Ep. 136 - Brandel Chamblee

where he stands kind of in our minds. We touched on Rory McElroy in the last couple of weeks that he has had and you know, I mean, it's been a crazy couple of weeks for Rory for goodness sake. I mean, you think about the Open Championship in the way he started and how emotionally wasn't honest he was, and then he gets to Memphis and he plays great for three days and gets in that final group with Brooks and then doesn't have the same stuff and just where Rory kind of sits in our brains right now

as well. And then touched on the Senior Open. You know, Brandon qualified for the second straight year into that and he touched He talked a little bit about, you know, part of Tom Watson's last Senior Open championship and how impactful he's been on links golf in America and how special of a champion he was for so many years and will continue to be. And then lastly, we uh, we hit on Sergio Garcia. I mean, we had to talk a little bit about him, the way he's acted

on the golf course. I want to say the last you know, six months, but this has been Sergio his entire career and he's never changed. And I said it with Brandle, but you know, every single fan now is a camera person. I mean they have their phones in their hands, and if you're acting like an imbecile on

the golf course, they're gonna catch it. I mean, if you're throwing clubs, breaking clubs, you know, throwing something at your caddy, it is going to be seen by the world because it's gonna be shared with the right person, and then they're gonna share it with more people, and all of a sudden you're in trouble again. And and Sergio's behavior just continues to be distasteful for the game

and for fans. Of his and uh and it's something's gonna have to happen and Brandle, you know, he he said, there's gonna have to be extreme measure is really if you want to stop this kind of stuff from people that seem to always find themselves heat it on a golf course and can't, for whatever reason, control it. So that was how we ended. It was a fun conversation.

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slash Team Titleists. It's just a place to go to talk shop, to talk golf with other golf fans. And there are threads about everything. I mean, you can find a thread about the LPGA Tour, about junior golf, about the PGA Tour, about champions, about Scotland, anything you want to find out. It is a place to go to get real true inside and and it's a place I really enjoy going. I like to go in there and

dig around and see what people are talking about. And I think you'll enjoy it too, So check that out. Www dot titlist dot com slash Team Titlist. Let's get to our guests and we welcome back into the clubhouse. Brandle Shamblee Golf Channel analyst, host of the Brandle Shamblely podcast with him DS, which Brandon I saw on social media. You were saying you've got a couple of episodes coming up next week. Is that right? That's right. We were

supposed to tape one um I don't know. Before the Open, I guess, but just schedules got two hectic, and then we were supposed to take another one during the Open, so we're a bit behind. So we gotta two next week and getting out there. But but yeah, it'll be a busy week next week. Yeah, you just you just traveled back state side. You were obviously across the pond both doing your job and then playing a little bit of golf. How many days did it take you to adjust?

Are you? Are you right in that that peak? I don't know when I'm gonna sleep time, which is just my favorite when you travel east to west. Now, whenever I go east to west, it's it's it's a lot easier, um, I think. I think that's the case with most people. But east to west, what I love is you get home and it's time to go to bed where you

just left from. So it's no problem. You go to bed at you know, six, seven o'clock at night and you get up at five, which is really if if I could draw up the perfect day, that that would be it for me. I think I'm not alone and probably wasting a little bit too much time scouring the TV at night looking for some you know whatever show that I can't live without, but really I could live without. Yeah, it's it's it's not the best TV time right now.

We obviously got a chance. We're kind of right at the end of that morning golf, you know, all the stuff happening across the pond, which I think one of my friends calls it. You know, it's it's kind of the coffee golf season and you wake up super early and you got golf on TV. You qualified for your second straight Senior Open this year. And my question to you about it is, you know you are now known as a journalist, as an analyst more than a golfer.

I mean that is your main gig. You put yourself out in the position to succeed, but to also fail. Do you put more pressure on yourself now knowing that if you went out and shot seventy nine or eighty or eighty one, you're gonna get ten thousand people on social media going, what do you know? You don't know anything about golf? No, I mean I don't think this would come as a shock to anybody, But I really

do not care what people think. Absolutely could care less. Uh, you know, this is my quest it's not there as they can criticize it. Fine, they're happy to christs. It wouldn't bother me if they did. Um, as I have said a million times. Uh. And it's hard to do. But you know, someone should be able to compliment you in the highest regard and then criticize you. Um. And you should be unaffected by either. You know, I know what I want to do, I know what I'm I

want to do, I know how I want to do it. UM. I care obviously what the people in my life I think, and uh, I certainly you know, want to consider their thoughts. But by and large, you know, like social media is

full of nothing but critics. There's some great things about some great things about social media, and I honestly think it's had a lot to do with uh young players coming out and playing so well, because I think teaching has greatly improved because of social media, because it has it has done the one thing for teaching that the periodicals in the game would never do, and that has provide peer review. Uh. It was too much of a

buddy buddy system. When I look at the top fifty teachers and in the various periodicals, I know for sure those are not the top fifty teachers. Those are the top most fifty popular teachers, the ones who are very good at promoting themselves. But social media has because it allows good ideas to be for the vetted apt ferreted out, and bad ideas to be kicked to the curve as they should be. It's it's provided this this wonderful. So

