No Laying Up - Golf Podcast - 875 - Lauren Coughlin Interview, LPGA News and Notes

Episode Date: July 25, 2024

Cody and Randy are back ahead of this week's LPGA Canadian Open with a recap of the last few weeks in women's pro golf, plus a look ahead to the upcoming Women's Open Championship and some Solheim Cup discussion as well. Then in part two, we welcome NLU Young Hitter Lauren Coughlin (43:00) coming off her second top-five major finish in 2024. We recap her 4th place finish at the Evian, having her husband John as a caddie, preparing for a potential first Solheim Cup appearance and more. If you enjoyed this episode, consider joining The Nest: No Laying Up’s community of avid golfers. Nest members help us maintain our light commercial interruptions (3 minutes of ads per 90 minutes of content) and receive access to exclusive content, discounts in the pro shop, and an annual member gift. It’s a $90 annual membership, and you can sign up or learn more at nolayingup.com/join Support our Partners: Yeti Titleist Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Be the right club. Be the right club today. That's better than most. How about in? That is better than most. Better than most! Expect anything different. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome into the No Laying Up Golf podcast. My name is Randy. I am joined right now by Cody McBride. Cody, good to have you. We're talking women's golf. It's been a minute. We got a lot of ground to cover. I'm excited for this one. How are you today?

I am doing great, Mr. Big. Thank you, of course, for having me on. We don't have to thank Mr. Jeezy, which we're used to doing here. This is such an awesome week. I think we shouted it out last year. While it was happening, we shouted it out at the end of the year when we, for some reason, they asked us to rate which golf tournaments we thought were the best as part of the LPGA tour.

It is CPKC Women's Open Week, Canadian Women's Open Week. I love the branding about this. I love how it rotates across the country. I love everything about it. And I think, I don't know, the Montana boy and me, you know, our, our sister province up there in Alberta, finally getting some love as we're in Calgary. I'm just excited, man. Again, we said this last year. This is one of those tournaments that we have to go to at some point in time.

Yeah, I know. I'm honestly I'm bummed we're missing this year's edition because it's at a new venue, like you said, up in Calgary, Alberta. We'll get there. Let's, I know we're not gonna thank Mr. Jeezy, but let's thank a couple of our presenting partners. We'll start with Yeti. What can we say about Yeti, Cody? My words don't do them justice. A big thank you to Yeti and the Yeti team.

They're our title sponsor for this year's LPGA content across the board, specifically our LPGA podcast. and make it possible for us to sit down and chat, do a little travel, you name it. It doesn't matter if it's luggage, hard coolers, soft coolers, drinkware, or what else big you get a little care package. I did I did. So if anybody listened to the trap draw a couple weeks ago, Tron and I were chopping it up. Actually, the one with our buddy THG. A couple personal announcements, but the one having to

do with Yeti, my fiance and I, we got a new dog. We adopted a one-year-old lab named Arthur, and as part of a little welcome for Arthur, We had Yeti dog bowls waiting for him. And these things are sweet. Of course they're well-made, over-manufactured, like can withstand anything, but they're just perfect. They come in lots of different colors. We chose wine red, which my fiance, that was her pick. That sounds right for her.

Yeah, and then I chose key lime. That was her pick. That sounds right for her. Yeah. And then I chose Key Lime. So you know, I'm a big parrot head, RAP Jimmy Buffett. So they just make wonderful little dog bowls, water, food. So happy to have them. They've made our new life with Arthur just that much more enjoyable. That's amazing to hear. You're right.

Definitely over engineered. It's, it's prime time big. I think I got three weeks left, only three weeks of summer before these kiddos go back to school. So I'm hitting up that Yeti website. They have plenty of custom options that you can choose from. But we're big fans of the smaller Rambler water bottles and the cool matching color top.

Going to get those a new set of them made up for the kiddos. Those are their school water bottles. If you're watching on the video feed, Randy showing his Rambler. I love it, that's one of my favorite colors that they have. A ton of summer covers right now. It doesn't matter if it's Bigs or Arthur's Dog Bowls, I guess. Waters, hard coolers, soft coolers, you name it.

Yeti products perform when it matters most. Please head over to yeti.com for their complete product line and more. What else? Yeah, I'll tell you how much of a dog lover I am. So Yeti makes, they make, what is it? Four cup bowl size and then eight cup bowl size. That's a big bowl.

Yeah, well they sent me each and we're using the eight cups. I mean, we don't fill them all the way yet, but I was like, what should I do with these other ones? So this is how much, I mean, this is how all in I am to the dog life. On my little walks with Arthur, you know, you come up to certain houses and they'll have like a little water bowl out front.

I love that. And so I just put one out this morning. I put one in the extra, the wine red colored four cup bowl filled with water, you know, trying to just do my part, Cody, to pay it forward. You know, I know it's not gonna be a dog owners that you might have to worry about this, but you, I don't know, maybe strap an air tag

to that thing or something like that, because I think I might get swiped, buddy. Do you want to roll titleists? Now you want to wait a little bit. Let's just let's thank them. We're in a jolly mood and then they'll clear out this, this first part of the podcast. We can get down to the golf.

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distance and dispersion. So if you want to play your best golf, the first step is simple. Go to Titleist.com, find the Titleist's fitter or fitting event near you. Of course, thank you to Titleist. Big, what do we got going on today? Let's just catch up, Cody. It's been a minute since we've talked LPGA Tour Golf. We've had a lot going on. We've had another major, the Evian, which we, of course, discussed on the Sunday pod that week, but I still think there's some stuff we can dig into. We're going to look back at where the tour has been.

We're going to look ahead to what's coming. And then we have a second part of this episode, our good friend, young hitter, Lauren Coughlin, who is playing the best golf of her career. She's going to join us for a chat. She finds herself in a great position to potentially make her first Solheim Cup team. Part of that was her excellent play at Evian. We'll get into all that in part two. But Kody, you mentioned the Canadian, the CPKC Canadian Women's Open. What can he tell me? I mentioned they're at a new club. Do you know anything about Earl Grey Golf Club up in Calgary?

Well, a quick research to found out founded in 1919 as an only a five hole golf course, which is, I think, pretty unique. But they took the amount of land that they had. They built five holes and kind of let it rip. And then over time, you know, they've added on to that. 2018, they did a complete redesign. And I think it's because there's this water that is kind of adjacent to the property and they put new walking paths in. And I'm pretty sure that the golf course, it's a private club, but they don't actually own the ground. I think they lease it from the city of Calgary. So when they put this new or the when they were

expanding the water reservoir situation, they put some walking paths around it. The walking paths were actually routed through part of the golf course. So they had to completely move holes around. So this is a new look, new breath of life to this club around there. But I'm pumped that you can't find, you know, when you talk about where people should be playing golf and tying it to like, where the best weather possibly is right now, the end of July, you got to think that in Alberta, Canada,

they this is matching up perfectly a lot better than anywhere else that, you know, the PGA Tour or anybody else is finding themselves at. I think that's exactly right. The more north you can get this time of year, I think the conditions just get better and better. It's some sneaky prime time golf too, which is always fun. The TV coverage for anybody that hasn't seen Eastern times, 6.30 to 9.30 Thursday and Friday on Peacock and Golf Channel and then Saturday, 6 to 9 PM, again on Peacock and Golf Channel.

