No Laying Up - Golf Podcast - 976: Valspar Recap, Listener Line + Solheim Captain Angela Stanford

Episode Date: March 24, 2025

Neil, KVV and Randy run the show on this Sunday night as Viktor Hovland emerges from the wilderness to win the Valspar by a shot over JT. We break down the weekend, take some listener voicemails, critique the midweek podcast list of best players without a major and drop some personal golf updates before closing the pod with a chat with Angela Stanford - newly named Team USA captain for the 2026 Solheim Cup (1:20:35) Support our sponsors: Titleist Holderness & Bourne 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 today. Better than most. Better than most. Better than most. Expect anything different. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the no laying up podcast. I am your host today. This is Neil, the czar, the merch czar joined by my esteemed colleagues. Mr. KVV calling in from Baltimore.

How are things? No, I am swell. I played some bad golf today. Uh. I'm happy to talk about that. I might have some better golf stories to talk about than my just shitty golf in general. Oh, we're going to talk about golf for sure. My experience at Beth page state park today, which was a complete disgrace KVVs disgrace of a golf route. And Randy, what's burning in Denver. How are you? Speaker 3. I'm good. I can report. I have not played golf,

but actually was playing some tennis this weekend. I was in a, it was in a little tournament and unfortunately got bounced in the semi-finals of a, of a singles tournament this weekend, but how many matches you win to get there? Uh, one three and then lost. Yeah. God can't wait to dig into that in the back nine. That's fantastic. Well, which shout out my first round opponent after the match. Thank God it was after the match. Cause if it was pre-match, it would have been some of the best gamesmanship. He was like, Oh, my buddy's a massive fan. Wanted to say hi. I was like, Oh my God, I'm

so glad you didn't tell me that before we played. That's awesome. I will have to, we'll carve out a little, uh, a little detour in the back nine for that. Listen, we're going to talk. Valspar epic finish really fun day of golf. Listen, let's get out in front of it. The substitute teachers are here. We're rolling in. That's right. Baby. Okay. Sally and PC are coming back from Piners, the Donnybrook. It's a bit of an off week here, but we're fired up and ready to talk some golf. We're gonna do a couple of voicemails.

We got a nice little back nine set up, talk a little personal golf. And then Randy, you had a nice interview with Angela Stanford, the new Solheim USA captain that will run at the end of this episode. But winners around the world today, we have Victor Hovland wins the Valspar by one shot over Justin Thomas, his first win since 2023, the tour championship in 2023.

I tweeted something about him getting out of the wilderness and here we are. And then on the DP world tour, we had Richard Mansell wins the Singapore open by one over TC's boy, Kida Nakajima. Randy, TC's boys just can't win. They just don't win. It's unbelievable. Tommy, Kida, you know, I mean, he's got like 55 boys, but you know, they're not winning.

They're just not winning. Yeah. It's not the year of TC right yet. No, they're not winning. And what I was going to say, just to tease a little saggy, the boys are going to react to solid TC and Tron's best players to never win a major list. little saggy. The boys are going to react to solid TC and, uh, Tron's best players to never win a major list. Cause I got some bones to pick there.

I got a few, I got a few on my list as well. A few bones on my list as well. But first Victor Hovind was among the 75% of the field this week playing a titleist golf ball. That's right. Shout out to titleists. Uh, we'll be breaking all that down momentarily, but before we do want to take a take a quick moment to talk wedges. Over half the field at the Valspar was playing Vokey wedges, and there's a reason Vokey tour rep Aaron Dill is one of the busiest men on the PGA tour. That reason is fresh grooves. I can attest that Dill's always just running back and forth from the truck to the range every time I'm out at an event. But do yourself a favor, check in on the life of your grooves,

especially if they've been, it's been a while since you've replaced those wedges. How do you know if you need fresh grooves, Randy? If you see higher launch with your wedges, less spin, especially from light rough, less predictable carry distances, more rollout, those are all signs. Also just straight up, if the grooves look worn out,

like the eye test works as well, they probably are. You know, the great thing about Vokey wedges, the faces are all Vokey SM 10 wedges are heat treated to maximize spin and effectively double the life of the grooves. So you get plenty of mileage out of these fresh he's I got some fresh he's in the bag use them today. Hit some hit some nippy scooters out there was feeling feeling pretty good about the wedge game, not really the chipping more so just the approach play. But check out the full line of Vokey SM 10

wedges at Titleist.com. Alright, gentlemen, let's let's dig on the Valspar real quick. Like I said, fun, fun day at golf. It was a crowded leaderboard up until the back nine and then it turned into a duel between JT and Victor down the stretch. Unfortunately, they were in separate groups and they weren't in the final group. So it was JT was in down the stretch. Unfortunately, they were in separate groups and they weren't in the final group. So it was JT was in the third to last and then Victor was in the second to last group.

JT shoots the round of the tournament on Saturday, 65, after he made the cut on the number at plus two. And then he falls it with a bogey free seven under through 15 holes on Sunday. He's absolutely lighting up the Copperhead course. And then he walks on walks into the snake pit on the 16th. He's up by two. He's got a two shot lead over Hovland holes driver left. Snake pit, Randy, you'd always have loved it. That's a tough one played down there.

That 16th is it's a nervy tee shot there, but he pulls it left into the into the gallery plays it smart chips out, but then dumps a pitching wedge right into a short-sided bunker, makes bogey there. Then he almost birdies 17, and then he bogeys 18. All while Hovland steps up on 16 tee, hits driving iron right down the middle, birdies 16 after he just flushes one from the fairway, Birdie's 17 after a great tee shot. And then he almost, he makes a mess of 18, but he bogeys to win by one. After he pulled that tee shot to the right, or I guess sliced it on the 18th tee, JT finishes out and Hovland's just got like a two shot

cushion. So a bit anticlimactic. And then of course, Nico Echavaria and Jacob Bridgman were in the final group. Bridgman respectable nine under in the final group. Echavaria kind of got vaporized. I think he finished at minus five. So, you know, it's always weird when the, when the tournament kind of ends with a winner, it's not in the last group. And you can just kind of feel the energy was following JT and was following Hovland. But I don't know, KV, I'll start with you. Who do you think needed this one more, JT or Hovland? KV You know what? The initial answer for me is Victor, because I think like it's obvious, he hasn't, he was totally lost, like been in the wilderness. I wonder though, if it might have done

more for JT just because like he's kind of on the other end of being lost. Like it was so funny to listen to Victor's comments afterwards. Like, yeah, I don't think it was that much better than normal. Like I just still like, I was hitting bad shots anyway. And they just happened to kind of go a little bit better than they usually do. It was almost like Victor was like, yeah, nothing's changed, man. Like I'm still kind of like totally lost, but it's great to win. So I wondered almost like if JT, like it would be sort of a over the hill, like, Oh, I'm back. I'm for three years. Like I'm, I'm on it. Victor doesn't seem like he's like super satisfied by this, just, he's like kind of pleased that it happened to work out

for him. So I don't, I, that's a tough answer. I started to split the baby here, but I think like probably Victor, but maybe, maybe not. Well, you're looking, I mean, JT's wind drought continues. I believe the 2022 PGA championship was his last win. So we're coming up on three years. Hovland, you know, pretty long drought, but not quite as long. I mean, it was like a Bob Ross win for, for Hovland. He's total happy accident. He's like, yeah, man, I see the bad ones are still in there. I just didn't show up this week. I don't know what to tell you. He remains like the best interview in golf. I love, love it when he, when he talks, it's,

it's, he, it makes it very easy for me to root for him. Because I just really appreciate his candor. Speaker 0.(1h 10m 29s): Yeah. My only regret, Neil, about the piece that I wrote about him is that he didn't talk for it because he might've gotten so deep in on stuff. Like I almost feel like, Hey, can we do it? Like a follow-up? Cause I really, you know, I'd love to hear your thoughts and just open a vein and tell me like what, what's going on in your head. Yeah, definitely. Randy, anything, anything there, anything stick out between JT and Hovland? No, I honestly, I agree with KVV. You know, it's, it's interesting. I was going back and forth with some people Thursday, Friday, just bemoaning some of the big names on tour and just wanting guys to be a bit more consistent and guys like JT, who I think

should be in contention more to actually be in contention. And he answered the bell. It's so weird though that I take away, on the one hand, I want to praise him. Like his weekend golf was great. But yet, as you said, a couple bogeys coming in in his fourth round today. And like, why can't we put four rounds together at the Valspar? You know, I just. Made the cut on the number, Randy. He was, if he didn't play at all decent in the beginning, like he wins his tournament. Like I'm just left wanting a little bit more. And I feel like that's the story of like my whole thing with JT is like, he always just leaves me wanting a little bit more. And then you're right

on Hovland. Like it's awesome to win and you never apologize for a win, but it's yeah. Like, what do you take from like, I don't think he's back. I don't know from his own mouth. So it's like, you know, it's like, yeah, it's like Hovland wins a couple of weeks before Augusta, like sign me the hell up for that, but we're not even getting that. So I don't know. I like Xander showed some signs of life, which I think is good, but I'm just like, man, we need some dudes like Scotty taking a step back and battling the hand injury. I just feel like there's a little bit of a vacuum right now on tour with like who's the man who's kind of stepping up to be the alpha right now? I mean, it feels like Rory stepped up, you know, angsty Rory.

That's true. Yeah, maybe I just taking over. He did not plan this week, but let me follow that up for you, Randy. Do you feel like the JT's round today? Would you like? I don't think it's a collapse, but it kind of feels like a collapse. Like, what do you think? Collapse, no collapse.

Like with that finish, you know? Yeah, I mean kind of feels like a collapse. Like, do you, what do you think? Collapse, no collapse, like with that finish, you know? Yeah, I mean, it's like, what is it one of the big collapses we'll ever remember? Like, of course not. It's it's not on that level. But I just think JT's got to be good enough to not throw a couple bogeys. Like he just got to be a little bit better. He just got a little bit like, you know, he was it was almost like he was rev in the end, you know, the Harley, like, you know, and like the cops were like, Hey man, just like, don't do that. Like in the school zone, you know, he just got

like pulled over at the end. Like that's it. Come on, dude. Don't just like spin the tires out. It's a school zone. It's a, it was like, it was almost like he was fueling himself and he hit driver there on 16. It's like, dude, just don't do that. Like, and then it was the kind of the same miss on 16 and 18 kind of that quick left ball. And it's like, man, you just can't like, can't miss left on either of those holes. Like absolutely no, nothing you can do on 18 from left to that bunker and that thick rough.

