With U.S. Open on deck, Scottie Scheffler shows off special gifts – again | Golf Channel Podcast

In this week’s edition, the guys discuss yet another stirring victory from Scottie Scheffler, what the meeting between the Tour and Saudi PIF means, and what to look forward to early in U.S. Open week. #GolfChannelPodcast #GolfChannel #PGATour

Chapters:
0:00: Scottie Scheffler posts win No. 5 of the season
8:00: Why he’s (easily) the man to beat at Pinehurst
13:30: Takeaways from first in-person meeting with Tour and Saudi PIF
23:00: How will Scheffler’s run be remembered in this era of division?
26:00: More bad news for Jon Rahm ahead of the year’s third major
29:00: Thoughts looking ahead to the first few days of U.S. Open week
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With U.S. Open on deck, Scottie Scheffler shows off special gifts – again | Golf Channel Podcast
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hello and welcome into this edition of the Golf Channel podcast with Rex and lav well for the first time since Tom Watson in 1980 we have a five-time winner on the PGA tour before the US Open that of course is Scotty Sheffer who closed out a hardfought victory on Sunday by one shot over kin MOA Rex my opinion that was a great final round Duel at the tournament that I believe epitomizes everything that is good about the PJ tour from a good field to a good course to a good host to a good Championship test what stood out to you from Sunday and the week that was at the Boral I was watching the final round and I was workshopping two separate hot takes and I realized that they were competing hot takes so I had to stick a pin in one of them so here’s what I when I realized that Scotty schler only has Shot Two overpar Rounds on a Sunday this year on the PGA tour and they happen to be his last two Sundays on the PGA tour it’s Colonial and then today and I’m trying to Workshop the idea that huh maybe he’s not quite as sharp maybe he’s not where he was before but then you looked at how hard that Golf Course was and the memorial has become more of a US Open than the US Open is that’s that’s that’s the hot t i hot take I ended up landing on because I was like it it was almost three Strokes over par for the field average on Sunday it’s going to be the second hardest course on tour this year behind only Augustin ashal like it is whatever Jack Nicholas wants wanted it to become this is it this is this has to be the final version of okay I’m going to punish these guys as hard as I can because you had arguably right now and I guess you could put Victor Hollin certainly in the conversation but between colore Kawa and Scotty shuffler they are by far the two best iron players on in the game right now you’re not going to find anyone that’s hitting better hitting their irons better than they are and they couldn’t hit a green to save their lives from the middle of the Fairway from a bunker From the Rough they couldn’t do it and you realize that if these two can’t do it like maybe that Golf Course is just a little too Juiced up so I I sort of was wrestled off the idea that okay my hot take was going to be yes Scotty won but he clearly is a shell of the former self that’s not the case at all it was just a really really hard golf course and you have to tip to cap to Jack because he gets pretty much now every year exactly what he wants and that’s a winning score in single digits and guys scratching their heads and no one being able to hit a green regulation I mean your bad take of the Year cannot be yeah can can can never be overtaken from the fact that Anthony Kim you said deserved a special invitation to that one can never be topped still leaning into that one in the year4 we will touch base again on that one at the end of the your podcast no doubt on December 31st I I mean this was this was like a perfect golf tournament to me we had a we had a perfect winner we had a great leaderboard we had a great final round duel on Sunday like the weather conditions were perfect you had just six players breaking par I mean k Mora was one of those I think he was the I think he was the only player in the last uh either 12 groups or 12 players who broke par I mean that’s exactly what you want to see and he still shot 71 like no one was going out no one was was going out exactly what you want to see actually getting yes that is exactly what I want to see because if you paid attention to Scotty sheffler’s round now the stats do not look very good you know he hit just seven of 14 Fairways he hit just 10 Greens in regulation but if you’re paying attention like he was hitting it by and large exactly where he wanted to oh yeah and a couple times he was just over the back uh or or just off the green that’s why Greens in regulation is a little bit of a deceiving stat but he was spot on for the most part in the final round and just wasn’t uh being rewarded for it that is when I think you can see the totality of Scotty sheffer’s game where he’s not just this Premier driver of the golf ball he’s not just the game’s preeminent uh iron player I think over the weekend in particular like you saw on Saturday when they with triple like his bounceback of ability I think really speaks to his mental game the ability to to face adversity overcome adversity to bounce back I think shows a certain level of grit and competitiveness and a keen ability to stay in the moment and so when you put that all for the totality of