke, not the previous five or six tournaments. So yeah, I mean, she should, she'll play this week and then who knows if she'll play shop, right? Imagine she'll play Meyer into KPMG Women's PGA,

but she's, it's like enough big golf tournaments with also the commensurate amount of rest in between too. It feels like a perfect, perfect setup. Now, I don't think that Lancaster and Liberty National are at all in common here, but the one commonality that I guess I could pull out of it is that it wasn't a tournament where you had to go like 20 under.

Like you don't need to put every single round in the 60s, which there's a lot of the courses on the LPGA Tour. That's just kind of how they're set up. The last time the US women's open was held at Lancaster. I think the winning score is like eight under. Very similar. 70 for sure. But what I'm saying, I guess, is like you don't there's not this this need of like

feeling to go deep every single round. And that's kind of what I loved with with Nellie. Obviously she had, you know, rounds of 70, 68, 65, 71. That 71 is only one under on her final round. But I mean, outside of like a couple people who went absolutely gangbusters there, she knew exactly what she needed to do, stuck to her plan, and her and Jason just went out

and got it again. Obviously a little slip at the very end by Hannah Green on that 18th tee shot, but I kind of like this how we're, I think it's a perfect setup for, for what we're expecting from this U S women's open. And if it goes crazy deep, I think that would probably be shocking to all of us. Yeah. We'll talk about the course here in a few, but like, you know, there's,

there's, you gotta, should play right into her hands, right? Driving the ball. Best if anybody in the world, and you know, big time iron play. What's the relative flaw in her game right now, right? Because the putting, the putting's fine, right? Find a new slant. When the putting's fine, the chipping's world class, the tee to green we know is world class.

It's like, again, her floor, it feels like her floor is like a top 10. And it's just if anybody can get high, she feels like a top five. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, right now she's she's plus 105 for a top five. She's plus 360 to win. And you know, you look back at what she's done this year, she's won on a variety of different courses. Like it was, you know, the one out in Arizona was crazy deep. The one at, um, And cold and windy and like, Yeah, but then, you know, she won, she won the match play. That's a really difficult golf course.

Or the one at Palos Verdes. That's different. You know, that's difficult to recognize it. Like those are, those are all relatively different layouts. So she's done it on a full range of things. And, and, you know, I think founders too, like, it's not like she started out poorly there. She, she shot 69, 66 the first two rounds and I think ran out of gas a little bit, but in the long run, that's going to end up being, being an asset for her. So after this win, I have five Nelly tidbits that I'd like to share with you guys, if you'll allow me. All little stats and just to kind of set the scene of where we are right now. So number five, I wish we had the drum roll audio thing, but number five. So with a win this week,

women's open week, with a win this week, Nelly would set the all-time record for money earned in a season. Lorraine Ochoa in 2007 earned $4.36 million. This would be Nelly's ninth start, so she can surpass that. And I granted, purses have gone up, especially in majors. But that Lorraine Ochoa's 2007 mark is still the high water mark on the LPGA tour, says something. And Nellie could eclipse that in her ninth start this year. Number four. That's silly.

That's silly to think of. In the Rolex rankings right now, the current Rolex rankings, Nellie has a 6.67 point advantage. So 6.67 points advantage over number two, Lillievu. Lillievu, that's a greater difference than between Lillievu ranked second and the very end of the rankings. So Nelly is that much separated from the second ranked player in the world right now.

The LPGA, this is my third one. The LPGA for their player of the year award, it's a points-based system where if you finish first, you get 30 points. If you finish second, I think it's you get 12 on down through the top 10, okay? So Nelly right now, before the US Women's Open, has 214 player of the year points.

That's more than all but eight people have accumulated over full seasons in the last 10 years. So, a few of those years, obviously COVID being one, but actually the last three years, like Lilia Vu last year, Nelly already has more player of the year points than Lilia Vu did all of last year. It's insane. My second favorite one, we're counting down five to one. The second favorite, actually this might be my first one, but this is my second one.

Since 10 years ago, since the start of 2015, all right? So encompassing 10 LPGA seasons. The most wins on the LPGA tour by an American is Lexi Thompson with seven. Nelly has six in her last seven starts. So Nelly almost in the last four months has won just as many times as the best American over the last 10 years. It's insane. And then finally, my last tidbit for you, Nellie with her win at the Mizuho, she became the fourth person ever in LPGA history to win six times before June 1st. She joins Lorena Ochoa, who did that in 2008, Luis Suggs, who did it in 1953, and Babe Zaharias, who did it in 1951.

She's the first American, Nellie is the first American to win at least six times in a full season since 1990. So we're talking almost 35 years. Beth Daniel won seven times in 1990, and Nellie, here she is winning six times in eight starts. So it's just any way you want to slice it. What I don't personally want to become is like numb to just how historic this run is. I want to celebrate it. I want to be all in on it.

And I just, these little stats, I mean, it's incredible what Nellie's doing. I've run out of like vocabulary to describe it. It's also one thatellie's doing. I've run out of vocabulary to describe it. It's also one that she probably extra wants to win because it's a $2 million first place check this week, $12 million purse, which next closest is Women's PGA, which is 1.5 million and a $10 million total purse. But I mean, this is three, four, five X

what most weeks are paying out out there. Yeah. So let me ask you guys this. Do we want to venture to guess like how historic can Nelly's season be? And let me give you some more context. Sorry, I'm throwing a lot at you, but let me just give you some more context. So Nelly right now is sitting on six wins.