I'll give social media's due. But when it comes to criticism of what somebody's trying to do, and this even goes to the role that you played recently in the U s g A Juniors, Um, you know, there's very few people that that who's criticism I pay attention to. Let's put it that way. Yeah, I mean, it's it's interesting. I was going to talk to you a little bit about that a little later because you chimed in and I thought what you said was kind of spot on.

It was. It was at least, you know, in the same vein as we were kind of going about it is is you know that there was a viral video floating around from the Girls Junior last week at Century World, and one of the one of the players in the finals was playing fairly slow and the clip was kind of one moment in that championship match and it was

floating around. And my point, and I think it's the same point you were making, is you know these players are sixteen, seventeen, eighteen years of age and they play slower or they play slow because it's either been taught that way or they've seen it. And and my point and something I've told people kind of off the record that have reached out to me via text messages, why weren't you more critical of them on the broadcast? First

of all, that's not my job. But second is, if you go to a pickup basketball game and you're watching sixteen year olds right now and they're all throwing up three point after three point after three pointer, I'm not yelling at the young kids because that's what they're seeing on TV. And you know, slow play. The trickle down effect from slow play, at least to my opinion, is if pros are slow and nobody does anything about it, all the players watching are gonna do the same thing.

And I feel like the line on the golf ball, you know, how you go play with a fifteen or twenty handicap and they all draw the sharpie line on the ball and they're probably not going to start the put on that line most of the time. That to me is because of what the pros have done for years, and we're seeing that now in junior golf, and it's gonna be up to parents and coaches to say, you guys have to speed up. It's not necessarily to me on a on a young player trying to win a big,

big championship. I can't disagree with the word you just said. You know, I I uh, you know, I mean breaking that down a little bit. Uh. I've never thought drawing a line on a golf ball should be allowed. UM. I don't know how in the world. You're not allowed to lay clubs down to line you up, why shouldn't be allowed to draw a line on your golf ball to line you up? I agree with this. In addition

to in my eyes, I call that it's soft cheating. Um. In addition to it being soft cheating, it's time consuming. I don't do it. I could do it, but I don't do it. I put titlists down where it's whatever, it's horizontal to the ground, and I pod. It's like I don't want to get up over the golf ball and be be drawn to this line on my golf ball.

I want to be thinking about the pot. I want to be thinking about my feel whatever um and and as as it relates to slow play, there's a lot to unpack there other than this girl is is purposely doing this to annoy your playing partner or it's disrespectful. None of that malicious intent was running through her mind. I've been right where she was. Time fades away into oblivion. You get up over that. You're taking care of all

the things. Maybe she's fighting some battle. Maybe she just, you know, hit some poor pots, maybe she had some bad who In time, she'll figure out how to play her best golf. And you're right. If if the rules were strictly admit SI stared at the top or pace of play, it would trickle down into the game and you would not see people drop an anchor and taken sixty seconds on the PG eight tour, These conversations that happened between player and caddy on the p G A

Tour while listen, I mean TV loves them. It's like, ah, that was great, Like no, I promised you to. The player knew within seconds from getting to the golf ball what club to hit what shot to hit? He knew it instinctively, she knew it instinctively. They just know it. And because there's all this information out there, people want to talk it through. But you walk up and with seconds, you know, you look at the ball, you look at the winds, you look at the conditions, you know how

fast all those things you know in a heartbeat. No, the conversation needs to take place. And if there was somebody out there who's who really did enforced the pace of play rules, not only the people play faster, they played better. The The European Tour has has done a pretty deep dive on that. I'm not gonna say they've proved it definitively, but their their study on that shows that generally speaking, the faster you play, the better you

will play. You know, Brandon, I I personally in my golf game this past year, I was kind of a I wasn't I've never been a slow player, for goodness sakes, but I was a guy that would get over a shot at times and think it might be a nine iron. You know, I had eight iron in my hand. And what I've done the last year is is when I look at a shot, look at a number or even a chip shot. I go with the very first thing that's popped in my head, and it's improved my golf game.

