Fire Drill 077: A Memorable Masters

Bowl winning champion, Zach ertz Um. He said the text, I'm gonna I'm gonna paraphrase here, but he said that first green looking like a walk in the park or something like that right now, ten minutes before I four potted to study the tournament. So thank you, Zach. Don't ever do that again, please. I got thoughts in my head. Can't get him John nothing. What I'm thinking about in my head, can't get him out. I'm thinking about, Hello, this is alan ship, look back for another fire drill.

The Masters just ended seconds ago. Michael Bamberger and I are in the Augusta National Press Building. Jeff Ogilvie, Guys, what a day. I mean, people flying up and down the leaderboard. But in the end it was all about John Ram's just relentless excellence. What a champ, what a performance? Jeff, what did you see that particularly impressed you at a rom today, I don't know. I mean that back nine

he played, it was pretty flawless. I mean that was a Jack Nicholas Taggerwoods level back nine on a major Bury the pap fives. Everybody hit, he had tap insapa. Most of the time. It was just class. He just looked at and as sort of Brooks looked a bit shaky there at the end of the front nine. He just looked like he got his second winds, like, right, we're on here, let's go. I'm gonna win. The masters catch me. You know, that was incredible. I mean Phil's

finish was pretty zing, and they got it. It's scary there for a minute, because I mean those two guys were so far in front. To imagine that that sort of thing would happened, you wouldn't have ever imagined it. But now it was fun to watch, and Ram looked every bit the best player in the world today. Jeff, Jeff, how does the guy do that? Really? You know, they played thirty holes together. They were with each other the

entire day. Really neither played a great third round. Of course, very trying conditions for the first six sols, But how do you think ram was sort of able to turn it around and go from what he did early on Saturday early on Sunday to what he did late on Sunday. Yeah, I mean, I don't know. I've never done that, so I'm not sure. But I mean, look, clearly, he's been pretty He's been playing really well for a lot of

months here. I mean, he hasn't had played very well for the last month, but it's never that far away. If you're playing the level he was, It's not like it disappears very much. And sometimes it takes maybe the last sort of eight in holes of the masters to see that, um, hey, look I can win this too. I mean, Brooks's maybe the most intimidating golfer out there, and he looked intimidating, and he probably looked really hard to beat playing with him for the first little bit.

But as soon as Brooks looked a little bit vulnerable, of a sudden, He's like, hang on a minute, I'm John Rahm, Like, what do you mean he's looking he's scared of me. You know, it doesn't take very much sometimes, especially if your game is really good. One swing, Oh that felt oh I remember that. That's what it was. That's that's what I was doing, and let's go. You know, so I don't know, just his best player in the world finds a way, you know. I mean we've seen

it with all the best players in the world. When they're struggling a little bit, they find a way to turn it around. I like what you said about the Nicholas Woods bit. It wasn't spectacular. It was workman Lake. He just did what he had to do if he never really felt like he was out of position, and he put a lot of pressure on Brooks. You know, as good as Brooks played the first two rounds, he hasn't been in the situation a long time. He has a new knee, he's been through a lot of strife.

Like it. Just as you said, Jeff, it just looked like Brooks didn't quite have the belief that that you need and that crucible. So all credit to rom and you know, he has been a prolific winner around the world for years now, but only um it was felt like he needed to add another major if he was going to put a stranglehold on on number one. And it's been this ongoing debate. Is it is it Scheffler, is it rom is it is it cam Smith, you know, but I think this definitely solifies rom standing as the

best player in the world, subject to change. We saw have a lot of golf this season in front of us, but that this was a statement and at exactly the right moment. I think, can you imagine that on some level for both Jeff and Allen that they're thinking at all about pha to ur versus slip Tour or do you think the Masters is so big that maybe they could just put that aside for a day. I don't think Brooks is thinking about that at all, or I

