Welcome back to another edition of the Frida Egg Podcast. Today's episode is brought to you by Dream Golf. Dream Golf is the brand behind some of the best golf resorts in America. You've got Sand Valley in Wisconsin, Cabot Cape Breton up in Canada, and of course Bandon Dunes. I think everybody probably would agree the best golf resort in the world. So they are putting together a little giveaway which is a awesome deal. I mean it's free
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US Junior and obviously they have world class golf at both resorts. So it is a free to enter. You need to do it by September thirtieth, so you're running out of time and you do it at dreamgolf dot com backslash giveaway. I guess it's a forward slash dreamgolf dot com slash giveaway to submit your entry, all right, Today's episode is with the one and only Lawrence Donogan. Lawrence is a longtime golf journalist. He wrote for The
Guardian and The Scotsman back in the day. Now he is one of the publishers of McKellar magazine, my favorite written magazine that exists on golf. It's wonderful, wonderful writing, and Lawrence has a ton of experience covering major championships, European Tour golf. A lot of the guys that are playing on this European team he covered over the year,
and he's covered a fair share of Ryder Cups. So I thought he'd be a great perspective, a European perspective, to come on and do our traditional five Things podcast before a big event. So Lawrence uh is on Twitter and Instagram. Follow him there, but also subscribe to his magazine. It's pretty cool. So, without further ado, here is Lawrence down again.
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 a egg Friday egg, the dreaded Frida egg fridagg Frida egg bride egg Lie, I'm about ready to run off of the course.
Lawrence, welcome on.
How you didn't hand it?
Great to be on long overdue. You should have been on years ago. Wealth of you know, music knowledge, wealth of golf knowledge. You know, written about Ryder Cups for years and obviously major championships for years, and it really covered the sport of golf over this era that is still going on. I didn't think that we were still going to be talking about Lee Westwood and Ryder Cups in twenty twenty one, But here we are.
Isn't that amazing? Actually, I've got a very quickly. Lee Westwood was picked for the two thousand and one Ryder Cup and he was in great form and he went. He had absolutely well, being the mister Lee Westwood mega fan, you'll know, he had the worst slump of all time. Yes, And I remember, so it was delayed a year and I had to go up to Sahale for something. I was interviewing Monty or something, and I bumped into Lee Westwood on the first tea or whatever, and I said,
how's it going? I said, oh, fuck, just terrible. And then he proceeded to hit this two iron straight into the trees and you're thinking, oh my god. And then lo and behold he gets to that ride a cup A year later or a couple months later after that, completely a form and Sam turns nurses him through and he's reborn, and here we are twenty years later, he's still flaming the Ryder Cup. What career? What player?
I think like the slump. I'm drawn to the slump players like I find Jordan Speith extraordinarily more interesting now than he was when he was twenty two and on top of the world, Like now that he's gone through what was the doldrums. I mean, the guy almost fell out of the top one hundred in the world rankings, and I think now coming back from that, he's so much more compelling because he's somebody that has faced adversity and at times, I'm sure wondered if it was ever
coming back. And Westwood, I think that's probably where a lot of my fandom from was the fact that he was this kind of a Starcross Superstar and all the near misses gout, you you know, and it makes you really feel for a guy because as golfers were all used to failing ninety nine percent of the time. And and that's the relatability that the professionals could gain is when they struggle the uh.
And he's so kind of stoic the ship nook after the two thousand and nine open at Termany shipnuk as he does snuck into the locker room and got that pat. I don't you should go back and look at it, that great little vignette of Westwood staring intensely at the water cooler. You know, I can't believe because that was the one he should have won. I mean, he should have won that, you know.
I mean there are a bunch that he should have won.
Well, I think I think if you talk to him, I think he feels that that that's the one. Yeah, he is actually I foresaw him. I was carrying on European tour in ninety six. I remember, this is how far back I go with Westwood. I remember when he was a fantastic putter. I think when he first came out on tour, he was a phenomenal putter, and I was caddying for a guy. We played with him in
good catin terrible golf course in near Hamburg. His dad was pulling a trolley for him, and I swear to god West would shot sixty five one day, and I'd never seen anything better. And I just thought, this guy is going to win seventy three majors. He looked so good. But so here we are, got almost thirty years later. It's not amazing he's still going strong anyway.
Well, I mean, like, I don't think I think that's the thing, is like, longevity is such an interesting thing. I don't think like, I don't think longevity should necessarily be used for the greatest players of all time because I think like what you do in like say your ten year prime heyday is what should be trump all things. Is that that was like when you're in your at your best versus when other guys were at their best,
like their peaks of their career. But at the same token, I think longevity longevity as speaks to just pure overall talent because they you know, the just the sheer ability to have it and still compete when you're forty seven, forty eight years old and make a Ryder Cup team. And I think this speaks to Phil. Phil talent wise is off the charts, and I think that's, you know something, This is the first year we don't have Phil in a Ryder Cup in you know, since the nineties.
The I've got a theory. I mean, one of my great passions is development. Westwood was a very much a multi sport athlete. When he was a teenager, he was a great you called soccer football player, really good runner, he played all sorts of stuff and he wasn't There was a guy around when when Westwood was a junior in England there was another guy called Michael Welsh who was a superstar and they were very much contemporaries and if they were ever in tournaments, wels would always beat Westwood.
So Westwood was never the best then. And I just think those kind of guys, they tend the guys who didn't really do like full on golf airly, those are the guys that can attend to last. I mean, I know, field it, but Phil's got this kind of he just loves golf more than anybody in the entire universe. I mean so, but Westwood still going strong, because I don't think he's not still not burnut it's not amazing that the he's a forty eight or forty nine.
Yeah, And I think the other thing with that when you play other sports, I think what also happens is you develop a really fierce competitiveness, which can which you have to be super competitive when you've made, you know, in Phil's case, tons of money you're older, like, there has to be some sort of competitive drive that in fire that burns, you know, because I think that's where
we see some guys. They make a bunch of money, especially now with the PGA Tour the way it is, they make a ton of money, and it's easy to take your foot off the pedal a little bit. You're not working as hard, you know, maybe you have kids and then all of a sudden it's like, well, you know, I can hang out with my kids versus I could go practice is from nine to four.
The Yeah. I listened to uhc donald on Knowling a couple of weeks ago. It was really I did I thought he was older. He said, I'm forty three and I still think I can do this, and that maybe I went and looked, I went and looked at his PG two. He'd made thirty six point five million on a PGA tour and he's forty three, and he said, I still think, you know, I still think he could do it. I still think I could win tournaments. I can win majors. It's so you've got to have someone
else on top of just the talent. And Westwood's got it. Phil's got it.
Well, I think obviously, ball striking is a big thing. Iron play, iron play endurers. You know you're never gonna You're not gonna be able to be the longest player once you hit thirty, like you you know, like speed is always going to favor the youth. So distance sure is a dominant force and becoming more and more dominant in the PGA tour. In distance the big thing this week at the Ryder Cup. But at the same time, the enduring talent is the ability. I always think the
very best ball strikers. You know, when you're playing with a really great ball striker, is they never ever miss yardages on approach, plays pin high all day long.
Well, when Donald was he kind of bit. Donald was short. When he was working World up Woman for fifty six weeks, he was short but he's talking about basically from one hundred and twenty five yards and end, it was up and down. That was it, guarantee sensely guaranteed number one putter on the PG two or three years in a row, I think top three for the next two five years as basically the best or one of the very best parts in the world.
His approach play numbers for those years two they were I think his worst in five years was sixteenth, his worst rank of any of those three. So he'd always be, you know, one hundred and fiftieth in the world or worse in driving off the tee, but every other statistic he was top effectively top fifteen, and that's insane, is the all around skill. And it also it's so compelling.
