Fire Drill 076: A Gathering Storm - Masters Round 2 Recap

Alan Schipnuck back for another Fire Drill podcast. Michael Bamberger and I are in a secret corner of the Press building. And the thing that's I think that's amazing about Augusta Nashville is everywhere you go there's something new to see it. It's like Disneyland and they've they've ushered us to this giant boardroom. We're sitting like fifty feet apart at the same table. I've got Adam Scott behind me. It's kind of cool. I never do this existed like the the

the expansion of the campus just boggles. But anyway, it's just a quick note on that Island. The first year this place was open, the chairman of the club was still Billy Pain and I wrote him a note about a month after the tournament, and I said that I was still in the press building and that nobody had found me yet. And he wrote back, dear mister Barmburger, I do not find you funny at all, Sincerely mister William Paine. The first part is absolutely sure. I did

not get a response. See that's I mean, that's just bad manners. Like on Billy, You've got the dean of the golf takes time to send you a personal letter. It should be responded, Tom, I'm offended on your behalf. Should we quickly describe or ambivalence to the stylish mahal of press catering. Oh, it's sure, I mean it's it's

stronger than that for me. Like every master's week, you see these these members come in with their friends and family and they're giving them a tour of the press building like it's the zoo, Like, oh look, those are the writers at work in their natural habitat. It's like so offensive, and I mean it looks cool. It's it's it is grand. There's a lot of things we don't need or care about, like there's a whole locker room of showers. Like maybe if you're a super sweaty TV guy,

that's helpful, but most of us don't need that. The food is good. They built like this lovely little restaurant, but the things that matter are like the Wi Fi, which is it comes and goes, and it's the interview space. And the old building it was small and crowded and hot, and there was like a real intimacy that either the writers are right on top of the players and you felt a connection, You've got a lot of great stuff. Then now it's like this mausoleum that it's just to

look good on TV. They've put They've put the the players on a stage separated by all this dark, heavy wood and all these flowers, and there's like no connection. They're so far where you feel like you're in this like library built in the nineteenth century and you're supposed to like whisper like the two things that really matter for us to our jobs. I mean c minus at best, but it is it does look good for the members where they show their their friends and family, like, oh

these are writers. Look at his look at the coffee stains on his shirt. And yeah, yeah, they are mostly bald and overweight. That's true. I mean they're like anthropologists. But anyway, don't get me started. What are your feelings, Michael Well? I think the only reason like we would even have the listener engage in this part of the of the broadcast is that there really has been a disthification of the tournament of the week. There have been some real positive changes in recent years. I think the

gust National Women's Amateur event is fantastic. I love it, but it is sort of all a little bit more maybe not a little bit, a lot more mechanized than it used to be. And you know, even like something like yesterday's situation in Brooks KPKA. I mean, it's an odd situation to me. It was very clear that the caddies said five. It's clearly a violation of the rules. But if you want the public to really understand it, there has to be some give and take with the players,

the caddies, the rules guy. And we don't have that, partly because of this building and partly because just things have evolved in a way where everything is more precise and perfect and we're going only going to present you the finished answer, but there is really no finished answer, you know, so the messiness is carta gone. Yeah, exactly.

So I used to get a lot of good interviews done on the the clubhouse porch, in the essentially the front of the clubhouse where you pull in, not the back that faces the course, and like this is pre COVID. I was talking to Paul Casey there and the security guard came to chase me away. To Paul Casey's credit, He's like, let us finish the interview. And so I went to the security guard. I was like, what the fuck. I've been doing interviews here for twenty years, and they're like, well,

the rules have changed. And so I marched over to the green jacket who is in charge of sort of the interview area, and I was like, what is happening and he said, well, the chairman does not like to see reporters on that side of the clubhouse. And I said, I said, well, I explained how in this job, information is the coin of the realm, and it's that's how that's what sets us apart as reporters, is what we can get that nobody else has. And I said, that's

