Scottie Scheffler joins for a comical interview following his win at the BMW. Both Sahith Theegala & U.S. Am winner Mason Howell join the show. Jon Rahm clips Joaquin Niemann for LIV Title. We make our last picks for the Ryder Cup teams at Bethpage. We Rank ‘Em Blind: the next generation. We finish the show with some Chirps from the Gallery & a Clip of the Week.
Presented by @Knockaround.
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[Music] Welcome to the show, Golf Sickos. We have an absolutely huge huge show for you today. We’ve got Scotty Sheffller on the show, and I don’t want to pat myself on the back too hard, but I’m going to pat myself on the back. I think we cracked him. I think we we got through the the the press conference mode. I’ve been trying to have that breakthrough with Scotty. I think we finally had it. We have a really great sitdown interview with Saw at the Gala coming off a brutally disappointing year. I think it’s safe to say. And we also have the US amateur champ, 18-year-old Mason Howell is going to join us just a bit here. But we’re going to start with Scotty Sheffller. And the PGA Tour recently, guys, has turned into a little bit of a glorified version of Scotty versus. It’s like a game show. It’s who’s going to challenge Scotty this week. Last week it was Justin Rose and JJ Spawn and Tommy Fleetwood. And this week it was Robert McIntyre. He lost one. He lost last week. He won this week. And I have absolutely no doubt that this coming week at East Lake, the last week of the PJ Tour season. Hard to believe. We’ve been doing this show. This is our 20th episode. You guys are incredible. Drop us a like and a subscribe. I think this is going to be another episode of Scotty Versus. I have no doubt that Scotty will be there. Someone will challenge him and we’ll see what happens. That is the state of the PGA Tour right now. And that is not uh a comment on a lack of depth. It is more a comment on uh just an incredible run that it almost feels silly to call it a run now because it just kind of feels like the new normal. This just feels like Scotty Sheffller’s standard. So, he wins again. It’s the 18th win of his career officially. Now, the win count gets a bit funky last year because they credit him with a win for the tour championship even though he didn’t shoot the lowest score. That won’t happen again this year because we got rid of the starting strokes. They also that doesn’t count the Olympics. I count the Olympics. I don’t count the tour championship from last year. So, by that criteria, since the beginning of March 2024, Scotty has 12 wins, including three majors, Olympic gold, the players, and six signature or playoff events. Only one of those 12 wins has come against a normal field and that was at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson this week. He is truly uh this earlier this year rather. He is truly on another planet right now and it it’s just not showing any signs of slowing down at all and I am running out of words to describe him. I’m also running out of questions to ask him. So, we get to interview the PGA Tour winner after they win every week. It’s an awesome part of our partnership with the tour. It is a fantastic thing. Sometimes you’re really excited for the interview most times because you get to talk to a guy that you know maybe won for the first time in a while or you know uh had a career changing week with Scotty. I was thinking this like what am I going to ask this guy because the Ted Scott stuff you didn’t have Ted on the back that’s personal not really going to ask about that and it’s like what is there left to you know ask him about uh the way he it’s like he’s so used to doing this that I felt like it would be more fun for us to just kind of ask other random questions because I’m running out of superlatives. Here I am with Scotty Shuffler. I mean, how are you able to bounce like you’ve led in um bounceback for the last like two years? Little bit of a shock to the system, I’m sure, with those missed putts. And then walk us through like how do you calm yourself down to to do what you did on the par three? Yeah, I mean it’s it’s all a matter of just staying patient. I think uh I didn’t really struggle too much with my execution. the greens just got really difficult to putt out there. And um you know, when you’re not getting the most out of your rounds, I think if you try to change something or you know, if I was to try to change my approach or get over aggressive, that’s when things have a tendency to start to snowball. But, um did a good job of just staying patient, continue to try to execute. I mean, had huge shot there on the 15th hole and a really nice putt there as well to kind of keep the momentum in the round and uh that was that was really important at the time. All right, like I said, I’m I’m pretty much out of questions. We’ve done this a few times now. I feel like everything that’s been asked of you has been asked, so I’m going to ask a couple random ones. How many uh how many wins did the Cowboys get this year? Um I saw their ceiling, I think on ESPN was 11 and six. So I mean I’m going to hope for the ceiling and go with 11. Okay. What uh did you have for breakfast this morning? Oo, I had a feast this morning. I had an omelette with some bacon. Sorry, omelette with uh bacon, peppers, and onions. A little bacon on the side, some some potatoes, some toast, some Greek yogurt with some blueberries, some coconut water and orange juice. The the food here was incredible this week, so it was Wow, you got after it this morning. Oh, yeah. And then my last one my last one for you. What are uh what are three things that you’re like bad at? Um well, my wife’s sitting over there. She’d probably tell you a few things that I’m bad at, I’m sure. My job. False. Meredith. Um, sorry. There’s Bennett right there missing dad. Um, what am I bad at? Yeah. Um, I mean, ice skating maybe. I don’t know. That’s the first thing comes to mind. Okay. Ice skating and maj. Yeah, ice skating. Not majong. I’m definitely better than my wife at ma for sure. That’s it. That’s all I got for you. All right. Thanks, Dan. Cooking. Yeah, cooking. Terrible. Okay. It’s been very Yeah, cooking. Cooking safely. Cooking. Cooking safely. Yes. Right. Yeah, that’s my final answer. cooking safely. I’m terrible at acting that I’ll see you next week. Thanks. See, Dan, that was good. Cooking. He liked it. He actually enjoyed an interview. I I I feel a personal sense of satisfaction and pride that we were able to sort of crack uh Scotty Sheffller. So, Scotty Sheffller won this week with Michael Crommy on the bag. Uh he’s a former college player at the University of Georgia and he’s a caddyy. So, you know what I’m going to say? He’s a great player in his own right. But by my count, that was the fifth win in World Golf for a fill-in caddy this year. It’s probably been way more than that. But Sept Straka won with Drew Mats on the bag. Mini tour player won the truest and that like kept Drew Mathers’ career, funded his career for a while. Kurt Kittyama won with his brother on the bag after Tim Tucker dumped him to take Tony Fenow’s bag. He wanted 3M. Justin Thomas won the RBC Heritage with Joe Grinder on the bag. Walken Neman won the live event uh with a new caddy on the bag for the first week. Again, Scotty Sheffller just won with Michael Chromy on the bag. So, we we spent all this time talking about Looper Island and all the all these changes. Maybe these guys are looking for that first week magic. It is it is definitely hard to ignore that trend. Four winners in the PGA Tour season and and five if you include walking Neiman on live winning with a new caddy on the bag. So, you know, I cattied one week on the PJ tour in my life and I asked a lot of caddies for advice and they said the most important thing about being a caddy is picking a good horse and Michael Cromy had uh the best horse this week. So, another win for a Phil in Caddy. Um, and and Scotty, you know, for all of his wins recently, we talked about the 12 since March of 2024. There have been very few moments, and I think the reason is because the way Scotty wins, I mean, I think about the majors that he’s won. He’s won them all going away. He’s won them all by at least three shots. He usually just kind of creeps up throughout the week and kind of takes the tournament by the throat and and sucks all the oxygen out of it. There’s been very few moments where it’s like that was a moment you can point to. I think about the chip in when he won his first Masters, but that was way back in 2022. I mean, so much of this has just been felt like a sense of inevitability and where it’s like he’s just going to win. It’s not like uh oh, there’s going to be this this high leverage moment. We finally got one. It was the chip on 17 and I’m going to break it down right here with my man Parker McLolin aka Short Game Chef. All right, we’re joined by Parker McLaclin aka Short Game Chef. Another Scotty Sheffller win. Before we get into the signature shot from this win, which was the incredible uh shot on the par 317th, you know, there’s there’s so much talk about Scotty and his and his ball striking and and his distance control, but I mean, you coach some of the best players in the world. You’ve seen Scotty up close. Just how good of a short gamer is he? Yeah, it’s pretty incredible. Um, you know, I’ve been lucky enough to coach Sam Burns the last 15 16 months and he and Scotty play all their practice rounds together. And so, you know, I’ve probably walked 10 10 to 12 practice rounds with the two of them. And yeah, Scotty’s very impressive. He hits a variety of shots. He goes low, medium, high. He he kind of does it all. Um, and it’s beautiful to watch his creativity. I don’t think he thinks about much. I think he thinks about his trajectory and his landing spot. Um, but I just think it’s it’s beautiful to watch. Yeah. Know, you know, we spent a lot of time talking about technique and stuff, but I think Scotty is one of the guys where he really varies it, doesn’t it’s not it’s not one sizefits-all. Yeah, absolutely. And again, he does it based on the lie and then he does it based on the shot at hand. So, if he’s got to go low, he’ll put it back in his stance and he’ll hit down on it and kind of Jordan Speesesque type of shot. And if he needs to go high, he’ll start to open open up that club face and Phil Mickelson it. So he he’s got a variety of shots in his bag, but again, it’s very uh it’s very lie dependent and it’s very dependent on what the shot is calling for. So talk to us through, you know, kind of walk us through that shot on 17. So obviously there’s water long, it’s it’s straight downhill. What was he looking at there and and walk us through the technique and then and then the execution? Yeah, I mean obviously the lie the lie plays a big part of it. I mean four and a half inch rough. um it looked like it wasn’t too bad of a lie, something where he could get his club underneath. I think that’s one of the main things that that tour players are looking for when the golf ball’s sitting in the rough. They’re looking at how much grass is behind the golf ball, but also how much grass is underneath that golf ball. This is this this gives Scotty the ability to understand, okay, do I really need to go way down and go get this thing, or do I need to not go quite as far down and go get it? Because there is a risk if there’s too much grass under. We saw this with Ricky on on 15. You can go right under it. Exactly right. Exactly right. So Scotty had to read that lie perfectly to be able to adjust and make sure the depth of his swing didn’t go too deep. And so, you know, he’s opening that face up like he needed to because he had to stop that thing with height. Anytime you’re in the rough, tour players are looking, well, do I have a good enough lie to stop it with spin? But if there’s a lot of grass behind it, I need to stop it with height. And so, he’s looking up to be able to try to stop. That ball probably had no spin at all on it. Yeah, he’s trying to go up trying to go upstairs with it. Face goes open. Um, you know, lengthens the back swing a little bit longer than what he normally would have. You know, if he was in a normal a normal little pitch, it would be much shorter. So, he had to go a bit longer there. And, um, and then you see this that thing just pops straight up in the air. Little bit more out to in type of a path, just a fraction. And then he um, you know, there’s definitely some release on the way through with his hands, right? He’s not he’s not driving it low. little bit of a release underneath that golf ball to get it to to start popping up a little higher. And is it hard to pull off that shot in that moment? I feel like, you know, that’s one of those shots that I feel like Tuesday afternoon, no problem for a tour player. Is it is it a function of he’s been there so many times now that it it just it’s got to feel more normal. Yeah. I mean, you you look even look at his reaction afterwards, right? It’s like you look at what Tiger would have done and like Tiger would still be fist pumping, you know? It’s like Scotty, he he didn’t break a smile. He didn’t like like he was just flatlined. It was unbelievable. What one of the craziest epic chips of all time and you’re looking at you’re like how does he not even break