Recapping 2024 Olympic Men's Golf

first we're going to do our in and out segment. Joseph, what are you.

US Open champion last year. He deserved to be there. He opens with a seventy five, and.

I'm not sure if you look through his transcript after he finished, but there was a question more or less to the effect of, I don't know if you saw any of the social media chatter, a lot of people saying that maybe you were distracted going to a lot of these events and the way you're doing the Olympics, and Wyndham was like, look this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. I went to a lot of other

events like the gymnastics, and he went to track. He's like, this was an amazing experience and I have no regrets about the way I handled any of this. I think he did a really good job of indicating himself and I respect the grind to lock in after a bad first round and put up three good performances on a

golf course that didn't suit him particularly well. I think there are a lot of people who just don't like Wyndham Clark and wanted to take a shot at him and again, is he one of the best five players in the world. No, he's not playing like that. But he deserved to be there, and I think he've indicated himself.

he's himself. He is very I think the right word to use here is is genuine. Uh there isn't I think like the person that that was that everybody was clamoring to replace him. I don't. I think he's like pretty much the polar opposite of Bryson. There's not you know, underlying motives to you know, what he's doing. Like, you know, Bryson's not tweeting about congratulations Sky Scheffler, what an amazing performance,

you know to win an American gold. This is like it was more of a you know, there was definitely a cryptic undertone to when and why Bryson might have tweeted out that that that message. It was probably directed at the fourth qualifier from the Americans, who you know, played a very bad first round. So I I agree. I'm I'm generally in on on Wyndham Clark and his performance there. I'm in you know, this is this is

a greater I'm in on the Olympics. What a what a what a takeaway here, I'm in on golf in the Olympics. But more if I wanted to zero in, you know, the men's tournament, We'll get into this on the pod. Was was amazing. This is I think the biggest event in women's golf now, and I'm super Yeah, I think it's the biggest event in women's golf, and I'm super excited for the women' event this week. Uh,

you know, you have a lot. You have all the best players and all the best women really in the in the world competing, and I think from the platform that the Olympics gives it the passer, but the general passer by audience, the general fan interest. My my neighbors are not golfers. On Saturday night, they were asking me what's going on in in men in the in the golf, what who's going to win? You know that that doesn't

happen for any you know, and I I don't. I don't want to, you know, be dismissive of any women's tournament at this point. But that does not happen for any women's golf tournament at this point. It happens for one the Olympics, the general sports fandom, the audience. Yesterday afternoon, my wife stopped by and was genuinely interested in what's going on in golf. I have done this now for

almost nine years. I can tell you that that does not happen for the Masters, That does not happened for the US Open, That does not happen for any golf tournament, doesn't happen for the Ryder Cup. It happens for the Olympics because my wife Will, who's not a sports person, will watch Olympics sports because it's the part of this big festival of the Olympics that that captures a non sports interested audience. And that is an amazing thing for

women's golf. It's an amazing thing for just golf in general. Is that general passerby. When you have passerbys, you have the ability to track them and make them fans. And I think this is a huge moment. This might be like the moment that women's golf really I don't want to say needs, but this could be a moment that we look back on years from now and say, you know what the twenty twenty four Olympics were it that was the jumping off point that turned you know, we

see women's basketball having this moment. The WNBA ratings have never been higher. Maybe this is the moment that leads to the really growth and popularity that we've been waiting for for women's golf, and I can't wait for this tournament.

The only question I even have is the rationale as to the order of the women's going after the men. I just hope that with the men's game being a little bigger, it doesn't take some of the oxygen out and they the women get the same turnout. I think it probably just worked better for the professional schedule to do it this way, but I think there's maybe a case to be made that the other way around would

elevate the women's game. Regardless. Super excited. I'm in on that too, all right, what are you out on totally different direction here. Just think it's an interesting story that indirectly affects golf. But there's a pretty controversial tax happening in the sports betting world that I think is interesting for people to see, but big headlines around it like DraftKings is introducing this surcharge tax Andy, and basically the

way it's working. Instead of offering fans like let's say to bet on either side of Bears Browns to use a shotgun start matchup, like you have to risk one hundred and ten dollars to win one hundred, they're implementing this tax where instead of changing the price you pay on the front if you win the bet, they're taking

like a small fee out of your winnings. And it's very clearly impacting customers to the point that I know that it's going to go into effect January first of twenty twenty five, but it's going to outrage customer so much that some people think that they're doing this on purpose to kind of spark some uproars against the legislation and to get some fans on board with kind of punching back a little bit. We don't want to see money taken out of our winnings regardless. DraftKings is a

partner of the PGA Tour. Sports betting is very relevant and professional golf, and I think people should be aware of some of the things that are happening, some of the ways that customers are going to be impacted, and some of the more predatory practices. I'm not sure if this would be described as predatory, but sports gambling is a huge subject that's going to ruin a lot of lives, a lot of young lives, and I think it should be legal, but people should be aware of how it works.

And like some of these small things that it's already very difficult to win at sports betting, regardless of how it's marketed. Things like this make it a lot harder, and that's not always Again, the way that the entire phenomenon is promoted.

And it's sad. I've uh, you know, I've long compared this and you know, probably to the detriment of the health of our company, you know, in terms of advertisers, Like there's been a lot of money to be made for for sports media companies and you see it with like ESPN ESPN bet you know, like they have their

own betting thing. But like, to me, this is felt the whole time, like like cigarette ads, Like we are at some point going to look back on on sports gambling and be like, remember when we allowed Joe Joe Cammell and allowed like you know, sports betting to completely infiltrate our our our sport like the sanctity of sports. And you know, I don't want to be on my

high horse here. This is not what it is. I'm fine with sports betting and we would like entertain you know, having sports gambling advertisers, right, Like it's not like a you know, a a we would never do this thing. But like when you look back on like I was a kid that grew up with with cigarette advertising and it kind of got outlawed while I was a kid, and you think back to that time period, it was like we kind of woke up and we're like, why

are we allowing this to happen to our kids? Like the gambling as we're really targeted at kids like Joe Cambll, the Marlborough Man, like these are these are figures that as a kid you would look at and be like that's cool. And I think like the way that sports has happened, the sports gambling thing is like, you know, it's been really marketed as like gambling on sports is fun and cool, and I think that's not necessarily like

the best thing. And as they continue to to the decks were already leaning their way, and as they continue to put more more weight their way, I would say, is it really gambling or is it just you're just contributing money?

