No Laying Up - Golf Podcast - NLU Podcast, Episode 61: Kyle Porter

Episode Date: January 17, 2017

The No Laying Up Podcast is back after a month off, and Kyle Porter joins to break down Justin Thomas’ ridiculous run, what his ceiling is, how we didn’t see this coming, and what we... The post NLU Podcast, Episode 61: Kyle Porter appeared first on No Laying Up. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I'm going to be the right club today. Yes! That is better than most. How about him? That is better than most. Better than most! Expect anything different! Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the No-Lang Up Podcast. It has been over a month for that I apologize. I had a lengthy trip in Africa and I had two podcasts fall through last week so I had to go to the old booty call of podcast guests and sent Kyle

Porter a little text just said, hey you up. And of course he responded, answered the call and he's here to help ring in the new year. Kyle Porter, what's going on? No, I'm actually surprised that I'm the guest here. I figured it would be either just you by yourself reading reading poetry to Justin Thomas Just out loud for an hour or I thought you might just call Thomas's cell phone and just tell him to put it put it, you know to the side and Just it would just be you listening to him I traveling back to the continental United States after he burned the island of Hawaii to the ground. So I'm grateful to be here following up Rory and Speak.

I mean, it's a big honor. I thought of Deshian Bo on Shane's podcast. Yeah, you are a, I don't know how to describe that, but I mean, it's a, you're like the safety net to fall back on here. I haven't got like share any takes forever because I've been lucky enough to interview some of the top players in the game I need I need to be able to get some things off my chest though

Nobody tunes into those to hear me talk no one no one tunes into these to hear me talk anyways But we have a lot to talk about this time around. It's been a while first of all since we've caught up I just was we haven't done one the two of me and you since august I think after the pga Other than the rider cup one which which is just a very different one. A different experience, but... Maybe the best lingering part from that is we were, I believe we were in my hotel room, all four of us, you meet Kevin Van Valkenberg and Brennan-Poorat, and I was working on something

and you guys were trying to get started and was it Porath that said you you writing some takes over there? What are you writing over there takes? We recorded that like one in the morning, that's still one of my favorite podcasts ever because we were just we were weeks ever. Yeah, we were only like two beers deep but we were so drunk on what happened that day that we were just like just sounded like idiots in that thing, but it was great. But I'm having trouble. Like really understanding how we let this happen, meaning I don't think I could have hyped Justin Thomas anymore than I have, and I still didn't see this coming. How did we let this happen? I don't know, you know, I was thinking about this and I was actually thinking about this

last night. I was preparing some takes for today. We should have seen it coming more than we did. It's really hard because I mean, now he's won like four out of his first 75 events on the pj tour which is just outrageous. I mean that's it's an incredible percentage and I think spieth kind of ruined us in terms of like what the trajectory of a young American superstar is. I mean this has been and I realized that after the tournament at champions it's not that him winning the tournament at champions made him a superstar but it made me realize that this has been his trajectory all along.

He's been a superstar at every level, and it's sort of like sinking in now that he's won back-to-back tournaments, I guess. I've always kind of felt a bit too close to it, like I want to project him to be like your kid. A little bit. Like I want to believe that he's like one of the best players in the world, but didn't like want to again, couldn't trust myself on that instinct. Because I remember you wrote in your predictions for 2017.

I was reading it and you said, Justin Thomas moves into the top 10 and I was like, well, well, wait a second here, Porter. Let's not get too carried away. Two weeks into the year, he's ranked eighth in the world. Yeah, I mean, it's incredible. It is weird because, I don't know. And I don't know if this is, again, like the spieth effect, but he sort of has gotten drowned out a little bit.

These guys that we think of as top 10 guys, you feel like you've heard about them from being 17 18 years old and for whatever reason I mean Obviously those close to golf like like deep inside golf know about him or whatever But it's not like he was hyped like a tiger or a film and and and speed was even a little bit like that at the beginning like People who are close who followed college golf, like, I asked, Speed's amazing. But it wasn't like, I don't know, nationally, it wasn't as big of a deal.

And it sort of feels the same way with Justin Thomas. I know what you're saying though, about being too close to it, because still, I'm like, I mean, I know he's, he's amazing. Obviously, he's top 10 part in the world. But it just still feels like, wait, this is, this is our guy. Like, is he allowed to do this?

Like, should he really be in the top eight right now? So it's definitely strange, but it's also really exciting. He won by seven. He won by seven shots. Yeah, well, I mean, and Speed goes to Y and shoots 35 under and gets beat by 14 strokes combined over the two weeks? I mean that that's remarkable to me like if you would have told Fusel Jordan speak two weeks ago. He was gonna he was gonna shoot 35 under for the two events

He would have thought he was at least getting one win if not both of them and he didn't even come close He didn't even sniff it. It was it was it was crazy He won three out of five events, none of them within three shots. And then do you understand, I mean, I'm sure you do, but I'm not sure people understand how hard it is to run away with an event on like a very easy setup. Like those setups, like pretty much everyone goes deep. It is so hard to go so much deeper than everyone else.

Look at like the big shot, like big gaps or big, big wins, margin of victory. Obviously, think back like Tiger, US Open 2000, he shot 12 under, the next guy was plus three. When Rory won the US Open, he was like 16 or 17 under, and when he won the PGA, he was 12 under. Usually when you shoot 27 under, there's a guy at like 24 or 25.

It's really hard to really separate yourself, but he just hit the P tourist scoring record like I still I still kind of been in disbelief and it's funny I I stayed up so first of all you only went in the Pacific Which is just the worst for anyone watching in Europe. It's terrible I told him when he won in Malaysia to please make sure the next one is in a Time zone that is much more viewable for me. He somehow just keeps making it worse Hawaii's like the worst place for me. I gave up. I didn't have to watch it yesterday. I didn't even watch the finish I went to bed. Yeah, I don't blame you and the funny thing about that

So I saw him at Riviera last year at the whatever it's called. I forgot. I don't know and that tournament has had like 50 names but Whatever it's called I forgot I don't know and that tournament has had like 50 names, but Let's just call it Riviera and I sound on the range and we were talking and I Think I said I don't know if I told you this before but I said good luck man, you know Ridden for you to get your first your first win soon. I'd forgotten that he had won the Malaysia and then I like like 15 minutes later It just hit me like all at once and I was like oh my gosh I'm like I cover golf for a living this is embarrassing and So I kind of a message later and I was like what I meant to say is good like in your first win

Where I'm not up at two in the morning trying to watch it? He was like it's fine. Don't worry about it But it was really like I really want to unfollow you on Twitter probably worry about it but it was really like I really want to unfollow you on Twitter probably. One time this was like I want to say like summer 2007 or something I met Mike Conley who's the he's still like for the Grizzlies now I don't even follow best but I'm like I've got the highest the biggest contract in NBA history okay well I met him at a bar and I was talking to him and I was just like you know whatever talking anything and I asked him how he likes playing in Vancouver.

