2026 PGA Championship Recap: Aaron Rai, Aronimink, and a bunched field under the microscope

Now the shotgun starting golf is full of mathematics. There's a lot of setup work that we have to do in order to make a tournament work. So I'm going to demonstrate to you just exactly how we do a shotgun start here. And here we go. Alright, alright, alright. Gentlemen! Start your engine! Greetings and welcome to a Sunday edition of the Shotgun Start. It is May 17th. Andy, how we doing? Brendan! I'm doing fantastic, I gotta say. It's just, it's nice. I'm a new member of the Aaron Rye fan club, the Rye Guys. And I'm just ready to talk about our guys, Big W today. The Rye Guys? Is that what we're going with? I thought there'd be some bad puns about, you know, Philly Cheesecake on Rye and all these things. Aaron, I make there was some of that stuff going on. I think you need to explain yourself. Are you an intellectual fraud, hypocrite? When you suggested you would not show up for this podcast on our Saturday Night Edition, believe you called Aaron Rye worst case scenario. And I said, we wouldn't do the podcast. If that happened, you'd flip. Mike, correct, PJ? Well, this was not a Corley Carlos Ortiz cancellation. This was, I might not show up. So maybe me and BP were going to do this on our own. I'm glad to have you here. But Carlos, this was not a full cancellation. Hey, I said, Mike, I was one over today. I'm all in on Aaron Rye. I think I am too. I'm not just being swayed by the prisoner of the moment, but relative to some of the situations that were out there today, I think, you know what? It's not the best. This is not to denigrate anything he did. It's certainly not the worst. I think there were some other options there that look kind of like, let me, we don't show up for that. Maddie Schmidt, I don't, I think I'm just a, you know, conscientious objector at that point. I think I'm in on Rye. I think I'd be a total prisoner of the moment. I think I'm being, you know, swept away with the positive sentiment, but what a performance. What a, what a like, you know, Ava Teta Tweet that I saw you about just like an era of like total greed and total lack of perspective and total lack of players losing their real sense of place. Rye is kind of a fitting antidote to some of that. And we'll get into the shots and the golf that was played. But why did you flip? Why did you come around on Rye? I think, I think a lot of it goes to the backstory and it's a great backstory. It's an inspiring backstory for any, any, you know, not just Silver Spoon, well to do family, you know, kid. This is a kid that, you know, that his family didn't have a lot. Working class family who worked his tail off. Obviously the iron cover story is well documented. I don't think we can go into it quickly, but his dad bought him a really expensive set of irons and, you know, they took really immaculate care of them because it was so expensive, such a big outlay for the family. You know, I think it's, it's a combination of the, the humble upbringing. And then just the work ethic required and the just the, you know, everything kind of working against a player that plays the way Aaron Rye plays and what you have to do to get to where Aaron Rye's gotten. And then to go out and win like, you know, basically Sunday was all the horses lined up. And there were a lot of, a lot of the, you know, the fastest horses on the PGA tour lined up ready to go. He was playing with Ludwig O'Bear, you know, John Rom's there, Rory's there, Xander's there. Like you go down the list, everybody's in the mix, Scotty's in the mix. And Aaron Rye goes out and dust everybody. It wasn't that he just beat everybody. It was the way in which he did it. And I thought like, you know, everybody's going to talk about the put on 17 or the eagle on nine. To me, the one that won me over fully was the shot on 13. The short par four, he's in that front bunker. And if you watched all day, everybody just hit chunk and runs out of out of every lie they had, just trying to like, let's take the risk of going long out of the equation. We're going to hit this chunk and run. And here's Aaron Rye, a guy that's best finished in a majors T 19 before this is leading the major. And he hits the ballsy shot. He flies it up to that little black back plateau that the hole was on with spin hits the shot to hit. If you want to hit it close, but you bring in all the risk. And that to me, that was the moment where I was like, I'm in on this guy. The stones to do that. I mean, then, you know, you go forward and he hits three wood off 15. Everybody's puzzled. It's five hundred and four par four. He's a short hitter and it's three wood. It's like, you know what? He knew he had hit the fairway and that shot, the second shot into there. I was like a trickle from being the iconic shot of the tournament. But I just you got to respect somebody that goes about their business, goes about their craft and does it differently. And doesn't doesn't come from like, you know, kind of a traditional golf background to get it. It just a very cool story. Yeah. There were some incredible shots and an era. I thought it was fitting like this major that has really flummoxed a lot of people, right? Like unpredictability. We talked about the course seems like a mystery. People not necessarily knowing what we're going to get out of it. The data not necessarily telling the story that everybody wants or understands or can synthesize quite precisely that you get a guy in an era where, you know, we were supposed to have this bombing gouge major, right? Or an era where this isn't necessarily supposed to be the way he just does things differently. Whereas the two gloves, he has all the stuff. It's just a little differently and is a short hitter is a short hitter and era. And this wasn't like, look, it wasn't a fluke. This wasn't a guy that was like 800th in the world. Now he was playing an alternate. He was playing an alternate event the week before. I mean, but so was Wyndham Clark, you know, right up to. Is that more of an indictment though on on the PGA tour system? The fact that Aaron Rye, who's I think he came into the week 44 in the world. He's a good player. He's a very easy was playing an alternative event. Is that like, what are we doing here with the signature events? That's the 70 player hitting giggles to your boy, Tony Fina. We have to give out those kinds of things. No, like a really impressive, impressive performance is lowest round ever in a major, but not like this guy isn't. He kind of came out of nowhere. Sorry, his majors go hadn't come, but not, not on the tour elite level. He led the field in birdies was awesome on approach was obviously a very good putting performance. The bomb at 17 will certainly jack that up a little bit too. I think like there's a notion that some people are going to suggest this was a putting con or got to putting contest territory with, you know, driving, not necessarily being super punished. I think that's a little bogus. He's the first English winner since I believe Jim Barnes and like one of the original PGA and it just fit. It fit with sort of the theme of unpredictability this week. I thought one, he's hitting. I think it was 260 to five would into nine. When a lot of the guys, his peers are hitting mid irons, maybe even like six, seven irons. Seven irons. Seven. You hit a five wood to 60. You know, that putt was a bonus. The bunker shot on 13, a little bit of like fit see a Zurich style, just sending it all the way there and stopping it on a dime. Not saying it was the same green or the same shot precisely, but total ballsy as you suggested the guiding it into 16 and then the bomb at 17. I felt like no chance to win it like seven or eight. I felt like the percentages are doing the probability model when it feels like 20 guys have a chance to win. It seems a little screwy. You're just going based on, well, we know John Ramaziz and Rory's this and Ludwig's this and it just sort of probably denigrates a little bit of rise odds at that point. You know, early in the front nine, I was not rooting for him. I was, you know, I was happy when there were some misses there for, but then as as this as the story unfolded, that's where I got on board with him. I got on board with him on 13. I mean, there, there are some, there's some sneaky little things like the show how unfazed by the moment, you know, you're so used to seeing people in majors like kind of curl back. The approach on 11 will get lost. That was nails. The up and down of 10 was incredible. Like from that right side, short sided, you know, it was short grass, which made, you know, skill be, you know, kind of rewarded a little bit more there than most, most of the places around the greens. But, um, Man, he barely got that to just sit up right there. Like kind of just tripled it on, you know, It was awesome. And then it, you know, like, I love the broadcast after he hit it long, that shot he hit on 12 was so close to being great. Like he hit that low flighted one into 12 and it just ran out more than I think he expected it to, but it runs over the green. And like that's a classic. I'm uncomfortable with where I am leading this tournament. I'm going to just pull putter and eliminate like a bad situation from happening. And you heard the telecast, you know, Trevor's I, I can't believe he's not hidden putter here. He hits the chip. It wasn't a great chip, but just the fact that he was willing to hit the chip, like all of these things that that final 10 holes, like, you know, nobody's ever going to say Aaron Rye is the best place. He's never going to be the best player in the world. But at that moment, on the back nine at a run amink, he was the most confident player in on on the golf course. And he believed he was going to win that tournament and his actions, the what the shots he hit were just full of confidence. And I think that is amazing. Amazing, amazing win. And like, yeah, is it going to be when we look at it five years down the line, the most, you know, memorable or the one that you're like, wow, Aaron Rye, you know, this is this is what I got to tell my kids about. But what are the most sensational wins that we'll have seen? Yeah, I was trying to think of like, you know, some of the clunker of the majors we've had since we started this podcast, there haven't been many with there haven't been many like this either. There haven't been many clunkers haven't been many Rye style Rye guys jumping into the mix, you know, Harman at Harman at Liverpool, Hoy Lake was maybe one that gets sort of popped occasionally. I think the way it finished and the way the week went I will remember this as a very high quality major championship. I saw one note from Luke Kerdineen, a great writer at a golf digest noted that he has like a crazy stance for driver. He hits like so far back in his stance and then uses a driver with like, you know, launches it much lower with its crazy spinny like super spinny driver. Obviously that's going to hurt him a little bit on overall distance. But like the notion that maybe with these like effectively smaller sloped fairways that this was like a net plus maybe occasionally he was among the most accurate certainly still the one of the most shorter drivers this week. But did that help him? He missed still a fair amount of but but he was netted out by the end of the Sunday as one of the more accurate drivers. And you know what like just seeing something a little different all week was kind of the notion like that was sort of the narrative of the week like this just just very different thing. It's a harder to read. It's a harder to process major. It was enjoyable to take in. It was enjoyable to watch with your own two eyes. Maybe if all the numbers weren't telling you exactly like this is how major are supposed to go anymore. Like it was just a narrative all the way through and then to get sort of a guy that does it a little differently all the way down to like most pros are going to issue spin. Right. You know they're not all hitting like the farthest possible tuned up thing but they're going to issue the levels of spin that but this is how he does it how he