We had a full guest list today for our Open Preview Show on Golf Channel and were joined by Rich Lerner, Brandel Chamblee, Billy Horschel, Tommy Roy and Stephen Watson. Horschel provided a player perspective on what it takes to get into the hunt and the conditions that alter play. Lerner and Chamblee gave some historical perspective to the event while weighing in on some of the top story lines. Roy discussed the event from the television perspective and what the audience will see. And Watson talked about the local Irish angle including what it would mean for Rory McIlroy to win the Claret Jug at Royal Portrush.
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Good morning. Welcome into five clubs here on Golf Channel in 1 hour. You can also listen on PJ Tour Radio channel 92 on SiriusXM because it’s 7 a.m. Eastern time. We’re rocking it old school on a Monday of Open Championship Week. I am Gary Williams and this program always brought to you by Century Insurance because when it comes to the things that you need business insurance wise, they’ve got you covered. Not to mention what they do in the game of golf with the United States Golf Association and the First Tolf Pride. When it comes to grips, they are trusted more than any grip company, it’s not even close for countless reasons, starting with the options you have, not to mention the quality of the materials. Peter Malar, from their sport coat to the tie to the shirt, everything that I wear and have worn for 15 years, it is Peter Malar. They’ve got a great sale at petermalar.com going on right now. And I saw over the weekend the new clubhouse at Piner number 10. It’s open and it is spectacular. Among the many new assets at the Piner Resort, the cradle of American Golf. Book a trip to go there. You will not be disappointed. They have more to offer you than any other place in this country when it comes to the game of golf on course and off. We have two hours this morning for you because it is open championship week, the final major of the year in the men’s game. This is where it all began at the highest level in 1860. So, we’ve got Rich Learner who’s going to really set the scene. Nobody can do it better than Rich Learner, who is the the cornerstone point guard for the live from property on Golf Channel. They’re going to follow us at 9:00 a.m., which is 2:00 in the afternoon over there at Royal Port Rush in Northern Ireland, followed by we’re going to have Tommy Roy, who is the Hall of Fame lead producer for golf coverage on NBC. He’s been doing it for more than three decades. Tommy’s going to join us, give us his view on why the Open Championship is so particular to produce from a television standpoint. Top of the next hour, Billy Horchel is going to be with us. He was the 54 hole leader last year in this great championship. Finish tied for second. It was his best result in a major championship. He’s not in the field this year. He had surgery on his right hip. He is on the mend. I know he’s been doing a lot of fishing. He’s going to join us to give a sense of why it means so much to him to play globally and specifically in the British Isles. So, he’s going to join us. Then, Brandell Champli will be with us, his viewpoint as we head into uh this final men’s major. And then finally, Steven Watson. If you’re unfamiliar with him, he grew up in Northern Ireland. He has been a lead sports presenter as they call them. We call them hosts over here, presenters over there. He grew up in Northern Ireland. He is somebody who has known how this has happened. How Royal Port Rush went 68 years between their first open championship in 1951 to getting their second in 2019 and then only six years later the RNA returns. Plus, he’s know he knows Rory and he’s known Rory his entire life. So his view of Rory and golf in that part of the world and the importance of this championship to that little bedroom community about 50 miles north of Belfast. But before we get to all of that leading into open championship week was a co-sanction event between the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour. The tapestry and the texture of this leaderboard is representative of why we need to have at least one more of these, if not a couple. Now, the timing is perfect to be able to put this where it was. And what we had was a really great story. Chris Gotup from Little Silver, New Jersey, who had won a golf tournament on the PGA Tour down in Myrtle Beach. He went to Ruters, then went off to Oklahoma. Look, he is a big- time talent, but at 25, taking a little bit longer to make his big emphatic statement, he just made it. He wins by two over Marco Penge from England, who’s a great story himself. You’re going to see a lot more to him in the United States next year because that result is going to get him membership on the PGA Tour. Rory Maroy always plays well there. Rory was right there as a 54 hole leader, but got her up was just better than him. Nikico Hygard his result is a tie for fourth gets him into the open championship that last open championship qualifying series site. So he’s in Matt Fitzpatrick good form for him. Good momentum building event for him. Justin Rose, he improves his position in the FedEx Cup standings from 33 to 24. Septraka, another top 10 for a guy who is having a career year. And look at those three names rounding out why this was such a delicious leaderboard. Schoffley who defends this week at the Open. Scotty Sheffller who just lives inside the top 10. That’s 10 straight. And Ludvig Oberg who finishes tied for eighth but also made a triple in the middle of the back nine on Saturday. And his result was what his result was. You can say well if he doesn’t make that triple he’s right there. We don’t know. What we do know is that that is a good result for him leading into this final major of the year. Let me just add a couple thoughts about Chris Goddarup because I thought midway through this final round yesterday at the Renaissance Club just down the street from Mirfield and just up the street from North Burick that I was thinking to myself, what a great story. Look at this. He has handled himself admirably. He’s probably not going to win, but what a memory. What a building block for him to take forward wherever forward was going to be. And it looked like because of where he was positioned, he was going to get one of those spots into the open championship. He didn’t just do that. He won the whole darn thing. And he did it playing alongside Rory Maroy. And this to me was even more dramatic and more emphatic than what I saw 6 years ago right here in Charlotte, North Carolina because on a Saturday in the Wells Fargo Championship, a guy named Max, he had won a golf tournament on the PJ tour, Chris Goddarup had, it was an alternate field event down there at Myrtle Beach, but not many people were paying that close of attention because the affforementioned Wells Fargo goes on at the same time. And I remember walking that day, that Saturday in 2019, with Max, who had had ES and a little bit of flow, but more es in his young professional career. And I thought to myself, okay, he’s in the deep end of the pool here on a Saturday paired with Rory Mroy. He outplayed him that day. And he went on the following day to win that golf tournament and win for the first time. And that was not just a step forward. that was a the the launching pad for what became an incredible build to a guy who was on a President’s Cup team and then the man of the match for the United States on a RDER Cup team. I don’t know what the next 12 months are going to mean for Chris GDU, but what I know is what he did yesterday was wildly impressive. And to do that, playing alongside Rory Maroy. And here’s the thing that I appreciated most is that he wasn’t getting a lot of come on Chris, but he heard a lot of come on Rory. When you win a road game, and I mean a bonafide road game, you ask anybody, and we’ll talk to somebody who’s done it a couple of times, twice at Wentworth, Billy Horchel. He knows how emboldened it makes you, how much it makes you stand up straight and go, I just went on the road. And to be a global player, you got to do those types of things. So for Chris Goddarup and for the people from Monmouth County, New Jersey, there has not been a lot of representation from my home state, the Garden State on the PGA tour. Morgan Hoffman from the area code 2011 of which I am a product of. Jim McGovern back in the day from Hackinack Country Club. There hadn’t been many. But Chris Chris Goddarup could be could be a guy who not only represents the state of New Jersey but Ruters by way of Oklahoma could be somebody. And let me give credit to Rory Maroy because not only was he chirping him up when he knew it was over. Boy did he give him some serious shine when it was over. Gave him some great words. And then if you saw the little video of them in the scoring uh building afterward patting him on the back, that’s a neat moment. It’s more than a neat moment for Chris Gdderup to do what he did to win that event. So now he is in the open championship and this event which as I said started it all lit the match on elite professional golf for men and Willie Park and Tom Morris senior and JH Taylor and all the men who were the pioneers who built this thing up and Harry Varden who won that trophy six times. And then you go on into the modern era and even if it was just the beginning of the modern era because Hogan only went there once. And when you talk about threading the needle in 1953, the PGA actually concluded the day before his lone start in the open championship. The Wii Icemen goes to Carnasti and wins in 1953. And then it was something where Arnold Palmer said, “Look, if you’re a top American, don’t act like this doesn’t matter.” And he really was the driving force of really ushering in the modern era and the sense of responsibility that top players should have. I don’t care how costly it is. I don’t care how arduous the journey is. If you think you’re somebody, you better be playing for that jug. And he started doing it. And he won it in back-to-back years. And then subsequently Jack Nicholas started to win the open championship and put together a record. No, he didn’t win as many as Watson, but he won three. And he lived lived inside the top 10. So much so that he only had one top non-top 10 result from the early 60s to 1980 and won his final Clara Jug in 1978. And as I mentioned, the duel in the sun in 77 at Turnberry with Watson and Nicholas and Watson was the guy. But even at the beginning, he wasn’t sure if he liked it. But there are certain things about this championship would get beyond the datadriven era that we live in now where it strokes gained and ball speed and launch angle. this week, this winner is probably going to top out and lead the field in guts, guile, awareness, acceptance, and embracing what this week means, which is, I don’t know, being on the wrong end of the draw and all