transcript

Speaker 1:
[00:07] Be the right club today.

Speaker 2:
[00:12] Randy, that's better than most.

Speaker 3:
[00:16] How about him?

Speaker 4:
[00:17] That is better than most.

Speaker 2:
[00:20] Better than most!

Speaker 1:
[00:26] Can you expect anything different?

Speaker 3:
[00:28] Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to The No Laying Up Podcast. Solly here, got a preview coming here shortly of this week's Chevron Championship down in Houston. Before we get to that, wanna remind you that playing the right golf ball for your game is massively important. And if you're not, you are leaving shots on the table. This is why Titleist offers three tour proven golf ball models to fit different flight, spin and field performance needs. Pro V1, this is my choice. It gives you low long game spin, maximum short game spin, and a penetrating ball flight and a very soft field. That's the deal breaker for me. I gotta have a golf ball with soft field. The Pro V1X, it flies in a higher window and spins more on full swings. It has a slightly firmer feel. So if you're looking for, you know, maybe a little bit more spin out of your wedge game, or, you know, if you like a firmer field golf ball, Pro V1X is your choice. Then there's Neil's new Pro V1X Left Dash. I don't think that's the official name of it, but it flies high like the Pro V1X does, but with dramatically lower full swing spin and even firmer feel, it's also the fastest ball in the lineup. So you owe it to yourself to find out what combination of flight, spin and feel best fits your game, regardless of handicap. If you're a high handicap golfer, finding the right golf ball is perhaps even more important than it is for the low handicap golfers. I know Casey on her team learned a lot from playing the Pro V1X and how much that spin helped her on approach shots, being able to stop and hold greens that she couldn't previously hold. So head to titles.com to learn more information about this without any further delay. Let's get to our preview. All right, folks, we are here. We have made it first women's major championship of the year. We are recording this episode on Thursday, April 16th for the listener's sake here to get out ahead of some travel next week. For the big guy, let me introduce the big guy himself. Hello, Mr. Big.

Speaker 1:
[02:11] Hi, guys. Happy to be here. Feels like the women's season is properly starting. So excited.

Speaker 3:
[02:18] Mr. Cody McBride. Hello, Cody.

Speaker 2:
[02:21] Hello, Mr. Solly. Excited. It's Chevron. New course. Hopefully not the same old baggage, but we'll see a lot to talk about on that front.

Speaker 3:
[02:30] TC is here as well. Hello, Mr. T Ron.

Speaker 4:
[02:33] Greetings, gentlemen. I'm glad to hear that we are considering this a major right from the jump. I think it gets what a two or three year grace period. And then we will make the final verdict on whether this remains a major moving forward.

Speaker 1:
[02:45] I don't think we've ever given anything a two to three year grace period. I think it's one year. We're going to see how Memorial Park plays.

Speaker 4:
[02:52] Well, Memorial Park slaps though. We know that.

Speaker 3:
[02:54] But the Overseed, we were going to break it all down. We got a lot to talk about on this. Randy is going to give us a little bit of a history of the Chevron, how we got here. We are going to go through 12 of the biggest storylines for the 2026 Chevron. Talk a little bit about the golf course. Of course, the new golf course that they'll be playing. We're going to make our picks to win. Who won't win? A few questions to round it out. Big, how do we get here? Where are we playing this year? Take us to a little bit of a history of this championship. I don't have to put a time limit on you like I normally do with stuff with TC, I don't think, but a brief history, if you will.

Speaker 1:
[03:29] Yeah, we'll keep it brief. Here's what you need to know. This event started back in the early 70s, okay? This was founded in 1972 to be specific by a businessman named David Wallace who worked for Colgate Palm Olive TC. I don't know your thoughts or feelings on the Colgate business empire.

Speaker 3:
[03:53] Not a trap draw.

Speaker 4:
[03:55] Randy, I do use Colgate toothpaste. I switched over from Crest to Colgate about six or seven years ago.

Speaker 1:
[04:02] I'm a proctor and gamble.

Speaker 4:
[04:05] I was. I was a P&G loyalist.

