A Preview of the 2024 U.S. Women's Open

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.

00:00:06
Speaker 2: In a bride egg Friday Egg, the dreaded Frida Egg, Frida Egg, Frida Egg, Brian Egg, fridagg.

00:00:11
Speaker 1: Bride Egg Lie, I'm about ready to run off of the hump. Welcome to the Friday Egg Golf Podcast. I'm Garrett Morrison, and today we're previewing the twenty twenty four US Women's Open at Lancaster Country Club. Don't call it Lancaster, call it Lancaster's. That's apparently what you're supposed to say. Gabby Herzigg of The Athletic will be joining us to discuss the big storylines going into the tournament, as well as what to know about the venue. It's actually really called golf course William Flynn Design in Pennsylvania. Lots to talk about there. We'll also touch on the very recent news that Lexi Thompson will be retiring at the end of this season, or at least stepping back from a full time schedule. First, though, my co host Joseph Lamania is here with me to do our traditional in and out segment where we talk about what we're in on and what we're out on this week. Joseph, what are you in on?

00:01:29
Speaker 3: Garrett? I am in on Hamilton Golf Club, the site of the RBC Canadian Open this week. I know this is going to be predominantly a US Women's Open focused podcast, but I'm really excited to see a Harry Colt design that's got cool green complexes, a little bit of a different type test from what we see on the PGA Tour week in and week out. So again, we're going to be focused a lot on the US Women's Open here and that's probably what a lot of people are going to be watching this weekend. But if you tune into some of the RBC Canadian Open, it's going to be a good style of architecture. It's gonna be wet, so that might not be ideal. But I'm excited to see this golf course we saw last in twenty nineteen, but it's a unique design and something that I feel like will be a little bit different than what we see week in and week out on the PGA Tour, like a shorter course, a little bit more positional, but great piece of land, a lot of elevation change. Pretty excited to see it.

00:02:24
Speaker 1: Anything else we should keep an eye on, like particular holes, particular design features, what's cool about it.

00:02:29
Speaker 3: I'm going to write a little bit about this for Club TFE, so a little plug there, but.

00:02:34
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I got to go behind the paywall to get the good stuff.

00:02:37
Speaker 3: Yeah. My favorite feature is that they have these runoff areas around a lot of the greens and instead of it just being surrounded by thick rough Like there is thick ruff, but there are these tight runoff areas into the thick rouf that I think will make approach play appreciably more important. That's also like it is wet, so that's going to reduce that some of the firmness and obviously some of the balls bounding into bad areas. But I like that feature a lot on professional golf course tests, so I'm excited to see those runoff areas cool.

00:03:11
Speaker 1: Well, what I'm in on is actually related to tournament venues. I'm in on the US Women's Open venues over the next ten years, so listen to this list. We've got Aaron Hills next year, then Riviera Inverness, Oakmont, Pinehurst, Interlock in Oakland, Hills, LACC, Chicago Golf Marion that takes us to twenty thirty four. A lot of really cool golf courses in there, big time venues that give this tournament the stature that it deserves, And I think that's been a major point of emphasis with the USGA and this event recently, is trying to find venues that really have some heft to them to make the champion feel like it should like a big championship. But I particularly like the courses like Inverness, Interlock in especially Chicago Golf Club, where you have a great golf course, you have a club that's willing to host a big event, but it's not a course that a US Open could really go to, whether because the course is a little bit too short or the facility a little too small to handle the infrastructure. And so I'm excited to see those courses specifically, and I think that Lancaster is another one of those courses.

00:04:37
Speaker 3: We've talked about it before, right, Garrett. The scale of the women's game is conducive to playing on a lot more great golf courses than the men's game. Like sometimes just moving tea's back, even if you can kind of adjust the length that it's supposed to play quote unquote it sometimes the greens then are too small for the approach shots that are required at the men's scale, Like the women's scale is built a little bit more to how courses were designed, especially those old courses. So I'm with you, it's an opportunity to play some historic venues.

00:05:06
Speaker 1: What are you out on? All right?

00:05:09
Speaker 3: This is more evergreen, not topical necessarily, Garrett. I'm kind of out on the term over overrated or underrated, especially underrated, and I think often when we talk about players' skill sets, like you'll hear it on the broadcast or even I'm sure I'm guilty of it on podcasts saying with this player's short game is so underrated, and often people who follow the sport like know that that player has great short game. And I feel like the term underrated it gets thrown around so much in sports where it assumes that the people think differently about that skill set, like, oh, this NBA player is so underrated. It's like, actually, like I think most people know how good he is. So I'm going to try to stop using that term as much, using it as a crutch. And I feel like you as in. A student of the English language may feel similarly about the way that term just gets thrown around.

00:06:05
Speaker 1: Willy nilly, Well, it's one of those words, or it's really a set of words, right, underrated, overrated, properly rated. There used to actually, back in the ancient days of this podcast used to be a segment called Overrated Underrated where Andy Johnson would ask guests to, you know, say one or the other, and he would kind of pin them down and so, you know, like Brendan and Sean Martin a while ago ended up saying that Xanderschaffle was overrated and Andy never let him forget it. But yeah, it does. Those terms do tend to simplify, and I think the problem with them because they are useful, they're useful concepts. In some cases, they're just overused and when words get to that point it is time to move on from them and try to keep our language fresher.

00:06:51
Speaker 3: Garrett, what are you out on.

