No Laying Up - Golf Podcast - 855 - Friday U.S. Open Live Show

Episode Date: June 15, 2024

Ludvig Aberg is your solo 36 hole leader at Pinehurst. We are joined by Harry Higgs to discuss the course and set up so far, Neil joins to discuss Rory, and KVV calls in to discuss his day around the course. We run down the leaderboard, lay some nuggies down on who thing think will win, and more. 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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Be the right club. Be the right club today. 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 NoLayingUp live show presented as always by our friends at high noon. Solly here, DJ Pye is here. Hello, Dej.

Greetings, guys. Good to be with you. Another excellent, excellent day out of Pinehurst. Fantastic day. Well, maybe. We'll see. We'll see what Big Randy has to say because he's here with us tonight on this Friday evening. Hello, Big.

Hey, guys. Great to be here. I'm excited to get some takes off Friday evening. Hello, Big. Hey guys, great to be here. Excited to get some takes off this evening. A lot to discuss. A great leaderboard, great golf course. We might have some people popping in and out throughout the course of the night. No matter the forecast though, you can live like the sun's always out with high noon hard seltzer made with real spirits and real juice. Text some friends to get the plans going go and pick up a pack on the way. High noon is 100 calories and no added sugar

available in vodka seltzer and tequila seltzer. Variety packs with crisp delicious flavors for every occasion under the sun. Guys, I don't know when there would be a raspberry occasion or a plum occasion, but that's what we're on tonight. We're on both of those. Visit highnoonspirits.com to find a pack near you. High noon, sun's up. DJ, I'm gonna throw it to you first. What's the both of those. Visit highnoonspirits.com to find a pack near you. High Noon, Suns Up.

Dej, I'm gonna throw it to you first. What's the highlight of the day? Hard to beat, you know, if we're really drilling into the moments. Hard to beat Rory's degreening on, you know, degreening and then chipping in. That's about as good as it gets from a like, Pinehurst experience standpoint. So I'll go there. Randy, I'll leave the board mostly open for you. Highlights. My highlight, listen, I'm gonna play it straight.

I think it's fascinating weekend ahead with a youngish phenom Ludwig. Looks like he's probably gonna be a solo leader after 36 holes with a really interesting group of guys chasing him and honestly you could make a case we'll get into what we expect out of the course and the conditions this this weekend but I like is Scheffler out of it I'm I'm struggling to figure out like who's actually out of this tournament. So I I think that's really fun heading into Saturday. Could be our widest how far back is too far back ever. I think so. You know, honestly, some of these guys have missed the cut might not even be out of it. The highlight of the day, I mean, it probably would have to be Francesco Molinari making an ace

to make the cut. Literally needing to make an ace to make the cut and actually doing it on his final hole. Very rarely do you get a ninth or 18th hole that is a par three where that could happen? Very rarely do they hole it and that happened today but I mean the highlight the biggest buzzworthy moment of the day was all three players the top three players in the world all missing left on five earlier and just making a complete mess of it and just like It it it honestly, you know, we kind of joke about this sometimes of like, Oh, that made me feel better about my own game. But like, watching them also fail miserably at that shot, like on repeat for a couple of those guys was like,

Okay, well, finders is just that hard, man. It really is that hard. And that was that was a big highlight. That was like the most buzz worthy moment of the day that happened. So that was fantastic. What, what do we we got a lot to chat about here? What do we what's what's a grade for Rory? We have a lot to chat about. Do we want to just go through what we have to chat about? Sure, we can definitely that he's been putting together these agendas, you know, we got to get we got

to get to the you know, it's you know, it's I'm dealing with a laggy connection here. I don't know what's going on with my video here. We're working through the problem. Do I look better? I hope I look better at least. But yeah, we're gonna we're gonna grade Rory's round. We're gonna check in with the block party. See what's going on there We might get a little pop in for that We need to hear Randy's thoughts on pine. Her's of course check out on the leaderboard We're gonna play our games how far back is too far back lingering and loitering a bunch of other stuff We might get another guest pop in might get two more guest pop ins for all we know good

You know talk about some various items that happened today. We're gonna try to draft the winner. We're gonna play a little game for that earlier. I'm excited to test this one out. Talk about some of the guys that missed the cut. Get to some listener questions as well. But as the new kind of owner, co-owner, investor in the block party, Dej, I'm wondering,

kind of what do we give Rory as a grade for today? I would say B minus, you know yesterday I thought was was an a a plus You know just like really really hard one to follow up That's that's kind of hit been his his MO in the majors is just like I'm gonna go You know take just tank one of these rounds and shoot myself out of it clearly did not have his best stuff today Didn't putt it very good today But still right there still hanging in two shots back. Like I think we're in to shoot myself out of it clearly did not have his best stuff today didn't putt it very good today but still right there still hanging in two shots back like

I think we're in we're in a great spot. I think it was kind of a test. He didn't study for B minus type of type of thing. What did uh what were you at? Yeah, I think B minus is pretty good. Uh you know didn't didn't play himself out of it, but I can't tell if I'm just doing a pee in the potty. Congratulations to him. You know, Ludwig had an A minus round today, right? And Rory did go backwards. It wasn't overly, overly difficult out there today.

And if he wants to win this thing, you know, probably needed to keep that thing around 70. I'd feel a lot better about his chances if he was sitting there. But Randy, what do you think? I think I agree with that, Tali. I, you know, I kind of see both sides of it. Listen, if this is his bad round,

I think it's totally fine for his chances this weekend. He's hitting the ball great, didn't putt it well today. I feel like that can come and go a little bit. And so, yeah, I guess I'm in that B- range. It was okay. It was fine. He didn't lose the tournament, you know? What happened at the party? Why are you guys so down? This is the worst it's going to be. You guys were fine. B- is great.

Come on. Cody, you know what I was thinking? It's like you're lining up a festival or something. You know Friday is going to be the slowest day. For sure. We're not blowing it all out today. We've got a couple fireworks. Especially after- Keep the people who bought tickets interested. And then it's mostly about taking care of slowest day. For sure. You know, we're not we're not blowing it all out today. Well, we've got a couple of fireworks, especially a lot tickets interested, you know, and then it's mostly about taking care of the VIPs today. They're getting you know,

they're going to get back home for the weekend so they can hang out with the family. And then once, you know, Saturday, Sunday, we'll turn it we'll turn it up and it's gonna be great. It's especially hard coming off of Thursday because you know, we we decided to play a little EDM from the beginning just to get the vibes up a little bit. And then he just kind of kept it going. And the EDM stayed on. And then next thing you know, like, it became a big day. So I was gonna, you know, I thought I would be a little let down today. But overall, I thought this was, you know, as, as well as it could have gone. Relatively speaking,

and sorry, I see you shaking your head. No, no, I'm just like yesterday, you're all in in on Scotty like beating Rory today and I know and that clearly didn't happen like you gotta give it you gotta give the guy a little bit of credit here I do I'm just I'm laughing at this is the worst it's gonna be just you sweet sweet summer child right like that's it's it can it can it can be worse trust me it could be worse it definitely can so. I, and I'm not at the block party. I want that to be very clear. I recognize its existence, but I am, I'm not attending. I don't plan to attend. So I'm hanging back. Randy had his agent reach out to see if there were any guest passes floating around. And we said, I don't think that'd be a

good idea for anybody. No, he technically didn't reach out, but he did one of his representatives were like, Oh, just, uh, yeah, Brady might be in town. He was thinking about maybe swinging by. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Guys, I do have somebody though, our next guest that we have, like, he truly needs no introduction. He's a longtime supporter of the block party. He was in without him. It's truly

the groundwork at some point in time, we're going to put on purple gloves and handle the sleeves off of his shirt. It's truly the groundwork at some point in time. We're going to put on purple gloves and handle the sleeves off of his shirt. That's how important he is to this overall a stat establishment. Usually he calls in live from Carroll Gardens, New York City this week. He's coming from the short hills area of New Jersey. You can find him. He spends his weekdays usually at the Flushing Metal Pitching Putt. His week ends as a guest at the Creek Club He's the son of Steve and Peg brother to Steven husband of Carson and this weekend making his appearance his debut

The first time ever thanks to little Pete as a father on Father's Day weekend He's a two-time Tura sauce world champion and the current NLU title belt holder He is our merch czar Icarito and somebody who led a lot of people down. Mahalo, gentlemen. Mahalo. Tony, thank you. Thank you for that. Until that drive by at the very end. I'm happy to be here. I want to be very clear about a couple of things. First, I never disowned the block party. I'm thrilled that there's a party going on.

I just didn't feel like it was right for me to be planning it. And honestly, it's been very liberating. And I've done a lot of reflecting since Valhalla. I felt like a slain warrior myself after Valhalla. I took a lot of inspiration from Stefan Schauffele, Xander's father, and how I'm approaching this block party. I think Stefan realized he needed to take a step back from Xander. And I think I was holding Rory back and I needed to step aside.

I don't have pride of authorship over the block party. I want it to thrive. I want it to go on even if I'm not planning it. Would love to attend. All of that is true. And I think it needed a kind of a fresh set of eyes from a day to day operations standpoint. So I got out of a kind of a fresh set of eyes from a day to day operation standpoint. So I got out of it and I'm exploring what's next. I've been on a bit of a walkabout,

trying to figure out how to spend some time. I got some ideas, exploring some other startups. I was able to play in a 36-hole Met Golf Association event yesterday, kind of explore my own golf career a little bit. And I'm thinking about starting a health and wellness retreat out here in the Hills of New Jersey. So I've been talking to Stefan about that. So yeah, you know, it's good to be here. Dej, Cody, I wish you guys well. I do want to say that, you know, you got to be a steward of this party. And I think it would be wise for you guys to remember that before you try to profit off of it prematurely. I think Solly had some wise words for you. These things can get out of hand. And so I just want you to proceed with caution, but I am, on a sincere note, I'm fucking fired up for Rory. And I would love to come smash some nooners with you guys this weekend, if you'll have me.

