I miss a green, for example, I'm already upset. When I find my ball in the bunker, I'm really upset. And when I find my.
Ball in a fried egg Friday egg, the dreaded Frida Egg, Friday Frida Egg brid Egg, fridagg bride egg, Lie.
I'm about ready to run off of the hump course.
Welcome back to another edition of the Friday Golf Podcast. I am your host, Andy Johnson. Today I'm super excited. I am joined by Friday Golf's Kevin van Valkenberg and Joseph Lamania. We are doing our monthly check in where we will just kind of bat around a bunch of
topics on pro golf. We recorded this on Friday of last week and now we are two for two and twenty twenty six of having pre recorded deep discussions about Chris got her Up and Chris got her Up then going on to win, so just you know these conversations.
It was kind of an in depth conversation about got her Up did happen before he won this week, which probably only adds fuel to the fire of what we were talking about with Chris gotterr Up, who is now the fifth rank player in the world of golf, which is pretty wild crazy ascension over the last eighteen months for got her up. Obviously a ton of talent. So before we get to that, today's podcast is brought to you by our friends over at golf Genius. They are
who we use for our event series. Is a software that's made our lives as people who run events all over the country all year long, much easier. It's Golf's most powerful and trusted on course GPS scoring, statistics and auto shot tracking. They have more than five million active users. They are just constantly adding features and bells and whistles beyond just the typical scoring so they provide real time
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Thanks to our friends at golf Genius. As always, we love partnering with them and they have some awesome kind of more golfer facing tools now than just the stuff that we use for our events. All right, check them out at Golf Genius. All right, let's get to Kevin and Joseph. All right, Joseph, Kevin excited to gather here in February.
We've got a a fun theme. I wanted to get out ahead of this.
I always, you know, I like, I like the block of being the first podcast to do way too early Masters storylines. Hell, I wanted to do this The way I kind of viewed this as is in a vein of like what am I watching the next couple of weeks.
We've got kind of a murderer's.
Row of events coming up with with Pebble and and and riv and then you go down to Florida and you're in the heat of Masters prep. So I wanted to, uh, kind of get this on the blocks. And obviously you have players. I guess you know. One thing I didn't know that we were going to talk about until yesterday was is the Master's the second major now?
Because the PGA Tour says it is?
And do you guys have any takes on the on the PGA Tour's new marketing slogan that this is major for the players?
I saw where Shane Ryan reached out to the PJ Tour and was like, hey, guys, like, what's going on here?
Like what are you hinting at? And their response was basically.
Like, oh, you know, people have always thought it was like really a major competition, So we'll let the you know, we'll let the masses decide what they think or whatnot. So, you know, just that kind of cutesy wink wink thing I find. Listen, I've been on this block for a long time. The majors are made up designation, Like there is no like there. Since there's no governing body in sports, you can't really like have someone decide what is or
isn't a major. Essentially, what got decided as being what is or isn't a major was decided by Arnold Palmer and a bunch of media people that Arnold Palmer was friendly with, namely like the Pittsburgh Post Gazette sports editor. Paper doesn't even exist anymore, unfortunately, So it's like, it's it's silly to me to be like, how daries on this as major? Andy, I know you're on. The Western Lam was always or the Western Open was always a major.
You know, Walter Hagen won five of those so it's not like you know that what has and has been a major hasn't been malleable throughout history. So I guess, like what I think the PGA attorney to do is just put together another blog cabin and wine and dinahs and us media types and make us decide what is or is it a major?
Kevin, I understand that the definition is malleable and has been. We need to hold the line.
This is not a major.
Live golfers aren't even allowed to play, and this is not a major championship. And I think my biggest issue with trying to do it, if people seriously want to try to do it, is that you can't then retroactively give people majors when they were playing back nines not knowing it was a major, and the pressure that's involved in trying to win a major. I understand that's been done before, but we cannot let it happen, and we need to hold the line. Four is it also just
a good number. We do not need a fifth.
It all is perfect to agreement, Joseph, there is no other need for majors. Sorry, PJ Tour, you missed out like you never should have. Let the PJA of Americas break off, you should have broke off. You made a decision, now own that forever pulled the line.
I mean, but then Don Raya would be the president of the PGA Tour right now. The I agree. I agree with the premise. I think the hardest part about winning a major is the back nine, and no back nine represents that more than I guess the National where people just like collapse and or people just can't get out of the out of the blocks because the the pressure and the expectations and the you know, anticipation. I think there's something about, you know, the beyond the players,
whether they deserve to be a major or not. You don't just get to announce that you are the first major, too, Like there's something about the order, and there is something extra about the Masters because of the first major from the you know Open or what used to be the PGA in August.
That eight month wait.
Actually adds to the pressure on the first te of the Masters because somebody hasn't felt that major feel in eight months.
That adds to.
The layers of the Masters, and that's another reason why the players can't just be a major. Interestingly enough, I think something that that comes to light with the with the PGA, and I didn't expect to get here in this podcast with the PGA moving or with the PGA moving on to new CEO, Terry Clark is hired. And while the PGA Tour is kind of, you know, really heavily throwing around the scarcity schedule, and from things that I've gathered this the schedule would yield potentially a early
August finish with a singular finishing event, no playoffs. All of a sudden, this opens the door wide back open for the PGA Championship to move back to August. It is actually of the rotating venues. You know, when you look at the American rotating venues, it's the one that has the most free dates versus the US Open, which is kind of locked in till twenty fifty on where it's going. And that would open the door to I think like they've been kind of picking through scraps of
venues that work for them in May. That would open the door for a lot of really interesting venues. And if the tour ended their season, it's like a final event and then you have a Major after that.
I think that's actually kind of compelling for golf.
One question on that would be maybe this shouldn't be the end all be all, but like PGA Frisco August at PGA Frisco is not a good time to host that tournament. And I don't know, maybe that means that PJ Frisco isn't a heavily featured golf course in the PGA Championship future venue list, which would be totally fine with me. But that would seem like kind of a big issue that they were so committed to that facility and I thought that was a big part of their
future plans. Like, so you're going to try to host a tournament in Dallas in August, like that would not go well?
What if PJ Frisco becomes the neome of the PGA, uh, you know of America just a sunk costs.
You tried, it didn't work.
Now you just need to walk away from it, you know, like the embarrassment is what it is, like you did, it just didn't work.
I believe there's only one PGA Championship awarded to Frisco and it is next year.
Okay, so I'm writing a level it could.
Be a solvable situation. It's you know, I think there is a you know, in terms of some wisdom that Seth Waw bestowed on the general golf public when he was the CEO of the PGA, he described the process of locking in dates into the twenty fifties as quote unquote irresponsible.
And this is, you know, if they.