We know that. The last player to win six times on the LPGA tour was in B Park in 2013. That was the year she also won three majors. With those three majors, we could say that's a better year if Nelly didn't win again. Now, it starts getting into some real heady territory, right? If Nelly were to win a seventh time this year, only six players have led the tour with seven wins, the most recent being Yanni Sang in 2011. If she were to get to eight wins this year, Lorena Ochoa last did this in 2007, which I think fun fact, Lorena won the AIG women's open at the old course, which of course is where they're playing this year. Annika got to eight wins twice in 2001 and 2004, and Nancy Lopez did it in 1979.

excuse me, 2001 and 2004, and Nancy Lopez did it in 1979. If she were to get to nine wins, now we're talking Nancy Lopez, 1978, which was her rookie year, and Kathy Whitworth in 1966. And then this is where I think Nelly should be shooting. I think kind of that 10 win mark in modern terms, Annika is the only modern, quote unquote modern player to win at least 10 times. She won 10 times exactly in 2005 when she also won two majors in that year. But Annika, just

to give you a sense, I mean, Annika won 11 times in 2002, which is the high water mark for any modern era. Mickey Wright won 11 times in 1964. And then Mickey Wright has the all time mark at 13 wins in 1963. So gentlemen, that's a lot of facts and minutiae to throw at you. I think what Nelly needs to be shooting for is that 10 win mark. I think that would be fucking amazing, quite honestly. I agree. I think 10 wins. I think something to point out is we're just past a third of the way through the LPGA tour season. It's not like they finish up on Labor Day like, or, you know, the week before Labor Day, like the PGA tour does and end of August, beginning of September there, it's they go all the way through November 24th this year. And so there are only like 12 or 13 events

into the year, right? So there's another 20 events to go. So it's, you know, she's got a pretty big sample size to work with there too. And a number of limited field events this fall in Asia, if Nell even goes over and plays, right? She skipped the spring Asia swing, you know? Question for you though, does she, let's say she does get to 10, but she doesn't get any of the majors beyond the one she's already won, the Chevron.

Does that feel cheap or does that feel, does that make you feel more like VJ's 2004 when VJ went nuts and won seven or eight times. But, I don't think it cheapens it. No. I think if you were like to stack it directly against Onikas, maybe it comes in. I feel like you want two majors at least. Yeah. I will say, I mean, the women's game has to be deeper right now, right? Then, then what it was

20 years ago. I mean, I think we're talking about 25 years ago. So 25, 30 years ago. And especially with, with the era of parody that we have just lived through on the LPGA tour, like if, if Nellie were to get to 10 wins, and I don't care if she's winning like the three-day event, the Walmart, you know, I think if she gets to 10 wins, like that's massive. Cody, as the Nellie champion, the self-proclaimed Nellie champion, I mean, how high of a watermark are we talking here? What do you think? I think she's going to finish the season with 12 wins and three majors. And maybe a gold medal. I was going to say, we're not even talking about the Olympics here. I mean, sure.

But I mean, I don't want that to mess up any any calendar, you know calendar scheduling things here. But I don't think that getting six more from here, if you think about it, could be that difficult just because you guys are right. But normally she... I can't remember. I don't think they play or she hasn't played the full fall Asian swing yet. But trying to think of last year. That's I know that there is some Pelican some injury stuff like Pelican.

Yeah, like you could even like, okay, we could go a step further and throw CME in there. I can't remember. I'm pretty sure that they that her ingest now are like BMW ambassadors so you would think that you would go over for Korea for that and then it honestly just comes down to like how much she's actually gonna play this summer when the schedule like really starts to ramp up but I don't know I just have a hard time seeing somebody else like winning this week like you got to hit your ball pretty far.

That's an advantage. You got to be pretty good at striking your irons. And I was going to say this one, this one kind of shrinks the pool of possible winners. Like I was going through the course and like it's, it's false fronts galore. It's, it starts out with five par fours in a row. Mm hmm. There's a distinct advantage for really good iron play and high, you know, high approach, like high launch angles and high descent angles. The only one like Sahale. I don't know, I think there's a little bit more parity there.

But then like, you know, I just think if we're talking about this magical year that we're having right now, like why, why wouldn't Nellie win at the home of golf? Like I, I, I used to say like, Oh, maybe she doesn't have the game to play in, uh, you know, British open conditions and stuff like that. And like she's proved us wrong all year so far, be. Be a different, you know, different core setups, length, scoring averages, turf conditions, whether like you name it, like why, why not? Why wouldn't that happen?

What a dope, dope thing that would be especially if that was her. Yeah, I mean, shit, if she wins this week, it's she's two, two fists of the way there or halfway there. And then we get all that debate as well. So let's say she wins these first three, doesn't win Evian, but goes and wins women's open. That feels pretty, pretty much like a grand slam to me. And which would be a high water mark in the women's game. Nobody's won. There are four people have won three majors in a year, in B Park being the most recent, but nobody's won four.

I mean, that would be, even if they're playing five, you know, winning four out of five would be absolutely insane. And then she's got a chance to attack a defender gold medal on top of that. So even, it's just weird. Like we sit here in May 28th. Obviously US women's open this week. Then, you know, it's just weird because I think there's there's six tournaments between now and like, basically the middle of July, three of them being majors. That's including the Evian it's moved up because of the Olympics this year. So that's like the second week of July. It's just, you know, what, what course is going to cool it? Like, I think that's what we're asking for here.

And if it's not going to be a golf course, it's going to be another player. Hannah Green's tried, you know, Hannah Green is, is putting up a tremendous fight, the only other person with multiple wins this year. My start, we haven't even really talked about, yeah, or it's health. And speaking of health, like Maya and Rose and like all those people that we didn't really get a good like litmus test of Liberty National because of that crazy viral like illness that was going around. But like their games are still there.

And you know, you're just kind of sitting there looking of like, okay, if it's not a course, it needs to be something or someone. Because I just don't see herself like, she's not gonna cool herself down. And this is where we miss Lily Vu, who is not interested this week, is dealing with a back injury that forced her to withdraw from Chevron.

I think that's really a shame because everybody would love to see a Lillia Nellie showdown. Where Lillia was towards the end of 2023 was best in the world, period. And Nellie has blown past that. And so hopefully, Lillia can get healthy and we'll see what she has. But yeah, it's hard to imagine. One, it's hard to imagine Nellie just like not having it. I think that would be the most shocking thing this week is if Nellie just simply was sloppy and shot like, you know, 75, 76 and just was never a factor. I cannot see that happening. That's what's impressed me so much this year so far

is that her like floor has just been elevated so much where you can tell like she doesn't have it but somehow she turns that 75 into a 72. And she's like, yep, okay. I'm giving up. I kind of felt like Chevron. Yeah, like I'm giving up three or four to the, you know, to the field today because everybody else is, you know, taking it somewhat deep. But like, I'm not, I'm not taking

myself out of this. Or like Madeline and Rose just went absolutely bonkers to run away from her at founders. Let me ask you this, did you guys catch, I thought Shane Ryan had a great piece in Golf Digest published Monday and the title of it is the unknowable Nelly Cordo. It's a great piece, I won't quote it all, but the crux of the question and it's kind of the I won't quote it all, but the crux of the question, and it's kind of the subtitle is, what does the superstar owe her sport? And it gets into just Nellie's natural private demeanor.