T.C. said it looks like you're calling it for passages of Malibu. Oh, it is a very deep cut. Really, just, you know, it might be smoking some meats in the back here at my in-laws place. Come on. You know, I'm ready. Like I'm ready to go. I'm ready to go. I'm ready to go. I'm ready to go. I'm ready to go. I'm ready to go. I'm ready to go. I'm ready to go. I'm ready to go. I'm ready to go. I'm ready to go. I'm ready to go. I'm ready to go. I'm ready to go.

I'm ready to go. I'm ready to go. I'm ready to go. I'm ready to go. I'm ready to go. I'm ready to go. I'm ready to go. I'm ready to go. I'm ready to go. I'm ready to go. I'm ready to go. I'm ready to go. I'm ready to go. I'm ready to go. I'm ready to go. I'm ready to go. I'm ready to go. I'm ready to go. I'm ready to go. I'm happy. I look like I could be at a block party right now. I might be smoking some meats in the back here at my in-laws place. Come on, I'm ready. If you guys, if you need me, I'm here. I hope I have left it in carrying stable hands and not with, as TC said, some private equity goons that are trying to just support the VIPs.

I didn't like what I was hearing there at the beginning of the show. Yeah, I think that's a short sighted view from from T.C. You know, I think I think there's a realism involved here. I think we've seen this in the world of pro golf, that if you want to bury your head in the sand and pretend like this is a, you know, a children's book that we're we're reading here, then then go ahead and do that. But this is real adult stuff. And we've this is a real business that we're running. And I think it's time for some adults to get involved.

And, you know, Cody and I have have been happy to take up that mantle. Uh, no, we're just talking grades, uh, for, for Rory. What, what'd you think of his round today? What impressed you? What'd you like? What'd you not like? Uh, so I kind of locked it on coverage this morning. Um, a little later, uh, might've snuck out and played around golf this morning as well, uh, which was great. You know, I got a lot of free time, having to play in the block party. So I loved it on five. So you referenced it earlier. Just Rory just taking his medicine as Johnson Wagner said and just

bumping it up over the green. That was the most relevant to turn that on and see those guys struggle in that same spot that I've been in Countless times at Pinehurst was that was awesome hickory match on tour sauce Yes, they were just we're down there for like 40 minutes playing ping-pong and it's like, oh my god You can't be there all three of them are there two of them make the mistake of trying to get cute and and I thought Rory made the Grown-up decision of just bumping it over the green and to putting and getting out of there with parks. It was awesome. I thought his... The other thing I noticed watching from then on is he didn't have his A game, but it felt like his driver is still locked in. And I think I said it

during the PGA championship, that's his superpower. I remember it at Augusta. It's like when his driver's not there, it's like, dude, he kind of canceled, cancel it. Like it's, it's just, if he doesn't have like his superpower, it's, it's a tough ask. And I feel like he does have it this week. So that makes me, you know, bullish. I, I like kind of liked what I saw. I thought he grinded it out and stayed patient. One guy, one guy drove better than him today. As far as strokes game, that was Ludwig was the only guy. Yeah like that's that's to me you know that's pretty good spot he went backwards two strokes that's you know obviously not ideal but I think if I had to give a grade I like your B minus I think I think B minus is a

good one like he's you know hopefully they're grading on a curve this week um you know like they did at Columbia and and we can bump that up to an A-. Sorry, I was dealing with a tough connection but I'm back. But just getting off, like 9 PM, I forget what time it was last night, just Neil finally realizing that Rory was T1 was like, that was just cinema to me. That was amazing. I didn't have my phone all day. Rory's T1? It's like, yes, T1 all day.

And then I saw you guys just sullying my name, dragging me through the mud after, you know, after I was grinding my nuts off for 36 holes. It was tough, man. It was tough to see the guys that I thought I left my baby with. I thought I left it in good hands. And, you know, Cody, I don't know when it got contentious, man. I don't know why. Like, I'm not trying to take it back. I don't need the ownership. You can have the ownership, gentlemen. I don't know why. I'm not trying to take it back. I don't need the ownership. You can have the ownership, gentlemen. I'm not even an owner here. They brought me on.

I was brought over from the old command, your command. I will say there's a couple things. Cops have been called a couple times. One time you didn't pay caterers. You tried to bring strippies over at Valhalla. I think that's what that PE money was for. You guys are supposed to solve those problems. That's why I left.

I'm happy to hear this tone with you now because this isn't the way that it was a couple hours ago. You were talking lawyers. You were talking about, hey, my equity shares. I didn't even want to bring this up, Cody, or for that to be on the screen. There's a lot of things. You're making statements. Hey, you goons would be smart enough to drop me out as a valuable figurehead when things get dicey this weekend. This is a complete change tone. What you have discovery. We're not in a deposition here.

That's that's scummy. That's scummy. Right. People say stuff. Come on. At the moment, I talk to step and I I'm gonna get my health and wellness thing, my perspective has changed. I've decided that I don't want that.

I don't want that fight. I want Roy to win. That's what I want. Here, here. Well, we look forward to watching. I'm sure we'll have an update on the party as of tomorrow. But I know you're supposed to be off tonight. We thank you for popping in, Neil.

Of course. You know, I don't even know what side I stand on any of this. I didn't like how you were running the party. I don't like how these guys are running the party. I think me and Randy are just going to be hanging out somewhere else, just kind of taking in the golf as it goes. Randy, it's liberating. Not being there on site is liberating.

I think you've been on to something these past couple of years. But no, sincerely like what I saw from Rory, I'm going to finish this nooner. I'm going to get some transdental meditation going. I'm a newory. I'm gonna finish this noon or I'm gonna get some transcendental meditation going It's just I'm a new man. You know, I'm Searching for my next project. I might have to get heroic on LinkedIn start put some heroic posts out there But how freed up I am now that I don't have the block party looming over me But would love to come have some fun with you guys and smoke some meats. So gentlemen, thanks for having me. Thank you All right, Randy, it's time to put you on the stand now. It's been a wonderful 36 holes at the US Open.

You were on the show last night. It's time to talk a little, Pinehurst. You're hard on the USGA every year. You don't ever like the setup. Please, please, please tell me you've enjoyed 36 holes this tournament so far. Yeah, well, I mean, what are we talking about? Is the course hard enough? Do I like how hard it is? No, it's a little easy so far. Yeah, I mean, well, I mean, what are

we talking about? Is is the course hard enough? Do I like how hard it is? No, it's a little easy so far. A lot of guys in red. I mean, if if there's a 65 out there, it's too easy. Period. Point blank. Nobody should be shooting 65.

I'm a real US Open, not my US Open. I think I counted 22 guys today under par and everybody's telling me, Randy, wait for the weekend. Wait for the weekend. I just, I don't trust the USGA to really get diabolical. I, I think it might

get a little bit crispier but I'm not sure we're headed towards, you know, the, the winner being even par worse, which is like my dream, dream scenario. So, like, it's okay. You know, I can appreciate it. It's, it's, it's a good golf

course. The guys have to hit good shots like, yeah, cool. I, I, I understand all of that. It's just not as scary and it's it's a good golf course the guys have to hit good shots like yeah cool I I understand all of that. It's just not as scary and it's not as like Fear inducing as I would like straight up. I Honestly, I struggle to think of a golf course that can hold this well with no wind like I don't know like a setup in A golf course that could hold up better than this one has so far like I do think it's scary as shit Like I think those guys are terrified of going long and left and right of all these greens. There's nobody that's not gotten their hand caught

in the cookie jar on one of these holes. And that's with no conditions for mother nature, absolutely none. And 93 degree heat where like you have to be putting water on the greens or it literally becomes unplayable. I also would just point out for the historical record, there were no sixty-fives today. So just just be advised on on that front. Hideki shot sixty-six. Sixty-six.

I know. I I'm seeing a couple of AMs under part of it. Listen, II realize what I want. We might not ever see it again and I'm trying to come to terms with that. It's hard to hold that standard, but that's truly what I want. So from that perspective, it's not quite as difficult as I would like, but I point well taken. I'm not saying it's an easy course.

I'm just saying, when I look at the board, it's a lot of guys under par. But I do think that the course is playing well, I think guys have to execute a lot of shots. It's it's great runoffs like Sally, this I recognize this is a dream, dream golf course for I believe what you love about professional golf. And so I'm happy for you. It's it's not quite there for me yet. We'll see this weekend. Maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised. But that's where I stand.

I can't help feeling how I feel. That's fair. That's fair. OK, let's just go a quick roundtable here. So Randy thinks it's not too hard. All right, it's correct. Is that right? Randy thinks it's not too hard.

Too easy. No, too easy. Randy thinks it's too easy. It's a touch too easy. Dej, do you think it's too easy? I don thinks it's not too easy. No, sorry Rainy thinks it's too easy. It's a touch too easy Deeds do you think it's too easy? I don't think it's too easy. I don't I don't I don't think I would fare very well Okay, Cody. Do you think it's too easy? No, absolutely not. Come on big. All right, and Harry Hicks. Do you think do you think it was too easy? Absolutely, he says Wi-Fi sucks it. I don't know if he's gonna be able to hear us, but Harry are you there?

Can you hear me? Can you hear me? Oh yeah. Dang it. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Well, his wifi does suck too much, but Harry Higgs is trying to jump on and tell us.

I'm guessing that it was not too easy. Damn it! I was really hoping to time that perfectly. Oh well. Okay. We tried. Did you guys hear anything? I did not hear.

Of course. We heard him flying the whole time. Well, I can't hear you. Go ahead and talk, buddy. Tell us about your day. Tell us about fighting. Yes, sir. Yeah, Randy, it's not too easy.

