Five Things About the 2023 Open Championship with Kyle Porter - podcast episode cover

Five Things About the 2023 Open Championship with Kyle Porter

Jul 16, 20231 hr 22 minEp. 473
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Episode description

Kyle Porter of CBS Sports (@KylePorterCBS) joins Andy Johnson to preview the 2023 Open Championship. The two discuss Rory, Scottie Scheffler, and Rickie Fowler, among other favorites, and they break down they're looking for from the course and the tournament. Also, Kyle is really excited about the prospects of Padraig Harrington on the Ryder Cup team.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcript

Speaker 1

I miss a 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 Frida Egg, the d Frida Egg, Frida Egg, Egg Bride Egg Lie, I'm about ready to run off the golf.

Speaker 2

Welcome back to another edition of the Frida Egg Podcast. We are here final major, final men's major of the year. I think this is a uh, it's crazy, it's a I think the new schedule. This is what happens is we kind of just all of a sudden poof major season for the men is over. Obviously, we have the Women's Open coming up at Walton Heath, which will be really fun to watch. Also, so but we're here at the Open Championship, so I'm not there, but it is says a golf world are there. So we are doing

a lot of stuff on the Frida Egg this week. Obviously, we have the daily newsletters. Feel free to go subscribe on the website the Frida Egg dot Com to those and you'll be getting daily newsletters this week. And today's guest is Kyle Porter. Kyle writes for CBS. He also has a book every year that comes out normal Sport.

I think it's coming out again this year. But he's obviously a formative mind in the golf space, a wonderful golf writer at CBS, and was really fun to chat with him about this Open, about a myriad of topics, some of the big names, whether the course, different things. So without further ado, here is Kyle Porter with our five things about the Open Championship. Thanks, and here.

Speaker 1

We got.

Speaker 2

All right, Kyle, I I understand you're going through the fomo that I'm going through of not being in Scotland.

Speaker 1

I am. I'm wearing my Crail England, England or Scotland. I'm wearing my my Crail hat right now. Last year was you know some of the photos that that that you and I were in or part of, or you know some some of the some of the rounds that we played. They've been popping up, you know, people were reposting them and you know, texting them and sharing them and it reminded me of just what a that was. My first time to Scotland was last year for the for the Open, and it was just it blew away

whatever my expectations were. And yeah, I'm just I'm bombed to not get to go back over. And it's such a it's such a I think I heard you guys talking about this the other day. It's such a magical time of year with Wimbledon going on and the Open and everything else. And it's fun to experience from afar, but it's better to experience from up close. Yeah.

Speaker 2

Absolutely, how long the days are? I think that round we played together at Ealy. We were playing till about ten thirty at night. It was so dark when we were finishing. And then we had that cab ride home. But and it was the cab ride. There was even But were you in the cab that that I was in that was getting tasked down that country road? Was the cab and other cab?

Speaker 1

It was the cab. Whatever cab I was in, was the one that Bacon was up front?

Speaker 2

Yes, and.

Speaker 1

He couldn't. The guy was speaking English, but he was like Bacon.

Speaker 2

A thick a very thick accent.

Speaker 1

It was. It was incredible and Bacon at one point you could you could see it shift where he was like trying try and trying to understand, and then you saw him shift to like I give up, I'm out, Like I'm just gonna nod and pretend like I'm I'm I'm understanding what this guy's saying. It was.

Speaker 2

God, that was great. Great last year's opin, I mean, all time tournament, all time trip that Saturday night out before everybody was Rory's gonna get it done. Then then the vandal Cam Smith just just stole stole the tournament, broke his heart, broke broke all the media's heart.

Speaker 3

I'm a contrarian, and I don't know if I want to really like freely admit this, but like coming down the background, I kind of was rooted for Cam just for the h.

Speaker 2

I felt it coming.

Speaker 1

Yeah.

Speaker 2

I just as soon as he made the birdie on eleven last year, I just you just were like, oh boy, this guy is I mean, I still that those shots he hit coming down on the stretch. I haven't rewatched it, but they're about as vivid of shots in my in my mind like that, you know, you have, like those pictures that you remember and the camp Smith on the back line of Saint Andrews that that that day are about the most vivid golf tournament memories. I don't think they're going away anytime soon.

Speaker 1

Well, I think you know, it's interesting because when, as people know, when you're out there, it's hard to see multiple players if they're not in the same pairing, and so we inevitably this happened in La We were watching we were watching Wendham Clark on your phone, like literally your phone was you were holding it out and people were watching what Wyndham was doing two holes behind or

a hole behind from where we were. And I remember that happening at the Open last year when Cam was on seventeen because we were with Rory and Hobland or I was. I don't remember where everybody else was, but I remember seeing somebody's the video on somebody's phone because you don't know what else is going on, and you saw where Cam's ball was on seventeen after his second shot, and in your head you're like, okay, that's a five, so what like, how is this going to affect everybody else?

How's this going to play out? And then when he makes four there, you're like, okay, well that's that's it, like that's the tournament. And that was that was the moment for me that he was like, oh this just this happened, like this it's not going to happen. It just did happen, and there's really no turning back, and you have to you have to consider like how crushing that is for everybody else involved, specifically Rory because he was the one that was out in front, but also

for Hoveland. And it was a opens at Saint Andrew's are you know, magnificent. But they're also weighty because they only happen once every you know, five or six years, and that that's a that's a pretty crushing thing to have happened to you at the end.

Speaker 2

Yeah, I mean that's the fascinating thing about the open at Saint Andrews, right, It is like it has this it's kind of got the weight of a master's yep, but without the annual aspect of it. I mean Cam Young eagled eighteen. I mean I think that's the thing that gets lost, and I mean he made the putt after it was a foregone conclusion that Smith was making

Birdie on eighteen. But I have to say, like of all, you know, all the shots like that Cam hit to win, the routineness of the up and down for Bertie on eighteen kind of gets glossed over. How the guy just like literally just that was about a stone cold as it gets right. It's not an easy up and down by any means, but to hit it to like, hit it to nothing where there's not even a shred of doubt that he's making Birdie was just serial killer stuff.

So let's get in. Let's get into our typical exercise. Five things about the Open This year will be at Royal Liverpool Hoylake as a lot of people will call it for short, what is your first thing or a thing that you're looking for?

Speaker 1

Yeah, let's let's keep it going with Cam actually because he's on my list and it's it's partly because I left him. Yeah, there you go. It's probably because of last year obviously, because he won and nobody's repeated since since twenty twenty three. Writer cup Padrick Harrington did back in two thousand and seven, two thousand and eight, did you see him at the We're taping this on Friday, but did you see he's in like sixth place at the Scottish Open's what's going on?

Speaker 2

Is he gonna be on the writer come team bombing the ball?