I think she's definitely much more of an introvert than an extrovert. And then you layer on her parents, especially her father, Peter, who's had kind of a spotty relationship going back to his own playing days playing championship tennis with the media and just how the whole Nelly team is kind of built to kind of put up walls between her and the media. And what Shane asks in his piece essentially is like, what does Nellie owe women's golf? Does she owe it to us? Does she owe it to the tour? Does she owe it to her fellow pros to do as much as she can while she's winning, while she's on this historic winning streak especially,

to go out and promote herself and the game and to try to bring in more and more eyeballs. There's more questions he asks, but let me, I'll throw it open to either of you guys. Did you have a chance to read it and what were kind of your general thoughts and takeaways after reading the article? I did. I think some of it comes back to the same things we're talking about, uh, uh, Lexi, you know, of, but I think the difference there is Nellie history speaks for itself, right? When you're doing truly historic stuff. And we've seen that a little bit with Scotty of like, you know, people kind of went from saying, oh, he's boring or he's, you know, he's not

that dynamic to history itself is dynamic. The chase for greatness is dynamic, all of that. So I think it's a matter of if she continues to keep winning, it's almost don't do anything to damage it. Right? It's continue to win. That's first and foremost. None of this other stuff matters unless you're doing that. I think there in the past, that's where that conversation gets more prevalent or more top of mind is what's your responsibility as that preeminent American player when you're not winning, when you're not, you know, there at the forefront. If you're winning, like, this stuff kind of takes care of itself and, and you don't have to go out and self promote a whole lot, you know, you don't you don't have to talk about, hey, the women's game is rising, people are going to do it for you. And you just, you just carry the banner. Cody, is it unfair to ask Nellie to be somebody she's not? And is, in your

opinion, is the LPGA position to market and sell Nellie as broadly as possible to? It's cliche at this point, is there a women's golf renaissance? Can it enter the public consciousness in a way that we really haven't seen at least since Annika? What are your takeaways with Nellie and just who she needs to be, who she should be, and what's the tour's responsibility too? I would say that Nellie Kord quarter can be whoever she wants to be and whatever she is comfortable being.

And I think as she continues to grow and get used to this spotlight and being the number one player in the world and writing the streak, we've seen that she's continued to, to grow and say yes to more. And I don't know if that's a lot due to like her own feeling of, of comfortability of like, you know, you put yourself out there once it's not as bad as it is, like maybe I can do more of that and do this one additional thing. I mean, she called into our live show after the Chevron and I mean, last year that would have been an immediate no. And we don't know where that ultimate decision came from, from the

yes, whether that was from the tour, whether that's from, you know, her, her agent and the agency that represents her, whether that's from the manager and like her dad kind of works as her de facto manager at times, or like if that was just Nellie and Nellie being like, yeah, I'm going to do this because I said I'm going to step out there and do more things. I don't think she owes anybody anything. But what I will say is that the run of historic golf that she's on and the availability that she has for press conferences every single week, that I'm actually going to flip this on the head a little bit and be like, I think the tour should be helping her out a lot more than they are.

And this isn't the same slow motion Instagram reel of like, oh yeah, look at this, this is Katnip because we know the audience is gonna enjoy this, but you're targeting that because that's a male centric audience of like, I don't think that's any growth there. I haven't really seen anybody try anything new. And we talk about this all the time as a company of like, yo, you people got to try new things here. And I thought with the LPGA tour and all these

additional like third party marketing companies and, and, you know, creator accounts and everything else that they kind of brought into their fold this year that they would be trying and doing new things. I mean, for the first time ever, we talked about an LPGA player like on the red carpet at the Met Gala. I mean, phenomenal stuff. My wife was talking about that. But after that, it's like, you know, from my wife's mind, that's gone. Like, she's not going to think about Nellie again until she's sitting on the couch again with me this weekend. And that is good for popular culture. But I don't know if that's good for golf culture or trying to, you know, bring more women into golf. I don't know where those lines are at. But I know Nellie right now is trying everything that she is comfortable doing

and saying yes to a hell of a lot more than she ever used to in the past. And I hope she continues doing that. And I think props to her too for what she said at Chevron of we need to broadcast this better. The product needs to be better, the television product. And to that point, I will say like last year, I think obviously, you know, it's sport for us to tee off on Comcast, NBC, Universal, but on the flip side, just to praise progress, I thought last year was their high water mark as far as the television product for Pebble.

And I'm hoping we see that again. And looking at the TV windows here this week, it looks like we're kind of well on our way to that. Like they've got, it makes sense. They're coherent windows on USA on prime time or, you know, on, on, on NBC, as far as, you know, the weekend, they all flow together, tee times work, all of that. So, you know So that feels like progress as well. Now we'll see if the camera angles and the amount of technology they have

on the ground matches that. But I think, Cody, to your point, it's much more now about like Nellie's shown, hey, you know what? I'm up to the task both of winning and sustaining this, but also of doing what's required of me. And I think you're spot on with is golf up to the task of giving her what she deserves, you know? Yeah. And a little bit of, I don't even know if this is like, you know, context or anything, but I couldn't imagine like Peter and his wife and that rest of the family, like, you know, they're their new grandparents and like one of their other kids is like, you know, a very, very high level professional tennis player. And the fact that, you know, he gets, I don't know, I don't want to say if this is like a negative spotlight put on him for being like the overprotective dad, but like that's his only like job in this world is to protect his girls.

And I will say this after like really nothing that either one of his daughters ever did, like going through kind of the turmoil turmoil that Jessica and her relationship went through. Like I understand that they're kind of arms up defensive and like, oh man, here we go again. The media is out to get us here because nobody really ever knows the whole story because you're never really given an opportunity to peek behind the curtain to understand the whole story.

