No Laying Up - Golf Podcast - NLU Podcast, Episode 434: Friday PGA Championship Recap

Episode Date: May 22, 2021

Phil surges, Louis makes a move, and Brooks does his usual thing. Soly and Randy wrap up an eventful Friday at Kiawah, including Van Rooyen's outburst, Bryson's whining, JT & Rory's disappointment, Spieth's putting, the rest of the leaderboard, and more.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

That's better than most. How about him? That is better than most. Better than most. Big Randy, can you hear me? We are live from the Kill House except neither of us are in the Kill House tonight. Big Randy, solid here. How are you buddy? Great, I can hear you loud and clear.

It's a true delight to be on with you this evening. I hope everything is going right with the technical stuff. I don't normally do this. Please let me know in the comments if this is not working out right. Shout out to our friends at Smathers and Branson. Randy, how on point would you say your needle point game is?

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All right, big guy. Gosh, I wanted to start with Phil. I wanted to just go right into that. But we have to start with Eric Van Ruyen. Finally, I wanted to start with Phil. I wanted to just go right into that. But I mean, we have to start with Eric Van Ruin right finally, finally, finally some action. The moment of the week, what a what an outburst that was. And there was there was three groups left behind them. I first second, I was like, Oh, I think he after you made the first swing at it, he realized, Hey, there's no one else behind. I got to make sure I get this T-marker obliterated. I've never seen someone go back to make their outburst eat just a little bit worse.

That's what I assumed that he was the last group. So I had to go check the leaderboard. And I was thrilled to see that there was at least one group behind him, if not two. So that brought a smile to my face. Looking back on the video, though, you can kind of see somebody in the background is like kind of dodging something. Kind of kind of lucky there between the person in the background

and Matt Wallace's caddy, nobody got hit. That was that was something I'm sure he's going to be hearing from some of the powers that be about that. Who finds for that? Is that the PGA tour or is that the PGA of America? Like, I don't know how that happens. Yeah, that's a great question. I don't know. I would think, you know, maybe the tour handles it on behalf of the PGA of America, but that's an interesting question. If anybody listening happens to know, we would take that answer. I would like to start the show, I guess other than what we just started with by officially apologizing because you know I could have waited until Sunday for

this but I think less people will probably listen to this episode than the Sunday one so you picked Phil to finish in the top 40 which has not been done yet that's not it's not a guarantee but I last last I giggled. I was not shy about it. I made sure that everyone heard that I giggled when you made that pick. And I'm like to formally apologize that because Phil Philip Alfred Michelson is leading the PGA which have after 36 holes. Well, I mean, what a world. That first of all, it's big of you. I absolutely accept your apology. That's that's very kind. You know, I wish I could say I had insight that I knew that this was coming,

but of course it's just a hard pick. I love rooting for him. And yeah, I'm gonna ride with him no matter what. I'm glad he got in the final group going into tomorrow. I feel like that's gonna have his, not, you know, he was going to be focused anymore, but I just feel like he rises to the occasion that spotlight of the final group.

Hopefully we'll bring the best out. I feel like this is just, you know, I'm on this rise as long as it lasts. It feels like borrowed time a little bit. I wouldn't have been shocked how he shot 75 today. I said that yesterday in our recap pod. So come what made this weekend. It's been a hell of a first two days. Well go ahead a couple comments rolling in. If you could add a little gain to your microphone. I'm maybe just because I'm out just gaining, I'm gaining

the hell out of you right now. But if I may say about Phil, he is, it's not the, you know, we talked a lot about sustainability models last night. Cory Connors did not have a sustainable model. And listen, he regressed a little bit today. But Phil is gaining in on both days, round one and round two, gained off the tee approach around the green and putting all four categories. He gained strokes. It's a pretty complete performance. It's not like he's got a comeback to earth with the driver, which actually, now that I say

that out loud, he's number one in strokes getting off the tee. That is where it's going to go wrong if it's going to come back to Earth with the driver, which actually, now that I say that out loud, he's number one in Stroke's Game off the tee. That is where it's gonna go wrong if it's gonna go wrong. But gosh, I did not have this venue being the fill venue. No, you know, hopefully my gain, I turned it up a little. Hopefully that's better. And hopefully I'm not too loud. Max Meltzer said my stroke scheme microphone

is through the roof. So they were figuring this out, man. Yeah. No, you know, I said yesterday, it felt like, I'll repeat myself a little bit. That back 90 together yesterday was an exceptional nine holes of golf, I thought. And I don't know, you could just kind of see the different parts of his game clicking.

He's never got to hit every fairway, every green. But when he starts scrambling, he's making some putts that he has to. That's a great sign. Today I felt like even though he shot 38, which on the bat, his front nine, the back nine of the course, you know, just some misputs on 17, 18. He wasn't really getting himself in huge trouble. And obviously had the 31 then on the front. It doesn't feel like he's, like you said, it just feels pretty solid right now. I think the thing I worry most about is just a big mess with his driver

and a double or triple coming into play at some point. He's avoided any double bogus as far, which has been great. just a big mess with his driver and a double or triple coming into play at some point. He's avoided any double bogie so far, which has been great. So we'll see. You know, I never thought he'd win a British Open and then your field happened. So, you know, maybe he can win one at a key. Well, who knows? It wouldn't be an indictment of any kind if he doesn't win, right?

