U.S. Open Thursday: Rory plays, sounds like Scottie in taking early lead | Golf Channel Podcast

In this edition, the guys discuss the opening round of the 124th U.S. Open, focusing on Rory McIlroy’s changed attitude, Scottie Scheffler’s slow start and Bryson DeChambeau’s bold approach. #GolfChannelPodcast #GolfChannel #USOpen

Chapters:
0:00: A sloppy start to Scottie Scheffler’s U.S. Open week
04:00: Clean strikes, conservative strategy keys Rory McIlroy’s bogey-free 65
07:00: Bryson DeChambeau was a polarizing pre-tourney pick. How about now?
13:00: Patrick Cantlay, Ludvig Aberg off to promising starts
17:30: What else stood out from Day 1 at Pinehurst
20:00: Rex has some North Carolina BBQ takes to get off his chest
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U.S. Open Thursday: Rory plays, sounds like Scottie in taking early lead | Golf Channel Podcast
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hello and welcome M this edition of the golf General podcast with Rex and lav it was quite an opening round to this 124th US Open tied for the lead after 18 holes Roy mcroy Patrick Klay a host of players recks stacked up behind them uh not discluding ludig o Berg who’s one shot back as well as Bryson n Shambo who came in with a three under 67 putting him two shots behind the three just came into uh the flash area not everyone came into the media center more on that in just a little bit what was your takeaway Rex from the big three of Roy maroy shooting 65 sander shle coming in at even par 70 and Scotty Sheffield the world number one winner of five of his last eight tournaments turning in a one over 71 I think Scotty’s round surprised me the most I mean look we we had him in a tier by himself he was clearly the one runaway favorite for all the right reasons and he talked about it in his post round interview a little bit touched on the idea he felt like he actually scored halfway decently compared to how he hit the ball and he put himself in a lot a lot of bad positions on this golf course today and if you do that the numbers can add up really quick so relative to the rest of the field and I think the scoring average is almost it’s over three Strokes over par right now so relative to the rest of the field he’s still right there in it he needs a good round tomorrow but that one surprises me the most secondly second surprise and only slightly behind is that Rory is right there because we talked about it yesterday in the pre-tournament pod the idea that the one thing that Rory does well his driver when he’s playing well it all stems from his driver he can overpower golf courses he can do things with the golf ball off the tea that a lot of other players most other players can’t do didn’t seem like it was going to be the most important thing around this golf course but if you look at his stats he is top five in Strokes gain approach to the green he is top five and scrambling those are the areas where he exceled today I mean don’t get me wrong he hits some Majestic drives and the drive on 12 was pure Artistry like I I wish we could run that just in a loop over and over again because it was just a beautiful shot but it was really the other parts of his game that delivered today and and I love the idea and he leaned into this earlier in the week and he re reiterated it today that he plays his best when he Embraces sort of what the US Open is and that’s a very very difficult test just to follow up what you said on Scotty Sheffer I mean very UNS Scotty Sheffer round off of the t uh skot are currently ranked 116th Strokes ganed off the te found just six Fairways some of those were in really poor positions and he was just not he was just not able to attack the golf course is not the the the proper terminology here but he was not putting himself in a position where he could even just have sort of a stress free round it always seemed like he was scrambling I didn’t putt particularly well either we did not get Scotty sheffler for very long afterward in fact he didn’t talk to reporters uh just simply did A Serious XM interview he was literally holding I think a seven iron in his hand just like chipping uh just sort of swinging it trying to get his feel clearly itching to get to the range with his swing coach Randy Smith and try to figure out what what bothered him in this opening round I think if you’re a Scotty sheffler fan you have to be a little bit worried Rex because in all likelihood the usj is going to be tight in the scws on this setup if 500 par is leading after round one it would not surprise if we sat here on Sunday evening with the winning score somewhere around 500 par 5 six 700 par is probably the most likely scenario Scotty and Zander shaffle as well were all paired together for the first two rounds of the Masters as well and Rory said that he was uh looking forward to being with Scotty in that round to see how he handled not just himself but how he sort of plotted his way around the golf course I heard