Scotty Sheffer it’s no surprise that he is by far Leaps and Bounds the best player on the PJ tour and you look at his record now Rex particularly in the last three months Bay Hill TBC Saw Grass Augusta National Harbor toown mirfield Village I mean that’s a that’s a major a semi- major and three signature events on the PJ tour I I mean he’s doing it against the best of the best on the absolute hardest most complete test that players are facing all season long like you cannot help but be blown away by by the players Scotty sheffler I don’t know it was in the PGA toy notes package and I’m going go ahead and attribute it to Jack Ryan just cuz I feel like he he does them even if he’s not at tournaments my guess is he’s sitting around on Sunday night telling everyone in his living room to be quiet that he has to grind out a notes package except of course at the Open Championship where we have talked about he seems to want to mail that one in but the one note that stood out that was in the notes package was only one other player has done what Scotty has done right now and that’s when the Masters uh when Arnold Palmer when beill I mean I’m sorry when Memorial and the PLAYERS Championship Tiger Woods that’s the only that’s the only comp we have right now and you and I both hate to do that like we go to Great Lengths not to compare anyone to Tiger Woods because it’s always an unfair comparison but in this particular case it’s really the only competition he has and against himself to a certain degree it it’s it went down since I looked but he was late in this round and he was picking up almost 14 Strokes on the field T green like it is a dominant performance this is what we saw last year when he was sort of in the middle of his putting Wes and he still kept finishing runner up he still kept finishing third and you’re like if he just puts average he’s going going to win and that’s pretty much what he does now he I mean he’s not top 10 in putting but it’s good enough to go with that Sublime ball striking that he can separate himself even on a golf course like this and I always like to do the relative thing because you would say well he’s not a very good putter well relative to the other Putters on the PGA tour to be fair and in this case he’s still number one strok G TD green that’s relative to the best players on on the tour and on probably what I would argue the hardest golf course of the year will be not statistically Augusta ISE of it that shows you everything you need to know about where Scotty sheffer’s head is right now I mean I think you and I talked before the PGA Championship about the opportunity there was and I think this was your take that having a kid so many changes in your life that this was maybe the door being open and then of course what happened at valala on Friday getting arrested how long is this going to hang over his head well that was closed last week none of it seems to take a toll he still seems to be the same person I’m sure it was a pretty emotional week between the combination of having that case dropped against him by the Louisville Police Department and the Grayson Murray where he got up and spoke I believe it was on Thursday there was a moment of silence for Grayson and a bunch of players and Jack and the commissioner were there very emotional week and yet he still just battles through it I mean he is still just a dominant performer he and I feel like you you kind of glossed over it like four months ago Scotty sher’s putting was all anyone could talk about and yet he has not just made it into kind of like neutralized that weakness he’s actually turned it into a strength he was a top 25 putter on very difficult greens that were lightning fast and very challenging like he didn’t he didn’t you know make everything he looked at but he made the putts that he absolutely had to make it was the 16-footer for par on on 16 it was the the dicey little five-footer on 18 to close out the victory like those are the putts that four or five months ago everyone’s like SC sh no chance no chance he’s making this one like he’s completely transformed that part of the game and so you know I think Phil Kenyan obviously deserves a lot of credit Scotty sheffler putting in the work and the time uh and energy to to go to the the Mallet style Putter and make those changes and Implement those changes and and really turn that into a part of his game that I no longer feel like is a is a crazy Bugaboo and so now as you spin it ahead to the US Open I mean Scotty’s a three to one favorite next Clos is is Xander schof and Roy M at 12 to1 like is there anything not just course fit but in Scotty’s game that leads you believe that he will not win the US Open next week uh it’s probably too early for joke so I’m not going to make a traffic joke because it’s probably too early in the game for that but no there there isn’t anything that’s going to stop stop him to be honest with you he’s the heavy favorite for all the right reasons and I am going to continue to revisit this and it’ll only get louder if he does win next week at Pinehurst because imagine effective Brian Gillis is going to be feeling some heat if Scot Sher goes on to win the US Open well and then we get then we go to the Open Championship and now we’re talking about well he could have won the single single season Grand Slam seems ridiculous plus the players plus the champ and two of the Signature Events two of the invitationals with that