No Laying Up - Golf Podcast - NLU Podcast, Episode 44: US Open Recap with Kyle Porter

Episode Date: June 22, 2016

Kyle Porter from CBS joins me to talk about his experience at Oakmont for the 2016 U.S. Open for DJ’s triumph, and what it was like following that group on Sunday. Kyle gave some great... The post NLU Podcast, Episode 44: US Open Recap with Kyle Porter appeared first on No Laying Up. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I'm going to be the right club today. Yes! That is better than most. How about him? That is better than most. Better than most! Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the No-Langue podcast. We have with us two. I think we do pretty much every major recap podcast. Basically just turns into a traditional giggle fest from CBS Sports, Kyle Porter. Kyle, you were at Oakmont this week. I feel like every tournament

you end up going to ages you about like six years. Like did you come home and read your kids like all grown up or like what? How did you survive last week? Yeah, I got home and my kids are like daddy, why is your hair gray now? I feel like I've gone to, I was thinking about this on my flight feel like I've gone to I was thinking about this on my flight home I've gone to some epic tournaments and I mean and maybe not maybe tournaments is bad word but just the finishes that I've that I've gotten to see have been just unbelievable from DJ last year at Chambers Bay to speed some meltdown at Augusta I mean I don't go to that many events and the ones the ones that I've gone to have been

Have been really great. So yeah, it was oh, mom was a lot of fun and Sunday was one of the more bizarre experiences of my career covering golf Yeah, I want to hear and just for the listeners that did listen yesterday I did a recap podcast with Tron from NoLangup as well who Kyle hasn't listened to that and there may be some overlap on some topics discussed, which is totally fine I'm not gonna even apologize for that. So is Tron okay, by the way like have we do he has he slept since DJ Who is to the trophy? I don't think so probably not. I think he's leading a parade still around Boston, waiting for somebody to join in with

them. But, we, I, so I went to the memorial a couple weeks ago and spent all my time out on the course. I didn't really spend any time in the media center. And the thing, I always knew this from my time going to tournaments. And the thing I wanted to ask about is when I was out there My perspective on the actual tournament going on was completely lost like I was I was just thought it was a Friday I was just following the threesome

I look up at scoreboard like Kutra was 1200. I just had no idea like who was winning the tournament You were out there following the leaders on the back nine on Sunday Did or were you following DJ's group or the final group or a combination? I was with DJ. Okay, you were DJ. Did you have a full appreciation or full understanding of what all was going on out there?

I mean, I guess how do you do that when you're out on the course yet you're covering the event and not viewing it from a fans perspective? Yeah, it is harder. And I think that's what it's really interesting because I think that's what people don't totally understand. It's the only sport where if you're at it, it's harder to cover, like if you're actually out on the grounds. And I think that, you know, one of the things is a lot of people end up staying in the media center. We are lucky at CBS because we have sort of people doing both. Like Robbie Callan is the guy that I work with and he writes about college football and then he does golf whenever there's

bigger tournaments or I have off days or whatever and so he does a great job running our live blog and Catching you know one-off stuff like big cat coming in hot on Twitter and whatever and so I'm able to They're able to send me out and say, hey, we think this is probably going to be the story. So go follow this guy or this group. And if it's not, then we can, we'll kind of text back and forth and say, hey, maybe this is the story. So go chase them down.

So it's stressful in that you want to be with whatever the story is. And if you're doing TV, that's easy. You just shoot it over to a camera. But if you're on the ground, it gets kind of difficult because if you're on if you're doing TV that's easy you just shoot it over to a camera but if you're on the ground it gets kind of difficult because if somebody's on the back like I had to run over to Kebka and see what he was doing when we thought he was gonna shoot 62 so it's definitely a lot of texting back and forth and following on Twitter and just trying to figure out what's going on. Do they let you inside the ropes for the major for the US Open?

Yeah they did it at this year's US open last year There was only like I don't know 20 inside the ropes fast as because Chambers Bay was like They didn't they they figured it was an artifact like the moon and so they wanted to preserve like Like as much of it as possible, but this year. Yeah, there was there was a ton of people inside the ropes It actually looked like DJ coming up 18 with like Francis we met from like 1913. There were so many people in there walking in the fair. I did see that. I was like, there is still a group behind them. I know if a box is going to like cut away from not show the final group coming up probably, but yeah, I think I think Jose Maria was able to double was really excited about that action.

People out there stepping in Shane Lowry's line, right? So I think you, you, first of all, I love going back to the Masters. You were out following Speed during, you were on 12 when it happened. And my favorite sequence of tweets, maybe, ever was Adam Stanley tweets he says you know Kyle Porter is out there and he's following the speed group can't wait to see what he has to say when he comes back in

because obviously the gusty you can't tweet right out there and you obviously weren't in communication with him you tweeted less than like two seconds after he tweeted that your tweet just says I have seen unspeakable things He just says, I have seen unspeakable things. To see that back to back was a really, a really comedic relief for that horrible day. But you said a few things about how the buzz out there was just bizarre. And I've read a few things you've written about in tweet about, but I want to hear you just kind of talk

about what it was like out on the course because it was with this bizarre ruling and not really ruling was going on. Technology is so good these days people are getting updates on their phone and understood what was going on where it's in the past they might not have but it's just like kind of dominated the entire event even in person. Yeah, well I walked up, I saw that a bunch of Men in short sleeve white Oxford's were Talking to DJ on the twelfth tee and my first thought was that it was about number five and But then I thought I can't I can't be what it's about like those they because I was with him when he talked to the rules official then and

It looked like they just kind of put it to bed And that was that was it and so I tried to run up there and see what they were talking about and everything and then he got it Was weird and like everybody was just acting strange on the t-box and then Curtis strange ran up to one of the officials That was walking with the group and he asked what had happened and they wouldn't tell him and he goes He goes well, that'd be nice for the broadcast, but whatever. I've only won two of these things. Yeah, don't bother telling, don't give him the update. Then he walked away. So that was actually kind of funny. And then it was interesting because to my understanding, the Fox people didn't know if people on the course knew about it, is that true? Um, they were kind of... Well, so what they did is, if I remember this right, I might be, I might be misremembering this because I was really upset.

