No Laying Up - Golf Podcast - 868 - Open Championship Preview

Episode Date: July 16, 2024

The final countdown is on for the final major of the 2024 golf season as the 152nd Open Championship begins Thursday at Royal Troon on Scotland’s west coast. We open the pod with some reflections on the oldest major in the game, a draft of our favorite storylines headed into this week’s tournament, a look at the odds sheet, our picks to win and not win, and share some of our favorite moments from previous Opens. If you enjoyed this episode, consider joining The Nest: No Laying Up’s community of avid golfers. Nest members help us maintain our light commercial interruptions (3 minutes of ads per 90 minutes of content) and receive access to exclusive content, discounts in the pro shop, and an annual member gift. It’s a $90 annual membership, and you can sign up or learn more at nolayingup.com/join   Support our partners: Titleist Duer Mizuho Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Be the right club. Be the right club today. That's better than most. How about in? That is better than most. Better than most. Expect anything different. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the No Lang podcast. Solly here, Open Championship preview Royal Troon. We the golf world has descended upon Western Scotland, and we sent our own very own Tron Carter to Western Scotland

to scope out the scene as well. Hello TC, how are you? Greetings. I'm great. Hello TC, how are you? Greetings. I'm great. Another beautiful, beautiful evening here. Hopefully it lasts all week, but it looks like we're going to get some moisture rolling in later in the week, right in time for the tournament.

First question, how was Turnberry? How was Turnberry today? It was great. It was great. We played both courses. We played the Bruce course this morning, and then the Ailssa course this afternoon. So just wonderful. It was like bits of La Henche out at, you know, kind of that eight

through 11 stretch at La Henche. All sorts of stuff. I was blown away. I didn't remember that burn on 17. I guess DT's made that a little bit bigger since they were there last time. Played pretty well actually. Played, did not play well this morning. And then I'm getting more and more and more comfortable with, with the new new equipment, the new, the new GT stuff. And the, the fairway woods, especially are, I'm, I'm getting very comfortable with those quickly. So I love to hear it.

Neil Schuster is back on the East coast of the United States. Hello, Mr. Neil, how are you? Great to be here. I'm doing really well. It's hot. I wouldn't call it a lovely evening. I call it a hot and sweaty evening here in the big city. But I'm fired up for Open Week. We'll live vicariously through UTC.

It's going to be a great one. This episode is brought to you by our friends at Titleist and the new GT drivers. I told you guys last night about my fitting. Neil, I think you're in kind of something a little similar to me is from what it sounded like. What's your GT experience been like so far? It's been good. It's a full throttle baby. No, I got the GT three, uh, gotten to an 11 degree. And, uh, I'd say the biggest change is the ball is coming out of a much different window. I would say it's, you know, more of an ad to just get

fit. My old gamer, I loved it, the TTSR three, but somehow, you know, it's like a doctor checkup. My, my launching was coming out like five degrees. And it was like, okay, that's, you need to get that up. So I got that up to nine degrees. And I played three rounds with it and all three. It's like, whoa, that's a different window. So I added by changing the launch Angle to nine ten degrees. I added 14 to 15 yards of carry distance Which is exciting

Just by I really just by checking in I do really like the sound of the new driver, too It's a little bit. I don't know if it's muted is the word I would use but just it feels a It's a little bit, I don't know if it's muted is the word I would use, but just, it feels flush. I don't know. I got to, I did that finding fuel video with them where I was describing what shots felt like. I need to get back into that head space to describe the difference between the GSR and the GT. It's more of a thwack than a tink. Yeah. It feels more wood bat baseball versus metal bat, aluminum bat. And both feel good, but I'm a more of a wood bat guy would be where I'd go with that. So anyway, yeah, go get fit and the GT is great.

They launched last month at the Memorial. More than 70 players have already played a GT on the PGA Tour since then. We're gonna get into all the tech stuff at a later date, but head to titlist.com to schedule your fitting for the new GT driver from Titleist. We're gonna get into our typical kind of podcast preview where we go and go around the circle and draft

kind of top storylines of what you're intrigued by, what your big questions are going to speak, but switching up a little bit this time around, Neil, I'm gonna throw it back to you. Just could be literally anything. Could be 15 seconds, could be 15 minutes if you want. What's something you love about the open championship? Well, it kind of relates to a segment we're going to do later. The open is it's like we take this shit seriously and being on site last year, it's like the fans take it seriously. This is,

this is competitive sport and I find that the fans are both educated and they're there to watch the golf, but there are, there's also like a,'s also like some sprinkles of vitriol in there, as we saw with the Harman hunting stuff. You saw with the English football result yesterday. I mean, people take it really seriously and I like that. And so I don't, when I look back at memories from the open, I don't think of like funny stuff. I think of like heartbreaking stuff and like serious things.

And it's also, you know, especially recently, it's the final major. So there's a finality to it where you're like, ah, man, we got to wait till Augusta. You know, not to say that there's not, you know, more golf this season that we'll cover. And some stuff I look forward to, some I don't look forward to quite as much, but it feels like, you know, a period on the end of, like, the golf season in some ways. And so there's a, I don't know, a longing, like, it's like, all right, that was, so that was it for the year. Okay. So, so it's the close of a storyline as well, but that also feels serious. So that's the word I'm going to go with.

TC, what's something you love about the Open Championship? It's tough to put into words the gravity of it. I think that's along the same lines as Neil's seriousness, but I think along with gravity comes a lot of detail and it just feels like there's loads of tradition, there's loads of history, there's loads of even just the little details, the yellow scoreboard. I love the yellow scoreboard. That just makes me feel something. The yellow scoreboard and the signage and the RNA does such a wonderful job with all

of that. It just feels big, right? It feels like my favorite parts of the other majors all wrapped into one major with, you know, the masters has tradition and class. The US Open has, you know, kind of the democratic open nature. It's got that big feeling that, you know, hey, this is like a world-class championship. I don't really know what the PGA is. I would say excitement, you know, strongest fielding golf. Yeah.

Yeah. And then, and then even like, you know, Wimbledon or Tour de France, it's just, it's got like, it's got, it's everything I love about the best majors in golf plus an international feeling and it truly feels like a worldwide sporting event, which I don't think we get often enough in golf. Yeah. There's just something about Scottish golf in general specific to Opens in Scotland that it just strikes a different part of my golf.

It's just soulful. It's just like, it's the most fun golf in the world. I love history. I love seeing old shit. I love just the connection that this championship has to history. I love the style of golf, the feeling of the strikes on the turf, the creativity of

navigating your way around the bunkers. It's like, think about this earlier, it kind of honestly reminds me of like the feeling of having a kid, like this whole entire like part of your soul or your heart, like gets unlocked when you have a kid and it's a feeling you didn't know you were capable of having. That's kind of how I felt like playing links golf on my golf journey of just like, Whoa, I know I love golf, but now it's like opened up this whole new world, this new prism

from through which I kind of see the world through it's this whole new journey. And like, that's like, I've searched for work for years for words to convey it. And I feel like I do it less justice every time I try it. But like, it's like the core affinity for this part of the game, like that, that affinity I have for it, marrying that up with watching the pros experience this style of golf in a competitive format, like the ad in the historical nature of the championship, the type of shots that require the elements, the fans, the muted applause,

the appreciation of the shots to 30 feet, just the nostalgia I have of getting up with a cup of coffee and waking up in the morning as you know, I wasn't drinking coffee as a kid, but waking up early in the morning as a kid and watching tigers pick apart the old course. Like there's just such a spirit to the championship. It's a completely different aura than the masters. It just has so much gravitas and like, like the super bowl is not 152 years old. Like the NBA finals are not 152 years old. The world series isn't like, and it just comes with the title of champion golfer of the year. Like that's

the name of the winner of this championship. And like, I don't know if that gets enough credence of like, if you were to like decide one champion of golf for the year, that gets decided this week. It's not the FedEx Cup. Like it's not. It's not the Masters. Like the champion of golf for the year for the past year has been Brian Harmon. And we've not, I don't know if we celebrate that enough. Yeah, that's kind of forgot.

Right. Yeah. Well, it's the links master. Yeah. Kind of go, it's just different too. So, and we've been talking about that a lot of like, Hey, we want majors to feel different while the open almost feels different. And that's like a, that's a given, which is really nice.