And it goes back to Lexi big and to bring it back to like your original point. Like it would be really awesome. Like if Nellie said yes to the feature that we want to write about her. I understand that popping into the live show is like, we thank you so much. It's awesome, but that's immediate. And people are going to, you know, listen to that for a couple of weeks and then we're gonna move on to the next thing. But we also have offered a lot of other things

and it doesn't have to be our business. It can be anybody else's. And it can be more than just a tailor-made media day and you have rigs and the guys there from foreplay doing it. There's other things that you can say yes to that will give you the additional exposure that people will be like, wow, like that's a different side of Nelly, you know? And that's where the kind of growth comes from.

Last thing I've got on this front to Randy is like, let's say Nelly does win this week, going back to what is golfo Nelly. Golfo is Nelly a hell of a lot better than what the coverage was last year at Baltis Raul. You know, like that's the thing. If, all right, if she's going for the third leg of the grand slam out at Sahale in prime time, they bet they damn well better have a better camera set up and a, and a much more robust be ready to rise to the challenge. If this is what she's delivering, she's doing the hard part. You know, golf damn well should do the easy part and get it on TV in a coherent package.

Yeah, I'll say this, uh, Biggie, I know I watched a couple of the, you know, NCAA women's college games and they were electric. And, uh, I finally tuned in. I can't remember if it was Friday night or Saturday night, but like the night that Kaylin Clark got her first professional win and she like nailed like two threes in the final minute of the game to put them up comfortably. They ended up winning by like seven or nine or something like that. And I'll tell you what, like people look at Pac Stadium and people like, you know, she did not

play a very good game and people were on the edge of their seats on every single shot, every single assist, every single rebound that she had. And then seeing that crowd's reaction when she finally, like they pulled it away at the end to get their first win of the year, which I was like, wow, like that, that is a needle right there. That is a needle who, by the way, they're like one in six or one in seven now. And that's not a knock on them. Like they know where they're at and they're already a team coming together. And I don't know. And I'm over the comparisons here because there's so many other things that go into that era and the rise of women's basketball, specifically when you talk about college. But you've already seen on the WNBA them like doing even more than they have in the last couple of years. More airtime, more broadcast, more pregame shows, postgame shows, you name it,

like everything, giving the people that are like, we know what the fans, we're being handed these fans. All we have to do is give them the product that they're wanting. And if we go a little bit more on top of that, we're going to be in a great place as a league overall. Now I'm happy to see live from being on site this week for the US Women's Open. And I'm happy with the broadcast windows. And I hope it's a different graphics package and everything else like that. But the one thing that we loved last year was ShotLink.

And I really haven't heard anything else about that. And I'm just kind of sitting here thinking, okay, the USGA and Ally and everybody's putting all this money into it, you know, they got to pay for the Golf Channel people to be on site and everything else. But where is the things that we used to have and why are they gone now? Or have they just not announced it yet? Yeah, I actually looked for that too, specifically about ShotLink. I did not find specific confirmation. I did see on the USGA website, they are touting that you can see highlights from every shot, every player. So I'm hopeful there'll be some type of shot link system at Lancaster this year. Tron, to your point about golf needing to step up a little bit. I would even say if Nelly

were to win this week, right, that would be seven wins and eight starts and two majors. And, you know, let's say she takes shop right off, but then goes to Michigan and is playing the Meyer in the middle of June. How Golf Channel, especially up against them, that'll be the US Open, but how that's treated, right? And that's where it's like, I don't want to put it all on the LPGA. I think the LPGA could do a lot more to help themselves. But I also think it does come down a little bit to the broadcast partners too, like wanting to make an effort and wanting to build something,

right? And I know we've always come back to this, but until I really see Golf Channel NBC acting like they want to like build the women's game instead of just showing up when the contract calls for it, the live from this week's great. I'm sure that's heavily influenced by the USGA, Live From This Week's great, I'm sure that's heavily influenced by the USGA, you know, making them do some things. But I think that's the part that's missing a little bit. And I agree just going way back in the conversation, I agree with you, Cody, when you said Nellie doesn't owe us anything but to be herself. And I think it would be foolish for us to demand that Nellie be somebody that she's not,

because I don't think that's setting her up for the success that we ultimately want to see, right? We want to see this generational golf and this person that, you know, could set records and really elevate the women's game. The best way she can do that is by being herself and being comfortable. And so I definitely land on that side of it from you guys, while also acknowledging, I feel like anecdotally, Cody, you went through it. We're seeing more of Nellie,

and I feel like I have a better sense of Nellie and just listening to her quotes. Like, I feel like she's opening up way more in the last eight starts this year than I felt like she did the up way more in the last eight starts this year than I felt like she did the last two years. And so she's cool. She seems like she's like a true golf sicko.

And to me, it's almost more powerful for, Hey, let's get core golf fans into women's golf through Nellie because she's a, she appeals to them just as much as she appeals to non golf fans or beginners. Right? I think that's something cool. It's like, let's not just focus this upon the masses. Let's get casual or existing golf fans more into women's golf. When we talk about future schedules and everything like that and talking about television and

everything, there was something I it's not all NBC because I remember, I pretty sure that Meyer last year was one of the CBS events for the LPGA tour. And I wanted to go check in it is again this year. So you have the standard three to six windows on golf channel. And then Sunday you get CBS coverage, which I think is a great thing. Yeah. Yeah, I think is a great thing. Yeah. Yeah, I think it was, it must've been Meyer

and I remember it being the Dana open in Toledo, I think was the other CBS one. So good discussion. I would encourage again, Shane Ryan, the unknowable, Nellie Korda, it was Golf Digest this past Monday. Cody, one more sponsor to thank. I believe that's our good friends at Titleist and footjoy. Yeah, big. Thank you. This is brought to you by Titleist and number one ball and golf.

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choose the Pro V1 or Pro V1X. Everybody head on over to Titleist.com to start the fitting process and find out which Titleist golf ball is right for you. Thank you, of course, to Titleist for this and let's, let's go, man. I'm excited about Lancaster big. Let's talk a little US women's open. I'm excited for how often all of us are going to mispronounce it. That'll be a fun thing to track throughout the week, but yeah,

for yourselves, speak for yourselves. Uh, Lancaster Country Club. It last hosted the event. The only other time it's hosted this event 2015. Inji Chun won at eight under par. It played as a par 70. Then it's going to play as a par 70 this week. TC, I know you've been digging in a little bit on the course.