Tying for the lead after 36 holes is not a great predictor that you're gonna win. Luu used his and the models give him a 19% chance of winning as of right now. And he's hitting it about as good as anyone on the planet. Speaking of which, should we be more upset that Luu doesn't ever win? And I know he's won a major, but no one ever picks him for these things, no one ever, he's never tip of the tongue

going into it. I don't, I never heard, I did not hear one person say like, oh, look out for Louis U.S. this week yet. He does this all the time, yet he doesn't win. I know he has the one, but are you, do you feel threatened at all by Louis U.S. Tazin? Uh, no. I mean, what do you think?

I, it's just like, we've seen this before. I don't know. He doesn't look good. I mean, but that's the thing of Malui is when he's on, he looks so good. But he's got some Sunday issues. I don't know. Do you think this could be his week?

This one makes more sense to me. I don't know exactly why, just because it does seem to be a, it doesn't seem like anybody's gonna really go out and get something. Like it's just a dig your claws in and keep holding as long as you can. And I actually like his chances. He boggyed 18 today, but if not, he would have closed with six straight parts, which nobody was doing.

Absolutely nobody in the field was paring or playing the last six holes in even par, better. And had an opportunity to miss that put, to fall back to minus five, but gosh, I don't know. It felt like a guy that was ready to, I don't know, it would make sense, right? No one, even after Friday of the Masters, we weren't like, all right, yeah, Hadecki's gonna win this thing, but it made a lot of sense, right?

And this one just kind of, it's adding up for me. I'm not saying he would be my pick going forward as of right now. If I could change my pick, it would be for Louis Ustazen. So, over a guy like Keppka there, at one shop back at four under, that's surprising to me. Yeah, you know, listen, I like to be wrong about things. So that's where I'm going with that.

And speaking of nobody picked him, kind of a little bit of a lacquer respect is Matt Siyama, right? Like has a rainy master's winner ever gotten less buzz or less respect in the next major after they've won? And here he is after 68. What do you think of his chances? I mean, again, he hasn't made a putt, which

is just remarkable. He's negative stroke scheme. Or he just barely snuck over as I'd updated. He struck over to barely be about average in stroke scheme putting, but number two, stroke scheme T-degree. So hitting the shit out of the ball, a couple of announcers seem like for the first time. They were seeing him take pull the hand off the club for the first time and not realize that means he actually hit a good shot.

Bogey on 18, but 18 was essentially a par five today. So yeah, I mean, gosh, it's an interesting leaderboard. Anything can happen, so it begs the question. How far back is too far back? Oh, my gosh. Now we're playing my favorite game. And the game just gets better as the tournament progresses. Bunched, I think you made some really good points last night in our recap pod that, you know,

it's, there aren't huge risk reward. I, let me think how to say this. I don't think guys can get out there and shoot a 64, like they could have a gust of maybe, right? Like if everything goes well and you just go on a heater. So although a lot of guys are within seven, eight shots of the lead like realistically, I, you know, it's hard for me to believe

that anybody over par has a good chance. I won't say that they have no chance, but I wouldn't go any further than plus one. Plus ones where I'm at, more a cawa, I would not count out at plus one. If somebody is gonna go shoot 65 from that group, he would be it. I think there's still guys that, you know, in the plus two range that can easily backdoor the top 10.

Sure. Rory, Rory. Yeah. Yeah. Well, he's plus three, but, because I lost track of how many bogies made on this stretch since I so wisely pointed out as he's entering the hardest stretch on the golf course, so wisely pointed out, hey, he's got a great round going on.

He's really playing some really good golf. Why tweet? Why ever tweet? Um, so yeah, where are we at with Rory then? I guess it was, it was frustrating because he got so little out of even a great front nine, how he hit it and to finish the way he did. I know there's some very, very, very difficult holes, but I'm just feeling a little, I'm a little perturbed, if you will. Yeah, I mean, in this kind of same, I feel like it's the same conversation we have every major. I was even trying to talk myself in to maybe he's, you know, maybe he's rising from the dead. It just, I don't know. His ability to make a score, there's just

something missing there. And I'm not smart enough to like pinpoint in words what exactly it is, but like I think at this point, it's obvious. It's just at the end of the day, it's just not good enough. You know, it's really frustrating. He's played the par 5s and 3 over par. He's actually played the par 4s 2 under, which has got to be up there. None of the par 4s are really playing easy, and he's actually managed to play him under par. That's what's just got to be madding for him. He's minus one in Stroke Skane, plodding for the week. He said it good, but not great. He's made enough mistakes

that I wouldn't say. It's not going to be his week, but he'll finish T-8. We know that. Yeah, Skane's just not tight, right? You don't expect him to go out and win it right now. Or at least I don't. So I think whether it's the four or five scoring or whether it'd be something else, like something is just cropping up right now for him. What, so someone is reporting, Tony Derby's reporting that Brooks is on the range, which means he's out.

