Fire Drill 086: I Am The Walrus

and ubiquitous like it was. This was to bet on the open, you kind of had to be over there, right, and uh, it was, it was. It was part of the conversation. There's all these different bets you could do. And so I this is probably I'm sure I violated the laws of various nation states. But I was talking up caddies, swing coaches, gleaning all kinds of insider information and to place my bets. It was fantastic even so, and I was.

not that invested. If I lose at all, who cares? This is time ink money. So I said to our beloved editor Jim Harry, I said, I need something. I need a payoff here. So how much would it cost to take the whole staff to Bandon Dunes for a boondoggle? And he said fifteen thousand dollars US. So that was like whatever in those days, twelve thousand pounds or I did the math. So I went to the betting haul the next morning, and I'm the dude sleeping in the doorway.

Guys don't have teeth. It is not a prosperous looking crowd. And I said to the nice young lady, I said, okay, I need to engineer a parlay so I can win whatever twelve thousand pounds. And so what you can do over there is I'm sure you still can. But in those days, on the weekend, there was two balls and you would just you would just pick who's going to in the players who were paired together. You would have the lowest score. It's a very simple bet. But if

they tie, you lose. So so I went through it and had I had run around the night before, talking to all these people, kind of had it in my mind who I wanted to bet on, and anyway it was. It wound up being a six tiered parlay, six different pairings, and I won the first one, I won the second one, I won the third one. At this point, I was having trouble breathing. I was so excited. I didn't care

who won the Open Championship. All that mattered was the bet and Michael, as you remember, people were tuned into this in the press tent because I was talking about it all week. I won the fourth bet, I won the fifth bet. So now we are on the precipice of going to Bandon Dunes like all of us, and me becoming an everlasting legend in the annals of sports journalism Open Championship punting, and god knows what else I would have done with the money if we'd won.

people there. They're walking down the middle of the fairway. You can't tell from their body language their stride for stride. It was the longest like two hundred yard walk in the history of golf. And finally, you know, Choi peels off into the front bunker to play a shot, Price goes back and retrieves his ball with a shrug. And so I lost the last vet and we didn't go to Bandon Dunes. But it's probably the most one I've ever had on assignment.

And so it's Sunday. Everything's gone, they're out of everything. We're all grinding on deadline. And there's a fish and chips dude who goes to every open. He's got this little trailer and it's the best fish and chips in the World. I walked out there and I got three fish and chips, one for me, one for you. I can't remember where the third person was.

and funny. But we ate the fish and chips. Our fingers were oily and it helped us type. They were well lubricated and we got through the night. So, Michael, what do you love about the open? And we should say that. Let me just say this. Our colleigue, Jack McCallum at Sports Illustrated decades ago tabbed Michael the Poet oh links Land, and to this day it lives on in a certain subset of sports illustrated. Yeah, people, Just a.

cart paths and all the rest. And McCollum's like, you're shitting me, right, I said no, absolutely, literally, Bethlehem, Muni is a way way better at golf course. Now, of course all this is subjective, and you know it goes by taste and other things. But McCollum was a great spirit of many, many things, and part of it was this uh uh, this anal tournament. I would say, Alan one of the truest. And I don't know who wrote it,

but let's just say we ever have written collectively. Is when we have a fan in the Swinger talking to Tree Tremont, who's a contestant in an Open Championship British Open as I call it, and the fan says, you cannot play without the magic drugs, can you? And that's really the reason we like that line, Alan was. It's true. That's what that spirit that's like the Masters is the Masters. It's a whole thing onto itself. It's a whole culture. It's very interesting. The US Open is a different culture.