When I had him on our podcast and he talked about how playing with Rose at Marion was like a defining moment of his career, and you know, he walked off the course and thought, if I could just hit it like justin Rose, I would win some majors. And that's when he went down a path that kind of led to what we saw. He's tried to change his swing, and.
I think then you go to Chuck Cook. Yeah, so looking for a mix of fifteen twenty yards.
Yeah, yeah, but it's super it's super interesting because then I've did some research. It might have been from one of your articles. After it was from one of your articles after Luke Donald won Wentworth in twenty eleven over Westwood and took number one, wrote there were a lot of Rose quotes talking about how impressive Luke Donald's consistency
was and how he needed to be more consistent. And Rose then became this world class player, you know, shortly after, one of the most consistent players, you know, outside of Rory, the most consistent player from twenty in the twenty tens. And you know, then Donald plays with Rose at Marion and and he walks off the course thinking if I could just be like Justin Rose and and you know, and it doesn't work out for him, Which is it? Just golfers are the most They're the most envious people.
You know they could be.
They've been a final group of a major championship, you know, two of the best players in the world, and they look at the other guy across the across the t box and think about how they wish they could do things like the other guy could. When they're playing in the final group of the Major and they and that's I think the hard thing with the game is like,
how do you get better? And you've got a kid that you know, one of the best juniors in the in the country obviously, yeah, but anyway, you know he's gonna play high division one golf and you've got but like, one of the things I always find interesting is, like you think about junior offers. It once you get to a certain level, golf gets so difficult to get better, and it really becomes who can figure out how to get better when you're already an elite and keep moving up as you get older.
It's the great conundrum. I feel sorry for college coaches because they're essentially looking at a sixteen or sixteen and a seventeen year old kid and trying to project where they're going to be in two or three years time. It's you know, you look at some kids you can tell straight away. Look, for instance, you can look at Tommy Morrison, who's a seventeen year old kid. He's got six nine guy, right, Yeah, Actually I saw him at
a Monday qualifier last week. You looked very impressive. It's huge, huge, actually, and I went to Olympia Fields and I was in Chicago on Saturday and went to Olympia Fields and it was really, I mean, god, a mighty look at the Oklahoma State team. Andy, my goodness. These guys are all giants. All of them are giants. So but to that extent, the college coaches just looking at size of kids.
Speed, But well, it's like becoming like high school baseball when like college scholarships drafts, not necessarily the best pitcher in the area is going to get the best scholarship. It's the biggest one. It's the one that they see the most speed, the most you know, the most that they see the potential for the most electric stuff. It's like drafting. You know, these these high school kids that get drafted, they get drafted on projections rather than results.
And you know, I'll never forget I had a buddy that was one of the best pitchers in the area and he got passed over for scholarships to Division one. And I was always like, he's like, I'm just he was five to ten. You know, what's going to five to ten? How's he going to get better? And that's the thing I think with golf is they're looking as like, oh does this can this kid swing it one twenty five? And that's the big tie breaker between two kids that are similar in results.
Well, the big I mean getting back to your point, though, the big thing is, you know, see and still the intangibles. I mean you can look at ten you go to the Junior Players Championship for instance, you know, see the top twenty kids in the States, and they're all great, great players. But I mean, how do you pick out, you know, apart from size, how do you pick out
the one, you know who has the intangibles? You look at a sixteen year old Jordan Speed and you knew straight away, you know, I mean, this is a kid who couldn't really swing it, didn't really have much in the way of fundamentals because just had that inate ability to get the ball in the hole. But that's that's it's not always so clear when you're looking at it. It's so getting back to your point is it's so you know what what separates the great players? I mean, it's it's all I mean.
Well, I mean like a perfect example too, like is abe answers twelfth in the world and nobody, nobody would go and say I'm I'm taken a answer, But then you you look at it and I think it's I think he's two or three years running where he's made the least amount of bogies on tour, and it's like, well, like he's just very tidy, you know, like he's the tidiest player on tour. Like it makes the least amount of mistakes, you know, makes putts when he needs to.
It's it's just, Yeah, that's the thing with golf is like everybody's got there. I think almost the idea I would take is finding the players that are most authentically them, right, because I think that's what golf so much is is like the players that play to their their own way are the ones that end up being the really the
greatest players. Right is that Like you know, everybody's oh he's the next Sevvy, but like John Ram's John Ram, you know, and and and you could say, oh, we want to build a swing, a short swing with little moving parts, like, but guess what, that's John Rom's swing And that's because you know he we found out with the what I forgot, what ailment he has with that. Yeah, like his foot is the reason that his swing is the way it is, and it's like, well, that's just
authentically his golf swing. You think about Bubba Watson never taking a golf lesson, like nobody's going to be the next Bubba Watson. Bubba Watston's one to one, and you think about the great players, they're almost all one of one's.
Well, the pressures though, you know the pressures on kids now though, and there's so much information. I mean, there was a phase about eighteen months ago where you coat a junior golf tour and every kid in the rains was giving it the old George ginks knees.
Separating that phase might fly, Hi maut real real quick.
Yeah, so yeah, getting back to your original party or your point and my point, you'll going back to Westwood and Michael Welsh. I mean, how did that happen? Michael Welsh was the can't miss kid. He really was. He could not miss and lo behold, Michael Welsh is now working for the Lee Westwood Foundation. I think I think he's a coach. He coaches kids in the Westwood Foundation. Really interesting guy and it's a real I always say Stacy Lewis keeping back to Stacy Lewis coach. I love
Stacy Lewis. She said that nobody needs to be the best when you're fifteen, you don't, you know, and everybody's in such a you know, such a hurry these days. So you're right, everybody's in such a hurry. So what do you start when you start chasing a swing? You start chasing this coach, you start chasing that coach, this technique, you know, instead of just sticking with what you've got. And I'm looking at you over the medium in the long term. And again, the problem with college a lot
of coaches are there. They're all about the moment. I spoke to Pete Counting about this once and he's seen. The problem with college golf in the station is it's about winning. I mean, if I'm a college coach, I'm desperate to it. If I don't win, I'm losing my job. I mean, you can understand it, but it's probably not the best, probably not the best for the kids in the program, because you know that coach is just coaching
you win in the moment. If I'm a kid at college and thinking, well, I want to be I want to be ready for when I'm twenty three years old and trying to get on the PGA tour. So I want my development to be time for that moment. But the coach. The coach has different priorities. Anyway, it's a I think the long and Shore and Andy. It's a it's a complicated world out there, and now that of us have to we're not making it so we don't have to worry about it.
Well, I mean, now we're fifteen vic in. We haven't really talked about that. You know, there's so much Ryder Cup content out there. This might be a good departure for people, but we're doing our traditional five things. We do this before every major championship. We're extending it to the Ryder Cup. Lawrence has provided five things. I've provided I've I've got five things ready to go. Well, this is now a sixth. I'm going to boot one out, but I'm going to Pigeon Tale. I'm gonna tie it
together with what we were just talking about, youth. I mean, this is the thing we've got. This US team is I think I saw a chart. It's the youngest team.
Yep.
Europe is very a very old team. And obviously this is all based off of averages. So outliers like West Eve pull that average up. But y'all, you know, the US team is one of the is the youngest team I think that they've ever had. And what I find kind of most interesting about this in our discussion, what we talked about before, is like, there are these guys that are on these on this team that we are going to pencil in and we're gonna say these these are the next, you know, the next ten Ryder Cups
or the next five Ryder Cups. These are gonna be the studs. But the reality and what we've learned with players like brooks Kopka is the guys that are the best at age twenty two, twenty three, twenty four aren't always the best at age twenty eight. Brooks Kopka was on nobody's Ryder Cup radar when he was twenty four, and now you know he is a four time major winner and seemingly will be a stalwart all the time.