Speaker 3:
[04:07] Still not a trap draw. We're keeping it moving here. We're keeping it moving. David Wallace and Dunder Mifflin that era.

Speaker 4:
[04:13] Yes.

Speaker 1:
[04:14] 1972, David Wallace and Dinah Shore. Okay. Dinah Shore is an important name to know. Perhaps people know this tournament as the old Dinah Shore. I got to put a hand up. I'm not super familiar with Dinah Shore's game, but just a quick Wikipedia research session. Dinah Shore is a true just entertainer throwback Hollywood type. Okay. She's now deceased. She passed away in 1994, but she was very, very popular in the 50s, 60s, 70s. Was married to Burt Reynolds for like five years in the 70s. So just like a very Hollywood type.

Speaker 3:
[04:56] Like a Bob Hope.

Speaker 1:
[04:58] Yes. Dinah Shore enjoyed golf. Okay. And so that's where she comes in. She played golf. She just really enjoyed the game. And so she used her celebrity in conjunction with David Wallace and those people to found this tournament. They put it at Mission Hills Country Club, which is just outside Palm Springs. And Palm Springs is where Dinah Shore lived. So this tournament from its inception was the richest purse in women's golf. At the time it began in 1972, the purse was more than double the LPGA Championship, which is now the KPMG Women's PGA and the US Women's Open. So big deal right from the start, big purse, big celebrity backing. And this was the tournament in Mission Hills, California, Palm Springs. They play the tournament in 1988, Amy Alcott won the event. And in a moment of pure bliss, ecstasy, she jumped into the pond surrounding the 18th green, there at Mission Hills. And this would begin the tradition that, I know we're going to talk about it this year, but this would begin the tradition of jumping into the pond. It didn't take hold right away though. In 1991, Alcott won again. She jumped again, this time along with Dinah Shore. And this was kind of the real catalyst. And so in 1994, a woman named Donna Andrews, she was the first non-Amy Alcott winner to jump into the water. And I think this is when the tradition gets firmly cemented. So that pond at Mission Hills, it was known as Poppy's Pond. That was in honor of Terry Wilcox, who was a long time tournament director for the then, you know, it's had many names, but for the Dinah Shore. So I know we're going to talk about the winner jumping into the pond. Another thing to mention that I think is important to what this tournament was, in 1991, a women's festival began, concurrent with the golf tournament in Palm Springs. We had our buddy Travis Hill of the Golfers Journal on, gosh, several years ago now. He grew up in this area. I think the way he dubs it, it was lesbian lullabalooza. It was just this, it was at the time, the largest gathering of lesbian and queer women in the United States. It was a week long celebration with music, with art, just a true like coming together. And it was always around this golf tournament. This went on through the 90s, through the 2000s, through the 2010s. In 2021, Chevron bought the naming rights to this tournament. And this is kind of where things really start to shift. They would eventually move this tournament to Greater Houston beginning in 2023. We can debate whether this is a good move. This probably isn't the episode to do that. I know the long time people who have a history of Mission Hills Country Club have always thought that was the wrong move to move the Chevron out of Palm Springs. But in 2023, it went to Greater Houston and went up to the Woodlands. They had to dredge. There was a pond at the 18th green of the Jack Nicholas course where they played this event the last three years. They had to dredge that pond. They had to clean it. They had to put in netting to keep like alligators away. A lot of people were wondering, will the winner still jump? Lillia Vu won the event in 2023, and she took the plunge and continued the tradition. Nellie Korda did the year after her, and we've been going since then. Mal Sigo last year made the jump, even though she can't swim. I think it was a little scary for folks. And so, Solly, this year is the first year of this event. It's still in the Houston area, but it's moved from very suburban, the Woodlands, which, as Cody has told us time and again, like it's not really Houston. And they've parked it very much closer to the city center at Memorial Park. Of course, we've seen this as a PGA Tour stop the last several years, but it's much more connected with the city of Houston. And so unfortunately, the Women's Festival is a casualty of this move to Texas. That's no longer, you know, it's no longer really lesbian, Lollapalooza.

