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 brid egg Friday.
Egg, the dreaded Friday Friday, Frida Egg, fridagg bride egg Lie, I'm about ready to run off of the hump course.
Welcome back to another edition of the Friday e Golf Podcast. It is here, we are here. It is Masters Week. This whole week I will be in augusta national. We are so excited for the eighty eighth playing of the Masters. We are going to have a ton of stuff going on uh with at the b Dratti House live from there as well. We will be on the rounds this week with a couple of us there, and we'll be
pumping out content through the newsletter. We'll be putting up a lot of website articles and then of course podcasts. Between this podcast as well as the Shotgun Start, we will have all of your master's needs covered. So to get to the Masters, I want to call up one of my favorite people to talk golf with, Trevor Emmlman. Trevor is the lead analyst for CBS. He is also a past champion of the Masters. So an absolute pleasure, honor to talk with Trevor about the twenty twenty four
Masters tournament. So we did our traditional five Things podcast where each of us prepares kind of five things that we're watching for the Masters. We had some overlap. It was a great discussion. Trevor was as you'd expect, prepared and really great in this format. So this I'm excited for everybody to listen to this podcast, and just you know, if you don't subscribe to the newsletter, subscribe this week.
Uh.
If you don't, you know, kind of uh follow our website off and we should have a lot of stuff up there. We have a whole page that's dedicated towards our Master's UH content. And then I think we're gonna have a lot more social media content this year. We have we'll have a photographer on the ground at the Masters, and UH excited for that. That'll be a first time for us having, you know, images that we can share from from Augusta National. So before we get to Trevor Immelman,
let's talk about the Dratty House. Uh B. Draddy, longtime partner of ours, UH is the presenting sponsor of this week and uh, b Draddy has h has is awesome. They've outfitted us with a ton of gear and uh and the house with just a ton of goodies. So b Draddy be sure to check out bdraddy dot com. It's spring, it's time to check out, time to look through your clow it. You know, it's always nice to refresh and spring the new seasons here, get a little refresh.
I'm gonna I just was at a golf course. I was at Brambles up in northern California, and I uh, I was looking around their pro shop. They had a bunch of be dratty. But you know what I got? What I purchased full price from the pro shop in everyday Vest. This is one of my favorite pieces. It goes, you know, goes well with everything. It's April. It's a great layering piece. You're at that time of year where you know, even if your highs are in the seventies,
your lows are gonna be in the forties fifties. It is perfect for your like walk to work, if you're walking the dog, this thing you will wear a ton. So I just picked up a new everyday vest. If you visit bdratty dot com. We have a great promo code. It's TFE thirty. It's thirty percent off. I mean you can you can get some pretty good, good dollars off if you use that promo code we have. You know, if I was going to recommend a couple of things everyday, vest Liam Polo, I love the Russ hoodie. I wear
that a lot. I love the russkrewneck too. Those are two things I wear a ton. But big thanks to b Draddy and their support of our coverage of the first major of the year here, so visit bdradty dot com. And now to Trevor Immlman. Trevor, welcome back on. You were nice enough to join us last year for the same episode and excited to talk about the twenty twenty four Masters. Here to kick things off, I would love if you could take us back to your first Masters.
Where were you when you found out you were in the Masters, and if you could just talk about that first time around Augusta National, what you felt and what stuck out to you about your first Masters.
Well, Andy, first of all, it's also to join you huge fan of the pod, and you know this time of year you can probably if anybody has the opportunity to watch this, you can see the huge smile on my face. You may even be able to hear it in my voice. Like this, this is the time of the year that rarely gets me going leading up to the first major, to the Masters. This event is meant just so much to me in my life. So it's interesting you ask that question because I have so many
amazing memories and recollections from over the years. First time I played actually was in nineteen ninety nine as an amateur. So how I found out that I was qualified or going to be invited was winning the pub Links at Tory Pines and the year before this summer before in ninety eight, so I had like this countdown period from winning the pub Links to that first Master as an amateur,
and it was a thrill. I was able to get some invites on the South African Tour and the DP World Tour back then the European Tour to try and get some more experience under my belt playing at the highest level. And you know, those months leading up was a lot of fun, trying to work on my game back in South Africa and get things ready and I'll
never forget. I played in the end of January. I played in Dubai, the big tournament in Dubai on the European Tour, and then the week after that the Middle East Swing back then used to have Dubai and then Qatar back to back, so I played those two as an amateur, and then I actually flew from there to Augusta to play my first practice round. So this is now early February, and the excitement on this massive trip and flight from the Middle East all the way to
Georgia was just like I could not wait. I couldn't sleep, I couldn't rest on the plane. I just wanted to get there. And I was fortunate enough to be hosted by a member the Hample family, and I actually stayed, believe it or not, in Butler Cabin for those couple
nights that I was there. And once again, you know, once you get on site and you find out, well, you're actually staying in Butler Cabin, the way I felt about that, I mean, it's really it's hard to even describe, you know, nineteen eighty six, when I was just six years old, as the first Masters I've watched I watched on TV back in South Africa, got permission from my parents to stay up past midnight and watched it and
was totally enthralled. I mean, everybody that knows anything about golf knows the nineteen eighty six Masters, and now here I am as a whatever, nineteen year old kid staying in Butler cabin about to play Augusta National for the
next two days. So got up early, hardly got any sleep, played thirty six holes for two days in a row, and then I had a couple months to get ready, and then once I got to the tournament, it was just, you know, kicked up a notch because now you're nervous, you're anxious, you're trying to figure out how you can make the cut.
Do you remember after you played those practice rounds of two days of thirty six holes, what you took away and you said you had a couple months to get ready, what did you from your first time around there zero in on what you needed to get ready.
Well, first of all, it's the elevation changes that absolutely catch you off guard if you have not been there. Look nowadays, and I'll say this because I worked for CBS, nowadays, we do an amazing job really trying to and also with the technologies that have improved from the eighties until now in television to be able to show that undulation a bit better and try and give viewers at home
bit more of a grasp of it. But when you think back to the eighties and when really they're only used to broadcast the second nine and you couldn't always get a real feel for it. Now the technologies are so good. So yeah, that's the first time.
I'll say this as someone who's a part time photographer. There's no way to capture what you see and feel with the elevation there in a photo. There's no way. There's no way to do it. Like it's gotten I will echo what you said. The telecast has gotten leaves and bounds better every year. It gets better. I mean, you see the guys with the ground cameras running around yep, trying to get that, you know, those ground shots looking up at these perch greens. But it is it is
un and I know this gets like beaten into the ground. Nothing, I will say, nothing prepares your eyes for the first time you're there, and nothing when you're inside the ropes on the golf course, nothing prepares you for the what your feet feel, what your feet feel when you get on some of the greens and when you're hitting those shots is just discomfort.
Yeah, So that's that's exactly where I was going, that that elevation change transcends into having to hit so many shots from uneven lies and you just don't get that very often anymore, do you. You know, you just don't it. And really, even when you're practicing and you're practicing, you know, either off of a mat or off of a driving
range teeth, it's pretty flat. And leading up to the Masters, you really have to seek out places where you can go and hit balls from downhill uphill side hills and make sure that you still have elite distance control off of these slopes, because at the end of the day, one of the keys to unlocking Augusta National is distance control and preciseness with your approach play. Because if you want to have a decent look at Birdie, you know, you've got the size of a mid sized rental card
to land your ball in. And that's tough enough to do off of a flat line. Now you've got some elevation to deal with. You may have five or ten miles an hour of wind to deal with and an uneven lie, it's it's difficult. It's difficult, never mind being nervous.