mean I think Phil maybe. I mean, he looked incredibly satisfied when you hold that put in the last, like it was a little bit of like there you Guss, I'll show you guys, you know. I mean, I did the right thing, you know, which is fair enough because it's kind of the consolation prize, I mean, because he probably knew he realistically he wasn't going to win. But I mean, what a round to play. And you've heard of the last two holes, got on top of Jordan,

who was playing an unbelievable round. I don't think many of them Patrick, I don't think thinks that way. Either of the guys who are up there. I don't think Patrick read or Brooks of the sort of guy who care about that sort of thing. They're just trying to win the golf toun and they're playing in and Phil traditionally was that guy too, but I think I don't know,

he looked a little bit that way. Maybe we'll get to fill in a minute, but I will say this, you know, three live guys basically in the top four plus ties, and maybe we can retire. What I've felt all along was kind of a silly talking point that going to live they were something and become bad golfers. They weren't going to care, their skills were going to deteriorate because there wasn't any tournament pressure or any meaning.

I mean, in every professional sport except for golf, basically the athletes have guaranteed money, and the best players have the most money, whether it's Steph Curry or Lebron or Mike Trout or Tom Brady gone down the list. But those guys continually push themselves to get better and their life is organized around winning like the money doesn't corrupt them. And so to think that all of a sudden, everyone who want to live is gonna stop caring because they

have some guaranteed money. I always thought that was ridiculous. And the fact that so many live guys played really well this week, including Nieman. He was up there for a while and he fell back slightly. But maybe maybe the fact that Brooks didn't win will still give people some amo like oh, he ran out of gas because he's only used to play in three rounds instead of four. But I think it was a statement that argument because Phil shot sixty five and last round so exactly exactly

and read played great today as well. So I just think this was an important development so we can take we can we can speak about this stuff a little more seriously and and you know, it's been an open question, like what does it mean to win a live golf tournament? You know, Brooks prepared for this event by winning two of them, and that's what sort of catapulted into Augusta

with this momentum. So, um, you know, how we assess Live going forward, Maybe you can be done with a little more sobriety and just a little less smirk, because clearly these guys can still play and they're still dangerous. Well said, but I would still say that for the casual fan that's just turning in tuning into the Masters and doesn't watch a lot of other golf that they

would never watch on this level. But for the three of us and many of our listeners, you can't help but think I couldn't have lived versus the PHA tour when you're watching that leaderboard unfold and knowing especially what it would be to film, it just adds another level of complexity. We saw it. We saw it at the British Open last year at the Old Course Kim Smith and uh, well, excuse me, no, I misspoke because we

did not know Kim Smith. This is really the first time it would have really seen it in a major a level of complexity of my tour versus your tour. Just think it adds a little bit of combativeness to the tournament. I think it's it's a fascinating subplot in all of this, And I'm not diminishing that. I'm just talking about the idea that these live guys are not going to be forces in the game. I mean, healthy Brooks cap is still obviously dangerous. So yeah, I agree,

it was. It was a It was a great subplot and added a lot of juice to this whole thing. And if one of them guys hadn't been able to you know, if books and pulled through, it would have turned up the volume on all this. It would have been fantastic. So of course I was rooting for that to happen, just because I always root for chaos. But um, that would have ensued. But all right, let's talk about film, because as you said, Jeff, he shot sixty five. It

was a late start round. He had his old giantiness, his old swagger. Jeff, what did you see from Phil's round today that it makes you think that maybe he's going to remain a factor in these big tournaments? Well? Did they didn't show that much? I mean, because I was watching the broadcast. I mean we saw the last four holes, probably once they both sort of got on there in the last four I mean four holes. Maybe

those last two holes were pretty impressive. I mean, if I've learned anything about Phil one, he's an unbelievable iron player, and those two iron shots in the last two holes are pretty stellar shots. But he is the most he has some of the most highest level of self belief in that situation of anyone you've ever met, and he's the most incredible competitor. He just doesn't like losing, and

