OverDrive - Vail on caddying at the U.S. Open, the high difficulty of Oakmont and the score on the course

Episode Date: June 11, 2025

PGA Tour Caddie Scott Vail joined OverDrive to discuss the headlines for the U.S. Open, the difficulty of the Oakmont Country Club course, caddying for Keegan Bradley, the challenges of around the greens, the projected score of the tournament, the philosophy of a caddie, and more.

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Includes auto-pay credit, conditions apply. Visit a Virgin Plus store or virginplus.ca for details. Here's our good buddy Scotty Vail. Does it feel that way, Scott? Like, do you prepare for the mental grind of Oakmont this week as much as anything else? So this week, first of all, hello boys. But yeah, so this week Keegan and I have decided we're going to go full negative. We did it at Memorial.

We finished, I think, seventh or eighth. So we complain about every single hole, the slope of of the greens the rough that you can't get out of We're gonna do that as mental guys not very Very happy with our with our game plan for this week, but it works a couple of weeks ago So that's what we're gonna do this week. I like that. So like everything is the superintendent screwed you This is dumb that like greasy pin. It's kind of like, wow. Rock too high, unplayable hole.

Okay, okay. That's what we're gonna do. I like that approach, man. And like you've been on the grounds there, you see it. Because oh, and I have been joking, like the golf channel is playing this up, like it's just a souped up golf course that is simply impossible to score.

Do you see it that way? Be reasonable with us. How tough really is this course? I will say in all my years of caddying, I've been out here for 17, 18 years and caddying for 20 plus, this is the hardest golf course I've ever caddied on. I think it's somewhat fair tee to green, but when you get to the greens, I mean it makes Augusta's greens look mild. They've got pins that are going to be on slopes of three, three and a half percent where they

say the general rule on tour is three would be the max slope percentage. So the greens are tricked up. They were supposed to take the mowers to the rough a little bit this afternoon, but I think that's just maintenance on them. And the rough is, I mean, you can lose a ball, literally. We hope the spawners have good eyes, because if they don't, we're going to be in trouble if we miss a fairway. It's not bad.

Scotty, the holes are so long, but finding the fairways are so imperative. Like, does that mean like just munch three woods all over the place, or do you got to Scotty, the holes are so long, but finding the fairways are so imperative. Does that mean just munch three woods all over the place, or do you got to get out the big stick and just hammer it and hope for the best? There's some holes, because the course isn't that long. I want to say it's 7,400 yards, and that's not long by our standards these days. The fairways are wide enough. There's some that are a little bit goofy and tricked up

where you could have some of the all slopes towards the rough uh... twelve one in particular uh... fifteen somewhat like that but i think the fairway with uh... is it's more than fair i mean it's a u.s. open it's just it's just a at the torture test though it's gonna be difficult

so you're saying that nobody's gonna be able to shoot a sixty four like somebody we know uh... i think i thought i heard about that there's an inquiry fired on that one whole all that you've heard about it i don't think it'll be anybody shooting sixty four but i think somebody could maybe in the first couple of days because it's rain it's somewhat soft i think somebody could shoot three or four under but i think

you know that depends on pin placements will get those probably the next uh... couple of hours and we'll have a better idea of what what tomorrow brings i don't think it'll happen on the weekend uh... but there's a chance for some weather but the greens are pretty soft they said they want to get them to 14 or 15 on the stem, but they're probably they were quicker today Probably 12 and a half. I see maybe a three or four under Maybe tomorrow and then you know, the USGA probably won't like that. So they'll trick it up a bit

That's what they they're kind of known for doing So maybe you know two three four under to start the day tomorrow and then Friday Saturday Sunday probably hold on tight so if the USGA or I guess we came the UN Keegan and so we'll give you even par through 72 holes you think you'd take that or would you rather just roll the dice and play no sign me up for it I'd happily take that or would you rather just roll the dice and play? No, sign me up for it. I'd happily take that and I know that would be comfortably in the top five I would think and maybe a chance to win it. I mean the last time it was here I think I want to say three under won it and it seems like every ten years you come to Oakmont every tee is 30 yards further back. Keegan's been laughing because he's been YouTubing previous US Open's here and guys are hitting

irons off tees and Short Iron's Cabrera hit like a nine iron in on 18 on the final round when he won and now it's you know we played it the other day and we had like 235 to the flag obviously that's that's not close to a nine iron so they juice everything up you know one more tee seems to be added every time you come to these sort of tournaments. So yeah, even par would be, I'd be ecstatic to take even par and not have to be out there grinding and figuring out where you can land it

or where the wind is and all that sort of stuff. Scotty, how do you handle your player when he's going a little bit sideways? Because there's videos surfacing online of Greller and Spieth where they're just like, Greller is like, hit it here and Spieth's like, no, I don't want to do that. And then he's like, why? And then he's like, because I want to hit it 10 yards farther. And it just goes back and forth.

Like do you just give your opinion and say, this is what you should do, and then the player decides whatever the hell he wants, or do you ever get into it with your guy, or how does your interactions go? No, I mean, I think for the most part, those two are, they're special individuals. I think Jordan likes Grellar to tell him,

and then he baits him, and he baits him. We play with them Sunday at Memorial couple of weeks ago in the par five, the fifth hole. Jordan wanted to hit driver and we were listening to them and Tegel and I chuckled. The conversation in Krellar said, well, I think that's a psycho play. And I'm howling and I'm walking off to Tegel and psycho. I like that one. And of course Jordan hits the three with Flares It Into the Right Trees. I knew it should have been Driver and it's such great entertainment listening to them.