Were to potentially move back to August or consider it, the the fact that they have a free schedule is very compelling and just you know, to give listeners an idea. You know, we're we're we just hosted at Quail Hollow, we had Valhalla the year before. Venues that are all of a sudden open for the PGA if they go back to August chamber Spay.
I think a prime time.
Augus guest event at at Chambers Bay, where you're deciding a champion and watching pivotal weekend rounds at nine pm Eastern would be very popular in a dead zone of sports. You also open up, you know, the renovated Madina three, which we will we will see this year at the President's Cup. I think that's going to be one of the more compelling PGA or you know, championship golf courses of the next thirty years.
There's no real space for it for a US Open.
It's a huge media market Chicago obviously, then you get the likes of Aaron Hills in Whistling Straits. Furthermore, like when you think about sheer population density, the number of people within four to five hours of those places that can attend, and what a great time to host in that area. So I think that is a fascinating topic of discussion for the PGA. And while we're talking about you know, this is all done by the PGA Tours, uh, you know, marketing campaign.
But yeah, I just I.
Think the this is Yeah, I didn't really expect this year to be a year where you have these huge underlying stories that are happening in the background of the golf that aren't you know, really around live. It's more around what does the PGA Tour look like moving forward? Because I think everybody expects to see wholesale changes and then how does everything fall around that. And I think the PGA, you know, with the with their new CEO of Terry Clark, is kind of a lynch pin here.
The other part of all that that I don't know that really got brought up. Somebody can check me on this, but the college football schedule just also got altered for next year, and I believe now is supposed to the final is what the weekend before the super Bowl. So if the PGA Tour was thinking about still because people have said that the Tory week this week still would
have worked the week before the super Bowl. But now if that would be possibly competing with college football, the college football final, I wouldn't think that's something that Brian Rolapp wanted to would want to steer into. So I would maybe be further amo for starting the season after the super Bowl. I don't know, but I thought that that was probably a relevant announcement with the college football finally getting I don't know, Ken if you have any thoughts on that.
Yeah, I just wonder so much how how much of a winning strategy is to just be like, oh, we're so worried about football, like we got to keep away from football. Like I kind of feel like, differentiate your product,
you know, make it, you know. Maybe so it's not specifically lined up in terms of the exact same broadcast window, but you know, sometimes golf can be a good like entree to the actual football like later in the afternoon or evening, like maybe just find ways to not go directly up against it, but don't don't be so scared of it that you're gonna alter your entire schedule just to avoid it. I just say Andy Chambers Bay was number one on my draft picks of of PJ venues that I would like to see return.
I feel like, uh, it.
Got a raw deal and I just really want to see something come back there because I think it's a cool venue for pros.
Yeah, you just you just think about what they can do in August, and it would be incredible. And it's just you know, there's some venues in and listen like they they almost need to lean in that, Hey, we aren't the we aren't the us GA.
We know we're not the us GA. We aren't going to get the top flight.
But are there other venues that make a ton of sense for us UH to go do because of markets? And one that just got discarded with you know, no second chance is Chamber Spae. You know, I think they're they're super thirsty for for pro golf, high level of pro golf. And you know what a great you know, kind of tell vision product. When you think about it, you know, it's it's it's a waterfront, uh late late broadcast window golf like that.
That is a great combination. Let's get to.
The way too early Masters storylines. As I said, I think this is a way to kind of a way you can kind of view a lens. I think, like if you think about other sports, like you're constantly talking about regular season and and does this work for the postseason or is this a recipe that can get you to the super Bowl? You know, it's always viewed through the lens of of of majors, and with the Masters less than two months away, this is this is the time to start to think about about stuff. And uh,
I'm curious what uh what are what are some storylines? Joseph, Why don't you lead us off?
I mean, yeah, it's fun to zag a little bit, but I think we'd have to We have stars, Scott Scheffler.
I want to let him down because I knew I didn't need a list them.
Yeah, it's more fun to start with somebody a little more off the board, which I'm sure we'll get to. But the more I think about it, I think Scotty Scheffler finishes his career with at least four Masters, Like I think a fifth is very in range. He has completely dominated. It's a golf course that is so perfectly well suited for him. And I don't know, I've been thinking a little bit about the combination everyone talks about, like iron play and short game and the little power. Yeah,
we know that. I think the ability to control your driver the way Scotty does and hit really high ballflight pure iron shots is a combination that not that many golfers have. I think a lot of guys can hit the really high iron shots, but then they're not always the most in control of their golf ball off the tee.
It is such a rare combination to have both of those things that, Like, I think Rory's a great example where when he's driving it well, like we know he can win the Masters, but obviously the driver can get a little bit away from him, and so he has that high, towering ball flight, but sometimes it gets a little bit out of control.
Scotty has just.
This unique combination of having both those skills plus a world class short game. He's gonna be one of the strongest favorites we've had at a Master's in a long time. And yeah, I don't think anybody should be anywhere close to Scotty right now. Despite sure of a bad round, we're recording this during the waste management. I don't think that bad round. He played men a whole lot. He's like,
it's not going to be fifty to fifty. But I think there's a very good chance Scotti Scheffler's winning his third Masters in April.
I look, I think he's I might go over Joseph even on five jackets, Like I think we're really I mean, he's thirty, like crazy, you know, probably twelve more years, thirty more years of legitimate Masters like contention where he would be among the favorites, if not the favorite, it'd be the favorite probably for the next five to six years,
barring any kind of injury. And it just said, no, course is set up better for him just in terms of great iron play, great short game to recover putting is kind of uh, you know, minimized, but even still like he's a very good putter now. So yeah, I think we could be looking at like it's probably like Nicholas's record of eighteen is out of like range, but I think six masters.
Yeah, maybe that's that's with more realistic than you'd think.
Yeah, I I mean, you think about like the crop of real challengers right now, it's kind of weak. I think like there is like a world where where Scotty's kind of like choked some players out, you know, and he's had had this this effect and impact on golf where people have size tried to to chase things to improve because of the bar that Scotty has set and maybe has had some negative impacts. I'll jump in here one of my big stories I'm kind of watching right now.
I'm going to just call them the down bad group. Players with very lofty expectations from the general public, media appears themselves, who are not performing at the level that we would expect at this point in their career. I have in this group Ludwig who's taken a clear step back,
and it's it's very early. So you know, my kind of framing of this is like one of these guys, which ones of these guys are going to show life so that they can be a first page Masters betting favorite in the sense of a real challenger.
And all of.
These players I think need a kind of like a seismic directional shift from what we've seen to feel that way. So I've got Ludwig, who's obviously contended the two Masters. He's played in real contention, Xanderschoffley, Colin Morikawa, who is a ace at Augusta National tremendous track record, but also is playing You know, I would say the worst golf of his career, Victor Hovlin and Jordan Speed, which one of these players is going to flash and show some
sort of life. And I think, like I put Speed kind of on the very end of this list.