I don't know why you're smoking, man. Harry, Harry, what happened? The US Open when I was growing up, it used to be, you know, over par would win these championships sometimes. I'm just par matter. People are better at golf now. People are better off. I don't know.

Then the courses should get more difficult harder. I don't know how you can make this one more difficult. I truly don't. I truly don't. It would turn into a clown show. If you made this. Harry, do you know how much fun a clown show is to watch? And now that I'm not having to play it, I would love that too, yes.

Thank you, thank you. Like a clown show is literally all I want. I don't know how you make it harder. Really, it's going to be 95 degrees again, I think they are close to the next two days. We might get a clown show. I Hope so How Harry how close to kind of the quote-unquote the edge? Did you feel like it is out there and and you know, you said you don't know how they can make it harder

What what's where we going from here? Well, it's going to get harder I would assume I Well, it's going to get harder, I would assume. I didn't think it was really awfully close to quote unquote the edge. I don't know that I have a ton of experience with quote unquote the edge. Other than Bay Hill, Bay Hill is always on edge. But no, I mean, I thought it was fantastic. I saw I think it was from today Roy's quote about the shot he hit into eight where it needed to landed 146.

If it lands 148, it's over the green. If it lands 144, it spins off, potentially goes off the green. I mean, that's basically what it is. There's some holes where you have, I'd say a five by five, and then a lot of holes you have kind of three by three, two by two, where if you don't land it there it's not staying on the green and there's really not a great side to be on any of the holes the hard part about is when you miss the green or even when you hit it on the green you know and it collects into a low area you have to you still although they are crazy fast and getting

faster you still have to hit some of these putts, chips or putts from off the green so hard so that you don't look like a fool and leave it at your feet. But then it just drifts off, you know, six, eight, 10 feet away. And then those six to 10 footers are no fun to try to haul. I've also never ever seen, and this might be a comment and a good job by the, I guess, the USGA. I've never never ever seen and this might be a comment and a good job by that I guess the USGA I've never seen so many I don't know how they figure this out but I've never seen so many putts like clearly on I don't do the aim point shit but clearly on a percent or percent and a half two

percent let's say left to right with the grain going the other way I don't know how they did that. It doesn't make sense to me. Gravity should take over and win. But yeah, it was miserable trying to hold putts, especially those ones for par. Sorry, I missed part of this. My connection was not working great. But what you walk off this, not having a successful week, what do you walk off and say like, all

right, here's what I, what I could have, should have done better or how I can get better to be able to compete on a stage like that. What do you walk away being like, ah, there's where I got exposed this week. Yeah. Uh, I mean, honestly, it was skills were, I'd say slightly lacking. Um, I don't know if the numbers would bear it out, but I thought I drove the ball well enough. And then just kind of like my touch and feel, like go back to Rory's quote, like if I'm trying to hit it 144, the damn thing has got to go 144.

Yeah, and I was just a little bit off there. And if you miss strikes, you know, technical stuff, I guess you'd say, but I thought I thought pretty clearly, my goal for the week was to not paint. I haven't played this kind of golf in a while. And we don't really play this kind of golf on the PJ tour and no offense to the corn fairy tour, but I've certainly not played this golf, you know, the last six, seven weeks. So my kind of goal was to just not be I guess, wowed or scared of any of the shots that you may have to hit. And I did do a good job of that. But like you just your

brain takes over a lot of times and bails over to what you think is the safe side. And then if you get that number wrong, it's not safe anymore. It's a great test. Even though it kicked me square in the mouth, I did enjoy it. What would you say, as far as like, we talk a lot on this show, as you know, and as you have talked on this show about how to test the best players in the world, what kind of test works best? Should they grow the rough?

Should they grow more trees? Should they? All of that stuff? Where does this stack up as far as like what you think should be, you know, a test for the best players in the world? Do you like things like this? Do you would you change things? I don't think any of it would come off as sour grapes if it was to change things, but I'm just curious what your takeaway was. No, yeah, get rid of the rough habit to be where our balls are. If you are off our balls are just going to roll further and further and further away from the hole. And then

the really the only thing that I can think of is what Pinehurst has here is at times kind of wild tons of slopes and fast greens. And then obviously firm them up and hopefully you get the weather that keeps them firm, which we have and we will continue to have this week. But that's all besides length but I don't think length does anything anyway. Guys fly the ball 325 plus yards anymore So it just really doesn't matter that much. Yeah, I mean, I've not to to pine hearse horn too much, but this would be it. I mean, crazy, crazy firm greens with a shit ton of slope. And then don't be afraid to throw pins right on top of the slopes and have us, you know, be asked to hit it. If you, back to Rory, if you have to hit it 144,

like dude, you gotta hit it 144. That I think is a great examination. And there's a little bit of luck involved in some of that too. There's probably a couple of guys that have hit 145 or 146 and it stayed and others that have hit it 146 and it goes up the green, they make double. But luck's okay to get involved every now and again. What is the what's the one hole out there that's like just gives you nightmares? Like what's what's the scariest? Six, six, six.

So hard. Six is the hardest golf ball I've ever seen in my entire life. I was so worried. We you have to like hit it you have to like flop ideally fade a four, probably a four maybe a five iron. I have a seven wood but it was going to go a little too long. So we took a degree of loft off my four iron to get it to go higher in the air to try to land it. You have to land it like eight or nine on that green with some fade and hope it also bounces. And then yesterday they moved the tee up a little bit so

it was actually a pretty good number for a five iron but you still have to you know land it in there and that hole was giving me nightmares in the practice rounds giving me nightmares like I just I don't want to play six I don't want to play six. I hit it 18 feet below the hole and then blew it like four and a half feet by missed it. So it's just like, even when you do get it on the frickin green. It's still hard. Six is six is pretty brutal. The par threes are extremely difficult. Nine nine is the only one I think is that maybe two guys made frickin hole in ones on that hole today. Nine is the only

one that's maybe a little much. I'm really curious if they're going to use the front left on nine or if they're going to put two pins over on the right now that they use to up on the left. Nine's a bit much. What else? Yeah, going down the leaderboard here. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I mean, TC and I have a lot in common. I can certainly talk.

I've got plenty of time, too, where I think my whole family and my in-laws are out there watching this and they're cooking burgers. So I've got some time until dinner. Well, that's, I was just getting ready to send you on your way because we got another guest coming in here as well. Didn't mean to send you on your way because we got another guest

Sorry best in the beginning I couldn't hear you as well But appreciate you popping on congrats on all your success Great to see you back on the on the scene playing as well as you have and can't wait to see what you got next Coming for us man. It's been awesome to watch Thank you very much cheers, thanks Harry All right, can I can. Can I respond real quick? Please, your rebuttal. I think he used the word great. I think he used the word fantastic.

That's not what I'm looking for. I'm looking for broken people mentally. And he sure didn't seem that. So I think we can get a little harder. I was going to try to work some kind of transition into this break and I couldn't. I got nothing. I was going to go for, you know, from broken people, people, you know, the company that can put things back together. Mizuho Americas, they are part of the Mizuho Financial Group, which is the 15th largest bank in the world. Mizuho Americas is a corporate and investment bank serving corporate and institutional clients.

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For more information, if you'd like it, Mizuhoamericas.com. Again, that's Mizuhoamericas.com. I wanna thank them for advising on the block party deal as well. They were the ones that put that one together. That would have been the transition. Damn it.

Thank you, Deitch. It was for legal reasons. That's not true. We got our guy that's been on the ground. Mr. Kevin Van Valkenburg spent the day again at the US Open at Pinehurst. He's calling up from the media center. Hello, KVV. How are you? Hello, boys. It's always a pleasure to come join you on a Friday. How, uh, how was your day? What was the highlight of your day? What did you see out there today?

It was hot and sweaty. Sorry. Uh, you know what my highlight of my day, Randy, it did this for you and me. I went and watched Phil play a last couple holes. And I thought a lot about, uh, kind of what Phil has meant to me over the years as a as a player, as a jokester, as a lunatic. Watched him, you know, 99 was kind of when I fell in love with golf in a lot of ways. I remember watching it from, you know, I think I said this on our recap pod, the newsroom with the Great Falls Tribune and calling my dad in

disappointment when Phil didn't win and I watched him hit a shot on 17 like he hit back in the final round of ninety-nine and then watched him drive it into the trees and try a a wicked recovery shot on eighteen and hit it

dead into a branch and watch it drop down to his feet and took one of my favorite pictures of all time of him uh sort of standing there looking down at all the consequences of his choices. And it was just kind of a kind of a little bit emotional moment for me. I was like, ah, this is my guy, Phil. And man, he's done some done some shit over the years or the next decade. But I don't know that I would be here if it wasn't for Phil and 2014 and 1999. And so I don't think there's any chance uh he's coming back for twenty twenty-nine when they come back here. So, I'm sort of

kind of like a little bit of a a hat tip send off to just a truly uh truly an American life lived in many ways. He has done some things. I can't can't confirm that. It does seem like what is he about to turn 54 or close to turning 54? It's 54 on Sunday. Being T150 and shooting 15 over, that adds up. That makes sense. That makes more sense than winning one of these at 50 when he did three years ago,

right? So it's kind of, I'm not here to dunk on Phil's performance at all, but it does seem like both with Tiger and Phil, we might be closing a chapter here quite, quite soon. He's got exemptions for a while, but I mean, I don't, I, Oh, he's the exemption runs out after next year for the US Open. He'll be at Oakmont. But then, you know, the PGA, US Open happened after the PGA when he won it. So he's, his last, next year is the last year of his exemption. How do you guys feel about, I mean, yeah, USJ has their their special exemptions that they've

they've given to legends of the game throughout the years. I gotta I gotta imagine fills in line for at least one of those if he wants one. Maybe maybe I mean they offered it to him and he didn't have to take it when he won the PGA. So I am sort of curious as to whether that offer will still be good after all the shit that's come and gone since then. Who knows? I mean, the name of the lawsuit was Mickelson et al. Like it had his name on it, right? Like I-

For the PGA tour though, you know? Yeah, he didn't see the PGA. Yeah, USGA was involved in, like there were, everyone got roped in on that. Yeah, he's definitely been shit talking to all the majors too for price fixing and such, and who knows what'll come out about that in the future. I mean, if it happens, great.