So I'll say he putted like a dream though. I mean that, if that ever, like you can miss like that at Augusta. And if you putt well enough, like, I mean, maybe the thing is nobody puts great at Augusta, but man, he, I felt like when those putts that he stood over on the back nine, I was like, this is going in like every one of these, I can't believe the one on 17 didn't go in. It was like 20, 25 feet. And it, it just like looked good the whole way. So I agree with you, KV, because that's always been the missing piece. It feels like with JT, but his, I think they said on the broadcast too, like you can tell when he's, when he's putting well, like he holds his finish like he, he, uh, his form looks really tight and it, it just felt like it, you know,

maybe he found something, uh, on the greens, but he's been Trent. I feel like JT has been, like you said, he can't put all four rounds together, but man, you're seeing flashes of like, God, there's like, I feel like there's good things ahead. I feel that way for JT, even though he kind of blew it today. Like, you know, he's so pissed at himself right now, but he's got, I feel like he, in a weird way, can almost take more from this week of like,

God, I'm building something here. I'm trending more so than Hovland. Hovland was just like truly blind squirrel shit. Like, oh, fuck, I'm building something here. I'm trending more so than Hovland. Hovland was just like, truly blind squirrel shit. Like, oh, fuck, I just got I just won. Like, it just doesn't make any sense. It's unbelievable. I agree with you. Yeah, I guess that's a question for JT is like, I'm curious how he is gonna what he is going to take from this week, all the

good or, you know, the, the two bogies and, and kind of giving it away at the end. That's a good question, but you're right. Like he's, he's been trending data golf loves him. Like everything's pointing in a good direction. That's where I'm like, man, it feels like let's, let's finish this tournament, get that taste of winning. And then you go into Augusta with that under your belt. But also, I don't know, maybe that shit doesn't matter. Who knows? Yeah, I mean, it seems like he's whatever he's doing. Like, it

seems to me, and I don't have any insight Intel on this, but it seems like JT has been working his ass off since he didn't make the president's cup team. And I feel like some of that work is paying off. And I, you know, I feel good about that. Like I'm like, that's great to see. Like I hope he breaks out in a big way as the season, you know, ramps up here, both, you know, hopefully at Augusta or even just like, you know, a lot of golf left this year. I always feel like there's, there should be a metric that's like strokes lost being a dad. Maybe you can relate to this, Neil.

Every time somebody has a kid, it's like, well, you got to reset your whole life, your whole practice routine. You got to juggle that stuff, the emotions of it all. It's the opposite of perspective. And maybe JT went through some of that too. Like, hey, you want to start a family? Hey, all of a sudden, I'm a dad. And you so badly want to win so your kid can run out on the green, man. It's a whole different like ball game

to figure that out. And so maybe like just getting more comfortable in the routine that they have and figuring, you know, okay, here's what I can practice. Here's what I can do. Dad life. Yeah. It's just like, there's a lot of mental energy expended on just like not being home that I think is under, uh, underappreciated in the new dad life of like, yeah, you just, you know, just not around. And it's like, I feel like I should be, but I'm not. And I can only imagine that's like off the charts for tour pros,

you know, cause they're, they're on the road so much. Gentlemen, I want to give a shout out to Innis Brooke and the Copperhead course. Like what a good test of golf. The scores were not outrageous. Every year really hard. Thursday and Friday. It's not a big ballpark, but like it really tests these guys and you're seeing them have to execute shots like that tee shot on 16 is a good example. You know, like you got it. You got to like locate a driving iron or if you're going to take driver, you got to take a very specific

line with that like 260 yard run out, um, you know, really tough shot on 17. I just, I feel like this, this tournament in course outside of the food, which was documented earlier in the year on this podcast, it feels like this term is like a good model for like the, I don't want to say second tier, but like the non signature events of like, yo, I think it's a lot more interesting to watch these guys get tested. Um, kind of like they used to down at, you know, in Palm beach gardens. Uh, but I want to see them have to work, especially, and, and on a, on a tight course and like, it's a different type of test. Um, but do you guys feel the same way?

Did you enjoy the golf course this week? I do feel the same way, Neil. And I've actually felt the same way for years. I enjoy Val Spar and the copperhead for years. I, I enjoy ValSpar and the Copperhead course because to me, it doesn't quite feel like, it doesn't feel like the Palm Beach course. It doesn't even feel like Bay Hill. Like you kind of lose a little of that Florida sense, which I like. And I'm with you. Like it's been a sneaky, tough test for a number of years. I, you know, I can remember back to like TC and I used to love John Sendon would

make runs at, at the Valspar. Like it's, it's always been one of like the under the radar better. Tournaments. And I think that's directly thanks to the venue. I could not agree more with that. A lot of dog legs, double dog, dog like 15, you know, love love that template. But like the tee shot on three number three is so hard. It's got you know, water right and then like water like

long left in the fairway just like angles in between these two lakes. And you can just you can see these guys like man, this is a true test for these guys, they got to lay back and then they got to hit a long iron into the greens. And I like seeing them have to hit long irons, you know, well, you know, to score. And that's kind of what I think this place does a really good job of. It's not, it's not really a bomb and gouge test. They don't seem like afraid to make it hard.

Like, you know, they, they whine so much about, you know, Palm Beach gardens that they made it easy. And it's just like, well, that used to be like a true hard test. This kind of remains like, now you missed the fairway like Chetee did. You're gonna have a really hard shot, even if it's only 130 yards into this hole. And I think that's more fun to watch than 23 under. And the other thing I'll say, like I think the fear with the cognizant was like, if we make it too hard, no one's gonna wanna come.

I mean, the field was really good this week. You got speed down there. Zander's looking for a rep. Like you got JT. Like I feel like I was like, Oh man, this is, this feels like a pretty good strength of field. Um, for a tournament I didn't really expect it at because it starts to fall in a spot on the calendar where a guy's like, yo, I need to get some reps in before, you know, before the masters. And so I think they have that to their advantage as far as where they're at in the calendar. But I don't think these tournaments should be scared of the challenge.

Like, I don't think guys are gonna skip it because it's hard. Like they wanna make money. They wanna get reps. Like I think that's stupid. Yeah, the cognizance a little, like I totally agree. They should make it hard and guys can choose to play it or not. But I think it's like if that's a test, you're kind of looking at almost

four weeks in a row of a test and that's where it's like, you're going to lose the best players. And that might just be a calendar. If I were in charge of the world, it's going to be a little challenging. I'm sorry. You know, it's going to be a little challenging. I'm sorry. Yeah. We're going to have to grind a bit this week. 65 may be a really good score. Just more fun golf to watch.

As an avid golf watcher, it's like that shot that Hovland executed into 16 is like, that's it, man. I want to see him have to hit that shot. Or like, yo, if somebody had to birdie 18, like that's a crazy hard birdie. What I don't want is just like, oh yeah, he's probably going to birdie 18. So like, you know, it's just like, keep up. That's just not what I'm, that's not what I'm looking for in week to week PGA Tour golf. So again, shout out to Val Spar. Randy, I want to throw it to you. Anything that thrilled and or delighted you this week? Anything that anything to call out like I you know, if there isn't anything

like we don't want to cheapen the thrills and delights that's totally fine. Yeah, no, I know, truly, I don't know. There were some there was some player behavior this week that this is all my listing ready, feel free to please take this because Cause I think, no, no, I'm not going to take yours because I agree with you, but I don't know if you guys saw, uh, saw hit on, was it round one? He, he like shanked an iron and then gave one of the best, like

violent, like down sideways club throws. Um, it seemed like he spotted it though. First he dropped, no one's over there. Like it was like, it's just bushes over there as he's, as he's letting the club go. It's like, okay, safe. Like let's, let's, let's fire away here. What I love is he dropped the club on the truss swing, picked up the club and then gave it the violent like hammerjack throw. That was great. That is thrilling. I like that. I can say wholeheartedly, you know, no, no bits. I love seeing guys show bursts of emotion like that. KVV. What was the, I know the, the next one, why don't you tell us about that one? Yeah. You know, we didn't catch this. I think until Saturday

someone else shot it like on their phone, But Adam Hadwin hit like a pretty poor chip and just like Tom hawked down and accidentally like KO to sprinkler head. Rizzi is doing it and the water like shooting sideways just truly delighted me to no end. And not only that, you know, trap draw guests, Adam had when his wife, Jessica, who's like a friend of the program, she was taunting him and teasing him on Twitter on X as she often does, basically posted one of those things that like it's been zero days since we had a workplace incident, which I just, I love that she like continues to like needle him. That's just kind of their energy.

And he was like in a very Canadian way was like, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Like, and he was like looking around for like a maintenance person. Like, is there any way someone could stop this while the water just like gushes sideways? If he didn't see it, please look it up. It is such a delight. Well, yeah. Cause he tries to stop the sprinkler back down. It was so relatable. Cause like what now? Like, Oh God, I can't, I can't fix it. And this caddy comes over and his case like, I'm not dealing with this. Like you're, you're on your own here, pal. I'll see it. The T. Yeah. And he just stands there as the water's gushing out both sides.

I just saw a video. I don't, you never know anymore with these, with the algos, but I think speed to try to hit a flop shot and he, he, it didn't go on. Just, just let's not a throaty, aggressive F bomb. Like the loudest. I was like, Whoa, you know, it just guys are guys are chippy right now. And I like it. Little emotion. It's is what we want. I want to see that out of, out of Jordan. Your new favorite golfer. Right. But, Hey, but we got to play better golf. Like we got it. We got to get better. Let's get

on it. You know, that sprinkler head when I was in college, I worked at, yeah, it's, it's long enough. No statute of limitations here, but I worked at Cincinnati country club as a bag boy. And we were out, I think it was like every cart was almost in and we were just trying to sneak a few holes in before we closed it down and, you know, took off for the night. And a buddy and in and we were just trying to sneak a few holes in before we closed it down and took off for the night. A buddy and I, we were rolling through the rough on the first hole and somehow tripped a sprinkler like that and it started bursting out. We were so, we didn't know what to do. We're like the lowest of the low on the totem pole.

Well, there's like a night manager that we always, I don't know if he was a Vietnam vet, Neil, but we were working that bit back in the day. And we went to tell him, we were like, you know, can I, is there any way for us to shut that? He's like, no, he's like, that's 12,000 PSI. I'll rip your face off. Hell out of here here guys. Let me deal with this. And we asked no more questions. Our buddy Dell with it. Yeah. Showed up the next day. Like, Oh, get your ass out of here. It's a hot LZ brother. Yeah. Yeah. Go on. I'm going to, I'll take his one out.

Dell don't I love her, but this PSI is out of control. It's going to rip your face off. Get the hell out of here guys. So yes, sir. Don't have to tell us. That's good stuff. All right. I got a thrill and delight. Um, I think Val spar, I mean, it's a sponsor one, Randy, just the paint company that sponsors the golf tournament, the paint cans as T markers. I just always get a kick out of that. And I want it. I also want to shout them out. They had, I counted four different commercials, like when they would play and

they were all, they were different and they were like 15 to 22nd spots where it was like a guy paint in his daughter's bedroom. Like I just appreciate like, yo, if you're going to beat me over the head with commercials of the title sponsor, at least give me a little variety. I didn't have to watch the same commercial over and over again, so that delights me. That somebody's, it feels like whoever their agency is or whoever's running the shop is like trying to do their job well.

