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 Frida egg Bride egg Lie, I'm about ready to run off of the hump.
Welcome back to another edition of the Friday Golf Podcast. Today I am joined by Johnson Wagner to break down this year's PGA Championship. I can't believe it's here already, it is.
We are.
We are in the heart of major championship season. Of course, last week we talked about Oakmont. This week we have the pg Championship at Quail Hollow. Xanderschoffle is the defending champion, obviously has a great track record at Quail Hollow through the years. And you know, we've We've got a major championship chock full of storylines. I think the amazing thing about this year's PGA is just the run up what's been happening in pro golf, and it's hard not to
be excited about the top players and their form coming in. Obviously, Scotti Scheffler is coming off of a win at the CJ Cup, a dominant win at a golf course that makes it very hard to be dominant at You have Rory McRoy fresh off his Master's win, as well as j T getting in the winner circle and Bryson getting in the winner circle on live in South Korea, so tons of stories. You know, the big players are going
to be the dominant story. I think that that's kind of a great situation for the PGA Championship is to have kind of that player led story. So we are joined by Johnson Wagner, a local Charlotte resident. Johnson is a big become a big time superstar personality for the Golf Channel. He's on live from he is. He is a great guy, great golf mind. You know, he is into golf course architecture, obviously very astute with the professional game from his years playing on the PGA Tour and
covering it now for Golf Channel. So thrilled that Johnson could join. I've been really a big fan of his his career post playing. So excited to talk about the PGA and do our five Things about the PGA Championship with Johnson Wagner. Before we get to that, let's talk about our partner Good Walk Coffee. This is a true partnership. I have to say. I was in Scotland for ten
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All right, let's get to Johnson Wagner. All right, it's time for the twenty twenty five PGA Championship, and I'm super excited about about the guests. It's it's been a long time. I feel like we talked about you coming on the pod like three years ago, and it's just been you know, it's just been misconnection after miss connection. Johnson Wagner, I'm happy I remembered I asked you at the Masters. I'm not gonna lie. I. I was in this stupor from my long trip and I was like scrambling.
I was like, who am I having on for the PGA, And then PJ reminded me what about Johnson? You said Johnson was coming on. I was like, oh my god, I completely forgot. So Johnson, thank you for joining me. You are you're traveling across the country for your your Tiger Tiger historic shot thing. How's it going.
It's going good, Just getting really going out here at Pebble Beach. Was fortunate to play a practice round. At practice round, I played around at Cypher's Point upon A and man, I just love being out here and excited for the rest of the trip. It's going to be gonna be a good time. Hopefully Tiger Woods. Hopefully I can make him proud of some of these recreations.
I would if I'm Tiger, I'm worried that you're going to outdo them.
Yeah, that is not going to happen. And if it does, it will be met with a wild celebration.
You know, honestly, you've You've carved out quite a role in golf media. It's been so fun to watch like your your popularity rise. I'm not sure that your ardent fans would like if you outdo Tiger.
I don't think it's possible. I will give away a little bit. I know. I don't know when this is going to air, but I will be hitting the shot out of the fairway bunker at Glenn Abbey on Friday for Golf Central. And I can tell you one thing, I will not be hitting the six iron to where he did. If I hit six iron and probably go in the middle of the lake, it's gonna be a three iron for me. I'd be happy if I found dry land.
The Tiger shots are astautic. So I was at Carnousti last week and I walked over and looked at the I looked at the bunker that remember on ten when he hit that shot out of that bunker. I went in and I pulled up the video and watched the video and then put a ball down where it was and I was just looking at it, and I'm like, this is not possible. This is not a humanly possible to hit this shot.
There's nobody that could hit the shots that he was able to hit, especially I mean in his prime, the shot he hit at Hazeltine when he hit that three iron, cut it out of the bunker. I mean, like most people are just pitching that back to the fairway and Tiger Woods is like, no, I can hit this up there close. It's it's remarkable the stuff he gets he was able to do.
I sometimes, you know, with some of the chips you've hit over the year, over the last year, I think that sometimes it gets lost that like you were a bonafide tour player, one of the best players in the world for a very long time. I feel like people are discounting the fact that you are a bona fide tour pro.
Well. I mean it's tough, man. I get out there, Andy, I get out there, and I wait for about an hour. It's not like I'm going to the range. It's not like I'm practicing. I don't hit any warm up chips or anything. And my short game sucks. It always has, and so now I've got to do it at the highest pressure moment without having made contact with the ball yet for the day. So I don't expect much out of myself and that's why sometimes when I hit a
good one, I'm like, Oh, I surprise myself. But usually they're Usually they're pretty bad, which people I've found enjoy watching me. I wish people had enjoyed watching me skull, Duff, shank chunk chips back when I played, because I may have had some galleries because that was kind of what I did all the time.
Well, I've got news for people. It's not out of the question that you will be playing on tour in an opposite field event this year. You've been getting close.
I have been getting close. I'm trying, like.
Can you walk me through before you're gonna get to the PGA. But when you see your name creeping off the alternate list, what are you are? You are you texting your wife being like, hey, can you get my clubs ready? You might have to ship them.
So I entered. I entered the field of both Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic because I wanted to get my old Caddy a credential for the year, and so I had to at least be like, yeah, I'm signed up for a couple events I plan on going to play, and I got really close to Puerto Rico and my heart started beating really fast on Monday when I was like, oh damn, I'm an ape alternate. I know how this works. I'm getting in and I'm gonna go play. Right. My
son never got to caddy for me on tour. He's sixteen now, so I was gonna go play, but it would have been I mean, I've got the high rights and the low lefts off the tee. I don't know that I could finish around on the PGA Tour right now.
Listen, I think I think you're entering in with the best possible mindset. Low expectations typically yield great surprising results, right.
Go win, Go win one of them and get into the PGA Championship, and the players like go and then and then what do I do? Then?
Then you're in a pickle with your job. You'd be one of one of it. You know, you wouldn't be the only part time player, part time analysts the Golf Channel's got, so you know that would be that would be the position you get yourself in. Let's get to the PGA. This is a big week, this is your home course. What what are you most excited about with?
You know, I always think like there's a level of pride when you're covering the game of golf when the road show hits your hometown in particularly a major championship. As a chicagoan very prideful golf city, this is one of the things that I'm most sad about that, you know, there's no major championship in sight for one of the great golf cities. But the big, the big show is coming to Charlotte. What are you most excited about?
Well, you guys have the President's Cup in Medina next year. I'm coming now.
Irrationally excited about the Peak Cup. This is the most excited I've been about the Peak Cup. The golf course is gonna be great for that, and excited about you know, Jeff Ogilvie leading the Internationals to their to victory.
And he's gonna have a ton of great insights since he did the rent restoration of that golf course too, So I think that's gonna be awesome. But what I'm most excited about, man, you know, the PGA Championship we had in twenty seventeen, back in August, it was wet, it was humid, it was just awful weather. Quail Hollow plays so much better when it's overseeded. The next big event we had was the President's Cup in twenty two.
