Sam, Tom & Peter sit down to recap an unforgettable week at Royal Portrush. We cover Scottie Scheffler’s dominant win, Rory McIlroy’s performance, standout moments from across the championship, and break down the big winners and losers. We also dive into The Open rota — and much more.
Big Headlines:
🏆 Scottie Scheffler wins The Claret Jug
📈 Totting Bec Cup Winners: Robert MacIntyre, Rory McIlroy, Matt Fitzpatrick, Shane Lowry, Matt Wallace
🥈 Silver Medal: Not awarded
🎥 Content of the Week: Justin Rose Saturday night reel (https://www.instagram.com/reel/DMTNzeAtSVw/?igsh=NXdoeWpsZThnMDRy)
With thanks to our supporters:
Loch Lomond Whiskies (https://www.lochlomondwhiskies.com/)
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And a huge thanks to Royal Portrush — the real star of the show.
Cover Photo Credit: Stuart Franklin/R&A/R&A via Getty Images
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Watch this. Oh. Oh my god. I’ll shant again. Oh my god. Biggest weakness. Probably a cold beer. I just can’t resist them. That is an exceptional intro. Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Cookie Jar Golf podcast brought to you in partnership with FootJoy. I am Tom Mills. Today I’m joined by Sam Williams. Tom, thank you so much for having me. And Half Jar, welcome. Thank you for having me back. End of a special week, boys. But what a what an intro music to sign off a hell of a week. Like GMAC, I do also have a a weakness for cold ones. So, I’m going to crack one open because I think Oh, yeah. Why not? Cookie jar old ones. We’ve had these. We’ve had these for a few weeks, but I’ve tried to be a little bit abstinent on those. Spray on the mic as well. There’s a bit of action. Well, we’ve had the the guys over at Match Play Match Play Brewery um have very very kindly put together these beers for us which has got a wonderful shot of the six 16th and well kind of looking from the 16th green up to the 11th of Blackwell and 12th T which I think is an area on the golf course where you’re usually starting to look forward to another cold one. Um just just they look great. Yeah, just uh to fill you in, Match Play Beers, they are a company based out of Deal, I believe. Are they Are they not? They are. Yes. Alex is um is a member of Deal and he’s produced club custom beers and this is a cookie jar custom one. Perfect label. It is. So, we’ve got some Yeah, we’ve got some cookie jar cold ones. Now, there’s been accusations that I that we were a little bit overindulged in one of the podcasts earlier in the week, which we definitely weren’t. which you earn. But I think the back two the denial is starting to look like a cold concert here because this constant denial it’s like it’s like you’re queuing up for a job at astronomer. I’m currently dropped down behind behind the sofa. Not me. Um but to have two two alcohol activations in in in one week is quite elite. So it’s huge. Um I would I would just say with with the Match Play stuff, they have done a really good job. The beer is really nice, isn’t it? We’ve been drinking it all week. We brought a few slabs out. We brought 72 with us, which I think is we’ve got enough to go. We’ve got plenty more to get through, Tom. Let’s not let’s not alarm our listeners. Um, but we’ve they’ve they’ve done a really good job. Like, it’s actually I think it’s like Henry Ford, isn’t it? You know, he sort of said like if you’d have asked people what they wanted from transport 20 years before, they’d have just said faster horses. And I don’t think the world of golf was ready for club club custom beer. But when you’ve got them served in the halfway huts, it’s like really well priced as well. Like it’s exactly the same price point as just canda except they just come beautifully packaged. The deal ones are probably the OG. It’s a great color scheme. I hate to hand it to you, Peter. Been slagging deal off all week. Yeah. Annoy you really worked actually. I try not to nibble now. Alex did introduce them at deal. I think that was the first one he did. And they’ve got the stripes on and you have them in the hut. And cuz it’s a can, you can you can drink it quickly. You can take another one with you in the bag. They’re perfectly sized. Interesting fact is the the texture on the label is meant to mimic that of a silk tie. Yes. So when you’re having one at deal and you wearing a club tie, it’s literally like the tie is around the can. You don’t know whether you’re picking up your tie or the nightmare. The next the next iteration is Kashmir. Cashmir can cashmir labels. Um, can we last bit on last bit on cookie jar coins or match player? Not cookie j match play brewery because you can have the custom labels. I think a a deal. Doesn’t it say something like it it says you know a little bit about deal cuz you have them at the halfway house. It’s like now strap in for the for the best bat ning and go. I can only assume they just copied and pasted that from the res cans. They did. I’m joking for the benefit of our listeners. It’s only said to annoy Peter. If anyone does want to look at Matchplay Brewery for their clubs though, they should get in touch on hello@ matchplayb.com. Thomas, it is very much time for us to get back to Justin Rose as possibly the best content of the week. So, before we even entertain, just in case you missed it in the intro, the best bit of content ever. Oh. Oh my god, I’ve shanked it again. Oh my god. And to post that on your social media, it’s absolutely I said a couple of months ago that Justin Rose had gone into his cringe era, but I tell you that is you are going to eat some humble pie big time, aren’t you? You’re going to have to walk it back in a big time. I was still really pulling for him this week. Like I’m I huge respect for I I still think it’s written in the stars. He’s going to do it at Perdale. I I think that was the best bit of social content mean since Mim Wootley. completely self-deprecating and but he actually compiled them into a into a sizzle. You know what I mean? It wasn’t just like oh that was one shot like he put a compilation of shanks on his own social media. It’s the speed of the reaction like you said. Well the the second one the ball has left the huzzle for about a nanocond and he’s already shed again. Shangh and the best part is he he’s not even close to swearing. He’s so polite about it. Oh god. And you can tell he’s horrified about the fan that the ball’s heading towards. It’s brilliant. Unfortunately, he does it in such a British way. There’s no effing or jing. Have you seen that guy who has a car crash in a lane? It’s like the most British car. His car’s like upside down. He goes, “Oh, that was disappointing or something.” Yeah. Oh, yeah. He gets out, doesn’t he? He goes, “Oh, bloody hell was that all that cars upended.” I imagine that’s how Justin Rose would be in a car crash. What’s thoughts on the Open Championship, boys? We should obviously Scotty Sheffler, champion golfer of the year. Congratulations, Scotty. I know you’re listening. Um, I think it’s been a really really good championship. I know that today probably wasn’t as exciting as as people would have wanted, but I think day three, the Saturday was one of the most one of the best days of golf I’ve seen in a while. So, I think like overall as a championship, I thought Port Rush uh was an incredible venue. We spend tons of time on Port Rush. You know, we worked with the club for a good few years, so we’re very familiar with it. Peter hasn’t been over as much and I think you haven’t played it in a little while and you had a very different feeling. I don’t want to put too many words in you, M. You can say whatever you like, but what did you think about like walking around the course? Having not seen it in a few years, gun to head. I I know I was I was seriously impressed. I I thought the course we went right up there for me in courses I’ve played but then also in the open championship road I just thought it’s a really really good test of golf and I mean we had really good weather this week and the course wasn’t firm and people were going to work course setup of the fact Scotty finished on was it 17 under 17 but you cannot budget for the you can’t you can’t set up hard enough for Scotty Sheffler if the wind doesn’t blow or it’s not firm I my big takeaway was just it was still firm But I think in a relative sense, like it wasn’t Mfield 2013, was it? No. Yeah. Um, but I I absolutely loved it. I had so many messages today from people that wanted Sheffller to uh bottle it