June 26, 2025 • 52 mins
Matt Cook and David Gies II explore Keegan Bradley's resurgence and potential roles in the Ryder Cup, both as a player and future captain. They discuss the possibility of Tiger Woods stepping into a Ryder Cup captaincy role. Tommy Fleetwood's performance under pressure and Kip Henley's Twitter influence, alongside David's viral tweet, are analyzed. The episode compares Ryan Fox and Thriston Lawrence's games under pressure and highlights Oakmont's challenges through Tyrrell Hatton's insights. They delve into Bud Cauley's comeback, modern caddy responsibilities, and the importance of caddy loyalty and job security. The conversation wraps up with David's upcoming tournament plans and sponsor acknowledgments.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
This guy, ever since he got jaded without beinga captain's pick in 2023, he's now up to
(00:07):
seventh in the world.
He's ninth in the U.S.
Ryder Cup points.
And, David, I gotta ask you.
If it ended today to where it's like, okay.
Is Keegan Bradley going to be on this team?
What do you think?
I mean, he's finished, he said, four top tensthis year, including the win last week.
He's finished eighth, seventh, thirty-third,and first.
I mean, it'd be really it'd be really hard toif he was looking at somebody else's resume
(00:29):
trying to pick somebody, he would be a
Now I gotta ask you.
When it comes to Tommy Fleetwood, you're aplayer.
You're a caddy.
Like, you've got you have the well-roundedperspective to be able to answer this because
I've got my thoughts on it.
But Tommy Fleetwood, like, he's been there timeand time again, and he just kinda folds under
(00:49):
the pressure it seems like, where there wassome questionable decision making in the final
round at TPC River Highlands.
So I gotta ask you man, like what what is goingon with Tommy Fleetwood when he's in
contention?
So I mean, I I would venture to say thatpressure is definitely what gets to him.
So I mean, it's a hot take.
(01:09):
It might not go over well with the golfarchitect nuts, but I think Oakmont sucks.
Welcome back everybody to Pull Hook Golf, thepodcast.
I'm your host, Matt Cook.
And tonight, we've got a really special guestwho has stepped in last minute for us.
He's been on the show multiple times already.
This is his third appearance, PGA Tour caddyfor Bud Cauley.
(01:30):
His name is David Gies II, and my goodnessgracious, we are grateful to have you on
tonight.
We've got a great show for everybody tonight aswe've gotta talk about Keegan Bradley and this
whole dilemma that he has forced himself intothe conversation of whether he's gonna be a
captain, a player, or both at the Ryder Cup.
We'll get into that.
(01:51):
Also, this weekend, we gotta talk about TommyFleetwood.
And is it the pressure that gets to TommyFleetwood?
We'll talk about that.
And really from your perspective too, what youthink could be going on there.
And then we gotta talk about Bud Cauley becausethat is your player.
That's your man.
Ever since you got on the bag, this dude hashad a resurgence.
So we're gonna talk about the resurrection ofBud Cauley.
(02:14):
A lot of people don't realize that he was athing before this recent run that he has been
on, and we will certainly talk about that.
But before we do, I do want to give a shoutoutto our sponsors.
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(02:40):
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(03:00):
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(03:40):
I left it at the gym today.
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(04:03):
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We gotta talk about, real quick, David.
I gotta give a quick little segue before wedive into Keegan Bradley about the 5AM
comeback.
This is my personal comeback, the full bodytransformation, getting back to an elite level
(04:30):
in golf.
My golf game had gone to hell over the pastyear, year and a half from a plus point five
all the way to a seven handicap.
The chipping yips did not help with thatwhatsoever, but this has been manifested for
quite some time.
The reason why it's called the 5AM comeback isbecause about six months ago, my wife started
working out, and we were people that wouldsleep in every single day.
(04:53):
She started working out at 5 a.m., and I'mlike, holy crap.
If you can do this, I can do this.
And as I started thinking about it, I'm like, Irun a podcast agency.
On top of that, I've got the Pull Hook Golfpodcast that we do here.
With that, I didn't have much time to beginwith.
So I'm like, let me find this time to where Ican do this and not take away from family time
(05:15):
with her.
And sure enough, I was like, the mornings arewhere it's at.
So part of this, I do wanna give a coupleshoutouts, first of all, to Stark Health who is
partnering up with me for the full bodytransformation.
Folks, if you have ever thought about gettinginto incredible shape, but you've worked with
trainers, you've worked with different peoplein the past, and it just wasn't something to
(05:40):
where you saw the results.
Well, they've got a full team that theyutilize.
From personal trainers to neuromuscularchiropractors to doctors that actually do your
blood work and know exactly what your bodyneeds in terms of nutrients, medications, and
so forth.
I'm missing certain people that are a part ofthat, but DEXA scans where you learn all about
(06:03):
your body.
I went out there on this past Thursday, wentout to L.A.
to their facilities out there.
Absolutely incredible.
It was unbelievable.
But this is all in order to get back to acompetitive level and hopefully play on a grass
league team in 2026.
But this is a full journey.
It's beyond just golf.
(06:24):
It's health and fitness.
It is everything, and I'm gonna be documentingthe entire process all along the way.
So make sure to stay tuned on the Pull HookGolf podcast on our Instagram.
You can check out the stories because my days,they were hectic before.
Now they're even crazier.
So you can check out all of that.
And then there's gonna be a playlist on YouTubeunder the Pull Hook Golf channel that is gonna
(06:49):
be the 5AM Comeback.
And I've partnered with a lot of greatcompanies along this way, and I couldn't do it
without a team.
You know what I mean?
So that being said, let's get into it.
Keegan Bradley.
What the hell, man?
This guy, ever since he got jaded without beinga captain's pick in 2023, he's now up to
(07:12):
seventh in the world.
He's ninth in the U.S.
Ryder Cup points.
And, David, I gotta ask you.
If it ended today to where it's like, okay, isKeegan Bradley going to be on this team?
What do you think?
I mean, he's said it a lot that unless he's inthe top six, he's not gonna pick himself.
What do you think he should do?
(07:33):
I mean, it would be really hard not to pickhim.
I mean, I was just searching what his resultshave been lately.
I mean, he's finished—he's had four top tensthis year including the win last week.
His last four starts are PGA, Memorial, U.S.
Open, Travelers, so two majors and twosignature events.
(07:54):
He's finished eighth, seventh, thirty-third,and first.
I mean, who's playing much hotter than that?
I mean, obviously, Scottie Scheffler, but yougo back to last year too, it's not like he
played bad last year either.
I mean, it'd be really hard to, if he waslooking at somebody else's resume and trying to
pick somebody, he would be a lock.
(08:15):
You just put no name next to it, it's a lock.
Well, we thought that he was a lock in 2023,right?
I mean, he was playing good and so forth, andthen all of a sudden, we saw the Spieth, JT,
and Rickie Fowler be the picks of good old—whyam I blanking on his name—the captain?
(08:37):
I can literally picture Zach.
No.
It was Zach Johnson.
Yeah.
I was like, I'm picturing Zach Johnsonswinging.
Oh, yeah.
It is Zach Johnson.
But he went with those guys over KeeganBradley, which was controversial at the time
and since, I mean, shoot.
Keegan's won twice.
Like you mentioned, he's had a bunch of top10s.
I mean, just has played unbelievable.
(08:57):
And here's the other part to it.
His strokes gained has surged.
So yeah.
Since February, he ranks ninth in strokesgained tee-to-green and sixth in strokes gained
total among players with 40-plus rounds.
And if you go back to 2023, he—you know, he wonat Travelers.
(09:18):
But other than that, he finished—he made a
bunch of cuts, I'm looking at it.
Looks like he played a little early in theyear.
But towards getting closer to the Ryder Cup, hejust finished a lot of top 30s.
Nothing spectacular.
Where this year, I mean, he's top 10 seeminglyevery week.
I totally agree.
(09:40):
I mean, if there was any other captain and youlooked at that resume, you'd be like, alright,
that guy's gotta be on the team.
Especially when you look at where he's from andjust, I mean, not that New York is Boston, but
still, I mean, it's a similar location.
It's the Northeast.
I mean, it would be, yeah.
I mean, he's gonna be pulled for no matter whatif he's on that team.
(10:00):
Absolutely.
I mean, and that's what it's probably one ofthe only events where you will see New Yorkers
and people from Boston come together and rootfor Team USA in that kind of manner.
So you're gonna have a huge crowd for KeeganBradley.
It's gonna be a crazy crowd as it is because ofa bunch of New Yorkers.
(10:21):
But, man, Keegan being in there and not justbeing the captain.
So my next question is, do you think they willallow him to be a playing captain or are those
days kind of gone?
I don't know.
That's a good question.
I mean, that would be assuming that the captaindoes a whole lot.
I mean, do I think they should shuttle out?
(10:43):
Sure.
I mean, that would be cool.
But I don't know.
Does the captain do a whole lot in the RyderCup other than listen to his team on who they
want to play with?
That's why, like, I can't get over the fact of,like, that this is controversial in terms of
whether or not he would be a playing captain.
(11:03):
And, like, they made it sound, especially whenhe got picked too, that in no way will he be a
playing captain.
There's too much work that goes into it.
There's no way that he could ever doeverything.
It's like, what?
Yeah.
I mean, let's say JT and Spieth are on the sameteam and you're gonna just say, no, y'all
aren't playing together.
I know you want to but no.
(11:25):
Then go a step further.
Let's say, Novak and Griffin make the team.
You're gonna tell them, no.
I know you won Zurich but no, we can't playtogether.
I know.
It's You're just gonna listen to the team.
I don't I don't get, like, how much work can gointo it.
Like, he's not a stats guy, like, I that I knowof to where, like, he'd be the one crunching
the numbers and need like, get analytics guys.
(11:48):
Like, team
Well, it's not like he's doing it solo.
Yeah.
Exactly.
I mean, he's got he's got co-captains, he'sgot, you know, he's got everybody.
He's got a team around him.
It does question.
He like steps down as captain, right?
Or picks himself and relinquishes thecaptaincy, does that open the door for Tiger
(12:10):
Woods to step in?
I don't think
Tiger wants this one.
This should be the first call.
I it.
I it. I think he wants it on foreign soil.
He does.
100%.
I called this out when, Keegan was the pick.
Everybody wanted Tiger to be Beth Page, blahblah blah, but no, he wants foreign soil and
(12:33):
really bring that cup back to America that wehave not been able to do in a long time.
Let's just throw Phil a bone and give it to himand just call it a day.
It's Keegan's buddy.
Just give it to Phil.
Let the let the live guys win.
Give them a win.
Trot also brings up the please no pods on thisteam.
(12:54):
I don't think that worked out too well whenthey were doing pods.
And we're not talking about podcasts, folks.
We're talking about team pods.
They thought they were gonna outsmart
them with the pods.
Unbelievable.
Like, some of the things that we've done, itjust goes beyond me in terms of the thought
process around some of this.
It's way too overthought.
(13:14):
It's way too mechanical.
Just go play good golf.
Yeah.
Exactly.
Like, get pumped.
Don't
take three weeks off before the Ryder Cup.
Just kinda act like you wanna win it.
And I feel like these guys now, like, there'smore camaraderie amongst them versus in the
past when you had like Tiger and Phil, whichthose two just couldn't stand each other.
(13:36):
They just wanted to kill each other.
Yeah.
I mean, it literally just didn't make any senseto even put those two as a I mean, who was the
captain when they put those two together?