of a sudden dealing with something that’s coming off the North Sea, and you’re going, “That doesn’t look pretty. That looks biblical.” and you live through it to maybe maybe scratch out a one overpar round and you come back the next day and the skies are clear and you go out there and you put together a round and you put yourself in position to hear some words that are maybe as delectable as any words in the game of the year. That’s what they’re playing for this week. Kind of weighty are those words, are they not? Speaking of words, somebody who writes about the game, speaks about the game with as much weight and passion and love as anybody I know. Rich Learner. When Rich goes to a big event, he doesn’t just cover the event. He wants to immerse himself in the community. What has he done in the leadin to this open championship? I can promise you it’s something interesting. He joins me next with you till 9:00 a.m. here on Golf Channel. The SiriusXM audience will join us at 8:00 am Eastern time. And when we’re done, it is live from the Open. And you will hear from Rory Maroy, who by the way at 7 a.m. this morning after second at the Scottish down there in East Lotheian. Made his way home to Port Rush. His ball was first in the air this morning at 700 a.m. local time. 2:00 in the morning here back on the east coast of the United States. Rich Learner joins me next. It’s a Monday. It’s five clubs. It’s open championship week. We’re back right after this. Back in on this Monday. We started early because it’s open championship week. We’re leading you right up until live from at 9 9:00 a.m. Eastern time from Royal Port Rush. This segment is brought to you by Golf Pride. When it comes to trusting your grips through your bag, there is no company, no grip trusted more than Golf Pride. Joining me now, uh speaking of gripping it tightly at times, uh he’s not Billy Chapel. He can’t clear the mechanism when he gets on the golf course at times. Uh he is an elite essaist. Uh he’s a world-class gas bag. He travels with his own backdrop. Uh he has been immersed in the community. Uh, I know for more than 24 hours. I’m speaking of course of the point guard himself, like magic. Tall, but he can distribute. There he is. Long, lean, Richie Learner. Good morning, my friend. Gee, Dub, beautiful day here. I mean, I I thought I landed in Southern California when I arrived last Thursday. Yesterday, I’m I’m on the uh the 60T here at Royal Port Rush, and this golf course is absolutely magnificent. Staggering views. But I’m standing on the 16. I’m looking down at the beach. I thought it was Bondi Beach in Australia. Like I I thought I went to Northern Ireland. Uh but it’s been it’s been really beautiful. I’m I’m just walking around right now. I’m just like getting in the flow and the mood of for an open. I mean it’s as Sam Torrance behind the mic of an open. Everything I see I look out at the Irish Sea Sunny and 85 and I say, “My goodness, look at that.” Uh, Adam Scott hitting drivers on the range, majestic swings, and I say, “My goodness, look at the dude stumbling in front of our hotel last night, 12 Guinnesses deep. My goodness, look at that. So, the key, Gary, you know this, the key to great commentary at an open, number one, it’s minimalist, but two, you pick a phrase and you lean on it and it works whatever the circumstance. If a guy hits it 30 yards offline onto the rail railroad tracks, my goodness, look at that. That works. If he makes a 40footer for birdie, my goodness, look at that. So, Longhurst used to do it. Whatever the circumstance it was, my my well well and right through the bag, didn’t matter. He could have himself three hours leaning on one phrase. So, yeah. Uh I love Sam Torrance. I I Well, I know what you also love. You You love traveling the world and you have such a curious mind. So, look, I know you go to Rio, you’ll go down to S to Katarina and jump on a a surfboard or if you’re in Bangkok, you’ll figure out some boxing match somewhere. So, you go you you land in Dublin and I know you didn’t just get in a rental car and drive to Port Rush. You’ve done something, haven’t you? Played some lousy golf with Paulie at Royal Dublin. First of all, that’s Harry Colt design. It’s not it’s not the right golf course for a case of the diving hooks which I had. Paulie still Paulie still has a ton of game but Paulie was an old Gaelic football player and actually would have played at the highest level had he not blown out his knee. I’m talking about Paul McInley who was just a really wonderful host for three days. We ended up at Croak Park where he played Gaelic football quite a few times. Uh we saw uh Carrie beat Tyrone. Carrie’s like a powerhouse through the years. Tyrone’s from the north. uh 85,000 semifinal games. So uh a week from this Sunday, it will be Kerry against Donnie Gaul in the final Croak Park. It’s a beautiful game. It’s sort of like basketball meets soccer meets rugby. Uh great crowds. Uh but but what stuck out to me is just sort of how local it all is. You you grow up here, you play, maybe it’s hurling or maybe uh it’s uh Gaelic football or maybe it’s golf. you play for your club and then if you’re good enough, you play for your county. And so that we’re in like an Amazon world where very little anymore is local. And this, by the way, Gaelic football, Gary, is the last bastion, I think, in in any sport around the world of pure amateurism. The guys we watched on on the pitch uh were teachers and lawyers and accountants and engineers and mechanics. Uh so there’s a real purity to it. Uh but local matters here uh in all 32 counties across Ireland. So uh though Rory doesn’t have a tie to Gaelic football, uh it would matter you know to the people of County Down here that that Rory’s playing. And last point, the kind of athletes uh that that even Gaelic football produces the sort of the toughness that permeates the culture. Uh Shane Lowry who won the open here in 2019. Shane Lowry’s dad was a part of what you would probably compare to the Miracle on Ice team uh in Gaelic football. That was 1982. County Offley was playing Mighty Kerry which was looking for a fifth consecutive all Ireland title and on a late score off won. And they’ve been immortalized ever since. So, Brendan Lowry and his son Shane, 37 years later, part of two of the greatest moments in Irish sports history. And obviously, I think Rory winning this week uh would be right there as well. You know, Rich, you said he doesn’t have the connection to Gaelic football, but you also said something that I I I think you would agree with is that he is somebody who engages. He he things are personal to him. He can take things personally. can make things personal in a very good way. Um, and in terms of this week, he is from that area. This is home. Uh, he’s not aloof. He’s not obtuse. He’s touched by things. He’s impacted by things. If he climbs and gets in the fight, what do you think that’s going to feel like and sound like? It’ll be off the charts here. Um, you’re have record crowds this week. But I I think we all know just even in your own, you know, personal experiences, going home when you’re fully grown up, uh can be tricky. You know, it’s not always what what you think. Uh you have a memory of the way it was when you were a kid. Uh people have expectations who you are now and sometimes it it just doesn’t quite work out. I would say Rory sort of got the worst out of the way. How’d you describe it to me recently? The the quad, the very first toll back in 2019. You made a good comparison, Gary. Oh gosh. I I mean I Yeah. No, I I the thing that I’ve leaned on was not so much I haven’t thought that much about the quad. What I thought about was you know what he did Sunday was essentially going to the summit uh without an oxygen tank and we didn’t have one either. Um, he’s had some I was saying in 20 in 2019 you said making quad on the very first hole with all that hype. I think it was it was Tyson Sphinx is all that hype and it was over in 91 seconds. So my point is the worst of it is out of the way for Rory. He will have the benefit of having had the experience albeit mostly unpleasant uh in 2019 as he returns here. Plus, he’s dealt with the enormous pressure uh of trying to win the career grand slam, trying to win the Masters. That’s also out of the way. What what I would say with Rory is is he just sort of needs to sling a bag over his shoulder. There’s a wonderful still photograph uh from 2010 after McDow had won the US Open. Grant McDow won the US Open at Pebble Beach. the two of the uh two of them, Rory and GMC, have bags slung over their shoulders and they’re just playing Royal County down. So, what I would say with Rory is sling a bag over your shoulder u and just just go out into the neighborhood, the neighborhood that raised you as one of their own. The front doors are going to be open. There will be cookies on every single counter. Just go home, be a kid, and play like a kid. If he does do it, Gary, I think we will have witnessed one of the most uh consequential and emotional seasons in the history of the game. One, you know, we’re likely not going to see again completing a career grand slam at the Masters and winning an open in your own backyard. The, you know, the only thing that that would be comparable would be Arie in 62 trying to win the US Open at Oakmont. I think obviously we met way back in 1913 winning the US Open at Brooklyn back in Boston, but you this u you this will be uh you know something ex extraordinary if if he’s able to do it and I do think he’s playing well. Uh he’s you know obviously runner up yesterday but he’s in a pretty good place Gary. No no no question. I I I think the word you used is apt consequential. it be arguably the greatest bookend major championship season under circumstance that that that we’ve likely ever seen. Um Sheffler and don’t forget don’t forget he won the players. I think there’s a subplot here is player of the year is up for grabs. Sheffller wins this week he’s player of the year. If neither guy wins, Sheffler probably has a slight edge because statistically he’s he’s superior. But if Rory wins here, he will have won u at two cathedrals. He won a signature event at Pebble Beach. He won a Masters, the career grand slam with all of that pressure. He will have won the Open in his backyard. Oh, and by the way, he also won the players championship. Uh so three, he will have won three of the five most significant championships in the game, win this week. Uh it’s done and dusted. Whatever happens from here. Yeah, I totally agree. Uh let me ask you about Sheffler. I I know that you you’re a very good listener. Um and and you apply what you hear to the things that you then share. He shares more than people I think know. It’s not about looking back on things. And you’re not going to get him to project ahead, but where his feet are, he gives you stuff. And I think it’s instructive about focus and patience. What can we learn