Five Things About the 2024 Open Championship with Andrew Cotter | The Fried Egg Golf Podcast

Andrew Cotter joins Andy Johnson to preview the 2024 Open Championsip at Royal Troon. The two dive into the biggest storylines going into the tournament, including the history of the golf course, how Rory McIlroy will bounce back after the U.S. Open, what to expect from Bryson DeChambeau, how Scottie Scheffler’s week could define his 2024 season, and more.

Listen on Spotify and Apple here:
– Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2xLXC4iof5YLhrV2hGc7w0?si=cATIZa2mTAyuPC-6nHpU-A
– Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/five-things-about-the-2024-open-championship-with/id1131723994?i=1000662155531

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all right I am excited here to uh welcome in Andrew coder a TR native a uh you know a legendary broadcaster in his own right um for this five things episode about the Open Championship uh we are heading to Royal trun uh this will be the 10th time uh that trun hosts the open um the last time we saw it was actually the Women’s Open Sophia pop off won the women’s open that year it will always hold a special place in my heart TR will because it was uh I was in a hospital room during covid uh with my one to two day year old daughter watching Royal trun at the we hours with her sleeping on my chest I will never forget Royal TR because of that I have uh warm and fuzzies even though I’ve never been there for Royal trun because of the pop off Women’s Open um but a uh a a pretty solid list of winners when you when you roll roll through there even underrated ones like Weiss coff I think Stenson in 20 years will be an underrated winner at trun um to go along with some big big name winners at trun uh such as Tom Watson and uh Arnold Palmer and I mean Bobby lock was a was a big time player as well so um I think Andrew starting off i’ I’d love to hear a little bit about the dynamic of of growing up in trun and and and and what it’s like there um yeah so TR uh I just call it TR I can’t yeah um yeah it’s it’s where I grew up I grew up just a couple hundred yars from the first te um and so I was a junior member there um but the junior section when I was a junior was absolutely terrible I mean it was they they had no time for juniors at all col col Montgomery’s father was the secretary at the time and I got on famously with him now he’s you know a really nice guy but as a secretary he was just a he was he was he didn’t like I don’t think anyone like Juniors there’s like quite a lot of um clubs I don’t know what it’s like in the US but they frown upon Juniors and so I was a decent player not you know I was playing off about one or two when I was 16 17 and I never got to play the old course we weren’t allowed to play the old course so we used to play the Portland course which is you like this and it was originally well it was redone by Al McKenzie so it was and then it kind of got lost in the second world war a little bit and became a bit of a Corruption of that but it’s a really good course but anyway we weren’t allowed to play the old course so went and joined Kar at brassi which had amaz it’s the other side of TR had an amazing Junior section like Gordon Sherry you remember Gordon Sherry won the amateur huge guy 6’8 Ginger hair um he was he won the amateur championship and played in the Masters and Alan Reed won the Scottish am anyway I’m digressing a little bit so Ro TR was it’s kind of where I grew up and where I started the game um and so I’ve been a member pretty much for since the age of three or four I think my parents joined me up when I was three three or four that’s when I started playing and I’ve never really got any better than when I was five or six anyway so i’ plateaued at that that age um but trun is yeah tr’s home I don’t live in Scotland anymore I’ve lived in England for 20 years but I’ll I’ll for the open I’ll be staying in the the house I grew up in 200 yards from the media center it’s just a dream that’s amazing that’s amazing um do you have any good uh colum Montgomery father stories no just but I I to your point I would I think there was like a seismic change in the way Juniors were treated in American golf after Tiger Woods yeah but like there was like I think that was one of the hurdles for the game it’s it’s so funny when you think about like the evolution of the game of golf uh in America because I think it was it was super welcoming early on like it was it became this Amer people were worried it was going to be America’s past time over baseball but then I think the world the world war the Great Depression everything stalled it and it came out I think that’s where American Golf went wrong in 1950 or whatever it came out of this like hibernation and it was a game that is so far away from I’ll just call it your game The Scotts game um and that’s where we got this warped as as a is it it’s a sport of big business and sponsor ship and that’s what it became in America and certainly you know that’s a side to it in in in Scotland in the UK as well it’s it’s for a lot of people it’s an aspirational sport not as much as it would be in lots of other countries around the world like in trun for example there are six golf courses you know it’s a town still only about 15,000 people but there are six golf courses and three of those are munis you know there’s uh there’s the darly locker Fullerton so I grew up playing those courses as well so golf is as much for the people playing in jeans and t-shirt and just car you know heading out to play in the mun as it is for the people who want to be the members of Royal trun or or whatever it might be as a sort of aspirational thing and you know having been to Scotland if you go to the east coast as well St Andrews it’s a it’s a sport for all it’s very different to sort of down round London the home counties as we call them in the UK where it is quite an aspirational sport it’s about being a member of a club as much as playing the sport but I’d like to think that still in Scotland it’s about just people going knocking a ball around the field um you know and that’s what that’s what I like about it I mean to be honest I’ve never really been into being a member of a club so I’ll just go and uh change my shoes in the car park and head out and hit some balls or whatever I don’t think you’re allowed to change your shoes in the car park and turn but I do it away from the clubhouse but yeah that’s what I think that’s probably what golf is for you isn’t it it’s just about the joy of hitting a golf ball it is it is I think that’s when you think back to the roots of the game I I have a friend uh Kevin Moore who always says who said this once and it sticks it sticks with me is like when you think about the origins of golf it was the the whole point of golf was here are your sticks here’s the ball that’s where you’re going go get there right like there was none of this pump and Circumstance that circumstance that we’ve we’ve filled the game with and all these like I just think like it’s interesting when you know this is an Open Championship preview and here we are discussing uh the of golf but the you know when I think about like where American Golf is going it’s like every every day it seemingly every day it’s about like the next new high-end Lux uh private club in American Golf and it’s like you know the vast majority of people grow up playing golf like I I just visited the my the course I grew up playing I’ve been at home and you know it is it’s just so it’s amazing to me like what what I I I like my memories are are amazing from there there’s like a number of golf entrepreneurs that all that I played High School golf with that are all that all grew up playing this golf course this and what what sticks with me is like wow this place have uh provided me with a golf course to play for $190 every year it was $190 for a junior pass and I could play All Summer Long and like it I mean like the uh my one of my best friends growing up he grew up up the street from me he owns a golf bag company and I you know started this and we grew up riding our bikes to this public golf course every day in the summer yeah and just chipping and putting and and then waiting till 3 o’cl when we could go play golf and and that was like my summmer is like just and it’s like would either of us be in golf without that that is the version of of golf like to me is like where yeah that’s what golf is to me and I think everything else around it is a little bit trivial to a certain extent oh and I mean in the last couple of years it’s gone so far away from what uh what we think of as golf you know and but and again we’ve talked about that this in our golf podcast and in coverage quite a lot is that is that you know whatever happens in the professional game with Liv and the separation and the the nonsense that goes on and you know I was listening to the shotgun start today and it was what was it was Ander shly talking about could we get you know just a couple fewer dinners at the Ryder