No Laying Up - Golf Podcast - 992: Justin Thomas wins RBC Heritage, Higgo at Punta Cana, Shipley on KFT

Episode Date: April 21, 2025

Justin Thomas beats out Andrew Novak on the 1st playoff hole to win the RBC Heritage at Harbour Town, Higgo wins in Punta Cana, and we continue to monitor our Young Hitter Lauren Coughlin as she tries to chase down her 3rd win out in LA. Join us as we chat Hilton Head life, tackle news and notes, review our back nine, and more. Presented by High Noon. NLU x Evans Scholars Support our sponsors: High Noon - Sun's Up! FootJoy - HyperFlex H&B - 10% off at HBgolf.com BMW - Worldwide Partner of the Ryder Cup ServPro - Like it never even happened 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 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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Be the right club. Be the right club today. Yes! Johnny, that's better than most. How about him? That is better than most. Better than most! Expect anything different. Oh, we are back. We are live, ladies and gentlemen, a little quicker than expected at the No Laying Up

live show presented as always by our friends at high noon. Happy Easter to everyone out there. Slightly less size audience that was that was waiting for us at the last Sunday night. For now. For now. For now. That is the voice of Mr. DJ Pi. Hello, Pi Man. Hello, guys. The voice is still not back to 100 percent, but the enthusiasm is there. I promise. It's great to be with you guys. Happy Easter to the big guy as well. Incredible development that we have as well. Because both big guys. Yeah, great question. But you you were top of mind. But you're right.

The big guy here in person from the spice bush. This is a monumental occasion actually in Hilton head. Mr. Big Randy. Hello. We are live in the bush boys 11 years ago. I Don't know to the day around 11 years ago where it all started It's great to be back never in my wildest dreams. Do we get this far? Sorry? We have a lot to discuss a firm and fast Harbor town We had the punta cona, Justin Thomas, obviously the winner there. Garrick Higgo wins the in Punta Cana. Joel Damon had a really tough go at the very end of that one.

Ashen Wu wins the Volvo. What about China Open? Neil Shipley wins the Leecombe Suncoast Classic. LPGA is entering close to entering the back nine as we go to speak right now. Ingrid Lynn Blatt leads by two over our young hitter, Lauren Coughlin, NASA, hot to Oka. Uh, and we, uh, but before we do that, here's of course the tea about high noon's non-carbonated vodka iced tea made with real vodka, real iced tea, no added sugar. If you like the hard teas,

but you're done with the sugary malt based teas, you are going to love the non-carbonated high noon vodka iced tea. It's got 90 calories. It is great for any occasion under the sun. Four great flavors, original peach, lemon and raspberry. I'd be honestly tough to find a favorite out of those four. It's one of those packs where whatever you're reaching for, you know you're going to enjoy. No one's making you pick a favorite. You know, you can drink them all. That's great. I usually like to give whatever my favorite is in there. That's an even better endorsement.

I like them all, man. I like them all. Visit high noon spirits.com to find a pack near you. High noon, sun's up. Guys, this was a fun little Sunday. This was obviously the Masters Hangover Week. JT opened with 61 for the sixth time in his PJ Tour career.

Followed that with 69.69 to trail Siwu Kim by one, heading into the final round. Siwu would unfortunately fade to a final round 74, turned into a duel between JT and Andrew Novak. JT's in the group ahead of him. Bit of a scramble on the front nine for JT, but continued his excellent putting. He managed to under par on the front nine. No bogeys, not the sharpest back nine as well, but he rolled in a 25 footer for birdie

on the par five 15th hole to take a one shot lead. Andrew Novak was a little bit all over the place. He was much more up and down. He made four birdies on the front, but also made two bogeys. Was blowing driver all over the map on the back nine, but the ball just Zurich insurance dog throwing it back out into the fairway multiple times. He made six straight parts to open the back nine but the ball just Zurich insurance dog throwing it back out into the fairway multiple times.

He made six straight parts to open the back before he buried a birdie on 16 to tie JT had a putt from eight feet two inches on the last hole missed it very badly off to a playoff. JT left himself 170 and Novak 160 JT hit it to 21 feet and drain the putt in the center of the center of the hole. Cool celebration, cool moment on the 18th green. D, reaction to JT's 16th career PGA Tour win. That was my first note is 16 is a ton. That's a lot of dubs.

So congratulations to him on that. I think it's just kind of the culmination of a bunch of really good work. This is the rare instance where I feel like we've been shouting this out on the pod, kind of shouting from the rooftops like, hey, man, it's coming. It's coming. It's coming. And then you'd have to step back at the masters or step back at other weeks. But the floor was really, really high with JT. The ball striking is there. He kept knocking on the door and was struggling to kind of have that week where he was putting all four together. And got out to a really massive start this week and just kind of kept it on the door and was struggling to kind of have that week where he was putting all four together and you know got out to a really massive start this week and just kind of kept it kept it on the rails and just really fun to watch man especially fun to watch at harbortown it just it reminded me a

lot of watching him win the players and like i think jt's a very smart player who enjoys you know strategic golf courses and thinking his way around a little bit. TBC Boston, notwithstanding, of course, back in the day. But I think it was just fun watching him kind of move his chess piece around and driving it in the right spots and hitting the right spots on those small greens. It was just a fun week, man.

A fun master's hangover. I really enjoyed watching it. I think golf is better when JT's winning. I think that makes everything more interesting. Ray, did you get to spend much time out there this week? I got out there Saturday. I got into town Friday evening. We went out to the tournament Saturday. Shout out Max Homa. I hooked us up with some tickets. But then today my plan was, I don't know if you saw our little social tease, I spent some time at the...

Well, first of all, we did a massive Easter egg hunt around Spicebush with my little nephew. And then spent a little time at the beach and then came home and it was just delightful viewing. Honestly, laid on the couch and watched the CBS coverage I guess my question you know we were DG you called it a Masters hangover the more because I thought about I really like this tournament this tournament has a it just feels right. And I say that with like, the course is excellent. I truly think Harbor Town and Riviera are my two favorite annual stops on tour.

I can report in person, it's a wonderful setup, very well attended. They do a really good job. And so I got thinking like, is this the best week on the schedule for this event? And I honestly, I like it here. You know, it's almost like a little hair of the dog after a big master's, you know, just drunk fest.

And so the more I thought about it, I do like kinda, you know, we don't come down sharply, we're not leaning over the toilet after the Masters, regretting the last seven days. We get a nice kind of extended run. We're not, I don't know about you, you might be feeling differently after some of your takes. This year not accepting.

But I just really, I don't know, this tournament just works on a lot of different levels and it's got staying power. It's it's been at this course now for years and years. I just think it's one of the true gems on the annual PGA tour schedule. I've officially this was the first year where I've had the realization before the tournament started of like, hey, you keep coming to the same conclusion every year on the

Sunday of this tournament, like, hell yeah you keep coming to the same conclusion every year on the Sunday of this tournament. Like, hell yeah, let's go. It takes until Sunday to get really fired up to watch Morgan. Like, Thursday rolls around, you're like, what a signature event the week after the Masters. Are you kidding me? But by the time Sunday comes around,

this tournament slaps every single time. I freaking love the golf course. It's been about as good a shape as it possibly could have been. It's been really on a great run of producing some winners. JT, you guys went through it in the trivia on the happy hour there, but Scotty Scheffler, Jordan Spieth, like Matt Fitzpatrick run here, Stu Sink, of course. I don't know. I really like watching this golf tournament and it's very good to see, like you said, DG, good to see JT back in

the winner's circle. The difference has been for him the last two seasons. He hasn't won since 2022. I mean, all you gotta do is pull up his stat page and see, like he went into the negatives on putting for each of the last two full seasons. And like not really even having hot weeks. Yeah, you can't, you're gonna, like he has 14 top fives since his last win.

Like that you can do that with ball striking, but you, you need to have like a serious hot putting week and have it last 72 holes. That was always the thing with him last couple of years has been a surging great round and then falling right back. Like it just could never string it together for four days. And he did it this week and the putter, gosh, I mean, it's statistically turned a major corner.

I mean, we're not, you know, we're not quite halfway through the season. Maybe we are about halfway through the season now, but it's been turned a major corner. I mean, we're not quite halfway through the season. Maybe we are about halfway through the season now, but it's been his best putting season of his career, but even before this week. And that's saying a lot for how good his iron play is. And if he gets it going a little bit better off the tee, we're looking at one of the best forms of JT that we've seen, which it's easy to forget how good JT was

in that like 2017 to 2020 time period. I mean, it's easy to forget until you hearT was in that 2017 to 2020 time period. I mean, it's easy to forget until you hear that he has 16 wins. 16 wins! That kind of tells the whole story. That's so many. But, Rainey, I want to go back to your kind of is this the right week conversation because I think you're right and I think you guys have convinced me. I think what's interesting about watching a day like today is I think the upside of

this golf tournament is higher I don't know you can convince me either way where like it could draft off of the Masters we've got you know Masters excitement and to your point Sally like two Sundays in a row people are excited to go watch golf or you can convince me that like you know people are off doing something else because I watched golf last week or whatever but the upside of this event as a signature event and and especially if it's going to play like it did this week with the super fast fairways and firm greens and just great field, it's just really fun to watch. The only flip side maybe I would throw at you guys is the list of people who finished top 20 last week and top 20 this week is very, very, very

small. Like, I was going back through and going through the top 20 this week and looking at their finishes from last week. And it's basically like Scottie finished fourth last week, Sungjae finished T5, Xander T8, and Spieth T14. Nobody else that was in the top 20 this week finished in the top 20 last week. So it was a lot of the guys. I think TC might've even said this on the preview maybe, but like guys like Sepp Straka that are finishing in the top 20, Daniel Berger, Brian Harmon,

Mav McNeely, JT Poston. I know it's not the same golf course fit and they're two wildly different events, but it is kind of funny to see see like it's a bit of a hangover week in more ways than one yeah two for some of those guys so it's a long-winded way of getting there but what I'm what I'm getting at is like I kind of want to see the biggest dogs like fighting it out as much fun as I had watching JT and Andrew Novak and Siwoo Kim it also would be fun if it was you you know, whatever you get the best of the best on a test like that because I think it's such

a cool golf course. So, convince me either way but you know, we'll leave it as we'll leave it as is for now. I mean, Scotty won both last year. Like you know, I don't know if that's an outlier. Um you know, looking at it year over year.

Roy, didn't you finish top 10 this week? It's it's it's interesting. It doesn't have a plaid jacket. It's interesting. A lot of people are talking about it. Just saying. In which I'm just thinking, you know, did he know I was gonna be in Hilton Head this week? Would have loved to have held that jacket. That's interesting. Through a nice dinner or something. You know, I would have been at his service this

week. That is interesting. It's kind of a Ricky North Barrick situation. Yeah. He might have been ducking you. What uh, should we get to Randy's uh, Randy's T's and D's? Yeah, Randy's not gonna stick with us full night. He's on vacation. He's calling in. TC's gonna be joining us here shortly. But yeah, what are your T's and D's from this past week, Randy? Can I say real quick, for any people who are fans of the thrills and delights, I got just a lovely note from a friend of the program

who works with the Padres, listens to the show a lot and started saying thrills and delights inside the locker room. And all the Padres started hitting them as they were going out in the field. Like, we're gonna have some thrills and dills for you today. We're gonna watch this game.

