June 12, 2025 • 10 mins
Matt Childers joins Todd to talk about this week's US Open Golf Tournament!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The US opened te's off today and our resident golf guy,
Matt Childers is here to talk about it.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
And Matt, I don't know. I mean, I'm not a.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Golf expert, but I think we could just you know,
say Scotty Scheffler is going to win and end of
the conversation. This is kind of like back in the
heyday of Tiger Woods. Is it is he that dominant
or not?
Speaker 3 (00:19):
It's not quite. If he does it for ten years,
then he's Tiger Woods, right, But I.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Mean, in a short term picture, are we writing others
off that strongly with Scotty Scheffler Right now?
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Vegas is yah.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Vegas has him at plus two to eighty, and then
the next closest is d Chambeau at plus seven hundred.
So he's three times, you know, right in that neighborhood.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Yeah, no doubt.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
And even you know, a guy who just won the
Grand Slam, he's plus eleven hundred. Although it feels like Rory,
you know, won the Grand Slam and it was such
a relief that he's kind of like, I'm good for
a little while here, as much as he'd like to,
you know, continue to win majors. I just feel like
that was such a relief for him. But Scotty Scheffler
(01:04):
is so good. He's such a great driver of the
golf ball, which you're going to have to be this week.
He's such a great iron player, and his short game
has been remarkable. So he's the favorite at two point eighty.
And this is the one hundred and twenty fifth edition
of the US Open and Oakmont, interestingly enough, it's just
outside of Pittsburgh.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
It's hosted many times, right.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
The most, the most of any majors. I think it's
close to fifteen times. And if you're just outside of Pittsburgh,
I thought like, this course is going to give you
what the Steel Curtain gave everybody in the seventies. It's
gonna blitch you. It's seventy four hundred yards. He was
found in the same year as Shawnee Country Club nineteen
oh four, which is kind of cool. But when you
(01:46):
step on a course like this and you go into
the clubhouse and you're around it. There's certain courses Sciota
and Columbus where Jack grew up Inverness, just north of
US in Toledo Oakland Hills, those are the place they
have a feel of them, and Oakmont is in that category,
and as one of the former champs, the twenty nineteen champion,
(02:07):
Gary Woodland said, this one is just way different than
anything else that we ever play, so it.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Should be fun.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Number eight, by the way, just a little lens in
on it is a two hundred and ninety eight par three,
which most par threes are even on tour one eighty one,
ninety two, ten, sometimes one sixty.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
This is two ninety eight.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
Uh And some of the great winners at Oakmont, Hogan
Nicholas Johnny Miller has the course record. He won it
and shot sixty three in nineteen seventy three. Ernie Els
in nineteen ninety four. That was the week that Arnie retired,
and Arnie's from Western PA. And that day was actually
the same day as the OJ Chase Lord That that
(02:55):
friday that Arnie retired. Uh So, yeah, so it should
be good. Last two winners were on hell Cabrera he
was plus five for the whole week, and then Dustin
Johnson that was twenty sixteen, was minus four. So they
haven't been there for nine years. Cabrera was in seven
and the person that finished second. They're a good trivia
(03:17):
question would be is Jim Furick. In both of those
events he finished second and he's a he's a Pennsylvania guy.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
Well, and you know what you see is I think
when the majors that move around, like the US Open,
you play these really tough. I mean the US Open
is always tough, yes, but then you talk about Oakmont,
this is different and usually the really really good win this.
You don't have the surprise winner at this type of major, right.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
I don't know, you know Andy North won two, Lee
Jansen won two.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
Simon at Oakmont, Oh at Oakmont?
