Five Things About the 2025 Masters with Jaime Diaz

of that content. I guess last week's podcast was too. But I am joined by the great Hi may Ds. Uh. You know, anybody that has read golf for the last uh for decades knows who Hi may Ds is one of the greatest golf writers uh really ever and UH it was just such an honor to have him on the podcast. Uh. Hi may is a writer at large at Golf Digest and is a contributor for Golf Channels Live from so Hi, May joined me to do our traditional five things about the Masters. I come up with five,

he comes up with five. We chat him out.

doing daily newsletters from the Masters. That's where you're gonna get on the ground insight during the week from me Brendan, insights from some of our talented staff that are watching the Masters, like Joseph Lamanya, Garrett Morrison, Will Knights, and well it'll keep you in the know of everything going on. I know we're doing a pool for this first major of the year. We should have some awesome prizes. It will be free to join, so keep your eyes peeled

for that. And we still have some of the major that first major themed merchandise. If you want to go over to our pro shop so proshop dot Thefridagg dot com. There's some cool stuff in there. I am particularly high on that. Mackenzie Bunker Gear. We just got a one of the T shirts at our house. My wife promptly stole it from me, so I'm going to be hoping for a return so that i can get another one sent out here. But Meg and our team Cameron did the illustration on that did an awesome job with all

the merchandise, So go over there check that out. This is a huge week and we will maybe drop another episode in here. I'm not going to promise it, I would I would venture to say we probably won't, but possible that we drop another episode in here. But coming back to recap it all after the Masters next week will be Trevor Immelman, so that'll be kind of your Master's slate on this podcast. If you're interested in daili's

go check out the Shotgun Start feed. That'll be me and Brendan breaking down the what's going on from the grounds every day. We will have a live show on Tuesday night for the Shotgun Start on the Frida Egg YouTube page at six pm Eastern. Before we get to I may, let's talk about our partner, our partner that has been with us for a long time. Be dratty they you know, I think about my first trip to

Augusta National, first trip to the Masters. It was I was riding in the car with Jack Lessing, who works works for B Dratty executive there. We were driving down from Sweeten's Cove and that's kind of the nascent days of this partnership. That was That would have been twenty seventeen, and it's been really cool to see their brand grow and our brand grow, and we've been able to do this Master's kind of partnership for years. So they have

some awesome, awesome gear. Right now, I'm wearing their cool hoodie. They're Cool Line, whether it be you know, your kind of B dratty sport, but also these pullovers are awesome. I am a huge fan of the Cool hoodie. I wear it a ton, Especially with cooler California mornings, I find myself wearing the Cool Line a ton. They have a ton of gear, great gear. I could go on and on. I'm a huge fan of the everyday vest.

With it being that kind of springtime, you're starting to think about playing golf in the northern parts of the United States, this is a good time to get one piece. Obviously, I'm partial the Andy hoodie that's been a big hit. It is a from what I gather, they are having trouble keeping it in stock. But that is a awesome, awesome hoodie. Go check it out. If you use the promo code TFE thirty, that's TFE thirty, you get thirty percent off your order. For whatever reason, I think that's

the promo code. For whatever reason, that doesn't work, you can use SGS thirty to both. Those are our codes. You get thirty percent off, which is which is a good chunk change hoodies, layers, sweaters, polos, shorts, pants. I'm gonna be decked to the nines this week. I think they set up a little scripting for every day so b Dratty can take care of all of your clothing needs. Check it out at bdradty dot com and use that promo code tf E thirty thanks to b Draddy. Let's

get to high mads, all right. I am joined by the great High Adas And I don't want to flatter you, but I was. We were talking last night on the phone and I was about to go on a walk with my wife and daughter. And my wife after I got off the call, was like he saw me beaming, and she's like, who's that, and I said, you know, it's just one of the cool things about the last

few years. As I'm talking to the guy about doing a master's podcast, the guy that I grew up reading so many articles, Hi, May, It's always great to chat with you on this podcast, and I can I can say that you are, without a doubt one of the reasons that I'm doing what I'm doing so well. Thank you for all the years of work in the golf space and appealing to the demented golf nuts like myself.

intensive everyday coverage than ever, and so it progresses. It's just been in a different form, a different format, and I'm proud to be on this format now because I'm definitely not, you know, easily acclimating to it, but guys like you make it very comfortable. So thank you.

I think, like what would be ideal? And I wonder if the market will somehow bear this out in the coming years, is that there becomes a blend of old and new where like I just I always think about your piece about Jose Maria Olsapol, where you went to the town, you had no interview set up, Like you think about it now, like if you pitch this, they'd be like, well, if you have an interview set up with those Maria or whoever the player is, No, I don't, and you just hung out in the town for for weeks.

stories sometimes. But I knew Jose Maria and I knew his agent, and I thought i'd find something. And I had done that with Golf Digest, just kind of showing up on sev with Sevy one day in Bedrena, and he was angry for a you know, about five seconds and then he was like, okay, you're here. What do

you want? You know? And Maria had rheumatoid arthritis and he was hold up in his house and I went to the you know, to the gate where they had kind of what would you call it, not a microphone but uh uh and I can't think of the word

right now. You know, just you push a button, you talk into the into the into the uh in the into the speaker and and he came to the phone, you know, and at that time I heard, you know, he really was having a hard time walking and it was very earnest and he said, you know, thank you for coming. But I promised the first interview to Die Davies, who was a British writer I think with The Guardian, might have been The Independent, I can't remember, but he was a you know, very much uh one of the ogs,

so to speak. Over there and and Jose Maria is such an honorable guy that he wanted to respect that. So he talked me, talked to me a little bit. But uh then I talked to his his agent for a long time in a you know, in a nice kind of little restaurant for about five hours. So I got plenty of material, but it was, you know, kind of on a whim. Let's go go see what you

can find, because he was a mystery man. And of course he did make the Ryder Cup in ninety seven, and uh that was you know, that was an incredible moment. Uh when when Seve introduced him after you know, he had looked like his career was over and everybody was crying and was a very Spanish moment.

