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 Frida Egg, Frida Egg Egg, Bride Egg.
Lie, I'm about ready to run off the.
Up So Joseph the Friday eggs own. Andy Johnson won the media lottery at the Masters because some people just have all the luck. And he is playing Augusta National today, What do you think he will shoot?
It's a good question. I believe he's playing with Persimmon drivers. It does yes. Before I answer that, Gary, am I correct that he also won a Frida Egg event recently? Is that true?
I think I feel like he's won multiple Frida Egg events.
I was gonna say between a win at a Friday Egg event and winning the Masters lottery, things are starting to stink, maybe a little bit at the Friday Egg. So I don't know how corrupt things have gotten, but just seeing his name pulled it raises some questions. Per Simon driver are in they're playing the championship teas. I think Andy, I haven't looked at the forecast today. I've been more checking it for the tournament days. I should have been checking it for media day. I'm gonna go
with this is a hard question. Per Simon driver.
Long, per Simon driver PT three wood that he had bombs by the way, like that carries farther than the driver, but the driver gets run out.
You know.
He hits kind of this knuckle cut with a driver sort of low. The PT is a high, you know, sort of straight ball that he hits. And then he has Wilson's staff seventies. I believe Era irons goose neck and that's his. That's the setup he's going with.
Look, I'll give Andy his flowers around with him in the fall at Essex County Club and he shot a bogie free sixty six with a person and driver. I'll say eighty three, eighty three at Augusta.
Eighty three, Okay, yeah, I mean, what do you think I think he might not keep score. That's sort of a cop out, though I would I would say, I'm not sure what his form has been like lately, but maybe he'll break eighty. I think I'll go with seventy nine just to take the under on yours and we'll see, we'll see how it turns out, I'll get in touch with him.
He's gonna beat Jason Day.
He's Jason Day. Well, they're playing I believe they play from the members teas, so yeah, then you know, if they were playing from the championship tees, then that would be one thing.
But from the.
Member tees, I feel like the courses, you know, I mean, it could be gettable, but the greens are going to be really really tough and so, but yeah, you never know what anything. Sometimes he goes super low. Obviously a good player. I was just joking earlier about him winning Friday events. I'm not sure that he's won one. He
may have won the one at Lake Mercaid recently. But also, you know who else has won Frida Egg events, Cameron Heurdis and Will Knights and so, honestly, the corruption sort of has eaten its way through the entire company fair enough.
I actually I thought he's playing the championship teas. If it's member t's a'll go with like eighty.
Okay, okay, I think we're converging around the same number. I feel like that's probably a good guest.
There.
You are listening to the Frida Egg podcast. I'm Garrett Morrison. That is Joseph Lamania, and this episode is of course a Master's recap. We're not going to be talking about Andy Johnson's golf very much more during it. We're going to bring on Shane Bacon a little later to answer some of your male bag questions. But first, Joseph and I will cover the headline stories, which include John Rahm versus Brooks Koepka. First and foremost, Ram is the best
player in golf right now. I think most people agree with that, and Keopka is the best Major championship player of the past decade or so. So it's very siding to see these two go head to head. Rom came out on top shooting a final round sixty nine. Do I have that right? Sixty nine to win by four shots? I probably should have looked that.
Up for sures be trying to finish to win by four shots, You're.
Good sixty nine to win by four shots. I've got my facts straight. So that's John Rahm. He is a Master's winner. That's his second career major. Now, Joseph, in the past, you've said that Rom has a tendency to be over aggressive strategically, whereas Koepka at least in majors, is very patient and smart. From what you saw this week, do you think Rom has turned a corner and become more like Major Championship Kopka in his strategic approach?
Uh?
Maybe I don't. I think not necessarily. But part of the beauty of Augusta to me is that you don't have to be conservative everywhere. There's such a good blend of aggressive shots and conservative shots, So I don't necessarily take huge sho with like John Ram's course management in general, I think he can get over aggressive, and he's had those moments like at the Players Championship some other moments like even at bay Hill. Just I'd probably advise him
playing the course a little bit differently. But like an example would be the approach on six at Augusta. Right when that pins up on the top right there, that's not a concert that's not a shot you need to hit a conservative approach into it would just if you hit into the center of the green, it would end up all the way at the bottom. So I think Augusta is great in the way that it rewards both
aggressive and conservative play depending on the pin locations. And John Rom did a really good job handling all of that.
By the way, that pin position on six was interesting in the final round because John Ram came up short. I think he misstruck his iron. I don't think that that was a good shot for him, but he ended up hitting a good lag putt, or at least a good second putt. He two putted from which it was off the chip. Yeah, yeah, and he lag putted on five, That's what I'm thinking of. He was kind of front of green on five and he putted from there, but
on six he was off the green front. Koepka was long, and that is like really not where you want to be, and Kepka ended up making bogie. And so when you're going at that pin, I found myself wondering, wanting to ask you, like, where are you aiming for that? Because it seems like if you aim at that high right shelf that you're risking going over and that's the deadly, deadly spot, Whereas if you're down on the lower level,
you know you're not making birdie more than likely. But two putting from there, or even getting up and down from where John Ram was seems pretty feasible. So what's the what is even the approach there is it just like hit it anywhere and just don't go long.
It's a really difficult approach shot. So I actually think John Rahm, I'd have to go back and Rewatch. I don't think he misstruck it. I think he misjudged the wind and got a little gust or something, because I think he thought that shot was better than it ended up being. Generally on six, when the pin's on the right, if you're kind of pin high on the right or just somewhere over there, you're okay that putt from down
below lagging it fifty seventy feet. That is such a hard putt to get the speed right that I'm not just taking some kind of conservative approach and accepting a fifty foot putt. I'm not doing that. So I think you are trying to kind of go at that pin or keep it pin high a little bit right. Just a tough shot. It's a really tough shot at Augusta. That separates the strikers from the non strikers. It's a great hole. I think that's such a great example of
how Augusta has so many of these different targets. They're small, and sometimes you can be aggressive with them. Other times you have to play defense, often on hole one, right when you get a backpin on hole one, if you go over. If you go over that pin, you're dead. So it's cool that there's just this blend of shots. Got to be aggressive some places, got to be conservative in others.
I believe jo Justin you have an extensive notebook on what happened in that final round at Augusta National, So I'll kind of let you guide things from here. Where do you want to start with emptying your notebook on this duel between Brooks Koepka and John Ram.
Yeah, I'm interested in your opinion. I think this is a pretty sleepy Masters. Even though it had all the ingredients of being a really exciting duel, it didn't really materialize. Like one note I have is that I think this will end up being one of the leader boards that when you look back on fifteen years from now, it will be like the least reflective of who actually had a chance to win. Like Phil and Jordan Speith are going to show up there. They never had a chance
to win this golf tournament. They got I mean, they made some birdies down the stretch, but they were never live to win. Read maybe could have Charles schwartzeld it and like maybe got into minus ten and had an outside chance. Russell Henley, Russell Henley.
I was going to say he had.
A prayer, because I think he was. I think he played his back nine even so if he had shot like three under, he could have posted minus ten.
Yeah, he was like minus seven in the middle of the back nine. I remember him seeing and I was kind of like, well, he could do it, but you know it's gonna.
Take a lot exactly. And you know, one of my notes is that some of the players who had the chance to step up and win just didn't perform. And the names that kind of come to mind there for me would be Brooks. Kopka obviously really was flat, played a terrible round of golf. Victor Hoblin didn't didn't do it. He's got some short right from the beginning.
Didn't do it.
Victor Hoblin was out of it. I'm not sure it was even just the short game. He just didn't show up with anything on Sunday.
Yeah, And I think that is one of the things to keep in mind with Hoblin. The short game is still a problem. He's an amazing ball striker, but it makes you a little nervous when you don't have a great short game and how you have to attack some of those targets. At Augusta, the other player was Patrick Cantley, who was actually kind of live this tournament, and then I believe he shot plus three on the back nine, like he had a real chance to win that golf
tournament and just kind of didn't give it much. So that's kind of one of the stories for me. John rom played excellently, but there wasn't a lot of There was a lot of pushing at the end.
