US Open Preview – TCS Golf Podcast

After an end of season break, TCS are back with a bang as Liam Grice and Kevin Bannon are on hand to preview this weekends US Open – The 3rd major tournament of the year.

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Intro Music: UNIVERSFIELD

it happened last time this the US Open was at Alman in 2016 i think fewer than five players will finish under currently [Music] hello and for the first time in a while welcome back to the Counter Sport podcast today I’m joined with Kevin and you know it’s it’s golf season now football’s over we don’t care about football anymore the weather’s getting nice it’s time to talk about golf and the US Open uh the third major of the year already which feels bizarre um but before we get into all that as we’ve not seen each other for a long time Kevin how are you doing i’m very well Liam i am very well um yeah third major of the year it’s really coming around quickly it has really really come around quickly um but looking forward to it um fresh off the back of watching Hammer Hal Grimson’s Mighty Boys and Green drawn nil all with Luxembourg last night um I I’m ready for something new I think well at least you got a point i don’t want to talk about what happened with Oh it was a friendly it was a friendly okay that might be even worse then look Wales is a valiant England you could be England tommy Tal out already that’s the next podcast that’s the thumbnail that’s the thumbnail yeah there we go uh but anyway like I said we’re here to talk about golf and uh we’ll just do quick re recap first of the two majors that precede the US Open obviously the first one of the year being the Masters and I’m not really sure if you remember what happened in that one Kevin but uh not that memorable rory Maroy don’t know if you’ve heard of him finally won his green jacket to complete the Grand Slam um safe to say he’s not really recovered from the party since that I don’t think uh but who can blame him and then the next major was the PGA Championships at Quail Hollow where we all thought “Oh can Rory go back to back can Sp take the grand slap?” No no scottish it was a pretty dominant performance from Scotty he won by five shots in the end um but apart from that the field was was pretty tight so that was great to see scotty wins his first and probably won’t be his last major of the year i think that’s fair to say um but from one major in America we go to the next the US Open um and you know what i I think we’re just going to get started we don’t need to spend much time talking on him is this just Scottish championship to lose yeah look it’s very rare that you come into these majors and you’re sort of taking one golfer versus the field cuz that’s not really what the sport is is usually like and there is obviously a sense of inevitability about it he’s what three wins in his last four starts or something including that obviously PGA uh which he won pretty comfortably let’s not like he didn’t really have to stretch too much um and yeah it’s just it’s we we sort of mentioned it last time on our on our PGA preview about how sort of he’s kind of like Tiger in that sense where it’s just a bit it’s just a bit like you why would you doubt him why why are we considering anyone else at this stage cuz he’s just that consistent and it’s not the flashy stuff either he doesn’t make mistakes this this is literally it like te to green he is just incredible is the only one thing you could argue is his pudding can be a bit inconsistent um and I think we’ll get on to the course itself I think because that will play a factor this week Oakmont um but I I was also reading the stat statistic um it was something like 67% of the time after he makes a bogey he birdies the next hole now think about how ridiculous that is let’s say we make Okay we we we make bogeies all the time but you know when we blow up and make like a double or a triple do you think we’re hitting a good a good We’re having slicing onto the next fairway and I don’t mean my fairway yeah exactly and like 67% of the time he makes a bogey he birdies the next hole and it’s it is that just consistency and lack of mistakes um and on the US Open it’s not really about flashy stuff and bombing it and spectacular shots it’s cut the mistakes down how many how many times can you just be consistent get a par here sneak a birdie here but continue hitting pars and hitting pars and that’s why it’s very difficult to see anyone else um cuz that consistency well yeah consistency is I think what we all strive for uh when we’re playing golf and and you mentioned Oakmont and that’s a a good segue into the next point and sort of talking about the consistency bryson Dashambo did a practice round um around a couple of weeks ago and I don’t know if you’ve watched the video but um the rough is for lack of a better word pretty rough um I think that’s fair to say so for players like Scotty who as you said are very consistent don’t tend to vomit um on on fairways just always find them or always very consistent it’s going to suit them um again another pun I’m sorry to a tea um in terms of just getting their ball where they want it to be um big hitters will obviously naturally have an advantage on some holes but I think like you said just the consistent golfers that are steady and go through their round with minimal mistakes without finding that rough which I think we can both agree is going to be a bit of a problem yeah and the thing about the rough as well it’s not it’s not like most golf courses where it’s like a few there’s like a the fairway and then the it’s straight in it’s straight in and you’ve seen the videos like from the practice they’re ridicul it’s ridiculous