character right now? Yeah. It’s like it’s like he gives him like a gives him like a fist pump. Club goes back in and they’re off to the next. I would not want to play Scotty in poker. Like when he gets in that zone like dude, you don’t know if he’s got aces or if he’s got nothing. Yeah. Awesome. Well, good stuff, my friend. We’ll do it again. Yeah. Thanks, Dan. I totally forgot to bring in my sidekick, Ben Bosco. Ben, how we doing, Ben? What’s up, Dan? I’ve just been cheesing ever since the Scotty interview over here. I can’t believe I’ve never seen What penthouse are you calling in live from today? We’ve we’ve called in from this penthouse before. We’re back in Philadelphia. Can you pan the camera? I want to see that lovely media uh you know, the TV situation. Yeah, there it is. What a beautiful TV situation that is. All right, Ben’s with us. like the FedEx Cup she’s got on the coffin. That does look like the FedEx Cup. Uh speaking of the FedEx Cup, a guy who’s going to be there uh this week, Ben Griffin. So Ben Griffin, who I think he’s locked up his RDER Cup spot, a bit of a weird round on Sunday. He started triple bogey, double bogey, bogey. So he was 6 over for his round through three holes. He ends up shooting one under 69. So he plays his last 15 holes in seven under. And what was the reason for his slow start? Let’s watch this. I I take creatine as a supplement. And this morning I didn’t take it until I basically teed off on one and I was at the end of my batch and I had this like basically a snowball of creatine. So it been in my bucket for probably like a month. Um I like broke it up and put it in my water bottle, whatever. Like I’m all good. Like I’ve taken creatine on the golf course before. It’s fine. Um but I I started taking it after my second shot and I accidentally swallowed like one of the one of the big rocks kind of that was in my water bottle. And I’ve never overdosed on creating before, but um I think I did in the moment because I didn’t really drink any water after that. I basically just inhaled like a snowball. So I started getting like super shaky and I’ve never felt like this before and I literally felt like I had tremors. You have overdose. That was a first ever overdose on creatine is all the rage these days. I remember when ever since Rory and Scotty were talking about it in that, you know, that when they played Bryson and Brooks, all the guys are on creatine. actually had an exchange with Ben Griffin early in the week where he was hitting balls on Tuesday. He had a driver I was like, “Oh, 183 ball speed.” He was like 177. I haven’t had my creatine today. So, creatine is a big part of the PGA Tour. And then uh a few more notes. Harry Hall. So, this is the I’m calling this the curious case of Harry Hall. So, Harry Hall, we talk about data golf a lot on this show as a ranking system because the world rankings are so [ __ ] He has broken into the top 10 in the data golf rankings. Now, he’s 54th in the world. The reason is he his he finished sixth this week at the BMW. matched his highest finish of the year, but he’s been so consistent. So, in his last 11 starts, he’s finished in the top 25 10 times. The only time he wasn’t in the top 25 was at the Open where he finished tied for 28th. So, you’re probably thinking, “Oh, this guy must be getting a lot of RDER Cup attention.” Turns out none. None at all. At least so far. Let’s hear from Harry Hall. No conversations recently. No, just trying to play golf. And that is on your mind. Yeah, it has been the last couple weeks, you know. Yeah. I just got one job to do and that’s go recover now and get ready for tomorrow. Did you at least go through a fitting for the team uniform and all that sort of stuff? Uh, no I haven’t. You know what that kind of sounds like to me, Ben? Sounds a little bit like a boy club. You know, he’s not he’s not getting the phone calls that he feels like he maybe deserves because he’s not, you know, maybe not in the right circles. I’m just saying. Do you think that’s uh would you say that’s utter woke nonsense? It’s, you know, I I think the fact that Harry Hall, our our British friend Harry Hall, has not at least got a call from Luke Donald, you know, I feel about that, Andy. That’s a woke nonsense. I think it’s woke nonsense. Uh, okay. One last thing before we hop into a fantastic segment called the knockaround. Rory Maroy. So, Rory Maroy uh came into the FedEx Cup playoffs in second. He skipped the first playoff event, didn’t do much. In the second playoff event, he finishes in second. And so, Rory gets a $4 million bonus. And skipping didn’t matter at all. There’s another bonus that was given out uh after the BMW because now the point standings are over. Scotty almost doubled everybody else up. But uh yeah, it was uh Rory’s decision is validated at least on a Rory level. Okay, let’s hop into a little segment, not so little that we call the knockaround presented by Knockaround Sunglasses. They’re the presenting sponsor of the show. It is Dan Golf presented by Knockaround. I’ve got the My Ties that are coming with me this week to Atlanta because I need some I need some coverage this week. It’s going to be really hot. It’s the last week. I’ve been frying in the sun in Baltimore. I was in Jupiter before that. We have a promo code for you guys. So, if you go to knockaround.com/golf, you can look at all the sunglasses, the golf sunglasses. Use the promo code danongolf20, you get 20% off your first order. These incredible sunglasses are like $35 to start out with. Stop spending stupid money on sunglasses. It’s the dumbest thing ever. I’ve lost so many pairs of sunglasses and so have you. And you don’t want to feel like they’re like nervous about them. You want to be able to knock them around. They’re knockarounds. They’re fantastic product. Okay, we are joined live on the line. I’m very excited by this by Mason Howell, 18-year-old who has won the United States Amater. He’s the third youngest ever to do it. Mason, what’s up, my friend? Dan, how’s it going? How’s it going for you, buddy? You are the US amateur champion. H what have these last 24 hours been like? How are you feeling? How was the week? Last 24 hours have been unreal. Um trying to respond to as many texts as I can, uh texts, Snapchats, just things like that. And um I’d be lying. I’m pretty tired. It’s it’s a long week. Snapchats. Well, you are the third youngest winner in the US amateur history. I can’t say that I’ve heard uh someone on this show. This probably the first Snapchat reference that we’ve gotten on this show. Speaking of doing incredible things when you’re really young, did I read that you shot 59 when you were 15 years old? Yeah. 59 at my home club, Glen Arvin. Um when I was 15. Did you even realize what you were doing? Like were you nervous? So, I was actually playing in a sixome, which is not allowed at our club um with past women’s champ Megan Scofield. And um yeah, I I turned it. I shot 28 on the front nine. I was about to just go home. And um head pro was like, “What are you doing, dude? You got to go back out and play the back nine.” And uh yeah, so I shot 31 on the back and made like a 30footer on the last for 59. There you go. Clutch. Uh you’re going to Georgia. So, I uh I went down to Georgia a couple months ago. We filmed a little video with uh Coach Hack. I’m actually supposed to do have a phone call with Coach Hack later today. Uh you’re going to be there. Hamilton Coleman is joining you, the winner of the US Junior Am. You guys going to bring Georgia golf back to glory? Absolutely. Um yeah, who’s that coming down the track? Let’s go. Uh you you qualified for the Walker Cup. What does that mean? You you I’m guessing you’ve never been to Cypress before, but was that even on your rim? I mean, you came in right rated, you know, outside, I think, the top 300 in the in Wagger. Obviously, you win the US Amter. Your your ranking is going to go way higher, obviously, and you’re you’re still in high school, but what does that mean to be able to represent the red, white, and blue? No, it’s that is it’s an unbelievable That’s not something I wasn’t even thinking about coming into the week. Obviously, you’re thinking about winning. I I didn’t even know that the winner got an automatic spot, but when I was told that after my quarterfinal match, I was like, that like making the final match is awesome. So many perks go with it, but that gives you such more incentive to to get the job done. So, have you prepped your teachers? Because you’re going to be missing a lot of school coming up, young man. Yeah, I’ve already missed my entire first week of school. And uh I guess today’s Monday, so I’m out today and uh we have the red eye tonight, so Whoops. School can wait. Congratulations, my friend. Thank you so much for joining. Enjoy it. Enjoy it. Yeah, absolutely. Thank you. Good stuff. So, as we just mentioned, Mason is uh on the Walker Cup team. The Walker Cup teams were announced. It’s 10 guys on the team to take on team graper in Ireland which is at Cypress in a couple week. No Miles Russell. Miles Russell did not make the team and that is a surprise. Stuart Hagestad uh made the team. Made his fifth Walker Cup. There’s always one Midam on the team and I think a lot of people thought it was going to be Evan Beck after he won the US Midam uh last year. But Haggistat had a stronger summer. Evan Beck didn’t play nearly as much golf and so Haggistat gets the spot. I’m going to read out the names here for our audio audience. We got Ethan Fang who won the amter championship out of Oklahoma State also won the national championship with Oklahoma State. We got Steuart Hagistad the resident midam. We got Mason Howell who won the US amer. Ben James been a top five amitter all summer. Jackson Kovven the number one amer on the planet out of Auburn. Michael Assasso from Miss. He is the reigning NCAA champion. Jacob Mleski from uh Notre Dame won the ACC individual title and just had a really really solid summer. Uh Tommy Morrison, big Tommy from Texas. If you watched our video with the Texas Longhorn golf program, you are very familiar with Tommy Morrison, who sounds exactly like Scotty Sheffler. Uh Preston Stout, he was the medalist at Olympic Club. Also won the Big 12 each of the last two years individual out of Oklahoma State. And then finally, Jay Sum from Oklahoma. He won uh the Western AM at Skoi. So, a bit of a surprise to Nazi Miles Russell. I think what happened was Mason Howell, who’s 18, won the US AM. It’s an automatic spot. And they’re thinking, do we really want to take two teenagers? I’m not saying that’s the right decision, but I have to think that that was what Nathan Smith uh was thinking. Okay, that is our USM coverage. We’re going to move into Live Golf. This was the last regular season event of the year. It was won by Sebastian Munoz in Indie. He birdied 17 of 18 holes at one point between two rounds. He shot 59 with a double bogey. The course was a real challenge this week. Real challenge this week. The winning score for three rounds was 22 under par. Remember, it’s three rounds. uh minus 15 was tied for 11th out of 54. Remember this is three rounds. If you shot 10 under for three rounds in a 54 whole field, you uh 54 manfield and 54 whole field. You finished right in the middle of the pack. So also I wanted to draw attention to the way Sebastian Munoz twirls his club. Do we have this clip? I think we do. Andy, can we This is a very strange twirl. It goes into his left hand. You don’t see that. Do we have another one? Yeah. There’s another angle. Do you Ben do you you don’t that’s that’s like uh we you know if we did a blind ranking of like subtle signs that the guy that you’re playing with is maybe not a stick. I feel like the the left into the left hand you don’t see that very often. Ben that’s it’s not even a twirl if you look at it again. He just drops the club like it’s almost like if you don’t know how to twirl what you would do. And I’m sure he knows that. It’s the Yeah, it’s it’s all very left hand. I’m I’m just It makes me a little bit uncomfortable. What also makes me a little uncomfortable, John Rom winning the individual title on Liv despite winning zero events and he beat Walken Neman who won five events. I think that’s kind of silly. I understand how points work and Rahm was more consistent week to week basis, but there’s got to be like waiting for wins. If one guy wins five times and the other guy wins zero times and it’s a seasonl long points race with no playoffs, right? That’s what I want to emphasize here because I saw a lot of people in the in the comments being like, “Well, could happen on the PGA tour where someone else wins the FedEx Cup.” It’s playoffs and there’s a whole new format. This is This would be like at the end of the Windom Championship or at the end of the BMW. Not even the BMW because that’s playoffs. It would be like at the end of the Windom Championship if someone with zero wins won the PGA Tour seasonl long points race over a guy with five wins. I think it makes absolutely uh no sense. There was a relegation battle on Liv. Some guys who were relegated. Ian Poulter rallied to save his spot. Mito Pereira uh was relegated. His career has really fallen off a cliff after uh that disaster at Southern Hills. Frederick Keterup uh was relegated. He took the live money out of Florida State last year, one