And some of that has to do with like what time of day you, yeah, like the coffee golf stuff, what time of day you watch it, but you can't fake history and tradition. And that's, I think what it has, main thing it has going for it. So. There's something else too, I think with everything

in golf these days feels optimized and efficient. And you know, it's a ball speed and it's about launch angles. Like we were just talking about earlier on this pod, right? And it's, at some point when you know, it's, it's truly the one tournament where I feel like once, once the balls go in the air, there's so much more of a, you know, the draw is a factor. The weather is a factor there, the rub of the green, you green, avoiding the pop bunkers, you can get some awful lies in these bunkers, they roll up to the lip. There's just such a level of chance

that isn't present in golf very much anymore. And so having that kind of almost spit in the face of some of the optimization is always fun. And I was thinking about that a lot today, TC too, but it's also, I appreciate all of that, but also like the winners of this tournament are a who's who of like the biggest, in the entire history of like modern golf,

like Jack Nicklaus had a high ball flight in a style of play that in theory wouldn't work out well. He or he won open championships, like Tiger Woods can do anything with a golf ball, but he's won open championships. It's just, you know, it, it, it's not like, it's, it's all decided by luck, right? It's just, like you got to rise above it. Yeah. Some years, yeah, you may not be able to rise above it. Like I was,

Jeff Shackleford had a great newsletter earlier this week about when it was at Trune. And I think they had just redone, uh, Trune, um, Portland club, Alistair Mackenzie had come in and Gene Sarazin was just absolutely apoplectic, just bitching about the redo. Basically everybody had to qualify. He didn't qualify for the open. He goes on later in his career to win it, but it was this war of words between McKenzie and Saracen at the time. And maybe that's a little bit lost to time a little bit where now it's like part of the, you couldn't really say that if you were a player these days, because you'd be spitting in the face of history instead of a specific architect.

That's true. Because it's such an amalgamation. I mean, I guess you could say that about, you know, Martin Ebert or, you know, that sort of thing. But, you know, it's just, it's basically like the history of golf all rolled into one tournament. And it's, I don't know, it's magical. A little bit quickly about Trune before we get into our draft, this is the 10th Open Championship

that will be played of real Trune. It is on the West Coast of Scotland, of course, nearby Prestwick. There's Western Gales nearby, Dunn-Donald is nearby, Turtonbury is nearby where TC will be hanging out. You know, we've done a deep dive of the most recent Open Championships at World Trune. If you want to find that on your podcast feed, just go back one week. talked about 2016 2004 1997 check that out it's on our YouTube channel or in your podcast feed there's nine new tees at Royal Truen this go around hasn't really added that much yardage only about 190 yards I think added to the course it's just under 70 7200 yards and it looks like a bunch of holes that really just for

extended about 20 yards or so but there's not a whole lot more room to go any farther back. In angles too, adding some new angles or making it more important to shape the ball one way or another or just, you know, kind of pick one side of the fairway to really go at. Well, and it's an interesting, you know, we talked a little bit about this on our Scotland trip pod. We've done a little bit of Scotland content, both that has already come and is about to come. But it's kind of instead of a traditional nine in nine out routing, like a lot of links courses, it's more like six out and then kind of six that are going to zigzag around a little bit, which we're going to talk

about and then six that come home, right? So exposed parts, those front six and seconds and final six are the most exposed parts, especially the finish. You get a lot of crosswinds out there. Usually the front nine plays a lot easier than the back nine and guys will get out and get out and run and make a bunch of birdies. And then it's like, hold on for dear life coming in. Almost exclusive of where the wind is blowing that is what's typically happened there.

But it gets just a little bit more intimate and less barren and less exposed within that middle stretch from seven to 12, where you start working inland, you have the postage stamp, which is the eighth hole, the ninth works around kind of the, you know, the west part of the property, and the 10th gets out there along the train tracks.

The 11th hole is this long ass par four, that's just crazy freaking hard, difficult hole. 12 works back in. So we got a couple of questions in there about, you know, where's the best place to watch some golf Kevin Spohlin asked best spots to watch, catch the most shots from various holes. I think it I looked at the map and there wasn't a whole lot of the where I think you can see a ton of holes other than

that, like seven, obviously, but a lot of people are going to be at that postage stamp, that's gonna be a great spot. But seven eight, kind of 12 ish green there is going to be your best chance to catch guys multiple times or catch a series of groups if you want to watch them kind of make that loop. Or bounce around a little bit from you know, one hole to another. And, and I think almost up to like what six green 70, you could probably see some stuff there. Like, I think the

post is going to be a sprint out. Like if you're trying to follow somebody, it's a it's a a, it's a go all the way. The first six holes, it's just, and then they, they kind of start working around to it. They're not moving as far away from you in that stretch there up from, from seven through 12. Yeah. There's, and there's some spots where like, you're probably not going to be able to see any golf on some of those holes coming in and that, you know, earlier part of the back nine there. But they always, they're, they're ready. They got 240,000 people.

They're ready with grandstands. I think it's going to be a great viewing thing. Sorry. And, and from my experience last year on site, people take their grandstand seats seriously. So if you want to, if you do want to find a spot, you better find it and you better sit down and, and, and, you know, saddle up because there'll be a line pretty, pretty shortly on Thursday morning. People are there to watch the competition. Not a lot of like hospitality hanging going on. Question for you guys from your trip in March, is the postage stamp overrated, underrated

or properly rated? I think it's, well, A, we didn't really get to play the postage thing. But B, walking around it and looking at it, I think it's wildly underrated. It's definitely not overrated and it's very highly regarded. So I don't know if I can say that it's underrated, but it is like a genius golf full it's it's awesome. I'll take this time to shout out the, the open, their YouTube channel. They have a, a video up of just not narrated, not mic'd up anything just like natural audio of just scenes around World Troon on Sunday. If

you're listening to this on Tuesday was a Sunday before the Open Championship we kicked off. They show Tiger play in the postage stamp. They show him go down into the bunker that's short right of the green talk about how bad it is down there. A great example here of like some variables we're going to see out of the golf course is Tiger hits a chip that are a pitch out of the bunker that doesn't get all the way up and it like banks around the bunker and comes in the back and you watch the ball like just trickle in and he says to it as he gets

to that ball, he's like, well, this isn't any good right here. And that ball stopped on the down slope of that bunker, which is total death. He took his club back once hit the face of the bunker. Like that was a natural way of that ball, a golf shot getting into the back part of that bunker. You watch it get in there and it was death. Like it is not, I know there's some issues last year where they had, you know, balls were getting really up close to the fronts of those bunkers. And like you could see a ball, an example of like a very close miss on that green

ending up in a total death spot, which is like, ball an example of like a very close miss on that green ending up in a total death spot, which is like and they show great clips of Scotty and Sam Burns in the left coffin bunker, the one that's like above the green surface, which is, I mean, it's more than waist high, waist deep. It's just it's an insane golf ball and there's any kind of when it's so difficult. Great just shot value and great opportunity for birdie and a massive opportunity for some big numbers.

Love it. So all right, that's that answers my question. My other question, right? And again, referencing the video, the match between the two of you, the duel at Troon, it's on our YouTube channel. Any, any other holes that you want to call out that you're like, man, that was being on site that that is a that is a golf hole, I can't wait to watch these guys play or vice versa. One, they're like, yeah, I don't, you know, I don't need that one. Something like in the closing stretch. I think, I mean, I'll go with a couple early on. I think six and seven are both really cool. Six is

proper par five. I think that's the one that's like the longest par five in open history. Yeah, it's 600 plus yards. And there's a lot of these holes where you like, they're gonna have to just trust, trust their scouting, trust their yardage book, trust their caddy on, hey, I know I need to finish the ball on this line,

even though it doesn't look like it. There's a lot of depth perception stuff going on with the bunkers. Like you can't tell how far certain bunkers are in front of the next one. And then sevens, the obvious sevens, funky and you get some elevation change for the first time in that part of the property there. And then, yeah, coming in too, there's more variety coming in than I thought. There's some cool humps and bumps in some of those fairways. And, you know, a couple of gut check par threes coming in. So I went back and watched the stents and fill stuff and just appreciated it that much more of like, oh man, because I feel like TV kind of flattens everything out. And, and having seen it, it's like,

