Why Team USA Keeps Losing the Ryder Cup | Trey Wingo x Mark Rolfing

Why Team USA Keeps Losing the Ryder Cup | Trey Wingo x Mark Rolfing

Hey everybody, what’s up? Trey Wingo here. Welcome in to the latest edition of the Straight Facts Homie podcast. The podcast where we don’t yell at you, we don’t scream at you. We don’t tell you what we think. We tell you what we know based on the data and the research about how things should play out, how they did play out and the things that made these things seem likely. We’re going to go into a deep dive about the RDER Cup and what happened with one of the most trusted voices in golf because that’s who we talked to, longtime NBC and Golf Channel analyst and unofficial ambassador for golf in Hawaii, Mark Ralph. Mark, thanks for being with us. At what point on Sunday did you allow yourself to think, “Oh my god, they might actually pull this off.” Boy, uh, it took a little while. Well, you know, if you think about it, Trey, uh Europe was ahead in the first five matches at one point. In fact, they were five up in one of those matches. So, it didn’t look very good. But, um I will tell you this, um by the time we got to the 18th green with Shane Lowry, I was really thinking there was a real chance. And if you think about it, um you know, had it come down to those last couple of matches, if Lowry hadn’t made that putt, who knows? I mean, it could well have been the greatest comeback in history. But, you know, they just dug theirelves such a huge hole. Uh, all they had to do was really win one match and that’s what they did. Yeah. I mean, it was unbelievable theater on Sunday, which it wasn’t on Friday and Saturday. Uh, I I just, as I’m watching it, I was thinking the same way. I’m like, “Oh my god, is it going to come down to uh Hoygard versus Griffin for the RDER Cup like everybody expected?” But then I looked at those other two matches and I saw Terrell Hatton and Robert McIntyre back there and those are two guys even if even if Lowry had missed that putt. I was thinking those two guys have been so money in this situation I I just can’t imagine they would have let it slip away. No, I can’t either. If you look at those two and there’s a reason why Luke Donald put them at the end just in case what happened did actually happen. Um, I had Hatton in the featured match for two days uh with John Rom and and that guy is just so clutch. It’s unbelievable. Uh, and Robert McIntyre is a completely different player than he was two years ago. He was scared to death in Rome at that Rder Cup. But, uh, boy has he matured and he is really good now. Uh, he certainly is and the Europeans were good. And the thing that I took away from the Saturday four balls was that it wasn’t that the Americans were playing poorly, it’s that somehow, Mark, the Europeans, who had played exceptionally well through the first three seasons had a way to find it to kick it up another notch. I mean, that to me that’s where the Rder Cup was essentially lost. Even though we had the drama on Sunday, it’s when the Americans in four ball Saturday were playing lights out. We’re talking seven under, eight under par in those pairings and they still couldn’t catch a break against the Europeans. Yeah. I mean, uh, you know, that Sheffller match, if you think about that one, those guys were nine under par, I think it was, and lost three and two. It It was just crazy. Um, I’ll tell you where I think the RDER Cup was lost. I think was lost a few months ago when Keegan Bradley failed to look at the format and say, you know what, we need to start this thing with fourball and play the forsomes in the afternoon. Look what happened in Rome. Uh that format favors the Europeans. There’s no question. It’s also a crowd quieting format. It’s not nearly as electric as the four ball and I think he would have been much better off uh putting out four ball early on both Friday and Saturday and leaving the foresomes for the afternoon. Yeah. And again for people that are not completely familiar with golf, four ball means everybody plays their own ball. Foresome’s also considered alternate shots. Somebody te’s off, next player hits it from the fairway and you alternate shots until the putt is hold or conceded. So with that in mind that Mark to me that brings up the other point that I haven’t heard anybody talk about in this post-mortem Rder Cup situation whether it’s about the fans or the comeback on Sunday. Justin Ray who you know as well as I do is the Tiger Woods of golf research. He’s unbelievable and he he presented me with this stat which I thought was so telling and it goes to your point about the way we set up the tournament. If you go back to the 2023 Ryder Cup through the 2024 President’s Cup, which is the US against internationals, and then what we just saw happen