I mean, I play more consistent golf because I'm going with my very first the very first thing that comes to my head over a golf shot as the club I'm pulling and the swing I'm making. And I think what you're seeing in professional golf, at least on the men's side right now, are the best players in the world are the fastest. I mean, you think about Kapka, He's quick, Rory's quick, Dustin's quick, pretty much Tea Green. I mean a lot of the guys that are consistently

atop these leaderboards are some of the fastest players. And you're hoping that that will kind of bleed out and you'll see some of these players, you know, following their footsteps because you know, you get a Brooks kept having to play with JB. Homes at the Open Championship, and Brooks can say whatever he wants, but there's no way that doesn't affect them at least a little bit if you're having to wait on the guy every single shot. Yeah, I mean, there's yeah, I agree with you. But there's

a little bit nuance in that. I mean, as the game has become more power dominant. With few exceptions, power players play faster because they have less things to consider. They don't have to go around things, they go over them, and they they have a much higher trajectory, so they don't have to worry about what's going to happen on the back side of their golf shots. So long hitters

typically have fewer things to consider. If the game were more or if say, if accuracy or at least equal to the success of power on the PC eight Tour, you would not see such fast players at the top. Okay, it just takes longer to play the game when you have to consider out how to get around something, as to how to get over something. Yeah, I mean John Dailey played fast, well so does Brooks. Kept going Why because they can carry trees, they can carry dog legs,

they can carry bunkers, uh and so forth. So yeah, I mean, you know, the game is not meant to be played fast, Okay, the game is. You're meant to play the game at a nice pace, and everybody who thinks that you should just you should just it's all about the speed doesn't understand the game. The game is about camaraderie. It is about nature, it is about taking a nice walk in the park. It's about a good

story you tell me on the fifth hole. It's about a good story you're telling me on the eighteen toll. It's not about how fast do we play? Yeah, play with undue delay and what is that? Well you know it when you see it. But but it shouldn't be about how fast you But I've played in groups before where the primary concern was to play fast, and I can do it. But the game is not near as much fun that way. Uh, you know, I mean you can play. Everybody can play in four hours, you know,

three hours, fifty minutes, four hours, fifteen minutes. Somewhere in there, everybody can and that's that's kind of the sweet spot of the game. I agree with you. I was gonna ask you about the Senior British. Were you disappointed that so many of the top players decided not to make the trip over to Litham. You know, I guess some of them were trying to make their own personal statement about purse. Uh, you know, I think that's what was

going on. But you know, look, it's their loss. You know, I mean, I mean the market determines what things are worth. Uh you know, I mean it's not like they arbitrarily decided to keep that. You know, they look at the ratings. The market determines what things are worth. And if if, if, if you don't like it, go home. I don't care. But it's the loss. I mean, they didn't get to play royal of them. They didn't get to be at the last event that Tom Watson played in his career

of Open championships. Um. So it's it's their loss, you know. And and look, I mean, the game will not remember one bit that they weren't there, not one bent, but they will. You know, they could have gone over there, and the players that skipped it, some of them had the capability of going over there and winning it. They could have changed the outcome. But it's their loss. It literally is their loss. I stood on the range Thursday morning, hitting golf balls. Tom Watson drops his golf balls right

down in front of me. He went through his whole sort of stretching routine and sure enough did start his warm up with the three iron, which was beautiful to watch. Um. And then you know, he turned around eventually and we started talking about horses and not about golf and horses, and Fred Fonk was behind me, and we had a wonderful you know, twenty minutes there. Uh And I'll never forget that. And I certainly didn't think about the purse when I was over there. I thought about playing Royalism

and the experience of playing that kind of goal. And you you wrote something on Twitter that blew my mind about Tom Watson. You were talking a little bit about it, having a chance to chat with him his final Open. I mean, he was the you know, as American golf goes. I mean, he is the king of links golf on our side of things. In my opinion, one w D in his career is unbelievable. I mean, you know, considering guys pull out of tournaments all the time injury or otherwise.