out of, out of it's just absolutely incredible. Is there like a particular piece from the from the years you were there before you were there that stands out to you as like if you were, if you're a golf fan, you should you should look for this article and read this article. And it could be by I know you're you're too humble to anything of yours, so you know, I figure it'll be be somebody one of your colleagues.

fourteen years. But I go back to Gary Smith, who was you know, kind of he would write epics, you know, and he wrote a story on Tiger in ninety six before I guess it was a Sportsman of the Year story before he won the Masters, and and Gary was just so in depth and very psychologically driven. In fact, his wife was a psychiatrist or a psychologist, and he really came from that orientation and not in that kind of, you know, pretentious way. He just wanted to know about

the human condition. And he would just you know, really intensively interview and I remember him talking about it once he goes, look, I know, I know the guy's got the answer I want. And it's not a made up answer. It's not I'm not going to be I'm not going to be, you know, manipulating him, but I'm going to ask him that question until he gives me that answer. And you know, he just kind of had extreme sort

of methods. And even when he edited, he said, I just try to take you know, a final version, every unnecessary word out. It might be a seven thousand word piece. So I mean, he was that that, you know, uh, thorough and incredibly insightful. And I thought that piece it still holds up because he talked to Earl a lot.

And and you sense the pressure that Tiger was under from his own dad, I mean, and not necessarily unwelcome in an unwelcome way, but his dad just had these visions of him far beyond golf, and so Tiger carried that grandeur sort of with him. And I think It's part of his greatness that he just was never satisfied with just you know, I won the Masters and my dream fulfilled. It was like, no, there's way way more.

Always and he might have been just wired that way, but I think I think Gary got to the dynamic between he and Earl that drove him also. But Riley was amazing. Rick Riley. My first Masters was eighty six and his also and I'd never met Rick, and we stayed in the same house. And Rick's one of the most charismatic humor, very funny. Obviously writes funny, but he's also really funny in person. And he's just so curious

and innovative in his mind. He makes these connections. He did not low a lot about golf at that time. I mean, he was not a total stranger to it, but he didn't know a lot about the history. There's a guy named Walt Bingham at the SI and he would take us on the lure tour of the Masters because he'd been coming to the Masters since the fifties. And Rick went on it, you know, and I remember, and he was learning all kinds of stuff that he

didn't know. The point is, after Nicholas won It was just an immense the impact of that on the press room. It was like, guys were going around here, it's too big. I can't write, you know, it's just too perfect and the weight of it and the burden and the obligation is too great. And he had a friend named Buddy Martin, a friend he had been a former boss in Denver when Rick worked there before he went to the La

Times and then he went to SI. And Buddy came up to him because he'd known Rick since he was like twenty one. He said, Rick, put your notes away, sit down, just write it, and then go back to your notes and fill it in. But write what you're feeling. Because he knew Rick, and he knew Rick had these amazing instincts and able to connect things in just these the ways that made him so famous and rightfully so. And Rick wrote just the greatest story. I thought game story,

the best one almost ever to me. I guess maybe because I knew the conditions of it. But that's when you know. I was new, but i'd been into SI a couple of years, and I just said, man, I'm just so lucky to be here. These guys are so much better. But I can draft off of that and get better myself. And so I wasn't jealousy ever with Rick. I just thought, this guy is so gifted. And there

were five or six guys like that, Risteve Rushing. I mean, you go on almost everybody, and it was a it was a great privilege.

or three of them with me. But if I was home, I'd look at maybe three or three or four others stories by Garrity, and he just had there was a grace about him in his writing and a precision and flow it was it was, I don't know it would I could almost internalize it. And I knew John really well. We had a lot of nice talks. He was a mentor in many ways. I don't know if you know.

Johnny's just such a gentleman and you know, so thoughtful but never overbearing, and you know, just reserved but brilliant and very very talented. He was great musician as well, and his words were like music. But anyway, they would get inside me somehow and it would free me up.

And there's certain guys that you kind of you know, had a like I could never write like Rick or obviously Dan, Dan Jenkins or but certain guys I felt like, you know that I could aspire to this style at least and Garretty was that way.

just made you a more disciplined thinker. You had to kind of have it formed in your head before you wrote it, otherwise you'd be wide outing all day or exing out all day. It was impossible. And Dan's copy was notably clean always, so he was writing in his head before he wrote it, which you know sometimes we play with words and the computer does that. But I think there was a level of concentration that that took

that might have made those guys even better. And he was really fast, like John Finstein who just passed really fast, Alan Ship Knutt really fast. Rick was. Rick would labor, but he was always really fast as far as that first draft. And I am really slow, So I mean, I just know I don't have the gift. I just got a grind. And when you see that gift, it is something really uh it's it's close to genius in some cases. And I think it just shows a natural aptitude.

When you talk about natural if you're fast, you know, it's really fast. Gary Van Sickle. In fact, he won typing contest. And I'm not just saying it's mindless just typing, but it's it helps if you can, if you can keep up with your thoughts with your typewriter or your you know obviously now the computer. I think that helps you flow. And I couldn't pass the typing test at the Oakland Tribune, literally and they had one in for hr and I was forty five words a minute. With

six mistakes and I could not do it. It was like I needed the double eighteen that you know. I mean, I might have had four mistakes with you know, maybe two lines to go and I and I would I would choke.

This is a just setting the table. Obviously, Scottie Scheffler is the defending champion, and the weather looks it's interesting early in the week, but it looks like a delightful weekend at the Masters where we're going to have really really nice weather from basically Tuesday on. It'll be chilly early in the week and then warming up to to a nice weekend at Augusta National if all holds, so

Hi May it's been a while since we talked. What what's your first thing here about about this Masters that you're looking forward to?

time by being the first of the year. And I do sense that, you know, people really looking forward to it just for that, you know, in terms of the the you know, the old gathering and uh, you know, the same kind of scene and the same kind of importance on the win, and that hasn't been diminished, I don't think by live and by the fracture, but because a couple of live guys have won too or you know, certainly done well. So I'm looking forward to that because

I think we all miss it. Uh. But I'm also looking forward to, you know, the battle and the greatness that I think belongs to the Scotti Scheffler. I think he's underrated in some ways, maybe because to some people he's not I won't say flamboyant, but he's he's not enough of an extrovert. I find him a very controlled thinker and a very controlled speaker and a very controlled golfer,

and I think it's a strength. I mean, I think he's got a lot of thoughts, and I think he's a pretty amiable guy to his friends and and got a sense of humor. But in a public setting and when he's focused on golf, I don't think that he thinks it serves him well to just kind of let loose.