I think especially young people, if you look at how prevalent sports betting is and like high schoolers now very well versed in what a spread is, what money line Like, you can't escape looking at tickers now without seeing sports bets and the different odds associated with each game, prop bets being shoved down your throat, Like, I think people in sports need to understand the mechanics of how this works, especially if they're taking on partnerships for example, like the

PGA Tour right, Like, there need to be executives who understand the way that it's impacting their fans, because if it does leave fans with a negative experience, those could that could be detrimental to the long term health not just of their consumers, but of their own sport if those people end up being disenfranchised.

I don't think that LPGA you should have players playing in Portland, Oregon and trying to play for their status and then having to get on a plane and fly to France miss out on like the opening weeks of the Olympics if they've qualified, and likewise with the men, I don't think there should be men that are having to get on the plane right after they played the Olympics and fly to Sedgefield, North Carolina and have to go battle for their status on tour. I think this

is ridiculous. I think that like there's a I understand it's an inconvenience, but when you're talking about the Olympics, the honor of representing your country, you shouldn't have the honor of representing representing your country pitted against your job status. And that's what both of these tours have done with their scheduling. For a player like sky Shuffler, it doesn't matter. But when you get down the list at like Eric

van Ruyan or players like that, it matters greatly. And the vast majority of both of these fields, these tournaments that are around it matter and they are drastically impacting their Olympic experience. And I know that this is legislating a change in schedule for a select few, but these are players that have achieved something that is a lifetime

achievement playing the Olympics. And I don't think that the re I think that this should be a collaborative understanding that the Olympics are going to be a huge, huge driver of interest in both sports, the overall sport. This should just be a three week hiatus. And I think that like we've seen hockey do this where you know, if hockey intersects into the Winter Olympics, there's a break. Like it's not like they just keep going, you know,

there's a break. I think that this should be instituted and should be a part of the part of the pro golf schedules is like, hey, we're going to take a break. I understand like maybe there's a couple select few corn Ferry Tour players that qualify, and maybe there's a tournament outside, Like I can somewhat get on board with that. I would love to see though, just a full three week stop.

putting them in a position to be successful. And I think if golfers like an Eric van Ryan are saying to themselves, well, I didn't play super well at the Windom, but I was just coming off of the Olympics, like that isn't great for the sport. So I agree. I don't know what. There's obviously business trade offs, right the NFL schedule is an optimized for athletes performance. They're playing games overseas and then turning around and playing another game

seven days later. But I'd love to see some kind of schedule accommodations made to elevate both the Olympics and the events that around it.

lot of like the best venues around Chicago. But I used to say to them, like, you know, like you if you say, hey, we want one week of your calendar to a great club every this year, one of fifty two weeks, it's a hard conversation and they're probably going to say no. But if you say, hey, can you give us one week in the next five hundred twenty weeks? So one week in the next ten years, what one week can you give us in the next

five hundred and twenty the conversation changes a lot. And I think, like that's the thing when you look at this is the question, isn't you know that this isn't this one year? We need three weeks so you're fifty two. That's a hard conversation to have with both the LPGA and the PGA tour, who are dealing with like a lot of players, a lot of sponsors, and a lot

of juggling of the schedule. It needs to be more viewed as Hey, the Olympics, which is a huge you know opportunity for us to grow our sports, to grow our fan bases, to grow our interests, the general interest in our sport. The Olympics requires three weeks out of the next two hundred and eight weeks. That is a lot easier way to frame and to work around creating schedule solutions. And I think that's that's the way they

need to change. It's not it's Olympic year. The Olympics happened every four years, and this is what we've done with our schedule over four years to accommodate that. With you, all right, one way you talked about the body clock. I've been doing a lot of travel and uh, I got to say, the body clock stuff is real. Like I flew from Michigan back to California. I was really gassed after this trip, and you know, eight o'clock rolls around. I'm like this, I am, I need to sleep. I've been.

I was kind of sleep deprived just because of the hours of the day in Michigan and shooting photos and videography requires you to be up early and out late in Michigan. But one thing that really helped me throughout the week, I brought it on with me on the trip was my good Walk coffee. Joseph, are you you're a coffee guy? Are you drinking the good Walk? I'm drinking the good Walk. I get it shipped every couple of weeks.

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off the first order with just the code. So go to Goodwalkcoffee dot com check out our two blends there. They're delicious and you know, kind of upgrade your morning coffee experience with that. All right, we're gonna bring in Sean Martin from the PGA tour. He is lead coma editorial whatever that means, it mean seas in charge of something. I know that Sean covered the Olympics when it was in Japan four years ago. I think he covered this Olympics from his couch. But Sean, I would love to

hear what was you know? There was storylines galore in this Olympics. You had, you know, there were so many stories. What was your favorite one on Sunday that you were kind of following.

that led to increased energy it had. It gave the telecast like a place to show, you know, and in return to over and over again, where you had big groupings of fans. I feel like, you know, this sport we cover is like you know, a miles long a field and like you can catch it, you know. I think this is a this is like a popular live

PGA tour thing. You can catch it either tour at a bad spot and be like, look, there's no fans there, and I think you could have found spots that like Golf Nationale without fans, but having that central kind of meeting location as you described and players described as a festival that also aided that festival like environment. Joseph, what was your favorite story you were watching.

