A Preview of the 2023 Ryder Cup with Trevor Immelman

00:00:00
Speaker 1: I miss a green, for example, I'm already upset. When I find my ball in the bunker, I'm really upset. And when I find my ball in egg Frida, Egg Frida, egg Frida, egg Bride, egg Lie, I'm about ready to run off the golf course.

00:00:34
Speaker 2: Welcome back to another edition of the Friday Golf Podcast. I am your host, Andy Johnson. We're here. This is a huge event, a huge week. The Ryder Cup is here. Uh, this is exciting. I I'm a little bummed out. I'm not going to be on the ground in Rome, but I will be out in New York for the week. Uh, getting a little bit better time zone for the the Italy Cup. But it'll be an awesome week. Brenda and I will be together as well as Matt doing some different things. Will be over at sum at HQ, some at our clothing brand b Draddy and Zero Restriction. We'll be doing a bunch of fun stuff out there this week. But we got a great podcast today. We've got Trevor Immelman, the lead analyst for CBS. He's obviously been kind of the voice of golf in twenty twenty three and moving forward he will continue to be and he came on. I thought he would be excellent to talk to since he was the last captain to go up against the Americans in a team competition, so got some unique insights. And thanks to Trevor for coming on. Before we get to his interview and discussion, today's podcast was brought to you by Club Champion. Listen. I've been back keeping a hand handicap post and scores and it's because I got some new sticks. You know, I'm finally back in the saddle of the modern equipment. It's been fun, you know, it's been fun blast of the ball around. I'm not gonna lie, and I've got some awesome clubs. I can't believe how how well I'm hitting the driver. It's it's incredible what modern technology with the shafts and everything. And I knew I got fit into the right one. I mean it was really clear when I did my fitting what it was the right one. And I did it at Club Champion. I did a full bag. I'm really playing good golf, and I think a lot of it has to do with like being an equipment that is fit to me. So if you use the promo code Frida Egg, you will get fifty percent off. You're fitting with a club purchase. That's a good deal. That's the promo code's Frida Egg and you get fifty percent off. You're fitting with a club purchase a Club Champion. They have all kinds into combos that you can't get a lot of places, And I think that's the big draw to going there is like you're going to get your best clubs because they have everything. So go to Club Champions schedule, you're fitting, use the promo code Frida Egg and get fifty percent off with the club purchase. Now, let's kick it to Trevor Immilman and talk Ryder Cuck. Trevor, we were just joking around. I mean, how are you enjoying the offseason. You're the only only man in golf that gets one.

00:03:36
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's felt good. It's felt good. I was thinking back to win Lost. I've had like a significant amount of time off without obviously being injured. But still when you're injured, as an athlete, you are you're always trying to find little ways to grab other edges. So you'll still be working out, or you'll be doing something to try and at least convince your mind you're getting a little better. But this is the first time that I can remember since I was a little kid where I had like a significant amount of time off. So yeah, after the Tour Championship, I'm done until the Farmers at Tory Pines. So it's been great. Just been so good to be back home and you know, catching up with some of the other things that I like to do.

00:04:21
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, you got a kid at college. You're going up there this weekend, are you? Are you a little worried about the Clemson football program.

00:04:29
Speaker 1: Well, he is a senior in high school.

00:04:33
Speaker 2: So he's going to college.

00:04:34
Speaker 1: Yes, going to college. But we've been going to Clemson for a long time really, you know, fell in love with the town and the school more than a decade ago, and we've got great friends that are up there and go up there a lot, and slowly but surely we've sort of become involved with the community and different things that are going on up there, and so we try and go anytime we hand. Yeah, I am a little worried about it. We obviously had, you know, a giant hiccup in Week one against Duke. Was not expecting that, and then a couple of walkovers here since. But tomorrow is going to be the real test against Florida State, who are pretty damn good this season.

00:05:19
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, big game, big game this weekend. I you know, I feel like Week one can be a little fluky too. So hey, we we got the Ryder Cup this week. It's it's a big event. I've heard it's rumors. It's a big event. I asked you to prepare and do five things. You were complaining about it when we did the Master's part, and this time you just flat out said no, I'm not doing Yeah.

00:05:43
Speaker 1: I absolutely refuse, And I refuse. This is the second time that you've invited me to be on your podcast and then you give me work like I'm Brendan or Joseph or one of these people that did work for fried egg And so I here's your guest. I'm not going to prepare and study and take notes and stuff before I come on the podcast. I'm gonna wing this thing.

00:06:08
Speaker 2: Well, that's that's the way I do a lot of podcasts on the shot start, so I I think it sometimes leads to the best stuff. So I prepared a few extra and uh, because of that, we'll just run through these. We'll run through some big topics about the UH the Ryder Cup. Obviously, your your resume is UH is great. You you were the captain of the President's Cup team UH last year, sneaky team. I feel like a couple of things go your way, you pull off the end the upset of the of the century, bigger than the Duke clems An upset. If a couple of things go your way on Sunday and Saturday with the Ryder Cup, they the home team gets to set up the golf course in a you know, just a general idea. And and Joel Beiale just wrote an article for Golf Digest. Has it gone too far? Do you? What do you think about the idea of setting up a golf course? Should it be a neutral party setting up the golf course? I mean, the last away team win was Madina, which was a kind of a flukey win if you think about it, a huge comeback. But has the home team set up situation gone too far?

00:07:22
Speaker 1: No, I don't think it has. I really like it, and I like it so much that we introduced it last time around at the President's Cup. In the past, the PGA Tour set up staff and officials just took care of it and you know, they do a brilliant job week in and week out. We've seen that they very very very rarely will screw something up. They've gotten so good at setting up golf courses week in and week out. But we wanted to get to a point too where when we're playing away in the President's Cup, it doesn't always feel like we're just dropping a PGA Tour event into a foreign country. So we wanted to be able to take some control over that. It was approved, and so because we were starting at that time in Charlotte and the Americans were having a home event, they were able to take control of Quail Hollow up until the Monday of the event. So it'll be going forward that way. In the President's Cup Montreal will be the first time that we actually get to set the golf course up the way we want. Leading up to the event, we've actually made a few changes that we think will be able to maybe play into our hands a little bit. And so I actually liked the idea. I think it provides another talking point, it makes it interesting, and so I'm all for it. I'm all for it, and really, you know, it hasn't worked that badly for the Europeans. You know what, They've won seven out of the last ten Rider Cups. A couple of them have been here in the US. You mentioned Medina. Where was the other one two thousand and four was the other one? Hills?

00:09:03
Speaker 2: Yeah, Oakland Hills.

00:09:04
Speaker 1: Yeah, So you know, they've managed to get it done. It's just the Americans that quite you know, incredibly, it's quite fascinating that they haven't been able to win in Europe for three decades.

00:09:18
Speaker 2: It yeah, I mean, it's crazy, it's I I almost have storry to believe. It's just like a statistical anomaly where they're too talented, not too and I guess you know, my thought my question for you is, you know, if you're the Europeans, what types of things are you doing in setup that would counteract this talented American team that you for the most part a very similar team to the President's Cup win against.

00:09:50
Speaker 1: Well, you know, nowadays these team events of data has become such a huge part of it, and so they'll be running all of those numbers. And I was so deep in all of that stuff over the last couple of years that you know, I haven't paid any attention to this rider couple from a data standpoint, So you know, in years gone by, just this think of my way through it. In years gone by, it was always kind of known that the Europeans were straighter drivers of the ball. The Americans were a little more wild, and so they would set these courses up, whether it be the Belfry or whether it be at.

00:10:28
Speaker 2: Like golf nationalism, that's right.

00:10:31
Speaker 1: I mean, France was a perfect example. Wales was another one. Anytime they've gone over there, they would get those fairways, you know, inside of twenty five yards wide, and they'd be able to provide themselves with an advantage. But now you know, you go down that American team, you've got a lot of great drivers of the ball, not just long, but quite accurate as well. So to me, that advantage has kind of gone away, so they're going to have to find some other avenue. Is Another one that they always used in the past was that would slow the greens down. Americans are much more used to putting on really quick greens, rarely firm greens at times. Although saying that, I mean we've had some some marshmallows over the last few years with all the rain and all that kind of stuff. But now that maybe has gone away as well. You consider that, gosh, what is it, eleven out of the twelve Europeans play on the PGA Tour. I mean they're also used to buddy god Fast Greens weekend and a week out, So maybe some of the little tricks that they used in the past have gone by the wayside. And maybe that's one of the top five that I'm looking forward to for this rider.

