No Laying Up - Golf Podcast - 974: Best Players Without A Major - Class of 2025

Episode Date: March 19, 2025

Once considered the hottest debate in professional golf, we reheat the classic "Best Players Without A Major" conversation in two forms - an All-Time Top Ten and a Current Top Ten list as well (31:20) Support our sponsors: Rhoback Yeti Subscribe to the No Laying Up Newsletter here: https://newsletter.nolayingup.com/ Subscribe to the No Laying Up Podcast channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@NoLayingUpPodcast 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. That's better than most. That is better than most. Better than most. Expect anything different? Better than most. Expect anything different. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the No Lang up podcast. We have a really fun one today. We're going to try to decipher, decide, come together, hash it out, try to figure out who the best players in the world without a major are.

We're going to come to a consensus. We're going to provide the people with a list. Joining me today, my good friend, Sally, Sally. Hello. How are you? I think I'm good for now. I'm scared about how this is going to go. And of course, the king of lists, he's got all kinds of loopholes. He's got all kinds of pork barrel shit. He's going to try to push through committee. TC, TC, how are you? Just excited to celebrate the political process today. The democratic process.

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DJ, take us away. All right, gentlemen, let's get right into it here. I want to preface with just a bit of a statement, an opening statement here. And that is the idea that the best player without a major label just seemed like it was a much bigger deal. When I was a kid, when we were kids, it feels like that was always floating around. Monty obviously held it forever, but then Sergio wore that albatross for a long time. And I don't know if it was when he won that it kind of lost its steam,

but I feel like this is an idea that people talk about a lot. They talk about it with Xander Shoffley for a long time. They talked about it a little bit with Patrick Cantlay, but I feel like this- You guys talk about it all the time with Fleetwood. Of course, I forgot about him, yeah. I feel like just from a pure,

like all caps best player without a major, Solly, does this conversation feel like it's lost steam? I love this conversation. This was like the thing back then. You're either a major winner or you weren't. And I don't think we necessarily treat players in the same exact way. And ironically, the majors mean more now over the last couple of years, at least than they really ever have.

And this is, yeah, it's such a, it's a badge of honor. It's something you pass through and you never lose it. Other than Jimmy Walker, nobody ever like gets the title of being a major winner taken away from them. And it was, it was funny kind of going down the list. I, when we kind of were concepting this idea, I was expecting like my top 10 players of all time without a major that didn't want a major kind of guys that were looking

out through the past tense to say it's probably not going to happen. I expected that list to be way deeper, like I kind of struggled to get to 10 names. And it's probably going to be too recent of names on there. But man, like guys that have had great careers get a major like they straight up do and honestly, like looking around the current state, it was kind of surprised of like how far I had to go to find 10 really good players that don't have a major yet it's more evenly distributed than I guess I would have thought because we spend a lot of airwave time saying how hard majors are to win there's only

four of them every year and yeah if you take a little bit more macro view it's like a lot of this kind of ends up making sense except for like two guys that it definitely doesn't make sense. And I think we're going to spend some good time talking about it. I think that's right. TC, what about you? Was this a thing when you were a kid? Was this something you focused on? For sure.

Yeah. No, it's, I think another guy that like, like until Dustin Johnson won a major, he was another one that Luke Donald was another one as well of Phil. Especially like, yeah, I mean, Phil got like, I feel like Phil was kind of like Phil and Monte were kind of the, it was a bigger thing when guys were reaching world number one without a major. Yeah. A lot more often. I felt like that's, I believe there's only two that ever have. Uh, and I believe those are top two reflected in our list here.

They will be on our list. Yeah. They were, they were world number one at the time without a major even. No, that made it to world number one without ever winning. Yeah. But even like, I feel like world number ones that, that at that time, like later won a major, but they'd made it to world number one without a major.

Got it. So, you know, possibly that's fixed now with, you know, some of the anti-manipulation stuff going on, the WGR and all that. But yeah, this was definitely a thing. Well, we wanted to start, as always, you look ahead by looking back. And so the big thing when we kicked around this idea in a meeting, we're like, we should do something on the best player without a major.

And the first natural question is like, well, are we talking all time or are we talking going forward? And so the thrust of this podcast, bulk of it is going to be looking at going forward, you know, who should wear this title now. But before we do that, we wanted to look back and kind of put together our lists of who we think are the top 10 players of all time that never won a major or that haven't won a major. Because I guess technically some of these guys are still active that could still be on the all time list. Yeah, there's two ways to graduate from, you know, from the best players that never won a major.

One, you win one, that's the best way. And the second way is the list we're about to put you on is to say like, you're put out to pasture. Like it's over, you missed your win, you missed your chances, it's not gonna happen. It's very interesting reading, considering some of the names on this list. Okay. Well let's TC. I've been taking a lot of inspiration from my beloved ball knowers.

You know, the way you guys, the way you guys do your QB rankings is I think a flawless system, which is that, you know, you, everybody gives their 10 names in order. You get 10 points. If somebody puts you first, You get 9 points if somebody puts you second and so on all the way down to number 10. And then we're going to obviously aggregate those and we'll figure out who has the most composite points and take the top 10. So I want to start at the bottom because I think it's most interesting. And I'll go through if you guys will allow me just how many votes this person received from each or how many points this person received from each person as we go through.

Solid was attacking me after we did our master's podcast with a draft of sorts or a consensus list of sorts. And I'd kind of skewed it with, uh, there was only one vote for a guy when he was in like top five or the top six. Cause I voted him so high. That might be TC's signature is calling guard. And, uh, he definitely left his mark on this list. Number 10, I just want to say anytime you're trying to do one of these pods with TC, you're trying to outsmart them. You're trying to close all the loopholes. You're trying to outlaw your, your child's your lawyers against lawyers against his lawyers. Where can he find wiggle room? And number 10 on our list receiving zero votes for me, zero votes from Sally and eight votes from TC is

Judy Rankin because I never said that we were doing a men's only list. Congratulations to Judy Rankin. Congratulations to TC for real you know, real, uh, the doctor's a woman type of, of stuff, uh, out of TC. But unless I can't, if it was anyone other than Judy Rankin, I would redo it. But Judy Rankin rules, uh, so hard. She deserves to be on the men's list. Yeah. She had a heck of a career. She won 26 times on the LPGA tour. LPGA majors have kind of switched around. Like you've got the, the Western open, the title holders championship. Do mari classic. I don't have to tell you guys about that. Back when cigarette companies used to be great and sponsored things. When that was legal up in Canada, but she

had top fives at pretty much everything. She had T2 with the title holders, T4 with the Western Open, second and a T2 at the women's PGA, T2 at the US women's open. Uh, second entity too, at the women's PGA, he too, at the U S women's open. It's kind of a, it's kind of a Tommy, Tommy Fleetwood kind of resume, except for she had 26 wins on the L PGA. Tommy's had close to 26 wins over on, on that other tour. It's exactly the same TC and both of them have the same amount of PGA tour wins. They could, they could all agree on that. Well said. She's a Hall of Fame member too. That's right. We'll go through some of the also receiving votes people in order as well. If you prefer a more purist list with 10 men on it, we can make that happen for you. But

number nine, receiving zero points from DJ, you know, real professionals and, and he's got a great major record. And I think that's the biggest thing that he's ever done. And I think that's the biggest thing that he's ever done. And I think that's the biggest thing that he's ever done. And I think that's the biggest thing that he's ever done. And I think that's the biggest thing that he's not planning against plumbers and firemen. He's, he's planning his real professionals and he's got a great major record. It's what counts. And, and, you know, it's, it's only a matter of time, but I truly like, I think Tommy's career is, is among the all time greats. I think you could make a case for Big Tone over Tommy, especially

with a similar major record and six more wins. It's your list. It's your list. Number eight on the composite. You guys are so American-centric. We're about to get there. Strap in, buddy. Number eight, receiving three points from me, receiving six points from Solly, zero points from TC, which kind of shocked me. A real American, Kenny Perry, just an absolute stud, should have won one, was just hoovering up mule events on the PGA Tour, just stopped playing the Open after a while, which is again, one of my favorite things. That was kind of one of the reasons I didn't even consider him.

