FedEx St. Jude and LIV Greenbrier Recaps, Bubble Boys and AIG Women’s Open Preview

Jake Hower: 00:00:00

Welcome back to episode 17 of Beyond the Tour. As always joined with me today is Luke. How are you?

Luke Manning: 00:00:08

Jake, heading into the business end of the golf season now, plenty of good golf around and ready to dive into it with you today.

Jake Hower: 00:00:16

Agreed. Those leaderboards, particularly on the Live and PGA tours, were packed. So it was pretty interesting. The only problem was that they were all finished at the same time.

Luke Manning: 00:00:26

Yeah, it was hard to keep a finger on the pulse of everything that was happening, requires multiple devices than one set of eyes really.

Jake Hower: 00:00:34

So on the PGA tour, Hideki Matsuyama, beat Xander, Victor Hovland, Scotty fell in there at 14 in fourth place as well, at leave Brooks wanting to play off over Rambo. Cocrack was up there, Leishman finished pretty high as well. That was a really good event. And then on the LPGA tour, it's the Scottish Open won by Lauren Coghlan. Of, NLU fame.

Luke Manning: 00:00:58

Yeah, the PGA Tour, FedEx and Jude look like it might be a bit of a snoozer there with, Hideki so far in front, but, he created a bit of drama coming down the stretch, and, who could have scripted a better finish for, for Liv, really, having the two big dogs duke it out in a playoff.

Jake Hower: 00:01:17

Agreed. Absolutely. So we'll, let's, let's kick it off with, I guess we'll focus on the PJ tour first. so yeah, as you said, Hideki made it hard for himself, but he finished very strong birding the last two holes, and really cemented the win there. But, Across those two particular tours, or there's not a tour, but, across live PGA tour and even the, us amateur, the leaders, coming into the final day, all stumbled a little bit, with Rambo leading the majority of the final.

Luke Manning: 00:01:42

No, not easy to win. And as you say, leaders came into the final round with, what type of lead you'd think they would close it out, particularly with Hideki, holding a five shot lead coming into Sunday. And he was still five ahead with seven holes to play. You would think that with his calibre and experience, that's a simple close out. But, I don't know. he looked a little rattled after the rules controversy on 12. what was your sort of take on that?

Jake Hower: 00:02:12

I didn't see too much of it, to be honest. I think I was still sleeping at that time and maybe I switched on the live stuff. So I didn't actually even see the rules controversy. I didn't switch across to the PGA tour until live finished.

Luke Manning: 00:02:23

fixing, the pitch mark, and, step down on the green. And there was an argument as to whether that was improving the state in which he found the course, cause he'd missed his, approach shot, off the green and, went up and repaired a pitch mark on the green. the rules officials approached him as he was on the 12th hole. This has happened back on the seventh hole. eventually no penalty was assessed, but, he then goes on to shoot four over through the next four holes, including that double on 15, which saw him lose the lead to Victor Hovland. So he trailed by one with three to play after being ahead by five with seven to play. So it was a pretty dramatic turnaround.

Jake Hower: 00:03:06

Yeah, it certainly was. like he was striping at most of the weekend or pretty much all week. I'll tell you what, that's, we speak about it often, just that the putter he's, Hideki is one of those guys that, if it wasn't for the streaky putting, he would be like a world beater.

Luke Manning: 00:03:21

Yeah. And you saw that play out on the back nine on Sunday where particularly through that stretch of holes where he went four over on the back nine, he just couldn't make a and then those clutch birdies on, 17 and 18, to secure the win. he found his putter, which had gone, stone cold, only a matter of, holes before, although I would say those birdies, in the final two holes really was set up by wonderful approach shots iron play just really up clutch

Jake Hower: 00:03:52

yeah, absolutely. So that's his second win for the year. he's been in very good form, had one or two top 10s, in the majors. the bronze medal at the, yep. So he has returned to the form that he's shown previously. other contenders. It's good to see Victor back in contention. He's a Mr. August, it looks like, he's, he.

Luke Manning: 00:04:10

I, I'm a big fan of Vic. And so when he goes, it makes me happy. obviously, defending FedEx cup champion and won back to back events in the BMW championship and tour championship last year. So this time of year clearly. and as you say, it was good to see him return to form. He's been in the wilderness a little bit this year. But I think World Golf is, better for having Viktor Hovland at the top of leaderboards.

Jake Hower: 00:04:35

It is absolutely. Xander was obviously another one here at T2 finish there as well. Strong all weekend. maybe didn't look like he was going to, win until that sort of last few particular holes. But, yeah, the leaderboard there was pretty indicative of the entire year, to be honest, Clark up there who hadn't been in great form through the middle and towards the end of the year, but he seems to have turned it around a little bit now.

Luke Manning: 00:04:57

Yeah, I was

Jake Hower: 00:04:58

Just reminding everybody how good he was.

Luke Manning: 00:05:00

Yeah, I was surprised to see his name up there, to be honest. but, as you say, Zander, looks in such ominous form. He's probably really the main contender for beating Scheffler. if he's not too far back, already, and, his putting stroke and his short game, they're just sublime. You look at the way he putts the ball, you see that mark on his ball, it just runs end over end, it rolls beautifully. he just finds a way out. So he's in exceptional form at the moment shooting seven under in that final round there, which included a lip out for birdie on 18 just shows how hot he can really go.

