Checking In on Brooks Koepka

at audio quality tomorrow. Other while we're doing announcements next week, the show's going to be released instead of first thing Wednesday morning, mid day Wednesday, so that will be just one little intricacy of next week. It's going to be just a slightly later release. We're just accommodating, you know, our guest who needs to record Wednesday morning, so we'll be right after we finished recording Wednesday morning. And today I am I'm very excited about this podcast. I think

it's just a fun one. I like checking in with these players, big name players who you know might be at, you know, a moment where you wonder, like where's this go.

And I think we've had a lot of moments with brooks Keepka at this point, and you know, he didn't have like a I would say it was like necessarily under whelming year in the in the scope of things, but it definitely was a year with high expectations that weren't you know, delivered, And I think there's just a lot of questions about, like, you know, where's he where's

he at? So I am joined by Brentley Roman from Golf Channel, Joseph Lamonia from Friday Golf, and we dive into brooks Kepka a little bit on the past, a little bit on his up bringing. This was not meant to be like a full blown, like you know, detailed dig into everything he's done, you know, because there's a lot he's got five majors, a lot of close calls, but more you know, here's where we've been, here's where we are, and where do we think he's going in

twenty twenty four? Obviously Live season kicks off now and we're getting you know, it's crazy to say this. I'm always surprised this kind of at this time of year. It's not we're not that far away from the Masters. We're basically two months two months ay from the Masters. It is going to be kind of the lead in there. And as we've seen the last couple of years, the

pro golf calendar just goes so so quickly. Once you hit the Masters, it is just boom, boom boom, and next thing you know, you're like, wait, we don't have a Major for eight more months, what's going on? So we're getting to that point where we got to start to think about the Masters a little bit more, and I think Rory's win a pebble last week is going to spark that. So, all right, before we get to our podcast, let's talk about our friends. These are definitely

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genius dot com. That's golfgenius dot com. And big thanks to Golf Genius for our partnership. We love our partnership with Golf Genius, right, it makes our Friday golf events way better. So all right, let's get to talking about a different golf genius and golf genius on the course. You know, without a doubt, I it's kind of like amazing. And when you think back about brooks Kepka and all these majors, it's like he's just been a force of nature the last ten years. So let's talk about brooks Kepka.

All right, we are back where I'm excited about this podcast. We've done a couple of these player focused podcasts. We did one on Jordan Speeth and as well as Justin Thomas. Kind of it's almost like a state of the Union on these on these players. Today we're going to hit on brooks Koepka. This is I think, like since I got into this job, probably you know, the most I think the player with the most high moments in the last eight years. I think he's obviously won five major

championships in the last seven years. He's been a absolute force at majors, but also is one of the more unique players in the sense that major success doesn't necessarily equal piling up wins on the PGA Tour or the

Live Tour. He's been, you know, a a player that rises to the occasion in the big moments when the golf gets really hard, and been a player that you know, maybe maybe he does, maybe he's loafin the other weeks, maybe he's just not expending his mental energy, but he has been, without a doubt, the player I would say, of the last seven years if you focus in on major championship golf. I'm joined by Brentley Romine from Golf Channel as well as Joseph Lamannia from Brideay Golf to

talk about this guys. I wanted to start it out. I have so many vivid Brooks memories from his majors and all the majors he's won. What are what are the what's the memory like the shot or the moment or the stretch of golf that you remember the most.

Tiger made eight birdies and I think maybe his best final round in a major ever at Bell Reeve and still couldn't track down Brooks. And toward the end there was a shot on sixteen it was like two hundred and forty seven yards and he just rips like this towering iron shot to like six feet and that was just the like that was the exclamation point on that win. And then like the way it was on eighteen, there

was like this catwalk that you had to walk. It was probably about almost one hundred yards, and there was just the sea of fans, and I just remember like the image of him just walking across with Jenna and then they like walk right past Tiger like coming out of scoring. And so that's kind of like the image. It's kind of funny out of all the places that he's won, it's funny that Belle Reeve kind of sticks out the most.