He had a chance to, and he described, Yeah, if there's a six to twelve year old, impressionable young golfer out there who showed up to this event, it may show them that playing golf and playing at the Olympics amongst all the best athletes in the world is a possibility for them. I thought it was really cool. I thought he handled himself really well. The first t scenes with Victor Perez were cool. That was just a really cool storyline from Thursday to Sunday that I was very into.

so neat that you can have these Sunday charges. I think, you know, Scheffler would be the person that had the Sunday charge and got the medal. But you can have this Sunday charge and in most tournaments you're just gaining you know, some extra cash or some extra FedEx cup points from the Sunday charge. Here, you can have a Sunday charge and there's an extraordinary reward at the end of the Sunday charge if you've kept yourself, you know,

within striking distance of that top three position. And like what I think makes that made the Victor Perez dynamic was like he was playing along and then those last four it was like, oh this actually like really means something coming down the stretch, and you see how guys carried themselves and handle themselves, you know when they seemingly are just kind of playing free wheeling, playing for nothing, but then get really in the mix at the end, and I think like we saw different outcomes we saw,

you know, like Rory kind of I felt like had kind of something he got going, and I think there was a moment in time where he was like I'm going for the gold and tried to hit that heroic shot not in and came up a club short, like

you know, he was kind of in between clubs. He tried to hit it really close on on that was fifteen and spun it back into the water, you know, where like Victor Perez, he had a really good look on eighteen, given how difficult that hole is to make to make a birdie there and change it and get on the on the podium. I think my favorite story.

You know, I think Tommy fleet was just an interesting character in terms of golf and this generation where he's he's now like getting on being pretty relevant for ten years without a lot of like landmark wins. He's had some really good European Tour, deep World Tour wins, but for how often he's in the mix, there weren't a lot of wins. And I think this tournament is going to be remembered as maybe one that he really played great.

He really had an awesome Sunday. He delivered, he hit shots, he got up and down, he made putts, and he had a couple bad breaks. But you know, this is the story of twenty twenty four. He just got beat by somebody that's playing at a different level than everyone

else in Scotty Scheffler and Tommy Fleetwood. You know. The nice thing for Tommy Fleetwood, and I think this is the one of the things that makes this event super unique is that when he walks away with a silver medal, adding to Great Britain Summer Olympics medal total, and you don't walk away probably feeling the same way as a second in a major championship where there's some sort of gratitude, some feeling of accomplishment, and I think that's one of the neat things about the Olympics.

at the Masters. It's a great showing. You can leave feeling very enthused about your game, but all it gets you is a return to augusta National the next year, whereas a silver medal once every four years you're an Olympic medalist. So I think, you know, we talked about, like you said, there's nothing else to play for coming down the stretch. You don't have to worry about protecting the points, let's say, or where you stand on different standings.

It's only about that one week and you can, you know, kind of leave it all on the field if you will. But I think we saw that that I think the Olympics has the best second and third place finishes in golf, or at least the best prize for finishing second and third.

I don't think the buy in was full. Did this feel like an arrival for the Olympics to you guys, Sean and Joseph.

event every forty years to look forward to that. I think there is total buy in and the golfers who aren't bought in may just get left behind. Like, I think the event will exist and is bigger than any of the active players right now, So if they choose, for whatever reason not to show up in twenty twenty eight, the event will go on and be special without them. So I think this was a huge windfall for professional golf and something to be extremely excited about going forward.

Did you feel similar toly Sean?

will definitely play there. No one even really had to say it out out loud. I don't remember players come out in declaring they were going to play the Olympics. Just the qualifying field came out and all of those guys played. And I was wondering if they would because you had the Open, you had a week off, and then you had the Olympics, and so I could have seen some guys saying like, hey, I don't want to have to I'm not going to go back and forth

to the States. I also don't want to stay in Europe for three weeks, so I'm not going to play the Olympics. But that really didn't happen. Everyone just kind of took a week off down in resorts around like Spain and Portugal and places like that. I think, had a nice week together or with their families, and then they showed up to Paris ready to go.

I want to be you know, I think that it has been a huge event for the women since the inception. I think they've taken it, you know, very seriously. To me, this was the first year where the men were fully bought in, as you alluded to, Sean, Like, I remember asking a similar question to a player. I was like, are you are you going to play the Olympics? Are you going? And they were emphatically like, yeah, yeah, I'm going to the Olympics, right, And I think that that

was like kind of the big change, you know. You Jason Day talked about how how much he regrets not playing the first one, you know, and I think that's one of the unique aspects of this event is that like your your status in your I guess your eligibility is not certain because of how stringent and difficult the qualifying criteria is. Like being one of the four best

Americans four years from now is really hard. Like for the guys, like any of the guys, even Scottie Scheffler to say like, oh, I'll be back for La I'll be back for Riviera. That is not like being one of the two best players in your country from your country is so difficult. And I think that adds like

a layer to the competition. It adds a significance and as this event continues to grow in popularity, I think and history, I think it adds a significance of like, hey, I'm coming down the stretch, I'm going for a metal and then in the back and in the back of the head is like, I don't know if I'll ever be back here. Like I think that is that one of the neat things about the every four years, when you create that type of scarcity, it is a double sided scarcity. It's not just I'm one of the best

players in the world. I have to be clearly one of the best four or two players from my country and one of the best players in the world to qualify. And this only happens every four years, so I really

probably am only going to get one shot. The realistic aspect of the Olympics is four players for those top you know, twenty players like you probably only will get two or three shots at the Olympics at the most in your in your lifetime, and and for the Americans, it's I think it's more like you're probably going to get one shot, because I mean, is Xander the first repeat Olympic performer.

a major championship win and all that. I think as a mark of longevity, participation in the Olympics is going to be a cool way to look at somebody's career.

And I think you know, even too, if you get two Olympics as an American, that is that you were you were a player for a long time, because like it's just so hard to be one of the four best Americans especially now that everybody's going to be playing in this conceivably for the future. Let's talk a little bit about the players and the performance. Uh, you know,

Scottie Scheffler's had like a crazy year. I don't want to be a prisoner of the moment, but was this the most impressive final round of the year from them or a most impressive round.

