2018 Players Preview

I miss the green.

For example, I'm already upset. When I find my ball in the bunker, I'm really upset. And when I find my ball in arid Egg Friday Egg, the dread Frida Egg, Friday Bride Egg Lie, I'm about ready to run.

Off of the course.

Ladies and gentlemen, Welcome back to another edition of the Frida Egg Podcast. Tonight. I am joined by Brendan Poor at the Vespian Nation and Sean Martin of the PGA Tour as we get ready for this year's Players Championship. Guys, welcome on, Thanks for having.

Me Andy, thanks for having us on again. Like last time we uh connected, it was in real life in Augusta, but now we're here. Here we are a month later with even bigger event on tap.

Yeah, the biggest event in golf, best field and golf the Players.

Brendon went collared shirt for the pod.

It's just just a fluke. I don't know, walked in and this is what I had on all day.

So it's been four weeks since the Masters. I feel like, you know, that part of the schedule just kind of it's a it's a slog, not a ton of buzz and golf. What have you guys taken away? You've been You've been watching a lot.

No, I think, like the Masters will like it's this is not a complaint about my job. My job is amazing, but the Masters and the weeks leading into the Masters are like prepping for like a law school final or just the final, like a really hard final. It's very enjoyable like that week, but once you're done, you just kind of unploy. You don't think about whatever, all that stuff. You were just studying and writing and caring about and reading and watching. And from my perspective, I mean, obviously

Yeah, I agree. And even with this new team format, I don't know why I can't get into the Zurich even with the team format, I honestly think that it's because the golf course is so bad.

Wow. Yeah, I'm surprised if that take on a pee die course.

You tried to argue, I've tried to make that argument. You're like, oh, it's not at bad.

I think it crystallized. You know, as I went for a run.

It's a good stretch. It's a good stretch for dietficiados with harbortownc Louisiana, TPC Sawgrass.

I went for a run this afternoon and I was honestly thinking. I was listening to no laying up podcasts and I heard Tommy Fleetwood refer to like a string of PGA Tour events and he said Riviera, And I thought about it. I go, like the really good events we refer to as like the have like a course that's really good, and a lot of times the tournament got just called the course like Riviera, like Harbor Town, and like nobody is saying like TPC Los Colinas like

Yeah, they had always had trouble.

In that because yeah, it's I'm curious where I need to know where you stay with Pete Dye's catalog right now, because I was very surprised by the tenor of your Black Wolf Run and Whistling Straight tweets this week.

I like Pete Dye. I think Pete Dye was an intro. He was so important in architecture and I think he really gets strategy. But like, yeah, Whistling Straits offended me yesterday. It was so slow. It was just it was unbelievable. And I, uh, black Wolf Run. I like Black Wolf Run a lot more. Black Wolf Run's way more natural.

I think.

I think just like the nature of designing this golf course for a resort, like and I know that they wanted major championships, but just because you want a major championship doesn't mean your golf course needs to be completely unplayable for everybody. Like David Kidd on my podcast said, Oakmont is the most playable golf course in the world for an eighteen handicap. There's no force. Carries are readily available if you want to make bogies like at Whistling Straights.

Yeah, I've never played whistling straights, but I really don't have any desire to. It just looks so hard.

I really just say, we're really on brand here. About four minutes in the pod and we're talking about black Quell wrong the Players Championship preview.

Hey, Chris coach, we could we could go back to we could go back to Jenny Board and to Women's Am Open.

Let me just say one more thing. So my buddy set this whole thing up, and I was like, yeah, I'll play. You know, I didn't set this up. But anyways, I was looking at the t sheet in the morning. But while I was driving up and I saw six hours between our tee times two courses, and I was like, what are we going to do? Get like a big lunch like that was like. And sure enough, we like got off the course and they're like, we're gonna be late for our tea time because it took so long to play like that.

And this was what, what was it a Sunday Sunday afternoon morning.

We played it like nine on a Sunday and it took five and a half hours. Yes, but whatever scene all right, moving on to a better Uh, I don't I don't know, it's a it's a. Both are very good championship tests of golf. But getting back to Sawgrass in the last couple of weeks, so we returned to the site of the big Woo Woo Sea Wou Camps triumph last year. You guys see a repeat happening.

Is uh is Sea Wou to you as Hideki is to me. I feel like you're you're you're driving the Seawou bandwagon.

Oh I love Seawoo. I watched him last year. I fell in love with like his golf game. I mean, like the guy's twenty one years old and he doesn't speak English, and he's won twice, and he was the youngest player ever to get his PG eight Tour card. Like he had to wait to play in events because he was too young to play on the tour.

I mean, like it's forgotten, yeah, especially because it was five years ago.

Then he won on the Web Tour at age eighteen. He won on the PGA Tour at nineteen and twenty or no, I guess twenty and twenty one. So he won on the Web when he was nineteen.

I think I think I saw I think I saw see Will was like plus ten thousand to win to repeat. I mean, this is like a really really hard venue to kind.

Of back it up, and no one has ever repeated.

Yeah, not even win. But I'm talking about content. Sergio seems to be pretty consistent. There are a couple others, but like, it's pretty hard to kind of make noise two years, especially after he won. He got all those obligations, you know, like give him the club to the clubhouse and being kind of the face of the tournament and the ads and signing all all the autographs, kissing the babies. I don't know, see who's going to be that kind of brand man this year. But yeah, it's hard to repeat.

But he chipped and putted like a demon. I was looking at the stats. He he hit nineteen greens on the weekend, he made one bogie, He had forty nine putts, Like it was I mean, he was gonna be bound from everywhere. It was insane.

