No Laying Up - Golf Podcast - NLU Podcast, Episode 421: Masters Recap with Justin Ray

Episode Date: April 14, 2021

Justin Ray joins us to recap the 2021 Masters with a look at the advanced metrics from the contenders this past weekend in Augusta. Justin also drops some amazing Tiger and Spieth stats and helps break down the history and future of strokes gained metrics in the game. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I'm going to be the right club today. Yes! That is better than most. How about him? That is better than most. Better than most! Expect anything different! Better than most. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the No-Lang up podcast, Sully here. Got a nice little recap of the Masters with Justin Ray from the 15th club. You know him from Twitter probably.

He is the stats guru. We talked just some golf and general stats in general and we kind of get in and break down Hadecki's run will Zalator's of course be it's softly how it all came together Some of his favorite master stats, you know from history and all kinds of good nuggets in there No laying up is brought to you by our friends at precision pro golf You're gonna use a rangefinder a lot in a round of golf You never want to be the guy that is asking his buddy who has the rangefinder. Hey, can you gun this for me?

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range finder. Swing with confidence, hit more greens with precision progolf. Here's Justin Ray. All right, this is a great question we got from H Drake 97. What is your typical researching day like? Do you think of semi-random cool stats to find or do you happen across them? Do you have a favorite stat? It's a lot of questions in there, but what's a what's a researching day look like? That's that is a good question. I think they're all a little bit different. I worked in TV directly for more than a decade at ESPN and then at golf channel. So, you know, I'm kind of wired to think of everything still in the television show production mode, whether that's, you know, just basically consuming everything I can,

golf content-wise, and then thinking about it in kind of a, I don't know, the way I try to piece statistical stats and analysis and stuff together in my head, and it all kind of happens naturally. I kind of talk about my schedule, it's a little bit like a musician schedule where it just kind of, there's no real rigid time set for me. I just kind of,

I'll work late into the night when I have an idea or something like that, but I'm kind of me andering all over the place right off the bat, but that's probably reflective of kind of my whole process is that it's not super organized. You're like a rock star, it's what if you're, yeah, that's exactly what I do.

I have to do the lamest rock star in the history of music. If that's the analogy we're gonna make, but it's a tough thing for me to articulate. It just happens. Yeah, it's a way to think about what you're watching. Like when they talk about on the broadcast, like it's been a long time since the Deccu-Maziyama's won. The first thing I pop up and think about is,

wow, it has been, it's been more than 1,300 days. All right, who's the last guy to win the Masters having not won around the world in 1,300 or more days? And then I start digging and I get the answer. So usually it's like there's a seed of an idea and it grows into something and then you take it another step and another step and then eventually you get that in product which is hopefully something really cool. It seems just very digestible. Everything you do, you know, it sends probably a meandering route to how you get to it but it

all seems to come in a very digestible, you know, nugget, whatever it is. And I'm wondering, you said you used to work in TV. Do you still work in TV? Because I read Twitter, I see your stats, and then a couple of seconds later, I've usually hear it on the broadcast. That's funny. I do technically still work in television.

I'm not employed by a television network anymore, but 15th Club works directly with Sky Sports. So for 20 weeks a year, we are essentially the research department for Sky Sports play-by-play. And I will have a Slack chat open throughout the entire tournament and be talking to the analysts and if they've got questions and I come up with my own stuff and send it along. So the Slack channel is basically by Twitter feed on steroids. So there's a lot more info and stuff in there that I pass on to them.

I come up with graphics and stuff like that. So yeah, no, I still technically am, though not directly employed by a TV network. I do get to work in TV all the time. And it's, I love working on live television, the energy of it. It's almost like a team sport. It's like the closest thing I can find in adult life to being part of a team working together and, you know, working towards a common goal. It's, it sounds kind of corny, I guess, but it's something that I really enjoy the aspect of it. That makes sense. And you make me feel worse about texting you during broadcasts. Like, I'm knowing how much stuff you got going on, but I also know you have a handy.

Yeah, no, and it's never a bother when I hear from you. I always love hearing new men. Well, if my family texts me during the masters, like they do not get a response for like two days. But so then I'm like, this is probably the craziest time for him and here I am texting him. But what can you tell us about what you do with the 15th club? There's, you know, going through the website, there's some great player quotes on the website,

yet I'm sure you don't want to give away everything you do. But I'm mostly looking for kind of specific examples on maybe things you've helped some big name pros with or kind of what you see in that process. Yeah, so we do work with some players. It's probably, that's probably the shiniest thing that we do, but it's not the bulk of what our business is. We work with, like I mentioned mentioned the Sky Sports thing we do. We work with certain manufacturers to help them with statistics and marketing materials and

you know help them tell the stories of their players. We work with different governing bodies whether that's big but I'm trying to explain without giving away the clients specifically, but whether that's a big championship, managing organization or a large governing body that ranks players in a way, we work with that as well. No, we have our hands on a lot of things. It's really cool, man. One of the things I love about 15th Club is that we're able to do some,

we're so, the word I use is agile. We're able to do a lot of different things I love about 15th Club is that we're able to do so, the word I use is agile. We're able to do a lot of different things in the sport, and I'm able to kind of scratch a lot of these issues I had for a long time and golf, and not just be TV super fulfilling, and I love working in it, but there was other parts of it that I wanted to get involved with too, whether that's helping out players in terms of course strategy, which is something we do directly, or coming up with a way to get strokes gained

on the US Open website, things like that, like where we're able to take them to, yeah, well, if you've seen that in the last few years, it's one of the things we're proud of. And we work on a lot of different ways, and hopefully it's just the beginning. It's a really exciting time to be part of this team and kind of the different avenues we get to go in with this business. Well, you know, I love talking stroke skein.

We got a lot of questions about it. I got a lot to ask you about it. But grandpa Jones 87 wants to know why is why is shots gained such a important stat? And if I can add onto that question, would be do you get really frustrated when you hear your NC antiquated stats being used? So frustrated is not the right term. I do think that there's a place for traditional statistics to still exist. They still talk about a three hit game in Major League Baseball. Somebody wraps out two singles in a double, you know, or runs batted in, even though it's

not a perfect thing in baseball, to explain a hitter's performance, it can still have a place. Like if a guy has seven RBI in a game, like, that's still an incredible accomplishment. So when somebody hits, you know, 13 straight greens in regulation or has seven straight one putts or whatever it might be, I think that could still have, it still has value. There's still a storytelling element there. But in terms of being able to tell the most complete story we've ever had statistically engulf,

nothing really compares to Stroke's game. Its ability to, you know, if to answer, was it Grandpa Jones was the question? Grandpa, to answer your question, it's a way to compare specific player performance against their peers any given day. A great example that'll come of it is this week's host, with the really small greens, you might see guys with, you know, a 24 puts in a round at Harbor Town is not the same,

it's 24 puts in a round at St Andrews. It's just not because the greens are smaller and inherently, if you miss a green and you've got to go up and down, you know, that's a one putt, but it doesn't mean you putt it great on that whole. You probably hit a great chip to get to that point. Where Stroke's game comes in is that it's able to evaluate how much every putt in your round is worth, make, miss, bad, good, whatever it might be, and give you an evaluation of that performance in numerical form, and you're able to compare that against your peers. So it's just the best storytelling device we've ever had in golf.