Speaker 4:
[09:42] It doesn't seem like Houston's the best environment for that.

Speaker 1:
[09:47] Yeah. So this is just a tournament that has a rich history on the LPGA Tour, in the women's game, but I think is at a crossroads with its identity, with the scale of what the LPGA Tour was. This event made sense for a lot of years, and it was great in Southern California. But as the LPGA has wanted to grow and expand, and especially as purses at the US Women's Open and the AIG Women's Open have grown, this event just feels a little bit, in my opinion, too much like a signature event and not enough like a true major championship. So we'll talk about Memorial Park, we'll get our reaction on what we think about that. If I can, real quick, let me just run through. This tournament tends to yield in its recent history, first time major winners. The first tournament I really distinctly remember watching the Chevron was 2018 when Pernilla Lindbergh in eight playoff holes outlasted MB Park. They had to come back, they suspended play Sunday night, they had to come back Monday morning and they finished up. Pernilla was the first time major winner. Since that time, you had Jinyoung Ko in 2019, Miriam Lee in 2020, Patty T in 2021, Jennifer Cupcho in 2022, all first time major winners. Lillia Vu continued that in 2023 in Texas. Nellie Korda won in 2024. She was not a first time major winner, the lone exception to this list. Now last year, Mao Saigo, she captured her first major title. Will that trend continue? I don't know. We're going to talk about it. But that's kind of why, how we're at Memorial Park as quickly as possible and kind of what this tournament is and has been on the LPGA Tour.

Speaker 3:
[11:36] Thank you, Big. That is a complicated history indeed. And we will get, I promise we'll circle back to kind of the golf course, its merits as a major championship, what people can expect and how the city of Houston is going to respond and the positive changes that come with this in the back half of this. Before we do that, we are going to get, it sounds like an ad transition, but it's not. We're going to get to some storylines here. We're going to talk about the golf and the upcoming major championship. We are going to each cover three storylines that we are looking forward to, the three kind of questions we have going into this. Three things we're anxious about, three things we're excited about seeing in this coming week. And Randy, we're still going to throw it to you first, save a little energy for the back half. I know we're taxing you here. A lot of big pitch innings here off the jump. But first story line, off the top of the board, first draft pick, what's the biggest story line for you heading into the Chevron?

Speaker 1:
[12:31] I think I posed this in our agenda. The question that I think he can ask it every major these days is it's just around Nellie Korda. And so my story line is, is this Nellie's tour or not? You know, we're just coming from Augusta on the men's side where I think we see a distinct like Rory McElroy, Scotty Scheffler, like those are the dudes on the men's side, right? And Rory's got six majors now, Scotty has four, but there's like a clear separation. And you kind of know where the major championships run through on the men's side. On the women's side, I think it's a bit less clear. And I know we're going to talk about several players, but I just think it starts with Nellie, right? Nellie is the face of the LPGA Tour. I consider her the face of Women's Golf right now. In saying that, she has just, and I do say just one, two majors. And so I think every major is a big opportunity for Nellie to kind of separate herself from her peers at this stage in her career. I think a third major would be a big step, would quite honestly, it would put her alongside Engie Lee and Engie Chun and some of these other women current players with three majors. And so I guess I kind of just yearn for some dominance on the women's side. And we saw Nellie two years ago, winning seven times and five straight starts. Like, I just wanted to keep going. And so yeah, is this Nellie's tour? Is this not Nellie's tour? Come here, be the favorite, back it up. I think that would be great.

Speaker 4:
[14:20] And coming off of some pretty rocky, shaky finishes for her winning contention the last few times.

Speaker 1:
[14:29] A lot of runner-ups, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3:
[14:31] Her four finishes this year, she won the Hilton Grand Vacation Tournament Championship, it's not a real tournament. Was second at the Fortinet Founders Cup, second at the Ford Championship at Wild Horse Pass, and then T2 at the Aramco to Lauren Coughlin at Shadow Creek.

