May 22, 2019 • 41 mins
We talk about the ass kicking that was the PGA Championship. Brooks Koepka won his fourth major championship...and made it look really easy. But do we need to pump the breaks on the "how many majors will he win" conversation? We also get in to what happen to Tiger Woods and what should we expect moving forward. So much to talk about...let's do this...We are PLAYING THROUGH!
Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Don't mind us where playing Through There's Froggy and Whacker
and welcome to another edition of the Playing Through podcast.
Thank you so much for listening. So here we are
the PGA Championship in the books, It's Froggy from Elvis
to Rand in the morning show at Froggy Radio on
Twitter and Instagram. You can hit the podcast anytime on Instagram.
(00:21):
We are at Playing Through Podcast along with Golf Digests
Brian Whacker at Brian Whacker One. So Brian, you know,
the p J Championship was basically three days of Brooks
kept kicking everybody's ass and then on the back line
on Sunday he kind of let Dustin Johnson back into it.
Dustin fell back if you shots, and then Brooks did
(00:43):
the inevitable that kind of started. I almost feel maybe
you'll disagree with me. I feel like the championship was
over when he birdied number ten on number one. It
kind of felt like from there on in it was
just a ceremonial walk for four days. It's funny, I
kind of had the same feeling when I was watched it.
I mean, look, this guy was on everybody's list of
(01:04):
you know, potential winners. Mine included and watching that opening hole,
you know, one of the toughest hole on the golf course,
that ten pole, and he pours in that long Birdie
Putton sort of feel like, Okay, here we go, this
is Brooks and it just went from there. I mean, unbelievable.
As you said right at the top, just an ass
(01:25):
kicking and really I think this just feeds into the
fact that Brooks kept is really the prototypical modern day player.
Like this is what it's particularly when it comes to
major championships and big golf courses. This is the prototype
(01:46):
of the blueprint. I mean it was almost like watching
a video game. You reminded me of, you know, like
for anybody's played, you know, the Madden video games when
when you get a guy with like ratings across the right.
I mean that that was like, that was what it
was like watching Brooks. I mean it was like Bo
Jackson without the personality. Really, it was like Bo Jackson
(02:09):
in tech Mo Bowl. Yeah exactly, I mean that kind
of performance. I mean, this is this is heavy stuff.
Four majors and two years, this is this is rare air.
It's happened pretty quickly, you know, because of just one
PGA Tour win and or two PGA Tour wins rather
prior to that, and now it's been on this incredible run.
(02:30):
So just this is the future. This is this is
this is the blueprint, alright. So let's go over his
last ten majors that he's played, not the last ten,
but ten he's played because he did not play the
Open Championship in sixteen, nor do you play the Masters
last year. But here we go the last ten major,
firm Brooks kept, We're gonna start with the sixteen final
major of the year, the PGA Championship, tied for fourth,
(02:52):
he goes to the Masters. In seventeen, tied for eleventh,
he goes to the US Open, and seventeen a victory,
goes to the Open Championship, tied for six. The top
top ten goes to the p G A Championship of thirteen,
does not play the eight teen Masters. When's the US Opening? Eighteen?
Uh tied for thirty, night at the Open Championship last year,
when's the p g A last year? Second at the
(03:14):
Masters this year, first at the PGA Championship, and other victory.
So of his last ten majors, four victories and a
T six and a T four, oh and a T two.
Seven of his last ten majors he is either one
or finished no worse than sixth place. Yeah, and then
you throw in the majors before that, and you can
(03:36):
go back to tied for four at Pinehurst, at the
US Open, there was tenth at the Open Championship and
fifth at that year's p g A Championship, right, you know,
and then he you know, you look at the other performances,
I mean T eighteen Open Championship rather at the US
Open at Chambers Bay, Oakmonty tied for thirteenth. Of course,
(03:59):
I was won by dust In. So this is kuy
who hadn't missed a cut in a major since Open
champ Yeah. I mean that's like not missing a cut
in a major is pretty impressive stuff. You know. It's weird.
It's like he doesn't and and and I mean does it.
I don't understand even how to put it together. Like,
(04:21):
for example, Dustin Johnson has been a dominant force on tour,
He's got one major. Dustin Johnson's want to turn of
normal golf tournaments. It begs the question of does he
not care about regular golf tournaments and he just wants
to win majors. Are the regular golf tournaments? Are they not?
Are they set up differently? I mean, like, what, how
(04:42):
do you make sense of two PG eight tour victories
and four majors, and then that doesn't even include T
two at the Masters, the T four at the p
g A that he didn't win, and the T six
at the Open Championship. I mean, he's got a top
five in every single mayor top six in every single
major at this point in his career, and he's got
four victories. How do you make sense of that he
(05:05):
doesn't win regular tour events? You know, I don't know
other than I guess maybe he's bored. I mean, he's
talked about golf being boring and him not particularly liking
golf now look or caring about golf now. I don't
know if that's necessarily the case. And he clearly he cares.
Clearly he likes the sport. He doesn't just like his
success in it. I just think he's he focuses his
(05:28):
attention on major championships and builds it back from there,
and look, it's so hard to win these things. And
I think he made an excellent point, Uh, in his
winner's press conference on Sunday. Look, when you're playing a
major championship, the field that you have to be is
really a lot smaller than a regular tournament because the
(05:49):
heart of the golf course, Uh, the more that's going
to favor the better players. You're not going to have
sort of I don't want to call it fluke situations.
That screw it, Like all his Luke situations, You're not
gonna have a guy put together sort of a flukey
performance really on a major championship venue because the golf
course is simply just too hard and there's a difference
(06:12):
in talent level. So the field he has to beat
in majors, I mean, look look at your guy, Tiger.
It's the same thing why Tiger's record. But I mean,
part of y Tiger is so great is it's had
so much success in major championships, Right, he has to
beat fewer guys, and the guys that he has had
the most trouble with are the lesser knowns you think of,
(06:34):
like go back to the PGA Championship where he beat
Bob May in a playoff, Right, So it's always been
sort of lesser knowns, and it's the same sort of philosophy.
When you take a regular tour event where you've got
a hundred forty four guys or a hundred fifty six
guys who play, so you're, you know, the same setup
sort of week to week on tour, you know, there's
(06:57):
there's a lot more disparity in terms of who can
win those events versus who can win a major championship.
And I think that's why Brooks partly at least the
why Brooks has had so much success, you know, in
major championships versus regular tour events. Of course, Tiger. You
know that that's one of the major differences early on
in their careers is that Tigger did it every time
(07:18):
he touse upright, and he was always the guy. And
you know, we haven't really reached that stage with Brooks yet. Um.
I think certainly people expect him to do it, but
he hasn't really delivered on those regular events. But he
just seems to be about those major championships because it's
fewer players for him to be. Uh. It's not to
say that he can't go into a regular tour event
(07:40):
and beat the field, but it's a smaller field of
competitors and he builds his focus around major championships, right, So,
speaking before the p g A Championship, he you know,
he explained why he thinks majors are easier, and that's
that's his opinion. He says they're easier to win. And
and and I took this whole quote here that I'm
(08:02):
about to read. I took it to be a little pompous. However,
after what the demonstration that he put on Thursday, Friday, Saturday,
and then I mean, listen Sunday, you can make an
argument he he didn't play great on Saturday, but he
didn't have to. He had a massive lead. And then
even on Sunday, I mean, I think he would tell
you he would like to have played better. He had
(08:23):
those three or four bogies in a row, but when
it came down time to perform, he cleaned it up
and he won. He says, quote, there's a hundred and
fifty six players in the field, so you figure at
least eighty of them, I'm just gonna beat you. Figure
about half of them won't play well from there, so
now you're down to only about thirty five players. And
(08:43):
then from those thirty five, some of them just pressure
is gonna get to him. It only leaves you a
few more and I just beat those guys. I took
that as like a real pompous as statement when he
made it. I'm like, dude, this guy is basically saying
that half the field's gonna suck, so he'll be damn
I mean, but he went out and walked the walk
(09:04):
after talking to talk. It's just it's it's unbelievable how
easy he makes it look. And I've said that about
a lot of tour guys. Tiger is guilty of doing that,
and Dustin's Easy is guilty of doing that as well.
They just make it look so damn easy. It was
like he did not fret one time. I don't even
think he made a bogey until the back nine on
sat on On on Friday afternoon. He just made it
(09:27):
look like he was out there on a Sunday stroll,
but he was playing golf and beating the best players
in the world and a major championship at a really
long golf course. Well, his game is is absolutely built
for that, right, Like it's a big power cut. I mean,
I even go back to bell Rive last year at
the PGA Championship, where a lot of players were hitting
(09:48):
three woods off the sea long irons. Brooks went around
just hit driver everywhere, and he hit it in the fairway.
And that's the modern game. Just you know, it used
to be. Adam Scott summed it up to me the best.
