No Laying Up - Golf Podcast - NLU Podcast, Episode 169: Ryder Cup Recap w/ Kevin Van Valkenburg

Episode Date: October 1, 2018

Europe dominated a favorite U.S. team, beating them to a pulp in Paris, and Kevin Van Valkenburg from ESPN joins to share in my misery. We do a tiny bit of second guessing, attempt our... The post NLU Podcast, Episode 169: Ryder Cup Recap w/ Kevin Van Valkenburg appeared first on No Laying Up. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I'm going to be the right club today. Yeah. That's better than most. How about him? That is better than most. Better than most! All right, let's get on with it. I'm here to take the beating. We are gonna get to caught up with Kevin Van Volkkenberg from ESPN a bit earlier. We want to do this in person. We're planning to

ESPN a bit earlier. We want to do this in person. We're planning to have a joyous Sunday evening podcast recording with a lot of laughs. It's not the same. It's just not gonna be the same. We ended up on the opposite sides of towns We actually had to do this via Skype. So Regretfully we weren't able to be in the same room, but you guys will enjoy What Kevin has to say and you will enjoy me eating a lot of crow and sulking my way through the next hour. Before we get going, I want to give a very heartfelt congratulations to the Calaway European team members, Sergio Garcia, Henrik Stenson, and of course Alex Noren. All gaming Odyssey putters this week including Sergio's custom

Toulon Atlanta made specifically for the Ryder Cup and Odyssey, the number one putter at the Ryder Cup. Listen, I'm just so absolutely thrilled for a fellow Callaway staffers. That's really what it's all about and I'm just, it's basically a win this week, seeing so many Callaway guys play well and I'm not at all bitter or butt hurt about What happened this week? No, I'm handling it fine um, and you'll hear that you'll hear that where it's a it's a joyous occasion to celebrate this wonderful event so without any further delay here is Kevin van Volkamburg from ESPN and I'll recap from the 2018

disaster of a Ryder Cup. All right, Kevin, where do we start? What's first? I don't wanna be the one that determines where we go from here, so I need you to kind of give me some guidance here, so what do we do first? Well, yeah, imagine this pod post-Ryder Cup pod is gonna be a little less joyful than our previous one.

I was regretting initially that like Porter and poor Ath weren't here so we could, oh we're gonna miss out on recreating all the joy that came from the you know from Madd or at Hazeltein two years ago but I don't regret that at all anymore. Now we're good let's just let's just kind of get this over with and get on with the lives. You all listen to this somber pod a couple times reliving the misery of the beat down in Wilepelli. I'm trying to come to terms with like, am I happier that we just got crushed?

Or would it have been better if it was close? I don't know the answer to that. I don't. All I know is I have a lot of questions. You are the trusted journalist among the two of us. So I kind of rely on you to be like, what are the questions that people should be asking right now? I guess my first question that I keep asking myself

is why didn't I see this coming? Like I didn't pick a blow out. Like I didn't, wasn't one of those people who thought it was gonna be like a touchdown, scoring difference. And I'm not talking you did this but I saw that that pick by a trusted legitimate journalist, Big J journalist this week. I picked it as like a one-point American victory but why didn't I why did I fall into the same trap that Americans always

fall into which is that we never sort of like think about how much the course set up is going to be different and really think about like how well they're going to sort of pair together and how well they're their journey men are going to sort of come to life. I don't really remember the course being this big of a factor in Glenn Eagles, but I just don't know why I didn't think anticipate ahead of time. Like, hey, there's a lot of evidence sort of in the barrel here that shows that it doesn't really go well in Europe. And why didn't stick to that? I'm glad you started with that because I kind of, I was pretty dismissive of the golf course

leading up into this and there's a million things I was wrong about. That one is probably the one that I was the dismissive of the golf course leading up into this and there's a million things I was wrong about. That one is probably the one that I was the most wrong about. My general assumption, I think a lot of our general assumptions was like, all right, let's accumulate our best talent. These guys, while the course doesn't set up great for them, they're capable of hitting irons off the tee, hitting them straight, hitting it into the fairway, and still being really good at hitting the ball into the hole.

And I felt, obviously, felt fine through morning for ball. That format was, has been good to us in the past, and was good. And then for sums, like honestly, it shook me how bad they played in For sums. I mean, it was jarring, and I think they got shook after that. And after that, it just was never the same.

And there was almost no recovering from that. I was as much as I wanted to believe that, and as much as we're asking the Euros for giving me a hard time Friday afternoon, like it kind of felt over to me at that point. Yeah, I mean, it was a beating. You know, think about how bad the United States has been in Ryder cups in Europe over the last 25 years.

This is the first time they've ever gotten swept in for some. So it was as bad as it could possibly be. Just the fact that at that point, they won five straight matches. That was a huge, huge swing of momentum. They won the last match in the four ball, and then they won four straight. I mean, it was eight straight total across the two sessions and going into the next morning. Like, I wonder what the actual chances were of that happening. I mean, we're up three nothing.

Like, it's three nothing. And then we lost the rider cup by seven. Like, it wasn't even remotely close. So to get this, I just was crunching a few numbers. We won the last cup, 1711. Justin Thomas was not on that team. We added JT. He went four and one and this week Rory went two and three Rose went two and two and braw him was just terrified me for two years went one and two Yeah, we lost by seven like how is it?

It just doesn't add up if you told me those and those numbers I'm like, oh, okay, so like did we we win by 12? Did we break the rider cup? Is it all over? But I mean, if you really look at it, man, so off top of your head, how many European players do you think had winning records? Gosh, I would think that, God, eight or nine, 10?

Like the only person I can think about a losing hour who was wrong. I think he because he got his first winning gets tired today. They had five players with winning records. What? I was flabbergasted by that. Moanari went five and no. Fleetwood went four and one, Sergio three and one.

Hendrick Stenson went three and no, and Noren was two and one. Everybody else was five 500 or worse. I mean, I'm gonna own up to this take and you can own it too if you want, but I thought that Sensen was gonna be washed. I thought that we were joking about it that this was like their Westwood in Hazeltein. And they used him perfectly.

Like the way that I wrote this in my column today, the way that Bjorn used Stinson, probably the way that he should have, the fewer actually to use Tiger. Just play him in all shot. Those points are just as important. Tiger's obviously really good of a ball striker and a really good putter.

And you know, you don't only have to hit half the shot, so you're not quite as like mentally worn out. I think that that might have been a much better especially when he saw how drain tiger was and how just completely like kind of out of it he seemed from the start of the week that would have been a much better plan and Bjorn just kind of even knew and he wasn't going to get Stinson for every match with Rose and he just used him perfectly. Yeah. I definitely didn't see that coming from Simpson.

Even I think after his first match, he came out and alternate shot on Friday afternoon and he missed a putt early and he just looked shaky early. And I think I was personally the comment like, all right, yep, he's this year's Westwood and he went three and a half. Again, just an absolute victory lap around all of my takes both during the week and the two years leading up to it. It's a, I'm taking barrel fire over here, man. Part of it, listen, part of it I deserve, and I will admit, I did predict that the US would win by three.