We're gonna have some thrills and dills. And apparently it's working. It's working really well. I'm fucking people up right now. But anyways, Randy your your T's and D's Yeah, let's uh, let's start here guys since moving away from Jacksonville I This morning. I realized once again how much this is gonna be my first thrill and delight how much I love

Splishy splashing in the ocean. You know, it was so much fun. I was out there just body surfing. Yeah, just, you know, acting a fool out there in the water. It was fantastic. So that was that was number one. Let me just get that out of the way. Any marine life? Is it too early in the year to see some sharks up in that? I can get sharky up there big. Yeah well so two things. I saw some dolphins which is cool. Thankfully those weren't sharks and um a lot of jelly a lot of jellyfish. Yeah no thanks. So you know. But you remain undaunted and and just yeah really exercise your domain. Yeah and I did have to look up because I'm sure you guys have heard the myth that if you get stung by a jellyfish,

it's best to pee on it. Apparently that's completely false. So I can report to people. You don't need to do that. Funny story. A friend of mine, when we were in Cozumel, Mexico, he stepped on a sea urchin. And he was in so much pain. And we were drunk. And oneumel, Mexico, he stepped on a sea urchin. And what he was in so much pain and we're drunk and one of my buddies

was just like, I mean, I've heard you're supposed to pee on it. If you do that, like, I'm pretty sure that's jellyfish. Because like, I think I think I'm gonna pee on it anyway. I can't hurt. Did not can't imagine how many people have gotten peed on with no benefit. Yeah, we went down a whole Wikipedia, my wife and I rabbit hole there. So how cool is that?

Everybody listening can file that away going forward. Exactly. I do want to give a shout out here in Hilton Head. Part of the charm is it's a very small community with an important golf course. Part of that effort is you can ride your bike to the tournament. So that's what we did yesterday. We rode our bike legitimately. One of the coolest things you can do, I think, is get to a golf tournament. I would say any

sporting event via bicycle, completely underrated, absolutely thrilled and delighted me. I'm trying to think of other tournaments on tour where you can even do that. Sea Island, I know has a big a big bike presence. We did it at the blog cabin. We did it at the players that's right we did it at the players inside the gates. I'd have to yeah I'd have to think through that. TC's telling me in the chat the the 2026 Solheim Cup in outside Amsterdam they're going to make a huge emphasis on biking there so if anybody's in Europe and going to the Soul Lime Cup, that'll be an option. So, all right, I'll keep moving here. When I was in the grounds yesterday, I love to watch the ninth hole, the short par four.

I was hanging out there as Jordan Spieth's group was coming through. He was playing with Daniel Berger yesterday. coming through. He was playing with Daniel Berger yesterday. Fun pairing. You can tell the boys were having fun. And I think nothing encapsulated that. Jordan had blown his drive on, I say blown, it wasn't really blown. Jordan had driven it up the left side of number nine, missed left of the green, had a little pitch shot that he was getting ready to play. So Greller was over there and then Berger hit his drive up into the front bunker. Well, the only way this story makes sense is the closest rake was like right over by Greller. So Berger comes over, Spieth's kind of, you know,

walking through his shot. And Berger like leans down, Greller standing right by the rake, and Greller grabs the rake and kind of gives Greller a little fake nut tap and you know the boys just start laughing. I'm probably 30 feet away behind the row. I just like to see that. Boys being boys, they're having fun out there. It's a long season. You know what, I'm not asking for any smoke here, but I feel like nut taps and fake nut taps have kind of come back

Cliff the last couple years. Yeah, they might be due for a comeback. I See the spieth video from from last week. He's walking on. Oh, yeah. Oh good Yeah, so I guess look out for that but also thrill always a thrill and delight to see it happen to somebody else Yeah, Gryllor kind of flinched a little bit. It was good. I immediately filed that one away and I can't report both guys went on to make birdie there on the ninth hole. It was fun. Another thrill and delight, you know, this would have worked a little bit better had Novak gone on to win but I just there's something thrilling and delightful to me about the pure chance that Harbertown kind of brings into play with the tight tree line fairways.

Andrew Novak's drive on the 12th hole, he fanned it way right. You saw a couple groups ahead, Matt McNeely had hit kind of the same drive, had to chip out sideways, ended up making double bogey on that hole and that was the tournament for groups ahead. Matt McNeely had hit kind of the same drive, had to chip out sideways, ended up making double bogey on that hole and that was the tournament for him. Novak's drive hits it limb, bounces straight out into the fairway. He's got an easy approach shot, ends up making par. And just to think about truly a, I mean, again, this would have worked a lot better had Novak gone on to win. But truly a career defining moment.

You still made two million bucks. Yeah. We're talking about truly a career defining moment potentially happening on a pure chance how the ball hits a tree and how it reacts. You got to love a little luck involved in your golf. Here, here. God, that's a good one too. I just, I simply, I kind of touched on it in the opening.

If anybody's looking for a good family vacation and the, and they're, and they love golf. I mean, I just, it's a wonderful tournament to come to and it's. You kind of get the masters hangover. Everybody. I saw so many Azalea hats, you see a ton of Masters gear. I'm curious how many people go from Augusta one weekend to Harbor Town the next weekend.

But it's just, it's a wonderful place to come for vacation. And if you come during week 15, Heritage Week, it's so easy to get to the golf tournament. It's an awesome course to walk, even when it's really hot because of all the trees, tons of place to find shade. Pete Dye, I mean, shout out Pete Dye. I think we just, I don't think it can be said enough. The guy designed some like really interesting golf courses and it was nice for me after several years away to just remind myself that, you know,

this is the golf tournament I've been to the most throughout my life. It's just a lot of fun. So ending there on a little bit of a sappy, you know, kind of tone, but it's just a really fun week. It sounds like the hard sell of a guy that's trying to unload his time share is what it sounds like to me. Especially the week 15 drop.

If anybody's interested, yeah, my email, gimme, you know, I'm willing to negotiate. We'll talk about that. I'll send you some literature. Email bigrandyassistant at gmail.com. A great opportunity. A great opportunity. That's going to be the headline. No, big, as you're describing that, I was thinking about, like, you're mentioning Pete

Dye and, you know, I always think about the players as like this great fan experience, which it is, but the players has gotten so big that I have to think like Hilton Head is such a good change of pace where you've got this like nexus now of all the best players in the world, but probably much smaller crowds and much easier to get around. And it almost feels like a kind of like cheat code a little bit as I'm hearing you describe it. Yeah, because they just can't like a ton of people just cannot get on to the like it's naturally a kind of a limited audience. So you're exactly right. It's it's it's a really good place to get up close. And now with with being a signature event, yeah, you get to see the

Schefflers and the JTs. It's wonderful. Well, Mr. Big, we appreciate you calling in. We're going to let you go on your way here. I think TC's been up in the pen, up and down from the pen a couple of times. Let me leave two thoughts. Okay. One, how good would a big ass live oak tree in the middle of 18 fairway work? Make guys kinda, you know, you gotta pick what side of the tree you're going to.

That was the first thought. And then the second, my question for TC when he eventually comes on, I think he's gotta think about letting go of Tommy. And if it's meant to be, I think Tommy will go and win and come back to him. That's interesting. It's very interesting. I'll take my answer off here.

I wonder, I wonder what he'll say. Yes. Thank you, Mr. Big. Uh, uh, back on the JT front again, congratulations to Mr. JT, uh, on his playoff, when his 16th career tour win since the ZOZO championship in the fall, he's got seven top tens, including five top five finishes, uh, one significant change he's made is

in his footwear moving from Premier Series to the Hyperflex to kick off this run of success. And according to JT and his trainer, Colby Tollier, Hyperflex is allowing JT to explode off the right side. He's using his body more efficiently. He's creating more vertical force. His ball speeds up significantly. That's just from finding the right golf shoe. For JT, like many players, footwear testing has become very similar to driver or ball fitting.

They're trying to get as much data as they can around how shoes are improving their ability to maximize performance. For them, like many of us, Hyperflex gives them exactly what they need. It's a fantastic combo of stability and flexibility. Looks great, it's very comfortable. for a guy that has worn the same shoes for as many years as JT has. They're about to be a pretty darn good reason why he made the switch. So as you shop

for shoes this year, make sure to check out the new Hyperflex from Footjoy and you can learn more at Footjoy.com. A question that was sent in multiple times, Dej, Chippy99, many others saying, Does JT keep Joe Griner on the bag going forward? What do you think about this? I don't know. I think it's like one of the best questions to come out of this week. I think obviously it seems like it's working. I was thinking about JT's former caddies. And he's always had, whether it's Jimmy Johnson, Bones, Matt Minister, like he's always had these, these all-time pros, right? Like top of the pops, guys who have been doing it for decades and decades and decades. And this, to me, I'm sure he's had one-off people, but this to me kind of seems like the first time he's had someone more like a peer and a friend and someone

who's, he's known for, you know, a decade. And, you know, it probably feels a little, this is, could not be more projection for me. But it, there's probably something that feels a little less like an employer-employee kind of relationship and more of a like, what you see with Rory and Harry Diamond and more of a teammate sort of mentality. And I just think that's really interesting. I don't know what JT would think about that analysis, but I think it's, I don't know. I don't think it's nothing. I know he's been playing really good golf and 99.9% of this is on JT and the golf he's playing, but I don't think it's nothing.

And it's a duo that seems like it works and two guys I really like, and I hope they do stick together because it seems like a great fit. And I mean, also, I hate that this comes at a week where Max finished almost dead last, but that had to be a brutally tough split for Joe, breaking off of Max's bag.

And I know we still don't have a ton of details for how that went down, but I mean, this has't have like a ton of details for for kind of how that went down but uh I mean this has to feel like pretty instant validation for him to get back on the horse and get in the winner's circle right away and it's just you know for someone that I know all of us really love talking to and love talking golf with and love as a person it's just I'm happy for Joe so I hope hope they stick together and I hope they keep winning because it's it's a fun duo what do you think? And it's not a big coincidence either, like the difference that Joe made in Max's career, right? And it's like, it's always diving into player caddy relationships. You don't, we don't have a lot of information on how a lot of these works. Joe and

Max might be the exception there in terms of, you know, it's not some magical thing that this caddy can make this player a better player, but the energy and the way you make decisions together and how you play off of each other, what your vibes are like when it comes down to the back nine on Sunday can make a massive difference. I have no idea what Joe would have been in JT's ear about, but I'd be very curious as to why JT had one of his best putting weeks. We've seen him having a long time with Joe. It can't be the all coincidence, right?

I mean, shit, you made a massive difference for me and the creator classic in those eight holes. Like if I would have said it would have sounded like bragging. Exactly. Yeah. But there is a, to your, to your point, there is a, um, it's something that's kind of inexplainable about a relationship and somebody that knows to say the right thing and knows when to when to shut up and and

It depends on the players mood of the week and of the day and all that so Yeah, I think there's a there's a honeymoon phase to that too, right? Like those first couple weeks are always interesting, but let's let's bring in TC I'm curious what you know, he obviously knows knows Joe well, too And I'm curious what he would what he would have to say about this greetings TC. Happy Easter my man Hello, I just got the golf course with I'm curious what he would have to say about this. Greetings TC, happy Easter my man. Gentlemen, hello. Just got off the golf course with the franchise and Freddie and Neil and my mom.

It was kind of mentally worn out. So, lot going on out there. Yeah, I could have used a good caddy to keep you in the zone out there. Yeah, absolutely. Guy, you used up 60% of your energy in the bullpen here as well. They kept you waiting.

