2025 US Open Oakmont Preview: The Carnage Begins

In this episode, Matt Cook, Buttsy, and Brent Grant explore the life of a retired golfer, focusing on Dustin Johnson's mental game and Oakmont course improvements. They discuss LIV Golf's impact on players, analyze U.S. Open prospects for Joaquin Niemann and Phil Mickelson, and feature insights from Jon Rahm and Rory McIlroy. The team evaluates U.S. Open scores, course difficulty, and Collin Morikawa's chances, alongside updated betting odds and social media buzz. Justin Rose offers predictions, and the hosts discuss player mentalities and final U.S. Open picks. The episode wraps up with sponsor shoutouts and closing remarks.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
No.
I think that would be pretty hundreds ofmillions of dollars in the bank, not a care in
the world.
Bills paid, house paid, car paid, family paid.
No stress.
It'd be pretty easy to get up every morning andgo grind for Oakmont.
I go, he's retired.
Retired.
That is where the silk pajamas, that's theperson that we look to when it comes to LIV

(00:20):
Golf and, like, you get paid all this money.
He got all this money to basically just go outand play golf and retire.
He didn't have to, like, sweat it and grind hisass off anymore.
I mean, he just did.
Did you guys see the photoshoot he did withPaul?
Yeah.
And he just listens to Teddy.
Teddy, get me around the golf course.
I don't even think he cares since the U.S.
Open.

(00:41):
He wants to win a major, but I don't think hethinks like that.
I don't
think he's coming into this like, oh, alright.
Now it's a major.
Can I keep this train going?
Am I that guy?
Can I get it done?
Am I gonna falter if I have some bad holes?
No.
I'm gonna do the same thing that got me here.
I'm gonna just go every golf shot, and if itadds up good.
I actually think that's a great take on hismental side.

(01:02):
And, you know, we've talked about this withDustin Johnson back in the day that he was like
a savant.
Right?
But people in the media would just pick on himbecause he sounded like he was stupid.
He's not stupid.
He's not at all.
Oakmont deserves to have a super leaderboard.
And what's crazy too, and nobody's complainingreally about the golf course setup that
It is what it is.

(01:23):
Gil Hanse widened the fairways, made the greensa little bit bigger, and nobody's complaining.
They just love the difficulty, but they thinkthat it is a fair test of golf, which is pretty
cool to see because normally, U.S.
Opens, you get all the complainers out there.
Oh, it's ridiculous.
This green isn't even playable.
You can't hit this.

(01:44):
And we got a par 3, folks, that you have to hita driver.
It's like 289, right?
Yeah.
It's 289, kinda uphill, and it's just anabsolute beast.
So most guys are hitting driver.
Rory McIlroy hit a 3-wood, and you know how farhe hits his damn 3-wood at 300-plus yards.
Yeah.
So and nobody's complaining about it.
That's the crazy thing.

(02:05):
Nobody's complaining about it.
Nobody is bitching and moaning before this U.S.
Open, which is crazy.
They're talking about how difficult everythingis, but nobody's saying unfair.
Welcome back, everybody, to Pull Hook Golf, thepodcast.
I'm your host, Matt Cook.
Tonight, we've got our co-host, Buttsy, withus.
We've also got our tour insider, Mr.

(02:27):
Brent Grant, and we are gonna cut right to thechase because this is the round of our U.S.
Open Oakmont preview for the 2025 U.S.
Open.
I cannot wait to get into it because we talkeda lot about the U.S.
Open last week.
We had quite the conversations going on overwho's gonna win.

(02:49):
You know, Brent said that Scottie Scheffler'sgot this thing about these greens being things
and different things.
So we're gonna get into all of that with ourtour insider who happens to look a lot like a
YouTube personality.
I just can't I just can't take you
right now.
Yeah.
I'm not I'm not even gonna say it, but you dolook.

(03:12):
You resemble him so much, Brent.
It's not even funny.
And then we've got Buttsy with the fresh.
Buttsy's got the pre pre going on with the hattonight.
So as we get into this episode, we do wannagive a shout out to our sponsors, Devro golf
folks.
Utilize the promo code pull hook golf 20 atcheckout for 20% off your entire order at

(03:34):
devrogolf.com.
That's d e v e r e u x golf dot com.
Buttsy's got the brand new US Open limitededition shirt right now.
I've got one as well with the clean.
And by the way, the fits on these new tees arephenomenal.

(03:56):
So, blue one and then they've got another onethat's kinda retro looking that are more of
kind of the loose fit and a little bit shorterwith the height of the shirt.
Phenomenal stuff.
But Buttsy's got a hat right now that doesn'tcome out till July, so you guys are getting a
very sneak preview.
I'm obsessed with that hat.
I'm also obsessed with this hat that I pickedup today over there because, guess what?

(04:20):
It is the Devereux version of Oakmont CountryClub right here.
And I knew it right away.
I told Brent.
I was like, dude, that's sick that you guys didthat.
And he's like, you knew?
I was like, oh, yeah.
I was like, you can tell.
I was like, that's so sick.
So the white with the navy.
So we're dialed in tonight.
Brent's over there.
Just absolutely Terminator mode.

(04:42):
He's ready for some action when it comes tothat.
We've got our regular audience member, truckgolfer, our esteemed researcher folks.
So we always give him the moniker that he isour researcher, truck golfer, always helping us
out.
We've got j b t n twenty three jumping in asAnd, guys, we also wanna give a shout out to

(05:06):
our other sponsors, Vice Golf.
Utilize the promo code pull hook at checkoutfor 15% off of all the golf balls right now.
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(05:26):
I've been playing the Vice Pro Plus for quitesome time, and I absolutely love it.
It's a premium golf ball for high swing speeds.
But right over here, we've got the Pro, justthe Pro version, and I played that not that
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Man, nice soft feel, good control around thegreen.
So if you're in the medium swing speed area,that's definitely a golf ball you want to check

(05:50):
out.
They've also got some more on there as well.
All in the hot list.
So Austin Whittington is jumping on here, andhe says, gentlemen, US Open week.
Let's effing go.
We cannot wait.
We are pumped for the US Open.
Also, do want to once again give a shout-out.
You guys saw it last week to Custom Golf AZ onInstagram.

(06:12):
Guys, if you need any work done on your clubs,he's opening up a shop out in Gilbert, and he
refinishes the clubs.
I mean, absolutely me.
If you guys haven't seen my Titleist 690 MBsthat got done by him, they're absolutely
phenomenal.
We were out there on the golf course the otherday, Buttsy and I, and the gentleman we were
playing with was like, holy crap.

(06:32):
What are those?
Let me see those.
And he just got obsessed with them, and hehappened to be a club builder himself.
So let's get into it, gentlemen.
We're gonna start off with the tee-off reportwith Buttsy, which the theme here is waking up
in silk pajamas.
So you might get a reference here around whatwe're talking about, but there's a saying by

(06:53):
former middleweight champ Marvelous MarvinHagler.
It's tough to get out of bed to do roadwork at5 a.m.
when you've been sleeping in silk pajamas.
Buttsy, if you got paid all that money to be onLIV Golf, we're talking about in the hundreds
of millions, would you find it hard to wake upand train all year to play well at a place like

(07:14):
Oakmont?
No.
No.
I think that would be pretty fucking easy.
Hundreds of millions of dollars in the bank,not a care in the world, bills paid, house
paid, car paid, family paid, no stress.
Be pretty fucking easy to get up every morningand go grind for Oakmont.

(07:36):
If you can't do that, then you're a pleb.
Pleb.
I haven't heard that word in a long time.
It's
funny I don't know what it means.
I hope that's not bad.
What started all of this,
by the way, is I had
a buddy who reached out to me today and askedme, he goes, Matt, what happened to Dustin
Johnson?
He's like, why are Dustin Johnson's odds sobad?
I can't my I one text said it all.

(07:59):
I go, he's retired.
And that is where the silk pajamas—that's theperson that we look to when it comes to LIV
Golf, and like you get paid all this money.
He got all this money to basically just go outand play golf and retire.
He didn't have to like sweat it and grind hisass off anymore.