Cup and I’m thinking this is so far from what I think of as golf if you ask what me what golf means to me it means the memories of um of Summer evenings playing just hitting the balls until dark or playing with my uncle whatever it is so I think everybody’s got that association with golf that is really detached from what the professional game has become but you’re right here we are previewing the Open Championship and how great the professional game is and you know just waxing lyrical about uh about what golf means to us but then when I go to trun I’ll see where I was hitting you know we had a tiny patch of tough to hit balls on Juniors at trun and it’s pretty much underneath where the where the practice ground will be for the Open Championship and I’ll see these guys pounding balls 330 yards I think there’s where I just spent ages trying to hit a you know just a n99 or something like that and but when you see how big the Open Championship is now as well it’s become it’s become so vast and I noticed it really for the first time properly at ho Lake last year which I didn’t you know I I’m I’m actually a big fan of the RNA but I I think the the opens become can something be too big or too commercial or something I just think it’s interesting because you know you can’t go back to the past and you can’t get stranded in Nostalgia but I look at all the open championships I’ve been to as a fan and then as a broadcaster and it seems quite a different Beast now it seems to be a sort of um almost almost sort of a money-making thing with golf attached to it you know but I’m again my memory goes back a long way my first hoping I can really remember wasn’t the first one that I was at the first one I can really remember properly was the 1982 open at Trin when I was 8 nine years old and I just remember running here and there and we used to have a thing called the exhibition tent and it was all these local golf Traders not local small golf Traders would come and you know there’d be people who’d sell head covers or people that would sell golf snacks or people that would sell a thing they’d invented themselves in a garage or something but it was just such good fun and then running out Here There and Everywhere watching Tom Tom Watson Nick price blow it with a got a dodgy mustache but um yeah I I hope that for youngsters watching it now it still maintains that charm because it’s a huge event and the Machinery around it now and the infrastructure that’s built but I hope it still maintains that sort of charm that can drag in youngsters watching it to say you know this is quite special I mean I think you hit on some interesting points and this wasn’t you know we traditionally do five things but like I think one of the most compelling aspects of the open in general is like where it’s going and obviously in America I think we have the opposite problem of like knowing exactly where the US open’s going for the next 50 years yeah was a plane H in the year 3327 or something like that yeah it but meanwhile in the open it seems like we’re we’re at this stage where it’s like how many venues can conceivably Host this turn that’s become so big it’s the size gone Lim’s gone for that reason um turnbury irrespective of the Trump thing turnbury had gone really before Trump took over because it wasn’t getting The Spectator numbers and it didn’t have the accommodation around apart from the hotel down at turn there’s nothing and it and it’s the best course it’s in Port Russia probably the the two best courses but it won’t host another Open championship and you’re right it’s become a a thing where you’ve just got it right what’s what what course has got the best roads coming in the best r the best uh air access and what has got the most space that we can put all these things on so yeah that those are the determining factors for venues now yeah and I think you hit on a an awesome thing with the the idea of like just like a uh someone who who has a gadget coming in like an ex exhibitor’s tent like you know they have all these tents but they’re all for very high purchase amounts right it it has conceivably lost it has without a doubt lost some of that charm I think you know I you know I hope I I I just when I think about the open I think about being a kid on summer break in America and and waking up way earlier than I I ever would conceive in in the summer to to run down and turn on Golf and just laying on the couch all morning watching Golf and and I think I think you know um you see I you see like kind of that charm like I I think about like the St Andrews open where um while while the Finish is happening people are jumping over the over the uh the burn maybe breaking legs doing trying to do it but running up that fa way like I think there are moments of it but it it does you know and this is this is true about every major I mean this is this is one of the US opened conundrums it’s like they you know Piner is a great venue because we can put tons of people out there right right and you know other places maybe don’t have the infrastructure space the the Ridder cup would be a perfect example of this where they have gone from you know you look at the early Ridder Cup golf course hosts to what they where they host now and it’s like what happened oh no the Ridder cup is just extraordinary and they’ve got too many dinners for the players the poor players have to go to these dinners that’s right you know I’ve been in one of those I’ve been in one of those crushes uh you one of these charges down the 18th I’ve been in a couple of them actually but um the one I really remember was 86 at turnbury which is obviously just you know half an hour 40 minutes south of trun and uh when when Greg Norman won and he was caught in that crush and I remember seeing him he was just s coming up just beside me in this Crush trying to push his way through um to emerge with his hands held up in his shock of white blonde hair and everything and I just I just remember being so excited by it it was incredible um yeah they don’t really I think s Andre you can get it but you’d struggle to get the cuz everything’s so barricaded off the 72nd hole now they have barricades I mean pretty much down the length of the hole now so that’s they barricade the media they BARC like if you’re not if you don’t have the right media credential 7 second whole accreditation your arm band that has done you for the whole tournament won’t do you for the 72 hole so uh that’s another thing as well that TR um because TR is actually the course on the open rotor where you see the sea the most it’s the you know if you think of all the other courses in the Rota you know because turnbury is not on anymore where you really are right by the Sea you you hardly see the water you’re by the sea but you don’t see it whereas in tring the first few holes you’re right beside the beat I mean the first theatron you know is is fantastic it’s right on top of the beach almost but they have to build a fence all the way along the first six holes because otherwise people just wander in off the beach and say I’m not going to pay I’m just going to I’m just going to wander in and see if I can see some golf so um yeah it just becomes I think all courses that host big tournaments become so different to the courses you know they become almost unrecognizable I mean I’ve been up there quite a lot over the last uh 3 months and you seen this the stands going up and everything getting ready and uh yeah when I go back this week it’s going to be uh it’s going to be quite something but it’s uh are you going you’re going over there AR you are you I’m not I’m not I’m not going is uh is is is Brandon going is anyone going from the no we are uh we are not you know we’re we’re we’re dropping the ball it’s been a busy well I suppose that is the case but um you usually get a house sponsored by someone so just filled with shoes some more at the echo house you remember um there good good little sponsor plug there but uh the uh I think like what you know what’s funny about what you said in getting at the core of this is that ironically like when I think about like my youth I I snuck my way into a fair amount of tournaments like find you find like there’s a housing a culde saac and they don’t fence there we can sneak in over here possible they absolutely impossible well what I think is is the people that are sneaking in on the beach are the exact people that you want at the tournament to invoke that Local Charm you know nobody’s nobody’s coming up from London you know or flying over from America without the ticket and say it’s okay we’re going to sneak in from the beach you know it’s a ra line that’s the thing tr’s protected on one side by the rail L other side by the Sea so you’ve got to be pretty committed to your felony so oh it’s a shame you’re not going to be there I was waiting for you to say you know describe how you’re beside the Pacific Ocean or something like that and just to say it’s all one sea it’s all it’s all the same sea what’s what what is the front of Clyde what are