Smylie Kaufman and Charlie Hulme celebrate a historic day in golf: 20-year-old Nick Dunlap, who is currently a sophomore at the University of Alabama, won the American Express as an amateur, the first time an amateur has won on Tour since Phil Mickelson in 1991. Smylie recounts what it’s been like watching Nick grow up in Birmingham, and what an incredible incubator of golf talent that city’s been with the concurrent rise of Vanderbilt junior Gordon Sargent. SK and CH also discuss whether it’s even a question if Nick will turn pro given all the immediate status that comes with a Tour win.
#golf #golfer #golfing #pgatour #amateur #nickdunlap #philmickelson #birmingham #alabama #rolltide
Holy Charlie sound the alarms Nick Dunlap just became the first Amer to win on the PGA tour since 1991 Smiley let’s take a listen history in the desert for the first time since 1991 and Amer has won on the PGA tour Nick Dunlap wins the American Express
Wow you told me the other day you were nervous out here while enjoying it you were nervous what were the emotions like especially coming down the stretch nothing like I’ve ever felt um I mean it’s so cool I told Sam numerous times like it is so cool to be out here and
And experience this as an amateur and um whe whether I made that or missed that and if You’ have told me that you know come Wednesday night I’d have a putt with win this golf tournament is I I wouldn’t believe you what was the walk
Like for you down 18 and how aware were you of that you only had a One-Shot lead I wasn’t um I thought I had a two- shot lead and uh that’s kind of our line was almost right of the green it’s like just don’t hit this in the water kind of um
But uh no and then obviously I think I hit somebody so I’m sorry who that was but um you know got a great break and was able to give myself a good look you had a six-footer to win on the PGA tour what was the process what was going
Through your mind knowing that was for something historical I I just I I got to give Hunter credit um man like he he just he’s he’s so calm all day his attitude never changed and um you know just kind of kind of his last thing is like man
It’s his inside left like you made a million of these putts before it’s just another one you told Terry and brandle in the booth yesterday at the beginning of the week expectations were to learn to learn what it’s like out here on the PGA tour what did you learn about
Yourself today everything um and like I said whether this would have been the way I was hoped for or not I’ve learned so much today and and uh I just I’m so grateful to be here to be a part of history now in amer winning on the PJ
Tour what did it mean to have so many people that love you fly in to see this happen everything um just even the support from everybody out here it’s it’s been so cool and and to to see some of the people root for me was was really
Special Nick congratul it was fun to watch I appreciate it thank you so much Smiley I love listening to that again I love watching that again because I will say for my part I was sitting on my couch watching that six-footer next to my son next to my wife and when that
Putt went in I stood up and punched the air I I was you know second there was there the dogs went crazy it was it was a Hardy yes I I just I I I can’t get over just first and foremost what a cool and special moment this was for you know
Not only obviously Nick Dunlap but just so many people who are fans of the game of golf and fans of this tour and you know and that’s and I’m saying this as just some random guy who is chatted with Nick via you on a podcast one time I I
Want to hear before we get into to the tournament itself what this meant to you uh as someone who watched Nick dun laab grow up as someone who is a citizen of Birmingham Alabama you know we shared the clip on social media of of the wolf
Snake cup watching Nick win a wolf snake cup as a 16-year-old I mean I can’t even imagine how cool this experience was for you and all of your friends in Birmingham man it was it was Unreal uh like you said we’ve had Nick on the Pod
After he won the US amiter and I mean this just doesn’t happen overnight you know like this isn’t a surprise this isn’t something that just came out of nowhere you know when he was in the field for uh Bermuda earlier this year you ask how do you think Nick’s gonna
Play I was like I think he’s probably going to top 20 because why not he’s that good and he didn’t I think he missed the cut that week still didn’t matter uh gets out there this week and gets the job done and wins but um man it’s just so cool the kid’s obviously
Talented and but he’s a he’s a really good kid and he’s worked his tail off you know like I think the the talent is is one thing but he’s he’s outworked everybody but also he’s got a head on his shoulders that’s just beyond his
Years to me he’s he’s been a pro uh for gosh I mean it’s at least three or four years in my mind like good enough two turn pro um just from a talent standpoint now was he probably ready to do what he did uh just now no but you
Could see it you know from the US Junior win to then the US Amer win and then even this fall like he was doing some stupid stuff this fall um in college golf that just you know it’s it’s just shooting these low scores and go into a place like Palm Springs listen that’s
Not the US Open we’re not claiming that this game of his is just going to translate straight into winning Majors it’s a totally different golf course and experience and perfect for someone like him to come in and just go make a bunch of birdies you know like there’s no
Nothing to worry about uh was he perfect down the stretch no but it he didn’t have to be he just had to hang in there and um I’ll say I’ll leave you with this one thought um just about Nick and I didn’t really know who I was cheering
For today I I didn’t know it until like the very end where I was like okay I want Nick Dunlap to be to beat Christian bazay n like I knew I wanted that to happen but before then when it was just Nick yes yes when it was just Sam and
Nick like on 17 or even the beginning of the day I was like JT wins awesome if if dun wins great if Sam Birds wins great like all three of those dudes are like top of the list for me of guys I always cheer for so I just kind of let it play
Out you know and then JT kind of tried to hang in there lost some shots here and there and then it I was like okay this is a Nick and Sam battle and then randomly at the end it was like No wait it’s a Nick and sez battle because we
Saw what happened to Sam but uh it was a interesting day for me on the couch because I didn’t know what to think it was a friends with the Pod final pairing and and you know Wonderful for us because you know like you said we’re rooting for all three of them uh Kevin
You tried to make a little Cameo popped in there for a second I was like buddy we could find a different tournament for you if you just kind of let this one play out a little bit better uh but listen I I I don’t want the tour to drug
Test Nick Dunlap I want them to take him in for an x-ray because they’re going to get the results on that back and there’s going to be 100% dog in that man I mean Nick Dunlap has that dog in him I I on this podcast dud when I when I went back
And was watching that wolf snake excerpt and the the thing he says after that it’s worth going back and Rel listening to this podcast cuz I thought it was awesome just is his perspective right after winning the USM and he talks about man I think I hate losing more than I
Like winning and it sounds weird but there are very few athletes I feel like that are wired that way and it’s like your Kobe Bryant level of athlete a guy that just like has to has to find a way not to lose and so I’m just wondering I
Want to kind of get into his his game and where we’re projecting him going forward and all that but just you if you could just give a little insight on mentality and like how early you saw that playing games with him in Birmingham D it’s it started uh with our
Ryder Cup matches that we have here in Birmingham it’s called the wolf snake cup we always played it out at Greystone and Nick was a part of the first uh series of this he was probably 15 or 16 years old when this started and you know
He was going up against you know myself sep straa you know all these players that you know that were not only had been very successful in college I don’t think we had any other college players at the time I think he was he was obviously still in high school doing
This so he’s like a sophomore junior everybody else is out of college and has turned Pro and a lot of good players I mean go down the line um you know but he he’s been mentored by Jeff C and he’s I give him a ton of credit in all this um
Nick obviously deserves all of the credit in the world but Jeff needs a little bit of credit in all this because he really has taken him under his wing and Jeff is I think uh if if you don’t know who Jeff is he’s he’s played professional for 20 plus years and has
Basically mentored Nick throughout his entire development and he’s been on the back for me for the US Junior win he been on the back for for the US Amer win and really just been there every step of the way from mentoring him when he was
Just a kid when he shot 59 at Highlands which humble brag I actually shot 56 on the same Golf Course to 5900 yard golf course I’m not I’m not just I’m not just telling you that that it can be done but listen it it’s a very easy golf course
But that is besides the point is that he he’s always had you know someone like Jeff be able to kind of guide him it’s like hey I’ve I’ve watched so many different people uh whether it be Pros or guys he had played with do the wrong things and you to have somebody with
That type of level experience at a young age to kind of like guide you through like how do you get around a golf course how do you be tougher you know how do you play those mind games against a player which we saw in match play with
Him dude he he is like his record’s like 30 and two over like the last 32 matches if that doesn’t tell you anything about a a person and a player how they’re wired just to be able to kind of have that Brooks kepin mentality to be like
Dude you’re looking at a stone wall over here now today didn’t look necessarily like a stone wall on his face he looked way different than um I I normally see him look as far just a confidence standpoint but still in even in that situation I think a lot
Of people would think man he just looked you know like he was never going to lose today uh besides that one shot he hit and and I knew he was going to get punched in the face at some point today and the original question you asked
Eventually I got to with the dog in you to be able to to all right let’s take a deep breath what’s the play call here on that 7t after you just hit an iron in the water just a layup hole and it’s an intimidating t- shot but after that
Happens you can guide your way around that golf course and shoot easily a two3 over par and to hit in the Fairway hit another good shot and just kind of stacking good shots in after each other and um eventually just hung around and that’s all he had to do to then when we
