No Laying Up - Golf Podcast - 849 - Memorial Happy Hour

Episode Date: June 5, 2024

We preview this week's Memorial Tournament, talk about the history of the event, Neil brings the heat on Desmon Muirhead, make our picks for the week, talk US Open Sectionals, and a ton more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Be the right club. Be the right club today. Yes! Johnny, that's better than most. How about him? That is better than most. Better than most! Expect anything different ladies and gentlemen welcome back to the no laying up happy hour live show presented as always by our friends at high noon sol Schuster calling in from?

The friendly confines of the franchise's office in Atlanta, Georgia. We are, we're fired up to be home. Uh, and we have Kevin van Valkenburg here calling in from? God, somewhere North of Baltimore, Sally. We'll only get sort of vague on that. I don't, I don't belong to this country club anymore, so I can't really claim. I don't want to shout it out unless I'm a member. This show is as mentioned brought to you by our friends at high noon, they got the all new vodka iced tea.

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to try. They got the original, the peach, the lemon, and my favorite, the raspberry. The raspberry is fantastic. High noon spirits.com to find the all new ice tea, vodka iced tea somewhere near you. They got a great tool in there. Search it up, you'll find it. It's fantastic. So guys Memorial Week, we're gonna talk a little bit of Muirfield Village a tournament near and dear to my heart. Neil, I know you have some family ties back to that one. We know there's that we're gonna do a little bit of trivia. I believe you

prepared some trivia for us or some stuff on some Year Field Village history. I'm excited. Fired up about that. Yeah. I'm already pretty embarrassed because I don't know if I'm going to, how well I'm going to do in some of this. We've got a little story time.

We've got some look into it, but I just want to flash this, or just kind of mention here, this is kind of an underrated driving accuracy golf course, right? You go to datagolf.com. I always got got as a kid, I was pictured as a bombers paradise, but it's actually like the quintessential like decently long course, but it's got wide enough fairways that it actually rewards driving accuracy. And I don't know if that's the kind of the first reaction that people get when they think of Muirfield Village. As a kid, Sally, they were bombing it out there like 280. You were just in awe of how far they were hitting it. You got distance on the mind. I don't know if you listen to the bunch of the brand, no pod. It's a lot of distance. No, I feel like everybody talks about the, uh, you know,

the approach game at, at, uh, Muirfield Village. Um, and of course, you know, working the ball left to right, uh, and owed to Jack and Jack's place. But, uh, I, I wouldn't, you know, I wouldn't peg it as a driving accuracy course. Soly, where'd you pick that up? That's data golf. Come on, you know where this is at. You go to the course profile,

they give a bump to Colin Moore Cowell. Obviously gets a great bump here. He's got great course success as well. That matches up really well, but Brendan Todd gets a bump here. Russell Henley, Andrew Putnam, Lucas Glover, and the guy that needs a bump a lot. I mean he's been really scrambling and struggling but Scotty Scheffler does get a local course bump for the profile of this golf course but

I don't, I truly don't know what golf course he's not going to get a bump at. I don't know what the profile says. Can we just like maybe pour out a high noon for the, my favorite stat of all time in the history of NLU was Scotty Shuffler's strokes gained putting last year. What was it he lost like was it 12 shots on the field and his putting and he came he was top five. I would have to look that up I think it was if he had a putted like decent he would have won by like 16 or something like that and that might be that might be a wrong like if he had been strokes gained like zero like, like just average, she would have been, I think it was either one by like eight,

but if he'd had like his one of his better putting weeks, uh, which is rare, but he would have won. Yeah. He would have won the tournament by like that. This was like, I don't want to say rock bottom last year, but this was pretty close to rock bottom in terms of, I think it was rock bottom. So I don't think there's a worse one. This was definitely, but it's so it's, it's worth starting there as like how far we've come in 12 months with like,

it's like the only thing that could stop him was the, as he would call it, the Lewisville Police Department last couple weeks ago. Which I don't know if he was messing around in that press conference, but that was awesome. As someone who mispronounces everything, he was just going back to Lewisville multiple times and straight faced, so like shout out to Scotty.

Well, I continue to like him more and more, as the weeks go by. I've got it ready if you want me to just play it for you. We're gonna get to this later. I have the clip ready if you want it. So if we needed to, if I kind of became like, I don't really know how to describe it, but basically if I had to show up in court,

I think Steve was more than prepared to to pursue legal action, but at the end of the day, you know I did not want to have to pursue legal action against Louisville because at the end of the day that the people of Louisville are then gonna have to pay for the mistakes of their police department that just doesn't seem right and so at no point did I ever want to sue them But if it came there, I think my lawyer was more than prepared to use that as more of like a bargaining chip type thing. Um, more than anything. God, that's awesome. That warms my heart. That's the highlight of my week. Stop it all.

Right now twice. That's the best part. It's so sincere and that's how it's spelled. He's sounding it out. It's awesome. He's not, there's no way that's an intentional troll. That's just Scotty. No way. Like, oh, that sounds like Louisville to me. I look nice of him to stick up for the taxpayers of Louisville. For sure.

But he spent a week in the city. He spent several weeks dealing with the Louisville Police Department. He had to have heard the word Louisville so many times over the course of the last several weeks, how did he land on Louisville? Listen, I'm late in bed at night wondering how I could pronounce things the way I do sometimes, Sully. It's just, I think it seems very sincere and it warms my heart to see him just commit to it like that. It's awesome. I've got another interview clip from him as well, just kind of talking about just his reflection on things here. No, I definitely hadn't moved past it. And you know, I would

say that I still, you know, wouldn't have 100% move past it because yeah, the charges are dropped, but I still now it's almost more appropriate for people to ask me about it and ask me about the situation. And to be honest with you, it's not something that I love reliving just because it was fairly traumatic for me being arrested going into the golf course. And so it's not something that I love talking about and it's something that I'm hoping to move past.

But when the charges are dropped, that's kind of only the beginning of kind of getting past it, if that makes sense. So kind of operating through that now. And it was definitely a bit of a relief but not not total relief because that's something that'll always I think you know kind of stick with me you know that mugshot I'm sure is not going anywhere anytime soon. God that's good stuff. I found that interesting that too just kind of the

the fact that people are it's almost more like people are more willing to ask him about it now that he can comment on the case and whatnot and that it doesn't seem to be going. I think it will go away though, I really do. And I think he's gonna make it go away faster by being open to talking about it. Like I think this is just like another, I don't know, like just another compliment I wanna give Scottie is like the more he gets in front of the mic,

the more I like him. During the tournament he's like, guys I can't say, like just another compliment I want to give Scottie is like the more he gets in front of the mic, the more I like him. During the tournament, he's like, guys, I can't say much about it. And then he goes on to give 30 minutes of like the most the best sports interview of the last 12 months, you know, describing the situation, how he's feeling. Like he's just he's just very sincere. And I think that's just serving him really well with, you know, a situation like this. It is. I kind of have felt a little sheepish about being so Team Scotty just because he's, people say, oh, he's dull, he's whatever,

like he doesn't give you that much. Dude, I keep getting stronger and stronger on this side. The way he's handled this whole thing, the way he has, like you said, just will, is willingly talked about even though he wasn't supposed to and just everything he said and the way he's handled with class.