Cody, well, let me mention a couple of things. Megan Kang, defending champion. Brooke Henderson, she's gonna be there. Only three of the top 10 players in the world. You have Lilia Vu, you have Hannah Green, and you have Rose Zang from the top 10. I mentioned Brooke. Lydia Ko is going to be there. But I think it's a bit of a bummer this year specifically.

The field is getting a little hit by the Olympics. So it's tough. A lot of the players, you know, the marquee world-class players were in France a few weeks ago. And now to come all the way to Alberta, Canada, just to for the ones qualified for the Paris Olympics, it's just a ton of travel. So unfortunately, I feel like this feels a bit weak this year, which is a shame because year after year, like you mentioned at the start of the show, like we thought this was the best annual tour stop of the year last year.

I mean, they put on a great show. They had the little hockey rink theme on a part three last year. The crowd show up. I mean, Canadian golf fans, they'll be out in droves, not only supporting Brooke, but the whole field. So bit of a bummer, but understandable. I'm just really looking forward

to watching some golf this weekend. I feel like between the men's British Open last week and just, you know, the July 4th weekend, I just really haven't been able to like sit down and lock in and I fully plan to this week. And I think Arthur is going to join me. I think we're going to watch some golf on the couch together. I love that, man. Yeah, you mentioned Brooke. I'm surprised. I gotta go back through the field, I guess, and figure out who else that's qualified for the Olympics,

that's playing in the Olympics, is actually in this field because this is a pretty big shout out to Brooke Henderson. We know how much this hometown, or home country event means to her. But the Olympics only happens every four years and you don't know how many teams you're gonna qualify for. And even though the women are playing on during week two of the Olympics,

so their competition is not picking up for a while now, it's everything else. It's being a member of whatever national team that you are. It's the opening ceremonies. That's what Brooke's kind of sacrificing to be here for a home country event. And I think that's really cool because you talk about the rest of the top 10 in the world. They're all missing it because I'm sure they want to take part in all that stuff.

Which I get Lily Avoo wanting to play here. You know, she missed so much time. I feel like she just wants all the reps that that she can get. Good on Hannah Green. Honestly, good on Rose Zhang. Those are two women that I always double clutch around the Olympics. I'm like, wait a second, are they qualified? But I believe they're both qualified for the Olympics. Next week, if we fast forward, so from Canada, they go west even further out to the Portland Classic at Columbia Edgewater Country Club. And you'll see that field, that field's gonna be missing all the top players and obviously due to the Olympics. So not only the Olympics, but you know, it's just kind of weird.

It messes up the whole schedule, right? And I think every year kind of the running joke has been when somebody does the Google Earth version of the LPGA calendar and you see everything bouncing all over the place, I'm actually very proud of them during this week. So we go from Portland, you have a legitimate week off. And I think by them saying, hey, we're not gonna schedule an LPGA event this week.

We know that the Olympics are going on and the vast majority of the, at least the top qualifiers that are playing in the Olympics are also like studs on the LPGA tour There's no need to try to make something happen during that week We can all focus on that the people that are not playing in the Olympics can have a week off Before everybody takes off for the Scott women Scottish Open and then really settle, you know Settles in there as we go from Dundottled leagues for the women Scottish across the St. Andrews for the AIG Women's Open. Yeah that's that's exactly

right and I think the only thing I would add is I think both this week and next week out in Portland it's a great chance for somebody to break through and get a first victory. We saw that last year in Portland with Shanette Wanasan getting her first victory. You get an A plus for that one. I was real concerned about the pronunciation, but good job. We're going to get to her because she just won again in Northwest Ohio. So that's what's coming for the LPGA Tour. But let's take a look back, Cody, because you and I, we haven't chatted. Can I add one more thing on here that kind of I get it. But when we're talking about total schedule wise and flow, so we go from Scottish Open and this is the same complaints

that we have on the men's side. Scottish Open into the Open Championship. All right, same thing. The ladies European Tour is doing the right thing, and they put the Women's Irish Open the week following the Open Championship. So theoretically, you could play them three weeks in a row. The LPGA Tour has a new event, of course, TPC Boston. Everybody's very, very excited about what's going on there. That's going to be the following week's event

for the LPGA Tour players. I hate the fact that there's that schedule conflict there. I think that is something that hopefully in years to come that they can figure that out because we talk about this Lynx golf season. I want to see them run concurrently. I think that's, it's an amazing thing and I know it's a weird year because of the Olympic reshuffle and everything else like that but I hope that is somewhere where both entities

both parties can sit there and compare you know schedules and say hey I think this is what's best for us as a whole. Do you have the Irish Open course in front of you? I don't know off hand. Is it an actual links course this year? Because that's been an issue too in the past. It's like they play the Irish Open, not on a Lynx course. Well, I think the funny thing is about, we have that rub all the time, right? And I'm pretty sure this year it is at,

let me pull it up, Car, I'm pretty sure, Carden House, the O'Meara course. I can almost guarantee you that it's not a Lynx course. But do you know what I also know about the country of Ireland is that they're most well known for their Lynx course for sure. There's a lot of golf courses that are inland that the Irish Open gets to go to.

And I think that's pretty cool. And I know like you want that. I understand that feeling. I will meet you there and say, yes, I would like that feeling too. But I think it's cool for an event. And I don't know. I don't want to be the one who's always poo pooing everything.

I know we do a lot of that. I just the only reason I said that was because I would love a three week stretch, going back to your point of like, let's make it the Lynx stretch of the calendar, right? Where we could get an Irish Open on a Lynx course, where we played the Scottish Open on a Lynx course, and of course the AIG Women's Open are now on Lynx courses.

So it would create this, you know, at least three weeks stretch of true Lynx golf. As we saw with the British, the men's open last week, like Lynx golf is just the best. So I would just say like three weeks would be better than two, but you're right. We don't need to like poo poo every little thing we do and we will do enough of that. every little thing we do and we will do enough of that. All right, let's look back real quick. I wanna go back to, I really think we gotta start with the DOW Championship. We don't have to spend much time with these,

but I don't think we ever really broke it down. I thought this was pretty cool. You had a Tyotiticum and Ronnie Yin, both 21 year olds, big game, top 10 players in the world. They teamed up, they took down the Dow championship. What do you feel about these team events? I mean, it was the third LPGA title for both. Are you a guy that likes to discount these team wins?

And it kind of felt like, hey, Ronnie and Ataya, you guys are like two of the best players there, kind of teaming up to beat everybody else. A bit of a bully situation even. Well, I don't know. I use this as a defining fact for a lot of my potential Solheim Cup captain's picks last year. I remember jumping up and down talking about like, hey, if they performed well at this event that this is really the only thing on the women's side that we get a look at when it comes to playing any sort of alternate or different format when it comes to golf.

