No Laying Up - Golf Podcast - NLU Podcast, Episode 793: Genesis Happy Hour

Episode Date: February 14, 2024

Back with our second High Noon Happy Hour Live Show, we preview the week at the Genesis, chat about what makes Riviera special, send some Valentines, make our picks for the week, discuss "Sun Day Red," our expectations for Tiger this week, and everything else you need to get hyped for the best PGA Tour event of the year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Music Better than most. Expect anything different. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the No Laying Up Live show presented as always by our friends at High Noon. Solly here, here with my guy, TC. Hello, TC. Hey, Solly. You know what? I need to run over to the fridge and grab a high noon.

Okay. Seriously. You got a lot in your fridge. I was over at your house this weekend. Hey, Sally. You know what? I need to run over to the fridge and grab a high noon. Okay. You got a lot in your fridge. I was over at your house this weekend. It was great. We have a dramatic roll in to bring the big guy in here. I was curious what was going on behind the scenes there, but calling him in from the pen.

Here comes Todd Coffey. Hey, big guy. How are you? The arm's loose. I'm feeling good. Happy to be here. Thank you very much, Mr. Chris. I do not have to get big excited about men's professional golf during Riviera Week. It's he talks about this week all year long. Uh,

every week was like this on the PGA tour. All of the problems of professional golf would not be here, but golf would be too big. It would be an absolute problem for all of us more so than it is day to day. Yeah. We do not want all the professional golf to be like Rift. Then golf would, we would really need to shrink the game at that point.

That's a really interesting point. T.C. is showing off the vodka seltzer, which we're not supposed to have tonight because we're supposed to be bringing the Fiesta anywhere. You go with the all noon, high noon, uh, all new high noon Tequila seltzer Fiesta pack. The variety eight pack features two new tequila flavors, blood orange and prickly pear,

alongside two tequila favorites that is grapefruit and lime. All are made with real tequila and real juice, perfect for any fiesta. Find the High-New Tequila Celtzer Fiesta Pack. Nearest you at highnewnspirits.com. If you guys haven't been to this website, it's fantastic. I just did this right before we came on. I said, hmm, I wonder where I could find

the all new High Noon Tequila Seltzer Fiesta Pack. I wanna try the Blood Orange and I wanna try the Prickly Pear. Turns out it's very, very close. It's very close by in Jack's Beach in our zip code TC. So I'm gonna swing by and probably pick up an eight pack tonight. Cody, how are we? Good, I was so worried there for a second because I put the image by and pick up probably pick up an eight pack tonight. Cody. How are we?

Good I was so worried there for a second because I put the image up and I was like, oh no, the just say I saw these full address I thought I doxed myself too Oh my goodness Thank you Listen, if anybody wants to track him down, there's a zip, but the website's awesome. Thanks, of course the high noon gentlemen How we doing today?

Guys, great. I would say Yo-Sor-Fiesta, right? Yo-Sor-Fiesta pack. I haven't had this prickly pear yet or this, this, uh, blood orange. I will say I have been drinking the, uh, the plum, uh, the cranberry, the lemon. I think lemon is the most underrated flavor out there. And I'm trying to get more people over to that block. The pear is really good too. Of course, I love your bringing in the exotic fruits, TC. I know this is a big day, okay? It's not just RIV week.

There's a lot of stuff going on in the world right now. But what I am most excited for is spending a little pre-Valentine's Day dinner night with you, bloke. So my question to lead things out, all right we're flipping teas and I'm trying to figure out Who has on her so mr. Solomon? What are you doing tonight for Valentine's dinner with your spouse? Listen Valentine's lookaloo looks a little different around our household these days It's we have a six month old that the hours of between five and seven are spent

You know kind of getting her calm down and in bed So I'm picking up from a local joint just around the corner from us called Bonefish Grill tonight. We've got it ordered, got some fish and steak ordered. No bank bank shrimp, keeping it. We're down five, no appetizers. We're down five pounds already to start the year big. Come on, we're trying to keep it lean over here,

but I'm gonna get a little Mayday ice cream as well on the way home. That's my Valentine's Day plans. I already got the card and flowers that this morning started off the day right. So that's that's what we got going on. TC. I just got a text from my wife. It says, where do you want to go to dinner tomorrow night? We'll be celebrating tomorrow night. We're not huge Valentine's people. Kind of like one of those holidays. If you've worked in the hospitality industry, especially hotels, it's kind of amateur hour, right? People come in with inflated expectations and are thinking, you know, kind of like New Year's, hey, we're going to have the best,

best time ever tonight and never lives up to that. So, uh, but maybe see you tomorrow night. What's that? Sounds like you might be doing it wrong. No, when you have to deal with all the, all the drunk people on the flip side of it. I got it. But yeah, so we'll we'll celebrate tomorrow night. I think we're going to try to hit this place. Masa, the new newish Indian place on the other side of Jacksonville. I've heard great things.

