July 19, 2020 • 34 mins
In episode 20 of the Shack Show, Geoff Shackelford opens up reacting to all of the odd events that happened at the Memorial which includes Rahm's questionable penalty and Bryson's difficult Friday. Then, Geoff is joined by Bob Harig from ESPN to react to Tiger Woods' return to competitive golf after a long layoff.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Shack Show is a production of I Heart Radio. Today.
On the Shack Show, I'm going to talk to Bob
Harry at ESPN dot com, major League Tiger watcher, expert
(00:21):
on all things Tiger, about Tiger's return to golf after
five months off. Last time we saw him was the
Genesis Open. Excuse me, the Genesis Invitational, or at least
I can called the l A Open. And more importantly,
I'm going to talk about that Zany Memorial Tournament. First, Wow,
unbelievable day at Merefield Village on Sunday. If you were
(00:43):
out enjoying beautiful weather, I don't blame you, but it
ended up being kind of a surreal final round after
a surreal week in which it started with Jack Nicholas
basically scolding the governing bodies of golf on live television.
I thought that was a nice touch. I love it
(01:04):
when he gets cranky. Um. Then he proceeds to present
Mereville Village like the US Open, which unfortunately kind of
undercuts his his message because people see a set up
like this week with high rough and greens that were
essentially allowed to die because they were going to be
ripped up after the tournament turns out they were ripped
(01:25):
up during the tournament during the final round. Not a
great look, but we'll get to that a minute. But
I do think he the US Open set up idea
undercuts the concept of of saying, hey, the skill issue
and the distance issue, uh is problematic when when the
(01:46):
course essentially did hold up well to the best players
in the world, unfortunately required things that you can only
do when you are about to take the grass out.
Um And even today they put a lot of water
on overnight and the yellow that was seen on Saturday
and the purple and the brown went back to green,
and then as the day went the greens deteriorated again. Um. So, anyway,
(02:09):
that was how we started the week. And then Jack
Nicholas mentioned that he would uh shake the hand of
the winner. Seemed like an odd uh statement given his
age and COVID nineteen where he resides a lot of
other things. And then he made a comment about how
he couldn't pass the virus along. Well. It had turned
out that mid telecast Jack decided to drop another surprise
(02:34):
on us and revealed that he and Barbara Nicholas both
had tested positive. He hadn't experienced symptoms and they had
quarantined for about a month. Barbara thankfully never got ill.
They have tested pause are tested for the antibodies. If
that turns out to mean something, I hope it does. Anyhow,
(02:57):
Jack is well and it was quite a z any week.
It was wonderful having Jack Nicholas on the broadcast because
he talked about redesigning the golf course and a lot
of other things. Then he was there in the booth
on Friday when Bryson D. Shambo made ten essentially berated
the rules officials, um mashed down the ground around where
(03:19):
he was dropping his ball. Uh. Just just just an
awful display. Then the next all his caddie essentially speeds
up to get in front of a Golf Channel cameraman
with an imposing look. I did a blog post about
that lot of layers there that that issue with Bryson
and television and weirdness and rudeness to people who are
(03:42):
just doing their job is becoming a real problem for
the PGA tour, and I believe discipline is the only
way it can be addressed. He clearly is not getting
the point, and it's so disappointing because he's such an
interesting character. I know in his heart having talked to
him a little bit. Um, he's incredibly respectful of of
(04:03):
the game's history and and his elders. And I don't
get what's happening. Uh, it's not a transformation that's attractive
to watch. And again, it's so disappointing because he is
such a different, different character and we need those people
in the game, and he needs to deal with, uh
(04:24):
why he is getting so easily upset. He also needs
to stop touching around his ball. So let's get to
the thing that really does bother me the most. John
Ram wonderful victory moves to number one in the world,
is just been playing so beautifully. He's he's slowly improving
his temper issues. He had one moment on the course
(04:45):
during the final round. If you saw he slammed his
driver into the the t on eleven after hitting it
into the trees and then subsequently into the creek where
he made double bogey. He is a an other just
class act, wonderful, interesting guy, incredibly bright, great future ahead
(05:07):
of him. Of course, he's number one in the world
now by the algorithms telling us that, so his future
has arrived. And uh, he's somebody I respect immensely. However,
like so many players today, he just loves to put
the club down behind the ball, just loves the test
a lie test the ground. And I've railed on about
(05:29):
this for a long time, and I don't want to
be labor the story for those who've heard of me.
Talk about it on State of the Game with Mike Clayton,
who concurs the former golf pro. You know, when I
was young and I would go to pro golf tournaments always,
I would always play really well the week after because
my tempo was better, and my tempo was better because
I would watch these players come up to their ball,
(05:50):
especially when they hit it a little offline and you've
got to get really close to them, and they had
a funky lie in the in the hard pan or
in the rough, and and watch them how gently they
would lay the club down and and and never really
do anything to alter what goes on behind the ball,
either because they don't want to see be seen as
(06:12):
improving new lie or because they did not actually want
to move the ball. Well, we get to sixteen today
and after all week, I mean I've seen I watched
a lot of the memorial. It was a lot of
fun to watch Golf Channel CBS. UH just doing a
great job under these difficult circumstances, especially when the cameramen
are worried about a player a caddy coming and beating
(06:36):
the crap out of them. And sure enough, John puts
his ball down to to the naked eye on live TV.
It kind of looked like it moved. Somebody texted me,
so I rewound it. Sure enough, there you go. Um
but I've seen this all week, and I maybe I've
just become numb to it. How many players are testing
(06:58):
the ground behind and it's just come habit. I really
don't think that it's cheating as much as a just
kind of the way players see other players doing it,
and that's how the games play. In fact, i'd say
you see it more with tight lies than you do
with UH lies in the rough. But this week there
was a lot of rough. We saw a lot of it,
(07:19):
and and I just I go back. There were years
ago Kenny Perry did it once in the rough at
the Phoenix Open, and it was controversial because you couldn't
see the ball. He put the club down, then you
could see the ball from the rear camera view. We
had this with Patrick Read at the PJ Championship. Peter
Costas called it out at the time on the air.
(07:41):
So it's something that those who've been around the game
a while see it and and they're they're struggling with
why the players are doing this. And I hope today
that John Rom getting a two stroke penalty after the
round handling it beautifully. He acknowledged the ball moved. Of
(08:01):
course it helped that he had enough of a lead
that it didn't change the outcome of the tournament. And
like I said, he can be a you see the temper,
but he he there is a class uh to him,
a sense of dignity that uh at his core I
know is there. And he handled it beautifully, of course,
(08:23):
like a White mentioned that he handled it like a gentleman,
which is also how he described Patrick Read. UH took
it when the same thing happened in the sand at
the Hero and Uh he really didn't handle it like
a gentleman. But anyway, um slugger White UH asked John
Rom what it looked like. He gave him the penalty
(08:44):
because under rule nine point four, the ball moved. So
forget all the high definition stuff and and all that
the Tour went right to that rule. Maybe John Rome
could have fought it, asking if this could be seen
um by the naked eye and therefore under the rules
changes that really came after Suzanne Peterson and the U
(09:07):
S Women's Open, when nobody in their right mind except
the high definition camera in slow moo replay could see
some sand move that he could have invoked that so
he did not um. I believe I have no information,
no reason to to know this, but I believe that
uh Slugger and the and the rule staff probably use
(09:29):
this as an opportunity to try and send a message
which needs to be sent to players that that this
is a bad look. We can see this on television.