(08:19):
I mean, just did did you guys see thephotoshoot he did with Paulina?
No.
I will say this, if it was anybody else if itwas anybody else, they would be ripped for it.
Right?
We'd be on here.
We'd be like, oh my God.
I can't believe he did that.
But in reality, like, that was my instinct.
Right?
Was, oh my God.

(08:40):
I can't believe you did that.
Then I'm like, wait a minute.
This is Dustin Johnson.
He's married to Paulina.
The dude has lived the life.
He's living on his boat all the time.
And during the off-season, he's just gettingpaid to show up at these LIV Golf events.
And every once in a while, he still gets toplay in the majors.

(09:00):
So, I mean, the dude's living the dream if youthink about it, so you can't really hate on him
for that.
I know, Brent, you were shaking your head.
What are you thinking over there?
Yeah.
What do you think, Laser?
Laser thinks that Dustin Johnson had beenlooking for a way to check out for a long time,

(09:22):
and the LIV tour gave him that opportunity.
And it's probably one of the main reasons heand Paulina are still together because I don't
know if she would have put up with thetraveling schedule.
And the simple fact of the matter is he wasspending tens of millions of dollars a year on

(09:45):
private jets, and you gotta have a prettysizable bank account to be able to do that.
So
DJ loves the good life, and Austin Whittingtonjust brought up Cam Smith, who checked out too.
Oh, guess what?
Cam Smith also loves all the luxurious things.
A lot of people don't realize that before hewent over to LIV, this is a dude who seems

(10:08):
super casual, super laid-back.
Right?
However, he had a lime, I believe it was a limegreen—I remember the interview with him—lime
green Lamborghini in his driveway.
And you're just like, whoa, okay.
Hang on a Like, this dude loves the nice thingsin life.
So it's not surprising that he went over.
We weren't surprised.

(10:28):
We knew it weeks before it even, like, leakedout.
Bobby Brown and I were on here to where, like,even Matt Every when he came on, we—he's
buddies with Cam Smith and was like, dude, he'sgone.
He'd been saying that if he had won XYZtournament, which he ended up winning, I think,

(10:48):
The Open and the Players, he had been sayingthat if he'd done that, he was gonna retire,
and he did it.
He retired.
Retired.
So
I mean, he gets to spend a lot more time back
fishing.
In his home country of Australia.
So can't blame him.
That's the one thing that I've never been ableto do at LIV is blame the players for taking

(11:09):
all that money.
I would have done the exact same thing.
And then it comes down to how bad do you wantit?
How bad do you love the game of golf?
And I think we see with Bryson DeChambeau thathe's still a grinder.
He's still out there practicing a ton.
So he's kinda the opposite of the rule, right?
That he yeah.
He does wake up in silk pajamas, and he goesout there and he grinds his butt off.

(11:31):
But this leads us into our 2025 U.S.
Open Oakmont LIV Golf preview because we gottatalk about the LIV Golf guys and who can
perform out there at Oakmont because LIV GolfVirginia just happened.
They had a, I'll tell you this, they had astrong Twitter presence for, the people were

(11:55):
just absolutely chirping for everything greatthat was happening, like Phil Mickelson's chip
over his shoulder ends up going in the hole.
They were all freaking out about that, whichgranted, great shot by Phil.
Pretty cool to see.
That being said, Joaquin Niemann comes back andwins his tournament on LIV this year.

(12:19):
So it goes to show you that, you know, JoaquinNiemann loves to play in these small field
events.
And to party.
He likes to party, likes to get that champagnegoing afterward, feels kind of at home there.
And so I gotta ask, and I'm gonna start withyou, Buttsy.
Does he have a chance at Oakmont?

(12:41):
I believe he does, man.
I mean, the guy can flat-out play golf.
He's got as good a chance as most people outthere besides Scottie Scheffler.
I don't think Scheffler has a chance.
Brent, what what do you think, buddy?
Laser.
What did you just say?

(13:01):
He he he's trolling, which we've becomeaccustomed to every once in a while.
Sorry.
Laser doesn't know what trolling is.
Thinks everybody's serious all the time.
you share with us what you think about JoaquinNiemann's chances this week?
Well, the kid doesn't fly it very high.
It's a low bullet generally.

(13:22):
Tough to control that in narrow fairways.
So if he starts going a little bit sidewaysinto what I believe is 4.5-inch rough, it's
bogey at, you know, a minimum.
So if he can drive it straight, he's got agood, as Buttsy said, he's got a good chance as

(13:42):
anybody, but he's not necessarily known as thestraightest driver, so I don't think his
chances are very high.
You don't think that his size and strength givehim a huge advantage out of the rough?
Yeah.
I mean, he's one of the strongest guys outthere.
He's, you know, he's solid, 135 pounds, soakingwet, which as we know is

(14:04):
the most. That's what I'm
most. That's what I'm saying.
Very big.
Perfect body for strength and power.
So, yeah, I didn't consider that.
I just considered it, and no.
I don't, I still don't think that he's
No.
Gonna have a chance.
Yeah.
Plus, he's been playing 54 holes shotgun for awhile now.

(14:26):
A little different than four rounds with a cut.
Joaquin's gonna become an enigma at some point.
Like, he's gonna be the greatest exhibitiongolfer we have ever seen in our lives that has
never won a major or really a pro tournament onthe PGA Tour.
So I just, and I like Joaquin.

(14:48):
I think his game plays really well on the golfcourse that they're playing on LIV.
Like, a lot of those, and some of those tracksare similar to PGA Tour-style events and just
more of your general tournaments.
Right?
Not any of the big signature series events oranything like that.

(15:09):
And with a deeper field, you know, mentally,that could become a challenge for him as well,
but we just haven't seen him perform at a majorchampionship.
And I would love for him to shut us up.
Right?
I love it when we talk, like, going back to thePGA last year when Xander Schauffele won after
we're like, what the hell is he doing with thebest odds?

(15:31):
And that was mainly me saying that.
And then I absolutely love people were shittingall over me for saying that after he won.
In hindsight, it was like, man, he played greatobviously, but that's where Joaquin Niemann, I
would love to see him play well, but I justdon't think it's gonna happen.
So for Joaquin, see him.
Go ahead.

(15:52):
Phil Mickelson says this might be his last U.S.
Open.
Obviously, he's getting a bit long in thetooth.
But after a strong week on LIV, he finished inthe top 10.
Buttsy, I'll start again with you.
What do you think about Phil top
five this week.
Do you?
I really think that he's got a chance.
I legitimately do.

(16:14):
Yeah.
Especially as it pertains to some of thegreenside rough that I don't think most players
are prepared to play out of.
And after the hole-out at LIV last week, fromwhat looked like very similar rough, I will be
honest.
As long as he hits the driver in play anddoesn't miss too bad, he's gonna be right there
come Sunday.

(16:34):
You know, I do want to go back.
Austin Whittington just reminded me of the winJoaquin had at Riv, which was pretty impressive
because he struggled on Sunday during thatfinal round, but he ended up winning by a
bunch.
And, obviously, he's got the game.
We're just trolling a little bit in regards tohim potentially having a chance at the U.S.

(16:57):
Open because it's Oakmont and because he hasn'tperformed well at any of the majors.
So once again, we shall see.
I think his best chance was at Quail Hollowthis year.
But again, we'll see.
I mean, it goes to show you, though, that youcan be a hot golfer coming into a major
championship and not play well at a major.
They're just very different.
We also got, well, with Phil Mickelson, let'sgo to our man.

(17:23):
What are we calling him tonight?
Brent "The Laser" Grant?
Laser, what do you got for us on Phil?
Laser.
Laser has played with Phil several times andknows that Phil hates the USGA, can't stand the
U.S.
Open.
And I believe he hasn't gotten close since helost to Payne Stewart.

