Subpar - Smylie Kaufman talks hosting 'Happy Hour' and his recent trip to Pine Valley

Episode Date: July 2, 2024

On this week's episode of GOLF's Subpar Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz are joined by NBC's Smylie Kaufman. The host of 'Happy Hour' talks his dream guest, his on course coverage of this year's U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2 and witnessing Rickie Fowler's recent hole-in-one at Pine Valley. -- We are excited to share our listener offer from Ship Sticks, who gets you from your front door to “fore” easier than ever. They’ll pick up your golf clubs from your home or office and deliver them on time, guaranteed, to golf destinations anywhere, in and outside the U.S. No more airport headaches, no more lugging heavy bags. Just easy, stress-free travel for golfers like you.Ship Sticks. Because golf is hard enough.Use code SUBPAR or visit www.shipsticks.com/subpar to learn more and take 20% off your shipment. -- Subscribe Now: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCt5ESUx6omMUsMoEKvMTzlA Shop The Birdie Juice Collection: https://fairwayjockey.com/collections/birdie-juice Follow Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/golf_subpar/?hl=en Follow Twitter: https://twitter.com/golf_subpar?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

Hello, you beautiful people. Welcome to another week of golf subpar. I am Drew Stoltz. Noticably absent today, my partner, Colt Nose, could not make it. Just got off the horn with him. He's on a bus for the John Deere. He was on the bus with kids, sneds, a few of the other boys. And let's just say, not in a state to be podcasting currently.

So we'll be handling the intro, outro, solo, getting into some picks before we get to our interview with Smiley Copp. And first, quick little rocket mortgage recap. Cam Davis coming away with the win, second win on the PJ Tour, second win in Detroit after an unfortunate three putt from Akshay, final hole, first three putt of the week, excuse me, first miss putt inside six feet of the week. It's one of those wins for Cam Davis, granted, not the greatest field in the world, three guys in the top 30 in that thing, but when you watch Cam Davis play, at least when I watch him, he looks like the prototype you would build in a lab for

modern day golf, six four, athletic, hits it far, short game. games good, putts it nice, and it's hard to believe there's only a second one on the PJ tour, and on top of that, it's his first top 10 on the PGA tour this season. His other best finish was 12th at the Masters, and I watch him, he's a guy, I'm like, how is this guy not win four or five times? How is he not contending in major championships? Because the game is all the way there. And to stay on that same point, Cam Young coming up close again, not a runner-up, which he has seven of in his PGA tour career, but it kind of feels like a runner-up. He was right there the entire way.

Had a little snap dog, snap the driver on frustration on 14. It wasn't hitting that straight anyways. But then he goes in like on the 17th hole 570 in the wind, pillow soft out there. Most guys are hitting driver three woods on the green or near the green. Driver driver for Aaron Ray. He goes and hits three wood, three wood, three wood on the green. And then three puts, ends up losing by a few. And it's like, man, that guy, talent level is a joke.

just can't seem to get over the hump in terms of Lennon golf tournaments. Also doesn't look like the happiest dude in the world when he's on the course out there. But he gave it a hell of a run. Shout out to Akshay Batia, too, by the way, who after a, that's a brutal way to lose with a three putt on the final hole. For getting in there answering the questions from the media saying, like, look, I'm human. These things happen. I was nervous. He's an easy guy to root for.

And his second, he's got two wins on the PJ tour. Close to getting his third. he seems to be on the rocket ship right now in terms of his career trajectory. And also, for me personally, I was leaning from my guy, Minwu Lee, almost getting up there, getting in contention with a great final round, almost getting it done. But I'm waiting for him to win. And I also waiting to get him here in the studio where we're going to have a couple pops and talk about things because that dude is spectacular.

So we move on. We move on to the John Deere Classic this week. but before we do, I actually played a little competitive golf this past week. It was terrible. I shot a million out at L.A. Country Club, the George C. Thomas. Shout out to everyone at L.A. Country Club. Fantastic event. Phenomenal golf course.

Played the pin locations from the U.S. Open for three days. Most of the same T's on the par threes, a couple par fours moved around. I will say this, though. My main struggle for the week with my driver off the T, I hit it. Those fairways are big, and if you don't hit them, it's an enormous problem. I hit it all over the map, which is strange for me. But take this for what it's worth. I show up.

I have to check my bags. I don't use shipsticks because I was using my clubs the day before I go out there. Everything's fine with all my clubs. I show up, get to the golf course, play a practice round. Everything was fine. First round, boom, driver breaks. The face isn't cracked, but there's this rattle going on in there. It feels weird.