of the college kids that day signed. And then Anthony Kim uh the comeback story that really fizzled extremely quickly. He failed to secure a single point in uh almost two years playing on live golf. So let’s see if they actually relegate guys now because remember last year Bubba Watson finished in the relegation zone and they were like ah actually Bubba you can still play. So uh we’re going to see what happens there. Another live golfer that I wanted to touch on, Bryson Dashambo. So Bryson Dashambo was asked this week about not being allowed to play in the Napa PGA Tour event. He said, “It’s on them if they don’t let us come together as a team and play. It’s a scenario that’s unfortunate and I wish it was different, but Liv’s willing to let me play.” And I have um been very I think complimentary of Bryson recently, but we have to call things like we see it. This is like that BS victim narrative, right? It’s like, “Oh, I I would do it if they It’s decisions have consequences.” is the PGA Tour is in no obligation to let you play because you made the RDER Cup team. Like it it seems so open and closed and it’s like, well, I’m willing to do it. I’m willing to do it, but you knew that your decision was going to come with ramifications. And also, it’s like I’m going to blame the US AM for not letting me play. It’s like, well, I didn’t qualify. I’m not like in the field, but I’m just I’m going to blame them for not letting me. Do you know what I’m saying, Ben? It just feels like this like is live would live let all the PJ tour guys play if they just wanted to play. Like there are rules, there are leagues, and also nothing is stopping him from going to Napa and hanging out with the team. Like you can still bond and be together as a team. You can find a event to play in. I I’ve been super complimentary of Bryson. I think it’s been a great year for him, but this like that’s on them. It just feels very weak to me. So much so that it surprised me that he even said this, you know what I mean? It’s so like negative. It’s like spin, you know what I mean? So such obvious spin that I’m surprised he would even think he could get away with it. I think he’s been playing golf with the president a little too much maybe. Yeah. just like I can do what I want to do. Uh, speaking of the RDER Cup, we have new outfits that dropped from the RDER Cup uh, from Ralph Lauren. This is actually an okay look. The rest of it, I would say, is less than okay. I just don’t understand why they need to go so out there. Like that’s just It just doesn’t look good. It doesn’t look That one in the middle. That one in the middle is horrific. That is a horrific shirt. And it it it looks like it looks unfinished. It looks like something the US men’s national team would wear in 1994. for the soccer team. Like, and that on the left is really ugly with all the different stripe patterns. Like, just go less is more. Well, give us a red shirt with blue pants, a blue shirt with red pants, maybe a little white trim. That is such an ugly shirt. What are we doing here, Ben? You’re this you’re the fashion guy. I I think ultimately the thing that like every year when a a brand has to make a team uniform, they seem to fumble the bag a little bit. And I and it surprises me with Ralph Lawrence es especially because they could like you said just go so simple go back to their CL like they’re such a classic brand. They have everything they need in the colors like just piece them together. I don’t I don’t know how these decisions get made or it’s like they Jay Lindberg the the the uniform. Jay Lindberg’s done the US team uniforms too I think for another team competition maybe the Olympics or without Ralph Lauren too. But anyway I there are some gems in here. I just think there aren’t enough of them. And I actually the one that people are going to call out the most. I think it actually is ironically good. It looks like uh one of those so uh fountain cups from back in the day that you said the green and the purple. You know what I’m talking about? Like the FJerry logo. Do you think that’s good? Ironically, I think it’s post good. Okay. Good. Got it. It’s so bad that it’s good. This is You fashion people are a special breed. Okay. Uh on the LPGA tour, I I don’t know if I’m pronounced this right. Aki Iwai uh won the standard Portland Classic. I just got to say that is a horrendous name for a golf tournament. The standard Portland Classic. You want us to be excited about the standard? Um, but congratulations to Akihaw. Wow. I sound a little bit like canankerous this morning. I’m actually in a decent mood. I don’t know why this is happening. Okay. Over on the DP World Tour, the Danish Golf Championship. Marco Pang won. Uh, and Rasmus Hoygard finished second. So, Rasmus is probably not going to make it on points. There’s only one week left to make the RDER Cup team on points, but he’s eighth in the points. We’re going to make our Rder Cup picks later in the show. I’m very interested to see what happens there. We’re going to finish it off with Emiliano Gonzalez won on the cornfairy tour out of Mexico. It was a shootout. There was like 40 something players within five shots of the lead. Congratulations. Anytime a guy wins on the corner tour, it’s a lifecher. So, congratulations to Emilio Emiliano. Uh now we are going to uh this is this is a good one. So, I had an opportunity. We went to this awesome hero event uh that was put on at the BMW Championship. Uh Dr. for Moonjal who who we’re all very uh familiar with from from his many press conferences alongside Tiger Woods at the Hero World Challenge. Uh he hosted a little Q&A with Ash Batia and Saw the Gala and I got an opportunity to sit down with Saw and and discuss uh kind of a lost year. You know there were some injuries, there was some poor play and it came after you know a year where he finished third in the cup and and made it to the president’s cup. So here I am catching up with Saw the Gala. All right we are joined by Saw Theala. were just telling me, so we’re here at the uh BMW Championship where a great event put on by Hero. You’re happy to be here for that capacity, but you said it’s tough being here, not being in the field. You know, you’re a professional golfer and it’s it’s been a difficult year. How are you like on a personal level? Like, how does that weigh on you in your life? Yeah, it’s been uh really brutal this year because I’ve had one bad injury in my life and it was during college and I hurt my wrist and I literally just didn’t play. like I could not physically physically play. I was in a cast for 6 months and um that was so different because this injury was just an oblique strain and I could play through it and I did try to play through it and I learned the hard way that it just I should have just let it heal because caused my neck injury too and it just felt like I wasn’t really injured but like anything on my golf game I was doing the exact same thing and I was hitting it 15 yards shorter and my mechanics got worse and um and it all stemmed from this one stupid little injury that if you if I didn’t play golf, like I would not care at all about like I could do anything relatively. So it wasn’t like bothering you in your like day-to-day life. It wasn’t like you were like having trouble sleeping or anything like that. I mean I actually actually sleeping was the only thing I had trouble with. Everything else was great. I couldn’t really sleep on my right side, which I like. And then sleeping on my back, I felt like a little pull in my oblique. So that was the hardest part. But like other than that, like everyone deals with stuff like that, right? Like everyone who’s working a normal job or whatever, they they have stuff like that. But for me, I just it really affected my performance and it was tough because the docs it was an injury that’s very common with baseball guys like guys check swinging or um you know whiffing. It’s like a So where like where exactly? It’s my left it was the connector between my abdomen and my oblique pretty much right in here. It was a strain and uh I just kept playing through it cuz they said it was all you know you can play through it. It’s just a pain thing but it never healed. It literally I got an MRI 3 months after I heard the pop and there were still signs of a strain there. So I just didn’t let it heal and and you know I think they weren’t familiar maybe with how many swings I was putting in like some of the docks. So they thought it was going to heal. It did get a marginally better but you tell them like no I’m I grinded out like I’m going to hit a lot of balls. And like they’re probably thinking you’re going to show up, you know, you you’re a good golfer, swing it 40 times and go. I should have done that. But the problem was I I was healthy the first five or six events of the year. And I didn’t get off to a great start this year. So combined with the injury, I felt like I needed to practice harder and work harder, too. And I think I just dug myself a hole. So just hitting the reset button now. Um like like I said, it sucks being here and not playing the event. It’s it’s brutal because it’s this is one of my favorite events of the year. They treat us so well at the BMW and um yeah, it feels like I’m basically going to be a rookie on tour and just needing to fight for everything. Well, it is a very interesting setup because you finished third in the FedEx the year before. You make a gazillion dollars, have this incredible year, you’re into everything. It’s a reminder that like these guys who do it every single year, it’s not that simple. It’s uh you know, I had that respect for them in any sport to be honest. just longevity is a crazy thing at the at the top of the sport and really felt that recently. I’m like, how is a guy like Justin, dude, Justin Rose is an incredible example, but um I think of even a guy like Patrick Kentley, you know, he had his back injury and he’s been just quietly a top 10 player in the world, the last nine years of his career and everyone’s like, “Oh, he’s underperforming all that.” Whatever, that’s a different story. But guy’s unbelievable. He shows up to an event, plays bad, finishes T7, walks away with a $400,000 check and just does it year in year out. The consistency, that’s why you see some of these guys playing 2021 events, I think they’ve learned their body. They learn what their kind of their limit is. Um, I’ve learned recently moving to Florida, a lot of these guys are on pitch counts with their team. Um, they’re not allowed to hit more than x amount of balls. They’re not allowed to work out more than x amount of times. So, it’s just a lot of recovery because it gets lost how many rounds of golf and how many balls we actually hit. Even playing only 22 events that 22 times four is 88 and then you add probably two practice rounds. I’d say 27 holes average. So, you’re playing I mean like 100 a good 150 rounds a year just like at you know or I don’t know around there. It’s a lot of golf for sure. And uh it’s a lot of toll and I think that the the most work we put in is during a small part of the offseason we’re working on subtle swing stuff and that’s when we’re beating a lot of balls and yeah just it kind of all caught up to me this year and I really got a good sense of that and I think I’m going to be a better person to myself after this. Um little bit of humble pie is not the worst thing ever. No humble pie for sure and just you know I still have dreams. I want to be the best player in the world. I want to accomplish a lot of things, but I’ve also learned a lot about what I think kind of my limit is. Um, and that’s good. I needed to learn the hard way, maybe, like how hard I can push my body cuz I I really pushed it pretty hard last year and I felt great. My body felt great and I achieved a lot of great things and really wanted to get cracked the top 10 in the world. Didn’t quite do that, but I like what 11 or 12? It was 11. I felt like I was right there and just the start of the year bummed me out and I just went too hard. I just went too hard. I gotta ride the waves. Uh, sounds cliche, but everyone goes through it. I’m not a Rory. I’m not a John R. I’m not afraid to admit that at all. Um, I know my consistency is not quite there and I want to get it there, but I just got to listen to my body and that’s the main thing that my team’s telling me and um, you know, I think the best golf is still ahead of me. So, you talk about listening to your body. I mean, we talked about a couple years ago when we did our our caddy shoot that you’ve got this really unique swing, but actually because of your spine. Was your is your injury related to your mechanics and are you do you have to change them? Yeah. So, I I took this time to kind of get scans on my spine, go see a spine specialist, which I’ve never seen. And uh the scans were all great. Like they showed a for a golfer a healthy back. Um structurally it’s all good. Um, there was a part of my back, I’ve never had a low back issue in my entire life. My low back he actually said was super tight and that was creating a little bit of um like over rotation in my midback, which is where I get kind of my muscle soreness, my mid-upper back. I never have issues there necessarily, but it’s the part that I like to get the most physical therapy on. And again, every golfer does that. But I was