Very good. Mr. Big, what do you got planned, buddy? I is Valentine's Day. Is that something I nobody told me I needed to do anything? Is that is this one of those days? Nils, Nils probably out buying his buying his wife Carson a vacuum cleaner or something. I I'm happy to report my plans this evening celebrating Valentine's Day. We are we are doing dinner and then going down to ball arena to watch my Sacramento Kings Take on the Denver Nuggets ball. Yes, that is something for me But the girlfriend is super into both Nuggets games and the Kings

So it should be a nice evening tonight ball so hard arena and you know what on the second night of a back-to-back Randy I know I'm a little worried the Kings are gonna get boatrace But we can break you guys you want to break down the Kings nugs game This is what happens. I give up control for one question. This is we're seven minutes in no We're not doing that big guys. Let's go. It's a tight show. Sorry. That's not doing a war here TC since you're not subscribing to this big. I'm sorry. You're just you kind of This is basically a Tuesday night for you. It doesn't really matter if it's Valentine's Day or not. Awards are going to go to Solly here. Solly, your honor, sir, what are we cooking

tonight? Well, I want to talk some Riviera stuff. Obviously, this is a special week. You know, you do this podcast for enough years, you kind of, you feel like you're regurgitating some of the same things about a golf course, you know, about an event. But at the same time, I know there's always new listeners, new people chiming in, but we rave about RIV. We, you know, there's a lot to, a lot to compliment about this event is, has always felt elevated despite, you know,

even before it got a signature event status, the cat, I'm sure has something to do with all that. But I'm going to give it to Randy first. I want to, you know, this question was from Cal Milqhater. I said, if you had to pick... We'll love it. If you had to pick one thing that is the reason for there being such a draw to RIV, what is it, big Randy? It's very simply the golf course. I mean, I... But what about it? Come on. What about the golf course? It's proper. It's proper. It's a major championship venue. It always looks very good on television. I love the property, the eucalyptus trees, the cacooia grass, the stickiest of the icky. design, I think a mix of, you know, some half par holes and I mean, shit, what's the par three on the front six with the bunker right in the middle of the green? Like you're just

not getting that week to week. And then it really got cemented. I got to go around, walk around during the live of or during the river. A little slip there. We, maybe we can talk about that. That's where you've been. It's such a good course that he's confusing it with Las Vegas Country Club in Miami. Well, all the winners are going there, so hopefully whoever wins this year isn't going. But no, I got to walk around RIV and it just is a really cool property. It feels tightened and closed in like a swanky part of Los Angeles. I just really enjoyed it. It's just so different

from like what I grew up and experienced with golf and courses. And I don't know, it just has always been really cool. I'm struggling for more words beyond that, I guess. TC, what, you know, if you had to pick one thing that the river is that makes rip such a draw. What is it? Like Randy said It shows off really well on TV the trees the the kai kuya grass the barankas George C. Tom is the captain. I don't have to tell you guys about the captain now You know typically I'm worried it might be a little soft this year But typically they they kind of push they push might be a little soft this year, but typically they kind of push the

course a little bit. It's kind of everything you want a PGA tour stop to be in, in which there were more of them. And it feels like the culmination of, we talk a lot of shit about the pro golf schedule, and it seems like the best stretch of the year unequivocally is the non-major stretch of the year isquivocally is the, you know, non-major stretch of the year is the West Coast Swing. And this is the culmination of it. And kind of brings in all the best parts of it.

And, you know, the only thing I wish maybe was a little bit different is I wish we could go a little bit deeper into prime time. But, you know, that's the way that time zones and, you know, February daylight works. So. I think what sticks out to me about this place, the first thing it is, we do not have thick rough at Riviera. There is no thick rough. There's almost never been thick. Maybe there's more thick rough this year.

I haven't really seen it in a wetter year, but almost always the goal is not to, you know, just put ankle deep rough out there to punish guys from going off the fairway. And the reason why that works so well there is how well contoured everything is around the greens. There's tilt to all the greens. The bunkers are really, they're as close to real hazards as you can get in a lot of these places where you know you're hitting, if you're in the wrong bunker on the wrong side of a green, you have no shot at getting anywhere close to the hole. Whereas a lot of PGA Tour courses, you can get up and down relatively easily if you're missing in the right spots and things like that.

And there's just so much consequence to every shot with it out at being overly penal. Like it's not like there's just water lining every fairway, you know, it is, you don't want to go down in the Barranca there on the seventh hole, but like that, you know, you can find it down there and you can go play it and you can dig yourself out of there.

And there's just that kind of balance give and take that, you know, almost every year this tournament comes up, there's just more and more context around it, more and more memory of watching guys trying to navigate the slopes. And you watch a guy missing the wrong spot on 17, like left above the hole and can't get up and down. That just adds to the next five guys

that are getting ready to come through and watch that shot. Yeah, like I said, if pro golf looked like this every week, we would not bitch about it nearly as much as we do So this is the one week where we just get super amp for everything cat being evolved to man It helps a lot. It really does. There's a buzz on the ground. I don't really know what exactly what we're gonna expect from him But this is my favorite PGA tour event of the year This is the one that gets me to like bookmark ESPN plus is going on on time tomorrow

Not like I'll stroll in when I kind of feel like it kind of day. Like like Randy and I used to just sit there and it was that sophomore or junior year college and just sit there and like play video games on one screen and like like Thursday morning we would be up watching or you know or like Thursday midday, it's lunchtime cool. Like I'm skipping class at noon or 1 p.m to watch Riviera like we loved it and So like, you know consequences like appropriate consequences is such a good term for it I think especially now that it seems like they're they're bringing

Some stuff back into balance a little bit with 10 and starting to, it's almost like a massive compliment to RIV that it's as spectacular as it is, and it's probably one of the more under-realized courses out there too of what it could be to. It's almost the shell of itself with certain mowing lines or certain greens that have shrunk or certain things that they could do to really bring out the best of it. But I think they're getting to that, you know, like they're gonna have the Olympics there, they're gonna have a women's major there coming up.

Like it seems like they're starting to put the pieces into place to kind of dust it off a little bit more too. And women's US Open in a couple of years as well, which will be cool. Yeah. We've talked a lot about 10 over the years. That's the whole that everyone talks about the most. There have been, as you mentioned, some adjustments made to that. We have some images, I think, from Jeff Shackleford's newsletter and from Golf Week.

