Early Masters Storylines, Luke Clanton’s Ascension, & Ryder Cup Rosters

The Fried Egg Golf Podcast

Andy Johnson and Joseph LaMagna check in on men's professional golf this week, discussing the early part of the PGA Tour season. The two start by breaking down Luke Clanton's path to a PGA Tour card and Andy wonders if Clanton will receive a special exemption to the Masters in April. Joseph and Andy then talk through some Masters storylines with the year's first major right around the corner. They discuss Ludvig Åberg's standout play to start this year and how he'll follow up his 2024 runner-up finish at Augusta National. The two also provide some insight on two former Masters champions that may be undervalued heading into this year's tournament. To finish this episode, Andy and Joseph share some thoughts on the 2025 Ryder Cup and Team Europe potentially closing the gap between the two teams ahead of September.

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2025-03-05 66 min Transcript

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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 a fried Egg Friday Egg, the dreaded Frida Egg Friday, Frida Egg Egg, fridagg Bride Egg Lie, I'm about ready to run off of the up course.

00:00:37
Speaker 2: Welcome back to another edition of the FRIDAYGG Golf Podcast. I am your host, Andy Johnson, and today I am joined by Frida Egg Golf's very own Joseph Lamanya. I wanted to do a little check in with Joseph, talk some very early Master storylines and talk a little bit about what's been going on in the PGA Tour world of men's professional golf. So we talk a little bit about Luke Clanton, the Masters, what he's kind of watching out for, a little Ryder Cup, and UH and many odds and ends in between. So this was a really fun chat with Joseph, kind of recap what's spent happening on the PGA Tour. Before we get to UH to Joseph, let's talk about our partner, Maui Nui Venison. Maui Nui offers the only one wild harvested meat that's completely stress free and responsibly sourced. It's perfect for anyone looking to elevate their meals with delicious, high quality protein. This stuff is awesome.

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00:02:16
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Speaker 2: It is really a great product, and Maui Nui is offering Friday podcast listeners a limited collection of their favorite cuts and products. Uh. Given the nature of the way they make the product, it is limited by nature, So don't wait. Head over to Maui Nui Venison dot com. That's m a u I n Ui Venison dot com slash egg to secure your venison today. That's Maui Nui m a u I n Ui, Venison dot Com, slash Egg thanks to them. All right, let's get to Joseph Leamanna. All right, Joseph, we are in the midst of the I'd say this is probably one of the more exciting stretches of the PGA Tour schedule. We are we are done with the West Coast Swing. We are in Florida, and we are barreling down on the big events of the year. The players is two weeks away and it is not not We are finally at the point where it's not too early to talk masters. So I wanted to touch base with you, kind of catch up on early season findings and get some get some thoughts out there. I wanted to kick off. Last week was the big news of the week? I would say the big news had to be Luke Clanton earning his PGA Tour card. Uh, the number ninety two ranked player in the world has earned his PGA Tour card through PGA Tour You Accelerated program. It's effectively you earn points for different things. You make a cut of the PGA Tour event, you get a point, you win certain events on in an amateur golf you get points some two some one. So Luke Clanton has really ascended, I would say, in the last year, has become the number one ranked amateur in the world, the top amateur kind of prospect supplanted uh, Gordon Sergeant, which would be hard to believe a couple of years ago. I think, like you know, when you think back to a couple of years ago at the Masters, he got a special invitation by augusta National. Everybody was talking about, you know, this long hitting amateur in the field. There were you know, he played with Rory and Brooks Kopka. Everybody was talking about this long hitting amateur, the long hit amateur that was in that Master's field. Who's contending on the PGA Tour now is Alders pipe eater? Uh, not Gordon Sergeant. Yet obviously Sergeant has also satisfied his PGA Tour You this is not a a drive by Gordon Sargant. He also has earned a PGA Tour card. So we have two amateurs that are playing amateur golf that have already earned their PGA Tour card. Clinton just gets it. Joseph Clinton's played a ton on the PGA tour he is. I don't think he's He's an amateur only by name. What so far? What are your early findings on Luke Clanton? How excited should we be? There are a lot of lofty expectations. Everybody's already saying, this is the next Ludwig, this is the American Ludwig. Are those off base or those are Are those predictions proclamations worthy?

00:05:55
Speaker 1: I don't think you have to be cautious with getting over hyped. I think think the Clanton hype is real and should be real. And what stands out to me about Clanton a couple things. One, he's an excellent driver of the golf ball. He can hit one ninety ball speed like top end ball speed while keeping it on the planet, which just isn't something that many golfers can do, even professional golfers. Right you're talking about the best drivers of the golf ball in the world, the Ludwigs, Rory's Cam Young, people like that who can hit it one hundred and eighty one.

00:06:31
Speaker 2: Cam Young softly because he's.

00:06:34
Speaker 1: Not doing a whole lot else very well right now. But he is a great driver of the golf ball. But I think what also stands out to me about Clanton is his consistency. Believe he's made nine of twelve cuts in professional events PGA Tour events, and that also includes the US Open last year at Pinehurst, which to see a golfer of that age who's already polished enough to be playing that consistently well, it's a huge difference from somebody like Nick Dunlap, who's very talented, but he has not been consistent. Right, He's won twice, he won the AMX and the Barracuda, but he the weak to week consistency isn't there. With Luke Clinton, the week to week consistency is there. He's missed a couple of cuts, like right on the number. He's finished runner up a couple of times already, John Deere last year and then Uh at the RSM. So when you combine that level of polish with the upside the consistent ball striking, it's pretty promising. Andy. I don't think it's you got to be cautious again that he may not end up turning out like we think he will. But I think it's reasonable to be as excited about him as any other prospect in the last few years.

00:07:41
Speaker 2: I think you know, when you with golfers, it's always easy to get caught up and sometimes fooled by a hot run. You know a player that just gets hot for nine months and ascends his way in that. You see that a ton happen with PGA PGA Tour players, like where you know, somebody gets hot and they just have the right stretch of golf at the right time. And golf is a very hot or cold thing. I think as you laid out, like when your game is built around elite driving ability, it makes you a lot less susceptible to hot and cold streaks because when you're you know the way the game is today, if you can touch one ninety on the ball speed and you drive it reasonably straight, you are going to have a lot of wedges from the fairway. And like that's just like it's hard to be really bad if you're hitting wedges into greens for the fairway like that, there's there's only so many, Like you think about, like what are really bad wedges from PJA tour player, it still usually hits the green and from that point it's then you two button. You walk away with a par And if you give a player enough wedges or mid irons on par fives, you are going to run into a lot of birdies. I think this is where you know, the discourse like how Rory McElroy has been really the player or DJ the two players that have been the most consistent players. And obviously DJ the last couple of years has fallen off sharply. He might be retired that you know at this point, but those players were so generationally great for so long because they were two unicorns off the tee and have continued to be. I think like the underlying the underrated story of golf over the last five to ten years really is Rory McElroy is one of the few players that has not been displaced by a younger generation in terms of his driving dominance. He has maintained he's improved as a driver of the golf ball into his thirties, which I don't think we've really seen a lot of players do so. I think with Clanton his game being based around this supreme driving ability, it's similar to Ludwig's game, like it's built around like really a really solid foundation of driving the golf ball. Well, there's just not a lot of you know, fluctuation there I think that's the thing. The other thing I'm super keen On Clanton with is age. He's twenty one years old, he's twenty effectively twenty and a half. He's four and a half years younger than Ludwig air Obert, which is which is a frightening thing.

