OverDrive - Weeks on Scheffler’s rise up the leaderboard, Scheffler’s potential at a career grand slam, Lowry and Rahm’s frustration at The Open.

Episode Date: July 18, 2025

TSN senior golf reporter Bob Weeks joins us on Mail it in Friday to discuss Scottie Scheffler’s rise up the leaderboard at The Open. Weeks shares his thoughts on whether Scheffler can go for the career Grand Slam. He gives his take on the frustration shown by Shane Lowry and Jon Rahm

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The station that champions Canadian music. Loud, proud, and all yours. No passports required. Just press play. Tap into Made in Canada now on iHeartRadio.ca or the free iHeartRadio app. Day two of the Open Championship and you look at the leaderboard there's Scotty Scheffler very familiar name sitting at the top. Scotty Scheffler let's bring in our TSN golf reporter.

Here's Bob Weeks. Bob I'm sure you're not surprised that Scotty's sitting there with a one shot lead after 36 holes. You know, I've got to tell you, I didn't pick him at the start of the week only because his putting record is horrendous at this tournament. He's finished 72nd and 48th the last couple of years in putting on the greens. These are very different greens, obviously, but all those doubts were erased today. I mean, he played exceptionally well and

every day I was telling someone today in the newsroom if you didn't have a scorecard in front of you or if they weren't keeping score on TV and you looked and watched him play I don't know what you would have thought he shot but I don't know if it would have been 64. It just seemed like he was escaping from you know anytime he hit a bad shot he never compounded it you get a good shot he drained some long putts he drained some short putts uh... but it was it was sort of one of those methodical rounds that scotty shuffler has become known for it uh... i mean now he's he's not only got a one shot lead but he's got everybody

behind him looking and saying how are we going to catch this guy yeah it's it's pretty incredible. The way he came home too, it looks so consistent, so under control. And you mentioned the putting and the putting over there in particular and the elements are unpredictable. Who knows what it's going to look like? Maybe the guys that go out in the morning tomorrow get pristine weather and Scotty gets hit with crazy weather.

But if I were to offer you up Scheffler versus the field with 36 holes to go who would you take? I take Scheffler I mean you know he don't forget he played through four holes of the hardest range we've seen so far the two days yeah and it didn't he didn't seem to flinch and I really don't know if you're again you know I kind of look back at the at the guys behind there's some good talent there Matt Fitzpatrick's won a major Brian Harmon is one a major you know Cheryl Haddon Robert McIntyre these guys aren't kind of you know raw rookies that are chasing him and Rory's not too far back but I just don't see them playing with any kind of consistency like Scottie has

played with and as you said it's's kind of, it's kind of sort of methodical. It's kind of, you know, just, he just doesn't make two mistakes. If he makes one, he corrects it and he doesn't make one very often. So it's, it's, it's enticing to watch, but it must be frustrating if you're another golfer to see him do it week after week. Yeah, it's pretty incredible. Like watching the coverage today, I want to say he was hitting into 15 and you know he

he hit the front of the green and it kind of spun off into the front it was not a horrible shot obviously it was a bit of a miss but not a horrible shot he was in the fescue it was a difficult kind of position for him to control the ball and I think it was Brad Faxon and Hicks and the whole crew was like oh that's a huge mistake and I'm like that's a Scheffler huge mistake you know like the rest of the field would have been okay with that shot but we've become so accustomed to this guy never missing anything and sure enough he went up chipped it to two feet tapped in for par moved on with his day but that's kind of even how like the broadcasters are reacting to him