Having one w D throughout your career on the PGA Tour, I mean that is next level commitment to doing what you do best. Absolutely. You know, that's one of the things I look at, you know, when when we're around you know, people say, oh, this guy's you know, he's canacious and he's got wrong character. I'm like, well, I don't know what I mean. He's withdrawn twenty two times and eight tours. He's pretty quick to sort of mail

it in when things are not going this way. And you know, look, and if you play twenty years on tour and you've only withdrawn four or five or six times, uh, you know that's that's that's pretty good, you know. I mean, you invariably do get sick, or you do get hurt, or you know, your back aches, or but to see somebody play that long and only withdrawal ones, I mean, that is I promise you. He's had you know, a

you know, bad back, bad crick in his neck. He's he's you know, made a tan on the hole and was you know, twelve over from fourteen or you know, he's done that. And you know, there's just no way he was gonna withdraw, he said, you know, he he said afterwards, he played the game it was meant to be played. And that sure, that takes talent, but it takes us a lot more tenacity. And uh he hats he literally did play the game the way it was

meant to be played. He you know, look, there's you know, he he could have used alternative methods when his putter wasn't working for about ten or fifteen years, but he never did. You know, He's stuck with his same method, uh doggedly. So there's there's a lot all of us can learn about the way Tom Watson played golf, for sure. And uh, I'll count myself as pretty damn lucky for being in the last event that that he played in his Open career. Yeah, I mean it's uh, it was,

you know. I mean, I think we all live and died throughout the moments playing Stewart Sink in that Open Championship, and I mean, I just thought it really said a lot about him as a human being when he walks into the press center after and says, I mean, this isn't a funeral, guys, like, it's a golf tournament and I had a chance to win it and I didn't win it. And I think everybody could take a breath after that moment. And he had to be the guy, the guy that should be, you know, I mean he

should be in a complete and a terrible place. I mean, so many players would have had a hard time speaking to the media, and he's the guy that comes out enlightens the mood for everybody in that room who were devastated.

I mean, media members wrote about being just as devastated as some of the fans, considering they had this, you know, I mean, as good as stories you're gonna write about a golf about a major championship that you could ever think too write basically since eighties six and it didn't happen. And Tom was the guy that said, everybody relaxed, it's gonna be okay. Yeah, yeah, Look, he's an incredibly bright guy. Uh,

incredibly bright. And you know, I mean I think I think his golf swing is you know, it's it's becoming a bit of a dinosaur. But again, there's so much to learn from the way he swung a golf club, um, you know, and there's so much to learn about, you know, playing injury free, the way he swung the golf club. So there's a lot to be learned about the way he handled himself on the golf course and a lot of the way a lot to be learned about the

way he swung the golf club. But you know that that coming into the press center and saying this isn't a funeral, I mean that that shows that he has the game and perspective. He played it the way it was meant to be played. It wasn't his whole life, you know, it was his life when he played golf, you know, when he was on the golf course, that was it. But as soon as he was done, there were much bigger things in life to be worried about than whether you win or lost loves of golf tournament.

I mean, if you're a professional golfer and you're in a position to do that, you're you're making a nice living. And you know, I don't know his family life all that well, but you know, none of us needs to be reminded of how lucky we are to be involved in this game, either playing it professionally or even on the periphery of this game, you know, broadcasting commentating. There are a lot worse jobs to be had and pursuits

to be passionate about. I wanted to bring up Brooks Kept just you know, obviously after the win, but just his twenty nineteen as a whole. I mean, you were critical as I was going into the Masters earlier this year when we found out that Kept had lost a lot of weight and he was kind of struggling with with his distances because he did it for a magazine shoot and it seemed like a really weird time to to go into that. Why would you do that when major seasons coming up and you have a chance to

continue on this unbelievable role. Of course, he nearly wins the Masters. Then he goes on to win at beth Page and had a chance at the US Open, had a chance of the Open Championship. What have you learned about Brooks Keepka this year that maybe you didn't believe in going into the two thousand nineteen major season and what do you how do you look at him now as the next player in this kind of generational talent

that can go out and went on any golf course. Well, there were two things that that I believed to be true. One was it was incredibly reckless for him to diet in such a way that it changed his body chemistry and and and changed the type of golf that he was playing. Uh, if he if one has sort of talent that he has to disrupt that on the run

up to the Masters seemed directless to me. But if there's anything I think we've learned about Brooks is that he has a defiant sort of thread that runs through him and sort of a carefree sort of I'll do it my way regardless of what you say, and that's great. I mean, more power to him. I think that is certainly the way to live your life. And if I had that kind of talent, I think I would have paid more attention to the you know, the run up to the Masters. But you know, maybe the body. Shoot,

I've yet to see that or hear about it. Maybe that'll you know, in a in a weird way, making more popular. Who knows the way society works. What have I learned about him this year? That he's better uh than I thought he was? Um, you know, and too has A fourteen really is the first time he's played, you know, a full season on the p G A tour um and you know he's nineteenth and scoring average eleventh, ninth, fourteen, ninth,

