Smylie’s 4th of July Course Record Attempt + Will Max Homa Make The Ryder Cup Team?

Smylie Kaufman and Charlie Hulme catch up after a long 4th of July weekend and some well-needed time at the municipal golf course, where Smylie attempted to break his own (truly absurd) course record. Smylie and Charlie then recap the John Deere Classic, wondering if they are underrating Brian Campbell after his second TOUR win this season (despite only averaging 276 yards off the tee). They also discuss Max Homa’s near miss, and what it would take over the next two months to make the USA Ryder Cup team this fall. Finally, SK and CH look over some changes to the TOUR Championship purse structure in the wake of adjustments to the competitive format, and discuss whether it makes the playoffs any more compelling.

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CHAPTERS:
00:00 4th of July on the Golf Course
05:53 Understanding Golf Handicaps and Scoring Systems
12:09 Brian Campbell
18:07 Max Homa’s Performance and Future Prospects
23:48 The Impact of Social Media on Golfers
29:58 Looking Ahead: Ryder Cup
39:47 Exciting Golf Giveaway
43:05 Richard Teder: Estonia’s First Open Championship Player
47:09 Memorable Golf Hole-Outs
51:15 Changes in the FedEx Cup Payout Structure
01:02:47 Future of Golf: Match Play vs. Stroke Play

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[Music] That’s Smiley Coffman for 61. Wow. I’m Smiley Coffman and this is the Smiley Show. Welcome back to another episode of the Smiley Show. A belated uh Fourth of July. Happy 4th of July to you. Uh as you can tell, I’m still traveling on the back end of travel. Obviously the in-laws in Pennsylvania. That’s why I’m stationed in their their little office here. Smiley back at home in Birmingham, Alabama. Uh and and Smiley, it was a good little holiday week there for both of us in terms of getting out on the course. We got some uh we got some pics of a MUN excursion in the Alabama area. So, I think let’s just get started right there. We saw some good scores. I believe you were low 60s. What was the impetus behind going to play this course on the 4th of July week? We either play this course on 4th of July or Memorial Day weekend depending on you know what’s the name by the way.
Uh it’s we call it TPC Highlands but it’s actually just Highland Park. Uh I don’t think it’s in Mun. I think it’s actually Trun Golf runs it now but it’s a 5800 yard golf course.
Is this the one where AV has the gripe about like one of the hole constructions? Like he doesn’t like the way one of the holes is routed. Do I have that right? I I don’t think so. I think that’s probably another one.
I don’t know. Okay.
Because Highlands is perfect.
Nothing wrong with that. She’s great.
We But it does it does get a little backed up the later the day that you play. You know, these Tat times are meters do.
It’s you know, I think they’re 7 minute intervals on the first holes of driveable par4. So, it typically gets a little backed up right at the get-go. But this year we decided, hey, let’s play early so that when we finish, you know, we run right into lunch, nap time, and then afternoon pool session. So that was the goal. And we teed off at, I think, 7:30. So it’s a pretty early beer crack. You know, you’re celebrating the 4th of July, so you got to get it going pretty quick. And of course, it’s I my brother and I are we’re pretty used to, you know, we need to get the the hands feeling good. Like we don’t need to have any jitters out there. You know, you want to go out and play well. You don’t want to be out there uh played poorly. So,
that was definitely a part of the early part of the festivities. And
yes, we had a great match. My brother and I played uh Robbie and Drew. Drew actually was uh Caddy for Seep in the week that he won in Philly. No way. Yeah, we talked about it on the pod when he won, but so Drew is a a mini tour player, good player. Uh, which is actually, this is the first time I’ve seen this is that Lucky is a lefty, but he putts righty. Actually, he putts lefty and righty cuz he’s got a bullseye putter, but for primarily until he starts to feel comfortable with his game, uh, he’ll primarily putt righty and hit lefty. Well, well, Drew also, he hits righty and putts lefty. It was it was quite an interesting uh watch watching these two guys, you know, hit it. It was like watching a not be gay out there on on Friday.
That’s amazing. Also like a very topical connection point here because uh if you rule out uh uh opposite field events, Seth Straa, one of the four two time two plus time winners of the PJ tour this year with a group that Brian Campbell just joined.
That’s right. And and also we almost had a top 10 player in the world join us out there. We were this close to having Seth play with us. It was so close.
So, okay. I think I saw 64 next to your name. What would Seth have shot out there?
Oh gosh. I mean, I have the course record at 56. Wow. What What era of smiley was this? Was this like LSU Smiley? Was this one smiley?
Yeah.
Wow. 56. I can’t even fathom that with
we did we even better we I I did uh 7 minute tea times this morning um which was you know you kind of get any way I say the next sentence is not going to come out good for me but you just get reminded why it’s nice to to have 10-minute intervals back at home. Let’s just let I’ll leave it at that. I will say I will say big shout out shout out to MUN life Bethleam Muni here uh took Walker out to hit golf balls multiple times like little exec nhole course small green so you’re working on like really focused and and and aimed well approach shots and I was like you know what I it’s good to get out here with the people untuck the shirt play some tunes
Jackson’s literally throwing tomatoes at you right now he doesn’t believe this
he is no this is this is from the heart this is it’s just good to Fourth of July weekend and and and just really what’s more American than playing municipal g municipal golf.
I can’t even get the words out of my mouth.
It’s not even authentic enough to get it out.
My brain won’t allow me to go there. No, that’s a genuine shout out to Bethle. Genuine shout out to TPC Highlands. Uh and a shout out to Smiley Coffin who holds a course record still 56. If somebody shot 55, let me know. I just assume it’s the worst record that that would be 55. I I just don’t even know how that exists out there, but that’s that’s uh
56 the
uh Jackson just text tomato virtual tomatoes being thrown luck and I uh we we brother-in-law did so well. Uh I think we had a best ball 60 and we went four and three and poor Drew, you know, he’s he’s a really good player. He shot 61 and and didn’t even make it to the 16th hole. You know, that just sucks for him.
Wow. Didn’t make it to the 16th hole.
Yep. So, lucky shot. Three and two.
What’s that? Yeah. No. Four and three.
Four and three. Good lord.
I know.
That’s good. Ham and it was really good ham and egg and lucky got four strokes out there and he played well. He he definitely played well in his stroke holes and we we brought them all in. Nice. Robbie shot 67 too. So, like everybody played pretty well. Um, and then Luck and I, okay, here’s another handicap situation that happened at Vavia the following day. So, we had 16 of us, four different groups. And in the past when I’ve played in this game, we’ve stroked off of zero and I’ve had to give strokes back on my scorecard. So, for instance, like the easiest on the course, if I made a birdie, it would be a par. I was like, “Guys, let’s not do this. What’s I’ll just Everybody else gets more strokes. So, if I make a birdie, it’s a birdie because it’s silly to have to give a stroke back. I’d rather just other people have more strokes. So, we do this on Saturday and it and AV, he didn’t play with us, but he counted out how many strokes were were given out. There was 179 strokes given out to 15 other players. And so, I’m thinking to myself, how in the world does this system fair? So, we we want to get to a point to where we’re doing dog fight points. And that’s like besides the story I’m about to tell because
a guy in our group, guy named uh PV had one of the most epic round like the this career round. He’s he’s struggling when he shows up. And I’m thinking, oh, he’s got he’s not going to play well. Like he’s he’s a 80s shooter, maybe shooting the 90s. I haven’t played with him much, but uh I tell you what, I wasn’t expecting a good good round of golf from him. He was getting 17 strokes and was even par with three to play. Oh wow. Okay. Yeah, that guy’s uh the handicap committee is looking into that guy. That’s uh as a handicap committee chair. That’s a I’m doing a running on his profile trying to
So he shot a 74 and won by eight shots in our in our in our gross net game. And I think our team won by at least 10 because he played really well and then I shot 29 on our backside. So it was just an absolute blitz.