Bob that the rest of the field would be okay with his miss and because it's him it almost seems extreme. It's amazing. I mean we talked on Thursday about the fact that he only hit three fairways but when he missed a rough you know he either just missed, he wasn't in anything too terrible first cut or something like that, or he got these great lies, like he rarely ever had to kind of hack one out. He did one today, but on 17 again today, he drove it really far right, like he was well

off course, but somehow he doesn't, you know, he only had about a hundred yards, but still he hits it in the, it in like 14 feet and drains it for birdie. I'm thinking if it's most other people there, they get over there, they're just sort of lobbing it up to the center of the green somewhere hoping they've got 30 feet or something. But he's so consistent and he's so laid back. If he wins the Claret jug, according to him, he'll have two or three minutes to celebrate and then he'll focus on the FedEx Cup playoffs

or something, I'm not sure what. That's the kind of laid back attitude that this guy has and it's just so impressive. It's really perhaps one of the most impressive things I've seen since Tiger's days when he was sort of dominating and now I think he's kind of intimidating the rest of the field to be honest. Well, Bob, what did you make of his comments earlier in the week just on

we surprised not really you know i i i've had some good conversations with scotty over the years and and i think i've seen him and and not only a bit a lot of other golfers you know they kind of a ball uh... they've all over time they they come up from college and all they want to do is play golf and then they get married and they say, oh, I've got someone else in my life and then they have kids and they realize, I think, during those transitions in their

life that there is a lot more to golf. Golf is a little different than, say, Super Bowl or Stanley Cup. The Florida Panthers celebrated for two weeks after I guess, after the Stanley Cup. But you know, after the Masters, Rory's got another tournament starting Monday. So it's a little bit different, not saying that it's anything unusual. I just think there's more people like Scotty out there

in the sports world than let on. And he said that there's been lots of people come up and say, lots of golfers come up and say, I agree with you 100%, Mac Hughes was very vocal about that too. You can't let golf eat up your entire life. It's just not good. Now maybe you celebrate,

some guys celebrate for 10 minutes and he only celebrates for two or whatever, he's saying. But I really wasn't surprised because that's kind of a guy scotty is he's you know we've got a young child at home he's a man of faith he's very religious person he's got a lot of things that go on outside and after he steps off the golf course that i think seem to him to be either just as important or more important with bob

weeks uh... two days in the open championship sc Scottie Scheffler alone in the lead at 10 under. If we fast forward to Sunday night and he ends up closing this, he will be three quarters through the career slam. He picked up a PGA earlier this year, he's won two Masters, this will be an Open. That will leave the US Open that he'd be chasing, which happens to be the worst major he plays in every year. He's never really been in the hunt at any point.

But if he closes this loop, he ends up winning the open. Do you think it would be a lock at that point, at some point, the career slam is going to happen for Scheffler? It sure seemed like it the way he plays right now and you know his record in this tournament I know he's got a couple of top tens but they've kind of been backdoor top tens in the four times he's played this one so he didn't really have a great record here either. You know he's finished he's finished I'm trying to think what year it was maybe 21 or 22 I think he was

like tied for second at the US Open a A bit of a backdoor again, but he's played well in all the majors. That's the thing about him. He plays well in every tournament. He's got a game that really, really kind of flows across different styles of golf, different setups. golf, different setups. The US Open is long, rough, and brutally penal. And the PGA is that other, that third one. I mean, maybe we have to get arrested again to stop him from winning the US Open. If he wins this one, that might be the only way to do it.

I just don't see a lot of weaknesses in his game. I don't see a lot of bad days now that he's got his putter working. That's the only thing, you know, if his putter is a little cold, which it can be hot or cold, that's the only part of his game that really has any kind of question marks beside it. Bob, there's three other guys that are within a couple shots of him. Of those three, which one do you think can can push him the hardest? I like Brian Harmon, and he is a magician around the green. He's got a great short game.

This tournament, you don't have to be a bomber. He's not a bomber. I think he's averaging 285 off the tee. So I think he's a guy who could really, really, he's the guy who catches my eye, who can step it up. Matt Fitzpatrick has been playing well the last three or four tournaments. He's got a couple of top 10s. He tied for fourth last week.

He had the weirdest thing I've heard. He was having trouble hitting his irons, and he went to a new coach, Mark Blackburn, who's a very well-known tour coach. He said, I think your arms are too long. They measured his arms, and he said, I think your arms are too long and they measured his arms and he's got sort of longer than normal arms, so they had to adjust his clubs and now he's hitting his irons perfectly.