Of the three majors, the Open, British Open, whatever you want to call it, it has the most bringing everybody, literally bringing everybody, kids galore, royals, all time, landed gentry, but also a lot of regular punters and pensioners and drinkers and and people's not screaming stuff that's stupid, just like commenting intelligently. So when they speak about really really intelligent galleries, these are the most intelligent, passionate galleries in

the world. The golf courses are the best in the world, even like a boring course like Royal Liverpool is so great you can't believe it. Any one of these golf courses for my taste, the least of them, which people say is we're all Saint George's, which is insane, because we're all Saint George's is such an interesting, tricky, difficult, fun hard golf course is so much better than anything we have in the United States because quote, I guess

I'm quoting myself, and I know what I'm using. The word quote for it's golf is it's meant to be played. You can play it on the ground, you can play it in the air. You gotta stay short of the traps. If you get out of the traps, you better get out and warn it de emphasizes putting Alan and I have had, you know, more than a few evening matches where I can sort of have more of a chance to hold my own because because even though I have limited skill. I can sort of shape the ball a

little bit, but I can't putt. But if you can't put you can put a slower green better than a faster And I have Brad Paxon on the phone here in a day or two, I hope to talk about the differences between putting over there and over here. I caddied for a man Peter Tarviaine and who played golf at Yale, was very good Teita Green and could make a living on the European Tour because those greens. And of course you know some similar to the greens is

Golle de emphasized putting by de emphasizing speed. So I think just overall, you know you hit you, you know you've got us off on the right foot. Just talking about the punters and your own gambling experience, it's just super, super, super spirited, and I really do love everything about it. I mean, if I could only win one major, maybe it would be the Masters because of that neat clebbiness and you're there for life, and that's cool, and we're American, but it's the greatest of the three majors.

and there there's the fan villages, the infrastructure, they everything is just it just feels grand over there. Not ostentatious, but just as opposite of that. It's simple, but it's this is the sort of the championship of the world, and it has that feeling and I always love that.

it's a terrific golf course. I'm embarrassed to say I really didn't know that much about the courses in Scotland. I had not done my due diligence. I was blissfully ignorant. And we got out in the parking lot and it was cold and rainy and scrambling and put clothes and layers on and we went out in that front nine at Aberdeen. It's just an incredible sort of moonscape and

I was blown away by all of it. And then the next day we played thirty six holes at Cruden Bay, which remains my favorite golf course in the world, and it was and I actually I played great. I still remember some of the shots I hit there like it was one of the occasions. But I just in control of my golf ball. And you know that Cruden Bay, you've got that blind part three, you have to hook it around a dune. Then there's a thirty dog part three. Yeah,

I don't even know where you're going. I'm like what am I doing? And there's that, and right before that there's the par four with the blind Green that's down in that incredible dell. I guess it's just and some of the views and you've got Bramstoker's Castle and there's driveable par fours and there's super long hard Part three's and everything, and cruden Bay just completely changed my whole

feeling about golf. Aberdeen was was terrific and just the turf and the shots and everything, but cruden Bay was like almost a religious experience for me. And play it twice and it was just I've never been happier in my life. And I still fantasize about there's some nice houses right there on the hill and going over there and living in cruden Bay. And by the way, the food at the clubhouse there was terrific. I still remember that as well, which was not always the case, as

previously discussed in this podcast. And it's just such a charming you know, the course is in the town. When you're playing the first couples, it feels like you could reach into someone's kitchen and take the pie off their shelf. You know. It's just it's so intimate and I think about going over there, playing golf every day right in the Great American novel whatever, and just living there for six months. And I'm still I'm gonna do it at some point in my life because it remains and I've

been back and my feelings run changed. I think it's the most magical golf course ever played. And so yeah, that that trip was a barnburner. We played like sixteen rounds and nine days and got to all different corners and me and Janella had an unbelievable experience at the old course where we showed up. I've ever told the story on the podcast. Do you know this story, Michael?

at the latest. And the guy says, well, if you can produce it's like I could get you out, but you'll need to produce proof of handicap. So we're like, God, what do we do. It's you know, it's two in the morning in New York, it's eleven at night in California, Like, how can we do this? But Matt's brother, Sean lived in Hawaii, so it's like eight pm there, and we're like, let's call Sean. And so we call Sean and we tell them what's going on, like we need you to

like make a phony letter attaching to our handicaps. And he's like, oh, I'm all. He's like he loved it. He was all in. So he lived in He's on the north shore of Owahoo near Turtle Bay. So he created a and I think he had a background in graphics, graphic cards. He made this letterhead for the Turtle Bay Country Club. There's a Turtle Bay golf course, but it's not a private club, and he wrote I had these letters.