We have no crowds and distractions, so we're even more
focused on you than ever. And there are these wonderful
cameras and we just see people always putting that club down,
testing the ground and to the point where you almost
(09:51):
feel like they're trying to improve their their lie. And
it really is just such a it's a it's the
core rule of the game play it as it lies.
And they beautifully conditioned golf courses. Now Merefield Village was
unbelievable shape obviously the greens guy was spiked up and
dad looking for for the reasons mentioned UM and and
(10:12):
the and the look of ripping them up in the
middle of the tournament. I just is still the strangest
UH image of a strange week. But I do believe
they're trying to to say two players, take note, this
is not going to be tolerated. I I hope that's
the case. I would love to see a memo two players.
(10:32):
Well it wouldn't I would see it, but they would
send it and then players would forward it to to
two media members and endorsed by the commissioner saying look,
people love golf and love golfers and pro golfers because
they see you as athletes with integrity, So please stop
smashing behind damn ball. UH. A few other things just
(10:56):
on the week it UH it's continuing to look like
golf is going to be able to function. There's a
great story I posted on my blog check out UM
by ESPN dot com that gets into the UH some
more details about the testing process. And we have course
three players playing by themselves this week who continued to
test positive for for COVID nineteen. One of them UH,
(11:19):
Denny McCarthy got good news after the round. He doesn't
have to be in this horrible kind of weird, ostracized grouping.
And I say, horrible is it's in it's a first
world horrible. Um, so you feel like all things are
going well, they're the only obvious loophole and bizarre thing.
And it was that the players are continuing to work
out in the fitness trailer together in a small air
(11:41):
conditioned room, and makes no sense to me. I mean,
I I live in Los Angeles, and of course all
the people are the fitness nuts have figured out ways
to work out outdoors, and obviously when it rains, I understand.
So please don't send me emails you can't work out outdoors.
More importantly, I really don't know why working out is
that is sent right now when your livelihood is golf
(12:02):
and it could be the one sport that is able
to keep going. So please just just just get some
some some bands and a phone roller and some things
and some do it in your room and or do
it in the local park with your trainer ten feet away,
whatever it takes. So that said, Uh, the other story
(12:23):
that week obviously was Tiger Woods, and that's why I
want to have Bob Harry gunn So let's take a
quick break on the Shack Show and then I'll tell
you what Bob and I are going to talk about
and talk Tiger. Alright, So it was great to see
(12:45):
Tiger back. I thought he looked really great. Of course,
then Thursday he played sound a little de hydrated after
the round and he's turning forty this year, And sure
enough that next morning Friday didn't look so hot physically.
In fact, it got a scary at times that the
the feeling was as you were watching, like, oh, no,
(13:05):
is is back really that bad? And he just he
just was having a bad day. Just that didn't take
enough turmeric and whatever it is. Um, So he looked
rusty in a lot of ways. But you go through
his numbers from the week, and Bob and I will
discuss this and and and Bob is just such a
great veteran sports writer and he watches all things Tiger,
(13:27):
and so I think you're gonna learn some interesting things
about Tiger and and some things that making may make
you wonder kind of what he's going for with his approach.
Sometimes that's Tiger, not Bob Harry. But all in all, um,
the week was one where it's pretty clear if Tiger
sits down with the incredible shot link numbers that are
provided and uh, and you know, I'm I am glad
(13:50):
shot Link is out there. I did wonder early on
in this if this was the right place and time
for them to have the whole cruise out there, but
it seems to be working really well and it is
just amazing need to have these numbers. And of course
there was a financial component to DraftKings is just killing
it with the gambling and the Gulf. But just in
a nutshell, Tiger had forty five or seventy two greens,
which was was solid for the week, even how tough
(14:13):
the greens were to hit, how windy it was a
few of the days in the Memorial tournament, and he
ended up eleventh and strokes gained approach the green. So
so the iron play is continuing continuing to be good
forty one and stroke games driving. You know, I saw
enough moments where he had the power and he looked
great when he did it, and then otherwise his swing
(14:33):
just looked like beautiful fluid rhythm. Just he just uh,
even even the day that he wasn't feeling so hot
that the swing to me looks uh solid. The short
game stunk and he he mentioned it and bomb and
I'll talk about this. Uh. So that's clearly that uh
is the thing going into Harding Park, which I believe
is where he'll next play. It's hard to see him
(14:55):
turning up in Memphis in a hot week and then
trying to regroup quickly in San Francisco and totally different conditions.
And let's face it, Harding Park is a place where
he should win. It's it's a California vibe. He doesn't
necessarily love greens that have Poe and them. We'll see
what the greens look like, and a whole bunch of
(15:17):
other things that that obviously play a role in what
Tiger does on the golf course. So with that said,
here's my conversation with Bob Harring of ESPN dot com. So, Bob,
what do you make of Tiger's week at Merefield Village
in the memorial? Well, you know, I was I thought
he would do a little bit better than this. Um,
I thought he I thought he would show a little
(15:38):
bit more. Obviously, Friday was tough with when when your
back is stiff and and you're not feeling great and
that scory shot, but it was probably pretty good under
those conditions. You know that in that situation he was
losing a lot of shots to the right. And when
you're backs bob and he is hard to put and ship,
(15:59):
so you give him a pass on that. Uh. And
and the Sunday conditions, you know, look, the golf course
was was was borderline over the top. He actually you know,
he actually scored pretty well for the conditions in the
scoring average. But he's got some things he needs to
work out, he even said. So his putting was not great. Um,
(16:22):
you know, his his play at the par five, he
ended up even for the week. Uh, you know, Tiger
has got to be six eight under on the par
five and uh, he's not giving himself that chance. And
also again I thought, even on Sunday when he was
swinging nicely, hitting a lot of nice, nice tea shots, Um,
his ledge play, you know, a hundred hundred twenty yards
(16:45):
in is just um uh, it's it's mediocre. You know,
he's got to take advantage when when he hits it
that close. So you know, when he's on a par
five and he has a hundred yards in, you know,
he's got to be giving himself a ten fifteen foot
or not jumping a bunker and that seemed to happen
a bunch. But is that rust or you know, is
(17:07):
that a product of the stiff back and he didn't
work on it enough. Those are hard questions to answer,
but you know that this is the whole point. You
need to get out there and see what he had
and now he knows what to go back and work on. Yeah.