Like, as much as we make fun of the class acts tour, like do that dude is class. That is a, the way he has handled this is not necessarily how I would have, but. But it's authentic. It's like, he's not giving you a stock answer. He's just giving you like, it could be kind of boring, but it's honest. And his, his answer in his press conference, uh, that same press conference on like fatherhood. He's like, yeah, I got no idea what I'm doing.

You know, yeah, there's people I'm asking for help out here. But he didn't say a whole lot with that, but it still felt very authentic to me. And so I'm starting to really appreciate that, that I don't feel like he is a bunch of canned answers like some of these other guys are. I think we need him and you and Scottie talking fatherhood for probably 40 minutes, Neil, and a pod. That would be exceptional. Why not to get them on the trap draw?

I'm going to corner him after one of his US Open rounds and be like, hey, my guy would really like to talk to you about some father stuff. Cause he's got a lot of a stroller talk he'd like to get into. Yeah. No bottle warmers, all that. Scottie would be deep into that.

God, I know. I bet he's, I bet the, yeah, I bet he had a big registry. You know, would love to know what he's rocking right now. Stroller scene. I doubt he even had a registry. I bet he's I bet the yeah, I bet he had a big registry, you know, would love to know what he's rocking right now. Stroller seems I doubt even had a registry. I bet he's I come on. I made $38 million last year. Don't buy me anything guys. I don't know. Classy for that. I bet he loves certain like strollers, but he's like investigating and looking on that's super earnest kind of Scottie's personality. You think so you think he's doing the research? I would bet I'll be interested. I might grab him and ask him. Please do. That would be great. He honestly,

you guys talk about this though. He gives good answers to good questions. If you give him like a bad question, he will sort of blow it off. But I think I've always had a lot of love for athletes who the better the question, if there's something kind of abnormal, not a cliche, they will give it some thought and try to give you like a real good answer and he's one of those guys It's also just so yeah, go ahead. It seemed like since the players he's been like The speech he made at the players was like again We kind of just perked my ears of like dude that's not a little different It seems like he's just like no I'm gonna speak my mind and it's not my mind's not crazy

like I'm not gonna come up with really crazy stuff that yeah, you guys are gonna be able to react to but I'm gonna say what I'm going to speak my mind. And it's not, my mind's not crazy. Like I'm not going to come up with really crazy stuff that you guys are going to be able to react to, but I'm going to say what I'm feeling and thinking. And, and I don't know. It has made him more interesting to me. I'll say that. Yeah. It's just, I don't know the, the preparation, like he's almost preparing for his press conference

the way he does golf. It's like, I know I'm going to be asked about this. So instead of getting upset when he gets asked about the Louisville police, he's just ready to answer the question. And he's going to answer it in a very straightforward manner. But like a lot of these guys almost like, how dare you ask me that? It's like, you know, it's coming like, don't don't get all aggrieved by it. And I, you know, that's another thing I just appreciate about him. So anyway, back to Memorial, sorry, sorry, I got you off, got you off the agenda.

No, it's all good. So we have signature events. We've had a lot of these, and it seems to be a topic of conversation for a lot of these has been the sponsor exemptions that go into it. And one Tron Carter NLU tweeted at the PGA Tour comms department when they tweeted the sponsor exemptions this week. An acronym for are you fucking kidding me this week, which I found to be quite comical.

So I thought maybe we go one by one here and grade the sponsor exemption, both for what it means for the tournament and does it make sense for the sponsor and the tour as a whole and the signature events. But first one up, Alex Noren as a sponsor exemption. Is that accurate? Do I have that right?

Didn't he get the final one? I'm pulling up inside the field list But what kind of a random? Yeah, we're giving letter grade Sully or sure, you know, whatever you however satisfactory unsatisfied pass fail or or a letter grade You can do whatever you'd like. I am gonna go I'm gonna go be there I feel like it's nice for the memorial to have you know international players I think Allison are in very, very classy guys certainly could would would tell some tales with Jack. I'll go OB there. I would say C, I think he's had two top tens this season. I feel like I've seen them a lot on the

leaderboard. Doesn't feel like he has any any tie to the tournament itself. But I'm not offended by it. I mean, I think he's, you know, he's not like, he's not a has been by any means, but it doesn't, it doesn't feel like there's a, I don't know, a marketing component to this one. Which I think if I, you know, on the surface, I was like, why are they, why, I don't understand this one. If you go back, he missed the cut last week at the Canadian,

but before that, he has finished, I think, I'm counting eight or nine straight times inside the top 25 t12 at the PGA T24 at Wells third t23 at Corrales t14 at Texas Open t11 Houston t19 players t9 at Palm Beaches Right, so he didn't get in via the swing 5 or 10 or 15 or whatever You know Whatever those are he didn't like peek really really hard, but he's played really, really good golf. So like, if we're looking at I have some issues with some of the other ones. But if we're looking to fill out the tournament with some of the better players so far this year that are going to be potentially

competitive in the tournament, I think that passes the test like that. I people are going to yell sponsor exemptions no matter what. But that one's kind of like, okay, like we're getting one of these guys into the field that's been playing some solid golf. So. Yes. Great. Billy Horschel. I think past champ, like I think he had a memorable moment

here breaking down, I think it was last year when his game was in the wilderness. This is what, to me, if you're not gonna go with a young gun or somebody that's an exciting young player, I have no issue with a sponsor exemption like this. This is, this is good. This has a, uh, a storyline. His game is back. He's been playing a lot better. Sign me up for Billy Horschel. Yeah, I'll go a minus I think, or maybe plus B plus.

Let's not be too great inflation. That's not like Columbia University. I'll stop that. Well, that's true. I did a lot of curve going on at Columbia. But that's happening everywhere. Give me a break. I'll go B plus. I like Billy's a plus for the tournament, being a past winner that people that have seen this person win, people come every year to the tournament,

like they know him much more by name than we would associate with it on television. So that makes a lot of sense. But I think he's a, he's personable too. He's gonna interact with the crowd. He's gonna give them a little something. Well, and I think like rewarded for being vulnerable. Like it's kind of what we wanna see from these guys.

Last year, you know, like when he was in a vulnerable spot with his game and it was in a really horrible place, he wasn't scared to talk about it. And you know, that happened at the Memorial. I think that's, that should be kind of rewarded. I love this one. What about Brant Snedeker? Listen, okay, on the surface stinks, but I'm going to toss Workday a pass on this one.