He wrote like paragraphs about me and Matt, like all what upstanding citizens we were, and that we'd founded all these programs at the club. And we held all these titles and it was so preposterous. I think I was scratched. Matt was like, you know, one point too. It was ridiculous anyway, and he faxed it in. They had they had a fax in the starters shack, probably for Jabbroni's like us, and I'll never forget this old Scottish dude

wrapping on the glass. Gentlemen, your paperwork has been received. And we went out and played, and then we played together and we had a blast, and when you walk off the old course, all you want he was played again, and so we went back to the dude like we played again, and he's like, well, sure. Then we had to split up, but it was just had a couple of spots for singles. So I played with a couple of pilots American They were like these Texas dudes, airline pilots.

And then I can't remember our fourth was, but that was also glorious. I mean, you played thirty six on the old Course, and you know, we started there before the sun came up and line and for the singles, and then we finished it at sunset, you know, with the twinkling lights of the town and yeah, that trip. That trip changed my life without that's.

but the grass was too long in the fairways. It ball didn't didn't didn't bounce and run and roll, and you know, I remember I was doing before Tom Watson played his last to open at St. Andrew's a couple months out of the tournament. I flew over there to do this this story on him, and we were in the Old Course hotel. He done some other interviews that day,

and he was restless. He's like, let's go for a walk, and so we we we left the whole Old Course hotel and we we kind of just skittered through the you know, and Watson is a ranch hand. He was very adept, like climbing through this fence. It was fun to see for an old guy. And we got out there in the seventeenth ferry the road hole and he's like tapping his toe on the turf and you could hear it. He's like, this turf, there's just nothing like it.

And who said with almost lust it was fantastic. And that to me is the big difference, right, It's just the way the ball reacts. So I think Bandon to me is probably the closest you've played. You've played Sancing Ahead and you played Fishers, Like, how do you answer that question?

beyond the noun kingdom? He said yes. I said, is there lnks golf in the United States? He said yes. Said what would be an example of it? He said, Nebraska. Wow, I mean it's like one thousand miles from the nearest seer Ocean.

You can't really grow anything on it because the lanceu sandy, but you can grow grass on it. And it's humpy and hollowy and windblown. And that's linksland. And when you put a golf on golf course you can have and there is if you go to Mirrorfield, there's several hundred acres of absolutely pure dune land links land right next to Mirfield that's undeveloped, but it is links land. And if you put a golf course there, then you have

a links golf course. Macrohonish of course. Famous sample links golf you know are goldsby Ealy, all famous examples roughness blah blah blah blah blah. Anyway, uh So, but Duke's point is really a great point. You could argue this is a key aspect, but it's a great point. It's your point. It's the firmness of the turf. Now we have been you and I both have been to opens when the summer's been lush and it's still for four days and it doesn't play like Links golf at all.

But of course it's still Links golf, but just not the under the normal conditions. But it's interesting how many great golfers, including Jones, Snead and Watson. I can definitely cite those three. I'm sure there's many many others who didn't warm to the whole thing from the get go. You know, there's a famous Tom Watson story where in nineteen seventy five he's going to play in his first Open.

He would have been about let's say he's born forty nine, so he'd been about twenty five, and he goes to He and Hubert Green and John Mahffey they go up to Carnousti and they can't get on the course. You know, it's Scotland. It's really weird Scotland, as you know Alan, because they're really loose people in some ways, and then they're really really by the book in other ways, and that's not good for us the way we like it

wasn't good for Watson on this Sunday. So they said, okay, well they got in the car, they went down I may be mispronouncing, and helped me Alan, you know, if you know what Manafith is, of course down the road exactly. And so you know, Watson kills his down one. Everyone's like, good shot, good shot to get out there. No golf ball, I can't find it anywhere. It's supposed to be the middle of the fairway. And Watson's like, I don't know