00:06:53
Speaker 1: I'm out on the suggestion that because Scotty Scheffler is a good guy, he couldn't possibly have done anything wrong outside outside of Valhalla two weeks ago. Now, this isn't to say that he did do something wrong and This certainly is not a defense of the Louisville Metro Police Department. It's not what I'm saying. I'm not making a judgment one way or another. I think it's just useful to remind ourselves sometimes that when it comes to discussing a criminal case before it has been adjudicated, and it sounds like this particular case probably won't even get to the point where it's adjudicated, whether someone is perceived to be a good guy or not should have no bearing on whether we judge them ahead of time to be innocent or not. Now, it's understandable that friends of Schefflers, some of whom are now in media positions. It's understandable that they might want to defend him and to bring their personal experiences with him to bear on their interpretation of these events. But when it comes to the responsibilities of people who are on TV and talking about cases like this, I think it's important for us not to rely on good guy versus bad guy tropes, because if somebody's not judged to be a good guy, does that mean then we would interpret these events totally differently. I think what we need to do is look at the evidence as it comes out and base our judgments on that, and the evidence that we've gotten so far points in the direction of this all being a misunderstanding what happened with Scotti, Scheffler and the police officer outside of Valhalla. That's what the evidence has kind of shown us so far, and that's really what we should be talking about. We shouldn't be talking about Scheffler's too good of a guy to have done something like this.

00:09:00
Speaker 3: I like this, Garrett, I think especially there was some on television definitely noticing it, like people going out of their way to make character testimonials about Scotti Scheffler with respect to this case, and it just felt out of place, like that's not what this is about. So honestly, I'm kind of out on talking about somebody as a nice person or a bad person on air in general, like not even about a criminal case. Like I don't like it on a golf telecast when they're like, oh, this is the nicest guy ever had dinner with them last week, Like so much of that is down to perception and your personal experiences with somebody. I don't know that there's really room for that on a telecast for me, at least in my opinion, but especially within the lens of a criminal case, I completely agree with you.

00:09:48
Speaker 1: All Right, before we bring on Gabby Herzig to talk about the US Women's Open, let's talk about Goodwalk Coffee a bit. Good Walk is Friday Golf's official coffee partner. It was founded in twenty nineteen by coffee nuts who also happen to be golf nuts, and they're very serious about applying the golf values of fair play and honesty to the way they conduct their coffee business. They buy high grade beans from around the world at fair market prices from farmers that follow sustainable practices and pay good living wages to their workers. And importantly, these beans happen to be really, really good. Specifically, the Friday Golf blend that's right, we have our own blend with Goodwalk is a bright and vibrant organic coffee roasted to a medium light level. It's just how I like it. It's what I've been drinking recently. I love the way my coffee tastes now that I've been using these beans. It has beans from Central and South America blended with a naturally processed coffee from Ethiopia, and it just creates this wonderful balance of milk, chocolate, and berry flavors. Absolutely love it. So go to Goodwalkcoffee dot com slash Frida Egg and use the code Frida Egg at checkout to save twenty percent on your entire order. Using the same code to start a coffee subscription will save you thirty percent on your first order and you'll then save ten percent on all future shipments. You can pause, skip, or cancel your subscription at any time on the website. So again, Goodwalkcoffee dot com slash Frida Egg. Check it out. It's really good stuff. All right, let's get to Gabby. We are here with Gabby Herzig. Gabby, how's it going.

00:11:38
Speaker 4: It's going well, guys. Thanks for having me.

00:11:41
Speaker 1: Yes, of course. And you just told us before we came on that you've been in leximode all day. Of course. The big news of the day out of Lancaster is that Lexi Thompson announced that she will be retiring at the end of the current LPGA Tour season. What were your takeaways from Lexi's press confeference from earlier today. We're recording this on Tuesday.

00:12:03
Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, I mean, honestly, a great press conference from Lexi, she was super vulnerable. She got emotional when asked about the struggles that she's been able to overcome throughout her career. I honestly haven't really seen her open up like that in a really long time. So that was pretty cool to see and obviously just makes this decision all the more relatable. She's had an insane career. I mean, starting out being a twelve year old qualifying for the US Woman's Open, breaking the record for the youngest player ever to qualify, doing it, then two more times and the next two years. She's been out here for a long time. So you know, you see her age twenty nine years old. It's a bit shocking to see an athlete retire at age twenty nine, but if you think about it and Lexi terms, it honestly really makes sense for her.

00:12:51
Speaker 3: Gabby, I'd be curious how you interpreted some of her answers in her press conference, with her saying kind of making the distinction that she's done with a full time schedule. Some people have been reading into that that maybe she'll still be competitive and playing. Curious what your interpretation was of that word choice.

00:13:09
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's a good question.

00:13:10
Speaker 2: I mean, I immediately thought of stuff like her doing the match earlier this year with Rose, like exhibition type things. I feel like she'd be super into that kind of play. But I can see her like using sponsor exemptions or using I actually don't I need to look into what she's still going to be exempt for after she kind of let's go of the full time LPGA schedule. But I can see her doing an event here and there, or a major or whatever it might be. I think that would be really cool for her to kind of like feel that refreshed mindset that she's kind of always been searching for and really getting it in this post, you know, post full time career. So I can see her doing like flashes of fun things. I actually think that would be awesome. I don't know if you guys watched the match. I think it was in January, and she actually like she was great, Like she really showed a lot of personality. She was sneaky, funny, and I enjoyed that a lot. So I would love to see more of that kind of stuff from her.

00:14:06
Speaker 1: Yeah, I wonder if she'll do sort of YouTube golf things like that. Yeah, I also wonder if a potential live Ladies Circuit might be on the horizon. I don't have any inside information about this, but that's always kind of the specter when you think of golfers who have moved toward a schedule that's a little bit lighter, that has a bit more of an exhibition character on the men's side. That has been the model so far, and there are some golfers who have really thrived with it. So I wonder the extent to which, you know, taking the possibility of a live women's circuit out of the equation, I wonder if she'll stay in really good competitive shape but just kind of not be on the LPGA tour.