00:10:19
Speaker 1: Yeah, And if, like you're mentioning with Luke, if he's stunk with his irons, like, it'd be a little bit of a different conversation. And a lot of those I don't know that I need to name names here, but a lot of guys with a ton of ball speed that can't necessarily do a whole lot else. Luke Clinton's a good iron player. He's not necessarily gaining strokes approach consistently on the PGA tour yet, but he's shown that he can hit his irons. And I know Sean Martin had followed him around at the RSM last fall and that was his main takeaway, Like he's got a lot of control over his irons, almost in a Morikawa way, like the way he's able to control his shapes and trajectories. Clearly, he's not the iron player that Colin Morikawa is yet, Like Luke's numbers don't look like that, But he's not hitting it three hundred and forty yards down the middle of a fairway and then you know, clunking it and missing a bunch of greens with his wedges. Like he's a fine iron player and if he can develop a little bit more there, you're talking about a top end ball striker. So very optimistic just.

00:11:18
Speaker 2: Because this is fun. Who would be your your the opposite of that, the player that hit sort of waist down there and then clunks the iron. I have one in mind.

00:11:28
Speaker 1: Can I check him? That's exactly I mean.

00:11:32
Speaker 2: I'm forever haunted by watching him shoots seventy five at Skochee Country Club in the Western m from like thirty yards in front of every green.

00:11:42
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think I don't want to come after pot Geeter yet. He's a potential, but he's got some other Look. I'm not a player that we diametrically disagree on. He's got to show a little bit more. But he's really young, right. Cam Champ isn't young anymore, and he didn't really developed in the way that a lot of people thought he would. I would say that that's an example of a player who kills it off. The t doesn't have a ton of other game and maybe one here or there on. Some friendly setups can pick off a three m open, but not going to have consistent results if you can't do anything else.

00:12:17
Speaker 2: I have heard through the grapevine that one of the biggest issues with cam Champ was work ethic.

00:12:22
Speaker 1: I've heard that too, So.

00:12:26
Speaker 2: Maybe not always talent. I think the the you know something that you always are are hesitant on, and this could be a talk, this could be a bridge to pot Keeter. Is who who they're doing it against?

00:12:40
Speaker 1: Who?

00:12:40
Speaker 2: Who's the competition? Is this? The one thing that would leave you with Eddie concern when you look at Clinton's resume is that he hasn't hasn't done it against top flight competition. You know you're driving by my guy Aldrich and you know I'm looking at at one of his probably the best field he's he's had a lot of sick assess against was the Farmer's Insurance Open, which Pockkeeater was playing in the final group of I.

00:13:06
Speaker 1: Think, in general, yes, needing, especially ball striking numbers against top end talent, But I'm not Luke. Clinton finished T forty one right at the US Open last year in his first major championship, so it's not like he doesn't have any kind of track record, and in some of the weak field events like the John Deere and RS Semury finished second. I mean, that's still a very high result in a weak field. So I think where I'd be concerned as if it was nothing but T twenty five's in week fields and then you just haven't proven anything, I think.

00:13:36
Speaker 2: So one of the big questions I think the spring will be does AUGUSTA National extend a special invitation to him? And you know, when Gordon Sargent got it, it was kind of wondering what it was. People thought it might be an NCAA exemption that they just weren't putting a name on, but we haven't seen it since. You know, when you think about like a special invitation, it feels like he'd be worthy. I know that Sean Martin put out that there that he would be a top ten player in the world. If now like that's not it's not completely accurate based off of like some numbers that you've alluded to, But the fact is, I think it'd be pretty safe to say that he would be a top.

00:14:24
Speaker 1: Fifty player in the world.

00:14:26
Speaker 2: You're saying it wasn't for the minimum divisor Yeah, and that would earn him a Master's invite. So I do think there is like a real case for Clinton to get a Master's invite. It sounds like he's going to stay amateur until he's done playing this collegiate season with Florida State.

00:14:47
Speaker 1: Yeah, you're alluding to the Shawn Martin tweet that he'd be a top ten player based on his average points earned in an event, and if some of those events were older, they'd be decayed according to the OWGRS methodology. So yeah, he'd probably top fifty players. Hard to say like anything definitively, But I don't know. Do you think they need to do you think they need to extend him an invite? I'd be fine with it, but I don't really. It's not like he's one or anything like I wouldn't be offended if they didn't.

00:15:12
Speaker 2: I think it would just be weird, Like I think, like it just it's like kind of weird, like what was the Gordon Sergeant invite from years ago? And like why did he get one? If? If Clinton's not, I think Clinton's like more widespread known. He's been doing it like at a he's been, you know, contending at a professional level now for almost a year. He's done, I would say, without a doubt more to earn a special invitation than Gordon Sergeant did two years ago. Gordon Sergeant won the NCAA's that's a big deal. But I think that that's the interesting thing. Let's talk, you know, like, what what's your big takeaway from from thus far on the year if you had, if you had to boil it down to one.

00:15:59
Speaker 1: I believe the biggest takeaway from the PGA Tour, the entire professional golf season so far should be the outbreak of Ludwig Ober And calling it an outbreak, I know that he's already been a known entity, but I do think we've seen the ascension of a top five player who by the end of this year, I still believe he could be the second best golfer in the world. You look at Ludwig season just for a second. He finished T five at Century at Kapalalua to start the year. His next event, the Farmer's Insurance, he was co leading through two days and then got sick and kind of flamed out to a T forty two. But he was like hunched over sick for multiple of those days. I think it's reasonable to discount those results a little bit. Had to withdraw from Pebble because he was still had that sickness lingering, and then he wins The Genesis, a couple of wins the Genesis back at Tory in a strong field, despite a couple of costly mistakes like finding the penalty area on four in his final round. Like Ludwig's playing at an extremely high level. He's twenty five. I think his results last year look a lot like Xander's results did, where he's just consistently like T eight, T five in strong fields. In twenty twenty four, Ludvig had five top fives, and that includes second at the Masters, second at Pebble which was a signature event, fifth at Memorial, fourth at the Scottish Open, and T two at the BMW. Like, this is a player who's consistently contending in events and should be taking a leap forward, which we've seen now in this year winning at the highest level. So I think it's a really exciting story that we have it. Who I would consider a top five player in the world right now in Ludvig, and he's still young and he's playing consistently well. So that's my biggest takeaway.