about this link's golf. And then there's you know famous Sam Steed story taking a train into the into Saint Andrews's. He says to the guy next to him in the train, he said, what's that over there? What's the over there? That old abandoned golf course? And the guy says, that's the old course, mom, that's where they're playing the open, you know, And then Jones walked off over the other examples, there are other examples. But my thing was a little

bit like your thing. I was ready to like it because I think a lot of bad I do golf in the Kingdom and how much we love that book, and how much we love Michael Murphy and his experience playing Link golf Links Golf and watching a lot of open golf before it went over there. But then I caddied in eighty five in the qualify a roll sink ports for the open next door of roll Saint George's, and I was like, it was blowing and it was great. I thought it was just just great. And then I

then I played it shortly after. I loved it right away and and sometimes won. I'm playing here, it's like it just actually feels like a different game, especially because Alan, You've made this point many times. There's you know, one of the starting points for club golf over there is that you can go on the website now that there are websites and sign up for a tea time. There's no really, there's no, truly, truly, I can't think of one golf course that isn't open to visit or play there.

scoring better in the fall. But it was more fun in the summer because those courses were built for wind and it just made it so much more interesting. And there was some holes there that just had you quaking in your soft spikes. And now without the wind, they're still challenging, but it's not the same thing, and it's sort of I mean, it can be hard to play

over in Scotland. Those those lives are so tight. You know, there's a times when you hit you hit it up near the green you have to go over a bunker. You know, there's no ground game sometimes where you leave yourself and it's like there's no grass under there, and it's terrifying, and you know you've got these huge crosswinds and when the fescue gets long and can be hard to find your ball. It's not the easiest golf to

play when you're not used to it. But when when you when you start, when you start finding the rhythm of it, it's just so much fun. There's so much going on in every shot, and it's just it's really a thrilling way to play.

there because you've got no cushioning whatsoever. But when you try to hit pit shots off those carpets, which I'm sure we've all done, everybody our listener, and you and me and everybody else. Jake, Uh, It's like if you catch it right off the carpet, it's the most satisfying thing in the world because it's like ball, carpet, cement

all in one. That is basically links golf. Because if you don't catch it, if you catch the carpet first, then it bounces off the cement and you catch the way that's a duff, that's an X. And then if you thin it or thicket or whatever it's, it's you can't get away with anything there but a clean strike. And that's really where the legend of Seve became the

legend of Seve, for the purity of the strike. And of course it's no mistake at all that Tom Watson, even though it was a great putter and made his name, I'm putting, but the ball striking was so clean because and the lie is so thin. It's no mistake at all that guys who play well at Augusta and dry conditions which you haven't had in some decades now, and and and open conditions are very very similar. It's I think you're really getting to the crux of the thing.

Alan when you talk about firmness of turf. And that's what Doake was saying about Nebraska, or you know many other places as well, by the way, including hundreds of municipal golf courses throughout the Midwest that don't have expensive watering systems.

forget about it. And Gardy and I were once playing night golf and Ben Crane of all people, joined us. He was a first alternate and couldn't get into the tournament and we were playing at Wallasey i think it's called, right down the road from Liverpool, and just watching him read the wind on every shot and play it appropriately and he was a straight ball hitter. He was one of the greatest straight ball hitters. Not great, great, but you know, really skillful at hitting a straight golf ball,

like Jeff Maggert was at even a higher level. But he was curving the ball beautifully. And so I mean, if you talk about the really great Open players, Nicholas for the ball strike, Tiger for sure, Watson for sure. I never saw Peter Thompson, but he had to be spectacular.

but it wasn't a joke. He lost money on the week and uh uh, But I mean, that's the genius of how good they were.

major's undersoft conditions. But that shot was not the shot undersoft conditions. That was a Linksland golf shot, if ever there was one, I'd been to that Renaissance course. You know, it's brand new, it was born built in two thousand, Open in two thousand and eight. I say Britta because like the new course at next to the old courses like eighteen ninety three, that's course for two thousand and eight. It's a joke. But it really looked great on TV,

better than I had remembered it. And it looked really winksy, and it was fantastic to see cold, miserable fans having the time, not well, not miserable, having the time of their life, but it was cold and windy and they were having a great time.

some of his best golf at the same time. I mean, it's impossible we're going on almost a decade in his prime when he's won everything else. There's no doubt he's had a tremendous career, but it just there's something unfulfilled. And do you have any I mean, you know Rory as well better than anybody on the golf beat. I mean, you're writing about him when he first came out, and I think, Jerry McElroy, you're the one reporter he actually likes.

