The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Go Low - Cameron Young WINS The Players Championship over Matt Fitzpatrick

Episode Date: March 16, 2026

John Middlekauff reacts to the Players Championship final round. John will react to the biggest swings of the weekend, breaking news around professional golf, and much more! John wraps up with a Middlekauff Mailbag to answer all of your golf questions. Follow John on Twitter, and Instagram for the latest.  All lines provided by Hard Rock Bet  #VolumeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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What is happening, my people? How are we doing? John Middilcoff, a little go-low podcast. We had to react to the players because my guy Cam Young, who I gave out as my winner to bet on at 31 to 1. Won the players. Biggest event of his career. I mean, it's only a second win.

I was obviously glued with the baby over the last couple days, not leaving the house, just watching golf. Not much going on football-wise. So I said, you know what? Let's just fire up and do a golf podcast leading into Monday. So that's what we will do today. Cam Young, his duel with, With Matt Fitzpatrick, who's former major winner, won the U.S. Open up in Boston.

We will dive right into that. What a moment for the American up-and-coming superstar. The meltdown that we saw out of the last group, Michael Thor Bjoranson, the Stanford Blue Chipper, blew up, and then Ludwig followed suit a couple holes later. So we'll dive into the meltdown, some positives for guys like Justin Thomas, is Andrew Shafley. What's going on with Scottie Shepler? Does McElroy Reserve a pass?

The new CEO from the NFL, Brian Rolap, he talked on Wednesday. He talked again in the booth during the broadcast on Saturday. Some thoughts there. We will also do a little bit of a mailbag. At Golopod, ad go lo pod. Is the Instagram firing those DMs and get your questions answered here.

Again, we separated golf. We have its own YouTube. channel. So on YouTube, after the players, we just went live. So I did this podcast live right after the players ended, and we're going to do that a lot for the big events, some of the majors. So go check that out on YouTube. And obviously we have the audio feed as well, which you're listening to. So appreciate it. And we'll be back probably Tuesday with the three and out podcast football-wise on some free agency stuff. And we'll see if any stories break on Monday. but today is going to be pretty golf heavy,

so let's just dive right into it. We got to start with Cam Young, who was just an incredible talent. I mean, there is no dispute. I mean, hit the longest drive of the week on 18 after yesterday pumping it into 18, 375 yards. He's really like the American version of Hadecki when you factor in elite ball striker.

His swing is really slow. He stops. And then it's just like an explosion of golf, pureness. And over the last couple days, listen, he was, he had moments these last couple days where he was all over the place off the tee, and the rough's pretty penal there. But his putting, he's turned into like Brad Faxston or Steve Stricker. I mean, his putting was just elite. And coming down that tournament, that was electric. That essentially turned in to a rider cup match for the Ryder Cup. I mean, it was America versus the

euros and one of the two guys, a duo, broke out the last seven or eight holes. And you're on the edge of your seat, especially if you had money on Cam, right? They both birdie 13, I think Fitz, bogeys 14, Cam Pars, so then they're tied. They both have birdie looks on 15. Cam misses, Fitz makes, but to me, 16 was pretty crazy. Fitz pumps it into the trees. The par fives on this course are incredible because you can, have an eagle look or you can make double.

And we'll dive into the course a little bit later, which I think is just a fantastic track from a viewing standpoint. It's by far the biggest, has the biggest variance of all the PGA tour courses. It has a little bit of a U.S. open feel in like you can birdie basically any hole, but you could also get a double. And we saw the guys in the final group get some doubles and a quad. So there's always a lot in the line, but, you know, Fitz pumps into the trees, kind of gets a lucky break,

bounces straight down, he chips it out where he's going to have 100 plus yards in. Cam is 250 yards in. Now, I get it. These guys hit it way farther than us civilians, and clearly Cam is one of the longer guys

on the PGA tour. But even Bryson with his funky clubs, 250 yards, four iron, with a 12 to 15 mile an hour wind straight into your face. Kind of a bizarre shot. Now, tour players have said over the years

that that is a weird layup hole when you're from the fairway obviously with the wind pumping if you put a little cut spin on it you could be in the drink so I understand not taking a little bit more of a higher club

but he hooks it into the into the that bunker with the tree he gets a fried egg lie I honestly thought the tournament was over then I'm like he's probably going to boge Fitzpatrick's going to par

he's going to have a multiple shot lead going to the last couple holes and somehow he pulls a par out of his ass because he just hits it on the green and two puts and he's down one going into 17. I mean, probably non-major, I don't know, the most iconic hole in the PGA tour in terms of maybe waste management hole 16, but really that hole is because of the stage and the stadium that's built around this. This hole is, again, kind of a fake creation, an island green in the middle of the water,

but it's just had memorable moments. And he buries the hole. He drips it right in, and the place goes bananas. Then they go to 18, where the irony of these two guys who were battling it out, they would have both not even had to even think about anyone else if they didn't double 18 yesterday. Cam hit it into the water. Now, I think Kiz or someone mentioned on the broadcast that he thought it was a perfect shot.

