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 Egg Friday, Egg Frida Egg, Frida Egg Bride, Egg Lie, I'm about ready to run off the golf course.
Welcome back to another edition of the Frida Egg Golf Podcast. I am Andy Johnson and uh we are back with another episode with Joseph Lamanna. Obviously, this week there was big news with the American team Ryder Cup selections, so the captain's picks came out. I decided to have Joseph on to discuss the merits of the picks, the American team in detail, and then also we dove into the European team a little bit as well, and just the
event in general. It was a really fun chat and always love having Joseph on to kind of tackle these bigger subjects. So along with that, just news for Frida Egg Golf. We have a sale in our pro shop that's Proshop dot Thefrida Egg dot com. It's a Labor Day sale, so it is hummin' all weekend. It is fifteen percent off everything that includes all of our prints. So you need to use the code Labor Day fifteen. We've got a bunch of merchandise in there. Obviously we
did the rebranding. If you want some collector's items, if you want some retro fits, now's your time to go get that old egg logo. We have a bunch of stuff in there with that, it's fifteen percent off, and we'll have some new merchandise rolling into the store next week. It'll be the Shotgun Start fifth anniversary. So that for that sale fifteen percent off go to proshop dot Thefrida egg dot com. It's Labor Day fifteen. It is a great discount for the princes obviously, as well as the
other merchandise. So without further ado, here is Joseph LEMANA. All right, Joseph, welcome back. It is always a pleasure to chat with you. How are you doing with golf off season? How are you feeling?
I'm great, I'm fired up for this conversation. Actually heading to the US Open, the tennis tournament this weekend. Have never been to a.
Grand swam so I'm pretty excited, honestly, Like two of the highest things on my bucket list are US Open tennis and Wimbledon. Like those are two things that I need to accomplish before I die, And Yeah, I like the US Open one of the things I'm pumped about. I've been in the Midwest for like the last month. I'm going back to California tonight and US Open tennis is unbelievable in California because those matches they go to like two or three Eastern in the morning and it's
like midnight in California. I remember last year it was we were in a heat wave and you know, we don't have ac I'm just the house is cooling down by the minute as I'm watching ya the Cinner Alcoraz match, which to me was one of the best tennis matches I've ever watched. Yeah, who are you seeing?
Well, I don't know. I'm this is somewhat controversial, but I do. I am kind of a Novak Djokovic fan, and I'm hoping to see him at some point.
I have a lot of respect for.
His competitive fire, so I hope to see him. I've gotten more into tennis over the last couple of years, and the US Opens sneaky become like one of my favorite events of the year to watch of any sport.
So I'm with you.
It's amazing what elite competition on primetime TV does.
Yeah, yeah, you got a we're gonna talk Ryder Cup. Let's talk about the American picks. They came out yesterday, and I think there's there's there's gonna be a healthy discourse about the US Ryder Cup picks. No matter which direction they went, whether they went with the kind of the what they went with was the team. You know a lot of people could call it the Buddies, Buddies Club, you know, the old Boys Club. They went that direction.
If they had gone data, if they had gone just off the points list, there would have been discussion about, oh, how do you not how do you not pick Justin Thomas or Ricky Fowler who technically didn't qualify on points, you know, if they had done that. So I think it was a no win situation. But you know, the fun of this whole thing, it's one of the rare times that we get a really kind of off the field event, off the course event that that generates significant
buzz debate and uh interest in the sport. So yesterday, UH Zack Johnson in a made for TV special that maybe shouldn't have been made for TV announced his six captains picks. It was Sam Burns, Ricky Fowler, Brooks Kopka, Klin Morikawa, Jordan Speeth, and Justin Thomas. They joined the group of already qualified six players, which were Scottie Scheffler, When Clark, Brian Harmon, Patrick Cantley, Max Homer, and Xander Schoffley.
Do you want to start on the on the program just the whole the whole way it it kind of went down. Do you want to talk about that first? Uh? And and and what? Were kind of just general thoughts about about Zach Johnson and his his presentation of who he's picking and and reasoning behind it.
Yeah, This's that's why I'm excited for this conversation. There's a lot of different angles to to talk about. Was not impressed by Zach Johnson showing I don't think it inspires a lot of confidence. It's in the process. At the same time, I think generally what's gonna happen is you can make bullet points for all these players, and then the captain they knew who they wanted to pick, and then you just kind of pluck from the bullet points as to why it's not always consistent I think
there were better cases for some other players. I don't agree with the captain's picks. I don't think the message was super well delivered, and frankly, I don't think Zak Johnson understands some of the core stuff very well, which was evident based on some of his commentary. So I think Steve Stricker was a sneaky, excellent captain, not just because they blew you're up out. He handled this process very well from the start. I don't feel that way about Zach Johnson as as of now, at this moment.
I think that's the one of the things as I started to think about it with the Ryder Cup that really stands out is just how how like all the players, you know, they have bad performances, they have great performances, but at the end of the day, maybe nobody has
more pressure than these captains. It's a black and white thing, like I've never heard somebody lose and one of these team competitions and people be you know, maybe on the President's Cup side, just because it hasn't been as close of a like I think most people said, hey, Trevor Mullmans was a great captain, right, but on the Europe
American team. I've never heard a losing captain be referred to as a great captain, you know, And I've you know, and rarely is a winning captain ever, Like you know, he won, but this wasn't This was not a good captaincy, right. It's like, if you win, you're a great captain, You're gonna get another captainship, You're gonna make a lot of money. Like one of the things, like the little sneaky secrets about this is being a Ryder Cup captain is worth a lot of money, like a substantial sum of money
between corporate appearances and different different things. So if you win, you got another chance of another go around, and you're always a winning Ryder Cup captain. So with Zach Johnson, obviously he has a huge a lot to gain from winning this Ryder Cup. Nobody's won. No American captains won in Europe in thirty years, fifteen tries.