Yeah, I agree.
You know, this had this setup of my favorite type of major championship, which is the dual runaway. You know,
think of Troon Stenson versus Mickelson. You know, even though that ended with Stenson kind of separating himself a bit from Phil, that was just so incredible to watch that quote unquote match play situation between those two with really high stakes, both players playing incredibly well, and so in the morning on Sunday when they were finishing up that third round, I was seeing that sort of come together, like these two guys could kind of separate themselves a bit,
put some distance between themselves in third place and just.
Have it at out.
But the problem was that neither of them, and especially Brooks Koepka, really played well enough to create that true dynamic. Even John Ram, you know, he didn't advance much. He did what he had to do. He played a great, great final round of golf, but it was a sixty nine. It wasn't a sixty five. You know, he didn't shoot the round that Phil Mickelson shot in the final round, and so it wasn't really a true situation. It was more like these two guys were separated enough so that
there wasn't a real threat coming from behind. A few of the guys who sort of had a chance fell away, and then by the time we got to Hoole ten, I think it was pretty clear that Rom was in the driver's seat. And unless Koepka did something incredible or Rom had a little collapse on a man corner, which is always a possibility, it just didn't seem like that
was going to happen. As soon as Kopka missed that putt on nine and did not make the par to Rom's bogie, it just seemed like this was going to be sort of a cruise into the finish and it was and it wasn't unimpressive, Like it was really impressive to see John Rohm do what he did on the back nine. I think he played incredible golf on the back nine, but it didn't quite turn into that sort of battle to the death that I was sort of hoping for on Sunday morning.
I agree, and I think Brooks is I'm very impressed with what Brooks did this week. For the record, I think that's a fascinating story going forward. His version of the events in his post round with Amanda Renner I didn't quite agree with Like he talked about not getting some good breaks and how the approach on nine could have rolled down to a couple feet. Yeah, that wasn't a great approach shot either, and it could have been
in the bunker. Like Brooks was just not sharp. I will say I have quite a few notes on Ram and I think his round was pretty brilliant. I know it was only he only shot three under par, but if you go back and click through his round, he hit some exceptional golf. Show the chip the kind of
half wedge into number three making birdie. That was a phenomenal golf shot, even the approach into four like, that's not an easy shot and it was conservative, like he hit a kind of into the center left of the green, but it was a phenomenal shot. His pitch on number eight turning that into a birdie, that was a golf shot, rolled in, believable shot, unbelievable shot, and there were just so many The approach into fourteen obviously one of the
best shots of the tournament. He played really well. I'd even say that the chip in eighteen Scotti, Scheffler, and Tiger, their wins weren't the most glamorous the way that they finished, and Rom's had the opportunity to kind of be a little bit ugly too with his t shot, and he turned it into a really nice par So I think Rom played a pretty flawless round. Not flawless round, but exceptional round.
Yeah, it seemed really really solid, like he wasn't hitting an exceptional number of brilliant shots. He clearly didn't have his A plus game for long stretches this week. For long stretches he had his like B game, but he managed it really well. And when I'm looking at Ram's final round, I'm kind of looking at that stretch between like whole seven and whole fourteen, the heart of the round and his T shots. Huge T shot on seven, three twenty five fair way, huge T shot on nine.
He hit a bad approach and that hole didn't turn out well, But he hit that T shot three twenty six down the hill, good position ten three sixteen, perfect position, eleven three forty three, perfect position thirteen three oh seven, perfect position down the left. That's an uncomfortable shot for him. He got it around the corner. He was able to make the the area of the green into comfortably. This is just sort of bludgeting, you know, just like ball striking,
ball striking. And then his approaches were often just sort of to the middle of the greens, sane approaches, easy two putts, and on fourteen he was able to attack that pen, get pretty close and make a birdie. But this is the type of game that's just really really hard to catch. Like that kind of performance off the tee is so dominant, and he does it with seeming relative ease.
Totally, So I have I've been digging through some gen Rahm's stats because I want to give a testament to how well he's played at Augusta, and I think I found an interesting one for you, Garrett, So okay talking to obviously like John Rahm off the tea performance this past week was amazing. He's one of the best drivers of the golf ball in the game. If he's not number one, he's number one A one B with Cameron Young and he started to put together quite the resume
at Augusta. So recently been working on putting together a historical database of all Masters results going back to the first edition of the tournament. John Ram has now in his first seven starts at Augusta. Do you know how many top tens?
He has a lot, probably, but what is it?
He is five in his first seven starts.
Okay, how many?
Where do you think that puts him historically? How many golfers do you think have done that? Five top tens and their first seven starts at Augusta. Just what are your thoughts on that? Who do you think is the last player to do it? Like any thoughts? I know I'm really putting you on the spot here. I would have had no clue before I checked this morning.
I don't really have any clue, but it feels like something that Jack Nicholas might have done. It feels like something that somebody like Tom Weiskoff could have come out of nowhere and done. There are a few players who started off their careers really really well at Augusta. Ben Crenshaw did, but maybe none of them. I don't know, what did you find?
So only nine golfers have ever done it, and John Rahm is the tenth. And part of what's I think particularly impressive about John Rams is that, especially back in the day in the Masters, it was a lot of guys first seven starts, right, like if it was the nineteen thirty eight edition of the Masters, like no one had played at more times than the people, so could.
Have been like Horton Smith or somebody like that, could have.
Exactly Ed Dudley has had six top ten finishes in his first seven starts, right, Okay, the most recent player to do it was Hale Irwin in nineteen seventy eight. So since nineteen seventy eight, no player has had five top ten finishes in their first seven starts at Augusta. John Rahm has now added his name to the list.
I think that's a really interesting statistic. He also has a win right this year and so he joins just Arnold Palmer, Byron Nelson, Gary Player, and Henry Picard as being players who have five top tens in their first seven starts at Augusta with a win included. I think it's pretty interesting statistic and way to view John Rahm within a historical context.
Well, got just the fact that Tiger Woods didn't do that. Now, I mean, I guess he played as an amateur for two years before he won the ninety seven Masters, But then I would have thought that he would have just reeled off, you know, five straight top tens. But I guess maybe he didn't. Maybe nineteen ninety eight was an off year.
Tiger's first two starts at Augusta were a tied for forty first as an amateur, and then he missed the cut in ninety six and he finished eighteenth and ninety nine. So that's disqualifying.
John Ram There it is.
John Rahm is the only player since nineteen seventy eight. I'm putting this database to the test, So I hope this is kind of a buzzer beater in terms of pulling the statistic before we started recording. Somebody can fact check me, but I'm pretty.
Sure this is the golf record by the way that you're putting together with Kyle Porter and others.
Right right, Yes, So I'm pretty almost I'd say ninety nine point nine percent sure the statistic is correct. John Rahm is the first player since Taylor went in nineteen seventy eight to finish in the top ten five times in his first seven starts at Augusta. And I think that's much more impactful than any other major championship venue or tournament because this is the one held at the
same course every year. So to start to put together such a resume on the course he's going to be at every year, you gotta take note.
So then what is it about this course that you think suits John ram so well? Because when I think of John Rahm, I think of like, no one's gonna beat him at Tory Pines, no one's gonna beat him at Oak Hill coming up for the PGA Championship. That kind of course, if it's sort of wet, if it's narrow, if there's some rough, if it just really rewards somebody who can bludgeon the hell out of the ball as he did on the back nine at Augusta this year, then that's going to be the kind of course where
he really thrives Augusta National. You know, it rewards his type of game, there's no doubt about that, but it also rewards other types of games. So why is it that he does so well here?