And obviously with the European guys, you got Victor Hovlin, who's probably, you know, the brightest young player in the euro corral. So youth is definitely a story this year, and I guess that ties together with Ryder Cup rookies, a term that I hate.
Yeah, yeah, I wonder if this kind of stuff martyrs anymore. I guess it's you know, see, if I'm a if I'm a twenty two year old American genius and I'm going to play in Europe, I think this youth doesn't matter, and advice for youth doesn't. I don't think of mars. I think what matters is you know what experienced you have. So Victor, I'm sure Victor Hoveland has played. I mean he went to Oklahoma State. I don't is that Oklahoma
State near Yeah? Is it near Whistland Straits. I'm not a bit a right, okay, but you know, but it's close enough. But you again, I don't think age really marks. I think the difference is five years between the two. But I mean that's an average if you look at the record records. Again, I think European rookies tend to play a little bit better than American rookies. But again that's more of a function of the results of the
of the of the Ryder Cups. I think it's it's one of these subjects that again, it's a long four days before the Ryder Cup starts. I mean, we all get there on a Monday, You've got Mondays. You'll get four or five days before you get a golf ball hitting anger. So it's just stuff to talk about. Rookies is one of the things everybody talks about. But you know what, I'm not sure it marters Andy, you know, does it?
I go back to Harrington's quote, my favorite quote in all sports this year that I've heard where he said it, I believe was that the US Open, or maybe I think it was the US Open.
Yeah.
Yeah, experiences and all it's cracked up to be. With experience, you lose innocence. I think there's something big with the Ryder Cup because I think the rookies are the most excited to be there of all the players. We saw it with Brooks Kopka's quotes that were very apathetic, you know, and I think we've seen it over the history. We saw Tiger and Phil spoke out vehemently about you know,
there's some angst about the Ryder Cup. Sometimes with these players that play a lot of times, they see how much money is being made and not a lot of money being made for them. So I think that a rookie is so excited to be there that there's almost a youthful exuberance. That's an advantage. And then you go down and you look at the rookies, there's like, you know, there's so many rookies this year, but are we is calin Markawa who's won two majors rookies.
That was my point. I was trying to very and articulately me the only thing about the hunting is, well, guess what, it's hardly. I mean, he's got I think he's got a cut. He's got Bert, and he's got Hofland.
And he's got Shane Lowry Shane, that's a joke.
The other thing about but you know, I guarantee you this, and he you know, he had three picks right, and Garcia and Porler were told long ago that they were going to play. And there's no way that burnt Wisberger would have got a pick, no chance, no chance that pick would have gone to If Lowry had snuck in in the ninth spot, that pick would have gone to
Justin Rose. So Harrington might be saying one thing. He talking, he's talking about both sides of his mouth, because there's again he's I think, I sue it's quite interesting that might say something you know about what the Europeans think of experience and how important experiences and how a little story they put in this puppy dog enthusiasm that you seem to be so enamored with.
Well, I mean that's the thing, is that you had some choices, Like he could have taken restless Hoguard Who've been you know, that would have been your youth pick if they wanted to make a youth pick. But at the same time, I think like they're in a situation that Euros have the advantage of, like if they lose this one, it's not a big deal. If the Americans lose this one, it is it is a crisis. I mean, they have at one on your they have one on
European soil. By the time Italy's played in thirty years, and it's I mean, the the Euros have been picking off ones in America every so often, so it's I mean, this is a this is a must win, and the heroes get to like they could kind of nobody's critiquing the euro way of doing building a team like they could do it however they want, because they the proof's been in the pudding recently. Now for a quick word about our pro shop. Hey, you know this week we
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Did you see the strict Prince. I guess that's one of my talking points, but I would.
Going do it. This is where we're on from rookies.
Well, I was really struck by the opening press conference yesterday, like a guy who did not want to be there, and he was he was talking about this about this h you know, I think that he said, I think the captain SyES a thankless job. Do you believe that? What was the other one? Uh? Yeah, talking about being a captain. We get blamed if you lose and the players got all the credit if we win. Does that seem like a guy who's kind of motivated to be there and ready to motivate other people in a way.
You got to appreciate the authenticity because it's so true. You know, it's it's gonna be his fault. There are people are already throwing shots at Stricker. I saw Ben Coley was tweeting that, like this seems like a guy that has no plan, you know, and obviously that the Tom Watson uh situation years ago where Paul McGinley just, you know, they everybody talked about how Paul McGinley just ran circles around Watson and everything was gut feel and
there was no plan. I mean, I think this this kind of like is the overarching thing with Americans is in general, is like it becomes a buddy system. This was one of my things, is a buddy system versus a like, hey, let's put the best team together. The captain of the American team is not in a position of power. The players are the ones on the American team that run the team, and j T and Speith are playing together. That's that's that was known before, but
you know, when you think about it. And we did a podcast with Joe Joseph Lamanna, who's he does really good data work. He talked about how like you want to put different players together, and it'd be really interesting with Spieth and Morico. You got two of the best approach players in the world, the two best approach players on either side. You know, I think you could put
rom in there as well. But wouldn't it be fun to watch those guys hit teach, hit hit approach shots from Dustin Johnson or Brooks or Bryson Deshamba's drives, like the two best drivers on the roster, Like that might be a really good pairing. But instead you're gonna put them with Justin Thomas, who's who can be a very good driver the golf ball, but is a little erratic because their buddies. It would be like the war's starting.
Who do they have Quinn Cook over Klay Thompson because Steph Curry's buddies with him.
Our structures falling apart and a year now you've jumped onto point seventeen somewhere else. I mean, we're this is this is the point.
There's a point of the five things and they bleed into each other.
Just going back to the Striker things, right, you know, having coverardies from a Euro's per perspective over the years, it's I can't give a head rounded. Steve Striker was playing and contending in a Champions Tour event on Sunday. It's like the week of the Ryder Cup, the week the whole thing starts. See if the European captain had been involved in such a way, chaos would have ensued. There would have been there would have been a national
inquiry into this stuff. It's absolutely extraordinary that he was playing and contended on a tour but on Sunday, and then he rolls into town on Monday, gives a press conference. The main issues around an American team, obviously, the big feud is what one but is kept pulled out the Tour Championship three weeks ago. Is he injured? So he gets asked and Stricker says, well, I haven't. I haven't seen them. I haven't seen them yet, but I believe
he's he's here. So what does that say about the level of engagement and the level of you know, planning. Does he have a contingency plan? You know Brooks, you know, there's another three days to go. Brooks might injure himself again. But I was really struck for that pre I was like, oh my god, you know this looks a bit You're right, you brought it up Tom Tom Watson. I think there's a touch of the Tom Watson's about this.
I mean, he's the he's the captain because the Ryder cups in Wisconsin. He's from Wisconsin. That's like that.
He's not the captain. Well, he has done a bunch of vice captaincies, I guess, but he's you know, the kind of whole succession thing European team is really I mean it was chaotic back in the day. I mean I remember when it was chaotic, but it really has been honed into a fine tuned machine at this stage. You know, he is he asked about. Yeah, he started talking about cheeseheads and whatever. I was. I was surprised.
I like Stricker. He's seems like a really nice guy and my dealings with them he has always been so helpful and polite and you know, not terribly interesting, but I was, I was like, wow, because his game is you look at as a golfer, a very meticulous player, you know, very tidy, and you would think, well, there's a guy who you know, knows what he's at and knows knows what he's doing and it's all kind of planned out. Actually going back to he's another guy for
your slump. You should like him. He went through that terrible slum.
