Masters preview

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
It is Master's Week. I mean, this is a for me. This

(00:04):
is a magical time if I canactually get him up. Oh there it
is, mister Golf. Ray Hustikis joining us now and and mister Golf,
welcome again to the Mark Blazer Show. I think the overwhelming favorite this
week at Augusta is Shooter mcgebbon.He's the guy that I think he's the
one to be. Before we evenget into that, did you see that

(00:24):
Happy Gilmore? Adam Saylor was onI think Dan Patrick or something, and
he was talking about there's going tobe a Happy Gilmore too. That is,
it's in the works right now.But I'm like going, hey,
if it can be along the linesbecause I feel like Happy Gilmore. That
was a really fun film for mesomebody being who you are. Is that
a film for you that you likeor you like? Man, it's just

(00:46):
stupid. No, I liked it. But I hope the two is better
than Caddyshack two was to the original. I mean, you know, you
can really you can really make somehuge mistakes trying to recreate those kind of
classics. Yeah, yep, forsure. I think he talked about they're
gonna pay tribute to Carl Weathers,which of course Chubbs and Apollo Creed.
If people are going who is that? You know? And he ended up

(01:08):
passing in real life, so they'retalking. There's a couple of other people
that he was talking about, BobBarker who's passed as well. They're talking
about having Drew carry in there,so maybe he can do the price is
wrong, be on the line onhim and you know where they're fighting each
other or whatever. I hope there'syou know, some moments like that where
we're getting callbacks and you know thatthey have to. But I think it

(01:30):
would be buying large a fun film. But you're right. I hope it's
better than Caddy Shack too, whichprobably a lot of people were looking forward
to that too, and then itwas a stinker. Yeah. Yeah,
But let's get on to what's important. The Azaleas and the Par three tournament
and the Champions Dinner and the AmateurState and the Crow's Nest and the Elevation

(01:52):
and the just all the cool traditionsof the finest sporting event on the planet.
I see that you you can venientlydid not mention Tiger Woods, which
you and I have talked about amillion times, and it's like, clearly
and I'm not delusional to where I'mgoing, Well, he's the guy to
beat this week. But you knowit's interesting. You know, Zach was

(02:14):
just telling me he Zach attack beforewe went on. He goes, do
you think he realistically is? Isaid, does he have a or?
Zach said can he? Is heback? And I was like no,
no, no, no, no, he's not back. But I can
tell you at Augusta if there isa guy who, if you believe in
willing it and you he knows everyblade of grass, and he knows every

(02:35):
lie there, and he knows everyput from every angle where the pins cut.
So on a song, it's clearlyhim, but there's a lot of
other guys who kinda they check thoseboxes as well. There. But also
when you get into the pressure ofSunday afternoon in the back nine and all
of those things that we talk about, you got a guy who knows how
to to reach down, but ishe physically unable to reach down? And

(02:58):
uh? Or could there be moremagic because it seems like magic can happen
at Augusta. Well, magic hashappened many times with Tiger at Augusta,
you know, and we wrote JackNicholas off and he came back. And
one at forty six years old,we wrote Tiger off, and he came
one. He came back in onefour or five years ago. But I
don't think Tiger can walk thirty sixholes, let alone compete. I don't

(03:22):
see him making the cut. Ithink it's gonna be. He's played twenty
three competitive holes of golf this year, not rounds holes, and his legs
and his back to that golf courseis so tough to walk. Oh and
by the way, it's supposed tostorm all night tomorrow and into tonight and
tomorrow morning. I don't see howhe makes it around thirty six holes.

(03:45):
You know. I think one ofthe reasons this Masters is so hype ray
is because this Masters has what islacking on the PGA Tour right now.
And and you know, then thelive is most people don't care, they

(04:06):
can't find it. It's and youknow whatever, nobody's paying attention to live.
But when you combine those live starswith the guys who are on the
PGA Tour, this is now.This is the golf people. Remember,
this is the golf people are excitedto see to see Dustin Johnson out there

(04:28):
and and all these guys and andJohn Rahm competing like you know, the
defending champion. It just has adifferent feel because it's like, oh,
I know that name, I knowthat name, Like all the names are
familiar at this tournament, where Ithink in a lot of PGA Tour events,
at least thus far this year,they're the name recognition has besides,
you know, a couple of peoplehas been sorely lacking. That's a great

(04:49):
point, Josh, and I thinkthat's what we as fans want. That's
why the Majors are maybe even goingto continue to separate themselves from every other
golf tournament out there, is becauseyou're going to see the greatest players in
the world playing. You mentioned it. I mean, we're going to see
rom We're going to see Brooks Kopka, We're going to see Dustin Johnson and
playing at Augusta National in the Masterswhere every year this tournament returns to the

