No Laying Up - Golf Podcast - 995: Chevron Championship Check-in

Episode Date: April 26, 2025

Join us as we break down three days of golf in Houston at the Chevron Championship—down the leaderboard (does it stink?), HFBITFB, news and notes, plus more. NLU Pro Shop: https://store.nolayingup.com/collections/strapped-t-shirts-get-one-free-w-75-purchase NLU x Evans Scholars: https://secure.wgaesf.org/site/Donation2?df_id=2540&mfc_pref=T&2540.donation=form1 Support our sponsors: Titleist - #1 Ball in Golf 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

the right club today. Better than most. Better than most. Better than most expect anything different What is up everybody welcome in live from the House. And for those listening live on the, not live but delayed on the NLU podcast channel, folks we are 54 holes into the first major of the season

on the LPGA Tour. To help me break down the action I have, I'll just go around the horn here. Chris Solly, Solomon,, how are you doing today? Hope you don't mind. I got a little party boy shirt on. It's Saturday night. I might have a little high noon with me.

Daddy's getting out of bath time tonight, so I'm excited to be here. Nice. We always love the party boy shirt, so always welcome here. Love the choice. Live from an undisclosed location, Jordan Perez, JP, what's going on? Are these white walls scaring you guys? Like, it is a little bit of a cry for help, isn't it? No, I'm great, gentlemen, despite what my environment might suggest. I'm very happy to be here.

Well, we are very happy you're here too. And always running the boards and chiming in today, Mr. Cody McBride. Cody, how are you doing sir? We are great. We work great. These kids are breaking through the walls now, right? I'm gonna have to go have a firm talking to you, but big I'm excited. We're three rounds through this Chevron Championship and I'm gonna be honest, it kind of stinks, but I'm excited to talk about it, okay? Come on man. I'm so glad it had to be the first one to do it. I'm going to be honest, it kind of stinks, but I'm excited to talk about it, okay? Come on, man. I'm so glad it had to be the first one to do it. I'm so, thank you, Cody. That really helps. There are some silver linings. We have 18 women within five shots of the lead. Of course, we have two women, Haeran Ru of South Korean, Mao Saigo of Japan, tied for the lead at nine under. We will go down the leaderboard.

We'll recap our thoughts. We're going to get to all that, but before we do, I want to thank our good friends, the first game of the year ago of Japan tied for the lead at nine under. We will go down the leaderboard. We'll recap our thoughts. We're going to get to all that. But before we do, I want to thank our good friends, our sponsors today, and that is Titleist. Guys, with 18 holes to

go in a major championship title on the line, the overwhelming majority of competitors at the Chevron are trusting the performance quality and consistency of either a Pro V1 or Pro V1X golf ball. Out of 90, excuse me, out of all the competitors that teed it up this week at the Chevron, 92 teed up a Titleist golf ball. That's more than five times the nearest competitor.

And on the season, 71% of all golf balls played on the LPGA have been a Titleist, while six of the first eight events have been won with either a Pro V or a Pro V1X. Among those playing one of the titleist golf balls this week, we have Lindy Duncan in solo third. She had a clean card today, a bogey free 70. We'll talk about her a little bit. Sarah Schmelzel is looking for a big breakthrough in her LPGA career. She plays a titleist, Angel Yin,

Hu Jue Kim. The list goes on and on. Folks, go to Titleist.com. They have a wonderful golf ball fitting section. I can't tell you it is an easy, quick, efficient way to improve your golf game at home, Titleist.com, go get fit for a golf ball, get in, um, whatever works for you. So, and if you think you're not good enough to play a Pro V1 or Pro V1X, you're wrong. It can help.

It will literally help all levels of play, uh, with many, many, many different things. Yes. Yes. Uh, guys, I want to go around the horn. I want to ask you what you think this, the story things. Yes, yes. Guys, I wanna go around the horn. I wanna ask you what you think, the story of the day, or maybe the story of the tournament through the first three rounds is,

Chris, do you mind if I start, I don't know why I'm calling you Chris. Why do I always call you Chris from the host chair? Sully, do you mind if I start with you? What is your story of, let's say, the first three days at the Chevron? My story is that we're not quite there yet big, but we'll let you know when we're ready. There's some possibility of some fireworks tomorrow.

We're not there as of now. I would not call the action today electric. I would not call the leaderboard electric, but some interesting names at 6-under, which is only three back, that feels far back with how this golf course is playing and is set up it doesn't seem like we're bound for a lot of volatility. Maybe it's just some reason see coming off the masters and watching like, dude, literally anything can happen on this course on a Sunday. It, it, it's, there's a lot of there's some there's some noise up there at the top, a lot of great golf being played, of course, but we got some separation from some of the most interesting storylines, maybe save Heyran Yu. Yeah, just to back up that point, I believe two women broke 70 today, which were our two leaders, Malaigo and Hey Ron Rue and but more than that it seemed like the entire field was kind of between 70 and 74 so there just wasn't a lot of Big moves we didn't see anybody, you know go out and shoot a 65 66 the course play pretty

Difficult we'll get into the course and the venue and that stuff, but let me keep this going JP What is your story through the first three rounds? A lot of running and hiding. And I've thought a little bit about this tournament just in terms of the big dogs, right? Like a lot of running and hiding for the big dogs. And we're gonna get into some of those names that miss the cut. But I don't know, I, I've been toying with this thought for a little bit and it's like is it almost worse if you don't have this major and You're one of the better players on the LPGA. I don't know that I'm on the in the middle on that one, but just the big names running and hiding this week is a little weird

Yeah, well and it's not it's not great for anybody. I don't think I'm sure the the TV folks don't love it We certainly don't love it. The players themselves don't love it But yeah, just a smattering like the top five in the world None of them have been a factor at all this week, which is a massive disappointment a whole host of more prominent Miscuts we'll we'll get into that here as we go in the show cody. I'm curious. What's your story through the first three rounds? Yeah, it's definitely probably an opening around 77 and really kind of putting up a fight to dig yourself back into this. That's of course Nellie Korda. But you guys are right. You hit the nail on the head with the leaderboard.