00:11:46
Speaker 2: Just how we can get your five. We're gonna get your five through.

00:11:50
Speaker 1: I'm gonna throw that one into my five. Actually that was good.

00:11:54
Speaker 2: Yeah, I it is. I mean it's become a singular almost a singular dominant tour. I mean you got I guess you could say that like a guy like Ryan Fox and is holding on. He's like the only I think, like and he's not even a European, but he's like the only guy that's like seemingly not coming over to America what he has an opportunity to. But like everybody else, it's it's you get that that PGA Tour card and you you run there. Uh you mentioned data And I think a fascinating aspect of this Ryder Cup is going to be you know, the Europeans especially with Dodo Molinari on on the Captain C. I think they are going to be extremely data oriented decisions with their team, with their pairings everything, And with the American team, it seems like it's swung kind of back to the the old era of of the Boys Club right now. Like Jordan Speith and Justin Thomas are going to be paired together, Xander and Patrick Cantley are going to be paired together. Those have been formidable pairings. But you know, you know, Sam Burns and Scottie Scheffler are going to be paired together. We know the pairings ahead of time for the Americans because there are they are pairings that are centered around friendships, and I think like somebody's like, oh, you know this Xander Patrick Cantley pairing has been great. Well, like, you know, those are two guys that are great at everything. Yeah, you know, like they could kind of work with anybody, I would imagine unbelievably. I think one of the things I'm watching is like this US team has kind of become the team that it attempted to displace, you know, a decade ago, after the after the Watson failure. You know, this was the idea is we're going to get more data focus, We're going to be more and it seems like we have returned back to the boys club. So something I'm really interested in watching is are we going to get some really odd European pairings that are really data oriented that we don't expect. And then is the US team going to have you know, can they move from any of these pairings?

00:14:14
Speaker 1: Okay, so there's a lot there for me to unpacked. First of all, I have no problem with the US team. You know, everybody's thrown around this term boys club. You know, I think that was the genesis of this task force or whatever they called it. You know, a number of years ago after Glen Eagles, where the players, much like what's happening with the PGA Tour right now, wanted to take a little bit more control, pay attention to what's going on behind the scenes, and really get a bigger picture of everything seen as though they're such a huge part of it. And there's two parts to that. First of all, it's to improve camaraderie, and that is a priority, but it's not the biggest priority. The reason you're actually doing this is to win, and this is what the big test is going to be for them because they haven't won over there in so long. And I think they fixed the first part, which is making sure that all of these guys get on together, they enjoy being in each other's company. There's something to be said for that. I promise you, there absolutely is something to be said for that. There's a lot of you know, older generation players that will say, ah, you guys just need to suck it up. Golf is golf and you've got to go out there and play. And I get that part. But I've also seen how when you have a group that rarely can knit tightly together, how players can start to perform at a different level, at a better level, and it rarely can start to pull things together and be something very special. So I have no problem with the Boys Club kind of thing. To me. I thought that this Thomas pick was kind of obvious and natural. I've seen it close up with that guy. He is the heartbeat of that team. It would not surprise me at all if him and Speed or first on Friday morning to set the tourne that's the position that they like to go out in and that they've had a ton of success in. So that Boys Club doesn't bother me, And you're right, a lot of the pairings are natural. But now, how are they going to involve the two major champions? How they going to involve Wyndham Clark? How they going to involve Brian Harmon Brooks Kepka is another one. He's somebody that had a lot of experience in teams as well, so he can bring that part of it in. But he hasn't been on the PGA Tour week in and week out with these guys, so you know, maybe they'll be on a fast learning curve there. It was good to see them go over and make that trip to Italy for a couple of days just to get to know each other even better. As far as the European team goes, Yeah, there's a possibility that we see some funky stuff and it's what to me, what's going to be interesting is some of the stuff I've read from Luke Donald is the golf course is extremely hilly. It's going to be a tough walk. I've already told these guys that they may not be able to play all five matches. We've got backup caddies. It's such a tough walk. I mean stuff like That is quite interesting to me.

00:17:30
Speaker 2: I'd love to be a backup caddy.

00:17:32
Speaker 1: Yeah, that sounds like a pretty good gig. It's like being a backup quarterback. I mean, gotta be the greatest job in the world.

00:17:41
Speaker 2: That's like when ZJ. David Green went to the Ryder Cup as a as the caddy of the assistant captain a couple of years ago and he was driving the cart around.

00:17:51
Speaker 1: That's right exactly. So, uh, you know, how are they going to do that? Because whilst the European team is strong, don't get me wrong, they're strong, and they have a chip on their shoulder and they got absolutely whipped last time, so they carry that as some extra motivation. You know, how deep are they going to be? You know, if rom can't go five, if McElroy can't go five, if Hatton can't go five, and Fleetwood and all their big dogs Haveland, then you know, does it start to get a little thin with certain pairings where the Americans can just come at you all day long with a number of different pairings. That to me is going to be Luke Donald's toughest task and I look forward to seeing how they go about that. And like you say, I mean Eddie Mulinari. He's gotten great at this kind of stuff over the last few years, and he works with a number of players week in and week out on the tour, so maybe they got a little something cooked up.

00:18:52
Speaker 2: I think, you know, I think this hits on really my next topic, which is the back end of the Europeans. It's always a topic of conversation, it is, no matter what you know. You look at that those bottom four and it's it's the weakest four players in the match. I think, like if you were talking about the Americans, and you might throw Justin Thomas in the bottom of the Americans, but I think everybody would say the bottom two are like they would I don't think it's necessarily just. But the most popular answer would be Brian Harmon and Wyndham Clark. Those guys are top ten players in the world right now. You know, it's a it's a crazy, you know situation where that that's considered to be their bottom two. But those are guys that like, we're at the top of the pointless right, nobody's played better.

00:19:39
Speaker 1: That's why they qualified automatically.

00:19:41
Speaker 2: And you start to look at the bottom of the Europeans and there's no denying. Like you know, I did a draft with Shane Bacon and and when I listed out the twenty four players and ranked the twenty four players, it became so apparent like when the Europeans have to go to that bench, that's where they get really weak. I think at the it's super impressive, what especially with thecension of Victor Hovelind over the last couple of months, Like their top looks great, and I think you could say maybe the top four and this is the next topic, but maybe the top four are better than the American four. But then once you get past like the third European, it is just you. You can't help but notice it's just a line of US guys. And with the golf course being hilly, I think that's a big detriment to the Europeans.

00:20:26
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's gonna be interesting to see. I don't know anything about the course either, Andy, I mean just the stuff that I've read saying it's.

00:20:33
Speaker 2: Hilly, driving bull part fours, it looked.

00:20:37
Speaker 1: Seemed to me like there could be three or four driveable part fours, only three part fives with one being the eighteenth. All I mean that could be funky. Look when I was finishing my stint and my playing career the last few years playing in Europe. You know, in all the meetings they were talking about this golf course and designing this golf course specifically for the Ryder Cup match play. And over the last few years the tour members over there have had a close look at it. So I kind of am so intrigued to see how it plays out. And once you start to pack the European fans, I mean they are the best. They're the best. That's one of the things that I'm looking forward to is the passion that they bring, the songs that they come up with, and they're singing all the time. You know, remember that first tea set up there in Paris. It was incredible. Golf has never seen anything like that, and that's that's gonna be a lot of fun. But one thing the Europeans have done so well really since the mid eighties is and it sounds disrespectful for us, you know, to say players down at the bottom of the list. You know, all of these guys are so damn good, and so I don't want anybody out there to take my my words and misunderstand them. But the Europeans or a team has always found a way to get those guys to play well. You know, you look at the Philip Prices, Robert Carlson, Robert Carlson, people like that. They Cocio Garrido, Nicholas Colsarts. I mean, these guys have come out there. Thomas Peters is another one. They come out there and they hold their own They just they find a way. And this goes back to what I was talking about earlier. When you have a system in place and a locker room that cannot be rocked by anything, and you get this tight knit group and everybody rowing in the same direction, you can get players and athletes to perform above their ability and above their norm and some way, somehow, for the majority of the time, European team figures that part out and that's why it's it's so impressive that they've won seven out of the lost ten.