Should Ronnie and Attaya have won this event? Hell yeah. Like, good thing they did. But like, look at the other like, I think the pairings that the women on the LPGA tour, like the thoughtfulness behind it makes a lot more sense than a lot of the Zurich pairings do outside of Shane and Rory this year, but like Ronnie and Attaya, like they're best friends and they just want to play together. Outside of that, there's never like, they're never gonna really have that opportunity to do that

in like a team competition ever. But like Jennifer Cup Show and Allie Ewing, that in like a team competition ever. But like Jennifer Cuppshow and Ali Ewing, that's a Solheim Cup pairing. Yeah. Like they ended up taking second place. Like that makes a ton of sense. Nanakor Smattson and Nicole Brunchessere, like that's another Solheim potential, like future Solheim Cup team right there. Georgia Hall, Charlie Hall. That's a Solheim Cup pairing. You know that like they love that. And you can go down and you can kind of see like the thought process of what's going on there.

And I thought it was, it was awesome. Plus a huge shout out our young hitter, the Carby Abbey and her partner, partner Georgina Oboe, like having an opportunity to play together, to come up to the LPGA tour when they don't't have all the access and status in the world, end up taking like, they finished T8, that's really cool. And that wouldn't be possible if it was just another regular LPGA Tour event.

Yeah, you're exactly right about that. One fun thing from the press conference of Ataya and Ronnie Yin, they said they were trying to figure out a way to push each other on that last day. It's best ball the last day. And they made a bet that whoever made the most birdies, instead of the other person having to buy dinner, whoever made the most birdies got to buy dinner.

And I just love that little framing. Their press conference is wonderful. You can just tell how good of friends they are. And I just, they're very impressive young women. So I thought that was a very cool moment. Great win for both of them. I think it's great for women's golf. Yeah, all right. Well, moving on, I'm gonna go a little bit

out of chronological order because I wanna talk about the Dana open and then we'll touch on the Evian quickly after that. Shanette Wanasean, she won her second career title. She defeated Heyron Rue by one stroke. Lynn Grant had made a bid to try to go back to back in Sylvania at the Dana Open. She came up just short, tied for third, good showing for her.

Do you have any thoughts, Cody, on Heyron Root? Because it's a name that's just kinda starting, I feel like she's just putting herself in really good positions more weeks than not. And just curious if you have any, you know, have you gotten to watch her play much? Do you like her game? Anything on Heyron?

It's very, very serious golf that she's playing right now. And I'll go back like, you know, the day no open, she ended up like, I think she finished one back, correct? She finished in 1900. Evian before that, she finished solo fifth. Like she doesn't miss a ton of cuts. You want to talk about like tough golf courses on the LPGA Tour event.

When you talk about like Wilshire, she had solo third at Wilshire this year. Wanna talk about like hanging around KPMG this year, tough golf course, tied for ninth there. I think she's somebody who has a phenomenal short game. She hits the ball an absolute mile and she's so young. Like she just has to put all this together. But the finish that she had, knowing that she had to go out and like she's truly trying

to track down Jeanette. She finished birdie, birdie, bogey, birdie, birdie. Shooting her final nine coming in at 32 to shoot a final round 65 compared to Shanette 67. And you mentioned Lynn Grant in there. Lynn Grant ended up doubling her final hole. She ended up finishing like, I think, five or six back. But really, like, she had a double. She had two other bogeys on the day.

This golf course, it's just one of those where like you have to be pedaled to the metal the entire time, very like corn fairy tour is, and if you start giving away strokes, you're really in trouble because pars are setting you behind. Yeah, that's exactly right. And so well said on Hey Ron Rue. I had just, because mostly out of my own curiosity, I kind of went back and was just looking at her resume here these last couple years. For anybody that didn't realize she actually won the Rookie of the Year award last year. mainly because Hey Ron Rue was getting starts from the start of the year onward. But still rookie of the year, take nothing away from her. She won last year in Arkansas, so she does have a tour victory.

But you mentioned she doesn't miss many cuts. She's only missed four cuts now and you know, we're coming up on two full years on tour. Compare that, she's got 13 top 10s. So I love that kind of inverse ratio of top 10s to miss cuts. And then the other thing I find very impressive, she already has top 10s and four of the five majors, the only one that she doesn't is the AIG women's open. So I think somebody she's just 23 years old, I feel like she's getting

more comfortable, she's got to be getting more comfortable in contention. I think she's getting more comfortable. She's got to be getting more comfortable in contention. I think she's somebody that, you know, is gonna be in the hunt in a lot of big events over the coming years. So definitely a woman to keep an eye on there. Stacey Lewis played in the Dana Open. She finished tied for seventh.

She's about to get very busy here over these next couple of months, leading up to the Solheim Cup. And the other thing I wanted to mention, what'd you make of they had Lexi Thompson Day Friday in Northwest Ohio? I I like it. I feel like that's a nice little touch for. Yeah, I guess I didn't do my research and find out like why then it was. Was there a reason why then why this event?

Like, is there something with Toledo that is tying it to? Or what am I missing? Because I'm in on it. I was in on it. No, I just think it was the tournament almost thanking Lexi. She's consistently showed up. I have a quote here from the tournament director, Jud Silverman, who said, Lexi has meant so much to the LPGA Tour's success and growth over the past 14 years, and we felt this was the perfect time to honor her for everything she's done for golf. Lexi has moved women's golf forward while inspiring kids to follow their passion and dream big. I think she signed just about every hat, glove, ball, and flag handed to her

and accepted countless requests from sponsors to make appearances on their behalf. So the other cool thing, I can't remember something like this in golf, like outside of Solheim cup on Friday before her morning tea time, they did an F 16 flyover, which had to be pretty cool. So I know they did it Friday, probably thinking like, oh shit, if she misses the cut, we better make sure she's she's got a tee time, but she did not miss the cut. She finished tied for 19. We're going to banter a little bit about Solheim picks, but Cody, I mean,

I think she's a lock to be a captain's pick at the Solheim. Do you do you agree with that? Yeah, for sure. I mean, she was at Solheim Cup media day. She's in all of the press releases and everything else like that. There's there's no way it there's no way that Lexi Thompson is not on this team. And honestly, again, based off play, she's coming into good form. So yeah, like sign me up for that.

Other results to shout out here, of course, Lucy Lee, we're kind of back doing it. T13, I like that. The other one was Maya Stark, who came out like had such a good spring, put herself in contention at the Chevron, put herself in contention the following week without her full time caddy on the bag in LA. And then just

kind of had was searching for some stuff and went away. She back in it. Another top 20 finish. So finished t19. And then Marina Alex. We had her on the podcast. Happy hour, I think for that was or maybe US women's open. It was US women's open. That's what it was because she was playing up in Seattle for the KPMG. Yep. Top 20 finish right there.

Tied with Maya T 19. We'd like to see that Megan birdies. You know, she's so consistent. Doesn't hit the ball country mile like everybody else, but she hits fairways. She hits greens and she's trying to make some putts. Yeah. Carly Webb teed it up in Toledo. She missed the cut.