a great place for me new interviews. He's like, well, we have this nice flash area for you. I said, well, yeah, that's anything anyone says, it goes out to the whole world because Agra gated it's on every website and that has no value to me. And and he said, well, the chairman does not like to see reporters over there. I said, well, the chairman doesn't understand how we do our job. And then he gave me this big, beautiful

smile and he said, well he doesn't have to. And I said, that is I said, that is the single most honest thing anyone's ever said at Augusta National. And so they took that away. And then in COVID they closed the locker room where we couldn't talk to players. COVID's over I think because they're acting like there's no testing, there's no mass, there's no COVID policy. But now we can't get in the locker room. It's just never going

to come back. And the reason why the very board listener at home might be interested in this is like on Tuesday night, which was the Champions dinner, and there was all this build up about how Spicy was going to be. If I could have I would have gone and camped out on the front porch until nine or ten PM, and I would have picked off all the players after dinner and gotten the real scoop about what happened in real time. It was a little drunk and more likely to be honest, and it would have been

a great story. But because I can't get on that side of the clubhouse, they were just going to walk out and go to their cars and I couldn't get there. And so it's this sanitized official version that Augusta National wants to mandate, and they prevent us from doing our jobs, and that's why it sucks. Now let's talk about the Masters. I feel so I feel better. I was all pent up.

Now now I'm ready to talk about the golf. But so it's it's late in the second round, brooks Kept played an absolute spectacular round of golf, shot five under. He's twelve under for the tournament. He's leading by four strokes over the amateurs. Mister Bennett. John rom is still in the golf course and it's been a little rain so often, so he may close the gap here while

we're talking. But we wanted to get this podcast to our listeners as soon as possible, and he's really the only guy that matters right now on the golf course. But let's start with the Brooks because it's clearly his tournament to lose. I think he had a really insightful conversation he should with his swing coach, Claude Harmon. You know, they had this this messy breakup and for about two

years they weren't working together. I mean, Claude was there for the glory years, you know, seventeen eighteen nineteen, and then they came back together last summer, and he's played obviously an important role in Brooks's ascension back to big bad Brooks Kepka and two things he told me that really stood out as well. And he said Brooks was working harder now than he did when he was number one because the game it was easy for him. Then

now he's had to find it and chase it. And that he's scoffed at the notion that that Live has made Brooks or any other players so off. He said, this guy's busted his butt. But what he also said is, you know, Brooks, he thrives on controversy. He loves it. He's like John. He made a parallel to John McEnroe, which I thought was great. He's like Brooks needs a foil and all the live angst has just has just

rabbed his engine and so he's healthy. He swings more technically sound, and he's super fired up and he wants to win this badly. So that's my little riff on books. Michael, what have you seen out of up to including this

business with a caddy that is now swirling around. Yeah, it'll go away because that's the nature of the beast right now, the swirling thing with the caddy, and no one's going to say, oh, you know, he's lead instead of four, it should be two, even though I do feel like he lee should be four instead of two, because I think it's very clear that the caddy did break the rules, and the caddies, for those who don't know, the caddy in the rule book is basically extension of

the player from whom he's working here she is working. And it's kind of a shame that it didn't get addressed properly because if he does go on to win this thing, then there's a little tiny asterisk on it and people can say, and I totally understand, well, who cares it didn't have any influence on the outcome. That's very possibly true. But the fact is the underpinning of all of golf is there is a rule book and

it needs to be enforced all the time. It can't pick and choose when you're going to force leaving that all the side by the way, just for those for the listener who might still be curious. The thing with Keptka signaling five is he's taking off the glove that a lot of people have been paying diner. Just to share my own opinion about it, I don't think he was signing anything. I really actually believe it when he says he was just taking off his glove. I don't

think he would. I don't know. I just don't think that's just how I saw it. But I guess it's worth mentioning because it shows you that people can really view different things differently. Somebody else might say, oh so I Elliott mouthed that, but he wasn't saying five. He was saying, you know, dinner at five or some crazy thing who knows kept on all cylinders healthy, psychologically healthy, physically healthy. You know, we've seen it now for what six years. One of the best players ever to play

the game, just a dominating golfer. We were on with Jeff Ogilby yesterday and all three of us are saying the same thing. Brooks kept good. Looks like he's going to win this thing. Having said that, you would have said the same thing at Bethpage Black when he won there, and what he was at two thousand and nineteen, I think it looked like he should run away with it. In the end, he just sort of walked away with it.