I didn't realize until like four years later that I had asked him that and I was like oh my God he'd placed in that place. But it took me four years to realize that I had messed that up. And when I did, I couldn't have felt more dumb. So one thing I think is also getting underrated with what JT just did. We're going to do this JT thing for a while. So if you're sick of this, you might as well tune out now. But you can just skip ahead about the, I don't know,

48-minute mark when we start talking about something else. Can you imagine winning on two more different golf courses, too? Yeah, that's remarkable. It was funny because I understand cap a little bit more just because he's very much, I mean, he's the ambassador, right? Like, he's not's he's very much I mean he's the ambassador right like he's he's not

He's not laying up on anything, but it was funny to watch him It was funny to watch like him and Zach Johnson find the same group at the Sony because Jay-T was taking some cuts that I was like bro you're gonna you're gonna tear something like on 18 some of the lines He was taken it was a joke and I think that it was it was really obviously impressive what he did but like you said to do it on two different courses like that the Sony impressed me more and and he said just because it's a bigger field you you still have the top guys V.E. Throws a deck, but he said afterwards that he was

more satisfied with the margin of victory than with the actual getting to 2700. And just as a reference to what you said while ago, it's beating Justin Rose by seven and Jordan's speed by eight. Speed said it, he's like, he's probably been playing two different tournaments. And it really did.

And yeah, I couldn't be more impressed with what he did. The lines he was taking, I said, it's disrespectful. I mean, it was disrespectful to golf course designers. It was offensive. Some of those lines he was taking. I find it interesting how well he plays some of these, you know, he is this kind of bomber style player, but I think he tends to like these style golf courses

more than like even like a Cap Allua. He loves Silverado, which isn't really that much of a bomber's paradise if I'm thinking right. He loves sawgrass, which is definitely not a bomber's paradise. So I feel like, I thought this before, and this is kind of predates the no-laying updates in the podcast, but he is everything that I wanted Kyle Stanley to be, just a guy that can bomb the ball,

but he is a smaller guy that just shaped like a rubber band and can swing at 120 miles an hour and 180 mile an hour ball speed. But he's so well-rounded, and honestly, the part that impresses me the most is his putting and the fact that he uh... he he just seems to have a different kind of confidence level right now and when he's when he's standing over a fifteen foot putt over other than like speed there's not really many guys on like that much more confident he's gonna make that putt well that that was the thing that struck me about Sony is that he you i mean i don't know i i didn't watch the whole I didn't watch all four days I watched a lot of it but it felt like he made like 10

13 foot par puts and I don't know I mean obviously didn't make that many but it felt like he made so many long cuts to keep these These rounds of 65 65 64 and the 59 going That yeah, just saying it out loud I know it can take a laugh it's fine it was a yeah what's the what's the what's the word for not canary what what what is Tron reference the the birdies the Autobahn Society But he destroyed some some some birdies that Sony opened in but but really it was those long parpots to me that that were incredibly impressive to keep those around keep the momentum of those rounds go because the last couple days he didn't really get going for the first six or seven holes.

He didn't make a birdie until the eighth hole on Sunday and then he just just commits an act of arson on the back nine you know with with all the birdies that he made so I don't know I'm surprised the usga hasn't put out a statement yet on what happened in Hawaii like we're coming to revenge on you yeah yeah like Aaron Hills is actually gonna play 9,500 yards instead of 8,000 But I did want to ask you I was thinking about this last night if you were given Like if you could somehow time machine tiger In the 2000 us open to to Justin Thomas right now. Who would you who would you pick in that like just match play with

$1,000 of your money on the one. I mean, that tire bonus is like the greatest of all time, isn't it? I don't think I can, it's a different animal to do it on a golf course like Pebble than a course like Wyla, I would think. I would think. I don't know. How well does what Thomas just did translate

to like a US open style setup? I have no idea. So. So the reason that I know you're in the tank for Thomas is that I was kidding about that book did go. I was wondering, I was taking it back by the questioner didn't sound like you were joking. And I was like I got to take him down from this one a little bit softly but I got to take him down. but I gotta take a bit. Hey, you, you, you're in, like you're, like, you're, like, you're, like, you're, like, you're, like, you're, like, you're, like, you're, like, you're, like, you're, like, you're, like, you're, like, you're, like, you're, like, you're, like, you're, like, you're, like, you're, like, you're, like, you're, like, you're, like, you're, like, you're, like, you're, like, you're, like, you're, like, you're, like, you're, like, you're, like, you're, like, you're, like, you're, like, you're, like, you're, like, you're, like, you're, like, you're, like, you're, like, you're, like, you're, like, you're, like, you're, like, you're, like, you're, like, you're, like, you're, like, you're, like, you're, like, you're, like, you're, like, you're, like, you're, like, you're, like, you're, like, you're, like, you're, like, you're, like, you're, like, you're, like, you're, like, you're, like, you're, like, you're, like, you're, like, you're, like, you're, like, you're, like, you're, like, you're, like, you're, like, you're, like, like, you're, like, you're, like, you're, like, you're, like, you're, like, you're, like, you're, like, you're, like, like, you're, like, you're, like, you're, like, like, par-fives, I know. But he was first in Strokes Gain off the tee,

first in Strokes Gain T-Degreene, first in Driving Distance, fourth in Strokes Gain, approaching the green and second in Strokes Gain Pudding. It's pretty good. Is that good? The big question is, how does this make you reassess his ceiling at this point? Yeah, that is a good question and that's sort of what I was referencing earlier with. I feel like his trajectory has been that of a superstar all along. I don't know. I guess it does, I guess, but I don't really know what I thought his ceiling was coming

into the year. I think I thought of his ceiling coming into the year as winning 15 career events and two majors. Would that be a fair ceiling coming into the year? Yeah, it's always hard with ceiling, right? Because I mean, like, Rory's ceiling might be like 12 meters. So if we're talking about ceiling,

like the absolute best he can do. So like if you guessed wrong on a guy's ceiling, you've kind of screwed it up already, you know what I mean? Like if we're talking about like absolute best possible potential, you can't, that shouldn't be something that you adjust, even though I just asked you, are we adjusting the ceiling?

But you know what I mean? We should be able to see what somebody's potential is. I think for me, it kind of makes me reassess what I think his actual potential is. So I don't disagree with two majors, 15 wins. But man, are we talking about to get really crazy? Are we talking like a fill career? Well, okay, so here's one thing,

here's one of the problems. And I was sort of, I was saying about this last night too, just generally is we don't really know how to assess careers of young guys because we're basing it on the careers of like a jumpuric and even a fill or a tiger who I gotta say this they didn't play in as tough of a generation as these guys are currently playing in. I mean if you're like Will Wilcox or Henry Gnorlander, like why do you even show up to major championships?

Where did you get those two names from? I don't know. It's Willie Wilcox. It's Willie Wilcox now. Well, he can take his yellow ball and go do something. But play somewhere else. You know what I'm saying? To win in this era, I think it means more.