And I just wanna shout that out because I can't stand it when you see the same title sponsor commercial over and over and over again. And it's like, yo, you spent all this money to sponsor this event and then you skimped on the creative is frustrating to me. I totally agree. Yeah. It shows a little give a damn for the audience. Like, yeah, that's all we're looking for a little bit of effort, man. If you're going to waterboard me with

the commercials, at least like make them, you know, at least surprise and delight me with some, with some content. Anybody, anybody to call out down the leaderboard? I feel like bud Colley continues to flash. Like that was nice to see him play well again, after playing well with the players, as we kind of talked about a few weeks ago, like kind of guy's career got totally derailed. So he was a talent back at Bama, you know, so it was really fun to see him continuing to put this together. I hope that hope it continues. Yeah, we had this Glover. Good finish there. Yeah. Lucas is stringing. Sorry, Neil. He's been stringing some good results together. It feels like

I'd say Sander signs a life 66 today, but I don't know. He's still seeing, he just seems rusty and you know, I hadn't, I picked them at the beginning of the year to win the masters. I'm not, I don't know how I'm feeling about that. Maybe it's a bylo. We can, we can talk about that in a little bit. Um, I was saying, yeah, sorry. Good play. Bogey and, uh, or excuse me, Bertie and 17 to at least give a chance to that. You know, that was Billy Ho. Billy Ho keeps playing good golf. Yeah. No,

I was just going to shout out Bridgman. He was T2 at the cognizant and then made cuts at least at Bay Hill and the players and gets a third place here. Nice little Florida swing for him. Tommy Fleetwood, quiet T16. There you go, Randy. Right. Okay. If I may, and we're going to get into this a bit more, but you know, Data Golf puts out their predictors beginning of the week. Tommy was the favorite to win the Valspar, something like 8.6%. How come Tommy can't ever win weeks like this? Let alone any week. I know. I know. This is what makes the, the TCK like it

just weakens it. It's like, man, we, we gotta, we gotta be able to win somewhere. We gotta be able to big tone something, you know, like, like beat up on, on, you know, like go down and play the JV game, you know, like, come on, get a rep in here. I completely agree with you, Randy. It's just like, he's like perpetually stuck in that like T5 to T20, but it's never like worse than that. But it's just, it's not like there's no, the ceiling is pretty low.

You know, and then Jordan falls up a 67 Saturday with a 72 today. Tom Kim, I don't know, minus one T36. Tom Kim's been kind of doodoo thinking. Right. Spees just got to avoid some big numbers. You know, he makes a double in round two. He made that triple today in the, in the final round. He's, he's bogey and some par five. Like it's just sloppy that that's, that's what's killing me with Jordan. It just, let alone like putting 18 holes together, he doesn't give me any confidence that 72 consistent holes

is coming anytime soon, which is a bummer. And then I was a little disappointed. I thought like Zala Taurus, I keep feeling, oh, you know, he's trending maybe a sneaky master's pick and just kind of 73, 72 on the weekend. Like we need to tighten it up, Willie Z. If we're gonna take, if we're going to take you seriously, T 47 is not, not doing it for me there. Especially on heart. He's supposed

to excel on art stuff, right? That's his whole thing. I know. So, all right, before we get to the listener line, gentlemen, let me give a shout out to Holderness and Born. H&B just launched their new spring 2025 collection on hBGolf.com. Fresh color stories of fusion, deep teal, Citroen, Marlin blue, Liberty red, and Scotch pink. God, love that. Just like Valspar colors in there from H and B. They expanded their aeration line of ventilated shirts, vest layering.

Randy, you know what that means. Microperforation and macro comfort. Okay. That's one of the best tag lines in golf right now. The Tilly is their first quarter zip hoodie. Very nice piece. It's versatile for off course. The Pickett is the new active wear t-shirt. We got a few of these in the NLU Pro Shop and they're fantastic shirts. Good for the gym, just kind of good for weekend activities. They have the aeration technology on the back and under the arm areas. And then I wore the Wallace today playing golf. It was 30, basically didn't get above 35 today.

Had the NLU turtleneck on under it. It was great. The Wallace is awesome. It's like the diamond knit hoodie that they have. So I would encourage everyone to go check out hbgolf.com. And you can use NLU10 at hBgolf.com. And you can use NLU10 at HBgolf.com for 10% off your first order. It's one of the only discounts on the market. I think the other one is a Nest exclusive discount that you can find in your member profile, Randy, if people would like to go check that out at nolayingup.com forward slash

profile, baby. But shout out to H&B. got our longest running partner in the NLU Pro Shop. They just they make good stuff. Micro perforations, macro comfort, Randy. I love to think about a Peggy Olson and Don Draper just working on that tagline. Just good stuff. We nailed it. It's good stuff. All right, guys, before we get to two

voicemails I have queued up, we did get word. I was trying to get a voice memo from one of our sources on site from the Valspar about the food, but the update is through TC. This is a quote in TC. I'm told the food this week went from an F to a C plus both in player dining and in media dining. Keira Dixon specifically thanked Keith for his heroic efforts. He said there is still much work to be done, but the omelet station lady was a particular bright, a particular

bright spot this week. End quote. So shout out to the omelet lady at the, at the omelet station. That that's great. You know, we love good work. And I feel like somebody that's, that's doing, doing good omelet work, you know, working two hot plates at the same time, keeping the line moving. We love that. I feel like between this and our Beth page investigation, we're making the world a better doing good omelet work, you know, working two hot plates at the same time, keeping the line moving. We love that. I feel like between this and our Bethpage investigation, we're making the world a better place. Like we're just doing things. This year, you're the product baby. All right, gents, let me see if I can dial up, you know, listen, this is where you got

me working the ones and twos. Can I, can I get this? Come on, Neil, you got it. Here we go. I'm going to hit play on this voicemail. Let me know if you can hear it. Hey, this is Chris Diaz from Seattle. I had a quick question. Do you think more people know Grant Horvat or Willie Z? Kind of got into it with some boys, and I think it's Grant. More YouTube golfers out there.

Let me know. Thanks. An interesting 19th hole discussion here from up in Seattle. KVV I'm going to kick this one to you first. What, what do you think as the YouTube golf stuff evolves? Like, do you feel like these, you know, these creators are going to become more popular than some of the, like, I wouldn't say the, let's call it like the second tier PGA tour, but like big names on the PGA tour.

Yeah. I think it is grand Horvath. Uh,, what does that mean? Neil, I think there's that's mixed for an interesting question is we've talked about this, like is the YouTube golf and certainly we're involved in this universe in our own way too. So it's a little bit weird to comment on, but is that like a sellable thing? Like are you, is this 13 year old boys who know who Grand Horvath is? Like there's millions of those for sure. And I don't know that all those people are golf fans, but they're definitely like deep in the YouTube algorithm. So I think like there's a lot of value in that, but I'm not sure quite that it translates

into like the larger public. Like, you know, are those people who are watching it, do they, you know, do they spend money in the world? Are they willing to tune into things that, you know, you can sell ads against? Like, I don't know what the value of a grand whore is, but I think it's pretty darn popular with like a younger generation. That's why people keep leaning into this stuff. It's like, Hey, we got this market.

Now we just got to figure out like if there's an actual like, it's sellable in some way, because the PGA tour for all its faults is still sellable and people are companies are putting up $30 million for these. No one is putting up right now, $30 million to have a good, good like, you know, tournament. And maybe that comes down the road, but right now that's not quite happening. I kind of think KVV might be right, but, and I don't want this to come off as a diff to grant Horvat. I don't, I don't know him and I have no problem with them, but like, I don't know if I want to live in a world where like he is more well known than one of the best golfers in the

world. If that makes sense. It's like, ah, I mean, is that like, is that good? Maybe maybe I don't need to pass a judgment on that, but it's, it's like, I kind of wish it was Will's altourist that like, Hey, you know, kind of meritocracy, like, well, he's like one of the top 10 golfers in the world or top 20 Let's say I feel like more people like in theory It's like well, he should have more people that know his name then but then you think like well Maybe that's Zala Taurus's fault

Maybe he needs to like get on me do a Bryson and get on YouTube or he doesn't care because he's making more money than you know Any of these creators are and he's he doesn't he doesn need to. So it's definitely an interesting discussion though. I also wonder like coming from- What if I- Go ahead. So I think a couple of things. Zala Torres is currently,

he used like a few years ago pre-injury, yes, he was top 10 in the world. He's now 61st. So I think it's a little different discussion when you're talking about the actual like 61st ranked player in the world compared to perhaps. Yeah, maybe I'm giving him too much credit as top 20. Tommy Flew is the ninth ranked player in the world.

Like I guarantee Grant Horvath is better known than Sepp Straka who's the 11th ranked player in the world. Is he better known than Patrick Cantlay who's the 12th? Like the the world? Is he better known than Patrick Cantlay, who's the 12th? Like the one thing that I think in this discussion where I get a little bit annoyed is where, you know, Phil Mickelson was on with Grant Horvath or whatever and Phil was like, I don't understand why you didn't go pro. Like you have such an amazing swing.

Like I cannot stress how much better at golf Will Salatores is than Grant. Like it is a cavernous difference between the two terms of like your ability to play. And so I think that there's a market for it's like saying why doesn't Sally go on tour? Like I mean, you know that this scores that Sally shoots in tournaments are a pretty good example of like, how much frickin harder it is to play professional golf. And so the only thing I get a little

bit annoyed is is when people were like, man, that those guys are so sick. They're such unbelievable players. Yeah. It's just like not skill level is even comparable, but they're really good at what they do. And I think that there is a market for that. And I'm glad that someone has tapped into it. The other thing I get a little frustrated with basically from working at Google and literally like buying YouTube views years ago on behalf of brands, like everybody uses views as like the currency.

And it's like, yo, a lot of these are not real. Like I'm not accusing anybody of like buying views, but like that's happening at a lot of places. I don't know. I'm not saying that about Grant. Like I do think a lot of actual humans are watching his videos, but like, like not all views are created equal even across platforms, like a definition of a view on X is like 10 seconds

versus YouTube is 30 seconds versus Instagram is eight seconds. And it's like, well, those are very different amounts of time. And like, are those people like who's actually watching this? Like what device are you watching it on? Like people that are watching YouTube on their living room TV screen, that's a lot more valuable, even if it's a smaller number, you know, and we've seen like our numbers on our YouTube stuff go way up on like living room, like TVs, because you can now like see that in the analytics. And it's like that to me is like, wow, it's not like a, you know, you're obviously always going to

have more mobile views than anything else. But like, I think the TV one, that's like the holy grail. It's like, shit, someone's turning this on in their living room? That's just awesome. Like that's like the main, the primary viewing. You know, it's not just some second screen bullshit. So I know, you know what I mean? Like I think about that as like, yeah, people might know them, but like, do they, like, is it this, I don't know, is it the same value?

Like you said, KVV, I guess can you monetize it the same way over time? I would say like, it'll be interesting to find out for us included. I don't think I deserve that. Like if we're considering ourselves in this YouTube creator world, you know what I'm saying? I totally know what you mean. It's an interesting question though, because I don't think it's necessarily the same value. Like, like you said, KVV, can you, I guess, can you monetize it the same way over time? I would say like, it'll be interesting to find out for us included. For sure.

But I don't really want to live in a world where I'm more, people know me truly'm saying? I totally know what you mean. It's an interesting question though, because I don't think it's necessarily bad in that if if the tour or these players if they want to work with us, Grant Horvat, to to get the players more exposure, of that to get the players more exposure. Like it's not the worst thing in the world for a league to have very popular social media content creators around it. Right. I think it becomes imperative for the league itself to then utilize those people to boost, you know, the players or the league's popularity.