at Beth Page, the United States record in forsomes or alternate shot is six, 19, and zero. Six wins against 19 losses and not a single match hald in alternate shot. Why are we as a team and as a country so bad at alternate shot? Well, it’s the most stressful of the two formats. There’s no question about it. And, uh, it’s not something that we’re used to. Uh, you know, we are 12 individuals that come together, uh, you know, once a year for a Ryder Cup or once every two years for a Ryder Cup. Whereas Europe is a team 365 days a year of every year. It’s just a totally different uh, situation. The bond that they have as a team uh is almost sacred in a lot of ways. It’s mystifying. It is something that they work so hard on uh and they put so much effort into. You know, if you if you think about it too, Ryder Cup Europe and the DP World Tour are effectively one in the same thing, right? Uh they they don’t operate independently like the PG of America and the PGA Tour do. And so all year long they’re working on pairings. They’re putting guys together. they’re creating situations that they will be facing in the writer cup. So clearly Europe is just much more comfortable uh in that situation and I think uh I think that was a mistake by Keegan. Clearly it was a mistake the way the golf course uh was set up. He is now basically admitting that and saying uh that he took away really one of the strengths of the American team, the Scotty Sheffller type game. Uh you know the JJ spawn his US Open champions. Even Josh Shambo’s won a couple of US Opens. Uh, and basically when he cut the rough down, mo mowed it down, widen the fairways, um, he basically turned the thing into a putting contest. Well, speaking of putting, that’s really, actually, before we get to that, is there something we can do as a country, as a writer cup program, for lack of a better term, to try and initiate a way to help our players become more indoctrinated in alternate shot? because I it feels like every RDER Cup we do well except for this one little thing. We do not play well with others. We do not do that well. Is there something we can do over the next two years before we get to Adele Manor that that can help us be better in that format? I really think Trey, we need to almost start over. Uh if you think about it, um we got such a false sense of security uh after what happened at uh Whistling Straits and the blowout there. And even the comments from our top top RDER Cup brass uh guys that had been captains a couple of times or been part of the RDER Cup backroom team to uh were saying, you know what, this thing’s over for a while now. This US team is so good. We’re just going to dominate. and and that wasn’t the case at all. Uh it’s a culture. It’s a it’s a feeling. It’s a sense that Europe creates uh that we’re not even close to. I I was just absolutely shocked listening to Luke Donald last night in the presser afterwards talk about the little details um that they undertook at the Players Hotel. You know, they were at the Garden City Hotel. that’s supposed to be a pretty nice spot, but there were cracks in the doors and too much light in the room and the bed sheets weren’t good and uh you know it just every little detail was taken care of. But to me, the single most important thing is if you look at those two captains and you think about what the American mentality was in your face, we’re going to kick their effing butts uh and do all that. Whereas Luke Donald’s attitude was, we’re going to show our guys the best week of their life. My number one goal is for them to have the best week of their life. Uh, and I believe that’s why the RDER Cup means so much to Europe. I’m glad you brought that up because I have heard people say, you know, basically throughout the weekend and this morning I was listening on on PJ Tour radio, oh, you know, you know, Keegan did everything he could and the the crowd was just what it was. And I disagree with that on some level and I’d like to get your opinion on it. Like, you know, they had that Netflix quote from from Keegan up in the team room in Europe. We’re going to go to Beth Page and kick their and we can say it here because it’s a podcast. Kick their ass. Okay, they had that quote in there and then the the first morning before the Rder Cup began, Keegan got out there and basically dropped an F-bomb to the crowd and said, “Let’s eff and go, boys.” I’m not saying he wanted the behavior to be what it was, but he certainly to me made it clear, hey, whatever you guys can do to give us an advantage, go for it. There is no need, Trey, to try to manufacture an environment for a Ryder Cup. It is going to be there. I don’t care where it’s played. Uh it it is going to be there. And from the beginning, uh when I was doing live from