July 22, 2024 • 40 mins
Would Scottie Scheffler trade his season for Xander Schauffele’s? John breaks down the stellar performance that Xander put on in the final round, shooting -6 on Sunday and -9 for the tournament, as he claims his second major of the season. Is Scottie stills the best American player or has Xander taken that title with his win at Royal Troon?
8:50 - Xander wins The Open
15:36 - Is Xander the POTY
20:22 - Saturday at The Open
36:08 - Mailbag
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Speaker 1 (02:13):
What is going On Everybody? John middlcoff go Low a
podcast reacting to the Open Championship where Xander Shoffley wins
his second major in I guess a little over two
months and immediately becomes a legend. That's how fast it happens.
(02:34):
He went from zero to two Tye Scotty with two majors.
He's even closer to the career Grand Slam than Scotty
obviously because he's won the Augusta twice and validated his career.
I mean that it could end tomorrow and pretty legendary
stuff from Xandrew shoot sixty five, So we will dive
into that. Comparing the two seasons. Scotty was having this
(02:57):
historic season, I think we need to pump the brakes
on comparing him the Tiger in twenty twenty four because
that officially ended the day, and I think the question
now e Xander had a better year than him. I
on Saturday got up pretty early and watched several hours
of what I would say is some of the best
(03:19):
viewing experience I've had watching high level pro golf in
a long long time. And I think it was because
clearly of the carnage and the difficulty, and several high
end players reiterated that calling it the toughest night holes
they'd ever seen. It was unlike any experience I've had
in a long, long time because even the US Open
(03:41):
doesn't feel like it plays quite as hard as it
once did because of the equipment. But watching the wind,
the rain, the condittis, the guys just grind their you
know what. Off was just incredible two hours. So we'll
dive into Saturday. We'll fly around some other notables. Justin
Rose is right in the mix. Nothing this tournament where
(04:01):
you can just get a guy that plays typically in
Europe you've never heard of, that has a big belly,
who's ripping darts, who is just throwing balls at the pin,
and you're like, who the hell is this guy? And
sometimes they win it. A lot of times they come
really close, but they're right in the mix. And that
(04:23):
really happened with two guys, Dan Brown on Saturday who
fell apart on Sunday, and Tristan Lawrence, who was a
six hundred and one. Those were his odds coming into
the tournament. He had a pretty good chance headed into
the back nine. Rory and Bryson you probably didn't notice
them this weekend because they missed the cut and we
(04:44):
had a John rom siding and also do a couple
at Golo Pod. At Pod is the instagram I will
answer a couple of questions from there as well. Other
than that, football, you know, all these training camps are
getting underway, so we will hit the ground running with
that the rest of the week with some football podcasts
(05:05):
and uh and yeah, it's a great time of year.
It sucks, you know, the golf season kind of ended
today in terms of what really matters. But football gets
going and we're off to the fall. I'm still in
Lake Tahoe about to go swim in the lake here
on Sunday afternoon, try to burn some calories because I
have not really in the last week been eating and
(05:25):
taking in a lot of booze. So I need to
get my health back because they say health as wealth.
Played a little golf the uh my buddy Glenn Catcher
and his family had me out to one of the
coolest courses I've ever been to, Marti's Camp in Truckie.
It was. It was an awesome experience. Bertie the first
hole and went on to have some bogies and doubles,
(05:48):
probably shot like low eighties, but it was. It was
an awesome time. So hopefully everyone's playing a little golf,
enjoying life and let's rock and roll but first, if
you want to go to another like the open I
saw today Patrick Mahomes roll do is left through a
beautiful like fifty yard touchdown. You want to go to
a football game. College football isn't that far away obviously, Baseball,
(06:12):
you know, if one of your team's still in the mix.
You want to go to playoff games this fall. Can't
recommend that enough. I've been accountless baseball playoff games, the
NLCS I've been to, and the World Series. It's an
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app today. Last minute tickets, lowest prices guaranteed. I never
understand when someone gets really close a lot in golf
(06:56):
and people go, he's never gonna win it. When you
are consistently in the top five, in the top ten,
and you're a younger player, things are eventually bound to
break your way. And I say it all the time
with Rory, who had it off a week obviously, like
if he keeps putting himself in position, he's gonna win
another major. But unlike Xander, like he has a bunch,
(07:16):
Like if him and Speed and Koepka and some of
these guys never win again, it ultimately doesn't really matter
to their resume because they already have four and five, right,
So when you have a lot of majors, it's it's
less pressure in the sense that your legacy has already
cemented as an all time grade champion. And then when
you get into a spot like Xander and you have
(07:38):
all these top tens and you don't have a major,
people just start asking the questions. And then at Valhalla
he wins and everyone says, Wow, that was really more
like a PGA Tour tournament, right, People are going eighteen
twenty under, that's not your typical major championship, which, listen,
I agree with that the course played easier, But he's
(07:59):
got sixty five on Sunday and he held off Bryce
and g Chambeau who went on to win at Pinehurst,
and Victor Hovlin, who really for the only time this
season looked incredible. But this week there is no debating.
He dominated and the last two days, especially today, I
mean to shoot sixty five was really a special performance
(08:19):
by Xander, and now he has entrenched himself. There's a group.
Since two thousand, I think there's been five players to
win multiple majors in a season. Eldrick Tiger Woods did
it four times. Obviously he's the goat. Kopka has done it,
Rory has done it, Speith has done it, and Internet
(08:40):
sensation great Instagram follow Potty Harrington did it as well,
and Xander has joined that company. But here's the thing.
Scotti Scheffler is continually compared to tiger Woods, and rightfully
so ya six champions or six tournament wins. He won
the Masters, He's had a remarkable season because of the
per sizes. He's already won close to thirty million dollars
(09:03):
people talk about as Caddy would be top fifty on
the money list when today ended. Xander Schaffley, without a doubt,
has had a better season like last year. In the NFL,
Lamar Jackson won the MVP. Would anyone say that when
the year ended, you'd rather be Lamar Jackson than Patrick Mahomes,
of course not. And Scotty Scheffler would trade his season
(09:27):
this year for Xander in a hartbeat, in a New
York minute. He wouldn't even flinch to hand all those
wins away for a second major. And now here's the thing,
Like Scotty is viewed as this transcendent talent rightfully, So
the way he's played these last couple of years, he's
got two majors and they just happen to be at
the same place. Xander now is closer to the career
(09:49):
Grand Slam than Scotty Scheffler. Think about that, within two months,
the guy went from zero to two and now is
two majors away. He played exceptionally well at the US Open.
It is very likely if he maintains this level of
play for the next couple of years, he could easily
win that tournament. And he's also been really successful at Augusta.
(10:10):
So it's not out of the realm possibility that Xander
ends his career. I mean, he's still a younger guy
with the career Grand Slam. Scotty Scheffler has to win
all three of them. So listen, Scotty did not have
it today. He was terrible putting on Saturday. Today he
was all over the map. I mean he had a
(10:32):
shot on eighteen that looked like me or you classic
immediately grabs his back and very disappointing because coming into today,
I think Xander was favored at plus three point fifty
on DraftKings and Scotty was like plus three sixty a
couple shots back, and obviously Scotty kind of derailed today
(10:52):
and Xander put the pedal of the medal and lapped
the field and really the last four or five holes
the tournament was over. And now Xander has I don't
want to say one of the greatest ever because he's
got a long way to go, but solidified himself as
right there with Scotty as the best American player. And
for the first time, and I didn't write down the
(11:14):
number in like forty five to fifty years, the Americans
swept the majors. Now part of it is Xander won two,
Bryson obviously won the US Open, and Scotty won Augusta,
which really kind of leads us those guys like Bryson
should be at the Olympics with Scotti, Xander and Morikawa
but regardless, like it was hard to call Xander the
(11:37):
best or the second best American over the last five years,
despite his resume, despite him dominating, despite the money he
was making, despite how consistently awesome he was in the majors.
