0:00

I'm Mr. Green for example. I'm already upset.

0:02

When I find my ball in the bunker,

0:04

I'm really upset. And when I find my

0:06

ball in a Fried egg. Fried egg. The

0:08

dreaded fried egg. Fried egg. Fried egg. Fried

0:10

egg. Fried egg. Fried egg lie. I'm about ready

0:12

to run off the golf course. Welcome

0:35

back to another edition of

0:37

the fried egg golf podcast. It

0:39

is here. We are here. It

0:41

is Masters Week. This whole

0:43

week I will be in Augusta National.

0:46

We are so excited for the

0:48

88th playing of the Masters. We

0:51

are going to have a ton of stuff

0:53

going on with at

0:55

the B Draddy House live from there as well. We will

0:57

be on the ground. This

1:00

week with a couple of us

1:02

there and we'll

1:04

be pumping out content through the

1:06

newsletter. We'll be putting

1:08

up a lot of website articles and

1:10

then of course podcasts between this podcast

1:12

as well as the shotgun start. We

1:15

will have all of your Masters needs

1:17

covered. So to

1:19

get to the Masters, I want

1:22

to call up one of my favorite people to talk golf

1:24

with Trevor Immelman. Trevor is the lead analyst for CBS. He

1:26

is also a champion. podcast

2:01

and just you know if you don't

2:03

subscribe to the newsletter subscribe this week

2:06

if you don't you know kind of follow

2:08

our website off and we should have a

2:10

lot of stuff up there we have a

2:13

whole page that's dedicated towards our masters content

2:16

and then I think we're gonna have a lot

2:18

more social media content this year we have we'll

2:21

have a photographer on the ground at

2:23

the Masters and excited for that that'll

2:25

be a first time for us having

2:28

images that we can share from Augusta

2:31

National. So before we get

2:33

to Trevor Immelman let's talk about

2:35

the Dratty House. Be Dratty

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3:01

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and it's spring the new seasons

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3:08

gonna I just was at a

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3:12

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with everything it's April it's a great

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4:02

recommend a couple things every day vest Liam

4:04

polo. I love the

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Russ hoodie I wear that a lot. I

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love the Russ crew neck, too Those are

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two things I wear a ton but big

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thanks to be dratty and their support of

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our our coverage of the first major of

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the year here, so visit

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be dratty calm and now

4:21

to Trevor and moment I Trevor

4:28

Welcome back on you were nice enough

4:30

to join us last year for this

4:32

the same episode and excited to talk

4:35

about the 2024 masters

4:37

here to kick things

4:39

off I I would love if

4:41

you could take us back to your

4:43

first masters where were you when you

4:45

found out you were in the masters and

4:48

if you could Just

4:50

talk about that first time around

4:52

Augusta National what you felt and

4:55

what stuck out to you about your first

4:57

masters well Andy first of all, it's

4:59

awesome to join you huge fan of the pod and

5:04

You know this time of year You can

5:06

probably if anybody has the opportunity to watch this

5:08

you can see the huge smile on my face

5:10

You may even be able to hear it in

5:12

my voice like this is this is

5:14

the time of the year that really gets me going Leading

5:17

up to the first major to

5:19

the masters This

5:22

event has meant just so much

5:24

to me in my life. So It's

5:28

interesting you ask that question because I have

5:30

so many amazing memories

5:32

and Recollections

5:35

from over the first time I played actually was in

5:37

1999 as an amateur. So How

5:41

I found out that I was qualified

5:44

or gonna be invited was winning the

5:46

pub links at Torrey Pines and The

5:50

year before this the summer before in 98 So

5:54

I had like this countdown period

5:56

from winning the pub links to

5:59

that first master as an amateur and

6:01

it was a thrill. I was

6:04

able to get some invites on the South African

6:06

tour and the DP World Tour back

6:09

then, the European tour to try and

6:11

get some more experience under my belt

6:13

playing at the highest

6:15

level. Those

6:18

months leading up was a lot of fun,

6:20

trying to work on my game back in

6:23

South Africa and get things ready. I'll never

6:25

forget I played in the

6:27

end of January, I played in Dubai, the

6:30

big tournament in Dubai on the European tour

6:32

and then the week after that, the

6:34

Middle East swing back then used to have Dubai

6:38

and then Qatar back to back. So I

6:40

played those two as an amateur and

6:43

then I actually flew from

6:45

there to

6:47

Augusta to play my

6:49

first practice round. So this is now

6:51

early February and the

6:53

excitement on this massive

6:56

trip and flight from the Middle

6:58

East all the way to Georgia

7:01

was just like I could not wait, I

7:04

couldn't sleep, I couldn't rest on the plane,

7:06

I just wanted to get there. And

7:09

I was fortunate enough to be hosted by

7:12

a member, the Hempel family

7:15

and I actually stayed, believe

7:17

it or not, in Butler

7:19

cabin for those couple nights that

7:21

I was there. And once again,

7:23

once you get on site and

7:26

you find out why

7:28

you're actually staying in Butler cabin, the

7:32

way I felt about that, I mean it's really, it's

7:35

hard to even describe.

7:37

1986 when

7:40

I was just six years old as the first master

7:42

I watched on

7:44

TV back in South Africa, got

7:46

permission from my parents to stay up

7:48

past midnight and

7:50

watched it and was

7:52

totally enthralled. I mean everybody that knows

7:54

anything about golf knows the 1986 Masters

7:57

and Now

8:01

here I am as a whatever

8:03

19 year old kid staying in

8:05

Butler cabin about to play Augusta National for

8:08

the next two days. So got

8:10

up early, hardly got any sleep, played

8:13

36 holes for two days in

8:15

a row and then I

8:17

had a couple months to

8:19

get ready and then once

8:21

I got to the tournament it was just you

8:23

know kicked up a notch because now you're nervous,

8:25

you're anxious, you're trying to figure out how you

8:28

can make the cut. Do you

8:30

remember after you played those practice rounds

8:32

of two days of 36 holes what

8:35

you took away and you said you had

8:38

a couple months to get ready. What did you

8:40

from your first time around

8:42

there zero in on what

8:45

you needed to get ready? Well

8:47

first of all it's the elevation

8:49

changes that absolutely catch you off

8:51

guard if you have not been there.

8:54

Look nowadays and I'll

8:56

say this because I work for CBS. Nowadays we

8:59

do an amazing

9:01

job really trying to and also with

9:03

the technologies that have improved from the

9:06

80s until now in television to be

9:08

able to to show that undulation a

9:10

bit better and try and give viewers

9:12

at home a bit more of a

9:14

grasp of it. But when

9:16

you think back to the 80s and when really

9:18

they only used to broadcast the second nine and

9:21

you couldn't always get a real feel for it

9:24

but now the technologies are so good. So

9:27

yeah that's the first thing. I'll say

9:30

this as someone who's a part-time photographer

9:33

there's no way to capture what

9:35

you see and feel with

9:38

the elevation there in a

9:40

photo. There's no way. There's no way to do

9:42

it like it's gotten I will echo what you

9:44

said you the telecast has

9:46

gotten leaps and bounds better

9:48

every year it gets better. I mean you

9:51

see the guys with the ground cameras running

9:53

around trying to get that you know

9:55

those ground shots looking up at these perch screens

9:58

but it is it is... And

10:00

I know this gets like beaten into the ground.