It was incredible. I mean, he was he was so good. But I mean he's had a good year this year. He's had He's got three top tens already this year.

Yeah, he's turning in the right direction. He's you know, last year right forward the players he'd started working Sean Foley and that was the story. Now he's working with Andrew Getson and Josh Gregory. He's got two guys he's working with, and so it seems to be working though. I mean, before Harvardtown he was second to last this year in strokes game putting. So the fact that he's gonna even make cuts doing that, it's pretty incredible.

That say that again, who's he go with?

Uh, Andrew gets In? Who works with?

Oh? Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, gotcha? And Josh Gregory and Josh Gregory the performance coach.

Yeah, short game performance.

Interesting.

I didn't know that article on pjhor dot com right now details all of that.

Oh is that by you?

That is by myself?

Sounds like you're here your beat, You're all over that.

Him and Phil are trading secrets, you know.

But I mean, like, given like what you're talking about, you said, he's had like a pretty good year comparatively the last year. I mean, he had done very little and was hurt, but like plus ten thousands seems a little lot of whack, you know, for the defunding champ you just figure. I mean, I can't imagine there's a ton of public money rushing in on it, but the odds just seemed a little off for the funding chair and a guy who's had a good year.

Sure, yeah, I just don't think. I don't think anybody. It's only five what is it five guys Sean that won five.

That yeah, and for him had to wait ten years or more between wins. Only Steve Elkington was six years between wings. I don't know what that means or what that says. But not many guys win twice. When they do, they're pretty far spaced out.

One of those guys is the big cat, Tiger Waentz. What do you what do you guys expect from him this week?

Is this he playing?

I I think he'll be okay, only cause he's hitting it well enough. He was top twenty strokes, gained off the tee and approached the green. Last week he did just horribly. You know. It's not, of course, we have great memories or a great you know, great record for he's won twice. But I mean for Tiger, that's nothing. So I don't know we're looking at probably like a twenty seventh place finish twenty seven.

I think that's yeah. I think he's hitting the ball well, right. I mean, the iron play wasn't horrendous. Yesterday I heard Pierre Costas on the broadcast This is well As Farga something about like he'd only hit five or six balls inside ten feet all week. But I mean, I think his strokes game approached, Sharks gained overall TV Green was pretty good. Obviously, his putting was just horrible. Hopefully they

That he got sixty seven that day.

Yeah, yeah, your boyhead Decky is about to fall out out of the top ten.

But hey, yeah it rough times, you.

Know, Tiger. The thing I think with Tiger is like he's the quintessential, like hasn't put it all together yet. He's had like tournaments where he's putted it great, He's had tournaments where he's chipped it, He's had tournaments where he's hit his irons great. And now like last week was the first tournament where he really drove it well. And when you're coming back from a long layoff, that's what golf is. It takes a lot of time to

I don't.

I don't like this course for him, but I think a big week soon from him where he wins. I mean, he hasn't had a week where he did everything well yet.

It is good for him and that he can hit a lot of two irons. And actually I pulled up his record, I'm actually surprised. He has nine top twenty fives and seventeen starts here five top ten, so it's actually a little but even during his prime years of like you know, two thousand, two thousand, and he went to second and first, but after that he was a lot of elevens and twelves, And I mean those are

It's such a relative scale for a venue he plays like every single year, he just you expect it to be d ral Firestone, right, or it's so weird, so our kind of frame of reference is so out of whack, like, oh, he hasn't you know, it doesn't have that great record here because he's only won it twice and we know he's played it every year on the schedule, and.

Don't forget the ninety four US Sanitary either.

Yeah s, why do you guys think he hasn't played as well here as he has at other courses?

I think one reason is hard to play well here. I mean, you know, you're always one swing away from just ruining your week. That's definitely part of it.

I think, Yeah, I think that's you know, he did get he was more wild off the tee obviously in that kind of back half of his career.

And then let's more, guys, into it. So like when he won in two thousand and one, right before he finished the Tiger Slam at the Masters, he's playing in the fund group with Jerry Kelly, So you're just playing with a strong field. At a course they kind of lets anyone who's playing well contain no matter they're playing style. So like you have Tiger Woods, you have Jerry Kelly staring Tiger Woods down eye to eye going to the

Yeah, I completely agree with you, Sean. I think it doesn't really favor one style of play. You look down the list of winners and you got your ball strikers, obviously with like Sergio Stenson, but then you also have guys like you know, see Wu Kim who won only hitting nineteen greens on the weekend because his short game was good and he didn't make any big mistakes. I mean, Polter a fit runner up last year. He's not you

I love Phil. He won here and he has three top tens and twenty four starts and he won in twenty or two thousand and seven. He just switched to Butcher and he's like, you know, I just I played this really controlled fade. I didn't swing as far back as I normally do. It's really wished to play more often. And then of course that lasted like a week and then and then he went back to his old solid play. But it's like this guy has an epiphany to win at a golf course as he plays horribly and just can't

Do you think we you know, I don't think there hasn't been as many obscure winners, but there was kind of a run where people are like, oh, you know, you get a lot of fluky winners here. Do you think it's because the field is so deep and there aren't any you know, amateurs or club pros or you know, older past champions in the field.

The May winners list has been really strong. I think some of the fluky years were the years that like the rough got really long. In March.

Yeah, I would say like since the move to it's really been kind of a murderers row, mostly major champions, I guess, aside from Sea wou Ricky, but yeah, I think like it's a lot of like legit guys who are probably in the top ten in the world, close to the top ten, you know, Sea Wu was the first departure from that run. I think the switch to May, I think yeah, because it's there are no AMBS club

Yeah. I think there were a few years they grew the rough out too thick, But I think ye March March will be good. I think, but there were a couple years they want to get a old too, Harry.