Was it Hal Sutton?
I think so.
And Hal is just like big ball Hal.
He's just like swinging his, you know what,around and just like, I don't give a shit if
you guys don't like each other.
(13:58):
You're playing together.
And it did I mean, it was what it was.
Didn't work out.
Yeah.
It did not work out in the least.
But I do think that Keegan is the answer and isthe person that can do this in the modern era
to where there's enough support system that'sthere.
(14:19):
Like, as a captain, I think it means more tothe guys if he's the captain and he's playing
in it and he's playing well.
Yeah.
I'd be I mean, it'd be
a cool thing to have.
You got a guy that's he's he kinda got snubbedthe last time.
He's or I mean, did get snubbed a little bit.
He's motivated to compete and there's no wayhe's the captain if he didn't get snubbed the
(14:39):
last time.
That's just Nick.
Sorry but he's not one of the first choicesever.
It's not
like he has this fantastic Ryder Cup recordlike, well, the Europeans had with Poulter and
Sergio and it's it's just not he's he was nevereven in the picture until he got snubbed.
100%.
And he was known, like, part of the reason whyhe wasn't really picked for that Ryder Cup is
(15:05):
because he technically wasn't one of the guys,wasn't a locker room guy.
Right?
Like, that was a lot of the rhetoric around himnot getting picked or at least what started
coming out around it.
And it's like, dude, you couldn't be furtherfrom the truth.
I couldn't care less if a dude didn't hang outwith me all year and then all of a sudden we
get to a Ryder Cup-style event and he's ascompetitive and wants it as bad as Keegan
(15:31):
Bradley.
Like, that would pump me up.
Yep.
Exactly.
So I think we're pretty consistent here.
We think that he should be both.
Right?
I think so.
I mean, I wouldn't be opposed to him not beingboth, but I think I'm all in on him being both.
Yeah.
And I don't think the players I mean, you canprobably tell me better than I can because I
(15:53):
haven't talked with the players in a while,around the fact that there's not many guys that
I think would balk at this either.
Not a single one.
Yeah.
Not a single one.
Didn't think so.
Which once again just kinda goes to, okay, TeamUSA, whoever's like and it's the PGA, right,
that runs the USA team.
Don't overthink it, please.
(16:14):
Please, God.
Don't overthink it.
Just let it happen and let Keegan do the rightthing and pick himself.
Because do you think there's enough time forhim to get in the top six?
It looks like he's 2,000 points behind.
I don't know how many points.
I don't, I forget the points breakdown.
(16:35):
Hold on.
I think you get double points in the last year.
So I think another win, I don't think it wouldeven put him in the top six.
I think a win would have to, it might put himjust in the top six, the win.
And another win would be tough, but, I mean,we've got the FedEx Cup coming up.
I mean, we got the Open Championship coming up.
(16:56):
So there's still some opportunities that areout there, but, yeah, it would, in my opinion,
it'd be tough for him to get into the top sixbefore it.
So ultimately, it's gonna come down to whetheror not he picks himself.
Basically.
Yeah.
So he, actually, he, yeah.
If he won again, he would easily be in there.
It looks like he got 3,100, 3,400 points forthe last one.
(17:18):
So yeah, he'd be in easily.
Now I gotta ask you.
When it comes to Tommy Fleetwood, you're aplayer, you're a caddy, like you've got, you
have the well-rounded perspective to be able toanswer this because I've got my thoughts on it.
But Tommy Fleetwood, like, he's been there timeand time again, and he just kind of folds under
(17:42):
the pressure it seems like where there was somequestionable decision-making in the final round
at TPC River Highlands.
So I gotta ask you, man, like, what what isgoing on with Tommy Fleetwood when he's in
contention?
Well, so last week, we were actually we werethe first off number 10.
So when we made the turn, we were playing rightbehind the leaders' group.
(18:03):
And I made a comment to Bud.
It was kind of a Ryder Cup situation becauseyou've got Keegan out there, every putt he
made, you have the crowd chanting USA against aEuropean.
And I think that added more pressure than justsay a normal stop if they're playing in
Charlotte.
It wouldn't have the same crowd.
But because we were in Connecticut, kind of inKeegan's backyard, it was very much a Ryder Cup
(18:27):
situation.
I just think that was hard.
I'm not sure what his start was.
I know looking at the leaderboard, I think theyboth made a couple bogeys early, but I'm not
sure.
Did Tommy make like three out of four or threeout of five starting?
Wasn't good.
Yeah.
Wasn't good.
So I was I was at the airport when he finished,so I got to see the last three holes.
And I mean, I know he switched clubs on 18 andthat wind was swirling all over the place,
(18:53):
especially in the last four holes, fifteen,sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, the wind's all
over the place.
And you have a downwind off the tee and thesecond shot you get up there and you're just
feeling it straight in and it's hard to committo that.
And I think that got him a little bit.
I guess he switched from nine iron to wedge andcame up short.
So those are part of the decisions underpressure that you make that, I mean, those are
(19:14):
significant decisions.
You either make the right one or the wrong one,and added a little bit of pressure makes it a
little bit tougher.
So, I mean, I would venture to say thatpressure is definitely what gets to him.
And I don't I mean, I always say experiencehelps, right?
Being in those situations.
But for him, he's been there so many times nowthat it's almost like this scar tissue is
(19:38):
starting to build up.
And did you see, I forget, was it CBS that didthe broadcast or was it NBC?
I can't remember.
You can go CBS because Balianis was on there.
Yes.
That's right.
So and they did him bad on social media.
They put a clip from behind him
I saw and
he was already, like, crying before the putteven went in.
(20:01):
Well, I think he mouthed over to the side, nochance or something along those lines or no
way, something he mouthed, like before Keeganeven hit the putt, like, there's no way he was
missing.
Yeah.
I mean, gave him the perfect line.
And I mean, it was either Keegan choked or itwas over.
And here's the thing, like, his last putt,Tommy Fleetwood that is, did hit a pitch mark.
(20:22):
Like, it
It did, but he also started it right over whereKeegan started.
And if you go back to the video, I made sure Ilooked at it because I keep commenting on Kip
tweets.
But as they're coming in, you can see the pitchmark from above as they're moving the camera
around.
And Fleetwood's putt started kinda right centerand hit the right side of the pitch mark and
(20:44):
Keegan's putt started kinda inside left andwent on the left side of the pitch mark.
So it was just enough where one hit the side ofit and one missed it completely and that's why
one putt went in, one didn't.
That's wild.
Wild when you think about it.
I mean but I guess to my point is that itwasn't a bad stroke by Fleetwood.
No.
He didn't hit a bad putt.
He hit it right where he was looking.
(21:04):
It's just that he put himself in that positiononce again.
So, like, part of it's gotta be, hey, we needto dial in and get a little bit smarter under
pressure.
And I just don't know.
Like, is it finding that, oh shit, get me tothe clubhouse swing?
I mean, what what is it?
Well, I mean, like I said on the wind swirl,like 16 was kind of a tough awkward par three
(21:28):
because you kinda feel it off the right on thetee and it's kind of blown into you and he air
mails it on that one.
Makes a bad bogey, get it on 17.
I think he was lucky to get away with par on17.
I mean, he made like a five-footer on a secondputt.
Yep.
So, I mean, yeah, he's gotta find some way to Idon't know.
It's it's it's hard to win golf tournaments.
(21:50):
It is, but he's put himself in that position somany times.
We do gotta talk about Kip Henley since youbrought him up.
Is he the most polarizing former caddy that'son Twitter?
He has to be.
I mean, as I've told you before, I got off ofit because I like to argue with people, but now
I'm a little bit more sane on there.
I tie my name to the tweets and I just don't, Idon't argue with people.
(22:13):
But that one, I, I don't argue with.
We were getting some real, like, I did it a lotfor the entertainment factor and for obviously
reach and so forth for a lot of what I wouldgo, like, arguing back and forth with
especially the LIV crowd.
But we've really kind of backed off and kind offocused more on, you know, being a little bit
(22:37):
more positive and, you know, especially onInstagram, we do a lot more than what we do on
Twitter.
And Twitter, I don't think they love the videosas much.
I feel like you don't get the amount of reachor the likes.
People don't like to like things on Twitter, Ifeel like.
There's not a lot of that.
(22:57):
I posted my new set of Titleist 680s today out
of nowhere.
Oh, that's gonna go fire.
Yeah.
It went viral.
I mean, I have 130 followers and I looked justnow and I had 1,100 likes on the photo.
I'm like, I don't even know how these peoplesaw it.
That's one thing everybody can get behindbecause those are gorgeous, which by the way,
we gotta talk offline.
(23:19):
I gotta ask you a question because those 680sand then bringing them back, holy shnikes.
So I played them throughout high school andthen I had multiple sets of them.
I played them through high school and then intocollege and obviously, I wore them out and then
I mean, all their new sets after that werefine, but when I saw them release it, that was
(23:40):
I jumped on it immediately.
I didn't care what
it.
Yeah.
I don't know.
Those are mine.
Got the same shafts I used to play.
I got everything dialed in the same.
Yeah.
I used to play those and then the June.
So those were my two blades that I reallyleaned on throughout my playing days.
But, yeah, getting back to Tommy Fleetwood.
(24:03):
I mean, so you're a lot of what you're talkingabout is the wind with Tommy.
And, again, that's kind of the decision-making.
Right?
And I don't know.
There's just something about Tommy Fleetwoodunder pressure.
I just do not trust it at all.
And I think that scar tissue has built up quitea bit, and we might have seen a little
something for the Ryder Cup coming up.
(24:25):
Well, yeah.
And the more people talk about it, the moreit's gonna build up too.
I mean, you just have to keep hearing it, andit puts more pressure on you to try to silence
those critics.
I just I don't know.
Like, I wonder how much he's worked, likepsychology-wise, on his mindset and everything.
Because it just seems like there's somethingthere's tension going on there that normally
(24:48):
isn't there any other day while he's playingunless he is close to the lead.
I mean, when on Saturday, it'd be at 14 of 14fairways.
I don't know what his stats were yesterday orSunday, but I bet you it wasn't even anywhere
close to 14.
Sometimes guys have a tough time figuring outtheir golf swings with tension, that is.
(25:09):
Yeah, absolutely.
So I mean, you feel comfortable with nopressure and once you add a little bit of
disconnects, you're a little scared, I guess isthe right word.
You're more scared of what's going wrong thanwhat you know you're doing right.
So this is interesting because does it come toa point where Tommy with Tommy and his caddy,
(25:32):
he's been on the bag a long time.
But he's not the guy who was on for Tommy.
It was what?
A year and a half ago that Tommy's caddy, thewhole situation happened with him and he was no
longer the big tall guy with the tattoos.
Yeah.
Finno.
Yeah.
So he he was Tommy's caddy for a long time.
(25:55):
Who's on Tommy's bag now?
It's still Finno.
He's he's back on there.
He just had a
He's back on there.
He had like a month break.
Gotcha.
There you go.
So a break.
Yeah.
Little break.
Do you recognize
him out there?
He did like, normally, he stands out to me.
And for some reason, I'm watching and like thatwasn't in my purview at all.
(26:16):
Isn't that weird?
Well, it's funny you talk about the pressuretoo.
So we played with Ryan Fox on Sunday and, youknow, Fox has played DP World Tour for a long
time and he made the comments like, it's weirdthat he gets over here and can't finish the
deal because he's won some huge events on theDP World Tour.