Jack’s Place and Arnold Palmer I mean all of the things that could have transpired and I I hate to put more heat on Brian Gillis because something tells me he has more than enough heat on him right now but man is not going to that’s not going to be a good story that’s going to land very very squarely on his head if we get to the point where he goes into the Open Championship and somehow he he’s able to win that and he won three of four and the only thing that stopped him was a traffic stop and getting arrested I mean can you imagine like I actually I actually feel like Pinehurst is the best fit for him that he has actually that Sky sheer has had in the majors in 2024 having played the golf course you’ve covered this will be your third us open now uh actually no excuse me your fourth yeah at at Piner 99 2005 2014 and now 2024 like there is such a premium on distance control and accuracy with your iron play because of the Dome greens like they they may appear big in in size but when you actually get up on the putting surface like there’s there’s actually not that much room to land your golf ball and that is the Hallmark of Scotty’s game is distance control it is not sexy being able to say that you got 177 yards and hit it on the spot but Scotty shord does that better than any player in the world and then assuming that players do not hit a lot of greens because they are so difficult to hit it looks like the forecast is actually looks to be pretty hot and steamy but we should get some firm and fast conditions which I think is pretty exciting if you miss some greens like his short game is otherworldly can play a myriad uh he can play Myriad shots around the greens with a variety of different clubs which I feel puts him at a sign significant Advantage versus some of the players uh the top players who I think are pretty one-dimensional when it comes around the greens where they grab their 60 degree and you saw like a mirfield village like I don’t think mirfield Village was testing a short game like a Pinehurst would where you have to really tight clipped Bermuda lies like if you get in thick Rough Around The Greens you just lay the 60 open pop it out like K morawa did that over and over he did that to to Great Effectiveness Pinehurst you’re not going to have that some holes you’re going to be chipping with a seven iron some holes you’re going to be putting some holes you’re going to be using a three-wood some holes you’re going to be hitting a 60 and hitting like little Little Nippers like that’s that’s what you want to see and I think Scotty Sheffer uh with his arsenal of short game shots like it’s a perfect fit best iron player and probably now that that spe that no longer holds holds that title is probably the best scrambler as well well and Piner is going to be such a unique test in all of God I mean you would compare it to some of the links courses of course we play for the Open Championship but even among the US Open venues pineh her stands alone because of the reasons you just pointed out and you’re right were you I’m not sure if you were on the conference call last week with the USGA um but they talked kind of at length about yeah yeah yeah it was well okay so you heard it so they talked at length that Golf Course is actually gonna play shorter probably this time around than it did the last time in 2014 when Martin kimer won there and I think that’s by Design I don’t know how you interpreted what you heard in that meeting but it sounds to me like this is the what they want is to prove the point that a well-designed golf course doesn’t have to be 7600 yards long that you can have a decent winning score whatever that is they don’t want to talk about par but we all know it’s somewhere around eight nine 10 under par would would be probably where they want to be you don’t have to have a 7600 yard golf course I think I got the impression that they want to prove a point and so you’re right this is going to come down to very very firm very very fast conditions and how much creativity do you have around a green you’re right you’re not going to be pulling out the 60 every time you miss a green it’s going to take a lot of nuance it’s going to take a lot of imagination and certainly Scotty has all of those things I’m so jazzed like I I get I get up for every major championships I’ve been looking forward to this one all year having played it at mediate day about a month ago like only heightened my anticipation much much more on Wednesday we do our official US Open uh preview podcast uh which obviously you can catch wherever you get your podcast much more to come on that front reck some news over the past couple of days the transaction subcommittee of the PJ tour met for three hours with the Saudi public investment fund on Friday Tiger Woods was in attendance Roy maroy uh was among those who logged on remotely Rory when speaking to reporters on Saturday called it quote constructive productive collaborative definitely encouraged those are his words exactly to me hearing that rex that was a stark contrast from the PJ Championship just less than a month ago with Roy M saying that he had the least amount of confidence yet that a deal could get done he was speaking to reporters remember then uh in the wake of Jimmy Dunn’s uh uh removal or excuse me stepping down the PJ tour policy board what did you make of Roy’s comments and what have you heard on that front with the first inperson meeting between the