Xander were up there. He'd been injured earlier in the week, and honestly, a lot of that player's performance I think just said so much about Scotty and his gift because he couldn't swing it the way he wanted because of the injury, and so he was really just creating shots with his hands, and which is very antithetical to how the golf swing has been taught for a long time about using big muscles and minimizing the role of the hands, and so I think it just shows that kind of

innate gift that Scotty has that was on display again Sunday in Paris. But I think the way he turned it on and I appreciated the way he talked about making the decision to be more aggressive. I do think sometimes in this era of data in golf, and I'm not knocking the data boys, you know, it's just about giving yourself the most chances, whether that be on a hole or in a week, and then hoping the chips

fall your way. So you know, maybe pound middle of greens, don't be too aggressive and just give yourself as many birdie putts as possible. And Scotty talked about how when rom was up by four he made the conscious decision to be more aggressive and then he pulled it off, and I thought that was just enlightening, and then showed again the scale of like when he wanted to turn it on. He turned it on and shot twenty nine in the back and won a gold medal.

as a player of what's going on. If you're down for and you've got nine holes to go, sure I could make I could run in a bunch of twenty footers, or I could miss my target five feet right, you know, four times in a row, you know, and have right pins that you know, I hit it closer than I expect to. But when you're Scotti Scheffler and you're playing really well, guess what you're You're just your potential miss

radius is very small. And I think he was in a spot where he was swinging really well, and he he put his foot on the gas, and I think, like, I believe this is like if you want to win a lot of golf tournaments, if you want to win a lot of golf tournaments, you have to deviate and play differently than the rest of the field. You know, And in an era where everybody plays safe, I think we saw Tommy Fleet would play very safe on eighteen.

He was protecting that silver metal on eighteen. But in an era where everybody plays extremely cautious and safe, there is a lot of money left on the table if

you're able to play aggressive and pull it off. I think that is like one of the things that will change over the next five years is that there will be a zig back to players understanding, hey, this is a moment I can go take this, and I'm going to play a little bit more aggressively, especially because understanding your own personal dispersion patters, Like when you're playing well, your dispersion is a lot tighter than when it isn't.

Like I recently played a lot of golf last week, and I played really well a few days, and those couple of days that like I was swaying, my body was moving well. I made sure my targets were a little tighter. The day that I didn't feel good and I the swing didn't feel good, I played very conservatively, like I think that's where this is going to go long term. And I think this might be a moment where Scotty understands maybe what he can do when he

needs to do it. And I think that is an important aspect of this whole performance here is going forward. How often do we see Scotty when he's right around the hunt put the pedal to the metal and try and push it because he's been successful now doing so.

best iron player on the planet, you know. I thought I might get a technical answer about club face rotation or something, and instead he just really went to kind of course management and self management and really knowing when to pick his spots and when he feels comfortable with a yardage and waned and everything else, but he feels

like it's a shot he can hit. He goes right at it, and then he is really good at knowing kind of when to back off and aim at the middle of the green if maybe he doesn't have a great yardage or he's between clubs, and so that is one of Scotty's skills and it has allowed him to

separate himself. And another thing I find really interesting about him and Joseph and I have talked about it is he keeps leading the tour in greens and regulation like he has for the last three years, and there's not often you know, your guy who leads in shros gained approach isn't always leading greens and regulation. And I look back to I always remember when I was growing up, Joe Durant like always led greens in regulation. But it's because he's just hitting it a middle of green all day.

He wasn't a long hitter. He's hitting long irons in the middle of the green, not making you know, a ton of birdies on longer courses or just like how shorter hitters always led in driving accuracy, but Scotty like is both leading in stros gain approach. So he's hitting it close, but he's also making sure to hit a ton of greens, which isn't always the case, and doing so hard setups too. Right, he's playing, you know, one

of the harder schedules of the year of anyone. So I just think Scotty Obviously he's got kind of athleticism, he's got the innate gift with his hands. He's a great shot shaper, but he also is just really good at picking his.

himself a lot of opportunities. So I think it is a testament to just how well rounded Scotty is.

how that impacts their dispersion. And like you're saying, Andy, when you're really dialed or when you have a great number, understanding that your dispersion is going to be a little bit tighter. So this past weekend on Sunday at the Golf National is pretty soft and there was almost no wind like that's an opportunity where you can be a little bit more aggressive because short sighting yourself isn't going

to be as big of a deal. And when you're not hitting it into a significant amount of wind, like, your dispersion is going to be tighter. And I think that there are a lot of golfers who don't know how to adapt their strategies, even if it only has to be adjusted a little bit. I think Scotty and Ted Scott Ted Scott his cat, he does understand this stuff very well. Scotty always gives him credit for it. I think they understand when they can press a little bit.

So I think Scotty does a remarkable job of being hitting shots that are still relatively conservative. He birdied sixteen par three to a tough pin, but he's not just going directly at the pin. He's still aiming a little bit left and allowing it. If it doesn't cut, he's still fine. Like eighteen, he hit a pretty conservative shot into the green to make sure that he wasn't going

to go in the water. He does a really good job of picking his spots, as Sean said, So I don't think that it's like Scotty feels pedal down one day, conservative the next, but just understanding that middle ground how the conditions impact it. That's an underrated skill that I think. I don't know if anybody's as good as Scotty is at that.