you talking about is this not the Irish sea no is that is that not a good take though that that that all these Seas don’t really matter they’re they’re just all one big ocean it is all one big ocean technically yeah it’s all it’s all joined up I suppose so just it’s a a sort of Pangia ocean that uh yeah no absolutely I think I think we should start that it’s just super ocean one let’s call it that my Pacific Oceans the same as uh whatever sea uh the tr’s next to we’re all swimming in the same sea he said philosophically yeah so um yeah yeah what’s your favorite childhood memory from TR uh I think it would be that a to2 open just because it was such it such good fun and you know and again through the sort of haze of nostalgia it was uh it was sort of Always Sunny I think it was quite a sunny open 73 Weiss SCF was not I think I was born on the day after Weiss SCF won that open and that rained quite a lot um but at 89 as well I had quite a good I worked in the Pro Shop um truns Pro had a pro shop set up and I remember I remember selling I was 16 years old I remember the excitement at selling a sweatshirt a TR sweatshirt to Brad Faxon oh my God it’s how exciting it was that I recognized because you know when you saw American golfers come over I remember seeing Bill Rogers in 82 he was the defending champion and you were just a very exotic species of Americans to us in the UK so I saw Bill Rogers I thought my God he looks amazing he did actually look amazing Bill Rogers that wasn’t what I thought when I saw Brad Faxon but it was still nonetheless I thought that’s Brad Faxon I think it was like his rookie year or something he was he was quite a young gun on tour of the time Brad Foxon um and uh the playoff because it was the first four whole playoff um with Cal Wayne Grady and Greg Norman and um I remember I remember in particular in that playoff they used to have in the tented Village to the right of the 17th and 18th there was a huge screen playing out coverage for people who are in the tented Village and Greg Norman when he went into the bunker in the playoff on the 18th and his chances were going he had no shot at all but the volume was turned up full on the screen and Peter Alice the great BBC commentator was saying well what he’s going to try and do here is just get his onto his weight onto his back fit and pop it up and but this was booming out across the 18th Fairway and Greg Norman’s going he’s trying to tell me how to play the bloody shot and that sounds nothing like R Norman but it’s my best attempt in Australian accent and uh and then he just he ended up knifing over the back or something like that after from a second bunk or something so it’s had some unlikely winners as well Cal with his ping i2s and and Todd Hamilton most of all just hybriding his way around son Tech the soner tech hybrid remember Tech that must have sold a lot for I mean let I don’t I this was no Tad Hamilton gimmick I will I will hear no sonar Tech slander really sonar Tech made the greatest three wood maybe ever made really ever made yeah I never I never used it i’ got well he he just basically took the premise that he it was a little bit like Tiger Woods at hoake or lithen when he tried to just stay short of the bunkers and so you know TR has a pretty well bunkered course and he was in one bunker in 72 holes Todd Hamilton and everyone says Todd Hamilton what a you know what a dff winner if you look at the leaderboard behind him it was VJ saying it was RTI hon it was Phil Nicholson and obviously it was Annie Ells in the playoff so he beat some Titans that was the first year that Phil Mickelson actually worked out that he could play lyns golf Rick Smith was his coach at the time and he got him to tighten up his swing a little bit and and Mickelson said even though he didn’t win that year he realized that he could win the Open Championship after that so I enjoyed that that open was good um I I wasn’t enamored by the mikkelson Stenson I thought it was fantastic from those two but the weather wasn’t great it had been great on Monday Tuesday Wednesday and then it kind of got soft and rainy but you know even in the even in the soft wet conditions you know yes Stenson was 20 under mikkelson was 17 under but then you go back to third place six under you remember who was third place in that open uh oh God I we were talking about this the other day in a team meeting yeah JB Holmes JB holes I mean what was his more famous finish the third at trun or when he was stand on the first te at Port Rush can’t decide what what club to hit Tak two minutes the famous one where they where they where they showed him they cut him up in some big tournament and he was waggling and waggling and just backing off and backing off and eventually they just cut away from him went to another goal said enough I it was austa it was austa they went to the they went to the flowers they went to cut to just show some as alas instead of JB Holmes oh God oh God yeah so anyway Tris and trun is special to me because it’s my hometown as much as anything else and I just want it to be a good open because of that it it it will always be my hometown always you know wherever I live as I say I’ve lived in England for 20 years but trun is always home to me and so I just want it to be seen in the best light um and when you stand in the first te on on a nice day and you’re looking across the aisle of aren and across the HS of Craig and you know the the se’s know sparkling I hope they have the forecast isn’t too bad as far as I can see from this distance out I think it’s going to be Breezy as well um which that’s what you want in Lynx golf because that’s the only defense lyx coures have is a bit of Breeze firmness and Breeze those are the only two things yeah and it’s firm enough I think at the moment even though it’s very very green I’ve been talking to my my my brother about it who’s ended up he’s cing it again he’s cing in every open at TR since um 89 I think um that’s amazing and he always ends up steering a a journeyman through you know to make the weekend there was a an American called John keran in 1997 who played four rounds uh Spike mcroy Spike Spike mcroy spike I don’t know if you’re a Shaka start that’s at that point spike mcroy is a is a big time shakun start I didn’t know that no he’s I think he works in the city in New York he works in finance or something like that no I think he’s a real estate real estate guy in in Alabama or God off New York you know what he was he was playing the barbasol a few years of course he was everybody gets to play the barbasol I’ve nearly played the barbasol God me and Jimmy Walker Spike mcro I can’t believe he carried for Spike mcro yeah and then I got a Korean suan Lee um and he’s got Kazumi kabor who is the outstanding amateur and that’s his bag this year that’s his bag this year so he’s on his bag he’s turned Pro and he’s he’s finding it I think a bit more difficult you know it’s amazing how great amateurs who don’t necess you know find that transition to oh suddenly you’re playing for your living um so he’s on his bag um and he got asked I’ll tell you he got asked I don’t know if it’s happened yet I contacted him he said um he’s just waiting for I don’t think it will happen because these things seld than do but he get contacted by someone who had been spoken to by Bryson Des shambo’s team said would you walk the course with him to to get him used to so still Bryson and his caddy but they asked my brother to walk of course and point out various things say do the mathematics and everything so that’s interesting I think uh you know I I that’s you know have you come around to Bryson are you are you a I think I don’t know I think I think the latest Mike shy drama has pushed me back uh back to you know this is this might have just been a good PR School listen I think he is a I haven’t first of all I haven’t heard about the Mike Shai thing so I’ve been lost in a world of tennis so you’re going to tell me about that that in a minute but he you know when you see him you know doing everything with the crowds and winning them over of course it’s a PR thing but as opposed to the crowd it doesn’t really matter because it’s a bit like mikkelson mikkelson you know won over the crowd but you know Mickelson’s not really like that but the crowd don’t care because if they get a handshake from mikkelson in a high five and a little thumbs up thumbs up and a smile then they go home happy so but the thing about Bryson the Shambo is at least you know he is he is interesting he’s he’s fascinating to watch and you need that you need someone who’s a bit different you need someone who might people might think oh he’s a bit of a tool or you might think he’s great but at least people are thinking about them so that’s what they you know that’s people engaging with them well we’re going to get into the five things now I got Bryson as one of mine um I he obviously I think he’s one of the most fascinating uh players in the sport maybe the most fascinating um in terms of everything the way he’s changed