But hey, anytime those the folks of Northwest Ohio got to see a Hall of Famer, that's pretty cool. Let's get to Evian. We don't have to spend too much time because like I said, I think we talked about it. We did a live show at excuse me, we talked about it on the Sunday pod, but I think it just bears. I wanted to talk about Ayaka Foodway and one I want to just shout out her finish at the Evian on Sunday with the

championship up in the air for her to go birdie birdie birdie par eagle over her last five holes to win it is just like that's big time shit right there that I don't care what tournament where you are to have again, just kind of see how her career is going. So Ayaka, for those that don't know, she earned her tour card through Q School for 2022. So 2024 this year is her third year out on tour. She had been a very successful player on the JLPGA. She had won seven times before she came over to the States, has actually won once subsequently to earning her LPGA, she had won seven times before she came over to the States, has actually won once subsequently to earning her LPGA tour card.

But her play on the LPGA tour has just been out of control. So since the beginning of 2022, her rookie year, she's missed six cuts. And again, compare that to her top 10s. She's got 21 top 10s. So an awesome kind of inverse ratio there that we talked about with Hei Ran Ru. And I think more than that, like this year, you know, for how good Nelly Korda has been and how much oxygen deservedly Nelly was getting, Ayaka Fudo-Wei leads the tour in top 10s.

She's got nine of them, which is too clear of Nelly and actually too clear of Hei Ranue. I think Ayaka is somebody that we it just the more people you talk to the more folks I would say like, she's gonna win a big event, you know, sooner than later. And I thought it was really cool for I guess the women's game, right? Like the more the more of these types that can capture majors, I feel like it just helps build storylines and kind of elevate them as we go down the road to future majors.

So I was, I know we give the heavy on shit, we can debate all day whether it should be a major, but as long as you know, it goes in the history books as a major, good on Ayaka. And again, going 500 through her last five holes that that was just big time big time. Yeah for sure she's a major champion it doesn't matter what we say that's what the record books are going to show and this is the second time that she's actually been in contention at the Evian she was in before she joined the LPGA tour when she was still full-time JLPGA she was in contention in the 2021 Evian that same year. I don't

know if you remember this or not. She actually started the final round, I think four shots back at the women's or at the AIG Women's Open that Anna Norquist ended up winning, but was very much in it until with nine holes to play and then ended up like just kind of puttering and shooting is even par 72. But you're right. She's an app like she's a winner. She has proven that on the Japan Circuit. She proved that in high school, like very, very good amateur player, wins in buckets. And it's this was awesome. And I think what's cool about this final round 65 that she shot, And I think what's cool about this final round 65 that she shot, not like including the eagle that she had on on 18,

like she had a number that she knew that she had to get to. That's because Pat was already in the clubhouse. And it was just so impressive watching her and Steph Kariaku, who ended up finishing solo second there, like they knew what number they had to get to. And they didn't hold off second there. Like they knew what number they had to get to, and they didn't hold off at all. And they just kept going and going and going. And for a long time on that Sunday, we thought Patty in at 17 under was going to be pretty good. And Steph ends up finishing at 18. And because of that eagle on her final hole,

Atayev finishes at 19 under par to win it outright, win a playoff. At one point in time, we thought we were going to be in for a three or four person playoff. I know, I know. It seemed like a sweepstakes there. Lauren Coughlin, solo fourth, she's going to join us in part two of this podcast. So we'll have a lot more to cover here. The final thing I just wanted to note, the VAR trophy is given out each year to the low scoring average on the LPGA Tour.

It's a big award, not just because it shows your excellence over a full season. It comes with a Hall of Fame point. And actually, right now, Cody, as we talk, Ayaka Fudo-Way is leading the VAR trophy standings at 69.887 average score just ahead of Nelly Korda who's at 69.976. So, again, I'm not taking anything away from Nelly. Her season has been awesome. We've talked about it a bunch, but Ayaka Fudoe is kind of like, you know, just the, she's almost like the hair, or excuse me, the tortoise to Nelly's hair. You know, just keeps she's she's almost like the the hair or excuse me, the tortoise to Nellie's hair, you know, just just keeps plugging along playing good golf. And that that fair trophy race is going to be really good. The rest of

the season, you want to talk about scoring averages too. And like kind of the disparity there. Yaka has played in 17 events so far this year. That's compared to Nellie's 1212. Yeah. You know, I Yaka is playing a ton of golf and like performing and she's still I think if we look at the the race to the CME Globe standings right now still like a million points behind Nelly and and by say that because I don't really know what the value of these points are but a million points seems

like an awful lot. Yeah, the points don't really matter. You just gotta get in the top 60 to get in the tour championship. Last thing to note from the Evian disappointing follow up to her KPMG win Amy Yang finished tied for 63rd and then double disappointment. Yuka Sasso missed the cut at Evian. And so I just want to note since her US Open win, Yuka's gone miscut 68, tied for 17 at the Dow team championship, and then a miscut.

So, you know, she's one that's like, when she's good and she's on a course that fits her, she looks like the best player in the world, but we just don't see it week to week yet, which is kind of a bummer from a fan perspective. Yeah, for sure. Couldn't agree more. Well, I mentioned we were going to banter about some Solheim Cup picks, Cody. Let me

set the stage for folks. Of course, the Solheim Cup teams will be announced after the AIG Women's Open. So that's what the third week of August. So we have about a month till then, but not many tournaments. Like we just said, the Canadian opens, you know, this week, Portland, you're not going to see that many players next week. So it's really getting down to it. The US, let's start with the US, the US, the top seven off the points list qualify automatically. And we have three women that have clinched spots already in order Nelly Korda, Lilia Vu and Ali Ewing is in that third spot and has clinched. Four through seven right now are Alison Corpuz,

Megan Kang, Lauren Coughlin and Andrea Lee. So those seven would get on and then you would take the next two highest ranked women from the Rolex rankings which right now would be Rose Zhang, ranked ninth in the world, and Alison Lee, ranked 24th in the world. And then the final three spots are captain's picks. So Cody, my question to you, I think we both have Alexi, so we're really, we're down to two captain's picks. I think this is one of like the cleanest teams that I can remember men or women. I don't really think there's much of a discussion here,

which I think probably makes Stacy Lewis's life pretty easy. But I'm curious what your thoughts are on those last two captain's picks. Oh, okay. So I'm gonna flip it around on you then. Maybe you don't think it's clean. Yeah, maybe you don't think it's clean. If you were Captain Lewis right now,

who would your two picks be? So I think it's Angel Yin. She's ranked 32nd in the world. She went two and one last year in Spain. I get that she's fought injuries, but I just think if she's healthy, you know, if she tells Stacey, I'm healthy, I'm ready to go. I think you got to bring her. And then I think you got to bring Jennifer Cupcho, who's currently ranked 49th in the world.