And so I admire the discipline in the way he plays, how complete he is through the bag, his skill set, you know, how he deals with adversity, because the putter was a problem there for a little while, and you know, he kind of shut down every talk all to talk about it, which is difficult to do in a nice way. But I mean those questions were kind off limits for

a while, and he just worked it out. And you know, you could say, well, he wasn't being cooperative, but I think he was just internalizing the solution and he found it on his own in a way that was not that disruptive, and in the meantime he continues to improve with the rest of his game. And I think when it's fast and firm as they are at majors, I think he's got the advantage because he has a wonderful short game and great touch to recover when he misses

the green. But more than anything, he comes in so soft and with the right distance control on his irons. And you know these majors, especially the where they where they're put in the whole positions and the firmness of the green, you just got to be able to hit it in there soft and obviously work it both ways when he needs to. I think the cut obviously is

his money shot. He plays a lot like Nicholas, and I think that is when you are probably the most gifted through the bag, that's the way to play conservatively and minimize mistakes and let the birdies come when they do.

like his warm up routine. He talked about this last year at the Masters, and like what they do, the simplicity of it, just like when you think about like I always I've said this before on this podcast, but I always I've always said, I think the hardest part about golf, just the simple hardest thing about golf that nobody really talks about. If you could just set up to the ball the exact same way every time, you

would play such good golf. Like I'm convinced, especially for recreational golfers, like setups like the biggest issue because like you take a week off and you might set up when people talk about like, hey the swing doesn't feel the same as it did yesterday, it could be that you're like a three sixteenths of an inch further away from the golf ball. And that's the thing. And when I watched Scotty Scheffler warm up, it is just you know,

he does his grip work. He has he has ted Scott looking at a swing plane and it's like he grips the club the same. He makes sure his swing plane is the same, and like from there, if you grip it well and your your swing's on plane. There isn't much that can go wrong. And I think when you look at his consistency, it's like, well, he fit, he got himself to a good spot, and now he just he operates under that good spot as much as

he can. And I think, like, if you start to look at what you said underrated, he is on a historic, historic clip of major success where if you look at the greatest players in the game of golf, and you know, maybe not Tiger or Jack, but all the other greats, he is at a very similar clips. So he's played in twenty one majors, He's got twelve top tens, over fifty percent of the majors he's played in, he's finished in the top ten. He's got two wins, which are

obviously he's had a ten percent win clip. Those are historic numbers if you throw in the players, if you if you associated a half major for each players, he's had three majors and you know twenty you know, so you start to like do the math on what he's doing, and it's extraordinarily impressive. You know. The one thing I think, like the putter isn't as much of an issue. But I think that's the still the bugaboo, and I just see I just see it flare up, and I think

one of the things. And you know, if you ask him this question, you're not getting an answer. But I'm curious, like when the putter flares up, and we saw it flare up last year at the Open, We've seen it flare up early this year, Like what's going through their head, through his head, because it seems like he does not operate with doubt in any with any club in the bag.

But I think when he gets those five footers, when he's not feeling great with the putter, that's where he has those those kind of bad thoughts that he's having trouble getting out of his head.

Jack would suffer from this too. Sometimes you know, you just you're just two putting your way around all the time, and you see these guys you're playing with, you know, knocking in eight footash or par all day or whatever, or being more opportunistic seemingly, and it really takes patience. And and also you know, Scotty has been he's been there so many times with majors. He probably feels like he should have more. And so I think there's an

impatience there. And you wonder about the window. You know, he's he's at his prime age right now, but how long does that window last? And I hope he just thinks of himself as a long term guy. I could see him winning into his you know, if he wants to keep playing at the same intensity he's He's an incredibly good athlete, I think. And I think the reason, you know, people, I think what they miss is when yes, footwork looks awkward, it's actually a really repetitive athletic act.

You know that he's got incredible you know, club face awareness and and and feel for the way his body repeats. And yeah, so his legs move around, but you don't see him spraying it. So there's something there that I think we should appreciate as opposed to look at as a flaw. And I just think, you know, the nature of putting is, you know, the most random part of the game. You can hit great putts that don't go in.

And I think when you're really great and really ambitious, it might be harder to put up with the misses. And I think, you know, everything about him would indicate he'd have the maturity to handle that. But I think especially could success came very quickly there for a moment, the pressure and the expectation increased, and I thought his putting issues, whatever they were, and you know they're at it.

We're a little bit hard on him with the putter because he's got such a high standard in every other part that we look, Okay, that must be the weakness and it's really not. But I think, you know, it's his putter, his stroke, his his mechanics look great, and it's it's just a mental barrier at times, and I think he'll learn to handle it better as he goes along, and just you know, hope that the motivation and the and the intensity continues because that's I think that's the hardest part.

what he's doing around a golf course. Something I heard an anecdote I heard this year at the Players was when they went to Bayhill, and you think about, like the modern tour player and the ideology of tour play right now is like just hit it as hard as you can and go find it. I heard at bay Hill he had like a very simple strategy. He was taking speed off. You never hear of guys taking He was taking speed off, prioritizing fairways at bay Hill, and if you look at it, he led the field in

strokes gain off the tee that week. He hit a ton of fairways. He was teeing it down kind of hitting a cut, taking speed off the driver and then you like, look at you know, and he's hitting like, you know, high one sixties, low one seventies ball speed regularly there. Then you go to Houston and he's in contention, and obviously I don't think he had the results. He was frustrated with bay Hill because I think he drove it so well and did not score the way he

wanted to. But you go to Houston and there he's hitting high one seventies with the driver, like you don't see guys fluctuate like that. But that's just him taking what the golf course gives you. And I think when you talk about Augusta National and players that have such success at Augusta National are the players that understand what the golf course is giving you and not pushing the pedal down in opportune moments. And I just think Scotty is so comfortable because of his short game. His short

game is so good. He's so comfortable just dumping a ball out to a side that gives him green to

work with, or an upslope to work with. He's so comfortable just throwing it over there, knowing he's going to hit a chip to eighteen inches like, I just like, I think it's amazing when you watch Scottie in an eighteen at Houston last week was a perfect example of this, where like he misses a green and it's just like, I think, like it almost is numbing how often he hits it to a foot eighteen inches from these chip shots that you look at and it's like, Okay, that's

not the hardest chip in the world. But it's also like he's he's twenty yards away and it's just like, I mean, it's amazing how he just understands where to get the ball when he's when he's out of position, even if it's not obviously out of position.