Yes, well I went to University of Illinois. He's a LIONI great, so, you know, but I think like one of the things that personality wise, right, you think about like the captains that have like the right personality, and it's somebody that's thoughtful and planning but not afraid to like speak up and say this is the way things are going to be and to me and this goes
without ever, you know, no personal connection. I don't know this, but Stricter just seems like a guy that kind of is more of a goat, Like he's a guy that can hang out with anybody, get along with everybody, but he's not gonna be the guy that's gonna be like, no, this is the way it is. And in a way, I think that's what you kind of need, especially for the American team, is somebody that can listen, that can relate, that can communicate with these guys, which is where Watson
really fell short. He didn't really communicate, well, he didn't listen, but then also be like, but we're gonna do it this way because this is how it makes sense, you know, versus the you know, oh, we're just gonna let the inmates run the asylum, and you might not get the most out of these teams. Like on paper, these players are are far superior to Europe. Yeah, and every year for recent times that's been the case. But that advantage
can get quickly because it's not a huge advantage. We're talking about golf advantage, like we see it every year in the world match play, like number fifty he beats number ten, you know, and people are, oh, fifty over ten, like that's that's not a big deal because the margins are so small. If you just work your team and your pairing smart, you can your analytics can make up the disadvantage and talent really quickly.
In team golf, yeah, the Europeans have understood that for a long time. But it is all about the Famously in the you you know, the great Britain cycling team had a guy called David Belts. Further think the guy's name was, and he was a legendary and turned British cycling into the greatest Olympic force ever. And his whole thing was about marginal gains. And it is. The captaincy is a small thing, but it is a is another
marginal gain. Do you know you ever heard them McGinley talking about Bernard Langer's captaincy in two thousand and four. I mean, I thought if Stricker would be a he would be like a Bernard Langer captaincy. But what he lacks that Langer had was just a kind of presence and a real respect. I mean those European guys actually the race McGinley, Montgomery, all those guys back that they all kind of they so respected Langer and he was a kind of quiet, not a guy who had a
lot of kind of stage presence. But but you know mcginnley was talking about I heard him on a podcast usually talking about like the way Langer captain and it was very, very clever. He gave a particular anecdote I won't I won't repeat, but he basically he was telling guys what club they were hitting on the par threes. Can you imagine Steve Stricker standing there, Tom Brooks, Keeka or whoever you know, they don't hit that nine, arn hit a wedge because I mean, that's not going to happen.
So he is the kind of Bernard Langer type captain without the kind of you know, extru not I'm sure he has the respect of the of the of his players, but you know, in the sense that Langer is revered by European golfers, absolutely revered, and I don't. I'm not sure Steve Stricker is. And that might be a problem for him, and he certainly isn't in the initial skirmishings. He certainly hasn't impressed me.
I think he got so much clout and Ryder Cups because he was the guy that that had so success with Tiger.
Yeah, well he was the only guy that Yeah, he was the only guy that the Tiger liked to play with, you know.
Yeah, And I think that's like where he doesn't. He didn't, you know, it's rare. He didn't win a major championship. He was a very good player, but I think that was like his biggest noteworthy Ryder Cup thing was that he he played well with Tiger. And playing well with Tiger's a lot different than putting together like pairings based off of like who you know, like just because you got like that's that's the merit of his captaincy.
Yeah, the uh and yeah, right about the buddies. You know, I saw Scott Scheffler was on did the press conference this morning. He was talking about, oh yeah, well analytics and starts have being used, you know, to to determine pairings. And I'm thinking, yeah, maybe in your case, Scotty, but you know, I'll believe it when JT and Spieth don't play together. Yeah, so yeah, that'll be the tell whether or not maybe it will surprise at all.
And I think like analytically those two problems match up pretty well. But you know, Speth is a guy that I think that you should be. That's that's a that's a guy that's so good at everything except for driving the golf ball. Yeah, that he should be one that should be explored and used in a variety of different ways. Like that's that's a guy that's a malleable piece that doesn't necessarily need you don't need to lock these pairings in.
You know, we've seen success with people that lock pairings in. But you can play with somebody different and forceomes than four ball. That's where I think Speed's so valuable is in foursomes. That's where he's a valuable chess piece. And JT, you know, he played really well at the Players, but he hasn't had that good of year and and I think that's that's something that like he's not in the
best form. I don't know, if you're making the US team and you've got you know, four or five guys that are going to play four to five sessions, if JT's one of those guys.
Uh, yeah, you're right about Speed. But I you know, great film. By the way, watched the film last night on Wistley Straits. I can't remember the par threes are are the odd numbers or even numbers or the mixed up.
So they got they've got whole three, seven, twelve, and seventeen, so three of the four par threes.
So, yeah, speak in the foursums is awesome, isn't he? Yeah? I mean he plays the odd holes. You know, he tees off on the odd holes, so he gets three of the par threes and then he's hitting he's sitting the approaches into nine other holes, so he's basically hitting approach shots into twelve holes. You know what advantage that is.
Well, and then also think about having him hit approach shots on to the par five after Bryson hits a T shot or DJ Yeah exactly, you know, having him hit approach shot. They're eights of five hundred yard par four, so he's on the evens. They're hitting approaches. You know five is a part part five, but you'd want to get that, but you know, you just there's a lot of things. Like the other thing is like the driveable par fours. There's drivable par fours out there, six, ten,
and fourteen or conceivably driveable. So you could pair Speith with Bryson, who could conceivably drive three of the par fours and even holes, and then you get Speith hitting approach shots on all of them and is that like Bryson is a slouch when it comes to iron play either.
The The other thing is, you know Speith hits a crooked drive. You know, somebody moves up into around the green and will maybe come on. And as talking about the golf course, you know you get in the fringes and the approaches and you know there's not many box standard chips on that golf course. So who do you want hitting the third shot? You know you want speed hitting the third shot because he's got a great imagination and that kind of stuff. I mean, he is a perfect,
absolutely perfect Force's partner. You'd play them in both four balls and obviously singles. I mean he he would be the one American guy would play five times.
Yeah, definitely, Yeah, I mean I just that's where I think it's shortsighted to just lock him in. You know, a lot of Patrick Reid's legacy as a Ryder Cup partner came from George playing with George Spain.
Yeah, Glenn Eagles, the actually just talking I was looking at some starts this morning, just talking about my McKellar partner. Tom Dunmans tell me he knows that it wasn't straits really well and he was talking about these little pitch shots in and around the green. You know, because of the shaping, it's very curious. There's not many flat eyes sharp yeah, so read. I mean, who's a great scrambler. Who's one of the best scramblers in the game, Patrick Reid?
You know. So the obviously they just didn't want to take him because he wasn't a buddy. But you know, statistically, you might think, well.
I think it was I think it was time for the Captain America era and just base as an American after going through Paris and what he did in Australia, it was time for it to be over time.
No, no, but you know what I mean, they would just get back to the you know, the lack of attention to detail. That might be the case of the American team that you know, you could make a strong statistical case allying statistics on the golf course set up to make the case for Reed being included. But there you go.
