No Laying Up - Golf Podcast - NLU Podcast, Episode 484: Scottie Scheffler and Kyle Porter recap the Ryder Cup

Episode Date: September 29, 2021

Scottie Scheffler joins to chat about how he found out he made the Ryder Cup team, how his Bryson pairing came about, the team room dynamic, how the captains fostered a great team environment, and everything else from his first Ryder Cup. Then Kyle Porter from CBS joins to talk about our week walking the grounds at Whistling, his recent piece on CBSsports.com, chatting with Rory, and everything else from our favorite event.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I'm going to be the right club today. Yeah. That's better than most. How about him? That is better than most. Better than most. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the No Laying Up Podcast, Sully here with I think I'm not going to promise, but I think our final recap of the Ryder Cup, you know this is my favorite event in the world. Had to bring in Kyle Porter, we of course did a big preview with him in Kevin Van

Volkkenberg before the event had to bring him in afterward to recap it all, summarize it all debrief playing for 2023. Talk about our experiences running around, whistling straights last week. And what the event means and just a whole lot of stuff. But first we do have a 15 minute conversation. So with Scotty Sheffler tracked him down today to chat about his experience, his breakout performance. Well, that team room was like all that stuff. You'll hear about that shortly, but first I am excited to tell you guys about a new partner

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I want to know what the process was like, you know, before getting the call that you were picked. Did you know you were in the running or being considered? Do you know if players vouch for you? There's not a ton of precedent for US teams picking a guy like you, a younger guy like that. I'm curious how all that played out. I'm not entirely sure how it played out

between the captains and vice captains. I know I had the backing of a few guys on the team and Steve told us at East Lake that, you know, basically it was coming down. It was like four guys for the last two spots. He didn't specify who, but he told that to me and my buddy Sam. So we figured, you know, we didn't really know exactly what was going to happen. But I know I had the back end of a few guys on the team.

And you know, it was really one of those deals where you really couldn't go wrong with any of the last four guys that they were looking at. It just, you know, maybe it was who fit well with a certain matchup. I don't know exactly what it came down to, but I mean, just glad to be a part of the team. Yeah, I can imagine how did the the Brysing pairing come about? Do you know where you picked on the team to play that specific role or when did that materialize? I mean, I don't think that I was put on the team specifically

for that just because I mean, I think with Brys and style of play, he could pair pretty well with anybody on the team, especially in a basketball format. Just because you're playing your own ball. You kind of just throw guys out there and just try and make as many birdies as you can. That was, Bryce was somebody that I wanted to play with. I think he wanted to play with me.

We had fun together. We matched up well. I think when he started to struggle on certain times in the match, I played well and then vice versa. So we matched up well, we had a good time and it was fortunate to get a point for the team. You played a lot of practice rounds of Bryson, you played two matches.

You got to give me something crazy that Bryson said. It can be, you know, you can holster five of the stories, but you got to give me something crazy that Bryson said. That he said? Yeah, he had to say it's something crazy at some point in some of those matches I don't think so I mean I'm trying to think of something that was out of the ordinary well I'm just wondering if like he's talking about you know the before he hits the drive on five or something like that you know

no I remember in our practice rounds, we actually had that win once on that hole. So we kind of knew exactly what he needed to do. And that was something we figured out in the practice rounds was how far right he actually had to hit it, just because when we're back there, I mean, the line he takes is so far right. I mean, it's literally almost 200 yards

from the line that we take on the tee. And so our practice allows us hard for him to comprehend how far he actually has to hit that ball right. So we hit some tee shots there and he kind of knew what to do. And so during the tournament, I mean, he just literally hit it at the TV towers behind the green. And I'm hitting it at the TV tower in the fairway that's, I mean, 250 yards apart.

I was out there. He climbed that hill to get the line, and I was standing on one of the other T-boxes, and he just hit it right over us. We moved partially out of the way, but he hit actually hit it right over us. Yeah, I mean, in order for him to get everything out of the way, there's like a TV stand that he hit it right up.

I mean, it was absurd how far right that his line actually was there. Well, what's your reaction to getting the pairing that you got on the matchup that you got on Sunday? What was the thought process between you going out forth? Is that something that was discussed? I mean, what's your reaction when you see you draw world number one? I mean, we, none of us were very involved in what order and who would go where with the

captains. I think they kind of had an idea of what they wanted to do and they kind of just went with it. You know, we trusted the captains with all the pairings and matchups and whatnot and kind of just did what we were told for the most part. I mean, they knew what they wanted to do and it worked out well and there was no reason for us to change that going into Sunday. All the guys were pretty excited that I got the ROM pairing.

You know, you had a great week leading up to them, but I was very excited to go out and play them. It's nice. I like the challenges playing ROM, just because he's such a wonderful player, you know, major champion. And I enjoyed the challenge. Did you feel the value of rest at all in that matchup? I mean, you played two matches leading up to that.

He played four. And on paper, it just looked like the perfect possible situation for the US team. Yeah, I mean, there was something to getting that proper rest, or at the same time, I think, you know, a lot of us were worn out anyways. It's mentally draining, especially playing in front of the home crowd. Like, my heart was racing just watching the guys anyways. And so even those times where I wasn't playing, I was still, you know, we showed up at the first T2 watch. We watched the rest of the matches.

And you know, sometimes the waiting game is just as tough as going out there and playing. So I wouldn't say there's too much to it. Ram seemed pretty fresh on Sunday, as well as DJ did, having played all five matches. Well, it stuck out to me in the press conference afterward. How much your team wanted to emphasize? How much it meant to them that you went up out there

and put up that kind of lead early on? What did that mean to you to hear your team kind of go out of their way to point that out in the press conference? Yeah, I mean, that meant a lot to me. Like I said, the night before the guys were excited. I mean, we were all sitting in the physio room, getting our work done.

It was like 8.30 night when the pairings finally came out. And I think DJ showed me the pairing. And then my wife came running the room. And she thought it was really fun. And I was playing Ram as well. I think he had such a good week up to that point. I think we all wanted a little piece of it on Sunday just because he had gotten the better of us

for the first four matches, basically. I think, or are they 301 going into that match, going into Sunday? And I think that was when Bryson and I have with him and Tirol on Friday afternoon. And so I thought it was good momentum for the team. You don't ever want to look up at the leaderboard and see a bunch of blue,

especially when we have that big of a lead. And when I went out, it didn't feel like there was a ton of red on the board. And so for me, to kind of jump out there and get up on Ram earlier, I'm sure it was a big boost for the team. I know Jordan told me that him and Bogour and their watch and getting very excited, just watching me make some birdies on them. And I was just glad it gave the team some momentum. I know you don't gave the team some momentum.

I know you don't have prior team rooms or team environments to compare this to. Just in watching you guys interact and watching you guys interact with the press conference, that's kind of all we have to go off of in terms of what the team looks like and how it seems like it gets along. But did this, can you guys talk a little bit about what the team environment has been like? And, you know, does it help, you know, you personally just to have a, a, a

guys that are kind of more in your age group, you know, be your teammates? Yeah. I think our team environment this week was really relaxed. I think the tournament itself is so built up and there's so much emphasis placed on it. I think I was expecting more in the team room, like more speeches, more stuff going on, but for us, it was kind of just, most of us doing our things that we usually do at tournaments,

you know, less going out to late dinners, less functions to go to, it was more just like, hey, come down to the team room and your sweats and just eat dinner, relax, have fun, sign all the stuff that we needed to sign, and then just get our proper rest. There wasn't any crazy speeches, there wasn't anything out of the ordinary, it just felt pretty relaxed and normal. So I think guys going into their matches didn't feel like we had to do these crazy things in order to win matches.

I think it was more just us going out and playing our game and then that would be all that we needed to do, which turned out to be the way it was. I mean, for instance, going into Sunday, I think Strix only talked to us for maybe 15 seconds, 20 seconds after the round on Saturday afternoon, and then we all just went to bed and showed up the next morning and played like it wasn't. That was probably the weirdest thing for me. There was no crazy speeches, no, you know, raw stuff. It was just very relaxed all the time. Well, that's, you know, just interviewing Hunter Mayhan in the past, it sounds like they

had that in 2008. They didn't have it in 2014. It seems like that environment, it may be the sweet spot in terms of setting you guys up to play your best golf in the most freed up way. Does that make sense? Yeah, for sure. I think that's how it felt. Like, I expected to be very nervous going into our Friday match. We wait around all morning. We go to the first tee at 7 a.m. and Bryce and I don't tee off that afternoon until like

one o'clock. So we're playing like a six hour waiting game. And then basically after I hit the first tee shot and we have the first hole with birdies, it was kind of just felt like we're playing like a six hour waiting game and then basically after I hit the first t-shot and you know We have the first hole with birdies. It was kind of just you know felt like we're playing a match. I think that's what I saw azing or that Friday morning we were going to the first tee and he basically you know We walked over said good luck and you know the one piece of advice he gave me said there's all this stuff going on You know, it's really fun. It's really cool But at the end of the day once you hit that first t-shot He goes it's just you two versus those other two guys and that's exactly what it felt like

Yeah, was it you know everyone talks about the first t-nerves your playing an environment you've never played in before Were you as prepared for that as you could be it was did anything surprised you about that or what was that? What was the feeling compared to the most pressure you've ever felt in any other time in your life? Yeah, I mean, I was very nervous on the first t But honestly after I hit that first tee shot, it felt like it did, you know, playing late at majors. That was probably the most comparable feeling that I could think of. Was like, teen off Sunday at the open or last year at the PGA when I was in the final group.

