No Laying Up - Golf Podcast - NLU Podcast, Episode 124: Tiger’s Back! w/ Kyle Porter

Episode Date: March 12, 2018

We’re fired up, and ready to geek out about Tiger Woods’ 2nd place finish at the Valspar Championship with Kyle Porter. We put this finish into perspective, talk about the road that brought us here,... The post NLU Podcast, Episode 124: Tiger’s Back! w/ Kyle Porter appeared first on No Laying Up. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alright, that was one of the more fun weeks I've ever had watching golf. At least in recent memory that I can think of, but we're going to get to Kyle Porta here shortly, but first I want to talk to you guys about the 2018 Chromesoft golf ball. You've heard me talk about it in recent months. I, listen, I liked the 2017 Chromesoft. I really did, but I am in love with the 2018 version of it. I don't want to say like I'm 10 yards longer with it, but it honestly feels like I'm hitting one club less into every green. Not only that, I'm super impressed

with the ability to kind of hit nippers with it, get action on it. The ball does absolutely everything I need it to do. So in both the Chrome Soft and the Chrome Soft X ball, Calloway infused the outer core with graphene, which allowed them to engineer a thinner outer core and significantly larger inner core. That means softer feel with less spin off the tee and more spin around the greens. I promise you it's unlike anything you've experienced in a golf ball. It's been proven on tour. Sergio had another top five finish this week with the chrome soft golf ball. And obviously you heard all about the success of Michelle we infill Michelson in recent weeks. So guys, I'm telling you try this golf ball. It is a noticeable difference, noticeable improvement from recent years. I'm in love with it. All right, without further ado, we are going to get to Kyle Porter and the plot. Let's go. Let's get a right club. Be the right club today.

That is better than most. How about in? That is better than most. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the No-Laying a Podcast back for the first time in almost six months. Mr. Kyle Porter from CBS, are we alive? Are we alive right now? I feel like you won. I'm not even mad. I genuinely feel bad for Paul Casey,

because I do, because all my interactions with Paul Casey have been great. I like him and it's just the biggest buried lead of all time. Because like, I actually, I was talking to my wife tonight, she was like, oh yeah, who won? Like three hours after the event. Like there is no other storyline.

It's really unbelievable. DJ was here today and he loved quizzing us on who won the 2015 windum. The last time Tiger was in contention, who won? Do you know? Yeah, that one's easier because it was Davis love. And that, that was kind of weird in and of itself.

Yeah, it was, but all right, you weren't supposed to know the answer to that. But anyways, that was kind of like the question, like I will definitely forget like a year from now, Paul Casey winning. But I don't think it meant, I mean, all right. So yeah, let's let's at least acknowledge the Paul Casey one. And then let's talk about Tiger for the next 30 minutes because to me, it doesn't make that much of a difference that he didn't win.

Obviously it would be an enormous story in the world of sports, but I think it already is an enormous story in the entire sports realm. Not just golf, am I crazy for saying that? No, that was the premise I wrote a column about the event right after it ended., that was the premise I wrote a column about the event right after it ended, and that was the premise was like, it doesn't matter if you want.

It doesn't even really matter what he did down the stretch. Just, I mean, you've seen the numbers that golf channel put out there, and I've seen our traffic on our website. It's, you know, and I think Tiger said this all year, it's all building towards a gusto, obviously. And so any, just, I mean, here's, okay, I've got like three pages of notes, but here's one of my, one of my first notes is this feels, I'm going to regret saying this, but this feels very sustainable. And what I mean by that is he's not like doing anything

unusual in terms of his stroke's gain numbers and he's not getting all these lucky breaks and holding 50 footers to make the cut. When he played it, Torrey Pines, it felt unsustainable. Like he did all these things and got to the weekend and somehow I finished 23rd and you're like, I did even play good, you know? But what he's doing now,

what he did at Honda and what he's did at Valspar feels incredibly sustainable as long as the vac holds up. I know that's like the cause on everything. But I mean, do you agree with that? Don't you feel like this feels sustainable? Oh, without a doubt. I mean, it was a almost a different man, even from Honda, I felt like it was a different level of confidence

and comfort of being out there. We were commenting as we're watching today, how none of it felt unusual. Like it's amazing how normal that felt. Like I felt that the final round of the windum in 15, which is the last time we kind of got to go through this with them felt a bit weird. It felt a bit unusual.

This felt like just way more normal and way more like watching like 32 year old Tiger than it was at any point since any time since 2013 definitely. I mean, it was the shot shapes he was pulling off and the in just, I mean, I know we joke about the club twirls and stuff, but it honestly does, it does signify something. It's like a truly knowing where the ball is going and knowing how you're hitting it and that just a different comfort level that comes with, I mean, so let's think if he would have won today,

this would have been, you know, a win in his fourth start. Like it would have been on pace with his career, like winning percentage, like 25%. Yeah. I mean, he wins this season, right? Like without a doubt? Yeah. I mean, yeah, he, yeah.

As much as you can say without a doubt, it golf, like he's gonna win this year. Right, I, I, I, among, don't look at any of the predictions I made before this year. Like I have my, my beginning of the year predictions, I think I missed nine of 10 last year. I think I predicted Rory to win like five of the four majors. Shut up to try.

I'm gonna get to that guy. I predicted that Tiger would win and be on the Ryder Cup. The problem, and I've heard you mentioned this on other podcasts is I didn't know where. Like I was, I was predicting him to win, but I didn't know where it was gonna happen. Obviously nobody knew he was gonna play the Valspar. Next week is obviously a good spot for him to win,

but I'm, and I know we can talk about this more later on. I hope he plays more of these Valspar-like events. I hope he plays Travelers. I hope he plays RBC Heritage. I hope he plays Colonial. How much fun would that be? To see him at these different events and potentially pick up a win. But yeah, I think he's going to win. I think he's going to be in Paris. We did, we did kind of on the live show today talk a bit about what we're potential events he could add and everything. Like the RBC and the travelers make a ton of sense. They're just, they're the

week after majors. Yeah. I don't, they're just, they're the week after majors. I don't think he's going to add tournaments the week after majors. But yeah, I mean, I'm in on Paris. We're going to get to that as well. We're going to, we got a lot of, we got a lot of backed up rider cup stuff to talk about. But I think that, I mean, yeah, it's going to be a very popular pick for him to win at Bay Hill this week.

And it's not even remotely ridiculous. The only reason I think he won't win is like everyone's going to pick him to win at Bay Hill this week, and it's not even remotely ridiculous. The only reason I think he won't win is like everyone's gonna pick him to win, but pretty much. But legitimately, like, is he gonna be the favorite? I was gonna, I was gonna, I was gonna, I was gonna,

I was gonna, I was gonna, I was gonna, I was gonna, I was gonna, I was gonna, I was gonna, I was gonna, I was gonna, I was gonna, I was gonna, I was gonna, I was gonna, I was gonna, I was gonna, I was gonna, I was gonna, I was gonna, I was gonna, I was gonna, I was gonna, I was gonna, I was gonna,

I was gonna, I was gonna, I was gonna, I was gonna, I was gonna, I was gonna, I was gonna, I was gonna, I was gonna, I was gonna, I was gonna, I was gonna, I was gonna, I was gonna, either gonna be him or Jason Day. I think what's even more interesting is is he gonna be the favorite at Augusta? Oh my God. Oh my God. So, we do it this. So, right now, I don't mean like. Oh, I'm not upset. That's not like a ridiculous claim.