10:04

Nothing I will say nothing prepares

10:06

your eyes for the first time you're

10:09

there and nothing when you're inside

10:11

the ropes on the golf course

10:13

nothing prepares you for the what

10:16

your feet feel. What

10:18

your feet feel when you get on some

10:20

of the greens and when you're hitting those

10:23

shots is just discomfort. Yeah. So

10:26

that's exactly where I was going. That

10:29

elevation change transcends into

10:31

having to hit so

10:34

many shots from uneven lies and

10:37

you just don't get that very often anymore do

10:39

you? You know you

10:42

just don't. And

10:44

really even when you're practicing

10:47

you're practicing you know either off of

10:49

a mat or off

10:52

of a driving range tee

10:54

that's pretty flat and

10:56

leading up to the masters you really have

10:58

to seek out places where you

11:01

can go and hit balls from downhill,

11:03

uphill, side hills and

11:05

make sure that you

11:07

still have elite distance

11:10

control off of these slopes

11:13

because at the end of the day one of

11:16

the keys to unlocking Augusta National

11:18

is distance control and preciseness with

11:20

your approach play because if you

11:22

want to have a decent look

11:24

at birdie you know

11:27

you've got the size

11:29

of a mid-sized rental car to land

11:31

your ball in and that's tough

11:33

enough to do off of a flat

11:35

lie. Now you've got some

11:38

elevation to deal with you may have five or

11:40

ten miles an hour of wind to deal with

11:42

and an uneven lie it's

11:45

difficult it's difficult never mind

11:47

being nervous so you've got

11:50

those things the elevation and

11:52

then just the green complexes and an understanding

11:55

the patterns to

11:57

those and ways to

12:00

put yourself in a spot to

12:02

where you can try and make a

12:04

few birdies and at the very least keep the

12:06

big numbers off your card. Did

12:09

you have a favorite place or spot

12:13

to practice those uneven lies that

12:16

you found? Was there something

12:18

you did not necessarily your first

12:20

time around but in your prime

12:22

where you went to a specific spot

12:24

to practice uneven lies? Well, I would

12:26

do it all in weeks

12:29

proceeding and

12:32

for the most part around that time I was

12:34

hanging out a lot at Lake Nona here in

12:36

Orlando and there were many areas

12:38

there we could just go and find a spot,

12:40

drop a few balls and see

12:43

what the ball does when it's a foot above you

12:45

or the downhill lie. Some

12:47

shots really jumped to mind that

12:51

people who haven't stood out in

12:53

the fairways haven't had

12:55

that opportunity, may not quite

12:57

grasp. First of all, the

13:00

second shot into 13 if you're

13:02

going for it, that

13:04

ball is at least 12 inches above

13:07

your feet and more in

13:09

places. So now you're

13:12

trying to pure a long iron and

13:14

now we're back to being

13:17

mid and long irons after they moved the

13:19

teeing area back last year but

13:22

we'll pretend that I'm still getting ready for 99. You

13:27

got a long iron or maybe even

13:29

a fairway word and you've got to

13:31

catch it so pure in

13:34

order to make sure you get

13:36

over Ray's Creek and

13:38

it's not easy to do. I always found

13:41

that the second shot of 13 played a

13:43

club longer than the number and

13:46

I think it's because you just don't get

13:48

perfect contact because the ball is so far

13:50

above your feet. If you do

13:52

catch it good, it's inevitably got a

13:54

little hook to it and then you're bringing those

13:56

bunkers into play or that little swale that's not

13:59

always easy to do. to get up and down

14:01

from. That's one that you've got to be ready for. And

14:03

then the wedge into 15 off

14:05

of that downhill lie. I mean that

14:07

is just, you know, you've got

14:09

to be careful. It's easy to

14:11

pick the club up a little too quick

14:13

on your takeaway and then you hang

14:15

a little too much on your left side and

14:19

then if you keep going with it that

14:21

ball flights in a little bit too low

14:23

and then the first

14:25

bounce is too big and it

14:28

jumps over the back or

14:31

you rock back a little bit because you can feel

14:33

a little too much weight on your left side and

14:35

then you don't quite get contact. You see

14:37

guys landed on the front, spin it back into

14:40

the pond. I mean those are shots you just

14:42

have to be ready for. Second shot into nine

14:44

is another one. Big, big down

14:46

slope there hitting to an

14:48

elevated green. So the green's above you and you're

14:51

on a down slope. Got to be, not

14:53

just have great skill but you

14:56

got to be very committed mentally in

14:58

order to pull those shots off. I

15:01

think like you hit on a few

15:03

of the shots that are just, you

15:05

think about like the nuance of the

15:08

shot into 13 also. You

15:12

have this lie that is going to make the

15:14

ball go left but, you

15:17

know, in golf one of the amazing things

15:19

about golf is a wedge goes more left

15:21

off that lie than a seven

15:23

iron. A seven iron goes more

15:26

off left off that lie than

15:28

a four iron. It is like it goes

15:30

through the bag and the longer the club

15:32

you have in there you feel like it's

15:35

going to go left but that

15:37

club like more often than not kind of hangs

15:39

a little more right than you think and

15:42

it's just, you know, the degrees of

15:44

this, the wedge shot, I

15:46

mean the down slope wedge is one

15:48

of the hardest shots and then the

15:50

green that they pair with it is

15:52

the most punishing, most precise green on

15:55

the golf course. It is, you

15:57

know, like the shot you just, highlighted

16:00

into nine. The side slope down

16:05

slope into a green that's perched up. It's that

16:08

you know you're hitting that wedge shot and it's going to come out a

16:10

little bit lower but you're hitting to this

16:13

elevated green and then the worst miss that you can make

16:15

on that green is long.

16:17

You know it's just in your tendency

16:19

is going to be to miss long there. It's just

16:23

I think like when I think about that golf course

16:25

is just how the greens slopes

16:29

of them pair with the land that

16:31

you're approaching from is unmatched. There's

16:34

no golf course in the world that

16:36

pairs that dynamic of the ground and

16:39

what it makes you feel and what

16:41

the tendencies of those shots are with

16:43

pairing the worst places you could be

16:45

on the green or around the green

16:48

you know with the tendency of the

16:50

lie. Like it is a it is

16:52

psychological warfare from the second you step

16:55

on the course and that first green.

16:58

Man that's beautifully put it's beautifully

17:00

put it's it's a it's

17:03

a masterpiece. I mean there there really is

17:06

no other way to describe it. You know

17:09

when you were talking about that

17:12

second shot into nine now I was thinking to

17:14

myself yeah and never mind that

17:16

you also have the green that sits at

17:18

a slight angle so now it

17:20

challenges your tee shot if you hit it down the

17:22

left you're gonna have to come over those bunkers and

17:24

the green is more shallow or you can

17:26

try and push your tee shot down the right and then

17:28

be hitting more up the

17:31

angle of the green and

17:33

then oh by the way there's three levels to that

17:35

green as well. And

17:38

also if you come up a little short it's gonna

17:40

roll 40 yards back down. Yeah

17:43

it is it's amazing it's

17:46

amazing it's the

17:49

best the tournament is

17:51

incredible the traditions

17:53

that they have there are unmatched

17:56

I mean there's just there is just

17:58

nothing like it. I'll tell

18:01

you what, the person who wins this year, it's gonna be the 88th

18:04

Masters. That

18:06

has a nice ring to it, 88.

18:09

So, chat for that

18:11

one. I

18:14

feel like as you get older, years

18:17

become less of an obstacle. I just

18:19

say, you know, you saying that, I didn't realize how

18:22

close we were to the 100th.

18:24

That's gonna be a spectacle, you

18:26

know, when you think about it. So, we're getting

18:29

close to that. So, 88th

18:32

Masters, last year when

18:34

we did this, you were

18:36

upset about... Well, you cheated.

18:38

You cheated. A couple of things.

18:40

You were upset about the prep. This

18:43

is our Five Things episode. You

18:45

didn't complain about it this year in the

18:48

lead-up. I didn't know if you were saving them for

18:50

the pod, but I definitely cheated

18:53

again. But I, you know, I set

18:55

the rules. And one

18:57

of the things you could do, like I

18:59

might just be a little bit more experienced.

19:01

I know the nuances of listening, like if

19:03

you could come up with a broader topic,

19:05

you can lump four storylines into one topic.

19:07

Yeah, I think

19:09

I've learned from my experience with

19:11

you last year. Also, I recently listened to

19:13

a pod with you and Bacon, where you

19:15

did the same thing to him. You know,

19:17

you put four or five things into one

19:21

topic. And I was like, man, this

19:23

is obviously Andy's go-to move when he

19:26

has people on the pod talk about

19:29

their five favorite things. So, you

19:31

know, I've got a little something up

19:33

my sleeve for you. Alright,

19:36

let's kick it off. What's your first thing

19:39

you're excited about or first storyline? I

19:41

don't really know what the right bucket

19:43

is to say these. What's the first

19:45

thing you're wanting? Okay, but before I

19:47

get to the first thing. Alright,

19:49

so here, are you getting more things

19:51

in here? Yeah, so then maybe this

19:53

is number six. But weather,

19:56

weather, weather, weather. This

19:59

is on my list. list. Weather

20:01

is all I'm

20:03

interested in right now. I'm checking

20:05

the forecast twice a day leading

20:07

up and

20:09

I am just so hoping

20:12

for a lot of

20:14

sunshine this week in prep up there

20:16

and then once

20:18

the tournament gets going, some

20:21

more heat and sunshine because it feels like

20:24

it's been a little while since we've had

20:26

a real firm and fast Masters and

20:29

because of all the nuances

20:32

and the things that you and I have

20:34

just outlined about the

20:37

brilliance of the course design, when

20:39

it's firm and fast, this

20:43

Augusta National comes

20:45

alive even more when

20:47

that ball is running,

20:51

the drama that

20:53

goes along with that, the anticipation

20:55

that goes along with that, the

20:57

excitement of that ball rolling

21:00

on the ground just increases

21:03

exponentially. So like before

21:05

I get to number five, weather

21:08

is something I'm very interested in. Justin,

21:11

this was on my list.

21:13

I think the forecast

21:15

right now looks really great.

21:18

I don't want to jinx this. Since

21:20

you've been broadcasting, it's just been

21:22

dire. I mean last year was

21:24

horrendous. The year before that was

21:27

bad. Even if you go

21:29

back to Tiger's year, it was an

21:31

amazing Sunday but the

21:33

Sunday happened hours

21:36

before what it was supposed

21:38

to happen because they moved up the tee

21:40

times and it was a morning. So it

21:42

wasn't a real Master Sunday. You think about

21:44

that win, the win was amazing. It

21:47

was an iconic Master Sunday

21:50

but it didn't happen on

21:53

the afternoon of Master Sunday. So I completely agree.

21:56

Do you have

22:00

a memory of Augusta National when

22:02

it was really fiery and a

22:05

shot or something

22:07

that was like, whoa, that's

22:09

different? You

22:13

know, knuckling down the rounds or what

22:15

year it was, because I've been going

22:17

there so long, is harder

22:19

for me to do. But, you

22:22

know, you start to get

22:25

the feel on approach shots

22:27

when the greens, you know,

22:30

they have phases of firmness. The

22:33

last few years, like you say,

22:35

it's been pretty green and they

22:37

can go a little yellowy, a

22:40

little purple at times when it

22:42

starts getting really firm. And,

22:45

you know, there's a bunch of approach shots you've

22:47

got to be really careful with starting right at

22:49

number one, which is the highest point on the

22:51

golf course, that green, if it's firm and fast,

22:54

gets baked out. And

22:56

it is one of the

22:58

most intricate and

23:00

complex greens on

23:03

the whole golf course. I mean, the areas that

23:05

you have to play with there are

23:07

tiny because of that false front

23:09

and that funnel in the front of the green.

23:12

Five is another one that gets really

23:15

firm. You start getting back right

23:17

whole locations at six that you're just wondering,

23:19

how on earth am I going to stop

23:21

the ball up on that

23:23

little plateau? Seven hitting uphill as

23:25

well. That ball is bouncing as high

23:28

as the flag and you've

23:30

only got like 11 yards of depth

23:32

to work with. So you're in a panic

23:34

over that second shot, hitting off of a

23:36

down slope. You

23:39

know, there's, there's lots of areas where you've got

23:41

to be real careful. And

23:43

that's what, what I'm really hoping

23:45

for and looking forward to, because

23:49

that's when you need

23:51

supreme control over spin.

23:54

And trajectory. And, and

23:56

that's, that's what I'm hoping for. Spin

23:59

trajectory. it's you know even gets

24:01

it's got to get to the fraction of where

24:03

you hit it on the face if you catch

24:05

it a little on the toe and it's got

24:08

just that fraction of hook spin you're

24:10

not gonna find that right that perfect spot and

24:12

I think like I think sometimes you

24:15

know with golf we watch these leaders

24:17

and they make it look so

24:19

easy but but

24:22

the reality of how perfectly struck

24:25

on a firm golf course how perfectly

24:27

struck a shot has to be

24:29

to get to some of these areas that

24:31

they get to it's obscured just by you

24:33

know they hit the shot and it's sometimes

24:36

it's like the shot that goes that's 15

24:39

feet right of a flag from a

24:41

bad angle with a firm green

24:44

it's like those shots because they aren't three

24:47

feet away get obscured of like

24:49

just how freakishly good that

24:51

is and I feel like that's something that

24:53

you really pick up when you're on the

24:55

ground at an event and you see or

24:58

in your case have played the event like you

25:00

know I've been there I know

25:02

how it feels when I'm when I'm standing

25:04

over that shot and thinking I have to hit this

25:06

absolutely perfect to get to 15 feet yeah and you

25:09

look you don't need to remind me about

25:12

those last few years 2019 I was

25:14

actually playing and because

25:16

we played early I feed

25:19

off the tenth tee on Sunday

25:22

okay and here's early morning here's

25:24

a useless piece of trivia for

25:27

you in all

25:29

my years at the Masters twice

25:31

I've teed off the 10th tee

25:34

the third round in 2005 I shot 65 and the

25:40

final round 2019 I

25:43

shot 69 so I got I've

25:45

actually got a pretty good scoring average teeing

25:47

off the 10th tee at Augusta National it's

25:49

there something I'm sure you didn't know I

25:52

got it I gotta say I'm I

25:54

think that if they had stuck

25:56

with the original routing 10 was

25:58

one maybe I don't want to be

26:01

exactly. You might be like a six time champion. Yeah.