or to make it more interesting and I was the opposite. I I wanted him to win by 10 cuz I I never saw Tiger in his pump. So, this for me is I’ve never seen someone truly dominate golf. And uh and I’m all in on it. I I don’t care that he’s overly boring. I just think the fact that you can be so much better than the second best player in the world is is fascinating. And the fact he only won by four, I was a bit like I think today was uh I mean he shot 300, you know, he he played, you know, played it right, but it was B game for Sheff. Yeah. And and I kind of we were talking about it this morning before he teed off. You either wanted it to be tight and really exciting or for him to go absolutely bananas and like smash records and be like, “Yeah.” And it just didn’t really do either. We had an eye on the records, didn’t we? Yeah. We’re looking at what is it eight clears being basically the record in the modern era, I guess. I think old Tom did was it 13 shots we dug up in 19 in 1862, right? Which is actually over only 36 holes. Yeah. Um there’s an aster. Um, so eight strokes is the largest margin of victory I think since 1900. I think you did you dig out Taylor or something was one of them. J Taylor. Yeah. Um, Tiger obviously at St. Andrew 20 under is the scoring record. And I come back to in my head as of open venues that when it rains a little and it gets still, I would imagine Port Rush is somewhat immune to that. But I guess the quality of the players nowhere is immune to those conditions because I couldn’t believe that even par was netting, you know, you know, you’re right at the bottom of the field. They were all going up the leaderboard and I think it’s just a very stark reminder as the quality of the players. Well, and I think it’s such a hard golf course. I think if you think we were talking about it, um Harris English finishes second 13 under. It took Harris English 71 holes to get a 13 under. It took Scotty Sheffller 44 44 holes. 44 holes. 44 holes to get a 14 under. I mean 13 under I think 13 13 under. Sorry. It’s just it’s night and day the difference between him right now and everyone else. And we we were talking about it. We went to his press conference afterwards and he’s getting a slam in for being boring, you know, being for being uninteresting or, you know, talking in the press conferences about how he’s not deriving any pleasure from winning. And and I think the reality is the story isn’t going to be the golf for the next few years. The story isn’t going to be ooh who’s going to win because it’s, you know, there’s a 25% chance if it’s a major it’s going to be Scottish Heffler. He’s got 25% of the major in the last four years, isn’t it? Or three years. Yeah. And the story’s not going to be who wins. They want the story to be something else. And I think people are trying really hard to create a narrative or do something, but he’s just not interested and he’s not engaging with it. He pedled quite hard this this this thing at the start of the week, didn’t he, about like, you know, I’m just, you know, and maybe he’s just trying to project this thing of like being a winning machine and everyone was like, “Oh, it’s outrageous. You’re not really taking it all in. You should be taking much more. you should be giving us more emotion around this. But then everyone now looks back at Tiger and it was like, yeah, his stonefaced just machine like knocks out wins. Yeah, he used to run the putts in and all that and and and fist bumping, but you know, ultimately Tiger was absolutely clinical and we all look back at that going, “Oh my god, it was godlike and he was absolutely clinical.” And then when you sort of pulled Sheffller down for it, I kind of felt a little bit bad because I felt when he did his speech on the 18th green, he said, you know, he made it very clear that he felt like no one wanted him to win. And I’m not 100% sure that’s the case. I would think Sheffller’s an amazing champion. You know, he’s absolutely deserving of winning the Open Championship. Like he’s the best girlfriend. Let’s be honest, if there was an open at Blackwell, people would pull a pull for you, wouldn’t they? You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So there’s definitely a bit of the home thing, but I think ultimately people don’t want to see a guy that’s just so far clear. And when we watched Saturday afternoon and and and moving day, we just didn’t it just somehow shook out where it was like [ __ ] he’s like four or five shots clear here, whatever. He could have also won. He only he won before, but there was a time where he was seven clear. Yeah. And I asked how Tong about it after the round, and he basically said I knew I was playing for second place. Did he? Um Yeah. and his goal was just to get top four for Augusta which he did but there Sheffller holds on six and seven which elite he could have easily found fairway on four one six had a massive fist bump didn’t he yeah and at that point I thought he knows he’s going to win and he’s he’s trying to break a record here I think he was thinking I want to get to 21 under or I want to win by nine and keep himself in it and then he just to be honest didn’t really play that well did he for the rest of the and still got four. I mean, it’s one of those things. We were talking about it, I think, when uh he was on about 10 or something like that. Um, so he obviously birdied one. He missed the bunkers on four by Howong hit the exact hats. I mean, it was like, yeah, hit the exact same shot and Hong’s in the fairway traps and he’s not. Suddenly, it’s five instead or four instead of a five. He he makes miraculous pars on six and seven. Um you have no business making a three on six, you know. So you could take you could take three or four shots off if if it hasn’t really gone the right way and then all of a sudden it’s it’s back to it. But he just doesn’t look like doing it. But you know he’s got another gear he can move into. I think you know I think kind of think you got to enjoy it and you know it was you I kind of get the sense you know I think you I think we sort of asked Tier didn’t we and saying you know like his lap in the field got kind of short shrift from that you know obviously exactly the response you’d expect from Tier Hatton but you know he’s so clearly I think Matt Fitz said like statistically he’s what he’s a full one shot better than the field on average that’s very hard to play against over a four round tournament. Yeah. And the other thing is like this morning was very weird. So Sam and I spent like 3 hours down the range and we just set up shop. We’re just going to watch every player warm up. I wish I put sun cream on my legs. And there was there was like, you know, you Bryson’s still trying to do some entertaining. Bryson was class today. Again, by the way, take if he’d have shot level on on day one, I think he would have like won the open. I think he’s done that as well fairly recently in another major as well. Like completely blown himself out with one round. Anyway, carry on. Yeah. So, like you know, Bryson’s doing his entertaining and then you got uh I mean we watched you got I got new respect for Got an absolute tank and he crunches the golf ball. He’s pushing 10. Yeah, he’s a big big boy. Big big big big boy. But then you had this dynamic where Rory came onto the range and Scotty came onto the range and Scotty went down the far right. Rory kind of went middle left and I’ve just never seen like Yeah, Scotty I could see why he would feel that way. Scotty was leading the open. Uh you know he’s the best player in the world and people are like they’re shouting going you’re not as long as Rory are you Scotty and all. Yeah. need to look check your grip out mate. It’s like there was some real bad negging cuz it it got to the point where towards the end they’ve obviously warmed up through the bag and they start hitting drivers and everyone’s starting to exit because last two groups you’ve got what you know Fitz Rory Howong and and Sheffller and on the screen you’ve got Rory and Sheffller’s Trackman numbers and it was weird. It was like a little it was almost like a boxing match people going sort of like you know when they kind of square each other the way. Exactly. And you know, I mean, it is it’s so impressive watching them hit on the range. It’s, you know, it’s comfortably the best part of the open if you want to watch golf. Like you have an unbelievable appreciation for how good they hit it. Sheffllera rinsing the ball at sort of, you