PGA Sunday: At last, Xander Schauffele is a major champion | Golf Channel Podcast

In this edition, the guys discuss the wild ending to the PGA Championship, from Xander Schauffele’s clutch finish to Bryson DeChambeau’s theatrics to Scottie Scheffler’s chaotic week. #GolfChannelPodcast #GolfChannel #PGAChampionship

Chapters:
0:00: Takeaways from a fun final day at Valhalla
03:00: What was different this time for Xander Schauffele
10:00: Why Schauffele is built for the long haul
18:00: Why we miss Bryson DeChambeau
27:00: Viktor Hovland’s return to the primetime
32:00: The latest on Scottie Scheffler, and why we’ll remember that most
35:00: What we’re watching for at the next major
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PGA Sunday: At last, Xander Schauffele is a major champion | Golf Channel Podcast
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hello and welcome to this edition of the Golf Channel podcast with Rex and lav well for the third consecutive PJ Championship Valhalla Golf Club produced yet another instant classic Xander schafle tortured and tormented with the lead for the better part of the past two years burried the 72nd hole to polish off a Sunday 65 and win the PGA Championship by a single shot over Bryson Des Shambo at 21 underpar sander shofet was the lowest or the most scoring record on par and his first major championship Rex are you still buzzing from what was an incredible Sunday here in Louisville I really am because you look at the names that were associated in and around the leaderboard if you start going down player by player you had Xander who had a unbelievable performance on Sunday after last week’s performance at the Wells Fargo you had Bryson D Shambo who’s going to be my column tonight Victor hin you had more Kawa had so many of the big names right in the mix and I think you and I talked about this last night it seemed inevitable that this was going to come down to a playoff it seemed like there’s too many players too close to the lead there’s too many players playing well this golf course was giving up too many birdies like everything seemed to be heading in that direction and Xander shafay saved us from that with a putt that lipped around and felt did you did you have that feeling of like a Windam Clark moment just for a second on the 72 hole when that putt just wrapped her around the lip yeah I absolutely thought this was going to a playoff I headed out in the golf course when Xander shaay was approaching his second shot on 12 and I had a feeling that 20 underpar was probably going to be the number then uh zanard already Bogi the par 510th then he did not take advantage of the short 13th which it seemed like all the contenders were doing he missed a make putt on 12 he got a little bit too conservative on 15 and at that point you know you’re hearing the Roars ahead of you whether it was Bryson stuffing it on 16 whether it was Bryson making birdie uh on 18 you just knew it was going to come down to a shot for Xander shaa that he was going to have to step up and do something that he had not done previously in major championships or even high-profile PJ tour events that was rise to the moment that was B clutch he is excellent in every statistical category he’s an unbelievable driver unbelievable iron player unbelievable and on around the greens but there is no metric wreck for heart for grit for timeliness for clutchness and I think this was for the first time in Xander’s career when he was in this position when it was his golf tournament to win that was when he actually sees the moment and so for me it was a very satisfying ending to this PJ Championship the fact that Xander went out and got it and Bryson to Shambo did what Bryson the Shambo does would just be the ultimate showman and Dazzle us with his shot-making ability well and I want to get into the Bryson D Shambo element of this but to the point we had this conversation just last Sunday it was seven days ago the UN and I were talking about Xander choffle coming up short after having a phenomenal week and I think both of us had the same take that I’m not quite sure anyone could have beat Rory maroy last week at qu Hollow the way he was hitting the ball however there were some mistakes coming down the stretch he made a couple of Bogies on the back nine at qu Hollow it seemed like whatever that missing gear was and I think you and I both regurgitated a lot of stats about the idea that he has a historically low scoring average in the first round of a major championship and then it predictably has dropped off that it’s it climbs dramatically almost two full shots for the second round and then on till it gets till Sunday that’s not a very good way to measure it because again what what we’re talking about here is heart we’re talking about guts we’re talking about someone who Gets In the Heat of the Moment and enjoys it as opposed to someone who Gets In the Heat of the Moment and wants to shrink from that moment however it was the only way we can come up with it and what you saw today was the guy who was clearly well aware of what was going on all around him he knew that Bryson D Shambo was making a run at him he knew that he could not let up that that making a bunch of pars coming down the stretch stretch was not going to get it done and the fact I I was fascinated by this you were in the interview I was listening to it from the Press Center he talked about the idea of not wanting a playoff specifically with Bryson D Shambo I’m not quite sure he understood the three-hole aggregate playoff did not I just I just I just talked to Xander as soon as he finished his press conference said hey