Got to 17 yeah well and it’s so interesting you mentioned the match play thing because again going back and Rel listening to this interview as we were leading up to this final round there was an extended section where you talked about his match play record and what
Makes him so good in that format and coming into the day it was like the first this thing from you know what we sometimes refer to as a match play scenario in these sort of final rounds you know he had he had a whole field of
Guys you know chasing him he had you know Sam Burns three shots behind him JT four behind him and so he was you know as we even said here coming down the stretch There Was You Know Christian baz now was in the mix Kevin Yu um but for
His purposes and he even said it when he finished he didn’t realize he was he was you know just one shot up he thought it was two coming down the stretch but for his purposes heading into 17 that was a true match play scenario was Sam Burns effectively and for for
Him to be the guy that hit the center of the green and for Sam to be the guy that missed in the water I mean you know listen no knock on Sam we’ll talk about you know him later in the show but I just thought that showed incredible
Composure from a guy that you’re not expecting to see it from like you know and this is even going back a year and Davis Thompson has a ton of game he’s an incredibly talented player and I guess you know you even look at like you know he’s playing against John Rah and the
Form of roh’s life so it’s it’s a different scenario but there was sort of an air of inevitability about you know that AMX last year that that felt a little bit different where you just knew Rah was going to catch up and and you knew that that you know Ram was
Eventually G to win that thing I I promise you watching this today I was like there is just something I don’t I don’t know what it was about Nick just the air of professionalism he already had I maybe it was literally the way he was dressed up where he’s got you know
Adidas clothing tailor made hat stab look like an Amer right he look but but just the way he carried himself even while admitting he he had nerves I was just I was just blown away it’s like this this is a guy who’s going to be
Very legit on tour for a long long time um and so to further that piece of the discussion because you talk a lot about superpowers guys on tour what’s their superpower what what’s what separates them obviously his mentality is maybe one of his superpowers but I’m
I’m curious you know what parts of his game you see that that really stood out to you this week and you think you’re going to carry him forward because it didn’t seem like he had a ton of distance on guys you know it didn’t seem
Like he was behind guys you know off the te but like it didn’t seem like anything really stood out there um you know necessarily to me so maybe there’s something you’re seeing there I thought the putting early in the week was fantastic maybe that’s that’s one of
Them but just curious what you think you know when you think of what makes Nick Dunlap Elite what what is that for you it’s it starts with his iron play his iron play is his I think is his strength of his game and I think his the driver
Has been a strength for him uh probably over the last three years the driver has become a strength but listen Nick has reached out to me this is back in like 2020 he had reached out to me just like hey man like I know you’ve been through
Some stuff um with the driver and I’m just kind of reaching out about like I’m kind of going through something similar really just um don’t know where I’m at mentally with the driver right now do you have any advice and obviously I you know give them for whatever it’s kind of
It’s kind of two addicts talking to each other it’s just really tough to give like really good information because you don’t even know if you’re right cuz you’re you know I I still have the the thoughts and stuff you know I I hope I I obviously said something that that
Clicked because and I’m not claiming to have to give him give him the magic stuff but um listen he he’s obviously that that has been it was a weakness in his game the driver um because you know I think you know three or four years ago
He’s still growing you know in 2020 this gu is he’s six 2ish six three-ish he’s a big guy he’s grown into his body a lot of times kids are you know still evolving and growing in their body and and driver is the first thing especially
With a guy with a lot of speed can get off and I think it that was it for Nick but over the last however many years the drivers’s the strength um but I would say irons and putting would be two of the like just he’s dropped like he’s
Already a pro like iron game and putting already a pro like and and above average pro at that um the short game I would say continues like it needs it needs work um the Chip Shot that he had on 18 I was very like if it would ended up in
That dormant stuff I would have been like oh boy you know chipping across the green of that water it a huge Breaky got that ball rolled down into that over seated grass makes that chip shot so much easier um I’m not saying he’s a bad chipper I just think that’s something
That can continue to get better in his game he doesn’t have the um all the types of shots that like a Jordan or a JT would have but um he’s he’s very fine well listen he can just continue to get better shoot he’s only 20 years old
Doesn’t miss a ton of green so he do he hasn’t been quite exposed uh to I guess he has been exposed to it he’s played in two US opens already who am I kidding um the guys had a ton of experience but yeah that was a long-winded answer to get to used to
Drive it kind of bad driving it good now irons are great chipping needs work wedges obviously are great but continue to need to be dialed and dialed in because he’s a long player and then the putter is fantastic Putter’s amazing uh listen I want to have the uh I want to
Have the pro discussion but before we get too far away from this where we start at the top of the show how mindblowing is it to you that we have a guy now who who could turn pro right now but prior to this we’re saying
Like let’s say he top fives you know he makes a cut he gets a couple points in the PGA Tour you deal and he continues on this trajectory through the end of the year how mindblowing is it that we could have two guys coming off the call
Of drinks this year both from Birmingham Alabama both getting their tour cards actually let’s make that a a a two question stand up baby second part of the question is do you have a guest room I can send my son to so he can start drinking the water down there so I’d
Very much love for him to have whatever it is that those guys are having I mean how Wild is that that this is sort of a hot bed for talent like you’re acting like we haven’t been I’ve been telling everybody for anybody that would that would listen for so long to just the
Town in Alabama right now it’s just dumb you know we have these these prodigies that have come out of the Birmingham area uh being Gordon sergeant and Nick Dunlap and and there’s a ton of other players too that have kind of laid the ground before them that are that are
Still on tour and you got Robbie Shelton Trey molx Michael Johnson Lee Hodes just recently won last year in Minnesota almost won MX another year so there’s there’s plenty of talent here great golf courses but these two just have um I started appearing on my radar kind of
Right around when I turned Pro and I’m like these guys they could be something well and and this kind of struck me too as I was thinking about that whole connection today and and you know later on I do want to talk about just the course itself and the uniqueness of this event
Itself where it’s just like you know you could have shot four or 3 68s in a row and missed the cut this week I mean that’s mindblowing and so the reason I thought about that in the context of of Nick and Gordon was I remember Gordon
Being on the show and talking about his first time playing the Masters and how there’s just so much of a toolkit that you have to kind of you know gain and learn and and he you know kind of picked up a lot of stuff by watching Jason day
And Zack Johnson and I wonder if this was the perfect place for Nick Dunlap to do this because it it it’s not overly penal and you can kind of go low and he’s a guy that has all the tools to do that and and it’s like you know it
Struck me is like uh kind of to your point he could pick up a lot of stuff in his toolkit and he will going forward but this was like perfect for him to launch this career he he was gonna break out at some point I was surprised he
Didn’t break out of Bermuda to be honest that seemed like a a weak field a place where I thought like he was probably one of the best 10 players there um if you would had me rank guys I thought Nick is already that good so yeah uh Palm
Springs is a great place to start and to your point about the cut I mean a lot of people were upset about Palm Springs and just the courses being easy and yes I mean listen there’s we’re about to get into a stretching gol here pretty soon
We’re where par is going to be a good score or 67 if he Wills can be a good score but I got a credit Monday Q info on this tweet uh talking about the cut being 12 under actually it was yeah if you shot 12 under you miss the cut the
Cut was 13 yeah and the guy he said what did you shoot 71 6766 any doubles no no doubles any sixes on the card nope how many birdies uh one every 3.6 holes how many Bogies H one every 18 holes so three total are you
Not in the top 10 no right not the top 20 nope top 30 shakes said nope I missed the cut this is Justin saw I was like this is chef’s kiss what a great tweet it’s it is kind of wild to me and and this is something I wanted to
Kind of get into but let’s just do it right now as we’re talking about it is I I I I want to pose this to you both from your personal mindset you know when you played on tour and just you know the way you approach playing tournaments and
Then what you think maybe the average tour pro the tour Pros that that you know or you know have opinions on this type of thing might say and that is would you rather play a tournament in which the course or the setup is so difficult that you’re never like really
Out of it as long as you don’t avoid any blowups and and when I think about this I think about I was rewatching uh the Justin Thomas interview where he was talking about that range session at 2022 PJ Championship on Saturday night um which you know by the way this is a
Shameless plug we we just uploaded this to our YouTube so you can go watch this thing in full but just him talking about him being really down on himself in Bones saying hey look this thing could come back to us we just have to go out
And put a solid round together so like would you would you rather play in that type of tournament or a tournament like the MX where it’s like hey I can have a super aggressive mindset because I have to have a super aggressive mindset I have to go out here and go low every
Single day which one of those do you prefer and which one do you think the average tour pro would prefer I think uh both are to me just easy to predict the longer you’re a professional so for somebody like Nick Dunlap uh I thought this was probably the most difficult