Speaker 1

It's unbelievable, Uh, Cam Smith repeat, listen like it's it's been quiet because people don't watch live, and he's not. He kind of only pops up at the majors and whatever. But he's got I believe it's twelve straight excuse me, eight straight top twelves worldwide, including live, but also including a top ten at the PGA, a fourth place finish

at the US Open. His strokes game numbers, which include live on data golf, are very good, like better than brooks Kopka, better than kind of right there with Rory

and Victor Hovelin. And you know, the Open is the kind of place where he doesn't he's he's a crooked driver, right like he can get very I still remember that drive he hit on sixteen at TPC Sawgrass when he won a couple of years ago, and it was like, that's not a drive that I've seen a major champion hit very often when he looked it into the woods. But you can create, I mean, you can creatively get your way out out of stuff like that at the

Open Championship. So cam Smith me is a massive storyline going in, not just because he's a defending champion, but also because he's been playing kind of quietly some very good golf recently.

Speaker 2

Yeah, I mean you're talking about a handful of the best players in the world, right, And I think that gets obscured a little bit for two reasons. One, as he's self admitted, he kind of kind of took it easy this winter partied and wasn't like guns of blazon on the outset of the of the year. But also because as you mentioned, he's kind of been wandering about in obscurity on this on the Lift Tour, which you know,

it's it's the players have performed well. He's one of them who's performed well in major championships, but it does not you know, the the tour is still very obscure in the sense of nobody really follows it. Yeah, uh so yeah, I think cam uh this golf course. One of my things that this ties into that I am curious about is the golf course and how it holds up with with driving, you know, like it's a golf course that's known for like you really got to control

your ball out there. And I think it's it's fairly narrow. It's a little bit more narrow than the old course. It has a lot of like holes that move on angles that makes it play more narrow, and I'm I'm just curious with with where modern golf is going, where it's just you know, hit driver, and this is I think something that's fascinating with the Open in general. The

Open has kind of pushed back with firm conditions. I think the unpredictable rough has an impact on this, and then also just the weather that you can encounter.

Speaker 1

Right.

Speaker 2

It's you can get in some really unbeneficial places hitting it really close. But this golf course has a sharp penalty for bunker misses. It is fairly narrow. It is a golf course that you know, if you look at Tiger and six and Rory's win, they drove the shit out of the ball. Tiger did so that driving the shit out of the ball was avoiding bunkers and placing the ball in the fairway.

Speaker 1

Right.

Speaker 2

He was playing from short grass. That was his big thing, right, So I'm just curious how this golf course holds up. What type of profile of players are we going to see. You know, we we haven't seen it since twenty fourteen. A lot has changed in golf since then, and I think that's something that I'm fascinated by. And like Cam Smith, I'm not gonna lie. He's my one and done pick.

You know, if I was picking somebody for the tournament, it might be something different, Like I'm in a one and done league that I've used almost every big name, Like he's going to be my pick, But how's he profile? And the thing about cam is like he's such a good player. He profiles well everywhere, Like we saw him at Okill top ten and he didn't even play well and that wasn't a golf course that would you would

say fits the camp Smith profile. But I think the thing that happens in abroad with camp Smith is that the elements come out and it's it's about shot making and there's some more artistry in the game, and I think that's that really really benefits him. So that one of mine is kind of around driving the golf ball in Hoylake, which at Hoylake, which is an interesting intersection with camp Do you think do you think what's your next one?

Speaker 1

I was gonna ask real quid. Do you think number one is an example of that? With the internal ob or are you a king? Ad?

Speaker 2

So that would be the third hole in terms of what I like about is because that's the third hole for the tournament.

Speaker 1

I think one on that it's one on the course but third in the tournament, right, Yeah, exactly what I like. That hole kind of presents it right. You're gonna get these firm conditions, and there's holes that move in directions, right, they aren't like straight holes, Yeah, a lot of them. When they move into direct actions. With the firm conditions, you're having to pick a line and distant, if that

makes sense. So with that whole especially, you need to pick a line where you're going to cut some of it off.

Speaker 2

And if you don't pick it, if you're too safe with your line, you're going to run through into the rough right right if you're too aggressive, or if you push it for right hand or you're going to end up maybe ob So these guys are going to be more conservative there. But yeah, that's a perfect example of it where you know, the the the emphasis on driving is created a lot by the way the fairway moves, where you're starting to have to pick distance targets and

line targets. When a fairway's just straight, you just are trying to hit it straight right, and you don't have to worry about picking a distance because you know if you hit it straight, it can go any distance, right when a fairway like this is what Pete Die does, I think really well, is that those Pete Die courses and why they say timeless, I think to a certain extent is because of the way the fairways move on angles. A lot of times even straight holes have some angular

nature to them. And what it does is it really creates a double decision rather than just a singular decision.

Speaker 1

So I think.

Speaker 2

That's one of the I think the fairway bunkers being super penal, along with the way the fairways some of the angles set up make this a really really tough driving test, right, And I'm curious if it's going to be if in the last you know, almost ten years, with the way distances, how many long hitters there are now are there? How is it going to work? That's that's kind of one of the things I'm watching.

Speaker 1

Yeah, there's there's a whole I think it's like fourteen on the back where Tiger hold out in what was that twosy six five? Whenever you want that and uh, it's it's it is set. What you're saying fits that. Also because there's a there's a bunker that you can cover or you can kind of go, it's gonna be really interesting because I think in the past that's been such an advantage for Rory Tiger guys that are so

long off the tee. But now do you bring eighty guys into that, one hundred guys into that, you know, will they challenge differently. I think that it's always interesting it opens because it's there's so much variability in play. But I think what you're saying perhaps even even more

so this year. You mentioned the weather. That's actually my second one, and the reason is because I can't remember the last time we had I mean, growing up, you think about watching the Open, you think about some of the just insane stuff that we saw on TV whenever or the Open was being played, and you had these crazy weather days and guys shooting eighty eighty five whatever. We haven't really had that in the last several years. Right,

last year was perfect all four days. Twenty twenty one, Royal Saint George's it didn't There was no win, There wasn't a lot going on twenty twenty, there was no tournament. You kind of got to go back to twenty nineteen at Port Rush when it and it wasn't really it was just kind of rainy. It wasn't like horrible weather, but I would love to WESTI went no rain jack

at that day. Yeah, question it was was bold. That was That was when Fleetwood started buying stuff out of the gift shop and using like open umbrellas and headcovers.

Speaker 2

And went he went full Sandy Lou.

Speaker 1

Yeah. Yeah, Sandy might have bought it for him so he can get recognized. But I want to see that day or two days or whatever of really like, hey, this is this is going to be horrible to play in. Let's see can you can you get through this stretch? Can the leaders get through this stretch? And you know that that to me is part of the open Championship test and we just we just haven't seen it in several years.

Speaker 2

Early forecasts predict a lot of rain, like rain every day.

Speaker 1

Well I don't want that. I just want like one day of it.

Speaker 2

We'll see, we'll see how it is. I I know it's very sandy there, so hopefully it'll still be pretty firm and everything. I know it's a very sandy site and they had a really dry couple months, but recently

it's been been pretty wet out there. But yeah, like you want that brooks Kopka was it was it the old course where yeah, so yeah, I I I think the interest of this tournament and is like the weather, right, that's it's always got to be a big story because it is the the thing that is the is the test, like it's kind of the last remaining I think it's the last remaining thing that really really introduces variability to the sport.