Is it perfect? No, and it'll grow over time and get better, but it's the best thing we've had so far. And it's been a really welcome thing to go from when I was at ESPN, like a decade or so ago, and the PGA tour was talking about rolling this out. I remember having a little mini seminar with the research department and trying to explain this, and it was like I had three heads, and you know, I felt like we were so far away, and now we're at the point where it's pretty ubiquitous everywhere within the sport.

So it's come a long way in a relatively short period of time. That is an incredible answer to that, because I do think, you know, whatever Matt Wolff shot or was it Bryce or Matt Wolff that I forget the shot, 65 of the US Open, hitting two fairways, like that's still pretty interesting. Like it doesn't tell the full story of actually driving it really well, but like, you know, not all fairways missed are created equal

and not all fairways hit are created equal. And that's why I think bridging the gap between the two is really important. For those that aren't familiar with how Stroke's game has worked, well, we've done a podcast in Mark Broder, you've been on the podcast before, and probably broke this down for us. If I was to simply say it, basically, it's, you know, if you're 150 yards from the hole,

the average amount of shots it would take you to get in from that, the difference in how you score from then on versus... You know what, I can't even do it. It makes it to my head, right? I know, it's actually really hard to describe. How would you describe it? Tom, I'll take it from there. So let's say, Rory McElroy is in the fairway 150 yards

from the green on the 11th hole, whatever, at Augusta National 12th hole, whatever it might be. All right, you're 150 yards away. The tour, you're expected to take 2.1 strokes, right, to get from the point Rory McElroy is to in the hole. If Rory gets there in two strokes, he gains a tenth of a stroke on the field. That's the way I would kind of try to articulate it in a way. And look, anytime you're dealing with like decimal points and numbers and you can get kind of, you know,

acidic in your head and it doesn't really make a lot, you know, it seems like it's too much. But over the course of 18 holes, you're able to stack up, okay, point one there, minus point two there. Oh, we gained point five on this shot. And at the end of the day, you're able to say, he ranked second in the field shot. And at the end of the day, you're able to say, he ranked second in the field in Strokes Game approach. That's the number you want to get to, is being able to contextualize with it against the rest of the field,

because, I mean, even I can't find great value in point two, six, five or whatever you might end up with at the end of a round. But if you're able to put that into context and say he was fifth or he had his worst strokes game putting round of the week or of this career or whatever it might be Then you're able to give you know some of those decibel points a little bit more meaning and that's something that as you know As I've gotten to play some golf with I play with many tour guys all the time and I It took like playing with them to really learn how point two point two point two point2.2.2 adds up to a stroke. It's not, it's these little new, you know, it used to be like, if I, I missed the fairway,

missed the green and get up and down for par, I'd be like, oh, that's the same as hitting the green and hitting the fairway. Like, I'm good, but in reality, four was my best case scenario in that, you know, order of events where if I hit the fairway, hit the green, three is my best case scenario in that order of events where if I hit the fairway, hit the green, three is my best case scenario. And you can't live on the edge of variance for eternity and expect to shoot 68s and 67s. So that's kind of, well fun.

You know, I used to miss the fairway, miss the green, chip up to eight feet and miss the putt and just say, I'm the worst putter alive. I can't make anything. I make so many bogies because I just can't make my par putts. When, dude, I shouldn't have been eight feet and miss the putt and just say, I'm the worst putter alive. I can't make anything. I make so many bogies because I just can't make my par putts. When, dude, I shouldn't have been eight feet away putting for par and just, you end up blaming the putter when other things actually were, you know,

I guess taking a different angle there, what have we learned about golf in that regard as to what is really important? What do you, where do you see correlation between the greatest success? You touched on Shoksky and approached there and how that correlates to the masters. That might be the answer,? Where do you see correlation between the greatest success? You touched on Stroke's gain approach there and how that correlates to the masters. That might be the answer.

But what do you think is a major lesson learned with this kind of Stroke's gain era? Well, I think the biggest thing, and this probably won't be popular with some folks, is that hitting it as far as you possibly can has immense value and hitting it short into the fairway is not as valuable as hitting it really far and being off the fairway into the rough. And that's exactly that's a personification of what

you've seen with like Bryce and DeChambo right or any of the players who are longer hitters now and are able to gain strokes on the field when they don't hit it in the fairway. So that's probably the number one thing where you know for years and years and years, you're taught, you know, hit it into the short part of the grass where it's easier to, you know, get hit your second shot. When in reality, there's more value in, you know, bombing the shit out of it and being 100 yards away. And if you're professional, then if you're 150 yards away in the middle of fairway. So that's the biggest thing. And I think the other thing that I think if you're a casual fan and you're just watching professional golf, you might get the attitude of if you follow a certain player every shot you think, like you might think Roy McElroy can't put, right?

Because you're watching every shot he hits and he all the opportunities he gives himself between let's say eight and 15 feet. Oh man, nothing's gone down all day for Rory. Oh yeah, well in reality, a player makes two and a half of those puts around. It's a real tangible kind of outcome, whereas your perception might be, if you see every shot hit by a certain professional player

that they can't put, or they're having a bad day putting, when in reality that's kind of what you see for everybody. You just aren't necessarily in this traditional consumption of golf on TV. You don't see every shot hit by every player. So I think that might be a little bit more revelatory if somebody digs into like the putts made by distance numbers. Yeah, and it's something that as much as I think I understand it, I still don't fully understand how, you know,

how the driving really works or how some of the approach stuff works, right? So if I hit one 300 yards and I am two feet into the rough and I have one 40 in and then on the same hole, I'll just say just a weird angle, I hit one 50 feet into the rough, but I also have one 40 in is my strokes getting going to spit out the same number? Or how does it factor for shots that go really far offline or go behind a tree or just like go somewhere that's dead? How does that work? So that's actually one of the brilliant points about it

is that there's a difference between being two feet offline and being in the rough and being 60 feet offline and behind a tree or in some awful lie, whereas the rough, and being 60 feet offline, and behind a tree or in some awful lie, whereas the penalty, the difference with the penalty is much more severe, the worst off your shot is, right? So there's a value assessed to that stroke, to that miss with your T-shot,

and that value is more negative, more penalizing, more penile, than if you're two feet away, right? So let's say your shot that's 40 yards to the left more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, more penalizing, So it's one of the great things. It's where a traditional statistic like fairway's hit, week in, week out on the PGA tour, like, they always call it driving accuracy in terms of, and it's always defined as, did you hit the fairway or did you not hit the fairway? I think that's a misnomer.