about Scotty Sheffler as an athlete in 2025 that could be applied across the spectrum? Yeah, I think be present, but you know, h how can you effectively be present and be at your best? I think uncluttered mind. Keep it simple. Uh, and that’s hard to do in in this world. We’re we’re being pinged and dinged every four seconds where as a a celebrity professional athlete. And they’re not just professional athletes these days, they’re celebrity professional athletes, though Scotty has much more emphasis by design on just being a professional athlete. So, you know, I I I would say you absolutely have to keep it simple. And Scotty does. It is in this order. It’s faith, it’s family, and it’s finishing first. Uh Ted Scott, his caddy, has said it is not complicated with Scott E. Sheffler. He works hard, he has a great attitude, he loves the moment, and he’s an absolute gamer. Keep going down the line. He owns his golf swing. Uh his competitive instincts are on par with with what we saw with Tiger and Jack Nicholas. Knows how to get it round. knows how to turn 73 into 70 to keep leaders in touch. Uh, consistently hits the right shot. There is a piece of video that was circulating on social media. Scotty playing basketball. He played high school basketball. He was not surprisingly he was a good defensive player. He was rugged. He was a good rebounder. And he was kind of a glue guy. Shouldn’t shock anyone. But in this piece of video, he’s playing pickup hoops probably a couple of years ago. and he throws just a perfect bounce pass to a cutter who misses a wideopen layup who’s there for the follow the putback. It’s Scotty Shuffler. And I point this out because it it’s simply the right play. As you’ve watched Scotty uh plenty of times I call him right shot Scotty because he consistently hits the right shot. Uh, and then, you know, beyond that, he plays with I think he he plays with house money a lot. His ball striking is so elite, so consistently good that he can take chances around the greens that other guys might not. Um, I’m thinking sort of, you know, speed in his heyday of 2015 was a little bit like that. So, um, you know, I think he has such balance, Scotty, uh, through his life. His mom Diane said to me last year at the BMW when I asked her, “Please help us better understand why your son is having success beyond strokes gained.” And she said very simply, “Scotty is not his score.” Repeat, “Scotty is not his score.” Uh, and it it’s authentic. Look, if Scotty were your doctor, if he were your son’s high school basketball coach, you wouldn’t worry. you’d know that you’re in good hands. Uh, I’m going to let you the the audience will indulge us here because they know you’re such a hoops head. You said glue guy. Give me three glue guys that you loved all time in the NBA. I’ve got one that you you better say this guy’s name that Sheffller is a glue guy. Give it give them to me. Let me Let me just go to one of my favorite teams. I danced on Broad Street because I went to school Temple University when the Sixers destroyed Kareem and the Lakers. You know, it it was Moses and Doc fronting that team. But the glue guys were Mochi’s uh you classic old school point guard. And then as a Carolina guy, Gary, I’m gonna I’m gonna do this. Bobby Jones. That’s it. Bobby Jones. That’s the glue guy. That is the glue guy right there. I knew you’d get it. We did not tip him off. There was no notes passed. I knew he would get the ultimate glue guy. Listen, have a great week. I know how much uh gratitude you have about what you get to do. It’s reflected in the work. Thank you, my friend. My goodness, Gary, look at that. Let me just thank you. Rich Learner right there live from all week long. We take a quick break. Tommy Roy, he’s in the broadcast hall of fame, as he should be. He’s the lead producer for golf on NBC. How do you do an open? How do you produce an open for television? He joins us when we continue this Monday edition. Five clubs on Golf Channel Top of the Hour on SiriusXM’s channel 92. back after this. Back in on this Monday edition of Five Clubs here on Golf Channel top of the hour. You can also listen on channel 92’s PJ Tour radio on SiriusXM. This segment brought to you by Pinehurst, the new clubhouse at number 10. It is open. I’ve seen some pictures of it. It looks fantastic. When it comes to making a trip and knowing you can do a ton of things, plus having all the options of all the different golf courses, very few places have more to offer you than the cradle of American golf. That is Piner. Somebody who knows Piners exceptionally well. If I asked him the best angle of any hole, well, he would know because he’s produced the US Open there on multiple occasions, including last year. He’s in the broadcast hall of fame, as he should be. He’s the lead producer for golf on NBC. joins me now from a place where if you want to know where he’s going to be until Sunday evening at Royal Port Rush, he’ll be right where he is now. That of course is Tommy Roy. How are you, my friend? Doing great. I’m very honored to come off that snappy in bumper with the music. I think I might have heard a little bit of the Mer Griffin theme song from way back when in there, but I love it. You you did as I told you that the whole idea because you had you know your eye your ear uh I I was going for the whole variety show thing with my cousin who composed that music and you asked me about it at Oakmont and I said my gosh Tommy that’s exactly what we were going for. Uh it’s great to see you in the place that you love so much. Nobody loves their work more than you do. give the viewer an idea of of the process of of getting your team prepared to produce and present a major championship in the open road, specifically Port Rush. How when does the process start and take us through how you know you’re ready? Well, it it actually began way back in 19 because we’ve already done one of these here, so we know the course well. But um the interesting thing is uh for the open we actually do two what we call surveys and that’s where we come over here and figure out how many cameras we need where they go. So the first one we do in the fall uh usually in like October or so plan it all out and then we come back over in the spring in like April or so and meet with all the vendors and everybody that’s involved and all the international uh broadcasters in one one massive meeting. We walk the course both times just to make sure that the cameras are uh put up in the place that we want them. And then I get to town uh came here, landed on Saturday and I went out and did my my walk again just to make sure the towers are where we wanted them. Very interesting. Uh the 16th hole shoots back towards the Dunloose Castle which is you know up on the horizon you see as you drive in here and it’s a pretty iconic shot that when we see players putting on 16 this is in the background. Well, when we were here for the survey the in the fall, sorry, in the spring, the uh RNA had already started building their infrastructure and they were under construction of a huge uh jumbotron there and was going to block that shot. And so, uh we asked them if they could move that and and they did fortunately. But when I came out here to do my survey, my little walk around, now there’s a tower that’s been built in the background from the 15th fairway. So, it’s going to be in the shot. So, just goes to show you what we deal with when uh we come work on these events. But, uh but we love this one. I mean, it’s so much fun. I remember back in the day um hearing the old the ABC guys talk about this event with such reverence, you know, when they were doing it and and we had been doing the RDER Cup um internationally and it’s very very difficult to do these events over here. Um and I would remember them talking about with such reverence and I go, “Man, is it really that much fun?” And then when we got the rights, I learned it really is. I mean, such great places. The people at the RNA are just wonderful. Uh, all they want us to do is cover the golf and do a great job with it. Um, and it just it is a wonderful place and I love coming over here. Tommy, you said a couple things that that make me think in particular about you talk about that one shot you wanted. You’ve seen so much development uh in on the technology side of things, aerial shots, drone footage. How much in 10 years more do we get from on high? Not blimp shots. We’re talking about these spectacular drone shots. How much more of that now is being devoted to a live broadcast, particularly this week? Well, in the States, you know, we have unlimited use of the drones pretty much. And we got the drone tracing now, which is I think a a real game changer. over here. Their security is so stringent that we haven’t had much luck using drones. Two years ago, uh the World Feed had a drone, but it was tethered. So, it was like a drone on a dog leash, you know, that was allowed to go 20 feet in the air, you know. So, what do you get out of that? Um, last year I wanted to bring our own drone over uh to Trun and uh we got permission to use it on the first four holes, but every time that the drone would move a foot or two, we’d have to call air traffic control at the Preswick airport to get permission to do that. And that that’s logistically just not possible. But fortunately this week uh now that we’re up here in Northern Ireland, the uh the World Feed has their own drone that we’ll have access to and it can pretty much go anywhere other than over top of people. But uh all those holes out along the white cliffs, you know, on five and five, six, seven, but it can go all those places and it’s going to be great. You mentioned the world feed and that speaks to what you were saying about the challenges, you know, when you’re blending your all of your production and then you’re leaning on them to some degree is can you give an idea of the percentage of how much you rely on their pictures and then your own? Well, what’s going to happen is we come on the air at 1:30 in the morning on Peacock, you know, the very first T-shot. I’m talking East Coast time at 6:30 in the morning here. Um, and then they they stay on. We we ended up flipping over to USA Network and then uh all of that is going to be world feed coverage. But at 3:00 local time here on Thursday and Friday uh until 8:30 at night when we go off off the air, we’re going to take over and do our coverage uh on our own with our own cameras. And that’s when the bulk of the people in the US are are awake and and watching. So we want to make sure it’s the very best. There’s nothing wrong with World Feed. World Feed does a good job. The problem is is we have commercials and they’re producing a show that does not have any commercials. So, you know, our commercial hit and we would come out and and catch up with So, um for us, uh producing our own coverage is just the best. Sam Flood, our our executive producer, was able to to get some