What can you tell us about Lancaster Country Club? Yeah, so I went back, watched some of the highlights from 2015, watched some replays there and then went to the USGA site. They've got awesome flyover videos on there. Props to them. I think there's some little nuggets sprinkled in there just with different yardages to different spots and stats from the last time they were there and all that. So William Flynn, this is a big golf course. It's a proper golf course. It's I would say if you're looking for themes, it's, you know, you got to hit your irons well, you got to get your distance control right. I think there's only one green on the course that slopes front to back and that's the first green.

Otherwise, it is mostly back to front. There's a creek and a river that run through and a lot of up and over shots. A lot of shots were elevated T-box down to a lower fairway and then back up towards the green and a big false front or creek going all the way along the fairway and then cuts back in front of the green. So can't really fake it out there. I mean, this is, you're looking back at 2015. It seemed like there was Stacey Lewis was kind of in the catbird seat. She had two doubles in the final round. And one of those holes that she had a double on was 15 really difficult par four, kind of a reverse camber fairway. So you really got to shape it

into that dogleg right par four, massive false front, narrow green. But it's just, you know, there's spots out there where you can get yourself into trouble like 12. 12 is a downhill par three over the creek or the river. And you've got a shallow green, you got a bunch of bunkers long, and it plays 50 feet downhill. You know, you get one of those back bunkers, you got to worry about putting in the creek in front, coming back. So that's going to be really, and it slopes wildly back to front there too. So course gets off to a really, you know, kind of a punch you in the face start a little bit. You. You got five par fours in a row and all manner of them. Two is really cool, like infinity green.

You've got three kind of plays up and over the river, uphill shot into the green, four got the creek all the way up the right. It's only about 340 yards. There's a ton of variety out there considering it's what 14 par fours and two par fives, two par threes. So I think it's going to be a proper U S open. And there's, there's, you know, I think they, the weather forecast looks unbelievable. I got some moisture,

some potential showers today. We're recording this on Tuesday, maybe some storms Wednesday, some pop-up thunderstorms. And then the remainder of the week, highs in the mid to high 70s and sunny, like no rain in the forecast. So don't want to jinx this, but the USGA should have their pick of how this place can set up. I think there's a little bit of flexibility on seven. They can move those tee boxes around quite a bit on seven. There's some cool pins that they can really, really tuck.

Like on number nine, they can tuck the pin left there. Going back to, let's see here, like 15, like the back nine, there's just movement everywhere, just up and down. I mean, it looks like a big walk. Kind of reminded me of, makes sense, but like Oakmont, Arana Mink, Roland Green, Randy, like you probably got nightmares from Roland Green. Well, and I saw, speaking of Roland Green, in some of the videos or pictures I was seeing at Lancaster, they have the big like, walking bridge right over over one of the ravines, which they do. Roland Green had one of those. I'm not sure if that's like a William Flynn thing or just that part of the cut. Yeah, that's, that's on number eight. So that's on a part three, like a really, really hard part three. It's like, it's like 190, 200 yards,

small green, like that is, that is a golf hole. That's gonna expose the ladies that can't, that like don't have much distance. The ball striking imposters. So 14 goes back up towards the clubhouse, which I always like as a feature for, it goes back out towards the clubhouse and then 15, 16, 17, 18 kind of have their own little loop there as well. So I think, 18 kind of have their own little loop there as well.

So I think 14 is kind of a gut check. Again, elevated green distance control, you know, uphill dogleg, right. And then I think a holder really, really keep an eye on is 16. They can move the tees up. They did that last last time around on Sunday. Move the tees up. There were Eagles coming down the stretch. It, you know. It can play, basically, I think it's like 320, but they can move it up

and then that makes the layup difficult too, if you're not going for it there. Last time around, Inji Chun birdied that one, Amy Yang, eagled it and then birdied 17 as well. So, kind of a 16 and 17, you can make some birdies there and then 18, you're kind of hanging on for dear life. So all that said, it's setting up to be like,

this is an old school US Open setup. Yeah, I can't wait between the course, you mentioned the weather should be pristine this weekend. And last time the US Open was here, they set a record 135,000 spectators came out. So it's something that the community I think will really be into, really be behind. It should be a great atmosphere out there this weekend.

Just an awesome setting. Yeah, I think it's perfect market for it. I think Philly's probably, you know, Philly and like the surrounding area, this is what our outside Philly kind of starved for high level professional golf. One of those things too, where there should be, there's long vistas, there's a lot of like depth

of field out there. So I think it'll show really well on TV and just, USGA always does a really good job hiring great photographers, putting their stuff up on social and, and, you know, kind of capturing the setting. There's going to be a lot of layers out there. Yeah. So, uh, yeah, it's, I'm stoked, man. And great weather to match. So I would say if you're anywhere in the surrounding area, like get out there, make it a point. It's, it's, it's going to be a delightful golf tournament And if you're not in the surrounding area again that the the coverage plan on TV

USA Network will be your broadcast partner on Thursday and Friday they have it from 2 to 8 p.m. Eastern and Then on the weekend will move to NBC 3 to 6 p.m on Saturday, I believe 4 to 7 PM on Sunday. And in addition to that, Peacock, if you get Peacock, they will have feature group and buffer shoulder coverage all four days. So definitely check out Peacock earlier in the days and then USA Network Thursday, Friday, MBC Saturday, Sunday. The defending champion last year,

Alison Corpuz won at Pebble Beach. Not a great 2024 for her so far. Just one top 10 and 10 starts. She finished tied for 57th at the Chevron. So probably a big ask for her to defend as champion this week, especially with Nelly. And then the real injury note, we mentioned it above, but Lilia Vu will not be playing because of an ongoing back injury, which is a total, total bummer.