It straight up. It stinks. There's still a little bit of time for this to bloom. I'm going to go with because I'm trying to be positive. But I think when you talk about the top players in the game running and hiding, I think there's somebody that's like jumping out on the front first page of this leaderboard, who is an absolute dog that's like, Hey, I would like to have a word come Sunday. And that's running, like running in is right there in in the a position to catapult herself up this leaderboard

with a bunch of people in front of her who have never been able to do this. But I understand that some of these names aren't household names at the very top, but it is pretty cool when you talk about players big, the only two that broke 70 today, the 2023 rookie of the year and the 2024 rookie of the year. Like they've been building, they have momentum on their side and they've definitely put themselves in a great position to get their first major championship. The issue is nobody knows who they are. You know, nobody knows who Lindy Duncan is and who the struggle is. Nobody knows who you know, Sarah Schmeisel is outside of maybe a little bit last year for writer or a Solheim Cup. excuse me, but that's

it and like again, it's another LPJ podcast. I'm like, this is awesome. Lexi, like yeah, sign me up for a Sunday watching Lexi Thompson struggling to come down and close something out. But like, what are we doing? What happened to this tournament? I know, I know. I guess I let's just go through the top 10 of the leaderboard real quick here, Cody. Good, good time to do that. We've mentioned nine under T1, Hey Ron and Mao Sago. Lindy Duncan solo third at eight under, at seven under tied for fourth, Saris Schmelzel, Yan Liu of China. And then at six under and tied for six position it starts to get very interesting with Lexi Thompson running in who's a young kind

of superstar in the making from China we can major champion yeah major champion we can talk more about her Aria Jutanigarn who dominated the LPGA from like 2016 to 2018 she's kind of coming out of a prolonged wilderness. I don't know what to make of this. Carlotta Saganda really has had success in Europe, has won a couple times on the LPGA. And then you have Heejin Choi rounding out that group. So those are your top 10 women on their leaderboard. There's a whole host of five under four under it's pretty compact. Cody, you kind of touched on my big story I think is like Lexi Thompson, right?

Let's go. I've had, I'm trying to think my mom, my wife, I've had several texts of people like, wait a second, didn't Lexi retire at the end of last year? We were sitting and watching earlier and she came up on the screen and I'm just like sitting there, wait, I know, I literally knew what Hannah was about to say. She's like, I thought Lexi retired.

And I just started laughing. I was like, yeah, it's kind of part of the story here. We all did. I mean, we had Lexi Thompson days out at events. We had like flyovers. We had, you know, it just, it was a Thompson days out at events. We had like flyovers. We had, you know, it it just it was a big to do last

year and and here she is. She played last week. She's got herself in contention and major. It's just I don't know. It's kinda like a what the **** What is going on? I don't think anybody really knows what's going on. The best I can tell.

Hold on. Like, we we we called this when it happened of like she's gonna play so much more golf than she's letting on. It really I truly don't know the purpose of then maybe for her own sake releasing some expectations, maybe releasing some sponsor obligations or something like that, you know, changing a minimum number of events she's gonna play whatever but I'm not surprised to see her come out and play the majors That's for like I I thought it might be a little bit more ceremonious than this like it's it's you know, I don't want to breeze past like the ridiculously good play but come like, you know, maybe she's been able to ride a bit of a You know that that weird strange feeling you get when you don't have a ton of expectations but you know sleeping on just being three shots back and I have a ton of expectations but you know sleeping on just being three shots back and I hope we don't see Sunday Lexi tomorrow because it's it's it would be a way to save this championship is having a come from behind run down from Lexi. This event of course is the only major that she has won now it did not take place on this golf course and it was not called the chevron when she won it but she won

this event back in 2014. For people who aren't from like she kicked ass at that major like yeah it wasn't a clue I think she won by four or five shots like it was very she should have won another one yep yeah and I was gonna say when when she won this event back in 2014 I mean she was the when she won this event back in 2014, I mean, she was the it kind of golfer, the next great American and, you know, she's had a adventurous career out on tour. I don't think it quite lived up to the hype or the expectations that people would have had back in 2014. But here we are. And she's got a look and it's in it's strange and it's weird. And it's also kind of cool. So yeah, I'm... It's worth noting, at this golf course though, missed cuts in each of the last two.

I mean, she dominated when this tournament was out west. Had, you know, a run of almost a top 10 every single year for nine years. She finished outside the top 10 twice in nine years, including the win, including the runner-up, a third, a fourth, a fifth, a seventh, and another T4 in there. So this is, this is, this is more than just a little surprise. Yeah, for sure. But I think, I mean, I guess here's a question for the group. Heyron Rue is a very good golfer. And I think we should acknowledge kind of our Western, our American bias here.

100%. She led the tour last year in top 10. She had 13 top 10s and 26 starts. Now she only won once and that's kind of been the bugaboo. I believe she was the 54-hole leader here last year before Nellie went and won it on Sunday. This would be a huge breakthrough for the career of Heyron Roo,

but this is not coming from nowhere and I think this is a woman that, any fan of the LPGA, you know about her and I think we're gonna continue to know about her for years to come. I think if I may, Big, I'm hearing from sources on the ground, some extra motivation came from Hey Ron, you this week in that someone on the No Laying Up Happy Hour show was a seller of her stock when we were going down the list. And I just, I'd heard she was watching and then may have

taken that a little bit personally and I'm wondering if there's any regrets from anyone on the line here. No, no regrets at all. I mean, the thing with her is she's extremely consistent. She's a top, I would say a top 20 machine last year. She really was top 10 in every single event. Genos kind of took that title away from her this year.

But like her highest finish so far is T14 and she puts herself in position a ton. She just doesn't, she hasn't figured out that that last year, you know, I, and I, I still kind of, she's very, very good and I hope that she goes out and wins this thing. But also like, I don't know if she's figured that out yet and we'll see tomorrow. It's a huge day for her. For sure. And I think that's a very interesting subplot as well, as you said. Can she finish? This is a test that we saw her in last year. Nellie ran her down and kind of separated.

But I just want to tell people, like, you know, she's 12th in the current world rankings, the Rolex world rankings. So it's not like she's a no name. Maousai Goh, she's won six times in Japan. As Cody said, the LPGA Rookie of the Year last year. And somebody that has not won yet on the LPGA Tour, obviously has not won a major, would be more of a breakthrough than for Hei Ran Ru. So those are your two leaders going into tomorrow, which is going to be quite interesting.