Yeah.
With good fields and it's just mean, I guessit's kinda like Colin Montgomerie back in the
(26:37):
day.
You just couldn't get it over the line onAmerican soil.
Good old Colin.
Well, Colin also is harassed by the Americanfans for
I guess Lee Westwood might be a better example.
Yeah.
Lee Westwood.
I got into it with Lee on on X.
I got into it with Lee on X one time too.
(27:02):
He's he's he's quick to respond to the haters.
He did.
I will say this, he responded very quickly.
I'm looking at Fleetwood.
Fleetwood's won seven times on the EuropeanTour.
Seven times?
I mean, so he's got decent wins.
(27:22):
That's even more of a like like an enigma.
Like it's it's a it's a it's not the rightword.
Like, it's mentally like, doesn't make sense.
No.
Not at all.
Like, he knows how to close.
It's just he doesn't know how to close inAmerica?
Yeah.
I mean, he won the Dubai Invitational by oneshot over Rory in January of 2024.
(27:46):
So he beat a good player.
Yeah.
In '17, he beat DJ by one.
And it's not like he's playing against weakfields when he wins over there either.
No.
Just feels comfortable.
It's mind-boggling.
That's what it is.
It's absolutely
It is.
I don't know any other way to put it.
(28:08):
Like, it doesn't make sense because you wouldthink, okay.
If he has a tough time winning under pressure,then that's gonna translate to him not winning.
But he's won, as you said, seven times.
Maybe it's him being comfortable under thatpressure.
(28:29):
And overseas, he's got that comfortability.
He feels like, man, like, he doesn't overthinkthings probably the same way that he does over
here in the States to where like that the gooseegg, so to speak, with winning on the PGA Tour
and never winning before.
I wonder if that's just enough to set off hisnerves.
(28:53):
Yeah.
Maybe it's the fact that he won early on theEuropean Tour.
It wasn't too far removed from turning pro.
Was his last January 2024, Dubai.
So it wasn't long ago.
So he beat Tristan Lawrence and Rory by oneshot.
That's a guy that gets—I don't understand it.
(29:13):
Like, whenever I talk about Thriston Lawrence,like, everybody, like, just shits on him.
Like, not a good player.
And I'm like, this dude can flat out play.
I mean, he's got nine professional wins, fouron the European Tour.
He's pretty good.
Solid.
So solid.
Like, I—I have stayed up at nights watching,like, late night just sicko mode, watching DP
(29:38):
World Tour events and watching him and watchinghim win.
And I'm like, this—this guy can legit play.
And he almost—he almost did it at the U.S.
Open.
I mean, it just seemed like he almost—how can Iput this?
Like, he had some really bad, like, play, andthen all of a sudden he played great, and then
(30:00):
really bad, then he played great.
And it was just like, man, I don't like, thatone to me seemed like major championship
pressure in the difficulty of Oakmont.
But since I'm talking about Oakmont real quick,going back to Bud, you guys had a hell of a
start and then a really rough second day.
What happened there?
So, I mean, it's a hot take.
(30:21):
It might not go over well with the golfarchitect nuts, but I think Oakmont sucks.
I—I just don't think it's a good golf course.
Tell me more.
But he—he played well the first eight, shootseven.
I'm on the phone with my dad after him, man,this place—it just sucks.
Like I'm saying it after a good round, we're inlike eighth place.
And then I guess the golf gods caught me offguard because we shot eight over on the back,
(30:44):
our second nine on Friday, to miss the cut bytwo.
We had a ten-footer to go even par through ninefor the tournament.
So through 27 holes, and then he—he played fromthe rough a couple too many times on the
closing nine.
In that place, you play from anywhere otherthan the fairway, you have zero chance.
(31:04):
Yeah.
We were talking about that.
We're like, you gotta be—I was surprised thatsome of the skinny guys did so well because
that rough being as thick as it is, just youhad to chop it out of there.
It just brought everyone back to the same spotthough because it didn't matter if you're Jon
Rahm strength or you're Eric Cole strength,you're still chipping out no matter what.
(31:27):
Yeah.
That's a good point.
It's just that it was auto chip unless you gotreally lucky with a lie.
And then around the greens, it kinda broughteveryone back to the same spot as far as short
game goes because it was a guessing game too.
It was like Bud's an unbelievable chipper andwe struggled out of the rough chipping around
the greens.
It's just it's unpredictable.
You don't really know what shot to play andit's just
(31:51):
I noticed that with the short game.
It seemed like it was kind of one of those towhere you're just hoping rather than like
skill.
Yeah.
And even if you left it in the right spot, itstill wasn't a very simple chip.
You could—like before the week started, we wereall talking like as long as you're chipping or
putting uphill all week, you'll be alright.
But once you're chipping uphill, if you got aweird lie and chipped it seven feet past the
(32:14):
hole, all of a sudden you're making doublebecause you're on the seven-footer five feet
by.
And it's just you just you couldn't play fromthe rough at all in that place.
Yeah.
I mean, and J.J.
Spaun did the best of that all week and he hitit as good as anybody and that's why he won.
Tyrrell Hatton, he as you're saying this aboutthere's no place to miss, really.
(32:34):
He had a hot take around the fact that he saidthat he got a bad break.
And, of course, the media kind of fed into it alittle bit and kind of followed up that
question with, what do you mean you had a badbreak?
And he was talking about on 17 when he hit intothe downslope before the bunker in the rough
and had no chance whatsoever.
(32:55):
And he's like, there's no place to miss it.
Like, that should have been in the bunker, butthere was no place where you could miss.
So it's kinda sounding like you kinda had thatsame kinda take that, you know, there weren't
those strategic areas that you could play to.
It was kinda like, hey, if you miss a golfshot, hit it and hope, especially once you're
(33:16):
around the greens.
Well, those bunkers aren't designed for ballsto stay on the downslope of the rough.
They're designed for the ball to go into.
They're already like four or five feet deep,all of them.
So they're already a challenge once you're inthem.
So now making rough five inches leading intothem, can't bounce it into it.
And I mean we played with I forgot who weplayed with might have been Berger on Thursday,
(33:38):
was on that same situation that that Hatton hadwhere it's in five-inch rough, you're on a
downslope and you're trying to chop it up to agreen that's elevated.
Berger's a guy who his swing is a detriment inthick rough.
He just gets it so flat and laid off thatthat's gonna be tough with thick rough.
Yeah.
He played well though.
I think he at one point, he was I think he was1 under for the tournament, he made a quad on
(34:03):
3.
When he made the cut and finished, like, 40, Ithink so, he had he had a decent week.
Yeah.
Hey, if you're making the cut, it's a goodweek.
If you made the cut there, you had a chance.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You really did.
Now let's talk about your guy, Bud Cauley.
Because when you got on the bag, I remembertalking to you.
(34:24):
You were pumped about getting on the bag of BudCauley.
And I don't wanna overplay it or anything, but,like, what did you see in Bud that you were
like, man, we're gonna have some fun out there,and we're gonna start to put up some numbers
because he's been on this comeback for a longtime.
Like but he's dealt with injuries throughout.
(34:46):
Yeah.
And we've talked about it before.
Like, was a world beater before he got injured.
I mean, he was one of the first guys to get hiscard through sponsors invites.
Now it's a regular thing.
But, I mean, he was always a stud and anybodythat ever that you ever talk to them about Bud,
he's one of the best ball strikers you'll eversee.
And that's very much true.
Like, you watch him hit balls on the range, istrue for a lot of guys.
(35:08):
But even on the golf course, he flushes it.
It's just it's so repeatable and I think hefinished we finished 25th last week at
Travelers and I think we were 58 out of 68putting.
I mean, when that putter gets hot, it's gonnabe it's gonna be a good show.
I can't wait for that.
(35:28):
So would you say that with Bud right now, like,do you think he's fully back or do you think
there's still some growth ahead?
As far as injury goes, it seems like he's fullyback.
I mean, he's not gonna complain about anything,but it seems like he's 100% healthy.
So, I mean, as far as fully back, I don't thinkhe's fully back until he wins something.
(35:53):
And I think he would say the same thing.
I think he's itching to win, and I mean, someof his closest friends, JT and even Smiley on
the broadcast the other day, talk about justhow good he hits it and how he's one of the
best players out there.
It's just a matter of time.
I love that.
I love the matter of time because, like, yousee guys in form and, like, I'm kinda seeing
(36:15):
the same thing with, for instance, like, it'sfunny.
I'll talk about him because he's not on thepodcast right now, but I would say the same
thing to his face.
But Brent Grant, like, he's got some thingsthat he still needs to, like, work out.
But, man, that swing is starting to get dialedin and in
And so that's one of those to where it's like,okay, it's only a matter of time till he starts
(36:36):
competing, starts to see himself up there onsome of these events that he's playing.
And he's playing in some smaller events,getting into some Korn Ferry Tour events again.
And sure enough, like, eventually, that's gonnacome together if he keeps going in that
direction, but he's gotta clean up some of theother stuff that, you know, other guys are it's
a little bit more dialed in, like wedge game,for instance, which is why going out on
(37:01):
Wednesday nights and playing over at GrassClippings has been a good thing for him because
he's had to really kind of focus on wedges.
And you played out there at, you actually werein a playoff for the caddie event that they had
at Grass. So
So you did get robbed.
I fully agree.
It was a chip-off.
It was a goddamn chip-off.
(37:22):
When do you end up in an event with a chip-off?
But that being said, what was something thatyou saw with that golf course that you would
say strategy-wise, giving me some advice andpotentially people that are gonna go out there
and play?
At Grass Cultivators, I mean, you gotta staybelow the hole.
I mean, those greens have some movement inthem.
Not that the greens are real—I'm sure they getthem fast at some point, but you can have some
(37:48):
putts that are diabolical out there.
You just gotta stay below it and just getdialed in with your wedge numbers.
The wedge numbers are big.
That distance control to me is like the biggestthing.
And then controlling some spin, I feel like, isthe other side to it where when they get those
a little bit fast and firm, you could spin itright off the front of some of those false
(38:09):
fronts.
And, yeah, it's a fun track.
We go out there Wednesday nights playing theskins games and so forth.
That being said, let's get back to Bud realquick because you say it's only a matter of
time before Bud's eventually going to win andyou feel confident in his game.
But is it just the flat stick that needs tomove on, and could we see a move to like a LAB
(38:31):
Golf putter?
I would say there is zero chance he puts a LABputter in play.
He putts it great.
I mean, it's just a little right now, it's notas consistent as he would want it.
But he putts it good.
I take a ton of video and I look at his strokeall the time, and I just don't see what can go
(38:51):
wrong with it.
It's just a matter of having those hot weeks.
I mean, you go back to Colonial on Sunday, heone-putted the first 11 holes trying to chase
down the lead.
So it's not that he doesn't putt well.
He putts fine, it's just getting it morefrequently hot.
Yeah.
And the last couple weeks were putting on Poaannua too, so it's, I mean, it's a little
(39:13):
difficult for a kid from the South.
I always struggled on Poa annua, so I doubt hewould ever say that it's the grass, it's just
more him.
But, yeah, you never know with Poa annua.
It's a little bumpy.
I mean, you saw Fleetwood's final putt.
Yeah.
Valid point.
I'm gonna ask you real quick in regards to themodern-day caddy.
(39:35):
Okay?
Because you are a modern-day caddy.
You're a great player.