26:05

There's two guys that would have a

26:07

huge say in that. Phil Mickelson and

26:10

Tiger Woods, though. They've done pretty well

26:12

at that tournament, not giving

26:14

many other guys a great shot. But,

26:18

and then 20 was the COVID year. So

26:20

we played in November. It was completely

26:23

different golf course. And

26:25

then like you say, last year we had 28 holes on

26:27

Sunday. It

26:29

was that marathon on Sunday. After

26:32

all the rain, the course was pretty soft. So yeah,

26:35

really hoping for a firm one. I

26:37

can't remember. I feel like we've gotten

26:39

a round or two of really firm

26:42

conditions. But I can't remember

26:44

the last time we've had a four

26:47

round tournament where we haven't had

26:49

weather come into the equation.

26:52

I can't remember the last time. Yeah,

26:54

right now it looks really good. Looks pretty

26:56

solid this week, all the way through the

26:59

weekend, all the way through really

27:02

Wednesday. Then Thursday, Friday, there's a slight chance.

27:04

And then it looks pretty good on the

27:06

weekend again, which obviously

27:08

we're excited about at CBS. That's

27:10

when we really get to show

27:12

off is when it's bright and sunny. All

27:15

right, I'll do one since you

27:17

already knocked one of mine off.

27:19

But what I'm extraordinarily excited

27:21

about over the last, you know,

27:23

over the last really three

27:26

years of golf, we've had

27:28

these kind of side

27:30

story line, sometimes dominant story line

27:33

of what's going on with

27:35

Liv and the PGA Tour. This

27:37

year is no different. But what

27:39

I love is this week, more

27:42

so than every other week, becomes all about

27:44

the golf. We're zeroed

27:47

in on the golf at hand, the major

27:49

championship, the first major of the year. All

27:53

the top players are here. And

27:55

really, what the tournament becomes

28:00

the tournament, unlike so many other tournaments,

28:02

isn't viewed through the context of money.

28:05

It is viewed through the idea

28:08

of history and legacy.

28:11

And I just think when golf tournaments

28:13

are rooted in that, and

28:15

when you make the turn on the back

28:18

nine on Sunday, or you're

28:20

on the six hole on Saturday, and

28:22

you're in the mix, there

28:24

is an added weight, an added

28:28

thing that is in your mind and you're

28:30

thinking about, and it

28:33

is about becoming a

28:35

player that will not be forgotten in

28:37

history, along with

28:40

the big winners check and all the things

28:42

that happen, but it is really about becoming

28:45

a master's champion. And to

28:47

me, this is when

28:50

golf thrives, this is when golf is

28:52

the best. And I, you know, in

28:54

the last two weeks, I've just become

28:56

so smitten, knowing that this week is

28:58

coming because of this dynamic. Yeah,

29:02

that's very well said. I'm right

29:04

there with you. Look, the last,

29:06

the last two, three years

29:09

has been exhausting, completely

29:12

exhausting. And

29:15

to feel like we've we're going to

29:17

have this moment in time where hopefully

29:20

all of that is, you know,

29:23

thrown on to the back burner. And

29:26

we can just focus on a

29:29

golf tournament that really transcends the sport,

29:32

and a magnificent golf

29:34

course for like

29:36

you say, playing for history and

29:38

legacy. And to see somebody

29:41

put on the green jacket, whether it be

29:43

the first their first time or another

29:46

opportunity they're getting to do it, if you think of

29:48

some of the other players, that

29:51

is something that really does excite me. I'm

29:53

right there with you. Yeah, it's

29:55

like I always think about when

29:57

I think about this, I, you know, I know you've worked.

30:00

with him. I always think about

30:02

Curtis Strange's kind of back nine and 85. And

30:04

he had, I wish I

30:07

had pulled the quotes, but he talks

30:09

about, he has some great

30:11

quotes about when he made the turn, where

30:16

he makes the turn and he just,

30:18

he got on the 10th tee and

30:21

everything just felt different. And

30:23

all of a sudden it just, it was hard

30:25

and sure, like he didn't end up winning. Curtis

30:28

was a great, great player who

30:30

didn't get a green jacket that you might

30:32

look back on history and say, that's one

30:34

of the guys that should have gotten a

30:36

green jacket that did. And there's just so

30:38

many, you go through the time is there's

30:41

so many, there's something about Augusta

30:43

National where certain players

30:45

are just like, it's like they're blessed

30:48

by Augusta National and other players get

30:50

kind of snake bitten by it. And

30:53

there's a whole other mental hurdle that

30:55

you have to overcome. And it's just

30:57

so rare. And there are just like,

30:59

I think that there's something to

31:01

be said about tournaments. And I think this

31:03

has really helped the players over the last

31:05

two decades, tournaments that come back to

31:07

the same place all the time. And

31:10

what it does mentally to players is

31:12

there's those built in memories of,

31:15

Hey, four years ago,

31:17

I hit this shot here that just

31:19

stay rooted in their head.

31:21

There's good memories and you get these

31:23

positive, warm, fuzzy feeling memories, or you

31:25

can get these negative memories where you're

31:28

remembering, Oh, that that day, that third

31:30

round Saturday, I was three shots out of the

31:32

lead, and I hooked it in the water

31:34

on 11. And, and there's

31:37

something there's that there's a

31:39

power to returning to

31:41

venues. Yeah. It's why

31:43

I think sometimes it's hard to play tournaments

31:45

at your home course, because you

31:47

you remember bad shots, you hit there. But

31:50

also what I found is, you

31:53

know, when you play your home course,

31:56

you're not always as

31:58

disciplined and your mind mind

32:00

is not always as cluttered and you just

32:02

play. But then all of a

32:04

sudden if you've got a tournament there and

32:06

you walk on the tee and you pull out drive

32:08

and you're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, I'm actually like, this

32:11

means something now. You know, there's

32:13

the remember that lake is down there. And

32:15

you know, if I hit it in there today,

32:18

it means something. There's

32:20

something interesting about that as

32:22

well. I remember going through that the

32:25

two South African Opens I won was

32:27

actually at my home

32:29

golf course. And that experience

32:32

was pretty weird mentally

32:34

having to actually play the

32:36

course in a slightly different manner. And

32:38

that's, you know, I'll come back to that a little

32:40

bit when I get to one of my

32:42

other players here that I'm going to talk about. But

32:45

you're right. You know, you're thinking of

32:47

legends of the game that haven't

32:50

won at Augusta, you know, Weisskopf,

32:53

Trevino, Ernie, Rory,

32:56

you know, it feels like those

32:59

players absolutely should

33:01

have been able to win the Masters. But it's one

33:04

of the, it's one of

33:06

the million threads of

33:08

this tournament that just makes it

33:11

so great is that you

33:13

have the Norman

33:15

is another one that's just jumped in

33:18

my mind. Yeah, you have

33:20

the amazing stories of the Palmers

33:22

and Mickelson's and the Woods and

33:24

the Sevvies. And you

33:26

know, the players and those guys that

33:29

were expected to win and won multiple

33:31

times. Jack, obviously, I mean, that

33:33

goes without saying, but

33:35

then you have these other legends

33:37

that didn't ever find a

33:39

way to unlock that something around

33:41

there. And like

33:44

I say, it's just one of the many things that

33:46

makes the tournament great. If you

33:48

think about Augusta and in the

33:51

context of an elite, elite

33:54

professional golfer, you know,

33:57

they all make these like scouting trips where

33:59

they play. maybe two,

34:01

three, four rounds

34:04

in addition to the practice rounds leading up.

34:07

Augusta National, they play

34:10

over the course of say 15 years

34:13

of their prime career, 10 years.

34:16

Augusta National, they play probably

34:18

the most golf hat outside

34:20

of their second golf course or

34:24

outside their home golf course. They

34:27

do not fly out to play

34:29

the Travelers a month

34:31

in advance. They play their usual tournament

34:33

prep there. Augusta is the place that

34:35

they play an extra round or two here

34:37

or there. They might play it seven times

34:40

in a year or eight times in

34:42

a year. That's probably the

34:44

course that they log the second or

34:46

third most rounds year in year

34:48

out. It's

34:52

just something dynamic where for

34:54

these guys, they are more

34:56

familiar and familiarity has

34:59

great benefits. I think it's like

35:01

the, what was it? Harrington's great

35:03

quote a few years ago, experiences and all

35:05

is cracked up to be. Sometimes it's bad.

35:08

You get the bad memories. There's

35:13

good things about it and bad things.

35:15

There's drawbacks and I think that's something

35:17

that when you have a

35:19

regular, that's the only regular major host

35:21

and that's part of what

35:23

makes it more special than others is

35:25

the familiarity of the course, not only

35:27

for fans but for the players. Yeah

35:30

totally, totally, totally. Alright so now I'm gonna

35:32

start with my actual number five. Alright

35:35

number five. You're counting down? Five down?

35:37

Yeah I'm going from five to one.

35:41

Alright I'm already two in so

35:43

you've got more than me. So

35:45

Tiger Woods is

35:47

my number five storyline leading

35:50

into this 88 Masters.

35:54

Somehow he's actually

35:56

coming in to this Masters with

35:59

less golf and under his belt than he

36:01

did last year, which is just

36:03

fascinating. He's had 24 holes

36:06

competitive golf as

36:08

prep for this Masters. At

36:11

least last year, he played all four

36:13

rounds in

36:16

LA, made the cut there, had

36:18

a good round, I think either it was the

36:20

second or the third round, and got a little

36:22

momentum. But this year

36:25

went to LA, got sick, only

36:27

played six holes on the

36:29

Friday. And so

36:32

he's even more undercooked than

36:34

what he was last year, which is

36:36

fascinating. And the reason I've got

36:38

him at number five, first of all, look, I

36:40

mean, there's just no player that even comes

36:43

close to the fame

36:45

and the juice that Tiger

36:48

Woods brings when he tees it up in

36:50

a tournament. But, you

36:52

know, 48 years old, bodies

36:55

seems to be hurting. There's

36:58

just not many records that

37:00

I feel that he still has

37:02

a chance to break. But

37:05

there's two that I think that

37:08

are still in reach. And one is, you know,

37:10

winning for an 83rd time and

37:13

beating Sneed's record. And then

37:15

coming up here at this Masters

37:18

is breaking the all

37:21

time consecutive cuts made record.