So when you watch it, you see though overall, I mean,
compared to what we saw the last time at the Genesis,
(17:27):
where it was just just nothing was really going very well,
you see signs of progress or at least he's in
decent enough shape to turn up at the PGA Championship
with a chance to win. Yeah, I think I think
there needs to be a little bit of working on
the finer points. And now he swung the club pretty
(17:50):
nicely during the final round. Uh. There was lack of
speed earlier, which was a little alarming. So was that
because he was just laying back and being careful or
did you just not have it? Um? You know, those
were those obviously those were some issues he had at
Riviera because he wasn't feeling well, but those weren't issues
that he had, say, you know, even at Tory Pines
(18:13):
or obviously in the fall. Uh. So there's some rust too,
and and uh, you know this leads back to the
old you know, arguing about shouldn't have played one of
the one of the previous events. You know, would have
been good for him to get out and play a
tournament where the scoring conditions were easier. He hadn't admitted
he would have liked them to have been a little
(18:35):
bit easier. He's fine with a hard task, but this
might have been too hard. Um. And I think ultimately
he's glad he made the cutt and he got the
two weekend rounds in. But it's hard to gain much
on a on a Sunday where you're playing so defensively
the entire time. And he's really glad that he got
in that that final hall and the restart. Looking at
(18:57):
the weather map back to the back though. What what me?
On Thursday evening when he gave his post round interview,
he sounded a little like you sound when it's a
low nineties humid day, sound a little dehydrated. His voice
sounded weak. Uh, And I did have a little thought like, oh,
that's gonna be a quick turnaround. Uh, when you get
(19:18):
to a certain age that that and you haven't been playing,
you've been wizzing around medalists in a cart. And even
though it's hot in your your home state this time
of year, it's just not the same as mere Field Village,
which is a really tough walk. It is not an
easy piece of land to get around. But yeah, I
just wonder what does he did. The COVID restrictions not
(19:39):
allow him any to bring somebody who who kind of
does some work on him. I mean, I know there's
very limited on who can be on site, but it
seems like he wasn't really prepared, uh physically for that
round the next day on Friday, where he just looked
he looked off. I mean a few times he looked
like he was about to uh call it just you know,
(19:59):
just didn't look comfortable at all. Is there somebody there
that can can help him with that? Well, that's that's
an interesting topic because you know, he hasn't been bringing
a trainer with him. Uh, you know, he didn't do
that all last year, and I don't think it's prohibited
for him to do that. That person might not be
(20:20):
allowed on site, but certainly that person could help him
out away from the course. This's been using the tour trainers,
and I don't know to what extent that's even allowed
right now. I think there's some restorations on that. You're right,
obviously quick turnaround uh to Friday morning, did him no favors.
That's always going to be a problem. Uh. But you know,
(20:42):
also to your point about him looking a little lot
of sorts after that Thursday round, I think we can
surmise it might have been the first Tommy walked a
team and and if and if that's the case, that's
you know, that's too sort of a I think a
misplay on his part. Um. Now, look, I get it.
(21:05):
When he's at home, he's trying to pack as much
in as he can. And when he's working on his
game and you want to play, you want to get
the holes in in the swing. Then it's it's quicker
to go out there and play in a golf cart.
And then you know you're gonna practice before, you're gonna
practice after on the range, you're out there for a
long time, you are standing for a while. Obviously he's
(21:27):
working out doing those things too. But I would think
at some point as part of it, you just need
to do the entire somebody's carrying the bag and even
if doesn't come down. Joe did not go down to Florida,
so he's hearing somebody's and they've done that in the past.
He did not do that this time. You know, Joe
had not seen Tigers since February sixteen before before Tuesday,
(21:51):
you know. So. Um, but I mean, you've got to
go through the routine of of the cadence and the
waiting and standing. You know, when you're hitting a shot
and getting back in a cart that there's a relief
on your back when you're hitting the shot and then
walking down the fairway and then doing it again and
not sitting down much. Um, that's different, you know. And
(22:15):
and I just wondered, you know, Okay, he's not used
to that. And look, it has nothing to do with
being in shape. I mean, obviously Tigers in great shape,
but you can't replicate that, you know. So, um, I
think you know now it's gonna be going back to Florida.
I live in Florida's hot as can be, you know,
(22:36):
is he gonna want to walk around to the metallist.
I think it would. I think it would help him
to do it once or twice. You know, it's it's
just it's just to get used to being on your
feet and standing and not sitting down. Now, maybe he
doesn't want to do that because that aggravates things and
the less he does it better. But that means then
he needs to play more. And obviously that's a tough
(22:58):
call at this point. Yeah, seems like an odd oversight
or odd bit of complacency for somebody who's usually pretty
detail oriented and knows what he needs to do. Uh
So after the round he discussed a man of Ballyon
has tried, And then some of the writers tried to
find out where he's playing next, and he really didn't say.
(23:18):
But did you read into that that he's his next
stop is Harding Park in the PGA Championship. You know,
I I didn't necessarily take that as a no. Um.
You know, I I thought going into this week that
Memphis the w g C was a good possibility because
(23:40):
I didn't see him playing three playoff events in a row,
and I have a sense that he would really like
to get to Atlanta. UM and in order to do that,
you've got he's got to earn some points, you know.
And so if you're not going to play three playoff
events in a row, why not go to the w
(24:00):
g C where you know there's no cut. But after
this week, I'm a little bit more negative on that idea,
simply because he doesn't want to overdo it the week
before the p GA and have nothing. He's gonna be
playing in degree. He going to sixty five degrees. That's
not good, you know, And I think we just are
(24:24):
seeing that playing back to back weeks. The risk, you know,
he might do it during the playoffs, he might do
it at Olympia Fields and the Tour Championship because there
is an extra day before the Tour Championship. It's gonna
be a day starting a day later. I could see
him doing it then. That's like, but that's the only time,
I think, you know, I just think now, especially going
(24:46):
to a golf course. He doesn't know Memphis, right. Yeah,
I'm I'm leading more against although I wouldn't be surprised
at the additive. It's just I just think it's up
in the air. Yeah, I'd vote for getting to Samra's
Cisco area early and getting back on some cool season
grass golf, for stopping into Stanford or something in the
(25:07):
area and playing some golf around there. But he doesn't
really even like to do that kind of thing anymore.
He just seems to be more of a stay at
home and then and then roll in. But it's certainly
not It's very different than golf in Florida. You're right,
and he would be gone either way. So to your point,
if he leaves early and he gets to cal northern
(25:27):
California on the weekend, obviously that even though he's had
great success out there, that that type of grass has
given him fits putting well at times, and it's good
for him to get used to it. He certainly won't
have had any practice on it for six months, you know.