You can hear it every time you swing. It's messed up. I drive it all over the lot. I'm not saying the airlines broke it, but I'm saying every time I've used shipsticks, my driver has gotten there in one piece and had no issues throughout the rest of the week. So the one time I don't get to use shipsticks, I have a debacle,

which is why you should use them anytime you can. If you're not using your clubs the day before you take off, ship them so much easier. They're safer. You got more insurance. They treat them better. And now I got a busted dog and I got to fix it. So if you're going on a trip,

make sure you use our friends over at Shipsticks. They're the best in the business. Go to shipsticks.com slash subpar. It gets you 20% off. or just shipsticks.com, use the code subpar. Share it with your friends, share it with your family. Anyone that's traveling in the summer, bringing your golf clubs with you,

do not go without using shipsticks. They are the best. All right, time to get to our interview. NBC Golf broadcaster, host of a podcast as well. Former PGA tour player, Smiley Kaufman joins us here on Subpar. All right, coming to you live from the Saks Underwear Complex here, the Travelers Championship. Golf Super Power, proud to present to you.

Former PGA Tour player turned NBC golf broadcaster. Smiley Kaufman is in the house. Smiles, it's a pleasure. What's up, buddy? You smell fantastic, by the way. I didn't know if you were alive. I didn't know if this was like the test run, but we're officially live.

We are live. We are live. Live. By way, I don't know if you're an underwear guy or not. Maybe you just decided to go commando, but if not, sacks, nice underwear. Good underwear. Need to get a pair.

Gotta protect the nuts, Smiley. Yes, well said. It's important. Especially this time of year. Exactly, dude. A little hot out there. Swamp season right now. Yeah.

We need to get like a built-in fan here for this week inside the Sacks underwear. Now that's an idea. Well, now you're thinking. Yes, that is a great idea. By the way, you forgot to mention host of the Smiley Show. Correct. Podcasts are, I mean, I only have so much time to get an intro in. This guy does a lot of shit.

It's a lot of shit. Yeah, podcaster. Broadcaster. All kinds of stuff. Warrior in Hartford this week. You're coming off the U.S. Open. where y'all had a hell of a week there at NBC. I mean, it was a battle around Pinehurst number two.

You had Bryson DeShambo on Saturday, I believe, one of the days. Had them Thursday. Yeah, whatever. Had them Friday for happy hours. Saturday. I was with Dietrich and Cantlay. And that was just watching Pinehurst that day. Not a whole lot of action.

Yeah, not much going on. Those days happened. You had Rory on Sunday, which we'll get to. But take us through Bryson. I mean, the way he played that golf course, I mean, what he's been doing, his run in the majors this year has just been incredible. And he's just a totally different person now, it seems like. Yeah, I think you make a great point just about how he does feel like a different person.

And when you speak to him, it reminds you of kind of like how Bryson used to be before, I don't know where it became maybe a little less liked in some circles as far as just like kind of the way he handled things and maturity level. And on the way out from the PGA tour, it was just like, man, it just was really tough to like. and root for the guy. But now it's like I'm all the way back. Bryson's, you know, he was super, super kind and nice to me all week when he didn't have to be, you know, didn't have to give me as much information as he did, but he was great. And I guess, too, I mean, talking about his golf game, because I think you've seen him on the

ground and watched him play at the PGA, the thing that impressed me the most was obviously the driver, but the way in which the driver flew. It's the way this ball flies. And you're just sitting there watching. You're like, how is somebody supposed to beat that this week? And then you go watch Rory. You're like, okay, that guy could beat him. But insane to watch this dude.

And I'll say like the other part of his game too that surprised me was how much he was finally starting to change from hitting it just everything super, super hard. He was working on this like three quarter, half swing. Type shot. 1030, yeah. 10.30 shot. He hit a 206-yard nine iron on 15, and the hole before he hit this 166-yard nine iron.

So to go from like a 40 to 50-yard difference in a nine-iron from one hole to the next, I thought showed a lot to me is for a guy that can change. It's like a, you know, a Paul Skeen's up there. There's 102, but then he can throw you that nasty little change up at whatever, you know. And he gets to hang out with Livy Dunn. Yeah, there you go. Not bad. Not bad at all.

We're getting into the serious golf. So how about the big question mark I feel like for Bryson going in? It's like, short game. All right, your wedges are the length of six irons. The soft, like, touch shots, I think you can get it on the ground and play those just fine. But like the up and down on the 8, 10, 11 stretch of getting all three of the, that's right? That's right when Rory was going nuts too and making birds, right? There's a situation where, like, I mean, eight is a joke of an up and down.

That's at least a bogey. 10, that's a really hard up and down. 11, the same way. Like, if he just gets up and down once, the other two, he doesn't. And Rory makes those birdies, like, we could have been looking like Rory just cruises in at that point. You may, yes, exactly. I mean, Bryson, what he was able to do on those holes, but really, you know,

there were times that you have roles in major championships, and you need your short game to save you. And Bryson had multiple times that happened, and then a couple, you know, really Sunday, it was probably the day he hit it probably the worst. Yeah. And he had to get it up in. down and that you know how much pressure that is on Sunday to be relying on your short game for a guy that prides himself on being an elite ball striker that to me said a lot about his game um i wish i got to

see him play more because my sample size of watching him play golf is so small um my bandwidth is is just following the you know watching and following the pj tour and then checking scores on the live golf tour that's with all that we have going on. It's just, it's hard to watch both tours for somebody that, you know, we just don't have the time for it. Say what? When you do get to watch them, though, it's damn entertaining. Like, I mean, that Sunday I had with him at Valhalla, and he was talking going up and down the fairways. He was embracing the crowd.