00:14:55
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a really good question. I hadn't really thought about it. I saw a couple of things pop up on Twitter mentioning like Ladies.

00:15:01
Speaker 1: Live, but I'm sure, Yeah, I honestly did not.

00:15:04
Speaker 4: Take it seriously.

00:15:05
Speaker 2: Like I it just seems like she's wanting to start a new chapter in her life completely. Like she mentioned the fitness app that she wants to start. She's kind of been casually mentioning that on social media for a while now. I'm actually really excited to see what she does with that, because I mean, look, at her like she is built. I would love to know her secrets. So if she goes a route where she's like still involved in the in the game, but in like a peripheral way, I think that would be really cool. I honestly like the prospect of a live, like a women's live, would just like just add to everything going on in the golf world right now in such an insane way. I can't even fathom it. I don't even I don't even know if I want that. As entertaining as it would be, I can't. I can't bath of it right now.

00:15:51
Speaker 3: Uh, Gabby, Lexi's young to be retiring, right, She's twenty nine, but as you mentioned, she's been playing professional golf for a long time now, she's been well, this is her eighteenth US Open, so it's not like she just arrived on the scene. I'm curious as we get away from her career, assuming this is the end of it or near the end of it, how will you remember her career? Would you characterize it as underwhelming relative to expectations? Like? How will you think about the totality of her career?

00:16:22
Speaker 4: Yeah?

00:16:22
Speaker 2: I think, I mean, I think the instinct for a lot of people and remembering golf careers is to look at majors and you know, she only she won that one. That will definitely be part of her legacy. You know, it's awesome that she got that one major. I'm actually like she was. She mentioned it in the press conference, and I think it'll be something that she looks back on super fondly. But then in the major category, you also think of the ones that she blew, like the twenty twenty one US Women's Open, the foreshot penalty that she got at Mission Hills.

00:16:55
Speaker 4: It was those were tragic and that.

00:16:58
Speaker 2: Will definitely be part of I think what we look back on when we think about Lexi Thompson. I mean, eleven time LPGA Tour winner will always be impressive. I think that the expectations, as you mentioned, were definitely the cause of a lot of those shortcomings. It always seemed like she was carrying around this burden of people expecting and wanting things from her in terms of what she was going to do on the golf course, and she never really managed to escape it.

00:17:25
Speaker 4: It was always kind of at the forefront of mine.

00:17:27
Speaker 2: Even down to you know, the past year or so, Like she came back in twenty twenty three from that wrist injury, and she basically missed like eight cuts in a row or something along those lines. And then as the Solheim Cup approached last summer, she was like pretty much in danger of losing her LPGA Tour card, and once again the narratives started coming saying, you know, Lexi's this disappointment. We thought she was going to be the superstar Tiger esque of women's golf, but she never was, And we actually thought it was really cool when she bounced back last fall she played in the Solheim Cup, went three and one in her matches, and then went on to I think she was like, she came in top ten three times in a row.

00:18:12
Speaker 4: That fall on the LPGA.

00:18:14
Speaker 2: Really cool to see her kind of have that little like last minute bounce back after again getting so much flack as she's used to getting throughout her entire career. So I think in general, like obviously we would want more.

00:18:27
Speaker 4: Out of Lexi Thompson.

00:18:28
Speaker 2: I would have been so ideal as a bright young star in the women's skiing and the American all the right things.

00:18:36
Speaker 4: But she had a lot.

00:18:38
Speaker 2: She bore the brunt of a lot of a lot of those expectations and it ended up affecting her and we just have to be realistic realistic about that.

00:18:46
Speaker 1: So, something that happens when a major player announces a retirement is that other players get asked about that player. Right, I'm not sure to what extent that process has already started, but what's your own sense of how other players are talking about Lexi Thompson and Lexi Thompson's impact on their career.

00:19:09
Speaker 2: So far, all the responses I've seen have been overwhelmingly positive, like a lot of girls mentioning that she was an inspiration to them growing up, which is so crazy because again, she's only twenty nine and a lot of these girls are saying this, like, you know, in the middle of their careers. It's like she's just been out here for so long and she never really lets up. Another thing that's been like very much part of the conversation is how incredible she is with fans. I don't know if you guys have been LPGA events and seen her after her rounds, but like her family follows her around everywhere she goes. Her mom pushes her dog Leo in this little stroller and she in the bottom of the stroller. If you look closer, there's like Puma shoes, gloves, hats, like everything it could possibly imagine. She has this stockpile of things that she just brings to the course so she can just give it all out to at the end of the round. I saw it geordsthand at the Grant Thornton Invitational, the joint PJ Tour LPGA Tour event, which is like literally an off season like hit and giggle type event, and she would you know, she was spending forty five minutes signing autographs at the end of every round and easily could have just like gone back to.

00:20:18
Speaker 4: The hotel and hung out with her family.

00:20:20
Speaker 2: So she's been getting a ton of praise for that, I think very well deserved, And yeah, the narrative has been super positive. I think a lot of girls also relate to her wanting to start a family, Like she mentioned that in her press conference. I kind of that reminded me of like lrino Chollo when she retired super young as well, that wanted to be a mom, wanted to start a family. I think that's like a very relatable and honorable thing for a lot.

00:20:44
Speaker 4: Of these women. So yeah, it's been super positive.