wants to do it. He's made him a top 50 player in the world and now it's made a major championship. So I thought major champions. So I thought it fit nicely with the narrative of the week. I think it's also fitting just like with if you look at his life you know he kind of fell in love with golf at a young age and then turn pro at 17 grind it on these mini tours. I I didn't you know it was kind of like a reading as much as I could on the back nine about him. But one of the things I didn't realize was his wife was a is a European women's tour pro. Yeah. You just think about like this guy is so dedicated and I saw you tweeted the Zander quote. I'm sure you have it handy but like this individual is like I could only imagine that him and his wife they get done with their golf and all they do is talk about golf. And you know then Zander comes out and is like this. I don't say this about many people but he works harder than me. I thought it was funny. Everybody was sharing the clip of his wife hitting it hitting it stiff at the part three contest in Augusta. But like no one was sharing that she was like a tour pro and not like a CPA or like well that's when look pretty smooth. Oh she's also a tour pro that that would make sense. That came like 20 minutes later after they shared it. Yeah to your point look like there was the golf. There was the way he does it. There's the backstory. Then there was like the testimony from everyone all his peers. Rory to Amanda afterwards was like there's not a person on property is going to be super whatever could say a bad thing about Aaron. Zander said he's such a good he's such a good dude rarely do you see people work really hard. I mean that's not fair. Rarely do you see people work way harder than you is what I'm trying to say. I feel I've played a pretty good amount of time and Aaron is always there always in the gym always on the range at the Scottish I'm staying on site. And I thought it was fun for Austin and I to go out and putt at night. Aaron is finishing up his little putting session at 9 p.m. and going to the gym then at 9 45. This was three years ago. I think that's what it what it's about to be a major champion. You put in the work when nobody's looking super pumped for him and his team and like Zander can probably speak to that as well as anyone right like a guy who wasn't like he was a very strong college player but had to go through the KFT and to be a top five player in the world right and gain his speed and do all the things to make him an elite pro. You think about this not a player with that is the work ethic right. Yeah. Yeah. You know we'll never know the full extent of it. It's impossible and it's impossible to compare like one of the worst announcer is since this guy works harder than anybody else. Yeah. But like if you look at his career like all the way back you know what I loved is Lee Westwood played a big part in his in his career. Did you see that. No. You know the he's on Twitter poking that writers I guess the golf digest boys are getting. What did Westy do for us. Apparently can read articles just out of book. I actually don't think he clicked through. I think you read the tweet. You read the promo and there's no chance you read the article. Go ahead. So you know how the story of it making 250 10 footers in a row as a kid. It was right after he got the Westwood the Lee Westwood Assembly Westwood trading aid putting aid. Oh really. Okay. So now Westy himself but something he slapped his name on maybe totally vouch for. I don't know. But anyways you look at the just you know he's turned pro and he said he wasn't ready to turn pro at 17 but he played on the PGA Euro pro tour. From 2012 to 2016. Then he was on the challenge tour for a couple years. European tour for a couple years. Then like the bottom of the PGA tour like just legitimately worked his way all the way up and then you know if yeah he didn't have a stand out major performance. But the thing about it is like he played the weekend. I think he had made seven straight major cuts coming into this one. So the guy had played and like Ben in major championship golf like consistently for the last two years where he's not like going and bombing out and being completely outclassed by golf courses. You know he has clear deficiencies. You know and I think like I'm sure we'll get to the course but I think the golf course absolutely had a huge part in Aaron Rye winning as it as you would expect but the golf course is 7100 yards all weekend. It was like 7100 and change Saturday and Sunday. It's got to be one of the shortest major championship courses in recent memory. You know it was 74 on the official card but playing 71 the last two days. Like that allowed a lot of people to be in this with the way the setup was with the thick rough though you know 40 yard wide fairways that were you know they played narrower in spots. But relatively wide fairways and and thick rough on that punished misses and in short allowed Aaron Rye to be to be a factor in what distance. Listen like what distance is not a prerequisite skill needed. Aaron Rye is one of the best players in the world. And this week it was the perfect matchup where he played great on a setup that didn't take him out of it because of length. I think there's like probably a big sort of theoretical discussion we need to have around that. Is that does that you know we're getting we're getting popped in the comments for like you guys are contorting yourselves from for not saying just to say this wasn't a crap major like for a lot of Sunday I did feel that way I was like they got to shift Andrew cattle on in to the to the tower to make this winning call. I think there's like an interesting discussion. To be had a late well is that a test of the best golfers now or are we just commenting on what golf tests nowadays anyways like. Rory Cameron young Scotty Schaeffler Matt Fitz obviously is a speed demon boy lately. A lot of the best players in the world are long super long or longer. And so when you open up a major where maybe that that mitigates that you make it a par 70 and there's fewer chances. You know I'm par fives Rory plays the par fives and even it gets to a to a day. Are you necessarily I'm not trying to create a scenario that gives Rory more advantages or more chance or Rom or whoever. Like is that necessarily the best modern test or is it just nice to do that one out of every however many times. I think the thing that people nobody ever talks about is that setups create the prism in which we view players. Yep. I think just generally speaking and you saw it this week the very best players are going to be the very best players no matter how you set it up. Maybe their wins aren't the same. Maybe some players might win more than others if it's set up a certain way. But the periphery players that aren't the ultra elite absolutely would change. If you change the whole setup philosophy and the golf courses that you visit and Iran make playing short and I talked about this in the in the preview podcast for anybody that was listening to it is that the way this golf course was set up was going to lead to a lot of different people in the mix that were used to an error. An error I wins the tournament. Maddie Schmidt is in the mix. Alex Smalley is in the mix. You know this there was a lot of players that were in the mix that weren't and that's because this was a different major than the if Iran make was 7700 yards 7600 yards. It would have played out way more like Oak Hill where like eventually it just would have become a bomber fest because you like the fairways were hard to hit. But you get such an advantage by being longer that like okay overtime. Rory or a long hit or hitting a nine iron and Aaron Rye when he misses hitting a five iron is just going to expand and expand expand the advantage here. Because of how short the golf course was especially this weekend. That Aaron Rye and anybody like Aaron Rye was hitting nine irons when he missed fairways into greens like there were a lot of shorter par fours by professional standards which like if you have a problem with 7100 yards being short that the you know Aaron Rye still hit one 330 yards on 16 you know is like he's short but like you still can get it out there but like where Rory had a flip wedge Aaron Rye had a nine iron and that rough doesn't just kill you. It's manageable and the other aspect of this is like we watch Bryson demolish wing foot with the thick rough open fronts to greens and that's the other big part of this where like people are struggling with the data and like the sifting through the data. This is a wildly different setup than we have really ever seen where we got like peak peak firmness shout out to like the PGA and then the Iran and green staff that golf course was humming so you got peak firmness. You had relatively wide fairways where you could hit fairways but then when everybody went into the rough they all had the ability to recover you know they could run the ball up those fronts and into the greens. And and I think like this setup was like very open open in the sense that it didn't take anyone out of the field. It didn't just like cross off like you don't have this skill set you're out it did allow like everybody's game to shine in unique ways and people that took advantage of their opportunity to shine. They were you know they they contended you know Rory used his distance and in the rounds they hit fairways he scored really well and the rounds they didn't hit fairways he struggled a little bit more. Yeah I think that's a fair assessment where would you. I think the other you know contrary to Wingfoot to there's a little bit more elevation a little bit more like you know not dramatic but just a little the run ups aren't all just like open and flatter right. There are some you got some climbs and some dips throughout the property and so it wasn't purely that just dropping the wedge under the front of the green. Where would you what would you grade like that final round it wasn't the best it wasn't the best. I think I came around on it for sure it was sort of confusing like the week that was like perplexing at times like what there there didn't appear to be like a crystal clear sort of like this is it's this guy or it's this guy versus himself or this guy versus these you know two to three. Chasers or it's this guy has to do X Y and Z on these three holes and he's probably OK. There wasn't really a crystal clear narrative until like right really stepped ahead around like 1670. I think like you give it a B there was so much intrigue in the sense of anybody can do it and every shot felt momentous because of that. I think it was also an extraordinarily difficult situation for CBS with how many guys were in the mix. Like it's impossible to show everything you need to show and like as soon as somebody dropped below three it like they kind of went away and then they come back. So I think I give it like a B. What about you. There was also that notion of how quick you could be back in the mix if that like felt like you were out but then be back in the mix like 30 minutes so you're scared to death of like. You just bury Alex Smalley and then all of a sudden you know he does or Schmid or whoever and all of a sudden they do make two birdies and they're like two or one off the lead it felt like you could really. You never were totally ejected if that makes sense. So that's that's tricky for CBS to be like. All right this guy could technically be in it again and we didn't show him for an hour and a half. Like that was there was that that potential lurking. I would give it like. You know B is fair. I think B is fair. I greatly enjoyed the golf course this week. I'm getting texts right now that the mix stinks from people in golf. I think that's a fair you know what I'm happy about is having like a real real sort of discussion some like. I mean the PGA if anything else they got people talking about their setup they got people talking about the golf course that's rarely the case unless it's all really just like oh Louisville such a great golf city. You know that's kind of where it's a lot of it's been recent. Quill