You're not even trying to win some of these majors. That's fair. That's fair. So anything like Katy Perry? Close calls, 14 career PGA tour wins. I think it, you know, yeah, you do end up kind of being a part of the conversation when you've been in two playoffs for major championships in 1996, famously went up into the booth, spent some time up there chatting it up instead of warming up for the playoff, which was unfortunate when the playoff did not go his way. He lost to Mark Brooks. Uh, and then he was in the playoff with, uh, El Pato on Hokel Brea and Chad

Campbell, uh, he made it to the, even the second playoff hole of that one and, uh, was unable to survive and should have really won that one. So, um, very, very, very close calls. And one of the few, again, there's not many guys that got to 14 career PGA tour wins without a major. Like that list I expected to be way longer than it is. Well, another, uh, guy whose career is very similar to that number seven upset of the century that Sally had this guy higher than me. Uh, four points for me, five points from Sally. I guess these guys guys were technically tied. Zero points from TC, Steve Stricker. I gotta admit, I didn't parse very closely

between how I ranked out my order because that was really hard to do. If you made the list, you made the list. It was kind of my viewpoint. I wasn't expecting to put Stricker on here when I started, but again, kind of going down the, this one was kind of like, man, is this a way too recent of a list?

And I don't know who the Steve Stricker was in the 1980s and 1970s. Very well may be the case. But again, 12 PGA tour wins, not really like the major championship resume of being that close and that much of a contender and majors that that comparatively to strict kind of to Kenny Perry held me out from doing it was like a stricker or a coacher. For me, it was kind of the same thing of like, I don't know, man. Like I don't think he's among the all timers.

Like it just doesn't like, it just doesn't seem like he, he had that many close calls, I guess. Yeah. That one for me, I think a lot of the weight is just in what he did, like who he was as a golfer, what he did as a PJ tour player, cause he won, he won big ass events and he won them going away. And when he was at his best, he was far superior than pretty much everybody except one guy. And that never quite translated to the majors,

even though it always felt like it kind of should. But to that NTC, sorry. He was runner up at the 1998 PGA championship. That is the lone top three finish for, for stricker. And what was the, what did he, what was the best he finished at the open that you're hit it out of bounds? That he shot it. That's the first thing I ever think of when I think of stricker at the,

at the majors. That was at Oakmont, right? 2020. Oh, that was, um, that was Marion, wasn't it? That was us open it at, at 2013. His, his best, uh, when he hit it OB on the second hole. And then he was fourth in the open championship in 2016. That was true. But fourth was a mile back. Well, TC, you kind of touched on this, but number six, six points for me, four points from solid zero points from TC on brand

points from me, four points from Sally, zero points from TC on brand, Matt Kuchar. Lacks pop, can't play, but also like definitely could play and played really fucking well at the masters for a long time. But never quite got over the hump. But again, just one of those guys, like it was a pretty dark times on the PGA tour, but he was just hoovering up victories for, for quite a while. What do you have? Like 12 wins, something like that. Only nine, only nine tour wins. Um, but yeah, he, I kind of included him here just based on what happened in 2017 alone and that he finished the masters and had, uh, the speed issue happened to him at Birkdale and got completely ran down. And it just, if it was not a massive major contender,

but yeah, you mentioned four top five, four top eight finishes really at the Masters and eight top 25 finishes there. Like he was pretty big constant for Augusta. These next two guys are tied 17 points a piece. I'm going to let the PJ Tour victories break the tie. I hope that's okay with you guys. Seven points from me, seven points from Solly, three points from TC.

That's Doug Sanders. Listen, I can't say I watched a ton of Doug Sanders when I was a young lad or before I was conceived and born, but looking back on it, 20 some victories, a bunch of close calls, a ton of top tens and majors, just had a hell of a career and kind of one of those guys not very many people talk about. Eight top five finishes for runner up finishes in Materson. 20 PGA tour wins is about about as close as you get runner up at all of them. You finished runner up twice at the open once at us US Open, once at PGA, was never runner

up at the Masters. He had one top five finish at the Masters. It was a T4 in 1966. But I think Sanders probably waited by aging. He maybe should be number one on this list in terms of at least accomplishments in America and not having one majors, but the top spots are held down by a couple, a couple of gentlemen from, from the UK, I think, at least for my rankings. This next one is going to make TC mad as hell. Total disrespect from Sally receiving eight points for me, seven points from TC and only two points from Sully. 30 time PGA tour winner, Harry Cooper. The utter disrespect from Sully about our guy light horse TC. I just, I don't know. I can't sleep on it, man. It's disgusting.

Yeah. Disgusting acts. Disgusting acts. Harry light horse Cooper. I'll admit I wasn't overly familiar with his game until we went down this rabbit hole here. A lot of playing before a lot of these majors were even majors. It just kind of sick. But his father, Sid, was a pro golfer who was old Tom Morris's apprentice. I don't have to tell you guys. Then he moved to Dallas. Do we know how he got the name Light Horse?

I'm sure Wolfie's all over that one, but I didn't have that. During the American Revolution, Light Horse Harry Lee was a cavalry officer in the Continental Army, later the father of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. Cooper was named Light Horse Harry by sports writer Damon Runyon for his quick pace of play in winning the inaugural Los Angeles open in

1926. We completed the final 18 holes in two and a half hours. Jeez. So yeah, this was an aging thing. It was an aging point system of I didn't know what to do with with all the, it goes from a, from a tournament like that hasn't been founded yet to withdrawing in the first masters to T 25 to second, fourth and tied for second. Got to be some plumbers and firemen, uh, playing in the, in the, in the first couple of masters. So there's so much yellow on his Wikipedia page though. Sorry.

There is a lot of yellow. I'm just struggling. I don't know if you want us to continually hold up mirrors to some of your, your qualification criteria. I mean, Fleetwood's competition is just so good. Uh, and now, uh, Cooper getting this high up on this. I don't know if we want to debate all that stuff. I mean, Cooper won, he won a bunch of state opens. He won the Canadian open twice. Back when it was a national open, uh, he won all sorts, like the Shawnee open, the St. Paul open, all sorts of city opens even.

So just an awesome, awesome career. The top three, I'm sure most of the people can probably picture this. First one, Solly was much higher on this guy than me and TC, but receiving five points from me, eight points from Solly and five points as well from TC Luke Donald. Only thing I'll say about Luke Donald, everybody knows world number one got there with a totally different playing style, long career. Results in majors weren't that good. Results in majors weren't that good. And that's where I kind of, I dinged him on my eye test here, but it's all I make the case for why you should be higher. No, again, I said, I wish I had spent more time kind of parsing out exactly where I ranked these

guys. But I just thought that world number one thing carried a lot of weight. If he became the best player in the world and hadn't done it on the major championship scene, that had to play a heck of a level of golf. And that was a weird time period, kind of the post tiger injury, just like, it's kind of seemed like the golf scene was vacated of talent. And these guys just kept handing it around. Like the, you know, a bunch of people that didn't want that number one title, but I don't know. That's a lowing endorsement. That's what it, that's why, that's where the number one ranking carried the day on that one.