Again it was Bermuda, and it played really well. It played really nicely that week because we got some cool weather and it kind of thinned out and it was sort of this jumpy Bermuda rough. But I've always felt like the Wells Fargo Championship, now the Truest Championship, is the best time of year to be in Charlotte. It's May. It's like we can have some cool mornings and some
warm days. And I'm excited for the golf course because we've been shut down as members for three weeks leading in and I'm telling you, there's not a blade of grass out of place. The fairways are as firm and as fast as I've ever seen them. The rough, while it's not long, it's super thick, and it's been kind of moan and drug back towards the tee, so it's
going to play gnarly. I'm excited because I think this is going to be the best Quail Hollow has ever presented itself for a major championship or for any big event, and it's going to be awesome as a member and as someone who's covering it to watch the best players in the world try to attack it.
I think it's in a hard position just because of it being a annual host on the PGA Tour. I think this, like Pebble is not immune to this. Like the criticism of Pebble with the US Opens is like we see it every year, and I think, like, we're gonna run into something similar with Riviera in the Olympics, Like we see this course all the time. I think, like that's one of the challenging things about about hosting it. But that being said, one of the beneficial things is
that a major championship. And I'm such a firm believer in this, Like major championships going to major cities is a great thing because you get great crowd support, you get like the local aspect of it. There's a sense of like rather than it going you know, somewhere far away from a city or an hour from a city, like say like an Aaron Hills, this is not meant to be a drive by of Aaron Hills where everybody's getting like taking like a long shuttle to get there.
It is awesome to be in cities. And and you know, Quail Hollow is the club in Charlotte, right Like that's the one everybody kind of talks about. Obviously, Charlotte Country Club, Carolina golf clubs are great places, but but Quail is the spot, and it's neat to go to the top spot in a big town. I think, like, I'm not like, I'm not the biggest Kuail Hollow fan. I think we
well know this. I will say one thing I appreciate about Kail Hollow is I think it has a nice cadence of give and take where you kind of like start out, you have a nice start, then it gets a little tougher, then you have a run of scorable holes where you can really get while you're while the getting's good, and then you got to hold on for
dear life on the finish. And I think that that cadence, whether or not you love the golf architecture being presented, the cadence of the round works really really well for championship golf and for exciting tournament golf.
I couldn't agree more. And I mean fourteen fifteen, where they're located fourteen. I would argue fourteen is one of the best drivable holes in championship golf because it actually allows you to get the ball close to the green. I love Tenant Riviera, but you can't you can't hit that green with off tea. I mean maybe if it's soft you can keep it on the front left. But fourteen at Quail, if you execute the right shot, you can give yourself a makeable eagle putt. And then fifteen,
the par five, is tremendous. Yes, of course there are some issues. Seventeen can be pretty difficult to hold the green the par three, but yeah, I agree with you on the cadence it. It does deliver a true championship test. And I think to your point about having a regular PGA Tour event, I think it was the no laying up guys called it Quail Hollow fatigue, Like we don't get an opportunity to miss Quail Hollow because we host something every single year, and I think that's where people's
opinions come from it. But we deliver really exciting, good tournaments that, by the way, benefit Roy McElroy most of the time.
Right, we do this five things. I was going to have. I figured course was going to be one of your five things, So I figured I just tee you up with it. My first thing's Rory McElroy. And you say, this course benefits Rory McElroy. You ready for his finishes through the years at Quail Hollow.
Bring it on.
Twenty ten, first place, twenty eleven, he missed the cut, twenty twelve, T two, twenty thirteen, T ten, twenty fourteen, T eight, twenty fifteen, first, twenty sixteen, T four, PGA Championship of twenty seventeen, T twenty two, twenty eighteen, T sixteen, twenty nineteen, T eight, twenty twenty obviously no tournament, twenty twenty one, first, twenty twenty two, fifth, twenty twenty three, T forty seven, and then twenty twenty four a win. Pretty good.
Call that a honey hole. That's Quail Hollow. Is his is his? Is his annuity right there.
I think he is obviously the big storyline of the week. I think that, like really, like you know, I think this this is you know, one of the less interesting five things because I think like the way that the world of golf is kind of positioned right now, and it's a extraordinary run up. The prime storylines of the of the world of golf center around the prime players right now in the in the world, and and I think, like, what's really cool is we have Rory Mackleroy, Scottie Scheffler,
Bryson de Shambo in peak form. And I think John Rohm, you know, he will tell you he hasn't finished us at the top ten in forever. He is, he isn't good for But you know, I think there needs to be a little asterix there. I think Rory he's got the he's got the monkey off the back, and he's going to one of you know, winning the Major at UH, at the Masters, and he's going to one of the the great golf courses set up for him. Why does Quail Hollow set up so well for Rory McElroy.
Well, so, I mean, I know he plays a little bit of a fade now off the team when he wants, but Quail Hollow has always been a drawers paradise. It's part of the reason I love Bryson to play well at quil Hollow UH. And I think when you look at the changes we've made over the years to the sixteenth hole, which used to be such an incredible part four. Now it's down towards the pond. There's a bunker out there that was used to be three to ten to cover. We built a new tee for Rory for the twenty
twenty four Wells Fargo. Now it's three twenty five to carry, and he's the only person or one of the only people in the field that can carry that bunker. And you look at what we did leading into the PGA. We only made one change, which is a small amount for us, and we put a new t box on nine and it's back. It's now five hundred and thirty five yards and it only benefits one player. It's Rory. So it's like when Augusta National tried to tiger proof their golf course, all they did was make it more
of an advantage for that player. And so when you look at the changes we've made to Quaile Hollow, it only benefits Rory and the green complexes. We redo our greens maybe once every seven or eight years, and this is now going to be two years in. They're still
going to be firm even if we have weather. So Rory's ability to spin the ball the way he does, I mean just thinking about the shot he hit fifteen on Sunday Augusta, curving it around the trees like the quil Hollow rewards someone who hits it long and can spin their ball coming into the greens, and that just fits into a te.
I was thinking about something the other day, and you know, you hit on Rory's You know he hits a little bit of a fade off the team now, but he is he is a natural drawer of the golf ball as he grew up drawing a golf ball. And I was watching actually a Grant Horvet YouTube video with Bryson when this, with this thought enter my mind, I would say that Bryson and Rory right now are the best
hard golf course players in the world. You could probably throw Scottie in there also, But you know, one of the things that I find interesting is like it's kind of become like fade or bust in pro golf, and arguably the two hardest golf course players, Rory and Bryson are both drawers of the golf ball.
It's just so much easier to control the fade right if you can. I'm a I'm a hooker of the golf ball. I wouldn't consider myself a drawer anymore.
One of my favorite lives is hookers eat Hamburger. Faders eat.