Yeah, I hope it's not lost though in some of that is the American team has been favored in some of those, it's not some impossible tasks. So I hope that the captains are judged based on the merit of their decisions and not necessarily the results.
Though the result, it is important.
To evaluate how somebody played with respect to whether or not they were a good pick. You can't go overboard with that. We know how high variance golf can be. But I have skepticism about some of the decisions that were made, and I do think people should be held to account for those decisions.
All right, let's talk a little bit about the course and the course fit, since that's one of your kind of grievances here with Zach and obviously like when somebody asked him about the course fit, he said that it was confusing to explain. You know, there's technology and whatnot involved with it. You wrote a great article earlier this week in your newsletter, Finding the Edge. It's a substack that's free that everybace is subscribed to. About a little
bit about the course fit that do you expect? Can you divulge kind of what from your expert angle is the course fit at Marco Simoni.
I think it's gonna be pretty hardcore accuracy test off of the tee. It's not just about with the fairways, which I think we get carried away with when we talk about how accurate you need to be at golf courses, it's also it's largely about how much of a penalty is there for a small miss and how much of a penalty is there for a wide miss. And at Marcos Simone, there's gonna be plenty of areas where, yeah, even if you're just a little bit off the fairway,
it's going to be penal. But once you get way off the fairway, there's going to be thick fescue, there's gonna be some hazards. You can't go out there and right. It's also, despite the length on the scorecard not being super long, some of the reason for that is that
there are multiple semi drivable par fours. There are three of them, and though those are short on the scorecard, there's some of the most highly correlated holes with distance, So you have to look at more than just a scorecard to understand how distance friendly a course will be. This is going to be a pretty distance heavy course where accuracy is highly rewarded.
Off of the tee.
You're going to have to be an elite striker, and if you're somebody that makes a lot of their money on the PGA Tour or on live or wherever, with your wedges and your putter. That's not the type of player that I would be prioritizing. So I get a little bit frustrated when people say things like, oh, well this player is such a great putter, which you need in the Ryder Cup. That's not always true. And you know, Tommy Fleetwood and Francesco Mullinari are not people you think
of as great putters. That's always been a deficiency, and they smoked people in Paris. So I just don't like that argument, and I don't think it's I think there's some fallacies that get thrown around when we talk about this event.
I think that that is a huge misconception with match play, and I have always thought of it. You know, the type of player, just anecdotally that you do not want to play in match play is someone who's steady, someone who who can overwhelm you with their ball striking, the type of player that every time you look up and watch one of their approach shots, it's landing fifteen ten
feet that never gives you an inch. You know, it's to me, the great match play trait is consistency, especially Te de Green because and if you think about Sergio Garcia, I mean, he embodies this right, Like, what is the one thing throughout his career that Sergio Garcia brought to the golf course every day effectively was elite, elite, top of the end, top end tee to green play You think about some other like great Ryder Cup players, Monty was a just a thoroughbred tee to Green, right, it
is that is what is about putting is streaky. Putting is variable. What's hard to beat and what what wins a lot of matches over a big sample size is guys that bring you know, that are and that's not necessarily I think that's where it runs counter. It's not like winning a tournament. Winning a golf tournament is about marrying great ball striking with a hot putting week, really like or an above average putting week, or for somebody like that's hitting the ball like Sky Scheffler, an average
putting week. You know, with match play, you're playing people on singular days. It's about the guy that doesn't shoot seventy two, that shoots you know, sixty eight over and over again. Sure he's get beat sometimes by somebody playing better than him, but if you're consistent day in day out, that's what to me, makes a great match play player.
And it's not saying that putting doesn't matter. It's if a players makes their money with their putter, they're probably deficient in some of the areas that are going to be particularly important at Marcos Simone. There are certain setups where I would prioritize putting more.
This is not one of them.
So not to throw a player under the bus, but like a Danny McCarthy, right, who is one of the best putters on tour and does well on particular setups, like, that's not the kind of player I want at Marco Simoni.
So I would be.
Prioritizing these really accurate drive, really good drivers of the golf ball who are.
Proficient with their long irons.
And I don't know if you want to go right in depicts, but we did leave a couple of those off the team.
Yeah.
I so like, based off of what you're saying, I just you know, I you know, looking through the two teams, I think we would look at the the American team and you say, like, all right, if we're going to prioritize long and accurate players, to me, like the really elite drivers of the golf ball on the American team are obviously Scottie, Scheffler, Wyndham Clark would come to mind. I think Patrick, Cantlay and Xander are above above average drivers,
not not elite elite. Brooks is above average. I wouldn't say he's elite, but that that's about it, right, And I think this is this is a team, yeah, accurate, this is this was a team that was you know, we left whistling straight saying like they're like, look at this power advantage this year, driving like they have the capabilities to drive the ball so much better than the Europeans.
The Europeans are never going to win again. Now two years later we zoom out and now like, look at the driving advantage right at the top, Like it's very evident right at the top of the top of the each team. You know, Europe is going to roll out Victor Hovelin, Rory McElroy, and John Rahm arguably you could probably you know, I think Scott he's right in there, arguably the three best drivers of the golf ball in.
The game of golf and one that's not on either team.