Sorry, I always bring this stuff on, Cody. We've watched it over the years. It's like, all right, is 10 a great whole? We can discuss that. Is it maybe gotten a little bit silly in a lot of places You know, there's a lot of sand that's splashed up on that green You know the strategy element it's kind of been taken out of it due to technology and a lot of a lot of other reasons The green is a little bit silly. There's you know a ton of of red areas in there Which are unpinnable spaces and whatnot, but there were some tweaks

Made to this in the offseason. So if you're looking at the if you're looking at watching this on YouTube right now, like the whole middle part of the green, that red part is unusable pin space with the speeds that just sick. It is. But there's very, very limited options on a green of this size. And the play has just become like you just got to kind of hit it up left, somewhere left of the green and figure it out from there. And it just gotten to the point where I always struggle to describe this But it's like you you have to hit such like a 1%ile shot to like hit the green or I hit it in a perfect spot Like even the best players in the world their dispersion patterns don't really make sense for trying to like thread this shot

Like it always ends up in a kind of random place And I enjoy watching guys try to figure it out from there, right? Whereas now with a few more pinnable spots in this new green that you know, there'll be a little bit more green and blue, kind of more in the center of this green and some some kind of just better spaces in the green, you may see a little bit more strategy, you may see maybe more guys lay up, you know, if there's a middle pin that may make a little bit more sense or it just had gotten too severe for their speeds. I actually played out here in late April last year and for the speeds that it

stays at for the members, this screen makes a ton of sense. I don't like love this green from a pro golf standpoint but the speed we were playing at that day I was like, ah, I mean this is pretty great and now I have a feeling we're gonna walk off from this green this year and be like, okay, this is maybe a little less crazy, but it's probably makes a little bit more sense for pro golf speeds. Yeah, I think it'll be less binary. Right. It seemed like, all right, you're either going to lay up short, right? Or you're going to go long left, right?

Whereas now it's like, all right, you know what? It makes more sense to really take it on and all that. I guys, I have a proposal on this. Uh, I think like this kind of reminds me of like an El Nino. Kind of like ocean, you know, ocean surface heat model. What if they just change this green every year and it's like, you know what? It's an El Nino year. Like we're going to get, we're going to get a crazy, crazy number 10 green.

It's a lot of Nino year. It's, you know, it's, it's going to be really ben, crazy number 10 green. It's a La Nina year. It's, you know, it's, it's going to be really benign this year and guys can, can, uh, you know, really go at it. Like you don't know what you're going to get. Cause it sounds like Sally that like for at least for corporate events, I don't know if from members, but for corporate events, they don't even let people play number 10. You play to a temporary green anyway.

What if they just turned the temporary green into the pro green and you can just do crazy shit with that and everybody else plays the real green and the pro green becomes the, the, or the temporary just becomes the psycho one. I'm down. I mean, sure. Yeah. That in Japan, like they have two greens, right? We got a couple of good, uh, good questions that flowed through flow through on 10. This is from D Fleming Robbie

as we, I believe, are losing Big's camera here. But he said, besides the 10th hole at Rift, what are the other biggest? We like it because we tell ourselves it's good holes on tour. I don't know where I net on this. I still can't decide if 10 is good or not. But I don't know. That's an interesting debate every year. I think it's not so bad. It's good, but at the same time, it just holds your attention. It is a toll booth. It's good because it's different. You've got to pass, right? I don't think the tee shot is very good. I don't think it rewards, like, especially good shots, but it is always fun to just watch, guys, maybe potentially blow up when they get to this hole.

Yeah, it's interesting. It's in the fun of your mind. Yeah. They in the round, right? And it's, it's weird. It's just weird to have people. It's like when you have to start your round on this one, right? It makes sense as your 10th hole of the day. It's like, if you play it at eight o'clock in the morning, I don't know. It's that one always just bothers me.

There's just, I don't know. There just, there should be more weird shit on tour. Right. I like different. I like unique. I like weird. There's, there's way't know. There should be more weird shit on tour, right? I like different. I like unique. I like weird. There's way too much homogene on tour. I do definitely agree with that. Some nominations that came in are 17 at TPC Sawgrass, six at Bay Hill.

I just saw come through as well. That makes a ton of sense. I would say, I mean, 16 at Waste Management, having just seen it, I mean, I don't know. I'm not positive that's a great hold, but it creates some interesting moments. But it is like 10, 10 at Riv is, is labeled as like the best short par four on tour. I do not think it's the best short par four on tour.

And we had a great question from honest to foci. He said, top five short par four seen on tour and does 10 at Riv show up on this list. Um, right. How do we define short par fours? I think it has to be drivable. No, absolutely not. I would say absolutely not.

Cause I, cause I think number three at Augusta is like probably one of my favorite holes in the world. So that like my list was three at Augusta 17 at Phoenix is a contender. You know, number three at Pebble, I think is awesome. I think that's really really cool three or four. Uh, I like three more than four. Personally, uh, I think four is a fucking abomination these days. Uh, I think sawgrass number four TPC sawgrass number four is

fucking awesome. And then it's all, this is going to just upset 15. It travelers. Don't do it. 15 at TPC river Highlands, baby. You got a lot of similarities to my list. I like number four at Pebble when it's in the proper condition. I think that when that, it never is for the 18, uh, for the Pebble Beach Pro-AM.

It's always soft, but like when that green gets firm for us opens, trying to figure out how to hit a shot into that green is always fascinating, especially when they move that tee up, like they do sometimes for the US open. That one's on my list. I also nominated 13 at Memorial Park in Houston. It's like 330 yards. It's got a really cool, it's just a simple use of contouring to like defend the hole. And it's, you know, if you bail right and you're chipping kind of out of that little Bermuda over that ridge, it's just a really, really difficult shot. And there's a ton of strategy and different options that go into that.