just over rotating that a little bit. So, there’s been some everyday things that I’ve changed like my posture with my low back. Um, I’ve always had a little bit of a rounded upper back, which is I think helped in golf. I think I talked about that last time, but lets me rotate a lot freer with my upper back. And, um, obviously got to watch that. I don’t want to be a slouch or a hunchback, but just working on kind of tucking my uh, low back a little bit. I had a a lot of extension in my low back. Um, which again is fine, but like it was just putting unnecessary stress on my midback and and it could eventually have led to issues. So, it was nice to catch that very simple fix. It took 3 weeks of doing exercise at home and there’s still some that I do every day actually and um I’m creeping it into my golf posture a little bit, but genuinely it feels my swing feels the same. It feels good. But if anything, it looks better on video from a doesn’t look like my neck or back’s going to snap in half. So that was good to see that what we had thought is kind of what it is. Like I as long as I’m good in the gym, I I never even though it looks like I’m swinging out of my ass, I’m actually never really swinging that hard. You got more in the tank. I got a lot more in the tank. It’s just sometimes I get under and I’m trying to square it up and it looks like I’m swinging really hard, but I’m honestly I swear I’m not. I’m just trying to match it up and not hit it 70 yards, right? Um, so yeah, I’m I’m I’m excited to where we’re headed, especially how my body is physically. We were talking a little bit before this about how we did an interview like this in uh in an old place you were living in Houston with some roommates. Yeah. You’ve since done the JUP life thing. You’re What’s it like being a newcomer into the Jupiter scene? You know, you got to figure out which golf course you’re going to join. You got to figure out what games to get in. Like are they is there an initiation process? For sure. For sure. I think um other than the other than the initiation check. I meant I didn’t mean the check for the for the club. I meant for the boys hazing you in. That also unfortunately the check. But um no, I I I was kind of overthinking the move there in terms of I’m like, okay, I got to like figure all these things out. But one of the things I so thankful for the tours. A lot of guys are so much nicer than I thought they would be. And u the community down there is incredible. Um, you know, it’s it was so easy to find resources. There’s so many guys that I already knew there that were happy to help me. Um, I countless amount of guys. I mean, even Cam Young like reached out and helped me. Xander, Pal, all these guys helped me find a realtor, helped me find a golf course in Panther National. I’m going to join Die Preserve. And I love that place. We were just there. We just filmed with Burger out there at D. That course is really good, man. It’s a You hit all the You have to hit all the shops. It’s It’s I can see why. First of all, it’s more like removed. It’s like feels kind of serene. So, it feels like you can focus there. And also, I can see why you guys like to practice there. Those courses down there are incredible, man. I I’ve been a member at Panther now for eight or nine months, and I’ve never gotten better practice, I think, in my life. And it’s like literally tuned to your practice. So, and that’s just the because there’s so many pros down there, they want to play a role in that. Yeah, JT had a role in that, too. But DY is awesome as well. you got to really work your ball. And I’m at, you know, Kobe Wayne’s gym. Um, my try facetime my trainer back home every day in that place. And when I had to get MRIs and see a doctor, I you know, JT and Ricky helped me with that, too. So, it’s like these. So, you understand why everyone moves there. Oh my god. It it really does make life a lot easier outside of tournament cuz I loved Houston. I love being with my friends. We had a good group of guys there, too. But this is a total to totally different feeling and um a sense of community is awesome. Just feeling like you got people in Houston. You were hanging out with a lot of your friends from college which is normal. You were right out of college and you didn’t know like what to do or you know you’re hanging out with your college friends but you are in a very How are you the 27 now? 27. So you’re like most 27 year olds like you have this process of like hang out with your college friends and you slowly you went in one year from like I just got my whatever I’m playing cornf fairy tour I’m playing to boom. Yeah. And then so now you’re in like a totally different like social network and it has to make sense. Well, it’s it’s funny. One thing I think the one thing that’s been hard for me is in Jupiter whenever I play with other guys or all guys on like on tour that I’ve been there and like I get my clock clean. I mean I am a straight donation station in Jupiter. Um they know who to text or if you’re low on cash call. Exactly. So, I mean, I hate to crap on my buddies, but it was nice, you know, playing with my boys and and them giving me a little bit of confidence. Um, they’re good players. Um, you know, there’s a couple guys the money games in Jupiter are a little bit different. Yeah, for sure. And not to say I didn’t get beat by my buddies in Houston, but I just feel like I didn’t I didn’t have to be on top of my game all the time. And they were good players, too. They’re cornfurry guys and a couple guys I know that are going to be on tour, but they’re just guys that I’ve played with since I was young. So, it’s a different feels for sure and and even even like some of my buddies that don’t play professionally that I played with in Houston, you know, they’re scratch golfers or a little worse. So, give them a few shots and it’s a different vibe than stepping up on tea and and Xander asking you to play for 500 bucks or whatever it might be. I’m like, “Well, all right. I have 500 in cash. I’ll just give it to you right now.” just you can just do it now or we can do it in a few hours. But it’s it’s great. I I really think it’s going to be big for my career and and I and I totally see why guys move there. We’ll let you go after this. I got one more question for you. How you how you feeling like going into next year? You said it’s almost a bit of a reset. Kind of freeing in a way. Totally reset. I I I’m looking at a perspective as as freeing for sure. I don’t think there’s another way I can look at it where it’s a positive spin. You know, like I said, I’ve been so lucky with the results the last since my senior year of college. Um, it’s come easy. I put in the work and the results come and and this was the first year where that was not the case. So, it is going to be a reset. I’m I’m so excited for the fall. Um, where are you playing? I’m going to be playing everything. Um, starting in Napa. Starting in Napa. I’m not in Japan, so I’m hoping to play my way into Japan. You don’t know a guy. um or hope maybe get a spot. I I hate to rely on that. I want to play my way in. So, I’m missing Sanderson for Carl’s wedding, Matt’s wedding. Uh that’s a great tournament. Um bummed to miss that, but I’ll be playing the rest of the fall. Sea Island most likely. Sea Island, Bermuda, going over to India, Mexico. Um not I’m not playing the DP event in India. The Hero Indians in March. You’re Oh, you’re playing that in March. Um, this one is the I think it’s just called the Indian. That’s one. I heard Delhi Golf Club’s awesome, but uh yeah, I’m excited. Oh, you’re playing uh Hero at DF DF. Dude, that place is scary. Looks scary, but I think I’m like 155th in FedEx. So, I know even making the top 60 is a bit of a stretch, but that’s my goal for the fall. And and uh yeah, it is it is a reset. Play some events that I haven’t played in a few years and um you know, fight to keep my job. Well, listen. Next time we do this, it’ll be after you win a tournament. Sounds like there’s highs and lows. Golf is not linear. Join the show. You know, I wanted to ever since you started doing that uh the winners interview after I just like, man, we’ll get you there. I want to be there. We’ll get you there. Nice. Well, thanks so much, dude. Appreciate it. What a great kid. I think we’re And I even ced he’s a man. 27 now. I I think, you know, I’ve known Saw since he was 13 or 14. He was always a name in the Southern California junior golf scene. It’s been really fun watching him kind of this linear rise. But as we talked about there, golf is not linear. And you know, one one uh one thing he said there that kind of stuck with me was, you know, ever since college, I put in the work and the results have come. And this was the first year where I put in the work and the results didn’t come. So golf is a very difficult game. Golf is a very difficult game. What’s also very difficult is to try to pick winners of golf tournaments. It is almost impossible, which is why I uh I outsource this this task to my friend Rick Gaon. Rick joining us live on the line. What’s up, fellas? What’s going on? What’s going on, Rick? How we doing? I’m gonna you I’m going to see you this week, right? You’re going to be in Atlanta. I’ll be in Atlanta. Yeah, I’m getting in uh Tuesday afternoon, Tuesday evening. So, very much looking forward to it. Okay. I’m looking forward to it, too, for a few different reasons. Number one, I always love seeing your beautiful face. Number two, no starting strokes. It, you know, it’s it’s nice. Number three, I think they’re going to set this up really hard, aren’t they? That seems to be the plan. Yeah. So, so obviously the restoration that they did before last year, that’s part one. The setup is part two. And I think the compromise or the agreement of saying, “Okay, Scotty, Rory, you guys don’t get the starting strokes, but we’ll we’ll make this thing tough.” And and from what I understand already, the the rough is about an inch thicker uh than it has been in the past. Some of those some of the work that was done uh two years ago gave them some more pinnable locations that they didn’t use last year that I’m that from what I understand they are going to access this time around. So yeah, as long as mother nature can cooperate and, you know, do her thing, I I I think the plan is to make this pretty difficult. Yeah, I think it’s going to I’m hoping for like a single-digit underpar winning score. You know, I think that the tour championship is sort of in the identity business and that they’re looking for one and I think, you know, making this a really really difficult brutal test for I don’t know what the winner gets 10 million or whatever it is this week. I think that could be awesome. Okay, let’s go through your picks. Your first one, we’ve entered the without Sheffller territory. Yeah. So, like this is tough, right? So, we we were on Sheffler two weeks ago. He finishes one shot out of the playoff and of course he wins last week. And it’s like you either have to always bet Scotty or never bet Scotty, I think, is kind of where we’re where we’re at in this situation. I’ve just removed him from the equation so that we can have good banter and I I don’t always come on here and pick Scotty Sheffler every week. That’s probably not great entertainment. Um, but without Scotty Market is very live and and I’ve gone with Ludvig Oberg here. He’s 11 to1. So he either wins this golf tournament or he can finish second to Scotty Sheoffller would cash this wager. And I think that people realize Ludvig’s had this kind of bizarre year, but they don’t realize how good he’s been as of late. I mean, he’s just absolutely knocking the cover off the golf ball. His ball striking metrics are back. The putter, which has given him a couple of issues um throughout the summer, has started to improve. And talking about that difficult setup, Dan, get them on a difficult setup where long and straight plays even more. Like there are some there are some holes at East Lake where if you miss the fairway, it’s just like a half shot penalty. And and that’s historically. Um I think this is a place for Ludvig to kind of catch fire and uh either win the FedEx Cup kind of out of nowhere or at least uh finish second to Scotty. It would be cool though if he got another win. I mean it would be, you know, book ending the year. He started the year with a big win at Genesis. You know, I think I was one of the people who said I think he’s going to be the next one to overtake Scotty Shuff for beat number one in the world. I don’t know if anyone’s going to do that now, but it’d be nice for Lic to kind of run into form. Good for the European team at least. All right, a matchup. Last week we won with our Russell Henley. He kind of tried to blow it on Sunday, but we won with the Russell Henley top 20 bet. What’s our matchup kind of in that minus minus money range? Yeah, he did try to cough that up, but he he held on for us. No problem there. We’re going to go with Victor Havland over Ben Griffin here. And I like both these guys, but um outside of the first round in Memphis where Victor was horrible, his last seven rounds in the playoffs have been pristine. It’s it’s Scotty Sheffler one ball striking, Victor Havlin two, Ludvig Oberg three. You can kind of see where I’m going with with some of these scenarios. When you get Victor, if