Again, factoring in how people bet on him and his odds are always artificially really low. Like, that is legitimately a thing that could happen. I think right now I posted this the other day, I think DJs 8 to 1 or maybe 7 to 1, Justin Thomas is right behind that at 8 or 9 and then Tigers at 10. And I think that if you, and that was before, I think that was on, that might have been yesterday. It was either yesterday or Friday after after his round. And so

if he plays great at Arnold Palmer and that's the last the last time we see him before the masters, I don't know I think he might be the the biggest favorite to win the masters. He'll be top four at the absolute most. So yeah. And it's, we're talking about an event this week that this is his first time playing this event. He's seen this golf course 20 years ago. I attribute nothing to that. This is almost his first time playing this golf course essentially, and he finished one shot behind the lead

and three put it apart five on the back nine and walked a birdie putt in today that didn't fall. Like this was amazingly close to actually happening. Paul Casey hit like nine greens today and shot 65 and managed to stave him off by one shot. If Paul Casey doesn't make that run, Tiger Woods would have just won the Valspar Championship and the Gulf world would, I mean, the Gulf world

is a buzz right now. I'm a buzz. I'm like a bit drunk off just sitting here drinking water because like, like what was your reaction when the putt dropped on 17? I mean, it was, I was actually writing my column at the time because it felt like it was sort of fading and he was just, you know, he was going to finish T3 or whatever. And I look up and I, like, the way the camera angle was, it got about eight feet away and I was like oh my gosh That's that's gonna go in and he was talking about dying it against the grain and like all this all this super nerdy stuff that it was like

I don't even know what you're saying but From eight feet away it looked at it was gonna go in and then I was actually surprised at his reaction because I just lost it and and it and the camera pan to him and he was just like, he didn't, he sort of reacted but not really. Like he was almost like kind of fake mad that none of the other ones fell, you know? Even though he didn't really have that many opportunities

on Sunday, but I think you might have said this after he made that on 17. It was like he was going to birdie 18 and get into the playoffs. Like that was just a thing that was going to happen. And then obviously he leaves it short and left the punch short as well. But again, it didn't even, for me at that point, it didn't really matter whether he won or not. I don't know why that is. Like I don't know why I felt like that, but I was, I don't know, just by the time he got 17 and eight, or even just the back nine, I was like,

well I don't even care. Like Tigers in an event on Sunday, on the back nine, legitimately, like they kept showing the leaderboard on the bottom right, and it was, you know, you know how, like they woulda it down to the end, and there's only like two or three names left because it's guys on the course and the leader. He was one of the last three names and you're like, that's all, that's, that's all this is all about. Like the whole thing.

Yeah, the brought the, I mean, the networks can do typically when he's kind of in contention but not really make it feel like he's a lot closer to the lead than he actually is or, you know, always leave you with that. Well,, he birdies the next four of the next two holes that he's going to be right there. But this was legitimate. I mean, he was just knocking down the door, not really knocking down the door, but he was lurking. He was always there.

And I think, you know, the sun it didn't go as well as he would have hoped, obviously. But it's so easy for that to go the opposite direction. It was, it was very easy for that to go the opposite direction. It was, it was a bit very easy for him to shoot three over today with it. Like Justin Rosen's up shooting. Two or three over, I forget what exactly, but I mean, it's, it's, that's kind of what the point I want to make too, and that how significant it is that one guy beat him this week and ace, and the, one of the best fields of the year, and the names of the guys that

he just, all right, if he would have missed the cut this week, I'd have been pretty deflating, right? I mean, we'd be sitting here talking about Miss Cut, what does this mean for Bay Hill? Is he gonna make the cut at Bay Hill? Well, Henry Stenson misses a cut. We don't even bat it eye at it.

You know what I mean? Like, it's just, that's the screaming level that we're gonna put Tiger under. But look at all the guys that missed the cut, Speed, Stenson, Rory, and all the guys that he beat in that incredible field. That means something. It really does, and it's just one more reason to get excited. This was not a limited field event. This was not a weak field event. This was a big time event on a really strong tournament golf course, and the guy more than showed out. I mean, I don't know, like you said, the

sustainable thing is what has me the most excited because it totally feels like you can win a tournament this year and it totally feels like he's going to be a not just on the Red or Cup team, but like a significant player on the team. But again, we're going to get to that. I don't want to get to early in the Red or Cup. You said that we would be talking about what a Miss Cut would mean for Bay Hill. We would actually be talking about what a miscut would mean for Paris, but most people would be talking about what a miscut would mean for Behill. Speaking of things that you said, we played golf one time, or we played golf many times, but this was last. I think it might have been at player's championship last year. And you at that point told me that you were talking about my game, which is a Trocious, but you were telling me you had no confidence in me with a driver in my hands. I think that was your words.

And rightfully so, the opposite of that is the way that I feel about Tiger, which is I have Unbelievable an unbelievable amount of confidence in him not with a driver in his hands, but with a wedge in his hands right now I mean I He I don't know how my criticism of your driver game got worked into that story I really I'm not sure where the link is here. You make it be seem like a like I'm hard on you here make it be seem like a like I'm hard on you here. Like. I was just I was reminded of like when Tiger steps up to a wedge shot and the amount of confidence

I have in him I imagine was the opposite of the amount of confidence you have in me when I'm when I'm on the T-box because when he hits a wedge shot right now like when he's between I don't know 80 to like 160 or something like I don't know, 80 to like, 160 or something. Like I don't know that you could put some, and there's sort of some bias here because we see more tiger shots than anybody else in the field. But I don't know that there's anybody out there right now on the PJ tour other than maybe like, I don't know, I guess you could throw Zach Johnson or Steve Stryker out there. But don't you have more confidence in him right now to stick one close than any of the top guys, beeth, Rory, Ricky, even somebody like Phil.

I mean, that's what I think to another reason to come away super encouraged from this week was it didn't feel like his absolute best. It's not like he was stuffing it all week, but he was putting it in the right places so many times. He's always on the fat side of the green and his distance control. He was, oh, he was pin high. Not as much today on Sunday, but like Saturday, that was my biggest takeaway. It's like every time I looked up, yeah, he's in the fat part of the green pin high, pin high.

And he's just made a career out of that. And he ran it, runs in a few of those 25 footers. He just didn't get it close enough on Sunday to really give puts a run. And he went backwards with this putting a bit on Sunday. But what I like the most is I don't, I just don't have that much fear off the tee right now because of the shots he's able to play,

not even from that bad position, but just the recovery shots he's able to play. That like cut, spinny wedge he hit from the rough or something today. Yeah, yeah. And then the two iron in the par five, where he, the fairway is setting up for him, him up for to hit a cut.

He had to hook around a tree to get it to the green because that's what his eyes saw. Like his, I don't know, his vision for his shots and his ability to match them right now seems like a entirely different level. And that just comes with confidence and reps and all that stuff. And that's just, that's just what makes it so encouraging, man. It's like, I just don't, when he's in the rough, I'm like, he's got, he knows what he's doing from here. He can work something in there.

He's got these recovery shots that he's made a career out of. So what did you think about the iron he hit off 18? A lot of people had a bit of a problem with that, did you? I don't even, I didn't even see where I landed because I just had to rewind it to watch the, the trash. I mean, it was like six feet off the ground the whole way. It's the best. I don't, I, I didn't understand the criticism for the iron. First of all, I love the audacity of like the, one of the greatest, probably the greatest tournament golfer of all time. And we're like, look,

the way you played the last hole of this competition, I, from my view at home, that wasn't the right way. Yeah, he hit, I'm looking at the other rounds. He hit it. So he hit his T shot, 258 on in the final round. He hit it 257 in round three. So he also hit an iron that day, 252 in round two, another iron. He hit an iron every day on that whole.