Well, here’s the thing is is 74 getting 17. Uh this is not a math pod, but I think that’s still net would not have broken your course record at the highway. I think it would have been a net 57.
So we’ve been doing all these memes and stuff like this is like what we’re setting today. like I should join the tour. The cat, if you’re watching on YouTube, you can see it. There’s another one here, too. Hold on. It’s It’s him walking down the 18th fairway at Tour Championship. I mean, it was just epic. So, shout out to my boy Pat. Epic day watching him having a career day. And and like I always say, Charlie, this is the time of year where you start to This is career low season. It’s the the greens are make make speed and I mean this is the same time last year you shot 66.
That’s exactly right. It was it was in August and and I’m starting to kind of feel the game come back a little bit. Like you know it it’s it’s I think this is when I peak. I think I’m starting to kind of chart some data here. I think this is when I I might go low when I get back in town. Although we’re getting like I looked at the forecast this week. I was excited to get back and play with the buddies on Friday. I don’t think it’s going to stop raining. No, it’s just thunderstorms solid for a whole week. Yeah. So,
I tell you what, that’s the thunderstorms are definitely winning the fall and summer or I should say the spring late spring and and early summer. Yeah. It’s a tough scene for anyone who’s trying to play golf in the south at a place that, you know, where the drainage leaves something to be desired. Uh, but I’ll say, listen, I I hope a lot of people out there also got to tee it up for Fourth of July weekend. If you’re watching on YouTube, throw some throw some little match stories in the comments as well. Now that we got Smiley’s kind of full rundown, uh there was do use dog use dog fight points. Dog fight points. Explain
a stable system to where to where you don’t go off of handicap as much to where you take an average of of a dog like your points that you’re supposed to get for the day. So for instance, let’s say your points that you have to hit are 35. Um, and based off of that number, let’s say you go out and only hit 30 points. So, you’re five below that number. And I I’m pretty sure how it works is then you add up your group total. So, all of your three guys that are in your group also have these numbers they have to hit. And based off of the number that is set, you know, if they go over under, you add up your entire group. And that’s how you decide who would win the group bet against team versus team. So you kind of eliminate the handicap thing because you take a sample size of maybe the last 10 rounds that you’ve had with the amount of points that you’ve accumulated and you take that average and that’s your points that you have to go and get. So use a stable fur like birdies are probably three, pars are two, um I assume bogeies are are one point, doubles are zero points, eagles four, five or something.
Yeah, I I’ve played stable for before. Dogfight points sounds like a ton of math. like just saying that I was I was like the meme all the algebra equations.
Well, you need a book.
You need somebody to be able to keep everybody’s numbers throughout the year. Um I it’s a lot of work if if you actually have time to to sit in the men’s grill and and keep the book after. Um it’s probably built for for groups that have time to have two beers after versus one beer. Uh, I think that’s probably the the defining uh the defining deal whether you can have dog fight points or not because it definitely takes, you know, a book or somebody’s, you know,
notes app to be able to keep it organized because that that that is difficult. Handicaps are a lot easier for sure. The I think the closest thing we do to that is like that 40 ball game I’ve told you about where you take 20 in the front, 20 on the back, 40 overall with the with the playing as a team as a foresome and then tally those up in the the old Ross grillil on the back end. See who who won. But but you got to take the scores on the whole. See there’s like a gamble there of like you know we made
three. Do we want to take two? Leave some out there and make some make. It’s it’s good. It’s a good game. It’s a really It’s a game that’s worth playing if you got, you know, a bunch of poresomes lined up to play on on a Friday back home. Nothing.
Don’t do handicap with that, too.
We do do handicap with that. Yeah.
Okay. Yeah. See, that’s the problem when you have 179 strokes. We’re just trying to find a solution.
Yeah. I mean, you can you could do like 85% uh you could do 12-month low. But when you see I just played backto-back weekends prior to this 12-month low tournaments where I got absolutely slaughtered because my 12-month low is 0.7 and I’m currently playing like a 4.1. So it was no bueno for your boy. But I I think that it was it was an interesting study because at least the first one at Hope Valley the best players ended up at the top of that leaderboard. And it’s like okay like they probably deserve to win. you know, if you’re playing the best golf that weekend, you would you would love a 12-month low setup for you. Although, you don’t keep a handicap, so you just kind of keep a floating plus four or plus five or something like that, right? Yeah. I mean, that’s I just don’t like keeping score um every single time. Like, sometimes I I’m like, “Yeah, I’ll keep score today.” Sometimes I don’t. And a lot of times it’s just the game and you know that you’re playing that day against, you know, it’s like, “Did did we win the match or not?” And that’s kind of how I play golf. We we need to and this is something we’ve talked about doing on a number of occasions is like we need to have a a USGA a gin expert come on and help us better unpack the handicap handicap. I feel like totally there are some key flaws here that we can really drill down on. Um shall we talk about some PJ tour golf to to get the start at Smiley? Uh I I don’t know a good way we can we can I
I don’t know a good way to launch into this really. Um because it’s with all due respect to a man who’s now won twice on tour this year. It is very hard to win once on tour. It’s very hard to win twice on tour. It’s even harder to win twice on tour in the same season. But Brian Campbell uh is not necessarily a headliner name. He is a guy that when I last checked is like 13 first on tour this year in strokes gain off the tea. He’s averaging about 276 yards off the tee.
Uh, and it’s a very interesting juxaposition, Smiley, of both the playoff he won when he won back in the Mexico Open against the longest player on tour, Aldrich Poder. Uh, and then now back-to-back weeks where Aldrich Poder wins the Rocket Classic and we go over and play the John Deere and Brian Campbell emerges victorious in yet another playoff against Milliano Glo. Um, but I I want to give Brian Campbell his props here, right? So, let’s start with what are the things h are we potentially underrating the things that Brian Campbell does really really well because it is so hard to win twice on tour. And I feel like this is a little bit of a a rerun of the same situation we had at the end of Oakmont at the end of the US Open where we’re like we were talking about Ben Griffin, Andrew Novak, Matt McNeely this whole year and we completely forgot about it. JJ Spawn. Are we overlooking a part of of of Brian Campbell’s game that is really really good that’s led him to these two wins? It’s worth talking about.