in Voice tonight while speaking to reporters a lot of Scot isms talking about stoicism talking about conservative talking about patience talking about um being very diligent in in his preparation that sounds a whole lot like Scotty sheffler H so I think Roy certainly took some cues from playing with him two months ago and I think everyone has seen during this winning stretch just exactly what Scotty shler does well that was exactly what I saw from Roy mcroy in this opening round 15 Greens in regulation seemed like he was too putting for par he filled it up with two birdies in his last three holes to give him a little bit of momentum now as he heads into the easier conditions on Friday morning at least it’s expected to be uh so he can go out potentially uh feeling good about himself what do you think about uh Rory building off of this round now as we look ahead to fra no I think you’re right and goes back to when tiger was playing his best golf everyone wanted to do whatever it is that he was doing the way he warmed up the way he he worked out on the r everything that he was doing they wanted to replicate it and Scotty is sort of in that category as now and I I’ll agree with you 100% that it seems like Roy is just a little bit more at peace this week than maybe what we’ve seen before and it seems to me maybe there was a Tipping Point at the PGA Championship because that was the 10y year anniversary even though the timing’s off because the pga’s played at a different time of year but 2014 was the last major e won that was the PGA Championship and maybe that allowed him to sort of shed some of these thoughts that the pressure is on me he actually talked about it earli in the week he was asked a pretty poignant question about the idea roughly how do you how are you going to gauge your career from from this point going forward and he kind of reflected a little bit on the idea that if you’d have told the kid from Northern Ireland when I was 10 years old and wanted to be the world’s best golfer that I’d be in this position with my resume I’d be pretty happy with it and he also feels like he has another 10 years and a lot can change over those 10 years so yeah I think you’re 100% right a lot of this has to do with the idea that he’s clearly playing well we’ve seen that week in and week out he’s top 10 in Canada he top 10 before that at the PGA Championship I think all of these things are cumulative but the bigger deal the bigger issue right now seems to be he just seems to be in a better mindset and that’s probably going to serve him well going into the weekend because as we’ve addressed time and time again about this golf course you’re G to make mistakes you’re going to end up in a bad spot you’re probably going to make a big number the trick is going to be how you respond to it and he seems to be responding really well yeah Roy seemed very much to be in control on Thursday you know it’s we talked about it with with with Tiger Woods in respect you can have this great game plan you can have this strategy mapped out perfectly but if you are unable to execute the shots it really doesn’t matter Roy seemed to be obviously in in control of his golf ball with a pretty sound coach as well being very conservative off the te he ranked 30th uh in all driving distance stats so not just the two measured holes where he was sending driver so I think that that lends itself to the theory that he’s he’s sort of playing into position finding the middle of the greens and taking birdies uh when he can get them I’ve I’ve been struck rexed by by Rory’s uh adopting of the US Open methodology and he he admitted that you know in the first 10 years of his career really didn’t like this sort of test where it’s it’s going to be gritty it’s going to be dirty it’s going to be nasty there’s going to be there you know it’s G to be sort of a a slug Fest and and a stress Fest that was really not Rory’s uh sort of pretty game that he possessed I think he’s such a more well-rounded player now that he is able to sort of rise to the challenge uh and what the golf course presented I I I thought that was a very mature approach that he’s had sort of U to love golf course architecture more than he has in the past understanding what the architect uh was trying to do and sort of embracing this style of play as opposed to sort of being just one-dimensional where it comes to just bomb it goug it birdie it and and move on and this goes to I alluded to the shot on 12 I’m sure you’ve seen it it was a stinger driver and I was texting back and forth Paul McGinley who had posted something on X he said it that the height of that drive was about 25% at what his normal height would be it was a thing of beauty I’ve never seen that out of Rory before it was very much a tiger s shot we all remember we all know that we have that sort of seared into our Consciousness but when it comes to Rory normally he’s just hitting those High booming Majestic draws this wasn’t that at all