I think. He's talking about the advances and driving in
the technology and and sort of everything that that's gone
(10:08):
into it. So there used to be driver was a
risky club. It was. It was a risky play. Sure
there are guys in the game who were great drivers
of the ball historically, but the game has always had
those players and and typically those players have been near
the top, you know, of the sport. But he said,
driver used to be a risky player. You go back
(10:28):
to obviously for seven days and and and balls that
spun a lot softcovers and uh and then you go
to the the metal woods and and obviously it's progressed from
there and now it's not the risky club, it's the
go to club. Reach for the driver. Like even on
Sunday with the two shot lead that come in to
the last hole, you didn't see Brooks reach for a
(10:50):
three wood. You didn't see reach for a long iron
off the tea No, it's driver. It's driver, driver, driver.
When you're hitting that club as well as you can,
or as well as Brooks does that power cut. He
just hits it forever, controls this golf ball. That's what
it's about, and that's why Brooks has had so much
success in major championships. So you know, also, yeah, I know,
(11:13):
we we've talked a lot about Brooks, but I want
to get into we saw a little bit maybe of
the emergence re emergence of Jordan's speak over the weekend,
played well, got into favorite player. He's my favorite player,
you know. I know you're cheering that up. I know
you're happy to see a top ten and major championship
for Jordan's. I saw him getting to the final pairing
(11:34):
on Saturday, did not play great. Um, what are you
hearing about? They were saying he's made some changes and
maybe some of those changes haven't concreted in all the way.
Do you do you know exactly what's going on with
Jordan's I spoke to a I spoke to another player
that said that what he was playing with in the past,
in the recent past, had been smoking mirrors. He was
(11:57):
doing a lot of work and trying to get better,
but it appeared to be better are on Thursday and Friday,
Saturday fell off a little bit. But like you said,
finish with the top ten do do you know what's
going on with Jordan's well? Speaking of areas, how about
how about early in the week when he gets questioned
about a slump and he says, was wasn't the slump?
You know? And and maybe he's not like he played
well at times going into and Dallas, going into the
(12:22):
PGA Championship, Um, he said he felt good about his game.
But this this is the guy. Everybody in golf goes
through these periods, these down periods. Even Tiger people forget,
you know, when years he had years where he didn't
win a major championship and didn't win a lot of tournaments.
Granted it was rare, but even I mean, we're talking
about the greatest player of all time even had that
(12:43):
those struggles. So what does that mean for everybody else? Right?
So they're going to go through those periods, And clearly
this is one of those periods for Jordan's And and
Jordan is a completely opposite player of of Brooks. The
way he goes about a golf course, and he brooks
just bashes the thing into submission, and in Jordan's uh, look,
Jordan hits it plenty long enough and you know, close
(13:04):
to three in our yards. But this is a guy
who relies on shore came and putting, and when you
do that, you're you're gonna have periods where you're gonna
be streaky bad and you're not gonna look good. But
clearly it seems Jordan's look, he's worked on some things
with a swing and so forth, and and there are
periods where he maybe wasn't working on the right thing,
something he even admitted to. Clearly his putting. He putted
(13:27):
the ball really well at Best Page. Although I'm curious
about that because that's the golf course with you know,
fairly flat greens, not a lot of slope, big greens.
But he seemed to be putting the ball well, just
a matter where he's hitting it off the tee and
with his irons. It's gotten into trouble this year, So
I don't know what to make of it, Honestly, I mean,
(13:49):
would I be surprised if he's in contention of Pebble Beach? Now?
I mean would you would you really be surprised. No,
I would not be surprised at all. Yeah, I mean
so you know, or or the Open champion Ship at
Poor Russia. You know, the tournament he's one before there,
so um, haven't played port Rush. But but it's a
you know, link style of golf courses right up his alley.
(14:11):
So to me, I think he's sort of I don't know,
he's turned the corner. And the problem is we're just
comparing it constantly to the run he had in and
in that period, that sort of two year run, and
that's a tough standard to live up to, you and
he sat the bar really high during those years. And
so but that's what he's going to be compared to,
(14:32):
which is the same the entire would suffers from. We
we compare Tiger Woods and expect Tiger Woods to perform
like two thousand, two thousand one, two thousand two, Tiger
even two thousand eight, Tiger uh two thousand third team
when he won five times. We always compare him to him.
So Jordan's always gonna suffer by being compared to that
run that he went on that we thought was going
(14:54):
to continue, and as you can see, it has gone
gone away quickly. Rory had his run and we thought
that was going to continue and it did not. Dustin
had his run, had another chance. And here's what's and
here's it's crazy about that, right, So look at Rory. Granted,
Royden went his four majors quite as quickly as Brooks did,
but but it wasn't that long ago. To your point,
(15:16):
we're talking about Rory being you know, how many majors
is this guy gonna win? It's gonna win ten, is
he gonna win twelve? Is he canna win? You know,
more than that major championships? When when Rory won his
fourth major, granted five years ago, but when he won
his fourth major, Brooks had I believe, one European Tour win,
(15:36):
had some Challenge Tour wins, uh, you know, the lower
tier tour on the European Tour, and that was it.
I mean, nobody knew who Brooks Kepka was five years ago.
And now he's got the same number of major championships
as Rory McElroy, who hasn't won a major in five years.
And so to me, this is what's really curious, is
is Brooks going to follow the path of Rory or
(16:02):
the guys You've mentioned Jordan's speed, who have had their runs?
Who had these Because everybody gets hot, right, everybody has.
All these top players get hot. Where do they go
from there? And there's all sorts of different reasons why
guys maybe cool off. One, it's just golf too. Maybe
they get married and start a family and they have
other distractions, or obviously there's more demands on their time,
(16:23):
or maybe they try to make changes that don't work out.
So to me, this is now we're at four, So
where do we go from here? And to me, Brooks,
the reason I think Brooks can have greater sustained success
than than some of those players you just mentioned is
because all he seems to care about is winning major
championships and building his life around that. So to me,
(16:46):
you know, as long as as that continues, that's so
in his game is obviously built for that as well.
So to me, those are the things that really stand
out as to why I think he'll have continued success
here for the next however many years. Up the brakes
a little bit on this, because we do tend as
in as a society. I'm not saying you or me,
(17:06):
or this podcast or anything as a society, we do
tend to move a little too fast when somebody starts
having a little bit of success. We really do. So
I'm gonna give you a couple of different examples on
top of the ones that you have just given, so
on top of If you remember when Jordan's speak went
on his run, he was gonna be old tiger, better
watch out. He's okay. Then we went on the ror,
(17:28):
and we went on the Rory run. Now we're on
the Brooks run. And while I do agree with you
that it does seem that this Brooks run could last longer,
we were also of the same thought of Rory. He
was young, he had he had really come on. He
was big. I mean, we were very gung ho as
(17:49):
and I'm not when I say we, I don't mean
you and me or the podcast. I mean the Gulf
world in general as a society. We were really heavy.
Just just a month ago, a man that had not
won a major in eleven years one a major and
I'm guilty of it. You're guilty of it, everybody's guilty
of it. We started talking about he was gonna beat Jack.
(18:13):
Now it was open again. And while I do believe
that the thought can still be open for Tiger Woods
to beat Jack Nicholas in major's Tiger needs Brooks kept
his career from this point on to beat Jack Nicholas,
and that is not likely. It's just I'm not saying
it's impossible. I'm saying it's not like. I mean, did
(18:35):
anybody ever think it was likely? I think the conversation right,
But we were the guy was the betting favorite going
into the into the PGA Championship, and he hadn't played
golf in a month. He played a nine whole practice round,
He didn't go to the golf course the day before
the tournament started, and the day it opened he opened
(18:58):
as a betting favorite. I just think that we get
we go nuts so quick. We just we want to
see it so bad. And I know that that's where
it comes from. I know it all comes from the heart.
It's not coming from our head, because if it was
coming from our head, anybody in their right mind who
really sat down and looked at the body of work
that we had with Tiger Woods, Let's be honest. Of
(19:21):
the four major championships, do you agree or disagree that
the Masters is probably the easiest one to win. I
would say, you know here, here's yeah, I would I
don't know if I would say it's easiest, because look,
we also have to remember he hadn't won their five.
I understand that. But what I'm saying is, of the
(19:43):
four championships, it's got the most amateurs. They go to
the same golf course every single year. So therefore, right, okay,
so that would be the easiest of the four to win.
And he plays very well there. He knows Augusta very well.
I know we had one in eleven years, but of
the four May years, if you're gonna win one, that's
probably the most likely one that he would win. And
(20:04):
I'm not taking anything away from I'm a massive Tiger fan.
It's the reason I play golf. It's the reason I
love golf. It's the reason I do this podcast. I mean,
I'm not taking anything away from his accomplishment. But what
I'm saying is is we were crazy that he was
gonna do it. He's gonna win back to back major's.