Yes. She did not. She did not get a victory. She went 0-2-1 last year in Spain, but she's 2-3-2 all time at Solheim. I just think once you get beyond Angel and Jennifer, like we're talking about Sarah Schmelzel who's 69th best player in the world at the moment. And then like Danielle Kang, I guess, Ryan O'Toole. I just think your top 12 this year is very clean. Yeah, I agree, Big. I thought that maybe our picks are gonna look

a little different for some reason, but I'm actually right there with you. The only thing, not like Sarah Schmelzel's had an awesome year, but she's also had some like really, really bad finishes. I just think that that might be her only limiting factor there, especially when you have so much experience that Jennifer Cubshow brings to this team very, very familiar. This is a team that's going to look kind of the same as

last year. And I think Jennifer kind of fits in perfect, like not only like on the course, but also off the course locker room team camaraderie stuff. I think it, it fits in very, very well, let alone the fact like, you know, her husband's going to be there as it is. So why not make it a package deal? Yeah. So given those teams, the new members for 2024 would be Lauren Coughlin and Allison Lee, and then they would be replacing Cheyenne Knight, who's had a disappointing season. I hate that because I loved her ascension last year. And honestly, Danielle Kang, I legitimately forgot she was on the team last year. Like she has almost completely disappeared.

I don't know what's going on there. Because we've had some like really, like good individual 18 hole round scores and then like we got a lot of 80s. It's just weird. I don't know if it's injury. I don't know what exactly is going on. Yeah. I think as clean as the US side appears to be, you can go a million different directions

on the European side, to be, you can go a million different directions on the European side, which fascinates me. So I'll do a quick run through the European team qualifying. They take the top two off of the LET points list, which right now would be Charlie Hall and Lynn Grant. So I think let's just assume that they're going to get those two spots. And then Team Europe takes the top six women off the Rolex rankings, which currently would be Celine Boudier, Maya Stark, Leona McGuire, Carlotta Saganda, Madeline Saxton, and Georgia Hall. I don't think there's any surprises in that group, but then you have four

captain's picks and this is where it's like, Cody, we can go in any direction we want. I'm so curious whether Suzanne Pedersen kind of just wants to roll back the same team as last year or if she makes some changes here. So why don't you tell me let's lead with you. Why don't you tell me your European team captain's picks? Yeah, I think this is if she wanted to roll back the same team as last year, it's going to be a lot more difficult this year with the golf that specifically Esther Henslitz playing, Alexander Fosterling,

and then really the person who probably should have been on that team last year, Ana Pérez Trevino. Like those three should be on this team. If you look at the LET list, I know that there's not a lot of weight put behind that for them and they deviate the six picks to the Rolex list. Like they're the next ones that are on that Rolex list. And you know, it's just, it would be a shock for me, specifically Esther Henleit, because she's had really good finishes and majors, like literally top 10 machine and majors, had a really good year

on the LPGA tour, like missing, not missing a lot. And if she, if Alexandria and if Annapala Cervino, again, are left off this team, like heads honestly should roll. Like, yeah, like they deserve to be on this team. I agree with you. I have Esser as one of my captain's picks. She's up to 54th in the world.

And like you said, she's got a number of good finishes. She would be a rookie this year. I think that's also a pick that would make sense looking forward. You know, if this ascension of hers is real, she's gonna be in the conversation over the next, you know, three to four Solheim Cup. So I'm with you there.

All right, so sorry, what officially what who are your captain's picks then? Well, I only said three because the fourth you could tell me anybody else that you wanted. And I'd say, Yeah, sure. Cool. Captain Patterson, she can have that one. But Esther, Alexandra, she's gonna have that one. Is she going head wall? She's had good finishes again, LET events. She's hot or she's not.

But really, I think what we learned last year is that her relationship, her trust and confidence that she has with her captain is going to carry her a long way. And we said at the Solheim Cup last year, she sat out all of that first day and then all of a said at the Solheim Cup last year, she sat out all of that first day. And then all of a sudden was was the Solheim Cup. Like she was it. I don't think like even lack of play like one. This is one of those momentum things. Like why would you not want to bring that? I go both ways. It's like Caroline Sunday win. The whole thing was just storybook last year in Spain.

Still can't believe it happened. I know. So part of me is like, it's never gonna get better than that. So I almost is like, let's let it lie right there. Go off into the sunset. You're a Solheim Cup hero. I think though, the other linchpin I should say

with the captain's pick. So last year Anna Nordquist was not only an assistant captain, she was also on the team. Anna's not qualifying, doesn't look like she's gonna qualify automatically for the team this year. I think it would come down to whether she would want to play or if she's good in just that assistant captain's role. So I have her as a captain's pick Anna Norquist.

I have Esther Henslett. I have Carolyn Hedwall. And I think she's going to bring back Emily Christine Pedersen from Denmark. Captain Pedersen spoke so glowingly about her last year and just her attitude. And Emily went two, two and one last year beating some higher ranked American counterparts. I just think she's going to probably try to bring back as close of a team as possible to the one that we saw in Spain. So I have Esther Henslett in, which would mean Gemma, Gemma, Gemma Dryborough would be out. So I have only one switch for Team Europe. But as you said, there's so many different directions she could go if she chooses.

Wow. Okay. Yeah. It's a lot to take in. I honestly I don't know. Knowing how she puts her trust in the players a lot more emphasis in that than like recent performance. Yeah, so I can see the direction that that is going. It's much more of a gut

much more of a field play from Suzanne Pedersen than certainly Stacey Lewis is using on the American side. Yeah. Well, the good news, Cody, we're gonna have we're gonna have some opportunities to keep to keep discussing these picks. I had a great time kind of thinking through these teams. And it's crazy that like, I arrived back at kind of where we were last year, which I feel like is is apropos they tied like, let's let's run it back this year. You know, let's give the winner both Solheim it back this year. You know, let's give the winner both Solheim cups this year.

You're crazy. Come on, man. All right. Well, that is part one of the podcast. Cody, good, good stuff. Let's welcome in Lauren Coughlin. We're going to do that right now. Lauren, I don't think it's an exaggeration to say you're playing the best golf of your life. You're currently ranked 38th in the Rolex rankings down one spot from your career highs, 37th after Evian. But you tell me how are you feeling? Yeah, I mean, I'm hitting the ball extremely well,

putting it probably the best I have in a really, really long time. And yeah, I think just, you know, my coach and I were talking about it, just just I think just managing myself really well in my game and staying on top of things and yeah it's been fun. Obviously I have some big goals for this year but it's been awesome you know contending in two majors and a couple other top tens so no it's been awesome I've really enjoyed this year for sure. Are you getting more comfortable about talking about yourself because Because for anybody watching on the video, you got the big grin on it. I know, you can brag on yourself. You're playing some awesome freaking golf. It's so much fun to watch. Thank you. It's been fun. Like I said, I think just starting to just really feel comfortable

being myself has been the big thing. and not thinking that I need to do anything extra, not thinking that I need to be perfect all the time, which I think I used to think and I think I'm starting to really let that go. You know, that's something that Terry has talked to me a lot about, Terry McNamara-McCady and you know, my coaches and husband John, like, and I think I'm really starting to you know believe it. Well golf's fun when you're hitting the ball well and you're putting it you know as good as you ever have so you're in Canada this week what are your thoughts what do you think of Earl Grey Country Club and in general how much fun is the