If it doesn't, I think he's sort of at peace with whatever has come and gone. And I don't know, it was just kind of a moment for me and for you, Randy, to sort of say, adios to our guy at US Opens. Phil should see if he can keyster a special exemption. And I'm just looking at these future venues, maybe like, oh, thank you guys, that's very nice.

But I'm gonna actually use this 2031 at RIV. I'm gonna, I'll see you guys then. It's almost like a major medical or something like that. I love that. You know, I was thinking, KVV, I'm glad you went out there because they were showing them a bit on the late afternoon sleepy coverage. And I really think, I'm struggling off the top of my head.

Was it the last time they were at Shinnecock? When did he do the hitting the ball while it was still rolling? I mean, I felt like that was- That was at Oakmont. No, it was at Shinnecock. 2018. 2018.

Oh, you're right, you're right, sorry. Yeah, that's why I thought it was at Shinnecock. That was kind of the end for Phil and US Open for me. Metaphorically, that's why I thought I was at Chinacocca. That was kind of the end for Phil in US Open for me. That that you know, um metaphorically that closed the book. Uh we could get the true closing of the book next year perhaps. Um yeah, he's god. What what a

what a guy. So many runners up here. So, did you get to see any? Yeah. Sorry, Kev. Did you get to see any? Sorry, did you get to see any good golf today? Did you get anyone at the top of the leaderboard that maybe uh maybe people want to hear about? Yeah, I walked with Ludwig a little bit uh and man like it's just I think the one thing that keeps coming to my brain when I watch him, it's just how like unbelievably calm he seems like

just it's you know, I don't think it's quite robotic. That's not right. It's just like a guy who's just like nothing seems to stress him out all that much and I watched him hit like a great shot into the seventh or sorry, not a great shot into the seventh. Kind of ended up 30 feet short and he just rolled a great putt like up over Ridge to about three feet and knocked it in. It was like no stress whatsoever like some of these things that keep guys are putting off greens.

I watched DJ make a mess of the same hole and just I was like, man, I don't know. It might be Ludwig time. I was thinking about this a lot today too, Kev. It's like, just because it looks like nothing's going on nerve wise doesn't mean there is nothing going on, right? He even alluded to that. Like you got asked about that, I think yesterday or today,

I forget when it was. And he said, I'm nervous every time I play. We don't see that, right? He even alluded to that. I think he got asked about that, I think yesterday or today, I forget when it was. He said, I'm nervous every time I play. We don't see that, right? It does look incredibly easy when he does it. But I don't know, I'm, I'm just, I'm very curious to see how this is going to go, right? I really could see Ludwig being a six time major winner, or I could see him being zero, right? I don't, it's really easy to give these things away at this point. And, gosh, we're gonna learn a lot about him this weekend. That went about as good as it possibly could have so far. He's hit 26 of 28 fairways while hitting it over 300 yards on average. That's including the tee shots where he's hitting irons. He's hitting 317 on the one that, averaging 317 on the ones they're measuring. And he's hit 30 of 36 greens so far.

I guess my only pushback there would be did you learn anything when he shot 69 in the final round of the Masters? We learned a lot that day too. Sure. Like he just looked really fucking good. He did but shooting 69 in the final round of the Masters and winning are two different things right? I mean I sure you know. So I think you made a good first year. Slack about like what if he what if like the generation comparison is like he's driving it as long as like Davis Love the third did and he's like driving it as straight as Fred Funk did like of that sort of generation. Like that seems kind of unfair to do that.

And my point is like his floor is so crazy high. Like he drives it long, incredibly straight and hits his irons great. Like it is almost tough for him to not be around and in contention to these things right that's kind of that's more of my point than like hey let's go see it close what great is his third major he's got 10 15 more before we start saying hey man it's pride time you win one of these things that's not what I'm saying it's just like no we've seen the floor it's insanely high just like what is what is the shape of your career gonna look like I and I say we gonna learn this weekend, but even if it doesn't happen for him this weekend

That doesn't mean he's not gonna win five six majors. So it's it's freakish talent We're just gonna see if he's got killer instinct and I mean gosh he could fucking go run away with this thing this weekend We're we're gonna do our auction a little later to see how much people are how much people are willing to put Nuggets down on him to go go out and close this thing and win it this weekend. Uh one last thing that I did see today that I wanted to kind of talk about is uh Sam Sam Barristo uh England's Sam Barristo left hander. He shot an eighty-four in the first round and he turned around today and shot a

sixty-seven and as that was sort of unfolding, I went out and grabbed him as I watched him play his last two holes and and got him afterwards and shout shout out to Sam, who said he's a No Lang Up podcast listener. It's the biggest turnaround from round one to round two, according to Justin Ray, in 40 years at the US Open. They go 84-67. Obviously, dude had no chance of making the cut.

Would have had to shoot essentially like 69 or 50. But I think just loved that grind. The guy went out there and was like, all right, I his short game hit the first day was so incredibly bad. He'd lost, I think, like almost seven strokes, excuse me, more than seven strokes have it in the piece. Seven strokes around the greens, which was twice as many just about as anybody else, which is fucking insane. And just to go out and like, make a ton of Bert make me I think meet five birdies, six birdies today. That and just to go out and like make a

ton of make me I think meet five birdies, six birdies today. That was awesome. Like I he we chatted for a bit and he was like, yeah, I just kinda went last night and went to Chick-fil-A and then went to bed. Like Chick-fil-A always

cheers me up and so that I thought, well, this is a good thing to do and I'm gonna go uh go get it tomorrow and he he said he was kinda just still quite as nervous. Freddie was gonna be like, people are gonna be, what the fuck is this guy doing here?

And he just played great. He birdied the fifth hole, he knocked a three wood on the fifth hole and two putter for birdie, which I'm sure Scottie or Xander would have loved to have done today. So that was, I love the grind. I mean, when guys like JT and DJ are like,

kind of shot a shitty round in the first round and then still ended up kind of going further backwards, I think it says something about Sam that he went out and went low. I always, Kevin, I know we've talked about this in the past, but, uh, I have no idea what, what Sam Bearstow's, uh, career holds. I don't know where he'll go from, from, from here, but I love like identifying those butterfly effect moments, you know, like I remember asking ZB, which, who I think maybe you watched a little bit today as well, like, Hey man, do you remember like one shot, one hole, one round where your career just like flip? He's like, absolutely. I remember like it was yesterday. It was this round in Columbus. I had this going on. Here's what happened the day before I went into this boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. And he laid it all out, like every round of this like random corn fairy event. And just, you know, around like this for a guy like that is like

probably kind of a middling, you know, European tour pro. And it's like, now it's like, Oh, maybe I, you know, put that one in my back pocket and I'm a different guy after this. I just, I love stories like that. Glad you, glad you hunted him down. If that happens, it's on the fourth hole, he drove it in the bunkers on the right. And then from about two, I think it was two 18, he hit it to eight feet, made the putt from the fairway bunker there. So I think that, if you wanted, he said, can you identify one shot where it kind of flipped and he was like, oh yeah, that was the one

where I was like, okay, we got it today. That's great. So you got to watch a prodigious driver of the golf ball with length and accuracy, Ludwig Oberg earlier. You also got to see another one with prodigious length and accuracy, Zach Blair, I believe, up there in the top 10. What's it like watching him compete

on this on this stage of play and be competitive at a US Open? So if you're the cooler, I might truly be the heater because immediately when I rolled out and watched Zach play the first three holes, he birdied the second hole. Just threw a beautiful iron in there to the exact safe part of the green when you gotta come in from about 180. He's just it's you know he's bunting it out there and the the best that he can and he's throwing some darts with his irons and he's rolling you know when he misses the greens he's kind of choosing to all right can I put this and get it close or can I

chip it and get it close it's just fun to watch someone who play a totally different game. I mean you got this guy you know this ball speed guru Charlie Charlie writer, uh, who is, you know, hitting it like 200 miles an hour. And he's just completely like, you know, 1520 strokes worse than Zach. And so it's just so fun to see someone who cannot generate physically like that much speed still figure his way around this course. still figure his way around this course. Zach was the guy that like playing. I've played a lot of golf with him and it was it's it's the most obvious possible takeaway you can have from playing with a pro but it's just like light bulb moment of me like the ball's just always moving towards the hole right like nothing is dramatic. It's not big draws,

big fades chips aren't like overly fancy swiping across it spinning the ball is just always like hunting the hole. It's incredibly simple, but he makes it look incredibly simple. It's quite complicated, but to be able to yeah, he's in the top 10 T9 right now. He got in the house at 100 part of day. It's just fantastic. But what about like you just hitting it like to the proper spots right on the first hole, the other two guys, you know, Aaron Rye and I think Thompson hit it in the bunker. He misses it right on the right side has a kind of an easy pot right up to the to like a right up hand that he knew the other two guys, you know, Aaron Rye and and I think Thompson hit it in the bunker. He misses it right on the right

side has a kind of an easy putt right up to the to like a right up in that he knew he could miss there and get it up and down. It was awesome. I know Randy's dying to ask about this guy. We're gonna get to him next but do you see my god Big

Tone out there at all today? I did. Uh he was playing with Ludwig and uh you know like I Big Tone just keeps making putts from various spots and doing some stuff. I've not been a big Tone believer and it is like remarkable to me to watch Ludwig hit it past him. You know, Randy, because of course Tone could reach back and get that extra 30 yards whenever he really needs it.