We're going to bet page he plays well. There. The
guy played a nine whole practice round. I don't know
(20:24):
if he wasn't feeling well, I don't know. We saw
the video of the Golf TV video where he looked
like he was sore, he was walking gingerly. He hadn't
played golf, he didn't play the Wells Fargo, he played
the nine whole practice round, he didn't show up the
day before, and they just still opened him as a
betting favorite. I just think that we all have to
pump the brakes on everything and just enjoy the ride.
(20:47):
Is Brooks Kepka the betting favorite and the favorite going
into the US Open? Abs a fucking lutely. He is
absolutely the favorite moving forward towards the US Open at
at at at Pebble next month. However, I'm just not
willing to say yet that I think you had told
(21:07):
me that Brooks said he wants to win ten majors.
I'm not sure he can win ten because number one,
I don't know if he can keep up at this clip,
and I don't know what other guys are going to
do along the way. Yeah, look, I mean it's I mean, Pat,
it's it's it's easy to sit here and jump on
that hype train, like you say, um, oh, yeah, you know,
Brooks could win ten majors. And to your point, I mean, look,
(21:28):
three guys in the history of the game, three three
of all time have ever won at least ten majors.
So putting, you know, to your point, I mean, look,
Brooks is twenty nine years old. You would have to
have an incredible career to get to ten. I mean, look,
(21:48):
I think we all popped on the Rory hype train
when he came along. The thing that's fascinates me about
Brooks though, is again it's it's major championships we just
talked about. He hasn't missed the cut in a major since.
Look at Rory, even even early on when he's having
a success and he was missing some cuts and majors.
(22:09):
He's a little bit more of a streaky player. Brooks
doesn't seem to have a streaky part of his game.
I mean, he doesn't hit the ball off the planet.
His irons are are very good. His wedge game and
putting very very good. Um, maybe you know, I talked
to one coach the other day. He said, you know,
this guy is probably become one of the top two
(22:30):
or three or four putters in the game. And you
can look at some of those lag puts that he
had that were big at Best Page and just some
of the puts that he did make. You know, he
is a really really good putter, and so there's really
no breakdown there. But you know, look, you're right, I
think we need to pump the brakes and say, well, okay,
so where does it? Where does it go from here? That,
(22:51):
like I was saying before, that's what fascinates me. Does
he become a guy who, like so many others, um,
goes on a hot run for two or three years,
wins major championships and then goes five years without winning
a major championship, you know, and there and there's just
much more right, which is far more likely. But right now,
I'm just I'm just not seeing it. If he still
(23:12):
if everything stays the same with Brooks as it is,
I just I just don't see that happening. Now. That's
easy to say, um that everything else will stay the same,
but I just don't, you know, to me, it would
be injury, would be making changes, Um, it would be
spreading himself too thin with with other endeavors and and
(23:34):
obviously all the same and the spoils that come with
being the number one player in the world. I think
is a driving force and I know that he's an athlete. Listen,
I get he's an athlete, he's a grown man. He
wants to win. I get that. But another driving forces
all the doubting, all the doubting, and the fact that
he feels disrespected, the disrespect. He said, the most disrespect
that he ever felt was when Brando Shambilie said he
(23:54):
wasn't tough, and he said that really bothered him. But
all of that is driving him. And so I wonder
if you know, Brandon Shambley is now done in about
face on him and said, hey, listen, I get it.
You know what I was wrong. He's he's he's everything
that that I said he wasn't. He's a great player.
I wonder if when the doubting stops, because he has
(24:16):
said that as a driving force, will he lose some
of this. There's just so many unanswered questions whatever. That's
another factor because that has been a huge part of
his entire career, even going back to his college days
when he didn't even get looked at by your your
alma mater, Florida and ends up going to Florida State. Well,
(24:37):
that's why most people go to Florida State because they
can't get into Florida. Well that there is that element too,
and uh but look he was piste off. He didn't
get recruited by Florida. So this he's been carrying that
chip on his shoulder his entire career, going back to
his amateur days. So that's a valid point you make,
(24:58):
Like at this point, I mean, who's outing him, Who's
who's doubting him? So when when the questions and the
doubt goes away and and okay, yeah, clearly you are
the best and everyone's bowing at his feet, where does
he find his motivation then? Um? But but I still
see this as a guy who you know, doesn't particularly
like the media or could couldn't really care less if
(25:20):
the media existed or not, doesn't even really seem to
care about doing endorsement deals. You don't see him, you know,
plastered all over commercials and and spreading himself in that way.
I mean, sure he's got his share of endorsement deals
um and and everyone I'm sure is lining up at
the door with a blank check, but he doesn't particularly
(25:42):
seem all that interested in, you know, diving head first
into that pool of money um and and being distracted
by all of that and all the commitments that go
with it. So really, to me, like this guy is
the closest thing to Tiger we've seen from the standpoint
of it's really just about golf for him. That's really
all right, that's all and and it's and it's about
(26:02):
major championships. He I don't. I'm gonna go with the
reason the guys only one two regular tournaments is because
that some people just they just don't get up for
that kind of stuff. He's both maybe he's bored or
he doesn't think it's it's weird, it's he only cares
about major championships. And if you go back and listen
to the podcast we had Brooks on and he said,
(26:26):
it's all about major championships. I just want to win majors,
and I think that that's where all the prep goes.
And I'm not comparing him to Tiger Woods. I'm not
saying that. What I'm saying is it's the first time
we've seen somebody who almost is modeling the way they
prepare the same way Tiger did. Picks and chooses, doesn't
(26:46):
play a ton of events, but always make sure he's
peaking at those four times. Now, another thought I had
is I think the p g A Championship in the
US Open, those two of them are the most two
alike majors. Those two are are the most alike in
both set up and golf course style. I don't know
(27:07):
how his game fits the Open Championship because I think
it plays different. And then but at Augusta he tied
for a second, so I mean he's shown that he
can play at Augusta as well. I just think the
one that might be the hardest for him to win,
And tell me if you agree or disagree, will be
the Open Championship. That could be one that could be
(27:27):
difficult for him to win with the style of game
that he has. Well, you know, the Opens that not
so much his style play. To me, the Open is
driven so much by whether what side of the draw
you end up on. We see it all the time.
Happened with that tournament where guys end up, you know,
on the wrong side of the weather, and it really
(27:49):
can affect the field. And so to me, they're they're
way too many variables when it comes to the Open.
Obviously it's a bigger you know, it's unlike the Masters,
for example, which by the way, you know, we're I
think we're forgetting or we'd be remiss him too to
not mentioned the fact that imagine if he if he
didn't bogey the twelve hole, you know, hitting or rather
(28:12):
hitting the water on the twelfth hole at Augustin and
didn't make a couple of bogies late. I mean, we
might be talking about the Grand Slam, right, I mean,
this would be incredible, and he actually would, you know,
we we'd be having an entirely different conversation at this point. Absolutely,
because he list the last three majors. He's gone first, second, first,
(28:34):
and now here we are going to pebble. Where I
know pebble fits his game. It's the US Open. He's
won two US Opens in a row. He's going for three.
I mean, I get it. I don't think any of it.
I don't think any of it doesn't fit his game.
I just I think this is he is the modern
day player. Look, you've got to be able to hit
it a mile. I mean, sure you can. You can
(28:56):
be somebody who can contend. You look at Jordan's speed
and the run. And he went on, not a guy
that's that's sort of a bomb and gouge player. But
the prototypical player, the modern day god have success on
these major championship courses is exactly what Brooks is and
and this is why he's won for the last date
(29:18):
because he hits that power cut, he can work the
ball right to left as well, not afraid to hit driver,
hits it well, hits his irons well, hits them a
mile has Is he able to control his golf ball
really well, which is what it's always about major championship
distance control and inaccuracy control. And he does that um
(29:39):
as good as anybody. And that holds up just as
well in an open championship as it would at AUGUSTA
or a p G A or U S Open. So
to me, it's it really doesn't matter. I think he's
he's the favorite in any of them. Right, So let
me ask you a question. So here we are going
into Pebble Beach outside of Brooks. Obviously Dustin's gonna play well,
he's won there before, I believe. Uh, how which tiger
(30:05):
are we going to see? How do we know what
to expect? Are we going to see augusta tiger or
are we gonna see like for example, will we see him?
I'm guessing we'll see him at Jack's at the Memorial.
That'll be his warm up for the US open Um.
What exactly do you expect that a Tiger? And is
this what we're going to get moving forward? Long breaks
(30:27):
and not play tournaments that he has become accustomed to
playing well, you know. The second part of the yeah, look,
I think this is the reality for Tiger. And we've
talked about this in the past. Is that reality is
you know, ten to four teen tournaments a year. I mean,
helly might the less than that some years or maybe
even is sure, you might play less and not who knows.
(30:47):
So you know, to me, that's the new reality from
forty three year old Tigers. So the second part of
that is what do we expect? I really don't know.