Um, they brought in a guy into the booth who hadn't talked to anybody yet, so then they asked him about it. And he's like, I don't know, I haven't talked to anybody. Like he didn't have an update on it yet. Oh, by the way, if I'm a USJ official, I would have just said that for the next two days. I don't know, I haven't talked to anybody. You were to put on Mike Davis.

What happened to Mike Davis? Did he go into the witness protection program? I mean, I don't know if that follows under his job description at all, I really have no idea, but he's kind of a face of that organization. Where was he? Like, nowhere to be found.

He ejected. But then you could see it on, or you could hear it on fault. I'm walking like on the ropes with DJ's group still. And you could hear people talking about it and the way they figured it out, because everybody's got their phone out there but also they have these ear pieces,

these radio ear pieces. And so they had the radio broadcaster, maybe the Fox broadcast on their ear piece and they were figuring out an understanding what was going on and then they started like yelling and booing and like it was so for a couple holes it got weird because nobody really knew and then there were two it seemed like everybody was like buried in their phones trying to figure it out and then after that people were

losing it and it really galvanized everybody around DJ which I thought was really interesting they they it felt like they were trying to carry him home more than they would have been otherwise. Yeah, I think it helped for DJ's sake that he was the biggest name on the leaderboard and probably the most popular player in that people were probably already rooting for him in general. I think if you're at a U.S. open especially, the U.S. is national championship. You're the lead American in the field. I know Sergio's got plenty of fans out there, but he's also got plenty of haters. If it comes down to DJ versus Shane Lowry, DJ's gonna be pulling the gallery in his direction to begin with. With this happening on top of it, it was just like, alright, we've seen enough of this heartbreak for DJ. This can't be the way this one happens. Like Alan Shipnick tweeted, it was good when he said,

like, of course it's DJ, like of course, it's wouldn't happen to anyone else ever. Like, and I wrote, I said that nothing, and I think this is like kind of humorously true, but like nothing lubricates a United States open crowd, like a questionable rules call. Like people just get it like There's just anti-authoritarian and just so just angry like it was it was actually pretty funny to watch

I Know you you know the same like group chat and we've been having discussions about what happened Yeah, first of all do youth are you of the opinion that DJ's actions caused that ball to move? I am. Wow. Okay. I think you guys are starting to pop up one by one. Like I didn't hear a lot of this on Sunday or even on Monday.

And I feel like I'm seeing a few people on Twitter be like, yeah, you know what? I think it moved. They're being very careful because they know they're going against the mob within this. But I, I, what is your, I guess, what's your put on your price in D-Shambo cap and try to explain, explain to me the physics of how you think it moved? Well, so just being on the greens, I think the easiest explanation is if you, if you ground your club anywhere on those greens and with the way with how slick they were and how I mean

just how precarious they were with I mean I will talk about this in a minute but I played the course on Monday and if you were up on a ridge you were running up there to mark your ball because you didn't want it to you know you didn't want a one mile an hour gust to come through to blow it or whatever and so any little thing I think Causes would have caused your ball to move and so him grounding is called next to the ball I don't like people get all up in arms about well He didn't ground his club behind it so wouldn't have caused that. I don't really think that matters. I think He touched the earth with his putter. I think we can all agree on that

And it was close enough that I think it could have caused it to move. I'm not saying that I'm 100% sure about that. That's just my opinion that he caused it to move. No, I understand that. You're entitled to have a opinion. You can be as wrong as you want about it. Is it going to be like the Shane Ryan podcast, the Ricky Taken driver on 17 at the Phoenix Open.

Just gonna go back and forth for 25 minutes of it. I haven't heard Shane Ryan on a podcast since. I know, man, I said him an email in a day, being like, dude, we missed the friends of Tiger and man, I mean, like, another golf podcast game is a little bit saturated these days, but. Yeah. Well, there's no good golf podcast out there.

Yeah, there's none. No, I think the people that say that they think he moved it, I'm, I don't think it's crazy to think that. I just don't think that tapping the ground next to the ball. All right, let's say the to make that ball move by tapping the ground next to it There has to be something else in play that is covering like the remaining 90% of why that ball moved Okay, so that ball could not have been sitting on a perfectly flat piece of grass Him barely tap. I mean DJ grips the putter so soft Everything he does in his putting motion is very slow, very soft.

There's nothing forceful about it. He's not twirling his club near the ball or anything like that. For him to think that his action of barely tapping the ground, move the ball, it already had to be sitting on some kind of imperfection, right? We know the greens were rolling at like a 14.8 stem for whatever on Sunday. There's Poa in the greens to begin with. They're uneven, a little bit. I mean, I think they rolled very smooth, but there is poa involved in that. There's pitch marks all over the place. There's been 70, you know, guys have been going through this

hole for four days, including practice rounds. There's going to be spike marks all over the place. There's going to be imperfections in the green, and there's a little bit of wind, and there's huge slopes in those greens. I don't think that just tapping the ground next to the ball is going to cause it to move. Maybe that was the trigger point but the overriding factor in that is that there's had to be some kind of impression on the green that caused it to move. And the fact that the players, the players just don't mess around with this kind of stuff. When they're in doubt, they call a penalty on themselves. And the fact that the Westwood was just riding for DJ so hard, I was just, and listen to DJ talk about it and even what he said during the round, he's like, I'm not even concerned at all, I didn't make it move. Those guys know when they're

in control of their ball, they know that when they've done something to mess up, that I just have faith in the players to be able to judge that on their own and to put it into that video scrutiny and to interject themselves after the rules official, step, like came in on that issue and ruled that he did not, that it was not a penalty, in the USDA rules that is supposed to be the final rule. I don't get how they got to the conclusion that it should have been a penalty. And I didn't ask you that. Yeah, whether or not you think it do you think

it was appropriate for him to have been penalized? No. Okay. Because I'm with you if the biggest issue I had with everything, well I have one even bigger issue. But the biggest issue I had specifically with this US open is that DJ the rules official and Lee Westwood went over and talked about, I watched it happen, like he called the rules official over. And they talked about it and that should have been it. Like, and somebody Ben Crane brought this up on Twitter, actually, he said, you can't say that golf

is like a game of honor. And then blatantly accused someone of basically lying. I mean, that's basically what they're saying is like, when they say you don't understand what you did or you don't know, you're basically saying like, we don't believe you. And that's a very, I feel like unfair thing to accuse someone of on a Sunday at the US Open.