Speaker 3 (03:53):
Well yeah, those if you think about that, Hogan, Nicholas Miller,
even even in the PGA, I think Sneid and Sarah's
in were involved in a PGA championship at Oakmont.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Only the Usually the greats are the ones that win
at Oakmont or a course like that where you rotate
the host that's not like the Masters is always at Augusta.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
Correct, correct? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (04:13):
I like you know, I do like it. I like
a favorite this week. I mean I think I think
a favorite this week, you know is certainly Scotti Scheffler,
and then you have Bryce and d Schambeau. Next, I
would stay away from Rory Malcroy just don't think, you know,
I don't think based on you know, just a couple
of weeks ago, he had to replace his driver, and
(04:35):
usually that's just because of mostly because of wear and tear.
It's kind of like NASCAR. There was some flaw that
they found and after they tested it, same thing happened
to Scheffler and he had to switch out his driver.
But at the end of the day, I got Scheffler,
d Schambeau and rom as kind of the heavyweights. And
(04:55):
then I would say that somebody who finished second in
twenty and sixteen and he shot six over the last
day with Shane Lowry, he's plus four thousand, that might
be a good bet. And then a guy who's already
won in the state of Pennsylvania this year is Sepstraca,
and I like him. A great story about Sep was
his caddie was injured with a back injury and a
(05:16):
good friend of mine lives in Birmingham, Alabama. Sepp married
a Southern girl down in Birmingham. They're at the same club.
He had to take a caddy. It's a guy who
plays kind of on the mini tour routes doesn't have
a lot of money, ends up caddying for him at
the Truest in Philadelphia at the Cricket Club just a
couple of weeks ago. He wins it, the caddy gets
three hundred and sixty thousand dollars of the three point
(05:38):
six million, So really good story for this guy out
of Birmingham people.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
Right, that's right.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
So I would say Lowry Straka and Corey Connors and
that next group along with Joqe Neeman, those would be
my next picks after the heavyweights.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
Yeah, and of course the US opened our championship, I
want to put it that way, as opposed to it
national championship they open over in the UK. This tournament
usually is famous for having a very unforgiving rough Yeah.
In other words, you can't win this tournament if you're
not good off the tee.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
That's what Dustin Johnson said in the press conference this
week said. The reason I won was how because I
drove it so well. And Michael Kim, who I follow
on social media, is a great guy. He's always given
tickets away and swag away, and he's kind of a
top he's the top fifty player because he got the
Masters this year. He was showing his ball and he
(06:38):
said Mirfield may have been a tougher rough at Jack's
place just a couple of weeks ago, but he said,
it's daunting here. And they've taken out like ten thousand
trees since the mid nineties, and now it's back to
the original footprint that the Phones family developed back in
nineteen oh four, and so there's not a lot of
tree trouble. But you've got to drive it straight and
(07:00):
then the greens are massive, and so you've got to
hit it fairly close because they're like three times bigger
than most tour greens are. So I think it's a rough.
I think what Dustin Johnson said is somebody's got drive
it really well to win it.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
At Oakmont.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
Speaking of the memorial, it was interesting that Scheffler ran
away with it on the final day. But there was
a little bit of a kerfuffle about Rory McElroy not
showing up and not even letting them know, specifically calling
mister Nicholas to say you're bowing out, which I think
most people would expect you to do.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
So there was a little bit of ruffled feathers there. Yeah,
I would think so. I mean, you know, Jack Is
even met privately with a lot of these guys, but
he met with Rory and he asked him, how would
you play Augusta prior to Augusta, and he said everything
Rory said was exactly the way I would do it,
(07:58):
and that's what he did. So I would think they
had a relationship. I mean, I guess if coach Segerson
had a golf tournament and I was a captain of
his team, and that's I guess even a closer relationship.
But I would just give him a ring and say, hey, listen,
this is the reason why I'm not I'm not coming
to your tournament. Because the big tournaments outside of the
Majors are Jack's and Arnies at Bayhill Pebble Beach. So
(08:25):
I mean, I think the courtesy there would have been that.
But it might circle back to your point about Rory.