Not really debatable. And like I said, Scotti Scheffler would
trade his season for Xander Schoffley's tells you all you
need to know. So, like the gap between those two guys,
(11:58):
is there a big gap? Honestly? Is there one? Because
here's the thing with this live the separation of some
of the top guys on the other tour and the
dilution of the PGA Tour, It's still impressive to win
a golf tournament. I don't care if you're playing your
member guest. I don't care if you're playing on the
cornf Ferry Tour or a designated event with no cuts.
(12:19):
So I'm not trying to take anything away from Scotty
Scheffler and winning tournaments. That's the goal of everything when
you're a professional golfer. But what's the difference in the
two guys? Honestly, you can be like Strokes Gade, Like
I don't know. I watched the two in the biggest moments.
I don't see much of a difference, and that speaks
that's not trying to criticize Scotty at all. He's an
(12:40):
elite player, so Xander I view them basically, especially after
the day, kind of the same guy. And now that
Xander's won a second major, I don't really know how
you argue that, And I think the question is big picture,
especially if Xander were to win a playoff event despite
not having as many wins this season, is Xander the
player of the year, Because what's a major worth relative
(13:02):
to a PGA tournament, Like if we were just trying
to put a number of value on it, five wins,
eight wins, it's gotta be worth at minimum five x
So you could argue this second major victory. Now, Scotty
could still win a couple tournaments and be the FedEx champion.
But I think they're right there, And if you wanted
(13:25):
to make Xander Schoffley your player of the year, I
wouldn't argue. And I said it coming into this tournament,
like we can't compare Scotty to Tiger, Like those comparisons
died the day. Honestly, they were dead, Like he was
never Tiger Woods, but he was having a Tiger like season.
The Tiger like seasons, like I said, four times Tiger
(13:45):
won multiple majors in a season and Scotty was right
there with like twenty seven thirty fifteen holes to go
and he just didn't have his a game. And listen,
it's golf that happened sometime. But like those compare it,
we can't do that anymore. And I understand statistically you
can throw some numbers up, but like you cannot have
(14:07):
a conversation with a friend or bsin at a bar
or on the golf course and bring those two names together.
That can no longer happen. That's not a criticism of
Tiger Woods. It's like comparing someone to Tom Brady or
Joe Montana. You have to be very very in a
very very special category level of accomplishment to even garner
(14:31):
the words to come out of someone's mouth. And it
ended today at least with this season, and I think
moving forward, as long as this guy's gonna play this well,
you have to capitalize on these major championships. This is
why when we throw out these over unders, like how
many majors is Scotty gonna win? Six ' seven. It's
really hard. Now he might end up winning Augusta like
four or five times, but we've seen him got very
(14:54):
close and the other majors, and he hasn't got it done.
And today Xander I put it on over and Scotty
had no shot, and ultimately Xander I don't want to
say benefited, but the group of guys he was really
fending off were Tristan Lawrence, which unless you follow the
DP Tour, no one's heard of. Justin Rose, who had
(15:15):
to qualify to get in, who's one of the best
players of the twenty tens, but he's an older guy
who has not played well lately. Shane Lowry was kind of,
you know, coming falling apart, then he kind of stormed
back and then he fall apart. And Billy Horssechell, who
actually played pretty well today but who's never ever played
well in a major really beside I think like his
(15:38):
first major in twenty thirteen, the US Open, he has
been pretty terrible in them. This was his first kind of,
I don't know, opportunity to win one of his career really,
and he was good, but he wasn't Xander good, and
he's not Xander good. So I think, listen the world
golf rankings, we know they're worthless now. I think when
(16:00):
you look at it, though, I'm gonna give Bryson and
Rory a little bit of a pass this week, but
I don't see how you can look at Xander any
different than Scottie Scheffler. As of July twenty one, twenty
twenty four, I thought Saturday was one of my favorite
(16:25):
days of watching golf of my adult life. It was
one of those days on the couch where you go.
I don't think you could pay me to be out
on that course. It's freezing cold, the wind is pumping
Dustin Johnson said it was the hardest nine holes he's
ever played. Scotty Scheffler reiterated that Justin Rose said he
(16:47):
hadn't consistently hit the clubs he hit on that back nine,
meaning long irons, three woods into par fours since he
was a junior golfer, and we just don't get that now.
Scotland the home of golf, which I was thinking about this,
I have a ton of respect. Golf never would have
(17:09):
been invented in America if someone tried to start it
in like Seattle or some you know Minnesota in some
place that it's raining, it's cold, it's freezing. Now it
doesn't snow like that, I think in Scotland. But you
know what I mean, Those people since the beginning of
the game have played the sport or the activity some say,
(17:31):
in inclement weather, and they embrace it. They enjoy it
and it's just part of their world. And you watch
that and you go and listen. I've never been over there.
Every time I play golf with someone who's played there,
they all say it's just a spectacular experience. It's one
of those especially older guys that get to take their
children or guys that go on a golf trip. No
(17:53):
one ever goes disappointed. But it's one thing to just
go play around at the old course, play Troon, play
you know, a couple of those courses, and then come home.
It's another thing to live it, and that be the
conditions that you can desistently play in. I have a
ton of respect for those guys and that golf and
(18:14):
I know a lot of people. I saw Shane Bacon
and a bunch of people always say this, and rightfully so,
because when it's on TV, it really pops. Our golf
does not look like that. But the number one reason
they could never spend like a month and a half
playing that style of golf basically just across the pond
on the quote unquote PGA Tour is because of television, CBS, NBC,
(18:38):
all these networks pay a premium and part of when
you go over there, the time difference. They teat off
this morning for me on West Coast time, the leaders
I think at six fifteen or six twenty like part
of it in the US Open had enormous ratings is
it's in that Sunday afternoon slot. Well, what's one of
the highest rated television shows in America Sunday afternoon television
(19:02):
or football on CBS and Fox. That is the ideal window.
Nothing gets better. And this tournament today ended at about
ten thirty Pacific Standard time. Think about football, the first
set of games usually kick off or not usually that's
when they do at ten am Pacific Standard time, and
(19:22):
then two or three times throughout the year the England
or Germany or whatever game kicks off at six thirty am.
So from the time window for the television networks, it
would never work. But there is no argument, and you
can't in this modern day society. You have to play
everything live. You couldn't push it back and have it
(19:42):
quote unquote tape delayed or whatever. So they're just kind
of screwed with the window. It's really why they play.
I mean, this tournament's been going on forever, but now
that the Scottish Open has become I would say a
much more popular event. Clearly they've put some more money
into there and a lot of guys go and it
was cool. I watched it last week. But same thing.