So he was really good. But you know, he wasn't in the upper echelon of consistency and of greatness of Rory McElroy or Jordan's speed or Dustin Johnson. Uh As we sit here and talk the's third and scoring average this year, and I think we can say quite definitively the major championships bring the best out in him. I certainly couldn't have said that prior to this year with the same sort of uh definitive attitude. You know, I

needed to see more evidence. I thought that he won on very forgiving and soft golf courses off of the tea, and there were only a handful of players that could challenge him, and those and they either missed the cut or they played poorly for the most part, so it left the door up. But I mean, when it's all about power and that's all it is, then it's really just who can lift the most weight. And as as I learned at Bethpage Black, Um, you know, there's there's

there's more to him. I think that's probably the best thirty six holes that I've ever seen play, and and that's saying a lot because I've watched Tiger, I've watched Rory, I've watched Speed up close. Um, so in Tiger's group, that was the best thirty six holes I've ever seen for a variety of different reasons. So he's better than I thought he was. Um, which is you know, I'm

happy to learn because listen, I'm all about as you are. Uh, this game producing big, big stars where you can start looking forward and think, I wonder how good this player is going to be. I wonder if he can fulfill all that talent. I wonder if he can do things that I've never guessed, I never saw, because that's what we all want to see. We want to see athletes come along that can blow our mind. And he certainly did that at Bethpage black Well and on the flip side.

And I was gonna get into Rory with you a little bit. I have. I'm at the point now where I think Rory McElroy is the hardest golfer to try to understand. And I say that with the most respect I can towards him. I mean, we all love the way he talks about life in the game and his

journey to this point. And you know it's we're gonna be brandled two thousand and sixty nine days when we get to Augusta National on Thursday for the opening round since his last major title, you know, you think about stuff like that with the talent he has, and you use the word choke about his opening round at the Open Championship and used it and correct me if I'm wrong, used it in terms of how he's played opening rounds at major's basically since he was dominant in those four events.

I mean, as as I mentioned, you got to go back five years and he struggled to get going in these majors, and he's put himself behind the eight ball so many times that even a good round doesn't really help him get back. At a contingent, it will help him get into the top ten, but not really in contention.

I was talking to Brad Faxton about this and and just about you know, Rory and major championships, and I was going back through the years on majors that he's really been in the hunt at and outside of the Masters with Patrick Reid, I can't really think of a lot where he has been right there. Why is it that Rory can't seem to figure it out at the Majors? And then you know the week after in Memphis he's

right there on Sunday with the chance to win. Well, I mean it's clear that it's first round to putting behind the eight ball. Um, He's now played nineteen majors without winning one. That's nineteen first rounds opening rounds where he is ten over par for those uh, opening holes nineteen opening holes, he's ten over par. So not only is he getting off to bas start in each of those rounds, more or less, he's posting a pretty poor score average right around now after the first round. That

is a lot of ground to make up for major championships. Now, you know, you keep going why why y until you get to and it all boils down to, you know, unless there's an injury, or unless there's swing changes, it gets down to finding the right place mentally to play your best golf. And and look, with a few exceptions, everybody in this game has choked. Everybody has has let the moment get the better of them. I don't remember

Tiger doing it. I don't remember Jack doing it. And I've looked at their records to find instances when they did it. Uh, can't really find it in every single other player. You can find moments where it looks like the moment got them, and it's it's true of Roy. So clearly he's not putting himself in the right is mentally. I know he's you know, he's looking. He's changed his golf swing to try to get more of a fade. I think that's a better play for him. At augusta

National Wale question. Um, it looks to me like he's he's searching to try to find the right place mentally to be as good a person as he can be and as good at players he can be. Um. I don't have a degree in psychology, but I can tell you that to be a great player, you gotta be selfish, and to be a great person, you've gotta be selfless.

And I give Rory a lot of credit because I get the sense that he's trying to balance those two and and that's a tough place to be because you know, ass much as I've heard him say he doesn't want to be defined as a golfer, he is a golfer. It's you go look at those commercials where he's four years old hanting golf balls till he's sixteen years old, and he's lit up like a Roman candle. Golf. Golf is who he is. I mean, it certainly looks like

it to me. It makes him happy. And I don't think there's anything wrong with being selfish about your lifelong world pursuit. I mean those people who are selfish, you know, who are singularly, singularly focused. It's not necessarily pretty in their way. You know, it probably wasn't nice to be around Steve Jobs. Uh, it probably wasn't that nice to be around Tiger Woods when he was carving out that territory. Now, maybe maybe Rory doesn't want to be that that's singularly focused.