Since he won the PGA and completed the Grand Slam,
he's like, or won the Masters, I'm sorry the Masters
and what. Yeah, he's like he's kind of mentally checked out. Yeah,
I think he's kind of said that. He has said
that in some because he didn't do any uh interview,
(08:49):
in any press items at I believe it was the PGA,
and he basically just said, look, I I you know,
I've been through. You know, I've kind of you know,
he put the PGA Tour put him out there, and
he's had that on his shoulders, with the whole live
thing and the representative. And I do give him a
(09:11):
bit of a pass because he really put everybody on
his shoulders and said I'm going to try and save
the PGA Tour along with Tiger who's not playing, and
so yeah, but I still would have picked up the
phone and called Jack Nicholas and said, hey, mister Nicholas,
love your event this year. I've got a pass and
I'm sorry, I'm going to pass, but I'll be back there.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
For future events.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
I agree with all of that, but he has had
a lot of out front exposure and the stress of
trying to complete that career Grand Slam with the expectations
that it would happen almost immediately.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Well think about it years.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
Just one year ago, he gave it away on you know,
some would say he gave it away putting that quotations
to Bryce and DeChambeau at Pinehurst, and he he had
a bogeie on coming in He had a bogie on
like fifteen, you know, like the last three or four holes,
and he ogie two of the three of the last
or two of the four of the last four, which
(10:05):
isn't typical. And Bryson gets it up and down from
the bunker and so that weight on him. For sure.
That wouldn't have completed the Grand Slam, but it would have.
And then he also lost to uh cam Smith at
the Open. He lost that one where he shot like
sixty eight and cam Smith shot like sixty four, and
he lost it at Saint Andrews. So he was on
(10:26):
the cusp on the cusp on the cusp finally breaks
through it Augusta, and you know he's probably just taken
a deep breath, a little decompression. Yeah, but I wouldn't
pick him this week. I just think neither. I think
he's he's kind of he did his thing for the year,
and will you know I I would in the heavyweights,
I would take Scheffler, Deschambeau.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
And Ron Matt.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
Always great to talk golf with you and look forward
to the City Golf Tournament. Those who are interested go
to lineacitygolf dot com.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
Yeah, last week at June, looking forward to it yep.
Thanks Matt, thank you Todd.
The US opened te's off today and our resident golf guy,
Matt Childers is here to talk about it.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
And Matt, I don't know. I mean, I'm not a.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Golf expert, but I think we could just you know,
say Scotty Scheffler is going to win and end of
the conversation. This is kind of like back in the
heyday of Tiger Woods. Is it is he that dominant
or not?
Speaker 3 (00:19):
It's not quite. If he does it for ten years,
then he's Tiger Woods, right, But I.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Mean, in a short term picture, are we writing others
off that strongly with Scotty Scheffler Right now?
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Vegas is yah.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Vegas has him at plus two to eighty, and then
the next closest is d Chambeau at plus seven hundred.
So he's three times, you know, right in that neighborhood.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Yeah, no doubt.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
And even you know, a guy who just won the
Grand Slam, he's plus eleven hundred. Although it feels like Rory,
you know, won the Grand Slam and it was such
a relief that he's kind of like, I'm good for
a little while here, as much as he'd like to,
you know, continue to win majors. I just feel like
that was such a relief for him. But Scotty Scheffler
(01:04):
is so good. He's such a great driver of the
golf ball, which you're going to have to be this week.
He's such a great iron player, and his short game
has been remarkable. So he's the favorite at two point eighty.