the bag. You know he's got the power. It's not it's not quite Jack power, not quite Tiger power, but the iron play and everything else is of the same caliber, and the chipping is where he sets himself apart from Jack and approaches Tiger. And to your earlier point about changing speeds, I think that is the that is an

ultimate skill. When you're that comfortable that you're not making mechanized golf swings over and over with you know, pretty much full force, because that's what you practice and that's all you really have, or that's all you're comfortable with in competition. When you can change speeds, then you're playing old school, in my opinion, artistic golf, whether it's Snead or Hogan. You heard about that all the time from old timers who's talked about how they would take something off.

They didn't know exact yardages all the time. I mean not to say they didn't know the yardage, but it was more about the shot they saw. And I think Scotty has that gear and you know, I love that he can hit a soft driver and he's not always just pounding threewood or now the mini driver. I mean, guys are so unable to change speeds. They got to get a shorter driver they can swing at the same speed.

You know. To me, it's that's a little bit of the de skilling of the game slightly and doesn't mean they're not great at what they do, but since that technology is available, I think it's kind of an easy way out. And I think Rory's gotten better because he's learning how to change speeds. I think it's kind of a last frontier for a real great play.

Here's my kind of like stock driver. When I really want to go go at it, I do this and and it's like I think, I don't think like people think of Scotty necessarily as a golf artist, but like of all the modern players, I don't. I can't think of like a time where he's mentioned like, oh well, I was looking at my track man, and this is what what it told me. You know, like he I don't like, I don't associate him with the modern like

obsessed with numbers. Like to me, like Scotty Shuffler in a way is like a polar opposite of Bryson to Shambeau and their approach to golf.

the same shot and it's effective. But I think the majors ask a little bit more, and that's where I think you see guys like Scotty start to excel because they have more variety.

he's a little frustrated with the play this year. And obviously you know he had the hand injury. I don't think like I think he's a creature of habit and like it hasn't been talked about that much, but like his his habit, his habitual prep of a season got thrown off by the hand injury, and I think he's scrambling. But like at the end of the day, him at that golf course, I just like I would be shocked if he finished outside of the top five, Like shocked.

I mean talk about unprecedented. So uh, and I guess I'm biased towards rooting. I guess for history and a Rory win.

against four majors before the age of twenty six. But at the same time, I like the way he plays more now. I like that he's got more control of his wedges and he's hitting them lower, and he's flighting them, and he's playing a softer ball, and he's thinking about, you know, those that scoring area that he used to give away so much. After driving at three sixty and then having you know, one hundred and ten yards and hitting it to thirty feet that seemed to be just

too prevalent. And I think now he's more aware of getting it in the fairway and maybe it only goes three to ten or something, and then really focus on that second shot, because you know, in talking to I think people who've really studied the great player, someone like David Letterman. Letterman especially no Ledbetter, who's you know, just intimately familiar with developing great players and working with them.

It's the iron game is the thing that ends up separating them the most, especially at the toughest courses, and Faldo is you know a prime example, Nick Price Prime example.

You know he's worked with everybody obviously, and he just feels like, yeah, you can be so you know, just overwhelmed with the with the talent of someone with speed hitting an incredible driver, but the thing that ends up winning them tournaments is just getting it on the green, pin high, with chances, over and over, with few mistakes. And I think Jack played that way. I remember once talking Arnold Palmer, what was the best part of Jack's game? He goes, Oh, his irons, his middle irons, He never

missed the green. He goes, he was so hard to play against. I mean Trevino. People talk about Travino being the greatest ball striker other than Hogan or with Hogan, and you know it drove it perfectly so often. But the irons, the irons were always pin high. Johnny Miller, these are the geniuses of I think you know the best way to play, which is you know, you just don't You don't let yourselves have to scramble a lot, and you have control of the golf ball and you

know where it's going to land. And I think it started with Byron Nelson and Hogan. I'm sure every player has played that. Barden probably played that way, but I just think it becomes more evident when you start looking at the differences in the majors and it's the Iron guys and Rory's not been there. Norman was never quite

there as good as he was with the Irons. It was it was a bit of a weakness and it cost him a lot and he won a lot of tournaments obviously, but it was hard in majors to capitalize because he would make the mistake and Rory's made the mistake. And I think he's just making fewer of him and it's it's made him more likely to do it.

I think the maturation, as we talked about, like he has evolved as a player, and I think like one of the things as he's grown into his thirty I think, like with golf, everybody told him, like, you can overpower, you can manhandle a golf course, you can do this, and that was when you become focused on like that, Well, that's my game plan, that's what I have to do. I think, like what he's realized is like, I'm going to overpower a golf course, whether I try to or not,

like that that's just going to happen. And what's changed is in the recent years where he's become this extraordinary US Open player where the golf is the hardest. What's changed over the years is he and especially I think this year when he talked about I want to play more like Scotti, is the realization that what he has to do is just avoid disasters because and I think at Augustin National he is going to run into birdies.

I would find it hard hard for him to have a week where he doesn't doesn't make you know, seventeen birdies at Augusta National. And when you start to think about it, like if I make sixteen seventeen birdies on a low, like if I'm going to run into those birdies, then I've done enough to win the tournament if I limit my mistakes.

would have won maybe a major or two more. And to your point about the short game, I think about twenty twenty two at San Andrews, where he had so many, you know, seems like sixty seventy thirty one hundred and five yard second shots because of the nature of the golf course there and never got it close and it showed.