the way he you know the the way his game has changed from when he was an amateur to now to the the YouTube presence I think is is a legitimate thing in today’s era and and with where the game of golf is going um I think the so the Mike shy drama is that uh Bryson allegedly was supposed to fund this uh this golf tour for junior golf in the Central Valley of California that’s called uh that was named after his father through Mike Shai is his his longtime his coach from childhood coach and uh Bryson didn’t didn’t write the check apparently and then Mike shy Mike Shai took to Instagram with some very you know hu inflammatory comments and then and then furthermore Adam shac from golf week called him up and he just let it rip um and then Bryson Bryson let it rip back so now that we’ve got this big squabble between I social media because it’s um no I’m on it but trouble is when you start doing tennis you just get recommended the algorithm on Instagram just says oh you like tennis don’t you because you’ve clicked on one thing to watch it so it’s just been sending me endless things look at this Yanik sin forehand say no I want to see Mike Shai and shupac and and Des Shambo having a spot so it’s a huge article it’s crazy there’s all these quotes you know they you know Mike Shai said something along the lines of uh you know uh he always says that I’m his second father and it’s it’s it’s he treated his real father like [ __ ] and he treats me like [ __ ] that’s the paraphrasing the quote but effectively effectively that um so uh anyways there’s that that that thing going on but with Bryson I think we saw at Pinehurst we saw him conquer a type of setup that we never thought he would set up well for you know the firm fast rolling off all Direction you know when the ball hit the ground it was a little bit you know dicey as to what’s going to happen um and I think when you look at his Open Championship record it’s not good t33 cut cut t33 T8 at the old course what he was he just having his meltdown on the Range carti yes those were the days that’s entertaining maybe it’s the wind maybe it’s windy conditions though so that is the variable that in his computations I’d love to I think that because Pinehurst wasn’t um you there wasn’t really there was a bit of Breeze wasn’t there’s no not real wind no NOA that’s the thing because you’ve got you’ve got firm lynxy style conditions at Pine horse but you didn’t have the wind and that that that’s to me what will be fascinating watching him try to cope with if the wind gets up to 20 miles an hour whatever yeah so this is I think this is the last frontier for Bryson I we saw him like have some success at Augusta this year that’s always been a big question mark can he play Augusta he entered Sunday with chance to win um Pinehurst he wins um you know he he nearly wins the PGA and now this is the kind of the it are we seeing you know like I think if Bryson plays well say he won this like there’s a real question of like is he the best player in the world actually yeah even with all that Scotty’s done this year I think there’s a lot of Doubt as to who the best player in the world would be so Bryson de be is is just he’s such a fascinating um character I think like we we don’t have enough polarizing characters uh we were talking before we started this recording about you know tennis and men’s tennis and what Novak jokovic is you know the interest in him is that people feel very differently about him and there’s not many people in the middle you know you either love them or you either hate them and uh you need it yeah you have to have that in sport and I think Bryson fills that bucket so well for golf well the worst thing yeah because you cannot have in sport the worst thing is people just going I don’t care really I don’t you it doesn’t doesn’t bother Xander well yeah exactly and you know it feels like I don’t slights on quite a few golfers and it’s not a slight really against them as people they’re not saying they’re bad people but all sport is entertainment and engagement that’s what it is really you’ve got to invest in the players and want to want them to win or want them to do badly or want to but you can’t have just me and there are a few players who are just me but the trouble is golf lens itself to me because being me and being on a an even kill and being quiet and calm that is that makes good golf quite often but where what you really want is someone who’s having history onics and just meltdowns or chatting to the crowd or whatever it might be but um yeah you just described Bryson let describe Bryson exactly so now I might look at Bryson and go this is 100% phony but it’s good phony if it is is because people are people care MH yeah what’s uh what’s something you’re looking forward to or watching for uh I mean I you know it’s a bit of a cliche to say mooy but he he’s fascinating in the majors because he 100% And I 100% has a mental block on the majors because you know he would not in the positions he has been at Andrews at LC at Pinehurst 100% if those were traveler championships or Quail hall or whatever it might be of course he would have finished those off so that that’s the fascinating thing for me is watching a guy grapple the most talented physical player of a generation or the generation coming after Tiger Woods unable to quite do it mentally and he’ll sail along happily for 65 holes mentally but then that’s what sport is about it’s about people who sail through in tennis sail through the every set and then come to serving it out and can’t quite do it that’s that sport sport is is the closure moments and the pressure moments so I’m I’m really looking forward because he’s obviously playing you know um he’s off to a good start as we record at the Scottish open so he’s obviously after his break is playing well again so I’m very interested to see how he goes it’s uh and there’s all there are always stories at the open because it’s such a big field and it goes on all all day and the weather changes and just all the little stories developing um but yeah Rory who the kid who is the kid from Liverpool that uh that played well last year oh my God Matt Jordan Jord Jord yeah exactly imagine I mean there isn’t a local member unfortunately who’s qualified for um but yeah stories like that um I think Jack McDonald the guy from brassia junior he was a he a a very good amateur and he’s I think he’s called ified so there are lots of little stories that you just follow and see how they they get on there’s a guy so there’s a guy at um so I commented at Wimbledon with uh I do a bit of commentary with Liz Smiley who is a very good doubles player from Australia mixed doubles she won the mixed doubles titles at various she does she spell it like Smiley coff she spell exactly like Smiley Kaufman so Li Smiley so but her son has been coming to Wimbledon since he was about 10 years old and she would introduce me to him and say oh this is isn’t it is Elvis Elvis Smiley and says um oh he’s a stud yes so exactly and she said oh this is Elvis you know when he’s 10 years old he loves his golf and I was a golf commentator with the BBC and so he was he was excited to meet me well he said he was and I was going oh you play golf to you little young fellow myad oh well done to you sort of ruffling his hair or whatever and then he just kept getting better and better and every year he would come back and say what you playing off now playoff three why you play off now scratch what you playing now plus four five whatever and then suddenly he turned and he was he was winning stuff he was winning aled events and he’s he was winning as a young pro and he qualified down at deal which is really near St George’s he shot 67 first yeah he qualified so when he was hanging on he was hanging on into second place behind Matthew Southgate who was in six under and he was three under and then there was a group I think he was four under and there was a group in three and like he was being chased down by Brandon Grace you know you know when they have the the club so m Southgate from Southport and Elvis Smiley I can’t remember what club he plays out of now but and it says it says Brandon Grace Stinger he’s a stinger it’s just ridiculous most ridiculous thing you’ve ever seen any golf club it’s a proper golf club a proper ancient Golf Club um and I thought Brandon Grace will come through and maybe get him but he didn’t even have to go into the playoff he came through his second place there and imagine that imagine you know qualifying just a you it be a dream for for you to qualify for the US Open and you’re younger than me to qualify for the open chat it’s just it’s the stuff of Dreams just to get your badge to play in the Open Championship and and then he’s got to find accommodation and because you qualify so late it’s almost impossible to find anything so you’re been given a really sort of Mankey hotel somewhere for about $450 a night or something like that and so they’ve got an Airbnb they’re doing that old risky game of Airbnb um uh but then you get a nice C