And just, like you said, watching him play. I mean, I know his lofts are like crazy and everything. It's fun to say on. Hitting 8-iron from 223 on 16 at the PGA to a foot. I'm like, oh, my God. This is just ridiculous. Where people chirping at you at all about, it's like, well, it's not really an eight iron. You know, it's fun to say, though.

It's, it's, it's, that's the number eight on the bottom of it. I get it. I don't understand why. Honestly, it was last year at one of the major championships I had his group, and Justin Thomas was like, will you please, like, explain that it's shot just a normal eight iron? And I get it. Like, I mean, I remember one call I made, I said, you know, same club, or two less clubs, but same loft for for Bryson compared to Victor. Like, I mean, his clubs are basically two clubs strong. his speed and his launch conditions, like, he can do that.

Yeah. No, totally. And not quite our launch conditions, I would say. I mean, I pulled that club out. The clubs almost have onset. It's weird, man. It's like a, his five run, I can't get that in there. It's inverted.

His driver, when you look, yeah, it looks negative loft. If you've seen them down the, like, the, you know, birds eye view of it, I'm like, that's negative loft. And it's, and he hits missiles with it. So, I didn't feel like anybody really asked enough about what happen with the driver. Like he said after he's like yeah the face kind of flattened but I wish I wouldn't have changed it because the other one you need to hit like 50 or 60 times to kind of wear in like I didn't understand like did he see something on the launch monitor or did he see something

the flight like I never heard. I don't know I had already left at that point because I was with the group in front so I'd heard it when he was on whole one that he had changed and switched something out I was like oh god and then his ball ends up going into divot on the first fairway and Rory makes a pot from 20 feet at one I was like okay maybe it's Rory McRoy's day I'm kind of be bopping down the fairway, I'm like, this is going to be fun. And I kept hearing in my ears that Rory, or that, that Bryson is not being able to turn over his drivers on the front eye and then the back nine, he's just overturning and over-correcting.

But how often do you ever hear somebody say, yeah, my face flattened? That is not something that we talk about. We talk about a cracked face, not a flattened face. I don't really crack that many either, if I'm being honest. That's a few drivers for a long time. They have not cracked. He brings, like, multiple to every tournament. because it's just an inevitability.

Totally. And I didn't know I was playing with a cracked driver at Pine Valley until Ricky came up. He said, hey, let me hit your driver. It's like, sure, great. Yeah, it's been a really good driver for me. And then he's like, do you know your driver's cracked, right? I was like, no. No, I didn't.

That explains everything. That explains. Was your driving iron cracked? Everything was cracked. We'll get to fine valley. We'll get a real, since we're doing U.S. Open recap right now, I'm going to ask one. Give me the Rory take. What's the Rory take?

take dude decade plus you've got all the talent in the world yeah could have won numerous of these things put it to bed what is it two two things I've settled in on after just sleeping on this for a couple days now I think we're going to forget about how well he potted he putted he putted as good as you could possibly put on a Sunday outside of two puts made all the important ones he had to make so that that to me is if if if Rory can get past those short misses I think there's a lot to take away positive on a Sunday for putts that he did make. Because last year, he wasn't making those putts and at any major championship, because he was striping it and wasn't doing anything with the putter.

So I think we'll forget about that. And the other thing with the two putts that he did miss on 16 and 18, 16, inexcusable, can't three putt from there. It wasn't a hard two putt. I thought it was a putt he could make. 18, that putt turns out, you can. make it left center, you just got to hammer it. And it needs to hit the back of the hole, go up and then go down.

That's a good save. That's a good save right there. For the record, left center was an accurate read. It's my new bit. Left center is my new bit. Maybe straight, guys. I got behind it. And that's the thing.

It was a learning experience for me because the worst thing that you possibly could do, if he would have made it, it wouldn't have mattered. But since he missed and that it happened to break off a planet and he pushed it, it's like, ah, man, I wish it was a way. I just said, you know, it bends on the speed, you know. Did social media let you have it at all? Oh, buddy. Yeah, it's, listen, I mean, I'm not perfect.

I did my best to what I thought the read was. I probably would have changed. I wouldn't have ever given anything definite. I would just would have said there's some right in this or some down in this, just to be a little bit more vague. And that's a learning experience. I mean, chalked it up in the category. Somebody's, you know, not really been in that situation on 18.

I just was in a good spot. I felt like I had to read. I mean, listen, we do the same thing out there, and it's just amazing that these people think, like, we stock it from both sides and, like, spend two minutes reading. It's like, hey, a quick big, we don't have, you don't have a Greens book or anything. It's like, this is what I got. And sometimes you're wrong, but the amount of people on social media, be like, you are the worst. You see that pose and break, left, it broke right. I'm like, at least it did go right.