Speaker 1

Yep, especially wind right, Like you talk to these guys and it's like the one thing that they just can't handle is wind, Like they don't they don't have an answer for it. And that's where you start to see like the true like flushers and ball strikers start to emerge and that like I love that because it's it's it's a variability that there's no answers for. Everything else has an answer that you can't solve that, and I'd love to see more of that presented by mother nature.

I guess in this tournament.

Speaker 2

I mean once we once we moved a full simulator golf, we'll be able to just put set the settings to twenty mile an hour.

Speaker 1

Whims sure are they gonna have fans in TGL Like not people, but like the like actual fans just blowing balls all over the place would be amazing.

Speaker 2

Hey, they're trying to make the most real golf experience.

Speaker 1

You're amazing.

Speaker 2

I saw in a press release, so all right along those lines, I think because of wind, because of weather, because of firm conditions, because of some of the nuance in the golf courses. I think this is the experience is something I always watched for. I think the profile of who is a favorite is much different at the Open than everywhere else. Yeah, the average winter age of the last eleven opens, do you know what it is?

Speaker 1

I remember seeing this. I think it's like thirty six.

Speaker 2

It's thirty four brought it the last two more cow and Cam twenty five, twenty eight brought it down a little bit.

Speaker 1

Because she had to show through and Stenson, yeah, ZJ.

Speaker 2

Darren Clark was forty one, Ernie was forty one, Phil was forty two, Rory was twenty four, ZJ thirty nine, Stenson forty, Speak twenty four, Mullinari thirty six, Lowry thirty three, Markow twenty five, Campsmith twenty eight. Obviously, you know, if you went with a median instead of an average, it

would be probably about thirty six. Yeah, I if I'm just eyeballing it correctly, but yeah, so this is a this is a golf course, it ties in with your weather thing, or this is a tournament that favors you know, the old and I'm wondering, I'm wondering, do we get do we get a wiley guy?

Speaker 1

Padrig? Padrig's in it, Padrig.

Speaker 2

I mean I always like I'm I've said this on other preview pods. I'm waiting, I'm waiting for Adam Scott to get his second man. Yeah, I know, Sergio's not in it. So like you know, you got like Justin Rose, other people that would maybe profile in there. But I think like Adam Scott's always the one that makes sense, and like you look at his career, you look at everything he's accomplished. It's like, God, he's got to have two majors and obviously he kind of kicked one away.

Yeah in an open kind of yeah, maybe more than kind of.

Speaker 1

I mean, he but he's the guy, right like if you look at and you do the thing with players as a half major.

Speaker 2

Right, yeah, well that was Garrett's idea. Okay, probably correct, but it makes more sense when you do the half major, Well, it totally does.

Speaker 1

But I think he's the guy him and probably Sergio that if you look at just what they've accomplished over the course of their careers, it doesn't it doesn't really add up or make sense that they only have one major championship. And I think, you know, you could throw Jason Day in there, but the thing about Adam Scott compared to Jason Day is like the breadth of achievement, right, Like he's he's been good, he's been elite for like twenty years.

Speaker 2

Yeah, we're into the twenties, into the twenties, and they're so few guys, yeah, in golf history that are relevant for twenty plus years.

Speaker 1

Yeah, And I think that, you know, I think he can take some encouragement from the last, well from the Open the history you just read, but even the last like Phil winning Kiowa and different things that have happened over the last several years. I think Harry Player said that somebody in their sixties is going to win a major. So he also said the ball is going to go

like five hundred yards at the Masters this year. So I don't know, but Adam Scott and Sergio to me are the two guys that if you just look at ball strikers and not just ball strike not just like okay driving range hitters, but also winners globally global winners like have won everywhere for a long time. They're the two to me that really stand out ash as like their career needs one more major to really kind of

make sense. Yeah, I would agree with that, And I think like Adam Scott, you you look at his game and it's still a game that for a week, you know, he's not going to be in it every week.

Speaker 2

He's not a top ten player anymore. I don't think that's but he certainly has the capabilities to win one of these, And I think, like what's interesting is like a top ten player week in week out. I think you can make an argument that in terms of majors, he probably is like a top fifteen player no matter what, top twenty player, just from from the sense of what he can do and what he has done at majors and how his game works. What do you what do you got next?

Speaker 1

I was just looking at his finishes. He's he doesn't have do you know when his last top ten in a major is by the way, wildgo hasn't been pretty twenty nineteen Bell Reeve. The year after that, twenty nineteen US Open. Where was twenty nineteen? Was that pebble?

Speaker 2

Yeah, pebble Woodland.

Speaker 1

It's a long time. My next thing is your boy Jordan Speith, this is this is his best major? HPOY. Well, yeah, I mean you've talked about him a lot. This is his best major championship. I think that. I think when people think of Jordan Speed, it's very easy to run to Augusta, run to the Masters, run to everything that he's done there, which makes sense, right, He's one one, he probably should have two, maybe could have three, just

based on the way he's played there. But the reality of that of Speed is that over the course of his career, the Open has been really his best major. You know, even when he was playing badly back in twenties eighteen nineteen twenty, he was still like top twenty in this in this major championship, like he's been And it makes since he explained this a couple of years ago at Royal St. George's, I think the quote was like, you're not just hitting driving range shots at Palm Springs, right,

you have It engages the creativity of your mind. And that's where I think he said, like, when I'm living externally rather than internally, that's when I'm at my best, Which makes total sense because if you watch Jordan's p for ten minutes, you're like, yeah, that guy needs to not be in his own head, and this tournament forces him out of it and allows him to play with a freedom that I don't think he plays with at the Travelers or the RBC Heritage or you know some

of these other places the guys go to. So I just this, to me, annually is his best chance to win a major. He could tie Rory if he wins it. He's not particularly playing great golf, but again, I just don't know how much it matters how well he specifically is playing coming into this tournament.

Speaker 2

Yeah, I would agree that this is this in in Augusta, they profile for him, right, especially with with the way the PGA and in the in the US Open of historically set it up, and you see the skills rewarded. You know, I just spent it's spent a long time. That's that would be my my my concern, right, it's just uh, you know, spent a long time, and I think he's like a dramatically different person and player, uh than he used.

Speaker 1

To be, right.

Speaker 2

I think that's the the unique thing about golf, right, is that it is somewhat about athleticism, somewhat about a technique, and somewhat about the mental side of the game, And that's the one that is so vulnerable, right, And I don't know, I I would love to see it.

Speaker 1

Uh.

Speaker 2

He obviously he brings brings a popularity and just a his it's it's fun a watch right like it is, it's it's a it's an exhilarating form of golf because of there's a certain relatability with his game and and craziness that I think, like any any average joke can see in it. But I, uh, you know, I just I wonder, I wonder, and I it'd be great to see. But I just always go back to like, is have we seen the best Jordan Speith?

Speaker 1

And is there?

Speaker 2

Can you get it back?

Speaker 1

I think what's interesting about what you just said is that it almost and this is everything I look at. Patrick Carrington's quote at Kiowa is like this sort of the source quote for talking about a lot of the psychoanalysis stuff, like you know, like what he said there.

Speaker 2

I just like experience. Experience, isn't it all? It's cracked up to me to be with experience, you lose innocence.