You guys have a nice rapport. I mean, do you have any thoughts on what this week means to Rory and if there's any reason for optimism that this is going to be the one where he gets off the Schneide.

which is a joke. Anyhow, I think it's gonna be really really really hard, really hard. I just it's what Arnold told me a long time ago. It's not the golf skill. It's what we saw in the tennis today. You know, Djokovic is the best, Djokovic is better than that guy. But Djokovic couldn't beat that guy today because he didn't have the gear he needed it when he needed it. And it's not the fitness gear. It's just some other gear. And Arnold talked about it without being

able to identify it. And so McElroy's got all the skill in the world, but that close it out. Gene is another gene that goes way beyond skill. There's the skill from going from the driving range to the first round, the second round, the third round, but then to go to the fourth round, that's another thing, and then go to the last four holes and get it done is another thing. Of course, Tiger. We saw everything Tiger did his whole career. No one golf's never seen anybody like it.

And then then you add to it all the years now of not winning. You know, having chance is in not winning another major. It looked easy when he was twenty five and he was up to four, but that's nine years ago now, and he went two in one year, and the conditions were soft when he won. I just think it's very, very, very very hard, I really do. I think it's amazing that he's as good as he is because he's got so much going on in his life. I don't know, you know, our friend Mac Barnhoard makes

this point all the time. I know I've said it before, but it bears repeating. Guys ninety two percent of the time, if not much are do not play better. Once they get super involved in the politics of the PGA tour for whatever reason distraction.

into this battle. And then you know, jay Monhan and Rory's friend Jimmy Dunn just tore open his chest cowty and ripped his heart out and stomped on it and you know, metal spikes like and you could see that at the US Open, he just looked deflate, even though he wound up playing well, but that was just like a he was still processing it. I mean, maybe maybe

maybe he's unburdened now. He's like he was fighting so hard for what he thought, you know, he believed in and for this just cause and for something larger than himself, and he I could see Roy being like, you know what, screw all that, I'm just here to play golf now, and you guys just you figure it out and I'm done emotionally with this whole thing. And I don't think

anybody would blame him. So maybe he's freed up. I mean, he was playing well, and he was he had made the point that because he'd put his neck on a chopping block in some ways that this that's about analogy given the whole jew politics of this, but because he'd put himself on the line here, that that was inspiring him to really grind and try and play his best. And but I think there was you know, he talked about it coming out of the Masters, like the adrenaline

they've been running on ran out. And I think that I don't know this, maybe he'll just kind of freewheel it in a way that he hasn't been able to. We're always Rory. We all project so much onto him, you know, he's like, uh, and he no way lights up golf, Twitter and the whole conversation like he does. It would it would be an incredible exclamation point on this whole period and professional golf. You know, everyone sort

of wanted it. At the Open, it seemed like, you know, that was that the man in the moment were perfectly aligned. Rory was gonna he was gonna win the Open. He was gonna thwart the Saudi's all of it, and of course he got run over by Cam Smith. Uh. But if you were to do it this way, it would it would just sort of bracket these these two years from from Rory's involvement, and it would be it would

be satisfying, it'd be popular. And then who knows whether it's Phil Mickelson or Ben Hogan, but both those guys win their first major until they were Rory's age right now. So it's not like he doesn't have any time is still on his side. He's if he can still win another half dozen majors and put himself in you know, the conversation is one of the five or ten best players ever, it's not it's hardly too late. But every time, as you said, Michael, every time he doesn't win one,

and the questions and the burden just grows. And it's always been one of my favorite stats is the length of time between a player's first and last major championship. I like, Arnold won seven in six years, and that was it, and he was done, Like it was he just flashed and burned. And you know, Tiger Jack have had these these long expanses, so did Ernie. Interestingly, some players were able to do it and do it again and do it again, and other guys that was in

a very compressed period of time. And I mean right, now Rory's three was it three years from twenty eleven to twenty fourteen, Like that's a very small window. It just doesn't seem right. It doesn't seem possible. And given his he's won everything else and during this this major drought, I mean, he's won his Race to do Bay's and his FedEx Cups and the players Championships, and he's won. He's won, you know, the.