(17:49):
Rest in peace.
But it's his bugaboo and has been for thirtyyears.
So was it
Winged Foot after Pinehurst when he blew it onthe last?
Believe he had a couple of close calls, butPinehurst was, like, where he actually got beat

(18:09):
outright and it wasn't necessarily that he blewup.
Every close call after that, he did it tohimself.
But, yeah, I don't know how much Phil is goingto be able to remove himself from YouTube to
get out there and focus on what needs to bedone.
Obviously, he is 85 years old, so I don'treally see how he can keep

(18:36):
No.
I think that's inaccurate, Laser.
I think that's not true, Laser.
55.
I'm sorry.
He's 55.
Sorry.
Laser adds 30 to the guys that play on the LIVtour because they don't matter.
Yeah.
So, yeah, no chance.
And if he doesn't play a U.S.
Open again, I don't think anybody's gonna care.
Gotcha.
Alright.
Well,

(18:56):
I don't know Laser has spoken.
I don't know about Phil.
I'm just Phil to me
Top five.
It would be awesome to see Phil Mickelson upthere competing on Sunday at Oakmont.
I will just say that.
Do I think it's gonna happen?
Probably not.
It's a long shot.
And I don't know what his odds are, but we'lltake a look at those in a little bit.

(19:19):
Plus 300,000.
Plus 300,000.
That's a lot.
Yes.
Avoid playing it off the green as well.
Yeah.
Let's talk about Jon Rahm here because he wasasked about finishing another LIV golf
tournament in the top 10.
And following that top 10, he brought up apretty good point for him to where he actually

(19:41):
was very direct in saying that, listen, it's asmaller field.
It's a lot easier to finish in the top 10 atevery single one of these events.
And you know what?
If I was playing in these deeper fields, Iprobably would have been like top 30 in a lot
of these events.
So good on Jon Rahm for, like, calling it whatit is.

(20:04):
Is he the LIV golf guy that hasn't been, like,so over the top promotional for LIV golf?
I think so.
I think you're right.
Laser?
I mean, it's pretty clear he regrets going andwishes that he could go back and compete on the

(20:25):
PGA Tour again.
But yeah.
I mean, I heard today that, you know, justbecause you take a hundred, you know, senior
golfers out there, you know, and go out andcompete, you're gonna place top four every
time.
You know?
Just it's the way that it is for a guy like JonRahm.
So the fact that he's honest about that showscharacter, and I've always enjoyed listening to

(20:49):
him kinda be real.
I miss him being out there competing week inand week out because he's definitely one of the
greatest European players of all time.
Trot says Hatton's the only one he thinks thathas a chance.
No.
No chance.
I'm gonna tell you that Jon Rahm is the onethat more so because of that very honest
interview, I just I've got a sense and basedoff of his play in Virginia as well, I got a

(21:14):
feeling he's gonna compete again.
I think he's going to be right there comeSunday, and I hope so because jovial too.
Yeah.
I think he's in a good place.
And look, Brent, I do think he has regrettedthe decision of going over to LIV, but I do
think that he has accepted it now.

(21:34):
Yes.
But he's realistic about it all.
Like, he's no longer kinda upset and butthurtover it, so to speak.
I think he very much so has kind of acceptedthis is his fate.
This is where he's at now, but he's gonna behimself.
He's not gonna sit there and, you know, play itup for anybody.
He'd be a good dark horse for sure.
I mean, he's won a U.S.

(21:55):
Open before.
He's won a Masters.
He's still in there.
I think if he can get his team and his mind tokinda be on the same page, and he can keep his
emotions in check, top 10 pretty easily.
And if not, top five and maybe even compete,they're coming down on the back nine on Sunday.

(22:17):
Yeah.
I'm not against it whatsoever.
You know, let's go through really quick thefull LIV lineup because they got 14 players
that are gonna be playing this week.
We got Jose Luis, Jose Baez there.
That's the ASU kid.
That's the Am, who just joined LIV.

(22:37):
Yep.
He's playing on Sergio's team, the Fireballs.
Got Richard Bland, who he's an old gentleman.
Bryson DeChambeau.
Tyrrell, do not call him Terrell, Hatton,Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Jinichiro
Kozuma, Marc Leishman, Phil Mickelson, JoaquinNiemann, Carlos Ortiz, Jon Rahm, Patrick Reed,

(23:01):
and Cam Smith.
So as we look at those guys, anybody stand outbeyond Bryson and potentially Jon Rahm who can
compete here?
And to me, I'll just start it off.
Baez there has actually a pretty decent gamefor the U.S.

(23:22):
Open.
He's strong.
He hits the ball a mile, and he's got a greatshort game.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I don't disagree with that.
I think Laser doesn't like that take much, but
Hates it.
Yeah.
He's wearing blue blockers from Circle K, so wecan't really take that too seriously.
I don't know, man.

(23:42):
I got Cam Smith in the top 10.
I think he's been practicing.
I think he's been practicing a lot.
Pretty much all the time.
Accuracy though.
That's the thing.
He does now.
He's been practicing, man.
Oh, he's been practicing.
Laser, anybody off of that list that you thinkcould have a chance out there?

(24:03):
I think Brooks.
I think Brooks has been all over him this week.
Watched several swing videos.
Looks like he's kinda got the driver where hewants it to be.
And that would be the only other guy that Iwould think can even compete and get close

(24:25):
other than Rahm, I think.
And as you said, Bryson.
Alright.
Well, let's get
into nobody likes P.
Reed?
Negative.
No.
Negative.
Trot just dropped in.
Probably the stat that just kills Ballesterosaltogether right there.
Shot seven over last week on LIV.
It was his week on LIV.

(24:45):
Yeah.
But yep.
Listen.
I talk about it often when it comes to themental side of the game.
Getting comfortable wherever you're playingmatters so much in the game of golf.
If you're tight and you're a little bit nervousand, you know, it's brand new, you're
uncomfortable out there.
Just not taking millions of dollars.
I don't know if he got paid millions.

(25:07):
I doubt that actually.
USA won't qualify?
Nope.
No.
Let's get into the full U.S.
Open preview, moving beyond just LIV Golf.
Real flares.
Let's go.
Yeah.
Let's talk about once again, has anybodychanged their minds in regards to anybody we
talked about last week?
I'm gonna give you the rundown of who we hadlast week for the realistic contenders.

(25:30):
So we had Scottie Scheffler, obviously, RoryMcIlroy, Xander Schauffele, Justin Thomas,
Ludvig Åberg, Collin Morikawa, and then on theLIV Golf side, as we just mentioned, Bryson
DeChambeau, Jon Rahm, and then some outliersthere.
Anybody else we should be seriously consideringon the PGA Tour side?

(25:52):
That would take one guy off that list.
Who is that guy?
Rory McIlroy goes off the list.
Why?
I think so.
Plus nine last week.
He did shoot no means not.
One eighty-one in a practice round.
No.
No.
No.
He shot plus nine at the Canadian Open throughtwo rounds.
Oh, that's right.
He did actually.
You're right.

(26:16):
Yeah.
That's it.
Okay.
That's the only one.
There we are moving off of this.
And Rory McIlroy is an enigma right now.
Like, he is the epitome of an enigma at themoment to where he's fallen from grace, and
he's fallen fast after that Masters victory.

(26:36):
We've talked about this week in and week out.
Do we expect a resurgence from him at any pointthis year beyond just the U.S.
Open?
I think he plays well.
I think he plays well at the British Open thisyear.
Okay.
But that's only that that's because he'll bespurred on by the local crowd.

(26:57):
But other than that, I think he's kind offallen and resting on his laurels right now.
While he's not undisciplined totally as agolfer, he is seemingly undisciplined in his
decision making.
He looks uninterested to me.
Like, just
He's got
nothing else to test.
And somebody asked him that too.

(27:17):
They asked him a question similar to that.
Like, do you have anything to prove or anythingleft to, like, after winning the Masters?
And he's
just like, no.
I'm good.
Like, he kind of
was nonchalant about that answer.
Tiger would have never Tiger Tiger would havenever said that.
No.
I agree.
I I don't want
yeah.
Everybody's different.
Well, the guy the guy has commercials Sound ofFreedom.

(27:41):
The the guy has commercials about how, youknow, Tiger is really his idol and and how
much, you know, growing up and watching Tigerreally spurred him on and how he wants to be
the next billionaire golfer or so on and so Butthe moment that he wins his his Grand Slam,
which all more power to him.
It's real great.
He shuts it down.

(28:01):
To me, that seems like it's I don't know.
You're taking up space at a certain point.
Interesting.
That's an interesting take on saying
that he's suddenly taking up space just becausehe had a little bit of a lull and played a
couple of bad rounds after
winning.

