The Shotgun Start

It’s July which means it is now the European Tour’s time to shine so this holiday week episode begins with a discussion of the Irish Open at Lahinch, the classic links layout on the west coast of Ireland. We lament its weak field strength but contrast it with the dartboard tour’s venue in the upper midwest. Andy also worries that the new compacted schedule is eroding interest in some of these events. We have some early intel from the Sticky Note Classic with alarming reports that this “former sod farm” will be pillow soft with at least one disturbing backboard setup. We also discuss Rory Sabbatini choosing to pass on this week’s Challenge Tour event in Slovakia, where there’s a 783-yard par-6 that momentarily leaves Andy speechless. In news, we hit on Brooks Koepka’s new logo, a sneaky great tip for U.S. Amateur qualifying, and a study on the king of golf’s national opens. We wrap with some @FriedEggPaulie picks for the 3M Open, some insight on what this new venue compares to on the old schedule (hint: another Palmer course), and a few tips for the Irish Open as well.

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After a full weekend of golf we begin in the obvious starting point: Zach Johnson’s tumble out of the top 100 in the world rankings and if his Kaboom Baby! equipment is to blame. Rory Sabbatini’s top five finish in Detroit then leads to a serious take about how his switch in nationality has screwed the International team at the Presidents Cup. Then we get to Nate Lashley winning the Rocket Mortgage Classic, an event that was an unqualified success in a market that deserved a tournament. Lashley’s win and his incredible story also provokes a take about the Tour’s forced and overdone marketing being borne out of insecurity about its product. Then we get to someone who’s been the beneficiary of that forced marketing: Cam Champ. We discuss his backboarding attempt on Saturday, the Tiger-esque coverage treatment, and how it’s all a bit unfair to him. Doc Redman’s big week is reviewed, but not without a rant on how FedExCup points are mis-allocated. We finish by ripping through Steve Stricker’s dominant major win, the Andalucia Masters, the LPGA’s Arkansas party, and a glimmer of hope for the “Methheads” in Utah.

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This Friday episode begins with a discussion of the Pace of Play report that Andy published to strong reviews after a couple weeks of hype on the podcast. We discuss a few key findings and some recent comments from Bryson. Then we get into early reactions from Detroit, where the ball is flying, the dartboard is receptive, and the scores are low. We bring up the new addition to the contrived three-hole stretch canon (Bear Trap, Snake Pit etc) on Tour, and the preposterous set of circumstances that have to occur to trigger a charitable donation from it. At the U.S. Senior Open, we discuss the soft conditions that led to some record low scores, the pesky birdhouse that cost Darren Clarke two penalty shots, and Colin Montgomerie’s grocery shopping at 7-11. Flashback Friday focuses on a past Buick Open winner in Michigan who said he was going to use his massive winner’s check to buy some new pots and pans. We wrap with a dissection of Slugger White’s extremely troubling comments on a refusal to hand out penalty strokes for slow play.

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This Wednesday episode bobs and weaves and meanders through the schedule for the week, with many relevant and irrelevant digressions. We begin with a hot tip on Justine Reed’s latest efforts to get Pat Reed back on track up in Detroit. Then we discuss BMW leaving as title sponsor of an FEC Playoffs event and the amount of money required to land such a sponsorship. Then we get into the Tour’s return to Michigan with some course conditioning intel from a member on the ground, how it might play, some disconcerting grandstand setups, and a notable FEC omission from the field. We also lament the failure to keep an event in DC alive. We argue Valderrama for the Andalucia Masters is the kind of course that is so bad it’s good. At the U.S. Senior Open, we review the Notre Dame course and a potential Stevie Fountains of the Senior circuit to back this week. We question the Web Tour’s bizarre cross-country schedule. And we wrap with the big reveal for the Tour’s fan vote Friday options leaving Andy apoplectic.

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After 11 long years, Chez rule returns to the PGA Tour. We celebrate Reavie’s win at the Travelers, marveling at his consistency and where he could go from here. Should he be on the Presidents Cup team to mix it up in Melbourne? Also from Travelers, we discuss Brooksy’s ambivalence, Keegan’s ugly finish, and Jason Day now taking orders from Stevie Williams. On the LPGA, we get to Hannah Green’s first win and first major and what it means for Aussie golf. The Euro Tour’s event in Munich gets a quick review and we update the curious Race to Dubai standings. The Senior event in Madison and the turnout (with highly questionable attendance figures) for the celebrity sideshow prompts a discussion for more varied and smaller markets on Tour.