And Cameron Smith, who you know, doesn't have Rory's long game, but he's got incredible hands in a wonderful short game, obviously great with the wedges, and that made a huge difference. He made a bunch of putts too, but he was in position to make him because he had that finesse and that variety with his wedges and so yes, Rory I think learned, whether he's verbalized it about that specific tournament,

that he had to improve those that area. And it'd been a while where he you know, he was kind of mistake prone with I used to call it soft bogies. You know, he'd miss a green by four feet and he'd have a thirty foot thirty foot chip and leave it six feet short or something to miss it, and that those are maddening kind of bogies, especially for a great player. He just you know, Tiger didn't make those

kind of bogies. And and so you know, whereas he's he's learned to play more like Scotty, which is great, that's also more Tiger like. And I think Tiger really took pride in par putts and saving pars almost more than he did birdies. And the birdies came as he run into him. I just said, he couldn't help, but

he was too good. And just like Wordy's too good, He's going to run the bog birdies, but stay away from the bogies, like Travino would say, you know, keep your birdies and and word to make it hard on himself with soft bogies. And I think, you know, it's it's it's only natural that he would he would pick up on that. Uh and and and I thought the players was a great indicator that he even the par on eight on the seventy second hole. That was huge. You know, it was a kind of a it was

a rough par It was a grinded out part. He had to make that four footer. I'm glad that went in because that would have been devastating, but he did it. And I think that's something that he can carry into the Masters.

he particularly had to take the speed off. And I think like this year it seems like with the ball switch and everything, the wedges are at a level that they haven't been And I think that's you know, if you're if you're making a case for for Rory McElroy, I think this is this is the best I think, you know, we talked a little bit at the at the very top. You touched on athletes that just like

and you said it with with the Tiger piece. The essence of getting that Tiger piece in ninety six was getting that like this wasn't isn't over after the first math. Rory mclroy's a rare one when you look at look at the Lebrons, the tom Brady's, the you know, Tiger Woods, these athletes that that have like desire, like Rory mc roy's won so much money. He's in this era where careers are not long and it takes a lot of

effort to stay at the top of the game. And anybody that disagrees with this just look at Dustin Johnson, like you see, like these guys aren't so talented that they just wake up in their top ten players in the world. You it takes effort and continual focus and at the core when once you've crossed the money threshold of having more money than you ever imagined, once you've crossed that, like at the end of the day, what drives you is is competitive fire and wanting to be

one of the greatest of all time. And I think, like I think like that's one of the things with Rory is like at you know, he clearly wants to be one of the greatest. And I think he's obviously a Hall of Famer. He's one of the best of the generation, if not the best of the generation. And I think, like Brooks having five majors, is he wants to have more majors than anybody in the generation has.

there's a direct comparison. I mean, some people think Lebron's the greatest player ever, and I don't think anybody thinks Rory's better than Tiger. But I think, you know, I think Rory has gained appreciate for his gift. It's so enduring, He's so gifted physically, why not make the most of it, and yeah, you've left some, you left some, let some go, but you also got an incredible start and maybe you

can bookend this career now with a great ending. And I think you know, he's playing for the love of the game. You know, you talk to sports psychologists and it's it's almost the most important question. Why do you play? You know, And it is for money, and it is which is fine, you know, that's that's a motivator for a while, but it's not enduring. But if you play for just the inique, you know, intrinsic joy of it, that's what keeps you going in a way that's more

meaningful as you get older. And I think he might be in that sweet spot right now.

he seems to ascend it to a different level. And I yeah, I'm I'm fascinating. You know. I hope for him he gets this thing done. And you know, I think that that would be the best story. Is this guy that everybody said was was tailor made to take down Augusta National, has banged his head against the wall for so many years and finally gets it done. I think it is, Uh, it is probably you know, the best possible story coming out of this Master.

he's very capable at Augusta. I don't buy that, you know, yeah, he doesn't have the classic Augusta game because he's not really a touch guy. Having said that, what was outstanding at Pinehurst I think his his his scrambling, at his ability to recover, and obviously on the seventy second hole, but you know a lot of shots from kind of the hard pan there in the natural areas were just pinched beautifully and he's gotten better. He got better at that.

I believe in Bryson's work ethic and how he focuses on a weakness and makes it better and maybe even a strength. And so I don't think he's you know, trapped by his style of player, by his you know, approach to the game. I think it's flexible and I think we've seen him get more accurate and slightly shorter with the driver and focus more on his control and excellent putter. Gotta say, you know, we don't see him that much. Obviously he's playing it live. But he shot

his fifty eight. But you wonder week the week whether it can possibly mean enough to really bring out your best. But these majors now are so vital to their credibility as players. It's one of their few shots. And Ram's a different case. You know. I don't think Rom has you know, fulfilled himself in the way he would have liked to in these intervening years since signing with Live

or interviewing. A couple of years as all it is, but it seems like a long time because he's been missed, and I have no doubt he's still got the same ability. But does he have the mental state that's going to bring out his best or is he going to be you know, trying too hard, pushing and pressing because he's got so much to prove. Will he be impatient because

he's been discouraged and angry about maybe no merger? You know who knows those are He'll never probably even be able to answer those questions unless there's time that kind of gives him the perspective to But I sense that it's not optimal where he is, and I think that was the risk and in a way the price he paid for taking taking the money. You know, he may have forfeited his best years to achieve greatness, historical greatness, and now he might be impatient to try to make up for that.

a fascinating story. I would extend the live conversation to Brooks, Cameron Smith, and Joaquin Neeman as well. I think that you know Brooks Is, Brooks has gone from this player that was a like, well, like it's a major Brooks Brooks is there, like he is like, how do you not say he's the favorite or you know, in the

top three. So we've moved into this phase with Brooks where it's like, well he could win, he could also finish forty second, and you know it's like we really it's really kind of like a box of chocolates type situation with Brooks Koepka, like, would you if he won next week, would you be surprised?

an eye opener. But I don't know. I just feel like this has been a deadening period for those guys, and it's hard to turn it on and off motivation wise, or at least I won't say motivation. They may be very motivated in terms of really missing being at the top of the game or considered the top of the game, but it takes, you know, kind of a disciplined routine to stay mentally focused, and once you slack off on that, it just like golf. It's just like the physical part

of golf, you develop bad mental habits. And I don't know that he has. I'm not saying that, I'm only saying I think it's an extra layer of difficulty when you have to try to, you know, turn the faucet on and off, whereas you know someone like Scotty or Rory. It's a more consistent approach of mental intensity and not taking your foot off the gas because you're gonna get you know, you're gonna get passed, you're gonna get boat raced. If you're not sharp mentally out on the PGA Tour,

you may not win. And I'm not saying they're optimal every week, but they're closer to it. And so that's and Brooks has been I think, you know, almost unique in that he's got five majors and yet you never thought of him as a week to week guy, as a favorite, you know, on the PGA Tour. You always thought, well, he's saved him for the majors and he could do that, and so maybe he still can. But I I don't know.