I think the same thing will happen here this golf course, this the combination golf course in tournament and what you're playing for, especially if you have guys all of whom are trying to get their first screen coat. Let's say John rom Victor Hoffland, called Amerkawa, Shane Lowry, Let's say they're all in the knicks. They'll all start choking up stuff and doing unexpected things come Sunday and will have

a tight leaderboard come Sunday. But even having said that, if his lead is still four shots by the end of thirty six souls, it's a substantial lead for a guy who's doing everything. It's not like he's gotten lucky to be where he is. He's just doing everything right. He's not doing anything spectacular, is just playing really solid. Brooks good golf. The putter looks so good in his hands. He just it just looks comfortable. And you know he

Brooks is a fader of the golf wold. If you saw a second shot on thirteen today, you know he kind of hugged the creek with his drive, which is ballsy, shortened the hole by turning it over so that right there's not an easy play, and then he had to hook the second shot around these trees that almost knocked the flagstick down for a very easy two pop Bertie. But those two swings tell me he's fully in control of his instrument, because that's those are doer dice shots.

And he went against his natural ball flight and so I didn't see that. I didn't see the two shot on Alan on thirteen. What did he do there instead of baling out right? I mean, he kind of took a left center line and turned it over and he was right down, you know, left side of the fairway, which is that things can go sideways there. And I'm just saying for guys will play to their on the

hard hole. Sometimes they refer back to their there's the safest ball shape, like tigers hitting these big cuts on dog leg lefts, like he's just trying to find the fairway and you know he's he's reverted back to that, which is okay when you're struggling. But um, yeah, the thing about Brooks when he's playing well is he has a certain mystique which is very rare in this game. He has he has a there's there's a badass energy

around him that very few golfers have. And you know, you would I would say it's Sevy Ask in certain ways. Sevy is more flamboyant, but there was he had a presence that you felt, and you know Faudo had that to some degree, Norman had it, Tiger had it. There's just, um, there's there's a feeling like this, like it's like alpha energy, right, and it's kind of a cliche, but Brookes radio it's that and it's a real thing. I mean it's palpable, you can feel it. And uh, this thing is certainly

not over. I mean the Saturday forecast is for very cold temperatures, a lot of rain and wind, and so if if Brooks is fractionally off, you could easily shoot eighty and this thing gets blown open. But uh, he's been so in control of his golf ball, which is paramount. You know, the scramblers were kind of hanging on right now, they'll get exposed in that weather. You have to hit in the middle of the club face, and Brooks is doing that every time. So I think the bad weather

actually helps them. I think it can separate him from from a lot of the contenders. But let's talk about some of the guys or do you ever the last book one quick brook slot? But it's really abroad August National thought. And this is why, despite all the things you're talking about about the lack of intimacy and how it's changed over the years, one of the most intimate moments on this golf course, and it's almost it is almost guaranteed to be high drama this year, as it

is every year, is the T shot on thirteen. And now it's a different T shot than it was a couple of years ago. So I'm fascinated to hear Alan

what you said. Here's a guy who can fade the ball, hit a mile high with four yards of fade and long and totally in control shot after shot after shot, and he's going to stand on Sunday trying to win his first green coat and try to drive the ball in the fairway where he can knock a six iron on and two put for four maybe and maybe make a putt for three and try to do something that doesn't come naturally to him. And we've seen Sergio do We've seen Ernie do it. We've seen Savey back in