Yeah, you definitely are. Um I would love to actually look up to see where he ranks on the PGA Tour and driving accuracy. He’s got to be in the top 10. I’d be surprised if he wasn’t, but that’s used to be the the formula to to playing well on the PGA Tour before the Bomb and Gallage really became about, you know, you had a guy like Tim Clark winning every year. That’s the type of player that he is, a very very straight player. Um, you know, Brian Gay, another example. I know he’s gotten a little farther of the years, but Brian Campbell’s uh comes from that similar tree of just, yeah, he doesn’t hit it very far, but he hits it really straight. And guess what? Uh, on weeks that, you know, he the soft greens and he’s able to to attack a little bit more. And John Deere, uh, this golf course was a little faster than it normally is. you know, it didn’t get quite as much as rain as you’d have the thunderstorms that are, you know, wearing this golf course out normally year in and year out, but uh it was it was bouncing pretty good this year and and the rough was up a little bit. Um and I think that that helped. It had to help. And uh even just looking at the scores too from one year to the to the next, you know, last year Davis Thompson won this event at 28 under par. So this thing finishing at 18 under par only helps a player like Brian Campbell, too. Yeah. And it was interesting to see that some of those scores, you know, some early I think it was Max Homo shot his lowest ever first round score on tour of of eight under maybe 62, something like that. Um, but then guys that would post a really low round and then kind of come back to the mean the next day and then you got the sort of mix of guys cuz I did think it was going to be a mid20s winning score based on what we saw this this last year and and it wasn’t that way this year. You know what was weird too is if you look if you followed the cut line this week and you saw where it finished it was a flat 65 guys that made the cut and it was at five under par. Very unusual. If you saw a five under par and I asked you coming into the week, okay, that’s what the cut was. What do you think the winning score was? Well, you would say, well, if it was a 500 cut, I would have said that maybe it was a, you know, somewhere in the low 20s. I would say 23 under par was a winning score. The fact that five under par was a cut and 18 under par was the winning score. Little surprising. Yeah, without a doubt. Now, do you I I don’t want to take one week at TPC Deer Run and try to extrapolate some some large, you know, these these game insights of like where we stand on the game based off of just this one winner. But, you know, we talk a lot about distance in the game and we talk a lot about, you know, needing to roll the ball back and and certain courses, you know, some some that cater to bombers, other that, you know, guys who are shorter can win. Now, you have a guy like Brian Campbell who’s won twice on tour this year. And do you take any large grand insights about distance in the game away from that? or is it just this guy had two really good weeks and and he did some things that were a little bit underrated and and and got it done and and that’s just let’s commend him. But there there are no kind of large things to take away from that. I mean a takeaway is is again for me as a as a professional uh former professional golfer I just got to give the guy a ton of props. I mean, it’s it’s got to be a little daunting now. Every time you stand on the tea box and playing with a let’s just say a young gun potter, he’s got 190 ball speed every time he tees up and you’re you’re barely, you know, making a dent in the golf ball in the 160s. You know, that that’s got to be an intimidating thing to try to make a living with the, you know, the best players in the world to try to keep a card. Uh only a hundred PJ tour cards at the end of the year. So coming into uh this season, you know, his first PJ tour season, I it would have been easy for him to overswing, to not play within himself. But I’ll say this, players that get that first win and they’re in this different category definitely have, you know, it feels like you have house money. There’s nothing to worry about. You have a job. So guess what? You get to go get better at things that maybe you would try to fix. Uh where he’s kind of played his own game. And remember too, like he played good in two majors this year. He played good in August. He played good in quail. So I I I think what I need to do with you is I need you to send you out and have you go watch him at the Windom and just say, you know what, respect Brian. This is really impressive because he hits a lot of fairways, a lot of greens, and um I think a lot of players that that we talk about often would love to have the the control of the golf ball that he does. A and on this show we are consistent about the fact that we love to be proven wrong and we will put our hand up and tell you when we have been proven wrong. We did the same with JJ Spawn at the US Open and here it’s you know let’s give Brian Campbell his props. Uh, and I thought even there the couple moments today that really were distinguishing elite uh, you know, winning on tour moments regardless of who is striking the the ball and how long it’s going were makes that double at 15 and then on 17 comes back and I’m looking at at shot link now. His drive on 17, the par five was 273 yards and his second shot was 277 yards. An incredible I think it was a sevenwood in there. Uh, narrow. I don’t think it was. I don’t think that was the seven would there’s no way of the text. I was going to say 277. Yeah. So, um then makes birdie there uh and ends up posting 18 under. And then that playoff where, you know, GLO even having knocked into the trees on the right is still 20 yards ahead of him. And and we’re looking at at his line, he’s kind of got, you know, is on the edge of a sprinkler there and and they’re thinking, hey, maybe he plays one out safe 30 to 40 feet on the right. and he goes right to the pin and and Greo of course gives it to him by making a bogey but you know that shot would have given him a look at a birdie. Oh, it was so well done. So, props to Brian Campbell and see it wind him.
Do you think if the year was 2032 and the Ryder Cup was at Olympic club, would you be thinking about Brian Campbell? I you know I I sort of embrace forward a twotime winner Brian Campbell and a player like him comes on your on your desk and you say well gosh well this guy would hit every fairway at Olympic club. I would have to take but at Beth Paige there’s it’s not even a starting conversation.
Well you know you just pair him up with a Bryson Shambo and and you’re you’re good money.
Also we’re we’re going to talk about some of this stuff later on in this episode but here let me forecast this one to you. Okay, I’m just going to just just picture this. Brian Campbell, tour championship winner, FedEx playoff winner in a in an East Lake finale in a year in which there’s no starting strokes. This is
at this point,
since we’re not embracing a fun fun format, I’m embracing just a chaos wild card situation. Can you can you imagine Paneavidra if they have Brian Campbell coming down the stretch on 18 which by the way that would be awesome if he did let’s not act like I I wouldn’t be a fan of this but that would be cinema
would love it would love it I’m here for it uh I I am the Jack Nicholson departed gift nodding my head looking mischievous yes that is what we need and want if we’re going to change the tour championship format I want it to be an absurd out of nowhere winner and I want all the chaos and and the backend debate that comes with that. So, I I’d sign me up for that. Please sign me up for that.
We need we need more things to talk about into debate. And that would really definitely set up some nice talking points.
That would do it. That would do it for me. Um I’ll say another big we we missed out on a big big talking point. I I think it’s very fair to say Brian Campbell will probably even tell you this that today the rooting favorite amongst the crowd and people tuning in on TV probably Max. Yeah,
probably Maxoma. And um Max comes up short. I think two shots short that playoff at 16 under. I I think that put him in solo fifth last time I checked the leaderboard. Um a lot of talk about Max’s, you know, just season at large and and we we’ve talked golly since we had Max on the show about just the swing changes he was grinding on. He showed us some video way back when. I think he he switched coaches since. Um you know, new equipment, just a lot of different things going on for him. Uh a and there’s been a little bit of armchair analysis about, you know, what it is Max is doing differently in his swing and and and what got him into contention this week at TPC Deer Run. What are you seeing that looks different for for Max for for you and maybe in the swing or any other observations you made about the mental side of the game? Whatever else comes to mind in terms of why he’s playing better golf.