I like this less than Kutcher because this is the same thing. They sponsor both guys, Workday does. But when you see what the CMO from RBC was saying about these title sponsors that are shelling out for these signature events, like if you're the tour, you try walking in and telling them that they can't get their guys in that are wearing their logo, like that would be a battle worth losing.

Of like, listen, you guys are front and 25, 30 million bucks to host this event. We're kind of ripping you off. If you want to get Kutcher and Snedeker in, I don't, I, you know, that's going to be a tough battle to fight because like they're spending millions of dollars sponsoring these guys and they need to get a little bit more exposure for them. Now, thank you. Is it a lesson for workday of maybe we should drop these guys? You know guys you know maybe maybe throw that back on the CMO and say hey maybe it's time to cut bait on these guys or renegotiate that deal and maybe we can get a young gun that deserves a shot

more than Brant Snedeker. Can I pause you on that one? A logo? Can I pause you on that one that like a lot of the decision-makers at workday probably know who Matt Kutcher and Brant Snedeker are more than they would an up-and-coming guy right so this is like the you know the not fun side of professional golf of like so and it goes back to your point on this segment it's like I agree with TC on some of the sponsor exemptions this year being a disgrace using his word and are you fucking kidding me sure like when the the guys on the player advisory counselor on the board are getting you know when Webb's getting one just because he's on the board, I got a massive problem with that.

But I also think it's important that the sponsor exemption is up to the sponsor. So if these, if this is truly workday saying I want Snedeker and I want Kutcher because I sponsor these guys, I'm not going to throw a hissy fit about that. I think it has, you know, if that's how they want to use your sponsor exemptions, that's fine. I just don't like it when it feels like the tour is shoehorning in someone unrelated to the tournament. That's, that's where I get a little bit. I'm on PC's block there as well. Can I just for the record, read Brandt Snedeker's finishes this year?

Oh, it's so bad, dude. Yeah. Yeah. No, I'm not fighting that this is justified from a place. I just want to read it for the record. Yeah. Cut, no, I'm not fighting that this is justified from a place. I just want to read it for the record. Cut, cut t 78 cut, cut, cut, cut, cut, cut, cut t 72 40 t 48 cut, cut, cut, not does not have a single tournament this year where he has positive strokes gained in any tournament. That's pretty brutal. Which for we're gonna say these signature events and we're trying to get the best field,

that is a bad look. That's a really bad look. But again, it's a sponsor exemption for a reason, right? It's kinda up to them. It's a tackle. I don't like it anymore. They open themselves up to criticism. It's fair about all that.

You can get in this tournament by finishing the top 15 in FedEx Cup in the prior year. That's your way to play in. You can also get in through Aon Swing, blah, blah, blah, and all those two categories as well. Like you can play swing five, but there's, isn't there another 10 to a next 10 that get in? I don't know. Okay. Yeah. So you can do all that, right? So you can play your way in. If not, there's also tack ons into this that are for the sponsor,

like literal sponsor exemptions. It might not, it is not almost certainly not going to go to the best player, right? And that's just not how it's likely to happen. And it's not fun, a fun side of it, but it's relatively inconsequential for, you know, it's not like gonna throw a lifeline to the, to Snedeker's career, right? It's not gonna get him into the top 50 for next year

and get him into all the signature events and all that stuff. And my argument, my issue would be to go to work day and say, hey, you're using these wrong. Like your strategy is wrong. Like I think Kuchar has more of a case. He's a past winner. Like, yeah, I don't think he deserves a spot, but you could justify a past winner. For me, you can make that case more than you can't set a group. He plays really, really well at this golf course. Hasn't over the last several years, but his like course history is like, whoa, holy shit. You love this golf course So I would be surprised if Cooch got involved in qualifying for the US Open this week as well

Well, okay, and then on the flip side I do want to give a shout out to Auburn freshman Jackson Coivan who won the Nicklaus award So he gets an exemption into this Along with the Haskins and the Hogan Awards. So I think he just is cleaning up. He won the Phil Mickelson Freshman Award. He's all American and I think Auburn just won the national title. So shout out to him for,

he'll be playing this week as well. I also would give a shout out to our friends at Roeback. You guys know Roeback. It's best fit, best feel. It is summer. We are of course living in Roeback. They just released their American summer collection. It's fantastic. Beyond the the Golf they got bathing suits

now you can use to go from a hot day on the course straight to the pool haven't pulled that one off yet guys I don't know if I can pull that one off. Just up at my childhood club playing with my mom I saw a soft kid he was going over the pool I don't know if he was wearing a Robac bathing suit but he was pulling that move summertime in Atlanta. Dynamite drop-in Neil that broadcasting school has really paid off. Beyond the performance polos, moisture wicking, they got great stretch.

That's a Major League Two reference for the record. That's my favorite movie ever. They fit way better than your old boxy polos. They're the best designs paired with the best feeling polos out there. Their shorts are great. They're fantastic. I love the everyday shorts.

The elastic waistband, they're great to sleep in. They're great for the gym. Got some workout stuff going on. I'm excited to tell you guys about that at some point. Or the Roeback Looper shorts are great for the golf course. Well, they got the belt loops better for a tucked in polo. They're comfortable, the fabric is flexible, they're fantastic.

The hoodies are the best. Got my big Randy one on. I saw him wearing this one and I knew I needed to have it because he pulled it off that well. He's my favorite influencer. So performance hoodies are fantastic I wear them every single day it's time to load up on some row back both for yourself or for others code nlu at rowback.com gets our generous 20% off your first order

through the end of this week rho b a c k.com 20% off bottoms q-zips hoodies and more with code nlu summer isn't the same without row back I would say one row back thing I want to shout out the workout shirts. Yes they're awesome just the teach the rowback t-shirts would would highly recommend those. We're gonna do a little story time here in a second I want to throw this out there Michael Kim had a great tweet today you know it includes an image on the 15th green he said many years back at Memorial,

Jack was in the booth doing some commentary. They showed Jim Furick on the older design of the 15th in the right green side bunker to a short sided pin. And Jack commented that Furick was gonna have a tough time getting it inside 10 feet from there. Jim hits it to almost tap in distance and that really annoyed Jack. So the following year,

he decided to use these wooden bunker rigs with super wide teeth marks. And what happened was either had a flat lie that was half plugged or was perfectly no shot there. No shot there. I think it's called feraling or something. Anyways, all the players showed up on site and were surprised and obviously hated it after Thursdays around a high profile player at the time, not Tiger goes to player dining and walk straight to Jack. He says, Jack, if you ever do this to the bunkers again, I'm never coming back. I spent 20 years perfecting a technique to beat these guys in the bunker. And you took that away from me and they never went to it again.