he has that that sort of attitude of conviction. He just knows he's making the right decision, you know, whether it is or not, he knows he's doing the right thing. And that's kind of how you have to beat Augusta. And it's sort of it's why It's partly why, like Patrick read, Phil Freddie always plays well there. There's there's that type of golfer and mentality that's just always going to work at the Master's and Phil just epitomize that today. I mean, he just loves that environment and he loves

that golf course. But he looked anything but fifty two coming out of those last two holes. I mean that was that was actually that's almost better than he would have ever finished a major, like, I mean, he never looked. That looked really impressive what he did those last few holes. So, um,

never never not surprised by Phil. You know how much fun is it to have Phil nikeas on the leaderboard again, Well, it's it's amazing and it shows you the powers of drive, among other things, because he has a lot to prove and Allan, You and I have talked about this a little bit, and anybody who follows golf knows this to be true. Phil is absolutely world class issue things playing golf and talking about golf and talking about Golf's kind of got taken away from him because Gussie went down

this road and got himself in trouble. So that kind of left playing golf and he had n't been playing golf well. Now he played golf well again and that allows him to talk about golf again in a public forum. We just saw him doing it with his high flyer's hat on indoors at Augustin National, which you almost never see. So I think there's so much going on here were Phil. But one of the things that's going on is the will, the will of the man to stay relevant, and I

think Nicholas had it. He was pissed off an annoyed at age forty six when people were writing him off. Fred is Fred, you know. But it's astonishing, just you know, if you have physical gifts like Phil has, and then you have a mind that is so driven to do one narrow thing at an expert level, it's just an amazing what a person can achieve. You know whether you like Phil or don't like Phil. I don't know how

you could possibly say that that is not true. And then just one of the quick note about about Phil is that I think because he's left handed, there's never really been enough respect for the quality of his golf swing. But anybody who can't really see it left he is a right handed person for whatever reason. Just watch it in a mirror. You're seeing one of the great swings. In my opinion, Jeff could tell us much more about on technical level than I ever could one of the

great swings of all time. For rhythm, for it's almost sevy like, and how it builds strength through a long, powerful swing with a big, high finish. And at fifty two he basically swings better than he did at thirty two, So it's textbook, really, Jeff, is that off on close you tell me? I mean it's he has an outrighteous talent level. I think he's swing is coming and out

of He's had to work for it a lot. There's there was periods of middle of his career he had to work to try to strike the ball, hit the ball straight, you know, But he's so gifted and he's got he's much bigger than most people thing. I mean when you get up near he's got very big, strong arms. Remember he was trying to he was warming up his pitching arm and the parking lot there for a while there on tour, trying when he was throwing it like

ninety miles an hour in the parking lot. He's a strong guy, and he's so talented, and like you said, I think it's the drive. It's just that will to he's just competing. He's a he's like a dog chasing a ball, you know. He just he only got eyes for what he's going to do, you know, and he has such a belief in what he's doing. But yeah, that is surrounded. You're right if you do he is.

We all look at left handed swings and we just think, I can't I don't know really what I'm looking at, so we don't really try to even sort of judge it. But it's when you play with him, especially as I said, his iron play that sort of between one hundred and thirty and two hundred, he's just unbelievable. The amount of shots when you're just being loose and you're playing a lot on tour that he nearly holds from one hundred

and eighty yards is incredible. I mean I've seen a lot of those sort of shots that he hit on seventeen. I mean, he know call it. He's so sort of cocky when he's out there plying that he's as soon as he makes contact, he's calling the bolder guck class to the hall, or he's calling at the end, or I hey, god, did you say that I lost it in the sun? You know, And as guys are next to the hall, he's fantastic to play with like that.