So it's funny to see the growth of Brooks from a kid off the Challenge or in twenty twelve shooting seventy seven, and it's like this guy doesn't have it to Frankly, he's probably gotten the best out of Tiger more often than not.

Brooks Koepka. He goes on, says a couple more lines, and he says, obviously he's searching to find the other parts of the puzzle. But I haven't seen a ball flight like that since Tiger and before that Johnny Miller. And that's twenty fifteen before Brooks is even won a major. I think it's a really cool quote, and going back preparing for this pod, watching some major championship final rounds

again some highlights from Brooks. I think that's what stands out to me the most about Brooks is that ballflight. That he's just striking it differently than other guys in the field. See that at Aaron Hills, see that at Shinnacock. Just these unbelievable piercing stock fades, but also a lot of draws with his long irons. There just aren't many players in the modern era who can hit an iron like Brooks.

quote that is my favorite Brooks quote. Since Joseph is sharing quotes, this is the best Brooks Kopka quote from his entire life. So he basically is has just been born. He's laying in his bassinet. It's in the hospital, and the pediatrician comes in or the doctor comes in, and he's he's looking at at Brooks the baby, and he turns around to his mom Denise, and he says, quote, this is the most serious child I've ever seen in my life. End quote. And that to me, that quote

just sets the tone for Brooks Keopka. I mean, it's a perfect description of him.

the theory is like half the guys shouldn't be there. Yeah, half the guys that should be there aren't going to play well. And then with Brooks, he took it to like a whole, like I'm better than the half the guys that should be there that are playing well. And then it comes down to like I only have to beat a couple guys that are a major. They're easier

than anything else. And I I mean, I find it amazing because like it's it kind of speaks to like that supreme supreme talent, supreme confidence, but also like this this understanding of really how tournament golf works. You know, I think like him and DJ got cast into this like kind of bombers, like they're these the Bash brothers, and like DJ given each other a needle the quotes

from DJ. But I think like when you get down deep rooted into each of them, they are like golf savants in terms of like the understanding of golf and competitive golf. And there is like there's a layer to Kopka of like physicality. I think that also you know comes through in and and Tim and he intimidates other players.

to win the tournament, obviously by one. I'd kind of forgotten about that moment, but for as good of a ball striker as Brooks is. When you go back and watch a lot of these majors. He also puts incredibly well and holds so many crucial putts that kind of look nonchalant, But it's this relentless ball striking paired with an ability to get up and down when it counts and to make a lot of clutch putts, So that

that Bogue in particular stood out to me. And I was curious if either of you even remembered that, because I had not.

calling out eleven. One that I always will never forget is fourteen, the long par four where he had to chip out because he drove it into the tall stuff. He chips out and he's got I think it was, you know, I didn't rewatch this but as I remember, he had like about sixty yard wedge to front pin, not an easy shot downwind, and he bounces that wedge up to like, you know, fourteen feet or so and

makes the putt. And I think like the through line of all Brooks's majors is like just like he never gives stuff away, you know, and it is like the constant momentum whenever he needed the momentum putt to make the par or in the case of the eleventh hole of bogie, like he never gave away that extra shot and he kind of kept kept the train on the tracks.

And going in Shinnakok to me is like the tournament that magnifies and like shows off everything because every guy kind of bailed out of that tournament.