And then honestly, you get down, Lindy Duncan, I mean, just to give folks a little bit of background on her. Awesome, awesome collegiate career. Went to Duke, was a, I believe a four time team all-american three-time ACC player of the year But has just never really found it as a professional has never won on the LPGA tour has never top-tened in a major But has been playing some better golf really through the end of last year and to start this year This is uncharted territory for her. So again, like if you're looking for an interesting subplot, she's never been in this position and it's gonna be fascinating

to see how she reacts tomorrow, I think. Long, long time career, as you mentioned, they're big, but there has been big, big changes for Lindy Duncan. I just want to like shout out, she went over to Sean Foley and like, joined up with him and they've known each other for a long time back to when Sean was working with Lillip full time. And I think, like he gushes about the work and the work ethic that Lindy

has. And she has an amazing golf swing. And I've like, excuse me, but I've never really like appreciated it before, probably because I've never seen it. She hasn't really put herself in these positions but even though she's been on tour for so long and has you know never found herself on the front you know with this chance going into the final round of a major championship it truly from what they're saying is like a new lease on life for her so I don't know maybe there isn't like all this baggage that's falling or because this is fresh air. It's uncharted territory for truly, but has all the confidence in the world. Her swing is absolutely dialed. She's making huge pots and getting up and down from everywhere. So hopefully she can keep it together, but

big stage tomorrow. I'll always remember and god now I forget the exact tournament we were at. So you won't always remember. No, that's right. I I'll always remember this part of it. We were we saw Lindy Duncan on the driving range and

we watched her set up this home. You could tell it was a homemade contraption that uh essentially was was like a swing plane aid, like making sure she swung it on plane. And Tron and I just sat there transfixed as she went through this meticulous setup of this device that was completely homemade and then just started, like, I don't know.

I think Cody, as you and then just started like I don't know she I think Cody as you said super super technical I think kind of goes about things her own way. I've always just associated Lindy Duncan with that memory though and and so it's fun to kind of see her here. She'll be in the well. I guess maybe they'll play threes tomorrow. I was going to say she'll be in the penultimate group, but she she might be in the final group if they go off in in threesomes. She is they're going off in three. She is in that final group with Hey Ron and Mouse Saigo.

This is where I miss TC because you let's say you guys watch them for 15. I'll watch her for 15 minutes, Rainey. This is where he would have said we watched her for like an hour and a half to do this drill on repeat. We were just transfixed because I can't I guess I can't I'm not doing it justice just tell like, homemade not janky but just like it looks so out of place in this professional event driving range where she just set up this big contraption. I don't know it was just like oh yeah she went to Duke I'm sure she did like engineering or something, some science or STEM related major if I had to guess.

But good to see her. You know, hard work's been paying off and here she is with the big opportunity in her career. I think Sarah Schmelzel is an interesting name. Again, she's tied for fourth. She made the Solheim Cup last fall, was kind of the crowning achievement of her career to that point. In search of her first LPGA victory, I don't know if this would be necessarily like a one-and-done for her, but I think that would be a safe bet.

You know, I'm just not sure how many looks Sarah Schmelzel is going to get in majors. She's 30 years old. And so again, you know, if, if you're looking for a fun story, this would truly, truly, truly be a career defining and a life altering win for Sarah tomorrow, if she could get it done. And then same thing for kind of, I want to say Yanlu now I'm in my head. Yanlu, I'm totally in my head, but 27 year old Chinese woman, 195th in the world. I mean, has kind of come out of nowhere.

I was looking up who like the last true out of nowhere major winner was on the LPGA tour and I saw that Sophia Popov. If you guys remember the the open that happened kind of just out of COVID in 2020. Sophia came into that major ranked I believe like 305th or 315th in the world. Lou was ranked 195th. So it's been a great run of majors on the women's side since pop-up one and Lou would break that if she were to get it done tomorrow. So guys, I guess from here, let's take a brief pause. Jordan, you were talking about the big names

that went running. Yeah, how do we get to this list of players that you just ran off pick? Can you color us in a bit more on not only like the top five in the world, but some of these miss cuts too. And do you attribute this to anything or is this just like, man, just a bunch of bad luck, bad coincidences in the same week? Yeah. I think it's a mix of everything, right? I mean, because we know with Lydia, she's not been feeling her best. She's been in a little bit of pain this past week. So I can give Lydia a bit of a pass there in terms of injury. But Nellie, I'm glad to see Nellie with

a little bit of adversity because last year just felt like everything was a little bit too easy but you know what I think that sets up really beautifully for you know something outside this major and hey you can't clip them both back-to-back but I was it was nice to see her kind of grinding to make the cut yesterday I was really impressed with her grit and I think you know that I I like I like that wrinkle in her story just a little bit. And so yeah, shot 77 in the first round hasn't really been a factor since. She's got to stop doing that though. Like that's the thing.

Yeah. Her bat is so bad. Like it plays her. She's so talented. Everybody's going to have a bad round in the tournament. If she could eliminate like, just turn these 77s into like 72s I know that's five shots is like literally the name of the game at the highest levels of professional golf But like the the top players

You can't you can't let your bad be that bad or else you're just gonna have these championships where you're completely uncompetitive Cody I know sorry just to jump in I know you were watching a lot of Nellie I believe Thursday I'm not sure if it was more like the ball striking or just the return of like the really bulky putter. Uh, it was a kind of a mixture of, of two different things big. So she did not putt well. She did not putt well. She did not putt well. She did not putt well.