He said he couldn't find the face of his irons before but they measured his arms. I've never heard anyone with arms that were too long. So that's an interesting one to me for sure. Maybe that's my issue. I'd be on tour, I word about how arms you know figured out i'd like watching harman i was chatting with a buddy of mine today he said he loves watching because he just find it funny

you know what the you know the way calls it that there's no rhyme or reason for it it's not like it's six waggles and go you know some dollars three waggles than the. Sometimes it's three waggles, then the next time it's 15. I find it painful. As a guy that does waggle a little bit, but I'm not a pro, so no one's subjected to my garbage.

I can't do it again, Bob. A two-time open winner with those waggles, I can't do it again with Armand. The only reason I want him to win is because he told me, I was at the Travelers Championship a few weeks ago and I asked him about winning the Claret jug and I said you know did you put did you have a couple of sips out of it and he says you know the people from the RNA told me I brought it back in the worst condition it's ever brought it back in because we drank so much out of that thing so that

would be a good reason just the celebration alone that would be a little different than Scottie's. Yeah, I guess you're right. I've got to give him another chance. I'll give Brian Arman another chance. With Bob Weeks, I saw you tweet out that Cory Connors, he made the cut right on the number, one over par. But it's been a pretty good run.

He's not going to win this week. He probably won't even be in contention. But he had the injury issue obviously at the US Open and appears to be back healthy but a bit disappointing only one Canadian and it's Corey and he's right on the number. Yeah it was disappointing and I was searching around to try and find okay what's the record for when was the last time we didn't have a Canadian make a cut in a major you have to go back to the US Open in 2018 so So these guys have been on a good run. And this year, you know, we've had some guys who played pretty well at T5 for Penrith at the PGA. And I think Corey was in the top 10 at the

Masters. So it's been a pretty good run with these guys, but a little disappointed. Those first rounds really took the stuffing out of them. And they you know you know regroup but uh... the bigger one to watch right now is that the other tournament adam had been in danger of losing his playing privileges if you can't get into the top one twenty five i think he's one thirty right now so uh... he's got to have a good weekend on the beat urn and on the b circuit bobby c a rory surge coming this weekend i think you'll play well tomorrow

uh... i'm not sure if he's got enough room to catch or there's too much room maybe to catch to catch Scottie. The thing about Rory is he's got to put the ball in the fairway a little bit more often and get some of those get some shots closer like is his distance from the from the pin or from the green when he's on the green the distance from the pin is is really not he's doesn't have a lot of good looks for birdies. He's sort of putting from 30 and 20 feet all the time. So put the ball in the fairway, gives you a little chance to get a little bit closer. I don't think he's far off from a good round. He's actually, he's talked after the round,

sort of being semi satisfied with how he was playing, but he's got to get that ball in the hole a little bit more often in the way to do that is just you know starting at the ball fairway get a closer to the pin and and roll it in it sounds easy but uh... i think i think you'll you'll see him up near the top of the leaderboard i still don't think he's gonna catch scotty though yet i don't see it either i mean he macaroy is somewhat in the hunt i guess

what is it three under a believe yet three under, but seven shots back of Scheffler seems pretty difficult to make up. And his buddy Shane Lowry, who won there in 19, had kind of a crazy scene today. His ball was in the, I guess, fescue. He took a practice swing and the ball seemingly moved. And I saw some video of him snapping all over that place and he's got a reputation of this happy-go-lucky,

kinda just out having a good time. I think that is completely inaccurate, the assessment of him. Like he's a hothead on the course, Lowry. And yet that's his rep, like, oh, just a good old guy having fun, let's go out for a beer. I don't think that's who it is on the course man like in between the ropes he's fiery Shane Lowry yeah he is pretty fire fiery and I'll tell you you know they took him into

they told him what had happened while he was on the golf course and said don't sign your scorecard till we get through and they took him back in I mean I think if you look at the video very close you can kind of see it it oscillates a little bit but he said he really couldn't see any kind of a movement. He didn't think it moved at all. He said, but I don't want to be known as a cheater. So I took the two shot penalty and it's probably a smart move because you don't want to end up like Patrick Reed where everyone's second guessing you. But he's got a, he does have a little bit of a fiery temper when he's, when he's on the golf course, he's pretty good off the golf course and some of that has to do with the