Speaker 1

I believe this. Yeah, And it's just like the perfect way to describe so much Harrington talk. So I know he might win, I might pick him from my one and done. But the thing with speed, or not just with speed, but with anybody, it's like, as you evolve as a person, because we talk about these guys not just as players but also as people. Right, as you evolve as a person, it can work against you because you're becoming a different person than you were three years ago,

five years ago, or ten years ago. And whether it's noticeable or not, it's probably it probably isn't noticeable in a lot of ways because it's a daily thing. Right. I think about your evolution as a person from before you were married to now being married and having a kid and having a business and all these different things, Like you're such a different person than you were ten years ago, and that can like really affect the way

that you think about everything. And the one thing that Tiger never really he did which worked against him as a person, but for him as a player, He didn't really evolve as a person. He was kind of just like the twenty year old dude for twenty years. Well, you could make the argument that when he did evolve, when his world came crashing down, is when he became beatable.

Speaker 2

Yeah, right, like it it kind of there's there's Tiger Part one and Tiger Part two and part two. You know, after the fire hydrant is not what the level of dominance Part one was. And obviously there are injuries and all other all sorts of other things. But you know that I think that moment probably dramatically changed him as a person.

Speaker 1

Yeah, And it doesn't mean you can't win or that you shouldn't evolve as a person. But I don't know that we give it enough credit in terms of the way that we think about guys. You know, and Rory, Rory said this, He's like feels like I'm chasing my first major. Like we give so much credit to like, oh, he won four and it was like that was like

a three lifetimes ago, you know. And it doesn't mean he can't do it, but it's it's a very it's just such a different thing, especially when you have people like speed like Rory like most of the top guys right now that really try to evolve as people and become different people than they used to be.

Speaker 2

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Speaker 1

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Speaker 2

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this is a great way to support us. Thank you, and now back to Kyle Porter.

Speaker 1

All Right, I got I got a couple of ways I could go off of this by remaining.

Speaker 2

Three things all fit off this, but you brought them up. So let's, uh, let's talk a little bit about Rory here. I think, I really I like you talk about evolution and different aspects of life, and I think Rory has uh in recent months moved into a new mentality of how his spot in the professional game. I think obviously he was a torch carrier, he's still very involved, but where he kind of took on this this very out

front leadership role for the PGA Tour. I think a lot of his energy was devoted to pleasing people, really being you know, the voice of the tour, holding things together through tumultuous time, but also like appealing to his peers, right, and I think over the last with what's happened with the deal and kind of some of the trust things that have gone on with players and and everything, I think he's kind of in a new new type of headspace and you can see it with the way he's

he's handling media since since the framework agreement was put in place, where it's it's short, the topics are are stick to golf type topics for the most part, I think he's got an edge about him that he hasn't had in a while, and I really like it. I think that we saw him play really great golf at LACC. It was it was reminiscent of of the old course last year.

Speaker 1

But like.

Speaker 2

His putter went really cold on the weekend and he had opportunities. I think like that was more of a fact of like you look at it and it's like wow, like two putts go in. He had lots of chances it's as completely different story. And obviously Wyndham Clark made made the putts, but like that that was a situation where Rory probably could have won that tournament by four or five if if he if his putter wasn't ice cold.

And I just like, I like his mentality. I think he's hitting driving ball great, which is an important thing to do out here, and we know that, like he's just on a different level with the driver. I think that was something that I took away from from from la Is just like how he can you know, long players on the tour, he's routinely twenty past him. I just think that mentally he's in the best place that he's been in a long time with his golf game.

And I think that this is, uh, this is probably setting up for a great week for him.

Speaker 1

Yeah, I think I think what you said is correct, and I think people will give a lot of I guess this is what I was trying to say earlier. People will give a lot of credit to Oh, he won here in twenty fourteen, and you're like, well, that matters a lot less than how he's like the fact that he's playing very well right now, you know, like

it doesn't. It's a fun storyline. It doesn't. How the fact that he won here in twenty fourteen doesn't really affect whether or not he's going to win in twenty three. I think the thing the thing for me that guy he hit it so good in La like it to me. It was so different than that final round at the old course.

Speaker 2

He wasn't as good.

Speaker 1

No, he hit it okay, but he had all these like thirty foot putts and eighteen foot putts and just just a lot of kind of nothing. And I didn't feel like he hit it as tight as he hit it those last couple of days in LA. I mean, that was just like a show, and it was. It

was awesome to watch Andy. The thing that really stood out for me with him on that final day was, and I had not heard this in the last nine years, he said, when I win my next major right in the in the in the press conference afterwards, and I had not heard him talk so definitively about the fact that he's gonna win another major, And I thought that that was a real it was a real shift in his at least from my perspective, for where he's where he's at in his career because I think he this

is it's so weird I think for people to hear. But I think he struggles with I don't maybe not self confidence, but just like he has to be reminded, hey, you're the I mean it's the it's the JP quote where he said you're Rory Fan McElroy, right. He has to be reminded of that almost, and I think there's some like self awareness in there that is like, again, a good thing is a human but you know, sometimes bad as a player because you have to have somebody

reminding you, hey, you're Rory. You're Rory. You're Rory. You're one of the twenty five thirty best guys of all time. And I think he I think he believes that right now and honestly, the way he's playing at the Scottish I I honestly would not be surprised if he won the Open by like five strokes.

Speaker 2

Yeah, I'm golf at every level. I say this to like people that tell me how they suck at golf, Like before, I'm like, listen, like everybody at every level goes through periods where they think they suck golf. And I think that's very true of the best players in the world. It's very true of people like Rory Brooks

was very open about it on Netflix, you know. But I think, like one of the other things, just to kind of distill what I was getting at earlier a little bit more, I think to be the best player in the world, you have to be extraordinarily selfish with your time, yep. And I think that that's something that has shifted with Rory, is that he's being more selfish, more judicious. He's not answering questions about everything he doesn't. I think he cares less about what other people think

of him than ever before. And I think that while might not be the best trait, you know, for life, always it is the best trait to play the best golf, to be the best golfer in the world. And I think that it's an edge. It is a is a important asset to have on the golf course.

Speaker 1

Sean Zach and I were talking after the PGA because obviously golf media's favorite thing to do is to dissect why Rory's not winning majors, and we were joking about how he should just impress conferences. Say you know what, Andy like f you, I'm not answering that question, you know, and just start like just start going off on people and how that he would never do that obviously, but in a in a way that's a little bit of like his sort of where his mentality has gone a

little bit. I think, do you do you think it's the is it the merger or the whatever, don't call it a merger. Is it the deal that has pushed him in that direction? Do you think?

Speaker 2

I I'm not sure. I you know, I think I think probably probably that I think that has something to

do with it. I imagine I imagine that there was you know, he obviously was somebody that was was telling people to be loyal, and I imagine I imagine that after that happened, there was people that were upset with him and and like you know, felt betrayed by him and the tour, and and I think, like you know, he was doing looking out forever for the best interests of the sport, right, And I think I imagine that getting heaps of blame placed on you, or any any blame

you know, from your peers, would would make you feel pretty you know. And I think the media was tough on him too, To be completely honest, some some media, right, Like I think there was you know, there's a lot of narratives. I just i'd imagined that that was a that I think that probably had the biggest impact of I don't you know. I wouldn't say like he's dramatically different human being at this point, but I noticed there's an edge to him that that hasn't I don't think it's been around.