oh, no, like, there's like there's a lot more stuff to navigate here. But Neil, I think that the other one that like you wouldn't believe it if you saw it in person when you're standing on that T is 11. I mean, it's really outrageous. Like you're like, where's the way, where am I going? Where am I going? And then you peek down the train line and all of a sudden you see this little pop of flagstick in a sea of gorse with OB all up the right. You're like, oh, I'm going there. Okay, cool. Like I got to hit two proper golf shots. It's like it's a tee shot. You know, there's not a hotel there, but it's kind of like 17, the road hole in terms of how blind the fairway is. And you're just got to like trust that you got to hit this ball over all this course it. It truly like the actual golf

holes themselves are all it's like a bunch of sevens and eights out of 10. I would say TC it's like it's not it's not it's something that's gonna blow you away like the poster stamp will blow you away. That's a really special hole the other like none of the holes really stand out other than 11 like that you mentioned there but that doesn't mean they're weak holes. It doesn't mean they're bad holes. It's just it's just a links golf test. Avoid these pop bunkers, play

these play the slopes right, get your angles right to cover some of the pop bunkers and your angle might, that might be a great angle one day with the wind blow in one direction, it might be a terrible angle the next day and just be creative with your golf shots. It's not I don't I don't know if I can point any special other hole to watch other than it's like a good sum. It's better than the sum of its parts other hole to watch other than it's like a good, it's better than some of its parts, right?

It's not anything that's gonna blow you away, but gosh, it's just a fricking solid championship golf course, so. Love it. Gosh, great chat to get this one going. We haven't even got to our storyline, our draft storyline here, but before we do that, listen, you've heard us talk a lot about our

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I've had the same issue. Right. Okay. Yeah. But the Dewar shorts are great. They're comfortable, great quality. They're great summer wear. It could be hard to find a good pair of shorts. Look no further than Dewar. That's spelled D-U-E-R. They make stretch performance denim and lifestyle apparel that's built for doing they combine comfort with style and quality for what we do in a day. They're made with sustainable materials like wood

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you excited this week what are you intrigued to find out what he intrigued to learn? What's going to have you tuning in the television? You know, it's tough because when you say it's a draft, it forces me to be like, Oh, I want to steal something from you guys, you know, and, and that's fair. And storyline means like, well, I might not care about it, but do I think it's going to become a storyline? You know, Allah, I couldn't have called the, uh, the Harmon hunting stuff last year, but like that's, you know, what's the storyline going to be? I don't know.

So that could be your thing. The unexpected storyline that I don't think it should be a storyline, but I think it may become one is scoring. We saw minus 20 at Trune last time it was here. Now Stenson and Mickelson ran away from the field and hid. I think the closest was Sergio or maybe I'm missing somebody like minus six or minus eight. J.B. Holmes.

J.B. Holmes. I remember I said minus six. You're exactly right. So I don't know if that's like, oh my God, we've lost it. Old course minus 18. But then you go back to what became a storyline at Valhalla was, hey, we want majors to look different. Is it a true test? Looking at the weather, I know we'll get Tron Cantoria in here in a second, but it looks like the weather is quote, unsettled was the term I saw from the RNA. So I think that means it's going to be windy on Thursday, but then it looks like it's going to be

very nice on the weekend. So I think there could be some low numbers out here and these guys might, on the weekend. So I think there could be some low numbers out here. And these guys might, you know, they might get out and run. And so I think that could be a storyline, you know, if it starts to get into the close to 20 under again. I'm not going to, you know, interrupt this, the, you know, weather chat, the models I checked, which is just the basic iPhone app, like Sunday wind looked pretty good. Honestly, that was the one earlier in the week. It did not or like as of yesterday or the day before it did not look good. But Sunday wind looks better. Do you want to do weather now TC

can you see? It's going to impact my storyline draft. So yeah, yeah, exactly. You want to get all the information out to the people here before they before they invest in storylines. I cannot emphasize enough how calm it was today. There was maybe three miles an hour of wind and mostly sunny skies today. The guys we were playing with were like, this doesn't happen ever, much less during open week.

So what I'm seeing, I'm on the BBC site. They're kind of my go-to resource here when I'm in the UK. And it's saying Wednesday, sunny intervals in a moderate breeze and then getting into Thursday light rain and a moderate breeze. Same thing Friday, same thing Saturday and then same thing Sunday. Looks like the wind mostly is out of kind of that prevailing southwest coming in kind of southwest of Aaron there. And then moving a little bit more from the south on Friday

and then a little bit more straight off the water on Saturday. So, it looks like we've got highs, this is Celsius, so 16 to 20 degrees Celsius. So, mid sixties basically. But it doesn't look like it's going to ever get biblical, but it also doesn't look like there's like, there's not gonna be any bluebird days either. There's just kind of, you know, clouds, maybe a passing shower to maybe some mist, maybe some sunshine

popping through for a few hours. Like, I think unsettled is probably a good word for it, Neil. All right. Well, listen, I'd like to trade back on my first pick and get some assets later because that's a Sam Bowie. We trapped. I mean, I think you're right. I think scoring will be good. If I'm looking at like a southwest wind direction again, I'm just going off the app on the phone. But like that would mean a lot of crosswinds, you know, kind of

off the right and a little into on the on most of the front nine and then kind of a little helping but off the left on the on the back nine. It's hard to say like who that favors other than like that's pretty uncomfortable win for right hander, you know, coming to the back. Could we have back to back Brian Harbin years? I don't know. We will see. But it looks like it could get up gusts up in the mid 20s on Sunday, which is you know, what we're what we're looking for out there. And it's, it is exposed out there. Like it's, it's, you know, I mean, all links courses are exposed, but this, it feels like there's nowhere to hide on some of those holes when that wind gets going out there and it's, we can play

a little, little heavier out there. And, and I know Harman wasn't like everybody's favorite winner. I know, you know, if you had to make the movie, like I, you know, like I had no issue with Harmon morning, but it wasn't an exciting Finna. I mean, he held on and all credit to him, but I, God, that I loved the elements last year. You know, I was there for early in the week and it was crappy. And then, you know, Saturday and Sunday, it was just like, that's what, that's what I want to watch. I want to see these guys like in the rain, like getting, getting blasted. So I don't know.

Do you like watching rain or do you like watching wind? I don't know if I love watching air rain. There wasn't enough wind last year. It was kind of calm with moisture. Yeah. Okay. Which that I, I, that's a good point. That's a good point. Wind with no rain is probably the ideal scenario, but I just- Wind and rain is good. It's just like the rain, if it's soft and calm and those guys can control

the ball that much better. And I want to be clear, am I excited to talk about scoring? No, I don't really care that much. When you talk about what's a storyline going to be, I think that's going to be a storyline. Even if scoring is really good, I still don't have as big of an issue with it just because there's actual downside risk in play. There's real bunkers. issue with it just because there's there's actual downside risk in play. There's real bunkers. Yeah.

Real bunkers. There's there's fucking gorse. There's out of bounds. There's train tracks like, you know, like there's there's there's risk. There's it's like that was the thing about Valhalla was like there just wasn't any teeth anywhere. Even if there's there's no conditions, you still got to hit the shots. You're not going to be able to have very bad misses like you can have a Valhalla and not suffer any consequences. Like, you know, there's going to be up and downs,

but it's like you miss in the wrong spot there, you're going to pay a penalty. And that was like what was very, very, very sadly missing from Valhalla. So TC, what's got you most intrigued? What's your number one on your draft board? I'm sorry that we're talking Valhalla. Well, that's my fault.

Bad first. 20 years, 20 years. We're going to talk about Valhalla. Actually, I'm not sorry. We're talking about. Speaking of Valhalla, I think Scotty somehow seems to be coming in under the radar a little bit here. And this is a really great golf course for him. You know, you look at a dude that just drives the hell out of the golf

ball, hits his long iron. Tita Green, he's an absolute menace. The Greens are on balance, relatively flat relative to a lot of the other courses that he plays. All of that should be a really nice combination. I know he's coming in well rested. We're talking to the guy at the halfway house at Turnberry today and he was telling us a few of the lines that Scotty took around the middle of the round when he played there. I think on, I don't know if it was on Saturday or Sunday or when, but he was like, yeah, he took on a line that he had like 160 yards into this par five. It was like, Jesus, man. It seemed like he was right back to where he started.