There's only two guys that have made it to number one, that never won a major and they, they and they both finished in my top three. Well speaking of number two, nine points for me, nine points from Solly, six points from TC, Lee Westwood of the Majestics coming in at number two. Again, just like I don't know how you could have more close calls. Like it's, it's bananas. How many close calls? It was an auto top five there for, for a while is how it felt at the majors. Do you know the number of top fives? Don't I didn't, I didn't even, that's the one I like, didn't even do any research.

I didn't even look it up. 12 top five finishes in majors, three runner ups, two at the masters. Uh, another one at the open. He's got five top fives at the Open alone. 19 top 10 finishes in majors. It was, it was a con. I mean, I guess when, when, when KVV and I start cooking on these 2000 majors, as we get going,

we're going to see a heck of a lot of Lee Westwood. And it never got closer than really like 2009 into 2010. He went T3 at the open, T3 at the PGA, runner up the Masters, T16 US Open, and then runner up at that open as well. That was clearly, that's when he got around when he got to number one in the world and never had a shot just like that one. Had a good shot in 08 at the US Open as well,

the one that Tiger and Rocco ended up in the playoff. And I think he finished a shot out of the playoff on that one. So kind of just criminal, but also weirdly and same with the guy on above him, weirdly like didn't win much in the US in general. It was a great, great, great player on the European tour, but only managed what is it? Two PGA tour wins again. You guys are so jingoistic. He won 25 times on the European Tour. That's why he's so high up on the list. You see, how is this jingoistic?

This is the opposite of jingoistic. This is a great player. How did he not get it done? I don't know, but there's obviously something in the similar profile between him and Monte of like dominating European Tour without a question, dominating the writer cup, like zero question about your actual ability and not having success in the U S and thus not having success in major championships. I feel like we could do an episode about just the two of them for sure.

And I mean, I thought before we get to number one, which, which obviously everybody has figured out by now, the Westwood thing too, like I always, his, his game in my mind has aged really well, but I'd never really enjoyed watching him. I don't know why I didn't know much about him and just was kind of like, oh, it's, you know, that was the, the, uh, European tour was just very hot in the streets at that point. And I watched a ton of PJ tour golf, which made for a very fun, kind of almost rivalry, right? When you would see the European tour players at these majors and kind of be somewhat familiar with them, but not watch them

every week. Westwood just fell into that category for me to where I was like, Oh, no, he's he's one of the other guys. I don't want him to win. But now when I look back on his game, I'm like, God, that's such a good game for major championships. It reminds me a lot of like Brooks of just somebody who plays really smart, who does everything well, has a great game plan, like doesn't overpower, doesn't have like one skill that is just, you know, laughably lopsided. He just was like a very balanced, interesting player that that I probably should have enjoyed

watching a lot more than, than I did. But not a good putter. That was definitely not the superpower. Yeah. He was the ball striker and I watched so much golf in the late nineties and the early 2000, like so much European tour golf. It was on golf channel all the time. Looking back, just playing God awful courses and spinning. They were just spinning the ball back 40 feet at a time. But watching so much of he and Monte play in the European tour, I just saw him golf channel on repeat and club houses and whatnot. When I was a kid, it, uh, I have strong memories of that.

I do think you're, you're. Under rating how like guys didn't have to come over to the United States to play. Totally. Totally. They PGA tour events. So they're not like, it's not like, you know, didn't have to come over to the United States to play. Totally. Totally. Yeah. Play PGA tour events. So they're not like, it's not like, you know, like until a certain spot in Westwood's career, like he wasn't coming over every year. You know, like rack up a huge volume of starts as well as when you look at it, three of the

four majors are over here as well, which I don't think should be discounted. Number one on the list, unanimous. I realized I just had my button from our eBay podcast sitting over on my desk. 10 votes from everybody, 10 points from everybody. Colin, Montgomery, any questions? I mean, just your favorite ball strikers favorite ball striker, just larger than life personality. Just, I don't know how it didn't happen is, is truly beyond me, man. What was it TC eight orders of merit, seven orders of merit in a row or something like that. It's just, it's just bananas.

It's wild to see it. You can pull up, uh, his, his page. I went, you, you were tipping me off on this as well. Dej of the data golf, uh, career data golf points list. Like you can just go like basically get points for major finishes. European Data Golf career, Data Golf points list. Like you can just go like basically get points for major finishes, European Tour wins, PGA Tour wins, titles, all that stuff. And like, there's no hiding from this list. It's a list of longevity, but yeah, you can pull it up. He won in 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 1999 orders of merit. and then also won in 2005. So he was just a complete constant.

Won 31 times on the DP World Tour and famously never won a PGA Tour event but has won three Champions Tour events as well. And visited a bunch of national parks. A lot of national parks. That's not nothing. He's been married three times too. So here is the major championship record for Monte

which isn't that, it's not as strong as Westwoods. But I mean, Monte was just a better player, I think had more longevity and was like, it's not as strong as Westwoods. But I think the close calls were also closer, right? Very close. lost in a playoff at the at the US Open in 1994 that Ernie L's won. He shot 78 in that playoff and was finished four shots back of the. Yeah. So was it a bus? Oh, wasn't it super hot or something? Yeah. Like 95 degrees. And he's like custard. 1995 PGA championship he lost to a birdie at Steve to Steve Elkington at Riviera, uh,

but had an excellent, excellent chance to have won that one. And then maybe the most famous of all coming down the 18th hole at winged foot. Uh, turns out the only thing he would've needed was a bogey to get into a playoff. A par would have won him. The U S open makes double bogey and misses out on the playoff as did Phil Mickelson to lose out to Jeff Ogilvie. Tough. And there were a few other like solo seconds and thirds in there too. He had solo second to Tiger in 97. All right, sorry, solo second to Tiger at the 2005 Open

Championship, which I think was eight shots back. So, you know, not really, not a whole heck of a lot in that one, but also a solo second. And then other of Ernie Hells's at Oakmont in 1997, he, he was runner up there as well. Kind of a weirdly shitty record in the open championship. Like he only had two top tens and 22 events, which I always find really interesting about Monty's, you know, just the Scottish.

Yeah, he's Scottish. A lot of his wins were not like tied to links golf courses, you know, I mean, he won the Portuguese Open, Scandinavian Masters, Dutch open, Volvo masters, Spanish open. There's an English open in there and then he won a couple of Germany, German opens, the trophy Lancome, of course, Dubai. He won. He won an Irish open in 96, the European masters. He won a lot of these in continental Europe.