there’s also a um there’s also 300 yard part three on this course yeah um you know so and the greens are the biggest thing on this course um like they’re they’re big they’re quick and they’re you can’t read them basically and that’s why I’m thinking that Sheff Sheffller may not just run away because like I said if there’s one weakness and it’s not even a weakness he’s a average to good putter right which is usually which is poor for Sheffller which is usually fine when you combine how good he is but because these greens are so unpredictable like this is the tournament where you’re going to see lads lose the head completely when something doesn’t go the way they think it will like Tier Hatton I’m looking at you oh yes right i am looking at you but he won’t be alone like um and I right I have a bold prediction do you want me to say it now if you say a certain Northern Irishman’s name then the podcast is done but go on well no well I’m Don’t worry i’m get I’m getting I’m we’ll get No I have a bold prediction about this sort of tournament as a whole you want to hear it all right and I think the US GG USGA will be quite happy with this because they they they relish in making these tournaments hard it happened last time this the US Open was at Oakmont in 2016 i think fewer than five players will finish underpar under par yeah I I can see that happening you know it’s the state of it yeah it’s horrible so four players finished under par last time dustin Johnson won at four under so and that was like and that was three clear of everyone else and I just think like it’s like I said it’s going to be a bit of a slog here if you can consistently par these holes then you’re you’re on to a winner well 100% i mean I’m looking at some quotes here and and Rory Maroy has labeled the course impossible um which may have something to do with the fact he shot 81 on a practice round around Oakmont on on the Monday so if that’s not anything to go by then I don’t know what is um I guess we’ll just get on to our picks for the tournament i’m sure you’re going to talk about one person in particular but um we I’ll ask you Yeah go on i’ll ask you who your main favorite is for the tournament apart from Scotty Sheffler we’re not allowed to mention him anymore okay yeah I think we sort of agreed beforehand we’re both kind of cheating and we’re not going to pick Scotty i I have two names i have two names in mind and bear in mind here Liam I have gone two for two for these major i mean I’ve picked Roy Mro and Scotty Sheffller but I’ve still gone two for two so um this the Sheffler thing aside uh I am looking at someone who is one of the favorites to be fair so it’s not exactly a reach but uh I’m looking at John Ram here um because he we know what he’s like when he’s on form he is one of these big hitters that we talk about off the tea um and we know how good he can be when he gets in that frame of mind he’s kind of he’s one of these fellas who just doesn’t care about anything that’s going on and gets the head down and just is a bit of an animal when it comes to this sort of thing he apart from Scotty he’s in decent form here he was obviously in contention slightly well he was in contention let’s not lie at the PGA before before having a bit of disaster on the back nine on the final day um I feel like he’s not the type of fella that will let that happen again to himself so if he’s in that zone or in within a few shots he will I think knuckle down focus down and deliver the one thing I’d be worried about with Ram and it’s sort of consistent with the next guy I’ll talk about in a bit but if he gets frustrated early you can see him having one of these blowups as well but I just think he clearly has the ability i know look I I don’t like picking live players to win to win majors but he’s just one of those guys where like we saw it with his Masters win there was never really anything in de like he was just zoned in couldn’t care less what anyone did and just played his game and like I said he has the length he has the touch to deliver around here um so I just think it’s his time and like imagine the first three major winners are Maroy Sheffller and Ram like that’s a that’s a list right there that that’s that’s a good that’s a good major list winner for the year for this year so yeah I I’m gonna go with Ram with the obviously slight condition that you’re kind of like you’re you’re kind of hoping Sheffller doesn’t doesn’t just do what he does i mean it’s a tough one to follow because Ram is Yeah i mean if you ignore Scotty like we’ve been saying he probably is the favorite for it um Bryson’s already let me down this year rory’s already let me down this year um so I’m I’m leaning towards Ludvig Aberg who I I spoke about you love a bit of Lvig i do i do and I I I spoke about him a lot on our mast’s pod and he was pretty consistent the whole weekend and then just sort of blew up a little bit um when it got to crunch time and we’ve spoken about how you have to be strong mentally around Oakmont and I think that he’ll learn that from the masters how he just has to stay calm and not let all the outside noise get to him um he’s very very mature golfer for how young he is considering the age of the rest of the field i know he’s not young but you know I I I think he is gearing up to win that that first major um and it’s just his consistency we spoke about with Scotty his consistency will help him round this course if he can’t hit it big and Ludvig sort of the same maybe not on the same level obviously but if he’s in and he know he knows what he needs to do I think it’ll suit him if he’s in the chasing pack come Sunday because he’s got his target then he knows what he needs to reach if