No Laying Up - Golf Podcast - 873 - Sunday Open Championship Live Show

Episode Date: July 21, 2024

Xander Schauffele is Champion Golfer of the Year, holding off Justin Rose and Billy Horschel at Royal Troon. We discuss the year Xander has had as he now sits with two Major Championships, run down the leaderboard, cover some segments, clean up a mess or two from the week, and more. Cheers! 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. Nice. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the No Laying Up live show presented as always by our friends at High Noon. Solly here, getting hydrated in the upper right corner. Mr. Neal Schuster, hello, czar. How are you?

I'm doing fantastic. Solly, good to be here. The pie man is here. Hello, pie man. What flavor are you sipping on? I've got pineapple today, guys. Good to be with you and talk a little champion golfer of the year. And coping, coping hard in his cliques hat,

Mr. TC calling in live from Scotland. Hello TC. Great day guys, great to be with you. Just a triumph of the human spirit today. All hats off to Xander. Nobody believed in him more than I did back in 2018. Appreciate that TC, can't wait to unpack all that with you today.

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Visit highnoonspirits.com to find a pack near you. High noon, sun's up. I'll join you on guava lane there, buddy. That sounds delightful. It's so good. You know what, TC, I'll throw it to you first. Kind of. You said a lot of things, you said a lot of stuff this week, a lot of stuff the last year, the last five years, really, about Xander Schauffele. What's your reaction to him being the champion golfer of the year? Suspending all bits and everything props to Xander. I did not agree to that. I did not agree to suspending under all bets. No, I mean, we'll get back to the bit. I think, you know, so if you do want to take it back five years, I think Cody's got some receipts there as well that we can show there.

But, no, I mean, flawless, flawless round of golf today. 65. Yeah, we're going back to, you know, 2019, 2018, 2017. I was a big Xander fan. I said, you know, he does the right stuff. His peers really respect him. I don't know what happened in the meantime. So here we are. Here we are today. Xander is the champion golfer of the year.

No, I mean, he played exceptional golf on an exceptional course in a variety of conditions, beat a really good leaderboard and kind of no doubted it down the stretch. He did it in a way that was, he left no stone unturned. He completely stunted on me. This is like my London whale. I'm never going to financially recover from this. The credibility is taking a massive hit. My campaign is in shambles. I might have to endorse Cantlay in the election. TC's platform is falling apart. A lot of that going around. I'm sorry, TC. lot of that going around. I'm sorry, TC.

My whole, some of the Xander fans toward TC, maybe, you know, maybe we can, we can get it going that way. TC. That's a big idea, man. And that, that was an all time or two to kind of go back to the, I actually believe in him so early. You guys should be apologizing to me, I think is a really good, uh, really good one. I'll echo everything you just said. It felt a lot like watching Scotty, except for there was no doubt with the putter, right? I mean he just he drove it as well as Scotty did he hit his irons as well as Scotty did he chipped it as Well as Scotty did he just he did everything good and he made putts and it was just truly truly truly no doubt man

That was an unbelievable performance. We talked a lot yesterday about kind of the randomness And I think I saw some moderate pushback on like, we're supposed to identify the best golfer here in these golf tournaments. There's no way that we did not identify the best golfer at this tournament. I think he validated the PGA win. That's what I was gonna ask.

Took that from a signature event win to, all right, cool, that feels more more like it. If you check the tape from that if you go back I think we said if he wins another major that that now becomes a instead of a half major win it becomes a full major win once he wins a second major so I think this puts him. And this was this was very much like the reverse what I did last year when I came over for Tommy's final round, I got the hell out of Trune this morning and came over to the East coast of Scotland. I'm here. I'm here. I'm looking out over over the honorable company of Edinburgh golfers, Muirfield right now.

And just thinking, gosh, like I, I should just fly home because I don't deserve to be here in Scotland anymore after how rancid my takes were earlier this week. Well, I think it's okay. Much like you, Solly. I think it's okay to evolve, right? I think it's okay to say like the Xander we saw today and this year is different than the one we've seen down the closing stretch.

I think, you know, we've talked a lot about is it's, you know, how good of a golfer he is, but it's also like he's elevated his play this year, just in regular events. He's elevated his driving distance. His putting is still supremely underrated. It's just remarkable. But what he's been able to do with extra swing speed, what that's also done with his iron play, like his iron play, he's closer to the hole and his iron play's improved. And then also he's just always been a really, really, really good putter and doesn't get the credit for that. It just always felt like when he had to make that putt on the back 9, it never happened. It just did not go in. There was a putt that was like the dividing line. Is it going to go

in? And it happened twice today. On 13 and on 14, he poured in putts into the center of the hole to just like step on everybody's throat and go out and win an open championship on a very, very legitimate venue. Like that was just a different dude than, than the one we've talked about. I think we were kind of all hoping this was in there, right. And I think almost to a man we've all said, too, like, he's gonna win a major. I don't think anybody stood up and said, like, he's not gonna get one. I just, listen, we were not standing here calling that he was gonna win two this year, though. And this is a, all of a sudden, a freakishly good major championship season. He's the first to win two majors in a season and haven't been their first two majors since Spieth in 15. And man, we have a lot of questions to get to about now changing the projection, maybe potentially for Xander's career. And it's super

interesting. But before we look ahead, I took him on Thursday, but that's neither here. No, last night in the auction line. Yeah. Listen, I'd love to take a victory lap, but that's neither here. No, last night in the in the auction line. Neil got him. Neil got him. Yeah. Listen, I'd love to take a victory lap. But you know what, Dej? We could run the tape. I think we might have some some like T.C. You mentioned receipts.

I'd love to check the receipts on this one. You've been able to close some tapes. He's obviously a good player. Obviously, I don't know if I would say go great player. But why hasn't he been able to get it done? It doesn't really make sense. Again, we pulled this up, I think, the last time we had this conversation to say, like, when he's in contention and after 54 holes, he actually plays better in the final round

than his actual normal strokes game level. It's not like he has bad final rounds. He has won a lot of tournaments. You're bringing the big tone thing again here. No, he was unlucky. I'm not saying he's unlucky. It's just to say he's just been kind of normal. He hasn't closed the door, right?

To win a lot of tournaments, you have to go out and do, go kind of blow the field away, do some things. And he just kind of is always steady Xander and doesn't have those big peak weeks. He is the standard of just a really, really freaking good, beats the field by two almost every week per round kind of guy and doesn't win a lot of these, but I don't know. It does always seem like around 14 or 15 every time he's in one of these spots,

he's got like a six foot putt that he should make and it doesn't go in and he ends up losing by one or two. It is kind of a big tone syndrome, but I think his record's a little better than people give him credit for. At the same time, it's kind of time that he has one big win on his resume. It's so interesting, Neil, because by almost any measure, he is the second best golfer in the world by numbers. And just if you ask people on the street, who's, Scotty's going to be number one, who's the second best golfer in the world, less than 10% would probably say he's the second best, because it just doesn't resonate with fans unless you don't win, right? And I'm listen, I'm usually riding for the dudes that don't win but play really good golf But it's like it's time I gets totally time standard like you've been here enough

It's time to like, you know, otherwise now we're down this path of like dude Are you like I don't I don't know what your comp is at this point. Is it like Colin Montgomery at this point? I mean, you know I don't want to do that. I don't like watching even if he's not the most most charismatic guy. I just don't like watching somebody go through that. I think you got a little bit. I mean, I think Xander wins. Whoa, I do.

I think like, you know, I was thrown out most consistent player of in the majors with with Rory and I think that's very much true, especially the last like three four or five years But Xander's kind of right there man He does not go away in these things and even though he doesn't win until recently like he is always there And I will just keep going back to kind of what we said in the the earlier part I think he's he's gonna adjust the game plan and he's going to hit all the shots and I think he's got some creativity I think he's got some confidence. I think he's got some confidence.

I don't know. He's my pick right now. First up is going to be Neil. You can nominate any player you want for any dollar amount you want. Then it is open for bidding. All right. I'm the auctioneer. I'm going to close it whenever I feel like it too.

All right. Xander for, for six bucks. Whoa. That's a big buy. I'm going gonna smoke them out early. There you have it. Well done, Neil. Well done, Neil. God, I thought Jordan was gonna put together a much tougher highlight package.

Yeah. Clean edit for you know, from Jordan. Thank you for that. No, I think I think after the or the night before the PGA, I remember saying I want him to flip the narrative. And that's exactly what he's done. Um, and, and God pro golf, the state of it has my brain in scrambled eggs. And this is just another crack, another egg into the pan right here, because you've got Scotty Scheffler, who is dominant wins. He's won six times in one major.

And now you've got Xander. And I think the stats are one major, two runner-ups, 11 top tens. Those are regular, or sorry, two majors, two runner-ups, and this is just regular PGA Tour events, and 11 top tens. Scottie, one major, six wins, two runner-ups, 13 top tens. I mean, who's having a better season? It's just like, now we have a two horse race at the top, but you've also got Bryson, you've got Rory in there. I just feel like the top of the game is just, it's, it's, uh, it's fascinating

to me. And this, this strengthened the field chasing Scotty. And now it's like, is he even chasing Scotty? Are they neck and neck? Like where, like, where does this put us? So I'm just, uh, I'm vibing with it right now. I'm very, I'm fired up. Like is Xander the most charismatic guy? Would I like to see a little bit more personality on? Yes. But the game is so complete. And yeah, he may not have the Tita Green. It may not be as elite Tita Green as Scheffler is by the numbers, but the putting more than makes up for it. And that's that so I would say he's the most complete golfer in the world right now. That's was a question I had prepared here for you know, is he a more complete golfer than Scotty, which is like I think a bit

Just pausing it for a second. It's it's it's Reacting to a lot of that. It's kind of like traveling to Japan right now Like the yen is at an all-time low compared to the US like the exchange rate. It's kind of like traveling to Japan right now. Like the yen is at an all time low compared to the US. Like the exchange rate, it's go time, right? It's also the exchange rate of PGA Tour wins towards majors has never been, you know, they're getting decimated. The tour's getting decimated, right?

So Scottie's wins. It's like Argentina. Yeah, they don't translate over very well. So it's like, dude, I don't think anybody's taking Scottie's season at this point over Xander, you know, in terms of golf accomplishments, the majors mean too much, maybe I'll open that up. Who's, who's, who's season are you taking more? And we'll circle back on that more complete player. Cause you money's money's money's not everything, of course, but coming into this week, Scotty had

made $27 million on the golf course. Xander had made 12.7 this year. This year. Like coming in. Yes. On the go. Making like 1.8 million per start or something like that. TC Scotty coming into this week. This will change certainly. But I mean, Scotty still had a pretty great week. So, uh, I think Scotty still about a half a

shot better than Xander per round, just in strokes gained, which just to put that into perspective, that's like the difference between number 11 and number 33 on on the strokes game list. So that's just the difference between number one and number two, that's much better than Xander Scotty has been so that includes that includes the putting that includes everything total stress. So just to circle back like Scotty Scottie has been. So that includes the putting. That includes everything. Total stress gained.