I remember this was- I just, who is that player? I was, I read that tweet and I was just trying, because he said it wasn't Phil, that Michael Kim followed up with another tweet said it wasn't Phil. I'm just trying to think who would have the gall to walk up to Jack and say that, that would have the gravitas. We could play, spend all day trying to guess who that might be, but I just,

this was a huge controversy back then. Scary player, scary player. Jack, I tell you what, the 20 years I've been jumping to the tournaments. They did the fairway bunkers too, like everybody was just furious about it. It was just like all the paper pros just have to have their bunkers perfectly rigged. I've never thought of it from that perspective though of like, hey, like I've like mastered this technique to be able to play out of these bunkers.

Like you cannot take away this skill and randomize this in some way but I know that's right yeah I take that away usually on that tournament go to Pine Valley and bitch about how there's no rakes I know I just yes you're gonna go to Pinehurst and bitch about the waist bunkers like come on man that's that's I'm way out on on whoever that player is uh I mean good for him for saying something to Jack though that's, that's, I'm way out on, on whoever that player is. Uh, I mean, good for him for saying something to Jack though. That's cool. Um, it were just generally, I think like I, there's like this bygone era now of like, it was Bay Hill with Arnie and Byron Nelson where it was like, you know, this is Jack's tournament. That was Arnie's tournament. This, this feels like the last one where it's actually Jack's tournament. Like Genesis doesn't really feel like Tiger's tournament. You know, and what I appreciate is how active Jack is with the course

and trying to make it a challenge. And I like that he tinkers with it. And I look forward to reading like, what's he done? Oh, he's changed 16 again. Like he can't help himself. And sometimes that backfires on him, but it does add a, I don't know, a cool layer to the tournament of you have, it's at the same course every year. And so you have this context to see like, Hey, what has Jack changed this year? Like, you know, where, where is he going to stub his toe? Because 16 last year was outrageous. So it's like, all right, fine guys, you're right. You know, I need to make some changes here, but, um, I don't know. It doesn't feel like there's anybody coming up, you know, after Jack where they're having a tournament at a course that they,

that is home to them, right? Like you have Tigers Invitational, but that doesn't feel like home in any way. Uh, it doesn't really feel like it has anything to do with Tiger at all, other than him just kind of being there playing host. So, you know, from that standpoint and related to Michael Kim's thing, like I love little anecdotes like that of how Jack kind of inserts himself into the competition a little bit.

Have you, I haven't read much reaction on what they've done to 16. Like what can we, any feedback? Yeah, so they moved the tees up 30 yards and to the right. So he's basically taking the water, like you're not gonna have to carry the water quite as much and now guys can access the front right part of the green. So because the greens are so firm,

the problem was there was just literally nowhere to land it without it going into the back rough and those guys being kind of bowed back there. So he changed the angle on it. I think he assured some people that it's gonna play just as hard. I think it's still gonna play like 210 to 220 but he just basically changed the angle move the T's over 30 yards it sounds like. Yeah they've never

been able to get that hole right since they've redone it which is like 12 13 years ago now like it's not been a short period of time that they've had that and that's where like we've got this question from a JS thoughts one. Uh, how do you feel about your village? You excited to watch the golf though this week? How does it compare to Valhalla or Quail Hollow to you? It's obviously, the tournament I've grew up going to is five minutes away from where I grew up and I had huge reverence for it for, for a long time. And over time, I've gotten less.

And I think it's because I've always felt like the last three holes are some, like some of the worst hole, like finishing holes on the PGA Tour. Like what is I think a good golf course it just I hate every single one of the last three finishing holes which are supposed to be the best and the most dramatic finishes and every time Jack it's like somebody got bad plastic surgery and like keeps trying to get more plastic surgery on top of it and it's like I can I see all the scars of what you've been doing here and it's all I see, right? It's lost any and all appeal to me. And I don't know how you guys feel about that,

but there's been some great changes to the golf course over the years, but I just really get frustrated by the finish of this golf course. Yeah, I feel like it's a kind of tournament that I always expect to be feel a little bit better than it is. Like it feels like it should. It has weight, but it doesn't feel, I don't know.

It's never have like a super satisfying like shootout that hasn't evolved Tiger, right? At the very end. I guess that's where. Yeah. I agree with you on 16 and 17 are tough. 18, I feel like it's really hard. And I like seeing a guy try to hold on, you know, and kind of thread the needle and hit that fairway and then, but it doesn't produce that hole does not produce an exciting finish because guys are holding on for dear life. I do like though the like the space that occupies on the calendar. You can argue this is a bad thing because it doesn't create exciting finishes, but you have so many guys coming in with form. There's always a lot of storylines.

And being a signature event, you got to like, Hovland's trying to defend. Which Hovland are we gonna see this week? Like, oh God, you know, it's, we could talk ourselves into five, six, seven other guys, but you know, Scotty, why would we pick anybody other than Scotty? Cantlay's won here twice, I believe.

And you know, he's, it's always like, oh my God. So because it's here every year you do get the The horses for the course and it comes at a time when I think a lot of these guys are peeking right before the US open So I do like that about it It is one of the golf courses that had got the tiger boost of like Torrey Pines is great Quail Hollows great tiger plays there plays there and like they've been pumping out great highlights on all over social this week of like old Tiger shots that was like the reason I'm sitting in this chair right now is that 274 yard, you know to iron into the 11th green and whatever year and like it

He has provided some noise at that place man. I remember the I think it was 2000 the year He flubbed a chip on 14 and then chipped it in for par and gave the enormous tiger fist pump and I had already staked the spot out in the front on 18 and it was the loudest roar I've ever heard from a different part of a golf course of any course I've ever been on and it was I think 14 year old me had the biggest FOMO I've ever had in my entire life of like oh my god I missed the tiger chip in and like he's just had so many incredible moments there that, you know, it has elevated that course throughout the course of time.

And now sometimes it does feel a bit sleepy at times, you know, getting a little more distance from it, but. Well, like you got, I think number, is it five? The other part five, one of the other ones in the front, five and 11 are just such awesome part fives. I love both of those holes and they produce, you know, really fun highlights. You almost wish that there were more holes like that

towards the end of the round. You know, cause after, after, after 14, it gets, it does get a little sleepy. The uphill, the 15th, I know he's changed it, but that par five is, you know, it's okay. Like there's some, there's some, it's not as exciting though as 11. 11's awesome, man.

I wish that we could, you we could flip those in the rotation. I feel like they made 11. Talk to Jack, he might still tinker with it, Neil. I know, seriously. I feel like they made 11 less exciting though, over the years. It's longer, it's harder to get there in two, and it's less, it's not as worth going forward to,

in whatever. But you wanna take us to a little trivia, a little history, Neil? I would love to, I would love to. Okay, so Memorial, Muirfield Village. You guys know what year that Muirfield Village was founded? I think 1976? 72?