00:23:07
Speaker 2: How would you go about mitigating, say, say, it's not going to be feasible for the big guys to play five rounds. How would you go about mitigating that with pairings? Would you be looking at sliding a Bobby mack a ho guard. You know, I don't want to be distress. I think like a surprise. There's a thing I have later about surprise performers. One of these guys might be surprise performer. Would you look at pairing one of them with a top dog and or how would you go about your strategy? Do you do you like to put the big guys out together, you know, and create these like kind of juggernaut pairings to go against the Smethan Thomas if you know it's gonna be they're gonna probably be out first, you know, to go against your Xander Cantley? Do you or do you like to put those guys in with other you know, kind of middles here and maybe you get a surprise. How did you kind of think through that with the President's Cup team? And how would you think through if you're a Luke Downald.

00:24:05
Speaker 1: Yeah, some of it has to do with the form that the players are bringing into the event. You know. It also has to do with how their games mesh together with this particular golf course. I would imagine that Europe will come out quite strong. You see, it's tougher for us to Gosh, I'm just using words that kind of make me cringe a little bit, but it's tougher for us to hide players because we play more matches in the President's Cup, So in the Ryder Cup they've got four and four each of the first two days and then the twelve singles, and so it's a little easier to bench some guys and blend them in quietly. I don't think Europe rarely has an option. I think they've got to come out really strong with all their big dogs on Friday morning and just try and get stuck in, get points on the board, maybe take the lead, and then see how it progresses from there. But you know, you look at one of the Europe's rookie guys who's been a pro for about five minutes in Ayburg. I mean, this guy, all of a sudden has gone from being a college kid to somebody that nobody is worried about. At the Ryder Cup. I mean they're talking about him in the same terms as Harland and Rahm and McElroy. He's like one of the guys that they can rely on. It really has been a meteoric rise for him in a way that happened to us with Tom Kim. I mean, he was way off of my radar with like nine months ago and next thing. He was, you know, if not our best player at the President's Cup, one of our best players. So you know that's something that they don't have to worry about anymore. That's been an absolute gift for Luke Donald. But yeah, you would try and bleed it in with somebody who's got some experience, somebody who can handle it, somebody who can shepherd some of these players through the magnitude of the moment, how unsettled you can feel, how exposed you can feel, and you try and blend them with somebody that that they'll feel comfortable around. It'll also have their back, you know.

00:26:15
Speaker 2: For JT, he's got to be happy. Speaking of another Kim that Seawu Kim's not walking through the door. I think he might have nightmares of what Seawou did do him on Sunday.

00:26:24
Speaker 1: It's so it's so interesting because I took some heat, man, I took a lot of heat. I still take heat for the President's Cup. It's kind of tough. My mentions will probably explode after this damn podcast drops again. But you know everybody was saying, oh, you got to send out Tom Kim first. He's got he's so excitable, all that kind of stuff. First of all, you know, it's been a long week for Tom and he was doing some heavy lifting and he was pretty beat. I wanted to get him a little bit of rest on that Sunday morning. But I was about ninety nine point five percent certain that Justin Thomas would go out first in their singles. He's done it a number of times, particularly when Tiger's not on the team. If Tiger's on the team in recent years, he's gone out first, particularly when he was captain down in Australia. So I was thinking through, you know, how could I find somebody that's going to be able to handle what Justin Thomas brings. And we've seen that it's not just the game and the ability and the intensity. He's very intense when he's out there competing, but you know how he gets the crowd going when he's on home soil. You think about these Ryder Cups and President's Cups. When he plays in America, he rarely gets things going. And that's why I said earlier he's the heartbeat of their team, and it was just Seewoo Kim. He was going to be the guy that would not give a damn about anything that Thomas was doing. He would laugh it off, he would joke about it and it would not get under his skin, but it would inspire him.

00:27:59
Speaker 2: I think I think it got under somebody else's s good.

00:28:03
Speaker 1: Well, you know, maybe maybe it did because Seaweo was basically doing the same thing on the other side, and it worked out quite well for us and we managed to get that point, which is a huge point to get. Anytime you can beat Justin Thomas, it's a it's a massive accomplishment for the other team.

00:28:23
Speaker 2: It was one of the more memorable team matches i've you know, I go back like, actually, it's interesting because JT is involved with j cam Smith was a camp Smith that played JT and Melbourne.

00:28:36
Speaker 1: That's exactly right.

00:28:37
Speaker 2: That was an extraordinary match. That was an incredible match.

00:28:41
Speaker 1: It was brilliant.

00:28:42
Speaker 2: But I remember exactly where I was watching that Seawoo Kim JT match. I mean, it was it was an It was an awesome It was everything you want from a match. It was there was great play, there was there was antics back and forth, there was just it was. It was an incredible, incredible match, I think. And so from what you were saying about about the Europeans. To me, what an ideal scenario is, and this is ideal scenario for any team, is they get a little bit of a cushion after Friday, and on Saturday they might have the be afforded the ability to have a session where a couple guys sit.

00:29:21
Speaker 1: Exactly, And that's exactly what I was talking about there. I imagine they're going to come out with all the big dogs first two sessions at the very least Friday morning and at least try to establish themselves and maybe start to build a little cushion to where then they can use their imagination a little bit more to get some guys some playing time before the singles. You definitely need to do that. It's very, very difficult for these players who get there on Monday. Probably they got to sit all week until Friday and the tournament starts, at least for us as well in the President's Cup it starts on the Thursday. But these guys are so antsy, they're so hyped up. You're burning so much emotional and mental energy that to have to sit for an extended period of time when the tournament gets going, it's really tough on these I mean, at the end of the day, all twenty four of these guys are you know, you can rank them one to twenty four, but these guys are alphas, all of them in their own right. You know, these guys I have unbelievable ability. They have a little bit of ego, some more than others, and they have a ton of confidence. And so for any of them to sit for an extended period of time is a bitter pill to swallow. And as a captain and as a group of captains, that's one of the things that you're managing is you don't want any negative energy to start to bleed its way into the team room. And that's tricky. It can be tricky.

00:31:00
Speaker 2: That's the argument against just if you if somebody doesn't if somebody doesn't have it the week of just sitting them all week, it's.

00:31:09
Speaker 1: A big call. It is such a big call, man, that would be tough, and it's been done in the past. I mean, you know, we think back to ninety nine, was it ninety nine when Crenshaw was the captain or was it ninety five.

00:31:27
Speaker 2: I think he was the captain at Brookline, which was ninety nine.

00:31:30
Speaker 1: Ninety nine, So that was the one where they were the short the shirts with all the picture then it made that bomb playing against ole Thabo. So the European team set a couple of players the whole week to say all week till the singles, it was Yarmos Sandalin and Andrew Coulton.

00:31:48
Speaker 2: How do they do that to a legend like Sandalin? Do you have any good sandal stories? Can we do quick divergence? Do you have any good Yarmo Sandling stories?

00:32:01
Speaker 1: We have many, but not fit for this podcast to play over in Scandinavia. He's a legend, a legend of the European tour. And ah, that's tough to sit like that. And then I wanted to say one of them got Tiger Woods.

00:32:19
Speaker 2: In the single or I can't remember. Yarma was doing the gun at someone in a Ryder Cup.

00:32:31
Speaker 1: He took his Battle of the Ryder Cup. I wanted to say that was the old Alfred Dunhill when they used to play at Saint Andrew's and they sped the countries against each other. He was he was doing the gun. Oh my goodness. Well, I'm gonna have to google this now. Who did he play in the singles?

00:32:51
Speaker 2: Let's see. I think I could dive in here. But but see you don't think you could do that. Here we go. I got I got it, I got it. So Yarmo so coltheart got Tiger he lost three and two and Yarmo got uh got Phil? He did He was doing the machine gun to fill he was.

00:33:12
Speaker 1: I remember this. He was doing it at a Ryder Cup to Phil.