But if he doesn't, there's going to be somebody that will, and they're going to get the better of him. So, you know, it's you can't bemoan the fact that you're not winning these things. If if it's not your entire life. Um, even Brooks kept go as much as he loves to say it's it's not his entire life except for majors um. In his own way, he does practice every day he got. He says he goes to the gym at least six times a week, maybe seven. And I promise you, you

know I can. I could debate whether or not what he's doing in the gym actually makes him a better golfer, But if he thinks it makes him a better golfer, and if he believes it gives him more power physically and more power mentally, and also he believes the work he does there makes him deserving, it makes him deserving of the upper hand and major championships. Then that is practicing, That is commitment, That is putting yourself in the right

place mentally to play your best golf. You gotta get there on that first tea and we're all trying to figure out how to do it. Where you look around and you think nobody can beat me here, and I deserve to win this. This is mine. I've put in the work. Because if you're not going to put in the work, if it's not going to if it's not going to be some substantial um sacrifice on your point, on your behalf, well then some part of you is going to think that you don't deserve it. Um. You

have to sacrifice to do extraordinary things. That's what makes them extraordinary. You've put in the sacrifice. Well, it's it's been interesting to see Rory who again, I think you know, you've talked a lot about Rory and his talent. I mean, you've mentioned Rory and Dustin as the two guys, and I think at this point, I'm I'm assuming that kept is on that list as the guys that were the next in line of the guy with with kind of

the full arsenal of talent. I mean, they can hit it forever, they hit it straight enough, they've got a great short game when whenever it's clicking, those types of things that that equate two big wins. What I have found very interested, and it happened in Memphis with Rory is a lot of the time when he's face to face with the best players, and he was playing alongside

Brooks captain, he played poorly on Sunday. You know, I go back to to the Masters a couple of years ago when he was in the third round final group of Jordan's Speed and he didn't make a birdie and shot seventy seven, and Speed kind of ran away, uh and distanced himself from Rory that day as well. Again, it just seems, and this goes back to your point, it's it's completely mental for this guy when he gets

to these moments. And I wonder if it's I want to be so great that these moments are so huge, and I know it, and other guys go into it just just going out and going about their business and playing golf, and and maybe to him it's it's a little more cerebral because that's kind of the guy he is. Well, I mean I know we get fixated on those moments. It's enough of them to give us plenty to talk about.

But once again he leads the tour in bardon scoring average. Okay, he's going to win this year and that will be his third time. There's been two players when more than two Varden Trophies two. Um, Tiger Woods has one at nine times. Uh and Greg Norman wanted five times. So you know there's right, there's DJ now that doesn't count. They never recounted Jack because they said he didn't play enough.

But Jack would have won six or seven. U. But you know, even if you look at player of the years, you know Tiger one at eleven times, Watson one at six times, Nickolas won at five times, so we want it four times. Uh, So we get you know, when used to I look at Vardon Trophy. You know as as to me, it is, it is, it is much. It's a much greater piece of territory than a major championship. Um. Again, you know McRoy, Couple's Kite, DJ Speed, those are the

only players who have won it twice. McRoy is gonna now have won a third three times. Okay, so it goes Tiger Norman McRoy. Um, that's heavy territory, you know. I mean Rory won the Players Championship this year doing things that were and again there were plenty of good players in that field, and he beat him into oblivion. So and he's one four majors, so he's done it before.

But I, you know, I I think at some point he'll figure out what he's been doing prior to major championships has not putting him into the best place mentally to play his best golf, and then he won't be behind, He'll be ahead, and and being ahead is where he's played his best golf. You I, I you know, some people were just better when they're in with the lead. I mean, Tiger was Tiger spoilers. He was with the

exception of majors. And by the way, I mean, Tiger wasn't great chasing, and Majors still never won one chasing, um except the Masters this year. Um, so that was his first one ever. But the Tiger wasn't great chasing. He was a great leader, um. And that's sort of been Rory's domain as well. But I look at him leading the Garden Trophy this year is a far bigger indicator of his overall game and potential over the next five years than these sort of many collapses in early

or late rounds of golf tournaments. I wanted to get your grade on the two thousand nineteen schedule change. Did you did you enjoy it? Did you like the condensed style? Do you see it continuing? Obviously? I know they announced two thousand twenty and it's very similar with the Olympics mixed in. But are you a fan of the way the schedule was moved around this year? Yeah? I mean, you look, it used to be the the Master started

in April. Players was in March. Our our excuse me, Players was in May, US Open was in June, the Open was in July, the PGA was in August. So it was still love one every month, but they just

moved it up a month. Uh. You know, I've I've heard the complaints about it, but you know, I didn't hear people who played well in the events complaining about it, you know, And and you know it's there's always complaints when things don't go your way, looking for a reason why they didn't go your way, and it and I get it's human nature. It can't be me. It was the system Um, but the system didn't just happen willy nilly. I mean it was well thought out. Players knew well