know, 180 ball speed, but Rory is just cruising at 190 and you’re like, there’s things in the air for and it what was most amazing was when Rory was stood over the driver on the range, it went completely silent, but where the range is is also underneath that ravine where Calamity is. So, you’ve got the stand behind Calamity Green, the stand behind Calamity T. Groups are starting to come through there, and you’ve got all the people up on the hill. You got seventh green as well. Seventh green. All of them also went completely muted. It was weird. It was like it was like a fireworks show was going off and they were te they were hitting these T- shots alternating. But you know Rory’s got high golfing IQ. He must be going up against that thinking I’m like five shots behind this guy or six shots whatever he was. Like I’m going to have to do something unbelievable today. A big takeaway from being on the ground is how much of a god Rory is to the spectators in Ireland. I’ve never heard noise like it. Even like walking up to a fairway after the T-shot, people are like screaming, cheering him on. People like in the group in front and behind are having like backoff shots all the time because there’s just random uproars around the course. And when he was especially yesterday when he was making his charge, you talked about the shot into 15. The noise was just I mean so I was on the 15th green yesterday when he hit the pin and it it was it was like someone had just got a hole in one on on a playoff hole to win to win a major championship. Like the noise one could settle down. Um, and I saw a really cool kind of image on uh on the American broadcast today, which was his parents who were watching from not the Rosses, but the the big hotel next to the fourth loose lodge and they’re looking over Rory playing the fourth and obviously crowds that are 20 deep and people just screaming their son’s name and it was talking about how it must be really surreal to not just watch your son be really successful, but to watch a whole nation be obsessed with him. Um, well, he was fielding questions in the in before the tournament. I think people are saying he’s the best athlete to ever come out of Ireland, which is I’m not in any position to say whether that’s true or not, but he’s up against people like George Best and you know these these you know Brian O’Driscoll, these huge you’re one of the top podcasters to come out of Wales and you know and and and and yet I I could there was it was odd like some of this is the some of the some of odd sense of humor I have some of the little you get these tiny little snippets and you make massive judgments about these guys and you get it all the time people who see players and have an opinion but you see Rory it was just a weird thing like he got there he’s getting his Trackman set up took his jumper off I just looked at him I was just felt like God this looks like this guy’s got the weight of the world on his shoulders right now and when he hit that shot on 15 you were like it must be almost impossible to process that I’ve just hit a pitching wedge close as a professional golfer and the reaction it gets it’s going to completely screw with you Um, and what you’re describing is like and that idea of expectation on your shoulders. I think it’s pretty similar to what Bobby Jones would have had in 1930. You know, people talked about just this like ridiculous weight of pressure he was carrying around when he played these tournaments. And I can completely you can kind of see he’s just got so much weight and expectation on his shoulders. And the idea of you then got to turn up and produce the performance you need to beat somebody like Scotty Sheffler. It’s just you made a you you were sat in you did on day three uh moving day as you as we really got heavy into moving day. Moving day. You stayed in the first tea grandstand all day and today you sat in the first green grand stand all day. But you were on the in the stand of the first tea when Rory boxed up. Yes. He held his monster pot on the first yesterday. Um which was I don’t know 30 ft 40 ft from the from the right side of the green to the left. And I was sat in the grand stand on the tea and sometimes rarely in life but you’ll sometimes have the speed of sound speed of light conundrum hit you. That’s not really really what you mean by a conundrum is physics. Okay. But because light generally is quicker, but it’s not something on your mind 24/7 and then it happens. You’re like, “Oh, that’s really cool.” And everyone is on the tea watching his putt. You can’t really see anything. And you see the grand stand. Everyone jump to their feet. What on the tea? From the tea, you see it on the green on the grand. Yep. And then half a second later, a roar hits. It’s a bit like in Oppenheimer genuinely where like the bomb goes off and it’s silent and then the noise hits you. Um and that it’s just the noise of the cheers for Rory. It’s I’ve been to Ryder Cups and maybe it’s hyperbole, but I’ I’ve never heard screams like it. Yeah, we were in the fan zone um when he boxed the Eagle P on 12 and we were probably three holes over but but like sort of uh parallel. So, we weren’t a million miles away from where you would have been, but they weren’t showing it on the fan zone. So, you’re watching like I don’t know anything else. That was more of a broadcasting versus speed of sound conundrum. No, there was just a a a level of sound conundrum cuz we’re sat there and this wave of sound, this huge wave of sound just rolls over the fountain. Very hard to describe how powerful. Yeah. And it was like, holy [ __ ] Rory’s just done something. got no idea what it we don’t even know. We probably knew he was on 12, but we’re like Rory’s just Rory’s just done something. I want to come back to this concept of winners and losers from the week because I think it’s quite interesting. There’s so many interesting little sub stories. I would I would actually just cuz I think the dangers keep coming back to Rory. But I would actually say that’s kind of a win for Rory. Like that’s a as much as he would want to win that this week, like the pressure that he’s dealing playing in front of a home crowd and doing that was like an unbelievable result. Um, I think there was a really good article written by in in golf.com. There was like about the Irish people just needed Rory to do well. They didn’t need him to win like like Saturday was enough. The tournament was is enough because Rory did Yeah. And I think it’s the same thing. I think he I think he’s played really well. He chased it a bit today and that it happens. But and I want to round it out on Sheffler a little bit. I touched on Bobby Jones briefly because I thought it’d be a neat segue. We did I mean look there’s not I say we did is there’s quite a bit of analysis on this this I this concept of Sheffler played 70 tour events without a win and now he’s gone into this machine-like mode where he’s just rattling off wins maj every major just feels like unless he does something disastrously wrong in the first two days he’s going to win it when every single 54 hole lead going you know he’s going to do the grand career grand slam at some point and there’s this whole thing with Bobby Jones where he had Seven lean years up until 1926 and then sort of seven fat years after. And I think with Jones it was so much around temperament is what it’s written about. But also there’s this thing with the putting as well which I think kind of mirrors really with Sheffller and Jones to a certain extent as well. It is a very kind of everyone’s comparing him to Tiger, but I think you’re spot on that there’s a real kind of symmetry with Jones in that he’s he did nothing for the first 70 starts and then his last 80 starts. He’s had 17 wins including four majors. He’s won two players. He’s won a gold medal. Um he’s just completely dominated the sport. Um, I don’t know. I don’t know why, but yeah, his putting has really come together and his mental game is clearly the best in the world by an absolute distance. I think if Rory had Sheffller’s mental game, I mean, it’s scary to think what he could do, which because Sheffer’s so boring. Yeah. I think that that gains him a lot of shots on the field. He doesn’t have the capacity, but he doesn’t have the capacity to get in his own head. He’s so mentally strong, but he doesn’t have the hype. And I it’s we were talking about it’s me and Tom earlier today. We were like on the range and there’s not there’s interest in a