going to carry with the wind. More when you hit something soft like I've always found like the hardest shots and I I you know, in a moderate wind, I prefer to hit approach shots all day long into the wind because it's so much more predictable than when you're playing downwind, particularly with wedges and short irons. It's where you like, you just lose a lot of control of carry distance, especially if you're taking yardage off a ball,

because that ball just doesn't spin as much. And I think that's probably what happened in you know, describe and describing that is like the wind just inst carrying it and knocked it down a little, because you know, if you just think about the way the ball goes up if it's down wind, it can get your trajectory knocked down. Yeah, I think, you know, like we talk about how golf is played so much between between your ears, and this

is the stuff. This between your ears like to be like Scotty is a savant in being able to read situations, lies everything, like the shots from the rough, like I think, like the chippens, like all this stuff is having a supreme understanding of how the ball is going to react off the club face reading lies like you know those shots on seventeen and eighteen out of the rough were

incredible shots. They were you know there. I know Brandle talked a lot, and I think this is a great point about his upright swing, the benefits of an upright swing with rough, but there's also a supreme understanding of what the ball is going to do, and that could be partly ted Scott to but this is this is like, you know, that's the stuff, like understanding how the ball is going to come out, because if you misjudge it, you can look like a fool.

good distance control is hitting it solidly. So there is a lot of that too. But I think it goes back again to like the physical just he hits it so solidly and hits it so well that it's easier to predict. I'm not discounting what you said abou him being a savamp, but I think that makes it easier for him to also predict it when he's hitting it.

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that I have. Like I just love opening it, turning the pay reading it, like it is a beautiful, beautiful book. So he has done this with Golf Architecture. So he is doing a pre order right now and if you use the promo code frieda Egg, you save ten percent off. The book is one hundred and twenty dollars. It is a wonderful, wonderful book to have. It is a quintessential staple to your golf library. We have Yoke with Dokes

coming out next week. One of the questions in the Q and A was what golf architecture book do you find yourself keep coming back to over the years in your career. This was the answer. This was the book, so I would get your copy of this. It is a is a collector's item type book. This is an elegant version of golf architecture. So use the promo code Frida Egg. You get ten percent off and you go to Golf Mackenzie. The web U r L to get

this is Mackenzie dot Golf. That's Mackenzie m A c K E N z I E dot Golf, Mackenzie dot golf and use the promo code Frida Egg for ten percent off. Congrats to Josh. This is a beautiful piece of work. All right, let's get back to the Olympics chat. Does this make you feel different only about Scotty Scheffler's year at all?

Xander after he had two major wins. Now, I do think this changes the calculus quite a bit, especially because the Olympics have seemed to arrive in a big way that I don't know that it's necessary to say that they rank exactly with a major or figure out exactly where it stands. But to me now it's hard to look at Scotty's season and think that somebody had a better season with a gold medal to his name, Especially Xander had a chance to win this and didn't get

it done at all. It's very clear that Scotti Scheffler is the best player in the world. He has I think, in seventeen starts this year, he's finished outside the top ten twice at Amex and at Pinehurst, like it's just a remark gooble season. And he again won this week losing strokes putting like he's dominated. So to me, unless something crazy happens the rest of the year, which I don't think is really possible since I don't view the FedEx Cut playoffs on anywhere near the stage that I

view the Olympics or the Majors. Sorry, Sean, I think it's I think Scotti Schefler is probably going to be the Player of the Year unless something crazy happens.

Year twenty nineteen. Brooks had a Major but hadn't done a ton outside of that, maybe had won one other event, and then Rory, you know, won the FedEx Cup, was really consistent, and the players voted on Rory. But I think with the gold medal now Scotty checks both boxes. Week in week out, He's been the best player, and I think you could argue that even though Xander has more majors, in some ways, I could see Scotty having

the season that players would actually prefer to have. You have a major, you throw in a players and then a gold medal, I think, and more wins. And I think the whole of that in the variety of different kinds of titles that he won, especially with the gold being a pretty coveted prize. Now, I think, like Joseph said, I think that his season checks both boxes. So outside of Xander sweeping the Fedest Cup playoffs and winning all three events, I think it's Scotti's.

way that any I don't think. I mean Xander, if he ran the table in the playoffs, like I just I still don't think I would feel differently about about their two seasons, even though that'd be crazy impressive and

something we've never seen before. I think i'd still feel the same way I feel now where Scotti has just I mean extraordinary, extraordinary year, and I think, like you know, when you when you think about everything that has happened with Scotty Scheffler, it's it's also impressive because he's handled, he's been able to handle the ascension and the fame

that's come with his play. And you know, I think I think Detective Gillis probably played a part in his popularity increase, but I think the thing it's impressive that he's been able, Like I think this is something that a lot of bigger players would agree is like challenging is getting used to being the guy, and he's carried he's taken it so in stride and and the play

has has just been been phenomenal. And this is just the latest example of uh, you know where I have to imagine if you're Tommy Fleetwood Hideki, you kind of leave leave this week really happy about your metal performances, but also scratching your head as to like I can't believe that guy got me, you know, from where he was because it didn't look like he was going to win or even potentially medal, and then all of a sudden, in a flash, he wins the wins the golf tournament.

Following the Masters, Colin Morikawa more or less said Scotty's better than I am. I think a lot of players in the locker room, virtually everybody knows Scotty Scheffler is clearly the best player in the world. I am not that, And I wonder if deep down how Xander Schoffley feels if he thinks that he's actually on Scotty Scheffler's level. I would find it hard to believe that there's anybody else on the planet who thinks they're on Scotty's level. So I think this was the year.

right club. I think facts and afterwards like long's not bad here after he hit it, and and you know, that's a situation where just kind of misplayed the situation rather than an execution error. That's the thing I think like people people, I feel like execution errors and I think we can this can parlay into the next discussion. But execution errors are what you should be looking at when you when you feel like someone lets a tournament go.