Speaker 1

Would you would you say tough? Do you mean critical? Yeah?

Speaker 2

I think there was there's some criticism. I think there was. There's I think there's just that that like look at look at this, like you know, live guys win type yeah, right, And and I think like we don't know. I think if we learned anything on this week was like we have no clue how it's going to shake out.

Speaker 1

Yeah. I do think he does seem he seems hungrier for a major than perhaps he's been at different times in the past nine years. And I think that that's it doesn't mean you're the win, but it's it's meaningful, it's important.

Speaker 2

The other event that happened right in this period that we haven't talked about is the Brooks PGA win which passed. You know, he doesn't you know Brooks has more majors than him too. I think there's also probably that has to be a factor in here. Like I imagine he probably like five years ago, never imagined a peer passing him in major championships other than I do.

Speaker 1

Like I we don't we never get this in golf, or we get it. We do get it, we get it very rarely, but two sort of generational major winners kind of going at it for a for a window. If we got that, we if we got that with Brooks and Rory for the next five years, if that was like their window to kind of trade a couple of majors back and forth, that would be awesome.

Speaker 2

There's gonna be somebody new, you know, it's gonna pop in there for sure.

Speaker 1

But I mean their consistency, Like just look at their consistency in majors, Like how often both of those guys have. I mean Rory's like I think he's like top ten and nineteen of his last thirty three or something like that, thirty four Brooks similar numbers, maybe even better than that. I mean, they're just they're always there. There, there will always be new guys. But I just think it would be awesome to see to see those those two guys go back and forth. We give it another guy that's

probably gonna win. Yes, several majors we got.

Speaker 2

I was about to go there too, and I think we got the same name here, so I've guessed it's another Longhorn.

Speaker 1

It is, yes, And I don't know that anybody has ever like this. This to me would be one of the great you don't want to say wasted seasons because he won the.

Speaker 2

Play exactly what mine. This is exactly what mine is.

Speaker 1

Yes, he won the players, he won Phoenix. It's not a waste. He's been extraordinary this year. He's he's he could win all the playoff events. He could go five and oh at the Ryder Cup. I don't know. But if you don't hammer out a major in a year when you're hitting it at a level, that's like just you're looking to the side and it's only Tiger. I mean, he just he has I feel like he has to capitalize.

He doesn't have to, but it would be a it would be a disappointment, I think when he looks back to not capitalize on one of the great Tee de Green seasons of the last twenty years.

Speaker 2

My title for this one is Scottie and expectations, And I think the toughest thing to fight in golf is expectations. And I can't, I cannot this. This is going I think this is going to be one of the toughest tournaments mentally for him to play in his entire career. Because of what you just laid out, he is having statistically one of the greatest seasons we've ever seen in

the modern era. And if that isn't punctuated with a major, I mean, it's like it's honestly like Otani and Mike Trout just toiling away in Anaheim where they can't field a winning team, and it's like, Mike Trout is one of the greatest baseball players of his generation and he's never played a meaningful game, you know, and like it's it goes Categorically, I don't think it's that level because this is just one year, but like, this is one

of the greatest displays of consistency. It's everything everything you want out of a superstar athlete performance in a year where he's just been relevant every week, He's teed it up effectively, and if it doesn't include a major, it's it's mind boggling, especially considering the chances he's had, you know, at the last two. Really, yeah, it is, And I think it doesn't.

Speaker 1

It's not the end of the world. But I I think it's easy when you're in the middle of something to say, oh, this thing that's happening is going to last for a long time. And the reality is that it's not like you don't.

Speaker 2

A long off season.

Speaker 1

Yeah you don't get it's not like you get better from here or nobody ever has right like it. I again, like I the reason I talk about this a lot, whether it's on my podcast or Twitter or whatever, and people are like, we get it, and I'm like, I don't. I don't know if you do, because people are so win and loss influenced in golf that I think sometimes when you don't win, they can the people just can't

see past not winning. And it's like, no, this is like Tiger in two thousand and eight or Tiger in six or whatever whatever Tiger year you want to pick, and there's like no other name to put next to it, like it's it's only that. And so I think you just you don't get that window forever you might get it for two years. You might get it for five I don't know, but it doesn't last forever. And if we've if we've learned. You talk about this a lot

with DJ and Rory, Like, guys don't win majors. It's very rare that guys win majors for a long time, right, It's usually it's usually compressed. Look at Arnold Palmer, look at Ben Hogan, look at yeah, all these guys they win majors in a three four, five year period. And if you don't do it, and some of it's luck and some of it is just a couples whatever, whatever it is, that time you never get that back. You know, Scotty Scheffer changes and he's Jordan's speeth in five years

and he doesn't get back what he had. And so I just I think this is a it's a really important major for Scotty Scheffer's career.

Speaker 2

Yeah, yeah, I think like one of the just to you know, add one thing here is like we when the schedule changed and it went to this extremely condensed major season. And I say extremely condensed, they cut a month out. One of the things that you you looked at it and you saw is like, wow, somebody could really get hot and go on a run and knock these out, Like you know this, this is an advantage to a hot hand. And what's crazy, especially with the with the other elevated events in here, is that like

Shuffler's had the hot hand. And like it's hard to say this because he won the players and he won one waste management, but it doesn't feel like he's really capitalized on the hot hand. Yeah, and this, you know, it's you know, wins are I like, I really really really really admire. I think consistency is the most underrated stat Like I think there's there there needs to be some form of consistency. It's what every great golfer is trying to achieve when they go through changes, is like

how do I become more consistently great? Right, That's the thing that you chase with golf. Every golfer at every level is chasing it. Every golfer, Like I can't tell you how many times somebody's like I shot my best round and then the next round I shot like ninety five. You know, it's like that's you know what what everybody's

chasing is, like how do I become more consistent? And like the consistencies there, but like to have so you know, the players feels forever ago and to have so few big moments, to have so no wins really in the meat of the season is crazy.

Speaker 1

Don't you think it's weird in golf that inconsistency is almost disproportionately rewarded compared to other sports. It's absolutely insane. And I don't know what the what the solution is because winning is so incredibly hard. Yeah, yeah, I mean it's it's it's Sandy Lyles's career, right, He's got four top tens at majors but two major wins.

Speaker 2

Well, and this is not a shot. I am friends with ZB. This is not a shot at ZB. It's more of a comment about the system. ZB got inside the top one hundred in the world rankings because of his performance of travelers stacked Field. Yeah Field, you know, best best finish of his career. But like he went from way down to the top one hundred, and it is all based off of you know, one week.

Speaker 1

Right, yeah, And I mean you look at so take take Sandy Lyle and Sergio Garcia or Adam Scott. Take Adam Scott and Sandy Lyle. You would never you would No, no rational person in golf would ever say Sandy Lesle was a better golfer than Adam Scott, right and.

Speaker 2

Yet and yeah, after saying yeah, I.