He went to pick up his tea as someone that was gambling on him and watching yesterday, definitely by the tracer. look great. So I was pretty nervous. He pulls out driver. I was like, I wouldn't have blamed if he went conservative and like went Tiger Stinger. He had a 375 yard drive. And the pressure that put on Fitzpatrick, especially coming off the birdie, who then just pumps in the pine straw. Now, this tournament's weird. These greens are really hard. I didn't think the tournament was over because then Fitzpatrick lays up right in front of the green. I'm like, he could make par. And the shot was clearly pretty hard. It was like 15 mile an hour wins going straight at the flag.

You're hitting a sand wedge from what or a lob wedge from 100 yards. And he just leaves it on the top shelf where he's got a par 100% in the back. And it was just going to come down to once he missed the putt. Could Fitzpatrick make his par putt? And he didn't. Camtaps in for the wind. But I think what's so cool is like we have such a group at the high end of just elite American golfers. Obviously, Scotty, four majors, just an all-time great player.

Going through it a little bit now for his standards. but his resume is elite. You know, Justin Thomas, his career is going to end. He'll probably have 20 wins and three or four majors. Right, Jordan Speese, ton of majors, ton of wins. Obviously, Xander Schaafley knocked out the majors a couple years ago, a guy that's going to be an all-time American. I do think Cam has the talent to be considered in that group,

but part of golf is you've got to win. Like, this isn't a team sport. You can't just beat Kevin Durant, sign up for the Warriors, then all of a sudden you get a couple of changes. Like, you've got to do it yourself. He was our best player at the Ryder Cup. All the guys said that. He was coming in with a bunch of momentum and then was awesome.

It definitely wasn't his fault we got our ass kick. But you've got to win these big tournaments. And several years ago, he actually finished second at the old course when Cam Smith won and Rory kind of blew it. So he's played well in the majors. He's top 10 in every major. And I think his best finish in the Masters is like seventh. He's finished top five and the other three. So he has been really, really good.

He hasn't won up until the end of last year. But you win a tournament like this. It can change the course of your career. And, you know, Justin Thomas, a lot of emotion. Speeth, a lot of emotion. You know, Rory shows emotion. A lot of these guys pretty emotional out there, which I like. I like some juice and energy.

Kim Young's the opposite. Like, he shows nothing. You know, Roger Federer, if you ever watched him, I'm not the biggest tennis guy, but like when guys like that would play, you'd watch. It never looked like Federer or sweated. It's like, is he even sweating? How is he not sweating? Cam Young kind of has that vibe.

There is no ebb and flow with his emotion. So once you get over that hump of having the confidence, like I'm clearly one of the best guys on the PGA tour, and to get that confidence, you've got to win some of these tournaments. Now you win them, he has the mental makeup that's going to translate. He is going to be one of the sexiest picks in all the majors at the major. master's at the PGA for sure. The next two majors, a lot of people are going to pick them.

And rightfully so. Because he's turned into, and they mentioned on the broadcast, not just one of the best putters on the PGA tour, but the way he does it is unlike anyone else. His caddy, who probably deserves a raise, though I'm pretty sure he just won $4 million. Cam did, well, if the caddy gets 10%, just made $400K.

So he'd pretty good day at the office, right? So the caddies well compensated now. And probably been well compensated. I mean, he's with a player that's a cash cow. but he does all the green reading. Like, he lines them up and tells him where to go. And Brad Faxson, who was on the broadcast, like, yeah, it's pretty unheard of with the top player.

Like, no one really does that. And not only does he do that, Cam's turned into one of the best putters in the world. And if you're going to hit the ball like that, one of the problems with Hadeki, if a decky ever putted like Cam Young is putting right now, he'd win way more. So if you can putt like that and hit it like that,

he can get a little squirrely off the tee, which is probably why the U.S. which is several months away, probably not going to hammer cam on that one. But the Masters, the PJs, some of these tournaments where you can spray it around a little bit and just let your irons, let the cream rise, he is going

to be an auto hammer for a top five, top 10, and it got a sprinkle to win for sure. So I've told this story before, but one of my good buddy, Scotty Raver, plays a lot of golf or did, now he lives in Southern California, but when he lived in Northern California was Spencer Levine,

longtime tour pro. He's been on the Corn Ferry Tour now for years, just playing in his early 40s. And he said he played with Cam Young. I don't know if this was like four or five years ago in an event in Chicago. Spencer's played with Tiger, with Phil, with Ernie. He's played with some of the best guys in the history of the game. I mean, you could argue Tiger and Phil are two of the top five guys. And he played with them on a day in Chicago.

I think it was raining and winds were blowing like 40 miles an hour. And Cam, I think, shot four or five under. and no one else in the field was like sniffing par. He's like, I think that was the best ball striking round I've ever seen. And the talent on this guy is beyond immense. And to me, it's always cool when you watch a guy with a ton of talent, kind of realize it. Like, listen, I was kind of wrong on my take on Caleb Williams coming into the season.