She did not putt well. She did not putt well. She did not putt well. She did not putt well. She did not putt well. She did not putt well. She did not putt well. She did not putt well. She did not putt well. She did not putt well. She did not putt well. the really bulky putter? It was a kind of a mixture of two different things big. So she did not putt well. I think she had 33 putts in the first round, which it would be fine if you're

hitting the amount of greens and regulation that Nellie usually hits. The issue is that she also was not a very good ball striking day for her. She had 11 of 18 greens. She got putting montaged, if that means anything. Yeah, that's bad. Yeah. And it was one of those things where it's like, oh man, she was not comfortable with their stroke. She's also like grinding, trying to get up and down from, you know, over half of the holes that she's playing. And she made a putter switch that night. So she came back out for Friday with,

with their mallet back again. So the blades gone the mallet was back in place You putted way better in round two So she went from 33 down to 30, but she also hit 14 greens and then today she only had 27 putts So all striking is a little iffy still but that's kind of how it's been for her so far this year You know, she hasn't been anywhere close to the form that we saw last year and I'm not even talking about when she went on her crazy streak. I'm talking about like overall performance. She's just still seems to be a little bit rusty. Something's off. So it'll be very interesting to see how she goes tomorrow. But I kind of agree with

you, JP. It's it's a shitty situation that she put herself in again, but unlike the US Women's Open last year or any of the other tournaments that she's done this before, she fought back. And we saw last year, like, you know, when she put her, had that horrible number, she basically just, you know, waved the white flag and was like, I'm done.

But she's not doing that this week. And I think this is a really good sign for what the rest of the year for Nelly is potentially could turn into. Yeah, back to back doubles today. You know, after a pretty solid, solid fight on her back nine flipping over to the front nine was, was tough. I mean, without those, she's sitting at four under and is not out of the tournament, but. Yeah, it's just, it's the big numbers.

And that's what we saw last year. You're exactly right. Now, what I will say is that, you know, people who didn't miss the cut, you mentioned Lydia, horrible neck. I'll say, I was very hot on the Alimiimi No still. I don't know why she's had such an awesome start to the year and just like not good. 74-77, uh, missed a cut clearly. Patty T again. We're all high on Jasmine and Lottie JP and both of them did not even show up at all.

and Lottie JP and both of them did not even show up at all. Kind of called the Charlie miscut. Like Charlie's got to do a better job managing her schedule. There's a lot of things going on there. Lynn, like, what are we doing here? And realistically, like Lynn started very, very good. I mean, she opened round one, like at one point in time, she was, I mean, early, she had an early tee time. So she's on first page, got to one under, made a ton of pars,

bogeyed her 17th hole with his, the eighth hole at Carleton Woods to shoot even par and then goes out the next day and literally like her opening nine is bogey, par, bogey, par, bogey, bogey, birdie, birdiey birdie birdie and is just like what do we what are we doing like you're you are supposed to be one of the 10 best players in the world like that is what your potential is incredible upside and it's impossible not to pull the similarities and the comparisons between like Lynn's performance and and what Ludwig does and maybe that's just because we're expecting them to go out and be a lot better than they are but

Lynn is definitely falling short yeah crumb pretty heavily by by team Randy TC if I may say being honest here yeah no that's fair. Which is unlike you. Like you don't do early crownings big. No, I, I, maybe I, I just wanted this one too much. Uh, but God, you watch her play when she's playing well, you're like, how, like just oozes oozes talent, like nothing. She can't do great mentality. I just can't figure out exactly why she hasn't been able to put it all together. I was going to say my big disappointment. I've been super high on Gino Titicum and she's really no showed as well. I mean, she's kind of fought back here.

She opened with a 71 in round one, but then a 75 in round two to really take herself out of it. She shot 71 today. She's tied for 31 with Nellie. It's just a big bummer when Nelly and Geno specifically add in Lydia. It just haven't been factors since Thursday in the first major of the year. It's not great. Yeah, that sucks. You throw in Lilia Vu, who's just been getting worse by the day. She made the cut, but she shot 78 today, I believe is down in the, in the seventies. Um, it's, it's, uh, I just wish we had a better start to the major season.

The other miss cut that pisses me off is Yuka Sasso, like truly does nothing outside of these US Opens. It's crazy. It's insane because I was kicking my ass. I was like, God, I hear I was all on all these bombers. Why didn't I even think of Yuka Sasso? And then I got saved pretty quickly. I'm like, oh, well, just is a one hit wonder.

It's insane. She's like Bratif Goosen essentially on the women's side. Exactly. Hey, Big, there is somebody that, you know, we talked a lot about people in the top 10 already, but I cannot wait to see, like, I want Carlota Seganda to just get up in the mix and then to just downshift and pull that Jake break and just muck everything up. Just slow it down. Just create chaos because they're not going to know what to do. The tour is not going to know what to do. Telecast isn't going to know what to do. And I think between her and Lexi, like that's the only place where I see some potential for fireworks tomorrow. Yes, a crash out. I Love that. Yeah. Are we are we still trying to to solve why you know, you know, the leaderboard is the way it is some of the big names falling off the way they have. I can I mean, I have a full circle take kind of on this championship and golf course if you'll allow me to hold

on. Okay. I think we're going to get there and a lot of this conversation today is going to revolve around the golf course, what can improve this product, what can improve this major that we're forced to call it. But I wanna say strictly to get off of the leaderboard for a little bit, because there are some names that are lurking. We have two people in nine under right now. Truly, how far back is too far back, Mr. Big?

how far back is too far back Mr. Big? I think given the inexperience at the top of the leaderboard I think four under is in it so I'm gonna say three under might be too far back but I think anybody at four under or better is in this tournament. I wish I knew their setup philosophy tomorrow. I haven't really, I mean, we did see a couple 65s on Thursday. I just wish I knew if there was gonna be a possibility of a 65 out there tomorrow.

Because once you get down to Angel Yin, Hu Jue Kim Lauren Coughlin's at four under, Inji Chun major winner is at four under, Minji Lee is at four under If any of those women were to go out and post a 65-66 Get in the clubhouse at 10-11 under 66 get in the clubhouse at 10 11 under That that could be I don't know if that will win outright, but I gotta think they would like their chances for a playoff Copy-paste that's the exact number

I'm on the group at minus four is what leads me to think minus four is still in it And that and then I don't know if I'm them I'm setting things up to be for the possibility of somebody going deep tomorrow. But also, I don't want to make it too, too simple for, you know, that those at the top of the leaderboard can't get themselves into trouble. So them the last two years. I mean, that's really where, where the high scores or at least high scoring average came from. I know that, you know, traditionally, I think the low, I think there is at 66 was the low final round in 2023, but they like moving things up. So like, you know, 18, they love playing that forward T-box gives everybody an opportunity basically to go for that green into Trying to think of what the other part five on the back nine two they always play up So I think you know, I think you want to have some fireworks coming down that stretch

But and like we saw new pin positions today that we just haven't seen before. So who knows what they'll actually end up settling on it. Just it's I don't know. I'm right there with you on that number. You guys I don't know JP. Do you see something differently that's not sticking out to us? No, I totally echo that. And like kind of going back to what Big said, like we don't really know what the set of

philosophy will be. But like there was just so much defense being played on the back nine today and it's just like, I would love nothing more than someone to just come through, come barreling through and back to what Sally said about the group at minus four, I think someone in there can do it. Yeah, LC opened last year with the 66. It'd be real, really nice to get another one of those tomorrow. You know? And she's, you know, the 400 group is nice. I don't want to say I'm disappointed. I thought Angel was going to take advantage of this moment, this position that she put herself in today. I mean, she shot even par in that felt like she shot like a 76.