00:33:17
Speaker 2: Yes, I'm almost one hundred percent sure.

00:33:20
Speaker 1: I don't. I don't remember it at the Ryder Cup, but I remember it at at the old Alfred Dunhill at Saint Andrews. I was a kid watching it, going like, what is this guy doing? But yeah, I don't see that happening. I don't see that happening this time. I really don't.

00:33:38
Speaker 2: It's the data. What would the data say to hide him? Does is that what? Like you said, you were deep in the data with the President's Cup. Does it say like just do not put him out there until until you have to.

00:33:52
Speaker 1: No? Not with me, it didn't. Not with me, it didn't. But maybe you know the Europeans might be viewing this. There were a total different lens. You know, when you understand that, you know guys like hi Guard and McIntyre. I mean They've won the Italian Open at this venue, so maybe they feel like these guys have a little edge on this golf course. They have great feelings and memories about this golf course. You know, Rose brings all the experience. Lowry brings experience, and I think he's one of those guys that you know people. Also, we were talking about j T getting a pick on the American side, which I was never worried about. I thought it was always the correct play. And there were certain people out there I was reading that we're questioning Lowry getting picked. That was ridiculous. That is ridiculous. Shane Lowry is like a legit player, and he's the type of guy. I mean, do you remember him when they were getting smashed at Whistling Straight he was, Yeah, he.

00:35:00
Speaker 2: Was the guy that was like showing out. That was super intense that it was like it was Sunday, it was all but over, and he's like going nuts coming down the stretch.

00:35:10
Speaker 1: That's right. I remember him making that putt on eighteen given like biggest celebration. I mean, this guy, he's a stud, Shane Lowry. He knows how to get it done. He's got a ton of experience. And to me, it's a no brain. I can see him playing regularly and he's one of those guys that will step up even more and he's coming in with decent forom he's played well the last couple of weeks.

00:35:34
Speaker 2: Hey, there is one more player that that only played singles in that in that Ryder Cup for the Europeans. Do you know who it was? I got it up here.

00:35:44
Speaker 1: Three of them only played one time.

00:35:46
Speaker 2: Yeah, three of them.

00:35:47
Speaker 1: That's incredible.

00:35:50
Speaker 2: Could you do you have a guess as to who the third was? I could give you a clue, but it would be so obvious.

00:35:59
Speaker 1: Mark James was the captain.

00:36:01
Speaker 2: Yeah, it wasn't.

00:36:03
Speaker 1: It wasn't. Paul Laurie he.

00:36:05
Speaker 2: Was, he played, He played all five.

00:36:08
Speaker 1: Yeah, he was the Open champion.

00:36:10
Speaker 2: Was a Monty he was a guy that wasn't the Open champion? Van really yeah, he went on one and uh he who he who' he's drawing? I mean, it's pretty incredible that they matched up Phil and Tiger with the guys that they didn't that hadn't played all week, and Van Dervelt got Tavis Love at thirty. Woma Yarma lost five and three. Van de Veldt lost six and five and Coultart lost three and two. Just drummings.

00:36:44
Speaker 1: Yeah, But to be fair from a from a stats and data standpoint, really, if those are the three guys that you're most worried about in an ideal situation, you would want them to draw America's best play. That's true, and hope that something miraculous happens and then the other nine match up a bit more evenly. From a strokes against standpoint, this.

00:37:11
Speaker 2: Is an insane thing to look at. It's just how how this whole comeback cap happened with them just winning the first six matches, like yeah, even to get up right there. Hey, let's take a quick break and let's talk about our sponsor, Red Rooster. All right. We talked about clubs earlier. One thing that's super important unless your Lucas Glover is gloves. You know, some people burn through golf clubs. I'm not really someone that does that. I do like a really nice glove, and I've been really really impressed with Red Rooster. They sent us some gloves. I personally am a big fan of the Sussex, but they have a bunch of others, including the Rain Rooster, and you know another one that I would recommend that they sent over is the Cape. So these gloves are really really super high quality. In this company, they only make gloves, they specialize in this. They they did really quite well in the in the Golf Spy rankings. They have the number one rain glove and then the Cape got the best performance first in the best Performance and we know, you know Golf Spy. They don't pull punches. So if you use the promo code fried Egg fifteen, you'll get fifteen percent off your order any gloves. They've got women's gloves, kids gloves, they've got like starter kids that can get you going. And if you use the promo code fried Egg fifteen, you'll get fifteen percent off. And that's redroostergolf dot com. Redroostergolf dot com. Thanks, and let's get back to Trevor Immlin. All right, moving on, we've talked about the back into the Europeans enough here, let's go back go to the top of the roster. So if you were going to take the top four of either team, I think this is an interesting thought experiment. Which top four are you taking? So if you go ow g R it's Victor Rory rom And Fitzie versus Chef, Scheffler, can't Ley, Xander and Homer. But if you go to data golf, I think I like this one a little bit more in terms of like how it would break out. It's Rory, Victor, Hoveland, rom and Fleetwood, who's been I think sensational the last four months of I mean he's been sensational all summer Versus Scheffler, Schoffley, can't Ley and more Kawa would be the be that fourth guy.

00:40:01
Speaker 1: So those the four you're wanting me to compare.

00:40:03
Speaker 2: Yeah, which one? Which? Which top top end do you like more for this event?

00:40:09
Speaker 1: Yeah? I think the Europeans. I think the Europeans when it comes to top four, because you know they, I mean, Hoveland has turned into is he.

00:40:22
Speaker 2: Is he is?

00:40:23
Speaker 1: He is?

00:40:24
Speaker 2: He tier one player because.

00:40:27
Speaker 1: I know he doesn't have the Major, but right now he is in my top plateau of McElroy, Rahm, Scheffler, He is right in there with these guys.

00:40:45
Speaker 2: Does Brooks belong in there? Would be my next question.

00:40:49
Speaker 1: It's so tough to answer.

00:40:51
Speaker 2: We just don't see him and it's he's the most.

00:40:54
Speaker 1: Don't get him play enough against deep enough fields And I'm just gonna hear about this endlessly as well. What I just don't get to see him play enough against deep enough fields. Now saying that, I have to say, the guy pitched up at the Masters, and you know, after two and a half rounds, it looked like it was over, and then you know, all of a sudden, the weather came in and there was delays and they couldn't finish, and then Sunday became a marathon and he didn't get the win. But that sure was impressive golf. And he finds a way to get over that and then come to the next major and just destroy the field there. So the ability that he has in big time tournaments to play his best golf and stare the best in the world down and drop him is you gotta respect that. I mean, this guy is a five time major champion, but I just don't know what kind of form he's bringing in. Like I believe they played this week in your hometown.

00:42:02
Speaker 2: I am not. I'm not from Sugar Grove, Illinois. That is an hour and a half, an hour and a half from Chicago. I love that lived Chicago. It's an hour and a half away.

00:42:14
Speaker 1: It's close enough. But before that, when did we see him play? Was it the Open?

00:42:19
Speaker 2: Well, this is I would say he's the biggest wild card of any player in the in the event. It's not Bob McIntyre, it's not Nicolai Hogard, it's not Ludwig a Bert, it's not like this guy. We have no clue. He hasn't played in forever. He hasn't played anything meaningful since since the PG or since the Open Championship, which he didn't play well. Also, he had a kid during this period, and he had some quotes about how he just like all he cares about is being with his kid, which I completely understand having had a kid recently, Like you know, I get the whole mentality, and and I just like he's not getting paid he shows up for majors. I don't know where this is going to really fall. I think Brooks is like a priority golfer right when when something aligns within his priorities and what he cares about, he is absolutely a Tier one golfer.

00:43:13
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's in that. To answer your question, he is in that top plateau with those guys for me. But I just don't know what kind of form he's gonna bring. Yeah, to the right but is there's anybody out of these twenty four players that can find a way to get it done when it really matters. He's got to be the guy because we've seen him do it.

00:43:34
Speaker 2: Yeah, I just like, where does the Ryder Cup fall in his like mind too, because we've seen this like live events, it doesn't seem like he cares PGA regular PGA Tour events. He never cared like. It was just all geared towards the majors and the Ryder Cup. Like I don't necessarily think he viewed he views the Ryder Cup like a major, right, I don't think he's been grinding for the last three three weeks getting ready for the Ryder Cup the way he would if this was the Masters.