range and people sitting there but it’s like just waiting for everything’s waiting for Rory and and it’s like you it’s very hard I can’t actually explain why Rory has this global cult following. It’s not Yeah. Okay. It’s higher in Ireland. We’ve said we’ve rounded out on Rory and look where straight back to in two minutes but Sheffller doesn’t have that same that same bubble. It is important though because we watched them both on the range and Rory’s teen off 10 minutes earlier. So he’s there 10 minutes earlier. He hit a few shots then Scotty got on the range and I walked down and stood behind Scotty and I was on my own. I was on my own with the world number one watching him hit balls in that middle media bit that we were in and Rory was like hundreds of people behind him and you’re like I’m on my own with probably the one of the best ball strikers in modern memory. a guy with complete command over his golf ball with distance control, all of it. And I’m watching him. I’m 10 yards away from him and I’ve got a clear view. Everything’s perfect. And down the other end is a guy who’s six shots back that everyone was all right. It was it’s it’s crazy. And he could have been eight shots back and it been could have been 10 shots back. It probably been the same. Yeah. He could have been he could have made the cut by one and he’s at first te this morning and they would all been there. Crazy. But anyway, um there were other winners and losers. I just wanted just just coming back. Do you think it’s the putting or is it the mental approach just on Sheffller? Well, well, it’s obviously putting is a huge part. He’s gone from being one of the kind of in the bottom quarter of strokes game putting on tour three four years ago to top 10 putter in the world this year. M so you you marry that with being the best kind of the best driver, the best well definitely the best iron player, top 10 short game. He’s top in both of those approach and driving. He’s top 10 in every category. It’s it’s completely unplayable. But you I think Maroy has always been statistically amazing, but when he gets in his head, the putts don’t drop, whatever. So the mind game, it works together, I think. You think? Yeah. I think that you could say that his mental game is one of the strongest clubs in his bag if you were looking for kind of a typical sound bite, but that’s um he’s I don’t know any player on this pod. I don’t know any player that has that attitude. It’s it’s fascinating. Big other big winners this week cuz while Sheffller’s taken it and whilst there’s no silver medal winner, there are tooting back winners we need to discuss which an exceptional tooting back this year. Probably one of the best one of the one of the best tooting backs we’ve had in a few years actually. Tom, what is the tooting back? Uh the tooting back is a cup as in London tooting back cuz you were sending me what is this tooting back nonsense? I can spell it. I was back as in a tube stop. You want me to read you a brief history? Brief. Brief. I’ll make it quick. The two back challenge club was originally a 36 hole strokeplay tournament organized by the London and counties professional golfers association. the forerunner of the professional golfers association. The torn was held on 15th October 1901 at the Tootingback Golf Club. The cup was donated by Tuting Beck Club and of the 50 members who entered 46 play JH Taylor won the event and was present member of the PGA uh and was presented with the cup by the club captain Norman Bailey. Since 1924 though it’s not been held as a standalone tournament. trophies being awarded to the PGA member from the United Kingdom or Republic of Ireland who records the lowest single single round score in the Open, not the British Open. The precise qualification rule has varied. Henry Cotton did not receive in 1934 despite rounds of 65 and 67 because the time the award went to the member of the PJ living in Great Britain, which he doesn’t have anymore. Right. So, but also Shane Larry didn’t win in 2019 according to Wikipedia which is just someone has really got to tighten up the reporting on the tooting beck. It’s actually we just need to take it to we’ll send a letter to the PGA. They’ll hopefully not published. I can’t understand why the RNA haven’t published who won the tooting beck. Uh it’s not on Wikipedia yet until I change it later. But we think there are five winners of the toing back. There are five winners. Well, I don’t know because but Shane Lar didn’t win in 2019, which I assume if you win the clar jug, you can’t win the two. Is it like a society day where you cannot win two? Gross net. I think it’s like one of those things. I think it’s literally like, you know, the best back nine. Is there a count back? That’s there’s a countback. I I So there we think there are five winners of the two. Scottish Sheffller cannot win the two back. So therefore, we know this year who the five are. Rory Maro, did he win the Open in 2014? He did. And he won the Tuton back. He won the Tutin back in 2014. So this we’ve got to tighten up the reporting because Shane Larry is 63 in 2019. I think they’ve got Matt Wallace in there with a 65 for example, which Matt Wallace has also picked up a tooting back today. It’s a fiveway tie yesterday on on the pod on the last pod we did that Matt Fitzpatrick could be the only person to have the silver medal and the open. Well, he could have had the silver medal, the tooththing back in the open. I mean, there’s lots of people done. He has already won the tooth and back. I know. Yeah, he won it in two. So, this is his second 22, I think. What a So, who are our two sing back winners? So, you’ve got Fitzpatrick, Rory, Bobby Mack, Matt Wallace, and I’m going blank now on the fifth. Someone got them in a funny order. Matt Fitzpat Matt Fitzpatrick and Bob Mack on on Friday, I believe. Yeah. Shane Larry. Shane Shane Larry today joined the group. He’s already joined. It’s Bob Mack, Rory, Matt Wallace, and Shane. I mean, look, Shane had last year as well. So, let’s move on from this absolute nonsense about the two team back. We touched on other I’d like to continue to talk about other winners. Is this a win for Keegan Bradley? There two ways you can look at that. US performance and also his own golf. US performance, yes. I mean, the the leaderboard is heavily American, which it wasn’t two days ago. It wasn’t 12 hours ago really. It really kind of they just they they rise to the top. Um rose to the top this today. So they just rose to the top. Shanked it again. So good. Um but Keegan himself didn’t perform very well this weekend which was disappointing because I think the whole golf world wants him to to be forced into picking himself for Beth Paige. I still think he has to on paper, but he will he I mean he will because he’s just the only person who’s at the top a lot. I mean Chris American player at the moment. Chris Got has got to have basically clipped his career earnings in the last two weeks and going back pretty much with a rider cup spot so he I think I’ve told you but do you know how much got earned today was about 1.2 two million 1.1 million like for coming he came third out pretty much he was in the last few groups but yeah he kind of rose up and and yeah really just made made a play today I I watched him a bit today and I thought I wasn’t in love with him last week I wasn’t like oh yeah it’s brilliant as Chris Chris Gosp because he’s again because he’s against Rory and Scottish but it’s like I I’m a I’m a Gossip fan if they’re out there Oh, I enjoyed watching him play. I actually think based on his kind of size, him coming into Ryder Cup contention is not a bad thing. When you’ve got conversations with Ben Griffin being on the RD Cup team who kind of punts at 280 yards, you think they’re going to have a physical fist fight in the Ryder Cup? Well, Beth Paige is you need you need the big boys. Um, and Beth, he is one of those. Another another um person that performed well today which potentially helped his Ryder Cup hopes but is arguably a massive loser not winning in recent weeks is Windam Clark who did a very Bryson thing this week. He shot millions in the first round and then shot 66 66 65. That’s an exceptional run round there. Watching hit balls on the range was was quite staggering. He said he didn’t miss. He said he was unbelievable. It was quite staggering. You were in his little mix zone thing, weren’t you? Oh, it was brilliant. And it and it was all getting like apparently everyone was like one