I think that a lot of people that are, that a lot of Europeans listen to this podcast, think that I'm Alan Shipnuk, and that I declared that the Ryder Cup is over and that it's the US is gonna win forever. I did say, and I stand by this, that the US, I said this before 2016, I said the US will win four out of five. And I think France is the one where most likely to lose.

I feel very good about Whistling Straits. I'm fine with Beth Page. Italy, I still think. I think the talent is going to be overriding. I'm blocking that a little bit, just seeing how ridiculous this course messed up the US team this week. But I still, I stand by it. I think your US team is going to be dominant for years to come in this event. I, I, dominant might not be the right word after what we just saw, because what we just saw was dominant. I mean, that was, it wasn't even remotely close.

Yeah. I think that as bad as this might feel for Americans, that in a lot of ways, they're still set up so much better for the future than they were a few years ago. Like, if you, essentially, like, if Tiger and Phil, either either this was their last one or maybe Tiger will play in one more, whatever, but like, if you think about like JT

and Spieth being your sort of new Tiger and Phil going forward, the guys who have to sort of galvanize you forever and are gonna compete with majors, you're in such a better position going forward than you were with Tiger and Phil because for whatever it is, they've played 83 matches and they've lost like 44 of them. It's just, there's no, like, it doesn't make any sense, you can make excuses for them, but I'm just, I'm done with it, man.

I am ready to move on. They can be captains and they can, you know, probably do a good job with that, but they are just not great players in this event, and it's enough to sort of make that statement, I think. It's no longer just like, oh, it's a small sample size, like, bull, it is a legitimate thing, and nothing can convince more than what I, my own eyes saw out there, the two of them just did not have it,

and it's time to move along. What, but I mean, for, I don't know, I guess for some reason this year I felt like it was different with Tiger and I don't know why. And I defended the, the fill pick and I said, you know, he's been 7-3 and one in the last three Ryder cups. I think he's figured something out with this format and he owns this so much now that he just won't allow himself to play poorly. Listen, he went on to, it was pretty inconsequential, really.

I mean, his match by the time in singles it did matter. And he lost one match in four seasons when everybody else also lost. I thought he got a ton of blame for what happened, which, I mean, if we're blaming play, Tigers, Owen IV record sitting there is just a glaring, just massive hole. It just got sucked out.

He got Grandy ran up against the Molenari Fleetwood group three times. But I mean, what could possibly be the reason for these guys being such incredible all-time players and sucking in this event? I know the common answers, like they don't care enough, they don't believe, they're not team players, but like some of the stuff evens out after time in this, it never even out with them. I don't think that it's that I definitely think Phil cares maybe too much. Like I think he so badly, like loves the action and so badly wants to prove.

I mean, whatever reason, whatever he found with Keegan in that sort of stretch where he played really well at Medina and then played pretty well with him for a stretch in Glennieagles. That was his partner. That was his guy. You know, he actually had some success with David Tom's earlier in his career. But I think that he's just, I don't know, his game in general, maybe just isn't really made for Matchplay. It's a little bit too wild, a little bit too loose, especially when you put him on courses

in Europe where you can't really recover all that well. I mean, there's a reason that his record, even though this was not a links course, there's a reason that his record in Europe was dismal for a really long time, and winning the Open Championship at Mirafield on the best day of his life, the round of his life was kind of a race, some of that, but he was really not a good player in Europe for a long, long time. And so, you know, some of that, I think is the case. I think with Tiger, like, I don't know, this weekend maybe was different than some of the other weeks. This week he just looked gassed. Like, he looked like there was something legitimately off about him, like whether he was in pain and he was, you know, taking some medication to deal with

it or whether he was just completely zonked and couldn't sleep, but he barely looked like he could keep his eyes open after matches, like he lived, he legitimately looked like he was going to fall asleep in the press conference today, and so I really don't know, like it's something was off with him, and maybe he just poured so much energy into getting that win that he needed so badly, I think, to prove that he could still do this, that by the time the Ryder Cup came around, even though I think he wanted it, he was just gassed, he was done.

Yeah, it's kind of not been talked about a ton, like his interview on the golf channel in Saturday afternoon was just a little bit off. I mean, it just was a bit slurred, a bit just not sharp. It just, I know we only kind of break down one of his interviews or press conferences like this, but I mean, shit, I've had half a bottle of wine tonight. My speech is a little bit slurred, but that's for that reason.

Like if he's coming off the golf course and doesn't really speak very clearly, it's kind of like, all right, what's going on? Even commentators on Sky, we're talking about, he was walking around a lot slower than he usually does. And I don't know why that would be. It's something's off. And I actually did, you know,

it's funny you mentioned them not sleeping like, I did hear the, in general, a report from the team room is basically like, yeah, Tiger's not been sleeping this week or leading up before they even even started. He's like not been sleeping very well. So I don't know. It's, it's, I guess, I don't know. I guess I blame myself a bit with like, I blame myself, man. All right. I blame me.

Don't worry. In Norse. I blame you too. Yes, that's fine. In that as I tried so hard all season to keep everything he does in perspective through the lens of what he's been through and I threw all of that out once he won and I was like okay he's our god again and he's gonna do this this time and this time it's gonna be different and it just was not man it's uh I wish I could yeah go ahead I think he's just so hard to keep things in perspective with everything that he does and I am 100% guilty of this too. And I always used to be like the tiger skeptic, even when he was at like the height of fights

and when he was at the low of lows, like I was just never quite willing to sort of buy into the myth of not the myth like into the magic of it all. And then I fell myself getting sucked right back into it. I was like I finally bought in. I was like oh my god Like you know he's playing so great. He's he's able to do things that just it didn't make any sense to me And so I I lost perspective I sort of did the one thing that I always kind of swear I've never do with him and especially two in this like If he plays in Wistling Straits if he makes a team on points or if they pick him as captain There will be people who will be like Especially if he's been playing well. Well, you got to play him in all four or five sessions,

like, you know, he's the one of your top guys. It just doesn't, it's not a good format for him. He makes a guys uncomfortable. They don't like, I don't know what it is if that he makes the other team sort of fired up, like they really want to beat him. And so it's just a double-barreled kind of thing. Like I've never ever seen Patrick Reed play that poorly than the way he was like Tiger was basically playing Flute William O'Linari by himself. Without his best game. Yeah without his best game and so you know when Patrick is not even sort of like can't even find a fair way he's like dunking it in the water of course it's gonna wear on you eventually.

Like, it's just, I don't know. It doesn't make sense, but it is what it is, and I don't think it's gonna change. So that's why I almost think that they should just use him sparingly. Like, have his presence be there? You're like, hey, you're either, you're just gonna play, you know, ForSums,

or maybe, you know, you're just gonna play two matches, and that's okay. Yeah, I mean, I had heard the leading up to it that he was only gonna play three total matches. And I don't know what, I think a little bit of panic kind of set in with the way ForSums went on Friday with how they sent guys out Saturday, because we had heard that DJ and Keppka

didn't necessarily enjoy playing ForSums together. Like their putting styles were different, and we had heard from people close to Keppka didn't necessarily enjoy playing four sums together. Like, their putting styles were different and it just, and I, you know, we had heard from people close to Keppka that had said, like, he would probably play with web or Baba leading up into this week. And so this is kind of leading into where we land with Furek and that what we think of the captaincy. And I, I'm, you, I love second guessing.