I think it's harder to win right now. And I wrote a column about this last year, but my point was, in what industry ever, in the history of capitalism, have you ever infused more money, like a lot more money into that industry, and it's not gotten more competitive? That's what's happening right now in golf,

and it started happening when Tiger entered, and now you're seeing sort of the fruit of that, you're seeing the effects of that. And so I don't really know, like I think that 20 and 25 times on the PGA tour is close to the equivalent of what Phil's done, which is when I think 42 winning 25 times on the PGA tour is close to the equivalent of what Phil's done, which is when I think 42 or 43 times. Do you feel like there needs to be a kind of a readjustment of what we consider an elite

career? Yeah, follow the money, first of all. I'm with you. Props on bringing capitalism into this argument as well, but without a doubt. I mean, you look at, I've actually been doing, I'm working on like a new series that we're gonna do where I'm gonna look back just kind of at a random major championship from 10, 12, five years ago, whatever. And just kind of talk about, just kind of highlight

some things that you probably forgot about. Like, oops, sorry. Like, I don't know, we all remember Tiger winning the O6 open championship. Like, do you remember what, I was watching, I saw Highlight's the other day of the 2012 PGA, like VJ Sing Lead Alone on the weekend of the 2012 PGA. So I think, like if you look back at some of the things

that happened in the mid 2000s and a lot of those tournaments, it really, it's kind of astonishing, like the fact that in that OSIX Open Championship, Anthony Wall, Greg Owen and Kichiro Fukubori were in second place after the first round. Like that's the kind of things that happened back then, whereas I just feel like it doesn't happen at the same frequency here. So I'm with you, I don't know what the scale is. 25, you know, wins in this area to, um, but over 42, 43 that fill is one, but I definitely think that, uh, it's not the same, um, you know, yeah, it's not, it's not, it's, it's a sliding scale and I don't know how you, how you equate it, but there is

definitely something to what you just said. Yeah, I don't know. Those are some amazing names, by the way. I just, in this goes back to what Rory said on your podcast, a couple, I guess it was a couple months, shout out to Rory for being on your podcast, by the way. But just about like winning majors and people don't really, and you and I have talked about this for a long time, the people that we kind of chat with have talked about it.

Winning majors is not a joke. Like winning, and this is where I think it's going to get interesting, and I think this has been a shame bacon thing, but the one major club, or maybe this was, maybe you came up with this, but the one major club is going to be just rife with golfers from this era. I mean Jason Duffner, uh, Web Simpson, Jim Fury, just just guys like that. Like, if you can get out of that one major club, like if you're Dustin Johnson, Jason Dave, you can get out. If you can get two, then I think that's it. I mean, I think two majors is, is like, automatic Hall of Fame status right now. I just, I I mean it's just it's so hard to do and

I think it's going to be really interesting to see what Thomas and and and going beyond him, Patrick Reed and some of these younger guys do at the majors this year. Let's just let's just for argument's sake. Let's make that number three. That has nothing to do with the fact that Zach Johnson has two, okay, but we're gonna slide that number up there to three, okay? We'll make it that one. No, I've made the point many times every time that we do this era talk or talk about anything like that or some people wanna claim Jason Daze,

the king of golf now and all this stuff. It's like, no, just because Rory has won a major in the last two years doesn't mean that his four majors are, Rory's younger than Jason Day, right? So just the fact that Day is one right now and Rory's two, if you stack up their resumes next to each other, it's not really a close comparison. Four majors, first one, is not a close comparison. And the point I made with Rory too is I feel like people forget how many majors four is and he made the great point. He said,

Day and DJ need three more majors to get to me. I am three away from Arnold Palmer. I also saw something I said last summer where I gave last summer where I gave a speed and Rory both six more majors. Did I overestimate that would hurt? It was when they held all four. In my defense they held all four at the same time and I think I thought they were going to win like the next eight as well, so. It's, well, it's, and that's a thing. It's so easy to get caught up in that. By the way, Rory, you sounded a lot cooler than you did when he said, uh, three more and I get to Arnold Palmer. Uh, the accent was just, it was terrific. Um, but, but yeah, sounds cooler coming from him than it does for me.

That's a given. But, uh, you know, talking about Zack Johnson, do you think, do you think, by the way, Bacon Bix that Zack has been working out with Roy, said he looked pretty thick at the sunny open. Okay. You think in a hundred years that people look back on the golfers that have won Agusta and St Andrews, you know, like Tiger and Nicholas and I can't even remember. I think Fowl though did it, I can't remember. And Bly, Rory's gonna do it and He's gonna win it. He would be going for it this year if he hadn't been playing soccer back in 15 or whatever he was gonna win that one.

He was definitely gonna win that one. This is kind of, I've been asked this by several people and I feel like people want this answer to go a certain way. It can sound kind of like a Monday morning radio show talk question, but do does this like is Jay I stack up the resumes at this point it's not a comparison JT versus spieth, but some people want to entertain like going forward JT or spieth whose career would you take? Going forward, JT or Speed, whose career would you take? Yeah, so just a race what they've done right now? I would say for that, I mean, yeah,

I would say to level out the question. I think I'm not think many people are gonna say, at the end of their careers, they think JT will have a stronger resume. If you give Speed the two major lead in that category, we just talked about how important those majors are. But yeah, going forward, it raised what they've done to date, what would you take?

I think it's a real question. I think so too. And it feels hot, take, because it's like, OK, we need to calm down. Like Thomas just won a 32-man event in Capua and the Sony. It's not like he took the players or a WGC or anything like that but I don't know I guess speed but it does it feels a little bit like Thomas Thomas's like he's got like a half gear beyond speed when they're both going

really well, but I think that I think the thing that is gonna win, I think Jordan speed's gonna win multiple US opens and I think it's just because he's so mentally tough and such a, he's just a tough putter, he just won't make bogies and he won't make double bogies and I don't know, I guess I guess I guess be I equated to this. You know how like leading up into like a fantasy football draft throughout the summer, right? You can see rankings, fantasy football rankings. And I don't know who's projected number one for next year. Like probably a Z key Elliott, right? Then take like the number eight running back on the board. Come like we, like going into that, that year you would never think of taking that number eight guy over Ezekiel Elliott, right?

But like come week four, couldn't your perception of that be totally different? Like, like going into this season, I don't think, two weeks ago we wouldn't be asking ourselves this question. But now, I don't know, it's kind of one of those things you gotta try to get ahead of, not that it matters what we actually say, but you gotta try to get ahead of and think like think of what these guys actually, their actual abilities are.

I mean, we like to think we know which direction guys are gonna go and whatnot, but I mean, I don't know. It's a fair question. I think the, I'm still taking speed in that we've not seen Thomas do it without, um, with anything less than his egging. You know what I mean? Like, he's not, he's not hung around.