nice Mercedes curtesy car to take in Imagine That imagine playing the open it’s just one of my favorite stories from the Open Championship at St Andrews was we we found out that that sah sagala who you know at the time was staying in the student he was staying in the student dorms like you imag you imagine you volunteer you’re in the student dorms and you see the gala carrying lugging his tour bag up the up the steps to his door room like I mean that’s amazing stuff with these these events and I presume the US Open well when you go to small town it be similar like Augusta is entirely different and you know and the uspg obviously is different because it’s it’s it’s the pros but it’s you have to really not rough it at an Open Championship but you know you’re not going to have luxurious hotels 10 or 15 of them and everything’s going to be perfect you’re going to you say if you go to kti my God you know Kus is a we place and truns a little bit bigger but you know you’re going to have to not sleep in a tent but you yeah you might end up sleeping in uh in student accommodation and but it’s just that’s part of the charm of it it comes back to that thing that there is still charm in in sporting events that it doesn’t have to be this enormous slick corporate professional machine that there is still these sort of smaller stories and all these quirky stories it’s all the little diary stories that I like throughout the week you know it’s when I listen to the shotgun start and they’re saying he’s a bit of scuttlebutt for you it’s usually about toasty or and his high cars his Randle cars scattered throughout America I love that one just oh dear stories from that one that one I had to sit on that one came across my desk a long time before it was able to be released is great though I I can absolutely believe it with him he just uh yeah we like well but that’s but that’s another thing so if you’re watching someone and someone said I’m going to this tournament who should I go and watch and Alejandro toast is playing and I’ll say go and watch this guy cuz he’s going to go absolutely AP [ __ ] at something he’s going to have highs and lows all packed within probably like an hour SP and then that’s why so so if you said who should I watch oh this guy’s high up in the ranking should have go and watch him and I’ll say no that’s Patrick kley don’t what’s the point in going to watch him you’ll see some really good efficient golf but you’re not going to be entertained it goes back to you know who that’s why Jordan spe you know is not the player he was but you know you’re always going to be you’re going to get something from him yeah yeah you’re going to get a roller coaster I think that I mean and to to tie this back to Rory um and what you talked about I think this is a you Rory has been a fascinating basically for the last eight years you know once that major drought hit two years yeah um it became a a big storyline when’s he going to get his next when he going to get the next one and there have been some close calls there have been some Inc contention moments and there have been some Wikipedia top 10 as well lot lots of Wikipedia top 10s first round struggles I think he’s like kind of gotten over the first round struggles he’s gotten you know and now it’s this is the most fascinating major championship start for him since you know can he go back to back from his last one yeah you know um this is you you’ve entered a a position of you know it it’s it’s going to be interesting how it goes from the first te but like golf I mean we invest so much time in these golf tournaments from Thursday to to Sunday when you think about the Ridiculousness of the sport that you invest how much time you invest but but you know here’s the thing about maroy is that I mean first time I really noticed how much pressure he felt at major championships was when he was playing at Port rush because this was his you know major back in Northern Ireland and he then with an eye on on the first T puts it OB his first t- shot and I thought that is a guy who who who feels it and it true I 1997 Darren Clark was had his first real chance to win a major and the crowds that came over in the ferry from Northern Ireland because you come over in the ferry you get it to stran R Ken Ryan which is just again it’s just sort of 45 minutes an hour down the down the road from trun he had huge crowd in huge support and then he shanked it onto the beach with an iron on the off the second T um and but but the crowds that come over from northern isand to support him were enormous and for a lot of people in Northern irand you’ll see maroy competing in major you’ve got Port rush but the next closest thing will be I you know what I’m going to get the fery over I’m going to go and watch Mao play at TR so he’s going to have you know he gets big big support in the States because he’s so popular but over at TR it’s going to be getting close to Port RS yeah that’s that’s an interesting little undercard that you wouldn’t even think of I think like the thing about it is like if he assum if he plays well and he get the the whole story is going to just get more and more interesting yeah as the tournament goes on yeah because of the because of the way things unfolded at Pinehurst you know with the and you know he talked you probably missed this he talked uh this week at the Genesis oh s sorry I saw the I saw some of the quotes and I the other interesting thing is how he because he’s always been the most open guy honest guy and you know he just doesn’t want to do media anymore but he’s still torn between I mean I thought it was at the end of Pinehurst I you know I know he said it at at at Renaissance I know he said at the Scottish you know the last thing in my mind was worrying about upsetting you guys I the media I thought he could have taken the sting out of things a little bit and I also wanted him to come out and just whatever he thinks of Bryon the way for yes he’ll have been absolutely devastated of course he’ll have been that’s that would have been the worst loss of his career but I kind of wanted to see him just saying to the Shambo well done because you you can only you only go up in people’s estimations and people just want to I just I kind of you know I understand or I don’t understand how he feels but I understand how he he must have felt after that but I just wish he’d he’d said you know front I remember Norman after the 96 Masters doing the press conference and you know the ultimate choke and saying you know nobody died here life goes on kind of thing and I you know I’ve not never been a sort of Greg Norman fan especially in recent years but I thought you know I thought that that was pretty good at least just to front up and say you know what it’s just it’s just it’s just a game so I I I hope the maroy Carries On being as good with the media as he has been or historically has been in recent years he’s got a little bits you know I don’t really need to do that I’m only going to do a 10-minute preview press conference and I understand it’s a pain but I think you’ve got to understand that we play for the rewards we do because you know we we I think the issue is as well though that they can all do their own media now though can’t they so the the need for the media the medium between players and the public isn’t really there anymore cuz if I want social media social media yeah you and you have arguably more distribution than any of the media people you’re talking to yeah um I think I think the other aspect of his media hesitancy has been the the live stuff yeah of course where he felt like you know what everybody’s just just G to ask me about this stuff and it’s time that other people get ask this and it’s not just like we’ll just save all the live questions for Rory you know yeah cuz he’s the who give honest answers on it that’s the thing exactly and I think that’s part of it is that like hey you know what like I’m going to come I think if I think if the questions were about golf he’d probably answer you know 30 minutes of questions in a pre presser before but he knows that if he goes up there at the open there’s going to half the half or more of the questions are going to be about the transaction subcommittee yeah you know and it’s a I don’t know it’s an interesting aspect I I I think like I think there are two ways that an athlete can come out of this right and I think it is it is an interesting dynamic in the sense of of a short short Miss where you know he admitted like he effectively got out of his mental process where he started thinking about other things and and I think that anybody that’s played competitive golf understands exactly how that happens you start thinking about a short putt too much um and I think there’s two ways this goes is that you start thinking about high leverage short short putts a lot um in the future or it becomes an event in your career where you go to a a different level there’s almost a an an Fu um aspect of of this and and for me I think that’s the fascinating um thing to watch with