in advance how to prepare for. Um. You know, players play the FedEx Cup and they come one after another, fact and furious playoffs and everybody knows how it end is basically if you win the Tour Championship. Even before this year, it's just worked that way for the majority of the years. If you win the Tour Championship, you win the you win the FedEx Cup. It's just worked that way all but one or two times. UM. So you know, I don't put much stock in the plaints

that I heard. Um. I liked it. It was good. Yeah, it's you know what I think it did. And I thought about this before the season started. Was you mentioned earlier about keepka. We like the superstar because they can carry the event to the next event. You know, kept going the PGA Championship. What's he gonna do with the US Open and then US at Fox can talk about kept going in another US Open and Pebble Beach and

and all of those things that come with that. I thought that the schedule change allowed somebody that was great A Brooks Kepta, Dustin a Rory, you know, go down the list, Justin Thomas Rose, those types of players to make a serious run and multiple majors in a season, because if you're playing well, you don't have that long of a wait to get to the next event. And so Keptka kind of did that. I mean, I know we only won one major, but he was right there

in all of them. And you know, if you're talking about six seven eight week gap between a major, maybe he doesn't continue to play that consistent golfer, that great golf. If if that was the case, if that's how the schedule played. Yeah, and by the way, now there's going to be a significant off season between let's say big events. I mean, if you want us, you know, after the FedEx Cup, if you want to keep playing and play

all the fall events, you can do that. And if you want to play Philip your year with all the early events for the matter, you can do that. But if you wanted the premier players, I mean, you can

shut it down after the FedEx Cup. And you you know, you've got eight months in between, seven months in between the biggest events, so you know, I mean, you've you've got a nice little break um, and you can let your body heal, you can get your you know, you sort of get that reacquainted with all those people who have to deal with the sacrifices it takes to be a great player and to travel the world. So I

like the schedule. I don't I don't see any problem with it again, or gave a lot of thought to it. And by the way, I mean fifteen million dollars to the FedEx top champion. I mean the sport is is now getting closer to the equivalent of other sports for their premier athletes, which is again as I said earlier, I mean the market determines what things are worth, clearly. Uh. FedEx thinks the market warrants this sort of investment. You know, the stars are such that they aligned perfectly with their

demographic uh. And you know they see that the interests of other athletes, of superstar athletes is strong in the game of golf. All of these things are great for golf. And you can't convince me even even the critics love to criticize the FedEx Cup. Um, you go back and look at the ratings of tour events that were at the end of the year before the FedEx Cup and compare them to the ratings of the FedEx Cup, and they're up by a third over that period of time.

They're up by a third. So it's a good thing. It's worked well. I know, you gotta run here in a minute, So I want to just end with this because we just talked about players making a lot of money, and you know, we've we've we've hit on a little slow placed stuff and you know, maybe pushing those guys to speed it up a little bit and how you do that, and it's probably gonna end up being you know, you're gonna get deemed by strokes, not by money. This

lands me at Sergio Garcia. You know, he's thirty nine years old Brandle at this point, and this year has not been a good year for Sergio. Let's just I mean, there's there's no other way to say it. I mean, early in the year he had issues. He was tearing up greens. You know, the video comes out at the Open where he kind of throws the driver back at his caddy, and then a video comes out in Memphis where he's slamming his driver off a t box and

taking a big divot. Does the tour have to say you're you can't play in events, or how do you how do you stop these types of acts from a guy that has been doing this his entire career elevated fines you know, I mean even when I played the tour, if you did stuff like that, you get a five five thousand dollars. Well, five thousand dollars isn't going to stop players who are worth fifty million dollars from doing

those things. But a hundred thousand would. Uh, you know, a hundred thousand dollar fine happens, it should happen, or something like that. You're you're thirty nine. I know how frustrating golf is and can make you, but there is no denying the fact that you're you. You represent, whether you like it or not, a role model position in the game of golf. Um, it should be pretty clear on this should be it's there should be no tolerance

for that kind of behavior. Um, tearing up a golf course. Look, everybody who's played the game is felt those emotion and done those things. Um, but as you get older, it's just, you know, it's inexcusable. You know, he's not sixteen, he's not fifteen. He's always had sort of a very volatile temper on the golf course. He's not alone. I mean, there's there's plenty of others that throw clubs and slam them. It's just they're not as big a player, as most as talented as he is. You know, he's played at

eighty two straight major champions Sergio Apes eighty two. No one else has sniffed that, no one else, So, I mean, you know, you need a little general reminder of a how good you are, how rare your talent is, the longevity you have, how lucky you are to possess that talent and that ability to make the money you make, to just relax, bad shots happen. I love what Brooks kept and Dustin Johnson, you know, they both have this sort of easy come, easy go attitude on the golf course.