He's got it. He's just not willing to do it just yet. But man, like it's it's a sensible game from Big Tone. I you know, would anyone be stunned? If he won this? I'd be kind of stunned. But I guess you can't really be when he's in the mix like this. I'd be pretty sad if he won it. 100% of respondents say they would be they would be done. How

the fuck did he get that ball up and down on five today? I was like I went downstairs to get get my popcorn because I thought I was gonna be able to watch the good Sick came back. I was like what do you made a birdie already? Big tone looks good, man. He's he's he's grooving it. Honestly, that would be I would be a thrill That's kind of in the Bryson camp of like, ah, whatever, just give it to me. I think that'd be really fun to watch. Oh, for sure. It's almost every, like, there's no one up there

that's enough of a heel for me to not want them to win. I mean, there's some kind of boring storylines up there, but like, give me Big Tone, give me Bryson, we'll talk Bryson here in a second. Did you get to watch any Bryson today, Kev? I did not get to watch Bryson today. Saturday's gonna be my day to pick somebody and really cocky.

Saturday is always so fun at the US Open, man. It's likely to be super hard. It's going to be chaotic. And the crowds are going to be frigging bunkers. They're going to be hopped up on barbecue and beer. I'm all in. Love it. All right, we're going to send you on your way.

Have a lovely Friday evening. Thank you so much for popping in. And we look forward to we'll be reading you tonight tomorrow is just as your will be should be up in a little bit. So sounds great. Thanks, Gab. Good night. Listen, there is gonna be a long ways to go here in the United States open but next week you win you can witness insurmountable deficits turn into

unforgettable victories at the Travelers Championship the Northeast one and only PGA Tour signature event final signature event of of the year next week. See Scotty Scheffler, Rory, Victor Hovland, Patrick Cantlay, returning champion, Keegan Bradley and other PGA Tour stars in all four days of competition at close by TPC River Highlands. The excitement tees off June 19 through the 23rd. For tickets and information, visit TravelersChampionship.com, the Travelers Championship, there's only one. Again, they got some big names, Keegan Ludwig, Patrick Cantlay, Rory, Scotty Scheffler, Victor Hovland, Max Holma, Ricky Fowler.

What a bang, bang, bang run of events here these next few weeks. But- Travelers is sweet, man. Fun golf course to watch too. It's very, very different than this, obviously, but that'll be a fun one. Yes. Dej, I was pinged on this one earlier, and I was trying to different than this, obviously, but that'll be a fun one. Yes.

Dej, I was pinging to him this one earlier, and I was trying to think about this, is we're watching Bryson on Happy Hour today, and I'm watching Bryson play golf, and I'm not getting upset. I'm not saying out loud, what a chode. I'm not getting frustrated at anything he does. I pinged you just to be like,

help me, can you help me describe how Bryson has gone from one of the most unlikable guys probably on tour to likable? Like is that fair? Is he crossed that middle point of that spectrum? I think he has for me. It sounds like he has for you. I think important to point out,

I'm sure a lot of people have felt this way about Bryson all along. You know, he does things his own way. I love the hat. I love the single length irons. This guy's a scientist. He's changing the game. I'm sure people have always been in the Bryson boats. I'm happy to make that distinction. But for me personally, I think it's probably a little bit of absence makes the hard girl fonder, right? We don't get to see him doing his thing all the time. So anytime he does pop up, it just fills my day with a little bit of a little bit of joy. I think that's a big one.

You threw out the hat, the hat changed in the hat. Everything changed. Everything. I just the highlights from Wakefoot. I was like, oh, this dude. And then you look at him now. It's like, oh, yeah. Like, let's go watch Bryce and hit some golf balls. This is incredible.

I also like I have no insight here. I've I've not talked to Bryson. I don't really even talk to like that many people around Bryson or anything. It just seems like a shred, you know, as you get older, I think it's easier to, it just seems like he has a little more self awareness and fool on you know, shame on me if I if he does or says something that you know, runs contrary to that. But it just seems like he's at least taken a beat and just like, let me, let me think about

what I'm about to say. Let me think about how I'm going to treat this person. Let me think about how I'm going to come across here, rather than just like running at 150 miles an hour, like a bulldozer in whatever direction he wants, which is kind of like how he tended to come across in the past. Randy, any of this jiving with you? Where are you on your Bryson journey?

I think it all makes sense. You know, he's 30 years old now. I think the point about him maturing and probably having more self-realization and just, you know, I think that's a very true thing. I think, listen, I, I always just enjoyed his presence because he's a unique guy. And I think in the world of professional golf, the more unique characters we can get, the better. And I think that's been heightened, as you said, by, um, his absence

week to week on the PGA tour. So I think that absolutely tracks, you kind of combine all those things. And it's really refreshing. And quite honestly, it's really nice to have him around and in the hunt and he's playing good golf. Yeah, I don't really have a hot take here. I echo what you say, which is, I mean, how far we've all come, I think. I always liked his weirdness just because it was something to talk about,

but it's nice to see everybody kind of appreciating him for who and what he is, rather than kind of getting annoyed and picking at stuff, I guess. Well, I think you have to chalk this up as like a guy that Liv made perfect sense for, right? I mean, a different kind of environment, a little bit more sheltered environment,

a team environment versus like, he just did not fit in very well in the PGA tour and like his antics contributed greatly to that and he pissed a lot of people off by like quite justifiably along the way. Yet despite all that, he was still a blast to watch. And now it just like everything else in between, it doesn't piss me off nearly as much.

He's not asking for third opinions on rulings. You know, he's not like doing cheesy shouts to sponsors as soon as he finishes up. There's a, you can continue down the list of all the well-deserved, I don't know, flaws or sins, golf sins, if you will, of Bryson. And at the same time, he's always been entertaining to watch. But now I'm just like, dude, I just don't have the energy

to like dislike this guy. And it just, but that has come from like a clear change in how he's approached media, how he's approached television. Remember when you get mad at the cameramen for like pointing the camera at him just in between shots? Like, why are you filming me in between shots? Like, he just seems way more comfortable in his own skin. He credits his equipment change in changing his life, his outlook on life in general, which is quite remarkable, because I mean,

makes sense because the driver sucked. But it's just it's it's an amazing spot to be sitting here of like, dude, even to start the week, one, I had incredible trust in his game, to be like, oh, he can play this golf course. If you asked me four years ago, I'm like, no fucking way could he play Pinehurst. Like, it's gonna eat him up.

And now it's like, dude, he has turned into a proper golfer who has honed in and used the benefits of his length, yet at the same time really increases iron accuracy, maybe through clubs that shouldn't be allowed, but really good putter, really good scorer, hitting the right spots, being very smart, making clutch putts. It's just, I tip my regular looking hat at him and say, you are an entertainer and I'm excited to see what you do this weekend. I think that has a lot of weight.

Obviously this doesn't have anything to do with him as a person or his personality or anything like that, but I think if he had put on all that weight and just leaned fully into like I'm gonna bomb and gouge and just become like the souped up corn fairy tour player who's winning on like real major venues, that would have been like a different one to stomach. But the fact that he's like, he's showing up at Augusta, he's

showing up at the US Open, he's showing up at all these places that are like very, very, very proper golf courses and playing very, very proper golf is also just like as a golf fan, I'm like, man, that's that's awesome. Like I, you must issuing you know, correcting a previous statement of mine, Randy, like you do got to hand it to him. You do got to hand it to him. I that's funny because he's always been a proper golfer, you know, even, even growing up the, the, the USA, the NCA title, like that's, that's what I always

found really interesting is he's always been a really successful guy. And, um, I, I point taken about, you know, when he was just beefing up and trying to do all that, it was a bit of a, I don't know, a bit of a circus, I guess. But I guess I'm not surprised at the actual quality of his play, because it's like, man,

he's like always been a really good golfer. I think it's just fun. He doesn't think about the game or, it's not the. He doesn't think about the game or it's not the way I like to think about the game of golf, but I certainly do appreciate and I'm glad that there are a lot of different ways to go about the game. Again, I just think it boils down to in a world of professional golf where things can look and sound exactly the same so often, it's really nice to have people that buck trends and so I really appreciate that part of him.

He made a B-roll video of him cooking bacon shirtless at his own home during, there's a lot of, there's a memory lane, we can do a full three part Bryce and deep dive. Listen, I'm not, I'm sure I'm not proud of some of the video stuff we put out in the early days either. You know, but you know, water finds its level. You know, he has found his love. And that's what I think, like the YouTube stuff is like, again, if you spell that out on paper, I'd be like, God, this guy's like, oh, take this all away.

