What are your thoughts? I'm sure he wouldn't have been on the Ryder Cup, but what are your thoughts about Snedeker picking him for President's Cup?

Snedeker got really offended, and gets offended, uh, over the notion that he picked Koeven to kind of get him ready for Ryder Cups.

This, he sees it that this is an individual event.

I guess the thinking is, is why not take a gander? I mean, the, the kid can putt very well.

Uh, obviously a, a, a good player.

Should he have taken him over J.J. Spaun or Brian Gerard or some of those guys? I, I, I mean, you can't go wrong either way.

I don't think it's a, it's a bad idea.

Yeah.

Yeah

... before looking unbeatable and unstoppable.

And then, and then all of a sudden, I actually talked to him, uh, yesterday a little bit, Tony.

When he hit the sh- the, the tee shot on 14 into the rough and, and miked out, uh, let out the biggest, um, word of frustration I've heard since the John Rahm moment, it turned it around for him.

Got it on the green and then, and, uh, you know, hits a good one on 15 and then, you know, birdie, birdie, bird- those are hard holes.

16 is a really, really hard par three.

And, and he birdies there and, and then off he goes.

Mm-hmm.

So is there anything about Royal Birkdale where you say, "That's Royal Birkdale"?

I think the, the bunkering, even though I think when you think bunkers at, at the British, uh, Lytham comes to mind, uh, probably quickly.

But, but Birkdale, and I'll give you a good example, Tony.

On the, on the 10th hole, a beautiful little dogleg left around the turn, and it's got these two bunkers.

And if you choose to take on these bunkers, and you fly it too far, it's gonna roll into a bunker on the right side.

In, in any case, you're not getting to the green from there.

So bunkers are really, really well l- well located, and it basically gives guys an option.

Yes

Yeah.

On the other hand he said, "Look, when I was, when I was starting out in 2014 and '15, I would've wanted to play with, with Tiger, Ernie Els, or whatever." So he, so, so he gets it.

But it's just the pace.

I mean, he was talking about...

And, and I saw this more pronounced at the, at the PGA last month and previous Opens where, where guys kinda treat the golf course like, like the chipping areas and the, um, and the, and the putting green.

I mean, they are there forever.

Mickelson when he came to Oakmont, this was back I think in '07, he spent eight hours on the golf course.

... a wonderful thing that he won, right?

Yeah

...

the green jacket, and all of a sudden he's got another major.

And it, I think it was a lot for him.

Handling it better this year except for his pinky toe.

But, but, um-Throw in also the, the signature events.

I mean, if you look at the schedule this year, which is just stupid, you went from, from Augusta to a signature event.

Yeah

Like, it's a big deal, right?

It is.

And it ...

You know what? You think back to those k- kind of comical comments Gary Player made about how, "Me and Jack and Arnold, we created the Masters." Uh, you could make that argument for, for Tiger and Phil.

I mean, when you start with Tiger in '97 making his run, and here comes Phil in four and in six and in 10, and the couple times they played together, which was just dynamic.

I mean, people, people forget when Tiger completed his Tiger Slam, he's with Phil-In the final round there.

That was a pretty good Masters.

It does.

Mm-hmm.

He, he's got a, a very general North Star of, of how do we make this better, and that guides him everywhere.

And so I think where golf is going is basically two tracks.

There's gonna be a, um, probably two dozen tournaments, a 24-tournament schedule roughly, of nothing but big tournaments.

Um, signature events, basically, the ones that are worth 20 million now.

There's eight of them now.

He wants to at least double that.

Yeah, should be a cut.

Yeah

... and we haven't seen that in forever.

So yeah, he's not used to, he's not used to sucking, basically, and I think this is...

He needs to figure it out pretty quick.

Spieth remains, I think, golf's greatest mystery.

Uh, played a nice one yesterday.

Pebble's always been a good tournament for him.

Mm

Yeah.

That there's... you know, he, he said for years, ever since he started winning, that golf doesn't really define him and, and I think what Scottie enjoys is beating people.

He loves the competition.

He loves the work.

I mean, there's loads of stories from him back in, back in Dallas when he was a kid, of just, you know, sitting on, on, uh, on a, on a small bag of balls and just watching all the pros and trying to figure out what they're doing.

He would just soak that stuff up.

He loves everything about golf, but every focus about him right now is, is why he wins so much, and I, and I think that's what he was getting at, was the winning, uh, isn't... you know, he's, he's never a guy that says, "I want to win the Grand Slam.

Okay.

Y-

... on Oakmont just because the green is not heavily contoured.

So you clear a section of the, of the bunker called the Sahara and you've got loads of room to, to run it onto the green and you, you should be a highly skilled golfer who can hit a fairway metal or a driver if necessary, and, and hit it reasonably straight over and, and let it run up and measure your distance and then you gotta...

You know, you don't have a crazy putt you're facing.

Whereas 16, for example, which is only 242, has got a wicked false front, it's got these, you know, sections of contour and, and that might even play harder.

Plus, plus, think of it, I thought about this at Quail Hollow (clears throat), excuse me, when they had a 250-yard par three.

When else are these guys gonna hit a long iron? I mean, they hit it so far right now, even the par fives are hitting four and five irons on some of them, so I think it's a good test.

... you'd think that the 80 would be easier.

He's the best player in the world, and everybody knows it." You would agree with that, right?

I think so.

I think, I think that's...

You know, Ru- Rory knew it, uh, and he, and he said it, you know, again, when he started the year on the, on the US tour, uh, he wanted to take a page from Scottie.

He, he was watching to see what he was doing and, "What can I do better that, that Scottie does?" For Rory, that was playing with a little bit more discipline, less mistakes, as we just said, and, uh, it's worked out pretty well for Rory.

I think there is a dynamic with, with him, um...

Talking about Rory here.

You like either of them on this course?

He's, he's gotten better at it, yes?

Yeah.

I don't think that was a joke either.

I think there was some concern he might fall down.

He's holding up pretty nicely.

But yeah, I mean, Jack is...

I, I think the, the connection Jack and, and Tiger here are, are pretty interesting.

It was, like, that simple, uh, and I imagine that that's how golf people look at Scheffler.