That can be a bigger conversation, but I don't know. That was sort of my issue specifically with this, but do you want to talk about my bigger issue? Obviously, yeah. My bigger issue is that I feel like we're burying the lead here, and the lead is that it's completely absurd that we're even arguing about this. Like whether he caused it to move or not, he was not purposely trying to improve his lot.

Like, why is the USGA rulebook, and I asked this at least once a year, why is the USGA rulebook like 500 pages long? Like, we need to use some common sense here and I would actually say the same thing and I just wrote a column about this about Shane Lowry on Saturday. He caused his Baltimore to a capinole. Like that's silly. Like you said, you're point on a 15th stimp and you have to be careful about not causing your Baltimore. Like that's ridiculous. But then the other flip side of that is that I don't think DJ based on this new rules system that I'm inventing on this podcast right now.

I don't think that DJ should have been allowed to take a drop on 10 out of the rough because whether that structure is there or not, like you hit a bad shot and you shouldn't get to improve your life just because of structures. You should still have to hit out of the rough just in a different spot. I just, I think the whole thing just gets, you just have to

keep making rule after rule after rule to clarify all the other rules and you kind of twist yourself and not in doing so. Yeah, it's like the tax code basically. Yeah, it is. They don't take anything away. And yeah, you can always find, God, this joke would work so much better

if this happened to Phil, but you can always find Phil will find a way to find a loophole in the system, that's for sure. Yeah. Side track, Barry, what you say though, I had no problem at all with the drop on the rough on 10, mostly because I was rooting for DJ. I think it's...

I didn't use there, and I think that he applied that real correct i had he didn't do anything wrong right now all that was was perfectly fine i'm just saying you got to be generally i think it's a i think it's a silly rule i think both of those rules are silly and one of what have affected them positively and the other negative way yeah it's definitely silly that this game is so unbelievably hard. And even if it's by accident, that somebody makes their ball move on a green. If it's in play, if it's in the fairway or in the rough and you're grounding your club or something and causing it to move and it may change your lie, that makes more sense

to me to be penalized rather than on the green, you can either, it's gonna roll such a minimal amount when it does move. You can easily replace the ball and there's zero damage. It's different when you're playing from the fairway and you can't mark the ball or whatever. That, you know, I could see that making sense to be penalized there. But on the green, it makes absolutely no sense. Even if the player did cause it, it's not not intentional and they're not making a stroke at the ball It's the same way like when when us amateurs like accidentally tapped the ball the driver The ball off the tee on the driver. It doesn't count as a stroke

It's and you can put it back on a marker on a tee in this case and Yeah, that actually doesn't count in pro events either. I don't believe no, it doesn't it doesn't that's what I'm saying though is like because you can put it on a tea right? That's the ruling that you're allowed to replace it same with on the green You're allowed to put a mark down and clean your ball and then replace your ball It should be you should be able to move the ball back to there's no there's no lies on the green right? It's all it's the green. It's supposed to be a true surface. Yeah. And that's the thing. At some point this week, somebody didn't move their ball, just replace their ball where their marker was,

and it was in a millimeter different spot in the same way that DJs ball. I mean, the whole thing is just absurd. It really is. And it's unfortunate that it turned into a discussion about, like, the, as was said in the hotel bar afterwards. So why am I talking about the preponderance of evidence on a Sunday night? Why is Gulf not a more popular sport? I really don't understand it. Come on, this is fascinating stuff. That was really, really funny. fascinating stuff. That was really, really funny. All right, on that note, let's deter away from the ruling of it.

How do you describe watching DJ hit driver in person? Oh my gosh. I mean, the drive he hit on 18 was, that was just, I mean, I think somebody said this on Twitter, it might have been you, it was such a moment. Like, and his drives all week, I don't know if he's always done this, somebody was telling me he used to hit more of a draw, but he was hitting just this power fade that was like, I mean, and I said the same about Rory McRoy, he is more accurate with his driver than most guys, maybe including him or with their wedges. I mean, it was really unbelievable, and to play that course on Monday and see how accurate you had to be off the tee, if you're not accurate off the tee, you're making bogey double bogey.

You can't do anything else, and so it was really just so fun to to watch him there's a great uh... he was fine with surgery uh... on was it Saturday afternoon i think uh... yes yeah third third round they were in a threesome and surgeo's caddy turned around to me in a couple other people one of the writers that he knew and said i've never seen anybody this far and this accurate off the tee.

And I thought he was talking about Sergio. I thought he was, like, pumping up his dude. And he was talking about DJ. Oh, God. And so it's crazy to see other world-class players, caddies, whoever are just so in awe of what Dustin Johnson does off the tee. And I think you and I've probably discussed in the past. I'm kind of a stats nerd when it comes to golf

and as a user of statistics, I'm not good at making my own or analyzing stuff that something like Jake Nichols does, but big fan of Mark Brody, all the strokes gained stuff and read his book, Every Shot Counts, and it changed the way I view the game and that I used to always think that my putting was costing me so many strokes and I was a terrible putter because I miss so many eight foot par putts until I realize PGA tour pros making eight foot putt 50% of the time and the true difference in the game is ball striking and the

The there's still an old guard of people that refuse to admit that they still want to say they're incredible. Yeah, still want to say Putt for Doe. Driver show Putt for Doe. No, because Justin Johnson just put forth one of the best driving performances I've ever seen in a major championship. Anyone $1.8 million because of it.