00:17:46
Speaker 2: I think the other thing about Ludwig is that he's got some gravity to him beyond just playing well on the golf course. He seems to be someone that fans are generally interested in. They you know, it's questions of who is this guy? You know? From from common guys like I had I have a neighbor who watched it full swing and he and I was asking, hey, who do you what what player did you like the most? He's like, I really like that Swedish guy.

00:18:15
Speaker 1: What's his name?

00:18:17
Speaker 2: I think like that's, you know, beyond just the game. When you talk about golf, Like, what's kind of important beyond just like pars, birdies and bogies, is like the ability to captivate an audience, the ability to have some sort of gravity, And I think that's the The thing with Ludwig that is also appealing is that there seems to be general fan interest in him. I think like he's you know, the more we get to know him, the better. But uh, you know, I I'm I'm fascinated to watch him in the majors.

00:18:50
Speaker 1: This year.

00:18:50
Speaker 2: I think like he's like the biggest question mark. I like wonder where does he fall? Like he obviously was extraordinarily great at the Masters last year, I you know, real chance to win the Masters on the back he headed into the back nine with a shot to win, and he made a couple of mistakes.

00:19:11
Speaker 1: But like, is he a top three player? A favorite for the Masters?

00:19:16
Speaker 2: Should he be? Is that unrealistic?

00:19:19
Speaker 1: I I don't know, how how do it take? For me? He's number two? That's That's what I was wondering.

00:19:26
Speaker 2: I like I started to think about, like I was kind of starting to think about, like who would I who would I take right now at the Masters? And it's like, is Scottie or Ludvig probably would be my.

00:19:39
Speaker 1: Rory's right there, I think, especially for the other Majors, but just some of the past inconsistency at Augusta and the way that Ludvig drives it straighter than Rory does. I think I'd be pretty comfortable giving a slight edge to Ludvig there. It's close, but I think Ludvig is firmly in that two or three spot.

00:19:58
Speaker 2: Yeah, I would agree with It's let's talk a little bit about the Masters while we're here. It's kind of barreling down. What are a couple early storylines that you are watching.

00:20:12
Speaker 1: I mean, I think we have to start with Scotty, right. He is five starts at Augusta, five top twenties, three top tens, two wins, Like, he's quickly racking up an unbelievable track record on a golf course that is low variance, and I think that should be a central part of the conversation when you're talking about Augusta. Like, the players who are playing well tend to play well. There are a lot of reasons for that. But Scotty seems poised to make another run. He's gonna close as one of the shortest favorites in a long time at Augusta, or you know, right on par with some other short favorites in recent years. Most of these events, like the Arnold Palmer, he's like four to one to win, three and a half to one to win. Like this is a very dominant world number one entering a golf course that he destroys and is set up well for success on So I think it'd be kind of crazy to start anywhere.

00:21:06
Speaker 2: But Scotty do you feel like he has to win before the Masters?

00:21:11
Speaker 1: No, I think he needs to hit the ball well, but I don't I don't think anything else is that relevant. Why do you think he needs to win.

00:21:17
Speaker 2: I don't necessarily think he needs to win. I do think it's nice to get a win. I think, like I wouldn't want to win like the week before the Masters, like in that that classic, like nobody's done this situation like that being said, I would love if I was Scotty Shuffler. And this is not a hot take, but like just you know, he he hurt his hand and he hasn't won since he hurt his hand, and I think it would be you know, given how at Like I think like psychologically you win at such an astounding clip, you know, like psychologically in golf, like mental the approach to professional golf. I think like expectation management is such a vital part of playing great golf. And I think like one of the hardest things for Scotty Scheffler. If you're going to talk, it's it's not hitting the ball well. That's not a challenge for Scotty Scheffler. It does not appear to be something that he struggles with right. This is not you know, we talk a lot about a lot of people, Like if we were going to talk about Justin Thomas, it's gonna be like what ball striking shows up? You know, is he going to hit Potter Potts on the center.

00:22:33
Speaker 1: Of the face.

00:22:35
Speaker 2: But if we if we're talking about Scotty Scheffler right now, I think like the one thing I would be worried about if I was Scotty is expectation management. And I won so much last year, Like basically every time I teed it up, I almost won, and I won a lot of those times. If I go six of events without winning at the start of twenty twenty five and I'm heading into the gusta, that's maybe not where I want to be, I would really like it's it sounds crazy, but like I really want to win an event before this year because if you look through as it, like last year, the most he went without winning was like two events. It's insane, Like the most he went was he went he started the year, he didn't win in the first five events of the year, and he won API. So we're basically at the same spot that he wins. The players finish his second at the at Houston and wins the Masters. After that, the most he went I think is three events without winning, and now we're here again.

00:23:50
Speaker 1: Uh, this will be his fourth start without a win, So that would be my like.

00:23:54
Speaker 2: I think there's so few things to be worried about with Scotti Scheffler. That would be the thing I'd be worried about is xbectation management.

00:24:01
Speaker 1: I think of all players, there's almost nobody I worry about less with that specific of how you handle the mental space than Scottie Scheffler. I don't think he's got that problem where he clearly gets frustrated, but I think his expectation management's pretty good. I think the other huge shining spot or point of optimism for Scotty is that he finished third at the Genesis Invitational at Tory, hitting some of the worst shots I've seen Scotti hit like it was uncharacteristically bad, and he finished tied for third. Waste management finished t twenty five. He was he was involved in that tournament and then just kind of flamed out during the closing stretch. Like Scotty, in shaking off the rust from his hand injury, has still been in the mix and hasn't been playing his best golf. I believe he will win the Arnold Palmer this week, like I think, you know, Tiger won it eight times, like I think Scotty Scheffler, at the height of his powers, is going to win that event a lot. He will probably win this week, and then all those narratives will go away about how long it's been since Scotty Scheffler's won.

00:25:03
Speaker 2: It's a mid iron test, and mid mid irons are nobody's better in the world in mid irons than Scotty Scheffler.

00:25:11
Speaker 1: It's also really good at controlling his ball with water and play. Like when there's water down the left, Scotty can hit that down the right center and nobody's more effective at that. He's not going to be hidden it in the water unless his game is way off. So I think Scotty's winning.

00:25:33
Speaker 2: All right, Let's take a quick break to talk about the fried Egg Golf Pro Shop. This is available at proshop dot Thefridagg dot com. We have a ton of great products in there for you to peruse. We have a bunch of new polos and lightweight spring hoodies from Johnny O. We have a wide selection of beat dratty items we have a lot of hats, different things. It's spring for people in northern climates, it's you're kind of you're closing in on golf season again, which is amazing. I remember that feeling well. I would. Uh, it's always good to get a fresh polo uh to to get ready for spring golf. So check out our pro shop pro shop dot Thefridagg dot com. As a reminder, CLIPDF members get a ten percent discount in the pro shop every day if you use your code. So check out Proshop dot Thefridagg dot com. And thanks for supporting what we do here. What uh what else are you looking at?