Well, So, first of all, I guess is a hardcore long iron approach test, and John Ram is one of the best in the world. I think I had pulled a stat like six months ago. I was looking at approaches between like two hundred and thirty and two hundred and seventy yards from the fairway, and I believe Ram hits the green in that situation like eight percent more often than the guy who's in second place. Like he's just dominant on like a two hundred and fifty yard
approach shot. And I know a whole like whole four isn't quite that long, but when you start to think about which player do I want hitting my approach shot on whole four at Augusta, John Ram's right at the top of that list. So long iron approach absolutely. I think another huge part of Augusta is that sure really long and pretty wide, but when you have wide missus at Augusta, you get penalized. If you're in the trees, you got to have a pretty clever recovery shot to
save par. And if you're consistently putting it three hundred and twenty yards down the center of the fairway, you're gonna have a lot of opportunities as a good approach player. So when I think about a hole like seven, if I picture Rory standing on the tee of seven and he does not hit the ball as accurately as John Ram versus John Ram standing on hole seven, who's t shot I feel more comfortable with in avoiding trouble. It's not close. I feel way better with John Rahm going
up and hitting that stock fade down the middle. So I think there are a lot of reasons that Augusta fits his game so well. His short game probably goes a little bit under the radar, But John Ram is exceptional at pitching around that place. So the chip on six in the final round, Yes, the chip on eighteen.
John chip on the chip on one. It wasn't actually that. The chip on one wasn't all that good, but he made the putt for Pars so he was up and down.
The chip on thirteen was really good, right, So yeah, John ram is really good. He has great hands on and around the greens, so I think it's a place that he's going to continue to have a ton of success. And again he joined He's now the tenth player to ever finish in the top ten five times in his first seven starts. So pretty good.
So, jumping off of your point about how Augusta does penalize wide misses, not a single time in the final round did John Rahm hit it off the play it off the tee. Those misses on two and I mean three wasn't really a miss, but it did trickle into the second cut. He was still in the arena. Basically, he was never deep in the trees. Brooks Kopka badly pulled T shot on the first hole, badly pulled T shot on number eight, badly pulled T shot on seventeen.
He was struggling with something off the tee. And it's not just that he missed the fairway, it's that he missed the whole corridor. He was in the trees on those holes and he wasn't able to get effectively back in play. On one, he had a great scramble for par but you know, eight he pared that hole when he should be burning that hole in that final round in that situation. Most of the time he gave up a shot to ram in that situation and he bogied
seventeen after birding the previous two holes. So is that kind of what went wrong in Kepka's round? You know, when you're looking when you're doing a diagnosis of Brooks's round, how highly do those t shots rank? And what are some of the other items that you would look at in diagnosing what went wrong for him in shooting this seventy five?
Yeah, and when we talk about why miss is being penalized, I'm sure there are people who are like Joseph Phil Mickelson finished in the top five and Cameron Smith has given it goes here like, what do you mean why missus are penalized? I think the way to think about this is, well, if you have a wide miss, you're
probably chipping. So when you get offline, you better have a good short game, like both Cam Smith and Phil Mickelson do, because if you do get offline here, you probably have to punch it into a favorable location and then get up and down. So I think the perfect example here is Victor Hofland where when things are going well and he's hitting the ball well, he'll be fine, especially in soft conditions, and he can do pretty well.
But when he hits an errant t shot, he's probably gonna have he's gonna have to hit himself into a location where he has a chip off a tight line, and that's where some bogies are going to start to accumulate. So it wouldn't surprise me if Victor Hovelin has a bunch of finishes between eighth place and like twenty second during his master's career. I think you're gonna see that Brooks. I need to go shot by shot to really diagnose everything here and like maybe look at it from a
strokes gain perspective. But he was he was just flat. Hit some good iron shots, like even on number one that was a really good recovery shot, but Brooks didn't have it, a lot of wide shots, didn't convert some opportunities. I would need to look at his strokeskin putting rounds in the last I'd be pretty confident it was negative in the final round. Just didn't have it really sloppy on nine. Just a couple things like that that Pekee Brooks Kopka doesn't normally do and bad.
T shots on the first three par threes, bogied all of them, bunker on four, long on six, and he was left on twelve and hit a pretty poor first chip there. So yeah, I think it was sort of all around, and he was missing a few makeable putts too. You know, the six footers, the eight footers, you know those need to go in if you're spraying it a little bit, and you know, he just didn't quite have it.
But looking at this performance by Koepka, though, you have to be impressed, and you have to start to ask some questions about the sort of popular notion that players on the Live Tour are going to regress in terms of their skill sets.
Now.
Phil Micholson also played extraordinarily well, I'm not sure how much we can read into that, because he'll just show up in a major sometimes like he did a Kiwa and play unbelievably well after having not done anything for like a year and a half. Patrick Reid also was t four right. I think his performance kind of went
under the radar. He was really great this week. And so, putting all of these together, do you think we have to start to rethink the way that we talk about the competitiveness of live golfers when they come to these majors.
I have so many thoughts on this. So for one, No, I think overall, live performed pretty well, and I think it was kind of in line with expectations. They had eighteen of the eighty eight players in the field, I believe, and when you remove some of the old guys and the amateurs, they had like eighteen out of eighty. I mean they had about a quarter of the field. They finished with three in the top six, which is out
performing expectations sort of. They only had one other player in the top twenty, so that kind of balances it back out. Like, I think, they kind of performed how I expected them to. I didn't think that live golfers would all show up and stink. Some of them did. Dustin Johnson played terribly. But overall, I think the narrative that like, oh, fifty four holes isn't enough preparation for
seventy two holes I just disagree with. But one point, I was talking to a buddy of mine who's a really good golfer, and he was saying he thinks that maybe sleeping on the leads a little bit different on live versus in a seventy two hole tournament, and I think that is an interesting dynamic that is a little bit different between live and the PGA Tour where or PG Tour or a major where you're like waiting around, you're the last person to tee off, you kind of
have the night before, feels a little different versus a fifty four hole shotgun start tournament. I do think you're trying to close out an event might be a little bit different. So maybe that's something that's going to be interesting to watch for. What's your reaction to that.
I really like that that last point, and it's really hard to quantify right Definitely, that is just a feeling that you have about playing a golf tournament. The tournaments on live right now are really really really different from majors, and so going from a live event to a major has to be a shocking transition, whereas going from a big PGA Tour event one of these designated events to
a major is a smoother transition. There's odds a big difference, but right now there are more similarities between a PGA Tour event and a major than there are between a Live event and a major.
And one thing I've thought about since the beginning with Live is they only have limited number of players. What is it forty eight?
Right? Like?
Is it forty eight or fifty four? Forty eight? I get confused to why not remove the shotgun start and just have them tee off in order? It wouldn't really extend the length of the play that much. One of the advantages they have is that you only have to get forty eight guys through, So if they got feedback from Kepka, like you know what, it'd be kind of helpful if the leaders teed off later and like that dynamic was a little bit more similar to major championships.
Why not change it? I don't think it would fundamentally alter the product that Live has. It wouldn't extend the rounds that much. So I think you maybe would see Live do this if somebody made a compelling argument, because I actually think it's a pretty compelling reason to change it without sacrificing on the product they've built.
I think it would just hurt them in terms of their messaging that we're different, because the shotgun start is part of what they're presenting as a as a transformed product. Right, they're saying that this is a different form of golf. This is golf two point zero, right, And to get rid of the shotgun start is to get rid of one of the fundamental aspects of what they say their new product is. It's to get rid of their one
of their main innovations. And I agree with you that it would probably be better for the players to do it. It would just be kind of hard for them to do it, just as it would be hard for them to extend the events to seventy two holes, right.
Yeah, that's fair. I think if they did it just for the final round, maybe it wouldn't change things that much, and it wouldn't really change the viewing experience because you have the golfers on the same time. Yeah, on the course at the same time that way too. But yeah, we'll see, that'll be an interesting storyline to follow, all right.
Coming up, I'll bring in Shane Bacon, who spent the past week as the announcer of the featured group's stream on masters dot Com. We're gonna do a little Master's mailbag me and Shane. That's after this break. This episode of the Friday Podcast is brought to you by Club Champion. Club Champion helps golfers of any skill level play better
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I'm doing good.