end of the previous year. He missed the Masters that year, and I think it was one of those things where it was one of those a long list of Brooks being slided examples where he wasn't a he may not have been mentioned on like a Golf Channel notables list or something, and so that was the chip on his shoulder that week, and I think he almost I say almost, but he got off to a really bad start that

tournament too. He was something like seven over through his first twenty one or twenty two holes and then played the rest in six under which that was of course, the we lost the golf course Saturday. Phil was, you know, putting around on the green and one of my favorite moments too from that tournament, and this doesn't have much to do with Brooks, but do you remember Phil and the kid with the Donald Duck hat in the final

round on Sunday? There was a kid who had a Donald Duck hat and Phil every hole would go over and rub it, and there was there's a video online but for some reason that just kind of sticks out, but not to get on a huge tangent. But yeah, no, that was a crazy week. That was I don't know, seeing like mentioning that shot on fourteen Andy where he was like hitting out of the like cabbage, like, I

don't know. I feel like people were so surprised that he was able to come back from that injury so quickly, and that just sets the table for all of these injuries pretty much like with the knee surgery and the Masters, and I think it just boils down to the fact that Brooks is just tougher than everybody else, and it's always kind of been that way.

kind of burst on the scene there. Obviously, the Waste Management win was his first one. But Brentley Near, you've covered amateur and college and you know, pro golf for a number of years now, what was kind of Brooks as an amateur and what was he thought of as as a you know, heading into college and then turning professional. What was he considered he was.

bunch of top tens. He would play in their invitationals, but he wasn't a I'm trying to think of the guys in his recruiting class, but he wasn't a blame barber. Or there was a kid named Wesley Graham who was also really good who didn't quite pan out. But I think when he went to Florida State he was kind of known as this hotthead like he had a lot of talent, had these broad shoulders, had the ball striking, had the sound all that, like, he had everything he wanted.

But he was an absolute like head case. And Chris Malloy, who's the head coach at Ole Miss now, he was the assistant at Florida State under Trey Jones, And I mean there's stories where Molloy would, you know, be making Kopka run stadiums and he'd be at the bottom with the trash can and Kopka would like puke into the trash can and then head right back up the stairs

to do it like another stadium. And there was a five second roll too in college where Brooks like because he would break clubs and so he basically had to put the club in the bag within five seconds otherwise he'd get you know, he'd have to run stadiums or do extra gym time. But then after a while, like none of that would work because Brooks just thought of the stadiums as, oh, that's just my cardio for the day.

Like he just you couldn't quite crack him. And it's funny because I talked to Maloy the other day and I was asking him, like, when was the turning point? Because Brooks now is known as this what like this uncrackable, like just mental force. But I'm like, when did it? When was the turning point for him? And I think

it was really it was a sophomore year. His mom had had just been diagnosed with cancer towards the end of that previous year and you know, so Brooks was dealing with that, but then also he was he was contending at their home tournament and he blew a shot out of bounds and he just started f bombing and just really making a scene of himself, and he lost so much focus that he gets in signs his card and he signs for the wrong score, and so he decuses himself and the team goes from beating I forget

who they were playing. It might have been like Georgia Tech or something, but or Virginia beating them by nine by only beating them by one. And that moment, like he felt like he almost left his teammates down, was the moment where he kind of realized, all right, I

have to grow up. And it obviously wasn't a complete one eighty after that, but that was kind of the moment where he went from being a good college player with a hot head to actually putting together turn and being a first team All American and leading them to the n C Double A championship in twenty twelve and really being the reason why they even had a chance at match play. That's another interesting story, uh that twenty twelve, Like we talked about shots for for the longest time.

He said, the most clutch situation that he's ever been in was at Riviera in twenty twelve. He's on the eighteenth green, Daniel Berger is just throwing up all over himself. Three pet of the green.

out and it's a playoff. They play five two five SS in its best aggregate score. In the final group that Brooks is in is is Koepka. Dani old Berger, who's a freshman and then Corey Connors Pendy and Matthwes. So you have five tour players. Yeah, five players, all tour players, all in this playoff. And Daniel Berger makes a double bogie basically from from the fairway. He hit it like forty yards short of the green and then

flubbed the chip and missed a pie. It was awful, and Kopka made the only par I think ford on Forida State, But yeah, Kent State ended up winning that playoff without making a par which was pretty crazy. But yeah, I talked to Brooks about that in a few years back, and the only thing he said was the only thing he remembers from that NCAA championship is that Burger choked, like to this day. Just he's like, yeah, I remember Burger choking Bridley. I mean, hopefully this isn't I don't