on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and we started listening to the walk up music and and listening to the disc jockey up there, like why do you need a diss track? Why do you need music? I I don’t quite get it. Everything that we did uh as an American team seems like we were trying to manufacture uh an environment for the RDER Cup that was going to rile everybody up. What we didn’t do was generate support for our players. That’s what really needs to happen. Um and and Rory was great saying about uh you know he was shocked that nobody was cheering for Scotty Sheffller, right? was trying to root against Rory, but nobody was cheering for Scotty. Uh that’s one of the things that was really missing. It It certainly was. And then look, I want to be clear as we have this conversation. The way Europe played, I’m not sure anything Keegan could have done outside of setting up the golf course differently, which I think is a very valid point. You know, grow that rough, make it a Beth Paige black like we saw at the 2002 US Open, 2009 uh US Open, 2019 PGA Championship. make it show its teeth. That I agree with. So, as we have this conversation about strategic things that I questioned, I I I want to make it clear the Europeans played so well, I don’t think it would have mattered, right? But like for example, there are statistics and data that can help you. And data golf went through all the possible rankings of of teammates and they concluded just on the data. Nothing else. Not feelings, not emotions, not what I’m thinking at the time, just what the numbers told them that the combination of Harris English and Colum Morawa was the weakest. 132 out of 132. Yet on the first day, he put them out together and they got smoked. And then after they got smoked, he trotted them out again. And I’m thinking, why are we what what the old saying, Mark, definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results. I did not understand why that pairing went out again. No, I I don’t either. Um I could maybe see the mistake barely on Friday. Uh but Keegan’s answer as to why he did it Saturday was basically we have a plan and we’re going to stick with it. Well, you’ve got to adjust a plan when you get as far behind as they got. Now, it was kind of bad luck that English and Morawa had to go back out against Fleetwood and Maroy. I’m not sure who would have beaten them, but uh look, that was just to me almost pure stubbornness. That was a gigantic mistake. Um, and there was other smaller ones too that they didn’t influence, for example, uh, the order of play with the team of Henley and and Sheffler and that, uh, Sheffller was hitting off the first tea and Russell off off the even numbered hole. Like, I don’t know if I if I watch Europe and I look at the attention that they have to detail. Look, America has better players. There’s no doubt about it. Europe is better at the RDER Cup. There’s no doubt about it. Yeah. And then the other thing I just from a from a pure, you know, from me watching golf, thinking about golf data perspective, an alternate shot, I think it’s important to have our best putters out there, right? Like you you want if somebody has a wayward t-shot, you want a guy that can sort of wipe that away with a wand. Well, the best putter on the PJ tour this past year was Sam Burns. He did not play a single alternate shot format. He played in four ball in the afternoon both times. Same thing with JJ Spawn. You were there at Oakmont. You saw what he did with that putter under really unbelievably difficult conditions under the arguably the fastest greens we’ll ever see at a US Open history and the putt he made to win it. To me, those are guys I want alternate shot more than fourball. Well, I I I agree with you. The thing about putting an alternate shot too, uh, is you have to be ready to putt. And you could well go an hour and never hit a putt, right? I I’ve seen situations where guys will play five or six holes uh, and one player will have the same 8 10 footer five or six holes in a row. But boy, when it’s your time and you’ve got to make that that putt and you haven’t putted in an hour or so, that is a very difficult thing. I I was really surprised that Spawn didn’t go out in the morning. I thought he was going to be a tremendous foresomes player, a really good alternate shot player, but uh didn’t didn’t go out. And of course, when you only send one rookie out in the morning, then you got to send out three of them in the afternoon. And and that’s really difficult when you get as far behind as they did. Yeah. As my old friend Herm Edwards used to say all the time, any ch any plan that can’t be changed is a bad plan. Like you have to adapt in these situations. It’s like you have to you you can have a plan, but if it ain’t working, all right, we need to find something