And I think that's where, you know, you listen to Solly and I think that's where the PGA tour maybe is like, their eyes are starting to open. Finally starting to think about it. Yes. Yeah. Which is good. That's a good thing. But I hear what you say, Neil, like I'm just like a very personal level, like nobody needs

to know me more than like any of these. It just doesn't feel like you deserve it. It feels like actual skill. Cause I just hooked takes from behind this microphone. And I don't want to like, you know, people can game this stuff with like thumbnails, like, nah, you're never going to believe what it's like. It's like, I, you know, or I'd rather the guy that's just like playing really good golf, like gets, you know, the attention he deserves for it. You know what I mean? So anyway, I do want to say like, we have this conversation. I just want to reiterate like no shaded grand whore vet or

any, any of the creators. I don't want that to be taken out of context. It's just kind of, it's interesting times and just golf, right? Because, but I agree with you too, Randy, like the, it's incumbent upon the league and the players of like, yo, you, you probably need to wake up and like market yourself a little bit. You know, if you, if you, if you do care that like, Hey, why are these guys getting all this attention? I'm much better than him. It's like, well, cause you're not very fun to watch and listen to on a week to week basis. What's a way to grow like TV ratings, right? Like either

need like a once in a generation dominant player or like you need more people to like know who you are and root for you. And yeah, that's Which is why I'm excited about Hovland because every time he opens his mouth, I'm like, God, I want to root for that guy. I hope he, I hope he wins a major this year. Like I can't wait to watch him play again. So, um, all right, let's, uh, we'll take another question here. Only got two. We know what? Wait, wait, listen, your lines open, we need to force it. Listen, I'll say the, the Lister line is one eight three three three three zero eight seven two five. Don't want to put that out on to the eggheads out there on between that.

So if you're listening to this, you want to call it, you got a good one for us. The voicemails were a little thin this week. Um, but we got one from a Nippy spinner. Hey, what's up guys? This is Nippy Spinner. I'm just kind of wondering where the name, the Bloke came from. I must've missed that one. And then also also why do you guys shit on Wyndham Clark so much? I mean, I feel like he's playing some pretty good golf. I don't I don't really disagree But then yeah also Just wondering like

What's up with Tom Kim? Like I feel like this podcast has made me hate him too. All right. Thanks guys I feel like this podcast has made me hate him too. All right. Thanks guys. I thought that was good stuff. Stacking questions from Nipty spinner. KV I'm going to send the blow pig. We'll send question number one over to you. All right. When you hear the answer to this, you're going to hate it. Yeah. Look, there's a lot of stupid bits on our program, right? Like I've only been around for a couple of years. So I haven't contributed too many of the stupid bits, but a group of guys that I regularly play with, Barry, Rick, Ned, they love to add them to, I'll make sure I mentioned all of them. They love to like bet every week, a shout out fan duo on stuff. And so when you're betting with your friends and you're trading back texts back and forth, sometimes like you're sending stupid emojis, right? And so they

sent like dumb emojis. They would like try to make up names for the various players with emojis and Windham became the wind emoji and the pig emoji, wind ham. And they were saying to me like, Kev, it would be so great if you could get this like on the NLU podcast. And they were saying to me like, Kev, it would be so great if you could get this like on the NLU podcast. And I was like, you know what? I might just do that. Let's just see, you know, throw out a little bone to, you know, lifelong, good fans, good friends. And so, you know, I was on once with, with Sally and DJ and I was like, you know, I think we should call a wind them the blow pig from now on. And TC, he just ran with it. Cause you know, he loves a good bit. And so he's been the blow pig ever now on and TC he just ran with it because you know, he loves

a good bit. And so he's been the blow pig ever since. Why do we shit on him? I mean, I can defer this back to you guys. I think TC is the answer as well. Yes. We is not. That's not the right word. We all get lumped in with. I got no beef with wind. I, me too. He also is one of the, like, he's a great interview and great, like very sincere, very genuine, very thoughtful dude. I actually like really appreciate Wyndham Clark. Now TC thinks he's a ball speed imposter. He thinks he just like, he can't work the ball both ways. He just hits this, you know, technology has made him a relevant golfer, I believe would be the argument.

Hit a clunky, spinny fade on the 72nd hole of the USO. Which is true. I mean, that was unbecoming. That was unbecoming. He also had such an unbelievable short game on that back nine. He got up and down from so many different spots. So the idea that he can't play golf seems a little bit unfair. No, I think that I have no problem with Wyndham.

He does it like his ball flight, and game isn't the sexiest for me. Like it's not, but I, I don't root against him. Uh, don't hate on him, but yeah, I, you know what I actually appreciate about him is he, he's got like kind of fricking temper. Like homey gets down on himself and I can relate to that. So, you know, he, he's real volatile with his game. He's, you know, he's, he's hot and cold. And so I kind of like it when he pops up and he's like, Oh shit, he's gonna ball out this week. Great. I kind of like when he threw some shade at Tom Kim when he

was like, you know, screw this guy. I don't appreciate the going to sleep thing. Like, you know, do anything to us like that. That was fun. Like, he's a little chippy and I want him on more of the US teams if he can, his play will justify it. Because it's like that chippiness. And then the Tom Kim thing, I, I don't know if any of us are riding, maybe Sally's riding for, for young Tom Kim, but,

I can't decide if he's like an immature 25 year old or like a really mature fifth grader. You know, he's just, the antics are like not in, to me, like it's not very endearing. He plays slow, that doesn't help. I don't know. YTK is just not really my speed, but Yeah, he just kind of rubs people the wrong way, I think is the most polite way to say it.

Apparently in private too. I mean, I know people hate sometimes we're like, Oh, we could tell you the stories, but like not exactly the most polite person in some interactions with some of our friends or pros. Sure. Sure, sure. But listen, Deserves Credit doesn't hit it a long way and has broken out as a young star on tour. But people try to say that he's the kid. He's not the kid. I think I've always called him John the Baptist. He's like the kid before the kid. There's going to be another kid that comes along. I think Ludwig might John the Baptist. He's like the kid. He's like the kid before the kid, you know, like there's going to be another kid that comes along.

I think Ludwig might be the kid. All right. Okay. I was just going to add, I find myself just being a little contrarian. Like I'll root for him just cause I know how much he drives TC crazy and some of those guys. So do you, do you guys think the blow pig knows that his nickname is the blow pig? I think he's ever driving around in his car. I was like, where the fuck did this come from? Probably not. I feel like somebody's had to have called him that. It's an interesting question.

If he knows what's up. It sounds mean spirited, but it's really not. It's not just an emoji thing. Yeah. Right. It break down his name. Yeah. There's no better way to put it in an emoji.

All right guys, let's, let's take to the back nine. You know, 10th hole here. I'm going to kick it off a little. I want to revisit some masters picks from the season preview podcast we did. KVV, you had Keegan, the giraffe play of the year. Keegan at plus 22,000. Are you buying or selling that pick right now? I still think I'm buying. I still think he's played, you know, well enough in some spots that, you know, every now and then we get a surprise masters winner, right? Someone who's had some success, but you know, doesn't really like, isn't a guy who you'd be like a top 10 pick and the value is there, right? I'm going to ride for my guy. And I, I did put money down on this because I thought the nightmare scenario was that Keegan actually won the masters and I didn't put my 20 bucks down on it. And I had to like admit shamefully.

So I went in there specifically and placed this bet. Oh, it will be delightful. If Fan deal all tries to offer me like a buyout, you know, Saturday night Keegan's leading by three, you know, do I want to take the, the buyout or want to ride it? I think I'm just going to ride with my guy. I got to see it, you know, cause it'll be a legendary thing. I'll bring back the Keegan fan character with the aviators and the cigars. It could be a delightful masters. I love seeing you double down on this. I had, I had Xander at plus 1200. I God,

with Rory ball it out, you ready? You know, I'm getting sucked into the block party chatter. I see it. I see it all around me. I just, but then it it out, ready. You know, I'm getting sucked into the block party chatter. I see it. I see it all around. I just, but then it's like, God, you know, Xander, you feel like he's just going to snap into it here in the next couple of weeks. Like he's played well at Augusta. He's got a good track record to mage got the major monkey off his back last year. But it's just like, I don't really want to root for Xander to win the masters. Do you know what I mean? It's like, this is almost like, uh, like a do it. I'm not going to be able to do it. I'm not going to be able to do it. I'm not going to be able to do it. I'm not going to be able to do it. I'm not going to be able to do it. I'm not going to be able to do it. I'm not going to be able to do it.

I'm not going to be able to do it. I'm not going to be able to do it. I'm not going to be able to do it. I'm not going to be able to do it. I'm not going to be able to do it. I'm not going to be able to do it. I'm not going to be able to do it. I'm not going to be able to do it. I'm not going to be able to do it. I'm not going to be able to do it. I'm not going to be able to do it. I'm not going to be able to do it. I'm not going to be able to do it. I'm not going to be able to do it. I'm not going to be able to do it. I'm not going to be able to do it.

I'm not going to be able to do it. I'm not going to be able to do it. I'm not going to be able to do it. I'm not going to be able to do it. I'm not going to be able to do it. I'm not going to be able to do it. I'm not going to be able to do it. I'm not going to be able to do it. I'm not going to be able to do it. I'm not going to be able to do it. I'm not going to be able to do it. I'm not going to be able to do it. I'm not going to be able to of weeks. I don't know. We're, we're TBD on that. Think about this, though. Think about what, if Xander wins the masters, he's won three fricking majors in a row. I know.

Like all of a sudden the Xander slam is like a real thing. Like I think- Wait, can we confirm this? This is, this is breaking news to me. Yeah. I just think that's a, that was a super fun thing to imagine. Like who, who would sneak up on us?

Like out of nowhere. Why doesn't it seem more fun though? That's a good question. It's like that should get me jacked up. I know he is very thoughtful and very good. Like give such good answers. It's just, you have to like get him into the right time and space.

And you have to like ask good questions. I'm starting to respect some of the players more who like, like Scotty, if you ask a good question, you will get a good answer. If you kind of are lazy about it and give a really lazy question, you will not get a good answer from me or them. And I, you know what? I respect that.

Let's do our jobs as questioners and think of creative, good questions. Yeah. Now hold on. I was, because I was like, we should be talking about Xander going for three in a row more, but KV, I hate to say this, the PGA. Oh God, that's right. And then the US open Bryson over Rory. So yeah, he has one too out of the last three. I get so confused by this Twitch around. Thank you, Randy. How's that not like all everybody's talking about? All right. Randy, you didn't make a season preview pick, but who you got? Who's your pick right now?

Just on the spot. KVV is kind of talking me into somebody off off the radar a little bit. You know, maybe could Russell Henley win the masters. I'm Neil, I might abstain from making a pick right now. I'm disappointed in the best of the best. You know I'm not hitching my wagon to Rory. Certainly not at Augusta. You know, like John Rahm. The czar is going to be there this year. The stars are aligning for an on site block party.

You kidding me? Like is Rahm the guy? What if? I'm not making a pick right now. I'm not going to make a pick until somebody is becoming of me picking them. Okay. It's really fun to think about though. It's wide. It feels wide open right now. Like Colin Mora, call it. Hey, if you want to be a serious big boy golfer, this would be a great year to be in contention Sunday at the masters. You know,

I'm just looking at a lot of guys thinking, I need to see something. A lot of people for Randy, a lot of a lot of people. All right. Number 11, KVV, you dropped this in the slack and I loved it. Joe Ferguson had an article on banning caddies to combat slow play. Quote, what other sport allows athletes to be accompanied by what essentially amounts to a Butler carrying their equipment so they don't get tired, cleaning their clubs, feeding and watering them, generally advising them on how to play. Uh,

I thought this was a sick, sick argument, but please break it down for us. What w where'd you, where did you fall after reading it? Are you, are you anti caddy? Listen, I just think that there should be more variety in like, we want to think of new different fun formats or whatever. Let's have a whole tournament with no frigging caddies. Let's just see like, right. Let's experiment. Like you can't either. Oh, we can't do Hickory's, you know, or we can't do old timey clubs because the OEMs might get upset.