I mean would be I think I would be surprised
if you were to miss the cut and play the
way he did at US Page because I think he'll
go into that golf course. Um, it's it's a little
bit closer to augusta uh in terms of his ability
(31:10):
to play there than say Beth Pages. You know, Beth Page,
you hit it again. We talked, we talked about this
after the Masters. I mean, look, you hit it he
hit it crooked off the tee a few places at
Augusta National. Or I said, if he did that at
beth Page, he's gonna be in trouble. And the same
would be true at Pebble Beach by the way, but
he won't need to hit drivers off to there. So,
(31:30):
But he hit three fairways on on on on Friday
when he needed them, when he needed to make a
run to make the cut, and un listen, I'm guessing
I will say that he didn't look like the same
guy that wanted to win as bad as he wanted
to win at Augusta and and and maybe I'm completely
wrong in saying that, but that's just my feeling. I
didn't get the same feeling out of Tiger that I
(31:51):
got as he showed up to Augusta National And when
he needed to hit fairways on Friday afternoon to make
the cut, he needed make putts. His putter and his
driver is what's hurting him. The driver. He had three
fairways and he had a ton of three putts. His
distance control with putting was terrible, and I can't tell
you how many. I mean, he only played two days
(32:12):
and he missed a ton of putts inside five feet
that both of those things are a problem, and I'm
not sure that they're getting fixed, and that's that's the
issue moving forward. I'm not saying you can't fix them.
They just didn't appear to be any better. Like you said,
at the Masters, he had some loose drives, he got
the right, he got some very lucky bounces, and you
(32:33):
need that to win. I'm not taking that away from him.
You need that. Everybody gets lucky bounces. Brooks got some
lucky bounces this week as well, but it's not so forgiving.
When he gets the pebble beach, uh, pebble will be
it'll be fascinating. I don't know what to expect, really.
I think it'll be somewhere in between what we saw
at Augusta and what we saw at Best Page, because
(32:54):
to your point, I mean, look Augusta, and I remember
talking to Joey Lakama after Tigers win. You know, basically
he'd been preparing for that for six months, and you know,
obviously you can't prepare for the for these other majors
for six months because there's only a month in between.
So um, you know, and again it goes back to
(33:14):
if you're not hitting your driver straight all the time,
and Augustina nationally, you can get away with that a
little bit more in some places. UM. I go back
to the tea shots he had on the eleventh Toll
on Saturday and Sunday. He was very fortunate there, and
you know the one that there's no rough, and two
he had an opening through some trees. You know, otherwise
(33:34):
he's dead there. He's not making pars, so to me,
it's like getting the pebble beach. I think he'll dial
it in a bit more. He'll obviously play. I think
I think we are going to see that. Um. I
think after the difference was was after winning in the
Masters appeared to drain him so physically and so emotionally
(33:55):
that he needed the time off to recover, obviously missing
the cut at beth Page and then going to the
US Open a month later. Maybe the recovery isn't quite
is necessary and he'll be sort of better mentally and physically.
But it'll be fascinating to see because I just don't
know what to expect. But I do think we will
(34:17):
see him closer to what we saw the memorial. I
think you, I think you'll play the memorial. He needs reps.
I still stay affirm that. I believe not playing the
Wells Fargo was detrimental. I think he needed those reps
um and he's got to do something with the putting.
I don't I don't know if more tournaments and that
will help the putting. I'm not sure if the speed
of the greens were confusing him. They didn't appear to
(34:39):
be confusing other people. But I think the lack of
reps between Augusta National and Best Page absolutely positively beyond
the shadow of a doubt hurt Tiger Woods and only
playing a nine whole practice round. And you might be
right about that. I mean, you know, he did, he
did go up there the previous week and play, you
know a little bit the week prior to the tournament.
(35:01):
But in terms of competitive golf, yep, maybe he does
need that that tournament in between to kind of get
his game dialed in. Tournament wise. There's just so much
that goes in fears to go into his preparation that, um,
you wondered forty three how much longer you can do it?
But I just don't know what to expect on him.
(35:21):
I really don't, right, I don't either, and that's why
I'm asking. I don't know what to expect when we
get to Pebble, but I do not to expect that
Brooks Capito will be the betting favorite. I think Dustin
Johnson is probably also going to be another one that
will be there at the end as well. I would
like to have seen. I was kind of hoping it
would get tied up and they would actually be there
at the end, but Dustin got within one shot and
(35:42):
then uh kind of backed up a little bit. But
congratulations to Brooks. He absolutely deserves He did not back
into that championship whatsoever. He went out, grabbed it by
the horns, took it from day one and just ran
away with it. And hid did get a little close
at the end, but congratulations on his victory. So where
do we go to this week and what kind of
(36:02):
field are we look at? Well, Colonial uh is and
there's a place that again you mentioned Jordan's speas earlier
in the podcast. Well, it'll be fascinating to see what
he does there because that's another place he's had success
that you know, does he continue to trend in the
right direction here with was his game? And will he
(36:23):
you know, will this this is the turning point in
other where Jordan's Beast or these last couple of weeks
in aberrations. So to me, um, that will be fastening
to watch that. That's far and away the most intriguing
storyline to me at Colonial is what will Jordan's Beast
do there? How will he play? Will he win? Will
he contend? And you know how he hitting it off
(36:45):
the tea, how's he hitting it with his irons? The
parting I think seems to be coming around where the
other parts of his game and you know he said
he felt encouraged coming off the p G eight BEF
page given how he you know, some of the places
again that he was hitting the ball and hitting it
off the fairway and still finishing you know, high on
(37:06):
the Lena board. So to me, that's the storyline is
where where do we get out of Jordan's speace? And
then it all leads to you know, couple beach and
in a few weeks time, obviously we'll have memorial in between.
So it's all it's all Jordan's best now. So as
we move on from brooks Keptin, right, So last year
this tournament justin Roses you're defending champion. Brookes Kepta finished
second last year. He is not in the field this week,
(37:29):
is not playing this event. You think that's because of
last week's victory or do you think there's something else
to that. No, I'm sure, yeah, I'm sure. Probably wasn't
on the schedule. And even if it was, yet no
chance coming off the wind if he was going to
play there. But I would imagine it was not on
the schedule to begin with for Brooks, and and we'll
(37:49):
see him again Memorial and of course the US Open,
where he will trying to try to become first three
time US Open champion or you know, three three in
the US Open champion since Willie Anderson, I believe. So
we've got the Charles Schwap Challenge this week at Colonial,
(38:10):
then we will move on to the Memorial at Mirfield
Jack's Place, and then the RBC Canadian Open is the
week after that, and then we will get one more week.
We will do the US Open June through the sixteenth,
So not a lot of time in between major championships.
You really get, You get like a lot of guys
will take a week off this week, then they'll play Memorial,
take a week off and then go play in the
U S Open. So it's a busy time. Thanks so
(38:33):
much listening to the podcast. Congratulations to Brooks Kepka on
his victory, and uh, golf is in a really really
good place, which is making it easy for you to
write about. By the way, Also check out Golf Digest.
I saw you did an interesting article with Billy Horschel
on exactly what a total week is like for a
tour player. There's a lot more than just playing on Thursday, Friday,
(38:55):
Saturday and Sunday. That goes into what these tour guys do. Correct. Yeah,
there's Billy was nice enough to let me kind of
tag along and paint the picture of what exactly these
guys go through on a week to week basis, because
you know, most fans do only see Thursday through Sunday. Uh,
maybe they see a little bit of highlights and the
(39:15):
proms on Wednesday that sort of thing. But there's a
lot that goes on on and off the golf course
with these guys in terms of commitments and time and
routine and and you know, we talked about Brooks at
the top. I mean, you know routine Brooks has, he
has his routine. He's got his team around him, he's
got a chef um that he utilizes, he's got his trainers. Uh,
(39:36):
he's really built a routine that obviously works for him. Uh,
same thing for Billy. I mean there's another player who's
former Frederick's Cup champion, is one on tour, multiple time winner,
uh for top thirty player in the world. So this
is uh, it's all about kind of building this this
process and this team and and sort of the story
gives you an idea of what goes into that one
(39:58):
it entails and and a little behind the scenes peak.
So of course, thanks for really letting this tag along
on that front of the program. And uh and yeah,
you can find that at golf Digest dot com or
you can find it uh probably just Google. It would
be your best option. And uh yeah, so look forward
(40:19):
to uh readers checking that out as well. All right, back,
a good deal. Thank you. We will talk to you
probably after the Memorial Tournament. We will get involved and
see exactly how we do. Hopefully we'll have some uh
some more tiger stuff to gauge where we'll be heading
into the US Open, half of the major championships in
the books. This year. It has not disappointed. We had
(40:42):
a great Masters even though Brooks kind of ran away
with it, still a very good story coming out of
the p g A Championship. So we are halfway through
the season as far as the majors go, and it
has been a good one. Thank you so much for
listening to the Playing Through podcast. I think you've had
enough playing Through now you've had enough with frog Ian Lacker, bitch,
Don't mind us where playing Through There's Froggy and Whacker
and welcome to another edition of the Playing Through podcast.