Like, I absolutely, I live for it, but I'm struggling where to second guess. I think it, I had no problem with the captain's picks, and I'm not gonna flip around on that. Tiger went O and four, but like that is like, ultimate hindsight. You're not taking Tiger. Imagine if they just didn't take Tiger.

Phil was the one that was the big question mark. I argued for it because I thought he could dial it up. I just thought he could. He didn't. It didn't work out. Bryson went 0 and 3. He was an obvious pick. Like you had to take them. There was no decision to be made there. Fina was the last one. He made it really easy too. And he ended up going 2 and 1. The only two matches. any of the captains picks one which is insane. But where do we lie with the the captain C8 of Jim Furek and if we're going to critique it where to the where do the criticisms belong? Well look I mean I think you and I both pretty openly bidding that we did not think that Tom Watson did a very good job as the captain

and so I want to sort of be careful in the way that I sort of phrase this, but like I was wondering a little bit today if there was some a little bit of over correction in terms of like making it a player-friendly environment. Like I think Furek is a really good guy. I think he's very smart. He's also really close to a lot of those older guys in some ways. And I think like if Fira had been a little bit more like, I don't know if Karejus is the right word, but a little bit more bold, he could have fought this out. And this is

again, this is total second guessing, but he could have said, hey Phil, you know what, I don't think this course is a good fit for you. I don't think that you're playing very well right now. I absolutely need you in the team room as an assistant captain. You're going to be the next Ryder Cup captain or you know, after-strict. I need you to sort of, you'll be out there and guys will be rubbing your belly in between shocks and you're going to help decide the pairings, but your game is just not in good shape and it's not a good fit for this course. I got to leave you off. And could Furek have been able to do that? Would Fille have kind of

accepted it and embraced it? Or would he have gone behind Furek's back and politiced and done all sorts of things and tried to basically leverage his way onto the team? I don't know the right answer to that. And could Furek have had the guts to say to Tiger? Man, you look totally spaced out this week like you are exhausted I got to use you like a lot less than I thought I was gonna do. I don't know like it It's a great kind of what if I Don't want to like bang on fear too hard because we have the sort of Benefit of hindsight, but I'm wondering like if the neck if striker is like it's not really work for it doesn't really be for high to apply a striker

But let's say whoever is the captain. Let's say it's Zach Johnson in Italy in in for years They don't pick Phil but it's gonna be Zach. I think if you are gonna sort of accept that you have to bring Different kind of players to a European style course. You have to start like making that clear Two years ahead of time. So Zach's first kind of thing you have to say, I don't care if you are 9th and points. If your game does not fit that course, I'm not going to bring you. It isn't going to be a huge insult to you that you didn't make it. If you didn't make it, you didn't make it and it's up to my discretion, who my four captain's picks. And that's how the next captain could have the freedom to say, you know what, a Kyle Stanley is a really good ball striker.

And I think he's a great fit for this setup. And so is the Patrick Cantley. I'm going to bring them and I'm going to pass over 7, 8, 10 guys to do it because they're all bombers. They're all guys who do not know how to play another different style of play. They have no experience in Europe or whatever. I think even, you know, that would be controversial because there's always gonna be people in the media

who just don't get that kind of mentality. But if you started that campaign like a year ahead of time and just drilled it into people and did a little bit of politics, it would be easier to do than it would be to just sort of say the last minute. Well, by the way, I'm taking Kyle Stanley and the revolt of like, are you kidding me?

Like, what are you kidding? No, how could you leave Phil Nicholson off the team? How could you leave Tiger Woods off the team? Well, you're trying to win a Ryder Cup. You're not trying to win a popularity contest. Yeah, and that's kind of where I'm landing. I'm glad you addressed that. And again, I had no problem with the captain's picks

under the way that they do things and how the players have essentially taken so much more on their plate when it comes to the entire approach. Like Phil is a basically playing captain and like and I guess where I lost, I lost my way, I lost my way, Kevin, is that I just trusted him, I trusted Phil to like to have that much pressure on himself. He threw Watson under the bus and basically was like, all right, I'm revamping this system.

And he played well at Hazelteon. I just thought his only way of really drawing the best out of himself was tripling down on himself to say, I am putting my ass out there and I'm gonna do this for the US. And I will be the martyr if we lose, but I'm gonna be the hero if we win. And he, in that regard, is the martyr.

Now, where I question the overall capency is along the lines of what you said is, they've had two years to, they've known what this golf course is gonna be. I mean, some things were a bit of a surprise to the guys. I know they were surprised to see how high the rough was up. I knew, they knew it was gonna be up, but they didn't think it was going to be that bad.

And it was mowed back towards the T boxes, which kind of took them by surprise. But you had you couldn't, I don't know, you couldn't be that shell shocked at what you saw out there that you forget how to play golf. I mean, that force them on Friday afternoon was so freaking jarring. But as much as as much as we want to put on that, it's like, man, all right, are we not taking DJ? Are we not taking Brooks Keppka? Are we just not taking Ricky on the team? And those guys went one in four, one, two, and one, and one in three. At a certain point, it's like, all right, you guys are some of the top players in the world. You've got to

step up and learn how to play a different style of golf. You got to deliver it at some level. I mean, this is not an excuse to just... That's where the team lost it, I think. That's why I tweeted today as DJs the biggest disappointment. It's because he's the number one player in the world and he went one in four. I know it's not the best setup for him, but I need more out of you than that.

That's for sure. It's not like he doesn't... I don't I mean he plays a very bomb and gouge sort of style But I just I don't know like Justin was able to figure it out like Jordan was able to figure out He's not a bomber but Brooks hung in his matches I just don't I don't get why it sort of flumics them so much I mean maybe it they just four years has a long time And so I almost feel like they forget some of the lessons that they've sort of flumics them so much. I mean maybe they just four years has a long time And so I almost felt like they forget some of the lessons that they've Sort of learned previously. I mean think about it like Jake. He's gonna be 29 when they're in Italy

You know, it's that's it'll be older than Brooks is now. Yeah, it's just crazy Like to think that four years is forever. And so are they gonna remember like oh, yeah They're gonna move the rough backwards so that we cannot miss fairways and oh, yeah They're like the greens are gonna be pretty slow so we are gonna have to totally adjust that after playing you know what eddies like and stuff it's just it's a hard thing to do like I always think that one of the hardest things to sort of recover from is when you lose in the Olympics because it's just to get back to the next Olympics is like a four year line yeah that's what winning a rider cup in Europe is going to be.