And I think Scottie will come in with the chip on his shoulder a little bit, not having played well in the, you know, in the preceding couple of majors, right? I am taking Rory. I think this is a opportunity for one of the great golf redemption stories of our time. If he goes out and actually gets it done this week. If you remember the embarrassment he suffered at the 2011 Masters, final round 80

and just the disaster of that day. He stood up there and said all the right things after, he actually did presser after that one, but you know, he said the right things afterwards and responded by going out and win the US Open by like 755 shots at Congressional. He's shown resilience in the past and is this the one that breaks him or is this the one that's finally like, dude, you can't break me any harder than I've been broken now.

It's time to go win one of these. I'm extremely intrigued to see how he responds to what just happened at Pinehurst. That's the number one thing that I'm most excited about or getting an answer to that question. Hell yeah. Got me excited about it. It's funny how it's almost like Scotty versus history and it's Bryson versus Rory.

It's not really Bryson versus himself. Yeah, and Rory versus himself. But it's not Bryson versus Scotty, which I find that I find interesting. Maybe that's just a recency bias because of Scotty kind of no show at the U S open, but it's like, they have this, this Bryce and Rory thing over here and sky's like, Hey, I'm, I might just come in and, you know, do something historic here and, and win a second major. Like I don't, I actually don't

know which one I'm more excited about. Like Scotty doing something historic. And like you, you said a few weeks ago, so it it's like he's having a historic year, undoubtedly the best golfer in the world. But like if he doesn't win more than one major, it's a little bit of a disappointment. You know, like you're like, Oh, man, that he didn't get two out of that year. So there's a, I don't know. It's an insane standard to hold somebody to, but like it kind of feels right.

Yeah, yeah. Like, I to, but like it kind of feels right. I feel that too. Yeah. Yeah. Like, I mean, there's a lot of other tournaments that he can go and win and, and put up some crazy win stats, but like, it does feel like, Hey man, this is your last chance to make it truly historic, which is multiple majors in a year. So God, I don't know what, what's more like, I don't know. Can I ask a question? Would you rather, I mean, I think I know you guys answer to this one,

but you'd rather win seven times on the PGA tour and one major or zero seven times on the PGA tour, one major. And that includes the FedEx cup or two majors and no other tour wins. Oh man. I mean, there's so many other questions I have to ask. Like what is my endorsement profile look like? What is it? Yeah. How am I playing in the, in the, in the events that I'm not winning? Am I contending? You know,

just the information you have. What, what, what are you taking there? Is it different? Is the answer different for Rory than it is like Scotty? Cause I think Rory would trade every tour win for like, he would trade 20 PJ tour wins. Yeah. More major. It's kind of where you're at in your career. Cause I think Rory would trade every tour win for, like he would trade 20 PGA tour wins for one more major. It's kind of where you're at in your career. But I think if both of those guys fast forward 20 years, I think the two majors are going to mean more

than the PGA tour wins. And I think you're going to get enough money that, you know, I could do a lot with the, what, 2.5 million, let's say that you, what would the person be? More than that, right? Yeah a lot with the, what, 2.5 million, let's say that you, I probably, what, what, what would the person be more than that? Right. Yeah. It's over there. It's over like 8 million. Let's say if you win two majors, like, yeah, sign me up for two majors over all the, you know, I think there's a massive, massive lifetime value of those, even just,

just going beyond the endorsements and stuff of just, just to, you know, almost being an ambassador of those majors. Yes. So was that, was that your official pick? What was your official draft there? Did you start saying things, Neil or is it TCF or you want to keep going? It's actually, they actually traded out of this. I got some cash considerations for, for the masters next year. No, I'm going to go Scotty. No, you went, he's seeing what's going on. I think you're done. I think you're done. All right. I got a few more, but go ahead. He got Mike Tist. He didn't get his pick in.

I'm running to the podium. God, there's a few different directions I can go. There's a few different directions I can go. I think Brooks is a storyline. I think Brooks kind of came into this year defending the PGA and has kind of laid an egg for the most part. I think this is a really Brooks friendly golf course with same things I said about Scotty with just straight, you know, powerful kind of heavy ball flight off the tee, really good long iron player and you know, does really well in flat greens or you know, flattish greens. I think I could see and I like Brooks is coming in at 40 to one odds. He's there with Cantlay, McIntyre and

like that's fucking disrespectful, right? And you know, I don't think you can look at his recent, like, I don't think you're looking at Valderrama as a course fit tool for Trune, right? From last week. So I heard Brooks, Brooks and Answer got in late last night, their flight was canceled coming in. And I'm like, man, like how, how are they not putting those guys on a PJ? The, you know, they're running out of money down there. What's going on over there? What's going on? Yeah. So, but yeah, I think,

I think Brooks comes in with a good chip on his shoulder and, and you know, I think he's going to knock off a, in an open championship at some point here. I cannot believe I'm getting this guy this late. Yeah. I mean, I don't know if he's just over slot value or I'm in big MLB draft right now. You don't know if his wonderlicks scores, some of his teammates are saying bad things about him in the media. He's got big power, but he strikes out a lot.

I mean, it's going to be, I mean, close, I mean, I don't know, all time gets thrown around a lot, but like of our generation, definitely our time covering the game of golf. If he wins this major, it is an all time major season, two wins and two other top tens, like two minutes, another runner up and another top 10. Like I have great appreciation and respect for what he did at Pioneers, way more than wing foot, but it was still like a distance was heavily favored at Pioneers, kind of more than I thought it would be.

Like he did not get the punishment out of the, you know, the sandy areas and whatnot for the offline drives on that Sunday that I would have thought then that he would have gotten out of that golf course. So that's all to say, I still have great appreciation and respect for that win. Again, much more than the wing foot, but if he goes and does that and then does over

on the West Coast of Scotland in this major championship, this setup links golf that has not always been his favorite. If he goes and wins this, all of a sudden Bryson's whole entire career takes on like a different profile, like his two majors are both the US Open and both like slugfest US opens. If he goes out and does, he's very capable of this, like this version of Bryson is capable of this of playing, you

know, kind of a more skilled version of the game than just kind of the bomb and gouges that we've seen. But I would, I just, that's a very intriguing storyline going into this. If I could, it'd be an incredible major season. He'd have three majors. He'd have stolen just the crown from Scotty. Like is it, it, you know, how do you sit there and say like Scotty's the, who's the player of the year at that point? It's like Bryson. It's kind of, it's kind of the argument you just made. It's all like, yeah, yeah, no PGA events. Like literally, not even playing in any.

Yeah, but he wins two majors and it's like, God, whereas Scott is having this historic season but only gets one like that is. So then I guess it does become, maybe then it's a Scotty versus Bryson thing until Augusta next year, which- Maybe audience to go on his YouTube channel. Yeah.

They gotta play a home and home on YouTube. Oh man. All right. I have a just kind of European winner between big Bob Rory, Tommy lad, Hatten Ludwig, you know, Victor kind of has showed up a little bit in majors this year. It seems like there's some really strong momentum coming off of Team Europe, TC, your squad. And it's like, can one of them get it done?

We've had a Cam Smith one, but that's an Aussie winner. But somebody, I mean, Tommy, Big Bob, I don't know, like somebody like more so home soil, but also just like Europeans seem like they have a lot of momentum. And I wonder if any of them are going to, going to make noise this week. I think that's a massive storyline because I think more so, I think the crowds would get behind any kind of European name on that leaderboard more so than, than some of these Americans coming over across the pond. Especially since Brian the Butcher, you know, ripped his heart out last year. Exactly. So, and of course, I can't believe I left out your boy, Aaron Rye. Sorry. My apologies on that oversight. And Norrin too. Norrin's great. He just got in. He had to find a place here to stay. He's playing great golf right now.