I mean, let's say there's four of them. There really are four of them. I do sort of put the two Opens and the Masters that quite a bit ahead of the PGA, but there are definitely four majors. I'm not being a wise guy here, I think. I think that was Arnold's point. You know, Arnold was really interesting because he was not any kind of great intellectually, wasn't a deep breader, but he was a really deep thinker

about golf and other things as well. And I mean, this seems crazy, but he did say this directly to me, and there were other people in the room, and we talked about it more afterwards. When he won the nineteen sixty US Open, he was never the same after that, even though he won the sixty two sixty four Masters, right yeah, and two British Opens, So I mean, come on, in lots of tour events, and a US Senior Open,

which is not easy to win. But he just said I was not the thing because that was the one, the one, one one that really meant the world to me. And so extrapolate that for the Tiger and the Rori Aer, well that one is now four. It's those four. Yeah, So like Valhalla, PGA at Valhalla, how's that different from a tour event? It's not. I mean when they played in August especially, but it's a big butt and we saw a great tournament there when it was Michelson and

Fowler and Macroy down the stretch. It's that trophy and it's that history and it does weigh on differently.

so superb. Guys written Driver eight iron, Tiger's laying back off the tee and hitting four irons inside of them the whole week. And one of the things talking about the things we love about Open Championships, like a really great strike which is like a little puff of smoke. You know, it's not a divot, It's like the turf just disintegrates. And I have this image of being out there watching Tiger and just the sound of the strike, these perfect little puffs of smoke like and of course

you know he comes off the green. That was That was his first major championship victory since his father had died, and dissolves into Steve Williams arms like we we through his Throughout his career, we saw some displays of emotion from Tiger and some memorable ones, including the twenty nineteen Masters, the ninety seven Masters, and others. But the way he was just bawling almost felt like Steve Williams was holding him up. You know it was.

gonna write something else. But if you're gonna write the winner, you better be prepared to write the winner. Well, they don't tell you ahead of time who the winner is gonna be. So that particular open you had Sergio playing great, christ Marco had been playing great for a while, Ernie was playing great, and Tiger and just I don't know why, but I kind of do. I was like, I'm just writing Tiger Tiger because Tiger is gonna win this thing.

And I was completely, one hundred percent committed to writing Tiger. Had anybody else want I had nothing. We don't like to be in that position. But I wasn't surprised at all because it just looks and I'm saying from Thursday on, were you up?

to that trow met. Nobody likes the story. What do you mean this is like great, Ben Curtisy, Yeah, nobody likes. So you know, I got buried.

the magazine works. It was a great education, but ultimately the writing life is just more fun. And so when my tears was up, I was gone. But so I was in the office and I was in those editorial meetings and Ben it came you know what it came down to, Kobe Bryant had just had you know, had gotten involved in that that sexual assaulting in Colorado. And so it was Bill Colson was was the editor that

there was. I don't know if you've gotten the job permanently or yeah, yeah the job was it oh three hours way after the bake off, it was it was.

of weeks later, Colson came into my office. Was very rare, I mean maybe happened three or four times the whole time I was that whole era, and he said, you know, we probably should have met Ben Curtis on the cover like that Kobe. That Kobe cover was depressing and no one bought it at the new stand and uh, it's like you might have been right. It was like the only time I ever said anything like that to me. And it was kind of funny because yeah, it was

something magical about it. You know, there's the and Curs actually had a decent career. You know, he went on to win some more events. He wasn't complete fluke, but anyway, yeah, that the Open is an interesting one. Also, going back to six member, Sergio showed up wearing all yellow and it became like this running joke. I know, Sergio, it's easy to make fun of him, but that was an ode to the Tour de France, which was ending that day and I think, as a Spanish guy was gonna win.