I think his iron swing looked really good um this week. It just looked like his arms and the golf club were more out in front of him. that helped him be able to get the ball started left and actually hit a fade. You know, just those little feeling fewer fade shots. I haven’t seen him be quite as good with those this year. If anything, to me, he’s had a two-way miss with his iron game. Um he’s he’s missed Green’s left with with left pins, which uh I saw that happened often earlier in the year when I was watching him. Uh but the it’s not surprising though to me that the driver actually’s been pretty good this year. um which you wouldn’t think would make sense, but because you have more time and the club is, you know, if it’s a little behind you a little bit, you do have more time to kind of get it squared up, but um the shorter clubs, especially when you want to hit some of those field shots, um you’re going to be, you know, you’re going to have some two-way misses there. So, uh, it looked like he was swinging the golf club better this week and and most certainly, yes, the the the crowd favorite and definitely, uh, the biggest name I felt like heading into this week and one that I I’m sure that the tour would have loved if Max number one and, uh, as well as as well as John Deere. And I I definitely was rooting for him as well. Uh, cuz it has been a hard year. It surprising really to me to see that he was, you know, outside the top 100 coming into the week. that that really did surprise me because it doesn’t seem like too long ago that you and I were making cases of well if he you know if he played really well at this major, you know, pulled this one out, you know, he’s got a chance to be in the Ryder Cup conversation. I think I I’m just replaying those conversations in my head and then I see where he’s at on the FedEx Cup, which isn’t a barrier to uh ex necessarily of where somebody lands on the Ryder Cup point standings list. But it did surprise me a lot to see that he is uh currently out of the top 100, I believe. I don’t know where he jumped to, but it’s it’s right around that number.
Yeah, I I want to say it was 122 on a stat sheet I saw heading into the week. Uh
finished T3 this week. So, let’s see. That got him to I got it right here. Uh he is 98th now.
98. And and that’s and I believe his his farmers win was 23. Is that correct? Would that exempt expire?
I I believe so. I think Farmers was his last win. I think I think uh
this is this would be his last uh
PGA Tour exempt season then.
And and he was but he was top 50 last year. I I’m not going to get into the minutia of those categories, what sort of eligibility I
get an extra year on a tour championship stuff
there. Dylan Deair did a great write up that that you could go find. Yeah. Where where he’s for all the exemptions. Now, the one that we were talking about and and I need to tee it up here uh via our friends at Ahead. Uh and we’re going to do a little RDER Cup look ahead as it pertains to both Max and a few others. Uh Ahead is a strategic partner for enterprise clients, helping them navigate the path toward digital transformation, much like an expert caddy, reading the course ahead and providing the winning combination of technology and execution. You can learn more at ahead.com. Uh this Rder Cup look ahead. Let’s let’s let’s start with just I if if Max Max doesn’t win today, right? So, he is definitely on the outside looking in both in points qualification, but also just in terms of probably the guys that Keegan’s considering in terms of those six picks he’s going to make. If Max had won today, in your mind, where does he move to on on Keegan’s picks short list? If he would have won,
if he’d won the John Deere,
he he had to he had to win I think to be in the the the bubble conversation. I don’t think he’s in any conversation right now.
So So he’s he’s in around like I mean are you lumping him in? Is he still a tier below like a Ben Griffin, Andrew Novak, Maverick McNeely? Like he’s he’s he’s further down the bubble than those guys. Even if he wins today,
he’s got to win down the stretch and he doesn’t need to finish outside the top five. and that that would get him on the bubble and maybe he’s a partner for somebody. Um it’s it’s gota he’s got to have luck go his way as far as just who he would be partnered with. Like it’s got to really look good on a on the on the sheet of paper in front of the captains, but I don’t see a scenario that he’s on the team, but I would love to be proved wrong. I just think he’s too far out. I think the scenario that you can play back is Justin Thomas missing the playoffs uh couple years ago making that Rder Cup team in Rome. Um, Max has a, you know, an opportunity, potential opportunity to be in that same situation, but maybe plays his way into the playoffs, which I think is what he has to do. If he plays his way into the playoffs and all of a sudden now, uh, you get hot at the right time and next thing you know, you’re at the tour championship. And that’s where it gets really really difficult uh, for for something like Keegan because you got to you got to definitely weigh the the whole year versus, you know, just a hot hot stretch. Billy Horchel is a good example of that. But, um, you know, Max has been solid. He’s been probably one of the best, you know, US players of the last couple years.
Uh, not playing not not qualified for the Open Championship and not playing the Scottish Open either. So, the next crack out he gets, I guess, is 3M and then
he’s not Scottish.
I’m looking at the field list right now, unless there’s some sort of typo. Uh, I, you know, I’m looking at it. It jumps from the Hoygar brothers to Rakuya Hosino. Uh so and it it looks like an alphabetical list to me, Smiley. So not in that field list from the PJ. It does. It really does because I from there, you know, you can hop on the flight literally from John Deere and which by the way, I saw another headline on that. It’s it’s the first time in uh tour history that it’s a full flight from John Deere over to the Scottish. Full charter flight. So,
well, I know they’re and that connects to a whole other thing is is like I think what they were meaning by that by that sort of news item was just that, and we can unpack this when we talk about the tour changes, tour championship stuff, but just that these fields, these midsummer fields are getting stronger as more and more guys who are now on the 100 bubble instead of the 125 bubble,
gives us a better field. Yeah.
Are needing to play. Um, so it’s it’s it’s interesting how it all folds in together. I mean, Max at 98 now, um, you know, needs to do a lot, but but essentially what you’re saying there is that he’s got two starts, right? I mean, if he plays 3M and Windom, those are his last two cracks. He gets
just use an example, uh, this week, you know, he he finishes T3 uh, with with Kevin Roy moves up 24 spots. That would get him to, let’s see, here’s a little bit of math here for you. That get him to 74. He’s still on the outside looking in. And then he needs another good week just to to crack it in there. I mean, playoffs are a long shot right now.
Yeah. Yeah. And and I wonder how, you know, I don’t know when this commit list, you know, more about the inner workings of the tour about, you know, when he has to kind of say yes or no to Scottish Open. Friday,
Friday, Friday five, I think is the deal.
I mean, I wonder how he feels after he goes out and he shoots a great first round and hopefully expects that to continue throughout the week, you know, at John Deere into the weekend. you know, do you feel like now you’re gonna take two weeks off and you’re kind of losing the hot hand you had or do you think it’s like a pre premis give spots to the Open Championship too? Typically like there’s there’s another opportunity to get into that field. So it’s just very very surprising. So that um maybe we can get an answer on that uh for the next episode. But that’s definitely very surprising. And then really didn’t really like tie the bow on exactly what happened with Max today cuz if you watch him, it was very close cuz when he got started, we’re like sound the alarms, the buzzers. He’s three under through four holes and like he’s going to win this golf tournament. But uh playing this golf course, he missed the fairway five. That’s like one of the key fairways you got to hit. Makes a easy bogey there. uh catches a flyer at nine and really the he three putts the 15th hole and then 16 17 18 he makes that nice putt at 16 but misses three putts inside of 10 feet over the last four holes and lose the tournament by two shots then you throw in just like a um you know a wedge shot you know he he kind of hit a missed the fairway kind of at the 10th hole on a layup on the par five. There were just things that that were it was so close like you feel like he could have done it today and it was it was such a good opportunity. Of course, Max was the guy that everybody looked at on that leaderboard. Um as the as the guy that probably you’d be the most scared of.
He and he I mean today kind of to those points 52nd in the field in strokes game putting 53rd uh in strokes gain around the green. Uh Brian Campbell, I just love this. 62nd in strokes game off the tea uh for the week. Uh but sixth in strokes game putting, 10th around the green, and eighth in approach. And that’s how you win a tournament, ladies and gentlemen. Uh did you see that Brian Campbell after his round? So he was, I believe, the second or third to last group. And he goes in and just sits and watches the coverage. Doesn’t go hit golf balls.
Not hitting golf balls.