Like, look at, look at what speed did in these last couple of weeks alone. He's, he's like right there in the top five in competition until we see JT do that on a consistent basis on top of winning. Again, that's asking a lot, but I think that's where I'll err on the side of speed in that regard. But it's interesting that we're even having the conversation at this point. I don't think it's too hot-taky. Yeah, it really is. You know what was impressive about speed and why is just his, and I think you talked to him about this also, but his stroke's gained shots yeah switches he switches irons that uh... the australian open i think and he was uh... number

he was number one in the field at the sony open in strokes game approach out to really i mean he didn't put that great i can't remember what it strokes game or but it it wasn't the way that he normally puts i think he's gonna have a huge year i think he's gonna be awesome this year and I thought he was awesome last year People just lose their minds about and he said it best actually it was if I had the same year I hadn't thousand fifteen I'd win 50 majors at 125 events, you know, it's absurd I think I think I think both of those guys, I mean, really going out on a limb here,

but I think Justin Thomas and Jordan's beef are going to be really good at golf in 2017. He was 53rd in Strokes Game Pudding at the Sony last week, and he was second in Strokes Game T-Degrean by Nolney JT. But, you know what I love is that the U.S. team, the Ryder Cup team, one 17, 11 this year and JT wasn't on that team. Now look out. Okay, so he's automatic Presidents Cup this year. Is he getting close to walking up that 2018 spot?

I don't know. I mean... Are we already talking about the 2018 Ryder Cup? I'm surprised that we took us 28 minutes into this to actually start talking about the... We got a question about parings for the 18 Ryder Cup from Twitter. That's all I have.

Oh well, somebody asked what read is gonna do now that's speed in JT or for sure gonna get paired. And I said, yeah, I'm sure Captain Read is gonna let JT steal, steal speed away from Reed's gonna hold the country hostage until he gets a like something and writing like he's gonna have to get a notarized from furick or something. Oh, man All right, have we covered JT enough you think What I'm gonna Yeah, I mean I just uh... what about yeah i mean i i i just uh...

i don't know so you got this question and i think it's a good one and you saw it with uh... jimmy walker a couple years ago but it's easy to play really well in a while and then not be able to keep the momentum up uh... until augusta until the u.s. open i'm really i'm really interested to see how his the rest of his j plays out because I don't think it's crazy to think if he gets a major, if he wins the Masters of the US open, he could

pretty easily and probably would be a player of the year. Yeah. I mean, he's already got three wins. He's won three of his last four events. It's hard to overstate what he's done, but I don't know it's it's gonna be a really fun It's already been and it will be a fun year. I would be my only word of caution on it I think he's even said this in a press conference or said this recently, but he's got he

It's gonna change for him everything's gonna change him, not quite to the level that it changed, like for speed after winning the Masters, but the attention that's gonna be on him is a completely different attention. And I think it helps that he saw like what Jordan went through, mostly last year in 2016, kind of a tough year with the media

and you know, wasn't totally pleased with the narratives that were built in. And it's the second, it's just everything he does is gonna be scrutinized, a little bit differently now. And I, but he's a smart kid and he knows that's coming and he knows he's gonna be prepared for that. And that's the only thing I would caution him

that everything's gonna change. He's gonna be in all the feature pairings now. He's gonna be, but what's working his favor is he, he was like at the forefront of people's attention Maybe not for the best reasons I mean it was mostly that he was friends with speed and you know He's a two K and he's a really popular player and he was in like you know a lot of pj tour live feature groups and all that stuff But now it's like now people are really gonna expect stuff out of him and when it doesn't go well

He's gonna get those questions and we'll see we'll see how well he handles that stuff, but can we keep by the way can we stop with the Asking each of them about each other stone Like I just I mean, I like we get it like I and and and and and speed and they speed actually gave some really good quotes on him But it's just like okay like a lot of these guys are friends It's not like they're they're of these guys are friends it's not like they're not like the two best friends that anyone has had you know like well I don't know it's just it strikes me as being just kind of a little bit contrived you know I thought the most poignant thing that Thomas did in Hawaii or said I think he was after his, his wife at Capulua and he was asked about just expectations and

spief and whatever and he was like, he was so honest about it, he just said, you know, spief, I can't remember his exact words, but he said something like, spief went in the masters and the US open and in the success of some of the other young guys, he's like, that was hard on me and I didn't handle it well and he's like, it's not that I wasn't excited for them, I was but he was just like, that was hard on me and I didn't handle it well. And he's like, it's not that I wasn't excited for them, I was, but he was just like, I'm not good too. And I totally get that because we've all had people in whatever industry we work in that are our peers coming up and then all of a sudden their star kind of takes off, you're

like, wait a second, we're the same. And I think that can damage your psyche a little and I don't know if it did for him obviously it didn't long-term because he's number eight in the world but I just thought that was a really cool moment of honesty that that is reminiscent of what we've gotten from speed and and Rory over the last few years yeah I mean I know I feel that way when I see one of your tweets going viral I'm just, I could have thought of that. Or would you got a really good take? Like, I could have thought of that. No, but that kind of, I don't know, that I totally agree with what you just said in that maybe he just had a better understanding

of what his potential and what his standing in the game was than like even like some of his biggest fans did. I mean, as much as I wanted to believe it, I just, I can't believe we're sitting here to say that he's won three times in five starts. It's ridiculous and it's awesome. But, I mean, wait, you wanna go 30 more minutes on JT, or do you wanna go to the other side of the pond? Are we ready to do this yet? We had our fun, now we have to.

Now it's time to get a little melancholy. I'm afraid on this podcast. Yeah, I need a crack open up beer too, for this next segment of the pod. Uh, Roy McElroy, second place finish at the South African Open, tweaked his back on Friday, considered withdrawing, toughed it out, and just announced a few hours ago,

he will not be playing in Abu Dhabi because of a stress fracture in his rib. One to 10, what's your freak out level? That's a good question. I hadn't really thought about my freak out level. I don't know. I'm like a four or a three. Okay.

I don't, part of it feels super precautionary, just with the gaseous coming up. I don't know. I mean, I just just I don't know the level of it. I can't say I'm personally disappointed because I one of my favorite parts of January, February is the kind of the early morning Middle East tournaments getting up and watching the the final rounds of those getting up at like 530 or.8. It's sort of like the open, but even earlier, and just getting up to watch the final rounds of those, I know watching Fowler win last year, it's just, it's super fun, and I'm bummed that he's not going to be playing Auby-Dabby.

How much did you enjoy getting up this past Sunday to watch him play live at 5.00 a.m.? Well, I was pissed, because I woke up at 4.30 on Sunday morning, just, I was I was pissed because I woke up at 4.30 on Sunday morning just I was locked in and Golf channel is is showing the It's on tape to life because they started early and I was just like this is the only people that are up are the ones Are the ones that are trying to watch it live? So why not show it live and then go back and show like the last nine holes later on? I mean I was right. It's the DVR era I do will never understand tape delay.

Like if somebody really wants to watch and not know the result, they had full capability to record it and watch it on their own time and say off Twitter and not know. You can't tell me it rates better to put that on tape delay. I mean, you're basically trying to trick people

into thinking that it's live. I mean, otherwise, no one's tuning in to watch that. Maybe you know the result and you still want to see how it played out. But, God, I hate tape the way. I was lucky not to be able to see it live. I had to watch it in Dutch, unfortunately, though, because it was, I couldn't watch the golf channel. But, um... I was trying to find an illegal, uh, sky sports stream on my phone. I think, I think my phone might have a virus now, actually, because I was trying to get it live. And I went to some websites that were very questionable to try to see this thing live.