Rory going forward is is which of these two paths is going to happen because you know without a doubt this is that that was a moment that he will remember for the rest of his his golfing career yeah in life no yeah exactly no he well he’s always interesting to watch the majors but I think this one in particular because that this is it again you know the major season in the men’s Majors is so short now it’s just ridiculous wild it’s insane I can’t I can’t cope with the fact that um you know after next week that’s it until Augusta I I mean I wish they’d flip it back a little bit or do something with a calendar like a great broadcaster you just led me right into my next thing which is uh which is John ROM yeah W yeah well he there’s another guy who is is great to watch CU he’s so combustible so talented so combustible and just seems to me so utterly bored with life on frustrated with life on on live but there you go you took the money John so what you know what do you want from us I don’t I don’t know like if there’s ever been someone where we would like I I can’t think like of a so say he finishes like a non-competitive 30th we’re going to say we’re going to say hey this is the worst major career Major year of his career and it’s right after he got this giant bag of money yeah um now if he win if he went out and win won which is completely conceivable if he goes out and wins this tournament then we’re sitting at he’s one win away from the Grand Slam yeah yeah but it is a wild Jos of in terms of like the way we could we we will think of this athlete for the next eight months based off of this tournament I just don’t think Live prepar Well Bryson Des Shambo goes against this well I think Bryson’s the outlier here the out totally because other otherwise you know you think of so many players on live who I it’s just such a comfort zone and where is the real where are the real competitive juices flowing now you might argue that that that they don’t really flow on the PGA tour anymore either but I just think regular competition against bigger Fields is a is a huge thing you know if you John Ram was saying ahead of us open at planers well look at my look at my finishes I’m not done too badly and you go well yeah but they’re against you know you’re finishing what’s what percentage of the field are you how many people are you beating is not um yeah I just think it’s it’s a real shame because I mean I think the one of the the greatest shame in professional golf of late was was John Ram going you know that was such a oh dear the day the music died when he was sitting there in his black bomber jacket with Liv on just horrenda saying whatever they wanted him to say for a huge bag of money um but again that’s another interesting story it’s you know it’s a a very divisive time in golf but it’s also very very interesting time in men’s golf because you got all these little subplots coming together at the majors the majors are these amazing outcrops now in golf with everything else you might go bit well not interested in that not interested in that and then suddenly the majors come on and go right okay here are all these threads all these narrative threads coming back together for this one week that’s why it’s just there’s nothing like it yeah I I you know if the if the golf world comes back together um I think there’s an argument that the majors get less interesting yeah there is an argument definitely they have got more interesting not that they weren’t interesting before but they’ve become even more firmed up in their in in their importance since the division because you know everyone wants to see the best players playing against the best players and it just doesn’t it it just doesn’t happen anymore you know the PJ tour has been denuded by live and and live is just the most nonsensical piece of rubbish you’ve ever it’s just it as a competition you just think because you don’t care and I don’t think the players really care because you want to win the great titles in the game and whether you win three or 4 million for winning or whether you win 130,000 whatever it is for finishing last I don’t think they really I’m sure they do care a bit about the extra money they can earn but you know they’ve all they’re all so vastly wealthy now anyway the top 20 players certainly I think the thing too about Liv is that all the for the most part I brought this up uh on our podcast last week with um with Joseph lman is that of all the player to me it seems like Bryson why he might be the outlier is he has taken the money and he’s invested it back into himself like he’s do he’s producing oneof one clubs you know yeah he’s develop like that comes with a cost to me everybody else is taking the money and buying a bigger house you know buying a big boat in in one player’s case and and for the most part like that that takes away that that leads to more time in said house more time on said boat maybe a lot maybe more time on said boat than the the golf course um and and when you do that you’re you’re at this this bag of money has deterred I think Bryson’s the only one that’s taken the money and maybe gotten better you know and used it like a company would use an infusion of cash where they aren’t you know they aren’t taking it out and putting it in their pockets they’re putting it back in the business and developing something so I think that’s the difference is that I for for from what I’ve heard is that John ROM kind of like went away and came up for air and was like you know it it was like oh man the Masters is coming up I better start working yeah you know but the other thing about Bryson the Shambo is he’s a he’s a he’s a zealot his enthusiasm for everything whether it’s you know 3D printing his clubs or YouTube or whatever he is for you know better or worse he is enthusiastic about everything he’s got a real energy and so that will drive him to you know I think you you contrast Bryson to Shambo with Dustin Johnson and Dustin Johnson has always just wanted a nice comfortable life and and just wanted the nice things and I actually actually quite I applaud him for that he’s never pretended he’s anything else DUS Johnson so and I I kind of warmed him for that it’s just well I just want to just want to I don’t even want to play golf anymore I’ve got I just want fish I think that’s the thing I think the thing is he he saw this and he said I’m going to be done playing golf I’m going to be a dad and fish you know well yeah I mean and Fa fair play to him whereas Bryson Des Shambo has I can’t work out if Bryce not that it matters either way but I can’t work out how really sort of bright he is or otherwise because you know we pretended we told he’s this great physician not physician physics major which you know the biggest question well it but it interests me I don’t know why but but anyway he’s got an I think he’s got an inquiring mind I don’t know how much that mind answers those inquiries but he’s got something which he wants to try different things and do different things and again that all adds to the engagement and the YouTube thing is interesting because that is the way that golf media is going like I don’t know what that you in the states I don’t know what it’s like but in the UK certainly sponsorship is going to our golfing YouTubers now rather than professionals rather than touring players because if you want eyes on a product where are you going to go you’re going to go to the guy with 3 million subscribers on YouTube rather than the person who’s finishing 50th in a in a tournament even though they’re at a totally different level of as a golfer the two players they’re just not getting the the exposure so um I mean you know we were talking on our pod the regional qualifying uh and again you can tell me if they did this at the US Open but the amount of YouTubers saying I’m going to try qualifying for for the open and making a making content out of it knowing knowing that they’re never going to qualify but then then sort of sitting down after they’ve shot 84 and going wow the Heartbreak honestly I didn’t quite didn’t quite have it today put that out on YouTube and and get the views I think it’s kind of [ __ ] to do that as someone who performed norly played amateur golf um I think it’s [ __ ] to that you’re playing Partners to do that like you’re playing with guys and you’re gonna be running around with your with your cameras camera guys like I think that’s a raw deal for the guy that plays with you yeah that is one thing that I thought about it when I was watching it cuz you know God they were really professionally filmed there so three in particular and I thought you know these guys who are playing with you probably were ing genuinely hoping to make it through to final qualifying what’s your next thing let’s let’s what’s what’s your next thing about the open what are you most looking forward to is it Scotty sheffler um yeah that I mean Scotty sheffler I find very interesting because again I thing I love about the open is it is it because it throws something different into the