So just to circle back, Scottie's putting has been phenomenal since he switched to the mallet. He's had two bad weeks, US Open and British Open, which we can talk about that. If your putting is really there, it needs to be there in

two of the most important tournaments of the year. But Paul McGinley was slagging off Scottie's putting pretty damn hard today. And I was like, man, he's not a bad putter. He's had a bad putting week this week. He had a bad putting week at Pioneers. He's a bad green reader. He might be a bad green reader, but he's been literally positive strokes game every other single event since he switched to the mallet. And so I don't want to get too swept up in the recency of what we just witnessed. I think Xander is a much more consistent putter, but on the whole, the gap is still bigger

in terms of Scotty on a strokes gain and just consistency basis. But man, you can't have that putter vacate you in major championships. And Xander's putter doesn't really ever vacate him. He has not had a single tournament going back all the way to Pebble Beach this year, which was a weird one with the weather all that. He has gained strokes putting in every single event since the Genesis in February, on February 18th. Xander has. On all different kinds of grass, on all that. I think, I think Scotty's got, like, I can't believe I'm gonna say this, but Scotty going back to back at the players, and I know it's a weakened field and all of that, but he's playing against Xander. Him going, erasing a five shot deficit on Sunday this year, that's really strong. I think looking at Xander's pluses, A, he hates Jay Monahan, and he said so in press

conferences, which I really, really really really respect and appreciate and he's been on that block early often and consistently as has his dad and they stick by it and which you know I really really appreciate that. I think also Xander's worst Xander finished eighth in the Masters and T7 at the US Open in addition to the two wins. Whereas Scottie finished T8 at the PGA, T41 at US Open, T7 today. So Zander's floor in the majors was higher as well in addition to having the extra win. To answer the question though, I mean, 12 million is enough for me, Dej. I'll take the two majors.

I could do a lot with 12. 27 is cool. I'd like that too, but I feel like the two majors is just, that's big time stuff. Two majors in a year is big time stuff. And that is, it felt different today. It felt, it really did feel like a breakthrough of he was so automatic. And he started slow. He was kind of I didn't I was listening to the you know, first six holes on the

radio. And it was like, wait, what's Zander? I haven't heard anything about Zander. He's just kind of but he didn't give anything back. He was just kind of slow. And then it was just like, right around 8910. He just turned it on and then shoots what he's got 30 on the back. I was just kind of slow. And then it was just like, right around eight, nine, 10. He just turned it on and then shoots. What's that 30 on the back? I mean, unbelievable. It's an even more important one, because he played the easy part of the course with pars and then he and then he put his foot on the gas down the stretch, I think with does it change

anything if like, like, let's say, let's say Scotty wins the gold medal in a couple weeks. Does that change anything or does it change anything if Zander wins, you know, the BMW championship and the tour championship? Like, I think it's not changed the equation. If Zander starts to rattle off PGA tour wins, I definitely think that changes the equation. I don't know what Scotty can do to make me not want the two majors. Like, and this is not so much a personal, that's definitely a personal opinion of like, what would you rather have? It's like, man, I just think Scott is gonna look back and kind of got away from me, or

maybe not. Maybe it's like, no, I'm gonna keep doing this for 10 years. So I'm going to make it just as hard next year for Xander to win. Like it's, but man, that makes me really excited about golf over the next year or two. Even if, you know, I'd kind of love to see everybody come back together. You're right that the exchange rate on PGA sucks. There's four events where everybody plays. That's it. It's the other one that's freaking matter right now, you know? And then like throw in a couple like, yeah, if you pick off of players, that's important. Yeah, I'll give you that. Like some of these PGA four wins matter.

Players decimated. Players decimated. Like Scottie hasn't won a major since he became a father, too, which has to concern you a little bit. I think if you want to examine Scottie, I don't think he's ever won an event at a course he hasn't already played a tournament at, which is a tough look for a rotation of major championships. I'd have to double check that. However, we've got the, we've got the Quail Hollow PGA next year. And then, I mean, you got to think like Oakmont. So it's, I mean, it's really good majors next year. You got, I think Quail Hollow, like maybe the exception to the

rule as far as like, I don't know, like it's going to be like the, the best players are going to, are going to don't know, like it's gonna be like the best players are gonna are gonna get out in front and it's gonna be like Rory, Scotty, Xander, Ludwig, like there's gonna be, it's gonna be horses for courses and then you've got Oakmont and you've got Port Rush. Like it's gonna be really good major season next year. Better than this year.

Good question for you guys. So in strokes gained in the world, broken out by category, I have to eliminate the live golfers from this because they don't play enough measured rounds with the strokes game broken out by category. But Scotty is the number one ball striker on the planet Tita Green and Xander is number two. Where do you think Xander ranks in putting in all of golf in all of PGA Tour golfers. Like 15th. Second.

Really? Second best putter to Denny McCartney. Whoa. Yes. I didn't realize he was that high. Scotty's like 55th, which that number includes the live golfers, which throws it off a little bit, but Scotty's not even close to that. He's literally. Yeah.

You, you pair that up with just like, there's a shot today that like the drive he hit on 15. It was like how free he was swinging kind of under pressure with the lead with on a windy course and he just unloaded. It was like 186 ball speed. So you pair that putting with that kind of ball striking and that kind of ball speed. It's like, man, that's awesome. Period.

Like that's good for, I love it. Like I was asking for it after the PGA or right before Sunday, the PGA of like somebody come challenge Scotty. Here it is. Thank you. Xander answer the bell like fired up about it. It's, it's awesome. It's here. Listen, weekend week out on the PGA tour, more of the world's best players are gaming titleist Vokey Designed Wedges. That includes 2024 Champion Golf of the Year, who won his second major in two months with

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I believe let's bring him in and hear what he has to say about Zander Shafly. Hello KBV. How are you boys? I'm doing great. Thanks for having me as always I I understand there's some receipts that I'm gonna have to answer for but I'm ready to do that Do I just jump in in front of TC before he actually takes out makes the full barrel fire of the of the receipts? But I hear you talk to uh to Zander's dad. What did uh what the big man have to say about his son? So, I gotta say

Stefan is absolutely one of my favorite people in golf. We walked up to him and he was first like, guys, wait just a second and he pulled out a flask and he took like a long cold whiskey and he's like, alright, now, I'm ready to

answer questions. Uh and it was so great. You know, he's got that like crocodile Dundee look going on. He was just a delight. He was he was talking about how, look, we all know that like, you know, when you the media are starting to give pressure, like it makes your asshole pucker up a little bit when you have to hit a tough shot. And that's part of what happened to him. But you know, now look at it. Look, it's he's, you know, he's he who else is the been a better position to win a career Grand Sam, I think you have to look at him. Look, it's he's, you know, he's, who else is the better position to win a career Grand Slam? I

think you have to look at him. And it was just, it was such a fun talk. You know, he's so funny and honest. He told a great story about how Xander really was going to be a soccer player growing up, that he was a great soccer player. But like, he was supposed to be on some sort of travel team in California, and he really wanted to play midfield. And the coach said, You can be a midfielder. That's great. Show up to the team. And so they went to practice and Zander came up to his dad afterwards and was like, I quit soccer, dad. They won't let me be a midfielder. They wanted me to be a sweeper because I'm good with both legs. And that was it. That was like, that was the moment we started preparing for him to be a professional golfer. So like there was, it was such a close moment. His dad was like, I thought maybe he was going to save the Americans soccer team. They obviously need it. You know, maybe they maybe they would have helped them. But instead, he decided to win golf tournaments.

I just think should be the new US men's national team coach should be while also being the next European Ryder Cup captain at a dare manner. I think you could do both things. He mentioned they're going to drink so much whiskey. Uh either, you know, first, they're going to drink some really good red wine out of the Claret Jug. TC, I feel like you and

Stefan would be such good buds. Like you would have so much to unpack and talk about. He loves that. He's very much your dude. So, I've been a long time. Find him tonight, TC. Absolutely. I had his number. I'd be like, you gotta get with my guy here.

He he really uh has to apologize for his mistakes and also. He's one of the three minute haters. Be on the team going forward. Kev from a, just watching Xander come down the stretch, Neil, you talked about the swing on 15. He looked completely free. He's like joking around and smiling and doing all kinds of stuff.

Any insight to kind of like the difference between number one and number two or anything that kind of happened in between, you know, those two majors, he kind of looks like a different guy now. So as Katty Austin Kaiser told a story about how after the PGA they sat up drinking whiskey like late into the night like they got two bottles of whiskey in between like four people they basically polished them off and at one point Austin said to Xander do you feel lighter? Xander's like you know what I do

I really do and like that was itander was like, you know what, I do, I really do. And like, that was it. That was like a moment of clarity for the both of them. Like, oh my God, we got a break. That putt, you know, I often said this, the putt lipping in is what was like the break that we needed. And the break that we got in this tournament was like that ball on 11. Looks like maybe it's going under the course.

It doesn't, makes it birdie. It's like every tournament, you kind of need one break. And when those things go your way, you just start to feel like you're, it's your destiny to do it. And I just think that was a great anecdote to think about. Like, they, we sometimes think like, Oh, athletes shut everything out. They're in their own, you know, tunnel. And it's just mostly bullshit. They read all of it. They hear all of it. They get a sense of all of it. And I love that they were sort of admitting like yeah that stuff really did affect him And now he's kind of like, ah, well, you know what like I had the last laugh Tc, I I can't believe you've missed this opportunity There's an unbelievable chance for you to double down on both valhalla and zander to say like not only is valhalla so bad

It unlocked this part of zander and without valhalla none of this would have ever happened that was that was your chance man I was thinking about I was talking to KVV about that at dinner last night. Butterfly effect stuff. He kind of got crowned by Valhalla and you know didn't really have to go through the gauntlet but also weirdly at Valhalla it was almost like it was so difficult to separate from everybody that you you know, maybe that like weirdly that actually unlocked him like I'm just receiving word I'm going through Xander's OWGR. Granted he plays in a lot of signature events now. He hasn't missed a cut

since 2022. Which is kind of wild. He's that obnoxiously good and consistent. What did what did Stefan Stefan call Monahan? A soft egg. What we in Germany call a soft egg. I wish I could remember the German word for it. Didn't he say something else? He's like lying Jay. He rhymed something at some point. Right. Yeah, I'll go through that. I have the recording still from that my Ryder Cup story. If Jay had a spine, he would resign. Listen, you've had some some tough quotes about the X-Man in the past. I believe you called him a house cat in your own words. You know, is there any reconciliation that you would you would like to

to make? Yeah, I think I need to resign from the takes game. I think that the resigning is going around. It's I look I have had some bad Xander takes and I will happily own them. I know Jordan is sort of efforting some maybe if we don't have those tonight we'll have them later in the week but after the Wells Fargo when Rory ran him down and just like left him you know like tire tracks on his back, I believe I said, I was basically like, I've never been more convinced that he is not the dude. And look at me now, look at Rory's like going on vacation

to Portugal and Xander's got two majors. So I should eat all the shit for that. Like hats off to Xander. I mean, not only like, you know, did he do that, but he admitted that that shit bothered him. hats off to Xander. I may not not only like you know, did he do that but he admitted that that shit bothered him and he

sort of said, you know, tonight for a second. What are you going to use to motivate yourself now and he was like you can look for negativity and you can always find it. So, you know, TC there's still a chance for you to motivate Xander to

essentially win the Grand Slam. Well, that's what I was going to say. There's there's. It would be one thing tonight if the takes out of Camp Xander were like, see, nothing changed, we've just stuck to the process and it finally went our way, golf's a game of imperfect arbitrary results, and that's not really the case, right? They're like, no, we did kinda let a lot of these gag away. And we were kinda, we did need to focus on some stuff

and clean some stuff up. And I think part of what he cleaned up like I don't know how much you know focus or acclaim Chris Como gets in all this I always have a little bit of a hard time kind of separating the the player from the instructor and and how things change but what was your read on that KVB well it's all you've talked a lot about how he's just a fast he's got more ball speed right this year and so his dad basically admitted he was like I knew that I couldn't get him to the level that he needed to be. And so I had to step away and let Chris Como sort of do his biomechanics stuff. He's like, I, this is really interesting, because I don't know enough about the golf swing. But he was like, I could not figure out what his like wrist release pattern should be. And so I realized I needed to give him off to someone else. And he was like, that was hard for me. It's hard for me to step back and have the sort of, you know, humility to say I don't have the answers for this. And then Cuomo just basically, you know, not only got him more in the gym and basically, you know, made him add 10 pounds of weight, but like worked with him on a better release that was going to make him faster. And you see out there when he's sitting three woods with 180 mile of ball speed and 58 degrees, that's incredible.