Canadian Open each year it seems like one of the better tour stops. No it is I mean Canadians love golf and they always show up, especially to watch Brooke. But no, it's always one of the more well-run events too, just in terms of the build out and the caddies getting taken care of like really, really well this week. They have a caddy lounge and they get level wear, like get some hooks up with clothes and stuff. And even a bunch of caddies have had big-time travel issues and you know lost luggage and they have like clothes for them just like hold them over in case until they get their luggage and like just little things like that and then the course this week is

it's tight not quite like Sahali tight but still kind of quirky a little bit in some spots like there's a couple holes where like bunkers and stuff really kind of come in play and so it's like, okay There's no it you hit it here. There's really no other option. But other than that, I mean the group the greens today We're rolling really nice Yeah, and the rough is really thick and patchy in some spots too So it's it's gonna be a good test But I think I also wouldn't be surprised if there was some really low numbers. I haven't checked the pairings yet Who are you paired with Thursday? I'm playing with Paula Rito and say on Kim

Nice 759 tomorrow Okay, what was the how was the trip back from France? Did you take any extra days after the Evian did it it take you a while to kind of get readjusted with time zones and everything? What was that like for you? No, it definitely did. And then the thing though was then like,

I was getting up early just because of the time change. You know, I was falling asleep, okay, but like 3.34 o'clock I was like pretty wide awake. And then the open happened. And so I was like, well, I mean, I have something to watch so I might as well stay up. So that didn't help the situation, but no, I feel like, and then I had another two hour time difference

to get to Calgary. So I think I'm finally starting to really get adjusted now that I can sleep in and there's no, nothing keeping me up in the morning. Is there any weird thing that you do on the road when you're trying to get over this jet leg? The main thing is that first day you have to stay up as late as you possibly can and then eat at appropriate times.

Even if you're not hungry, it's the only other way. Those are the tips and tricks that we've gotten. But really, it's like you have to get up. You have to stay up that first night. You can't take a nap, you can't do anything. You just have to do as much as you can to try to stay up that first night. Because if not, you're screwed for the whole week. Yeah, for sure.

You just get behind the eight ball and you can't get back out in front of it. No, no, not at all. I also, I want to point out too, if you're watching the video version of this you'll see this but for our audio only Listeners Lauren's not driving. No, I'm not sure the sounds Blinkers everything she's not driving. Okay, so this is very safe Well LC we really want to just ask you about your experience at at Evian and

You were leading on the back nine on Sunday. It felt like a very significant step on this journey that you've been on. And I guess I'm curious in your words and your thoughts was, do you think this was a big breakthrough? Because, you know, like you said, you finished tied for third at Chevron earlier this year, but to lead on the back nine, is that a significant kind of marker in your journey? Oh yeah, for sure. I mean, it was pretty interesting just

like how I felt that whole time, that whole week. I felt like I was very calm and relaxed until probably about the back nine. On Sunday, it just kind of felt like I kept kind of waiting for something to happen, which isn't necessarily, you know, the right way. But I feel like I've learned I learned a lot. I learned some from Chevron for sure, but I never really felt like I was kind of in it really, like coming down that last day, even though I think I was

technically, but it didn't quite feel like it. It wasn't the same feeling. And I would say, I think I just started, I hadn't really been thinking about result up until probably about that last nine, which is kind of the last thing you want to do. You have to be so in the moment and so present. And I definitely, like I said, I just kind of, I was like, man, I'm just waiting for them to kind of come do something. And then I hit that shot on 16 and it didn't go down. And I think it just like took all the wind out of my sails

and I didn't quite recover from it, unfortunately. But at the same time, like Ayaka made, was 500 in the last five holes. So it didn't sting quite as bad as it probably would have if she hadn't done that. Is that what you think back to is your shot on 16? Yeah, I think if I can hit that, you know, like probably not even a yard,

probably about a foot or two left and it is probably by the hole. When did you start, you know, you mentioned being in contention and things being very process-based. When did you like, did you catch yourself being like, holy cow, like it's things are starting to get a little quick, things are different here. Like could you physically feel that happening? I would say probably after 16, I felt it most. I don't think I really did too much on like 14 or 15 even.

Like I made that really good power putt on 13. And then, I mean, I felt like I hit so many good putts on nine, or no, sorry, on seven, 10, 11, 13, and then 14. But they were all like downhillers and just it was super hard to be aggressive. And I felt like I put was putting good strokes on them. But again, it's just like they can really get away from you if you let them down the downhill ones out there.

And I just, it was hard to be aggressive. And I think if any of those, you know, drop, then I might have a little bit more might have had a little bit more momentum going in towards those last couple holes, but there's nothing really went in and I don't think I really, I didn't hit a bad shot, even on 16, like I didn't hit a bad shot, I just where it ended up was just

an extremely, extremely difficult putt to putt. No, like you said, it was a foot away from being like perfect. Yeah, and then- Like Maybe too good of a shot. Yeah, I know. I saw a video of Money's one that ended up going in where she kind of hit similar to where I did. It's like she just got it actually up I think a little bit more right and there was another little swale that you could get off of and that I think had it just enough to where she could get down. I hit like too much on the... There's like just a little bit of a flat there. I just hit too much on the, there's just a little bit of a flat there.

And I just hit too much on the flat and I didn't get any of that momentum to go down to the left like I needed it to. Same thing with your tee ball on 17. I was like, oh yeah, fairway. And then I'm like, I just shot on the right hand side of the fairway. I'm like, oh, that's cool.

And then you come back and it was like, one of the few times where they had a really good camera angle of showing like This is where you're hitting the shot and I was like, oh my goodness this this this is not comfortable anymore Yeah, it was a tough one Like I took more club for sure and tried to open it up and I didn't hit it quite like I wanted to and that's kind of where I started to feel the like I think I just knew that I'd probably lost it at that point. And so after that, it got to me for sure. I think Xander, I was sexing with Rotella and I was sexing with Terry too.

Xander had a really good quote after this last week. Basically, I didn't let myself dream too far or something like that. Like didn't start dreaming before I had gotten it. And I was like, man, that's exactly what it was. Like he was talking about how like earlier in the year, he kind of let himself dream too early and I was like, yep, that's exactly what I did on the back nine there. I feel like that's something though, like you, you couldn't tell yourself that, but

until you like experience it and you're in the moment, like now you're going to be so much better for it by having gone through this experience. And I was getting ready to ask you like, what were, you know, when you debriefed with, with Katty John and your coaches and Terry and your team, what were kind of the big takeaways from the week? It sounds like that was maybe right up there more than anything. Exactly, you know, just like thinking about everybody else and not staying in my own little bubble there

on that back nine was I think the biggest thing. And again, like I really, even like on Saturday, I just like, I had never once crossed my mind that I was gonna win the golf tournament. And I think that's why I was just so calm and just going about my business and hitting the shots. And if it went in, it went in. And also I was thinking about, so John caddied for me because Terry McNamara has been caddying

for me for the last five weeks and he's just, he can't do the walk and the travel at Evian anymore. And so John was filling in and I was just, gosh this whole week, the whole week leading up to it, I was like, oh my God, if I play well, I'm gonna hear it all, all I'm gonna hear from the caddies and stuff is, oh my God, you're taking John, why are you taking Terry?