So you got those things, the elevation and then just the green complexes and understanding the patterns to those and way to put yourself in a spot to where you can try and make a few birdies and at the very least keep the big numbers off your card.
Did you have a favorite place or spot to practice those uneven lies that you found. Was there something you did not necessarily your first time around, but in your prime where you went to specific spot to practice uneven lies?
Well, I would do it all in weeks proceeding. And you know, for the most part around that time, I was hanging out a lot at Lake Nona here in Orlando, and there were many areas there we could just go and find a spot, drop a few balls, and you know, see what the ball does when it's a foot above you or the downhill. You know, some shots really jumped to mind that people who haven't stood out in the fairways,
haven't had that opportunity, may not quite grasped. First of all, the second shot into thirteen, if you're going for it, that ball is at least twelve inches above your feet and more in places. So now you're trying to pure a long iron. And now you know we're back to being mid and long irons after they moved the teeing area back last year. But you know, we'll pretend that
I'm still getting ready for ninety nine. You got a long iron or maybe even a fair way word, and you you got to catch it so pure in order to make sure you get over Ray's Creek, and it's
not easy to do. I always found that the second shot at thirteen played club longer than the number, and I think it's because you just don't get perfect contact because the ball is so far above your feet, and when you do catch it good, it's inevitably got a little hooked to it, and then you're bringing those bunkers into play or that little swale that's not always easy to get up and down from. That's one that you've
got to be ready for. And then the wedge into fifteen off of that downhill lie, I mean, that is
just you know, you've got to be careful. It's easy to pick the club up a little too quick on your takeaway, and then you hang a little too much on your left side, and then if you keep going with it, that ball flight's in a little bit too low, and then the first bounce is too big and it jumps over the back or you rock back a little bit because you can feel a little too much weight on your left side, and then you don't quite get contact. You see guys landing on the front spin it back
into the pond. I mean, those are shots you just have to be ready for. Second shot into nine is another one, big big down slope. They're hitting to an elevated green, so the green's above you and you're on a down slope. Got to be not just have great skill, but you've got to be very committed mentally in order to pull those shots off.
I think, like you hit on a few of the shots that are just you think about like the the nuance of the shot into thirteen. Also, you have this lie that is gonna make the ball go left. But you know in golf, one of the amazing things about golf is a wedge goes more left off that lie than a seven iron. A seven iron goes less or more off the left off that lie than a four iron.
It is like it goes through the bag and the longer the club you have in there, you feel like it's gonna go left, but that club like more often than not, kind of hangs a little more right than you think. And it's just, you know, the degrees of this The wedg shot, I mean, the downslope wedge is one of the hardest shots. And then the green that they pair with it is the most punishing, most precise
screen on the golf course. It is, you know, like the shot you just highlighted into nine, the side slope, down slope into a green that's perched up. It's that you know, you're hitting that web shot and it's gonna come out a little bit lower, but you're hitting to this elevated green and then the worst miss that you can make on that green is long. Yeah, And it's just and your tendency is going to be to miss
long there. It's just I think, like what I think about that golf course is just how the greens and the orientation the slopes of them pair with the land
that you're approaching from is unmatched. There's no golf course in the world that pairs that dynamic of the ground and what it makes you feel and what the tendencies of those shots are with pairing the worst places you could be on the green or around the green, you know, with the tendency of the lie like it is, it is psychological warfare from the second you step on the course and that first green.
Man, that's beautifully put. It's beautifully put. It. It's uh, it's a masterpiece. I mean there there really is no other way to describe it. And you know, when you were talking about that second shot into nine, now I was thinking to myself, Yeah, and never mind that you also have the green that sits at a slight angle,
So now it challenges your t shot. If you hit it down the left, you're gonna have to come over those bunkers and the green is more shallow, or you can try and push your T shirt down the right and then be hitting more up the angle of the green. And then oh, by the way, there's three levels to that green as well.
And also if you come up a little short, it's gonna roll forty yards out town.
Yeah, it is. It's amazing. It's amazing. It's the best. The tournament is incredible. The traditions that they have there are unmatched. I mean, there's just there is just no thing like it. I'll tell you what. The person who wins this year this is going to be the eighty eighth Masters. That uh that has a nice ring to it. Eight eight, So check that one.
It's you know, as you get I feel like as you get older, years become less of an obstacle. I just say, you know, you saying that I didn't realize how close we were to the to the hundredth that's going to be a spectacle, you know when you think about it, as we're getting close to that. So eighty eighth Masters. Last year, when when we did this, you you were you were upset about you cheated. You cheated a couple of things. You were upset about the prep.
This is our five things episode. You didn't you didn't complain about it this year in the lead up. You know, I didn't know if you were saving them for the pod. But uh, I definitely cheated again. But I you know, I set the rules and one of the things you could do, like I might just be a little bit more experience. I know, the new answers of listen, like if you could come up with a broader topic, you can lump four storylines into one topic.
Yeah. Yeah, I think I've learned from from my experience with you last year. Also, I recently listened to a pod with you and Bacon where you did the same thing to him. You, you know, you put four or five things into one one topic, and I was like, man, this is obviously Andy's go to move when when he has people on the pod to talk about their five favorite things. So you know, I've got a little something up my sleeve for you.
All right, let's let's kick it off. What's your what's your first thing? You're excited about our first storyline. I don't really know what the right bucket is to say these what's the first thing?
Okay, but before I get to the first thing?
All right? Here already getting more things in here.
Yeah, so then maybe this is number six. But weather, weather, weather, weather, this is on my weather is all I'm interested in
right now. I'm checking the forecast twice a day leading up, and I am just so hoping for a lot of sunshine this week in prep up there, and then once the tournament gets going, some more heat and sunshine because it feels like it's been a little while since we've had a real firm and fast Masters, And because of all the nuances and the things that you and I have just outlined about the brilliance of the course design. When it's firm and fast, this Augusta National comes alive
even more. And when that ball is running, the drama that goes along with that, the anticipation that goes along with that, the excitement of that ball rolling on the ground just increases exponentially. So like before I get to number five, whether it's something I'm very interested.
In, listen, I uh, this was on my list. I think the forecast right now looks really great. I don't want to jinx this since since you've been broadcasting, it's just been dire. I mean last year it was horrendous. The year before that was bad. Even if you go back to Tiger's year, you know it was an amazing Sunday, but the Sunday happened hours before what it was supposed to happen, you know, because they moved up to the tea times and it was a morning, so it wasn't
real Master Sunday. You think about that. That wind, the wind was amazing, it was one of it was an iconic Master Sunday, but it didn't happen on the afternoon a Master Sunday, you know, so I completely agree. Do you have a memory of Augusta National when it was really fiery and a shot or or something that was like whoa, that's different, Uh.
You know, knuckling down the rounds or what year it was. Because I've been going there so long is harder for me to do. But you know, you start to get the feel on approach shots when the greens, you know, they have phases of firmness in the last few years, Like you say, it's been pretty green, and then they can go a little yellow, ye, a little purple at times when it starts getting really firm, and you know, there's a bunch of approach shots you've got to be
really careful. We're starting right at number one, which is the highest point on the golf course. That green, if it's firm and fast, gets baked out and it is one of the most intricate and complex greens on the whole golf course. I mean, the areas that you have to play with there are tiny because of that false front and that funnel in the front of the green.