(20:04):
It ends too early for the TV partners to whoever
agree to this for a month plus. It's just to
me a non starter if you just know the way
business works. Even though from a viewing perspective, And I
got up this morning, set my alarm for about five
forty five, ended up getting out of bed at about
six fifteen. I look, John Rahm's like four under after seven,
(20:25):
I'm like, God, this thing is gonna get interesting. He
fell apart a little bit. But it's incredible viewing because
those pot bunkers, we just have nothing like that. And
the bunkers you know over there, Like I said, I've
never been there. I've been to abandoned dunes, which I
can't compare, but somewhat similar in the sense of the
way you can play the sport keeping the ball on
(20:46):
the ground is there's nothing like having bunkers in the
middle of a fairway or just barely off the fairway
that are very in play where you hit your t shot,
and because of their ground, it's just much harder. We
have to manipulated so much. I see it at TPC
right like during the summer, even during the winter, the
(21:06):
fairway's just normal, and then as they get it ready
for the waste management, that fairway becomes like concrete. And
that's what happens a lot on the PGA tour. It's
why whenever you see these distances and they say, God,
how do these guys hit three forty three fifty Because
on a lot of their tournaments, if you hit the fairway,
they it's rock hard and you get an astronomical amount
(21:28):
of role. So over there it's just natural. They're not
doing anything. It's the cool part about the courses is
their greens aren't that fast. They're actually pretty slow because
they have to do that to make it fair because
at any moment, twenty thirty mile an hour wins. Sideway
rain and freezing cold temperatures as on someone is like,
(21:49):
I don't think we can comprehend how psychotic Billy Horschell
is playing Saturday's round just in his color shirt. He
didn't even have a jacket. Zander didn't even have a
rain jacket on. He just had like a sweater. I
can't even imagine how cold their feet, how cold their
bodies are. But from a television viewing experience, it was
(22:10):
the shit. It was awesome. And this is you know,
the pushback of Xander's first major in Valhalla is like
no one was ever gonna blow up, no one was
gonna double and at any moment, not as much today,
clearly that the conditions were much more benign. But on
Saturday you could blink and a guy could get a double.
(22:32):
One bad shot would just destroy you. Because anyone that
plays golf, if you've ever played into the wind, you
put that little cut spin on it all the sudden
it becomes a slice and it's in a bush. And
if you said that was five six times a year,
we could get that level of not even just the competition,
but the weather, the course. I can't say enough about
(22:55):
Royal Troon. I know this if I ever have the
opportunity to go over there, I guess I would have
the opportunity if I just chose to go. I would
love to play that course now. The teas they were
playing from it felt like on Saturday, multiple part fours
were playing five point fifty plus. Shane Lowry had a
hole on Saturday where he went driver driver and was
(23:19):
still thirty yards short of the green. And that's what
DJ kept saying. It's impossible for this course, in any course,
to play any longer because the back nine, the way
the course is set up, that's where the wind pumps
into the wind felt like all those holes yesterday were
into the wind we're today. It was a little more
(23:39):
side wind. Clearly you could tell the flags on top
of the grand stands were blowing. But John Wood or
Bones or whoever was down with the players. You say,
it doesn't feel like it's blowing that much, and those
guys were a little little less faced. It's why you
saw a lot of sixty nine and sixty eights and Xander,
the best player in the field this week, shot sixty
five and was pumping dry three forty, hidding eight irons
(24:02):
and nine irons into greens. Where yesterday he's hitting three irons,
three woods. So it was just an extremely enjoyable experience.
And I think overall the majors this year have been awesome.
Now part of it has been the champions Scotty Bryson
and Xander twice. The cream of the crop. The cream
of the crop. The one thing cool about this tournament
(24:22):
more than the other three, definitely more than the PGA
and Augusta, is you can get randoms, and I would
say in those tournaments, if there's a random it feels
a little weird. In this tournament, it feels really cool.
A guy with a huge belly that you've never heard of,
Dan Brown yesterday on eighteen, when he was squarely in
the mix, is just ripping heaters. He took a selfie
(24:46):
before a second shot, he ends up doubling the hole.
It's like you don't get those moments. And there's just
like a purity, an intensity, a love that's like sec football.
Then listen, I love golf. I play golf with a
lot of people who love it. I'm sure many of
you if you're listening to this, love golf, but it
(25:08):
doesn't feel like anyone loves it quite as much. As
over there, like this country loves football, they really do,
but it feels like the passion in the South. It
is hard to match it, really does. I remember when
I lived in Philly, when I worked for the Eagles,
I'm like, ah, I'm from the Bay and the forty
nine ers are a massive, massive juggernaut for the league
(25:31):
in terms of television ratings, in terms of success, in
terms of just the eyeballs they get when they play,
and they have a huge fan base, and I know
people that love the forty nine ers. There was intensity
in Philly that I don't know. It just felt like different,
And that's how it feels in the open with the fans,
with the players. I saw a lot of people trying
(25:54):
to rank the majors. Clearly, the PGA Championship is last
in terms of just coolness and importance. We could have
a long argument that you know, this tournament is every
bit the equal of Augusta. Again, I'm an American, I
would choose Augusta. But if you wanted to go Masters
one A, this one B, and I think there's a
lot of people that might put this one A and
(26:16):
the Master's one B, and that to me, that for
Xander to win this thing. You saw his dad, who's
obviously his longtime coach, not coaching him anymore, but feels
like his best friend with the sunglasses on, just just crying.
And I think he knows. I think the tears at
the PGA where he finally got over the hump, finally
(26:37):
got that monkey office back, finally can call himself a
major champion. This one like validated his greatness because that
was impressive. Some other notables. The one thing cool about
the Open in the US Open is how you can
open qualify in. You know, they say one of the
longest they call it the longest dand golf of the
(26:59):
Monday going into US Open week where you play thirty
six holes at most of these courses you have to
shoot I would say anywhere from five to nine under.
And the amount of like high level PGA players that
are in them, it's always a cool day. And respect
all the live guys who did it. Adam Scott did
it this year to keep his major streak alive. The
(27:21):
Open has that and you can tell this tournament means
a lot to Justin Rose and for a guy who
you know, if you think about the twenty tens, you know,
Rory Spieth, Kopka, DJ, He's right there. He really is.
I mean, he was easily one of the best players
of that era. He's older than those guys and feels like,
(27:43):
I don't want to say, closer to retirement or irrelevance
on the PGA Tour, but he definitely hasn't been the
dominant player these last couple of years that he was
in his prime. And to see that guy, I mean,
I thought he played his ass off. He was awesome.
And to see the past he had to open qualify
to get into this tournament was really cool, and you
(28:06):
just you could tell they were rooting for him and
Shane Lowry just a little stronger. Obviously Shane more than Rose.
But they're showing those dudes swimming with signs. It was
fun to watch. I call him Tracy Lawrence after the
country singer. But there was a moment at about the seventh, eighth,
(28:26):
ninth hole where we were like, is this guy really
gonna win the Open Championship. I've never heard of him. Now,
I'm not. I fall golf pretty closely, but I don't
follow the deep e tour very closely. They were saying
on the broadcast. He's won four times, so clearly this
guy's not like some complete random But he was six
hundred to one, six hundred to one, and there was
(28:49):
a moment I think it might have been the eighth hole.
He was plus two fifty and for the most part
he was pretty freaking good, so he had a big
belly just hitting those power cuts. He was very, very
enjoyable to watch, and that, like I said, the one
tournament where I'm cool with, like, I've never heard of
(29:09):
this guy and I don't even care, is this one.
And it happens every single year. I heard a stat
speaking of Justin Rose that of all the majors over
the last like twenty five years, this by far has
the oldest average of winter and definitely has the oldest
average of guys that are consistently in contention. And I
(29:33):
think that speaks to Justin Rose being in the mix.
Because of the conditions, because of the difficulty, it just
brings more guys into play, and because of the different
ways you can play the course. It's not just hit
it three forty, pull out your pitching wedge, knock it
within ten feet and try to make a birdie putt.
That's not really what this tournament is at all. And
(29:54):
then depending on where some of your shitty shots go,
can you make magic happen? When I woke up on
Thursday morning, Bryson d Chambeau and Rory McElroy had both
shot like a combined one point fifty, which I didn't
(30:18):
have any more because I was in California. It doesn't
allow me to bet. And then you go to Nevada,
I can't bet on DraftKings. I'm not quite sure on
the rules, but did not expect that, so I couldn't
even get my bets in when I wanted to. I
wouldn't have bet on Rory, but I was one of
those people that expected him to contend. I thought he
would play well, and he didn't. Just not play well.