Thank you so much for listening. So here we are
the PGA Championship in the books, It's Froggy from Elvis
to Rand in the morning show at Froggy Radio on
Twitter and Instagram. You can hit the podcast anytime on Instagram.
(00:21):
We are at Playing Through Podcast along with Golf Digests
Brian Whacker at Brian Whacker One. So Brian, you know,
the p J Championship was basically three days of Brooks
kept kicking everybody's ass and then on the back line
on Sunday he kind of let Dustin Johnson back into it.
Dustin fell back if you shots, and then Brooks did
(00:43):
the inevitable that kind of started. I almost feel maybe
you'll disagree with me. I feel like the championship was
over when he birdied number ten on number one. It
kind of felt like from there on in it was
just a ceremonial walk for four days. It's funny, I
kind of had the same feeling when I was watched it.
I mean, look, this guy was on everybody's list of
(01:04):
you know, potential winners. Mine included and watching that opening hole,
you know, one of the toughest hole on the golf course,
that ten pole, and he pours in that long Birdie
Putton sort of feel like, Okay, here we go, this
is Brooks and it just went from there. I mean, unbelievable.
As you said right at the top, just an ass
(01:25):
kicking and really I think this just feeds into the
fact that Brooks kept is really the prototypical modern day player.
Like this is what it's particularly when it comes to
major championships and big golf courses. This is the prototype
(01:46):
of the blueprint. I mean it was almost like watching
a video game. You reminded me of, you know, like
for anybody's played, you know, the Madden video games when
when you get a guy with like ratings across the right.
I mean that that was like, that was what it
was like watching Brooks. I mean it was like Bo
Jackson without the personality. Really, it was like Bo Jackson
(02:09):
in tech Mo Bowl. Yeah exactly, I mean that kind
of performance. I mean, this is this is heavy stuff.
Four majors and two years, this is this is rare air.
It's happened pretty quickly, you know, because of just one
PGA Tour win and or two PGA Tour wins rather
prior to that, and now it's been on this incredible run.
(02:30):
So just this is the future. This is this is
this is the blueprint, alright. So let's go over his
last ten majors that he's played, not the last ten,
but ten he's played because he did not play the
Open Championship in sixteen, nor do you play the Masters
last year. But here we go the last ten major,
firm Brooks kept, We're gonna start with the sixteen final
major of the year, the PGA Championship, tied for fourth,
(02:52):
he goes to the Masters. In seventeen, tied for eleventh,
he goes to the US Open, and seventeen a victory,
goes to the Open Championship, tied for six. The top
top ten goes to the p G A Championship of thirteen,
does not play the eight teen Masters. When's the US Opening? Eighteen?
Uh tied for thirty, night at the Open Championship last year,
when's the p g A last year? Second at the
(03:14):
Masters this year, first at the PGA Championship, and other victory.
So of his last ten majors, four victories and a
T six and a T four, oh and a T two.
Seven of his last ten majors he is either one
or finished no worse than sixth place. Yeah, and then
you throw in the majors before that, and you can
(03:36):
go back to tied for four at Pinehurst, at the
US Open, there was tenth at the Open Championship and
fifth at that year's p g A Championship, right, you know,
and then he you know, you look at the other performances,
I mean T eighteen Open Championship rather at the US
Open at Chambers Bay, Oakmonty tied for thirteenth. Of course,
(03:59):
I was won by dust In. So this is kuy
who hadn't missed a cut in a major since Open
champ Yeah. I mean that's like not missing a cut
in a major is pretty impressive stuff. You know. It's weird.
It's like he doesn't and and and I mean does it.
I don't understand even how to put it together. Like,
(04:21):
for example, Dustin Johnson has been a dominant force on tour,
He's got one major. Dustin Johnson's want to turn of
normal golf tournaments. It begs the question of does he
not care about regular golf tournaments and he just wants
to win majors. Are the regular golf tournaments? Are they not?
Are they set up differently? I mean, like, what, how
(04:42):
do you make sense of two PG eight tour victories
and four majors, and then that doesn't even include T
two at the Masters, the T four at the p
g A that he didn't win, and the T six
at the Open Championship. I mean, he's got a top
five in every single mayor top six in every single
major at this point in his career, and he's got
four victories. How do you make sense of that he
(05:05):
doesn't win regular tour events? You know, I don't know
other than I guess maybe he's bored. I mean, he's
talked about golf being boring and him not particularly liking
golf now look or caring about golf now. I don't
know if that's necessarily the case. And he clearly he cares.
Clearly he likes the sport. He doesn't just like his
success in it. I just think he's he focuses his
(05:28):
attention on major championships and builds it back from there,
and look, it's so hard to win these things. And
I think he made an excellent point, Uh, in his
winner's press conference on Sunday. Look, when you're playing a
major championship, the field that you have to be is
really a lot smaller than a regular tournament because the
(05:49):
heart of the golf course, Uh, the more that's going
to favor the better players. You're not going to have
sort of I don't want to call it fluke situations.
That screw it, Like all his Luke situations, You're not
gonna have a guy put together sort of a flukey
performance really on a major championship venue because the golf
course is simply just too hard and there's a difference
(06:12):
in talent level. So the field he has to beat
in majors, I mean, look look at your guy, Tiger.
It's the same thing why Tiger's record. But I mean,
part of y Tiger is so great is it's had
so much success in major championships, Right, he has to
beat fewer guys, and the guys that he has had
the most trouble with are the lesser knowns you think of,
(06:34):
like go back to the PGA Championship where he beat
Bob May in a playoff, Right, So it's always been
sort of lesser knowns, and it's the same sort of philosophy.
When you take a regular tour event where you've got
a hundred forty four guys or a hundred fifty six
guys who play, so you're, you know, the same setup
sort of week to week on tour, you know, there's
(06:57):
there's a lot more disparity in terms of who can
win those events versus who can win a major championship.
And I think that's why Brooks partly at least the
why Brooks has had so much success, you know, in
major championships versus regular tour events. Of course, Tiger. You
know that that's one of the major differences early on
in their careers is that Tigger did it every time
(07:18):
he touse upright, and he was always the guy. And
you know, we haven't really reached that stage with Brooks yet. Um.
I think certainly people expect him to do it, but
he hasn't really delivered on those regular events. But he
just seems to be about those major championships because it's
fewer players for him to be. Uh. It's not to
say that he can't go into a regular tour event
(07:40):
and beat the field, but it's a smaller field of
competitors and he builds his focus around major championships, right, So,
speaking before the p g A Championship, he you know,
he explained why he thinks majors are easier, and that's
that's his opinion. He says they're easier to win. And
and and I took this whole quote here that I'm
(08:02):
about to read. I took it to be a little pompous. However,
after what the demonstration that he put on Thursday, Friday, Saturday,
and then I mean, listen Sunday, you can make an
argument he he didn't play great on Saturday, but he
didn't have to. He had a massive lead. And then
even on Sunday, I mean, I think he would tell
you he would like to have played better. He had
(08:23):
those three or four bogies in a row, but when
it came down time to perform, he cleaned it up
and he won. He says, quote, there's a hundred and
fifty six players in the field, so you figure at
least eighty of them, I'm just gonna beat you. Figure
about half of them won't play well from there, so
now you're down to only about thirty five players. And
(08:43):
then from those thirty five, some of them just pressure
is gonna get to him. It only leaves you a
few more and I just beat those guys. I took
that as like a real pompous as statement when he
made it. I'm like, dude, this guy is basically saying
that half the field's gonna suck, so he'll be damn
I mean, but he went out and walked the walk
(09:04):
after talking to talk. It's just it's it's unbelievable how
easy he makes it look. And I've said that about
a lot of tour guys. Tiger is guilty of doing that,
and Dustin's Easy is guilty of doing that as well.
They just make it look so damn easy. It was
like he did not fret one time. I don't even
think he made a bogey until the back nine on
sat on On on Friday afternoon. He just made it
(09:27):
look like he was out there on a Sunday stroll,
but he was playing golf and beating the best players
in the world and a major championship at a really
long golf course. Well, his game is is absolutely built
for that, right, Like it's a big power cut. I mean,
I even go back to bell Rive last year at
the PGA Championship, where a lot of players were hitting
(09:48):
three woods off the sea long irons. Brooks went around
just hit driver everywhere, and he hit it in the fairway.
And that's the modern game. Just you know, it used
to be. Adam Scott summed it up to me the best.
I think. He's talking about the advances and driving in
the technology and and sort of everything that that's gone
(10:08):
into it. So there used to be driver was a
risky club. It was. It was a risky play. Sure
there are guys in the game who were great drivers
of the ball historically, but the game has always had
those players and and typically those players have been near
the top, you know, of the sport. But he said,
driver used to be a risky player. You go back
(10:28):
to obviously for seven days and and and balls that
spun a lot softcovers and uh and then you go
to the the metal woods and and obviously it's progressed from
there and now it's not the risky club, it's the
go to club. Reach for the driver. Like even on
Sunday with the two shot lead that come in to
the last hole, you didn't see Brooks reach for a
(10:50):
three wood. You didn't see reach for a long iron
off the tea No, it's driver. It's driver, driver, driver.