Five is another one that gets really firm. You start getting back right whole locations at six that you're just wondering how on earth am I going to stop the ball up on that little plateau seven? Hitting uphill as well, that ball is bouncing as high as the flag and you've only got like eleven yards of depth to work with, So you're in a panic over that second shot hitting off of a down slope. You know, there's there's lots
of areas where you've got to be real careful. And and that's what what I'm really hoping for and looking forward to, because that's when you need supreme control over spin and trajectory and and and that's that's what I'm.
Opening spin trajector, it's you know, even gets it's got to get to the fraction of where you hit it on the face, if you catch it a little on the toe and it's got just that fraction of hookspin, you're not going to find that right that perfect spot.
And I think, like I think sometimes, you know, with golf, we watch these leaders and they make it look so easy, but the reality of how perfectly struck on a firm golf course, how perfectly struck a shot has to be to get to some of these areas that they get to. It's obscured just by you know, they they hit the shot, and it's sometimes it's like the shot that goes that's fifteen feet right of a flag from a bad angle
with a firm green. It's like those shots because they aren't three feet away, get obscured of, like just how freakishly good that is. And I feel like that's something that you really pick up when you're on the ground at an event and you see or in your case, have played the like you know, I've I've been there. I know how it feels when I'm standing over that shot and thinking I have to hit this absolutely perfect to get to fifteenth.
Yeah, and look, you don't need to remind me about those last few years. Twenty nineteen, I was actually playing and because we played early, I teed off the tenth tee on Sunday.
Oh god, and here's early morning.
Here's a useless piece of trivia for you. In all my years at the Masters, twice I've teed off the tenth tee. The third round in two thousand and five I shot sixty five, and the final round twenty nineteen, I shot sixty nine. So I got I've actually got a pretty good scoring average teeing off the tenth tier in Augusta National. This is something I'm sure you didn't know.
I got it. I gotta say, I'm I think that if they had stuck with the original routing, ten was one. Maybe, yeah, you might be like a sixth time. Yeah.
Yeah, there's two guys. There's two guys that would have a huge saying that, Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods. They've done pretty well at that tournament, not giving many other guys a great shot. But and then twenty was the COVID year, so we played in November, was completely different golf course. And then, like you say, last year, we had twenty eight holes on the Sunday. It was that marathon on Sunday after all the rain. The course was pretty soft. So yeah, really hoping for a firm one.
I can't remember. I feel like we've gotten a round or two of really firm conditions, But I can't remember the last time we've had a four round tournament where we haven't had weather come into the equation. You know, I can't remember the last time.
Right now, it looks really good, looks pretty solid this week all the way through the weekend, all the way through really Wednesday, then Thursday, Friday is a slight chance, and then looks pretty good on the weekend again, which obviously we're excited about at CBS. That's when we really get to show off, is when it's bright and sunny.
All right, I'll do one since you know you already you already knocked one of mine off. But what I'm extraordinarily excited about over the last you know, over the last really three years of golf, it's we've had these kind of side show, the side storyline, sometimes dominant storyline of of what's going on with liv and the PGA Tour. This year is no different. But what I love is this week, more so than every other week, becomes all
about the golf. We're zeroed in on on the golf at hand, the Major Championship, the first major of the year, all the top players are here, and really, you know what the what the tournament becomes is the tournament, unlike so many other tournaments, isn't viewed through the context of money. It is viewed through the the idea of history and legacy.
And I just think when golf tournaments are rooted in that, and when you make the turn on the back nine on Sunday or you're on the sixth hole on Saturday, and you're in the mix. There is an added weight, an added thing that is in your mind and you're thinking about, and it is It is about becoming a player that will not be forgotten in history along with the big winners check and all the things that happened.
But it is really about becoming a Masters champion. And to me, this is when golf thrives, This is when golf is the best. And I you know, in the last two weeks, I've just become so smitten knowing that this week is coming because of this dynamic.
Yeah, that's very well said. I'm right there with you. Look, the last two three years has been exhausting, completely exhausting, and to feel like we're going to have this moment in time where hopefully all of that is you know, thrown onto the back burner and we can just focus on a golf tournament that really transcends the sport and a magnificent golf course for like you say, playing for history and legacy and to see somebody put on the green jacket, whether it be the first, their first time,
or another opportunity they're getting to do it. If you think of some of the other players, that is something that rarely does excite me. I'm right there with you.
Yeah, it's like I always think about when I think about this, I you know, I know you've worked with him. I always think about Curtis Strange is kind of back nine and eighty five.
Yeah, and he.
Had I wish I had I pulled the quotes, but he talks about he has some great quotes about when he made the turn where you know, he he makes the turn and he just he got on the tenth tee and everything just felt different, you know, and all of a sudden, it just it was hard and and sure like he didn't end up winning. Curtis was a great, great player who didn't get a Green jacket that you might look back on history and say, that's one of the guys that should have gotten a green jacket that didn't.
And if there's just so many you go through the time, is there's so many. There's something about Augusta National where certain players are just like it's like they're blessed by Augusta National and other players get kind of snake bitten by it and there's a whole other mental hurdle that you have to overcome, and it's just so rare, and they're just like, you know, I think that there's something to be said about tournaments, and I think this has
really helped the players over the last two decades. Tournaments that come back to the same place all the time. And what it does mentally to players is there's those built in memories of hey, you know, four years ago, I hit this shot here that just stay rooted in
their head. There's good memories and you get these positive, warm, fuzzy feeling memories, or you can get these negative memories where you're remembering, oh that that day, that third round Saturday, I was three shots out of the lead and I hooked it in the water on eleven. And there's something that's there's a power to returning to venues. Yeah, It's why I think sometimes it's hard to play tournaments at your home course because you you remember bad shots you hit there.
But also what I've found is, you know, when you play your home course, you're not always as disciplined and your mind is not always as cluttered, and you just play. But then all of a sudden, if you've got a tournament there and you walk on the tea and you pull out drive and you're like, whoa, whoa, whoa. I'm actually like, this means something now, you know, there's remember that that leak is down there, and you know if I hit it in there today, it means something. There's
something interesting about that as well. I remember going through that. The two South African Opens I won was actually at my home golf course, and that experience was was pretty weird mentally, having to actually play the course in a slightly different manner. And that's you know, I'll come back to that a little bit when I get to one of my other players here that I'm going to talk about.
But you're right, you know, you think of legends of the game that haven't wonted Augusta, you know, Wiscoff, Trevino, Ernie Rory. You know, it feels like those players absolutely should have been able to win the Masters. But it's one of the it's one of the million threads of this tournament that just makes it so great is that you have the Norman is another one that's just jumped
to my mind. Yeah, you have the amazing stories of the Palmers and the Mickelson's and the Woods and the Sev's, and you know the players and those guys that were expected to win and one multiple times Jack obviously, I mean that goes without saying. But then you have these other legends that didn't ever find a way to unlock that something around there, And like I said, it's just one of the many things that makes this tournament great.
If you think about Augusta and in the context of an elite, elite professional golfer, you know, they all make these like scouting trips where they play maybe two, three four rounds in addition to the practice rounds leading up Augusta National they play over the course of say fifteen years of their prime career, ten years Augusta National they play probably the most golf at outside of their second
golf course or outside their home golf course. They don't they do not fly out to play the travelers, you know, a month in advance, like they play their usual tournament prep there. Augusta is the place that they play an
extra round or two here or there. They might play it seven times in a year, eight times in a year, and that's probably the course that they log the second or third most rounds year in, year out, and it's like a it's just something a dynamic where for these guys they are more familiar and familiarity has like has
great benefit. It's I think it's like the what was it Harrington's great quote a few years ago, experiences and all is cracked up to me, like you know, sometimes like it's bad, like there are you get the bad memories and there's there's good things about it and bad thing there's strawbacks, and I think that's something that when you have a regular that's the only regular major host, and that's part of what makes it more special than others, is the familiarity of the course, not only for fans
but for the players.