He won that tournament with his driver. He was in a spot where he basically couldn't go wrong. He's sitting flip wedges into these par fours. He didn't have a great wedge week to be honest. I mean, you passed past Friday, I would say he wasn't doubted with his wedges. People rip on his putting but the guy's not a bad putter at all. It's a really bad narrative. I wouldn't look up. I think maybe two years, maybe three years in the last nine. He's had negative strokes game putting aside from that. He's almost always positive strokes game putting. He's better than average putter. It's just a microcosm of the modern game

and that if you can drive it to these spots that no one else can reach, you're hitting wedges into these holes and you can't really screw it up that much. And, oh man, it was, and Tron made the point, I forget who made the point. I know I've talked about it with, we've all talked about when, when Jason Day bombs the ball, it doesn't feel right. It doesn't feel normal, but when DJ does it, it seems like the coolest thing in the world.

Well, and the reason for that is the way he, his swing is so unique. And it's been talked about it a ton, but just the way he cocks his wrists, so I get it at the top of his back swing, it just, it just looks so badass. Like it just looks awesome, you know? And he had, he had the, I forgot who described him as this, it might have been you, but he had the, the rapper strat going like on on after he made the par put on 16 He was he was strutting pretty hard to 17. Rory would have been proud of him

Um, and then to 18 and down 18. He's just a cool dude to watch I mean, he really is and I agree with you about the ballstrike and I want to say the Whoever was first in approach shots actually was one of the guys tied first side it was Jim pure he finished first in approach shots strokes gained on the week and he tied for seconds so yeah get out of here with with your with your strokes game putting wins tournament stuff I mean and and and that's the thing like the evidence that people have that like speed they'll hit like a 30 footer yeah somebody else we see that's how you engulf tournaments. And it's like, well, let's wait until like all 72 holes have been played and see who won the tournament

and see who's number one in Stroke's A and Optatee and with their approach shots. Yeah. I just pulled up the Mark Brody tweet on it. I think it only, the rankings here only include those that made the cut in it. But Sergio was... DJ's finish like 30th in putting out there. 30th in putting. Again, I'm assuming that only means made the cut, right? So the top 60 in ties or whatever.

Right. Because no one on this list is below 62 in any ranking. But Sergio was 60 second in approach shots this week. Yeah. So yeah. Basically, he was fifth in Strokes game off the tee, but he, so does, he gained 1.2 strokes off the tee per round, Sergio did, and he was fifth.

DJ, 2.4 per round, double to be first in Strokes game off the tee. I mean, he just, oh man, that was just an absolute exhibition. Like, Fioraq was 60, if he was like, almost last in Strokes game off the tee, and finished tied for second, because, yeah, his approach game was very good, his short game was good, his putting was good, but.

When we played the course, when we'd see it off on Monday, this guy that worked for the club came out there and was introducing himself and just telling us, you know, don't slow anybody down, and we actually ended up playing from the Sunday Teas, because we were like, hey, if we're gonna do this, let's do it like they did on Sunday. See how hard it is.

And he was telling us what the line was off the first team. He said, yeah, this is the line you take. This is where it'll end up. And then he goes, or you could take the DJ line, which is over here. And he pointed like to just an absurd spot that the DJ took. And I turned around and said, hey, where's the Andrew Landry line? Because I think that's the one I should be saying.

That's one of the questions I need to ask you is, what do I do with all this Andrew Landry stock that I bought? Like, what do I do with this now? Well, you save it for the next US Open. I mean, he even admitted that he was like, I'm basically never going to win the John Deere because I don't make birdies. And I'm such a... It's like a wild mindset.

Yeah. What are we going to do with that? Because you can't just play the US Open every year. That's where I don't know. I don't think that players game, somebody like Rory I do think his game is not that well-suited for a US Open, but in general, I don't think, I don't think Andrew Landry's logic is very good at all

because you just have to be really good at golf to succeed at the US Open and yeah, you don't make as many birdies, that doesn't mean, there's no like real big differentiator in how you would play a John Deere course versus like a USO you know what I mean it's like the power is different the yardages are different the reception is different like he's if he's good at golf he can go out and shoot 63 at TPC gear run and like it's not like he's incapable of that so I didn't understand that logic at all but I mean help give him confidence for the week and you got it. You got a hand it to him

I mean I made several jokes at his expense Which is always what I'm gonna do. I'm sorry. I'm not gonna apologize to that But did you think it was gonna did you think it would have been the biggest Like upset so to speak in major history? Yeah, I actually thought there was like not a lot enough attention being paid to it. Like here is like a true no-name that was in the final pairing on Sunday at the US Open. And yeah, I was not confident it was ever going to happen. I actually would have had to delete a tweet and then I contact Twitter to make sure it never surfaced in any screenshot ever again. When I said that he was threatening to miss the cut on his second round, because he went bogey bogey double and I thought he was going to pull the Camilo and be first

round leader and then miss the cut. And then he shot like a hung in for like a 73 or something. And I get, yeah, I get a lot of crap on Twitter from people and no one reminded me of that tweet. I think everyone was still kind of like, yeah, that was still on Twitter from people and no one reminded me of that tweet. I think everyone was still kind of like, yeah, that was still safe. For me, no one else would have thought he would have bounced back from this. Or there's just not a lot of Andrew Landry fans to follow me. Well, it's funny because I hung out with Sean Martin, a PJTUR.com,

quite a bit throughout the week. And he's a huge amateur golf guy. He loves college golf and high school golf and whatever. And we were talking about Ben Curtis winning because people were like, oh Ben Curtis was a bigger, would have been a, there was a bigger upset winning the British open. And he's like, well actually Ben Curtis was ranked number one in the Amateur World Rankins back in, and I was like, why do you know that? I actually knew Ben Curtis, I didn't know him, but he't know that. I actually knew Ben Kurt, not, I didn't know him,

but he grew up just outside of Ohio. So everyone knew who he was. And like, we used to play his course, his parents owned a course, and we used to play it once a year, like in a high school matches or tryout. And like, it was a really good player, but like, never, ever would have imagined

that he would win a British Open. But I don't know how we got to that. We're talking about Ben Curtis now in his, his upbringing in Columbus, Ohio. I shared a piece that you wrote on Lee Westwood riding for DJ. Didn't that feel, to me, it felt, it didn't feel like that's something every PGA

to our player would do. It didn't feel normal at all. That's also what made me feel so strongly about the ruling is that his playing partner was adamant about it. He was not like, well, he said, no, he was like, no, this is the way it's going to be. Did you feel that sense of support for anyone that hasn't read the piece, I guess, breakdown what your overall summary was of the Lee Westwood situation. Yeah, when I walked up on their group He was like he was kind of John with the usge guys that it basically just told Dustin that he was maybe gonna get a penalty afterwards Like they were they were going back and forth pretty loudly, and I was like you know how you're supposed to like walk alongside the ropes

At a tournament. I was like fearing towards them like down the middle of the fairway. Just like, you know what they were saying. And at some point I was like, I need to hijack, to get back over to the ropes. But you know, you could kind of pick up what he was saying. You could tell by his body language that it was like, this is absurd. This is not, he did not cause this to happen. We already took care of it and somebody mentioned this and I didn't, I think somebody tagged both of us in it, but I didn't remember it.