That's exactly right. And I mean these guys, they you can just you can hit it harder with less worry about it going offline if you can hit that fade. And I think that's why with the modern drivers and the ball and the fact that it's hard to curve it, I think that's why Rory's going to that fade. But yeah, I mean Cepstraka, Lucas Glover or maybe two of the only other guys that I can think of that pretty
much exclusively hit that right to left T ball. They're they're just it's a dying breed out there.
Yeah, I just I just found it interesting there. I think if you were once were a drawer, it's then easier to hit both ways. And I think that might be one of the things is like, if you start out drawing the ball, it's it's relative. It's not that hard to become a fader. As this is as someone who was a drawer, okay speak from personal experience, but then it opens up the ability to hit bull shots
because you have done it. It's in your id right, And if you think about like Rory winning that that Masters, it really came down to him being able to row hook, you know.
Yeah. But at the same time, like the way he was able to hit the t shot on eighteen, both in the playoff and in regulation, like you can't hit a Roe hook off that tee. But the yes, like put Max Homa in that position on fifteen, and I love Max, but he is pretty much an exclusive fader of the golf ball. Put him in that spot on fifteen, he probably lays it up right, I mean he there aren't many guys that can just shut that face down and hit that high swooping drawl like Rory was able to do.
What do you think with Rory? Do you do you see this as a floodgates or a you know what, we're gonna see similar, you know, Like I think, like the thing that's unique with Rory is, you know, he's been in so many positions, He's been in the mix so often, he's been the most consistent major player, has
like been the most consistent player without a win. Now he has gotten the win, do you see it as the Majors are going to be easier for him, or do you think they're just going to be kind of a similar situation to what we've seen in the last three years.
Well, my hope is is that they're going to be easier. And the amount of work he did leading up to the Masters this year, changing his golf ball, being able to hit the three quarter shot, the amount of work he put into his mind, and the way he's able to handle things differently and not have the highs and the lows, at least emotionally. Obviously Sunday Augusta he had
the highes and lows all over that golf course. But I do think I'm going to do a walk and talk with him either Tuesday or Wednesday at the PGA, and one of my questions is going to be about motivation, right, Like if he's motivated the way he was to go
win that Masters. Yes, I think it's a floodgate situation, and I don't think anybody would fault him for maybe taking a step back a little bit because of what he poured in, like because of I mean the emotions that poured out of him when he won the Masters. I don't think anybody would be like, ah, you know what, Rory, you can take some time off, but I don't think that's in his DNA. I think he's going to be motivated and he knows. I mean, look at the setup
this year. He got the Masters out of the way quil Hollow Is, He's won four times there, like everybody's gonna think he's going to have a great chance to win, which he probably will. Oakmont's a great fit. He can just hit it all around that place. And then going to Northern Ireland like this is his major year. So
I expect him to be motivated. I expect him. I think he's going to win more majors in this second act Postmasters than he did before, right, I think, you know, the four Majors was great and it took eleven years to get that fifth one. I expect him to go on to win ten plus personally, and I think it's been important to him to be the best European player of all time. So I think looking at Sevy, looking at looking at Nick Faldo, I think he's still motivated to go get those get those wins.
I think that's I think that's right. I think like he cares about his legacy and I think he's been good now for almost twenty years. There aren't many like I just don't think. I don't think that. I remember this used to be the discourse with DJ is like, oh, he doesn't care, he doesn't work hard, and it's like I just feel like it's like, buddy, you don't get to number one in the world without working hard. That just doesn't happen. And you don't, you know, in Rory's case,
you don't stay. He hasn't been out of the top sixteen in the world rankings. I think it was one week outside the top fifteen in the world rankings since something like twenty ten. You just you don't spend fifteen years in the top fifteen if you aren't motivated and you don't like you are not a maniacal about your craft, because like we see it now, I mean, the second somebody takes their foot off the gas a little, it's like, wait, how did they become the thirtieth rank player in the world.
You know, I thought, you know, And I think that's like the thing with with Rory. I don't know how long he's going to keep playing. I don't necessarily think that like we're going to see him like grinding like crazy deep into his forties, he said as much. You know, sadly for PJ, he says he's not going to play the Champions Tour. I think PJ wants to ask some
hard questions one day of rory about that. But the uh, the the thing I think he's he is looking at the next real five years as this is you know, prime hunting season, and I think he's motivated, as you said, to be the best European tour, the best European player
of all time. But then also you start to think about like if he can add two three majors where he gets career legacy will eyes as well, Like you know, he's going to add three or three PGA Tour wins a year to his resume pretty much one one, you know, one would be a bad year for him. So you're you start to see like forty PGA Tour wins, maybe fifty PGA Tour wins if things go really well, and you know, if he gets to six, seven, eight majors, it's like a pretty crazy career.
It's a crazy career. And I think in this time of golf when they're playing for so much money that they these guys have three or four like Justin Thomas, for example, wins two majors, has a nice career, He's won fifteen sixteen times now, like he doesn't need to do a thing the rest of his life. And I think to your point about the Champions Tour, I think they're in a real pickle because you're not going to see these guys like I'm forty five now, you should be.
You should be getting out there, you should be getting stars out there.
Maybe I will, maybe I will, But the Champions Tower is not going to survive on Johnson Wagner's and I know JJ, Henry's going out there, Charlie Hoffman, Ryan Palmer are about to turn fifty like that tour needs Rory to go want to play. But what golf does to your body and these guys the way they swing it now, I just don't I don't see it. I don't see it either. But yet, Rory's gonna get to eight majors. I'm confident in that. I think he's going to get
to ten. Personally, I think double digits is the goal. I think he's going to get there. I think he's gonna win at least one more this year and then who knows.
Yeah, Oakmont is a primo primo setup for him. After I was just there this week for the first time and I was kind of like, I mean being you know, it's him and Bryson to me just fit so well at Oakmont.
The way they can hit out of the rough and be able to control their ball is so next level. I play the seven US Open and Oakmont, I couldn't move the ball out of the rough, and these guys they can hit it so far down there that maybe they're coming in with an eight iron or seven iron into a par four out of that rough and they can hit it high and soft and put it in good positions. It's just it's ridiculous. And Bryson at Quail Hollow, by the way, the way this ruff is, man, it
is thick. We did a different overseed this year to ensure like a heavy stand even if we had a warm spring. It is the thickest rye overseeded ruff I've ever seen a Quail Hollow. And with Bryson's strength, man, he's going to be a problem around that place.
Let's talk about I assume he's one of your five things.
He absolutely is, and I picked him on my five clubs podcast with Gary Williams earlier in the week. I obviously I'm a huge Jordan Speed fan, huge Rory McRoy fan. I would love for one of them to win. But I just I see Bryson to Shambeau being there till
the very end. He's motivated, he's all he's all been out of shape that Roy didn't talk to him all day Sunday at the Masters, and he's got something to prove and he's gonna I mean, I don't know that he's gonna win, but he's gonna be right there on Sunday.