Speaker 4:
[14:47] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[14:48] Four events, her worst finish so far is a tie for second. Shaky starts. I understand that we're expect, I get there. I understand that we'd expect her to like run through the finish line. That's the player that we want Nelly to be. And so far that she's kind of proven that she hasn't been able to do that. Except for when we look back at 2024, which wasn't that long ago. What I'm super impressed with so far with Nelly is that she usually starts the year off pretty shaky and doesn't have the pieces put together. And she seems to have the pieces put together. And she's making smarter decisions scheduling wise. Now, a lot of people can give her a bunch of crap for missing the Asian swings and not playing as many tournaments as others. But she's clearly found a recipe because I'm sure she agrees with what we're saying right here, Big. She also wants to win majors. And she's changing her schedule to be able to fix that. She's not playing in LA this week. So she can maximize her prep with her coaches. So she does show up to Houston and be able to actually win. So yeah, I think that that is the biggest storyline, not only on player dominant side, but also the marketing side of the LPGA Tour and women's golf at large. Everybody is waiting for Nellie to take control, take the reins and run because that's really where this boost that everybody's thinking is coming is going to come from.

Speaker 4:
[16:16] Yeah, that putt that she missed, the short putt that she missed is still just haunting me a little bit from the one up at Sharon Heights. Is that a month ago now?

Speaker 1:
[16:32] Yeah, she's gotten the early season Golf Channel short miss putt montage already.

Speaker 2:
[16:38] And good on them for putting that montage together because that has been Nellie's things. And I'll say this, there's some bad info put out sometimes on this here podcast. Nellie has gone to the mallet before.

Speaker 3:
[16:49] We've covered this. We've apologized for this.

Speaker 1:
[16:51] That's news to me.

Speaker 2:
[16:52] Well, she's bounced back and forth quite a bit. I will say this year and we don't get nearly as much data as we know, but KPMG Performance Insights, she is gaining 4.01 strokes total so far this year. Clearly above and beyond everyone else, she's positive in every single category except for putting. She's given up a half a stroke to the field there every single time. So she clearly knows that's what it is. We'll see when, Sully, I'm excited to hear what you dive in about Memorial Park and the setup here. But I'm just guessing the, like, it's Mini Verde greens that they have down there at Memorial Park. I'm guessing that that is gonna be super comfortable with where she's practicing at right now. So I think we're gonna see a really good putting week coming from Nellie on greens that aren't gonna be really like crazy fast.

Speaker 1:
[17:47] Nellie's results here real quick before we go to the next storyline. Starting in 2020, and this is across Mission Hills and the Woodlands, we don't know about Memorial Park, but she was T2 in 2020, T3 in 21, did not play in 22, solo third in 23, one in 24 and then tied for 14th last year. So, you know, her floor here is like, really it's like she's got a top 10. And I think we just want to see that dominant performance, you know, leave no doubt, Nellie.

Speaker 3:
[18:22] So, the Woodlands was a great course fit for her and it looked like if that, if that tournament was gonna stay there for a long time, she was gonna be able to rack up some majors there, but, and we'll get into kind of course fit and set up here, but if it plays near the yardage that it's listed at playing as, it should be a good thing for Nellie Korda. I think it should be bombers featured heavily here. Cody, second storyline.

Speaker 2:
[18:45] Yeah, I'm going to go to the part, like the one woman who's had to hold up that wall, that defense on Nellie twice so far this year, and that's Hojo Kim. Phenomenal, two victories to start out this year. Currently up to number three in the world. It's just crazy, and she is, I would say, leading the effort now on the Korean side, and they are, as Korea themselves try to like fight off all the Japanese young stars that are coming up in the game. We grew up, I think a lot of us got super into women's professional golf in the 2010s, when you just saw every single Korean was like winning majors left and right. It's just crazy to see from 2010 to 2019, they won 23 major championships as a country, and only three since then. So we'll see what happens there. But, you know, Hoi Joy is 30 years old, she's having a heck of a year. The two victories, like I said, and then she actually played really good, exhausted, and she talked about how exhausted she was at Shadow Creek, finished tied for 13th there. But if you look at Memorial Park, and again, I don't want to get ahead of course fits or anything, but I think of the group, I don't know, TC, have you played Memorial Park yet?