I always try to go for options. I think 17 at TBC Scottsdale is my favorite short par four on the PGA tour. Just the way that green is structured, so many different pins can be, you know, the best line of play might change from day to day. But 10, again, probably making my top five, but it's nowhere near the top of that big. Anything else to add on that? No, I guess I'm always like number nine at Harbor town, but I think that's gets docked because it's not really drivable.

It's it's more just like a short part for I like live or that's two times we need a counter. I like RIV number 10. I'm just going to start calling it Riviera. Riviera. Riviera. Riviera. Riviera.

Yeah. I, you know, I understand the argument. There's not a whole lot of variety in like how pros approach it and attack it. But I do like a short hole that can cause all kinds of headaches and high numbers and, you know, guys frustrated because they're walking off with bogey or double. Like that's the stuff I like. So I, I'm a bit more bullish, I think on number 10 than maybe you are. I'm surprised Rainey didn't give us like some hole at the Grange down in Adelaide. Listen, you guys all know row back. It is best fit, best feel. If you listen to Billy Ho-Pod, I was specifically giving a shout out to this gray pole over

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hoodies. I think TC, you got one on right now. My screen is very small right now. But I do. And it's, and it's on the correct direction. Oh, yeah. I have it on. Inside out. What a TC's best marketing ploy as ever was where the Roback, the subtle dog logo inside out and backwards. But love the hoodies, they are where I'm pretty much every day I have one on this morning. And again, the Performance Q Zips are back.

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think we're going to get to see out of the cat? I think Cat's gonna be in good spirits. I think he's gonna be out there. He's gonna hit some good shots. He's gonna hit some bad shots. I, my expectations are, I hope he can make the cut. It's a small cut, so I think that's goal number one. I have no idea, right?

This is always such a coin flip, but I just hope he looks happy, healthy. And I got to think he's going to enjoy himself being out there around the boys, you know, big brand announcement, which I know we'll get to. But I don't, I guess, competition wise, I don't expect much at all. I think just making the cut playing four days would be a nice week for him I'm gonna go a little little more optimistic. I think the cat plays well. I bet he finishes in the top 30 this week I think that would be that's a you know 80 person field or whatever it is I think that's a that's a solid finish right? Do you think he finishes in the top 30 TC? I Think he makes the cut but I think he makes the cut, but I think he finishes. I think he fades hard on the weekend. Randy, great question coming in from

McClain J 12. Are you going to revoke tour cards? Well, God's signature event. Maybe we should, but no, I don't think so. I think the majors are a little different. We'll save that for, you know, when we need to at majors. Does this feel any different to you? Like for, for last year and majors he's played over the last couple years, to me, it has felt like, dude, maybe you can get through four rounds. I mean, he did not set high expectations.

He was, you know, kind of, you know, talking about how much he's going to be on ice in between all these rounds. It looked like the leg was ready to pop off at any point. Did the additional procedure, you know, after the procedure he had last year, he talks in a different way. He's talking about playing once a month. He talks about, you know, being more mobile. I don't have the same apprehension about him teeing it up this week

because I've had in the past. I think he, I have no evidence really to support this, but I just kind of feel like he's in a stronger position. And I don't, I don't foresee four days being a problem for him and in the way that it has been the last couple years. I think that's fair. Yeah, I think it's fair to expect some sort of physical evolution, right, or some sort of physical improvement. The biggest bummer is just like, I'm, I once again, please come to my Ted talk about how Tiger should play Once again, please come to my Ted talk about how Tiger should play. Harbor, you know, I know it's impossible because Harbor Town is the week after the masters or colonial or like play some of these super flat courses

that prioritize great iron play and putting. I think that's where, you know, if Cat wants to win again on tour, that's where he's going to do it is one of those courses. Um, you know, and God forbid he has to walk up the Lonto stairs behind 18 green here as well. You know, and God forbid he has to walk up the Lonto stairs behind 18 green Here as well, you know, that would be a disaster. What are the Lonto stairs again? Remind me of that one Why don't I remember when they went to the this was what? last year a couple years ago when

They had all the the wind and stuff and so they were they were having the guys warm back up We're not going back out and Lonto's like, well, you know what? Like that's ridiculous. That, you know, he made us go all the way down there and walk back up those stairs and got it out of like the mules, the mules just can't take it, you know? Do you guys think Tiger's got any pranks planned this year? That was something I wanted to ask the group. You see, he hit, he hit Spieth with an incredible zinger today.

I don't know if you guys heard that, but, you know, he was talking to me. He said, you know, Spieth said he was right in front of Tiger and Tiger hit him with a, oh, I'll hit into you tomorrow then. And just slayed everybody. He ruptured and laughed around the T-Box. It was just Primo Cat content. Speaking of Primo Cat content, Sunday Red made the, made the airways made a debut on Monday. Uh, which I would say to, uh, to, to a, you know, a tame reaction is that maybe

the nicest phrase I could use with that. I don't want to get canceled anymore for critiquing anymore fashion, uh, you know, fashion statements out on tour. Uh, I don't want to get called an MPC again, but, uh, what, what's, what's the reaction to the Sunday red bread? Listen, we'll see time. We'll tell, you know, I think it's so funny to see everybody like breathlessly reporting the same shit at the, at the release thing and like basically being a PR arm for a ballast and just regurgitating the same PR release,

essentially, but I don't know, we'll see. I mean, I don't really have a whole lot of confidence in Tiger to get fashion, right? Why do you say that, TC? You know, there's a body you say that, T.C.? You know, there's just there's a body of work there, I think. Like, I'm sure there's going to be tactical loungewear that you can wear to go see Punisher 4 or Jack of Reachers.