00:44:04
Speaker 1: I read an article either today or yesterday that had some quotes from him where he was talking about this was one of his main goals for the year was making it onto this team and playing in this Ryder Cup. So, you know, maybe maybe it's a little bit different two years past where he spoke about having some issues with the timing and being told where to be and when to be, and more wanting to be on his own. Maybe maybe after that last one at whistling straits. After the performance that that team had, He's like, I want, I want another piece of this, because the quotes I read in the last couple of days seemed like he's pretty jacked up for it.

00:44:43
Speaker 2: We live. Any live enthusiasts will say he's out there carrying the flag for the for the rest of it with golf, but what he'll be quick to denounce any of that.

00:44:54
Speaker 1: It's gonna be interesting. It's kind of similar really situation that I've got with j T. There's going to be so much commentary going back and forth with those two players, I believe, because if JT plays well, then everybody's going to be like, oh, yeah, you see, he should definitely have been on the team. He's the guy, he's the leader. And then if he plays badly, then everyone's going to question the pick and they're going to say that some other players would have been there. I think the same thing's gonna happen with Brooks, and if he plays great, then everyone's going to be like, you see, you should have had more.

00:45:27
Speaker 2: Of the play been there.

00:45:29
Speaker 1: Yeah, And if he struggles, then everyone's gonna pile on the other way. It's just unfortunately the way the world is right.

00:45:35
Speaker 2: Now, it's a zero sum game. It's either all or nothing, and there's no no room in the middle for a reasonable, reasonable takes. Yeah, exactly, that's speaking of that. You know, I think something that I've I've kind of been thinking a ton about is this what Ryder Cups and President's Cups stand for, because they are when you start to look back kind of players career career achievements, they are effectively the All NBA, All acc team of golf. Right, it's the all international team, it's the All American team. When when you suit up and when you go onto a player's Wikipedia page, it lists out how many team competitions and it is a mark of significance. Do you think, I mean, do you think we're getting to a point where there there should all be Merett based or should the team the captain of a team and I'm guessing I know where you stand always get the choice of who they go to battle with.

00:46:39
Speaker 1: No, there's got to be some choice. There has to be some choice. I mean, we've even considered on our team having twelve picks. But you know, then you run into you talk about, you know, a boys club and a buddy system. You're going to run into that pretty quick when the captain has the power to pickle twelve. And so you know, those discussions that we have always end up in naa. No. Will rather have a way for people to be able to qualify, to go out there and motivate them to go out and play well. So I think it's great. I think it's great for a captain to have the ability to mold the team and shape the team the way he sees fit, bringing into account how the golf course plays and what the conditions are going to be like, and whether you're home or away, or whether he want more rookies or less rookies. I think that's part of it, and it creates these great storylines like we've had in the last few months. And that also shows to me how much these team events do mean to the players. You know, the guys that didn't get picked on both teams, the guys that didn't get picked on our international team last time and the time before you know, you talk to those guys. It hurts, man, those phone calls. That's some of the toughest stuff that I've ever had to do in the game of golf. We's call a bunch of guys and guys that I've gotten really close to, either over the years or through the process of being captain and telling them that they won't be making the team. It is brutal. It's tough for everybody, and you can see what it means to these players coming down the stretch of the qualifying period and how like that choke factor starts to come in because they want to make it so badly. It's really cool. It's really cool. So I love the ability of the captain having having some choice right at the end. It provides another layer of discussion and getting fans excited and involved and giving their opinions. I think it's cool.

00:48:40
Speaker 2: Who's the player with the most pressure on them Rory McElroy. I think everybody say JT, and I agree with Rory.

00:48:49
Speaker 1: I think JT can go over and win a half a point and the Americans can still win. I think Rory McElroy has to step up to the plate and pretty much win the majority of his matches. And you know, much like Brooks who we were talking about earlier and his sort of ebbs and flows with the Ryder Cup and whether he likes it or not, you know, Rory went through the same thing. There's a lot of interesting quotes there over the years from Rory about the Ryder Cup and early on in his career not meaning too much. And then all of a sudden, out of the blue, at Whistling Straights, he's in tears on the TV after his singles match and he's feeling so bad about how he didn't feel like he brought enough to the team and he didn't have his A game and he just wanted to win that single so badly, and he wants to make the next team more than anything. And so his relationship with the Ryder Cup has evolved a bunch. And now, you know, I feel like this team is going to go as he goes. He's going to have to get out there and be the leader. He's so damn popular wherever he goes. It's fascinating week after week when I'm out there on tour. You know, it doesn't matter that he's not American, whatever venue he pitches up at on the PGA tour, he's the guy. He's the most popular guy ever since Tiger wasn't around. And now that he's playing this Ryder Cup in Europe, he's got all the accolades. He's been the leader of the game for the last couple of years on and off the course, like it's it's time for him to really step up and put his mark on this Ryder.

00:50:32
Speaker 2: Cup and sneaky like, you know, I don't think it's sneaky, but you know, with the European team turnover, he's he's the guy. He's the old he's you know, oddly at age thirty four or whatever, he is, he's the old man in the room, right, you got Justin Rose and uh and there. But like for the you know, in terms of Ryder Cup experience, it's it's Rory.

00:50:55
Speaker 1: Right yeah. And at some point during the team matches, I can see him having to ship it out an Ayburg or a hoy Guard and having to take you know, those youngsters out there and get them going and get them fired up and try to win a point. He's probably the best player to be able to pair one of those two guys with at some point in the competition.

00:51:19
Speaker 2: To me, it seems like the toughest match play players the guys like when we when you think about the great match play players, there's in there's a quality of consistency of ball striking that that kinds of kind of like tends to like come through, right. That are usually just people that just apply relentless pressure tea degree in on you Would you agree with that? Would it would like Sevy be the one that is like the you know opposite.

00:51:50
Speaker 1: Yeah, sev Ali, there's a few over the years that have been wild off of the tea but have incredible record. For me, you know, eighteen hole match plays such a beast. Yeah, it is completely different to anything else out there. I mean, that's that's obvious. But what I mean by that is, you know we ca in and week out, the tournament is more like a marathon. You know, it gets going, these players find their stride. You can often find players that will shoot even or one over in day one and they got a chance to win on Sunday. But in match play, it's a sprint. In eighteen old match play, it's a sprint. And so for me, putting plays a gigantic role. If one of the European rookies, so who we got Strucker, Hoyguard MacIntire.

00:52:47
Speaker 2: It's hard to call Straka a rookie, to be completely honest.

00:52:50
Speaker 1: Well, if Brendan was here, he'd be all over me for speaking that way about his favorite player.

00:52:56
Speaker 2: But this is a guy that I mean, he should be that probably among the top four Europeans.

00:53:04
Speaker 1: But if one of those guys gets out there and has four putts in the first four holes and it's three up, you know, it's likely that they could get a half point or get a win out of that. And so putting is so vitally important. I just look at the data that we got after the President's Cup last year. We got off to such a poor start. I mean, it was virtually impossible to fight back from being eight to two down and get a victory against the team as stacked as the Americans after the first two rounds.

00:53:38
Speaker 2: But it was interesting on Sunday.

00:53:40
Speaker 1: It was, yeah, we got Saturday, decent Sunday. But the putting, you know, if you look at strokes gained putting, the American team was plus twenty eight and we were plus five, and that huge gap all came in the first couple of days and really put the tournament to bed pretty much. And so you find a way to get your eight, nine ten guys hot with the flat stick over the first couple of days, you can put yourself in a seriously good position. So putting eighteen hold matchplay for me is massive.

00:54:14
Speaker 2: Who do you think will be?

00:54:15
Speaker 1: The other thing? Is this? The other thing is this that I just thought of, is that's where the majority of the fans congregate at these Ryder Cups is around the greens. They have all these huge stands and these viewing areas, particularly at you know, what I've read about this golf course is a lot of space for people, and so you find a way to knock in a ten foot of a win or a twenty footer or an eight foot of the tie if you're a European and that crowd goes nuts. I mean, the the lift and the momentum that you get from that, it is huge. It's huge putting, putting pudding.