more funding for us to be able to do that. And on on the weekend on uh NBC, uh we’re on the air for eight hours. We do all that coverage oursel, seven hours on Sunday. So, it it’s going to be great. I’m so excited about it. For people who who who don’t know what it’s like to be inside that that truck, you and and Tom Randolph, you guys, I I I mean, it’s like Steve Carlson and Bob Boon. It’s one of the great battery, you know, combinations. And I I I look at him and it’s like he’s calling your pitches to a degree. Give people an idea of the telepathy that you have with Tom Randolph who’s been your right hand for decades in terms of the way this execution of shot to shot goes down. Yeah. Well, first of all, I got to give a shout out to our team that’s coming in from all over the world. So Tom Randolph just produced the event in Tahoe yesterday. Uh he and quite a number of people are coming from Tahoe. We had people up at the Scottish yesterday. They’re coming in coming in from Evian. Kiz who finished T8 yesterday in Louisville. He’s on a plane headed here. So, it’s when they all get here, it’s like the cavalry finally has arrived, you know, where he can do this show. But yeah, Tom Randolph is like the smartest person that I know. He’s like Rainman, you know, or he he knows what’s happening all over the golf course. He’s on on, you know, a headset to all the spotters out there, but it’s almost as if he doesn’t need the spotters and he knows the order that everyone’s hitting in and and he knows the pace that players take to hit their golf shots. So, he knows that uh you know that if Fowler, if he’s stepping it, you know, to hit this shot, we better get there right away because he’s not going to take long for another player uh might take some time. You know, I always remember uh when Jim Furick, you know, had this pattern where he he’d get over a putt and it looked like he was ready to pull the trigger, but then he would step back, look at it over again, and then get back in. And so I Tom would always be asking, is it is that Eur is he over for the first time or is that the second time? You know, so we knew what when to get there. But know Tom’s brilliant. And uh you know, it’s so difficult doing um golf just because there’s up to 70 balls in play at one time. It’s not like football, baseball, basketball where there’s only one ball you have to worry about. It’s played on 18 different fields instead of one court. Uh, and they never stop when we go to commercial. So, like if I’m doing a football game, you know, when we hit commercial, I can kind of catch my breath, think what I’m going to do coming out. But during commercials on golf, you got to work even harder to make sure everything’s being recorded. And so, when you do come out, what are we going to do before we get live again? Last thing. I don’t know how you could love it any more than you already do. But you mentioned getting the rights. The first one 16. You get Phil with the lip out on Thursday for 62. You get Stenson and Phil in this monoymano one for the ages on a Sunday. What did that do for you? I mean in in being your jumping off point doing it for the first time. How much more can you love it? I don’t know. But what was 16 like as as the tipping point for all of you? Yeah, it was just awesome. Um, I love that golf course to begin with because, you know, you the start is relatively easy if you’re getting the typical wind. Um, and so guys get off to good starts. You know, they they play the, um, the short hole there, uh, that with all the bunkers around it that we love so much. And then they make that turn and start the the road back. And it’s such a difficult finish um that uh it’s fun. But the great thing I remember about that week is basically it was just Phil and Stinson. They had separated themselves from the field and um so there was no excuse to miss a live golf shot that week because of a commercial. You know, every now and then we got to go to commercial and you you know, you you miss a live shot from a leader, but it’s the nature of it just because you have to pick times to go to commercial and miss the fewest important shots possible. But that week it was like there’s no excuse to miss a live golf shot and we didn’t until all of a sudden there was an NBC News report that interrupted us and and we had to miss a couple live shots uh you know like an approach shot or whatever and then got back to us. But but it was a great week and you know such great drama. Uh good weather u most of the week and uh and what a fun finish. Yep. And Tariq’s baptism with the team. Good way to bring him uh into the fold. I believe that was his first open with you guys as well. Here’s the other thing which I you you appreciate the pursuit that these men and women uh take on to get to this level. That’s why you show all 156 every player in the field. Uh, every single one of them you will see a shot of theirs this week. Tommy, thank you so much. Have a great week. Thanks a lot, Gary. Appreciate being on with you. Absolutely. Tommy Roy, Hall of Fame broadcast producer, lead producer for NBC. Uh, and again, starting at 1:30 on Thursday, first ball in the air to last putt hold Thursday, Friday on a onet start. It’s a glorious thing. We come back, club five on this Monday, open championship week right after this. back in on this Monday edition of Five Clubs here on Golf Channel Top of the Hour. You can also listen, that’s Channel 92 on PJ Tour Radio on SiriusXM. This segment brought to you by Peter Malar. From this sport code of the tie to the pocket square, it’s all Peter Malar and has been for me. They have refined performance, luxury, and style better than anybody for more than two decades. And that is why whoever wins club five at the end of the year is going to be the recipient of a jacket you can have yourself. Yes, that walnut window paint jacket will be available at petermalar.com on August 15th. If you want the patch, that will be extra, but we’ll get you a deal on that. But the guy who wins club five at the end of the year going to get that jacket with that patch. And again, you can have it yourself coming to the Peter Malar website August 15th. All right, our club five rankings this time of the year with a co-sanction event. Of course, the last major there. We could see some real volatility as it relates to who’s in the club. We usually open the club on a Wednesday. It’s the middle of the summer. Open the club on a Monday morning. And let’s take a look who is our top five right now in club five. Seraka another top 10 for him. He’s got multiple wins. He is somebody who’s going to be on that European Rder Cup team. He is having the season of his life. The one thing he’s got to change is the narrative in the majors. Hadn’t been good. And it’s doesn’t mean that he’s going to be knocked out of the club altogether. But he’s going to have to have a good week I think to stay in the club for sure. He has not had good results in the majors. But everything else, including yesterday, another top 10 at the Scottish Open. Meanwhile, at number four, he too has elevated himself. He’s going to be on the United States Rder Cup team. He’s in the top 10 in the world rankings. Value them any way you want. Russell Henley. Consider his last three starts, all top 10s. That includes the US Open. Also had a great result at the Travelers, a signature series event. He won a signature series event back in March at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Russell Henley at number four. At number three, El Capitan. Keegan Bradley won the Travelers. He’s having a year that I think is actually more impressive considering how much must be swirling around. He said it himself on this program last Tuesday. Outside of being inside the ropes, the only thing he thinks about, I’m sure he spends time thinking about his children, but for the most part is the things he has to deal with as the captain of the US Rder Cup team. It’s wildly impressive that he won a golf tournament and that he’s in the position he’s in to actually be on the team. He’s at number three at number two. It’s not going to be easy to get to number one, but Rory Maroy, consider that he won the Masters, the players, won at Pebble Beach, he finished his second yesterday. He’s got seven top 10s. Outside of that kind of two week weird stretch where it was the PGA Championship and then he didn’t play well in the week that followed that, you’re going, “Okay, he is he’s having the year of his life and almost won again. He’s never had a four- win season. He’s at number two. The problem he’s got is that the guy in front of him insists on living, literally living inside the top 10. Scotty Sheoffller not only has won three times, including a major championship. He’s first in scoring, he’s likely going to win another Varden trophy. He’s first in strokes gained TA Green. He’s first gained strokes overall. He’s 22nd in putting. He’s first in bounceback. He has been in the top 10 now in 10 straight events, including yesterday. But he did have a great moment where he missed a putt on the high side. He thought it was going to melt a little bit more, right? And he kind of made a gesture like that and then he did it again. He’s prone to to moments of pouting. That’s okay. You know why it’s okay? Because if he does have a moment, you know what he does? He locks in, straps his chin strap, and then goes out and likely make makes a birdie on the next hole. Because I said, when you’re first in the bount bounceback category, it means that you don’t let bad moments linger. And a bad moment on a golf course at that level under that type of intensity that requires so much incredible keen focus is representative of who he is. He competes on every single shot. That is why there’s a very good chance that walnut window pane jacket from Peter Malor is going to be sacheting around the Metroplex of Dallas around the holiday season. Unless Rory wins the Open, then it’s all up for grabs. You don’t have to win anything. You just have to order it starting in August 15th. Billy Horschel, Brandle Shambbley, Steven Watson coming in the next hour because we have a whole another hour for you here on Golf Channel and on SiriusXM’s PJ Tour Radio. We’re back with you right after this. Welcome back into Five Clubs on this Monday. guys say back. We started at 7 a.m. It’s open championship week here for another hour and then it is live from that will include press conferences from Rory Moy and the 2019 Open Champion Champion golfer of the year Shane Lowry. Coming up at 900 a.m. Eastern time. I am Gary Williams and this hour is brought to you by Century Insurance right by you. They make good decisions when it comes to building business insurance relationships. They’re experts at it, but they also make great decisions investing in the game of golf with the United States Golf Association as well as with the first TE. The Open Championship is the oldest. 