37:23

So right now he's tied

37:26

at 23 with Gary Player

37:28

and Fred Couples. And if he

37:30

makes the cut of this Masters, then

37:32

that's another record that he breaks

37:34

and sets a new mark at

37:37

24 Masters in

37:39

a row making the cut. That is

37:41

just phenomenal. I

37:43

took the took the words out

37:46

of my mouth about why Tiger

37:48

matters this this year. And I

37:50

think like when you

37:52

think about Tiger Woods and he's

37:54

obviously got the most records of

37:56

any any golfer that I

37:59

think I don't know. anybody will ever

38:01

match the sheer number of records

38:04

in my lifetime, in your lifetime,

38:07

the tiger said. It's hard to fathom

38:09

that there will be somebody that comes

38:11

through with this many records. And

38:14

I think what makes

38:16

Tiger such

38:18

an icon of the sport, like

38:20

so many other greats of any

38:22

sport, is his ability to

38:24

do the unthinkable,

38:27

the unfathomable, when

38:29

all the odds are stacked against him. And

38:31

as you outlayed, he comes

38:33

into the Masters having played

38:35

23 holes of golf. It's

38:39

great. Competitive golf. It's great. And

38:41

he's going to tee it up at the golf course that is you

38:44

arguably need to be the most precise

38:47

and sharp with your game. It's

38:50

a physical test. It's a mental test.

38:54

And here he's coming in this

38:56

record. This isn't

38:59

the biggest record. This isn't the most

39:01

amazing record he's ever going to hold.

39:04

But to break this record

39:07

is a, given

39:09

the circumstances that he's in, is

39:11

a unbelievable accomplishment if

39:13

he makes the cut this year.

39:18

Remember last year when he made the cut

39:20

and then that weather rolled in on the

39:22

Saturday? And I

39:24

just remember vividly his second

39:26

shot into the 14th hole. And

39:29

we were on the air. And it

39:32

was just bucketing down with rain. And

39:35

he's got the rain suit on and the

39:37

umbrella and the hat and there's just water

39:39

everywhere. And he hit

39:41

the shot and walking

39:43

over to his bag, which is like

39:45

five yards away, the way

39:48

he was walking, the pain that he was

39:50

in just to get back to the golf

39:52

bag was I

39:54

guess an image I'll never ever get out of

39:57

my mind. You know, the fact that he went ahead

39:59

and made the cut. before having to

40:01

withdraw after

40:03

that third round or at some point in that third round

40:05

was just, gosh, highlights how much

40:07

pain he was in. I'll

40:10

never forget watching him walk up the 18th

40:12

hill. It felt like he wasn't going to make it

40:14

up. I think

40:18

physically with the leg, it seems

40:20

like he's in a way better place now

40:23

than last year. I think

40:25

it's just the reps, as he always

40:27

has said, I mean, competitive reps really

40:29

matter if you want to play high-level

40:32

golf. Now, we'll say this. If it's

40:34

firm and fast like I'm begging for,

40:36

I think it improves his

40:39

chances because he can use all

40:42

of the experience and

40:44

understanding of where you can leave the

40:46

ball and still make a score. So

40:50

firm and fast would be in his favor. If

40:52

it's firm and fast, I think that that

40:55

brings in some

40:57

of the guys that thrive are

40:59

players that understand the golf course

41:01

and then have magical short games.

41:04

So like if you're a George Smith

41:06

fan, firm and fast to me would

41:08

be where you're really

41:10

hoping for because it allows him

41:12

to have a little bit in

41:15

a way. It sounds counterintuitive, but

41:17

the margins are smaller to

41:19

make birdies, but they're wider if

41:22

you've got just a extraordinary short

41:24

game in the sense of more

41:27

guys are going to mess around the greens

41:29

and it plays into your hands. Counterintuitive. Yeah,

41:32

and his record there is pretty

41:35

dang stellar. That place

41:37

absolutely suits him and gets him going.

41:47

All right, let's take a quick break to

41:49

talk about another partner. This is a

41:51

new partnership. This is a we used

41:54

to have a shotgun start coffee

41:56

back in the day and we've

41:58

always wanted to get back into the coffee. coffee

42:00

business and we have partnered with

42:02

GoodWalk Coffee to create a fried

42:05

egg coffee blend and

42:07

a shotgun start coffee blend. Both

42:10

of these coffee blends, we've got a light roast

42:12

and a dark roast. The fried

42:14

egg is a medium light roast. The

42:17

shotgun starts a medium dark roast. It's

42:19

really to appease both

42:21

types of coffee drinkers. This is

42:23

really good coffee. I

42:26

was lucky to get to sample

42:28

a bunch of coffees when we

42:30

were finalizing this partnership. We

42:33

tried out a lot of different blends.

42:35

We kind of settled on these were

42:37

our two favorites from the different genres.

42:40

And really what this does is you

42:42

buy our coffee, it goes to support

42:44

the podcast. It's

42:46

a consumable good. One

42:49

of the virtues of coffee I think

42:51

in the modern era, you don't

42:53

have to rely on going to the grocery store. At

42:55

this point, you can get a subscription and just get

42:57

it shipped out to you. You never

43:00

have that moment. Everybody

43:02

has that moment. It's 9

43:04

o'clock at night, 10 o'clock at night and you're

43:06

like, I don't have coffee to make

43:09

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bag or you can subscribe and get

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it shipped to you so you never

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have to worry about it coming. That's

43:32

goodwalkcoffee.com/fried egg. Thanks

43:34

for the support. And now back to

43:36

Trevor Immelman. My

43:46

next one is going to be the live players.

43:48

I've got three guys on the list. I

43:51

don't think it's just surprising. I'm

43:54

not putting Joaquin Nieman in the mix. I

44:00

see a top 10. Yeah. I'm right.

44:02

Oh, get ready for that. Yeah. I

44:06

just, I want to see some, I want to

44:08

see more. I know he played really well in

44:10

that fall masters during COVID. He

44:12

was in the mix, but you know, faltered

44:14

late, not all major records. When you look

44:16

at Wikipedia, tell the true story. He was

44:19

in the mix that year. Um,

44:21

that being said, I'm zeroed in on

44:23

Brooks, Ram and Cam Smith.

44:26

Um, Cam Smith were

44:28

18 months removed effectively from him

44:31

possibly being the best player in the world.

44:35

He wasn't great in the last year. He wasn't

44:37

terrible in the majors last year. He wasn't terrible.

44:39

You know, what is he at this point is a question

44:41

I'll just run through these quick. You know,

44:44

Ram, I don't know

44:46

if he, I think his

44:48

decision to go to live. I

44:50

think he went because he thought he was

44:52

that the deal was done and he was

44:54

coming back and I, and

44:56

I don't know if he thought this was all

44:58

going to be together. He was going to be

45:01

playing PGA tour events, but to me, John Ram

45:03

seems like a control freak. And

45:05

I'm, I'm just curious about his

45:08

prep. He he's a world-class

45:10

player. I think he can play well

45:12

at Augusta with any prep, but

45:14

I wonder about his prep and whether

45:16

he's gotten to do exactly how he

45:18

would want to prep for

45:21

the masters. And I don't necessarily

45:23

think that he does. He's the

45:25

reigning champion, defending

45:28

champion, but he hasn't, you know, you

45:30

think about last year coming into the

45:32

masters, he was undoubtedly,

45:34

undoubtedly the best player in the

45:36

game this year. He

45:39

is without question, not

45:41

that in that same pedestal. And I think

45:43

you saw that with that

45:45

mano a mano showdown with Brooks. He

45:48

knew he was the best player in the world and

45:51

Brooks for the first time ever kind of got

45:53

out, Alford on, on that

45:55

kind of marathon Sunday. Um,

45:58

John. It can't twenty nineteen

46:01

when Tiger got him. Yeah. That's

46:03

true as Africa I have that in the in

46:05

in the Brooks actions then we then if you

46:07

take if you look at brooks. If

46:10

you take Brooks's twenty twenty two out

46:12

of his majors just because of injuries,

46:14

you know he couldn't squat down to

46:16

read a pot sales. He's.

46:18

Got seventeen top tens in

46:20

his last twenty six major

46:22

starts. That's awesome. That's awesome.

46:25

As. Includes five wins. And.

46:27

Fourteen Top five cents on it

46:30

and there there's a there I

46:32

think there's three times as T

46:34

Sixes in there have you want

46:36

is T Sex Abuse Seventeen top

46:38

six finishes. And twenty six

46:40

starts. And. Majors. This

46:43

guy and I'm not as a better I

46:45

decide of I have not. I don't really

46:47

pay attention to betting odds very much. He's.

46:50

Twenty to One Is Twenty One To one.

46:52

Twenty To One. How is

46:54

this possible? He's been so close year.

46:57

The. Tiger year. It looked like

46:59

the tournament was his. And then get. You

47:02

know what happens on Sundays with Tiger Woods in

47:04

the mix happened. In. A lesser name's

47:06

Trevor Immelman. A

47:08

of success and then last year

47:11

through thirty six it looked like

47:13

there was nobody there was gonna

47:15

beat this guy. That's right, If

47:18

he wins, he has six majors He's

47:20

won like away. If he

47:22

wins this I don't think there's like

47:25

I think that we have to start

47:27

to. Look. Back, ignore the

47:29

lack of other wins and say this is

47:31

the greatest player of a generous. Yeah,

47:34

I I totally agree with you, may

47:36

that not too much. Really?

47:39

That I can add to that Rom

47:41

was was my number to. My

47:44

second second biggest story line leading inside.

47:46

Guess I'll jump in on that. Is

47:49

is fascinating to me. An

47:53

exciting to me. To.

47:57

Be. Able to observe how this is going

47:59

to unfold. With him. Like

48:02

you say, last year came in,

48:04

he had played eight PGA Tour

48:06

events. He had won three of

48:08

them. And he came

48:10

to the Masters,

48:15

won the Green Jacket, so that was his fourth win, and

48:18

undoubtedly let the world know

48:21

that he is the best player in the world. And

48:24

now, after

48:26

making this move, he's

48:28

going to have played five live events off

48:30

to Miami this weekend. And

48:33

if you do the math, because

48:35

they play three round events, that'll

48:38

be 17 less competitive rounds under

48:42

his belt than what he played last year

48:44

coming in to the Masters when he won.

48:48

So, is that going

48:51

to mean anything? We

48:53

don't quite know yet. If

48:56

you look at the 23 Masters, Brooks

48:58

came in, we didn't quite know what he was

49:00

doing, and like you say, after

49:02

36 holes it didn't look like anyone was going to beat him.