All right. Well, there's no caddy union. We can't really like, let them have the week off. Let them be paid. Whatever. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah. I want to see guys out there. Sick idea. Their own yardages. Just do it one for one tournament. Let's see. It's like the minor leagues putting a pitch clock in your Randy and you know, tennis guy. You can't even like give coaching from the box in the story. That's you know, you can get in big trouble in tennis. If you're like doing hand signals, here we got that.

Okay, God, I'm still can't have anybody like helping you out. It's like, you know, fake. Like you're going to the bathroom so you can like, you know, it is very lonely. I mean, when you think about it, it is sort of like a reminiscent of like the game being part of like the upper class, like aristocracy really, like it was basically that rich people did not want to like haul their shit around. And so that's why caddies existed way back in Scotland in the day. Two from my, my personal experience, I do a 1000% play slower when I have a caddy because I'm talking through stuff and it's like, you're almost like, Hey, I need to like make sure you're on board with this. Uh, you know, I don't like to like pull a club and like, I want to walk my, my partner through what we're, what we're doing here. And, uh, so I think there is a decent argument to say, like, some of these guys, you know, they don't, they're not going to

pull the trigger until like the caddy and they've talked through everything. Whereas like, if you're playing alone, you kind of make up your mind quicker. Um, so I think you make, I think Joe Ferguson makes a pretty good argument. I don't think it's ever going to happen, but is there something that they can do with caddies to like speed up some of the, you know, the, the pre shot stuff, the decision making stuff? I don't know. I think that they would make the argument. No, we're doing like, we're actually speeding things up cause we're stepping stuff off. Well, then it's like, why don't we just give them rangefinders? You know what I mean?

Like that would probably be a good first step. The game's going to survive if we do this for one week, if we just like say like, Hey, everybody got to carry their own bag. Let's see who can hit that sore shoulder shot on 16, 17, Karen, your bag all day. Like, cause that's what I want to test. Cause that's probably love it. They'd all get Walker bags. You know, they, they, they, they, I guarantee you to a man, they'd be like, Oh my God. it reminded me of when I was 14 years old is the most fun. Yeah. I totally in with that. KV, I would just say the, the, the fall events, or at least the corn fairy to, to not have a testing ground where you can have a little fun and try some of these things is, I feel like that's one of the bigger misses in professional golf. Yep. All right, Randy, whole 12 on the tee up here. Solly trying to DJ had a pod on I believe Tuesday of this last

week, best players to a ranking top 10 players to never win a major. They had a historic top 10 without a major and they had our top 10 in golf without a major right now, class of 2025. All right. So yeah, long podcast, good podcast. Go listen to those guys. They enjoy doing it. Guys, my question to you is how in what world is Tommy Fleetwood the ninth best player ever to not win a major? It makes no sense. And then if we go down, I really just want to concentrate on the current today who are these 10 best players. A friend of mine texted and very innocently asked, do you guys overrate Ludwig Oberg? And I'm like, yeah, probably we do.

Everybody just likes him. He looks really good playing golf. I guess guys, as I try to put together my own list, I don't know how this list doesn't begin with some either Patrick Cantlay, Some either Patrick Cantlay, Terrell Hatton or Victor Hovland. Like I just think those three have to be in those first three spots until. Let me read. So the list was starting number one Ludwig to Tommy Fleetwood, which is not, not the case. Grace three wills, alatores for my guy,

Yokeen, uh, Neiman five, Patrick Cantlay six, Lord, T real Hatton seven, Russell Henley, eight, Neiman five, Patrick Cantlay, six, Lord T. Real Hatton, seven, Russell Henley, eight, Victor Hovind, nine, Tom Kim, 10 Luke Clanton, uh, which is like, yeah, just don't look at Luke. He's not even fucking pro. Like why, why is he on the list? Can you imagine grinding for years on the tour and like, someone's like, Oh yeah, Luke Clanton, he's the best player right now without a major. No, like actually

let's, let's show it first, please. So guys, I just, I don't know. I, I feel like back to our guy, what was he? Nippy spinner or whatever. I feel like this fleet, I just need to distance myself from the Tommy Fleetwood stuff more than anything. Like the TC's views, DJ, they're not representative of how I feel. And I just need that to be known because we see stuff like this. We see him getting picked 16 times a year to win some event. It's just crazy to me that the guy has not won a PGA tour event and every other player on this list has won multiple PGA tour events, except

Luke Clanton, except for Luke, which we also shouldn't be on the list. It's like, yo, how are you putting Fleetwood ahead of can't lay, you know, it's like, there has to be like a body of work here that we're evaluating. I think it's kind of devastating damning that Tommy's only won seven European tour like things. It's not like Tommy is calling, calling Montgomery who won what? Like 30 some times, you know, on European tours, like that's where you gotta understand these were big events. This is really not one, one frigging Dubai event that TC like references over and over

that. So I've got a historic top 10 without a major was it was Monte Lee Westwood, Luke Donald, Harry Cooper, light horse, light horse, Harry love call out, uh, Doug Sanders, Matt Kutcher, Steve Stricker, Kenny Perry, Tommy Fleetwood. What the fuck are we talking about? And Judy Rankin, Randy like that. Judy's I think she won like 27 times on the LBGA. She honestly, she should be much higher.

I actually had more issues with this list than I had on the clap flavor of the week. I think Paul Casey not being on this list was like a little, like, I feel like he played at a really, really high level for a long time. Yeah. And like, I just, yeah, I feel like he should be up there. I think another guy I'd call out would be like JB Holmes or even Poulter, like just like, Hey man, like the, maybe not Poulter. I mean, he was kind of maybe

just Ryder Cup pizzazz, but, um, Casey is still active, has won 15 times in Europe, three times on the PGA tour, twice on the Asian tour, just going off his Wikipedia has a slew of top 10. Yeah. I feel like he was in majors for like five year stretch there. He was like sniffing around and I just don't see him mentioned anywhere. I know he's fallen off like he's not not playing great golf now. Also in the club, the top 10 like class of 2025. The fact that Taylor Gooch isn't on there is just, you know, live erasure. I hate hates you in that. I can't believe I'm saying this. Like, should Ricky be on

the historic top 10 list? I know that kind of that says something. Like he doesn't have the magnitude of wins, but he was in the hunt a lot. I know he had that what was second in every major. What was that? 2016? 2014? I'll defer to KVV. Yeah. He was in five and all 10. So he was only third guy to ever do that with Nicholas and Tiger. And my biggest issue with the historic list is like, like, I feel like Steve Stricker should be way farther up this list than, like, he should be in front of Kutcher for sure.

You know, I don't have a really problem with like Luke Donald being on this list. I mean, just honestly, like I like Tommy really liked Tommy Fleetwood. Just get him off, get him off. I mean, I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie.

I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie.

I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not on this list. I mean, just honestly, like I like Tommy really liked Tommy Fleetwood. Just get him off, get the fuck out of here. He doesn't belong on this list. I just don't need to hear about him until he wins and then we can talk all we want about him. I could sit here and make a case that Jesper Parnevik is a better player than Tommy Fleetwood over the course of his career. Jesper Parnek won like five times on the PGA tour bunch on the European tour, there's second in the open championship twice.

Like I, I just feel like there's a bunch of euros that I would say are probably better, ultimately historic players than Tommy. These guys are DJ Tron. So there's no bias. Unbelievable. I mean, that's crooked. All right. Well, listen, go listen to that pod and decide for yourself.

Next topic. Do the players owe the media anything? I thought Shane Ryan had a really good piece kind of breaking down. Like it was pretty chippy last week at the players. Hey, I know we talked a little bit about this or I heard a little bit on the live shows last week, but you know, Colin Moore,

Colin was doubling down on like, hey, I don't need to talk to the media. Like I'm out signing the autographs. I'm, you know, I don't owe you guys anything. I wanted to throw this one over to you as, as somebody who's been a, a beat writer has been in other sports, kind of work in the beat and NFL locker rooms. How do you feel about this? Like kind of some of the pro golf chatter around like, man, I don't, you know, I don't know you guys anything. kind of some of the pro golf chatter around like, man, I don't, you know, I don't know you guys anything.

I guess what a little bit bugs me is just like this growing media backlash in general, right? I think it's, you know, it comes down from other areas of society too, what is just like, Hey, these guys are the enemies. These guys are the bad guys. These like mostly what the golf people are, are the people who are just trying to sort of like act as a conduit between you and the fans. Like they're just trying to get your story. You know, they're not really asking like, Oh, how badly did you choke out there, Colin? Like they're just kind of wanting to be like, you know, can you talk, take us through like what you felt like? And if you don't want to do it, that's okay. Like I'm not going to make a big deal out of this.

Like I just think the idea that people don't want that, that it's just like the media who's like these vampires who are sort of sucking the blood of the players. I think that's bullshit. Like I think there is, you know, this desire of fans to want to hear like, Hey man, like what happened? Like what, why'd you hit seven iron there instead of eight? And you know, what, what did you thinking it through? Like that last few decisions, you know, obviously that putt didn't break the way you thought. That's all part of like this idea that they, and they initially, as soon as they signed this SSG deal, they were like, yeah, we all know we have to do our part. We feel like, you know, we need to be more available.

That lasted about a month and a half, you know, and then they kind of resorted back. And I just wish the agents would sort of say like, Hey, let's just do three minutes here. It's going to be so much better for you. If you want to do it, just stand up with Kira. She's not going to grill you, man. She's just do three minutes here. It's gonna be so much better for you. If you want to do it, just stand up with Kira. She's not gonna grill you man. She's not gonna go frost Nixon on you. Like she's gonna ask you like, Hey, like, are you how you doing? Are you okay? Like, how you feeling?

This is obviously a tough beat. And just sort of be kind of like smarmy about it and be like, I don't owe you guys anything. But you kind of owe the fans who are like, part of what's putting up $25 million for this that's something. And really like, I'm just a sort of condo. And it just, I would say I made this on the live show, man, you have it so much easier than other sports. You have it so much easier than like players had it 25 years ago when they just apps media had a lot more power and they were kind of vicious.

Like it's all pretty tame right now. And so I just, I don't think like this backlash is, it's just silly. Like there's a way to kind of vicious. Like it's all pretty tame right now. And so I just, I don't think like this backlash is, it's just silly. Like there's a way to kind of. File it to me, like file it into things like you just, just yeah, go spend two minutes, but guys I don't really feel like talking, but like ask me a couple of questions.