Easy, easy, no. And, you know, in there that, you know, listen, I'm sure they'll have some good pieces and stuff like that. I loved anti-fowl though. Uh, had a great tweet that basically said, if you, if you, if you pulled, if you, uh, your browsers out, Cody, just so you know, just for you know, a 90 degree, uh, you know, a shift on it. It basically looks like a fused vertebrae, uh, there too. So I, you know, uh, shift on it. It basically looks like a fused vertebrae, uh, there too. So I, you know,

yeah, I can somebody guys, what do you think? Like, hand up. I never bought any of the TW Nike collection stuff. So I, I realize I'm not like the target market here, but I, I don't feel like the tiger logo looks as cool as I was maybe hoping it would look like I don't know. It just feels like it could be a little better done. And then I truly don't get the separating Sunday and making it three words. Like it just seems overthought and a little dumb. Can I make it worse? A Bellis. Just just replace Michael Scott with that explanation.

And it makes way more sense. Like it was totally, it made, I listened to it three times. I have no idea what he's talking about this rule of three or something. That was going on there. It just, I, it, we'll see. I might, there are some cool, there are a couple of people, like the hoodie that tiger had on, although he claims that's the first cashmere hoodie on tour. I'm going to go, we're going to have to agree to disagree on that one.

Cat, I think that's been out there for about at least four or five years now. But is cat not been in a pro shop in years? But man, some of the shirts, some of the, you know, collared shirts and what now was like, man, all this for this. And yeah, there was a line of people very willing to just, uh, just fawn all over it, which was, you know, I don't know if they maybe had seen a little bit of the social media reaction before doing that. They might have acted a little bit differently, but.

Yeah. And like, you know, Abelis was going, I guess they're going all D to C. Abelis was saying it's, you know, very distinct. It's going to be an independent company from Taylor May. They're in San Clemente. They're reporting up to him still though. And I think the thing that it got me thinking about mostly was just how under-realized all the Tiger Nike stuff was about how big of a whiff the last 25 years have been with Nike or 30 years now at this point. Man, it feels

like there was some blank space to do something more cohesive and something more, more like Jordan, right? More like, Hey, there's, you know, there's something lasting and, and there's, there's a, a sub brand here and the Tiger logos that they came up with through the years with Nike weren't, weren't good either. And now it's like, all right, we've got this Grayson collar, which it seems like they're like leaning into, but I'm afraid they're going to be caught in between this weird spot where they're going for this premium clientele or this premium target market, but the people that buy that premium stuff have more taste than to buy this half baked

Stuff so it's you know, it's it it seems stuck in the middle to me Listen when the when the J-Day Malbon stuff came out I was really really not a fan of the fits at Kapaluah But like a lot of the stuff after that is kind of like okay Well, I kind of see what they're going for here like this makes a little bit more sense Maybe you know give them a few months, a few, you know, a couple quarters or whatnot. Maybe this stuff starts to look a little bit nice

or cleaner or whatnot, but yeah, I was just very mad. Like it's got, it's tiger. Of course it's tiger. Like there's gonna be a lot of attention around it, but if the tiger was not tied to this, I don't think that clearly this would not have made any airwaves of any kind. So it is, it's weird. It's definitely weird to see him not in the Nike stuff,

but I'm sure we're going to get the tour promoting it very, very heavily was, I don't know, a little surprising to me, I guess. And I'm guessing we're going to get a fair amount of that on the broadcast this week. But the tour also sent out a note, which I'm sure this is from Tiger, Steiner or whomever, but theo also sent out a note to all tournament organizers that can't use pictures of Tiger and Nike stuff unless it's like a certified iconic moment,

which good luck with that, man. Especially when he only teased it up a couple of times a year. Like, do we think last year, you guys talked about the logo, you guys talked a little bit about the clothes, you guys, no shoe takes TC, This is kind of right up your alley

I wasn't really healing the black and red, but I thought the white ones today. They were they were pretty neat I haven't seen the white ones today. I've been kind of head down today, but they had they looked there's some Jordan Golf shoes that they look a lot like with the this plastic piece on them on the far back. I don't know They're not they're not offensive. Shoes were decent. I thought. Yeah. Shoes are solid. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Good.

That's cashier. Golf Channel just reposted the the tiger joke with the crying, laughing emoji because it was it was really that funny. Tiger rules. Cody, you want to bring us home with some segments here? Yes, I think what we're going to turn to is, uh, you know, I. After last week, I know T.C. You're the king of hot takes here. You and big, we both missed the waste management recap.

I'm just wondering if you guys have caught up at all. If you want to get some thoughts out there, There's been quite a bit of spillage over everybody's happy to be in LA just away from Phoenix the debauchery that happened there But any thoughts we'll start with you mr. Big I Didn't get super into all the reaction and stuff I think I think the tournament, from what I can tell, is at an interesting crossroads. They've made the identity of the event, the debauchery and the partying. It's hard to walk back from that image that you've tried to create over years and years and years.

that image that you've tried to create over years and years and years. I'm hopeful maybe this year was more an aberration with some public heckling and some guys getting upset like ZJ. I know TC, we talked about that internally. I kind of don't take much of that for anything. Yeah, I don't take much of that. Sir. Sir. For anything. Yeah, I don't know. It'd be a shame if things dramatically changed. You know, Tron, we were out there, gosh, 17 years ago now, and it was truly a wonderful time. I had a blast. So yeah, I guess I'm more just curious what the organizers and the tour are going to do or not do. But I think it'd be a shame if that event and that week kind of strays too far from what it's become because I think it, you know, we talked about live being an interest, RIV being an interesting golf course. That tournament is an interesting, the waste management is an interesting tournament year to year for just how

much it stands out and stands apart. So I hope, you know, I hope they can find something that works for all parties. That's kind of a political answer, but... And if you haven't listened to the Billy Horshal pod, we just posted that overnight last night. He talked a lot about, look, here's what, here's the deal. Here's what's fun. Here's, it's good about it. Here's where things are like getting a little bit out of hand and just people just heckling, you know, before golf shots, over golf shots and things like that, that, you know, it just kind of is the nature of how these things flow. Unfortunately.