he can The caveat here is he’s got to play out of the fairway. If he plays out of the fairway, he can win this golf tournament. That’s the one thing that has kind of been his bugaboo amongst other things here in 2025. as he starts to get his game back into shape. And then Ben Griffin, you know, no no knock on Ben Griffin here, but um you know, getting getting to East Lake, it’s been a it’s been an awesome year for him. I I just think that Victor gives us the full grind, four full days on a golf course that sets up really well for him. He’s minus 120 in this. All right. And then we’ve got a fun prop that does include Mr. Boogeyman Scotty Sheffller. Well, I couldn’t just completely like We have to have some type of swag. He’s going to be there. He’s the guy. He’s going to be there on on Sunday. Yeah. So, this is fun. I found a prop. It is Scotty Sheffller to play in the final pairing on Sunday. How about that? Okay. So, he’s got to be in the final two out of a field of 30. This is plus 105. So, basically a coin flip. Insane that those odds are are only plus 105. I don’t know if Scotty’s going to win. He probably will, but I know he’s going to be in the mix and he’s going to be in the mix late in this thing. That’s all he does. So, um this is kind of a different way to look at it, a fun way to look at it. he has to play in the final pairing on Sunday. He did it last week obviously with Robert McIntyre and then put the the fear of God into into Bob uh very early on Sunday. So, this is just kind of a fun little hedge on Scotty to get some level of access to him without him having to win the golf tournament. You know, I said early in the show that I feel like the PGA Tour right now is basically a recurring season of Scotty versus. It’s like a game show where we just get a new challenger every week. So, I like this bet because it allows for room for a challenger. Yeah, exactly. Hopefully it’s Ludvig and then hopefully they just finish, you know, one two in some scenario and everything everything goes perfect for us. But you’re right, Dan. I think that’s a great way to put it. He’s he’s a menace and I don’t know how it stops and these guys have to just hate seeing him show up at a golf course. He’s setting the standard. Thank you as always, Mr. Rick G. All right, we’re going to go to my other virtual bestie, uh, Ben Bosovich. Let’s blind rank. Let’s blind rank something. I don’t know what it is, but you’re going to tell me. Yeah, this is an exciting one. I’m I’m excited for you to take this one on cuz you’re going to put some real thought into this. Uh, as you said before, this is not a run from Scotty Sheffller. We are in the Scotty Sheffler era. So, let’s move in from him and just assume that he’s going to be number one in the world rankings for the next what 150 weeks and let’s start thinking about the next generation. Okay. So, I’m going to you blind rank these young go-s. So, what am I ranking them on? Like h how successful I think they’ll be as professionals. Correct. Exactly. Let’s rip it. All right, first on the list, a man you’re familiar with. You’re familiar with all these guys, actually. Luke Clinton. Yeah, Luke obviously the superstar from from last summer. Kind of didn’t do uh all that much since he got to the PGA Tour after winning PGA Tour. You accelerated. Um but he’s got a whole another year on the PGA Tour. I have no doubts about Mr. Luke Clinton. I think he I love his ball flight. I love the he’s got this like 190 mile per hour inside of the ball cut that I think is going to play for a lot of years. Kind of drives it like John Rom just a proper proper ball striker. I also love he’s got the kind of work life balance faith thing that that Scotty’s got going on. I think that’s going to be a model for for these college kids to follow. I’m putting Luke Clinton at number three. Wow. That’s where Andy put him in the pre-pro practice. This this might follow follow through. Okay. Next up is the golden boy as they call him, Mr. Jackson Coven. Yeah, I think Jackson is going to be a problem very very soon. You know, I saw him last week. We did a little one hole with Daniel and I filmed that together at Olympic Club. By the way, I can’t believe that the US ambiter just finished yesterday. We feels like we were there two weeks ago. Uh Jackson is an unbelievable putter and that’s been sort of the wrap on him. But what I saw at the Windom was he led the field in strokes gained off the tea and he has put on weight. I did a video where I went and played with him just about a year ago, almost exactly a year ago, uh, at Auburn and he looked like a kid. He doesn’t really look that much like a kid anymore. I I’m I think this guy’s a for a future number one in the world. I’m putting him number one. I really do think that Jackson I mean, winning the SEC, being the first guy in almost 50 years to win back-to-back SECs and to do it in your first two years, he he made match play and he lost to Max Harrenine in the USM. I I I really I don’t think anyone he’d be my number one and he is my number one. That’s also a quick beef up. That’s like the systems behind him becoming a man now. So, you know, there’s like he’s put on like seven or eight miles per hour to ball speed and I was like, “Are you doing anything crazy?” He’s like, “No.” And I forget like he’s growing. He’s just That’s natural. Just wait till he gets a hold of some creatine. That’s right. Wait till wait till Ben Griffin starts banging his line. All right, let’s move on. This is the the Nepo baby section of the blind ranking. Uh let’s start with Lil John JD2. He’s having a really solid summer. Uh I think he made it to the quarters of the USM. A lot of people were upset they didn’t show him very much uh on the screen. Didn’t show him much on the television broadcast. I’m going to put little J D. He’s He’s not as highly ranked uh as the other players that I think might be on this list. I’m putting Little John Dailyaly at number seven. This is going to be a tough one though cuz I don’t Someone’s going to have to be last and you know I’m going to feel bad about that. They’re children. But Lil John Dailyaly number seven. Lil John Dailyaly has it. If he doesn’t have the ranking, he has the it factor. I’ll give him that. He’s definitely he’s I’ll tell you he’s not going to be number seven in NIL earnings factor. Okay. Speaking of NIL earnings, Charlie Woods. Oh man, I thought I was hoping you weren’t going to put him on this list. He, you know, Oh god, you’re just setting me up here. He won the big AGA, beat Miles Russell. He he he hasn’t done as well since. I don’t. He’s got time. He’s got plenty of time. He’s gonna be a junior. I think he’s not even entering his senior year. I’m gonna put him at number 10 because I want to take the pressure off Charlie. I’m putting him at number 10. I like that. Not because I don’t think he’s going to be great, but you know, let’s let’s let’s take the pressure off Charlie. Also, somebody’s got to leave the kid alone. Why not? Someone’s got to leave the kid alone. And it’s going to be Dan on golf. That’s right. All right. Next up is is a guy thought we would see a little bit more of this year, but uh Miles Russell, who just got Yeah. Miles Russell uh did not make the Walker Cup team. very very surprised about that. Also made a good run at the USM. I’m going to put him at number two. My one thing with Miles Russell is he looks like he’s 16. We talked about that with Jackson Kovven. Like Miles Russell, he’s got a he’s almost built like Brian Harmon. Like he’s so narrow. He’s so small. I I It’s almost like I almost I stopped myself from sending this text to Brenley, but I almost texted Brenley like, “Yo, what are Miles Russell’s parents? Like what’s their build like?” You know what I mean? cuz I’m trying to get like a little bit of a inside scoop on whether he’s going to put on weight or get taller. I don’t know. I’m putting him number two. Let me see those jeans. Miles, he’s been uh the best junior for a long time. He’s number He’s top 15 in Wagger. Um you know, finished top 25 in a corner event at age 15. He clearly has no problems going low. I’m putting him number two. So, we got Charlie Woods at number 10, Little John Daly number seven, Luke Clinton number three, and Miles Russell number two, Jackson Quivven number one. Okay, back half. Uh, where is our current United States amateur champion? Mason How? Mason How? Yeah, I’m gonna put him at number five. I mean, he’s he’s super impressive. If you watch him play, he looks like a tour pro. Like, we’re talking a lot about how these kids look, which, you know, Yeah, it’s not my favorite thing, but he looks like a tour pro. He looks It’s like Harris English reincarnated, but also still 18. So, a lot of time left. I’m putting Mason How number five. I loved in his interview that he mentioned like I wasn’t even thinking about the Walker Cup and Cypress. Like that’s that felt really genuine. A lot of guys will say that, but I like that. The right mentality. A teenager. He’s he’s going he’s a high school junior, I think. No, senior. He’s going into a senior. He’s going into his senior year. He’s going to miss a lot of school. He’s going to miss a lot of school. Yeah. All right. Uh next up is uh one of our favorite Cutsman, Ethan Fang. Ethan Fang. The Cuts exclusively. I’m putting Ethan at number eight. Um just that’s where I’m putting him. I don’t know. Amazing nickname. Fang. Like Fang is a that’s not even a nickname, that’s just his name. What an amazing name. I think Fang is a sick I hope he has one of gets one of those fang putters. You know, those old Odyssey ones that Luke Donald used to use to be number one in the world. Uh future logo is going to be sick. Cuts exclusively. Yeah, Ethan Fang number eight. All right, we got three left and we’re moving over to our neck of the woods here with Mr. Omar Morales. Oh, Omar is a is a is a buddy of mine. Um I think that’s why he’s on this list. He’s had a bit of a struggle since turning professional. Uh, it’s still so early getting used to it. You know, he’s so good though. That’s why I put him on. He’s so good. He won the Big 10’s, you know, UCLA product. Hits it a mile a long way. Young man from Mexico. I think there’s a a bit of a learning curve going from, you know, playing golf at UCLA, you’re playing Bair and Lakeside and Hillrest every day. And now you’re, you know, playing on the Cornferry Tour. It’s a little bit different. I got no no doubts in Omar’s uh future, but I’m putting him number nine. Just hasn’t hasn’t quite reached the heights that some of the other guys on our list have. the potential on this list. You know, someone’s got to be number nine, someone’s got to be number 10. It’s okay. Uh, two, last two to go. Tommy Morrison. Big T. Big T. I’m putting Tommy number four. I think he’s going to have a really really great career. I think he he, you know, you expect him to be kind of this like wild bomber just cuz he’s 6’10, but he’s really not. He He He hits it extremely well. He won the British AM last summer, got to match play, lost to Mason Howell. Actually, Mason Mason How had a crazy run to the to the championship match. Um, I think Tommy’s gonna be on the PJ tour for a really long time. One of those Texas boys, kind of a a Sheffller disciple. I’m putting Tommy Morris at number four. So, tell me who’s number six. Number six is the man with the thighs, Mr. Michael Lassaso. Lassaso. I like this list. I like this list. Lasasso had a a bit of a rough go at Olympic. Missed the missed the cut by a gazillion. But talk about eight factor. This kid’s going to be a big star with that Paul Ske aesthetic. So, yeah. There’s our NextG rankings. Number 10, Charlie Woods. And that’s out of courtesy, so shout out to us. Number nine, Omar Morales. He’ll get there. Number eight, Ethan Fang, Cutsman. Number seven, Little John Dailyaly, but he’s number one in our hearts. Uh, number six, Michael Lasasso, golf, Paul Skins. Number five, Mason Howell, the most tour pro looking 18-year-old I’ve seen in a while. Number four, Tommy Morrison, the Giant. Number three, Luke Clanton, the Phenom. Number two, Miles Russell, the child. He He’s still 16. And number one, Jackson Kovven, who I think is going to be a real problem on the PGA Tour very soon. Nice job, then. Nice job. That was a fun one, Dan. Yeah, we named a lot of golfers. We’re going to name some more golfers right now because if you’ve been watching this show for the last I don’t know how many weeks we’ve been doing this. Quite a few. We’ve done these way too early RDER Cup picks. They’re no longer way too early. The picks are going to be made one week from today. The points have locked on the American side. There’s one more week for the Europeans to earn points, but I’m I’m ready. These are the teams that I’m rolling with. We’ll talk next week. I I don’t know exactly when the announcements are made, but we might be able to discuss those and analyze those live. We’ll see what happens. But we’re going to we’re going to do it. We’re going to make our 12 pick. These are our final picks. These are who would be on my team. It’s not necessarily who I think is going to make the team. This is going to be who would be on my team. And I’ll give you a little bit of information on who I think will make the team. All right. We’re going to do one of the Americans, one of the Europeans. We’re