Speaker 1

Don't I picked a bad There's other people that you could pick, and yet Sandy Isle has more major wins than Adam Scott. It's just like, I don't think the answer is discounting major wins because they matter a ton. I think the answer is like, and I don't know

how to promote it more. We've seen this in baseball, the evolution of the way people have viewed statistics, right where now a pitcher a pitcher's wins don't It doesn't mean as much as it did one hundred years ago, and it probably shouldn't because you're trying to measure performance and not or you're trying to measure process and not necessarily outcome. And I think that there needs to be some better literacy around, like fan interaction with golf success

or statistics or whatever. And I just don't know when that's going to come about, because it's just so wins and losses dependent right now that I don't know. I just wish, I wish there was more literacy around that Yeah, I don't know what it is, but there is something there. It's, uh, what do you have?

Speaker 2

One left?

Speaker 1

One left? We actually kind of talked about this at the beginning with Padrig but I think there's real Ryder Cup implications at this at this Open championship. And is it the biggest story of the week. No, but it's kind of the last chance for a it's it's it's the opportunity. Like if Taylor Goog finishes in the top five, I think he becomes a real Ryder Cup possibility, And

if he doesn't, then I don't think he is. And I don't we know he's we know he's ready for right well, I mean he's played in several so he he will be he will be prepared. But I think especially I was reading the Data Golf newsletter this week and it was really good because he was talking about how there's clarity on the European side other than that bottom four that we talked about, but there's actually increasingly

less clarity on the American side. The closer the closer we get, and so it's a big week for.

Speaker 2

Your What if DJ finished the second I think I think he would.

Speaker 1

I think that would put him pretty close to being on the team.

Speaker 2

I do like a top five from DJ, Yeah, you do.

Speaker 1

I think that, And I think that would be fair because I think he went five and hour whistling straights, you like, well liked, Yeah, And it's it's like, Okay, at the end of the day, you're trying to beat Europe for the first time in thirty years in Europe. Do you want to have taken Denny McCarthy over there and gone down? Or do you want to take DJ over there and have gone down? You know, I think I think that's a pretty easy answer at the end

of the day. But I just think there's a lot like there's some Sam Burns implications Max Holme, but there's a lot of guys that are kinda you don't really know what to make of them right now.

Speaker 2

What in your mind, what has to happen for JT not to get picked or is he a lock, like.

Speaker 1

He has to have surgery or something.

Speaker 2

Right, he's a lock no matter what. He could miss the cut in every event the rest of the year.

Speaker 1

Yeah, it doesn't matter. It would be I think I tweeted this a couple of weeks Ago'd be like not taking Poulter. If he's upright, he does he rubs those guys. I'll never forget.

Speaker 2

I was just walking walking from one hole to another hole, and I ran into some of the euro team at Whistling Straits and one of them was like, did you see what JT did? And I was like, yeah, I did. He was like, the guy was very mad of this. He was, I mean, this was hours after it happened.

Speaker 1

Yeah. Oh. The the way that they talk about him is like it is, it's it's tough, like there's some real animosity, not not like as a person, but some real like competitive animosity that for that week. I think I think tron At at Whistling Straits called him he's like a duke point guard, which is great, so perfect, it's so perfect. But to answer your question, yes, I think JT, if he's able to swing a golf club is going to be on the team. I don't I don't know if you. I think whether I agree with

that or not, it's kind of irrelevant. I think the names that you have to watch in terms of like that are agents of chaos for the American team. Kurt Kitty Yama, right, is he playing well? He hasn't been playing well, he's playing bad. But if he starts playing well again, right, Harris English has been really good lately. Yeah, But then a.

Speaker 2

Guy like Tony Tony fen Now who's way out that like if he if he has a great week, yeah, or a great couple of weeks, like you know, these are the guys that then all of a sudden throw in Jeopardy like then you. I mean like I don't. I can't see a world that Ricky's not on the team, no point no.

Speaker 1

But I think there's some real like, Okay, in a vacuum, do you do you if you take the names out of it, are you taking Russell Henley or or or Max Homa. I think you would take Russell Henley. But you can't take the names out of it. You can't erase the fact that Max one whatever four matches at the President's Cup last year. You can't. There's just so

many different factors that go into it. And I think I think there's some real like Ryder Cup implications at this open for five or eight guys on the American side.

Speaker 2

I think, like you look at the top nine points, there's no way if you're in the top nine points you get bypassed, yep, and then from there it's it's your JT's doesn't seem like it's going to be in that top nine and Ricky's not gonna is. Ricky could get all the way up there, but like, you want one of those two guys because they are as are going to be on the team. Effectively, you really want those two guys to get into the top nine.

Speaker 1

Yeah. So I think just from a political standpoint, as the captain, you wouldn't You're right, you wouldn't stray outside of the top nine. I think it's easy for us to look at stroke skinned or world ranking or whatever,

but politically you wouldn't. You there has there's more volatility this year, as I Johnson was talking about this, because the elevated events offer so much money, right, and so there's more there's more noise because that's what they go on, is how much money you've earned that translates into points. I don't know what the FedEx uh exchange there is, but uh, you're not gonna go out of the top nine.

So if you have guys that are outside of it, like JT and Ricky, then you really only have one spot that you're trying to.

Speaker 2

Pick, right, Yeah, basically, I mean that's the thing right where it gets tricky, right, I just think the discourse. Let's just say Keegan doesn't play well, but he just only falls just to nine.

Speaker 1

Yeah right.

Speaker 2

You imagine the discourse around like Keegan Bradley not getting picked, you know, when he was ninth in points and somebody who's like in DJ getting picked or Taylor Groose getting picked.

Speaker 1

Well, that's what I mean. That is to spot it's political suicide. Is the cow right like you You're not you wouldn't do that. And so.

Speaker 2

Although ZJ doesn't seem to me like a risk taker.

Speaker 1

Really just I might be I might be miscasting him, but he just doesn't seem to be like it doesn't feel like me like he's going to be somebody that's trying to you know, the big miss step out the big mites, don't scream, you know, take take risks and put yourself out there. Uh yeah. So that that's my last one is just on both sides. I mean we were joking about it. If Potter Carrington finishes in the top ten, I think you kind of playing your way onto the Ryder Cup team. I mean legitate, like take

take his name, take his age out of it. You're just I don't know. I think I think that's.

Speaker 2

I can't do it because he didn't play in this week senior major players. So, uh, Ludwig's gonna be on the team, right, I don't think. So he's got to do something. But I like, get he's talent.

Speaker 1

I get he's talented, but like, like, what has he done?

Speaker 2

Listen. I I'm all aboard the Ludwig hype train. But like, at the same time, there needs to be a high finish to glom onto. Here has to be one. He's not in the Open, is he.

Speaker 1

I don't think so, yeah, And I like, okay, let me just like run down the finishes. T for it.

Speaker 2

John Deere? Is that is that where you're gonna hang on?

Speaker 1

I mean, STEP's gonna get on the team from his John Deere performance.