No, so the land was bought in 1966. The golf course is situated at 220 acres where Jack's father used to take him hunting. And he won his first open championship at Muirfield in 1966, and it is named in honor of his first open championship. So Jack inquires the land in 66, and he messes around with Pete Dye, kind of is his little, you know, kind of, I think picks his brain for a while. He doesn't start building the course until 1972 and he partners with Desmond Muirhead. Though Muirfield Village is considered the first Jack Nick was designed.

Do you guys know anything about Desmond Muirhead? No. Did Jack pick him because his name sounded like Muirfield? No, that's what I thought. So I started looking this up. This guy is a total, total menace. So I found this fascinating article by John Strawn on the website, theaposition.com. I would highly recommend people just search up basically Desmond Muirhead. So I'll call that out

in the Golfer's Journal also. Wrote a good piece about Desmond Muirhead. He's English, but he lived in California. He went to university of Oregon. He was in the RAF. He was, he was like a, he was a total menace. So his nickname was a Muirhead. You won't believe it. Yeah. He's crazy.

So he was, he was the father called quote, the father of private golf club communities, which I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. Basically the golf course determines the shape of the community, not the other way around. He was the first Basically, the golf course determines the shape of the community, not the other way around. He was the first guy to really look at like the positioning of houses in relation to golf holes, how road should flow. So he was an urban planner, you know, by kind of by trade. So we had a six year partnership with Nicholas

early in Jack's design career. And he kind of reached the pinnacle of the profession, working with Jack in the early 70s. And then of course they had a falling out. I don't really know what happened, but instead of him going off on his own, he just quit. So he just stopped designing golf courses and he moves to Sydney, Australia, and he sold exotic glass and symbolic art for 10 years. So basically just had an Australian walkabout. Then he moves to Hawaii.

I think he spent some time in China. He spent some time in Thailand. Then he moves to Hawaii. I think he spent some time in China. He spent some time in Thailand. So then he comes back to golf course design like 15 years later, and he's best remembered for like his outlandish and some would say cartoonish golf course designs. He designed holes in the shape of New Jersey, bunkers that mirrored Nordic crosses. At the end of his career, he took a lot of inspiration from art. And

so he got real flamboyant. And at the Aberdeen Golf Club in Florida, he had land sculptures. And so then there's a course, Jordan, you can throw this graphic up now. He had a course at Stone Harbor in New Jersey. The hole is dubbed Clashing Rocks, and it claims inspiration from a challenge the ancient Greek hero Jason faced in his quest for the Golden Fleece. So in the Aeneid, the Argonauts had to avoid an ambush by maneuvering through a pair of pouncing islands. But people say that Desmond's kind of, you know, take on this looks just a lot like a Pac-Man. So he designs this, this golf hole and like a beer, it's in the middle there too.

I know. So he designs this golf hole. It's obviously awful. Nobody can hit the green. So the club just immediately redesigns it into like a boring Island green, like after he leaves. But he did a bunch of this stuff. So yeah, his reputation kind of suffers. But he's, he's quoted in this article by John Strawn has said, the only thing worse than criticism is not being discussed at all. So he died in, I think he died in 2002, but he was like at the top of his game in the seventies and, and you know, so this guy's fascinating. And so obviously I went down a wormhole this afternoon, looking them up.

And there's a bunch of whole, like he, that's not the only one that looks like that was the craziest one I could find, but late in his career, it's like, he just got bored and he's like, nobody's doing anything new. People are only doing these. Nobody's doing this. That's the thing. Nobody's doing this. So sick.

So, all right, here's, we'll start our trivia now. What other course did your head design that served as an annual venue, long running venue for a professional golf tournament? Wow. LPGA Tour, I'll give you a hint. Mission Hills Country Club, later named Dinosaur Tournament Course, which was the host of the Dinosaur and the Chevron

until 2022, now they've moved on to Houston. Is this memorial trivia or is this Desmond Muirhead trivia? So that was, I was going to kick off trivia, nice segue into memorial here. So who did Nicholas play the ceremonial first round slash exhibition match with at Muirfield Village in 1974? Fellow Ohioan. Oh, John Cook? No, good guess though. Tom Weisskopf. So Nicholas won.

He shot 66, which stood as the course record until 1979. Okay. Let me find another one. Who won the inaugural Memorial tournament? 1976. Roger Maltby. That's correct. That is great, isn't it?

Yeah. He won. He beat Hale Erwin in a clay off for his third career victory at the, at the inaugural tournament. Uh, all right, KVV this one was for you. There's a scene in tin cup that was inspired by near field village. What was it? Uh, so it's, it's gotta be the shanks scene, right? that was inspired by Muirfield Village? What was it? So it's gotta be the shanks scene, right? Because the circular range, right? That kind of goes around

with their shank and balls sideways and there Kevin Costner is and that's why it almost hits Johnny Miller and a bunch of other people. So that's close and I think the circular range setup is part of it. But Roy McEvoy stealing range balls in that same scene is from basically. I think that was inspired by Gary McCord doing the same thing at an early Memorial tournament, because it was one of the first events to offer free and new range balls to players. So apparently Gary McCord was just, you know, throw a few of these in the bag. So, so early on Jack, he spent a lot of time with Clifford Roberts. He wanted this to be like Augusta up north.

So he tried to figure out how can I make this like a really good stop on tour for these guys? How can I treat the players really well and, you know, turn this into kind of an elevated event, which I, you know, I give him a ton of credit for. So all right, Solly, this one's for you. Who won the 1987 Ryder Cup at Muirfield? And what was the score? Europe won it. Um, uh, they wanted 14 and a half, 13 and a half. Is that right? No, 15, 15, 13

Team Europe, captain by Tony Jacqueline won 15, 13. It was the first loss for the US on on home soil. They were 13 and oh before that. So that's tough for Jeff Jack to lose it at home at his home course as the captain. There's some amazing stories from that one where like, Barbara had to go like and buy American flags to like hand out to fans because they were just like, politely clapping and not acting like a Ryder Cup was going on. Ben Crenshaw like bent and broke his putter and had to like finish off a match putting with a two iron in the remainder of it. And like Jack, Jack like lambasted his team like like yelled at the

team at night or something like I think Shane Ryan's done a deep dive into that one. It's it's pretty incredible. Like it was that was one the ones, one of the years the Ryder Cup changed forever. All right. So Memorial or Mirafil Village hosted Memorial every year, but it's hosted a bunch of other tournaments. 1992 US amateur being one of them. Who won that US amateur? 1992. 1992 well-known player. Phil Mickelson. No. Tali? I do not know Justin Leonard you won eight and

seven he beat Tom Shire kind of doors off beatdown total beatdown Muirfield Village is one of two courses to host both a Ryder Cup and a Solheim Cup. What is the other course? It's in the US. Is it Hazelteen? No. Inverness? Did they host a Ryder Cup? No.