Yep, totally, totally, totally all right. So now I'm gonna start with my actual number five.
All right, number five? You counting down? Five down?
Yeah, I'm going from five to one.
All right, I'm already two in, so you're you've got more than me.
So Tiger Woods. It's my number five storyline leading into uh, this eighty eight Masters. Somehow he's actually coming in to this Masters with less golf under his belt than he did last year, which is just fascinating. He's had twenty four holes competitive golf as prep for this last year Masters. At least last year he played all four rounds in La, made the cut there, had a good round I think either it was the second or the third round, and
got a little momentum. But this year went to La, got sick, only played six holes on the Friday, and so he's even more undercooked than what he was last year, which is fascinating and the reason I've got him at number five. First of all, look, I mean, there's just no player that even comes close to the fame and the juice that Tiger Woods brings when he teased it up in a tournament. But you know, forty eight years
old body seems to be hurting. There's just not many records that I feel that he still has a chance to break. But there's two that I think that are still in reach. And the one is, you know, winning for an eighty third time and beating Sneed's record and then coming up here at this Masters is breaking the all time consecutive cuts made record. So right now he's tied at twenty three with Gary Player and Fred Couples.
And if he makes the cut at this Masters, then that's another record that he breaks and sets a new mark at twenty four Masters in a row making the cut. That is just phenomenal.
I took the words out of my mouth about why Tiger matters this year, and I think, like, when you think about Tiger Woods, and he's obviously got the most records of any any golfer, that I think, I don't know if anybody will ever match the sheer number of records in my lifetime, in your lifetime, the Tiger said, it's hard to fathom that there will be somebody that
comes through with this many records. And I think what makes Tiger such such an icon of the sport, like so many other greats of any sport, is his ability to do the unthinkable, the unfathomable when all the odds are stacked against him. And as you outlaid, he comes into this Masters having played twenty three holes of golf, competitive golf, and he's going to tee it up at the golf course. That is, you arguably need to be the most precise and sharp with your game. It's a
physical test, it's a mental test. And here he's coming in this record. This isn't the biggest record. This isn't the most you know, amazing record he's ever gonna hold. But to break this record is a given the circumstances that he's in, is a unbelievable accomplishment. If he makes the cut this.
Year, well remember remember last year when he made the cut and then that weather rolled in on the Saturday, and I just remember vividly his second shot into the fourteenth hole, and we were on the air and it was just bucketing down with rain, and you know, he's got the rain suit on and the umbrella and the hat and there's just water everywhere, and he hit the shot and walking over to his bag, which is like
five yards away. The way he was walking, the pain that he was in just to get back to the golf bag was I That's an image I'll never ever get out of my mind. You know. The fact that he went ahead and made the cut before having to withdraw on you know, in that after that third round, or at some point in that third round, was just gosh, highlights how much pain he was in.
I'll never forget watching him walk up the eighteenth hill. It felt like he wasn't gonna make it up, you know. I uh, and I think physically, with the with the leg. It seems like he's in a way better place now than last year. I think it's just it's just the the the reps, as he always has said, I mean, competitive reps really matter if you want to play high level golf.
Now we'll say this, if it's firm and fast, like I'm begging for, I think it improves his chances because he can use all of the experience and understanding of where you can leave the ball and still make a score. So furm fast would be in his favor.
If it's firm and fast, I think that that brings in some of the guys that thrive, are that understand the golf course and then have magical short games.
Yeah.
So like if you're a George Speed fan, firm and fast to me would be where where what you're really hoping for because it allows him to have a little bit in a way it sounds counterintuitive, but the margins are smaller to make birdies, but they're wider if you've got just an extraordinary short game in the sense of more guys are going to miss around the greens and it plays in your hands.
Yeah, right, And yeah, and his record there is pretty pretty dang stilla that place. That place absolutely suits him and gets him going.
So all right, let's take a quick break to talk about another partner. This is a new partnership. This is uh. We used to have a Shotgun Start coffee back in the day, and we've always wanted to get back into the coffee business and we have partnered with good Walk Coffee to create a fried Egg coffee blend and a Shotgun Start coffee blend. So both of these coffee blends, we've got a light roast and a dark roast. The fried egg is a kind of a medium light roast.
The shotgun starts a medium dark roast. It's really to pease both types of coffee drinkers. This is really good coffee. I was I was lucky to get to sample a bunch of coffees when we were When we were finalizing this partnership, we tried out a lot of different blends. We kind of settled on these were two favorites from the different genres. And really what this does is, you know, you buy our coffee, it goes to support the podcast. It's a consumable good. This one of the virtues of coffee.
I think in the in the modern era, you don't have to rely on going to the grocery store. At this point, you can get a subscription and just get it shipped out to you and you never have that moment. You know, everybody like has that moment. It's nine o'clock at night, ten o'clock at night and you're like, oh, I don't have coffee to make in the morning. So we've got all the options. You can get ground. You can get a whole bean. The website to go visit
is good Walk Coffee. That's good Walkcoffee dot com slash fried Egg. Goodwalkcoffee dot com slash fried Egg. Go there. You can buy a single bag, or you can subscribe and get it shipped to you so you never have to worry about it coming. That's Goodwalcoffee dot com slash fried Egg. Thanks for the support, and now back to Trevor Emmlman. My next one is going to be the live players. I've got three guys on the list, and
I don't think it's just surprise anyone. I'm not putting Walkie Nieman in the in the mix until I see a top ten. Yeah, I'm right. I just I want to see something I want to see more. I know he played really well in that Fall Masters. During COVID he was in the mix, but you know, faltered late. Not all major records when you look at Wikipedia tell the true story. He was in the mix that year. That being said, I'm zeroed in on Brooks, Rom and
camp Smith. Camp Smith were eighteen months removed effectively from him possibly being the best player in the world. He wasn't great in the last years. He wasn't terrible in the majors last year, he wasn't terrible. You know, what is he at this point is a question. I'll just
run through these quick. You know, Rom, I don't know if he I think his decision to go to Live I think he went because he thought he was that the deal was done and he was coming back and I and I don't know if he thought this was all going to be together. He was going to be playing PGA Tour events. But to me, John Rahm seems like a control freak, And I'm just curious about his prep.
He's a world class player. I think he can play well at Augusta with any prep, but I wonder about his prep and whether he's gotten to do exactly how he would want to prep for the Masters, And I don't necessarily think that he does. He's the reigning champion, defending champion, but he hasn't. You know, you think about last year coming into the Masters, he was undoubtedly, undoubtedly
the best player in the game. This year he is, without question not that In that same pedestal, and I think you saw that with that Mono Imano showdown with Brooks, he knew he was the best player in the world. And Brooks, for the first time ever kind of got out outfitt On on that kind of marathon Sunday.
You count twenty nineteen when Tiger got him.
Yeah, that's true, as I was gonna I have that in the in the Brooks section. Then we then if you take if you look at Brooks, if you take Brooks's twenty twenty two out of his majors just because of injuries, you know, he couldn't squat down to read a putt. Yep, He's got seventeen top tens in his last twenty six major starts.
It's awesome. It's awesome.