That's if it's going to be a speed game, then you've got to take advantage of it. And I don't think anybody has done that other than Bryson better than Xander has. Well, and I would say also, I don't want to say it's a rare case, but we've seen so many players over the last 10 years try to chase speed. And in their words to us or publicly have said, man, I shouldn't have done that.

And so this is a kind of a, I hesitate to use the word rare, but kind of a rare case of like immediate results from that because he didn't start working with Como that, that long ago, right? This isn't a two year process. This is kind of a six-month process It's also crazy when you get a guy that that Has a big frame chasing speed like Xander is not a big dude and for him to generate that sort of power That sort of leverage is wild

Yeah, I mean I might I might be becoming a comosexual Well, Neil to your, it can go bad. You know, that mess himself up for a whole year threw away a chance at a Masters because he was kind of jealous of Bryson hitting it farther and admitted as much, which is what I was thinking of. And I also I go back to sitting at a picnic table with Jim Furek at Jack's Beach golf course and be like, yeah, I had a year there. I tried to chase, you know, some speed and it just messed my swing up big time.

Chasing speed. I know, I know. But I think about that a lot of like, if that's not your game, I mean, maybe Xander's swing is, it's so on plane and so so dialed that it you know, he can kind of, I don't know, he can accept the treatment, you know what I mean? Like his body can handle the treatment, but it's like to do it in six months is crazy. The-

The equipment's got better too. As I said, the cynical view here is like, man, almost everyone kind of needs to try it because like whoever's gonna be the best, like a bunch of people are gonna try it and whoever's gonna be the best is like, whoever pulls it off. Like Xander's pulling it off right now.

Like Scotty hasn't like greatly increased his speed, but he's very fast. Like Rory, I mean, you know, express some regret at, you know, trying to keep up the Bryson and got faster since then, like whatever he maybe he's doing it in a better way, but he's gotten even faster. Like it is, as long as equipment is going to be this way, it is going to be a race for speed because it just, it elevates

your floor so much and it elevates your ceiling. It just you can, when you're hitting wedge in instead of eight iron, it makes all the difference in the world. And like, it doesn't show up on every shot, but like that made a difference in this golf tournament without any shadow of a doubt. I have a quick question for y'all. Do we perhaps downplay some of Zanders or did we

in the last year because of his association with Cantlay? Did we sort of group him in, you know, because of their friendship in a way that probably was unfair to how we judged their games? I'll allow my associate Mr. Tron Carter to answer that one. I think that's absolutely true. Like it's a massive, I think we've treated it as a massive, massive character flaw and like they got to play together for the first three rounds of the tournament this week too.

I don't think we can really downplay that too I don't know like Xander's Xander's 30, right? It's not like we're talking about the same kind of deal as hey He's 25 or 26 or whatever like he's you know, he's been full-time on the tour since what 20 2017 yeah. Yeah. Yeah, So he's been out there, you know, full seven years. So it's, which to me is more impressive. Like, it just seems like he's been on kind of a lot

of steady trajectory, because he kind of plateaued out there for a while after the Masters kind of thing. But he, you know, chunking that in the water there. But he he, he definitely raised his game a little bit later than a lot of these other guys are doing. I could not be more confident in anything than check the tape on any time you guys tried to lump Cantlay and Xander into the same bucket for major championships. I was full Rory Sabatini meme of like, wait a second here, wait a second here. Xander's got a way better major championship record than Cantlay.

I know their win total is the same, but it's way, way, way different profile and major championships. KVV, I'd like to add something to that. I would not say that his association with Cantlay impacted how I felt about him. But I will say that I would like to see, and he doesn't owe me this, and I just want to say that personally though, I would root for him more if I saw more of the personality, that it seems like the I'm drinking whiskey with Austin Kaiser until three in the morning, I'd like to meet that guy.

He's one of the best guys on the US Ryder Cup team. Everybody loves him. His colleagues love him. He's well liked on tour. Would love to meet that guy. Neil, you did show that a little bit post Ryder Cup in Whistling Straits. Like in that- A little bit, but I felt like some of that stuff is like, that's almost like a little, manufacturer is the wrong word.

I mean, he was super loose in that presser. I know, but that's the only time I've ever seen it. And I just, again, he doesn't owe that to me. So I don't want to, I don't want to critique that. Like he's allowed to be as private as he wants to be, but it does impact my, my, uh, fan hood a little bit to, to be like, man, I really root for this guy because I feel like, uh, he's relatable and I'm connecting with him as a, you know, human. I think some of that stuff is like when you buy, you know, when you buy a blue car and you start to notice how many other blue cars there are on the road, I feel like the more Xander wins and the more he becomes a clear cut top player in the

game, the more of that stuff you just end up noticing. Cause he, when he's getting kind of these arbitrary T 10 T seven T nine T 25, like you just kind of, he's easy to like look past and just be anonymous. And it's a little bit like the Scotty thing where it's like, man, the more this guy wins, the more I want to watch him, the more questions I have for him, the more I care about his answers. I think they kind of go hand in hand.

And Xander, you could even see it. I referred to it earlier, but you can see it earlier today when he gets to 16, 17, 18, and he knows like, I am not letting this thing go. He starts yucking it up a little bit. He starts having a little bit more smiles. And I think that that just snowballs probably. I think, Neil, that's common. Watch this space, I think. I think Neil, that's common. Watch this space, I think.

I think Xander's stock is gonna keep rising. But up until now, that has impacted my opinion, for sure. I think Neil, when you win two majors, you start to feel a little bit of a gravitas of like, okay, I'm allowed to speak on this kind of stuff. My words have weight, and I think that more media will now go up to him and be like, hey, I have the state of the game question for you as opposed to like, just state of your own game

or you're just talking about your failures. You have the questions pivot a little bit to be like, what do you think about the future of live? What do you think about Scotty Shepard's game? Like all of a sudden, Xander two time major winner is someone who is gonna get asked a lot more questions that allow him to open up. I actually have found him over the years to be one of those people who, when you ask a good question, he will give you a good, thoughtful answer. If you ask a bad question, he is not going to help

you out. Can I, can I give a, I agree with all of that. I have a good example, though It's a very small one, but like he always mean mugs in pictures. And if like I knew for a fact that was like a joke, I would think it was sweet, you know, but I don't know if it's a fact or not. I feel like he's, he could, I'm like 50, 50, like, is he doing that because he like, you know, he's not a big guy. He wants to be tough. Or is it just like a, an inside joke with his buddies? Because if it's an inside joke, I'm like, dude, share that with me. I would love to. I would love to take part in that. You know what I mean? I just wanna know a little more.

So maybe that's a good thing for him. He's a slow burn. Maybe we'll find that out. I love inside jokes. I'd love to be a part of one someday. Eddie, we've talked a lot of Xander. We're gonna get down to leaderboard here eventually as well. But could you talk with anyone else afterward?

Or kind of what was the reaction maybe? Team Rose gave it a great run, a great finish, memorable week for him. Any kind of reaction for how he handled the end of this week? It was fun. I talked to little Rose for a little bit asking him a couple questions and he was kind of philosophical about it all. You know, he mentioned how his life is a lot different now than it used to be when he was one of the best players in the world, that his kids are older and they don't like to travel as much. And so he's kind of alone a little bit. As Katty talked about how, you know, Footsch and him got back together last year

and how basically they refused to talk to each other after being away for three years. And Rose's wife reached out to Footsch's wife and like, was like, you know what? These two guys are better together than they were apart. Can we just like squash this beef and have these guys get back together? And Fooch was like, that never would have happened if it wasn't for our wives. Like they, you know, women just have a way of like basically making men talk to each other.

And they did like as soon as they showed up last year together at Wentworth and we're like, they said, you ready to do a Ryder Cup together? And Rose is like, hell yeah. And it was like kind of old times and that's been a big role in like his rebirth in a lot of ways. And he joked a little bit today that he was like, I was looking through the clothes that I was gonna wear.

I've worn blue all week and I was like, what's the one sort of sweater that I have left that's clean? Oh man, it's this rose colored jumper that I wore. And he's like, I knew that it was the same one that I wore when I was 17 back in the day. It was kind of a cool coincidence. It's like, I'm not telling you I planned it, but it felt like, man, this is kind of a cool nod to this. That sounds like a question that could have gone to solid. Yeah, I wore blue all week

and I just decided I'm going to mix it up. This is the guy who stages photos photos in front of like the don't underestimate me, you know, motivational quote on his personal gym wall in his basement. Like, I don't know, I've kind of come full circle on Rose a little bit where I still think he's like, it's similar to Horschel, right? It's like he's cheesy and emotive and corny as hell sometimes. It feels performative at times, but also I really respect how he put his money where his mouth was during COVID with the support that he lent to a lot of the women's mini tour stuff that he's done.

For him to show up at open qualifying with a smile on his face as a major champion and as someone who's, you know, one of the greats of the game, it's verse. And then you juxtapose that with like Sergio, like Sergio dressing down one of the RNA, you know, rules officials who actually met this week. It's just like, man, like, we're in juxtaposition. He begged for an exemption after he didn't qualify. Well, it's Rose is just, it's such a case study and just like, if you show up and you play good for long enough, like all of the, the smugness becomes passion and it's endearing. You know what I mean? Like it's just like, I really appreciate that. Like the narrative

can shift it because at the same time, T.C., I agree with everything you said about there's some stuff that's just cheesy and rose-manufactured, but it's like, it is him. It's authentic because it's like, this guy's been around for 25 years doing it. If you continue to show up to work and do good work, it gets rewarded. I think that's I think they become harmless. Oh, sorry. The weirdest sourcing, going back to what KV said, maybe the weirdest sourcing I've ever done on this pod of like, based on a conversation I had with Fooch's wife several years ago, I was absolutely very stunned to see them back working together.

Again, part of how I've managed to shape my my opinion of roses based on some of those conversations Rebecca the day of like, yeah, they didn't like necessarily split on the best of terms. And it's always funny to be like knowing like, like Tim Tucker and Bryson have had massive blow ups and how they've split up and Tim Tucker worked an event for Bryson earlier this year, like the shocking, you know, the guy the things that the caddies will say about a player after they've split up and then somehow end up back working with them.

Their wives setting them back up was shocking, shocking news to me just now. Sorry. Rose is impressive too, cause he like, he could have, and arguably like maybe should have like gone to live, right? Like he could have been the, the, he was right in that kind of window with like, he could have been the fourth majestic, right? And fourth captain. Yeah. And I think there's no third captain, right? Or no fourth captain. Yeah, Poulter. Yeah. I mean, he was 76 in the world at the end of 2022. And then for

him to come back and win at Pebble. And, and I think not only that, just just the way that I think the Ryder Cup means a lot to him And he wants to be a Ryder Cup captain and I think that's You know like he but but I think the intangible stuff means a lot more to Rose than it does say to other guys I think what I was gonna say Neil about some of the cornball stuff is as These guys age it just it becomes harmless. Yeah a little bit You know where Horschel is kind of the same way where it's a little different story with Justin Rose is the number third ranked player in the world. And you're like, dude, I got to watch this guy every week. Like,

come on, like, get Yeah, like, get, get this guy out of here. But what he's you know, he's 43. He's hanging on. This might be his last big run at a major. I'm like, ah, all right, I'm in. Come on. One more time. the road, brother. He's not hurting anybody. Come on, this is good stuff. He played, God, he played so good this week. He did. He played great today. Yeah, he did.