Well, I hate to just keep throwing mine out there, but we'll get we're talking about statistics course fit. Obviously, everybody's been talking about distance being a huge advantage. I don't necessarily I think it is a huge it's a huge advantage everywhere like distances. You know, obviously this comes from data. Golf has a course fit tool and it exkews to distance here. But that being said, if you go look at like PGA Championship leader boards, there is
a very good mix of players on the board. You have long hitters. Jason Day obviously in the most recent one, really overpowered the golf course and shot twenty under. But then you have Jordan Speith and Brendan Grace and Justin Rose. And Rose was long, he wasn't that long. But Brenda Grace and Jordan Speed never been confused with being long. They're great approach players. And same with Justin Rose, He's
a great approach player. So I think what you see, and this is the case with so many of Die's golf courses, and especially because of his green designs, and I think Whistling Straits has some of his most eccentric greens, Like they have a lot of slopes, little sections. Approach play is still going to be king and where the
distance is a huge advantage. But if you miss the fairways because of the shaping that we were just talking about around the greens, the same goes for off the fairway, like a miss fairway at Whistling Straits carries a huge penalty if you miss the corridor, like obviously you have the short rough that the fairways are weighed more narrow than they should be. You know, it should all be
fairway there. But once you get off that corridor, just like Kiowa Island, there's a huge associated penalty for missing that. And we saw bombers struggle at Kiowa. It was I think it's a similar of Aaron Hills where we saw like bombers played well, but the Bombers that hit the ball straight that week played well. It's not just a distance wins all thing. You still have to hit it into the corridor.
See I think, I mean, I take all of those points onboard. You're dead right. Martin Kimer wasn't a long hitter, but now he wasn't a long hitter, not in fact he had he won the Darren Clark wasn't. Do you know what, though, I think that the golf course is a neutral venue. I think it's kind of neutral, and but most of that comes down to familiar familiarity because none of these guys have played this golf course now that you go with French. That's the genius of European venues, right,
because all the guys have played all these golf courses. Yes, I mean been going to the Golf Nationale for twenty years. I mean I caddied at the Golf Nationale in nineteen ninety six. So that's how far back it goes. The big looking ahead to twenty twenty three. That's a new golf course. The Americans might have a chance there because the European players will not have seen that golf course. Nobody will go, well, we'll go the year of the ride A Cup, I guess, but none of the European
players will have seen that golf course. Similarly, here, nobody's seeing this golf course. You know, you can look back at what's the point in looking back at the PGA Championship in twenty fifteen, I mean, it doesn't happen. I mean, I guess it tells us what kind of player prevails here, but it doesn't really doesn't tell as much about these particular players and how they'll play there. Again, nobody knows the golf course. So once again, I mean it happened
to twenty twelve, and my diner. The way that the course set up was a kind of neutral setup. I mean, by choosing this golf course, the PGA of America have given you Europe more of a chance of actually winning again. It's one of those little marginal games.
I think. The other thing with that is it the world rankings are determined by who plays struck play the best, and match play is a different bast totally. And I think one of the things with match play is that the guy you don't want to face in match play isn't necessary, isn't necessarily like the guy that wins three times a year and then has a bunch of miscuts.
It's the guy that finishes like T twenty T thirty every week is a really hard guy to play a match play because you know that they play about the same level every time they go out. And I think, you know, I think this gets lost a little like you know, what you get rewarded for on the PGA Tour, even the European Tour or the uh definitely in the OWGR is you're really good finishes. There's no negative penalty for miscuts, and when you play poorly in match play,
you get beat down. You just lose, right, and the guys that just shoot sixty eight, maybe they don't shoot sixty five like you, you might get beat. But like that, that steady golfer is one of the things that is really tough. And you look at like the guys who's played really well, like Molinari and Fleetwood are you know, Fleetwood's playing some of the worst golf that we've seen in the last five years. But you know, like those
two guys are steady golfers. They're very consistent, reliable. Stenson Rose like those those are really really consistent golfers. Their best might not be as good as Dustin Dustin Johnson, who's a very steady I'd say he's one of the most steady golfers. Justin Thomas would be a good camp Like, their best isn't as good as Justin Thomas's best, but they might be a little bit steadier.
Yeah. That again, I'm not gonna say anything original here, but having me and my kid went to the UK for the summer. He was playing at all these kind of big junior amateur events and it is amazing the amount of match player that's played over there. I don't care, you know, we all play obviously we play max play at home, but over there, every single elite junior amateur event is thirty six holes, stroke play top sixty four guys, and then you go at it and it's it's two
rounds a day. You know, not now my kids are our kid Rather he played in this. It's men's amateur, right, So made the cutting a number number sixty seed. And then you get to the next day and it's thirty six holes. You get through that, and it's thirty six holes the next day, and it's just a it's just a different it's so interesting, it's such a different game, and it's amazing. It's amazing, and you're dead right, you know the whole thing. Obviously, I have no experience of
elite amateur golf. Now he's only sixteen. So you speak to guys who've been through the system and the whole thing. They say, don't this speaks to your point. Don't give holes away. Don't give holes away. You know, great if you make a birdy, but do not just give a hole away. And this speaks to that. You know, the guy who has the narrow band of performance, you know, shoots bir days and never shoots worse than a bogey has got a distinct advantage over the guy who's hitting
shooting eagles and double bowgies. I mean, it really is. And those guys who who operate within the narrow band of performance tend to do really I mean, look at Luke Donald's. Look at look Donald's ride a Cup record is phenomenal. Then there's a guy that's not going to stand in the first team blow you away. You know, just looking at him, you think, well, he's you know,
he doesn't have much physical presence. Oh, he doesn't hurt it that far, but my goodness, I mean he's there's a guy who who are by the rule don't don't give holes away what I ride a cup player he's been.
Yeah, I completely agree. It's like it's different. It's a different format. Yeah, and it's one that the US doesn't play. Like whether or not you say, oh it doesn't matter, it does matter. It's so much different. You know, I played, you know, when I was playing amateur golf, I played a lot of stroke play. But then you know, some of our championships in the state were match play, and when you get into match play, it was so much different, Like you feel like a fish out of water.
And but so much more fun. It's absolutely phenomenal. Again, I don't want to go on about this, but Scottish Men's Avateur was played at this golf course called Mrker I swear to God Andy you would look up. It's a magnificent golf course and it's it's one of these traditional links that you're good. You go down wind for the first few you know, first nine, and so now is playing this kid We play good plays at East Tennessee.
This kid couldn't play in the wind. You can play heading into the wind and if that's four up at the turn and you're thinking, oh this okay, this is this is easy, and then down wind it's down and the guy because a phenomenal player and it goes to the last hole. So you know that whole kind of so you're never out of it. In match play it's such a you know, if you're four shots behind the guy at the turn and stroke play, you're done. You're not coming back. You know that elite level, you're not
coming back. But in match play it's there's always that little chance and it's you know, that's it's so intriguing, especially you're in the middle of it. For these guys, it must be phenomenal.
The thing that happens when you when you're uncomfortable. And this this is whether you know, golf courses make you uncomfortable. Situations make you uncomfortable. And one of the things for match plays, a different format, it makes you uncomfortable if you're used to playing stroke play, because you're not used to factoring in what your opponent's doing, Like it makes you nervy, Like it's you're one hundred yards away and all of a sudden you might be thinking about, like
I just have to hit this on the green. That's not the way you think in stroke play. You're thinking about hitting it close, like yeah, you know. In whatever it does, it makes you uncomfortable. And that's the thing that I think people overlook. It's like, oh, the US
has just played bad. Maybe they've just been uncomfortable, and that I don't think there's anything they've done anything in the last three years that would make them more comfortable than they were, like like Golf National And I think that's like the thing that I'm kind of looking at. What's your next thing, Let's let's get to some of yours here.