(30:39):
He was, as he said, he was thinking about vacation
with twenty plus holes to go, like kind of an
embarrassing showing when this whole tournament was kind of about guts,
was about grittiness, was about battling your ass off. He's like, yeah, seeah,
I'm out to h to wherever the hell super rich
people go vacation, and Bryson, unlike you know, Rory has
(31:01):
played well in the Open many of times Bryson is not.
And we said this coming in to this tournament is
like you take out two years ago at the Open
when he finished in I think.
Speaker 2 (31:14):
He was t.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
Eight. He had not cracked the top thirty in any
of his you know, his times across the pond, and
this week he didn't even make the cut. You have
to wonder for a guy who's very scientific, for a
guy who like measures his balls and salt, who I
guess on Monday and Tuesday, because it wasn't raining but
(31:36):
it was supposed to rain, he had dudes with a
spray gun. I remember Chip Kelly did something similar when
they were playing. They played like the Dolphins or the Bucks,
and then stayed in Miami for the week to go
play the Bears, and it was supposed to be awful
weather and they were like spraying the footballs with water,
and then they went to Chicago and it was snowing,
got their ass kicked. It's kind of how it feels.
(31:58):
Because you can't manipulate this type stuff, you kind of
got to be an artist. And Bryson has slowly turned
a little bit more into that because a short game
is so good, but he kind of does what he does.
He plays these big rope draws, he plays one ballflight
and this tournament kind of punks him. Now, ultimately, who cares.
Maybe when Bryson's career is all said and done, he's
(32:21):
always shitty over there. It's kind of irrelevant because his
style of golf, especially now that he's cracked the Masters
a little bit, translates literally every other tournament. So he'll
struggle over here, and as long as he plays well,
he has a chance to win. I mean, he only
plays in three tournaments with everyone else. But whenever this
thing merges back, it's gonna work. So like, maybe he's
(32:44):
just gonna eventually pun on this and maybe he gets
a year where benign conditions, no rain, no wind, and
he can compete. But to me, if the weather's coming
the way you have to play over there, it's just
really not gonna work for him. It was nice to
have a John romside, it really was. And he's a
guy who's dominating the majors and because of his athlete's foot,
(33:07):
the going to live. It's just been a disastrous season.
I mean a fucking disastrous season for genre not his
bank account, but on the golf course. And like I said,
when I got up, he was four under after seven holes,
and he went, could he post like a sixty four
to sixty five and post a number and be right
(33:27):
in the mix. Now he boged some holes in the
back and made a nice parsave actually on eighteen. But
it was just cool to see him in the top ten.
And hopefully this next year we got a lot of
horses playing really well. And who knows if this merger,
if anything ever is figured out between Live and the
PGA Tour. But the hype, you know, behind the Masters,
(33:50):
which is obviously a long long way ago, and that's
what sucks, is like the golf moving forward is completely irrelevant.
It just doesn't matter. These playoff events, no one cares.
No one cares who's the FedEx champion and gets to
make you know, twenty million dollars or whatever it is,
and no one watches live. So basically President's Cup is
(34:12):
during football season and it's that's just nowhere near as
cool as the Ryder Cup. Today kind of marks the
end for professional golf relevancy. I watch, but I'm what
you call in the business of p one and pay attention.
Most people don't, and I'm already starting to see highlights
of Lamar Jackson gets sent home because he's sick, Patrick
(34:35):
Mahomes making throws. The more and more training camp gets going,
the more golf falls into the background. And this was
kind of their last big moment, and I think what
needs to happen moving forward, And I know Tiger is
a big part of this, is they got to get
this thing figured out and they got to put their
egos aside. This is less about pride and who got paid,
and like, the only way for your sport to sustain
(34:57):
beside these four tournaments, beside these four tournaments, is to
figure out a way to play together in some form
or fashion. And I don't have much faith that they're
going to get it right. I don't have much faith
that it's going to be enjoyable for us. But if
you can just get all the same guys on the
same golf course, get John Rahm, Dschambeau back with Scottie,
(35:19):
back with Zander, back with Rory, the sport has a chance.
Because right now, I just they just don't beside these
four tournaments, which are four super Bowls. That's what I
tell my fiance. I said, four Super Bowls. She's like, well,
what are all the other tournaments? I'm just tournaments we watch,
but these are the ones the matter. And congrats Xander
(35:40):
for winning that bad Boy. And yeah, one thing I
want to do really quick. I got a couple go
low questions at Golo Pod. At Golo Pod is the
Instagram fire in those dms? And we will answer them here.
Question for the pod was Xander winning two of four
majors and some big prizes coming up in the playoffs.
(36:02):
Is there a chance that we talk about Xander is
having had the best season instead of Scotty. I think
if Xander wins one of these playoff events, I don't
even think it's debatable because, like I said, if you
just did the math that a major is worth, Scotty
would trade all this PGA tournament victories this year, beside Augusta,
(36:24):
which is not a PGA Tour tournament, for to win
the Open. He would trade him and he wouldn't even
have He would do it in the blink of an eye,
in a new and he wouldn't even flinch. So if
Xander wins one more time, I don't even see how
we argue that. All we've been talking about since Live Happened,
was the importance of the majors, the importance of the majors,
(36:47):
the competitions, the fields, And now Xander wins the Open
and Scotty was, for his standards relatively bad. So I
think Xander is probably one play off victory away from
being the Player of the year. Shows you you know
the margin fererra out here. Now, Scotty still might win
(37:07):
the FedEx. But I unless they've changed it right, I
hate the way they do it, but I get I
understand it is. Scotty's gonna start the FedEx Championship at
east Lake at ten under Lexander's gonna start eight. It's
not like Xander's ten back. He's two shots back. So
if Scotty bogie's the second hole on Thursday and Xander
(37:30):
berdies all of a sudden, it's like one shot back.
It's not a very big difference. I think Xander actually
has a pretty good shot to win the fed X,
and if he wins the FedEx then it wouldn't even
be arguable. But even if Scotty wins it and Xander loses,
do him by a shot, I'd have no problem giving
it to Xander. Curious to know why the Ryder Cup
(37:53):
and the President's Cup aren't played at the end of
August before football starts. I feel like August is always
up for the taking, and golf and baseball just can't
seem to figure this out. As a casual golf fan
who always watches the majors, I struggle to watch way
less of the Cups when they coincide with football. I've
(38:14):
been saying this with baseball forever, like shorten your season,
capitalize on an opening, especially now that the preseason game suck.
But that's never gonna happen. They're never shortening the season.
Neither is the NBA that they're never doing it because
the gate in those sports is so important. The problem
for golf, which I totally agree with, is in a
(38:37):
couple of weeks they start their playoffs, which ultimately who cares.
It's basically just a way to distribute money to their
top players. The events just don't matter. And this is
someone who loves watching professional golf. The events do not matter.
That they simply do not. If you could argue, just
have one playoff event, just kind it to the top
(38:58):
fifty guys play the first or second week in August
and then have the President's Cup and the Ryder Cup
in the last week in August. But like I said
about my faith and however it plays out with the
merger and getting everyone together, that's never gonna happen, so
I don't ever expect that to change, at least for
the foreseeable future. Maybe now with the President's Cup, which
(39:22):
is owned by the PGA Tour, you have some of
these big money people, some of them are NFL owners.