But I'm a talent, freak, like ability. Like, I watch pro sports for the guys with the ability that the average Joe's don't have. Like, listen, I respect Mac Jones. but I don't watch the NFL football to watch Mac Jones play. And watching Caleb starting to realize that, like you watch Lamar and Josh once they started figuring it out, you're like, God, this is incredible to view. This is what you want to watch, right?

And that to me is Cam on a golf course. He just has more talent than basically everyone else in the tournament beside a couple guys. So if he's going to be on and putt like this, he's got a chance to be easily one of the best players in the world. and that was really cool to watch a guy. I mean, he had to grind it out a little bit. Like, he was, I mean, I was glued, right?

Even the shots they weren't showing yesterday. I'm looking on my phone. Like, he's pumping the ball under the rough. We've got to figure out the driver a little bit, but what did he do today when he had to? He came through. 16, right down the dick. 18, biggest drive of his life.

Especially after yesterday, I don't care who you are. If you pump one in the water 24 hours ago, it's got to be in the back of your mind, didn't even hesitate. Beautiful draw, 375 yards. Now, obviously the fairways are rock hard, but you play a draw when you hit it that long. I mean, that's like a historic drive. Now, it wouldn't have been if he would have screwed up and made a bogey, but it probably would have been more memorable if he would have birdied and walked off the putt.

But what a cool moment for the guy. And what just a cool moment with those two guys going at it? A ton of respect for Matt Fitzpatrick, who to me feels like a guy from my childhood, like an 80s or 90s golfer, you know, just the way he looked. but he's like morphed his game into this modern day game because he's got to keep up with guys like Cam Young and Roy McElroy and Scotty Sheffle like he's got a hit hard so he kind of swings out of his ass

but he's kind of figured it out he's notorious for I think he's he has logged every shot of his career I'm not talking on the course I'm talking the range like he has notebooks and information on every shot of his career so this is a guy when you talk about like maximizing all your ability like I said about the Mac Jones thing, I respect the hell out of whether it's football, whether it's basketball,

whether it's business, anyone who maximizes the most of their potential. Most of us are not the most talented people at what we do. So to maximize our ability and whatever we're doing, it takes a lot of effort, takes a lot of energy. Matt Fitzpatrick, to me, old school grinder, just a fantastic player, and he was awesome. I mean, the difference today was

Cam Young shot 33 on the back and Matt Fitzpatrick shot 35. I mean, it's really that simple. Cam Young shot 300 on the back. And he didn't burd any of the par fives. So think about that. And one of the par fives, I mean, he hit it 300 plus your drive right down the middle on 16. And didn't even remotely have a good birdie look, right?

So to shoot 30, if you would have told me he's not going to burty, when the back nine started either of the par fives, I would have been like I need to cash out my bed because he's not going to win this tournament. But he birdied 17. which I said 18 drive, I mean, 17, that drippy pot, the place going nuts, chanting USA, I saw Fitzpatrick head quotes, that he likes it, he enjoys it. It's cool, it's fun. He's like, this wasn't like a vile place like the Rider Cup. It was just people having good fun.

He understands it. He's playing in America against one of our Rider Cup guys, who's going to be a Rider Cup consistent stalwart should be for years to come, you know, and now that he got this monkey off his back. I mean, technically did last year, but in terms of a big tournament, what a cool moment for a guy that honestly feels like he doesn't even care. I mean, he does have a little bit of Shephler, a little bit of Morcawa, like not much emotion, which for me I don't really love.

Like, I'd like a little bit more. But I do love when I bet on you and you come through in a big moment like that. That was really, really cool. So congrats on becoming the players champion where that list in recent memory is Rory twice, Scotty twice, Justin Thomas. Like, it's the cream of the crop. And this tournament, this course, to me shines. Like, I love TPC Scottsdale.

I play there in theory all the time. I haven't played golf in two months. But it doesn't have that. You can spray the ball around. It's just an easier course. There is something, there's not as many bogeys and doubles on the course. Now, part of it, there's not the water. They always trim the rough.

Like, they grew up the rough and the water. part of what makes a great tournament is variance. It's what's so special about the U.S. Open, right? Because the Masters has variance, but it's typically like, you can eagle 15, you can eagle 13,

you can birdie 17, you can birdie 18, like you can birdie and catch up. But you don't typically see coming down the stretch unless someone, you know, shakes it into the creek, kind of like Rory did on 13. Occasional water shots on 15.

It's not a lot of blowups. It's usually a guy making a lot of red numbers and chasing someone down and passing them. What makes this tournament so awesome, unlike all these PGA tour events, and I know people like the nitpick Saugras, and I think they charge like almost $1,000 to play around, which is pretty insane. But I would imagine if we check the T-sheet on a random weekend, you know, in June or in September, it's probably packed, so people are paying. Like, they wouldn't charge it if people didn't pay, is the variance in the rounds.