Speaker 2

Yeah, but there's a bout Sepstraca is a top thirty player in the world. You know, Ludvig's three oh three. I mean, so Rocket Mortgage T forty, Travelers T twenty four, RBC Canadian Open T twenty five, Valspar T sixty one, Arnold Palmer T twenty four, Hero Dubai Classic T seventy. Those are his professional wins or professional starts. He didn't win NCAA's. He won a lot of like college tournaments.

Speaker 1

But I just.

Speaker 2

Unless he does something I don't, you gotta do it at the highest level and then you're gonna throw him in the Ryder Cup. I get he's super talented. I'm all for injecting youth, but like Victor Hobland when he turned pro, had a better record, and I don't think he would be considered for the Ryder Cup. I was that a Ryder Cup year?

Speaker 1

That?

Speaker 2

Because No, wasn't there Matt Wolf. That wasn't a Ryder Cup here right, No.

Speaker 1

It was twenty nine. They turned pro after Pebble in twenty nineteen at the Travelers and the Ryder Cup year was twenty well it would have been twenty twenty. It ended up being twenty twenty one.

Speaker 2

So like with Hobland, for example, like I think the finishes were were pretty we're better than that. And if it was like he didn't even get his card like ludvig Aberg at this point, wouldn't under the old before PGA tour you changed, he wouldn't be getting his card. He'd be getting close to seven starts at this point and you'd be like, Okay, he's going to the corn

Ferry Tour next year. Yeah, And I don't think you could put a player like that on the team unless no, he could win, he could win Windham and then win you know, a playoff event and like if he woulds wind him like that's a real conversation then right, Yeah, I think I don't think he's qualified for the playoffs. Like, I just don't think. I don't see how you could put him on the team.

Speaker 1

I think the counter is what we talked about earlier. There's there's just no nothing going on at the bottom. And I think the other things, like you look at

some of those finishes he has. He's shooting like it's very inconsistent, which is not It can work in your favor at a Ryder Cup where you only play match or two matches or whatever, and so if you have a flash and you're I mean, they're not gonna pick Luvig and play in like four matches, right, Like they would play him in a couple and see if they can get I think he's gonna be on the team. I think they're gonna see if they can get something

out of him. When you put him in on that stage and your top eight's kind of taken care of and you're up, like your ceiling with him is just so much higher than it is with the Aaron Ryes and Alex Norns of the world that I think it. I think you look at that ceiling and and and pick that over everybody else having a higher four so much so.

Speaker 2

Aaron Ryce Slander, Yeah, he's just like the guy that I get. He's stuck in your head. Hey, all right, my fifth one. You know we talked Ryder cup now it's uh, we've we've mentioned him. Ricky Fowler.

Speaker 1

We do this all the time with Tiger and Phil and we were like, is this his best.

Speaker 2

Chance for a major championship?

Speaker 1

Left?

Speaker 2

Right is Rickyes? Is this Ricky's best chance for a major ever? He's playing arguably like as good of golf as he's played in the last seven he not arguably he's playing the best golf he's played in the last seven years of his entire career. He's not super long.

So I think that opened while he contended at lac that was an atypical US Open course I think like the US Open and the PGA doesn't really fit his game great at this point in his career and with where the game's gone, and that leaves the Masters and this, and I think like the Open is probably best suited for his game as a course that he almost won at. And I just like, do is there another level of Ricky follower than what we've seen this year? Is he going to get better next year?

Speaker 1

Is?

Speaker 2

I guess the bet is like, is he a top ten player in the world or is this year kind of a one year thing? And does he settle into being a top thirty player?

Speaker 1

Yeah? That's that's interesting because the one area of his game that hasn't come all the way back. I think, if you look statistically is his is his driver. And as guys get older, they typically don't become better and better drivers, right, And so I don't know that he's going to be a top ten guy with the consistency that he was at age twenty four, twenty five, twenty six, But I so, yeah, I think to answer your question, I think he's more of a top twenty five type

guy than I'm like a top ten guy. But that plays into what like, are you asking is this his best chance ever going into like like the week, like going into the event.

Speaker 2

Yeah, yeah, I mean.

Speaker 1

It depends on how you feel about the innocence and experience thing, right, because I think there's a there's a side of Fower, that there's a facet of Ricky Fowler that did not exist eight years ago. Like he has some real I think maturity and depth that he didn't have before that most people don't have when they're twenty five. But I don't know if that works for him or against him in this instance, you know, m h.

Speaker 2

I just think that I don't know if he'll be he I think he's a first page favorite. I think if you rattled off your ten favorites, he's in the top ten.

Speaker 1

Ahead of Harrington or behind him.

Speaker 2

This is an episode about Padrick Harrington and the Open Championship, but first and foremost Padrick Harrington. I like, honestly, if you go down the favorite site, I think Scotti is number one, right, I think, uh then I would just I would probably go with the next three or Rory Brooks in in ram in some order, yep, some form

of fashion at that point. At that point, like you get into the cam Smith you get in, like I think at that point, you're in like the Ricky zone, and I don't and I honestly don't think will ever be at another major where that that is where we're placing Ricky Fowler. In terms of of odds, I don't know what is like actual odds are, but they have to be right around there.

Speaker 1

Who do you think Ricky is more? Who do who of these three players do you think is most likely to win the Open? Ricky, Colin more Kala, and Victor Hoblin.

Speaker 2

I think, like the only one that I think, like Victor and Ricky right now would be the two that I would put over Morikawa. But like I think, I mean, I think that's a great question, right, And that's like your second tier of guys. Yeah, so I think he's like squarely, he's not, like he's not your top four, which I think are pretty undisputable, but he's the next group and I don't know if he'll ever get there again for a major, right, Like I think he's having

he's just having a heater. He's on a heater. He's playing, you know, some of the best golf of his career. He's in a stratosphere in terms of the strokes game numbers that I never thought he would get back to. He's a top ten player in the world in the last six months.

Speaker 1

Yeah, it's the best he's ever hit his irons statistically, I mean not, and it's not really that close, you know, and if you look at if you look at driver, it's actually one of the worst seasons he's ever had in terms of strokes gained, which you know, we talked about it in an Open championship can be it's not maybe as it's different than it is on the PGA Tour. So I don't I don't know how much you want to how much credence you want to give to that,

but I do think that I think you're right. I think there's a case to be made that this is the best chance that Ricky Fower will ever have to win a major championship. That that doesn't mean that he's going like it could happen to where he loses this week and then wins the US Open three years from now, But that doesn't mean that his chance wasn't better going into this week.

Speaker 2

I think, yeah, like running into the tournament, yeah, like it, you know, has ever anything ever aligned better?

Speaker 1

Right?

Speaker 2

And this is this could be a golf course too, where power is not super it's more about control. And this is these are all the things that I think can play into it, right, Like this is a golf course where it's about avoiding hazards, finding fair ways, you know, Like I just I think like links golf fits his game, right. It it brings the artistry, it brings the you know, it brings the intangibles like it's in it skews older.

He would fit that, like he's right, he's thirty four. Yeah, the average age of winner's thirty four.