00:26:45
Speaker 1: Uh, let's go, let's go hot button one here. I think that you're going to see a significant live golf under performance in major championships this year. And take out the like live versus PGA and it's fifty four holes verse seventy two whatever, Like a bunch of golfers were signed to a tour a couple of years ago that are aging out of their competitive windows and last year was a bad year for live in major championships.

00:27:13
Speaker 2: Don't disrespect DJ that way.

00:27:16
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean DJ's at the top of that list. But outside of Bryson. Twenty twenty four was not a successful year for Live in majors. They had four golfers finished in a top ten, twenty four of them got at least one start, four finished in the top ten. Thirty three golfers total across tours finished in a top ten in a major in twenty twenty four, so in four of them being on live. The consistent standard that's being set on that tour is lower than the consistent standard that's being set on the PGA Tour right now, especially signature events. It is appreciably lower. And there aren't any golfers. Maybe you could make the exception for Joaque Neeman, maybe you'd argue John Rahm, but there aren't many golfers on If we're consistently playing at that top end level on live, finishing T five every time, finishing T. Two, and if you're not finishing there on live, you're not going to stack up well in a major championship. And we have so many golfers like Rory has been incredible recently. He's consistently contending. I mean Rory has finished in let's see top yeah, four top two finishes in his last eight starts, including two wins. On top of that, almost won the Irish Open and lost in a playoff at the BMWPGA. He almost has four wins in his last eight starts in stronger fields than are on Live, like Scotty obviously Ludwig. So I think with Live in general, some of those guys probably don't have the right expectation about where their game stacks up right now and are going to finish lower on leaderboards, especially at the Masters and then subsequent majors, then they might expect.

00:28:52
Speaker 2: You've been plugging away at a consistent Wednesday calm. That's been a delightful read and in I think it was the most recent one. You did Live Golfers who the PGA Tour would want back, right, like, who would add value to the PGA Tour. It was kind of jarring how few of the players are like when you when you start to think about and I think, this is like it's been a long time, Like four years in the life cycle of a PGA Tour player is a long exactly like I think, like you get lost a little bit. But like I was talking, this is the same I was talking with my neighbor. He's like a competitive distance runner like, uh was like, I think like basically could have been a professional competitive long distance runner. He was asking me like how it worked, Like how does the PGA tour work? How does like the you know, life cycle of a pro golfer work. And when I was like laying it out, I was like, there are guys that are hyper competitive top twenty players for like two to three years. That's like one bucket. There are guys that are really relevant for five years, you know, that's another bucket. Then there are guys that are like super super relevant for ten years, and that is like a very few number. And I was like, and then there's people like Rory McElroy who are relevant for twenty years and that's like the rarest of rare, the legends. Yeah, but like those two to three year guys are like extremely rare. But like we forget always that it's like two to three years, and I don't want I don't like I enjoy Max Hooma. He's someone that if I'm at a golf tournament I go talk to, you know, but he might like he might be a perfect example of a two to three year guy. And there's like this is it's very rare for someone to have a two to three year run like Max Hooma's had, but like he could come back and play like play he might be a you know, a really like regress to the top seventy player, And that's a great player and is a great career to have reached the top ten in the world golf rank and be a top ten player at one point. But like the point of it is is that, like it's not out, it's it's very normal to have like two to three year runs and then be irrelevant. And when you start to look at live, it's kind of like, oh, they're they're guys, just like some of their guys aren't guys anymore.

00:31:19
Speaker 1: I think the best maybe the best example of this, and I'd be very curious for your opinion on this name, but somebody who that exact conversation has unfolded as Cam Smith, Like it was Cam Smith legitimately, like somebody who was going to have a five to eight year runway or did he play really good golf over a short burst and then kind of regress back to being a seventy ish, you know, top forty, top seventy player. Cam Smith's finished in the top ten out Augusta five times in the last seven years. I think we're going to get a pretty good feel for where his game is when he shows up at one of the against stiff competition on a golf course that suits him very well. Like, let's see see what kind of golfer camp Smith is. He's been fine on Live, but a little bit inconsistent. Some T two's and some T thirty fives, Like that's not going to get it done in a major championship. So I can't wait to see what he's got. That feels like a good early Masters storyline, but also kind of what you're talking about of like how long was this competitive window? Because again strip the names off. That's what's interesting to me about this thought exercise with Live is they signed guys to three four year contracts. Some of them were already a couple of years into their competitive window. This is what should happen. They should be less competitive a few years down the line.

00:32:35
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think camp Smith's like I would probably have put him in like the five year bucket. I think there are a lot of other aspects of Live that lead like giving somebody a giant pile of cash is going to disincentivize certain personalities, right, certain personality types are just going to be complacent, Like I think like camp Smith, he struggled with this early in his PGA tour career. He mentioned this like he just didn't work. He did not He's not not treated as a professional job early in his career, and I think then you get a huge payday and that that's the natural inclination. I think he's shown like the type of personality he is. You know, I think the people that have really long careers in golf are generally like the hyper hyper competitive people. Like I think that's the thing with Rory, like hyper competitive, Like think about phil Like just like insane competitor, insanely competitive wants to make every pursuit in life a competition, Right, those are the people that have those long runways. I think like the two to three year guy, perfect perfect example is Aba answer like fine, Well, right now, he had worked his way into the top twenty in the world. He was becoming like a real like oh wow, Aba answers around a lot. He's on a President's Cup team, and since he's gone there, he's just completely like wiped off the face of the earth.

00:34:02
Speaker 1: He's not playing too badly right now actually, but he's not any threat to win a major championship this year, even if he gets into them. But I think, to put it a little more concretely, Andy like or I guess to make a prediction, maybe we'll see a live guy Spike like Bryson. A Ram wouldn't shock me. Potentially, Brokes potentially, But I think I will say that of the top five at the Masters, at least four of them will be PJ Tour players.

00:34:27
Speaker 2: All Right, that was I One day we might look back and think that that Master's runner up for Phil a few years ago was more fluky than the PGA win.

00:34:40
Speaker 1: PJ win is still like one of the most absurd results ever.

00:34:43
Speaker 2: I think that's like the saddest thing about the whole live thing, the whole live thing, the sad part about it. And this is from someone who's like not a Phil fan. I've throughout my life I've not liked Phil Mickelson. Like going back to what I was kid, I was always an Ernie guy, Ernie and Tiger and like, to me, like the saddest, maybe the saddest thing about the entire last six years of pro golf and like, what is transpired is that Phil's win at at Kiwa is now Like I mean that should have been the only thing people talked about about Phil Mickelson for the last five years. Is like can you believe he won the PGA at age fifty? Was he fifty or fifty one?