Place to to have a three shot lead because this golf course you know it’s a Pete D design you know we see the scores how low they were but still um there are difficult golf shots on this on this on this course that really you know you got
To challenge the water and really play some aggressive shots and you can’t play scared knowing that there’s a 10 under out on the golf course and you’re trying to win a golf tournament for you know shoot your night minute Pro like that that’s a difficult challenge um and I
Was actually listening uh a little off topic here and I’m sure we’ll get into this in a bit but Rory maoy um I was listening to an interview he did um after his win this past week in Dubai uh and he had mentioned I think he was
Like 10 or 11 shots back but in his mind after Friday he said um I still think 6767 so 10 under was going to have a good chance and that is this and that’s like one of the the biggest things you learn as a pro is is
What is going to win the golf tournament not not necessarily what a good score is that day but like being able to predict it on like Friday night like hey this is what the number is going to be and I would say it’s difficult at a place like
AMX to really know what the number is going to be to win because so much can happen you know like if Nick Dunlap goes out and shoots s under today I mean nobody’s catching him right but if he goes out and shoots even par it’s like
All right you can go down the board here if somebody like Xander chafl who got hot um and if he goes and does it like he could win so that there was a lot of different different things there um I I prefer the harder golf courses because
It was much easier to judge um much easier easier to judge where you could pick off birdies on like what a good score was that day because you know if you if you go make five birdies and and no bogeys and 67 has a chance to be one
Of the lower scorers that to me it’s easier to kind of plot your way through the leaderboard because you know a lot of people are making Bogies that’s really interesting so it’s like a strategy thing it’s like it’s it’s more about like it’s the skill of being able
To predict the number and then subsequently the ability to strateg around that that’s interesting to to your point of the Rory thing this is a a Justin rayol tweet um he was fantastic and all these these cool sort of stats so Rory was 10 shots off the lead
Through 36 holes this week in Dubai before coming back to win it’s the largest 36hole deficit he’s overcome to win on either the DP world or PGA Tours and the largest 36 hole comeback to win in this tournament’s history I think that’s super interesting in the context
And we can talk Rory later in the show but I remember him saying this last year at the Masters where he got he kind of pressed a little bit too early not realizing that you know I think what whatever was was kepka whoever posted that that number that was you know nine
Or 10 under early on and that’s where the tournament ended up with you know two or three more rounds ahead I don’t have the specifics on that you know exactly right but just that it was almost for him a learning moment of like hey I don’t need to press so much and so
I think that that’s you know that whole discussions related to Rory and everything is is a really interesting one uh you know hard difficult you know hard versus easy courses yeah just like the way yeah and just kind of the way it went today you know I
Think Sam Burns and JT I think that’s kind of the next topic is like we need to talk about those two guys right well can can we just pre briefly talk about is it even a conversation as to whether or not Nick Dunlap Goes Pro because
Because you you texted I think we you texted me a screenshot because we were exchanging texts back and forth and and at the time I had no clue you know like I was like okay if he wins he gets into Signature Events right and even you know
Expecting him to you know have the amateur exemption to the Masters no longer be there well then you see me a screenshot if he turns Pro he earns a spot in the 2024 PGA invite to the 2024 Masters remains in the US Open and all Signature Events I don’t even think it’s
A topic discussion is it like it’s it’s just he’s gonna do it right if I was walking in AMX and calling the golf I would have gone to wherever his hotel where Airbnb was and I would got his books and I would have thrown him in the
Trash can like this is not even a decision dude like it’s if if he would have finished second um maybe you could have said like all right you know well really like all all second would have like he had to win for this to even be a discussion because second doesn’t do him
Anything besides he was already in Farmers because he’s was in on a sponsor invite so there’s just one very happy person right now that that is now going to get a sponsors invite into Farmers because now Nick Dunlap is in that Winners category yeah I I I wonder what I saw
JCW well off the the 18th green with the the milkshake in hand whatever I wonder what he said to him please please stay please stay I mean he he was definitely celebrating but his team just got a whole lot worse I think that’s but it’s a that’s a price
You’re willing to pay I think and and I think you mentioned you said that you heard an interview of his and I’m sure the sound will kind of trickle out you know of he’s like he still taking his time to think about it of course he’s
Not going to have a decision ready for you right after winning the tournament because you know you can’t plan for that sort of thing but um you know I think it’s probably fair for him to have those conversations with his coach and teammates and stuff like that but like
Dude go only two days make that decision um I don’t really know the the biggest thing to like figure out it’s like all right what’s the cad eat it’s like how much am I making from uh it looks like it’ll be tayor made like how much am I getting
Paid by titles to play the ball which is the ball he play like all those things are probably uh haven’t like the those conversations probably have not even come close to happening yet so I guarantee you right now um all the the club companies that are involved with
Nick that are are scrambling right now to try to put an offer together that’s like okay because you know everybody else is scrambling too um it’s a it’s a very tricky thing that I imagine Nick might say you know what I’ll turn pro we’ll figure out all the contracts later
Because like that would be the smart thing to do is like let’s right let’s let’s have some time to to see what we’re what what I’m going to be making from you guys but the I imagine that that would be the way to do it it’s just
You know like hey you’ve already been supporting me and I’m going to go with you I’m going to turn pro um and we could figure it all later but in two days you can’t get the contract like dial in perfect that would be a nightmare good luck to that agent I will
Especially if he wins you know like if Nick goes out not I mean I say not if he wins like I mean I guess he could win Farmers but if he did like holy again holy the number just went up the number just went up like what was that you
Didn’t have any final numbers yeah let let’s double it uh yeah I mean I I will say this on that front you’re talking about the sponsors and stuff heck of a run for Adidas golf uh ludic Oar and now Nick great time to be with Nike going
Out like it just seems like my goodness yeah about it uh Le let’s let’s do kind of move to to to JT and and Sam um but the place I want to start with JT is as an extension of the Nick conversation because it’s like I thought what JT did
With Nick today was so so cool like I just really thought that you know he he kind of was they asked him about it on Saturday after the round he had that quote you got to get to the tweet I got some good stuff here well well I mean I
I I texted you I I I just you know they’re walking down the 18th Fairway and you know I’m like you know wonder what in the world that’s like you know Nick’s got this this you know he doesn’t know where the ball ended up he doesn’t
Know what sort of Chip Shot he’s going to have he I’m sure he knows what he has green to work with but he but he doesn’t maybe he’s seen the scoreboard at that point realizes he has to get up and down to win and JT turns him and goes first
Spectator hit right there Nick is just like I I don’t know if it caught him off guard or whatever but I noticed that you know I you know in the moment he he looked kind of serious and then as he went and got over his ball it
Looked like he was like laughing with his caddy and I I just thought that was such a a great thing if if indeed it had an impact on Nick in the moment I thought that was really cool of JT to kind of like lighten the mood a little
Bit and and kind of get him you know de-stressed a little bit and then after Nick sinks that winning putt um you know he he gave him a kind of a long hug and covered you know with his hat what he was saying to I’m sure he said something that’s private
But just you know it seemed like he on a day where he could have been really frustrated about a couple of shots that he would have loved to had back yeah you know the way he kind of flipped that and was just such a a support system an encourager of Nick doing something
Incredible that will forever stick with me you know for JT is like that is that was awesome and I’ll kind of get to the JT and Nick stuff and I’m gonna start kind of at the beginning of the day watching the coverage and JT and Nick just kind
Of how um they were communicating if they were communicating at all and I was really interested to watch JT to see if he was gonna be warm and fuzzy to him because like there’s there’s there’s mind games you can play um against Nick whether it you know JT’s warm and fuzzy
At the beginning and then goes silent or just starts out the day ghost mode and just stays ghost mode the whole day you know Nick hasn’t played golf with JT he’s also never played the final group of the PJ Tour event he doesn’t know like when I talk about these mind games
And Nick used to play on on kids uh in match play for the US Junior in the USA like Nick was doing these things to people now JT today he he didn’t he I me he ghosted him the whole day um he really didn’t talk to him at all it was
A strategy that most would employ to a young kid because you want them to feel like they’re on an island you don’t want it to feel like they have anybody they can go and talk to and that’s the way I think most of the pros would have
Handled it today I think I would have sped up or slowed down and making sure that he felt like he was as lonely and as far removed away from being able to communicate to anybody but his caddy and that’s a that’s a great strategy to have
But to your point on 18 uh I think JT threw that out the window I actually texted him um about that interaction that him and Nick had talking about first spectator ever hit yeah blah blah blah um and you said yeah you know I was
I was going to try to keep him loose there but yeah the strategy was a little different the rest of the day so oh interesting and and then he said yeah I was naturally pulling for him there at the end when it was obviously between um
Him and CZ but uh yeah know it’s cool to see like the the Alabama cap come on weight just the yeah you know because Nick has reached out to JT about certain things and and JT’s always great about young Pros um when they reach out to him especially somebody like like Nick U