I don't know. LC I'll say is like she's shot every day under par. I'm just waiting for her to like hey if everything clicks maybe the 65-66 is in her bag tomorrow. So I pulled up our friends at FanDuel. Unsurprisingly, I'll give you the odds, the live odds to win. Well, let me say, who do you guys think is the favorite at this point? Hey, Renyu. Yeah, she's plus 190. Malysaigo is plus 330. And then I'm a little little surprised they have Lindy Duncan plus 750 Schmelzel plus 1100 and then Ronning Yen is plus 1600 like I really think if Hey Ron doesn't win like I think Ronning is probably would be my second choice to win like I almost think she should be second favorite in a weird way but that could be totally underselling Mount Sigo

Yeah, and just a lot of that's a lot of bodies to leap and about a lot of by she's tied with two is just Man, you know throw Lexi in there call a lot of What's like see I like it's funny you say well, it's Lexi you got to go down She's plus she's 30 to one plus 3000. Angel Yen's plus 3000. I mean, that's kind of fun. Yeah. I mean, new lease on life, new dude, happily engaged.

Come on. Brother on the bag. Like I think the vibes are good in Camp Lexi right now. It's just, we've seen her try to close majors like we know how this goes. What if somebody can win the Masters maybe you know, what if somebody brand new? 2025. We've never thought like, right in the second to last group,

like what if she gets it in the house and somebody goes in the water on 18? Just saying. Her putting still does not like look in any way good or comfortable to me. Did you think that it was going to change? No, no, no. Like I can't imagine her holding clutch six, seven, eight putters down the stretch. It just doesn't look good. I said it'd be fun. I didn't say it was a good investment. I said it'd be a lot of fun. the plus 2500. That's kind of your top of the leaderboard right there. Love it. LC, hey, if you want to believe LC is plus 7500.

Pretty good. I like that. Not an official ad there, but of course, odd subject to change as our long-term partner there at Fandool Sportsbook. JP, we only have one amateur that has made the cut, Gianna Clemente. Thoughts, opinions? What are we looking at here? I think it's really gritty.

And I wouldn't have paired this course all that well with her, but I think she's had a really impressive week. And it's interesting when she gets kind of this streak of confidence in her. I think she was building off of a good finish earlier in the season when she had her first pro start this year for 2025, not her in her entire career. But I think when Gianna gets a streak of confidence, it ends up creating some really good sustained momentum. And yeah, that was nice to see. It was interesting. I saw that she in her post round, she was talking about like, yeah, I'm not the longest out here But I'm just having fun and when the tough gets going like I love tough courses

And I just want to play up to that and like we've seen her at and while she makes the cut every year just you know has shown a big in USGA championships and it's it's I I Want I want to say I'm not surprised I think I am a little bit surprised because again, I don't know that I would have quite paired her up perfectly with this course, but it's very nice to see her up top of the leaderboard. One cool thing is she did get a leap point. So for the elite amateur pathway, she earned another point for making the cut this week. If she was to top 25, she would get another another point but I think she's like T's

60s or something if I remember right so not sure that's quite in the cards for this weekend but great showing from her she was the only amateur to make the cut like you said. So she currently leaps of course is the LPGA elite amateur pathway you have to get 20 points total in order to get your automatic LPGA Tour card. Currently leading that list is Lottie Wode with 16 points. If we look at Astrakh Tali, so she had three going into this event, she got another one there. So currently, I have four. Long way to go, but you know, still very, very young. It's interesting. I mentioned, you know, Ku, Lottie Wode, the rest of them. Is there anything to this? Is this a scheduling thing? What do you think happened here?

It could be a scheduling thing when you consider Lottie. She just came off of ACC's last week and things are just really compact at this time of year. She's got regionals next week. So could be that, could be that for Jasmine as well. Jasmine's been on a bit of like an up and down streak lately. I don't really know what's going on ever since kind of around and what time she's been playing some pretty inconsistent golf. But for Lottie, this is interesting because this is probably her worst finish in almost I mean, maybe not almost a year. I'm certainly rounding up a lot, but since the women's open and she low amped there, very impressively so.

And so, yeah, very weird week for Lottie, but I don't take this, you know, not something I'm gonna entirely hold against her. It was just a tough week for the Ams guys. I mean, you guys see where Astor's tally ended up. That made me very sad. I'm with you tough schedule and and come into a tough golf course It's it's a big ask for any am I think this week props to Gianna for making the cut. Yep Um, we go down the leaderboard we don't have to go long But I feel like we should we honor TC with with are there any names you guys?

Want to shout out as a team? Yeah, I think we're going to have to go with that. I think we We don't have to go along, but I feel like we should we honor TC with with are there any names you guys? Want to shout out as as we go down? I have just a couple I'll say Austin Kim is Kind of a young American. She is part of the group at five under she's tied for 11th Great showing thus far for her and then the other one I wanted to shout out, Emily Christine Pederson has just been playing some better golf this year.