The Greenbrier. Oh. Did not know they had a Greenbrier. Which surprised me. I did not know they had a Ryder Cup with the Greenbrier. So that one caught me off guard. I did not know they had, the Greenbrier one was the year that Ken Brown

and somebody else acted up, almost got sent home. That's right. For just acting like complete idiots, like protesting stuff and just, their shoes were falling apart. That's an interesting one. I remember talking to Tony Jacqueline about that. All right, I got two more.

What is the course record and who holds it? John Huston shot a 61 back in the day, I remember that. I don't know if that ever got tied. That is correct. That still holds up, 61 in 1996, which I was kind of surprised that nobody's matched that. I guess, and credit to Jack, he keeps making the place harder and harder.

He's keeping up with the times. That record is going to stand for as long as Jack's alive, at least, because nobody's going that deep. Barbara, man, they're better. I got one more. Tiger Woods has won five memorial titles, which still kind of blows my mind. Who has won the second most? Probably not Roger Maltby.

Is it Jack? Did he win three? I think he's the only one. No, Jack won two. Yeah. So he won in I think 79 and 84 and his 84 win or sorry, 77 and 84 was his second to last win. So he won the 84 Memorial and then he won the Masters.

So 86. The reason I know he won in 77 is because in one of the deep dives that Sally and I did, Jack came, he won in 77. It was the first time he won his own tournament and he was so excited about it that he almost retired on the spot. He told Barbara, I think I want to hang it up. I think that's it. I've got a great career. I've solved her and she talked him out of it. And then he won four more majors. Literally threatened retirement for 28 more years until he finally did it.

That's so sick. All right, I'll give you a hint. He's won three of them. No, it's not Vijay. This guy's won three, but you're in the right era, Solly. Kenny Perry? Yes, Kenny Perry's won three. Yeah, which I didn't, I totally forgot about that.

But Kenny Perry, menace. I would like to, he's another guy we should think about a, a deep dive on or maybe getting him on the horn. I feel like he might have some stories. Yeah. A proud Lewisville resident. All right. That's all I got. That's my trivia for the day. So, uh, but just Desmond Muirhead total like menace of the week for me. I had no idea this guy was, I apologize to his family, was not familiar with his game. To all the Muirheads out there.

For sure. Well, let's get into our picks this week, right? And we're giving a shout out to our partners at FanDuel. We're going to make some plays for this week. You know, of course, as always, odds are subject to change on some of these, but who wants to go first? Kevin, why don't you give us your pick this week? What do you like this week?

All right, so this is my first time doing this, so I'm very excited here. Look, I was picking through some of the things. Ben Griffith finished second at the Canadian Open. And to his to be- Also known as Ben Griffin, correct. Griffin, sorry. Hell yeah.

This is sick. sorry yeah yeah I love hopefully I'm talking about the same guy who finished second in the Canadian open can't can't guarantee it but first round leader you know you could win a lot of money at plus 7,000 so I was I was like I could throw 50 nuggies on that and you know and eat out on that for years and also I decided I couldn't parlay this it was not available as a parlay. But I was I was talking to Lauren at the US Open Lancaster after she missed the cut. She hung around for next day to practice. She was like, my game is really close. Just had one bad nine

stretch. Just didn't play the back nine very well. And I think it's getting real close. So I was like, you know what, I'm going gonna throw a winner out here for her. But you never know, it's time for her to bring home a first win. Oh yeah, in New Jersey. Pulling a TC here with, we're supposed to have one pick and pulling off two, I salute you on this.

Listen, I'll allow it. You know I love a first round leader play. I mean, KVD's never hit, and so this'll be fun to track. So I love, this is a great first effort for me. I I'm all about it. Neil, what do you got? I have, you know, I got some JM as top Asian.

I love the nationality plays and I know that he's won here. I know Ben on is playing awesome golf right now. But I feel like this course he's top 10 here a couple of years ago. He's had some bad starts here, but the course feels like it fits his game. He hits the ball super far. It's a really high. He's, he's way better. He needs to start winning big events. And this feels like a place where he could kind of kick that off. And I, so I'm going to go with some Jay in the top Asians finish at plus three 60.

I didn't know this category existed. Like where does the cutoff is like, is Jason Dade? Can he claim his like Filipina side? Like everybody has a flag you play under. So I think that's, that's what it's, that's what it is. So that's a good distinction. I am going to go, listen, Muirfield village is famous for you know, a lot of Noly areas, a lot of great stadium seating out there.

There's a lot of grassy holes to be able to see a lot of great play with. A guy that has almost won this tournament has a great course history here. I'm worried about the Stars. I'm worried about Scottie and I'm worried about Xander this week. I, if I, you know, who do I think is going to win this week? Of course, I think Scottie is going to win because I think he's probably going to win most of the tournaments. But a winner without, if you can go winner without Rory Scottie and Xander Schauffele, Denny McCarthy's plus 4500.

Got a sharpshooter like him. 100%. You know, guys got a great three-point shot, you know, grassy knolls everywhere. This is such a good pick, Solly. This course is about accuracy from long range and we know my guy, Lee Harvey Oswald's got that so Denny's my play this week and I'm excited for that one. An unfinished business a bit of a stu-sync play from you here. Last year runner-up in the playoff to Hovland. I don't know who do you let's just go over who do you think is gonna win? You think Scotty? Just easy pick. Yeah I mean I already have think

very highly of his game when I saw the course fit was actually really good it's win. You think Scotty just easy pick? Yeah, I mean, I already have think very highly of his game when I saw the course fit was actually really good. It's like, all right, yeah, again, if he putted normal last year, I was trying to pull up the actual numbers from last year. He lost two strokes per round. He lost eight strokes on the green alone last year at last year's memorial, which is, yeah, if you don't just put it average, you would have won the golf tournament easily. So yeah, that's my play. I'm going to go Victor Hovland, Neil. I think my guy's back. He's been, you know, he's been grinding with Joe Mayo. Think about what he did with like a week of Joe Mayo or four days of Joe Mayo at the BGA. He could really be dialed in

at this point where we see him. So it's good course fit for him. Big time play for Victor. KVV, I'm right there with you. And I feel like there's not a lot of short grass around this course. A lot of thick rough. I think that kind of, you know, it's like, yeah, you can just chop it out of that stuff. I feel like Hovlin, give me Hovlin, plus 1800 too, good odds. I will be rooting for Victor this week. I think it's an awesome story to see him falling out again. Love it. You know, I think it's gonna have a great week, you know, not necessarily on the PGA Tour at the Memorial,

but down in Texas is, I think the sun is gonna absolutely block this week at Liv Houston. I don't know if you guys have seen the forecast out there, but Friday, Saturday, Sunday is highs of 97, 95 and 94, with over 60% humidity on all of those days. The real feel, I don't think during, I checked this earlier this week, I'm not positive this is right,

but I don't think the real feel for any of the hours they're gonna be playing is ever under 100 degrees at Live Houston. So I'm taking the sun, I'm buying low on the sun right now, and both the humidity. I think they low on the sun right now and both the humidity. I think they're going to have huge weeks down in Houston. Sorry, I have been checking the weather. I'm going to a wedding in Fort Worth this weekend.