00:20:48
Speaker 1: You know, Lexi's something you asked if we had been to LPGA tour events and seeing how she interacts with fans, and I have seen her a couple of times and something that I have noticed, And I don't want this to come off as you know, hay geography or anything like that. It's not. You can't tell much about a person's character from afar necessarily. But one thing that Lexi is so good at is interacting with young girls, and the way that young girls react to her is notable. Right. She has a lot of fans among little kids, and she is really really good with them. And I think that's something probably that we're going to be hearing more about in the coming days and something that should be mentioned about Lexi and how she has stepped up to that particular responsibility.

00:21:40
Speaker 2: Yeah, one thousand percent. Again in her press commerce she mentioned like particularly doing it for kids and like setting an example for these young girls growing up seeing someone that they want to be like. She knows that she's a role model in a very real way, like she and she uses that as her fuel. I think, honestly, that's one of the main things that's pushed her throughout all these ups and downs of her career is like she has a she has a path to carve out in this spot, and she knows how impactful she is. Honestly, I think she's like one of the most visible female golfers, like over in the past decade, like even maybe rivaling Michelle Wee. Just the amount of commercial she was in, like the Puma Cobra commercial with Ricky Fowler, like the billboards, everything that she did on social media.

00:22:27
Speaker 4: I think she very much is.

00:22:29
Speaker 2: Aware of that responsibility and takes a lot of pride and carrying it on. And yeah, like she said, I think the quote was that she, you know, shot seventy eight one day and she had tears in her eyes, and the autographs, these little girls would still tell her like you did great out there, and that just made her day every single time. So it's something that very much sticks with her and I agree is going to be like part of her legacy as we talk about the end of her career.

00:22:54
Speaker 3: Like she's almost got a little bit of a Ricky Fowler dynamic, like the similar energy, like maybe some of the overwhelming results for majors, right the Puma, I feel like it's fair to draw some level of comparison there, maybe shifting gears a little bit gabby and talking about this tournament specifically, and a player who might assume some of the spotlight, especially once Lexi's gone, even though she's kind of surpassed her and in terms of playing abilities, Nelly corda strong favorite coming into this week. What are your expectations from Nelly? I don't know if you've seen her in person so far this week? What are you expecting from her?

00:23:30
Speaker 4: Yeah, I haven't seen her in person yet.

00:23:32
Speaker 2: As I told you guys before I recorded this, I literally parked my car and ran to the interview time to see Lexi because I didn't even pick up my crude but just like snuck in and so I haven't seen much of Nelly and or the golf course yet. But I think Nelly's gonna do it. I think she's gonna win. I really don't see anyone else rabbling her right now, especially at a US Open setup.

00:23:57
Speaker 4: The girl just doesn't miss.

00:23:58
Speaker 2: It's perfect for this type of set up, honestly, with thick, rough, small, small targets, and yeah, I think it would be really cool to have the possibility of like a Nelly Slam too. Especially because the LPGA Major season is five majors, so it would be like even crazier to have that as a possibility over the summer.

00:24:18
Speaker 4: So my expectations of Nellie.

00:24:20
Speaker 2: Are very very high, and I really think that we're going to see some some brilliance from her this week.

00:24:27
Speaker 1: So when it comes to describing what Nelly Korda has done so far this season, I'm curious if you have any go to ways of like describing the extent of her dominance, and I'll offer one while you maybe think about that. And this was just from quickly looking up the race to the CME Globe standing. So this is maybe kind of lazy research, but it is what it is right now, six hundred and fifty eight points in that race to the final event of the season. Six hundred and fifty eight points separate Hannah Green in second place in the standings and Gabby Ruffles in tenth place. So that's a six hundred and fifty eight point gap. Currently, one eight hundred and seventy eight points separate Nelly Korda in first place with Hannah Green in second place. In other words, the gap between first and second place is somewhere in the range of three times bigger between one and two than it is between two and ten. So that gives you maybe an idea. So how do you think you're gonna go about, you know, for the audience of the athletic, how will you go about talking about how great she has been so.

00:25:45
Speaker 2: Far the st Yeah, no, that's definitely one of them. Another thing to point out about that standings list is it takes into account, obviously how many events you've played this year, and Nellie skipped the entire Asia Swing, So I think about that of those points, like, that's still how far ahead she is anyone on the LPGA right now. I think the points less honestly are super It's very clear, like how good she is from looking at that, Like if you look at the Rocks Women's golf rankings. I always point this out, like she has her average points right now on the women's golf rankings are more than double than the number two player in the world, Lily Aboo.

00:26:27
Speaker 4: So the cat between her.

00:26:30
Speaker 2: And everyone else is just monstrous, And I genuinely just don't think anyone's going to catch up anytime soon. So I describe it to people as just like I mean, I don't know if they're gonna be able to see this while listening to the podcast, But Nelly is all the way up here, and everyone else, even literally the number two rank player in the world, is like all the way down here. So it's it's really cool to see her running away with this thing, And yeah, I just can't wait to see what she does this week, especially on a stage like the US Women's Open, which is, without a doubt, the biggest week in women's professional golf.

00:27:03
Speaker 3: I feel like a recurring theme in covering professional golf and watching great golfers, both on the men's and women's side. Is it when somebody's at the top of the world or close to it feels like it's going to last forever, but then you know, eighteen months later, somebody else is on top. Like, how are you, Gabby thinking about the sustainability of Nellie Cordy's career? Are you like, no, she's three years from now we are still going to be talking about her as the top player in the world, Or like, are there any stats like her driving distance stands out to you? Is because that tends to be a more reliable indicator of a future success. Right if you're one of the longest players on tour. You're the longest player every week, so that's a reliable advantage. How do you think about how her she may projecting her success into the future. Is she somebody that you think will be at the top of the world rankings for the next three years.