I know. No, I think, Thoughts on the JT Joe energy in the bullpen here as well. They kept you waiting. I know. No, I think- Thoughts on the JT Joe thing. Yeah. Yeah. About Joe, I mean, echo what you guys said. I would give no offense to Harry, but I would give Joe a lot more credit than just a peer on the bag. I think Joe's a pseudo swing coach and stats guy and all this cool stuff rolled into one Like I think everything that he did for Max and all that. So super happy for him. This is JT's first win as a parent too,

which I think is interesting. All, you know, perspective, things of that nature. But yeah, I would like to see Joe stick around. I think he's a good counterweight. I think, you know, I've always had the sense that JT's dad is just always working over his shoulder. And I feel like Joe can kind of be a good counterweight to that or, you know, tell it to JT

or JT's dad real like that. But yeah, I think like a great example is number four today. They're up, you know, kind of on that railroad tie on the par 3 and You know decided to hit it and like they talked through it and Joe was right in there and he was reading plots all day He was I don't know. He's just Joe's the man. I love him to death. I love max to death I'm glad both of them were you know kind of content going their ways and staying friends I think that's the most important thing. And, but, you know, Joe's too talented to be, to be on the sidelines too.

So, uh, you know, if he doesn't stick with, with, with, with JT, he'll get snatched up by somebody else. He's that good. Yeah. Can JT afford to let Joe go? And that's not a shot at, at, uh, is it Mark Minster or Mike Minster is Matt Minster over three, over two, uh, Matt, it's not a shot at him other than just you know It's it's hard to hard to ignore the success the immediate impact that he's had TC. We don't have you for long here tonight

Yeah, you know we Know what we got to address here. I only picked two questions and there's about 30 probably sent in on a certain topic B del Priore. Another top seven, solo seven. Can DC pick a tournament in Val, never to pick Tommy again like Solly did with the Masters with Rory? Can we just start with high level thoughts

and then get into the specific questions? Well, high level thoughts are that I didn't pick Tommy. Of course, talking Tommy Fleetwood here. I didn't pick him to win this week. I said, it feels like a good week to win. I didn't pick him to win. I picked him to win it feels like a good to win. I didn't pick him to. There was a lot of Easter fairway Jesus stuff floating around the slack. I would be

courts. I said I felt good. He's playing great golf right now. I like the putter switch. I think the putter switch is a good thing. You know, I was just backing up on the it feels like a lot of the putter switch is a good thing. You know, I was just backing up on the ahead. It feels like a lot of the things that we're going through right now. Sally was on the other side of this with big tone a couple of years ago. Wow, that's certainly an interesting comparison. That is wildly interesting. I just I just reading the record

you said you didn't pick them this week. April 19th at 12 23pm yesterday you tweeted it feels like the week, which could have meant anything. Feels like Easter week, right? It feels like it feels like a holy week. Trevor Embleman hit you with a reply with the with the Frankie Fleetwood. Well, I've been doing my hottest. He is he's doing his hardest. I my heart sank today. They were actually showing him when the broadcast that

at least it happened early. At least there was just no chance. What was that? Four. He got gusted. Four was playing very hard. Came back. I was really proud of the birdie on six.

I was really proud of the par on seven. Seven's given him bits this week. That makes a great birdie on eight and then bogey's 10 for the second day in a row. So listen, he's course agnostic. He's going to win at Port Rush. I will reevaluate at the end of the year, guys, but I'm not abandoning ship after a solo seventh the week after the Masters. Okay? Let me just pause all the BS for one sec. I know we have a lot of fun with this conversation, but earnestly, what do you see? What is keeping it from happening?

Honest, I think Finno is a really good caddy. Finno is a great friend of mine and obviously Tommy's best friend. I think at some point Finno almost needs to say, hey, let's get Joe on the bag or let's get someone else on the back. Like let's, we got to change a couple of variables, right? Uh, like we changed the putter this week and I'm sure Tommy would vehemently disagree. Like I would love nothing more than for, cause I think Finno's a really, really good caddy and, and, you know, Tommy trusts him implicitly as he should, but it gets just like, man, like he's got to have somebody like jolts him out of, out of this, like,

you know, doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result is madness. Because I truly feel like he's playing great golf. I mean, he was under par all four rounds this week. He didn't play poorly on Saturday, but I think that's where, like everybody wants to talk about Sunday. I think Saturday was probably where this thing kind of slipped away a little bit. You know, double on, or he just kind of doesn't, he bogeyed seven and he bogeyed 10. Got 68, but like everybody else yesterday, there was no wind, greens are crazy firm. That was a really hard golf course this week and in the best possible ways, like just really demanding iron play. Like Tommy today on the first hole, he hit a, you know, he was in the middle of the fairway, hit a, or like right side of the fairway, great angle. It's a really well struck approach shot. And like the thing doesn't even think about stopping on the green. It was like, man, all right, it's like they're trying to kill these greens today, but it's- I measured it. Andrew Novak's wedge into 16 via the shot length data rolled out 20 feet.

The wedge from where it landed, it finished 20 feet away, like bounding forward. You do not see that with the top of federal. I thought Tommy's putting was good this week. He gained shots. It was 23rd in putting. Didn't putt great today. Lost shots putting today. He was shots 20, you know, he was 23rd in putting, um, didn't putt great today, lost shots putting today. He was really good around the greens. I think the chipping's gotten gotten better as well. Um, he, like, he really wasn't great off the tee this week.

I felt like some weeks I feel like he, he hangs back too far off the tee. He, he really hits the mini driver a lot and like kind of relies on that. Um, and just kind of bunts it around. And so he's, he's left with longer shots coming in, but no, like earnestly, um, I've never been more like hopeful and optimistic for Tommy. Like he just keeps putting himself in these positions and I know what he's made of, I think he's 34 years old. Like he's, he's going to get it done and he's going to get it done in like a big-ass tournament

I have zero doubt in my mind and I know that's not what you guys want to hear or everybody's gonna shit on me Whatever. That's fine. I believe in Tommy And and it's gonna happen the thing about the look it doesn't cost anything to be on these blocks You know, you might as well stick to your guns. I respect it I Like I think we all agree with that part. Like I think he's gonna win a big ass tournament. I think I've said he's gonna win a major. What are we doing here? Because you keep saying

he's gonna win. It is weird. Yeah. Those two things shouldn't be mutually exclusive. When he does, you're gonna fly the flag like this massive win. And it's like, dude, it's starting to add up to like this. I mean, you guys are the guys that were like, you know, riding Rory for the last 11, 11 years in majors and he hasn't won one. Like I don't, like it's not that different. I know he's winning other events, but you know, he's like Tommy is a top 10 player in the world, man. Just pausing on the guy that won the career grand slam is not that different from Tommy's. That's gonna have to... 40 majors in a row that he didn't win. How many how many majors has Tommy played in you think? Right but he's just doing a lot other than

those 40 majors you see. Tommy has played in... Tommy's won a bunch on the on the European tour though. Like that's Tommy's played 38 majors and then is not. Okay. You know, when we get to, when we get to 41 majors, let's talk. Okay. I like that. That's within reach. 41 times in a row. That's right. I listen, I'm with you. Port Rush, it is, man. Let's do it. Let's do it. If not Oak One, right? That's right. What a random segue here, but I know you're a big Andrew Novak guy.

What, we hadn't talked about him yet. What do you, what'd you think about him? I thought it would've been a great win. I think he went to high school in Charleston. I think he lives down in Sea Island now, but I don't know. I've really like gained a lot of respect for him over the last, like watched him a lot at Torrey when, you know, when he was in the hunt there and then just kind of paid attention to him. I followed him one day, the players and you know, he's kind of proof right

now of like, Hey, it's not a closed shop. You can play your way into stuff. You know, he's, he's in based on results this year. He's having an unbelievable year. In solid year point, it felt like he should have probably made more than two bogeys today, but he's just like, he's gritty as hell. He's tough. Yeah. And he's just a golfer, man. He knows how to get the ball in the hole. And so yeah, I'm super impressed. He seems like, I didn't love him bitching about the ball, getting a bad bounce after he hit it in that direction, you know, over there. But I think overall, like, I really like his vibe and, you know, and honestly, he had a, he self-reported on the grandstanding a few weeks ago too. So,

no, it was a great leaderboard this this week was, you know, I love this tournament, you guys nailed it, nailed it on the head earlier in the show. He's very online. And I respect that. And as I'm sure he's tuning in, I'm going to use this moment to take my surf pro mulligan of the week surf pro, the number one brand and clean up and restoration known for making any mess like it never even happened. Look, maybe four, it was four years ago

when we were doing the Ryder Cup, a big Ryder Cup combo, people were lobbying for Phil to be on the Ryder Cup in 2021 and I was just like going, I'm like Phil, Phil's like right next to somebody named Andrew Novak on the, you know, on the strokes gained list. Like I was like, I said, Andrew Novak, that's not a golfer. That's a tennis player, a tennis player. Uh, which I, I very soon found out that he's a listener of the pod. Cause he hit me up with a, with a great, uh, a great, uh, Twitter message. I believe you have it Cody. Uh, he said low key dangerous on the tennis court. Not gonna lie. Uh, and he's, he's got a couple more couple more quips since he apologized to you ahead of the grand stage. He said I'm very

here for Andrew Novak. He's, he's, he's, he's very okay to get a little chippy online of like, he's responding to Porter's tweets that were kind of somewhat degrading him in or kind of, you know, poking a little fun out of me. He's like, I don't know, I thought I made that pretty interesting at farmers. And it's good to have, see him have a good Sunday. He's been in, in, in like serious contention twice, uh, this year on Sundays and had bad Sundays.

It was Valero and then Farmers and to have a really good Sunday and to stand up to JT and be, you know, an eight footer away from winning the golf tournament. Uh, just big credits in and thanks to serve pro, uh, we're going to make it like it never even happened and you can visit serve pro.com or call 1-800-SurfPro today. I love guys like that too that are pretty early in their career. I mean, we talk a lot about Scotty and Xander and Rory and these guys that just have floors that are unbelievably high. And you know that they're gonna show up every week and they're gonna be in the same routine

and they're gonna do the same thing every week. And you can pretty much expect a similar output from them. If you go down to Andrew Novak's data golf, you could just pretty much look at the strokes gained approach column. And anytime you see a big green bar, that's gonna be a week where he played well, you know, and like the rest of those weeks are weeks where it's like, oh, shit, I had no idea where it was going that week or I had, you know, I had something else going here. I missed like he's always gonna drive it pretty well

But when he has those big outlier weeks with the irons like he did this week He's gonna be a legitimate threat to take down the golf tournament. It's it's awesome I love kind of going a level deeper with with those guys that are like early in their career and just you don't you don't really know What you're gonna get he's gonna miss a lot of cuts, but he's also threatened to win You know three four times now and it's, it's fun, fun to watch. So I'm with you TC best, best, best luck to him the rest of the way. Because I think he, I think he might get one of these sooner than later.

And he plays fast as shit. Yes, too fast. Yeah, I was saying do not expect consistency from him. But man, he's he's kind of, he's gotten himself very seriously. I mean, it's a signature event like, which he got in on current FedEx cup standing according to the tour website and I Swing but he wasn't swing 10. He's now leading the swing 10 into the next event. I think I was struggling He's got a he's got a he's got a couple Yeah, you had a t3 a couple like at Valero and he had, then he had a solo third at Tory, right?

In the the there's a document inside the field for for every every event and they did not he was not listed in the Aon swing 10. And that might be like a reshuffle sort of thing. Yeah, he I think he reshuffled so high that he was it. Yeah, it was spawn Michael Kim, Matt McNeely, Lucas Glover, Nick Taylor, men Woo Lee, Joe Highsmith, Harris English, Daniel Berger, Jacob Bridgeman were the swing 10 and then he was on current FedEx Cup points list, which to him, no, him, Justin Rose, Bud Collie, Patrick Rogers and Sam Stevens get in TC.

We're so fucking close on Daniel Berger. We were, we were, that was frustrating. Wouldn't be a TC had such a like shared premonition mind meld on Daniel Berger this week on the on the preview show and I thought hell of a run of golf today. I thought we might have an outside chance to to sneak in that back door but always good to see the admirable the admiral the admirable admiral uh playing well either way. Yeah he's gonna win at this course at some point again and I think Harmon will as well. Harmon you know just those guys that, you know, live on the Atlantic coast.