So to your point, it's a great idea. Actually, if
(25:49):
you were to take that under advisement. Yeah, he doesn't
really take that kind of advice. In fact, he probably
would go the opposite way. But hardy I did notice
he commented on the on the putting that he wasn't
used to He just wasn't used to the ball breaking
that much. It's been a while and and the ball
really was snapping at the hall, and then they had
(26:10):
some just insane whole locations. I thought, yeah, this week,
it seemed it seemed like they were different. The other
thing I noticed and I just wondered if it was
his back. And it's a hard question to ask. He
won't answer it, I don't think anyway. But it looked
to me like he was just more upright the putter.
The putter looked very long in his hands. And I
don't know if that was the back or he's just
(26:31):
something mechanically he's he has to get right. If he'll
see himself on on the replay or something tonight and go,
oh wow, I don't know if you saw it, just
looked like he was standing very tall over the ball. Yeah,
that's a good point. His posture looked a little bit
different than so is that just a bad habit that
(26:53):
he got into because to bend over was a little
more bothersome you know. You know, hopefully he takes a
look at that and and and and works on it.
Um uh. And it was good that he acknowledged that
the putting was off. Um And look, that was that
was a hard, hard tournament to put on, you know,
(27:18):
especially the final round. You know, the greens were just
ridiculously fast and you're having some long puts. It's hard
to lag them so um, but it did. Again, it
gives them, you know, um, some some points to work
on now. And and that's that's what he really needed.
I think that's what he needed out of this. And
(27:40):
and it's unfortunately for him, it was almost like coming
back to a major uh, and he had no he
had no chance to like work out the kinks on
an easier layout where you can recover better. Yeah. I
think it might be a positive that he saw that
his game on a on a major style venue was
exposed to actually the short game, and maybe it'll make
(28:02):
him take up a few um, take things up a
few notches and and um. And then obviously Harding Park
is not even even set up very extreme. It's just
never it can never get like Merefield Village this week
in terms of I think the number of kind of
scary shots and scary potts. Uh. You mentioned though he's
(28:23):
played well there, so you you're you're pretty bullish though,
Still on his prospects going to our our first major championship, Yeah,
I would like to have seen more this week. I
expected better. I expected him to be fine physically. I didn't.
I wasn't thinking there could be a physical setback. And
(28:44):
if that happens, obviously there's no chance. You know, it's
just not gonna happen. But when he's looked feeling good,
like he seemed to be on Sunday in the final round,
and he was hitting a lot of good tea shots, um,
you know, he seemed fluid, he seemed loose. Yeah, absolutely,
I mean, you know, he still had a good week
approach shots to the to the whole. I mean, his
(29:05):
his stats aren't going to be great, but his stats
for you know, strokes gained approach are going to be decent. Yeah, yeah,
it was. It was a good week when you consider
where he put himself off the tea, especially on Friday.
You know, that's that's pretty impressive. Uh, It's just more
than little things. And you know, as we were saying earlier,
(29:27):
I find it puzzling that that tiger is better, you know,
statistically from two hundred yards or a hundred eight yards,
and he is from a hundred you know, and this
has been an issue for a while. You know, unless
he gets his wedges dialed in, you know, he you're
not taking advantage of your length on on short part
four's or even on par fives, and you're just giving
(29:50):
away too much when you do that. And and also
he's not hitting part five and two enough either. That's
not happening very often. So so you know he's he's uh,
he puts himself a little bit behind when when that's
the case, Yeah, I'll be interesting. I would love to
know if he looks at many of these numbers, um,
but he wasn't alone in the uh really mediocre effort
(30:14):
from uh A hundred hundred twenty down just incredible. How
many guys are I mean, Rory was just just horrendous
earlier in the week from that, you know, justin Thomas,
I don't think it's enough credit for how much he
differentiates himself from his his peers being so good from
that distance, and in part of it, I think he
(30:34):
hits a beautiful little cut shot that lands softly with
his wedges and kind of which is more old style
and a lot of the guys don't do that. But
but it's got to be. I just I would love
to know if Tiger pulls up those numbers or Rob
McNamara pulls him up and goes, hey, hey, Maas, how
about we go out to the backyard green and dial
in that that hundred and ten yards shot a little
(30:56):
bit more. Um, do you think he's open to that
kind of kind versation. Yeah, you know, I think he is.
But you know, Tig, you're stubborn about other things, like
you know, it's it's interesting to me that he doesn't
carry a gap weedge in this day and age, you
know that there's a big disparity when you hit the
(31:17):
ball so far between you know, when you just have
pitching wedge sand wedge and uh, I guess it would
be pitching wedge degree and sixty degree sand wedge. That's
that's what he carries, you know. And so there's there's
some pretty big variances there between you know, I'm guessing
(31:38):
between the pitching wedge and any when what what might
hit a you know, a fifty six degree and so
that requires you know, honing that in and and and
really kind of you know, working on that dialing it in.
And that's not that easy if you're not if you're
not playing all the time, or if you're not practicing
that all the time. And uh, you know, I think
(31:59):
Tiger no is what his numbers are, and there's gonna
be weeks where he has that dialed in, but then
there's times that he doesn't. And you know, the the
last day, the final round is Nearfield Village, I think
it would be hard to hold due to a high standard.
I'm hitting it close, but still he came up short
a couple of times. Um, you know he missed greens
(32:21):
with the wedge, you know, so that that suggests something
is off there. Yeah, well you and I argue about this,
Uh when we have the opportunity in person. I just
don't think he cares outside of the four majors at
this point, that enough to really grind and uh. But
but I think this week will be a positive in
(32:43):
opening his eyes to what what he needs to work
on and and I think he will get excited at
Harding Park. It will just be the even though there
are no crowds, it will be the the cypress trees
and and the northern cal vibe that he knows so well.
And I'm confident he'll he'll show up. They're ready to go.
Um So anyway, Bob, thank you so much. I all
(33:07):
things willing and and all going well, I will see
you at Harding Park. I can't wait look forward to it. Yeff, thanks,
thank you. Let's take a brief pause from The Shack
Show and here from our sponsors. All right, thank you
(33:31):
again to Bob Eric for the conversation. And it should
be a fun few weeks here coming up as we
lead up to a major championship in August. A PJ
and August very normal. Just won't have any fans and uh,
I can't wait. I'm gonna be there. I'm excited about
getting to be back at a tournament. Uh, knock on wood.
All things go well here and uh we will see
(33:53):
what happens in the coming weeks with with golf, but uh,
in all of pro sports. Really it's a wild all
time I think you know the drill. The Shack Show
is a production of I Heart Radio and by the way,
just a reminder that they're fantastic golf podcast from Han
Kaney Page Brandic, Maxhoma slash Shane Bacon, So please check
(34:15):
those out, subscribe, tell me anything you like don't like
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We've got the LPGA going to Inverness, so I'm gonna
try to reach out through some discussion around that as well.