And she's somebody that's played on Solheim Cups for Team Europe before. She's got herself tied for 19th. You know, not like, you know, this week will come and go, and not many people will care or find her her name but she's she's playing some good golf and I I like seeing that anybody that oh Cody Lucy Lee that was somebody I wanted to ask you about. Yeah. Signs of life really well. Yeah. Signs of life from Lucy Lee currently in that group at three under par with Emily Christine

Pederson. Another one that I wanted to give a shout out to it at one under is Cheyenne Knight. We haven't seen anything from her from, you know, Solheim Cup in Spain last year. She was almost completely MIA but it's nice to see her there. I think she of all the Texans that were in the field or Texan residents, she's the only one that made the cut this week. So I don't know. We'll see. I like to see her sticking around. Do you know why big

do you know why that Texas connection matters? No, but I'm sure you're about to tell me. Well, you know, our our no laying up pro shop is celebrating all things strapped this week with a promotion to help you stretch your budget. Get a free strap t shirt of your choice with any purchase of $75 or more. Now through Wednesday, April 30th, fill your cart, choose one of the 13 different strap t-shirts and enter Texas. That's promo code Texas at checkout to make the t-shirt free at store.nolayingup.com. I'll put the link of course in the show notes the podcast notes But all we're going to West Texas baby strap boys are back at it this Wednesday strap premiering on our YouTube channel

Yeah, Neil and I had a bunch of fun over in the western part of the state The only other name I wanted to call out she won last week Ingrid Lindblad She's tied for 51st, three over, not her best week. I'm sure she's exhausted after winning for the first time last week, so can cut her a bit of slack there. I couldn't even imagine like trying to come down from that high of everything that's going on and still like being, you know, up in the air. We didn't talk about the other you know LSU Swedish connection disappointed to miss the cut too is is Madeline like that kind of sucks.

One little weird thing that I noted out there Georgia Hall who's been completely like a ghost not really known what anything's going on with her lately but playing good currently at t24 did you guys recognize who she has caddying for right now it's all done like the oh really yeah i was like wait a second the guy who makes you run at the open right yeah i think he's like still playing professional so of course i reached out there like yeah they've been dating for a bit. So, Georgia rebounded from the the relationship with with Miss O'Toole and and now it has boyfriend and and on the bag. I was like, hell yeah. Let's go. So, be on the lookout. Be on the lookout for that. We'll see but guys, I think that brings

us what what's going on. Solly, you started this earlier. Like, I don't know what we can do to this tournament. You can't change venues. I'm pretty sure Chevron is not with this sponsored. I'm pretty sure it's locked in there. Truly, this could just be us pissing into the wind here. But we should just talk about it. So again, kind of where I think we could be at

with this leaderboard, why things have worked out this way, you could run a different iteration of this tournament and have Nellie at the top and Lily Voodoo at second. And like, you know, it's not like this bad venue has given us the bad leaderboard. It's a little lazy on my part, but at the same time, if this was like, I know not every tournament can be the US Women's Open,

but if this was the US Women's Open with a very interesting championship venue, interesting USGA setup, and this is the leaderboard you get, asking very specific questions, firm greens, especially difficult challenge, and you get this leaderboard, you'd say like, dude, these are the ladies that have threaded the needle of this challenge and gotten to this leaderboard, you'd say like, dude, these are the ladies that have like threaded the needle of this challenge

and gotten to this point. We are seeing like a style of golf that is very, very much in line with what we would see week to week on the LPGA Tour. Like this is, of the last two weeks on tour, this is the second best venue we'll see in El Caballero. I know you're afraid to say that one, Cody, but that was the backup venue out in LA.

It's just not a championship venue. I'm so sympathetic towards everything we say every year about this tournament. Chevron has dumped a bunch of money into it. The purse is fantastic. They've dumped a bunch of money in the golf course. Thomas Keller's doing the champions dinner. There's tons of seating out there in the shade. It doesn't, it doesn't seem like Chevron's doing anything wrong with this

tournament other than hosting it at this venue, which is not good for fans. And when it's not good for fans, fans don't show up. And when fans don't show up, it doesn't feel like a big event. Like it's a major, it's a mino. It's a major in name only, which like you you can't like, you're just kind of faking the whole thing. And everything you describe about what Chevron has done for the tournament gives it an elevated event feeling.

Like it's a great, it's a very nice golf tournament. They treat the ladies great. Like it's a very nice experience for them. But it's so far, it's in the same category as Evian, of like, you can't just like call something a major and we're all gonna nod our heads and treat it that way unless it's at a course that is a banger that you're gonna come back to every year. Like, I appreciated what Grant was saying on the preview.

There's no microwave for history, like, you know, you're not gonna speed up to this. I don't feel like we're on that path though, at all with this venue. And it's not like, it's not like they're doing a bad job with the setup of the golf course, and it's not like, it's not like they're doing a bad job with the setup of the golf course. And it's not like it's a bad golf course. It's not it's just totally meh. And you if we're gonna go go into major it's

worthy of hosting an LPGA Tour event, right? It's not like, it just kind of goes into the same. I don't want to say the same category is Valhalla just like, it's just not it's not you know what, I don't say that Valhalla brings out fans and it brings out an environment. You know what I mean? It'd be a totally different thing if there was a buzz on the ground and the golf course just becomes secondary. This place feels like it's the middle of nowhere. Jay Wray tweeted out this week that there's been more signage for the senior tour event that's coming up more than this LPGA major. There's all this talk about how the members love this event and all that, but there's just no feel of that on the ground. All that to say, like it's not that surprising to see a bunch of, I don't want to say no names, but some smaller names at the top of the leaderboard when the on course

experience isn't feeling like a major, like isn't feeling elevated with the presence of fans and interest and all of that. It's easier to sneak up and play, you know, rounds of golf like that. I hate to say it that way, but it just not running the same gauntlet as the US Women's Open as the AIG Women's Open and even the KPMG Women's PGA. They're just that golf courses and venues that are of a completely different class. And it's the same. I think we're going to have the same conversation every year, because I don't think this is

going away, but like I just don't think this major does not have an identity as it stands right now. And it's just, it's really, it's, you know, I hate to be that person because I want to support the women's tour and I want to support the biggest events, but like at a certain point, you just got to call it what it is. Well, let's talk about that because we've, you know, we talk about the issues that that they currently has going but are there ways that they could improve it to make it feel that way because you touched on signage and everything else. You're right, I've been down there the last two years. I was going to go down this week but we had something come up at the house and it's very weird because they they always have I don't know if it's a marathon or triathlon

But it gums up everything in the woodlands this weekend And then you have like the senior tour coming to town and you're right There's always more signage for that than this you look around at the greater Houston Area and you're like, you know, the Woodlands is basically its own thing as it is. And then this this club, this subdivision, the club of Carlton Woods, is another own thing out there. I just don't, I don't want to sit here and just dump all over and be like, there could be ways that we fix this. Randy, I know you put a couple interesting thought-provoking questions in here.