(28:22):
No.
It's more about the fact that he's clearlychanged his entire disposition.
Dude, he's got a case of senioritis.
He's literally done with classes.
He knows he's gonna graduate.
Like, he won the Grand Slam, dude.
Like, he has a Grand Slam under his belt.
Like, the Masters was the one for him that Idon't think he ever thought he would actually,

(28:47):
like, if you were to dig into the brain of RoryMcIlroy, that's probably the biggest doubt that
he would ever win a Masters.
And for him to be able to pull it off and doit, I think he was in disbelief at the end with
all the emotions and everything.
I mean, shit.
It made me and Buttsy cry.
So for me, Rory's done enough.

(29:08):
Rory owes us nothing at this point.
I was just curious to see if he was going tocontinue that into Quail Hollow and try to get
a Grand Slam that way in all consecutive.
So, and obviously, that's not the case.
You guys are crazy.
I think it's crazy to say that Rory's notabsolutely locked the fuck back in for the U.S.

(29:32):
Open.
Don't you think so?
You think he's locked in?
Yeah.
Absolutely.
I'm with Lacer on this one, aka Brent Grant.
He's just chilling all of a sudden.
Like, he's not gonna take a major championshipseriously and try to win it?
I mean, he's probably practicing andeverything, but he seems like he's in such a
spot where he's just kinda done.

(29:53):
Like, I don't know.
That's just a feel thing for me looking at hisdisposition and the way he's been interacting
with the media and how he looks on the golfcourse.
I mean, you go to the Canadian Open, and heloves playing up in Canada.
Like, that's one of the tournaments that heloves to play in.
He skipped the Memorial and ended up playing inthe Canadian Open.

(30:16):
And as Brent said, he finished several overpar.
Probably shouldn't have played it.
Probably needed a break and is still on thiscome-down trail from doing what he did, but I
think he's absolutely fucking locked back in.
I think it's amazing.
It's just to think that somebody on the PGATour doesn't have the same sort of reaction as

(30:37):
somebody that went to the LIV Tour with regardsto waking up in silk pajamas.
Yeah.
That's exactly what he's doing.
And his entire demeanor and where he derived alot of the fire that he had was to prove that
he was as good as, you know, some of thegreats.

(31:01):
And to him, he's done that, and I'm not gonnasit here and take it away from him.
Obviously, it's not possible, nor would I wantto.
But at the end of the day, you're out therecompeting, and you're out there doing it to the
best of your ability.
And it's pretty obvious that he's not doingthat.
And so from my perspective as the ultimatecompetitor, it's just disrespectful.

(31:26):
So as Laser just alluded to, and as Kyle overat Car Park Guys says, he thinks LIV was set up
to help train these players for majors.
I am hearing that in the exact same tone thatButtsy says that in.
So I got a feeling you guys are on the samepage with that one.

(31:47):
That's called trolling.
Right?
That is called trolling.
You guys are crazy if you don't think Rory istrying to win another major.
He might miss every fairway on Thursday, TruckGolfer says.
You know, Austin Whittington says he's agenerational talent with good years left.
The competition should be enough.
Yeah.
To win a major.
So Austin Whittington's on your side there,Buttsy.

(32:09):
Hey, John.
I don't know.
I don't know if he's done.
We, I mean, we shall see.
Who knows?
Where's the challenge?
I mean, at
one point
what I'm talking about.
Yeah.
At some point, he may end up just being like,boom.
I'm motivated again.
Haven't you ever, like, woken up one morningand been like, shit.
I'm motivated.
Like, I wanna go get it now.

(32:31):
I wanna go and all of
a sudden
go hit golf balls.
I wanna go train.
I wanna go work on short game.
Like, every once in a while, like, you get thatlittle spark back in you.
I think it's just gonna take him a little bitof time.
I think that was such an emotionally drainingtournament to win in the Masters I'm talking
about for Rory McIlroy that he's in a spotright now where he's not fully back yet from

(32:53):
that euphoria of winning the Masters.
And I don't think that helps him.
Changing my pick.
It's not gonna be Phil.
It's not gonna be Scottie.
Rory's winning the U.S.
Open.
Love that for you.
Now, as we keep talking about this, theelephant in the room.
And if you look at our social media clipslately, Scottie Scheffler, Scottie Scheffler,
Scottie Scheffler, Scottie Scheffler.

(33:17):
We have talked a lot about Scottie Scheffler.
Yep.
Because what we're seeing right now issomething really, really special and it's just,
you know, we all know the game of golf reallywell.
We know that golf can taketh and it can giveth.
Okay?
And sometimes, you know, you could be coming inin the best form you've ever been, get a couple

(33:41):
bad bounces out there, and you're done.
You're out of a golf tournament.
A place like Oakmont is one of those placeswhere you can get a couple bad breaks.
All of a sudden, some shots go into the deep,deep rough.
You can't really get it out.
Talk to us.
And I'm gonna go to Brent on this one.

(34:02):
Brent, Scottie Scheffler, if all of a suddenthere's some bumps in the road come Thursday,
is there a chance that he never recovers outthere at Oakmont?
Absolutely not.
Scottie Scheffler is the greatest golfer sinceTiger Woods.
There is nobody that is doing what he's doingin his swing, in his game, and in his mind.

(34:29):
I was watching comments today.
Everybody was talking about how tough the golfcourse was, how difficult everything was.
And he went out there and said, course is ingreat shape.
Greens are great.
Fairways are great.
Rough is good.
Time to go out and play some golf.
So he's locked in.
He's laser-focused as he always is, but we'llsee.
I still hold out that Thursday and Friday withthe top players at a major when those players

(34:54):
are playing well.
He has a hard time.
So, you know, we saw that last year.
But I also think that the way his game is, itcan be scrappy at times.
And the problem is that if you get a little tooscrappy at Oakmont, you make a six, seven, or
eight, you're battling back.

(35:16):
So do I think he's got the fortitude to battleback?
Absolutely.
Can't count the man out, but it's gonna betough.
This is the toughest test of golf thereprobably ever has been.
Buttsy, what do you think, man?
Can Scotty stumble out there, or are we goingto see him at the very least in the top five?

(35:36):
He's either gonna, like, win by four or notsniff it at all.
I don't think it'd be close.
That's what I got him doing.
I don't know if he's gonna be able to shufflelike he normally does in that kind of rough.
Not as much footing.
Well, unless there's more footing I should say,actually.
He doesn't have anywhere to slip.
So I could foresee maybe some sort of severeankle injury, God forbid, or even a wrist

(36:02):
injury.
I don't think he's got very strong wrists.
He's not wrong.
I don't know.
He's not wrong.
Yeah.
I don't know how you know about his wrists andthe strength of them, but I could just see him.
He's got little baby wrists.
Interesting.
Looks like a, I don't know, one of those pink,like, flamingo legs is what his wrist looks
like.

(36:22):
I don't know how I like, the closer we get tothe start of the U.S.
Open at Oakmont, the more I get scared aboutScottie Scheffler as just an absolute given
just because of how difficult of a golf courseit is.
And again, if you hit some couple bad shots andyou don't handle that well or you get into the

(36:42):
deep, deep stuff and you start strugglingaround there and you make an eight on a par 3,
like, that's not going to be something that youare going to recover from really.
So it's tough for me because I wanna seeScottie in a tough situation on Thursday and
then play really well thereafter.

(37:03):
Like, that's what I'm waiting to see.
And Scottie Scheffler to me this week isobviously the favorite.
It's just so tough to constantly play that highlevel of golf.
I mean, he won the PGA Championship.
He won the Memorial.
Now all of a sudden, can he win the U.S.

(37:23):
Open?
And if he does, guys, we're we're no longertalking he's guy right now, but we're no longer
talking about Scottie Scheffler and comparisonsto other greats.
We are now going to start comparing himdirectly to Tiger Woods, and that's where this

(37:45):
starts getting pretty interesting because it'slike, holy crap.
Like, he's won three out of the four majors.
Could he end up getting a Grand Slam headinginto the Open Championship?
That's what I'm gonna be very I would I wouldlove to have those talking points ready to go
as we head into the Open Championship with allof that on the line.