You know, and we know he's a, he's, he's always a threat every time he tees it up. Right. So course anywhere in the world, it's my guy. All right. You're up to TC. I kind of, I think how many rounds are we going? It's been until you run out. Well, that's a judgment call, right? It's, it's, uh, it's like the end of a soccer game. Yeah. Um, I will go, I'll go ROM. I think if ROM goes this whole season without having, you know, really anything to show

for it in the majors, I think that that's, it's going from a two alarm fire to a four alarm fire. And then if he gets to the masters next year and, and, you know, lays an egg or doesn't play well, then it's a, then it's like, all right, the house is officially burned down and like, he's, you know, he's probably going to kill somebody. So I think like Ram is, you know, I, I'm not sure. It just seems like he went from being a week in, week out, consistent threat, like one of the undeniable top two, top three players in the world to an afterthought here pretty quickly. And I don't know if he's a creature of habit and he's gotten off his

routine. I don't know if the course fits are just not lending to preparing for majors or he's got a young family. There's so many variables. You don't know if it's an injury thing or what, but yeah, I think Ram is, his ascent, his career ascent has completely turned into a free fall here. He's lost his swag, man. He just does not seem to walk around with the same swag. I can definitely theorize as to why that might be, but yeah, he's 25 to one, not to win majors. He was a 10 to one guy not very long ago.

Yeah, TC, I think that's- Feels right though. I don't know free falls the word I'd use, but definitely like the lost year in his prime of like, hey man, you like couldn't have had any more momentum than you had coming off of last year. And it's like, Whoa, this is, you know, kind of, yeah, and he's getting kind of shown up by a guy that he recruited to come on to his

team in Hatton, who's playing really well in pretty much week in week out, you know, on on live, you know, and Bryson's getting all the headlines like, he's Sergio on like, Sergio has been playing well. And, you know, here here of late, both in majors and and on live too, you know, so his own countryman. Yeah, yeah. It he has fallen to seventh in the data golf rankings. And of

course, we'd be remiss if we didn't mention he is second in the live golf teams, individual standings. I just think it again, I think that the overriding thought here is if you're not doing anything in majors, it doesn't matter. Like who's been who's had a better year, Bryson's in ninth in the live standings, and Rom's in second. Like, do we want to make the case that Rom has had a better year than Bryson? No, we're not gonna do that. Well, I think to that point, too, it's not like where he's like, anybody like, Oh, yeah, you guys are slacking off live like no, like, we're not referencing the FedEx cup standings here either.

Correct. I don't know how to really tie this one in. But I just am intrigued about I don't know. I don't know how to how to say this one. I'm intrigued by this week because like, it's going to be nine more months till all these guys are back together. And like it, the game of golf gets like, all of the bullshit has got put on pause, at least for me, both mentally and kind of how we've talked about it, basically since April, since like everybody got together for the majors, you know, I don't care that much about the, the, the events in between the majors.

I care a lot about the events that lead up to them, uh, you know, to start the year, those are all a lot of fun, but now we go into that dark period where like, I haven't thought about the merger and the PIF and any of the board stuff, honestly, in like over a month. It's been great. And now we're just gonna, that's gonna naturally come back after this week. And that just, you know, there's always that,

that weird feeling of something you look forward to when that ends, how far away you are from it starting back up again. And I know that's coming at the end of this week, but it's gonna make me appreciate this week just a little bit more. So. I got one more stoppage time.

All this is fun around. We'll lift up four minutes of stoppage time here. I got young guns, similar to my storyline on, you know, just kind of Euro guys, but like, I feel like we're witnessing an ascension of, of he's calling half the field. So well, I didn't storyline doesn't mean one guy, right? But I do feel like that there's a new kind of crop between Ludwig, Sahith, Tom Kim and Akshay. Like they seem to be building a lot of momentum. Sahith and Akshay looking for president's cup spots. Tom Kim, you know, is he a global superstar?

Is he not like, you know, TBD? I would throw Min Woo Lee into that camp too. Sure. But I feel like, Oh man, there's a new kind of generation and it's, you know, kind of as a speech and JT remain like the lost boys, you know, in the generation ahead, some of those kind of, they're kind of graduating up a generation. And I think these, these young guns, there feels like some fresh energy there. And so I'm excited to see them kind of towards the end of this year. Like they've all played really well this year. I'd like to see, you

know, one of those guys like who's going to finish the strongest, I guess what I'm getting at with these young players. Do you see? Oh, you know, I want to talk Ludwig. I think I think more. I think this course fits more Kawa really well. I think the RNA is very much like it's kind of a changing of the guard at the RNA with slumbers stepping aside and they've got the new guy coming in from I think, you know, professional rugby and a really, you know, impressive resume there. So, you know, curious to see what he says and kind of how they put him forth. But I got to do it to him guys. Tommy. Good. This is his time. This is his time. I think so. Okay. I know. So, I believe it it deep in my, deep in my being, deep in my loins. All right. So he's going to win it right now that he's going to win. He's going to

win the tournament. Correct. Yes. Okay. And what? Fino's back. Fino's back on the bag. Will there be any reconciliation, any consequences at all if he doesn't like at any point will there be and this feels like a good stopping point to be like, maybe, will there be an apology as of Sunday for how many times you've called it? He's going to win a major and it hasn't happened. Can we put like some, some stakes on this claim? Um, you want to throw another 12 hours on the W house? Again, he's only 36 hours in the waffle house. 36. You know what? I'll do that. I don't know for our businesses, productivity levels. I don't know if I can allow that. I can't have 12 hours.

Like his sentence goes down to 12. If he, if Tommy wins and it goes to 36, if he does it with, yeah, I think that, I mean, if he wants that action, I'll take that. I don't know if I can like physically do 36 hours, like my back, I, I, that'd be so many waffles too. Wow. So you're already thinking about him not winning. That's interesting. Wow. As soon as you got put to the test. Yeah. I mean, yeah, he's, you know, he's what? He's 20, 25 to one right now. So a lot of respect for him in the markets

there. Um, yeah, clear rung below the Ludwig Morikawa Bryson wrong at 14 to one, but, um, oh, I don't think I went to the law house. Okay. That seems like an unfair bet. T.C. I think he's going to play great. Okay. That seems like an unfair bet. TC, I think he's going to play great. I can't believe that. I don't even want to see that though. Like that seems a little TC, you know what we'll do? How about this? I'll meet you. You know, what about a ceremonial extra hour, a 25th hour that you have to tack onto the Waffle House if Tommy doesn't win. Well, an extra hour or an extra waffle. He's 25 to one. So, you know, it almost, it almost lines up. One more hour. Throw another shrimp on the barbie. And I think Tommy should join you for that extra hour, wherever it is.

Like he should just come have a meal with TC and you guys can talk about it. Do a podcast. I'm going to need on top of that though, I'm going to need a public announcement that a 25th hour has been added to your if he doesn't win. So it needs to be acknowledged publicly. Okay. And I, I, I, I cannot make any promises for the future. There will not be an apology. The guy's only 34. He's got like five more years left in his prime. He's playing some of the best golf of his life right now. You know, I'm giving him till like Birkdale 26 before I'm concerned. Okay. Okay. Good to know. I am going to surprise you guys with my last guy, my last pick here, my last thing I want to talk about. I'm not going to let him sneak up on us despite how bad it's been.

The links master. The links master. He's going to do something freaky out of nowhere at some point. And if it's going to happen, it's going to be at Augusta or it's going to be at an open, right? I don't think he's going to like sneak up. He's going to play, get in way better form if he wants to win a US Open or a PGA Championship. I just think that those tests, well, the hollow side but like even that he doesn't

have the horses to keep up with guys on a lot of these golf courses. But something like the open, I think he can. Whether he can sustain it for 72 holes, I don't know. But like, I think that there's still some magic in there to be found. Now, granted, it would be magic. There's no reason to look at his play and to think that there's like, hey, it's right around the corner. I don't believe that other than like, I think we are due for like a spieth, just Renaissance in terms of one week major championship freakish out of nowhere. Like if you look back at a lot of careers, guys have done that at times when they've,

it's bonafide major champions have come back and just thrown one when you're not expecting. Keppke just did it last year. Like we were not expecting that out of Keppke. And he did it like, why can't Jordan do it? And if there's, if it's gonna be a spot, I feel like Trune would make sense. I just worry about the wrist.

I worry about everything TC, I'm just flagging it. I don't really worry about everything. I think he's really freaking good. And I think he's got plenty of juice left in the tank for his career. I just worry about the wrist this season and it's really, it's really lush here right now. It's been like truly an, it was an awful winter. It was an awful spring and it's been a wet, cold, awful summer. There's a lot of grass out there and it's, it's, you know,

you kind of got to get through the ball a little bit. And I don't know. I just, I just worry about the flag. I'm intrigued. God, I was hoping that we'd make it through that whole speed segment without you saying speed and just referring to them as the links master. Cause I just think about who the fuck is the links. Cause I, I didn't know who the links master. Cause I just think about people listening to this. Who the fuck is the links master?