on 10 to hook. There was about a dozen journalists in there and me for some reason. And he came in. It was it was almost like everyone was getting asked beforehand who they were, what they were going to ask. It was everyone’s a bit cy about him coming cuz I think they knew what was coming. And the first question went in and it was very polite about about his round today and is he happy with the week? And then he went and then it went silent and he went he kind of looked around at this crowd of a dozen journalists that was s sat there but no one saying a thing and he said anymore and he was about to leave and then someone mentioned Oakmont and he was there for another 15 minutes just talking about lockers at Oakmont. Um and I I managed to even get the question but I I I was like the rest of them. I did not have the guts to be the first one. But once once that journalist got his got his question about it’s almost like he’s walking back from the train station sexy boxes open it was it was his girl he couldn’t get human psychology weird with that like no one wants to be the first but then once one person asks like can we just dig you just don’t know whether you don’t want to be that guy do you no and I but yet at the same rate people are really happy to run clickbait about you know Scotty Sheffller and all the and all the memes that pop up of Like Scottish Sheffer is a sad emo kid winning and like people like he’s not even enjoying this. He’s going to give up golf when he gets another major but they’re terrified to ask Windam Clark about why he beat the [ __ ] out of a load of lockers in Oakmonts. It’s mad. Yeah. Um he’s a massive like that’s that’s crazy how that that PR’s got away from him quite rightly so. He’s totally he’s got to wear it. But um it is a huge story there. It’s potentially it’s it’s he must be so sick of it. And he it’s going back there in a few years time. That’s what I question him on. And he’s exempt. He’s exempt for the 2033 US Open. And he kept saying um it’s in Oakmont’s hands. I don’t know whether they’ll let me come back. I’d love to go back. It’s amazing course, but it’s all in their hands. And I just said, well, you’re exempt in 2033 and it is going back there. So do you think it’ll be in the field? and he gave a very but it’s not technically well if it works like it works here it it’s not technically their club at the time of the tournament I don’t know how I actually think the best thing that Oman could do is not fix the locker leave it exactly intact as it is and then when he goes back in 2033 give him that exact locker to use and just make him completely wear it brilliant it’d be a gag they’ve got to run for the next eight years but in 100 years that’ be an amazing story oh yeah this is the locker that was smashed by and you can see it’s back champion. Yeah, it’s a bit like the nail marks in the benches. So, we we’re putting him down as a loser or a winner this week. Um, in terms of form, winner, PR, disaster. Oh, doesn’t come worse. If you want to buy the dip on William Clark, now is the time. It’s not getting lower. Richard Tedar, it’s a buyer market. Richard Tedar has to be a winner this week, even though he missed the cut. Yeah, it’s unbelievable. I mean, PR, I mean, wow. I mean every like I followed him around West Lang so I was telling you boys this guy is absolutely dynamite and it seems like every other media agency has picked up on it. I know that no laying up but they were the tweeting about him. The the the shock and star fried egg boys saw him out. They were tweeting about him being out boozing in Harbar. He’s like mixing up in the in the fan zone just going out there taking selfies with everyone. He was absolutely loving it. And I mean he didn’t really he didn’t make the cut but he didn’t disrespect he wasn’t like he didn’t play poor though did he over but he was a really bad Friday. Um but apart from that I mean but no amateur made the cut right so he’s I mean he’s like a bright star I guess there’s massive star quality and fair play to the guy like we were in the fan zone on Saturday and I think we’re going into lock and whiskey temp you know minor what what a place that is during that um but he’s he’s just there it’s Saturday you know he’s there moving on moving day in the fan zone was he moving Fans were moving around him. He was moving with the fans. There was arms moving with selfies. We were moving past him. There were thumbs moving with with picture shots. I took a picture of him. That was static. That was the only thing that wasn’t moving on. But it’s probably a live photo, so you can Yeah, I can probably make it move with with with some editing. Moving day. Yeah, moving day was insane. But but he was he’s in the fan zone on the Saturday just soaking up and you’re like that is exactly what you want to see from any golfer who’s just clearly loving the fact that they’re at a really special place enjoying the open championship. And I just I really hope his golf like he’s clearly an amazing ability because I mean you watch him that’s a serious skill how far he can hit the ball when you watch him doing those long drive things. There’s clearly star quality there, silent stuff and you know he’s from Estonia. It’s like that’s like a really cool story for Estonia and you know that kind of region with golf. He’s probably got a bit on his shoulders now. Ranking is like really good, isn’t it? Yeah, he’s a top player. Yeah. Yeah. He’s he’s top 100 wagon, maybe top 50. He’s not a competition. It’s not like he’s won a spot in the open championship on the back of a cereal box. He has won a spot in the open champions. No, it’s exactly what he’s done. We talk about No, but you know, we talked about this. They talked about where was Bob Mack when they talked about him like he was some sort of competition winner right like he got there on the back of a serial box but like he’s clearly like play earned his spot there. Um so he’s just got to the game’s just got to stay good enough to be able to compete at that level cuz he’ll be blockbuster. Another winner for the week I’d say cookie jar golf. Uh and that’s on behalf that sounds arrogant on behalf of cuz we just lucked out with Lachlund this for this week uh have kind of teamed up with us and they allowed us to to podcast with Colin Montgomery which was incredible. We got more episodes. We’ve got more coming that’s going to come after the open which is incredible. And we got to chill out in that um tent that they put up on the 18 which was and they’re having great cocktails and we had you know I must admit you know just knowing that you’re out work and not there to get boozed on moving day with all the movement that was happening. We actually really pummeled into some of the non-alcoholic gins the gins and that was brilliant. How many do you think you had of the non-alcoholic? cuz it was a you were drinking them while judge as a judge. We were drinking them like they were going out of oldfashioned. They were really nice though. They’re quite first time I’ve had like that. I’ve always sort of like I can’t understand why you’d have non-alcoholic gin. Actually quite a nice drink. But if you’re working, there’s a reason to have a non-alcoholic gin. No, but I would just have water or or non-alcoholic beer. But anyway, we it was it was a class location. We really enjoyed spending some time there. So, thank you so much to Lot Lman and keep your eyes and ears peeled for future podcasts that will be coming. Are there any other big winners? Um, well, should we discuss someone say I don’t know. Should we go with JJ Spawn? Is he a winner this week? I mean, or is he a loser? He didn’t really feature a lot other than we in a way he did it humbly. We had a press conference with him. He’s okay. So, maybe he is a loser. He’s humble in the press conference world. He is humble. Yeah. Um just so basically prior to the tournament, JJ Spawn goes in for a uh an interview in the press conference and a journalist says to to JJ Spawn. If you could describe yourself in one word, what would you be? And he said he thought about it for a moment. He goes, “Humble.” I think. And then he and then he spoke for five minutes about how humble he was. The humble. the irony. Me and Sam were humble. We’re in school. We couldn’t believe our luck. We were like school kids at the back of the room. What I will say in his defense is it is a really odd question to be asked and it’s very hard not to slip into some sort of David Brent wrote sort of like mood