(38:09):
But I do wanna talk to you guys about my kindasecondary pick in Justin Thomas.
Now, Brent, you're you're tough on JT a bit.
Mhmm.
Yeah.
I wanna hear from Laser in regards to JustinThomas.
What makes his game good for Oakmont?
And then what makes him to where you're gonnabe critical on Justin Thomas out there this

(38:33):
week?
What do you think, Laser?
Come on, Laser.
Well, he's the greatest driver of the golf ballthat there has ever been.
That's what it comes down to at a U.S.
Open like this.
And if JT can drive it well, he flies his ironshigh.
He hits them pretty darn straight.
They land like butterflies with sore feet, andthat's necessary out there.

(38:54):
The big problem is he's not a very big person.
He's not necessarily the strongest.
And so if he does get a little sideways, thatrough will eat him alive.
The other part of his game that I have yet tosee come to fruition, especially after he
decided to go to AimPoint, is his putting.

(39:15):
And I believe the greens are rolling at about a14 and a half to 16, somewhere in there.
Probably come Thursday if there's no rain,which I haven't looked at the forecast because
Laser doesn't care about the weather.
Laser is the weather.
I am the weather.
Exactly.
I did look at the weather.
It's supposed to be clear and sunny all fourdays.

(39:35):
So they'll get them to about probably 16 and ahalf to 17 and keep them right there.
If he can putt well, if he can drive it well, Ithink the rest of his game is good enough to
compete with anybody.
But we'll see.
He has not shown me that he has the mentaltoughness that well

(39:56):
gets hot out there.
He gets hot.
So from a mental standpoint and it's funnybecause you think that players are really good
at analysis.
Right?
You just think, okay.
You play professional golf.
You're out there week in, week out.
And I heard Justin Thomas talking about ScottieScheffler and how his mental game is just so

(40:17):
solid.
And I kinda sat there and I'm like, I don'tknow if JT is right on this one.
Like, oh.
I think his ability, his talent, like carrieshim a long way when it comes—I mean, he's the
best ball striker on the planet.
I don't think you can have a lacking mentalgame and do what he's doing right now.
I just don't think that's

(40:37):
I think he's almost automatic, though.
Which is good because in the mental game, youdon't want to think about it.
You want your subconscious to take over.
That's what I mean.
Like, that would be the definition of having anamazing mental game is to not have one at all.
I guess the thing that miffs me is just thatyou never hear him talk about it.
You never hear him like, there's nobody aroundhis circles that even mention that he works on

(41:04):
his mental game.
So I guess to me, it's just kinda one of thoserare things.
And then we've seen him falter in thosepressure-filled moments to where it's like one
putt, one shot that you have to have.
And we've seen him struggle in those.
And we've seen him struggling coming down atthe FedEx before.
So it's like, okay.
You know, those things are there.

(41:25):
But when he's cruising along, he's so steady.
He's absolutely rock solid.
Right.
But, yeah, that
judge. He
He hasn't won the Hero either.
Right?
Well, again, I mean, I was just about to say, Imean, I yeah.
In order to be great, you gotta win the Hero.
So
I
mean, drives it like he did at the Hero.

(41:46):
Like, go ahead, laser.
Sorry.
You don't mean to
interrupt you?
I I I when we start talking about the Hero, Ishut up because that's the one goal.
There's only one guy that knows the Hero thebest.
Well, no, I think we we try to we try tonitpick Scottie with some things.
He's
done 14 times 13 times in two years and threemajors or so it's three three majors in three

(42:15):
years.
So, you know, when he does stumble a littlebit, obviously, we gotta throw that up there
because that's what the human mind does.
But at the same time, I I think the reason whyhe doesn't talk about it is because he doesn't
even think about it that way.
His decision-making is based off of what Tedtells him to do, and he goes out there and

(42:38):
tries to execute the shot the best way he can.
And it just so happens that he is probably themost gifted athlete as far as hand-eye
coordination that has played the game of golf.
There's nobody that has has has been assuccessful as he has and done what he's done
with the golf swing.
So, yeah, I mean, you gotta give the guy alittle bit of shit every now and then to keep

(43:01):
him honest.
But, if he wins this week, it's He's gonna win.
It's gonna be six times.
times. Greatness.
Right?
I mean, we want to see the next Tiger Woods.
We wanna see somebody surpass how great TigerWoods was.
Wanna see that dominance.
You are a fan of the game, you want to see thattype of stuff.

(43:22):
And as a fan of the game, like, calling in howI see it, that's the one area.
Like, there's not much that Scottie Schefflercan improve.
He improved his putting, which was the oneweakness.
Right?
Now all of a sudden, he's putting reallyfreaking well, and it's like, okay, what's
next?
What's the next thing that you could knock onScottie Scheffler?
Time.

(43:43):
And that's about the only thing.
So, yeah, hopefully, it's just time at thispoint.
Trot golfer brings up how good is JT's wedgegame.
Getting it up and down from 80 to 140 yards.
JT has one of the best short games out there.
Yeah.
That range has been his bugaboo for a while,but he does work extremely hard on it.

(44:06):
Yes.
He's not good.
No.
He's good at it.
Obviously, he's out there.
He's one of the best players in the world.
I wouldn't say a top player, obviously.
But, yeah, I mean, 80 to 140 yards doing whathe's doing as far as he can hit the golf ball
is kinda where it's gonna make the differencethis week, especially if you don't drive it too

(44:26):
well.
Austin wants a duel between Scottie and Bryson.
Yeah.
I don't think
What's more likely?
Scottie and Bryson or Scottie and Rory onSunday?
Scottie and Bryson.
Scottie and Bryson.
Yeah.
You both said Rory.
Right?
That one's pretty easy right there.

(44:46):
Jeez.
If Bryson can hit the ball straight enough.
Now, you got ripped on a little bit, Brent,with Ludvig Åberg as kinda your pick this week.
Are you questioning that at all heading intothis week?
Nope.
No?
You're sticking with him?
Terrible pick.
Nope.

(45:07):
Straight.
Horrible pick.
He's straight and long.
Consistent.
I watched multiple highlight reels today.
If the rough was more than two inches long, healmost doesn't make contact.
Well, most
of them
don't.
Most of them don't.
But he's like extra bad.
I think they're all bad.
Is that a real thing, Buttsy?
Yeah.
I watched them like I watched the highlightreel today where the guy can't hit it out of

(45:29):
the rough.
Oh, no.
Like, yeah.
He hates it.
He's another one with flamingo wrists, likeflamingo bird leg wrists, and it just bows and
it doesn't get it doesn't get a die.
I think it's a horrible pick, Brent.
Xander Schauffele, gentlemen.
Let's talk about Xander.
Because he sometimes can get into that modewhere he's a machine.

(45:49):
We saw
it at the PGA
Xander.
Yep.
A hell of a player, obviously.
Very machine-like, people will say, that hebecomes pretty much automatic.
Do we like him at the U.S.
Open in this type of environment?
Yeah.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
Because we see a Scottie Scheffler, XanderSchauffele.

(46:10):
I think what we're gonna see is three or fourdifferent guys kinda get after it, and then
it's basically who makes the putts at the endof the day.
I wonder if there's gonna be any surprises.
Go ahead, Buttsy.
Oh, no.
No.
I'd I'd like what you just said.
Surprises.
Like, that that's what it's either gonna be asurprise or or Scottie wins by, like, four or
five.
Something like that.

(46:31):
Now
I will admit, right before this podcast, Ipopped on because the one thing I do like from
the Golf Channel is their "Live From" feed thatthey do.
It gives you some insights that, unless you'rethere on the ground, you really don't have.
And so, obviously, we're not there this week,wish we were.

(46:53):
But that being said, they were talking abouthow the range in the estimated final score is
so broad based off of what happens to the golfcourse this week.
They said if it dries out a lot and becomesfirm and fast, that we could be looking at

(47:14):
eight to 10 over par this week.
What do you guys think about that?
Laser is just shocked.
That's ridiculous.
No.
Won't happen.
So we're saying that over four days
That's clickbait.
Those guys are shooting two to three over aday.
Is that, and that's, yeah.