It was just, it kind of felt like that environment, which felt pretty normal. I mean, I like those nerves. I like that kind of extra emphasis. For me, I think it helps me play better. And, you know, after that, I was really just kind of settled in. I was funny, Bryce and I, I think we were walking down six fairway. We were maybe just, I think he just eagle five that day to go one up. And it was our first match out. And so we just kind of talked about how relaxed we both felt. And and it was it was easy almost. It was I think and that speaks to the environment that was in the team room.

What was do you have anything set aside as a as a personal highlight the high point of the week. I think I might be able to guess it. I'm thinking of that put on 15. That was the most emotion we saw out of you. That was just freaking awesome. Yeah, I think that was a really cool moment. Just because Bryson made a big call on 14 to square up the match and then there's a big difference going into Sunday versus being

10-6 and 11-5. Like for us to steal that last match out on Saturday is huge. It's great momentum for our team. And so for me to be able to hold that putt in birdie 16 and then Bryson hit a great shot into 17 to kind of put the finishing touches on the match was was huge momentum for our team and anytime you get to make a big putt like that is awesome. I think probably the best feeling for me was after we got done with the match on Sunday and I remember going out and looking at the leaderboard and seeing more blue than I wanted to see and when I got to 15 green and I knew I had a good chance

to close out the match against Ram, and I looked up at leaderboard and we were up and I think nine matches just put a huge smile on my face. And that was probably the coolest feeling when I got done with the match, saw the leaderboard and it really felt like we won. The first thing I talked to Harris English afterwards, the first thing he said was pretty much like,

yeah, I'm gonna be doing everything in my power to make sure that I'm on these teams in the future. You know, it feels kind of silly to even ask because that a huge takeaway you have from this event of like holy crap. I didn't realize how much I would love playing on these teams. You know, going into it, I knew how much I was going to enjoy it, but I think it exceeded my expectations really just. I mean, winning is really fun and especially winning in

that fashion and so for you know everybody on the team to be able to get a point and for us to beat him like we did it definitely made the week even that much more special and so for me yeah of course I'll be doing everything in my power to make it onto these teams the rest of my life I mean we were sitting with Phil one night at dinner and I think he played maybe 25 of these teams in a row. He maybe I think he didn't the team wasn't played in 2001 and that was because of September 11th attacks and other than that he basically played a team event every year and so I mean I'm sure that's a record that will probably never be broken but I think all of us are hoping to have a run

you know somewhat similar to that on these team events. How did it, how did it, was it communicated to you guys in terms of how much you would be playing in the, you know, early sessions where you, did you know going into the week, you're going to play exactly two times where there are kind of some flex options, you know, to potentially move you into four sums at any point or I don't know. I'm curious how it worked for you and maybe for other players if you know on how you guys were game planned.

Yeah, so the captains took care of a lot of that stuff. They basically asked us, you know, going months back who we wanted to play with, who we thought we'd pair well with in certain formats and why, and they kind of used that in certain statistics. We had expectations early in the week. The captains told us basically the plan for Friday and so we knew going into Friday that Bryce and I weren't going to be playing the four balls in the morning but Saturday was totally subject to change and for us, Bryce and I actually

paired really well in alternate shot as well which is kind of funny. I think most people the perception around Bryson would be that he wouldn't pair well in alternate shot just because he placed so differently. But you know, me and him actually, even the statistics show that we would be a good alternate shot pairing. And so for us, we definitely thought that was a possibility, but seeing how Friday morning went with us

winning that session 3-1 and never even crossed our mind that we would be going outside of the morning. The way it was set up each day, maximize the potential for the entire team to get the most points. And as well as Friday worked out, we definitely weren't expecting any changes going into Saturday. And so, you know, we knew what we needed to do, which was go out Saturday afternoon and get a point. I think the captains did a really good job of setting our expectations with, hey, you and Bryson are going to play bestball and then going from there, these are the other two people you could maybe pair with and then just the expectations were really clear, which is good because there's no surprises then. What was, when you say the stats show that, what are you guys looking at there?

What do you mean that you and Bryson would complement each other well and force them? So what are you looking at there? Well, they had, they have like a stats team that works with the PGA and our captains. And that's basically what they told us. And Bryson, I actually played alternate shot in the practice session. When we went up there for those two rounds before the tournament, we played a practice on alternate shot. I think we shot like seven or eight under.

And so we knew that it was going to be a possibility just based on that one round just because alternate shot is typically format in which you'd play a touch worse than you would if you were playing your own ball just because it's different harder to get into a rhythm. And you know we had that great practice round and then the statistics guys said that the stats also backed up that that would be a good pairing. But the four pairings we just put out for alternate shot helped maximize the potential for points, including that is of being able to stay the same in those different matches. If that makes sense.

Yep. No, it definitely does. I need to get my hands on those stats as a stats nerd myself. Last question, we'll let you get out of here. What was the highlight of the party? How late was the party? And what was it like celebrating your first Ryder Cup win? I would say I probably celebrated more at the golf course just because I finished my match

early. I was able to watch everybody else come in. That excitement of actually winning the cup was huge. And then when we got back to the hotel, we still had some fun. Some guys went a little harder than others. But we didn't keep it too late. I think my wife and I went to bed, maybe about 12, 30 or one. We actually ended up going into the Euro team room for a while, and some of them came over to our team room, and it was good. There's no animosity between the teams, everybody still gets along really well, and it was a good night. I don't want to go too hard and not remember the celebration. I wanted to be able to enjoy all the moments. Did DJ live up to his promise to outlast the entire team?

I think so. He definitely made it later than I did. I got a little tired and went to bed. I didn't see exactly who was in the room at the end, but I'm sure he was in there. Awesome. Well, hey, Scottie, thanks for joining us this shortly after a pretty emotional and exhausting week. We appreciate the perspective. Look forward to seeing you on more US teams in the future and chat with you again in the future. Thanks for joining us. All right, you got it. So thanks, man.

Appreciate it. Thanks again to Scotty for the time and a busy week before we get to Kyle Porter, our friends, the Walker trolley Cape 1.5, the premium push cart on the market, brings classic style with an ample use of modern technology. If you prefer to play golf at three miles an hour, the Cape 1.5's polished aluminum frame and their use of waxed canvas and leather created trolley stands out all over the golf course. Every time I take this thing out, people are asking me questions. I just had a fellow professional friend of ours and borrow ours for Q school this last week because he loves the Walker trolley so much. It's not just an outstanding product that makes Walker trolley different. The company prides himself on outstanding customer service, always available by an email

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Trolley's. His golf was meant to be played at three miles an hour. The only further delay here is our friend from CBS sports Kyle Porter. Porter, I gotta say, I, I, I don't know what to do with my hands. I am about to make everyone in their

cars do one enormous collective grown, but I've never been so right. Like usually these days are for reconciliation and for like, you know, where it all went wrong? Like, what did I miss? I don't know what to do from here. I don't know where to go. Well, you're not alone.

The US team didn't know what to do with their hands either on the, on the stage after where they're, their, their, their celebration needs some work. That's what we need to work on for 2023. We like you and I are still on the team. I think their celebration was fine. Like they were seriously enjoying it. The crowd just did contributed almost nothing to it.

I mean, it was a very, very bizarre scene. Well, I don't want to start exactly there, but I do think that there is, it was a total weird atmosphere compared to what we saw in 2018 at least. 100%. We, you know where we should start? We should start by reading all the mentions to us over the last,

but three weeks, just people just, hey, I'll sell my home if the score is close, if the score is, if it's this big of a blowout, people are gonna be, I mean, people could be homeless after this ride or cup. I'm gonna call out bacon too, because I would, I would purely, I periodically drop into our little group chat and just be like, I think I went back and found it

like September 13th, I just said something like, hey, guys, like Europe has a talent problem. He just chimes right in, like Europe's gonna win. They do it every time, man. And I just, I didn't even hear that right then, but I got to call you out. His exact words were it's written in the history books. And that or something like that.

And yeah, I was with you. And the funny thing that we, you and I are kind of talking about a week is it never never plays out exactly just by the book. You know, I it would be interesting to go back and look at every single match that happened and who was the favorite and how each of those matches played out because Ram won all his I'm sure him and his team were the favorite in all of his matches. So many of the others went to the US's way. It was just it was a very kind of textbook writer cup and that's not

worth custom. There's always chaos, right? And there was still chaos. I mean, Bryson will get to him, but it was in terms of the outcomes, the individual outcomes and the overall outcome. It seemed like everything went exactly the way everybody would have said on paper going into the week. And it's almost like the expectation to, my prediction, I think I predicted a final score of 1612, was like a built-in, something crazy always happens with like it just can't all go the US's way

and it quite literally almost did. And I think I keep like, I get just can't all go the US's way. And it quite literally almost did. And I think I keep like, I'm gonna quadruple down on how much the course actually mattered on this. Like walking that golf course, first of all, you and I, how many times were we on a certain hole with a certain win and just like, imagine Kevin Na, hitting this shot right now.