I could make it inappropriate joke, but I actual tournament just to focus on the injury, but for first event out, brand new equipment, entire new equipment, everything in the, his bag was new and a new golf ball, second place finish. It wasn't the best, best feel, but, well, I don't know, the numbers in front of me, but I think he shot between 65 and 67 every day out there. Very, again, I want to say encouraging start, but here we are, the momentum is stalled here because of the injury.

But I was still at the same time, pretty happy for Graham Storm. I wanted to see signs from Roy. I didn't need to see him win. He's won enough European tour titles to me that it wasn't like the same emotion as watching JT win, but happy for Graham Storm, and happy to see what's up funny over there

I Motion might not be the right words I went to sleep, but Yeah, I mean again, yeah, the only thing we can talk about really is the entry at this point because I wanted to see the momentum carry over into Abu Dhabi But he's out for that. The future is kind of uncertain. I agree. I don't know if this was Augusta, I think he'd be seeing it up. Do you agree? It feels like it. Yeah, you know, I thought I'm always so interested by the way that Rory interacts and just the way he carries himself and whatever. Doesn't it feel like sometimes that even though he lost, he was more excited for Graham Storm than Graham Storm was? A little bit.

And I don't mean that. I'm not trying to say that Rory is not competitive or anything like that, but he obviously wanted to win, but it's just, it's interesting to see his reaction after losing a tournament like that. He seemed genuinely excited for Graham Storms to win that tournament a couple months after thinking that he lost his European tour card. I think, I mean, kind of the same way with the Ryder Cup as well. I mean, he was obviously upset to lose that, but was genuinely happy for a lot of the same with the Ryder Cup as well. I mean, he was obviously upset to lose that, but was genuinely happy for a lot of the American players and was joking around with them about their celebration

and whatnot and happy to see the American fans get rewarded for their first win in eight years and whatnot. So I definitely think there's something to that. I thought, and somebody pointed this out to me on Twitter, I think that I didn't even really realize it. He kind of left the scene almost immediately and let Graham Storm have the glory.

And he didn't do like a TV interview, I don't think. And I'm sure there were people, the TV network would have been dying to have him on, but probably didn't want the focus to be on himself at that point. But yeah, I think he, I'm sure he would have loved to have won the tournament. It's kind of, I think he would have been a lot more upset if it was like the Northern

or the Genesis open or whatever it is. Now, I think if you lost the Riviera, he'd have been way more upset than he was. You know, he was down there playing that tournament as a favor and a promise to Ernie. I think he had a great time down there and he's glad he made the trip and it was well worth it. But, well, he may want to take that back now that he's injured but yeah I thought I thought there was there was definitely something to what you said just said as a bonus he did get footage of Patrick Reed and his natural habitat out on a safari

I thought about that too and of course Reed not taking up his European tour card is what let Graham Storm play on the tour and Storm's the only guy to beat him. So the only guy really to beat Reed in the last three, or to beat Roy in the last three months is Reed, I think. Yeah, it was amazing. Yeah, he took that video of a lion just kind of preening about it. It's like, what I imagine Reed walking to the range on his off days days looks like. But dressed in head to toe and red, white and blue. What did you

think of his interview with Paul Kimmage? I assume it's how you say it. I only know how to read it, but the two part interview with the independent. I couldn't get enough. I wanted there to be a part three. Yeah. It was just and I mean, we've talked about this a lot. Just Rory's obviously honesty and just genuineness and he's just such a thoughtful individual. And I don't mean that in the way that, I don't mean that he is like thinks of others and is kind to others or whatever. I just mean he thinks about what he's doing. He thinks about his own life. He's very, I think he is really high emotional intelligence.

And I think that comes out in interviews. And it was, I thought it was fabulous. I mean, I, it just, some of the quotes in there. I actually, I told one of our, I told a poor app that, I had to like check the website multiple times because some of the quotes in there I was like, this sounds like somebody would would make it up. It was, it was almost too good. Like it was just, it was amazing. I love it. You thought it was from the onion. I did.

I was really happy with the way our podcast turned out and then I read that and I was like, damn, man, that's it. That's a difference between a journalist and me, though. That image asked some really good questions. It really, really did his homework. I think he's known Rory for a long time. At least it sounds like it. Really got down into some topics that I don't want to say. I was afraid to bring up, but I purposely tried to avoid the Olympics just because I think

that he legitimately doesn't care about it, which is fine to me, and I just don't think it's that important. I know a lot of people have tried to cram it down our throw to the Olympics as the most significant event in golf history, but I just, I think I found the part obviously between Great Britain and Ireland and that kind of identity crisis so fascinating. I don't think, Britain and Ireland and that kind of identity crisis so fascinating. I don't think... I know that like when he won the 2012 US Open, I can confidently say I did not understand that that conundrum at all. I think a lot of people growing up in the states probably can't relate to that that much just because it's we identify a lot by the country that we're from and he's from a really unique place on Earth

or in the Western world that really is like an identity crisis within that. And the fact that I thought he would use the word that he resented the Olympics. I found that word very interesting and that he didn't blame, he wasn't blaming the Olympics for like this, you know, making and making this decision. But not a lot of athletes, Olympic athletes,

have to make a decision what country they play for and knowing the political ramifications of it. I can totally see just getting fed up with that, especially when you weren't that passionate about the event to begin with. But I just think it's awesome to have a young athlete that's willing to be that open, honest, and forthcoming. And I feel like he's just bursting at the seams right now

to be as honest as possible. And I'm not even sure like everyone really realizes how open he is about everything at this point. Yeah, I agree. I thought maybe the best part to me was the crying on his hotel bed in Korea with the Pringles. Was it Pringles, the chips that he was eating? I think it was.

I love how you try to act like you didn't memorize this interview. No, was it Pringles? I only read it like 11 times, but I've always been struck by his... He said this. I can't remember if it was the high-madeeas interview a couple years ago or what it was, but he's like, I never really knew what to do with the gift. Like he knows and everybody knows that he's the generationally great one and he just he didn't know what to do with it and he couldn't figure out like that winning was it's okay to win and he said it felt selfish. And I just thought it was, I don't know,

I've always been just so intrigued by that part of Rory. And I think it makes him just such a, it was so funny to me to hear people like say they disliked him at the Ryder Cup. Because to me, and we follow it more closely than probably a lot of people watching the Ryder Cup, but he's one of the most likable superstar athletes in the world, not just in golf, just because of the way he thinks about things and handles himself. So I don't know, you know, and him talking to his dad about

you know wanting to quit because it was unfulfilling after he won as a 16 year old. That stuff is just, I mean, that's just like heavy life stuff, you know, like that goes beyond sports and it's really It makes him become sort of three-dimensional to me going forward Well, you and I should not be the authority figure something on his like ability You might be some bias here. I think I'm gonna say this for whenever we, I think we will do another podcast together in the future and I wanna understand. So, it doesn't sound like he loves playing golf anymore, but just understandable.