Sorry, bro. Like, I was 30 yards away. At least it went right. Yeah. Yeah. You say left and right. Downhill, it's just a fast. You got to be careful.

You got to be careful. It still might go in. You got a hammer it. I was like, this probably is going to get killed for this one. You got to hammer it, Roy. You get it if it's like if it's a cup out putting, but it goes a little right to left, right edge or something. It breaks a little bit.

People like, oh, dude, it broke at least a cup. Like, yeah, dude, I just walked by. I didn't even really get a look at it. Just knew his right to left. It's a, no, but yeah, I think that's the keys. You should have to be like, big, be like, left to right, just moving and it's really fast. Definitely, I'm already experience.

And the second point I was going to get to, besides the 16 and 18, 16 and 18 just wanted to touch on it was I felt like Harry Diamond really should have stepped in on the 15th hole he did not have the right club in his hands and I felt like Rory could have taken control of the championship on 15 if he just hits it in the middle of the green and he hit a good shot but it just was the wrong club and never never was a seven iron for Rory especially with the right flag just if the wind was down off the right it's not exactly a flag in a wind condition and the heat to be able to land it in a hula hoop where you got to hit this like kind of soft spinny fade seven iron it was an eight iron all day hit in the middle of the green

I would say that was a huge huge mistake and then I know the moment was massive on 18 but his chip shot wasn't that hard I got up there I was like I felt like I could chip that underneath the hole inside of 10 feet so I thought the big mistake there was not prioritizing giving yourself an uphill pot. Gotcha. So those are the two takeaways of mistakes that I feel like Rory made, but, and then just the mental lapse at 16. I'll say the shot on 15.

So a lot of people, social media, a lot of the golf podcast media people were saying that he hit, like one of his advantages is how high he can hit it. And they said that one came in low. And I was like, well, if you watch on TV, the apex at 127 feet. I mean, PJ tour averages 96 feet with a seven iron. Like, I didn't notice it well. It was not. I mean, if TV was correct, which I'm guessing it was, 127.

of heat is not low. It looks like just a normal trajectory seven iron for him. Six, seven yards too far. Maybe it came off with a little lower spin than maybe he was expecting, but it just was, it was like 90, 95 degrees, right? So the ball's going. I think the front was like 189. And we're talking about heat, adrenaline, downwind, eight iron's getting there. And if anything on that whole short was where you wanted to leave it. That's the thing. It's like long is the only one. And it rolled into a terrible lie and stuff. But you mentioned like Harry Diamond needs to step in at that point. What do you do? Because we just talked to a couple of caddies have some kind of a similar question. But if Rory's

married to that seven, he loves the seven, he yanks it. It's like this is the perfect one, this is the right one. How much balls does it take as a caddy step in and try to talk your guy off a club that he's in love with? To be fair, and I want to maybe ask cold about this too. It's not unusual, though,

for Rory to kind of make all the decisions. I don't really ever see Harry stepping in a ton. Rory always, if he has a question, he'll ask. But for the most part, where he kind of goes and does his thing and he has got a lot of feel. I don't know if you feel that way too. Well, in my opinion, and this isn't a knock at a lot of the caddies, but a lot of the caddies nowadays are much more vocal.

You know, they're on TV a lot more. And Harry's very soft-spoken. Like, I think he does give his opinion. It's just not out loud for the boom mic to pick up like a lot of the other guys. Yeah. I mean, I didn't pick anything up on 15, but, yeah. I think he is very soft-spoken, and he kind of, he's not out there to be heard or anything like that,

but he does give his opinion to Rory. Harry's a great player, by the way. And everybody, you know, there's a lot of criticism. Should he move on? And I was like, dude, Rory feels comfortable with his guy. It's one of his best friends in the world. They've won together. I mean, it's not Harry out there hitting the shots.

There was no questions at Quill Hollow when he just beat everyone's head into the ground. He was a pretty good caddy that week. Oh, I'm not saying. I think there's a much siren guy. I just think that there was a wrong decision made. And when it comes down to one shot, which it did, there was one shot. That was something that the miss was in the wrong. spot I think is the bottom line. Are you going to miss anything if you're in between like we got to be short?

In my head as a player when you execute a shot exactly how you're supposed to and it ends up in a terrible spot you have to look at all right what happened here because that's what happened at the 15th hole. I know Piners there's a lot of luck involved maybe that ball doesn't bounce as hard and it stays in the fairway cut and he chips up and and makes a bogey anyways. Okay that's fine you know it just I think I'm talking about it because of where the golf ball ended up that when a guy a pro hits a good shot and ends up in a bad place you you kind of have to question the club and the decision one last thing on the u.s open because i mean i know you played in the final pairing of the masters back in 2016 but now with this gig you got how much fun was that coming down the stretch at a major

championship with one of the guys you're covering has a chance to win it was electric man i think uh telling fran uh on sunday night i was like this is you You know, there are weeks that are slow in what we do, and there's days that are slow, days you don't get on TV, which is fine, but days like that make up for the days that aren't quite as fun. And so super fun, great learning experience. Definitely went back and watched, definitely some things.