Speaker 4:
[20:03] I haven't. No, I've watched a lot of that tournament, but I haven't played it personally.

Speaker 2:
[20:07] Okay, so from the one person here that has played it, like it's pretty wide off the tee, but it is 100% a second shot golf course, and it's going to be awesome to see the women coming in from a much different clubs and trajectory into greens that are pretty firm and runoffs all over the place. So you got to be dialed with your approach play, and your short game has to be rock solid because there's just runoffs all over the place that's going to have really sticky Bermuda that's coming up through that overseed. No one's had a better short game so far this year than than HJ. I could ride for her any, you know, every single day, every tournament. I think she's awesome. Big. I know this is a homer take, but like the fact that we got to spend time with her last year is just like incredible. She's such an awesome person, and I'm so excited to see her, you know, hopefully content of this first major.

Speaker 3:
[20:58] Cody, question for you on Kyoju Kim. Will she have a driver hit at a different ball speed other than 141 or 142?

Speaker 2:
[21:07] Probably not.

Speaker 3:
[21:08] 140 or 143, is it in play? That's something to watch for. I want to see if she hits even one single shot that's not 141. That is not me making fun of her ball speed. That is me marvelling at the consistency of which she hits the ball and refusing any temptation to swing harder at it because it looks like she swings at 30% of her capacity. She is one of the most remarkable players to watch because it is a drastically different style. There's not a ton of drastically different styles on the LPGA Tour, but you compare her to Nelly and it is drastically different. So I wouldn't be surprised, of course, if those two were dueling in some way again.

Speaker 2:
[21:46] I do have some on that. When we played with her, I asked her specifically about the tempo and she said when they're kids and when they start being taught golf as kids in Korea, that their instructors, they have them all line up and they're not going and doing like individual swings like at their own pace, like we teach kids here in the States. What they do is they all line them up and they all swing at the exact same time in rhythm together. So the instructor would be like back through, back through. And they're all synced up like that. So she's like, that's where I got my tempo from. And I've just never changed it.

Speaker 3:
[22:23] Wow, that's it's interesting.

Speaker 4:
[22:27] Randy, what are you cruising at for your for your ball speed these days?

Speaker 1:
[22:33] Probably pretty similar.

Speaker 2:
[22:35] Yeah, yeah, truly.

Speaker 1:
[22:37] I have a game made made for this tour. I was just going to throw in one interesting thing about about Hyojoo Kim is she won the Evian in 2014, which was her very first major appearance and then nothing since then. And a boatload of top tens, a few runner ups, but it is definitely somebody that can win this tournament for sure.

Speaker 2:
[23:07] Runner up last year, different golf course. But I remember I asked her, what does she like about Houston? Of course, the barbecue. So she got to be feeling good.

Speaker 4:
[23:16] Good food city. TC. Well, first of all, I want to say that the people of Carlton Woods, even though they've been some of the most hostile, aggressive, the great people, people that I've encountered in the last decade in golf, both verbally and with their leaf blowers. I hope they're doing well, including P and Lady J who I believe live in that community. All of that said, I think my first thing off the top of my head is, this is the first big litmus test for the LPGA's enhanced, improved broadcasts. We've seen Shadow Creek, we saw it at Sharon Heights. I didn't watch too much of the Ford Championship at Wild Horse Pass presented, but that one just didn't really rise to the level on my, it's a turkey shoot down there and it just didn't really appeal to my sensibilities. But I think this one is already wired for tournament golf as far as, like they wired it for the Houston Open a few weeks ago on the men's side. They should have good infrastructure out there. Let's see if this thing feels distinct from last year's run at Carleton Woods. Because I think that if they're, they're probably working out the kinks, testing stuff out at those first few events where they did this. Now it's like, all right, it's prime time. We got to, this is a major championship, broadcast windows are bigger. Let's stress test this out. We got to do, you know, FM Global's kind of rejuvenation of the LPGA Tour broadcast because that is the product, right? And if you want to get like, like if, if Nelly comes, like runs out to a first round lead or a second round lead, that's how you're going to get new fans into the game. Is presenting an awesome product on Saturday and Sunday to showcase what she's doing well or to showcase the drama and, and, and then introduce a bunch of other players along with her.