where you’re like, you know, Brent mused, you know, all this sort of crap. And he I don’t know. He got sucked into it. I I think it’s I if you’re not really inclined towards public speaking, the whole nature of these things would feel very alien and I know they have to do it, but they don’t have to do it unless they’re winning. Like, you know, Oliver Liendelle is not being dragged up in front of 50 guys there from the press asking them to for adjectives to describe him. I know nothing about the guy, but you know, all of a sudden you win a US Open, you’ve got to find an adjective and you hadn’t thought about that question. Um, what I would what I would say is Olva Lindell was asked to go in and uh it was a it was a really really rough hour for me at the end of the day where I got rejected an interview with Oliver Lindell. But then you got kicked out of the media center and T act like he didn’t know me after she had a bad round. I was I went for such a high and I was like get kicked out the media center. Your badge didn’t get you through. Is it hard to say? Is it harsh to say that the the quality of question in the press conferences is generally quite low. Not harsh at all. Not harsh at all. Like I like we’re really big golf nerds, hyper golf nerds. We know we sit at the niche end of of golf journalism. We we’re aware of that, you know, we’re trying we’re desperately trying to find comparisons between uh Scotty Sheffller and and Bobby Jones. I mean, like we’re trying to go deeper than the tig back against this, but some of the questions, they’re so geared towards what they can snap up in a in a a sound bite or what. And the the questions are just not I personally think some of the questions are just just chicken and egg, right? That’s the whole thing. There’s so much of it and that’s what Sheffller pushed back about in his his press conference was this whole thing of yeah, okay, I talked about 2 minutes and then I move on and there’s a lot of talk about being grateful for faith and family and all that, but it’s it’s ultimately there’s a there’s an obsession with clickbait and therefore that is what media is. That’s not just golf media, that’s just media, right? And you’ve got, you know, there’s there’s people that have been doing this gig for a hell of a lot longer than us who, you know, and some of them are like really good astute questions and some of them have um, you know, have a different slant and a different agenda. I mean, it’s like that’s the nature of press is it’s it’s open sourced for whatever that end of journalism. You know, if we want to sit there and ask them about golf course, they can and they can sit there and be like, why are these [ __ ] asking about Calamity? Um, minor shout out. So funny. Jeff Shack asking Scottish chef for what went wrong on 16 today because he pard first time he made a three rather than a two. Any other big losers this week? Um no I would say uh big winner is Royal Port Rush. That is exactly what I was just about to say. I’m so glad they got the weather on the sat on the Saturday and the Sunday afternoon. I think it looked mint from the air. Like all the shout out big winner, Laura Davies. Laura Davies. That maybe the best line of commentary I’ve heard in a long time. And I was going to say the the big shout out to Paul cuz it looked amazing. And they show that shot where they there’s like a a drone shot over the beach. You got the huge dune, the sea. It’s white, isn’t it? Five, six, seven. You look at it and it is drawn. It’s the most stunning golf course you ever seen in your life. And then who asked the question? Is it dirty? He just said, “What other sport could you enjoy a view like this?” Laura Davis just dead. Skydiving. And he caught him so off guard. He went, “What? Skydiving.” I just said it double down. It’s actually a perfect response, though. And it really adds to it. She might be the biggest winner this week. Yeah. Okay. But Bor Rush, I think it looked it looked quality. It had one of the best leaderboards we’ve had an open in ages probably you know definitely since the Masters but it’s kind of I think the runoffs that we you know the round the greens just play fantastically. Yes, it was a little bit softer than perhaps the the club would have liked, but it wasn’t for God’s sake, it wasn’t pudding, you know. They’re not No, it was just greener. We just had a wetter few months over there, but it is it was I mean like you could tell like the second it was dry on Saturday, that thing was looking fier today. Yeah, they they were finding it much harder to back up balls uh yesterday and today. Uh, and I just thought all you want when you’re um when you’re in a venue that’s hosting an open championship is you just want a really good winner. You know, you you want to make sure that when that person’s name is etched onto the board in your clubhouse, it’s like, yeah, that that player’s class and they’ve won the open here. And I think they got it, you know. I think they’ve got it twice. Well, three times now. So yeah, I think Paul Rush has come out. Not that it was any danger of not coming out looking class or being a winner, but I think it was you’d be very very proud if you’re a member, I think, or or work to the club. And it’s so night and I I know I keep saying it, but it’s just so nice when the broadcast just really shows what what a what a unbelievable piece of land that is and what a great golf course. And the reality is we do this for a living. You take pictures, you look at golf courses all the time. And when mother nature decides that that’s not going to look the case, you can’t do anything about it. So when you get the sun dropping down there and you’re like, “Wow.” And there’s a lot of people who will never travel to this part of the world or get a chance to play it and you can really appreciate its beauty. And I think that’s really nice in the week to be able to be like the broadcast on Saturday and Sunday. You look at that and go that’s a serious golf course and I understand the hype. It’s massive winner. And they’re a great team. they, you know, we’ve obviously, you know, close to the club and just knowing how much hard work that goes in, not just from the RNA, but from the club to deliver something like that, it’s it’s not to be underestimated. It’s they’re a seriously impressive bunch of guys. People like Gary McNeel, people like Graeme Beat, people like Johnny in the in the clubhouse. They’re top bunch of guys. So good with Gary cuz obviously he we had a bit of content lined up for them for when he would become the marker, but obviously there was an even number. So he got he got let down, I suppose you could say. But he got told on on Friday night and we saw him nice and early on Saturday morning in the Loman tent. Didn’t you having a bramble? Bramble. Dramble. Dramble. Dramble. Dramble. And he was having a couple of dramles. Didn’t you text him like four and say, “Are you are you disappointed or relieved?” Yeah. And he said, “Both.” Yeah. And it’s it’s just I I I I don’t I can’t imagine the pressure of being there and having to play at least half decent golf to cuz you’ve got thousands of eyeballs on you either way, haven’t you? if you if you are the marker. But there’s more chat this year about the open championship rotor than in any previous well previous it’s not many but last four or five opens there’s not been as much chatter about it. I started to look a little bit at the numbers on this. So last 26 opens takes us back to what 20 I looked at the last 26 opens up to the point with which they are announced. I.e. next year it will be played at Robert Bertdale and the year after will be played at the old course. Now I haven’t got my notes in front of me here so I could be wrong. I think has it been announced as the old course old old course 2027 years that would be because it would be five years but yeah so basically the in the in the 13 years from 2001 nine courses will have hosted an open in that 13ear spell. In the 13 years previous from 2028 when we finished the open at at the old course sorry in 2027 when we finished the open at the old course in those last 13 years only seven will have hosted it there’s a huge amount of chatter about the open championship rotor in that time over that 26 year spell the open will have been held at the old course the most with five opens naturally there are four venues that will have hosted three which are Royal Bertdale, Royal Liverpool, Royal St. George’s and Royal Trun. Port Rush and Murefield