I picked up on, can improve on, like maybe not saying left center on 18, but everything else, I really do feel like it was a lot of fun, and being a part of something that was just so fun to watch in person, and I'm sure it was on TV, because both of these guys were waiting for each other to hit on every hole, and Rory's watching where he's hitting everything. So just being a part of that was just so much fun.

The back nine was just, I mean, some of the most exciting golf we've had in a long time, and then you were there, off 18 in case there was a playoff. I didn't know where you were going. You didn't know where you were going. You're going to 17. Who goes? He was going to 17. But the bunker shot, Bryson hit.

I mean, in that situation. I loved your tweet. You're like, I would have scold that so far over the clubhouse. Like, it'd still be going on. Every human watching that, other than Bryson was thinking like, this is going into the clubhouse. And there's going to be 7,000 balls hitting that clubhouse in the next year from people recreate.

Do not have lunch on the back. They need some extra insurance. They need some extra insurance. Well, after Bryson went and hit into the bunker, I was up by the green. And so I wanted to see what the lie looked like. So I walked all the way over to the bunker right around 50 yards. And see, it's right in the middle. And like, okay, you know, on, you know, a Monday or a practice day, it's a shot that you can pull off.

It's, you know, not something I think if you gave Colt and I of 10 balls each, we probably get eight balls onto the green. I'm not, what am I getting? Sorry, Sir, sorry, Swiss. I mean, what are we even doing? Sorry, Sleece. Sorry, Sleeze. Okay. I've ever heard of my life.

Sorry, Sleeze. Okay. My apologies. But better. Fix it. The only thing I picked up on was when Bryson initially went in there. and was kind of feeling out the sand, kind of digging in a little bit,

and they kind of took a step back to kind of visualize the shot. It's like, man, that's a shit ton of sand. It just looked like it just hadn't had the play like the rest of the golf course had to where they kind of had thinned out a little bit over the course of the week. You could tell this sand

had not gotten much action at all. And that's what made the shot that much more impressive, right? You're not going in there on Tuesday or Wednesday. There were zero break marks that I saw in that shot when he hit it. I mean, you have to

hit that shot with so much power to be able to carry it 30, 40 yards. And then he was playing for a chunk and run. If I was playing for like a chunk and run in that position, I may have left it in the bunker.

Front edge, maybe. I mean, I would have to short of the green. Because all going through my head was that clubhouse. I mean, Johnson. Yeah, it can't be that. Johnson. He's unbelievable with the things he's been doing, putting himself out there.

It is must-watch television. But I love when he brought Bryce in there. He's like, all I saw was the clubhouse. He goes, did you think about the clubhouse? He's like, no. That's the right question, by the way. Everyone's thinking about the clubhouse. It's the right question.

But how about Johnson, these shots he's been hitting? Oh, man, there's a highlight real, definitely. I mean, shit, we know Johnson forever. He hasn't changed since he's gotten on TV. He's exactly who he's always been, and now the world gets to know Johnson. He goes, that's been the whole roller. coast through like you go to the PJ I think we're gonna first start to get like traction and the shanks of the oops season just oh god as soon as they hit it I literally was like I

was sitting with Andres Gonzalez and I was so relatable and we were I mean like crying laughing and I'm like poor like no one wants to be embarrassed on national TV but everyone loves that because everyone can relate to that and then it come full circle and it I mean that shot with Bryson who happened to be there with the trophy and all that like that was like scripted shit I mean I watch it and I've watched it with people they're like oh my god he's so bad this is Larry's like just remember this guy won three times on the PJ tour guys like he was he was he was a great ball striker and just just going through a little bit of a yippie yaw you time right now we've all been there yes we have kind of been there right now the old ball striking

yeah it's all good yeah let's talk about your game though a little bit you want to get into it yeah we get out of it now you're now you're in the broadcast you're doing a fantastic job which is a tough transition to take nobody's like it's always like a backup right they're going play on tour as long as you can but now you're in it you're doing a hell of a job but where are you with your own golf can you go out and play and not like be caught up in what you shoot anymore oh yeah I don't I don't really hardly ever keep score unless I got it going and then that's where I like I like yeah and that's where I'm like all right cool let's see what we shoot today and probably from November December through

I'd say right around after our Pine Valley trip I was playing terrible just was like hitting it bad it couldn't figure it out and had recently started playing better. I played well at Sleepy Hollow a couple weeks ago or two or three weeks ago. So I feel like I'm closer on the way to back than where I was was throwing away the clubs, you know, for a couple months ago. I was like, okay, I'm just, this game sucks. On the way to back.