It's a it's it's a it's a very awesome and very exhausting week, you know, to be uh getting up
early and calling, you know, golf NonStop. And then there's always a lot of activity in and around the Masters, and I think, you know, you're you're at such a high for the whole week that when Monday after the Masters hits, I feel like it it's almost like when you return from a Vegas trip, you know, when you you don't realize how kind of tired you are until, uh, until you're actually home or you're on the flight and uh, and so I feel like I'm on the comdown right now.
You know what I'm saying, your body is beginning to rebel and and say, you know what the hell man?
And and you you got the pleasure of seeing my three year old a couple of minutes ago, but also coming home to two kids, uh, three and three and one doesn't really allow you much much time to go. You know what, I'm gonna take some time on the couch. It's like, no, let's let's play ghost for three hours.
So yeah, and let's let's relieve my spouse here for for a minute.
Cindy goes, Uh, Cindy, she went and picks she had to run a couple of errands, and she was going out the door earlier, and she looks back at me and said, I'm not leaving with the kids. This is a really interesting feeling. You know, it's been it's been eight days since I've I've been home. So I I will say, you know, we give credit when credit is due a lot of the time. These are the times because I've done it. I've done you know, two three
days alone with both kids. A couple of times, you know where she's gone on trips or gone on on you know, vacations and stuff. I mean she had like five or six days after they went to school where she had no help and nobody relieving her. And those are those moments where you're like, you're a really awesome human being. Like I think you're awesome all the time, but you know this is this is adding a new layer to it. So you always get home and you're impressed by your significant other.
And now you're on a podcast with me. So we will keep this segment nice and concise. But I did want to hear from you because obviously you were calling featured groups on the streams all week. I heard your voice a lot. Guys did a terrific job. It's always such a pleasure to be able to choose from a number of different streams and not just see the broadcast but kind of curate your experience a little bit and also hear from some announcers that you really like hearing from.
I enjoy all the announcers on the streams in different ways, So you know, I'm curious after your stream wraps up, usually your stream is going to wrap up before the tournament, before play wraps up, if I'm not mistaken.
So the feed goes the whole day.
So so feature groups will go you know, basically from when the player's tee off, you know, Thursday Friday, we're going to get a relatively early notable tea time because you know there's no coverage on CBS till later in the afternoon and then but it goes through basically until you know, the final group is done, and typically one
of those groups going to be late. The nice thing is there are two teams, so you know, Colt, Billy and I'll typically get in there, you know, seven thirty eight in the morning to do you know, at early tea time that's notable. You know, we had it was kind of wild, Garrett. There were we had four groups over the weekend at times, which is the most we'd
ever had. And you know it I've done, you know, I've done you know, full broadcast and network golf, and it almost felt like doing that in terms of of how much we were bouncing around and showing so much golf and so many different players. But yeah, I mean, it goes the whole time. So then Brian and Smiley come in in the afternoon and they take us home but yeah, I mean it's I mean, you know, Sunday, I think I think Colt, Billy and I.
Were in there.
Eight twenty eight was our was our go time on Sunday, and we walked out of there at three pm with with not really much much break. We'll take we'll all three take up a ten minute walk around, so you know what, we'll hit the producer. Steve is our producer. He's super awesome. He's a lovely guy, and he's a really really good producer. But you know, we'll hit them
and go, hey, we're gonna take ten minutes. And it's funny they have the green sandwiches and the coolers in our content center, so you'll grab a pimento cheese and just go outside and you know, like soak in sunlight for a minute and then it's right back to it. But yeah, it very much is helpful that there's three of us in those seeds.
I believe among the different streaming teams, you have the holes four through sixteen Amen Corner Team, Yeah, fifteen and sixteen team. Is there any agreement among those different teams as to who has the best gig?
No, I don't think so. I mean, the thing about it is.
I think, you know, it pops in your head right now, like something popped in my head. But then you think about you get to watch Amen Corner and you see some players going through there, and you want to watch them play Amen Corner.
You're gonna flip over there.
I remember, you know, yesterday afternoon, after I was done and I was back at our rental house watching obviously the CBS telecasts on the TV.
There was I think Speeth.
And Phil We're playing fifteen sixteen, So I flip it over there and I have that on and then and there was one point early I think early on Saturday, where I had the four or five six stream ons. So I feel like, even as somebody that's involved in it, I'm bouncing between all four and with the on the range five streams. So I would say, if you want to follow Tiger for the day, you're gonna watch us.
You know, if you want to see Jordan Spieth early in the day on Thursday and they're playing four five six, you're gonna watch that. And I would say all of this, what's really really cool and what I think CBS does an amazing job at is all of the streams have a bit of a different feel, do you do you since that a bit, Garrett. I mean it you get
to get like, you know, I own a NED. I think we're an awesome team this year, you know, And that was fifteen sixteen and you'd pop in there and it was a totally different feel than maybe what you're gonna get an amen corner, and you know, to me, all of the different crews and they're all really good, and they're all unique, you know. I mean it's like sluming and for Plank or on four, five and six. In terms of the analysts, they can bounce off each other.
I mean, they're guys that are friends, and they know so much about each other's golf games, and they obviously know the golf course so well that I don't know if there's kind of a hierarchy to which one's the best, but I think it's really dependent on what you're trying to experience that day, in that moment.
Yeah, absolutely, the different teams kind of have different vibes between each other. And then also they're just commenting on different types of golf holes, different moments in the golf course and in the golf round, and yeah, bouncing between those streams is one of my favorite aspects of the modern Masters. Right this has not always been the case with the Masters. When I was a kid, it was all about the limitation of the coverage window. That's what
was sort of unique about it. Now what's unique about it is the opposite, the availability of anything and everything and a multitude of different experiences, and it's just something I look forward to every year, and right now I find myself getting a little bit sad that it's over, I know, you know, and then I have to wait another year.
Sunday night, when you're a golf fan is really tough because again I think for everybody watching, you know, Masters fans going to the tournament. You know, if you're lucky to get a ticket any by the players come Sunday evening, you know, you you're kind of exhausted because it was so much and you put so much energy into it, and at the same time you're kind of exhausted yet hungry for it again, because you know, I was listening to I think it might have been the no.
Ley and up Brat pod.
I think Sally said, you know, he watches the ceremony at the end because he doesn't want to lose any moment of Masters week.
You know, it's kind of the last thing you can watch. And I mean I did the same thing. I was.
I was, you know, at the rental home last night watching you know, watching the ceremony and all that. Because again, the moment that ends and that stream cuts off, you don't get it again until next year. And so I will say I want to do give a shout out though the on the rain stream. This was really the first year I really got into it. And Kelly is so good, Breed is so good, Smiley and Amanda down there on the on the grounds. It's a totally different
experience in watching live golf. But to me it was like I'd been introduced to a new candy where I went, oh, this tastes amazing.
I should have been doing this for years.
I felt like that was a lot of fun to really kind of dive into before we got going on our streams.
Yeah, I feel like that's in a sort of underused type of stream. I would like that at every tournament because there's so much that you can talk about with somebody who really knows the golf swing right and really knows the players with a range stream and we see that with the Masters every year. So getting right into the first question that we got for this mail bag, we're doing going to do like a miniature mail bag here,
just a few questions. I put out a call this afternoon, you know, got a few responses, a few interesting questions that I'll just throw your way. One that came from Will Knights the fried egg z one? Will Knights ever heard of them? That that ties in, that ties in to you know what we've been talking about so far. Is there any part of you that misses watching the Masters at home as a normal fan.
It's an interesting I mean shocking that will ask a good question. It's it's interesting. I was thinking about this this week, you know, and I will say this, I was thinking about this exact thing this week.
It was before we started, so I think.
This was on Wednesday, and I was thinking about what my life used to look like in terms of this week, because it's always in my favorite week in golf. You know, it used to be when I was writing and blogging.
You know.