And I always feel compelled to defend Sergio. It's not that they had horrible fashion sense. It was like, you know, the leader of the Tour de France, where it's a little yellow jersey and anyway, just makes me laugh because I think, didn't he play with Tiger on Sunday and like Tiger was like rolling his eyes out and maybe that was on the driving range, but it became like this thing, how ridiculous.

But the British Open, they have a big field and they got a lot of light, and they go literally from six point thirty to three thirty.

discussion what side of the draw are you on? And I've never done a study but I'm sure guys who have favorable draws tea times Thursday Friday often wind up due winning, But by Sunday no one's even remembering it. In fact, in game stories, I never even think to note it, now that I'm saying it, I don't know. Of all the various majors I've covered their opens I've covered, I can't recall one time where that was even a factor and how I thought about the tournament, even though it probably should be.

He's already made nineteen million dollars between the ropes. I mean, obviously this is the new ear of elevated events and all that, but it's incredible.

Scotty Scheffler. But this is interesting about Scotty Seffler. Like he's he has what eighteen straight top twelve finishes, maybe an all time record, but he's only won twice. Now. The consistency is incredible, and his wins have been big ones, but considering he's there every single week, you'd actually like to see him pick off a few more ws. So it's funny how expectations changed. I mean, two and a half years ago, no one never heard of Scotti Scheffler.

Now he's playing at a level few have ever achieved in the history of the sport, and yet here I am critiquing that he hasn't won more. So that's some you know, talking about the mental game and what Rory's facing. I don't know if Scheffler seems unbothered by stuff like that, but to be there every single week and not get it done sixteen times in this run, it's like, Okay, I feel like I feel like he needs another big win.

Maybe it's a Tour championship. He doesn't necessarily to be the Open, but he needs he needs another big win here to to put an exclamation point on this incredible consistency.

is crying something warn't it. But then he got through it and he did it, you know, and he's half a Southerner and he won them. You know, Texas is such a thing for Augusta. Of course, you know, grow Andy Watkins and that whole thing. But the fact that he got through that, and it's like I can sleep walk in top three, so I can sleep walk win. He doesn't have to do anything special. And Rory, I think is push him is a special special special It's got to be special, but it doesn't have to be special.

But try telling yourself that when Tiger's texting you all the time, telling you it's got to be special. But you see, did you see Big Jack after the Memorial Tournament when he you know, he had another bad Sunday for Rory. This was no it was a great win for Rory, of course, of course, but it was no great last round. It was a great last two holes. It was a bad last round. Yeah, under very tough conditions. Blah blah blah blah blah. But when he came. But Memorial,

it could have won that too. Probably Page said it should have won it. And Big Jack standing there and he says, you know, give me a call. Now, it's not the time or the place, but give me a call. I don't know what they talked about her. If they talked about it, go ahead.

It's when it matters and when it goes wrong. And some of the drives. I mean, we've seen Rory driving for fifteen years now. He drives more than that. No, no, he drives it incredibly well. He had some of the worst drives I've ever seen a world two of the worst. Two of the worst drives I ever seen a world class driver. Not many tour players can hit it offline, but these were wildly offline with bad swings. How does that happen?

that ball do whatever he wanted it to do. And Brian Harmon's like, and Brian Harmon is a damn good golfer, and Brian Harmon's like, man, And I'm talking him right there in Spice Man. Just watching Trevino you can see it's just all in his body, and you know, I'm just looking at that machine after every swing. I think it's just a weird way to play golf.

Workshop's website and see their full compliment. But we've missed Father's Day, but surely there's someone you love who's going to be celebrating occasion soon. Or treat yourself, of course, my daughter says whenever we're I'm saying I shouldn't have any desert night says, treat yourself, like okay, where just to live by? So, yeah, there's a Dormy is a great supporter. We thank them for their we're helping us keep the lights on here at the Firepit Collective.