Like, it's just, it's four freaking years away. And so that's going to dwell in your mind. And you're going to forget some of the important things and convince yourself, like, oh, we're good. Our game is better, our team is better. Our system is better. I don't know. Until they win one, I don't think I can ever pick them again

in Europe until they prove they can do it. All right, if you're a European fan listening to this, are we sitting here? Are we making excuses for the US team in any way? I think we are making excuses, yeah, but you can't, I mean, you know, four and five under in some of those matches. I mean, it's so hard to play alternate shot. You know, there's just, you feel an enormous amount of pressure just to not let your teammate down. And they're just so good at that kind of thing of never kind of like blaming or eye

rolling or, you know, feeling frustrated or whatever. They just pick each other up in this remarkable way and I don't know you know why exactly some of our guys can't do that I mean I here's what I'll say like whenever you try to talk about like why is it a great writer-couper it's hard to sort of imagine him ever like going over and like picking a guy up and bear hugging him during a match

It's just not his personality. It's like it's not kept as personality. It's not you know, it wasn't I don't know like Matt Cooters personality and so it's just I don't know like something about Some of our guys who've been through this. They're just not kind of built like the guys that are in Europe where they're just a little bit more free spirits. Our guys are a little bit more straight edge and they don't really have that kind of looseness to them. I think that that gets them in that format. That's why the US is just bad. In that format.

Yeah. And so one other thing, I guess I'll critique on the on the fjörk front is I was digging so freaking hard for weeks leading up to it and all the way up until hours before the opening ceremonies for what the pairings are going to be. And like the players didn't know, like they didn't know what they were going to be like. And you know some guys are like, yeah, I think I might play with so and so or like. And then the next week would be like, I might end up pairing with so and so.

And Caddy's, you know, I'm saying, all right, so who is your guy gonna be playing with? And like, I just, I think it'll either be so-and-so, and it's like, the European tour, and the European team has, they employ, it's called the 15th club, it's these statisticians that basically have made models for them to be like, here's what we're telling you

are the two guys you should put together for ForSums. Here it is. And like, here's why it's because these two guys are compatible off the tee and blah, blah, blah. And I've always kind of overrated that just because I think like on the US side, they do so much stuff by feel. It's like, oh, I don't feel like a great, we're a great partner appearing and something like that.

Whereas they just kind of trust the data, and they're like, all right, this makes a lot of sense for you two guys to go send out. Here's, I'm telling you this three weeks out. So when I played the pro-amp with Tommy Flea Wood at BMW Championship, I'm like, so what do you think the pairing is gonna be? And like you pointed over,

and we were walking down the 16th fairway, and Molenari's walking on the 11th. He's like, oh, I'm probably gonna be playing with that guy and he yells over at him, something in there. It's like kind of did like a little boyish wave at each other and they went there several ways. I was like, I didn't think anything of it at the time, looking back on it, I'm like, oh my God,

those are the two guys that just executed our team. And man, it's, I don't know, it is second guessing, but it's a very macro second guess of like, guys, like me, Europe, strategy in Europe has gotta be different. I mean, I've no doubt that they're gonna make, you're gonna make Western straight 7,800 yards, it's gonna be Y, put the pins in the middle of the green,

just a piss, Justin Rose off. And the US is probably gonna win. Like it's, it's my question, and this is gonna sound like the ultimate butt hurt nation here in this is, let's say that is the case. And I think it will be the case. I think the US is gonna win big in 2020 because of the setup.

Is it good for the Ryder Cup to trend so hard in different directions for the home field advantage? I'm not at all upset about how the European set it up. They have every right to do that. And I commend them for that part of the strategy and they played that brilliantly. But my question to you is, is it good for the Ryder Cup to have such control over setup?

I think I love that the home team gets to set it up. And I think, honestly, that road games should be hard. That's why it's hard to win road games in the NFL. It's hard to win road games in the NBA. Like you can control, you can control, like it's it's kind of neat where especially where like if you win a home rider cup and then you got to defend it like on the road you have to go play to that other team's strengths. So you should be an underdog in that scenario. And if you can upset them by playing better at their style of game, it's almost more satisfying. And then to me, if you win two Ryder cups in a four-year span, it shows absolutely 100% you are the better team. So in a lot of ways, the European's just held serve. And that's why,

when you win on the road, it's such a more satisfying thing. That's why it was so devastating in Medina. Like they thought they had to figure it out, they did everything right, and then they just kind of gagged at the very most important part. And you know, so getting it back, like it has a team, that was huge, and now the Europeans got it back too. And so now they'll have to sort of figure it out. I don't they really is Whistling Straits gonna be like the kind of venue where they can mo all that rough down I think Pete Dye would like Be a gas if we saw that What would Gary player think of that if they if they set it up for the European bomb or the American bombers?

Oh my goodness, well first of all I think there should be box jumps in the fairway for every test here. And then they should have to do arm curls for 15 minutes before they tear. What does he think of Brooks Keppka and his way lifting regimen? Oh my goodness. I've never seen a more handsome, exciting, a more Gary Payer-esque man than books Krippka. Oh man, all right. I want to do, we've, I guess, kind of mourned the US here,

but I do, I think we do a ton of credit for the Europeans and how they played, especially Mollinari in Fleetwood. And it's just like, that's kind of where, what I, the crux of a lot of the things I said on Twitter this week was just like, guys, like this, a lot of this is just golf. Like, a lot of this is just golf. Like a lot of it is honestly golf and that, especially on like the DJ, Kepka, Fowler front,

it's like guys, like you just did not play good enough golf and I don't think it's a whole lot more than that because again, those guys are gonna be on this team regardless of whether it's a put put course or a 9,000 yard golf course. Like those guys just should be there. And they got a deliver and they didn't. And so I don't know.

That regard, it's like, I don't know what to change other than like hat tip to Europe and be like, you guys, they didn't just beat us, man. They whooped our asses. I want to know, what were the, you were at the the wrap up press conferences, what were those like? Yeah, I just as fun as always. I mean they are just so like

Fleetwood is like and they you know you're trying to the press to try to get more already and say something interesting and He's got that pretty dry wit and you know, he says something to Fleetwood and everyone kind of looks over at Fleetwood and Fleetwood blows him a kiss and Sergio does his usual like trying too hard to make people laugh. And so he keeps doing like, Sergio's impression of Connor's sketches doing Sergio's laugh, which is like super annoying, but like very like Sergio in some way. And they were, Roy was talking about how they're,

he revealed that they make an Bjorn get a tattoo somewhere in Bjorn's like, oh, it's gonna be somewhere only in my wife can see it. So it's just like, they're funny. Like they're, I think Sergio and Polter try a little bit too hard to be funny sometimes, but like Rory and Justin Rose and Fleetwood,

they're just sneaky funny. And it's just they make it, they were that way in Hazeltein. Yeah, I remember that. I remember that. I would kind of recap to that press conference at the start of the week, just as a sort of reminder of like, they are always kind of recap to that press conference at the start of the week, just as a sort of reminder of like They are always kind of on the same way and I think what I do think is kind of we should sort of pay tribute to is like

This is probably the last of the sort of Ryder cups for the group that's won a bunch of them, you know, that's I mean You know, Hendrix 40 to Ian's, whatever. You know, there's a lot of guys, you know, Rose and Casey are getting, certainly older, they'll probably play in Whistling, but that, you know, then they're starting to do really, age is gonna catch up with them.