I went a few times, you know, with the press pass, but most of the years I was really blogging, I was at home watching on TV, and I had all the streams going. I will say, as I was thinking about that, I think what I felt extremely thankful about, in a very cool feeling personally, is I would watch, you know, I would turn the stream on the moment it came on. I would turn CBS on the moment the broadcast came on. And now you're a part of
those people's experience. So now all of those people that used to be me, that can't wait till eight twenty eight on Sunday for the stream to start, or can't wait till three pm for the CBS broadcast to start, now you involved in other people's enjoyment of this amazing event in a very small way. I mean, you know, it's not about us, but in a weird way, you're helping, you know, present this amazing, amazing experience. I mean, it's the best experience in sports in my opinion, in terms
of as you said, there's so much available. There's so many different avenues you can go down, you can watch golf from sun up to sundown, and so it's it's humbling and it's exciting to feel like you, in a small way, are helping.
That experience for a fan at home. And so I think in that regard. No, I don't.
I don't miss the at home thing because I've I feel like I've kind of, in a way, kind of graduated to something that I would have never dreamed of being able to do. And it feel like I feel just so blessed and thankful to get asked to do this,
you know, for a third year. And so you know, maybe there's an eight year old kid or ten year old kid at home that you know, colts making chuckle once an hour, or Billie's you know, throw an inside at him, you know, as they're watching Jordan' speeth, you know, make birdies and bogies. So yeah, it's you know, I mean, everybody always wishes for you know, the other lie for the old life. I don't think that's necessarily the case here. I think I love the seat I'm in.
Well that's the classy answer, but I can I can see where you're coming from on that. It is it is a real privilege to be able to call some of this action. So here's the question from bo Bramhall.
And I'd like to take this question in you know, whatever direction you want to take it, because you commentated on the first part of Phil Mickelson and Jordan's speeds round as part of the featured group's coverage, and Bo asks how important do you think it was that Mickelson posted the minus eight number as they went to the back nine as Rom and Kopka went to the back nine. We can answer that question, but also just open it up to what your impressions were of Phil Mickelson's round
as well as Jordan's speeds. They both shot great numbers on Sunday and really made some noise, and so you were sort of part of that action. Tell me about that.
Yeah, So, you know, Speed hits it in the fairly on one and I'd been doing some notes before we got going with because they were our first group. It was Jordan and Phil were our first group out, and I was so pumped because I haven't seen much Phil Michlson golf, you know, Garrett, I mean, I'm a left handed golfer. Phil was my guy as a kid, you know, I mean, this was the dude that I rooted for. This was the guy I wanted to be.
Right.
Obviously, it's been a very interesting last few years with Phil Micholson, and you know, feelings have changed a bit personally, in terms of exactly how you experienced him. But I still want to watch Phil Micholson play golf. And when I heard we were getting that group, I was super fired up. I was I was high five and Billy and like, we get Phil and Jordan.
You know, this is great.
And Jordan was walking off the first tee and he hits that iron close. And I had these notes written down about twenty eighteen, and you know, in twenty eighteen he was nine back in this year he's eleven back of the leaders and he hits it a foot on one and he makes purty and then he birdies two. And I just mentioned, you know, he shoots sixty four and twenty eighteen and with you know, despite the bogie
at the last, he didn't make bogie there. He literally might have gotten in a playoff with Patrick Reid and you know, lo and behold, like two hours later he's doing exactly what he did in twenty eighteen.
He made the same amount Birdie's Garrett.
I mean, he made nine birdies and that round in twenty eighteen he made nine birdies on Sundays.
So that was cool to watch the magic of Jordan Speed.
That augusta National up close, and you know he made both he made bogie both the Part three's on the first nine. But he had all these birdies. He was hitting these amazing shots. And it was funny because Jordan Speith made Phil Mickelson's game look conservative. I mean Phil was playing just very solid golf.
I mean he was under under control, right, Phil Nicholson seemed relatively under control, whereas Jordan you didn't know what was coming next, which is what we're used to thinking of Phil Nicholson.
I mean Phil was Jordan before Jordan, right, And yes, I mean I was looking upstats before the round and Phil was like, I think he was tied for second in driving accuracy for the week, which again, these aren't things we typically you know, a ligne with Phil Micholson and he was hitting fairies, hitting greens, you sitting these awesome shots. That win at a six was epic, you know, and he's making birdie after birdie after birdie after bertie, and you really got that sense that it's probably not
going to be good enough to win. But this is a magical situation at Augusta National on a Sunday that these both guys are throwing haymakers eat each other. Garrett, there was not much conversation between these two. I mean, we watched them a decent amount early because they were our only group. They weren't walking necessarily close to each other, they weren't talking much. These were close people at one point,
you know. I mean it was famously, I think it was it was Phil that called Fred Couples and said, we need to pick this nineteen year old, you know, and put them on the team, you know, the USA team. And so they've obviously had an interesting relationship. And who knows what the players.
Think about Phil at this point, but you got the sense at the shot on six that Phil might do something pretty special. And as you know, a lot of the.
Times when these rounds happened early and they start to make the birdies, something dumb happens. They don't birtie eight, or they spin it off the green on nine, and he just kept a avoiding those situations. And I was impressed with the link. I was impressed with how straight he was getting the bug off ball. And honestly, Garrett, it felt like thirty eight year old Phil Mickelson again,
like the way he was playing golf. And I wasn't surprised with the way he finished, I mean nearly holes out on seventeen and then makes that one on eighteen the bummer again, just like twenty eighteen was speed HiT's the one left in the trees, And I thought, I kept thinking, somebody has to get to nine. That's what I kept thinking. They got to get to nine. If they don't get to nine, it's not gonna be good enough.
And of course nine wasn't gonna be good enough either, but I just felt like nine, with the way Rom and kept could play the first nine, I thought nine at least had an outside shot if somebody had a bad shot.
On eleven and twelve, and obviously Rom never did that. But it was very cool to watch those two.
I think, Garrett, if you were gonna have me list my favorite golfers of all time to watch, I think those two would be in my top four. So again, I mean, you talk about the golf nerd and me and the young golf fan and me being excited about, you know, my job that day more than I already would be.
It was.
It was a pretty cool Sunday to get the chance to kind of follow those two guys.
Yeah, incredible pairing And to kind of go back to Bo Bramhall's question, if they had gotten if one of them had gotten to minus nine, do you think that would have started to wriggle its way into the psychees of John Rahm and Brooks Kupka Or do you think that minus eight did it that that gave those guys a number to think about and that that had some kind of impact on the action, Or do you think that John rom was just like, you know, yeah, I'm
going to do better than minus eight. That's not the number I have to be.
Yeah, I just you know, the way Rom played all week and the golf shots he was hitting in the most crucial moments of the Masters, those shots that ruin your chances second into eleven, you know, the second into twelve, you know, getting qued into thirteen. Obviously with the new t getting queed into thirteen now is with a three four five iron, not with a seven eight nine iron, And so maybe, but just every shot Rom was hitting
under pressure was perfect. You know, he hit it right over the bunk on twelve, right, I mean, he hits exactly where you're gone to hit it on eleven. I just feel like he was so dialed with what he was trying to do. That The only thing I think nine would have factored into is if the ball didn't kick out on eighteen, because if that ball stays in the left and they don't find it there, Rom could have easily made a double and so you know, double
I think would have had him at nine. So you know, I mean, it would have that would have been very, very interesting if somebody would have been at nine and the t shot would have stayed and not kicked out.
I believe double would have gotten him to ten because I think he finished at minus twelve. He made a par Yeah, I mean, but the point is taken because if you hit it where Rom hited off the tee and you're at minus twelve and there's somebody in the clubhouse at minus nine, then you're at the very least starting to think about it, so that you know it could have had some kind of impact. But it just would have been hard for Phil and Jordan to get
to a number. That would have really bothered Rom on that back nine the way he was playing.
Well, you know, so did Jordan finish at seven?
I believe he finished at seven? Yes, so he finished at seven. He was tied with Patrick Reid and maybe one other player at T four.
So there was no real way on eighteen for him to get to ten. So yeah, I mean, to your point, ten was probably the number they had to get to. And you know, I mean he bogues both the par threes, you know, on the first nine, and I mean, you know you don't bogie those, and honestly didn't play him very well. He didn't wit very good shots, but you know, you par there and don't hit that shot on eighteen and maybe ten was in play. But I mean, you know, we always say this, and I know it's become a
running joke on Twitter. You know, if they go out in twenty nine, they go out in thirty. But you know, playing perfect golf is sixty four, sixty three. There's been two sixty threes in Masters history, and so these guys shooting sixty five and sixty six are some of the all time final round numbers, right, And so it just shows how hard it is to do that. I say
this a lot when we're on fifty nine. Watch, you know, a guy shoots seven under on the front nine or something like that at a random tour event, and you.