But the man of shot iron shots he it's close to the hall is incredible, and his short game is clearly what it is. I think the driver and the pot of the two ends of the bag of being the bits that have come and gone. But I think that middle area of the bag he's always been incredible. This is kind of nothing to say, but when you think about a US Open in La there's some US Open courses that would not be suited to Phil Michelson, but that La Country Cup course, I think it's very

similar in ways. Sue Augusta National and then this might not be the last time we hear from Phil. Phil this year. I mean last year, they took in my opinion from what I've heard, they took the Masters away from him. Phil's handlers took his US Open press conference away from him, something that he would normally enjoy. He obviously did. And this year to see Phil both on the golf course and in the president being Phil, it's

sort of like welcome back to golf. Phil. He was very emotional in his you know, they brought him too the big room, as you said, but he did a flash interview kind of right off the golf course, right out of the scoring area, and there was some emotion in his voice, and his eyes looked a little watery. I mean, I think, you know, Phil's been through a lot, we know that in the last year plus, and I think he feels like he's Phil Mickelson. And you could

even see it earlier in the week. He obviously Augusta lights him up. You know, Amy Michelson this year, his wife, and I don't think he's been in a tournament since the two thousand and twenty one US Open. She had just sort of stepped back from a lot of the the energy around Phil and the controversy, and he cleared, you know, they were holding hands that I caught in

this little, very intimate moment upstairs in the clubhouse. I just wanted to need to go up there on that balcony and watch the last the players come up the last hole. And they were sitting at this table right outside the champions locker room, holding hands, and their faces were maybe a foot apart from each other, talking and whispering and giggling, and they did look like college sweethearts.

And I think, you know, there's been Phil's missed, that he's been on the road by himself a lot, and I think being Augusta, having Amy's support, just the whole energy of the crowd, and I think it was it was a little muted, you know. I watched I watched Phil on Thursday a little bit, and I think people were not sure do we cheer for him? Do we not? You know, he missed last year, There's all this stuff. But as the week went on, I think the cheers

got louder, and today they were quite lusty. And I think people just are happy to have Phill back between the ropes. And I think this week meant more to him than we could possibly know. And it was just reflected a little bit in those remarks after. It wasn't even what he said, it was how he was he was. You could see him his fighting back, the emotion. So that was that was cool. I mean golf was a lot more fun, a lot more interesting when Phil Nicholson

is on the leaderboard. Whether you love him or hate him, I don't think anyone would disagree with that. If you know my name. I was just about John. Um do you see John Ram in Greater Phoenix? Have you have you played casual golf with them? And what made you know about him that the public doesn't? Oh, I think not that much. I mean he lives I had. Look, I haven't been here for the sort of for a while, um, so I haven't been around that much. I mean I've

seen him a little bit. Um. He's remember at Wisprock, but he tends to practice at silver Leaf mostly because he lives there, um and he can drive his own cars to the golf course and stuff. So I don't go there as much. I mean I don't see him at much. But I've said played with him a little bit here. I mean he's um like all of these guys,

I mean, like everyone on two. If you go when you go see him play at home, everyone gets a little bit better because they're a looser, you know, um, and the level is quite high and makest too players when they get home. And when it's guys like John rams it's incredible the stuff that they do when they're showing off, hard worker, wants it, passionate, he's he's everything you say. Yeah, I't thin. John ramahadds very much from anybody.

I think if you watch enough golf on TV, you've got a pretty good sense of if John romy is. I finally have the definitive answer, by the way to a question in which I know we get a lot. If someone is new to the game, men, women or children and they want to look into buying a set of clubs, the answer now is Robin Golf Robin Goolf dot com. These people, it's a family owned business. They make these really sleek, cool looking sets of clubs for

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Fire Pit fifteen gets you fifteen percent off promo code fire Pit fifteen Robin Golf guys excaded to have him be a part of what we're doing, and their sets are on the way from my son and daughter and wife, and I look forward to breaking him in. So it's funny, it's we've gone this Deepness podcast. We haven't mentioned Tiger Woods. I mean, he Withdrew Sunday morning, which wasn't a shock.