You know, golf is extraordinarily hard, and I guess it could be some of this too, But like Fleetwood, you know, he missed a fairway on seventeen, and then he missed a green, which shouldn't be super you know, it wasn't like it was a terrible swing. Either of them were terrible swings. And then he got a really tough break with where the ball ended up with that like thick ruff behind him, and that made that up and down

like impossible. If that ball's two inches the closer to the hole, I think that it's probably a simple up and down. If it goes into the thick rough, I think it's an easier up and down than what he was left. And then you know with fourteen, his ball not getting down into the bunker and staying on that lip. That was just that was a really bad break. And this is like part of what the difference of golf tournaments a lot of times ends up being, like you

gotta bounce here. You got to bounce here over seventy two holes and like down the stretch winning time. He got two kind of pretty shitty breaks in terms of like how it whears, ball ended up, and I think that's the difference. Like I think you add those two up, it probably equals a shot in the grand scheme of things, Like he gets one of the two up and down if he gets to the bottom of the bunker or the or the you know, into one of the defined

cuts of rough where he's not on the edge. I think someone who just failed to execute down the stretch. Two players were John Rahm and Xander Schoffley. John Rom has to be the biggest disappointment here. He had a four shot lead standing on the eleventh hole and he doesn't even end up on the metal stage. I thought this was an example of when you're playing for something that has substantial meaning and what can happen. I don't think this would happen at a at a live event.

I don't think it would happen at a run of the mill PGA Tour event. And this is why I'm pretty confident associating a very high position for the Olympics in the pro golf hierarchy of great tournaments. John Rom just kind of just faded away shot thirty nine on the back nine, and and to go from twenty under in a four shot lead, looking like the tournament was over to T five was was shocking. I think this

was the biggest shock of the of the event. Joseph, what do you how do you leave this tournament feeling about John Rom.

Like he really he's got a lot of stuff going on in his personal life aside, I know, like his wife's going through a challenging pregnancy, and he's had a couple of kids, changed tours, he had two really bad events this year, the PGA and the Masters, and otherwise, I think if there were a major three weeks weeks from now, John ram would be one of the favorites, and deservedly, he'd be well behind Scotty, he'd be behind Xander, and after that I think he and Rory would be

pretty close. So I think John Rahm, especially in the last month or so, has kind of reasserted that he's one of the top players in the game. But I fully agree with you that both he and xanders collapses are a signal that this event meant something. Especially with that particular golf course, it can result in some stressful shots, and you see who has their game when there are

shots under pressure. So I agree with everything you said, but still come away from it thinking, like, in twenty twenty five, John Rahm is going to be one of the top five golfers in the world. I feel pretty confident in that. Where do you Lanshawan Rom.

hundred or whatever. And Scotty sort of did that today. But then Rom on the back nine. The interesting thing is the short putts and then the te shots missing left, and that can be a swing thing, equipment thing, who I don't know, But in that span between the start of twenty twenty three where he won like four out of six or three out of five, and then he went through a lull and then he won the Masters.

He kept missing left, like when that power cut isn't cutting, he misses left, and that's what hurt him off the tee Sunday, and that's what you know, hurt him, can hurt him at times. I don't know the cause. I know Faxon mentioned an alignment issue that Rom and Dave

Phillips had worked out, so maybe that was it. But the other thing, too, I think, is just how crazy things get on Sunday and how many judgments we make from them, Like you look at Zander and Xander at Wells Fargo, look like the Xander that couldn't close, will he ever close gets it done, lips it in at Valhalla and squeaks by Bryson, and then it Truon looks like a killer, and we're like, this new Xander is here, who's unflappable, is gonna win five six majors, has figured

it out, he's a force, and two weeks later looks like the guy almost from Wells Fargo where he just couldn't get it done On Sunday, So I do think there's more pressure. You know, it's harder to hit shots on the golf course and on the driving range. It's harder to hit good shots in a tournament versus a casual round, and so it's harder to hit good shots

on Sunday versus Thursday. So there's some of that. But also golf too is just like this crazy game with wild variants, and Sunday afternoon gets the most attention, and so what we see Sunday afternoon leads to the biggest judgments, as it should. But Xander, I think it's just proof that storylines and narratives can just change so rapidly based on really only a handful of holes.

still be a statistically irrelevant number, right, isn't it? What is it, like sixteen hundred or something, is like the number that would say, like you can determine if somebody is a clutch player. So I think that's it. One thing I loved about you know, you talked about Ram the relentlessness, that word, and I think we hadn't seen

the relentlessless. And I think like there's an aspect of Rom's game when he's clicking that I really admire, and he kind of brings that very few players I've seen bring. There's a physicality to it, like with his stature and the way he plays golf, like you know, just the way you described it, pounding fairways and greens, like there

is just like this. There's a presence that he has when he is when he is in the lead, and I know, like I think that some of this has to do with his stature, but like he feels like a bull, you know, in there and like you can't move him off his position. I thought it was just shocking to see him get into where he got and in for it to slip away and it may you know, I I would I would adventure, I would agree that like there was like that, I'm not worried about John

Rohm next year. I think the last couple of weeks have been like a very nice turnaround for a player that had a really rough start to his season with a lot going on in his life. I will say that I think there was an added weight to this tournament because I believe that that John Rahm into probably a little bit lesser an extent. Rory McElroy viewed this event as like, hey, this winning a gold medal would really redeem what you know was a disappointing year. You know.

For Rory, I think the disappointment came with just you know, you could just say Pinehurst, the disappointment of Pinehurst. The gold medal could save that. For Rom it was everybody's talking about how lives changed me as a player. This is what can change the narrative on me, and I think it would have. I think if John Rohm walked away with a gold medal, it would be like John Ram's back. Is he at the level of Scotty and

Xander when he's cooking? That's what we would have been talking about on this podcast and for seventy for sixty three holes or sixty four holes. You know, John rom was back and he looked like, you know, especially playing with Xander Schoffley, a different player than Xander Schoffley. He left him in the dust, and then it all came crashing down. So I think, like I think the takeaways for Rom, this is a really bad year, no matter what happens to the rest of the year with Live.