And Amanda asked him after the round or after the playoff
and they’re like, “Yeah, I just want to rest.” And all I was thinking is like even if he went and did like let’s say he did go and hit golf balls to stay loose, how much more ball speed is he actually getting out of this thing? Like is he going from is he going from like 164 to 165 just by warming up? I think the ball is going to he’s going to have a little bit of adrenaline. He’s going to have a seven iron in. So he’s fine. Let him eat some cheesecake.
That’s right. Well, he just said I mean and this is a plight that that all of us playing summer golf can relate to in hot areas. Like, dude, I I was hot. I was tired. I wanted to get something to eat and drink some water, drink some Gatorade,
stars. I last thing I wanted to go do is hit more balls or like work on a putting drill. I I was all the way with him there. Show and go for the playoff. And hits hits the fairway and then hits a great little iron shot in there and and he is a a uh a two twotime tour winner now. Uh so kudos to him. Did you see briefly on Max before we wrapped there the the thing his thing on Twitter earlier in the week?
No. Well, say it. I might Oh, talking about how everybody’s uh trolls on Twitter basically. Yeah. Is that Is that about effectively? Yeah. It’s an He called it an awful place, which I I look I I tend to agree with it. Uh I I I think that
I mean, I know you’re
I had to delete I had to delete social media for three years as a player. I mean, it was just it was nasty. Yeah, it was awful. I I understand that a lot of other people wouldn’t get that because he kind of his whole bit was making fun of people, but also it was it was a bit because everybody wanted to be made fun of. Let’s not act like he just chose one person and maybe he did, but um it became his thing, which is it’s not like he was just sorting out people like, “Oh, I can’t wait to bury this guy’s swing.” Yeah. I I just think the mechan the mechanics of it, not that anyone cares what I think necessarily, but like X has just become I I just I far more enjoy the places where we get to kind of put out fuller context, you know, video dissertations where you get you get more context added versus a place where everyone’s trying just to dump on each other. I got some got some nice feedback on uh some of our recent shows in in the old DMs box. So, uh that was that was I was like, “Ah, this is why I don’t use X.” So, uh thanks so thanks so much for that. uh you know you are uh I will uh I will I’ll I’ll wrap on the on the RDER Cup piece uh by just flipping to some some really cool some heartwarming news uh as the fifth assistant captain for Beth Paige Black’s been named and it is Gary Woodland uh who is it said I I this felt like a a typo to me or a misprint but I guess just maybe the timing of some of the when he was playing well but said first Ryder Cup appearance Gary Woodland never played on a Ryder Cup team. Do I have that correct? Oh, with he just made the he made the President’s Cup at Quail Hollow, I believe, is the one that he made. That was uh the Pebble Beach year.
Yeah, the 2019 US Open win. Yeah. So, maybe it’s just a timing thing, but uh that was a little bit surprising. He never actually played on a team.
Well, 2019, would that have been Australia?
Hm. That actually sounds more That’s right. That’s right. Wasn’t that the one that that um that uh uh
Tiger Tiger captain? Yeah. Yeah. So, uh, now and and I think the interesting part about that is, and I have the captains here somewhere in a link. I’m working with one screen tonight. So, I’m really Snicker, Gary Wood,
and Furick.
Web Simpson.
So, and let’s just talk about that group now. I if Keegan ends up being a playing captain, I is it does Furick become the de facto non-playing captain just given his experience on these teams and having just led the American side to a President’s Cup win? I know it’s lower stakes, less leverage. Do you feel like that becomes the guy who’s calling the shots and Keegan’s out the course?
Well, I don’t know why. I’m just maybe I’m because I’m ready for football season that somebody explained this to me about how the referees and the officials are decided who gets what role. Like who gets to wear the white hat? Who’s get the guy that gets to speak? And I think somebody told me that it was actually like kind of personality based like this is the person that’s like best suited to do this. And I don’t know if how they how how other ways they pick that that white hat guy uh that gets to talk, but Jim Furick kind of would fit that profile of the of the the ump or the uh the the referee that gets to to wear the white hat.
Jim Furick’s our white hat guy. If he plays, he’s a guy that gets the hat. I mean, just think about it. All right, so you got Web Simpson like just great dude. a person that can probably go and talk to the guy who’s started out the Ryder Cup day one at 0 and2. Like you go put him in a quarter, Web Simpson to get him like all positive. That’s Web’s role. Gary is the guy who’s going to be the intimidator. He’s going to be standing on tea boxes and he’s ready to crush. Kiz, he’s going to be drinking beers. Um, and then you have, let’s see, who’s the next one? We got uh Brandt Sneder.
Sns. He’s he’s going to be walking uh with whoever Septrock is playing. Just kind of like a ball negator, you know, like the the no shave deal. So, he’s also going to have his hat off to kind of negate a little bit of the glare from the top of the heads.
And
and now Jim Furk’s going to be giving speeches if if I think it it is actually kind of a really nice makeup of this team where, you know, Sned’s obviously is going to captain the 26 President’s Cup team at Madina. So, it’s a little bit of, you know, getting him in that room and experienced around those guys. Furick obviously has experience from last year and an extensive experience being assistants on on a number of these teams and and now you’re really kind of starting to bed in the next group of assistants where, you know, Kiz has been an assistant for a couple times now and now you got Gary Woodland in the mix. I I just like seeing guys that are new faces that that also can are well respected amongst American players that can really start gaining a little bit of of what’s it like to lead in these rooms instead of play um and then see if they can become the next captain that tries to win a Ryder Cup on foreign soil or or something, you know, more pivotal. So, I think it’s cool for Gary Woodman.
I think what I like too is that all these players are still playing on the PGA Tour for the most part besides Jim. You know, the relationships in that room are going to be really solid. Keegan obviously a player that uh most likely I think should be on the team. So, uh it’s important even more important to have really good assistant captains and I think he’s done a really good job of picking them. I have I have no notes. I I love it. Uh it’s cool for Gary. Uh Smiley. Uh that wraps our our RDER Cup segment here. Um I want to get to some tour stuff, but I I need to show you a one one of the coolest videos I saw in this last week. I thought was this was a a really fun open championship qualification story. But before we can do that, Smiley, I I’ve got a pamphlet in front of me. Uh and it is for a 2025 Dream Ireland golf getaway sweepstakes brought to you by Shipsticks. Uh three lucky winners are going to receive an all expenses paid trip for two to the island of Ireland. They’re going to play six world class courses, including Royal Port Rush, host of the 2025 Open Championship. Uh, and I’ve got I’ve got the other courses here for you as well. Uh, Port Rush, uh, Port Marik, Royal County Down, Castle Rock, uh, I hope I’m saying this right, Bali Lifen, and Port Stewart. Um,
dude, this is all part of this.
These are all six of these courses are all part of this Dream Golf, Shipsticks. I I’m using the wrong phrasing here. I’m going to put the link in the YouTube. I’m going to put the link in the podcast description. It’s sick. This is so sick.