Maybe they try to push for that. I guess it's
hard to feel any of these things are set in
concrete with the ability to just change moving forward. But
every time something changes, it feels like it's either the
status quo or it's for the worst. I mean, they're always
(39:44):
changing stuff to try to basically get their players more money,
and we all lose. Now, those events aren't really for
the money. Xander and can't Lay don't love that. But
that's another discussion for another day. I don't know. I
wish that happened, because, like you, I mean, football rules
the day. Football is how I pay my bills, so
I I just it's really really difficult, but don't count
(40:07):
on it. Don't count on it. So congratsate Zander second
major and has vaulted himself as I don't know, I
mean one B in American golf right now. The volume
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Speaker 1 (02:13):
What is going On Everybody? John middlcoff go Low a
podcast reacting to the Open Championship where Xander Shoffley wins
his second major in I guess a little over two
months and immediately becomes a legend. That's how fast it happens.
(02:34):
He went from zero to two Tye Scotty with two majors.
He's even closer to the career Grand Slam than Scotty
obviously because he's won the Augusta twice and validated his career.
I mean that it could end tomorrow and pretty legendary
stuff from Xandrew shoot sixty five, So we will dive
into that. Comparing the two seasons. Scotty was having this
(02:57):
historic season, I think we need to pump the brakes
on comparing him the Tiger in twenty twenty four because
that officially ended the day, and I think the question
now e Xander had a better year than him. I
on Saturday got up pretty early and watched several hours
of what I would say is some of the best
(03:19):
viewing experience I've had watching high level pro golf in
a long long time. And I think it was because
clearly of the carnage and the difficulty, and several high
end players reiterated that calling it the toughest night holes
they'd ever seen. It was unlike any experience I've had
in a long, long time because even the US Open
(03:41):
doesn't feel like it plays quite as hard as it
once did because of the equipment. But watching the wind,
the rain, the condittis, the guys just grind their you
know what. Off was just incredible two hours. So we'll
dive into Saturday. We'll fly around some other notables. Justin
Rose is right in the mix. Nothing this tournament where
(04:01):
you can just get a guy that plays typically in
Europe you've never heard of, that has a big belly,
who's ripping darts, who is just throwing balls at the pin,
and you're like, who the hell is this guy? And
sometimes they win it. A lot of times they come
really close, but they're right in the mix. And that
(04:23):
really happened with two guys, Dan Brown on Saturday who
fell apart on Sunday, and Tristan Lawrence, who was a
six hundred and one. Those were his odds coming into
the tournament. He had a pretty good chance headed into
the back nine. Rory and Bryson you probably didn't notice
them this weekend because they missed the cut and we
(04:44):
had a John rom siding and also do a couple
at Golo Pod. At Pod is the instagram I will
answer a couple of questions from there as well. Other
than that, football, you know, all these training camps are
getting underway, so we will hit the ground running with
that the rest of the week with some football podcasts
(05:05):
and uh and yeah, it's a great time of year.
It sucks, you know, the golf season kind of ended
today in terms of what really matters. But football gets
going and we're off to the fall. I'm still in
Lake Tahoe about to go swim in the lake here
on Sunday afternoon, try to burn some calories because I
have not really in the last week been eating and
(05:25):
taking in a lot of booze. So I need to
get my health back because they say health as wealth.
Played a little golf the uh my buddy Glenn Catcher
and his family had me out to one of the
coolest courses I've ever been to, Marti's Camp in Truckie.
It was. It was an awesome experience. Bertie the first
hole and went on to have some bogies and doubles,
(05:48):
probably shot like low eighties, but it was. It was
an awesome time. So hopefully everyone's playing a little golf,
enjoying life and let's rock and roll but first, if
you want to go to another like the open I
saw today Patrick Mahomes roll do is left through a
beautiful like fifty yard touchdown. You want to go to
a football game. College football isn't that far away obviously, Baseball,
(06:12):
you know, if one of your team's still in the mix.
You want to go to playoff games this fall. Can't
recommend that enough. I've been accountless baseball playoff games, the
NLCS I've been to, and the World Series. It's an
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app today. Last minute tickets, lowest prices guaranteed. I never
understand when someone gets really close a lot in golf
(06:56):
and people go, he's never gonna win it. When you
are consistently in the top five, in the top ten,
and you're a younger player, things are eventually bound to
break your way. And I say it all the time
with Rory, who had it off a week obviously, like
if he keeps putting himself in position, he's gonna win
another major. But unlike Xander, like he has a bunch,
(07:16):
Like if him and Speed and Koepka and some of
these guys never win again, it ultimately doesn't really matter
to their resume because they already have four and five, right,
So when you have a lot of majors, it's it's
less pressure in the sense that your legacy has already
cemented as an all time grade champion. And then when
you get into a spot like Xander and you have
(07:38):
all these top tens and you don't have a major,
people just start asking the questions. And then at Valhalla
he wins and everyone says, Wow, that was really more
like a PGA Tour tournament, right, People are going eighteen
twenty under, that's not your typical major championship, which, listen,
I agree with that the course played easier, But he's
(07:59):
got sixty five on Sunday and he held off Bryce
and g Chambeau who went on to win at Pinehurst,
and Victor Hovlin, who really for the only time this
season looked incredible. But this week there is no debating.
He dominated and the last two days, especially today, I
mean to shoot sixty five was really a special performance
(08:19):
by Xander, and now he has entrenched himself. There's a group.
Since two thousand, I think there's been five players to
win multiple majors in a season. Eldrick Tiger Woods did
it four times. Obviously he's the goat. Kopka has done it,
Rory has done it, Speith has done it, and Internet
(08:40):
sensation great Instagram follow Potty Harrington did it as well,
and Xander has joined that company. But here's the thing.
Scotti Scheffler is continually compared to tiger Woods, and rightfully
so ya six champions or six tournament wins. He won
the Masters, He's had a remarkable season because of the
per sizes. He's already won close to thirty million dollars
(09:03):
people talk about as Caddy would be top fifty on
the money list when today ended. Xander Schaffley, without a doubt,
has had a better season like last year. In the NFL,
Lamar Jackson won the MVP. Would anyone say that when
the year ended, you'd rather be Lamar Jackson than Patrick Mahomes,
of course not. And Scotty Scheffler would trade his season
(09:27):
this year for Xander in a hartbeat, in a New
York minute. He wouldn't even flinch to hand all those
wins away for a second major. And now here's the thing,
Like Scotty is viewed as this transcendent talent rightfully, So
the way he's played these last couple of years, he's
got two majors and they just happen to be at
the same place. Xander now is closer to the career
(09:49):
Grand Slam than Scotty Scheffler. Think about that, within two months,
the guy went from zero to two and now is
two majors away. He played exceptionally well at the US Open.
It is very likely if he maintains this level of
play for the next couple of years, he could easily
win that tournament. And he's also been really successful at Augusta.
(10:10):
So it's not out of the realm possibility that Xander
ends his career. I mean, he's still a younger guy
with the career Grand Slam. Scotty Scheffler has to win
all three of them. So listen, Scotty did not have
it today. He was terrible putting on Saturday. Today he
was all over the map. I mean he had a
(10:32):
shot on eighteen that looked like me or you classic
immediately grabs his back and very disappointing because coming into today,
I think Xander was favored at plus three point fifty
on DraftKings and Scotty was like plus three sixty a
couple shots back, and obviously Scotty kind of derailed today
(10:52):
and Xander put the pedal of the medal and lapped
the field and really the last four or five holes
the tournament was over. And now Xander has I don't
want to say one of the greatest ever because he's
got a long way to go, but solidified himself as
right there with Scotty as the best American player. And
for the first time, and I didn't write down the
(11:14):
number in like forty five to fifty years, the Americans
swept the majors. Now part of it is Xander won two,
Bryson obviously won the US Open, and Scotty won Augusta,
which really kind of leads us those guys like Bryson
should be at the Olympics with Scotti, Xander and Morikawa
but regardless, like it was hard to call Xander the
(11:37):
best or the second best American over the last five years,
despite his resume, despite him dominating, despite the money he
was making, despite how consistently awesome he was in the majors.