It includes five wins and fourteen top fives in there. There's a I think there's three top t sixes in there. So if you went to T six to beat seventeen top six finishes in twenty six starts in majors, this guy and I'm not a better I just I don't. I don't really pay attention to betting odds very much.
He's twenty to one, he's twenty one to one. Twenty to one. How is this possible? He's spent so close here. The Tiger year, it looked like the tournament his and then you know what happens on Sundays with Tiger Woods in the mix. Happened, you know, unless your name's Trevor Emillin.
And then last year through thirty six, it looked like there was nobody that was going to beat this guy.
That's right.
If he wins, he has six majors, he's one leg away. If he wins this, I don't think there's like I think that we have to start to look back, ignore the lack of other wins and say this is the greatest player of the generation.
Yeah, I totally agree with you. I mean, there's not too much really that I can add to that. Rom was my number two, my second second biggest storyline leading in So I guess I'll jump in on that. It is fascinating to me and exciting to me to be able to observe how this is going to unfold with him.
Like you say, last year came in he had played eight PGA Tour events, he had won three of them, and he came to the Masters won the green jacket, So that was his fourth win and undoubtedly let the world know that he is the best player in the world.
And now after making this move, he's going to have played five live events after Miami this weekend, and if you do the math, because they play three round events, that'll be seventeen less competitive rounds under his belt than what he played last year coming in to the Masters when he won. So is that going to mean anything? Like, we don't quite know yet. If you look at the twenty three Masters Brooks came in, then I know what
he was doing. And like you say, after thirty six holes, it didn't look like anyone was going to beat him. Michelson finished second out of nowhere like nowhere, and you've got to give a shout out to Patrick Reid as well, or finished typer fourth. So it didn't affect those guys having played less coming into last year's Masters, But that's not going to say that John Rohb's not going to
feel a little different. And I am really really fascinated to see how he handles the whole thing, what the reaction is going to be, like, what those press conferences are going to be, like, how he interacts with the media and other players that he hasn't seen for a long time on the PGA tour, and just what the dynamic is it's going to be. It's going to be lovely to watch.
Yeah, yeah, I mean throw in. Do they have enough toilets around the court? You know? Is he going to be happy with that situation?
Now? Cam cam Smith as he just got rid of the mullet, so hopefully he doesn't lose anything.
It was April fourth, he got you.
Yeah, oh man, I'm glad to hear it. I'm glad to hear it. You know, I don't want I don't want Cam losing any of those special short game powers. You know, the guy is a genius with a wedge and a putter in his hand and in the same vein as Spieth. At a place like Augusta National that is a massive weapon. So you're always going to keep your eye on cam Smith and Brooks is an animal.
Brooks is a major championship animal as always. He hasn't played very well leading up to it or in the last few months, but does it really matter, because when he pitches up to a major championship, he's able to just shift into another gear and get himself in contention.
To me, the only thing that matters with Brooks if you go back through his career so many of the times he's won majors, is the week before does he turn up and is the is the ball striking there? And so live Miami? Like, I think that's the story. The thing to watch is Brooks Kopka on the leader board. If he's on the leaderboard, you gotta feel great about what's gonna happen with him going into Augusta. It's like it's like clockwork. I think it was triny Forrest. He
might finish fourth right before the PGA one. It's like if you go back last year, Crooked Catty wins and then he plays Augusta, he plays great. It is as kind of like clockwork that I think that's how you tell if Brooks is ready to go, is the week before, if he's in the mix, and I just, yeah, I think that you know, sneaky. We talk about Rory with with Augusta National, is Brooks actually the one that has been kind of snake bitten the most by Augusta and
had the best chances to win. I think with the last five years, he's definitely and I think, like you talk about game for Augusta National, he's perfect, He's got everything you want.
You know, it just feels like it's more intense with Rory though, because it's been for a longer period of time, you know, since Yeah, twenty eleven. I remember playing was twenty eleven was the one where he threw it away in SCHWARTZELBERTI the last four holes, Right, it's twenty eleven,
I'm quite sure. But I remember playing with Rory in the third or fourth round in two thousand and nine when I was defending champion and just watching this kid play this golf course, going, he's going to win five of these, Like this golf course is perfect for him. Back then he played more of a draw and I was just playing that round of golf with him that day, going, man,
this course is tailor made for this guy. So the pressure feels a little bit more intense for me when it comes to mc roy as opposed to Kipka.
With golf, I think there's in it, particularly with Augusta National. I'm curious what you think about this, but to me, Augusta is the place that you have to swing more freely and without thought than anywhere else in the world. And there's going to be people on both sides of this which disprove and prove it. But to me, Augusta is the place where, when you're over the ball, you have to let go of all your worries about where it might go, what it might do, and hit the shot,
commit to the shot. And I think for some players as you age, that becomes a harder and harder proposition. You're light like your life when you're twenty two, the thing you worry about are so much less and so much less consequential than by the time you're thirty eight and you've got kids and you're worried, you know, like you're you become more trained as you age to worry
more in a weird way. And I think this golf course almost some for some people, certain types of people versus other types of people, becomes more difficult to play because of that.
Do you are you are you connecting that with Rory?
I don't know. I think it's just certain personalities right where I think there's with young players, and I think like Speak's a great example, not at Augusta, just in general in his career. I think golf's gotten harder for him as he's aged and he thinks about more stuff. It's not is when you're I remember when Adams.
That he thinks about more, but he definitely knows more.
Yes, and knowledge can be It goes back to that
Harrington quote experiences everything. Yeah, when you think about Adam Scott when they changed the rule about flagstick putting and he started putting with the flagstick and he had this great putting year and he talked about how it reminded him as a kid when he used to just sit on the putting green and bang putts into the flagsticks, the little flagsticks on a putting green, and how it made it easy because it connected back to when you didn't think about things.
Sure, And I.
Think that that Augusta because of all the things we outlined right at the top, like all these little things and you have to you have to figure out what you're doing with a shot and then forget about everything and hit the shot.
Yeah, I mean, look, there's there's a lot that's going on. You know, we touched on the lies. It's absolutely in your mind how much or how small the space is that you need to land your ball on approach shots. And then the swirling wind is really the icing on the cake from a standpoint of sewing doubt. So when you know that you have this small space that you need to land your ball and to give yourself a good look and you're not one hundred percent sure where
the wind is, that it's it's a problem. It's a problem.
We since we've touched on Rory here, I know Rory's on your list.
Rory's my number three, So.
We're here, let's talk about him.
So ten tenth go trying to complete the Grand Slam. If he does, I actually think it. You know, if you've got this Rory and Brooks rivalry really of you know, who's the best player of this generation. If Rory goes ahead and wins the Masters, completes the Grand Slam, it gives him that slight edge over Brooks.
Because variety of courses.