Because if Brooks is actually, I don't know what to, how to interpret it if Brooks is gonna actually try and these things. Can you explain, and I'll try to do the best I can? What is your relationship with Brooks? I get a lot of tweets that are like, why do you guys hate Brooks? What's your take on Brooks? Well, I'll explain it, and I think we should just get it all out there. I know we've done this like 20 times, but let's do it again. Yeah, well, I would say we all kind of maybe think a little bit differently of them, which is great, right? I like the guy. I think he's, I, you know, got four majors.

I don't know. He seems to me like somebody who always shows up in big moments and the bigger the moment, the better his game becomes. Like it's scary. Like he can have no form coming in and he just rise. In the tournaments that every single player, every golfer in the world wants to rise on. He's the only one in this era that gets better almost every single time from one of these things. Yeah. Yeah.

So, you know, some of the, it's easier, you know, take shots at him with the, yeah, I don't practice. It's still meaning to me. That's just fun. But I have absolutely nothing against the guy. I love when he's in contention. I mean, God, in two days, he could have his fifth major, which is wild. I mean, that puts him in the headiest of, of heady territory, really. So I like it. I think golf's better when when he's around and competing in majors. I was thinking about this was like I was I was gonna get way ahead of myself as I'm want to do and say if he wins that would be five and that would be tied for tie with fill for second most among active golfers. And I started thinking about it was like might be tied for first like I don't know if we're gonna see Tiger Woods play golf again. I mean, Ty with Phil for second most among active golfers. And I started thinking about it. It was like, might be Ty for first. Like, I don't know if we're gonna see Tyger Woods play golf again.

I mean, I would think we will, but I don't know if we will. Like, holy shit, before he turns, you know, I don't remember how old Brooks is. Like, he's 31. I'm looking at him. Yeah. Which is wild. Phil, having five, he didn't get his fifth.

I believe the British was in his 40s, why not? It's 2013. That would have definitely been 40s, yeah. Yeah. I mean, Brooks has a ton of years. Look, I think the thing about Brooks is, you know, this would be his third PGA and he's won two US Opens and there's something about, you know, those guys that don't win a

masters. I don't know, they just maybe don't get as much recognition or it doesn't quite seem the same if you don't have a masters amongst that major collection. But it's interesting. So there's a lot I love about Brooks. I have a great appreciation for his golf ability, of course. I enjoy watching greatness in golf and watching.

It means something when he's in contention, like going from four majors to five majors, and when he went from three to four, like that meant something. Like we were watching the defining major championship golfer of our era, really, the post-tiger era. I mean, Rory was that guy, but I mean, it's been seven years now. And what I really appreciate about Brooks is he will say things like, no, there's not a rival between me and Rory. He hasn't won one in five years, which he said two years ago. Like, he will say like tangible things. Like, he's one of the best interviews in golf. He's

not super interesting, but he's one of the, you know, he's not going to give you like a great, crazy, detailed answer, but he'll give you the sound bite you're looking for in terms of like, it's usually kind of caked in bravado, and you know, this image you want to promote of himself being this athlete. So like, I like that for content sake, but like, I can't really, I don't really relate to Brooks,

I don't find him to be like personal, you know, I don't feel like I root for him personally as a person, whereas I feel like I do that with Speak and Rory and so other guys that are very obvious that we root for. I don't really know exactly why. He just kind of puts me off in that way. I think, you know, I think you were dancing around it

right there. I think Speak and Rory and some of the other guys, they just, they give you more windows into what they're thinking. And I think they are, not that Brooks isn't thoughtful, but those guys will talk and be earnest and candid and a little bit vulnerable. And I don't think we get that as much from Brooks, maybe. I feel like he's got

that little bit of that wall and that like you said, the bravado and some of that. But I would agree with you. I feel the same way where, you know, listen into a speed talk. It's like, oh my God, I'm like inside this guy's mind. He's laying it out so great for me. And Kebka is just a little different. I wanted him to obviously, for many reasons, wanted him to get paired with Bryson tomorrow. It's not happening, hoping it for Sunday, but if Bryson even gets close to this thing, I need Brooks to come out in the Bryson hat.

Like that would be the absolute trolle. I'm so upset that this is like Bryson Brooks thing that's kind of almost died off without any conclusion to it, right? I mean, this thing goes back. like back to the slow play thing, Brooks called him out for slow play, then confronted him on the range about it. Bryson got all butt hurt during quarantine and was saying stuff like, yeah, Brooks doesn't have abs, you know, Brooks throws it back at him and sends him the picture of the four major championship

trophies. He's like, yeah, you're right. I'm too short of a six pack. Many accuses of them being on steroids after he won the three, the rocket mortgage. There was some actual stuff going on there, and it just died off because they never paired them together. Nobody ever asks them about it. But gosh, it doesn't quite look like it's going to happen. But we got some speed.

Yeah, well, we'll say speed JT. We got to talk some Bryson as well. Before we do well, we'll say speed JT. We got to talk some Bryson as well. Before we do that, we want to give a shout out to our friends at whoop. whoop. If you don't know what it is, fitness wearable, that tracks or sleep, your body strain, you know, you see all the PGA tour players using it. It is, it's not just for professional athletes. I get that a lot from people that say, you know, why do I need this thing? I don't need to, you know, I don't need to know when I'm hungover and all that.

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All right, so we got a lot of comments that I have flown in here about JT. Missing the cut here saying he's, you know, we have to talk about the fact that he's only one. We're on. I'm going to find this question we got, which said, John 21, 34, 6, 7, 7, should JT start taking heat. He's only one three full field defense.