You are a great caddy, and you just mentionedsomething that kinda put me into this mindset
as to the modern-day caddy with filming yourplayer.
And almost like from an instruction standpoint,like, the caddy has become a lot now.
And I guess my question to you is what whattypes of things do you typically do for your
(40:01):
player?
Like, this is an opportunity to not I Iwouldn't say you're selling yourself, but
you're selling yourself.
Well, it's I mean, I just I think I know thegolf swing.
I know the putting stroke very well.
He doesn't ever really ask me, he's got a swingcoach.
But I want to be able to know what I see incase he does ask.
And I mean, if he asks, I can't say I don'tknow.
(40:23):
Yeah.
At least at least have a knowledgeable answer,not just guessing, which I think is beneficial
too.
I think that's why it's moving toward a lot ofguys are having caddies that either played
competitively or still play competitively likeWill Wilcox.
But I think it helps altogether.
You see shots, you see situations that I mean,he got on me last week for we had a pretty
(40:47):
tough shot on nine and I wasn't in theretelling him exactly what or at least knowing
what he's thinking on it.
And I think if you're not playing competitivegolf, you can see that shot and really not have
an answer.
Hey, what what should I do here?
I don't
know.
I don't I don't
play golf.
Don't know what to do on that shot.
(41:07):
But yeah, think I I think that's huge, justknowing every situation and at least having a
proper answer.
That's what it's all about with the modern-daycaddy, is making sure that you have all the
answers and you can talk through situationslike that.
You know, I've interviewed a ton of caddies,talked to a lot of caddies outside of,
(41:29):
obviously, the show.
And that's one of the things that kind ofterrifies some of them is getting asked a
question that they don't have the answer to.
So staying on top of that and being a player,like you said, I think that's a huge value add.
Where would you say your relationship is rightnow with Buddy?
You guys seem to be bobbing and weaving outthere.
I've seen a lot of TV time with you out therewith that flow, and I'm talking about the hair.
(41:54):
I've seen a lot of it, and I gotta tell you,like, you guys look like you guys are in a
groove.
Yeah.
I mean, it's very much business with him on thegolf course.
I mean, there's not a whole lot ofchitchatting, occasional.
But, yeah, it's very much businesslike.
He likes to keep in his own little bubble, andI'm happy to let him have that.
That's another key thing, is to know yourplayer.
(42:17):
Right?
Some guys wanna be best buddies and hang outall the time.
Others wanna keep it more business-related.
So that is a really good insight into
Well, I think I mentioned it sorry tointerrupt.
I think I mentioned it.
That's okay.
When I worked for Harrison, we used to do 10 or5 nights a week.
And in a year working for Bud, we've donedinner exactly zero times during the tournament
week.
And I'm perfectly happy with it.
(42:41):
Okay.
Truck golfer's got a question for you sincewe're talking about you and Bud.
Last time David talked Bud out of a shot orclub and the result of that?
Oh.
I know at Oakmont wouldn't say talked out of ashot, but certainly out of a club.
At Oakmont on it was 14.
He wanted to hit 5-wood off the tee, went uphitting 4-iron.
(43:03):
And then I should have talked him out of onelast week.
Damn, what was the result of that one?
Which one that I The
I hit him in fairway.
It was a perfect shot.
Made he didn't make a par.
It was nothing nothing crazy.
Okay.
Alright.
Actually, on eight, which was our seventeenthhole last week on Sunday, the it's a dead
(43:26):
crosswind.
I forgot what the number was.
I think we were trying to land at 189.
It was 177 front, you're covering you're goingover water.
And the wind's dead off the left, you can'ttell if it's hurting or helping.
And he's like, man and we just watched Ryan Foxhit 7-iron over the back of the green.
He's like, man, I really wanna hit 7-iron.
(43:46):
And I said, if we hit 7-iron and the wind gustsback into us, there's one place it's going and
I just can't live with that.
I was like, why don't you just chip a 6-iron?
And he hits this beautiful I mean, he probablyhit it 70 percent 6-iron.
It landed perfect spot, rolls up to like 12feet, unfortunately didn't make it.
(44:08):
But I was scared to death and he would pullthat 7-iron and we get the gust in and just
water and then I would be out of job.
It's that quick.
It is I call it you guys as caddies on the PGATour, it is a revolving door, feel like.
And Yeah.
There's very little job security.
(44:28):
It's like, save up as much as you can becauseyou never know when that's gonna happen.
And it's also the same thing on the caddy sidetoo with the player to where you never know
when you get that call from one of the top 20golfers in the world.
And all of a sudden, you're like, okay.
You're looking at the numbers that they've beenputting together in terms of money, and you're
like, shit.
(44:48):
I can't pass this one up.
And all of a sudden, you're onto another bag.
I've seen that numerous times as well, and thentalked to caddies in regards to that.
So it goes both ways, but I definitely thinkit's more volatile on the player side when it
comes to, you know, caddies and all of a suddenbeing like, yeah.
That was fun.
See you later.
Yeah.
(45:09):
More so on the player side than in the caddyside.
Man, I remember when Adam Scott's bag becameavailable and all the guys were just licking
their chops over that one in particular.
You ever have a situation like that?
I know, Bud, you were super excited about, butanytime that there was, like, an opportunity to
apply for, like, to put yourself forward for abag and obviously pre Bud Cauley, I'm not gonna
(45:35):
get you in trouble?
No.
Not really.
I'm probably loyal to a fault with pretty muchanything.
But with that, for sure, like, I stuck withJohnson until he basically told me he was not
playing anymore.
And then Harrison, I stuck with him until theabsolute perfect opportunity came available.
So I mean it's I think that goes a long way.
I'm not sure that it means everything in theworld, but I think you get a little bit of a
(45:58):
bad rap if you keep jumping ship or if peoplefind out you're asking them about another job.
Good point.
So I mean, I'm always gonna be loyal until Iget canned and then we'll figure it out from
not anytime soon because it's been a blastwatching you and Bud out there and getting some
(46:19):
of that TV time like I talked about.
Get that flow flowing throughout the wind.
And, man, it's been pretty cool.
I almost text you a couple times because I'mlike, I'm not gonna bother him.
It's in the middle of a round.
I don't want all of a sudden you forgot to putyour silent on and all of a sudden I'm texting
you.
Bud's like, what the hell is going on overthere?
But see you multiple times.
(46:40):
I don't make the phone mistake.
That's the worst thing that could happen is thephone go off or still not the tee with 15
clubs, which almost happened at Muirfield, butwe're not gonna talk about that.
It wasn't almost.
So I'll tell the story.
So he's like before the round, he's like, hey,I might hit it's windy today, might hit three
iron instead of five wood.
I just bring it to the range, we'll hit onTrackMan.
We're walking we have to walk right past theclubhouse to get to the first tee and I go and
(47:03):
put the TrackMan in and I forgot to ask whetherhe wanted to hit three iron or five wood.
So I get to the tee, he's putting and I'm Ialways count the clubs before I go to the tee
and I'm counting them and I'm like, oh, there's15 in here.
I was like, but And I grabbed the three iron,I'm like, five wood, right?
And he's like, oh, yeah.
Five wood.
But I'm like, fuck.
Thought I count because that would have beenanother job ender.
(47:26):
That was close.
Truck Golfer says Bud's having a great year.
You should be extremely proud.
And I agree, man, because this resurgencedidn't happen with somebody else.
Right?
I mean, he's been healthy long enough andbefore you to where it wasn't like, it just
seems like it is a great fit between the two ofyou.
I don't want to pump it up too much and jinxthe whole thing.
(47:47):
But you guys just look like you're in sync,whether that's the businesslike aspect to it
and everything.
But that is kudos to you for knowing yourplayer, learning him rather than just kind of
treating him like everybody else that you wouldcarry a bag for.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I'd like to think that I have a little part ofthat, which I'm sure I do, but I also think
that the guy's so talented that he could figureit out.
(48:11):
Well, I can't wait to have you come on afterthat victory because I'm sure you're gonna be
having an absolute blast with Bud and so forthwhen that goes down.
And, yeah, knock on wood, we want that tohappen soon.
So and there might be a few cocktails.
Might be a few.
Might have a
little slur in your in this podcast.
(48:33):
People
are very accustomed to that with the early dayswith me.
So that's absolutely fine.
We actually encourage that.
But, man, David, I know you're on the EastCoast right now.
Right?
You're back home?
Yeah.
But I've got a week off, so we're all good.
Yeah.
You've got a week off.
So tell us a little bit about this trip you'regonna go on.
So we're gonna go up to Portland, Maine.
(48:55):
I've never been up there, flying to Boston todrive up to Portland.
It's like an hour forty drive.
It's been like three days up there.
It's supposed to be 70 degrees versus 98 inCharlotte right now, so
It's pretty good.
Get a little getaway from the heat a littlebit.
But yeah, just as soon as I got back from theroad, I'd go back on the road.
(49:15):
Where's so obviously, gonna go on vacation thisweek.
What's the plan for the following week?
So we'll get back Saturday from our littlevacation, then I fly out Sunday at noon for
John Deere.
And then
Good old John Deere.
Let's go.
I could see Bud winning that one.
He played well last year.
Started, I think we were leading after thefirst round last year.
(49:36):
He shoots seven.
I think we ended up finishing like 30th, butyeah.
He likes that golf course.
He plays well on it.
So and then we follow that with the ScottishOpen the following week and hopefully play our
way into the Open Championship.
Love that.
Do you something I never realized.
Do you win a John Deere if you win the JohnDeere Classic?
You should.
I don't know if you do or not.
They should give you the one with the bigputter that they always showcase trying to
(50:01):
knock the massive golf ball in the hole.
They should give you that.
Come on, John Deere.
We gotta get a better marketing departmentgoing there with the promotions.
Yeah.
You get a tractor for your yard.
Yeah.
Could you imagine holding the trophy whileyou're on the tractor that you just won?
They usually have one in the pond on 18, sothey should just float you out there and sit
(50:22):
you on it.
The pictures that you could get.
I mean, those would be gold.
Hopefully, somebody's listening out there forJohn Deere and they put that into action.
Maybe it's too quick of a turnaround time toget it done this year, but maybe next year.
They got enough tractors out there.
They can get it done.
That's for sure.
(50:42):
Well, David, thank you so much, man, for comingon.
Before we head out, I do want to give ashoutout once again to our sponsors.
First of all, folks, Devant Golf.
I'm wearing the hat.
This is an old-school hat too by Devant.
I saw it in their warehouse and I was like, Idon't know if it's still on the website, but I
was like, man, four-letter word looks like acurse word.
(51:02):
That is golf.
That is golf in a nutshell.
So I had to have this, and this is part oftheir, I want to say, like, their pro shop
collection that they came out with.
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(51:26):
And then Rockform, get your speakers, get thatmagnetic iPhone case or the holster.
That thing's awesome.
By the way, you could attach it to the golfcart to record yourself, your swing.
You got the Johnnie Walker hat.
By the way, I was dying when you sent me theJohnnie Walker shirt Saturday night when Bud
was close to the lead, and I was like, hellyeah.
(51:49):
We're getting close to winning one of these.
So super, I mean, it's right over here in theupper corner.
Hang on.
Let me go full screen here a little bit.
There it is up in the upper corner here.
I should've worn the whole thing.
It's a Devant hat too, I think.
It is.
Yep.
That's right from the event.
(52:11):
So I love that.
Yeah.
That is dope.
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Without further ado, my friend, peace out.
Appreciate it, man.