00:54:54
Speaker 2: All right? Putting it is Who's who will be the big surprise performer this year? You know we saw obviously Scheffler was it last year or last Ryder Cup? And you go back, Thomas Peters would be one that comes to mind that just you know, ran kind of rough shot over the Americans. But who do you fancy as the surprise performer?

00:55:22
Speaker 1: I'm on the Aburg bandwagon.

00:55:24
Speaker 2: You're on the Aburg Archipelago.

00:55:30
Speaker 1: Guys good Man, guys, good I've been watching him all season. I think he's the best driver of the ball in the game already.

00:55:38
Speaker 2: It's crazy, it's a crazy thing. But yeah, I mean it's such a weapon in the modern game. I think it's always been a weapon, but it's just so quantified. How big being a top top, top shelf driver is, like it covers up so many holes.

00:55:56
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, he is. He is for real, And it kind of reminds me a little bit of Scheffler where he was leading into Whistling Straits and funny enough, people were questioning that pick. Yeah, and then within within what are we in September? So what is that? Six or seven months? Seven months later the guy had won four tournaments and the Masters or including the Masters.

00:56:21
Speaker 2: I mean, I'll never forget everybody's like, oh, they're just sending Shuffler out to get to get beat beat up by Ram at Whistlink Straights. They had that singles match. Yeah, and it's like little did we know that? Like you know you're talking you just put too Goliath of the game against each other, you know, to the dream in a year, it's like the dream Sunday Final Round showdown. One of the dreams is a rom Scheffler showdown. And we got it at Whistleke Straights and and it was over quick.

00:56:54
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, I mean he we've spoken so much about the European team, we need to speak a bit more about the Americans. I'll start with Sheffler. Dude, the way that guy hits the ball is nuts. Every single week I'm out there, I make sure to go and watch him hit balls. The strike, the ballflight, the power, it's it's awesome to watch. He's like, he's the closest thing I've seen to Iron Byron.

00:57:23
Speaker 2: It's it's unbelievable. I mean this year, just the consistency. I you know, you you obviously played it at top flight golf. Is consistency the thing that everybody's chasing.

00:57:36
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, it is. It is because when you when you have that, you give yourself more chances on Sunday, and more chances equates to more wins at the end of your career. So, uh, the way he's played in the last two years, it just doesn't seem to end either. If he if he could find a way to put it would be over. It will be over.

00:58:02
Speaker 2: Maybe he's got to go to the broom. He's got to go Lucas Glover route.

00:58:06
Speaker 1: I wonder how it Sure did work for a number of guys at the toward the end of the season. Ben On was another one. Adam Scott's been using it.

00:58:15
Speaker 2: See woos Maktu went to it.

00:58:17
Speaker 1: How did he play last week?

00:58:19
Speaker 2: And I didn't look? You know that would be something I.

00:58:22
Speaker 1: See you follow golf really close.

00:58:24
Speaker 2: I was on a bachelor party last week, all right, that.

00:58:28
Speaker 1: Was in another one of your hometowns, and you didn't even pay attention to it.

00:58:31
Speaker 2: I was, I was out of town. Give me a break, you know, your brother in law. The gets buried once hopefully.

00:58:38
Speaker 1: Ah, but yeah, the I'll be interested to see what if Scheffler comes with any changes to the routine, to the stroke, to the equipment. Does he come in with another putter? What the deal is. I'm sure he's been working on it because he must be so sick and tired of people asking him him and commenting about his putting. It's gotta be driving him insane.

00:59:04
Speaker 2: I mean, I think he's got to go the other way. He's got to just like not practice. I think this is crazy. This might be a crazy thought, but like, I hope he didn't hit a putt for a month. I hope he played where he just hit the green and then he walked off and and like, just don't hit a putt and completely reset, Like you can't let this like because we saw a year ago the stroke was nailed. I mean like a year ago, you're like, where's their hole. There's no hole in this guy's game. He's a great putter, he's relentless, he makes everything he has to make, and then one year later it's like this is all in the head. He just needs to just not he needs to not go go like, hit a putt. I said this about Beef a few years ago when he was struggling with the driver. Is that he should have gone and played at Mammoth Dunes, the Sand Valley course, which is like ninety five yards wide on every hole so he couldn't miss the fairway. Just go somewhere where you can't miss fairways and get it out of your head so you have confidence. So with Scheffler, just don't hit any putts for a while.

01:00:09
Speaker 1: First of all, that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. And secondly, when do you think it started for Scheffler.

01:00:16
Speaker 2: That's a good question. I think I'd have to like really dive in and look back. But like there had to be a moment, right, maybe the fourth pott, you.

01:00:26
Speaker 1: Know what I think it was. I think it was the four putt to win at Augusta.

01:00:30
Speaker 2: Could have right, he just missed one, and it was like it's in his head.

01:00:36
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's what I mean to me, Like when I because every week when I'm preparing to do TV, I'm thinking about different ways to say similar things really essentially and trying to understand the trends of what's going on out there. And I was just thinking back to myself, like with with the putting, because it was such a it was one of the biggest topics of the year really with Scotti Scheffler's putting, And then I thought back to when he won, but he's still won by three or four, and he four putted the last screen and he just couldn't quite quite find a way to get it in from a couple of feet there for a couple of minutes.

01:01:17
Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, if you if you go back here and you start to look, it's like that's when the string of really high finishes without wins happened. Could you maybe put the Tour championship in that bucket too? When when he when he got kind of body bagged by Rory on Sunday?

01:01:36
Speaker 1: Yeah, because what was he six ahead there going into the final day?

01:01:40
Speaker 2: Yeah? Six or seven?

01:01:42
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's that's a tough one. That's tough to cough up a lead like that.

01:01:47
Speaker 2: I think like the to me, one of the most illuminating aspects of full Swing is is the the Brooks and the Brooks and Scottie show. The episode on Brooks and scott when Brooks was talking about, you know what, right now, that guy's not thinking about anything. He's just going out and shooting sixty sixes. It's you know, it's so easy for him, and it was like this reflection back of a guy that had that and lost it. And it's I feel like those things that you lose those things when there's some sort of trauma induced. And you could look at Brooks and say Tiger induced some trauma on him that created self doubt and that masters that Tiger won, you know when? But yeah, yeah, and then you go to to Scottie and maybe it was the four putt Augusta that just had some doubt creep in. Maybe it was Rory at the Tour Championship, but something has made golf more difficult than his head.

01:02:53
Speaker 1: Well, not necessarily golf, just putting.

01:02:55
Speaker 2: Yeah, not golf. Yeah, but I mean this is this is the thing that like Adam Scott and Sergio dealt with for years. Right when you hit it so close, there's another aspect of it, is like you're he hits it to where to that distance that's like you expect to make, but you the percentages. There's there's a disconnect with like the percentages that you actually make, but you expect to make them, right, Yeah, more than anybody. So it kind of where wears on you.

01:03:23
Speaker 1: I think, Yeah, there's no doubt about that. You could probably throw Rory in that bucket too. Sometimes they're putting can be harshly judged because you see them have so many chances.

01:03:34
Speaker 2: Even though percentage wise, it's like they're making you know, they're making not that bad of a clip, but you just when you're eight feet away, you expect every tour player to make it.

01:03:47
Speaker 1: Yeah. So that's it's something I'm really intrigued by, is seeing not only how he puts in this Ryder Cup when the moment is just so massive. But you know, can he find some sort of a solution just to put average? Because if he does, I promise you, if Scotty Scheffler puts a tour average, he will win at least five times next year.

01:04:17
Speaker 2: How great would it be to have Scotty as your alt shot partner?

01:04:21
Speaker 1: Oh? I mean, what a dream. The guy is so good, he hits it so good at any moment. I can go watch him at balls and make sure to do it. I actually, when I'm out working at tournaments, I look at the t sheet to see when he's playing, and I figure out when he's gonna be on the range, and then I go there so that I can watch.

01:04:46
Speaker 2: All Right, big, big, last question, who's gonna win the rider?

01:04:50
Speaker 1: Gup, Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. I'm not going to give you an answer on that.