Jake Hower: 00:05:41

Yep. Scotty in fourth and, Sammy Burns played well, but Nick Dunlap is the other one. he had to make that, par putt on the last two to stay in the top 50 and make it through to this week, would have been relatively controversial from my perspective. Had he missed out because he had that win as an amateur at the eights. was it 18 2? No, it was Amex, wasn't it? Yes.

Luke Manning: 00:06:00

got no

Jake Hower: 00:06:01

which, you would, it's a case that doesn't happen very often, but maybe that's, now that it had has happened and it got so close to being an issue here, maybe that's a little hole that the tour needs to plug for upcoming seasons.

Luke Manning: 00:06:15

Yeah. they won't because it wasn't an issue. we've seen from the tour plenty of times before they only act well and truly after the patient's dead. so I don't expect we'll see that. but you're right. the golfing gods smiled on Dunlap and I think justice prevailed in the end to see him inside the top 50.

Jake Hower: 00:06:33

And for the Aussies, Scotty is in T18, Minnu and Jason Day T22, Cam Davis back in T40.

Luke Manning: 00:06:41

Yeah, it's been a popular spot for Cam Davis, aside from his, win, I think, at the 3M. You just see him in that sort of T40 zone often. and Scotty, best of the Aussies, really needed. That higher finish to be able to get himself into the top 50 because he was just inside the top 70, to make it. a good finish for him. Min Woo and Jay Day again, good without being, really in contention.

Jake Hower: 00:07:10

Yep. Minwoo is now eliminated. So that's the end of his season. He will go into the preseason once these, last couple of, cups, finals finishes. but Cam snuck through. He was in 49th position. So he made it through this weekend, as you say, Scotty and Jason Day, who has been pretty solid all year. saw some photos of him in some Melbourne gear again today. He's looking pretty fit.

Luke Manning: 00:07:33

Yeah, you like the Melbourne gear, don't you? But, but he's definitely, been working, I think, on the fitness and the conditioning. all of the guys do on tour now, 98 percent of them do. it just shows you how competitive it is and that it's such a multifaceted approach to the game now. in terms of Minwu, it'd be interesting to see what he does. I suspect he'll go and play some events on the DP World Tour if he can, and then hopefully he's getting primed for a big season back home here in Australia. see the announcement that, the BMW Australian PGA Championship Will be played at, RQ, again next year. So that will be this year and next year. And I think that's five years straight now that Royal Queensland will have hosted the PGA Championships.

Jake Hower: 00:08:20

And is that the 25th year of being in Queensland for the PGA championship?

Luke Manning: 00:08:24

Oh, is that right?

Jake Hower: 00:08:26

I thought,

Luke Manning: 00:08:26

that, that could be true. cause what it was at Royal Pines, for quite a period before that. And I'm just trying to remember where it was before Royal Pines.

Jake Hower: 00:08:34

yeah, I'm not sure. I thought I saw somewhere it was either 21 or 25 or something like that. But, someone on X was complaining about the fact that, PGA of Australia, not taking it around Australia, which is, a common thread. Follow the money,

Luke Manning: 00:08:45

Yeah, and I'm sure probably events Queensland or tourism and events Queensland are tipping in a fair bit of money to keep it local here. just the same as what we see with the South Australian government and the live tournament. Now that they've got

Jake Hower: 00:08:59

Yep.

Luke Manning: 00:09:00

it's been such a boon for their economy. you find it hard to believe they'll give it away too easily, but no doubt Melbourne will try and swoop and take it away like they did the Grand Prix.

Jake Hower: 00:09:10

Yeah, absolutely. Will. I'd love to see them support Adelaide now. I guess it's probably, dependent on whether or not Malinaskis gets another term, but, they took a risk on the events, and Liv also happened to help them out, Adelaide's a great spot for us. As we've said previously, it's in such a central location, easy to get into for most of Australia. The city's brilliant. I'd love to see that there and, see that continue to grow, but let's move on to Liv, at the Greenbrier that was a pretty jam packed leaderboard for the full three days. We saw Cam on, day two, go low. I think he was eight under, or it didn't finish off strong. He was leading for a lot of the round and then, Ram took control. but it's probably like in terms of, leaderboard, it's probably one of the best leaderboards we've seen on live.

Luke Manning: 00:09:54

That's right, and we even saw Blandy, make eagle and take the lead at one stage there on Sunday when the final round. I think it was, a juiced up event, this one. what was your sort of take and read on the crowds?

Jake Hower: 00:10:06

Yeah, it's not incredible. Is it like they're just, I don't know, they're not getting their, the support in the U S still. So I'm glad to say that, the reduction of events there has happening for next year. I'm also not convinced that, we should be going to places like the Greenbriar at this time of year, it looks really hot, sweaty. being in that similar time zone as what the PGA tour is doing as well. Like to me, West coast golf would be perfect,

Luke Manning: 00:10:33

And we

Jake Hower: 00:10:34

better weather.