Speaker 1

Yep, him and him and Rory are both thirty four. I yeah, it's a really good point. And I think, you know, the thing I was thinking about after he wanted Detroit was with with a lot of guys, when they're when they're close to winning, close to winning, close to winning, and then they finally win, you can almost see the drop off coming. You can see the other side of the roller coaster, right, And it does not

feel like that with him, you know. And and I was talking about this on my pod about how like it that felt like almost like a checkpoint, like there's there's more to be had. And I don't know if that means this Open or getting back to the top ten in the world or whatever he does at the Ryder Cup, but I don't That did not feel like the sort of end of a journey that he was

kind of like, that didn't feel like the destination. It feels like there's there's more for him to get to, possibly this year, but potentially even even beyond that.

Speaker 2

Any We're recording this on Friday afternoon and he's t ten at the Scottish Open. Yeah, no matter what happens this weekend. What that tells me is that the game is in form. He's ready to go. He's like he's locked in, Like I think what he believed and he believes and the thing I think that he has now after Rocket Mortgage. I hate saying this about you know,

Rocket Mortgage like this, but like there's real belief. There's more belief than before the US Open, Like this is major championships are all about a lot about belief, and I think there's never been maybe more belief for Ricky Fowlers since twenty fourteen.

Speaker 1

Yep. Yeah, And it's crazy to think how much I think you talk about this a lot. I know all of us do. But how much of it is just like luck, you know, a couple a couple of things going like you have all these things that want that line up. You're hitting it great, you believe all. You hit some putt, you make some putts whatever, But then like one or two things can go badly and there that's the end of your You know, you don't win because of that, and that is just that has to

be mentally infuriating. I was curious, who did you who did you think was the best dressed out of that that trio at Wimbledon.

Speaker 2

It's a hard question. There's there's there's My college fuddies have had a chain going. All of them were just disgusted, you know, they're I think that the uh, I don't know.

Speaker 1

I think it definitely wasn't speed. Well can we agree on that, No, we can't. I actually think it was speed.

Speaker 2

It just wasn't ironed.

Speaker 1

The outcome was bad. His process was good because he didn't The thing that he did was he didn't try too hard. Like he he stayed within himself. He didn't try to do too much. He didn't try to cover like a two eighty, you know lake when he only had a two sixty club. He just forgot to He just forgot to iron the pants, which was which was not great.

Speaker 2

Honestly, I'm looking at the picture now, the pants. I mean, I respect it because I just want to put this out there. If people ever see me in public, my pants will probably look like George speed Well.

Speaker 1

Somebody was trying to tell me that it was he was wearing linen pants and you can't iron linen. I was like, I don't think those are linen pants.

Speaker 2

Honestly, I think Rick looks the best.

Speaker 1

Yeah, JT, there's JT's got a lot going on.

Speaker 2

Yeah, there is a lot going on. It's I mean, I respect JT for for going for it.

Speaker 1

Yeah, yeah, he's almost Yeah, he's it's like a bit. He's like playing a playing a part.

Speaker 2

That's who's your pick to win? Real quick, we're we're way over time here for the Fridayke pod.

Speaker 1

Well, I didn't know we had a time limit. We're talking about Eric, Eric mcke and Jeff Green.

Speaker 2

There's no time limit. There's there's just constraints put put on by my own self.

Speaker 1

I don't think I have picked him for a major this year. I know I haven't, but I'm I'm I'm ready to I'm ready to run it back, get hurt all all that. Yeah, I think he's gonna win by like five. I really, do you know?

Speaker 2

My one and done pick is gonna be cam Smith. I'm kind of starting to talk myself into Ricky. Yeah, I think Scotty is gonna win. Okay, there's that Strokes gained total stat or whatever about like two thousand and six and twenty fourteen Tiger and Rory and I think that I think Hoylake Hoyla could become the new Birkdale

where you say, like, look at the winners. That's like one of the things like if Rory wins again, if Scotty wins, if rom wins all of a sudden, I think that the RODA discussion discourse needs to be like the place that produces the winners is Hoylake, because then you go back Peter Thompson. De Vicenzo obviously was a great player, but Peter Thompson then they were just like completely out of the ROTA for a long time. I also want hearing more about the Dowie hole. I want it,

I want it back. I want the par three surrounded by out of bounds back.

Speaker 1

Oh, that would be amazing. The Bergdale list is so crazy, Well, they got the problem is the most recent champions just a guy. Oh my gosh, we've gone long enough for you to say that that that needs we need to.

Speaker 2

I just wanted to rile you up. That was that was That was a joke. Just a guy came out after Brickdale.

Speaker 1

Yeah, that's true. That's a good point. He was the best iron party in the world in twenty seventeen.

Speaker 2

Yeah, I've you know, at that point, it was where's this going? That's what you know. That's my favorite. One of my favorite things with majors is how the discourse immediately after is like, is this guy gonna win eight?

Speaker 1

I got like, I love Tron he's the best. After after more Kala won Royal Saint George's two years ago, he he legitimately said that more CaWO would win eight major championships, and it's I get it. It's easy to do. It's easy to to Uh. It's because it's so easy to invasion, right, Like they've just won, like this guy's But there's the beautiful thing about majors is there's only so many of them, and there can't ever be more

of them. It's like the perfect It's the perfect amount of what you want from the most important events of the year for golf.

Speaker 2

Yeah, I completely agree. All right, Kyle, thank you for coming on. This was delightful. People can find your work at cbssports dot com. They can subscribe to your newsletter, the Normal Sporter, and then they can also find you on Twitter and Instagram. Is it Kyle Porter CBS.

Speaker 1

Yeah, at both threads too. I've made them cans forgot about Threads. I keep I check it every once in a while. There's too many, too many places. I don't have the time to double post now, even if it's copy and paste. No, I'm good.

Speaker 2

Have you has to just win out?

Speaker 1

Have you gotten paid by Twitter yet? No? All these all these all these creators getting getting paid for their for their their viewer.

Speaker 2

To golf.

Speaker 1

I don't know. I checked with I checked with some of the I checked with Sally and he said he he hasn't received it either, So maybe I don't know.

Speaker 2

He wants to be worried about the Kardashians, not us golf content creators.

Speaker 1

Maybe the Live boys are getting it intant, Maybe they live the live the live bots are getting it.

Speaker 2

Instead absolutely something that probably is happening. They get They've gotten everything so far. All right, we love I love you live bots, you know. Yeah, I do not I find it humorous. I just I enjoy laughing. My beads of social media at this point are for purely, strictly for humor. Find the humor and everything, even when.

Speaker 1

It's very serious, it's great. I love it.

Speaker 2

All right, Kyle, thank you, and we'll talk soon. I can't believe the opens here. Thanks Andy, thank you for listening to another edition of the Friday Podcast. Today's episode was edited by Matt Russ's Thank you, Matt. Matt's been killing it with our social media channels. If you don't, if you aren't on social media, I really applaud you. That's an amazing thing. If you're on Instagram and you don't follow us already, please do so. It is at

Friday Golf and we do a ton of stuff. We've been we just started this new thing whole of the day, which is pretty fun. And Matt's been cooking up some really cool reels over there. So follow our social channels and thank you to Matt for putting this together. And can't wait for Open Championship week. We will be back with at least one more podcast this week, maybe another one. We'll see, but thanks and we'll talk to you soon.

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