I've always been so impressed with Brooks when he's won, because he's so together, through the through the bag, excellent putter, great chipper. You look at him, you know, he looks like a power guy, but he's really a touch guy too. But he's also a guy who has I think a challenge caring enough, carrying enough to really make it important. Obviously the Major's brought that out, will they still? I think there's doubt that's all.

And I think the way the game has changed and physically for him, you know, he's had physical issues that he's had to overcome. I think if you go on the range and watch him hit a driver right now, it's not You're not like, oh Wow, this guy is

like a completely different tier than these other guys. Like part of it is that the youth there are more people that drive the ball like brooks Kopka, And part of it is like where a player like Rory who was you know that has been that way his whole career has continued to send Brooks has kind of stayed

the same. And I think when when you talk about and this has happened, I think this has been like kind of the story of Ricky Fowler, it's been the story of Justin Thomas, is that if you don't keep improving that great skill, these young players are going to

come in and push that great skill down. And I think, like, if you look at from just strictly a skill standpoint, Brooks Kepka isn't as overwhelming of a player as he used to be because that off the t game has maybe gone from he's a top ten player with that drive everyone is cooking, to he's a top twenty five player.

And that's a big fall like that, that's going from like I'm an ultra elite player to a a very good player, and that's in golf where the margins are so small, especially in major championships, that's a big deal. I remember watching him, Rory and Gordon Sargent play a practice round years ago and I was in awe of where and I think Brooks at that point was physically

not in a good spot. But I'm looking at him like, God, he's forty yards behind these guys, you know, and that's not you know that that's something to be noted, you know. On the Cameron Smith aspect, I just I just wonder, you know, we this is the thing with liv and we just talked about with Rom, like, I just wonder what Live makes guys. This is the perfect golf course

for Cameron Smith. He's he's been okay in majors, Like we haven't seen him at that twenty twenty two level, but that you know, getting to a point where it's a long time ago now and and I'm just curious, like what what it is we'll get from him. He's one of my favorite players to watch when he's in the mix, and that's been you know, one of the one of the departures I've been most sad about because I just enjoyed watching him play golf against the best players in the world.

really dropped off. Cameron Smith would gave us kind of intoation years ago when they I don't know it was an interview from Australian journalist or not, but he talked about, you knows, he hoped to, you know, win some championships maybe, but really what he wanted to do is sit back and open a coffee shop in Melbourne or Sydney or somewhere, you know. And I don't know that's I don't think you ignore that kind of comment, especially look at someone

like DJ so talented. I mean, DJ was the best number one as far as you know, sustained excellence after Tiger, and now DJ looks like he's semi retired.

you need. Tiger kept it for a long time. I'm sure it takes a toll on you as far as the stress level of your life. And and maybe you're you know, you're the balance in your life. But the really great ones and Jack was maybe the model he somehow kept to all accounts, you know, a very balanced life while still being the greatest player. But in general

it's hard to have both. And those guys now have probably a more balanced life and fun life off the course, but it does sacrifice the edge that you need to win championships.

presented a life change for all these guys. I think it's made Bryson better. I think that that format is better for Bryson than the week in, week out. Yeah, it gives them like time to do other things like and and I think that and it gives them time away from like the media, constant media scrutiny. But you know, you think about like other things that can do this as like kids, you know, partners. It is a it's

not like golf. Golf is just a It's one of those things where you have to mentally be in the right place to play at an extremely high level. And different different factors in life can cause you to feel different ways, and whether or not you notice it can greatly impact your performance and take a player from being one of the best in the world to being a you know, still a great player, but not at that same level. You know that. And and the margins are

so small that it's it's it's crazy. So we're three for three on the same topics here, we got to break apart here, what is your what is your next topic.

you know, have another one when with the same. But I'm kind of a new convert because I didn't actually have I've never really watched him really carefully, and the and the Players coverage was so good, and the way he played coming down the stretch was he made mistakes. It was a young player's mistakes, but man, was he striping it and aggressive and fearless and all these things

you hear about young players. I never really always believe fearless because I think you know that golf course especially, and yet it looked like a guy who, you know, all he wanted to do was win, which for a young player, and in that setting with all that money

available for second, third, fourth place, I was impressed. But also you know, he's only played in one Masters and you know his T thirty five, which is decent, but he's a lefty, which I think the course does help, especially on the dog Lake lefts with the with the power cut and everything, and you know, I'm impressed. I think he's on the rise here, even though what is he? Is he twenty one?

Okhay's twenty three, Ludwig's twenty five, both you know both roughly, you know, it's about exactly two years apart, like month wise, and I think like, Ohay has had a very interesting path, uh not going to school and taking some lumps early on, and you look at it and it's like, well like at this point in Okhay is And if Ludwig at the same point was in college golf, this at this point of Okhay's age and like Ludwig would have been

a senior at Texas Tech. And you think of all the things that that Akhay's accomplished, and he doesn't have the raw power, uh that Ludwig has, And I think that's like obviously the big you know, you know, advantage that you'd point to with with Ludwig. But when you look at Okhay's just over overall game, it is extraordinarily impressive.