think this is jumping ahead too much. Brooks comes out to the Challenge Tour right a little bit of an unconventional route, Like I think, now this is generalizing, but each year there's a couple of college players where it's like, all right, that might be a tour player. How ha

was Brooks thought of when he left college? Because I feel like It's hard to go back in time and remember exactly unless you followed college golf super closely what you thought of Brooks kept as a prospect at the time, Like, yeah, how are people thinking about him? I mean he was probably I mean he won three times in college. He had a really consistent you know, last couple of seasons too to where he was. I mean he was finishing T seven and T eleven things like that. He was

really solid. I would say he was probably a top ten guy coming out, But back then it was it was weird. It seemed like you had to be, you know, one of the top three guys in wagger to get starts, like to get sponsor exemptions. And that was the big thing and the big reason why he went to the Challenge Tour. And I believe I forget who even recommended it. It might have been Rocky Hambricks, his agent recommended him go to the Challenge Tour, but it was because he didn't get any sponsor exemptions.

this other path. But then that continues with like when he is talking about these these beat like these slights. You know, it like became a fabric of who he was as a competitor or who he is as a competitor.

doing like a vlog and he's just loving it. It's so weird because I feel like Brooks loves the team aspect and like he'll tell you that, but then there's times where he'd also say, like I don't want to be friends with any of these guys, like I don't

have any of their phone numbers saved. And so I've always kind of treaded lightly with kind of what comes out of Brooks's mouth, just because I think sometimes he tries to say things, you know, to kind of trick his mind into believing something, and maybe sometimes he contradicts himself.

But but yeah, I think deep down, Brooks has always kind of liked, maybe not so much the team aspect of the Challenge Tour, but I think he's always liked this kind of self torture that that's sort of like running the stadiums in college, or you know, cramming, you know, four guys in a car riding around Kazakhstan and you know, sleeping in his car and things like that. I think

he enjoys that. I think he enjoys it being tough, and he enjoys the grind and it's kind of almost Navy Seal type where you kind of performed the best when you're in pain, and you know, in these high pressure situations, and it's.

I mean, for people that don't know what the Challenge Tour is, it is it is like the It's the European Tours version of the corn Faery Tour, which is it's like a way more thrifty corn ferry Tour, way less money and way more obscure venues. I mean you're you're traveled. Yeah, you're going all over the world and like to really random places such as Kazakhstown.

we're at on the Kopka, you know train. So twenty fourteen, he's got his European Tour card, He's played in a couple of majors, and this is where the big kind of breakout comes at the US Open, where he finishes fourth. He goes on later in the year to win on the on the European Tour. He won late in the season, which you know catapulted him up into where he got I think he got his PGA Tour card through World ranking correct, Well.

You mentioned how that was kind of his breakound Andy, there was one golf legend who that was not the moment where he realized too brooks Keptka won because there's a moment at Valhalla at the PGA later that year where Tom Watson is he's looking for Harris English for something and he comes across brooks Kepka's group and Kepka hits a drive and he's walking down the fairway and Tom Watson is talking to him and he says, what club are you ahead? Pro at So he mistook brooks

Kopka for aal at the twenty fourteen PGA. It just it never ends with.

both JB. Holmes and Bill Haas also won that year, but Brooks's results in majors put theirs to shame in twenty fifteen. In twenty fifteen, Brooks made the cut in all four majors, finished tenth at the Open, fifth at the PGA, eighteenth at the US Opened, thirty third at the Masters. Like he made the cut in all four, he's playing very well, has a win, and doesn't get

picked for the President's Cup team. When you just pile that on him being his name being mispronounced at the US Open at Aaron Hills, I believe in his winning. Maybe it's during the trophy ceremony, not being listed as a notable as Brentley already has alluded to, and I believe that was maybe the twenty eighteen US opened, despite

being the defending champion. I think golf channels showed the notables during the first round and Brooks was not mentioned, and he might have even tweeted about that, like the Boys Club, and Brook's not really feeling a part of it, always being slighted, like it's not all a figment of his imagination. It feels like there are a lot of slights along his journey, which probably informs the person he is.