Interesting. Interesting. Yeah. I mean, it's getting harder and harder to ignore. I don't know. It just depends, right? It depends who you're comparing them against and what your expectations are for them.

14 PGA Tour wins, one major. That's a hell of a career. He's, of course, going to win a lot more, at least regular events before he's all finished But yeah, I mean we just got done talking about a guy like Keppka who's going for this fifth major and You know he's in that peer group with JT. I think more than anything Is I get the sense like JT just don't have that many close calls in May. It feels like I got to check his actual record, but to me, it feels like he's just not,

he's not giving himself that many opportunities to win him. I don't know. Is that unfair? What do you think? No, not at all. I don't feel bad at all saying we were all disappointed with his major record because I asked about on the podcast two years ago, like, you know, hey, I think it was something

along the lines of if I'm calculating right, you have the win, but you're top 10 at about a 15% clip in majors, whereas regular tour events, you're top 10, about 30%. Like, is that fair to say that you're not pleased with your major record? He was adamant. Like, of course, I'm not pleased with it. Like, I have not played great when the lights have been the brightest. And, you know, someone in the comments pointed out also just saying, like,

hey, the PGHamitchip want is on a PGA tour golf course at Quail Hollow, which is a really decent point. I think there is obviously a skill to showing up at a golf course that you only see, Augusta being the exception, of course. You only see it maybe every five years at the most Pebble being an exception to that as well, but, you know,

Kiwa, you got to go learn a new golf course. Pros, abilities to learn new golf courses always amazes me, like just having a game that truly travels the different grass types, different fairway lengths, different, you know, wins and all that stuff, and he's not displayed that. And, you know, it just seems like when majors roll around, like I said, Brooks is the only one that, like, if the Data Golf had a course fit tool for majors, Brooks would be the only guy that goes up.

Louis Oesthades, I shouldn't say the only guy. Louis would be on that too. Like, when majors come around, when golf gets harder, Louis gets better. And guys like Rory and, you know, Speed's probably not on that list, but guys like JT have just perennially disappointed in that regard.

I know they wanted, I know they worked super hard, they probably have chained, they make their whole schedule around trying to peak for these weeks, and it's super easy to say I wonder if they put too much pressure on themselves, but that's gotta be a question that they ask themselves, because I think Brooks sees all of these tournaments as an opportunity to go out and prove how bad as he is.

And I just, I get this almost like hopeful feel out of Rory, JT of like, I hope it's there. I hope it's there. I hope things go my way instead of going out and taking it. Is that in my, yeah, one of the stuff? No, I mean, we were, I mean, as a group on our site today, we're kind of discussing. It feels like, and again, we're kind of playing amateur analysts, but it feels like when things don't go JT's way, it kind of spirals for them, maybe a little bit quicker and just more often than it does other guys.

And that might be unfair. I don't know, but I don't get the sense from him that he, you know, it's like, okay, hey, I made two bogies, whatever. I'm putting that behind me. Like, like, let's let's refocus and go get it. It just seems like he's a little bit of a front runner when things are going well and he's hitting it well and he's playing well. Man, he's obviously among best in the world. But when he just doesn't have it, you know, when he's just a little bit off, it doesn't seem like he hangs around like other guys are able to, like a Kebka maybe.

That is, yeah. I mean, he's had his fair share of rounds on the PJ tour, where, you know, things have not gone great. And he is battle back into it and stuff. But in the majors, it hasn't really, hasn't really happened. So apparently we're getting reports. I'm trying to find the video here of Matt Wallace's caddy or sorry, Matt Wallace's caddy just snubbed Eric Van Roy and for almost to capitating him. I don't quite see it. It's Garith Lord.

Yeah. I was going to say if Eric didn't apologize to him right away, at least when he calmed down, then I would snub him too. It's scared Lord. Yeah. Yeah. I was gonna say if I've ericked in to apologize to him right away At least when he calmed down then I would snub him to on the 18th green. Yeah, that was I hope you apologize for that as bad We got a new speed but gosh it feels like it's time for Boutros Boutros, Trangali Oh my gosh. I what what's more? What's the bigger story the the 48 or coming back with a 34. I don't know. I think it's got to be the 48.

Yeah, probably he made a 10 on 16 and then a quad on 17. He I think he ate and I think there was a triple in there too. One there. He tripled number third or 14. Yes, he did. So he played the last five holes 13 over, and the rest of the round three under. After being in the top 10, he was cruising along. So I was getting word that Max Homo was paired up against him in the matchups this week.

And Max was missed the cut, shot 10 over. Yeah. Tringoli, it was playing, Max was done, Max played the boring Tringoli was playing the afternoon. Tringoli was at three under, and then boots 13 shots back to the field to all of a sudden be tied with max in their head to head matchup, but he made two birdies coming in to win the matchup.