I mean, everone could see how much he was struggling on the golf course in the cold, wet conditions Saturday afternoon, and uh, you know, he cited that the plantar fasciitis, which would make sense because his limp was so pronounced late in the day. I mean, more than we've seen. It looked not somewhat like fatigue, like actual pain. And of course if you've had plantar, which I have, it does feel like a stab at the bottom of your foot. So maybe that's the good news that that that is

that can go away. It's not a debilitating thing. But bigger picture, you know, seeing Tiger struggled, he was basically at last when he Withdrew and seeing the physical toil

and just how much it takes out of him. I mean, are we going to look back on this is the week when Tiger kind of realized that maybe it's just not worth it, you know, and he accepts that to put himself through this much pain and this much strife, to have to scratch and clode even make the cut and not be a factor on the leaderboard, I mean, it is just the beginning of the end of Tiger as far as showing him these majors and trying to compete. We don't know how. I don't. We can't. I don't

know how bad his leg actually is. It doesn't look like it's going to improve. I mean, I don't know, like when you get older. I mean I'm rambling. All I know is if I'm healthy and I don't have any soreness. But if I walk seventy two holes in a gust, everybody's a little bit sore at the end. I mean it's a tough walk. It was wet, so there'd be some slippery up and downhills. We're gonna have to be careful and it's a long way to walk.

I mean, at forty seven I'm forty five, he's forty seven, So I mean it's a long way around there for healthy. So I mean, if he's got all this stuff sort of holding his right leg together and it's not a surprise that he gets sore, I mean, who knows. I mean, hope, maybe it improves, Maybe it's on the way he's certainly it's not going to be a three lack of effort, and I think he's going to try to play golf until he just can't because he loves it so much

and he loves that situation. So I don't think it's I don't think it's done, but it might becoming less and less every year. I mean, maybe there's only one or two every year, but hopefully he keeps coming back. Two of the wisest things insights into Tiger whomber who both came from Nicholas, and I fully believe both. You know, One was when he ran over the Hydra and everyone was exploring Tiger's private life, and Nicholas had the common decency to say, it's as private life, it's some of

our business. I haven't agree with that. The other thing Nicholas has said for wherever about Tiger is never under a submit the Tiger Woods. And I have found in my own life trying to write about Tiger Woods, since he's a teenager, every time I do underestimate him now that he's trying to prove me wrong, but he does prove me wrong. I would say right now, the way he looks, the way he's looked the last few times

out forget about him contending in a tournament. It is almost hard to imagine walking seventy two holes of any golf course, the force who days of competition and then whatever he would do, you know, in the practice rounds. But having said that, like Big Jack says, you can never understimate the Tiger Woods. And as we've seen with Phil, you can never underestimate the role of will in a person's life. And we saw we just had an illustration, actual and that's part of the beauty of the game.

We saw an actual illustration of the application of will in what Phil did. But Tiger is at a completely different level. So you can't say no, even though it looks like none the differences. Phil has never had any injuries. I mean, he still has that long flowing swing, He's still limber and supple, He's probably the best shape of his life, even go back to college, you know, and you know Tiger's got the fuse spine. Of course, we know all the litany of injuries and the back surgeries

and the metal and his leg. With Tiger, I don't I don't think it's about will. I don't think he can go in the gym and make his foot and his leg that much stronger. He can't give himself more movement in his spine like those those things are those things are fixed and they can only probably get worse and not better. And so the question becomes if you know, if for Tiger and Freddie couple said, I come here

to compete against myself. I know I can't beat the best players, but I come to compete against myself and try and make the cut, and if I do, that's my victory. I think that's cool. That's great for Freddy, and it's a thrill to see him out there and everyone loves to watch him play. Oh would Tiger be able to accept that? You know, He's always defined things so differently, And if you can't, if you can't win, you know, second place sucks all you know, it was

a zero sum game for Tiger. Either you win or you fail, And so I guess that's really the question. Will he will keep winting to go through this if if victory is realistically not an option, and only Tiger knows that. But I'm kind of dubious. I mean, I just I don't think he wants to be in a ceremonial role, and I don't think he wants to drag it out for years trying to figure that out. If you know, I think maybe he'll la country clubs. Those are the grasses he grew up on. He's a southern