Hall is an immaculate shape. They've got great corporate hospitality partners in Charlotte because of the banks like. It was a real subject of discussion in a way that we often go into U.S. Opens about whatever Oakmont and Pioneers and Shinnecock. I'm not putting it on that level right away but it was at least a subject of the week and I think that's interesting even if like I won't disabuse you of this notion if it wasn't your cup of tea. I kind of really enjoyed what happened over the go even if it wasn't like the most superstar result in the end. Yeah I you know. I think it was amusing to you. There were a lot of stories out there. You know the idea of like Maddie Schmidt winning was was kind of terrifying in a nice way like you know I didn't want to talk about Maddie Schmidt for an hour. I came around on air right. I do think like there is like this notion everybody's gonna be like we gotta get a run away because as much as we possibly can. We're never getting that weather again. I mean I was I think this is as good as Rod makes ever gonna ever gonna show. And I do think like what one thing that you hit on that I think should be unpacked more. Yeah and this major should should kind of one of the big takeaways from this major should be the discussion of major championship setup and you know I think what people didn't like the setup. What what they didn't like about it was it didn't produce the results they expected. And to me that's like the complete antithesis of what we want from major championship setup. We should want majors to be distinctly their own and unique and and really what we should do is empower the people that set up golf courses the ability to try stuff. And what the thing that frustrated me the most about setup talk this week just in general was the idea that like this is the way something supposed to be and because it's this way it's locked into that for history. The job of a setup crew is to is to play defense with the golf course they're given against the best players in the world. And the skill set and the traits and the the habits and the strategies that those players employ are ever changing. So the setup in the philosophy of a setup should always be changing. And I actually loved I like the fact that the mink could be seventy four hundred yards I know I'm not supposed to call it the mink according to some people but it's kind of a good you know what it's a good thing. It's a good name for it. Like the the fact that it could be seventy four hundred yards and they played a seventy one hundred all weekend long. It kind of like revealed a thing about major championship setup and you get Aaron Rye winning. And I think it's because the golf course was shorter. I think like also just go ahead go ahead. So you want to promote different skills. Don't make distance to prerequisite. We I think that's fair. I think that's fair. But we've come to equate like the biggest hitters with the best players. And so why would we try to create a you know it's it's it's kind of like the whoever quarterbacks the best player you're going to put them in a snow game where they like are you know you're kind of mitigating his like. Who is I think objectively you could say like the best quarterback but he's nothing now all of a sudden I don't think that went that far this week at all. Like I think that's a fair debate to have. I think doing it once out of every however many majors is not a bad idea. That's like what you want. You don't want professional golf to become flattened in a way like is that I'll add like some of the like the pins all of a sudden became the pin placements. We've never had like I mean we're probably on the golf nerdier edge of the discourse and discussion and the coverage. I just can't believe like pin placements and whole locations became this big a subject of discussion. I'll just say like from people they've never been there. They don't know they're just like Kerry Hague chose violence today. And I think like it's pretty important to stipulate. I don't know that it was all rough like this was actually a firm golf course and like that seems to be lost in the whole shuffle of like rough rough greens were for sure a total different change up from what we're used to with the slope. We've talked about the golf course. We talk about the golf course a lot for a lot of majors. I don't know that we've ever talked about one this much on the dailies or usually like well let's save it for Sunday and we'll just talk about it on Sunday. There's it's been like topic a every single night for like the mainstream audience and of course the golf nerds. I think like it's important to stipulate one it was windy as hell for three of the four days to it was super firm at three they have these greens that are completely unique. And so it got to this sort of distilled it got reduced to like you know that it's OK to be short and inaccurate and this is turning into a putting I don't I was talking myself into maybe a may PJ is good. Like being a prisoner of the moment maybe I don't know of like oh there's no humidity. It's like 60 in the Northeast and it's windy as hell. Now it's going to be 90 degrees here tomorrow too or like Tuesday. So like that's always a precarious thing to try and program your major around weather and we know how hot and humid and wet it can get in August. But I was kind of talking myself into the May thing maybe not being the worst for mid Atlantic even you know Northeast pushing around there. Like maybe I've just been totally led astray by three lucky days of wind or four lucky abnormal days away. I think there is an element of that. I you know I've been in Chicago and the weather has been super variable the last few days. Like and in the sense that there's leaves on trees but you know this it gives it a little bit more like the best thing to test major golf or the best players in the world remains elements and firmness. So if you get wind like they got for three days and a rock hard golf course then you're going to have like if it's a great golf course you're going to have an excellent championship. I want to like to the setup to the people yelling about setup the pre tournament odds. If we go down this list Scotty Schaeffler was the favorite. I guarantee you right now Scotty is maybe he's done flying but he's flying back to Dallas and he's kicking himself. He felt like this is a major that I let get away with my putter. I want to do we're going to do the regret index later of like who's like feeling particularly regretful. You'll put Scotty up there. So Scotty Scotty number one in the odds number two in the odds. Rory McRoy. Yeah. You think Rory McRoy feels like he should have won this tournament. Very much so. Yeah definitely felt like he should have won this tournament. John Rom number four in odds Cameron Young was three. John Rom number four in odds. You know he basically he said to the press he feels like he should have should have won. He just he had better pace and control on the greens. He would have he would have won Ludwig played with Aaron Rye. Basically didn't make any any consequential floor footer for for two days. Probably feels like he should win should have won this tournament. And then Zander Shoughley drove the crap out of the ball all week. And it was the worst iron player yet still in the mix. So anyways like yeah this golf course played so categorically different than we we like I would agree with the sentiment of like why did it not create more variance. Why did we have this like I'm I'm open to like talking about it. What I find fascinating about this tournament is just like the the discourse from it in terms of what can we learn from a setup because all these top flight players felt like they should have won. And a guy that you would never peg as a major champion at a setup that was really thick rough and really firm was the one that that just you know played the final 10 holes six hundred to just run away with it. Like that's fascinating to me. I thought it was super interesting the whole way around from start to finish the Thursday setup then I just think like you have to take into context of the win that they got and the firmness that they had and it just got reduced to rough and crazy pins. Like those were the two things like the rough and the crazy pins. Now the rough around the green might mitigate some skill. I think that's like the biggest complaint I would have. It's like you just saw the same short game shot all day from the rough. But like we said last night their greens are so extreme that like a short are you got missing a guy who misses it by yard by now running having it run off 25 yards. It's a tricky it's a tricky do or die situation. I love that we had to talk this much about a PGA championship setup because it's just not the usual the case. I don't know if I'm given Kerry Hague as flowers necessarily. I like I thought it was interesting that he mixed it up right with some of the wind change directions allowed allowed a 63 you know it's kind of a little different course early for for kitty cat. But balls spin in a little bit this morning a little bit more spin on the greens. But I thought he did a decent job with the setup. But some of that was just what what was given to him. I love that we're talking this much about it or did for four straight days. I mean can we just kind of you know there's there's a whole theory of people that say or a tribe of people that say that golf courses don't matter for these things. What have been what have been the most the best PGA's recently. Kia kia the mink. I'd say other hills was interesting at the end kind of sleepy for most of it. I don't know if I put that high right now. Party Park was fun. But that was kind of because of the the just the traffic jam similar to this one. I think we were just happy to have a major golf after covid summer with nothing to be fair. But maybe unfair. I think golf courses matter. I want to be clear. If Iran make was wet. I mean nobody was excited. I've been doing this long enough. Nobody was excited after the PGA in 2018 because it got doused and it was. Yeah. Yeah. It got doused with rain every day. It was like 92 degrees. Several sixty twos are better like multi sixty twos and better. Yeah. And also like there's got to be some complaints with just like the PGA tour week in week out how they just coddle these guys. I mean Shane Lowry. I you know he's kind of become a little bit of a puncher bag here and I don't mean to do it. But saying that that we expect to have the same setup every day. That was that was what part of his comments I'm most like what. Like so you guys take the test and you're supposed to know what the questions are before the test. I mean like this is a this is another big theoretical discussion about golf. But like what's the tourist job. Is it the tourist job to kind of come as close as they can to manufacturing a result to make a good golf. Manufacturing a kind of result the manufacturing a kind of player. Is it the tourist best interests if certain players are I don't want to say advantage but allowed to play that way they want to. Right. I don't know if like I'm sure majors want it like the Masters of course wants certain players to be able to perform and certain certain styles to perform and wants excitement on certain days and certain back nines. But like I don't know. I don't know that the tours interests of 70% of the time or 80% of the time when Jack isn't there to like put his thumb on the scale or to do something like we did this week. I mean that's just it's like a different motivation. I think a lot of times an interesting thought experiment is what would the winning score have been if if PGA tour ran this event. Even with the win even with the firmness I would say like 12 to 13 or something like that. I was thinking like 14 under. Yeah. I just don't think they would touch several of those pins the first two first two days. Like how would they do that. They would have played so many they would have. They would have. Yeah. They wouldn't have the rough wouldn't have been as thick. The pins wouldn't have been as tucked and they would have softened the golf course. Yeah. I