Luke Manning: 00:10:35

We have talked about this before on the pod where, picking their marks in the U. S. is going to be really important. PGA Tour used to have an event at Greenbrier, so it's it's playing in the PGA Tour's best interest. Either history or backyard, however you want to, talk to it. the crowds around the playoff hole, like it, it looked fairly well populated around the playoff and during the playoff. but then when you spread that out a bit more across the course and across multiple groups, you did get a sense that it was a, Fairly mediocre crowd in attendance, but the golf made up for it. And so it was certainly, great watching, particularly as we said, having Rooksey and Rahm, fight it out go into a sudden death playoff to win it.

Jake Hower: 00:11:19

Yep, absolutely. it was really good. Just, even seeing go crack, like a little bit of a cameo up there. who else we had? had his highest finish for his season, up to around 36th position, I think he finished two under. Hudson Swafford

Luke Manning: 00:11:33

gets another wild card?

Jake Hower: 00:11:35

I think he does, I think he gets to use, it's pretty unlikely that he's going to do anything like, I don't think he's going to win, I don't think he's even going to compete really, but, I think it's worth, he's shown enough improvement and dedication that I don't think it's doing any harm having him there. just compare it to Swafford, for example, no one cares about the Sailor Dwellers on which regardless of the tournament, they just have no effect. So it doesn't really matter in my opinion, just having him there. cause he still brings that interest. if he does come. Like catch fire at one point and gets into contention. I think the payoff there from a marketing dollars perspective is why it's worth investing in him. if I hadn't swaffled was to finish top five, top 10, no one would care, but because it's AK.

Luke Manning: 00:12:20

at all.

Jake Hower: 00:12:21

Yep. So I think that's what makes it worth keeping him for another year.

Luke Manning: 00:12:25

Yeah, I think

Jake Hower: 00:12:25

How about you?

Luke Manning: 00:12:26

point. And, if he was to top 10 or even podium, can you imagine it? it would certainly be a very topical storyline within golf media and the world of golf. and so I think that's a good analysis of the situation. What's the risk in keeping him there? It's probably pretty low. They wouldn't be paying him very much in comparison to the other players. give him two years, see what he can make of it in the second year. And then I suspect if he doesn't do anything in the second year, he's probably cut.

Jake Hower: 00:12:58

Yeah. Yeah. That's, and that seems relatively fair. but yeah, I think like the thing is, unless you're winning, and unless you're winning often, like no one in golf creates storylines like Scottie's this year is one seven times Xander is one, two majors McElroy was a little bit of a storyline on the weekend because he finished pretty much dead last, but. That's it, DeChambeau is a good one. He was close to a top 10, maybe finished 11th or something this week. Doesn't, it doesn't, no one cares

Luke Manning: 00:13:26

No, it doesn't

Jake Hower: 00:13:27

he's not winning.

Luke Manning: 00:13:28

No. It's a pretty, tough standard. It's a high bar to meet just to get some, coverage.

Jake Hower: 00:13:34

It is. I think that really highlights, the, in terms of needle movers and Tiger being, The golfer that he was, you can see why the tour is clinging on for Delia and trying to jam that narrative down everyone's throats, because it is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Even now, the fact that he has the interest that he has now, I think you probably do have to take what you can get because like he does move the needle. And, yeah, it just doesn't like anyone else just does not matter unless they're winning and winning all the time. It's just, no one cares.

Luke Manning: 00:14:03

No, that's right. there's more interest in Tiger coming DFL than Cam Smith winning a live event.

Jake Hower: 00:14:10

What do you think of Cam's form?

Luke Manning: 00:14:12

I was good to see him, back competitive, driving the ball better. I think that's definitely something that been his Achilles heel And he'll need to improve on, to get back to his best. He said the course fit his eye. And when you play yourself, there are courses that you feel comfortable on the tee on, and there are other courses you don't feel comfortable on the tee on. so it was good to, to see him, really ramp up the performance there. couldn't keep going with the big boys when it mattered on Sunday and just ran out of steam, but some good signs there.

Jake Hower: 00:14:48

So I had, him, we had Ram recently, we had, Kepka also, all speaking about their relative disappointment in their years. Kepka was early on in. This week he was talking about the fact that even though he'd won this year, he was not happy at all with his major performances, and talking about that consistency that he's trying to get out of his game. There's no doubt that when Koepke's on, he's on, but it is certainly a well made point from his perspective. I think to be truly world class, you want to be consistent, like a Ram or a Rory as a rule, or even Scotty, the Sheffler now.

Luke Manning: 00:15:23

Yeah, it's still hard to argue with his record though, isn't it? five majors, five live. He's got more live, wins now than he does PGA Tour wins. Although if you go to Wikipedia, he has nine PGA Tour wins. So they're classing the five majors as PGA Tour victories. But, he's an enigma Brooks. and he's someone that, can be really, engaging in terms of fan attention, but then also can be very dismissive and almost cold, can't he? he's that enigmatic figure within the game.