I threw him on here.
Joseph's face you thought you were.
I just threw him on here.
You know, the track record had Augustus good even with recent bad things. But like, if Jordan Speed moderately good golf, you're going to start to hear the Augusta things. And he's shown he can compete even when he's playing poorly.
Oh on, Joseph, He's shown he can compete Augusta.
There's so many there's probably twenty.
Bad golf Lash year he was top fifteen.
Okay, talking about winning, I think there's probably twenty names that are winning. But this thing before Jordan Speed, But go on.
But anyways, so I this is that down bad group, but it ties to Scotti where like you look at the OWGR or you look at Data Golf or wherever you wherever you want to get your new your your news and your rankings for from you know, I know, our live our live listenership, would you know probably has some other form of ranking service they want us to
look at. But like you look at the contenders, like the in terms of like who's playing the best golf, and you know, with Xander being on this list, like Xander's playing right now and I don't you know this, He's playing as if he's the forty fifth best player in the world.
You know.
What, he looks bad right now.
And you start to look at the list and it's like, okay, so there's Rory obviously, but then it's it's forty five year old Justin Rose. There's Tommy Fleetwood, Major list, Tommy Fleetwood, Russell Henley who's not going to win the Masters. I'm just gonna put that out there. He's not going to win the Masters. Bob McIntyre, nice player, JJ Spawn, Ben Griffin who's never played a Masters. Justin Thomas is obviously hurt.
Then you get to Harris English, Sepstraka, Alex Norin like you know, The next person who I'm intrigued by and would I would say, is an intriguing player to.
Watch right now is Hideki Matsuhama.
But you know, you start to look at this list and and one of the things that Scott He's done is that three years years ago you look at the top ten in the world and you're like, this is stacked, Like what a great time to be a golf fan, what sublime young talents are in the sport, And right now you look at it, and I don't I don't know if this is directly tied, but it seems to me that while Scott He's ascended, there are ben some players that have flat out self destructed.
Do you think the two are related or do you think that it is Actually I think they are. Really you hinted at that, and I would I would be interested to unpack that a little bit more. Just I mean, look, the one conversation, though, I think would lend evidence that what I would point to is like Marikawa just being like completely baffled, you know, not Lasher's matches, but the year before about like, hey, I've got to hit five
iron into like the fifth hole. He's hitting eight iron like that's just an impossible ask for me.
And you know, did.
Markaua has he been trying to sort of gain a little distance a little bit And that's why the short game looks horrendous right now. Is is just kind ofgleck that or lost the plot with that, Like I don't know, I mean, I would be interesting to see if you guys think how closely tied together those Scotty's ascendants is with the regression.
I think it absolutely is, because what is you know, the interesting aspect of Scotty's process and persona is it's like just business as usual. You know, we have a we have like a you know, a saying that's becoming prolific within our company of like run the damn ball. Scotty's process has run the damn ball personified. Like he just wakes up and he says, we're going to half back dive and it's like I'm going to do my grip work. You know, it's it's well popularized. We've talked
about this on the spot a ton. This simple process that he just does over and over and over and over again, and he's just reinforcing his golfer DNA over and over and over and over over again, and this golfer DNA has over whelmed his peers, overwhelmed them. And what I think it's done to them is it has forced them to try and get out of their golfer DNA to to reach a level that they aren't at, and that's where you're seeing some of this regression come from.
I think Xander's a unique case with this group of like there was an injury, but at the time at that at the time of the injury, really you were like, wow, like Xander, you know, Scotti's one, but Xander's two, and look at this like skill set that like really is comparable to Scotty in some regards. I think these a lot of these other guys, and I mean Jordan Speedt's like the quintessential of this, like has just basically lost his fingerprint as a golfer over the years.
But you look at the other guys.
With Morikawa, I don't really know what's going on with Ludwig, but you know, Victor is his own kind of basket of trying to search for that dragon. You know that's gonna like trying to slay the dragon constantly. In the New One, he got to the top of the game with the FedEx Cup, where you know people are like, this guy might be the best.
Player in the world, but he's still searching for something else.
I think that they're the world golf rankings and what's happened to the top flight who we believe the top flight contenders. It's just so many have fallen off that it lends me to believe that Scotty has had to do something with it.
What's issue about that theory, Andy, is like you look at like Fleetwood and Rose, who've kind of been at maybe the raised their level a little bit, is that they were kind of established and who they were before Scotty ever appeared on the scene, unlike some of those sort of you know, younger guys who are of his generation. I think you could make a connection of like, hey, those guys kind of knew what they're DNA was and they didn't really mess with it just because the next Tiger arrived.
It's it's actually fascinating, right You think about like who's raised their profile the most, and it's Russell Henley, Tommy Fleetwood, and.
Justin Rose.
A forty five year old Russell Henley's got to be like thirty eight off the top of my head, Younger thirty six or thirty seven, Fleetwood thirty six or thirty seven, all you know, and then Bob McIntyre's kind of the outlier here, but it is I'm fascinated by what Scottie's psychological impact is on golf right now. That might be the most, you know, the most un you can't you can't statistically prove what he's doing, but all signs point to he is overwhelming people.
Rory might be the only thing keeping him from going like secretary at the Secretariat at the Belmont, Like if Rory's flay falls off all of a sudden, the gap between Scotty and everybody else is going to be so vast like it, Yeah, I don't know, but people even showing up at major so that that gay.
That that's where you can get kind of tantalized of Xander two years ago, twenty twenty four, Xander because he had he didn't have Rory pop in the bat, but he there's so few guys that mix. Like what Rory can do to Scotty when you watch them play together is it's like, Okay, Scotty is.
Unbelievable.
Approaching the Green but Rory's really good when he's on approaching the green and he's hitting from twenty five or thirty yards ahead. Xander reached this apex in twenty twenty four because he wasn't as long as Rory, but he was in the in the discussion, you know, he's hidden one eighty one eighties consistently ball speed numbers, and that he's mixing. I'm also a top ten iron player in the world. With that, I have a great short game,
and I'm a great putter like he's mixed. Yeah, if you think about the blueprint for beating Scotty at this point, we've seen I ironically like no names beat him, which is very actually tiger like. Like you think about who won the Houston Open over him a couple of years ago, Yeager, Yeger beat him, which is like, uh, but where you've seen I think where the blueprint to beating Scottie is is.
You do have to overwhelm him a little bit off the tee.
You have to earn your advantage there to get the shorter club to approach with and say, hey, Scotty's unbelievable with an eight iron in.
His hand, but I can match that with a wedge in my hand.