When you're hitting that club as well as you can,
or as well as Brooks does that power cut. He
just hits it forever, controls this golf ball. That's what
it's about, and that's why Brooks has had so much
success in major championships. So you know, also, yeah, I know,
(11:13):
we we've talked a lot about Brooks, but I want
to get into we saw a little bit maybe of
the emergence re emergence of Jordan's speak over the weekend,
played well, got into favorite player. He's my favorite player,
you know. I know you're cheering that up. I know
you're happy to see a top ten and major championship
for Jordan's. I saw him getting to the final pairing
(11:34):
on Saturday, did not play great. Um, what are you
hearing about? They were saying he's made some changes and
maybe some of those changes haven't concreted in all the way.
Do you do you know exactly what's going on with
Jordan's I spoke to a I spoke to another player
that said that what he was playing with in the past,
in the recent past, had been smoking mirrors. He was
(11:57):
doing a lot of work and trying to get better,
but it appeared to be better are on Thursday and Friday,
Saturday fell off a little bit. But like you said,
finish with the top ten do do you know what's
going on with Jordan's well? Speaking of areas, how about
how about early in the week when he gets questioned
about a slump and he says, was wasn't the slump?
You know? And and maybe he's not like he played
well at times going into and Dallas, going into the
(12:22):
PGA Championship, Um, he said he felt good about his game.
But this this is the guy. Everybody in golf goes
through these periods, these down periods. Even Tiger people forget,
you know, when years he had years where he didn't
win a major championship and didn't win a lot of tournaments.
Granted it was rare, but even I mean, we're talking
about the greatest player of all time even had that
(12:43):
those struggles. So what does that mean for everybody else? Right?
So they're going to go through those periods, And clearly
this is one of those periods for Jordan's And and
Jordan is a completely opposite player of of Brooks. The
way he goes about a golf course, and he brooks
just bashes the thing into submission, and in Jordan's uh, look,
Jordan hits it plenty long enough and you know, close
(13:04):
to three in our yards. But this is a guy
who relies on shore came and putting, and when you
do that, you're you're gonna have periods where you're gonna
be streaky bad and you're not gonna look good. But
clearly it seems Jordan's look, he's worked on some things
with a swing and so forth, and and there are
periods where he maybe wasn't working on the right thing,
something he even admitted to. Clearly his putting. He putted
(13:27):
the ball really well at Best Page. Although I'm curious
about that because that's the golf course with you know,
fairly flat greens, not a lot of slope, big greens.
But he seemed to be putting the ball well, just
a matter where he's hitting it off the tee and
with his irons. It's gotten into trouble this year, So
I don't know what to make of it, Honestly, I mean,
(13:49):
would I be surprised if he's in contention of Pebble Beach? Now?
I mean would you would you really be surprised. No,
I would not be surprised at all. Yeah, I mean
so you know, or or the Open champion Ship at
Poor Russia. You know, the tournament he's one before there,
so um, haven't played port Rush. But but it's a
you know, link style of golf courses right up his alley.
(14:11):
So to me, I think he's sort of I don't know,
he's turned the corner. And the problem is we're just
comparing it constantly to the run he had in and
in that period, that sort of two year run, and
that's a tough standard to live up to, you and
he sat the bar really high during those years. And
so but that's what he's going to be compared to,
(14:32):
which is the same the entire would suffers from. We
we compare Tiger Woods and expect Tiger Woods to perform
like two thousand, two thousand one, two thousand two, Tiger
even two thousand eight, Tiger uh two thousand third team
when he won five times. We always compare him to him.
So Jordan's always gonna suffer by being compared to that
run that he went on that we thought was going
(14:54):
to continue, and as you can see, it has gone
gone away quickly. Rory had his run and we thought
that was going to continue and it did not. Dustin
had his run, had another chance. And here's what's and
here's it's crazy about that, right, So look at Rory. Granted,
Royden went his four majors quite as quickly as Brooks did,
but but it wasn't that long ago. To your point,
(15:16):
we're talking about Rory being you know, how many majors
is this guy gonna win? It's gonna win ten, is
he gonna win twelve? Is he canna win? You know,
more than that major championships? When when Rory won his
fourth major, granted five years ago, but when he won
his fourth major, Brooks had I believe, one European Tour win,
(15:36):
had some Challenge Tour wins, uh, you know, the lower
tier tour on the European Tour, and that was it.
I mean, nobody knew who Brooks Kepka was five years ago.
And now he's got the same number of major championships
as Rory McElroy, who hasn't won a major in five years.
And so to me, this is what's really curious, is
is Brooks going to follow the path of Rory or
(16:02):
the guys You've mentioned Jordan's speed, who have had their runs?
Who had these Because everybody gets hot, right, everybody has.
All these top players get hot. Where do they go
from there? And there's all sorts of different reasons why
guys maybe cool off. One, it's just golf too. Maybe
they get married and start a family and they have
other distractions, or obviously there's more demands on their time,
(16:23):
or maybe they try to make changes that don't work out.
So to me, this is now we're at four, So
where do we go from here? And to me, Brooks,
the reason I think Brooks can have greater sustained success
than than some of those players you just mentioned is
because all he seems to care about is winning major
championships and building his life around that. So to me,
(16:46):
you know, as long as as that continues, that's so
in his game is obviously built for that as well.
So to me, those are the things that really stand
out as to why I think he'll have continued success
here for the next however many years. Up the brakes
a little bit on this, because we do tend as
in as a society. I'm not saying you or me,
(17:06):
or this podcast or anything as a society, we do
tend to move a little too fast when somebody starts
having a little bit of success. We really do. So
I'm gonna give you a couple of different examples on
top of the ones that you have just given, so
on top of If you remember when Jordan's speak went
on his run, he was gonna be old tiger, better
watch out. He's okay. Then we went on the ror,
(17:28):
and we went on the Rory run. Now we're on
the Brooks run. And while I do agree with you
that it does seem that this Brooks run could last longer,
we were also of the same thought of Rory. He
was young, he had he had really come on. He
was big. I mean, we were very gung ho as
(17:49):
and I'm not when I say we, I don't mean
you and me or the podcast. I mean the Gulf
world in general as a society. We were really heavy.
Just just a month ago, a man that had not
won a major in eleven years one a major and
I'm guilty of it. You're guilty of it, everybody's guilty
of it. We started talking about he was gonna beat Jack.
(18:13):
Now it was open again. And while I do believe
that the thought can still be open for Tiger Woods
to beat Jack Nicholas in major's Tiger needs Brooks kept
his career from this point on to beat Jack Nicholas,
and that is not likely. It's just I'm not saying
it's impossible. I'm saying it's not like. I mean, did
(18:35):
anybody ever think it was likely? I think the conversation right,
But we were the guy was the betting favorite going
into the into the PGA Championship, and he hadn't played
golf in a month. He played a nine whole practice round,
He didn't go to the golf course the day before
the tournament started, and the day it opened he opened
(18:58):
as a betting favorite. I just think that we get
we go nuts so quick. We just we want to
see it so bad. And I know that that's where
it comes from. I know it all comes from the heart.
It's not coming from our head, because if it was
coming from our head, anybody in their right mind who
really sat down and looked at the body of work
that we had with Tiger Woods, Let's be honest. Of
(19:21):
the four major championships, do you agree or disagree that
the Masters is probably the easiest one to win. I
would say, you know here, here's yeah, I would I
don't know if I would say it's easiest, because look,
we also have to remember he hadn't won their five.
I understand that. But what I'm saying is, of the
(19:43):
four championships, it's got the most amateurs. They go to
the same golf course every single year. So therefore, right, okay,
so that would be the easiest of the four to win.
And he plays very well there. He knows Augusta very well.
I know we had one in eleven years, but of
the four May years, if you're gonna win one, that's
probably the most likely one that he would win. And
(20:04):
I'm not taking anything away from I'm a massive Tiger fan.
It's the reason I play golf. It's the reason I
love golf. It's the reason I do this podcast. I mean,
I'm not taking anything away from his accomplishment. But what
I'm saying is is we were crazy that he was
gonna do it. He's gonna win back to back major's.
We're going to bet page he plays well. There. The
guy played a nine whole practice round. I don't know
(20:24):
if he wasn't feeling well, I don't know. We saw
the video of the Golf TV video where he looked
like he was sore, he was walking gingerly. He hadn't
played golf, he didn't play the Wells Fargo, he played
the nine whole practice round, he didn't show up the
day before, and they just still opened him as a
betting favorite. I just think that we all have to
pump the brakes on everything and just enjoy the ride.