And I think, like I was looking, I did a Breakout Players for twenty twenty five podcast last year and I put Ochay on it because you look at it when he went to the broom it it solved his one big death it as a player, which was the putter. He was very bad with the putter and that was holding him back. But what took a step back, and it makes sense, like you put all this time into putting and the broom putter is you know, you're putting all this time, it's natural you'd expect something maybe takes

a step back because of the intense focus. And the thing that took a step back was his driver, and I look, you're looking at these numbers and you're like, well, like maybe he just had a really bad year driving the ball. And you see this with like you know basketball players where like they have one year where they are three point percentage dips to thirty percent, but their entire career they've been a thirty eight percent three pointer shooter.

And you're, well, it's not like a crazy bet that this guy's going to go back to thirty eight percent. And it was just a bad year. And I think when you start to look at the numbers, it's like, actually had this incredible it had a great year last year, and he didn't drive the ball well. And it's like, and you saw that with Sawgrass is I mean the iron play you us talked about. This iron play is

what you know is so important at major championships. I don't think anybody hit the ball better than him on the.

It's so rare, and I think that's like we've watched these superstars and these all time greats come up and they you know, they seem to just get it done, like Tiger in the ninety seven Masters, where it's just like, well he's here, you know, yeah, But like so often is the moment where you get into the cauldron and you get uncomfortable, and like for Akhay, he comes out of the gates blazing and he misses that short put on two and it just seemed to like rattle him

and it set him and that that's why he didn't win the Players. You know, he missed the short put on two. I think he bogied three, and then on five he makes that triple or whatever he made on five, Like you know, you see this like three hole stretch.

That just is the reason he didn't win the tournament, and you just think about that, is like he is a better player because of that, especially because it because of the way he came out of it and played fantastic golf for the final twenty, you know, thirty holes of the tournament versus what could have happened where he got into it and it goes and he shoots an eighty, and then there's real doubt.

it isn't. Uh, you know, it's almost counterintuitive, but it almost works against him in my in my sense of him totally unfairly that maybe he just doesn't have that that edge we've been talking about that you know, it's

almost too easy. And then that's so dumb, I mean in a way, because I mean in his second the Masters and he's won and he played great at Tory was beautiful to watch, but you know, will he really step on the gas and go for something special or will he, you know, just have this very, very elevated career that won't have as many highlights as it seems that he's capable of. And it's way early to even speculate on that. I just, you know, I would like

to see. I would not that I would like to see, but I guess for me, I want to see the passion. I guess, which I'm sure you know, hey, internally, you know, I just talked about Scotty. We just talked about Scotty and I was praising how he doesn't really show a lot, but I do sense the passion with him and Oberg. It's almost like, Wow, I have this gift and it's so cool. But I mean, come on, man, you know you got it, so really get the most out of it.

And probably he's doing that it just for appearance's sake. It seems like he's got another gear that maybe emotionally hasn't access completely yet. And I guess we'd certainly learned to be one of the masters, whether it's there or not, and almost certainly would prove that it was because right now. The expectation is there. There is pressure on him extent that you know, you got to you gotta validate, you know that how good you are, and this is the

place to do it. But anyway, by the way, we didn't talk about rollback if you want to, but I'm prodding you towards that one, if you want to. But maybe you're you got to.

two percent Justin Thomas. And we're getting to the point where it's very you know, obviously Speith has the one one extra major on Justin Thomas, and I think probably overall a better major record. But I think we're at this stage where it's like, well, like you could probably make a case that Justin Thomas his career might end with a better end, with a better career. So it's extremely hard at young ages to project who's going to evolve as a player into their early thirties and mid

thirties and who's ends up being a better player. It's it's one of one of the things that makes golf such a beautiful game to watch in in you know, as a you know, you start to see these arcs of careers, whether it's Adam Scott and Sergio Garcia, how mirror images they almost are, and you you know, you could make that you could debate who was better when they were twenty four and now at age forty whatever they are, you could debate who's better.

what where are we with Jordan Spieth? And you know what does the next five years make? And he's he's been dubbed this you know, he's this Master's specialist. And he's had two top fives in the last four years. You know, he's had miss miss cut. You know, he's shown that he's he's not invincible, But like, what what is he this bona fide? Like should he be considered a top five player at Augusta National? Still? Like, to me, I just haven't seen enough from him in the last couple of years.

wear you down. And I do think though there are different playing styles that are more likely to wear you down. And as much as I love Jordan Speed's game and all those winning moments he gave us in two fifteen especially, he plays a game that is very wearing mentally in my opinion, because there's just a lot of brinksmanship. There's you know, Phil plays that way, but Phil capitalized in ways that made it satisfy because he had power that kept him in the game when he was hot, and

Jordan doesn't have as much power. Obviously, he's trying to get longer. I wonder sometimes if to the expense of maybe his brilliant it's with with the shorter clubs. I'm not sure. I mean that happened to Looke Donald. I'm not putting them in the same exact category. But I just think Jordan's got a more complex kind of equation to solve going forward, because if he's not striking it well, it just you know, he's not going to get away with power sort of you know, giving him some easy

birdies on par fives. He's got to work for the whole thing more than other players with with more with more power, and then to rely on brilliance with with the putter and rely on short game, you know, uh uh, genius, that's that's a hard way to go. It just you know, you've got to keep pulling it out of the fire. I think of Sevy, and it wore him out, you know, he just didn't hit the ball well enough to stay

with with the other guys. Norman and Faldo and the other guys who lyle they just hit it better than he did, and it you know, yeah, he was the genius the ever we loved watching him, was the most entertaining and charismatic. But he was under he was under weaponized, so to speak. You know, he didn't have enough even with all the and then finally the stress of that ends up eroding your putting, you know, and it's just

hard to what to me. Know, you know, two things that don't last dogs that chase cars and pros it putt for pars. You know, it's an old, wore old cliche, it but I think there's a lot to it. And I think Jordan's tried to get better bass recking and maybe he hasn't maybe from this risk injury, his mechanics are going to improve, and I would like nothing more

than seeing that. But for the moment, I think he's outside the top five because he just doesn't have the physical kind of long game that you need to just keep hanging over seventy two holes.