I don't think it should be called driving accuracy if you hit the fairway or don't. You can call it fairway's hit percentage, but it's not necessarily driving accuracy percentage because that player might be trying to cut that corner and doesn't mind the fact that he's a little bit off the fairway in the rough. And, you know, he hit his target. You know, he hit it where he wanted to because, you know, he's been able to ascertain that he gains more strokes despite being in the rough from that angle being, you know, at the point where his T-shot lands.

If that meandering run on sentence made any sense, I don't know where it started, but. Well, I just don't know if it, you know, is it a potential flaw in it basically is that it can't really know if, you know, maybe 20 yards offline is better than being five yards offline on certain holes, but the stats don't know that, right? Right, right, right.

So that's one of the things I said, it's not perfect, and it's not, it's gonna get better over time. I think that, you know, one of the points where you could be behind a tree, and it doesn't necessarily have the correct evaluation for, you know, the worth of your t-shot, and the difference in, you know, being behind a tree or being four feet to the right,

from stroke skate, it might actually be the same number or very close, but the reality is a little bit different. Stroke's gain relies on the theory that over the course of a round of a tournament of a season, all those different factors kind of even out. And I think the best way to articulate that is with the first generation of stroke's gain putting numbers, they'll give you a value for a 12-foot putt, right?

But obviously not all 12-foot putts are equal. Summary downhill, right to left, and some are dead straight uphill, which one would you rather have, right? So a putt made from that distance, while in and of itself might give you self give the same value over the course of an entire season, tournament, whatever career,

it relies on the theory that those things are going to average out. And that's something that I think that what's really promising about this next generation of shot-gathering technology is that like, I want to know who's the best downhill putter on the PGA tour, right? I want to know who's given themselves the highest percentage of uphill putt birdie attempts over the course of a tournament. Like, that's the next Iteneration of these statistics that's going to tell even better stories and give you even more of an opportunity to tell the true statistical, you know, what actually happened. Like, it's just the next evolution in those numbers I think is really exciting. Gosh, us nerds are gonna be,

I'm excited for it already. Just kidding. Oh yeah. I'm just finally getting into it with bread. I got into it with bread a little bit this past weekend. He said something I just, was a big fan of that, you know, Hadecki wasn't hitting it well and it was in relation to, you know,

fairways hitting greens hit, which to be fair, like that's kind of all we have off the street here to go off of on master stats and, and everyone's gotten in the comments saying, oh, nerd fight, nerd fight. like that's kind of all we have off the street here to go off of on master stats and and everyone's gotten the comments saying, oh, nerd fight, nerd fight. I was like, yeah, man, of course we're nerds. Are you kidding me? Are you not following along or you're not seeing this?

But I promised I lured you into chat here to talk about masters and we haven't really got there yet, but getting that background all the way, I think, is helpful. Deeks 23 asked statistically who should have won the Masters. And I know a lot of people are screaming at their speakers right now. Like, should Hadek you won? It doesn't matter what should, but you know, should Hadek you have won in your opinion? Yes. Okay. Yes. He was the best overall in terms of balance performance. He was top five in Stroke's Game approach. He had outstanding touch around the greens. Old school, he was second in scrambling. New school, he was fourth in Stroke's Game

around the greens. He putted really well by his standards. You know, not, well, I know we're probably gonna talk about this a little bit later. He's not the best putter in the world as we know, but he was top 20 in Stroke's Game putting. I thought, yes, he should have won. I think you could have made an argument for certain players

if they had done certain things better, Corey Connors was outstanding T-Degrean didn't put particularly well. That kind of fits his player profile over the last few seasons. And Jordan's speech was awesome, T-Degrean and was abysmal putting by his standards that it got to national. So I know that breaks that breaks. Look, I'm this big a Jordan fan. This side of you and Kyle Porter that exists. So I know that that hurts to hear, but I'm sure we'll get it here in a bit. A quick break here to check them with our friends at original penguin. You can go to originalpenguin.com, use promo code NLU20 to get 20% off. Whatever your clothing desires may be. We have some great content coming out with them.

We actually crashed one of their photoshoots with Cam Smith filmed a while. World of golf. You can expect to see that sometime in the coming month, ran into some of those guys there and they, you know, filmed a wild world of golf, you can expect to see that. Sometime in the coming month, ran into some of those guys there and they told me, hey, anytime you need anything off the website, let me know. Bad thing to have done, because every time I click on this website, they've refreshed it with some new arrivals, something else I need. I'm realizing I need some swim trunks. I need a lot more shorts. They make great, great golf shorts. They're called the slim fit stretch short. I have them in almost every color that they have.

And I wear them in pretty much every video that you see. I'm wearing original penguin shorts. They've got button downs, polos, hoodies. It's some of the best hoodies. The lightweight hoodies are fantastic. They've got these fleece jackets. They've got business suits. They've got anything you could possibly want.

I love the colors, love the designs. My wife loves it, not only on me, but she loves to shop at originalpangeline.com as well. So again, originalpangeline.com, always remember to be an original, use promo code NLU20 at checkout. Let's get back to Justin Ray. So on the Hadecki front, I guess, how would you compare his stroke scheme profile to other masters winners in recent years or in history? Does it look pretty similar?

Is that, is that, is, you know, what Hadekki did? Is that like, hey, here's the blueprint, do this and you're gonna win. Yeah, I mentioned the stroke-scan approach number. He was ranked fourth in the field. Five of the last seven master's winners now have ranked in the top five that we can stroke-scan approach. approach. Speak lead in 15, Will it lead in 16, Tiger lead when he won, DJ did everything well, which is how you shoot 20 on Erdogas National and Hadek he was fourth. So the two exceptions in that mix, Patrick Reed actually lost strokes on approach for the week, which is amazing. But yeah, exactly. He barely, I think it was like negative point O2 per round, but he was below average on a stroke scan approach, but he was so insane with his chipping and putting numbers. Like his stroke gain short game was just chipping

and putting combined was like five shots better than anybody. I don't have it right in front of him. He was an unbelievable number. And then Sergio wasn't bad. He was like 15th in stroke scan approach, but he was far and away the best driver that week and he had an awesome putting week. So yeah, to answer your profile question, it does kind of fit it.

It fits it in terms of really strong approach play. He didn't, he was tied for the field lead and bogey avoidance. And however, you get to that point, whether it's putting your ass off like Patrick Redid or having a really good short game like Hadecki did, like Danny Willet had really good around the green numbers when he won two. You know, however you get to that point to limit those mistakes, you know, that's, you fit that profile,

you fit it really well. How much of an outlier was this week for Hadecki's putting? Because, you know, I've been very, very, very hard on his putting and really it comes from a place of love and that, man, I don't know how you do this, like you hit the ball so freaking good. How have you not either changed anything about your putting and, you know, how do you, you know, how do you consistently be one of the best ball strikers in the world and not really have your major moment or your major run like this.