Like again, I think that like I'm impressed with, all right, JT's from Kentucky. He knows how to play off certain types of grass. Novak's from, I think he was born in Raleigh, but I think he went to high school in Charleston. Daniel Berger, obviously, you know, southeastern guide, Florida guy, Kenzie Hughes, I think lives in Southeast Harmon grew up in Georgia. Like, you know, guys that that know how to play on Bermuda. And like, this is kind of the first tournament that hasn't been over seeded a long time on the schedule. So like, I have the utmost respect for the guys that played well this week here, because I think it was proper ass golf.

It wasn't windy. For the score to be minus 17 with no wind, but with those greens like that, that's really impressive for those guys. This place just stands the test of time. I'm fascinated to see what Scott Sherman and DL3 and Mark Love do with it. But I think, man, the par threes are demanding. That stretch of 10 through 13 with the par fours, and then you get to 14 and you got to hit a golf shot, and then 15, you got to hit the big, shit, if you want to go for it, you got to hit the big, big shot, you know, over that there's those trees on the left dog leg there and then 16 is

kind of a curve ball. It's it's so good, man. It's really good 18. Like they're all fun, man. It's me and I subscribe to Randy's notion of yeah, tree in the middle of fairly. I couldn't agree more. I think it's really the it's the angled greens that get me like the little like the cut ins in the greens that allow them really interesting and different pin positions. They had a great Aon analysis, I think it was on the 12th hole today, of how much harder the hole plays when you put the pin back left versus front right and how hitting the green percentage goes down like 20% between those two. It's a 150-shot difference on those two pins over

the last five years. And that just speaks to like, probably too many courses on tour just have like a bailout spot, like on part of the green, where like, a lot of these guys are going to hit the middle of greens and play safe. And this play, like Pete Dye, and TPC is like this too. Like they just don't let you just hit the ball into a really safe, safe place. Augusta's like that too. Like the pins are always on tiers. And you got to find, find... So what that does is it puts an exacerbating test on your iron play to say not only can you just not take the safe route and the easy route, you have to hit the tier or you're going to pay a price in some way. And that just makes for really interesting golf tournament. And this is- Yeah, you got to take on the risk at some point,

or that could be on your chip shot then too, if you failed out, right? Um, yeah. And they're small and they're, they're, they're firm and they're grainy and all of that. So it, and like 13 perfect example. Oh, it's like one of the sickestacer stuff this week, like I thought made Harbor Town come alive in a way that I've watched this tournament every year forever. And I've been there, you know, a bunch. And weirdly like some of the drone tracer stuff, I was like, oh, that's why you got to hit it in exactly that spot. Or that's why you're blocked out if you're there.

Or that like, it just, it brings it all to life in such an awesome way. 13 was the best example of like, okay, not only are these fairways narrow, like they're even more narrow than they look because you have to be on this right side or you just have no angle with green or it's just it's great. Even seven like the part three of like you got to clear that

treat. Very specific shot. And then what I also love is the variety in holes. I mean, this is the most drastic example, but all day long, I mean, you hear JT talk about this, like all day long, you're playing for position off the tee. You're trying to hit certain sides, you're trying to hit certain runouts, trying to hit certain distances, trying to leave certain clubs. Then you get to 18. And it's like the widest fairway on the PGA tour, but you still have to do the same thing. Right?

And that's what was so cool is like,, we had a couple graphics from the shots and regulation like JT leaving himself 200 yards into into that 18th hole the first time around like this one on the screen. Oh yeah, there's JT's. He's so far back. He's so far on that right and he hit a seed, but he had no chance of stopping close to the green like he's coming in from with way too much club can't put any spin on it. Whereas Andrew Novak is the white dot there towards the top of the top of the hole. Like that's position A and it's just it's so fun to watch. Watch guys, you know, again, just going a little level deeper and watch them like pick a hole like this part is awesome. Yeah, and that's where the firmness makes we're watching

that difference make a difference is refreshing. Like yeah, we've been on a pretty good good run of course conditions that we've seen out on tour and this was also go back to the year, the second year, right? Sorry. It's like a COVID year is like the opposite of what we're talking about. Where it was soft. There's no wind. It was a different time of year.

And that was just like, it was like literally nobody can make a bogey. It's impossible to make a bogey coming down the stretch. And today was the exact opposite. Where are you going to say? I think there's something to be said for like the torch. It seek out courses that are about to undergo a renovation. Yeah. Just like, Hey, can we kill, can we kill your greens? Can we send this iteration of course, Never Memorial. But yeah,

just getting revved up right behind the teabag. That was incredible. I mean, continuing to go down like the whole Bermuda thing or just like great iron player thing. Like Matt's playing unbelievable golf right now. Russell Henley T8, Siwoo Kim, like, you know, youngest players winner ever. JT Poston, Sungjae, great iron player. Sam Burns, Bermuda Burns, Sepp Straka, grewropin Valdosta, Cam Davis, like, you know, the, the, the master of common coach, Patrick Cantlay, Southern California guy, like, you know, they got some, some shitty grass down there, you know, Chris Kirk, Jordan Spieth, Tom Hoagy, like there's just, there's all strikers, man, impression.

So very throwback tournament. It's just, it's fun strikers, man. Yeah. Impression. It's a very throwback tournament. It's just, it's fun to see which guys embrace that, which guys don't. I didn't, I can't even like throw any shade because I didn't watch his round. I didn't see what happened, but like a guy like Colin is again, a guy that you're like, dude, you gotta play well here, man.

Come on, this has to be. You missed this chance, yeah. You can't, and he's like T53 or whatever. So I don't know what happened in that third round, 77, but it'sth hole happened. That's what happened. That's true. That's true. Did he hit the bull cat? Yeah, I think. Well, yeah, he was just playing ping pong. I think he was super close to the bull cat and then Big Tone had a big issue where he just played backwards back into the fairway. Yeah, that was awesome. T. you see what else is in your notebook? I know you're getting back with the family here. Uh, you know, Sally, we

didn't get a chance to to hear from you on the happy hour show about your Aaron Rye place. Were you trying to send a message there or kind of need to be there to explain that one? I guess. I just I've reached back for 38. Impress me what with what he did at the Masters and I on a better course fit. I thought it was going to be a dart fest for him. I didn't know it's gonna be that firm. It's as you know, it's tough for a guy like that to compete when it's that firm. And I didn't know is

that when I made the play. So I was going to be my surf promo again, if I didn't, you know, if I had the chance there. TC. What do we have here Ludwig t 54? I think he's pretty worn out. I imagine Michael Kim probably is at some point too. Like, you know, team Rose was probably, I think that's probably the tough part about having the signature event after the Masters. I agree with you guys. I think I really like it in that like it forces guy. It's a, it's kind of a cool window into like, you know, like, you know, like, you know, like, you know, like, you know, like with you guys. I think I really like it, in that it forces guys. It's kind of a cool window into how to build your schedule, I think.

But overall, I think that those guys are going to be exhausted. And then you've got, it's just a really, really, it's got to be a really weird week for guys that were in the Haunted Augusta. Corey Conner is another example, T49. And then on top of that, it's a signature event and there's no cut. So let's say you're 15 off the pace, you just got to stick around and keep playing. We haven't said his name yet, but Scotty making a pretty legitimate run at this tournament again after making a run at Augusta. And you know, there's a lot of these guys that were clearly out of gas and he should be one of them and his

floor just remains incredibly high ceiling is the roof. So I think straight up. These guys though, like, alright, yeah, Masters Week takes a lot out of you. I get that but not a lot of them played the week before almost none of them played the week before you die your game up for the Masters. Why not go play for 20 million bucks the next week? Like instead of, I'm sure you want a week off at the same time.

It's kind of efficiency. Yeah, you know, kind of go out and take two days off if you want, just show up Wednesday and play the Pro-Am and then go do it, but I don't know. That's what the money's for. Y'all are here. NBA plays back to backs, you know, there's double headers in baseball, just kind of. NBA is playing less back to backs to be fair. So, no, I think, again, just all the shoutouts to

JT Post and for being one of the most proper players in the world. I want to give a shout to Kandlay. Kandlay played great golf this week. He just couldn't make a putt. He made putts. And this is probably the worst finish he's had here in a long time. He blew my mind going through that on the preview show. His record year is insane. I want to shout out Sammy Valamaki for a T18. Wouldn't seem like a course fit for him. Really? TC, you got time for one more question? Yeah. Yeah. Actually another shout out to Nick Dunlap. First round 78. Then he shot 71. He

shot 72. He shot 69. And it's like he's just he's grinding. He's not giving up. He's not in there somewhere. He lost six shots off the tee and open that opening round to Can you imagine like some of the quotes he had last week about Augusta, which is like the widest course on tour and he just feels like he can't fit it in those corridors. Like yeah, imagine going to Harbor town for 8 a.m. T time. Like, oh, that'd be miserable. I would like to see the tour go back to like Westchester again. Like go play, go play in, you know, an off speed event there or, you know, like, I, like, I, cause I think there's,

there's some of these guys, like a Harmon, they have to feel so much pressure to play well weeks like this. When, you know, it's 6,900 yards, 7,000 yards. And it's like, man, like, like they're putting a lot of eggs in this basket. This colonial places like that, you know? Well, speaking of the claustrophobia, I wanted to ask you guys about trees. Because I feel like we have many takes on the record about, you know, trees are no good. You don't want claustrophobic golf courses.

And we've just spent an hour talking about how great Harbor Town is. So CC, square that circle for me a little bit. Where's your head at? Yeah. No, it's kind of confounding, right? There's a lot of, I think, trees that dictate the line of play are tough or trees that make it one note, like, hey, that are prescriptive of, hey, this is the way to play this hole and this is the only way to play this hole.

A lot of trees put on a course with big greens and you can't access parts of those greens. I think everything at Harbor Town is at scale. Yeah. Right. It's a, you know, 18, you kind of got to throw like 16, 17, and 18 out of that a little bit, but like the, you know, one through, and there's some open stuff on that front nine with a couple of the, like, you know, the, the, the second par five there was pretty open. Um, but I think overall, like, it's just every, like, it's small greens, it's small bunkers. It's like some of those little coffin bunkers behind leather one, there's one behind 10, uh, you know, they, they, they, the proportion matches. And I think the trees like that, that's why I'm really curious to see what Davis love third does.

Cause it's, you know, see what, like if he cuts back on trees in certain spots or even bring stuff closer to the trees and other spots too. Cause it's, it's, you know, it's gotta be a tough course to grow grass on as well. Which I think is part of the part of the Renault, right? Like that's kind of the big, the big focus is just like improving the agronomy and hopefully making it so it plays like this almost no matter what. Right.

They could thin out a lot of trees and still have the same effect on the players. I don't, I can't fully answer your question Deidj as to why I like watching like Scotty shape a three wood around the tree on the second hole with a three wood out of that fairway. It just fits. It works. And like if you'd have had, If you'd have taken the tree line on two at Augusta and brought it within view of the green, I

think that would be very silly and very dumb. The trees left of 15 and right of 15, I think are kind of silly at Augusta. But the course is designed and routed to work through these corridors. It works really well. And like unnatural tree planting on courses that are designed to be wide is the opposite end of the spectrum, I think. And honestly, I don't hate watching pros play tree line courses as much as I don't like playing them myself. That's kind of the other kind of rub of it. But like compare this to like Sahale, which had the KPMG Women's PGA last year.