That obviously he’s got a Alabama um connection with so I’m definitely going to help him as much as possibly can and I think that was like the the pat on the on the shoulder that he may have needed at the end there just like you know hey
Buddy like let’s just laugh about this for a second because you’re about to look at the leaderboard and you’re about to realize that did you have to get this up and down well and that’s super interesting to hear that angle perspective on it because maybe I didn’t
Pay close enough attention to that today obviously not having played on the PGA tour that’s something that you’re tuning into because you’re aware of those sort of Dynamics um but maybe part of that to is just is you know hey look you know we
Kind of ice you out we froze you out all day long and and you held it together and got all brought all the way down the stretch and and kind of kept your nerves together and like props to you man like you know I mean for for having kind of
Passed the test in a sort of way I don’t know if that resonates at all with with with you or or with JT but I uh I I just got a great sex from you than I you know this kind of this kind of plays off the text it’s the text I sent
Was was two saudy guys that tell me more about Tuscaloosa but listen this did you see John ROM send a congratulatory tweet yeah yeah here’s the thing if if Nick loses and finishes second I really think that would have that would have CED in a pretty pretty large live offer pretty
Quickly towards Nick um I think winning was the best case scenario for the PJ tour because now it assured everything he didn’t have to keep waiting he had to go back to college there’s no there’s none of this time that he’s got to sit around taking calls from from from an
Agent or just getting texts from Phil Mickelson and John ROM saying like hey man like love to have you on the team Legion or whatever John ROM’s team name is that should have been of course team uh how often do you think about the Roman Empire that’s all
I’m just going to call it team Roman Empire the rest of the year what a win for the tour dude I just thought about that like that’s really interesting that’s a really interesting angle on it because you’re absolutely right you know and and and by the way you know you’re
Talking about all the negotiations with with you know uh clothing companies club companies all that stuff I mean yeah if he finishes second and it and it’s still uh waiting on the PGA T Ru and this and that and they come in they’re like yeah we we know you’re going to be good
Here’s 100 million you know I’m not saying that would be the number and and and that would be a lot more than what they’re offering a lot of established tour Pros but still I mean they coming with a number you make you think and and
He think about it he was on track to get this accelerated PJ tour you thing like Gordon Sergeant was he probably would have completed it by the NCA or maybe this summer I don’t really know how the points worked but he probably was five or six points away from doing it he need
Nine heading into the week and he would have gotten one he would have gotten two this week for M cut top 10 okay so but he would have played in two or three more teams yeah he he would have been you know if he would have gotten to play seven PJ tour events
Which he probably would um he would have been very close to getting that toward the end of the summer if not um before then so he was on track but man that just think about it guys I mean live golf is trying to to take young Talent they’re trying to poach anything that
They can I mean but I mean listen if Nick what what’s let’s like put the shoe on the other foot there’s rumors about Caleb Sarat going to lift off Caleb Sarat let’s say week one let’s say he’s on a live golf team I hate putting words
Um or just you know assigning him to live golf is all hypothetical guys like kin may not even be considering this could just be a rumor by you know all these Twitter golf things that have either just throw it anything against the wall and it hits
It hits but let’s just use him as an exam example let’s say he goes out and wins the first week will people care as much that he won like we just cared about Nick Dunlap winning I don’t you know it’s it’s an interesting question because we can only
Speak from our own person seats but I mean I don’t I like I just it’s not a bigger storyline to me the state kid did it too and I I I I didn’t how many people you heard talking about at your Club about the state kid winning and and
May and maybe that’s a pro I mean I mean I’m look I’m trying to really be fair about this you know maybe you can make a lot of arguments about you know well that’s because it’s not on you know television you’re sitting in front of you know and this and that like I’m
Telling you man like this wasn’t this was a NFL divisional round weekend and I have not watched a snap of football today I was locked into this tournament the entire day I mean you know there’s college basketball on there all sorts of stuff going on that people care about
More in the world right now and I I and okay I get it we’re in the golf Niche like this is our world but but you know that’s not to say we watch other sports like we’re colge football die hards like there was no chance I was flipping the
TV from this tournament for a second today and and I think that that says something it was a compelling entertaining product all day long and and you just you just right now and okay like maybe maybe the future live changes and and it gets more compelling but I I
Think that’s that’s a really good point to make is like you just it just wouldn’t get I don’t care how young you are like it’s just not the same achievement you know to do it against a full field a strong field this week um so it’s it’s and and that’s a really
Interesting thing you bring up of like man if he finishes second math is a little bit different Sam Sam Burns kept somebody on the tour very good of you Sam that was I I’m sure that was was we’re going to give you we’re going to give you an assist
There uh let let’s get to so we we kind of teed up JT a little bit and I thought the day was kind of defined and you tell me feel different but you know a couple loose par five approaches and yeah that’s all it was I just lip outs and
Some lip outs yeah some close puts and went in and I just wonder like on JT it seems to me like I can’t think of another guy on tour that has more shots than JT has you know and and I and and I just wonder on some of those if it’s
Like he almost has too many options and it’s hard to kind of like settle into you know one shape or or one type of shot that he likes because it’s like he’s almost too talented for his own good sometimes does that does that resonate at all with you or or do you
Disagree with that notion it kind of reminds me of Jordan he seriously yeah just playing too many shots sometimes no I didn’t feel that that way today um yes I mean the two shots that he tried to play I think the one on five like the
Driver that he hit he it’s this like beautiful high draw driver on the corner which is I think the most difficult t-shot on the golf course par five double dog leg um the left side of the Fairway gives you the best angle uh to
To go for it in two and have be able to get to that right right pin and you could tell he was in between clubs and kind of just came out of one little bit just m hit it hits the bulkhead goes in the water and it was like at that point
I was like man everything has to go right today for him to win this golf tournament now just with that golf swing that he made which was he’s got the world left you know really all he needs to do is make birdy knowing the Nick Dunlap still is 125 in um it probably
Isn’t goingon to make birdie but end up making birdie uh spoil yeah so and he made the mistake on the 11th hole which we’re just gonna blame Nick sain about that one because he came in for a uh for a call and Terry and Brandon were talking to him and and
He was talking about how you know he was basically Hing JT up while he hitting and then he just SN in the water I was like a man but really just those two swings and uh U was was all I noticed today and and uh also just uh maybe just
A little off too on some other swings as well but um just not playing from the Fairway as much as he was and just really just um not reading the greens as well today yeah and you’re chasing right from the get-go your four shots back startout the day and you know again it’s
Like it’s it’s maybe of those maybe he makes different decisions on some of those you know yeah if that swing on five goes the right way I think it’s completely different day that that was it was just that golf swing and then he was playing
From behind the rest of the way but but look if you take it back to end of last year where we start to kind of see him you know T12 of the Windam solo fifth of the fortnet you know look I get the Ryder Cup as a team loss but I think JT
Played well there for the most part uh solo three at at the Hero World Challenge and now a T3 at the AMX I mean for for for me did you mention the nedbank I did not mention the nedbank which I should have mentioned I’m I’m looking at the PGA Tour profil so top
Five there like for for me it’s I am past the stage of uh worrying about you know where JT’s game is it it everything we saw this entire week the birdie streak on Saturday it’s like it’s it’s a matter of just when’s it going to happen
This year when’s he going to get his next win and and and and which course sort of kind of Suits him because that was you know it it was a really strong week so um yeah so I mean I think unless you have other thoughts on JT then it
Kind of makes sense to roll over to to to Sam I me he’s gonna pick one off soon just a matter of time I think it I think he wins in Phoenix that’s kind of where I think he’s gonna get the dub okay it’s a good call he always plays while there
And he’s just you know sometimes when you just play that third week in a row it’s like where you’re bang you know it’s it’s right there I’m not sure how he’s played at the farmers to be honest I I don’t really think of him in San Diego maybe he really should fit his
Game great because he’s such a good ball Striker but it’s more the poic greens where I like him more on the overseed Bermuda greens at uh in Phoenix and and and you know at this point he’s you know prior to the uh prior to the update in the official War golf rankings which
We’ll get soon he’s 28th right now you expect him to hold or move up so we’re expecting to see him at the AT&T as well you know right so it’ll it’ll be he do he won’t ever have to worry about it because he’s always going to get a spot
You know right well I mean definitely but I guess also that there are I mean we we kind of have an idea on the sponsor exemptions and he’s not one of them but I guess they’re Assuming he’s going to be top 30 I guess listen we’ve talked about the sponsors invites
And for for Pebble we we we know what they are listen if JT somehow was outside the top 30 like Peter monat’s getting bumped you know yeah JT’s getting in it’s a it’s a very uh there are attachments to Peter Mon’s sponsor exemption um well fair enough so so