Jake Hower: 00:15:56

Yeah, this certainly is. Ripper had a great weekend They all played pretty well and they led for a lot of the tournament. obviously the final day couldn't get back towards that top of the podium, but, it's good to see them playing well.

Luke Manning: 00:16:11

Definitely, and a two shot lead, to start Sunday, and then they extended that to four shots, so they looked in prime position to take out that exemption, to the first round, in the team championship at Marito and Dallas, later in September. but Smash were just too good coming over the top of Rippa off the back of CokeRack and Kepka both, tied for the lead there late in the final round. they'll still be happy with the result, although. Disappointed that they weren't able to get the win and the buy.

Jake Hower: 00:16:45

Yeah. But they had the three top 10s, Leeshan T4, Herbie T6, Smith T8.

Luke Manning: 00:16:51

And

Jake Hower: 00:16:51

good result them. is Was he?

Luke Manning: 00:16:54

so they just got beaten by, I guess a hotter team on the day.

Jake Hower: 00:16:57

Yeah. Even Gooch was playing well, wasn't he?

Luke Manning: 00:16:59

Gooch

Jake Hower: 00:16:59

pretty good routes. Yep. Yeah. I think that looks like a pretty solid team, the Rippers. It doesn't look like they will be, I don't think, I can't imagine there being any changes next year. I don't know anyone that, That would be available that they'd be looking to recruit, to be honest.

Luke Manning: 00:17:15

No, it's hard to say them making any changes. I do think if there was someone, available, shall we say that, that Jonesy's spot would be up for grabs. an Adam Scott or a Minwoo, they'd gladly bring into the team. but not likely to happen. And so they'll probably have, a similar setup for next year.

Jake Hower: 00:17:36

Yep. all right, let's look at the season standings for the PGA tour. So coming into this week, we've got, the BMW championship. So we've got, Keegan, Cam Davis, which we spoke about and Nick Dunlap also sneaking in. So they're in some interesting out. Tom Kim. didn't make the 50, outside of the extra money is going to be, would have made this year. It's not going to affect him too much because he should still qualify for the events next year, being a top 30 in the world. I think he's 18 or 19 at the moment. but some other players, Mackenzie Hughes, Mav McNeely, Spieth is another big name. Outside of that top 50, which is interesting.

Luke Manning: 00:18:14

Yeah. look, it's the sort of big boys versus the bubble boys Tom Kim, young Tom Kim, missed out narrowly, took a big chunk out of the green. I don't know if you saw that.

Jake Hower: 00:18:24

I did.

Luke Manning: 00:18:25

certainly some question marks over his pace of play. So a little bit of a controversial figure in the game, is, Tom Kim. That's good to see Cam Davis just sneak in, he'll need a really good week this week at the BMW to make Eastlake, but not beyond him, he needs to do better than his sort of T40 zone.

Jake Hower: 00:18:45

Yeah, as we've said a lot, like he's someone that can do that because he's, relatively streaky form comes out of nowhere.

Luke Manning: 00:18:51

Correct.

Jake Hower: 00:18:51

so Tom Kim, I must say like he has got a very impressive resume. And he's in that same class as a Theobaldson. So I think he would have been in the same, graduating class. three or four professional wins, been on tour for a couple of years, got his tour card locked up, pretty much going to be in the

Luke Manning: 00:19:07

gone

Jake Hower: 00:19:08

competitive majors.

Luke Manning: 00:19:09

So he's probably the leader of that cohort,

Jake Hower: 00:19:14

I have to say, Lamprechet, he's made it into the finals, the Corn Furry finals, but he would be not very happy with his, start to his professional career at this stage. I think he's down in, let's see, he's like 135th or something on the Corn Furry tour

Luke Manning: 00:19:28

really

Jake Hower: 00:19:29

and even really grinding. So we've got, those inside and outside of the, it was a 24 is a top 24. There are a lot for a season. steel, Brendan Steel's snuck back in there, co cracked with his strong performances inside now, Sebastian Munoz, outside Pooj, Tringali, and GMAC.

Luke Manning: 00:19:50

Yeah, an expensive, cold and flu tablet, for GMAC to have taken. So he's in the open zone, not necessarily the drop zone, but it means he's at risk of being traded. I think we're, discussed this maybe last week would Brooksie actually trade him or is he happy with where he's at? I would say the fact that he's even around that 24 mark is surprising to me. I don't feel like he's had any real standout performances or that we've covered him much in terms the pod and where, he's finished in the live standings. But, anyway, he'll have plenty to play for, at the Chicago event, that's for sure.

Jake Hower: 00:20:27

Yep. Yep. And then, in that really dangerous sign, the, the relegation zone, Perez had a decent week and he pulled himself outside of that. Oh, no, these guys are actually still in down in there out there. Pat Perez, Harold Varner.

Luke Manning: 00:20:40

he is, he's in Yeah. Perez and HV three and Polter. they're inside, the open zone, so they're

Jake Hower: 00:20:46

Open zone. Yep.