But also like that is the most elite list in golf. I mean engulfing history. For Rory to be only the sixth guy to do that, I mean that is likes. That's rarefied air right there. And it's so interesting to see how he goes about it. It's not like he's he's played badly. He's had seven top tens in the last ten years at the Masters, so he's had a few opportunities there and thereabout. But this year feels a little different because normally he's won by now he's played well,
but this year he really hasn't played well. He won in Dubai earlier on in the season and then in his five starts on the PGA Tour, T nineteen at the Players is his best finished. That is, it's unheard of for Rory McElroy. So I'm wondering, like, does this take some pressure off? Does this take some of the spotlight off? These are all interesting things. And then you know he's been putting in a little work with Butch
Harmon for the last few weeks. How does that change things He's spoken about, you know, earlier on the season, missing left with the driver seemed to fix that, then started missing with the Irons hasn't had a week where he's really put everything together. Now, if there was one coach that I would have recommended for Rio, it would have been Butch Harmond for sure, because Butcher has an amazing ability to give a player confidence without changing too much,
and he just he has a knack for that. He did it with Fowler last year, and he's done it with multiple players throughout his career. He is a mastermind of getting the best out of highly talented golfers. So it's going to be fun to see how Rory pitches up and how he goes about it. And you know, we'll probably get early look here this week at San Antonio if anything looks a little different. But let me
just finish by saying this. My belief is Rory plays Augusta National two aggressively and that's what gets him undone all the time. And I just wish that he would take his foot off the gas a little bit and let the golf course come to him rather than going out trying to burdy every hole. You know, I remember last year in the first round afternoon tea times, I'm sitting in Butler cabin, I got Jim Nance to my
left ram steps up. It's the southwest wind helping off the left on number one, Okay, you've got about two eighty or so to that fairway bunker down the right hand side. Ram steps up, perfect club choice five word, lays it up just short left of the bunker. He's got a seven eight iron into the green, middle green. Okay, he had a bit of a nightmare on the green. He four putt or what have you, but and got off to the poor start. But Rory steps up straight
to the driver. He's got the helping wind. The beauty of the design on number one is the widest part of the fairway is in front of that fairway bunker. And as you start pushing it past the bunker, the pine trees on the left creep in at an angle.
So he's now a fair fairway moves at an angle too, so that faaraway is in a straight fairway. It's an angle fairway where you have to hit the exact line and distance control. It becomes a two part question exactly.
So now he's trying to fit a driver into an extremely narrow place on the first shot of the tournament. There's no point in doing it. Absolutely no point in doing it. He ends up hitting a eight out of ten t shot straight into the trees on the left because he's run through and he's run out of space, and I'm just I look over it at Jim Nance and I'm like, what is he doing hitting driver there? And those are the sort of things that I just wish he would let the golf course come to him
a little bit more. And I think took back to something that Jack Nicholas said to me, and I never had the talent and ability to use this strategy, but McElroy does. And Jack said to me, Look, when I was in my prime, I knew that I was the best, and I didn't have to do anything special to have a chance to win with nine holes because I knew that I was the best. And McElroy has that to
at his disposal. He does not need to go out there and do anything crazy to have a chance with nine holes to play on Sunday.
I think he played so aggressive last year. He played so aggressive at o Kill the next event, which I think o'kill was like beneficial to play aggressive in spots. I thought his game plan for LACC was spectacular. You know what I told him. What he did is he hit less drivers. He hit a lot of three woods. His three wood goes as far as the best players in the world's drivers go, and he finds more fairways and from the fairway. The thing about Rory is Rory is going to run into birdies left and right.
I mean, it was so unbelievably good.
If he plays from the fairway or with clear shots into greens the vast majority of time, he's going to make four five birdies at Augusta National almost every round, and from those positions he's going to limit his bogies. And I think, like you've hit the nail on the head. It's not for Rory, It's not about It's never this. In this whole major drought, it hasn't been about the ability to score on a golf course. It's been about the ability to limit the backbreakers, the momentum killers. And
I know some people don't believe in momentum golf. When you make when you make an eight, when you make an eight footer for par and you go to the next tee, it feels like a birdie. And I think so much of Rory is about keeping the card cleaner, because you know, with the par fives that Augustin National, his length, his talent, his skill. There's there's three birdies easy birdies per round. Maybe you don't hit a drive a great drive on one of them, and it becomes,
you know, a par hole. But three of the four you're gonna have a shot. If you're driving it halfway decent, even with your three wood, you're gonna have an easy shot into the green and a chance to make birdies, and you're gonna run into a couple others. So you know, I think, uh, I like, I like his game plan this year of he's coming in late, coming in I think Tuesday, he's skipping the par three. He's done his prep work this week that now it's uh, you know,
Poppy might be happy. I've got a daughter about the same age. Poppy might be happier getting to sit in front of a TV and watch TV. I love that.
It's the best.
So I I like the I like the strategy that he's he's employing this year where it seems to me he's approaching it more like just another tournament. And I think, you know, if you're looking for positive science at the players, he made a ton of birdies, and I think that's that's valuable for some by That's what Rory's secret sauce is, is that the guy can make more birdies than anybody
else in the world when it's going. Now, the flip side is he made a ton of big numbers, and that's been the Achilles heel all year has been the big numbers, the big mistakes.
But they kind of go hand in hand, don't they. I mean, you're gonna if you plan that aggressively, you're gonna make a ton of birdies, but you're gonna make six and sevens as well, which he does more than any great player I've ever seen. And that's what I'm saying, Like he's gonna make birdies. He's gonna make birdies regardless. And as far as the prep goes and playing nine holes and not playing the part three or playing and not playing the week before, I don't actually even care
about any of that. I care more about what is he gonna do on Thursday when it matters. He needs to not play as aggressively. He needs to let the golf course come to him and open up for him and just play every shot on its own merit without like when the whole location is on the left corner on three, dump it out to thirty feet right when the whole location is back right on four, hit it forty feet in the middle of the green and make
a par and get out there. When the whole location is back right on five, hit it towards the bunker and put up the hill from thirty feet. Those are not birdy opportunities, make pars. Wait till you get to a spot where you can actually be aggressive, and it is on the par fives, and it's in a couple of situations to easier whole locations on the threes and fours. But let the golf course come to you. You are that good. You don't need to do anything special, just just play normal golf.
Yeah, I agree. And to go to the next guy on my list, Yeah, guy that plays baby normal golf better than anybody in the world, who's hitting the ball better than anybody in the world, is Scotti Scheffler.
So he's my number one storyline.
Obviously. He comes into this with win win second on a you know, really an eighteen months plus run where the ball striking has been at a level that only has been matched by Tiger Woods. I think the big question is for me is going to be. Is the putter a band aid or has a new putter changed his the way he puts, because in the last few years, I don't think the putter's been It's been a stroke slash mental thing, and I just you know, it's one putt. But I do wonder about that putt at Houston and
how it sticks with him. If he puts average, I have a hard time believing that anybody's going to beat him.
Yeah, if he puts average, generally it's over. That's all he needs is to not lose strokes. The put on eighteen on Sunday bothered me too. I know there's a lot of pressure that he's running on high confidence right now, but he's supposed to make that putt. And when people throw these comparisons with the Tiger like run, Tiger like ball striking, let me tell you what Tiger would have done.
He would have buried that put he would have been dancing around the green giving upper cut fist pumps, and then he would have birdied the first playoff hole to win the Houston Open. So you know, it's always tricky when you make these comparisons because we want to see another Tiger so badly because we had so much fun. Well, I was getting my brains beat in by him, but as golf fans so much fun watching this extraordinary athlete.
I go back to the three putt also that in that tournament, there's two two putting moments that why did as in one three in a row? And I listen, I don't want this to come across as nitpicky, but when you get when you're the best player in the world, that's what analyzing the best player in the world becomes. You see all the shots, you see the moments, and and there's you know, that field at Houston is an event that the you know, the greats of all time
win those events. It's you're expected to and it's it's hard. But when I look at the putt on eighteen, the day that he three putted, people are brushing it off as that short putt was was just a lapse in concentration. A that doesn't happen with Tiger if you want to do the Tiger comparisons. But b I think that was like, that was the putt. That's that's the thing that he's been struggling with, where that putter face opens a little
bit and you miss those putts on the right. If you watch that short the putter faces open and then the flip side of when you're when you're having that problem, and you know on short putts I that face, I just don't release it, I don't square it. Then what happens is that you you have that pull, that soft pull. And that's what that putt on eighteen was. It was a soft pole the putt to tie.