Go, man, that's great. He's got to make six more birdies to shoot fifty nine.
It's like, when you think about that, it really changes how impressive those types of scores are. And and again, I mean they they played, they played just brilliant golf. I don't want to say flawles golf because obviously there was some some ups and downs on the Jordan's speed side, but it was it was damn impressive golf from Phil Nicholson. You know, I mean, like this guy's played some really good golf in majors the last few years. I mean, he wins the PGA in twenty one, and he finished
his second and the Masters in twenty three. I don't I feel like Phil might win another major. I mean, you know, like I really think he might win another major championship.
It's kind of crazy because he is capable of doing that. You just don't know when or where or how he's gonna show up, because I mean literally, he's done nothing since Kiowa in terms of competitive golf, like it's been absent. But that was the case also before Kiowa, and so you just I mean it's, yeah, you don't know where he's gonna pop up. And but clearly he is capable of doing what he did this week, right, he proved it. He showed that he has the game to do that.
But he just disappears for long stretches and then comes back. It's just a very very strange late career thing that, you know, I guess we've seen versions of it in the past with like Tom Watson or Freddie Couples at Majors, but those guys were maybe a little more consistent and predictable because you just don't know when you're going to get it from Phil and that's that's sort of an interesting late career arc for Phil. So just a couple more questions, Let's do lightning round style.
Sort of.
A couple of questions here that I thought were interesting. Eddie Bajak says, what is your preferred strategy on number three? Do you like to blast driver up, you know, sort of to left of the green it trickles down left of the green or do you like when guys sort of hit that iron to the top of the hill? What would you prefer to do and what do you like seeing?
So this was a big talking point on our channel. We had what does Andy Johnson call him? The data boys or whatever.
Yeah, we had that. Oh yeah, well they came for Colt. It was a Colt take.
And I think once they started to come for Colt, he dug a little deeper into it because he was john to have some fun with them. But the first two days, that whole location was front left and front right, and I thought, Billy Kratzer, you know, made a really really good point. He said, maybe this golf course was
designed to win. It's a three hundred and fifty yard par four, and the other the next longest, next shortest part four is four to forty, you know, so this is really the only quote unquote short par four at Augusta National. And he said, and when you look at the card and these guys are so long, it makes them think birdie hole. Right, you look at a three hundred and fifty yard part four and you go, this
is a birdie hole. And he said, maybe the design was when the whole locations are in the front, it's just not a birdie hole. It's not intended to be a birdie hole. And so when it was front left and front right, we saw some really bad shots when people pound the driver. And then what was interesting was we saw more and more irons come out deeper into the week, we got saw more players hitting iron to the top of the hill when the whole location's back.
It's driver all day.
Hit driver, hit driver, hit driver, hit driver, And even analytically this is probably incorrect, but I would say that we saw more good shots, not great shots, but good shots when there was irons played to the fair way,
to the front left and front right hole location. Because if you hit it to the top of the hill and you have one hundred and ten or one hundred yards in, you can hit it deep and if it spins back, it'll get you know, five eight feet, But if it stays up there, it's gonna be a quick putt. But it's a putt for Birdie. The theory could make but you're most likely go to two putt. But when the way I look at it, it takes five out of play.
And there were a few players this week that hit driver on Thursday Friday hit a pitch either short and it came back down the hill or blasted it deep and they made five and it was just such an awkward shot for those players. So I would say it's all whole location based, But would I would probably hit iron to the front ones off the tee if I was playing in the Map, I'm probably.
Not going to do that.
But yeah, interesting, you're probably not going to play in the Masters, saying I mean, are you?
Are you?
I mean, come on, US Open qualifiers in three weeks. I've played one round of golf in two weeks. So if I win the US Open, you know, I think.
I think that would do it. Yeah, And that's within the realm of possibility. Sure, I can tell you that. Well, you know, one thing related to the to the question about three is that players are not machines. They don't always follow the rules set out for them by their analytics advisors, and they don't always follow the strategy that
data suggests that everybody should follow. And that's part of the magic of a whole like three is that it actually motivates players to use some different strategies sometimes even if what's suggested is that one strategy really works best on that whole. And and that's just something that I don't think enough people really acknowledge that these guys are
not machines. They don't always follow the rules. All right, final question from our buddy car for the course the Masters make subtle and sometimes substantial tweaks almost every year. I assume he means to the course, but you know, maybe also to whatever else they're doing right, whether it's the broadcast or anything else. What are your predictions, Shane for the inevitable changes to the twenty twenty four Masters. Do you have any ideas as to what should or can change next year?
So I thought Phil Mickelson's point about extending that thirteenth tea box. Obviously they pushed it back a bit, but having a little bit of a longer tea box back there, so when it's into the wind or when it's cold like it was over this weekend, you could push that thing up to the front, take fifteen twenty yards off the number, and maybe give players an opportunity to go. I think was a really smart call by Phil. You know, he said, basically in the third round, nobody went for it.
It was basically a layup from every player in the field. And he said, while the changes make a ton of sense to make it longer, because everybody's longer, and you know they're hitting mid irons in or short irons into thirteen when the conditions are changing a little bit like what we saw fifteen last year, Garrett. You know, remember it was into the win and nobody made an eagle
on fifteen last year. So he said, I thought that was a very interesting take, is to kind of maybe make that tea box just a little longer, where you could maybe play at it five twenty five and not five forty five when you know, the wins into the players or whatever. I found that smart, and I'll be very interested if you know, if Augusta, you know, has any ideas or thoughts about doing something like that, because when the conditions are perfect, play it back. And I
thought it was brilliant this year. I love the changes, but I still want to see players, you know, at least capable of going forward if they wanted to, even if that means everybody going forward hit sit in the creek, at least they go.
So I thought that was really smart. I'm trying to think of anything else, you know.
I've always wondered if there was an opportunity to make eighteen.
A little longer.
But you know the thing about eighteen is I love the fact that if you hit a straight drive, it goes in those bunkers, you know, And I don't want to take that away. I mean, they obviously made the initial changes because Tigers just hit it over all the bunkers when he was winning, you know, in ninety seven. But I was wondering about that, is there any opportunity to make that hole, you know, a little bit longer.
And then the only other thing I was thinking is, and this probably goes against, you know, all the ideas you were talking about three. I was wondering if there was ever any idea about having it where that hole one day could play three thirty, you know, and again put it in the hardest spot, probably that front left hole location, right, because if you hit it over that green, that's it's it's.
Tough too, right, So if you're short, it's tough, deepest tough.
You could ship it down the hill and have it go off the front and all of a sudden, maybe you're making six. But we saw I think we saw one player hit it on the green, you know. I think Nieman hit it on the green maybe on Friday. But I just feel like since it's the only short hole Augusta National, and having that is just an outside option for a player that's very, very long, I think it would be kind of cool one day to see
if it was actually legitimately drivable. I asked Cameron Young Ripple one one day we had him on the coverage and right was the standing over the tea. I said, cold, can he get there? And he said, I don't think he can get there. You can get close, but.
He can't get there.
And he smoked one, I mean absolutely roasted one, and it landed fifteen yards short of the green. It rolled up almost to the front of the green. But as that slope catches everything, you know, it came off the slope and it was still kind of in that similar catch area and I was just wondering was that shot happened. I went, it would be pretty interesting if that was
ever something that was thought up. And maybe again, maybe that goes against everything the third hole is, but it just, you know, as a person that always loves the idea of players maybe giving it a go occasionally on a part four, I've always thought that that would be something to be cool one day, you.