So what will that switch it from Bermuda to like oversea it Raye.

Over Yeah, what do you think of that?

Andy?

I think I don't think it's that big of a difference. I mean, I think I don't people look into it. They put the grass so much. I really think it's overstated in the sense like whoever plays will also going to play well, obviously, Like I think with the Greens it makes a bigger difference, but the greens are still going to be Bermuda, you know, like Kevin Kissner on Bermuda,

I think Formida rough is a challenge for some guys. I think anyone can play Bent. I think Bent is most guys know how to play that. But Bermuda is definitely tricky ship out of do.

You guys think we'll get a winner inside the top ten or outside the top ten this week?

Numbers would say outside, Yeah, I'm big on Bryson this week.

I am too huge.

Oh my god, I'm not even messing with him. I em like a seven A joke for Brandon. This is I'm big on Bryson.

I am too.

It's a perfect course for him. He can hit those kind of stingers that he likes to hit. He's very cerebral. He's playing really well. He made triple on his third hole, a quill hollow and finished fourth.

He made a double and a triple at Harbortown and finished second.

Yeah. I mean the guy well thirty three. Yeah, but like three top fours in his last three starts, and I don't know, it just seems it's a placement golf course. It's all about, you know, strokes gain approach the green. I just it feels very brisening.

I completely agree he I believe he's a guy that's gonna play well regularly at difficult golf courses. He hits it really well. Like if you're gonna say there's one weakness in his game, it's you know, on the and around the greens. I don't like him trying to hit shots with those single anth irons around the greens that

Fourteenth off the T seventeenth and stroskan approach the green might as well. His book itt To be honest, he's this is price is.

Weak when score looks like less. I don't know. Since May it's always kind of around just in double double figures, twelve thirteen hunder.

I don't know.

Yeah, I mean, that's that's interesting. The point I was going to make a point that like, once he gets the big number, he just becomes like this, you know, freak and checks out and there, you know, freaks out about it. But you know, we're talking about the doubles and triples and Quail and Harbor Town and still kind of clawing his way back. That that's that kind of runs against my you know, supposition that he he doesn't handle the big numbers all that well because it throws off the calculation.

So let's let's hear it. You're the one guy who's not on the Bryson train. What's your take.

I haven't considered him yet. I mean, I think he's playing extremely well. But yeah, this is music to my ears. I'm gonna have to I'm into this more. I'm all about it. It makes sense that you know, he would. He's a rookie though, right it's his first first round.

First, he's a rookie nowhere. He's played He's played this round more times than anybody in the field.

He did play, Yeah, he did play Augusta like forty five times before he played it as an am, had more practice than like speak. Yeah, no, I think he's a rookie. That would give me pause. But I'd love to pick when you're talking about positional golf and kind of playing that approach, approach shack game, that's his specialty. I love it.

So as well. Harbortown high correlation to TBC Sawgrass, Yeah, you got all here top He's got top five two out of three years at Harbortown.

Who you know as a rookie and uh and this year, so what outside of Bryson, You know, we're at the kind of halfway mark, halfway ish mark of the twenty eighteen calendar season. Who has really impressed you that you kind of didn't see coming this year on the tour.

I'm gonna say this is gonna sound obvious, but hear me out. I'm gonna say Patrick Reid, And not that he came out of nowhere to win the Masters, but he's got five straight top tens. Now in the midst of you know, when when's the Masters, in the midst of that, you know, obviously a lot came out after the Masters about the family situation, and you know, he's gotten some blowback about wearing the green jacket all over the place, which is ridiculous that you will criticize him for that.

But that is dumb. I don't. I don't really understand that, and I don't necessarily I'm not a huge Read fan, but like, I don't understand that. Why that just that's just like the read kind of stigma. Why people are mad about that because Phil, a lot of guys that's not people were actually mad about that. I think it was mostly that Rockets game he was in his green jacket, which you know, that was whatever a week two weeks

I think I think Kyle Porter does a good job of putting kind of careers and trajectories in perspective. And we're looking at the guy who's twenty seven, he has six tour wins, a major. Uh, he's playing really good golf right now. I just think that, you know, he went through some equipment struggles last year, and you go back to the PJ, he's finished second first the last two majors. You know, he got his equipment struggles sorted out.

And what about the vision? What about the vision thing?

Yeah?

That was yeah, that was crazy.

That was so that was vision straight down. He's got the clubs he likes, and he's on.

A tear and he's in the top ten. He's closing in on his top five.

I don't understand why any of these guys were contacts. They just get lazy. I don't I don't even understand that if Hartman had his wife run contacts, there's somebody run contacts out to him in the middle around at Kalhalla.

Once look at the laser and you're out'.

That's then you're getting the Anthony Kim insurance.

Money, right exactly.

I uh.

Patrick Reed's got a better career than Ricky Fowler, Like, yeah, he's he hasn't been as consistent as Fowler. But it's such an interesting debate. Do you do you favor wins or do you favor the consistency. Ricky's been more consistent in his career, but Reid's got more wins in a major. Now, like, what what do you think, Sean, or do you do you? Does Ricky have a major?

I think he gets one eventually, But yeah, I think I think read he goes to consistent stretches. He's definitely more inconsistent than Ricky. But I mean, even like right now, I mean, I don't know. I think that I'm curiously how long this run of top tens and playing really well runs out, because it seems like he could. You know, most guys would play the Masters, they'd come and you know they wouldn't play good. They've been off, you know,

He plays like thirty five times a year too. Maybe playbe he won't this year, but it's crazy how much he plays.