mix throws these variables into the mix he saw at pineur that he was not you know how could you have someone coming in in that sort of form who who suddenly wasn’t really there at the at the US Open and it was just because it was different you know it’s not it’s not just splashing out the greenside rough and L he’s a phenomenal player but I like players to be sort of tested a little bit more in there and he’s got fantastic short game he’s a great pitcher of the ball but I don’t know it’s just um yeah I I really enjoy Pinehurst um because it it created that sort of lynxy feel to it and just that just something different and you know a lot of the players will complain and say oh I mean Scotty shefer just had it in his head that it wasn’t really fair if you hit it offline yeah that you know that you might get a good lie you might get a bad lie well I’ll tell you what some of the kicks you might go off the Fairway at TR you can hit a you know you can hit a t-shot down the middle and you might get a kick off it’s actually a reasonably Fair Lings course but in lyns golf you are going to get some you’re going to get some funky bounces so that’s what golf is it’s not you know it’s not in a sort of in in in a perfect sterile environment it’s it’s got the variables and there’s luck to deal with in the draw because people are teeing off at 6:30 and finishing teeing off at 4:30 you know the weather can entirely change so you’ve got to have a bit of Fortune as well at the Open Championship I think yeah I think that’s the thing is like there are there is some doubt with Sheffer going into this week despite having one of the most dominant Seasons we’ve ever seen you know in in in the modern era he’s been extraordinary and he’s been extraordinary against the best players in the world but there is this um question about the style of golf and in the Open Championship he hasn’t been great I mean it by his standards Now by anybody else’s standards if you went T8 t21 t23 in the open you’d be like he’s a great open player but it’s not not that for Scotty Sheffer with the bar he’s set in major championships and I think there is like this thing is is as you alluded to earlier it’s crazy that we’re o it’s over that we’re you know this is the last one I mean if he doesn’t win two majors with this year like it it kind of like I mean it seems like yeah he seems like he needs two majors with everything else he’s done and I I hate to say to say that but like for it to rank in the in the upper upper echin of of outstanding seasons in the history of golf if you look at it Beyond you know the data people will say this is this is one of the great Seasons datawise but from the majors are what matters in and getting to Knocking two off in a in a year is such a small list yeah and and when you put two in a year plus everything else it becomes a historic year and I you know like and and again it’s similar to The Bryson thing can he er a a a effective playing surface I think it’s interesting like I’ve been you know you’ve been covering Wimbledon but like I heard some some analyst on the tennis channel I was watching the other night and they were talking about how you know a young player just like you know what he didn’t have the Reps on this surface uh to win that match you know he might have he he was the better player but he lost because the other guy had more reps on the surface and I apologize I can’t remember who they were talking about or who was talking but like that’s one of my questions with with Sheffer is is is this just a he needs more reps on this surface Alla Phil exactly so all the you think of the the sort of so many of the Great American players who have won open championships are prospered and Tom Watson Springs to mind in that you know after well one of the cruy things about Tom Watson is that he won 75 and 77 KUSI and turnbury and still didn’t appreciate Link’s Golf and he he he he he really sort of clicked after that and he s of got it I understood it and then he would come over and he’d always play doruk or Bal bunan or something like that before the Open Championship you know Maro is the same they loved Lynx Golf Tiger Woods would always play a bit of lyx golf you’ve got to you can’t just come into the Open Championship and that week and get into it it’s as you say the grass scort season you know you can’t come into Wimbledon you know having last played on clay or last played on hardcourts you’ve got to have a proper buildup and you’ve also got to embrace the surface and the and the vagaries and the difference of it um so Scotty Sheffer I you know I know we’re supposed to on podcast have hot takes I don’t think he’s going to win this this Open Championship I think he might struggle to the Open Championship might be a mystery to him for forever I don’t know but I think he’s too good a player to to never challenge at an Open championship I wonder if it might take a a calm soft course at an Open championship for him to sort of get into it and then you can like you said for nichelson it took a while took a long time I mean I mentioned the open at trune in 2004 where he first sort of understood how to how to do it and he’d been around a long time before that so you know I think it’ll take some time for Scotty Sheffer but but he’s too good a ball Striker with a swing that I just can’t watch but he’s too good a ball Striker to to not challenge an open championships in the future yeah and I think like when you just think about it this is might be one of the um impacts of the youth era that we’re in with golf is like this is a kid that grew up in Dallas Texas and the PGA Tour plays two weeks a year on on in links like it’s the Genesis which the Scottish open which is like quasi links and the Open Championship I mean Renaissance isn’t yeah mean I you know I watched Renaissance in the Scottish open and it doesn’t doesn’t really strike me as a a proper links course so anyway it’s uh you know it’s pretty soft it’s just that little bit yeah I don’t uh I mean it’s a listen it’s a lovely place but it’s not kind of Links Golf as I as I know it but um yeah you’re right it’s just it doesn’t give them they don’t play enough Link Golf there’s no doubt about that but why would you you don’t you don’t you don’t need to no like and I think this this ties into like one of the things that I love about this major championship is when you look down the list of winners over the the last decade it’s the major for the olds this is the major where really like you can throw out I think you can kind of throw out the the the predictions a little bit because you you get a wide range of players you get people that you know Brian Haron won a major I don’t think it’s conceivable for Brian Haron to win any other major other than the open you know like that’s he wasn’t going to win a PGA he wasn’t going to win US Open he wasn’t going to win The Masters right you don’t need distance at an Open Championship you’re getting 40 50 yards a run there’s a bit of an equalization in terms of D yes maroy is still if he hits the fair we’re going to be 20 yards past but it’s not that big dispersal and it’s about it’s about so many different things and uh yeah that’s it’s about shot it’s about who has shots you have to go deep in your bag cuz you’re going to have to hit that that punch four iron cut from 170 that you you never hit in America and you need to just have the shots in the bag and I think like to a certain extent this is this tournament I think in this era of golf it’s so figured out it’s trackman it’s it’s uh modern modern technology and I I’ll never forget I used to host a podcast regularly with Jeff Ogie and he said you know the thing about before trackman is everybody walked around the range saying you know I think I F figured it out and after track man everybody knew the answer nobody was trying to figure it out and I think with linkx golf we recapture a little bit of that old soul of golf where you know what it takes a long time to figure this out and some years you have it figured out and some years you don’t and there’s certain venues out here that are going to appeal to certain players and not to others and I think for that this is the last this is maybe the last event where you know outside of babbe the masters with the greens and and you know the the quirks about about figuring out and getting comfortable at Augusta this event experience matters it’s a good thing there’s that great padrick Harrington quote from a few years ago where he talked about experience isn’t all cracked up to be you know yeah um this is the event where experience matters and you could see one of the older guys who you you’re looking at and saying God it would be great if that guy could get another major jumping to mind Adam Scott Justin Rose Jason day those types of players this this this is the event that they should have circled on their calendar every year % yeah absolutely and it’s dealing with the whole thing as you say of uh you know things you know everyone’s looking for this perfection in terms of the