Speaker 3:
[25:29] It's a huge spot. I mean, you, I've been extremely critical of the way Golf Channel has handled this event in the past, just same graphics, same announcers, same cameras, same views just from the high tower cams and just a ton of putts and no bringing the golf course to life. The golf course didn't really, wasn't really elevated to major championship level prior to this as well. But like you got to, I said this a bunch, like you just can't have Terry Gannon saying 30 times, this is a major championship and it feel like a major, like you just, you won't be doing that down the stretch of the US Women's Open. They will not be saying this is a major championship. Now she's trying to become a major champion. That's the only thing that identified it as a major prior. And you can elevate that with different graphics, different music, different cameras that you're using, different style of presenting it. And this is, I don't think they're going to get all of that right in year one of this kind of makeover. That's probably an unfair expectation, but it needs to be different than the wild horse pass. And that's a big...

Speaker 4:
[26:29] And I think it should be a great opportunity with some hand held cams and some ground level stuff to show some of the things you were talking about, Cody, with the runoffs and the second shot nature of this golf course and the intricacy of the design and just some of the stuff that Doke did out there. It gets washed out from above, but if you're seeing it from ground level, it's like, oh, okay, I get it. There's a lot of nuance, a lot of subtlety, a lot of strategy out there.

Speaker 1:
[27:02] I would just add, because we're recording this the week before, I haven't seen MVC's personnel roster for the week. Saul, you mentioned Terry Gannon. Is it Terry? I assume it's not Dan Hicks. I assume it'll probably be Morgan and Terry, but what type of on-course reporting do they have? I totally agree. It's a huge test. I wish I was more optimistic. I know we'll see some better camera views, some drone shots, but I wanted to feel like a major.

Speaker 2:
[27:39] Not to insult anybody who's listening here, but if you have no clue what we're talking about, last November at the CME Tour Championship, newly LPGA Commissioner Craig Kessler announced that LPGA, with support from FM and Trackman, they're going to have 50% increase in the total number of cameras, three times more microphone, slow motion camera capabilities, drones and quadruple the number of shot tracing capabilities. They will all be used to heighten focus on player storytelling, more walk and talks and a whole bunch more. And so far, we've seen it a little bit in bits and pieces. We mentioned the Nelly Miss Putt collage there that they had. But I don't know if I've really totally seen what this new power, firepower is supposed to actually be yet. So we'll see you guys are right. It's a big week for that.

Speaker 3:
[28:35] I feel like we got glimpses of it at Sharon Heights. Just more handheld cams showing off some elevation change, more drone stuff, a little bit more sense of place, just a little different pacing. I agree, it can probably still be flexed up and hopefully this does feel elevated in that way.

Speaker 2:
[28:54] I also think Sharon Heights, probably the topo of that property, the light when it was coming in, it doesn't really matter where you put the camera, you could just turn it anywhere and point it and people are gonna be like, oh my goodness, that's gorgeous, versus, you know, Mavora Park is gonna look a heck of a lot better than Carleton Woods. I'll tell you that.

Speaker 3:
[29:15] It will. Yeah, like we will get, yeah. Well, you can stay tuned for next week. You know, we'll have some plenty of info, I'm sure on social covering all of the other announcers and all that stuff. But with Big having some travel next week, we had to get in front of that. And travel makes it easy to fall off your wellness routine. Airports, hotel rooms, long days at the course. It's not exactly ideal for powders or complicated supplement snacks. I need something that fits into my bag without slowing me down and that is where Gruns comes in. Gruns are a convenient, comprehensive formula packed into a snack pack of gummies a day. This isn't a multivitamin, a greens gummy or a prebiotic, it's all of those things and then some at a fraction of the price. And as a bonus, it tastes great. It's a wonderful snack. TC's got some right here snacking. I always see him snacking on his Gruns. Generic multivitamins only contain seven to nine vitamins. Gruns have 20 plus vitamins and minerals and 60 ingredients, which include nutrient dents and whole foods. They have low sugar or sugar free options. So if you need a little bit of help staying regular, Gruns includes six grams of prebiotic fiber, which is three times the amount of dietary fiber compared to leading greens powders and more than two cups of broccoli. Skip the broccoli, just get your prebiotics from the Gruns. Save up to 52% off with code NLU at gruns.co. That's code NLU at gruns.co. Again, it's Canadian website.co. gruns.co, code NLU for up to 52% off. How about that deal? So, all right.