And this is the one hundred and twenty fifth edition
of the US Open and Oakmont, interestingly enough, it's just
outside of Pittsburgh.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
It's hosted many times, right.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
The most, the most of any majors. I think it's
close to fifteen times. And if you're just outside of Pittsburgh,
I thought like, this course is going to give you
what the Steel Curtain gave everybody in the seventies. It's
gonna blitch you. It's seventy four hundred yards. He was
found in the same year as Shawnee Country Club nineteen
oh four, which is kind of cool. But when you
(01:46):
step on a course like this and you go into
the clubhouse and you're around it. There's certain courses Sciota
and Columbus where Jack grew up Inverness, just north of
US in Toledo Oakland Hills, those are the place they
have a feel of them, and Oakmont is in that category,
and as one of the former champs, the twenty nineteen champion,
(02:07):
Gary Woodland said, this one is just way different than
anything else that we ever play, so it.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Should be fun.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Number eight, by the way, just a little lens in
on it is a two hundred and ninety eight par three,
which most par threes are even on tour one eighty one,
ninety two, ten, sometimes one sixty.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
This is two ninety eight.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
Uh And some of the great winners at Oakmont, Hogan
Nicholas Johnny Miller has the course record. He won it
and shot sixty three in nineteen seventy three. Ernie Els
in nineteen ninety four. That was the week that Arnie retired,
and Arnie's from Western PA. And that day was actually
the same day as the OJ Chase Lord That that
(02:55):
friday that Arnie retired. Uh So, yeah, so it should
be good. Last two winners were on hell Cabrera he
was plus five for the whole week, and then Dustin
Johnson that was twenty sixteen, was minus four. So they
haven't been there for nine years. Cabrera was in seven
and the person that finished second. They're a good trivia
(03:17):
question would be is Jim Furick. In both of those
events he finished second and he's a he's a Pennsylvania guy.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
Well, and you know what you see is I think
when the majors that move around, like the US Open,
you play these really tough. I mean the US Open
is always tough, yes, but then you talk about Oakmont,
this is different and usually the really really good win this.
You don't have the surprise winner at this type of major, right.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
I don't know, you know Andy North won two, Lee
Jansen won two.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
Simon at Oakmont, Oh at Oakmont?
Speaker 3 (03:53):
Well yeah, those if you think about that, Hogan, Nicholas Miller,
even even in the PGA, I think Sneid and Sarah's
in were involved in a PGA championship at Oakmont.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Only the Usually the greats are the ones that win
at Oakmont or a course like that where you rotate
the host that's not like the Masters is always at Augusta.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
Correct, correct? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (04:13):
I like you know, I do like it. I like
a favorite this week. I mean I think I think
a favorite this week, you know is certainly Scotti Scheffler,
and then you have Bryce and d Schambeau. Next, I
would stay away from Rory Malcroy just don't think, you know,
I don't think based on you know, just a couple
of weeks ago, he had to replace his driver, and
(04:35):
usually that's just because of mostly because of wear and tear.
It's kind of like NASCAR. There was some flaw that
they found and after they tested it, same thing happened
to Scheffler and he had to switch out his driver.
But at the end of the day, I got Scheffler,
d Schambeau and rom as kind of the heavyweights. And
(04:55):
then I would say that somebody who finished second in
twenty and sixteen and he shot six over the last
day with Shane Lowry, he's plus four thousand, that might
be a good bet. And then a guy who's already
won in the state of Pennsylvania this year is Sepstraca,
and I like him. A great story about Sep was
his caddie was injured with a back injury and a
(05:16):
good friend of mine lives in Birmingham, Alabama. Sepp married
a Southern girl down in Birmingham. They're at the same club.
He had to take a caddy. It's a guy who
plays kind of on the mini tour routes doesn't have
a lot of money, ends up caddying for him at
the Truest in Philadelphia at the Cricket Club just a
couple of weeks ago. He wins it, the caddy gets
three hundred and sixty thousand dollars of the three point
(05:38):
six million, So really good story for this guy out
of Birmingham people.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
Right, that's right.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
So I would say Lowry Straka and Corey Connors and
that next group along with Joqe Neeman, those would be
my next picks after the heavyweights.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
Yeah, and of course the US opened our championship, I
want to put it that way, as opposed to it
national championship they open over in the UK. This tournament
usually is famous for having a very unforgiving rough Yeah.