00:27:53
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a really good question. Obviously, it's so hard to predict in this game because it is so fickle, Like, you know, one thing cannop.

00:27:59
Speaker 4: Out a place and ruins you for two years.

00:28:02
Speaker 2: So I'm not willing to make any like massive statements about this topic. But Nellie, you're right, is one of the longest hitters on tour. Her driving average driving distances I think around two sixty five, which puts her up there. I think maybe ten or so on tour. And then also I guess more of like an eye test thing is Nelly her swing is just like it There's not much room for error there when when you look at like, for example, her swing versus Scotti's. We love to talk about Scotty's footwork and kind of the variability that's there, and obviously it works for Scotti, like we've seen it time and time again. But when you look at Nelly like she looks more like one of those robotic type swings, like similar to a rory where you know, the misses are just so minuscule. So just looking at her as a player and how honestly how comprehensive her game is now, including her short game and putting like that alone kind of makes me think that she'll last a while on top like this. Obviously, people go through like their ups and downs. Something that occasionally worries me with Nelly is the injuries, like she's she's dealt with quite a few ailments or back or the blood clot she had in her arm a year or so ago. So that's something to watch, I think with Nelly. But in terms of her game right now, I honestly just like, don't I just don't see it letting up.

00:29:25
Speaker 1: What more do you think Nelly Korda has to prove at this point?

00:29:29
Speaker 2: I mean, I think this week is huge for her, Like the I hate to say it, but the Chevron Championship is kind of a fake major.

00:29:36
Speaker 3: Like.

00:29:39
Speaker 1: Look, I'm with you, I'm with you. If it's if they if they had stayed at Mission Hills, then that would be one thing, but moving to the new venue, it just hasn't had time to build up that history and that association with prestige, and so it does feel a little bit low energy. Where's the US Women's Open. Nobody denies that this is a.

00:30:00
Speaker 2: No One DENI Isa, Yeah, this is le jit Like you have all the grand stands, like the even just like the environment around the US Open, like the name, the name plates on the driving range, like some of those little details that add to like the major championship vibe, I guess you could say, And I really just I'm curious if her mental game will hold up with all those odds against her, I guess, and also probably just the amount of questions she's getting about winning for the seventh time this season and the history that it would make, the records she would set, all that.

00:30:35
Speaker 4: Can get to you at a certain point.

00:30:37
Speaker 2: So I think this week will be really huge for her and we'll definitely just solidify everything that we've already thought about.

00:30:44
Speaker 1: Nelly, Yeah, I.

00:30:45
Speaker 3: Kind of wanted to ask you about that because I feel like from following, I don't follow quite as closely as you do, I'm sure, And one thing that's been hard for me to proceed from the outside is Nellie Corda's competitive level, Like sometimes she gives answers about not thinking about being the top player in the world and maybe not being defined by her success, similar to right some of the things we hear from like Scotti Scheffler, What how would you characterize her mentality? Is she ultra competitive? Like how do you perceive Nelly Korda.

00:31:13
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's a good question too.

00:31:15
Speaker 2: I actually think back to this one interview she did with Claire Rodgers. Actually I don't know if you guys have watched her Scoop episode with her, but she asked her about like I think I forget what the question was, but it was about what it's like to win on tour basically, and Nellie went on to talk about how when she wins a golf tournament, she actually like goes home and feels kind of sick to her stomach because the rush of adrenaline just is like leaving her body and she feels kind of strange.

00:31:41
Speaker 4: And that is.

00:31:44
Speaker 2: Kind of tells me how much of a zicho she is, honestly, Like that seems like that sounds like a tiger type statement. Honestly, like the rush that you get from winning is unlike anything else and she has said that, like she you know, all she wants to do go out and win, she says that kind of thing. But then you're right, she does say things like, oh, I just stay in my bubble, like I tune out all the noise, like the results don't define me, that kind of thing. But from some of the things that she said, it is very clear that like winning does bring her a lot of satisfaction. So I think in terms of her competitiveness, I lean on those kinds of statements. But yeah, it's you know, yet to be seen. I mean a win this week would for sure. I think through how much of an intense competitor she.

00:32:32
Speaker 1: Is so related to her persona or her visible attitude, I'm sensing, like this emerging narrative that she's not resonating with a big audience in the way that you would expect a golfer as dominant as she is to resonate. Do you think that's a fair assessment or would you quibble with that? In some ways?

00:33:00
Speaker 2: I think it's I think it's being blown out of abortion a little bit. I Mean, this is golf we're talking about. Like the the Caitlin Clark effect is kind of what I always go back to when people bring this up and that that's basketball, like they're there are way more, way more basketball fans out there. I think we honestly just need to be really appreciative of what we're seeing in Nelly, Like she's just winning all the time, and that is something that's so hard to come by. And also just like the amount of things that we ask for Nelly, I feel like if she did more than she's already doing, like would she.

00:33:34
Speaker 4: Be winning as much?

00:33:35
Speaker 2: I don't know, Like we we had, you know, you know, you saw the emergence of Rosaning last summer, coming out winning her first LPGA event as a pro, and then she kind of fell off because a lot of people asked a lot of her and she said yes to everything she did, all the appearances and the sponsorship sightings and whatever it might be. And I honestly think that negatively impacted her the start to her career. Whereas Nelly like she runs a tight ship. She she only says yes to certain things. She's very careful with her time off the golf course, and I honestly think that that's kind of what's leading to her run right now. So it's tough to see when people say like, oh, we need more from Nelly, like she has this responsibility to grow up the sport when she's.

00:34:21
Speaker 4: Already doing so much.