I mean, he was definitely like all in on doing whatever he could to help DJ the rest of the way. And even as Cadi, I wrote about him and I can't remember his name but his Caddy was like encouraging DJ and fist bumping him after big parses and they were pretty locked in to carrying DJ across the finish line and the thing that somebody tagged us in was I didn't realize this but on 17 Westwood didn't mark his ball. And DJ was hitting out of a bunker, and I guess he was leaving it there so it could stop DJ's ball if it went past the pin or something like that.

Was that, did that happen? I don't know. I don't, I don't remember what the sequence was. They may not even showed Westwood's shot up to the green at that point, because I'm not sure if he was in the top green at that point because I'm not sure if he was in the top one, top 60 at that point. I did see that tweet and I didn't see it enough and we got a couple responses as well. I think people were saying that that actually

was taking it too far, you know, and that he's not protecting the field. I kind of agree with that, to be honest. I'm in all in on DJ, all in on Westwood, but if he was potentially leaving his ball there to help his playing partner, I don't agree with that. But it could have just been like did he play to shot it to the green and DJ plays fast. He didn't get up there to market yet. It was not in his way and DJ played a shot before Westwood got a chance to market.

I don't think like Westwood marked it cleaned it it, and then put it back down before DJ play, but I could be wrong. I didn't see it. No, but that's sort of a, that's a thing that players do sometimes, and there's a lot of debate about, like I'm not saying that he did that because DJ was leading, but I think a lot of players do it sometimes, just with whoever they're playing with, to be able to help him out, and people kind of go back and forth on whether or not that's right. And I probably fall more along the lines of view of like, well this isn't like this isn't like best ball like this isn't the writer cup like you know you're still trying to finish as best she can but all

that aside like Westwood and his caddy were super impressive I talked to one of the one of the scores in their group afterwards and he said that Westwood had demanded to go in like he was like I rate after the round to go in and watch video of the putt along with DJ and and the ush was like not letting him go in there and he was like I'm I was there like let me see like he was like really you know upset about it and I like you shut an 80 like there's probably other stuff you know but it cool, like, you're right. I don't think everyone would have taken it as far as Westwood did.

Yeah, no, I think, I think this is what I said, these, I've always liked Westwood, but he went up a notch in my book, and I wouldn't necessarily have been rooting for him at Trune over anyone else, but now I'd like to see him win at Trune, I think the feeling I got for DJ finally getting off the hump, like I feel like I need to root for more of these guys to get off the hump.

Because that really, I'm not personally affected by this. And it still kind of moved me a little bit, which is kind of weird to say, but. No, I mean, the 18th hole, that was, that was a thing. Like, it was, it was a moment. It was. It was incredible. It was incredible to watch the second shot. You knew it was over. It was a moment. It was. It was incredible. It was incredible to watch the second shot. You knew it was over. It was really cool. And yeah, it was really a neat deal for him.

I asked Sean about this, what he thought about the vibe of the tournament. It's hard for us to experience, and I want to give leeway and maybe foxes, mics just don't pick it up as well, but was it loud out there? It didn't feel loud on TV. Even on 18 I'm kind of watching from a ghetto setup over here but was it? I don't want to explain to you how I watched the golf because it's kind of embarrassing but was it booming on that 18th hole? No, no it wasn't. And one of the problems at Oman is that the the course is structured, they've got the 18th reading right next to the 10th tee right next to the 12th tee. And so you can't create an amphitheater, like you did at Chambers Bay last year, it's kind of like an L, like

the stands are in an L shape. And so it was never going to be as loud. And I think what made it really eerie is that the back nine on when the leaders got on the back nine and then Dustin got the penalty and all that. Nobody was really scoring. Like nobody was making birdies or eagles. And so it was kind of quiet throughout until Dustin got to the last three holes.

But yeah, the very end was definitely not what it was was last year like when speed made birdie or anything like that Did you feel like after the the crazy Conversation on 12 happened did you feel like DJ was gonna let it slip away? Yeah, I think I did I can't remember my exact I was more like just staring at Twitter and how hilarious everything was Like just in awe of Rory just going guns blazing He added them he added them twice Yeah, and I love I forgot I think Van Balkenberg said it the Rory does not sub-tweet. That was that was good That was Chris Cheney and said that one

Yeah, that was awesome. Yeah, that was good. That was Chris Cheney and it said that one. Okay, yeah, that was awesome. Yeah, that was really good. But yeah, I think I probably thought he was going to let it slip away. But I, I, I, but at the same, there was a part of me like, you're going to be upset that I'm saying. There's a part of me that Scott Piercey was going to win. It was, uh, if you're watching the broadcast, you probably didn't think that because he, I don't think he made a bogey through like 14 holes and then kind of stopped showing him. It was kind of weird.

It would have been like a really quiet, really quiet win if he did because he was not the story at all. Shane Lauer had the foreshot lead, DJ had the big ruling incident. Well, it was hilarious because on Saturday night a bunch of us were at the hotel just discussing what the craziest thing that could happen on Sunday was. And what we landed on was DJ making a hole in one at 17 for an albatross and then double bugging in $18. And so while all this was going on it was like wow we didn't even consider this this would be worse

He's gonna have to like he's gonna have to decide whether and how do you win the turn That would I treated that was like this could literally come down to him deciding on his own which yeah It turned out the USGM was gonna decide the ruling on their own, but Yeah, if he was gonna have to make the decision on own, that would have been the most awkward win of all time. I think he's still going to have gotten like full endorsement from everyone if he'd said no, it's not a penalty, but... Which by the way, that would have been like the ultimate way for Sergio to win his first major.