So please visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows and I'll
(34:36):
talk to you soon. Thanks,
The Shack Show is a production of I Heart Radio. Today.
On the Shack Show, I'm going to talk to Bob
Harry at ESPN dot com, major League Tiger watcher, expert
(00:21):
on all things Tiger, about Tiger's return to golf after
five months off. Last time we saw him was the
Genesis Open. Excuse me, the Genesis Invitational, or at least
I can called the l A Open. And more importantly,
I'm going to talk about that Zany Memorial Tournament. First, Wow,
unbelievable day at Merefield Village on Sunday. If you were
(00:43):
out enjoying beautiful weather, I don't blame you, but it
ended up being kind of a surreal final round after
a surreal week in which it started with Jack Nicholas
basically scolding the governing bodies of golf on live television.
I thought that was a nice touch. I love it
(01:04):
when he gets cranky. Um. Then he proceeds to present
Mereville Village like the US Open, which unfortunately kind of
undercuts his his message because people see a set up
like this week with high rough and greens that were
essentially allowed to die because they were going to be
ripped up after the tournament turns out they were ripped
(01:25):
up during the tournament during the final round. Not a
great look, but we'll get to that a minute. But
I do think he the US Open set up idea
undercuts the concept of of saying, hey, the skill issue
and the distance issue, uh is problematic when when the
(01:46):
course essentially did hold up well to the best players
in the world, unfortunately required things that you can only
do when you are about to take the grass out.
Um And even today they put a lot of water
on overnight and the yellow that was seen on Saturday
and the purple and the brown went back to green,
and then as the day went the greens deteriorated again. Um. So, anyway,
(02:09):
that was how we started the week. And then Jack
Nicholas mentioned that he would uh shake the hand of
the winner. Seemed like an odd uh statement given his
age and COVID nineteen where he resides a lot of
other things. And then he made a comment about how
he couldn't pass the virus along. Well. It had turned
out that mid telecast Jack decided to drop another surprise
(02:34):
on us and revealed that he and Barbara Nicholas both
had tested positive. He hadn't experienced symptoms and they had
quarantined for about a month. Barbara thankfully never got ill.
They have tested pause are tested for the antibodies. If
that turns out to mean something, I hope it does. Anyhow,
(02:57):
Jack is well and it was quite a z any week.
It was wonderful having Jack Nicholas on the broadcast because
he talked about redesigning the golf course and a lot
of other things. Then he was there in the booth
on Friday when Bryson D. Shambo made ten essentially berated
the rules officials, um mashed down the ground around where
(03:19):
he was dropping his ball. Uh. Just just just an
awful display. Then the next all his caddie essentially speeds
up to get in front of a Golf Channel cameraman
with an imposing look. I did a blog post about
that lot of layers there that that issue with Bryson
and television and weirdness and rudeness to people who are
(03:42):
just doing their job is becoming a real problem for
the PGA tour, and I believe discipline is the only
way it can be addressed. He clearly is not getting
the point, and it's so disappointing because he's such an
interesting character. I know in his heart having talked to
him a little bit. Um, he's incredibly respectful of of
(04:03):
the game's history and and his elders. And I don't
get what's happening. Uh, it's not a transformation that's attractive
to watch. And again, it's so disappointing because he is
such a different, different character and we need those people
in the game, and he needs to deal with, uh
(04:24):
why he is getting so easily upset. He also needs
to stop touching around his ball. So let's get to
the thing that really does bother me the most. John
Ram wonderful victory moves to number one in the world,
is just been playing so beautifully. He's he's slowly improving
his temper issues. He had one moment on the course
(04:45):
during the final round. If you saw he slammed his
driver into the the t on eleven after hitting it
into the trees and then subsequently into the creek where
he made double bogey. He is a an other just
class act, wonderful, interesting guy, incredibly bright, great future ahead
(05:07):
of him. Of course, he's number one in the world
now by the algorithms telling us that, so his future
has arrived. And uh, he's somebody I respect immensely. However,
like so many players today, he just loves to put
the club down behind the ball, just loves the test
a lie test the ground. And I've railed on about
(05:29):
this for a long time, and I don't want to
be labor the story for those who've heard of me.
Talk about it on State of the Game with Mike Clayton,
who concurs the former golf pro. You know, when I
was young and I would go to pro golf tournaments always,
I would always play really well the week after because
my tempo was better, and my tempo was better because
I would watch these players come up to their ball,
(05:50):
especially when they hit it a little offline and you've
got to get really close to them, and they had
a funky lie in the in the hard pan or
in the rough, and and watch them how gently they
would lay the club down and and and never really
do anything to alter what goes on behind the ball,
either because they don't want to see be seen as
(06:12):
improving new lie or because they did not actually want
to move the ball. Well, we get to sixteen today
and after all week, I mean I've seen I watched
a lot of the memorial. It was a lot of
fun to watch Golf Channel CBS. UH just doing a
great job under these difficult circumstances, especially when the cameramen
are worried about a player a caddy coming and beating
(06:36):
the crap out of them. And sure enough, John puts
his ball down to to the naked eye on live TV.
It kind of looked like it moved. Somebody texted me,
so I rewound it. Sure enough, there you go. Um
but I've seen this all week, and I maybe I've
just become numb to it. How many players are testing
(06:58):
the ground behind and it's just come habit. I really
don't think that it's cheating as much as a just
kind of the way players see other players doing it,
and that's how the games play. In fact, i'd say
you see it more with tight lies than you do
with UH lies in the rough. But this week there
was a lot of rough. We saw a lot of it,
(07:19):
and and I just I go back. There were years
ago Kenny Perry did it once in the rough at
the Phoenix Open, and it was controversial because you couldn't
see the ball. He put the club down, then you
could see the ball from the rear camera view. We
had this with Patrick Read at the PJ Championship. Peter
Costas called it out at the time on the air.
(07:41):
So it's something that those who've been around the game
a while see it and and they're they're struggling with
why the players are doing this. And I hope today
that John Rom getting a two stroke penalty after the
round handling it beautifully. He acknowledged the ball moved. Of
(08:01):
course it helped that he had enough of a lead
that it didn't change the outcome of the tournament. And
like I said, he can be a you see the temper,
but he he there is a class uh to him,
a sense of dignity that uh at his core I
know is there. And he handled it beautifully, of course,
(08:23):
like a White mentioned that he handled it like a gentleman,
which is also how he described Patrick Read. UH took
it when the same thing happened in the sand at
the Hero and Uh he really didn't handle it like
a gentleman. But anyway, um slugger White UH asked John
Rom what it looked like. He gave him the penalty
(08:44):
because under rule nine point four, the ball moved. So
forget all the high definition stuff and and all that
the Tour went right to that rule. Maybe John Rome
could have fought it, asking if this could be seen
um by the naked eye and therefore under the rules
changes that really came after Suzanne Peterson and the U
(09:07):
S Women's Open, when nobody in their right mind except
the high definition camera in slow moo replay could see
some sand move that he could have invoked that so
he did not um. I believe I have no information,
no reason to to know this, but I believe that
uh Slugger and the and the rule staff probably use
(09:29):
this as an opportunity to try and send a message
which needs to be sent to players that that this
is a bad look. We can see this on television.