You kind of need him to have a bad putting week like that is, if he has a good putting week, I don't think we're anybody else really has a chance of winning this year's Masters. But the overall theory Andy is interesting. I do think you have to look at it case by case, like maybe this will age poorly. And I'm sort of not on an island, but I think the Ludwig is regressing storyline is being way overblown
right now. He had a really bad week at Tory, but the back half of last year Ludwig was pretty good. A lot of it is on the DP World Tour, but Ludviig's still twenty six, and we talk all the time on this podcast about the best players hitting their strides between twenty seven and thirty five. Ludwig has now finished in the top ten of both of the first two Masters he's played in, and he's just now hitting that peak where we start to expect more consistent results.
So like in Ludwig's case, I actually don't think. I don't think the wow he's on the downturn and we're seeing and decline is going to age super well. Like I think six months from now, we're going to be having a very different conversation about love big so Xander, Yeah, injury, like I think it is case by case. And the one other name I don't think you mentioned is John Rahm, who I think has a very good chance of winning
the Masters outside of Scotty. So is it Scotty's dominance that we've seen a little bit of regression from some of these guys, or is Scotty just so much better than everybody else that it looks like that when these golfers aren't actually getting appreciably worse, Like I think John ram has gotten a little worse. Xander's definitely gotten a
little worse post injury. But like Kevin's saying, like Tommy Fleetwood's playing the best golf he's ever played, Rory Plat has elevated his level last year, I don't know that it's true that everybody's getting dissuaded by what Scotty's doing.
You know, Joseph, your loving point reminds me of something my football reporting days, where I used to cover the Ravens and was read a lot about Joe Flacco, And you know, there's always a debate about this flack elite
is flacko progressing whatever. And remember asking John Harbor about something once and he was like, you know, you guys think of progression as like a chart that like it just kind of goes up like this, but in reality, it's more like a staircase, like it goes up and then it flattens, and it goes up, and it flattens
and it goes up. So you know what our expectations for for Ludvig are probably going like that, but the reality is is like he took that leap and maybe like we're sort of in one of those brief flat lines where it kind of is going to go up
again in a little bit. And look, you're right, nobody seems like a better course fit for the Masters than him, and a lot of its from early results, so we could see that sort of flip all of a sudden, it's like, oh, Ludvig's back, when really, you know, we just were kind of in one of those little lulls.
And like JJ Spahn had a breakout year. Was he thirty four last year, like we're talking Ludvig's twenty six. Like I do think there needs to be a little more grace with us getting a little bit reacting super strongly to what we saw in an event in January. Like the whole conversation around the Masters is going to change after the players and golfers are going to start
to turn it on a little bit. I wonder, Andy to your theory about like broader themes influencing play if the new schedule in a little bit more of an off season is going to lead to some slower starts into us overreacting to some January February results. I think love thing could have this thing turned around within three weeks and we won't even remember what happened to Tory Pines.
It's like the trend of players not playing preseason football and then they come out week one and look a little sloppy, and it's like, well, like how much stock do you want to put into week one and week two?
Yeah?
Fair analogy, Kevin, what's your first what's kind of your first storyline you want to hit on?
I kind of want to think about, like, is Chris got her up emerging to be.
On my way?
I figured you guys might have that on one, but like, this is someone who's aggressive, who's just a really good driver of really good iron player, has a lot of different shots, can shape the ball different different ways, you know, and as young and to where you're like, holy shit, like this might be you know, the beginning of something really great. And you know, I think like that Scottish Open win last year was sort of like a like whoa, like, oh, this is a real player. This isn't just like a
you know, a you know, a fluke here. I mean that this is someone who can play on real golf courses, you know, re Renaissance Club notwithstanding, but this is someone who can play in a lot of different weather and I think just he's kind of the player I'm in some ways most interested in this season early on, because like now we're reaching part like okay, like you're going to be in all the majors, can you contend in one?
Like I don't know if winning one is a realistic thing, but he's good enough to contend that great at part rush too yeah oh yeah.
Just as like a you know, just a side and I know Scotty had an awful first round, but you know, you talk about ascension and getting Scottish Open. He stares down Rory in a final round and wins. You know, it's a big time, big time round, less consequential round, but still you know you are kind of a player de joure of the early season.
What does that earn you?
In Scottsdale in the first round pairing with Scottie Shuffler and you go out and beat him by ten? Guy, I think the guy has the most importantly, Like all these guys have incredible traits, incredible talents. I think the thing that I like about got Her Up the most is the attitude and the effective I know I belong
here and I am this good. You know, there is what I feel like with got Her Up that shines through the most beyond just the power the sheer traits is he seems to believe he belongs in any moment that he finds himself on the golf course.
I'm with you. Something I was working on that I had put out this week was looking at early major success. It was a thing I was focused on with within the context of Ludwig, but looking at guys over the past like fifteen sixteen years who in their first full season of majors and I just said full season being they played at least two Because I didn't want these random like they started as an amateur three years before they actually started playing major. So first season with at
least two majors, how did guys do it? And you go and look at who had early success in majors, and almost all of them have gone on to do something impressive to win, Like the top five names are will z Ala Taurus who then got hurt. So it's a little bit of it. That's a sad one. Morikawa who won multiple Scottie right comes out has immediate major success. Obviously we know what scott He's gone on to do. Jason Day, it's another person who pops up goes on
to be the world number one. Last year was Chris Gottrup's first year where he played at least two and he had the second best but at least by strokes gain from a strokes gain standpoint, second best performance of any player last year who played in at least a weekend or two weekends. I might have written, but it was Scottie number one at three and a half strokes around, and then it was Chris Gottrup at two and a
half strokes around. Played well at Oakmont and as you mentioned, Andy like was involved late at Port Rush, So it might be just staring us right in the face that the guys who show this at an early age, especially who have projectable skills with the ball striking. He's a
great driver the golf ball, really good iron player. It kind of gets like, wait, why not Chris Gotter up, Like it might be just be an obvious one that's looking us right in the face that of course he's going to play well in majors this year.
That's kind of how I felt last fall. I feel like Joseph, we did something on breakout players last fall, and I think I've said, like, I think Chris gotterup ends up being a top ten.
Player in the world, top twelve player in the world.
And I do think that it is staring us right in the face, like this is a guy that goes anywhere in the game, translates, and then he has the mentality like not scared.
I think like I you know, listen like.
I I've you know, over the years, you get to know guys that have accomplished a lot in the game, and you know, you resoundingly, resoundingly like you end up in conversations talking about people that maybe never got to where you thought they would get to or win one
of the things that you thought they would want. And oftentimes, what I've found in talking to the best of the best is that their common response is, you know that guy just doesn't have it that in the moment, you see it on their face, and and I think that is like an underrated It's it's you can't really synthesize it.