Luke Manning: 00:20:47

they're inside the open zone. but on the bubble of going into the drop zone. Polter obviously can't be relegated as a captain. Ludicrous rule that when there's three playing captains of the one team, but it is what it is, Pat Perez probably playing for his career really, because if he drops out of leave, There is really probably nowhere for him to go because he certainly won't be welcome back on the PGA Tour and I don't think his game would be in shape to, to qualify.

Jake Hower: 00:21:17

Yeah.

Luke Manning: 00:21:18

over 50, So it would certainly be the only other pathway. lots to play for Perez in that regard.

Jake Hower: 00:21:24

He doesn't look like someone who's gonna grind on the Asian tour either, does he?

Luke Manning: 00:21:28

No, that's right. and we know that he's, he's separated from his former, wife. So he probably does need every dollar he can get.

Jake Hower: 00:21:37

was it year one? Wasn't it, he wasn't playing very well, but the Four ACEs, the generational four ACEs kept on, propping him up, didn't he? With all their prize money, they kept on winning as a team

Luke Manning: 00:21:46

bank whilst playing pretty average golf.

Jake Hower: 00:21:50

out inside that particular cutter outside, the ones in danger, Scott Vincent, Kieran is also in a bit of trouble there. Brandon Grace, which I thought was maybe surprising, in terms of, his ability and, Laurie Cantor's down there. Have we got any clarity on whether or not reserves or those guys can actually be relegated when they're not actually even,

Luke Manning: 00:22:11

it's surprising, isn't it? I would, imagine, he is in the drop zone. so the way that I understand it is that, that, he'd have to make a choice to play in the promotions event at the end of the year to see if he can get in or not.

Jake Hower: 00:22:26

But do you think, I think that's bullshit to be honest, because they're not like actually on as a player, they're like reserves. so if he's, if they're counting him in the guys in the relegation zone, like it means one of the, one of them is getting away with it, isn't it? Like someone's, someone is not in the relegation zone because he is.

Luke Manning: 00:22:46

I think that's a well made point, and as you say, Kieran Vincent's also in trouble as well, so both the Vincent boys, are, at risk, and, it'll be an interesting finish to the season, at Live Chicago, and then, the promotions event that, we'll see, I think, in December.

Jake Hower: 00:23:06

Yep. So I've got roughly a month off now. and then I have the back to back weeks to finish, not hearing any rumblings anywhere at all in terms of what's going to be occurring next year in terms of player movement. we haven't seen anything more on the schedule. After that leak a couple of weeks ago, it seems again, we've spoken about a couple of times, but it seems a little flat at the moment, just with this information not being shared. so it's going to be when we finally start seeing a little bit of activity, you're going to hope it's going to be solid activity.

Luke Manning: 00:23:36

Yeah, if you're Yasser or Norman, you're thinking we've got to make some waves here. We've got to have at least another two or maybe even three big signings. We've got to make something happen to keep the momentum going. it does feel like that. Liv is in a bit of a flat spot at the moment and the weeks are just rolling by. so they need that next shot in the arm to build some more momentum going into next year.

Jake Hower: 00:24:05

They certainly do. speaking about if we're talking about the schedule a little bit for next year, I think. To me, like we can't keep having these events that are completely clashing in terms of finishing time. and I think given that, the PGA tour is I guess the primary tour in the U S they've already set their schedule for next year Just needs to make the adjustment and just, I know they don't want to like seed to the PGA tour, but I think it's in their best interest to do that. Because if you're outside of the same finishing zone or finishing time, regardless of if it's at early morning or if it's in a different time zone, you're going to get that overflow viewer. So we're PJ tour fans who might switch on to watch a bit of live. you're going to get the live fans who are also wanting to watch PJ tour as well. So you're going to make them happy. I dunno, I just don't see any benefit to competing directly head to head against the PJ tour.

Luke Manning: 00:25:01

No, and it might be a temporary strategy where you do vacate, and shift to a different time zone to build more of a fan base in the U. S. until the point in time where you feel like you really can compete or maybe even out compete. So I'm with you, They're just, I think they'll be looking at where the sponsor dollars are, where the, advertising dollars are and the time slots that suit for that. it's obviously very complex and and truly above, our pay grade, but I think the points that you make are sensible points. and we'll see how they go with it.

Jake Hower: 00:25:42

Now, in that drop zone, we've got Larry Cantor, who's a reserve. Ben Campbell is in 57th. He's also a reserve. Bubba Watson, is a captain. So he's in and truly inside that drop zone as well. So you've got, essentially. Three players inside that drop zone and also AK and Swofford to consider though. So you've got two, at least two positions there that are saving two others from being relegated.

Luke Manning: 00:26:09

that's right.

Jake Hower: 00:26:11

I think that should be, I want to encourage you a little bit of turnover, wouldn't you?

Luke Manning: 00:26:16

I think you absolutely do. And it creates interest. there's a lot of criticism that nothing for them to play for, on live. It means nothing, all that sort of stuff. But as you and I have spoken about before, that promotions event was great last year and you could really feel that it did mean something. So leaning into that and really making the relegation, a significant thing is something that LIV should be doing. And we'll see how it goes. It's been also one of the criticisms from the AWGR around closed shop that they're running. And when you go through those, people in the drop zone that you've just gone through there, you can see that there's some validity to that argument.