He just loves golf man, So what how.

Do you think that translates this week the way I mean, he's obviously informed.

Well, he's not a good I mean, he's not the kind of guy, you know, he's not iron play is not his strength. He's a guy Ryan.

This was pretty helicopter finish.

That's true. I love the story behind the helicopter finished. Apparently his swing coach told him he's trying to hit a fade and he couldn't do it. He's like, look, do whatever you have to do to hit a fade for me. So he makes that swing and he's like, all right, do that in tournaments now, and he's like no, He's like, there's no way. He had to be talked into bringing the helicopter finish out in public because he was too u he's a little ashamed of it, I guess, but obviously works.

What about Brendan, who have you been impressed by?

I kind of like Luke List, you know, I love what he's done this season. If you're talking about a guy's maybe not one or maybe not as high profile as some of the guys at the very top of the world rankings, I think it's been cool to watch him.

Season, I feel like List is one of those guys and I think we've lost this a little bit with the generation of young players. But like when you look at a guy and how he's progressed from year to year, like he's gotten like a lot better as a player every year, more consistent. You see him on more and more leader boards, like especially the last three years, and then this year, I mean, he's so close to winning for the first time, and I mean he's thirty two.

Win sure, Yeah, it's I've been like digging into ends a little bit even more. It's just crazy how fast and how competitive those guys, How how just deep it is. How many of these young guys are going to start winning. It's only going to get even more intense. I think, just these twenty year olds and contending and you know whoever it is, Braydon thornber Snout, Sam Burns, players like that just kind of popping up on leaderboards over and over and over again.

Yeah, And it used to be just getting your card at twenty four was a big deal. Right now it's like, well it's great, get your card, but even one year.

So it's like, yeah, yeah, impressed with Jason Day. Yeah, coming back to wins, he's so good his I guess the thing that you wonder about is like the putter. Everybody's like, oh, you know, like he had that historically great putting stretch when he went on that run in twenty sixteen, and then you know, he hasn't missed inside five feet all year year this year. I mean, I think he's just like a really good putter. I had a I had a buddy who's whose good friend who

It's so good.

No buddy of his is Tiger. Willis text him for a big game, for a big round, really four big event. He gets a text from Tiger, and you hear about it every time.

You got a text one.

I actually hadn't heard that. It's pretty cool. It's nice of Tiger. It's pretty neat that Jason daves buddies with him.

He had forty one greens last week out of seventy two. Huh, short game, he's one hundred, He's one hundred and sixty. Ninth this season is shrows gain approach, and he's won twice and hasn't finished outside the top twenty five.

Sean, how do you like him this week?

I don't. Oh, you got it hit the irons? Well, I think I looked it up. Ten of the last fourteen players winners were in the top ten of Shrow's gain approach for the week. Only one of those fourteen outside the top twenty. You got to hit your irons? Well, here, can't be grinding all day.

Do you think hit DECKI is going to break out of his slump this week?

I'm worried, man, It's not good.

Is he hurt? Is he still injured? What's the what's the problem is kind of figuring it out.

Yeah. I try to get little inside info from Bob whenever I see him. And you know, he played pretty bad the first round of Wells Fargo.

Uh, Bob, people know who Bob is.

Sorry, Bob Turner's translator, I don't know who Bob is. Oh yeah, Bob Turner. Will you know? Shot out the first round seventy seven, he said, just called bad breaks, led to some big numbers, shot sixty eight in the second round, but then he mbf to foil. You know where he should play well? He played with J T. Pja on Sunday. I don't know, man, I think I think he took the PGA eight lost kind of hard, and you know, I don't know if the wrist injury is still think. I don't know. I need to get

You think he feels any pressure from the rise of Sutoshi.

I'm trying to like his last The PGA is his last top ten in a full field of vand in the units.

That was those are pretty Uh. It's quite a non secular diversion from the Indies. Andy's inquiry about SATOCI.

Welcomes the chance another countryman on the President's.

Yeah, I'm wondering when the question is going to shift from CANADCUA into can statoci win. How far away are we from that?

I don't know how's he followed it up? Has he played since?

Uh?

Val?

I think is his first start as a full member of the PGA Tour this.

Week saving it for for the Home of the Tour.

He's just a die guy now only plays dies now.

I think can play like, oh, yeah, you don't know when I'm playing Japan.

He finished T thirty two at the crowns uh two weeks after Heritage.

He can he had a lot of distractions that week.

Yeah, uh, why whye yang was? You're champion by four? Wow?

That is you see now, Brendan, we we have diverted.

Crown.

I love the crowd talking about so if you look at some of those like Japanese Tour and Asian Tour leaderboards and like results, it's like a treasure throw amazing, like blasphem the past.

All right, welcome by Monday.

So who's been who's disappointed you guys this year? M likewise, the same question.

Besides well, yeah, that's not all his answer, but definitely I he's not listening as Sergia.

I don't know. I expected a little bit more from Sergia. He's been you know, he's throwing his clubs in the woods, you know. But whatever, He's married, having kids. I know how that goes when you just have a newborn kind of eject from the rest of the world the rest of your life. You gotta get your house in order and kind of hang out with your family.

But I don't know.

I just thought Sergio kind of when he cracked the code of finally getting a major with be more regularly in contention. But also it's understandable that once you crack the toad to a major, you kind of hanging out and maybe regress a little bit. We've seen Babba do that. I don't know, It's not necessarily unexpected, but I just I thought he would be doing more and doing more with more consistency.

Adam Scott's definitely in some trouble as well, right working with Gg's swing tips.