transaction subcommittee which is kind of hammering out the initial negotiation with the Saudi piff I I think Rory getting on the subcommittee on the transaction subcommittee is actually eye openening for him and and it’s and it turns out to be eye openening for us because Rory among everyone who’s involved with this is clearly the most outspoken he’s he’s the one who’s willing to go out on a limb and say things like yes I’m disappointed I wish there would be more movement on this or yes I’m optimistic I feel like we’re heading in the right direction I think the last few weeks since he’s been put on that committee have probably opened up his eyes to how complicated this is and we touched on it last week when we did the sort of of the June 6th you know remembrance of of what it was like then and how everything has evolved everyone wants a deal or no deal like everyone wants some level of resolution on this whatever that’s going to look like going forward however you you realize now that this isn’t just about two people sitting in a room signing a piece of paper and agreeing to come to some sort of terms this is a multi-billion dollar deal the Department of Justice is going to be involved you have to figure out how you’re going to meld all the different products it’s live golf it’s the PGA Tour it’s the DP World Tour you’re going to have to figure out what happens with the players who join live are they going to be welcome back do they even want to come back like and that’s not even getting into the finances of it like if you want to break it down I have someone who’s much much smarter when it comes to these types of deals than me that sort of helps me along in this and we were talking last week about it and he goes you can’t imagine how difficult one of these deals is and then you add the element of just the personal nature of what has transpired between the public investment fund and essentially Jay monam the PJ tour commissioner who was who’s the front man on this and then you have to Wade through all of those complexities to try to get to a point that you can agree to some sort of terms and then and then you hope that you have the votes on the board of directors so all of these things I mean I I think everybody wants to see some sort of resolution but I I I’m starting to come around to the idea that this was never going to be a quick process as a matter of fact I mean I think now in retrospect December 31st is almost comical I’m not quite sure we’re GNA have something by December 31st of this year at the rate we’re going but if you hear Rory who probably has has been again the most outspoken and the most lose quite frankly in this issue when he has that level of optimism I I think it’s a step in the right direction yeah I mean it certainly seems month to month like they’re certainly heading in the right direction you could have some sort of you know substantial progress significant progress being done potentially by the end of the PJ tour season perhaps as we stretch into the fall as well I was struck and you are much deeper in this paying much closer attention to this than I am but Rory kind of talking about the two parts of this deal how the transaction subcommittee of which Rory is now a part is has been meeting three times a week with members of the piff not exclusively Yasir but representatives of the piff to kind of hammer out the investment piece of the puzzle you know how much are they going to put in and and and how how that’s all going to shake out Friday’s meeting Accord to Rory was more about a vision for the future of golf what it looks like what it can look like how can the Saudis if they’re dumping in $1.5 billion how can they get a return on that investment seeing how live golf is not taken off and has has produced that to me that takeaway thought okay if you’re sitting down to come up with the vision of the PJ tour and how could how could the piff get a return on their investment to me team golf is a huge aspect of what the future has to look like because because think about this even if you bring back all the Live players right if if Brooks If Bryson DJ Patrick Reed whoever you want we’re in the Memorial tournament that alone is not going to produce significant substantial value for either the us-based investors with strategic Sports Group or with the piff like that alone is not going to be enough there has to be other ways to generate to generate revenue and to to turn this into a profit that that it to me it it has to include team Golf World concept and that that is such a huge piece that has to be figured out that even even besides the financial spot which is obviously tricky especially with the doj looking into it but formulating a vision for what golf is going to look like in 10 20 years like that’s going to take a while because everyone’s got everyone’s got an idea well and I think Roy has touched on the idea of a world tour and we’ve talked a lot about this and I think that’s probably a direction that if you and I sat down with a blank piece of paper we could come up with a 15 or 20 event schedule with the best events around the world with the best players and I’m I’m not a big fan of 70 player Fields but we can come up with a number that works for everyone you’re right that that product is a better product than what certainly we have right now on both sides the LIF side and the PGA Tour side so I think that would be a step in the right direction to your