I don't know if that's necessarily why he went to live There's there's a lot of reasons for that, but it is kind of interesting to think about him always being overlooked, maybe never taken quite as seriously as some of his peers.

the best player still? And Brandal said yes, basically in a roundabout way, and then and then he said the only two players who can come close to him are DJ and Rory, and then he mentioned Ram and then he mentioned Speed. He didn't even Kopka, and that was when Keopka tweeted the brandle with the clown nose. And then that's same because that was right around that was in May, right before Beth Page and that same championship. The pre tournament presser. Brooks's I remember it was right

after Tigers, and Tigers is jam packed. It's you know, it's standing room only, and as soon as Tiger's done, Brooks is walking in. In the media, it's just a mass exodus. And you know, some people stayed, but Brooks definitely noticed half the room just getting up and leaving once Tiger was done speaking. And Brooks's I mean, Brooks is, you know, the defending champion and already a three time major winner at the time, So I mean, it's just

it's crazy. And I feel like I feel like I sided with Brooks on this too, because I feel like, you know, maybe you know, us as journalists kind of were off put by the by the kacky, by the attitude and maybe didn't give him quite the do that he may have deserved.

that like that it helps provide an edge. I think like it shows when he doesn't have an edge, he doesn't really perform. And that's the explanation I think on the PGA Tour stuff is that the majors provided that heightened important and pressure that he kind of needs to play his best level of golf.

and then it gets us to twenty seventeen. He finishes eleventh in the Masters. He wins the US Open. So he wins the twenty seventeen US Open. That's his first US Open. That is at Aaron Hills. You know, I honestly think like people didn't count this as a major because of the scoring at Aaron Hills. There was like, again,

he wins a major and people. I think there are people that were upset that JT didn't win, you know that about how the golf course set up, But it's it's kind of treated like it wasn't a major, Like there are people all of this shouldn't count because it was Aaron Hills and so on and so forth, and I kind of think this is just like another thing that Brooks can turn into us, Like I love this Major. I joined it too. When I look back, I really loved it.

that that major not playing that well. You think he was like T thirty seven in Memphis the week before, he had missed forrest six cuts to start that year had been like outside the top thirty for a month at that time, and there's like a really famous story about him and Pete Cowen that week and basically Pete Cowen just lit into him, and it kind of even goes back to college golf, like I feel like Brooks's dad, Bob basically gave the keys to like Brooks's coaches, like

whoever was coaching. I mean, I think it continued to the pros. You basically had to almost physically beat Brooks Kepka up to get him to listen. And I think this is like a really famous story with Pete Cowen that week. He just ripped into him and Brooks ended up signing a flag for him afterwards and said thanks

for getting on my ass or something like that. And there's been I think some moments where Brooks has kind of asked Pete to do the same thing, and I think after this year's Masters was another moment like that. But yeah, going back and kind of researching this, that was something that came up was this this moment with Pete where he basically just said you need to have an attitude of a champion and stop being like a petulant child, and he did.

a Harding Park right that. We just referenced that quote from the night before almost wins Kiowa with Phil, where Phil Slow plays him almost won the twenty twenty three Masters. It looked like he was going to win the twenty twenty three Masters before he kind of starts to fall apart and rom overtakes him. But that's five more right there. That he won five, and he could still win a couple more.

pretty incredible those names that Brooks is surrounded by. And credit to the Spif for being up there too as one of the other players who's more of a younger generation. But I mean, you're talking about Brooks, Phil, Ernie and Tiger.