Speaker 1:
[30:47] It's time for your story line.

Speaker 3:
[30:48] I know I'm playing a favorite here. I'm playing a hit here, but I genuinely think this is a good opportunity. Our friend Lauren Coughlin won a very difficult golf tournament, Shadow Creek, just a few weeks ago. I don't necessarily think this week is going to play especially difficult, but I do think it is going to play long. If this golf course is going to, the listed yardage is over 6,800 yards with five par fives. Lauren is a long hitter. Lauren hits it when, not only is she long, but from her approach play is really good. So longer approach shots are going to play into her hand in theory as well. She potted really well at Shadow Creek. Her putting stats don't look amazing over the course of the year, but when it got difficult, it went really, really well for her. And I think this is a really good opportunity. She's had some good opportunities in major championships, this being one of them. I know it was at a different golf course, but I think this is aiming towards a, this is the type of setup where I would get excited for her game. Like US Open, US Women's Open right now, I'm not like, oh, this is LC style, but this kind of golf course I feel like is. I think there is a very solid chance we could be having an extremely fun Sunday show this upcoming weekend.

Speaker 4:
[32:07] It's not a home game, but it's like a very familiar, have spent years of my life. Exactly. Very comfortable environs for her.

Speaker 2:
[32:21] She might be one of the few people that are disappointed that it is leaving the Woodlands because that's where she spent all of her time. I don't know how much she's gone down to Memorial Park.

Speaker 3:
[32:29] Fair advantage, just like Laurie.

Speaker 1:
[32:34] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[32:35] No, I hear you though. I mean, I know. It feels like we're building there, right?

Speaker 1:
[32:42] It does. We talked about players. Some just take off like rocket ships and some just make those incremental gains and you can really start to plot their ascension that way. I think Lauren, it just feels like, as you say, she just keeps leveling up. And I thought that that win at Shadow Creek on a very difficult golf course, playing with Nellie Korda in the final group, winning by five shots, not buckling to any type of pressure, like that has to fill her with so much confidence coming into a week like this. I'm very excited.

Speaker 3:
[33:22] And I might partially walk back to something I just said, of just like, I think I said something like, yeah, I don't expect the course to play especially difficult. And I'm like, wait a second here. The LPGA Tour is trying to make their golf courses more difficult and more challenging. And this is a major championship. Like, I don't know what they actually can do from, I don't, yeah, I don't know how firm they're gonna be able to get it and how difficult they're gonna be able to make the golf course. But I think they're gonna make more of an effort to do that than they potentially have in the past for this championship. And that should play into her hands, I think is, I think just with the five par fives, I think we're still likely to see good scoring. But that doesn't mean that there's not gonna be some challenge involved with that.

Speaker 4:
[33:59] Yeah, her, like, I think the margins were so thin at Shadow Creek with how firm it was, that I have just full confidence in her iron play.

Speaker 3:
[34:07] Yeah.

Speaker 4:
[34:08] Like to hit the right shot at the right time. And then even to see that wedge she hit into the last hole, Shadow Creek's 72nd hole was just like, all right. Like, not only did she win by five, she ran through the line. She put an exclamation point on it. I thought that was really cool. And yeah, it's like, that's, I don't know, her progression as a player, it's fits and starts, but it feels like there's incremental improvement. Even when the putter wasn't cooperating earlier this year, she had the calf issue or Achilles issue. It's like, she's always getting better at something, and it's kind of slow and steady wins the race. And I think at some point, it's going to pop in one of these majors because her game was built for one.