man I said you know that was three holes right 13 17 18 goes I said it’s okay man you had him don’t worry don’t worry about it doesn’t matter but like I’m I’m probably with you on this one where I listen to that my ears perked up because I’m like wow that that shows an amazing level of thought given the Heat of the Moment most of the time in the Heat of the Moment you’re not thinking that far ahead that I don’t want to play off with this specific player on that specific hole it’s a par five he talked about Bryson being able to just rope hook it off the bunker leave himself a nine iron maybe an eight iron and like I get it like Xander’s a really really good player has a lot of confidence but you have to understand your shortcomings and your shortcoming is I don’t particularly carry the ball 330 yards on command like Bryson does so I get the motivation for that and to be able to be able to understand that and then to execute the shot is the best part yeah I think this the way that this ended has to give him so much confidence doesn’t Rex like I I asked Xander he said he was really proud of how he stepped up in certain moments and you think of all that had kind of conspired against him on the Sunday and for him still to Prevail Bryson n Shambo shoots 64 in the final round that’s his best round ever in a major championship it was going to take a historically low number in relation to par to go on and win this Championship but then the bad fortune on 16 he had Mone on his golf ball couldn’t quite attack with an ad like he really wanted to on 17 he absolutely hammered his Drive I was standing right behind the T had a great vantage point on it he had exactly where he wanted to just a little bit lower catches the lip falls back into a decent but not great lie it isn’t able to attack from there and has to get up and down uh for for par as well and then on 18 he hit what he thought was a great Juiced up drive and it just settles in a very uncomfortable spot just a few feet away from being perfect instead he has to have the baseball swing on 18 at that point after those three consecutive holes those three consecutive bad breaks he has to be wondering like this is just not going to happen right like things are conspiring against me or I need to I need to just get a man up and and and handle it the four iron that he hit with the ball a foot above his feet was an absolute seed I was standing 20 feet from him I mean just an absolute missile in the perfect spot uh left it squarely up the hill like the way that it all went down the shots that he hit the way that he executed uh it has to give him so much confidence moving forward breaking this duck and breaking this duck in the manner in which he did so I mean no doubt and when you look at this and I think someone else it wasn’t you but someone else asked them how tired were you of hearing oh are you the best player this never won a major and he probably was that category he probably was the top of that category he clearly as you pointed out there were no holes in his game this isn’t Victor hin from three years ago when we went yeah he’s a great ball Striker but his short game is awful there was no there was nothing in Xander’s game that would lead you to believe that no he’s missing something and ever since he started working with Chris Koo his swing has only gotten better he’s gotten stronger he’s gotten longer I think mentally he’s only gotten better and I think he’s always been one of the best mental players in the game so we could sit here and say it and we probably have said it before on this podcast that no no no he’s gonna win a major it’s going to happen it had to happen it was funny talking with Bryson tonight where he was kind of waiting for it to play out to see how it was gonna work out he sort of acknowledged that I mean the dude’s going to win a major there’s too much talent there there’s too much drive there I I I also was taken from his press conference by the idea that he was asked about last week and how much Scar Tissue was did that M give him how much motivation that that give him and it was only motivation it was only not winning only makes me want to win more and that that’s kind of unique I think even among that set I think he was definitely benefited too by the conditions and the congested leaderboard that he had at this PJ Championship where he couldn’t just sit back and shoot two or three under par and know that that was going to be good enough to win the title I’ve I’ve gone through now he’s this is his ninth opportunity sander Shuffle has when he had at least a share of the 54 ho lead these are the scores rex that he shot on those Sundays 71 70 70 68 71 69 70 74 in 74 was a 2018 Open championship at car the one where tiger was in the mix as well well he probably knew he had no real opportunity he he wasn’t he wasn’t quite ready to win that uh in other words I think the other opportunities that he’s had clearly he’s been in better form more experienced player uh higher caliber of a player when you listen to those scores none of them particularly jump out like he never collapsed he never self- imil he was you know he’s never embarrassed it was just not quite good enough and knowing on this Sunday that it was going to take something he his goal is to get to 22 par and he came up one shot shy and it was still enough knowing that he was going to have to go out and get it he was going to have to stay aggressive he was going to have to stay on his front foot I think really benefited him as opposed to I think he’s had a tendency in the past and I think even clearly last week at K qu Hollow where he gets a little bit too conservative