So was this way, you know, out of line with what we're used to seeing? Have I been too hard on him?, have I been too hard on him? You have not been too hard on him. I'll give you the one, the best stat to explain this. He gained 0.68 strokes, game putting per round of the Masters. The only other time he's gained that much per round, all season on the PGA tour over 72 holes,

was in Houston when he finished second. So basically when he puts this well over the course of the course of the week, this season he's's finished first and second. Um, over the last six years, he's gained that many per round over the course of its tournament 14 times. I think it's like 11 top 20 finishes and like nine or 10 top 10. So when he puts like that, he's almost always a factor on Sunday because we know how well he strikes the ball. You mentioned how hard you are usually on him. The last two seasons, he's in the bottom 15%

on the PGA Tour in Stroke's Game Pudding per round. He's never been in the top 70 after any season in Stroke's Game Pudding. I think that would warrant some criticism, especially when you contrast it with his unbelievable approach play numbers. He's one of the best players. T-Degrean, and his best Pudding season on the PGA tour was when he got to number two in the world, probably not coincidentally, because his iron play is there a year and you're out, the potter obviously is not.

Well, that's what's wild about him not having won, and I believe your tweets at 1,344 days is that like it's not like there's, I mean, I think a little dip in ball striking in that time period, but nothing even noteworthy really. And it's just people haven't had a chance to really appreciate the ball striking just because the putting really has been that bad. I just, it has blown my mind for quite some time. And it's maybe a huge part of the reason why he's not going to the radar. But I saw a stat floating around this weekend. Sorry, I don't have it in front of me. I've cited this on the recap pod too,

but his differential in, you know, from his normal stroke scheme putting, but, you know, his stroke scene putting on bent grass was like the biggest of anyone. Like, he improves the most over his normal putting on bent grass. And I was like, well, I know you're in the thought about breaking it down to that level.

Is that something you look at ever? Sometimes, yeah, I wrote an article for pghour.com earlier this year when they were on the West Coast swing about the best putters and over performers on Paula. I heard that on your recap pod. That's the first time I actually heard that about a deque being exceptional at Bintgrass, you know, compared to normal, but you know, because I, you know, with the Paula putters, you always hear conversation, you know, Branson, that's a group of that pop stroke on Paula putting and it kind of grew from there where I wanted to see, okay, who are some of the better putters on that type of surface?

And, you know, it's a difficult question to answer because I'm always trying to be statistically, you know, accuracy is the most paramount thing to me. And it's not that cut and dry in terms of type of grass, you know, like grass, there's pieces of it and different kinds and different greens everywhere. So it's kind of like saying, this guy has a great batting average against the slider. Well, definition of a slider is different depending on every picture, right? So, um, so it's kind of like, you know, I want to be as accurate as possible. But I did like that, that note about Hadecki.

I'd love to dive into that a little bit more whenever I get the chance. But, um, I want to give one other anecdote about Hadecki and his putting. So last season he was 170th in Strokes game putting overall, but he ranked 54th in birdie conversion rate. And that's an interesting differential to me because it tells me he's basically giving himself more close opportunities for birdie from two, three, four, five feet because of how great his iron play is. And that increases that birdie conversion rate number. But overall, the value of those puts, and this speaks to the value of Stroke's game, it's not as big as if you made a 15 foot putt for birdie, right?

Regardless of, you know, you get the circle on the scorecard regardless. But I thought that was really interesting, and you've got that big differential, and it kind of speaks to the fact that he's able to put tons of approach shots really close. And that's an exciting part of his game, but it doesn't necessarily equal to a great pattern over the course of the entire season. I would have never thought to look at that differential, but that's insane. I don't even thought of that. You had a great note.

It was, Hadecki was the seventh low-am to go on to win the Masters joining Kerry Middlecoff, Jack Nicholas Ben Krenshaw, Phil Nicholson Tiger Woods, and Sergio Garcia. I just thought that was really cool. What? Non-stat. I mean, what was what? Let's talk about Hideki in general and kind of what was you? What were you feeling? I guess you know you've watched a lot of golf. You've seen a lot of golf. You've worked this industry forever. What was the lasting impression you had from the 2021 Masters? I mean, the image of his caddy, bowing to the golf course was just this personification of respect and gratitude that I wish all of us had more

and just all facets of life. Not even talking about golf, just it was just so understated and perfect and it married itself so brilliantly to Hadecki's reaction coming off the green where you could just kind of see, sometimes you don't need words, right? You don't need a big flashy reaction.

We love it from time to time, but you could see it in his face like the weight of it just kind of falling on him. What are you just accomplished? And I just thought that that momentary expression that Hadecki had walking off the green where it just kind of all, you could just see it wash over him. This guy who's so stoic all the time and we never get let in into a lot of to know about who he is and whether that's a product of the language barrier or being a reserved guy, just naturally part of his personality, to see that kind of moment wash over him where this incredible achievement kind of

was realized. That was my last thing in pressure. That and Billy Horser falling on his ass. That was proud, no, I'm just kidding. But no, the moment with Hedecki was just, it was just so cool, man. And I love that category action because it was so unique and just something I've never seen before. I hope it doesn't get ruined.

I hope not every caddy tries to do that now. No, please don't ruin it. It's funny. I guess I've tried to read as much as I can over the last couple of days and I think it was from Sean Martin's article. I really want to know a lot more about what home is like for Hedecki and the line that he had in there was it just kind of made my not how much of my jaw drop but pretty close of like when he and Hedecki and Web Simpson went to dinner during the Zozo, they had to shut a restaurant down for the two of them to go in. Like that's what it's like.

That's the fame level that Hadecki has back then. I was like, whoa, that is, that's reserved for like our biggest movie stars. Tiger doesn't have restaurants shut down to eat in them. He gets private rooms in them. He doesn't get them shut down. Like that is just, I don't know, that just really, really, really stuck with me. That's wild. I mean, that's such a crazy anecdote about his fame

because he has a house in Orlando too. And I guarantee you like, dude walks around in Whole Foods and no one even bothers him. That's sure help. Yeah. Like, you just try to contrast those two places. And if I would say I'm, I'd stay in Orlando too.

Like I wouldn't want to be part of that fishball all the time, but it speaks to that level of fame and how much they love golf in Japan. I know that that's probably a line, the most repeated line in the world of sports over the last 24 hours. Oh, how popular golf is in Japan, right? But I mean, there's got to be some reality to it, you know, and that's a perfect way to explain that anecdotally. Well, what's kind of crazy is that Hidei kind of shot the round that we needed him to

shoot if somebody else was going to win, right? To make it interesting, 73, you tweeted Jack Nicholson Craig Stadler, Trevor Emelman and Hadecki, or the only Masters champion since 1970 that shot over par in the final round. I don't think I have a question related to that. That was an interesting anecdote and that speaks to how we only, you know, only one by one. And then, yeah, of course, I'm looking at who finished in third and thinking about the triple bogey on the night hall. And earlier in the week and getting a little frustrated by that. But the guy that finished one shot behind him will Zalatoris. He has been a, the

stats nerd, stat nerds have loved this guy for quite some time. He's, you know, I'm a big guy. My self included. Yes. I'm a big data golf guy. They've, you know, claimed him as the 30th best player in the world back when he was ranked in the 500s or something like that. I mean, it's, it's, no, it's no joke.