Jake Hower: 00:26:59

All right. let's switch across to this week. so on the PGA tour, we've got the big, BMW championship that is going to Colorado. For the first time in quite some time.

Luke Manning: 00:27:08

Yeah, Castle Pines. a Nicholas design course, elevation changes will be particularly prominent, in this one. it's been the former host of, the international, which was a modified Stableford, event the PGA tour from 1986 to 2006. a bit of interest in the course, be interesting to see how it plays. I'm. told that, Peyton Manning, no relative to me, but, nonetheless made an ace on his first round as a member here. a bit of an interesting fun fact for you there around Castle Pines, but Victor Hovland defending champion, be looking to continue his good form from this week and see if he can go back to back and the BMW.

Jake Hower: 00:27:51

Yeah. So we are at altitude. so we're going to see the ball go a lot further than it normally does. The course itself is, just over 8, 100, yards. So it's long on paper, but, the word on the street is it's going to be like a toy course for these guys. Like a pitching pot.

Luke Manning: 00:28:08

the rollback guys will be just nappies, with, hand wringing about the ball going too far and all that sort of stuff. we'll see how it goes. I think sometimes these things are over exaggerated and they're not as bad as expected. But at altitude, there's always a risk.

Jake Hower: 00:28:28

I think if it does live up to what it's, What is predicted, this is just typical PJ to a set up really. Isn't that

Luke Manning: 00:28:35

100

Jake Hower: 00:28:35

what you want for the finals?

Luke Manning: 00:28:36

and gouge.

Jake Hower: 00:28:37

Oh goodness. yeah. So the top 50 there, if you've got any tips there,

Luke Manning: 00:28:42

Oh, I'm gonna, I'm gonna go with Victor. Victor or Xander. I think Victor sentimentally, but Xander, I just think, he, he's just looking so good. But, of course, you never discount Scotty either. He's always thereabouts. If he has

Jake Hower: 00:28:58

yeah. There's a few signs,

Luke Manning: 00:28:59

all over.

Jake Hower: 00:29:00

there's a few signs that he's not super happy. we saw him getting a little bit angry in that bunker showing a bit of emotion there. and, he's speaking pre tournament, last week about, maybe, not so happy with the season long race. and talking about his neck a little bit. So maybe he's, maybe there's a little bit going on behind the scenes there with Scotty, so he, he might be at risk here.

Luke Manning: 00:29:22

Possibly, but I think he's the kind of guy that is very good at keeping things in perspective, and it wouldn't surprise me if, it gets away for a few days from the course and resets. I saw a statistic, That, he's had 14 top 10 so far this year. So what's he played maybe 18 times, and 14 top 10. So just incredible consistency, incredibly high class golf. and I'm sure he'll be there abouts, but, I'll stick with Vic.

Jake Hower: 00:29:53

Yep. Yeah. I'd probably take Xander. I'd probably expect to turn around from Rory as well. Although he's not, he hasn't been playing well the last couple of weeks.

Luke Manning: 00:30:01

He's saving himself for the race to Dubai.

Jake Hower: 00:30:04

Race to Dubai. You don't think he can sneak, sneak the FedEx cup from here?

Luke Manning: 00:30:08

No, I think he's won too many of those already. Yeah,

Jake Hower: 00:30:17

he's won just as many races to Dubai hasn't he?

Luke Manning: 00:30:19

there's a bit more sentimental value, he's such a, he started on the European tour and an advocate of the European tour, but it's better to play in the US.

Jake Hower: 00:30:28

Yeah, maybe he's saving, he's looking for the Irish Open. That's probably what he's, looking to take there.

Luke Manning: 00:30:34

That's right.

Jake Hower: 00:30:35

Yeah. Yeah. the other major event, the DP World Tour, we've got the Danish, golf championship. Eddie Pepper's playing, the Oozie, Jason s Kovner, Thomas b who's gonna be back in the, in, in the previous Ryder Cup captain he's going to be playing, which I think he normally does when he gets up into that Nordic region.

Luke Manning: 00:30:54

Yep.

Jake Hower: 00:30:54

and then really he's probably the Nicola Nikolai hoard and, who were the local hopes.

Luke Manning: 00:31:01

Yeah, the local hopes. I don't know whether I'll be tuning in too much to this one. I hope the Aussies go well. there's quite a few of them there, but as you say, Micheluzzi and Scrivener are probably the main two. and I always have an interest in how, the vocal live hater, Eddie Pepperall goes. he's shown himself to be on the wrong side of a few things on X. so it's. Certainly generated more interest in how he performs on the golf course for me as well.

Jake Hower: 00:31:27

Yeah, he's certainly, he has, he's been relatively controversial. considering like he was so well thought, he seems to think through things a lot, but certainly he's got that blind spot on, against Liv really doesn't even, particularly with, him being quite good friends with Laurie Cantor. that sort of doesn't even sway him really.