gets a little bit too timid and that makes him vulnerable or more susceptible to be lapped by a guy last week at Rory who who went out and got it or this week Bryson was that guy who who was absolutely hunting him down as well and the part that and based on those scores that you just rattle off and that’s good stuff I think the part that gets me is there’s really not a horse for a course on this one and by that I mean and I think we had this conversation earlier in the week that Brooks kepka put himself in the hunt and we were sort of talking around why we think he he would be good going into the weekend and you sort of touched on the obvious that he doesn’t particularly like these types of major championships he doesn’t like we’re 21 under wins he wants to have one under win like that’s more his speed he wants par to be a good score because he knows mentally he’s stronger than everyone else well I can go out and I can make a par however if I gotta make 21 birdies to offset that one par that makes it a little bit more difficult for him the other side of it is Rory maroy as you’ve pointed out on numerous occasion have I’m gonna let you read the stat because this is your favorite stat when it comes to major championships he’s never won a major that wasn’t a double digit under par I don’t see that shoehorning Xander one way or the other if one under would have won this week I still think Xander probably would have been the guy and simply because he has that complete of a game that there’s nothing about his game that yeah he can go out and make 21 birdies but he’s also going to make a whole bunch of pars when guys are struggling and it’s become a running joke on this podcast and I I understand it it’s been a running joke among the folks whove who just one running J we have just one that I picked Xander sha to a major uh at at least one major championship every single year especially since 2017 us opena where where he burst on to the scene that the reason I did that is because you look at every major championship and you can’t be like well he’s he’s he’s really well suited for Augusta National but he can’t win a US Open type test or you know he can’t win a track meet at the PGA but maybe he can he can play in the wins of an Open Championship like the dude can play and has played well everywhere his game travels he can win track meets he can win shootouts he can win grindfest he can win where par is a great score like entering this year the US Open was his best major you know where you’ve got to figure anywhere between even and seven underpar is going to do well why is that the case well he’s a really good driver of the golf ball his iron play and I think we’ve seen that now that he’s hitting it so much further he’s coming into the greens with les Club has steadily improved as well and he’s yes he has hit uh to his word some some clunky pitch around the green uh in some pretty clutch moments today we didn’t see that he was really tidy on and around the greens and made the clutch putts this is a player who is built to last especially with these changes with Chris KO and he should remain a factor in the major championships in particular moving forward I mean he had six top fives in the majors entering this PGA there’s no reason to think now that that the lids off that he can’t pick off a couple more as well now you say that but I’m going to rewind and make you relive the moment on the 10th hole when he makes a bogey on what is I believe statistically it was the easiest hole of the week I’d have to go look that up and I don’t want to quote you because this is a family podcast and I believe you there were some things that came out of your mouth that aren’t Fit For A Family podcast but you weren’t quite as confident at that point that you probably are right now no because that was I think the mistakes that Xander is prone to making you think back into the third round on 15 he just sees the two- shot lead it seems like he’s finally in command of his golf tournament has either a Mis Club misjudgment whatever the case he air Ms it over the green it makes a quick double on 10 he just made another Birdie on nine he had seemingly seized control of the golf tournament again he’s two shots up he’s heading to a par five this is an opportunity for him to put his foot down what does he do he gets a little bit too greedy from the Fairway bunker leaves it out right in a dead in in no man’s land it walks off with a bogy on what is the easiest hole at Valhalla those are the mistakes that have cost a major champ ships in the past the difference this time is that his his ball striking is so much better and has improved so steadily under Chris KO in the five or six months that they’ve now been working together that he could rely on his midiron play dropped a great one in there on 11 dropped a great one in there on 12 back-to-back birdies all of a sudden that has been offset it and he stayed in front and that was the difference this time he still is prone to those uh uncharacteristic or sloppy mistakes but he has the fire power to offset them now when especially when it’s a test like this he could he could still Prevail I thought it was fascinating when he was talking about the idea of winning this what it means to him obviously it puts him into a different category like we probably shouldn’t but yes you win a major championship that puts you into a different category as a player however he still stopped well short of I’m not Scotty sheffler I have a long way to go to get to Scotty Sheffer I’m still staring up at Scotty sheffler and I understand where he coming from and I certainly appreciate the thought that man