Yeah, hang on for me, but we're gonna hop offair here real quick.
(52:33):
And, folks, until next time.
We will see you soon.
This guy, ever since he got jaded without beinga captain's pick in 2023, he's now up to
(00:07):
seventh in the world.
He's ninth in the U.S.
Ryder Cup points.
And, David, I gotta ask you.
If it ended today to where it's like, okay.
Is Keegan Bradley going to be on this team?
What do you think?
I mean, he's finished, he said, four top tensthis year, including the win last week.
He's finished eighth, seventh, thirty-third,and first.
I mean, it'd be really it'd be really hard toif he was looking at somebody else's resume
(00:29):
trying to pick somebody, he would be a
Now I gotta ask you.
When it comes to Tommy Fleetwood, you're aplayer.
You're a caddy.
Like, you've got you have the well-roundedperspective to be able to answer this because
I've got my thoughts on it.
But Tommy Fleetwood, like, he's been there timeand time again, and he just kinda folds under
(00:49):
the pressure it seems like, where there wassome questionable decision making in the final
round at TPC River Highlands.
So I gotta ask you man, like what what is goingon with Tommy Fleetwood when he's in
contention?
So I mean, I I would venture to say thatpressure is definitely what gets to him.
So I mean, it's a hot take.
(01:09):
It might not go over well with the golfarchitect nuts, but I think Oakmont sucks.
Welcome back everybody to Pull Hook Golf, thepodcast.
I'm your host, Matt Cook.
And tonight, we've got a really special guestwho has stepped in last minute for us.
He's been on the show multiple times already.
This is his third appearance, PGA Tour caddyfor Bud Cauley.
(01:30):
His name is David Gies II, and my goodnessgracious, we are grateful to have you on
tonight.
We've got a great show for everybody tonight aswe've gotta talk about Keegan Bradley and this
whole dilemma that he has forced himself intothe conversation of whether he's gonna be a
captain, a player, or both at the Ryder Cup.
We'll get into that.
(01:51):
Also, this weekend, we gotta talk about TommyFleetwood.
And is it the pressure that gets to TommyFleetwood?
We'll talk about that.
And really from your perspective too, what youthink could be going on there.
And then we gotta talk about Bud Cauley becausethat is your player.
That's your man.
Ever since you got on the bag, this dude hashad a resurgence.
So we're gonna talk about the resurrection ofBud Cauley.
(02:14):
A lot of people don't realize that he was athing before this recent run that he has been
on, and we will certainly talk about that.
But before we do, I do want to give a shoutoutto our sponsors.
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(02:40):
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(03:40):
I left it at the gym today.
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thirty-five, forty minutes away from where Ilive.
So I went out there and I found a gym nearby.
Well, sure enough, I left it at the gym, and Iwas in a complete panic when I got home.
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We gotta talk about, real quick, David.
I gotta give a quick little segue before wedive into Keegan Bradley about the 5AM
comeback.
This is my personal comeback, the full bodytransformation, getting back to an elite level
(04:30):
in golf.
My golf game had gone to hell over the pastyear, year and a half from a plus point five
all the way to a seven handicap.
The chipping yips did not help with thatwhatsoever, but this has been manifested for
quite some time.
The reason why it's called the 5AM comeback isbecause about six months ago, my wife started
working out, and we were people that wouldsleep in every single day.
(04:53):
She started working out at 5 a.m., and I'mlike, holy crap.
If you can do this, I can do this.
And as I started thinking about it, I'm like, Irun a podcast agency.
On top of that, I've got the Pull Hook Golfpodcast that we do here.
With that, I didn't have much time to beginwith.
So I'm like, let me find this time to where Ican do this and not take away from family time
(05:15):
with her.
And sure enough, I was like, the mornings arewhere it's at.
So part of this, I do wanna give a coupleshoutouts, first of all, to Stark Health who is
partnering up with me for the full bodytransformation.
Folks, if you have ever thought about gettinginto incredible shape, but you've worked with
trainers, you've worked with different peoplein the past, and it just wasn't something to
(05:40):
where you saw the results.
Well, they've got a full team that theyutilize.
From personal trainers to neuromuscularchiropractors to doctors that actually do your
blood work and know exactly what your bodyneeds in terms of nutrients, medications, and
so forth.
I'm missing certain people that are a part ofthat, but DEXA scans where you learn all about
(06:03):
your body.
I went out there on this past Thursday, wentout to L.A.
to their facilities out there.
Absolutely incredible.
It was unbelievable.
But this is all in order to get back to acompetitive level and hopefully play on a grass
league team in 2026.
But this is a full journey.
It's beyond just golf.
(06:24):
It's health and fitness.
It is everything, and I'm gonna be documentingthe entire process all along the way.
So make sure to stay tuned on the Pull HookGolf podcast on our Instagram.
You can check out the stories because my days,they were hectic before.
Now they're even crazier.
So you can check out all of that.
And then there's gonna be a playlist on YouTubeunder the Pull Hook Golf channel that is gonna
(06:49):
be the 5AM Comeback.
And I've partnered with a lot of greatcompanies along this way, and I couldn't do it
without a team.
You know what I mean?
So that being said, let's get into it.
Keegan Bradley.
What the hell, man?
This guy, ever since he got jaded without beinga captain's pick in 2023, he's now up to
(07:12):
seventh in the world.
He's ninth in the U.S.
Ryder Cup points.
And, David, I gotta ask you.
If it ended today to where it's like, okay, isKeegan Bradley going to be on this team?
What do you think?
I mean, he's said it a lot that unless he's inthe top six, he's not gonna pick himself.
What do you think he should do?
(07:33):
I mean, it would be really hard not to pickhim.
I mean, I was just searching what his resultshave been lately.
I mean, he's finished—he's had four top tensthis year including the win last week.
His last four starts are PGA, Memorial, U.S.
Open, Travelers, so two majors and twosignature events.
(07:54):
He's finished eighth, seventh, thirty-third,and first.
I mean, who's playing much hotter than that?
I mean, obviously, Scottie Scheffler, but yougo back to last year too, it's not like he
played bad last year either.
I mean, it'd be really hard to, if he waslooking at somebody else's resume and trying to
pick somebody, he would be a lock.
(08:15):
You just put no name next to it, it's a lock.
Well, we thought that he was a lock in 2023,right?
I mean, he was playing good and so forth, andthen all of a sudden, we saw the Spieth, JT,
and Rickie Fowler be the picks of good old—whyam I blanking on his name—the captain?
(08:37):
I can literally picture Zach.
No.
It was Zach Johnson.
Yeah.
I was like, I'm picturing Zach Johnsonswinging.
Oh, yeah.
It is Zach Johnson.
But he went with those guys over KeeganBradley, which was controversial at the time
and since, I mean, shoot.
Keegan's won twice.
Like you mentioned, he's had a bunch of top10s.
I mean, just has played unbelievable.
(08:57):
And here's the other part to it.
His strokes gained has surged.
So yeah.
Since February, he ranks ninth in strokesgained tee-to-green and sixth in strokes gained
total among players with 40-plus rounds.
And if you go back to 2023, he—you know, he wonat Travelers.
(09:18):
But other than that, he finished—he made a
bunch of cuts, I'm looking at it.
Looks like he played a little early in theyear.
But towards getting closer to the Ryder Cup, hejust finished a lot of top 30s.
Nothing spectacular.
Where this year, I mean, he's top 10 seeminglyevery week.
I totally agree.
(09:40):
I mean, if there was any other captain and youlooked at that resume, you'd be like, alright,
that guy's gotta be on the team.
Especially when you look at where he's from andjust, I mean, not that New York is Boston, but
still, I mean, it's a similar location.
It's the Northeast.
I mean, it would be, yeah.
I mean, he's gonna be pulled for no matter whatif he's on that team.
(10:00):
Absolutely.
I mean, and that's what it's probably one ofthe only events where you will see New Yorkers
and people from Boston come together and rootfor Team USA in that kind of manner.
So you're gonna have a huge crowd for KeeganBradley.
It's gonna be a crazy crowd as it is because ofa bunch of New Yorkers.
(10:21):
But, man, Keegan being in there and not justbeing the captain.
So my next question is, do you think they willallow him to be a playing captain or are those
days kind of gone?
I don't know.
That's a good question.
I mean, that would be assuming that the captaindoes a whole lot.
I mean, do I think they should shuttle out?
(10:43):
Sure.
I mean, that would be cool.
But I don't know.
Does the captain do a whole lot in the RyderCup other than listen to his team on who they
want to play with?
That's why, like, I can't get over the fact of,like, that this is controversial in terms of
whether or not he would be a playing captain.
(11:03):
And, like, they made it sound, especially whenhe got picked too, that in no way will he be a
playing captain.
There's too much work that goes into it.
There's no way that he could ever doeverything.
It's like, what?
Yeah.
I mean, let's say JT and Spieth are on the sameteam and you're gonna just say, no, y'all
aren't playing together.
I know you want to but no.
(11:25):
Then go a step further.
Let's say, Novak and Griffin make the team.
You're gonna tell them, no.
I know you won Zurich but no, we can't playtogether.
I know.
It's You're just gonna listen to the team.
I don't I don't get, like, how much work can gointo it.
Like, he's not a stats guy, like, I that I knowof to where, like, he'd be the one crunching
the numbers and need like, get analytics guys.
(11:48):
Like, team
Well, it's not like he's doing it solo.
Yeah.
Exactly.
I mean, he's got he's got co-captains, he'sgot, you know, he's got everybody.
He's got a team around him.
It does question.
He like steps down as captain, right?
Or picks himself and relinquishes thecaptaincy, does that open the door for Tiger
(12:10):
Woods to step in?
I don't think
Tiger wants this one.
This should be the first call.
I it.
I it. I think he wants it on foreign soil.
He does.
100%.
I called this out when, Keegan was the pick.
Everybody wanted Tiger to be Beth Page, blahblah blah, but no, he wants foreign soil and
(12:33):
really bring that cup back to America that wehave not been able to do in a long time.
Let's just throw Phil a bone and give it to himand just call it a day.
It's Keegan's buddy.
Just give it to Phil.
Let the let the live guys win.
Give them a win.
Trot also brings up the please no pods on thisteam.
(12:54):
I don't think that worked out too well whenthey were doing pods.
And we're not talking about podcasts, folks.
We're talking about team pods.
They thought they were gonna outsmart
them with the pods.
Unbelievable.
Like, some of the things that we've done, itjust goes beyond me in terms of the thought
process around some of this.
It's way too overthought.
(13:14):
It's way too mechanical.
Just go play good golf.
Yeah.
Exactly.
Like, get pumped.
Don't
take three weeks off before the Ryder Cup.
Just kinda act like you wanna win it.
And I feel like these guys now, like, there'smore camaraderie amongst them versus in the
past when you had like Tiger and Phil, whichthose two just couldn't stand each other.
(13:36):
They just wanted to kill each other.
Yeah.
I mean, it literally just didn't make any senseto even put those two as a I mean, who was the
captain when they put those two together?
Was it Hal Sutton?
I think so.
And Hal is just like big ball Hal.
He's just like swinging his, you know what,around and just like, I don't give a shit if
you guys don't like each other.
(13:58):
You're playing together.
And it did I mean, it was what it was.
Didn't work out.
Yeah.
It did not work out in the least.
But I do think that Keegan is the answer and isthe person that can do this in the modern era
to where there's enough support system that'sthere.