What, what can you tell me about Will's out tourist that, you know, we didn't learn over the, over the course this weekend? Guys, not necessarily known as a great putter. Statistically, he's been averaged as a putter, which is good enough when you're an unbelievable ball striker like he is, outstanding putting the week of the masters. He was fifth in strokes game putting, actually the facet of his game

that he gained the most strokes with over the course of the week, 1.4 per round, which was not expected. If you were gonna tell me, Will's allotaurus would contend to the Masters, I wouldn't have thought going into the week it's too far-fetched, you know? Guy who's been really consistent, probably my favorite stat that I keep trotting out

and Will keeps refreshing it by playing well, is that since the beginning of 2020, Zalatoris is tied for the most top 10 finishes around the world of anybody. He has 16 and John Rom is tied with him with 16. Now, Will's are different because a lot of them came on the corn very tour last year, but it's just a way to explain how consistent and how rapid this guy's ascent has been. He was also really good off the tee. He was fourth in strokes game off the tee at Augusta.

He lost a quarter of a stroke per round around the green. So, if that was the one drawback, it's his performance over the course of the week. if you could find any, that would be it. Just statistically so impressive for a guy who never played the Masters before. So. And that doesn't, yeah, what, what do you have on, you know, first time Masters goers? Is there, is, you know, data golf had a great article about how, you know, over the course of time, your eighth or ninth years, probably your peak playing the Masters, right? First timers just don't show up and play like he did. What kind of comps do you have for his performance? And what do you typically see out of first timers at Augusta?

I was gonna say unless your name's Jordan's feet, it doesn't really happen, right? I mean, you know what's speed did coming out so young. I know that Al Torris is a little bit older than Jordan is, but or wasn't that time. But I know it's probably the easiest comparison to make because it's recent because the guy contended this week, but it makes you think about what Jordan did in 2014 where he, you know, came out of the gates and had the 54 whole co lead and

then had the lead go. I mean, who do you pick? You know, we're the more impressive performance. Jordan in 14 or will, you know, last week, I think it's a, it's a reasonable debate to have. And that's not something I would have expected to have about a first time or, you know, last week, I think it's a reasonable debate to have. And that's not something I would have expected to have about a first time or, you know, anytime soon, you know, it was just was so such an impressive week by Will. Best finish by a guy making his debut since Dan Pull in 1982. I always love when the answers to those questions

is somebody that you never would have thought of and a thousand years, you know, it's always fun to pull one of those out. That's solo second, that's where you get off the hook with speed finishing. Yes. Yes. Yes. T2 in 2014.

Hey, which one pays more, man? Yeah, it's very true. You know what? You break up the T2. Weird time for me to have this take. I think if you finish second in a PGA Tour of End or any kind of event and you lose in a playoff, you should get paid more than a second

that did not include a playoff. Nobody beat you. Okay. I have 72 holes. Like, you should get paid more than a second that did not include a playoff. Nobody beat you. Okay. 72 holes. Like, you were, you know, where does that money come from though? Does it come from the guy in third? We'll work on that. Listen, they could set up a separate, a separate fund for that or, you know, I don't know

exactly what it's going to come from, but I'm onto something. I didn't give you any prep time for that question, so I apologize. I got plenty of questions on here.'t give you any prep time for that question. So I apologize. I got plenty of questions on here. I gave you no prep time for. So the only thing I think it does go, we talked about this last night too, was out to our says, he is 24 years old. Jordan Speeth was 20 when he, you know,

when Speeth was 24, he had one three majors at that point. So not, it's of course very impressive, but he's not, you know, he's around the age of Colin Moore-Cowder, right? Or I think Mark Cow is 24. And so it is, you didn't change any between 20 and 24, did you? I know, I was easy, you know? Exactly.

But I was so mature when I was 20. It's just worth noting. As we're getting super excited about him, I've seen some kind of crazy prognostications for him. Obviously we're quite a big fans of his game, but I wouldn't say he's a child prodigy, if you will. He's a little bit of a, I don't know, let's just say he's called a late bloomer, just worth noting. But yeah, he's more, he's more rookie than, you know, prodigy, right? Like it's just because it was his first time around

Augustine National. This is a guy who was one of the best college players in the world the last few years and is tearing up the professional ranks everywhere he plays. So it is not exactly out of nowhere. To see a guy that's not coming out college that's not just a 130-mile hour swing speed on every shot. You know, it's there's some artistry to it. There's you know, it's more shot-making than it is. You know, just pure brute force, which I'm not positive he's capable of in that frame anyways. But I'm a little, I'm a little somber about the fact that Will has now gone pop. It's like the rapper band. It's like the rapper, the band that you know that not everyone else knows. And then they, it's like before Kendrick Lamar put out his first big album and like, you know, then he blows and everyone knows who he is. And you're like, man, that was my guy for like two years.

And I was only one. Oh, yours. That's kind of what's out towards it. Name one of it. Name his first collegiate win. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. That's the old name that name. Where he finished in the Western. Yeah. Name a song off the first album. That's that one. I don't know the answer to those. I'm a second class, it was allotorious. It's allotorious fan. Well, all right, so it's time.

Make me hurt. You already did a little bit, tell me about George this week. I knew, I knew it was bad. I definitely, I watched every one of his shots this week that I could. I'm used to watching an important eight to 12 foot puts at Augusta, like it's nothing.

The speed just did not look right. And what you're about to tell me is that the numbers matched that I have a feeling. Yeah, I'll give you some good news and then some bad. So the good news who was not his best ball striking week ever in Augusta. Is that 2060? No, I was gonna say the bad is that it was,

this was his best since he won in 2015. Gotcha. His stroke's gained long games. So that's my, I don't like the title of it, but it's the way I combined off the tee and approach. So basically strokes and tee degree, but you take away the chipping. It's the, yeah, the ball striking aspect of it. He gained 1.94 strokes per round, fifth best in the field, his best in over the week of the course of the Masters since 2015.

I think I texted you this or I tweeted it, put it in an article, but to just sum up the way he put it from 2015 through 2020 Jordan ranked fifth in Strokes game putting. Last week, he was 51st out of the 54 guys to make the cut. So I'm sorry. Yeah, no, it's listen, it's gonna happen. You're not gonna put great on this golf course forever. It looked like it just didn't look like the green he was comfortable on the greens as kind of baked out as they were and crispy as they were.