Cause I didn't know who the links master was for awhile. According to the fabricated text thread, Rick was actually the real one. I know, but like it's, it's funnier the way we had it. We can't change it. That's it. Could there be a changing of the crown as far as links masters go with saw hith taking upon the crown. From speed than a hoodie.

Yeah. You know, I would have to win one. I would love that. Got him celebrating Big Bob's win on the on the deck was great. Awesome. What a what a easy guy to root for. Well, let's look at some of the odds before we do that. We'll give a shout out to our friends at Mizzouho America is part of the Mizzouho financial group, let's look at some of the odds. Before we do that, we'll give a shout out to our friends at Mizuho America as part of the Mizuho Financial Group, the 15th largest bank in the world. Mizuho America is a corporate and investment bank

serving corporate and institutional clients. They advise and fund businesses looking to go public, raise money, expand operations, or connect with large investors. They also help finance large infrastructure projects that promote civic improvement. While you may not know the name Mizuho, you likely know many of the name brand companies they have helped or the projects they have funding. It is a name worth knowing. The title sponsor of the Mizuho America's Open, you'll see their commercials on television.

That event of course is ran at Liberty National. I've done a lot of great things in the women's game. Done a lot of great things supporting our content, our LPGA content. So a big shout to Mizuho. For more information, visit MizuhoAmericas.com. That is MizuhoAmericas.com. We've referenced the odds. These are of course, courtesy of the Fandel Sportsbook and of course, subject to change. I typed this in this morning, so they may have changed even as of the time of recording this,

but Scottie Scheffler is plus 450, Rory is plus 750, Xander plus 1,100, Ludwig, Morikawa, and Bryson are at plus 1,400, Rom and Fleetwood plus 2,500, Tyrell Hatton plus 2,800, Victor Hovland plus 3,000, Koepka, McIntyre, and Cantlay plus 4,000. A lot of respect for Big Shot Bob if I may say, but Fee now. Big Shot Bob's got to be exhausted. Yeahee now. Big Shot Bob's gotta be exhausted. Yeah, he's right. Hi, his bike grades hot coming in and just is like, holy shit. Next to Kepkin. Can't lay is a wild rise.

Tony Fee now. Global superstar Tom Kim, Shane Lowry and Cam Smith plus 4,500. Sahith plus 5,000. Hideki and Joaquin Nieman. Remember when he was the best player in the world like five months ago? Plus 5,500. Min Woo Lee, Cam Young, Adam Scott, plus 6,000 Sung J and Wyndham Clark plus 6,500. JT Brian Harmon, Matt Fitzpatrick and Aaron Rye plus 7,000. Corey Connors plus 8,000.

The Lynx master Jordan Spieth plus 9,000. Louis Ustazan and Max Homa plus 11,000. I was absolutely stunned when I saw the pros listed at plus 11,000. Yeah, I'll call out Ustazan has been playing pretty good golf. He won the Dunhill in like late fall or sorry, the South African downhill. And then he won the Mauritius open, which that's a, of course that's a national open. That's a national open. He's been playing pretty well on live. Like he had, he had a second, Natalie, he had a T four at Valderrama. Uh, he should be coming in pretty sharp. He missed the cut last time they were at, at true. But I think,

you know, I don't know. He's,. But I think, you know, I don't know. He's Yeah. I mean, Hatty, a couple things that jump out to me. I mean, I think he deserves it. But Ludwig is not a secret plus 1400 with with Colin Bryson is and Fleetwood man, I'm you know, congrats TC like I don't think he's sneaking up on anybody at at 2500. I feel like Hatton is a little lower than I thought he would be compared. I would almost flip Hatton and Fleetwood a little bit because it feels like Hatton's just been playing good. He's shown up in majors.

Plus $2,800 for Hatton is surprising to me. Those are the couple of things that jumped out on the odds. I think somebody that I'm not sure if I trust this driver quite enough, but Cam Smith at 45 to one as well. I mean, he's, he's a relatively recent links master obviously plays better when it's firm and fire and fast. But you know, I think Cam cams always going to be a threat in this event. I'm gonna throw a challenge flag on Tyrrell Hatton there, Neil, he did T9 at the Masters,

but T63 at the PGA, T26 at the US Open. One top 10 this decade since 2020 in majors. I think that's quite a light major. Maybe I've been watching too much of his play. Cause he's been balling all the time. I have no idea what to do with him is is Hovland. So the odds like it's, I don't know how many majors next year, you're going to get with Rom plus 2,500 Hovland plus 3000

Kamsmith plus 4,500, Kepka plus 4,000. Like those are some big names, like decently far down there. But those odds are like, he's hoovering stuff. It's true. But it also reflects the, the meh feeling I have towards Hovland. And like, those are some big names, like decently far down there, but those odds reflect- Because Scotty's hoovering stuff up, right? Yeah, it's true, but it also reflects the meh feeling I have towards all of those names right now.

Like it's hard to picture them going out and winning. And you're exactly right. Like there is a dude that has played some of the best golf we've seen, you know, since we've ever been podcasters that has to be factored into that. Like there's a chance that Scotty just goes and beats everybody by six anyways, and that is reflected in these odds.

So I want to be tempted. I mean, we can get, we'll get to picks here in a second, uh, as we go through a couple of members, you guys want to do picks now? Who TTC has already done his. You did it. Neil, who's going to win? Let's just do that now. And I, regardless of odds, ignore the odds.

Yeah. Yeah, I know. Um, like, yeah, you know, I want Roy to win, but I got a feeling that Ludwig's gonna win. That's my pick. I think Ludwig is gonna win this tournament. I really do. I think he kinda had a bad day yesterday

at the Scottish Open, but he's just been doing things all year. He's not scared. He's gotten, like, he's been in pressure situations. I just think the guy is a total stud and I think he's going to win this event and be like, oh shit, we got another like, gotta worry about now. That's a now now he's entered the major conversation and kind of, I mean, a little bit like kind of wreck some storylines. Like this feels like an event where some storylines might get wrecked. The open is always good

for kind of a, I wouldn't call Ludwig a random winner, but like somebody coming out of left field, we're like, oh shit, like that's not what I thought was going to happen. So that's my pick. All right. Put your name on it. I like that. I like that. I respect that. Speaking of putting your name on stuff. I'm withdrawing a previous promise of mine. That promise was that I was not going

to be there for when Rory won his next major because that is my kick and I would like I would like to host the block party. Wow, I am I'm ready to just ride it out. I think that was like an exorcism. Hurricane party. Yeah, it was whatever happened at Pinehurst was like a bottoming out of they can't hurt me any worse than I just hurt myself. It's time to go out and win one of these things. I know what to do differently this time around. Hell yeah.

Solly, that warms my heart to hear brother. Yeah. Come on back in here. Here. Here's the, here's the manual for how to run it. You could, yeah, you could take it this week. I love it. Yeah.

But what about it being sold out to private equity? Well, yeah, we might have to talk about the board. Let me get the, I'll get the lawyers on the phone after this. Figure out, figure out. Well, yeah. Handshake deal for now. You know, like kind of the, uh, the, the, the paramount, you know, Sherry redstone stuff. Like, yeah, there might be a ghost shop period here, but, but for now, yeah, that all sounds great. He's got Larry Ellison back in him as well. It's a hard pick. It's a hard play more than it is ahead. But I'm I'm I'm extremely intrigued. Part of me thinks he's just gone off and I fuck everybody.

Like, I'm just going to go do this. So that's my pick this week. I love that. That's fantastic. Xander. I mean, I think Xander's been my won't win pick for like 11 majors in a row. So it didn't go great at Valhalla. But yeah, yeah, I know. I know. But also that wasn't a major. So it didn't it doesn't really go on my permanent record. It was kind of expunged. Yeah, it's weirdly I think I think bright. I'm a little bit concerned just with moisture

in the forecast. He's got a do guy. He's got the guy for it though. It could be a different kind of do here though. That's true. I was going to say Rom, but that's a, it doesn't feel like I'm putting my neck, sticking my neck out. I don't think Colin is going to win.