But it's so different than all the other sports in a way, like people like you see this late in an NBA game or a college basketball game where it becomes non reactionary and guy misses late game free throws and then they're choke artist.
Right.
The thing with golf is like every shot has that period of time, and that insurmountable pressure that you feel just gets heavier and heavier the later you go into a tournament, and and it is just not getting off the bus on Sunday, right. And you see this happen time and time at some events. And I think Rory probably would talk eloquently about his struggles at Augusta National, and in many years he didn't. People were like, why
can't he get started well? Because you feel this immense pressure that makes it you know, He talked about this year with like the first tea, like there's the most nervous I've been ever, Like some players in their makeup cannot hand that. And I think that's where you see
slow starts to majors. What you highlighted on. Chris Goddrup played last year his two biggest tournaments as a professional, in the US Open and the Open Championship, and people will huff and puff about, Oh, you guys are I think he finished T twenty three or T sixteen in the US Open, T twenty three.
Ye people are, oh, oh T twenty three, Like.
You guys are. This is his first major as a pro. I believe, maybe second.
I think he had started one. I'll have it up once.
But anyways, like at a time he played in this is his third.
He played in the US Open in twenty twenty two, one PGA in twenty twenty four, and then this was just it was really his first start as being like an established.
Yeah, you come out and you you I think I believe he led the field and driving and he and it's just like part of this, like he plays this stretch of golf.
I think he has it is my greater point.
I guess the question would be the short game, right, like, I don't know, I don't know that we know. I mean, his short game numbers are actually pretty good looking through it now it's his debut, if you want a nitpick, we do see a little underperformance and players master's debut. So like maybe, but to Andy, to your point about not being overwhelmed, I think that could be a mitigating factor.
There a little bit that he won't show up and be completely awestruck by everything he's seeing, like he might just be a gamer and ready to play it. So yeah, I think it might be staring us right in the face.
Speaking of people who do not feel like gamers at the moment, Andy, like, would you buy or sell more Kawa going forward? In the just idea of like we're going to see a bounce back. I mean I don't love the like, oh, you know he won his team majors during COVID, there was no actual pressure, like you know, there's still pressure of like you know, you're coming down the back night of a major.
I think some of that is overblown.
But if we are talking about like do you have it in the moment when you don't have to be actionary when you have to think through your shots, Like is some of that overwhelming Marikaua now to where he's just sort of scrambled on certain things where his limitations are starting to show up more and more.
I think it's a puzzling situation with Colin Marikawa. The clip that obviously went viral early the week of the Phoenix Open with him chipping is alarming. I think chipping short game struggles for the best players in the world befuddle me completely.
I do not understand short game.
If you want to be a competent short game player, all you need to do is be fundamentally sound and be able to read the lies. And I think that the crazy thing about Morikawa, and you can just see it clear as day on that chip, is this is
a guy that's won to majors. He has been routinely one of the five best players in the world, and the fundamentals look awful on the chipping, and I think we've seen this, like having a bad short game that you can't trust is a recipe for coming up short in major championships because you are eventually going to have to get up and down. You're going to have to save those critical pars and winning majors is totally about
keeping your momentum pointed forward. And oftentimes the par saves from hairy situations that you get up and down because you know you can dump it over here and it might not be the easiest chip, but it's doable. Are the things. I mean, that's what makes Scotty magic. Like you could look at Scotty and his majors and so often the pivotal moment and you think about like the obvious one, the clearest day one was when he chipped
into the Masters on the third hole. But you go to last year at Port Rush, there was you know, in the in the final round, he's just trying to nail down the door.
There were up and downs.
I you know that that lead that fueled that kept him out in front. You know, there's always these chippens. To me, that's one of the things that goes underrated about Rory McElroy. If you watch Pinehurst when he didn't get it done in the middle part of the of his final round, there were extraordinary up and downs that kept him in it when he was kind of hairy. So anyways, I think, like with more Kawa, I don't know I kind of thought he was going to rebound
this year. But I mean, if you can't figure out, like I don't understand how you haven't found a coach that can get you fundamentally sound on the short game when your job is to play professional golf.
Just would add his putting has also been horrendous the last year. And when you're talking about a player who already is a little bit limited speed wise, he's he's not like Russell Henley lanth off the tea, but he's he's giving up distance to the top guys and has multiple other holes in his game the short game. You're referencing Andy and his putter has been awful since last year. That you have to be incredible. He has to put on like the one of the best iron displays to
be playing from behind guys. It's just it feels like there's too much that has to go right for Colin to be a serious contender.
I think we thought, you know, this is a generational iron player. You know he's, oh, he has the same dispersion with a six iron that most people have with a nine iron. All that talk, like, yeah, we thought that that was going to make him be a contender.
Forever.
We just didn't sort of see that these other holes might emerge within his game. But I I may I was wondering kind of at the Ryder Cup, like, is this the last team make American team that we see markw make for you know?
Ever maybe like, yeah, it's it's.
Kind of harsh to put it that way, but look, we're talking about like a lot of younger guys are going to sort of start to put more pressure on him. And would you right now like take Colin Mark Howe over Pearson Coudi or Michael Thorbjornsen on the President's Cup, Like, I think that would be an insane sort of decision to to do what the Americans have often done, which is like sort of, well pick the guys who have experience as opposed to like pick the guys who are,
you know, like the next coming. And I feel like there's a good chance that the game is sort of starting to slip.
From markwa Now.
Look, we could look dumb when he finishes T ten and Augusta or I could look dumb, but it just doesn't feel like it's trending in the right direction now.
Joseph, I don't know if you've done any data analysis on this, but i'd i'd be you know, this is prescient with Brooks right now.
Putting related.
Yeah, I'm just curious if the numbers beare this out because I think this is just like you know, if you've been.
Intertwined in the golf in golf, you kind of know this.
But I think something we don't put enough credence to is that putting gets just exponentially harder as you age. You don't have the nerves, you don't have the naive you don't have like the naive approach it.
It is kind of part of golf that gets.
Harder when you enter your thirties and forties, and and I think you see skills deteriorate, and we've seen skills deteriorate historically, Like it gets harder to be a great putter. And I think a lot of it is like you lose your innocence, as Padrick Harrington would say, and like you know, you listen to you listen to Rory talk about chasing the feeling when we had him on the shotgun start where he's like, I was trying to chase that youthful ex uberants, like that that spirit and that
love of the game and that care free attitude. You remember, do you remember when when people putted it with the pins in and during COVID and with the rule change and Adam Scott you know, got off to a great start he had and people asked him like about putting with the pin in and He's like, it just reminds me of being a kid on the putting green and putting into those little the you know, the little mini size flags on a putting green. Putting is is like
so much harder. When you get older, you think about more stuff. When you get older, you're more aware and that you know, with with with what you said about Colin's putting, you know, also deteriorating that he was never a natural putter.