00:35:31
Speaker 1: Crazy?

00:35:32
Speaker 2: It's like, can you believe he won that tournament? He didn't do He hadn't cracked an egg for a year leading into it. He was just just like categorically an awful golfer and that's just for one week he put it all together and beat Like I think like there is like this thing with Tiger that people don't like talk about enough, is like Tiger's life unraveled after he got beat for the first time, Like like WHYI Yang, of all people be to him. I don't think brooks Keptka, you know he's won, he won, ok kill. I don't think brooks Keptka spend the same golfer since Phil Mickelson beat him.

00:36:09
Speaker 1: It's funny. Padre Harrington was talking about that recently. When he saw Rory break out for the first time, it kind of set his own game back because he realized his a game could not contend with Rory's a game. So I think, yeah, you hear those stories, the Phil one. If there's been a more surprising result in the twenty first century, like i'd be, you'd have to bring it up. I don't know what that could possibly be. People look back on things like Jimmy Walker as being fluky. Jimmy Walker was a good golfer in that era and was playing well coming in Like I think he gets disrespected a little bit. Phil, as you said, was playing terrible golf and just bang bink so.

00:36:46
Speaker 2: In so so outside to live what what's maybe your third Master's uh, way too early storyline, not way too early. It's not way too early.

00:36:56
Speaker 1: It's not way too early.

00:36:57
Speaker 2: Three weeks ago would have been way too early.

00:36:59
Speaker 1: This is early. Yeah, I've got a bunch like I think the you could just keep going on this. I'll give you a little trivia question, and this is putting you on the spot. I don't think most people should know the answers to these. There are five golfers right now who have a consecutive made cut streak of at least ten made cuts in a major right now. How many of those five do you think you can name? And who has the most made cuts consecutively in a major right now, it's active.

00:37:27
Speaker 2: So rom missed a cut last year? Yeah, he's Scotti Scheffler. Scott he's got ten. Let's go Scottie Scheffler, who's just sneaky, made a lot of cuts. Rory McIlroy.

00:37:43
Speaker 1: No, because you missed Masters. Shoot, you also missed Open last year.

00:37:48
Speaker 2: Oh god, Scotti Scheffler, xanderschoffle.

00:37:53
Speaker 1: Xander's at eleven, he's second most. There's two more at ten, and then there's one who's way above that. One way about it, somebody at eighteen.

00:38:02
Speaker 2: He just pull up owgr That's not cheating, is it?

00:38:06
Speaker 1: No?

00:38:06
Speaker 2: I think that's I just want to look at the at the rankings. Is more Kawa on there?

00:38:11
Speaker 1: He's not on there. I can give him to you.

00:38:15
Speaker 2: Yeah, give them to me. Patrick Reid has made ten in a row, and I think would have gotten that. Wait, he's not even exempt to stuff anymore, is he?

00:38:23
Speaker 1: He's in the Masters. Yeah, he's in the Masters. Obvious with the lifetime.

00:38:26
Speaker 2: But what if he got to like fifty bade cuts and it was just from the Masters every year and he played like the next or.

00:38:34
Speaker 1: Not out of the realm possibilities. He plays well there. Patrick Cantlay has made ten in a row.

00:38:38
Speaker 2: But I almost said Patrick Cantlay, But I just like I feel like I was throwing off the scent. I just like I can't I can't get over the stink of the of the low finishes with Cantlay. That's like just like ten mediocre finishes.

00:38:53
Speaker 1: I mean they're back doors when they're top tens. Number one Dicky Tsuyama has made eighteen cuts in a row in majors, and I mean he's also won three times on the PGA Tour since last year at riv Like talk about a guy that no one's really gonna talk.

00:39:13
Speaker 2: I did not see this, Like I kind of thought he was toast last year.

00:39:18
Speaker 1: He's injury for a rif. Yeah, I thought it was over just he's dealt with a lot of back neck injuries. But yeah, no one's really gonna tear. That's got to be a contributing factor. Like I think everyone's kind of on the same page with Hideki. He won't be talked about a ton coming into the Masters, but if he wins, it wouldn't shock anybody. And I think he has to be mentioned. He's playing maybe not the best golf of his career because he was really hot in that twenty sixteen twenty seventeen era. But he's playing really good golf right now again, three wins in the last what is it, fourteen months, Like he's he's got to be somebody that you're keeping on your radar.

00:39:52
Speaker 2: I always so we talked a little bit about this earlier. It's like when you're hot, run as a golfer coach, like when does it happen? And I always think about how Hideki had played the best golf of his career in like over like a couple month period when there was no consequential golf tournaments, Like it effectively happened from like October to February. He had this like inferno hot four month period. And it's like if that had coincided from April through July, we might be like three time major champion Adeki Matsuyama.

00:40:30
Speaker 1: You know'd be kind of fun to look at different players around the world and the seasons in the countries they grew up in, Like do they play, do they kind of peek in their like is their body on a certain clock to where they peak during like their own summers would be kind of an interesting thing to look into.

00:40:47
Speaker 2: I think it's a fascinating topic just in general. It's like, is there an an aspect of players who grew up with off seasons, like people that grew up in climates that did not allow for your round play? Is it a bad idea to go somewhere and live like where you've reached. You've reached this extraordinarily high level of golf with like a certain type of approach to it. Is it a bad idea to go somewhere where you can play year round? And like does that actually hinder Like this is something I've thought about a lot, Like if you get like people would happen like what I don't sometimes what I don't understand, Like golf's like a thing like like people get to the high level, Like I saw this thing. I don't know if you saw this, Like Christo Lamprecht has like completely changed his swing.

00:41:39
Speaker 1: Have you seen this?

00:41:39
Speaker 2: No?

00:41:40
Speaker 1: But I haven't heard his name recently.

00:41:42
Speaker 2: Like completely Like this guy got to the number one amateur player in the world, like with a certain type of golf swing, and like we'll see what happens, But like I I don't, I don't sometimes I sometimes wonder about like making huge changes when when what you've been doing gets you to the very top of the game. And one of those is like if I've always had like this like time where I've had winter and I've hit balls inside and you know, I've I've practiced on a game, like why not continue that?

00:42:15
Speaker 1: I think like one of the things with Rory this year that like he.

00:42:19
Speaker 2: Hit into a net for a month, he just did not see ball flight for a month, which is effectively like a winter.

00:42:28
Speaker 1: Like going to the dome.