But like he's leaned in, he doesn't care what anybody thinks. And I think he's found his audience. And I'm happy for him in a, in a, like, again, at any point he also could come out and like kick a dog in the face or like do something, do something crazy. That would be like, be again, kind of a shame on me moment. But until that happens, people can change Randy and I'm here for it. You know? Yeah. And not, I mean, not to get too serious or play psychoanalyst, but he probably

honestly like really loves doing that shit and it's fulfilling, maybe to a greater degree than like just tour life ever was. So I'm sure that's helping him get in a much better place mentally as well. I kind of made, I was making the joke back in the, in the, in the really the really hating heart on Bryce and Daisy's like the Nickelodeon golfer like it's just if you just view everything he does as being for kids it makes it all make sense jumping in the pool like to announce his new caddy and like all the super zany stuff like but I feel like he probably is able to like relate to young kids a lot more like via YouTube than via like the very serious PGA tour right

like that that makes more sense of being able to kind of express himself in that way and get something out of it. So again, credit to Bryson. I would also shout out, you know, I know he didn't write it today, but KVV followed him at the Masters and kind of wrote about the Bryson experience as, you know, how things change, what's it feel like following him at a major. That's, I still think, very, rings very true To probably what we're gonna see this week so you can find that on the website as well if you're interested He's teeth to he is one shot behind Ludwig

Thomas D tree also sitting at t2 guys. I'm just gonna declare this now D tree's still here tomorrow night. We can go deep on him Then how about is that sound fair because I don't have a whole lot more to add though than I said We'll put this in our footnote to see, uh, you know, he'll be, he was right there in the hunt at the 36 hole when KVV and I do our deep dive five years from now, looking back on 2024, I have a feeling Thomas T. Truett will get a mention, but, uh, just credit to him for putting himself in a good spot again, you know, whether

he sticks around through tomorrow or kind of fades, um, like three majors in a row now where he's played some really good golf. So a hat tip there. Yeah. No, nothing snarky. Nothing but like hat tip at a boy, you know, I ll go get it. I wasn't mean snarky. I wanted to say that. No, I know.

This goes maybe right. That's all I got. I got nothing else. Exactly. Right. Heck of a putter. I got nothing else. Exactly. Right heck of a putter So far this week exactly. Um, he no hat pat is sitting there at t2 as well one over par round For him today sitting there at four under and then rory big tone and matthew pavon pavon, uh bogeyed his last Uh, two holes the eighth and ninth very difficult holes that were playing very difficult towards the end of the day to fall back into tie for fifth at three under par.

Sustainability models were worried about him before he bogeyed those last two holes as well because he's been putting his ass off. Only thing I'll say on the case for Pavone, Guy plays like really streaky golf, and when he finds it, he tends to really, really find it, and when he doesn't have it, he really doesn't have go look at his results page it is a lot it's kind of the Scott Stallings plan you know of like I love miss cut miss cut t-65 third miss cut miss cut t-48 second you know and like so when it clicks for him he just seems very seems very streaky obviously like hard golf courses one of Torrey Pines So again, I don't know that he would be my pick to win But I don't think he's gonna go shoot 80 or something. I love his golf swing, too

I do too. It's just really really it did seem like he was getting Teensy bit exposed there on those last couple holes of not being able to hold some of those greens as it got firmer So I don't know if I love he tried to hit like a little lower shot into eight Which was his 17th hole and it went right over the green And then nine that was just look I don't know where you land that ball nine to get to that back pin But he tried to drop one down the elevator shaft and came up short But if you blame that too far it runs all the way off the back

I get just looked like the hardest golf course got I do have a just a bit of concern with him going this weekend but You guys want to play how far back is too far back you and do our draft you want to lingering loitering you want to get some questions what's what's show? Okay, let's do our draft because I think that's gonna I think that's gonna answer a lot of these questions. I think so too. So we came up with this little game we're gonna play this I have a feeling this might be a constant in future majors

as well. But everyone's gonna get $10 to spend okay $10 bids got to be in increments of $1 Of course, and we're gonna kind of do this auction fantasy style where you got to nominate a player You can nominate him for any price out of your $10 and you get that you are we're gonna draft for the winner So if blah blah if you know if DJ nominates Ludwig for a dollar I have a feeling somebody's gonna not gonna want to spend two dollars on him Somebody might want to spend three but you you get 10. I don't know. We'll see.

We'll see. But I'm going to throw it to DJ first. You can nominate whoever he wants. You get the draft and we're going to try it. The goal is to get the winner of this tournament on your team and you got to see how much of your $10 you're willing to bet on a guy at the halfway point. I will. I know TC's listening.

It's an auction, not a draft. That's right. Well said. I will take Ludwig Oberg for $5, please. Whoa. Five. That's such a good number. If it was four, I would have got, I might have thrown five out just to see if he would do it. So we're talking, he'd be the first guy since of course, Francis we met to win the U S open in his first. Yes, did you see the note on there that he's the first US Open rookie to hold a 36-hole lead since TC Chen,

which I think is very interesting since he got to see that double chip from our TC at Barstovec where we played with him. So he's got good vibes going into the weekend. I'm gonna let you have him for five unless you have been. Oh my God, I thought it was gonna cost me eight. That's amazing. No, I don't think that's him for five unless you have been. God, I thought it was gonna cost me eight. That's amazing. No, I don't think that's, God, thank you.

Best use of your money, but I could be wrong there. I can't wait. We're gonna learn a lot about young Ludwig this weekend. We are. Randy, you get to go next. We've learned. The answers are in the back of the book. I think you guys are just not reading them.

I'm going to nominate Rory McElroy for $3. I want to see your cards. I'll go for that's make a go for I'll go for on them. God, I'm tempted to just eat you can be done. Honestly. Yeah, I'll go five. Okay, I'm good six dollars Six dollars going once Cody what's different about this time six dollars going twice Anybody I

Know or DJ who? Make the case. What's what's different this time? A lot of experience we've seen it. We saw with Xander at Valhalla. It takes a long time, you know before the balls bounce your way solid. You know, I've always said this, you know winning is there's a little bit of luck involved and I think the Razor's edge is so much sharper this time. And there's so many little boys in the world of pro golf. You heard Harry talking about it.

You know, Rory's hit the 144 shot a lot more than these guys over the last 10 years. He's got a lot of experience in these US Opens. And this is a real setup and he's a real golfer. There's a couple of real golfers up there. One I just got for five dollars, which is incredible I didn't in my defense. I didn't I didn't know Cody with Cody adding $10 into this changes the model So I might have I might have gone a different route there if I didn't know if I don't know Cody was getting in

On this well tough shit now You can have them at six if you want them perfect, thank thank you. Six dollars, I'm so excited about this selection. Thank you very much, guys. That's a great deal. All right, I will nominate. Who are you gonna be left with? You're gonna get D-Tree for a dollar, congratulations. I'm gonna nominate Xander Schauffele for one dollar.

for $1. Hmm. 321 going so I got him for $1. I'll eat your back up. It's playing well. Cody's up. Cody's got to nominate now. Just can't think we live in a world where Xander wins two straight majors. It just doesn't make sense literally, you know, from a literary perspective. Right. Just not in this universe. This is No Hat Pat. I'm going to go with $3. I'm feeling it. He got to be a little jealous after his buddy. You know, we always hear about what BFFs,

him and Xander are. Got to be a little jealous there. He knows he's a stick. Randy, you got to go with Pat. I don gonna say four. I'm gonna say four. I'm gonna say four. I'm gonna say four. I'm gonna say four. I'm gonna say four. I'm gonna say four. I'm gonna say four. I'm gonna say four. I'm gonna say four. I'm gonna say four.

I'm gonna say four. I'm gonna say four. I'm gonna say four. I'm gonna say four. I'm gonna say four. I'm gonna say four. I'm gonna say four. I'm gonna say four. I'm gonna say four. I'm gonna say four. I'm gonna say four. I'm gonna say four.

I'm gonna say four. I'm gonna say four. I'm gonna say four. I'm gonna say four. I'm gonna say four. I'm gonna say four. I'm gonna say four. I'm gonna say four. I'm gonna say four. I'm gonna say four. I'm gonna say four. I'm gonna say four. I'm gonna say four. I'm gonna say four. I'm gonna say four. I'm gonna say four. like would you say four he's holding out on that court Connors. You said three, right?

I said three. All right Alright You give them to me for four. I mean I can only match it with four. So yeah, he doesn't have it You don't have the budget. I love that So I have Ludwig and can't lay and I have a dollar left. Yes, sir Is there partnerships here can can we form an alliance? No, absolutely not. It's already got too complicated. Okay, so I have a dollar left.

I will take, and I can't believe there's a world where he would go for a dollar because he's a global superstar, Tom Kim for $1. It's a nice play because I don't think anyone's gonna beat him. Yeah. More than that, you can have that. All right, you're done.

I'm, oh, God. See ya. That's hedging on TC too because I have Ludwig. We can't be mad It's like an upside and downside on both sides. All right, Brady, what do you got? I'm willing to go Free on Hideki $3 on a decade. Do I hear $4 $4 $4 $4? That's a reach. Go ahead. You can have it for one or two. I think you can have that. He's all yours. I am going to take big tone for $1. Okay, no, thanks. Going going sold. Cody, who you got? Uh have we done the big golfer

yet? We have not done the big golfer yet. Alright, big golfer, two dollars. I think Randy's gonna go hard here. Uh four. It's more money than I got, buddy. Mr. Chris could get in. I'll go $6 on Bryson. Hell yeah. You could have him for five. I don't know why out there, everybody. Wow. So I did this.

Really wants to get out here and watch his Reds game. Wow. Is it my turn to nominate or no? It's Cody's turn to nominate. Not a lot left on the board. What's everybody's bank at right now, by the way? You have $4, Randy has seven and I have two. Okay, DJ's out. I'm gonna go a little bit further down here,

but I'm gonna, is anybody interested in a $1 Sergio play? All yours. Thank you. Yeah, I think that's yours. Enjoy your time. Randy's gonna clean up here at the end of the draft. I wanna splash the board. It's time to go.

I don't think you have a choice. No one's taking D tree. No. Wow. Let's see, I'm gonna take Scotty for $1. Adam Scott. No, sorry, Scheffler. All right, I will take or I will nominate, I'll take D-Tree for $2. Yeah you can have them.

Okay, alright you guys figure this out and let's get this moving. Alright, my turn, I'm guessing. The only person that we got left, so we got Axe J left, Tim Valding, Cory Conner, ZB, Billy Ho, Xander? Is he gone? He's gone. He's gone. Alright, well we're kind of screwed here, but I'll put the rest of my whole three doll hairs on. This isn't getting good.