mean they just would have artificially softened it. And the second players could play it about it. They would have gotten really soft. Do you think they do you think do you think do you have any critique of Hague. Do you think he went soft at all on the weekend. Do you think he did anything or the PGA in general. Kind of kind of a frequent. I don't want to say he's a punching bag but he's he was God. I talked to people on the ground earlier this week and they were kind of savaging him. Some people were saying like he was saying he's great. I do think like the thing you know we I I'm a big believer in variance and setups. You know like this is where I think there's like there's a lot of like it's not black and white subject with setups. I really enjoyed this week's setup. The one thing that didn't do that I like setups to do is to is what Rory talked about with like getting an idea of like who's pushing ahead and like players separating as the tournament goes on. It didn't do that but like I know Kerry Hague likes to have a bunch leaderboard. Like that's his setup philosophy is that he wants that like kind of anything can happen on the back nine Sunday. I think he's publicly said that. So with that with that mind you know like there is no singular setup perfect setup. And we should never as a golf society think that there is a perfect setup. It's it'd be like going to the same restaurant and expecting different results every week every time you go there. Like that that's not the way it worked. Like we have that and we're going to get a different set of philosophy at the US US Open. And the setup philosophy from Mike Davis to John Bowden Hammer has been drastically different. And like you have to realize like the product of these tournaments and who we view in this like high regard because the majors are the most important to a certain extent comes down to the setup philosophy of each individual tournament. Do you. Yeah I what do you think. Shum brightest what do you think flumex these guys the most what do you think made a run to make such just for the record I think you've said it. The greens. Yeah that the greens I mean you're talking about I would confidently say you know that these are. One of the 10 best sets of greens and in the in the country. Okay. And I think the slope. The just the intensity of them. Right where it. You just never feel like you have a putt that you can you saw like how many short putts were marked all week. You just never have a putt that you feel like you can take a breather on and and they were so challenging from 10 to 15 feet you just saw way less putts made everybody's talking about as a putting contest is like the data doesn't say it was a putting contest. I think also just the slope right just to add the clarification like internal and throughout and consistent and constant and not several guys drew this out like Oakmont has slope but it's like all kind of gradually running away from you at the most perilous and terrifying way. This is now. Oh my God I got to also do another slope deal with another slope you know some sort of different slope with my five footer that I didn't have on my 15 footer a minute ago. It's just I'll say this like anybody that liked Iran a bank. Is going to love Oakland Hills. Okay. Like how long do we have that's a ways away. Yeah. I mean but they they do have them coming in the pipeline like that this that's those two courses are similar in the way they challenge. It's but like that's what we should want. These are rotating tournaments. You're supposed to be the PGA in the US open should be showcases of the different great golf in America and they should produce different types of champions and they should go all over the country. And unfortunately they don't do they don't necessarily do that with the age of the rotas and everything but like you know the PGA they've got Frisco next year which is going to be different. I you know I might be like one of the few Frisco believers in the world and by being a believer I'm not like I don't like love it but I don't I'm just not outwardly opposed to it. Then you're going to have like a completely different animal with Olympic Club the next year. I think I've come back. I'm not like pro Frisco. I'm just pro like I'm generally more like historic history and tradition and pedigree like kind of thing but like the shooting on it. I feel like I've gone a little too far. I'm like hey maybe it's good that we're going to another major metropolitan area. We'll talk plenty about that next year but I'm not like pumped. I just think like that the shooting on it's gone too far. Do you think last set up we're going to get into a lot of golfers here. Do you think anything about this week could provide cover for the absolute potential ball buster we're going to get at Shinnecock coming to the US Open like these guys had to play like all the way through one through like there were what was interesting to hear was JT. I think it was at the man is like look it's crazy. I had so many scoring clubs in my hand but also feel like I have to hit the best shot in my life to score with these scoring clubs in my hand and I just find it interesting like Shinnecock we're going there next. That's you know I don't want to disrespect Jack and Memorial and CJ Cup by Renese Nelson and all that. But like there been a little there've been a few hiccups in recent Shinnecock majors and you know that the USJ is going to be quite vigilant to not wade even close to that I would think but I don't know it felt like a little like a little nice little training session for these guys having to sack up and maybe try to play in some wind in some with some slope different slope and a different kind of course we'll see maybe or maybe they just I maybe can't set that of course up easily no matter what you do but in terms of letting it get edgy you're over. This gives them a little bit more. The guys have been trained the guys have taken a few body blows by the time they get there. Definitely I hope you know I think one of the things that you saw Aaron Rye got better every round seemed like guys were figuring out as they're leaving the property a little bit more you know obviously Rory had the bad first round. Maybe he didn't understand the golf course to like the full degree. I just hope this that you know why we should want setups to be drastically different and and be provocative is that we we should want guys out there like preparing for the tournament. These guys don't prepare. They let their their caddies prepare and they play like nine holes a day for the most part and that's used to be the case with tour events that they go to every year and it's seeped into the majors. I think that this the Shinnecock is you know going to be similar in a lot of ways but way different obviously we won't have as much thick rough. It's going to be more short crap short grass around the greens you're going to see I think a lot more skillful and artful shots around the greens. That would be my big bone with with just this the aronomic setup is around the greens just that thick rough just creates a singular shot you know and you're really like did I get a good lie that I can gauge how it's going to come come out or is it is a crap lie. But anyways Shinnecock is going to have some of the similar things like you're going to want to play it in multiple wins. You're going to it's like that comment that you got like that Scotty said like guys guys weren't playing practice rounds on Wednesday when it was windy because it was too windy. And Scotty's like thank God I played that practice round Wednesday because like I kind of got a feel of how to handle this place in the win. But like people are going to want to play that golf course more and more because like you figure out where to miss and where to miss to certain places are different. And I think that's where like it kind of reminded me of the President's Cup at Royal Melbourne where the US team got better every single day. I think obviously the weather conditions were way better today and that allowed for but I think these guys were figuring out the golf course into the weekend. Yeah absolutely. And then you know throw on a different tee and different run directions at them. You know continued that sort of education or test. We will be up at Shinnecock on Long Island for the US Open. We also right after it have our member guest at a nice little classic course up there that if you were a Friday golf club member you could register for that member. I think it's sold out. I think it's sold out. I'm not saying this one. I'm saying going forward. We have a fall member guest. We're going to have fall. We're going to have multiple member guests in twenty seven. I will say member guests. Go ahead. Some nice playing opportunities around that member guest as well. There's some golf courses. I think in Long Island and the greater. You can wear one glove or two gloves. We don't you know we don't care. You know when it comes to our Friday at golf club. I do have people like random civilian buddies texting me. They're going to start wearing two gloves and we're getting iron covers and all these things coming back in. I don't think that's going to happen. But you can wear whatever not whatever you want. But you can wear two gloves at the member guest at several Friday golf events. You can probably wear close to whatever you want on some of them. We try to get around the country. You can join Friday golf club supports our work. You get unique behind the wall paywall content with a course profile. That's a ton of work goes into each and every week. 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It's just 10 bucks a month supports us gets us out to these events I was checking our travel budget we need we need you know we got to get we got to get some memberships. PJ PJ's been burning through the travel budget. We got to get more lunch with the boys episodes banked we got it we got to get them out the champions to our events. I know it supports our work so thank you that the club is a great place like minded people who support us really appreciate it check it out 120 bucks for the year just Google Friday golf club and jump on it. All right are we bringing boys in by the way I for mentioned boys have seen a bunch of text flash cross my boys the boys at KVV we got the whole trying to get distracted we're just missing Garrett. We're just for the whole game. I'm going to I'm going to introduce as we bring them in I'm going to introduce a little new fangled game. We've talked about Aaron Ryan we've talked about the golf course. I'm going to introduce the regret index. All right. This had you know 30 people who could have won allegedly. This is not a critique. This is not this guy choked this guy didn't play well. It's nothing. It's not a commentary on his game. It's it's trying to get into the mindset or trying to you evaluate close with no cigar. Some guys you know we talked about Rob Rory probably a high sense of regret like majors only come around ever so often expectations for those guys are to win stack majors build the resume. So we'll go zero to 10 on the red red index 10 being incredibly regretful. You know might be doing some opus deus stuff and self flagellation just so mad kicking themselves walking out the door 10 super regretful zero just happy to be putting a nice little check in the bank account after a nice week in Philadelphia. So let's run through the run through the close contenders. I'm going to go with John Rob. Where's John Rahman their great index looked like I'll just as background. I don't want to play into the whole mindset stuff but it feels like there's a little bit more clarity on live clarity on his DP World Tour status certainly and he looked. I don't want to say like he regrets going to live or he's now happy lives going away at all. I think we over index one terrible round at the Masters. But John Rahm looked really really good again. I thought that was good for golf regardless of where he plays the next week or in between the majors. Where is he Kevin. Bring you in first. Where are you putting John Rahm after this week. How are