Like how insane that would have been when Scotty's Sheffler steps up and just pierces a five iron like through the air and landed it softly on the 17th green. Like it really just was like a nowhere to hide. You had to, you know, the, the really wasn't and I don't, I don't know if I have the full data to support this, but it felt like in France, there was a lot of medium-length

par fours where get it in the fairway. You're gonna have a wedge to short iron in but it felt like in France, there was a lot of medium-length par fours where get it in the fairway, you're going to have a wedge to short iron in with it's a very standard shot, which was a great strength for the European team and they just beat our ass on that. This was like pound-a-drive. We're going to have plenty of long iron shots and a bunch of really, like, not medium-length, but short-ish par fours that like you can maybe get close to but it's going to be kind of a pitch and putt at that point and not really be a 120 yard contest if you will. And that I thought played into the US's hands. I just watched so many shots on that 70 all week and it just felt like the US just got closer, continually got closer to

the whole. I feel like people say so many times it's about who makes more puts. And I really, you know, in certain courses, it can be, but this was never going to be one of those golf courses. I think that that contributed to the margin of victory that we saw. Well, think about even 17. It was playing what like 223 on Sunday and more cowboys. It's a three feet, uh, broke. Almost makes a one on Sunday.

And you're like, what, this is like, I mean, it was almost like you, and I was glad that you, you had that dream team tweet in the queue for like two and a half days basically. But I was glad that you tweeted that because it just up and down the US is roster. I mean, the, we were talking about Bryson and Finau

coming off the bench and it's kind of like, it's kind of tongue-in-cheek, but it's like holy hell. That is insane. Like to have those guys coming in off the bench and playing the way that they did. And then I think the other thing I would say about the margin of victory is Europe always has the guy that you like the rookie that you're like, I don't know, we'll see. And he gets three points, three and a half

points, four points. It was Jamie Donnelltson in 2014. It was Peters at Hazeltein. And then it was Fleetwood and Mollinari at 2018. And we thought that guy would be probably hobbling, maybe a lowery, you know, something in that kind of range. And it just didn't materialize. And I think that's that is the primary reason this year that you see such a big margin of victory. Well, and we talked about this going into it too, it was like the US had 12 of the top 16 players in this thing, right? So if you take Skyd Sheffler, who was maybe the 12th guy on the team,

he would be probably the fifth best player on Europe. And like asking him to carry that load would be so different than what his role was. And it allowed him. I go back to, I don't know, maybe I'll reference this interview for the 38th time in the last month, the McGinley thing with how he managed Graham McDowell and Victor Dubeson, which was like, here's what you're going to do. And you're going to go in and like, go back and listen to that part. And you know, guess what's going to happen? Americans are going to put their top guy in this spot. He's going to be coming off four matches. And he got Graham McDowell was coming off two fours and some matches. He went out first and what did he do? He drew Jordan's feet who was exhausted and he went. Speed got the lead. And then McDowell

just outlasted him one the match. What happens with Scottie Sheffler? He comes off the bench, plays his two four ball matches, draws John Rom in the fourth slot, a dream match up for the US. It was number 12 from verse number one. Rom's exhausted, have it played four matches,

Sheffler's fresh and goes out and beat him. Like it's just like, that was emblematic of just the depth and the, just the the dream team like it is a total dream team And it really honestly hit me on Sunday singles I stood on the bridge you and I stood on the bridge there A little watch and between two and three and between six and seven. It was probably the best viewing spot and Watch Patrick can't let go by for his singles match against Shane Lowry. And I just kind of like, holy, I haven't even watched this guy play golf this week. And that is he's the he was the PJ tour player of the year.

He's the FedEx Cup champion. He won four times this year. And he's like just a guy on this team. And it just kind of really hammered home how special that was, uh, was to watch did it make for a boring Sunday? Sure, but I mean, it like, I don't know, it's it really does feel like a new era this time. I mean, a boring Sunday kind of like you always knew the outcome, but I still felt like Sunday

felt like the most, it kind of felt like the most chaotic day. And maybe that was because we were there for the Rory thing or maybe it was because we were running all over the property, trying to figure out where it was going to end. I don't know what it was, but it still felt like Sunday was really memorable for you know, not because it was like Celtic Manor or Medina or anything like that, but just because it was because it's the Ryder Cup and it's always even when it's a blowout, it still feels incredibly special. The question I was thinking about today and I couldn't, I've got a couple answers to this, but I'm curious about what your answer is, is which guys, maybe a couple, maybe

three, whatever, do you think about most differently now than a week ago, than before that then like Tuesday of the practice rounds, going into the Ryder Cup? Is there a one or two, maybe three guys that stick out as man, I just think about this guy differently, whether that's trajectory or what he's capable of or anything like that. It's a good question.

I think Dustin Johnson, I think of differently in terms of like he needed one of these rider cups, like in terms of his rider cup legacy. He has been the best American player for the last decade, right? I mean, he's just the most consistent. He hasn't had down years really mixed in there at any point. I don't, I don't, I don't count suspensions as down years. And like he hadn't like quarterbacked a team and like he did it five and oh is is is like that is airy territory right like that's that's way up there Bryson being able to like thrive in a team environment and play his role and embrace everything and you know kind of have a week that looks so unlike every other week for him. I think of him differently. I don't necessarily think that changes the trajectory for him, or what I think of him normally, but like that, I did not know he could do that.

I really didn't know he was capable of that. Sheffler, I wouldn't quite say, I just because I think he's been on this trajectory, I think is as validating on that front. I know he hasn't won, and some people would question his record. But, you know, if I'm being honest, the more I'm thinking about this, like the, this is one of the few Ryder cups that doesn't feel like it's cementing something. And maybe that's because I'm hesitant to overreact like at Thomas Peters or Nick with Pulsar.

It's crazy. Good week because we've seen some of those players kind of fizzle out and it really not change what you think of them. But I don't know. I hope Scotty Shephard doesn't have to buy a drink next time he gets and goes into a bar. You know, like, so I think there's some guys that like you should, you, people should tip their cap and appreciate the, what they were able to put forward on this team. But I don't know if it changes the way I think about anyone. I know what do you think? I think, and this is gonna sound dumb,

cause you just won two major championships, but every time more a coward does something, like when the PJ, when the open, go, what did he go, three, three and one, three, oh and one? Three, oh and one. Three, oh and one. I'm like, man, he is so just, he's so good.

And he got DJ and that was helpful. I mean, DJ going from, I don't know all his partners throughout the years, but I know he had culture, I know he had, I mean, it, yeah, to go to Mark Allen's and I mean, that's, and again, it goes back to the, to the no holes thing. I mean, it's... And again, it goes back to the, to the no-holes thing. I mean, it's like, what are you thinking if you're Paul Kasey getting DJ three times with Mark out? You're like, well, I, I don't know, man. Like, what do you, what do you want me

to do here? So I think, I think more, I think a little bit Shane Lauria, I think Lauria, he didn't play magnificently, but he did. He embraced the Ryder Cup in a way that he's got some capital to spend in future situations where he could be a captain's pick that maybe I didn't know that would take place. I don't really think about Havelin differently. He played well. I thought he would play well.

His record doesn't really reflect that. I say he played well. He played well in a couple matches. He played okay in a couple others. Short game. Yeah. So there's a question Mark for Hoblin still. I think it really is. And I think if anything, I've heard a lot from European fans of the, you know, we've been challenging them on the young up and coming crew and if that really exists. And the more I've thought about the more I'm like, you know what, this might be like an internal look thing, right? Between Hovelin and Rory, like you're at least getting closer to this thing. If you get normal, like Hovelin went 0, 3 and 2 and Rory went 1 and 3.

Like you got, you went 1, 6 and 2 between those two. You flip it between those two, you have a closer rider cup, and you would get performances out of them and records out of them that you would expect. It's obviously a much closer rider cup. You put it back in Europe, and you probably are getting squeezing a couple of extra points out of those matches in some way,

and you're adding in some replacement talent for maybe Fitzpatrick, could be, you know, Lee Westwood, obviously, am I expecting Veeceberger to be there next time around, probably not. And then we're talking about a competitive Ryder Cup team, right? It looks horrific on paper, but you flip a couple of those things and it all of a sudden starts, it's a pain to very different picture.