(47:35):
Considered.
I mean, here's the big problem.
You know, they play a course like Chambers Bay,and you got a guy like Jordan Spieth out there.
And that golf course was ridiculous off thetee.
Obviously, it was fairways that were rolling amillion miles and doing all kinds of stuff and
settling in ridiculous places, and they didjust fine out there.
So I think, and then I think what?

(47:57):
Dustin shot, what, eight under or somethinglike that or five.
What did he shoot?
Do we know what he shot?
Try if you could look that up, what did DustinJohnson shoot to win the U.S.
Open at Oakmont the last time it was there?
Thank you.
But, yeah, I think that's absolutelyridiculous.
But to hear it was turning purple.

(48:21):
God.
Four under, I'll see what he says.
Thank you.
Ridiculous.
As we go through it, guys, actually, there'sone more I wanna talk about before we get into
the updated betting odds because a lot ofpeople liked the little segment that we did on
the betting odds last week.
And we gotta update some of the odds becausethey're a little bit different this week.

(48:44):
Mhmm.
That being said, Collin Morikawa, is he longenough?
Which before I even ask you guys, he tends tohit the ball a long way when the ball rolls.
So if he gets firm and fast and he's able tohit that bullet cut, that thing goes a long
way.
It does.

(49:05):
Colin Morikawa hits the ball very far when theground is like a cart path.
Who doesn't?
Laser.
Who
doesn't?
Any shot out of Collin Morikawa this week?
He hasn't sniffed anything really much thisyear, has he?

(49:26):
So
I'm trying to think.
Guy's the guy's guy's
great.
was there every tournament.
Yeah.
He's a great player.
I'm not gonna take anything away from him.
Again, not a top player.
But
Wow.
Not a touch.
I will argue with you on him.
Probably Morikawa is a top player.
Sorry.
Oh my god.
That don't dumb Laser.

(49:48):
Laser, that's a bad take.
Well, I'm number one.
Laser's number one, then Scottie, then Rory,then Xander.
Dude, Laser
that's like he's headed to an ice rally.
I think the forever chemicals in those glassesthat he got from the gas station have already
This
This is how you get one with the environment.

(50:09):
To an ice rally soon.
Yeah.
That's what he
looks like.
100%.
Yeah.
Is that a mustache too that I'm seeing out ofyou?
It's
kinda like just a laziness.
Yeah.
Brent doesn't care.
Yeah.
Right.
You're trying to grow that.
Don't fucking lie.
Dude, I found a new nickname for Brent.
It's Brent "Laser" Grant.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Laser only comes out during U.S.

(50:30):
Open weeks.
BLG.
He has played in the U.S.
Open, folks, so don't think that he iscompletely full of shit because he played in
the U.S.
Open at L.A.
Country Club.
That mister Brent Grant right there.
AKA Laser.
Laser.

(50:50):
Updated betting odds.
Real quick before we get into the betting odds,I just gotta know because I know Brent, I
think, well enough where, like, I think he wasprobably driving down the freeway at some point
today or whatever on his long drive.
And he's like, I'm gonna be this charactertonight, I think.
And did you, like, look into the rearviewmirror?

(51:11):
Was this something that you practiced youraffect and tone and stuff like that?
Like, at least a little, don't don't lie.
I think I'm just letting the beast out of thecage.
I like it.
I gotta tell you, it brings a new element tothe table.
It's good.
Sometimes it's just gotta be the alpha.
Was tough for me to say.
I think I think his alter ego is just startingto

(51:34):
shine through.
Tough.
He couldn't talk and keep it together.
He was struggling on that one.
Got a
long way to go, boy.
Yeah.
You've got some practice to do.
By the way, did see some of your social mediaclips recently.
Definitely
Yeah.
Definitely new to the game.
But don't stop, man.
It's awesome to see you putting out thatcontent.

(51:55):
You're only gonna get better.
better. Just
Trying, just trying to
get out there and show the people what theyneed to do, man.
I'm tired of all these idiot coaches and allthese people not doing right.
I also love the fact that you have a little MoeNorman in you when you finish your golf swing
and you point the shaft out.
Little Moe Norman.
We'll let the people know.

(52:16):
Yeah.
That's that thing.
You gotta Moe Norman.
Get that bait off there.
Let's get into the betting odds.
Let's get right into the updated 2025 U.S.
Open Oakmont betting odds.
And Scottie Scheffler has not changed.
He is still plus 280.
We got Bryson DeChambeau moved up a little bit.

(52:37):
He's now in solo fourth, at plus 700.
Rory McIlroy and Jon Rahm are now tied at plus1,200.
Xander Schauffele, Ludvig Åberg at plus 2,200.
Plus 2,500 is Collin Morikawa.
Joaquin Niemann moved up to plus 3,000.
Plus 4,000, we got Tommy Fleetwood and JustinThomas.

(52:58):
Plus 4,500, Patrick Cantlay, Shane Lowry, SeppStraka.
Plus 5,000, Tyrrell Hatton, don't call himTyrell.
Jordan Spieth, Viktor Hovland.
Brooks Koepka.
Corey Conners is up there.
That one is gonna, we gotta talk about that.
That one just caught me off guard.
Plus 5,500, Russell Henley.

(53:20):
Plus 6,000, Matt Fitzpatrick.
He has grown up to be Matt.
Don't call him Matthew.
Hideki Matsuyama.
There we go.
And we got plus 6,500 with Jason Day, WyndhamClark, Ben Griffin, plus 7,500 with Sam Burns,
plus 8,000 with Keegan Bradley, plus 9,000 withDaniel Berger.

(53:40):
And then, yeah, that pretty much wraps it up.
My god.
I didn't see Shane Lowry in there, and I thinkI screwed something up here.
Because
I have Matt Fitzpatrick twice on here.

(54:02):
So I might have copied and pasted the oddsslightly incorrectly tonight, so I apologize if
some of those are off.
But let's talk about Corey Conners.
Corey
Conners.
5,000.
Good pick.
Great
iron.
Phenomenal putter.
Great short game.
Drives it well off the tee.
Consistent.

(54:23):
Shows up in the big tournaments.
He could be a sneaky one.
I think people started throwing some money
at.
So is Fleetwood Mac, by the way, just so we'reclear.
Fleetwood Mac.
Wow.
Would love to see Tommy just come out ofnowhere.

(54:54):
Sorry.
I'm trying to see where Matt Fitzpatrick wasbecause I don't know why I had him twice.
But Matt Fitzpatrick is in the 10,000 worldwith Maverick McNealy, Si Woo Kim, Harris
English, Bobby Mac, Justin Rose is at plus11,000.
We haven't talked about Justin Rose.
Do.
Hey, Rose plays well at tough golf courses.

(55:16):
Guy's a grinder, man.
He is a grinder.
Never gives up.
Never gives in.
Guys, who are our picks this week?
What's the yardage of the golf course?
Seventy-five?
Seventy-eight?
It's up there.
Does it is it does the ball go farther there,less far?
Like
No.
It's at sea level.

(55:36):
So it's not going that far?
No.
And because they've had some rain, it'sactually not it's
So three ten out there even with roll is gonnabe like a pretty nice poke.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, for
actually, truck golfer.
Brent, fastest greens you've ever played.
16 plus?
16?
I've never seen 16.

(55:56):
So there was the closest I've been is 14 and ahalf.
Was that at L.A.?
No.
So they actually weren't that fast.
Really?
They were, yeah.
They were 12, 12 and a half.
The argument was that the morning marine layerprevented them

(56:17):
from That's right.
I
remember that.
I think it was total BS.
They had just rolled out their decision to rollthe ball back, and they were making a point
that, you know, golf is too easy for these guysthat hit it as far as they do.
And you saw, you know, record-breaking numbersfrom several guys, but that's, you know, that's

(56:38):
a conspiracy.
I just didn't think that the golf course was asfirm as far as the greens were concerned, as
firm as fast.
I mean, some of the largest greens I've everbeen on, and they were not moving as fast as I
thought.
They're very big though.
Very, very big.
Big.