You know, I'm really disappointed in Ted Potter. I mean, the guy's miss missed five straight puss after he won. I'm just joking. I would say that I'm a little bit disappointed in Matt Fitzpatrick. You know he has he hasn't gotten off to start. I'm waiting. You know, he's won every year of his pro career. I'm waiting for him to break out. And you know, it's still early in the season. He could get hot, and I feel like this could be a good venue for him. He just hasn't been playing very well.

You think hazelteen. He still has a hazelteing hangover. He's still scarred.

And he was interesting interesting to observe him that week. He was kind of like he's like a fan, just along for the ride.

Well, didn't he sit out the entire first day?

Yeah, it wasn't the first day. I think it was. He sat out a.

Lot and then Chris Wood right.

Yeah, then when he did play, he got smoke.

I hate to be so America centric, but I would for me with Fitzpatrick, like I need to see it in America a little bit. It's a huge disparity between his as results in Europe and his results in America.

You know, he's a legend at North wester and he did it America there.

He won a US AM. He's done plenty in America that's not played overseas Sean.

At an actually significant course, like Brookline over Corey Connors.

Yeah all right, right, so, uh who you got this week? Who would you pick? It's always a crapshoot.

I feel like, literally so outside Bryson, I'm all in on Bryson. I'm not even kidding. But outside of that is Henrick. He's like the one guy who has a consistently good record at TC saw dress.

Real big leash.

M hmm.

You took my guy. Stenson was the guy.

You can have. I'm firmly planted in Bryson Land. You can have.

What's what's happened to Noorn? How's he doing? He's not? He kind of fell off, right. He was not good at the Masters.

I know that just the cud of Quail, but I mean he hits that low bullet fad. I don't think Quail that that Quayle set up is not a good match for him. He played well last year's Players, Uh he was. I want to say he was involved late Sunday, but yeah, last last Players.

Last year he finished uh tenth, So yeah, I mean that's uh, that could be a good pick. I'm a I'm a roll. I think Paul.

Casey, good pick.

He doubled the first hole Sunday.

He's such a stud. I mean, finally got that win. Like this guy, like listen to this. So let's see starting this year Abu Dhabi, he finished T ninth, T eighth, T forty ninth, T twelfth, first, seventeenth, fifteenth, MC fifth Like that's you know, I feel like he just he's like the most consistent player and on tour.

I think he really is.

That's why he's number one in the Sagurin rankings.

Do you think the second Do you think the Sagarine rankings are a better ranking than the peach than the World Golf rankings.

I think the Sagarins slightly undervalue victories. Uh, And but I do I definitely give them some weight. I mean, I think when you had Paul Casey at number one over Justin Thomas, uh, that was a little tough to swallow. But and I think that I think they're good. I think they definitely deserve some some weight.

Well both Hostler looking at some of the rookies.

Uh, my big big value pick, Francesco Molinari. Yeah, top tens the last three years. It hits it dead straight. He'll never see a hazard. He he just.

Like never wins. I feel like he contend in the sense of like he finishes high, but he's never threatening, Like you're never worried about him winning.

He's the king of He pops up Saturday, you know, he's off Saturday an hour ahead of the leaders, makes two birdies in the first hole of sind He's in fifth place, and you're like, oh, shoot, Francisco's in the field this week. I forgot to pick him. That's that's my weekly Francisco Molinari experience.

Is he gonna be on the Ryder Cup team?

Uh?

I don't. I don't think so.

No, I don't think so.

He's thirtieth in the world. He's definitely got to I'm sure he's gone.

Yeah. I think it's gonna be guys who win, you know, I don't.

I don't know.

I don't think you can do it.

I think is Gonnace is gonna torch Paris. It's gonna be great.

I wish I wish Paul Dunn was in the field. Why don't they, you know, extend some invitation to some Europeans playing well.

You can get in by being top fifty in the world ranking.

But that sounds just like the PGA to Sorry.

There weren't any world ranking points at the event with the dancing six mascot.

Wait wait, wait, wait are you talking about we're talking about the players. I don't think the players point, it's point. It's guns at anything else for being having a bunch of contrivances around the golf part golf part of the event.

Right, we're geting, we're getting off topic. I'm not a big mascot guy.

We gotta we gotta stay on brand.

Brendan alright, alright.

Speaking of like the euro Tour kind of they've really gotten passed. There was like that moment there where like the Euro the top euro guys or like the hell with this remember that, like twenty eleven Rory just skipped it.

I wonder what would happen if the euro Tour removed one of its like Rolex series events opposite the players.

I don't think they would do much except for maybe those guys in like the thirty to fifty range of the world rankings who are also on the euros A.

Yeah, which Fitzpatrick Mullinari, Alex Levy or something like that.

You know, so yeah, yeah, but.

That was a great run. Sorry, I'm saying Paul donn is on a great run. By the way, I feel I want to rescind, I want to take back my take, and I feel like I just repected Paul done.

That's that's you're You're a big man for rescinding and taking back a bad take because that was U necessary fit.

And Punchakana. I love the heat that he went to Puntakana even though you know there's w GC that week. I am credit for going to an opposite field event T eight in Houston, second in the Spanish Open, misscut and then seventh and Volvo China Open and of course WAYNS sixes.

I mean Danny Willits in the field, give him Willis spot.

Wow, I didn't know that he's playing.

Yeah, it's Tina teened up at eight sixteen with Gribble and Hoffman. What do you guys think about those pairings of the tour rolled out? You know you were being was it Sean or you that was being critical of the Master's parents.