Why aren't you taking John? Literally like, when I made that putt on 18 on Saturday, that's literally what was in my head when I was like pulling the trigger. I got to say, you know, John was John husband, John, who was on your bag. He had John now. He was getting some good air time. You know, he got a great shout out from Grant Boone on the telecast. You know, they were talking about former football player at UVA. I think the highlight though, if we, uh, was from 18 on

Saturday, right? The end of your third round. And, um, Lauren, we, we do a segment called winning advice, which is brought to you by our good friends at Mizzouho. I was just hoping you could take us through that conversation in 18 Fairway because it really looked fun and you guys were having a good time. What was that moment Saturday as you were deciding whether to go for the par 5 or not? Yeah, so I had about, I think I had probably about 230 or so to the flat, 225 to the flag, but it was about 205 to cover the water. And the ball is like very below my feet.

I think he did a good job of not pushing, but I also, I pretty much had the same exact shot the day before and I pulled it off. So I think if I hadn't done it and pretty much the same shot on Friday, I probably wouldn't have wanted to do it just because it's so below my feet in the ball. And it's a three wood because you have to make sure

you cover the water and it comes out so low and it's, you know, moving very much left to right. And yeah, he was like, I asked him, I was like, do you think I should go for it? And he said, I think you can do it. And then I was like, okay, yeah, I mean, I did it yesterday. What kind of answer is that? I was like, okay, that's fine. Well, he was trying not to push me, right?

Be like, yes, you should go for it. He's like, I think you can do it. I think you can pull it off. And then he's talking about it through and he's, you know, I just think you can do it. I think you can pull it off. And then, you know, he's talking about it through it. And he's, you know, do you promise you're committed or whatever he said. And obviously, as he's like pulling the club, as he's pulling the bag away, he goes, let's fucking see it. And I'm just like, like, we're walking, we're walking after I hit that shot. I was like, did you really need to say that? Really?

I was like, did you really need to say that really? That's so awesome. God, I love that. I love that. Well, let's make that the winning advice brought to you by Mizuho. Thank you to Mizuho. More information visit www.mizuhoamericas.com. That is fantastic. Any other little stories from what's it been like having John on the bag for you

a few weeks? I mean, it's always good. It's just, you know, he loves it, right? He loves being in the moment being in, you know, he's very competitive and he definitely misses certain parts of football. And so it's been awesome, you know, getting to do it together in certain times. But at the same time, like it's definitely only a time or, you know, a week or two at a time just because it's just, it becomes too much for me to have everything be about my golf all the time. You know, no break, no, like it's awesome. Like it's been awesome.

He's been cutting for Gina Kim the last, this will be their fourth week together. And like at night, you know, we come back together, have dinner or whatever. And like he's recapping his day and like, he's just so excited telling me about his day and what they worked on and what they did. And it's like, it's awesome. It's so much better.

Yeah, yeah. Cody, what else from Avion? Any other ground we need to cover? No, I just you know this already, LC. I wrote about it in Gin and Tonic that week, but I know you wanted the W, but, you know, I think it's just you put

yourself in the moment and at the end of the day, like, it's not like you lost that tournament. Like people came and and won it. And at it, like what I will always remember is yes, that shot on Saturday on 18 for you, but really it's you and John standing on the 18th green

when it was over and like you guys turned, I don't even know if you realize you did this, but like when Ayaka made that putt, like you guys turned to each other and like had like a little chuckle and then like gave each other a hug and I'm like that's what this is all about. Like these are my friends and I would be like dog cussing the shit out of myself and you guys are just like yeah of course like why wouldn't she have made that putt and like we just got to play

with the person who won a major championship and that that's awesome. And you're going to be in that moment time and time again. And it was just like such a defining moment for me and for my little girls who are watching it with me. And of course, they made the best out of it because they're just excited to put Bluey back on TV. No offense to you or the championship or anything, but they just didn't really get it. And I was just so damn proud. Like really, that's what it was.

And I cannot wait, and I know you're doing your best to dampen our expectations and your expectations when it comes to Solheim and everything else like that. But like that's where we're at. And for you to start like this year that you're having, incredible, like extremely transformative. I don't even know if you look at like where you started the year on any of the lists versus where you're at now, but you're leaping and jumping over all of these plateaus that most people get stuck on.

And like you're just fucking doing it. And it's really awesome. Thank you, I appreciate that. Yeah, no it's been it's been pretty crazy and just like I think I talked about this yesterday I did the LPGA podcast that they're doing and it was just like it's they're still they're still like you know things that I can get better at and I think that's the really fun part that like there's still there's still another level that I can get to Where do you think that is out of curiosity? Yeah, it's just around the greens a lot of it is you know

I mean I hit a ton of greens and so like I don't have to chip all that often But it's like when I do I need to make sure I can get it up and down I just make I make about half I average like three point eight I make about half, I average like 3.8 birdies around and you really wanna be about four. So I mean, that's fine, I make plenty of birdies. It's the bogeys, I make about two and a half and you wanna be under two is kind of the thing.

So it's like a half bogey around pretty much. Hey, I'll see you with all this money that you guys are making this year. You guys staying in nicer hotels? No, no, no, but I did just buy, I bought a pair of Travis Scott's the other day that I went to morning. Oh, look at her. John was not happy about that.

But I'm buying them, so it was funny. So after Chevron, I was like, okay, I'm going to buy you new like really nice like boat, like fishing like John boat that he really wanted, right? Instead of like a percentage. And then so after Evian, I was like, well, I guess you're getting a bigger boat than now. So now I got the, you know, the price went up. I gotta get a bigger one now.

So yeah, good for him. He's probably like, Hey, let's wait till after the women's open. Maybe, you know, maybe that boat can get even bigger. Well, Terry's back on the back. Oh, that's right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Of course. Of course.

I was looking at some of your stats. Like your putts per green in regulation this year of 1.79 ranks 31st. I know that's a big, I mean, it's a big improvement because last year you were 1.83, you know, 0.4 around it. It adds up pretty quickly, especially given the amount of greens that you do hit your eighth this year. But I really loved, you have 30 rounds under par, which currently ranks fifth on tour and you've made 190 birdies, which ranks 13th. So how does that make you feel big?

I mean, it's more birdies. It honestly might be more birdies than I've made in my life. It really would be close. I think. No, it just makes me awestruck. Your rounds in the sixties, you currently rank 17th. Like I, it's just awesome to see you. It's obviously all coming together. You said that the putting has been a big component in that.