the day do it. It's there's a lot that can go wrong the whole back nine, and you know we always and we had on Jeff Vogli last side. We're talking a little bit about the similarities between the old course in this place. But what this place has, which really Oqua and Shinnecock Hills and the old course and other songs. It's got lakes, lakes in play. There are water hazards go to lore in this golf course. And if you're really playing well and it's Thursday Friday, you're

not really thinking about it. But it's impossible not to think about him on Sunday. And that's why we get giddy anticipating what we're anticipating the weekend of Master's play. I mean, Brooks is a discipline player though, like you know, for him, he calculates the risk and going for it on Friday is worth it, and he made the birdie and that's creative. If he still has a three four shot lead, he has the discipline not of Phil Nicholson, like he'll he'll play he'll play this the correct shot.

So I think he's less likely to give it back. That's really interesting because we might see something we've never seen a leader hitting four or earn sandwich into thirteen. But maybe that's the way to make that Maybe that's your best joan speaker for there. Sure, yeah, yeah, hybrid three, but there's a lot of there's a lot of ways you could play that hole. Now if you just say accept that it's it's five strokes. I finally have the definitive answer, by the way to a question in which

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dot com. I'm gonna have a story about Brooks and the interview with Claude Harmon really made the whole thing, and he's such an insightful guy and I learned a lot talking to him. So I'm happy to share that you're going to write about one Philip Alfred Mickelson, who had a crazy round yesterday. I would encourage anyone listening you hasn't done, so go to maasters dot com call up the Thursday round. You can watch every shot and feel hit a driver off to the deck out of

the pine straw. He had driver off the deck on eight to set up a birdie. He played a shot right handed, a ball in the water. It was one of those wildly entertaining seventy ones in the history of golf, and but today it was it was it was a cleaner round. He shot three under, one of the best scores of the day. He's he's right at this moment, he's tied for tenth. I mean, he's eight shots back, but he's only four shots out of second place. And when I saw out of field was he put jaunty

out there? He looked like he was having fun. And he's been in such a funk for you know, the last year plus. And we all know he missed last year's Masters. He's back again, and something about this place has always lit him up. But I think this is exactly what he needed. But Michael, what did you see how to field that he liked? Well, he was, you know, he was having a great time on the golf course. He was in a great time off the golf course.

Amy is here. I haven't seen her personally since the Ryder Cup in Wisconsin, you know, right after the PGA, where he was where he was so triumphant. He needs golf probably more It's just an odd thing to say about a fifty year old man for as successful as he is, But he probably needs golf more now than any other point in his life because he's trying to reclaim a life that he had and that was built on golf, not coffee or fitness or fancy belts or anything else. So I think he's doing what a lot

of people do when they're in a bind. He's doubling down the thing that he really likes, the things that he's really good at. And why wouldn't he be giddy doing it at a Gusta National, at the place that he dearly dearly looks. Yeah, he's certainly. You know, he's been playing very mediocre golf at the live events, but I've seen it with my own ice, how hard he's working. I mean, he's been on the putting green for hours at a stretch. I saw it in Tucson. I saw

in Mexico. He's hitting bags and bags of balls like he hasn't given up. He's still on this quest to be an impactful player. And when you have that kind of talent and and you have that drive, it's it's a good combination. You know, you can't play your best

golf at this level without a clear head. And you see it all the time, and whether someone's got a sick parent or marital woes or whatever is it affects their performance and it Phil's been through the ringer at the last year and a half and so I feel like he's just kind of getting back to himself. As press conference yesterday, it was actually he was funny. You know, he's been so muted and careful and you can he's like just dripping with the media training. That's not who

the guy is. Like. He's a showman, he's a freewheeler. He's a huge personality, and it was all stuffed and bottled up and he sounds like himself. He looks his game looks is vintage. So I'm not suggesting that Phil can close the gap on Brooks, but it's just fun to have him around and hidden shots and interacting with the gallery and you know, welcome back, Phil. I think we all missed you on sub level, even the people who feel has always been polarizing, and there's people who've

never liked Phil. There's probably more people who don't like him now, but even those people have to enjoy watching a play golf, even if you're rooting against him, It's still fun to watch. I think, do you feel Alan, I know you're far closer to it than than most people would be. Do you feel that there is some sort of flying out between live golf and the PGA