he’s out in front the pressure could start to get to him because he’s not really been in this position before um but yeah something’s just whispering in my ear saying this is Ludvig this is Ludvik’s weekend um but in actual fact it probably will he who shall not be named but let’s not put a dampener on it um I’m going to now ask for and this is something we haven’t done your surprise missed cut of We’ve not done this one yet and I thought it was I thought I’d throw it on you just to you know have a bit of fun okay right you’re laying on this you’re laying this onto me out of nowhere here L uh and I am not I am not prepared all right i’m just gonna have to uh hack my way out of the rough on this one so to speak uh surprised missed cut okay the thing is like with this course it it could easily be a Ram or a Maroy or somebody that that elite i’m going to go with Bryson o and I’ll tell you why I’m going to go with Bryson i’m intrigued i’m sure everybody else is as well um obviously he’s massive off the tea but he can be a bit wild off the tea as well he hasn’t been hitting his irions that well and he has obviously been there thereabouts for the last two majors which is tough without winning them particularly the Masters where he was in the final group and had had a bit of a disaster of a Sunday so I just think I just think he’s going to he’s just going to maybe he’s just going to maybe struggle around here and get frustrated he is another one of these emotional fellas um that’s that’s fair to say i I don’t think that’s an understatement you know he is um he’s obviously top two like not top two excuse me but he finished second in PJ was on the final group which is tough to keep at without winning it um so yeah surprise miscut let’s go bryson Dshambo i like that um you have to give an answer now yeah and I I did have mine prepared and I sort of just looked at his previous major result and he did miss the cut there as well so maybe it’s not as much of a surprise as as people thought i’m going to go with Jordan Sp okay uh I think for similar reasons he after the the PGA it was maybe a case of I’ve really really missed my chance there because obviously we mentioned it it was his chance to to complete the grand slam and and he was just nowhere near nowhere near it at all and I think that’s really going to going to get to speed he’s done remarkably well to bounce back in the way that he has given the run of Formad for that couple of years after he burst onto the scene um to sort of claw back some of his his uh reputation um in a way but a miscut at the PGA he was sort of in there at Augusta but you never really thought oh okay he’s he’s going to make a charge for it and again we said it at the start it just comes down to Oakmont and Jordan like Bryson and a lot of these other golfers is maybe prone to a bit of a an emotional outburst um at times maybe not as much as the others he does tend to internalize it a bit but if stuff starts to go really wrong internalizing all that anger on the golf course is only going to end one way and it’s going to end up with a a hook or a slice that just ends up with the driver being launched further than the ball probably that’s definitely not me speaking from personal experience by the way um and yeah I just think it’s not necessarily his talent as a golfer because he’s tremendously talented and I’m not saying he’s not but the course is just so so so tough so difficult yeah this weekend and it’s going to cause a problems for a lot of golfers some better than Sp um so yeah we’re going to go gonna go Jordan Spith from Mist Cut so that means there’s a top 10 incoming for you Mr spe you can post my check um after the weekend and now um the usual segment returns it’s going to be the outside shot of a win um I’m surprised you’ve gone this long without mentioning Rory to be honest with you so before we get into that do you want do you want me to give you an opportunity to talk about Rory by yourself i I think the I think the Rory thing is interesting and I’m I’m I’m sort of eager to hear your thoughts on it as well so obviously he he won the Masters and then sly I don’t know if you know um and then he didn’t play we our PGA was like our PGA preview was like oh you know this quail hollow course record you can confidence momentum uh no pressure monkeys backs off backs were mentioned and he didn’t play well I mean he just about he just about made the cut didn’t play well um and it’s been weird since then as well it there’s been some strange things going on i mean look come here to me like Nicholas saying “Well he didn’t tell me he was going to play his tournament my tournament at the memorial i I don’t care Jack like he doesn’t have to run everything by you like relax okay just let’s calm down here.” But then there was that whole driver thing at the PGA where he had to switch drivers last minute and his name was leaked but he also wasn’t the only one like Sheffler had to change drivers xander Schaef had to you know he wasn’t the only one but Maroyy’s name was the only one that was Yeah and then he played the Canadian Open last week where he usually plays really well and he missed the cut again yeah so I’m I’m interested to see how he gets on maybe they’ve done him a solid here they’ve put him with his two mates in the for the first two days so he’s playing with Lowry and he’s playing with Justin Rose who obviously clean Ryder Cup teammates but you know you know may maybe they’re not getting on the best now but they will they have done and will do in the future but we all all know you know he he’s good friends with Larry and they they’re together for the first two days um so yeah I’ll be I’m interested to see how he gets