Like, at any moment, the leader, the guy right behind him, could make a birdie. You could have eagle looks on the par five. Or easily, you could double a hole. And so much, I love the PJ tour.

I watch a ton of these events. Most of these events don't have doubles out there. Like, you have to do something catastrophic. Here, you could just slightly miss in the rough and you're chipping out and then if you fuck up on your approach all of a sudden you have

a 10 foot bogey put and we just don't get that very often so to me part of what makes this course so cool is like the amount of crazy numbers that are out there and I'm not we'll get to the meltdown here in a second I'm not talking about getting a quad like Thor on the fourth hole but at any moment you could have a two-shot lead the guy behind you can birdie and you can bogey

and all of a sudden you're tied And I just, for most of these courses now, with the length these guys have, we don't get the variance, right? It's kind of like in football turnovers. The cool part about football is you can be at 14 points going in the fourth quarter, all of a sudden you throw a pick six, like basically they're a drive away from tying this thing. We were just in complete control. It happens in football all the time.

In basketball now with the three-point shot, it happens all the time. Right? And in golf, a lot of these PJ tour events, like, once you get control and some of these courses are so easy, it just doesn't happen as much. You basically run guys down, guys don't implode toward you. And speaking of meltdowns, I said this with Shane Lowry. If you're betting on a guy, a meltdown sucks. Obviously, if you know the guy personally or you're a huge fan, it's tough to watch. But if you don't necessarily have a dog in the race and you're just watching to consume, watching someone meltdown in golf is fantastic riveting TV. I mean, the final group,

today. What did what did Ludwig shoot today? Ludwig, he shot 76. So they shot 77 76. Thor, who easy guy to root for, blue chipper out of Stanford, I think top five in an event as an amateur. I mean, has a chance. He could have won

the waste management if he didn't pump it into the water on 17. I mean, he's a big time talent. I know some of the guys of Adidas that know him. I mean, he's got a lot of and to watch him get a quad on four was just wow. And I think sometimes when you're playing with the guy, because Ludvig's in complete control, he has a multiple shot lead on hole 11.

He's right down the middle of the fairway, par five. He's been ball striking like he's Tiger Woods. You're like, this guy, he birdies this hole. He's going to be 14 under par. He's just got to par in. I mean, who's catching him? And honestly, if that would have, what had Cam Young ended up finishing? If he would have birded 11 and just parted, he would have won the tournament.

And it felt like he was going to win the tournament. Until he pumped one in the water. And he bogeys the par five. He's like, okay, this thing's interesting. And then he snap hooks his drive on the following hole and doubles the hole. And that is the type stuff. Again, you know, this happened to Shane Lowry. But Shane Lowry, I think, would be the first to admit.

I just hit two of the worst shots I've ever hit. Like, for the most part, on those holes, you know, on one of the holes, Shane Lowry hit in the water, who's the only guy that hit in the water all week long? On this course, like, the water balls are always available. If you watch this tournament over the last three or four days, guys are pumping in the drink constantly, especially on the par fives, because you can get aggressive, but the wind, you hit a little cut, you don't clear it, all of a sudden you're in the drink, and Ludwig goes bogey double, and he shoots himself right out of it, he just implodes.

He just imploded, and Kisner said he had two of his worst swings, in a 30-minute stretch in it and it is tournament. And I do wonder, like, even if you're a 10 handicap, if you're playing well and you're playing with other people, just one other person, and they're playing really shitty, it's hard to get a vibe. Like, if you looked at Fitzpatrick and Cam Young, they were kind of, you know,

vibing off each other. It's like both making birdies, both hitting sweet shots, both making big puts, both just bowling. Right? It happened on the par three. I think it was like 13 where they both knocked it within six, seven feet.

It's like you just kind of feed off the momentum. It's like in racing, you draft off the guy. And I just think Ludwig, it's hard to draft off a guy when he gets a quad on hole four

and his tournament's basically over. And he's just kind of in la la land. Now, he maintained it for several more holes, but to keep that focus for another three hours, I'm not absolving him. I don't know why he made a bad swing for a guy that had just been

striping the ball. but shot himself right out of the tournament in 30-minute stretch. It's for a guy that felt like, I don't want to say infallible, but it felt like there was no way, at minimum, he was going to be in a playoff. In no circumstance did you see going into the back nine Ludwig finishing four shots off the lead. It would have been inconceivable.