I had no problem with Billy. Same. We said to those fans of like, you know, what, like people were going to cross the line and I have no problem with, with guys clapping back at him. I think it's I struggle with zj when it's like, all right, well when you say that You know for the last 21 years that this thing's been out of control. All right. Well five of the last However many years that the tour, you know five or the last seven years at the tours given out tournament of the year awards This has been named tournament of the year or co-tournament of the year, which is like, then you know what, like talk to your fucking organization,

ZJ or stop showing up, maybe get your wife's permission. Yeah. It might just not be for you. Exactly. I got a better idea. I got a better idea. Listen, Yossir, I got a two time major champion. Okay. He's one of Matt, he's one of Augusta national and he's won at the old course at St Andrews and he's a rider cup captain. Like just take, can you take ZJ off our hands to ZJ to live would solve so many

probably would solve 90% of the tour problems if ZJ just went to live, I think. But I think, I think one of the things is like Randy, to echo what you said, it was a great event to go to. I think when we went six or seven years ago, it was still a great event to go to, and one that I wouldn't be afraid taking my seven-year-old son to go see. And I think sometime in that time, and maybe this mirrors the kind of how professional sports in America are trending, sometime in that time, it's just gotten so over the top and the tour hasn't, you know, there's been no tact or nuance with it.

They've just said all outrageousness is good outrageousness. And at some point there is, there do need to be standards. And that doesn't mean you need to strip the fun away from it. It just means, hey, when somebody crosses the line or does something purely for shock value Then like there need to be solid you said earlier consequences. There you go Have some consequences also like it is absolutely insane

Insane from on so many different levels from an operational standpoint From a risk standpoint just from a business, to not be scanning tickets at the gates. Like that's, like I like Chance Cosby. I think he's a good guy. I think his three pieces of pecan is some absolute fire. One of the best accounts on Insta. You know, I've given him some criticism in the past for some of their sponsor exemptions.

But like that's the decision where like, get to the bottom of that. And who made the decision not to scan tickets? Because that's, that's insane. I've got one other critique and apologies if you guys touched on this Sunday in the recap. But I do think the way they have built up the corporate hospitality all around number 16 has now forced a lot of just public spectators fans to other parts of the course. And I wonder if you were to open up number 16 again down the left side used to be all just public grandstands. And then it was not even built up but beyond the green it was just kind of a little hill and people would congregate. It's almost like take all the people that just want to get drunk and rowdy and make them be on 16 And then I think you would hopefully avoid some of the run-ins and stuff that we're seeing not on 16, right?

I think they've almost crowded people out of 16 and that Debatery because people are going to that tournament to you know a good amount are just going to get shit Housed and and do whatever like that fits at 16 It almost gets washed out because there's so much noise and commotion going on No, I feel like how they on that thing on left Yeah closed off 16 to a lot of just public spectators is not the way I would like to go. Which also kind of killed some of the good vibes, some of the actual golf fans that would hang out along the left on 16 or the college kids that would hang out on the hill behind. And now it's like they're all right on top of the thing. And it's a hell of a lot harder

to throw people out of a corporate hospitality box who have paid their company or whomever has paid, you know, a couple hundred thousand dollars. Like on some level, it feels fucking greedy from the Thunderbirds. And I know that the that, you know, the money's going to charity at the end of the day and all that. But you've got to take more of a long view of this and bring it back a little bit to like, you know, it kind of goes back to our whole conversation about full swing and how to get new golf fans in the mix. And this isn't doing anything to drive golf fandom, right? It's just it's almost driving people away from the game a little bit. Like, there needs to be some balance. Yeah. It's people for the sake of people. It's not like actually adding golf fans, which I get. I get it. That's part of the what makes that event fun, but at a certain point,

it just kind of gets 3% worse every year and it's just, it's over 100%. One of the rare failures that I think that we've seen play out by an actual like the organizing event, I think this a lot of this falls on the tour, but a lot of this ultimately falls on like the tournament organizer and those guys, because if you want to talk about where this broke down of like not having plans in place to get people out of there limiting people's entrance in when they they're expecting that much rain, trying to figure out the amount of booze that they can actually sell. And then ultimately when you jam all these people in, they have people jumping the fence, not being

scanned in and then other people just going into all you can drink hospitality areas, like things are gonna get out of control, but the Thunderbird they did done. They stopped selling water too. Yeah. They've done so many right things. I do not doubt that they're gonna get this fixed because they're one of the good guys. And I mean, it's really, I know you gave a shout out there to Chance, but like he, he has a solid head and his heart's always in the right place. And he represents hit that organization. And like really the city of Phoenix, Scottsdale,

better than anyone else. Yeah. No, I totally agree. And I think I do think like the tour was a little bit like the tours got just as big of a role to play in this and or as far as responsibility as well. Like they've they've done more to promote the, you know, the downside of this tournament as anybody, right? Yeah, for sure. Even this year, I mean, last year, I have it being an elevated signature designated whatever you want to say. So that brought a lot of great players there.

Those so fans come out to watch that great players and you still had the booze hounds out there now this year You don't have to have them waste management putting up 20 25 million bucks Because people want to go to that event But that just means that the people who want to see the really golfers now You just got a big-ass party add weather on top of it and it gets out of control Anyway, one thing that you guys checked touched on last week, too, was there's a lot of speed talk, and we're going to run into the mailbag here. This comes from NH Clark 8.