In other words, you can't win this tournament if you're
not good off the tee.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
That's what Dustin Johnson said in the press conference this
week said. The reason I won was how because I
drove it so well. And Michael Kim, who I follow
on social media, is a great guy. He's always given
tickets away and swag away, and he's kind of a
top he's the top fifty player because he got the
Masters this year. He was showing his ball and he
(06:38):
said Mirfield may have been a tougher rough at Jack's
place just a couple of weeks ago, but he said,
it's daunting here. And they've taken out like ten thousand
trees since the mid nineties, and now it's back to
the original footprint that the Phones family developed back in
nineteen oh four, and so there's not a lot of
tree trouble. But you've got to drive it straight and
(07:00):
then the greens are massive, and so you've got to
hit it fairly close because they're like three times bigger
than most tour greens are. So I think it's a rough.
I think what Dustin Johnson said is somebody's got drive
it really well to win it.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
At Oakmont.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
Speaking of the memorial, it was interesting that Scheffler ran
away with it on the final day. But there was
a little bit of a kerfuffle about Rory McElroy not
showing up and not even letting them know, specifically calling
mister Nicholas to say you're bowing out, which I think
most people would expect you to do.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
So there was a little bit of ruffled feathers there. Yeah,
I would think so. I mean, you know, Jack Is
even met privately with a lot of these guys, but
he met with Rory and he asked him, how would
you play Augusta prior to Augusta, and he said everything
Rory said was exactly the way I would do it,
(07:58):
and that's what he did. So I would think they
had a relationship. I mean, I guess if coach Segerson
had a golf tournament and I was a captain of
his team, and that's I guess even a closer relationship.
But I would just give him a ring and say, hey, listen,
this is the reason why I'm not I'm not coming
to your tournament. Because the big tournaments outside of the
Majors are Jack's and Arnies at Bayhill Pebble Beach. So
(08:25):
I mean, I think the courtesy there would have been that.
But it might circle back to your point about Rory.
Since he won the PGA and completed the Grand Slam,
he's like, or won the Masters, I'm sorry the Masters
and what. Yeah, he's like he's kind of mentally checked out. Yeah,
I think he's kind of said that. He has said
that in some because he didn't do any uh interview,
(08:49):
in any press items at I believe it was the PGA,
and he basically just said, look, I I you know,
I've been through. You know, I've kind of you know,
he put the PGA Tour put him out there, and
he's had that on his shoulders, with the whole live
thing and the representative. And I do give him a
(09:11):
bit of a pass because he really put everybody on
his shoulders and said I'm going to try and save
the PGA Tour along with Tiger who's not playing, and
so yeah, but I still would have picked up the
phone and called Jack Nicholas and said, hey, mister Nicholas,
love your event this year. I've got a pass and
I'm sorry, I'm going to pass, but I'll be back there.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
For future events.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
I agree with all of that, but he has had
a lot of out front exposure and the stress of
trying to complete that career Grand Slam with the expectations
that it would happen almost immediately.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Well think about it years.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
Just one year ago, he gave it away on you know,
some would say he gave it away putting that quotations
to Bryce and DeChambeau at Pinehurst, and he he had
a bogeie on coming in He had a bogie on
like fifteen, you know, like the last three or four holes,
and he ogie two of the three of the last
or two of the four of the last four, which
(10:05):
isn't typical. And Bryson gets it up and down from
the bunker and so that weight on him. For sure.
That wouldn't have completed the Grand Slam, but it would have.
And then he also lost to uh cam Smith at
the Open. He lost that one where he shot like
sixty eight and cam Smith shot like sixty four, and
he lost it at Saint Andrews. So he was on
(10:26):
the cusp on the cusp on the cusp finally breaks
through it Augusta, and you know he's probably just taken
a deep breath, a little decompression. Yeah, but I wouldn't
pick him this week. I just think neither. I think
he's he's kind of he did his thing for the year,
and will you know I I would in the heavyweights,
I would take Scheffler, Deschambeau.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
And Ron Matt.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
Always great to talk golf with you and look forward
to the City Golf Tournament. Those who are interested go
to lineacitygolf dot com.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
Yeah, last week at June, looking forward to it yep.
Thanks Matt, thank you Todd.
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
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.