So he's just like, was not necessarily a great links golf play. I mean, yeah, two top tens and 22 open championships for that guy's ability is man. Yeah. He kind of deserved the scrutiny he got for that. Also just, you know, one of the best Ryder Cup players of all time to just throw that into the CV. Dej, can I list a few guys that haven't garnered a mention? I'm a little bit surprised. Yes. Also receiving votes for those keeping score at home. Five points just missing out behind Judy Rankin was Scott Hoke, just a shit load of wins and a couple of foul tips

in the majors. Ludwig Oberg, who's played two, what, one major, two majors, four majors, something like that. He got four points from TC. Mark Leishman got two points from TC. And you guys are jingoistic. He's Australian. He almost won the masters, almost won the open at St. Andrews. He would have if, if Zach Johnson doesn't tap, tap down spike marks where they change that rule. Just want to throw that out there. Got a really good major record. I threw out a vote for KJ Choi. Not an unbelievable major record, but just a cool career, you know,

kind of one of those guys that I think golf would have been a little better if he would have won a major. Sally threw one out for Jay Haas and TC threw it out for Miguel Angel Jimenez, which was much appreciated. Kind of a menace around a lot of those early Tiger dubs. 21 European tour wins. Yeah, should be the conversation. Yeah, Scott Hoke is third on that data golf list of career data

golf points earned that didn't ever want a major behind Stricker and Westwood. He won 11 times, 23 times around the world, kicked away the 89 Masters. And that was a shocker. Jay Haas had nine top fives, top five finishes, and majors, and never, never got one. Scott Hoke also played 644 PGA Tour events. It's insane.

That's so many. Some of those data golf points is just, it's a true volume play. Like how many times can you, can you tee it up for how long? I feel like him and has kind of punched above his weight in majors. Yeah. We had nine, nine top tens. Just, just gritty, man. Yeah. Fuck grit monster. Who, uh, who else do we miss? I think that was, I think that's a pretty solid list. I'll put my name on that list. Yeah. Honorable mentions from me, of course, McDonald's Smith, Bobby Cruikshank, Jug McSpadden. I had Jug on my list too. It was between Jug and Big Toad for that first thing. Mark James and Sam Torrance, a couple of like some of the guys that probably get

inflated a bit just because of their Ryder Cup experience. Bernard Gallacher as well. I threw Thomas Bjorn on here. Took the words out of my mouth. Just trying to kind of balance out the jingoism here. Jane Blaylock, Angela Stanford, you only won an Evian. Celine Boutier only won an Evian. Those don't count. And I even thought about putting JT potentially on here. If all you've won is a PGA championship, you kind of need to validate it with another major. Southern Hills was a real PGA. I slowed it down. You know, I'm kind of not my cup of tea necessarily, but Paul Casey maybe maybe deserves a vote or two just in the conversation.

He would just bottle it. He would get like, he just didn't even Just no no confidence that he was ever gonna win one. Yeah, what was his closest call? Let's see. Harding Park, probably. He had a T2 at the PGA at Harding Park. That's exactly right. He had four top fives in his career in majors,

10 or 12 top 10 finishes. No joke. Played 71 majors. 16 wins, I think, overall. Just, you know, could be in the conversation. Back to back to back, Pac-10 championship winner as well. You won 15 times on the European tour, three times on the PGA tour,

back to back Valspar's in 18 and 19. There you go. All right, well that's the historic list. That's the look back. It's time to look forward here and do a little, We're trying to come up with, like we said, a list of 10. I would love them rank ordered. Who do we think is number one? Who do we think is number 10? And these are kind of... I kind of see this as a badge of honor to be number one, right? This shouldn't necessarily-

Because you're still active. Yes. You are like kind of the guy that's like all systems go. The stars are aligned. You should get this thing done next, right? Is that how you guys are attacking this? I think you can do it two ways of like, yeah, who is the has the racked up the best resume to this point that's active and still playing and hasn't won a major or who is the best golfer

like at the moment? Yeah, as a ball, nor like we did the quarterbacks of like, if you need to win the Superbowl this year coming up, who would you choose to get that done? Like if you needed a major win this year, from someone who hasn't yet won a major, who are you choosing? Really quick guys, I want to give a shout out

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Oh, the French presses are so good. I've been beating them up in the morning. It's awesome. Check their complete offerings out at yeti.com. Let's get back to the show, Dej. All right, well, let's start going down the list. I cast a pretty wide net here. If I missed you, I'm sorry.

It was either an oversight or a comment. I'll let you decide. But we're gonna go in alphabetical order. And I'm stealing the structure a little bit from our guy, Sean Fantasy, over at the Big Picture podcast. They do these Hall of Fame episodes with directors where they'll take the whole filmography, they'll go through and they'll kind of say like, who gets through, what movies get through

to the next round, and then they'll whittle it down from there. So we're going to start with a real wide net. We just need thumbs up, thumbs down. Does this person move on? Do they make the short list or not? There's about just so we're tracking, I think there's about 40 names on here. So you know, carrying the the one doing the math, one in four of these guys are making the final list. So we can wave them all

through if you want, but that just means we're going to be here longer. So feel free to be, be decisive on the way through. Exactly. That's never made TC move faster. I'm really interested because the first, the first five, six, seven days, you could, you could wave all those guys. So it's going to be hard to turn these guys down, but let's start at the top. We'll start in the A's Ludwig Aberg. Oh, Berg, is that an A? Yes.

That's three thumbs up on that. Technically an O. Oh, that's a no brainer. Moving on. Next, Daniel Berger. Moving on from me. Moving on from me. Akshay Bhatia.

Moving on from me. I'll say not. Moving on the next round. I'll say not moving on. He's not moving on from me yet. Okay. He wouldn't make my top 10, but he would make my top 20.

That's me just looking around the corner. I would love, I respect Akshay's career. Much like TC and who was it, LeBron? I respect Occha's career. I just I know where this is going. I know he's not making the top 10. So I'm going to just save time here. He's close. He's not far off. Certainly not laughable. Well, all right, listen, we're going to wave him through and then we'll just not vote him in through the next one. Next one,

Richard Bland. You see, he's voting voting. Yes. I hate to be the next one. Next one, Richard Bland. You see, he's voting, voting yes. I hate to be the bad guy. T.C. I'm not voting Richard Bland. And even though he is a he's beating up the old. It's a lot of top four majors, a lot of top four. Just being of the old, he's he's beating up everybody. Sam Burns getting through or not.

He's not getting through for me. It's interesting. You technically should. I'm going to I'm going to say yes. I'm going to say, I don't want to be the decider here, but I mean, he has one top 10. Yeah. He's just stunk in a major. He's stunk in the majors. I'm not, I'm not voting them in. It's, that would be inconceivable a couple of years ago, I feel like, but it's just kind of where we're at.

They're just not, they're not playing enough majors on Bermuda. That's right. Exactly. Patrick, can you tell us about the major? I think it's a major. I think it's a major. I think it's a major. I think it's a major. I think it's a major. I think it's a major. I think it, I feel like, but it's just kind of where we're at. They're just not, they're not playing enough majors on Bermuda.

That's right. Exactly. Patrick Cantlay is getting a yes from me. Yes. Okay. I'll go last here, but yes. Also, I was waiting to see if he would make me decide. Luke Clanton. Yes. Unequivocally. Yes. He's getting a yes from me for this. Yeah. For conversation sake. We'll wave him through I've got Clinton at three on my list There we go. That's gonna be a that's gonna be a serious piece of legislation that TC is trying to attach to a bunch of different Bills Cory Connors, it's a no absolutely not I'm saying no cam

It's like yesterday was a perfect example of Cory Connors like like you just straight up, like can't make pots. And this isn't, this isn't necessarily that we think you can't win a major either or won't win a major. It's like, here's not one of the best players. We're talking big dogs here. You know, Cam Davis is a no for me to respect his career. Nick Dunlap. No, no, no. career. Nick Dunlap. No, no, no. Austin Eckrode is a, that's it. I'm going to, I'm going to hear more about it. That's a yes for me. I would like some literature to know for you, Sally. It's a no. Noted. It's all I hate. Tech wrote HG Harris English is a yes. Unquivocally. Yes. This brings me no pleasure. Big tone. Tony, I'm going to say yes. I'm going to say yes to you because I don't even need to weigh in. This record speaks for himself here. Next up one is because I do want to, I do want to have the debate next up. One of the greatest

players of all time. He was on the list of the greatest players to never have won a major Tommy Fleetwood gets a yes for me. I'll go. I'll say yes as well. TC, where do you stand on Tommy Fleetwood? Yes. OK. Ricky Fowler is going to be a no for me, dog. No. Respectfully, it's just I think that's got to say we're not there. Taylor Gooch.