Dustin john was on our set at the Open Championship. We asked him about why he seems to play the game with so little temper, and he said, why am I gonna get mad when I get a bad shot? I had bad shots all the time. Why am I gonna get mad when I get a great shot? He goes, I had great shots all that. You know, he's like I'm just out there playing the game. This is what I do. I thought. I mean, we can all learn from that. UM bad shots all the time. You know,

it's like grow up, just grow up. And if you're not gonna grow up, when we're gonna find you into oblivion in um a hundred thousand dollars, fine, you know, pay it or you don't get to play the next event. UM well, sooner or later, he'd learned. If he hasn't been taught by the game, he should be taught by penalties. I mean, you don't speed on the highway because if you get caught two or three times, you either lose your license or your insurance goes up ten thousand dollars.

And so you don't. I mean that's how you that's how you appropriately affect, you know, monitor behavior of people. Um, it's always worked, it always will work. It's it was you know I I we get to cover these these junior events, and we talked about it when we started chatting.

Is you know, we get a chance to cover the Junior Amateur and and the girls Junior and we have the US Women's Amitor next week, and then the US Amateur at Pinehurst and It's crazy how how how these young teenage players control their tempers now, I feel like more than ever. I mean, they don't get really frustrated,

and they they stay within themselves. And you see it from these young players, and then you see somebody like Sergio as you mentioned, who has been around forever, that can't seem to buck that, and you you, obviously you know there's a red flag there and you want to you want to just remind him, as you said, that

people are watching you. There's a country that is watching you all the time, and you're the most popular player from Spain and people still love you and they still want you to do great and when you're doing these things and their circule lady in and hey, by the way, every single golf fan out there is now a cameraman because the phones are allowed and they can video this stuff. It's not gonna go away. I mean, you're not gonna do something like that and it not find its way

out on the internet. And so you know, as you said, I guess the fund that you know up in the fines and forcing players to pay a whole bunch of money, We'll do that, Brandon, As I said, I know you gotta run. I appreciate the time as always. Check out the Brand of Shambley podcast with himI Diaz and I'm assuming we're gonna see you this weekend next on Golf Channel and through the playoffs. That's right, I'll be uh

doing this through the playoffs. I have a few other events to do at the end of the year, and then I'm gonna play a few on the PGA Tour champions So I'll be busy either talking or playing until the end of the year. Saying I, I always enjoy your telecast. You guys have a great team and really enjoyed the year that's uh you'll put together on Fox. So thanks for having me on. It's always fun talking

to you. Shane, Thanks, brand, appreciate it. Cheers. It looks like I'm arect A big thanks to Brandon Shamblie for jumping on. You know, one of the voices of this generation of golf. Really and when he talks, you listen, that's all. It's the best compliment I can give the guy is when he when he speaks, either you agree with it or you don't, that's fine, But when he talks, you have to listen because he obviously does the research. He does the homework, and he knows what he's talking about.

And I respect and appreciate that more than anything else in really broadcasting is people that are prepared and ready to rock. So thanks to Brandon, a big thanks to Titleist. A reminder sign up if you will at Team Titleist www. Dot titlist dot com slash Team Titleist. It's just a community of people talking golf. If you like that, you're gonna like this. That's that's I have a whole ad read I can do. That's the add Reid I'm gonna give you at the end of this podcast. That is it.

Team Titleist is a place to go to to chat about everything in golf equipment. You can chat about golf courses, travel, the tour, all of those things and you can find it all in one place. That's a Team Titleist. So go sign up to do it for me. And lastly, the US Women's Amateurs next week, we have two events left on our nine fox schedule, which is bananas. It

seems like it's flown by. We have the US Women's Amateur next week at Old Waverley that gets going on Wednesday at on FS one and we will take you all the way through to the championship match on Sunday, and then the following week is the US Amateur at Pinehurst. Same deal. Wednesday, we rock, Sunday, we end on Fox, and that'll be it for the two thousand nineteen Fox

Golf schedules. So up, you get two more weeks of US I hope you DVR it, and I hope you want you live, and I hope you enjoy it because we're excited about it. Two of my favorite events to do in the entire season. And we get going, like I said, Wednesday, bright and early, and we don't stop for two weeks, and then we'll go on a little bit of a bid break. I hope you guys have a great weekend, get out, play some golf, and we'll check back next week.