But gosh, could you guys, if you were 13 shots cleared, you lost your bet? No. I was, I was legitimate like, is he gonna break 90, you know? Because things, if he kind of ejected mentally, I was I was the Jimmy like is he gonna break 90 you know because I Things if he kind of ejected mentally. It was like man. He could have easily shot four five over and then you're yeah You're flirting with that 90 marker

Unbelievable there was that is there were some bad rounds out there I'm not I'm not gonna embarrass any any club pros out there But Scoomy Kenaya hadaya had a tough go there. He made a nine on 17 today as well. For a while, when the afternoon just started up, the guys that started on the back nine, they had a rough go. Because when I was touching 27, 28 miles an hour, at one point, those five holes were playing something like six shots over par as a group of five.

Now, Trangale and Kanaya contributed greatly to that, but it ends up the wave. The two waves actually end up incredibly close. It was about a shot harder in the afternoon, both in round two and in round one. So no real favorable draws at all. It's about as close as you could possibly have. I was wondering about that. I appreciate that. So somebody saying that his caddy spit towards EVR, is that an actual thing? Can somebody clarify that in the comments? If that's the case, that's might be something we need to discuss. But it was inconclusive in the video I watched.

But I get a fight. I've been dying for a good fight on tour. I feel like we haven't had one. And maybe like when's the last real fight we've had? That's what I want, especially in the PIP era. Come on. Yes. The couple comments rolling in, I will absolutely embarrass Omar Eurasity. Thank you for that. Thank you for minding me on that. Omar missed the cut poorly. He shot 8283 at a truly abysmal putting week. He did nothing good this week. So we will, well, that deserves a comment on that. I don't want to embarrass him, but our guy Adam Long.

Unfortunately, he got shlong today. Yesterday, he did them shlonging today. He got shlonged. The group scorecard, because he was entering Gale's group. The group and the other guy in the Patrick Rada, Rada, was the last guy in the group. They had, that five- hole stretch is a blood bath, like I've never seen in professional golf. I think there was one par between the three of them.

They must have played it in 35 over par or something like that, a five hole stretch, just that golf, I want nothing to do with this golf course in that condition. Like sometimes I watch golf on TV and I'm like, oh, I kind of want to just see if I can get within 10 of these guys. I want none of this, course in that condition. Like sometimes I watch golf on TV and I'm like, oh, I kind of want to just see if I can get within 10 of these guys. I want none of this, absolutely none of it.

Yeah, my dad sent me a text today. He was watching. He's like, you guys play Keewe, right? He was like, it looks awesome. I love watching it. I was like, it's much better to watch than it is to play. It's just hard. It's one of those courses that just,

it kind of feels like a chore a little bit to play. And so I'm with much rather watch. Kiawa thoughts two days in. M Kelly, MK Kelly PR says general question is to thoughts on course set up so far as well as well as what you'd expect and what you personally want to see for the weekend. I'll hang up and listen. I'll go first. I mean, I kind of dig the leaderboard. I don't think it's unfair.

I again, I think, I think the rough and the grass, it just, it's hard for me to get over, like I just feel like it should play like this links course, but it's not that. And as soon as I kind of accept that, I like it. I mean, it's got, I think with the wind, you know, there's some definitely some get-able holes, some really hard holes. And if you hit a couple good shots on really hardhole, you're going to make a birdie, and that's going to get you a stroke to a stroke and a half on the field. I don't know. I think it's just promoting,

let's see who can hit the most golf shots. I've been really pleasantly surprised with Kiowa. I'm ready to see a different win direction, which I think we will this weekend. I'm not exactly sure what it's gonna do Saturday, but Sunday they're saying the win is gonna change directions. I'm also excited for everyone to be going off the first tee.

It's kind of hard to keep track of, win like, all right, this guy's on this side. He has the end of the win and the down win. And now once you get to the weekend, the leaderboard starts to actually shake out and the pacing all makes sense, right? Because for a while there, those guys were on a tear riding the downwind

and they look like things were actually getting easy out there. But we knew they had that five hole stretch to come play on the way in. So it's good. I don't want to be too hard on it. I think it's a good refreshing change of pace from a lot of other setups. I hate what they did with the rough,

just like you said, it just seems kind of silly. I think they, some of the most interesting, one of the most interesting holds I think is number three. Just how that green sits perched up high with no short, you know, no long grass, no bunkers around it. And it's just, some really interesting shots have to happen, both with how the wind is playing around the green and how you're approaching that green.

And it's just, I don't know. It's solid. I hope it generates some excitement this weekend. I just don't want it to all be a crash fest coming down the, you know, the final stretch and trying to figure out just, you know, a bunch of two-putt bogies and stuff deciding the championship. I just don't think it's going to be fun. No, I feel like somebody's going to go, you know, one under through that stretch and probably win, right? Like, somebody will play it well in that person, you know, that may be the difference.

I did want to point out, if you want to, you know, it was awfully soft this morning. I know that even got you a bit upset. We saw some balls spinning off the green and it must have dumped a lot of water on those greens. And by midday it made a lot of sense as to why. Because when I saw that wind meter get to 28 miles an hour and the like when Xander and Hovelin and JT and all those guys went out in the afternoon,

had to go that play that four-hole stretch dead into the 28-mount hour wind. I was like, dude, that is, that is tough, as a tough way to start your day. And so yeah, this morning it was, balls were, you know, hidden in plug-in and spinning back and all that, but yeah, I think we could very clearly see why that happened.