We’ll see him obviously we’ll see him this this week at Cory and then a pebble and then and Phoenix um for for Sam man I mean I I we were watching the end of this tournament and you know my wife was like you know who do you think’s gonna
Win this thing and I was like it’s got to be burns like look I love Nick you know you know great great guest in the Pod like all the talent in the world but there’s just no way he’s going to be able to close this thing and and then
Sam did the thing that I thought Nick was going to do you know dumps it in the water right on 17 doubles that hole and then again on 18 makes a double on 18 you know what I I don’t I don’t even know what there’s no question in there
It’s just kind of a shrug and uh what do you make of all that smiley yeah no I I was thinking about the the moment when Sam Burns got on the 17th T and Nick Dunlap are and and him are tied and I was thinking about that shot probably an
Hour before then I was thinking this is because I really felt like Nick was going to plot as what I didn’t think he was going to try to take anything on crazy like aggressive but I thought that Sam might um and just kind of shut the
Door on the on the event whether it was going to be on 16 but really 17 was in my mind elevated t-shot front right pin Sam’s a guy that his iron game is benched it was it was a it was a total weakness last year the approach to the
Green totally fell off the map like we don’t know what happened his iron game just disappeared out of nowhere and he still drove it well but he would just hit these iron shots that were either pulled left or like Miss contact and and more often than not the Miss was short
And right and from an elevated T with a little wind against if you’re in between clubs on a front right pin it’s kind of the worst shot for a right-hander knowing that you can’t miss it anywhere you know the the shot you would like to play there is something where you can
Hit really hard and pull it towards the middle of the green but if you’re trying to hit whether it was an eight or nine iron trying to fade it to that whole location and you just come out of one or you’re a little worried I mean it’s
Comparing that shot to the 17th at at the Players you really can’t compare it in in similar conditions I think players is a very easy shot compared to the 17th at at alcat trees I think that’s a more difficult shot because the firmness of the greens and playing from elevation
Now the ball doesn’t typically curve in dry air like it does you know at the MX ball doesn’t curve a whole lot so really if you just hit it solid it should end up on the green but the greens do get a little Bounty there and and you see guys
Miss that green all the time um and then I just when he got up over I was like man he played quick too I don’t know if that was like a c in from a um going from shot to shot but it seemed like to me when they got to Sam it was
Like there was no conversation it was just like whoa all right Sam’s hitting okay he’s not watching it oh it’s in the water it just happened so quickly at and then he gets the 18t and hits that pole Three Wood trying to maybe try to play
Catchup there and Mak try to make Birdie on 18 but yeah you know I I I’m there’s a lot to be excited about with Sam Burns’s game though I I think to answer your qu like your open-ended not question about Sam Burns which a lot to be excited
About about what I saw and and I think brand said it best it’s like hey when you have a weakness pressure is going to expose it and and it kind of exposed it knowing that like okay he made a ton of great steps in the right direction the
Entire week where we saw some iron shots that looked like Sam Burns of old and the drive was great and the Potter was just I mean every time he hit a pot didn’t matter if it was from 80 feet the ball looked like it was going to go in
The hole so um that’s no doubt a strength of his game and and Sam I think will learn from that experience knowing it’s like anything on the green and who’s G to beat me you know just get me onto the green who’s going to beat me
And that to me was the mistake was trying to bite off a little bit more you can chew and maybe just the pressure of the golf swing just kind of you know over the last year of what they been trying to do and getting towards maybe
Just a little bit of the old kind of creeped into what he’s been working on that’s interesting because I remember when he was on uh in our our second episode uh that we ever did back in may just talking about how they they just discovered something like kind of
Mid-season last year in his swing that was that was sort of a revelatory moment but obviously you know meant that fix it we’re still there they well they they need to just to get away from it and you know to be able to like make changes during the year is difficult you you
Needed to get away from it so the pressure’s off it’s like all right I need to go home shoot some low scores trust I know what I’m doing and that’s what he did he was I mean I Dan raport tweeted it J uh I got a text from JT
Talking about like how J like Sam was biring every other hole in the desert like he shot 60 in the Madison club proam and like JT had played with him a couple other times he’s like dude he’s playing unreal and you know with with that being said you’re like all right
Seems like Sam Burns is kind of finally getting into the Sam Burns of what we we saw from him uh the year before last uh which was he was just dominant man like he just looked like the next dude a guy that was no doubt going to be winning
Majors and here’s a guy that we’re talking about right now that’s still been the ryer cup you know like he right still made the rider cup he won a World Golf Championship um so yeah well and I think I think you know I don’t know how
You know how you feel about this but I think that in in watching just the demeanor of all three guys in that final group um you know we all know about JT’s competitiveness you know we all know like you know what sort of mindset he
Brings um and and and Nick you know we heard about that in the Pod and you kind of see that you know kind of play out today Sam is a guy where I feel like you don’t kind of read that on his face as much but from all reports you know it’s
Very much there and and you know I’ve heard it a lot in tandem with you know the the sort of legendary competitiveness that Scotty sheffler had who’s a guy who’s a very kind of close friend and and you know who I’m sure you know just as much they’re playing
Together you know as partners in the President’s Cup in the Ridder cup or also kind of competing off the off the course in ping pong or whatever um you know what how do you feel like a guy like Sam Burns knowing that piece about him you know what impact this has on him
Mentally is he able to kind of say hey man two bad holes it is what it is I’ll move on or do you think this lingers at all for him on the mental side of things no I don’t think it does I think anytime you get in a situation like that you
Learn from it more than anything because it just helps you be able to take yourself back not necessarily the shots that you hit but more of the what was I what was I thinking you know like what did what was my mind telling me at the
Time and how am I able to you know what feel that for the next time knowing when I get in that situation of is it do I need to be a little bit more direct with my caddy because I said a second ago looked like he played quick okay well if
That’s what happened well him and his caddy next time need to be a little a little bit more deliberate in in speaking back and forth just to to because a lot of times just putting it out into the atmosphere just speaking and telling your mind what to do it’s
Like all right instead of like you know in your mind you’re telling yourself all right it’s a just a cut eight iron it’s like all right what is it it’s a cut iron okay where is it at you know where are we starting at where are we
Finishing let’s be spe specific and I would do that all the time in situations where I feel like I can handle anything like I prepared for it but I didn’t pull it off why what was I thinking what was I doing and I often took myself back in
Those situations and would replay every single thought in my mind that that came up because I could remember everything that happened in my mind now the golf swing happened so quickly that sometimes you you don’t really know exactly what happens it’s like oh maybe I was just a
Little off sequences off but most of the time something leads to a poor swing because you lose the image or you lose the moment of of like oh crap you know like I’m going little little quick I need to hit faster um you know you get
Sped up you know you get that dry dry uh feeling in your mouth you feel like you you need to keep touching the towel you it’s just you know it’s just nerves you know it’s just anxious nerves that are hard to hard to deal with in a game that’s so
Quiet uh Christian bazen out uh gotta be one of the better back door solo all money give give me the big oversized check please I will take that with me this is a full winner share is is that correct yeah dude he’s how about that I
Mean I’d hang it in the rafters man like if I’m see like I’m saying AMX champion who cares about the Amer just like uh just just wild I mean good for him what a putt on 18 to make it like that much more dramatic for us
As a viewer as well I I still can’t believe the whole how that whole thing played out like I don’t know where the scoreboard was positioned on 18 and how you it’s up on 18 there’s there’s a there’s a scoreboard on 17 off the green but at that point CZ hadn’t made the
Putt on 18 so when they’re walking underneath the tunnel to the T box they’re not going to see any any um any Leaderboard on 18t so you’re basically blind until you get up to the green yeah and they weren’t focusing on them either there was nobody that from any group up
In front besides Kevin youu for like a split second was of any interest to any of the guys in that group because they’re they’re thinking themselves like I just got to beat this guy or I got to beat this guy like whoever gets hot I I
Can’t even imagine I mean look these are all incredible players but just I think the tour is breathing a big side relief that this was this this was the outcome this week and and not you imagine can you imagine if if if uh Dunlap misses
That Putt and they go in a playoff and and CZ wins in a playoff and then we lose Nick Dunlap to live I uh I not only can I not imagine that I don’t want to imagine that so uh I’m just we almost lived in a world
Where that was a possibility just so you know that would have been it would have been truly wild but hey congrats Christian uh yeah that that’s a nice chunk of change and uh good on you just few more uh items on the AMX before we move on to uh the hero deide Desert
Classic but uh first for our our YouTube viewers we had a little bit of a change in venue for Smiley shout out to uh Spectrum internet in in Alabama uh Smiley is now at Lucky’s house do I have this correct yeah I’m at my brother’s
House so uh shout out to uh shout out to lock for pulling it off and of course like Spectrum said like oh your outage and it’s going to be out till 10:30 p.m. and it’s 9:12 now and I got a text four minutes ago that said oh everything’s