He doesn't, like, make it sound like he dislikes the game at all, but I mean, talking about what a perfect day is for him, it does not involve going to the golf course. Yeah. He doesn't have the, he wants to be the best European player ever, but doesn't have the goal to pass Tiger, which he should not have that goal, nobody should ever make that as a goal. But he's 27 I think, and he's got all the money he could possibly want.

So what, honestly, at that point, keeps you going. I mean, I think he cares more about life than his legacy as a golfer. Does that make sense? Yeah, and he said, he didn't say that, but Jack Nichol has talked about that recently. He said, Rory has to decide right now whether he wants to be maybe the best ever. And how is surprised here, Nicholas, say that, because he, I'm pretty sure he used the words best ever and how is surprise here necklace say that because he I'm pretty sure he used the words best ever I was like whoa Jack that's that's for me and Sally Rory could Rory's gonna be 55 and Jack is still gonna be like oh I think he might still be my record

Jack's gonna be 110 but yeah it is It He's not so the thing that is intriguing about that is that he's not like tiger like tiger Just wakes up and thinks about just just kill housing people like whether it's on the golf course or on the Xbox or whatever and box or whatever. And you get the sense that Rory wants to like, Rizhaira when he's 39 or 42 or something and do something else. And I don't know what that would be, but I don't know. It's almost like, so we want our superstar athletes to only care about the sport they play, to not have any other interest in life, to be wholly dedicated and fully locked into what they're doing, so that we can get the

enjoyment from that. And it's like how selfish of us as fans to demand that of our superstar athletes. And so I don't mind that he is seemingly just not disinterested with golf, but that he, and I think it might help him. You know, Tron has talked about this. Like, he's like, we're only cares like 75 days a year, and he's awesome because of it. And I don't know. Yeah, no, I think I wanna be clear

that I'm not doubting his competitiveness in any way. I just, I find it such an interesting place to be in your career when you got to decide what you what you want. I feel like he is very comfortable with where he is in life and he's happy with his fiancee, soon to be wife and kind of appreciate that side of life more. But he still has this incredibly competitive streak, but it's kind of like once you've accomplished all that you've accomplished, you have no monetary really implications going forward. What really motivates you? It's got to be your own internal will and basically a legacy. And if it kind of just comes down to how much you enjoy

that chase and getting up at 5.30, going to the gym every day. And I don't know, it's going to be really interesting to see how it all plays out. I think he's set up to play really, really good golf because of where he is in a mental state. I'm saying this before with the injury. I don't know, it's gonna be really interesting to see how it all plays out. I think he's set up to play really, really good golf because of where he is in a mental state. I'm saying this before with the injury. I don't know what, how long this is gonna linger, but yeah, I don't know. Yeah. Well, I hope that it didn't come off from me, that he, that he doesn't like golf or that he doesn't care.

I think he cares a lot. And I think he cares about specific things I think he cares about the slam. I think he cares about the writer cup He obviously cared about the Irish open last year that was pretty eye-opening in that interview He definitely cares about being the best player in this generation So I don't want to I don't want to I need to glance past that either, but he definitely cares about that Yeah, but I think to your point like The more money you get the more times you win the fewer incentives there are and he's not the kind of person like Tiger who just

In vents incentives for himself I think it's important that he's kind of structured his lifestyle around being fit and Being healthy and and stuff like that because I think if you don't then it can kind of get away from you a little bit. But yeah, I think if he gets to eight majors or ten majors or whatever, he's going to have so few incentives that it's like, you know, what does keep driving you? It will be super interesting to watch the next ten or twelve years of his career. Well, I already guarantee that he wins six more majors. All right, let's get to some Twitter questions. Well, first of all, Jay rigged and wanted to know,

he's like, yeah, like you'll be able to squeeze in my question after 75 minutes breaking down potential 2018 Ryder Cut pairings. We've only got 50. We've got plenty of time, then. Jay Barbudo wants to know, We got 50. So we got plenty of time then. Jay Barbudo wants to know who's the next lingering young guy to finally make the leap. Rogers, Finault, someone I'm forgetting.

I think it's fair to kind of transition that because I think like we were both on the big train of Thomas making the leap. It's safe to say he's made the leap, right? We're there. Yeah, he's got his Wikipedia page changed to the ambassador. That was special. That was quite small.

That was special. I'm assuming we're leaving Keppcat of this, right? But already played on a writer-cut team. So I just want to say it. I just want to say what? The first name that came to mind for me was Rogers. Time Tiger is the all-time Wednesday or at Stanford. I don't know. I think he had a decent year last year, obviously, didn't win.

But yeah, he's, you know, I was actually thinking about, we spouted out our 2018 writer-kept teams when we were in that hotel room, taping that podcast a couple months ago. And I forgot about him. If I would have remembered him, I would have put him on that team. And obviously, it's a long way away, but he's the guy for me, I think. Uh, I don't, I don't, I can't believe you gave up the chance there to say Brandon Haguey. Like, I think it just, that automatically makes me the president of the Brandon Haguey fan club. You had to let me go first. Can I reminisce about how a couple of weeks ago you sent me a clip from one of our first

podcasts and we were weeping tears of joy over over Brandon Hague hitting hitting irons and drivers and we had I still I still have only seen him play like one time. I saw him at the US Open in 2015. So I think that same podcast is when we broke down. We laughed about the fact that Trump just announced he's running for president. You're podcast has come a long way from those days. I mean, it has it.

I'm still on here. Really has. Maddie Lou wants to know, do you find it weird when you're on a Twitter heater? I mean, it hasn't. I'm still on here. Really hasn't. Maddie Lou wants to know, do you find it weird when you're on a Twitter heater and we like all of your tweets? You know, I want to say this seriously. I have actually kind of structured the way that I treat social media around the way that you have done it. And I mean that in all seriousness. I feel like you've done such a good job.

And I can't go as far as you do sometimes on Twitter. I can't go as far as I do. Look at Tron's Twitter feed. But yeah, just instead of, and I think people get a little confused on such media, they think that like volume, people are volume shooters on Twitter and shoot a shoot. That's not a great thing. You need to be shooting layups.

And so yeah, I've sort of tried to emulate what you do and I don't know, it's been working out. I don't know if, I will say I had my Justin Thomas at the Sony Open moment during the Ryder Cup last year. I don't even know if that can, I don't know if I can ever do that again. That was an out-of-body experience for you. I was like, by Tuesday, you were, I wasn't even on the grounds yet. And you were already just blazing a trail all the way to Hazelty.

I have to be the clip that was. I have to be the clip by what? The best one was, I think it was, it was the Ray Lewis Giff and the quail was like, Baba hit the smoke. His Patrick Reed's saying, Baba hit the smoke.

And Baba's like, it's Tuesday, Patrick. Hit the smoke. And Patrick Reed comes out like Ray Lewis. Oh God, this is turning out like every podcast we do. I'm just sitting here crying, laughing. I'm getting all fast. I'm scrolling these questions, trying to find them.