They knew the forecast, they saw that. And it got, as a day went along, I mean, you could ekeball under the front of 11 green and it would go over. And there was a couple of seven as well. I mean, if you landed one a foot onto that green, it probably wasn't holding if you were coming out of any kind of lie

that wasn't fairway. So, and it was fair. You know, I think it was Rory that was coming into seven,, into seven the par five with iron from the fairway and his ball held and like Brooks has bounded on and held by a foot. It barely held on the back and the greens were at least receptive enough to where you could hold up all dead. Which I want to at least see, we talked about that last night. I want to at least see a really good shot get rewarded and hold the green. So I thought it was, I thought it was fine. I had no problem with the watering of the greens.

It still just kind of comes down to the rough for me and narrowing the fairways just because if you look at, and I sent this to a group too, is like if you look at the first hole where that pin was today, like right in the front, the best angle was from the left rough. And it almost like, I hate when your players are encouraged to not, you know, try for the best angle. Like, of course, you want to miss that fairway

left if you're going to miss it, but like the best spot to play from, you should have a, you know, you could put a hazard there or put a bunker there or something that kind of, you know, makes you think about taking that route, but I just, I hate like, you know, saying, like, all right, you, this is where you'd want to come in from. We We're gonna give you the worst possible live from that spot. That just seems kind of counterintuitive to me Yeah, yeah, no that that's all I just whether you were Talking there I pulled up the the weather report for Cuba actually like winds are Fairly they're calling for maybe fairly light tomorrow like five to ten So I guess we'll keep an eye on that.

And then back up to like 10 to 15, but I always feel like that close to the coast, it always blows harder than 10. There is means a lot more than 10. Yeah, when we go if you will. Yeah, just the notaries, like it's gonna, you're gonna feel it, if there's any kind of wind. So yeah,

spieth, what can't put put can't make any parts, huh? Z John 45 said, did solid mess up speed sputting by telling him the grass was past palam and not bermuda.

All on that. Sure. Yeah. That's that's on me. You know, I wanted to at least have a couple of days notice to know he wasn't going to go put on bermuda here. But, um, I, I can relate to a lot of this, especially, you know especially playing the past

pal at Jack's Beach down here. It's tough to make putts. I don't know how to explain it. I love putting Bermuda because you can, the way the grain works, you can use that to benefit you, you can use it as a tie breaker on putts, you can use it to make the whole field bigger. And past pal on the whole just feels small for me. It just the grass grows straight up. They keep telling you there's grain in it, there's not grain in it. I don't know why they keep saying that, but it just seems really hard to make putts on it

because if you look really closely, the ball just kind of wiggles a little bit back and forth. And so if you're a little bit off with the putter, it doesn't surprise me to see. He hasn't, you know, he's bricked a couple shorties, but he had just burned so many edges. Like if was playing raised cups which I think we should talk about that I would love to see that to PGA he would be very much in contention which is not is not what we're playing.

Yeah you're right about past Palo I finally experienced this early Jack speech and it's weird sometimes I feel like I can't miss and it like, you just like that ball's going in, which is a little bit more rare. And then I, I, I do know what you mean where it's like, man, like, God, there's just something going on here. And I don't feel confident that this ball is going to like, take the lawn that, that I'm seeing. Um, yeah, it's bad. You know, I don't know. Maybe maybe he comes out early tomorrow and shoots a 67 and, and, you know, sneaks his way into like the top 15 going into Sunday, but, uh, yeah, just, doesn't, doesn't really have it. It's not there. It's just not quite there. Um, Bryson was especially bitchy today here coming down the final stretch there. He drove it into the left shit on 16

And as you standing over his his his second shot is like I had a perfect dry had a great drive Sorry, that was a 15th hole. It's a hit hit a great drive hit a great drive and The blaming the wind which wasn't even blowing really left to right. It was blowing into For not taking his ball to the fairway and then hits a's a bad ship on 18. And I forget what he said, terrible golf course or something along those lines, which took us 36 holes, but we got but hurt Bryson. Yeah, yeah. Well, he made a hell of a par on 15, too,

after chopping it out. I still think we're gonna hear from this weekend. I feel like he's just in a good spot. I don't know, but maybe if he's in his own head, maybe not. You know, that little pitch on 18 was just, just seemed like a little mental air. Super golf course.

Yeah, super golf course. He did have a very scusy drop on the 11th hole, where he drove it left into the shit and got Neil's favorite, TIO relief into the 16th hole where he drove it left into the shit and got Neil's favorite TIO relief into the 16th fairway, which they didn't do a great job of explaining the whole visual and all that stuff, but that didn't quite fully seem right to me. I know it's, he got a rules official and technically that's what the play is, but some's got to be done about that, man. You can't go into another fairway and get a clear line at the green on a par five.

Yeah, what was it? Like you got to drop into a different surface, right? Like that's... Well, I think the nearest point, or I guess whatever direction he wanted to go, away so the bleacher, whatever, wouldn't be in his way. So the surface doesn't matter, you can change surface.

What are the credits? Where it's not in your line? And people were saying like yeah, I was still in his line. He just kept going until he got over into the fairway He didn't make birdie thing Speaking of TIO. I think it was or maybe one TIO. I will Lowry got a crazy Drop from the the literal beach didn't he with that little like Venson his way? I didn't know what was going on like, vencin' his way?