Not really debatable. And like I said, Scotti Scheffler would
trade his season for Xander Schoffley's tells you all you
need to know. So, like the gap between those two guys,
(11:58):
is there a big gap? Honestly? Is there one? Because
here's the thing with this live the separation of some
of the top guys on the other tour and the
dilution of the PGA Tour, It's still impressive to win
a golf tournament. I don't care if you're playing your
member guest. I don't care if you're playing on the
cornf Ferry Tour or a designated event with no cuts.
(12:19):
So I'm not trying to take anything away from Scotty
Scheffler and winning tournaments. That's the goal of everything when
you're a professional golfer. But what's the difference in the
two guys? Honestly, you can be like Strokes Gade, Like
I don't know. I watched the two in the biggest moments.
I don't see much of a difference, and that speaks
that's not trying to criticize Scotty at all. He's an
(12:40):
elite player, so Xander I view them basically, especially after
the day, kind of the same guy. And now that
Xander's won a second major, I don't really know how
you argue that, And I think the question is big picture,
especially if Xander were to win a playoff event despite
not having as many wins this season, is Xander the
player of the year, Because what's a major worth relative
(13:02):
to a PGA tournament, Like if we were just trying
to put a number of value on it, five wins,
eight wins, it's gotta be worth at minimum five x
So you could argue this second major victory. Now, Scotty
could still win a couple tournaments and be the FedEx champion.
But I think they're right there, And if you wanted
(13:25):
to make Xander Schoffley your player of the year, I
wouldn't argue. And I said it coming into this tournament,
like we can't compare Scotty to Tiger, Like those comparisons
died the day. Honestly, they were dead, Like he was
never Tiger Woods, but he was having a Tiger like season.
The Tiger like seasons, like I said, four times Tiger
(13:45):
won multiple majors in a season and Scotty was right
there with like twenty seven thirty fifteen holes to go
and he just didn't have his a game. And listen,
it's golf that happened sometime. But like those compare it,
we can't do that anymore. And I understand statistically you
can throw some numbers up, but like you cannot have
(14:07):
a conversation with a friend or bsin at a bar
or on the golf course and bring those two names together.
That can no longer happen. That's not a criticism of
Tiger Woods. It's like comparing someone to Tom Brady or
Joe Montana. You have to be very very in a
very very special category level of accomplishment to even garner
(14:31):
the words to come out of someone's mouth. And it
ended today at least with this season, and I think
moving forward, as long as this guy's gonna play this well,
you have to capitalize on these major championships. This is
why when we throw out these over unders, like how
many majors is Scotty gonna win? Six ' seven. It's
really hard. Now he might end up winning Augusta like
four or five times, but we've seen him got very
(14:54):
close and the other majors, and he hasn't got it done.
And today Xander I put it on over and Scotty
had no shot, and ultimately Xander I don't want to
say benefited, but the group of guys he was really
fending off were Tristan Lawrence, which unless you follow the
DP Tour, no one's heard of. Justin Rose, who had
(15:15):
to qualify to get in, who's one of the best
players of the twenty tens, but he's an older guy
who has not played well lately. Shane Lowry was kind of,
you know, coming falling apart, then he kind of stormed
back and then he fall apart. And Billy Horssechell, who
actually played pretty well today but who's never ever played
well in a major really beside I think like his
(15:38):
first major in twenty thirteen, the US Open, he has
been pretty terrible in them. This was his first kind of,
I don't know, opportunity to win one of his career really,
and he was good, but he wasn't Xander good, and
he's not Xander good. So I think, listen the world
golf rankings, we know they're worthless now. I think when
(16:00):
you look at it, though, I'm gonna give Bryson and
Rory a little bit of a pass this week, but
I don't see how you can look at Xander any
different than Scottie Scheffler. As of July twenty one, twenty
twenty four, I thought Saturday was one of my favorite
(16:25):
days of watching golf of my adult life. It was
one of those days on the couch where you go.
I don't think you could pay me to be out
on that course. It's freezing cold, the wind is pumping
Dustin Johnson said it was the hardest nine holes he's
ever played. Scotty Scheffler reiterated that Justin Rose said he
(16:47):
hadn't consistently hit the clubs he hit on that back nine,
meaning long irons, three woods into par fours since he
was a junior golfer, and we just don't get that now.
Scotland the home of golf, which I was thinking about this,
I have a ton of respect. Golf never would have
(17:09):
been invented in America if someone tried to start it
in like Seattle or some you know Minnesota in some
place that it's raining, it's cold, it's freezing. Now it
doesn't snow like that, I think in Scotland. But you
know what I mean, Those people since the beginning of
the game have played the sport or the activity some say,
(17:31):
in inclement weather, and they embrace it. They enjoy it
and it's just part of their world. And you watch
that and you go and listen. I've never been over there.
Every time I play golf with someone who's played there,
they all say it's just a spectacular experience. It's one
of those especially older guys that get to take their
children or guys that go on a golf trip. No
(17:53):
one ever goes disappointed. But it's one thing to just
go play around at the old course, play Troon, play
you know, a couple of those courses, and then come home.
It's another thing to live it, and that be the
conditions that you can desistently play in. I have a
ton of respect for those guys and that golf and
(18:14):
I know a lot of people. I saw Shane Bacon
and a bunch of people always say this, and rightfully so,
because when it's on TV, it really pops. Our golf
does not look like that. But the number one reason
they could never spend like a month and a half
playing that style of golf basically just across the pond
on the quote unquote PGA Tour is because of television, CBS, NBC,
(18:38):
all these networks pay a premium and part of when
you go over there, the time difference. They teat off
this morning for me on West Coast time, the leaders
I think at six fifteen or six twenty like part
of it in the US Open had enormous ratings is
it's in that Sunday afternoon slot. Well, what's one of
the highest rated television shows in America Sunday afternoon television
(19:02):
or football on CBS and Fox. That is the ideal window.
Nothing gets better. And this tournament today ended at about
ten thirty Pacific Standard time. Think about football, the first
set of games usually kick off or not usually that's
when they do at ten am Pacific Standard time, and
(19:22):
then two or three times throughout the year the England
or Germany or whatever game kicks off at six thirty am.
So from the time window for the television networks, it
would never work. But there is no argument, and you
can't in this modern day society. You have to play
everything live. You couldn't push it back and have it
(19:42):
quote unquote tape delayed or whatever. So they're just kind
of screwed with the window. It's really why they play.
I mean, this tournament's been going on forever, but now
that the Scottish Open has become I would say a
much more popular event. Clearly they've put some more money
into there and a lot of guys go and it
was cool. I watched it last week. But same thing.
(20:04):
It ends too early for the TV partners to whoever
agree to this for a month plus. It's just to
me a non starter if you just know the way
business works. Even though from a viewing perspective, And I
got up this morning, set my alarm for about five
forty five, ended up getting out of bed at about
six fifteen. I look, John Rahm's like four under after seven,
(20:25):
I'm like, God, this thing is gonna get interesting. He
fell apart a little bit. But it's incredible viewing because
those pot bunkers, we just have nothing like that. And
the bunkers you know over there, Like I said, I've
never been there. I've been to abandoned dunes, which I
can't compare, but somewhat similar in the sense of the
way you can play the sport keeping the ball on
(20:46):
the ground is there's nothing like having bunkers in the
middle of a fairway or just barely off the fairway
that are very in play where you hit your t shot,
and because of their ground, it's just much harder. We
have to manipulated so much. I see it at TPC
right like during the summer, even during the winter, the
(21:06):
fairway's just normal, and then as they get it ready
for the waste management, that fairway becomes like concrete. And
that's what happens a lot on the PGA tour. It's
why whenever you see these distances and they say, God,
how do these guys hit three forty three fifty Because
on a lot of their tournaments, if you hit the fairway,
they it's rock hard and you get an astronomical amount
(21:28):
of role. So over there it's just natural. They're not
doing anything. It's the cool part about the courses is
their greens aren't that fast. They're actually pretty slow because
they have to do that to make it fair because
at any moment, twenty thirty mile an hour wins. Sideway
rain and freezing cold temperatures as on someone is like,
(21:49):
I don't think we can comprehend how psychotic Billy Horschell
is playing Saturday's round just in his color shirt. He
didn't even have a jacket. Zander didn't even have a
rain jacket on. He just had like a sweater. I
can't even imagine how cold their feet, how cold their
bodies are. But from a television viewing experience, it was
(22:10):
the shit. It was awesome. And this is you know,
the pushback of Xander's first major in Valhalla is like
no one was ever gonna blow up, no one was
gonna double and at any moment, not as much today,
clearly that the conditions were much more benign. But on
Saturday you could blink and a guy could get a double.