(14:19):
Like, as a captain, I think it means more tothe guys if he's the captain and he's playing
in it and he's playing well.
Yeah.
I'd be I mean, it'd be
a cool thing to have.
You got a guy that's he's he kinda got snubbedthe last time.
He's or I mean, did get snubbed a little bit.
He's motivated to compete and there's no wayhe's the captain if he didn't get snubbed the
(14:39):
last time.
That's just Nick.
Sorry but he's not one of the first choicesever.
It's not
like he has this fantastic Ryder Cup recordlike, well, the Europeans had with Poulter and
Sergio and it's it's just not he's he was nevereven in the picture until he got snubbed.
100%.
And he was known, like, part of the reason whyhe wasn't really picked for that Ryder Cup is
(15:05):
because he technically wasn't one of the guys,wasn't a locker room guy.
Right?
Like, that was a lot of the rhetoric around himnot getting picked or at least what started
coming out around it.
And it's like, dude, you couldn't be furtherfrom the truth.
I couldn't care less if a dude didn't hang outwith me all year and then all of a sudden we
get to a Ryder Cup-style event and he's ascompetitive and wants it as bad as Keegan
(15:31):
Bradley.
Like, that would pump me up.
Yep.
Exactly.
So I think we're pretty consistent here.
We think that he should be both.
Right?
I think so.
I mean, I wouldn't be opposed to him not beingboth, but I think I'm all in on him being both.
Yeah.
And I don't think the players I mean, you canprobably tell me better than I can because I
(15:53):
haven't talked with the players in a while,around the fact that there's not many guys that
I think would balk at this either.
Not a single one.
Yeah.
Not a single one.
Didn't think so.
Which once again just kinda goes to, okay, TeamUSA, whoever's like and it's the PGA, right,
that runs the USA team.
Don't overthink it, please.
(16:14):
Please, God.
Don't overthink it.
Just let it happen and let Keegan do the rightthing and pick himself.
Because do you think there's enough time forhim to get in the top six?
It looks like he's 2,000 points behind.
I don't know how many points.
I don't, I forget the points breakdown.
(16:35):
Hold on.
I think you get double points in the last year.
So I think another win, I don't think it wouldeven put him in the top six.
I think a win would have to, it might put himjust in the top six, the win.
And another win would be tough, but, I mean,we've got the FedEx Cup coming up.
I mean, we got the Open Championship coming up.
(16:56):
So there's still some opportunities that areout there, but, yeah, it would, in my opinion,
it'd be tough for him to get into the top sixbefore it.
So ultimately, it's gonna come down to whetheror not he picks himself.
Basically.
Yeah.
So he, actually, he, yeah.
If he won again, he would easily be in there.
It looks like he got 3,100, 3,400 points forthe last one.
(17:18):
So yeah, he'd be in easily.
Now I gotta ask you.
When it comes to Tommy Fleetwood, you're aplayer, you're a caddy, like you've got, you
have the well-rounded perspective to be able toanswer this because I've got my thoughts on it.
But Tommy Fleetwood, like, he's been there timeand time again, and he just kind of folds under
(17:42):
the pressure it seems like where there was somequestionable decision-making in the final round
at TPC River Highlands.
So I gotta ask you, man, like, what what isgoing on with Tommy Fleetwood when he's in
contention?
Well, so last week, we were actually we werethe first off number 10.
So when we made the turn, we were playing rightbehind the leaders' group.
(18:03):
And I made a comment to Bud.
It was kind of a Ryder Cup situation becauseyou've got Keegan out there, every putt he
made, you have the crowd chanting USA against aEuropean.
And I think that added more pressure than justsay a normal stop if they're playing in
Charlotte.
It wouldn't have the same crowd.
But because we were in Connecticut, kind of inKeegan's backyard, it was very much a Ryder Cup
(18:27):
situation.
I just think that was hard.
I'm not sure what his start was.
I know looking at the leaderboard, I think theyboth made a couple bogeys early, but I'm not
sure.
Did Tommy make like three out of four or threeout of five starting?
Wasn't good.
Yeah.
Wasn't good.
So I was I was at the airport when he finished,so I got to see the last three holes.
And I mean, I know he switched clubs on 18 andthat wind was swirling all over the place,
(18:53):
especially in the last four holes, fifteen,sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, the wind's all
over the place.
And you have a downwind off the tee and thesecond shot you get up there and you're just
feeling it straight in and it's hard to committo that.
And I think that got him a little bit.
I guess he switched from nine iron to wedge andcame up short.
So those are part of the decisions underpressure that you make that, I mean, those are
(19:14):
significant decisions.
You either make the right one or the wrong one,and added a little bit of pressure makes it a
little bit tougher.
So, I mean, I would venture to say thatpressure is definitely what gets to him.
And I don't I mean, I always say experiencehelps, right?
Being in those situations.
But for him, he's been there so many times nowthat it's almost like this scar tissue is
(19:38):
starting to build up.
And did you see, I forget, was it CBS that didthe broadcast or was it NBC?
I can't remember.
You can go CBS because Balianis was on there.
Yes.
That's right.
So and they did him bad on social media.
They put a clip from behind him
I saw and
he was already, like, crying before the putteven went in.
(20:01):
Well, I think he mouthed over to the side, nochance or something along those lines or no
way, something he mouthed, like before Keeganeven hit the putt, like, there's no way he was
missing.
Yeah.
I mean, gave him the perfect line.
And I mean, it was either Keegan choked or itwas over.
And here's the thing, like, his last putt,Tommy Fleetwood that is, did hit a pitch mark.
(20:22):
Like, it
It did, but he also started it right over whereKeegan started.
And if you go back to the video, I made sure Ilooked at it because I keep commenting on Kip
tweets.
But as they're coming in, you can see the pitchmark from above as they're moving the camera
around.
And Fleetwood's putt started kinda right centerand hit the right side of the pitch mark and
(20:44):
Keegan's putt started kinda inside left andwent on the left side of the pitch mark.
So it was just enough where one hit the side ofit and one missed it completely and that's why
one putt went in, one didn't.
That's wild.
Wild when you think about it.
I mean but I guess to my point is that itwasn't a bad stroke by Fleetwood.
No.
He didn't hit a bad putt.
He hit it right where he was looking.
(21:04):
It's just that he put himself in that positiononce again.
So, like, part of it's gotta be, hey, we needto dial in and get a little bit smarter under
pressure.
And I just don't know.
Like, is it finding that, oh shit, get me tothe clubhouse swing?
I mean, what what is it?
Well, I mean, like I said on the wind swirl,like 16 was kind of a tough awkward par three
(21:28):
because you kinda feel it off the right on thetee and it's kind of blown into you and he air
mails it on that one.
Makes a bad bogey, get it on 17.
I think he was lucky to get away with par on17.
I mean, he made like a five-footer on a secondputt.
Yep.
So, I mean, yeah, he's gotta find some way to Idon't know.
It's it's it's hard to win golf tournaments.
(21:50):
It is, but he's put himself in that position somany times.
We do gotta talk about Kip Henley since youbrought him up.
Is he the most polarizing former caddy that'son Twitter?
He has to be.
I mean, as I've told you before, I got off ofit because I like to argue with people, but now
I'm a little bit more sane on there.
I tie my name to the tweets and I just don't, Idon't argue with people.
(22:13):
But that one, I, I don't argue with.
We were getting some real, like, I did it a lotfor the entertainment factor and for obviously
reach and so forth for a lot of what I wouldgo, like, arguing back and forth with
especially the LIV crowd.
But we've really kind of backed off and kind offocused more on, you know, being a little bit
(22:37):
more positive and, you know, especially onInstagram, we do a lot more than what we do on
Twitter.
And Twitter, I don't think they love the videosas much.
I feel like you don't get the amount of reachor the likes.
People don't like to like things on Twitter, Ifeel like.
There's not a lot of that.
(22:57):
I posted my new set of Titleist 680s today out
of nowhere.
Oh, that's gonna go fire.
Yeah.
It went viral.
I mean, I have 130 followers and I looked justnow and I had 1,100 likes on the photo.
I'm like, I don't even know how these peoplesaw it.
That's one thing everybody can get behindbecause those are gorgeous, which by the way,
we gotta talk offline.
(23:19):
I gotta ask you a question because those 680sand then bringing them back, holy shnikes.
So I played them throughout high school andthen I had multiple sets of them.
I played them through high school and then intocollege and obviously, I wore them out and then
I mean, all their new sets after that werefine, but when I saw them release it, that was
(23:40):
I jumped on it immediately.
I didn't care what
it.
Yeah.
I don't know.
Those are mine.
Got the same shafts I used to play.
I got everything dialed in the same.
Yeah.
I used to play those and then the June.
So those were my two blades that I reallyleaned on throughout my playing days.
But, yeah, getting back to Tommy Fleetwood.
(24:03):
I mean, so you're a lot of what you're talkingabout is the wind with Tommy.
And, again, that's kind of the decision-making.
Right?
And I don't know.
There's just something about Tommy Fleetwoodunder pressure.
I just do not trust it at all.
And I think that scar tissue has built up quitea bit, and we might have seen a little
something for the Ryder Cup coming up.
(24:25):
Well, yeah.
And the more people talk about it, the moreit's gonna build up too.
I mean, you just have to keep hearing it, andit puts more pressure on you to try to silence
those critics.
I just I don't know.
Like, I wonder how much he's worked, likepsychology-wise, on his mindset and everything.
Because it just seems like there's somethingthere's tension going on there that normally
(24:48):
isn't there any other day while he's playingunless he is close to the lead.
I mean, when on Saturday, it'd be at 14 of 14fairways.
I don't know what his stats were yesterday orSunday, but I bet you it wasn't even anywhere
close to 14.
Sometimes guys have a tough time figuring outtheir golf swings with tension, that is.
(25:09):
Yeah, absolutely.
So I mean, you feel comfortable with nopressure and once you add a little bit of
disconnects, you're a little scared, I guess isthe right word.
You're more scared of what's going wrong thanwhat you know you're doing right.
So this is interesting because does it come toa point where Tommy with Tommy and his caddy,
(25:32):
he's been on the bag a long time.
But he's not the guy who was on for Tommy.
It was what?
A year and a half ago that Tommy's caddy, thewhole situation happened with him and he was no
longer the big tall guy with the tattoos.
Yeah.
Finno.
Yeah.
So he he was Tommy's caddy for a long time.
(25:55):
Who's on Tommy's bag now?
It's still Finno.
He's he's back on there.
He just had a
He's back on there.
He had like a month break.
Gotcha.
There you go.
So a break.
Yeah.
Little break.
Do you recognize
him out there?
He did like, normally, he stands out to me.
And for some reason, I'm watching and like thatwasn't in my purview at all.
(26:16):
Isn't that weird?
Well, it's funny you talk about the pressuretoo.
So we played with Ryan Fox on Sunday and, youknow, Fox has played DP World Tour for a long
time and he made the comments like, it's weirdthat he gets over here and can't finish the
deal because he's won some huge events on theDP World Tour.
Yeah.
With good fields and it's just mean, I guessit's kinda like Colin Montgomerie back in the
(26:37):
day.
You just couldn't get it over the line onAmerican soil.
Good old Colin.
Well, Colin also is harassed by the Americanfans for
I guess Lee Westwood might be a better example.
Yeah.
Lee Westwood.
I got into it with Lee on on X.
I got into it with Lee on X one time too.