Well, uh oh, This is really intriguing to me, actually is the uh is a succession? I mean, I know it's nothing to do with the golf, but this, you know this, you know who's the next year captains? Because this is always this has been an issue. We talk about the smooth process of European captaincy through the years, but this, this has always been looming that this generation. I mean, if you look at it mid forties to high forties, who have you got You've got or forty
to forty eight or whatever. You've got Rose, You've got Pool, You've got Stenson, You've got donald You've got uh Westwood, You've got h There's a couple more McDowell, McDon great McDowell was another one.
Donaldson, Jamie Donaldson.
Hey don't knock Jamie Donalds in a fine performance at glen Egos.
By the way, he played great at Wentworth last week.
Oh yeah, but but you know you can do the maths or math as you would say, there's there's four spots and there seven or eight guys, so that's going top you. Oh yeah, of course I forgot about Sergio.
He's going to be a captain one here. That might be when the euro team turns into the American team.
But you know, work it out, you know. But the gossip is, although I saw West would you know, it's long been believed that West Woo would step in twenty twenty three in Italy. But you know he was talking the other day, well I might be a player in twenty twenty three. So there's I look at that Coats, I think, oh, there's he's working in angle. There's something because I speaking to quite a prominent agent in the European to the other day and he was this is
the captains is worth a lot of money. I mean a lot of money. I seen what's worship and Paul McGinley a pears phase. Paul McGinley is now a court of quotes motivational speaker. I mean he has parlayed and good on him. He has parlayed his twenty fourteen captaincy and a career as a motivational speaker. Is a lecturer at some post university in London. He he's now the lead you were talking about I think before we came on, But who gets to who's the lead? Commentators that Paul
McGinley is the lead analyst on Sky. Now you know and that you know, you can't tell me that he's not the lead anaalist on sky because it's all because
he was a very very successful Ryder Cup captain. So I asked this agent and you know, what do you think is what you know to a guy like McGinley, And he said, you know, five million, you know, so the kind of low the kind of estimate low range is you know, around about a million somebody like beyond who's you know, not gone much of a personality, not very well liked, but you can go up to five six seven. I mean, it's a lot of money.
So these guys, it essentially gives you a two year relevance, yes, that you wouldn't otherwise have you You you can sell sponsorships off of that, you can book like all of a sudden, you're a hot commodity for public speaking. Like that's the thing I always think about, Like the best thing that the top ten players in the world have going for them is their ability to just generate capital Monday through Wednesday, you know, of weeks. Is that they get paid to go just show up for an hour somewhere.
They get paid a lot of money to do that, and that's what happens when you're the Ryder Cup captain, you're a big draw.
Yeah, and so again getting back to the point, you know, so that's a there's quite a financial incentive to be to be a Ryder Cup captain, you know. So there's going to be lots and lots of jockey and all the coming candidates are all vice captains this week, so it'll be interesting to see. You know, you'd have to look very closely because these guys are cute enough not
to you know, stick their neck above the parapet. But it'll be you know who's cute enough to you know, just get their nose in there and you know.
You sometime a little bit of a like a we're gonna be watching for politics.
A little bit. But yeah, it's got you know, it's gonna be like somebody said it to me, this one the next season of succession. This could be, this could be come early this right, the succession for the Ryder Cup captain.
Say Stanton could be in that mix too.
I've got well, of course, well absolutely twenty well the one well the alleged succession is is Westwood twenty three. Poulter at Bedpage in twenty can you imagine, okay, Polter Nicholson, that will be absolutely phenomenal.
One of my favorite stories is Ogilvy talking about six wing foot and he played with Poulter, and he's like the guy showed up in all pink in New York. We're all pink in New York for a five round of a US Open, Like you know, he just I just him in New York is just dynamite.
It's going to be so yeah. I mean, I think it's interesting. You know, Polter's a guy who can basically name his date. I think he's a guy. You know, a lot of the other guys, you know it's all about you know, jockeying and you know politics. But Polter is so synonymous with a ryder cup. I mean, he's such good marketing value. You know, when you when a European tour picks its cat, it's a very It makes
the papacy look like you know, an open book. The how you the player's committee extensibly picks a captain, but goodness knows what goes into that mix. It's so interesting. But Polter is just you know, he's a because if I'm the European Tour marketing department and I'm looking at that. You've got to remember the Ryder Cup is massively important to the European tours finances. So if I'm looking at New York, you got a pick poter. You just got
a pick poter because it's just pure box office, isn't it. Yeah, But then after that it gets very murky. I can't remember where it is twenty seven, it's over here again. You'd have to somebody like Garcia, who, similar to Harrington, has a kind of profile in the United States, so that might work. But then the interesting one after that, you know, you get to Ireland. I think in twenty nine. You know, mcdull will be very much angling for that.
What if we got a what if we got a Tiger Sergio Captaincy Oh.
That be oh my goodness, that'd be right up there with Phil. Phil that would be too absolute.
Just see if you can finally get his win against you know, maybe he could go out and tweeted bird yellow.
That would be a very good that's good, that's good institutional knowledge and well done. Yeah. So yeah, so that's yeah, So that's that's something interesting for me. I'm always I'm kind of you said, you asked me to send a list I sent a listen. I looked at it after because this is all about politics and intrigue, all that stuff. Just you know, having covered multiple Ryder Cups, as I said before that that you know the run up, These
are the longest four days in golf golf media. It is absolutely torture because there's nothing to write about and no access. You get absolutely no access.
That's what I've been. I've gone up there this afternoon and I bet like brainstorming, really kind of like off the wall ideas, like you know, what can I do? That's a little different because everybody's everybody's doing the same stuff.
That's simply because it's so tightly controlled. And the players love it. I mean I spoke to a couple of players. They just love it. This kind of laughing. They kind of laugh about it, you know, because everybody's got their nose pressed against the window and no idea what's happening, and they don't have to deal. I was looking at the media schedule this morning. It's fifteen minutes. It's hilarious, you know. So a player is a couple of players, are two or three players are wheel done at the
same time, and it's fifteen minutes. It's basically two questions of absolute, you know, complete fluff. You've got to remember that the press officer will will pick a couple, you know, pick somebody who they'll know won't ask a kind of a troublesome question, so you basically have no chance of causing trouble. And this is one of the other things I sent it to you. One of my five points
is the Ryder Cups. Keep an eye keep an eye out for it this week these days in the right because especially the European or the British press have have no access. They just get up to make and mischief, you know, they just try the hardest to concox some kind of scandal or some you go back through the years I wrote them down. Two thousand and four was
the Paul Casey. Remember this one, Paul Casey, I properly hate Americans, which was a coat was totally taking out of context in another interview that happened six weeks before the Ryder Cup and it was wheeled out the week of the Ryder Cup and caused this great sensation. Paul I read and maybe with Casey the other day, and he said, I almost gave up golf. I almost gave up golf because of it, which is just crazy. Then
you fast forward two thousand and six. I don't know if you people might forget it was a magazine called The Dublin or had It was really it was like, you know what's on in this week in Dublin type of magazine and they superimposed Elon Nordigrean's head on the photgra of a stripper or something. And that was at that cat I'd see that magazine went out of business. They ended up, they ended up paying Allen and Tiger an absolute fortune.
The wrong guy to do that.
Oh, it was especially with given the friends that Tiger has when he's got JP McManus on his side and Island J. P. McManus is is not a boy you want to get on the wrong side of if you're the Dublin magazine. I could go on and on. There was so many of them. It was just absolutely fantastic. Remember Danny Willets brother, I forget that, you know, the aspiring novelist. That was another one. Twenty sixteen. Oh, there was my favorite one because the weather at Celtic Manor
in twenty ten was brutal, was and that was. It was a couple of scandals. There was the scandal of the US team's waterproofs. Remember the waterproofs, the leaking waterproofs.