(22:32):
One bad shot would just destroy you. Because anyone that
plays golf, if you've ever played into the wind, you
put that little cut spin on it all the sudden
it becomes a slice and it's in a bush. And
if you said that was five six times a year,
we could get that level of not even just the competition,
but the weather, the course. I can't say enough about
(22:55):
Royal Troon. I know this if I ever have the
opportunity to go over there, I guess I would have
the opportunity if I just chose to go. I would
love to play that course now. The teas they were
playing from it felt like on Saturday, multiple part fours
were playing five point fifty plus. Shane Lowry had a
hole on Saturday where he went driver driver and was
(23:19):
still thirty yards short of the green. And that's what
DJ kept saying. It's impossible for this course, in any course,
to play any longer because the back nine, the way
the course is set up, that's where the wind pumps
into the wind felt like all those holes yesterday were
into the wind we're today. It was a little more
(23:39):
side wind. Clearly you could tell the flags on top
of the grand stands were blowing. But John Wood or
Bones or whoever was down with the players. You say,
it doesn't feel like it's blowing that much, and those
guys were a little little less faced. It's why you
saw a lot of sixty nine and sixty eights and Xander,
the best player in the field this week, shot sixty
five and was pumping dry three forty, hidding eight irons
(24:02):
and nine irons into greens. Where yesterday he's hitting three irons,
three woods. So it was just an extremely enjoyable experience.
And I think overall the majors this year have been awesome.
Now part of it has been the champions Scotty Bryson
and Xander twice. The cream of the crop. The cream
of the crop. The one thing cool about this tournament
(24:22):
more than the other three, definitely more than the PGA
and Augusta, is you can get randoms, and I would
say in those tournaments, if there's a random it feels
a little weird. In this tournament, it feels really cool.
A guy with a huge belly that you've never heard of,
Dan Brown yesterday on eighteen, when he was squarely in
the mix, is just ripping heaters. He took a selfie
(24:46):
before a second shot, he ends up doubling the hole.
It's like you don't get those moments. And there's just
like a purity, an intensity, a love that's like sec football.
Then listen, I love golf. I play golf with a
lot of people who love it. I'm sure many of
you if you're listening to this, love golf, but it
(25:08):
doesn't feel like anyone loves it quite as much. As
over there, like this country loves football, they really do,
but it feels like the passion in the South. It
is hard to match it, really does. I remember when
I lived in Philly, when I worked for the Eagles,
I'm like, ah, I'm from the Bay and the forty
nine ers are a massive, massive juggernaut for the league
(25:31):
in terms of television ratings, in terms of success, in
terms of just the eyeballs they get when they play,
and they have a huge fan base, and I know
people that love the forty nine ers. There was intensity
in Philly that I don't know. It just felt like different,
And that's how it feels in the open with the fans,
with the players. I saw a lot of people trying
(25:54):
to rank the majors. Clearly, the PGA Championship is last
in terms of just coolness and importance. We could have
a long argument that you know, this tournament is every
bit the equal of Augusta. Again, I'm an American, I
would choose Augusta. But if you wanted to go Masters
one A, this one B, and I think there's a
lot of people that might put this one A and
(26:16):
the Master's one B, and that to me, that for
Xander to win this thing. You saw his dad, who's
obviously his longtime coach, not coaching him anymore, but feels
like his best friend with the sunglasses on, just just crying.
And I think he knows. I think the tears at
the PGA where he finally got over the hump, finally
(26:37):
got that monkey office back, finally can call himself a
major champion. This one like validated his greatness because that
was impressive. Some other notables. The one thing cool about
the Open in the US Open is how you can
open qualify in. You know, they say one of the
longest they call it the longest dand golf of the
(26:59):
Monday going into US Open week where you play thirty
six holes at most of these courses you have to
shoot I would say anywhere from five to nine under.
And the amount of like high level PGA players that
are in them, it's always a cool day. And respect
all the live guys who did it. Adam Scott did
it this year to keep his major streak alive. The
(27:21):
Open has that and you can tell this tournament means
a lot to Justin Rose and for a guy who
you know, if you think about the twenty tens, you know,
Rory Spieth, Kopka, DJ, He's right there. He really is.
I mean, he was easily one of the best players
of that era. He's older than those guys and feels like,
(27:43):
I don't want to say, closer to retirement or irrelevance
on the PGA Tour, but he definitely hasn't been the
dominant player these last couple of years that he was
in his prime. And to see that guy, I mean,
I thought he played his ass off. He was awesome.
And to see the past he had to open qualify
to get into this tournament was really cool, and you
(28:06):
just you could tell they were rooting for him and
Shane Lowry just a little stronger. Obviously Shane more than Rose.
But they're showing those dudes swimming with signs. It was
fun to watch. I call him Tracy Lawrence after the
country singer. But there was a moment at about the seventh, eighth,
(28:26):
ninth hole where we were like, is this guy really
gonna win the Open Championship. I've never heard of him. Now,
I'm not. I fall golf pretty closely, but I don't
follow the deep e tour very closely. They were saying
on the broadcast. He's won four times, so clearly this
guy's not like some complete random But he was six
hundred to one, six hundred to one, and there was
(28:49):
a moment I think it might have been the eighth hole.
He was plus two fifty and for the most part
he was pretty freaking good, so he had a big
belly just hitting those power cuts. He was very, very
enjoyable to watch, and that, like I said, the one
tournament where I'm cool with, like, I've never heard of
(29:09):
this guy and I don't even care, is this one.
And it happens every single year. I heard a stat
speaking of Justin Rose that of all the majors over
the last like twenty five years, this by far has
the oldest average of winter and definitely has the oldest
average of guys that are consistently in contention. And I
(29:33):
think that speaks to Justin Rose being in the mix.
Because of the conditions, because of the difficulty, it just
brings more guys into play, and because of the different
ways you can play the course. It's not just hit
it three forty, pull out your pitching wedge, knock it
within ten feet and try to make a birdie putt.
That's not really what this tournament is at all. And
(29:54):
then depending on where some of your shitty shots go,
can you make magic happen? When I woke up on
Thursday morning, Bryson d Chambeau and Rory McElroy had both
shot like a combined one point fifty, which I didn't
(30:18):
have any more because I was in California. It doesn't
allow me to bet. And then you go to Nevada,
I can't bet on DraftKings. I'm not quite sure on
the rules, but did not expect that, so I couldn't
even get my bets in when I wanted to. I
wouldn't have bet on Rory, but I was one of
those people that expected him to contend. I thought he
would play well, and he didn't. Just not play well.
(30:39):
He was, as he said, he was thinking about vacation
with twenty plus holes to go, like kind of an
embarrassing showing when this whole tournament was kind of about guts,
was about grittiness, was about battling your ass off. He's like, yeah, seeah,
I'm out to h to wherever the hell super rich
people go vacation, and Bryson, unlike you know, Rory has
(31:01):
played well in the Open many of times Bryson is not.