You wouldn't have believed it unless you would have been like, well, does someone go birdie, birdie, birdie, eagle, birdie, birdie, birdie. to finish and just lap him because how is anyone like how is this possible and it's possible at TBC's Cogress because it's got water everywhere and if you make disastrous shots

you're not just on some other fairway which happens a lot in PGA tour golf it happens in a lot of golf that we play not there and not really in the Florida swing that's the one thing that's cool I've never played golf in Florida but the lakes are such a big part of their sport. Even the picture of Cam Young

teeing off on 18, did you notice what was like, not quite in the middle of the lake, but probably 50 feet away from? Sure looked like a big alligator to me. Sure looks like a massive alligator. My guess is just eyeball on it because it was way, was like, is that thing like 10 foot alligator right there? And the answer is probably, yeah. I mean, they got all over at these lakes. So incredible drama because of these. guys melted down and then it just

catapulted those two guys into the driver's seat. Today's show is brought to you by our presenting sponsor Hard Rock Bet, Florida Sportsbook. It is Turney Time, Baby, and my favorite thing to do is fill out of bracket. So join me in the volume bracket contest presented for Hard Rock Bet.

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other states. You must be 21 plus and physically present in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, and Virginia to play. Terms and conditions apply. Concerned about gambling in Florida, call 1833 playwise. In Indiana, if you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1,8009 with it. Gambling problem, call 1,800 gambler. Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia. Hey, it's us, the Jonas brothers. And guess what?

We have some big news. What's the news, new? Huge news. We created our own podcast called, Hey, Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to a...

We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts throughout there. But this one's extra special. So how do we... How do we actually come up with a name, Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. Well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band.

Before Jonas Brothers was... This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, where people could call in and say, hey, Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast.

But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter.

Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The French Open is one of the toughest tests in tennis. And I know firsthand because I competed there myself. I'm Renee Stubbs. And on the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast, I'm breaking down everything happening at Roland Garris.

Every match, every upset, and what it really takes to win on clay. Jen Chinchin win. I mean, she went down to three to Rabakina, but I'm delighted. She's an outsider to win the French for me. And she likes Clay. Listen, Lernerabakina is arguably the best player in the world right now. And I actually can win on any surface. Because if she's serving, well, good luck.

Consider this your court side seat to the French Open. Listen to the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to

hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. SportsSlice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to SportsClace on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Okay, a couple other things. Major signs of life.

You know, for a guy who'd had a really shitty season. and he was for his standards, I mean, atrocious, it felt like Zander shot 85 yesterday. But other than that, he was really good this tournament. I mean, he shot 69, 65, 69. If he just, instead of shooting 74, if he just shoots 71, he wins the tournament. If he shoots 72, he's in a playoff.

And honestly, to shoot 74 with as bad as he played yesterday was a remarkable accomplishment. So it's nice to see Zander, who, part of what makes these majors big. I was watching before I went to bed last night, Bryson. And you need your heavy hitters. Scotty was off, obviously this week, relative to his standard.

Rory was a non-factor. Like, this is star-driven sport. There's a reason in tennis, Sampras, Agassi, Federer, Nadal, Djokovic. Like, you're led by Tiger Woods, by Phil, by Speeth, by Kepka, by Scotty, by Rory. You need those guys carrying the flags. And I'm not saying Zanders on there.

level, but he's that next tier and you need him in the mix. You can't have a bunch of random guys that the casual fan can't point out of Blenheim. Same thing with Justin Thomas, who has the back injury. A couple weeks ago at Bay Hill, shoot 79-79, and he's like, God, this could be a weird start to the season, and he immediately gets it back and he finishes, he finishes the top 10. And he was pretty good the last couple days. He had a triple yesterday where he pumped it into the water like Ludwig, all-time bad shot that hole under the trees on hole six.

He tried to hit driver. I think he double crossed it. I mean, he hit that thing deep into the water. But those two guys, important Rider Cup guys, important, just American golfers that should be competitive in the majors and all the big tournaments. And they just kind of flex their muscles this week. Now, to me, Scotty, who was way better on the weekend, they showed him a lot on Thursday and Friday.

Randall had this take, I think, on like Thursday night on the golf channel that he's messing with his swing and it's way shorter. It's why he's all off. Some other guys on Instagram or Twitter, we're breaking it down. Listen, I can barely, you know, I just try to hit fairways here. To pretend to break down someone's golf swing, especially at that level, no fucking clue. Here's what I do know. If you watch him, he is hitting some, especially Thursday, Friday, some like crazy

slices. I wouldn't even call them fades or cuts. They are starting at the left rough and they are ending up in the right rough. And clearly he is battling his driver or was over the course of the last couple rounds or the course of the last couple tournaments.

And early in this round, he was all over the map. And same thing with just his longer woods. I remember watching him at Rive, he was doing the same thing. So whatever's going on there, if he can get that figured out because he was much better on the weekend. He finished 67, 71. So he shot five, shot six under over the weekend. Now, early on, he just, he was 72, 73. He just, he was just off. I mean, you're just watching

him like, this is not the Scotty Sheffler I know. And if he can just get that figured out, which I would imagine is going to be the number one thing he's going to be working on going to Augusta. But right now the way he's playing, I couldn't be confident picking him to win Augusta. Now, maybe he showed some more signs of life before he plays another tournament, but some just a little off. Again, he's not shot, he's not like not a factor, but you go from consistently finishing the top

10, winning all these tournaments, it being weird when you finish like fourth to all of a sudden back-to-back tournaments where you don't crack the top 20. Like, it just, that comes with the territory. And it's also a unique pressure. And I was texting with a buddy

the other day, like, everyone's gunning for you. Everyone's talking about you. I understand he's super humble, guy, religious guy, he's got a new baby, a second baby coming. I know he's very grounded.