My mind's going a lot of directions now. I think, yes, I believe it is born out that you get worse and putting as you age, but I would think that would be I think most of that happens after the ages that Colin is currently. Yeah, Like I think that's
you're talking about somebody in their late thirties. I also wonder how technique factors into some of this too, and that is there something technical happening as Colin's trying to work out his ball striking that then like manifests itself in his putting.
I don't know.
Luke Kurdanin had just put out an awesome video about how Justin Rose's full swing impacts his putting and how changing to the claw has taken his putting to a new level. Like just the interaction between what you're trying to do with your ball striking and how that impacts your putting. I wouldn't be shocked if something's happening like that with Colin. So I don't know, but it doesn't look good right now.
You know what I always think about it is the one exception to that, Andy is there our boy Phil Nicholson, who got like his best putting years were from like two thousand and five to two thousand, like fifteen. He got to be like a significantly better putter by going to that claw thing or whatever he did then then what he was when he was younger.
But like that, you're right last.
Night, propose to sure did Phil get more delusional as he aged less self aware?
You know what? You might be?
Honest, Some them there just further and further into the realm of fantasy. But you're right, like the greats are riddled with a lot of guys who just lost it.
You know.
Tom Watson famously like just kind of completely forgot how to put into his thirties when he was like truly, you know what, it could have been one of the all time greats if he had putted better through his his thirties and early forties.
And Palmer kind of lost his putting.
Stroke too, Like there's a lot of stories like that where guys just lost their nerve.
I think the part I would want to really drill into is is that losing your innocence and all this mental stuff which I wouldn't want to dismiss, like I think could be could also be like the your vision and like little things that like that that can make a big difference, like you're trying to fast twitch fibers and stuff, and we I love just in general the
topic and golf of Andy. I know you talk about this a lot, Like one part of your game, you swing a certain way that helps you get driver, but it makes you struggle with your wedge, Like is there something that as you age, it is very difficult to cling to good ball striking while also having the steady parts of putting. And I don't know the answer to that, but I think it is true that you get worse.
I think that you know, this is an underrated part
of Scotty's putting transformation. Underratedly impressive part of Scotty's putting transformation is that we have seen I mean, once you feel the pressure of the putter as a great ball striker, one of the things is that everybody is everybody lives under this warped expectation that they should make more puts than they should and a lot of those putts live in the world where elite elite ball strikers hit approach shots to a lot and they can tend a lot.
They're on TV a lot, so you notoriously see them missing a lot of putts and a lot of putts that like that, there's like a weight to that, and
we saw it. I think like the poster boys for this is Adam Scott and Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood through the years, like these are the guys where it's like god, they aren't they but they also just put themselves into that zone where you're where you're statistically not supposed to make this putt, but it looks like you you know, it's another chance, it's another opportunity in that makeable range.
And that's one of the amazing things with the work that Scotty's done with the putter to get it back on the tracks is like God, he just he has these putts that are from an expectation standpoint, like the ones that tricked your mind and lead to frustration.
I also think Andy, on top of that, it is harder to make a putt under pressure, and when you're in contention, you're having to put more under pressure. And I also think this ties into what we saw at the Ryder Cup last year and people just saying that, Wow, team, Team, you're up put so much better than the US did. Like I think when you struggle to put, we do see that more under pressure. And I think that is not just this little myth that's thrown around you standing
over a nine foot or late on Sunday. It is totally different than Sunday morning when you go out T forty five and you rock it.
Up to T eighteen.
So I would also there's more to it just than the consistently hitting shots on TV. I think there's actually another underlying reason there I.
Would point out too, the ones that are blessed, there is something that pressure does that that can that can actually make everything simpler, which is a you know, and it goes to what we were talking about with like you know, some guys have it, that just have the knack and the moment in golf, and it's like when the pressure heightens, it actually slows everything down and allows people to get into tunnel, which is it's a magical skill.
It's a it's you know, in In.
I think there's probably like a lot of former athletes that are listening that probably are nodding their head. Is like those moments in time when you get there are and and for there are some people that are so gifted on the greens and I and I'm thinking about like, you know, it's what cam Young said after the Ryder Cup.
You know Justin Rose started doing Justin Rose things like that is someone that seemingly in the moment on the greens, things seem to slow down and he he executes and he makes these putts that you know, you you just don't expect to see people repeatedly do in the highest of stakes.
So I would like for that reason, like if I had a wish list for this year, it would be that Bryson would contend with Scotty in a major. Because Bryson's a really good pressure putter. He's shown it like in majors that got up and down everywhere in that Pinehurst US Open, and I think that would be fun.
Like one of the things that does kind of unnerve Scotty is when putts start, you know, not going in for him, and that's when the emotion that he you know, took years to kind of overcome and learn to sort of be even keel, Like you can still see it where he's like wanting to snap his wedge over his
knee in Phoenix because he's having a crap day. Like if you could get someone who would really put that kind of pressure on Scotty and keep making putts, keep making putts, they could make for really compelling back nine of a major. And I think we've seen Rory, you know, play great against Bryson. I want to see Bryson play great against Scotty. I want to see rom like throw lightning bolts back and forth with Scotty. I think that that would be high on my wish list for this year.
Well, Andy started this pod by saying that the premise was things to watch over the first few months in anticipation of the Masters, to see who might be a contender. Not I think if you're gonna we're going to talk about that specific topic, like watching what Bryson's iron how his iron play looks at the beginning half of this year leading into the Masters. It's a little harder to see on live, but that is a huge story. That's what kept him from winning Majors last year. His iron
play was not good. He was missing left it happened at Quail Hollow. He overturned some irons. So I do think that's a big storyline, A skill related storyline to watch this year is if Bryson's irons look pretty good going into the Masters, totally changes his outlook as a player, versus if we see what we saw last year.
I think Bryson's one of these storylines. As you said, to watch, He's obviously gone from you know what's wrong with Bryson at Augusta. You know the parse sixty seven us said fried Egg. We're tracking, you know, Bryson versus legends of the Masters when they're you know, playing out their final days Sandy Lyle, you know, like versus Bryson, one of the great tilts of all time. Now it's
the last three years been pretty good. Last year, you know, he's he's you know, fifty fifty four hole or fifty six holes into the Masters and it all of a sudden looks like he is going to win the tournament. I'm very very that is a big storyline for this year is what's the Forum going in? Obviously there's a lot of you know, there's always going to be a
lot of drama, interest and around Bryson. I think that's you know, whether it's the equipment right now, it's the live contract situation and what he's going to do next year, but playing some some quality golf before the Masters, and then I would expect to see him, you know, right there?