this was a controlled in the moment this is what the golf course is giving me and you’re right I think in this particular case there’s not a lot of guys that walked off that course today and truly can say to themselves I had fun out there yes it was hard and yes I had to work yes mentally I’m probably burnt out a little bit right now but it was clear that Rory thoroughly enjoyed that and he did go back to the idea I mean when he won the US Open a congressional it his words not mine it was set up soft it was set up much more quote like a PGA Tour event and it was and up until really until I think he won the Open Championship at Liverpool that was sort of the knock against him that he could only win a major or a tournament on a soft golf course that performance today was nothing like that that performance was a work of art also wanted to touch rex on Bry n Shambo who shot a 67 uh in this opening round I mentioned him in the preview podcast as being sort of a polarizing player there did not seem to be a consensus on how Bry nambo would be able to attack uh this golf course in his pre-tournament press conference on Tuesday Bryson mentioned that he was going to be conservative and that he was going to have to hit four or five six irons off the te and not send driver apparently in game time that is not what Bryce Shambo decided to do LED the field in driving distance on on day one uh led the field in Strokes gained off the T did were you a believer in Bryson before the week and did anything that you saw on Thursday Le you believe that he can capture his second US Open title uh the answer to the first question no not really for the reasons I just laid out forer Rory and we did it in the preview podcast the idea that what they do well didn’t seem to be a great fit for this golf course I mean you go back to what Martin kimer did and i’ I’ve thrown this set stat out a couple times now but what he did well was he hit hiss really well and he one puted 49% of his greens if you want to break it down statistically that’s what’s important no one ever looks at Martin Ker’s driving and be like ah he overpowered that course back in 2014 you could probably say the same about Michael Campbell when he won here Payne Stewart it’s just not a golf course it seems like it it lent itself however in retrospect when you watch what both of those players did today they were clearly on their game and Rory did miss some Fairways early and he end up getting some good breaks like let’s be perfectly clear anyone who hit it in the Scruff in that Sandy area today by and large seemed to dodge what could have been awful lies I I think I think you told me there was one player that that had to take a drop out of that sort of Razor grass and that’s not at all what we expected we expected it to be kind of a crapshoot you go in there and it’s 5050 you’re going to be able to advance it that wasn’t the case so it will be interesting going forward if that’s what we see at on a regular basis but when it came to Bryson no I I don’t think he was particularly on my radar and I know he wasn’t on yours because it didn’t seem like this was a perfect fit for him don’t be lumping me within the Bryson Skeptics I was taking more of a a wait and see approach as it related to to Bryson don’t run scared now um I wasn’t I wasn’t thrilled with the idea but but I mean Bryson is driving Bryson is driving it so straight for as far as he’s hitting it I mean this is a continuation of what we saw at Augusta National it’s continuation of what we saw at Valhalla he’s he’s hitting at 3:30 and he’s hitting it a lot of times down the center stripe I mean he missed just two Fairways when driving accuracy is going to be such a huge key if he continues that for the for the majority of this week the price the Shambo is hitting 12 of 14 Fairways while hitting at 330 yards he is going to win this golf tournament because he is going to have such an advantage with the short clubs that he is hitting in to Greens that are going to be increasingly firm I think a lot of the discussion around Bryson and why people may have been a little bit skittish to uh sort of tout him as a as a favorite this week was really on and around the greens Bryson n Shambo historically has not been a very good I I would say pitcher of the golf ball where he needs to get the ball Airborne it’s it’s very much his swing path it’s the clubs that he’s using uh they’re longer he he he loves to hit these driving shots that check and roll out that is exactly the sort of shots that you actually want to hit at at Pinehurst what he’s not skilled at is sort of the thick rough you lay it open and and sort of cut underneath it those are the shots that give him a little bit of trouble historically this I think plays right into his hands he actually had a a poor putting day uh which was surprising for Bryson Shambo he’s he’s always been an above average underrated putter just 53 feet worth of putts made in the opening round I think he’s