I think he's going to compete, but I don't think he's going to win. So Rom doesn't count because that was going to be mine. Rom counts. I mean, you know, feels a little safe. But I'll take those two. I appreciate you guys not going with Fleetwood. That's a big one. I think he could win this one. I think it's a great fit, dude.

If he's going to win one, this is jumping off the page. I really, I really do think so. I'll say Rom Haddon, Nor Hovland. I'll take three names if I'm going to, you know, kind of, if I'm going to play something 25 and older. Yeah. A little bit. So I want to listen. I got them. It truly warms my heart to hear you pick Rory.

And I, I, God, I want to pick them too. But I, it's part of it. I have a little bit of just like fatigue with, with like maybe the bit, the block part. Like I almost just want to like, I think we can kill the bit. I'm ready to move on from the bit. I want to free myself up to like authentically,

like if he's there, I'm rooting for him, right? But I just, I got a weird feeling about Ludwig. And I had to just, I had to put that out in the world. I just have a feeling he's going to win. So- That's why I put it on the Slack. I said, Hey, I think Ludwig, you know, he could win, but I got to put my name on some of the Fleetwood,

but I'm just saying, Neil, I'm an ally of yours. I'd like to be a silent backer. Okay. And if Rory won, if Rory took down Ludwig, I'd be so thrilled. It's like, hey, you know, Ludwig's got plenty of time left. Like I'm just, I'm excited. I can't lose now.

This is fantastic. It's going to be great. Quick, quick, quick note. And Alex, my wife's aunt, uh, who hosted us in Stockholm. She asked me, we were going to dinner the other night and she asked me, she said, Hey, will you explain the block party to me? Like, I don't know. Like, what is this block party? Are you guys actually throwing a party? She took it very, very literally. And I was

like, no, and it's a bit. And it's a fantastic day. And we, but here's the thing, solid. We can't put it to bed because it like, it exists like outside of me. Now that's I w we've lost, we've lost control. It's broken contained. So, you know, I embrace it. It's, I think it's, it's fantastic. And so I look forward to Rory having the first round lead. And my Twitter replies just getting lit on fire with block party content. I'm still not sick of it. It's just, it's a heavy load to bear and planning it. So I appreciate you taking over. Thank you. Any long shots you guys like or anybody outside of that 50 to one

range that you're feeling good about could be farther down the board too. And our fan dual pick, I pick Aaron Ryde to be first round leader at plus 60. I think he might just get out and run. But I loved that. I got Oost hazing in my, in some parlay stuff as well. Cause I think he could, I was always doing stuff, man. I mean, it's easy to forget how much of a major killer he's been. And I, I wouldn't be surprised at all to

see him play some golf. New Adam Scott's got some Stu sync unfinished business going on. And he played really well last week. Like you said about Eastays and TC like kind of a major winner still has form, you know, he's kind of in the twilight, but like he, you know, he got to hit some golf shots at the Scottish Open. So that he's, you know, 60 six step plus 6000. So that's an, you know, he got, he hit some golf shots at the Scottish open. So that he's, you know, 66 plus 6,000. So that's an, you know, an intriguing one there. I don't think he's done yet.

I got it. I got cam young cam young has been starting to stack up some good finishes. He's proven himself as a proper links player. Starting to drive the ball great again. All right, Neil's deal with some technical issues, but one thing I asked you guys for was, we're gonna go through just some memories. I left this as open-ended as possible for just like, when you think of the open championship, it could be funny, it can be sad, it could be heroic,

it can be about the competition. I know what Neil's are, so I'm going to throw it to you first. If I asked you for just some of your favorite memories of the Open Championship, what comes to mind? Well, sorry, my dongle's on fire right now. That's the technical issue. So apologies for the bad audio. It's high.

I turned the AC off, it was too loud, blah, blah, blah. So I have three. They're not like fun memories. Like I said earlier, when I think of the open, I think of like serious, heartbreaking stuff. So my my three are the original Icarito was just Adam Scott bogeying the final four holes is just a very memorable thing. And I hate to like bring it like dredge that up. But I just think about it like more

than I don't know more than I realized when I was pondering this question this morning. I think I often think of Stu sinks awful green shirt and hat combo when he won which obviously brings to mind Tom Watson's heartbreaking defeat leaving leaving that putt short. So that's, God, I still can't believe Tom Watson almost won the open at like what, 57, I think he was? 59. 59. 59. Like that was just, that was heartbreaking. But again, that's kind of what I remember.

It's just like, the open to me is a tragedy. It's not a comedy, it's not a thriller. It's Shakespearean in that way. And then the last one, which doesn't really fall, I guess it falls in this category because it was to beat Rory, but I will always remember that putt that Cam Smith hit around the road hole on 17. It's just like, I can't believe he's going to putt this and he executed it perfectly and got up and down.

That whole round that Cam Smith played was some of the most electric golf I've ever seen. And yeah, so I think about that Cam Smith win pretty often as well, which was, you know, brutal for us Rory fans. So there's some tragedy involved there as well. It's brutal. It's also like ended with like, Oh yeah, the always guys are going to live to like, did that happen? TC's over there celebrating the whole thing, which made it 85 times worse. bottle of champagne. TC, what do you got? I got the first one that always, it just I feel like weird stuff

tends to happen in like the early rounds. You know, you kind of like you would, you would wake up and you'd be like, Oh my God, this guy made a quad earlier or whatever. But I think, I think it was the final round. It was Ian Woosnum when he had the extra class. That was epic. I mean, just in like the caddy, like you could tell the caddy like like you could tell the caddy, like wanted to just, I'll lay it out then he, uh, it's the final round. He's in the final group, uh, at lithium and lithium is the only course in the

rota that opens with a par three. So it's the only course that this could happen on. He steps up and absolutely stuffs the opening tee shot and makes birdie gets to the next tee. This is in 2001. Gets to the next tee and realized he had, he was messing around with two drivers on the range, gets up there and real. And the caddy realizes, uh, he says, you're going to go ballistic. We have 15 clubs and they, he takes one of the drivers out, throws it into the woods. Uh, it says, God, I give you one job to do and you can't do it. Uh, and amazingly TC, the cat,

the caddy's names miles burn. He did not get fired for this, which I thought, no, I think he waited a couple of weeks to fire him. Two weeks later after a night of drinking on the town, burn slept in and failed to turn up for their tea time and then was to fire. It's just an incredible open championship moment. That if Twitter was around for that one, that would have been, that'd have been peak. Which I was thinking about it a yesterday when Mackenzie Hughes was late for his tee time. And I think, you know, I think he wanted to go ballistic on it on his caddy. I don't know what exactly happened there. And then B I had like Freddie and Gustav, like I brought

like a few of their clubs over with me and put them in my golf bag. And so they were in my travel bag. And like one of them, like Gustav's pitching wedge is like, you know, a foot and a half long, two feet long, and it's in the bottom of my golf bag. And I forgot about it. And I was thinking about it. I was like, oh man, like if we were playing a competition yesterday, like would that have been a penalty? Like if that's in

the bottom of my golf bag, like I didn't even notice it until the sixth or seventh hole in. But it just got me thinking about, about who's them. Niel, like he brought it up a little bit with Watson. It's not like funny, but it's just, it's seared in my memory of the, yeah, like especially the 18th hole of just that chip. And, you know, I've talked to Jim Hardslough at length about it. And I played that hole like a couple of hours ago and just thinking about the, what could have been,

and then, you know, Stu Sink wins and all of that. And it's a, you know, it's not the toughest hole in the world, but it's got so much like that bunkers guarding the left side and that runoff in the back is bigger than it looks on TV as well. But man, it's just, and I think it definitely gives you an appreciation too of like the conditions, like when they, you know, they, they ramp up the firmness and everything, like wasn't nears firm like that today. And, and, you know, you could land it on the green and, and hold the green, you know, but

he's landed it on the downslope, you know, 10 feet short of the green. So that one's seared in my memory. Always. And then I think that Mike, my I think my favorite open memory is was it Oh, six that live them when tigers just like not hitting drivers in Liverpool, like, or yeah, at a liver at a at a hoi-lek and there's just poofs of dust coming up every time he hits a shot. And like, that's, I feel that in my bones. That's what I, that's what I want when I think of the open. I either

want really, really bad weather and the guys blowing away at Royal St. George's that one year or I want poofs of dust or the, the dual in the sun and, you know, just kind of that golden hour and, and dry and kind of a little bit of heat and spice in the air. Carnoustie 2018. That was so sick. Spieth drove the first green on the, on, uh, I think it was Saturday or Sunday. I think it was Sunday.