Rory says how jealous he is, of how simple his life is, and I get that. But you can't tell me when you come to these golf tournaments, everyone's looking at you, everyone's anointing you, they're comparing you to Tiger Woods.

If you get compared to Tiger Woods, that is a heavy burden to wear. And it's like, oh, he's already won four majors, he can win 10 more. I mean, people are talking like, what's his over-under-run majors? 10-11?

I mean, the way they talk about, I'm guilty too. It's got to just put an immense amount of pressure when you just play, and then you're a little off, and then you start forcing it. So it's kind of cool. Part of what makes golf cool is to see guys go through it, to see guys grind it out. Golf's weird. You could be really shitty one week, and then all of a sudden finish top five. It's kind of like baseball. You can not have a hit all week, and then the next two games, you get four home runs. You know, it's like all these guys, the margins are really thin, even for the 11. elite guys like Scottie Sheffler is going to go down as one of the all-time

greats. But, you know, to me, it's why I give Rory a little bit of a pass this week because a couple weeks ago at Bay Hill, he was trending, he shot 400 on Friday. He looks pretty good. And who knows? I thought he was going to be a factor that weekend, you know, at the Arnold Palmer. And then the back thing happens. He doesn't show up here until Wednesday. I watched him on Thursday. He was just had no clue where it was going. So I give him a little bit of a pass just probably didn't touch a club from having to back out WD for the second time in his career

but it's definitely something to keep an eye on I think he will be fine by the time we get to the majors which is really not that far away we're about a month away from the Masters which is pretty cool. The other thing is Brian Rolap, the new CEO, talked on Wednesday he came into the booth

on Saturday. My overall take, I think he's really impressive. He has a vibe of like clearly been trained by the NFL. There's a corporate feel to him. But there's also like a human feel to him. You know, sometimes Raj can feel a little bit robotic,

which is somewhat understandable. He's, you know, the CEO or commission of one of the biggest businesses in the world. And he's got 32 billionaires that he answers to, but he also kind of tells them what to do. It's just a unique gig. Golf's a lot different. I mean, this is a niche sport.

This isn't football, never will be. Like Rollap said, there's a $30 billion media market right now, and the NFL is looking to gain 23 to 24 of that, and basketball already has six or seven of that. So where does that leave us? It's a challenge. But I think he understands, and the players is unique. I mean, it's one of the biggest,

it's probably the biggest right there with waste. but probably bigger than waste because football, it's during the Super Bowl, you know, tournament of the year. He's got to find a way. I saw a stat on Instagram that, and this makes sense. Ever since 2020, golf has boomed. Recreational golf. 40% growth over the last five years.

Anyone knows this. If you go to your shitty course that used to charge $25, it now charges 80. The course that used to charge 100, now charges $200. now charges 250. The course that used to charge 250, now charges 500. And you complain about it, and then you go, and they're just packed. You have young people, old people, women, the growth of women, it's seen an enormous boom.

And the access to these golf courses, these public courses, especially if you live in a big city, and he clearly wants to inject the PJ tour in the big city, the more people that play golf, the more people that will casually watch the pros. Part of the reason football, basketball, and baseball have always been so big, you go back 50 years because if I just take a random kid in high school, more than likely, he has played one of those three sports.

And a decent percentage of those guys play one of those sports at least through junior higher high school. And if you play those sports, you're just more invested to the guys who are best at those sports. Like, why did I fall in love with college football in the NFL? Because they're playing football, right? I just, it's like if you're just, how does it guy do that? And that's why I love pro golf. Because I started playing golf when I was young. Why do a lot of people that watched or played basketball when they were in high school or college love college basketball of the NBA?

Because they played it. And basketball is unique because even if you didn't play, you know, in high school, you still could play pickup basketball. I'm a good example. I didn't play high school basketball, but I played pickup basketball all throughout my 20s. So there's a direct core. of people that will just casually pay attention. And YouTube golf has exploded. Bob, Grant, good, good, the barstool guys.

There was just an avenue if they could figure this out. They can gain new people. And there's just going to be a lot of pressure on Rollap to get this right. And I don't have all the answers. I'm glad they said they're going to do events with cuts, make them bigger, not like 50, 70 guys, make it 100 plus, 120 guys, have a cut. I think Tiger's really big on that. Like that is at the soul of the game.