Like the ultimate asterisk. But yeah, it's exactly nobody giving him credit for it. That's DJ's major him credit for it. That's DJ's major, you stole it. I think I know your answer to this one, but who disappointed you if anyone this week? That's a good question. I guess Rory, I mean, I don't know.

Like I'm of the opinion, and I've been saying this for probably two years, I don't think he's ever going to win US Open again. But he's just fun, I just want to watch him play, I want to watch him in contention. It's like a fraction of what Tiger was, it's just more fun when he's playing well. And I mean nobody, nobody checks when the grind is on, like Rory checks. He is not a grinder, never had ever had a good call on a grinder. But he kind of made you, he does this so often, he made you, he made you believe a little bit on the bat 9 on the, the second round whenever he played it you played it went out in 31.

You're like, ah, it's 64 in play. Like, what's going to happen here? And he just, I don't know. That's probably a whole other podcast. I've got some emotional issues I need to deal with. I don't know. I know it's only been six majors since Rory last one is major It probably it feels like a lot longer

He didn't even play in one of those majors It's just the Bounce the bounce back performance we saw from Jason Day after a tough first day or first night I don't even remember exactly is what we expect from Rory and we don't really get it And I know it's kind of become a running joke about him top back door top tenning all this stuff is what we expect from Rory and we don't really get it. And I know it's kind of become a running joke about him back to our top tenning all this stuff, but I mean, he won the Irish Open on the European tour, but he hasn't won... What was his last win last match play last year?

Well, it's Fargo last year. Well, it's Fargo last year. Okay, so not that long ago, but still kind of it's like For a guy that's you know a top five player in the game and we want him to be this number one player again. It's just a It doesn't feel like it's that that close to me. You know what I mean? It's just too many mistakes. It's too much up and down. It's kind of the same way I get when I'm watching Justin Thomas I mean he led the field this week in birdies or better, but just gave too many shots away. I don't know. You and I were both super excited for Rory's season coming into it.

The excitement's tapered off a little bit for me because I just don't think that something's still missing there. I'm not sure what it is. Yeah, I think about this a lot more than I probably should. And I if he wants to British in the PGM and ask for you to erase this podcast entirely. But there's a part of me that just I'm just curious about how um I don't know like how I don't want this sound hot take you, but just how much he cares. And I don't mean that in like, oh he doesn't care about golf, but just like, I think where I land on Rory is like,

he's a first round, like his first round defines his tournament. Like if he goes out and he sees that he's locked in He mentally engages and if he doesn't then it's just like well whatever and then his talent takes over on Saturday or whatever And he finishes back to our top 10 and I don't know He's just he's such a front runner that he gets frustrated and sometimes when he doesn't jump out front and can't call his way back into the tournament Like a Jason day or a Jordan speed dose. Yeah. No, I'm still picking him for the bridge.

Just despite me just going on like a minute and a half ran of it doesn't feel close. By the way, I meant to say this up front, but your call of the greens not matter in an oakmont. Ricky Fowler, you said that I think in January when you said oakmont. Ricky Fowler, you said that, I think in January, when you said DJ would win. Ricky Fowler said the exact same thing basically on Saturday when you miss a cut. He's like, the green cell matter here. It's all about where you drive it and where you hit it. And he's like, people are just not going to make many putts.

And so you just got to put yourself in a good position. And that's exactly what DJ did. Before I could take full credit for that, I feel like I need to be honest and come clean and that I was like kind of joking when I said that. And then I mean, there was some serious nature to it, but I was kind of like, I just went with this complete backwards logic. Everyone's talking about the greens at Oakmont.

I'm kind of like, well, if they're just that fast, maybe it just will neutralize everything. And so I wanted DJ to win so badly that I just kind of worked that into my take and that, yeah, maybe the greens won't even matter. But, no, no, I totally called that. I totally knew that the greens were bad. Not bad. How about a Oakmont?

How about, I was thinking about this, like the way that these tournaments play out. Like if you, if you went back and looked at like, who the 54-hole leader was at all the Oakmont US opens I bet you bits I bet it would be a list of pretty crappy winners, but somehow After 72 holes, it's produced these just epic champions that you know Nicholas Hogan Ernie L's Dustin. I mean these are these are like dudes and it's just's just, I'm so fascinated with like, and I want to do a post on like, you know, what would happen if a tournament was 70 holes? Or like, why is it 72?

And why does that seem to produce the right guy more often than not at major championships? No, that's a really good point. It kind of, I mean, let's be honest for a second, if Shane Lowry would have won this, and that's not disrespect Shane Lowry, I know he's a fantastic player, but from an American fan perspective, and I know European listeners like to get on me for not giving enough credence to European players, but for American fans, just nature of the beast as we pay attention to the PGA

tour, but we are familiar with the European guys that play the PGA tour. I'm a fan of Lee Westwood. He doesn't play a lot on the tour this year, but he has in the past. It would have been a tough start to the year if it went to any will it. Shane Lauer in the first two majors. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And a tough start to the writer cup, which is going to be out. By the way, I want to say this real quick, there was another writer this week that called Chris Wood on the BMW PGA Championship. And he called Chris Wood a world rankings point thief at the USO.

I'm not going to say who said it, but as he said it, I was like, I can't wait to tell solidly. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry it really is. Yeah, I thought it was interesting to get a player's perspective on that. But I have a couple of questions for you from some listeners and readers that it's funny. You know, we had this amazing tournament as a major event and the overwhelming amount

of questions that I got were about you playing Oakmont on Monday. So the first one comes from Divott Free Zone, which is awesome handle by the way. Kyle, how will you explain to your kids laying up on a I'm not my head. All right, so here's my defense. Oh no. Here's my defense. We're playing, we're playing from the... So your whole thing is staying your lane, right? True.