and Kusti and Litham will have had two each and Turbor have only had one. Now there feels like there is a movement where there’s some discussions about whether Lith will have another open, you know, what’s going to happen with Kusti. There’s some change in ownership stuff there. There’s loads of news about Turnbury. I don’t know whether it feels like it’s going back to a smaller rotor. There’s discussions about Port Manuk joining the rotor as well. But whichever way it just throws up some really interesting questions and if if venues are going to be asked to host these things four times in a 20 or 25 year spell and the work that the clubs have to do, it’s just I’m I’m not quite sure what the sweet spot is really for this. like every five years at the old course. It’s like a massive undertaking. Yeah. The old course is very St. Andrew is very geared up for it all though, isn’t it? And it and it’s been it is and isn’t though cuz it’s heavily used members a little bit being members course but then having you know the links trust look after all those sites it lends itself well to for doing it a lot. Um, I’d be more concerned over the the relevance of the old course and that’s obviously not from an architectural point of view or a historical point of view. The only pass actually two left on the rotor, but you know how it can stand up to to to how they how they play golf now. Interesting to see what’ll happen when the roll back kicks in. Um I I just I question there seemed like there are Look, there was 280,000 people at Royal Por Rush this this week and it worked from what I could tell on the ground it worked pretty seamlessly. Um it’s a lot though, isn’t it? Oh, it is a lot. But there they didn’t seem to be, you know, people were getting adequate booze, they were getting adequate food. There was no, you know, I wasn’t hearing on the fact I spent a lot of time in the fan zone moved around. The June structure of Port Rush means you can sit somewhere and you just sit there all day and watch groups come through. You don’t have to have all the big stands everywhere. Like Port Rush would seem like one that’s not really going to go anywhere. I don’t think Georgees is going to go anywhere. I don’t think Holy’s going to go anywhere. I don’t think Berdo’s going anywhere. Burk’s going nowhere. That course the old course. You’ve got five. You can’t do one every five years at these places. the these have got like this is that’s the point I’m driving at where you’ve got nine courses in a 13-ear spell. There’s a much bigger sort of like particularly when the old course is bearing the brunt of some of that. I I I just feel like this they’re big undertakings for member clubs to take on. And I don’t really know what the answer is because the truth is so many of these great courses are, you know, they’re just like I mean that is such a hard golf course and they’ve and with if the wind doesn’t blow, it’s just torn like they’re scoring like mad. I don’t think that matters. I don’t I don’t think it does that much, but like I really I feel like I feel like the the the the rotor has got smaller now. You look at the USGA, they’re bigger land mass, more courses, more clubs, but they’re announcing things up to 201 and it’s like 2028. You’re like, when’s it where’s it going to go? 2028 and 9 and but I’m just going to push back on scoring because for for a couple of different reasons. I hate that people are concerned about score to par. Hate it. The the only thing that should matter is what does that leader look leaderboard look like at the end of all come Sunday and if it is producing the best field rush is par 72 for the members. H so if they played that as a par 72 as they do with St. Andrews they would have a new scoring record. They would have a new scoring record today. Yeah. So, look, does that make it does that make it the easiest course? Does that make it a crap course? Absolutely not. I’m not saying it does, but I do think in these these championships like they have to do so much trickery with a golf course to make it um to make it like a proper championship test. You look at what they’re doing to to Oakmont. I mean, the USGA for the US Open, they push really hard to hold the score to par. It’s amazing how they do it actually. like they they gener generally somehow manage the course into a result where even one under, one over, whatever wins it. Um, it’s less about that. It’s more like a title. Not as good a spectacle because they did that. No, I agree. But the point being you’ve still got to present a major championship course and you’ve got to have and there are certain ingredients. There has to be a high level of difficulty to the golf course irrespective that course is still playing really tough. Now to do that and you’re taking if you only have I don’t know if you have six seven courses that host an open you’ve got to go into that cycle on those places you’ve got to ask that’s a lot of those clubs and all I’m asking is where do the where are the other venues you talked about this idea of USJ of core and fringe sites like you know there are core sites on the USJ and there are fringe sites you say fringe sites too I did say fringe sites yeah is that the completely wrong term ology. I know, but it’s a it’s an odd word. To be honest, I I I didn’t do my homework on this specific phrasing for the venues that don’t host it as regular as the others. Fringe seemed right. Um um well, look, let’s let’s reverse engineer it. Paul Monik potentially. I don’t know. It seems to be chatter around it. There’s not chatter. Mark Darbin said everything, but it’s definitely going there. In his press conference, he said they love it there. They’re working with the government. It’s But it doesn’t seem like it’s going to happen in a rush. I think that’s fair. It’s going to happen. There’s got to do some infrastructure. Great. It doesn’t feel like it’s been off for a while now. It doesn’t feel like it’s going to come back on anytime soon. That’s known as a lower ticketing job as well. Like you can’t get 280,000 people through there. So that’s a different thing. And there’s the optics of Trump. I would have thought with a with a with a sort of 1930 link that Lith might be getting something soon. Well, they did a huge course change recently. 19206. You imagine they’re not going to redesign two or three holes to not then get the open again. I I think I’d be shocked if Lithium didn’t get another one. I’d like to see them get one again, but it has been a while. they’ve moved all that 11th hole and done some significant rrooting in the you know I think a large part of that is to enable practice facilities because where you’ve got a lot of these places like a Hoy lake or you know you know here for example is a twocore site you can all of a sudden create these enormous practice ranges cuz you we’re sitting there watching Rory send off fireworks and it’s like Christ you can drive over half of most the golf courses in the country with that shot so they’ve got to have it. So, I think Litham have done a lot of work to accommodate it. I mean, I think Litham’s an amazing golf course. I think it’s just it’s an absolute tragedy if it if the open doesn’t turn there. The one I’m most surprised about and is Murefield. I’m I’m really I’m astounded it’s been off for so long and I know the politics. I I know that that’s since been that’s since been since been dealt with, but they haven’t rushed it on sooner. I think surprising there it’s clearly the fact that they can’t sell 280,000 tickets at Mfield. I think in 2013 it was 120,000. So for the RNA to then go back and basically cut their all their income for for funding the game of golf by more than half is obviously quite a big decision. In Mark Darbin’s presser, one of the journalists asked about um at Hoy Lake the Rangers offsite. They use another local course at Muerfield. Why don’t they use Renaissance’s driving range? And it was almost like a light bulb went off in Mark’s head. He didn’t say that’s a great idea, but I kind of saw it in his eyes. He’s like, that’s quite interesting because he did speak about how the range at Muild is a big issue and they need to kind of get their head around that if it’s going to go back. Um as well as other infrastructure things. Well, especially since it’s a week after the Scottish, you could be like, “Yeah, just leave the range there. Just leave it all set up and we’ll walk across walk across the road, get it done, and it would uh that would be a thing.” I’m not saying