Yeah, yeah, Corey Peven, Corey Paven's wife wanted it. They made changes to the one they wanted. She made them embroidered. They even said they warner. They said, hey, if you do this, the waterproof might not work, and she said, well, we're doing it.
So that ended up with Corey Paige or whoever from the running into the pro shop at Celtic Manor buying up all the waterproofs, which is great. And the other one was the provenance of this scandal was very dubious. It was a Rory had said somewhere a couple of weeks before, a Tiger's been injured and he might not
be ready for this Ryder Cup. And then it filtered through the pressure when a cold and wet and storyless Wednesday afternoon that a locker room attendant may or may not have overheard Tiger saying to Rory, be careful what you wish for Ie. You know you don't want to play me. You know, if you want to play me, be careful what you wish for anyway, this was blown into this incredible backpage. It was brilliant, It was such fun,
but it really affected Rory. If you remember you go back the next day, the European team all appeared on the first tea at practice with Rory on and all had their arms around Rory. And it was again purely a function of no access for the media, no stories. Everything's so tightly controlled that everybody goes off the reservation. I guess, and it just starts. I'm not saying making stuff up, but you know, it was Whipping stuff up would be a better way to do it. I wonder where it'll be this week.
Yeah, there'll be something.
There will be something.
It's Bryson's surely going to do something, you know. I saw that his comments this morning were along the lines of the only reason I'm talking to media is because I don't want to get fired.
Really. There was also I saw a picture of this morning of Bryson and Brooks talking to each other on the range. But I thought, again, as one of the world's leading body language experts, I didn't think it looked particularly friendly. I mean, Brooks not to go to two deeply. Brooks looked slightly closed off arms, tightly folded, slightly turned away from See this is the kind of stuff we get. Do you have nothing to write about it?
You don't get there's only there's only twenty four guys as opposed to one hundred and sixty or whatever at the US Open. Say and uh, yeah, there's nothing.
You know.
That's the thing I've I've We've got some eyeball ideas for some for some content just because there's you know, you're not you're not getting your usual tournament fix of that many people at a golf course. It's it's just so many, so fewer amount of bodies and storylines.
I say, I wonder what U O guess? Oh this is Once the competition starts, it'll be interesting to see what happens with Harringon. You know, things are going well with Europe. I think it'll be fine. You know, it will be all be smooth sailing. But you know, things go a bit a bit south for Harrington early. You know, he's an interesting guy. I don't know if you had him on your podcast.
If you had him on yours, he's a tinkerer. That's what I was saying. You're you're bagging on stricker playing in South DA. You can't tell me that Harrington's not working on stuff on the rage of.
Yeah, the only yeah, the only thing. I think there's enough people around Harringdon to tie him down. I mean, I think Harrington's peers. Harrington's an interesting cat. I'll tell you that he is. With the press guys, he's amazing. I swear to god, he is so well. You've heard him on podcasts and all. He's he's so he'll give so much of himself and he gives a lot. It gives a lot away. Actually, But with these peers, especially when he was at his peak, he wasn't very clubbable guy.
I mean, the Irish guys all kind of stick together, they go for dinner, so he's part of that's it. But you know what, he was an elite player, and he was not a tall clubbable as an elite player. So I mean there's not a huge reserve of good will there is with the media, but not perhaps so much with with players. So it'll be interesting. I mean usually Team Europe, that European team is very nothing leaks out,
but nothing, absolutely nothing. You go back to two thousand and eight, that foul Captaincy was an absolute shit show. I mean it was a disaster. But I mean I Satin press conference, Andy and these players who are subsequently found we all subsequently find out we're raging at Faldo and they were. They were going after journalists who were criticizing Faldo. You know, they stuck by Faldle so tightly, even though they hated him or hated what he was doing as a captain. I just don't wonder.
Different than American players what they do, could you?
Could you? Ah, well, let's not get into that too. Yeah, but that the post defeat press conference with Faldo was was astonishing. Hosy Marea Arthwell, who was his vice captain, basically wanted to come down. It was a great one of the most established and well respected Brits storms. The guy called Paul Hayward asked a question and I swear to god, I thought a laughall was going to come off the podium and deck the guy. I mean, they
really really stuck together. I just wonder, I mean, it's a different era and now, aren't I mean, everything is so there's so many sources of information and yeah, yeah, and you know, player he might say to a friend who might say to a friend and then lo and behold the fore friend and the food chain tweets out something.
So I would be interested to see what happens if if it goes south for Harrington early, as I say, you know, it was never the most corovable and the players like him, but they do think he's a bit of a nodball. I mean, that's let's face it.
Let's uh, let's talk about European team. We're you know, we've talked about the US team a little bit. Let's talk about the European team this year. I think my case for the European team is that they you know, we've talked about it a little bit, with the match play and the margins and the pairings. I think one of the best cases is that they have Rory McElroy and John Rahm and John ram is by far the best player in the world.
You know right now, mister c the Fortnite Championship last week Andy Fortnite Championship Night, is that what it?
Yeah? He him and Rory led the PGA tour on Birdie average. Bertie average is a very good thing for match play, especially, you know, where you have partners and and different things you want guys that make Birdie's. John Ram could play five matches, he's the best player in the world. He could could seemably go four and one. You know, you know that if that's the case, if he goes four and one or five and oh or four oh oh and one, it all of a sudden becomes very hard for the United States to win the
Ryder Cup. And that's I think the thing is, if John Rahm has a good week, John Rahm and Rory have good weeks, the US team is not going to win the Ryder Cup.
Well that's true, but you can't necessary it is already going to have a good week. What's his Ryder Cup record? I think is eleven and nine. I don't I don't know. It's not a great I mean it's I mean it's it's obviously it's a wedding record, but it's not exactly mc donald's. For instance, Ram. Yeah, I think the story was it Ram wasn't feeling quite well last week at Silverado, so hopefully he's he seems to have made a miraculous
recovery in the photographs this mornings. Yeah, yeah, right, but those two play well then that that kind of locks it off. Essentially, if Rory and Rams show up and play their absolute best, I mean he you know that lot, You're right, it locks it off. But similarly you could say the same for the United States if Bryson and Spath, yeah, come along and have have great weeks, which both are very capable of doing. From a European perspective, I would
just be worried about. There's a lot of players who are not and not exactly the best kind of form they're coming in. I mean Turtle Hatton, mister cutt Wentworth last.
Week, didn't Major.
Yeah, and he won at Wentworth last year, so I mean he's he's on the team and the basis of his form not this year are certainly not in the last half of this year. So he's playing bad Fitzpatrick again Ty twenty to Wentworth, mister cut the Italian Open, flamed out at the flamed out the FedEx Cup. I think he did. He make the cut of livery National. I don't know was there a cut, can you remember?
Yeah, he didn't make it to East like I.
Know he didn't know. He only made it through one playoff he got he played the Northern Trust and that was him. Won and done. So he's not playing great.
So there's three West he's not playing great. Well, yeah West. He made it based off of how he played at the Players in bay Hill.
Really, so you've got so you've got Hatton Fleetwood. You know, only one top ten finish. I mean he didn't even make his card on you must have some kind of way of keeping his card. But he didn't make the top one twenty five. I don't think any PG two this year. He made seventy cuts, but only one top ten. That is he that's very surprising, you have to say, because you think him coming here and you think, well a bull striker, what that would do? Really well?
So well you look at you look at like where Hatton started the year tenth in the owgr he's nineteenth. Now you know that's a significant drop. Fitzpatrick sixteenth to twenty seventh, and then you go to Fleetwood seventh teeth, the thirty seventh. You know this, that's not the type of trends you want to go. But now on the flip side, if you want to play Devil's Advocate there
a little bit. Shane Lowry's playing very very good golf. Yeah, Sergio is playing exceptional golf, probably the best golf we've seen since he won the Masters.