Tour at this moment thawing out? Yeah? I think this is going to be remembered as kind of an important week for that, because you know, they came they came together at the US Open, in the British Open last year, and that was the thick of it. Players were jumping left and right and the drumbeat of speculation and all of it, and everyone was defensive, everyone was bitchy, and the volume got way turned up. And obviously a lot

of time has passed since then. It's wild that the of all the weeks that the arbitration case got settled over in Europe and clarified that piece of the pie, and I think that, Yeah, I think there's been good energy that I pulled some players aside and asked them, like, Okay, I know everyone's saying that that it's been it's been fine and dandy, but like, give me the dirt, Like what have you seen and everyone even and I was like, I won't use your name, is like, tell me something juicy.

Everyone's coming up empty. I mean, I think the players, partly out of kind of respect for the institution, they want to rise above it here Augusta, Nashville. And I think they're also tired of it. Like these guys didn't sign up to be barristers or to be pr folks. I think they're just golfers. They just want to play golf. And so I've sent I've sent a simmering down of the tension. But again, if Brooks hangs on to win,

that's a big deal. And you know that Greg Norman is going to be blowing up social media, lives gonna be putting out TV commercials. It's gonna be a monumental thing for lives credibility. The crown jewel the sport is the Open at St. Andrews. They have the guy that won that the second most covenant thing and all of the of golf is a green jacket. If they if they have those two guys on their on their league,

it just gets really hard to dismiss it. And the talking you know, the tours primary talking point is that we're hardcore competition, we're a meritocracy and they're just a BS exhibition, and a lot of fans have bought into that, but Brooks kept the preparation for this Masters was playing live golf events and winning live golf tournaments. Yeah, that's how he got That's how he got sharp. And so if he plays like this and he wins this, the critique of lives as not real competition, it gets gets

hard to make. And so there's a lot at stake, and it will it will turn the volume up again on some of the discourse. But I do think it are personally the players have kind of whether they did it by design or just came naturally, they've they've kind of chilled out. Yeah, I feel the same, And I

mean it's sort of this isn't well. When we look back at this period, the fact that Greg Norman couldn't attend the Champions Center at the Old Quarters last year, where you know, all the Open champions were to be invited, because he started a competing golf leak, it's going to look insane. Actually, I think it is. You know, I thought it was insane. Then you have a dinner for former winners it's not like he murdered somebody. He just

started a golf league you don't like. So cooler heads are prevailing and probably to some degree of fatigue is setting in about the whole discussion. And we can't get inside Rory mclroy's head. But for Rory mclroy, as good as he is and playing as well as he hasn't been playing with all the proposition they had to come here and miss a cut tiger the same, but that's

kind of a different category. It tells me he must have had some sort of vicious mental fatigue about all that he has had to do of sort of carrying the anti lib pro PGIA tour flame, you know. I mean, it wasn't that longer that Rory mcgoy was saying, you know, Greg Mustco, why who? And with due due respect, who are you to say Greg Mustco? He doesn't work for you?

And and I say this with a lot of sympathy for Rur because I know he believes what he's saying and it's important to have a voice to speak up for the PGA Tour and he's the person who has been sort of anointed to do it, and he's fulfilled the role spectacularly well. But I don't see how he couldn't be a little mentally tired himself at this point, because I don't really know what else could explain. Now, maybe he is he going to miss the cut of a part of me if I'm spoke there, But he's

going to miss the cut. So it's almost inexplicable. This is one of the easiest cuts in all of German golf to make. He's one of the best golfers in the world. For him to miss this cut seems beyond unlikely. Well, and he missed the cut at the Players Championship. I mean there's there's definitely a little swing funk going on.