I actually drove the first green made eagle. It was 390 yards because it was so firm out. It's just, that's the best. Um, my first one was Ian Woosdham. And I thought I was going to, did not think I was going to get pipped on that one. But uh, second one is Brendan Porath's tweet from when Bryson showed up looking like a 74 year old mob boss.

That just made, like, I still just like randomly think of that one and just laugh of when he had the cap on and he just had this like, look like a gray sweatsuit on. It's just like that speaks to those early morning weird stuff that happens in the open. That just gets me so excited. And my last one, I don't know if we've ever even actually talked about this on the pod, but the streaker

after the 1995 open championship, it's just an unbelievably iconic image of Daily out there with his wife, with the, you know, the mid nineties hair. He's wearing that green Reebok jacket. He's putting with a glove on like, you know, they're embracing and this dude is streaking across the green. He has the letters, the words 19th hole written in marker on his back with an arrow pointing down to his butt. There's a guy chasing him and also

a cop chasing him. And I realized that everyone comes out the head like the big Bobby. So I was like, I don't know if I've ever heard the story of this. I went doing a little research on it. Listen to John Daly tell the story. I said that the guy that did it was a cop and then he bet 90 people in his precinct 100 pounds that he would do it, and they didn't even arrest him. He made 9,000 pounds and he went back to the precinct, stayed naked and drank with them. That's the story as Daily told it.

Turns out that story's not at all true, because the guy, again, if this is alleged to be believed, there is a website called thestreaker.org.uk, which has documented streaking incidents on it. And the guy, again, assuming this isn't a gag, wrote a first person account of doing this. And he showed up that day and was getting ready to try and find a place to park and some guy, a scouser, he calls him, was charging people five pounds to park in a free car park. But he didn't find out until later that the guy was just shaking him down. He tells the guy that's running the car park that this is what I'm going to do today. And the guy that's running it says, like, can I chase you?

Can I be like the one that chases you around the green? And so the guy that's in the picture that's wearing the awkward color jacket, like the block color jacket, allegedly isn't even a cop. It's the guy that was like charging them to park earlier in the day, that like is getting a kick out of like chasing the guy down the fairway. And I never heard that part of the story. I don't know what part is actually true or whether the dailies part is true or whatnot, but it's an incredible, incredible photo to incredible story that, you know, it's just, it's amazing. So he did allegedly get arrested. He got fined 250 bucks and like they requested he see a, a, a psych, a psychiatrist,

I think it would have been after on his way, uh, on his way out the door. And he saw Prince, uh, George Bush and Prince Andrew were clapping and cheering as he ran past them as well. It's an incredible account. It's the streaker.org.uk slash golf slash golf.htm or something like that. If you want to read the story, just Google it actually, it pops up. But, uh, I'd never heard the full story on that. That made me laugh uncontrollably today.

One other, one other memory that always comes to mind, this is from Taurusas season two, when we came to Scotland. We're at Muscleboro and the secretary of the Pro at Muscleboro, delightful guy, good storyteller. He's telling us about when David Brown won the open in 1886 at Muscle Morale and he was a roofer. He was a roofer. And they pulled him off the roof, they threw him in the bath and they cleaned him up and he went out and they won the open. I love that. That story is like, just that's everything I love about the open, right? Because it's, you know, on the same list of winners as Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods and Tom Watson,

you know, you've got Willie Actorlone and David Brown, I'm sure I pronounced that wrong, but and Willie Park and James Braid and, you know, the old and young Tom and all those guys. So, Mungo Park. Television viewing this coming week is the early window is going to be on the clock from 1.30 to 4 a.m. Eastern time. Picking up at 4 a.m. to 3 p.m. on both Thursday and Friday is on USA. Saturday is 5 a.m. to 7 a.m. on USA and then 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. on NBC. Then they go 4 to 7 a.m. on Sunday on USA, 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. on NBC, a whole bunch of streaming other options on the cock as well. So not as much channel changing as it has been in the past but I think they do actually have some

super late, sorry they do have a super late coverage, a three to four 15 window, of course, on Thursday and Friday, where you have to switch back over to the cock to finish the day. So we'll probably be going live somewhere in that three o'clock ish window and probably just circumventing the cock. When do you tee times come out? I assume that'll be on Tuesday. By the time we do this podcast is probably out the tee times I'm sure will be out. So don't know about the draws any of that. But

we get to like honest question is Dustin Johnson in the field? He is. Yes. Like what a crazy we haven't talked about Dustin and Tigers here. The cat. The cat is there that there was a question AC Wintz asked ranked their finishes Tiger JT Spieth. It's a a question. AC Wintz asked, rank their finishes Tiger JT Spieth. It's a good question. I want to go Spieth JT Tiger. Spieth JT Tiger. I got a weird Spieth feeling this week. I'll go Spieth Tiger JT.

Wow. I take JT Spieth Tiger. We got all three different answers there. EatNSleepGolf asked the question, small screens on the open road and certainly not the most undulating. Also, the course looks fairly green. Is this the ideal open setup for a Scheffler win? Lay it out like that. I want to say yes, man. I really do. just we've had the flip side does, does, does the, there's the ability to putt from off the green nullify some of Scotty's advantage. Honestly, to be the TBD, like it's, it's really hard to like game plan this,

this course from afar with all the elements that go into that one. But I mean, when he lays it out like that, I do feel like, ah, man, that could make a ton of sense. I mean, obviously, and almost any course is going to fit Scotty, but talking to some of this, this Scottish guys today, I mean, when he lays it out like that, I do feel like, ah, man, that could make a ton of sense. I mean, obviously, and almost of course is going to fit Scotty. But talking to some of this, this Scottish guys today, I was, I was asking them who their picks were and they were very like to a man. They were kind of, Hey, I don't like, this is the one tournament I don't make a pick on until Saturday morning because of the draw. They're like, Hey, like, it's just, it's just not my, not my cup of tea as far as a winner goes, you know, draw wise. So I was like, Hey, like, it's just, it's just not my, not my cup of tea, as far as a winner goes, you know, draw wise. So

I was like, Oh, that's, that's smart. Last one, this one's gonna go to TC. Blassey the Blizz says, how does how high does Tom Kim have to finish to get accolades from TC? I you would have to what did he finish last year? Second, second, you would have to, what did he finish last year? Second, second, you would have to finish second again. Okay. Okay. Third solo third. If you go set solo, second, solo third, back to back gears, you,

that would not mean anything to you and not a backdoor like a true, a true second. Good question from the blue. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you to the bliss. Uh, that's going to move us in the lead chair this week. Is it, is it Luke Donald for, for, uh, for NBC? We're going to have to listen. We're going to have to wait and see. I don't know if I have an answer to that one. Uh, we'll, we'll find out when we tune. I, I don't know what the kind of the setup is between sky and, and listen, this is, I will just be straight up. This is not one of the weeks I watch NBC. I will not deal with the commercial load. I will, I'll be circumventing a world feed of some kind or watching Sky. I just, I, I turned too negative and nobody wants that. So I will not be going through the NBC window this week.

VPNs VPN season. VPN nation. You know, that's how I live my life. That is going to move us to wrap. Thank you, everyone, for tuning in. You will catch us Wednesday, 4 PM Eastern time on our YouTube channel. The No Laying Up YouTube channel, that is not the podcast channel.

We will be live with a happy hour show, talking about the developments of the week. We'll be live after every single round, courtesy of our friends at high noon. TC, enjoy the open out there. Enjoy the Scots. Enjoy the incredible golf. Thank you guys for both being with us here today. Thank you everyone for tuning in. We'll see you here all week. Cannot wait

to cover the Open Championship this week and I hope you guys have a great week. Crack on. Good luck with the block parties, Ollie. Thank you. Thank you very much. Come through. Come through. Be the right club. Be the right club today. Johnny, that's better than most. How about the end? That is better than most. Better than most! Expect anything different?