(20:47):
Is Brooks Kepka the betting favorite and the favorite going
into the US Open? Abs a fucking lutely. He is
absolutely the favorite moving forward towards the US Open at
at at at Pebble next month. However, I'm just not
willing to say yet that I think you had told
(21:07):
me that Brooks said he wants to win ten majors.
I'm not sure he can win ten because number one,
I don't know if he can keep up at this clip,
and I don't know what other guys are going to
do along the way. Yeah, look, I mean it's I mean, Pat,
it's it's it's easy to sit here and jump on
that hype train, like you say, um, oh, yeah, you know,
Brooks could win ten majors. And to your point, I mean, look,
(21:28):
three guys in the history of the game, three three
of all time have ever won at least ten majors.
So putting, you know, to your point, I mean, look,
Brooks is twenty nine years old. You would have to
have an incredible career to get to ten. I mean, look,
(21:48):
I think we all popped on the Rory hype train
when he came along. The thing that's fascinates me about
Brooks though, is again it's it's major championships we just
talked about. He hasn't missed the cut in a major since.
Look at Rory, even even early on when he's having
a success and he was missing some cuts and majors.
(22:09):
He's a little bit more of a streaky player. Brooks
doesn't seem to have a streaky part of his game.
I mean, he doesn't hit the ball off the planet.
His irons are are very good. His wedge game and
putting very very good. Um, maybe you know, I talked
to one coach the other day. He said, you know,
this guy is probably become one of the top two
(22:30):
or three or four putters in the game. And you
can look at some of those lag puts that he
had that were big at Best Page and just some
of the puts that he did make. You know, he
is a really really good putter, and so there's really
no breakdown there. But you know, look, you're right, I
think we need to pump the brakes and say, well, okay,
so where does it? Where does it go from here? That,
(22:51):
like I was saying before, that's what fascinates me. Does
he become a guy who, like so many others, um,
goes on a hot run for two or three years,
wins major championships and then goes five years without winning
a major championship, you know, and there and there's just
much more right, which is far more likely. But right now,
I'm just I'm just not seeing it. If he still
(23:12):
if everything stays the same with Brooks as it is,
I just I just don't see that happening. Now. That's
easy to say, um that everything else will stay the same,
but I just don't, you know, to me, it would
be injury, would be making changes, Um, it would be
spreading himself too thin with with other endeavors and and
(23:34):
obviously all the same and the spoils that come with
being the number one player in the world. I think
is a driving force and I know that he's an athlete. Listen,
I get he's an athlete, he's a grown man. He
wants to win. I get that. But another driving forces
all the doubting, all the doubting, and the fact that
he feels disrespected, the disrespect. He said, the most disrespect
that he ever felt was when Brando Shambilie said he
(23:54):
wasn't tough, and he said that really bothered him. But
all of that is driving him. And so I wonder
if you know, Brandon Shambley is now done in about
face on him and said, hey, listen, I get it.
You know what I was wrong. He's he's he's everything
that that I said he wasn't. He's a great player.
I wonder if when the doubting stops, because he has
(24:16):
said that as a driving force, will he lose some
of this. There's just so many unanswered questions whatever. That's
another factor because that has been a huge part of
his entire career, even going back to his college days
when he didn't even get looked at by your your
alma mater, Florida and ends up going to Florida State. Well,
(24:37):
that's why most people go to Florida State because they
can't get into Florida. Well that there is that element too,
and uh but look he was piste off. He didn't
get recruited by Florida. So this he's been carrying that
chip on his shoulder his entire career, going back to
his amateur days. So that's a valid point you make,
(24:58):
Like at this point, I mean, who's outing him, Who's
who's doubting him? So when when the questions and the
doubt goes away and and okay, yeah, clearly you are
the best and everyone's bowing at his feet, where does
he find his motivation then? Um? But but I still
see this as a guy who you know, doesn't particularly
like the media or could couldn't really care less if
(25:20):
the media existed or not, doesn't even really seem to
care about doing endorsement deals. You don't see him, you know,
plastered all over commercials and and spreading himself in that way.
I mean, sure he's got his share of endorsement deals
um and and everyone I'm sure is lining up at
the door with a blank check, but he doesn't particularly
(25:42):
seem all that interested in, you know, diving head first
into that pool of money um and and being distracted
by all of that and all the commitments that go
with it. So really, to me, like this guy is
the closest thing to Tiger we've seen from the standpoint
of it's really just about golf for him. That's really
all right, that's all and and it's and it's about
(26:02):
major championships. He I don't. I'm gonna go with the
reason the guys only one two regular tournaments is because
that some people just they just don't get up for
that kind of stuff. He's both maybe he's bored or
he doesn't think it's it's weird, it's he only cares
about major championships. And if you go back and listen
to the podcast we had Brooks on and he said,
(26:26):
it's all about major championships. I just want to win majors,
and I think that that's where all the prep goes.
And I'm not comparing him to Tiger Woods. I'm not
saying that. What I'm saying is it's the first time
we've seen somebody who almost is modeling the way they
prepare the same way Tiger did. Picks and chooses, doesn't
(26:46):
play a ton of events, but always make sure he's
peaking at those four times. Now, another thought I had
is I think the p g A Championship in the
US Open, those two of them are the most two
alike majors. Those two are are the most alike in
both set up and golf course style. I don't know
(27:07):
how his game fits the Open Championship because I think
it plays different. And then but at Augusta he tied
for a second, so I mean he's shown that he
can play at Augusta as well. I just think the
one that might be the hardest for him to win,
And tell me if you agree or disagree, will be
the Open Championship. That could be one that could be
(27:27):
difficult for him to win with the style of game
that he has. Well, you know, the Opens that not
so much his style play. To me, the Open is
driven so much by whether what side of the draw
you end up on. We see it all the time.
Happened with that tournament where guys end up, you know,
on the wrong side of the weather, and it really
(27:49):
can affect the field. And so to me, they're they're
way too many variables when it comes to the Open.
Obviously it's a bigger you know, it's unlike the Masters,
for example, which by the way, you know, we're I
think we're forgetting or we'd be remiss him too to
not mentioned the fact that imagine if he if he
didn't bogey the twelve hole, you know, hitting or rather
(28:12):
hitting the water on the twelfth hole at Augustin and
didn't make a couple of bogies late. I mean, we
might be talking about the Grand Slam, right, I mean,
this would be incredible, and he actually would, you know,
we we'd be having an entirely different conversation at this point. Absolutely,
because he list the last three majors. He's gone first, second, first,
(28:34):
and now here we are going to pebble. Where I
know pebble fits his game. It's the US Open. He's
won two US Opens in a row. He's going for three.
I mean, I get it. I don't think any of it.
I don't think any of it doesn't fit his game.
I just I think this is he is the modern
day player. Look, you've got to be able to hit
it a mile. I mean, sure you can. You can
(28:56):
be somebody who can contend. You look at Jordan's speed
and the run. And he went on, not a guy
that's that's sort of a bomb and gouge player. But
the prototypical player, the modern day god have success on
these major championship courses is exactly what Brooks is and
and this is why he's won for the last date
(29:18):
because he hits that power cut, he can work the
ball right to left as well, not afraid to hit driver,
hits it well, hits his irons well, hits them a
mile has Is he able to control his golf ball
really well, which is what it's always about major championship
distance control and inaccuracy control. And he does that um
(29:39):
as good as anybody. And that holds up just as
well in an open championship as it would at AUGUSTA
or a p G A or U S Open. So
to me, it's it really doesn't matter. I think he's
he's the favorite in any of them. Right, So let
me ask you a question. So here we are going
into Pebble Beach outside of Brooks. Obviously Dustin's gonna play well,
he's won there before, I believe. Uh, how which tiger
(30:05):
are we going to see? How do we know what
to expect? Are we going to see augusta tiger or
are we gonna see like for example, will we see him?
I'm guessing we'll see him at Jack's at the Memorial.
That'll be his warm up for the US open Um.
What exactly do you expect that a Tiger? And is
this what we're going to get moving forward? Long breaks
(30:27):
and not play tournaments that he has become accustomed to
playing well, you know. The second part of the yeah, look,
I think this is the reality for Tiger. And we've
talked about this in the past. Is that reality is
you know, ten to four teen tournaments a year. I mean,
helly might the less than that some years or maybe
even is sure, you might play less and not who knows.
(30:47):
So you know, to me, that's the new reality from
forty three year old Tigers. So the second part of
that is what do we expect? I really don't know.