a very dangerous player as we look forward to the rest of the week how about your boy Luda ludvig oberg in his US Open debut coming off the strong Masters performance of course then a miscut at the PGA Championship what stood out to you about the 24y old uh I’m G I gotta flow throw a flag here we just gonna gloss over Patrick Klay who’s tied for the lead is this because like I’m I’m trying to figure out what what why you’re driving the sh the way you’re driving the ship because Pat had a really really good round it was early in the day it seems like it was a long time ago and it probably was what do you want to say this is this is an open phenomenal round what do you want to say about Patrick uh I’m going to spin this a little bit ahead and let’s say we get to the end of tomorrow and the leaderboard is kind of similar to what it looks like today imagine the juicy storylines that we could come up with with Patrick Klay and Roy maoy playing against each other on the W on on the weekend at the US Open with everything that’s swirling around golf when we how about how about a little backstory uh oh okay no no I’ll do that I I wasn’t even trying to be Co about the idea I think it’s pretty well known that Roy M wanted back on the PGA towards policy board after he stepped down last fall and he wanted back on and by all accounts it was Patrick anley who did not want him back on now my understanding the reasons behind that is because of the Optics and what that would look like to the membership I don’t know if it was personal or not I don’t feel like it was personal but the narrative at least within the circles of the game is that they don’t particularly like each other and this goes back to last year’s Ridder cup and what happened on the final green on Saturday afternoon and and everything that transpired in the parking lot between our colleague por bones Mai who just happened to be in the wrong spot and Roy maroy and it’s just juicy storylines and I’m just curious why you’re glossing over them this is normally the stuff you dig into uh I am it’s a little bit premature I believe for that I’m also a bit skeptical that Patrick kley will remain in this position for the duration of the just two top 10 finishes this year has not played well coming into this historically the major championships he has also not fared particularly well to hear Patrick kley say he’s been going through some swing changes did not say what the swing changes were with his swing coach Jamie Mulligan but he said that if you if you’re working hard and you’re working on the right things eventually it pays off apparently it did in the opening round just one bogey he made it on the very difficult uh par three 15th hole he did sign for his 65 I’m just not sure particularly when he’s teeing off on Friday afternoon when the conditions could be baked out that he will be there by Days End okay that’s fair enough and you asked me about lude VI my boy I was very excited about that the story that I wrote this afternoon on nbcsports.com golf is the idea that we keep talking about first with luk Vic it was his first Rider cup it was his first PGA Tour win back in the fall it was his first Masters I mean first major at the Masters this is his first first US Open every step of the way he plays like a veteran he handles himself like a veteran I don’t know if this is sustainable you talk about you look down the leaderboard which one of those guys will be around on Sunday because he hasn’t exactly been a model of consistency over the last few weeks however I do love the storyline there as well simply because here is a fresh face newcomer with so much potential and you can just see how his confidence is growing and in twofold when it comes to this particular Golf Course he actually said the 2014 US Open was the first one that he remembers really watching and getting into Martin kimer clearly it was a European connection there and he also played the US amateur here I think he had vot Advanced to the second round of match play if I’m not mistaken back in 2019 so there is a really cool connection there then and I would love to see how this weekend transpires is ludig playing hurt don’t know I asked him specifically about it there’s been reports that he had some sort of a knee issue and he said no everything is absolutely fine and the way H the ball today and the way he’s moving around this golf course it seems like that’s the case but we’ll have to see nice little C out there uh Rex what else stood out to you from the day one as we finish out this mini pod from round one of the US Open obviously the 78 from Victor havin stands out to me as well as the three late Bogies from Brooks Capa to turn in an even par round of 70 my pick to win K morawa also in the house at 70 as well what other headlines caught your eye on this Thursday well let’s just go to the bottom of the leaderboard then that seems to be fun when we’re doing this Phil Michelson 9 over 79 that hurt certainly