The backswing looked so short and rushed to me in real time. I hadn't. I haven't watched it again, so I will go ahead and say that. But I was watching live, and you know, if I was on the call, I said it out loud. As soon as I watched the putt, I said to my son, how short was that backswing? Like it was? There was almost no backswing, and then he was like trying to find the face through impact and for a right to left putt to have that thing looked like it started kind of inside left.
If we're being generous, maybe more left edge. It show wasn't pretty. But let's switch this to the positive side. Six out of his last seven events he has been positive strokes gained putting for the week okay, And since he's gone to this mallet in these three events, he's been positive strokes gained putting, and we just touched on if he can keep that around average for the week. There's probably only three guys that have a chance to beat him. It's Kepka, mclroy and Ron So it'll be
interesting to see. The other thing that is just so amazing about him is his demeanor and his mental outlook and approach. You know a lot of people out there say that it's not exciting and he doesn't show enough personality and what have you, and I can see that side of it. I mean, it's attainment at the end of the day for fans, but gosh, it's solid, man, it's solid. He doesn't get too high, he doesn't get
too low. And when you start coming to major championship golf when it is draining physically, emotionally, mentally, to have that sort of mental approach that Scott he does. In a lot of ways, it's how Brooks is at the majors. You know, those guys are able to conserve so much more energy and keep some gas in the tank for just in case they're really going to need to do something special with nine holes to play. His mental approach is it's on the money. It is on the money.
The way he handles the media, the way he answers the questions, the way he never beats himself up, it's really really good.
He's he's an extraordinary player from if you just study, He's how everybody who's played tournament golf would dream of playing tournament golf. In terms of the way he maneuvers a golf course. It's just I feel like he never puts himself at undue risk. And what you said, I there's like an aspect of tournament golf that doesn't get talked about enough. Is stress management. Yeah, when you're playing around. I think about Molinari's final round with Tiger in twenty nineteen.
That final round, everybody is rooting for Tiger, and I remember, maybe off of sixth Green, it's like, when is this guy going to make a bogie with like where he's been. He wasn't playing well, but he was. He was pulling together these pars and it looked like it just wasn't going to stop. But the stress level on that was so high through six holes, through nine holes, through twelve holes. When you get all that stress, eventually you're going to crack yep. And it's just you cannot play four rounds
of golf like that. You can't. It's hard to play one round of golf where you are piecing it all together. You're trying to, you know, get up and down here. You've got a five footer here, six footer here, seven footer here for par. And what Scotty does so well is with the demeanor, with never getting too high, never getting too low, and the way he plays a golf course. He just never puts himself into too many situations, you know.
And really the situations that have been the crux of his issue is like I have four feet for par the last you know, year and a half, that's been his stressor. It's not been anything te to green. And part of it is unbelievable striking the ball. The other part of it is what we talked about with Rory is not putting himself into positions to have big numbers.
His course management is it's awesome. It's the best out there right now. Out of this crop of players that are playing at the highest level right now, Scheffler has the best course management strategy understanding of where to put the ball, understanding of when to hit what shots. I mean, think about that eighteenth hole at the Players. Yeah, a few weeks ago, how he gears down to the three word.
You know, everyone always talks about the go to fade. Nope, he turns a little high right to left, three word, right down the right half perfect wedge to fifteen feet. Hit a pretty good putt there and that didn't go in. But the guy is, he's the man right now. He is the best player in the world. I don't think it's particularly close at this point, and with how good his iron play is, and how good his iron play
has been for going on three years. If we circle all the way back to the beginning of this conversation and hoping for firm and fast, if it gets firm and fast, with the control that he has over shape, trajectory and spin with his irons, he will be extremely hard to beat.
Yeah, I agree, he's I think he's the favorite, and for all intensive purposes, it's hard to see how you could pick somebody else given the run. The floor, to me, like the thing that's crazy with Scheffler is like the floor is if he if he plays bad, he's fourth or fifth or sixth.
Yeah, last year he was. Last year, I believe he was. I'm wanting to say tied for tenth and dead last in putting.
Yeah, yeah, it's crazy. It's it's insane stuff. Last one before we get you out of here, this is I. Oh, you got one more? What's yours?
You go? All right?
I've got a list of players, and you know, I think it's insane that the fourth ranked player in the world is playing his first Masters.
Yeah. I think we're we're on the we're on the same the same thing here. So let's hear it.
Well, it's like the fourth ranked player in the world. Has this ever happened where we've had a top five player making their debut at the Masters?
Shucks, not that I can recall.
And we've got two guys in the top ten to the top ten players in the world, and I I don't this goes to some of the problems with the world rankings right now, but I would have a hard time believing there'd be more than maybe maybe Jackie Neeman and Cam Smith are two players that could be in the top ten, you know, but in Brooks so there's three players maybe, but two of the top twelve players in the game right now are our first timers at Augusta. It's insane. Yeah, it's unbelievable.
It really is. And so this was my number four storyline. So you and I were thinking along the same lines. Nineteen seventy nine, the famous Fuzzy Zella playoff win is the last time that the first time will won the Masters. But these two have a shot. These two have a legitimate shot. Awesome players. Wyndam Clark has in the last year turned into like a big game hunter. You know, he does not win small events like he wins on
tough golf courses against the best players. You think of LACC, you think of the Wells Fargo, you think of the sixty at Pebble. I know we didn't have a final round there, but still this guy wins big time tournaments and was obviously right in the mix with Scutty at API and players.
So guy, the guy has some gas off his tea. I don't think it gets talked about enough, but I was out with his group with Rory and at Genesis. I mean there were a few times where he hit it ten to fifteen past Rory. Yeah, there are other times where I mean like I think into the wind Rory had a better ballflayer, he might spin up a little bit more. But I mean, I don't think he gets enough credit for how long he is, like pro prodigious length off the tee.
Yeah, I think when they are both just cruising with the driver, which is different to meremmortals cruising, But when they're both just cruising, Windham has probably got two or three more miles an hour ball speed than Rory. He gets up into that you know, one eight six, one eight seven, one eight eight, which Rory has, but he doesn't really get to that too often on the course.
He's more in the eight three eight four zone. But that's the one thing that is my concern with Wyndham Clark at Augusta National because there's a few times during the round he's gonna need to at the very least have a straight drive, whereas even though he bombs at a mile, he puts quite a lot of curve from
left to right on it with the driver. So there's a few times I'm thinking of two, I'm thinking of nine, I'm thinking of thirteen, I'm thinking of fourteen, where if the ball starts to leak to the right, he's not going to have much space. Yeah, but ten he can just erope the three wood or even a driving iron for as far as he hits the ball. So ten is like a tennis like a specialty shot. It's almost like when you're behind a tree and you know you've got to hit a twenty yard hook. That t shot
is like a specialty shot. Guys generally find a way to pull it off. Some of those others that are a bit more subtle that I mentioned, he's gonna have to be careful not to run out down the right hand side and get him get himself into some trouble. But he has proved to us he is not scared. He's got the guts, He has a ton of self belief. His mental game is as good as anybody's out there right now. It's wonderful to watch him to see how quickly he bounces back mentally from bad shots and gets
on with it. He he's gonna going to be an interesting one to watch there being a first time.