00:42:29
Speaker 2: I remember so many times in my earlier life, like I'd come out of the dome and I'd just hit the ball so good for the first couple of weeks of the year, and like then because like it it creates this like place where you like you're just you don't react because you don't see the ball land right, And there's something like freeing about that where if you don't see flight, you don't see the like the full flight, you don't see the way the ball's like. But like, I wonder about people that make these big changes when they've already gotten to the top of the game, and it's like, well, like if you just like get used to playing that game. Are you just going to keep a sending like you've done your entire life.

00:43:12
Speaker 1: My inclination is that playing in warm weather climates where you can kind of be sharpy around is probably always advantageous. But there could be certain golfers who you're throwing them off a little rhythm and when they want to peak for the majors, right. Obviously there's a conversation here about the changing of the date of the PGA Championship, which has made all of these majors in such quick succession that for a lot of guys, you just want to be peeking between April and the beginning of July. So I hear you. I think I'd want to be in an environment where my game is always sharp. But there are probably some players who benefit from the ebbs and flows of the calendar year versus kind of having that engine running twelve months a year.

00:43:51
Speaker 2: I just think about, like, you know, and this is like an outlier, but the University of the Illinois has built like arguably the best LEGI a golf team.

00:44:03
Speaker 1: We do you need to disclose any conflicts of interest at this section of the podcast.

00:44:07
Speaker 2: I mean, they've they've been the most consistent college golf team over the last ten years, and they do it with like they're they're ready to go in May.

00:44:18
Speaker 1: I don't know.

00:44:19
Speaker 2: I just think it's an interesting conversation. And just like the stakes are too high not to go down to Florida, Like, like you're so much of golf is counterintuitive, so much of it. It's almost like always like the opposite, the opposite of what you think is right is usually the right way to do things.

00:44:38
Speaker 1: It's kind of quote it feels like the Dwight shrewt. I ask myself, would an idiot do that? And if they would, I wouldn't do that thing type quote here.

00:44:47
Speaker 2: I'm telling you, like the the whole game is counterintuitive, Like success in golf is almost always counterintuitive. And I just wonder if, like if there is some some version of not of not of doing something different also the other things, like just doing something different than everybody else, Like is there an ability to find some some gains, like because there's just such minuscule margins in pro golf and doing something just a little bit differently might create an opportunity to create a fractional gain that sets you apart. And this is a crazy topic but I think this is I think where it all.

00:45:34
Speaker 1: Fits together is that there's clearly an advantage in being in a routine and being in rhythm and standing on a tea box with a lot of confidence and having every box checked, and how you prepare for that may differ player to player, but I think clearly finding a routine that works for you is important, and if you've done something one way your entire life, it might be worth pursuing that further. But do you want me to get into a different storyline?

00:45:57
Speaker 2: Yeah? Yeah, I think that's enough pathesizing. If any, if any PGA tour pro is willing to, you know, risk, put it to the risk. There are millions of dollars that they are earned a gain and create a little experiment of going to like live in Alaska for the winner, and it palls in that I'd love to love to love to document it.

00:46:21
Speaker 1: The Masters is not a tournament that gets won by long shots, So I don't even calling these two names long shots I think is slightly disrespectful, but two names of golfers who I think people aren't really considering threats to win, but might be considering a threat to win in a month's time Will's alaturus, I.

00:46:41
Speaker 2: Knew you were going.

00:46:42
Speaker 1: I've taken I've taken a lot of flak for my Will's alaturus optimism this year and people saying that he's not in form. Will's Alataurus's track record out Augusta is nuts already. There are four golfers in the history of the sport who have finished in the top ten and their first three Masters. Two were back in the thirties, Paul run In, Ralph goldaal and then we have Jordan Spieth and Will Zaladtaurus. Will has been incredible at Augusta. He's dealt with some health issues so far this year. His form doesn't look amazing on paper, but he's hitting the ball well. The speed's kind of back. What we'll see exactly over the next couple of weeks where his game is. But if he's hitting the ball well entering Augusta, he's he has a legitimate chance of winning that golf tournament.

00:47:24
Speaker 2: Earned his question, is he exact?

00:47:26
Speaker 1: Oh? Yeah, he's. He finished top twelve in the Masters last year. He's in all right? All right.

00:47:32
Speaker 2: I wanted to make I wanted to make sure because like he hasn't done anything, you know, And I'm I I really would like Xala Taurus to be playing well. I just think the big question is like where's he at physically because it seems like it's it's just still not there. And I and I completely understand why. I mean, he's he's going through you know what is like. I mean, I think outside of your wrist, probably the thing you worry about the most is you're back and he's going through, you know, some issues with it.

00:48:07
Speaker 1: That's fair. I don't know that he I think his full range of outcomes is pretty wide, like he could miss the cut. But if he's in the final group on Sunday, I don't think that should be surprising for a player who has seven top tens in fourteen major starts career major starts where he's almost won a couple majors already and he's putting them together. One of the best track records at AUGUSTA of any active player. So is he Cam Davis? It's not Cam Davis, but it is an Australian.

00:48:36
Speaker 2: Get out of out of Cam Davis, who's the Australian you know? I think Adam Scott, I mean, how can you say this after last night's Ballfrog's performance.

00:48:46
Speaker 1: I don't know the uh, it'll be an interesting TGL How TGL the stats people always like to look at of like no one's ever done whatever and then won the Masters. We're going to see how TGL factors into all this. As anyone ever been on a team that missed the playoffs and then won the Masters? Questions like that are going to be great.

00:49:05
Speaker 2: Has anyone ever been on a winless TGL team and go on and go on to win, you know, a major?

00:49:13
Speaker 1: Well, they're playing the spear, They're not playing firethorn, So I'm not as worried about it. But Adam Scott's made the cut fifteen times in a row at the Masters. That is the longest active streak outside of Tiger, and I just think Adam's form is a little stronger when you dig into it. Then maybe some people might realize he had four top tens and five starts last year in the summer and fall in good fields like at the Scottish Open, at the Open Championship, at the BMW and then if you count the Tour Net Championship he also finished top. I think he finished like T four there. Adam Scott for he's he's long. I mean, I don't know that it's all the way to one hundred, but it's it's up there. Obviously a former.

00:49:57
Speaker 2: Champion, he's longer than DJ.

00:50:00
Speaker 1: Accordingly, that's crazy. That's crazy. If anyone wants, if anyone wants to take DJ straight up against Adam Scott, I am a very willing participant in that.

00:50:09
Speaker 2: I think.

00:50:11
Speaker 1: That's probably about where he is. I would have thought it's like eighty or one hundred, but and maybe he won't win, but I think he's somebody who could finish Tide for six. Adam Scott sells a ton of ball speed. That's the shocking thing about looking through some of his numbers, Like the guy pounds it for being forty four and has developed a much better putter over the last ten years than at the beginning of his career. So I know he hasn't been relevant in Masters. I think he's he hasn't finished in the top ten there, I believe since twenty seventeen. But I think he's somebody whose game looks really good right now, and I wouldn't be surprised to see him win at some point this year.