Yeah, it's maybe one that got left off Cameron Young, Right, Yeah, exactly, So I think like, and then you go down the European team, you got some other like Fitzpatrick's turned himself into a pretty good driver of the golf ball, a drastically different driver of the golf ball than he was, especially at at Whistley Straits when we last saw him. So I think like in a way like it's really amazing how in two years, how how drastically different the two teams makeup are and how they appear on paper.
Absolutely, I think when you look at these teams at a high level Europe, the top three for Europe in Rory, Ram and Hoveland, I think you have more confidence in those three on this golf course than any three on the American team. I do believe that it get The European team is clearly not as deep. But I do think Zach Johnson with I agree with four of his picks. I don't agree with two of them, and I think that those two.
You just you have.
You can't leave any stone unturned when you're trying to win over in Europe on what should be a pretty close fight here. So the golf course is relevant, and I think Europe sets up, especially at the top of their roster.
They set up very well for this golf course.
Yeah, especially if they bring in like a you know, a guy like Ludwig who drives drives the ball extraordinarily well, right, if that's their type of if that's the captain's pick, that it seems like it's a very relevant you know, he's playing with Nicholas Cole, starts and uh and Molinari this week. It's it seems like that is, you know, starting to come to fruition that Ludvig Aberg, the rookie player on the PGA Tour, who is by all you know, early stats, an ultra elite driver the golf ball, will
be on the European team. Now for a quick word from our sponsor ag One.
Listen.
I started taking ag one late last year and I really was looking to be more healthy. I wanted a routine, a morning routine, and a foundational nutrition supplement that supported whole body health. And I drink it every day. So it's a super simple. I mix eight ounces of water with a packet of AG one or a scoop of AG one, it depends. I've been on the road for the last month, so I've been using the travel packs. But when I'm back home as I am now, I use a scoop of ag one. I mix it up
and really it makes me feel great. It just gets me energize, it gets me ready to go for the day, and most importantly, it's just gotten me in a healthier habits. Just as a side I checked in on my Apple Step like my Apple Health app the other day. I'm trending to have my best year since that app came about in terms of step steps and just overall, you know, health. It's been something that I wanted to focus in on this year, as I said earlier, and ag One's been
a big, big part of that. So if a comprehensive solution is what you need from your supplement routine, then try ag one and get a free one year supply of vitamin D. That's particularly nice as we're heading into fall and winter. Get that vitamin D and so you get that free one year supply of Vitamin D and five free ag one travel packs as I mentioned, awesome when you're on the road with your first purchase, go to drink ag one dot com slash the fried egg.
That's drink ag one dot com, slash the fried egg and check it out now. Back to Joseph Lamonia. Let's get into the two picks. So you said, which four do you agree with?
I agree with the Koepka pick, I agree with Spief, I agree with Morikawa, and I agree with Fowler. The the Burns pick doesn't doesn't kill me, and I think there are players who deserved it. Deserved as a term that we can we can debate, but I think there are two players I would have preferred over Justin Thomas and Sam Burns. Sam Burns could play well in Paris
or sorry in Rome. Don't think Justin Thomas. I'm sure we'll get into but in my opinion, Cameron Young was a player that I would not He was the player you don't leave at home, especially with how well he fits the golf course and how well he's played in big events. I think he could have come out and crushed this course, and he could have been the type of player that you're like, all right, five matches for us or four four matches for us, like somebody who's
dominant on this setup. And then the other player that I think just didn't get discussed enough in a really strong case to be on the team is Russell Henley. And I think he's a great course fit and almost any argument you use on short term or long term form, Russell Henley just did not get talked about. Everyone's focused on Keegan and Russell Henley had a really strong case to be on this team and he should have been discussed more.
All right, let's zoom in a little bit on Cam Young. Obviously, I don't think this was the best year for Cameron Young. He was kind of in and out, pretty inconsistent. Year before, you know, left us with I think one of the issues was the year before golf with extraordinarily high expectations for this year of Cameron Young, and he's still a
relatively green player on the PGA Tour. That being said, you know, in you know, he didn't he made the FedEx Cup playoffs, he didn't get get past you know, the top fifty Earth and we get to you know, the Open Championship. He leads the field in driving and approach the green. So he's the best ball striker in the field at the Open Championship with the best players in the world. And to boot, he's ninth in Ryder
Cup points. Ninth, not tenth, not eleventh, not twelfth, very close to being eighth in fact, like not very far away from eight. He was. He was a ways behind Kepka at seven, but he's he's closer to being eighth than you know in a spot where like I wonder, like if he's eighth in points there, I don't think you could leave him at home really at ninth? Is that like it? To me? It seems like if you're ninth in points, you're a course fit. I don't know how you leave that person at home.
I'm not the biggest fan of the points system and using points for some reasons that maybe we'll get into, like Keigan Bradley, So I don't put a lot of stock in the points, but I put a lot of stock in some of what he's done on the course in the last eighteen months, and he's contended in four of the last eight major championships. He was playing around with like a new ball and stuff for parts of this year, had some changes with the caddy, didn't play
great during the summer. But when you zoom out when you look at his year, it's not bad. I agree with you that it didn't live up to expectations set by last year. But he contended at the Masters this year for much of that tournament. He finished second at match play to Sam Burns, which the main reason Burns is being thrown out is because he won match play.
Kim Young was.
The thirty six hole leader at the John Deere. Not a strong field. I wouldn't hang my hat on that argument. But then he destroyed at Liverpool Tea Green, you know, stumbled a little bit on Sunday in the final group and finished eighth. But he's contended in four of the last eight major championships. When you look at the shots that are acquired at Marco Simone, I want Cam Young hitting all of those drives and I think he would have been a really hard out at that golf course.