I need to keep working to catch up with that guy but if you look at it and not being a prisoner of the moment right now it doesn’t seem like they’re actually that far off and and take Scotty sheff’s week out of the mix like this was a crazy week for him and we’ll get into it a little bit more like clearly there was a lot of other things going on besides golf for him but when you just look at it from a statistical Point standpoint when you look at what he is doing well now all the things that Xander is able to do now that maybe last year at this time that you didn’t feel confident that could pull off I feel like he’s closer than he probably alluded to in that press conference yeah there was a great quote uh I’m probably going to butcher it but essentially he’s the sky shev is at the top of the mountain and with this major championship Victory Xander has essentially put one hook into the side of the mountain he’s nowhere near Scotty but he’s at least starting the ascent he said and I’m and I’m gonna enjoy this I’m gonna stop for a beer and Savor this but I’m nowhere near reaching the top of the mountain and look when you look at statistically yes Scotty Sher is the best player and he’s the best player by far from a Strokes gain standpoint on the PJ tour but but Xander hits it further he hits it a little bit straighter he’s a better long iron player he’s certainly better on the greens than Scotty sheer who has made significant stes in 2024 but it’s still not the putter that sander schafle is to me I think he’s a more complete version of Rory plenty of distance in the tank especially now with some of the changes he’s made he’s five years younger than Rory Moy like I think he’s better positioned to challenge Scotty over the next two to four years than Roy mroy is do you agree with that assessment oh I think so simply because of where he is right now and look we’re getting caught up and and getting a little breathless in the moment so I I do want to pump the brakes a little bit this is a very good win and it’s an awesome accomplishment especially when you consider the names around him it would be one thing if he was the top name on a leaderboard that otherwise didn’t have a lot of Fire power but there was a ton of Firepower behind him including like look it was way too little way too late but Scotty sheffler he played a very good round today Roy maroy played a very good round today again it was way they didn’t have a chance it was way too little way too late but there was plenty of people behind him that would have been there had he done anything to falter and I’m talking about really falter not bogey the 10th hole which which sent you apoptic over the edge but I I think he realized the situation he was in and certainly when you look at the tools that he has look at his his age and look at his ability to play not just one style of golf I think all of those things add up to what could be a fun rivalry that’s now 18 minutes in which we have given PGA Champion Xander Shuffle has flowers how about your column Rex what are you keeping track why we why why we measuring this I think that was proper due for sander shff as we now turn the page to your column on NBC sports.com golf on Sunday night which was about Bryson to Shambo the runner up he was big bad Bryson once again led the field by far in driving distance third off uh third Strokes Game T green started making some putts the theatrics whether it was uh the clutch birdies on the 7c hole to give himself a chance but whether it was the chip and Eagle on 18 on Saturday to inject himself squarely into the mix how do you put a bow on Bryson’s week as this is now back-to-back major championships in 2024 in which he has been a significant factor uh I I want to footnote this saying that you and I probably spent too much of this week sitting too close to aan Lynch and so he might have rubbed off on me a little bit here and I understand and this is probably going to be the last line of my column the way it’s structured right now Sunday at the PGA Championship is no time to Grand stand for peace and unity within the game of golf I get that this was not a live golf versus PGA Tour column however it is going to come across as that because when you my new argument is I always used to say golf was at its best when Phil Mickelson was at its best because look tiger was a quantifiable entity we knew week in and week out he was going to do something special he was going to do something fun and entertaining however when he was pushed that’s when golf was the most enjoyable and more times than not he was pushed by Phil Mickelson so whenever Phil was playing his best golf and he and Tiger Woods found them in the very very rare instances when they went head-to-head that’s when I remember golf being the most entertaining over the course of those decades the new saying or the new idea now is golf is at its best when you have both sides of the coin and by that and I’m not trying to make Bryson D Shambo out to be an anti-hero here like like he’s not the bad guy however as our friend Doug Ferguson from the a coined the phrase the PGA Tour has turned into a Marvel movie without any villains and and by that I mean that Scotty sheffler and Xander schaet and Victor hlin and colum Mora I keep going down the list they’re all really really good players they all play the game really well they got great smiles and they all say the absolute perfect thing like they are just they are cut from the mold of they should be NFL quarterbacks if they were a foot taller and 60 pounds heavier like they’re all like they’re all like Matt Ryan they’re all like Matt Ryan the former NFL quarterback