Well, yeah, and I think, you know, everybody keeps talking about, oh, the lack of depth, the lack of depth. It was almost as if, I don't know, the Europe has ever been extraordinarily deep, like at the bottom of their roster, but what they have had is they haven't had a lot of, like, they've had more guys that have thrived at the top. And what happened was those top guys kind of fell back into this middleing group that you just you just get smoked when you have more talent a more talented team on a course that fits them well. So I don't I don't even know that you have to say, oh, you know, we can't have a weaselberger in 2023. What are we going to do to replace him? It's

more like, man, who's gonna roll with ROM in 2023? Who are those four or five guys at the top? I think, I think that's what I believe. I don't know, so much of this stuff, I'm like, I think I said something differently like 10 days ago. So I just twist myself in knots with what I think. One question that I started to ask you all these questions,

but so the Bryson thing, I wanted to talk about that because it was, we were out on 13 on Friday when he, you know, unsheathed Excalibur and holds it over his head. I mean, he got lost because he does such preposterous things that the not as preposterous things get buried. He flexed over his head on on Sunday morning, on Sunday afternoon against Sergio on the first T like he was like entering this WWE ring.

Did you see this? When he came into the arena, I was up top. So I don't I kind of you couldn't see players walking in. He was introduced and he and he turns to every, every side and just holds his hands over his head like a, I mean, like a lunatic. So, so here's the thing I was thinking about because he's talking, and then he drove the green and made eagle, like that, a true lunatic. Yes. I mean, up and down from 355 on Sunday, on against Sergio to start the match. It's one of those like meme things that we dream of when we like in the preview part, like what if Bryson gets up

and drives the green and make eagle and he did it. I can't say anything. Sergio made a three and got beat on that whole. He brought Sergio's head back on a spike. So we talk about how the Ryder Cup is amazing because and we'll talk about the the Ryder Cup is amazing because, and we'll talk about the Rory thing later on, but I was texting with him on Sunday night about the event

and we were talking about how it's like the purest form of golf. Like that was kind of what he said, not me, and I agree. But at the same time, it's also this kind of like exhibition, like you got Bryson running around like a carnival barker, you know, just like insanely. And I'm, I wonder how it can be both at the same time, right? Because it is like, it is very pure in some ways. And yet it's also this absurd exhibition in other ways. Did you feel that when you were there? And what, like, how do you reconcile those two things? I struggle with that too.

And it, honestly, the piece you wrote that we'll talk a lot about made it helped to make a lot of sense to me. Or it's something that I can kind of, I kind of do a long-term morning gif when I look at like the insane amount of people that are walking inside the ropes. Like, what are we doing here?

So in some dads, wives, cousin is here and like, there's kids walking inside the ropes. Like, what are we doing here? So in some dads, wives, cousin is here, and like there's kids walking inside the ropes and all that. And I was kind of like, this is absurd. And it's also like, you know what? This is probably the coolest thing ever for the players. And you know, for this like, once, you know, once a year we do this, once every two years for the right of cup, and for the Americans, you do it once a year of like,

just this whole family affair and how it, you know, the wives being involved is probably like an underrated and underwritten about, you know, an undercovered part. I know there's Wagg slideshows out there. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about this like like what these guys, how these guys speak of this event. It comes from a place of like, and I don't know, maybe we'll just, let's just get into this now of like,

the loneliness of pro golf being a very real thing. We touched it, I know on our Sunday recap pod, but like these guys, like, I, I, I, I, again, this, I'll make people, I'll realize again here, but like, I played a lot of tournament golf in the last two years. The goal was, you know, with this was like, do a documentary about how,

basically, showing how good tour players are and what it'd be like to try to qualify for the US Open. But within three months of doing it, I was stunned how much time I spent on my own, like, on my own practicing, on my own in a car getting somewhere, on my own in a hotel in a random city. And it was like, the, like, I'm not exaggerating.

Probably the loneliest time I've ever had in my life. Never when I lived in Europe, never in college, never when I lived in Chicago was I spending so much time on my own. And like, it was not depressing, because I was doing, I was doing, it was kind of fun in a weird way, but it was lonely.

The most fun I've had playing golf in the last couple of years was the ForSums event that Neil and I played in the FSGA ForSums where I had a teammate hit half the golf shots, but got to do it with a teammate in a in a in a tournament. Like that like resonated with me. It was like, oh my God, how much more fun just team golf is. So when you're talking about that being the purist form, it's like, man, like how how I don't know, what did, what did Ram say to us on Sunday? Like, we were, you know, he's like, did you guys have a good week? I was like, yeah, it's the best week of the year. He's like, you think

it's good for you? Like, imagine how we feel. Like, that's, yeah, that's the feeling I walked away from totally. And it's almost as if this might be a really dominoity, but I've made certainly worse ones on this podcast before. It would almost be as if, like imagine a bunch of NFL players live in the same community and they play their games on Sundays. And then on a random like Thursday night, they started playing a pick up flag football game in the front yard and the whole neighborhood showed up. And it's just like this huge crowd and their plan pick up football. And they're kind of showing off,

like showing what they can do in a way that they wouldn't in a regular NFL game. It almost feels like that. Because, and I think Matchplay lends itself to kind of showing off more like some of the Bryson stuff and hey, I'm gonna try this shot. If it doesn't work, then that's okay. We just lost the hole,

but I'm gonna try to do something really it doesn't work, then that's okay. We just lost the hole, but I'm gonna try to do something really special. It's very extreme in that way. And I just feel like, at times feels like a front yard football game where these guys that are over-talented are just showing off for the neighborhood. And somehow that also doubles as like this really pure thing. That's kind of how I have, I don't know,

that's kind of how I viewed it over the last couple of years. Well, if you celebrate the way that Rory has done in the last several Ryder cups, the way JT did it, if you do that in a stroke play event, like people will just hate you. Like, you can't do that. You're not afforded that opportunity, right? This is the one time where you, I mean, people still might hate you, you know, if, you know, if they, if you don't celebrate in the way that they like.

But yeah, this is your one time to like do something as a group, have a totally different purpose. I thought that your, your piece like that you wrote was, it was incredible. And it really hammered home for me the part of just like, uh, help me, help me get there. I forget what exactly it was. Just like failing together can be better than succeeding on your own. What did you mean? What do you mean that? Well, and I don't know that players, if they heard that, they'd be like, I don't know. Like we want to we want to win.

And of course, but listen, it crystallized for me. We're sitting there talking to John Rom, the best player in the world, the best player in the world, honestly, like the last three or four years, probably, on the 17th hole, and that he is getting his ass kicked, right? Like not him, well, he just had gotten his ass kicked by Scottie Schuffler. But again, Morca was hitting it to three feet, Keppka's nearly making a one.

I mean, it's literally unfolding on that hole, and we're all sitting there watching it. And what did he say? He said, I just, I went to the US Open three months ago and that doesn't, that doesn't hold a candle to this. And to play with Sergio and what that meant to him. And yeah. And he said it again in the presser.

And I was glad that he did, cause, actually, I was glad that he said it to us because I think sometimes in the press, you're like, oh, they're just saying stuff. He said that to you and I with nobody else around. And just, you know, talking, just talking about the writer cup week. And that was like really,

I mean, Shane Lowry going one and two and saying, this is so much better than my open championship win. It's like, what? Like you guys got destroyed. And yet, the way that they, and poor Athen, I were texting about this, like this event. And I think the, I think the Americans rose to the occasion on this specifically this year, but this event just revolves so much around the Euros and how they refear it and how much they enjoy it and just how meaningful it is to them. And I think that's roughed out. Honestly, I think it's roughed off on guys like Spieth, maybe JT. How many times do we hear from Euro people this week?

Like how low JT is? Oh, and I heard it from people within my own camp. It's the call of color, miss a house. But yeah, that's kind of, that the wrong thing is exactly what I meant by, hey, failing together can be more meaningful than winning the US Open by yourself. But not that that's not meaningful.

It is. It's the other 103 weeks of these every two years. But this one week is just the galvanization of those relationships. That lasts far longer than winning at Tory Pines over Rory and Bryson. Well, and that's what the European team tour, whatever does such a great job with in terms

of like their team room stuff, it's extremely real. We've documented this, just this effect and like the stuff that they've done with like their, they're, I mean, we kind of made fun of it a little bit in terms of the fact that they compared that more people have been to space than have played for your team, but like when they introduced the rookies in the team room this week, they announced like player number 162, Bernd Feastberger, player 163, like to a raucous applause after they show the video in the room that brings in other European legends. It makes you feel like you're a part of something bigger than yourself.

It makes, it's a feeling that you're just never going to get it like making you feel that honor of playing for the European team and go back to Rory going out first Sunday like he spoke about like not under like having appreciation for the fact that that is not something handed out to anyone the spot of going number one and he got it even after going 0 and 3 and that you know just like I don't know that that kind of nostalgia I don't know if that's the word, but that kind of like sense of history in terms of like this matters. Okay, this is going to matter. It's going to matter in two years. It's going to matter in 10 this week matters a lot. I think really resonated with people has always resonated with the Europeans. And I feel like we have finally

turned the corner. I don't know if this is when we start talking Tiger, listen, fill this teams, but like, this is different. This is very different in terms of what I think is going on on the US side. Well, do you want, should we do the whole Rory thing now or should we save it for later? Let's save it for later, because I want to talk, let's talk about this, this US team, right?