Corrected so all all is well and but at that point one wait until 10:30 I mean I’m a dad of one I can’t wait till 10:30 to do anything besides see the back of my eyelids yes uh it is approaching 10:30 here uh in North Carolina and I am
Uh yeah I’m I’m you know listen it’s going to be one of those nights I hope my son doesn’t wake up at 4:30 a.m. like he has the last uh We’ve we’ve had that the last couple days too some must be be in the water right now yeah hopefully
The same thing that is in the nick dun laap and Gordon Sergent water it’s going to make exceptional it’s in Birmingham uh can I just quickly aside before we get back on track uh is that is that tiger behind you is that meant to be like an LSU Tiger yeah say tiger this
Was like in my dad’s Den um growing up as a kid it was just like a yeah you’re in the Tiger Den um is that like Mike the Tiger or is it just a tiger that is says it says Royal Bengal um so it’s it’s a bangal tiger of some sort which
Is you know from the LSU descent I like it if I recall this correctly some of your other podcasts you’ve done at your parents place they have an LSU backrop as well so it’s really yeah the copon family’s on brand across the board uh here’s what I’ll say I will actually
Thank Spectrum for helping produce the show because in our internet en Force delay something wild came to your attention you texted over my way there is a guy on Twitter SLX he goes by no Fatu his handle us at vc66 he’s some something of a owgr guru and he tweeted
That I can’t this that doesn’t even make sense to me Nick Dunlap with this win jumps 4 61 places in the world rankings to 68 in the world I don’t even I don’t know if that’s like like a divisor thing or if that’s the newr system how dude
This it’s so bad man it’s thegr is so bad I when I when I I mean listen what would you have set the over under on on like where he would have finished at the owgr like what you would have thought like where would you said it I I started
As I was having the the the thought in my head of you know like you know not knowing what events he gets into where I I was thinking maybe he’s like inside 300 that’s where that’s where I went first like like somewhere in the in the
200s is where I thought he would end up I said like I was thinking 150 just because the fields really good and I thought you know just a ton of points being available maybe he gets into the hundreds to 68 is like it makes the decision even easier you know because
Now he’s knocking on the doorsteps of the Open Championship with one another one another good week it’s it’s it is wild and and I do wonder you know without knowing the minutia of the owgr like all the adjustments they made but I know one of their stated goals as part of these
Changes was to is basically the ludvic goar rule it’s like how do we reward Rising Stars faster you know in a in a newly reformatted system and and but this feels like a big reward right they’ve always rewarded it like any person that has a low divisor they’re
Already in ADV Vantage in that system and that’s how I Rose so quickly in the world ranking stuff too it was it was easy it was you know you just play finished off 25 and you just moved up you moved up you moved up and I got up
To in the top 50 in the world it was because my divisor is low and then I started figuring out all right the guys with high divisor you gotta play you gotta play so much better right well here’s something as we kind of move into
You know we’re about to move into the DP World Tour and Rory’s win but something I was looking at there that I was really interesting um and and my math is very rough and and this this owgr Guru is not tweeted about it so I don’t have
Anything concrete yet but we heard in the week leading up to this event walkie nean saying I’m G to try to play some events I’m trying to get in top 50 so I can get into some majors and get in the Masters um and starting with this event
And so he finished T4 at the hero Dubai Desert Classic which got him uh 7.33 points this week and by my rough math that should get him maybe in the 62 63 is range yeah that’s what I read yeah so how about how about that nean it doesn’t
Make any sense all he’s done his career he goes he’s 62 or 63 and Nick Dunlap shows up week one is 68 you gota love it I mean listen we I feel like we’ve kind of made our stance like we we believe that the product on the PGA tour is is better
Like I don’t necessarily love watching in the live golf concept now like I can understand that people like it great um it’s not for me um I like watching the PJ tour but I feel like we’ve been pretty set in stone on this the entire time we really haven’t wavered as far as
This World Golf Ranking stuff is and how ridiculous the whole deal is now we will say this as well that we knew that if you were a live golf player and you went over there you knew the risk you were taking and but and I think that’s the
Big thing from most golf fans right now that’s like all right you you took your money you took it and listen now you can’t try to bend the rules of of the Liv cough um competitive format to try to now like if you’re not going to change anything and it doesn’t comply at
All listen it just it is what it is but it’s gotten to the point now this I just hate the owgr a lot like there’s got to be a better way to do this I’m 100% with you I think it’s like you know look you gota be obviously you gotta be realistic
About each side this like in the same way that the PF and Liv uh went out and got John ROM got other players but most recently John Ram with everything we saw in full post June 6 they did that largely as a piece of Leverage right
Well what leverage do all the people who govern these majors in the PGA Tour have via their seats on the owgr board they can try to kind of work it to keep the Live players out of the events they don’t want them to to play in now so so
That so do I understand the moves on each side trying to kind of game this out so their side wins yes I understand it does that make it any less sucky as a fan of golf no it does not it’s it’s terrible it sucks it’s it’s you know it
Doesn’t doesn’t make any sense that a guy like you know waen Neeman who okay look you know I I I don’t really know how to quantify the way he’s you know played since he’s gone live tour and have to go back and look at his major
Results but like this a guy that won the Genesis Invitational against a really strong field and probably deserves to be in all the majors for the foreseeable future unless his form completely drops off a cliff so the fact that he is you know effectively in the same grouping as
Nick Dunlap who just won his first Tour event that’s he made a cut on the tour Nick hasn’t well we just we went to just praising Nick done laap which obviously like is what we should be doing this has never happened but we can also say the golf system of ranking
Players is completely erroneous it’s it’s crazy yeah this is not taking anything away from what Nick Dunlap because because the reason why we’re here saying it’s ridiculous is because what he did where he showed up week one and one but it’s just it’s a little it’s
A little wild to me that that’s where he lands in this whole thing and and you know we’re only talking about 10 players you know like we’re just talking about like 10 10 to 15 players that we just nean like I want to see him playing
In the majors you know I want to see if Taylor gu playing in the majors if he’s going to play at the same level he’s been playing but listen we can’t we can’t just continue to try to bend the rules as we go with this but now they’re
Just doing weird things too like the the bonus thing with with winning like with Chris KK getting a bonus win like to his points added on I I I think all that’s stupid because like I don’t think any event should be worth more besides the point with the field you know I think
It’s whatever the field strength is but why should you get a a compounding bonus just because because you won that year I I just I think it’s just the dumbest thing ever it it does beg the question I forget you know where I heard this discussion had at length um in the last
Few years but it’s like why do we need rankings in a sport where like you know you get ranked through the trophies you win and the money you earn it’s like that’s kind of it I don’t need something else to tell me you know that I like you
Know to kind of laugh like at like the concept of like the SBS like what was like the best you know team in all sports like dude it doesn’t doesn’t matter like I have a trophy in my sort of League that that’s that’s a tangent
In in a way but I just think it’s it’s like it’s almost like we need to get back to a place where you know a lot of these things are done you know separate from world rankings what does it take right like does it take like an Augusta
Saying hey we we will give five sponsors invites to live golf tour at this it’s gotten to a point now where you have to legitimize the play over there to where I know if the right now the players that we’re talking about are exempt so maybe
If it’s an extra five players that they can say hey we will give five sponsors invites up to this you know like that would at least at least kind of you know somewhat middle or muddy I don’t know what the word is to use here it’s about
Just the how messed up the live or the owgr is yeah and that and that’s it would be subjective but almost it would be somebody one of those governing bodies just self-correcting for you know the issue that this is this is brought up so I not not one that we’re going to
Solve today but it is that that we both saw that and like laughed out loud of like this is Nick Dunlap did what you know against against what it’s wild uh and then a quick one kind of in in the the rankings Department uh your updated Aon swing five standings through the
American Express Grayson Marie still sits at the top uh second is Christian bazen how uh courtesy of his his non win on the swing the swing five yeah and I asked this question to the PJ tour and if you win an event you immediately go into that tournament winners category
Which I would have thought would Trump the swing five thing but does that go into effect after that swing that is a lower category than the swing five and next 10r and this could set up a whole other debate if you’d like to go down this road where the fields is what it’s
Going to do I could the way I read this is you’ve almost reverse engineered it to make it so that it is effectively your last two three four tournament winners and like one extra guy who did the best in all those tournaments you know like it you’re protecting those fields from
Getting too large because so Le let’s let’s look at this list right now you end up adding eight people is what you’re saying Justin Thomas Kevin you4 Carl you on five right so Murray’s a winner we’re we’re for the sake of this discussion bazen is a winner right
Because you know in the absence of Nick Dunlap like Nick Dunlap would have been there if he was a tour pro right is is Swing is Swing five a higher category than owgr top 302 that I do not know because like Justin being third right now I I think