I don't recall that. I don't recall that the Masters. I'm not critical of the Masters parents. I don't think they don't. They don't. They don't give you this though. They always make sure they put like they will never give you like two of the top five, six seven names in the same group. They always give you kind of a you know, they throw an international guy like maybe an amateur, like they never do these like power trios like like we're getting this week.

The Masters is always big on like the two thirds of a group, like you get like, oh, like gosh, we're like one name away from just In super nova of a group.

But even that second name is like not you know, it's like Colum b kind of name. It's a great name for like golf nerds like us, like it's wow, that's awesome, but like it's still not the top is not. Like there's like a column ad that's like ten guys and none of them are in the same three.

Isn't that kind of better though? Because yeah, then they can then they can take they can shoot away from the you know that group. Occasionally, like I feel like when you get these supergroups, it's all you see. You don't see anything else.

Yeah, what do you think about what do you think about the uh the Sunday kind of rollout of these supergroups. They just said, these guys are playing together. We don't have the time yet that they're playing together.

I just I love the fact that the only uh time Tiger and Philip played at TVC, Sawgrass was the better than most round. Yeah, which outside of better than most, Like you gotta remember, like two thousand and one players like Tiger is on the verge of completing the Tiger Slam.

And well, I mean, and it's whatever. It's this is like the talking point that the tour wants you to hit on because of this, It's like, but it does speak to the depth of where like of the fields right now that we can split them on the put them on the same side of the draw and in the same group, because you have a Rory speak JT kind of triota to carry the other half of the draw. Like I know, that's I mean, that's probably exactly the

I mean.

Also there's like Poulter, Rose, Fleetwood, Watson, Johnson Kopka. Yeah, you know, yeah, it's not like only once. There's uh in the after Yeah, there's I mean, there's Red Ram Matsuyama day.

Dribble Dribble, Willet, Hoffman.

Yeah, Day Sence and Garcia. You know, like that's nuts there. The I guess the pairings like if you have all fifty of the top fifty like we do this week in a field, you can you can get pretty good because I feel like the rankings go about fifteen deep. Now.

Yeah, So right before this, I was watching Golf Channel, it's a network on cable television, and they were saying Brandall Chamblie was saying, this is like the toughest test in all golf. It's what the US Open used to be. It's the most like pure test it, you know, and then Duval kind of joined him and saying, like you have to hit every club in a bag. You have to hit the shots both ways, like in consecutive holes.

Yeah, I think it's the it's a fair test. It's not overly penal like you have space to hit it. It doesn't favor one skill like I mean, I think the US Open everybody talks about with twenty yard wide fairways and eight inch rough that. You know, there seems to be a growing contingent of people that want like that dictates who wins. Like a long hitter who hits it,

Course eight thou yard golf courses.

Yeah, I side with my man Bill Korer, who says build him shorter and wider.

Yeah, I mean, I'm not. I'm not the architecture expert that you are, But I do love as like a fan and a consumer, I love having watching these guys having to hit the ball right to left, left to right, kind of hit a drive that's a draw and then have to hit an approach shot that's a cut or something that. Like I as a consumer, I love seeing that having to be done. I wish, like you said, there were a few more driver holes, I guess, but yeah, I love the I love that as a consumer.

Yeah, I mean, I like There's the other thing about the players and sawgrass is like the ideal angles, Like the strategy makes sense everywhere, Like if you play close to the hazards, you get the better angle, and then every you know, yard off that line, you get a

It's it's is it. It's by far the best Florida course on tour, not like you know Florida course overall though, of the four on tour, was it Florida?

Yeah, yeah, I mean I don't think anything is even in the conversation of being close to as good of a tournament course. It's I mean when you think back to like when it was designed, it, I mean, the player's uproar was unbelievable. I think unfortunately the course has been tinkered with so much since its original design, like it it I the twelfth hole, the redesign of that,

I'm loving this, keep going.

He was just I asked him, if you could redesign one golf course, you know what would be said? TBC Sawgrass on the podcast and he was like, you know that golf course could look like that scruffy pine valley look that you see with the sandy soil. And if you look at the original pictures from when it opened, that's what it looked like. It was really scruffy. And the old foot cut capped.

The old photos are amazing.

Yeah, I've seen like that.

The Yeah, he had goats. They had goats eating the grass and they were on the roof of the clubhouse and like, I mean, it was a jungle. The place was insane.

So what did they do to twelve for this year? They? What did they do?

So they extended the bunker on the left, So now that bunker used to really only come in to play on the layup. I think if you pull one shot of the green a little bit catch bunker instead of water. And then they flattened apparently the approach right in front of the green that sloped to the left also, so if you hit that it could roll in the water. Now that approach is flat, so if you hit it, you know, straight or with a cut and a lands on that approach, it won't bounce as hard left.

So they did things to make guys hit more drivers. Is that what I'm hearing or not.

They're just kind of trying to get away from that having it land on the green or near the green and roll off in the water.

Okay, They listened to player feedback and then decided to make changes that fit the player feedback, which I would liken too, allowing the inmates of a prison to say, Hey, this is how we would like the prison run, and we're going to run the prison this way.

It's the players Championship at the players tournament course and the Player's tour. Like, I guess that's god what they get to do.

If something's deemed unfair, it will be changed. But I think we'll see what it's like. I just I don't know. The amazing thing is goulfed. I just gave it the redesign of the year, and then the next year that redesign is being redesigned again.

Now now we are in the meat and potatoes of this podcast that kind of kind of enjoyed the main course, there.

Was a Redesign of the Year award.

Yeah, they won the Redesign of the Year. The DPC sawgrass and it was announced and then shortly after it was announced that the twelfth hole was being redesigned again.

Is there a restoration of the year.