He shot 67 today. But that was- I mean, he and Horschel just willed their way into, you know, a T2, which is really good stuff. Justin hitting, was it 15, the par five? Hitting that green at 16. I'm sorry, hitting that green with just pure spit and force of will. That was up there on Shots of the Day.

And that kind of illustrated how much Zander was kind of just playing a different sport today. Like Rose and Horschel both trying to steer it home on that back nine was like, that's a pretty tall task for you guys compared to Zander who has every tool in the toolbox. JV and Varsity. That was like, you get to get to that Varsity back nine. It's like, the best players. Anybody can go low on that front nine,

but that back nine is going to be a different one. But, Kev, any final parting thoughts from covering the 152nd open championship in person? Uh, I love Trune. I think it's a great venue. TC, I think it attested this. Like it's so much easier, even though it's like all the way out and all the way back, like it's so much easier to get around here. The bunkers are really cool. I would definitely put it in the varsity of the rota. Uh, if we're splitting

Scotland problem. That's not a Trune problem. I mean, that that's just going to be a case every year for the meal. I regret to inform you guys that the, the Ferris wheel was running today. Uh, I did not see it in time that I could ride the Ferris wheel. I was really hoping to get up to the top of it. So, uh, I'll have to, I'll have to save that one for when Trune comes back here. Hopefully it's still functioning, But yeah, I'm gonna go and find just step in shop and try to drink some whiskey

with it. Do it also KVV. One other thing I had from true and just like observations. I've never seen Trin and press week that whole coast. I've never seen more barber shops per capita. They say it's it was it's insane. Like every third storefront is a barber shop or a hair salon. Did you want to get a scotch? A scotch fade?

Could use one. You know who got a scotch fade this week? My guy Big Tone. And Rom. Rom kind of had that Travis Bickle taxi driver haircut going on a little bit too. I hope you guys talk about Rom's major season as a whole near the end of the show because

what a disappointment in general. I'll leave it at that. We gladly will. Hopefully you get the safe travels home. Thank you so much for popping in. We greatly appreciate it. For 125 years, Pinehurst Resort has been the home of American golf. Yet there's never been a better time to be there. Championship legacy of Donald Ross's masterpiece, Pinehurst number two, endures as the U.S. Open's first anchor site. Five U.S. Open scheduled a return over the next two decades. Gillhans is redesigned Pinehurst No. 2 endures as the US Open's first anchor site. Five US Open scheduled a return over the next two decades. Gilhans has redesigned Pinehurst No. 4 or No. 6, which is home of the first US Adaptive Open. Those are just three of the now 10 championship golf courses to experience at Pinehurst.

After testing your game there, you can grab a few wedges and enjoy a loop at the Cradle. 789-yard short course, hailed as the most fun 10 acres in golf. And off the course, you can indulge in an array of craft beers brewed on site at the Pinehurst Brewing Company or relax with your buddies in the stylish North and South bar. Pinehurst continues to evolve, make it much more than a bucket list destination, but a place to return again and again. Go to pinehurst.com now to plan your visit. and again, go to pinehurst.com now to plan your visit. On that Rural Troon conversation, we've talked a little bit about it this week, but always good to revisit things on our Sunday night pod.

But I had Troon ranked ninth out of 10 on my Open RODA ranking this week. I'm gonna have to sit back and think about it. I'll pose this kind of in that question of where we were our ranking really true in our rankings. But I think the conditions defined a lot of that, right? Like I think on a, on Calm conditions, like, do I think like Liverpool and, and Trune are pretty, somewhat similar, in the same bracket? I think they are. But we got great conditions, good links conditions. We got some rain, we got a ton of wind, we got different wind directions. That

brought World Trune to life. It got to show it off a lot. And I, I'm probably moving it up my rankings. I don't know what exactly I'm bumping down right now. But it's an incredible road and it's really hard to do that. But man, WorldTroom was a fantastic venue and it really identified the proper champion. I agree. I think it's weirdly like just like some of the intangible stuff too. I like the proximity to town, like the proximity to other courses. I think it's, I think the, the, the solid if unspectacular holes at Trune are better

than the, than those same ones at Hoylake. Like the ones at Hoylake just feel kind of flat in one note and Trune has a little bit more continuity to it. I think it's, it definitely flows better. You know, we talked about it on the preview pod, like that kind of comedy, drama, you know, action or whatever, or, you know, tragedy, whatever. Yeah. Yeah. But the, yeah, I think it's, I think we should do like a written thing and rank all of these. And so we can actually really track it and everybody, you know, rank it and we can kind of constantly keep doing a consensus list and all

of that but I totally agree I think it's a really really good major venue because there's so much space for people to just you don't feel constrained at all there it was easy to get around the plenty of crosswalks you can like it's it out and back, but in a good way, where you can choose your own adventure as a spectator. And I really like when you can see the clubhouse right behind the 18th green. I think that makes for... That bugged me at Hoylake a little bit, where you're disconnected from... they kind of finished on 16 there. And it's, yeah, I don't know, I'm true. Shrines rising up the rankings. I think it's punches above its weight is a it's a much better major championship venue than it is like a just an everyday golf course. That makes sense.

I think there's this is more coming from the perspective of a TV viewer, I think, but kind of what you were saying, Tron, with just the 18th hole being close to the clubhouse, there's enough orientating features out there that you always kind of know where you are when they cut to a shot, right? And that's the best example of that is number eight. You know exactly, okay, I'm on the post stamp, and then you also get that on number 10 with the blind shot. And you also get that on 11 with the train tracks.

And you always kind of feel like you know where you're at through the round, even as they're flying around from golf shot to golf shot. And you also get that on 11 with the train tracks. And you always kind of feel like, you know, where you're at through the round, even as they're flying around from golf shot to golf shot. And I love the extreme highs of a, you know, a shot like number eight, makes it unbelievably fun to watch those guys try to take on a hundred yard postage stamp hole. And I love number 11, just there's you, hold on for dear life. If you think you're going to hit this green in two, and having those kind of in that middle of the round is just, it's great. You can get the momentum.

We saw with Shane Lowry yesterday, how you can really get the momentum going one way or the other and either ride it or just keep getting the waves crashing on you, you know, over and over and over again. So it was, there's a lot of subtleties that make it really cool, but there's also just a lot of big objective stuff that make it really interesting to watch. I had a blast this week. Deidre, to that point too, on 10, they did a better job on 11, but I was watching the US broadcast for a little bit yesterday. And on 10, they did such a poor job of demonstrating how blind that shot is because they just kept showing the shot looking back from the fairway or the crane back at that t-box instead of having

a handheld camera showing what those guys are looking at, hitting it over that whole hillside wall of course and just... It's not different. Just trying to paint it for people. Tell me if this is dramatic. There's no ghost tree, but it's not that different than like number three at Old Mac. Yeah, that's that's how blind it is. Right. You're gonna be like if number three at Old Mac also had like

a bunch of OB and crazy shit up by the greens. Yeah, right. But I just like the level of blindness. It's not like there's a little you know, a little shoot that you're hitting it through. It's like it's, a little shoot that you're hitting it through. It's like, it's a big ass hill. You're hitting it over. I don't have a ton to add.

I feel like for the majority of my golf watching, not the majority, but I spent a lot of time in San Francisco. So he didn't get a ton of open championship. It's on early. This is in the early days of NLU, but I would put, I would agree with you on the courses I know from the RODA. I think St. Andrews is one for me. I have Troon and I have Carnoustie above Hoylake. If you start talking about Birkdale, I know the name of your field. I can't really tell you a

ton about the course though. I don't feel comfortable commenting like, where does Turnberry and St. George fit in? But I feel like Trune and Carnoustie, I love both of those as open courses. And they're kind of neck and neck for me in second place. It's hard to come up with a ranking I can strongly disagree with, truly. Like there's so much, it's so interchangeable. It's so much personal preference. Like there is no there's no Valhalla in the in the open open rota. There's not a bad golf course. St. George is at the bottom of a lot of people's list.

Yeah, Valhalla just continues to catch. I like that Trune has some iconic... Trune and Carnuzzi are similar to me in that they have holes that have an identity to them. The thing I love about Carnuzzi is that burn that just zigzags all through the course. Features that you're like, OK, like you said, Deeds, that I can grab on to as a viewer, because, you know, a lot of times from the air, it's like, OK, this this could be any of the 18 holes out there. I'm not really sure. That doesn't mean that they're bad holes.

It just means that they all kind of blend together. And I think people would people who haven't spent a ton of time there can say the same thing about Pinehurst, number two as well, which is where I think it just really rewards return trips because a lot of those holes with the Sandy areas on both sides, you kind of like, I don't know, is this 11 or 13 or which way are we going here? And once you actually get there and you play the golf course a number of times, you're like, oh my gosh, this is where, you know,

this is why this one comes after this one and this is why the sequencing is so cool. And this is why the shot shapes are so good. And so it just takes a long time to get there. And I'm with you, Neil. I haven't been to enough of, I've been to like half the venues, I'd say. And so a lot of the other ones can be kind of blind spots for me.

Going down the leaderboard just a little bit. We have Billy Horschel, of course, finished in a tie for second. He went out, took the lead, at the 54 hole lead in the open Playing in the final group, of course and shot 68 today and finishes two shots back kind of feeling you know He wasn't the biggest threat today. He did finish with My take last night lingering I thought he was lingering I mean he made it. I think the the early bogey on three really hurt and kind of stalled out

some of the men in me had. Three birdies or three bogeys in the first 10 holes. He was going to have to make a long putt on like 12, 13, 14. One of those putts was going to have to go in and it could have gone really, really sideways for him. What was that on 12 when he hit that drive left and it looked like it was headed for the Gorse and somehow stopped short. He continued to live in no nipple nace today. Chipped it great again. Fantastic chipping. Sharp outfit too. All week at the Marshall.

It's a great outfit. Part of, weirdly, my review of Billy's round is actually kind of that Xander shot a bogey for E65. Honestly, I think Billy probably would have signed up for 68 in the final group and he got his doors blown off, man. It was much more about what Xander did than what Billy did, I think. I can't get over the fact that his hat always looks like it says libido. Libido, yeah. I would say both Rothero's and Horschel should sleep wellido. Yeah. So I would say both both Rose and Horschel

should sleep well tonight. Yeah, you know, it's like, hey, man, you guys you gave it I think your best shot out there and you grinded and you finished the drill and yeah, you just got beat by a better player today. But you did not you showed up and you played really well. And you should be proud they should both be proud of themselves. I would say the same thing about Tristan Lawrence. Totally.