Right, right. And so like if that's the rest of the tournament too, he hit iron's all over the place. Yeah, and who's my thing with that? I was thinking about this, like if he is, if he's as long as he is off the tee with his driver, and clearly he's, and I don't understand how this is like, the laws of physics allow this, but he's like one of the longest guys on the PGA tour right now

Then I have to believe that he's one of the longest guys on the PGA tour with this three wood and two iron and if that's true Then he's going to have he just he has so many opportunities to hit Three woods and two irons and to shape them off of teas to where he can still Like he can hit a three wood off a tee and still be longer than like Snetaker who is playing with, you know? I mean that is such an advantage especially at a course like in us broke and you know we saw it at pj national as well like it's such an advantage to him I think to play these courses where drivers almost taken out of his hand sometimes him. I think to play these courses where drivers almost taken out of his hand sometimes. And I think that that can be, I mean, obviously for him and Phil, it can be such a good thing.

But but he's got an advantage on Phil because he's so much longer right now off the tee. I mean, I know, I know that Phil's still long, but I just, I'm astonished by how much ball speed he's creating and just the idea that he can use three-witter two-iron, seemingly whenever he wants, is it's really incredible. And that's what I feel like we've been clamoring for a long time from to put the driver away and not be over-reliant on it. And you know, I don't know,

we've become so obsessed with distance. And you just nailed it. Like he doesn't need to hit driver to get it into a position to get the ball close to the hole after two shots. And as much as we stress the importance of distance, all you need to do is get yourself in position. He's like the best mid-iron player ever to play the game. So as many times he can leave himself a seven iron

from the fairway in, like he should, that should be his goal. Obviously, when you have the opportunities to get it closer than that, like you should take them and take advantage of them. But how many greens is he gonna hit from the middle of the fairway? He's gonna hit the fat side of the green.

He's gonna give himself 15 footers. He's gonna make a ton of birdies that way. Like that is the way he's always played and should continue to play. He doesn't need to hit driver down and to try to get it into narrower parts of the fairway to leave himself wedges in. He just doesn't need to get that close.

So I don't know, I'm encouraged by his willingness to play Iron's Othetine. This course was a great, great fit for him in that regard. And yeah, I mean, it's gonna be great to watch him in Augusta. I mean, again, this is a course he doesn't know well and going to a course that he probably knows the best of anyone out there.

So he finished, I'm so excited about the masters. Jim Nance isn't as excited about the masters. No, without it. No chance. Tiger finished 40. This is really actually incredible. He finished 14th in the field in Strokes gained off the tee. He was 37th in driving distance in 16th and driving accuracy. So fairways hit. I feel like those numbers are perfect for him. Oh yeah, I mean just ideal. Top 15 in Strokes Game of the T, that is, Ed is gonna put him in the top 10 of the tournament.

Like there's no way he finishes off the top 10 if that's the case. He was third overall in Strokes Game T-degree, eighth in approach, and fifth in Strokes Game to round the green. He actually had like a, not a great putting week. He was 39th in Strokes game T-Degrean, eighth in approach, and fifth in Strokes game to round the green. Actually, I got not a great putting week. It was 39th in Strokes game putting. And again, I'll get a negative stroke gain on that Sunday.

Second in club head speed, which is just absurd. I'm so ridiculous. I said this weekend, like a pair of these just backfusion turns you into Henry Row and Gardner, because I don't understand how this is possible. I really, really don't. But yeah, I mean, we talked about it. I just don't think you can overstate the significance of it. I mean, as much as like I love to get on people for being too into Tiger and you know,

focus on him too much, this time around feels completely and totally justified. Yeah, it does. And, you know, I think that KVV has said this before and this was sort of part of what I wrote on Sunday, but I just think that one of the most compelling things in all of sports is to watch an aging legend, you know, try to figure out if he still has it or what he still has left. And I feel like we've seen Tiger ask those questions of himself, not only during his comeback, but just if he even wants to do this again, you know, and he's sort of answering

them as he goes along. And just to watch that unfold is, it's pretty cool. And the moment on 18, when he was walking up and, you know, the galleries are chanting his name, they're waving their hats in the air, you know, they're toasting beers and he's kind of drinking it all in and poor off pointed this out, Sniper could kind of like let him have the moment. And I think we're gonna see, no matter if he wins or not, I think over the next five or ten years, or I don't know, I don't know how long this is gonna last, we're gonna see a lot of that. And it's awesome. Like it is, it's the coolest. You know, whether it't know how long this is gonna last. We're gonna see a lot of that and it's awesome. Like it's the coolest.

You know, whether it's him or Phil or whoever, I just, I'm so compelled by sort of this narrative of the aging superstar legend, just trying to figure out what the end of his career looks like. I brought up the word perseverance this weekend and how this is just a a tail in in that word and I think that for me I've always had trouble relating to tiger as a human it just overall so I think it's kind of the way No, but I mean like I don't know like I feel like it's easier to

Relate to somebody like fill or right. You know what I mean? I just I feel like you just becomes such a novelty of, is he back, is this comeback and all of these injuries that almost hard to really. Not human, exactly, yeah. Exactly, and hard to view it from his perspective, right? And that he was just, we wanted so much more of a conclusion to this career

that we weren't gonna let him off the hook and he didn't let himself off the hook either. It would have been so easy to call it and if this surgery didn't work out, it probably would have been done. So the amount of perseverance it would have taken for all the humiliation he suffered over the recent years, not only obviously the personal scandal, all of the entries and just being known as injury riddled is a tough burden to bear, I think, in sports. Yeah. Add that into when he was playing, like having the chipping yips and hitting, you know, shooting 85 and shooting 79 at Torrey,

and like having, you know, topping it into the bunker at Chambers Bay and missing cuts all over the place. And it's, and then have another surgery and then come back and do it again. Like risk even more humiliation, do it again when he could have called it and to come back out with this kind of flair, man, that is an incredible story. So imagine that like for, first of all, like, it's easy to forget that that was a long ass road back, like anyone making this kind of comeback would be an interesting story to have it be the best player to have ever played the game. The guy that has had the most impact on golf, probably in history.

And the guy responsible for like 15 of the greatest moments in the last 20 years to have him making the comeback. Are you serious? Like this is why this is why so much was a tension was paid to him over these years over this very difficult time. Was we were all hoping this was gonna be the end of the story. And we're actually getting it. Like I'd kind of given up on that part, hadn't you?

Yeah, I think so. I had sort of, because for a time there, there was always people that were like, you know, is Tiger ever gonna be 2000s Tiger again. And I feel like, I feel like people who were like actually following were like, like arrived at the answer to that question way before the kind of general sports public or maybe even like people that kind of casually followed golf. People just are like, we just arrived at that answer way before everybody else because you're like, no, of course not. And I had sort of started wamping in, is Tiger ever going to like be decent again? Like with that answer.