Know, yeah, open up the possibility that they could go long like the tenth at Riviera, because we don't see players going long of that green off the tee. It's just a little bit too far for that to be a viable option. So we see the very best drives just sort of hanging up on that slope on the right and offering that nice little pitch into the green, but rarely do we see them actually drive the green. I saw Phil's comments about thirteen to two. I think
that's interesting. Obviously, flexibility in teeing areas is not the specialty of Augusta National. They like having their two tees, their championship tees and their members' tees. You know, when players weren't really going for it on the heavy weather days, there were still eight players that I counted. I was deep in these stats this week. There were eight players who went for it in the third weekit which is not much, but there were some players who were still
capable of getting there. And so that distance that they found for that hole, that length that they found for that hole was pretty darn spot on, considering that they don't have much flexibility. So you know, I thought that it worked. But yeah, I mean, could they build a kind of runway tee there and get it a little bit shorter on the days when they need that. That's a suggestion that I could see them reasonably implementing. I don't doubt that that's something that would be on the.
Table, Garrett.
So out of eight out of I was on Saturday, So that had been fifty four players, right, because fifty five made the cut and then Tiger w DD, So that's eight of fifty four. What do you think is your perfect number for go or don't go on a par five? Because you know, we don't see don't go. Par five's hardly ever, But what do you feel like is the perfect number? Because I don't think it's half. I think half might be too many, eight might be a little too short in terms of the players that
are able to do that. What do you feel like, as a golf fan and somebody that obvious pays a lot attention to this stuff would be the perfect kind of go don't go number.
I mean, this is a cop out answer, but for me, it really depends that there just is no perfect number. I think if we talk about a perfect number for thirteen, I've heard Trevor Immelman say seventy percent. For me, that might be a little high. That might be getting to where you know, we expect guys to go for it, and the only situation when they don't go for it, is if they hid it in the trees on the right or if they hit it in the creek on
the left. And I think that that's the place that we got to in the past several years with that hole, where everybody went for it except if they just hit it in some kind of hazard, and I think that that makes the whole less interesting. I think that you need some situations where players are laying up from the fairway.
So looking at these stats that I gathered this week, looking at a bunch of shot trackers, the percentage who laid up from the fairway in the first round was nineteen percent, second round twenty eight percent laid up from the fairway, Third round seventy eight percent laid up from the fairway, so very different, and then fourth round forty percent laid up from the fairway. The go for it, you know percentages when the weather was good, it was
between fifty and sixty five percent going for it. For me, that's a good range for that hole, and I feel like I'm willing to take the cost of unusual weather days turning that number into like, you know, ten percent all of a sudden are going for it. That's kind of okay with me, but I can understand and why there would be people who would say, you know, the hole becomes a little more boring on the days when there's weather because just almost everybody lays up and seeing
guys lay up one after another. Just from a viewing experience, if you were standing on that hole all day, you might be a little bit disappointed in that, especially if the gopher it attempts don't turn out to be super exciting.
But I don't know. From my perspective as a golf nerd, I kind of liked the variability the days when it was really hard to go for it, and when guys did go for it, it was something exceptional, it was something special, Whereas on the days when the weather was good, you know, we were looking at like about half of the field or a little bit more going for it. And I also like that because it takes a darn good drive to get in position to go for that green.
On Sunday at the Masters, it really does, and a lot of guys ended up in the water on Sunday, About twenty percent of the field ended up in the creek, amazing, which was just something we haven't seen while.
So to that point, because that's a really I think your point is is totally right and I couldn't agree with you more. You know, last year fifteen, we didn't really get to see how fifteen was gonna play because it was into the wind the whole week. Hey, and like I said, nobody made egle. But and I wrote
this on Twitter. You know, when you go to Augusta National and you see that fifteenth green and you see it in person, I always say the two smallest things in golf when you see it in person is the fifteenth green at Augusta and the pond on eighteen at Torrey Pines. Like, when you see him in person, you go, oh my gosh, it looks like, you know, the pond a Tory looks like it's you know, this massive, you know.
You know, great lake. And then you get there and it kind of looks like, you know, it looks like something that you would jump into. I mean, it's so tiny.
And then fifteen green at Augusta, when you see it in person, you go, dudes, go for this, are you kidding me?
It is?
Well that green looks crazy and because especially you see the water in the back too. Yes, you see that. You see the Yeah, I mean it looks it's pressed up. The green is pressed up. It looks like an island. It's so intimidating.
So you know, there are like pro golf is so crazy because like John rum four putted a hole and hit a ninety yar drive this week you won the Masters by four.
You know.
I mean, these guys everybody thinks they hit every.
Shot perfect, and they hit everything perfect, and they never miss putt, and they're very good at golf. But you know, they hit a lot of terrible golf shots, and I praise the pro golfer and it shows how good they are at golf. To me, one of the biggest examples of this is the second shot at a fifteen. That these guys can hit fairway woods onto the green and hold it, that they can hit three irons onto the
green and hold it. There are certain places around golf that when you see the way these pros can pull golf shots out relatively consistently, it is mind boggling that you would go for that green under pressure, that you would go for that green when you already have a great round gooing, and the fact that you pull that shot off and I would say that thirteen is getting a little bit more of that, which is so cool that, like you said, to take it on in tough conditions
and to pull the shot off and hit it in the middle of the green and give yourself thirty feet down the hill for eagle takes a what was it a momentous decision or whatever the term may be.
It's like, yeah, that is.
It's such a big swing now for these players to pull off. And I've always felt that about fifteen. I mean, obviously Sergio had eight iron in in twenty seventeen. That's just not going to be the case anymore. But I think Sam Bennett, you know, like one of those first few rounds had like two fifty six into fifteen hits three wood on the green.
You know.
Yah, People just that have never been there don't understand how impressive that is and how hard that is to pull off and how absolutely dialed your shot has to be to land there and stay there. And the fact that thirteen is back to a little of that. It's always going to be easier than fifteen because it's just
gonna play shorter. But it's a lot of fun to see those golf shots into those two par fives, because a lot of bad stuff can happen when you're trying to get cute, and a lot of good stuff can happen when you pull the shot off.
Absolutely, I have nothing to add to that. That's really well put. So Shane, thank you so much for coming on the podcast. I've kept you longer than I said I would, so enjoy your time at home. Appreciate you doing this with me.
Yeah, it's Garrett. You know it's it.
You leave, you leave the Master's week, You're tired, you know, you're, like I said, you kind of have that Vegas come down. But there is an enormous feeling and I can sense it from so many people that are involved in what we're able to do and lucky to get to do. But there's this enormous sense of real pride and it really feels like this big team coming together to be a very very small part of this incredible tournament and incredible sporting event.
And you know, I.
Will be beaming for two three weeks after this, just because it's such a cool week and it's my favorite week of the year.
And you know, to the Will.
Knights question, you you truly are kind of pinching yourself when you get to say welcome to the two you know, to the twenty twenty three Masters Tournament, or you know, when you get in text from some of the people that text you, it's it's a very you feel very blessed to be a part of it, and I'm very lucky to get to do this. So I will be I will be tired today, but I will be reflected on a lot of positives.
All Right, thank you, Shane. One more quick break and I'll come back with Joseph Lamanna to talk about the storylines we're tracking this week. I want to take a moment here to talk about the Frida Egg's membership program. It's called Club TFE, and if you want to find out all the details about what this membership offers, go to the fridagg dot com slash membership. We're just coming off of a really fun Master's week in Club TFE.
We had daily blog posts. One of those posts was an architects roundtable where we basically just invited on three architects to talk all about Augusta National, and they ended up saying stuff that I hadn't really noticed before or hadn't seen said before. Just from their perspective as architects. It was so interesting to see what they saw and
what they thought was important in Augusta National. And then in addition to that, we did a Master's Pool where basically people just chose a bunch of players, we added up the scores and saw who won. At the end of the week, the top three finishers ended up getting significant amounts of Pro Shop credit, so that was really enjoyable. We're doing stuff like that all the time in Club TFE, so come check it out. It's content, it's perks in
the pro Shop, it's early entry to events. And also you know that you're supporting the Friday Egg and you're helping us get year to year and continue to grow. So that's the Frida Egg dot com slash membership CLUBTFE.