I didn't know what was going on there. Colter rules official over and says, is this part of the golf course? And he says yes, and he says it's an movable obstruction. Which movable obstruction is, if it's affecting your lie, stance, or swing, you get relief from it. And he immediately got relief. It didn't look like it was affecting all three.

Maybe it was saying maybe on the follow through he was gonna hit it, but it didn't look like it to me and he got immediate relief for that. That was a nice image of him down the beach and they covered that one really well. He's not a huge factor in the tournament, but it was a little scut. He's T19, he's not out of this tournament anyway.

That was the- That offense is not part of the golf course. Come on, I think you're great. It's literally like to retain the sand dunes, right? Yeah, exactly. Yeah, that was, I'm assuming that was decided on going into the week that that would be part of the golf course, because the rules official did not seem to doubt it at all. But can we talk about DJ?

Dustin Johnson, yeah, that stat that they said, first world number one to miss back-to-back cuts and majors since Craig Norman. I thought that was interesting. It's not been a good three months. We documented that going into this week and we talked about it last night. But, yeah, it's an official concern, I think at this point. You know, something's not adding up right. He's with Drew last week with knee injury, said he just wanted extra week at home and you know, got the rest and got whatever he needed. This was a literal home game for him on the on

the coast of of Carolina and Miss cut six over par. It's just it's a little it's disappointing. But the dominance we saw to Gusta in November, and you know, the crazy, awesome 2020 that he had, it is just a bummer to see him not take the step forward because it always has felt like he should, if we're looking at careers, he makes more sense to have four majors than it does Brooks in terms of their overall production.

And he's only, I hate saying disappointed with a guy only having two, but it looked like it was time for him to go on a run and this doesn't look like it. Yeah, and, you know, right, in the history of golf, he's exceptional, right? Two majors is wonderful, but I think he's deserving to be judged amongst,

you know, the best to play, and I think it is disappointing, only having two majors. That's not sales, he'll stay at two majors, but it's maybe look and feel like a little bit of a last year, but maybe just eat some time off and come back fresh. S H Stimer says how impressed is Randy by Higgs having 120 feet of made puts on 17 and 18. My gosh, that was so impressive.

I was, I mean, that's 12 basketball goals worth of puts on two holes. That is unbelievable stuff there. SVP was giddy. That was awesome. That was a great thing. He was, I encourage to higgs. I mean, he was, his reactions are awesome.

He's just such a fun, easy guy to root for. That was, yeah, that was one of the highlights of the day there for sure. And I mean, not only that stretch, I mean, Harry's sitting there at T12 right now going into major championship weekend. That's awesome. That's his first major he's ever played in. So I feel like there are some guys at that same T12 one under that I'm like, like did you know coke rack was was anywhere near The lead he's at one under Who else was me mean? I haven't seen much of me man. Yeah, Charlie Hoffman

I had no idea Charlie Hoffman was playing this week and he's one under tied for 12th. Yeah Which I'm assuming we'll see plenty of them as of our tea times out yet. Can somebody chime in here in the comments if they are? I don't think they are quite out yet, but did the PGA championship website, did they take the stats away? They had like all the good stats yesterday. Now I can't, I can't find them. They had like strokes gained for the whole field.

I've been using the the tour stuff that for mine, which is usually works pretty good. It's pretty easy to navigate that dude you met says soliable you apologize for fina absolutely not I didn't pick him at all. I had nothing you know I wasn't at a backdoor top 10 this weekend. Oh, no, I'm not even betting on that. I mean, maybe top 20, but it's, this doesn't strike me as a phenal course. BX, Mog 88, what the fuck have him with Corey Connors. He gets who owes me my 100 pounds, Sully or Corey. Is it a bullseye each? Yeah, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna, we predicted in the models. We said it wasn't sustainable, it was gonna make more putts. I give him credit, I think he made four birdies today. And he got in at a number at two under that was like, when he finished there, I was like, I think he's gonna like two under by the end of the day, sure enough he's T7.

So, yeah, he's burning out of it. No, he's burning 11, burning 16, burning 7, birdie nine He just had a lot of bogie stay, but a lot of people have bogies and every everyone has one bad round in a major Like you know, hopefully that was his for the week We need him to finish in that top 20 Yeah, which I feel very confident in so I'm not gonna Right there to Cory Connors Is it time to start talking about sungie maybe? He's officially loitering, I think. It's been a quiet little year for Sungjae.

I believe it was mentioned behind closed doors that maybe got too comfortable ever since he bought a house. He needed to be, he was hungrier when he lived on the road and played a lot better golf. But yeah, he's right there at T7. Only three back, there's so many people within shouting distance. There's 18 dudes with him four shots of the lead. And I only say, you know, he's a guy 23 years old. He's a guy that, you know, we like, I remember Max Homa saying, just certain guys

he talked to and you ask like, man, who, who are among the most talented guys out there, I feel like some Jay's name comes up, you know, more so than maybe the regular fan would, would realize. So certainly wouldn't be a surprise or a shock if he's around. He was runner up with the Masters last November, but could this time could be a big breakthrough for him. Moss DC, given the difficulty in the afternoon afternoon our players teeing off earlier and is somewhat better positioned tomorrow than the leaders even being five to six shots back. I'm going to say no. Go ahead.