it’s an easy answer any of this stuff, but it does just show you how much of a difficult decision that is for the RNA, for the clubs, and everyone involved to make the right calls because there are trade-offs. Like you say, smaller spectator, Turbury, Mulefield, Mulefield Golf Course, like probably the most suitable to have it really if you want to real like that is just nails as a test and it’s always been a great venue. It’s tough. By the way, Mark Darbin also put him down in the winners category for this week. I was so impressed. We saw him walk through the he was just walking through with the fans. He’s buying stuff from the merch tent, you know, just like just he’s clearly like a breath of fresh air. He I thought he was he was really impressive. Very classy stuff. We saw him walking through with his kids, you know, he goes goes into the the merch tent. We had a chat with him afterwards and just you said we went to a press conference, you know, impressive stuff. And he took the time to speak to us for 5 minutes, you know, just seemed like a really really nice genuine, wasn’t he? Yeah. And uh you know, just like didn’t know he didn’t obviously didn’t know who we were. He was like, “Oh, you have a nice week. What are you doing?” What? you know, just and then he presented, you know, the gold medal and the champion golfer of the year and everything he had to do. There was no checking of notes. It was just nailed and yeah, good. I think Mark Din, I think he’s going to be a a good addition to the RN. The road is a good discussion. I just don’t know what the answer is and I don’t think we’re expected to have the answers and if we and if we had some answers, I don’t think anyone could give a monkeys either. Small segway while we’re talking about major championship venues and winners. I think a big winner is 2024 men’s major championship golf. We’ll look back on it and think it was one of the last year. No, sorry. 2025. I’m losing track of time. Um macro winning the Grand Slam, Sheffller winning his first PGA, JJ Spawn holding a 70footer on the last and then Sheffller winning the Clar Jug. And then next year we’re rolling into Augusta Shinok Hills. Augusta have got the Masters, have they? Apparently. Yeah. They got it again. Yeah, it’s confirmed. New contract. Um, and then Shikok Hills, Bertell, and Aronom. What? And Sheffller can win the career Grand Slam on his 30th birthday at Shinnok. That’s great research. That’s great research. That is just like, give that kid. That’s a great bit of research. that is. But isn’t that what a great like we’ve had a really good major championship year and next year looks like there’s a lot of storylines. There’s great venues. So that’s an amazing list of venues as well. What I would say is Sheffer’s got the game for Shinikok. He’s got the game for anyone. What I would say is that Rory has shown us all though that getting it getting it done just because me you’ve just cuz you’ve got a few getting the last one is not not a cakewalk speed as well. Yeah as well. The game owes you nothing does it? Like that’s the truth is like you know Spith is testament to the fact that you can have lightning in a bottle and it can just go. Yeah. I mean, I remember not being a Span when he was when he was on Top of the World because it was again, it was just like one of those like, “Yeah, Space Classes win everything.” And there was one moment on one hole in one golf tournament that literally undid him and he’s never been the same. And it’s weird, you know, it’s really weird. I I think I spoke to one of you two boys about it. Like how do you think it feels to be Jordan Smith now when you were basically Scottish Sheffford x amount of years ago and everyone was saying this is it like this guy’s class he’s can’t lose. He’s playing he’s got everything in the in the game. I I think he’s a glorified Will Zalator personally, but we could digress. But Will Zalator is is three or four shots away in his career from being a three-time major champion at a young age. And Spith got handed the the coach handed the US Open at Chambers Bay, won the other two deservedly, but I digress. But he wasn’t the same as Sheffler. Sheffller is dominating and I it yeah it is a fickle sport and it could change at any moment but I don’t think sheer is the same player that speed was when he was first going for a career grand slam. Are we going to wrap this up boys? I think we should it would be remiss not to mention that we’re rolling into the British seniors next week at Sunningale. You’re going to go and do a reporting from there. All being well and then really excited to see that that’s Peter by the way. Yeah. Sorry. And I’m really looking forward to seeing the AIG Women’s Open at Port Royal Porth Call. I think it’s such an amazing We’re going to spend a day down there at Royal Porc. It’s it’s just such a great venue. It’s going to be such a great tournament as well. And just seeing that again, I just I similarly hope they get the weather. I kind of obsessed with this, but it just really makes a difference when you see somewhere like that on TV and it looks that good. You want a couple of days of it being I I think you do want a day or two of it being Ming and then D and then Minty and then Minty or Minty then Ming. But just finally before we we wrap up because this is the fourth and final major of depends on what what year Peter thinks it is but it is 2025. Um, I would say this year has had a high volume of very very good European European golf performances. Agreed. Up until like today, I would have been like, yeah, Europe are just going to dominate this Ryder Cup because we’ve we’ve had, you know, some electric performances throughout the PGA Tour and DP World Tour from from many many European golfers. And they were like, was it time like that? Yes, you’ve got Scottish Sheffler, but then like the second best golfer coming out of America was Keegan Bradley. Mhm. Today they pushed back a bit. You know, we’ve got her up. We’ve got her up. We’ve got Wendell Clark as Harris English played brilliant. Harris English was was was great all week like where where’s your head at? Like thinking in Bryson threw three rounds of exceptional golf together. It’s about to play golf, isn’t it? I I I I’m highly skeptical we can turn up at Beth Page and win that. I don’t I don’t profess to have the all the answers on this stuff, but my gut feels. You always think you’ve got all the answers. I’m I’m just trying to take from JJ just once. Okay. Um, I I think it’s you’re going into you’re going right into the heart of en enemy territory at Beth Page and you’re playing a burly golf course and it couldn’t be more American as a venue in terms of a setup and I not that that makes a big difference like the Europeans play a full diet of PJ tour golf as well but I just think that yeah I think the home and away thing and he’s basically a big tank. Game over. That’s it. I think I think Gosh rope could probably lift the entire US RDER Cup squad. Certainly bench press it. Yeah. And it’s his legs, mate. His legs, they’re like tree trunks. The guy is absolutely He was dry like 310. They weren’t getting above head height at one point. It was crazy. He honestly was the guy is an abs. He’s Ryan Fox tank. Just uh there’s some people that just don’t look the same in real life as they do on TV. Maybe we just need to fast track Richard Tedders for like citizenship over here and just get we need to get him. Yeah, he’d be hitting it far enough offline at Beth Page that he’s like missing the rough and he’s in all the trample down areas. Could be the dream. No, I just realized that he No, it’s only because we were talking about Walker Cup with an uh which you would need a citizenship. But I think I think Ted has got an outside chance of getting in the Ryder Cup side as a given. I think that is one of the most elite moves of Luke Donald is to field an amateur golfer in a professional team competition that’s played in one major and missed the cut. I think he could be great, wouldn’t it, if we turned up with a side full of ams and won. The arrogance of it would just be absolutely appalling. Anyway, chaps, let’s move on now. That been a great week. Well done. Well done to you both. Uh great week and a huge well done to Royal Paul Rush. I thought you going to wrap it up. Until next time. There we go. There you go. Watch this. How would you describe your character? Humble. I think humble is probably the only one that I can think of now. [Music] [Applause] [Music]