Luke Manning: 00:31:46

No, and, I guess I just put it down to the pressure that Live has put the DP World Tour under and relegating it now to a feeder tour. I think you're silly to argue otherwise that it's anything but a feeder tour to the PGA tour now. So would be very disappointing for those who are passionate European tour players and supporters and so I get that. But, The Gulf ecosystem is far more complex than Live Bad, DP World Tour Good, and there are a lot of reasons Live was able to become what it was and, maybe Eddie should be looking at some of the former leadership, of the DP World Tour, and having some of that frustration directed towards them rather than necessarily, Live.

Jake Hower: 00:32:33

Yes. And then probably the event of the week, we have the, the women's open at the old course in St. Andrews. I do not recall it either, to be honest. Okay.

Luke Manning: 00:32:42

interested to see how the women go at St. Andrews. I can't remember seeing them play there before. Have they played before at St. Andrews? Yeah. so it should be a fantastic event. all the big names will be there. Lillia Vu's the defending champion. have Boutier, Corpuz, Buhai, Lydia Ko coming off the gold medal at the Olympics. yeah. Yuka Sasso won a major so far this year, Rose Zhang's been playing well, and then hopefully the Aussies can give it a shake, it wouldn't surprise me to see Minji do really well here, and, Hannah Green's been in good form. possibly could have gone better at the Olympics. she showed some good form there. and then the other sort of usual suspects that we've seen on the LPGA tour, from Australia in the likes of Steph Kirikou, here in Evide and Gabby Ruffles. That's a pretty strong contingent and I think also, three time, Women's Open winner, Kerry Webb's also going to, pull out the clubs, dust off the clubs and have a go. definitely a great event, as you say, probably event of the week and, hopefully it'll be, good viewing for us as well

Jake Hower: 00:33:49

Absolutely.

Luke Manning: 00:33:50

time slot.

Jake Hower: 00:33:52

Yeah, I'm looking forward to it. The weather looks relatively good in terms of rain. There's a little bit of rain, I think, Thursday, Friday about, particularly in the mornings. But, there is at this stage that the forecast for the wind to get up in the afternoon. So you may see a little bit of a weather affected, draw and, leaderboard, but, it'll be really interesting to see how they play the old course.

Luke Manning: 00:34:12

definitely. and that's, one of the interesting aspects of the women's game is, it's not about the power game, although some of them are certainly getting it out there, but, it's much more about accuracy, and consistency and, it's great. It'll be great to see them maneuver their way around the old course.

Jake Hower: 00:34:31

Now news for the week, probably the biggest, article we saw come out was from, Jaime Diaz at the Gulf Digest claiming sources saying that Rahm would, a hundred percent give back the money, to the Saudis if he had the opportunity and that he made a big mistake. it seemed that he didn't get that, or his sources were third party, fourth party sources, and didn't ask the camp.

Luke Manning: 00:34:55

This is what passes for journalism, these days. So, it doesn't seem to pass the mustard either. I think Rahm's response hosed it down pretty quickly. so just more of this crap that we've been seeing people muckraking and looking to create stories out of Rahm's alleged or supposed discontent, with his decision. seriously, is anyone giving back? Three to six hundred million. I just can't see it happening. What, just to go back to the PGA tour? No way. Total

Jake Hower: 00:35:27

Yeah. Yeah, it is. And that's just the media landscape really, isn't it? And probably it's really, it's driven a little bit by social media and the, I guess the need for clicks and need for viewerships. And I guess the fact that everything, all the algorithms work off of, This engagement farming style of content, which is certainly highly controversial, which leads us into, country club snob, which was certainly like a, or a, an anonymous

Luke Manning: 00:35:55

Parody a

Jake Hower: 00:35:55

account, really. Yep. That was, he was outed or what they would call it doxed, by a, an assistant pro who works at his club.

Luke Manning: 00:36:04

it's certainly, captured the interest of golf Twitter on X, that's for sure. look, I don't know if I followed, country club snob, but certainly I saw a fair bit of his stuff in my feed. and, Then all of a sudden it just exploded that, he had been, outed or doxxed, by, this fellow at his home club, happened to be, as you say, the assistant pro. And then people were coming out on both sides of the argument saying that, oh, there was no place for that sort of vitriol that, That country club snob was, propagating on X, and then other people, of course, saying, if you can't understand that it's a parody account and that there's, humor and sarcasm involved, what hope have you got? so I did think he had 30 odd thousand, followers and now those people who were enjoying his content, no longer have access to it because he's gone and deleted all these, social media accounts.

Jake Hower: 00:37:01

Yeah, yep. There's been a big trends. there's a big, certainly through COVID and after COVID, there was a big trend of these anonymous style accounts, popping up in, in all industries. they're all guy accounts essentially. So they had a, like a car dealership guy. There's a whole bunch of them and they got really popular. Club Pro guy was certainly prior to that. but there's a whole lot of them and they've all essentially been doxed in, in, in a similar fashion. So I think it's just, it's, it's just. People's nature. And now in terms of doxing, I think traditionally doxing would be like revealing someone's personal address, their contact phone numbers, that sort of thing, location, this is a little bit different to me because, his name was revealed, but then all of the sleuthing that was done was all online available information. So I was, this guy seems to be, in that sort of marketing consulting style of background. He's. Profile was all over LinkedIn. they found articles where he's referring to his home club that were, tied to his personal name. So pretty much, I think all that was revealed potentially was his, was his name and maybe his home club, but it wasn't a real doxing from my perspective and,

Luke Manning: 00:38:07

Not in the the word.