This group is kind of transitioning into the next thing. Like, I don't know who's gonna be the next generation of young Europeans who's gonna come up, whether it's, you know, Victor Hovland, or whatever the the kid who just won the US Amateur, I think he's Danish or Netherlands or something, you know like Matt Wallace is he good enough players? Like is Matt Fitzpatrick going to get back on? Like those guys are going to have to sort of fill some of those roles because some of their old lions are sort of retiring, but like those guys are still you know the guys like Patrick

Harrington and like Darren Clark and Willie Westwood and those guys are still, you know, the guys like Patrick Harrington and like Darren Clark and Willie Westwood and those guys are all kind of hanging around as like assistant captains or whatever and They've been really good at this and it's been to me honest like you got to just respect How great they've been and pay tribute to that because they've made it fun. They've made this event Lot not dour not sort of depressing. They've made it a joy for their fans, and that's all you can ask for them. Oh, I mean, I think that's what gives fans like you and I and whatnot, I mean, I know, oh, sorry, you're a journalist, I'm the fan.

But like, that's what gives us the entry again. It is like, we, like, we're not, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, we're not used to losing, but maybe it's the American arrogance and just being like, well, why do we keep losing at this? And it just bothers us that much more and it just doesn't bother them as much. And not that they don't care, it's the opposite.

Like, they just ingrained in them to just have this kind of mentality. So leading into this week, there were five rookies and they had seven guys with experience. Everybody but Francesco Molinari ironically had a winning record. And guess what? He was 0, 4 and 2. And now he's got a winning record because he went 5 and a. Like, they're only guy that had never won a match, went 5 and a.

Henry Stenson was 500 leading into it. Everybody else had these huge crazy winning records. It's amazing. It's kind of hard to just figure out like what changed for Mont-Arre like in the last year or so that just made, I mean like this is a guy who was sort of a like a never like an also ran like he would make the Ryder Cup teams, but he was never like a big factor. No. He had that have against Tiger, which is sort of the most memorable thing Tiger beat him in another Ryder Cup. But like, you know, I always just basically confused him with his brother.

There was no difference between their games. And now one of them is an elite ball striker. There's a major champion. The other guy's out of golf, right? Like, it's fascinating to me. Like, what happened? What changed? I don't know.

The flying moment, Ari's. I don't mean to take this at all. I don't dislike him at all. But in very two recent situations, I've had to root very hard against him, one being the open championship, and this one, the most frustrating player in the world to root against might be Francesco Molinarri.

Like that guy doesn't miss. Like I saw him scoop a ball, because he was basically chipping for par or bogey or something like that. And he loved the chip and had to scoop it, and I was like, whole lot, I've never seen that out of him. That is absolutely insane.

So leading up into this, I got to address kind of, I thought I did a good job of being like, all right, now I'll listen. As soon as play starts, these rankings don't matter at all, but like leading up to the Ryder Cup, you evaluate kind of how guys are playing against each other, how they fare against top players, how often they beat them. And the US was so dominant. I wouldn't believe how many messages I got of, oh, how those, what are those,

what are those, Seki rankings or whatever you call them? It's like, listen, I try to make this very clear that anything could happen once it started. And when I, however, I will say that I, when I meant anything that happened, is like, I thought we could lose. I definitely thought we could. I did not think we could lose 17 and a half to 10 and a half. So we ran a, a rhetoric up pool. We had 7,000 people in it. Yeah. And 50 people predicted this, the, the final score right out of 7,000, which I'm actually amazed 50 people got that because that is absolute insanity. I would manage to pick the right score, but I picked a Saturday night.

I said that I didn't really have a lot of faith in the American comeback. I thought the Europeans would win 70 points. And then in the middle of the day, I was like, oh, I'm going to have to eat this because the Americans are one of the first six matches. And then it just all fell apart. Like, that's what, at least there's fun, there's always that fun moment on Sunday where you're at least doing the math

and you're like, this is a real possibility. Like, we could do this. And then it all just kind of unravels. But it, so I, that's why I had no faith coming in today either. I just did not think it was possible. But the only way it could was like, you throw that red up on the board. The sphincter start to tighten,

and like, you just, that's what happened in Medina, was, it was just like the threat of it, made everybody else just start choking, it just happened one by one by one, and I honestly, I had already lost faith, and then there was a 20-minute span where it just got blood red at the top of the leaderboard, and like, they flashed a leaderboard where I was sitting on the 16th hole.

And there was audible groans on the hole. And then like they would update it on a leaderboard on another hole. And you would hear it from the other hole like, oh shit, like this is, oh my god, look it like they're like, oh, we have to turn a match right now. If it ends the way it is right now, the US wins. And that was kind of, I mean, it's still a long way to go to kind of keep that. But it was like, whoa, this just got real. And then it flipped back pretty quickly. It is, Debra. It was a short period of time, but it was real there for a second. But I think we also, I mean, we've got, we're pretty far

into this and haven't really said enough about what JT did this week at 4 and 1 losing in that four-some session that everybody lost in but just playing all five matches and going toe to toe with Rory and O'Rory did not have his best cup and did not play very well today, especially that back nine. But man, that's the guy we've been we've been wanting and needing for the Ryder Cup and he delivered. He had a lot of pressure on him coming into this. Like, he just has been so good for so long and actually never played in one of these. I thought he might actually kind of wear himself out. But man, his decision to play the French open,

I have no idea on the correlation causation of that. But that looks like a good decision. Yeah, I mean, he's a really good player. So he probably could have figured it out if he hadn't come. But it was a very smart to come. You know what I was thinking about today is I was walking around, I walked with him for, you know, probably 12 halls or so before I Ducked in and had to go start and kind of figured out what I was gonna, you know, say win or loss, but I was remembering thinking way back before when he kind of just broke on in the scene and

Someone asked him, oh, would you rather win a Ryder Cup or a Major? And he was like, oh, I had Ryder Cup. And it was like a controversial take. It was like, well, why would he say that? I don't know. That's that seemed so. And I just, he might be born for this event. You could tell, it really, really, really mattered to him.

And he was the guy who was out there like steely determination, pounding his chest. He I thought you know He didn't make a lot of birdies today, but Rory hit it all over the map and kept making these ridiculous up and down It's like Rory is short game was as good as I've ever seen it And JT just did not let it sort of break him like it would have been so easy to be demoralized I mean like what do I got to do to like beat this guy and he just kept grinding and grinding and grinding and then he just knotted that t-shot on 18, which I honestly think shook worry a little bit. That's made him sort of reconsider clubs. I was like, all right, I like got to get this in the

fairway. I got to, you know, have a chance and and that's what sort of I'm really kind of admitted it. You know, or I think JT admitted it afterwards said, you know, well, I'm sure he was a lot of pressure when I put the ball down the middle of the fairway and stuff. And then it was kind of really great that JT, like, if you could hear this on the broadcaster thing, but like, he grabbed Roy on the green and was like, I just want to thank you for like, he's always been so good to me, like, you've always been such a, like, a kind person and really respect how you and everything.

And where I was just like, thanks man, it was just like kind of a cool moment, you know, to sort of, there wasn't any hate between them. Like I'm sure they might not be friends or but they're certainly friendly and it was cool. It was like a very great sort of finish to his ride or tough week. I do, I think they are friends. I think they're pretty, I don't necessarily think they hang in each other's houses and what not. Rory's got mostly kind of a private life, especially these days, but I remember back in 2016 after the writer cup talking with Rory and he was talking about JT back then. He's like, dude, this guy is talent.