I mean he's hooking a lot of t shots and if Roy Mcinway is not going to drive the ball, well, then you know there's a there's a time space continuum, there's a rupture there, and so he's got some technical issues. But again, does that come from not having he's so burnt out on life he doesn't want to go practice. Is his mind cluttered like we were talking about it. It's sad to see Rory just I don't like I say he gave up, but just to get blown away

by this golf course. I mean, he looked fried mentally yesterday. But when you're as good as Rory, you can't get blown away by the scolf course. It's not hard enough for him to get blown away by the sculf course. You can blow yourself away. But I mean brook Show Brook scup has twelve on apart without doing anything astounding for brook Skopka. For us, it would be astounding, but it's not for him. Rory's Roy's the same same exact scill Scott is brook Skepka and he shot what you know,

fifteen eighteen shots worse well. And this is where it gets interesting. If Kepko wins this, he'll have five major championships. He will have broken the tie with Rory. And one thing Roy could always hang his hat on is when all said done, I'll be the best player of the post Tiger era. You know, he's wide in the gap food himself and George Speed. You know, Dustin's had a tremendous career, but only the two Mays is probably. You know, Rory's gonna win that tiebreaker every time no matter what.

But if Kepta gets to five majors, he's won. He's won the one that Rory covets the most. He's selling that he's not He'll be knocking on the doorstep of the Grand Slam himself. Career Grand Slam. I'm like, uh, we we have another probably decade for this to play out, but it would be a monumental statement for for Kepca. I mean, he'll have won five majors since Rory won his last one. It's unbelievable he'll I mean there's some all time genuses the five major championship wins Sevy Bisteros

Byron Nelson. I mean, five is a monumental number. You get to six, you're talking phil Lee Trevino. I mean, this is very rarefied air and it's Kepca doesn't have the body of work. He hasn't won as many tour vents he has won around the world, you know, the outside of his career. He's won in Italy and Spain and Turkey and some out of the way places, which

is cool. But it's Rory and his Tiger and Jack and it's others who have elevated the majors to be all end all, If that's the yardstick, Brooks is standing very tall already and he gets this one. I mean, it's it gets really interesting, like how deep can this guy take it? Because he was he was always a big game hunter, his game travels. I mean, he's got that he can smash these low drives that can just tear it through the wind. I mean, he's definitely a

threat to win any open the way he's playing. So it would be wild if if brooks Keptca spots Rory four Majors and he gets a career Grand Slam first, like it's been the same with George Speed. You know, he spotted George Speed three. Like this guy's going to reshape our thinking about about this whole era if he keeps going like this. Yeah, I mean if if if it's a race still the Grand Slam between those two, I would have to get the edges to brooks Kepca.

It would seem like brooks Skepica is gonna gonna win a British Open for all the reasons you decided others before Rorry would win here, uh, in part because maybe it just does mean I mean too much of him. Let me ask you a question. I know it's been a while, but you have spent time with Brooke Skeptico

off the golf course. He was saying yesterday I was asking about the Netflix series and sort of the vulnerable side that he that he showed, and he said, uh, that there was a disconnect, but what he showed in public and what he showed in his private life. Do you have any experience along those lines? Do you have

a sense of of pow true that is? Yeah. I mean I went to his house for a big cover story, uh, for one of the golf magazines, and yeah, he got some time and he's, you know, in the pool and he's got the dog and we're sitting out on the on the dock, and there is a reflective side to Brooks. And I only got little glimpses of it, you know, the whole thing. There's a lot of people there, there's a camera crew. It was it was not exactly quiet time. But I do think there's there's some kind of depth there.