Out of him, Pol's playing well as well as he Yeah.
I think he's playing He's playing fine.
It does.
I think like Poulter's got enough clout at this point that we just you know, there's Ryder Cup Poulter and match play Poulter because he plays well at WGC every year, you know, the match play tournament. And so I think there's a little bit of bowl going both ways. And I think the same for the Europe or for the US, Like you've got more cows not playing great right now? Who else that isn't playing, you know, exceptional? Like DJ hasn't been great this whole year. Like what you know Brooks?
Who knows what you're getting out of Brooks? Bryson is training to be a long drive guys, Just can.
You again talking about this would be another scandal back home If this, if if Bryson was European and he spent the last two weeks training for an event next week before the right people would be People's heads would explode. It's just in you can't tell me that you stand on the you stand on the range swinging the club as hard as you can, and that is in any
way preparation for a Rider Cup. That just isn't you know, You're you're you might be training your speed skills, but you're you're destroying every other skill.
Well, it's just like gotta be hard to go back to playing real golf after doing that. Like, yeah, I think he might make you better in six months, you know, there's a conceivable argument to be made that in the you know, in three months time, he's a better golfer because he's got speed and he's rained it back into like playing competitive golf. But this guy's training for long drive.
I think he cares more about the long drive than he cares about about the Ryder Cup, you know, And I think that's honestly, he might care more at this point. He might care more about being one of the best long drive players than being one of the best PGA Tour players. That's the wild thing about what's going on with Bryson right now. It's not after what he did at Wingfoot and the way he dismantled that golf course, it seems like he's kind of taken a step back
because he's continued to try. Like at that point, it seemed like with what he did at Detroit, what he did at Wingfoot, he had proven that he was right. But he's continued to push himself and that was that's always been the concern, is that he's not content and
Tiger fell, you know, victim to the same thing. Isn't that just Yes, they keep searching for that extra And this is why golf is so hard, like, right, is you keep searching for that magic bullet, whereas Bryson might just be more interested in long drive and I you know, like to a certain extent, you can't really fall like he just might like that more.
Yeah, by the way, while we're on the subject, will you know what really bugs me? Something to this morning posted a picture of it, and Bryson obviously posed for it, a picture of Bryson's callousies. And I was looking at him and thinking, yeah, okay, go take a look at Alex Norren's callousies. Yeah, just google Alex out of context, like I mean, I mean, I swear to god, I mean Alex Norn's hands do not look like hands. But anyway, that's.
Been a good pick, I think for the writer he's been playing so well.
Yeah, it's a great what again one of these guys. What a career he's had. You know, just the longevity is actually more and more Andy amant to guys like guy. Longevity is a brilliant talent. I've commonly call it a talent and go look at Rod Pampling. Rod Pampling won on the PG two at the age of forty eight, and then he won in the Champions.
And then he wasn't They weren't letting him into the bay Hill. That's the thing. Past champion, only past champion not getting into bay Hill. He was really expected.
Yeah, yeah, Pamps, I see my buddy coaches Pamps, so Obvio slightly biased towards Paps, but you know, Norn's another one of these guys. Westy. We start, maybe should end with Westy. You're just talking about longeviy and what what an admirable thing is and how do guys attain it. It's so interesting.
As a Westy fan, I'm very very nervous about this Ryder Cup after what we saw at Hazel Teine. You know that that was you know, there's the low early and Westy's career, and I think Hazel teen might have been the low of his late career, those putts coming down the stretch. I mean he gave that match away at Hazel teen. He did he couldn't hit the hole from three feet the last you know, coming down those matches.
I haven't I haven't looked up his recent form.
So he's been just he's been Westy, which is like you know, late Lake career Westy when he's not you know, playing great, But he's a guy that can flip the switch in Like when you talk about who you'd love to play alter and shot with. I think like outside of short putts, like Westy, you know what you're getting from him.
He's going to hit good.
He's not the best scrambler, but like that, being reliable t to Green is really a valuable for for.
The I've just looked. He's got terrible record and singles off one three. Yeah, I wonder what's that all about.
I think it's I think it's the short putting. It's hard to win matches when you don't make four footers.
Yeah yeah, yeah right, but it's Foursome's a great forces player. Yeah yeah. Do you know what it comes down? Andy? This is you top myself into Europe just about Nick and this I don't know if a given.
That, Yeah, give us your prediction. Yeah, I think it's going to be close.
I think it is going to be close, but I think it I'm not again, not nothing original, but us are superior talent, there's no question. I think, what's the average, just the great Justin Ray? What was the average world ranking? Nine eight point nine? And Europe has one player in the top twenty in the world rankings? Is it one in the top twenty? I think it's one, and it's John Ramer maybe the top ten, maybe the top.
They got They got Rory, Rory and Ram in the top fifteen, right, okay, and Havelan and have onin they got three.
Right, Okay, one European in the top ten. Let's leave it out that, right, See the Justin race starts right, My stat's wrong, So that's typical. So there is that. That's I think that's America. Are the United States only chance? Really is just superior talent. I mean it's a pretty good chance. But see everything else, all the intangibles not intangibles anymore, it is you know, stats analysis. I'm sure the Yanks are doing it, but I'm sure they're not
doing it and will not stick to it. We've talked about this to the extent of the Europeans. Will that is sacrasant. The most important guy in the European team twenty eighteen is Robert Carlson. He was a stats guy. He was a guy in charge of all the stats and so all that stuff the captains say, the preparation, the commitment. I mean, europe are already. Have you seen the latest for European video make it Count? Yeah, I
mean it's phenomenal. There was a video yesterday kicking around with Brian Huggett was the kind of main star of it and it was about you know, you only of one. So yeah, I can't remember what the tagline was, but you know it's already miles ahead and all that stuff, you know, And what it does is brings the team together, brings the fans together, brings the media together. Frankly, I mean,
I mean I found myself getting goosebumps watching it. So there's all that stuff, you know, and Will these will, these elements, these marginal elements add up to enough to overcome the American talent. That's where it comes down to.
Yeah, it'll be fun to watch. I think it's gonna be close. I've got I think the US is gonna just barely narrowly get this one. We'll see. I that's my my prognostication at this point. But that's it. We're gonna get you out of here.
On that.
People can find your mckller at mckeller dot.
Com, nom mckeller magazine, don't Keller.
I order it every every do you know what?
And that is really greatly appreciated.
Everybody should read it. It's uh Lawrence writes there, Tom Dunn, Mike Clayton. You know, it's a lot of guys that I would pay to write and read read their writing, and uh and it it deserves to be supported. All their back issues are relevant today. So if you go there, dip your toe in by getting one of the one of the first five editions. Do you have a favorite? Is that like picking a favorite kid?
I do? I like the I like the latest one with the image of royals and Georgie's on it. Clayton's done a thing in the latest one. You know, it's a the Mike Clayton anthology. Remember at Motown used to do the Smoky Robinson anthologies. You know, this is Mike Everything that Clayton's ever thought and said about about golf course architecture. It's absolutely phenomenal.
Yeah, it's great. All right, thanks Lawrence, and uh well we'll talk to you soon.
All best end continue.
Thank you, thank you for listening to another edition of the Frida Egg Podcast. Today's episode was edited by Meg Atkins and Garrett Morrison. And as a quick reminder, this is a great week to sign up for the newsletter. Go to the Fridagg dot com and it's free. It'll come every day of the competition and Will is on the ground so we should have some really good insights and keen things that make it even better than it is every week, which is three days a week and
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