(05:15):
exact same golf course. So asfans, we know every hole in every
shot in the history of who hitit in the water here and who eagled
thirteen and who you know birdied sixteenon the way to win. I mean,
that's what all of those things combined, in addition to the fact that
it is so perfectly run. It'sa phenomenal golf course that doesn't let you
get away with anything, that requiresyou to have an amazing short game,

(05:39):
and it's just it's the first majorof the year. Everybody's excited, the
weather is starting to turn in thenorthern part of the country. People are
getting the clubs out. You know, all of those things together, I
think just combined it. Every yearwe go, man, can it get
better than last year? And itdoes. It just it just continues to
exceed expectations. Yeah, it isif we good for a second, because

(06:00):
Josh, you know, mentioned theLive Tour and I happen to be watching
on Sunday and I did watch theplayoff and it was Sergio versus. I
gotta be honest, Dean Burmester,I think that's how you say it is
am I saying, I don't know. My brother lives in Miami, so
he was there and he goes,who in the hell is this guy?
That just be surgery? He's SouthAfrica. Can you run? Yeah?

(06:20):
He was running for president? Whatwouldn't he on the Republic? Yeah,
Doug Burgham. Yes, they've gotformer governor of North Dakota. Oh close
enough, right, I guess,yeah, Doug Burgham. But yeah,
I mean watching that. So Iwas watching it a couple of things that
I noticed. If we could justyou know, chat for about live for
a second, I know where youcome down on this, this whole thing,

(06:42):
uh, mister golf. But thething that I still can't get used
to when I'm watching it, andI totally get it, I understand it,
but it is so hard to getused to watch seeing them in shorts,
I can't get It's weird for me. And what a weird thing to
notice, I would think. Iguess some people it's it's that was weird
for me. And the other thingwas they kept referencing the team the team

(07:05):
winners, and I think it wasJohn Rahm's team that ended up winning maybe
or something like that. But Iwas going, what does that have to
do with it? Like, Ijust felt like it was weird. I
felt like they're like, hey,let's try to create some sort of something
here, and it's like, look, this is an individual tournament and for

(07:26):
you to go, okay, Ohyeah. Also you're on a team,
so we'll see. We'll do thatas like a side thing or whatever.
It fell short for me, andto watch Sergio like, you know,
I don't know if you were watchingany of it or even saw any of
the replay or highlights or whatever,but you know, he left that putt
so short, the one where heended up. You know, he ended

(07:47):
up losing in a playoff. AndI think it was their third it might
have been their third hole, secondor third hole. And I was watching
it, but I was I wasscratching my head over you know, that
particular thing. And look, Iunderstand what Live's trying to do, but
you know, like you said,and even what Josh said, it is
great. In my mind, I'mgoing, man, I can't. I'm

(08:09):
so happy. We get to seeall of them in one field now and
we get the best of the best. And to be the best, you
got to beat the best kind ofthing, you know. Yeah, And
I mean to hit the lift thingreal quick. They do the team thing
because of the gambling. I mean, they want guys to be able to
bet, like fantasy things and creatureteams, and you know, they got
the little logos on the hats andthe next thing we're gonna have is like

(08:30):
bowling shirts where they script their nameon their shirt, you know, on
the front. You know, here'sDJ or whatever. But yeah, I
mean this week is all about forgettingall of the division and forgetting all the
you know, the elephant in theroom, so to speak. There still
isn't an agreement, and there's stillguys that have hurt feelings, but most
of them are thrilled to be seeingeach other and playing together. And John

(08:52):
Ron mentioned I miss playing on tourwith those guys. Those are my friends.
I miss going to the tournaments thatmy family like to go to at
Hilton Head or at Orlando or PalmSprings or what I mean. It's just
something that's so different, and Ireally think that at the competitive level and
guys will be acceptance to this.But playing fifty four holes of golf on

(09:15):
these courses if not prepping you forplaying major championship golf. Yeah, well
and Ray yeah, John Rahm evensaid as much. He thought it would
help, you know, kind ofif live were to somehow figure out the
way to go to seventy two holesthat he thinks that would help. You
know, Now, whether that wouldhelp viewership, I don't know, but

(09:37):
to hear you know somebody who's theclout of John ram one of the three
best players on the planet's I wouldbe listening if I were Greg Norman and
live. Yeah, it's interesting.All the guys have a specific take,
and most of it relates to thefact that you've made your choice, you
go play great. Nobody's got anyhard feelings about that. The question is

(10:01):
if this thing does ever get workedout, how do we figure out how
to bring people back, so tospeak? And I think John, really,
John Rahm, thought they were gonnahave it all worked out. It
was gonna be a big, happyfamily, and he was gonna jump in
early enough to get a bunch ofthe money, but late enough that this
thing would all get figured out andthey wouldn't be divided. It just hasn't
worked out that way. This week, the guys are you know, everybody's