So it's just as hot up in Fort Worth, not looking forward to sweating through my suit. I'm sure Jon Rahm would much rather be sweating through that Legion 13 gear than playing a course where you should have multiple wins. Uh, US Open qualifying the longest day in golf was this past Monday. Harry Higgs, our guy made it out of Durham along with Sam Bennett and Webb Simpson, Justin Lauer qualified to give an awesome interview afterwards to kind

of, you know, reflecting on, on his journey and playing golf on, on father's day. Hopefully he makes the cut for the first time playing at Pine Ridge is going to be fantastic. Willie Mack qualified out of Jupiter also Matt Kutcher and Daniel Berger. Dean Bermester was one of two live players as well to make it as David Pooge was the other from made it out of California. Cam Davis beat Adam Scott in a playoff. Adam Scott's record of or streak of consecutive major starts is is in jeopardy. He would need to he's right on the edge of staying in the top 60 of the OWG, but I think he's probably projected to fall out after this week, unfortunately. So is he playing this week? He

didn't make it into the nod. And there was some chatter about him why they didn't give him a sponsors exemption into this one as well, which is now now we have a board member not getting you know, yeah, now we're arguing for a board member. Take a side guys. Come on. I, I, the whole like you got to give people shots to extend their, their major championship playing streaks. We went through this with Angela Stanford on the women's side is the impressive part

of that is qualifying for it. Right. I, you know, I, I have a great respect for Adam Scott's career, but I don't, I don't know if you know, some of these things like, dude, if you didn't, right? I, you know, I have a great respect for Adam Scott's career but I don't know if, you know, some of these things like, dude, if you didn't make it out of like sectional qualifying were you gonna win the US Open? Like that's kind of part of the journey on this, right? Like how could you make the, you know,

make the argument you were gonna contend if you didn't make it out of qualifying, but whatever. That's different conversation. Yeah. Mark Hubbard. A couple notes are, oh sorry go ahead. I say Mark Hubbard medaled in Canada. Our guy Zach Blair did it again, medaled at Springfield and will be playing at Pinehurst.

And Tim Veeding, I think I did it wrong again. Did I? Tim? No, that was good, that was right. Tim Veeding continues his absurd play. He qualified as well. He's having a massive season on the Corn Fairy Tour. So go ahead.

So I played out at Golf Club of Georgia on Sunday with my buddy Paul and they had the sectional qualifying out there on Monday. So I played with played I guess his practice round this guy Hunter Eichhorn. He lives up in Chattanooga. He I want to give him a shout out. He shot like a just a ho hum 66 with us. And he finished at nine under I believe yet or eight under he had a tough first round 71 65. But, you know, for Tim, I honestly played some corn fairy because I saw his name on the leaderboard at the Veritex on the corn fairy. No, I have zero status anywhere. I'm just like, so you and I were talking about it earlier this week. It's like this guy I'm watching this guy just make it look so easy. It's like people don't understand how many good golfers there are. Like this guy has

no status. Are you serious? This guy was like just a he was a ball striking savant. But he had it seems like he had a good showing and then Jackson Cobin he finished at minus nine and that qualifier you had Ollie Schneiderjans out there. The qualifier was minus 13 Jackson Buchanan out at the Kula Georgia finishes minus 13. Chris Pete Fish minus 13 and Frederick Ketterup from Denmark minus 12 got out of the golf club at Georgia qualifier. I do also want to say Andy Ogletree was out there on the range. High flyers, bag, hat, shirt, just holding court on the back of the range. A bunch of heavy hitters out there.

So it was a fun day watching those guys warm up for the sectional stuff at Golf Club of Georgia. Ask me about my live golf team. 100%. To your point there about I-Corin was like, if you didn't rush to listen to the Steven Yeager podcast last last week I'm not gonna I'm not gonna blame you not gonna get mad at you but I go back and listen to that one folks cuz like I if you want to like an example of somebody that made

it out of this massive like pool of people of you know incredibly talented pros that you'll almost never know their name he's one of them and how he did it is really I think interesting and fascinating of his way of hitting the ball far was shocking to me and bad reflection of technology, I think, but it was amazing that he's in the top 20 of the FedEx Cup right now. And, you know, hopefully making the tour championship

and gonna get back in the Masters and everything. Just interesting, interesting dude and interview and his perspective on that was great. So one other other thing like you compare like Zach, you know, medalist at Springfield Country Club, Springfield Country Club awesome golf course pretty easy walk. I mean, a little hilly out there but courses, you know, pretty, pretty tight golf club of Georgia, like, I mean, not a walking course carts. And I was like, like, dude, 36 holes out there in the, in the Georgia heat, like

that talk about the longest day, it really, the selection of where you're going to qualify is a big deal. And I'm like, man, that's a, that is a tough spot for guys to go 36 and, and keep it together. So just seeing some of these scores, you're like, God, there's just so many good golfers that like nobody knows about. And when you see it up close, you're like, anybody that's like, Oh man, I could definitely do that. And absolutely. No, you could absolutely never. No, no. Thank you. Um, it's a couple of questions. Uh, I want to fill in here. I really liked this one. I don't know how I'm going to answer it even as of this moment, but a TOC pod, a talk pod.

I don't know exactly how you want to cut that off. Uh, he said halfway through the golf year, has it been a good or bad golf year so far? We might be past halfway technically, but it depends on what you consider to be the halfway point. Yeah. In between majors, this feels, this does feel a bit like halfway. I would say objectively bad, like some bad luck, some, you know, from, it depends on whose perspective you're looking at it from. I think if you're looking at it from, well, I try to look at it from like the, not health of golf, but like you've had a bunch of weird winners. You haven't, you know, you've had, yes, Scotty has been on a tear. So in that way, maybe you see like a rise, but there's

been just like the, usually the West coast swing is, has a lot of juice and energy. And I feel like this year for, you know, because of weather and because of just some, some, you know, not super exciting winners, it has not been an exciting year in golf. I don't think it's been a, a year where you're like, God, like I felt like last year they, the game of golf, the professional game got a lot of good breaks with certain winners and certain finishes. And I feel like this year it's kind of flipped the off-center. We've regressed back, you know, so you're going to get, you know, you're going to get both. But I would say it's, you know, it hasn't been a great year.