Right. Awesome. Megafor on 18, too. God, Neil, what were you feeling watching some of those T balls? I will. I had a driver refuse to stop hitting drive. You're stepping on my mea culpa segment. But I was not familiar with his game and the F 15 ball and his course management and some of the decisions

and to still get out of there with a three under 68, I'm, I'm fired up for my guy, Tristan. That's, that was good stuff. I kind of was thinking that Dan Brown was going to stick around today. I thought that Lawrence finished early yesterday. Uh, I thought he would fade. But man, what a strong showing from him in the final group. Yeah, and really strong showing around like 65, what, 68 on the weekend. I thought he was for sure going to hit himself on 18 out of the bunker, which would have been so sick. Also, every time I see these guys with the, you know,

that it looks like the the Birdman. Man, he was there was a you know, maybe we're gonna remember this for Xander winning it, you know, when KV and I do our deep dive probably in like 2033 when when they come back to true. We're gonna be like, like we're gonna relive the fact that Tristan Lawrence was leading going on to the back 9 of the Open Championship. I legitimately thought he was gonna win. When he made the turn, he was hitting it so good. When he hit driver down there on 9, like, nobody was hitting driver on that hole, and just cut it off those

bunkers. It was just like, dude, this guy is not missing. He had a great drive on 11. He played frickin' awesome. He did make bogey on 12. A lot of people made bogey on 12. but went out in 400 par on the front nine. And man, it was, it was, that was a very serious threat. The most serious like quote unquote, no name winner we've had in a major in quite some time. And it was a very real threat. He was playing to win too. Yeah. It wasn't like he wasn't there to, Oh my God, let me just, I don't have to be perfect. Let me just move my chest piece around and try to outlast these guys. Like he went out and was hitting driver everywhere and being aggressive. And it was, it was awesome.

Yeah. If we're going to go down the leaderboard a little bit, I do want to give Russell Henley a shout out for just continuing to have like the perfect golf career of just doing things, making money, probably he's going to go to the airport tonight and nobody will recognize him. Just go about his life and I mean, like strong day from him as well. He wasn't a threat to win it. I don't think we saw a ton of his golf shots, but like a really, really good week for Russell Henley. And you start to look at the career by the numbers and you're like, dang, this guy's like really put together a really solid professional golf career. And so I just want to give him a shout out as well. Quietly. One thing on Billy.

Best season's going to Russell Henley, by the way. So just just getting ahead of like, he's going to be on the president's cup team and people are gonna be like, wait, what is he? Is he playing? He's been playing really quietly, really well. One last thing on Billy too. I think like you look back at I mean Like a little more than a year ago the memorial At at Muirfield Village his career like in really before that like you could like he was seeing signs of life and working his ass Off but like his career was in freefall. He was going from top 20 in the world to,

you know, plummeting down to like 93rd and falling fast. And to see what he's done to kind of arrest that, that, you know, and he was coming back to Memorial to defend his title from 2022 and in a really dark spot. And so you see him, I think like, I think he's gonna keep this momentum going and like should have a really good rest of the season and The thing like one other thing on Thriston too was he or Tristan or whatever he Tristan he

Solo fourth gets him into like Masters Gets us this next year. I don't know. Yeah, they get some back here next year. That's right. Right. Yeah. I know that was I think us open is it was always top four. I assume the open is the same. I know PGA was caught on 18 was massive. Yeah. And probably like helps him maybe get his PGA tour card to And probably like helps him maybe get his PGA tour card too. Yeah, I'm eating four players and those tying for four that was this. Yeah, that gets him in as well. They did not come down. What 160 yards or something. That was fantastic.

You know, I was gonna say about that Billy interview that I always remember about that TC is like he's up there crying on stage and he did leave it with like dude I'm not that far off like I know that sounds crazy right now But I'm really not that far off like in that dividing line in pro golf can be it might seem really vast But it's so thin and he rebounded so quickly after that and I'm really pumped for him How do we how do we like rate and rank Shane Lowry's week? He was in first place for a long time in this tournament, had a tough back nine. He had some tough comments, if we're being honest.

I wrote for my guy Shane on last night's show, and then he was mad about the T's not being too far back yesterday and how hard it was, and you couldn't even reach the par fours. I said, that was tough. I don't have to wear that one, I know, but how do we rank Shane's week overall? Solo six finished, he shot 300 today, he had to finish 405 back.

I don't know. I mean, I made it like a great week. I think anybody would take that coming into the week, right? I'm sure he feels like he let it get away cause he got a little headless there on that, on that back nine. But that was, I mean, despite the fact that it wasn't windy out there yesterday, there was a lot of guys saying that was the hardest, the hardest nine holes they've ever played in their entire lives. So I think that was, you know, a good time, not a good time to lose it, but a time that made sense to lose it if you were going to lose it.

So I'm sure he rused this one a little bit and feels like he let it get away, but also, I mean, anytime you really anytime you finish top, was he sixth at a major? It's, I don't know. I don't see being too upset. And he gets to go back to Port Rush next year. I did. Yeah. But Sally, the comments and just the way that he delivered them did leave a bad taste in my mouth to a certain extent too. I agree. I would say though that Lowry, similar to how I feel like Rose and Horschel will sleep well at night, I don't think he will

sleep quite as well because I think just he'll feel like he let it get away because he did have a pretty good lead there on Saturday. Yeah. John Rahm, T7, what do we have to make of his John Rom T7. What do we have to make of his his major season? I believe he was about what was he about 50th or something at the Masters and then. Well, I cashed that fan dual play Faden Mean Dean. I just had a feeling that Rob was going to play well today and he came out. God, he came out so hot on the front nine. Yeah, 68 today. He was T45 at the Masters Masters missed the cut at the PGA

Somehow in an art imitates life Situation he WD's from the US Open with a lesion on his foot and he then goes to finish T 7 this week Sorry, what do you what kind of grade you given Rom for his his major season? C- D+, one of those two. I mean he kind of salvaged a little bit with the top 10 at the open on a proper test but it at least looked a little bit more like the Rom that we have come to expect in this in major championships but we hold him to a very very high level. Maybe he's hurt by the the curve the bell curve that he's set, but it's obviously not successful. I'm not writing him off. I don't think it's like, I don't think just because he plays on Liv now, he's now

bad at major championships. Like you look at Rory, Rory's had bad major years. You look at a lot of the top players that I still believe in in majors, they've had bad major years. But Ram has not looked like himself in terms of just like aura and like the way he walks around and carries himself, which is kind of, I think the live kind of thing is weighing on him a bit. He does not look comfortable in his own skin to the same level that he once did. And he was once much more widely admired than he is now. And I think that he feels a little bit of that now. But I think, I have no doubt that next year will be a better major championship season for him. He gets healthy and kind of gets in a better flow of things. But I think I have no doubt that next year will be a better major championship season for him. It gets healthy and kind of gets in a better flow of things. But I hope he doesn't become the Kamsmith like kind of footnote

in majors now of like, we don't really even think about that guy when when majors come about anymore. And that's really unfortunate. It feels to me like the last year for him, but not like it's gonna I feel like this offseason is really big for him The next I don't shouldn't say offseason, but the next six months or as we entered 2025 he's gonna have to work to flip the momentum and I think today was a good start with that of like, okay What you know, he's got to find. Yeah, if it's peace for himself or whatever, but the game is clearly still there

it's just yeah to, it was kind of like, um, you know, momentum's a funny thing. It feels like he lost the momentum and he was God, he was cruising there for three years. You know what I mean? I feel like he's also kind of the cautionary tale of, of Xander too, a little bit, right? Because a lot of the stuff we've said about Xander on the front half of the

show, we've said about Rom a year and a half, two years ago, where it's like, man, he drives it so good. He hits his irons as good as anybody. He puts it better than everybody. This is going to last forever. He's going to be in every single one of these majors. And it just feels similar to where Xander's at now. And I'm sure, you know, if him and Xander had a conversation, I'm sure at least one of the topics would be like, man, getting up to that mountaintop is a lot easier than staying at that level, which is where I keep coming back to Scotty, just being incredibly impressive for doing it

for three straight years. Good question from Tom in the comments, who finishes their career with more majors, Xander or Ram? Wow. Damn. How old's Rom now? He's late 30s. 28 29 years in eight months. Okay, so he's younger than Xander. By a little bit. Xander's 30. Wow. That might be like the only question. That's an incredible question.

I'm going to say Xander. I don't really know why. After everything I just said, it's hard to stay at that level. It comes and goes, it ebbs and flows. Xander seems like he's built a pretty sustainable base, and he's been doing it for quite a while. Everything's telling me not to get caught up in the recency. But I also want to say Xander, that the putting thing is it's a separator.

It really, I think it really can be. Rom's putting stats when, you know, the last few years couldn't be too far off. No, they're very similar. Yeah. He was plus 1.9 in 2022. Plus 1.9 in putting? Yeah. No, that's not right. That can't be.

The data board is not. It's like the greatest putting. That might be plus 1.9 standard deviations, or however Data Golf does their scatter shots. This Ram Xander question, it was very difficult for me to answer. Right. Plus 0.53 was his actual strokes game. So yeah, I think very, very good. Plus 1.9 standard D's. I'm going to take Rom. I'm going to take Rom. Rom's got a us open on what I feel is a crappy us open.

But he's just thinking that they balance each other out right. I mean they've won their two majors and you know the opposite stuff from each other. The Masters was also like the wet Masters. Wet Boy Masters. Masters which it also feels like man. Yeah, I'm kind of twisted up about this one. I feel like Xander so primed to win a win at Augusta though

with his game. And the US Open. Right. I know. One of the best US Open players of his generation even though he hasn't won one yet. That's like his tournament. I don't know. Ram, give me Ram. I'm putting this in the NLU record.

Right? Our spreadsheet. Yeah, give me Ram. I'm taking Xander. Who's with me? Are you guys all on Ram? I'm going to tie. I think they both win like four.

Okay. I'm on Xander with you. I just want to make sure. I'm on Xander with you. I'm on Xander with you. I'm on Xander with you. I'm on Xander. Who's with me? You guys all on ROM? I'm going to tie. I think they both win like Four okay long. I'm on Xander with you. I just gave a whole seasons worth of my mom around I hate it, but I'm on ROM and I just yeah, I hate it But let's let's do this now over under three and a half majors for Xander Shafly for Xander Shofley. I'm going over. I'm going over. Do the ball speeds a real thing. But slightly over. I think it's over as well. We got Ludwig coming. We love his agent out. T.C. might be part of, you know, heaven's end. Scott is going to be pretty soon.

don't play pretty soon. Blandi still stacking him up. Where are you going? DC? I'll go under it. Three does does I don't want to be hyperbolic here. Let me double check myself. But does Zander do everything markedly better than Ludwig? Like every facet of the game.

Probably not as accurate. This was Ludwig's first open, just of the game. It's probably not as accurate. This was Ludwig's first open just off on the accuracy. Maybe but it's pretty close. Love it can be Ludwig's got room to grow. What is let's say 24? I was gonna say we're talking about Ludwig like he's a finished product. I mean, this was Zander's.

This was Zander's what? Let's see. He's played. I mean, he's been playing in pretty much every major since 2017. But we popped up a comment there of like Zander hot like was this just a hot streak with Zander, it's like, I mean, you go back, you look at the Wikipedia page, like the top 10 start to stack up the major record. He's played in 29 majors now.

He's made the cut in 26 of them and he has top 25 and 23 of them. That's like that's really, really good. I know that's right. I don't think it's recent more. Sorry. Everybody seems to be coming around. I'm going to, I'm going to, I'll go for. What?

All right now. Randy had to get in on ROM after all this. Strange bedfellows these days for everywhere you look Does Xander get the Grand Slam dude? I was just gonna ask that and I will even I'll bolt onto that Who do you feel better about getting the Grand Slam him or Rory? Oh My god, I Right now right yeah, I I feel Zander right now. Yeah.