00:50:44
Speaker 2: I'll never forget I used to watch Morning Drive before I went to work when I was a twenty something, a young twenty something coming of age in Chicago, and yeah, this is when Morning Drive was like cooking. And one of the things they did they did they had Adam Scott and his like trainer on and like you talk about Adam Scott's speed, like the biggest the biggest issue physically that they had to work on when Adam Scott was like in his heyday was he was too flexible. All of their physical work was like about reining in the flexibility because it would cause him issues. So it's like you think about, like why he's he's built for like longevity, why he still has speed, why he still is like the guy's always been extraordinary, like freakishly flexible, and it shows, I mean the golf swing still it's amazing at forty four what it looks like or I think he's forty four, right, Yeah, he's.

00:51:44
Speaker 1: Forty four, And I don't know. With all these players, the only way they age well they have to either have a lot of speed and keep adding to it like Rory has, or they have to develop another part of their game. And Adam did that with the putter which like he's gone from being a complete liability with the putter to being an average putter or even slightly above average at times, like he's still relevant. He almost took Bobby McIntyre down at the Scottish Open last year. Like, I don't think you can discount that little class of Rose, Scott, Sergio. Those guys are still contending from time to time. So yeah, I don't know that Adam Scott should be considered a favorite. I certainly don't believe that. I think those odds are reasonable and should be long. But I would it surprise you if he's in the top five going into Sunday. Wouldn't surprise me.

00:52:32
Speaker 2: I mean Sergio and Adam Scott. You're talking about literally two generational players. I don't think Rose is in the same class personally. I think I think that Adam Scott and Sergio, had they not gone up against literally like the greatest player ever, we would think about their career so much differently. I think I think Sergio would have had a couple of majors early in his career had it not been for Tiger, and that would have completely changed the career instead of him just snagging one kind of late. I think he would have been you know, I think it would have been a lot different. But like, I think like one of the things that we'll look back on in twenty years from now is just how great those players were and how they just like kind of ran into the a really I guess, like a a completely one of a kind situation with who was at.

00:53:41
Speaker 1: The top of the game. Yeah. The only other the only pushback I'd even offer is going back through Adam Scott's major results, They're not very good for his first like ten years on tour. And that's not just getting blocked by Tiger. I mean he had four top tens in like ten, ten or eleven year span, so that that's a little surprising about him. And now from like twenty eleven through twenty nineteen he racked up a bunch more, including obviously his win and then his near win. So it's kind of interesting.

00:54:11
Speaker 2: The Sergio is much more apt to like the real real contention. I got a question. I'm looking at Adam Scott odds eighty to one according to one very popular betting app. Right next to him is his Batt Fitzpatrick. Is he cooked that?

00:54:33
Speaker 1: I Mean, I know you wanted to talk about some Ryder Cup stuff. I don't know that he's on the Ryder Cup team. If it starts tomorrow, should we talk about it?

00:54:41
Speaker 2: Now? What I mean like a what a beginning of the year for Europe. I mean they look formidable, They're good. I think it's it's one of the more uh And this is like, I guess this is kind of one of the big themes of this whole pod is like a lot a lot of stuff happened in four years, a lot of stuff happens in three years. And I think when you look back at the Whistling Straights, Ryder Cup, the like they like the the general like, what what is Team Europe gonna do? They're cooked West, He's you know, forty nine. Ian Poulter is not competitive anymore. Paul Casey's old Like that was like just like there's nobody in the pipeline, and now you look at it and it's like, wait, is Europe dead? Even in terms of talent? Do they have more top end talent than America? Is a real question.

00:55:39
Speaker 1: Now it's a real question. I think the top end talent is where Europe shines, especially with this rib injury that Xander Schoffley's dealing with and that's a big story entering the Masters.

00:55:48
Speaker 2: Like they played TGL last night.

00:55:50
Speaker 1: I don't know if you still play TGL last night.

00:55:53
Speaker 2: Yeah, but I don't enough to play TGL. You're healthy enough to win majors.

00:55:58
Speaker 1: That's real. That's a real question. Like Okay, so at the top, if you're gonna have Rory Ludwig and rom, that's gonna stack up well against Scottie Xander Morikawa like they there's a real question that they might be as strong at the top. I think Justin Thomas is also playing some really good golf and he could potentially be a top guy for the US.

00:56:17
Speaker 2: But that JT pod that we did last fall, the things that we talked about with like the optimism for JT seemed to all be happening.

00:56:28
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's still spraying it off the tee. That's a huge thing to look at, like can he just keep it in play a little bit? But you can do that at Beth Page, like you can get a little errant. So yes, I agree. I think it should be about a coin flip right now, maybe a little bit of europe top end talent advantage. I think they'll make better decisions with pairings and all of that, which gives them an edge. And then Team USA at the bottom, especially on the bubble, like some of the names we're talking about, is you could put them in, maybe not put them in. Those are much better players than you're saying the same four on Europe, and they have the home crowd, which I do think will be a significant advantage. So to me, it is about a coin flip.

00:57:04
Speaker 2: I think one of the things that the beth Page offers huge advantage off the tee, and I think like if I was gonna make my top three Americans for beth Page, it probably goes Scottie, Xander and Bryson. Also, you have Brooks in there that won at the last Major at beth Page. Though I think like his game today is a little bit different than his game then. He was a brute force, a absolutely overwhelming player off the tee, and I don't think that's the case anymore. I think he's lost a little pop in the bat, and it's understandable with injuries in age, but I do think if you if you throw, But also on the Europe side, like Rory Rahm and Ludwig arguably probably better for beth Page from a from a sheer power standpoint.

00:57:52
Speaker 1: I mean, they're gonna be those three are no fun to play against at beth Page. I think what will be an emergent storyline is going to be a contentious debate this year is with some of these captain's picks, some of the golfers who don't have a ton of speed but are playing really good golf, what do you do with them? And probably the guy who's going to come right in the crosshairs is going to be Russell Henley, who is playing such good golf right now that if he can maintain what he's playing right now, which he's been playing good golf for like two and a half three years, he got snubbed at the last Ryder Cup. Like this guy has been really, really good. If he gets left off of the team because he doesn't have enough ball speed, assuming that his form stays consistent between now in September, I do think that'll be a pretty big mistake. Even if he's not the driver of the golf ball. I mean, he's like a one sixty five, one seventy ball speed guy. He's not a speed demon by any stretch, but he's so consistently strong that I think he likely will deserve a spot on that team, But it's going to come down to like, oh, do you want him or do you want fee now? Or do you want him or Windham? Like those are guys who have a lot more pop. I think that's like an interest seeing h question. When you start to look through the you know Moricow is a lock but not a speed demon, right, But then when you look down like it's like how many non speed demons can you afford to have at Beth Page? And you say, like, is the worst case The worst case scenario for the US is if if Henley Morikawa and one other non speed demon lock up automatic bits right where you you all of a sudden have three guys that do not move the golf ball out there, Because I mean, Beth Page is just such I'll never forget Jeff Ogilvie just telling as it was on our preview show that year, He's like, if you don't carry it three h five, you're not gonna win this week. And it was like such a defiant statement. He was like, it's going to be Brooks or DJ and that is who's gonna be? That is whould win over seventy two whole stroke play that I still think it's reasonable, like especially for alternate shot. Russell Henley's playing really well on a lot of other distance oriented courses. Like he's a very very good ball striker. So if his performance drops off, like sure, I could see leaving him off of the team, But the way he's playing right now, I think he'll have a strong again. It's it's not till September. I think getting too locked into picks is crazy.