For him, I think he's going to look back and say, like you do these career narratives when you look back on great careers from the eighties and nineties, and like a lot of times you'll see like there's one or two year gaps where they just weren't the same player. And I think we'll look back on this and be like, well, this is all These are all the things that happened. He had a bunch of kids, he went to live and this year was one of the years that was like kind of a lost John Ram year.

him this week. Do you remember he you know, second shot in a par five, bounces off the flagstick, makes that run to start the back nine before hitting in the water, and I am kind of curious where Rory goes from here. He kind of took a shot at himself in his post round comments, saying he was the nearly man of the last three years, that he hasn't gotten it done, and he even kind of said that, you know, I'm tired of trying to take positives. I

just want to win. And you know, Rory subscribes to that kind of growth mindset they talk a lot about in contemporary psychology, where you try to endure the hardships by finding the positives, like, yeah, I might have lost, but it's a learning experience and I can grow from this, and that's where the growth mindset comes from, of like, these are all basically steps in the process to getting to where I want to go, and it does probably

help lessen the sting of losses which Rory has experience recently. But even he kind of mentioned it seems like I just need to care about winning now. At this point, it's been enough close calls, you know. I'm sure he's done the mental inventory, he's learned all he's going to learn from these close calls. Like it seemed like he felt like now like I just need to win and worry only about winning.

have to do it. So in the same way that he's probably fatigued about talking about it, like I'm also a little fatigued about hearing about it, and like it does just need to get the job done. So I don't think that it's a negative, like he's getting himself in the mix. But next year with Quail Hollow in the major rotation, like the noise is going to be loud and Roy just needs to get one across the finish line.

and and then this this week. I think the takeaway is like, you know, hey, like that quil Hollow run can happen at at a at an event I care about. I don't I don't mean to take a shot at the Wells Fargo, but that that that of that run, that type of like explosiveness can happen at events that care about. It is like, if you have the positive takeaway,

it's hard. I mean, this is this is why golf is so compelling because there's only one winner and there's a slew of world class players attempting to win these events and for the most part, and I think this

is like the hard thing about about Rory's career. And maybe this is like where the where it's you know, what makes it so compelling is like Rory didn't lose a lot early in his career, and as he's aged, as he's gained perspective, as he's become our I would say, a better golfer, he's lost more often like that that's a hard thing to deal with, Like he's he's had this frustration. I think he I think almost everybody that has watched Rory McElroy would believe that he's a better

player now than in twenty fourteen. You know, more well rounded, has more shots, can play more golf course as well, but at the same on the same token, he has lost maybe some of that. Trying to think of the right the right word, I think it's more like being naive. I think, like like when you don't lose as much,

like you don't like there's like an invincibility. You think about Tiger's like career, he didn't lose ever and then he lost to why y Yang and and like there's like a distinct difference, and I you know, the injuries and

personal life stuff like kind of mounted up. But like there's this whole I have, like this whole like thought of like if he never loses to hy Yang, like does he does his career play out differently the rest of the way, and I think I believe yes, But like with Rory, like he's having to deal with this, Like I think like there's like the mindset thing is, like you're having to deal with the knowing that you can lose when you play really well, and that's something

that he didn't have early in his career.

the opposite. I think it's true too, and you have that little bit of scar tissue of like maybe you just kind of ease off it or just kind of aim away from that flag. And it's just such a mental game where the smallest things make such a big difference that the slightest shift in mindset I think can have a huge change. And so I do think when you lose that kind of naivete where you know everything

seems to be going your way. We saw with Speed as well, like twenty fifteen, nothing can go wrong, Everything went his way and then gets punched in the mouth at Augusta and he won a major after that, but hasn't really been the same. I think that that matters because, yeah, because of the huge impact that little things can have in this game. And I just want to read the Rory quote just why I'm accurately representing him, But this

was after his round on Sunday. He said, I feel like I've been Golf's nearly man for the last three years. It's all well and good saying I'm close and close and close. Once I actually stepped through the threshold and turn these near misses and close calls in the wings,

that's what I need to do. So it's interesting to see if maybe if he shifts his mindset away from kind of growth and learning towards just winning and getting the thing done, maybe that's the change that's needed to capitalize on all these experiences that preceded this.

less saying that his career is complete. Just the range of emotions on display at the Olympics was a huge takeaway for me, very refreshing in the modern landscape, especially with what's happening in golf. Seeing Scotti Scheffler crying as the United States national anthem was playing this event. I'm so bullish on and I think there's a little thing I had in my notes of like how do we feel about Riviera and like what kind of crowds it's

going to get. Like my understanding is the Olympics in the United States is going to be a little more spread out right with sites in like soccer games in Dallas, and I really hope that they're able to get international fans packed at riv as long as the fan presence is going to be there. There are not many events that I'm going to be as excited for as the

Olympics moving forward. So I think just seeing that range of emotions has really made me feel something as a sports fan, and I'm just extremely excited about the future of this event.

week also my main bigger point. This was another week that kind of illustrated some of the genius of Scotti Scheffler, and it came about, I think from Brendan Quainn of the Athletic who sort of asked Scotty, what does this mean for your legacy? And Scotty was like, I don't care about my legacy. You know, we're going to die and in thirty years no one's gonna remember us. And everyone kind of took that as this like nihilistic Nietzschean response,

but a I think there's some truth to it. You know, try to name some major champions from nineteen sixty three. You probably can't, some of us maybe can't. I can't. And I think that gives Scotty a freedom to on Sunday. He's not thinking about what does this mean? What is it worth? I want to win this for, you know, other reasons besides, he just wants to win. And so I think he does this great job of balancing. He cares deeply about competing and winning, but doesn't care about

it more than he needs to. He walks a really fine line between it's very important to him in the moment and then it's also not important to him afterwards, and I think that helps him be the player he is.

just rattle off you know, former major champs. Same with Rory, you know, and you know when you I don't know if Scotty could do that, Scotty probably would just be like, I don't know, you know, And I think that's like, actually, like a super valuable thing is not knowing in a way, because then it doesn't feel different than the heritage or the you know, uh TPC Craig Ranch right like that that it doesn't feel different if you if you don't

ascribe a historical value or understand the context of something. So I think I think you're spot on there. It's like another one of the the mindset things about Scotti Scheffler that you look at and it's like, this is a big advantage. I think like that one of the things that I just was, you know, we haven't touched on this surprisingly with with Sean's Hideki stance and fandom.