Can we Yes. Am I able to sign up or No, I’m sure there’s fine print that uh precludes us from from from participating in this thing. Uh we can ask we can we can ask. There’s a whole pamphlet on this thing. We can get y’all hooked up, but basically that is that’s the takeaway for you. It’s like go sign up. Go do this thing because you could you could win via Shipsticks to playing all those courses, all expenses paid, trip or two. Uh yeah. I don’t know what else there is to say. Like if you if you’re looking to make a trip uh over over across the the pond, Ireland, Scotland, like these are bucket list places to play golf. Lynx Golf, uh this is this is a pretty good deal from Chipsticks. Yeah, it is. It’s incredible. I’m going to send that out. I’m going to send out to my boys who actually one of the last uh it was like a getaway for like a set of irons. Uh one of my buddies did like the the tag of a couple friends and it was like a long shot. It was actually done by the PJ tour. It was for a strix on set of irons and there was, you know, thousands and thousands and thousands of comments of people trying to get these irons and I get a screenshot from one of my buddies and said, “Hey, is this real?” And it was a screenshot said from the PJ tour. Hey, you won the giveaway and literally it’s like one of my boys. I’m like, “Uh, how did this happen?” So, uh, I know it’s a story that’s unrelated to ship six, but it just goes to show that you could be the lucky winner, too. You’re basically everyone listening or watching this podcast, you’re all our friends, you know. So, there you go. You might just uh by the same stroke of luck end up in Smiley’s Good Graces and be heading off to Ireland to play some golf.
And the good news is, too, we did use shift sticks to get our clubs over there. We had gosh I think we had 13 of us uh over there and all of us used shift six to do it and all of our golf clubs uh made it safe and sound. So get that aspect too. You don’t have to worry about
that’s maybe the least polished uh but just most raw read we ever done the show. It’s like uh here it is. Go do it. Go play golf Ireland. It’s going to be amazing.
What else we need to say? Yeah. What else we need to say? Go to the link and go sign up and do the do the sweep stakes. You should have actually started with it’s like this isn’t a read. This is a hey y’all don’t need like everybody needs to tune in. This is a it’s a no-brainer. Just go and do it. This is a automatic have to do it.
Boom boom boom. Everybody understands. We move on.
Send us pics. Send us vids. We’ll get them on the show. Um yeah, big thanks to Shipstick. So look for that in the description, the YouTube description, the podcast description. Uh and enter to win. Uh, that is the tea up for I hope I’m saying his name right. Richard Tedair. Richard Teter. It’s Richard Te deria, right? Estonia. I
I think I saw this on a Monday Q info tweet that there’s only like nine golf courses in the whole of Estonia. Uh, and
Estonia. Is that like where Princess Diaries is based? Wow. Princess Diaries. Uh I I don’t have a ton of uh knowledge base in and around Princess Diaries. I believe I’ve seen the movie, but I could not tell you where that’s from.
Is that not the country? You know what? While while we’re at it, Princess Diaries, Estonia. Uh it’s not set in Estonia. It’s set in the fictional country of Govia.
Goia. Gosh, it was kind of in the book series is situated between France and Italy. Um,
okay. So, it’s a fake place. Got it.
It’s filmed in England and the United States. Many of the scenes.
If maybe we said he was from Geneva, that you could have said, “Okay, I could see how you got those two things confused.”
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that’s that would make total sense to someone who uh knows lots about The Princess Diaries. To me, it’s still all this is lost on me. Listen, big Julie Andrews guy. Uh we listen to a lot of Sound of Music and we actually were talking about it this week because our uh
it’s always on in my car. do reay me.
Were you big musical family or is this something France brought to the equation?
Fran is Fran is a thousand% a music. She likes musical stuff. Uh I don’t mind it actually. Um I I was like the guy that you know everybody made fun of High School Musical, but I watched it premiere when it came out.
I don’t think I ever saw High School Musical. I’m talking about like the good stuff, like the old school stuff.
Yeah. I mean I think I saw
Do not watch it. It is so bad.
Okay. Okay. Not even like a good bad like there’s no value in rewatching at all.
It’s it’s really really tough scene.
I mean not that I’m a guy that should be talking about jaw lines but uh Zack Efron. What happened to Zack Efron’s jaw? Have you seen this? Seen Zack Efron’s jaw? No. No. No. I’m just saying it’s like he’s like it’s it’s it’s his facial complexion has changed. The Zack Efron we knew and love from uh Is like Jonah Hill. Uh, no, no, no. Like it’s like a steely like I think it’s actually a surgically I think he broke his jaw. How I I don’t know how we got here. Uh, we’re talking about Zack Efron’s jaw. This is This is my own. So So we hold out, huh? Let’s play the tape. Here we go. Richard, where is this at?
Estonia or Govia. This is uh I think it’s West Lanasher. Oh, come on. First Estonian to ever play in the Open Championship. And that’s how he gets in. Are you kidding me? That is so sick, dude. When you go to the when you go to the Walker Cup later uh this fall, that’s the coolest thing about watching that event. I see the Cypress Point hat is that all the crowds you just get to walk behind everybody. And that’s the coolest thing about this clip is that the crowd is, you know, it’s just it’s just the town crowd watching their golf course and the guy, you know, having a dream come true.
Walker Cup was at Seminal, uh, however many years ago that was, 21, I think it was. Um, was that like 2,000 people, no ropes, like you could get as close to everyone as you wanted to be. Um, it’s it’s so cool. Agreed. And like you they got the whole village out here trying to see if the Estonian dude’s going to get it done. and he’s in the open which so that is a very cool story. Congrats to Richard. We’re going to be pulling for him. We get to watch him here in a couple weeks. Smiley top hole out you’ve ever had in your career or hole out you’ve ever witnessed in your career? Shoot. That’s tough. That’s tough. Do you have one? Uh That’s a great question. Um,
I’m just thinking about like Scotty shots I’ve seen in my in my lifetime.
Yeah. You know what? I’m going to I’m going to take a I’m going to uh give a shout out to my to my boy Gil Frasier here who uh won a skin in the uh Hope Valley practice round at member guest last year and then proceeded to shoot like 52 the next three or six rounds to just completely DFL us. So Gil, that skin though, that skill on 13 skin was uh was big. We needed that one in a big way. So, shout out to So, whole outs, man, nothing really comes to mind. Um, I haven’t had too many dramatic hole outs for myself. I’ve had some hole in ones, but uh that’s a completely different category than a hole out in my opinion. Um, I I I feel like I’ve seen Scotty haul out some shots that are that are pretty cool, but nothing um nothing nothing coming to to mind. Like, what’s the most dramatic holes out hole outs that we’ve seen over like the last decade of golf that we’ve witnessed? I mean, help me come up with some. I’m just thinking of some like pitchins that have happened over the years. Like I I think of JT’s hole out on the 18th hole to get into a playoff. He eventually lost. So, that kind of
Yeah.
derails it, but still that’s been a that was a crazy hole out on the last hole.
It’s actually, now that I’m thinking about that, I mean, yeah, JT almost hold out the window to get in the playoff two years ago. Uh, and it came up just short. So, that that’s obviously that’s that’s not a whole out. Russell Henley pitched in at 16. It was 16th hole.
Um I’m just kind of going on the calendar. So Scotty Schffer hold out in the fourth hole in the year that he won the players. Uh I believe that was this past year, but I don’t even think that was Sunday. I think that was Saturday. Uh maybe it was Sunday. Uh hold out today.
Hold out today. Danny McCarthy. Uh Thor. Michael Thor.
People haul out all the time. I’m just thinking about like when has it been on Sunday in a in a big time moment. Gosh, I bet people are just like, “How are you forgetting this one?”