I don't know if you want to start with that. Well, one's kind of dumb, but to your point, like I want to first say, I want to comment. Super quick pause on, the only lens we're dumping on it through, Cody, is that it's a major. Like if this was an LPGA tour event,

I don't think there'd be any of this dumping on. Right, but it is a major. And I said this last year and I went through it's like oh man, like maybe people aren't like Why the fuck does LPGA tour charge tickets to any of their events? I just get people out there Yeah, you know have them pay for food and stuff like give tickets away I brought this up last year like why don't they go down to the PJ tour to the memorial and be like Or excuse me the the turn of the tour, the Memorial, and be like, or excuse me, the Houston Open at Memorial Park and be like,

yo, bring your ticket stuff. Show me your Ticketmaster receipt from the Memorial and you have free entry for the week at this tournament. Like they gotta have something. Send people to the damn Astros games or to the Rockets or something, you know. They gotta do something because there's a lot going on in Houston right now and This major championship is at the bottom of the stack. Yeah, I

What I was gonna say is I want to commend the membership at Carlton Woods because from all accounts They really want to host this tournament and that's no small thing Sure, especially on the women's side your fault. So It's not your fault. Yeah it's not you guys but it's all you're right in that if you're gonna have what we're calling a major championship every year at the same venue that venue has to bring something to the table and it just doesn't pop on TV. One of my suggestions I guess or one of my ideas like this is the third year watching this right the third year This event has been at at Carlton Woods. I Really can't tell you

What any of the holes are or do I know 18? Just because it's you know, the last couple years have come down to 18. It's played a part know, the last couple years have come down to 18. It's played apart. But man, I can't just recall what the 13th hole is, or the 16th or the seventh. Like, is it as easy as like, should we just start by naming holes? Like if we're going to be at this course for the next 20 years, at least give me names. Yeah. Because then I can start associating holes. There's always the issue of like the broadcast, right? The NBC Golf Channel, they don't do a good job at all, like profiling the whole,

like telling us what makes a whole difficult sharing the strategy, right? There's just no augmentation from the broadcast in that regard, which stinks. And then, you know know Bethann was tweet like you know You're not in a great spot when like Bethann's tweeting about like man doesn't feel like a major atmosphere out here today like Justin Ray is tweeting about it. I saw Lauren Stevenson who is a Professional golfer was saying like yeah the course it is not a good course for spectators. It's hard to get around. James Tinley for anybody watching, he's saying how hard the Iron Man makes getting out to the Woodlands on a Saturday. His handle is Woodlands gooner, which I really appreciate. So it just,

here's the Lauren Stevenson tweet and reply to Bethann, quote, because the course is terrible for spectators. Like if it's not good for spectators in person And it's not a great golf course for the television viewers It just leaves you with like yeah, what are we doing? You know what what what are we doing? so I don't know the frustrating thing is like it's gonna be here as long as Chevron wants it to be here and as long as they put up a big purse and honestly some of that's like good for them but as a golf fan it's like yeah it kind of stinks though. Like is Blue Jack not even an I've never been to Blue Jack National but I'd be like it's a Tiger Woods designed golf course like it's supposed to be

Augusta light and you know it's supposed to be be, you know, a beautiful golf course, like I'd be way more intrigued if it was somewhere there. And what makes it extra frustrating big is how much we have said over the years, like there's a gap and a lot of the other major championships are taking advantage of this of for these some of these golf courses that the men's game has bypassed in some way. There is an opportunity for for women's big women's tournaments to go to these golf courses that can't host a men's major for infrastructure reasons or for distance

purposes. And like the fact that we're going to have this tournament at the same golf course every year and it's not good is it's so tough. Like it's just really, really, really tough to get behind. Yeah. It's, it's putting the cart before the horse in that they're chasing the sponsor and the sponsor's money, which I get to a certain extent, but I do think it's a touch short-sighted in that if you chased the venues, I think in the long run you would draw more eyeballs and attention as we've seen with the US Women's Open of late, as we've seen with the AIG, as even the KPMG. You can love or hate kind of what's on the PGA of America road at the moment, but they're going to golf courses that we all know, we all love, we all know like big historical moments that have happened from all these other courses. Carlton Woods just doesn't do it now

The other part of this that you know, we talk about all the time and again We don't have to spend a lot of time here But I just Saturday of a major moving day first major of the year on the LPGA Like it should be it should be a very exciting day. It should be a very exciting broadcast guys I was fighting a nap this afternoon. Is there anything to add juice to the NBC production? That's where I just come down to too is like, I don't know, they're not selling me on the drama. They're not selling me on anything.

I just get really frustrated. When it's juiceless on the ground, it's hard, man. I think that just the environment on the ground is gonna permeate into the telecast. I don't think NBC could have saved today. It's also just, dude, three Sims off two Ts, wrapping up by six. I know they wanna get in that coverage window,

but that is not good. That's the same thing for the day they're handing out the trophy tomorrow. Like it's just Yeah, man, it's it's hard because I do we've invested so much time into LPGA coverage with like with the the thought and the vision behind it like the Like truly believing that if you get people the, like truly believing that if you get people listening to us talking about it and get people watching it, that there's interest to be had. Like there's, there's, there's great fun to

be had following this side of professional golf and watching it. And like when this comes this far short, it's like really hard to get we don't we don't want to sit here and sell sell something that is not for sale, right? Because when we say there are like great, gonna be great tournaments to watch on the LPGA Tour, this one's just not jumping off the page. I mean, I don't enjoy saying that.

I don't like being that guy. No. Can I jump in quickly for a second? JP, I would love you to, thank you. If I'm other governing bodies, I'm pissed. Totally, thank you. This is diluting what it means to have a women's major governing bodies, I'm pissed. Because- Totally. Thank you. This is diluting what it means to have a women's major

because there are now two women's majors that don't live up to the pedigree of what a women's major should be. And there's so much other excitement throughout the year, throughout the RODAs, like we've seen the courses that have come out, courses on the women's open side, on the US women's open side,

and like they only are getting better and better. Like I look at those calendars years out and I'm like, oh my gosh, this is so awesome. The game is growing so much. And then I come to events like this and I'm like, no, well, what are we doing? And I think it's especially frustrating because women's sports has a lot of momentum right now

and there's a lot of excitement around other leagues. And like that in theory could permeate really well here because I especially see a lot of women's sports outlets in particular giving the LPGA some shine when viral moments or different newsworthy things happen. And it's like, how do you define a major, a women's major to a casual audience when it looks like this on two times of the year.