1860 was actually over the course of one day, October 17th. They played Preswick, their 12hole golf course at the time, three times. And for Royal County Down just down the road, they had royal status. And then the county golf club, which is now Royal Port Rush. They got that status from the Prince of Wales, who later became King Edward IIIth. It’s a little bit different over there. Somebody who loves it, appreciates it, and is a global player. And I know he’s missing it this week, but he’s on the mend. And I know he’s doing well. And why do I know he’s doing well? Because I saw him hit a golf shot. If you follow him on Instagram, you would have as well because he posted within the last week that you know what, he’s coming along. He’s had a fishing rod in his hand a lot, but he took a little time out to say, “Look at that. Look at that guy. That guy’s I don’t know if he’s almost ready. We’ll find out as he joins me now. Eight time winner on the PJ tour. Three DP World Tour wins, including twice at Wentworth. He was the 54 hole leader at the Open Championship last year. Finished in a tie for second. He of course Billy Horchel, my friend. Good morning. I’m not I’m not hearing his audio. We Is he there? Here. There he is. For a guy who does a lot of interviews, I mean, hit the audio button. My bad. All right. This is an important question. How you feeling? Yeah, I feel good. I feel good. Uh, recoveryy’s gone very well. Um, you know, progressing nicely. uh you know, obviously like anything, sometimes you want to move quicker and uh get back to to full health, but um the good thing is we’ve had no setbacks. We’re progressing at uh the pace that we have expected and um as you saw in that video, started hitting golf shots last week for the first time and it was nice to to have a golf club back in the hands other than just chipping putting. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. It’s good to see. Um, I mentioned Royal County down because, you know, when you turned professional, you then said, “You know what? I’m going to be global and I want to play and I want to see other cultures.” But I want to go back to 2007 because your experience of being on the Walker Cup team, I know it got to you. What was it about that experience that I know got into you, got into your mind, got into your heart, uh, that is sta that stays with you today about experiencing the game in other places? You know, I just think growing up, I watched a lot of the the European tour um early in the mornings. That’s the great thing about uh golf over there. You can wake up and and start watching golf at 7 a.m. And you see the courses, you see the history of these events, uh the cities, just the the culture. Um you can see a little bit through the TV. And I’ve always been fascinated by history. I’ve always been fascinated by places outside the United States. And um I also believe in college, my college coach buddy Alexander said to be a global player, you got to travel around the world, play well, win golf tournaments. And so obviously I was just sort of a little icing on the cake of, hey, I want to go play over there. Now, I didn’t do a good enough job early in my career of doing that. I think you have to get in a place um you know, establish yourself on one tour to be able to start, you know, uh playing on both tours to make it work. And uh it took me a few years to to finally get over there. But um over the last six years, I’ve really enjoyed going over there. Um you know, any part of the the uh world I’ve been to um but just the the fans, the history, the style of golf, the courses. Um I’ve just really loved going over there. And um I haven’t really missed golf that much since I’ve uh been dealing with this injury. But last week with the Scottish Open um being on TV and and with Open Championship this week, uh I it it hit me last week that I wasn’t playing in two tournaments and going to places that I love for the first time. And and I finally sort of got that itch to get back out there and and um you know, be a part of the golf world here soon. Yeah, I’m not surprised, Billy. I thought last year on Saturday you and Justin Rose displayed something that it’s not it’s not easy to do when you’re in the height of competition in one of the biggest events in the world and in your career. There was a level of joy that you guys were sharing that’s like look at those two and when it was over there was an embrace like like I’ll remember this forever. What was that particular day like? Because you had another day to go and you’re the 54hole leader. But I want you to kind of share what how tingly and joyful that Saturday was last year. Yeah. You know, when you play um any tournament, um obviously you want to especially on the weekend, you’re up near the lead, you know, you’re competing against uh the golf course, you’re competing against, you know, like Justin Rose and I were in the in the second and last group, you’re competing against your your your fellow competitor. But when you’re in conditions like that where it’s just nasty, like you’re looking you’re you’re trying to survive and it’s always nice when you have another player there, you know, who who’s grinding it out who’s, you know, trying to play well. You’re pulling for him because you don’t want to play. You don’t want to play bad. I mean, but because of conditions, like, you know, it’s it’s a factor in how well you’re going to play. And and so having a guy like Justin who I know is going to grind it out. He’s got a caddy and food caddyy for me and and just and I and Foo are all great friends and my caddy Micah as well. And it was just one of those days where we were pulling for each other just to be you know in the sense of we want to see them still you know not get affected too much by these conditions so they can have a chance on Sunday. And um you know we were fist p fist pumping each other when we were making pars and and hitting shots. I mean, we were laughing, you know, at times, you know, when we couldn’t reach, I think it was number uh 15, the par four there was just a long par four and then number 17 was a long one. I think someone hit driver, we hit three woods. So yeah, I mean it was just one of those days where it’s like grinding it out and you have your caddy there who is obviously on your team, but um when you can have two other friends there in the same group that um even though it is a third round of a major in the second last group, they’re still you know they’re they’re on your side uh somewhat. And it’s always nice to have some of that extra um you know people pulling for you um you know to to sort of not you know make a mess of this entire round or situation. What is uh what is the flow state how different is the flow state playing Lynx golf under those conditions than it would be over here? You’re laughing. Yeah. I I I I I think because conditions over there still allows you to um play somewhat of a a good round of golf because you can play it along the ground. You there’s many different ways to play a hole even though the conditions are tough and it makes it the challenge of the golf course even tougher and that’s what the links are built on. Um, it still provides you with opportunity to play the course different ways and get it around where here in America, you know, to be honest with you, when we have conditions that are, you know, rainy, windy like that, you really can’t play stuff along the grounds because you got bunkers that are sort of guarding the front of the greens and you can’t play it low. Like, you can play it low off the tea, but shots into the green uh doesn’t allow for that. And so, um, there’s just more versatility in the style of golf in tough conditions. um when it comes to playing league style golf courses. Uh Royal Port Rush, uh your memory about being there in 19, what what did you like? Uh and what is is there a particular challenge that all these guys have got to navigate? Yeah, you know, I really loved it. I was unfortunate. You know, it sucked to miss the cut there because I felt like I uh you know, I was in a good frame of mind and ready to play well, but you know, it’s just the way it goes sometimes. And and I I think the the golf course itself is one of my favorite link style golf courses. I think it allows, you know, there’s holes out there where you can take advantage of like, hey, you know, I’ve got a chance here to to make a bird. It doesn’t matter what the conditions are. I’ve got a really good opportunity. And then you get to that middle, you know, in the middle part of the golf course, uh, middle holes there. Um, and it just seems like the the fairways are tighter, the dunes are closer, you got hollows that if you just miss the fairway, it’s it’s treacherous. And um I remember 16 the long par three you missed it short right there. I mean you were you were down you know 60 70 ft below the green and you know hoping to be able to get it up on top. And I think it’s just a beautifully laidout golf course of of of gutable holes, challenging holes um with the wind direction and and uh that could you know arise. Uh it just allows so many different styles to play well there. So many different options to play golf. Um, and I think that’s why it was such a success in 2019. That’s why I think it came back so early here in 2025. Um, and I do believe it’s going to turn out another fantastic uh open champion winner this this year. Billy, the the the vagaries of the game I I think are amplified in that style of golf, particularly if you do get some weather. But the other thing that I love is that if you look at the stats, whether it’s last 10 years, last 20 years, like for instance, the last five, nobody who’s one has been in the top 40 in driving distance. Um, there is, I was saying, like Guts and Guile and acceptance are as valuable as ball speed. Um, who are guys that that that have the attitude to embrace everything because you may get it all. Yeah, I think when you look at the top of the world rankings, I think any of those guys, um, you know, fit that mold. You listen to be a great player in this game of golf, you have to have talent and skill, but you got to have guts. You got to have acceptance. You got to, you know, you got to be someone who grinds it out when you don’t have it have your great stuff. And that’s what all the top players in in the world do very well. Um, you know, when you think of someone outside the top, you know, 10, 15, 20 players in the world. Oh man, I’m putting myself on the spot here trying to think of someone quickly. Um, I was going to ask you, Billy, I was going to ask you about Sheffler because I think everything you just said, he represents all that that he loves the fight that look, he’s not accidentally number one on tour and bounce back like that. To me, you can give me strokes, gain, tee, and all that. that’s representative of, you know, take one in the chin and go to the next tea and dig in. And and I think that of all