I'm gonna put it on Adam Scott just because I want to get out here. OK, alright ready? You got to name some names you got. I got. Yeah, so give me Terrell. Cut give me a Cory Connors cut. Give me. ZB. Got four more. Come on, I don't get holler at ZB. No, I don't need ZB. Give me I'm going to take a look at the other ones. Uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh

uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh Okay, and how many more one more?

No, I will take Cory Connors God nobody took Pavon. That's crazy. All right, so DJs got just real quick summer Do you just got I'm on I went in a u.s. Open DJs got Ludwig can't lay and Tom Kim Cody has Rory Sergio and Adam Scott. I've got Xander, Finaal, Bryson and D-Tree. Randy has Hideki, Scotty Scheffler, Hatton, Connors, Spieth Morikawa, Smith and Corey. And Corey Connors. Two of Corey Connors. I'm hoping Connor's good stuff.

All right, that's fun. That's good stuff. We're figuring that one out as we go. But I guess. We gotta do that during a preview for like the British Open or something. Does does that answer the question of how far back is too far back? I mean, if Scotty's still in it, then I think so. Everyone's still in the tournament.

I still is in the tournament. 10 shots separate Ludwig from everybody else. There's a world where it's totally diabolical this weekend and the winning score is around even. And I could see somebody going out early tomorrow and hanging like a 67 and being there. I'm saying everybody has a chance. I don't disagree. It's so much freaking golf left.

So much golf left. I don't think Scottie's gonna win. I think it's probably worth, he sucked, dude. He was so bad. He played as bad as I can remember him playing definitely this year. No idea what to attribute it to. Nothing else to say other than like, watching him fuck up the fifth hole was just like maddening. It was all the things we've praised him for all year long of like, yeah, he just doesn't make mistakes. He doesn't do that. He just has done all of that this week. He's been just very, very, somehow third in strokes getting approached for the week. 72nd in putting like just truly ass putting all week and has not driven it very well. He's missed a ton of fairways. Oh, I'm showing 142nd in putting.

Oh, I think it's trimmed down to the guys that made the cut now. Yeah, probably. So he's probably what I'm looking at on the, on the tour website, but yeah, that's, that's probably, I mean, yeah, he lost three, three strokes putting today. I just, he's too good. He'll, I feel like he's going to have a bounce back. It doesn't look good.

It's unfortunate, but, um, I mean, of guys that made the cut. Yeah. He is third. He's third worst. Uh, the only two guys that are worse, Brooks Kepka and Jordan Spieth. And then Sawhith is one spot ahead of him. Kepka, I don't know what the hell happened to him today. He putted into a bunker on three from behind the green, pitched it out to three feet and three putted it from there. He made a triple bogey. He is, he made the cut on the number. This is like, this is the longest

Kepka run we've, like healthy Kepka run that we've seen of bad play in majors. Like, I mean, I kind of excuse him for the 21-22 period where, you know, he was hurt and kind of searching for things. Obviously bounced back last year with second at the Masters and won the PGA. We've never seen him not be a factor in majors for an entire year. And this is like five straight years, not in the top 10, if he, assuming he doesn't finish it in the top 10. But I've always struggled to make a sense of Koepke and the majors. You never know when it's coming. But that's just a surprise that we're, you know, five majors in a row on where this has been he's been a complete non factor. So I don't know what to make of that. Yeah.

Highlights. Go ahead. No, I was just gonna say it could be one of those things. You know, I don't know golf so weird. It's very weird. Roy put it off the 17th green then went down and chipped it in. That was fantastic. Bryson stuffing the wedge into 18. That was that was just freaking proper proper golf.

Bryson's the one that can just kind of feels inevitable to me man. He just feels like he's not not gonna go anywhere not get flustered He just he seems like he's got some bad attention saw his chip in on 15 was grotesque that was maybe the highlight of the day until Molinari Made an ace. What'd you guys think of? Yeah of the happy hour segment with made an ace. What'd you guys think of the happy hour segment with major championship afternoon Friday with Bryson coming in, Sepp Stracke coming in with Smiley from the 5-6 PM hour, what were your guys' thoughts on that? I'll say two things. One, keep innovating, keep trying

things, I appreciate it, I'm down for it. That's good, don't lose that. Two, don't ever need that style of this again at a major championship is what I would say. Two different, it's a razor's edge, man. You hit it 144, you're on the green, you hit it 146, and you're fucking dead. And I think that the idea of bringing players on the telecast to talk about exclusively the golf course,

talk about golf shots, talk about how hard the six holes playing, talk about what club did you have in here? What's this guy facing that like, wish I had more hands, couldn't give that more thumbs up. I would watch that all day. Uh, bringing in guys for just like a lame flaccid like prop comedy, uh, bit, not what I need during the US Open so that that's that's my analysis that's spot-on I think that's completely spot-on so this is where this is where I get really bummed out with everything that's gone on with Phil because Phil absolutely should be part of the commentary team this weekend and he won't be but his best role going forward at all these majors play two rounds.

If you miss the cut, like I want to hear Phil talk about the golf shots, the course, everything here here. Couldn't agree more. Yep. I mean, otherwise it was, I don't know. Didn't, I didn't feel like I was waterboarded by commercials today. You know, it kind of jumping channels, peacock, all that stuff was not great, but felt less of a disgrace than last year at LACC

is the credit I'm willing to give NBC for that. And less, other than Ludwig, I would say probably less exciting names in the afternoon. These things always kind of peter out once you get to that 30th hole mark, you're kind of counting the hours a little bit, depending, if you don't have something miraculous happening on the golf course, so

Again, I'm totally down guys. Try new stuff. That's great. But like let's let's watch the golf. Let's keep let's let's be serious Randy well, I keep bouncing happy hour, but I just don't need like the props and the sleeves and this you know, it's like This week this week. You want to do that of the travelers like go totally it's been great that's been great in the Friday afternoon slot I just this is major majors are different I don't know we're gonna say some Cody yeah just what's the difference like why are we on USA yesterday and then today we're on NBC tomorrow we're back on USA with like some NBC like it just feels like it's there's no real rhythm or rhyme to how it's laid up. Just, I mean, Olympic stuff, I'm sure had something to do with, with

Thursday and USA is just cause it's in more households than golf channel. And it's probably, I saw their numbers were super up. So that's a good sign, at least for round one. I don't know. Uh, I will say this after the, the hole in one to make the cut, this was the shot of the booth. I thought it was awesome at the end. I know everybody was kind of like,

how's this gonna work? But I think kind of them buddying up the two men. I like that. Side by side like that. I thought it's been awesome. I think that's been a solid energy. You know, kind of, again, it feels elevated. I feel like they've done an overall good job

of elevating the championship. That's kind of, again, it feels elevated. I feel like they've done an overall good job of elevating the championship. That's kind of all you can realistically ask. I also, you know, I ride for Brandle at any given opportunity. I think Brandle's been really fun. I'm very stoked for him this weekend. I think he's gonna be good in that chair. I think he's the closest thing we're gonna have to Johnny.

Yep. Let him run. I think he's taking it really seriously. It seems like his prep was great. Solly, I loved the pod that it. He's taking it really seriously. Seems like his prep was great. Sorry, I loved the pod that you guys did beforehand the preview pod. So I don't know. I'm excited for that. A and GC burner said should cat stop doing this? Yes.

I was surprised to hear that it him say afterward that it might be his last us open. I was surprised to hear that just because usually he doesn't admit defeat until did he say that I missed I missed his clothes I was watching the it could or it could or it couldn't Be his last US open. You never know something along those lines My thought on this is truly like what he got out of the early part of this week, Charlie walking with him for practice rounds and getting to, you know, experience that. And like, his kids have not been around for the success, the highest success of his careers, other than that 15th major. Like, he's probably soaking up whatever opportunity he gets to, you know, for his kid to see what influence he's had on the game and get to experience that in person. That, to me, has to

be the reason why he continues to do this. Cause he's not competitive. He said for so many years, I'm not going to play in these things. If I don't think I have a chance to win, he knows he has no chance to win. So I don't, I don't think this can go on that much longer. Um, I feel like he always hangs on if he's not going to put in the week to week and try to get himself reps to make them competitive, then yeah, I think he needs to stop doing this.

It's, it's a bit of a sideshow. And I hate that for tiger like this afternoon. I mean, I don't need to see him struggle to miss the cut. Like I'm kind of glad he missed it. Cause I don't, I don't need to see him this weekend. Isn't there a difference though, between like, you don't need to see him on your TV and he needs to go away. Like, I don't think he's hurting it.

Like I think he's only raising all boats by being in the field. And that's where I'm like, yo, if you want to play, man, go play. Do whatever you want for the rest of your golf career. I don't- The TV's going to show him later. And that's where I'm like, me personally, I think I've kind of dropped off, unless he's actually in contention, I don't feel bad about saying, oh, I'm good. I don't feel bad about saying like, oh, I just, I'm good. I don't, I don't really care what's going on. Carve out the tiger, you know, peacock, put them on peacock and treat them like any other guy on the main telecast. You know, it just, when they, they kind of tip their hand

too, like, hey, we're going to stick with tiger this afternoon and see if he can make the cut. I'm like, yeah, like I know y'all are scraping the bottom of the barrel because, you know, I'm not even sure. Did we see Zach on the, on the telecast this afternoon? Like there were, there were some guys that would have been interesting to the tournament to watch. I saw him blow it in the shit once during playing through and then once all the

other golfers were off the course, it looked like, and once we started our show, it looked like they showed them a couple of shows. Which like if I could just, you know, steel man, this one, it would be like, Hey guys, we could Joe Zach player Tiger Woods, uh, to the, to the nation here. Which one are we going to show here? Like I, I see why Tiger Woods wins out there, uh, just cause they won't give back a chance. He could be the next Tiger Woods for all we know, but,

so I, the game, I don't want to say the game doesn't need Tiger anymore because like if he would be competitive it'd be the greatest thing for golf as always has been I don't see that happening and I don't think like I don't think the game needs this version of Tiger if that makes sense I don't think we need there's enough personalities going on he's not he's not like it's not offensive to have him out there. It's not sad to watch. It's just like, it just doesn't do a whole lot for me personally.