else because what we thought was working isn’t working out. So, we need to adjust in real time. And and I think that’s another another issue we saw. We’ve obviously sort of skirted around the idea of the fans. Um the whole point of the Rder Cup was to grow the game of golf. And I know that’s the live trademark grow the game, whatever. Grow bank accounts is more like it. Um but have we lost sight of what this thing from an American perspective? Have we lost sight of what this is supposed to be? I mean, I I feel like you don’t just go there to be a jerk. Like to that point, like you can root for your team as hard as you want. There was a great exchange with Rory earlier in the week where he was fixing his button on his shirt and someone said, “Hey, you don’t need that button to choke.” He turned around and laughed. It was a good line. It was a good jab and they both had a decent time with it, but it just felt like it got really sour really quickly. And I think that tarnished not only golf and the RDER Cup, but us as a country. There were definitely fans that crossed over the line. The sad part about it is I think there was probably 48,500, you know, pretty well- behaved fans out there and about 1,500 that weren’t. I didn’t think the security uh got beefed up soon enough or quick enough or I didn’t believe they took action quick enough in certain situation. I wasn’t out there a whole lot because I was in the booth mostly calling the featured matches on the weekend and so I didn’t get a real sense but I could hear uh particularly on the holes where there weren’t quite as many people. Um, if you think about Sunday singles for example, it was a different situation out at holes number six, seven, eight, and nine because there were still players teeing off on the first tee at that point. And so the majority of the crowd was back there. So there weren’t as many people out there and that meant for an earlier match like a Mroy match, you were going to hear the individual cat calls a lot more and they definitely went over the line uh early and I felt like uh there could have been some action taken, you know, and certainly earlier in the week. I I didn’t think they clamped down Friday as much as they should, although it was worse Saturday, I believe, than it was Friday. Yeah. and the whole thing with the the comedian that was supposed to be there ramping the crowd up, that was just an epic disaster and I hope we never do anything like that again. Um, as much as we’ve talked about they could have done this differently and they could have done that differently. I thought what Shane Lowry said after he sank the putt to ensure the half that made sure that Europe would retain the cup and then they wanted to make sure they went on and actually won the cup which they did 15 to13 when he said and you know I’m paraphrasing here but this is essentially what he said I have won the open championship in Ireland as an Irishman or in Northern Ireland and this meant more to me than winning the open championship and And he talked about as he walked up the 18th fairway to the 18th green, he said to his caddy, “I have a chance to do the coolest thing in the world.” To me, Mark, that is the difference between the Europeans and the Americans when it comes to the Ryder Cup. I know the Americans want to win. I feel like the Europeans feel like they have to win. And I think sometimes that is the difference. Well, it it’s a big difference in my mind. I’ll tell you an interesting story. In Rome a couple years ago, Trey, I was staying at the team hotel. Uh, and the only announcer there was Paul McInley. Uh, so McInley and I rode out to the course every day together and we rode back. It was about almost an hour and a half drive. Uh and so we had a lot of time to talk and that was right before the RDER Cup uh where they really revamped the entire European plan because of the disaster that had occurred at uh Whistling Straits. And Mcinley of course became uh a big adviser to that team. He was one of the great captains really in European Rder Cup history. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him actually captain again at some point. Maybe that’s how much he is ingrained in the Ryder Cup. But uh what I heard from him for six days going back and forth to the uh course in Rome just had my eyes popping out of my head uh as to how they were going to go about reorganizing uh the writer cup plan for Europe. Um it’s all about preparation for them. Uh even though we went to let’s say Napa and all played in a tournament to get some of the rust off a couple of weeks ago, to me that was not the same kind of experience that the European team had here on Long Island where they’re playing together here on Monday and Tuesday a week ago and then they go out to Friars’s Head