Can we talk about somebody else? You mentioned that if it isn't story of one a, it certainly should be right there. You want to talk putting transformations. Scotti's is the second best of the modern era camp. I do think it's worth spending a minute talking about Cameron Young.
And I'm not just saying that because that's a long running bit that I've always been very pro Cam Young, but he's going to be thrown around often as somebody who could win the Masters, like leading into it, I think in all types gambling previews, you will hear his name consistently, and I think it is absolutely warranted and what he has done with his potter. I've been watching
his Phoenix Open first two rounds. He's been in a featured group, and it is unbelievable how different of a potter Cameron Young is now, and that he's not having his best ball striking day and from fifteen feet eighteen feet like he's consistently making them or at least scaring
the hole. So I do think all jokes aside about it being a bit that in thinking Cameron Young is going to win at some point, he is a really good name to keep an eye on and watch his iron play, kind of like Bryson's going into this tournament, going into Augusta. He's played the Masters four times. First year missed the cut, second two year top tens, and then the last year his fourth year, was really struggling with his game in the spring and missed the cut.
But another person that pops up on that early major success type of leaderboard that I referenced earlier. I mean Cam Young has had what four or five top tens and majors already in his career. He's he is somebody wh should keep an eye on it. It's not a there are a lot of long shots that'll get thrown around. I think that probably don't have much of a chance of winning. Like I think Brooks's chance of winning very very low. Cam Young has a real chance of winning this Masters.
Yeah, I mean, listen, I think him and got her up probably stories young young up and comers. How they'll you know, I don't think, you know, I think Cam Young's probably passed the up and comer stage. It's you know, he's reaching his his prime. And where does he get to is a is a compelling question, you know. I'd like to point out he has a one percent win
percentage on the PGA Tour. That being said, if you look at this major success rate, like in terms of he's one of the ten, probably the ten best players in majors over the last five years, is that safe to say?
Yeah?
And he was did a lot of that being a terrible putter, and now he's legitimately a good putter, Like that is a He's a totally different player than Liverpool.
You know what, I love Joseph Is.
I was standing not far away from this when this happened, is at when Brian Harmon won his Open championship.
You know, Cam Young finished I think eighth that year and final Dylan what's that?
He was in the final pairing did not send?
It not go well right, and and Dylan the Scherk kind of grabbed him and was like, hey, you know, what do you feel about this?
Like your first top ten in a major? How you feel?
And Cam Young was like, it means nothing, It means absolutely nothing. I am kind of disgusted with the way that it went. And I was just like, man, this is someone who has much higher expectations for himself than I had. I was like, oh, like, you know, didn't you know in the final pairing didn't maybe go is what you'd hoped, but you know, you still can build
off this first top ten to major. No, he was just very dead and I thought like that kind of shows like he's still really like wanting to figure this out.
And I thought that was kind of a cool moment.
Think he's on the list of people who has a little it factor, and we saw that at Best Page.
I'm gonna just throw out this is my always uh, I'll always be a defender of this, especially as I enter this bracket of this age group. The old can an old sneak out a major. I'm looking at Justin Rose, Sergio Garcia, Adam Scott, and I'm gonna throw one more name in the ring this year who has entered this lexicon A con of of of great Augusta national players.
Jason Day.
How old is Jason Day?
Yeah, he's an old, thirty eight, thirty eight, thirty eight, He's officially crossed across this threshold. Is there a way that one of these guys could just sneak sneak a master, steal a masters? I think like the two turns that set up the best for these guys are our Augusta and you know, small field, big time course history advantage where you know the course, you can, you understand it, you don't get overwhelmed by the moment. You you know where you pick your spots. And the Open Championship.
To me, these are kind of.
The four the four players where you just want you know, and you know Sergio maybe not on everybody's radar. But as a nostalgic youth watching the Tiger Sergio duels and the Sergio always coming up short throughout my lifetime, these are just guys that I I just want. I want them to get one more, one more, and I would love to see it. I think obviously Justin Rose is going to be on everybody's bingo card.
Uh.
But these other, these other three can they can they find something in the next couple of weeks. Jason Day obviously got off to a great start on the year. Can they find something that gives them real hope at the Masters?
No?
No, I want to believe.
I want to be with the Andy, but I just I don't see Sergio being able to do it. I mean, obviously Rose, I think there's a real that's the best chance of all right. I think Adam Scott's chance came and went at Oakmont. You really only get one last kind of great ride as a late forties guy, like you're climbing to contention. That was Adam Scott's like a very normal round, you know, a even par round wins that major championship for Adam Scott, and it's like such
a career validation. You know, I wanted that so bad for him, but I think that that came and went. I honestly would say I have more faith in like Dustin Johnson finding something for a weekend at an Open Championship or at a Master's then I do like a Sergio or Adam Scott being able to make putts down the stretch. Like there's still a lot of talent in Dustin Johnson. He's not as long comparative lead to the field as he once was, but you know, this is
someone who's contented in Open championships before. Like I could see, you know, Birkdale being an interesting sort of setup for him, and you know it's obviously his major. He's not in all the majors that much further going on, so you know, it probably is like his time might be running out in the sense of other than the Masters, where he's going to be in for another, you know, twenty years. But this is I still like DJ's chances better than Sergio's.
I just don't see it happened in for Sergio. A lot of stuff had to go right for Sergio to get that one. Talk about someone who maybe didn't have it in those moments in a lot of ways. I just don't see the stars aligning for that.
Again, I think the unknown with DJ is what does does Miguel to to energize him as a player, you know, the addition to of to the four aces maybe.
Could be We've never seen the effect that having Miguel t Whenna on your team has on a player. True who can say situation No, I don't think. I think Justin Rose is a legit contender.
Andy.
I think Adam Scott. I worry that, like that's an underrated storyline for the year, not just the Masters, Like is Adam Scott kind of done? Which would be really sad? But his last year outside of Oakmont was not super promising. And I do worry a little bit that we don't have a lot of time left with Adam Scott.
What's uh, what's the you know one thing?
I don't know if anybody will matches the consecutive majors that Adam Scott's rolling down and anytime soon? What's the what emptying out the notebook, any any last thing you guys want to get in here? There's one player we haven't talked about.
Good question, I think, I mean, look, I kind of just because I like him so much as a person. I'm really hoping for a Max Homa bounce back a little bit. You know, he's played okay in the first start of the season. I know, Joseph, Yeah, you're you're reluctant to see it. I mean, look, he was a top ten player, you know, a couple of years ago, and is he a top thirty player?
Like is?