I don't know who. Yeah, but I would imagine if you're in Pinehurst and you're taking your kids out to go watch golf and you got to see Tiger Woods hit two shots, like that's something they will literally remember for the rest of the time, which is where Randy, I'm with you, like give him a Peacock stream and if you want to watch him, there he is. If he holds out or does something crazy, we'll show him a couple times. But I don't, I think we're a very long ways away

from saying like, take your ball and go home. We're good. We don't need you. But I think it's like, you're not going to be the centerpiece story anymore type of thing. And I'm not telling him to go. I'm just like asking, when I ask this after the master's like, do you wanna keep doing this? Like are you getting something out of this, right? Like how long do you wanna do this? Cause that's, I just don't get the sense that he's really enjoying a lot of this,

but could be wrong. I think if he wasn't, he would stop doing it. I mean he- I think that's on the horizon potentially. I mean, I'm saying that in the press conference afterwards, it was surprising. Some other notables to miss the cut Dustin Johnson I just he has three major exemptions left not counting the Masters

He's obviously in that for life, but he's got two u.s. Opens and one British left and that is it and he looks shockingly and disappointingly uncompetitive and Irrelevant honestly that that just came on faster and harder than I feel like it needed to I thought his game was gonna age much more gracefully yeah I mean he's almost he's what turning 40 games gotten younger you know it's it's not like he's that old no I mean I would certainly expect him to be a little better than this but I don't think he should be like you know the favor to take down Ludwig or anything like that like Like I think this was, I don't know. It also happens quicker when you only see him

four times a year, right? Yeah, it's just, yeah, just a bummer. Justin Thomas missed the cut by a mile. I didn't even see where he ended up. I would say that one concerns me a little more than, like that sucks. JT shot 77, 74. Like that sucks. What are shot 77 74 like that sucks

What are what what's going on? What are we doing? It's bad side of the draw, but I mean his iron play was atrocious. He lost five and a half shots of his iron play. That's supposed to be his strength Yeah, I don't know I don't know that's a square one situation there He was kind of kind of somewhat trending coming in. That's kind of that's the surprising part, right? It felt like The indicator there was that his iron play was kind of on its way up He had a good week with the irons at Memorial and yeah, this is this is a huge with you top 10th PGA Last time out like I don't know. This was a shocker. I did not see that one coming to that to that depth.

Bummed about Max. Yeah, I think he had this one probably circled for a while. This seems like a really good setup for him and that that sucks to miss the cut here. Yep. He missed. Hovland missed as well. He was a non factor this week. Zalotaurus obviously still coming off the injury but he just a shell of himself. He was a non factor this week. Zala Taurus obviously still coming off the injury, but he just a shell of himself. He was 101 to win this week. I mean, it's, he's been a complete, complete non factor. That's unfortunate. Uh, any other names stick out to you guys, uh, cut missers that, uh, were especially noteworthy like that? Well, I wasn't necessarily expecting him to make the cut, but I thought after his first round,

it would have been really cool to see Willie Mack make the cut. Uh, he shot 77 today. He's in that plus 11 group, or excuse me, shot 80. Sorry to be in the plus 11. I will shout out Vic shot 68 today. I mean, it was a 78 yesterday, but he did bounce back strong to 68. Missed the cut. You only missed by one.

Um, which the other cut did late move to move to plus five, uh, late in the day. This NBC had a lot of trouble estimating what the cut was only missed by one, which the other cut did late, moved to move to plus five late in the day. This NBC had a lot of trouble estimating what the cut was going to be today despite it being pretty clear for most of the afternoon. But anything else before we before we had to had to had to exit here Friday night Fridays are the weirdest day of the US Open, right? You get so much energy that comes out on Thursday can Friday can feel a little sleepy at times? And Saturday is gonna be banger everybody off one and kind of wait around all day and get ready to send it

It's gonna be it's gonna be great. I'm very excited for tomorrow I'll tell you miss that when we're going over the cut things Props given Vic because he could have absolutely mailed it in but like improving a score by 10 I thought was really sweet as we continue to see what Vic actually unfolds to but Deej we're talking about this internally Robert Rock like doesn't play professional golf anymore kind of a full-time instructor was uh I think he came through qualifying at Walton Heath and had an awesome round yesterday shot 70 and then backed that up with 79 hate to see it but just another one of those like unique characters in the game of golf that's

that like yeah more of hasn't played a major since 2019 his last like counting round on or like OWG our type round on data golf was in October showed up and almost made the cut at the US Open or not I shouldn't say almost I mean shot 79 today but shot even par yesterday, which is, better than any of you chuckleheads could do, better than any of you watching could do. I didn't get a start. Three amateurs made the cut,

so we do have a race for low-am this weekend, which is fun. Anybody that's keeping tabs. That's Gunnar Broin, hope I'm saying that right, Neil Shipley, of course, the low- at the Masters and Luke Clanton are the three amateurs that will be playing this weekend. Randy, you had your own little US Open this week. You had a hundred hole hike this past Monday.

What are the highlights and lowlights of that? Yeah, we finished it, which is, listen, that was goal one, two, three, four, five, six, and seven. It was a great day. I went over to Washington, D.C. this past Monday, East Potomac Golf Links, the National Links Trust, who we've done some stuff with them in the past, great organization out of the nation's capital. They put it on. I had always heard about East Potomac

Golf Links. It's a wonderful piece of property situated on this peninsula right kind of in the midst of downtown. It's located between the Potomac River and the Washington Channel. You play the course. You look around. You can see what is it? Reagan National Airport. Folks are getting on TC and I for just calling it Reagan. On one side, you can see the big jets taking off. You look over on the other side, you can see the wharf. And off in the distance, you got the Dome of Congress. You got the Washington monuments ever present. You can get a peek of the Jefferson Memorial.

It's just a really cool area. It's a wonderful public golf course They do a ton within the district that Columbia so my experience personally I It was I I was pretty nervous about it. I'm not gonna lie just the sheer volume of golf I was really worried how my body was gonna hold up I was really worried how my body was gonna hold up not so much like Being able to walk it more like my back and my knees and and just physically making that many golf swings I Can report my golf wasn't good. I made three birdies in a hundred holes, which listen, that's not a very good birdie percentage

I had many more three putts and doubles and whatnot, but it just was it ended up being a great day everybody was in good spirits the weather thank God could not have been better and It just was kind of the one of those days where it's like a bunch of shared misery and that Weirdly kind of uplifts you and and puts everybody In this like mood and frame of mind that was just a lot of fun and it really kind of uplifts you and and puts everybody in this like mood and frame of mind that was just a lot of fun and then we kept it off with some pizza and beer. Um my my actual playing was II had a tea in the ground like right at

630 in the morning which I was pretty proud of coming in from Denver the night before it it you know, the two hour time difference And then I think I finished like right before 8 p.m. And did not take many breaks, you know ate lunch on the fly Changed shirt and socks at a point but not like, you know, I'm sitting down for a half hour you're pretty much on your feet and move in and half hour, you're pretty much on your feet and move in. And it truly felt like a very long walk just trying to advance a golf ball as I went. But awesome organization, first class day, shout out to National Links Trust, they I think they the

total raised was $275,000, which was well past their goal. So it was a great experience. And for anybody that supported me and pledged on my walk, thank you very much. It means a ton. And certainly the NLT people means a lot to them as well. Great stuff. Well done. Big proud of you, man. Yeah. Did you think about quitting? No, I never thought about quitting. Honestly, that was a credit to everything I said. You know, they had plenty of kind of food and snacks and drinks and the company was great. I linked up with these two guys, Patrick and Billy, and I asked them many times through the day. I'm like, guys, if you want me to like, because they were kind of buddies and I was kind of the third man in. And I was like, if you guys are sick of me, like, please tell were kind of buddies and I was kind of the third man in and I was like, if you guys are sick

of me, like, please tell me it's a long day, like I can go play on my own or find another group. But they were tremendous. I loved walking with those guys. I had some caddies come in and help me. Patrick Mcspadden, guy named David Lee, my buddy, David Bidanes from high school, they all came out and were walking with me and helping me out. So it truly was kind of a community and everybody was in it together, which was a lot of fun. That is fantastic. Big. And as we go to play out, we do have tee times for round three guys. They are good, if I may say,

starting with the last group out Bryson and Ludwig Oberg, Patrick Cantlay and Detry. I thought we were going to get Cantlay and Rory, that's what I get for trying to predict what's gonna happen because I get it wrong every time. Tony Fienow, The Big Tone and Rory at 313, Hideki and Pavon, Tyrell Hatton and Tom Kim, Akshay and Xander at 240, Corey Connors and Tim Veeding at 224,

Horschel and ZB213, late tee times tomorrow. Really late tee times, so low level late show tomorrow. But fantastic, cannot wait for tomorrow afternoon. That's gonna be, it's gonna be must see stuff. So, good stuff. That is the halfway point. Thank you so much for tuning in. Thank you to High Noon, thank you to Mizuho,

thank you to Travelers. Cody running the ones and twos. Big Randy, DJ Pie, Neil popping in for a bit. KVV popping in for a bit. Harry Higgs for popping in for a bit. For AT&T, Fiber for figuring out my connection after a slow start. We're getting there. We're getting there, baby.

Appreciate everyone's patience. Appreciate everyone tuning in here during major week. We'll see you back here tomorrow night and Sunday night. Cheers. Thanks for tuning in. Push the course, USGA. Push the course.