and Shikok and all sorts of great places and are just, you know, becoming one. The European team is one. Uh the American team is way more 12th. Yeah. I mean that shot of Justin Rose cradling Tommy Fleetwood’s head, you know, is ingrained in my brain forever. Or on Saturday when Tommy made that pot and Justin said, “I believe in you.” I mean, it it’s you can’t you can’t fake that. And and I think that’s the thing that has Europe on on a on an edge that I’m not sure this uh version of American players in the Ryder Cup is ever going to be able to get to. I’ll tell you an interesting story uh that Justin Rose told me. It was actually on Maui uh during Century um two years ago and it was after the RDER Cup in Rome just right after it. And as you know, Robert McIntyre was a rookie going into that Ryder Cup and he was scared to death Trey. He couldn’t hit a shot early in the week. Uh but the plan had been all along to have Justin Rose be his mentor uh and kind of show him around and shepherd him around. And Justin Rose, whose forte is forsomes, uh didn’t even play Forsomes in Rome. Uh he went out there, played four ball with Robert McIntyre. It worked. It was it was just amazing how Robert McIntyre performed. So I’m talking to him about it one night with the Sentry folks at Capalua and he said to me, “You know what?” He said that experience did more for me, Justin Rose, than it did for Robert McIntyre. I truly believe it. That’s the way he feels about what happened. And if you take a look at where his career has gone since then. Yeah. It just gave him a whole another boost of confidence and energy that he didn’t have. Yeah. He made 10 birdies Sunday at Augusta and somehow still didn’t win the Masters, which is absolutely ridiculous. But but to that point, which is really interesting, Mark, they made sure that Robert McIntyre, a rookie, had a horse basically that that he could he could lean on in Justin Rose. Well, our horse is Scotty Sheffller. And Scotty Sheffller managed to eke out one point in five matches, 0 for four. And most of those matches, Mark, weren’t even close. Uh, you know, he got worked pretty early. And then on uh Saturday afternoon, our the best player in the world somehow sort of semi shanks a wedge into the 18th green and leaves Henley in a precarious position. We paired him with a couple of rookies for that very reason to try and see if Scotty could bring them along. But you know, this goes back to Rome where he lost nine and seven uh as the number one player in the world. What is it do you see or think about Scotty in the Ryder Cup that doesn’t translate the way we see him dominate on the tour? dominated majors. You know, he he views the game so much as an individual game. He did talk a lot about um the team and how much it meant to be part of the team and all that, but still the preparation for Scotty that I see is very much an individual type uh preparation. Uh you know, we can sort of dissect all of this as much as as we want. We could sit here for hours and hours, but the reality is you take your top two players. You take Sheffler and Desambo for example, and then you look at Fleetwood and Mroy on the European side where Rahm’s close, but I’m going to put Fleetwood and Mroy as our two main guys. We knew they’d be paired together, but take a look at the records. You know, Sheffller and Dashambo were 27 and one and Mroy and Fleetwood were 72 and one. You are not going to win the RDER Cup if your top two guys are giving up that many points to the other side’s top guys. Yeah, our horses have to be horses at the at the at the bottom line, you know. And I was listening again I was listening I was coming back from something uh Saturday and I heard u on PJ tour radio when Dashambo and Scotty were playing so great and they still couldn’t catch a break. I can’t remember who but one said to the other well they can’t the Europeans can’t keep this up. And I’m like that is the absolute worst attitude to have. You have to in match play you have to assume they’re going to make everything. You can’t say oh they’ll calm they’ll cool down. No you have to say we need to heat up. And when I heard that comment, I was like, that that’s kind of the essence of this thing. In match play, you have to assume they’re making everything, so you have to make yours. They can’t keep it up. I mean, my heavens, let’s just go back. I don’t know if I look at recent memory. They made everything in Wales in 2010. They made everything in Madina in 2012. They made everything at Glenn Eagles in 2014. They had kind of an off Ryder Cup I suppose at Hazel team that they made everything in France. I mean they do it all the time. It’s something that they get themselves prepared for. Uh you know better than the Americans. I don’t know exactly what the secret sauce