Yeah, please put those in the comments. How did Denny McCarthy hold out today? Denny McCarthy’s hitting the ball good this year. Like his ball striking has been like he’s really it’s really bumped up a level to go along with his putting. So, you saying you’re going to take him somewhere? I might have to. Maybe Denny the Windham. Maybe
I might take Denny the Windham. I thought he was going to get it done this week just on this sheer frat house. The frat house streak ends, which is a real shame for all of us. Frat
now. I’m just Now I’m just thinking about whole outs like what am I missing? Like Rory hasn’t had like a crazy
whole I mean that that the hole out that him and K Morau had at 18 were pretty cool that bunker.
Um wasn’t a win. Like those are like a really
those are really cool outs. Just think about players now. This is Xander. Um,
what’s I mean, Tiger’s most iconic hole out uh
16 Augusta
Masters. Yeah.
Yeah,
that’s probably that’s probably the the most memorable one. We’d say
Jackson just said Scotty’s hole out uh from jail, but actually that was the day before Jackson. That was the first day. It was the first hole of the PJ Championship that he hauled out on the first hole. The next the next morning is when he got thrown in jail.
Yeah. and then blocked out to many men, which is many people. Yeah, that’s definitely a whole out there that comes to mind. We should we should put some in the comments. We’re struggling right now. Put some in the comments. Uh thank you in advance for your help. I’m sure we’re forgetting so many of these. This was not like this was not like uh our our debate over uh best drives, best drivable uh you know, like the call Morocawa, JD Spawn conversation. We know we’re missing good haul outs. So send those to us. Uh, so Miley, here’s the last place to end. We we teased a little bit earlier in the show. Um, the 100 million FedEx Cup payouts changing significantly. I’m quoting from a article that Sean Zach wrote for Golf.com summarizing it. Uh, so just main points, total bonus pool remains at 100 million. No one’s getting paid any less. It’s just they’re paying it out at different times. So, uh, a a total of the headline in this article here, regular season matters the most. Uh a total of 20 million will be split among the top 10 players in the F cup at the conclusion of the regular season. Um which I I guess is like almost layering on a bonus to the Comcast business tour. Uh for all intents and purposes, um there are payouts for positioning after each of the playoff events. Um so like there’s an additional 23 million get that gets paid out after the BMW Championship based on standings there. Um, and then the winner at East Lake rather than than winning I guess it was the 25 or $30 million winner share last year will win just 10 million for that week. Second place wins 5 million so on so forth. Um, it’s a essentially a $40 million purse for the tour championship now. Um, so face value, do we do we like this change? What do you think about this change?
Well, it’s kind of what we expected to happen. It just I’m surprised it took a while for it to be rolled out. You would have thought this whole thing would have been rolled out when the tour championship was announced in the new format. So, uh it definitely explains a lot because it definitely maybe keeps a player like Scotty Sheffler uh or Rory Mackroy or a name another top four or five player on the FedEx Cup points uh to to maybe want to play Memphis and BMW. uh they still might be able to get away with it uh with how far ahead they are, but got to remember points are like quadrupled at the playoffs. So things definitely can get a little dicey uh when it comes to those top spots and how much money is on the line. Not to say these guys haven’t made a jillion dollars this year, but um it is another factor for these guys to play. Rory’s been rumored to not want to play Memphis this year. Um golf course that he doesn’t necessarily like. It’s hot. Um, so I I don’t expect to see Rory there this year, but uh I would assume that Scotty will play. Um would have to think he’ll play, right? You’d assume. I mean, I think this is this is to some degree um a spin-off of of some of the ideas that we’ve talked about on the show. I mean, I think the first and foremost thing we’ve talked about is separating the regular season from the playoffs. and and you know, there’s a whole season worth of uh consistency that should be rewarded. Currently, you know, prior to this was rewarded heavily by the Comcast Business Tour, but we really didn’t talk too much about that or make a big as big of a deal about that as maybe we should have. Um, and now you’re layering on that additional 20 million or whatever it is uh for for playing well in the regular season, which I think is is is correct. It’s like that’s that’s the thing, you know, if you’re consistent throughout the entire season, why are we throwing a lot of that out the window and just letting people kind of randomize the the finish order over the last three events and then having the money paid out that way? It doesn’t make a ton of sense to me. Um, I think that to your point on Rory skipping Memphis that the way this seems to be paid out, I mean, the reason why he can afford to skip Memphis is because he’s not going to move much if at all going from the first event to the second event. you know, if he was like on a certain level.
You wouldn’t think so. You wouldn’t think so.
You wouldn’t think so. Right. So, so like so the the the difference in what you’re getting paid each stage will not be materially, you know, different and so you can afford to to skip that event still. And then and it it’s in a lot of ways lessening the importance of the tour championship because now we’re doing away with starting strokes and it’s just it’s just a normal event that just happens to be paying out $10 million to the winner. Um, so
well the other idea was that the that the ending of the PGA Tour season was supposed to entice him more of that 8 to 12 guys on the on the FedEx Cup list to want to play and wind them, but you’ve seen players that have really not even cared. But I was talking to Sahal on the on the putting green last year who was a player that eventually ended up in that top 10. Uh, he was monitoring it very closely. So, there are players that that definitely take note of of that that ending of the regular season. Uh, 20 million. I
I just think that what it boils down to for me, and this is just my opinion. I mean, I think a lot of people would probably disagree, is is that the it’s always felt contrived in a way, you know, of like this tour championship, this playoffs format. You know, we have the major tent posts of of professional golf on a year-to-year basis. We have the four majors. Those are steeped in history. That’s what people care about. We’ve had the history of the RDER Cup um you know, for years and years and years. Like these are forever going to be the the the events that people care about, that people watch the most, the support. You know, it’s hard to just spring up this thing from from you know, thin air and then and then make the format weird and changing, you know, from year to year and say you’re supposed to care about this the most is like our season finale. Um, I I just don’t think people really do care about it like that. James Kan said it well when he came on the show of like you have in what other league do you get to the playoffs and the TV ratings start declining? Like it’s it’s the complete opposite. Um, I I I think it sets the table in a way for sweeping change. Like if you start lessening the value or importance of each of these events in terms of just the financial the purse for them then you I think you create a window of opportunity to do some real reformatting of where it’s played what the format is if you go to match play down the road because it’s not like you’re you’re taking away this big thing from players of like well wait a second I I would like to play in the event where I can win $30 million for it’s like well now it’s less and it has more to do with the whole playoffs at large. So, I I think I think it’s it’s correctly attributing the parts of this payment to the places they should go, but I think it continues to strip away importance and sign in sign significance from the playoffs. Um, and I think that’s just kind of the state of of where we are with this thing. It’s like all these different formats didn’t really work and now we’re back to one that’s just it’s like vanilla ice cream. It’s just okay, we’re just playing another tournament and you’re getting paid more money. I guess the contrarian side of this is that if I’m against the stroke play free-for-all tour championship, how can I be for match play? You know, that that would make sense in that, you know, match play it it, you know, a guy can get hot on you. you know, you you you judge an entire season on stroke play and then all of a sudden, you know, Scotty Sheffer is going up against the 16 seed who’s uh had a good year but goes out and he loses. But what is what is so different about match play and stroke play from my perspective is I think that there’s it’s easier to follow. I think that you can always tell where where it stands uh within the two players that are playing each other. And then you also get, I think, more energy and reactions from the players and just an overall sense of urgency right from the get-go. Um, where a tour championship, it’s just going to be like every other tournament. They’re going to tiptoe their way uh along and just treat it, you know, one get too high, one will get too low. Uh, where with match play, it’s, you know, it’s part of the game and ship of of fist pumping and getting the momentum. And that’s where I think the crowd um definitely could play a factor in whether it’s an underdog or you know bringing home Scotty Sheffer who’s three down. That’s the aspect I think that the players have totally missed in this is that um of course the players are part of the reason why match play hasn’t worked. But couldn’t agree more like you go to a a big city with energy and then players that have a sense of urgency and match play to not want to go home. Uh we just we just talked about there’s plenty of money going out early enough um and all this for the guys who play good throughout the season. So let’s make this thing fun. Yeah. And that’s and I agree with all that. And I think that’s exactly it’s like we just need to just this needs to not be the playoffs anymore. It needs to be like a special fall series because I guess if you’re selling me as the tour on, you know, these high leverage stroke play events. It’s like, okay, we already have four of those that we’ve already seen that we care about the most. And then and then even within a tour context, you already have one that leads off the year and Marsh that we care about more than any of the playoff events. And the players, we love the players. It’s fantastic event. It’s it’s in a phenomenal venue. like that that I care about that more in that spot in the schedule. You know, I the the players kind of to your point missing the the the what match play could represent is where match play fell on the calendar before it was a great event. It was an elevated event, but an a seasonending highstakes match play event would generate so much intrigue and and you you could really build something from nothing there. Like you watch Oh,
and think about this too. It’s the same thing we talked about with moving the Zurich Classic and the schedule. Wouldn’t you love to see high leverage singles match play, you know, a month before you’re going into a RDER Cup or a President’s Cup? And maybe some guys are talking about
Well, like if if you’re having this match play at the end of August, have you been to Louisiana in the end of August?