49:06

Mikkelsen finished second out

49:08

of nowhere. Like

49:10

nowhere. And you've

49:13

got to give a shout out to Patrick Reed as well, who

49:15

finished type of fourth. So, it

49:18

didn't affect those guys having played less

49:20

coming into last year's Masters. That's

49:24

not going to say that Jon Rahm's not going to

49:26

feel a little different. And

49:29

I am really, really

49:31

fascinated to see how

49:34

he handles the whole thing, what

49:36

the reaction is going to be like, what

49:38

those press conferences are going to be like,

49:42

how he interacts with the media and other

49:44

players that he hasn't seen for a long

49:46

time on the PGA Tour, and

49:49

just what the dynamic is, it's going to be

49:52

lovely to watch. Yeah,

49:55

I mean, throw in, do they

49:57

have enough toilets around the course? You

50:00

know is he gonna be happy with that

50:02

situation now? Cam Smith

50:04

I see just got rid of the mullet, so

50:06

hopefully he doesn't lose any oh that was April

50:09

It was April fools. Oh my god. He got

50:11

you yeah I'm

50:16

glad to hear it. You know I don't want

50:18

I don't want cam losing any of those special

50:20

short game powers You know the

50:22

guy is a genius with a

50:24

wedge and a putter in his hand and in

50:26

the same vein as Spieth At

50:31

a place like Augusta National that is

50:33

a massive weapon, so you're always gonna

50:35

keep your eye on Cam Smith and

50:40

Brooks is an animal Brooks is

50:42

a major championship animal as

50:45

always. He hasn't played very well

50:48

Leading up to it or in the last few months But

50:52

does it really matter because when he pitches

50:54

up to a major championship? He

50:57

is able to just shift into another

50:59

gear and get himself in

51:01

contention To me the only

51:03

thing that matters with Brooks If

51:06

you go back through his career so many

51:08

of the times he's won majors is the

51:10

week before Does he

51:12

turn up and is the is the

51:14

ball striking there and so live Miami

51:16

like I think that's the Store

51:19

is a single watch is Brian kept

51:21

got on the leaderboard if he's

51:23

on the leaderboard You got

51:25

to feel great about what's gonna happen

51:28

what him going into Augusta. It's like

51:31

clockwork I think it was attorney for us.

51:33

He might finish fourth right before the PGA

51:35

one It's like if you go

51:37

back last year a crooked cat he wins, and then

51:39

he plays Augusta. He plays great It

51:41

is a is kind of like clockwork that

51:43

I think that's how you tell if Brooks

51:46

is is ready to go is The

51:48

week before if he's in the mix And

51:51

I just yeah, I I

51:54

think that it you know sneaky we talked

51:56

about Rory with with Augusta National is Brooks

52:00

actually the one that

52:02

has been kind of snake bitten the most

52:04

by Augusta and had the best chances to

52:06

win. I think with the

52:09

last five years, he's definitely and

52:11

I think like you talk about

52:13

game for Augusta National, it's he's

52:15

perfect. He's got everything you

52:17

want. You know, it just

52:19

feels like it's more intense with Rory though,

52:21

because it's been for a longer period of

52:23

time, you know, since yeah, 2011 or

52:26

I remember playing was 2011 was

52:28

the one where he threw it

52:31

away and Schwartzl birdied the last four holes,

52:33

right? It's 2011, I'm quite sure. But

52:36

I remember playing with Rory in the

52:39

third or fourth round in 2009, when I

52:43

was defending champion, and just

52:45

watching this kid play this golf

52:47

course going, he's gonna win five

52:49

of these, like this

52:51

golf course is perfect for him. Back then

52:53

he played more of a draw. And

52:57

was I was just playing that round

52:59

of golfing in that day going, this

53:02

course is tailor made for this guy. So

53:04

the pressure feels a little bit more intense

53:07

for me when it comes to McElroy,

53:09

as opposed to Kepka with

53:13

with golf. I

53:15

think there's in it particularly with

53:17

Augusta National, I'm curious what you

53:20

think about this. But to

53:22

be Augusta is the place that you have to

53:25

swing more freely and

53:27

without thought, than anywhere else

53:29

in the world. And there's going to be people

53:32

on both sides of this, which disprove

53:34

and prove it. But to

53:36

me, Augusta is the place where when

53:39

you're over the ball, you have to let

53:41

go of all your worries about where it

53:43

might go, what it might do in and

53:45

hit the shot commit to the shot. And

53:48

I think for some players, as

53:50

you age, that becomes a

53:52

harder and harder proposition. Your life,

53:55

when you're 22, the things you

54:00

worry about are so much less and so

54:02

much less consequential than by the time you're

54:05

38 and you've got kids and you're

54:07

worried, you become more trained as you

54:09

age to worry more in

54:12

a weird way. And I think this golf course,

54:15

almost for some people, certain

54:17

types of people versus other types of

54:19

people becomes more difficult to play

54:22

because of that. Are

54:25

you connecting that with

54:28

Rory? I

54:30

don't know. I think it's just certain personalities,

54:32

right? With

54:36

young players, and I think like Spieth's

54:38

a great example, not at Augusta, just

54:40

in general in his career. I

54:42

think golf's gotten harder for him as

54:44

he's aged and he thinks about more

54:46

stuff. I

54:49

remember when Adam Scott- Well, it's not

54:51

always that he thinks about more, but

54:53

he definitely knows more. Yes,

54:55

and knowledge can be a- it goes

54:57

back to that Harrington quote, experiences and

55:00

everything. Yeah. When

55:02

you think about Adam Scott, when they changed the rule

55:05

about flagstick putting and

55:07

he started putting with the flagstick and he had

55:09

this great putting year and he

55:11

talked about how it reminded him as a

55:13

kid when he used to just

55:15

sit on the putting green and bang putts

55:17

into the flagsticks, the little flagsticks on a

55:19

putting green and how it made

55:21

it easy because it connected

55:24

back to when you didn't think about things.

55:27

I think that

55:29

Augusta, because of all the things

55:31

we outlined right at the top, all these little

55:33

things, you

55:36

have to figure out what you're doing with

55:38

a shot and then forget about everything and

55:40

hit the shot. Yeah. There's

55:43

a lot that's going on.

55:47

We touched on the lies. It's

55:49

absolutely in your mind how much or how

55:53

small the space is that you need to

55:55

land your ball and approach shots. Then

55:57

the swirling wind is really the- icing

56:00

on the cake from a standpoint

56:02

of sowing doubt. So

56:04

when you know that you have this small space

56:06

that you need to land your ball in to

56:08

give yourself a good look and

56:10

you're not 100% sure where the wind is, it's

56:12

a problem. It's

56:18

a problem. We, since we've

56:20

touched on Rory here, I know Rory's

56:22

on your list. Rory is my number

56:24

three. Rory is my number three. So

56:26

we're here. Let's talk about him. Okay.

56:29

So 10 times, 10th go at trying

56:32

to complete the grand slam. If

56:34

he does, I actually

56:36

think it, you know, if

56:38

you've got this Rory and Brooks rivalry,

56:41

really of, you know, who's the best

56:43

player of this generation. If

56:46

Rory goes ahead and wins the Masters, completes

56:48

the grand slam, it gives him that slight

56:51

edge over Brooks because variety

56:53

of courses that he's one at. But

56:55

also like that is the most elite

56:57

list in golf. I mean,

57:00

in golfing history for Rory

57:03

to be only the sixth guy to do

57:05

that. I mean, that is

57:07

like, that's, that's rarefied air right

57:10

there. And

57:13

it's so interesting to, to see

57:15

how he goes about it. It's

57:18

not like he's, he's played badly. He's

57:21

had seven top 10s

57:23

in the last 10 years at the

57:25

Masters. So he's had a few opportunities

57:28

there and there about, but

57:31

this year feels a little different because

57:34

normally he's won by now. He's

57:36

played well, but this year

57:38

he really hasn't played well. He won in

57:41

Dubai earlier on in the

57:43

season. And then

57:45

in his five starts on the PGA tour, P-19

57:48

at the players is his best

57:50

finish. It's unheard

57:52

of for Rory McElroy. So I'm

57:54

wondering like, does this take

57:57

some pressure off? Does

57:59

this take? some of the

58:01

spotlight off. These are all

58:03

interesting things. And then, you know, he's

58:05

been putting in a little work with

58:07

Butch Harmon for the last few weeks.

58:10

How does that change things? He's

58:13

spoken about, you know, earlier on the

58:15

season, missing left with the driver, seemed

58:17

to fix that, then started missing with

58:19

the irons, hasn't had a week where

58:21

he's really put everything together.

58:24

Now, if there was

58:26

one coach that I

58:28

would have recommended for Ori, it would have been Butch

58:30

Harmon for sure. Because Butch

58:32

has an amazing ability to

58:35

give a player confidence without

58:38

changing too much. And

58:40

he just, he has a knack

58:43

for that. He did it with Fowler last year,

58:45

and he's done it with multiple players

58:48

throughout his career. He is

58:50

a mastermind of getting

58:54

the best out of highly talented

58:56

golfers. So it's

58:59

going to be fun to see how

59:01

Rory pitches up and

59:03

how he goes about it. And,

59:06

you know, we'll probably get an early look here this week at San

59:09

Antonio if anything looks a little different. But

59:12

let me just finish by saying this. The

59:15

belief is Rory plays Augusta National

59:17

Tour aggressively. And that's

59:20

what gets him undone all the

59:22

time. And I just wish

59:24

that he would take his foot off the gas

59:26

a little bit and let

59:29

the golf course come to him rather

59:31

than going out trying to

59:33

birdie every hole. You know,

59:35

I remember last year in the

59:38

first round, afternoon

59:40

tee times, I'm sitting in

59:42

Butler cabin, I got Jim Nance to my left.

59:45

Rom steps up, it's the southwest wind

59:47

helping off the left on number one.

59:50

Okay, you've got about 280 or so to that

59:52

fairway bunker down the right hand side. Rom

59:55

steps up, perfect club choice,

59:57

five word, lays it up just

59:59

short, left of the bunker. He's

1:00:01

got a 7-8 iron into the green,

1:00:03

middle green. Okay, he had a

1:00:06

bit of a nightmare on the green, he fall pudded

1:00:08

or what have you, and

1:00:11

got off to the poor start. But

1:00:14

Rory steps up straight

1:00:16

to the driver. He's got

1:00:18

the helping wind. The

1:00:20

beauty of the design on number one is

1:00:23

the widest part of the fairway is in

1:00:25

front of that fairway bunker. And as you

1:00:27

start pushing it past the bunker, the pine

1:00:29

trees on the left creep

1:00:31

in at an angle. So he's now

1:00:34

trying to fit the... The fairway moves

1:00:36

at an angle too. It's a direct...

1:00:38

So that fairway is in a straight

1:00:40

fairway. It's an angled fairway where you

1:00:42

have to hit the exact line and

1:00:44

distance control. It becomes a two-part question.

1:00:46

Exactly. So now he's trying to fit

1:00:49

a driver into an extremely narrow

1:00:51

place on the first shot of

1:00:53

the tournament. There's no

1:00:55

point in doing it. Absolutely

1:00:58

no point in doing it. He ends

1:01:00

up hitting a 8 out of

1:01:02

10 tee shot straight into the trees

1:01:04

on the left because he's run through and he's

1:01:07

run out of space. And I'm just...

1:01:09

I look over at Jim Nance and

1:01:11

I'm like, what is he doing hitting

1:01:13

driver there? And those

1:01:16

are the sort of things that I just wish he

1:01:18

would let the golf course come to him a little

1:01:21

bit more. And I think back to something

1:01:23

that Jack Nicklaus said

1:01:25

to me, and I never

1:01:28

had the talent and ability to use

1:01:30

this strategy, but McElroy does.