is. They’re keeping it real close to the vest and I would too if I were Europe. But whatever they’re doing uh they’re doing it right. It is very consistent. So going forward now again this this snaps a string of five straight RDER cups won by the home team as uh we fall short and if we’re going to win in 2027 at a a Dell Manor in Ireland, it’ll be the first time we win on foreign soil since we won in the Belelfrey at 1993 when Davis Love III and those god-awful Rder Cup sweaters hit the game-winning putt. Um, a lot of talk has been made about who could be the next captain for the United States. And the two obvious names that come up are Phil and Tiger. And I get it. I understand. But my response is those are the two players in the history of the United States with the two most losses in writer Cup play. Phil has 22 losses. Tiger Woods had 21 losses. And if you look at those losses, they’re the losses that are the same thing that are the problems for the Americans that we talked about in forsomes. So, I don’t I well, I get the appeal of those names. I’m not sure if appointing guys that have had the biggest problem with the thing we have the biggest problem with is going to solve the problem. No, I I hear you on that one. Uh I think probably if you were to ask me, I’d say the two most uh logical choices for the US would be Justin Leonard or Fred Couples. But uh I I’m going to go even deeper than that, Trey, because I really think before we start considering who the captain is, I think we as the American side need to look at the organization that we have. And if you think about the PJ of America, which owns and operates Ryder Cups when they’re in America, uh it is completely different, separate from the PGA Tour, has nothing to do with the PGA Tour really. Uh and it’s an organization that changes uh every couple of years. You have different officers that come in. You have different presidents, different philosophies. And uh that’s not the case in Europe at all. The DP World Tour and Ryer Cup uh Europe are one and the same. They they are almost the same organization. Uh I look at the PJ of America and I think to myself and I’m a member I’m a proud member of that organization. is maybe the largest sports organization in the world. It’s got 32,000 members, but I really feel like uh in some ways that organization ought to be totally focused on the 32,000 members and the 41 sections that the PGA has and how do they make the life of 32,000 golf professionals better and that they would be better served to have a different setup for the RDER Cup. So, I don’t know exactly what that setup would look like, but as I look at the way the world of golf is starting to change, uh it’s coming becoming way more global quickly as we know. Uh Brian Rolap and PJ Tour Enterprises are going to be off on a different sort of uh uh route now than the PJ Tour has been. And I think there’s probably an opportunity to look at the Ryder Cup and say, you know what, these are PJ Tour players. Um, let’s think about a different kind of structure and organization where we can literally become the type of planners and preparers that Europe has become. Yeah. I I think we need a completely individual program to to that point. Let’s let’s have the PGA focus on the PGA. Let’s have the PGA Tour focus on the PGA Tour. And let’s get, you know, for example, Brian Roll put an advisory board together about how to fix the schedule. Let’s get an advisory board about how we can set up and prepare better for the Ryder Cup. And I think that serves everybody better. Now, I have a really radical philosophy, which I don’t think is ever going to happen. Let’s can the President’s Cup because I do think I I know it’s never going to happen. I know it’s never going to happen, but I do think it’s a huge advantage for the Europeans that they have to stew on this for two years, whereas the Americans play the Ryder Cup and then the President’s Cup and then the Ryder Cup and then the President’s Cup. And I don’t think it’s a coincidence, Mark. The year that we went and stomped the Europeans at Whistling Straits, we had to wait an extra year because of the COVID vaccine and the and the the epidemic, not the vaccine, the COVID epidemic. We we had to wait an extra year. And I really think that helped the Americans get more amped up than they normally would be. Yeah, that’s a pretty good point. Um, if I take a look at the President’s Cup, you know, it’s not anything close to the Ryder Cup. It’s a true exhibition. It it it it really is. Um, and again, for the folks that are watching and listening here, that event is owned and operated by the PGA Tour. Has nothing to do with the PGA of America that owns and operates uh the RDER Cups when they’re in the United States. Um, I I think about Europe. I mean they have