Jake Hower: 00:38:08

not in a pure sense. So I wasn't, I didn't have too much of a problem with that. And I think, the thing now is that, that person or Joe, I think it was, would certainly know with his backgrounds that, putting anything out on the internet, is probably going to be open to public domain eventually, particularly if you're going to be controversial like he was. So I think, it's fine to, certainly it was a parody account. I had no problem with it, but there were some posts there where he got relatively personal, just mocking other people. participants on X, and I think that leads, that's definitely going to lead to some sort of retribution. So

Luke Manning: 00:38:43

Yeah. Live by the sword, die by the sword. I only had sort of one interaction with him. He did come after me, on a particular comment or whatnot that I made, and I just responded back with humor and, it seemed to totally disarm him because the next thing he was, his reply was, Oh, thank God, someone who finally fucking understands. humour on this, platform. So, it, I didn't have too much to do with him, but that was my sort of, interaction with Country Club snob

Jake Hower: 00:39:11

I think what could have happened if he, if he handled it differently, if he just didn't go ahead and delete his account and disappear. if he could have just said, I said, Oh yeah, you got me. he would have, blown over very quickly and he could have continued on with the account. Yep. But yeah, I think that's the lesson really is if you put anything online, expect it to be uncovered

Luke Manning: 00:39:29

I think that's, that's a wise lesson, Jake. Now, we're also interested in a update from you on the world rankings. So what's Rank Eagle telling us at the moment

Jake Hower: 00:39:40

or not much, really. It's a, there isn't a lot of. Not a lot of movement. I think probably the main, the main sort of looking at the trends this morning was seeing, Max and Max Homer and Jordan Spieth, both dropping, relatively large, particularly with the, the Strokes gains, ranking. So with Datagolf, with, Tuger. They both dropped 30 odd positions, roughly. so Spieth is in danger, particularly across those ones are falling outside of the top 100, which is, which is very surprising.

Luke Manning: 00:40:08

It's amazing, isn't it? could it, could, Could have been and may still be, a generational golfer, but he really just had that three, four, five year burst and then it's been slim picking since, and then of course, Max homers slide will be, just devastating for the NLU fanboys and the other, golf media lovers, of Max.

Jake Hower: 00:40:32

Yeah. And then outside of that, the, the top 100 is probably as diverse as it's been. we have. Across three of the ranking systems, a player from the corn ferry to appearing in the top 100, which is the first time for a while. and, I think the other thing I was thinking of, I'm tracking 700. just 706 players in the system for the last two or three months. now what that is made up of is essentially the top 500 across the four ranking systems. So there is enough, there's enough crossover where there's 200 players between the systems who, haven't. don't appear in them all. So I think again, speaking about how outside of the live stuff, the OWGR and is relatively accurate. That's the thing. I think where I'm at, it's outside of the live guys, not being tracked, all systems are pretty good, to be honest,

Luke Manning: 00:41:24

Yeah, and, it's, I guess it's good to have the ability now just to have that visibility across the different ranking systems, and to be able to look at it a glance and get a sense of, where the consistencies are and where the variances are. mate, where can we go? Is it rankeagle. com?

Jake Hower: 00:41:44

that's it.

Luke Manning: 00:41:45

over to RankEagle. com and, you'll be able to get all the info you need about the current rankings, across the various, ranking systems.

Jake Hower: 00:41:54

Absolutely. Now to finish off, we have got a Trump. Golfer, it's not Donald.

Luke Manning: 00:42:01

apparently his eldest granddaughter will be, playing college golf for the University of Miami. so certainly has access to some pretty good, practice courses and practice facilities, given the courses that, sit within the Trump Golf Stable. keep an eye out for her in future years.

Jake Hower: 00:42:20

I believe she was the original YouTube Trump golfer.

Luke Manning: 00:42:23

Ah, there you

Jake Hower: 00:42:24

she appeared on, was it maybe it was GM golf or maybe it was, it was one of, it was maybe Grant Horvath, one of those two that, she played around with him, she's looks pretty decent.

Luke Manning: 00:42:33

Yeah,

Jake Hower: 00:42:34

pretty like a decent golfer. So

Luke Manning: 00:42:35

do a Breaking 50 with Bryson.

Jake Hower: 00:42:38

yeah, I wouldn't anticipate that to happen.

Luke Manning: 00:42:40

Yeah, maybe it's, maybe it's on the, content cards for Bryson. Yep. Yep. Yep.

Jake Hower: 00:42:45

the first, the first multi generational breaking 50.

Luke Manning: 00:42:48

Yep. That'd be an interesting, little, episode for Bryson to do.

Jake Hower: 00:42:53

Yeah, it would. All right. I think that wraps up the episode.

Luke Manning: 00:42:57

Certainly does. Thanks everyone for listening, we'll be back next week.

Jake Hower: 00:43:02

We will. See you