So I don't think you can leave him at home. But it is what it is.
With Russell Headley obviously very very rarely discussed. But what was it that really jumped out to you about about Henley and his candidacy for one of these spots.
You know, when everyone's talking about these picks, I think they've fallen a lot of bullet points, right, and people want to talk about Keegan Bradley and his past performance at Medina. There's not a lot to talk about with Russell Henley, which I think just works against him, but he was unbelievably solid this entire year. He's played fit
fifteen tournaments since the Players Championship Andy. He missed the cut at the PGA in the Open, so two of the majors he gained strokes t de Green just didn't put well in those, but missed those cuts. Every other finish is a top twenty in that span. He finished fourth at Augusta this year, which I don't know if people realize, and he finished fourteenth at LACC at the US Open.
Just a bunch of elite finishes. Sorry.
One other he finished TI for thirty fifth, so that was outside the top twenty of the John Deere. But twelve of those fifteen events top twenties. And he's an extremely accurate driver of the golf ball. If you think about a course on the PGA Tour that demands accuracy, Mayacoba is one of those. He won that this past fall. Not saying you want to use Mayacoba as your litmus test for Rome, but Russell Henley is a course fit, elite long iron player, and he's been extremely consistent this
entire year. It's hard to poke holes in the argument against Russell Henley.
So those are the two guys that you would have liked to see him picked. To me, really where I fell is? I you know, I thought Cameron Young was kind of the big snub. I think he's the only guy that you can you can say like is a true like really a snub? Right? I think if we got to the point where Cam Young's on the team and one of Burns or Thomas is out, you know that was that last pick should have been decided between them, Russell Henley, you know, Denny McCarthy, other other Keegan Bradley,
other people. To me, Cameron Young needs to be on this team. He should be. He's a young player. And you know what what kind of happened And and Brendan made this point on on our podcast on the Shotgun
start at talking about this topic. You know, if you look at Keegan Bradley's quotes and I'm paraphrasing here, he talked about after you know, there is disappointment not being selected, how he spent the year the seasoning to become friends with people that he thought were going to be on the team, that you know, he he understood that this there's a lot of camaraderie involved, that this was not this is a you know, he kind of pointed out
that this is indirectly that this is a very political system. So if you look at the players that were selected, and you've called into question Sam Burns, he is best friends with Scottie Shuffler, vacations regularly with him, and as well as as Justin Thomas, who might be one of the you know, real decision makers on the Ryder Cup team, might be one of the biggest influences in the room despite you know, in data golf ranking being ranked fifty seven in the world right now, So Justin Thomas gets
gets a spot. When Zach Johnson was you know, kind of asked about it, he said he was born, born for this. Couldn't imagine going there without him. Those were the reasons given, despite you know, really a poor season from JT. And I think, listen, like he might go over there and play great and everything. It doesn't matter. He might go over there and play poorly. But you know, with this Ryder Cup, you look at it and given his form, it seems like a big question mark here.
Absolutely, if I were to build the case against Justin Thomas, and again I think he's one of the When he's playing well, he's one of the best Americans, There's no doubt.
But ultimately, I think the best.
Way I can frame the argument that as I've been reflecting on this process, I think the range of outcomes for Justin Thomas at this golf course is it's well within the range of outcomes that he plays very poorly because he's been playing terribly and he's kind of on the downswing a little bit. It's not like he's showing some signs of going the right direction. Almost finished dead last at the US Open and opened with an eighty two at the Open Championship, recovered a little bit the
next day, but he's playing badly. The golf course doesn't fit him particularly well. He's one of the best wedge players in the world. You're not going to hit a lot of wedges here, I don't. I think there's some There are some scenarios where he plays really poorly at Marcos Simone for all of his matches. I think the best case for JT. And you can old takes exposed to me if I'm wrong, But I think the best case is he kind of scrapes by and like maybe wins a match or two, or you know, Judge, if
he's partnered with Jordan, Jordan plays really well. They're competitive, maybe wins a match or two. If you pick somebody else like a Cam Young, there's a chance Cam Young dominates that event and he's the reason you win the Ryder Cup. His range of about there's so much more upside in a pick like that, and that's what rubs me the wrong way a little bit about the Justin Thomas pick. I understand the team chemistry and the soul of the team,
all of those arguments that are made. But ultimately I think kind of land On hitting good golf shots solves a lot of issues, and Camyon would hit a lot of good golf shots.
Yeah.
I think if you look at where where JT's really declined, and in his decline, I want to be very clear, is like, you know, his bottom is not what a lot of other people's bottom is. He is an ultra ultra talented, one of the best, you know, one of the best players in the world. Could make an argument he's the best player in the world when everything's humming. He where is big decline has been has been around
driving the golf ball. You know, it's it's been inaccurate, and he's he's not as long as he used to be. I mean, the driving numbers have been poor, his approach play numbers have been much much worse this year. And then he's always kind of outside of really one year, been a so so putter. So obviously this is a three day competition, and you know, one of the things about it is golf is very a high variance game. You know, if you if you have you can just
have it for three days. You could not have it for three days. Your best player, Scottie Scheffler, might not have it for three days. And if he doesn't have it for three days, the US teams in trouble. Right, But like that's the way it works, Like you can just play twelve players can play pretty mediocre. Like, you know, seven of your guys could just play poorly. We see it every week and week out on the tour when
these guys miss cuts right, Elite players miscut. You know, so a lot of it comes down to variants in this game, in this sport. But you know, again going back to what makes great matchplay players selecting players without a lot of variants, that are really rock solidity to
green kind of mitigate some of that variants. And if you think about like the players that have caused like you know, the old stallwarts of the Ryder Cup of the European team, a lot of them were very very steady, ted green players, and that's what has given the US fits when they've gone abroad. Think about Molinari and Fleetwood as a pairing, what are they ultra ultra elite ball strikers, you know, think about you know, Sergio Garcia as we've
talked about before, ultra elite like those. That's the makings of a really dynamic Ryder Cup team pairing. And I think like one of the tough things that I found, like one of the cringe things is we're saying this justin Thomas Ryder Cup record, like he's a like living legend. He's played in two Ryder Cups.