01:00:21
Speaker 2: But I mean, if you take TGL into account, Billy's got to be a lock Billy horssechell.

01:00:27
Speaker 1: Yeah, well you should maybe look at just the spear and some of the other part fives on TGL to really do that. If he's eating, if he's cleaning up on these short part of threes, I mean on the rocks. It does on the rocks.

01:00:39
Speaker 2: Correlate with success at Bethpage, do you have any TGL takeaways? Do you have any more on the Ryder Cup anything else you want to talk about it as the Ryder Cup.

01:00:50
Speaker 1: I think it'll be interesting to see. Like David, I always get confused to how they putoun his name. I thought it was Pweet. I would think he'd be three, but they say pooge. I don't. Yeah, I don't know where that pronunciation exactly comes from. But he's playing really good golf and all signs are that he have full eligibility to play in the Ryder Cup. So I think he's going to be an interesting conversation. He doesn't have a lot of his ability since he's playing on live, but he's playing really well on live. Potential good young name in a couple of years too, so I think that'll be an interesting one. Sergio Rose, like some of those guys will be on the bubble, so it'll it's going to be an interesting year of Captain's picks. I mean, spif speak's going to be a really interesting conversation again this year whether or not he warrants a Captain's pick, And people are going to talk about his top finish at Beth Page of the PGA when he gained like ten and a half strokes putting or whatever it was, So that's going to be a hot, hot topic.

01:01:44
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's uh, it should be fascinating. It's it's a I don't know, the Ryder Cup. Ryder Cup year kind of sucks up all the oxygen. But Joseph, thanks for coming on What's What's in the hopper for this week's Wednesday article?

01:02:00
Speaker 1: What are you?

01:02:01
Speaker 2: What are you diving in on?

01:02:03
Speaker 1: Maybe you can give me a suggestion here, cause I'm working on it right now. I wanted to tier players who have had underrated seasons in the last fifteen years. I'm thinking, like, you know, people forget about twenty twelve. Soon you'll know, and you know, people forget about like Jimmy Walker being a pretty good player in twenty seventeen. So if you have any of those random ones like this guy was kind of a problem, I'm thinking of, uh, yeah, that's going to be the tiers and then gonna get a.

01:02:27
Speaker 2: Little Nicky nick Watney, little early yests like Nick Watney was a problem photo fide problem.

01:02:37
Speaker 1: Yeah. So you're saying recent years fifteen, let's say twenty ten onward?

01:02:42
Speaker 2: Can we say Pendy last year was with Pendy last year.

01:02:46
Speaker 1: Might be more recent than I'm after, but I do think, I mean, Taylor Pendri is playing great golf right now, So yeah, Pendy minute. No, I'm going more for the like JB.

01:02:56
Speaker 2: Holmes, Jimmy Walker, those your guys Zalatoor.

01:03:01
Speaker 1: Yeah, he could end up on there. So that's what I'm thinking for this week. And then I kind of want to write a little bit about Min wooe and who he is, So I think that's a fun Is Minwu Lee good or not? Is a fun question?

01:03:12
Speaker 2: That is great question. Is he a better screen golfer than a real golfer?

01:03:16
Speaker 1: I think we know that for sure. I think the answer to that is yes.

01:03:21
Speaker 2: Oh god. I'm trying to think of some like random good years.

01:03:25
Speaker 1: You know, it's kind of fun you go back through and like, wow, that guy made it to East Lake. Bill Haass is one of those we're like, man, talk about somebody that didn't do a damn thing in a major championship.

01:03:36
Speaker 2: I think, yeah, I you know, I don't want to throw a Roberto Castro under the bus here, But he made it. He made it to the East like one year. I think he became I don't think he'd be offended me saying this. I think he became the first player to go to East Lake and then lose his card the next year.

01:03:55
Speaker 1: History made put it on a T shirt.

01:03:58
Speaker 2: I mean honestly, like we might look back with like like Tyrrell's last two years have been kind of incredible.

01:04:06
Speaker 1: Not a major.

01:04:07
Speaker 2: Where where would he yeah, not at majors? Where would he be in the rankings if he played on a tour that he actually got point?

01:04:14
Speaker 1: I think if you played a full PGA tour schedule.

01:04:19
Speaker 2: I mean he's nine right now?

01:04:20
Speaker 1: Yeah, well yeah, w jar it's a little funky right now. But I had a Colin Markawa. I'm gonna say no, I think Colin. Colin's pretty darn good.

01:04:33
Speaker 2: Colin's last year would be an underrated year without winning. It would be a great example of an underrated year. Uh. You could go Ryan Fox on the DP World Tour.

01:04:45
Speaker 1: I think he's sneaky, has a long active, made cut streaking majors. I want to say he's made like eight in a row.

01:04:51
Speaker 2: Yeah, even he won thet he tied. I guess he tied for first at the UH at the Seminal Pro member. Maybe coming into form here, Okay, well, I'll look forward to reading that.

01:05:02
Speaker 1: I will.

01:05:03
Speaker 2: I'm going to be thinking now, Matt Coocher's probably got a lot of years that would fall into.

01:05:07
Speaker 1: That bucket another player. When you go back and look at it, his resume is not as impressive as I thought. I went through that exercise recently, Like man, we talked about him as one of the best players to never win a major. Lee Westwood puts Matt Coucher to shame on that front. Way way to shame, Way to shame.

01:05:24
Speaker 2: Wes Wessey was a menace.

01:05:26
Speaker 1: Way better.

01:05:28
Speaker 2: All right, we will talk soon. Thanks for coming on and looking forward to reading Wednesday's column. Thanks Andy, big thanks to PJ. Clark for editing and producing today's podcast, and big thank you to all of you for listening to the podcast. We will be back next week. I think we're going to do a player's preview. I think we've got an old recurring guest that is coming back. He's making us come back.

01:06:05
Speaker 1: I'm pretty excited about that. I will let you. I'll leave you with that. Cliff hangar here.

01:06:11
Speaker 2: Thanks, and we'll talk next week.

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