Yeah, I think there's a restoration of the year. I'm not sure. I can't I can't remember who won the other awards. That's the only one that really stuck out in my mind. So it's uh, the Yeah, I mean it's it's Crown, the Crown Sawgrass. You know, they read all the golf courses in the world that did redesigns, and one did a one hole redesign that was changed over and they won Redesign of the Year.

There were smaller changes, I mean there were, but they were minor. But there were some other changes.

Yeah, they had that back tee on what is it fifteen fifteen, and they took out that mound between six and seven, which is pretty cool.

But yeah, I mean they cleaned up some The big thing was they cleaned up some areas, which just gets you know, Bermuda courses get kind of shaggy and lose their angles, and they just kind of brought back some of that dye geometry, I guess, just kind of sharpened up some of those angles.

I love. You know, this is the perfect example of like having a regular course as the championship course, it's just like the Masters, like everybody knows the finish sixteen seventeen eighteen, and that's like why the Players Championship is must must watch TV on Sunday.

Yep, that's what that's. Yeah, that's what I was going to go into it kind of as from the consumer perspective, not necessarily the guy who's maybe picking up on all the architectural subtleties like you, it is like you can bank on it. You know the course, you know those holes, you know, the top the world, They're going to be there. That's the thing that kind of bugs me about this. So the Players a little bit is like I use this analogy off you know, on some text with some

I would agree with that. It kind of ties back into our original discussion about whistling straight beautiful piece of land and they just did way too much to it. You know, it's the same thing, I think. I think just like if they if you just allow the tournament to speak for yourself, it would have like descended into its spot is considered a major, like a fifth major. But trying to force something in it's like it's like

So I will, I will, I will vouch for like the experience on the ground, I think agree great. I loved it. I loved it, and I would encourage everyone to go. And I think like them trying to do all sorts of different stuff from the food trucks to whatever activation here or there is fine, Like I'm fine with that, and they want to make it as different an experience for the why you know, net of people there.

I'm kind of sad that there's no blog cabin this year. I was thinking this time last year, we were playing the TV shootoutout.

Yeah, and not to uh that's also like, you know, speak up for the tour again here. But like I don't know that they like are really jamming the fifth major thing down our throats. I think it's more like that's like what Golf Channel needs to have a panel on that, and the writers need to have a panel about it. Is it a fifth major? Is it not

It's interesting going back and reading old players stories from like eighty two and like there were columns all the time. I don't know who brought up those writers or I think it was more writers and players. It was like, but that was a talking point back in like eighty two. It's like when I saw that Alison McKenzie was saying the ball was going too far, and I'm like, man, we really just have the same arguments over and over again, no matter what they're about. But I think it's just

Yeah, all right, everybody make their picks. Then we're we'll get out of here on some overrated, underrated go ahead, you got wait, who'd you pick again?

Shambo?

All the way you're taking win Wow, loll in.

I might wear a Hogan cap for the course.

Oh man, Puma Hogan cat.

I think now I'm gonna go Wednesday to the first time is pressure and try to get just deep in his process. I just want to hear what he did prepare for this test.

Instead of your phone, you should take your laptop out on the course. Just pretend like you're punching in data, like do that little one armhole hold like your server carrying a tray. Just type it in numbers, following it in Oh yeah, make it a surface. Yeah, make it so it's all.

Make it like hey, and they are on the course and Sean reality.

Make it seem like it's his idea to come up and talk to you.

You know, I I like Stenson. Uh, Sean stole my thunder there a little earlier. I think, you know, it's obviously one here that was before he kind of jack did from pro golf there for about a year. But yeah, I love Stenson. You know he's taken the whole month off since the Masters, but played the Florida Swing well, played Houston well played the Masters as well for a guy who'd never really played the Masters all that well. So I I like Stenson with this course history here and you know his form.

I love how Stinson sets his schedule and is so like, you know, he doesn't care about skipping a WGC event. You know, if he wants a month off, he takes a month off. You know.

Yeah, yeah, I.

Got Casey, I forgot. We even talked about all these all.

Right, So since Stinson the Hall of Famer, Yeah, yeah, I like it.

Yeah, he's.

Like metal silver, Metal, historic Open like I mean, I think like the way that Open went down too. I know that they don't really look at that probably, but yeah, the way he won the Open FedEx.

Cup for players, He's almost got twenty worldwide wins.

Race to Dubai Championship or whatever they call it.

Yeah, yeah, no, I'm in favor. I just was curious for other people's opinions.

I'd be interested. You know that he's an interesting guy because he's one of those guys that lost his game like twice. Yep, you know where he fell off of. You know, Westwood lost his game too. He could be coming back from his second time losing his game.

I follow Westy on Instagram and it's just it's it's him in the gym and that it's him having a cocktail, and there's not very much golf sprinkled in between, which is fine. I mean, live your life. I'm not being critical, but it's just always him in the gym and then him having a.

Cocktail, i know, or eating something.

Yeah, that's true.

It's like he's a big foodie, loves loves cocktail. Then he hits the gym the next morning. Yeah, he doesn't need to work on the gym, you know. He hits the ball good regardless.

Yeah, it's shame he's not there this week, all right.

Overrated underrated sixteen through eighteen.

It's hard to say it's underrated for because I mean, Lord the Island Hall, but I think it's underrated. I love it. I mean I think like I think because I think because all the shine and run publicity goes to seventeen, you kind of lose sixteen and eighteen, like we don't we know what they're all about, but you have a part five, Part three, and a really tough part four. I think it's I think it's underrated. I

I'm gonna agree with Brendan, I think two in talking to guys about March. One of the cool things is the wind actually shifts a lot more in March, and so you'll get days where seventeen is gonna be into the wind, which those were the days when it was like carnage and I wrote my big carnish, my big story for the week on ninety eight and Len Maties and like that kind of finishes only possible this week. So I'm gonna go underrated.