And so to have the turnaround of this is just, it's, I'm almost like, there's a part of me that, I find myself, I don't think I'm physically doing this, but I'm almost like internally holding my breath, like waiting for the other shoot-a-drop. Do you find yourself doing that at all? This time around, I don't, I don't know why. Maybe it's just like, I said this to, you know,

when KVV was always harping on that, you know, if he's gonna hurt himself again, swinging too hard. And my take was like, man, this only way this comeback's gonna work is if he does swing really hard, if he totally feels freed up to do what every once with his body. And to me, not knowing actually what it means to have your back fused, it is honestly,

I picture him as like a magical spell. Like I, I picture him as being totally, totally healed. Like in my mind, that's, that's what happened. Like somebody just went in and gave him like a, a fake back and now he's totally fine. He's like a robot. Now that's how I picture it. So don't, I don't, nobody out there tweet me whatever a fusion actually is because I just picture that he has a fake back and he's a, he's a robot now. So it is crazy. At, you know, there tweet me whatever a fusion actually is because I just picture that he has a fake back and he's a robot now, so It is crazy at you know, there was a moment at one. I think it was the 2015 Or 16 hero world challenge where you you looked at him and he wasn't playing

He was riding around in a cart and it was like my gosh Tiger looks like he's like 58 Like he looked like just horrendous and and I know this is probably like my gosh Tiger looks like he's like 58 the key looks like just horrendous and I know this is probably Like my eyes are playing tricks on me. He looks younger now than he did like three years ago I said the same exact thing. I think it's like it's like Erkel when and became Stefan in like a time machine It's what it seems like to me like he does look younger. I don't know how um, I don't know I also like I had a problem or I younger. I don't know how. I don't know. I also had a problem, or I brought up that how many people claim that he was done.

And it always bothered me to use that word done. And I hope I never said it. I really don't think I did. I know there's times I've definitely thought it, but there's just so much like finality that comes with that word. And while there was plenty of reason for people to come to that conclusion, again, Don means done like over. It's done and he doesn't have the ability to compete anymore,

doesn't have the skills. And while like none of us saw this coming, I think we like would all have agreed that if he was healthy, he could still play and compete. The question was just always like, all right, he's never actually going to be totally healthy. So was there ever any doubt like about the actual skill level that it had completely vacated in your opinion? Yeah, a little bit in terms of like, I always believe that there is just that institutional knowledge of him being able to, I mean, contended,

I mean, 2015 sort of solidified that forever for me with Augusta. It was like, he hasn't, he hadn't played in two months and he's in the third-dollast group on Sunday with Rory. Are you kidding me? Like, well, I mean, that was, that might have been the most impressive thing that he's ever done. But for me, it wasn't necessarily that he wouldn't be able to compete, but he's swinging, like, 10 miles an hour faster now than he was five years ago. necessarily that he wouldn't be able to compete, but he's swinging like 10

miles an hour faster now than he was five years ago. I don't, or six years ago, or whatever it was. I don't, that's the part that nobody saw coming and that you couldn't have, you couldn't have predicted what Tiger was going to do based on that knowledge or information because no one in their right, I mean, no one that's not just like a super fan, like crazy person would have ever thought that, you know? Yeah, and KVV may also made maybe the best point ever in that who knows what his pain killer situation was like and what kind of effect that had on his nerves and his fast twitch muscles

and his ability to create speed. And I really don't know what his current situation is, whether or not he's, I know that he obviously had the DUI when he was on all kinds of different medications. And don't know what his current routine is, obviously from a medication standpoint, but maybe getting out of all that just totally freed up his nerves and his reactions and his motion

and everything to be able to be responsive again. That to me is the biggest difference that I see in my mind, obviously not knowing the situation, but in my mind, that helps explain things to me if that is the case. Otherwise, it does seem like a superhuman comeback. Yeah, absolutely. And I think that, I forgot the point I was going to make. I got nothing for you. I'm with you in terms of the pain colors. I always hate to get on that road because you don't, you don't, not you, but anybody doesn't

really know like what was going on. And it feels like, it sort of got swept under the rug a little bit, but anybody doesn't really know what was going on. And it feels like it sort of got swept under the rug a little bit, but it might not have been a big deal. Like I don't know. Like that part is always a little weird and kind of dicey for me. But again, maybe that's part of the reason he looked

like he was 55 four years ago. And now he looks like he's younger than what he is, 42. It's just, like that part has been really astonishing to me, and I don't know, I don't totally understand it. I want to clarify too that this is not a, you know, the conversation about the work done, is this isn't a spike the football moment for me. I never said that he would make any kind of comeback like this.

I just think that some of us were pretty careful not to say like it's completely over and still hold out like a little bit of remote hope. But again, nobody, again, nobody kind of predicted this, this kind of comeback. But can we talk about, go ahead. I think there was a part of it where like you get, when you're, when you're doing these jobs, like your job and my job, like you, you get asked the question so often that it almost, it almost becomes easier just to be like, yeah, I think it's over.

Like then to like explain all the other stuff, you know? Because like you said, the casual fans version of back mean something totally different than like your and I just, versus that. Totally. And so I feel like I sort of arrived at that.

Like, look, I'm so tired of talking about this. Like, yeah, he's just whatever. Like, I don't know what's gonna happen, you know? So yeah, I'm with you though. Thinking back to last year's players, when we were FaceTiming with your son, and he was telling us all about how Tyga hurt his back from swinging too hard,

how long ago does that feel like, you know? It was like, it was like 15 years ago. I mean, yeah, we FaceTimed to him and I was like, man, you know, what's up with Tiger? And he goes, he heard his back swinging too hard. And now he's like three. Yeah, he was three. Now he's swinging at like 185 miles an hour.

Can we talk about how Saturday had a 3.26 overnight rating, which I'm not positive how to do like overnight ratings versus final ratings or whatever, but by my research, I believe that was a better rating than last year's US Open finale. Yeah, I was going to say PJ championship, but probably US Open as well. I mean, zero percent surprise there. No, yeah, exactly. And I mean, it's honestly, it's good for us because of content. And it's compelling stuff. It's not like a false return.

It's not a fake narrative. No, it's forced at all. This is real. You almost won the event. Yeah. And I was trying to, I was thinking about this today. I was trying to compare it to like somebody in another sport. And I just, nobody really came to mind because like when Jordan came back with the wizard,

you're like, yeah, he's not really that good. Like he might kind of be good at times, but Tiger looks like he's like going to be a top 15 player on the PGA tour this year. And I don't totally know what to do with that at this point. I don't follow tennis closely enough to make it to make the full comparison so that I'm sure if somebody could poke a lot of wholzness. But is Federer's like late career resurgence kind of a factor in that? I mean, what he won the Australian Open, I think in 18 and 17 and he won Wimbledon last year after not having won a grand slam

in a long time, is that maybe like the, without the same injury history, obviously, is that maybe the best comparison? Yeah, that's pretty good. It's just, it's hard to compare anything because I don't know that anybody in any sport has ever been like so like you thought they were just I mean we just talked about it you thought they were just like wow I don't know if this is ever going to happen again not at a high level but at any level mm-hmm and then when it does and it looks like it could happen for several years into the future I just don't know that there's a really a category for that I don't know probably

I'm not thinking of one and there's somebody out there who's done it in another sport, but it's pretty astonishing. It was cool to see the reaction on social media and whatnot from other players that were watching and following along. And other athletes and other sports too, they were chiming in and watching it tuning in.