1:01:33

And Jack said to me, look, when I

1:01:36

was in my prime, I knew

1:01:38

that I was the best. And

1:01:41

I didn't have to do anything

1:01:43

special to have

1:01:45

a chance to win with nine holes

1:01:47

because I knew that I was

1:01:49

the best. And McElroy

1:01:51

has that at his disposal.

1:01:54

He does not need to go out

1:01:57

there and do anything crazy to have

1:01:59

a team. chance with nine holes to play

1:02:01

on Sunday. I think

1:02:03

he played so aggressive last year. He

1:02:07

played so aggressive at Oak Hill, the

1:02:09

next event, which I think Oak

1:02:11

Hill was like beneficial to play aggressive in

1:02:14

spots. I

1:02:16

thought his game plan for

1:02:18

LACC was spectacular. You

1:02:21

know what, what he

1:02:23

did is he hit less drivers. He

1:02:25

had a lot of three woods. His

1:02:27

three wood goes as far as the best players

1:02:29

in the world's drivers go. And

1:02:32

he finds more fairways and from the

1:02:34

fairway. The thing about

1:02:36

Rory is Rory is going to

1:02:39

run into birdies, left

1:02:41

and right. I mean, it

1:02:43

would be unbelievably good. If

1:02:46

he plays from the fairway

1:02:48

or with clear shots into

1:02:50

greens, the vast majority of

1:02:52

time, he's going to make four,

1:02:56

five birdies at Augusta National, almost

1:02:59

every round and from those

1:03:01

positions, he's going to limit his bogeys. And

1:03:04

I think like you've hit the nail on the head. It's

1:03:07

not for Rory.

1:03:09

It's not about, it's never

1:03:11

this in this whole major drought. It hasn't

1:03:13

been about the ability to score on a

1:03:15

golf course. It's been about

1:03:18

the ability to limit the backbreakers, the

1:03:20

momentum killers. And I know some people

1:03:23

don't believe in momentum golf. No,

1:03:26

when you make

1:03:28

an eight footer for par and

1:03:30

you go to the next tee, it feels like a birdie.

1:03:33

And I think so much of Rory

1:03:36

is about keeping the

1:03:39

card cleaner because, you

1:03:41

know, with the par fives

1:03:43

at Augusta National, his length, his talent,

1:03:45

his skill, there's

1:03:47

three birdies, easy birdies per round. Maybe

1:03:50

you don't hit a great drive

1:03:52

on one of them and it becomes, you know,

1:03:54

a par hole. But three of

1:03:56

the four, you're going to have a shot if

1:03:58

you're driving it halfway decent even with your three

1:04:01

wood you're gonna have an easy shot into

1:04:03

the green and in a chance to make birdies

1:04:05

and you're gonna run into a couple others you

1:04:07

know you know I think

1:04:09

I like I I like

1:04:11

his game plan this year of he's

1:04:14

coming in late coming in I think Tuesday

1:04:17

he's skipping the par three he's

1:04:19

done his prep work this week he's

1:04:22

not gonna be happy about that you

1:04:24

know it's

1:04:27

uh you know it Poppy might be happy

1:04:30

I've got a daughter about the same age

1:04:32

Poppy might be happier getting to sit in

1:04:34

front of a TV and watch TV so

1:04:36

I like the I like the strategy

1:04:44

that he's employing this year where

1:04:46

it seems to me he's approaching

1:04:48

it more like just another tournament

1:04:51

and I think you know if you're looking

1:04:53

for positive signs at the players

1:04:55

he made a ton of birdies and

1:04:57

I think that's that's valuable for

1:04:59

somebody that's what Rory's secret sauce

1:05:01

is is that the

1:05:03

guy can make more birdies than anybody else

1:05:06

in the world when it when it's going

1:05:08

now the flip side is he made a

1:05:10

ton of bit big numbers and that's been the

1:05:12

Achilles heel all years been the big numbers the

1:05:14

big mistakes so they kind of go hand in

1:05:17

hand don't they I mean you're gonna if you

1:05:19

plan that aggressively you're gonna make a ton of

1:05:21

birdies but you're gonna make six and sevens as

1:05:23

well which he does more than any great player

1:05:25

I've ever seen and that's

1:05:27

what I'm saying like he's gonna make birdies he's

1:05:30

gonna make birdies regardless and and as

1:05:32

far as the prep goes and playing

1:05:34

nine holes and not playing the par

1:05:36

three or playing and not playing the

1:05:38

week before I don't actually even care

1:05:40

about any of that I care

1:05:43

more about what is he gonna

1:05:45

do on Thursday when

1:05:47

it matters he needs

1:05:49

to not play as aggressively he

1:05:51

needs to let the golf course

1:05:54

come to him and open up for him

1:05:57

and just play every shot on

1:05:59

its own merit without like

1:06:02

when the whole location is on the

1:06:04

left corner on three. Dump

1:06:06

it out to 30 feet right. When

1:06:08

the whole location is back right on

1:06:10

four, hit it 40 feet in

1:06:13

the middle of the green and make a

1:06:15

par and get out there. When the whole

1:06:17

location is back right on five, hit

1:06:19

it towards the bunker and putt up the hill

1:06:21

from 30 feet. Those are

1:06:24

not birdie opportunities. Make

1:06:26

pars wait till you

1:06:28

get to a spot where you can

1:06:30

actually be aggressive and it is on

1:06:32

the par five and it's in

1:06:34

a couple of situations to easier whole locations

1:06:37

on the threes and fours.

1:06:39

But let the golf course come

1:06:41

to you. You are that good.

1:06:44

You don't need to do

1:06:46

anything special. Just play

1:06:49

normal golf. Yeah,

1:06:52

I agree. And to

1:06:54

go to the next guy on my list, guy

1:06:57

that plays maybe normal golf better than

1:07:00

anybody in the world who's hitting the

1:07:02

ball better than anybody in the world

1:07:04

is Scottie Scheffler. So he's

1:07:06

my number one storyline. Obviously

1:07:09

he comes into

1:07:11

this with win-win second

1:07:13

on a really a 18 month

1:07:15

plus run where

1:07:20

the ball striking has been at

1:07:22

a level that only has been

1:07:24

matched by Tiger Woods. I

1:07:26

think the big question for

1:07:28

me is going to be is the

1:07:30

putter a band-aid or has

1:07:33

a new putter changed the

1:07:35

way he putts? Because in the last few

1:07:37

years, I don't think the

1:07:40

putter has been a stroke slash mental

1:07:42

thing. And I just you know it's

1:07:44

one putt but I do wonder

1:07:46

about that putt at Houston and

1:07:49

how it sticks with him. If

1:07:52

he putts average, I have a hard time

1:07:54

believing that anybody's going to beat

1:07:57

him. Yeah, if he

1:07:59

putts average, Generally, it's

1:08:01

over. That's all he needs, is

1:08:03

to not lose strokes. The

1:08:07

putt on 18 on Sunday bothered me

1:08:09

too. I know there's a lot of

1:08:11

pressure that he's running on high

1:08:13

confidence right now, but

1:08:15

he's supposed to make that putt. And

1:08:19

when people throw these comparisons

1:08:21

with the tiger-like run, tiger-like

1:08:23

ball striking, let me tell

1:08:25

you what Tiger would have done. He would have buried that

1:08:27

putt. He would have been

1:08:30

dancing around the green, giving uppercut

1:08:32

fist pumps, and then he

1:08:34

would have birdied the first playoff hole to win the

1:08:36

Houston Open. So it's

1:08:39

always tricky when you make these comparisons

1:08:41

because we want to see another tiger

1:08:43

so badly because we had so much

1:08:46

fun. Well, I was getting my brains

1:08:48

beat in by him, but as golf

1:08:50

fans, so much fun watching

1:08:52

this extraordinary athlete.

1:08:57

I go back to the three-putt also

1:08:59

in that tournament. There's two putting

1:09:01

moments that why he hasn't won three

1:09:03

in a row. And

1:09:05

listen, I don't want this to

1:09:08

come across as nitpicky, but when you're the

1:09:10

best player in the world, that's what analyzing

1:09:13

the best player in the world becomes. You

1:09:15

see all the shots, you see the moments,

1:09:17

and that field at

1:09:19

Houston is an event that the

1:09:23

greats of all time win those events.

1:09:27

You're expected to, and it's hard. But

1:09:30

when I look at the putt on 18, the

1:09:33

day they three-putted, people

1:09:35

are brushing it off as that short putt

1:09:37

was just a lapse in

1:09:40

concentration. A, that doesn't happen with Tiger

1:09:42

if you want to do the Tiger

1:09:44

comparisons. But B, I

1:09:46

think that was the putt. That's

1:09:50

the thing that he's been struggling

1:09:52

with where that putter face opens

1:09:54

a little bit and you

1:09:56

miss those putts on the right. If you watch that short,

1:09:58

the putter face is on the right. open and

1:10:00

then the flip side of when you're

1:10:03

having that problem and you know on

1:10:05

short putts that face, I just don't

1:10:07

release it, I don't square it, then

1:10:10

what happens is you have

1:10:12

that pull, that soft pull and

1:10:15

that's what that putt on 18 was. It

1:10:17

was a soft pull, the putt

1:10:19

toad tie. The backswing looked

1:10:22

so short and rushed to me in

1:10:25

real time. I

1:10:28

haven't watched it again so

1:10:30

I will go ahead and say that

1:10:32

but I was watching live and

1:10:36

you know if I was on the call, I said

1:10:38

it out loud as soon as I watched

1:10:40

the putt. I said to my son, how

1:10:42

short was that backswing? There

1:10:45

was almost no backswing and then he was

1:10:47

like trying to find the face through impact

1:10:50

and for a right to left putt

1:10:52

to have that thing look like it

1:10:54

started kind of inside left if we're

1:10:56

being generous, maybe more left

1:10:58

edge. It

1:11:00

sure wasn't pretty but let's

1:11:02

switch this to the positive

1:11:05

side. Six out of his

1:11:07

last seven events, he

1:11:09

has been positive strokes gained

1:11:11

putting for the week.

1:11:17

Since he's gone to this mallet in

1:11:19

these three events, he's been positive strokes

1:11:21

gained putting. If

1:11:24

he can keep that around average for the week,

1:11:27

there's probably only three

1:11:30

guys that have a chance to beat him,

1:11:32

Kepka, McElroy and Rom.