Yeah, I'm going underrated too. Seventeen is overrated, but sixteen and eighteen. What I like about is you can make birdie and in the case of sixteen, eagle on either hole, but you can also make like a double triple or you know, we've seen tens on number seventeen, So I would say say it's underrated. I think eighteen's a really good hole too. I know it's distance. That's another one where distance has kind of heard it a little bit. But yeah, that's that's a good, good golf hole. All right.

Go ahead, Sean, I'm gonna say overrated. I think you know you get when you get on heaters and everything seems to be going right. It's really easy, and I think that I am surprised by what's happened. I think when he started the year with like a third in Malaysia, you know, it just showed that he was going to keep rolling. And he's been pretty consistent, like he's only missed one cut this year. He's got a couple of top tens, finished ninth at Riviera, which shows he can

I think he became overrated him on like the hipster. He became like the hipster golf choice, you know, as an X man. That doesn't mean I don't love him any last. I like the guy. He's not really been a factor though, since what the Florida the California West Coast Swain not really like.

That he was like the dark horse of the class of twenty eleven because he was in that but he stayed all the years, went to a smaller school, didn't play a ton of a j aga, And so that's where I think your take. I agree with that, But Western am champ.

I mean, you're really like forcing our hand here saying but that's the point of overrated underrated. It feels raw to call him overrated. But I think like he became, he became like kind of the you know, taste soup of the day there for the hipster crowd.

But I don't know, I think, and I mean that's he's got got a lot of work to do there to make that team.

Yeah, I think he's underrated. You know why, because he didn't even play in the players last year.

Now he's back.

Think about that. He wasn't even in the players last year. You know, we haven't even hit the stretch where he peaked last year, so we got a lot of golf left. Maybe he he doesn't get warmed up, maybe until the summer, and he's already notched, uh, you know, a top ten. He's only missed one cut.

Underrated him or Bryson low rookie.

I mean, well, Bryson won. I mean, Zanarky finished two, but Bryson's.

Bryson's all the way. I'm so on the Bryson train. If if if I hadn't already picked Bryson in my one and Dunne league, I would be picking Bryson this week.

The thing I hate with overrated underrated is like Xander could win, you know, in three weeks, and now he's got three wins all of a sudden, like, oh, how can we ever doubt Xander? What idiots we were?

That's the that's the beauty of it. That's the devil.

That's why I took underrated so I can look back and say, you guys are idiots.

I still think he's good. I just I mean, he might not win this year, and we were thinking, you know, this is gonna be like an annual occurrence.

Winning is so hard it is.

And overrated overrated winning?

What about Taco Lou overrated?

Underrated amazing? I mean I love it now. It definitely doesn't lack publicity. But I'm gonna go underrated because I still think eighty five percent of the listeners don't know what it is, but the Taco Royale is. I mean, it's amazing. I go there just to get that eight three of those.

I've only been there once. I'm not a Jacksonville resiment, but I went there once. Sat with Luke Guthrie, I think, and DJ Paiehowski, Chris Solomon, all friends friends of the pod, and it was incredibly enjoyable experience and a great meal. So I think it's underrated. But tweets about Taco Lou extremely overrated. I don't need to hear about Taco Lou. Yeah, Like like Sean was saying, you know, not all you know, we don't need to hear about it. Nobody else knows

The problem is social media just overrates everything. Everything has overrated social media because everyone jumps on the bandwagon. They got to make content to prove that they were there, you know, before it got big, and it's just this is all social media. This wouldn't even be a segment of your podcast wasn't for social media.

I'll tell you what if if I if you take Taco Lou out of Jacksonville and you put it in Chicago, it probably wouldn't be a top twenty taco place. Overrated place stinks.

Oh geez, it's hard for me to god.

But that's the thing. If you if you take it out, put it into a great taco scene, not anything special.

And what do you base? How many times have you been there?

Twice?

Okay?

I one time went to there, I went to their stand. I don't know if I can really count count.

That doesn't count.

Well, you hear about the stand, you know, don't stop.

They have they have an underrated brunch.

I will say that, m all right, brunch might be overrated. Like I've never had a bad brunch, just bad.

I've ever had brunch, I don't think so.

You've never been eaten breakfast at a later time in the day.

I wake up at five am, so lunch is eleven am. At eleven am is lunch. It's not brunch at that point.

Have you ever had breakfast food for lunch?

I've had breakfast for dinner once, you have a kid too. Man, you gotta eat when they're hungry, so you can't be waiting around till eleven to have your breakfast. They'll lose their minds, you know.

Sean, next time we're in the same city, we're gonna go get brunch.

Together, shinny little little Long Island brunch.

Yeah, well, that'd be good.

I would love it that Hampton's brunch crowd would be quite the introduction to the brunch scene for Sean Martin. You know, that's like, you know, playing the tips that you know, whistling straight. So you're a thirty six handicap, never played golf before, you're just throwing them right into the Hampton's brunch scene.

That might be a little we can't have too many of Moses. Probably got to write about Bryson's US open window.

All right, guys, we're gonna end it on that note, and all right we'll have a good yeah savage, all right, yeah, I'm I'm not making friends in the Jacksonville area.

No, not allowed back in Duval County.

All right, guys, all right, have a good week, and uh, we'll talk to you soon.

Thanks.

Thanks, you've been listening to the Fried Egg Podcast. We do the digging for you.