you. Good. I had to wait like two hours for Aaron Ryder to talk. We jumped the guy player. We were just waiting for. It's like all right. Well we're going to go on time. Yeah. He's on brand. Very nice about it but very late for the thing. No it wasn't his fault. I'm sure the PJ I would say John was in actually pretty darn good spirits. I'm going to just go five on this one even though this is a very missed opportunity because I think that he feels like OK I'm finally playing good again in majors. I was in contention. He talked about how much he liked being back in the heat of it. And I think that he right now probably will feel. Hey I'm in a good spot. I figured out how to play a little bit of majors. I kind of threw a question at him in the press. I said you know you said that your preparation had to change after the Masters. Can you reveal what that is. And he was like no. He smiled about it. He was kind of you know cheerful. He was playful about it. But he was like you know I felt he said something great in the press. He was like I was really like freaked out in the beginning of the week because everyone's like oh they're going to tear this place up and I was like I don't know how you're going to shoot eight under par. This is crazy. So that was like really I thought thoughtful. It was just fun to have like Rom back who's not defensive not chippy kind of just playful a little bit. So I'm just going to go five. It looked back maybe a history wise and say like I could have had that one. But in the moment he's OK with it. Oh I think I'm going closer to like eight. I just feel like a guy just because the stakes are higher for someone like Rom like when you have a major and he has the lead he had the lead at times that just dumping your sandwich in the bunker at three. Obviously seven which was quote unlucky because the wind like apparently is like not a great swing but also maybe a little fair police recruit fair police possibility quote unlucky. I mean he hit it miles. I don't know. It wasn't a good swing but also unlucky because the wind changed on him. I thought you know for someone like Rom this was just there for the taking for him. But he did not put well. Andy how do you feel about Rom. It's not a 10 right. Yes 10 is like you should have like he thought he should have wanted absolutely unquestionable. I think coming out of the gates with the two birdies. Man you just don't you don't get a lot of these chances. And that's why it's the red red index. You you come into this major the major season I think is with John Rom thinking like if I could generate. Two good chances. It's a success right. If I'm like really in the mix and and like to have to be clipped by Aaron Rye I think it is going to be a little bit harder to to but I you know I think he has a lot of positive take aways from it but I think he's going to be seven maybe for me. Yeah. Yeah. LaManya where are you with Rom right now. Are you crushing him. Are you crushing Rom after this. I am way closer to Kevin and I would even go even like more extreme. I'd go like three. I think John Rom played really well today and I don't write watching his round. I don't really feel like he left a lot of shots out there to be completely honest. I think the drivable par for the 13. Like he didn't hit a terrible tee shot and it's hard. I'm sure you guys talked about this about the golf course like sometimes it's hard to know how that ball is going to react out of the rough. And from watching his round I think he played pretty clean. I thought the missed putt on 18 yesterday. That's one that's going to haunt him. He missed three putt missed a really short putt is probably like 18 inches two feet. I thought John Rom looked really good and honestly there are other golfers I felt like kind of miss some shots in high profile moments today. I would not put John Rom in that camp. Okay. Roy McElroy. Go ahead Kevin. The only real regret he said is I missed like two or three short putts this week that I know I should have made. He was like if you're that's three shots right there. He's like I you know it was hard to make putts but that was where he's only real regret seemed to lie in his post discussion. Roy McElroy one under on the day four under for the championship plays the par five and even for the week obviously makes a bad bogey at the end of the day. But when he was 13 driver kind of got wayward again on him he started hitting that left then it started going right that 13 and 16 where are we with Roy McElroy's level of regret? He just won a master so like probably feeling pretty good about his recent major's performance but also like you're sitting there on like call it his fifth hole. And he's got like Maddie Schmidt and Alex Molley and maybe Aaron Rye You probably think like this is a great opportunity. I think he probably feels that way walking out What level of regret are you in Rory at this point Andy? How upset is he? I you know, I think it's probably a four or five. I Think that you know the driver It just if he if he would have found more fairways You had to have control of the golf ball Because it's any round that he hit a lot of fairways He had a lot of really good looks and today was just a day where he was perpetually 40 feet away and You know, I think he just didn't really have it and then obviously the soft bogey on Unthirpteen was really really undid him but like I wouldn't I mean I wouldn't I Think I think I think he kind of looks at it more holistically. Did I give myself a chance to win and He did and he didn't get this one done But he gave himself a chance to win at the Masters and got it done And if he I would say like he probably looks at this as like if I could give myself four chances to win That's a great year and I'm gonna knock a couple of them down Yeah majors are hard giving yourself a chance. You might get one when you're someone like him or Ram Lemania I'll go to you next. Let me go Kevin. I Wouldn't put Rory's very high I think again four or five seems reasonable to me for a lot of reasons Andy outlined Like Roy didn't really have his stuff was still kind of in the mix and won the most recent major So I think Rory knows right now that when he brings his B plus game He's probably gonna be in the mix when he brings his a game He's gonna win and that's not true of anybody else besides Scottie Schaeffler. So I think the He's got a look at this like alright. I've played two majors so far this year I didn't really have my a game for either one one one was in the mix in the other one Like I'm feeling pretty good going into Shinnecock. So I don't think it's a high level of regret Okay, Kevin, do you think there's a Kevin where you at with Roy? Where do you think he's feeling? Do you think there's any like criticism or critique of Rory like he Booted this one or should have been accounted himself better or some some way I think strategically like he made a mistake in the beginning of the week Or he sort of seemed to think like the rough isn't really gonna have that big of a difference like I'm just gonna bomb it out there and then figure it out from there and Clearly like that was not the right approach. I mean 74 that opening round I know it got squarely late, but that was a pretty bad It was his worst score ever in the PGA. I think that he posted so I think you could I wonder if some of it is like Circumstance to there's probably a part of them. It feels like okay I'm still playing this new driver that I haven't really figured out. I'm a little bit annoyed about that I had this weird blister pop up on my toe and he ripped my toenail off So I only got to play, you know a little bit of a practice round in the pre build up I know he came a little bit before but that might be that one more practice round He's able to get that in he starts to feel like okay I may have a better little bit better feel for this course and maybe that that first round is a 71 instead of a 73 I just think he his goals are larger than some of the other Goals right like he wants to win 10 majors. That's probably a realistic thing at this point for him And so when you're have that you kind of got to pick off ones where you might not Have your best game and he was in the mix on a Sunday where what would it be in today like a 67? Maybe one better than rom get some, you know, I think I think that that's reasonable to say like I Would have liked to I guess that still makes him fall one short Yeah, I mean Aaron Rye made this a little bit this exercise a little bit more, you know Academic when he bomb that put in on 17 But you know if you're sitting there at like the 13th, you're probably like really pissed like this was a chance to actually do something I think his main ago probably be like the par 5s all week right like you couldn't freaking score on the par 5s. I Yeah, he just didn't hit enough fairways and then today that I mean the ninth hole a people always put to 13 9 was 9 had to be so deflating have seven iron in and and walk away with a par there The one thing I'll say is like Aaron Rye You know makes us less active like a little bit less interesting maybe but the reality of it is the golf is so circumstantial and If somebody's right on Aaron their eyes heals, we don't know if he performs the same way in those moments Yeah, and I would venture to say you don't perform the same way in those moments You know so yep, yep Any other Rory details you want to share Kevin? I know you followed him a little bit on Saturday or anything that you'd like changes your Perception or he took away from your week following I wonder if he's happy about the tailor-made saying announcing they're gonna switch to two-year driver cycles I did legitimately like he has expressed annoyance year after year about having to figure out a new driver every year So, you know, I can't think for him to get to go two-year cycles now How about only sorry Please I would push back on him being incorrect at the beginning of the week about just go bomb it out there and figure it out I don't think the key to Rory winning this week was hitting more three woods off of the tee His swing was off, but I don't think after watching the past four days the bomb and gouge strategy was incorrect Just because Aaron Ryan did up on top like these guys We're really getting away with hitting it in a lot of different places off the tee Obviously, it's better to be in the fairway, but I do not think Rory's original idea was misguided Maybe it's just that I'm hung up on the idea of like there's really no strategy off the tee like You know what does that reflect a mentality of like yeah, like the course doesn't require a lot of Thought until you get to the greens and I think maybe thinking backwards from the greens I'd be like all right. Well, if these are the pins that I might expect and I absolutely can't leave it here Just you're talking about how like there just wasn't a penalty for or you're saying Like you could be inaccurate driving it this week. I don't think yes, and I don't think that Rory It was always better to be in the fairway But I don't think that Rory needed to throttle back off of the tee and be more strategic about where he was hitting his tee shots And that that's what cost him this championship and from watching a lot of these guys all week That's a style that was very effective. I know Aaron Rye like for who potty Yeah, yeah, I made Schmid missed all his first six fairways. I think today or something was in the lead If you look through a lot of the shot plots like guys were all over the place and getting away with it And I just don't think that I don't think Roy swing was off like that's what cost him this tournament I don't think it had to do with the lines. He was taking off teasing that he should have been hitting irons He's gonna driving range where there's not wind off the left. He said that was messing up yet again So I need to go hit the sim next time I got I got that's not good for for shenokak Is he is is he just a TGL Z so if I don't player now can he not? Do you think air rise getting the motor city contract? Oh god, I think they're gonna try and become You know a global franchise. I Don't London to get a franchise. Yeah, maybe