Bearish or bullish on speed this year, my official prediction is two majors and six total wins. That might be underestimating the kid. Solly, you had honors. I'll let you go here and kind of lay out some some thoughts that you had. Put your name on it, Solly. I mean, I said my piece last week. I mean, it's it's, you know, I want I'll throw it to Randy to start this one. I said my my piece on Sunday. I'm in the process of losing faith and in Jordan, I think my expectations for him this year would be

a winner to somewhere and no majors. I am trying to come to grips internally with, he just isn't going to sustain that crazy major pace that he showed seven years ago as a true young kid. pace that he showed seven years ago as a true young kid. And as much as I would have loved him to, you know, make a run at shit like double digit majors, it's just not going to happen. So I'm trying to have realistic expectations. And I hope I'm wrong. I don't know. TC, what do you, what do you think? I feel like we're kind of stating the obvious with that. Like, Salih, like with everything you said of like, you know what, like 2015 and 2017 where the outliers was Spieth and he's not going to win majors at that clip or win golf tournaments at that clip. I don't think anybody's expecting him to at this point.

My point was how far off he's fallen from that. That was like a almost a full shot behind that was the point I made last week. It's not like he's, oh, he's just kind of middling a little bit. It's a very, very big fall off from that. I think he's showing some immense signs of life. I think his driver's better than it ever was in that front. I think he's still got two more majors in him personally. I don't, you know, that's, again, that's far off the expectations from four or five years ago. Right. But I think he wins this week. I'll put, I'll put that out there. I think he wins Riviera.

But I think, I don't know, I just, I think Jordan's on the cusp of some good golf of the next 12 to 18 months. What's good golf? Is that majors? Is that wins? Where are we going here? I mean, I just said, I think he wins this week. I understand that, but one win. Yeah, I think this year probably, I think he wins twice this year. And I think he wins. I think he wins two majors in the next, we'll say three, three seasons. I think he wins another major in his career.

I think he will have a magic week at some point. I just would like to see more consistency. I mean, it's just one thing when he gets really hot with the driver and the ball striking, the putter is completely abandoned. So I mean, like last week, he hit the ball terrible and made everything he looked at. It just is it just always something. It just always seems like something's moving. He can't get everything to row in the right direction. And I, I, I just struggled like have any like confidence in the continuity of his game. I think it's just like, you know, obviously unfair comp, but like Rory is obviously not the player he was from 2011 to 2014 when he was

picking off majors all over the place. But like, you go look at his performance since then, and it's like remarkably consistent and really good. And speed has been several rungs below that, and I just feel like we've tried to convince ourselves Spieth is back for a long time whereas if you look at like his career as a whole he's been way more like this current guy than he has been like in 2015 and 2017 like 2017 was seven years ago it's it's it's just the unfortunate reality of it. I will be there for like the waste management run where you shot 61 on that Saturday was one of the most fun Saturdays I've had watching golf.

Like I will be there jumping off the couch when when the run does happen again. It's just worth pointing out like this is a long extended period of time. Two wins and 145 starts. It's just like, whoa, have we have we paused and talked about that? Cause that is a long time. It seems like the floor is getting higher than it was. Totally. Three years ago.

Like I think, I think we're, we're basically letting this six year stretch, seven year stretch sour what I think has been a lot of progress in the last 12 to 18 months as far as raising his floor back up. So, to me, it kind of reminds me of Kyle Shanahan, right? It's just a sample size thing. We just got to, we got to keep, you know, he can't, he can't put all three phases together in one of these big games. It's going to happen at some point, but we just got to keep getting there.

We got to keep getting to the fourth round. It does remind me of Shani as well, because it's like, you know, just keep insisting, keep insisting. And then when the failures come, just keep punting it down the line and keep punting and keep punting and keep punting. When have I insisted? I said that speech stunk for like a good three or four years. You literally in our slack this week, I'm taking notes of everything you guys

are saying, I'm bookmarking this one. I'm booked. You don't even know what you're bookmarking, man. Uh, I think, sorry, one thing, one thing you said that resonates I hadn't thought about is speed. He hasn't even given us that many scares, right? Sunday final group at a major, right? I think that's the difference too with what you mentioned was Rory. Like Rory hasn't won a major in forever, but he's put himself into position to at least try to really win one. And I feel like Jordan, we don't, we haven't even gotten like a good

sweat from him. St. George's 2021 open, uh, Moriakawa one. He, he had the horrible three putt on Saturday, missed the 18 inch putt to wrap it up. And I think he finished two shots back at Moriakawa. That was the, the lone scare. That was the last time I don't think that was a major either though. Okay, we'll discuss that. I don't know if can diddies. Well, we got TC in there with his take for this week. TC picking speed to win Riviera this week. I think Tommy or both both prime. I'm gonna share the time. I do want this one. Oh, you do? I do. Mr. Beck, who do you got this week?

Yeah, I'm picking Spice Buddy. I don't know if you guys knew. He's pretty good friends with Justin Thomas. I know I'm not really sticking my neck out with this pick, but has played pretty well at Riviera. And I think Riviera is the type of place that just identifies all around very good golf. And JT has had a very good start to the 2024 season.

And I think this will be a proper kind of culmination of what's been a couple months of very good play for him. This one's jumping off the page at me. Maybe got a little rest, a little the whoop score getting that bumped back up. Uh, saw Hith Tagala is going to win the Genesis this week. He's going to cry. I'm going to cry. We're all going to cry. Uh, I'm, I, I think it's a great course fit. A course that, you know, does not necessarily demand great accuracy off the tee. Um, and you know, around the

green is strongly emphasized here and he obviously is playing well I think on a different side of the draw last week It could have gone very differently for him and bounce back week. I think he wins I truly think he wins this week if not I think can't label will win but my one pick to win is going to be saw hit to Gala. I'm following the rules here I'm gonna pick somebody who's won on this course before put himself in contention another times. Ultimately, Maxwell, I'm going with Max, the hometown kid. No one wants to win this tournament again more than him with Tiger.