It just was not the same. I mean, he used to pour those things in the dead center. I mean, so, yeah, I think I've gotten my, my spieth, you know, frustration out of there, but can you help me paint the picture for what Augusta does to spieth? I mean, I guess for a better term, what does speed, what he does at Augusta?

Over his career, the numbers have to be totally insane, right? In terms of how much better he gets at that golf course? Yeah, no, they're insane. He has the best scoring average in the history of the Masters with anyone, among anyone with 25 or more rounds. I made a Stke Skate Total database for the Masters a few years ago, and Jordan is second in the history of the Masters

in Stroke Skate Total Pro Round, right behind Ben Hogan and ahead of Tiger. That's through, yeah, he's one Hogan, two-speed three Tiger Woods in terms of Stroke Skate Total Pro Round. Before the 2019 Masters, he was far and away number one all time. So that gives you some perspective

on the beginning of his career there. Before last week, he had really done everything well in a gutston national in his career. He had averaged more than a stroke gain per round T-degree, had averaged more than a stroke gain per round putting since 2015, as long as that's as far back as that's go. You know, there's got to be some validity. I can't really greatly statistically quantify it,

but what he gained talking to, you know, Ben Crenshaw and learning from him some things about the greens at Augusta, I don't know, man, there he's one of the most incredible course horses right now at one particular venue. Usually it's like Charlie Hoffman at San Antonio or Kevin Streelman at Pebble Beach, you know, and it's these one offs. It's just that his is a gust of national and he's going to go back there for the next 30, 40 years and compete.

I mean, what better place to be unbelievable at a particular golf course. I mean, he's just done. He's like the best version of himself statistically. Every year he gets to Augusta. All those weeks when everything comes together for Jordan, he's contending and can win, whether it was the open a few years ago, or maybe a week like the Traveler's Championship in 2017, when he won, and he did,

it's just the best version of himself and everything he does, if that makes sense. And that's kind of what reveals itself when he gets to Augusta. Yeah, and that's just what makes it even that much more frustrating than he does if that makes sense. And that's kind of what reveals itself when he gets to Augusta. Yeah, and that's just what makes it even that much more frustrating than he only has one green jacket. Like all that. I would be I would just be so encouraged though. If you're a fan of his, just what he's done the last several months. Oh, for sure. The iron, the iron plate numbers are just skyrocketed over what they were last year. And I mean, I really think, like, this is so exciting that, you know, the last couple of years, like,

the Grand Slam was theoretically in play for Jordan. It's really in play now for the next month because he's really hit his stride from a ball striking perspective. And I think you have to put him among the favorites of Kewa. Well, that's Daniel Ruckert was asking statistically what golfer sets up well for Kewa. And I don't know if you've gotten that far ahead,

but does Kewa, I want to say it sets up for him, but I'm the last person to ask on this. I, first of all, I'd like, you know, a nap in a beer or something before I get to the next major championship. But no, I think that, look, we got to go off of, you know, the Ryder Cup years and years ago,

and then what Rory did was just eviscerate the field on Sunday at QA a few years back, winning my eight shots in accomplishment. It doesn't get talked about a whole lot over the last decade or so, professional golf. But I got to look into it a little bit more. I've heard a lot talk about John Rom, but I think that's very easy because John Rom, his his course fit is a lot like Tiger. And then it's just planted Earth is his course fit. So he's really good at everything, but I don't think distance is gonna be hyper important.

It's obviously a benefit everywhere, but I don't see why as well as Jordan Speeth is hit the golf wall, especially the way he drove it last week in Augusta, as good as he said his irons with the last couple months. I don't see why he shouldn't be somebody that, you know, you think highly of going into the next major.

Well, I like where you're going with that. Zander, a couple questions on this. into the next major. Well, I like the, I like where you're going with that. Uh, Xander. What a couple of questions on this car for the course, ask how rare is it for players to find the water on 16 on Sunday? This is a late one we're throwing at you. But is, is that as rare as it feels? It doesn't happen very often. 2013 Jason day had a one shot lead going into 16. I can't remember if he had the water or not, but he made Bogey Bogey lost the lead and ultimately didn't get in to the playoff that abscot ultimately won.

2001, this doesn't get talked about enough. I don't think DuVal and Mikkelson both made Bogey at 16 in the final round when Tiger won. The last guy to hit it in the water there and win, I think was Trevor Imelman in 2008. He made double Bogey there, but he was up by like six shots at the time. So it didn't really matter.

Greg Norman is probably the one that I think of most, but he was too back of fellow when he got there. And that was kind of the last nail in the coffin for Norman that day. It doesn't happen very often though. It was pretty staggering because oftentimes, and fans of your podcast will know that there's been some disdain in the past for that pin at 16, called a bit of a funnel from time to

time. I think it's exciting. I think it's great. But that's what that hole is more known for on Sunday, right? And not blowups is players sticking it close. And Tiger did a couple of years ago in the final round, or you know, there's a lot of other instances where that happened. You just don't see the blow up very often. So you're right to think that off the top.

Hey, I don't think we've seen that very often and we haven't historically. Yeah, no, what do you, but what do you make of Major Zander's major championship record? He's kind of a major championship killer without really actually finalizing the kill. I mean, what sticks out to you? Am I right when I say that when the golf guitarter,

Zander Schoffley gets better? So I'll give you my favorite Zander Schoffley note ever. Came up with it last year at Wingfoot. Last year he finished fifth at the US Open. He's made four starts at the US Open as four top 10 finishes. Can you name the last player to finish in the top 10 at each of his first four US open starts.

Oh, no, of course not. The answer is Bobby Jones. Whoa. Yeah, so that that I the notes that take me a really long time and they give me a pay off like that. Those are the ones I like most, but that's kind of the personification of his success so quickly in majors, right? Is that he's been so consistently good. I think to your point, when the golf gets tough, he gets better. Anybody who's done this so often, there's got to be some truth to it. I do know the, you know, he's coming out party in, you know, popular golf or major championship golf really was at Aaron Hills.

And that wasn't necessarily the toughest golf course in the world. But, you know, I just think the big moment, I mean, there's that, I think it's an overused euphemism to be a big game hunter, but maybe it's a little bit like Brooks Kevka that he gets more amped up for these major championships and just has a different level of focus. One element about Sanders' game that I thought is really interesting is that he's had a lot of success on courses that have uneven lives, and I think that's may have helped him at Augusta National. He's played terrific at Kaupalua over the years, and that's probably the, you know,

that's probably the only defense besides a win that that golf course has for people going crazy low. But there's some correlation there, I think, in terms of being good on uphill or side-hull lives, whatever it might be, Patrick Reed, Justin Thomas, just some examples of some guys who, you know, have performed well at both venues. So I think that's an interesting thing with, whatever it might be, Patrick Reed, Justin Thomas, just some examples of some guys who perform well at both venues.