and where we are now, and it's pretty wild. Like at that moment in time, I think golf, it was like, well this guy could be the next double digit guy, you know, and they're talking about like how to get to eighteen majors And now we're sitting at three and he's not. I don't even think he's even he's on the Ryder Cup radar because he's a you know, because

of his name. But if he was, if you put Joe Billy is his name, he wouldn't be on the Ryder Cup radar, given how he played, and I think, like, to me, it's when we talk about Scottie Scheffler, his approach to the game. The simplicity Jordan Speith to me is like the potential casualty of constantly searching. And I think, like you could put Victor Hovelin into this bucket and we don't know where this is going to go with

Victor Hovelin. But when you when you play golf, swing more than you play golf, and you become you go down the rabbit hole of tinkering and trying to change your bluep your your fingerprint is a golfer, you run the risk of losing your incomplete identity as a golfer.

and he wanted a better technique. And I think Jordan's a really smart guy, and if they were talking about eighteen, I think that would have included we got to get to be a better ball strikers. I don't think he could.

think Tetera. Green Jordan had that kind of game to be thinking about eighteen majors. And I'm not saying they were seriously, you know, projecting that like it was some kind of plan. It was a nice thing to talk about, I'm sure, and he was, you know, feeling great about what he'd accomplished. But I think if he looked deep into himself and and if Cameron did as well. They'd go, you know, we got to get a little better, uh Teta Green here if we're going to truly going to

be dominant players. Uh that's that was my impress I mean, I love this game. It was fun to watch it, and I'm not making it sound like a little game. It was. And he was a really good statistically iron player. He had a lot of game, but not that kind of game, not the dominant kind of game. And uh so I think he's done.

player when I was eighteen or nineteen. That was the best golf I ever played. I didn't think I just did. And that's to your earlier point about don't mess around with your fingerprint. But I don't know. I think the best players get better technically in a subtle, not overbearing way that that leads them on a on a too risky journey. I think Jack made a lot of a lot of adjustments over his career. The golf swing changes, but you got you got to know what you are

and what kind of change matches who you are. And I think that's where it gets scary, when you start trying things that maybe just don't match your your your personality or your physical makeup. And you know, I think Victor is a Victor Hobbins, brilliant and he may be on a really interesting journey that finds a higher pot of gold, and it would have had he not tried

to change. But the risk is high. And I think nowadays, though, with the money, it it's like it may be more feasible to try to change occasionally and go for the optimal as opposed to just staying with what you got and having you know, good success and knowing it'll be more consistent but never reaching you know, the ultimate. I think you might see more guys go for the ultimate now, and maybe the technology and the teaching knowledge is higher. Perhaps some would argue that it's not, but not many

players have done it. You know, you can say Faldo, I'm not even sure you could say Tiger. I think Tiger with Butch and then he was great with Hank and as an iron player, he got better with parts of his game. But some would say the best was two thousand and you know, at the same time, physically you were road so you have to make changes as well. And Jordan's now got a risk injury, so he's gonna have to make changes anyway. I'm not really coming to

any conclusions here. I just think that it's to just say I'm just going to stay with what I got seven you should have stayed with what he had. When you get out there and you start comparing yourself against the other guys, you know what you're missing, and it's very, very difficult not to try to aspire to to some of the strengths that other players have if you want to beat him.

You know, Jack Nicholas had periods. When he moved to Florida, he started playing, practicing in the wind a lot, and it made him too steep, and he just started hitting these kind of you know, glancing uh cuts, and he and he lost the ability to really uh square the club up and he so he learned that he'd gotten too upright, and and he changed and and he and then the seventies came in and he found a nice

and then he lost it again. And then nineteen eighty he went to Phil Rogers and he again flatten to swing a little bit more. It's just a you know you've heard this, Andy. I mean, those guys wake up every day and it feels a little different every day, and on the on the range. Maybe the the challenge is to find something that's gonna feel comfortable within your own parameters, but it might be a different feel every day.

it has for ten years. And I think it's we're at this juxtaposition where we have like a number or number of players that like it's like, okay, yeah, they'd be a great Master's champ, but you know they you know, we're always going to go default to Rory would be the one that we want to see to be the first Masters winner. And then I would I with your with your brain, I think the historical I'd be I'd love to know the historical Who do you think the best player without a Master's is?

you don't have any idea how good you are. You can win anywhere and here, and that from Nicholas just changed Trevino's own self image and he went on a run. And that was in seventy one. That was in March of seventy one, and seventy one was his greatest year

after that. So anyway, yeah, I would say Norman is the best player to have not won the Masters, because he had three runner ups and three thirds and gave away at least one and certainly conceivably too and you know, Brooks has got five and he's still in today's world, so he may be the answer besides Rory to your modern question.

reset after eighteen and you had like it's like these sliding door moments like where you know, sometimes getting off the golf course is the best thing that can happen, you know, and that day being such, with the way the weather shook out that week, him having to just bear all through was probably the worst thing that could have happened.

You could talk about Hale Rwin, you could talk about Kayne Stewart, Louis ust Heisen, you know, a lot of guy Davis.

putter was his weakness. He had gotten yippy of all places in college after being like, uh, in his mind one of the top ten putters in the world when he was a junior, and not exaggerating in his mind. You know, he had a gift, but he lost it and he never really had in his mind a great putting era, even though he was winning fourteen at Tucson in Phoenix, in his mind he was just hitting it

so close. So I think Johnny, as far as talent, along with Trevino, maybe those are the two that you would say, you know, should have had a master's even though Trevino's style probably didn't fit. But as far as opportunities, I'd say Norman and Weiskoff the two, and Ernie close by.

You know, then you got guys like, you know, great players Hailer winning Price, and Nick Price was right there in eighty six, but in general they were not perennial Master's challengers, and the guys that I mentioned were except for Trevino.

Scheffler and strokes gained total only behind Rory McRoy. And you start that golf course is a really good fit for somebody that hits really great iron shots, and he is he is a I mean Scotty's one iron player one A. I think Colin more Cow is probably the only other guy that on a day can wake up out of bed and say I'm a better iron player than Scotty Scheffler.

And if he does it, it's going to be, I think, so satisfying for so many You mentioned Crenshaw. It'll be that kind of feeling if he wins.

sign up for the Fridagg newsletter. If you're interested in daily podcasts, check out the Shotguns Start. We will be breaking down all the action from the grounds and I hope everyone has an awesome Master's week S