one wants to Like I don't know. I feel like he's he's been so negative to the point of maybe making an effort to try to be like like Michael Jordan or be like one of those guys, and and it's just not himself because as we've talked about, like Brooks really cares what people think about him, and he really cares about his standing in the game, but mentally

like he wants to be the other guy. And so I think he's done a lot of things in his career that being one of them, to where he's maybe sabotaged himself because he's trying to be someone that he's not.

him down, spent like a day with him. But he was practicing with with Luke, and Luke asked him like pretty much that thought, Andy, like how does he how does he do it? And I think the quote was Brooks told Luke he basically just goes brain dead, like he tries to play golf brain dead to where he's not thinking about anything. And that's what he said, that's very hard to do.

really messed with him. It might have been twenty twenty three because that was also when Brooks afterwards he wouldn't and spent like all night with his buddy when he got home, and they went like shot by shot and they went through like what was going through his head, and he was basically he like diagnosed it and was like I just wanted it way too much and I

kept thinking about like too much stuff. And so yeah, I mean I've always like I know, I say, like, you know, Brooks kind of talks out both of them into his mouth. But he's always been one of my favorite players, just because obviously of the major like the major record, but I don't know, just like the toughness too, and kind of the ability to do things that not a lot of guys could do.

have the five wins. It's I feel like we're having this discussion because it feels like kind of another moment. I think there's been a few moments of Brooks, you know, the injuries, the knee in particular. I think there's a moment where he himself, along with the hip, thought it might be over, you know, and obviously that he had the resurgent twenty three, which you know he saw he almost won the Masters. John Rahm ended up winning that one,

and he wins okill. And I think like a lot of people had pretty high expectations of Brooks in twenty four and it was met with barely lackluster play. He won twice on the Live Tour, whatever that means, and in the majors he made the cut at all of them. But he wasn't really a factor in any of them, which was you know, I think when when we've had healthy Brooks Keopka, you you expect him to be there late on the weekend, and that just wasn't the case

this year. So it kind of I think leaves us with are we are we on the Are we at the end of the kep geyer? Are we on the backside? Are Is there a few more years of really high level play?

big thing last year, which was just the putting. And I've always thought amongst the you know, the the elite major players in the game the last decade, you know, your your Rory's, your Speece, your your DJs, I've always thought like Brooks was the best putter out of all the guys who could ball strike you to death, Like he was also the best putter, and he was as high as like fifth strokes game putting back in sixteen seventeen, back when he won that first one, And he was

always kind of around that twenty to forty range on tour and even better in the majors, and this year clearly uncomfortable on the greens, Like if you extrapolate kind of his strokes gained, and you know, and correct me if I'm wrong, Joseph too, because you're a lot better

with the stats than me. But basically, just looking at those four majors that he played, he lost something around like zero point three four or five strokes on the greens, and that would have ranked like one hundred and sixtieth on tour last year. And I know that he'd switch putters before the US Open, so he was clearly like that was the part of his game that really let him down. And Tita Green stats like if you would have just taken those four major tournaments, he would have

ranked all behind only Scotty for the year. So like, I feel like the putting is might be the I don't know. I feel like putting's always kind of the easiest thing to get back sometimes, especially if you have been a good putter.

majors together when he's thirty six thirty seven. Like, it's not like he's only been involved in the five majors that he's won. Like, as we've already mentioned, he's been in the top five so often that I think it'd be a little crazy to discount him in general. But it's kind of this, there's so much variance, Like he could show up and miss the CUD. It'll never surprise me,

but he also could show up and win. I think what I would love to see from Brooks, and I'm a little skeptical love is like, could he put together another year where he's in the top fifteen and all four majors, or like in the top eight and three of them, Like, I think that's probably pretty unlikely, but I wouldn't be surprised to see him win another one. Where are you Andy?

tour either. You know, like you already see these guys are starting by playing an event under the lights in Saudi Arabia this week, and it's like, look at the head start that a guy like Rory has on the season as he's played with them playing, you know, and I know these guys play some of the like the DP World Tour. The consistency of having to play on tour was a good thing for him.

of it. Did some of the live guys, frankly are just a little delusional about the quality of play on their tour and finished tied for ninth and think that their game is in a better spot than it is when if you're playing against the stacked field, like Rory just was like, I think it gives you a little bit of a better feel for what you need to work on, even more so than just the golf course argument the courses that you're playing.