Like it's really, I don't know. It just do the hard work upfront, get it out of the way. And then you don't have to worry about it, you know? And then you can go home and be pissed. I just don't think it's that big of a deal, man. All right. Well, on that note, go read Shane Ryan's piece. I thought it was really well written and, and kind of a good, uh, I don't know, temperature check on just like the, you know, the tension between like pro athletes and the media and where

everybody sits. All right. Little personal golf update. KVV. Why don't we start with the good stuff first? Well, where, where are you at? You played today. How are you feeling? Yeah. Played at needwood golf course, Montgomery County down kind of towards, you know, Southern Maryland did not play well, just drove the piss out of it. It was really like hitting it great, but the irons were just a mess. I got to get in the lab. Got to get some lessons. Got to do some stretching. Maybe you got to get some, you know, some yoga ready. I'm going to take that offline and talk to you a little bit about it. Cause it's great, man. You're great. Can't get over to his left

side. That's the hip. The hips are too stiff. Well, I enjoy yoga and I can't get over to my left side either. So I'm not, but I do like yoga. So I would, I would recommend. Yeah. But on the good side, I think Neil, you're about to reference this. I played about 10 days ago, some good friends, just to kind of lovely Sunday stroll and made a hole in one, have the ball first career hole in one. There's a, at my country club, rolling road golf club, the 10th hole is like this little postage stamp. You know, it's 110, 115 yards. And so I hit, we had a little wind into us, hit just a beautiful like pitching wedge, like lit.

Well, some of my best contact of the day just absolutely buttered it. And it was kind of fading. I, I exactly where I wanted to start it was fading at the hole. And I was like, Oh, that, that could be pretty good. And I was like, man, just do it. And it was kind of fading. I, it was exactly where I wanted to start it. It was fading at the hole. And I was like, Oh, that, that could be pretty good. And I was like, man, just do it. Just one time, do it popped spun a little bit sideways, right in the cup. Very cool. Did it with like a brand new ball. I have these titleists that Tyler sends us. It's got my initials on it. That's my, was my high school football number 33 on the side. So it's like a pretty cool ball, brand new wedge. The titleist had sent to, you know, the pitch, fresh grooves, fresh grooves. Exactly. The ball would not have spun with it. Wasn't

for those fresh groups. I think it was the first full swing that I took with that club. I had to use it as like a little hittle up and run. So that was pretty frigging cool to have first swing to dunk it in there.. Just, you know, really fun thing for me. I've never, my mom has had two hole in ones and sort of held that over my head for many years, but now I finally got one. I'm a have her lead. So hopefully I can get another one in my lifetime. Well, welcome to the club. Randy thinks he might be in the club, but he doesn't, he can't know. I think I probably am not. I may have made one on a part of three course back when

I was like 11 or 12, but I also might not have. And it also might've been the third shot. I very hazy KV. I have two specific questions. What was the celebration like in the moment? And then, you know, was any, any scenes back in the, in the clubhouse where you have to buy any rounds? I, it was very important to me to buy a round, but I'll get there in a second. So I was playing with my friends, Corey and Amanda Walsh and Brennan Loughran, and they like jumped into my arms, like flying chest bumps. You know, it's a, it's a kind of a downhill hole. It's like got bunkers all around the sides. And it's like right by the parking lot. And there

was, there's people kind of hanging out over the range and they came over and gave me high fives. And, uh, it's like I got my phone out and kind of videoed it all the way down there and stuff and texted, texted my parents, texted my daughter, uh, texted my regular golf group of friends, but it was, it was basically like my favorite group of people to play with that, my country club. So it was really fun to be able to just happen to have a round where I was

playing with them and to make it. So that was, that was really cool. And then that we were talking through the thing and there's, you know, a lot of country clubs have insurance. You pay five bucks a month or whatever into the hole. And one thing, there is no insurance in the off season for stuff. This was, you know, right before the March 15th, I think it was the 12th or something. So as you couldn't post the score, but there was a debate, like, what are you going to do? Like, do you go in? Do you put like a limit on, you know, how much you want to pay? And you basically say like, everybody gets a drink. I went in the bar and I was

like, look, everyone who's in the bar right now gets a drink on me. And we did that. I waited another 15 minutes or so, just to kind of make sure went in there. Barbara was really not, not bad at all under 200 bucks. So I've got 15 minute timers that close it up bartender. I didn't have any, no one was like, I didn't get my drink. Yeah. So cause I've heard stories about people like, you know, just absolutely going to town. So I was like, like anybody here wants to drink it's on me. But after that, like, I think we're gonna, you know, kind of shut her down. So that's awesome. Hardy Hardy. Congratulations on your first career hole in one. I, I hope to join you there someday. Officially. Neil, you got out, you were saying Beth page. Tell

us about your goal. I've been, I've been hitting the SIM twice a week. The last three weeks I'm Jones into play golf. So my buddies, they snagged a tee time at Beth page blue earlier this week. Uh, we're not going to comment on how that tee time was acquired. I'm not really sure how it was acquired. I did not acquire the tee times. Um, but got a tier time earlier this week is all I'm going to say. So it was cold this morning. It was about 30 degrees when I got in the car to make the, you know, 45 minute drive, hour drive out to Farmingdale from the city. And we got an email in the car that said, Hey, it's frost

delay. We're going to, you know, but no info, just it's a frost delay. Okay, cool. So we're going to keep coming. So we show up at the parking lot and right as we're pulling in, it was like, Hey, tee times have been bumped back to I believe 10 AM. And our tee time was 850. So it's like, all right, we'll go check in and get breakfast. So we walk in and if no one's been to Beth Page, if you're listening, it's truly like the freaking DMV. They've got like two or three guys working behind the counter behind plexiglass. They got screens behind you with like a bunch of like times like for a single to like fill in. The black course isn't open yet. I think it opens in a couple weeks. So it's like, you know, the red, blue, green, and yellow course. Obviously, not a lot of times on those boards. And so we walk up to the window and the guy just apathetic, dude, you know, nice enough guy, it's not his fault, but he's just sitting like down like, Oh, what's up guys? We're like, Hey, 850 like solid tee times got bucked back. He's like, Oh no, your tee times canceled. What? It's like, what? Yeah. Everything before

10 AM to just do we, we canceled them. So you're, uh, but we got a time like we could get you on the yellow, uh, at like 1130. That's not what we're like, what are you talking about, dude? You just canceled the tee. Like, yeah, man, that's, you know, it's, it's literally the attitude is like, I don't know, man. I can't fight city hall. Like if you want the yellow rate and then there's like another group of guys, it's like, Hey, are you guys going to take that yellow time? Because we're going to take it. We're going to take it. If you don't take it, we're going to take it. And it's like, you fucking take it, dude. I, I, you know, I don't, I'm not going to wait around Farmingdale for three hours to

play the shittiest course out here. And it's like, what, what, like, have you, and so I'm asking, like, it's disgusting. What's your recourse? Okay. So I'll get there. I'll get there. But it's like, it's not even worth arguing with this guy. I mean, they're sitting, it's like, they're sitting on like bulletproof glass. It's like, well, okay. The guy's just like, yeah, dude. I mean, we could mix you up. You guys could all go out as singles. Like we got a few times, like 11. I'm like, what are we talking about? Like, I always thought, you know, frost delay, everybody just gets moved back. Like, isn't that how it works?

Like what the fuck are we doing? Also send a text or an email that says like, hey, your time's, we didn't drive an hour from the city to get here. I would check the email, it was just like, T times or at 10 a.m. It's like no other information. So then I take a picture. So then we're like, cool, we're going to just, we'll get a refund.

You guys like, oh, I can't refund you. You paid online. So he says, slides this piece of paper, physical paper over. I took a picture. It says, if you have paid for your reservation over the phone or in advance, please email from below the information, bethpagesp at parks.ny.gov. It's basically like a tax return. It's like first and last name, phone number advance, please email from below the information. Bethpage SP at parks dot NY dot gov. Basically like a tax return. It's like first and last name phone number on the account email on the account course time number of players. This email must be the same day to receive the credit.

So they won't even give a refund. So my buddy emails and they get back to me. Oh, yeah, we don't do refunds. We'll give you a credit to play a foursome in the future. But KVV, as we know, you can't get a fucking tea time because all the bots scoop them up. So they're basically, my buddy's like, yeah, I'm like in the, in the tea time will expire in like six months. So it's like, now it's like, oh, cool. I, let me just figure out when to drive out the Beth page again.

Were you able to talk to anybody? Like, is this their standard operating procedure? It just seems like this can't be the way. It was a disgrace, Randy. And there's just, it's these two young guys. Like I, you know, I'm not, I didn't really feel like being like, yo, I want to speak to a red coat. Like there's like, it's, it's a, it's like, yeah, nothing good is going to happen in

here. And, and in the meantime, my other buddy was on, you know, golf now or whatever. And he looked up, he's like, yo, there's a course, 25 minutes away as a 920. So we went, we're like, cool. So we had to make a quick decision because it was like, at this point, it was like eight, you know, eight 30, we're gonna have to drive 30 minutes. Like, cool. We'll do it. We can get there by nine. So we went to wind, watch golf and country club. Very semi. I'm going to emphasize the semi, semi private very public. Okay. I'm going to emphasize the semi semi-prize very public. Okay. I want to shout them out. Well run, efficient operation, nice golf shop, like seamless check in. Apparently no frost delays there.

It was like $90 each like and the course like actually courses in good shape like the greens everything I was pretty impressed with like the condition of it. awful golf course though like executive like through these like condominiums not awful but just like nothing interesting like the kind of it. Awful golf course though, like exactly like through these like condominiums, not awful, but just like nothing interesting. Like the kind of golf I hate, you know, like something, a very forgettable strap course, Randy. And I do want to shout out though, the 18th hole, I got to tell the guys at the Friday, they need to put it on design disasters, straight up right angle, like 340 yard par four, like straight up the hill, like just truly like, oh, we got to get back to the clubhouse.

And then up at the top, like, you know, you're hitting to like a green that's like 50 feet up and it's like three tiers that you can't see, you know, just like awful, awful finishing hole. But, you know, it was one, it was all that just makes you want to come back. Yeah, I played, you know, I shot like 82, like didn't play, it hit it pretty good. Like it was a good, good to get out on the course and like actually see the ball fly, but it didn't get above 35 degrees. I'm freezing. I got six layers on. I'm like, it's just one more example of like, like, man, all I wanted to do today was play golf. I was so excited to play golf. And I just like got just kicked in the nuts, like

excited to play golf. And I just like got just kicked in the nuts like multiple times. And then, you know, it's 90 minutes back to the city with traffic. We got to like eat quickly. My wife's pissed because like now I'm an hour late, you know, it's just like, what, why did I do this? You know, it's like, it just sucked guys. It's friction. As you said, Neil, golf in New York. Oh, man. And you know, my buddies, they're not like, they're starting to get into golf. Like they're not good. And, but they're really like jacked up to play. And I could almost see like my buddy, Jerry being like, so this is why people join country clubs,

you know? Like, and it's like, that sucks. It's like, yo, I would like to like play public golf, just be able to like, I booked a T we booked a tee time ahead of time. And they just fucking canceled it and let us show up and just like, Oh, yeah, sorry. Like, I can't believe that. It's just not like I live over here in like Farmingdale. Like I'm not. I drove an hour to get here, man. And I was excited to play and you just like, totally fuck off standard operating procedure. I don't know. And that's like, I didn't have time to like, bitch and moan. No, I want to. I don't want to spend any time in there.