California guy. It's not a traditional tight penal US open course just gonna be much more about short game and imagination, and I think it's a great canvas for him. And if he goes there and he struggles, I don't know, I'm not I'm not sure how much more Tigers are gonna want to put himself through that. But maybe I'm just a pessimist. I don't know. I don't know if he'd be able to not play, I mean, it would

take a lot. He'd have to be a long way away from He'd have to be playing really really poorly to not want to play. You know, I think he'd always try, because I mean that's he's been always trying. That's all. That's that's his might. He just tries really really hard. And the probably the frustrating thing for him with his injuries, it seems, is that the golf is fine. You know, it's the getting between shot to shot for

four days that's the harder part. He said. He hits the ball great, he's in the past most of the guys, he said, he looks like the old school Tiger Woods. I mean, he looks great over a putter, and you know, if he could get himself in the mix, it would be the golf wouldn't be the problem. I can't imagine him stopping trying, you know, while he's still playing well at home. But again I don't know how he feels. It does look it's hard to watch. It's like, why

don't you just just go rest? You know, it just looks painful, But it's what he's done his whole life. I mean, I mean, Jack obviously didn't love like sort of not being able to win towards the end there, but he kept playing. He loved it again. And I assume, just like Freddie, you come along with your own little goals, you know, each week, and can Tiger get to that point and still be healthy. I don't know. I think it's his game looks like it will be good first.

His game looks like it'll be great for ten more years. It's just whether he can walk, you know, seventy two holes. So I don't I can't speculate what he thinks, but I think he's gonna while he still hits the ball grade and he thinks his game is good enough, I think he'd always want to try to win. Jeff, You've traveled, You've traveled the world as a golfer. You come from a relatively small country that has produced so many great golfers.

How do you explain the fact that a country with a relatively small golf population like Spain has produced now what one, two, three, four Masters winners? I mean, I can't really without saying that Sevy must have been that inspirational. You know, Sevey was a once in a lifetime sort of talent. The way he played golf and how he sort of inspired people. I mean, he inspired a hole to the right a couple bunch of times, you know.

I mean, you can draw a direct line to Seve coming into the team to Europe starting to win, and they mentioned him to the to the day at Ryder Cups, they all walk out and say, oh, well, Sevey started all this, and I mean, like so to have that effect on his country in the Masters couldn't be understated, I don't think. I think that was pretty important. And him and Jose, it's been this this timeline for them where their mentorship with the Spanish seems to be really strong,

you know. I mean Sevey was there, and then he took Jose under his wing, and then they both they all took Surgio under their wing, and then they that's a very sort of close knit sort of community, the golf community in Spain, you know, and they that and they play with a lot of flair. I mean, they seem to have a game that's built for a place, that sort of allows room for expression if you like. You know, Um never had to be the straightest hitter, but it helped to be long, and most of them

seemed to be long. And they all moved the ball both way. They always moved the ball both ways, and they all have great short games and they all have sort of that Mattador sort of like stand up to the big, big moment, sort of the flair for the dramatic in the big moment. You know. It just seems to be cultures have personalities in their golf games, you know, and it seems like the personality that comes out of the Spanish golf game seems really really well suited for

the sort of the stage and the drama of the masters. Really, but without Sevy, I'm not sure you would have seen this many Because he was that you just wanted to be him, you know, Yeah, yeah, I mean even and Sevy. It's such a flu because I went to Padrenia, this little village that he's from. There was no golfing tradition there whatsoever. And then but across the bay is this

lovely city called Santander. And I can't remember which king, it was, one of the kings, and like maybe the nineteen twenties decided that he was going to start going up to Santander as a getaway, as a vacation, and he wanted a golf course built. And so they sent people out to find some land that was suitable, and the role farmland of Padrinia was deemed perfect, and they bought up all the farms, and they built Royal Padrinia and that became the king's hangout, and that was the