like NFL quarterbacks are just conditioned not to say anything remotely interesting because if you say something remotely interesting there is the chance it’s going to get you in trouble so fast forward now to the idea that and I love this interview with Bryson tonight like look he was very excited he put himself in the mix but he said all week long he had his Bame and that’s not something that Xander is going to say if he’s in contention like that’s going to ruffle some feathers that’s some guys are gonna look at that roll their eyes and say Bryson is being Bryson but when you watched him today in the 16th hole and you just talked about Xander playing the 16th hole is the perfect example he hit it left of left and Bryson did not drive the ball very well this week he hit it left from left it creamed off the the tree and back into the Fairway he had 218 yard would you like to guess what what club he hit from 218 yard to 3 feet seven you can play along it was it was an eight iron and he hit it and he started literally dancing up the Fairway like again you canot like Bryson I get he’s a polarizing figure and I think that’s my point in all of this is the game is better when there are some sort of polarizing figures I think Brooks kka last year at the PGA Championship was very much a polarizing figure like sometimes he’s too cool for people I think some people even call him chill I’m not going to say who that is however the game needs that and again this is not going to be a column about preaching about we need unity in the game but it’s so much better when you have all of the top players together and that’s both sides that’s the Bryson D Shambo and the Brooks kkas and the Patrick Reeds of the world as well as the Scotty shefflers and the Xander shof but I almost like these small doses of Bryson a little bit more you know I I don’t think it’s any secret that he was not the most popular player on the PJ tour he could grade on some of his peers he could grade on some of the the the media members some would think that his act would wear a little bit thin but to get these sort of sporadic injections of like full Bryson and I think Bryson misses the stage as well and I think you know he I’m not sure I’m not saying he’s he took it for granted his time of the PG tour and playing on on a bigger stage in front of more people with the best players in the world but I’m saying I think he really appreciates it now sort of the Rarity that it comes and treating you know Live Events or his YouTube videos as kind of warm-ups and a chance to to grow his profile that way but getting to the major championships is where his legacy is ultimately going to be decided and to have the attention of the golf world once again to continue to be the fascination of golf fans but once again I think it’s even more special and I’ve come to appreciate Bryson’s athletic and competitive genius even more I think the less I see him and the more he’s kind of injected into these proceedings I think we did this probably two and a half years ago now on the on the Pod where we went down the list we essentially went down the list of all the players at that point who had join live golf and I think you actually had a noise for it you you’d come up with some sort of I would look on the leaderboard and if I was gonna miss them I would go yeah that’s right I remember there was a sound effect that’s it’s good that’s that’s high quality production on our end that that that’s how we did it with a that’s not going to work get them out of here and we went down the list and I think both the you and I were in agreement two and a half years ago that we were going to miss Bryson and not necessarily because look he can be difficult to deal with from a media perspective sometimes because he does get out there and sometimes he takes some heat for some of the things he says and then he wants to push back against the media for having the audacity to actually write about what he said however he was a count he was a Content fountain just a gift from the content Gods because every single round he had something to say that you were going to scribble into your notebook or you and I were going to run to our laptops and we were gonna plug in our mics and we were GNA sit and talk about it I miss that on a regular basis I’m with you I I think what has happened in golf is is what we thought is what we predicted was going to happen and that was going to make the majors more important because it was going to be the few times four times a year that they all get back together and we have sort of this circus this zoo that can celebrate and we can enjoy however man I miss Bryson I’m not going to lie I I don’t necessarily Miss Miss Brooks I got to be honest with you he he was difficult to talk to today and I remembered him yep that’s why I probably gave him the I won’t miss him but I think in Bryson’s case it’s just it’s it’s chef’s kiss perfect when he starts talking about the things that he talked about in the press conference and and he leaned into what you just mentioned how he has learned via his his experience on YouTube how to be a better ENT ER and look there aren’t a lot of guys out here and this leads to a conversation that we’ve had in the past that understand that not only is this a competition not only do you have to go out and be really really good at what you do for a living but this is also an entertainment product and part of this has to be performative and I think Bryson understands that better than most and I I’ve always taken exception Rex with people who just think you know Bryson is is just a showman or he’s just a clown no that’s not fair kind