Like I mean, it Emo Brooks that came out in the in the Netflix show. I thought it was impressive. It takes bravery for any human being to be vulnerable in any setting like that's especially a guy who's kind of built his brand on being being a tough guy, you know, and whether you enjoyed that episode or what it changed your opinion about Brooks or not, Like it takes courage to be to be honest about your struggles, and so I slewed him for that, and there is

it does take a certain amount of character. And even going back to my interview with Claude Harmon, it was funny he said, you know, all these guys out here are conflict of verse, Like when they want to fire someone, they have their agent do it, like and that's Tigers thing all the way, right, Like he always has someone else to deliver the bad news. He wants to break up with his girlfriend, he gets one of his underlings to trigger and going on vacation like but in Clouds,

like Brooks called me. You know, Brooks did it himself, and he had a weird respect you know, grudging resp back for it. And I thought that was funny. I mean, I think Brooks is old school in a lot of ways. He kind of lives by by a code and he can be a little strident, but I think that comes from actually kind of being real, Like he does have a he has a value system, and he's intensely loyal and he does care and winning means something to him. Being great means something to him, and he can he

can shut down in the interview settings. He can be a little standoffice. But I don't think that, you know, if you fall on social media. He was like a fun loving guy, like he's always not having a good time, and I think he's kind of learned. He got put into this role and when it comes to deal with the golf press and if it's just become like this little run he falls into and a lot of people have kind of made up their minds about who he is. But I think he's probably right that there's there's more

complexity there than we've really seen. Mm. Interesting. Yeah, all right, a couple of things before we go. Shout out to John Rom a couple of back to back Birdie's. He's within three of Kepka. I mean that is a pretty smash mouth Saturday Final pairing. If it holds up Brooks and John Rom, I think these are these are big, bad almbres. And there's a lot of clubhead speed, it's a lot of it's a lot of mojo. Like that's

that's pretty epic. I'm excited about that, Yes, But over the course of thirty six holes triumph, but each of them trying to win their first green coat. I'll take a guy with this relatively slow backswing over a guy with a fast back swing one hundred times out of one hundred, with all due respect to my friend Nick Price, who is one of my favorite people in the world. But a quick back swinging Hubert Green. You know it does happen, but it's hard, hard, hard. I think Sunday

golf with quick back swing is hard. I'll take Phil Jack, Julius, Barrows, Snead, and a long long list of guys with languid back swings first. This is why you're such a national treasure of Michael. Thank you for that. And we do have to acknowledge Sam Bennett. I mean, what he's done is incredible. He's in third place, eight under par. He made no bogies in his first round, first time an amateur had done that in like fifty plus years. His two round total of one thirty five is just one off of

Kenn Venturrey's all time record. I mean, spectacular performance. And if you know, Ryan Labner of Golf Channel wrote an incredible feature about the kid, spent a lot time with him. In his family, and I didn't really know his backstory, but you know, Bennett's father Got was like a beloved figure in the community. He was a I think he was a doctor at Dennis. I can't remember now, but you know, an educated, you know man doing important work. And he got early onset dementia and Alzheimer's like his

early forties. Just and it just it just wrecked the family, as it would any family, and kind of left a whole at Sam Bennett's heart and he had to through all of that. And he was also a very undersized kid and you know, lightly recruited, it seemed like, and then he had a gross spurt and but a really easy guy to root for. I would encourage anyone to read. It's an emotional story, and uh, you'll you'll you'll want to pull for this kid. But also, you know, I

always pick up on these things. He was a short stop and he was like a point guard growing up, and he was good. That's that's a Jordan's Spee kind of background. But that's Dustin Johnson, like Augusta Nashville rewards the athletes because and Jeff what will. We talked about this beautifully on our podcast last night. I was going to make the point, but the conversation moved on. But you never have a flat shot out here. It's very much reactionary golf. You have to get in a funky

position and just have to swing at it. And it's not track man golf. Or you hit the same make the same swing and hit the same distance, and you gotta shape it and you gotta play it off swales. And there's something about this place. You know, Jack Jack Nicholas is a great tennis player, right, a basketball player like Sam Snee, like those. It just there's every golfer this level has athletic tools, but it seems like the guys who played a lot of sports and who have