Yeah. I think, like, obviously, the thing that's been amazing is like the evolution of Bryson since he went to Live. I think he's obviously become it's become extremely popular one, but he's also become a much more well rounded player. And we see this at the Masters, like this that
was a golf course that gave him fit. He obviously won at Pinehurst number two, a golf course that you did not expect, you know, at the lead end of the week at the US Open at Pinehurst last year was like, oh, I don't know how how this golf course really fits with Bryson. He almost won Valhalla, a
golf course that fit his game quite well. Now we go to a golf course that, you know, we just talked about how good of a fit is for Rory, the other guy I think in the field that can make all those bunkers obsolete, the guy that you know when you talk about Rory proofing a golf course, that if you Rory proof a golf course attempt too, you're also playing directly into the hands of Bryson to Shambeau
and you know, the control out of the rough. I think, like I said this after the Masters, what goes under under the radar? Everybody talks about the power with Bryson. The guy just knows how to get the ball in the hole. He has a he has a penchant for hitting the hitting shots and making putts when he absolutely has to. It's all, it's like a It's just everybody knows the guy at their club that like just seems to get it done when he needs to get done.
I think what doesn't get talked about enough with Bryson is he's just like he's just a natural scorer of the golf ball.
His short game at Augusta was mind blowing and the way he goes about his business and the way he hits those shots like he he was a little rigid for me in the short game before Augusta, and he had this little like whip in his wrist sort of at the top where he's throwing the club head under. He hit some of the most remarkable shots. I mean, I think it was seven when he was missed it way left of the green and hit this beautiful pitch
to the front center pin. Like he didn't have his best iron play, he had to get it done with the short game with the putter. The putt he made on eighteen on Saturday from the left edge of the grand it's a fifty footer in front of the crowd. Like he does, he is a flair for the moment. And when you think about Quail Hollow for him specifically the first hole there, it's a par five for member play.
It's not my favorite opening hole. I don't know if you remember Quail Hollow before the opening hole was an absolute gem. Bryson takes this thing over the stand of pine trees when he plays it and hits this thirty yard drawback to the fairway on number two. He can take it over the trees, like he can cut corners and do things that only a couple people in the field can do, and most of them can't do it with any sort of control. To have the speed he has and to be able to hit it as straight
as he does, He's going to be a force. Not only a quail, but man, I mean Oakmont. The only venue I don't really like him at is the Open Championship. I think the one thing is him flying those long irons, Like he just hits the ball so high with so much spin that he really struggled at Troon last year. I see the Open Championship sort of being his achilles heel when it comes to majors.
I think for him and Scotti, I think we've seen this with we saw it with Phil. They have to learn to love links golf. I think you it's starting to be really clear to me, Like the type of golf that Scotty likes is like it's the right in front of you kind of fair police golf, where like I hit a good shot, I'm in good shape. He talked. He complained about Pinehurst, about the the native areas Pinehurst,
how it was just pure luck. He had the worst driving week I think he's ever has had in the last two years there and then he you know, the Open has been his weakest major Scottie, but like Bryson in a similar vein he's so calculated. I just came back from playing, you know, basically two weeks and and you know, you play there in a heavy wind, with firm conditions, and you know you're six seventy yards away with like you know, you're just guessing where to you
have to feel where you hit the shot right. And I think that's where the last piece of Bryson is really getting that being able to play the feel. I think he's look what the work he's done with the Masters of course, where he's struggling with uneven lies, struggling around the greens, and he's become so good there. Like and I think that's the last thing with Bryson in the Major championships is these guys need in there. You know,
they're kind of creatures of routine, especially Scotty. They need to go out and just play, like two weeks of Links golf and just you know, enjoy the joy. Don't bring your rangefinder, just hit shots, you know, understand like you know how the ball is going to bounce in and how you can hit different shots around the greens and fall in love with that. But with Bryson, you know these convention like I wouldn't say conventional, but American
major championships. So he's played last year, he goes T six at the Masters, which was a real surprise, second place at the at the PGA, he wins the US Open, and then he misses the cut it at Troon. He then finishes T five at this year's Masters. I think he's rounding into as good of a major championship player as there is. You know, obviously four top sixes in a win in the last five majors, and I would
argue he's one two US Opens. I would argue that the PGA setup philosophy is probably the very best setup for Bryson to shamba.
I would completely agree with that. And I also love your points about going over in Scotland and playing golf getting rid of the lay. Yes. Absolutely, Bryson's so mechanical. He's got the three quarter swing. He calls a nine o'clock at ten o'clock, eleven o'clock backswing. That doesn't work when you're playing in thirty mini hour wins, right, that doesn't it's not Linkskoff is not science in his field. You have to be an artist and he's got that in him. But the PGA set up beer spot on there.
It is perfect for him because you don't generally have the pitch out us open rough like he won with at Wingfoot, just manhandling that golf course, hitting as far as he could. Yeah, you're making my Bryson pick at quil holliseem even smarter right now? Andy?
I yeah, I you know, one sneaky thing. I was looking one like thing we forget. I'm you know, I think of it in one and done with picks. I think I'm going to take Rory this week for my one and done. I think it's just like such a great bit. Obviously a great fit. We don't we went through as results. I'm saving for Okmont. He was in contention through three rounds in twenty sixteen. It's something he was in the top ten. He had an outside shot
at winning that tournament. He had a bad Sunday and that he tumbled down, But like that was that was when the golf course didn't necessarily fit his game as well as it does now like he's so much like talk about an evolution of a player, and I think that's like a fascinating thing with Bryson is like we see guys try try and chase stuff and fail at
golf all the time. Look at Victor Hoveland right where, and look at what's happened with Jordan Speed through the years through injuries and but also kind of trying to rework his game. He's you know, Bryson has evolved like twice now as a player, and he's I'd be interested. A couple of years ago, I asked him at the Open Championship if he was playing the best golf. It was at the old course of his career. You know,
he had he had, you know, won a major. He still said that his best golf was twenty eighteen when he won those I would I would bet if you asked him now, he would say he's the best golfer he's ever.
Been, completely agree with that. He's way more well rounded the short game, the putting. He has reinvented himself with that putter, and as uncomfortable as it looks and as weird as it is that he goes and paces off the distance and has that yardstick that he practices with and he knows how far to take it back for a I mean, it's weird, right, but it works for him. It is who he is and he's absolutely the best player and he is whether it's real or it's fake.
Like the engagement he has with the fans, like he's got more support than he ever has. And who would have thought Sunday at Augusta that it was even a question in the last group with Roy McElroy that yeah, Bryson's going to have his fair share of fans out there,
and he proved that he did. And it's just it's of all the guys that went to Live, he is the one that he's the only one that has really benefited from that decision because it's allowed him to kind of be himself a little bit more and to express himself in different ways. And good on him, man, He's been great to me. Every time I've asked him to do anything, he does it. I know that a lot of players still think he's completely full of it, but like, I don't care. He's got to figure it out.
He Yeah, he he's become He's just become a very good player. I think the the fan support is going to be very behind him. I think the Masters is a unique situation with it with the fans. I think that Bryson's going to be the most popular player at at Quail and also at Oakmont.