I mean would be I think I would be surprised
if you were to miss the cut and play the
way he did at US Page because I think he'll
go into that golf course. Um, it's it's a little
bit closer to augusta uh in terms of his ability
(31:10):
to play there than say Beth Pages. You know, Beth Page,
you hit it again. We talked, we talked about this
after the Masters. I mean, look, you hit it he
hit it crooked off the tee a few places at
Augusta National. Or I said, if he did that at
beth Page, he's gonna be in trouble. And the same
would be true at Pebble Beach by the way, but
he won't need to hit drivers off to there. So,
(31:30):
But he hit three fairways on on on on Friday
when he needed them, when he needed to make a
run to make the cut, and un listen, I'm guessing
I will say that he didn't look like the same
guy that wanted to win as bad as he wanted
to win at Augusta and and and maybe I'm completely
wrong in saying that, but that's just my feeling. I
didn't get the same feeling out of Tiger that I
(31:51):
got as he showed up to Augusta National And when
he needed to hit fairways on Friday afternoon to make
the cut, he needed make putts. His putter and his
driver is what's hurting him. The driver. He had three
fairways and he had a ton of three putts. His
distance control with putting was terrible, and I can't tell
you how many. I mean, he only played two days
(32:12):
and he missed a ton of putts inside five feet
that both of those things are a problem, and I'm
not sure that they're getting fixed, and that's that's the
issue moving forward. I'm not saying you can't fix them.
They just didn't appear to be any better. Like you said,
at the Masters, he had some loose drives, he got
the right, he got some very lucky bounces, and you
(32:33):
need that to win. I'm not taking that away from him.
You need that. Everybody gets lucky bounces. Brooks got some
lucky bounces this week as well, but it's not so forgiving.
When he gets the pebble beach, uh, pebble will be
it'll be fascinating. I don't know what to expect, really.
I think it'll be somewhere in between what we saw
at Augusta and what we saw at Best Page, because
(32:54):
to your point, I mean, look Augusta, and I remember
talking to Joey Lakama after Tigers win. You know, basically
he'd been preparing for that for six months, and you know,
obviously you can't prepare for the for these other majors
for six months because there's only a month in between.
So um, you know, and again it goes back to
(33:14):
if you're not hitting your driver straight all the time,
and Augustina nationally, you can get away with that a
little bit more in some places. UM. I go back
to the tea shots he had on the eleventh Toll
on Saturday and Sunday. He was very fortunate there, and
you know the one that there's no rough, and two
he had an opening through some trees. You know, otherwise
(33:34):
he's dead there. He's not making pars, so to me,
it's like getting the pebble beach. I think he'll dial
it in a bit more. He'll obviously play. I think
I think we are going to see that. Um. I
think after the difference was was after winning in the
Masters appeared to drain him so physically and so emotionally
(33:55):
that he needed the time off to recover, obviously missing
the cut at beth Page and then going to the
US Open a month later. Maybe the recovery isn't quite
is necessary and he'll be sort of better mentally and physically.
But it'll be fascinating to see because I just don't
know what to expect. But I do think we will
(34:17):
see him closer to what we saw the memorial. I
think you, I think you'll play the memorial. He needs reps.
I still stay affirm that. I believe not playing the
Wells Fargo was detrimental. I think he needed those reps
um and he's got to do something with the putting.
I don't I don't know if more tournaments and that
will help the putting. I'm not sure if the speed
of the greens were confusing him. They didn't appear to
(34:39):
be confusing other people. But I think the lack of
reps between Augusta National and Best Page absolutely positively beyond
the shadow of a doubt hurt Tiger Woods and only
playing a nine whole practice round. And you might be
right about that. I mean, you know, he did, he
did go up there the previous week and play, you
know a little bit the week prior to the tournament.
(35:01):
But in terms of competitive golf, yep, maybe he does
need that that tournament in between to kind of get
his game dialed in. Tournament wise. There's just so much
that goes in fears to go into his preparation that, um,
you wondered forty three how much longer you can do it?
But I just don't know what to expect on him.
(35:21):
I really don't, right, I don't either, and that's why
I'm asking. I don't know what to expect when we
get to Pebble, but I do not to expect that
Brooks Capito will be the betting favorite. I think Dustin
Johnson is probably also going to be another one that
will be there at the end as well. I would
like to have seen. I was kind of hoping it
would get tied up and they would actually be there
at the end, but Dustin got within one shot and
(35:42):
then uh kind of backed up a little bit. But
congratulations to Brooks. He absolutely deserves He did not back
into that championship whatsoever. He went out, grabbed it by
the horns, took it from day one and just ran
away with it. And hid did get a little close
at the end, but congratulations on his victory. So where
do we go to this week and what kind of
(36:02):
field are we look at? Well, Colonial uh is and
there's a place that again you mentioned Jordan's speas earlier
in the podcast. Well, it'll be fascinating to see what
he does there because that's another place he's had success
that you know, does he continue to trend in the
right direction here with was his game? And will he
(36:23):
you know, will this this is the turning point in
other where Jordan's Beast or these last couple of weeks
in aberrations. So to me, um, that will be fastening
to watch that. That's far and away the most intriguing
storyline to me at Colonial is what will Jordan's Beast
do there? How will he play? Will he win? Will
he contend? And you know how he hitting it off
(36:45):
the tea, how's he hitting it with his irons? The
parting I think seems to be coming around where the
other parts of his game and you know he said
he felt encouraged coming off the p G eight BEF
page given how he you know, some of the places
again that he was hitting the ball and hitting it
off the fairway and still finishing you know, high on
(37:06):
the Lena board. So to me, that's the storyline is
where where do we get out of Jordan's speace? And
then it all leads to you know, couple beach and
in a few weeks time, obviously we'll have memorial in between.
So it's all it's all Jordan's best now. So as
we move on from brooks Keptin, right, So last year
this tournament justin Roses you're defending champion. Brookes Kepta finished
second last year. He is not in the field this week,
(37:29):
is not playing this event. You think that's because of
last week's victory or do you think there's something else
to that. No, I'm sure, yeah, I'm sure. Probably wasn't
on the schedule. And even if it was, yet no
chance coming off the wind if he was going to
play there. But I would imagine it was not on
the schedule to begin with for Brooks, and and we'll
(37:49):
see him again Memorial and of course the US Open,
where he will trying to try to become first three
time US Open champion or you know, three three in
the US Open champion since Willie Anderson, I believe. So
we've got the Charles Schwap Challenge this week at Colonial,
(38:10):
then we will move on to the Memorial at Mirfield
Jack's Place, and then the RBC Canadian Open is the
week after that, and then we will get one more week.
We will do the US Open June through the sixteenth,
So not a lot of time in between major championships.
You really get, You get like a lot of guys
will take a week off this week, then they'll play Memorial,
take a week off and then go play in the
U S Open. So it's a busy time. Thanks so
(38:33):
much listening to the podcast. Congratulations to Brooks Kepka on
his victory, and uh, golf is in a really really
good place, which is making it easy for you to
write about. By the way, Also check out Golf Digest.
I saw you did an interesting article with Billy Horschel
on exactly what a total week is like for a
tour player. There's a lot more than just playing on Thursday, Friday,
(38:55):
Saturday and Sunday. That goes into what these tour guys do. Correct. Yeah,
there's Billy was nice enough to let me kind of
tag along and paint the picture of what exactly these
guys go through on a week to week basis, because
you know, most fans do only see Thursday through Sunday. Uh,
maybe they see a little bit of highlights and the
(39:15):
proms on Wednesday that sort of thing. But there's a
lot that goes on on and off the golf course
with these guys in terms of commitments and time and
routine and and you know, we talked about Brooks at
the top. I mean, you know routine Brooks has, he
has his routine. He's got his team around him, he's
got a chef um that he utilizes, he's got his trainers. Uh,
(39:36):
he's really built a routine that obviously works for him. Uh,
same thing for Billy. I mean there's another player who's
former Frederick's Cup champion, is one on tour, multiple time winner,
uh for top thirty player in the world. So this
is uh, it's all about kind of building this this
process and this team and and sort of the story
gives you an idea of what goes into that one
(39:58):
it entails and and a little behind the scenes peak.
So of course, thanks for really letting this tag along
on that front of the program. And uh and yeah,
you can find that at golf Digest dot com or
you can find it uh probably just Google. It would
be your best option. And uh yeah, so look forward
(40:19):
to uh readers checking that out as well. All right, back,
a good deal. Thank you. We will talk to you
probably after the Memorial Tournament. We will get involved and
see exactly how we do. Hopefully we'll have some uh
some more tiger stuff to gauge where we'll be heading
into the US Open, half of the major championships in
the books. This year. It has not disappointed. We had
(40:42):
a great Masters even though Brooks kind of ran away
with it, still a very good story coming out of
the p g A Championship. So we are halfway through
the season as far as the majors go, and it
has been a good one. Thank you so much for
listening to the Playing Through podcast. I think you've had
enough playing Through now you've had enough with frog Ian Lacker, bitch,
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.
Monster: BTK
'Monster: BTK', the newest installment in the 'Monster' franchise, reveals the true story of the Wichita, Kansas serial killer who murdered at least 10 people between 1974 and 1991. Known by the moniker, BTK – Bind Torture Kill, his notoriety was bolstered by the taunting letters he sent to police, and the chilling phone calls he made to media outlets. BTK's identity was finally revealed in 2005 to the shock of his family, his community, and the world. He was the serial killer next door. From Tenderfoot TV & iHeartPodcasts, this is 'Monster: BTK'.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.