And I just, I don't know that that becomes really frustrating and really sucky. I was thinking back to something you said earlier, big about like maybe what could like juice it up, splash it up a little bit. And I noticed something Anwar was doing this year that I really liked, which was playing at Augusta National. Yeah, we could do that. We could try that perhaps. I don't know. But something I really liked was bringing a few of the women's golf oriented influencers out there and posting about their experiences and their time out there and sharing that. I thought all that content was really good. I mean, try something like that. Throw that out there. I mean, get them to sit on a broadcast and talk. I don't know. I don't know. Like literally

just try anything. Do something. Cause I don't know. Like you big, I was also somewhat in and out of consciousness, like maybe more mentally, not exactly like in full sleep. But it's like, dude, what are we doing? Like, why are we talking to the camera operator who's like 35 feet in the air? Like, what are we doing? Let him do his job. You didn't think that was sick? Come on, man, you got camera time.

Well, the other thing you'll notice is just the lack of NBC cohesion, right? If you watch week to week, you'll hear Grant Boone on the call, this week you're hearing Terry Gannon. I'm sure at the US Women's Open, which is like the marquee, NBC puts all their resources in, you'll hear Dan Hicks. There just isn't a through line through the whole season. It's just kind of pieced together week to week.

Yeah, it's not a great, you can just tell NBC is not putting their best efforts into this. Well, this is also an organization last year that like went with the basically the two teams set up for the US men's open. Like why does when Terry swoop in like that that bumps the rest out, you know? Like why not? I mean, you would think cost-wise, that's the least amount is, oh, what? Cause you gotta put a guy up for the week and like pay his salary that you're already gonna pay him anyway?

I just don't know. You would think they're not showing. Maybe I'll do it tomorrow and count how many golf shots they're actually showing. That's always a painful day for me But I've tried that at times. I'm like, yeah screw that I don't care. It's also really like they have plenty of time to talk about The golf and to give overviews of the hole and they just don't you know, yeah, but on the flip side

I'll say this I'll give them props, you know, Golf Channel coverage on Friday night. They went over because Nelly's grinding to make the cut and they knew that that was the right thing to do. We still have ESPN Plus there that the LBJ Tour is partially funding themselves to get early morning feature group coverage. And, you know, it's not just early morning before Golf Channel or NBC come on. They run it all day long. And there are some good things there, because people, again, just want to watch the golf.

Yeah, I'll apologize for those watching tonight. You're going to hear a lot of this conversation again tomorrow, because there'll be a lot more consistent audience on the Sunday night, and we do need to discuss this all over again tomorrow, unfortunately. But I apologize for the repeat, but I just got to get it off my chest. JP, that's such a good point about the other organizations. That's, I had not heard it framed exactly like that.

That was excellent. And part of me, I was battling with that, JP. I'm like, I want to say this, but I also want to think like, well, maybe the other three majors like really get elevated throughout this. And I'm like, you know what? No, because then it just still gets the same label

and it's not nearly the same quality. And I totally agree. Yeah. God, and I get, sorry, now we're starting to belabor, but just the opportunity. I always talk about the LPGA is positioned to take risks and be bold and do things differently, right? They could be, they could implement and they have

done a pace of play policy, but they could be like the fast tour, right? They, they, they can do things that the PGA tour simply can't do. Imagine if, if they use the Chevron or whatever this major is, right? And it was the first major was the first major that kind of went to the Pacific area of the world, right? Japan, Korea, Australia. I just think, god, there's an opportunity to create some new traditions, to create new history that the women's game could take advantage of. But I know it's not that easy.

So anyway, all right, let's do some official predictions and and we'll get out of here Who wants to be brave enough to start? I'm just looking for a winner who's winning tomorrow? Good boring I think here in here in you wins Data boy Yeah It's good call I'm pretty sure I just want to have this on the record too. Like of course we all want LC to come back and put herself in contention and fucking

win this thing, right? Hell yeah. Hell yeah. But I'm going to go with Ronnie Nguyen. I think she's, you know, sitting at three back right now. Outside of Lexi, the only people that are in front of her, you know, haven't won a major yet have not chased anyone down yet. She struggled so far earlier this year, it seems like the putter is finally working. Let's go.

I'm going to echo Heyron. I mean, you know, played the best on a day like today and really the only person who actually came and played with a real vengeance after the finish she had last year. So I'm jumping on board there God Yeah, I think it's gonna be hey Ron Well now I don't think it's gonna be that's just it's way too Mouse a go I think we could be overlooking her and if not, yeah, god, I

just think are we overlooking Aria? I'm going to go with Heyron Rue. Three Heyrons and a running in. No respect to Lexi. No respect to Sarah Schmelz. No but it's going to be entertaining to watch. I hope Lexi stunts on us. Let's go.

For sure. Yeah. 100% All right. Well guys This was fun. We hopefully we set things up for tomorrow Caught everybody up if you have not been tuned in to the chevron yet. It will start You can pick it up ESPN plus will have some early feature group streaming coverage and then peacock I believe picks up coverage at 2 p.m Eastern and then NBC from 3 to the conclusion of the tournament so That is your viewing schedule. I hope we're in for a good finish We certainly have a packed leaderboard. So whoever wins I hope it's exciting JP Cody Sully, thank you. Thank you to Titleist. Thank you to ourselves.

Check out our Pro Shop. Check out Strap next week. Cody, thank you for producing. And thank you everybody for hanging out and listening and enjoy the Chevron. We'll be back Sunday live. We'll obviously be breaking down what happens at the Chevron. We'll be talking about the Zurich Classic on the PGA Tour. So join us Sunday afternoon. Wow, shots fired at Liv Chipoltepek, which of course is not on television today. I was fucking stunned. We are going to be live from the Kill House. So join us again Sunday afternoon.

And until then, we will see everybody later. Cheers. See you.