little house. This little stone house at Savee grew up on was just on this hill looking over the golf course. There was an absolute fluke. I mean, he slept in this room above the horses were they were just kind of subsistence farmers, and and all of a sudden this great golf course was there. And so that's where save started caddying and hit his uncle turned h Manuel was it was a really good golfer, actually finished sing fourth in the and the Master's way back when, and so

it just got kind of handed down. And it's funny to think if the king had chosen a different vacation home never heard of sev by Astarios to maybe no Jose Amrio Othable, how that would affect Sergio and John rom I mean, a hundred years ago, kind of a random happenstance helped get gen Ron this green jacket. And

it's amazing how the world works. So I think broadly the boss athletes have always been famous for for flair doing things suits, no matter whether they're playing football or cycling or golf or tennis, they play, they conduct themselves with flair and alan you and I haven't made this observation. Augusta National is a kind of cozy club in its own way. It's not nearly as cozy now as it

used to be. But we've seen many times Savvy of course when he was still in good health, and a lot of the ball to enlisted degree Szergio when ill. We'll see with with John Rum, John Rodriguez. But they really enjoy the club, you know, we see him drinking red wine, or their families maybe more accurately, the agents are part of it, The wives and the parents are part of it, and they sort of take over. I mean they've kind of almost take over the club in ways.

They're very relaxing, very at home, and I don't know if that has anything to do with their success here, but Augusta National can be a really uptight environment for a lot of people. But thinking about the time, so I was looking enough to see it savey and unlauthable here, they didn't seem up tight at all. They seemed like this is arc it up for the week, we enjoy

and it was great. Yeah, that's the real thing. I mean, like what Lee Travino would would change his shoes in the parking lot because he didn't want to go into the clubhouse. He didn't feel welcome there. He didn't like the energy. And for a guy of that talent level to never win the Masters, I mean, I think that

that's part of it. And you know, Tiger came here and he had that chip on his shoulder, and you know that he was that he turned pro on that ad campaign about there's there's places I can't play because the color of my skin, and you know that fueled him. And so the energy around August the Nashville definitely can affect different players in different ways. And I think Ram is gonna be a great champion. To me, there's something, there's something just kind of regal about him. He just

carries himself with such class. We met Mike and I have talked about he has a beautiful command of the English language for a non native speaker. He's so eloquent, and he seems to always say the right thing and be on the right side of every issue. And he will he will wear he will look good and green, and I think he'll he'll he'll wear that jacket in a really cool special way. So it was. It was. It was a wonky week with weather delays and and

Master's Saturday was it was was total washout. Only a few shots got showing on TV and not a lot of holes got played. And but I think this was a Sunday to remember, and I think the right gay won. So before before we release our listeners in any final thoughts on the pretty memorable Masters. As I said, I thought it was fun to watch, and like you said,

I mean I was there until yesterday. If you'd been there most of the Thursday, Friday, Saturday, you would never have imagined that it would finish with the sun setting on at the right time and two balls on the eighteenth. But there's just no chance that was ever happening all week and and and again. Um nine percent at the time, the Masters finishes the right way, you know. Um, it's incredible achievement from the It's every time I go there, it blows me away at how I pres of an operation.

It isn't. It's the most impeccably run event in the world. Surely, I don't think anything could be run any better than that. And it's they deserve all the sort of credit they get because it's an amazing thing. And John ram I don't think we've seen him not winning majors, and I think brooks Kepka, I think is back. He looked he looked like the old school brooks Kepka for about five or sixtelfth really, and he looked at when he finished, which I think was nice. You know, he finished pretty strong.