01:04:54
Speaker 2: I'm gonna say, guy not giving a baltim board material.

01:04:59
Speaker 1: Look, my whole year, I have to be definitive, definitive on points, and so I'm not going to do that this time because I'm on holiday now. But here's what I here's what I will say. The last four have been complete blowouts, and I think this one's going to be close. I really do.

01:05:19
Speaker 2: I think this is like the biggest toss up year, right it's uh, I don't think. You know, when America went to uh, like Golf Nationale, they were saddled with bill embracing at golf courses that were just so bad.

01:05:38
Speaker 1: Those are the narrowest fairways I've ever seen in my life. I played. I played the French Open that year, which was at the same golf course. Because you know, the Europeans, they're kind of smart and sneaky with the way when they're hosting the Ryder Cup, the way they do their schedule and how they fit get things out. Like just look at the last couple of weeks. Their big dogs have all had a nice run into this Ryder Cup. They're keeping the game sharp, they've competed well, they're hanging out together at tournaments and so really a lot of the work, so to speak, has been done. They made the quick trip into Rome on the Monday of Wentwerth like they've got this thing dialed in. And it was the same in what was that twenty eighteen in France where we had the French Open and I played that tournament that year and we rolled up to that golf course. I swear to you, the rough was waist high. It was waist high if you were if you were if you were like eight to ten yards off the fairway, it was waist high. Like you could lose your golf bag in there. It was the narrowest, most intimidating golf course I've ever played on in my life. I have water everywhere at that golf course as well.

01:06:53
Speaker 2: I'll never forget. I think it was the third hole of it was a third hole of a batch hit, one of the worst shots I've ever seen a tour pro hit, and it was like, what's going on here? Why is this guy out here? But I will say something you just illuminated on. This is one of the huge advantages the Europeans have is that their tour that they they they own the Ryder Cup rights they set up. There's an adherent like joint interest with the Americans and this could just be like one of the aspects of their struggles is that the PGA Tour doesn't own the Ryder Cup, so the schedule, there's nothing that works in concert with it the way the European tour does, right, the European Tour. Everything's aligned versus the PGA Tour. The PGA of America owns it, not the PGA Tour, and that disconnect is and I think like, honestly, one of the first orders of business if this, if this framework, this new co gets done, the first order of the business they the PGA Tour or the new company whatever it's called, should go buy the Ryder Cup from the PGA. It is like, it makes no sense, you know, and this might bother. The PGA makes zero sense that they own You're.

01:08:17
Speaker 1: Just making friends everywhere right now, you know.

01:08:20
Speaker 2: Actually, I've got a lot of people that have been mad at me lately.

01:08:23
Speaker 1: So actually, if you dig deep enough, really the PGA Tour earns a piece of the European team. Yes, so it's in their best interest that that the event goes off well this week, it's in the tour's best interest. And really we've seen it. Look, I got my start on the old European Tour, now a different name, and have been a proud member of that tour for a long long time. And you only have to be on that tour for five minutes to realize that the whole thing runs on the Ryder Cup. The whole European Tour or DP World Tour, it runs on the Ryder Cup being successful, on home Ryder Cups being successful. And so that's how they get to buy in from so many people, you know, players, caddies, agents, everybody that's over there. Every decision that gets made pretty much is with bringing the Ryder Cup into account and making sure that that carries the correct weight.

01:09:33
Speaker 2: All right, last question, then we'll get you out of here. Are you surprised that Blockie didn't make the team.

01:09:42
Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't know. Man at least an assistant captain.

01:09:46
Speaker 2: You gotta get him out there. I bet he's going to be He's going to be out there.

01:09:51
Speaker 1: He should have actually been trying to get on the European team and then playing old shot because he could have had Rory hitting his T shirt in old shots and then you would just have the flip wedges in. It would be money.

01:10:06
Speaker 2: Unbeatable, It's unbelievable. I I, uh, you're gonna be on the call in uh in Valhalla, Blockie Fever you got he's playing. I just saw he won the Southern PGA. I mean, the guy's great look great.

01:10:22
Speaker 1: Man.

01:10:24
Speaker 2: He's now with the Amax and Tory Pines. So you'll your first tournament out, he'll be he'll be in the mix there. Hey, oh, last question, I actually real serious question. You got kind of a new schedule this year. What tournament, what regular tournament not major are you most excited for in uh in twenty twenty three, twenty twenty four? Well on twenty twenty two? Non major, non major? You can't you can't just say the Masters. I'm sorry, just.

01:10:52
Speaker 1: Making me pick one? Can I give you two? Yes?

01:10:54
Speaker 2: I think you could go too. You know, I this question I thought of like forty minutes ago.

01:10:59
Speaker 1: So yeah, the first of all, I think, yeah, you see now I'm gonna give you more. I'm gonna give you even more. First of all, I think Pebble is gonna be.

01:11:09
Speaker 2: That's the one gonna be fun. I think that's the one that's gonna be awesome.

01:11:15
Speaker 1: Pebble is gonna be fun once everybody gets over the initial shock of you know, the history of that tournament is about mega celebrities playing golf, and that's no longer going to be the case come the weekend. But if we get two nice days of weather on the Saturday and Sunday of pebble. When you got the best players in the world all playing, it is gonna be off the chart. So that is gonna be sneaky great, might end up being the best tournament of the year. LA always gets me going. It was one of my favorite tournaments when I was playing. Golf course. Is love it. I just love it. I love everything about it. Maybe Tiger play, who knows.

01:12:01
Speaker 2: I hear I've heard that he everything you know, this is unsubstantiated rumor is going to come over to the fried egg from from from shotgun start for a minute, I'm hearing everything. Tiger is gearing up, trying his hardest recovery recovery Gold number one is the PNC father Son.

01:12:23
Speaker 1: Well, that's that's we've seen in the last couple of years. It's been an important tournament.

01:12:28
Speaker 2: It is. It is like every the recovery, the injury recovery is his sights are set on one thing. It's fixated on one tournament and that's the father's son.

01:12:39
Speaker 1: So with the with the media the way it is and social media the way it is, who let's say that the woods team plays the parent child. It's not called the father's son anymore?

01:12:53
Speaker 2: Andy, Okay, my bad, Okay, I'm sorry.

01:12:58
Speaker 1: Who would win on the PIP rankings between for twenty twenty three between Blockie and Charlie Woods. That would be a good one.

01:13:12
Speaker 2: I mean, you want to talk about made for TV match? I think the next match should be Blockie versus Charlie Woods.

01:13:17
Speaker 1: That would be a big one.

01:13:19
Speaker 2: Be electric.

01:13:21
Speaker 1: People dial in in December to see how Charlie Woods is playing and how much bigger he's gotten and how far he's hitting it. The kid is. I think he's gonna be good. I think he's gonna be good. Can you imagine?

01:13:34
Speaker 2: I love? I love the people too that are like, well, he's rigged. He's raked eighty two in the in his class, in the junior rankings. It's like, you know, like with golf, like who's the best at fourteen or fifteen is rarely who's the best at twenty two? Yeah, occasionally there are phenoms that like, but like, it's such a weird non linear thing, right, But.

01:13:59
Speaker 1: Can you can you imagine being taught to play the game by Tiger Woods?

01:14:05
Speaker 2: No? I honestly I got taught by my dad, who's like a sixteen handicapped, So I could honestly tell you that I cannot fathom that.

01:14:17
Speaker 1: You know, it's like it's like so often during the year. Mclroy just said it. We've heard justin Thomas over the years, McElroy over the last few weeks, like the stuff he's learned from Tiger and the little shots and the short game shots and different spend and grips and stuff. Imagine the nuggets that Charlie is getting from his old.

01:14:38
Speaker 2: Man that he doesn't even know that he learned. That's the thing is that, like you've spent time listening to somebody talk and you pick up these things and you're like, I never thought about that, But that's your entire basis of understanding. Is that that level of sophistication that is.

01:14:57
Speaker 1: Gonna be gosh, I'd love to be a fly on the wall for that. But if they do play, obviously the world wants to see where Tiger's game is at and how his health is. I'm a I'm a huge fan. I'm a Tiger guy. He did so much for our sport and for me as an international coming to play on the PGA too. He he drove the PGA tour and still does in many ways, and so everything I have is thanks to him. So I've always been a fan. So if people want to see how his game is looking and if he can still swing it, but then they want to see how the kid is going, so the mentions go nuts.