London international And you we're gonna jump in there with Rory and like the driving stuff the but no, I was just gonna say I I mean I think like Rory Rory superpowers to the driver, you know, you listen to Scotty talk about it. It's like no guy Hits it that far and that's straight, you know And that's why he's been able to stay atop the driving game for his entire career. He's added speed continue to be super accurate for the speed that he hits it at and You know, he has to play to his strength and It's you know, this is like the day where This is the week where maybe the sinker ball pitchers sinker wasn't didn't didn't have as much bite on it as it usually does and and that's what it is and like You know, he hits he hits five more five more fairways. I think he had four fairways today Is that right? If he hits nine fairways He might have won this might be a Garrick Higo suggestion of like me just trying to figure out like how math works Will mind you please jump in Every major is now like a par 70 Does that jam Rory in any way or distance is just distance doesn't matter He's fine on all the par fours that are the 450 yard par fours become driver wedge Is he's playing our fives and even par I think there's an interesting like has Everyone getting a lot longer in technology made Everyone get longer Disadvantaged Rory that I think is kind of interesting like does his shot pattern fit a little bit differently onto a golf course like Augusta National and it was more of an advantage 20 10 than it is now. I think there's a good take there. I Don't see that with this golf course. I really think this was bomb and gouge friendly I will maintain that don't care that Aaron Rye won and a lot of guys got away with that So now I don't think that this golf course that Rory was disadvantaged by the par number or the way that this was set up I think it was a very friendly setup for him. Okay Let's go to Ludwig next I think we started today with like saying Ludwig and Rom really have like could could change some narratives today and I don't want to say that the scrutiny is higher on them, but he plays with Aaron Rye I don't want to say got body bagged by Aaron Rye. I don't want to call him a house cat just yet He's a young guy young guy, but he played Quite effectively well from T degree and it did not putt well Where are we with Ludwig Andy on the sort of regret index? I'm gonna start with Joseph if we're passing around the court that that's fine the table. He's finished 500 shots 69 T3 sure. I'll go high. I'll go like seven seven to eight I thought Ludwig kind of stunk on the weekend and made some awful putting strokes and that might sound Hypocritical saying that Rom shouldn't feel like he missed one when he they were only separated by one shot But I think if you watched the shots that these guys hit Ludwig had some opportunities and made some really bad putting strokes was missing a little bit of that it factor that I think a Lot of people have been critical of him in the past four So I don't know that you should have won because of where Aaron Rye Ended up but I thought Ludwig put up a pretty poor fight Given his talent and it makes me a little less confident in him going forward though. I remain very very Bullish I'll buy all the Ludwig shares and you sell it. There were some house cat would all cost strokes gain house cat birdies I mean the 16 16 and 18 birdies for Ludwig at that point like it was that he was playing with the guy Who was getting to nine under same for Zander rolling one in on 18? Ten was awful awful. Yeah, I just I thought Expected more like this was it was there for him. I thought this week Kevin Ludwig, yeah, I think there's a little bit of a pattern right on Sundays It just doesn't he's not a great closer and he's a great player But you know, it's they used to say that about Tom Watson, too Look Tom Watson was a choker Tom Watson had literally won the open championship And they were still calling him a choker on Sundays So it doesn't necessarily mean that Ludwig isn't gonna have a great career But it that narrative is building a little bit and I think that's probably something he's got a shake off just by winning one of these Andy where are you anything change that's narrative with Ludwig? I You know Think this is he keeps put himself in the mix there's been there's been three Three years now of Ludwig majors. He's been in the mix a lot and you know, this is Just one of those things that you know, like if this was if we were five years into this I'd be more concerned than I am. I think this is this is And listen like, you know, I don't think this was like I think this is a good setup for for him But like, you know, if I was gonna pick apart like one of the priorities of weaker players like around the greens and on the greens and a course that like I Don't know if you've seen many sets of greens like this in his golf career Obviously a gusto would be one but that gets a lot flatter around the hole than that around a mink These these are not screens And I think a lot of these players aren't used to having five footers that that you might be playing a cup and a half out Two big Americans that we haven't talked about yet Justin Thomas and Scottie Schaeffler I think are two really notable Americans. Do you think, you know, I feels like Scottie played pretty decently well was horrendous Obviously was horrendous on the greens. Um, I I It felt like there were some larger sort of takeaways going on there with like is 2021 putting Scottie coming back is this are we seeing cracks in the in the armor? I think it could also just been a very unique set of greens and winds that brought that 2021 Scottie out that we might not see that frequent set of circumstances going forward but I'm pretty frustrating week for Scottie Schaeffler and that's I Don't say to it a row like he was so incredible at the Masters on the weekend But probably also felt like he should have won it based on how well he played it and some of the cracks and Rory's armor on Saturday Where are you with Scottie Schaeffler Andy like is this change you're you kind of concerned about the putting going forward? well, you know You get better at something But if you've had struggles you always it's always at the back of your mind and I think that's that's the scary thing about this week for Scottie is That this brought probably back a lot of memories and a lot of doubt and doubt is the The worst thing you can have in your brain when you're standing over a three-foot putt or a four-foot putt I think there's like the sheer amount of them every day. I mean every day he miss shorties and I think that's alarming like he you know, I think Trevor said I Think he said I like the first putt out of the gate on Saturday that he was calling might have been like and he missed a short one He said God, I haven't seen a lot that much face rotation in a long time from him and So yeah, I would be alarmed and I think like this is the thing about golf is when you don't get it over the line repeatedly and you feel you start to pile up frustration other things a road yeah, and You know, it's like oh, I was a putt here or a putt there I was one shot short here one shot short there and it starts to just put pressure on everything in your in your game and you're you know like I Think Scottie's done his very best and a marvelous job at avoiding expectation but inevitably When you win as much as he's won the last few years expectation becomes a Very difficult thing to satisfy and golf is the hardest when you have on a very high expectations So yeah, I'd be worried about Scottie You know the putt that I I He's gonna have those pictures in his mind. There's you know, unless he does some crazy, Iowaska shit with Aaron Rodgers you um You talked about media day at Shinnecock about the wind They're really bothering you because those greens are pushed up in the wind and You know if this is a thing that sort of lingers, you know, it's kind of in his head coming out of this one Maybe that's something you look forward to like the expectations are higher. I'm sorry Like they might not always be fair, but yeah like a t14 Up until last year he'd always struggled at the open putting to yeah, and that's where you get a little windier slower slow beer greens so JT nearly snuck in snuck in the back door going to lunch did not have his Bud lights or his beers at lunch But as he talked about, you know being the clubhouse leader kind of never Did you ever think Andy do you ever think it was like you felt like for a while there? Maybe five might do it. It might be a good enough right? What did it feel like on the ground Kevin? Yeah, I thought the first sec five was gonna absolutely hold up. I mean it until Rye Eagle nine it did not feel like anybody could make any movement now ultimately like a few guys were gonna You know get to six, but I don't know that that part part felt really really big When he made that up and down because it was not a good drive and 18. Yeah, and you know, I think we're talking about regrets I'd say JT is pretty low it was not playing super great early on in this season and You know he proved me wrong yet again as Joseph was like I'll take JT over Ricky and Jordan Coming into this major and absolutely JT almost for a second time made me look dumb at a PJ championship But I think that he probably was sort of buoyed by the fact of the first time he's actually really Kind of been in contention in a while in majors so I would say the vibes are good going forward He probably didn't really think waking up this morning yet a chance to win But there was a few brief moments where he probably thought and I might get into playoff and I can just get into play I can steal another one of these Three PGA is probably better just try to give one another thing first before he just stack a bunch Would you rather have three PGA's or one Masters? three PGA's I Think I would too, but I think that that two and a half is the number where you would flip it is because I'd rather have one Masters And two PGA's but I would definitely rather have three PGA's than one Masters I think I'd rather be like Ian Woosnum or Yeah, it's a hard thing to throw out there right because three majors is a lot of majors The PGA has a nice champions dinner too That's true. I'd be psyched for the the champions dinner next year May some Indian Indian fair Do they even Kenyan fusion did they get the set the menu or they just eat like they're gonna have Texas barbecue They do get the set the menu but Xander has no recollection of what he set his for heat last year He straight up was just like yeah, I don't I don't remember what happened and on the topic of majors give me sheer numbers of majors Over like yeah, I'd rather have a Masters than a PGA if I have one But I will always take the extra major the total I would not take I would not care one bit which one it is To dev you'd rather have two PGA's than an open championship. Yeah Two major there's a lot less but there's with you two majors than one major and that that would be what I'm most Interested in is like how do you get to the stratosphere where there's less people ahead of you on this major championship leaderboard? I think if it's the Masters it really makes me think just because of all the canotes about like that You get to go back there and do all this stuff. I think there's a little yeah We'd rather have John Daley's career Adam Scott's career in that sense John Daley You know I've not I'd rather have Adam Scott's is the surest with with I think like with You know the longevity And I think like that's a unique set up, but if you said you know roughly The same number of wins and the same in the same career length and the same legacy as a person But one person has two majors and one person has one masters I'll take the two majors Okay, right. I don't know what do you would you guys disagree? What do you think Joseph? To Brendan's point like three versus one probably of any major I'd Probably take the three I'd have to put myself in the headspace of being an active competitive golfer to really know that but I think one You got jammed Jammed they cut in real quick that Austin