This is such a better golf course, like not even close that that's kind of just tree lined for the sake of being tree lined. And this is thoughtfully routed through trees and they're they're meaningful and they're they're excellent obstacles for the top players in the game. There's cool recovery shots. I think make sure the one that JT like he was in the sandy areas too, because I think the sandy areas and the pine straw play, play really well as you know, like there's, there's the option to, you know, like hitting into the trees almost incurs more decision making, not less of, Hey, where do I lay this up?

Like Pete die golf courses. You gotta take your medicine at some point. I mean, teach, what do you think? No, I agree. I think that, I think you nailed it with the scale. I think if this was, you know, a 7,800 yard golf course that looked like this, it would be ridiculous, right? Because you'd have to swing driver and then everybody's missing fairways. And then it just becomes like a punch out contest. But I mean, looking at the scorecard today, three of the par

fours were over 450, which like when's the last time that happened on the PJ tour? Right? I mean, that's like an absurdly small number. And a lot of these are 400 yard par fours where it's like make a decision, figure out how much you want to bite off and shape it. And I think to your point, TC, it's like, it's not prescriptive in that you see it on the par fives,

you see what like the shot Novak hit over the trees. You see it like the year when Dustin Johnson used to play this tournament. And even when Davis love talks about playing this tournament is like, there are areas where like you could hit driver if you want. Right. But you almost have to decide how much you, how patient you can be. And I think that's, I think that's very cool. It's, it is claustrophobic, but it's not so claustrophobic that you just have absolutely no chance.

Like you can try to take it over. You can try to cut the corner. You can try to bully the place, but it's not so claustrophobic that you just have absolutely no chance. You can try to take it over. You can try to cut the corner. You can try to bully the place, but it's probably not going to go well. Even on like 15, that's a dry roll, but you still got to hit the shot. You got to hit the fairway there. Or you should even nine. Nine's a 300 and nothing yard par four. Guys are trying to get it in that front bunker, but the guys that were laying it up were making higher scores this week because it was so firm. You couldn't, yeah, just send it. But it's such a great hole where it's, hey, you can play

it. You can hit eight iron off that team if iron off that. I mean, it's fascinating. Um, but you know, like, geese, your point, the green light, you know, it's like green light, yellow light, red light of, you know, like, two, like, if you're not making for there, you feel like you're getting lapped by the field. even if your take, which would be fair, is that it's too claustrophobic or that it is too prescriptive or that it is forcing guys' hands, I think it also is massive variety compared to the rest of the PGA Tour. And that's something that I feel like the Tour is holding onto the steering wheel pretty tightly to try to keep some of that as guys start hitting the ball farther and farther and farther. It's like a lot of these golf courses are starting to look pretty similar. And this is one that's like, and even for the, even if it doesn't work as well as it used to when Davis Love is hitting one iron off every tee, like it's still, you know, we need it just for the sake of variety and because of how different it is from Augusta, because of how different it is from next week. And it's just, it's great.

And a big thing too is like the, I don't know if the trees are limbed up, but the foliage is not low. Like, yeah, it's not that fun to see guys, sometimes it is like hitting shots from under the trees and be impeded by branches. Because like you want to encourage the shaping off the waste areas and stuff like that, which you get, you get a lot of which is great. So which I would say, the sense of place. It feels like in situ, right?

It feels like it matches the low country, it matches the surroundings. Then it opens up when you get by the marsh there too. Well TC, I know we're impeding your Easter Sunday evening. We're gonna send you on your way. Yeah. Any final thoughts? No, I just, you guys will talk about it.

It was tough to see Joel Damon, uh, leak oiled on the stretch there. Uh, I'm proud of the toasty play I made this week. That was a, just a lock of a top 10 down, down in the DR. Uh, and then like I kind of low key dig that tournament and then want to shout out Neil Shipley for the corn fairy tour event and Hank Lee Beoda. He get another like T3 or something this week. And he's playing, I can't wait to see him back

on the PGA tour. I think he's back where he belongs. He's a proper ball striker. Honestly, Harvard times a good course for him one day. So guys, I will bid you a do. I'm, you know, again, my, my, my mini driver showed up yesterday. Yeah. Yeah. So got to hit it today. I'm, I'm in love. It's fantastic. I was hitting driver off the deck on par four T boxes. I've been doing that a lot. I'm like, throw back to our note. He Tuesday back. Yeah a lot. Throw back to our No Tea Tuesday back in the day.

Yeah, exactly. So this thing is just perfect for those shots basically. Sick. That's kind of the reason I was doing that. So good stuff. Sweet. Happy Easter. Happy Easter to you and the fam as well. We want to give a shout out to our friends at H&B. They just launched their new spring 2025 collection on hbgolf.com.

They got great color stories, Fusion, Deep Teal, Citron, Marlin Blue, Liberty Red, Scotch Pink. I think I have the Deep Teal on. I never know, once they come in the box, I can never remember which one is which, but this is a really, really, really sharp. This is nice, this is so nice. I always love the stripes on the H&B stuff. They've expanded

on their aeration line of ventilated shirts, vest layering, micro perforations, macro comfort. The Tilly is their first quarter zip hoodie. It is versatile for off the course. I want to give a shout out to the Lawson hoodie as well. That was that's one of my favorite hoodies I've ever gotten my hands on. It's premium. The Pickett is their new active wear t shirt for the gym or your run. It's got aeration technology on the back and underarm areas. The Wallace is

back in new colors. Of course, you've seen us wear the black one a lot. The very quilted and heavy sweater hoodie. They cannot keep those things in stock. So get on that while you can. nlu10 at hbgolf.com gets you 10% off your first order. That's the only discount code on the market for H&B. That's nlu10 at hbgolf.com for 10% off your first order. Anything else we need to wrap from Heritage? No, I don't think so. We might have a couple other little little side doors here in the in the back nine that we can get to. But I think that's about it.

All right. Do you want to take us there then? Sure. It's pretty loose back there. It might be more like a cross country golf. We might just be playing a few balls. Let's just play some holes. Let's start with, you know what TC mentioned it, let's start with Putukana. Garret Hago wins in Putukana. You mentioned this. 25 years old, second tour win. I feel like he probably didn't get it. I know he didn't follow it up in I feel like he he probably didn't get it you know I know he didn't follow it up in like a huge way but probably didn't get enough burn for that first win he got where was that at Congaree I think the Palmetto Championship I looked that up today I was like what was the Palmetto Championship that's right Congaree Justin Hadley had a tough Sunday

yeah an insanely young player to have to have to tour wins. So congratulations to him. He was hot coming up. DP won a bunch of times as a 20 and 21 year old in DP World Tour. And it was like, you know, is this guy the next dude wins as a 21 year old on PGA Tour? Is he really the next dude? And it just did not come to fruition. I mean, he was playing Corn Fairy Tour last week, you know, and goes out and wins wins in opposite field event and changes the outlook of his career.

I mean, it was a pretty serious fallback his game had, but he watched the interview afterwards, said this was validation for everything he's been doing. And as much as it was tough to see Joel's finish there, it was happy for Garrick. Yeah, just to double-click on that, because I think that'll probably be the story of the week. 76, final round for Joel. Bogie's the last three to lose by one, including a shorty at 17 there. So any thoughts on that other than? Of note for the short, even the shorty is like, it was windy.

Like that was a really tough finish. I mean, his chip on the 18th hole as well ended up eight, 10 feet left of the hole from a pretty straightforward chip, which as it rode the wind away from it, it just was a classic Punta Cana finish out there when you get back out to the ocean there and battle those winds. I am making excuses for him other than to say, like, we've seen people at that tournament like struggle to close it off.

And that 17th hole was placed really difficult. And it was, yeah yeah I was really really obviously pulling for Joel. Side note you had a great point as well you don't want to be a two time winner of an opposite field event right? It's almost better off. That's me personally you know I've told my field differently right now but I don't think you want two Punta Cana victories on your resume you know you want to win one of those and you want to go back up. You want to move on. You know, you want to you want to go go. Yeah, go take down some big dogs. But yeah, I don't know. A bummer to see nonetheless. TC mentioned Alejandro Toasty finished T2 down there. Keith Mitchell, friend of the pod T2 Jeremy Paul,

I assume one of the Paul brothers finishes T2 and also Michael for Bjornsson. You know, the the young stud from Stanford. So thus concludes your Punta Cana update unless you have anything else. Nope. And TC mentioned as well Neil Shipley, a great piece of content on the corn fairy tour. He's trying to do his selfie video with the winner and he messes it up. What's up guys? Shit. Hold on. They just left it all in. He's trying to do his selfie video with the winner and he messes it up. What's up guys? It's me and Shipley. Oh, shit. Hold on. They just left it all in. It's really good. Go look that up on their

Instagram. But Shipley seems like a stud, man. I mean, it's fun to watch. You know, it's fun to watch the dudes who have full context building, right? Like, it's all about, you know, getting to a Sunday or Saturday, I guess, in this point and just saying like, Oh, that's right. I know that guy. Oh, that's right. I saw that guy before. And you know, he had the great moment with Tiger at the Masters. And, you know, he's got to he's got a good a good look about him. He had a great moment at the USM.

He's you know, he's popping up in commercials. It's like, all right, now we need those guys to go play some golf. Yeah. And, and start taking down some trophies. So hopefully a big step towards towards a PJ tour card for him down the corn fairy tour. Yeah, it's not been a great start to the year for him. Honestly, I mean, he's missed cuts at the Bahamas, both Bahamas events. He missed the cut. He missed the cut at the Astara. I missed the cut in Argentina and I missed the cut

last week at the club car championship. I did have a T9 at Panama. So he's still got, I mean, we've seen this from corn for guys as well. You can win and not get your tour cards. Like he's going to need this to keep playing some golf to establish that. But wins on the fifth playoff hole, great putt there. A long birdie putt, great celebration. So easy guy to root for. Great on the Netflix series. And I think the Waffle House stuff's probably gonna get played out pretty quickly but I find myself rooting for a no-shit player. Here's a little play back towards the clubhouse here. This one's you know kind of heritage related. Range finders. Is this a thing? I completely forgot this

was happening. I didn't notice it at all during the final round. Doesn't seem like it. I don't know. Is there any there there to take away? It's not gonna solve much of anything when it comes to pace of play if you ask me It's gonna hurt anything. Maybe it might I mean that's I didn't think it would either but I remember John would point this out when it happens is like caddies are still gonna walk off yardages and Then use rangefinders to double check everything and that's just adding more time to the process But I'll also say that's not where the issue is like Scott talked a lot about this in his press conference. If you

guys I have no watch that can watch it. It's traffic, I assume is what you're gonna say, right? It's playing in threes instead of twos. It's playing off two T's. It's just going out. It's holding out is what takes long. And like, that's where all the traffic jams stem back from where it's not glacially slow on the PGA Tour because guys are taking too long to get yardages. Now look, if you get way offline, they're not really going to happen at Heritage because you're way offline, you're out of bounds usually.

But if you're way offline and you can just gun it, like that can speed up life. That seems great. That's a good thing. And that can't, that's the kind of thing that can sneak back through the course as well. So I, I kind of agree that it won't hurt. But it's not going to be a massive difference maker, if you ask me. Yeah. All right, moving back. Wes Bryan, suspended from the PGA Tour for participating in live duels. I think we kind of, maybe, you know, I don't know how you would come to, like, another conclusion of what was going to happen from doing that seems like dozens of other

players have also suffered that same fate. So I don't know, I haven't been spending a lot of time on X everything app. I'm sure everybody reacted very rationally and calmly to this news. But did you have any thoughts here? No, I mean, maybe some I guess. He seemed like a weird thing to risk it all for. You know, you know, you can play the PGA tour and create YouTube content and you could have set this out and not been suspended for, I believe to be at least a year now from the PGA tour, but, uh, yeah, it was a $250,000 prize. Yeah.