It really did feel like a, I don't want to say like a transformational day in golf, but it really got people's attention from outside of golf and man just to watch his peers kind of cheer for him on social media was pretty awesome. I agree. I had that as part of my column. Ben Crayon had a great tweet. I'm going to read it. He said, Tagger provided the most compelling TV drama

over the last 20 years. Kids who watched him quit, kids who watched him quit basketball and football because they wanted to be like him. Now he's facing competition that he literally created. What a sport. Yeah. Wow.

Awesome. Yeah. Yeah. I thought that was such a good way to put it. Prime, too, to talk about Reed and his Sunday on tires. Ha, ha, ha, ha. Set people people up before I want to do a couple last tiger things this is 30 minutes of tiger but I have zero regrets on that. Yeah, what was your favorite moment of the

week? Oh gosh, it's easy to say 17 today. Yeah, I thought the I just thought Saturday was awesome. Like I thought the, I just thought Saturday was awesome. Like I thought the birdies at nine and 10, where he chipped in at nine and then he walked in that long putt at 10. I was like, man, this is, because you can sort of get to a point in the first two rounds for you,

like well, you know, kind of anybody can contend over two rounds, but then you get into Saturday afternoon and setting it up for Sunday and you're like, wow, this is real, you know? And so I thought for me that those two birdies were pretty awesome. I do wanna point out the upset of the week

is that with all the sauce that Woods has sprayed all over the state of Florida, he didn't have the tourist sauce of the week because, because Jordan's be tipping his beanie on, on the first all on Friday was just unbelievable. Like it, and didn't, didn't somebody else do, didn't Zach Johnson do that at one point? He did. Yeah. He did. I think I'm going to ride her cup or something like that too.

That was fantastic. And then the acknowledgement of it, realizing that he reached for the bill of his cap that wasn't there and then laughed about it. That was, that was ideal. It was so good. It was, yeah, well, that's we solved Jordan apparently this week, unfortunately, but.

Yeah, well. I'm with you on the best moment being, I said the same thing, the chip in on nine and the put on 10 I was at a golf course like in the clubhouse watching the place went nuts like there was a legitimate buzz And that was cool to kind of be around a big group of other people and see see the reaction to that But that was that was my favorite moment I got two Justin Raidsweets that were just kind of blew me away today. Okay

Phil Mickelson's wind drought lasted blew me away today. Okay. Phil Michelson's wind drought lasted 1,687 days. Sunday at Bay Hill will be 1,687 days in Tiger Woods last victory. Justin Ray needs a raise. Somebody pay that guy. That's who even like thinks to look for something like that. Much less can find it. After Valspar, there are four players ranked in the top 30 this season on PGA tour in both Stroke's game T-Degrean and Stroke's game Pudding. Dustin Johnson, Alex Noren, Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods. That's that's your that's your wheelhouse right there. There's so many so many ways that conversation could go.

So wait, what a season we're primed for. Phil, one last weekend and then Tiger does this. It's, uh, this is the best. So didn't you real quick before we move on from Tiger? I got one other thing. Didn't you think his, uh, I think he finished where he finished and struck, he's gained around the green fifth. Isn't that like maybe the most, like the craziest part out of all of this? I mean, the last time that he really played in 15, he, I mean, he chips like I do. I mean, the last time that he really played in 15, he, I mean, he chips like I do. I mean, it was, it was so bad. And now, I mean, some of the punker shots he hit and

the way he was playing out of kind of the deep rough around the greens at some of these holes, I just, I could not believe how good he was with his, with his wedges around the green. There's really not a hole in the game right now. There's really not, I mean, especially if he's gonna dial back the amount of time he uses driver and he actually hit the driver really well this week.

There's no, there's no like glaring gap and, you know, it's not gonna be there every week. It's really not, but there's no, there's nothing major missing in his game. So all right, finally ready to move on, are we? Yeah, let's, let's go read. Okay. So, all right, his putt on on, are we? Yeah, let's go read. Okay.

So, all right, his putt on 18 that came back at him. Are we, first of all, that was absolutely ridiculous, but did you notice that the putt happened almost immediately after Tiger's putt fell on 17? Like, it's not crazy to suggest that that might've had something to do with that, right? Uh-oh, but Tiger was already on 18, wasn't he? But I'm saying like, no, he was coming to 18T after he birding 17 right before Reed hit that.

So you've heard that roar, it's what I'm saying. You think Reed was shook by the roar? You got to think a little bit, right? I know that he wasn't, that didn't change that he fact that he was playing its casey essentially or the, or the 10 under number, but man, to be out there and hear that that roar has to sound different than any roar he's ever heard on a golf course before. Yeah, totally. But I can't, first of all, I can't be convinced that he didn't think there were right or

cut points on the line. Like, I don't mean like, I don't mean qualifying points. I mean, like real ones, like out of the 28 in Paris. I'm not convinced he didn't think the roars were for him. Like at Honda when Sam Burns was walking up the first fairway at Tiger and said, you know, he was joking like, you know, it's crazy that all these people came out to see me. Like I think Reed probably said that seriously on. I don't understand people getting so triggered

about the red and black. I get it that people were tuning in for, you know, the don't normally tune in to golf, but he literally does this every single Sunday. I guess I don't understand the people who are like, just don't like, just hate Patrick Reid. Like he's such a, he's such a, like, he's turned into such a caricature and a

Ryder Cup hero like it'd be like somebody in England being like yeah I just Haiti and Polter I hate him like he's the worst like what? No like that that's not a that's not a good take. This guy Chris Mack tweeted this today at me and I was I couldn't have been more more this is my favorite, maybe my second favorite tweet of the weekend. He said, as a Euro, Pat Reed gets a full pass. The man half been born from Zeus's balls. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, how much the euros love Patrick Reid. Not love, but respect him. They just totally respect him because of what. This was kind of like, I don't know, I thought he was going to feast all over the fact there was a ton of euros at the top of the leaderboard, but it's just good to have

read back. I actually, I do get why people, a lot of people dislike him. People, people, that interview he gave in 2014 still rubs people the wrong way. That's crazy. It really did. But I mean, I kind of steer it. I think my advice people is like steer into this. I enjoy this dude. He is a different dude. Sure, he is flawed. And sure, there are some people that definitely don't have

good things to say about him. But man, he is fun as hell for golf. Some of his antics, those club twirls, and some of the stuff he's up to, man, steer into it, enjoy it. Go along for the ride. I love it every time he's on the screen. Yeah, that's sort of what I mean. I think that it's, I get the personal level thing,

like if you know him, or you've had a bad experience, or whatever, I think I'm talking more about from just an on the course perspective of like, we need more Patrick Reed. It's like we need fewer of guys who are not characters. And I just, like, and this was sort of my thing. I heard you guys talking about Tarell Hatten last week. Like I kind of like Tarell Hatten.

Like I know that he's like, does some, you know, like his body language, we need the body language doctor, Tron here I guess to evaluate, but people get frustrated with him, but it's like he's kind of a character. He kind of just does his own thing, and I think that's, I don't know, I think that's really fun. How about P. Reed hitting a cut, all of a sudden? He's got, apparently there weren't too many, too many right pins for him.

Actually, there was one too many right pins for him coming down the coming down the stretch But yeah that that exaggerated like worldly movie pulled after hitting that cut into the the parfot 14 I think it was Arnie asked because people were calling it it was kind of it was kind of twist on the on the read coil actually But he even club twirled it after he did that that recoil But I think that I think that's one of the more underrated tour sauce moves is the sort of delayed twirl like off to the side. I still might be my favorite read whenever was the 18th

whole at Glen Eagles when he hit the three iron from the fairway and he just paused. And then Pimp Step hopped and twirled and walked after it. Like it was just the best. It was the absolute best. Oh, I can't wait for Paris. It's going so good. I just want to fly through all the other notes I have so we can get to Paris.