Yeah, I think we make way too much of Ryder Cup records in general too. That's a that's a hill I'm happy to die on. The You don't look at who they played against or like how they actually.
Scored on the holes.
You just look at the record, and sometimes you run into you play well and the other guy plays better and you lose, and you were still you still had a strong performance. Justin Thomas has had legitimately strong performances in the Ryder Cups, even when you add in that context. But it is a small sample size. I don't think this golf course sets up particularly well for him, and I think the chance that he goes out there and
crushes it is minimal. And when the United States team is so deep, you could have picked guys that did that. So again, like I said, I think Cam Young was that player. I think Russell Henley was that player. He kind of profiles a lot like a Fleetwooder, a Molinari, and you could have sold me on, you know, a Lucas Glover, Keigan Bradley before Justin Thomas. But as you've mentioned, it's not always just about what you do on the golf course.
All right, let's talk a little bit about the US team as it's constructed. Are there any pairings that you look at, potential pairings that you look at that really excite you about with the twelve players that are on this team.
Yeah, I probably need to get a little more into that before giving you a firmer answer. I think starting to materialize the more I've gone through the golf course, which players are well suited for the course, Like I think a Max Homa is a sneaky could be really good here. I think calin Markawa is going to be excellent here. And that's I know that they have some chemistry, so wouldn't be shocked to see those two paired together.
You know JT is cal bear action.
Yeah, yeah, you know.
J T and Speith are going to play together. I think it's likely Burns and Scheffler are going to play together, which is kind of a high variance one. I think that could work out, and I also don't I think they could be not the best pairing to where Europe's not that scared of them. I think, you know, Xander and can't Lay are probably going to play together, So it's not too hard to start to figure out where
these guys are gonna potentially match up. But I can't tell you that like an alternate shot optimal pairing that I've gone through all that yet.
Well.
I think that's one of the things when you get when you become kind of this reincarnation of the old boys Club, that this era of players kind of blew up and it's seemingly back is that you get these like locked in pairings that have to play together. Speth and JT are going to play together, Xander and Cantley are going to play together. I think he made a great point about Homo more Kwa cal Bears, They're going
to probably play together. And then you know, Burns seemingly one of the big reasons he got picked was his he's you know him and Scottie Shuffler or boys, which leaves like, you know Fowler. I think like you could kind of go through this and it leaves Fowler and Brooks. I imagine they live in the same area. I imagine, you know, Fowler's pretty agreeable and Brooks, like, I imagine that probably looks like a pairing. And then it leaves Wyndham Clark and Ricky and Brian Harmon the two kind
of guys that crashed this this boys clubs. As Keith and Bradley pointed out what he was asked about about missing he needed to he in future years he feels like he has to qualify on points to make the team. These two qualified on points to make the team, and I wonder if they would have if there were twelve twelve just exclusively twelve captains picks, Brian Harmon probably isn't on this team. Wyndham Clark might be, but Wyndham Clark and Brian Harmon seems like a logical pairing as well.
I think that's one of the fascinating things, is like, in terms of Luke Donald, when you have these locked in pairings, it kind of allows Luke Donald the opportunity to game against them with course setup, with his own pairings and other things.
I agree with you, and I think overall, one thing I feel pretty confident saying without being in some of the team rooms is that Europe generally has a little healthier I think philosophy around some of this stuff, which is like pair me with anybody and I'll if you tell me it's the right person for me to go with, like I trust and I'll go out and hit good shots.
Whereas I think Team USA it's doing a little more dictating about who they want to be paired with and who they want on the team, and I think that flexibility is beneficial for Europe.
Don't know that. I don't know that, Luke.
There's a whole lot Luke Donald's going to be able to do because once the event starts, you can't do a whole lot with like pin locations and stuff that's out of his hands. But I'm with you that the overall Europe has more flexibility, and I think that speaks to the mindset of some of the players in there, who often are a little bit more open to some
of that kind of information the analytics side. I think it's fair to say that Europe's a little more open minded about that, not just among the captains but among the players.
In a way, the American team is kind of, you know, the overall seemingly leadership style is very intertwined with the direction of the PGA Tour, where it's the top players dictating the the way that the tour now is govern is run, and so there's I think there's a lot of similarities and a lot of you know, people that in this in this room, that you know are very good at hitting a golf ball, that believe that they are also very good at knowing what's best for their team.
I agree with you, and I don't want to entirely dismiss that, like Randall Cobb is on the Jets because Aaron Rodgers wants him on the Jets, And I do think when you vouch for people, there is some camaraderie that's built in, and when you tee it up next to them, like I think, it can elevate your performance. I think we go too far in that direction, and I prefer the mentality of just give me any partner and I'll go out there and get the job done.