(27:02):
He's he's he's quick to respond to the haters.
He did.
I will say this, he responded very quickly.
I'm looking at Fleetwood.
Fleetwood's won seven times on the EuropeanTour.
Seven times?
I mean, so he's got decent wins.
(27:22):
That's even more of a like like an enigma.
Like it's it's a it's a it's not the rightword.
Like, it's mentally like, doesn't make sense.
No.
Not at all.
Like, he knows how to close.
It's just he doesn't know how to close inAmerica?
Yeah.
I mean, he won the Dubai Invitational by oneshot over Rory in January of 2024.
(27:46):
So he beat a good player.
Yeah.
In '17, he beat DJ by one.
And it's not like he's playing against weakfields when he wins over there either.
No.
Just feels comfortable.
It's mind-boggling.
That's what it is.
It's absolutely
It is.
I don't know any other way to put it.
(28:08):
Like, it doesn't make sense because you wouldthink, okay.
If he has a tough time winning under pressure,then that's gonna translate to him not winning.
But he's won, as you said, seven times.
Maybe it's him being comfortable under thatpressure.
(28:29):
And overseas, he's got that comfortability.
He feels like, man, like, he doesn't overthinkthings probably the same way that he does over
here in the States to where like that the gooseegg, so to speak, with winning on the PGA Tour
and never winning before.
I wonder if that's just enough to set off hisnerves.
(28:53):
Yeah.
Maybe it's the fact that he won early on theEuropean Tour.
It wasn't too far removed from turning pro.
Was his last January 2024, Dubai.
So it wasn't long ago.
So he beat Tristan Lawrence and Rory by oneshot.
That's a guy that gets—I don't understand it.
(29:13):
Like, whenever I talk about Thriston Lawrence,like, everybody, like, just shits on him.
Like, not a good player.
And I'm like, this dude can flat out play.
I mean, he's got nine professional wins, fouron the European Tour.
He's pretty good.
Solid.
So solid.
Like, I—I have stayed up at nights watching,like, late night just sicko mode, watching DP
(29:38):
World Tour events and watching him and watchinghim win.
And I'm like, this—this guy can legit play.
And he almost—he almost did it at the U.S.
Open.
I mean, it just seemed like he almost—how can Iput this?
Like, he had some really bad, like, play, andthen all of a sudden he played great, and then
(30:00):
really bad, then he played great.
And it was just like, man, I don't like, thatone to me seemed like major championship
pressure in the difficulty of Oakmont.
But since I'm talking about Oakmont real quick,going back to Bud, you guys had a hell of a
start and then a really rough second day.
What happened there?
So, I mean, it's a hot take.
(30:21):
It might not go over well with the golfarchitect nuts, but I think Oakmont sucks.
I—I just don't think it's a good golf course.
Tell me more.
But he—he played well the first eight, shootseven.
I'm on the phone with my dad after him, man,this place—it just sucks.
Like I'm saying it after a good round, we're inlike eighth place.
And then I guess the golf gods caught me offguard because we shot eight over on the back,
(30:44):
our second nine on Friday, to miss the cut bytwo.
We had a ten-footer to go even par through ninefor the tournament.
So through 27 holes, and then he—he played fromthe rough a couple too many times on the
closing nine.
In that place, you play from anywhere otherthan the fairway, you have zero chance.
(31:04):
Yeah.
We were talking about that.
We're like, you gotta be—I was surprised thatsome of the skinny guys did so well because
that rough being as thick as it is, just youhad to chop it out of there.
It just brought everyone back to the same spotthough because it didn't matter if you're Jon
Rahm strength or you're Eric Cole strength,you're still chipping out no matter what.
(31:27):
Yeah.
That's a good point.
It's just that it was auto chip unless you gotreally lucky with a lie.
And then around the greens, it kinda broughteveryone back to the same spot as far as short
game goes because it was a guessing game too.
It was like Bud's an unbelievable chipper andwe struggled out of the rough chipping around
the greens.
It's just it's unpredictable.
You don't really know what shot to play andit's just
(31:51):
I noticed that with the short game.
It seemed like it was kind of one of those towhere you're just hoping rather than like
skill.
Yeah.
And even if you left it in the right spot, itstill wasn't a very simple chip.
You could—like before the week started, we wereall talking like as long as you're chipping or
putting uphill all week, you'll be alright.
But once you're chipping uphill, if you got aweird lie and chipped it seven feet past the
(32:14):
hole, all of a sudden you're making doublebecause you're on the seven-footer five feet
by.
And it's just you just you couldn't play fromthe rough at all in that place.
Yeah.
I mean, and J.J.
Spaun did the best of that all week and he hitit as good as anybody and that's why he won.
Tyrrell Hatton, he as you're saying this aboutthere's no place to miss, really.
(32:34):
He had a hot take around the fact that he saidthat he got a bad break.
And, of course, the media kind of fed into it alittle bit and kind of followed up that
question with, what do you mean you had a badbreak?
And he was talking about on 17 when he hit intothe downslope before the bunker in the rough
and had no chance whatsoever.
(32:55):
And he's like, there's no place to miss it.
Like, that should have been in the bunker, butthere was no place where you could miss.
So it's kinda sounding like you kinda had thatsame kinda take that, you know, there weren't
those strategic areas that you could play to.
It was kinda like, hey, if you miss a golfshot, hit it and hope, especially once you're
(33:16):
around the greens.
Well, those bunkers aren't designed for ballsto stay on the downslope of the rough.
They're designed for the ball to go into.
They're already like four or five feet deep,all of them.
So they're already a challenge once you're inthem.
So now making rough five inches leading intothem, can't bounce it into it.
And I mean we played with I forgot who weplayed with might have been Berger on Thursday,
(33:38):
was on that same situation that that Hatton hadwhere it's in five-inch rough, you're on a
downslope and you're trying to chop it up to agreen that's elevated.
Berger's a guy who his swing is a detriment inthick rough.
He just gets it so flat and laid off thatthat's gonna be tough with thick rough.
Yeah.
He played well though.
I think he at one point, he was I think he was1 under for the tournament, he made a quad on
(34:03):
3.
When he made the cut and finished, like, 40, Ithink so, he had he had a decent week.
Yeah.
Hey, if you're making the cut, it's a goodweek.
If you made the cut there, you had a chance.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You really did.
Now let's talk about your guy, Bud Cauley.
Because when you got on the bag, I remembertalking to you.
(34:24):
You were pumped about getting on the bag of BudCauley.
And I don't wanna overplay it or anything, but,like, what did you see in Bud that you were
like, man, we're gonna have some fun out there,and we're gonna start to put up some numbers
because he's been on this comeback for a longtime.
Like but he's dealt with injuries throughout.
(34:46):
Yeah.
And we've talked about it before.
Like, was a world beater before he got injured.
I mean, he was one of the first guys to get hiscard through sponsors invites.
Now it's a regular thing.
But, I mean, he was always a stud and anybodythat ever that you ever talk to them about Bud,
he's one of the best ball strikers you'll eversee.
And that's very much true.
Like, you watch him hit balls on the range, istrue for a lot of guys.
(35:08):
But even on the golf course, he flushes it.
It's just it's so repeatable and I think hefinished we finished 25th last week at
Travelers and I think we were 58 out of 68putting.
I mean, when that putter gets hot, it's gonnabe it's gonna be a good show.
I can't wait for that.
(35:28):
So would you say that with Bud right now, like,do you think he's fully back or do you think
there's still some growth ahead?
As far as injury goes, it seems like he's fullyback.
I mean, he's not gonna complain about anything,but it seems like he's 100% healthy.
So, I mean, as far as fully back, I don't thinkhe's fully back until he wins something.
(35:53):
And I think he would say the same thing.
I think he's itching to win, and I mean, someof his closest friends, JT and even Smiley on
the broadcast the other day, talk about justhow good he hits it and how he's one of the
best players out there.
It's just a matter of time.
I love that.
I love the matter of time because, like, yousee guys in form and, like, I'm kinda seeing
(36:15):
the same thing with, for instance, like, it'sfunny.
I'll talk about him because he's not on thepodcast right now, but I would say the same
thing to his face.
But Brent Grant, like, he's got some thingsthat he still needs to, like, work out.
But, man, that swing is starting to get dialedin and in
And so that's one of those to where it's like,okay, it's only a matter of time till he starts
(36:36):
competing, starts to see himself up there onsome of these events that he's playing.
And he's playing in some smaller events,getting into some Korn Ferry Tour events again.
And sure enough, like, eventually, that's gonnacome together if he keeps going in that
direction, but he's gotta clean up some of theother stuff that, you know, other guys are it's
a little bit more dialed in, like wedge game,for instance, which is why going out on
(37:01):
Wednesday nights and playing over at GrassClippings has been a good thing for him because
he's had to really kind of focus on wedges.
And you played out there at, you actually werein a playoff for the caddie event that they had
at Grass. So
So you did get robbed.
I fully agree.
It was a chip-off.
It was a goddamn chip-off.
(37:22):
When do you end up in an event with a chip-off?
But that being said, what was something thatyou saw with that golf course that you would
say strategy-wise, giving me some advice andpotentially people that are gonna go out there
and play?
At Grass Cultivators, I mean, you gotta staybelow the hole.
I mean, those greens have some movement inthem.
Not that the greens are real—I'm sure they getthem fast at some point, but you can have some
(37:48):
putts that are diabolical out there.
You just gotta stay below it and just getdialed in with your wedge numbers.
The wedge numbers are big.
That distance control to me is like the biggestthing.
And then controlling some spin, I feel like, isthe other side to it where when they get those
a little bit fast and firm, you could spin itright off the front of some of those false
(38:09):
fronts.
And, yeah, it's a fun track.
We go out there Wednesday nights playing theskins games and so forth.
That being said, let's get back to Bud realquick because you say it's only a matter of
time before Bud's eventually going to win andyou feel confident in his game.
But is it just the flat stick that needs tomove on, and could we see a move to like a LAB
(38:31):
Golf putter?
I would say there is zero chance he puts a LABputter in play.
He putts it great.
I mean, it's just a little right now, it's notas consistent as he would want it.
But he putts it good.
I take a ton of video and I look at his strokeall the time, and I just don't see what can go
(38:51):
wrong with it.
It's just a matter of having those hot weeks.
I mean, you go back to Colonial on Sunday, heone-putted the first 11 holes trying to chase
down the lead.
So it's not that he doesn't putt well.
He putts fine, it's just getting it morefrequently hot.
Yeah.
And the last couple weeks were putting on Poaannua too, so it's, I mean, it's a little
(39:13):
difficult for a kid from the South.
I always struggled on Poa annua, so I doubt hewould ever say that it's the grass, it's just
more him.
But, yeah, you never know with Poa annua.
It's a little bumpy.
I mean, you saw Fleetwood's final putt.
Yeah.
Valid point.
I'm gonna ask you real quick in regards to themodern-day caddy.
(39:35):
Okay?
Because you are a modern-day caddy.
You're a great player.
You are a great caddy, and you just mentionedsomething that kinda put me into this mindset
as to the modern-day caddy with filming yourplayer.
And almost like from an instruction standpoint,like, the caddy has become a lot now.
And I guess my question to you is what whattypes of things do you typically do for your
(40:01):
player?
Like, this is an opportunity to not I Iwouldn't say you're selling yourself, but
you're selling yourself.
Well, it's I mean, I just I think I know thegolf swing.
I know the putting stroke very well.
