July 02, 2025

Ep144: Mark Allen 'A Miracle if Royal Melbourne is Ready', Top 100 Investigation Update, and Why a Scratch Golfer has 'Zero Chance' of Beating a Womens Tour Pro

58 minutes

Hold everything. We start today's pod with an update on Marks investigation into the debacle of the recent Top 100 Golf Course list. The person Mark suspected of being responsible, he has discovered was not, and he names the person who he says is responsible for it. Marks contact has gone to ground, and he is hitting a brick wall, particularly now he is enquiring about this named person.

Mark puts the invite to the Top 100 Course people, that we'd like them to come onto the podcast to discuss the list. Open invite. And to make it easy you can contact us here.

Mark also notes that he played Royal Melbourne this week and says 'It will be a miracle if Royal Melbourne is ready for the Australian Open'. Although the people there are confident it will be, Mark has his doubts having seen the condition of the course currently.

Nick and Mark discuss Aldrich Potgieter's driving, and how much power he has. We have a look at his swing sequence and break it down. Nick and Mark would love to see him play the Australian Open and run through the Royal Melbourne holes and look at the clubs he'd likely use for each hole given his power.

Tour Pro Jenny Shin tweeted this week about the amateur male golfers who think they can beat a women tour pro, could a scratch golfer beat a womens tour pro? Nick and Mark give their comments. Mark suggests that scratch markers could get a place in a tournament to 'embarrass them'.

Padraig Harrington had a moment to forget this week in Colorado in the US Senior Open, we listen to what happened and discuss.

Nick tells a story about being billeted in the US with his wife Alana when he was playing the Nike tour, and inadvertently wreaking havoc on their billets house. A dark side of Mr O'Hern that we've not seen previously is emerging.

We chat about the Irish Open, the Scottish Open, and the leadup to The (British) Open. And the BMW International Open in Munich this week, Nick shares memories of playing the tournament and of experiencing the Autobahn!

Top 5 from Nick today is on the Top 5 power swings in the mens game, and he plays a video of the most powerful hitter he ever saw - a golfer called Kyle Berkshire - who broke the golf channel hitting areas screen net once! Mark decides that we need to get Jordan Bovalina on the pod again to talk about power hitting.

Lots of feedback - heaps of wolfpackers raving about 7 Mile Beach Golf Links, question from Keith on caddies and majors, a suggestion from a wolfpacker about Marks doppelgänger, and a request for a score rating from Dazza.

PING globals from Nick are extensive as usual, lots of results to run through. And this weeks masterclass from Mark is on putting, and how to avoid topping your putts.

We're live from Titleist and FootJoy HQ thanks to our great partners:

Titleist, the #1 ball in golf;
FootJoy, the #1 shoe and glove in golf;
PING will help you play your best. See your local golf shop or professional for a PING club fitting;
Golf Clearance Outlet, visit them online here to find your nearest store.
Betr, the fastest and easiest betting app in Australia.
And watchMynumbers: download from the App Store or Google Play, and Southern Golf Club: with their brand new Simulator Room.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

...more

View all episodes

By Nick O'Hern & Mark Allen

44 ratings