Yeah. If Roy's like 390 out, you're like, okay, that's stupid. Don't go for the green. Right. Yep. My lane is not a 299 yard three wood. Like that is not a lane that I drive my car in. And we're playing from the Sunday T. So it's playing 299.

And so I'm thinking, okay, what's the best way to make par? It a foreign, wedging, and try to make a putt. Like I'm not going to, I'm trying to post a score. I'm trying to beat Lee Westwood here. Because we're playing from the Sunday tees and the Sunday pins. And I par number one, I'm like, I'm gonna shoot a 42 and, and tweeted, and tweeted at Westwood.

I'm gonna tweet my score card at Lee Westwood. If this is, is that why you wrote the very glowing column about them so you can get away with, uh, tweeting your score? I'm, so that's my defense on why I laid on the part three. And now of course I went on to make double duggies, so you get what you get exactly what you pay for. Ken Ryan wants to know, I read this twice and I still can't get through it. How many penalties would the USGA have dished out at SB2K16? That's a great question. Did your perspective on Oakmont change it all after playing it?

Yes, definitely. The greens were easier than I thought they would be. The greens were easier than I thought they would be. They didn't cut them or roll them, so maybe that's why. But the caddy that we had said they were still rolling about it's 12, which sounds really fast and it was fast, but it wasn't. The only other course that I played that's nice like that is Colonial. And I thought they rolled about the same as that, and you know it's going to be fast, but the thing about those courses and those greens, if you hit the line, it's going in. So pure. And I think that's what people don't realize. They think it's like playing at their muni with fast greens, which would be just a disaster. But if you hit

the right line, you know it's going in. But the thing that was tougher than I thought was the rough. I mean, if you didn't hit the track, I couldn't, I mean, I took a couple of quads because I couldn't get out of the rough around the green. And, you know, finally, we talked about how you kind of have to do it by just turning your club over a little and acting like you're hitting out of the sand, because otherwise it just eats it up. I mean, it was so long and so difficult and I can see why Jim Furric and Dustin Johnson finished one two based on their drives

and approaches because that's the way you win that tournament and so I think it's I actually think it's cool because I like it when courses produce those kinds of champions. Can we just talk about real quick how you went from saying you wanted to break the westwood score to just sprinkling in made a couple quads, you know, that's how I made a couple quads. Well, that was on the back nine. I was locked in on the front. Adam Kramer at kegs and eggs wants to know was there a club twirl on the par three layup. That's cold. That would have been like double disrespecting me if you'd have laid out and then club twirled on it. Yeah, that's pretty cold. That was not.

Okay, I did I did tip the cap to the highway. I did see that. I did see that. That was well played. Jay Rigdon wants to know, do you guys think as I do that Dustin wouldn't have so quickly accepted penalty had it mattered? Yeah, of course. I mean, I think he was, I mean, that's DJ though. He's just like whatever. Like, give me the trophy, let's get out of here. Yeah, I don't care. I win by directly. He dropped an F-bomb in his press conference afterwards. I saw that, that was fantastic.

Yeah, like, he was, I just, you know, whatever, I'm out. Like, let's go home. So, yeah, I definitely think he would have been I mean I don't he's not the kind of guy that I mean he's like the the opposite of Gary player right like he has no idea How many wins he has or what his scores were or whatever like 165 tournaments worldwide. Yeah, and the other day Gary Player was quoted as saying he's hit 11.2 million balls in his career. Dustin doesn't even know until the nearest 100,000.

I don't know to my nearest 100,000. Who counts? I mean, balls they've hit in their career. Well, yeah, but the answer to my question is, yeah. Yeah, like Dustin just is like, I don't care what my score was. Like I just want the money and, you know, let's go home. Um, uh, do you, Matt Golden asked is the USGA actually feeling the weight of practically all players and media turning on them so quickly?

I don't, I don't see how they couldn't, but somebody told, I was talking to somebody on Monday who said that like the USGA was sort of unaware of what was happening. Like they didn't know that Rory was like dropping napalm on their headquarters. Did anybody reading their mentions? I guess not. Or like the person who was was maybe too scared to tell anybody. I don't know. But it is interesting, it's so funny that the medium through which all these players communicate to the USGA is Twitter. It's such a weird time that we live in. And what other sport would this happen in?

I don't know. It was pretty crazy. But I don't know how, and was pretty crazy but I don't know how and I think that's why you saw the apology come on Monday night because I think they sort of figured out all the backlash they were getting yeah and then you know put out the apology do you think the Matt Lutz wants to know will the US GA change how they prepare opens after everyone tore them a new one perhaps finally rain in the ball. The ball is the thing for me I don't know that I don't know if they're going to prepare the US open any differently. I guess you could

slow the grain so but it's the ball. I mean in the well this goes back to what we were talking about like it's not fun for us to see Jason day hit us We were two iron like two ninety five But for some reason it is fun to see a rory hit a three wood like three 20, you know and so like We sort of like contradict ourselves, but I do think that You solve so many Issues by just pulling back the ball a little bit like you solve

Architecture issues on courses, you solve just so many different things that people complain about. It's a very simple solution and I guess I don't really understand why it hasn't been done yet Yeah, back to I remember what I was gonna say now back to I think the I think Rory being like the first one to come out and shred them Kind of caused a domino effect a little bit with the players It could be coming out and ripping them. I don't think Brant's net occurs standing up really firmly and all these guys Coming in and raining on them if it wasn't for Rory and his three million followers just just laying waste to the place So you don't make Jason co-crab tweeting something was like a big deal Bout boss about it's waiting on it too. He said he said they need to send D. Shem Boa in there to give me a physics lesson

That was amazing. That was great. That made me that made me like him a lot like that was really good Bout is supposedly the man and I Kind of feel bad for a road. I was making fun of him for shooting 80 but he is supposedly the man But um do you think, does this tournament have any impact on you? I know you tweeted the Ryder Cup standings earlier for the US. Do you think that has any impact on how the team's gonna play out, the competition at all?