00:34:23
Speaker 2: I mean, this girl is just showing an insane level of talent right now, and she's doing it with grace, and she's doing it incredibly consistently. So my thinking is that it's gone a little bit too far. I think Nelly's awesome, and the more she keeps winning and just showing up, the more people are going to resonate with her.

00:34:42
Speaker 4: And it's it's going to take some time.

00:34:44
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's worth noting that she has almost a million Instagram followers. Yeah, you know, I think people.

00:34:51
Speaker 2: Love her on social media. She has a great job on social media, Like she posts on her story all the time, like she she's really I feel like, honestly, maybe with the younger generation, like even just the Instagram presence is kind of enough, because like she's showing up for people, She's popping up on your feeds. But I think there are a lot of expectations in the media community which we can hear on Twitter and whatever it might be, and it makes it seem like it's this crazy, alarming issue, But then like for the rest of the golf world, they're just like, Wow, Nelly Porter is really freaking good.

00:35:23
Speaker 3: I feel like this championship, if you look at like the odds board, Gabby, it's like Nelly and then a big jump. Then you get Roseang and then you get some other names that start to come up after Rose. If you were to say not Nelly and not Rose, like maybe who are some of the names that you're thinking about as players who have a legitimate chance of contending in this tournament.

00:35:44
Speaker 2: I really like Charlie Hole, like, who does funny? The thing about her on Twitter? So I was like, this made me die.

00:35:54
Speaker 1: She's ripping a cigarette while signing autographs, right, yep.

00:35:57
Speaker 4: Yeah, literally while signing autographs.

00:35:58
Speaker 2: I saw some I saw of comments people be like, oh yeah, I counted seventh cigarettes during her round to New Jersey last week.

00:36:05
Speaker 1: But you know, while being funny is also a potential problem. Charlie, are we okay here?

00:36:12
Speaker 4: Yeah?

00:36:12
Speaker 2: And she like is all about the gym and like a healthy lifestyle, so honestly is a bit confusing. But last summer she was runner up at both the US Women's Open and the AIG Women's British Open, so she has a track record in majors. She's kind of been knocking on the door. She's also one of those players that's like very fiery and aggressive and like really can just go low at any given moment, like she did last year at Pebble. She had that famous line like hitting under the tree on the eighteenth green, Shy kids don't get sweets, Like I love that energy and I just think that's major winning energy. So if it's anyone else, I like Charlie to contend at least. She also shout out to Malvin. She looks great in their stuff too. It's like it's just all around good vibes from Charlie.

00:37:06
Speaker 3: One player I wanted to ask you about Gabby Ruffles. So I just remember always having heard her name, like as an up and comer. She hasn't done like a ton well.

00:37:15
Speaker 1: She's had like a long path to the LPGA tour because she she was on the Lower Tour for you know a basically maybe even a season and a half, and there was a story about her even like missing the deadline to apply for Q school and so she was she was kind of she was not on the LPGA tour for a while, but sorry, finished what you're gonna ask, just not.

00:37:40
Speaker 3: She's coming off two straight top threes on the LPGA Tour, and Gabby, I'm curious from your perspective, is that like the sign of her actually like taking a next step? Like how do you think about her career so far? And what are reasonable expectations for her over the next like twelve months?

00:37:56
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, I love gabrir Hols is another one of my I did like a power ranking type thing for The Athletic that's coming out tomorrow morning and she's on it, and yeah, Garrett's right, like she she had this mishap in her career. She played a year on the Epsentur, barely missed out on the money list, which I think the top ten players get LPGA Tour cards after after you play a year on the Epsentur, and she forgot to sign up for Q School, which she probably would have gotten through and gotten LPGA Tour card, but she literally just missed the deadline and then had to play an entire another year on the epicent Tour. And I think she won like twice in a row, three times in a row of something like that absolutely dominated and like immediately got her LPGA Tour card, which no one doubted. But she's one of those players that like, on the outside she's an LPGA rookie, but she's been around for a while and she's she's competed and played really well on I stage. She's a US Women's Amateur champion too. She's won on these like big state, big stakes events, So I really like her. I think you're right, Like she's been tracking too with those two top three finishes on top golf courses, so we could definitely see a high place finish out of her this week.

00:39:15
Speaker 4: I could definitely see her contending.

00:39:17
Speaker 1: Another name that I'm sure is on your radar, Gabby is Hannah Green. If Nellie Korda hadn't been doing what she's been doing this season, we would probably be talking more about Hannah Green and her two wins so far on the LPGA Tour. What are you expecting out of Hannah Green? And then in addition to that, are there some other names that you would throw up? There is maybe be being potentially under discussed going into the week.

00:39:48
Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely, Hannah's won twice this year super like, I mean, no one's talking about her like it's kind of it's kind.

00:39:56
Speaker 4: Of a bummer.

00:39:57
Speaker 2: I feel bad for her, honestly, like being overshadowed a lot with what Nelly is doing. She's jumped up like twenty spots in the world ranking since January, I think, and.

00:40:09
Speaker 4: She I think she leads.

00:40:10
Speaker 2: I wrote this on my again in the article that's coming out tomorrow. She leads in I think greens in regulation on tour like she's she's just very consistent from the fairway, and I think that could help her a lot this week again at US Open test. I've heard people float around this is a second shot golf course.

00:40:29
Speaker 4: I mean, maybe you can confirm, nor did I care but.