Because I want to, I want to look, I'll say this, and we'll come back to the rest of the Rory thing later. But when I talked to him on Monday, first of all, surreal. And we can get more into the conversation later. But I mean, the green Bay airport, I mean, just this kind of no offense, green Bay people of green Bay, but kind of a dumpy, like, not just run down old place. And, and you're talking to like the, like, like, a, like not just run down old place and you're talking to like one of the best golfers of the last 30 years about why he broke down on Sunday at the Ryder Cup. And it was a very professionalist, a real moment for me. And we talked for a while, we talked for like 30 minutes. But and I'll tell you more about what he said later on. But the one thing about what you said, like

that the going out first thing, that's real. Like that, I think that on the American side, maybe it's a, maybe it's a big deal. I don't know. They have not talked about that a ton for the euros. And and, and, uh, Paul McGinley talked about this. Going out first is monumental. And Rory was slated and people have probably read it or I don't know. If you haven't go go read it. If you have a chance on CBS sports.com. But Rory was slated to go 11th and he told he told me he was like Graham McDowell and I think maybe some other guys were like,

Hey, it's Sunday at the Ryder Cup. Rory McRoy does not go out 11th. And he was like, that meant so much to me. And I think this is where his self-awareness and consciousness comes in of like another generational player would be like, yeah, of course. Like I'm not going out 11th, but he was like humbled by it. And he goes, I couldn't sleep on Saturday night because I didn't want to let down the guys that believed in me that said, you're going out first. And I was like, oh my gosh, like this is, it's, listen, like we understand that this is just golf. It's just a sport, whatever. But it was like really meaningful the way that he was, I'm going to get emotional talking about it.

It was really meaningful to him and the way that he talked about it made it really meaningful to me. And he was like, I didn't sleep. I didn't want to lose another point. And I think that was, it was almost, I think everybody thought he was crying because I didn't sleep. I didn't want to lose another point. And I think that was, it was almost, I think everybody thought he was crying because he had to let the team down. And that was maybe some of it. But I think a lot of it was actually because he hadn't, because he had succeeded in not letting them down further

and not getting hammered by Reed like he did in, or not hammered, but beat by Reed like he did in 16, beat by JT like he did in 18 out of that first position. So that was, I think that to me provided a little bit more of context of kind of why he was so emotional afterward. Yeah, and it's hard to worry that a weird, just a weird, let's just do right now. We're there already. So it's hard to figure out where Rory is and we're working on getting them back on the podcast. And I think we'll hopefully get some answers to that in terms of like we've never seen

that kind of performance out of him in a rider cup, like making no birdies and four ball, whatever that was. I mean, I mean, it's illegal, but I mean, he was just not, you can mistake that for their lack of being a lack of passion there. And I maybe have made that mistake. I don't know if I've made that statement directly, but it just has felt like, man, what are we doing here? Like you're again, back to the JP thing,

like you're worried F and McElroy, like this shouldn't be happening. And maybe that weight is kind of starting to get to him of like, man, I let myself myself down for many, many months now and now I'm letting my team down. And I don't know what the answer is That kind of also contributed to breaking him in terms of like Maybe I think you just kind of this is total projection which we do a lot with Roy

But I just held out held out this hope that like I'll summon it at the rider cup like when the crowds Yeah, no one and you know when JT's running around fist bump like you know, putting his hands up to his ears, like, that's gonna motivate me to just wanna like, whoop ass. And then when that didn't happen, it was just like, whoa, what was this year? Like, this was like one of the most tiring years that any of us, you know, maybe the last 15 months

in the USR have, and I almost have nothing to show for it at the end of it. Bang, like, and I let my team down all that, just had to be just, just too much for him. But that's interesting about didn't sleep either too, because when I get like five, six hours of sleep, the tiniest little thing can like bring tears to my eyes. Like you just are a little extra crankier, and then you try to stop and it doubles down. And I think that, I don't know, that could be a contributing factor to him kind of breaking down.

Well, I think there's so much that we talked about. And I've heard you say, like, you never know how much is very open. And you're like, I don't know what to share. I don't know what to not share. I shared some stuff with you that I probably shouldn't share on here. But I will say, you know, one thing he said to me is like, man, I asked him, I was like, are you overwhelmed by the last 12 years of being Rory McAroy? Are you burned out by being by being Rory for 12 straight years? And he's like, no, not really. He's like, I am burned out by the last 18 months.

Yeah. And he was like, I think the thing that has burned me out a little bit is I'm working my ass off and the results are not there. And I thought that was interesting because I, I think we've all projected pretty much everything you can project on him, but I thought that was intriguing. And then the other thing that he said, we talked, I asked him about the Pringle story, I asked him about everything. And he said, he goes, I used to play with Tiger,

and I would kind of like, just do this double take of how conservative he was, like in the way that he played. Like, dude, you want everything, like what, just go for it. Like, what are you, why are you playing like this? And He said it's as I get older I think the older we get the more conservative we become as humans just in our choices and the way that we do things It's harder for us to take risks I asked him about the powder of Harrington loss of innocence quote. He's like, yeah, that's yes, you know all of that

And he said something along the lines of like, I'm, I find myself chasing the freedom that I had when I was 25 years old, when you know, the summer of 2014 that we always talk about. And I said, man, is that, is that even feasible? Like, can you, like, is that, can you even capture that? And then I compared, I, I'm sure he loves it when we do this.

I said, you know, Hazel teen, like for me and Sally was like this magical thing that it can't ever happen again because it was new and it was different. And maybe some of what we do now is better, but it wasn't as wonderful as it was then. And he agreed with that. So I think he's kind of stuck between like chasing this freedom and innocence that he had when he was 25. And trying to find that, but also like, you know, not being able to like physically do some things that he could do when he was 23, 24, 25,

as well. And then trying to apply the wisdom that he's gained to that freedom, like that is a really difficult thing to do. And that's the podric, Harrington quote that I will reference forever of like, there's this really tiny, like space and time. More cow is there right now. We talked about this a couple podcasts ago where you have an overlap of innocence and wisdom and that is like, I think that's what we saw with Rory. I think that's what we are seeing with more cow. And it's just really hard to recapture that the older you get. What's the what's the Pringle story again? He just went out on the European tour and he was in South Korea and he was homesick. He was like 20 years old. And he found himself eating a can of

Pringles at the end of his bed and just crying because he was so homesick and he didn't want to be out on tour anymore. And he was like, I mean, he was like very early on in his career. And we were kind of laughing about that. And that's not like, that's certainly not the way that he travels or does things anymore. But it that but that to me has always been Emblematic of the way professional golfers like how weird their lives are and I asked him about that I was a here your life is so weird. It's so unique

It's so different and I think that gets back to like why this week for not just the guys on the team But also their wives he talked about like how special it was for all their wives and girlfriends and their families to get together. It's not just Rory and Ram and Hovel and getting together. It's also like their wives and their friendships and like everything that has kind of, you pass, you cross paths over the last couple of decades, but you don't congregate,

except for that writer, Cup Leak. And I think that's, that plays into why it's such a meaningful week. Well, it's also got to be talking, speaking to the exhaustion and the repetitiveness and loneliness of pro golf, like if you're a great player, like a really good player for a major championship, when you go put the peg in the ground, you have like a 4% chance of winning it, right? And in theory, when you show up for a rider cup, you have like a 50% chance of winning it, right? And in theory, when you show up for a Ryder Cup, you have like a 50% chance of winning. Like how much easier is that to get up for?

Like I just gotta do this and we're gonna win. Like that has gotta be, I don't know, one of the many, many reasons. You know what also I decided I'm gonna make a pledge. I'm done kinda just shitting on the president's cup. You know, I freaking, I love team golf so much and like I've for too long, I've given that event a hard time. It has a lot to do with the venues and it's they could do a lot more things to spice it up. But like, you know what, we're going to watch team golf happen again. Yes,

it's globe trotters versus the generals and it's not going to that results are not going to change anytime soon. I don't think, but like, we get to go watch more of the team golf and that is a change of pace from the stroke play stuff. Royal Melbourne was great. It was fantastic. It was really fun. And maybe that's a venue thing.

We talk the venues up a ton in terms of their importance. I don't, I don't know whether we're like way overrated it or like doing it the proper amount or whatever, but Roam Elburn made that event. I felt like really wonderful. And I don't know that Kwell Hall is going to do the same thing, but yeah, I'm in on team events as well. Well, all right. So I have this kind of written down. I'm sure we in our post mortem in 2016, we were, you know, giddy and you're exactly right in terms of like, because I didn't quite have the same experience

this Friday cup as we did in 2016. And I don't, I think that we probably never will, right? I mean, we were both really young into this job. I was doing this part time living on the other side of the world and just got to like, do stuff and have access to stuff that I just never dreamed whatever happened. Whistling was just not nearly as intimate,

you know, on a personal level. I just didn't have the same kind of interactions and whatnot. And it was honestly a lot harder work getting around that place. But in 2016, great win did not lead to anything in 2018. So are we overreacting to this crazy result? And if we're not, why is this one different? Well, it's different because you don't have, you know, 36 year old Zach Johnson, 34 year old Ryan Moore, 35 year old Matt Koocher. It's like, okay, well, what's the, what

is the runway for those guys over the next 10 years? It's maybe, I mean, DJ was, what, 33. And so there's runway for him., DJ was what, 33. And so there's runway for him. Jimmy Walker was on that team at like 30. I was an older team. And this is not an older team. And it's eight guys in their 20s, I think, right? Capca's not English is not, Fina's not, DJ's not.