Taylor Gooch is currently he's currently in the relegation zone. So just didn't want it. Listen, I've put it out there. Want to make sure we have a conversation. It's going to be a no for me too. I read so much stuff on the internet about him, TC. That would make me think otherwise. That's so interesting.

Next up, Tyrell Hatton is an unequivocal yes for me. Yes. Send him through. Russ Henley is a yes for me. Wave him through them through. Russ Henley is a yes for me. Wave them through. Nikolai Hoygard is a no for me, but willing to hear more. I think both Los Los Hoygards, uh, they're a no, but they're promising. They're, they're kind of in that, in that,

uh, it's, we're not quite ready for you yet. Yeah, but we'll let you know Track I hate till I hate to love them together, you know, I know that I know the siblings are gonna love that But that's just that's just how I feel man. I still have a hard time telling them apart Especially their games. They just both seem like BS eyes to me TC, but we will We'll continue to monitor that's where we're headed Not his time right now. No, he's not playing great golf. Max Homa is a yes for me still. I'll say yes. By how I'm doing it right now, I have to say no,

but he is through to the next round. William Ho, Billy Horschel. I want to vote yes, but the majors are just not there. That's why I think back to Marion. And he had the T four with, he made 18 pars in a row, which is one of the coolest things I've ever seen. He's also 38 years old. I'm saying no, unfortunately. Victor Hovland is a yes for me.

It's a yes. I want song JM to be a yes so bad and it just is not a yes. Unless anybody feels. I think we got to wave him through. I think we got to have the talk about him. So you're the deciding vote. I agree regrettably with TC here. Wave through, but like I'm willing to come back around to not include, like to double

emphasize that I don't want to put them on the list. I'm willing to come back to that next guy in the list. I don't think he's getting through but I wanted to shout him out because it's so underrated that he won. It's close on him. What do you I'm waving him through 21 see who Kim is is really good and still pretty young and has a lot of career in front of him. If you get maybe you guys are waving him through I kind of for that.

I'm waving through I like see who a lot and and he's kind of been a grower, a grower for me. Don't do anything stupid here guys. Don't next up to Tom Kim. Oh, interesting. Good really go either way here. So do anything stupid. I'm gonna go ahead and vote Tom Kim in. I'll vote a man. I'll vote a man. I'll let I'll, you know, let personal grievances aside. Chris Kirk

feels like a no for me. Not happening. Respect his career. Not happening. He's busy bathing his young sons. TC Jackson Coyvan is a no for me right now, but I'm willing to hear your case. He's a yes for me. I think he's quickly moving up my big board. I had him at 10. He's in my top 10 right now. I'm saying no on Jackson Quiven. He is not moving through. A guy who, you know, he made the top 10 all time list

and is still active, a rare one. Absolutely not. Matt Kuchar is getting listed among his way. Here's thumbs down. The unstable compound Min Woo Lee is a thumbs down for me after what we saw. The narrative is just too strong. This is an interesting one. Big shop Bob McIntyre TC. What do you got for this one? I would like to wave them through. This is one of those like, I voted yes on this bill. I don't know what you want me to do. I just did that.

You know, I've represented my constituents. I just didn't have the votes. Apparently trying to get my scores up a little bit. You know, it's a no for me, dog. Yeah, it's a no for me. Danny McCarthy. No, for me, dog. Feels like a no.

Don't think he's got the horsepower. I still have the ceiling. Yeah. Yeah. Heck of a putter. Mav McNeely. It's a no for me. A no at the current moment, but the current ascension or trajectory of Mav's career, hopefully,

if we had this talk next year, it's a yes. This feels like, go back to the gym, get ready for next season. We want you on this team. I want Mav to be on this list. It's just playing JV right now. Like you're not even, you're not even cutting the team. You're a sophomore. Yeah.

Like you don't need to be on varsity right now. Just when you're a junior, put on a little bit more of a muscle, grown a little bit, we can talk. Keith Mitchell. I cannot, it's a no for me, dog. I'm this, I can't sleep on that. It's not there. It's not there.

I'm with you guys. Joaquin Nieman feels like an unequivocally Yeah. Unequivocally. Wave them through JT Poston TC, the best pound for pound best player in the world. Yeah. I think this is a really interesting one and I would encourage you guys to open up your hearts, your minds. Sell sell us on it. JT Poston. Uh, yeah, he's, he's, it's best finishing a major is T 30 at the 2024 masters and his second best finishing a major is T32 at the 2024 us open. He's obviously trending. Love JT Poston. This is a no for me. It's going to be a no for me too. TC. I'm sorry. If that means I have a closed heart, then, then, you know, I apologize. That's,

that's governance, man. You're going to have to break some hearts. The TI-83, Aaron Rye is a no for me, but love having you on the list. That's fun. Seph Straka is an absolute yes for me. Big yes. Oh, sorry. That's big of you, man. That's awesome. That shocks the world, yes. Nick Taylor.

Absolutely not. God, Nick Taylor Absolutely not Nick Taylor's won a lot. All right, I'm gonna vote. Yes just to get on the record that I voted Yeah, a lot. How many times is he won like five times five times? No It's a lot of dubs t1 no Phoenix you won the Ontario Open What is he done in the majors? Oh wow. Nothing. Truly nothing. Whoa. Yeah. Whoa. Are you looking at his page? No, I don't want to. Starting in 2022, played the US Open, missed the cut.

2023 did not play the masters, but he's played every major since then. His results cut, cut, cut, cut, cut, cut, cut, cut. Did not see do not want to be the tiebreaker. Get them to the next round and we can kill them then, but he, he deserves, he's in the top 20. I don't think he's in the top 10. We got to put them in rehab. I don't think he's in the top 10. I don't think he's in the top 10. I don't think he's in the top 10. I don't think he's in the top 10.

I don't think he's in the top 10. I don't think he's in the top 10. I don't think he's in the top 10. I don't think he's in the top 10. We got to put them in rehab. On what merit, Solly, simply on what merit does he deserve? Vibes truly just on vibes. And his dad is an alpha. Let's check. He does have one top 10 at the 2023 masters. He finished ninth. Let's check. He does have one top 10 at the 2023 masters. He finished ninth. That's just not going to get it done. It's just not that good, man.

He's wayward as shit off the tee. It's just not that good. Should be a links master. So I'm going to game is set up, but my through my constituents will give me hell if I do not wave them through. I'm going to wave them through. But that's that's politicking. That's nobody's not getting into the top 10. That's fair. This one's interesting.

And I think it's going to be a no for me dog. Can't do it. No, not on the top 10. Again, that's Sam Burns camp of like, I would not have believed this years ago, but that, that one is, that one's tough. Last one I feel like is, is a no brainer. Will's Alatouris is, is it? Yes. So that gives us first ballot. First ballot guy. It should be top five, top two. I hate my list. All right. The system, the system works pretty well here. We got, that's 20. Okay. That's 20. So we're going to have to cut 10 of these guys. Ludwig, Daniel Berger, Okshay, Cantlay, Clanton, Eckroote, Harris English, Tony Finau, Fleetwood, Hatton, Henley, Homa, Hovland, SunJM, Siwoo Kim, Tom Kim, Waki Neeman, Sebstraka, Sahith Tagala, and Will Zalatoris.