And then when he won Sony, I just remember, he like, message me, just like dude, that's the guy right there, like that's the guy. And when he won the PGA last year, he's like, what I tell you about JT, he has a lot of respect for him. So that probably along those lines, I'd imagine that, Rory, I wouldn't say like a coach to JT,

they're like four years apart in age, or not even that, whatever it is, but they do get along really well and have a tremendous lot of respect for each other. And it's kind of, I wanted to tweet this, but people who got butt hurt about it, but I wanted to tweet like, on the tee from Jupiter, Florida, Justin Thomas,

and on the tee from the other side of Jupiter, Florida, Rory McLeary. Right. So speaking of JT, you know, I don't think I've said this like on the pod or anything, but you know that, I say it's probably, I've been a little bit reluctant to sort of think that he can win like a Masters or a British Open, and I'm ready to walk back that take.

Like I, he's got a, it's enough game that like it doesn't matter like if he plays it most through the air, like he's, he's going to dust one of those forces someday and he's going to, I think he can, you know, win at least, I don't, you know, you can't ever predict someone could win the Grand Slam because a lot of really Greg Alpers never did, but he could easily win three of the four legs of it. What they are, I don't know. So Phil, help me fill me in kind of on some drama that was being uncovered a bit today. I know that we knew that we kind of had an idea leading into it that spethan read would get broken up. Speth played well with J.C. he of course lost his singles match, six in a row between the presidents cup and the writer cup, but that's a different animal. Patrick Reed looked completely lost playing with Tiger Woods and four ball.

What do we think happened between spethan read? So I could tell you a little bit of a combination based on what I know versus what I saw versus what I think happened versus reading some of Justine Reed's Weird Burner Twitter account, which was apparently unveiled today and bouncing around the Twitter verse. There was a very, I would say semi-awkward moment in the presser afterwards where someone asked, you know, I really think they, if they were a little bit smarter asked in the question, they would have just put it right to Patrick and said, Patrick, what do you think about not playing with Jordan this week?

But they were like, hey Patrick, what do you think about Patrick or Jim or Jordan? What do you think about, you know, breaking up that pairing and read and Jordan, like, looked at each other from, they were sitting kind of like opposite ends of the presser and they sort of smiled at each other and they started each other for a good five seconds and Patrick kind of raises eyebrows and looked back at the questioner and then Jordan jumped in was like you know We were just trying to make a couple good pairings. We felt really good about What we were doing and then if you're jumped in and he was like, yeah, you know

I thought we had two good pairings. Obviously that's a step above a button And he really tried to spin it like this was gonna be a good thing and you know what I think it was a good thing. I actually agree that it was okay with splitting them up because I think Brandlman has said this on golf channel. I don't know that there's any guarantee that Patrick Reed is gonna be like a generational player. Justin Thomas is and Jordan Spieth already is so you you put them together, you're potentially building a great bearing for the next 20 years. But it's clear that to me that it did not sit all that well with Patrick and you can

look at Justin Reed's alleged Twitter account, sort of ripping people for saying that very thing that it was Patrick who wanted to break them up. She sort of, after she kind of confirmed that it was around Twitter wanted to break them up. She sort of after she kind of confirmed that it was her on Twitter more or less to sports-lost trades or speedy-dolph.com's till enditaire. Like she kind of admitted and on our Twitter account she was like, you know, you don't have to like the people you play with ask, you know, Patrick didn't want to break it up. Patrick didn't want to play with Tiger. Ask, well, somebody asked your name. And so in that moment, like, Fierrick gets done talking and it's clear, like Patrick

hasn't gotten a chance to answer. And he's sort of sitting there. And the moderators like, okay, okay, we're gonna go. And I kind of shouted out like Patrick, Patrick, do you want to answer the question? And Patrick just kind of like raises eyebrows. And he talked a little bit to one of the reporters on the side and was essentially like, yeah, call me if you want to know the answer. So was it, you know, was it call me or call us? It was call us. If you call us, if you want to know the answer.

So not all as well. I think, honestly, if Patrick had gotten that question and just Patrick, which is a good journalism lesson here, always ask the person, just the person most likely to give a better answer. He would have probably caused a little bit of controversy in that context. And that may still come. We'll see. I wish I had Patrick Reed's number because I would definitely call him Angestine and ask

him what they think about that. It's not that I think it wasn't, you know, maybe it wasn't the wrong move, but it clearly bugged him a little bit. And it was just, he's an odd kind of duck in that sense. He wanted to, he doesn't want to feel disrespected, he doesn't want to feel like slighted, like he was not worthy of it, of that, of being with the Golden Boy. And I don't know, like did Spee's wreck that by saying to at some point, like, look, I just don't want to play with this guy anymore. He's, he's annoys me. I'd rather play with my friend. I don't have any problem with Patrick, but I'd rather play with my friend. It's a tough question. And it's probably something that the both of them should get the opportunity

to answer, not in a press conference setting like that. Yeah. And I'd speculated leading up to it that I just had gotten the feeling. And I honestly don't remember who had told me or where I'd heard that somebody say, like Jordan would just like to get out from underneath that. And that Jordan is used to being comfortable and he's just not comfortable with Patrick for whatever reason. Patrick just plays so well

and he almost feels inadequate to him. I guess in the Ryder Cup was like that's pure speculation, but he said, and he's, I asked JT about it, leading up to, he's like, do I mean, listen, we've been talking's, I asked JT about it, leading up to, he's like, do you know what I mean? Listen, we've been talking about playing team events together for a long, long time. Like I would love to play a team event with Jordan.

And I think kind of we've been spinning this almost anti JT speed momentum just because of how overblown everything is, but like, like, the truth of it is, they are good friends. They're comfortable with each other. And like went to bat for each other and really battled together. And that was cool to see it actually become a real thing.

But then it's like, what do you do with Reed? And man, was he just an anchor to Tiger? I mean, it was some of the ugliest golf I've ever seen from a professional. It really was. It was, it was atrocious. Like, and he dropped an MF bomb on the live television and, you know, he was, it was, it was atrocious. Like, and he dropped an MF bomb on the live television and, you know, he was, he was hitting it

in multiple water hazards. I mean, like, the idea that he, in any way, contributed to that match was, no way. Like, it just, I, he flamics me and fooled me so much because I really thought, maybe I didn't pay enough attention to his form coming into the Ryder Cup as Europeans say, like his form, he lost his form. But he totally did, like he did not play well and I thought he could just turn it around.

I thought about him, maybe what you thought about Phil was like, he would just raise the stakes and be like, oh, of course I'm going to play well. And he was just a dog man, it was terrible. Yeah, so back to that form point, I know a lot of people were getting on me like saying Like oh you could say it with how guys are playing in the torch championship and I was like no like it's not it doesn't matter I said and maybe I sealed our fate by saying you know Tiger could win this week and go three and oh Or I'm sorry. He could win this week and he could go o and three at their at the Ryder Cup Well turns out he went o and four on top of that yeah, current form good or bad doesn't necessarily mean anything. Look, no further than Sergio who didn't make the playoffs, got some time off, got plays a meaningless event in Portugal,

finished this top 10 and then comes out and plays even better this week. I mean, that was extremely predictable and Jordan didn't even make the tour championship and comes out and plays really good golf of the court. I mean, it wasn't great here today on Sunday, but played really good golf. So it's all a huge variable and you can't worry, played well at the BMW and Torch Championship and didn't play great this week. So I don't know. It's all big. It's not necessarily something you can, that really matters, I guess. It matters some, but it doesn't, it's not the end all be all, I guess I could say. Yeah.