He looked at really good player in the last few holes. And I think Jordan Space is going to win more Magic, more Masters because he just looks so good around there and it was fun to watch. Oh yeah, Jordan Speed, let's just I mean just very quickly, like this was the full speed experience. And if you're watching on Thursday, you know he's in the pine straw on thirteen, he's pretty far from the green. He you would think it's an automatically if it's the first round of the Masters,

you don't have to be a hero. He goes for the green. He knocks in the water. He just hit in the water on eleven, and it's like face palm because sometimes he just does the most inexplicable things. But then when he gets a going like like he did today, there's no one who's more fun to watch. But if you look, if you look though, that's why he's good at the Masters. I mean, if you think about the people who are always good there, they're the ones should

do that. Phil has never not taken a shot on target, took every shot on, Sevy, took every shot on I mean, they're the guys who win there, you know, and he plays like that. You know, he plays to win the tournament. And that's the only way you can win the tournaments if you play to win it, you know, and he plays to win it. It's fun to watch. Oh, I agree, it's fun. Yeah, for sure, on you know, Saturday or Sunday if you think that's what you need to do.

But I just think, man, Thursday, even if it's an incredible shot from there, it's probably going to be a long eagle putt. He's gonna be putting for four. If he lays up, he's'll be putting for four. Like sometimes I wish you would just play the percentages. But I guess you're right, Jeff. I mean, that is who he is and that's what's made him great. So yeah, yeah, having this fun to have some some old school speed that racing up the league board. As well, Michael, any

our thoughts. When I watch him, he always looks like he might be shooting forty one, and then you look at the card and it's thirty three, and it's like, how did he actually do that? But then, just one quick note about ram All and tell me if this is not correct. I think he and Phil share the same agent or manager and Steve Bloyd? Is that correct? So? Yeah, so, And and he's been a voice for moderation about live that the live players should get world ranking points. I

think all three of us agree with that. And now he's got He's always had a platform in the game. Now he has even more of one. And it's not good for golfers to be there's enough real war. It's not good for golfers to be at war with each other. So maybe with his win and with the prominence that it brings, maybe he can be even more of a voice of reason and be some sort of mediator. Yeah,

that's what all said. I saw a tweet was I haven't had a chance to really dig into but that you know, Brooks Capital will get his full Ryder Cup points from the in That was from a PG of America's spokesman in their standings, and you know, it's a Ryder Cup year. It's hard. He will get his full points. Yes, in the way that the PGA of America calculates it. He will. Now, the question is you have to be as as the PJA has said, you have to be a member of the PGA of America to play on

the Ryder Cup team. And if you're a member of the PGA Tour, you automatically become a member of the PGA of America. That's how you get onto the team. Now, of course there's many other ways that they could grant somebody membership. But you know, all of a sudden, you when you're thinking about this Ryder Cup team, you figured out Dustin is not in it, Brooks is not in it, feels not in it. But if if as you say, Michael, there's just there's larger reapproachment and some of these things

get finassed somehow. Uh, you know, they all of a sudden, those are those are three heavyweight personalities and players who might somehow be in the mix where they weren't a week ago. So it's um, well, we'll have to investigate a little further how the PGA is going to handle all this because it's now the points start getting real when you get to the major championship season. So, as always, there are a million subplots in professional golf right now.

But the big story today John wrong incredible victory, commanding victory really one by four shots, and some ways it felt like more than that. He was in total control of this tournament pretty much all of Sundays, So all credits the new Master's Champion, Jeff is great. Team you under the tree here Augusta. That we've got to podcast again, Michael. As always, it's a pleasure. We will keep doing these fire drills. Thanks for listening, and now it's on to

the PJ Championship. That flip the calendar pretty quick. We get it. We get another major here in a few weeks. So that's it for this podcast. We'll be back at it again soon. Thanks. That's the end. Big played the win, made a fortune, whip game. I ran the table, never thought I could fall, then win and hit me like a cannon the 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, Trying not to think what I'm thinking about. I got thoughts in my head, I can't get them out. Trying not to think what I'm thinking about,