I'm gonna I'm gonna push back on that one. It's gonna be Rory at Quail. I mean, he is a He's an honorary member. The city of Charlotte loves him. Like. There's no way Bryson's gonna have more support than Rory A quill.
Come on, Andy, I think he would more supportive Pinehurst Bryson did. I just I think that when you get that big, big audience, like the open ticket, you know the Sunday of the Masters is not an open ticket, right, when you get that open ticket atmosphere, I think Bryson de Shambo has got just such a big not maybe not more fans, but louder fans.
Is he a lot for you on the Ryder Cup this year?
I think he is? He has to be right.
Can you imagine how much support he'd have out there? And what about a Rory Bryson Sunday singles where like the Cup comes down to that match. Can you imagine the support he'd have there.
I uh, I fear for the for what will be happening in the crowds. Yeah, absolutely, it's gonna be a busy, busy week for security possibly.
Uh.
Very that that brings up my next thing, Brooks Kopka and John Rahm and and a little bit of the Ryder Cup. I think John Rahm for the most part is probably a lock for the Ryder Cup. Brooks Keepka, he was invited to the Ryder Cup dinner this week at Truest And I think, like a big question for me is these guys have to do stuff in majors because of their decision go to the live like that's the only their only path towards relevance. I think that John ram is very sensitive about his status in the
game of golf right now. And I think with Brooks if he is going to be on this Ryder Cup team, we need him. He has to contend very deep in one or more of the next three majors. And I don't I don't necessarily think we've seen a lot from Brooks Kepka since the Oak Hill win. And it's a big question mark for me is like where are we at with Brooks Kopka and are we starting to see maybe a decline in his performance at major championships.
It's like we're talking about with Rory, it's the motivation and I'm just not seeing it out of Brooks right now. I mean, he's got so much skills and he's got the mind. Obviously, the guy's won five major championship. He loves, he loves getting in that hunt, and the fact that we're not seeing it, I feel like is a testament
to his lack of preparation. And when you're playing on that tour and you're not getting the reps, you're not getting the competitive sort of juices going like you would at signature events or bigger events on the PGA Tour. I just think that he's showing up and he doesn't. He just doesn't. He just doesn't have what it takes man. I mean, he's always said that he what's different about major championships is that he actually prepares for him. Well,
he's clearly not preparing right now. That's my take on Brooks.
I think like one of the things with Brooks too is I feel like if you read between the lines when he talks about his kids, a kid, he's did father and I and I think that that is just another aspect of of you know, life especially I mean I think that just like parenting's changed a lot from twenty five years ago to now, and you know it, I think that is just another aspect of preparation. The
ability to only care about yourself. I imagine you went through this as a pro golfer, like it, it is a selfish endeavor you have to put Like the nature of the sport is you have to put yourself first. And I think with with Brooks and you know, I don't know about Rom, but like Rom also seems like he's invested as a father. It makes playing extremely high level golf a little harder, and when you get to major championships, it is a challenging Like the margins just
gets so small. And that's the difference between a T eighteen and a I've got a chance to win a major.
On a Sunday. I mean my from personal experience, my son was born in April of two thousand and nine, and twenty and nine and ten were the worst two years of my golf career. I mean, like I wanted to felt guilty when you leave and your wife's at home with a baby, and when you're home, you just want to help out and do everything you can to make her life easier, which takes away from your preparation going out and practicing and stuff. So I think that's I think that's a very valid point. But I mean
Jack Nicholas did it. You just have to have you have to have a wife that is understanding and supportive, and I think I think Ram and Brooks both have that. But they're also they have a lot more downtime than they used to. I mean they're only playing, they're only playing twenty weeks twenty two weeks a year, and they have more time at home to be with the family. And they're like, you know what, this is pretty nice. I think I'm not going to go to the golf
course today. How about we take the family out on the boat and go fishing today instead. I mean, those are easy decisions to make. Of course, you're going to choose that.
I you know, Brooks is it's just a I also, like my other thought with Brooks is one of the things with his game is like the overwhelming power that he had, and I just don't think it's as overwhelming anymore. He's still a force, but he is not. I would not put him in the like who are the preeminent power players of right now in golf. I don't think he's in that top echelon like he used to be in you know, twenty nineteen.
The amount of effort it takes, and that's what makes what Rory's done throughout his whole career so impressive. I mean, the guy's an animal in the gym. He does like an hour workout that would rock me to my core before he goes and plays every day.
It's every day creatures of habit, right. Him and Scottie are to me are like the two that just like they know what they do.
So I've been thinking about this question a lot lately, and I've asked a few friends. Rory McElroy and Scotti Schefler are both playing a games and they're together in the final round. Start Todd, who do you take at their best? Do you take Rory or do you take Scotty at their absolute best? Who is the better player?
I think it depends where where where they're playing. If it's Quail Hollow, I'm taking Rory because he can just bypass so many of the hazards I do. I was thinking about this a couple of weeks ago. Is to me when they've been you know, paired on the weekend places. And I don't know this is just anecdotal memory stuff, but like to me, it seems like Rory usually gets the best. I think it's hard to play from forty yards behind someone, even for Scotty Scheffler. It's when they
play together. It is kind of mind boggling. How much for their Rory hits it.
Well, I'll throw this one at just Sunday of the Genesis is shy Year. Obviously at Torrey Pines, not Riviera. They played, they were on the periphery of contending Scotti Schffler went out and whooped him. Scotti Scheffler was making sort of an Olympic size comeback like you did in Paris, and sort of faltered there on sixteen and made bogie, but Rory had no chance. AGE think that's the only time I really remember them playing together on a Sunday
anywhere remotely in the hunt. Probably to your point that they don't necessarily fit the same golf courses, so you don't see them pair together a lot late on a Sunday.
I was thinking back to LACC twenty twenty three when they played together on that Sunday and it was, you know, they get it done so different. Scotty was one of my things. Is on your list?
Absolutely?
Like to me, the thing that is impressive with Scotty is just the he kind of tailor's his style for the for the golf course. You can see you see him some weeks throttle back, take speed off the driver. You know, he has a lot of different he I think he might be the premiere tactician of a tacticianer of a golf course, right Like he looks. I think he since thee since the sizes golf courses at an extraordinarily high level, understands like deeply where he needs to
get the ball to succeed. And I think, like, what's He's kind of a chameleon with how he plays where. You know, Rory commented this week about Golden Age golf courses how he's just learned that he just hits driver, figures it out from there, right, And I like JT corroborated the point. He's like, if I was Rory, I do that everywhere. I think Scotty, you see him play,
particularly off the tee. He's got like change, he's got he's got different stuff for different places in different holes, right, And I think Scotty is he's obviously Craig Ranch was like that was one of the most impressive performances because of the golf course's inability to like create tension with the best players in the world to just run away is actually like that was like a fifteen shot win at the Memorial.