1:11:35

It will be interesting

1:11:38

to see. The other thing

1:11:40

that is just so amazing about him is

1:11:44

his demeanor and

1:11:46

his mental outlook and approach. A

1:11:50

lot of people out there say that

1:11:52

it's not exciting and he doesn't show

1:11:54

enough personality and what have you. I

1:11:57

can see that side of it. entertainment

1:12:00

at the end of the day for

1:12:02

fans, but Gosh, it's

1:12:04

solid man. It's solid. He doesn't get

1:12:07

too high He doesn't

1:12:09

get too low and when

1:12:11

you start coming to major championship

1:12:13

golf when it is Draining

1:12:17

physically emotionally

1:12:20

Mentally to have that

1:12:22

sort of mental approach that

1:12:25

Scotty does in a lot

1:12:27

of ways It's our Brooks is at the majors. Yeah,

1:12:29

you know those guys are able to conserve

1:12:33

so much more energy and Keep

1:12:37

some gas in the tank For

1:12:40

just in case they're really gonna need to

1:12:42

do something special with nine holes to play

1:12:45

His mental approach is it's on the

1:12:47

money It is on the money the

1:12:49

way he handles the media the way

1:12:51

he answers the questions The

1:12:53

way he never beats himself up. It's

1:12:56

it's it's really really good He's

1:12:59

he's an extraordinary player from

1:13:02

from if you just study

1:13:05

He's how everybody who's

1:13:08

played tournament golf would dream of

1:13:10

playing tournament golf in terms of

1:13:12

the the way he Maneuvers

1:13:15

a golf course. It's just I feel

1:13:17

like he never puts himself at Undo

1:13:20

risk and what you said I There's

1:13:24

like the an aspect of tournament golf that

1:13:26

doesn't get talked about enough is stress management.

1:13:28

Yeah When you're

1:13:30

when you're playing around I think

1:13:33

about Molinari's final round with it

1:13:36

with Tiger and 2019

1:13:39

that final round Everybody's rooting for

1:13:41

Tiger and I remember it may be

1:13:43

off of six green It's

1:13:45

like when is this guy gonna

1:13:47

make a bogey with like

1:13:49

where he's been He wasn't playing well

1:13:51

But he was he was pulling together

1:13:53

these pars and and it

1:13:55

looks like it just wasn't gonna stop

1:13:57

But the stress level on that ring

1:14:00

round was so high through

1:14:03

six holes, through nine holes, through 12 holes. When

1:14:07

you get all that stress, eventually you're going

1:14:10

to crack. And it's

1:14:12

just, you cannot play four rounds of golf

1:14:14

like that. You can't, it's hard to play

1:14:16

one round of golf where you

1:14:18

are piecing it all together. You're trying to,

1:14:20

you know, get up and down here. You've

1:14:22

got a five footer here, a six footer

1:14:25

here, seven footer here for par. And

1:14:27

what Scotty does so well is with

1:14:29

the demeanor, with never getting too high,

1:14:31

never getting too low and the way

1:14:33

he plays a golf course. He

1:14:36

just never puts himself into too

1:14:38

many situations. You know, and

1:14:41

really the situations that have been the crux

1:14:44

of his issue is like, I have four

1:14:46

feet for par the last, you

1:14:48

know, year and a half. That's been his

1:14:50

stressor. It's not been anything teed to green.

1:14:53

And part of it is unbelievable striking the

1:14:56

ball. The other part of it is

1:14:58

what we talked about with Rory is

1:15:00

not putting himself into positions to have

1:15:03

big numbers. His

1:15:05

course management is, it's

1:15:07

awesome. It's the best

1:15:09

out there right now. Out of

1:15:11

this, this crop of players that are playing at

1:15:13

the highest level right now, Sheffler

1:15:16

has the best course

1:15:18

management strategy, understanding

1:15:21

of where to put the ball, understanding

1:15:23

of when to hit what shots.

1:15:25

I mean, think about that 18th

1:15:29

hole at the players. Yeah. You know,

1:15:31

a few weeks ago, how he

1:15:34

gives down to the three word, you know,

1:15:36

everyone always talks about the go to fade.

1:15:39

Nope. He turns a little high, right

1:15:41

to left three word, right down the right

1:15:43

half, perfect wedge to 15 feet,

1:15:45

hit a pretty good pot there. And

1:15:49

that didn't, didn't go in, but

1:15:51

the guy is, he's

1:15:53

the man right now. He's the best player

1:15:55

in the world. I don't

1:15:57

think it's particularly close at this point.

1:16:00

point and with

1:16:03

how good his iron play is and how

1:16:05

good his iron play has been for going

1:16:07

on three years, if

1:16:09

we circle all the way back to

1:16:12

the beginning of this conversation and hoping for

1:16:14

firm and fast, if it gets

1:16:16

firm and fast with the control that he

1:16:18

has over shape trajectory and

1:16:20

spin with his irons, he

1:16:23

will be extremely hard to beat. Yeah,

1:16:26

I agree. I

1:16:28

think he's the favorite and for

1:16:30

all intents and purposes, it's hard to

1:16:33

see how you could pick somebody

1:16:35

else given the run. The

1:16:37

floor, to me, like the thing

1:16:39

that's crazy with Scheffler is like the floor is

1:16:41

if he plays bad,

1:16:43

he's fourth or fifth or sixth. Yeah,

1:16:46

last year I believe he

1:16:49

was, I'm wanting to say

1:16:51

tied for tenth and dead last in putting.

1:16:55

Yeah, it's crazy. It's

1:16:57

insane stuff. Last

1:17:00

one before we get you out of here. I

1:17:03

got one more too. Oh, you got

1:17:05

one more. What's yours? You go ahead. All

1:17:07

right. I've got a

1:17:10

list of players and

1:17:12

I think it's insane that the

1:17:15

fourth ranked player in the world is

1:17:17

playing his first Masters.

1:17:19

Yeah, I think we're on the same. We're

1:17:22

on the same, onto the same thing

1:17:24

here. So let's hear it. Well, it's

1:17:26

like the fourth ranked player in the world. Has

1:17:28

this ever happened where we've had a top five

1:17:30

player making their debut at the Masters? Shucks,

1:17:33

not that I can recall. And

1:17:35

we've got two guys in the top 10,

1:17:37

you know, the top 10 players in the

1:17:39

world. And I, I

1:17:41

don't, this goes to some of the

1:17:43

problems with the world rankings right now, but

1:17:46

I would have a hard time believing

1:17:48

there'd be more than maybe, maybe

1:17:50

Joaquin Nieman and Cam Smith are two

1:17:53

players that could be in the top

1:17:55

10, you know, but in Brooks. So

1:17:57

there's three players maybe, but two

1:17:59

of the. top 12 players

1:18:02

in the game right now. Yeah. Our

1:18:05

first timers at Augusta. It's insane.

1:18:07

Yeah. It's unbelievable. It

1:18:10

really is. And so

1:18:12

this was my number four storyline. So you and

1:18:14

I were thinking along the same line, uh, 1979, the

1:18:17

famous Fuzzy Zeller

1:18:21

playoff win was the last time that the

1:18:23

first time I won the Masters. But

1:18:26

these two have, have a shot. These two

1:18:28

have a legitimate shot. Awesome

1:18:30

players. Windham clock has in

1:18:33

the last year turned into like

1:18:36

a big game hunter. You

1:18:38

know, he does not win small

1:18:40

events. Like he wins

1:18:43

on tough golf courses against the best

1:18:45

players. You think of LA CC, you

1:18:47

think of the Wells Fargo, you think

1:18:50

of the 60, uh, at Pebble,

1:18:53

I know we didn't have a final

1:18:56

round there, but still, this guy wins

1:18:58

big time tournaments and was obviously right

1:19:00

in the mix with Scotty at API

1:19:02

and players. So guy,

1:19:05

the guy has some gas

1:19:07

off the key. I don't

1:19:09

think it gets talked about enough, but I

1:19:12

was out with his group with Rory and at,

1:19:14

at Genesis. I mean, there were a few times

1:19:16

where he hit it 10, 15 past Rory. Uh,

1:19:21

there were other times where, I mean, like, I think

1:19:23

the end of the wind Rory had a better ball

1:19:25

fight. He is might spin up a little bit more,

1:19:27

but I mean, I don't

1:19:29

think he gets enough credit for how

1:19:31

long he is like pro digit prodigious

1:19:33

length off the tee. Yeah. I think

1:19:35

when they are both just cruising with

1:19:37

the driver, which is different to mere

1:19:40

mortals cruising, but when they're both

1:19:42

just cruising, Windham has probably got

1:19:44

two or three more, uh, miles

1:19:46

an hour ball speed than Rory. He

1:19:49

gets up into that, you know, one

1:19:51

eight six, one eight seven, one eight

1:19:53

eight, which Rory has, but he doesn't

1:19:56

really get to that too often on,

1:19:58

on the course. He's more in the. 8.3,

1:20:01

8.4 zone. But that's the one thing

1:20:03

that is my concern with Wyndham

1:20:05

Clarke at Augusta National

1:20:07

because there's a few times during

1:20:09

the round he's going to

1:20:12

need to at the very least have

1:20:14

a straight drive whereas even

1:20:17

though he bombs at a mile, he puts quite a

1:20:19

lot of curve from left to right on it with

1:20:21

the driver. So there's a

1:20:23

few times I'm thinking of two, I'm

1:20:25

thinking of nine, I'm thinking of 13,

1:20:28

I'm thinking of 14. Where if the ball

1:20:31

starts to leak to the right, he's not

1:20:33

going to have much space. Yeah,

1:20:35

but 10 he can just rope the three

1:20:37

wood or even a driving iron

1:20:39

for as far as he hits the ball. So

1:20:42

10 is like a

1:20:46

specialty shot. It's almost

1:20:48

like when you're behind a tree

1:20:50

and you know you've got to hit a 20 yard

1:20:52

hook. That tee shot is like a

1:20:55

specialty shot guys generally find a

1:20:57

way to pull it off. But

1:21:00

some of those others that are a bit more

1:21:02

subtle that I mentioned, he's gonna

1:21:04

have to be careful not to

1:21:07

run out down the right hand side and get

1:21:09

him get himself into some trouble.

1:21:11

But he has proved to us he is

1:21:13

not scared. He's got the guts.