Victor Holland I think you just mentioned eight over 78 keep going down the list at Cam Davis who’s been playing pretty well seven over 77 our boy sah thala 7even over I can keep going on and on and on it was this golf course JT JT shot 77 as well kind of gloss over that one Tiger Woods four over although given the stat I just threw out there that the scoring average was three shots over Par Four over doesn’t seem that bad this is the time of year and and I hate to be the one that watches the ambulance because that always has a sort of this morbid feel to it to me but this is the one I look forward to because of what’s happening today this is the USGA at its best it’s on a classic Golf Course where it’s a proven Championship venue and it doesn’t take a lot to bring it right to the edge and they’ve done it because I don’t know if I didn’t hear one player today actually I think Kore Kawa had some comments about sort of the consistency of the sand in the bunkers but outside of that I didn’t hear one player complaining about it and when you have a scoring average among the best players in the world that’s three shots over par you almost always get somebody complaining about it I think it’s a testament to how cool this golf course is and why the USGA decided that we’re going to make this a staple in our venues and it’s like it’s much was TV to me because the rest of the year it seems like all we’re doing is racing to 20 under par to see who’s going to win the event this is actually just going to be a race of attrition uh keep in mind this is I think exactly what you and I thought would happen in this opening round the usj was not going to get crazy with some of these whole locasion in the opening round you have 156 players many of whom are final qualifiers into this there’s some amateurs in the field pace of play was already dreadfully slow sort of tricking up the golf course is not what they were particularly interested in in doing on Thursday or Friday get back to us on Saturday let’s see if there’s any more ketching or hand ringing on Saturday that is when I think they’re particularly going to be putting the screws to this golf course and seeing I think this winning score again you’re still looking at a five six7 under par but I do feel like with some of the names that we have a top this leaderboard in particular Roy mroy and Bry n Shambo I think we’re I think we’re set up in store for a very exciting Friday all right that is going to do it for this edition golf CH podcast with Rex and lav you guys know the drill M sports.com golf for the latest news notes and updates re you have a sausage finger up thank you’re G ignore the sausage finger no I was going to do one hot take before we get out of here I ran up by you didn’t seem very excited about this but I’m going to throw it in here really quick because I know how important keeping the mini pods mini is to you however I’m gonna do this and please North Carolina leave me alone like I I don’t want to get in in some sort of tur four with you on this one this is just my opinion and I will tell you North Carolina Barbecue is not my thing I don’t like the Tang I don’t like the vinegar Bas it’s just not mine and our colleague mark sball and I were talking about it today and I’ve come up with the perfect formula I like pull pork from Georgia I like ribs from Memphis and I like brisket from Texas I can’t disagree with I can’t disagree with anything you just said oh so you feel the same way about North Carolina I thought you were gonna run and hide and I like that no I like the Tang it wouldn’t be my first choice I think it’s a nice change of pace I’m not a huge sweet Southern sticky guy I think that can also grow tiresome like if that was your your your sort of one model uh I think you’d get sick of that real real quick I think probably if you were to do something over and over again you would go Texas style where it’s just very heavy salt and pepper uh very rich um but i’ I’ve I’ve been a big fan of of Memphis ribs I love Georgia Styles uh pulled pork and I love the heavy pepper Ford flavor that you get from Texas barbecue as well again I don’t dislike Carolina barbu I like the occasional tang and and and Twain that you do get from the vinegar base but again it just wouldn’t be my first choice uh not a fan I’m gonna go ahead and put it out there just gonna go with not a fan and I’m going to say and I’m shocked you didn’t do this Georgia mustard base is the best like you of all people I’m shocked I’m not from Georgia I merely spent four years there H to the Max from the Harvard of the South all right that is officially going to be the end of this Golf Channel podcast with Rex and La Rex has to Scurry off to do 90 seconds of bad television on live from he’ll be back there again on Friday night in the meantime MBC sports.com golf I will have a story on Rory and Scotty dueling in the sun all right thanks for listening thanks for the support we’ll talk to you guys on Friday night