Those people suck, man. Like it was, it was, it was truly like really, really shitty. It was just really shitty. And so that's, that's my golf experience today. They'll have like very quick story. When I first moved to Baltimore from Montana and I'm 22 years old, I parked in like some lane that was like, they would tow your car in here. Right? So my co-op, I think my car is stolen. It's disappeared. Like I have no idea. It gets towed to some yard in Baltimore. Right? So I get on like a sick bus. I go to

this thing I'm going and it's like this was where the Bulletproof glass is what made me think of this. And I'm in this thing. I'm taking a number. I'm waiting. It's feels like the end of the earth. And there's this guy who goes up to the bulletproof glass and just starts fucking pounding on the black glass. Give me back my motherfucking car. And the woman behind the glass was like, sir, you need to sit down. I think if that had happened to me with the Bethpage thing,

that might have been my reaction, to just start pounding on the glass and be like, call the fucking cops. Because I was coming out here to play and I was like, not in, I was like, well, we got to make this other tea time. I just was like, at that point, I'm not, I'm going to, let's just go play golf somewhere else. Like I don't want to give him my business, but then you can't even get your money back. I mean, it's true. Like I was, we didn't realize that until we, we had to email the guy had to do the same day. And the guy's

like, oh no, you're not getting your money back. It's just a crowd to be some way to make us think about it. I guess this is the promo. No, I said, I'm going to flame them tonight on the podcast. This is like, this is egregious, especially after all the bot stuff. The state parks director who I spoke with was not thrilled at the way that Beth Page got dragged on the previous podcast. So this is another example of like, Hey, fix your shit. Like people, a lot of them are gonna listen to this.

We're the home of public golf. You know what? Fuck you guys. Okay. Straight up. I hope the director of golf is that. Fuck you guys. Okay. And I'm sorry for cussing, but I'm pissed, man.

You guys got me wound up. Now I feel like I should have done more. And I'm like, God, you're getting me all jacked up again. Well, you wanted to play golf, so I understand. And then I regret playing because it was too cold to play. It was just, it was just stupid. But I, you know, we were like, yeah, we're doing it. We're going to go play. And then it's just like, what, like, oh man, just so unnecessary. Anyway. All right, guys, let's, let's motor through this TGL finals, Monday night, Atlanta versus New York. Randy, I know you're so fired up for this.

Who you got? No, I don't know. Truly don't know. Neil, this is kind of like your hometown versus your adopted town. I think it's better question for you. Oh, man. I got to ride with the Atlanta Drive.

You know, my guy AB in the booth with the mustache. Come on, you know I'm going with with Atlanta JT's got unfinished business. Maybe Stu single show up to root them on. Uh, give me, give me Atlanta. You got it. All right. We're, we're sneaking in a house ad, uh, as part of the back nine, you know, the suits are making us do it. Check out the pro shop new row back H and B foot joy apparel in the NLU pro shop store.no laying up.com. Get it while supplies last of course nest members get 15% off all orders all the time.

Find out more about the nest at no laying up forward slash join. And I just want to give a shout out to TC won the fourth annual Donnybrook at Pinehurst. He won both the net and the gross competition took home the Dave based and painted Yeti cooler. What a fucking sandbagger. What a scumbag keeps winning his own events. It sounds like the event was awesome. Pinehurst has always delightful experience. If you want more information on NLU events, updates on new merch or a roundup of the content we put out each week, you can sign up for our email newsletter at newsletter.nolayingup.com. All right, Randy, give us a quick LPGA update and then we're

going to kick it over to your interview. We're getting down to Angela Stanford, new Solheim Cup captain. The LPGA returns this coming week. They've been off a little since getting back from Asia. So they are going to be out in the desert. They're in Chandler, Arizona, World Wing Golf Club, and that is the Ford Championship Thursday through Sunday. I'm hoping with it being on the West Coast, maybe some good live prime time golf after the regularly scheduled PGA tour.

To note, a very good field, 19 of the 20 top ranked golfers in the Rolex rankings are Confirmed that includes Nellie Korda who did not travel to Asia. She had played previously In the two events. So our first look at Nellie in about two months, which would be good and This will be the event With where the new LPGA pace of play policy is being instituted. So perhaps something to keep an eye on, perhaps not. We'll be curious if as a viewer will notice anything,

if you happen to be out there on the ground, let us know if you notice any type of difference. Cody and I had chatted with LPGA player president Vicky Getz Ackerman on NLU pod 966. So if you wanna hear more about the pace of play policy, go check that out. And guys, this was a fun little story. Just my last little nugget from Bethann Nichols was writing about this in golf week.

Apparently the LPGA had miscalculated the priority ranking spot for it turns out Sophia pop off, which had granted her access to three events where she subsequently played a couple of them were no cut events had earned money had earned points. And she should not have been eligible to play in those events because her priority ranking was wrong. To give the LPGA a bit of a break here, Sophia was stacking, I think, a maternity leave

on top of like a medical leave, and so I think there was some ambiguity about what priority she should be playing out of. But the LPGA is gonna correct this, they're to strip, at least for the official standings, her money and her points. But it just sucks for- Tanner Iskra So she's going to keep the money, but it's not going to be credited to her. Randy Pate Yeah, the money's in her bank account. It just doesn't count for-

Tanner Iskra You're going to put a lien on her accounts. Randy Pate She doesn't have to pay it back. So that's nice. But you don't hear about that often. Yeah, they admitted that. Tanner Iskra I think we need to find a leader for the LPGA. We need to get, we need to get the house in order. Randy can't, can't be having this stuff, you know, so they're about to get busy. That's, that's the fun news. Like I said, they're, they're back this week and their schedule gets busy. So Neil,

that's, that's the LPGA corner. Cody and I had a chance to chat with Angela Stanford earlier this week. She has been mentioned, just been named the Team USA Solheim Cup captain. So we had a fun, it's about a 20 minute conversation with her, tried to pick at, you know, is she as stats oriented as Stacey Lewis was, how she's going to make her imprint on team USA? Does she like her Solheim Cup being on the road? All kinds of stuff there. So when we're ready to go to that, let's hear from Angela.

Well, that's the last hole in the back diet. So we'll kick it there now. Gentlemen, thanks for joining me tonight. Thank you. I think, you know, fun one. Think we moved the runner over. You know, they let the, uh, let the kids run the class. Yeah. Uh, and, uh, yeah, let's tee up this interview with Angela Stanford and we will see you.

Back here next week. I won't see you, but, uh, you'll, you'll see some of us or you'll hear us. So thanks for tuning in. Cheers and crack on. We're joining us now on the podcast, new Solheim Cup captain Angela Stamfer. She was just named the captain for Team USA this week. The Solheim Cup in 2026 will be over in the Netherlands at Bernardus Golf Club. I believe that's how it's pronounced just outside of Amsterdam.

Angela, congratulations. Thank you for giving us some time. I guess let's start with, you know, first reactions, first impressions. How long ago did you know you were going to be the captain? And what was that like finding out officially for you? Well, first off, thank you so much for having me. And I'm so excited to be on and talking to y'all about this. I actually got the phone call Friday, January 17th. So it's been a little while. That's probably why I'm more excited than normal,

because I'm getting to talk to the outside world about this. So I got the phone call and just started bawling. I think it was a combination of a bunch of different emotions, but cried so much that Liz Moore, our interim commissioner, was like, I think that's a yes. I'm like, once I breathe again, I'll say yes. Yes. You have a deep history with the Solheim Cup. I believe you played in six of them. You've been an assistant captain in three more of them. So if my math is correct, in 2026, it'll be your 10th Solheim Cup. Let me start here.

What attributes do you think are needed to be a great Solheim cupper? Personally, I think you got to be a good teammate. And I think that's hard because we play an individual sport. For me, I grew up playing team sports and I loved being on the team. I love being on the soil. That was the goal. Every time there was a soil I'm kept, I wanted to make it because I love being on a team. So I think you got to be a great teammate. And again, it's, it's a little bit of a challenge in an individual sport.

I mean, I think really there, there are so many things, but I think a lot of it's that, I mean, you have to be willing to kind of what I've learned now, looking back, which I wish I would have known earlier, you have to kind of go with the flow. You know, you have to, it's's a it's a very different week. You don't really as a player have control of the week. Somebody else has control of the timeline. So you kind of have to go with the flow a little bit. And again, hard for an individual to do that.

So, yeah, I think those are a couple. Yeah, absolutely. Let me ask about, you know, you've only been two months now officially where you've known you've been the captain, but curious and I'm sure this is something you'll be asked many times between now and the Solheim Cup. But Stacey was very upfront about how much she was into getting as much data as possible. She loved the stats. Her captaining philosophy was to kind of follow what the stats

said and make adjustments where she felt necessary. Angela, how does your philosophy, how do you think it will differ from Stacey's, if at all? Have you thought much about, you know, kind of what your philosophy is bringing to the captaincy? Yeah, I look, numbers don't lie. your philosophy is bringing to the captaincy? Yeah, I look, numbers don't lie. A number is going to tell you exactly what's going on, especially in golf, you know. So I think there will be a mix of that. However, I'm older than Stacey. I grew up in an era that stats weren't really looked at that carefully. I mean, they were there, but you didn't lean on them.

So I feel like I have a little bit of old school mentality going into this. I love those gut feelings, those instincts, those, you know, what do your eyes see? You know, again, a number will tell you everything you need to know, but when you get in that environment and things get emotional and heated and what is your IC? What, you know, what does a player look like? So I think there's going to be a good balance of that. I don't think you can just throw the numbers out the window and say, no, we're not going to do that anymore because we learned so much from that the last couple of years. So we are going to have a little bit of that.

We're big believers in the eye test too. So we're right there with you. So you played for six other captains. You have been an assistant for two others, of course, Stacey twice. There has to be things that you picked up along the way, whether how they brought the team together or things like that. How are you, I guess I would say, is there anybody that you're kind of using as a role model on how you're going to go against your captaincy? Well first off, I got to play for like this whole long

list of legends, you know? Whether I was playing for them or being their assistant captain, I was very fortunate in that. I think I'm going to talk to all of them. I want to pick their brains, I want to know the things that they thought they did well. I want to know the things they thought they didn't do well. But I think the ones I'm really going to lean on are the ones that captained overseas

because it's so different. And even as a player, you feel the difference. So Betsy King was one that when I played for her in 2007, we went over there, we hadn't won overseas since 1996. So there was something about the way Betsy went about the week that I admired. I knew that we were going over there to win. Like there was no question about it,

what was gonna happen. So I wanna talk to Betsy quite a bit. Judy Granahan was the first captain to win overseas. So I want to talk to her a little bit. And then Julie, again, there was the long stretch between, you know, we hadn't won, well, it was 07 all the way to 15 again, that we hadn't won. And Julie went over there and won. So I do want to talk to all the captains.