the traits that he has, his his competitiveness and his sense of like every hole is a referendum, like playing broke, you know, guys, it’s like they never give in. I think he represents all of that. Yeah, he does. Listen, there’s a there’s a reason why he’s number one in the world. There’s a reason why he uh has been the best player the last three or four years. There’s a reason why I think he hasn’t finished outside the top 10 in his last nine starts. I mean, there I mean, we can go on and on. Everyone knows his stats. Everyone knows the great player that he is. Uh I I think, you know, there’s not many more words to be used to describe Scotty Sheffller. Um I do believe though that his biggest challenge is Linkstyle Golf Course. um because of the conditions, because of the weather, you know, I think uh you know, he has had I think he played he was up there near the lead after 36 holes last year, but it it it’s just a different style and it’s something that you you learn over time and he’s such a quick learner that yes, it wouldn’t shock me he was up near the lead um come come Sunday because of all the things we have talked about for the last several years. So, um, yeah, he’s he’s such a great guy and he’s a he’s listen, he’s the best player over the last three or four years, hands down. Uh, Rory, what is Rory’s greatest asset? Man, I could I could I could talk a lot about Rory because obviously we’re similar in age and I’ve seen so much of him um, you know, played against him so much and and seeing how he’s grown as a player, as a person, everything. Um, I think you know his I know he gets he’s got a lot of slack lately for not talking to the media um a little bit. Um, but I think that his ability to embrace everything that he’s had to deal with over his last 10 or 15 years of his career. There’s not a more scrutinized player I believe in the game of golf out since Tiger Woods. Rory’s been that guy. He’s been the one who’s who’s led in, you know, led the PJ tour. has been the the um the show pony, the person that everyone looks to talk the, you know, has all the uh expectations of of what they expect for him to do in the game and to achieve. And I think winning the Masters was, as we all saw, was such a massive relief um and a weight off his shoulders that I think it’s um it’s right that he had, you know, just sort of was sort of lost a little bit. you know, you you you have this goal of wanting to be a Grand Slam winner, winning the Masters and and etching a name alongside five other players and and you’re going to have a little bit of a down and I think now he’s he’s recharged. You know, you saw him last week play well, finished second at Renaissance. Chris got played unbelievable, you know, there to to win it. Um but I think he always has the motivation, finds a motivation, finds something sort of to to spark his desire again. And I think you can see that that he’s found that um again and he has a new goal and we don’t know what that goal is. Um obviously he’s talked about winning at Port Rush. So maybe that is his goal is win the open championship at Port Rush. Um but I I think the way he’s dealt with everything that’s come up in his career over the last 15 years, like I said, being the most scrutinized player, I think that’s something that people are it’s sort of not get him a fair share of weight too. You mentioned Chris Garup. were much more wellestablished than he was. But he went through Rory on the road. You went through Rory on the road in a playoff at Wentworth. So, you know what it’s like to hear those countless Come on, Rory. Um, and you get great support there as well. You’d already won the event before. Uh, but but winning like that for a young guy like that, how much of a a massive like jolt of plutonium could that be for Chris Goddarup? Yeah, it could be massive. I mean, listen, I I’ll toot my own horn here for for a quick second. I mean, I’ve been fortunate enough to get the better of Rory when we’ve gone headtohead. Um, you know, over our careers. I mean, listen, he’s got me beat in majors and wins and every other category. Uh so when it comes to, you know, us being together and having a chance to win uh a tournament on on a Sunday, you know, I’ve I’ve fortunate enough I’ I’ve gotten the better of him, you know, starting the Walk Cup and then the 2014 FedEx Cup playing, you know, the final two rounds with him at FedEx Cup at the Tour Championship. Um, you know, him being the number one player in the world, him winning two majors that year, like that gave me a lot of confidence at, uh, which I’ve always felt like I had the talent, ability to play against the best players in the world. Um, to do that head-to-head on Saturday and Sunday there in Atlanta against the number one player in the world, you know, just reassured that doesn’t matter who they are, how great they are, what their world ranking is, I know if I play my game, I’m going to give myself a chance to win. I think Chris God is going to have a similar um you know feelings and emotions going up against a uh a player like Rory uh in Scotland where he’s going to have the most support and and and Chris went out there and played his game and played well and and was able to come out victorious and it just gives him a big confidence boost because we knew the player that he was. He was a great player in college. You know what he did Oklahoma his final year and going the cornfairy tour and getting quickly out to the PJ tour. He’s got talent. He’s got the ability. Um, I think now he’s realized he’s he’s good enough to win against the best players and now he’s finding the consistency um to to do it on a more regular basis. Uh, you know how much I always love these conversations, but this morning on a Monday morning in the backdrop in the house of Horell, to see kids and cats and dogs roaming around behind you, it made the whole interview. Yeah. You know what? It’s been awesome to be home. Um, I I was I was telling someone, uh, you know, I think recently, just being home has allowed me to recharge to really not have my main focus be on golf, be on my family, be on my kids, spend time with my wife, do things with my kids. You know, we went fishing with my my little guy Axel this past weekend for red snapper fishing for two days and we had absolute blast with my dad and my brother and my uncle. And, you know, that’s stuff I have been able to do because of golf. And I truly believe that um I would really love to see the game have a true off season where we get away from the PJ tour because just for a mental reset, a body reset, uh you know, everybody in the game of golf and players, the fans, the sponsors, everybody. I think it would be really good for the game of golf if we could all just have a two or three months where there is no golf and we can all just enjoy our lives and really um enjoy what we’ve been able to achieve what uh you know we you know just like I said just just enjoy life because uh as much as I love the game of golf and as much as I want I focus so much sometimes you you got to live in the present and and um remember you know there’s there’s bigger things in the game of golf than than golf itself. No question. Every sport, as you know, needs to be missed and you need to go away and and let everybody recharge. Uh thank you so much. Looking forward to seeing you playing competitive golf again. I know, like you just said, how valuable this time has been. Really appreciate it. My pleasure, Gary. Anytime, buddy. Anytime. Thank you. That is Billy Horchel. Those are winning words from Century Insurance. Smarter advice, greater insight, better conversations. It is century right by you. We continue Brandle Shambbley from Royal Port Rush. His viewpoint on this final major as we continue on a Monday here on Golf Channel and on PJ Tour Radio’s channel 92 on Sirius XM. Back right after this Welcome back to Five Clubs here on Golf Channel. Also, you can listen as always on PJ Tour Radio’s channel 92 on SiriusXM. This segment brought to you by Peter Malar when it comes to everything that I wear and anything that you could ever need from swim trunks uh to a three-piece suit, they’ve got it. Speaking of which, uh, this is a guy who probably needed a Peter Mar store in Dublin, uh, over the last couple of days. Joining me now, a guy who played in three opens in three different decades. Also qualified for the senior open after gasing for an entire week. About the open the week before, that’s talent. Of course, I’m speaking of Brand Shambbley, my friend. How are you? Uh, I’m split. I felt like you were uh were were were pimping me there on the the Peter Malar lead in. I was like, “Yeah, I I’m I’m looking at you sortally dressed there and I with a lot of envy. Look at me. I have on a I have on a linen uh shirt, a short sleeve because the only suitcase I had was the stuff Bailey and I are going to Portugal after this. I’m dressed for Portugal in Northern Ireland. By tomorrow, I might do live from in a speedo. You never know. That’s about all I got. So, I’m I’m I’m I’m certainly And but I do feel like though that I’m in the same colored shirt, same kind of shirt that Billy Horscher was wearing on there. And I just I feel like if he’s watching now, he probably feels pretty good about his biceps. So, I’m just trying to do my part to make Billy feel a little bit better. Yeah, he’s he’s next to the Atlantic Ocean in Florida. Uh you’re brushing up against the North Sea. Uh, I’m dressed for the top of By the way, it’s about 42 degrees here and rainy right now or spittle as they call it over here. Uh, for those folks who are not getting the the the punchline here, his baggage was lost going through the Bermuda Triangle uh baggage and that is Heathrow Airport. Uh, you played some golf last week. I know you loved it and this speaks to your love for all of this. Here’s this teenage kid from Irving, Texas, who goes to Scotland. And you fell in love with all of this. And I mentioned the three opens in three decades and going over there and qualifying for two senior opens at places you had played open championships at. Why did the kid from Irving fall in love with Scottish golf in the British Isles? Yeah. Well, my roommate in college was a fellow by the name of Paul Thomas. a great guy. Lives in the south of Spain now, but his father was a quite famous Welsh golfer. I believe he played seven RDER Cups. He actually tied for the Open Championship in 58 with Peter Thompson and lost in a playoff. Lost to Jack Nicholas in ‘ 66 by one. So Paul talked me into coming over and spending the summer in Scotland in 1982. His father, of course, opened every single door. for I think the first round of golf I played that week uh was with Dave with Paul and with Shan Connory who that’s the circles that uh Paul Thomas’s father Dave ran in. Uh Sean Connory at the time was named the sexiest man in the universe on the cover of People magazine. Uh so we had a we had a ball with that