His performance at the Byron Nelson was unbelievable. And to your point about having another gear with the driver. The t shots he hit on Saturday and Sunday on fourteen the driverable hole, there was a different Scott. I mean on Sunday he's got a nine shot lead starts at left of the left hole location and just pounds it up there. Like I didn't think he had that cover when it when it came off the club, I'm like, oh man, he just rented it. This may get interesting,
but he does. He has that, he has that power. One of my topics was about course knowledge a quail hollow, and I think this is a perfect conversation to have about Scotty because he's never played the Wells Fargo Championship, their truest championship. He's only played the President's Cup, and I think when I saw him Monday at Pinehurst he
had never been to Pinehurst. Number two obviously was just completely mentally physically drained from that win of Memorial because that was a major championship setup at Memorial that day when he won, and what issue won over par to get that victory like that was ridiculously trying test. So I'm a little bit concerned about him at Quail Hollow, just because he does have the week off, so he'll
be able to come in and prepare. And I think Ted Scott has a lot to do with Scotty's preparation because Ted's been around these places with Bubba so many different times and other players too, and I know Bubba love Quail and so Ted knows that place really well. But you learn certain things about a golf course based on competitive rounds, and I think Quail Hollow different whole locations one day, obviously, I think any great golf course is this way. But one day missus front left to
a back right hole. The next day the Penn's front left, and you know you can't miss it, and sometimes it takes those reps of actually hitting it in that spot before you realize how bad it possibly is. But that is what makes him so great, and that's what I think the team of Ted Scott and Scotti Scheffler are so great because they do they tactician themselves around. You rarely see Scotty in a spot where he's got no
chance to get it up and down. When he misses it, it's usually in the proper spot, and that is one of the greatest qualities you can have as a championship level golfer.
We've seen Scotty obviously, he's won two Masters. He does not have, you know, I think one of the things with when you he's had an incredible couple of years here, he's been bona fide best player in the world. And when you look at like weeks at career, number one
career all time, he's getting very high up there. I think he might be fourth in all time weeks at number one in the world, but he has no majors outside of Augusta, Georgia, and that starts to become a bigger But he's still young, he's still early in his career. But I think this is One of my themes with with a lot of players in the field is that butt and that and we saw this with Rory. It
gets harder the longer it doesn't happen. And for Scotty, I'm looking at it and it feels like to really cement his like all time, all time status, like there needs to be major championships outside of Augusta, Georgia.
I'm completely with you, and I'm down to start this narrative. What's what's wrong with Scotty? He's one dimensional when it comes to majors. He can only win at Augusta National.
I'm not there, I've not He's contended a lot of places, He's had chances to would a lot of other places.
I think I think we have to weigh until he wins his third Green jacket before we can really start that narrative. Because he's I mean, he's built for a US Open in my mind, the way he drives the golf ball, the way he thinks about the golf course. I think a US Open is coming really soon, in the next couple of years at least. I think he's gonna he's gonna pick one of those off. And I would say the same thing about the PGA Championship, I do.
I think Scotty, he's the way the way he goes about his approach mentally, was there ever a doubt that he was going to win the Byron Nelson after that first round? He's such a great front runner, he's got such a great mind, like he doesn't he doesn't beat himself, which I mean, look, Rory, that has been the knock Pinehurst. Rory kind of lost that US so not kind of he did lose that US Open once he birdied thirteen. He lost his swing and started missing the left on
all the t shots. And Scotty, though, do you have more confidence in somebody if there's nine holes to go and he's got a two shot lead, Is there anybody in the game of golf you're more comfortable winning that tournament than him? Like he's not going to beat himself.
Floor of a pro golfer. I think, like there are players that maybe have had I don't even know if there are players that have had higher peak peaks, but there's without a doubt since Tiger Woods, no player that's had a higher floor. Like you know what's coming every week from Skyty Scheffler.
I think Xander was daring close last year. I think Xander's floor is pretty high, but I not like Scotty's. He doesn't finish outside the top ten, and if he does, he's certainly not finishing outside the top twenty. When he had won, finish last year outside the top twenty, and that was at Pinehurst, which he didn't have his best stuff still makes the cut. I mean it's it's remarkable and he does it in such a way that people
are like, oh, Scotty's boring. He's not boring. Scotty's hilarious watching him cut it up Thursday Friday with see Lukim and Jordan Speed when they're waiting all day on this golf course at TBC Craig Ranch, Like, the guy is awesome, he just doesn't. I think. I think it was starting at Valhalla last year when he got arrested and he was talking about the stretching in the prison cell, and that was a first. Like, I think he's starting to just show us little snippets of his personality because he
is a man. He is a fun dude. I saw him at the Hero World Challenge. I was invited to play the pro am and had this dinner and Scotty comes up to me and he's like, tell me a joke, Johnson in this like dry way. He's like, he's just he's a guy you want to go play golf and drink a couple of beers with after the round. That's who he is, and he does it in the most unassuming way. I just I love him. I think he's a role model for the future generation of golfers you want to be like Scotti chef.
People call him a robot, and you know, it's like, I'll tell you what a robot wouldn't have done is after he won the Masters, stopped in at the local dive bar on the way.
Yeah, exactly, all right.
He's played twenty one Majors. How many top fives do you think he has?
Twelve?
No, seven, twelve seven was Z zero at the Open, so four of which at the Open. So if you take out the Open, he's got he's got seven top fives and seventeen starts, so get almost fifty percent, which is insane.
It's insane. But it's the same way. It's the same way he is on the PGA tour, I mean, and that's like he doesn't I don't think he puts majors on this super high pedestal. I think he puts I think he puts all golf turnings he plays in on the same level. And that's what makes him so consistent.
I think able to win, to be able to win the Masters and the draining, the amount of mental drain that is, and to go win the RBC Heritage the very next week like he did last year like that, that to me is one of the greatest things ever. Because you win a major, man, you want to take some time, you need to decompress, you need to celebrate, let it settle in. But to go out and win the very next week, man, that is that's that's tough to do.
He I would I would handicap him third here, and that's just because he cannot bypass the hazards the way that Bryceon and Rory can. Would you agree with.
That maybe even fourth? I mean you look at the way Xander Schoffle has played Quail Hollo over the years. I mean he was I was standing in the ninth farewell. It's the ninth hole, but for the President's Cup it was the eighteenth hole. Because we rerouted the golf course and I was standing in the fairway when he hit this little wedge end there and made the putt to clinch the President's Cup. He battled with Wyndham two years
ago there, he battled with Rory last year. I think Xander Schaffle Sneaky is just ahead of Scotty's.
It's just, you know, form certain places you just go and it feels like you can't shoot a bad score. And it seems like for Xander and Rory that Quail Hollow is just that place where it's just you go there and everything seems to work. Even if you're not. Everything's not working perfectly for.