They have so much knowledge, but at the same time, I think the ones that have captained overseas, those are really important to talk to. Having played in many, both domestically and overseas, is I got to think going overseas and playing in, you know, a quote unquote hostile environment, there's got to be some fun in that, right? Did you enjoy that? I love it. Yeah, I wanted to be captain overseas. Like I, I told everybody, I, if I ever get a chance, I want to do it overseas. I love it. I, you know, growing up, I played team

sports, and anytime I got to go into somebody else's gym, or if I got to go to somebody else's field, I couldn't wait. I could not wait to strut out there and just people booing you and yelling at, I loved it. And I know they're going to be rowdy at the Netherlands and the Netherlands. I know it's going to get loud, but that's what makes it great. That passion that, you know, and I love going into a situation where it was me against the world or it was us against the world. And I think you bond at a completely different level because you don't have all your fans there, you don't have all your support. And just anytime you get an opportunity to win on somebody else's field away from home, there's just

nothing like it. So it's gonna be hard. It is a huge challenge. We've only won three. This is our tenth time to play in Europe. We've only won three times. So it's going to be hard. It is a huge challenge. We've only won three. This is our 10th time to play in Europe. We've only won three times. So it's a huge challenge, but I'm excited for it. How will that mindset or I guess how will that philosophy influence how you think about your captain's picks? And I know we're a long way away from you having to make those picks. But I guess what type of profile and how much credence do you put in kind of that, you know, hey, I want I want to go into somebody else's gym and and show them what I'm made of. How much will that

influence kind of what you're looking for in those captain's picks? Well, I'm certainly not gonna lie about it or hide the way I feel about this, but you, there has to be, for me, I always thought picks, picks, even when I played, you did not earn your way onto that team. So really it's up to the captain's discretion and really however they feel they see fit, they're going to get to pick. And for me, it was always, I wanted somebody that enhanced the team room. Because let's face it, if we're, you know,

again, you haven't made it on your own merit, there have to be other elements that you can provide that make this team great. So your moxie, your attitude, the way you handle adversity, the way you are with your teammates, like I believe all of those things matter. Now, yes, I want the hottest player playing at the time. And if somebody is just on fire rolling into this, oh, I've got, you have to take them.

So there's gonna be a mix of that. There's going to be a mix of that. There's going to be, again, that gut instinct. How do they round out this team? How do they enhance it? How does their attitude factor into how do they make us better? Well, I guess that's a decent segue into asking about the process of team building prior to Solheim Cup Week. And in your position as a captain, what will be the busiest stretches for you? And then kind of broadly,

have you thought about how you're going to build the calendar between now and fall of 2026? You know, I'm learning about my personality some in this. Like I, or my personality is showing up in some of this. I'm very much like, I check things off. Like I can't get 10 steps ahead of myself. So right now I'm trying to get through this announcement. I'm trying to get my assistance announced because I need them. I need the assistance. I need us to all be on the same page.

Once we get to that point, I think then we can start talking about, okay, where do we want to go? What do we want to do? And kind of look at the calendar. But I need to get these assistants announced because we got to start planning some stuff together. I don't, I want this to be a team. You can't have people follow you if you don't show them what you want. Like you can say, I want you to be this way, but your actions always speak louder. So I want my team to see, I am a team when it comes to my assistants too.

We are on the same page. We are always going to be on the same page. I need y'all to be on the same page. So yeah, I need my assistants. We need to start having some conversations and yeah, then we'll start mapping it out. But I mean, obviously, as we get close to September 26, things will start ramping up. I do want to go to the Netherlands in September of

25, just to see week up what it's like. When you close your eyes, Angela, and you think about the Solheim Cup, what are those first associations in your mind? And they could be from your playing days, they could be from watching the Solheim Cup. I'm just curious, like, what you most associate with the Solheim Cup. It's just awesome.

I mean, it's just, there's no other way, it's just awesome. I mean, I always told people, look, you play an individual sport, you're trying to beat these women weekend and week out. And then you're telling me one week every two years, those women that I've been trying to beat the whole time, we get to be teammates and we get to play together and we get to put on the red, white and blue and we get to play in front of amazing crowds and we get to elevate the women's game and everything that comes with that.

Like I just, I love it. I just think it is the most awesome event and the fact that I'm a ping player and that it's the Solheim family that founded this. It just, I tried earlier today to try to put it in words and I can't. I mean, it's just, I'm so passionate about it. I'm so, I think I've cried on stage every time they play the national anthem. Always cry. Because I'm like, I'm standing on a stage with teammates wearing my colors and I'm going to get to play for my country. I just, there's nothing better. I, as a, as a golfer, as an athlete, nothing better.

Who do you think's the greatest, uh, American Solheim cup player? Oh boy. Can there be, can I have a three-way tie? Of course. Yeah. Educate us. I mostly, yeah. Okay. Three way tie. And then well then there's an okay. The one that scared me the most was Christy Kerr. Okay. She's the one

you're like so happy she's on your team. She was a bulldog. Like you knew when she walked out the door and she had a certain look about her, get out of the way. Obviously Inkster, she's kind of the OG. You know, she, Inkster is, I've said she's the most competitive person I've ever met. So happy she's on your team usually. Paula Kramer, just, I don't even know the girl's record, but it has to be, she has to be pretty high in points one.

But the thing about Paula that sets her apart is Paula always treated everybody the same on the team, whether you were number one, like she was a lot of time, or you were the last pick in, it didn't matter to Paula. It was the one week that she didn't care. She didn't care what you did, as long as you showed up. You had the right uniform on and, and you're going to go out and play hard and you're going to win. And I would say Paula has been one of my favorite teammates in any sport I've ever played.

So, and then I think, sorry, I'm going to throw in another one. Um, Lexi, Lexi, she has an intimidating way about her. And personally to watch what she did in Spain, coming off the year I was following her stats, like two years I followed her stats. It was scary. Like I was- It was a little dark there for a little bit.

I was scared. And the way she prepared, because Solheim matters to her so much, she flipped the switch. And the way she played in Spain, we would have had no chance of even sniffing a tie without her that week.

And Lexi, just the way she is in the team room. Players love her. So those are my four. I'm sorry, you asked for one, you got four. I got a follow up Lexi question. And I know it's hard because Lexi is not retired. She's just not playing as complete of a schedule as she has in the past.

From the captain now, does that preclude her from taking part of the Soul Hunt Cup? No, I mean, there's no way I'm going to say Does that preclude her from taking part of the Soul Hunt Cup? No. I mean, there's no way. I'm going to say, you know, if Lexi plays half a schedule and she earns enough points, I wouldn't have her on the team. If she plays a half a schedule and she is up for maybe being a pick, I mean, I just, there's no way you could count her out

or say, no, she wouldn't be. If she's gonna show up and play, I know Lexi well enough to know that she's gonna tee it up and she's trying to win. So I want her to be happy. If she's happier playing a smaller schedule, sometimes you're more productive that way. So yeah, she's in the mix.

I'd be crazy not to consider her. You know, you were going through some of your favorite Solheim Cup or some of the greatest Solheim Cup players in American history. How much is, how much is, or I guess how important is, is it for that history to kind of be passed down to these younger players? And do you see that happening? Are the younger players, how well versed are they in Solheim Cup history?

And I guess how eager are they to learn more about, you know, the women and the events that have preceded them? Well, I think we're in a very interesting spot. I think Stacey did a great job trying to pass some of this history on. You have to remember, we're not that old. I mean, the first one was in 90. We're finally getting to a place where we're starting to create some of that history. My first one was in 2003. So I knew those ladies that played on those first ones, but you know, I didn't play with them per se, but like to have a concept and an idea of historical stuff, you have to have

enough space and enough time to create that history. So I think we're getting into that to where now it is important to remind people about the 1996 team that finally went over to Europe and won. To get to know some of those players and to remember some of those players. I was really happy that Stacey brought in Paula last year as an assistant. I'm not sure a lot of players know about her just because she's been hurt recently, she had a baby.

But to see the players around Paula, I just don't think they knew who she was and the things that she's done. So I think we're in a really interesting spot in our history where now there is history to be talked about, if that makes sense. Yeah, absolutely. You're very experienced. Your first Solheim Cup was in Sweden. Your second Solheim Cup was in Sweden. Your second Solheim Cup was in Sweden. You famously took down one of the best Scandinavian golfers of all time when you were talking

about 2015. You went against Suzanne in the last two Solheim Cups as assistant captain. Now it's Anna Norquist, another Swede, but a completely different personality. I guess how, first of all, what's it like kind of playing against her? And then how do you think she is going to be as a captain? Well, this might be a long answer, but first off, I have the utmost respect for Anna

as a human being. The things that she's had to go through recently and the way that she has, you know, tried to put one foot in front of the other and the way she has pulled, you know, tried to put one foot in front of the other and the way she has pulled, you know, herself to a spot and gotten to a spot where she can be a captain is pretty remarkable. So just as a, as a human, she, I just have so much respect for her as a player. Phenomenal.

I mean, anytime you have to play against her, you know, she's one of the best players to play the game. Um, her record shows that. you have to play against her, you know she's one of the best players to play the game. Her record shows that. But the thing that is really hard about Anna, and you never know where she stands. You just, I never know what she's thinking, good or bad. Like she always has this look about her that like, it's almost like a poker player, like a really good poker player. Like I have no idea what she's holding. I have no idea what she's holding. I have no idea what she's gonna throw down. I don't know what's coming.

And I think that's what makes her very, very, I don't wanna say scary, but like, I just don't know what's coming. And I don't know, you know, you can't, she's hard to read in a good way that she can be reserved and you know, she could be out there shooting 62 and she would look the same as if she's having a bad day. So me, I'm on the other end of the spectrum. If I'm shooting 62, and if I'm shooting 78 or 79, I wear my emotions on my sleeve. So

my emotions on my sleeve. So I think Anna being very consistent with her emotions makes that a little more challenging for just wondering where she stands. That makes total sense. I was going to ask back to your playing days, it kind of along the same lines, I guess, but who from team Europe, and you could have played them or not played them, but who's like the one person that you don't want to say fearful, but who would have been the, let's say, Solheim hypothetical Solheim Cup on the line, you need to win a Sunday singles match. Like who would have been the most fearsome opponent in your opinion? I had to be Suzanne. And actually the other one was Annika.

And I got to play both of them in singles. So their intensity, I mean, Suzanne's off the chart. Her intensity is off the chart. So to witness that, yeah. Yeah. So I would say Suzanne, but you know, I did play Anika and her Prime in 2003 in Sweden. And if you think you've ever been in the Lions Den, I looked at my caddy at one point and said,

this is what they're talking about when you hear Lions Den, like it's us and then it's all of Sweden. And to be in those situations and get to play those amazing generational talents is, I'm so grateful I've had those opportunities. You mentioned it earlier as trying to figure out your team assistant captains and everything. What's the timeline that you're looking out here?

When are we gonna expect some additional announcements coming from the captain? I have my assistants, they know they're my assistants. We've had those before. Can you say them? Break the news. Come on. I want to, but, um, I'm hoping once they announced me, I'm hoping I'm going to kind of push the LPGA to, to maybe, you know, and you want them to have their time.

Like you don't want them announced all at the same time, but I'm going to be selfish in this and say, okay, let's announce one. Let's get the other one. Let's get, you know, just so we can kind of get rolling here. I will tell you, it will be, it's a fun group. Perfect. I have no doubt about that. We will be on the lookout for that. Angela Stanford.

Congrats. Just named team USA Solheim cup captain. That will be in September 2026. But the road begins now. You have a busy, what is it? Year and a half, let's say ahead of you and best of luck. Can't wait for the Solheim Cup to eventually roll around. Thank you so much. Thanks for having me and looking forward to chatting with you all

as we get closer to the Netherlands in 2026. Absolutely, us too.