We have no crowds and distractions, so we're even more
focused on you than ever. And there are these wonderful
cameras and we just see people always putting that club down,
testing the ground and to the point where you almost
(09:51):
feel like they're trying to improve their their lie. And
it really is just such a it's a it's the
core rule of the game play it as it lies.
And they beautifully conditioned golf courses. Now Merefield Village was
unbelievable shape obviously the greens guy was spiked up and
dad looking for for the reasons mentioned UM and and
(10:12):
the and the look of ripping them up in the
middle of the tournament. I just is still the strangest
UH image of a strange week. But I do believe
they're trying to to say two players, take note, this
is not going to be tolerated. I I hope that's
the case. I would love to see a memo two players.
(10:32):
Well it wouldn't I would see it, but they would
send it and then players would forward it to to
two media members and endorsed by the commissioner saying look,
people love golf and love golfers and pro golfers because
they see you as athletes with integrity, So please stop
smashing behind damn ball. UH. A few other things just
(10:56):
on the week it UH it's continuing to look like
golf is going to be able to function. There's a
great story I posted on my blog check out UM
by ESPN dot com that gets into the UH some
more details about the testing process. And we have course
three players playing by themselves this week who continued to
test positive for for COVID nineteen. One of them UH,
(11:19):
Denny McCarthy got good news after the round. He doesn't
have to be in this horrible kind of weird, ostracized grouping.
And I say, horrible is it's in it's a first
world horrible. Um, so you feel like all things are
going well, they're the only obvious loophole and bizarre thing.
And it was that the players are continuing to work
out in the fitness trailer together in a small air
(11:41):
conditioned room, and makes no sense to me. I mean,
I I live in Los Angeles, and of course all
the people are the fitness nuts have figured out ways
to work out outdoors, and obviously when it rains, I understand.
So please don't send me emails you can't work out outdoors.
More importantly, I really don't know why working out is
that is sent right now when your livelihood is golf
(12:02):
and it could be the one sport that is able
to keep going. So please just just just get some
some some bands and a phone roller and some things
and some do it in your room and or do
it in the local park with your trainer ten feet away,
whatever it takes. So that said, Uh, the other story
(12:23):
that week obviously was Tiger Woods, and that's why I
want to have Bob Harry gunn So let's take a
quick break on the Shack Show and then I'll tell
you what Bob and I are going to talk about
and talk Tiger. Alright, So it was great to see
(12:45):
Tiger back. I thought he looked really great. Of course,
then Thursday he played sound a little de hydrated after
the round and he's turning forty this year, And sure
enough that next morning Friday didn't look so hot physically.
In fact, it got a scary at times that the
the feeling was as you were watching, like, oh, no,
(13:05):
is is back really that bad? And he just he
just was having a bad day. Just that didn't take
enough turmeric and whatever it is. Um, So he looked
rusty in a lot of ways. But you go through
his numbers from the week, and Bob and I will
discuss this and and and Bob is just such a
great veteran sports writer and he watches all things Tiger,
(13:27):
and so I think you're gonna learn some interesting things
about Tiger and and some things that making may make
you wonder kind of what he's going for with his approach.
Sometimes that's Tiger, not Bob Harry. But all in all, um,
the week was one where it's pretty clear if Tiger
sits down with the incredible shot link numbers that are
provided and uh, and you know, I'm I am glad
(13:50):
shot Link is out there. I did wonder early on
in this if this was the right place and time
for them to have the whole cruise out there, but
it seems to be working really well and it is
just amazing need to have these numbers. And of course
there was a financial component to DraftKings is just killing
it with the gambling and the Gulf. But just in
a nutshell, Tiger had forty five or seventy two greens,
which was was solid for the week, even how tough
(14:13):
the greens were to hit, how windy it was a
few of the days in the Memorial tournament, and he
ended up eleventh and strokes gained approach the green. So
so the iron play is continuing continuing to be good
forty one and stroke games driving. You know, I saw
enough moments where he had the power and he looked
great when he did it, and then otherwise his swing
(14:33):
just looked like beautiful fluid rhythm. Just he just uh,
even even the day that he wasn't feeling so hot
that the swing to me looks uh solid. The short
game stunk and he he mentioned it and bomb and
I'll talk about this. Uh. So that's clearly that uh
is the thing going into Harding Park, which I believe
is where he'll next play. It's hard to see him
(14:55):
turning up in Memphis in a hot week and then
trying to regroup quickly in San Francisco and totally different conditions.
And let's face it, Harding Park is a place where
he should win. It's it's a California vibe. He doesn't
necessarily love greens that have Poe and them. We'll see
what the greens look like, and a whole bunch of
(15:17):
other things that that obviously play a role in what
Tiger does on the golf course. So with that said,
here's my conversation with Bob Harring of ESPN dot com. So, Bob,
what do you make of Tiger's week at Merefield Village
in the memorial? Well, you know, I was I thought
he would do a little bit better than this. Um,
I thought he I thought he would show a little
(15:38):
bit more. Obviously, Friday was tough with when when your
back is stiff and and you're not feeling great and
that scory shot, but it was probably pretty good under
those conditions. You know that in that situation he was
losing a lot of shots to the right. And when
you're backs bob and he is hard to put and ship,
(15:59):
so you give him a pass on that. Uh. And
and the Sunday conditions, you know, look, the golf course
was was was borderline over the top. He actually you know,
he actually scored pretty well for the conditions in the
scoring average. But he's got some things he needs to
work out, he even said. So his putting was not great. Um,
(16:22):
you know, his his play at the par five, he
ended up even for the week. Uh, you know, Tiger
has got to be six eight under on the par
five and uh, he's not giving himself that chance. And
also again I thought, even on Sunday when he was
swinging nicely, hitting a lot of nice, nice tea shots, Um,
his ledge play, you know, a hundred hundred twenty yards
(16:45):
in is just um uh, it's it's mediocre. You know,
he's got to take advantage when when he hits it
that close. So you know, when he's on a par
five and he has a hundred yards in, you know,
he's got to be giving himself a ten fifteen foot
or not jumping a bunker and that seemed to happen
a bunch. But is that rust or you know, is
(17:07):
that a product of the stiff back and he didn't
work on it enough. Those are hard questions to answer,
but you know that this is the whole point. You
need to get out there and see what he had
and now he knows what to go back and work on. Yeah.