But I don't want to entirely dismiss how vouching for others it can build camaraderie only other One other note I had is that we talk so much about chemistry and so much about like alternate shot pairings and stuff, it's still important to remember that these players are going to play most of them three to four matches, and one of those is for sure singles, right, so you know, twenty five to thirty three percent of your matches, It doesn't some of that doesn't matter. Like you, it's you
alone on the golf course. And so that's where i'd really prioritize. Some of these guys who fit the course well, you know, have been consistently strong performers all year. Form is a great indicator of success.
Yeah, I think that's the fascinating question I wrote a little bit in UH Wednesday's newsletter about this is what should the Ryder Cup team be? How should the picks be selected? There's money at stake with these with these selections, you know, player incentives and contracts and in some contracts and and then obviously the pit program and everything that's involved. Should these picks be you know, hey, we're the leaders of the team. This is who we want to play with.
We're captains, this is who we want. Or should it be more merit based? With the fact that it is like a career honor, a career distinction and now a very you know, it's a lucrative spot to gain. Should it be more merit based or should it be more Hey, this is the guy that we wanted on our team.
In my opinion, it works very well the way it's running right now with six auto qualifiers and six captains picks. Of course it gets political, but it is an option to earn your spot, and Brian Harmon can testify to that, as can Wyndham Clark. But Brian Harmon's more of the He's been around for a while and earned his way on.
I think it works well now and there's going to be controversy if you have six captain's picks, if you have two, if you have zero, there's always going to be arguments that the process could be better.
I think it works well when.
Now, Yeah, I kind of agree too. And what I really agree with is that I think it's great for the sport, the discourse and interest that this creates an event that's a month away like that rarely rarely happens outside of the Masters. Is there anything that generates this?
The super Bowl and the Player Atpact program, we're both pretty exciting for fans.
Right Hey, real quick, let's talk about Club TFE. They're the sponsor of this episode of the Friday Golf Podcast. We have a lot of cool stuff coming. Last month we did a bally Neil routing video with Tom Doak. He dove into the routing of bally Neil. This week we published a Saint Louis Country Club profile, as well as our new feature every at the beginning of every week is Design Notebook, where we dive into kind of
the trends and different things. There's some news stuff in that also in Golf Architecture, and next week we will be releasing another member video, Garrett dove in to the Lido, the new golf course up at San Valley. He did a one thing about every hole at the lidos, so that's a whole by hole Lido video. I just watched the rough draft of it. As you with Garrett doing something like that, it's sensational. There's some historical stuff, architecture stuff.
Oh no, like you walk away understanding one of the pieces of golf history and you know, the probably the most high profile course opening of the year. A lot better so that those member videos are awesome. In CLUBTFE, if you're looking for more from us, it's an amazing place to join as well. As we've been working really hard on our twenty twenty four events calendar. I'm really
proud of the way it's shaping up. I can, without a doubt say that we've worked harder on this event's calendar than we have on any other one prior, and I think everybody will be really excited when they see some of the venues that we've put together for next year. And CLUBTFE members get early access to those events. So if you want to join, if you're looking at joining, go to the Friday dot com slash membership. It's one hundred and twenty dollars for the year and it really
help support us. So let's go back to Joseph Lemannia. I got a text from my group of like casual friends, a casual golf friend. It was it's a group chat about golf, and you know, mostly it's revolves around like playing golf. Rarely does it revolve around the PGA Tour. It revolves around the majors during major weeks, but rarely
the PGA Tour. And the comment, the comment was like, you know, I can't I can't remember the last time there was like a meaningful shot and a meaning or meaningful golf tournament on the PGA Tour or something like that. And to me, like I immediately said, like, the last week was really good at the BMW, But I think this person didn't even know that it was a net to start that like that. It would have been in a fascinating tournament at the Tour Championship with Victor Hovlin and
Xanderschoff really separating themselves and lifting from the competition. That would have been an amazing, amazing tournament with meaningful shots hit down the stretch everything that they're looking for. I mean, like the this thing, it can't this isn't it. What the Tour Championship. I don't mean to diverge from the Ryder Cup here, but what we watched last week can't be it. And I'm not saying that like one way is it, but this isn't it.
Well, look, I know we don't want to go too far on this path, but to tie it back to the Ryder Cup. Something I had in my notes was, isn't it kind of funny that less than forty eight hours after the Tour Championship, the season end pinnacle, all anyone's talking about is the Ryder Cup and one of the captain's picks is Justin Thomas, who didn't qualify for
the playoffs at all. I mean, what does that say about how much people view what kind of light the actual tour product is viewed in with relation to you know, who's going to be playing well on the biggest stages. So don't want to derail us there, but I think it is interesting that the week after the Tour Championship, no one's talking about it.
You know, real quick, where I've like, after a few days of really thinking about this like the Tour Championship. Like I cover golf for a living, I I you know, I want it to be as successful, as popular and popular as possible, because that's that is inherently what everybody that is involved in the sport wants. They want the sport to be thriving. And you know, I think there this is a puzzle that hasn't been solved yet. It is a very valuable property in a potentially great event.
It's just not there yet. And where I, like the last couple of days, I've just found myself like very occupied in thought about what's going on and what the what the solution is and and it's a complex problem. Right. Players want regular season perform ormance rewarded. They I think if they had it their way, it would just be a payout to the best players over the course of the year. That's what they want. They do not want
the idea. They didn't want Adam shank winning, you know, eighteen million dollars by playing thirty one events, and you know, they want the best players to be the only ones that have a chance. Right, So with that in mind, I think that they need to reallocate some of this money and it needs to just go to the regular season, like it needs to be substantial amount of money, like maybe half of it just goes to the regular season. Because as Rom said last week, like this isn't about money.