No, no, you go. You finished your thought. I was going to say no, like five to six, the influence of the course will not be anywhere close to five to six shots back. I think, you know, there might be a little bit more opportunity early on, but it's not going to be dramatic as far as I can tell with the forecast. Unless you're seeing something different than I am. Oh, that well, yeah. I almost think it lays, like, I'm just thinking like 15 through 18, right? It seems like the leaders going off lately, you know, The wind is still blowing,

but it almost settles a little bit into the evening. I think the guys that get the brunt of the wind or whatever wind there will be are those guys that are going through 15th through 18th, like mid afternoon. I think are maybe the guys in the worst spot. I think early and late are almost good that middle group is where it's like if there is a lot of wind

That's where you're gonna catch all of it I'm pouring one out for Trangoli If you're sinning for the guys who went through there in the middle of the episode I didn't even comment. I appreciate you paying homage to to the cat with your outfit today What with the with the red was a red in the black hat. Yeah with the red? Well, it's a red in the black hat. Yeah. Oh, it's blue.

Come on. Yeah. It's Navy. It's Navy. All right. I also want to pour one out for Rich Beam. Hello, the performance. Missed the cut by two.

I think he doubled the last hole to miss the cut by two. Went out and followed and did on course coverage for Sky in the afternoon after barely missing the cut in the PGA. I love that guy. Yeah. Anything with Rob? Are we surprised? Rob. Well, he got overshadowed. His own little meltdown today got overshadowed. He had a throne club tested the flexibility on another shaft as Peter Burns said, which looked like he was getting ready to try to break one. And my favorite was he after he made a bogey everyone was kind of applauding and he like waited all. No, no, no. He's like, don't clap for that.

That was good. I'm all for that. Oh, well, so we, a, a, m p, a, a, m pin well, says just Brad Merrick stuff really. Or have you gotten, as anybody mentioned to you, the, the Brad Merrick looks like you. I think one guy on Twitter did and I was like, dude, I don't know. I feel like everybody would have been, or at least more people would have been telling me that had there been any resemblance. So I don't see it at all. I don't know what people are talking about. I know. Yeah. Come on guys. That's obviously tongue in cheek. It's fun. I mean, what a warm-up routine. That, you know, that was the highlight of the day there for a while. His stretching routine on the range. Just a big dude, I think 6'5", 6'6", just doing these crazy, crazy warm-up stretches. I looked, he's out of, I think the club he's out of is around Oakland, California. So I would never go against my guy, George Yankees, but if I ever maybe I'm looking

for less than I might have to fly out to Oakland and get with my guy, Brad. Why Y Yang did get dequeued? I don't know why. I don't think we ever got any clarification on that. If anyone has that, loved to know why. But I think that's all I have in my notes. So are you going with Kebka then? Is that your pick going forward? No, come on. My heart picks Phil. Well, yeah, I think if you're like gunned your head, you have to pick somebody to survive, who's going to win this weekend. I would feel most comfortable picking Capca. And then admittedly, as many times as we forget about Capca, when I said Louis was my pick,

admittedly, I kind of forgot about Capca. That's when I was like, really, Louis over at Capca. Just there. Yeah, that's very much the deserves the McAtee really. And if I could do one over how it would take Brooks. I mean, I want to see Brooks win this of all the guys up there. I feel it will be the best story, of course. We probably didn't even do Phil,

the proper justice, but we'll have plenty of time to do that if he's still in this as of tomorrow night. Well, yeah, Phil doesn't feel like a normal 50 year old like he's got. I don't know. He's got so much talent still. It's really impressive. And I think that's what you're talking about is like just to be able to have that much talent at age 50.

But yeah, hopefully six or hour more day, it'll make for a hell of a fun Sunday. Parker in the chat says how nice is it with no Nikki Fowdo. I hope you enjoyed it because Fowdo will of course be around for the weekend. He is apparently he's not he can't do. He can only do NBC stuff during the week. Apparently is why he haven't seen them so far. But so it'll come to a screeching halt when he comes on tomorrow. You know, we're not really doing hamstered, but I've really enjoyed the SPM presentation.

The main channel broadcast, I thought was good. I've really, I thought they've done a great job with feature groups. I've enjoyed it. It feels like a major championship. It feels like you're watching a sporting event that really, really matters instead of a vehicle for ads. And the difference in that is very, very stark. And why it's going to be hard to switch back on to watching PGA tour as of next week. So anything else before we wrap, but gone. I'm waiting for shit to pop off, man. It felt like you kind of did a little bit there with Van Roy at the end, but I feel like we're due for some kind of crazy sequence tomorrow, some kind. Well, we've got Phil in the final group. So he's usually no stranger to weird

and wacky. So maybe that'll be it. Yeah, some, some's going to happen tomorrow. We know that. So thanks everyone for tuning in live from Killhouse. We'll be back tomorrow night and back Sunday as well. I might sleep in a little bit tomorrow instead of waking up at 7am to watch golf for 13 straight hours. Yeah, have yourself asleep. Hey, thanks buddy, appreciate it. All right, big guy, take care, everybody. We'll see you later. Yep. Yep.

Be the right club. Be the right club today. That is better than most. How about him? That is better than most. How about him? That is better than most. Better than most.