I think those are the only four that are in their 30s. So that to me right there is like, and listen, like not all these guys are gonna be on the team in 2023, but there's a through line of guys that have, I think, extraordinary buy-in to this event. People can holler about JT and whatever, but the thing you and I were talking about going in

and while we were at Whistling Stits is like, some of it is insane and he's probably chugging beers on the first he is not the greatest thing in the world, but like, he's the guy that'll just be like, he makes the event kind of, you know, like, I think that's all a part of it. Like, there's value for the event as a whole and having a villain. And I think what he's doing is like complete buy into the event. And I think about fill and tiger doing that in like 2006. Come on. That's not going to happen. I was screaming on the previews for saw people to what I was saying sell out for the team. Like make yourself look dumb. Like that's what the Europeans do. Like they'll go do dumb silly stuff, run onto greens. And that's like JT leading the charge on that and other people like,

I don't know, some of this stuff that doesn't show up on TV just watching the other US players like not just for the cameras, not just raw raw. I'm out here cheering you on. Just like they're genuine like sitting together on hills, chatting up, getting their wives and balls and they're they're enjoyment of being around each other felt very different even in that 2016 team, I'd say. Yeah, totally. And I go back to the Rory Reed match in 16, and that little Euro group was chanting, I don't know if you remember this, they're chanting Patrick Reed is terrified, Rory's on fire, Patrick Reed is terrified, Rory's on fire And like, it sounds like a minute detail, but all the US guys are just, you know, the DJ,

like, hand doesn't get above the waist, like waving at the crowd type thing. That's like, that's all they do. And it's like, does that mean you're gonna win a Ryder Cup? No, like, because you dance or because you act, like a win-a-take doesn't mean that you're gonna win the Ryder Cup? No, like, because you dance or because you act like a win-and-take doesn't mean that you're going to win the Ryder Cup, but it does mean I think that you have buy-in to the team in a way that is really meaningful to engender the trust needed

to have great competitive weeks at this event in the future. That's not like, we have, you know, that's a bit of an intangible thing, but we also have tangible examples of that going horribly wrong for the US in the most recent Ryder Cup. 2018, Reed was not bought into whatever they were cooking up, right? And I look at like Reed's role in that was, oh gosh, there's a tough one. He had to go play with Tiger Woods, you know,

and that was an issue for him. And Tiger, of course, apologized for how he played. But like, like, think about this though, Bryson was assigned, you're going to play only for ball. Like, hey, dude, you won the US Open last year. You have been a fantastic player. But like, here's your job. Here's what you're going to do. Like, I could have gone the other way if Bryson didn't buy into it. And he did. And like, you know, Daniel Berger, probably not one of the, you know, Alphas on the team, like, hey, you're, you're not going to play your own ball till Sunday. Like that's not great. Like here's what your role is going to be for this team.

And I don't know. It worked out just just tremendously. And I don't know. I, I, I, it feels different. It really, really does. And I think we have a core eight that barring injury or a complete loss of play will be there in at Marco Simone in 2023. What you scouted. I'm ready. You want to go there now if you want. Real quick, we should mention Capca because I think I was really, probably overly hard

on him coming into the week. Some of it he deserves. Some of it was like, I think build up of other just nonsense that he's done that was kind of like, you were kind of unleashing on a little bit or I was. There was a moment on Sunday where nine matches were done. Everybody's on the 18th green, Phil's doing interviews on the green during the Ryder Cup, which was weird, but DJ's on like his third drink and Brooks, I don't know if he saw this, but Brooks turned around and said he was yelling at Jenna, his fiance and said, Hey, hey, we're going to go watch

the end of Bugs match if you, if you want to come with us. And I don't know if he was like leading the team out there, but like all those guys were running back to the 17, or 16, 17th holes. And it's, again, it's a tiny tail. It's not uncommon at events like this. It's probably happened before. But it kind of stood out to me because like, those matches were really close.

They were probably getting to 18 anyway. It would have been really easy just to sit there, have a drink, watch everybody come in. But Kevka was like, hey, we're going back out there. And I think he deserves some credit for that. I don't want to give him too much credit. But that to me was a little bit of a microcosm of kind of what we're talking about.

To go along with this quote of like, hey, it's a lot more fun than I've had on teams in the past. And I don't know what that was referencing, but it was referencing something in either 16 or 18 maybe read because read was on both of those teams. Maybe the tiger and fill black hole thing that we've talked about for a long time. But I thought that was a pretty interesting thing on Sunday. And they said this in their press or two was like, hey, this kind of, you know what helps? It's like, we've kind of all known each other

since junior golf. Like not literally everyone, but like, seven of that eight core group of guys like has known each other in some capacity for a really long period of time. And like, yeah, it's kept like bonding with JB Holmes in the 2016 locker room a lot. I forgot about JB Holmes.

Yeah, our brand snettaker or Matt Kutzer. Like it's just a different thing. And I don't think you can sit and fake enjoying being around each other, right? And Europe has had real enjoyment of getting around each other that has spanned generations for a really long period of time. Like Pulse has, you know, Sergio has a tremendous effect on John Rom and he talked about that.

Pulse is obviously a great effect on anyone in that in that locker room. But I don't think that has been the case in prior US teams. So like the kind of dragging some of those personalities into these later, these teams later in the decade has just not allowed a natural team dynamic to develop. And I feel like they, I this really, I don't think they're ever going to get to the all the way to the European way of doing it, you know, in terms of the Kuhn-Bio stuff.

And I don't think they need to. I think they just have to like have buy-in and trust in the captain. They have to have a captain that doesn't have a big ego and doesn't have too much pride in the pairings and like honestly just runs the playbook the way Stricker did. Little nervous about the next one in that regard,

but we'll see how that works out. Well, I thought it was interesting that it was very much and Roy touched on this as well. It was like, hey, we knew this was kind of the end of an era for Euro, Ryder Cups, like these kind of lions that have been so good for the last 10, 12, 14 years. And he didn't talk about this, but I'm saying that end of an era for Europe is very much,

I think, the beginning of an era for the US or could be. Now, Speed talked about this in the press or any kind of called a shot a little bit. When he said, hey, if we play like this in Rome, it's gonna be the same score. And you're like, whoa, like, can we just, can we get to like 2022? Before we start talking about that, but not only that, he's right. He's single dot, he kind of, you know,

Zander kind of dismissed the question and he butted in to be like, as someone who was on two losing teams, you know, in Europe, I would say there is unfinished business and for sure. And he's right. You can't, you can't lose there for 30 straight years and say, oh, we kind of own the Ryder Cup now. You got to go do it there. And probably a couple of times.

How about speed being like the adult in the room, by the way? How does that make you feel? That's bizarre. And his statement was bold, but it was not, yeah, we're going to go put up the same score over there. It was like, hey, if we go play our golf,

this is what's going to happen again. Our team is that good. And I saw some people saying, I don't know, add in some new Euro players and all this stuff. It's like, no, at the point it was like, this team plays that well again. You're not stopping them. I'm sorry.

Is it expected that there would be some kind of regression to the mean maybe a little bit and how they play and how the team shake out, sure. But if the team goes over there and takes care of business, they will win the 2023 Ryder Cup. Yeah. Yeah.

I mean, that's easy to say for almost any team, right? But if we're talking about a supremely talented team going and taking care of business yet. Like if Europe came over this time around and took care of business in quotes, whatever that would mean, that does not mean they would have won, right? They just did not have the talent to match.

Before we got on the podcast, I can pair myself to Lee Westwood because I am just exhausted. And I'm like, I'm like, some insane, whatever's left in the tank for this final match. I'm going on vacation tomorrow. This is my last writer cup thing for the year. Maybe my last writer cup podcast, the year. This may be my last writer cup podcast, you know, you never know. What else do we want to talk about? I don't mean to laugh at that too much because like hearing polts and westwoods, you know, answers to those questions and like, their stuff was just like, man, that just made me feel super justified for caring this much about

this event, right? I mean, it's kind of silly how much we talk about it, but like seeing that in the players and players that are just, I've watched like Lee Westwood and Ryder Cup, flew to my whole Ryder Cup career, you know, like 99s will got me into this thing really as a kid and, you know, he was on that team and I, I don't know. It's weird to have just reverence and respect, even for Polter, man, like I love to hate Polter, but it comes from a place of like dude,. Even for Polter, man, like I love to hate Polter, but it comes from a place of like, dude, you ripped our hearts out, man. I'm not gonna get over that that quickly.