But for Keegan and I, you know, that's not his personality. He likes, Jordan's the modern day Phil Mickelson. Those two, it's just such entertainment. They're special individuals as far as that is concerned. But Keegan and I, we've got a game plan. We've talked about the what ifs, what if it gets firmer, some less clubs off the tee. And basically, if you get it in the fairway obviously here you know you're a leg up on the field so that's that's the main goal whatever he feels

comfortable to get in the fairway and he'll relay that message to me Scotty I don't like driver I just don't feel quite comfortable hitting drivers so I'm I'm all for getting it in the light green stuff first and foremost and then deal with you know with the distance or whatever we have in for the second or third shot with Scott Vail and that that reminds me of what I was watching last night actually Johnson Wagner was out I think he was with wrong and want to say DJ and Mickelson and and Rom's ball was in the first cut and

Wagner asked him a hypothetical. He said would you take the first cut all Week which means never on the fairway, but never in the rough and I think all three guys said they would take it Where would you stand on that Scottie if I put your ball in the first cut every single? You know the 14 holes you're gonna hit driver or three wood or iron or whatever the par fours Would you take the first cut knowing you're not gonna be on the fairway, but you're also not gonna be in the rough. Yeah, no, that's a no-brainer. I mean, cause as soon as you're in the rough, it's probably an 85% chance that you're gonna make a bogey,

given the severity of the rough. We hit it in the rough yesterday, and one of the holes, and could barely hit a lob which 40 yards to get it back to the fairway. We play with Gary Woodland and he's this big strong guy that hits it a mile and he hit it on one hole, the church few holes on three and he hit it right probably 30 yards right of the fairway and could barely get his lob which back to the fairway. So first cut, sign me all day, every day.

I'll take the occasional jumper maybe over the green, but that's okay. We can live with that. We're not chipping out and then having to worry about, you know, hitting our third shot on the green that's, you know, on top of a slope that, you know, maybe should have an alligator's mouth opening and closing. It was going to be guys losing balls in the rough, man, and they're going to be losing their mind. We were saying that earlier this week.

We hope these spotters got some good eyes. We keep more spotters behind the tees that we've seen to the right and left of fairways this week. So we're hoping those spotters behind the tees maybe slide up towards the fairways. But yeah, there'll definitely be, there'll be some cases of that for sure. You gotta have a good eye.

What about pace of play? That's not gonna be a picnic either, man. Pace of play, it's been fun this week. We played a nine-hole practice round today, this morning at 9.30, and it was three hours and 10 minutes. So I'd imagine pace of play starting with the You know with the real round starting tomorrow. It's it's not gonna be pretty and then you know, thankfully

I don't think there's gonna be much wind which adds to you know, some length of time being added to the round So it'll be It'll be a grind. It's going to be some long rounds out there. And the crowd's notorious at the US Open. Do you pick up on that? I mean, I'm sure you guys have played the Waste Management before. You've seen it all. But do you anticipate the fans factoring in?

And I'm sure Keegan in particular would love that. Yeah, the crowds are pretty good in Pittsburgh. Obviously, it's a pretty good sporting town. Um, they've been having some great crowds out there. Um, so they can't get too close to you on a lot of the holes, but some of the T's, they can, but you know, the, we love playing in front of the crowds. I mean, I think it's great. And being in a, you know, passionate sports town like Pittsburgh, it certainly helps.

So I know the locals are jazzed up for it. And people like to see carnage, right? They like to see these guys struggle, which is, you know, that's what the USGA does, does to these guys and makes it painful for, you know, players and caddies involved. But it is what it is, you know, what you signed up for. Scotty, I know you've got your checklist for Keegan. What is your checklist for your Toronto Maple Leafs this summer? As far as switching things up, do you have a few players in mind that you would like to bring into the blue and white? Yeah, let's get the Leaf Killer in. He's been killing everybody now. How many playoff goals does he have? Let's bring that rat into Toronto. It was

his favorite team growing up. That's what Brad keeps telling people all of a sudden. I don't remember hearing that when he was in Boston. When there's smoke there's fire, but I saw O'Dogg wanted to bring the band back together for one more run, but I don't know about that. I don't know where the hell you saw that pal. I don't know why you've been watching the last month, but that has not been my narrative I'll tell you that I thought you wanted the core four back. I heard you on one of the shows There was one of those it was a guy. I know you're screwing with me with that comment He did he did bring it you brought it up

And it was a question that was asked to you always about ten days after you said people are coming up to you going Right. That's all I said. I said all it takes is 10 days and then people go into this fog again and then they're like, Oh, maybe we could just bring these guys back together. That's all I've ever said. That's crazy, Van Scotty. That's not me. You know better than that.

He's got selective hearing boys. He's got selective, selective hearing. Absolutely. I don't know what they're gonna do but I People ask me who I want to win, you know I want Florida win so I could say the Leafs lost the Pacific Cup champion At least we took them seven games I mean we didn't look good in you know games five and seven, but you know, we've done better than Carolina

Whoever else Florida's played Tampa. So That's really interesting. Yeah Panthers in five and the Leafs are basically second place The day after the Cubs handed out they'll be the favorites again So alright Scotty, well, don't you worry about the Leafs you worry about the the open and oh I'll be pulling for you guys as we always do. Thank you for this All right, boys. Take care always always nice to be on the show with you guys. You got it There is our good friend Scott Vail who will of course be on the bag for Keegan Bradley You've heard them countless times now Now, learn the details of how they

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