I like to hit it out. What is it with you? Is it the driver, irons, chipping putting? It's all technical. I just do a couple of things in my golf swing. And some days, if I have it timed up, it's great. Other days I don't. It's like, I don't, I have no solution here.

When I got on the second hole at Pine Valley, and it's the straightest hole you've ever seen in your life. Greatest part four in the world. And there's nowhere to miss it. It's just you yourself and just the golf gods looking upon you on trying to hit this fairway. And boy, oh boy, was I ever not close to hitting that fairway. Well, we did have an incredible trip, though. It was so much fun.

and you were in the group when Ricky made the hole in one on number three. The fact that y'all filmed it. Well, so we had gotten off the second hole, and I'm in this kind of, I mean, we've got off to a rough start again. One two can end your day, by the way. If you didn't know there's a road on one, and I was right out of the road, like, twice. The road.

It's about it against the tree. It gets timing behind the tree. Oh, God, that's the whole story within itself. I screwed up on two. And I get to the 313, I'm like, I have got to find something. And then Justin is off to a nice start. And he's like, well, you're going to need to get your phones out because I'm about to make a hole in one. I'm like, oh, sweet.

Like we saw B at Pine Valley and watch something make an ace. And he hits this beautiful seven iron and just kind of hits this just softer one. Comes up like eight yards short right online in the bunker. And he was like, sick, good shot. And then Ricky gets up and hits this majestic high five-yard draw seven iron. and it lands because it's a front left pin like frontish frontish left which is actually a really hard hole in one and lands exactly where it should and for the last 10 feet it felt like a year because it looked like it was just going to go in the whole way goes in and we all go nuts and of course i got a hit next and and and and bambi is over there 30 yards right of the green

and about take bambi and and her mother out it was just a tough scene over there we're on the 14 we're on And we hear them as, you can hear Justin from the T.O., that's it, that's it, that's it. And, like, I could kind of see it start to roll in, but then I'm not tall enough to see. But then they just go nuts, okay? Places going crazy. And then Smiley has to get, and you're saying, whack. And I'm like, looking for the ball. And I was here.

B, bra, bra, bra, bra, back. And I'm just like, in seven. And I was too. In your defense. I was cut up and down, too. That is amazing. In your defense, the first five at PV, you can be nine over. And it's like, yeah, I get it.

I understand how. It's the hardest opening stretch in the world. Pine Valley. I was always like hesitant. I was like, why is Pine Valley like rated number one and everything? And I get it. It is it is one of the coolest layouts I've ever played. Just the thought behind every single hole. It's so challenging and it just tests every part of your game. And I'll tell you what you got to do out there. You need to hit in the fair way. Yeah. Your pitch out game was good though. My pitch out game is in a really good spot. Yeah, it was nice. You did make a birdie hurt around the world on the part five.

Actually, it wasn't hurt around the world. That's a hard part five. Nobody knew we made it. Or seven. Is it seven? No, it's seven. Seven. Yeah.

Seven. Seven. Seven. If you missed a fair one, it's a one stroke penalty. Listen, I was in a tough spot. What a bird by you. I don't even know if I made a par to this point. And I get to seven, hit it left and had to punch out to the fairway.

And I hit this driver off the deck into the front left bunker. And now I'm in a position to make a par. I'm in a good spot. Just have a 30-yard bunker shot. Make great. contact everybody's kind of behind me and say hey good shot you know he's like you kind of feel bad for the guys just got off to a bad start so everybody's like you know way to go kid you know and just like the kid you stick out in right field that's kind of how it felt there for a bit and and I hit this bunker

shot and and there was two balls on the green I think cold or maybe Willie we knew they were on the green and where's the other ball and by golly was in the hole and if you didn't know that at Pine Valley, you get a flag if you make a birdie from the bunker on number seven. You do. That's a cool feature that they have. That's a very cool feature. That was an awesome trip, though. Shout out to Eli Manning.

What a bird by you. We're in tequila debt to Eli. Yeah. You're in bigger tequila debt. I have much bigger debt. I have no doubt about that. He was impressed. Buddy, it was a faucet.

It was incredible. And I was happy to be there to win. I was like, I just keep them coming. How's Eli's game? I don't think I've played with Eli. I played it in the second day. It's nice. He's like a six, seven.

I don't think I've played with the Y. The Mannings are good at everything. Yeah, of course. I didn't play with Eli and I didn't play with Ben. So I have to do another trip with them. Actually, please have me wherever you go. So we should go to find a holiday game. That's a good way to invite yourself back to PV.

You got another trip coming up across the pond when you go over what, Scotterson, the Open Championship? Place the golf over in Ireland, man. Excited. Where's the lineup? European, Iowan Club, Port Marnock.

Port Marnock. Port Narnik. Port Marnock. And County Woth or Walth. Kalyov played there. It's good. Yeah. Excited.