But do you have anything else on Reed? No, it was just, I thought that it was, I mean, he's sort of how I feel about, I guess, Bubba at times, where you're feel about, I guess, Bubba at times, where you're just like, I don't know if I actually like him as a person. I don't know if we would like have dinner together or whatever, but man, it's fun for golf.

Like it's so fun when he's involved and when he's doing crazy stuff. And DJ PiHousekey impersonating his fist pump was unbelievable. That was one take, that video was one take. It's just, I don't know, he was, the put on 18 was obviously atrocious. He almost, he almost made the next one. He almost constantly enroke at it.

He had to chip the next one. That was the best part. Yeah, I just, I don't know. I was rooting for like a three way Sergio Reed Tiger playoff. That would have been, that would have been incredible. But yeah, I hope they were. I hope he either wears a hat at the writer cut that said Zeus's balls or, or him and Tiger just were red and black together. And they don't, they don't, they just skip the uniform and Tiger just were red and black together. And they don't, they just skip the uniform

and they just were red and black. Oh my God, they have to be paired. I'm fine. How good is that? Only way I'm cool with breaking up speed and read is if you put read and Tiger together, that's gonna be the best. And read's gonna tell Tiger

who goes first in the ultimate shot for me. I got this. I got this talk. Tiger's gonna be deferring to read on whether or not to concede putts. Oh, let me dream, let me dream. All right, are we concerned that Mr. McElroy was not low-roary this week?

Two weeks on a row, I think. Are we concerned with Rory at this point? Is it time to, you know, ring the bell? Yeah. I mean, it's, I mean, what do we, do you and I have to talk about this? Like, are we the people that come to for unbiased, Rory McElroy? That's kind of the point here is if you and I are ready to say, all right, it's cause for concern

I think that we're the last two people that they're waiting to take that leap. Yeah, I think So I was thinking about this this week and I think this is why what What Brando does is so impressive. I find it very Difficult to talk intelligently about an individual round or even a single player's tournament with only having seen like five shots or seven shots or whatever. But I will say that when I'm watching guys, and we talked about this with Tiger, I have a certain confidence level in the shot that they're hitting. So Tiger right now from 80 to 140 yards, 10 out of 10 confidence that it's going to,

that he's going to hit it close. And the numbers sort of back that up, I think there's, there's a little bias because I see all of his shots. But with Rory, it's the opposite, you know, and with speed right now, putting, it's the opposite. With Ricky Fowler putting right now, it's the opposite. Like I have a very low amount of confidence in, in some of the aspects of their games right now it's the opposite. Like I have a very low amount of confidence in some of the aspects of their games right now. So that's sort of what I measure

these things by and again the numbers back it up. I actually think that Rory interestingly, I mean his putting has obviously never been that good but his approach shot numbers this year? Not great. Like he I think he's he might be negative strokes gained after this week in approach great. Like he, I think he's, he might be negative strokes gained after this week in approach shots. And that's astonishing. That's going back to what, you know, again, so much focus being on distance.

And Roy remains one of the greatest if not the best driver of the golf ball in the game. And the stats support that pretty well this year. And even like this week, he was, I think, 14th or so in strokes gained off the tee for the two rounds that he played, but he's not hitting it close to the... There's not worth anything if you don't hit it close from there. And it's...

He's been like with Taylor made for almost a year now, and so much of... I'm definitely not blaming the equipment on this, but it seems like it's kind of issues that you would see related to the early part of an equipment change. Like at so many times, of not getting the right distance and being kind of befuddled by a ball, not going where he thinks it should and whatnot. And at one point this week,

he took his hat off in the fairway and just kind of rubbed his head and disbelief as to where his approach shot ended up. And I just don't know, he talks like so confidently going into the week. And I don't think it's not genuine. I think it is. I think he honestly played a lot.

He said he played a lot last week and was feeling great about his game going into this week that he just kind of is really upset and frustrated with how that doesn't transfer over into tournament golf. But it doesn't feel close, man. I mean, he's missed two cuts and his other two finishes are I think are like T20 and T59 at the Genesis and the Honda.

I mean, it's mid-March. It's not, it's not, I know we've got a lot of golf left this year, and he's going to play like 25 events, stateside, or something like that. But it's, I don't know, it's enough of a cause to be concerned at this point. He's 170 again as much as we make one of the FedEx copy. He's 178th in the FedEx cup right now and we're about to start major season. I know there's a long way to go in that, but man, like, come on, it's time to give us a little something here.

Yeah, I'm less concerned about the FedEx cup than I am with the fact that he's 151st in Strokes Gain approaching the green. Oh my God. That's, wow. That's. A hundred and fifty first. How many a hundred rounds is that though? I mean is it like it's 11 it's enough to qualify He is

14th in driving which is still not great for him 124th in putting which is actually would be an improvement on last year I think And 76 teetigreen. I mean mean, his, I mean, a brand else of this couple weeks ago, just about his approach shots being just really bad. And I don't, I don't really get it. You know, we talked about Tiger earlier, like his ability to kind of shape it both ways is, it's really kind of Sergio like, like Sergio is kind of for me always the standard

for being able to shape the ball and move it both ways and it's been incredible to see Tiger's trajectory and the way he's bending it and all those types of things and I don't know I haven't seen a ton of Rory this year because well because he's missed a couple weekends but I just I don't know that I've seen that a lot from him the way that I would want to go on into the Masters. Yeah, I kind of put these two together, which is a bit reckless after, you know, actually looking up Speed's recent record, but Speed looked really, really shaky the two days this week, and I was concerned until I kind of went back and saw that he was coming in with a T20, T9, and T14 coming

into this week, which again, it's obviously very solid. We're just kind of ready for Speed to make a run at a tournament, be in a tournament leading before the Masters at least, right? Not to move out Roy too quickly, I think we covered him, right? Yeah, we did. You and I don't need to get too deep down the row. No, no.

Jordan Speed's 167th on the PJ Tour in Pudding right now. Now, there's a couple ways to look at these stats. And I said this about Ricky after Mexico is that when you've got guys that are that low in a specific category, were traditionally there, you know, they're finished on a PGA tour season is a lot different than that. Then sort of the logic would tell you that they're going to have a bounce back, they're going to re- you know, return to the mean or whatever. And so for me, I sort of feel that about speed, that at some point he's going to go on this like six tournament stretch or four tournament stretch where he's just

going to make everything. And then he's going to be like 48th in Strux game putting, which is kind of normal for him, you know, around where he would finish on an average PGA tour season. So if that's true, I mean, he's hitting it pretty well right now, you know, I'm, I get less concerned about the putting stuff than I do with the, he's hitting it pretty well right now. You know, I'm, I'm, I get less concerned about the putting stuff than I do with the way you're hitting it. And I think that's why what Rory's been doing so far this year is, is probably more concerning than like you said with speed. It does seem like we're totally do for a week of just opening up Twitter and everyone saying like, who says Jordan's speeds having a tough putting

year because he makes every 40 footer? Like, we're totally ready for that. It's probably gonna be sooner rather than later. So. My least favorite take in golf is that speed is the best putter in the world. Oh, I totally, I mean, he's like the best mid-range putter. In the last several years, he's been the best from like 15 to 20 feet. He makes a ton way more of those putts

than anybody else does. But from like four to eight feet, he's like always below average, essentially. Yeah, I just, you just haven't looked at the numbers of that your take. Right. Did you know that he's sometimes, he looks at the hole when he gets close to it? He hasn't even been on TV enough for them to have said that recently. So I'm just ready to have those two guys back in the fold.