going to alternate. Number one, Scotty Sheffller. What do I need to say about this guy? The best player on God’s green earth. Everything that’s left to be said is every question that’s left that’s been asked has been asked, except for, you know, what are you bad at? Uh on the European side, Rory Mroy, uh number two to Scotty Sheffer. is going to be number two in the player of the year rankings despite completing the career grand slam and winning the players and winning at Pebble Beach. Finished second in the season long points race in the regular season, second in the final points race. Uh strong number two in the world Maroy. Going back to team USA, we’re going Xander Schoffley actually missed the tour championship which is a really bad year for Xer after he won two majors and he said you know I playing your hardest and and playing bad sucks. He said some of us do it some of us don’t which I don’t know if that was a shot at some other guys. I’m not sure, but he said, “I’ve been doing it these past couple weeks and it stinks.” Uh, still had a good major season. Made all four cuts. I think he was like third or fourth in our cumulative major leaderboard. He’s going to be there. Uh, number two, I’m just going straight down the list of the points uh for Europe is Justin Rose. Justin Rose qualified on points, which is a hell of an achievement at his age. You know, we thought maybe that was a one last harrah for him in Italy. It is not one last harrah. Uh, he’s he’s played really well in the Northeast in his career. Uh, obviously won his lone major championship at Philly, which is just down the road. Not just down the road, but not that far uh from Beth Paige Black. Comfortable on those grasses. Obviously won uh in Memphis, second to Rory Mroy in the Masters. A great achievement for Justin Rose to make it on points. On the US side, our number three is JJ Spawn, US Open champion. I think that uh Beth Paige and the New York crowds are really going to get behind his sort of everyman story. You know, he’s gritty. He’s not a country club kid. You know, played in his first US Open or first Open Championship rather this year at the age of 34. So JJ Spawn is number three on team USA. Another guy who’s locked up on Europe is Tommy Fleetwood. Had another top 10 this week. Just living inside the top 10. He’s going to luck into a win one of these one of these weeks and it’s going to be a week that you don’t expect it where he shoots something crazy low on Sunday. It’s going to happen. Tommy Fleetwood will be there. Uh Russell Henley. Russell Henley despite a pretty poor major season. He’s been really consistent especially in the signature events. Obviously won at Bay Hill early this year. Russell Henley is number four on team USA. Number four on team Europe is Robert McIntyre. That’s not That’s because he finished. He’s number four in the points. Locked up his spot on points. You know what Bob McIntyre thinks about Bob McIntyre and making the RDER Cup? Let’s run it, Andy. Yes, he loves it. He’s clapping for himself. Fantastic. That was when he finished second at Oakmont. Wow. He finished second uh this past week at Caves Valley. And he’s just chuffed. He’s just chuffed to make the RDER Cup team. It’ll be his second appearance. Bryson Dambo has locked up his spot. Uh won’t be playing in Napa, which is on the PJ tour, but Bryson will be there. And I think he’s going to play a lot. I think if if there was a major championship at Beth Page, Scotty would be the favorite. Bryson might be number two. It’s just a big beefy American golf course. He has had plenty of success on those type of setups. Going over to the European side, Tier Hatton. Uh Tier has been a consistent performer in the majors. He was also up there in the top three, I think, of the cumulative major leaderboard. Done a really good job staying up there in the points. Won a DP World Tour event kind of in the offseason to keep himself way up there and has played great in the majors. Back over to the American side, we’re going Harris English. He’s locked it up. locked it up with his play this year. Won uh won in uh where’d he win? San Diego, won the Farmers, and then finished uh second in a couple major championships this year. So, that’s how you get in on points. Congratulations to Harris English. He’s back on the squad. Over to the European team. Sea, two wins this year, including a signature event. Uh did not play last week at the BMW and and did not do very much in the major championships. Sort of the European answer to Russell Henley as far as this year is concerned. Okay. on team USA said now these are all captains picks top six or locked Justin Thomas now Justin Thomas has not done much the second half of the year and there are some people online who say does he really deserve a spot he’s up there in the points I think seven in the points he’s a he’s a crucial member of this team emotionally he got picked when he was playing way worse the last time so Justin Thomas is going to be there and you know I still think there’s still a month to go or a month before the RDER cup so we you want the guys who are playing well right now but also what what’s going to happen in a month like so much change and I I think you have faith in Justin Thomas to find something before then. Over to the European side, John Rom. John Rom finished way down there in the points because he’s playing on live golf, but he’s your seasonl long live champion. Didn’t finish worse than 11th uh in any of their events. Just an absolute shoein. Probably a guy who’s going to play all five sessions. Back to the American side, Colin Moriawa kind of in the same category as Justin Thomas. Not a very good second half of the year. It’ll be interesting to see who catties for him uh in the RDER Cup. Uh uh Mark Orbanick has been on the back recently who’s Tony Feno’s ex caddyy. Uh we’ll see if that continues moving forward, but I think Colin will be there. A really solid guy that you can play in any format because he hits it so straight. Back to the European side. Shane Lowry also kind of running out of gas a little bit. He actually had a solid solid finish uh at the BMW, but uh was was better earlier in the year. But yeah, as far as emotional leaders on the European side go, I think they all definitely want Shane Lowry there. Ben Griffin on the American side, he’s earned it. He’s been so solid all year. made it to the tour championship for the first time. We got to make sure that we portion out his creatine. We got to make sure we portion out his creatine. We also got to make sure that those sunglasses don’t come off the entire week. I think the sunglasses should be on in the in the opening ceremony. I think they should be on when he’s playing, when he’s not playing, every interview. I just I want those. Maybe we got like an American flag version of them and just keep them on all week. On the European side, Ludvig Oberg, they’re a scary team. They’re so deep. They are so deep. Ludvig, as as Rick mentioned there, really starting to round into form. He’s playing some really good golf recently. I don’t think anyone has any doubts about this guy moving forward. Uh Lud Vic Oberg will be there. Keegan Bradley I uh I think he’s gonna play. I think something shifted when he won the Travelers. The way he was talking about the RED Cup initially was I don’t know if I can do both. You know, it’s such a big job. I want to help the team win to you know and now it’s actually they wanted me to be a playing captain and you know I’ve seen how capable my vice captains are and I think I could probably do this. So, I think Keegan will pick himself. Uh, and I think the other guys want him on the team. On the European side, Victor Havland, another shoe in the the the Europeans, I think 11 of the 12 are really firmly spoken for. Uh, Victor Havlin is the 10th guy over there. On the US side, Sam Burns had a really good US Open. Uh, had a really good week this week and just puts the lights out of it. You need you need some putting specialists on the team and Burns and Sheffller are really close. They play a lot of practice rounds together. I can see that being a a sort of natural pairing. Uh, so Sam Burns makes my team. Matt Fitzpatrick on the European side. Did not make it to East Lake, but finished the year very, very strong. Had a great stretch over there in the UK and has been playing well on this side of the pond as well. Has Rder Cup experience. Not the best Ryder Cup experience. He has not been very good in the RDER Cup, but I think these 11 on the European side are very, very solid. And then my last pick for Team USA would be Cameron Young. So I what I think is going to happen here is I think that Patrick Kentlay is going to make the team. And I think it’s gonna be one of Sam Burns or Cameron Young. I think it’ll probably be Sam Burns if I had to guess. I think that Keegan will probably pick Kentlay despite him not doing anything this year to deserve it. So this would be my team, but I do think that Kentlay is going to make the team which is going to bump out Cameron Young if I had to guess. And then I would pick Harry Hall. I I mean it’s it’s no disrespect to Rasm Huygar, but the but the his solid finishes have come against really really weak fields comparatively whereas Harry Hall is rounding into form and made the tour championship on on the the most competitive tour. What do I think will happen? I think they’ll go with Rasmus Hygard. I think that they want someone who plays on the European tour primarily. He’s eighth in the points. He’s been a consistent performer, you know, had a lot of high finishes in Europe. So these would be who I would pick. But on team USA, I think it will be those first 10 plus Patrick Kentlay instead of Cameron Young and Sam Burns. And I think that the European team will probably be Rasmus Hoygard over Harry Hall. But these would be my 12. Ben, what do you think when you read that list? I love that you’re leading with your heart and you’re putting Harry Hall in there. I I still am not sure about Colin Morawa. I don’t know why. Well, it’s it’s been a it’s been a, you know, pretty disappointing year. He’s been in the press a lot. It’s it’s been sort of like angsty around him. You know, he doesn’t know who his Caddy is going to be, you know, and there’s some exciting young blood to maybe have that spot, too. Yeah. I mean, the other two guys that we should mention who are Chris Goddup, who’s who made it to the made it to East Lake with a strong final round, but I I don’t think it’s been quite as consistent throughout the whole year. It was really a twoe stretch. And then Brian Harmon, who, you know, is a dog. It’s not the best course fit for him. I think it’s going to play really long, but you know, Brian Harmon is a guy who has deep respect from his peers. So, I could see uh I could see Harmon sneaking in there, but it’s going to be very interesting. I think there’s 11 out of 12 spots on on team Europe are locked up, and I think really only nine uh on the American side are locked up. I think, you know, Keegan’s still a question mark. So, there’s really three spots for Keegan Bradley, Sam Burns, Cameron Young, Patrick Klay, and like a got her up or someone way off. So, it’ll be it’ll be interesting to see what happens. I actually think that now Keegan should commit to playing after Rory’s comments specifically. Yeah, we’re gonna talk about that. We’re gonna talk about that later in the show. But yeah, those are the RD cup picks. Was the last time we’ll be doing it, guys. So, next year, I promise you, we won’t do President’s Cup picks every single week like we did RDER Cup, but this is a Ryder Cup unlike any other. I think everyone’s so incredibly excited for this. And uh yeah, it’s uh the speculation is almost over. Okay, speaking of speculation, who’s going to be our dog of the week? We actually have a drum roll. I want a drum roll, please. Our dog of the week is Ashe Batia because he sort of asked to be dog of the week. So what happened here was uh you saw when we did that interview with Satala. Initially it was Sawith was standing up there with Ashe and we had a plan to just interview Sith. So I had to say to Ashe like politely like hey we’re here to talk to Sawith and and Oshay goes I’m not dog of the week. Which I thought was fantastic. We love a dog shout in the wild. He is our dog of the week because he made it to the trailer championship 30th and final spot. He missed a putt on the 72nd hole that we thought was going to be to make it, but a Victor Havlin birdie knocked Michael Kim out. They’re actually playing together and Victor almost seemed to say like I’m sorry on the green, but he had this hole in one uh on the on the par 31 17th. This hole will always be uh in my heart because I met Michael Phelps. I met Michael Phelps on this very green. And look, every shot counts throughout the season. And these guys hit thousands and thousands of shots. And if that ball doesn’t go in, Ash Batia does not make it to East Lake. A was going to call in or he was going to send a message. We got lost in translation. It didn’t happen. But I’m I know he’s very very excited to be dog of the week. I mean, all the things that he’s done in his career. You got to think being dog of the week uh is probably number one. So our dog of the week is Oshay. Looking forward to seeing him and delivering his