00:40:33
Speaker 2: You We'll get into that later. But yeah, she's She's another name I have my eyes on. I think Maya Stark is one more that I would throw out there. She you know, she's shown off on various stages, including the Solheim Cup last fall. Another like young, kind of hot shot type player who you know, fires at every pin type of deal. And I really like her style of play as well. So those are two names that are definitely like being overshadowed. I think with all the Elli Rose and now Lexi talk this week, and very easily could could find that to their advantage, just being under the radar and kind of going out there and doing what they know how to do.

00:41:10
Speaker 3: Yeah, but you mentioned not having seen a lot of the golf course. Think of the three of us, Garrett, you're the most familiar with the property. Lancaster. Make sure pronounce that correctly.

00:41:18
Speaker 1: Lancaster.

00:41:20
Speaker 3: Sorry, I probably even mess with Lancaster. I'm not going to try it again.

00:41:24
Speaker 1: It takes me. It took me a while to figure it out. You get tutored in it as soon as you show up on the property. But it's like, what you should imagine is the emphasis strongly on the first syllable and you're saying it's like you're saying the name Lang and then you say kiss her, but kiss her said really quickly Lancaster. Yeah, I think that's I think that's how I'm supposed to be saying it.

00:41:49
Speaker 3: Okay, So, outside of being corrected about how to pronounce the golf course, what are some things that there should be What are the expectations for the golf course this week?

00:41:57
Speaker 4: Garrett?

00:41:58
Speaker 1: I think what you should expect, Gaby when you get out there on the golf course is to be impressed by the size and scale of the property. It's just a big ol golf property, especially the section of it that is close to the clubhouse. There's a separate section of the golf course that's by the river and across the river. The Conestoga River runs through the golf course and there are four holes on the other side of it, and there's also one hole just on the clubhouse side of it that is kind of separate from the rest of the golf course. The rest of the golf course kind of sits up on a bluff, and it's a very hilly bluff. And so I think one big thing that's going to be a factor in this tournament is just dealing with those elevation changes, dealing with the uneven lies that players are going to get in the fairways over and over and over again. Being able to hit really strong, good irons to small, l elevated greens that are surrounded by hazards from lies that are very much not driving range lies. That's I think the kind of golf course that this is. You mentioned earlier that people are calling it a second shot golf course. I can see why they would say that, because there are all these big elevated greens and difficult approaches. But it's going to be really important for players to be in the fairway this week. If they're not in the fairway a lot and I know you know it's a it's a US Women's Open field. A lot of these players hit the ball extremely straight, but if you're not in the fairway, you are struggling to hit these greens in regulation, So there's going to be a big emphasis just on I think accuracy and strength of ball striking. We'll see a good old fashioned US Open test really out there, I believe for the field. That's that's my basic take on the course.

00:43:51
Speaker 2: I think you said, that's funny you say that about the size and scale the property, because driving here, I actually thought that I was going to fully miss press conference because it said I was going to arrive like thirty five minutes later than I actually did. But it was because it was telling me to like get out and walk because there was like a road that was closed or something, and it was like a thirty five minute walk to get to the right place on the property.

00:44:15
Speaker 4: So clearly this place is big.

00:44:17
Speaker 1: This is something that you did. You had to watch for a half.

00:44:19
Speaker 4: Hour day can actually do it.

00:44:21
Speaker 2: Okay, I got better directions, but it just shows you like how large the property was, because clearly like the different entrances being thirty minutes away from each other walking distance, that's got to be a big place.

00:44:33
Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean it's very impressive, very beautiful. I think it's going to show well on TV if they get if they get the drones up there, if they show some of those high up views, I think it'll be beautiful, especially if they get good weather.

00:44:45
Speaker 3: I think one thing we've heard in some of the press conferences is that it's a difficult walk and Garrett, based on your experience on the property, do you think that's something to watch that it's a more physical test than a lot of other venues, just because of how difficult the walk is and some of.

00:44:59
Speaker 1: The hill Gabby, are you ready to do a little bit of walking this week? Did you bring your hope issues?

00:45:06
Speaker 4: Yeah? Good, there you go.

00:45:10
Speaker 1: Yeah. I think for players it's going to be a it's getting to be a sturdy walk out there, especially on the back nine. A feature of the back nine is that a lot of the holes have elevated te's and elevated greens. And landing zones that are lower, so they're ridge to ridge holes. There are several of these on the back nine, basically starting with ten, and then also eleven is like this, fourteen is like this, fifteen is like this, sixteen is like this, eighteen is like this. All of these holes have pretty severe downhill drives followed by pretty severe uphill approaches, and so what you're doing in that portion of the property is that you're really walking down and then walking up over and over again. And that's kind of what makes the back nine a tough walk, and so I think that the player are probably gonna notice that a little bit. For viewers, though maybe even for media, it'll be kind of nice because there are a lot of places on the clubhouse side of the property where there are lots of greens and tees all in the same location. So all kind of on these hilltops is where William Flynn located the greens and tees, and so for spectators you can kind of camp out in one place and see a bunch of stuff going on all at once. So I'm talking like three greens all in pretty close proximity to each other. You can just stand on a hilltop and watch quite a bit of action. But if you're following a player, you're gonna be going up and down a lot, and maybe the players will talk about that.

00:46:43
Speaker 4: I'm excited to have sore legs after this week.

00:46:46
Speaker 1: There you go, excited to get out on the course. All right, a prediction. Yeah, what do we do? We have a pick this week?

00:46:53
Speaker 4: I think Nelly's going by like six.