1:21:16

He has a ton of

1:21:19

self belief. His mental

1:21:21

game is as good as anybody's out

1:21:23

there right now. It's

1:21:26

wonderful to watch him see how

1:21:28

quickly bounces back mentally from bad

1:21:30

shots and gets

1:21:32

on with it. He's

1:21:35

gonna be an interesting one to watch there

1:21:38

being a first-timer. Yeah,

1:21:41

I think that and then

1:21:43

Ludwig obviously great driver. Something

1:21:46

you were saying when I was thinking, one

1:21:49

thing I was thinking about is it's been

1:21:51

etched into our brain how important

1:21:54

distance is at Augusta National and

1:21:56

it's important everywhere. But I

1:21:59

think this area... of players

1:22:01

almost everybody's long enough, plenty

1:22:04

long to be to play there and

1:22:07

it's become an underrated control

1:22:09

course. Yeah look

1:22:11

for me I've always thought that

1:22:13

it was a second shot approach

1:22:16

play elite level approach

1:22:18

play that is gonna win you the

1:22:20

Masters. You know you've got to drive the

1:22:22

ball well don't get me wrong

1:22:25

but you can get away with

1:22:27

some things and there's certain areas where you

1:22:29

have a bit of space to

1:22:32

where it's not mega intimidating like

1:22:35

old-school US opens that I used to

1:22:37

play where we had 20-yard wide fairways

1:22:39

and eight-inch rough. It's

1:22:42

not like that you can conjure

1:22:44

up shots from out of pine straw

1:22:46

you can you know hit some

1:22:49

running shots out of the second cut

1:22:51

you have some options if

1:22:53

you hit some squirrely tee shots but

1:22:56

high level approach play is

1:22:59

the thing that really gives

1:23:01

you a good shot at Augusta National. That's

1:23:04

my concern with Ludwig. Okay

1:23:06

I know that steps wise he's

1:23:10

it's not his strength. I

1:23:12

thought the Ryder Cup is what sticks with me

1:23:14

a lot of uneven

1:23:17

lies a lot of

1:23:19

you know where I don't

1:23:21

I wasn't out there but the some

1:23:23

of the terrain I thought was it

1:23:25

was actually kind of similar with with

1:23:27

the Masters with Augusta National in the

1:23:29

sense of like the severity and I

1:23:32

just thought under the gun in

1:23:34

intense pressure the thing that

1:23:36

I walked away from that event going was the

1:23:38

approach play has a lot a long way to

1:23:40

go and that's my concern with

1:23:42

the Masters. Yeah I

1:23:45

I'm less concerned with

1:23:48

the approach play and a little bit

1:23:50

more concerned with the putting for

1:23:53

him and here's why he

1:23:58

seems to putt

1:24:00

really aggressively speed wise

1:24:03

and I've just never seen anybody

1:24:06

have too much luck with that

1:24:08

at Augusta National. Especially, you know,

1:24:11

when I watch him hit three, four,

1:24:13

five footers, he's shrinking the hole,

1:24:15

man. That thing has got a ton of

1:24:17

speed on it and the

1:24:19

edges are so sharp and the greens

1:24:22

get so fast that if

1:24:25

you put a ton of speed on one and it

1:24:27

rims out and you're gonna have five, six feet coming

1:24:29

back. Also where the

1:24:32

holes are, the holes are on these

1:24:34

little tricky spots where it's like this

1:24:36

little like knoll where the ball runs

1:24:38

away in all these directions so it

1:24:40

amplifies the miss. Totally,

1:24:43

totally. Alright, we got

1:24:45

through our five things. Yeah, we

1:24:47

did. Who's your pick to win?

1:24:50

Sheffler. Yeah, I think it's hard not

1:24:52

to pick Sheffler. That's a... It's hard

1:24:54

not to. It's really hard not to

1:24:57

hit the run that he's on. Like

1:25:00

I said, the mental approach, he's not gonna

1:25:02

tie himself up in knots this week when

1:25:04

he's at home. You know,

1:25:07

he's probably out... He loves playing pickleball

1:25:09

and tennis and he's probably out there

1:25:12

just having a good time with his

1:25:14

buddies and doing a little practice. He's

1:25:16

not gonna get all wound up. He's

1:25:19

just so cool, so

1:25:22

calm. He's the best iron player

1:25:24

in the game, hits the ball

1:25:26

a mile. He works it both ways

1:25:28

off the tee if he needs it. He

1:25:31

has the experience of winning there.

1:25:33

He's coming in winning

1:25:35

two massive tournaments. It's

1:25:37

just so hard, so hard

1:25:40

to pick anybody other than him. All

1:25:43

right, that's Trevor Immelman, lead

1:25:45

analyst. We'll hear you on the

1:25:47

telecast. Congrats on the

1:25:49

start of the year. I think CBS

1:25:52

has taken what they've

1:25:54

built the last few years. You guys

1:25:56

have done such a great job and this year you've

1:25:58

made the coverage even better. And I I

1:26:01

can't wait to see what you guys have up

1:26:03

your sleeve for this year's Masters. Yeah.

1:26:05

Thanks Andy We

1:26:07

are so excited The team

1:26:09

is has been in constant

1:26:11

contact throughout this period, you know, we're a

1:26:13

little likely run We've only had three events

1:26:16

so far this season and the

1:26:18

Sunday of Pebble Beach was was

1:26:20

rained out So you're in a similar

1:26:23

situation to situation to run. Yeah, exactly.

1:26:25

We're jumping at the bit we're ready

1:26:27

to get down there and And

1:26:31

have an amazing week. It's a huge week for

1:26:33

us at CBS. You don't mind me saying this

1:26:37

You know our chairman Sean McManus is

1:26:41

Retiring and this is his final Event

1:26:44

as chairman of CBS Sports as

1:26:46

his 28th Masters. He took over

1:26:48

in 97. He's been an

1:26:51

unbelievable leader and Then

1:26:54

burn Lundquist is retiring. This

1:26:56

will be his 40th Masters

1:26:59

the the most amazing calls Historic

1:27:02

calls at Augusta National have been made

1:27:05

by Vern so it's

1:27:07

a huge week for us to to Get

1:27:10

down to Augusta and the Masters and then we

1:27:12

go on a long run all the way through

1:27:15

the regular season Yeah,

1:27:18

I it's it's gonna be it's gonna

1:27:20

be sad You know,

1:27:22

I think obviously Sean's in the background

1:27:24

but with Vern It's

1:27:27

gonna be it's gonna be tough and

1:27:29

I haven't burn after this year. He's

1:27:31

especially I mean I think

1:27:33

like the the greats really age

1:27:35

well and he's aged so gracefully

1:27:38

With with the call, you know, they aren't

1:27:41

always as sharp as they once were but

1:27:43

they are they are so memorable And he's

1:27:45

just got he's just got a voice and

1:27:48

a timing for the moment, you

1:27:50

know And I think that's what all the greats

1:27:52

have is that that ability

1:27:54

to say the thing that you're feeling

1:27:56

that you would never Yourself

1:27:59

be able to pull

1:28:01

out into words. Yeah,

1:28:05

he's a legend. He is a

1:28:07

legend. He's a Jack Nicholas. He's a

1:28:09

Tiger Woods. He's an Arnold Palmer. Like

1:28:11

in broadcasting, you know,

1:28:14

he's up there. He's up

1:28:16

there. And I always

1:28:18

have this little chuckle. We did

1:28:21

a media call the other

1:28:23

day and he was telling

1:28:26

the story about what was going

1:28:28

through his mind before he made the call on 17

1:28:30

in 1986 when Jack made

1:28:34

that putt. And

1:28:37

he said as he was sort of trying to figure

1:28:39

out what his strategy was gonna be, you

1:28:41

know, as Jack was playing 17th hole, he said he came

1:28:45

up with the idea, keep

1:28:47

it simple and get your

1:28:49

butt out of the way. And

1:28:52

I was thinking to myself, you

1:28:55

know, that's somebody that really understood

1:28:58

the moment. We're

1:29:00

at the Masters. This is

1:29:02

the greatest player to ever live. He's

1:29:04

46 years old. He's

1:29:08

about to and trying to win his sixth

1:29:10

green jacket. There is no need

1:29:12

for an announcer to be filling the air

1:29:14

up with whatever. Keep

1:29:17

it simple and get your butt

1:29:19

out of the way. And that's

1:29:21

Vernon in a nutshell. He's just

1:29:24

a legend. I think

1:29:26

that that is a amazing piece

1:29:28

of advice in general. Yeah.

1:29:31

For life. Keep it simple. Get

1:29:34

out of the way. If

1:29:36

you just followed that for the rest of your life, I

1:29:38

feel like you'd get into a good spot. Yeah.

1:29:42

All right. Awesome to join you, man. Thanks so much.

1:29:44

I'm a huge fan of the pod. You know what

1:29:46

you do here at the

1:29:48

fried egg and shotgun start and all the

1:29:50

other different bits and pieces you

1:29:52

guys have got going. Thank

1:29:54

you, Trevor. I'm looking forward to seeing you

1:29:57

next week in Augusta. So I'll

1:29:59

see you there. there and thank

1:30:01

you so much for coming on. Big

1:30:04

time fan. So, all right, have a good

1:30:06

one. All

1:30:15

right, again, big thanks to Trevor. I

1:30:17

can't thank him enough for coming on

1:30:19

and doing this. I know he's super

1:30:21

busy with all the things he does

1:30:24

the week of the Masters. So this

1:30:26

was a real treat to get him

1:30:28

on. Big thanks to Matt Ruchas for

1:30:30

editing and producing this podcast, especially while

1:30:32

he's been on the road. He's been

1:30:34

doing a big tour of South Carolina

1:30:36

golf and a lot of that stuff

1:30:38

that he's been touring, they're gonna have

1:30:40

write ups in Club TFE in the

1:30:43

near future from this South Carolina trip.

1:30:46

Also, just kinda coming soon in

1:30:48

Club TFE. I've got two

1:30:50

profiles that I'm finishing up, one of which

1:30:53

is Anagusta National. Club

1:30:56

TFE is our membership. It is a $120 for the year

1:30:58

and we do a ton of content in

1:31:03

there. We do, every week

1:31:05

there's a tour guide, which is a PGA

1:31:09

Tour professional golf focused

1:31:11

write up. And then twice

1:31:13

a week we have golf architecture. We

1:31:16

have a course review every week and

1:31:18

design notebook every week, which dives into

1:31:20

like what's going on in the design

1:31:22

world. So, subscribe, join

1:31:24

Club TFE. There's a bunch of other

1:31:27

benefits. It's $120 a year and I

1:31:29

love the community that

1:31:33

we're building in there. So,

1:31:35

really proud of it. We've got

1:31:37

Anagusta National Profile. By me saying

1:31:39

this, it means I have to get it done. And

1:31:42

County Louth, Belltray, a

1:31:44

great Tom Simpson design in Ireland.

1:31:47

So, Belltray will be up hopefully

1:31:49

this week too. I think just

1:31:52

depending on time, that is going

1:31:54

to be done before the Anagusta National Profile. It'll

1:31:56

just be a matter of when we get it

1:31:58

posted. So, those two profiles. files will be

1:32:00

coming to you next week or the

1:32:02

next two weeks in

1:32:05

Club TFB. So join there.

1:32:08

We love our members and we're

1:32:10

looking to add a bunch of

1:32:12

stuff to that membership over the

1:32:14

course of the year in the

1:32:16

coming years. So thanks and can't

1:32:19

wait for Masters coverage. I hope

1:32:21

everybody's got great Masters plans and

1:32:23

we'll be back. Garrett and I

1:32:25

are recording a podcast actually

1:32:28

on Sunday, the day this

1:32:30

episode came out. We're recording a podcast for

1:32:32

later in the week that we'll be going

1:32:34

through each hole at Augusta National ranking them,

1:32:37

one through 18. It'll

1:32:39

be a fun exercise. I'm

1:32:41

excited to see where we

1:32:43

differ and where we align.

1:32:45

So thanks and I

1:32:48

hope everybody, I hope we have a great Masters. I

1:32:50

hope everybody has a great Masters. Thank

1:33:24

you.