gift that doesn’t exist uh in person. Okay, guys. Bush Mills. So, I just got back from the second tour stop of the playoffs. We’re going to do another segment of Charting Your Own Course, brought to you by our friends at Bush Mills Irish Whiskey. It’s the world’s most awarded Irish single, Malt. Their whiskey has been recognized by experts around the world. I am fortunate that I get to share my stories from tour events, interviews, and interactions with the fans and players. Just like I experienced last week on my trip to the BMW Championship, I got roasted, guys. absolutely roasted by a bunch of BJ tour players for my outfit. Can we show this? Which I think is like a pretty normal outfit. That is a white button-down shirt and pants that are just cut a little bit differently and a big hat because it was 90° and I’m trying not to fry like a lobster. Sue me. But I was walking on the range and Victor Havlin backs off and he looks at me and he goes, “Nice outfit.” I go, “Thanks.” He goes, “Midlife crisis.” Which was which was tough. And then Color Moriao was working on his putting and he backed off and he goes, “What are you wearing, Ben?” I feel like that’s actually a pretty normal outfit. It’s just these guys can’t handle when someone gets their clothes cut a little bit differently. I think that the hat is what draws the attention to you and then they start looking at everything else and they’re like, “This feels different to me. I don’t know what to do.” No, he’s not wearing he’s not wearing stretchy five pocket pant, you know? He’s not he’s not wearing a moisture wicking, you know, I’m I’m changing it up a little bit. I’m charting my own course. And you tucked it in out of the respect for them. That’s exactly right. That’s I tucked it in because you know Caves Valley it’s you know we’re showing respect. Uh that you know I’m try to chart my own course with the way I dress. A lot of people make fun of me for it but that’s nothing new in my world. So I’m I’m more than happy to stick out out there. And just a big thanks to Bush Mills Irish Whiskey for making the charting your own course experience possible. Bush Mills made in Ireland at the first licensed whiskey distillery in the world. Cheers from all of us and from Bush Mills Irish Whiskey. All right we’re going to do a Q&A section with my man Alan Shipnook. Alan, are you joining us live on the line? I’m here. Yes. Uh, we were supposed to do this last week, but you’re you got kids or something? Um, for acknowledged. Um, yes. And in fact, we are here at the Madon Inn on a little getaway end of the summer. This is not my living room thankfully. I was going to say like Christmas themed already. I was going to say it’d be like if as if Janette Reed um decorated my house if this is where I lived. But um uh you know it’s family holiday, but I said listen, if it wasn’t for the Dan on golf show, we wouldn’t even be able to afford groceries, so I got to go. We’re putting the shipping and our kids through college. Yeah. Okay, we’re going to hop in. All right, we’re going to start with this one. I’ll start with you on this one. Allan Ker asks, “Why can’t the tour do the whole playoffs the way the tour championship is set up? Guarantees everyone is at every event and the potential playoffs in those events to move on. It’s a no-brainer, right? What do you think?” I love that. I mean, if the tour shrank its schedule to like 25 events and just uh we could do so many things with the format. Uh and you could you could get the best players there all the time. It’s the fact that there’s there’s 45 events that you have to have the run-of-the-mill full field 150 guys playing stroke play when we’re not super enthused about it. Uh I mean that that’s really the essence of it. Jay Monahan’s mandate is playing opportunities for the players. And so we just have to have the bloated. He’s gone. He’s gone. And maybe Brian Rollap is looking at this with with a clear, you know, clear lens and saying, you know, let’s do playoffs. And I and I I I picked this. I I looked at the leaderboard. If it was straight playoffs, there would have been a a three-way playoff for one spot in the Tour Championship, and it would have been between JT Poston, Justin Rose, and Patrick Can. And then the guys who wouldn’t have made it, Justin Thomas wouldn’t have made it, Colin Moricawa wouldn’t have made it. And that’s as far as like big names, that’s kind of it. like Scotty would be there, Tommy Fleetwood would be there, Victor Havlin, Lud Vic Ober, Rory Mroy, Russell Henley, Keegan Bradley, Matt Fitzpat, like turns out that the guys who finish in the top half tend to be the best the better players. So I I I would never thought that the tour would agree to the the true final format uh at East Lake, but they have, and so I think this is the next evolution. All right, next one. Kevin Logman asked, “Can Jacob Bridgeman get a shout out?” He had an incredible year. started the year with no invitations to majors or signature events, ends at 27th in points without a win in just his second year. Here’s your shout out to Jacob Bridgeman. It is uh there it is. We gave him the shout out. It Yeah, it’s a great year and and it’s it shows that like for all the you know, talk about Ricky Fowler where it’s oh, he gets these invites into these events. There’s still room for a guy like Jacob Bridgeman who you can move up. You can just move up with your play. Uh and uh yeah, shout out to Jacob Bridgeman. All right, next one. I’m going to start with you on this one. Allen was playing I’m a Little Teapot for Tier Hatton’s Walkup Music. The greatest moment in live history. If you guys didn’t see this, they have this hole where they play music and they played I’m a Little Teacup, short and stout. And Tier Hatton thought it was funny. What did you think, Alan? Oh yeah. I mean, the guys spend so much time picking the music and it’s always, you know, macho hiphop or these old school heavy metal bangers and it just it just shows that Hatton has a sense of humor. He doesn’t take himself too seriously. And I mean, he actually had to back off cuz he was laughing at his own joke, which I also appreciate. So, yeah, that I don’t know if it’s the greatest moment in live history, but it’s probably top 10. It was funny. It was also a bit unserious. It it you know, the whole thing last week with everyone shooting 20 under it. It it just I don’t know. Well, I mean, there’s plenty of tour events where guys go deep, but it’s I mean, three rounds. Yeah. I mean, Liv Liv always wants to be a little different. You have to go to the illogical extreme. So instead of doing a Jay-Z song, you got to go I’m a little teapot. And I I think Terrell understood the assignment. Okay, fair enough. Joel Harris asks, “Following your trip to Ireland, who wins a RDER Cup made of 18 handicappers from Europe and the USA? Your story about playing ball and hole or not playing it in the US as much?” Rings very true with my trips to the US from England. Europe wins going away, like not even remotely close. You know, I’ve uh someone in someone in uh in Ireland made a comment to me about soft 11 indexes in the US and I can’t get it out of my head. We have so many soft 11 indexes in our country. And if you’re one of them, you know what I’m talking about. Yeah, I’m an 11. Well, yeah, if you pick up every double bogey putt, you know, you shoot 95 half your rounds. I guess you are technically a soft 11 index, but it’s it’s not even close. And I’m wondering if you’ve had the same experience, Alan. Yeah, for sure. Well, actually, um, my cousin’s fiance is is a decent stick. He he was he was an eight, um, playing a lot at LA Country Club, and he said him and his buddies decided they’re going to put everything out, and in a few months he went to a 12. So, I think there’s probably I think it’s probably a fourstroke cush on most American handicaps from the gimmies, playing. There’s this ego piece in the US about golf. You know, what’s your handicap? You know, what you shoot like your memberships that just I think it’s a little bit more like you say it with your chest. what you shot over there. Well, for sure. And it’s also it’s kind of weird to have a vanity uh index despite Chad’s, you know, excellent podcast of the same name. It’s like lying about your height on a dating app. Like if if you’re going to get exposed. You’re going to get exposed. So, just be honest about your index. That just makes more sense. Yeah. Okay. I’m going to start with you on this one. Wizard Sleeve won, which is I think a Borat joke, which I just realized it’s pretty funny. Uh Mickelson and Palter were scheduled to be the Rder Cup captains this year. I don’t know if that’s a definitive statement, but do either of them stack up in your eyes as future captains? What do you think, Alan? I think Phil remains so polarizing. Um, it’s going to be hard to ever get him back. Poulter has a chance because of the lads club in in Europe. I mean, he was he was tight with those guys. They there’s still some residual good feelings like, you know, say Rory, who’s the most influential voice over there, you know, they went through the wars together. Um he’s you know Pter came up with with Mcinley with Bjornne those guys pretty much run the European Rder Cup site. I think Poulter has a chance. I would be very surprised if Phil gets rehabilitated in time. Well it’s it’s an interesting one because so many of that generation went to live. I mean Lee Westwood, Sergio Garcia, Paul Casey, Ian Palter. The only kind of holdover is Justin Rose who I I would think is going to get a captaincy extremely soon. Maybe 2027 and Dare. But they’re a little bit light. Hey, I mean they went back to the well with Luke Donald this year. Probably not unrelated to all of those guys being kind of persona nongrada. So, it’ll be interesting to see what happens there. Okay. Finance guy TCSF asks, “Will the tour ever review the calendar for weather optimization? Play southern tournaments in March to May. Play Northern and California tournaments in June to August. August does not work for tournaments in Atlanta and Memphis. Thank you for your attention to this matter. The amount of sunscreen that I have packed for this week uh should be illegal. I will probably get stopped at the airport. It makes too much sense. It makes too much sense. But like if we look at the tour, you know, they made a lot of these deals during the financial crisis. They they didn’t have a lot of leverage. They didn’t have a lot of capital. Coca-Cola, Southern Company, they come in and they say, you know, we want to do this in Atlanta. We want to and you know, FedEx was bankrolling the tour for a long time. They say, “We want to do this in Memphis.” So, it made sense at the time, but I’m really hoping, you know, I I think the playoffs would have so much more gas if it was like first one in New York, second one in Chicago, which where the BMW should always be, the Western Golf Association, third one California, you know, do it at Riviera, do it at Pebble Beach. I just think venues really, really matter. What do you think? Of course. And, you know, forever been saying we got to get Pebble out of February. The problem is in that specific instance, February is a quiet time at the resort. There’s short days. They don’t want to give up the revenue of the summer and all those tea times. Like it’s there’s so many layers to this beyond just what golf fans want. But yes, if we could get the West Coast swing played at a different time, that would be a home run. Well, it’s funny because like I always, you know, tell people like, “Oh, I live in California.” They’re like, “I heard the weather’s really good, but whenever this is Tour Pros, whenever we’re there, it’s cold and rainy.” I’m like, “You’re there the literally the worst month of the year. It’s the only bad month of the whole year. We get a bad rap.” I know. Like I was saying for a long time they should swip switch switch Vegas and Pebble and play in, you know, when in October when that’s the best weather in Pebble Beach and play Vegas in February. You know, there’s there’s so many things that we could have done, but it’s just tradition and there’s other considerations are probably too too tall an obstacle to overcome. No, I think we could still get out of Memphis. I’m still I’m still leading that brigade. Okay. I want to ask you this one because you’re you’re you know the historian given given the grays in your beard. Who’s the historical precedent for Sheffler? Jones, Nicholas Woods were prodigies, legends in their teens. Hogan overcame a boatload of obstacles to emerge in his mid30s. Sheffller fits neither of those patterns. I can’t think of his comp. What do you think? Yeah. Well, you know, this guy threw out Palmer, which is that’s where my mind went as well, cuz Palmer actually didn’t win his first tour event until he was 25, and he didn’t win his first Masters until he was almost 28. And so, he was not a phenom like some of these other guys. Um, and he had now he his prime was was short. He won he won all his majors in a compressed period. Well, he was living a little bit of a different lifestyle, I think, than Scotty Sheffller. That’s why they call him the king. So, yeah. Um, there’s there’s no doubt that there are different personalities, but that might actually hold up. We’ll see how long Scotty’s prime