We're going to have to cut 10 of those guys going forward. That's our task here. You want to start with five? Should we try to cut the obvious five here first? TC, you want to nominate someone? Yeah, I'll nominate someone? Yeah, I will, uh, I'll nominate Sahith. He just doesn't, it just don't think we're going to, we're going to get him

through the line and get him confirmed. I'm, I'm, I'm willing to drive on that. I waved him through with the understanding we would take him out in this, with this route. I agree with that. Sahith I'm sorry. It's just, it's, it's not, not right now, but this is a living, this round. I agree with that. Sahith, I'm sorry. It's just, it's not right now, but this is a living, breathing document. You guys know this.

You guys know this. There's all sorts of guys that we don't even know about yet that are gonna be on this document next year. Exactly. I will follow that by nominating Okshay. I don't think Okshay is gonna be making it through to the top 10. And I'm willing to kill him off at 19.

I'll ride you there. Okay. I'm gonna have to take Mr. Eckrode. I'm a fan of him off at 19. I'll ride you there. Okay. I'm gonna have to take Mr. Echroat. I'm a fan of him, a fan of his game, but it doesn't quite belong with some of the names on this list. I think that's fair. T.C., you get down with that? Yeah, that's fine. He's got to show us a little bit more. I don't think he's that far off though. Okay, we have 17 left. TCTU to nominate.

Do you have to have a majority to get somebody off the list? I think so. Yeah. Okay. Making up these rules as we go, but I think so. Yeah. Let's go with big tone. I don't think I could get down with you there. I think he's got to stay on the list for right now. He's got so many top tens. It's, it's crazy. Has he actually like, has he even skated?

Has he even sniffed a win in any of them? So all he's telling me that he won over some of the names on this list. Yes. He most certainly has. I'm moving forward. It's not trending. Well, he has one, he has one top 10 in the last three years of majors, last 12 majors, one top 10 was us open last year. He's had some injury issues. He just keeps having kids. I am with you to knock him off this list, but I don't think we can do it before the likes of Siwoo Kim and Sung J.

And you can keep going on that. Like what are we doing with Sep or the likes of Siwoo Kim and Sung Jay. You can keep going on that. Like, what are we doing with Sep versus Phenel's major records? Oh, Sep's a hunter. Going for it. Sep might be a Hall of Favor. You hate, why do you hate Sep? I don't hate Sep.

You guys are getting carried away with him. Neiman has zero top 10s in majors and he gets to hang of it. I just think you're giving Big Tone an absolute get out of jail free card. He's dropped to, he's 31st in the world right now. His best ever world ranking is nine. He's 31st in the world right now

with all those live guys dropping down. That's his lowest, like he's not trending in a great direction. He's not been playing great. He's still a big ball hitter. He's 33rd in the rankings, including Liv guys. But I think he's still got a gear and he's got a great track record. I know it's not been the most pretty last couple of years, but he's shown signs of it at times. And I think it's not deserved to get trimmed this early. Let me ask you this. Do you think he's going to make it to

the top 10? I have him in my top 10 players that have not won a major. God TC. I'm just, I'm so close to, to pulling the trigger. You're, you're making a compelling case, especially since I just, the SEP thing was bad governance. Sully, that really pissed me off, man. It was a dog whistle. Amazing year for separate majors last year. T 16 cut T 56 T 20.

What are you doing? I don't have it in front of me. What are you doing? 23? He had a T seven and a T two at the open. And, and dominated at the rider cup. As you remember, one and two in the rider. I was nominated one at a victory at the end of the week. I'm going to go to the end of the week. I'm going to go to the end of the week. I'm going to go to the end of the week. I'm going to go to the end of the week.

I'm going to go to the end of the week. I'm going to go to the end of the week. I'm going to go to the end of the week. I'm going to go to the end of the week. I'm going to go to the end of the week. I'm going to go to the end of the week. I'm going to go to the end of the week. I'm going to go to the end of the week.

I'm going to go to the end of the week. I'm going to go to the end of the week. I'm going to go to the end of the week. I'm going to go to the end of the week. I'm going to go to the end of the week. I'm going to go to the end of the week. I'm going to go to the end of the week. I'm going to go to the end of the week. I'm going to go to the end of the week. I'm going to go to the end of the week. I'm going to go to the end of the now. I feel like we got to knock off.

I'm going to knock off Siwoo Kim. That's fair. Yeah, I think that's only right. That was truly a, you know, that was like when somebody gets just sympathy votes for the Hall of Fame. We're at 16 currently. Sungjae hasn't done shit. We're at 16 currently. Sung J hasn't done shit.

Yeah, take Sung J. I'm fine with that. Yeah. Sung J has one top five in majors. He was T2 at the Fake Masters in 2020. And he's missed five of his last eight cuts. Yeah. He did finish T7 at the Open last year. He's not one of the 10 best players without a major right now.

I agree. All right. We're down to 15. Okay. a major right now. I agree. All right, we're down to 15 Okay, I like the guy nice win a couple weeks ago. He's not cracking my top 10. Sorry. I hate that I hate that. You know, I hate that. I'm right. He wasn't in my top 10 All right, he is gone. I'm with you guys. I also had Jackson Corbin at 10. So God the Luke Clanton conversation is really fun. It's really interesting.

I think it's going to get a lot of buzz on social if we have him on my list. We're not, we're not taking him out right now. Absolutely. Who else? You got to die. But it's a service time issue. It's late in spring training. It's not a sign of your ability.

It's just like we, you know, we have an option to use here. It's, it's total service time. What is he going to keep on the roster all year? Like he's not in the majors. Like we can, I don't know if we can. He is in the majors. He got his PGA tour card. He's not in the master. Is he in the masters? Well, yeah, but well, he's probably gonna mean he's probably gonna. He's never missed a cut at a major. That's huge. T 41 at the U S open.

He's probably talking right now into the US Open. We're talking right now on the list. Is he in any of the... He is in the US in the Open, but he must remain an amateur to compete in both. He's not going to, I'm sure. Yeah, he's not. Is he an amateur still Like this was eight days ago from this article. So I think by definitely, he's gonna be on the list soon. I don't think we could possibly say. I think this is so remarkably short-sighted. I used so freaking good and he's got it. I have him on my Ryder Cup team, TC.

I have him on my team. Then I feel like he's got a sticker. This is solid. This list has to be somewhat, it's gotta be forward looking. Just take your neck out just a little bit. It's to be forward looking. It can't be all all past looking which would be qualified for the events. He's not going to be in the next major. Who are you nominating then? Who am I putting in above him? Yeah. Or who am I nominated

to take? To take off. We got to knock off five more guys. I mean, I think we can take Max right now. He's not one of the ten best players in the world without a major right now. It sucks suck, you know, I'm right it but Yeah, it's a living breathing document. He would say the same he would absolutely say the same. Okay Four more I'm gonna surprise you guys. I'm gonna take hat enough God, I think happens is kind of what's that? I don't know if I can get down with that. He's so good at the majors. He's good. I mean, I think you're kind of overstating it.