00:46:56
Speaker 1: Wow, Okay, yeah, I mean and that would put her at three May. And just to put this in some historical context, you know, right now, Nelly Korda has the same number of major wins as Brooke Henderson, Minji Lee Lydia Coe, Jin youngco Aria, Jutannagarn Gashin, Lilya Vu Lily Avou won two majors last year. They're all in the field this week. And so once you get to three majors, you start playing kind of in a different group, especially in this modern era. Now, ultimately, among the really great women's players of the past couple of decades, we're talking about Anaica Swornstam at ten majors, Julie Inkster at seven, Karri Webb at seven, inb Park at seven, those are ultimately who Nelly Krter seems to be chasing, but she's got a long way to go, and so that would be a big step for her to have a decisive win this week. I think that that's sort of what was at stake and why you were saying earlier, Gabby, this is a big week.

00:47:54
Speaker 4: For her exactly.

00:47:56
Speaker 2: Yep, a lot on the line unless a state trooper arrests are the entrance or something that we got a problem in our hands.

00:48:04
Speaker 1: All right, Jabby, thank you so much for joining us, appreciate it, and we'll be following your coverage all week in the Athletic Awesome.

00:48:11
Speaker 2: Thank you guys so much for having me and updates on how hard that walk actually is to come.

00:48:26
Speaker 1: All right, So Joseph and I are back to do recommendations. Now, before we dig into recommendations, i'd like to point people to Friday Golf's membership. It's called CLUBTFE and you can find out all about it at the Friday egg dot com slash membership. In CLUBTFE, you'll find a number of benefits like an ongoing discount in the pro shop and early entry into Friday Golf events. But the thing that I think Joseph and I are specially proud of is the content that we produce for members exclusively in CLUBTFE on a weekly basis. We do Design Notebook, which is a weekly check in with what's going on in the golf architecture world. And we do Tour Guide, which Joseph contributes to extensively, and it's basically a it's what it sounds like. It's a guide to the week's tour golf and it gives a really intelligent and in depth perspective on what's coming up on that front. We also do course profiles. A recent one on Lancaster Country Club will be especially relevant as we roll into the US Women's Open this week. So I wanted to make sure that you all knew about Club TFFE and if you're interested, if that kind of content sounds like your thing, then go to the Friday dot com slash membership and see what we have to offer. All right, Joseph, what is your recommendation this week?

00:49:47
Speaker 3: I feel good about this one, Garrett. My sister had recommended this to me. I just watched The Greatest Night and Pop a Netflix dock Ohry, do you know what that is?

00:49:57
Speaker 1: I watched it. I watched it a few weeks ago. Excellent.

00:50:01
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'd be curious what you thought about it. So it takes you behind the scenes of the song We Are the World, and how it got written, how they got all those stars from that era in the room at the same time to record it, Like it just you're watching Michael Jackson, You're watching Stevie Wonder, Cindy Lapper, Bob Dylan, Like it's unbelievable to watch these superstars interact, like see how talented they were, and see how a song came together that is so famous now and was obviously a huge sensation at the time. Super well done. Glad to hear that you liked it, Garrett, And I think it's a good It's an hour and a half well spent if people are into music and seeing something like that.

00:50:40
Speaker 1: The footage is amazing that they have. That's kind of what makes the documentary that the and the kind of narration or interview that they did with Lionel Ritchie, who really is kind of the core of the piece, and he comes off I think so well in that. But that footage they have from inside the recording studio on that night that they it's recorded the song is pretty amazing. And I'm you know, I'm curious. You're about ten to fifteen years younger than I am. Did you feel like you, you know, had a frame of reference for a lot of the people who were in that room.

00:51:15
Speaker 3: I have to give my parents credit, I guess, because I guess growing up, I had listened to a lot of those artists, Like Bruce Springsteen is heavily featured, and my mom was a huge Bruce Springsteen fan, and like Cyndi Lapper, I was familiar with her music. So yeah, Michael Jackson, obviously, like the names are so big that I think even for somebody who's in their late twenties, like they should know who most of those people are. It did inspire me to get maybe more into the music of some of the lesser known artists who are still superstars at the time. But like I hadn't necessarily listened to some of their music, so I was familiar with it, but probably not to the level that you were. Obviously.

00:51:51
Speaker 1: Yeah. Interesting, Well, I'm glad you enjoyed it. What I'd like to recommend finally, real quickly going out, here are a couple of pieces about Grayson Murray. It's past week the golf world got the very sad news that Grayson Murray had passed away taking his own life, and you know, I think that going out and reading some stuff by journalists and by friends who really knew Grayson Murray is one of the better ways to remember him. So one of the pieces that I would recommend is an essay by Gary Williams called Just for Today. You can read it on the Five Clubs website. But Gary Williams speaks from the perspective of a recovering alcoholic and talks about that connection that he had with Grayson Murray. I think it's a wonderful piece of writing, very open and vulnerable, and I applaud Gary for writing it. The other is a bit older. It's from twenty seventeen. It's by Ryan Lavner, friend of the podcast and also a great great feature writer for Golf Channel now for the nbc'sp dot com, I suppose is where a lot of this stuff lives. But this feature article is called social Media to Social Anxiety. This is Grayson Murray again from several years ago, and I would really recommend it as a way of understanding Grayson Murray's life to that point. I think it's really an honest piece, but it's also very compassionate towards its subject, which most great writing is. So those would be my two recommendations for some reading about Grayson Murray. Very sad reading, painful in a lot of ways, but I think worthwhile. All right, Joseph, thanks for coming on the PUD.

00:53:36
Speaker 3: Thanksgirettsmun.

00:53:48
Speaker 1: This episode of the Friday Golf Podcast was produced by Meg Atkins. Thank you, Meg. I'd like you to do something real quick to support the Friday Golf Podcast, and that's to go to wherever you're listening to us, whether it's an Apple Podcasts or elsewhere, and give us a rating and or review. That's it. Thank you for listening, and we'll be back again soon with another episode.