goes. Obviously, he’s not slowing down, but you know, Sheffller was a really, really good amateur. He was a good college player, but it it took him a while to to find his way. And it’s almost a little analogous to Rory in that, you know, Rory struggled to win when he came out as a pro. And, you know, it took him a while to figure it out as well. And he got an earlier start because he skipped skipped his undergrad years. But, um, it’s true. I mean, Scotty has kind of sneaked up on everyone and of course now he’s just he’s the guy. But, um, whether he could ever have the impact of an Arnold Palmer, that that’s highly doubtful. But as as playing parallels, I liked it. Well, if you talk to everyone from college, you know, even the Texas guys are like, “We didn’t see this coming from Scotty. Not like this.” And Bryson said it was sort of exasperated after the Open, he was like, “I used to beat this guy all the time in college.” So, he’s obviously figured something out. Our last one from EMTT Keane. I’ll answer this one. There’s way too much going on in golf for Dan to be tweeting about sports he is doesn’t have a clue about. Pass it on. I’m going to keep tweeting about soccer. So, that you Sorry. So, I’m sorry about that. I I don’t tweet as much about golf because I have this show now and so I save a lot of the takes. So maybe maybe Twitter’s becoming my outlet for soccer. I don’t know. I’m sorry, Alan. Oh, we have a bonus question. It’s a clip. Okay, play it. Oh, that’s from WFAN and CBS Sports Network and of course a former NFL player. Here’s a question for you and your golf sickos because it was asked of me and I did have an opinion, but I’m not going to tell you my opinion. I want to hear yours. So, let’s say Rory and Scotty are playing here at Pebble and they play from the tips and of course the the greens are going to be set up very easily for them and they play the first day in a scramble format and the two of them post the score. The next day they come back, the course is set up the same, the weather is the same, everything is the exact same. The only difference is is that this time they can play a one-man scramble, meaning that they can hit their second shot if they want. Which score would be lower? The twoman scramble from the day before or the second shot scramble individual the next day? I think that’s the question. What’s your opinion? I think the second shot scramble because they know their carry numbers. They know how they hit it. Like I think that they, you know, I I I think they would shoot something disgusting both times. But I think you give Scotty Sheffller and Rory Mroy floating mulligans, I think you’re going to see an assault on the golf course. I agree. And also, shout out to Boomer for an extremely granular question. I had to follow along there for a while. It was a filibuster. What? I mean, that was impressive. Yeah, that was good stuff. Also good stuff. Every time I get to talk to you, it’s a pleasure, Alan. Thank you so much. All right, thanks for having me. All right, TPS from the gallery. This is a loaded one. This week we had uh some incredible names in the United States. Amter names that make you feel poor is our first one. Let’s pull this up. Names that make you feel poor. Preston Stout defeated Pensson Badget 4 and3. Fantastic stuff there from Sledge. Speaking of uh of the uh Olympic club and the US amer, they did a little a little video where guys were giving ratings to Burger Dogs and Stuart Hagistad, who’s already an easy target because, you know, he’s been the midam best midam in the world for a long time. People like to clown him about, you know, how much he actually works and this that and the other. He uh he was asked to give his review of a burger dog. Let’s let’s run that clip. It’s definitely more burger than hot dog. I feel like it’s sacrilegious to say anything mean. If you’re a burger person, a 10 is like Manetta Tavern in New York or El Shaval. It’s like a 6.1. It’s not great, but it’s good. I love it. He He had to know it was coming. Why he brought up Manetta Tavern and Aishala, these two like fancy ass burger places in New York is unbel. But that’s Stew. I like Steu. I play I played golf with Steu before a couple times. I I really enjoy him. But you you you stew is stew and stew was being stew right there. That’s a man trying to make somebody mad and that person is me because the best burger in New York is obviously a Red Hook Tavern, not Manetta Tavern. Oh, so you’re going to fight fire with fire by naming just some other New York burger place. Fair enough. You never had a Red Hook Tavern Burger? I have had I have had a Red Hook Tavern burger. Thank you very much. I’ve had a lot of drinks on that patio as well. It’s a nice place. I used Let’s It It was really good. Let’s not forget I used to live in Dumbo, which is actually pretty close to Red Hook Tavern. But don’t don’t try and you know don’t try and come at me for my Red Hook Tavern knowledge. Okay. Brandle Shambblei had a really spicy take about Bryson and the RDER Cup. He said he’s one of the best players in the world, no doubt, but he will be playing not for the USA but for Saudi Arabia in the RDER Cup. If you disagree, just watch the live bots live funders/ supporters and those who have been bought by Liv celebrate if he plays well. I think it’s a very dangerous precedent to judge whether a person is playing for their country by how some accounts on X react and both of those things are allowed to be true. Both of those things are allowed to be true and and we talked about like we hammered Bryson a little bit for the you know it’s on them but I’m going to stick up for him here just because he plays for lift golfers doesn’t mean he’s playing for Saudi Arabia in the RED Cup. That I’m certain he’s playing with some American pride. Yeah, I think you know just joined the president’s uh you know council on trying to get Americans fit. So I don’t see him doing that with Saudi Arabia. Uh Rory Mroy, this shirt felt like I don’t know if a dig is the right word, but it felt like he was sending a message to Keegan Bradley when they asked him about potentially being a playing captain. Is being a Ryder Cup playing captain something that you aspire to? Is that is that something? No, I’ve I’ve been asked to do that and I’ve turned it down. You’ve already been asked to be the captain? No, I’ve been I’ve you know the the I’ve the idea of me being a playing captain sometime soon coming up has come up and I’ve shot it down straight away. Oh yeah. Why? Cuz I don’t think you can do it. So if we’re reading between the lines, it sounds like he was asked or at least the idea was floated to him about being a plane captain for 2027 at a DARE which is in Ireland couple hours drive from where he grew up. I don’t know if he meant it as bulletin board material for Keegan Bradley but I know Keegan Bradley. I know Keegan Bradley saw that and I know how Keegan Bradley would react to that. I think that’s nice fuel and I hope Keegan, like I said earlier, plays because of that comment. Like I hope we hear hear from Keegan this week that he’s like, “Fuck it. I’m in.” Yeah. You know, I was on the fence, but then I saw Rory and so I said, “Screw it. I’m going to show him.” Everyone’s different. We need all we can get. That team is stacked. Yeah, everyone is different. Like, you know, everyone’s calculus is different, but I, you know, Rory’s a smart guy and he knows that when he speaks at a microphone, people listen. I think that was a little bit of needling. So, Scotty Sheoffller has been number one in the world for 118 weeks. Can we pull up this tweet, guys? Scotty Sheoffller has been world number one for 118 straight weeks to break Tiger Wood’s all-time record of 281 weeks. He needs to hold the spot until Halloween 2028. And my first reaction to seeing this was I I’m starting to think it’s possible. Like that. You know, usually when you see those Tiger stats of like he needs to be world number one through this amount of time, you’re like, “Oh, that’ll never.” I’m like, I’m kind of Yeah. Usually you put it out of your mind, right? You’re like, “Whatever.” This time I was like, “Wait a second. Let’s do the math cuz this is possible.” I was like, “That was my That was my takeaway, too.” And I think when I put this on the list, I don’t know if you know, some of our production people thought, “Oh, he’s going to say there’s no ch.” I’m like, I’m seeing Halloween 2028. You see this guy, Chip? I mean, it’s like tomorrow. It’s like I think there’s a there’s a chance. Uh Bob McIntyre watching Scotty rip his heart out. What is it with this beluga whale? It’s just like he’s a funny looking character. It looks like he’s got no power in the matter. I guess he’s just sitting there. Well, I we actually we actually have a a exclusive live look at what Bob McIntyre thought of Scotty Sheffller’s chip on 17. There it is. He was all he was all class with it. Uh, Phil Mickelson’s tweet about Scotty not winning uh before the RDER Cup has aged like milk. Uh, let’s pull up this next one. He tweeted on March 16th. Does Scotty win in 2025 before the RDER Cup? I don’t think so. Well, he’s won five times since then. Again, says Herb Brooks. Scotty Sheffller here. Yeah. Says again like Herb Brooks in Miracle. Terrific there from John Sherman. Uh, Bennett Sheffller. Ben Sheffler made an appearance on our show for the very first time. And Michael Mchuan says, “I’ve seen Bennett Sheffller more than I’ve seen some children in my own family. The kid does it every week.” Kid does it every week. He’s there every single week. Uh we’re gonna finish it with another kind of guys gawking at at Scotty’s greatness. Michael Kim talking about, you know, Scotty might ask for the deferred FedEx Cup points plan because he more than doubled up Rory Mroy this year. That is the final FedEx Cup standings and his his lead over Rory is greater than Rory’s lead over zero. He more than doubled him up. Incredible stuff. I’d like to give a special thanks to Zone nicotine pouches for all that they do. Warning, this product contains nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical. Underage sale prohibited. I just got to say I always have them in my bag. When I need to dial things in on the course, I go with Zone nicotine pouches. They have a stronger nicotine intensity. The others aren’t even close. They have better flavors, too. They last longer and they’re more comfortable than any other pouch out there. Lately, my go-to is the citrus 6 milligrams. I know you’re a dragon fruit guy. Yeah, I actually ran out. I got to get back to the West Coast. Got to get back to the West Coast. I’ve talked about this before. They make seven flavors in both six and 9 milligrams. The big game changer. These have 20 pouches per can versus the other guys who offer 15. I mean, if you want more, I won’t play 18 holes with at least one can of Zone in my bag. If you want Zone pouches at a discount and mailed right to your door, head to nicocick.com, nicock.com. Enter code danongolf 20 at checkout for an additional 20% off. We are going to leave you golf sickos. You beautiful golf sickos. This is our third to last show. We We’re doing a show, well actually fourth to last show. We’re doing a live show on Wednesday after the Creator Classic at East Lake. I’ll be on the call for the Creator Classic. Then we’re going to be back in the studio for a normal Dan on Golf after the Tour Championship talking about Rder Cup picks. And then we’re going to do a special year-end doggy awards. Year-end awards. So like things like dog of the week, clip of the week. We’re going to do a year-end version of it all. It’s going to be fantastic. We’re winding down the season here. It’s been incredible. Drop us a like. to subscribe. Our clip of the week, Nile Shields Donigan. So, he lost in the semis, which is the worst round to lose in the USM because you don’t get to play in the Masters, but he’s a Mil Valley kid and a Scotland guy. He’s born in Scotland, grew up in Mil Valley, so he still represents Scotland when he plays golf, but he’s very clearly got deep roots in Mil Valley. And this was uh this was what’s what’s great about the US Amitter. You know, you get guys who are making runs and and everyone loves it and and the whole community gets behind them. Our clip of the week is Nile Shields Donigan. I’ll see you guys on Wednesday from Atlanta. Burko. Well, they say the sequel is never as good. I don’t think that’s going to be the case this time. N steals again. You’ve 16 birdie 17. You winning extra holes. How did you pull this off again? I don’t know. I’m just I’m just swinging the golf club and seeing what happens. I mean, it’s just a lot of just thinking staying in the present, not thinking what could happen if something goes wrong. Just hitting good golf shots and trusting the work that I’ve put in. What can we expect from Nile Shields Donigan? I mean, I’m just I’m just going to continue staying the present, seeing what can happen if I just play my own game. And as for these boys, you’ll have to ask them. Well, it’s not It might get loud. It will get loud. Let’s get loud. [Applause] [Music]
5 Comments
bryson is so fake
It always goes in to the left hand… Watch every tiger twirl ever..
Buddy, we gotta cut down on the ads
Sahith seems like the best dude. Always enjoy his interviews.
Shoutout Ben repping the Jersey Shore 🌊