This is about winning, right if you reallocated money and made the end of the regular season more valuable significantly, like I'm talking like triple the end of the regular season. I know that they have a big increase, but make that huge then have a real playoff, have the opportunity for someone to be eliminated. It was a big deal when Justin Thomas was eliminated at the Windom. That is an amazing way to have it. And then all of a sudden, this can be a competition, it can be
a actual playoff. Right now, they're stuck between wanting playoffs but also wanting to reward regular season play, and it puts you in the middle, which just doesn't work.
I think my opinions on this are well known. I totally agree.
I think everyone who plays in the Tour Championship needs to have had a season worthy of being the champion if they do win, so it should be eight to twelve players match play. I don't think I need to go on much more here. I'm in total agreement with you. One thing that you just reminded me of. That's going back to Justin Thomas a little bit, because I don't think i've heard this point made. We talk so much
about match play and how important it is. Justin Thomas skipped Dell match play this year, and if you had just played and not even done anything, he'd have made the playoffs.
I think he only played twenty one times. Adam Shank played like thirty two times for sure.
And that's a huge problem.
I'm just saying, even going back to the Ryder Cup conversation, like Justin Thomas didn't even have to beat anybody. You get points just for participating in down matchplay. He finished seventy first. If he played that event, he's in the playoffs.
It's kind of unbelievable. And you know that same events the reason that Sam Burns is on the team.
Right that That's what's what I'm saying. Yeah, it's crazy.
All right, Let's talk European team a little bit while we're here. They make their picks after the after labor day. How do you like the way that the European team's shaping up and do you have anybody that in particular at that back end, which I think is always the problem with the European team that back end of the lineup. Are there anybody? Is there anybody in that back end that you really would like to see pick?
Yeah?
Disclaimer, I watched less DP World Golf than I watch PJ Tour Golf, so a little less familiar with some of their skill sets.
I think the team is shaping up.
Well, especially at the top. I mean, how many golfers do you feel about feel better about than Victor Hoveland coming into this Ryder Cup in the way that he fits this course. So you know you're talking about Rory Ram and Hoveland at the top. And I also have a ton of confidence in the way Fleetwood sets up. I think Fitzpatrick could be dangerous. Tiro Hatton's been playing really well all year. Wouldn't surprise me if he plays well.
Lowry Rose like they've got guys, so I think they are absolutely competitive, and this thing's probably pretty close to a coin flipped with a slight edge to the Americans. On the back end, I'm less familiar with some of.
You forgot the skill set, forgot you forgot Cepstraca. You forgot Sepstraca, how dare you?
I've got him listed, but I don't.
I don't know that he's gonna, you know, break any records at this Ryder Cup, but he could be solid.
I think Ludwig Aberg's.
Interesting, especially because of how good of a driver he is, so again, without being super familiar with all the skill sets of every player who's being considered, I think you have to give him a pretty You got to give him a look.
I mean, he's an.
Excellent driver with the golf ball, both long and straight, so I think he's got a pretty good case. I'm sure Adrian Moronk won at this golf course and I'm guessing he'll be on the team. So I guess Bobby McIntyre's maybe the other player that doesn't really set up that well for the course necessarily, but it'll probably be on the team.
I think the thing with morunk and Is in particular and Aberg and Sepstraca, is that all three of those players have shown the ability to make flurries of birdies. I believe Mornk last year led the European Tour and birdies. I believe Stepstraca is near the top of the PGA tour and birdies. So if you're like unlike a lot of times we get to the back end, like obviously always, the back end of Europe is a is a struggle, like it's their you know, they just don't have the
depth that the Americans have. They aren't rolling out like you know, last year or at Whistling Straits. America's last guy on the team is is Scottie Scheffler. You know, I think the difference between this year's European team and and the recent European team is they don't have guys that are just like grinders, that are par guys like guys that make lots of parers. They have some they actually have some firepower. They have some you know, a
little bit more high variance guys. I think if you're if you're weak at the back end, you want that high variance rather than someone who's just like kind of an average plotter. I don't know how you feel about that, but it seems to me that would be a little bit more give you a little bit more dynamic of a of pairing capabilities and a team.
Yeah, and I the the back I don't know that This Ryder Cup is going to be decided by those last couple guys who aren't even gonna play that many matches. If I'm looking at where Team Europe's are vulnerable, it's probably more in the middle, where you have you start to stack up like the Hatton Lowry Fitzpatrick Roses, who you need to play a decent number of matches against, like the Xander can't lay home like some of those guys in the middle. I think that's probably what will
ultimately decide this Ryder Cup. They're fine at the top, the bottom is serviceable. I think you need some of those guys in the middle to step up and like who Andy, Who's gonna be that player on Team Europe that isn't one of the top three but just shreds it.
I think that the natural reaction right now, based off of how he's played the last four months, how he's played in Ryder Cups before, is Tommy Fleetwood right. He seems like a guy that has to play well for them them to win. Matt Fitzpatrick hasn't earned a Ryder Cup point yet, and I think he's a dramatically different golfer than he was the last time this was played,
and I think that that could be. You know, he could be a big swing guy to me if I'm looking at it, Like Shane Lowry was really good at Whistling Straits. He seems to play, he plays. He's not the most accurate player, but you know, he's got a good short game and he's fiery. I you know, I hate I kind of hate that expression, but he's a kind of guy that is a competitor, you know. The I would I would lean towards Fleetwood, Fitzie as the guys that are really the swing guys that they need
to play well. They need two of the three of Hatton, Fleetwood, and Fitzpatrick to play well.