Guys, before we get to any picks and predictions, I know that the tee times were just announced TC. I know there were, do we have any insight on to our featured groups? I haven't seen anything on featured groups as of yet. But from a tee times perspective, they spread it out quite a bit. It looks like as far as Nellie is concerned, she is early late, I believe. Nelly is concerned. She is early late, I believe. Okay. Yeah. I see Nelly going 813 AM Eastern on Thursday off a 10T. She will be with Nasa Hataoka

and Megan Kang. Megan Kang's a name might show up in our prediction. She always seems to play well here. And then for late early wave, you've got Lexi, Rose, Minji, they're at 158. I would imagine that's 158 off of the first hole on Thursday. Imagine that's going to be feature group, Brooke Henderson, Yuka Sasso, Hannah Green right after them. And then Alison Lee, Heyron Rue and Lauren Coughlin after them. So Lauren's getting some love as far as kind of, you know, premiere starting times. I should mention our NLU coverage. We're gonna have a happy hour Wednesday afternoon, so tune in live if you so choose on YouTube

or there'll be a link on Twitter. You can catch that as a podcast episode after the fact. And then Friday evening at the conclusion of play. So about 8 p.m. Eastern, we're going to do a live show, have a couple awesome guests lined up. Jane Park and Marina Alex, who both played in the 2015 U.S. Women's Open at Lancaster are scheduled to join us. Can't wait to talk golf with them. And then we're going to go live on Sunday again, at the conclusion of play sometime around 7pm Eastern, assuming everything is on schedule. So Cody,

let's get into some picks and predictions here. I'm going to start with you. We have, let's start with low-am. A whole host of amateurs in the field this week. Who's your pick to capture the low am this week? Yeah, biggie. It's hard to look somewhere else besides somebody who continues to just play phenomenal golf. We thought that after her win at the Augusta national women's amateur that she would might be a little overwhelmed going to the Chevron immediately afterwards, leaving her team behind. That wasn't the case. Of course, I'm talking about Lottie Wode. She played well. She, she ended up making the cut at Chevron, continued went and joined her team back up, ended up taking runner up. She ended up getting clipped by three, I think at a national championship

last week, but playing some phenomenal golf, excited to see her continue and, you know, just kind of hopefully keep this like be the summer summer of Lottie. I mean, it seems like she's vibing. So why not? Yeah. T-Seat, you have a different low amp pick. I do. I'm going down the board a little bit. Number 38 ranked amateur in the world. I think this is, she's from this part of the country. Megagone. I think this, this sets up nice for her.

She's, she's a relatively streaky player. She played, played well at NCAA, finished T10. No rounds in the sixties there, but really, you know, I feel like she's a horse for, for kind of tougher golf courses. Played really well at Olympic club a few years back and should be riding some confidence after that national championship team victory. I like that pick. Yeah. I could see her, what has it been? Three years since the Olympic club little run she went on. Cody, I have Lottie Wode as well. She's my official pick, but I just wanted to, I think probably the AM that I'm most curious to see how she does.

Asterix Talley, she's the youngest person competing this year, just over 15 years of age. Just one with her partner was at the US AM four ball, I believe. Loads of talent. So I think probably a name that we're going to see a lot of, whether it be Anwar or, you know, if she goes to college one day, if not really keen to see how she performs this week. All right. What's going on with Ingrid Lindblad, by the way? That's where I understand where you're going with Asterix. But Ingrid, like her, her time's kind of up, man. Like she's in here as an amateur, of course.

I don't know. That's 73, 81, 75, 74 at National Shavian Ships. Especially like coming after like the egg that she kind of laid at Anwah too. Not good. And we're going to continue to see, you know, kind of what the summer rolls out for her because she eventually will turn professional. I just don't know. I think if you're somebody to watch, at least for the immediate future of what's going to happen on the LPGA tour, I mean, Ingrid has been supposed to have been that person for a long time now. And I, I don't know if she realized that it's going to be a lot tougher or just

there's something crazy going on with her game. Who knows? Maybe it's going to be a lot tougher or just there's something crazy going on with her game. Who knows? Maybe it's still part of that airline fiasco. T.C. All right. Next next next prediction here. Give us a name. Cody, we'll start. Do we start with you last time? We did. T.C. We'll start with you. Give us a name for a surprise top 10 and then give us a name for a surprise miss cut. Surprise top 10. I don't know if this is necessarily, I think it's in the realm because I think she's currently 40 to one.

I'm looking at the winner without Nellie Korda. That's kind of how I have things broken out. So winner without Nellie Korda. That's kind of how I have things broken out. So winner without Nellie Korda, she's still 40 to one. That's Gabby Ruffles. I'm going to keep hammering the table for Gabby Ruffles. Would that be a surprise though? I mean, according to the family, it is. Of course. But I don't know. I mean, I know they're the, you know, the, obviously the bookmaker of no laying out, but I don't know how much, uh, their depth of, of knowledge on the LPGA goes. I agree with you there, TC and she is my pick for somebody to watch

this week. I just don't know if she's such a long shot, but I'm in the same- I'll go farther down the board then. Cause I think Lauren's going to play well. And then I think Alexandra Forsterling is playing some of the best golf of anybody in the women's game right now and she's currently plus 11,000 to one to win out in LA which is way way down there. I mean that's next to Amy Yang and Gabby Lopez and you know that's that disrespectful, I think. That's a good pick. Let's stay on this. Cody, what's your surprise top 10

or somebody that you think is gonna play well? Yeah, this is where I was kind of in the same boat, but I think mine is, I'm gonna say this to get it out there, but I'll give you a real surprise top 10 out here. After this is that I was going to go with someone who won a major championship last year. All right. That is ranked in the top 10 in the world, but it hasn't done literally nothing, nothing

that actually do you high? No, unfortunately not. As your girls, unfortunately not. It's your girl, Celine Boudier. But I understand that that would be, you know, that's against the rules here because she is, her ranking doesn't match up. But I will say incredible final round at Liberty National. I think she's turning the corner here. Received reports that she's absolutely wearing out the putting lab up at Altus Performance.

So all things that I like to hear about Celine. But. I just don't think she has the horsepower for here, right? I know. Well, that's the thing is I was like, ah, I know it's gonna play long, but it seems like it's still wide enough off the tee that like she's not gonna get herself in like crazy,

like trouble. Yeah. I just struggle with, I don't think she's going to get herself into crazy trouble, but I think there's going to be such a distinct difference between having a buck 30 or a buck 40 versus a buck 70 and some of these greens with, you know, just like a like descent angle and holding the greens plus just how uphill some of them are too like hitting a long, you know, a mid to long iron into an uphill 160, 170 yard shot is radically different than hitting a, you know, a nine iron in.