the Sevy trophy and and basically created an event which is a lower caliber team event and they created it for two reasons I guess number one was to honor Sevi Bisteros greatest Rder Cup player and maybe European player in history. Yeah. But more importantly they created a feeder system a training ground a planning ground for Rder Cup Europe. every single thing they do with the Sevy Cup feeds in to making them better for the RDER Cup. That’s not at all what the President’s Cup does, even in terms of sharing captains, you know, and and all that type of thing. Um I I I think having a different uh philosophical look at those two events, if the President’s Cup’s going to exist, would be a really good idea. Yeah. I feel like the Ryder Cup has gotten to a point now where it had been a couple of times before. Okay, we need to do something to make this competitive or it’s just not going to be a thing anymore. Uh, you know, that’s why we brought in the Europeans in 1979. It wasn’t a thing. You know, we I think we won 22 of the first 25 RDER Cups. It was just sort of this non-competitive event that we played every other year. Um, so we’ll see what happens going forward. Obviously, outside of the RDER Cup, or actually, let’s include the Ryder Cup. I think this has been one of the best years in golf in the post Tiger Woods competitive era when you see Scotty Shuffler emerge. You see Tommy Fleetwood finally break through and win at the Tour Championship. You see Rory compete, complete the career grand slam, the six man only ever to do it. This year has been a banner year for golf in this country and for the PGA Tour. How do we ride this wave going forward? Well, uh there there’s no doubt that we need to take advantage of what has been a very very good year. Now, h having said that, um I’m never going to look back on it as a great year when we ran out of water to put on the plantation course. We’re getting to that on Maui, um which is just devastating for me obviously after all these years. But um I really believe that um Brian Rolap’s philosophy uh going forward here is going to be the right one. Um he is going to believe in scarcity. He’s got an NFL background. You know, I don’t what do they play 17 games a year? They create a tremendous amount of demand. Uh and and I’m not saying the PJ Tour event is going to go to 17 events a year, but I think creating more demand um you know will will be good. It’s a global game. There’s no question about it. Uh I really like the idea as does Rory Mroy of making these national opens kind of uh benchmark events at different times of the year. The Australian Open late in the year, you know, should be one of the great tournaments of the entire year in golf. The Irish Open, you know, in the fall should be the same way. Yeah. Uh, you know, I I think you’re going to see um professional golf at least head in that direction. Uh, you know, the professional game is not thriving uh the way golf is in general. I mean, golf is is blooming right now. And uh I think one of the problems has been there’s been so much talk about money and the fans are sick of it and they don’t want to hear anymore about this Liv situation. I know the PJ tour and live seem to be getting further apart, but man, that is a problem we got to solve because I’ll tell you there is a danger that Terrell Hatton and John Rom will not be on that Rder Cup team in two years at a dare manner. That could actually happen which would be devastating. That absolutely would. And I’m glad you brought up Capalua. Mark is the unofficial ambassador for golf in Hawaii. Uh he’s been there and been carrying that flag forever. Mark and I are neighbors in Capalua in certain times of the year. And it’s just broken my heart to see what’s happening there. And and and for those that don’t know, yes, it’s been a really hundred-year drought on the island of Maui. It is no question about it. But the West Maui mountains, which are above where Capaloo is, is the second wetest place on the planet outside of the mountains of Kauaii, the north side of Kauaii. They get well over 200 inches of rain a year. And if it was just the drought situation that caused the sentry uh which is the annual January, it used to be the tournament of champions. Now it’s, you know, modified a little bit, but it was it’s sort of the unofficial kickoff of the PGA Tour season at the Plantation Course in Capalua. Well, both the Capalua Plantation Course and the Bay Course have basically been starved of water and uh Mr. Yai, who owns both of those courses, had to shut them down in hopes of saving them and saving the sentry. The sentry will not be played there. Mark, my issue is if it was the drought, every co golf course on Maui would look like Capalua. They don’t. So, it’s not the drought. It’s something else