So when you watch it, you see though overall, I mean,
compared to what we saw the last time at the Genesis,
(17:27):
where it was just just nothing was really going very well,
you see signs of progress or at least he's in
decent enough shape to turn up at the PGA Championship
with a chance to win. Yeah, I think I think
there needs to be a little bit of working on
the finer points. And now he swung the club pretty
(17:50):
nicely during the final round. Uh. There was lack of
speed earlier, which was a little alarming. So was that
because he was just laying back and being careful or
did you just not have it? Um? You know, those
were those obviously those were some issues he had at
Riviera because he wasn't feeling well, but those weren't issues
that he had, say, you know, even at Tory Pines
(18:13):
or obviously in the fall. Uh. So there's some rust too,
and and uh, you know this leads back to the
old you know, arguing about shouldn't have played one of
the one of the previous events. You know, would have
been good for him to get out and play a
tournament where the scoring conditions were easier. He hadn't admitted
he would have liked them to have been a little
(18:35):
bit easier. He's fine with a hard task, but this
might have been too hard. Um. And I think ultimately
he's glad he made the cutt and he got the
two weekend rounds in. But it's hard to gain much
on a on a Sunday where you're playing so defensively
the entire time. And he's really glad that he got
in that that final hall and the restart. Looking at
(18:57):
the weather map back to the back though. What what me?
On Thursday evening when he gave his post round interview,
he sounded a little like you sound when it's a
low nineties humid day, sound a little dehydrated. His voice
sounded weak. Uh, And I did have a little thought like, oh,
that's gonna be a quick turnaround. Uh, when you get
(19:18):
to a certain age that that and you haven't been playing,
you've been wizzing around medalists in a cart. And even
though it's hot in your your home state this time
of year, it's just not the same as mere Field Village,
which is a really tough walk. It is not an
easy piece of land to get around. But yeah, I
just wonder what does he did. The COVID restrictions not
(19:39):
allow him any to bring somebody who who kind of
does some work on him. I mean, I know there's
very limited on who can be on site, but it
seems like he wasn't really prepared, uh physically for that
round the next day on Friday, where he just looked
he looked off. I mean a few times he looked
like he was about to uh call it just you know,
(19:59):
just didn't look comfortable at all. Is there somebody there
that can can help him with that? Well, that's that's
an interesting topic because you know, he hasn't been bringing
a trainer with him. Uh, you know, he didn't do
that all last year, and I don't think it's prohibited
for him to do that. That person might not be
(20:20):
allowed on site, but certainly that person could help him
out away from the course. This's been using the tour trainers,
and I don't know to what extent that's even allowed
right now. I think there's some restorations on that. You're right,
obviously quick turnaround uh to Friday morning, did him no favors.
That's always going to be a problem. Uh. But you know,
(20:42):
also to your point about him looking a little lot
of sorts after that Thursday round, I think we can
surmise it might have been the first Tommy walked a
team and and if and if that's the case, that's
you know, that's too sort of a I think a
misplay on his part. Um. Now, look, I get it.
(21:05):
When he's at home, he's trying to pack as much
in as he can. And when he's working on his
game and you want to play, you want to get
the holes in in the swing. Then it's it's quicker
to go out there and play in a golf cart.
And then you know you're gonna practice before, you're gonna
practice after on the range, you're out there for a
long time, you are standing for a while. Obviously he's
(21:27):
working out doing those things too. But I would think
at some point as part of it, you just need
to do the entire somebody's carrying the bag and even
if doesn't come down. Joe did not go down to Florida,
so he's hearing somebody's and they've done that in the past.
He did not do that this time. You know, Joe
had not seen Tigers since February sixteen before before Tuesday,
(21:51):
you know. So. Um, but I mean, you've got to
go through the routine of of the cadence and the
waiting and standing. You know, when you're hitting a shot
and getting back in a cart that there's a relief
on your back when you're hitting the shot and then
walking down the fairway and then doing it again and
not sitting down much. Um, that's different, you know. And
(22:15):
and I just wondered, you know, Okay, he's not used
to that. And look, it has nothing to do with
being in shape. I mean, obviously Tigers in great shape,
but you can't replicate that, you know. So, um, I
think you know now it's gonna be going back to Florida.
I live in Florida's hot as can be, you know,
(22:36):
is he gonna want to walk around to the metallist.
I think it would. I think it would help him
to do it once or twice. You know, it's it's
just it's just to get used to being on your
feet and standing and not sitting down. Now, maybe he
doesn't want to do that because that aggravates things and
the less he does it better. But that means then
he needs to play more. And obviously that's a tough
(22:58):
call at this point. Yeah, seems like an odd oversight
or odd bit of complacency for somebody who's usually pretty
detail oriented and knows what he needs to do. Uh
So after the round he discussed a man of Ballyon
has tried, And then some of the writers tried to
find out where he's playing next, and he really didn't say.
(23:18):
But did you read into that that he's his next
stop is Harding Park in the PGA Championship. You know,
I I didn't necessarily take that as a no. Um.
You know, I I thought going into this week that
Memphis the w g C was a good possibility because
(23:40):
I didn't see him playing three playoff events in a row,
and I have a sense that he would really like
to get to Atlanta. UM and in order to do that,
you've got he's got to earn some points, you know.
And so if you're not going to play three playoff
events in a row, why not go to the w
(24:00):
g C where you know there's no cut. But after
this week, I'm a little bit more negative on that idea,
simply because he doesn't want to overdo it the week
before the p GA and have nothing. He's gonna be
playing in degree. He going to sixty five degrees. That's
not good, you know, And I think we just are
(24:24):
seeing that playing back to back weeks. The risk, you know,
he might do it during the playoffs, he might do
it at Olympia Fields and the Tour Championship because there
is an extra day before the Tour Championship. It's gonna
be a day starting a day later. I could see
him doing it then. That's like, but that's the only time,
I think, you know, I just think now, especially going
(24:46):
to a golf course. He doesn't know Memphis, right. Yeah,
I'm I'm leading more against although I wouldn't be surprised
at the additive. It's just I just think it's up
in the air. Yeah, I'd vote for getting to Samra's
Cisco area early and getting back on some cool season
grass golf, for stopping into Stanford or something in the
(25:07):
area and playing some golf around there. But he doesn't
really even like to do that kind of thing anymore.
He just seems to be more of a stay at
home and then and then roll in. But it's certainly
not It's very different than golf in Florida. You're right,
and he would be gone either way. So to your point,
if he leaves early and he gets to cal northern
(25:27):
California on the weekend, obviously that even though he's had
great success out there, that that type of grass has
given him fits putting well at times, and it's good
for him to get used to it. He certainly won't
have had any practice on it for six months, you know.