Real like, what are you going to do? Stab me sort of lives from the guy who got stabbed. You know, it's like, I don't know, I don't know that that feels like kind of a, he did say didn't regret it. And he thought it was gonna be the most impactful, one of the most impactful videos, YouTube golf videos ever. And one of the support grants channel was a bit some of the quotes, Ryan French reported this from Monday Q info. Yeah, I, I guess so a lot of the a lot of the discourse, which I'm so jealous that you've missed all of this, is around this discipline that was allegedly threatened to the creators that were going to potentially play in this, that they were notified, like, you're not going to be able to accept a sponsor's exemption if you go play in the live duels. Which I believe was, I don't know if somebody won the Monday. Which wouldn't be like, again, I'm not saying that this, I don't give a shit which way this goes.

I don't, I'm not saying this is right or wrong, but I'm just for the point of consistency, like there have been plenty of guys who have been quote unquote suspended, even though they weren't tour members, right? Like who went to, and I don't even know where we've held up with appeals and all of that stuff at this point. But like that happened to a lot of guys who had never played a PJ Tour event who didn't have tour cards. Like I think they suffered that same punishment. Right? So I understand if that's what was handed down and then I know I cut you off. But it sounded like the tour reportedly like rescinded that for the creators but kept it in place for Wes because he was a tour member.

So yeah, I don't know, the whole thing just kind of feels like a weird blender. Well, it's honestly always been the part that's always been confusing to me has been the fact that you don't have to be a tour, a PGA tour member to be able to get suspended for a year for playing at live like that. That's always one that's, my stance has always been, look, you know what the rules and regulations are the PGA tour, you sign an agreement, you say I'm going to

play golf for money on this tour. And I've got to get permission to play in any kind of competition outside of this and live clearly violates all that. And like, I understand that I don't get why. Yeah, you ain't no Chikara Lopez like is suspended from the tour for a year, because he played live golf, he was never agreed on that. And that's a policy Uh, you hang your Chikara Lopez like is suspended from the tour for a year because he played live golf. He was never, uh, agreed on that. And that's a policy they've taken.

Um, uh, but yeah, I guess applying that to the creators also seems very silly. And apparently that was flagged at me, like after that was communicated to them, it was flagged and said, uh, no, this was, this was in, in error. And it wasn't like they got banned from future creator classics or any of that. But of note, Grant Horvat has said he's got a sponsors exemption into the Barracuda now. Which I again, he should play. I think so too. That's interesting. Like people that visit easy. Like people

that don't know how unrestricted sponsors exemptions work like anything. I've always been a proponent of put the Steph Curry's in, put the Tony Ramos and put something in there to make me want to Watch how somebody's gonna do in in tour conditions. I get sick But he is allowed to play in that just and Wesley is not is an inconsistency in how they've applied the policy I guess but also it was very much like a whole after Roy just won the Grand Slam I cannot fucking believe that this is what the conversation is on the F3 track

The take it away. I'm good. Yeah, I don't know. I'm not a lawyer and I have no idea how this stuff really works. But it's like, I think the difference would be as a PJ Tour member, Wes gets a pension and health insurance and all kinds of like things from the PJ Tour that Grant, you know, does not because he's not a PJ Tour member. So I So I don't know, I guess I get the inconsistency a little bit, but it's, I don't know, I could not be more of a Switzerland, neutral party, conscientious objector to all of this.

And I just, I don't know, somebody kind of summed up the last couple years to me recently, and just talking about like, not even just golf, just kind of everything. It the last couple years to me recently and just talking about like Not even just golf just kind of everything it was like whatever you like I know it's hard to get your head around but whatever the dumbest possible outcome is is probably what's gonna happen I'm like now come on I don't know about that and the tour and live and lawyers and YouTube like all of them fighting over like YouTube creators Now is like I would consider that the dumbest possible outcome and it's just it's pretty it's pretty funny you got it you got to add it to him it's it's pretty funny getting where we've lost fat Perez sir he's got fat Perez to live

he's gone he's gone he's lost them I don't know I I wish everybody will let's talk Ryder Cup can we talk Ryder Cup we can if you're gonna make me please uh look the ride this Ryder Cup? We can, if you're gonna make me. Please. Look, this Ryder Cup update brought to you by our friends at BMW. They're not only the official vehicle of NoLayingUp, but also a worldwide partner of the 2025 Ryder Cup. Looking forward to spending some time with them on site at BethPage later this year

to experience the ultimate team competition. First question, Deidre, what's the headline for Team USA right now? Oh, God. These are fun. We try to do these recaps after big weeks. It's hard to do night of a big week as well. This is basically our post-master's version because points lists are, they're never ready by the Sunday night when we go to have time to

record. I would love to give you an updated points list but it's gonna be out of date by the time you hear this. For a headline I'll preface I know you can't preface a headline you got to just splash it up there but I am gonna put a little tiny preface with I it's April it's early I understand okay but my headline in big text would just be like does this team fucking stink? Like, are they are they not good? Maybe would be my grammatically dubious headline. Very top heavy team USA, Scottie Xander, Colin Bryson. After that, I think it's pretty fair to say like, whoa, we might have some question marks.

JT is playing very, very, very solid golf and is probably, you know, vaulting himself up into being one of those top three, four, five guys on the team. But man, it's a lot of question marks after that. Russell Henley's playing great golf. Is he going to be playing great golf? You know, six months from now, five months from now. Don't know. Mav McNeely is playing great golf. Is he going to be playing great golf? Five months from now? I don't know. Brian Harmon. I don't think that's the course fit you're looking for. JJ Spahn, I don't think that's the course fit you're looking for. Patrick Cantlay, you know, seems like he'll be Patrick Cantlay

eventually. But then it's like Harris English, Tom Hoagy, Lucas Glover, Billy Horschel, Big Tone, Wyndham Clark, Michael Kim, Okshay. I just don't know that that's exactly like the 27 Yankees that were rolling up into New York there. Is any of that unfair? Absolutely none of it. My headline was, not great, Bob. It's not great. We are not necessarily vibing.

I went and looked at this. So consistent players. so this would be guys that are on the US side, they're in the top 12 in strokes gained over the last three months, six months, 12 months, and 24 months. So guys that are like, no matter which way you slice it, have been playing good enough golf to be widely recognized here.

The answer to that question, guys, are in the top 12 of all four of those time periods. Scotty, Colin, JT, Bryson, Cantlay, Henley. I think that's a pretty good six-core. Love it. Also, including that group, Denny McCarthy has been one of the 12 best Americans over all of those time periods, which is, again, not a great course fit and kind of speaks to the vacancies left by the bottom half of that roster. We also haven't mentioned Keegan. I know he's obviously got a lot of good golf ahead of him

and is probably going to pick up some of this slack, but he can't do it by himself. Keegan's of course 22nd on the points list for y'all. That hasn't updated yet. That hasn't updated after today. What did he finish today? I don't know, like 20th or something. Yeah, that's not going to change a whole heck of a lot. He finished T18. T18. And gave up a lot of ground to the likes of Andrew Novak. Dude, put Andrew Novak on. I don't care. That sounds great. It's just, I don't know. Again,

it's early. It's one week in April here. Shout out to our guy, Mike Stone. But we've got Harris English, Ricky, Sahith, hit max Nick Dunlap all basically like competing for DFL, like the, I would say everybody in that camp outside of Harris, uh, feels like kind of a non-factor for team USA right now. And all of those are, well, again, maybe outside of Ricky, all those are probably dudes a year ago that you were like written in pretty dark pencil. Uh, it's just, it's a weird, weird time right now. Zala Taurus doesn't really have it.

Cam Young has been completely in the wilderness. It's just a... Will you join me on speed is going to be on the Ryder Cup team? I think based on everything I just said for the last five minutes, like I don't know who else is exactly. I don't think that's like, we're rallying the country around this, like this is the answer. I think it's just more like, I don't know who else is picking up the flag type of situation.

Right, that was part of my reason why I thought he's more likely to bake a team than not, and I've received nothing but hate mail. No, I think, well, I'll, you know, throw a little credit to some of my coworkers. I think you came in Didn't you put it was like an odds-on favorite or no So he's more likely than not to make some language that was way too way too strong more likely than not as of right now He's more likely than not to make the team. I would put his chances at over 50%

It's exactly what I said, I guess is what I just said as well Thank you So, you know, all right, so if you're really peaced, if you're if you're looking through a tough lens, I didn't mention Xander, Xander has fallen off and the points are in the kind of trend of last couple months, because of course, the injuries and we're hoping he'll be in better form come fall, but Scotty Xander, Markow, Bryce and Henley, and

Mav holds the six spot as of right now, I think Mav is looking likely for the team. But Mav holds the six spot as of right now. I think Mav is looking likely for the team but I mean that six spot points wise is far from a guarantee. Then we have JT, Cantlay and Spieth all on the outside of that so that gets you to nine relatively quickly. And then it becomes a hot bat of Big Tone, could be Wyndham Clark, could be Akshay, Daniel Berger sitting out there kind of just looming. Like it's not in it's not it's not dire. I mean they're still favored to win. Like it's not and the home field advantage is a positive. It is just hard to have lost like Fina not playing as

well. Cameron Young not being being a shell of himself. Sahith who looked like he was maybe trending in the right direction. You know not gonna not gonna that being a shell of himself. Sahith who looked like he was maybe trending in the right direction. You know, not gonna, not gonna, has not been a threat. I'll say this, I don't think it's a guarantee that the US sets this course up to be a bomber. I totally, I totally agree. I was thinking this too, where it's like, I don't know man, the teams just aren't that different,

right, like there used to be very, very different teams, but when you look at Team Europe, it's not like it's a bunch of little poofers that are, you know, Rory Hatton, Rasmus Huygard, Shane Lowry, Ludwig, you know, kind of just like looking at the top of the board. It's like, you know, there's a lot of bombers on the other side too. Well, what's the headline for Team Europe right now? I mean, I think it almost kind of plays off of the Team USA thing. But it's kind of are these the guys to break the stalemate? Right? Are these guys going to win on on opposing

soil? And I think that's fascinating, man. I cannot. It's the thing I can't wait to watch at the Ryder Cup is like, can this be the team that finally breaks, you know, makes the other guys blink, that finally kind of wins one away from home and, you know, goes down as legends. I think Luke Donald in his second try, I think everything Rory's got, you know, kind of off his shoulders now is like not nothing. I think he's going to be walking around as a slightly different dude for the rest of the year. And like, a couple young guys that are

exciting and fun. And it's just it's a really fun team. I it's we've said this, you know, made no secret about the fact that it's very often more fun to root for Europe than it is for Team USA. And I certainly don't think that that's really turned around looking at this lineup here. Yeah, it's trying to come up with a headline of something like the those memes where people are like this dude's living in 2050. Like they're so far ahead of the game because that's kind of where

it feels like for them. In terms of their plan kind of coming to fruition, probably faster than than I then I certainly would have expected and how how they get so much out of the lesser guys on their team on top of having now like some talent that's really rounding into form in a nice way. So that same metric, if you look at just guys that are in the top 12 in Europe over all four of those stretches of time, Rory, Seps Troka, John Rahm, Shane Lowry, Tommy Fleetwood, Aaron Rye, and Sergio Garcia are playing like unavoidably like, you'd have to go go past you'd have to go past me on the list with intention to not put me on this team is kind of an interesting super interesting couple names at the back end of that. Sergio will see I mean I don't know. I don't know if I was a I was very very high on him for the Masters and he kind of spit the bit missed the cut and if I had guess, I don't know that that's going to last another five, six months, but

we'll see. And I don't know, I don't want to get too far ahead of myself. Like they're a little thin on the back end of that rotation, so to speak, as well. But fuck, man, the top end is gas. They're really good and they're going to be very fired up and they have set the deck perfectly to again, both be like, you know, the favorites and the underdogs, like at the same time, like they are every year, like the nobody believed in us,

but we're definitely gonna win type of vibe is, that's just such an impressive frequency to be able to dial up again and again and again. And I, again, I'm could not be more aware that strokes gain numbers over the course in a stroke play format don't like it doesn't means absolutely fucking nothing when you go to start it up. But it is interesting how the narrative has been about like Europe's domination and us struggling like, of the top six

guys in the world in the last three months, five are Americans, one is European. And same over the past six months, four of the top five are US, one is European. That's right. Total strokes gained. Total strokes gained. And then over the last year, it's of the top eight, six of them are American,

two are European. So it explains a little bit of why the US is still favored and the whole field of advantage obviously has something to do with it. But the people got no- It doesn't explain the pit in my stomach though. I totally agree. I'm like Denny McCarthy filling out the bottom

and has been very much like, huh? Really, like these are kind of unavoidable numbers if you look at him here. But Phil is low key lingering around the bottom. He's not gonna make it deep. Well, another guy I saw a comment here, uh, you know, a couple of people internally in the Slack this week, lobbying for your guy, Patrick Reed, uh, your, your, your response.