All right, we got to talk about your boy Impulter just first. Sure. Did it to us again? Well, yeah. I mean, that was... I kind of considered that or was expecting that at least to some regard. He went 500. He was two and two. Like, he wasn't that good. He wasn't that good. Yeah, you're right. Like, he got dusted good. Let's, let's, he wasn't that good. He was, there was some, yeah, you're right. Like, he was, he got dusted in one of those matches. I can't remember where was it.

Was it speed and JT that beat it, Mer? They got, yeah, they, uh, speed, yeah. Underrated moment of this Ryder Cup was, all right, I was trying so hard to grasp that the Medina straws, it was 10-4 on Saturday afternoon just like it was a Medina. And Ian Polter was playing in the last match. And a putt was made by Spieth, and he did the Ian Polter pounding of the chest to close

the match to make it 10-6 leading in a Sunday. Now, the momentum felt entirely different. But I was like, hey, like that is a similarity. Spieth pounded his chest at polter. Can we talk about that for a second? Let me enjoy something from this Ryder Cup. I just, I'll give you an credit. Like he's gotten a lot out of whatever talent that he had.

Like this event will always identify with him. Like in some ways, he's not the player that Monty was, but sort of a similar thing. Like he's never got to win him. He never was quite good enough to win a major. He never even really was that close. He was not as close as Monty, but Ryder Cups will always sort of be part of his legacy.

And I think it'll be really fun someday when he's a captain. I think for whatever it is, like I would love to talk to him about this someday, but like, could he, is he just better at controlling the adrenaline that's in your heart a little bit when you're standing over a putz in this event? Because everybody's nervous, everybody really wants it, and he's just, you know, some of it might be skewed by, you know, just a memory of big putz, but like but like he just he really is a much better putter in this event

Like he just makes big puts. I don't think he's plays like his iron game or his driver isn't like outstanding But he makes those must make kind of puts to keep his guys either in matches or Put away matches, and that's I don't think we I got to give him credit for that. It's pretty awesome to watch way matches and that's, I don't think we, I got to give him credit for that. It's pretty awesome to watch. My question is, why does it feel like this has happened like every three months or so? Like no, I'm serious. Like he didn't play on the 16 team. He was bad on the 2014 team.

He didn't win a match. And why does it feel like when I'm seeing him, you know, pounding his chest and screaming, I'm like, oh, yep, that's like I've seen this 50,000 times. But I was like, wait, I haven't seen this in six years actually. Why does it feel like I just saw this? Maybe because I watched him and replays him a diner. But man, I'm just like, that, that, that whole thing was like, oh, not this guy again. Please know, and it happened.

Like it just stabbed me right in the heart and just, you won't, you own me. Ian, I'll give it to you. Like listen, I hate you with all my, I sport hate you with all my might and it just crushed me. So question for you, what do you think of the way that Fieryck handled Bryson De Shambon? Little weird. You know, Bryson I think is a pretty,

it's pretty easy to say he's a centric, but I think what's also true about him is he's kind of sensitive. There was a moment in the press conference tonight where a European was like, oh, can I ask for a question for all the rookies and Finau and JT both talked and then the moderator was like, okay, we're moving on. And Bryson was like, what about me? Like I, I feel like I have something to say.

And so the press conference had to like grind to a halt so that Bryson could sort of say But he looked like genuinely hurt. I was just sort of it made me struck me as like kind of funny that we always make a lot of jokes about Bryson But I think that Bryson's kind of someone who is you know, he's he's very Emot in a way Clubs and like walking off in the middle of the A strange session at the British open like with his hands on his head, like he can't believe. He finished what, like 5th, top 15 in that event,

like if that's where you're completely lost, like you got a lot going on in there, man. It's not just like math and science and analytics. It's also emotions. And so I don't know, maybe it would have been better to get him out early in a format where he could just play his own ball and be comfortable and Not have to have so much pressure like he

He didn't play that well. He obviously didn't play that great in that field match But they both kind of they couldn't pick each other up and man by then it was like was Bryson's Ryder Cup kind of over It was interesting though one last thing He his match was obviously last match today and it's not as the Sky Sports thing. And they were just appalled that he would not concede the match. It was so annoyed that he went to the drop zone on 16, and he ended up having that hole to keep him extending it.

And they were just like, oh, they just wanted to get him out of the way. The fascinating super homerish, like I look, Sky Sports I think is great in almost every way you're covering off, like probably superiors, everything in the United States. But the homerishness of the media there where they just like they live and die with it and completely like, you know, oh, that's a nice American shot to two feet. Just the rose is just hit it to 11

feet. You won't believe it. just throws it's just hit it to 11 feet. You won't believe it. I actually, I was actually, you know, I watched that Sky Sports as well this week and I'm a big fan of what they do. But the more I listened to it, the other commentary was getting to me. I thought, which harm it actually is a, oh my god, he's a struggle bus in the booth, actually.

And it is, it's just such such a they were just almost attacking Paul McGinley was like attacking like the American way of life basically like It's like the way you know American American golf courses are just no you're just way wider than this and it's just He would say it every 15 minutes like they're not used to playing golf courses like this and it's and it was just over and over I'm like do we get it man like we're like and so what happened in the in the press center when the Europeans won. There was a huge eruption of cheers of course. I'm not I'm not kidding it was an entire side of the press car like I there's a couple of European guys who are brits who are great guys and got to sort of know them a little bit better this week you got to meet a couple of them when we were in Berkdale a couple years ago great just

fun people and they're sort of embarrassed by it because it's like but just so many what I think is so true we were joking about this is that like there's a little bit of like the New York media and the press in the British press they're like homers but then when things go bad, they just turn into vipers. They really turn on the teams. But the whole scale, just roar that went up when Mikkelsen hit that and the water

and took his hat off to sort of shake, I was really like, it was embarrassing, come on. Like, I just, some people were treating me like, what's the problem? Like, why shouldn't they be able to cheer? It's like you're covering an event like how are you gonna sort of be objective amount? I mean I I wrote three things this week and they were all ripping the Americans like I I'm an American and I like American golf And I will honestly them win, but I'm pretty like I think I

Kind of like still able to look at it objectively and I don't think there's a lot of Objectivity going on in the other side of the media center that day. That alarm that you hear in the background is the British media coming after you. The Bobby's the common curse. I'm screwed. What did you think of the fans? How much time did you get to spend actually out on the golf course and what did you think of just kind of the overall atmosphere and the fans, the treatment, everything that went on.

It was great. I did not think that it was going to be as good as it was. It was just fun. It's my first ever rider cup in Europe and they just do really everyone kind of rolls around. They do football, but it's just really fun when the whole crowd is like singing. And like there was a point in the first match today when like they had like four different sections of the crowd chanting Rory at different times. So it was like it would kind of like echo throughout the ampethere. And I kept thinking like how do they organize this? Like how do they know how to do it? And I think it's because they all grow up like as football fans, as soccer fans.