Kevin? I think the majors have been good. And that's usually where I sort of come down on like, that's what I'm going to remember years from now. Like the, and the players, and the players. So there we have the three biggest tournaments really feel like they mattered. I, you know, I was on the record as not being the biggest Xander fan, but I think he's like a deserving major champion. And Scotty obviously like reasserted, established himself as the dude, as particularly the masters, like, God, if you told me now he's going to win four masters, I'd be like, that might be low. So I think that's what I feel like it matters the most is like those three tournaments so far. And

I'm feeling good about it. I agree. It was feeling pretty rough with all the rainouts and all the sort of weather problems and stuff early on. But I don't I don't know, I try not to get too hung up on like this guy. One and he's a nobody like like Jake Knapp could be like a really good player two years from now we're like oh that guy's on the Ryder Cup team that guy hits the shit out of it that guy's like we should have seen this coming a while ago and so I don't want to like dwell too much on like that the people who are winning are not like the regular established stars like it hopefully it sends a message to like the Jordan Spies and the Justin Thomas's of the world of like yeah, man Like you guys are kind of falling behind here if you're not winning tournaments. Yeah. Yeah, it's it was a tough start

I think I'm still on the side of you know, if it's if it's pass failed It's a slight fail to me I think in terms of just the beginning of that year was was super rough and you know The majors have been good and the players was really good and the best play Like number the players and the two majors have been won by number one, number one, number two, right of the best players in the world. Like that's that's a good thing. They weren't the most exciting. The player, the PGA was a very exciting tournament, but and the players was

exciting. The Masters wasn't exciting, but it was like the most proper golf tournament. It was exciting up until the very end, right? So it's trending towards it could be a year that's kind of saved by some good major championships, some exciting golf, but it was one of the worst West Coast swings and runs that I can recall having. And so the PGA Tour side has been a little juiceless, right? But, and that's- Well, that's kind of like, KDV,

I agree completely with the point you made, but you also kind of made my point where it's like, yeah, all that matters are the majors and the players. It's like, well, that's where it's like, who's perspective, right? If you're at the global home, you're like, damn, this has been a tough year. You know, like the signature events that like none of them really matters. Right. It like basically, cause I like your argument of like looking back on this.

If Scotty wins two of four, it's like, Oh my God, it would be a very memorable year. He'll, you know, that'll be the story. And that's what matters. But it just kind of proves that like the regular season, you know, doesn't really matter. Which I don't know if it's a good thing for like the pro game long-term.

Well, I think the year started under the cloud of ROM leaving too of like, dude, what is the PGA tour? Right? I mean, it used to be the best collection of talent. Like they've just gotten hit by enough guys now where it's like, oh, there's, I mean, you know, there's some dudes missing out here. Like I don't, it's, it's harder to figure out what it is actually, you know, what I'm, what I'm watching. Sorry, Kevin. I just think Bryson's like kind of ascendance again, his reemergence as a great player has, has mattered. Honestly, when you think about whether I'm

interested in watching live, Rom has done nothing for me in that sense. But Bryson kind of has like, I feel like I'm more interested in like, if not straight up live tournaments, like certainly his own kind of content, and then maybe, you know, way more interested in him and majors. Like to me, Bryson is kind of the live needle, maybe by the ought to just lean into the Bryson model of things like, hey, we're just, we're not gonna like treat it all that seriously like it's life or death. We're gonna kind of be entertainers.

We're gonna sort of yuck it up. We're gonna look into the camera and pump our fists and then cut it into a YouTube clip. Like you can make that argument to me that like that would be appealing to kids. Yeah, and we have a comment here just from Drew McConnell just asking about, talking about expected churn for signature events,

tweeted something about this earlier this week where the models originally were saying, like we're expecting out of 50 guys that are exempt from the prior years FedEx Cup were expecting, I think it was 18 guys that they said, on average be churned out of the system and 18 new guys would be in. And at this point, if it on average be churned out of the system and 18 new guys would be in and at this point if It ended right now there'd be 17

New guys in right and it's almost almost exactly lining up with how it was modeled in terms of expected churn and guys falling out Through poor play and guys earning their way up in through good play So I don't know if Where the balance stands and after playoffs and this remaining signature events and majors if that becomes less less potentially, I don't, I don't know the answer to that, but we will see, but just something worth bonding. There's a, you know what sucks though, sorry, like the signature event model, like it's the PGA championship proved to me that that would be, that would work. Like the PGA championship was a signature event with all the live guys included.

Yeah. And I, and it was a shootout, it was a birdie fest. I know that's not really what we want a major to look like, ideally, but I loved it because you got to see Bryson and you got Brooks involved and you truly got the best field in golf. And it's like, so then I guess back to the original question, has it been a good golf year? In a lot of ways, no, because it's proven to me that without those guys, the signature events don't feel like anything.

They just don't feel as good as they could be. You do feel like you're missing something, and that's a shame for just golf. It's like year one, it was like, oh, this is all new and a few good breaks. It's like, yeah, this seems to be working. And then it's a bit of a sophomore slump of like, ah, dude, can new and a few good breaks. It's like, yeah, this seems to be working. And then it's a bit of a sophomore slump of like, dude, can we just get everybody back together? Like, damn, like, I would love to see Rahmet Memorial. Fuck.

I know. I know. Last one. Stit Git 28. Do you guys agree with Big Bob skipping Memorial? We can go quickly on this one. Yes, I'm all if you need to Go have lunch. If you need to. Yeah, don't go play if your heart's not there. Yeah, go do what you want. Take a week, I got you. Turn down a spot at a $20 million tournament, I'm all in on that.

So we have a lot to look forward to in the remainder of this week, season finale of Tora Sauce tonight, 9 p.m. Eastern time, Kingston Heath Championship match. No spoilers on who is in it, in case people have not watched it. Solly versus this guy, let's go baby. I literally just said don't spoil it in case people haven't watched the season. Oh sorry. I thought you meant don't spoil the ending. No. I don't know. I mean they probably saw some stuff. Alright well that's off the hook. I think the thousand people watching live, sorry.

I could tell you were getting ready to do it. I was like, no, don't spoil it, don't spoil it. That is tonight, 9 p.m. Eastern time, Kingston Heath. We'll be back with a live show this coming Sunday after the memorial reps. A lot of travel going on this week. If you don't see us on socials as much during the memorial, that's probably why.

Another US Open preview podcast coming out tomorrow, recapping the last three US Opens at Pinehurst. And of course, be sure to check out the podcast that posted overnight with Brando Chamblis rehashing some of our beefs, talking distance, US Open, all kinds of stuff that I think is well worth your time as well. So we're pumping out the content. If you want to learn more about that, you can become a NEST member. You can, where can people do that, Neil? NoLayingUp.com forward slash join. I believe it is. That is exactly where you go.

And we have a newsletter going out tomorrow. So all this, if you want to bi-week, bi-monthly update on all this stuff, newsletter.NoLayingUp.com is another great resource. So I will end it right there. We will all end it right there. Thank you so much for tuning in to another happy hour. See you back here Sunday night. We'll see you tonight for the premiere at 9pm Eastern time as well. Thank you for tuning in. Cheers. Cheers.