Yeah. I mean, yeah, totally. The guy that went one and two in France, uh, shot 80 said, Tiger Woods bitched about not getting paired with Jordan said, Tiger Woods apologized to, uh, uh, started a fight in the locker room. Yeah. Yeah. Totally that dude, the guy that no one on the team likes, uh, one of the,

the worst clubhouse guys you could possibly imagine had one good week at the masters in four months ahead of the tournament. Throw in the team, sure, maybe that's what the US needs. Have you ever thought about that? Maybe that's what they need. You can't deny he's a dog. I just won't hear it. I will not hear it.

He played in one other US team since then, got caught cheating, allegedly, at the Bahamas the week before that, was a massive, his caddy pushed a fan at the President's Cup in Australia but no I'm on the team he's gone to live since that absolutely on the team. Did you watch that video I sent through of his Starbucks order was going around on Twitter. I can't remember exactly what was like a double I think a Trenton strawberry refresher no ice no

inclusions. I think which I've never heard anybody say the word inclusions on a Starbucks. I got to, you know, need some intel on what that means. Maybe no like bits of fruit. I think maybe the strawberry refreshers have a little bit of fruit in it, but just at hostile alpha order from, from our guy P. I really enjoyed that. Is there, am I, I don't wanna get roasted for this,

but am I crazy to at least throw out like, is there a looming Bryson question over this team? Like he's in the position to make it on points right now. I don't think so. Has rubbed a lot of people in that locker room the wrong way, has sued the PGA tour, has truly like very few friends on the American side in that locker room to be probably you know unless he has another great major might need to be a cap inspect just

because he's only earning points in four events is there a Bryson inclusion question in any of this no inclusions uh i don't i see where you're coming from i of course respect you for for asking the question but i don't think so i think he I think he has to be like it's like inarguable. I think he has to be on the team especially that golf course like that I don't know I think he has to be on. I don't think it's a question. I think the golf course definitely lends itself you know to making that an easier answer but if But if they were going to... He also might win the last three majors. He could. It might make that a lot easier.

I felt like it was kind of a weird dynamic with Brooks last year, just in general. He kind of no-showed for the most part of that tournament as well. But I don't know. It's not nothing. Yeah, but then they all they all kind of like flipped it and they tried to take the photos with the Smash GC shirts on to show that they're the closest team ever the US team just sucks It's just not fun to it's not it's not as much about like the With Brooks like the internal dynamics of relationships with the guys because I think he still maintains really good relationships with a lot of those Guys, it's just like the dude wasn't like ready to play like he and Scheffler lost nine and seven in a match like that was Scottie went oh two and two

just a weird really freaking weird rather cut but anyways what's next? Why don't we bring the code man in talk a little LPGA. Cody what uh what's the update? I know they're they're still still playing. Greetings, greetings we got three holes left out at El Cabrero. I knew I was going to mispronounce it. Guys, we're going to get pumped up for like 30 minutes. At El Cab, I'm going to go with that. Of course, this tournament traditionally played at Wilshire, not played this year because they're undergoing a restoration right now. So Ingrid Lindblad, the rookie at 21 under she's one up on another rookie. Aki Iway her twin sister also playing very, very good. Our very own LC now at two under

total 19 under sent in two starts shots back with three to play. So we're in a great spot guys. Make a little run for it. Just got to threaten got to make them got to make a make them feel the pressure here on the back nine. Exactly. Couple other things. Solid, we had the player advisory council named a couple co-chairmen this week.

I know this is inside baseball palace intrigue type of stuff, but I think it is interesting. It's Keith Mitchell and Mav McNeely. I think two very cogent, smart, lucid guys that have spoken very eloquently on this podcast about some of their ideas and just kind of seem like generally good guys to have in the room and synthesize the opinions and wishes of their peers. Anything else you took away from that? I've talked with both of these guys about issues on tour and been like,

yeah, you should be in a leadership position. Like, you should be in a pretty good leadership position. Like, heavily involved, thoughtful ways of, you know, looking into all this stuff. And so, yeah, I still don't know what the PAC does. It has been famously documented over the years so it kind of it can't zinger called it a giant waste of time uh but you know in theory i don't think that's a good take i think that's a bad take i think the pack especially like right now as you're reshaping the entire fucking thing just not voting power is is the point really it's it's a it's basically making recommendations to the board but aren't the player directors like going off of what the pack

is in theory? Yes. Saying, you know, so that's not right. I wouldn't say that's how things have trended over the last several years of playing playing player directors, you know, you know, pushing through the signature events at great resistance at times. So two things do you just took out to me at this announcement here. And I appreciate great inclusions of these two guys will just keep that keep that running. No, no, no. Number one, the books

better be fucking tight because Mavs coming for you. Okay, so whoever's mastering these spreadsheets, he's gonna be on it. Yeah. Number two, if you're a tournament director, your F&B program for player dining, yes, he locked come exactly what I didn't. Locked. Exactly where Keith is going. You know what, I didn't even think about that. That's Keith is bringing the soft skills and the like, you know, the kind of intangibles and Mav's bringing the hard, you know, P&L stuff.

Let's just, let's take a look out of the hood and treat this like a real business. It's, he's got his, it's all yours and his homies at KPMG, I'm sure. Just all over it. It's, it's great. What a, what a dynamic duo. Any other masters loose ends,

Sal, that you kind of had in the notebook? Yeah, it just, you know, always feels weird to have a monumental golf event and then kind of somewhat move on the next week. And obviously we react to it in real time on Sunday night. And I was just kind of curious, any lingering thoughts you have, numbers are out.

There was 12.7 million viewers on average up 33%, which is the most since 2018. Since P. To all the worst people online. That means 12.7 million viewers averaged over the course of the final round broadcast. That is not how you would compare to a YouTube video. Because the total number of people that viewed it

would be much higher than that. Average viewers all at one time is very different. That does not include caffeine TV. I will say that as well. Those numbers are still coming in. They are still collecting those. As far as kind of your thoughts on like, any lingering thoughts or any kind of big insights,

it's funny I had coffee with a couple of my friends on Friday and they were asking a similar question, just like, it's been a week, what are you thinking? And it's so funny to have something like the Rory victory happen and just realize that rather than like turning over a bunch of new intellectual leaves after it happens, it's like, no, I've kind of just been thinking about this one for a decade. And then it happened. And like,

yeah, I don't really have anything else to say. I just kind of like, we got to the end of the movie, man. It's unbelievable. I can't believe it. You know, it's like, I don't really have a ton of like, oh, actually, the shot on 15 tells me this, that and that. I'm like, no, he is who we hoped he was, man. And that's really cool. You know, it's great. I do have some thoughts, though, on some of the quotes he had

afterwards of, yeah, I do really think this will free me up in these things going forward. Just to say, man, you just didn't win 40 of them in a row. I would maybe hesitate to say that out loud, yeah, go put that into action. But I don't, I wouldn't all of a sudden start acting like winning majors might be easy again. Like nobody has learned more than you have how competitive is out there and how you, like we said, going in, like you hit a little gap in the competitive window of Scotty and some of these other guys and Xander being down

and, and heard and Ludwig kind of having a kind of a weird up and down kind of run since winning the Genesis. And I guess I'm just like, hesitant, maybe I have this, I have this scar tissue, hesitant to do the, now the floodgates open for him and he's cleared his mind because he had 4 of them already. Like, I don't know, you know, I feel like he's already going to go back to putting himself, putting a fair amount of pressure on himself. And he joked about winning the Grand Slam this year, you know, which I support that. I have nothing but support for that. But I don't know, it just that some of that was, it stirred the moment and I get it. For the moment, I do understand that. But I don't know if I'm quite subscribing to the, you know, because what, because what did we say on Sunday with the over under is for total career majors for Roy, I think we said six and a half. Yeah, which, yeah, I know, it's still a number that's kind of hard to pick a side on. I don't know, I do. I don't know, call

it recency bias or homerism or whatever. But I but I kind of do subscribe to it. I think you could see physically how hard he was trying to be patient and how hard he was trying to go through the gates at the right speed at the majors over the last couple years and how unnatural that probably felt for him. And the counter would be like, he's played some of his best golf of his career and he's put himself in position to win 10 of these things, and none of them went his way. So it's, it remains, I don't know, I guess I, my gut is to trust what he says that like, he will be freed up. But I also don't think you can ignore what that pressure did to him at those majors,

and how much he put himself in position to win over and over and over and how you can, there's such a thing as being too freed up as I think you were alluding to, you know, it's like, it's, but it's fascinating. Like I think it's, it's much more fun. It's much less stress. I shouldn't say more fun. It's much less stressful, you know, to watch this version of it where he shows up and in a way, at least for the next two years, I almost feel like it's like if he misses the cut, it's like, yeah, what are you gonna do? I got the grand slam. Yeah, it's fine. You know, whereas like, and if he wins,

you're like, yeah, of course he won. He's roaring McElroy. So in that space, I'm like, you know, that seems like a much more fun place for him to live. But who knows what that will translate to as far as actual results. If he shows up at Port Rush again thinking like I'm freed up ahead of this one, that's going to be another rude awakening. Maybe, but also I would say he couldn't have been less freed up last time. True.

That was the disaster was I think he was just like, trying to lift up the whole town on a deadlift, you know, and it's like, that's impossible. And so I don't know, I just, I can't wait to see what happens. We're very close to Quail Hollow. It's coming. These have been thinking about this. Also for JT, right? Like JT is the Quail Hollow monster as well. But go ahead, Cody. Sorry. Yeah, I was just thinking about this and I remember last year at the Irish Open and having, you know, he ended up losing and he was kind of in the driver's seat going into the back nine on Sunday and you know he lost in

heartbreak fashion and what he took out of that was man I forgot how awesome it is to play in front of a home crowd when like everybody is there like for you and cheering you on. And it kind of like flipped a switch, I think internally for him of being like, oh shit man, like I like this. Like this pressure is good. Maybe I can harness this into something different. But I'm kind of with you guys, like the flood gate stuff is silly,

but I think if you just look at kind of the lineup track, well shit. It's crazy. It's hard to look past that. And it's- Oakmont, it should be nice. I'm right. It might be him and Bryson again at Oakmont. I know. I don't see any reason why it doesn't be that's not gonna be a bombers paradise

without the trees and everything there. It's just Yeah, to your point. All right, grand slam. All right, that's fine. It's grand slam for Roy. Let's do it. To your point, Cody, I mean, I think public sentiment to like everybody watch that masters. Who's who's not a Roy? Like, I, I mean, I think public sentiment too. Like everybody watched that Masters. Who's not a Rory? Like, I don't know. I feel like everybody has this tiny shred of being a Rory fan in them.