I didn't sort through these at all. Now that JT has three wins on the year, over under 4.5 wins for the season. That's a good one. That is a good one. Five wins is so many. So many wins. I'll say I'll say under just because I don't know. It's the same thing is when you speak the Neroio win six. It's so easy to get caught up in the moment like right after a major or right after Thomas wins two straight. Winning tournaments is hard though, especially the ones he's gonna be playing in, because he's not gonna play, I presume, the same schedule as he's played in the past.

So yeah, I'll say under, I'll say you wins four. Okay, I know my headline now for when I share this podcast. Kyle Porter does not believe it. Justin Thomas is the truth. I'll go over just to go opposite of you. I think it's I think I think he yeah it is so hard to win winning two more turn. I mean it'd be a great season. If he won if he wiped out this season to date in one or two more events, and if he wins two more, he's the player of the year, probably unless somebody wins two majors, I would

think. But Golf Unfiltered wants to know, three threats of sub-60 rounds this week, good or bad for the game. I don't know. I don't think it's not bad for the game. It might be bad for the event. The thing I was thinking about 59, I think that It's obviously still magical right now. You've only seen eight instances of sub 60 rounds I think you tweeted that out. There's been what was it? How many perfect games in baseball 24? 23 or something like that Yeah, and only eight sub 60 rounds. I think you're gonna see I think it's still magical right now I think I think you're gonna see that I think it's still magical right now. I think you're gonna see that number double in the next 10 years.

And so I think 10 years from now it might not be as special to shoot 59, but I don't think it's necessarily bad for the game. Yeah, I'm with Bacon on this one. I don't get why people are complaining about all this awesome stuff happening. I get, I don't know. You can't act like shooting 59 is an easy thing to do.

I know that it was really close a couple other times this week too, but I know I still, I refuse to believe that playing a golf course in 11 under par with only two par fives is not extremely impressive regardless of what the setup is. And while I was in easy courses, it's not, I don't know, it's not that that easy. Like again, like I said, there's not that many parfies where you can just dominate them. So I don't know. I'm not that concerned about it. I'm realizing I glanced past the topic though,

that I know a lot of people are really, really excited about. What are your thoughts on Jim Fierre at getting the cap and see for 2018? Can I share a quick nugget in that Andy Johnson who runs our newsletter with the Friday egg? There's about 10,000 people on our newsletter list or something like that. He said he sent a link to, you know, Furek being named Captain.

Not one person clicked the link out of the 10,000 people that received the email. I don't know. I think I'm fine with it. And the reason I'm fine with it is because it's clear the Americans have adopted this European style of handling Ryder Cups now. Like they're going to, their system, or their vice captains are going to become captains and it's going to be sort of this just system. And if you're next to the next guy up, that's fine because as long as you have that system, you're going to have a lot of talent. You know, like you're going to have Justin Thomas playing five matches in Paris. You're going to have Patrick Reed just burning down the Eiffel Tower. So I don't...

I don't know that it... Yeah, I'm fine with Fioric. I don't think it's that big of a deal. I wasn't even listening. I just wanted to share my take on this. Okay, so I just brought it up so I can talk. So first of all, I'm fine with Fiorörk being captain. I think he make an excellent captain and I was very much in support of it because I had assumed that meant he is out of the

running to play as a member of a playing member of the U.S. Ryder Cup team. He has been a part of nine U.S. Ryder Cup teams. He's had a losing record in eight of them. He's been a part of seven losing teams. We went through a bit of a transition here that he was not a part of. I'm not saying that because Furek wasn't on the 2016 team. That's the reason the US won. But we are again entering this period of time where we have so many good young players that don't have the scar tissue of losing seven Ryder cups that Jim Furek should be forever not considered as a member of the team. I know he wants to win.

I know he has an excellent career, incredible Hall of Fame player, major champion, Perennial top 10 top 5 player in the world, no disrespect to his career. I would have thought people understood that part of my take. But of course, when it was brought up during the press conference, like would he consider being a playing captain and he didn't rule it out, I thought that was a mistake from day one. And then I think that it should not even come close to being a distraction for the team. He should, I know that being a captain is not, I don't think, takes that. It takes a lot of energy, it takes a lot of, it's a lot of handling the press.

It's a, it is a tough process, but actually being a good captain is not that hard. It's not like he needs to focus on being a good captain. That's not what I, what my take is, but I just think it should not even come close to being a distraction for the team. And I know the media is going to go nuts with it. As soon as he shoots a 63, oh, Confiric, be a playing captain. And sure enough, Morning Drive tweeted out, like, should Jim Fieric be a playing captain or could he be a playing captain?

So I just retweeted and said, oh yeah, sure, why not? The worst Ryder Cup player the US has ever had. Let's like him be the captain and play in the event at age 48. And sure enough Gary Williams had to address it on the live on the air, which I kind of felt bad. But I mean, it should not, it should have ruled that out from the very beginning.

It should, and people are already talking about, you know, if he does play on it, somebody else will take over cap and see roles. It's just the last thing I want to see is that kind of distraction leading up into it. And I just think that we should be moving on from that part. I mean, it's, I don't know, it should be a done deal. He should eliminate himself from any consideration of playing for the cup. Is that a fair take? Yeah, I mean, I think it doesn't really matter because we all know that Patrick reads the captain I did love the the screen grab of Gary William space

On your on your tweet. He looks like he looks like he would rather carry Jim phirix bag for the next two years than and address your tweet by the working truck. I couldn't believe they made him the dresser. I felt I kind of felt bad after that. I'm just sitting at work spouting off my fewer opinions and little that I know it was going to make TV but just spewing writer Couté. A cleaved 21 months in advance, but yeah.

Yeah, I agree with you. I don't know that he should have ruled himself. I'm just already annoyed with it. Like you said, we're 21 months away. I'm just annoyed with the idea that he could be a playing captain. But I don't, I mean, I don't, I presume it will not be an issue because he, I don't think will be close enough to making the team, although he was this year and he didn't, he was out with a wrist injury for however long and then Davis Love ran his 10,000 simulations of where if you're a good man, if you would have played it, and it's like, what the hell are we doing? Like, just a Thomas on the team, My gosh, it's not that hard. I don't know. If Baba gets selected as a captain's pick,

is he going to go back to Paris, or does he still not like Paris? The big tower thing, he's going to go visit it again. There's definitely going to be an international incident in 2018. True story, I went to visit my boss after the writer cup and he said, our CVS headquarters are down in Florida and he said, you know, you've been doing a good job. I've enjoyed you traveling.

I think when you travel, you know, it's been good. We've gotten good stories and stuff like that. And he said, is there anything else you'd like to do? And I said, well, I said Paris is next year. And he said, and he looked at me and he goes, let's not get carried away. You got to build up to that. You got to start with Memorial.