He doesn't ever really ask me, he's got a swingcoach.
But I want to be able to know what I see incase he does ask.
And I mean, if he asks, I can't say I don'tknow.
(40:23):
Yeah.
At least at least have a knowledgeable answer,not just guessing, which I think is beneficial
too.
I think that's why it's moving toward a lot ofguys are having caddies that either played
competitively or still play competitively likeWill Wilcox.
But I think it helps altogether.
You see shots, you see situations that I mean,he got on me last week for we had a pretty
(40:47):
tough shot on nine and I wasn't in theretelling him exactly what or at least knowing
what he's thinking on it.
And I think if you're not playing competitivegolf, you can see that shot and really not have
an answer.
Hey, what what should I do here?
I don't
know.
I don't I don't
play golf.
Don't know what to do on that shot.
(41:07):
But yeah, think I I think that's huge, justknowing every situation and at least having a
proper answer.
That's what it's all about with the modern-daycaddy, is making sure that you have all the
answers and you can talk through situationslike that.
You know, I've interviewed a ton of caddies,talked to a lot of caddies outside of,
(41:29):
obviously, the show.
And that's one of the things that kind ofterrifies some of them is getting asked a
question that they don't have the answer to.
So staying on top of that and being a player,like you said, I think that's a huge value add.
Where would you say your relationship is rightnow with Buddy?
You guys seem to be bobbing and weaving outthere.
I've seen a lot of TV time with you out therewith that flow, and I'm talking about the hair.
(41:54):
I've seen a lot of it, and I gotta tell you,like, you guys look like you guys are in a
groove.
Yeah.
I mean, it's very much business with him on thegolf course.
I mean, there's not a whole lot ofchitchatting, occasional.
But, yeah, it's very much businesslike.
He likes to keep in his own little bubble, andI'm happy to let him have that.
That's another key thing, is to know yourplayer.
(42:17):
Right?
Some guys wanna be best buddies and hang outall the time.
Others wanna keep it more business-related.
So that is a really good insight into
Well, I think I mentioned it sorry tointerrupt.
I think I mentioned it.
That's okay.
When I worked for Harrison, we used to do 10 or5 nights a week.
And in a year working for Bud, we've donedinner exactly zero times during the tournament
week.
And I'm perfectly happy with it.
(42:41):
Okay.
Truck golfer's got a question for you sincewe're talking about you and Bud.
Last time David talked Bud out of a shot orclub and the result of that?
Oh.
I know at Oakmont wouldn't say talked out of ashot, but certainly out of a club.
At Oakmont on it was 14.
He wanted to hit 5-wood off the tee, went uphitting 4-iron.
(43:03):
And then I should have talked him out of onelast week.
Damn, what was the result of that one?
Which one that I The
I hit him in fairway.
It was a perfect shot.
Made he didn't make a par.
It was nothing nothing crazy.
Okay.
Alright.
Actually, on eight, which was our seventeenthhole last week on Sunday, the it's a dead
(43:26):
crosswind.
I forgot what the number was.
I think we were trying to land at 189.
It was 177 front, you're covering you're goingover water.
And the wind's dead off the left, you can'ttell if it's hurting or helping.
And he's like, man and we just watched Ryan Foxhit 7-iron over the back of the green.
He's like, man, I really wanna hit 7-iron.
(43:46):
And I said, if we hit 7-iron and the wind gustsback into us, there's one place it's going and
I just can't live with that.
I was like, why don't you just chip a 6-iron?
And he hits this beautiful I mean, he probablyhit it 70 percent 6-iron.
It landed perfect spot, rolls up to like 12feet, unfortunately didn't make it.
(44:08):
But I was scared to death and he would pullthat 7-iron and we get the gust in and just
water and then I would be out of job.
It's that quick.
It is I call it you guys as caddies on the PGATour, it is a revolving door, feel like.
And Yeah.
There's very little job security.
(44:28):
It's like, save up as much as you can becauseyou never know when that's gonna happen.
And it's also the same thing on the caddy sidetoo with the player to where you never know
when you get that call from one of the top 20golfers in the world.
And all of a sudden, you're like, okay.
You're looking at the numbers that they've beenputting together in terms of money, and you're
like, shit.
(44:48):
I can't pass this one up.
And all of a sudden, you're onto another bag.
I've seen that numerous times as well, and thentalked to caddies in regards to that.
So it goes both ways, but I definitely thinkit's more volatile on the player side when it
comes to, you know, caddies and all of a suddenbeing like, yeah.
That was fun.
See you later.
Yeah.
(45:09):
More so on the player side than in the caddyside.
Man, I remember when Adam Scott's bag becameavailable and all the guys were just licking
their chops over that one in particular.
You ever have a situation like that?
I know, Bud, you were super excited about, butanytime that there was, like, an opportunity to
apply for, like, to put yourself forward for abag and obviously pre Bud Cauley, I'm not gonna
(45:35):
get you in trouble?
No.
Not really.
I'm probably loyal to a fault with pretty muchanything.
But with that, for sure, like, I stuck withJohnson until he basically told me he was not
playing anymore.
And then Harrison, I stuck with him until theabsolute perfect opportunity came available.
So I mean it's I think that goes a long way.
I'm not sure that it means everything in theworld, but I think you get a little bit of a
(45:58):
bad rap if you keep jumping ship or if peoplefind out you're asking them about another job.
Good point.
So I mean, I'm always gonna be loyal until Iget canned and then we'll figure it out from
not anytime soon because it's been a blastwatching you and Bud out there and getting some
(46:19):
of that TV time like I talked about.
Get that flow flowing throughout the wind.
And, man, it's been pretty cool.
I almost text you a couple times because I'mlike, I'm not gonna bother him.
It's in the middle of a round.
I don't want all of a sudden you forgot to putyour silent on and all of a sudden I'm texting
you.
Bud's like, what the hell is going on overthere?
But see you multiple times.
(46:40):
I don't make the phone mistake.
That's the worst thing that could happen is thephone go off or still not the tee with 15
clubs, which almost happened at Muirfield, butwe're not gonna talk about that.
It wasn't almost.
So I'll tell the story.
So he's like before the round, he's like, hey,I might hit it's windy today, might hit three
iron instead of five wood.
I just bring it to the range, we'll hit onTrackMan.
We're walking we have to walk right past theclubhouse to get to the first tee and I go and
(47:03):
put the TrackMan in and I forgot to ask whetherhe wanted to hit three iron or five wood.
So I get to the tee, he's putting and I'm Ialways count the clubs before I go to the tee
and I'm counting them and I'm like, oh, there's15 in here.
I was like, but And I grabbed the three iron,I'm like, five wood, right?
And he's like, oh, yeah.
Five wood.
But I'm like, fuck.
Thought I count because that would have beenanother job ender.
(47:26):
That was close.
Truck Golfer says Bud's having a great year.
You should be extremely proud.
And I agree, man, because this resurgencedidn't happen with somebody else.
Right?
I mean, he's been healthy long enough andbefore you to where it wasn't like, it just
seems like it is a great fit between the two ofyou.
I don't want to pump it up too much and jinxthe whole thing.
(47:47):
But you guys just look like you're in sync,whether that's the businesslike aspect to it
and everything.
But that is kudos to you for knowing yourplayer, learning him rather than just kind of
treating him like everybody else that you wouldcarry a bag for.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I'd like to think that I have a little part ofthat, which I'm sure I do, but I also think
that the guy's so talented that he could figureit out.
(48:11):
Well, I can't wait to have you come on afterthat victory because I'm sure you're gonna be
having an absolute blast with Bud and so forthwhen that goes down.
And, yeah, knock on wood, we want that tohappen soon.
So and there might be a few cocktails.
Might be a few.
Might have a
little slur in your in this podcast.
(48:33):
People
are very accustomed to that with the early dayswith me.
So that's absolutely fine.
We actually encourage that.
But, man, David, I know you're on the EastCoast right now.
Right?
You're back home?
Yeah.
But I've got a week off, so we're all good.
Yeah.
You've got a week off.
So tell us a little bit about this trip you'regonna go on.
So we're gonna go up to Portland, Maine.
(48:55):
I've never been up there, flying to Boston todrive up to Portland.
It's like an hour forty drive.
It's been like three days up there.
It's supposed to be 70 degrees versus 98 inCharlotte right now, so
It's pretty good.
Get a little getaway from the heat a littlebit.
But yeah, just as soon as I got back from theroad, I'd go back on the road.
(49:15):
Where's so obviously, gonna go on vacation thisweek.
What's the plan for the following week?
So we'll get back Saturday from our littlevacation, then I fly out Sunday at noon for
John Deere.
And then
Good old John Deere.
Let's go.
I could see Bud winning that one.
He played well last year.
Started, I think we were leading after thefirst round last year.
(49:36):
He shoots seven.
I think we ended up finishing like 30th, butyeah.
He likes that golf course.
He plays well on it.
So and then we follow that with the ScottishOpen the following week and hopefully play our
way into the Open Championship.
Love that.
Do you something I never realized.
Do you win a John Deere if you win the JohnDeere Classic?
You should.
I don't know if you do or not.
They should give you the one with the bigputter that they always showcase trying to
(50:01):
knock the massive golf ball in the hole.
They should give you that.
Come on, John Deere.
We gotta get a better marketing departmentgoing there with the promotions.
Yeah.
You get a tractor for your yard.
Yeah.
Could you imagine holding the trophy whileyou're on the tractor that you just won?
They usually have one in the pond on 18, sothey should just float you out there and sit
(50:22):
you on it.
The pictures that you could get.
I mean, those would be gold.
Hopefully, somebody's listening out there forJohn Deere and they put that into action.
Maybe it's too quick of a turnaround time toget it done this year, but maybe next year.
They got enough tractors out there.
They can get it done.
That's for sure.
(50:42):
Well, David, thank you so much, man, for comingon.
Before we head out, I do want to give ashoutout once again to our sponsors.
First of all, folks, Devant Golf.
I'm wearing the hat.
This is an old-school hat too by Devant.
I saw it in their warehouse and I was like, Idon't know if it's still on the website, but I
was like, man, four-letter word looks like acurse word.
(51:02):
That is golf.
That is golf in a nutshell.
So I had to have this, and this is part oftheir, I want to say, like, their pro shop
collection that they came out with.
So, folks, utilize the promo codePULLHOOKGOLF20 at checkout for 20% off your
entire order at devantgolf.com.
Vice Golf, utilize the promo code PULLHOOK for15% off your golf balls.
(51:26):
And then Rockform, get your speakers, get thatmagnetic iPhone case or the holster.
That thing's awesome.
By the way, you could attach it to the golfcart to record yourself, your swing.
You got the Johnnie Walker hat.
By the way, I was dying when you sent me theJohnnie Walker shirt Saturday night when Bud
was close to the lead, and I was like, hellyeah.
(51:49):
We're getting close to winning one of these.
So super, I mean, it's right over here in theupper corner.
Hang on.
Let me go full screen here a little bit.
There it is up in the upper corner here.
I should've worn the whole thing.
It's a Devant hat too, I think.
It is.
Yep.
That's right from the event.
(52:11):
So I love that.
Yeah.
That is dope.
Folks, for Rockform, utilize the promo codePULLHOOK2025 for 20% off at rockform.com.
Without further ado, my friend, peace out.
Appreciate it, man.
Yeah, hang on for me, but we're gonna hop offair here real quick.
(52:33):
And, folks, until next time.
We will see you soon.
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