A film and tie going to pick up their pace. All right, boys like come on, this is the time we've all been waiting for for this cross generation of, you know, these old guys and these young guns, like Ben Crayon said, the competition that he literally created, it's time for that. So, Sergio, quietly, solo fourth finish.

Sergio's quietly two top tens in a row. Man. And how about Jim Furek, seventh place? Are we gonna have to go through it? Is it gonna happen? I didn't even know Furek was back. I didn't even realize it was his third start of the season. Our boy Sean Martin had a great tweet about how there was

his many US vice captains in the top 20 at Valspar as there was European writer cupbers. It's amazing. It's amazing. Is it time to talk writer cup? Yeah. If we're talking furek, we might as well just transition into it.

I know we texted about it earlier this week, but I didn't ask if you prepared it. Have you made your, have you made your, like, this is the team I would take to Paris if it was this week? No, but I have my team that I created at the beginning of the year, and I think that, I might have to sub somebody out because of injury, but I think it's pretty much the same team. I want to hear your team then, at the beginning of the year. Do you have it in front of you?

Yeah, let me pull it off. Okay, I'm very well prepared. Oh, it's fine. I'll give you mine. How about that? I actually made one today. DJ, JT, Speed, Capca, Ricky, Phil, Coocher, Reed, Zander, Tiger, Cantlay, Bubba. Hmm.

Yeah. I like that. Any beefs there? Anything, anything, anything egregious that I missed? Zander is so interesting to me because I think for whatever reason, he just, he doesn't evoke the same sort of emotion or excitement, the way that a JT or a spieth does. Now, I don't think he says good as those guys, but what he's doing at his age and his experience is pretty crazy.

And we just don't, like he's certainly having a better beginning of his career than like Daniel Berger, right? I would say so. That's an exact name I had in mind, actually. It's kind of the guy that we maybe don't fully appreciate just because, know JT and speed all those guys get so much more attention deservedly. So their records are far superior. But yeah, Zander is, I mean he finished third in the FedEx couple, man a lot of FedEx couple of plugs this week. Finished third last year, winning the Torch Championship will do that too. But one twice last year is a 23 year old I think and I got to see

him a little bit in Asia and the guy really hits the golf ball. I know a lot of professional golfers do but his swing is move is awesome. He hits it really high and just it seems like he has a lot of staying power. I have no problem kind of projecting that he's going to have a strong season that's going to make him really hard to leave off that team. So are we saying who we would take as of March 11th? I mean, I mean that, like obviously Kepp goes hurt right now and you wouldn't take him right now, but I mean, like if I'm take, if I have to pick my team for Paris in September right now, that's who I'm taking. Did you have Couture on there?

I did, yes. Okay. Yeah, Bubba's the one for me that I, okay, so here's mine. It's spieth JT, DJ, Ricky, Keppga, Kutcher, Reed, Mikkelsen, Tiger, Cantley, Finau, and Kizner. Okay. So you had Nozander and Nobubble in there? Nozander and Nobubba. I think that I haven't looked at Kizner's numbers this year, but you kind of, I mean, you would, no, Bubba. I think that I haven't looked at Kizner's numbers this year, but you kind of, I mean, you would have to take Bubba for sure, so you'd have to take out Kintlay, Finau, or Kizner probably.

You're not taking Kintlay off my team. Yeah, I think I, well, I mean, you got to put somebody with spieth whenever Reed goes with tiger. That's true I hear he has a close relationship with another guy on that team, but I'm not I There was just no one my reason Bubba's like my 12th man in the I'd think he's not a strong He's in the facts show. He's not been a strong writer-cut player And I think it's actually a really terrible environment for him to go to Paris, but

There's no one really knocking down that door at 12 that was making me, that was a hard decision to leave off. I'd Pat Perez, Kevin Chapel, Daniel Berger, Kisner, Brian Harmon, and Gary Woodland, kind of on the outside looking in. And none of those guys have the proven track record that Baba does over many years that would make me kick Bub off the team for them. So I honestly though, like, I think I would have to, as of right now, I just looked up Kizner's numbers this year. He's not playing well enough to, he's not, well, first of all,

he's not in the top eight or whatever, but he's not playing well enough to be a captain's pick. You have to, it would be so hard to not take Bubba, but I would honestly rather have Brian Harmon than Bubba. Yeah, I mean, I think Harmon is probably the guy of all those bubble guys. I didn't include that I would be the best with. And I he's a savage match play player. And it's a golf course that I think would set up pretty well for him from what I've

heard for a leg golf national. I don't know enough about it, but dude, I've been practicing my French man. I'm I, I can if you you can tell I have pub for Paris, but no, that's a guy would have no problem. I can say is I don't think like Ryan Moore and JB Holmes are gonna be on this team. No, how do you feel about Fina? I'd have to dig in the numbers a little bit. He didn't come to the top of my mind, but I feel like I've seen him enough on leaderboards to shoot that that would make a lot of sense.

I think I would say that we have a ton of golf to play obviously and if he's going to be on the team, he'll make that pretty evident in the coming months. I wouldn't say like he's done totally enough at this point to validate being on the team. Yeah, he was good. He doesn't have to. I'm looking, he's got two two second place finishes this year plus a T4 and a T6. So I just don't know what is that golf course going gonna really favor a bomber? Like that's his appeal, right? And PGA tour courses set up great for him. Does going and playing that golf course, you know, set up great.

That's the question I would ask. I don't think it necessarily is a bad match, but that's what you got to kind of figure out. I mean, like Ryan Moore was not a great fit for Hazeltean. Ryan Moore is dead straight hitter and Hazeltean set up for the bomber. So that's the kind of things that are gonna to have to be factored in when they build this team. Yeah, it's going to be just, and that's the thing, it's always sort of running in the

back of my mind. Like, the thing that I'm playing everything else up against is the writer cup is going to be insane this year. And I know that, I think you guys mentioned about Eddie Pepperel talking about it. Like he's gonna go if he's not on the team or whatever. I just, I don't know, I don't know that there's ever gonna be a, this is a crazy statement,

but I don't know that there's ever gonna be a Ryder Cup that people are more looking forward to. Just as you've got so many converging storylines and the fact that the US won last time, I don't know, like that might be really stupid and we might look forward to 2020 more than we do to this one, but it just, I don't know, it's got to, it feels like it's going to be really special. Oh, I mean, first of all, the US team that we had at Hazel team was one of the best teams we've ever had.

It's a we. Yeah, I'm saying we. I was going to say, I run an Oklahoma State website and I don't even say we when I'm talking about, even though I went to school there. And yet you who have, as far as I know, never played international golf for the United States. That team was absolutely stacked and we're adding Justin Thomas, who might be the best player in the world. We're adding what looks like a very healthy tiger woods. Are you kidding me? Like, you as team is going to be so good. Yet at the same time, Europe has

improved dramatically. Like Andy Sullivan is not walking through that door. And I made a list of who I think the 12 best, if I was the European tour captain, what that team would look like, you wanna hear something terrifying? I think, I think, I have Thomas Peters as the 12th man. Oh, oh, oh. Do you think Rory will have to be a captain's pick? Oh my, you just couldn't wait to get that one out.