01:15:39
Speaker 2: Yeah.

01:15:39
Speaker 1: I mean, Charlie probably would make the PGA Tour PIP just through one tournament in December.

01:15:45
Speaker 2: Could you imagine if they started giving him pit money and some of the guys that missed out because Charlie Woods got money, The guy that was like the first off the list, what he would say, Blocky Blockie and Charlie Woods.

01:16:04
Speaker 1: Hasn't it been mare Cower in the last two years?

01:16:07
Speaker 2: Number eleven both years? Yeah? I think so. I think the I think the I think the cohort of like can't Ley, Xander and uh and more cow really don't like the PIP.

01:16:21
Speaker 1: Yeah, well that they've changed it now as much as there's much less social media ranking more about how you play.

01:16:30
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't know how it should be. I don't think you should just get paid for being good, you know you that's what the money and tournaments and and sponsorships is for.

01:16:39
Speaker 1: But yeah, I think if you're going to have something like that, then it needs to be more of what you're bringing as a whole. Uh and obviously how you play should be a slice of that. But I never finished my answer. The Memorial is the other one. The Memorial is just it's great.

01:16:57
Speaker 2: That one's gonna still have a cut, right, Yeah.

01:17:00
Speaker 1: The the I don't know what is the official word now, the Legacy.

01:17:04
Speaker 2: Events, riv API and Memorial.

01:17:08
Speaker 1: It'll have a small cut.

01:17:10
Speaker 2: Yeah, we'll go to see the guys have to have to grind a little for their cash.

01:17:16
Speaker 1: Yeah, but Memorial is great. It's it's awesome as I love playing that tournament, and you know this year for me to be able to be up there with Nance and Jack coming into the booth and everything, the whole set up there is money.

01:17:32
Speaker 2: Players love it new sixteenth hole too.

01:17:35
Speaker 1: Yeah, the players will be happy about that. I actually thought it was a lot of fun. Pepper and Jack with questions about about what he thought about the green and how they were playing it. The game is so uber simple to him. You know, I remember when I.

01:17:50
Speaker 2: Did you play when he did the frown Rings.

01:17:53
Speaker 1: Yes, I actually finished in the top five that year.

01:17:56
Speaker 2: I believe Patterson just dominated.

01:17:59
Speaker 1: Gosh, that was all luck of the drawer. You would go in there. Sometimes it'd be sitting up top, other times it would be down in the semi plug lie. It's sure did make it difficult because the bunkers are so deep that there's just no way to get spin on it. So you played away from him. That's for sure.

01:18:18
Speaker 2: They actually were hazards.

01:18:20
Speaker 1: They actually were hazards. I remember like that first on the first team. Back then, that fairway bunker on the right really was in play. Nowadays, after Fields bombs it right over there, but you know, not long ago that bunker was was somewhat in play. And if you drove it in there and you were down lying in the bottom of that those furrows, you were just like, oh my word, this is going to be the longest day ever. I can't get this thing anywhere near the green. But yeah, that the was the locker room so cool.

01:18:53
Speaker 2: The locker room had to be electric.

01:18:55
Speaker 1: Well, we sort of got an inkling that it was going to be happening a couple of weeks before, so guys were semi prepared. But once you actually got your hands on on those rakes and so how far away those spokes were from each other, it was alarming. It was, it was, it was alarming for sure. Hey, you know the bit what I've found over the years is the best players like that stuff. Yeah, because the harder it is, the more they're like, oh, this is going to be even easier for me to win or to have a chance with nine holes to play. If you want to bring more people into it, that's when you you you bring more luck into play.

01:19:38
Speaker 2: I feel we see that with like when it rained, like you get these super bunch leaderboards. When a course is soft and it's like a shootout and you get eight guys, which it makes it it's got to be impossible to cover it. It's got to be so hard when there's fifteen guys that can win on the back line on Sunday.

01:19:57
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, for sure, because once again, you know, any these guys are all so good that anybody can get hot. Anybody at that point can get hot and create a massive upset and all of a sudden, beat Ram at the post or beat Maceroyal Cheffle at the post. Whereas when it is just brutally tough, fair but tough, and when it's quick and firm, then you know there's Bobby only a handful of guys that can get it done. Yeah, but yeah, the memorial is awesome. I look forward to seeing at sixteenth and what he's done there.

01:20:31
Speaker 2: All right, Trevor, thanks so much for coming on. I I'm looking forward to another season with you on CBS. I thought it was you were terrific last year. Really really enjoyed the commentary and and and thank you for doing this even though you didn't prepare. Even though you threw it back in my face, I'm I'm you were. You were great on no prep so I appreciate that.

01:20:55
Speaker 1: Hey, last time when we did this before the Masters, you cheated. You told me to prepare five things. You were you were putting like three things in one bucket of your five. That's why I was just like, look, if this guy is not playing by the rules, I'm not even going to play.

01:21:09
Speaker 2: I was really sick when we did that recording too. I was like, I hope it did come on. I was like very ill when we did that recording. So this is this is a bit nice. I'm feeling a lot a lot more spry today.

01:21:24
Speaker 1: That's good. Well, listen, I'm a huge fan of what you guys do over there, and keep the good stuff coming, and I look forward to join you all soon. Sometime down the road. I got to do a pod with that knucklehead Brendan at some point.

01:21:38
Speaker 2: Well you got to come on the Shotgun and start one of these days, you know who you two.

01:21:42
Speaker 1: You two remind me of Beavis and butt Head. Every time I listened to the Shotgun Start, I don't know, Well, it was my favorite show when I was growing up. It was my favorite show. But when you two start chuckling at each other, it reminds me so much of Beavis and butt Head.

01:22:00
Speaker 2: It's, uh, it's fun. It's it's you build as you probably you're doing with Jim Dance, right like when you spent so many hours on uh on set with someone, you just uh, you build a chemistry and it's it's super fun. You kind of you kind of My favorite thing is I know when when there's a Sergio meatball coming over the middle of plate, I don't have to say anything. I just can sit back and Brennan will be like, you got anything on this? It's like, no, I think I think you just covered it with five minutes. I'm that.

01:22:29
Speaker 1: Just let him run wild. And now he seems to be coming into all these shows just a little more wound up because it's football season with the Browns. Yeah, I mean it's he just seems to be a little more on edge, the big guy.

01:22:42
Speaker 2: Yeah he is. Bc. BC almost took down Florida State the other day, you know, I know that's.

01:22:49
Speaker 1: We gotta play them this weekend at Clemson. I'm going up tomorrow.

01:22:52
Speaker 2: Yeah all right, Thanks Trevor. Hopefully when people are hearing this, you'll be celebrating a big Clemson win. So thanks again.

01:23:00
Speaker 1: He thanks great to join you. I'm looking forward to this Rodic Cup.

01:23:13
Speaker 2: Thank you for listening to another edition of the Friday Golf Podcast. Thanks to Matt Rushes for, as always, for editing producing this podcast. I know he's on gonna be on a little travel bitch now, so it might be meg Atkins again. A spot start next week with our second part of the week. But hey, as a quick revider, we are we're cooking in Club TFE. We've got a lot of stuff going on there. We'll have some Ryder Cup preview content available to there. One of the things that my interest people. We are putting out a little sneak peek to the starts of the Friday events calendar for next year. So the Friday Golf events calendar for next year. We put one up on Friday. If you're a member, you can see that. You also get early access to it, and we'll start to probably have some of those early year and bigger events go towards the back half of this year. So if you want to get involved and see some cool golf courses, check that out. But that's what's going on in Club TF. It is a one hundred and twenty dollars for the entire year. It starts whenever you start your membership and it can put a lot of a lot of time and effort into it, and it's a great way to support us. So go to the Frida egg dot com slash membership to check out the benefits and sign up all the benefits. There's a lot of them. And thank you so much for the support. It's been an awesome year. Kind of sad with this Ryder cup. It kind of single signals a little bit of the end, but we'll have awesome time to talk golf architecture and other things in that so thanks and looking forward to a great Ridicuck