So like I I think in order of categories I think it goes top 50 next 10 swing five and then just and then it basically you clean up anyone you’ve left out through current season tournament winners they show this graphic on the broadcast current season tournament winners owgr top 30 and then
Sponsor exemptions so so I I think that you know player well yeah I mean because I think as from a players perspective it’s like you want to get into these things and if you’re you’re like hey those guys are in I should be bumped up and and they’re telling you that’s not
The case that kind of stinks now I think on their side they’re saying well we’re trying to keep the field small that’s the whole point dude we’re trying we’re trying to limit the amount of money we pay to the top players but they they sort of reverse engineered a Winner’s
Category because you know let’s say you know someone else goes out and wins this next week at farmers and then they’ll probably jump up to one two or three on this list and so then you’ll basically have three tournament winners and two extra guys to get into the to the you
Know AT&T and then post AT&T it’s going to be you know like the Genesis category is going to be those three just Phoenix just Phoenix that’s it it’s just Phoenix yeah so it’s going to be four you know and now a couple things could happen guys that are already in the top
50 could win and then they don’t they don’t qualify for this category because they’re already in Via top 50 that’s a higher category so that still leaves these spots available for guys who aren’t already in the top 50 so that that’s something that we haven’t accounted for we haven’t seen happen yet
But it it it is sort of that was a the the rankings that got dropped post Grace Murray’s win had a lot of people scratching their head on how is that so because he’s a tournament winner and then there is the big clarification and that’s kind of where we ended up so yeah
I think the points you’re making are fair it’s like don’t know if I’d love that as a player and you know uh like the last event for the Signature Events this year is The Travelers so like if you win an event after The Travelers no Signature Events yes and and that honestly that’s
Like the you know anything you win in the summer you’re not in because you won’t get into yeah you don’t get in any Signature Events and you’re not guaranteed to get in any Signature Events the following year but most time if you win you’ll end
Up being top 50 so kind Works itself out you would get into the signature event that you would get into right would be the Sentry from winning the previous year and that’s kind of a yeah and then you know you would think that if you’re winning that late in the year you know
Depending on how the you play the rest of year you get the top just Rando like let’s say like Camilo you know he was like outside the 200 you know I don’t know what that jumped him to after winning but oh so I thought you were
Saying like a like a like a summer win post Travelers like like Le CU did Camila didn’t win the summer Camila won the fall that’s right I don’t know why I was thinking he want to I’m thinking like a I’m thinking like a Lee thinking in my head yeah yeah yeah I’m thinking
Like a Lee Hodes who where did Lee finish Lee finished top 50 right yeah he was he was like between 30 and 40 yeah so so like that that to me is like where that type of guy ends up if you’re winning that late in the season you’re
Probably making you know the the the playoff events you get making in one would think one we’ll see we’ve we’ve gone down the world Rock Golf Ranking we’ve gone down the dumb PGA Tour swing five next 10 that we’re all trying to figure out how it works and and the the
Categories that ensue so can we please stop talking about this we I I I I was going to say I actually give us a lot of credit for like only slightly going rabbit hole we we went like a little bit down the rabbit hole we’re like not
Today I got a little angry about the world ranking not that Nick was 68 just just about the whole system in general the whole system is yeah so yes I guess about Nick being 68 does kind of like grind my gears about Nick like happy for
Him like yes but now let’s let’s talk more golf let’s talk more golf let’s talk about one man in particular because we talked last week about how we talked a lot last week about rust whether one wants to knock it all off at one time or
Retain a little bit of extra rust we felt like Rory by virtue of his T2 you know last week uh had maybe talked about knocking off the rust but maybe had not knocked off all of the rust uh after losing the tournament with the Bogi in
The last hole I think it’s safe to say this week that the rust is is off the rust has been knocked off he uh shot a a a final round 70 went 7170 6370 uh to finish a 1400 win the hero Dubai Desert Classic uh I’d say pretty
Good start for a guy who said his his game wasn’t all the way in shape to to go second and first and his first two starts back and um you know a strong field you know cam young was right there till shooting 74 on Sunday and then you
Had you know Walky Neiman fourth and you know Nikolai hoard Adrian Mor finished second you know Adam Scott was in this field so for me I feel like you know now that Rory does not have policy board considerations really been clear about he wants to kind of focus on golf as own
Business ventures and his family this year I think we’re starting to to see the makings of of a really really big year maybe a major winning year for Rory and I wonder you know if this you know if you’re like hey this is still Silly
Season DP World Tour I need to see him play against the PJ tour field yet or if it’s like okay this is this is looking like something could happen for him this year I mean yeah dude he’s he’s gonna rule that out because we’ve seen Rory
Play just I mean I go back to the Ryder Cup what I watch him on Singles on Sunday going against Sam Burns I think he was like nine under and Sam was like eight I felt so bad for Sam because he Loston 17 and he played so good and you
Know records are so all over the place in that because you could play Bad and win a match or you could play really well and and lose a match and um you know Rory what I saw from him at the Ryder Cup and really all the majors too
Man like he played so well with all of them except he I think I could have beaten him at Augusta I don’t know what happened yeah but the other ones man he’s he put himself in position he’s right there and kind of like what you just said with his scores this week I
Mean he shot three rounds at 70 but he had that one round that was a 63 and maybe it’s just that one round where everything goes right is what he needs at a major championship because there’s there’s a formula to winning and we kind of already briefed on it a little bit
With Rory knowing what a good score is not only that day but what it’s going to finish at for the week so he already has that intrinsic knowledge to him with being a pro for so long and also just having very good golf smarts to him but
Also it it takes that hot round and it also takes a little bit of luck and I’ll say this all the time there’s a there’s a formula I’m still like kind of plugging away trying to figure out what is the formula to winning but it’s some
Type of formula like that that has luck opportunity Talent just golf smarts all of it just puddled into one big pot and I think Rory’s just missing like just a teaspoon of an ingredient of a couple things for him to win a major and that’s all he needs because he’s doing so many
So many things right in his golf game well it’s interesting you say you use the verbage like formula like just a formula for winning for anyone because I think I think a lot about like the formula specifically for for Rory uh because it it’s it was almost like a
Running joke for a while of you know he has all these these amazing Sunday rounds where he’s out it looks like he’s out of contention coming the day back doorer is the best at it back towards the top 10 back towards the top five or
A top three and so it’s like okay well maybe the formula isn’t you know play so so to not great the first three days and then is try to make a charge at in the last day but then you look back this last summer to the US Open and he you
Know starts the day a shot off you know Windam Clark you the eventual winner and they both shoot 70 and you lose the tournament by a shot and it’s like I just don’t know what like would it be better for him mentally to be in the driver seat does that change on a
Tournament to tournament basis like what would it like what would it be like for Rory after not having wanted Augusta sleeping on a one or two shot lead on Saturday night like you know I don’t know it’s kind of Uncharted Territory I don’t know what that would do for him
But he’s a front runner dude he’s a front runner think about the majors that he’s won there was like no doubt you know besides the one at besides the one at Val Holland but really it was you know he he was the guy leading it the
Whole way I mean I think about that I think about the the uh the PGA was it at Kiwa is that where he won um PJ there then he won a US Open at uh Congressional that was going away the Open Championship that he won was going
Away so to answer your question yeah he he needs to be a front runner because um can he come from behind and win absolutely but guys like him are are when they get the lead they just know how to they know how to put it away like
Tiger was so good at doing we watched it growing up as kids right yeah I I just wonder I wonder how much it feels like a different Rory like it’s like the last major he won was 2014 it’s like I have I completely agree with what you’re saying in terms of like what
His formula was back then I just wonder if that’s changed if if there is you know any Scar Tissue there from all the near misses over the years that kind of changes the composition of the way he’s going to win one of these things I don’t
Know I I could be way off it’s just it’s just something about yeah he’s hung around and I I think to win a major what do you have to do you got to give yourself a chance on the back nine and he continues to give himself an opportunity on the back nine whether
It’s a shot away two shots away three shots away tied for the lead and you know just hasn’t had you know just the break go his way you know well what we do know is is the rust is knocked off we’re going to see how much of the Russ
Has knocked off my game in a couple weeks dude Pebble I’ve gone like from such a good place like leaving caloa which is the last time I’ve hit a golf ball and kind of have gone like it’s been a roller coaster ride of like one night I’ll just start thinking about like what
Are we working on are we hitting it right still and then I’ll be like no we weren’t hitting it right we’re back and then it’s just and then I started thinking about chipping it’s like how do you chip it up in the air what what’s the what’s the Farmers commercial with Ricky um
Oh God no maybe it’s uh he’s trying to explain like I don’t know what a 401 not a 401k it’s a that’s um man for the first time I have no idea what commercially refence if I’m going to quote something from a movie or a commercial I really
Need to be able to deliver on that that’s pretty that’s pretty not tight by me a key part of telling a story is is being able to tell the story um but I’m sure it was good oh oh my gosh it’s it’s right there on the tip of the tongue um