on it’s weird because he’s reached that peak now it’s like right what what do you want to do from here what what’s your motivation from here is it because you’re not really going to get near uh Nicholas or Tiger at this rate because I he’s just too old I think personally right which is fair enough because they obviously is he the best European golfer of all time yes you could argue I know Faldo has more but he doesn’t have a grand slam so do you want to cement that legacy do you want to get double figures it’s interesting and I just wonder what his head space is coming into this week yeah that’s that’s exactly the point I was going to make and we’ve not to sound like a broken record but that’s what we’ve talked about the whole podcast isn’t it is mentality is going to be very important around Oakmont and is it’s slightly different for Rory because it’s not a case of when will he blow up because he has everybody has the occasional blow but you don’t really see Rory go through that he just goes quiet and gets in his zone and and does what he needs to do and that’s a very good quality to have around this course but I think it’s more the motivation now like you said he’s completed golf you know what more does he really have to do he’s got the grand slam like you said does he want double figures does he want to get another another masters or does he want to get another couple of PGAs or Well you see this is the thing and I think we’ll talk about this more like going into the open next month he’ll be definitely motivated cuz it’s basically a home open and he missed the cut last time so he the the motivation for next major is definitely there it’s just look he he’s an elite sport person obviously he’ll want to do well but I do wonder now I I’d love again I’ I’ve said this for the past 10 years i’d love to know what’s going on in his head oh it’d be so fun just to be a fly on the wall listening to what he goes through before a tournament and and like you said he’s in the best place he could be to go out and play the way he wants because he’s with Rose and he’s with um Lowry he can have a bit of fun the pressure is not necessarily there he’s not paired with tournament favorites so he’s got to perform next to him he’s got a bit of freedom the first two days make the cut and sort of like I said for Aberg it it would be better for Rory I think to not be leading into the final day because then the pressure is not there and you can go out and play your game i think it’s going to be the case for anybody it sounds really strange to say I don’t think you want to be leading into Sunday or or I agree with you you don’t want to be leading by one or two if you’re going to be leading you want to be have like an eight shot lead and be guaranteed to win i think the pressure is going to be a lot on that Sunday um unless you’re Scottish then probably deal with it fine he who must not be named but yes uh well now we’ve got the Rory talk out the way we we’ll go back to maybe maybe an outside favorite somebody you can see maybe not winning but uh a top top five a top three uh shock performer from the weekend you ready to laugh at me go on i’m going to go with Shane Larry i don’t hate that i I don’t hate that i have reasons i have reasons last last time it was played here in 2016 he had a four shot lead going into the last day and then shot six over and still finished third sorry second right exactly he had a four shot lead so he knows how to shoot a good score like he was he was um he was seven under going into the last round which is an unbelievable score around here so he knows how to put up a good score that was nearly 10 years ago he’s matured as a as a man and as a golfer he’s won a major and he’s also quietly been having a decent year you I know he hasn’t won a lot but he’s been consistent like again he was there for the Masters rough enough Sunday uh didn’t have a great PGA but he admitted himself that he hates Quail Hollow so um we saw him um he was there thereabouts at the Canadian Open i mean like he he the Sunday in the Canadian Open he opened up five under after four holes and sort of fell away a bit but was still was still a good a good finish um top 20 at the memorial uh top 25 excuse me at the memorial uh obviously the uh truest where Straa won he was there and thereabouts as well he finished second at that so I just think he he definitely we’ve obviously we he has the ability to win a major and I think we’ve talked about like the sort of tiers before and he’s right up the top of that second tier for me again so it all comes down to the mental and shame is a bit like Tier Hatton and these boys like when it goes when that fuse is sparked it’s it’s it’s it explodes nearly but like I said he can put we know he can put a good good score up here he’s playing with his mate right and I think that will help genuinely we we’ve spoken about Rory yeah yeah I think he’ll be much more relaxed um again he’s not the biggest hitter but he can fine fairways we know how good his short game is in and around the Greens and I just I I just think he’ll I think he’ll I think he’ll play well this week i really do um so yeah he’d be he’d be my outset will he win it pro More than likely not but I think he’ll have a good week i Yeah I I completely agree with everything you said i think Larry has all the aspects of his game to to win major tournaments it’s just he tends to have a few holes where he’s a bit on the edge then it sort of gets to him and um we saw it in the interview at Augusta which I don’t blame him for at all i’d do the exact same in that situation if a reporter was talking to me like that but no I I think Larry’s got a very decent shot of of Yeah like I said