I don't know if it's necessarily even the competition. I think it's the biggest thing for me is just the fifty four holes because and also shotguns start and it's so much different actually at a major if you're in the lead or you're in contention in a major, and you don't tee off until three pm on a Sunday afternoon, like the mental like fortitude, you have to have that entire morning from the time you wake up to the time you tee off, and then like you haven't even

done the hard part yet. I just feel you can't simulate that on on live like you're not You're not having to watch a guy go out an hour an hour and a half ahead of you and post a number like you don't you basically just tee off and you all meet back at the clubhouse and sign your scorecards. I just think it's just a total different dynamic. And with Brooks specifically, like we just talked about his entire career, like he gets up for the majors and like he

doesn't get up for anything else. I'm surprised that that he's won five times on Lift, just because I don't I think that he still thinks the majors are above everything else and that he's kind of just I don't know, I mean, he's just playing golf. I don't know if this really means that much to him, to be honest with you, like these these whip tournaments, so.

didn't have a terrible Major last year. I think the things with him or health, I mean, the guys had, you know, a severe wrist injury, severe two severe knee injuries, a severe hip injury, you know, so that that stuff doesn't it goes away like maybe specific injuries, but if you're prone to stuff like that, maybe it doesn't. So I think that's a big thing. And then he also doesn't have a swing coach right now, like he has Pete Cowen, who you know, has mainly just been short

game kind of slash mental coach for him. He's had Pierce who's been his putting coach forever, who's a really great coach, but he doesn't work with Claude anymore, and so who knows, Like could that be a good thing, taking ownership of his own swing and kind of moving forward like we've seen from some other guys in the past, or you know, like.

think he gets one more. I don't know. If he gets one more, I think, like, what'll be interesting Him and Rory are effectively the same age is who's up with more majors at the end of the day, Brooks having a one major league is And I think this is like a interesting underguard card that has a lot of Like I guarantee when Brooks won his fifth that couldn't have made Rory happy because it's like there's a badge of honor of being like the you know, if you take Tiger out of active and fill out of

active player, the active player with the most majors right, absolutely.

a bet against Brooks's future compared to Rory. Like Rory may not win another one.

of spin. I don't know. I feel like Rory like Brooks's if you look at all the different aspects of the game, Like Brooks has never been a great chip or the golf ball, like great around the green, so he's always kind of consistently been right around the top, you know, one hundredth to outside the top one hundred in strop scans around the green. I feel like Rory has been more consistent across the board then then Brooks has.

And you know, if Brooks isn't gonna if he's not going to figure out the putting anytime soon, like he could, he could waste another year or two of majors. And Rory right now is playing some of the best golf that he's playing. So I could see Rory winning two majors this year, and if Brooks doesn't get it, going it for another couple of years, like that's a pretty big head start. So yeah, I'd I'd go Rory. Probably a little bit of recency bias, but I do think Brooks wins at least one more.

I'm not playing until my all stops oscillating. And then shortly thereafter they halt play. Do you think that's a pretty uh. It fits in with a lot of Brentley's characterizations of a young Brooks. The brash like some of the arrogance kind of maybe was a sign that he did not feel uncomfortable in that environment. I think it's pretty interesting moment in the Kopka. If we're gonna do the Keopka pod, we got to mention.

it is. I think, you know, generally believe that we are we are going to see more high level major play from him in the calendar year.

This is like such a typical golfer, like forty year old white man, like and smart and goes, I have two kids. It was like the best exchange ever and one that I will file away from me for the rest of my life.