Jamie Lovemark almost had a heart attack because they have, they're called hairs over there. They are giant rabbits, about the size of me. They're called hairs. And we were walking through the fescue there towards the fairway down the walkway.

And this thing comes out. I'm not kidding you. It's this tall. And it ran right in front of Jamie, and I thought he was going to shit himself or have a heart attack. It was greatness. Wow. Got to bring a leash with me to Ireland, apparently. You don't worry about Mamba. You worry about these little bastards.

Trust me, if these hair's, these big ass bunnies are in the right. Big ass bunnies. If they're in the right fescue, I'll see them. Protect your neck. Protect your neck. If you're on the left side of the course, I'm not going to see any of it. Smiley's coming. I want to ask you about a couple of guys.

Obviously, you're very close with Jordan Speeth. His game's not quite where he wants it right now. A little bit of a wrist issue. Don't know how serious it is. He's kind of pushed that away. But what are your thoughts on Jordan and where his game's at right now? It's funny, right? Because if you go and look at the stats and you get confused,

because if you would have supplanted his driving ability this year in any other year, he's winning. Maybe not in a Scotty Shuffler dominant year, but he's at least finishing top five a couple of different times. He's in contention, has a chance on the first. the back night on a Sunday. This year, man, it's just been a total opposite of what his career has been. He's always been able to lean on his wedge game, his short game, and his iron game, really, just his ability to shape shots and be comfortable shaping it both ways. His putting was good to

start the year, but his putting lately is really tailed off, and now he's got an iron and wedge game that is just mediocre from his standards and inconsistent putter inside of 10 feet lately. So I don't know. I keep wanting to believe that one week it's all just going to come together. But when you have so many things that are just slightly off, it seems like he pushes a little bit too much on some days to try to make something happen instead of just letting the tournament come to him and letting his game come to him, which we all are guilty of when we're playing on the PGA tour to try to get and reach those expectations

because you want your work ethic to match your, your results. And he's been working his tail off. He's never driven it better. He's never driven it further. He's hitting it hard right now. And he's probably just having this season that just doesn't make any sense by the metrics

and by his standards. So I don't know. My opinion, it just seems like he's always been an artist, right? I mean, he's never driven it good. Like you said, I mean, you think back to the Open Championship when he hit it on the damn range by the titleless trailer, like down there and ended up making a ridiculous par. But to me, it just seems like he's gotten so technical.

with the golf thing like he's doing the weird the weird rehearsal and everything I wish he would just go back to just hitting shots and being the artist that he that's what made him great that's a great point that's a great point and I think probably needs to get back to a little bit more of that and yeah he's he's arguably when when he was going through that stretch that was really bad and his really bad golf still found him in final group pairings which tells you how good of a golfer he is and how good his ability is to get the golf ball in the hole. So if you show up to the golf course and with that mentality of I got what I got, let's just go play golf and be Jordan Speeth and be the guy that I know who I am,

which is better than you at being able to get around the golf course, that's probably to your point what he needs to get. Yeah, because you watch, like when he gets it in just an awful situation around the Greens, that's where he shines. And there's no thought, there's no nothing. He's just Jordan Speeth, and he has magic hands, and he steps up there and hits a lot of shots that other people can't. Yeah, totally. And it's so fun to watch. We always say it too much. It's almost like a broken record anytime he gets in a situation, I wouldn't be surprised if he chips this in. It's like just press the button. But I think to maybe, maybe there's a correlation to when you make swing changes, you start hitting it further. Sometimes there's a driver swing that guys have and sometimes there's an iron swing that guys have. And I think he's kind of caught a little bit in between really good feels with his driver. And Rory actually talked. about this a little bit this year, had this amazing feel with his, with his driver, where his right arms going up the line, but with his irons, it just was giving him results that were resulting in,

mainly pulls. The face was rotating on him. The face wasn't stable through the shot. And I wonder if maybe his iron game right now is going through a little bit of the technical technique stuff that he has in his driver and his feels doesn't match up with his driver feels. And I think there's a little bit of that going on too. And that's the teeter-totter with golf, which makes it mind-numbing, right? It's just like, all right, oh, I'm not a great drive. Everything's great except my driving. I got to improve my driving. So what do you spend all your time on? Getting better at driving the golf ball, which he's done, right? And then all of a sudden, when you spend that time, it takes away from time. All right, now my wedge game, my iron game is not as good. It's so hard to balance that

teeter-totter. And I think Jordan's like a victim of his own success in the sense that he came out so early, so young, won so easily and so often, that it's like, that's the bar. As opposed, like, that's one of the greatest stretches we'll see. It's like, that's the standard. And to live up to that year after year, you just can't play golf. I don't care who you are. Scottie Schaeffler will go through a run where he's not Scotty Schaeffler right now. You can't do it, and Jordan's in it right now.

I think data golf has been really nice tool for us to be able to go back and look at guys' stats over the last decade of what they've done well. and when you go look at Jordan's little, I don't know what, is it a Pentagon, those little things that they have, your event on day to golf. Yeah, the chart. The little chart thing. Five sides is a Pentagon. Yeah, it's not a Pentagon.