of just a just a kind of a caricature covered this kid since junior golf he has always been an amazing golfer like truly an amazing golfer a a generational ball Striker the way that he puts his Bat on the ball the the way that he has transformed himself the weight gain the slimming down the speed training the physics the the EPS the balls floating in Epsom salt like yes is a little bit out there do some of his things not work yes like the diet that he tried to go on where he was slamming five organ shakes a day he ended up heend ended up being allergic to that and had to had to slim down again but he’s not afraid to try things he’s not afraid to put the work into it and through it all he has always played exceptional golf he has played exceptional golf when he was skinny he’s played when he was shall we say beefy we’ve he’s played exceptional golf when he was shorter when he’s longer like he’s a truly gifted athlete who also has a knack for entertaining and stirring up the masses I’m with you I absolutely Miss Bryson and I can’t wait to see him again at the US Open did you did you just fat Shane Bryson no I said he was a little bit Hefty I think beefy beefy is the word to use to be clear let’s rewind and listen to it nope yep that’s it beefy fat shaming Bryson let’s let’s put that in the in the notes what other storylines stood out to you not just from this Sunday Rex I think we have to give Victor havin a shout out too I don’t think anyone uh would have expected Victor havin to contend for this title certainly not when you and I were sitting around waiting for a live from hit on Wednesday night and he was literally quite literally the last golfer on the driving range maybe even on the property here at Valhalla he ends up finishing third had an opportunity to potentially we may have thought get to the playoff at minus 20 end up three putting it but finished alone in Solo third what else was some of your highlights from today and the week uh I was actually sweating that one out because I think I threw that stat out there I don’t believe anyone has ever won a major championship when he closed the range down on Wednesday it’s it’s a very unscientific stat but I believe it’s still help us out I’m not sure if Randy Randy robbles Randy robl from Elias Sports viewer who who hit us up let’s see roughly 47 times a day with his emails and Randy lose my email please after tonight no more emails lose my definely get blocked definitely get blocked uh Victor is is one of the things I’m going to remember for this week for all the things you pointed out like look this at in the fall when he finished up at East Lake I didn’t think anybody could beat him he had won back-to-back playoff events he got to fourth in the world he looked like he was going to be an Unstoppable Force into the near future I hope I pray for his sake that he’s done tinkering when it comes to swing coaches that just go back to trackman Maestro Joe mayo and do what you do best which is ball strike and and don’t try to go looking for something better and I know that’s what makes great players great and I’ve always been a little defensive of people who criticize great players of looking into different corners and cracks to get a little bit better however in this case I think the sample size which is six months now proves that no like you’re where you need to be let’s just stay there and let’s move on colore aawa is another one he has not played his best golf over the last I don’t know you what are you gonna call it two three years right now he just hasn’t been himself he actually went back to his old swing coach as well and had a really good week I’m sure he’s disappointed but the way he finished today I think he made one Bogey and one par that wasn’t going to get it get it done on this golf course however when we look back at the 2323 PGA and with all due respect to Xander and Bryson and everything else that happened there’s only going to be one thing that we talk about and it’s going to be Scotty sheffler and we had a chance to talk with Scotty briefly after he finished up his round today and I think it’s he’s going to have to take some time to process this and we we talked about this last night the the fact that he talked to his lawyer before the round yesterday I think that clearly threw him I don’t think he had a chance to really process what had happened I don’t think it had sunk in that’s his words not mine until he talked to his lawyer on Saturday morning consequently not surprisingly he didn’t play very good golf on Saturday so it was a surreal moment I think there’s going to be a resolution on this sooner rather than later and we’re going to find out that Scotty really didn’t do anything wrong which is what we all believe to what we all thought but yeah I don’t think we I I don’t think if we look back 10 years from now we’re going to think of anything else besides Scotty getting arrested on Friday morning you don’t think we’re gonna think back to Victor havin coming out of nowhere to post a solo third finish of the PJ Championship I do I I do think he deserves a ton of credit here because he has faced nothing but criticism over the past five months of why would you possibly split from swing coach with which you had the most success from which you had in which you became a FedEx Cup champion a rider capiro a consistent major championship Contender Victor hin has always viewed swing coaches as sort of a transactional relationship it’s not these these lifelong friendships and relationships that we’ve SE have been forged with either you know Scotty Sheffer with Randy Smith maybe Jordan SP with Cameron McCormick Justin Thomas with