And we said this coming in to this tournament is
like you take out two years ago at the Open
when he finished in I think.
Speaker 2 (31:14):
He was t.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
Eight. He had not cracked the top thirty in any
of his you know, his times across the pond, and
this week he didn't even make the cut. You have
to wonder for a guy who's very scientific, for a
guy who like measures his balls and salt, who I
guess on Monday and Tuesday, because it wasn't raining but
(31:36):
it was supposed to rain, he had dudes with a
spray gun. I remember Chip Kelly did something similar when
they were playing. They played like the Dolphins or the Bucks,
and then stayed in Miami for the week to go
play the Bears, and it was supposed to be awful
weather and they were like spraying the footballs with water,
and then they went to Chicago and it was snowing,
got their ass kicked. It's kind of how it feels.
(31:58):
Because you can't manipulate this type stuff, you kind of
got to be an artist. And Bryson has slowly turned
a little bit more into that because a short game
is so good, but he kind of does what he does.
He plays these big rope draws, he plays one ballflight
and this tournament kind of punks him. Now, ultimately, who cares.
Maybe when Bryson's career is all said and done, he's
(32:21):
always shitty over there. It's kind of irrelevant because his
style of golf, especially now that he's cracked the Masters
a little bit, translates literally every other tournament. So he'll
struggle over here, and as long as he plays well,
he has a chance to win. I mean, he only
plays in three tournaments with everyone else. But whenever this
thing merges back, it's gonna work. So like, maybe he's
(32:44):
just gonna eventually pun on this and maybe he gets
a year where benign conditions, no rain, no wind, and
he can compete. But to me, if the weather's coming
the way you have to play over there, it's just
really not gonna work for him. It was nice to
have a John romside, it really was. And he's a
guy who's dominating the majors and because of his athlete's foot,
(33:07):
the going to live. It's just been a disastrous season.
I mean a fucking disastrous season for genre not his
bank account, but on the golf course. And like I said,
when I got up, he was four under after seven holes,
and he went, could he post like a sixty four
to sixty five and post a number and be right
(33:27):
in the mix. Now he boged some holes in the
back and made a nice parsave actually on eighteen. But
it was just cool to see him in the top ten.
And hopefully this next year we got a lot of
horses playing really well. And who knows if this merger,
if anything ever is figured out between Live and the
PGA Tour. But the hype, you know, behind the Masters,
(33:50):
which is obviously a long long way ago, and that's
what sucks, is like the golf moving forward is completely irrelevant.
It just doesn't matter. These playoff events, no one cares.
No one cares who's the FedEx champion and gets to
make you know, twenty million dollars or whatever it is,
and no one watches live. So basically President's Cup is
(34:12):
during football season and it's that's just nowhere near as
cool as the Ryder Cup. Today kind of marks the
end for professional golf relevancy. I watch, but I'm what
you call in the business of p one and pay attention.
Most people don't, and I'm already starting to see highlights
of Lamar Jackson gets sent home because he's sick, Patrick
(34:35):
Mahomes making throws. The more and more training camp gets going,
the more golf falls into the background. And this was
kind of their last big moment, and I think what
needs to happen moving forward, And I know Tiger is
a big part of this, is they got to get
this thing figured out and they got to put their
egos aside. This is less about pride and who got paid,
and like, the only way for your sport to sustain
(34:57):
beside these four tournaments, beside these four tournaments, is to
figure out a way to play together in some form
or fashion. And I don't have much faith that they're
going to get it right. I don't have much faith
that it's going to be enjoyable for us. But if
you can just get all the same guys on the
same golf course, get John Rahm, Dschambeau back with Scottie,
(35:19):
back with Zander, back with Rory, the sport has a chance.
Because right now, I just they just don't beside these
four tournaments, which are four super Bowls. That's what I
tell my fiance. I said, four Super Bowls. She's like, well,
what are all the other tournaments? I'm just tournaments we watch,
but these are the ones the matter. And congrats Xander
(35:40):
for winning that bad Boy. And yeah, one thing I
want to do really quick. I got a couple go
low questions at Golo Pod. At Golo Pod is the
Instagram fire in those dms? And we will answer them here.
Question for the pod was Xander winning two of four
majors and some big prizes coming up in the playoffs.
(36:02):
Is there a chance that we talk about Xander is
having had the best season instead of Scotty. I think
if Xander wins one of these playoff events, I don't
even think it's debatable because, like I said, if you
just did the math that a major is worth, Scotty
would trade all this PGA tournament victories this year, beside Augusta,
(36:24):
which is not a PGA Tour tournament, for to win
the Open. He would trade him and he wouldn't even
have He would do it in the blink of an eye,
in a new and he wouldn't even flinch. So if
Xander wins one more time, I don't even see how
we argue that. All we've been talking about since Live Happened,
was the importance of the majors, the importance of the majors,
(36:47):
the competitions, the fields, And now Xander wins the Open
and Scotty was, for his standards relatively bad. So I
think Xander is probably one play off victory away from
being the Player of the year. Shows you you know
the margin fererra out here. Now, Scotty still might win
(37:07):
the FedEx. But I unless they've changed it right, I
hate the way they do it, but I get I
understand it is. Scotty's gonna start the FedEx Championship at
east Lake at ten under Lexander's gonna start eight. It's
not like Xander's ten back. He's two shots back. So
if Scotty bogie's the second hole on Thursday and Xander
(37:30):
berdies all of a sudden, it's like one shot back.
It's not a very big difference. I think Xander actually
has a pretty good shot to win the fed X,
and if he wins the FedEx then it wouldn't even
be arguable. But even if Scotty wins it and Xander loses,
do him by a shot, I'd have no problem giving
it to Xander. Curious to know why the Ryder Cup
(37:53):
and the President's Cup aren't played at the end of
August before football starts. I feel like August is always
up for the taking, and golf and baseball just can't
seem to figure this out. As a casual golf fan
who always watches the majors, I struggle to watch way
less of the Cups when they coincide with football. I've
(38:14):
been saying this with baseball forever, like shorten your season,
capitalize on an opening, especially now that the preseason game suck.
But that's never gonna happen. They're never shortening the season.
Neither is the NBA that they're never doing it because
the gate in those sports is so important. The problem
for golf, which I totally agree with, is in a
(38:37):
couple of weeks they start their playoffs, which ultimately who cares.
It's basically just a way to distribute money to their
top players. The events just don't matter. And this is
someone who loves watching professional golf. The events do not matter.
That they simply do not. If you could argue, just
have one playoff event, just kind it to the top
(38:58):
fifty guys play the first or second week in August
and then have the President's Cup and the Ryder Cup
in the last week in August. But like I said
about my faith and however it plays out with the
merger and getting everyone together, that's never gonna happen, so
I don't ever expect that to change, at least for
the foreseeable future. Maybe now with the President's Cup, which
(39:22):
is owned by the PGA Tour, you have some of
these big money people, some of them are NFL owners.
Maybe they try to push for that. I guess it's
hard to feel any of these things are set in
concrete with the ability to just change moving forward. But
every time something changes, it feels like it's either the
status quo or it's for the worst. I mean, they're always
(39:44):
changing stuff to try to basically get their players more money,
and we all lose. Now, those events aren't really for
the money. Xander and can't Lay don't love that. But
that's another discussion for another day. I don't know. I
wish that happened, because, like you, I mean, football rules
the day. Football is how I pay my bills, so
I I just it's really really difficult, but don't count
(40:07):
on it. Don't count on it. So congratsate Zander second
major and has vaulted himself as I don't know, I
mean one B in American golf right now. The volume
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Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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