You play in an event. If you play shitty, you do not make the weekend. Right? This is not football or basketball. Yeah, he's had a bad game. Had a bad week. Like, he's on contract. If you have an awful year in professional golf,

you might miss the majority of cuts and make no money. To make money on the course, you have to play well. That is not true in any other sport. All these guys have just signed free. agent contracts in football, they could all play like shit this upcoming year. Now, they might not get their entire contract, but all that guaranteed money, they're guaranteed to make. There is no such thing in golf. There kind of is now because they give you $500,000 retainer. They've added some stuff since live, but it's nothing like these other sports, which I think makes it

like so cool. I mean, we had, like, I'll just list some names, Sun J.M., uh, Jake Knapp, uh, Gary Woodland. Harry Hall, Joel Damon, Cam Davis, Mark Hubbard. I mean, these guys play like crap, they miss the cut. Colin Morcawa withdrew. Doesn't get any money. In football or basketball, if I start the game, Morcau will withdrew on his second hole.

If Josh Allen breaks his ankle on the second play of the game, he still gets paid. Colin Morcao gets no money for this tournament. So I'm fascinated to watch what Rollap does. I think there's a ton of pressure on them, and I'm really excited to watch. Hey, it's us, the Jonas Brothers. And guess what?

We have some big news. What's the news, new? Huge news. We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts.

Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts throughout there. But this one's extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name, Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. And we were thinking I'm originally calling it. one of the early names of our band before Jonas Brothers

was... This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast where people could call in and say, Hey Jonas.

And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite on Humor Me with Robert Smygel and Friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier.

This week, my guest, S&L's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get. your podcasts. The French Open is one of the toughest tests in tennis, and I know firsthand because

I competed there myself. I'm Renee Stubbs, and on the Renee Stubbs Tennis podcast, I'm breaking down everything happening at Roland Garris, every match, every upset, and what it really takes to win on Clay. Jen she went. I mean, she went down at three to Rabakina, but I'm delighted. She's an outsider to win the French for me. And she likes Clay. Listen, Lina Rabakina is arguably the best player in the world right now. And I actually can win on any surface. Because if she's serving, well, good luck. Consider this your court side seat to the French Open.

Listen to the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo.

Every episode, we're cutting through the noise. Breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athletes themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaders to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports slice brings you closer to the action.

with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to SportsSlice on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slicelife-Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Before we get out of here, I'm just going to bang out a couple. At Golopod, at Golopod. We got an Instagram.

We're going to do these Instagram questions like we do on the football podcast. Fire in my DMs. Get your questions answered here. This is a question that just pertains this week. can you explain your strategy for betting on golf? For example, do you like to bet more top fives, top tens, tournament winners? Can you share experience about betting on players that are not household names, whether they are hot in a tournament or fizzled out?

My strategy has been as changed. When I first started doing it, I would bet on guys to win. Obviously, I hit Cam $100 bet for $3,100. That's very difficult to do. You're not going to make a living off betting guys to win a golf tournament. Cam Young took on, what, 150 guys this week? This is not football or basketball, where if you bet on one of the teams to win, you only have to beat one opponent.

In golf, you have to beat the entire field. It is very difficult to do. The smart way to gamble in golf is to bet top tens and top 20s. The bet on Cam Young, the smart bet, would have been to hammer him top 10. You know, Colin Morcawa, I know he withdrew. hammer him top 10. And then, like, part of why I like Cam Young, I think he's an elite talent. He had top 10 in his last couple events. So part of my strategy is I take bigger names who are playing well, besides Scotty and Rory, unless you want to take one of those guys to win in the majors,

which is not crazy. But top tens, when you can get plus 150, plus 200, like when you can get guys, like Justin Thomas, Zander Schofley, guys like that at plus 180, plus 200, two top 10, and they are playing well. Like, you feel pretty good about those. I have stopped betting random guys. I don't do that very often. A couple years ago, Jake Knapp was, I bet him at the Mexico open. But for the most part, my strategy has really turned into, take the big boys, take the top 20-ish players, the Hadeckys, Fitzpatrick, when we get to the majors, Romm, Bryson, Scotty, Rory, Zander, and just to hammer those guys. Now, if you want to take some flyers on like a couple guys, top 20 parlayes, you can put 20 bucks to win 500 or 1,000. You can figure out

some of those. But like, if you're going to get aggressive, to me, bet good players to top 10 with positive odds. And if you want to, like, it's fun to bet winners, but for every guy that I've hit winning, and I've hit four or five over the course of, you know, maybe seven or eight over the course of my career, I've lost a lot. And you have to, like, I had Kepka this week, I had speed this week, I had some other guys to win, Fleetwood. It's not like Cam Young was the only guy, I bet. I've been fitted for a new set of irons. Old Club Pro recommended regular stiff, while another set I'm pushing extra stiff. Which seems like, a big difference. I'm a tall guy. 6364. With a six iron, my swing speed is around 85 to 87 miles an hour,

and my average carry is 180 yards. I'm no fitter. I would imagine with your swing speed, your distance, a stiff shaft is fine. My guess would be extra stiff is not necessary. I would go stiff over regular, would be my recommendation. Again, not what I do for a living. Don't really know. I have stiff shafts. I swing relatively hard. That's what I would do. Can you give us a walkthrough of your equipment in your bag? I'm a mid-handicap, exploring new irons. Well, a couple of years ago, it's probably like six or seven,

one of the tailor-made guys followed me, I think, on Twitter or Instagram. He was one of their big reps. And this is probably like 2018 or 19. And I remember talking to him, he was a big Raider fan, and he gave me like a 40% off. basically promo code for tailor made. So I just got a set of, I think there's $790 cavity back irons. You know, they were like, at the time, I think they're way more expensive now.