point you have to create something new something better I always go back to the reference that the NBA created this inseason tournament and at first everyone kind of rolled their eyes at it and then the Lakers went it the first time around and the Media Partners like it and the advertisers like it and so what Adam Silver was able to do was create something out of thin air that created more profit more money so yes that’s exactly what this is going to whatever PGA Tour Enterprises is going to become that’s exactly the road they have to go down I was taking taken by Rory’s sort of insistence now at this at this juncture that Liv Goff is probably going to live on its own into the next at Le at least the next three four five years until we figure out exactly what the endgame is going to be that makes more sense to me because to your point you’re right that’s something over and above now you have to figure out how to make it all fit together and you have to figure out how to make sure it’s not oversaturated and you have to find a way to make team golf more acceptable I I went back to I I was kind of doing when I was doing the June 6 story last year and one of the things that Jay said at the time the original proposal from the public investment fund when they wanted to part with the PGA Tour before they even started live golf was we’ll give you 5% of the league and a team and that clearly wasn’t a good enough carrot you know dangling at at the end of it I’m curious now in retrospect that if you could make this work that actually could be a pretty profitable model for the PGA Tour so now of a sudden you have created something new and you have created Avenue streams because not only do you have to feed that money back to piff you also have to feed the money back to SSG so you have two private equities that you have to keep satisfied on some level and you have to keep the player satisfied so it’s not going to be an easy road to go don’t you think Rex because there’s so clearly two different portions of this deal the financial aspect and then the vision for the future of the sport don’t you think there can essentially be a second framework agreement where they come to terms with the Saudi saying okay we’re going to put in 1.5 to3 billion in investing in this new PJ tour Enterprises they can they can they can formalize that the doj could be begin its inquiry you can get that ball rolling and then in the interim say while we hash out while we hash this out while we formalize this Live players are welcome to play on the PGA tour like open that Gateway get that ball rolling and then you continue the process of kind of evaluating what the future and formulating what that can look like in 2026 and Beyond like I I don’t I don’t know why it has to be all at one time it feels feel like you can PC mail this together with certain formalized steps along the way while also kind of reintegrating the Live players and making the PJ tour product even stronger I don’t know why that would be a framework agreement I think that would just be it’s essentially framework agreement 2.0 it would essentially be the definitive agreement is what that would be you’re right and would it be a working model would there be things you adjusted absolutely there were things that were adjusted after the fact after the framework agreement was signed by both yeser and J Monahan they adjusted it they took out the the the no poaching Clause after it had been signed because the doj didn’t like the Optics of that so yeah I I see what you’re saying right here and it makes total sense as does the idea that everyone can keep moving in the same direction everything doesn’t have to come to a screeching halt and we don’t have to rebuild the house or rebuild the plane while it’s in the air do use the analogy that I always seem to beat up on you can do this over time you don’t have to snap your fingers and make it happen all at once and to your point about the financial aspect of it my understanding is probably the easier part of this because you’ve already set the market that the tour has been valued its own valuation of12 billion and you’ve already come up with terms with SSG for 1.5 billion and another 1.5 billion if they want to invest more so you have the percentages of what that that minority investment looks like so now all of a sudden you do have a starting point at least as it applies to what the Department of Justice would want to see and probably what the Saudi want to see it’s just it’s just so PJ tour that they would they would want to just package this all in one just Monster press release which they would probably botch the headline on and and roll it out on CNBC or whatever the case may be where you have the financial aspect and the vision of the sport you all cram it into one press release and and and try and have fans decipher it that way I was thinking Rex and and I want to get your hot take on this one sky sh are just won five times on the PGA tour when all this is said and done in five years time will we view this as one of the best stretches of golf since Tiger Woods is is Scotty viewed as a player for the ages and a legendary figure or in five years time will this be viewed as a weeken PJ tour product and that he was not competing week in and week out against the very best players where everyone from a Brooks to a Bryson to even players like a Taylor gu or a David poge or an Adrien were not in the mix week in and week