I'm gonna hate you for another decade after that, but like it doesn't mean that I can't like tip my cap and respect you obviously as a competitor of what you brought to this event. There was one point on Sunday where he got a, I think it was on 16, he had beaten Fienal and the crowd on 16 gave him a standing ovation. And I thought that was so awesome because it yeah, like he is so fun to root against just like the

heroes love rooting against JT now. But it was a moment where the crowd truly understood like, Hey, this is like the the last 20 years have really mattered in this event matters. And dude, I thought there was a lot more crime. There was a lot more emotions this time around than in 2016. I don't remember that many people. I mean, Stryker was crying all week, Westwood was crying. Obviously, I mean, the Rory thing on 16 was like,

you are, you couldn't get words out after that. You were shook. I was so shook because you felt the tide like rolling in on this massive American win and it was like this feeling of euphoria in the air from the crowd and also from us. But then the the roaring thing happens and he goes up to his wife and she's like,

I love you and he just is sobbing and you're like, oh my gosh, this is, I mean, he said it. Like it's the best because that's not happening at even the player's championship or the PGA champion. It just doesn't happen. And it's not fake. It's a real thing.

And it's just, it's the coolest experience to have in this job. And I texted you this on Sunday. I was like, I can't believe this is a real job. I can't, I can't, we'll get to do this and go to Ryder Cup. So I, you know, we can talk about a ton of other stuff. But I want, I want people to know how appreciative I am of just being able to cover this stuff and talk about it and play just a tiny, tiny role in the entire thing.

Amen to that, man. It's the highlight of doing this job, I'd say, is anything Ryder Cup related that week and that event. And I just, I don't even want to say it. Wish we'd do it every year. But I'd joke that we should maybe do it twice. I mean, you know, fall spring. Oh, yeah.

I mean, yeah, that's fine. Yeah, Packers and Bears played every other year instead of twice a year. Why would we do that? Gosh, yeah, I don't know. I don't know where we go from that other than like, let's talk a little future, right? I mean, we've gotten a little pushback from people. European fans are, you know, born us about the HoGuard twins. Oh my gosh.

I know, which, listen, Rasmus HoGuard has won three times on the European tour is on a rocket ship. I would say let's have the hovelin thing materialized first before we, you know, get super hyped about, you know, these hypothetical things, which I think like where I keep netting out is I see a ton of names on the European team.

They're going to throw an outright Bob McIntyre, you know, Guido, Miggly O.C. that are just like are probably going to fit. And everyone keeps thinking I'm taking shots at Brent Vsburger. I'm really not. It's just like there is a huge huge difference between, and I talked about this on Sunday pod, like the guys that gain like between 1.5 and two shots per round, and like the guys that gain between like 0.8 and one shots around. The European team has so many prospects in

that 0.8 to one that like, I don't, it's just going to take pressing the right button and grabbing one of those guys, it's going to turn into Francesco Moe and Ari like performance in 2018. And that's going to be really hard to identify. And I don't, as we're sitting here now, don't feel threatened about what's coming up the pipe. Like we have an infection of what's coming down the road for the US team, which I think outranks anything coming on the European side. And we're talking about coming off the greatest team we've ever had. Yeah, I think one, so two things. One, Garrett Morrison tweeted this. He said,

Francesco Molynar, he did not play in 2016 Ryder Cup. He was number 37 in the world and not on anyone's radar. Two years later, he went five, ONO in Paris. And so we don't know what's going to happen in Rome. But I will say on the US side, I think there's a sense from guys like Will's Allataurus, like Will's Outtourists, like Matthew Wolfe, like some of these younger players of, I'm sure they watched it and it's like, man,

I wanna be a part of that, right? I don't know how, and I don't know that that was the case in like, I don't know, are you watching Ryan Moore and Matt Kutcher in 2016 and saying, I can't wait to be a part of that, maybe, I don't know, are you watching Ryan Moore and Matt Koocher in 2016 and saying, I can't wait to be a part of that? Maybe, I don't know. But I do think you're watching Speed and JT and Xander and Cantlay and all these guys you've grown up with

and that you play with, who are like, I mean, these are who young guys want to be like and saying, I wanna be part of that. And I think that's that shift for me. It's not huge, but I think it's different. And I think it provides a path forward for the US, even if some of their top guys fall off over the next two years. I was I talked to Harris English afterward.

That was the first thing he said was like, oh my God, now I'm motivated to never miss one of these things again, right? And like that he's right in that range of like probably fringe guy to be on the next team Would have to play some really great golf to make that team again and like Factor in the motivation. He's gonna have to to want to be back on one of these things I mean, it's it's gonna I feel like this is gonna build off the off itself more than it is like a a flash in the pan in Anyway, really I think the only danger and I mean this from the US players side more so than myself or you because we will exceed the danger on this one is just like getting over

confident, right? And assuming that you have a god given right to these points that we're very, very hardly earned, I don't think that's going to happen with the group of guys, but man, I mean, if we play a double advocate like DJ, I'll be 39 at the next one. You know, kept because health is always a question mark, Bryson, how's that course fit going to be? You know, can't lay his car. They, you know, players came off incredible form coming into this, whereas Europeans came off, you know, not in great form. A lot can change, but after doing my intense scouting of Marco Simone, who might be on the European team in 2023.

We're hoping now. First reaction, it does not scare me as much as France. That's for sure. Little roomier than you'd think. It's up and down. It's, you know, it's not a flat golf course. I think that's something that I'm a little nervous about as attending, going up and down some of these hills and whatnot.

The greens are funky and messed up and weird and have not gotten good reviews. But nothing jumped out at what I watched that would scream like, this is gonna benefit the Europeans a lot. Now they could narrow the fairways some, they could grow the rough up if they wanted to. But it just, there's a difference when,

a lot of the holes I felt like at LaGolf National, you didn't have a run-up possibility to get to the green. If you missed fairways, there's either water carrying it or the way the greens were, greens were angled, like you were toast, like you were in trouble to try to get to some of those pins if you missed the fairway. It just put a true emphasis on driving accuracy and a little bit of highlights and stuff that I watched,

I don't get that impression. The greens are not protected in the front. If you do miss in the rough, you can get up to those greens. You're going to be encouraged to hit a lot of drivers, I think, out there. And so it's not as neutralizing as France ended up being. And that's, again, that's looking at YouTube stuff. That's not a personal scouting of it, but it looks a lot more like Celtic manner to me than it did for France. So, one thing on this, well, two things. One, and I've been yelling about this for two or three years now. Like, I don't know what the succession plan is for Europe, for Rome, right? Because I don't know how this happened,

but I compared Justin Rose and Henry Stinson to Bartolome Colone before this, before this, right? Were you standing there when that I did that? And like, there's just Indians eaters, right? At the very top. So you can send them out at Hazeltinge, you can send them out in Paris, you can send them out wherever

they're going to play a lot of matches and they're gonna play them really well. I don't know what the succession plan is for Europe for those guys. It's Rom and Hoveland and I don't care about your point zero or point nine and one point of Stroke's gang guys, Filament, whatever. That doesn't matter. I get concerned when you get more 1.345 strokes game guys at the very top, then you can roll them out there three, four, five times and it's like, okay,

that's a problem. And then the other thing, poor I think I were texting about this on our fights back home Monday, there's a real chance that, because right now it's home, home, home, home, blow out, blow out, blow out, blow out. There's a real chance that the US goes to Rome and speed set it if they play like that in the hammer and JT is just out of his mind all week. And like, there's a chance that this could get like, really heated in a way that would like really tense,

building up to best page. Oh my God. That would be like, that would be kind of scary with guys like Rahm and Hatton, right? And- Bit Rory. And, oh gosh, yeah, the Hazel team thing was. You guys can't see Sally, but he's doing the I can't hear you right now.

The video. Yeah, Roy will be like, what, 36 at Bethpage, but I mean, you've covered 91 extensively. It was so tense and so heated. And I wonder if like some of the characters now with ROM, JT, these guys that can get, I mean, it gets, it gets pretty, can get pretty testy at times. Sergio, obviously, I wonder, I do wonder if that, that's, I think that's possibility in the future, which is both scary, but also like fun too, I think, I think that's part of the whole, you know, aura of the week.

I said before 2016, the US is going to win four out of five. We're seeing what you know, the one I was worried about was France. I was like, you know, I don't know if we're going to be all the way there with the youth having gotten two out of three of those. Really, it's the one. I feel amazing about Beth Page. A lot can change for Beth Page, of course, but as with line up now, I feel great about that, especially with, I can change for Beth Page, of course. But as with lineup now, I feel great about that, especially with how they've taken care of their home field advantage in the last several rider cups,

even counting Medina. I mean, that was in insane Sunday, but like, the US is one 10 of the, what they've won, what is it now? Like 14 of the last 16 sessions or something on American soil. It's been a, it has been dominance, right? And it just maybe hasn't gotten fully recognized because they can't go do it over in Europe. But man, it's hard to feel

better about a team going into Europe two years from now. Like now, I'm thinking about the forward momentum of rolling this right into the president's cup that I cannot imagine that they won't dominate. I'm like, one to keep that team kind of the similar rolling with the next year. The question I have for you, and we're going to let you get out here soon because I know I'm keeping you from your vacation. What do you do with what do you do with Reed? What if Reed resurfaces? You got to make qualification like four guys, right? Like a true hypersetal to this whole week. What if Reed had gotten vaccinated? week, what have read it gotten vaccinated?