that’s gone wrong in the water delivery system from the West Maui mountains to those courses. Uh, you’re absolutely right. As you said, it rains 200 in a year up at Pu Cukui. There is plenty of water up there. Uh, what there isn’t is a delivery system that’s reliable uh coming down the mountain. I mean, there’s a lot of that water now that is washing down the mountain actually and going into the ocean, which is one of the sad things. Um, you know, that system is 100red years old. I haven’t been in Maui that long, but I’ve been there a good part of that time. It’s 100 years old. It hasn’t been fixed up. There was a storm back in 2018 before you really got settled in at Capello that was a pretty bad one and it got the the system all jammed up and uh it never really got repaired. uh the the primary land owner, Maui, Land and Pine, doesn’t seem to be motivated to try and solve the problem. Um I think really what has to happen here is the state and the governor himself needs to intervene and get the two parties together. You know, they’re in litigation now. That’s always a horrible thing. Uh everybody’s taking sides. Everybody’s pointing fixer fingers. But if you get Mr. you and I from TY Corporation and Race Randall or Steve Casease or Maui Land Pine, whoever it is, and you sit them down in a room and you say, “Boys, we’re not leaving this room till we figure this out, right? We have got to figure this out. It’s too important.” Um, and not just for the tournament itself or for the millions of people that watch. Uh, for the people in Maui, this has become part of their heart and soul. Correct. We’ve been playing PJ Tour golf at Cabal Lewis since 1982. My heavens. Uh and and uh you know, who knows what domino is going to fall after this. It’s going to have a real negative impact on Sony. There’s no question about it. Um there was a time, Trey, uh again, sort of pre pre you, but there was a time where we had 11 televised golf tournaments every year in Hawaii. We had four LPGA events. We had a couple of Champions Tour events, couple PJ Tour events. We had the Grand Slam of Golf. We had the Maryland shut. We had all kinds of stuff going on. We’re down to four events now. And if you think about even uh you got LPGA golf is going to be going on out in Hawaii uh later this week. Um it’s so hard when you don’t have any TV equipment out here and you’re shipping equipment. You know, a fivew week stretch it takes to go from Oakland or Long Beach out to Hawaii and all the way back. It just isn’t going to work. I’m really concerned long term about the sustainability and I think we have to do whatever we can to get this water delivery system solved. I think Mr. Yanine frankly would pay for the entire thing to have it fixed. He’s a very generous man, but he can afford it. Um so let’s take advantage of it if we could. And um boy, we got to we got to stop, you know, this this domino right now before we lose every tournament that we have. Correct. And and by the way, Maui landed Pineapple can also afford it. Let’s just speak there. There are deep pockets all the way around and this is a problem that should not be the problem that it is because as you said astutely, there’s plenty of water. It’s just not going where it needs to go. Um Mark, it’s always good to talk to you, man. And hopefully uh we’ll catch up uh sometime down the road uh and have a little coffee at the Honolulu store. At the Honolulu store. You got it, buddy. Thanks, Ralph. Thanks so much for watching and listening. Wherever you get your podcast or subscribing on YouTube, please like and subscribe because we like that and you like that. Uh, lots more coming as we continue to grow the Straight Facts only podcast. Great guests coming up. Again, we’re not going to yell at you. We’re not going to scream at you. We’re not going to say you’re wrong. We’re going to show you what the data tells us and we’re going to make you smarter as a sports fan. Like and subscribe on YouTube or where wherever you get your podcast. Straight facts, homie. We will be here all season long and beyond. Thanks for watching and listening.

Serious golf fans won’t want to miss this Ryder Cup breakdown.

Trey Wingo sits down with longtime NBC/Golf Channel analyst Mark Rolfing to analyze what really happened at Bethpage: from Europe’s dominance in foursomes and clutch putting, to Keegan Bradley’s format mistakes, to why Team USA continues to struggle in alternate shot.

They dive into the numbers, match-play mentality, and cultural differences that make Europe so consistent, plus what needs to change for the U.S. to finally win on foreign soil in 2027. If you’re tired of hot takes and want insight grounded in stats, strategy, and experience, this is your Ryder Cup recap.

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