You, right. But I think it'll be a testament to Scotty's game when he's in contention on the weekend at Quail Hollow, because it's a tough it's a tough time in the schedule for guys from Texas that have loyalties to both the Byron Nelson and Colonial because they've got to take a week off somewhere. Jordan'speth this year isn't He's going to play five straight through the Memorial, which is a lot of golf. But for Scottie, I respect the fact that he has not played Quail Hollow because
he wants to support his hometown events. But man, it's just it's not everybody's cup of tea. John Ram's talked about it. John rom hates Quail Hollow. I mean he hates it. There's there's some holes out there that he just can't he can't get over, like the fourth role of the par three, which I don't disagree with him. I don't particularly care for that hole either. When you have a blank canvas to build a par three and
you build that hole, it's it's a bit frustrating. But other than other than four and maybe the Green Complex on number eight, I think it's a I think it's the best place in the world.
What what else do you have on your list of a big big things you're watching this week?
I mean, I think we have to talk about Jordan's beef and I mean, what a great time that we are our ages to be enjoying and covering the game of golf we've had. You know, Phil Micholson obviously has a chance to complete the career grands slaying at the US Open, but Rory doing it has made it to reality and I would not have said that Jordan's Beef
had a prayer to win at Quail Hollow. It was his first time trying to complete the Grand Career Grand Slam back in twenty seventeen, and now it's his ninth crack back at Quail Hollow. What he's done with his driver the last couple of seasons is working for me and watching him play the Byron Nelson he had. He has more pop than I've ever seen. He's really committed
to that driver. He now is giving me some hope that he can get there on Sunday at Quel Hollow because he's driving it long, he's driving it straight, and as tough as Quail Hollow is around the greens, Jordan's Beef can get it up and down from anywhere. And I think the problem with him has been like he puts himself in too much trouble off the tee the last few seasons. And now that he's driving it better, he's gonna let his artistry work around these green complexes.
And I think he's got an outside chance. And two weeks ago I would have said he had zero chance.
Yeah, I I think like Jordan's one of the more interesting golf stories just from from you know, I think we saw this with Sevy a little bit where maybe Sevey played his best golf at a very young age. And I think Jordan there's been just a lot of like he's a tinkerer, right, He's obsessed with chasing perfection,
obsessed with improvement. And I think if you look at at a guy like Scotti Scheffler, it seems to me like Scotty knows what works and he does what works, and they're like kind of diametrically opposite approaches to how they you know, And I think there's like a real, real aspect of like golf success if you are fine with monotony, if you are fine with just rolling in and doing what you do weekend, week out, day after day, golf is a lot harder for those that are very curious.
And I think, like I just wonder, like, in pursuing becoming a great driver, did he lose what his superpower was, which was approach play? And to me, like it's if you start to look at like what the greatest major championship players, what they typically have is stellar approach play. And that's where I've struggled with Jordan right now, is like are we getting rock solid A plus short game or approach play weekend week out.
No, clearly we're not. But I would also take it a step further when he's win on all those majors twenty fifteen, seventeen in contentional all the time, he made more thirty footers than anybody ever could. And it's not a sustainable lifestyle. You cannot expect to make putts like that all the time. But he did for a number of years. And now you see a guy like Rory,
and you see a guy like Scotty. Scotty Scheffler had an eight shot lead last week or whenever the Byron Nelson was and he was seventeenth in Strokeskane putting for the week. You're breaking all kinds of scoring records, building this massive lead, and you're not the number one putter in the field like that, And then you look at Jordan and you're like, man, if he doesn't putt well, he's probably not going to be around for the weekend.
And so I think it's the iron play. I also think it's the putter with him too, like he finally on Sunday he shot sixty two and finished solo fourth, I believe, but too little, too late, and it takes him making all these putts because he misses so many short ones and he does so many bad things that he has to make compensate and make up for it. He's not a mistake free, boring golfer like Scotty Scheffler.
I think we're so removed now from from that run that you begin to hear undertones of like people being like we do that the model wasn't sustainable, you know, And it was like while it was going on, nobody was going to say that, but it is, you know, like you begin to hear, you know, it's like, well, yeah, he wasn't gonna put like that forever. Because I think that's what we're going through people's head while it was happening, is like, how how is how is this happening? How
does this guy make so many twenty footers? I think like when you look at career Grand Slam opportunities for for Jordan Speith, Aron Mink, PGA, Frisco Olympic Club, probably better opportunities than Quail Hollow.
I think the rough and the approach game coming from off the fairway, He's just got to do so many great things that I think, you know, the the Bryson's and the Rory's are just going to have such an advantage over him. It's going to be it's definitely an uphill battle. But I give him a I give him a two percent chance.
Hey, it's better than nothing. I think like two years ago it felt like or you know, even last year at Valhalla, it didn't feel like there was even a chance. Like it's the career Grand Slam narrative with with him has gotten pushed so far down the storylines going into it, you know that. I think that's you know, I golf is a better place when Jordan Speed's playing great golf. So hope, hope for great golf from him.
Uh.
My last thing is majors are only going to get more difficult for and we see this is kind of the Rory situation. The longer it goes for Kalin Morkaua, Victor Hovland and very I am not being impatient, I'm not this is very uh Ludvigger Obert and this is like, I'm not worried about Ludvig, but this is a great place for Lodvig. And I think I think everywhere is a great place for love Vic. But this We've seen
this so often with players. It is so important to pick off majors when you're young and early, because then it becomes it becomes the best player that doesn't have major. Ludwig is absolutely the best player in golf without a major. Victor Hovelin's right there, I think, And.
But what about Patrick Can'tley. I mean, I'm sorry, I don't think.
Is Patrick Can'tley a world class player? Still?
Yes, absolutely the top.
Would you put him in your top ten players in the world?
No, go ahead, continue.
So anyways, Morikawa is more like he hasn't won one with fans.
There were were there were people out there at the.
Fair limited. He really hasn't one many tournaments with fans, and it's been a long time and there's been a lot of close calls, and it's getting to be like a you know, it's a it's a storyline. And I think, like the other thing is he's running into Scheffler on Sundays and he's running into Rory on Sundays, and it's like, is I think there's a clear top echelon in the game right now and he is just a notch below it.
And winning one though it like getting his third puts him back up into like this stratosphere of like supreme young talent, like supreme young talent that could end up being one of the all timers. And I still I'm not like word, but he's such a great iron player. But does he have the horsepower? And again, these things just get more difficult the longer you go without winning another one.
He doesn't have enough horsepower. But one thing I will say is his the market improvement he's made on his short game over the last season and a half. That's going to compensate for the for the lack of power off the team. You really have to have one hundred and eighty mile an hour ball speed to win major championships right now. I hate it that that's where the game is. I think Morika is going to be a guy that benefits from the golf ball roll back in
a couple of years. And he's still so young when we look at Jordan's Jordan's he's just thirty one. How old is Calin Marcowa twenty seven eight? I mean, he's he's still young. I think I don't know why he got rid of JJ Jacobac by the way, and higher I mean, I think Joe Grinder is a heck of a caddy and I think he's awesome. But like, you're the fourth ranked player in the world, you've been on an incredible run. Do you have any insight into that split at all, Andy, because I don't.