his dad whatever the case may be whatever example you want to use he’s always basically looking for information then he processes that and then he uses it however he wants I think it’s clear now that Joe Mayo is a good fit and the information that he tells him can make him a better golfer but it would not surprise me at all if Victor havin in three to six months splits with Joe Mayo again and goes into a different direction Joe Mayo himself while talking to Kevin Van valkenberg of no laying up said as much that hey his relationships or his uh his personality is not for everybody he knows that he can grade on people uh and that was some of these things sort of run its course I am excited though about the prospect of Victor hin for the rest of this major champion ship season I think with one more week potentially of seasoning with Jo Mayo I think this could have been a different PJ championship this looked like the the player that we saw last year during the FedEx Cup playoffs when Victor havin was in full flight to your point Rex about Scotty Sheffer put your news hat on what is the resolution that you think we can expect or what is the latest uh from the Scotty sheffler case there’s an arraignment here in Louisville on Tuesday morning it’s 9:00 amm uh from what I’ve Been Told that arraignment well one of two things is going to happen either over the next let’s call it 24 hours uh prosecutors will drop the case against them that’s one of the things that I’m being told it’s a slim chance that’s going to happen what seems more likely at this point is they they’re going to push the arraignments out a week or two and then at that point they would probably drop the charges in a week or two before the arraignment happens and because of that I just think it’s a weak case from what I’m hearing it’s just not a very strong case the prosecutor is not going to bring a weak case against the world’s best golfer that’s only going to embarrass not just the prosecutor but the city of Louisville and the reasoning behind just pushing back the arraignment and then if you’re going to get rid of the case is be it’s just Optics at this point I mean because you again you have the world’s best golfer who was in jail for about an hour and then if you just cancel his arraignment less than 24 hours later it’s just not a good message to send to the community so at this point it feels more like it’s local politics than it is anything else but I I believe what happened here on Friday morning we may never get the full story but it’s seems like it’s closer and closer to Scotty sheffer’s version than to what was in the place report if the golf glove doesn’t fit you must quit so way good wrap up the Scotty shler case 2024 PGA Championship as we close the books on this PGA Rex and turn our Focus to Pinehurst next month which player who obviously did not win here Sans Xander chafl do you think the most pressure is on when we get to Pinehurst or should I say who are you most interested in seeing can rebound from this week and do something at the next major championship I’m going to go with the person that we haven’t mentioned yet and it’s going to be Rory mckoy where in it’s funny we we he came into this week and he he wasn’t the favorite but he was only a slightly uh he was only slightly second to Scotty who we all agreed was in a category by himself he had won last week at Wells Fargo doing the things that he does best which is just dominating a golf tournament with his driver and when Rory is playing his best golf that’s that’s the way he does it he came back to a golf course where he won his last major back in 2014 like all of the stars felt like they were aligned and then it seemed like the bottom fell out on Monday when the story broke that he had filed for divorce along with his wife Erica in South Florida clearly was distracting and that’s perfectly understandable clearly didn’t have his best golf this week however and the few things he said before he left I think there’s a level of confidence going into the Pinehurst and you can’t divorce yourself from the obvious it’s still been a decade he’s still scrambling like it’s been a long time and no one knows that better than Rory having played Pinehurst recently humble brag it’s hard to see that that one can come to fruition for Roy mroy if it don’t get rain and that Golf Course plays how it should which is firm bouncy very tight around the greens having to be so precise with your short IRS and wedges into very very small plateaus on those Dome shaped greens like I don’t see that one happening for Roy marroy to me the player to watches John ROM a miscut here at the PGA Championship on a golf course uh that should have been tailor made for his skill set certainly would have been a year ago he can he can talk himself into this one all he wants he can mention his top 10 that he’s had in every single live event but the facts are the facts in the tournaments that matter most that he has preparing for the most that he’s gearing up for the most he has completely Fallen flat whether was finishing out to the top 40 at the Masters in his subtle defense there or a miscut at Valhalla which was very surprising John ROM is not at his best right now and we don’t have an answer as to why is it because a live schedule has not properly prepared him is it because he’s taken his eye off the ball with all the guaranteed money we don’t know we’re we’re no closer to any sort of answer but I do think the longer this goes on whether it’s not winning on Liv whether it’s continuing to disappoint in the major championships the more I think it will become a talking point and it’s a talking point