Guinness, but, um, you know, but he's, he's a good guy, but if you want to talk a hockey hothead, I don't know if you thought John wrong, but he was slamming a wedge and kicking his wedge down the fairway and giving it a big, big spanking for some bad shots. That wasn't too good, but, uh, there's, there's some guys who, who leave it on the golf course, thank goodness. Yeah. And Ram even par, so he's not going to do anything this weekend. DeChambeau made the cut. He's at one over. But Lowry's at even par, even with that penalty. But yeah,

it's an interesting time of golf. Like you mentioned Hadwin and the Barracuda, I think, is where they're playing right now, the B tournament. Joel Damon's in that, Damon famously split up with his caddy this week, who, you know, that was a pretty prominent story in that full swing Netflix doc, and Colin Morikawa's gone through multiple caddies, and Max Homa's gone through like 10 of them. Like, is this just normal behavior,

or is it like uber competitive between player and caddy, because there seems to be a lot of turnover on tour right now. Yeah, it's, you know, I don't think it's a, sometimes you got to remember too, sometimes it's the caddy firing the player. And I think that's a certain situation with Colin Moorakow, who's not the friendliest guy I don't think all the time. At least he's getting a reputation as that. So he might find it tough to find a good fit. And I'm not sure if there's just an extraordinary

number of them or if it's just more high profile guys. The Joel Damon one was one that I never thought because those guys have been together since basically since university where they played together. But Joel Damon is looking for a fresh start. He's looking for something. He needs a fresh face on the bag or some encouragement. Sometimes he just gets stale and these guys just do it for the sake of a change. So it's tough to figure out right now. It's a little bit like, yeah, grab a seat when the music

stops and hope you have a golf bag somewhere along the line. So put caddies. Big time. Big time. Bob, I'm wondering how does that process work? I'm guessing looking for a caddy, you don't just sew it up on Kijiji and say, hey, I'm looking for a caddy.

So is it word of mouth? How does that come together when you're looking for someone? I might have a guy or I might know someone. How does that fit together? Yeah. looking for someone, or I might have a guy, or I might know someone. How does that fit together? Yeah, basically if you're a tour caddy and you've got some history and some reputation, you let everybody know and you let agents know, and then the agents will spread the word and it circulates pretty quick. This is a traveling road show that goes from week to week, so if you're a pretty good name, then you're going to probably find a bag somewhere along the line.

It's tough though because it's all personalities. It's not so much all these guys basically, all the tour caddies right now are basically golf professionals. They're guys who can play the game very well so they can work with you and coach with you and sometimes there's a fit that personality-wise that it meshes and I think of Brendan Little who caddies for so many years for Mike Weir and now working with Gary Woodland. He had a stretch in between there where he kind of floated

and went to two or three different guys and all of a sudden he lands with Woodland and they're basically inseparable. But Brendan Little played in the United States senior PGA championship, he qualified for it. So he's obviously a good golfer as well. And that tends to be the situation. But mostly it's word of mouth and if you're unemployed you let everybody know that you're

unemployed if they don't already know. Well, we'll see what comes with this weekend against Scheffler. Not just in the hunt, he's the pace car. He's got a one shot lead. There's some big names that are up there, but it's gonna be tough to track him down If he plays like he did today, I believe he was the low score seven under par Yeah, you know does that again tomorrow. See you later turn the lights out All right, Bob. Enjoy Saturday and Sunday the Gulf. We'll do it again soon. Thank you for this

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