the the numbers and on their track man or whatever and everyone’s looking for and on the PJ toour as well you’re not just sort of going to the same courses you’re going to the same hotels every week you’re going to the everything’s the same whereas you go to the Open Championship it’s not just the course that is so different but it’s the whole experience and Ambiance and as to say the combination you know so you’ve really got to embrace it and and sort of warm to it now I I don’t I I’m sure that yeah everything is is pretty comfortable for the players at the Open Championship anyway but it’s just different it’s a different thing and if you go in thinking who this is different I’m a bit spooked by it then you’re never going you going to have a chance no matter how good a player you are but if it you’re going to just feeling well this is different this is novel this is exciting this is great you know this is fantastic the Crowds Are big the crowds are different the whatever it is then you know you’re you’re automatically going to be doing better than 80% of the field it’s uh I mean that’s what we want in in sport isn’t it that variety I think if you ask me to say what the unique selling point of the Open Championship is is that it is different to everything else even you know people say well Scottish open Scottish open’s different the Open Championship is the courses are yeah you don’t you just don’t get it you don’t get anywhere anywhere else well I think that’s the the thing too is like it’s kind of a it’s a it’s probably an American take to say you got this SC like the Open Championship so drastically different and I think like if you if you hosted if you hosted the open exclusively in Ireland it would had a completely different feel you know if it was just IR Irish golf’s different than Scottish golf which is different than English golf right they’re they are drastically different Royal St George’s is so different than trun you know or the old course right yeah yeah know absolutely it’s different culture it’s a different philosophy um and I think that’s one of the unique things that I appreciate about the open especially with the you know reent the you know Royal Port Rush coming back in the fold is another um almost wrinkle of diversity in the style the and the culture of golf I think that’s the thing that the open Nails more so than anything is that I mean and this what makes an impression me as an American when I go over over to um Ireland or or Scotland or England is the idea of of this golf culture that’s so drastically different than America and the you know just the way that the towns are intertwined in the gulf and that it to me it seems like that’s what trun has in Spades I mean it’s 15,000 people in what six courses you said yeah six well six and a half courses so yes seven courses pretty much so so it’s uh yeah it’s it’s not quite it’s it’s similar the AER Coast is quite similar as opposed to the to the F Coast or to the east loan Coast we have this um yeah it’s it’s Gulf has never really been sort of detached from the the people it’s a it’s you know behind the country club wall it’s uh it’s kind of just there it’s just it’s just on the the land between the beach and the and the town you have a bit of a golf course as well so um yeah it’s a it is unique and that’s that’s what I’m looking forward to what uh who’s your pick who’s your pick to my pick is uh I’m terrible at this I really am you know actually the only bet I’ve ever had that worked was and I don’t bet now on sport but I I did have money on calov in 1989 and it should have started me on a road to to Serious gambling throughout my Adult Career because as a 16-year-old winning in Cal I think he was like 66 to1 at the start of the week I don’t know why I put money on kavia it’s not an exotic name um but uh I I I don’t Shane Lowry maybe is a decent pick you know because again he he’s just very very comfortable in what is almost a home environment for him again he’ll have lots and lots and lots of support and if it is a little bit below you know there’s there’s a shot maker and there’s a guy with a great short game and the guy who more than Embraces the links challenge I mean you know I think uh he’s got as as good a chance and he you know he hasn’t he hasn’t really really challenged the major since that Port Rush win but you know I think if he if he puts away he’s putting dessert on him for a wee bit but I think yeah there’ve been signs from Lowry so why not Shan Lowry I’m just throwing out any old name here I’ll go with uh Tabby Fleetwood um Tomy finish fourth Tommy I I do love Tommy Fleetwood and again as sort of ball Strikers going I’d love to have Tommy Fleetwood swing but and his hair obviously but actually no I wouldn’t if I had the ability to have that hair I wouldn’t have that hair but um I yeah I’m just not convinced by his putting although the thing is about the Open Championship is the slower green you know if you’re playing in a 9 N and a half on a stim meter 10 at the fastest really green that sometimes helps out the the Lesser Putters and not like they aren’t super intricate greens like I think EXA Port Port Rush was the course that stood out to me so much because of how they almost have like a uh you know they have like a very refined green I think you know a lot of uh a lot of lynx golf is old and and the greens are just in these great places and they’re just on the ground yeah well that’s what TR yeah TR is just flat small the smallest Greens on the open rotor very very small greens they’ve extended it Martin Eber did a bit of work obviously Martin neor did a bit of work and so they extended the greens a little bit but the some of the greens but they’re still just really tiny greens but also there’s not much in them they’re quite flat greens they’re not that interesting The Greens at TR but also links greens you know they don’t have like I didn’t know what you know I didn’t know what grain was growing up we didn’t we just everything’s just uniform and a link screen really you don’t you don’t get really grainy greens so um maybe that was a failing on my part but we didn’t we didn’t study the grain it’s not like you know your Bermuda grass where you can see it all it’s link screens are fairly much as you see them um and the ones that TR are so they’re so obvious it’s just there’s nothing there’s nothing really to them so I yeah you’re right Tommy Fleet now I’m coming around to your pick there we are you’ve won me over I was just I you know I hadn’t put much thought i’ do it I just pulled up the owgr and you know I was looking around and and it just kind of stuck out to me as uh as someone you know he’s had so many close calls I I I don’t I don’t necessarily uh this is almost say a bet for a top five not a bet to win but but uh I can give people top five bets yeah absolutely storming through the field everybody should check out your podcast the chipping forecast um is a it’s a great Liston we got Ed Eddie Eddie Pepple so we have Eddie on it and you know Eddie this is what golf is you know Eddie was um Eddie was third at the Players Championship back in 2018 he finished sixth at KI in the open um and and you know the ups and downs that all golfers in their career have ups and downs and Edd’s been grappling with his golf this season and grappling with with uh you know I think he thinks too much Eddie about life in general which makes you smart he’s too smart honest to you know just in all sports not just golf you just want to be simple-minded and sometimes that doesn’t mean lack of intelligence it just means lack of lateral thinking you don’t want to be a lateral thinker in golf and Ed is a lateral thinker but he’s too talented to to be away for too long but he’s quite engaging as well so I say quite engaging he’s very engaging we love them so um thank you so much for coming on uh this was a joy and hopefully we’ll have you on again um but uh look forward to seeing your uh Hometown shine next week uh at the Open Championship well hope it does I’m sorry you’re not going to be in a tiny little a tiny little bed sit in TR and well you know that’s what happens when when you get stuffed in the radio radio box you’re first open and then uh then shook down for a couple thousand do oh God yeah it’s a it’s a pricey old business traveling so I used to do it on the BBC ticket all the time you see I would do us opens us PJs and Masters and then the BBC stopped uh stopped doing them so I the the Masters this year well I I saw you over there was my first time in like 23 years where I was there on my own my God it’s it’s an expensive business tell you I was yeah I was I was stealing as many free sandwiches as I could take home for my dinner you were one of those guys I was one of those guys I just heard you talking about today I wasn’t I was not I’m absolutely not a hoarder from the the grab and go no I might have taken a salad one night I was it okay okay well we’re GNA keep an eye out next year when you’re out over there me and [Music] Dell cheers thank you so much cheers