And that's the kind of thing that they do in those stadiums is just kind of these cheers that are sort of singing variety different things in it. It was never, I will say, poor-earthly, I never kind of joking about how I was like, fact-checking the British fan behavior because of all the sort of talk about, I will British fans are so polite,

you know, European fans are so polite. You know, the fans are so polite. The fans and the Hazelting were terrible. There were definitely a lot of European fans taunting Patrick Reed and saying things, you know, fatty Patrick and, you know, get in the water every time, you know, they booed Fina when he made that birdie putt that bounced off of the post and fell at four feet. Like, the European fans are not like perfect in any way. I do think that they're better behaved than the ones at Medina.

I'm willing to concede that, but it's not like there aren't, you know, assholes in that crew too. It's just, there's a lot of fun, a lot of sport and a lot of creativity. There were so many people there, and they were, they may work nuts, like I think probably if the next time the Ryder Cup

is ever in Scotland or England, again, I would really love to go to that because I think it will be fun to see that atmosphere, but they turned out great and they were super supportive. Yeah, no, I think there's, I thought, hey, I said this on the pie when we did it last year, I was like, hey, this thing was definitely too far. Like there were idiots. There were, it was more than a small minority. There was like, it was still a minority, but it was like there are a ton of people that were verbally abusive towards the players. And it was not cool.

It was not great. I didn't enjoy that part of it. So the lows were lower at Hazeltein. The highs were also much higher. The actual cheers and the support was actually much stronger at Hazeltein. But the highs were lower here and just the lows were not nearly as low. So it's kind of just a middle of a graph. The fans were totally fine.

Everything, cheering bad shots is totally within the spirit of the rider cup. But it does happen in Europe. I don't want to ever hear again that it doesn't. Absolutely. And it'll happen again in 2020. They'll be like, oh, we never cheer. Yeah, you do, which is fine. Just admit it.

Just be cool. Like we're cool with it. Like we understand that's what you're rooting for. That's fine. But let's just don't act like you're holier than everyone else in that regard. But I thought I was not a media member this week. I decided the week before that I was actually going to end up

coming, special shout out to BMW for all for actually getting me here, which was part of the only reason I actually ended up here. As a fan, not the best logistical setup, it's just not. They desperately need some overpasses to get players to and from certain locations to just allow fan traffic. And I mean, you can't go out and follow anything because you just get stuck and you never will see a group again or never You can't get to where we wanted it when play ended Friday morning We were trying to get back to the first tea took 45 minutes to get from 16 green to 1t Which is like within earshot of it. I mean it's such a such a bad traffic jam. I'll say Wistling straights is the worst outside the ropes. I'm just kidding, the Chambers Bay is the worst outside the ropes viewing experience I've ever had.

But this was one of the best viewing experiences if you just wanted to see like certain holes. You couldn't, you couldn't travel to, the mounds around the holes like you could always see like the action. It was great. And so that was good. They just needed, you're right, you're dead on. They needed some overpasses or need some tunnels. They needed better kind of like ways to traffic. It's amazing the way that golf people who understand that stuff kind of get it. You know, I think usually the US Open does a pretty good job with it. But, you know,

when it of course doesn't have those kind of overpasses to help kind of, you know, get the players over and get the Fans could just go right under and stuff. It causes so many problems in your degrees You stuck you know watching one or two holes And that's what like I don't know I've only been to one open championship and the viewing is not usually graded open championships But like at poor rush like the RNA came in and is like building a tunnel Behind I forget which green it is,

because they changed some of the holes around the front nine, but behind maybe like six green or something like that, there's tunnel, they spent like a quarter of a million pounds to build a tunnel behind one of the holes to just to get fans from one side to the other, like just for fans, like that's the kind of planning that needs to go into it. And this is the second Ryder Cup I've been to

outside the ropes. And it's just, I mean, it's cool to font-synth to drink at and sit on a hill and observe and whatnot, but it's just not the best. It's a fun atmosphere, but it's not a great viewing experience or fan experience, long lines. And it's, I don't know what you do to quell it. I mean, you won as many people there as you can,

but it's just a logistical, difficult team. For sure. So, anything else we miss, man, I kept you for an hour. I thought we'd do like 45, but it's just too much to complain about. You know, I was just thinking about your take of why I can't we have the Ryder Cup every year. It's just such a fun experience. Maybe part of that comes because the buildup is two years long, but like it's my favorite event in sports, even still, you know, feeling a little less excited. And it wasn't, you know, I think even with, obviously, I'd like to see the US win, but I like a good

story and the Europeans are great story. I don't know that this Ryder Cup was quite as fun. Last time we had a lot of dramatic shots, and that's kind of maybe what the American Ryder Cup offers, like recovery shots and Rory making walk-off eagles, and Phil and Sergio throwing 10 birdies at each other, and that Ryder Cup was just a little bit more fun from the standpoint of the great golf, that the amazing golf shots that we saw. But this one was still really cool in its own way.

I didn't think it was going to be what it was. It's really far removed from Paris, so you don't really feel like you're in Paris in any sense. But it's being in a suburb of Paris is that different than being in a suburb of Minneapolis, like probably Far off So I just I'm grateful that I get to do this for living and come here because it's such a cool event And I've always you know, you can you were there too in the first tea like It's a fun atmosphere when it's finally here and finally getting to see the best golfers in the world rip that opening T-shot

It's nothing in sports for me well, sort of replace it. Yeah, I mean, that first tee is, I haven't, I haven't missed it in any days in the last two Ryder Cubs, because it's just such a, such a cool, it's the only event, man. It's the only thing that matters. I maintain, I mean, that's what makes it hurt so bad.

I mean, don't give me wrong, I'm pretty heartbroken about all this if you can't tell, but it's like, it's, it's the only event that makes these guys freak out. They play majors under pressure and Brooks kept going to handle this differently than he does when he's in contention in a major. And that is what makes this event what it is. And just the whole elements of all the team aspect

is makes it so special. I do, it just sucks it like legitimately. Since 99, there's been two exciting Ryder cups. Like Celtic Manor and Medina were the only two exciting ones and it's just like, it's, I don't know, that's what I was kind of thinking. Like do we want to just trade off home and homes for eternity and that's, I don't know.

I don't think that's gonna change, but we'll see. So. Hey, hey, yeah. Let's see, fair's see fair point Kevin enjoy you're gonna spend a couple of extra days in Paris if I remember right? Yes, I am gonna see some sights and Yeah, just kind of get to Clens the golf from me. Maybe disappear from Twitter for a while and be a regular human being and get on the Gary player work out plan get back in shape I've already muted all the euros from my mentions, but I'm going to, we're escaping in Normandy tomorrow and I'm putting the phone away for a couple of days, so, but heck of a season, thank you so much for coming on after the end of a crazy long week and a lot

of work for you and I always appreciate your contributions here, so. Those euros can always be grateful that our grandfathers made it so they could live in a free society. Thank you very much. And we're gonna and we're gonna go check out where that happened and remind them of that all the way. So, all right, signing off from a very disappointing rider cup, but Kevin, thanks again for coming on. Cheers buddy. Time buddy. Later. It's gonna be the right club. Be the right club today. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. That is better than most. How about him? That is better than most. Better than most. I don't know. I don't know.

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