He's made some curious decisions what's a blackburn for a while, then went back to his old coach. You know, it's been I don't know. I think he's tried stuff and maybe he just feels maybe he just feels like he what was what they were doing? He wasn't getting across the line. You know, relationships are weird like that, right, you.
Know, very much so. But still like he's just improving, improving, improving, and he's getting there. You're right, he ran into Scheffler, he ran, he runs in, he gets beat. It's not like he's beating himself. I mean you could say maybe he Yeah, we definitely did there. And then the doubly made on nine at the Masters last year on Sunday was catastrophic. That was sort of a self inflicted wound.
But he is getting beat by better players. And when you look at Scotty, when you look at Rory, they have a dynamic aspect of their game, and I just don't feel like Colin has that dynamic aspect to go run away and high from fields. I don't think a Caddy change is going to make that happen for him. But I mean, he's been so consistent over the last couple of seasons, Like I think his time's coming, but
it's not coming to Quail Hollow. He needs a he needs a place that sort of mitigates distance a little bit, like a pebble beach maybe, yeah, you know, heard somewhere where it's cold, the Olympic like that, Like he needs Yeah, he needs that vibe. He doesn't need a bomber's paradise like Quail Hollow where it's going to be warm and the ball is going to go forever. He's just he just can't do it. And he's pretty one dimensional off
the team as well. I'd love to see him be able to shape the ball both directions that that that one dimensional fade I think is nice, but I think it's hard to win major championships with that, especially an open championship as well. You gotta be able to fluck that ball down.
I'll never forget I watched, I watched a couple of players hit shots at Kiowa on seventeen. It was just howling into it and I watched him just hit his stock fade and it just floated. And it's like, I'm very surprised in this era where players have have had real success adding speed incrementally. Look at Rory McElroy, like
it's just he has added speed slowly. I am so shocked that we haven't seen incremental gains in Colin Morricowo, who seemingly has like a very strong fundamental base to work off of right A really and I get like, one of the things you have to be precious with with Colin morikow is like, do not rock the boat with the irons, right because that is he the reason he's going to be a top five player for such a long time is he is a generational iron player.
But getting get improving the driver distance to get more short irons to amplify your generational skill seems like it would be at the top of my list of things to do if I was, you know, looking hard at Colin Morikawa's game.
I mean, he hits it far enough, but he's a little guy, like I don't want to like Xanderschoffle did it beautifully and look what it's done for him. I mean, Xander can I mean he can pump it. He get that ball speed up to one eighty five plus one eighty seven if he needs and.
And all of a sudden he came from close to getting across the line.
Yep. And it's just it's where the game's headed. I think it's it's more so now than it's ever been. Length is a prerequisite to winning major championships. You have to have it. Like Brian Campbell, who won the Mexico Open. Brian Campbell is never going to win a major championship. He's got one hundred and sixty five one hour ball speed. It's just sorry.
He went to one of the greatest universities in the world.
Kill that's right a line.
I so fill a caveat there.
But I mean, you can have a nice career on the PGA Tour. You can do your you can play well. And like sept Straka, went the other way. Step made it a point he wanted to play from the fairway. More so, he took a couple miles an hour off of his driver over the last four years, which Accep's a massive dude. He could be sending out there. But I think to be a top five player in the world to contend in these major championships, you can't have less than one hundred and seventy five hundred and eighty
mine hour swing speed. It's just Ira Klubetsby ball speed. It's just not it's watching golf the way I watch it now. It sucks because it's why I wasn't good enough to play in more majors is because I didn't hit the ball far enough. And it's just my son who's sixteen. He can get it out there. He's got one hundred and seventy seven mine hour ball speed right now. And it's like, man, you gotta teach these kids as they're going up, like if you want to be great,
you have to hit it far. It's just the way it is.
Yeah. I mean, you look at like Bona Fide, We just who's going to play well major championship in and major championship out right now? The list is like who you expect it from, Like you expect to play well? Is Scotty who he can hit one eighty? You know you've got Xander, You've got Rory. You've got John Rahm and Bryson, all of them, Like when you look at their games, there are not discernible weaknesses. There's not like a glaring like he can't do this. And I think
with Colin there's a glaring. And it used to be a couple glaring things, but the iron play carried the day so much. But now it's just like, well, could I just get a few more easy wedges into greens? And that's what distance offers you.
And as these golf courses get longer and longer, I mean, quil Hollow can stretch out to seventy six fifty and these places aren't getting shorter. And that's why I mentioned pebble or Olympic, these sort of pebble. I'm out of pebble today. I was looking at the card. It's sixty eight hundred yards. It doesn't play that short. It doesn't play that short. But I mean it's like me playing on the PGA Tour. There are very few places that I can win, that I could win, and I took
advantage of those few places. Colin Morikawa is like that at major championship venues. Like I don't love Oakmont for him I don't love qual Hollo for him, like and you look at a Ludvig, even Ludwig has no there's no golf course that doesn't fit him. As you said, I think he can get a little better with his wedges. I think he can get a little better around the greens.
But I mean he's still man. We're just like his second halfway through his second full year on the PGA Tour, So I'm going to give him a little bit of a break. But for Colin, you bring up some really nice points and it is concerning. And what's more concerning is that the caddy split right in the middle of major championship season. I didn't understand it. I saw him at Zeri Classic. JJ's awesome. That was that was mind blowing to me that he would make that switch leading into the PGA.
Yeah. Well, it's gonna be a great, great championship. We're going to see you on Golf Channel. You'll be all over it live from you know, hopefully replaying a lot of iconic shots out there. Absolutely, I've really enjoyed your your rise in the golf media world. It's been super fun and look forward to seeing you more this year. You've got Bryson for the record down as your winner.
I've got Rory looking forward to great PGA championship and big thank you for coming on and joining us to chat through it.
And you, Andy, let's wait until the fall. But when you get some time, you need to come to Quail Hollow and play with me and my friends. And I think it would give you a better understanding of how special this place is.
I you know there, there are a lot of people, a lot of people have been in my ear that you know the quail. The quail distance needs to stop till you set foot on ground, so you're not alone.
I'll even bring into the Member ten next week. We can we can have we can have a transfusion together.
I'm not gonna be there. I had to, I had I listen. I got a young family, and I was just away for basically two weeks and I was at the Masters. I have I am on a on a on a strict kind of limited travel for the next couple of weeks. All right, Well that I'll see you at.
It's our loss. I'll see it. I'll see it. We'll have to catch up there in person.
Thank you, Andy, all right, Thanks Johnson all right, big thanks to p J Clark for editing and producing this podcast. We're gonna have a ton of stuff going on the p G A check on our website, Thefrida egg dot com. It's new check that out anyways. But we will be flown with content. We'll have daily pods on the Shotgun Start Pod if you want to know what's going on in the action day in, day out, But follow us and hope everybody has a great PGA Championship.