Okay I got to I got to Google this because it’s going to drive me nuts keep going I’d say it it what you’re saying there does uh humor me slightly make me feel a little bit less bad because I feel like I was especially post surgery
Was like I had all these things that I felt like I was collecting from all the interviews we done like Victor hain’s chipping tips and Max hom had a SL modification I was like working all this stuff and then like I got out there and
I was like wait like I have no clue which one of these things I’m supposed to be thinking about like I I went from being more confident in my chipping than I ever have my entire life prior to surgery to I standand over the ball sometimes I’m like I don’t I don’t know
What I’m doing I don’t know like I don’t know what to do to start the takeaway like I’ve got no clue so look forward to seeing that in person put the put the putting’s good and and I started keeping a running journal in my phone of like
Just basic swing thoughts like if it all gets out the rails like I have this Falls fails but it’s uh it could it could be interesting we’ll say we’ll see it could be some Rust there I’m just pre-qualifying the level of rust wa it’s all good did you track this uh down this
Commercial no I I I don’t even know what to type in I just typed in I’ll tell you what I typed in so [Laughter] bad typed in um let’s see I don’t even know what a blank is Ricky fower commercial nothing nothing came up that was even close to be
Honest sometimes like those are actually some of my favorite Google searches is like just a completely shot in the dark and song you know and you have to like type that out because like you miss eight or nine times out of 10 but when you hit you’re like amazing absolutely amazing uh you
Know what on the way out I actually do I do want to have one addition to the show that might spark future additions um so we so this is from Mary Beth Bruno on Instagram at girl golfer 58 and she submitted what I think is our first ever
Listener question uh a couple weeks ago and I feel bad that we have not gotten to this until now and so we can either answer this on this show or we can tease it bring some experts on do it in the future but she said hi I don’t know if
Y’all take listener questions or not but I would love it if you could explain aimo how it works how you get the numbers and that kind of thing do do we want to explain aimo to Mary Beth now or do you want to collect some info from
The experts and get back to her because I don’t know that I can explain it to her I I can give her a spark notes version love this uh so what most players do they they start they look there there’s like a calibration thing that goes on with like the speed of the
Greens that that’s how you adjust how far away your arm is for where you hold your fingers out in front of you so if the speed of the green is 11 this is where you’re calibrated at like there’s a certain Bend to your elbow with like where you know the speed like your
Fingers either come closer to you or they go further away from you based on the speed of the green so that’s like the first thing which is a calibration thing that I have no clue but then the pros how they do it as you’ve seen they
Stand you know most of the time like at the ball halfway and then even Keegan bradle on a two-footer will’ll stand on top of the hole so there’s a there’s a um a way to basically kind of feel with your feet what the level of the slope is and then
There’s a calibration Factor versus like all right we’re going to say it’s a 1.4 slope in your head and you can go do one and a half or do two fingers and you just do 1.4 of the two fingers here and then that’s where you um basically start
Your putt you just line your ball up there and you putt it so that’s kind of the the basic of it um love that so yeah I don’t know if that makes sense or not but yeah well you know Mary Beth hope you’re listening if that made sense
Great if not you know follow up and we can get it on future uh podcast episodes and I’d say in general listeners you can follow us uh at the Smiley Show on Instagram on X on Tik Tok and if you just want to just drop us a DM you have
Any list or questions maybe we’ll take more of those in the future I like that one and hey uh one other thing um we’re going to get a Facebook as as well um for the show account and somebody told me this recently that has Facebook that because like Facebook and Instagram are
Like connected you can like when you post to Instagram you can just post to Facebook too like it’s actually a lot simple like you don’t have to log into Facebook to post so I was going to let people know if you’re a facebooker we’re coming your way and hot I I feel a
Little bit bad I feel like I’ve been shering my duties here because you suggested the Facebook thing um a number of times and I just just told you how simple it was I’m trying with all my might to not ever go back to Facebook again uh but it
But here it is we just announced it we’re going back on Facebook we made a statement of intent and uh yes we’ll see there listen no disrespect to you if you like to use Facebook we want to get in touch with our audience wherever our audience is I mean you think you think
Smiley and I enjoy using Tik Tok I don’t even know how the thing works I don’t know dude you can’t miss on Tik Tok right now what are you talking about Tik Tok is Tik Tok business is booming over the Tik Tok l so actually just anytime
We post a JT scorecard video it just blows up I think that’s I think it’s less my Tik Tok prow and more just that formula people love the scorecard story and when he told it I didn’t really think of anything of it I was like oh
That’s just a normal day in the office like for you’ve seen that knowing Jordan knowing yeah it’s just I didn’t realize everybody else has a scorecard guy well I’m glad you actually mentioned that because there’s one more social thing that we do want to mention which is go
Subscribe to us at the Smiley Show on YouTube because we are re-releasing a bunch of our original interviews we did prior to us having a YouTube page so what we’re referencing here is the Justin Thomas uh that full length interview went live that’s something we
Just had as a podcast prior to this and we dropped um some some video of that on our social but we’re going to put that out you know Jordan spe Ricky Fowler Steph Curry there are a whole bunch of really really cool interviews we did pre
YouTube that I think will come even more to life when you can see Smiley and the guest kind OFW inter acting so go subscribe there and look out for those in the future um and yeah and we got a we got another we got a guest coming up
This week we’re excited about Trevor emman uh I think that’s going to be a really cool one to hear you know two guys that are you know former tour Pros now broadcastter is kind of chopping up talking about the current state of golf what are you most looking forward to
Talking to Trevor about this week yeah I think just you know we have had such a short uh little sample size of what 2024 looks like and so far it’s been a pretty mixed bag you know with Chris Kirk winning Grayson Murray uh winning for the second time on the PGA
Tour coming off the corn fairy as a graduate and the Nick Dunlap you know doing what no person has done and since Phil Mickelson winning as an Amer on the PGA tour and last year it was like a bit of the opposite we just had like John
Ram winning we had like all these Stars uh winning and in the buildup to the master so I think with Trevor what i’ I’d like to ask him is you know where do you see this thing kind of like booy and out if you know what I mean
Where’s this thing kind of settle in who are the players that you think are more in form that are going to be making a run and a just starting to Peak their games towards Augusta and I’m sure we’re going to talk a a bit about you know Scotty Sheffer Justin Thomas who is
Obviously playing well coming off four top fives and um yeah just I think get his perspective just on the majors and um obviously he he him and I it’s funny him and I when we start talking about our golf games it it couldn’t be more pessimistic like there’s no optimism
Like when we like especially like there’s times where I like I have more optimism about my golf game than than than you can ever imagine but like Trevor’s always like ah it’s absolutely terrible it’s just so it it’s gonna be funny to hear where the state of his golf game is
Because I can’t wait um can’t wait to ask about it very much looking forward to that uh so yeah so you have that to look forward to this week and you know perhaps another uh YouTube clip from or YouTube episode from The Vault going up this week and then we have uh the
Farmers starting on Wednesday this week an early start to finish on Saturday we get this out early huh we’re gonna get it out when you want to get to S out I love the we workshopping this on the podcast I mean does it feel like a Tuesday drop maybe I for Trevor yeah
Maybe all right I don’t know we’ll see you back here on Tuesday then starts Wednesday right starts Wednesday you want to get out for the tournament we could also drop it Wednesday oh yeah we could just drop it Wednesday maybe drop it maybe drop it Wednesday yeah we’re
Going to have an episode out on Wednesday you guys hey thanks for joining our production meeting thanks for listening thanks for watching and we will see you on Wednesday I’ve actually watched a couple of episodes of of of y’all earlier and uh you guys have some good takes so
Thanks for uh thanks for what you guys do it’s cool to see what you guys are doing and uh I I know golf fans appreciate it but we we do too so please keep it up I think you’re doing a tremendous job and and you know I listen to this podcast is
Really cool and
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5 Comments
Smylie, I am from Newburgh, IN. Your win at the United Leasing Tournament was far more respectable. Even though it was not the PGA tour, it was a lot harder than what Nick Dunlap just did IMO. You are blessed from GOD to have done things that I will never do!
As usual, great episode! Really enjoyed the JT insight on his final round strategy and him flipping the script to support Nick. Looking forward to next episode
I completely understand the feelings pertaining to OWGR. HOWEVER, everything that LIV has done has been about doing things their way. Teams, 54 holes, shotgun starts etc. Why should others change the way that their qualifying procedure works. All of the Majors (Not Masters) are "qualifyable" (I made that up), are the not?
If Gooch or any others want to play, go qualify. If the Masters wants to invite Taylor Gooch, so be it; it's their tournament.
2021 US Open had 30 LIV players…PGA Champ had 35, Open 31, Masters 26
Point being there’s probably 10+ higher caliber players missing from each major this year. Being replaced by journeymen for the most part
this is a passionate podcast! sure, the course/weather was Easy and Anyone could have won. however he beat almost the entire '22 Presidents cup team (both sides!), and everyone was ready. i'm blown away! he Has to step up and go pro, but part of me hopes he stays in school and trolls everyone. it would be legendary if Bama won the national championship with him!