Wi-Fi, you know this tech hubs in Austin always jamming them up Would have had some on the subject of one-time major winners. I loved I Loved Cameron Smith being involved just absolutely slapping it foul balls left and right When you guys are Joseph was talking about guys were getting away slapping it all around I love kids Smith they had three fairways. Why does every major have to be totally Prescriptive of this is how you do it like if the guy is like able to scramble his ass off or put his ass off Like I think that's like the name of the game is getting the ball in the hole It's not like how many fairways did you hit and how aesthetically pleasing was it the whole way around? I like I saw people between like this is so fraudulent if camp Smith wins like this is so Disrespectful the golf basically that the guy could just hit total slaps nowhere near the planet And I like what I love that that kind of thing could have a chance if he's exceptional in another area I love that aspect because he's a scoundrel He's the nickname I like that that couldn't have played out better for that little preview show nickname you threw out of You know what I One time I One time played a batch in like a statement. I am against a guy who was like 25 years older than me hit it 50 yards short of me and I played really well It's somehow on 18. I lost it's like how did you know he beat you? And I'm like, I don't really know and the guy's like, you know that guy's cagey cage is as shit And and I'm like that's right. He is K. Like camp Smith cagey Absolutely, I know my golf trip is cagey and he's so annoying to play against because he just finds a way I Mean yeah, I thought that was great that that element was was available People seemed mad that he had a chance had a chance to potentially win Oh somebody somebody's theory where you want I Think it's storming out here have not left the apartment in about 12 hours, so but I've been hearing some rumbling I think my power went out for a sec. Okay, you have line Who knows there you go or Pino still I haven't poured myself a glass But it's been a long week. Maybe I will by the end of this podcast Any other names odds and ends joint throughout there like obviously smally schmid Nick Taylor in the mix on Sunday was kind of remarkable go ahead peach Nick Taylor Just as soon as he really had no chance and rice started pulling away Just completely putting his hands up and making whatever score that he was presented on the card was kind of amazing I really I really respected it honestly He made like four straight bogeys as soon as he had no chance. He just packed it in Hit a banana peel as far as disappointments go. I think I was a little dis Disappointed and got her up and read thought I would maybe get a little bit more for them joining the battle Not necessarily winning, but they just weren't ever part of the part of the game If I if I read a text that I got About one of the players you mentioned What would that be mean comment about about maybe Buster bluth of the stress PGA? Um It depends on how what the substance of the text is I think before I think okay. I think we're okay here I got this text from a buddy and honestly when I when I saw it. I was like, huh? What a weird thing to do there Nothing says my mom pre-cut fruit for me in college like laying it up on a 300 yard par for down three shots on Major Sunday Alex small that layup I can't believe you laid up there. He gave us a way better look than brahmer Roy did on that same hole So still you're three back Yeah It's tough he was I mean Credit to smalling for being a part of the proceedings that is the one of the most forgettable final parents We'll have in our lifetimes if I think his regret has to be high because he will never be in the mix at that again I think he will be static to have a sick He'll be in the final hearing you think Alex smally will be in the final pairing of a major Andy I think I won't take that bet right now. I don't think this is the last of Alex Molly That will we'll see I don't I'm not saying this is the last of Alex Molly He'll be fine. Joseph knows I'm going out here He is never getting in the final pairing of a major again. He'll be great at the wind them in a couple months, right? That was a once in a lifetime I was gonna say the the smally ownership in in wind them one and done is gonna be off the charts I will say one on the ground anecdote that I wanted to share please we were joking with Alex's caddy a little bit we were waiting for Aaron rye and We were sort of saying like you know He was like oh Aaron rise such an incredible guy such a nice guy like that was the across the board everyone was talking tonight about What a great guy Aaron rye is and we were like oh those iron covers must have been a must be a caddy nightmare though Do you think a lot of people end up those iron covers and he pauses and he goes? You win the pga the fucking pga you can put as many iron covers as you want on your irons. I was like hell. Yeah That's pretty sweet. That is true. That is true That's were always a disaster though if you got that loop at the at the club with somebody with the iron covers That was a nightmare Do you have any do you have any scorching maddie Schmidt takes? No scorching maddie Schmidt takes have probably have a course set up taker too, but I think please I'm in there. I'd like we went in there. I wanted to come back to you on this I think two quick points one I'm willing to overlook a lot of what how players played because I'm pretty sympathetic to the argument that there weren't that many There weren't shots out there the greens were so firm It was so hard to get close to whole locations that I think that was a legitimate outcome from this tournament like You're trying to seven iron With with wind into a firm surface where there's almost nowhere to land the ball I guess I think that's part of why we saw a condensed leaderboard I think that's a function of the golf course wasn't a function of the setup But like I don't really feel like certain guys left shots out there It was really hard to score even reading got her up like I don't feel like they were playing necessarily that badly that was Part one and part two which I think needs to be a bigger part of the conversation That when you've Aaron Rye hitting three wood on a 527 yard par four off the tee to hit to the fattest part of the fairway and other guys if you're watching our spraying T shots 325 yards and getting away with being in a trampled down lie Like we need to have a conversation about the scale of the game and Tightly coupled with that how fast these greens are running Isn't how they were designed and we're looking around like wait Why isn't skilled being rewarded enough like why isn't this leaderboard look like I want it to? Can we not appreciate that we're playing this game in a totally totally different scale than we should be it should be blatantly blatantly obvious You know what would be a good solution? To your second point what's that no fans Sure the PGA would love that just as a revenue situation just no fans I Know fans is would present the purest forms of championship golf There was a notion I saw going around to Brian Schneider and others that like the fairway speeds are preposterous now It's not just green speeds these days till sort of kind of combat distance with fairway speeds are absurd and cuts I would say do not ride respectively if Aaron rising three wood on a 527 yard par four we have a serious serious problem Right, I would say to say that Andy's it is accidentally acknowledging LeBron's COVID championship with this no fans argument And he's gonna eat that one as it goes against I think there are a lot other flaws that I'm okay with the no fans I'm I'm more not okay with the psychological health that everybody had to endure in the bubble Okay, I mean think about if LeBron was golfing during those years they would no way they would have won You know what I heard right? And if I ever yes, what golfing was you've told us on this podcast, but there was my I'm not hurt it go ahead I mean effectively everybody got all the NBA guys got it a golf because there were houses on the golf course and they could They could basically say they were golfing go out to the golf course And then they would go into one of the houses and you know smoke weed or there'd be girls there Like basically whatever they wanted to do, but they would go Burst on the golf course it seems like that's what was going on the bubble Some holes in it You take a set up take What else job Joseph was a run a make as a as a major championship golf course or test where would you grade it? Where would you where would you find it? You had a box here arguing with people about this like I just want to hear people tell me where we should be taking PGA's because go through the exercise There are not many places that have the infrastructure the driving range all of that so I would go back to Iran a mink Philadelphia deserves Toast tournaments do I think you'd get another condensed leaderboard like this? Yeah, I do I think you would and I would still rather see that than a lot of the options that have been presented like Valhalla Where are we supposed to be going? I? Present I present Aaron Hills the the US Open rejects club sure of Aaron Chambers Bay Let's let's go Well, let's bring it back to whistlery Straits. I thought whistlery Straits was pretty good PGA venue If you move that obviously if you move the schedule, but I don't think you necessarily have to move the schedule It just you know the chances of you getting a great weather week just like in Philly Medina the new Medina would be a slam dunk for this thing There's a lot of I think I think the PGA has you know Olympic clubs good people I can't wait for people for the Olympic club just to see what the takes are I mean You think they'll just whatever we'll do that in two years. We'll do that in two years. I'm sure Yeah, no, I thought this week They're already but buttering up the media for the Frisco stuff They're talking about the media hotel is gonna be right by the course. It's gonna be like a really great raid They're trying there, but the media gift is gonna be great. They're working hard already on the media That's good. I mean, it's gotta be nice to spend a week in Frisco In late May, I don't know it's even a week later next week or next year. We'll see I'm surprised the celebration hasn't already started with that speed birdie on 18. I mean they may as well just start engraving When that went in Dude it's happening brother. Yeah home game home game speed regret has to be high right because he hit it really good And just didn't make anything. Well, when's the next time Jordan's gonna get gonna get in the mix of the PGA? Come on. Oh, I thought I thought you're gonna say once the next time He's gonna hit it good and not win cuz I would have said this week at the buyer Nelson So I mean he hit it better than he would normally have hit it like he was actually like safe and under control A lot of ways wasn't like a bunch of crazy up and downs He just couldn't make anything it was probably if he's ever going to win a PGA This was presented a much better opportunity than you know What the previous certainly the previous ones with when he came he was never gonna win at Beth page I think he finished freaking second or third there to DJ and put it his face off What are we talking about it was the quintessential speed week you got the Marquis pairing kind of unjustifiably with Rahman Roy Was hit it quote-unquote good had an absolutely social media sensation of a shot That was just totally immaterial to the proceedings like this is where we are now with Jordan speed so One minute to the podcast There we go Kevin you know the last George's speed top 10 in a major Would say it's probably the Masters the year that rom one Yeah, you're right 2023 Masters Interesting non-competitive one We don't even make it like it's like a she's be ashamed of that like performance He played really well that time like he you know Way out ahead of the big wave of things you probably got a good weather wave 13 majors without a top 10 When's left to JT at a