Yeah, you're right. But I'm going to pivot and I I'm gonna go with another one of TC's favorites here She is ranked in the top 50, but it's far far far from top 10 in the world She tends to play pretty good in New Jersey. We like to poke fun at her because she has a famous Her husband has a famous name, but it's not the same person and that's Jennifer Cup show She had a great showing again at Liberty National. She seems to always be around in the conversation at US Women's Opens. I just think that it's so weird to say this, but I just have this feeling that she's like, it's the time of year where she starts putting everything together, getting ready for summer golf, and then she makes this push into

the Solheim Cup team. And I think this is like where it's going to start it. Like I said, great finish, probably disappointing finish at Liberty National because she was playing really, really good golf through, you know, two rounds and all of a sudden Nelly just kind of came out of nowhere. But I don't know. Jennifer Cup show. Okay. I like that. I had a couple. Well, let me ask you guys this. I think NG Chun might be a little bit of a surprise top 10 candidate. I don't know if we can

absolutely call her a surprise just by virtue of having won a US open at this venue. But our friends at FanDuel have her at plus 700 to top 10. And she just finished tied for 14 at Mizzouho, good sign of life. She is like literally an adopted daughter of Lancaster. You're going to hear a ton about it throughout the week. She has established a scholarship foundation and has done an amazing job of giving back to that community specifically. So I can see her writing some some good vibes to to another good showing this year. Uh the other one just TC as you were saying somebody that could get hot has

length hasn't played in the US Open since 2021 but that's Emily Pedersen of Denmark. We've seen her in the school high school. But she's, you know, she seems a little boomer bust, you know, she might shoot 79, 75 and miss the cut, or I could see her getting hot and being around that front page come Sunday. So those, those are the two names I was going to throw out. OK, who's a surprise miss cut? That's that's always a favorite of mine. And I guess I will I will kick the proceedings off as I have not done so yet. I'm not ready to be all the way concerned about Minji Lee.

I wanted to pick Minji Lee, but I actually think she'll probably play well this week. I'm going to go with. I don't know why. I don't have specific reasons for this, but I'm going to go with. I don't know why. I don't have specific reasons for this, but I'm going to go with Charlie Hall. I just what? I know I don't want it to happen, but if I just got to pick somebody breaking across the wire right now, bad guy, big. We need to touch you got a new boyfriend.

She's like she's there's a picture ripping heaters out there. Heaters signing autographs, cigarette in mouth. Come on, man. I love Charlie Hall. I love to be a great golf course for her too. Doesn't sound like you love it. It should be. I mean, we got to make picks.

Who's your pick, Cody? Who's who's going to miss the cut? Yeah, who's going to miss the cut? Give me a surprise MC. Well, Lydia Ko. Ooh. Sucks. But that's ultimately like the biggest name that I could come up with that I'm like, I don't know about here. I think if we're putting that much emphasis on driving distance, she has the accuracy, but overall trying to get it out. I just don't know. Especially like I

thought Liberty national would set up relatively well for her miss cut there. It's just outside of the start of this year. It doesn't seem like a lot's going Lydia's way. Nellie might erect her. Remember that was a Nellie snatched her soul at the championship. I blame that on the LPGA staff. Okay. I know that they drive all the machines on her. Yeah. Yeah. DC, a surprise miss come from you. Patty Tavitana kit. She's never finished inside the top 25 at the US Women's Open.

Getting to the I'm getting this sense from her that she she likes feeding on flat, easier layouts, which is unfortunate. She's kind of a week to week LPGA star versus rising to the occasion for the biggest events. So I don't think people like, I think there's going to be some mental errors out there where you're making double bogey from the middle of the fairway after like not even hitting that bat of a shot. You're like, you're going for a pin or you're I think discipline and distance control is going to be massive at this place.

The only thing to add there on Patty is she's having a wonderful season compared to what she was at last year and even the year prior only has one miss cut. Of course, two wins, including that Aramco Ladies International in Saudi this year. A great top 10. It finished tied for seventh at Mizuho. T12 at Founders, which I think if we can try to find some sort of core similarities, I would say probably Found founders would be it. I would say founders and then also like match play too, just with how firm those greens

are and how many tough par fours they are. And I would say it's, I would say versus last year at this time, it's a compliment that I'm putting Patty T in as a surprise miscut. Absolutely. Like it's kind of, hey, you've ascended to that expectation level. Use that fuel, Patty. Come on, prove him wrong. We want to see it. Tron, I think that's a great pick. I absolutely agree with your reasoning there. Do we want to do, sorry, do we want to do favorite fan pick? Are you going to pick anyone or what? Oh, no, I thought I kicked things off. You didn't like my pick. Who'd you say was going to miss it?

I said Charlie. Alright. I just didn't know if you're still sticking with that or not, but that's cool. We haven't written that. You don't have to be bullied off, Charlie. I just, listen, I think Charlie can want it a little too bad sometimes. And I just listen. I think Charlie can want it a little too bad sometimes. And I just worry. I think that's what we like about her. Right. For sure.

Rather have somebody that's afraid of the moment. You guys are twisting this. So like I don't like Charlie. I love Charlie. I love what you said. You don't like Charlie. I just think she might miss the cut here. All right.

Who's who's your pick to win? I think we save our favorite fan. Don't play. We'll do that miss the cut here. All right, who's your pick to win? I think we save our favorite FanDuel play. We'll do that on the happy hour. We'll make people catch that over there. So pick to win. I mean, I'm Nelly. What's your pick to win? And then if it's Nelly, then who's your pick

outside of Nelly? Okay, that's fair. I'm a Nelly. Cody, who's your official pick? Nelly Korda. TC? Nelly K. Who's your official pick? Nelly Corda TC Nelly Corda Wow. Okay, who's gonna win without Nelly? That this becomes. Yeah, I'm fishing in some ponds here with like Brooke played well here last time. Yeah

You know who knows what Jin Young Co's up to Kim, like she, this would seem to suit her game. I'm getting to the point, Randy, with Lynn Grant, where if she doesn't win, like she's dead to me. Oh no. So we're going to do the buying and selling thing. And I've, I've, I've been talking to some brokers about selling off some stock in Lynn. Whoa. Wow. Yeah. So I'll go. I'll go Brooke. I think Brooke. I think Brooke is trending a little bit. I think this sets up

really nice for good. Yeah, she had a great tournament 2015. She's having a really good year hasn't won this year, but all her stats, top 10 machine. Cody, you want me to go or you want to go? I can go big. Don't worry about it. I think somebody that hasn't had her full-time caddy with her going all the way back to the Chevron, somebody that had put

herself in positions to not only win a major championship this year, but also win her first official LPGA tour event. Came this close, didn't end up pulling it off, but has his back off vacation. He's back on the job. Thankfully, I don't know if she paid him while know, living this the best life ever on every island possible, but it's going to be my Stark. I think we see Maya finally rise to the level that we kind of like, you know, I would say a year ago, we're like, wow, that would be crazy to say that. But now I'm like, you know, her play kind of matches that like she's a big time player. She just needs to figure out how to get it over the edge. And I think the reunion with hads, everything, I think it's going to be a really good week for them. I hope so.