I mean, it feels like he's done the, he's won a US Open in aggregate already. Like that's just, I mean, mark that down for, you know, Oakmont, one of those. That's going to be great. Yeah. Highest score or highest position ever at a US Open for Zander. He played an eight of them so far at T14. That's the worst he's ever finished in a US Open. It's crazy. Guys, I had so much fun last night and while you guys are pondering all these hypotheticals

Getting caught up in all this recency bias. I wanted to open up hashtag the open again So if anybody wants to comment hashtag the open i'm gonna draw some more stuff later on Okay, how was it? How are the mystery boxes? That's in the live chat. Not in the comments I leave them leave in the comments too. That helps drive our... I was gonna say, what are you doing, dog? Yes, hashtag the Open, wherever you're at, please. I'll see him. Who knows, maybe I'll go pull a couple.

It was good, except for, what were the names yesterday? I had a couple of Daniel A's was a winner, and I probably had seven people by the name of Daniel A. You guys are scumbags But I listen I'm gonna hook them up during the open I got no less I Cody I absolutely hate that it's okay. Well, we'll figure it. All right read this into the record I'll just go around the horn real quick Neil does Zander win the Grand Slam You sure I'm feeling optimistic. Hell. Yeah, and you think that is what not as much as Rob and you think you're over Rory

Who's gonna win more Grand Slams? No, I take Rory. I think Rory's gonna win the slam. We're talking career grand slam Everyone's gonna win everything. I don't know what to say Yes DJ is does Andrew get the grand slam career grand slam career grand slam? Yes DJ is does Zander get the grand slam career grand slam career grandson? Yes. TC does he get the career grand slam? I'll say no. Draw 25.

Does TC does you feel better about Zander or Rory waited the grand slam? I think Rory's gonna get a masters. I mean, Rory's what four years older than, than, than Xander. I think Rory's playing really good golf, he needs to get himself locked back in mentally. But one of these years, it's all gonna break right for him. And he's gonna get it done, I think. Dej, do you feel better about Xander or Rory? Xander. Okay. I love that. We're gonna read those into the record.

Guys, we'll do some segments. You want to take some mulligans? You want to do Coldest Moment? What do you want to do? Can I go down the leaderboard before we do that? You can get two and a half minutes, go down the leaderboard, and then we'll do some mulligans. Well, first of all, what happened with Scotty's tee shots? This counts in your two and a half out? No, no, no, I'm asking you guys. It's hot on 18. It looks like he's grabbing his back. So was that a case of dad back?

Mock it all you want. Dej, you got a couple months, you're gonna be feeling the same thing. I'll be way ahead of you. Yeah, he did chunked it. I got word NBC only showed his provisional first and then had to come back around and be like, Oh, yeah, this is actually his first ball. Yeah, it was a tough finish for for Scotty and a tough day, which is crazy because there were so many guys at the course of the on the

course at that time, too, that they you know, they had to really, really stretch themselves thin. I still can't get over the jacket that he was wearing that are the best like where like it looked like he was wearing like a dinner jacket with like the long tails on the back of it. More than checked out. It looked like kids art class smock.

Just like super open at the bottom. Look, you had to borrow your dad's business shirt to go do painting at art class. Yeah. Anyway. Let me take this moment to just shout out our rain gear sponsor, Fudgeway, for making fantastic rain gear because that stuff was a monstrosity.

Continue, TC. Yeah. All right. Shout out to the WaveGod and Sungjay. T7 for them. Matthew Jordan, even today, hung tough all week. That's a strong finish. Adam Scott kind of left.

Can I pause your time on this TC? Can I ask you guys to put Sung Jay in your cross hairs for all of you that, uh, that, you know, you want to attack people for having good finishes, but never winning. I'd like some Jay to be your guys next target. I've been on that block too. Sally, I, you know, he's burned me a few times on some picks. It's just, the game is too good. I remember, you know, I asked Max a long time ago, who, who hits it like so good, you know, that really impressed all Sung Jay, you know, you hear that like he's the ball striker. It's like, let's fucking win something, dude. Can I, can I go through Sung Jay's recent major results?

So obviously finished T7 this week, but before that these are going in reverse order here. Missed the cut at the US Open, missed the cut at the PGA, missed the cut at the Masters, T20 at the Open last year, missed the cut at the US Open last year, missed the cut at the PGA last year, T16 at the Masters, missed the cut at the Open, or I'm sorry T81, so dead last among people making the cut, at the Open in 22, missed the cut at the US open in 22, T8 at the Masters. Just atrocious. Really, really, really, really bad for the guy who's, yeah, supposedly hits it better than anybody. Who wins a major? No hat or the pat in the hat or Sung J? Pat. Or neither. I'll say Pat. or neither. I'll say Pat. I don't know if SunJet hits it far enough. Is that like, is that the issue when once we get to real, some real setups here?

I mean, he finished T2 with like the, you know, the Fall Masters. I feel like that was a pretty long setup, right? Yeah. Yeah. Anyways, anyway. Yeah, I'm kind of bummed Adam Scott didn't like that that Saturday just kind of left me man like could have or was it was it Friday? It's Friday shot 77 on Friday. It's like damn man like that. This could have been special. Received some concerning reports about Dan Brown. You know, some challenge tour stuff, some some English golf union, potential suspensions back in the day for different things. So I'm monitoring that. Before you say anything, glass from us. I'd like to shout out Alex Noren. Nobody believes in him. Sally hates him. He 13 this week. He was one of the last guys in the field this week. T13.

Mackenzie Hughes. Kind of a shockingly good finish for him. T16. Morikawa wanted more from him this week. Good year at the majors for Morikawa though. Yeah. Yeah. He should be prime for next year. Mean Dean Bermester. T19. Shub Sharma. Good to see him kicking around. T 19. Sep T 22. Where did Shub Sharma play like almost when was that in Mexico? I was at the Multipack. Yeah, that was so sick. I got to shout out my guy Foxy 67 today after I took him last night in the in the auction. Sorry, any comment? Hated it. God, I hate seeing that. Hey, as we get down here to Spieth, who wants to argue, just for the listeners out there,

there's just an ongoing, like, you didn't believe in Spieth. No, you said you hate him, and then he plays like shit and nobody talks about him. Like, who wants to speak for Spieth here, Solly or TC? I still believe in Spieth. Spieth's gonna, he's gonna win another one of these at some point. I think he'll do something at some point, and this is like one of like two weeks where he can make some magic happen And I just hope T25 is not magic

Yeah, no, he's gonna do something fun. Like he's gonna make a very Front nine Thursday. It's like I'll speak to win this thing. You didn't believe in him Yeah, never said he was gonna win that no And then he's ready for 74 and nobody talks about him. This is part of my time you guys vamping here. I think he's gonna do something at some point. Former clique once a clique always a clique. Lori Cantor T 25 Guido Migliazzi I still can't believe there's an Italian

golfer named Guido Migliaazzi. He finished T31 along with country music sensation Eric Cole, Cam Young, Matteo Manisero. Again, just I cannot believe how like that career trajectory and the fact that he didn't like quit the game. Props to him. JT plus six today, really faded T31. Sam Burns got blown out to sea. He shot 80. What a weird week for Sam Burns. That was fake juice, man. I hope no one got fooled by that one yesterday. Yeah, I did. Brooks shot even today, plus eight for the week. T. You know, kind of a weird major season. Yeah, disappointed Brooks. Especially you know, it was like last year's like, all right, Brooks is back. And now

it's you know, he seems healthy and all that. I think Max probably petered out a little bit today t 43. For him, after kind of the adrenaline of making the cut and everything shot a good round yesterday. Callum Scott, T-43, amateur. Big Bob. Bob ran out of steam a little bit today. Great outfit, though. He looked great. He looked great. Just backing up, on Keppke, that's like easily, assuming full health, easily the worst major year he's ever had. I mean, 2022 was, was worst. I mean, but that was, I think we would all agree,

not healthy. His best finish was T26 in a major this year. That's he's never had a year outside where he's not finished in the top 10 since 2014 other than injury plague 2022. Yeah. Um, Joaquin, I thought we were, you know, he finished 10 over with the two, two quintuple bogeys. So, you know, you strip those out. He's, he's floating around.

I'd like to see Joaquin Plane more majors Pick pick wisely just the fact that Darren Clark made the cut. Yeah That's that's big time. I shot making the cut too. I thought that's that's impressive where you're joggers. We'll do it All right, let's get to our serve pro mulligan ball golf when bad shots happen There's the mulligan ball when fire water or other damage happens. There's serve pro Thankfully the pros at serve pro can help us clean up some messy takes from this week Let's go around the horn on some bad takes and may have culplous and make them like they never even happened DJ pie You're up first. Yeah, I want to apologize

I feel like I kept trying to talk you guys into JT this week. Like that was a real sustainable thing and 77 today just kind of laid bare that that was that was silly. He is not all the way there despite the despite the beautiful rounds that he played in between some true disasters that was not a not a complete showing. So I want to apologize for that and and really lay myself at the mercy of the court on that one. Thank you for sharing DJ. That's brave, thank you. DC.

I just want to apologize for my entire week. Tommy, Ludwig, Zander, I mean all of it. I think, I'm not sure if ServPro offers this service. I think they've tented my dwelling, my house. They're fumigating. They've got the big hazardous materials. I got skunks in my house and they're fumigating it. There's asbestos in there. There's all sorts of crazy, crazy shit going on. So I got ServePro, I got General Contractors, I got all sorts of different subs in there. So just, yeah, just apologies to everyone for everything this week. But I'm not giving up on Tommy. We're going to win a major.

You guys know where I'm going with this one. Thank you TC. I appreciate that. I took over the, I tried to take over kind of the block party hosting for Rory this week. I bailed on that really quickly when I remembered how bad the branding was. It'll cost ya! So I was thinking about where he was going on vacation about 22 holes into that block party. I moved the party into a bar. We rented out kind of the back part of a bar and nobody fucking showed up. So you know I like I said I had to meet my minimum of that I of the open bar I had to bring home a bunch of wine and so it was it was a bad block party. I thought Rory was going to bounce back

after Pinehurst and he most certainly did not. That was that was an epically bad call and I will I'll own that one. So bring us home, Neil. Thank you. I'm gonna apologize to, I said it a little bit earlier, but Tristan Lawrence, I feel like I dogged him a little last night. I definitely thought he was gonna fade. I was not familiar with like very relatable game for me

in the way he was like, yeah, I'm just gonna hit driver everywhere. Shouldn't have done that. I'm gonna hit this big like F15 cut ball. I was like, yeah, I'm just gonna hit driver everywhere. Shouldn't have done that. I'm going to hit this big, like F 15 cut ball. I was like, Oh, I know what that looks like. And I'm going to make some horrible decisions. Like trying to hit, look like a nine iron out of that fairway bunker on 18. Uh, with, with, you know, I was like, Oh, I've been there brother. Like, no,

no, it's just, let's just try, let's try to get up there. Come on. It's like you just through the TV. You're like, what are you doing, man? Just just splash it out. Why would you do that? So I I want to apologize to him I didn't realize how we were kind of birds of a feather and I I think Honestly, when I saw this I was like all this guy's gonna make double here He made a mega for on 18 Which was like a highlight of my golf watching today to watch him like avoid a complete disaster here so I just want to