maybe not winning it but definitely a top 10 is on the cards for him um from Ireland to Scotland for my pick i think you can see where I’m going with this one because Are you going Bobby McIntyre again i love the man i love a lefty but there is more of a reason this time this is the third This is the third time in a row it will happen if I keep saying it it will happen at some point and then I will look like a genius because nobody else will be predicting it um a top 20 at the memorial albe it plus two but it’s it’s a tough course a top 20 is a pretty decent result and then he was tied six at the Charles Schwab as well so he’s got a little bit of form coming into it we’re not going to talk about his PJ result because it’s top 50 so it’s not terrible but it could have been better um but I don’t know he just strikes me as a a player that is going to go very under the radar because I don’t think anybody really respectfully cares about him um in mainstream media all the focus because we’ve got a lot of good home golfers we’ve got Rory Shane you know um Tommy Fleetwood when when he can play matt Fitzpatrick is is slowly building himself up into a very very decent year um and there’s a Aaron Ry has sort of come from nowhere and been pretty consistent you see Justin Rose obviously second at the Masters so there’s a lot of good home golfers i don’t think McIntyre necessarily gets the plaudit he should obviously Ryder Cup hero whatever he he’s had that limelight but on the tour there’s not a lot of conversation about him and I think we’ve again sounding like a broken record there’s a lot of pressure this weekend with the conditions of the course and we’ve seen at some points during this year especially in the majors when the media gets talking about you and you’re pinned as this this favorite and and you should be doing this and you should be doing that it does get in their heads a little bit sometimes and there’s a wayward shot off the tea and any other course I wouldn’t necessarily say that’s a deciding factor but if you have two bad holes here it could easily be two triple bogeies and you’re instantly out of out of the conversation and if you’ve not necessarily got that pressure from the outside there’s no pressure for you to internalize and you can go out there and play with a bit of freedom which I think is what everybody this weekend is going to be looking for a bit of freedom um with not a lot of eyes on you not a lot of TV coverage for the first two or three days and then he can rock up on Sunday and sort of just shoot a good score and get in that top 10 that’s wishful thinking but Liam I hope I hope it comes through this time because I speak emotionally about McIntyre i I feel like we’re the only podcast who’s dedicated this much time to Bobby McIntyre this is I’m not saying it’s not a good thing of course but it’s just uh but I I again it doesn’t make for great content but I do agree with everything you say may maybe I should say no no you know what wrong but yeah look I it’s funny coming into this weekend i not that it’s not going to be exciting but it’s going to be exciting in a different way like this is this is real this is real golf this is a What was the uh what was the sun oh yeah men at it you know what I mean yeah yeah this is what this is um here’s um how many fbombs will we see over the whole weekend definitely above average definitely has to be i mean if I’m going off one of my rounds h 30 plus okay take Hatton out oh okay probably about five then if if we’re not including Hatton um no it we make fun of it but that is and we’ve said on our podcast you can talk about the golfers and their quality um as much as we’d like to do that Oakan is just a different beast and Rory said it and Bryson said it and I’m sure everybody else has said it they basically all hate it yeah Rory’s labeled it impossible bryson has labeled it the worst like the worst course he’s played not in terms of it actually being bad but yeah I think Phil has Phil has described it as the toughest course they’ve played like they play on tour so like you know look look Phil has a tendency to uh to uh to let’s say um you know sprinkle Yeah yeah sure but he knows a thing or two about golf so uh maybe not trust him on other things that’s a good idea i like that yeah that’s a good thinking about it but yeah look it’s it’s going to be interesting and again I feel like this preview is fairly downline course is tough scotty’s probably going to win but unfortunately that that’s where we’re at that’s just golf at the moment and you know it seems to come in cycles doesn’t it where there’s a few years where anybody can win it and then this one golfer comes along and it’s just like “Yeah nah these are all my probably yeah probably yeah I guess I’ll win this one.” We We’ve tried to make it as interesting as possible hopefully hence why I keep mentioning McIntyre somebody Somebody’s got to bang the drum and it may as well be me because there’s no good Welsh golfers so I’ll go to Scotland oh god at least you’ve got Rory and Shane yes very lucky jamie Donaldson does he still play golf anymore does Paul still Ryder Cup hero you know Jamie Donaldson so he missed the cut at the KM Open there you go and if we were to end on any note that’s a very good note to end now uh so we’ve not done an outro in a while so I’m not really sure how to do this but I think Darren is making another one of his transfer special videos in the coming days so head over to the YouTube to check that out make sure um you like and subscribe there this will be out on YouTube and all good podcast platforms as well i’ve been Liam thanks for Kevin for joining me and letting us ramble about golf goodbye [Music]