Even the people who flipped over the last three or four years or got sick of them or whatever. Like the crowds at Quail Hall are gonna be so overwhelmingly pro-Rory, you know, to your point. And like, I think he can expect that quite a bit going forward. But yeah, the only people that aren't that didn't feel something from them are the ones that use the descriptors of, of alpha and beta this week on Twitter. And like that group can can miss me anyway.

It is going to be good for Rory to not have the image of being like the guy that pushed through all these changes and talked about about live being on the top of everybody's mind, like at the more public events like PGA and us open and having the guy that just won the career grand slam being the most recent memory for people is going to drive public interest in a, in a, in a different way. I mean, it, yeah, but I wouldn't dismiss like the Roy does rub a lot of people the wrong way. I mean, he's, he's alienated himself amongst a lot of fans and a lot of tour guys in general. I've always admired him for, like, the gall that he's had to push through the changes he has and to make the attempts that he has and speak the way that he has, because I do think it's in the best

interest of golf fans as a whole. Not everybody sees it that way. But, you know, it he has he's lost some fans over the last several years, the flip flopping is viewed, you know, in a different way than maybe I personally view it, I think when new information presents itself, and if you changed your stance on something that's an admirable trait, not digging your your it's not in our society is not rewarded in any way. But it's not to say I think he's done everything perfect either. Yeah. Well, listen, I think that brings us to the end of our,

our cross country golf there. I don't know how many holes that was, but good to get out and get a couple of swings with you guys. You know what? Yeah, we're chasing it. We're chasing it. That was, that was fun. A couple of house things before we, before we get out of here. First of all, we made an announcement on social media this week, as well as in the newsletter. Everybody should go sign up for the newsletter. About a goal we're chasing with our friends at the Evan Scholars Foundation

in the Western Golf Association. This was something just to expound on a little bit. You can go read about this on nolayingup.com or again in the newsletter or on Instagram, Twitter. Something like an organization all of us have always been very passionate about, something we've always kind of, we've sold custom merch for the Evans Scholars,

we've done a bunch of stuff through PMW Championship, and it's something that we've done a lot of charitable fundraising over the years, it's kind of been shotgun blasted in a million different directions, and so we're kind of talking in this off season, like, you know, how can we maybe focus that? Is there one goal we could pick that would be very tangible

and something we could kind of focus all of our energy towards? And very clearly at the top of that list was the Evans Scholars Foundation. And specifically trying to raise enough money to have an endowed named scholarship at Miami University, the beloved alma mater of much of our company. And we announced that this week and like the results immediately were wildly emotional and overwhelming. The people who got involved and sent me notes privately sent sent notes to the main NoLangUp email account,

sent notes on social media, sent notes on the Refuge. Like, people are already chasing this goal with us, and I want to shout out all of them because it's like, you know, it's a big-ass goal. We're trying to raise about a half a million dollars over the next, I don't know how many years it's gonna take us to get there, but some of the numbers that people were sending in of donations that they're already making were truly heartwarming, pretty overwhelming type of. Legitimately inspiring.

Inspiring stuff, yes, exactly. And I don't know, man, we talk about it all the time. I don't know where No Line Up will be in 20 years, 25 years, but it's the idea of having a scholarship that is fully funded, that's given out every four years to a deserving caddy going to the, you know, Miami university is like in perpetuity is unbelievably kind of like gives me chills. So, uh, to anybody who wants to help us chase that goal,

the Western golf association doesn't usually do this, but they allowed us to kind of do it as a crowdfunding sort of thing. So we're gonna be kicking in our own donations, all of the money that's raised at our events, you know, for the next however many years, we're gonna be kicking in that money. We're also gonna be matching all of those,

you know, funds raised just, you know, via no laying up. We're gonna be kicking in that money. We're also gonna be matching all of those funds raised just via No Laying Up. We're gonna be matching those fundraising efforts. But if anybody else would like to kick in, help us get to this goal faster and play a role in funding this scholarship in perpetuity, you can go to WGAESF, Western Gulf Association, evanscholarsfoundation.org FWGAESF, Western Golf Association, evanscholarsfoundation.org slash no laying up. You can also find that on our website, on my Twitter, kinda all over the place. But if you are gonna donate

and you would like to contribute to this specific scholarship, please do it through that link because Western Golf Association has set up an easy way for people to contribute directly to that fund so it gets earmarked towards our foundation. So unbelievably exciting stuff and I can't wait to keep harping on this. It's an awesome program. Many, many, many of you, probably all of you know at least something about the Evans Scholars Foundation. If you want to learn more about it, go to

their website, go talk to anybody who's ever gone through this program about how much it changed the trajectory of their life. It's just, we're gonna be talking about it a lot. And it seems like it's off to a great start. So thank you to everybody who's, who's already gotten involved. And to you for spearheading this. And it's like, and also, if you're looking for a resource, episode 346 of the No Laying Up podcast, we did a dive into this like it was almost five years ago Just explaining what the you know talk to three different people involved with the program, you know a graduate You know, it's it's it's it's it's legitimately inspiring. It's so freaking cool. And

like you said the the already immediate reaction to it has been just Astonishing and like really motivating and I cannot wait to see how fast we reach this goal because I really do think we're going to get there. There's a lot of like, not to ever come at it from a defensive perspective, but there's a lot of things in golf that are very much like growth at all costs, grow the game, sell people stuff, get them to the range that we can get them know, get them clubs and balls and hats and trinkets and ball markers and you know, whatever. And the Evans College Foundation is a way to like truly like, God, it's hard

not to sound like a poster at a doctor's office or something. But it's like, it just gets people into the game for life. It gives them a way to take advantage of all the awesome things that golf does, comradery, community building, the mentorship, like the amount of, you know, times I feel guilty, going to a country club and just all the things that that represents are very much offset by seeing all the people at all the country clubs who stand up these types of programs

and say like, man, I'm gonna pick these kids, mentor them, take them out on the golf course, help get them set up with internships, help, you know, just be a resource for life. And the Evans College Foundation just does that over and over and over every year for like 1000 kids. You know, I think 1200 kids are in school right now on Evans Scholar, Evan scholarships. And so it's just, it's awesome. And so look into it if you're if you're on the fence, and sorry, I'm being long winded, but it's something it's awesome and so look into it if you're if you're on the fence and sorry I'm being long-winded but it's something I'm very excited and passionate about. Well said there DJ, one thing for everybody that's watching this live as well as people who listen on the

podcast the link is in this description here so the the understanding that the the url the DJ just read off some were getting a a 404 file error on it, but the correct link is in the description. Please find it there and help us support some kids. And we have wrong links. Sorry about that. We'll be doing it through a lot of our events. As mentioned, there's many different ways

about you can help us with this goal than just donating directly as well. So it's gonna be great. It's really, really exciting. So speaking of exciting, we also dropped the strapped trailer strapped West Texas. We dropped that this week on all kinds of different platforms that's going to air April 30 at 8pm Eastern Time. I've mentioned this on the pod in the past, but a little bit of a change not gonna be three episodes It's gonna be all one episode. So if you're gonna watch the premiere with us, please do But but no going in it's it's a bit of a beefy one. It's gonna be about

it's like probably 80 90 minutes something like that, so Excited for everybody see that man. I think it's I think it's really good I think we're gonna really like it and It's it's just a very cool part of the country with a lot of great people featured. So I can't wait. And we also have the first Women's Major of the Year coming up this week with the Chevron. We'll have a preview out in the early part of next week.

We will have a happy hour. We'll have a live show Saturday night. Is that right, Cody? Do I have that right? Yeah, that's correct. So third year going at the Nicholas Course at Carlton Woods. Very, very excited about that. As we continue to watch this, uh,

the jam Eagle championship comes with horses that are close. Uh, L cab I think is where they're planning that, but Hey, we're very excited. I'll, uh, give people a little behind the curtain here. Uh, obviously big is on vacation. He left a little bit early and I was like, Oh, you know, we're scrambling to find a time to record our preview podcast. So we recorded it on Thursday afternoon, fully knowing that if some lightning bolts happen here as this tournament closed at the preview, we might be missing out a little bit here.

So I sent him a message this morning. I was like, oh, LC is going to win. Oh, Nellie is going to come back and everything. But hey, we have an awesome preview podcast that's going to come out Monday night into Tuesday with Grant Boone, who if people are watching coverage right now, you're hearing his beautiful tones on on golf channel coverage. But we basically run everybody up, get caught up how the season's gone so far up to this first major of the year and very, very excited about it. And hopefully we see some more fireworks. I don't know. I know there's a lot to be the season's gone so far up to this first major of the year and very very excited about it and hopefully we see some more fireworks. I don't know. I know there's a lot to be said

about that major championship where it's at on the calendar, the course that is played at but they put a ton of money into the course. Last year was very firm and fast and we had a really good leaderboard coming down the end so who knows what it'll turn out to be but we're excited. Excited for the LPGA Tour to actually start picking up again. And let's go LC. She's two back here, picked up a birdie. We're one back, baby. Just made birdie on, Draena Birdie on 16. Oh, she made it? She made it.

Awesome. One back. Let's go. Listen, we're so close guys. She was obviously, listen to the preview, but I picked LC for next week. Let's go. Listen, we're so close guys. She was obviously listening to the preview but I picked LC for next week. I'm fired up. Wednesday, happy hour. Saturday, we're going to get everybody caught up to speed live show there going into Sunday's final round. So I'm pumped.

And we'll be live next Sunday night as well. Recapping the week as well. So all right, that is it. We battled through it. Deeds still battling through the tough little sickness. I had a stomach bug this weekend. I did not think I was going to be able to make the show tonight, but Madam miraculous bounce back.

We made it, uh, made it through Easter, uh, and all around a lot of personal stuff we got going on with Cody. Appreciate you being here on the ones and twos. Congratulations on the 24 runs put up by the Reds today. Truly inspiring. A lot of them were off some position players pitching at the end there. I haven't scored 24 runs in, I mean, it's taken like 50 games, hasn't it? Well, we got our expected win-loss rate. Now it's shot up to 14 and 8. You know,

that's how I play the hypothetical win-loss record versus the actual one. Good luck with that. That seems like a good way to... Yeah. ...sufficiency way to follow the game. We'll have a new Seamsters coming. And Cody, that was bullshit that your guy got called out. I don't think he was off the base on that 1-0 Texas loss today. Cody, before we hang up, let's stay on the line and I'll help you set your lineup for this week. I got editing and processing and kids are doing bath time upstairs. So you know how it is. We'll

get there, buddy. I will. Shout out, I beat KVV's ass 13 to 0 time upstairs. So you know how it is. We'll get there buddy. I will shout out I beat KVV's ass 13 to zero this week. So last fight I see baseball thing there. That way lashing out on Twitter. Exactly. It's just iron. Yeah, he's pissed off right now. I love it.

Thanks everyone for tuning in. Thank you to high noon. Thank you to Footjoy. Thank you to H&B. Also to Serve Pro and to BMW as well. Everyone for tuning in the week after a major. And we got, live shows are coming fast now. Now we're getting, we're in live show, SCN, Chevron week. We got Wells Fargo, you know, we have a week off then we're into Wells Fargo.

Then PGA, Truist, excuse me. But awesome course. PGA championship right into that. Like it's gonna start humming here really, really quickly. So thanks for watching. We'll see you back here next week. Cheers. Cheers.