Is it one, two, I don't know. Whatever it is. Exagon, perhaps? Could be, could be. Whatever the shape is. Go check it out yourself. Oh, I don't know. Yeah, I got your stuff.

Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Maybe a Pentagon. It's a shape. Jordan's year in 15, man. It was, it's how good he was putting it. Well, I just don't think it was ever sustainable. No.

That's what I'm saying. But that's the first time people got to see him, right? It's your first impression. It's like, oh my God, he's the greatest putter to ever walk the planet. That's going to happen for the next. It's like when one guy wins a major and they're playing great. He's going to win seven. We just start to scale it out for the next decade.

And it doesn't work like that in golf. When you're playing good, you never feel like you'll ever miss a cut or ever make a bogey. And when you're playing bad, you never feel like you're ever going to win again. You never feel like you're going to make a birdie. You never feel like you're going to make a cut. It's just the game. frustrating as hell. I was going through a rough stretch there for a while, and I was living in Dallas and my boys at Royal Oaks, you know, you have the 4-T system where you make the T-times

online. Yeah. Every Tuesday, they would go in and put me in the group on Saturday when I was put in to a trip. And I would get an email saying noon Tuesday, you Frank Boy and all the boys, I was like, you assholes. Is it right most of time? Yeah. They should have plugged me in there with you when I was playing bad. It was funny. I laughed. One other thing, it's been a huge hit. The Happy Hour was Smiley, which no idea how you came of that idea. It's just wild. But here we go. Do you have a dream guest?

There we go. Well, what was it my idea? Number one. The dream guest... I'll do it. Nothing on that. I thought I would get something, but nothing. I found that the players are the easiest because you can just throw them things and they can just take it.

So honestly, any golfer, I don't really care who it is. Somebody that wants to call golf, that's who. want in there. I think it's difficult to call golf for somebody that doesn't, unless you're like Charles Barkley, who is really witty and come in there and just give you zingers and just speak his mind to what he sees. That's the type that you kind of need if they don't really know the X's and the O's. So Charles Barkley, I guess that would be my pick. That's my pick. He's going to be available in a year perhaps. So maybe he could be, you can hire him full time for like 200 million. Yeah, talk to NBC.

You guys are spending money right now. Shoot, man. Charles would be great. We're here at Hartford this week. Do you have one lined up for Friday? CBS week. No, no. No smile.

No happy hours. Yeah, happy hours. CBS, damn it. You're here this week, remember? Oh, yeah. I want to work till the weekend. You're working. Yeah, nobody this weekend.

Yeah, I actually get to work the weekend. Nobody this week, but my pick this week was Can't Lay. I don't know how you feel about that. That's how I'm rolling with. Cal took on our CSXM show. Yeah, I took Chris Kirk because he was standing right there. He was standing on the T-boxes. I'll take Chris Kirk.

Had to. I'd tell you he was going to win this motherfucker's. Chris Kirk. No one can meet him. Hey, Chris. How are you doing? Good to see you, bud. I didn't even see it.

You're doing a great job. It's so fun. Listen to you. I mean, changing the game. It's awesome to see. It's so refreshing. And keep up the great work. Thanks, brother.

One right shot at a time. We're changing the game. That's it. That's it. Inside life. Printed on a T-shirt. I love it. No, thank you, Smiley Kaufman for joining us here.

Kids doing a great job out there. Man, it's funny how things changed. It feels just like a few years ago. We're getting videos from Spring Break. We're getting some great shot trackers out there from the boys down in Mexico or Bakers Bay or wherever they are. Now, we're all growing up, grown-man job. He's got a child, hardly playing any golf. We're getting old.

We're getting old and washed, and it's depressing. But huge shout out to Smiley. keep doing a great job. That happy hour is a fun little segment for everybody on NBC. Big thank you to smiles for joining us. All right. Wrapping up here. We got to get to some picks for the week here at the John Deere.

A lot like last week. Not the strongest field in golf, but somebody's going to walk away at Champine. Starting off, I'm going to go with the guy that we've been saying is due for the first win on the PGA tour. He's the best putter in golf. This is not a long golf course. He is not the longest player in the world,

but his ball striking has gotten better. and better. He seems to play well in all different types of golf courses. I got to think the time is coming for Denny McCarthy going off at 22 to 1. Give me him this week to get the monkey off the back and get that dub. Long shot. A guy that's kind of a last season, he felt like a machine. Teeter Green was spectacular. It was rookie of the year. He stacked up a lot of great finishes, almost won at the Honda. This year, it's been a little slower, but had a great week. This past week in Detroit looked like the man of old. Eric Cole is going off. at 50 to 1.

Give me him. Looking for a first-time winner this week at the John Deere. All right, a big thank you for everyone for listening to this week's golf subpar. Enjoy the John Deere Classic, and we'll talk to you next week.