He's got one top 10 in the last four years in the majors. It was a T9 at last year's masters. It's not great. And he's played in all of them since 2017, but I think he's in that first five out. I just don't think he's not getting any younger. He's 33. I just, yeah, he's too solid of a weekly player. Like, yeah, he's just still a very, very, very good player. And for that reason, I can't take him out. He's like one of the top 10 players in the world alone.

I have to have him on my top 10 guys without a major then if I feel that way. I don't think there's 10 better golfers than Hatton right now on the planet. I didn't have him in my top 10. That's all I'm saying. He was like 11th or 12th for me. Who do we think are... Let me read through who we have left. Ludwig, Daniel Berger, Patrick Cantlay, Luke Clanton, Tony Finau, Tommy Fleetwood, Hatton, Russell Henley, Victor Hovland, Tom Kim, Joaquin Nieman, Sepp Schroka, Will Zalatoris. That's what? 14? I've got three names. That was 13.

That's 13. All right. We got to cut three more. Fuck. Fuck. Tc's Tc's steps not in the same the same camp as a lot of these dudes. That's fine. He wasn't in my top ten Alright I will I will meet you sep But you got to give me Tom Kim to You want to push this legislation through it's too late. I'm not going to give you a second chance. I'm not going to give you a second chance. I'm not going to give you a second chance. I'm not going to give you a second chance.

I'm not going to give you a second chance. I'm not going to give you a second chance. I'm not going to give you a second chance. I'm not going to give you a second chance. I'm not going to give you a second chance. I'm not going to give you a second chance. I'm not going to give you a second chance. I'm not going to give you a second chance.

I'm not going to give you a second chance.'t have a great major season last year, but. I'm just getting word also TC that he's 22. Allegedly could be a, some sort of a, I mean, I feel like it's going to be a Danny Almonte thing, or it could be like, he acts like he's 12. So it's, it's going to reflect poorly on this committee and this body. If we're supposed to be forward looking, we don't have 22 year old Tom Kim on this list.

I'm not sure he's long enough either. He's got pop in the bat now. I feel like he's added added yardage. I feel like he's pushed six yards longer than the average player now. Yeah. I hate it. Listen, I don't like it any more than you. Not talking about average players. You guys are talking about big dick players. All right. Can I interest you in maybe cutting burger? Yeah. It's not like I don't like it. I would, I would pick him to win

a major almost over every player on this list. I would love that. I just don't know if he's necessarily had the results, not in my top 10 to be in the top 10. You can take, you can take him from me. Okay. I mean, you guys sucks. But I think I'll remember this when we start ranking these guys and you want to push this board. We need to cut one more. I'll remember your district. Right. One Ludwig can't lay Clanton, Fu, Fleetwood, Hatton, Henley, Hovland, Tom Kim, Waukee Nieman, Will Zalatoris. If we're going on like current play, it's Hovland. But I like that feels very even Hovland like last year at Ballhalla. Yeah, I'd write.

It feels short sight. It feels short sight. Like he's just so talented that like even if the play is that like he could turn around in one week and we can look foolish. I would feel. I mean, it's big tone, isn't it? It's the 10 guys that are eligible for the majors on this list. No Ludwig. You know, you didn't know if he was going to be eligible. He still hasn't won one. We would have had plenty of time to add him to the Masters last year. So you need to you need to. Once he was eligible for the Masters, we could have easily add him to the list. Clinton's eligible for for two of them.

He could certainly qualify into the Open Championship or the US Open. He could easily. What's he ranked in the world right now? The 93rd, he hasn't even turned pro yet. Hold on TC. Hold on. He crunched the numbers here. Are you concerned at all? That is great. Great finishes are in mule events. You gotta, I mean, you gotta play well where he played well at Tori. I don't like it, but it's US Open course. You gotta play well where you're teeing it up.

He's just really freaking good, man. I feel like every time he's on ESPN+, I tune in and I like what I see. He's got it, man. He's got that dog in him. Why does his, what he's done carry favor? Like Tom Kim won twice at the age that Luke Clanton is currently at. Why are we trying to find Tom Kim for clean?

I think Clanton's just a full package. His skillset just excites me. Sally. It's, it's, you gotta, you gotta trust the innovators here. I, from the same people who brought you Ludwig Are you using your Ludwig stock on this? I really, I get a big thrill out of, out of Luke Clan being number 10 on this list. So it's kind of like the Judy Rankin thing. You know, it's provocative. It's, it's a 10th spot. Technically they 10 on this list. So it's kind of like the Judy Rankin thing. You know, it's provocative. It's a 10th spot technically there on the list. I can't put them any higher than that, but I think it is interesting. It's only item at three on my list. Like you got to, you got to respect that a little bit to balance it out. You would have to have them at 20 on your list just to get them out of the top 10. I might have him at 20.

He's not qualified for the majors. Yet. What if he wins? Then he'll be in all of them, right? Believe in something, Solly, that the data doesn't yet suggest. I don't even know that it doesn't suggest it. I'm going with bird in the hand here. What if he, I mean, God, can you imagine he wins a major in the next two years? Like you're, that's the biggest L you've ever taken.

You're going to get vilified. Yeah. What if Tom Kim wins one? We're going to be running out of time. I want Tom Kim. Carl Willips wins one. I want Tom Kim. I think Finau's out.

I think Finau's 11. I'm only getting galvanized. If I don't have the votes, I don't have the votes, but I will, I want the record to show that I did not approve of that. Finau is out. We will. We will make sure the record. We're going to run all kinds of campaign ads out of your ass. If if would click ends up like Takumi Kaniya.

I'm coming for your ass TC. I'm not going to you. You want to remind you of everyone you've claimed. That's not Ludwig along the way now TC in the in the spirit spirit of sportsmanship, we cannot put Klan any higher than Ted. As my colleague has pointed out, he's not in the majors. So that is tough. I feel like we got to put him at Ted. Okay. That's fine. I appreciate your compromise here. You guys want to start at the bottom or you want to start at the top? Is there a clear cut? Number one, I think it's the best golfer in the world without a major. I agree. I think number two is pretty clear

for me as well. I got Zala Torres. Number two. Wow. Wow. I think Tommy's the best second best player. No, actually. No, I'm sorry. I have T.C. I have T.C. Wow. I've got T.C. I've got Fleetwood above. In my mind, I've already got Fleetwood has won a major. I forgot that he was even on this list. I thought it was pretty good sportsmanship that we did. You know, we didn't even threaten to take him off the list TC Are we putting Tommy at number two? I feel like that's who do you have number two? I think it's yeah, I Think it's Tommy or or can't lay but I think it's I think Tommy's more fun. He's major record doesn't Yeah, it's getting better. It is getting better. It's getting better

record doesn't work. Yeah, it's getting better. It is getting better. It's getting better, which is serious runs at majors. Like he's involved at least he's not had really close call things of that nature. I feel like our next spot is between Cantlay and Hovland. I do not feel that way at all. Okay. Okay. So I had planting at three and then Zalatoraurus at four. I've got Zala Taurus at three. Okay. Big game hunter. Yeah. He's doing like Teddy Roosevelt shit. Going over there on safari.

I'll throw it to the Rough Riders. Just burning it down. Art of darkness type shit. That would got me Alright well, then I'll just push can't lay or Hovland to number four Guy don't know what to do from here on out Yet who Henley at five over hot one him the more to the bottom over hot Hovland at the moment.

Yeah. I mean, he's finished. All right. He's finished T7 and solo fifth in his last two majors. T4 at the 2023 masters. You know, solid, like you said, the best abilities, availability in the majors, he's into all of them for the next few years. He's so consistent.