out which would bolster the strength and the depth of the PJ tour how do you think it’s going to be remembered uh I did pretty well at the Masters uh how many how many Live players were there 18 players I believe e easiest easiest big tournament to win um sure and let’s let’s see what happens next week at the US Open we just got through gushing about he’s clearly the favorite he’s in a tier all by himself I’m sure he’ll be the favorite going in to the open Champion Championship I I don’t see it that way but I guess I I I that sounds to me like something that going to only get heated up on social media because you’re right to your point you could say that both products are watered down and the only time they’re not is during the four majors so take everything else out of the mix I I would argue I guess my counter claim would be take take all the Live Events and all the PGA Tour out of the events out of the mix and let’s just compare them in the major championships when they’re going head-to-head on against each other on the same golf course and I would still say it’s been a really dominant run for him speaking of a player who certainly looked like could be able to potential foil is that not the were you expecting something different I KN I knew you weren’t going to I knew you weren’t going to take a stand but but a player last year Rex who in in our opinion it was not voted that way by the PJ tour players of course uh was the player of the year in 2023 John ROM uh had his another setback this past week at the Liv Houston event WD during the second round with an infection in his foot apparently has like a cut between his toes sounds very painful uh this obviously is on the heels of what has been a very disappointing season in 2024 has not won on the live golf circuit also tied for 45th in his master’s title defense and then missed the cut at the PGA Championship how big of a deal is it to you that Romo is not at full strength after what has already been a disappointing major season I think it is a big deal because we discussed this at length and I think you and I both keep coming back to the same idea let let’s reconnect after Royal trun let’s wait and see how the major championships play out because again sounding like a broken record that’s really the only place you get a true litmus test of where someone’s game is because it’s the only time you have the top players together again now with an injury and I’m sure he’s going to at least try to tea it up next week at Pinehurst but if it’s that you’re right that sounds awfully I mean did just sounds awful a cut between your toes it’s infected yuck just gross I can only imagine that’s not going to help him be competitive next week we’ve already thrown the question out that maybe live golf isn’t for him and I’m not quite sure if we can answer that yet but the early results are you just pointed out didn’t play particularly well at the Masters in his title defense missed the cut at the PGA Championship hasn’t exactly set the world on fire out on live golf we know John ROM as commodity he runs a little hot he he needs to have that edge to him and I’m not quite sure he’s getting that edge teeing it up on the third hole in a shotgun start loud music playing wearing shorts everyone’s high-fiving I’m not sure that’s the environment that brings out the best and ROM that could change I could see how he would evolve and and learn how okay I need to channel my energies in a different way my bigger concern now is if he’s injured going into the US Open that just gets him one step closer to where I think we’ve all set the Benchmark and we’ll talk on Monday after R TR and if that if this season is what we think it is if it plays out the way it’s played out already so far then yeah there there is going to be a lot of criticism and I would say justifiably so cup between your toes foot infection and the sandy soil of pineur number two that walk around barefooted no but it’s it’s it’s certainly uneasy footing especially when you get off the fairways like that could be that could be excusion painful uh his his agent John ROM’s agent your your boy Jeff CI did say that he fully expects John ROM to te it up at Pinehurst uh he’s expected to speak to the media as well uh on Tuesday I’m I’m with you as it relates to John ROM as an observer of the game I I I just find it to be a bummer I mean this is a player who was in the prime of his career who in my opinion was the player of the year in 2023 looked like he could have something very compelling going Scotty sheffler versus John ROM we’ve been deprived of that he has not played well in 2024 while Scotty sheffler has taken his game to new heights as a as a golf Observer I just think it’s been a bummer of a storyline you and I are both going up to Pinehurst on Monday morning you via airplane trying to get those miles me trying to get that mileage thank you NBC Universal we should both though Rex be on site around noon eastern time again we’ll be doing the preview podcast on Wednesday but over the next couple of days what are you most looking forward to seeing at the beginning of US Open week how many text messages did you get angry from fellip from colleagues that that that were angry that Tiger’s talking tomorrow Monday at 10 amm I don’t have any I don’t have any other friends in the media so none uh I think you have one our friend at the ESPN he certainly called me he wasn’t happy about it uh I got I got quite a