There is the host. It's not going to be too much pressure for him. Plus, I think it hasn't really had that will of finishes so far that you're in. He kind of has these little pops California his place. I'm going to go with Max. Guys, thanks for joining me on this happy hour. Thanks to high noon. As I said, it's Valentine's Day. I wanted to add a little festivities into it before we get out of here. So I made some Valentine's Day cards and I know that you guys helped me out with a little bit. This is for me to you

guys sending you guys lots of love, but I also thought we'd play a little game. Big, I appreciate that. Somebody who's given me immense love, pleasure over the past year, maybe year and a half is for sure the next gentleman. He makes me chuckle all the time. I'm just thankful to have him in my life, even though a lot of times I don't think he should really be in in our life and that's that's this one that we got here All right, so he might not be in our life much longer. Well, you never know I'm sure he'll find you'll find his way somewhere. There's lots of professional tours out there If you're listening on the pod it is a Ryan armor as a mule Saying a card for Ryan armor saying happy Valentine's Day

as a mule saying a card for Ryan Armour saying Happy Valentine's Day. The next was TC's Valentine's Day card. TC, I don't know if you want to set it up. Yeah, I'll set it up. Yeah, I'll set it up. First of all, I'd just like to mention too, I think Colin Moorakawa is an absolute sleeper for this. T2 in 2022, T6 last year. Similar to what you said about Sali, Sali, I think, work, how of, you know, elite iron player. I think he's back on the upswing. All right.

Uh, listen, guys, we've got a guy who he, he's spent some time, uh, working for Arthur blank, who made some noise today with some quotes. Um, you know, he's just, just he's a he's an exceptional leader. And I think he's a little bit down in the dumps right now. Things didn't go our way this year. And so I just I want to send him a Valentine's Day. Oh, God, Kyle, things didn't go our way because, you know, not like through no fault of his own, right? Just, you know, a lot of different except the coin toss variables kind of kind of coming through. So

I think he's definitely a ball knower the deflate gate there. He's also the executive chairman of PGA Tour Superstore, but we had the deflate gate there with the, what's it called? Not PGL the the arena the PGL PGL. Yeah, he's the you know what but he's he signed Cantley the tool man which is fits in really well with Arthur Blanks you know history at Home Depot and all that so Ball know or Dick Sullivan you know obviously you guys thought I was going a different way with this but just had off the Dick for everything that he does for the Atlanta drive and the greater golf community. That's the point. Solly, we'll turn it over to you.

Listen, I already, I just mentioned this guy. He is who I actually truly is going to think is going to win this week. But also just like the one, maybe the one guy that I feel like an emotional, I go on emotional journey rooting for him to win golf tournaments, right? And when he melts, I melt. I really do feel a pain when it doesn't work out and I feel unbridled joy when it does work out for him. That's of course to my guy, Saw-Hith. He actually signed a shirt for me, one of my go, I have multiple go Saw-Hith shirts,

but he signed one of them with a note in there that says, this is really weird that you want me to sign your shirt, but thanks for the support. And I keep that, I keep that in my office in here. So shout out to our guys saw, you're the sweetest, and you're my, you're my PGA tour of Valentine. Cody, you got mine in there? Of course.

All right. Gosh, tough to follow up those. I just wanted to send a Valentine to a guy that is kind of back in my life, back in all of our lives. My thinking with this was, I just wanted him to know he's loved, appreciated, he has friends here, and I'm hoping for very good things You know Riviera has been a place where he's had some success. You might even say he's He's trending a little bit. It could be a very much a dark horse candidate this week

And when I say he's back That the pun is intended a little bit He was struggling with some very bad back injuries last show about trill trill Zalatoris. Yeah, my guy wills out for us a trap draw alumni TC, you know, he's always got time for the trap draw It's just nice. I think golf and the PGA tour. It's a better place when he's back out here. So on the trail Yeah, yeah. When was this free U.S. Open one year when we used to talk about golf? Oh, for sure you qualified. Yeah.

When it used to be a golf podcast. You are my perfect match as anybody watching. And I hope you're a perfect match this week at every era. Well, I hope it's a match here. Yeah, it can be a DB. When he sent me over to Tarell, I was truly shocked when I pulled this up. I hope that the Willy Zee also finds his purpose match with this putter because if the back might be fixed, but if we can't figure this out, we still might be in big, big trouble. As we go to wrap here, this obviously happened right before we went on the air, but we want to give our thoughts to the people of Kansas City as there was a shooting at the parade. I haven't heard any details at all, just if you're listening to this tomorrow or whatnot. This just happened and broke right before we went on the air, but obviously some tough

scenes, horrible scenes there, and we want to give a shout out in our thoughts with the people of Kansas City. So I'm not good at these, offering these kinds of sentiments, obviously just fucking sucks. But with that, I hope everybody, go ahead. Yeah, I was just going to say, if anybody wants to check out a little bit more preview

coverage for RIV, Wolfie Bam America did a great writeup for us over at no laying it up.com. You can find that written piece there I don't know how he was able to get this done when he's you know playing golf all over the world I don't know if he's still over. He's down in New Zealand right now. Yeah, yeah Plain got all over the place Yeah, I can't wait to debrief with them on that trip Yeah, I can't wait to debrief with them on that trip Excited to fire the tournament up. We'll be watching it all week. We'll be back Sunday night for

No laying up a live show presented of course by high noon Excited to get it in guys Happy Valentine's Day again. I hope you guys have some good evening a good evening with your significant others and We'll see everyone else back here later this weekend. Cheers. Enjoy the tournament. Cheers! Happy Valentine's Day to Blandi too. I didn't want to leave him out. Be the right club. Be the right club today.