all day long and then off Paul and I went. We played every single golf course that you can think of uh in England uh and Scotland and we played for this this cup, the silver cup that we we stopped somewhere at a trophy store, bought it uh engraved it with some profane title and we played all summer long and believe it or not we got on the 18th hole. We started in and ended at St. Andrews. We got on the 18th hole after the whole summer dead tide. Dead tied. A lot of pressure. Paul missed his T- shot to the right. It broke the the windshield of a milk truck. I played safely out to the left, chipped on. Paul was in a fight with the milk truck driver who was going to pay for this uh this windshield. I quietly put it out to victory and I have the cup. One of my greater victories, Gary. That is why golf over there is just better. When you get into a fight with a milk truck driver on the 18th hole at the old course, what else would you ever want out of out of a damn golf? But I did fall in love with Lyn’s golf on that trip in particular. I fell in love with I I came away from there. Not that I didn’t love St. Andrews. I did. I mean, I think you have to play it a few times to quite get your arms around it, but it was a Harry Colt design. Uh, so this is a Harry Colt week, so it’s appropo. It was a Harry Colt design mirror that I sort of fell in love with. And hence why I went back in 1987. I wasn’t on tour yet and I hardly had uh two quarters to rub together then, but I got enough money together to fly over here, stayed at a bed and breakfast. Uh and I remember shooting 6466 to qualify uh at Mirfield. Uh and I have so many stories from that week, but I remember I I remember this is you think how golf has changed. I remember a Japanese company came up and at the time they had this beautiful wood. It wasn’t homnut. It was some other brand. I forgot the name of it. Anyway, he gives me the driver and he’s like, “Listen, we’d love to see you play this.” So, I played with this driver. It was beautiful. I striped it. I made the cut. I get home and they sent me a bill for the thing. And it was something like 600 bucks. And I didn’t have 600 bucks. I just boxed the damn driver up and sent it back to them. Uh my how times have changed. Wow. 600 large in 1987. Uh that that’s a large bill. Um, with all of this, you mentioned, you know, Mirfield, there’s nine courses in the ROA. Uh, Port Rush after 68 years gets a second, then six years later gets a third. All of this is is wonderful, but as somebody who wants the best player to be identified, does this championship more often times than not do that with all of the vagaries of it? Yeah. Well, you you hit on it right there at the end. I mean, more often than not, vagaries matter in the open championship. Uh, luck of the draw, uh, inclement weather. Uh, sometimes in rain, but mostly in wind. Uh, it can come and go. Uh, it can not blow and then blow drastically in the afternoon or vice versa. So, more often than not, it is the luck of the draw and it is the luck of the bounce that matters more often. And there are other nuanced things about it. The greens have to be slower because of the winds. they can’t have them as fast because the balls will blow off the greens. So, because the greens are slower, uh, and because there’s a higher level of skill required in hitting left to right shots into right to left win and vice versa, experience matters more, a little afraid nerves matters less. So, you get a 53y old with a 54hole lead in 2008 and Greg Norman. You get a 59year-old who wasn’t beaten in 72 holes in 2009. A 42y old in 2011 that wins, a 42y old in 2012 that wins. Uh, you know, you get these Henrik Extension was 40 when he won in 2016. Phil Mickelson was 43 when he won in 2013. So, the oldest over the last, you know, 20 or 30 years by far the oldest champion comes from this event. So yeah, it it it certainly is a little bit more up in the air, but on the whole when you begin to look at it over time, the golf courses do reward the very best players. If I were to ask you, Gary, and well, Gary, you’d know this, but and that look, I’m not Tom Watson won five open championships. But when I hear people just so quickly say Tom Watson was our ever our greatest ever open champion, I’m certainly fairly respectful of what he did and you know lauded the five wins, but with all due respect by far Jack Nicholas in the last 60 years was our greatest ever Open player and our greatest ever major championship player. Jack Nicholas and you you would know this. So you go back to 62 to 81 in that period of time of 17 open championships, 18 open championships. His average finish was third. Yeah. So you find a corresponding sweet spot for Tom Watson and his average finish was 18th. And and again, you go through and you start to look at all of the best players. Uh Lee Trevino was one of them. I mean, the open over time identifies the greatest players in in much the same way that say Augusta National does, but in a shorter span of time. Yeah, I’m I’m I’m completely with you on the Nicholas thing that the one non-top 10 in that stretch you mentioned was a 12th. Uh, extraordinary. Knew you would know that. Well, well, but but it gets to it gets to the Sheffler question with me and you because again, it’s early. He’s 29. But you look at the record in the other three majors, it’s stout. Here, it’s the modest part of the resume so far. But even Phil, he got a win. He had two seconds, he had a third. Everyone thinks, well, he won in 13. Other than that, no, no, no. I mean, even Phil had other moments. And Watson and and Jack and obviously Tiger and Trevino and Palmer, the greats did it over there. Will Sheffler build a resume that will be representative of who you think he’s going to be at the end? Absolutely. And he’s already building it. His worst finish in four opens is 23rd. And so, you know, you look at his record, you think it’s modest, but his average finish is 14th. Again, to this is my point. You go back and look at the Lee Trainos, Phil Mickelson’s, you just go on and on and on. I mean the over a period of time in the last 60 years the only person who would average better than 18th or 17th was Nick Faldo in his sweet spot of his career averaged 11th. So in four open championships Scotty Chevers average 14th. The guy almost never plays bad and he is so demonstrabably the better player in the world. I I I’ve got tremendous respect for Xander Schoffley, Rory Mackroy, and Bryson Dasha. Tremendous respect, but Scotty Sheffller is so much better than them. So, it is, you know, a lot of questions this week. You know, can Rory come here and get redemption? Can he rekindle the magic of the Masters? Can Shane Lowry un, you know, sort of defend, I would say. Can Xander Schoffley defend because he’s turned things around? You know, how are the Liv players going to play? The biggest question really to me is is is can is Scotty Shuffler going to get the third leg of the of the of the grand slam uh of the career grand slam. Uh because he’s just he’s that much better. And with Scotty, you got to look it’s his putting is better this year, but he did putt very poorly last week. So, you know, if he can get that sorted out, uh the question always is at this point, who has the best chance to challenge Scotty Sheffller? Because if you’re not picking Scotty Sheffller, I I want to know who you’re picking and and you’ve got all the work in front of you to defend it. Well, if people turn on live from and you’re wearing a geranium linen double breasted blazer with a silk ascot, they’ll know that your luggage is not turned up. I probably might go with the Gaelic football jersey that Paul McInley was trying to get. He got me a medium. I mean, he comes in with a small and he’s like, you know, you want to wear this? I put it on and you know I look like Tiger Woods circa 2004 in those mediums that he would wear without the muscles, you know. Uh so I was like I don’t know if I’m going to wear this. Am I going to get beat up there? Oh it’s like your eyes are getting beat up for high everywhere you go. But in particular this Well, listen. I I hope your luggage turns up before the end of the week and you guys you and Bailey head to Portugal. Thank you as always. Have a fantastic Yes. though. I had thought of that. Does Does Peter Malar make an ascot over here? What don’t they make? The answer is it too, please. A smoking jacket with an ascot. All right. Red hot rush coming to Port Rush. All right. Thank you, my friend. All right. Thank you. All right. There is Brando Shamboli of course live from follows us when we continue. Steven Watson, you may not be familiar with him. BBC North Northern Ireland. He has been working and doing that work as a sports presenter uh for the entire century. He’s known Rory his entire life. What this means to this area of the world and Rory the man as opposed to Rory the boy. He joins us when we continue on this Monday edition of Five Clubs Golf Channel and on PJ Tour Radio’s channel 92 on SiriusXM. We’re back right after this. back in on this Monday edition of Five Clubs on Golf Channel. Also, channel 92 on SiriusXM’s PJ Tour Radio. In this segment brought to you by Pinehurst, the new clubhouse at Pinehurst number 10 out there in the sandmines. It’s open and it looks fantastic. just another amazing asset for the cradle of American golf to entertain you and make you feel like there is more to do there. It’s going to require a couple of trips again, Pinehurst Resort. All right, joining me now from Port Rush. He grew up there. He has been a presenter for BBC Northern Ireland and basically his entire career. He’s a member as well at the club. I’m speaking of Steven Watson. He joins me from the media center at Royal Port Rush. Good afternoon, my friend. How are you? I’m great, thank you. Good afternoon. Thanks for having me on your show. Well, thank you for joining me. I I want you to explain to people kind of take us back to how this all came to be because Stephen, I I came to Northern Ireland for the first time in the early 90s. And when you cross the border driving up from Dublin, look, it was unnerving. It was militant. Uh there was unrest still there. And then by the late 90s, something happened that was very significant. take people through what you think were the most important steps and the most important people that put Royal Port Rush in the position it now finds itself in. You will understand the history of Northern Ireland and this was not a wonderful place to to grow up in. We had the troubles um for many many years. But then of course came the peace process and with the pre peace process came a rejuvenated revitalized Northern Ireland. We had the Open Championship once back in 1951 obviously when there were no troubles back then but to think of staging the Open Championship again was simply a nonrunner. I mean, I remember being at the Open in 2001 on the 50th anniversary of it being at Royal Port Rush