The Shotgun Start

Tiger Woods is a Masters champion again. Andy and Brendan react to an unforgettable, legendary day at Augusta National. But not without first discussing results from the Haikou Championship on the PGA Tour China series. Then we get into Tiger’s win, our favorite moments of the day, and his future prospects. Andy changed up his worst-case scenario fears and explains a moment of panic when he thought it might come to fruition on Sunday. We discuss The Pace Car’s smooth round of 80 and also hit on Matt Kuchar’s continued FedExCup stranglehold. We are joined in the Bixby House by the PGA Tour’s Sean Martin and CBS Sports’ Kyle Porter for some lightning round questions on Sunday at the Masters. After a solid two months of dispensing facts, we wrap with some final Masters Facts of the Day.

It’s Saturday night in Augusta and Andy and Brendan have come down from the high of Friday night’s off-the-rails episode. They have some intel from a doctor on the efficacy or quackery of Jason Day’s balloon treatments. They bring you a quick recap of the third round as well as some picks for Sunday’s early start. They react to Tiger’s 67 and charge into the final Sunday tee time at the Masters, as well as the machine Frankie Molinari refusing to give up an inch at the top of the leaderboard. They also address Adam Scott messing around with a table top putting stance just minutes before teeing off in the final group of a weekend round at the biggest event of the year. They get to the news of Rory saying Augusta’s rough is having a negative impact on the competition. Updated odds and picks for Sunday’s final round wrap up this truncated edition as they prep for an early start of the last 18 holes.

An off-the-rails Friday night edition comes to you from the Bixby House recapping a wild day at the 2019 Masters. We begin with a story of Andy chasing a UPS truck down the streets in Augusta in the hopes of finding Lee Westwood. Then we get to the matter of Jason Day blowing up balloons as a medical remedy. We also hit on the Zach Johnson’s five-yard drive at the 13th tee and how one might play the hole if he’d been forced to from that spot. Then we get to the security slide tackle of Tiger Woods, which opens the door for Andy to reheat his take that there should be no fans on the golf course. We wrap with the sad news of Woosie’s retirement and hold out hope that it might be a Brett Favre situation.

Brendan and Andy come to you live from the Bixby House with a raw and unedited episode reviewing the first day of the 2019 Masters. We get in to the flurry of late activity on Friday Jr. afternoon with Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau, and Phil Mickelson going low in the last two groups on the tee sheet. We address Brooksy popping off at the haters on his weight loss and call out the SMU Physics Department after Bryson completely misused “terminal velocity” to explain why his ball didn’t go in the hole on the 18th. Then we get to the matter of Jason Day and if the simple fact of “being a good father” has cost him a shot at the Masters this year. We discuss Tiger’s 2-under round of 70 and what it might mean heading into the weekend. Then Kyle Porter appears to offer some hot takes on the “lost” Jordan Spieth. We do a lightning round of predictions on a few players who might miss/make the cut before wrapping with a Flashback Friday on the year of Woosie and a Masters Fact of the Day on a defunct opposite field event.

It’s Masters eve and appropriately, we roll out a preview podcast recorded with a live audience from the B. Draddy house in Augusta. We start by reacting to some of our favorite tee times for the first two rounds and what to expect from some of these featured groupings. Then we move to the course and assess how the weather and conditions have changed this 2019 edition and who benefits the most. Pat Reed’s dinner menu gets a quick review. Then we welcome in Billy Draddy, a golf fashion icon, to discuss Masters scripting, mock necks, and some legendary Masters fashion looks and catastrophes. In a quotables segment, we run through some highlights from Masters week so far, including comments from Bryson that he’s figuring out how the club shaft works and comments from Brooks about how this is a “recovery” week following a puzzling diet change. We wrap with some dream scenarios we’d like to see come Sunday afternoon and our picks to win the green jacket.

It’s the most heavily wagered and biggest fantasy week of the year in golf. So we broke off a special Paulie’s Picks episode to discuss some Masters pool strategies, one-and-done options, and daily fantasy plays. We also run through a lightning round, throwing names, including that of a diminutive Welshman, at Paulie for intel and fade-or-play judgments. Some interesting props are discussed, such as the over-under for highest round, another occasion to discuss the diminutive Welshman.

Greetings from Augusta! After 95 episodes, Brendan and Andy meet again to record their first ever in-person Shotgun Start. They begin with a review of the season’s first major championship, the ANA Inspiration. Then they get to the final round of the ANWA, appreciating what we got to watch over the weekend from the women at Augusta. Corey Conners’ big win in Texas is hailed after a season of banging the drum for improved status for our fine Canadian friend. We get into the machinations of how a guy with such lofty FedExCup status needed to Monday qualify to win. The Jordan Mixed Open, of course, is not lost in the shuffle as we examine that fascinating experiment. After a thorough review of the weekend, we begin our look forward with a few things we’re looking for early in the week at Augusta National. Finally, we wrap with a bucket of Masters facts, including the one about the time an amateur had a guest up to the crow’s nest.

It’s Friday! We begin with some thoughts on the first two days of the first ever Augusta National Women’s Amateur. We offer some critiques on the odd sequence of a practice round wedged in middle, the need for an 11-for-10 playoff, and if this is the right week on the schedule for it. Then we move to a discussion on the early action at the ANA Inspiration and the Texas Open, which provokes a Flashback Friday on how the ProV1 left Justin Leonard, and a potential legendary career, behind. In news, we hit on the revelation that Tiger Woods will be doing a series of matches with GolfTV and discuss what that might mean for the future of golf networks in the States. Then Jeff Sherman, expert handicapper and oddsmakers of the SuperBook and GolfOdds.com, joins for a quick segment on what the market looks like for next week’s Masters. We wrap with multiple juicy and enlightening Masters facts of the day, including one on the amateur who was thrown out of the Tournament for potentially salacious reasons and a body of water named after a famous 16th century explorer who allegedly crossed the grounds.

It’s a Friday Jr. miracle! With the Masters bearing down, we bring you this special edition to help you get dialed for the first men’s major of the season. Joe Peta, famed author with a prior focus on advanced baseball analytics and betting, shifted to golf and published a 2019 Masters Preview. It’s out on Amazon now and we wanted to pick Joe’s brain about next week’s Masters and what went into his work. He brings it as we talk Tiger, Spieth, Rory, DJ being more like Matt Kuchar, and course changes to Augusta. We finish with a mind-blowing segment on the man known as Sir Nick. Thanks to Joe for the time. You can buy his Masters preview, a fast and fascinating read before the tournament, on Amazon.

This Wednesday episode begins with a rundown of the schedule and a surprise contender from abroad for Andy’s event of the week. We get in to the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, reviewing the format, and offering a different venue we’d prefer to see for the first two rounds. Then we hit on the ANA Inspiration and how it might be a model for The Players to wedge its way into the first major of the year. We ponder schedule difficulty and whether some amateurs should have to choose between Augusta and the first major championship. Then we get to the Texas Open, discussing the telecom-branded golf course and the field before proffering some absolutely fantastic Fan Vote Friday Jr. choices. Some bizarre language in a Masters scripting press release is panned. We close with Paulie’s picks for the Texas Open and a Masters fact of the day that unearths an amazing personality who could be considered a forerunner to the hands-on imposing style of Justine Reed.