So I think that's an interesting thing with Zander over the course of his young career so far. Yeah, and that's what I think about with Speed 2, right? I mean, he just kept Aloo as well and the gust of course. I just feel like the guys that maybe aren't the most technical and the guys that are maybe a bit more creative that thrive in that environment. I don't really have anything to support that.

I get so nervous trying to make a point in front of you that has all this data. I mean, they could just immediately, if you wanted to be me, you could be like, no, that's not, you're not even close with that one. Now, fire it well, man. No worries. We go back a little ways at this point.

You got a stat there. You tweeted that most top five finishes in majors since 2017. Keppka 7, Xander six, DJ five. It just, I know that for so many people, it's only the wins that matter, right? And that it just, that, those kind of things become almost indictments of your ability to, you know, to win. I don't know.

I just think there's so much more to go ahead. I'll give you a career comp. At this point in Jason Day's career. We said the same thing a few years ago where he repeatedly got close at the Masters, the US open. He had the same kind of five, six, seven top fives or whatever, whatever it was. Another guy had the same kind of career trajectory, a trajectory. Sorry, I've been talking a lot the last two days and running out of words was Jim Furek

before he won his first major championship. So in the moment, it's easy to be critical. These guys, oh, they haven't done it and haven't broken through. But more often than not with the guy who has this much success in majors, this early in his career, he eventually will break through. Hmm. Gosh, I just pulled up Jason Daze page. That makes Autonus sense. I mean he is yeah, he was T2 the masters and the US open in 2011 Solo third at the masters in 13 T2 at the US open another T4 and other T9 other T4 in majors before he finally won in 2015 So I like that. Yeah, I built I built plenty of graphics for sports center that were Jason day related that look a lot like the zander Shoffley notes that are coming up today. That is really, really good to know. Anything else, you know,

and no worthy stats or nuggets you have for the week that stood out to you? Oh, see with Kim. Oh my god. See with Kim. Oh my god. See with Kim. Oh my god. See with Kim. Oh my god. See with Kim. Oh my god. See with Kim. Oh my god. See with Kim. Oh my god. See with Kim. Oh my god. See with Kim. Oh my god. See with Kim. Oh my god. See with Kim. Oh my god. See with Kim. Oh my god. See with Kim. Oh my god. See with Kim. Oh my god. See with Kim. Oh my god. See with Kim. Oh my god. See with Kim. Oh my god. See with Kim. Oh my god. See with Kim. Oh my god. See with Kim. Oh my god. See with Kim. Oh my god. See with Kim. Oh my god. See with Kim. Oh my god. See with Kim. Oh my god. See with Kim. Oh my god. See with Kim. Oh my god. See with Kim.

Let the field in Stroke's game to approach. He and Corey Connors with the only two guys to gain two or more strokes per round on approach. He had eight and a half strokes game to approach through two rounds. Like that does it. If you're not super familiar with that, that's a shitload of strokes gained, specifically with your approach shots. That's the technical term for it. He was phenomenal tee-de-green and just couldn't make a putt.

And he honestly, statistically, he almost putted better after he broke his puttter that round and was putting him in his three woods. So it was a tough go for, for C. Will on the greens. I like him a lot this week though at Arbor Town to sneak in, sneak up of that. But I know you're going to sign off in this for me.

I would love, I think a huge next step in stroke skater make people understand it is kind of overlaying graphics onto greens. Like NBC has done this, you know, in recent weeks, where the draw a big circle from, you know, on a par three, they did this in Austin for the 17th hole. Big circle around it showing average proximity to the hole from this yardage for a Torpro and it showed the very right and big circle extended past the green and all that. Something with strokes gained that was like, hey, inside

of this is gaining more than 0.5 and inside of this is gaining, you know, between 0.25 and 0.5 and anything below this is losing strokes. Just kind of showing you can do that off the T2 with distances in the fairway. That would help, even somebody that's as into it as I am, that would help illustrate that so much. Is that something you think will be possible on TV? Yeah, well, we actually, we talked about different clients we work with. We've helped out with the CBS's presentation of the Aon Risk Award this year, which I know a lot of golf fans weekend, we got to be like,

oh, I don't know what this is, like, you know, we've tried to add, you know, a little bit of a storytelling element to it where, okay, for every 20 yards, you hit your T-shot on this whole open the last five years, it's been worth a quarter of a shot. I just made that up, but, you know, whatever it might be, and then laying it out graphic wise, I think we've had some success in trying to tell those stories. So yeah, it's definitely possible.

I think that NBC example is a great one where I love that graphic, and I think we can definitely benefit from more of that, because the more we're able to normalize this type of storytelling, the easier it's gonna be for people to consume. Amen. Yeah, I think it, again, people are,'s going to be for people to consume. Hey, man. Yeah.

I think it again, people are hopefully if you've got this far into the pod, you're into this Strokescape stuff and you're into this nerding out session. But it is similar to, yeah, we talked about baseball some, but just OPS and that's worked its way into broadcasts and people, even the most hardcore baseball fans now can understand what those numbers mean and what not. And I think that we're still always to go and golf and really fully understand again. That's on the TV presenters, I think,

to really help tell that story. But only the other one. It's come a long way. It has. It has. I mean, I can just speak for my own personal experience a decade or so ago, working in TV that it's come so far in this time span.

So be patient. We're getting there. It's just, it takes time to hammer away. I mean, you know, 20 years ago, the TV producer for, you know, a basketball game would have laughed at you if you wanted to do a heat chart for, you know, three pointers or whatever, like something that seems commonplace now. It just, it takes time and we've made a ton of progress here over the last 10 years or so. I had Scottie Sheffler couldn't get off the tee was from some of the stats I was looking at. Did that, did that, did that stat register for you? He was middling, Stroke's gained off the tee, not as bad as you articulated in your note

to me, 37th and driving accuracy. If you want to go old school, but not his best week. He's normally one of his strengths and he did not drive it up to his usual lofty potential there. Well, do you have any fun just go to master stats? I'm sure you get them tweet, you tweet them out pretty frequently, but if I was just to ask you, maybe it could be at a, you know, a random picnic a neighbor comes up and ask you, what do you do?

Oh, I do stats. Okay, what's your favorite master stat? What comes to mind? So my very favorite one, this popped its head up years ago and you'll know when, when I get to the end of it, but 1963, Jack Nicholas set the record for youngest master's champion ever. 17 years later, 1980, Sevy Biosteros broke Jack's record,

youngest master's winner's ever. 17 years later, 1997, Tiger Woods breaks Sevy's record for youngest master's winner ever. Seventeen years later, 1997 Tiger Woods breaks Sevy's record for youngest masters winters that win or ever. Seventeen years later, 2014 Jordan Speed almost broke Tigers record for youngest masters winners that we want at the following year obviously. But yeah, that's one of my favorites is just sometimes you stumble on some symmetry that's that's pretty crazy. For years, one of my favorite that no one

would believe was that nobody had ever shot all four rounds in the 60s at the Masters. You just think it had to have happened at some point. And then Cameron Smith, and he didn't even win. And he didn't even win. So I feel like I've Tim Kirchianish when I get into some of these numbers

and get excited. But another one I love is that Gary Player has the most rounds in Master's history by exactly one more than Jack Nicholas. Gary Player had to go into the Masters that you're knowing that. Well, he knew that. Finished with exactly one more. I was like, nope, I'm done.