Check it out.
All right, we're back with Joseph to talk about storylines that we are tracking right now. Joseph, what is your storyline?
My storyline for this week? I don't want to repeat one that I gave you last time, which has to do with players trying to get into the top fifty for the FedEx Cup standings for next year. But that's going to be really interesting thing to watch. So players like Billy Horschel, who are outside the top one hundred FedEx cut points, are they going to be able to
qualify for designated events? But to kind of cheat here and maybe use a second one that I think is really the main storyline is Rory McElroy withdrawing from the RBC heritage this morning and what does that mean. He definitely he could have an injury or something like that could be totally legit, or he could have something going on in his personal life that's totally private. But at the beginning of the year, we were told players could only skip one designated event, and this is now the
second event that Rory McElroy's skipping. So again, there could be a number of reasons for why he's doing it, but it introduces some questions around the PGA Tour's ability to build a schedule and to build a system that provides the proper incentives. I think this is another example of that where if the penalty is missing out a little bit on his Player Impact Program funds, which that might be the penalty here, then why do we have
the Player Impact Program? Something that I've already like, I've been a vocal opponent of this from the beginning. But if that's not working, if that's not providing the proper incentive, like, we got to re examine some things here. So I do think it's notable that he withdrew from the RBC Heritage, the second designated event that he's missing this year. Any reaction to that, Garrett.
I mean, Rory is the guy who in that last episode of Full Swing was saying, we've all gotten a little soft. Every other kind of athlete has to show up to certain events, why shouldn't golfers have to do the same, And now here he is missing two designated events. Now I don't know the reason that he's missing the Heritage this week. I'm sure that there is some legitimate explanation for it, but we haven't heard it yet. And the explanation for missing Kapalua wasn't that he was physically unable.
It was just that he didn't want to play that event. That's not one of the events that he likes to play. I wonder if it's the same with the Heritage, because that golf course at face value, would not seem to suit his game very well. And so if that's the reason that he just doesn't want to play the event, then fine, But I think it demonstrates how difficult it's going to be to get players to show up to these designated events in the way that the PGA Tour
is saying that they will. The whole difference with the designated events is supposed to be that we can predict who's going to play in them, but it seems to me that those incentives just aren't really working already this year. Next year, the incentives are going to be even lighter. How are these going to be different from WGCs, where yes, a lot of top players showed up for those, we
could rely on a really strong field. But we couldn't rely on the same players showing up to every WGC because even if the purses were big, even if the field was small, then if players wanted to skip the WGC, then they would for whatever reason that they wanted to skip it. Jordan Speed was also talking this week about how man I've played a lot of golf recently. I've played a lot of golf leading up to the Masters, and I think it might have hurt me this week.
I think that players are going to be looking at that stuff and picking and choosing the designated events that they play in, and that's going to take away a big part of this program's appeal. To me at least, I don't know would you agree with that totally? And I'm going to be a broken record here, but I don't care. The way to do this is to incentivize them naturally. No forced incentives. Don't stipulate they have to
show up certain places. You have to have a special Tour Championship and the only way to qualify has to be through the designated events. If the Tour Championship becomes prestigious enough, they'll want to show up at the designated events.
And that's how you create this incentive structure. And some of the counter arguments to it, like I have responses to those right, Like you can separate the concept of qualifying for the PGA Tours status versus playing in the Tour Championship, Like I don't think it should be that
there should be thirty players in the Tour Championship. But part of the reason it is is because finishing in the top thirty comes with some other benefits, like qualifying for a certain number of events the next year, getting into augusta like, I think we need to decouple qualifying on tour means from what participating in the season long championship means. Same thing for the player impact program, right, Like,
it's clearly not working. If Rory doesn't care that much enough to participate in the events that he's willing to take a little bit of a penalty, All right, what's the solution to that?
I think? I think the solution is an All Star Weekend that's fifty percent fan vote fifty percent performance based. Now, Tiger Woods will play in it because he'll get the fan vote, and it incentivizes engagement the same way that the player impact programs trying to incentivize engagement. And another a player like Tom Hogi or Kurt Kiddiyama who's having a really good year but maybe wouldn't win the fan vote, that's how they would get into the All Star Weekend
and do some kind of skills challenge. I just think there are more elegant solutions to what the PGA Tour has put out, And these are the symptoms. Rory withdrawing this week is a symptom.
They have to think through what the incentives are and what actually motivates these guys, I think that the prestige of an event like the Tour Championship, if it were a proper Tour Championship, would be a great incentive. You know what not a very good incentive for most of the top players is is money. You know, is perse money that they're not guaranteed necessarily. And so yeah, this has to be thought through for sure, because we're already
seeing it kind of come apart at the seams. And if we can't rely on the top players showing up to these events, what's the point.
And to that point, they're kind of framing branding twenty twenty three is a bridge year. I'm just gonna say it now. I already see the same issues in twenty twenty four, and I know you've also voiced those, Garrett, like why show up to some designated events versu non designated event? Those issues are going to persist into twenty twenty four. It's because they have failed to build the proper infrastructure. So we will see how it goes. What's your storyline for this week, Garrett.
Well, I'm going to keep mine brief because I think that is probably the most important one for people to focus on. But I'm just wondering if LIV does gain a little bit of momentum over the next few weeks. Obviously they had a few players have really good showings at the Masters. I think that whether that matters is going to be proven in the long run. I'm not sure that it definitely will. But one thing that is
coming up is the event in Australia. It's at an excellent golf course or what appears to be an excellent golf course in the Grange. It's in Adelaide, a real city, you know, It's not out at one of these kind of random venues in the middle of nowhere that people aren't going to be able to get to. There's probably going to be a nice, big crowd there and I
could imagine it being a very successful event. And so if LIVE is going to pick up a little bit of steam in the next couple of weeks, then I wonder whether this event in Adelaide is going to do it now. It starts on April twenty first, goes through the twenty third, and so that's this month. And so if there is a little bit of positive momentum that LIVE has from these great performances by Koepka, Michelson and Reed.
Then it seems like that could be maintained through the event in Adelaide, and perhaps we could see Live turn a little bit of a corner here, because like this year has been really really bad for Live, I think there's no other way to see it, and so, you know, I just wonder if that's going to appear to turn around a little bit over the next few weeks.
Jared, I have one question for you. I'll be brief. I thought it was a really interesting point. I think it was on a Frida Egg podcast that you did where you talked about how the schedule wasn't built particularly wisely for Live this year, like not starting in the United States was a little bit of a head scratcher, like starting at Mayacoba, which was really sleepy. Yes, I guess my question to you would be, what's the most exciting Live event this year? And is it not Australia.
Seems to me like in theory, this would be the most prestigious, the biggest live event. Am I correct about that? Yeah?
I think that this one is going to have the most organic interest in the location where it's held. I mean, looking at this schedule, my eyes immediately went to Australia and I thought like this could be a pretty big deal if this event really really works and Australia rallies around Live and it's hero Greg Norman and Cameron Smith.
You know, it just seems like this is a high potential market for this tour in a way that you know, Oklahoma going to Oklahoma for an event that's going to be before the PGA Championship, or going back to single the Green Brier, Yes, exactly, the Greenbrier. Who's going to really care about that? I think they're going to Adelaide, going to this golf course, having the crowds that they're likely to have. This seems like the biggest moment for Live in this calendar year, and if it works well,
that could mean something. I'm not sure it's going to mean a lot, but it's something to keep an eye on.
Totally agree. And if they moved like the season end finale to Australia, that wouldn't surprise me. That could be pretty cool. So I'm with you. That's a great storyline that you picked up on.
All right, Joseph, thanks for coming on the podcast. Appreciate it. Everybody subscribe to the Finding the Edge newsletter. You're continuing to put out content on the Finding the Edge newsletter as well as do stuff for the Frida Egg newsletter and our Club TFE membership and our website. So thanks for all your good work.
Joseph appreciate it.
Thanks for having me.
This episode of the Frida Egg Podcast was produced and edited by Matt Rusius.
Thank you, Matt.
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