Come on, that's the one you go to and you do a great job Memorial then you build up to Paris. Oh, so I don't know. Are you going to be there at Paris? I don't know. I don't know what to do. I think playing your, like, I thought your five year plan in life was based around Ryder Cup locations. I mean, I'm hoping to be cadding or playing. I might be cadding for the European team at that point. Who knows? I would definitely love to be there. I just part of me. You can't ever top what we experienced in 2016 though. I mean, that's like that was the greatest, greatest in-person sports

experience I think I've ever had. But it'd be fun to you. Anything we missed because I've got you for an hour now. We covered. Let's do in ahead a few more questions. We can. I mean, I feel bad taking you for over an hour here, but... Give me like two or three more. I'm having fun. Uh, um, if, oh, here's a good one, Kevin Power. If I'm Michael Grellar, well, we kind of already covered this, but if I'm Michael Greller, am I having second thoughts? Who has the better season in 2017 Thomas or Spieth? Yeah, we kind of covered that, but... Yeah, because Grellar used catch it for Thomas when they were... Yeah.

Was that the junior USO, Ponderson? Yeah, something like that. How many preppy sound and let's know how many beers that Sally shake and spray over himself like champagne after JT's show the past two weeks? I think you just went straight for the champagne, didn't you? I was asleep man, I stayed up till 2.30 and it didn't finish until like after four my time. He was up by seven with like seven holes to go. That's just the funny thing. I was like I'm kind of I don't know, kind of bored of Thomas winning at this point. I mean I couldn't even stay awake for it.

Now Hawaii is it's like 11 hour time difference for me. It's it's the worst possible Tucker blanket ship was to know if you could rank the West Coast events for best viewing experience Well, okay, so viewing experience. It's it's hard because pebbles obviously the best visceral experience But it's also kind of brutal because the rounds are like seven and a half hours. That's the worst. That might be the worst viewing experience on tour for the year, I think, actually.

Yeah. I mean, you have the scenery is incredible, but I won't get you in any trouble. Go say anything else about Pebble. I gotta go the rid, I gotta go rid of. That's my thing. Yeah, that was on my kind of bucket list of courses that I wanted to go cover. I got to go last year, stayed with my brother with us in Los Angeles.

I got to go cover it there and I placed the spectacular. It's pretty awesome. So yeah, I'll go repair as well. Have a speed plan this year? I don't know. Didn't he like hawk and shoes in Japan right now or something? Yeah, but it's a couple weeks out, isn't it? Isn't it? I think he is. I mean, it's gonna be loaded. Big cats coming back.

Yeah. Hopefully Rory plays in it. I presume I think speed will always play that event. I don't know. I have no idea. Well,'t know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I can't speak on it. I hope he does play it.

Why can't I think of what's after the humana or the career builder or whatever it is now? Tori. Tori. Tori and then Phoenix and then Riff. Thanks, yeah. Okay. Wow, so Cat really is coming back very soon. and then Phoenix and then Riff. Thanks, yeah. Okay. Wow, so Cat really is coming back very soon.

We didn't get any Tiger questions actually, but what are we expecting from that four out of five weeks stretch from him? I don't know. I mean, should we call Jack Nicholos? Excuse me. It's probably picking to win the master, so I'm pretty sure. I still go back and you and I are just banging on this drum, but he played in the third to last group of the masters in 2015.

I don't know. I don't think he's going to win this year, but I think he's gonna have a couple like top 10s, top 5s. Yeah, I think he'll be fine. Like I don't think it's gonna be embarrassing. Are we not concerned that he writes longer blog posts than you and I do now? Like is that not? Yeah. One of the great tweets of all time. I thought, try going back to 2008 and telling Telling yourself that I was just blogging about playing golf with president And hasn't won a major

That was that was spectacular. I don't have a credit. I was trying to tell my wife about funny stuff I see on Twitter and she's like you're you're an idiot stop just stop Yeah I don't have an answer for this one, but Mark Kerney asked a great question. If there was a no-lang up government who's in charge, Shirley Mikkelson is finance and Jason Day is health. I don't know what health is. Is that a role in the government? Department of Health, I guess? Mikkelson is finance. a role in the government department of health i guess uh... michael's in his finance that is uh...

you know michael's in he uh... i don't know if we've talked about this but he would be the group the greatest it he just like ran a twitter account it would be the greatest thing ever like he would just he was just their control tiger and like he would he would do like screenshots of his betting slips and beg you I mean it would just be amazing.

I'm working I'm working up enough courage or time to go by to ask bones what the chances are of getting fill on the podcast. Oh my gosh that would be that would be insane. Yeah I don't know if I could handle it. I think I would lose it. I tried. It was hard keeping it together for bones. You should ask him if you get to start to him, you need to ask him what he thinks about.

Rory saying, what the F are you guys doing? It was 2014 PGA championship. Oh, yeah. I did bring that up with bones because I still think about that tournament. I think that was the weirdest finish to a golf tournament ever. And I think it would be great to have like the three of the, Ricky, if I had Ricky Phil and Roy in the room

to talk about it, first of all, Ricky probably wouldn't say a word. And Phil would probably talk the entire time. But I would love to hear their real thoughts on that entire finish. I don't know why I still think about that event. But that'd be a great 30 for 30. And there we go. All right, we're be a great 30 for 30. There we go.

All right, we're over an hour. I'm going to let you go. I don't see any questions here that are really sticking out to me that much, but anything else we miss that you can think of. No, you guys are doing a great job. I know you don't have me on to say this, but it's been a blast to follow your journey. And I appreciate the gear you sent me. The Rory shirt, which

I can't hear you shirt, which everybody should go by. It's the great. There should be a 30 for 30 on that hole on that 8 hole. So yeah, it's always fun to come on and talk golf and I can't imagine, you know, when I started covering golf like four years ago, I was just looking to jump in to cover any sport and I kind of fell into golf, didn't know a ton about it and so it's been fun to kind of be along with you and Bacon and Van Balkenberg and all of our group and I don't know it golf is amazing right now like I just freaking love it like I love tuning in I love following along and looking forward to the rest of the year. Yeah that's fun it's fun like how these relationships have formed just basically because of

Twitter and because of social media and it's been yeah it has been a lot of fun it's been a crazy few years I mean I I think you were one of the first podcast guests. You were second only to Bacon Debra be a guest on the podcast. And I think like maybe 28 people download that first podcast. But you still said yes when we asked you to come on and you're still with us. So it's much appreciated. I do have to give a quick shout out is a request from a coworker of mine. Ryan Sakamoto, I hope I'm saying that right, listening from La Canada, California. Again, I don't know if

I'm saying either of those right, but I wanted to bury that in there. You're only a true diehard if you're still here hour and ten minutes in, but thank you to Kyle for coming on. We'll do a probably a master's one. Are you going to the masters? I am, yes. Hopefully I don't see the things that I saw last year. Please know. Unspeakable things. Unspeakable, unprintable things. All right, Kyle, we're gonna let you go. Thank you for your time. Happy Monday and we'll be in touch man. Okay, touch you later. Cheers. Be the right club. Be the right club today. Yes!

Yeah! Yeah! That's better than most. How about it? That is better than most. Better than most. That is better than most. Better than most.

I'm gonna be the best Expect anything different