more just give him a shout out because I thought he held it together all day and I didn't think he was going to. So that's my mea culpa. Let's take that right into our coldest moment of the week presented by Yeti and their new summer ready colors, hard coolers, soft coolers, drinkware, bags, cargo, all of your summer gear can be found at Yeti.com. This is my summer one right here. There's a lot of water you can fit in this one. Deidre, what was your coldest moment of the week? who are now at Golf Digest. He tweeted this photo of Seve, maybe the coldest photo I've ever seen of him in his rain gear. Apologies to all of those who are not,

who are listening to the audio version of this, but I would go to Jamie R. Kennedy's Twitter account. Just an unbelievable photo of Seve here. You could feel the coldness coming through as he's just staring at somebody, just about to say something so mean to somebody you can tell it's just it's such a good photo i i've been thinking about this one all week if you look really closely to each he's about to drop a ball out from underneath that jacket as well so gold

finger move uh tc calling us moment of the week yeah a lot of different directions we could go here i was gonna say just zander winning and just putting it right in my face. But I thought about Rory's comments as well of just kind of juxtaposing that with, you know, the fight we saw it on the stretch from Homa and Bob. But I'm going to go off the board a little bit. I was playing today. I played Dunbar today. board a little bit. I was playing today. I played Dunbar today. And it which was like, it blew me away. It was awesome. But it had great company with the same and Ian and D block. But I was out there I cold shanked one on the par three, like the coldest coldest shank you could ever have. the coldest shank you could ever have. It's like 130 yard par three and I had 60 yards in short right and then I hold out from there for Birdie. So it was cold. One of the guys we were playing against was in there at about four feet and had a four footer for birdie. Just rolled it right in with the T grind. So it

was, that was, that was my coldest moment of the week. I absolutely love that you use that, the coldest moment to fluff yourself because TCM, I'm going to bring you right back down here. Listen, my pick was not good, but this was just too cold to pick Ludwig to win and to for him to miss the cut and to pick Xander to not win. Like I just don't know. I picked Tommy. I picked Ludwig to win and to for him to miss the cut and to pick Xander to not win. Like I just don't know. I picked Tommy. I picked Ludwig to win. Sorry, Tommy. Sorry.

I missed. Yo, hand up on that too. Pick Tommy, of course, to not win and to win and he did not make the cut and to pick Xander not to win. That was just that was the coldest moment of the week. That was that was ice cold. And we need to get a tracker going of everyone that's that has hit in the wrong way than not to win. Not to win. That is is good. But I've also right. Welcome to the club TC. Xander's been

extremely lucrative for me on the not to win front like he twos and things of that nature when I've picked him out to win as well. So I've, I've flew to close to the sun there. Also, I do want to give a shout out to the RNA, kind of a cold move for them to invite third leg Greg, as a guest of the RNA, I believe at the Open Championship, I saw third leg Greg was out at Turnberry, playing, you know, today or yesterday. So third leg Greg still still percolating around these parts.

Neil, coldest moment? Coldest moment was, it's actually in some ways the warmest moment, but Xander icing the crowd a little bit on his walk up 18. I truly thought this was awesome that he waited for Austin Kaiser, his caddy to join him on the walk to 18 green. And I just wanted to shout this out. I really appreciated that. He like actively waited, kind of walked backwards. It seemed like his caddy was going to kind of let him take the walk. He's like, absolutely not, man. We're taking this walk together. And it was kind of, I don't want to say awkward, it was like, what's he doing? Is it kind of walking backwards? He's slow, the crowd's kind of clapping, but then they slowed down

and then Austin Kaiser caught up and they walked up together. And I thought that was really cool. So kind of, I'm jamming that into my coldest moment of the week because I wanted to shout it out. It was, I love how they highlight that moment. And, you know, just, just focus, you know, most of the announcer's layout, of course, NBC had to sneak in an Olympics callout as he was getting ready to carry carry over momentum into the Olympics as he was making the walk up to collect the, you know, the medal for being champion golfer of the year. Sure. But yeah, that I love how they document that moment. Despite the rushing nesting doll, Sally, I will say

I am I am very excited about the Olympics. I don't feel like anybody else is but I'm excited about not the Olympic golf, just the Olympics in general, I'm fired up. So they're going to be a disaster. Yeah, they might be, but I'm still fired up to watch them. So despite what they keep force feeding me with these promos, I'm still excited to watch them. You can't beat me down, baby. Neil, I'm right there with you. Very, very excited about it. We're actually going to have some more content coming out later this week or next week. I don't know when it's really going to come out, but we're're gonna do a podcast, Trap Trap podcast, specifically on the Olympics.

You can check that there. Solly, before we get to actual Amsterdam, because I know that's where you're going to next here, I want to do our first drawing. I think we should get, fire up the hashtag the open and see what we got. So please whoever this winner is going to be you can hit me up Cody at no laying up Dot-com to claim your prize what it's really gonna be is I just need your your shipping address So mark Baird, hopefully you're not one of those guys that we're talking about meatloaf in here earlier still don't understand What the joke was that about I have no clue You're supposed to kick them out. Anyway, please hit me up. Mark, congratulations. I'll draw

some more later on. Anyway, solid back to you. I wasn't going to go to hamstring yet. I was going to ask for everyone's forward open championship review. Kind of springing this on you guys a little bit here, but I can go first if you if you need a little bit of time but proper, proper champion. That's, that's what I would go with here. It was very entertaining from the jump. Sometimes like the most proper venues and the most proper tests aren't the best entertainment. Even if they do identify the best champion, sometimes the best champion runs away with it, and it's not very exciting. We did not have that problem. So I would say proper venue and the guy that deserved to win most definitely won Yeah, I'm gonna go I'm gonna trail that one. I'm gonna say complete test of golf

I said yesterday that the conditions and the wind even though it wasn't windy Was going to be a true examination of another part of your game the same as a driver or putting or chipping or iron play or whatever. And I thought the guy at the end of the line here, the guy who hoisted the trophy and and, you know, the medals and got his name on the scoreboard was the guy that completed every one of those tests and Royal Troom was a complete test as well. long holes, short holes, it wasn't one dimensional, you had to do everything multiple playing

styles up on the up on the leaderboard. Just that was it complete test of golf. That's what golf looks like. It was great. Neil you got next. The cream hath risen. I think there was some chatter of like, hey, this leaderboard's weird. Like all the, you know, it's bad luck if you get the wrong side of the draw. But in the end, after four rounds, the best player won the event. And also the guys at T2, uh, it's bad luck if you get the wrong side of the draw, but in the end, after four rounds, the best player won the event. And also the guys that T2 like it felt like the cream rose and the guys that deserve to be in that one, two, three, four spot were, were right there. So those are my four words.

Um, in, in honor of tequila, Neil, the late Kobe Bryant, I'm gonna do how's my ass taste that's that's what sander How's my ass taste that's what zander, you know, that's how I feel right now. I'm having to answer that question Thank you for that that question. Thank you for that visual TC. Do you need to go? I know dinner places are closing early out there. Do you need to bounce? They are. I do need to go. I just want to wish you safe passage, godspeed during Hampstead Am. I am so, so sad to be leaving, going back to the United States and having to watch golf. And it's CBS, there's some CBS events upcoming, so no worries there. But NBC continues to be an absolute black eye on the game of golf, or the sport that we love dearly.

And I saw that they upped the subscription cost for the cock just in time for the Olympics, which is that's such a that's such a nice middle finger to all of us, just the entire, you know, United States. So well done, Brian Roberts and company, you guys. But but Comcast shareholders gonna see some benefit of that TC. You gotta leave you can't leave that part out okay you cannot leave that out well thank you TC enjoy your golf thank you for for all of your all of your on the ground reports this week and and rest in peace TC people will call for TC to eat some shit and I think he did I think he did that was a very helpful performance tonight was when I Gc became president. I thought. Thank you PC.

That is fantastic. Uh what what's the shot you guys will remember the most from this or that or the the lasting image of this championship? Let's say when somebody mentions 2024 open at Trune, what's either the shot you'll remember or the lasting image? I mean, probably just a bunch of jump cuts of guys with backwards hats from Saturday. If it was the lasting lasting image, I don't know. There's two that jump to mind. The three with Scotty hit yesterday on set into the 17th. I think summed up just like, Whoa, you know, it's something a lot for me. That was that

was an unbelievable shot that I remember for a while. I'm gonna go back to that drive drive that xander hit on 15 though. Yeah, it's it all feels like a forgettable like Spotting around he's already up by a bunch But just the way that he wailed on that and I was like in that moment that that one's really really stuck out to me Yeah, I think singular shot is going to be that scotty three wood. That was unbelievable Um, but moment I guess if I had to kind of distill it down, the moment where I knew it was over, I think was, what did Xander have into 11? Like eight iron?

Nine iron? They said eight, it was 161 front out of a jumper lie without help. It was either nine or wedge, I would have thought. But it was such a good shot. And that's how I was like, oh, dude, this is over, man. Like this, that's it. Like he's got this little club into club into a state out of the gorse

He is he's got more firepower than anybody coming down the stretch and he's in total control of his irons and his wedges and his Putting like he's there. Nobody's gonna catch him. So just him passing that last kind of checkpoint I think was was the big one for me the turning point You guys checkpoint, I think was was the big one for me the turning point. Uh, you guys, I the putty poured in on 14 for me was like, not a surprise. And that's where I kind of like, surprised myself in that it was not like, Oh, Xander did it. It was like, Oh, this is going in like the end of when in the fucking middle, like it was just those puts that we've been asking him

to make in the back nines of big tournaments and major championships He did that today and yeah, but that almost blended for me with the putty made on 11 and 13 Yeah, like I know it's like oh god. He's just running them all in now So it's you know, it's it was it wasn't an iconic putt or something It was just very routine and so that's why it doesn't almost though in some ways the whole round doesn't really stick out Which is kind of weird. Are you guys going to do the hamster ham thing where you just make me be the bad guy and you just stand there and you say like, Oh, no, I don't know what else I'm going to say. I mean, I agree with you. It's a disgrace.

Uh, there's, but I think I will go back to what I said at the U S open. I'll kick it off for you. So like, I feel like the commercial stuff I'm, I'm, I'm at peace with the playing through and the way they do it is not good and it's a detriment to golf fans everywhere. But I think the own goal that continues to make me mad is that they can't figure out the booth. They have too many people talking and let Toreco do it or let Hicks do it or it's like, what are we doing with Luke Donald in there and Brad Faxton? All of them on their own are fine with me, but all of them together, it is just not good.

It's just too many voices, too many cooks in the kitchen. It's like, hey, look, look, we're throwing all these resources. Look at all the voices we have. We're bringing Toreco in. Then they just basically muzzle these guys. They put them all in a bad position not to succeed and it's a detriment to Rico in. And then they just basically, you know, kind of muzzle these guys, they put them all in a bad position not to succeed. And it's a detriment to the broadcast. And I think that's the like number like that's such a solvable thing. That's new this year. And it's a new problem. Now you're fucking that up. Like that's, that's not the answer. That's not what we're asking for. So

that's where my frustration lies. The commercial stuff is like, yeah, man. I'm kind of I'm dead already. So I'm at I'm at peace, you know like whatever I Couldn't have said it better Neil. I'm with you. I think I said this about something else this week, but I think the the multiple voices in the booth kind of seems like one of those things that they think is like one plus one plus one plus one equals 72 I'm like now it just equals four. Oh, yeah, you're not one plus one plus one plus one equals 72. And I'm like, no, it just equals four. Like you're not, we're not getting anything by having all of these different voices.