I just want to echo what Cody said. Like Evian, like we're having these like slack conversations cheering you on. Like it's just so much fun to watch you in that moment. So like thank you for putting on a show and, and you know, you're just such a show and, you know, you're just such a great friend and you do so much for no laying up and you make yourself available for conversations

like this. So to get, to get, to watch you continue to play better and better golf has just been so much fun. You know, it's pretty wild to think about when like 2019 or so, when I first met you guys and now, now where I am. Yeah, I know. I know. I know. It's crazy. Randy's getting married. I know. Oh yeah, by the way, congratulations, Randy. I heard about it.

Thank you, Lauren. Thank you. I appreciate it. And I have a dog. You think things are moving quickly for you. Things are moving quickly over here for me. How is the dog, by the way? I know that's more of a trap draw conversation. Thank you. Yeah, no, the dog's been great. We've only had a couple of accidents inside, but he's just a big lover boy. So we're having a great time with him. It's the exact same thing you say about John. Hey, I don't want to bring up Stilheim Cup too much, but like we're sitting in a pretty good spot here. Now, outside of points, has Captain Lewis said anything to you?

I mean, I'm sure if I went and asked her, she would tell me. But I haven't asked. We've more just had certain conversations about the golf course since I live about an hour and 10 minutes away from it. Terry came up to Charlottesville last week, and we went and played it on Thursday. And so just little things here and there.

I mean, I think I've moved past the point of where I'm like, oh, I'm just hoping to make, you know, just trying to working and to make the team. I'm more, now I'm kind of trying to get ready to, you know, get as many points as I can for the team. And I think that's a big shift in my mindset from the beginning part of the year where I was like, do just doing anything I could just to make sure I could be on the team. Yeah, I mean, it's hard, you know, I'm trying not to think about it too much just in the sense that am I going to make the team? Am I not going to make the team?

I'm just trying to focus on like playing my golf and that's all I can really control. I know that's the more political answer for it, but it is true. I'm just like, I don't know, I'm trying not to think about it, to put too much pressure on it. Just try to play my golf and I think if I do that everything will work out how it's supposed to. Absolutely. What's after the Canadian Open this week, what's the plan getting over? I assume you're playing the Scottish and then the women's Open. Is that correct?

Correct. Yeah. So I have Portland next week, Oregon. Oh, you are going to play Portland. Okay. Good for you. Yeah. Portland next week.

And then I'll have a week off and I might be playing the Solheim course again. Alison Corpuz is coming up and she had mentioned, you know, I kind of been like hey if anybody's coming I live there like I'll meet you guys So yeah so I think I might go play with Allison on Tuesday after Portland potentially and then I'm flying to We fly out to Scottish on that Saturday John John and I are flying from DC to Brussels and then Brussels to Edinburgh just because we got the free upgrade. That's the TC Special.

It was like at booking we were going to get the plus points upgrade. So instead of flying just a direct flight, it was all the small planes and so we weren't going to get a live flight. So John was like, okay, I'll see if he can find some other stuff. And so we got, yeah, so we're flying to Brussels and then from Brussels to Edinburgh. I love that. I love that. I know you played a lot of just fun links golf last year on your trip. Any, any, you know, fun golf this time around that you're going to try to play? Probably not. I mean, I'm getting, I'm getting to play the old course, so it's going to be pretty good for the, I haven't played it so, Terry's caddied in it twice, the two times that they've had it there. But no, I don't think I have anything extra planned this time.

But yeah, John and I played Trune two years ago. He played Presswick two years ago. He played Kil week two years ago. He played Kill spindy he played Where else do you play North Baric? So yeah, we had a good trip that trip for sure Have you all been down to Ely? No that that would I would make a trip to go do that. I think Maybe before the before the old course for sure Shit, maybe Cody, maybe we can.

Cody and I will have our sticks over there. Maybe we should make an evening out of it. That would be fun. Yeah, it's my favorite place. It's my favorite course on a nice evening. It's just magical. So yeah, let's let's try to make that happen. Yeah, I'm really excited for you guys to meet Terry for sure.

You know, it'll be it'll be his 10th Solheim Cup, which is crazy, but only the second one for the U.S. I'm going to introduce myself as Phil Landis to him. Absolutely. It was so funny. We were on the golf course. We were at RTJ and he goes, you know, those videos, you know, they always show the credits and they show the names and he's like, my wife and I, she noticed she was like, who's Phil Landis? He was like, who is Phil Landis? I was like, oh my gosh.

I love that. I love, God, I love that. It just tickles me when people don't make that connection. All right. Well, Cody, what, anything else for Lauren or should we let her go finish her prep before the tournament starts? Yeah, prep, I guess the only thing,

and you kind of answered it, if we're looking towards the end of the year, you've knocked off a lot of goals, but what's remaining? You're like, hey, 2024, we can still get this done. Where are we at total? Yeah, I mean, Solheim, of course, is still the main thing, but I want to get a win really bad. That's the goal for sure. That's the biggest one.

Yeah, I think I'm going to get, I think I'm pretty much locked up to make CME, which I have never been made to our tour championship before. So yeah, it's going to be a win. 100%. God, I love that. You know, the big guy, he's got to get a suit because I think we have to go to the Rolex Awards this year. We're going to be doing it at the old tour championship. So we'll see you there. Yeah, I'm getting, I'm already getting to Terry to do Onika and CME and I'm getting him to do Arkansas too, which I think he hasn't done in quite a while. I put on the sales, I put on the, this is my salesmanship.

I was like, you know, it's my birthday that week. So. Yeah, no pressure. I was like, it's only a three day event too, you know? So he's like, well, can I get there on Tuesday? I was like, yeah, sure. That's right. You know, so he's like, well, can I get there on Tuesday? I was like, yeah, sure.

That's right. What are you going to do for the fall Asian swing? Are you going to play all three? Or I guess it's four, right? Then into Hawaii. Yeah, there's four. I'm for sure going to do Korea. I'm still trying to work it out.

I mean, the most likely is probably to do Shanghai, Korea, then Malaysia. But I really want John to let me not do Malaysia so I can come to the NIT. That's what I really want to do. That's where I was going with this. Yeah, that's what I really want to do. So I got to do some convincing still,

but that's, that's my like, that's what I really want to do. So we'll see if I, I'm hoping that I can convince him. God, I love that. Is John qualified for the NIT yet? I don't think so. He didn't do it last year. No one said he needed to go do it. I just want to go do it.

You know, you're defending champs, so we of course would love to have you. You get a spot at the champion's table for dinner. A lot of traditions we got to uphold. That know. That's wonderful. We hope to see you at the NIT. We'll understand though if you want to stay over in Asia and play there. Thank you so much for joining us. We can't wait to watch you this weekend in Canada. Of course, the next several weeks leading, culminating with the major season at the Old Course. So best of luck and with the major season at the Old Course. So best of luck and yeah, we'll see you in Scotland, Cody and I.

Sounds good, looking forward to it. Be the right club today. Johnny, that's better than most. How about him? That is better than most. Better than most!