top 10 in a major before this was price Southern Hills was Southern Hills Long time to Cameron Smith back JT back who knows maybe speak next did the boys see the thing about Cameron Smith Have a nausea all week and Cameron yeah, I mean yeah boys speak for yourselves on that this feels like I'm not I'm not Cosigning this this is not a report from the boys. I don't feel the need to cosine everything that comes out I think Cameron young like that's a shitty excuse if that's true that oh, I was only dizzy on the greens But I was still Pumping it with the driver and I just couldn't hit a wedge which is kind of always what happens like that's you know man Wasn't our week. I don't know what else to tell you. Hey, he's been sick now back to back PGA Is that might be even more ammo to move it to August? Hey Basically bad time allergies are terrible. We got to move this thing. I got breaking up breaking news here I hope nobody opens their Twitter. Okay, do not know and if you've seen this you can't answer But can you tell it could anybody tell me? Which player got the most shots shown in the final round of the PGA championship on CBS oh Josh Carpenter tweet here Incredible or it feels like you're setting us up for a bag. I'm gonna say like I'm gonna guess I'll I'm gonna guess Maddie Schmidt No, I'm I'm going Scotty. I'm going Scotty. There's so much Scottie Who will Scotty started in the ESPN window? That's fair. He was an hour This is just the CBS window Kevin Maddie Maddie Schmidt had 61 shots shown. I Mean because they were still showing him after it was over and it was like do we really need this like really he's on 17 well that was the thing they had 30 minutes after Reich sputtered in you got you know Jim Nance is dropping Well, he's won a tournament already this year of Aaron Rye the part three contest like they were just Spittering sputtering facts out there to get us through it. That's good. Schmidt the most 61 shot shown Rory 58 Aaron Rye and John Rom 49 Spally 45 scoundrel cam young cam Smith 41 I Mean I think there's a 39 and Nick Taylor 36 There's a chance we're sitting here seven months from now and we're doing the year in review episode of the PGA And we asked who played with Alex Molley in the final pairing and some somebody's great I can remember it Kevin you're on site. How many holes did you follow Schmidt Smalley for today? I See your strategy was to watch on TV for a while and then yeah, it was hard to I mean I peaked out a little bit here and there but it was hard to it was so hard to flake It didn't make any sense It wasn't the kind of tournament where you're gonna stick with a group and then like fall back and fall back because you could never know Who was gonna? Yeah Um odds and ends I want to rip into you want to say something I was gonna I was gonna ask if the one kind of take away when it was like the one thing that crystallizes from this and Then the other quick a quick one to tack on to this one big takeaway from the PGA And then the the second part which is a quick question. Do the floodgates now open for Aaron Rye? I Based on him hitting it like 275 I'm gonna say no And the way modern golf is no floodgates are not opening What about big take a big takeaway like what's the one thing when you think about the 2026? PGA championship that you're gonna be you're gonna think I just total like a variety creates some Unpredictability that like it's good to have an outdoor game that doesn't feel so prescribed all the time and that created a lot of angst and discourse and shouting about freakin pin positions and Pin sheets that I've never seen before and that will be my takeaway I thought that was interesting at least as someone who wants to watch it, you know consume something That's interesting across four days, right? That's not just interesting in the last hour and a half I Brennan I talked about this a little bit over text this week But like I think that like in media and general needs to be careful about just always complaining about what didn't happen Kind of enjoy what's in front of you whatever way you can I mean like was it the best tournament? No, I wouldn't the best tournament I've ever been to but I kind of think like these things are part of golf history Like there's always gonna be kind of guys outside the main You know scope of things that you are gonna win a major now and then it makes it gives the majors where Scotty and Rory Do win that much more weight because it's friggin hard to win majors because sometimes Aaron rise gonna play great and You know he's gonna get his one major why Yang's gonna get his one major Ben Curtis is gonna get his one major Sean McKeel so these are all part of the the big arc of history and We can enjoy them and appreciate them without Constantly bitching about no man. This wasn't what I expected and then I I enjoyed being here I wouldn't do it every time but man. It was fun I think my biggest takeaway will be if I ever see another golf course like this where greens are this hard to make putts I'm gonna know better that scores aren't gonna be as good as I expect them to be because I was wrong about that and It's probably gonna be a little harder to separate than I expected it to be so that is I think a lesson going forward And then to both of your points Kevin and Brendan We we argue so much about the PJ championship and if it has an identity all that this major made people feel something And it had more discourse than just about any major of the past few years And I think that that may not be the mark of a successful tournament or what an identity should be But I think it the tournament deserves credit for making people feel something and being engaged whether or not they loved What happened on Sunday? I thought it struck a particular chord that was unique and that I will remember forever Yep, I agree Andy. You have a big takeaway from the week. Um, I think You know, I think a Lot about about the setup You know where like generally like you don't know what something's gonna be until shots are hit and everybody's just doing their best guess I think that that's something that I'll always kind of remember um, I think like never discount a awesome set of greens if they're firm um, and then like I think like One thing for me is just obviously the air and ride thing like I I I don't really enjoy watching air ride play golf Just generally he plays really slow It's just not really a fun experience watching him play golf, but I had a lot of fun watching him You know climb the mountain today and and I think that's that's the thing That's the thing I'll take away is is watching someone Who's worked their entire 31 basically? You know, I think he's picked up the game when he was four and he got pretty serious quickly but his work 27 years trying to climb a mountain and is you know Without a doubt From a skill standpoint deficient in areas that normally you need to succeed and watching someone win Against the world's best players and basically a shootout was really fun Yep It's a it's a quality major. Um We'll get to other odds and ends. I think on wednesday. There's a few things I think there's some interesting thoughts about where like is this a new era of the pga. They obviously have a new leader Like there's a bob fort article that went under the radar like felt like not planted but coordinated about how things got to change Governance got to change. I think we'll talk about that on wednesday a couple underrated moments from the day Ben Kern the colonel who joined the fair police I don't think anyone else in the field is doing this tomorrow. Like what are you doing? I have not looked at my emails So I will get back to my emails in a few days. I'm probably going to be at my desk getting caught up Getting the back end to where it needs to be And getting all the information out to members He's got to get in the back end of the systems and answers emails after which will be just a bloodbath I love to get in that from the colonel He's probably gonna set up a calcana, you know Yeah, that's like nobody else is doing that in this field Brendan you're gonna do it again where you say this guy's awesome ben kern. He's got to go back to doing emails Just like you do with blocky and then I'm doing it again pros of just a corvace got no at this point And then they brought in the want to make her great grandson Who has no connection to golf other than these the great grandson of the want to make her trophy guy And they gave him a press conference for reasons that are unclear to me And somebody asked him this might be a silly question But did you ever get to meet your great grandfather? The namesake? His great grandfather died which was quickly readily ascertainable by me. His great grandfather died in 1928 The water maker trope 1928 it's 2026 So this guy who does no connection to golf He's just some guy It's a press conference. Did you meet the waterman? He's been dead a hundred years Once the guy's 98 years old he never met him. So that was my favorite under the radar that and the trophy is on Getting some pop and cj cut by reynolds and promo for next week on the various tours. I'm sure you love that pj Go ahead Hey, uh real quick Brendan your calves are up 23 points. I know We're setting up the nicks the nicks calves shotguns start start subway series here Nope, you're jinxing it. There's I've seen these calves take and we've got still a quarter and a half to play Absolutely not. We need somebody to come through with tickets and we got to get we got to get you boys boys at one of the games Uh, we could yeah, I could probably figure out tickets in cleveland. I think New York I was gonna say I mean if you want to come up on tuesday night, I would go if we could stumble into tickets Maybe we'll work on it. Maybe we'll work on that in cleveland. Uh, anything else feel like we've gone long here for sure Kevin joseph, you want to check the newsletter? Go ahead Kevin. What were you saying? I had a 20 minute conversation with gary player today Look forward to that next week. Uh, the only thing I will tease is that at one point He pulled out a note, uh from his pocket from his breast pocket with handwritten winson churchill quotes on it and read several of them to me Like his handwriting not his handwriting. He took the time to transcribe. Uh, it wasn't like winson churchill's handwriting Yeah, but he wanted to make sure that he had carried around these winson churchill quotes In case the need ever arose and today was one of those times when he wanted to talk about winson churchill's views on socialism and uh And and war and so stay tuned for that Uh, and the other thing just personal my daughter won a golf tournament today. We're excited about that Hey, hey, there you go. She'll always have that with kamo there and right going for exactly I thought was very player in that red coat. I thought that was a nice homage to the english winner He changed into the red coat after our conversation. So he was whisked away to change into that stuff. So why was he in a red coat? I think they maybe they wore that coat in 1962 when he won all the players with polo I don't know. I mean red coat in philadelphia on america 250 when an english man wins It's there's a lot going on there are levels to this It came right in took over took over the joint. Um, all right. That's it. That's it There's other tours we can talk about but that'll we'll save that for once day anything else Guys good any other comments? We have to say thank you to listeners another major championship week We are very lucky to do this. So very fortunate that you guys listen and watch on the youtube Uh, listen in your feeds Uh, it's really pleasure to do this can be long days long hours, but it's awesome Then we're lucky to get to do it. We will be doing it again at shinnecock here in about a month Everybody going up to lond island very excited about that. Uh, we'll catch you on wednesday. It's it's quite honestly as far as shotguns start goes I mean This is sort of the the lead in to the super bowl at cj cup tpc craig t nelson ranch on landy wattkins redo So super bowl week ahead. We'll talk to you on wednesday This is an iHeart podcast guaranteed human