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As they say around the office, “It’s Friday!” and we lead off with Louis Oosthuizen’s big crossover night at the NBA Draft. We then head to the weekend with a quick check-in on some of the early action, including the setup for the Women’s PGA at Hazeltine. We discuss Michelle Wie’s tough opening round, her comments about maybe not having much golf left, and her career as a whole. Then we get to the “Dartboard Tour” action in Connecticut, where 41 players are within three shots of the lead. We review some of the scores from the quartet of newly turned pros and hyped college prospects, as well as Brooksy taking a “major” mentality and promptly tumbling to the bottom of the leaderboard. Andy reveals some hard data from his day out timing the group of Bryson DeChambeau at the U.S. Open, and the numbers are NOT kind for one so-called physicist. In news, we discuss the Challenge Tour player that ran out of balls, prompting a flashback about the time Tiger almost ran out of balls during his epic 2000 U.S. Open win. In the prepared flashback Friday segment, Andy brings the goods with a reminiscence on a Bubba Travelers win and how a certain diminutive Tour pro was hitting 3-wood into the green in the playoff while his two competitors had lob wedge.

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Andy and Brendan are back with a slightly delayed Wednesday episode turning our attention away from the week that was at Pebble Beach to a new full week of golf around the world. We begin with the next major, the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Hazeltine, which gives Andy an opportunity to lament the uninspired venue choice. Then we get to the Travelers Championship and a discussion of that loaded field and how they hustle to be one of the best events on the entire schedule. We also hit on the pro debuts of Matt Wolff and Viktor Hovland in Hartford as well as the double-wide cart paths at TPC River Highlands. News of the re-branding of the Web Tour to the Korn Ferry Tour, which we discussed a month ago, is dissected in great detail and we wonder what it means for the historical references to this tour. The Champions Tour is in Wisconsin this week, giving us an opportunity to review the divided loyalties of Steve Stricker and also provokes a two-minute uninhibited laughing fit about a ridiculous ringtone of a certain media member that kept going off in the media center last week. Lastly, we make some picks for Travelers and Andy delivers a take about proceeding with caution when we watch the four young studs, including Wolff and Hovland, this week.

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We are live from Monterey at the Bixby House for one final podcast at the U.S. Open. We begin with Chez Reavie’s day at Pebble Beach and Andy’s attempts to convince broadcaster Jim Gray to board the Reavie bandwagon up until the very end of the championship. We then get into Gary Woodland’s career-defining moment and if it means more could be on the horizon. We relay some on-the-ground scenery of the mania that was Brooksy’s fast start through the first five holes. A blimp rant takes up a solid portion of the middle section of the pod. Rory’s “tanimal” look gets a review and Urban Meyer’s inside-the-ropes etiquette is also critiqued. We conclude with a final assessment of the Pebble setup and an overall grade for this U.S. Open.

We are live in the Pebble Beach media center with our Bixby steeped coffee for some instant reactions to the third round and setting the scene for Sunday. We get into some of the conditions of the course now that we’ve hit the weekend and things appear to be firming up, especially around the greens. We discuss the notion that the pins were too easy and how that outcry quickly dissipated as the round wore on at Pebble. USGA chief setup man John Bodenhamer checks in with a comment on how the course is playing before Geoff Shackleford joins for a segment on the setup, what could be better, and some crackpot scenarios that could play out to make the final round fun. We finish with another round of contender or pretender on Rory, Gary, Chez, and others before making some final picks to win on Sunday.

Brendan and Andy check in at the midpoint of the national championship and discuss the work of the day, specifically Andy’s timing exercise of Bryson DeChambeau’s group late in the second round. We also review the leaderboard and play a little “pretender or contender” with some of the star names and not-so-popular names on the board. We then go over disappointing MCs and some unsurprising MCs. Andy rails against the par 71 setup at Pebble and we ponder just how much the number will move over the weekend, or if the current 9-under mark may come back over the final 36 holes. What kind of conditions can we expect and how far down the board do you go for realistic chasing options? Rickie’s big mitts, Reed’s club snap, and Phil and DJ’s course management also get reviews.