I think one of the cool things is like the disappointment of Hideki Matsuyama last Olympics, not losing out on the bronze medal in his home country.

We just talked a little bit about how it's not guaranteed that you're going to be able to make it back to the stage, but to make it back the next Olympics and get the job done and get on that podium. And I think like the last five years of Hitdecki's career has been kind of weird. He had that insane run and what was it twenty eighteen.

the day before on a couple t shots. And to me, if Hideki has that in the tank, can somehow get to a place where he's hitting the ball like that, you know, do we have a couple more years of him being an elite player, because I think that's one of the things that like over the last three or four years has slipped, is like Hideki isn't that first

page player. We see glimpses of it. We saw it at Riviera where it's like, oh, yeah, he is that guy still, But like there's been just kind of like an inconsistency, and I think a lot of it's health related.

It's a totally different look for east Lake. A lot of the corridors are the same, but the greens, the bunkers are totally different. Really enjoyed meeting Andrew Green, talking to him. What a humble, gracious guy. So I think those two things, and then just three tournaments where you have the best players in the world competing against each other.

I think are things worth, you know, worth watching. I think the big thing is, and I think we liked it about Scotty crying, is we like to know that the golf means something to these guys besides just tons and tons of money, which obviously the money helps. And I think the thing with the FedEx Cup is, you know, there's obviously lots of opinion on formats things like that,

Like I think it matters to the players. Scotty talked about it really affected him when he lost that six shot lead to Rory two years ago, and then I think for Victor it was kind of the biggest thing he'd done yet in his career. And like I think for it's like your year end performance review, Like I think it matters to guys that like it just validates the hard work, validates a good season. And so I do think that matters to players, and so in that

I think the FedEx Cup has important there. It is you want to end your year on a good note, if you've had a great season, like Scotty, Like, if you're Scotty, you want to win that thing because you want to cap that year off on a great note.

what what are we talking about here? But that would make it exciting, you.

free to play. But the way it works is you're trying to guess the word of the day, and with each word you input, it gives you a similarity score. Like a natural language processing model. It gives you a similarity score to the word. So if it's stove and you pick the word cold, you won't get a super high score. But then you pick hot, you get a higher score, and you start working your way up to

the word. Very difficult, very frustrating, but I think for the right person if you like these kinds of word games, once you sort of crack it and you start playing once a day, I'm all in and it's it's one thing every day that I will not miss. So it's Contexto dot me is the u r L. I look forward to it every day. I find it very rewarding when you get the right word. So some people will hate this, and if you want to give up right away,

that's fine. But for the right person, I think it'll be a smash hit.

the premium economy. But if you want to have the most possible space in economy, the row for you is the second exit row. So the second exit row in a in a standard in your standard airplane is the best. Is the row that you have the best most amount of space. If you want the most amount of space, it's ile like just in terms of like pure space, the aisle second exit rows the most amount and the reason is those seats recline. So I'm more of a

window seat guy. But for my long flights, I used to always prioritize being up near the front of the premium economy up near the front, like you get off the plane faster. But when I'm doing these long trips, for the most part, I'm checking a bag, so I'm gonna wait no matter what when i get off the plane. What I've done is I have prioritized the space, and I've been booking into the second exit row my window seat.

Second exit row, it generally kind of fills up a little bit later than the forward window row of window seats, uh in the premium economy, So I've been going that second exit row. I notice, like I feel better getting off the plane because of all the like it's an insane amount of space. It is the most space you get, uh, non first class on a plane. So second exit row, window seat for me. But if you like, like you

like the aisle, that's where you're gonna get the most space. Honestly, like I feel, I like, I know I've noticed that, especially on long flights, the amount of space, like I like, my legs really can like can can breathe. So that's my tip as a experience. I know this is bad for me because these these might you have more demand, but that is like where you get the most space in terms of pure, pure like numbers, second exit row because then you get the real climb.

a golf developer as well as Matt Rusche's. You probably recognize that name who formally produced this podcast. Now is kind of more moved into like a full time role of producing content for us, whether it's a lot of social stuff you'll see or written stuff. He went in a Affordable Indiana golf trip, which is in that design notebook, so if you want to check that out, it's a great piece. But we do that weekly. We have weekly

course profiles. I don't want to make any promises. I'm working on my course profile for Oakland Hill South future US Open hosts. I'm about fifty percent of the way through that, but check that out. It's one hundred and twenty dollars for the year, and it's a great way to support what we do here at Friday Golf. We'll be back on Thursday with a new episode of The OAKU with Douk. I was in Michigan. That's one of the reasons I was in Michigan last week recording with Tom.

We've got two new episodes of that coming out in the next two weeks. So that was fun. It was fun to hear all that's going on in his life. He's very busy. He had three golf courses to open this year, three golf courses that are under construction, and really, you know, when you think about the time of his career. It's a it's a legacy building time of a golf architects career when you get to open this many new golf courses, because new golf courses are what you know,

you're gonna remember. It's not going to be necessarily the restoration of this. It's the new golf the golf courses that have your your name on them. So cool time for a lot of golf architects. You think about Core Crenshaw, Gil Tom uh, you know, and so on and so forth.

There there's so much work in the industry that a lot of these guys, you know, Rob Collins, Uh, you know, there there are a lot of people getting a lot of opportunities to build new courses, and that's great for the golf course architecture space and in the future of golf course architecture as a job. You know, I think we went through a time where there was not that many jobs and not that much work in golf architecture.

And right now we're in a boom and hopefully it sticks out, it holds on because it's it's great for the you know, there's more young people in that in that industry than ever before, and a lot of architects are getting a great opportunity to show what they can do in their creativity. So exciting chat with Tom and we'll be back on Thursday with that episode.