Yeah, I think that. And then Lodwig obviously great driver. Something you were saying when I was thinking. One thing I was thinking about is like it's been etched into our brain how important distances at Augusta National, And it's important everywhere, But I think this of players. Almost everybody's long enough, plenty long to play there, and it's become an underrated control course.
Yeah. Look for me, I've always thought that it was a second a second shot approach play, elite level approach play that is going to win you the Masters. You know you've got to drive the ball. Well, don't get me wrong, but you can get away with some things. And there's certain areas where you have a bit of space to where it's not mega intimidating, like old school US opens that I used to play, where we had twenty yard wide fairways an eight inch rough. It's not
like that. You can conjure up shots from out of pine straw. You can, you know, hit some running shots out of the second cut. You have some options if you hit some squirrely t shots. But high level approach play is the thing that really gives you a good shot at Augusta National.
That's my concern with Ludwig.
I know that stats wise, he's it's not his strength.
I thought that the Ryder Cup is what sticks with me. A lot of uneven lies, a lot of you know where I don't. I wasn't out there, but some of the terrain I thought was was actually kind of similar with the Master with Augusta National in the sense of like the severity, and I just thought under the gun in intense pressure. The thing that I walked away from that event going was the approach play has a lot a long way to go, And that's my concern with the Masters.
Yeah, I'm less concerned with the approach play and a little bit more concerned with the putting for him. And here's why. He seems to put rarely aggressively speed wise, and I've just never seen anybody have too much luck with that at Augusta National especially you know, when I watch him hit three four five footers, I mean he's
shrinking the hole. Man. It thing has got a ton of speed on it, and the edges are so sharp and the greens get so fast that if you put a ton of speed on one and it rooms out and you're gonna have five to six feet coming back.
Also, where the holes are. The holes are on these little tricky spots where it's like this little like knoll where where the ball runs away in all these directions, So it amplifies the.
Miss totally, totally.
All right, we got we got through our five things. Yeah, who's your pick to win?
Scheffler?
Yeah, I think it's it's hard not to pick Sheffler. That's hard not to.
It's really hard not to hit the run that he's on. I say, the mental approach. He's not going to tie himself up and knots this week when he's at home, you know, he's probably out he loves playing pickleball and tennis, and he's probably out there just having a good time with his buddies and doing a little practice. He's not gonna get all wound up. He's just so cool, so calm. He's the best iron player in the game. Hits the ball a mile, he works it both ways, off the
tee if he needs it. He has the experience of winning there, he's coming in winning two massive tournaments. It's just so hard, so hard to pick anybody other than him.
All right, that's Trevor Immelman, lead analyst, Will hear you on the telecast congratul on the start of the year. I think CBS has been has taken. What they've built the last few years is just you guys have done such a great job, and this year you've made the coverage even by and I can't wait to see what you guys have up your sleeve for this year's Masters.
Yeah. Thanks Andy, We are so excited. The team has been in constant contact throughout this peroge. You know, we're a little likely run. We've only had three events so far this season and the Sunday of Pebble Beach was rained out, so.
You're in a similar sessions the situation round.
Yeah, exactly. We're chomping at the bit. We're ready to get down there and have an amazing week. It's a huge week for us at CBS, if you don't mind me saying this. You know, our chairman Sean McManus is retiring and this is his final event as chairman of CBS Sports. Is his twenty eighth Masters. He took over in ninety seven. He's been an unbelievable leader. And then Vern Lundquist is retiring. This will be his fortieth Masters. The amazing calls, historic calls at Augusta National have been
made by Vern. So it's a huge week for us to to get down to Augusta and the Mastas and then we go on a long run all the way through the regular season.
Yeah, I it's it's gonna be. It's gonna be sad. Uh, you know, I think obviously Sean's in the background, but Uh, with Vern, it's gonna be it's gonna be tough. And I haven't Vern after this year. He's especially. I mean, I think, like the greats really age well, and he's aged so gracefully with with the calls. You know, they aren't always as sharp as they once were, but they are. They are so memorable, and he's just got he's just got a voice and a timing for the moment, you know.
And I think that's what all the greats have, is that that ability to say the thing that you're feeling that you would never yourself be able to pull out into words.
Yeah. He he's a legend. He is a legend. He's a Jack Nicholas, He's a Tiger Woods. He's an Arnold Palmer. Like in broadcasting, you know, he's up there. He is
up there, and I always have this little chuckle. We did a media call the other day and he was telling the story about what was going through his mind before he made the call on seventeen in nineteen eighty six when Jack made that putt, and he said, as he was sort of trying to figure out what his strategy was going to be, you know, as Jack was playing the seventeenth hole, he said, he came up with the idea keep it simple and get your butt out of the way. And I was thinking to myself, you know,
that's somebody that really understood the moment. We're at the Masters. This is the greatest player to ever live. He's forty six years old, he's about to and trying to win his sixth Green jacket. There is no need for an announcer to be filling the air up with whatever. Keep it simple and get your butt out of the way. And that that's Vernon in a nutshell. He's just a legend.
I think that that is an amazing piece of advice in general. Yeah, for life, keep it simple, get out of the way. If you just followed that for the rest of your life, I feel like you get into a good spot.
Yeah yeah, all right, but awesome to join you man, Thanks so much. I'm a huge fan of the pod. You know what you do here at the fried egg and shotgunstart and all the other different bits and pieces you guys have got going.
Thank you, Trevor. I'm I'm looking forward to seeing you next week in Augusta, so I'll see you there, and thank you so much for coming on. Big time fan, So.
All right, I have a good one.
All right again, big thanks to Trevor. I can't thank him enough for coming on and doing this. I know he's super busy with all the things he does the week of the Masters, that this was a real treat to get him on. Big thanks to Matt Rushes for editing and producing this podcast, especially while he's been on the road. He's been doing a big tour of South Carolina golf and a lot of that stuff that he's been touring. We're gonna have write ups in Club TFE
in the near future from this South Carolina trip. Also just kind of coming soon. In Club TFE, I've got two profiles that I'm finishing up, one of which is on Augusta National. Club TFE is our membership. It is a it's one hundred and twenty dollars for the year, and we do a ton of content in there. We do every week. There's a Tour Guide, which is a PGA Tour Professional golf focused write up and then twice
a week we have Golf Architecture. We have a course review every week and design notebook every week which dives into what's going on in the design world. So subscribe, join Club TFE. There's a bunch of other benefits. It's one hundred and twenty dollars a year and I love the community that we're building in there, so really proud of it. We've got Augustin national profile. By me saying this, it means I have to get it done in County Louth. Beltray a great Tom Simpson design in Ireland. So Beltray
will be up hopefully this week too. I think, just depending on time that is going to be done before the Augusta National profile. It'll just be a matter of when we get it posted. So those two files will be coming to you next week or to the next two weeks in Club TFE, So join there. We love our love our members and uh we're well we're looking to add a bunch of stuff to that membership over the course of the year and the coming years. So
thanks and uh, I can't wait for Masters coverage. I hope everybody's got great Master's plans and we'll be back. Garret and I are are recording a podcasts actually on Sunday, the day you're listening to the day this episode came out. We're recording a podcast for later in the week that we'll be We'll be going through each hole at augusta National ranking them one through one through eighteen will be a fun, fun exercise. I'm excited to see where we
differ and UH and where we align. So thanks and UH, and I hope everybody, I hope we have a great masters. I hope everybody has a great master. The