that he’s not gonna be particularly fond of didn’t we agree that we weren’t going to have this conversation until the Monday after the Open Championship that we weren’t going to to cast a final ballot on whatever I’m not casting any final ballot I’m saying my eye nope my eye is trained on John ROM just one eye or both eyes just one eye my non-color Blind Eye I’m gonna train on John ROM aren’t they both color blind but I do think John ROM given his history in the US Open that should be a sort of test that he’s built for and if he doesn’t perform again I mean boy the the Heat’s only GNA get turned up I mean you dismissed Rory’s chances on the golf course that you just played a few weeks ago for all the obvious reasons that this is going to be a very very unique and difficult test by any measure it doesn’t seem like John ROM is particularly close to being sharp enough to be able to compete on Cor John Romy is cor John ROM he’s got his a minus or B+ game uh I mean Bryon d d Shambo said he had his b b game so we see what that means I I don’t know again you might be right and I certainly I’m as interested as anyone to see how John ROM finishes out the major championship season because again on Monday or on the our P podcast Sunday night from Roy TR this will be a topic we’ll talk about the winner we’ll talk about the runner up we’ll talk about the happenings of the week and we will talk about John Ron’s major championship season for all the reasons that you just pointed out because we knew that him making that jump to live golf was going to be was going to put him in danger of not having that edge like he needs to he he lives his life on an edge and he can say whatever he wants and he and he can say that no no no I know exactly what I’m doing I can figure this out but we haven’t seen that up to this point I’m still I still want to give that two more Majors absolutely I think that’s only fair but it will be a talking point as we head into the US Open it is 9:00 p.m. eastern time here at Valhalla you have a Bryson call the Finish I have not yet started a Xander shle game story it’s certainly gonna be a long night with a 6 AM flight looming on Monday so end this podcast and the week with something very poignant Rex I’m going to end the week with the idea and it it it was not the week we expected it was going to be there was a divorce uh there was a very very tragic death and there was a detention and never before and and I don’t know how to quantify this like I was thinking about this as I was walking around the golf course earlier today and i’ I’ve done some weird stuff in my career and been involved in some surreal moments not sure that anything can really compare to this only because they were things so outside of the realm of what we consider a normal week like had there been some sort of crazy rules infraction had there been some sort of crazy moment where I’m just going to throw this out there where Xander chafl waited into a creek and bounced a couple balls off on his way to losing vanandel like that’s one thing you and I are conditioned to understand and wrap our minds and put those things into context I I the column I actually thought about writing tonight was to try to put this entire week into context and I think it would be so difficult because everything that happened that again I go back to the idea what are we going to remember 10 years from now really didn’t happen on the golf course no disrespect to Xander like him getting the victory is really cool and I think we all agree that this is what golf needs right now certainly I’m writing that golf needs Bryce and D Shambo to do what he did today but everything else that involved this week it it was was strange to the extreme so that’s a that’s a column angle that you scrapped it is should I Circle back around yeah so so you’re not gonna do that one I was thinking I mean Friday was among the most uh one of the craziest most confusing messiest days that I’ve covered as a golf writer I think back to uh the day in 2021 when tiger uh drove off the cliff and there was at least a couple hours where you wondered if this was life-threatening or if he was going to make it I was at concession like that was a very strange surreal day to be there where his PJ tour Piers many of whom idolized him were wondering whether their Idol uh was was going to make it that was very strange even last year’s Ryder Cup was uh pretty crazy with with Rory getting a fight with bones in the parking lot the 2012 Rider cup where Rory needed a police escort uh with Erica to get to the golf course in time to make his tea time like there has been strange surreal days that was certainly up there but had it not happened had we not had that sort of drama uh to to ur occur during the PJ Championship Maybe it would have been a very satisfying end the PGA but I think it just made that week that much more memorable that’s certainly what I’m going to remember from the 2024 PJ Championship as well all right we have some columns to write on this here Sunday night but we do as always thank you guys for listening not just to this podcast but each and every mini pod that we did through the tournament week we’ll of course do that dur the US Open we will proudly be unveiling a title sponsor for those Min pods good te it is going to be a delicious pun intended you guys are the drill m.com golf for our latest news notes and updates rex commom on Bryson mine on Xander we’ll back with our regularly scheduled program on Wednesday as we preview what should be Scotty sheffer’s expected start at Colonial thanks as always for listening thanks for the support talk to you guys in a couple of days