So to your point, it's a great idea. Actually, if
(25:49):
you were to take that under advisement. Yeah, he doesn't
really take that kind of advice. In fact, he probably
would go the opposite way. But hardy I did notice
he commented on the on the putting that he wasn't
used to He just wasn't used to the ball breaking
that much. It's been a while and and the ball
really was snapping at the hall, and then they had
(26:10):
some just insane whole locations. I thought, yeah, this week,
it seemed it seemed like they were different. The other
thing I noticed and I just wondered if it was
his back. And it's a hard question to ask. He
won't answer it, I don't think anyway. But it looked
to me like he was just more upright the putter.
The putter looked very long in his hands. And I
don't know if that was the back or he's just
(26:31):
something mechanically he's he has to get right. If he'll
see himself on on the replay or something tonight and go,
oh wow, I don't know if you saw it, just
looked like he was standing very tall over the ball. Yeah,
that's a good point. His posture looked a little bit
different than so is that just a bad habit that
(26:53):
he got into because to bend over was a little
more bothersome you know. You know, hopefully he takes a
look at that and and and and works on it.
Um uh. And it was good that he acknowledged that
the putting was off. Um And look, that was that
was a hard, hard tournament to put on, you know,
(27:18):
especially the final round. You know, the greens were just
ridiculously fast and you're having some long puts. It's hard
to lag them so um, but it did. Again, it
gives them, you know, um, some some points to work
on now. And and that's that's what he really needed.
I think that's what he needed out of this. And
(27:40):
and it's unfortunately for him, it was almost like coming
back to a major uh, and he had no he
had no chance to like work out the kinks on
an easier layout where you can recover better. Yeah. I
think it might be a positive that he saw that
his game on a on a major style venue was
exposed to actually the short game, and maybe it'll make
(28:02):
him take up a few um, take things up a
few notches and and um. And then obviously Harding Park
is not even even set up very extreme. It's just
never it can never get like Merefield Village this week
in terms of I think the number of kind of
scary shots and scary potts. Uh. You mentioned though he's
(28:23):
played well there, so you you're you're pretty bullish though,
Still on his prospects going to our our first major championship, Yeah,
I would like to have seen more this week. I
expected better. I expected him to be fine physically. I didn't.
I wasn't thinking there could be a physical setback. And
(28:44):
if that happens, obviously there's no chance. You know, it's
just not gonna happen. But when he's looked feeling good,
like he seemed to be on Sunday in the final round,
and he was hitting a lot of good tea shots, um,
you know, he seemed fluid, he seemed loose. Yeah, absolutely,
I mean, you know, he still had a good week
approach shots to the to the whole. I mean, his
(29:05):
his stats aren't going to be great, but his stats
for you know, strokes gained approach are going to be decent. Yeah, yeah,
it was. It was a good week when you consider
where he put himself off the tea, especially on Friday.
You know, that's that's pretty impressive. Uh, It's just more
than little things. And you know, as we were saying earlier,
(29:27):
I find it puzzling that that tiger is better, you know,
statistically from two hundred yards or a hundred eight yards,
and he is from a hundred you know, and this
has been an issue for a while. You know, unless
he gets his wedges dialed in, you know, he you're
not taking advantage of your length on on short part
four's or even on par fives, and you're just giving
(29:50):
away too much when you do that. And and also
he's not hitting part five and two enough either. That's
not happening very often. So so you know he's he's uh,
he puts himself a little bit behind when when that's
the case, Yeah, I'll be interesting. I would love to
know if he looks at many of these numbers, um,
but he wasn't alone in the uh really mediocre effort
(30:14):
from uh A hundred hundred twenty down just incredible. How
many guys are I mean, Rory was just just horrendous
earlier in the week from that, you know, justin Thomas,
I don't think it's enough credit for how much he
differentiates himself from his his peers being so good from
that distance, and in part of it, I think he
(30:34):
hits a beautiful little cut shot that lands softly with
his wedges and kind of which is more old style
and a lot of the guys don't do that. But
but it's got to be. I just I would love
to know if Tiger pulls up those numbers or Rob
McNamara pulls him up and goes, hey, hey, Maas, how
about we go out to the backyard green and dial
in that that hundred and ten yards shot a little
(30:56):
bit more. Um, do you think he's open to that
kind of kind versation. Yeah, you know, I think he is.
But you know, Tig, you're stubborn about other things, like
you know, it's it's interesting to me that he doesn't
carry a gap weedge in this day and age, you
know that there's a big disparity when you hit the
(31:17):
ball so far between you know, when you just have
pitching wedge sand wedge and uh, I guess it would
be pitching wedge degree and sixty degree sand wedge. That's
that's what he carries, you know. And so there's there's
some pretty big variances there between you know, I'm guessing
(31:38):
between the pitching wedge and any when what what might
hit a you know, a fifty six degree and so
that requires you know, honing that in and and and
really kind of you know, working on that dialing it in.
And that's not that easy if you're not if you're
not playing all the time, or if you're not practicing
that all the time. And uh, you know, I think
(31:59):
Tiger no is what his numbers are, and there's gonna
be weeks where he has that dialed in, but then
there's times that he doesn't. And you know, the the
last day, the final round is Nearfield Village, I think
it would be hard to hold due to a high standard.
I'm hitting it close, but still he came up short
a couple of times. Um, you know he missed greens
(32:21):
with the wedge, you know, so that that suggests something
is off there. Yeah, well you and I argue about this,
Uh when we have the opportunity in person. I just
don't think he cares outside of the four majors at
this point, that enough to really grind and uh. But
but I think this week will be a positive in
(32:43):
opening his eyes to what what he needs to work
on and and I think he will get excited at
Harding Park. It will just be the even though there
are no crowds, it will be the the cypress trees
and and the northern cal vibe that he knows so well.
And I'm confident he'll he'll show up. They're ready to go.
Um So anyway, Bob, thank you so much. I all
(33:07):
things willing and and all going well, I will see
you at Harding Park. I can't wait look forward to it. Yeff, thanks,
thank you. Let's take a brief pause from The Shack
Show and here from our sponsors. All right, thank you
(33:31):
again to Bob Eric for the conversation. And it should
be a fun few weeks here coming up as we
lead up to a major championship in August. A PJ
and August very normal. Just won't have any fans and uh,
I can't wait. I'm gonna be there. I'm excited about
getting to be back at a tournament. Uh, knock on wood.
All things go well here and uh we will see
(33:53):
what happens in the coming weeks with with golf, but uh,
in all of pro sports. Really it's a wild all
time I think you know the drill. The Shack Show
is a production of I Heart Radio and by the way,
just a reminder that they're fantastic golf podcast from Han
Kaney Page Brandic, Maxhoma slash Shane Bacon, So please check
(34:15):
those out, subscribe, tell me anything you like don't like
about this show. And I'm excited. I have some people
on a list to talk to the next few weeks.
We've got the LPGA going to Inverness, so I'm gonna
try to reach out through some discussion around that as well.
So please visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows and I'll
(34:36):
talk to you soon. Thanks,
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