I know it's still kind of far in advance, so I try not to look at it too much, but did it have any impact on you? No, not this single tournament, but I'm just,'m just getting very concerned. I was with you, I stood with you in like February and in my head, I don't know if I ever wrote this, but I predicted. I was like, the US is going to roll, like they're going to route the Europeans. And now with the way Ricky's playing and Bubba's not really playing that great and speed this kind of just

I don't know he finished t37 like he's a little up and down I guess but I don't know like I'm getting very concerned about the US's chances in the rider cup. Elfin the room Ricky might need a captain's pick. I know he's down to eight he's the last guy right now or maybe seven. There's still just so much that can happen though I think Kepp go in from like eighth to third in the standings this week the three through like 12 guys are all still really bunched up like it. Yeah I don't think it's gonna be too controversial who begins up getting on this team. I'm a bit concerned

Part of me once the the rosy side of me wants to say concerned. Part of me wants the rosy side of me wants to say that it's still early and we want guys peaking at the right time and whether Bubba's peaking in mid summer doesn't really matter that much. But I don't know. There's like a new European popping and I don't mean, I don't mean this in the like getting our attention from the American side as being a true player on the world stage. There just seem to be like a new European breaking through and popping like Will at winning the Masters. Lowry almost winning the world stage. There just seem to be like a new European breaking through and poppy like Willett winning the Masters, Lowry almost winning the US Open. These aren't the top five guys

that were afraid of on the European side. Well, and they're guys that you're like, they're not guys that you're not worried about. They're guys that you're like, I could see him winning like four matches in the Ryder Cup. I can see like Maccuffus Patrick just coming out and just housing Bubba. Bubba question his birth certificate or something.

There's just stuff, just the way they play, the way they carry themselves. Shane Lowry will win matches at the Ryder Cup. I would beg money on it right now. I think that's the part that's a little would like bet money on it right now. And I think that's the part that is a little bit concerning if you're a US fan. I was wondered, I'm sure it's like in the bylaws or something, where do they draw the line for what Europe is? Because like if you like look up Europe on Wikipedia, like think about it, like technically countries like Azerbaijan and like Turk're by john and like turk ministan like a view on make a pd are part of europe

like what happens like is is russia like what if a player comes from like like eastern russia are they in your are they can they play on the european team well what about like british colonies i don't like yet's good question like uh... like the falcon islands or whatever uh... like we're gonna see I'm surprised they never tried to like like get VJ like sneak VJ into the the British Virgin Islands like what if somebody grew up half on the British

Virgin Islands and half on the US Virgin Islands how do they determine what team they go on. Yeah and do we get to use does the US get to use like Puerto Ricans does that count? I would think so. I don't know. It's a commonwealth, isn't it? What about like American Samoa? We're going too far. Do you think Baba has ever been to Turkmenistan? Oh, I'm sure he has. I'm sure he has. He didn't like Paris. By the way, I do have to... ha ha he didn't like Paris

oh by the way i do have to get we we roll on by the and he's needsy target or whatever but um i gotta give him props for being out there and congratulating DJ i thought that was kind of cool i don't know maybe some people don't think that's cool but i thought that was maybe maybe people think he's like making it about him but i thought that was that was kind of neat because I don't think that you see, like, Brewery's not doing that. Like, Brewery's like on, you know, air and Nike one, just piece out. So I don't know, I like that. I don't dislike it, but yeah, I'm kind of in the boat of, I don't know if he's, if that's self-serving, I have no idea what his relationship is like with Dustin Johnson.

I can't imagine that he's, if that's self-serving, I have no idea what his relationship is like with Dustin Johnson. I can't imagine that that close. But, I mean, I've got no, it's partially cool, partially self-serving, in my opinion, but a long time fan writes in, his name is Kevin Van Volkaberk, he wants to know real quick, who do you like in a push-up contest for a major, Gary Player or the Field? I actually like William McGurd if I had to push up Gunner. I'll see you on the first team, McGurd. Very final question, this is not a reader question. I'm asking you to lock your pick in for Trune right now. I'm currently Bacon, Sarsson, and are our bailing water out of our canoe and putting it in bags for Sarsson and take back to Canada.

Because I'm taking Sergio Garcia. If anything would trigger making more confidence in a Sergio pick, it's Dustin Johnson winning a major in glorious fashion really. Yeah, exactly. Like, and it certainly was playing really well. I mean, you want obviously one of the Bayern-Nelson contended here, and he didn't, I mean, here's the thing. Like, he didn't melt down. Like, he just was a couple of shots short. Like, he didn't, and maybe you can say like,

okay, well, he wasn't leading at the time or whatever, but he played pretty well on Saturday and Sunday, and he just, you know, didn't get it done. So, I wanted to happen, I hope it happens. So I usually pick who I would like to see when in August or June a true. Locked in, done. Kyle, congratulations on another great week.

I know, I know those weeks are a lot of fun. I need to make it to one of these majors like for a whole week at some point and hang out with you all you guys. It seems like a lot of fun. So yeah, that would be that would be a spectacular trying you're not going to tune are you now I'm not I'm going we've actually got Robbie our other guy going to Balda straw and then I'm going to the

writer cup nice so all right mr. Porter thank you for your time good please guys check out the piece I shared that he wrote on the westwood it is a really good one. You can follow Kyle on Twitter at Kyle Porter CBS. Um, it won't be too long before we catch up again. I imagine because major season is pretty crazy this year, but uh, yeah, last, last thing I'd like to say, my, my drive on 18 at Oakland, uh, you got cut off a little early. I think I did twirl my club at the very end.

It was slow motion video. I did see it was cut off. I, I tried to slow down the frames at the very end. In what slow motion video I did see it was cut off. I tried to slow down the frames at the very end to see if I could see a hint of a club twirl and I didn't see it, but I do believe you. I do believe you got a little sauce in you. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it was good. All right, buddy. Next time talk to you, hopefully, Sir Joe Garcia for your sake is a major champion.

Absolutely. Talk to you later. Take care. It's gonna be the right club. Be the right club today. Yes! We are the best! That's better than most. How about him?

That is better than most. Better than most! That is better than most. Better than most!