Like you're not bringing a bunch of perspectives or a bunch of different, because they're all jumping on top of each other, trying to get in and out so fast that it's not like you're getting perspective and insight and all of these different things. Well, the commercials hurt all of that as well. Like it jams it in even tighter.

Like those problems are running. And we get less bones. You got bones back out there. I hear from him like once on the front nine and once on the back nine it feels like. And they're pointless. They're freaking, those guys are, like everybody is just like put in a position not to succeed. And I don't blame any of those announcers. Like I don't really have a problem with anybody on the broadcast team. It's just the way it's presented and the way they've set the team up is stupid. Well, get this, like, the reason you don't ever hear from the on-course announcers is, like, all the shots are on tape. And like, they, the, like, on the NBC side, they don't travel with monitors.

CBS travels with monitors and, like, you know, Colt and Dottie will call shots that are on tape, you know, as you're watching them on TV, but NBC does not. And so like, how many shots are they show live on the back nine? I don't even, you probably count on one hand. That's why I don't hear from any on course announcers, especially when the leaderboards jam, they just don't have time to get out to live shots. It's, it's, it's a total disgrace, man. It's like I watched, luckily for media members, they make the world feed available, which literally

is 0.0 commercials the entire time. And it's incredible to watch. It's like a must-do. I will lose my, my sanity if I have to, like, when I'm trying to work and cover the golf tournament, like, and I can't understand what's going on, I can't do my job. On Peacock, there is the Sky Feed available. Jot that down. Remember that for people that have been forced into subscribing to Peacock. In the U.S., you can watch the Sky Feed, which is less commercials. It's like, I think somebody sent in some notes from from an hour earlier on. It's like 4 minutes of commercials compared to 12 to 15 or whatever it was on on the U.S. side. So it's, you know, drastically different, but they just get so exposed when there's 8 people that could have won the tournament today, they had no

chance from the jump. Absolutely no chance from the jump. Horschel, birdies the opening, leading the open, birdies the opening hole, playing through. Scotty, like, was making a run around the, around the turn. 4 putted on 9. All 3 of his final putts were on playing through. Like, playing through is a complete disgrace. It didn't cut down on commercial time. It just added to commercial time. I'd rather they just take that away and just show the shots. It's the same problems. It's they're just incapable of covering a major golf tournament. And I hope they lose every golf contract they have. I can't do it anymore. I've that's after a week of like not even watching them. I just I had to watch it for like an hour and two this morning when I was looking after my daughter and like doing some stuff around the house. I had it. I couldn't watch the world feed and it was so bad.

I will say, I will end this personally on a good note. I, uh, sometimes during these weeks, you know, we can go from morning to night, just sitting on the couch watching. And, and I, then I start to glaze over, especially when they start to lose the plot and like the commercials are just kind of weirdly play it. You're like, Oh God, now I'm on Twitter and I'm not watching. And you just glaze over. I went for a run this morning. I listened to the open radio while I was running. And it was, it was really good. Cause the, and they're bouncing around. They've got somebody with each group and, uh, I don't know. It's just, it was really fun. And I know Cody and Randy are going to be doing that for the, uh, uh, women's open

at St. Andrews. So, uh So I'm fired up to listen to that. So a little, little plug and some useful context there and why I'm promoting the radio stuff because we, Cody, my colleagues will be taking part in it. But yeah, it kind of simplified it very descriptive, you know, broadcasting. I felt like while I was running, I kind of understood where the, where the round stood and, and you know, there's like, there was like one commercial break in 45 minutes, which was sick. So thank you for that, Neil. I agree with you. Of course. Uh,

Sully, I do have one question. You know, we talk a lot about how like great sky is and sky obviously owned as well by Comcast. Why, like you would think instead of sending all these people over, like why do they have to send an entire NBC team over when like the Sky feed could be like the feed? Like, wouldn't that be something cool that would also be a cost saving measure for them overall? Because I think that's kind of what we're all going for, right?

Yeah, but I don't know the answer to that. But like, they run way more commercials than sky. So if they just took the sky feed, they'd have to just lay on a bunch of commercials on top of it. And I don't think they could and lay the shots back in like they're, I assume they're just taking shots from the world feed as it is for this week. And yeah, I mean, that so the reason why like, I'm one of many reasons I get so upset about it is it's not realistic to like have a world feed where you don't so the reason why like, one of many reasons I get so upset about it is, it's not realistic to like

have a World Feed where you don't have commercials ever, like for the general public, I understand how sports work and media rights work and all that stuff. But it does put on full display how bad it is. Like it is so bad. Like I want to listen to the NBC announcer just on watching things that are, you know, happening the same way most of our audience is. And like, it's like four minutes and it's back in commercial and I can't listen to the commercial.

Then I'm trying to listen on the WorldFeed. Then I just end up listening to the WorldFeed the whole time because there's so little flow to the NBC side. And it's just, it's not gonna change. It's the same thing we've saved for every major. And it's just depressing at this point. It just feels like, I think too, it doesn't feel like there's a cap in the ship

between Hicks and Torrico. It's like, yeah, I would think Tororeco is, but sometimes it's like, you don't honestly, like every day I turned it on, it's like, Oh, who's it going to be? Like there's no rhyme or reason to who's the early guy and who's the late guy. There's no like transition of ownership. It just feels so scattered, man. And that's the problem. Like not only the announcers now the announcing feels scattered because there's too many voices, but before that,

the commercial breaks even feel scattered. When they come and how they get them in is like, it just doesn't feel like there's any cohesive, doesn't feel like anyone's running the show. So sorry, Tommy Roy. That's kind of how I feel right now. Sorry. And again, like we always say, this is above Tommy Roy's level here of where this happens. Tommy Roy's not selling the ads, overselling the ads,

and having it be this commercial-laden broadcast. Another major with facts, though, but what'd you guys think of Luke Donald in the booth? I feel like he's fine. I think he's settling in. He seems like he's getting a little more confident. It was a good leaderboard for him, I think, with Lowry and Justin Rose,

and there was a lot of Ryder Cup guys that I think he had a lot of good insights on, which was, which was great. You never know quite what you're going to get on that front, but I think he's fine, but I don't, I don't think he's, you know, there's some guys that are, or women that are so good at what they do that they can kind of overcome a lot of these problems. I don't know if Luke is necessarily one of those, but I can think of a really ringing endorsement. I get times from Thursday to Sunday where I felt like I heard Luke Donald like really expound on something where like there was enough time for him

to like tell a story or you know, kind of get into it. And like, I think it was, I don't even remember what it was. It was somebody coming down 18 and he would, you know, but it felt like he had the room to breathe a little bit. So yeah, I just don't think he's put in a position to even show me like, hey, he could be the guy. Like I don't feel like I even know right now. Can I wrap this on a completely different note? And I promise this is not a political statement

I'm about to make, but I'll start this with, of course Joe Biden dropped out of the race today. What do you think happened in the world of sports today with with I saw that as well. That's a deep drive to life. I cast the hottest kind of cast the hottest way. I saw books were taking that off the board today. They were locking that up. You could not bet on

cash. Oh, pull it down. I've just now seen this with also getting reports that your reds got swept by the nationals, which we stink dude. That's true. We can move that to another pod, but it's bad, man. It's so bad. It's, it's very tough.

Despite all of what we just said with NBC, I am still excited about the Olympics for sure. Yeah. Are people still pooping in the river? Where do we land on that? Well, we're going to talk about that, but yeah, the mayor swam in the river. They think it's, it's, but they they're hoping that there's not a big rainstorm because the sewers might overflow and, and, uh, basically counteract the $1.4 billion cleanup they did.

So it's, we're, we're on a razor's edge with the Sen river. Such an own goal. Uh, one of my buddies is going over to work security for the Olympics and he's like, they have to secure 17 miles worth of riverfront In order to do the opening ceremony this takes like I think there's like 15,000 people that are there just on the river specifically for security. It's wild Before I get out of here. I want to do this one more time, of course whoever the winner of this is gonna be Email me at Cody at no laying up calm. But what I want

to say first of all, is that it's our last major of the year. I think the majors this year has been awesome. La 3036. P laugh. Okay, P laugh 36, whatever it is, send me an email. But overall, we're done with majors for 2024. What do you guys think? Great major year. It was a major year. Really freaking good. Even the dud venue had like a really exciting finish. I mean, I got arrested, which was right. I was sick. Yeah.

Major winners data golf rankings. The major winners this year, first, second, sixth and second. The worst major winner this year was the sixth best player in the world. Good. true and was fantastic pinehurst was fantastic didn't have amazing finishes You know at this one or at the Masters but was I mean like compared to last year's major season This was a really really but the way Augusta was playing it played really hard. I thought that was cool yeah this year, so I mean the majors continue to be the big winners in the You know the great schism in golf. They feel so elevated right now. I guess we're going to see some of the same thing next year. Who knows though?

God, we got eight months till so far away. I'm sure a lot of dumb shit will happen before then. A lot of stuff to talk about in the world of non-professional golf, I think, over the next eight months, Neil We've got a lot of a lot of fun You know personal golf games golf travel all kinds of stuff to get you plus another great women's major at the old course Still got we've got some good stuff on the horizon. Don't lose don't lose. Hope This is always an amazing day and a sad day as well though though, just kind of yes, it's for sure. You know, I

said it on Thursdays or on Monday on our preview. So I feel it even more that the open is very Shakespearean for me. You know, it's a tragedy. It's serious. It's like, ah, man, that's it. You know, there's a tinge of regret and just like, yeah, man, and it's over early in the day. Like, well, what am I gonna do the rest of the night? You know, there's just even, even in the short term, I'm kind of confused. Go grab a high noon, hang out, maybe grill out a little bit. I don't know, there's a lot of things you could do with your afternoon. Yeah, so you're gonna have so many more NLU babies by the time

the Masters comes around. It's gonna be nuts. Which brings me to knowlingup.com slash join is where you can join the Nest if you want to help pay for some diapers around a lot of our houses. If you want to, if you don't know what to tell them about the Nest, tell folks about the Nest. Yeah, we got it. We're doing a Nest pod this week. We got a some behind the scenes video coming out this week for Nest members. But you get this pro shop. Ness is a community of avid golfers and fans worldwide. So yeah, join

the Ness. Actually, just go to no laying up.com forward slash join and you can learn more about it. membership. Yeah, it's a membership. I'll let I'll let that website do the talking for us. You can go by store.no laying up.com if you want to shop for some merch. I hope my wife does not see this comment up there that say I'll be naming my twins Kiwi and Guava. Guava Solomon. Well, as we move to wrap, I want to give a shout out. We have a lot more live shows still to go in the year. We'll be doing Presidents Cup, Solheim Cup. We'll be doing, you know, all

the playoff events, AIG Women's, Women's British as well, all that stuff, a lot more to go. But the major ones are especially fun. There's so much fun. We really appreciate high noon support of all of these and everybody that drops a ton of comments and Cody for running all the graphics, Jordan running all the social and everyone that listens on the replays as well, we greatly appreciate it.

These are the most fun, I'd say the most fun part of our jobs. So we feel quite rewarded exhausted by the end of these weeks, but it's very rewarding. So you want to know how you help that hit that like button. Oh, and tell us what you want to see. Next time, next week's show is gonna be on Neal's channel. So subscribe to

his his there but no, give us a thumbs up. Subscribe to the YouTube channel. You can also follow our Knowing Up YouTube podcast channel which has all our other interviews and all that stuff. But we are gonna move to wrap. Cody, thank you as well for an incredible week. Thanks everyone for tuning in. Congrats to Xander Schauffele.

We'll see you back here soon. Crack on. Cheers.