I agree, I think those are I could see Matt Fitzpatrick doing very well in this golf course.
Yeah, so early prediction, who would you who would you give the edge? I mean your newsletter is called finding the Edge? Who's who? Who did you give the edge? Right now? To? Obviously the USA is heavily favored in all all books. Do you think that that shouldn't be the case.
So USA is not as favorite as they were. They were like minus two hundred. So when probability about sixty five percent as of a couple months ago, and it's down to like minus one fifty in most places, so you know, just under sixty percent when you remove the juice. It's trending that way. And I think the Team USA should be a small favorite, but not by a lot. And if you made me take either side, I would lean with the European side.
How about you.
I think the Americans are the favorites still, They're always the favorites. I think they just have so much depth. I just you know, but I would say that, like this is when you take into a fact into account form, the Europeans are certainly trending to very close and I think it's going to come down to Captaincy, like you can make up the edge and Captaincy. I would all almost give it a toss up at this point. And I think like Luke Donald might might be a bit
more cerebral. Uh. You know, you have Molinari, who's you know, that's a very data driven family in general. Uh, and then you have you know, I just think that you have, as you said, a little bit more open mindedness, a little bit more flex you know, just flexibility. I think one thing that that should be talked about is like, this is a dramatically different European team makeup. This is the first year that you don't have a lot of long term guys. Sergio is not there, uh Lee, Westwood's
not there, Poulter's not there. So this is going to be a different team dynamic too. And and I think that that is one of the big I think that you're the American team, the challenge is going to be getting a little bit of flexibility with pairings. You know, uh are are we are we rolling out just the same pairings because that's who people want to play with
or they're the best fit. I think with the Europeans, it's going to be assimilating a really new team, a really green young team together and getting people comfortable in the moment.
If as you look which Americans you feel like there's almost no way they don't play well, like they are going to be rock solid in Rome. For me, I think Xanderschafflee and Patrick Cantley, it's like, Okay, I think they're going to be really really good. Outside of that, I mean there's some other players I have confidence in, but not maybe to that degree, especially seeing some of
Scottie Scheffler's The putter recently is a little scary. Like I know said, putting's not the most important thing, but it's it's kind of at a crazy level right now. Who do you feel supremely confident in when they tee it up in Rome on the American.
Side, You know, I have to say Scottie Scheffler. Yeah, the t degree games just spent so good that I think, like, like alternate shot, he's not hitting, He's gonna hit a lot less short putts. It's not a long putting problem. It's a short putting problem. You know. Granted there's gonna be high leverage putts, but like that that ball striking in an alternate shot format is so so, so so valuable. Right So I'm very confident in Scottie despite the putter. I mean, as we saw all year again, like you
can't he just is a relentless guy. I think more Kawa with recent recent form. I feel really good about two so I and I would Echo, Can't Lay and Sander. So I think those four I feel really good about. But I don't think I feel as good about any of them as as I feel about really like I Rom's not playing well I do. I'm not worried about rom hoveland Is, I'm not worried and and Rory I think like those three are are probably the guys that
I feel the best about. All three of those guys are the guys that I feel the three best about heading in. And I think like there's a little bit more relevant European golf the next couple weeks, like I do, like it's hard to be sharp when your season ends a month before the competition, Like I think there is an advantage to the Europeans with the way their their schedule works out that they are playing real golf two weeks before the Ryder Cup.
No disagreement here. And the only other thing I guess.
I'd chime in on is when you said you feel really good about Rory ramin Hovland, I think Fleetwood I feel similarly good about.
Not not quite on that level, but yeah, too far behind.
He's been sensational, he hasn't won, but match plays not about about winning against one hundred and fifty six guys. It's about beating one guy and if you did. If you did is like a Sagarin ranking over the last six months. It's got to be through the roof because he's been just a top ten.
Machine probably looks like Russell Hemley's.
All right, Joseph, you got anything coming up that's exciting or you know what, what can we look out for?
I'll probably put out some long thoughts on the Ryder Cup in advance of when the event actually starts, with like some pairings and some holes. I guess to tease that. It's interesting that a lot of the part reasons semi driveable par fours are all odd holes, which is just an interesting thing to start considering as you look through the pairings. So I'll be looking into stuff like that and I'll probably have some thoughts on that.
All right, so they can find you. You're writing for the Frida Egg, but also your own newsletter, Finding the Edge. Recommend everybody sign up for that. Also follow you on Twitter. So hey, Joseph, thanks so much for coming on and it's always fun to chat and looking forward, I mean, this is this is one of the this, I mean, this is probably the most fun event we have in golf. I can't wait. And what makes it so fun is all of the armschair quarterback, the quarterbacking that you can do with it.
Looking forward to it. Thanks for having me on and.
Andy, thank you for listening to another edition of the Friday Golf Podcast. Today's episode was edited by Matt Russis. Thank you, Matt, new resident of Colorado Matt Rus's congrats on the move, Matt. As a reminder, we talked about it at the top, but we've got a pro shop sale going on over Labor Day weekend. Labor Day fifteen gets you fifteen percent off everything in the Friday Golf pro Shop, so that includes print, photography as well as all the merchandise, and you just go to proshop dot
thefridagg dot com and you can peruse there. Thanks. I hope everybody has a happy and safe Labor Day weekend. I honestly probably one of my favorite holidays of the year, so look forward to it. And we will be back one episode next week. So we will be back next week with one episode. I will I'll put something together next week, so talk to you then and thanks for listening. As always,