(10:26):
in a great mood. We gotthe par three thing today where you got
the kids and the girlfriends and thewives out there with you, and you
know you're just relaxing, kind ofsome pressure release before the intensity of the
of the tournament starting tomorrow. Yeah, yeah, can you give me one
reason right now, mister golf,I got I got my phone out,
I got my betting app open.Give me one reason why I shouldn't bet

(10:48):
Scottie Scheffler to win this thing.Give me one reason. Jordan's speef?
Whoa do you really think Jordan's gonnacome? What's going off that? What's
Jordan going on? Can you orno? Like? Okay? I yeah,
I didn't. I think listen,I it's hard. I mean,
I'm gonna I'm picking speech. Obviously. The reason I think Scheffler may not

(11:11):
win is just because it is,uh, it is a really tough golf
tournament to win. If it's wet, like they say it's gonna be,
there's gonna be a lot more playersthat are in contention now. If it's
passing from over the weekend, thatseparates the cream from the crop again,
and you're gonna see you know,Rory and Rahm and kept kidding all the
guys. We've been talking about Schefflerat the top of the board on Sunday.

(11:33):
But if it's wet and it stayswet, the forecast looks better for
you know, starting Friday for theweekend, so that that may not happen,
but you can see some low scoursetomorrow unless it's it really you know,
they said forty mile hour gusts.Woow, that would be no fun.
You know, par seventy six outthere. How do you how do
you think the wet conditions does thatfavor the long hitters or the short hitters.

(11:58):
I mean, you know, somebodylistening now, I'll give them some
insight on that. Well, you'vesaid it. When you and I played,
We've talked about how much of anadvantage it is to be a big
hitter in golf. It doesn't matterwhere it is, or what kind of
course it is or whatever. Idon't believe it's as much an advantage on
a wet Augusta National. It's stillstraight uphill on eighteen. Nobody gets any

(12:18):
roll off that t shot, andit's straight downhill on ten and nine and
two, and you know this ballstill run out even though it might be
wet. So Mike Weir and youknow, Burn Longer was no great,
big long beast of a hitter.Zach Johnson. Guys like that that have
woned Augusta. You have to becreative around the greens. Does it help
to be super long and be ableto hit this towering Jack Nicklas style iron

(12:43):
shot. Absolutely, and that's whywe're also in round going. How has
Brooks kept and not won this yet? But I think that the fact that
it's wet makes it a little easieraround the greens. It's they're a little
effectively, they get a little bitbigger because the ball doesn't move as much
after it hits the ground. Now, if they're super wet and the ball
starts to skid, that makes itmessy for everybody. But I don't I

(13:05):
don't think the wet makes that biga difference for the different distance guys.
Brooks kepka. Could this could thisbe? You know? Could this be
his year? Finally? I meanI guess yeah. You can't roll out,
you know a lot of those typeequations or questions, can you?
No? He I mean, he'sthe greatest major player we've had over the
last what seven eight years or whateverit is. He's been unbelievable in the

(13:28):
majors. He will tell you JohnRon did not win the Masters last year.
He lost it and it was hehad the golf tournament. And I
think when you look at the wayhe plays, is there a better game.
If you could design a golfer towin Augusta and win the Masters,
you designed brooks Kopka. Everything abouthis game is what you'd want. So

(13:52):
you know, he's got the power, he's got the touch, and he's
pretty good putter, and he isa mentally he is just you know,
he's like Clint Eastwood. So doyou like Jordan's Speith, then you're taking
him against the whole field, oryou're saying, well, he's one of
your top picks. Yeah, Ithink i'd like I liked. I'm gonna

(14:13):
say Jordan Spieth will be my pickfor winning. I think he's still got
enough game. He's had so muchup and down, bad luck, good
luck. And if he gets itthrough Thursday and Friday and starts to make
a few putts, look out,because he's he's Teeter Green. He can
still he knows where to put it. He's won it before, he's thrown
it away, not once but twice, and so he is determined every year

(14:37):
to come back here and get that, get another one of those jacket.
Ry Mackelroyd, you know, needsthe career Grand Slam here. Yeah,
and that, but he's he triesso hard. He's still aggressive. I
just wish he would relax just abit, back off the accelerator. You
don't go around Augusta, you know, two hundred and fifty miles an hour
around every curve, right, Andthat's what's cost him over the years.

(15:00):
But the storyliness every year, there'sso many great lines, storylines setting up
for this Jason Day. How abouthim? He's playing great right now.
I mean he can put. Andthis is the guy who is mentally as
tough as it as it comes.So uh, so many great guys to
watch and on a on a phenomenalgolf