Someone told me they spent like $3,000 on a set of irons. Like, Jesus. You know, they were like $1,400 I got for $600 or whatever. I got really cheap. I've had the same irons forever. I've had the same vocie tidaless wedges forever. I have multiple putters. and I have Callaway Woods,

which I purchased at like the PJ Superstore with some like fitted shafts that I've had for a while. But I would love a club sponsor here. I would play anything. My buddies and I are going to the PJ Championship this year and spending five days out there, but only going to do one round. We're going to play a couple other days.

I know you spent time in Philly. Oh, the PJ Championship's at Aronimic. Didn't know if you had course recommendations that are willing to pay $100 to $200. Any suggestions? In these crowded areas, it is really hard to find golf courses at $100 a bucks. Obviously, I haven't played golf there since 2010, 11, 12 range. I remember Westchester, which I don't know how far away that is from Aronimic. I don't know where you're staying.

You used to have some pretty good tracks. My brother came to visit. We played out there. Beautiful country, hilly, nice. Westchester, I think that's the name of the town. Had some really cool tracks. But again, I don't know the price. When I was with the Eagles, we had a,

there was a course in Jersey. I mean, it wasn't a great. It was just a solid country club. We had access to. I remember we used to play in the offseason, me and some of the guys. Do you like betting golf matchups? I started doing that with mixed success.

I only bet. I've done it before in the, in the majors where you take a group of five and you get odds on the guys. I basically just bet. I do a lot of top tens and top 20s and parlay type stuff with the top tens and top 20s. And then sprinkle on winners. That's kind of the, that's what I focus on. I don't, day one leaders, that's a crapshoot.

You know, country of origin, low guy. Like, I don't really do that. I've actually never bet a guy to miss the cut. I feel like betting a guy to miss the cut is like betting an undercutting. I don't really like betting for, you know, people that bet that in basketball, like people to miss or football, people to, like, go three and out. Like, that sucks. What do you think is harder to accomplish? Shooting a 59 in golf or making a 60-yard field goal in an actual game?

Well, it's not possible for any normal human being either. So I think you're talking, alluding to the pros. I would say now that kicking, these guys are kicking, like, 65-yard field goals. So 60-yard field goal, when I, in the 90s, was a really big deal. If you kick, they would punt if the field goal was anything more than like 52 yards. Now it's like 65 yards. Half the teams in the league roll out their guy.

So I would say if you're just basing on pro-kickers and pro-golfers, if we're just going to assume par 72, it's harder to shoot a 59 than it is to kick a 60-yard field goal. My guess would be the majority of guys, there's 32 teams, I would guess more than half, teams would be pretty comfortable, pretty comfortable to be strong, but would roll out their kicker, the Jags, the Cowboys, Seattle, I'd have to think, I'm out of the kicker mode, but maybe less than 16, but there's definitely 10 plus the teams are trying from 60 yards.

So I would say shooting 59 would be harder. That'll do it. Congrats to Cam Young. Congrats to me. And what an awesome tournament on kind of a slow weekend as we head into March Madness. Props to John Calipari, who fired from Kentucky, forced out, went to Arkansas. Now wins the SEC tournament and has a baller. I think Arkansas is going to be a team that I'm going to root for in the NCAA.

tournament. And St. Mary's, like always. But I always root for St. Mary's. I always get bouncing the first round. So, uh, enjoy the night. And we will talk soon. Again, subscribe. Audio version, go low pod. I think we'll link it to the three and out pod too tomorrow. So, uh, see you later. The volume. Hey guys, it's us. The Jonas brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called, Hey, Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it.

We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it, but, you know, tired and sick. Tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite.

Unhumor me with Robert Smigel and Friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman helped make you funnier. This week, my guest, S&L's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an acapella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Last night, a blown call changed a game.

This morning, the internet lost its mind, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo, and every episode we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headline. And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to Sports Slice on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slicelife-Live 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok.

Winning on Clay is an art. The rallies are relentless. and at the French Open, only the toughest survive. I'd know. I competed there for decades. Join me, Renee Stubbs, on the Renee Stubbs Tennis Podcasts for no-nonsense breakdowns of the biggest matches, the toughest players, and the moments that define Roland Garros. She's an outsider to win the French name.

And she likes Clay. Listen, Lerabachina is arguably the best player in the world right now and I actually can win on any surface. Listen to the Renee Stubbs Tennis Podcasts on the IHart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. This is an IHart podcast. Guaranteed Human.