(56:59):
Who is your pick this week, Buttsy?
Really?
Yeah.
We're doing it again.
My pick is Scottie Scheffler.
That hasn't changed.
This guy is
like Who's your backup?
Robot mind.
So I
just wanna get back into sorry.
I wanna get back into the mindset talk.
This guy doesn't have a mindset.

(57:23):
I think you're He just hits every golf shot thesame.
Yeah.
And he just listens to Teddy.
Teddy, get me around the golf course.
There's nothing else going on in thismotherfucker's mind.
Beat that out.
But there's no gravity to the situation.
I don't even think he cares.
It's the U.S.
Open.
He wants to win a major, but I don't think hethinks like that.

(57:44):
I don't think he's coming into this like, oh,alright.
Now it's a major.
Can I keep this train going?
Am I that guy?
Can I get it done?
Am I gonna falter if I have some bad holes?
No.
I'm gonna do the same thing that got me here.
I'm gonna just go in every golf shot.
And if it adds up good,
hey.
I actually think that's a great take on hismental side and, you know, we've talked about

(58:06):
this with Dustin Johnson back in the day thathe was like a savant.
Right?
But people in the media would just pick on himbecause he sounded like he was stupid.
He's not stupid.
He's not at all.
But Scottie Scheffler kinda has that same thingabout him.
He was like, yeah.
I'm just gonna go and gonna play and, you know?
It hit the ball.
Down to like giving a shit about reallyhonestly, like what other think.

(58:30):
Like and
he doesn't.
There's only gravity to it if you're worriedabout what people are gonna think of you if you
fail.
And if you don't give one single shit aboutwhat anybody else thinks about where you're at
in terms of your brilliance as a golfer, thenyou really can just unlock and go hit shots.
So let's just compare and contrast then.

(58:50):
You have the two best golfers over there,basically, out of over the last two or three
years, Rory and Scottie, and you have one thathas so-called, you know, reached the peak and
done whatever he's needed to do and obviouslycares what other people think.

(59:11):
I mean, the majority of his post-roundinterview or post-Masters interview was, what
are we gonna talk about next year?
What are you guys in the media gonna say aboutme?
And Scottie just goes out there and he goes,alright.
Let's go play some golf.
And he goes out, doesn't look at the media.
Doesn't care one bit.
In fact, I can tell you that over the last fewmonths, especially after the PGA and leading

(59:39):
into the PGA, it was grinding on him.
He was like, "Dude, I'm struggling because Ifeel like I have to stay longer to sign more
autographs.
I feel like I have to do this, and I feel likeI have to do that." And his entire team, I'm
sure he prayed about it, but they were like,"Shut it down.
Just shut it down."

(59:59):
And he goes out and does what he does at thePGA and the Memorial, both incredibly difficult
golf courses against the best players in theworld.
And I don't think this week is gonna be anydifferent, but I just wanna see Ludvig Åberg
get it done.
He would have to have some sort of a kink showup in his golf swing
or some
sort of run.
I think, honestly, not a good one.

(01:00:20):
A strain, something, or sickness, or somethingmajor is gonna have to happen for this guy not
to go
out there
and just very calmly and collectively win byfour shots.
I agree.
You know what I say?
Expectations are the killers of dreams.
I don't think he has any expectations.
I think he just goes and plays it one shot at atime and just listens to Teddy.

(01:00:41):
It's like, "Hey, Teddy, get me around this golfcourse."
And you know what?
We've talked about the faith aspect and we jokeabout it, but I think you're spot on that it's
like he puts it into his higher self, so tospeak.
So into the higher power of God and it's justlike, holy crap.
Like, he is doing what you would practice formental preparation and everything around that.

(01:01:05):
Takes all stress off.
There's no stress, dude.
There isn't because he doesn't put his identityin what he's doing on the golf course.
Correct.
But what's amazing is he is a hypercompetitivehuman being.
There are stories about him growing upthrowing, I mean, we've seen it on the golf
course recently.
He throws absolute temper tantrums, you know,if things aren't going his way.

(01:01:26):
But the thing is that Ted's out there, and he'sbeen there, done that so many times, and he's
just like him, just as much of a man of faith.
And so they're out there, and that's whatthey're talking about.
They're talking about things that blow golf,that make golf look ridiculous.
And so he meets, he goes out there and he goes,where do you want this one?

(01:01:47):
Alright.
Teddy's also got a great personality.
Oh, he's so good.
I think a lot of the caddies are, and I hate togeneralize this, but I think there's a lot of
guys out there that are jealous of Teddy.
Oh, sure.
But Teddy's got such a good personality.
His social media stuff's hilarious.
I personally really enjoy him and hispersonality, and I think he was the perfect fit

(01:02:08):
for Scottie Scheffler and what they're doing.
Absolutely.
My pick, and I gotta ask this at DevRoe.
Hang on.
Let me stop you.
So you had originally asked me, not okay.
Not Scheffler, dark
horse.
Just wanna
Yeah.
You're
throw it out there.
I've been saying this for doesn't
have to be dark horse either, by the way.
It's if Scottie doesn't win for whateverreason, Scottie breaks an ankle out there, gets

(01:02:31):
arrested again, or, you know
Go ahead.
I don't think it'll, yeah.
I don't think it's gonna, like I said, I don'tthink it'll be, like, a massive surprise, but I
do think it'll be, like, oh, forgot about thatguy.
Straka.
Sepp Big man.
I love that you call him Straka.
Yeah.
That's how he should pronounce his last name.

(01:02:52):
Straka.
I think Straka might just come in there and,woah, where the fuck did Straka come from?
There he is.
He's playing well all year.
Yeah.
Well all year.
Are his odds?
Let's see what his odds are.
I think he said it was plus 5000.
5,000.
Five?
He's in.
That So walk.
Me through.
What does that mean?
So you put down x and you get what?
If you put down $100, you get $5,000 back.

(01:03:14):
Mhmm.
So a.
100 a 100 is the minimum.
Or I'm sorry.
Not $5,000 back, but you win 5,000.
Plus 5,000 x. Yeah.
Yeah.
So that's.
5,000 bet back plus the $5,000.
Oh, plus, not times.
Correct.
No.
Yeah.
Not not multiplied by that.

(01:03:34):
Gotcha.
That wouldn't make any sense.
Alright.
Got it.
Well, thank you.
$10, 500, and so on.
Man, I'm gonna tell you right now, ScottieScheffler in my mind, and I said this at DevRow
today.
They asked me, and they did the little clip,and I'm like, it's Scottie Scheffler unless
something happens to Scottie Scheffler.

(01:03:57):
And if something happens to Scottie Scheffler,I think it's Justin Thomas, which Burt Brunner
is not a Justin Thomas fan for whatever reason.
Just doesn't like him, and he's just like, oh,can't stand that one.
But Justin Thomas, I just have a feeling aboutJT because JT is either going to show up and
play really, really well, or he's gonna playterrible and probably miss the cut.

(01:04:20):
So that's kind of the way that JT has beenplaying over the past year or so.
So I just got a feeling that catch a littlefire with JT, but that'd be pretty cool if we
got to see a battle come down to Sunday whereyou got Scottie Scheffler, you got Bryson
DeChambeau, you got Jon Rahm, you got JustinThomas, and all these guys are battling

(01:04:44):
Now before
the victory.
We didn't give it at the PGA Championship, andI really feel like we should have gotten it at
the PGA Championship.
Like, that was tailor-made for that type ofshowdown because so many guys were playing so
well, and they all play well at Quail Hollowthat it just would have been absolutely sick to

(01:05:07):
see.
But man, Oakmont deserves to have a superleaderboard.
And what's crazy too, and I heard this on thelive from before this show, is that nobody's
complaining really about the golf course setup.
It
It is what it is.
Gil Hanse widened the fairways, made the greensa little bit bigger, and nobody's complaining.

(01:05:31):
They just love the difficulty, but they thinkthat it is a fair test of golf, which is pretty
cool to see because normally U.S.
Opens, you get all the complainers out there.
Oh, it's ridiculous.
This green isn't even playable.
You can't hit this.
And we got a par-3, folks, that you have to hita driver.