and Northern Ireland and asking the R&D, do you think there’s any chance it could ever come back to Northern Ireland? And the answer was simply no because of the stretch of water in between the the UK mainland and Northern Ireland. Probably still because of the unrest and they didn’t perhaps want to say that out loud, but it was because of the images that were being broadcast around the world, even though Northern Ireland was a much better place to live in. And then suddenly our major champions kicked in. Gre Mcdal won a major in 2010. Rory Mackaroy followed it in 2011. Darren Clark the open in in 2011. And suddenly the pressure was on and people were saying why can we we not have the the open championship coming back to to Northern Ireland. So Wilma Erskin uh who was the former secretary manager of Royal Port Rush Golf Club. I remember standing on the old 18th putting green out there with Darren Clark and she said to him, Darren, what can you do to help us get the open to come back to to Northern Ireland? So, it was a a long multi-year process. He opened his contacts book helped as much as he possibly could. But when the Open success came, they had to have a tournament first. They’ obviously hosted the senior Open quite successfully previously, but the Irish Open had never been in Northern Ireland for over 60 years. I know that’s hard to believe. It was always staged in the Republic of Ireland. So suddenly uh both governments got together. The Irish Open was held here very quickly in 2012. The RNA saw that that was the first soldout event on the European tour, the then European tour ever and they thought, you know what, I think we could we could do this. So Peter Dawson, the chief executive of the RNA, with Wilma Erskin, with our major champions, hit chips, our major champions putting a lot of pressure on, we’re able to come here, build two new holes because 17 and 18 was needed for the the tented village area, build a new seventh and eighth hole holes and suddenly it was was all systems go. And I mean to have the open back this year just six years after 2019, I think is a testament to just to show just where the country has come from. We are well known now for holding big sporting events. No doubt. From 68 years to six. Uh that’s that’s just that’s that’s part of the story. You mentioned Rory as somebody who saw this little prodigy grow up and start traveling the world at a very young age playing golf tournaments as a junior golfer and then obviously what has now become. How much of where Rory is from is representative of who he is now? I think Rory Maroy is still very proud of where he comes from. And Rory Mroy um I just dropped out there. Rory Mroy was born about an hour and 15 minutes away from Royal Port Rush. And wherever he travels in the world, Rory is always so proud to say he is from Northern Ireland. He is his roots are firmly still here. even though he lives in in Florida and has a house now in London as well. When he comes home, he wants to go and see his his mom and dad in in in Northern Ireland where they still have have a residence here. And I think it was telling that after he won the masters and completed the Grand Slam, the first place he wanted to go was home to Hollywood, you know, to see his mom and dad. So, look, Rory grew up here. He’s an honorary member of Royal Port Rush. He’s an honorary member of Royal County Down which is which is obviously he’s from County Down and of course we know his his record here at at Royal Port Rush um as an amateur. He shot a course record of 61 before the new two new holes uh were were built. So listen, he knows his way around this place and certainly you know Northern Rory Mroyy’s roots are still he may well live in in Florida and maybe this global superstar but but he is very much Northern Ireland through through and through. I’ve just seen him out this morning signing a big Northern Ireland flag with the four majors on it which says Rory Maroy, Northern Ireland legend. So, you can imagine just how how proud we are of him. I uh I woke up this morning early in the States and and apparently his first ball was the first in the air this morning appropriately at 7 a.m. made his way up there from from East Lotheian. Um, if he were to win, Stephen, how would it be different compared to the Masters, which is career grand slam? It it closes the book on something only a handful of men have ever done. But if he wins there, what will be different about it? You mentioned Rory Ting off first this morning. I think he had about four hours sleep flying in from from Scotland. The flight was slightly delayed. Um, I I knew he would want out early because he hasn’t been here in the buildup to this tournament. He hasn’t had the normal pre-ournament major kind of round here just because of his schedule and wanting to take some time off. So, he’s probably wanting to get out on the course as quickly as he can. What would it mean to Rory Maroy to win here? Absolutely everything. Of course, nothing will beat the Grand Slam, but this is home. This is Rory Maroy playing at home. There weren’t that many people from Northern Ireland who were at Augusta to see that success. Rory hasn’t had a public homecoming here. There was a huge outcry in Northern Ireland. We want a public homecoming for for Rory Maroy when we know when he flies back in. That’s not the type of thing that Rory really wanted to do. His homecoming is here. He arrives here as a Grand Slam champion. Everybody wants to to see him. But to Yes, he’s won the Open, but to win a major championship at home in the year that you’ve completed the Grand Slam, I mean, that would be unbelievably special. I mean, I I did ask Rory this question what it what it would mean before. And he said, “Look, of course, the Grand Slam is is Mount Everest. It’s the it’s the holy grail.” But he said to get him motivated again and to be to get something that’s right up there is winning a major championship in the country where he was born, it’d be very, very special. Stephen, last thing, let’s you and I talk like recreational golfers. You’re a member there. Got a lot of people who will make the pilgrimage. Give me your top three in Northern Ireland. I know there is obviously one. Give me the other two. I know one for sure. Yeah. Royalport Rush is one. Royal County Down is two and three is going to be a very very hard choice. But if I opted away from links and went more say for an an American Parkland style course, I would go for Lockern in County Forana which is a a wonderful golf complex. Beautiful scenery and definitely worth playing if you’re here. I could list lots of other links courses here all day. Around the corner, our glass, Castle Rock, you name it. You know, there we go. They’re all great courses. Stephen, thank you for taking the time. This is personal for you. You’re working. Uh, but I know how much this means to you, family, friends, everybody who’s from that corner of the world. Have a great week. Thank you very much indeed. Cheers, Gary. Thank you, Steven Watson, BBC Northern Island. We come back our picks for the open championship on five clubs right after this. We are back on Five Clubs live from coming up top of the hour here on Golf Channel of course also on SiriusXM channel 92 that is PJ Tour radio. It’s open championship radio this week. full coverage uh over there on the radio side and of course for Peacock and Golf Channel and NBC uh the coverage wallto-wall starting in just a couple of minutes. This segment brought to you by Golf Pride. I just got new clubs with the Line Max grips through the bag. Of course, the reverse taper putter grip series. I’ve had that for almost two years. Nobody can touch Golf Pride in terms of the options and the quality they provide. They are the leader. Speaking of leaders, in the morning when the staff at Royal Port Rush and I’m sure tons of volunteers uh get that golf course prepared, we don’t have time for a dogs of the week segment, we have a dog of the week because you talk about setting the tone at Royal Port Rush. That is Bella. Bella is the club dog, part of the maintenance staff uh there. And apparently they they posted some photos of Bella early this morning. She is at that facility almost 24/7. So, we hope that Bella, our dog of the week, the dog at Royal Port Rush, has a great open championship. All right, our picks. Before we give you the staff picks, uh let’s take a look at the standings. Not much changed. Johnson Wagner had a top 10 to inch a little bit closer to Taylor Zarzer who remains the leader. Emma Carpenter followed by myself and Gild close to me. Uh Jay Bilis, Brendan Young remains the anchor. And I mean just dead weight uh at the bottom there. Not much changed other than that one top 10 to get Johnson a little bit closer. So with that look, one other thing is our open championship preview that is available to you uh on our YouTube channel. Not to mention our wagering show with Keith Stewart from Read the Line. So all of our thoughts on the championship and the way to angle it and picks on those two shows, I’m going with John Rom. Uh, and the fact that Brendan is too makes me feel less confident about John Ron, but I do actually. He’s got a good record in it. His form is excellent. Gil and Jay both going with Roy Moy. Emma also taking John Rom. Johnson Wagner going a little bit down the board. Longer odds for Cory Connors. I respect and appreciate the fact that he’s going with a guy who’s a straight flusher of the golf ball. And Taylor Zarzer and Xander had a good week at the Scottish. the idea of him going backto back and what that could mean in terms of elevating his status not just presently but historically to go from zero to three as quickly as he might from May of 2024 to having none to having three in the middle of July of 2025 that’d be a heck of a story if he went backto back and just another reminder again our open championship preview show with myself Taylor Johnson and Brendan go to our YouTube channel that is five clubs golf that’s an Hourong show talk about all the players in the field, the golf course itself and then with Keith Stewart of Read the Line. That show dropped yesterday on the YouTube channel. Uh looking at it from a wagering standpoint, uh his view on it and the input of two guys with over 700 career starts on the PGA Tour with Johnson and Brendan. Live from coming up next and you’re going to hear from Rory Maroy and you will also hear from the 2019 Open Champion Shane Lowry. We’re going to be back next Monday. And let me just say just one final thought about this. My first experience going to the Open was 2002. Tiger had won the first two majors. And I listened to the radio broadcast for the first time wall to wall on a Saturday at Mirfield. And he shot 81, shot 65 on Sunday. You never know at the Open. The oldest, the grandest. Enjoy it all. We’ll see you next Monday live from starts now.
1 Comment
billy ho is awesome ..thats my takeaway