That's it. We hit the mark. I got one more than Jack. So I thought that was great. What's the story on the odd number? There's got to be a withdrawal or a... Yeah, Jack W.D. after the first round, I think in the early 80s at one point. With like a back injury.

So it worked out to the fact where player could miss the cut one last time as a lifetime exemption and finished one round ahead, which I thought was terrific. One of my favorite masters leaderboards ever is 1998 because Jack Nicholas finished sixth sixth and Tiger finished eighth. You took it out of my mouth. That's my favorite. The year after Tiger won by 12,

58 year old Jack Nicholas beat him the next year. How about that? That's unbelievable. And that's the kind of thing. Like if you look back historically towards like the end of Hogan's career, he's got some top 10 finishes where he's right next to Nicholas and Palmer and you know,

there's just generations are able to tie themselves together and we're fortunate to have that in our sport because it really doesn't really exist in any other sport that I can think of where you know you can have that kind of happen where a guy who Tigers got Jack's records on his wall as a kid or we'll wear them when I believe that story. And then 1998 he actually finishes as the defending champion Jack beats him after hosting his first champion center. I mean, just that's just awesome. The new one that I thought was great from this week that Jordan Speeth became the first

player to ever birdie the 10th hole all four days. How could that have not happened in 80 something odd masters? No one had ever made birdie there all four times and then fitting the guy with the kind of masters resume speed that is the one to do it. I thought that was really cool. Yeah. What do you have some fun? Last time you were on you gave us I think I asked you to give you some homework and gave you said give me like 10 amazing Tiger Stats and you did not disappoint. Do you have some fun maybe prepared Tiger Stats for us for tonight? Oh, do I? Oh, you might have got that question in advance.

The title journalist that I am. So, I appreciate the help, because then I'd be scrambling and I might have this one off the top of my head though. Okay, Tiger Woods is the only player in master's history. So for his career to be triple digits under par. He's a hundred and seven under par in his career. Phil is second on that list, 30 shots behind.

Jordan's speed is third at 50 under. So I thought it was cool that the only guy who's triple digits under par. Now obviously that changes because older guys, yeah, they come back and play forever. So those numbers are a little bit skewed. It's one of the reasons why Jordan's second all time in stroke scheme total at the masters because he hasn't played the Masters in the

60s yet, but I thought that was pretty cool. Tiger one is, this is crazy. He won his third Masters at age 26. Nobody currently 26 or younger has three major wins. Just to kind of wrap your brain around what Tiger did at such a young age. And then I tell the another one that's crazy is that the guys never missed the cut as a pro at the Masters 21 straight made cuts at the Masters. The record is 23 by Fred Couples. I did not know that. So that's another mark for Tiger here. Even with Fred Couples.

Yeah, that 2015 year was so bad for him, but he came and finished like T18 or something like that if I remember right. Yeah, correct. So 21 straight made cuts crazy for Tiger. And then this is my favorite. Everyone's favorite player over the weekend. A lot of people were introduced to Will's Allatators for the first time. Will 24 years, seven months, and 27 days old today as we record this on April 12th. At that exact age, Tiger had just won the third leg of the Tiger's Lam. Um, we could, I, I guarantee you, if I asked you to do a hundred Tiger stats, we could do a pot on that sometime. I'm sure, I should have sent that out loud. Now people are going

to demand clamor for it. Okay. I'll get, I'll get sent links to your message board about it. Oh, man. Well, that Oh man. Well that run because not only did he win four in a row, he won five out of six in that time period, two, right? Yeah, because he won 99 PGA and he won two thousand two masters as well. If I'm doing that. Yeah, that's more than five out of six. That's, that's, you want six out of nine or something like that and five out of six. It's just, oh, it, it, it, I always say too, we should start every conversation about golf with first, we have to acknowledge Tiger Woods one of the 2019 masters because it still doesn't get talked about enough. Like that is still the most absurd thing that I think maybe will ever happen in golf history.

So I, while you were talking, I pulled up my major champions excel file one of my first babies I created data wise and he went seven for 11 99 to 0 to that's what that's what I was going for. God. Seven. There's only like five guys in history. The sport was seven majors. He went to even seven for 11. It's the most preposterous thing. And here we're talking about sander like about six top of fives in 15 starts look how good that is Yeah, this dude was batten 650 and major win percentage over a stretch like I mean It's just it's a it's a different sport and I really you mentioned 2019 being so absurd

I think it's gonna take another generation for us to really take a step back and admire Just what the guy did and really properly put it in perspective. Because, you know, the comparison people always made to Tiger is Michael Jordan, but to me, the more app comparison is Wilk Chamberlain. And I'm not talking about off the course. I'm talking about, you know, with women or anything. I mean, I mean, like, for real, like, if you look at what Wilk Chamberlain did in terms of how much better he was in points and rebounds than his peers. That's the kind of differential you're looking at with Tiger Down the Road is that, you know, it's something that is a complete outlier in the history of the sport. 100%. And before we let you go, anything that's, I meant to say,

we really, I had a joke prepared for the beginning and I left it out that we wanted to hear your perspective on the masters knowing that you are due for a whole slew of perspective here in the coming weeks. Am I understanding that right? I actually had it in my head to tell the exact same drill. No lie. I was like, you know what, Siddhali, I'm really most looking forward to all the perspectives I'm going to gain. Very much so.

We've been given an induction date because my son is apparently too huge and awesome to wait for the due date. So it's a really well planned by me because it's a few days before the PGH Ampia trip. So I did a great job, I did a great job planning that by then. Yeah, I'm at the point. I'm at the point now.

Exactly, yeah, he's on his way. So. Love it. Well, Justin, thanks so much for spending an hour with us helping us break down. Stroke's gained in the masters and all the awesome stuff you do. So where can people find you if they don't know? At Justin Ray Golf on Twitter, I write almost every week for PGATOUR.com.

You can find me on the Action Network podcast. I co-host with Jason Sobel. I wrote for the athletic. I will every major championship this year. I'm running out of Outlet's Sully. I'm running out of places to go. Yeah, just to Google Golf and you probably find me. No, I'm kidding, of course,

but yeah, no, at Justin Ray Golf on Twitter is where you'll always be able to find me. Appreciate the insights, always man. Thanks for coming on. Yeah, thanks for having me. Give it a nice club. Be the right club today. Yes.

Be the right club. Got it, that the right club today. Yes. Yeah. That's better than most. How about in? That is better than most. Better than most. Yeah. Expect anything different.