few texts I was pretty surprised and maybe it’s just the gwa role or whatever the case may be everyone was really upset about it my response was I won’t be there in time for that press conference I you’re speaking of Tiger Woods by the way this is Tiger Woods speaking at 10: a.m. eastern time on Monday Monday of a major week he is he is receiving the Bob Jones award highest honor for the USGA however I think this goes to show just how far Tiger’s fall speaking this is kind of like the Latin America amateur like participant this you would you would you you would presume this would be like a Nick Dunlap spot as opposed to to a tiger wood spot uh well just before him as web Simpson so that’s probably will be a better comp I love Webb but to be fair okay the North Carolina former US Open Champion we’re gonna throw him right in after tiger I I get it does it speaks to the expectations like we’re gonna walk in and ask him do you think you can win this week and he’s going to say of course I can and he’s going to say all the things that he’s always said but you and I both know the question we really want to ask have nothing to do with golf we want to ask how the meeting last week with Yasir went we want to ask about his thoughts on the rider cup still hasn’t committed or not committed to being the next Us Rider Cup captain there’s like a dozen other questions I would throw out there before I ever got to oh yeah H how’s your game how’s your body feel like I’ve never been I’ve never been less interested in how he’s going to play because we know how he’s going to play he’s not he he could make the cut sure but he’s not going to be competitive like that’s just that’s just the reality of a situation you’re right all all the questions you want to ask him he’s actually not going to answer he he does a terrible job of actually like letting people inside his thought process and what he thinks about a potential deal what he thinks about the future of the PG tour should look like what he thinks about the rer cup captaincy like these are all these are all pressing questions of the time and he protects his inner sanctum unlike any player we’ve ever seen and I had this conversation with a player a few days ago saying it seems like we don’t know what goes on behind you know the the the closed doors of the boardroom but the palace Intrigue here is it seems to me between Tiger Woods and Patrick Klay who are both on the policy board and very influential voices that they are not on of the same mindset when it comes to whatever is going on between the PGA Tour and the public investment fund so my question to both Tiger Woods and Patrick Klay would be and your heart of hearts what’s the best case scenario for you six years from now what do you want the landscape to look like you will be done with golf so what do you want to leave behind and I I’d like to hear an honest answer from both of them to your point we we wouldn’t get an honest answer from either one of them but that’s that’s kind of where we are right now because these are they’re at the center I I would argue at least in my career in my lifetime covering the PGA tour of the most important decisions facing professional golf at this level and we have no idea what either one of them is actually thinking our colleague Brentley Roman will be on site for Tiger Wood’s press conference hopefully Brentley uh since he’ll be like one of four media members in attendance ask some very good questions for us I’m looking forward to seeing how these players uh begin to attack and prepare for The Unique challenges that you will face at Pinehurst number two because when you start to think of the other contenders for the US Open in the nons Scotty sheer division tier two you might say on on on ESPN’s tiers like Rory’s iron play has not been a strength this year I think Xander chafl uh he he played reasonably well his ball strike was not up to its typical standard at mirfield Village he has a couple days to iron that out as well but like K morawa tends to be pretty onedimensional around the greens despite how well he’s playing Victor havlin we know about his well documented struggles with the short game Bry a Shambo that’s not a strength of his game as well Brooks kka he shot 65 on Sunday in Houston otherwise had a pretty uh another pretty pedestrian week uh unlive golf as well John ROM inry question ludvic oberg dealing with uh I think a strained MCL in his knee something that he’s going to be bothered with for the rest of the season if not Scotty then who that’s a question that I look forward to answering over these next couple days all right that is going to do it for this edition of the golf CH podcast with Rex and La want to get a special shout out to our Man Mark Frasier in Australia appreciate the uh the kind words the warm messages we promise folks daily podcasts each and every day from the US Open hopefully fingers crossed we’ll have good Wi-Fi signal and connectivity in the media center so we can get those podcasts uploaded as quick as possible so you guys can digest our hot takes from each and every tournament round at the US Open as mentioned we’ll have the preview podcast as well on Wednesday afternoon that we’ll be uploading and you can always go to MBC sports.com golf for all of our latest news notes and updates from the US Open talk to you guys in a couple of days thanks for listening thanks for the support enjoy the start of US Open week drive carefully