Well, so I did I made this. I yeah, I made this comparison on the first cut podcast, which is over at CBS Sports on Sunday night. This US team had a real feeling of like, you know, like those Patriots teams where you can bring on one or two guys and you've got enough Brady's and Julian Edelman's and whoever to absorb kind of the one or two guys Coming into this week. We thought it was Brooks and Bryson and maybe it was I don't I don't know

I don't know what goes on at the team room or whatever But I do think the foundation with like speed JT DJ But I do think the foundation with like speed JT DJ more cow is Zander can't wait is strong enough that you can come up you come on you listen to me name come on Yeah, yeah, Finao that you can that you can I mean how great was Finao we haven't talked about him He was so fun to watch but that you can absorb One two maybe three eyes and just say like, hey, we're taking you and do your thing. And I don't know. I think that might be the case now in a way that it just wasn't in the tiger and fill era. Maybe we're overrating that, but that's my feeling with this kind

of foundation. Well, I like what they did too with a lot of the top guys. Like, all right, so Bryson, Scotty and burger, I think by my count are the only guys that only played with one partner, right? Everyone else mixed up Brooks and Speed went together. JT and Cantlay went together. Zander and DJ. I think more cow. More cow only moment DJ.

You're right. You're right there. Yeah. But like for like eight of the 12 guys played with different people, right? So look if read makes the team again, could we do a speed read session? Like yeah, we probably could like You know, we're afforded that luxury Um at this point and yeah, I think you're right. I think you know A time like this to sit out one and have the team be the best team ever can't help Reed's case in terms of you know needing to be on a team.

But like what if he plays his way onto the president's cup team? Like you think he doesn't want to do that? Like oh my gosh, he's going to play every week now to try to get on that team. So that's that's that's a question mark forward. But gosh, yeah. Anything we're leaving on the table here. It's so hard because and nobody wants to hear about how difficult our week at the Ryder Cup was, but there's there's so much that happens over the course of this tiny

amount of time. And then you literally have two years to talk about. Oh, again, it's like, can we spread this out a little bit more, but there was just there was so many little like, you know, Steph and Phil fist bumping, Bryson drives on the back nine on Friday. It's just like, this is such a just surreal thing. You were, you were, you know, dapping up Steph, as we're walking to like the 14th green. And it's just, it's such a,

it's just so unlike the rest of, like, at least my life, you know, it's such a weird, unique, and emotional and fun week. And I'm trying to think of other things that happen. We stood on that bridge by seven on Sunday for a long time, just watching shots into seven, shots into three, shots kind of coming down six, which was really cool. I don't know. What other experiences did we have throughout? three shots kind of coming down six, which was really cool. I don't know. What are the experiences that we have throughout? Well, it's got I don't know about you, but I always feel constantly caught between

this thing of like, this is a really cool thing that happened this week, but I don't know if I'm supposed to share that, right? Like John Rom, coming up and giving us a ton of like great answers. Like I ask Rom, I was like, if you take these two teams, you play him, you run him out in France this week. What happens? And he kind of just sat there and thought about it for a long time. I don't think I think he was kind of like, all right, I can't tell these guys. I think we would win, but he was pretty clear like, yeah, it wouldn't be this score. Like it would be, it would just be different, which I agree, I completely agree with it. I'd be super curious to see what

would happen. Like I'm not even positive this US team would have won there. And maybe I just don't give that you that 2018 European team enough credit, but I think just think playing that Salah golf is totally different. And what Whistling was asking was a pretty clear question, and it was gonna be, there's full-time hitters only. It was, it was no pretenders were gonna succeed on that course. But I don't know what it is about the Ryder Cup,

but like any other situation, if I see Steph Curry there, I'm probably not going up and talking to him, but I was like, Hey, man, we did a podcast together. Like a year ago, he at least pretended like he remembered if not, he was cool, but there's a lot of pretending like like you remember going on at the right of cup. I I talked to who, oh, he was, it was Harry Diamond. It was Roy's caddy and his face kind of went up like the pretend to remember face. and I was like, I it's okay. Like it's not it's not that big of a deal, but I feel like that happens a lot during that week.

Well, yeah, and like we you and I chatted up Fina when we're walking up 18 after they had already clinched it. Oh, that was great. That was awesome. He was talking about his son like he was talking about Steph Curry coming up to him and saying like, hey, great match. And his son, he says, like the biggest Steph Curry fan in the world. And he just looked like he had seen a ghost, he said, after, after Steph Curry comes up to his dad, and it's like, hey, great match. And, and you, you're talking about how, like, like all the dad points right there, right? Like you just, you get so much credibility when Steph Curry comes up and daps up your dad. That was pretty cool. He knows that. He knows awesome. Yeah. He lit up too, but you told him you had four kids. He's like, oh, okay. So you know, I got going on here. I told him I was coming for it. It's like, hey, you and Webb, I'm coming after you. Man, poor app. Oh, God. That's very dirty. I will say the first tee was, it was a letdown.

I don't know. Yeah, yeah. It just was. It wasn't. It wasn't as good as Hazeltean. You know what? I was thinking about two though. Hazeltean had that wrap.

So this was a full bowl kind of around this tee box. I was thinking about two though. I was thinking about too though. Hazeltein had that wrap. So this was a full bowl kind of around this T-box, whereas Hazeltein was open on the right side and you followed a walkway down and you walked past a ton of people that had this build up screen going, right, for you walking in. And by the time you got to the T, people knew you were coming and the build up was there

and it just set people up. Also, Golf channel had a height man out there in 2016. Like when they would come back from commercial, like, all right, everybody make some noise, go. And that worked. Yeah. And they there needed to be an organizer. Sadly, it just did not materialize. But, uh, other cool interactions, I got to walk a hole with speed after the afternoon he took off on Friday. He was, I walked the whole match with Hazel with, I always say Hazel team with Sheffler and Bryson and he came out. He's just like, I came to see the show. I had to watch this guy and we talked a little bit probably off the record of that conversation, but just about that dynamic, right?

Of how Bryson has thrived in this dynamic and exactly why, right? And how, you know, it not only did, was Bryson willing to do what he had to do for the team, like the team was willing to do, like for Bryson, what was needed, right? Like, you know, treat him the way that they needed, he needed to be treated and, you know, it, it, it, it worked. I could just freaking work. And I hope they captured enough there that will last for years to come. Well, no, not good. Yeah, go ahead. I got nothing. No, I get nothing. That's it. That is officially it. We've emptied the rider fence. Yeah, we've emptied the tank. I will not do any more rider cup. Actually, we're hoping to have a couple more players on in the coming weeks because we know we're not unwrapping this up. But go have a great vacation. It was a blast and a privilege to cover another writer cup with you.

We need to get you over to Italy. I'm not positive. I'm going to be going. But I think we should be encouraging each other to go to do this thing. Yes, because that for sure. It was. Yeah. Everybody's the Coliseum. Bryson sitting drives out of the Coliseum. It was it was really cool. I will say last thing. First he was just it didn't have the juice of Hazelteam, but Friday morning having your whole crew there, Andy and Brendan will night. It's all these I'm probably I'm bleeding out a ton of Sean, Zach, and Dylan to shit, like all these guys. And we were talking about this leading in,

it was such a, we're talking about the players gathering and what that means for them, but for us too, we don't see each other very much. And we're doing our own thing, and we've got our own lives, and we're talking sometimes like this, but we don't get to spend good time together and I don't know if that week is great time because we're trying to you know be funny on Twitter and take notes and take things in and there's just a million things going on but to me it was special to to gather to see and talk to DJ at lunch for like an hour. I haven't seen him in a couple of years to meet Cody to, you know, go at it with

Tron and Neil and see Big Grant. It was just, it was a really, in that sense, you know, I told, I get home and my wife's like, did you have fun with your internet friends? It's it. I'm like, yeah, I did. Like, it's a, it's a special week. And so, I wanted to say that as well because we don't get to do it enough., yeah, I did. Like it's a special week. And so I wanted to say that as well, because we don't get to do it enough. And yeah, you're always, you're grateful to cover all of it, but I think it crystallizes in weeks like a writer cup week. Honestly, as you're saying that, I'm like,

you know what, everything we said about like the way that the players feel about the team aspect of it, that's how I feel about the writer cup, right? Like covering it with you, like do it, walking around with you, like makes me appreciate golf more. Like we just have more, like we laugh about the same exact things. And like, it's kind of lonely when you're just out there by yourself, you know, doing it. Yeah.

And you know, it's fun to just kind of just, just, you see what price it just did. Like, I don't know. It's a, it's, no, I think I, yeah. I hit you on 13, whatever you pulled down. Oh. So, all right, Kyle, enjoy your vacation. Thanks for all your contributions with our podcast

and of course the last month in life. And can't wait till we do it again. Hope it's sooner or later. Cheers, brother. Cheers. It's gonna be the right club. Be the right club today. That is better than most.

How about in? That is better than most. Better than most. That is better than most. Better than most.