He made the cut. I like a guy like him at an Oakmont or a Port Rush. Can I, can I, I know his major records not good, but I am a believer in his talent and think that it's more of an anomaly than it tells the story. I would put Neiman up here pretty darn high as of right now. Do I think he's like of guys that I think are like closer to winning a major and want to have some, some chips on the roulette board? I would, I would say Neiman. At four? I would.

Like if we, is the question like who you would feel the most confident is gonna come off this list fastest? Yeah. Or is that a question in there? It's a whole proprietary model of all, it's a whole soup of all sorts of things. I'll tell you, I actually, you mentioned them earlier. I think we could find common ground on Cantlay here.

A is major records, not as bad as we're making it out to be. No, that's what I'm saying. It's gotten better the last couple of years. And I do feel like it's trending. He's made he's made the cut in 10 majors in a row. T3 last year at the US Open. I feel like he's going to he's's gonna nab one of these things. Cantlay is where my head goes. I like Cantlay, Nieman, and then we can talk either Hovland or Henley for the next one. That's kind of where my head goes. Can't we just stunk last year though?

He was completely pedestrian. It was the worst year of his career. I mean, pedestrian. He was, you know, he's like a full shot worse. I know he's kind of more back to what he was, but two top fives and 31 majors is tough to look past. I know. I just, I feel like, I feel like there's more written. He's 33. Like, I just don't feel like Nieman's story is written as much as Cantlay's is. Yeah, I can get down with you. I can get down with that. I feel like you've got a good sport on. I feel like you've been a good sport on. I feel like the Neiman stuff is, all right, if I'm going to be open, you know, if Sal is going to be at least a little bit open to Klan, which he's not, we need to be open to Neiman.

I had Neiman at seventh on mine, so I'm happy to scoot him up. God, that major record is bad. It's bad. It's bad. But I think that's what's interesting. It's like 26. Now we have some context on the list. You know, we could, we can frame his performances this year through is two years older than Ludwig. That's wild. All right. So just to recap, we have one year, uh, Ludwig at number one, we have Tommy at number two, Zala, Taurus at number three, Neiman at number four, can't lay. I'm slotting in at number five. And we do have Luke Clanton cemented at number 10, which means we have six through nine left. And the people on the board are Hatton, Henley, Hovland, and Tom Kim. I'd be fine with the order you just set them in. I was going to say honestly,

that's kind of how it feels to me. Yeah, I'm down with that. You like it. Hatton at number six. And I would just like to, I would like to that. Like it. Hatten at number six. And I would just like to, I would like to abstain from any sort of votes around Tom cam. TC was not present for this vote. Sorry. Neiman is almost exactly one year older than Ludwig. I, uh, just noting that for the record. So our final, is that a slight, so a lot bigger how young Neiman is, how young Neiman, I mean, he's been around, he's been in our lives for six, seven years. No, I'm just saying he's still younger than you think. He's not his peak yet. So, uh, David Pooj is playing good golf right now too. I'll just

throw him out. We didn't, we didn't mention him earlier. Same problem. We have a Luke clan. I'm going to go ahead and mention. All right. To recap, number 10, Luke, Clinton, number nine, Tom Kim, number eight, Victor Hovland, number seven, Russell Henley, number six, Tyrell Hatton, number five, Patrick Cantlay, number four, walking Neiman, number three, wills, Altaurus, number two, Tommy Fleetwood and number one, the best player currently without a major Ludwig Oberg. I really like that list. I think government works guys.

I feel really good about this. So you get one free cover your ass pass for somebody not in your top 10. If you had to use a lifeline on somebody, you can all have a separate answer on this for who you would want to cover your ass with on winning the next major. Who who you would want to cover your ass with. Uh, on winning the next major, who would you take? I'll take big town.

I'll take max. I think he's going to figure it out. And like, no one was playing better golf over the last couple of years, almost, you know, Scotty and Rory and standard and couple of, listen, a couple of guys might've been playing better golf, but he was, he was in the conversation and figuring it out at those majors. And I don't know. I still think he's going to turn it around. I'm going to go burger. It's not having this list dog in him. And I think he's going to,

going to show up pretty often in the next next two or three years, if and when he stays healthy. Oh guys, that was a, that was a painless process. I think that was, I think that was fun. And now we've got a list going forward. We can, we can monitor, we can move it around. Now we've got a rap sheet on solid with, with, how about this proposal?

If somebody from the, uh, list graduates, wins a major on that night of the Sunday night pod, we have to find a replacement for them. And then at the end of every major season, we do a complete refresh. I think this is going to be as we start out. Or maybe the beginning. The beginning of the next major season. But we'll do this annually around this time. I think this makes sense.

A living, breathing document. We're not going to reorder them after each major. That's this is the... We may internally. We may internally, but we won't be releasing that to the public There's only one player here. We just can't you can put them in the book But there's there's one induction class per year. Exactly. This is the 2025 class Congratulations to everybody who made it in

Condolences, I'm gonna give you some Tiffany cufflinks. I feel like this worked, you know, so all he gave us Clanton We gave him Neiman, you know, it's horse trading man. I feel like it worked. You know, so all he gave us, Clinton, we gave him Neiman, you know, it's horse trading, man. I feel like it worked well. And again, I just want to stay for the record. It comes only down to eligibility for Clinton because I won him on the rider cup team. It doesn't work like that. So I need him to be playing in the masters to think that he's going to win it. And I don't think that's going to happen. You are now anti-clinton forever. I'm not going to let you do this to me. It's it sucks, man. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Well, we could play the tape back for you. You can have Gordon Sargent though. There you go. Didn't even garner the top 40 there. That was interesting. Yeah. It's tough.

So it doesn't seem like it's going great right now. Guys, what a thrill. Thanks. Thanks for hopping on. Thanks for humor me with putting together the lists and all the thought that went into this. This was a good time. So we will catch everybody next time. You know what I was going to say? I think the boys might be doing a little voicemail segment. I know they're on the Sunday pod this week. I know they're trying to think about a prompt. So be on the lookout for that. I think they're going to drop that in the refuge later on this week. Just taking some voicemails for the fouls bar recap on Sunday night.

So other than that, any other housekeeping you guys got is Clinton in the field this week at Valspar? I was going to say, I bet he is. How about he goes and wins Valspar gets into the masters, wins the masters. Telling me he is in the field. Oh my God. So he's going to be sweating it. He is going to be sweating it. He is going to be sweating it. What's the, uh, what are his odds right now?

Well, that's interesting. Three to one. He's three to one to win the masters right now, according to you guys. He is, I got it right here. He is 50 to one. He's, he's same odds, same, same odds as Adam Scott, JT Poston, Luke, Clinton, Jake Knapp's another one that I think he should have been on the list. He could have probably garnered a mention of, of that's on me. Um, just of, of, you know, played, played pretty, pretty freaking well. He was, I think it was number one in putting. Yeah. Yeah. Huge putting me. And then, but yeah, I mean, Clinton, Clinton's ahead of Victor Hovland. As far as odds go here.

So only on their list, not on our list. Well, best of luck to Luke, Clinton, best of luck to Sally. I hope it doesn't get too, too riotous outside your, your campaign headquarters with this list comes out, but good being with you guys. And we will see you guys next time. to Luke Clanton, best of luck to Solly. I hope it doesn't get too riotous outside your campaign headquarters when this list comes out, but good being with you guys and we will catch you guys next time. Cheers. Luke Clanton Crack on.

Crack on.