I think, you know, that might be a more realistic ceiling to what it is. He certainly says that he's kind of rebuilt things and feels really good, feels comfortable putting the club in certain positions now that he didn't last year. Like his comeback is you know, kind of just as interesting, if not more so to me than speak I'm not take away like the you know, personal sort of love I have for him. You know, I'm not super convinced that this is a realistic thing, but
I'm rooting for it. And you know, maybe having played well at Augusta in the past, like could show some signs there. If he builds gets in some confidence and builds on that, maybe we're trying it in the right direction.
I'll throw one like real long shot, but I think somebody that is interesting to pay attention to in the early half of the PGA Tour season is Rasmus Nyerguard Peterson, who had a really impressive win in Australia back in the off season. Not the off season, but some people I really respect think very highly of his game. And he's another guy that came out to some success last
year in majors. He played well at Oakmont, believe he finished what T twelve, really good ball striker and he's kind of ascending on that similar he's twenty six, similar age to Chris got her Up. I just think he's somebody to keep an eye on. Is a real long shot. He got in via his win at the Australian Open in December and yeah T twelve at Oakmont last year, like early major success, pretty big unknown, but there are
worse names you could pick. I think he has a better chance of winning than a lot of people that get floated around.
I'll just like a real quick notebook dump Andy, I'll just throw out I mean I mentioned theor Barenson and Pierson Coudie obviously like they're young talented people like but Michael Kim, like winning the French Open, you know, is Michael Kim like a top fifteen American player. I mean, I think you could make the case that he might be.
So I don't know, like if we can build a little bit on that, But you know, he he played pretty darn well throughout the course of last year, and I think that there's a chance that you know, again, he's a top thirty player in the world.
Is that his ceiling? Maybe, but maybe there's you know.
Some some times to flash a little bit in there and win a couple of events.
I'm gonna address. We haven't talked about Rory McElroy entering a Master's for the first time without without the the no Masters win hanging over him. Is there any do we have have any any sort of thoughts on is Rory freed up? Is this going to be kind of a celebratory Masters? What do you want to see from Rory the next eight weeks?
Really good iron play? I think, I mean the so yeah, I mean, the Potter was incredible last year. It's like one of the most slept on stories of last year that Rory took his putting in to just a completely different level. He's always you know, he's going to have power. We know that, like, hopefully the driver looks decent, But I don't know my expectations for I don't know what
to expect of Rory this year. I think probably why he wasn't one of my top storylines, Like I could completely see a little bit of a down year, celebratory year. The Champions Dinner is going to be an unbelievable event
that people are going to be going nuts about. I can only imagine what that will be like for Rory emotionally, right before starting the Masters, I could see a big letdown, but at the same time, like he's the only person that has been doing this consistently for nearly twenty years, and it feels stupid to discount that Rory McElroy like
could be in the mix on Sunday. So I think my expectations are kind of low, and I think it's really hard to go through what the emotions that he will go through the days leading into the Masters and then turn it on for a player that's been inconsistent at times at Augusta. But I wouldn't Yeah, I don't want to be too dismissive. I'd say my expectations are fairly low.
Though they was talking about like peaking at the right moments and swimming like I'm tapering. Oh no, I'm peaking like I'd like to see him peak at the right moment. So I don't really care what happens with Pebble, don't really care what happens with the players. Already crossed those things off his list last year. It seems like it would be hard emotionally to get up for those things
again when you just accomplish them. But I would like him to sort of really dial it in as we kind of glide into the Masters, and if not the Masters, then a little bit beyond right, like he a major on Adding another major to the total would be I think a great year, no matter what happened for Rory, because nothing else is kind of really relevant in terms
of how we'll view him historically. So however it goes this year, as long as one of those wins, one of those peaks results in a major, it's a success.
You know, you look at his career, I think you can reliably count on five more good years, really good elite years that would put him at a you know, you think about if you get Rory to forty in relative form in what I mean by that top five player in the world, you look at a career of a twenty year top five in the world career that's just not going to exist very often in the post pro v one four hundred and sixty cc.
Driver head era of golf.
And if that major total gets to six, seven or eight in that period of time, he have one of the greatest careers of all time.
Obviously, there's going to be a lot of retro.
Active look backs of of Rory's year last year. There is going to be a lot of I think the the feeling on the grounds of the Master is going to be very festive because of the you know, last
year result. If he's able to compartmentalized and and and kind of put it in get into gear and into the tournament again, I'm I'm fascinated about how, you know, we might what we might see, and obviously, you know, having those good memories to go back from, even in a tournament which he won completely in his own way. You know, it's totally unique, you know, recipe for winning at Augusta National with large amounts of mental mistakes, but also with you know, some of the most extraordinary shots
we've seen on or pressure of any player. So I think, listen, I think we need to see a lot of contention. Is the blueprint is last year, a lot of contention leading into the Masters.
Just to your point, Andy, because you mentioned his longevity, I was looking it up as you were saying that, Yeah, if Rory can, he has finished every year since two thousand and nine with at least one top ten in a major championship. If he extends that through twenty twenty eight, he'll be the only player besides Jack Nicholas to ever do that in the strokeplay era. So I mean, just like a remarkable level of consistency for twenty years to
be competitive every year, year in and year out. So yeah, it doesn't seem inconceivable.
I mean you look at it. It's like I think it was the Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits. It's like, I don't think he's been outside owgr top fifteen since the maybe the ankle injury that he had with with the soccer. He is a crazy, crazy career and I think like, yeah, we're we're in the We're in the kind of the final chapter, and I'm really excited to see, you know what, what's written down you know, I.
Just looked it up and I was surprised to see this, But in twenty twenty one he actually dropped to sixteenth.
That was right around the Ryder Cup.
Right, Yeah, following a streak of eleven years inside the top fifteen.
It's insane, it's crazy.
So that's obviously big story for the for the year.
Gentlemen.
Thank you. You know, we we had a second segment. We'll just we'll just save that for another time. We'll chat soon. Joseph, You've got, you know, a lot of stuff coming out down the pipe. Kevin, you will be out on the road at Riviera in the near future.
Anything you guys want to plug.
Yeah, just if you're a listener of this podcast, please sign up for the Friday newsletter.
I think we're really cooking and humming.
Joseph Scott great analysis of the tournaments every week, and Brennan and I are sprinkling in here things here and there. You got Garrett, got Meg got Andy occasionally drop some insights of knowledge. So please, I think we're really we're just even we're on the staircase ascension at the of the newsletter.
We're just keep going up.
I think the only other thing that all three of us have been working on in a couple others. Keep your eyes peeled maybe for some anonymous type of feedback we've gotten from some players in the game that may be coming out soon.
Hell yeah, all right, thank you for listening to another edition of the Friday Golf Podcast.
We will be back next week.
Obviously, we've got the Pebble Beach and Riviera. We're kind of in the murderers row here of early season golf, and we will chat with you next week. Big thanks to p J Clark for putting together this episode.