Obviously, my as a favorite of ours, definitely be rooting for my pick. TC, you mentioned huge you, Kim. I'm fishing in some similar waters, but I'm actually looking at say young Kim. She's had a sneaky good year. Fishing in some similar waters, but I'm actually looking at Say Young Kim. She's had a sneaky good year. Her track record in US Open specifically, she's like a top 20 machine. I just think she's going to be around and if she gets hot, she could she could be right up there. So give me give me some Se Young Kim this week

as the winner without Nelly Korda. Okay. I played with Se Young Kim in the Shefford and Pro-Am and she was absolutely dialed and that's the one thing that her caddy was like, hey, we're like, we're this close. We're like right there again. Everything is, everything is lining up.

I love it. I love it. Our fans at Fandile have her plus 2,500 winner without Nellie. I think that's some great value. That's pretty good. Pretty good. We'll have our favorite Fandl picks on the happy hour, like I said. Guys, let's wrap it with some miscellaneous stuff.

Want to shout out, we had the NCAA Women's Championships last weekend, Texas A&M's Adela Cernusik won the individual title. She defeated Lottie Wode by three shots and Stanford's Paula Martin San Pedro by six shots. You know, I was talking to Jordan Perez because I was like, Jordan, honestly, I don't, I mean, Adela Cernusik, I don't know that name. She's like, it's really weird. She's somebody that's like always been a good amateur, like top 20, top 30, good results, but never like winning. And for her to kind of make this her big statement amateur win, obviously comes at a great time for

her and was a pretty dominant showing out at Lacosta. So congrats to Adela Sirnusik on the individual title. And then Stanford, Stanford captures the team title in what was a pack 12 going out in a blaze of glory. They beat UCLA in the finals. Offensives champions, Randy. That's right. It's their second title, team title in the last three years, their third overall. And Cody, what a great moment for Rachel Hecht. You know, she's been through a lot.

For her to go out with a team championship, I think puts a wonderful bookend on what was a fantastic collegiate career for her. Yep, completely agree. Now she gets to go figure it out the hardships of what real life are gonnaiate career for her. Yep, completely agree. Now she gets to go figure out the hardships of what real life are gonna feel like for her as she is commissioned in the Air Force Reserve. But in all seriousness, an incredible run.

And the friends of golf. An incredible run. And somebody who, she didn't even really expect to be on the five that was going to travel this year. Like, and then to flip in and play as good as she did at the very end. It's phenomenal. How about the Pac 12, Stanford, USC, UCLA and Oregon were the final four. That's what I mean.

It's a joke. I mean, those Southern Cal Schools are going to go wreck shit in the Big Ten next year in golf. It's going to be a rude awakening for those teams. Auburn's got a good, good future ahead of it. Yeah. Big time. I was going to be remiss. Kelly Zhu, Stanford, she won all three of her matches in the quarter semis and finals. So good on her. TC, you mentioned Alexander Fosterling. She's German. She won not the most recent LAT event, but the one before that. It was her fourth LAT win in the last like seven plus months. And just somebody to keep an eye on. She's up to 59th in the world,

going to be at Lancaster this week. She's played a few LPGA events, but she's winning a bunch over in Europe. And honestly, somebody that could be trying to snatch a Solheim Cup spot just the name to know. I think she's a shoe in for the Solheim Cup. I don't think she's trying to snatch one. I think she already has. And she played college golf at Arizona State with Lynn and some others.

And yeah, she's racking and stacking over on the let. And excited to see her in some of these US-based majors moving forward. And then the only other one I wanted to shout out, again, a couple events ago on the Epson tour, Fiona Zhu from New Zealand, she's 19 years old. She set the Epson tour scoring mark at 22 under total for a three day event in Utah.

Mark Baldwin over at Monday Q info had a nice ride up on Fiona and her decision to forego college and turn pro and talking about what an inspiration Lydia Ko was to her. And at 19 years old, again, just a name I think we need to pay attention to. I think big things probably ahead for Fiona. She will by virtue of this win in a very good Epson tour season thus far, she more than likely barring catastrophe will earn her LPGA card for next season. And so again, another rising talent, which will be fun. So gentlemen-

Which Randy, on that note, anything to note on the LPGA kind of instituting like a PGA tour, you type. T.C. That's a, that's a, that's a great question. I'm going to have to do a little research and get back to you. I think the one thing, because I think they had said, Hey, we're going to do this, but it seems like kind of dollar late, you know, yard short dollar late. I don't know what that phrase is.

I'm going with that, but like a day late in a dollar short. Yeah. It just, it just seems a little bit haphazard or a little bit incomplete, I think. So I'll be curious to see how they roll that out. I think that's a great future topic. We can get Jordan. I know that's a great future topic. We can get Jordan. I know that's been a very much a passion point for Jordan Perez. I feel like we could bring her in to chat about that, but I guess praise progress.

They're doing something. I think from the little I read, it's not like automatic that the best amateurs are necessarily going to like get their their card but I need to read some of the finer print so yeah I'd be curious to see if it comes through college versus amateur because like you look at a Gianna Clemente as well who won the AJGA portion of the Mizuho and she looks like a you know bona fide future star right yeah yeah yeah so well, that's all I had. If there's nothing else, we will again, we'll look forward. You can catch us on the US Women's Open happy hour Wednesday afternoon,

and then live shows Friday evening, Sunday evening. TC told us the weather is going to be great. The course is gonna be fantastic. The atmosphere, the support should be fantastic. Really looking forward to this one. Thank you guys for helping me get ready for it and get excited for it. Crack on, Vic. -♪

Be the right club. Be the right club today. Yes! Yeah! Yeah, that's better than most. How about him? That is better than most. Better than most! Expect anything different?