a different gear, it just rewards that. And this kid, Bennett is of that, of that ilk. Just one quick note about about Ben is that you grew up playing a little nine hole course. It shows it. You don't have to be from a super affluent family and have you know one of the Claude Harmon's coaching you to make it in this game. There are a lot of different paths there, and there's absolutely nothing like athleticism to really make it in the game. At the end of

the day. Golf identifies athleticism, and this course most especially especially all those greenside shots that don't look like they requires so much strength, and maybe they don't, but they really do require athleticism. Yeah, and it's because speed. I hit two balls in the water through the first round. But he's hanging around, He's tied for six. Who've got Jason Day, Sam burn In, Strictor holland Colin Moray Cow. I mean, it is a blockbuster, Cameron Young, It is

a blockbuster leaderboard. So but most of the guys who are looking to win their first coat and that's hard. And then and Brooks falls into that. I mean, we've talked about this previous It's the most tantalizing of all the tournament. It's the one they all want the most. And the choke factor, I mean, wasn't Johnny Millers that you start choking when when you drive down Magnolia Lay Like it's a grand quote, you know. So it's gonna

be one hell of thirty six holes. I would encourage everyone to drink some hot chocolate, get bundled up in their living rooms, like out of empathy. For the rest of it. It's going to be called a nasty tar. I can't wait. I love that stuff. It's gonna be an absolute war of attrition and uh and then it's gonna probably be a shoot out on Sunday on a soft golf course. So it's good for us on because we never figured out the air conditioning in our house,

but we're not gonna need it. Michael's running in the middle of the night. It was it was like the ghost of Christmas path Like I could hear bang it on the Thervis stat and then I was I was still sleeping and he was doing dishes and it was quite a rookie. It's like, but it's worth the suffering, Michaels, so we can podcast like this together. So anyway, thanks all of you for listening. That's going to because the

National Golf Club for lending us this room. Despite all the nasty things we said at the beginning, you really do run, Honest to God, you run a great invitational tournament. It adds a lot to my life. I know you're light blan, I know our listener feels the same way. It is a joy, but we gotta pick it. We gotta pick out it a little bit. But it's such a delight. I mean, it's a complete third delight to be here covering this golf tournament. And I do really

take that view. I take the view that it's a private golf club. They put on a tournament, they invite people to play, they invite us to cover it. Yes, it's quasi public, of course, but it's quasi pup private too. It's a weird, weird blend of things, and it's a great addition, of course to the golf calendar, and it brings a lot of pleasure to a lot of people.

That's well said. I know no one cares about our first real problems of trying to report effectively, So would I'd like to apologize not for the content in my remarks, but just for my tone of voice. You're right now. Honestly, I don't even think it's I don't think this is be necessary to apologize, because this our job is to

describe the whole experience. But it is. I guess we're trying to say the same thing that it's great to be here, and you know, there's a lot of civil unrest and violence in this world, and we're covering a golf tournament. On that note, let's go get a peach ice cream silence and start typing. So thanks to everybody for listening. We will do a big blowout on Sunday when this is over. Jeff I will be back for that one and it'll be fun to see how this

all plays out. So until then, lots of good stories on fire Pitclint dot com, and we appreciate your fidelity reading and listening. And if you want something to watch, we do have a rind episode the Futures Lard Shepherd the British Amerge Champio. We follow them from the snowy driving ranges of Scotland all the way down Magnolia Lane. We got to play in the Masters last year and so it's a really charming episode. We haven't checked it out.

I would strongly encourage it. So until then, thanks thanks for listening, and we're back into ear soon. That's the end. I be big and played the win, made a fortune, win my ship game. I ran the table, never thought I could fall. Then the winter time hit me like a cannon ball and now I can't shake this losing the stream. Every road I take is a dead end stream. I got thoughts in my head, can't get them out. Join nothing what I'm thinking about. I got thoughts in

my head. I can't get them out. J I think what I'm thinking about