I I’m saying I’m sorry. I’m saying I’m saying now a tour championship doing match play at a tour championship, which also Atlanta at the end of August. I mean, we do it every year. Also not great, but I mean,
dude, I think Louisiana might be the hottest place in the world in August. Well, I mean, but we we were saying on the Zurich, to be fair, we were saying do the Zurich two weeks before. I mean, not that that September, it’s pretty dang hot, too. But I I my my point being if you make the Tour Championship match play and that’s at the end of August, you know, at the end of September you’re going to see, you know, Europe versus the United States in match play or the United States against the Internationals in match play. Like it gets you a little bit hyped up and excited for that. and and I I guess that’s technically would be a week after the captain’s picks are made as it’s currently constituted, but maybe you push back that deadline till after the tour championship to make those last six captains picks and see how those boys do, you know, and and then maybe make some last minute calls based on how a guy does in a high leverage match for a ton of money. I just think it’s like at least what you’re doing there is creating a product that is distinct and has its own identity that’s not just like what we currently do which is we just play three events. Two of them are in the same place every year. One of them bounces around for a lot of money so care about it for
change saying like they’re going to have to um and they will. It’s just a shame that that uh I mean good for them for for do at least doing something different this year, but it’s still it there’s still so much meat left on this bone.
Well, and and if I’m if I’m just being fair to everyone who’s working on that side, like I think actually what they’re doing is laying a road map to to change it, right? Like they’re they’re stripping away all the all the the format, you know, the all the contract format things. They’re stripping away the dollar value. They’re bringing it back down. So then I think it becomes easier to make a change from that from that place rather than the elevated place it has been. So we’ll
you just rather just make one change like one big old fat change versus you know a change every single year because sure he gives us something to talk about. Uh, but I think fans are are want want the best product now and not, hey, sorry you’re in a deal with with this corporate entity that that wants this tournament in this place. And that’s kind of where we’re stuck right now. I mean, if you really want me to get like my tinfoil conspiracy theorist hat on now that I I have this on firmly firmly placed on my head. Uh, is okay. You had to assume for some time
that the tour wanted to have a succession plan for Jay Monahan, right? So, like I don’t know how long ago they started interviewing people or talking to guys like Brian Rolap, but they probably know that there’s going to be another guy who’s going to come in who’s going to reshape the future of this thing. So probably makes a lot more sense to kind of blank slate it instead of putting out the idea that was half baked from Jonah handan and maybe quarter baked from roll app. It’s like let’s just kind of zero this thing out, take it to a more neutral place and then let the next regime decide what the best television product is and how they want to kind of reformat in the future. It’s not clean for fans, but it’s also probably makes most sense from organizational perspective.
Yeah, I think so. So, uh, interesting roll out and can’t wait to see Brian Campbell just splash across Pontedra, winning the tour championship this year.
This has been a really nice hour, hour and five minute ride here. And I think in the course of this podcast, I started as like a negative naysayer. I’m all the way in on Brian Campbell. I want him to win at East Lake. And I I just love a guy who’s just hitting it out there straight. 276 or twice
further than Brian.
I hit it I hit it further. I do. I also hit it a lot further right and a lot further left than him and often in the context of the same round. So that is why I’m I’ve not won twice on tour this year among many other reasons.
I thought he was going to I thought he was going to blow it after the um he hit that hook on the 15th hole and made a double and then I was thinking while this ball was going in the trees like is he going to get the same bounce he got in the playoff and this thing’s going to ricochet back in the fairway. Uh it didn’t but still he went on got it done. So congrats Brian. Uh, I ordered a new putter on eBay. Um, what’d you go with? I got uh I was in the old Cadam shop two weekends ago and they had like that spider that’s weighted to feel like a blade. I think it’s like a spider. I I can look it up. It’s like spider. It’s got like some threeletter acronym on it. Uh,
so like weights. So the the general weights in the heel of this when you say it feels like a blade. So like it has to swing. It’s weighted towards the the the front of the face. Um SCG look my Oh, Jackson’s got a spider SCG. Look at Jax getting in the chat here with the with the Jax. Text us and tell us if you like it or not. Yeah, I I ordered a spider SCG. Um I’m very excited about it. Um I I’m going to
borrow some weights from my um my current uh blade and throw those in there. We’ll kind of weight it heavily in the front. I’d have to roll I’d have to roll a couple to know what you’re kind of talking about. Did you just put I set it down and it was like I’ll say it this way like I was I was in the shop and and I was just grabbing putters as I always do and I got like the Tour like the Tour X whatever the spider is that that Rory and Scotty use and it just the stroke the way the stroke just flowed it just didn’t feel comfortable. I was just messing around with the other putters and then I grabbed this one. I was like oh that this just this feels right. It was like, you know, you like Harry Potter when uh when, you know, they they find him the right wand. You know, that’s kind of how it felt picking up the Spider FCG. So, we’ll uh we’ll report back. We’ll let you know how it goes.
We’ve talked Diaries. We’ve talked High School Musical. And there we are with the last one.
Please leave in the comments what you think of Zack Efron’s Jaw. Uh thank you so much for listening and watching to us as always. And uh we’ll be right back here soon to um recap the Scottish Open to bring you some Open Championship preview. We got all sorts of things. Oh, and we have a premiere this week on YouTube of one of the best putting performances that Steven Sweeny’s ever seen in his studio courtesy of One Smiley Kaufman. Excited about that one, SK. Yeah, it’s a good one. Can’t wait to see it.
Good one. Can’t wait to see it. Can’t wait for you to see it. We’ll talk to you back here very soon. you know, I listen to this podcast. It’s really cool and
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You guys have some good takes, so I’m happy to come on and and shoot the