(01:05:52):
It's like 289, right?
Yeah.
It's 289, kind of uphill, and it's just anabsolute beast.
So most guys are hitting driver.
Rory McIlroy hit a 3-wood.
And you know how far he hits his damn 3-wood at300-plus yards.
Yeah.
So
and nobody's complaining about it.
That's the crazy thing.
Nobody's complaining about it.

(01:06:12):
Nobody is bitching and moaning before this U.S.
Open, which is crazy.
They're talking about how difficult everythingis, but nobody's saying it's unfair.
So that's where, you know, you wanna talk aboutdark horses?
Johnson is such a ridiculous dark horse becauseit's not gonna happen.

(01:06:35):
As much as I would love it to happen
Man, imagine that.
And that's the only one.
Bud Cauley is the other one, but I'm just like,those I'm not even throwing bets on them.
You can't, you really can't if you're gonnalike
Try to win money.
Yeah.
Does.
Oh, man.

(01:06:55):
But I do have a question for you guys, whichplayers aren't complaining about it, but do you
think it's right to have a par-3 that you needto hit driver on?
Here's my take on the par 3.
There's no huge gap where there's gonna be acouple of players in the field that have an
extreme distance advantage, so they're hittinga 4-iron on it, and other guys are taking wood.

(01:07:18):
Like, it's gonna be a mashed 3-wood, orsomebody's gonna cut a driver in there.
Either way, the skill required to hit thegreen, let alone make a birdie or get out of
there with a par, is gonna be—I think it'sgonna be equal across the field.
I don't think Bryson's gonna step up there andhit a 2-iron onto the green high and soft and
have some huge advantage because he's so long.

(01:07:39):
Everybody's gonna get there, and it just iswhat it is.
Like, so I don't know.
I think it's just fair.
It's probably a hole you're trying to get outof with a 3, 4 at worst, and move on, and
that's just what that is.
Brent?
Yeah.
I mean, obviously, they're not gonna play itall the way back every day.
But I think where it again, where it kindaproves the point and I'm sure guys are doing

(01:08:01):
it.
They're building a certain club, you know,maybe a strong 5-wood or something like that or
a 4-wood that, you know, they can fly a littlehigher, a little softer.
And, you know, exactly.
You know?
And if Buttsy was out there, I mean, obviously,it'd be like a soft
Smooth cut little five iron.
But aside from the longest player of all time,most of us mortals, you know, would be looking

(01:08:28):
to play that hole at 250, 260, and then maybeone day at 280.
But we'll see.
I think for a guy like Bryson, for a guy likeRory, and even I can't really mean, Ryan Fox is
another guy that hits it an absolute mile.

(01:08:49):
But everybody else, like you said, Buttsy, isgonna have to kinda knife something in there.
Do a little
I like what you said.
Building a club for it.
Like, wouldn't be surprised to see a bunch ofmini drivers out there where it's, you know,
somewhere between driver and three wood thatyou can get a little oomph out of.
But yeah.
Like 13-degree mini driver, you know, Do
you think that's why we might have seen aresurgence out of mini drivers this year

(01:09:13):
knowing that Oakmont was coming up?
No.
I think it was bound to happen.
I think a lot of players have been looking forsomething that they can hit long off the tee
instead of their driver, and they don't see,you know, a big takeoff of spin from the three
wood.
A little bit more playable.
You can work the ball a little bit better.

(01:09:35):
Seems like there are a lot of actually longerplayers that are using it.
So it seems to me that there's definitelysomething happening, that they're pushing it
out there.
But yeah.
And then the other thing is obviously, youknow, the public goes nuts over something so

(01:09:57):
weird.
What hole is that?
What hole is it on the golf course?
14 or 6 or something like that.
Is it on the back nine?
It'd be cool if it's on the back nine becausethat could like make or break.
Could
you imagine if it was like 16?
How crazy that would be?
Like, the but
You go back to the PGA, right, at Harding Park?
But that was a par 4 that
was drivable. The
drivable. The drivable par 4?

(01:10:17):
And that led Collin Morikawa winning.
Mhmm.
Is there fairway short of the green?
Like, is there a spot where it's easy to have aregular little pitch shot if you miss one 250?
You know?
Or are you missing that green with a long3-wood, and you're just in that nasty rough
trying to get up and down?
I think the members probably play it.

(01:10:39):
So it's hole.
Thank you, Trot.
But yeah.
There you go.
Run up.
Of course, our researcher gets done.
Our unofficial researcher.
Oh, but
yeah.
I mean, think about how the members normallyplay that.
Right?
So they're probably playing at, you know, 230,240, 250, and, you know, they gotta have

(01:10:59):
something to bump and run.
I mean, I saw Zac Blair putt one on a par 4from 120 yards.
So clearly.
Oh,
I saw that today on Instagram.
Was crazy.
Drone chasing.
Like this.
So I was like, okay.
That's still going.
So the place
is 15 feet.
Yeah.
It was stuffed.

(01:11:20):
But yeah.
I mean, but look at you know, you kinda saw theway that the image of that par 4, you know, big
square green, but then you saw kinda shelfhere, shelf there.
So, again, I mean, it's big green, but smalltargets.
So it's really gonna make the difference.
Cool.
About it.

(01:11:40):
You got anything else for us tonight?
Xander Schauffele is my pick.
Wow.
So Ludwig is your pick.
Correct.
Xander Schauffele is your
pick.
Ludvig Åberg.
I've got Scottie.
This is kinda cool, though, that ScottieScheffler's put us in a position where we
basically have to have two picks.

(01:12:01):
Yes.
Brent "Laser" Grant is the only one who
Laser, Laser's gone
now.
Went away from Scottie Scheffler.
But, mhmm, it builds him up to get two picks.
But I'm Scottie and Justin Thomas.
And Buttsy, you are Scottie and Rory McIlroy?
Straka.
Straka.
Straka.
I think
Rory is definitely going to play well.

(01:12:24):
I think you guys saying that he's, like, stilljust on chill mode and doesn't care anymore
just because he got a Grand Slam.
I just think that's a little bit of bullshit,
but battling
with my opinion Just what I
well.
my opinion as well. what I see.
my opinion as Just what I see.
Like, nobody's in his brain.
Right?
It's just literally how he looks, how he's beentalking to the media, everything.
I just I don't see that
I get that.
fire inside of him.

(01:12:45):
I I think we're gonna see a different guy comeThursday for a major.
That'd be cool.
I'd love to see it.
When everybody's playing well, the golf is morefun to watch.
It's more fun when everybody's good.
Also, it's just brought up, you can bet thefield without Scottie.
So they're starting to do that now.
So you can go ahead and we can throw in ourpicks except for Brent.

(01:13:08):
Right?
Cannot.
That's ridiculous.
Are you kidding me?
So they're basically saying, oh, yeah.
He's gonna win.
Yeah.
So I
mean, he's
plus two eighty.
I mean,
so he's he's so he's 30 points above what hewas at the Memorial and it's basically the same
guys playing?

(01:13:28):
No.
So the odds are tighter this week because ofhow difficult the golf course is.
But
Memorial, the place guy was plus 1,600.
This week, it's plus 700 with BrysonDeChambeau.
Oh, okay.
A little closer.
A little closer.
Interesting.
How has Scottie not won the Hero though?

(01:13:50):
That's what I wanna know.
A guy that he didn't play last year.
Yeah.
I don't think he played.
That's why.
So he's definitely playing this year knowingthat
Or he has to win the major.
Yeah.
Like, to get the real Grand Slam.
And I don't know if Rory looks at it the sameway.
Boom.
Almost let us go without the final segment.
Picking the right score.

(01:14:13):
So we gotta start off.
Buttsy, what is your final winning score forthe U.S.
Open this year?
How many over or under I
put a minus three.
K.
I am go well, Brent, you go ahead.
Minus six.
Minus six, Brent says.

(01:14:33):
I am going to go plus one Scottie Scheffler.
There you
go.
Didn't even ask for the names, but we got themanyways.
Oh, Trot just threw in there.
Look at that.
Me and Trot are on the same wavelength.
There we go.
Plus No.
That's it.
Alright, gentlemen.
That's gonna do it for tonight.

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(01:16:59):
Yeah.
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Gentlemen, anything else before we hop off?
Should we hit the—should we hit the music?
Hit the music.

(01:17:19):
Hit it.