You just wanted to fire that one. Nothing was going to stop you from issuing that one. I thought of that on Friday. I actually wrote it in my next trip. Make sure you make sure. Make sure. Scripting jokes. No, so in no particular order,

Rory, Rom, Stenson, Rose, Sergio, Fleetwood, Noren, Paul Casey, Tyrell Hatton, Rafa, Molinari, Peters. Good grief. I think that, uh, so Fleetwood, uh, Noren, there's somebody else in there that are going to be rookies are, those guys seem like they're way better than the rookies that Europe had last time. Right. Without a doubt, yeah, definitely.

Who else is in there that's going to be a rookie? Fleetwood, Noren, there's somebody else you met. Rom. Rom, and then Paul Casey is going to be playing for the first time since when I think it's been a long time since he's had been a European tour member. He was 12 years. Four in 2006, I think maybe. Yeah. So yeah, I mean, that's definitely not a rookie, but that's again, addition to that team that wasn't there in 16 that. addition to that team that wasn't there in 16 that, whoo, man. That's why I just struggle to disagree with you.

I think it's gonna be one of the highly anticipated rider cups ever just because the talent levels for both. I mean, going into the 16 rider cup, we all said the European team was just a week one and if the US doesn't win this one, there's a serious issue. There's gonna be nobody going into France saying like the European team is weak,

not one single person. So, oh, just bring me to Paris, let's go, it's time. Well, we've talked about it. I don't know if I'm gonna be covering it. And yet, I think that even if I am not assigned to it, I might just travel over there on my own dime. It just could just take my life and just force my way into the PGA of America

headquarters and get a credential. Oh, without a doubt. I mean, you can't. Because have you been to that course? I have not. Yeah. Everyone raves about it. I mean, all the guys think it's going to be such a great rider cup course and

I mean you and I were at the 16 rider cup and I think I Said at the time and I still agree. It's the best sporting event. I've ever attended it was it was you know We were lucky enough to cover it I know that was the most fun. I've ever had just just attending an event and we were working it I mean imagine imagine this one that's probably going to be a hell of a lot closer. Yeah, I always talk because people are like, oh, you know, where have you gotten to go? What have you gotten to do?

And the top of the list is always the 16 rider cup. I mean, obviously the Masters is amazing. And the US Open's have been really fun, but that was such a, that was such a just special and even kind of formative week for me in my career and my life. It was, I don't know, there was something about it and it sort of, it sort of res, like I didn't really understand before

when European guys would talk so reverentially about the Ryder Cup. And some US guys, but more Europeans, because I think that they sort of appreciate it more. But man, I understand it now. Like after that week, it's like, yeah, you know, I heard that, I heard Rory say at Beihl last year, like he feels like this, we're, I don't know,

walking in the fairway somewhere or something. And he was just, I don't know who he was talking to, and he just said, the Ryder Cup and the Masters, are the two, I can't remember if he said biggest or most important golf events in the world. I was just like, yeah, they are. I wouldn't have understood that before the 16 Ryder Cup, but I certainly get it now. Man, I can't wait. It's going to be awesome. We have like 10 more Ryder Cup preview podcasts to do. I can't wait. It's going to be awesome. Yeah, we're going to, we have like 10 more Rydercut preview podcasts to do.

I can't wait. What is it? Is there somebody on either side who you could see like sneaking out throughout the year and sneaking on to the team? Oh, I'm sure. I mean, I don't have like a list of sleepers right now. I think, I don't know, for some people,

I think, can't lay in and Xander would be kind of surprises. I'm just kind of projecting out that they're gonna continue their great seasons and kind of be, hopefully make it on points, because the US is kind of lack of willingness to take rookies in the past for Captain's picks. It's been a sticking point for me and something that really frustrates me.

So I'm hoping that kind of fits fits in those kind of guys fit into the mold and they don't just go with guys with experience that maybe have are not playing as good a golf, but we will definitely see. Can't can always number 33 in points and Zander is 18 right now. That's ridiculous about canley because he won an event that didn't this season that doesn't count at all in points, but Oh, that point system. I've never I've never heard you mentioned the right to cut points. Yeah, let's go. Do you have a do you have an issue with this spoiler alert? Gonna mention it in the room in the coming months not gonna lie

All right, what you have three pages of notes to be cover everything in there. What else you got in there? We covered most of it. I had something about just how stress-free the week was for Tiger. He had only 29 feet of par-pots on Friday, 28 feet on Saturday. Everything was a tap-in par. I don't know. Just another part of his game that was incredible and impressive. We mentioned Tiger's schedule earlier. I'd love to see him put just some other fun events on his calendar, but like you said, they've following majors, it's tough.

The Valspar is awesome, by the way. Great. Didn't it feel like a kind of like a springtime travelers? Yeah. I mean, in a spook is just, it's interesting. I like that it rewards, as I guess I should say, it doesn't reward just bomb and gouge. There's not a great incentive to just bomb drivers

over corners and play with kind of reckless abandon off the tee. There's, and it's not like amazing for my architectural standpoint or strategy element, but it's kind of interesting to watch guys play to different sides of the fairway to try to get to pins. And I know that it's just, I don't know, it doesn't seem like I said, you can't just bomb straight away

and guys have to be more thoughtful off the tee and it makes the just tee shots way more interesting to watch. So it is a very fun tournament to watch. And it doesn't pop off the screen, from a visual perspective, that course, but it's delivered several years in a row with such great fields and really exciting finishes.

So yeah, I'm pumped. I'm in on Valspar. Yeah, me too. One of my sort of low-key favorite things that Tiger does is the really quick, like step at the hole on like a five foot par putt. It grabs it with his left hand. The way the ball is like all the way settled at the bottom of the cup.

And he's already it's still rattling around in there and he's grabbing it out. It's pretty great. He's got the good, he's got the good quick twirl too. Like he had a couple, like side twirls. Like the club actually gets a little bit horizontal and he, and he twirl too. Like he had a couple side twirls. The club actually gets a little bit horizontal and he twirls it off to the side. He might poke a marshal with one of these twirls at some point. If he really gets it going, but...

It's his kind of held off twirl at 15, I guess, to still your all-time favorite. Oh, yeah. I mean, that's just, again, I go back and watch that about once a month just to feel something just to feel something You know, and you just like shrugs his shoulders and twirls it and stuffs it to five feet. We won't talk about how you missed the putt so You got any more scripted jokes over there? Are we ready to wrap this thing up? No, can you?

Can you listen to this does he can cut that out? I out? I mean, if you want to leave another take in now, like we're an hour and 10 minutes in, I think he probably won't hear this point, but we weren't hard on him. We just, we wanted to know. And better, like that was, nothing we said was unfair. We wanted to play better.

And he's not playing very good. That's not, that's hardly a take. I think that my feelings about in For Warrior pretty well documented. Yeah. He's not gonna be like, oh, that porter guy hates me. Shit. I'm not very concerned.

Yeah, he shouldn't be. All right, KP, 10 o'clock on Sunday night. I'm gonna let you go. Thanks for joining. We got plenty more to talk about a season goes along and man, this major season. It's starting soon and it's going to get pretty active. Yeah, Dave, it's going to be awesome.

I appreciate you having me on. As always, later buddy, thank you, man. It's going to be the right club. Be the right club today. Yeah. That's better than most. How about it, man? That is better than most. How about him? That is better than most. Better than most.