Speaker 3:
[34:54] Back to the top of the order.

Speaker 1:
[35:11] We have a first time major winner, who will that be? I would like to present to you my current top five players without a major championship. I expect there to be Aster's tally. Disagreements here. Aster's tally just missed. So let me run through my top five, and you tell me where I'm stupid, where I'm wrong. Number five, I didn't want to put her in this list, quite honestly, but on the strength of European Tour wins and a 2022 LET. Player of the Year award, I'm putting Lynn Grant here at number five. Wow.

Speaker 3:
[35:51] After TC just quit her, you're going to make him relapse like this?

Speaker 1:
[35:54] We expected a lot more. I think it's safe to say out of Lynn, she's what, 26 years old now. She has won twice on the LPGA Tour, but she's my number five for best current player without a major. Number four is Angel Yin. She has two LPGA Tour wins. She has top six in all five majors, top fives in four of them. She's had runner up finishes at the Chevron and the US Women's Open. She's just somebody that shows up a lot, and especially in the bigger events and on the more difficult tests. So Angel Yin is my number four. Number three, this player has seven wins on the LPGA Tour. She has finished top seven in all five major championships. She's had runner ups at the KPMG and the AIG Women's Open in her career. This is Japan's Nasa Hataoka. She, I think, has fallen a little from top of mind, with the influx of new Japanese talent arriving on the LPGA Tour, but don't forget about Nasa. And in Houston, you know, she's named after the space program. So she's number three. Number two, eight wins worldwide. Has top six at all the majors. She's had runner ups at the Chevron, the US Women's Open and the AIG. Charlie Hall. She's another one. You know, when she's on, she plays such an exciting, just invigorating brand of golf. Big questions on whether she can close a major. I think it's a pretty fascinating case right now, but I gave Charlie Hall number two spot. And the number ones should be very easy. It's Gino. Gino Titicum, number one player in the world. Can quote all the stats, but I think we're still waiting for Gino to break through. So that's my top five. Just missing the board. I had Elsie. EY Twins are very good. I just don't know if their body of work puts them into my top five yet. Rio Takada, another very good Japanese player. Hadron Ryu from South Korea. Those were other names I considered.

Speaker 4:
[38:19] I can't believe you didn't put Elsie on the top five. Elsie?

Speaker 1:
[38:22] Lottie? Lottie Wode. Rose Zhang would be too.

Speaker 4:
[38:26] Are you doing this based on resume? Are you doing this based on skill and talent?

Speaker 1:
[38:29] I tended more towards resume. And so that's why I didn't have either of the EY Twins. But if, you know, as far as like who's got the best shot to win this week, the EY Twins would be above, you know, a lot of these names in the top five. And I think Elsie will be ahead of like Lynn Grant and Angel.

Speaker 4:
[38:49] I was going to say, I would take, I would take Elsie over Lynn Grant. 10 days out of 10.

Speaker 3:
[38:55] For sure. You know, I don't know how I got so much flack for the Hey Don, you pronunciation and Randy can just do whatever he just did with that. It just breezes right past like nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Speaker 1:
[39:07] You just say it quickly enough and you just keep going.

Speaker 3:
[39:10] That's my Hey, Ran, Rue, whatever. I don't know what you do.

Speaker 1:
[39:13] Hey, hey, Don, hey, Ron, hey, Ron, you're almost like a D sound in there.

Speaker 3:
[39:19] Yeah, that's what I got.

Speaker 4:
[39:20] I was leaning into the D sound.

Speaker 3:
[39:21] Everybody yelled at me for that. Or just TC. I should have known that. That's not necessarily every day.

Speaker 4:
[39:25] That's not how she even pronounces it.

Speaker 3:
[39:27] Hey, Ran, you.

Speaker 4:
[39:29] Yeah, there's no D.

Speaker 3:
[39:30] That's Hey, Ran.

Speaker 4:
[39:32] It's like a soft D sound.

Speaker 3:
[39:34] Hey, Ran, hey, Ran. I don't know what the Hyoju that Cody had going on earlier. Hoi Joy, I think it was at some point.

Speaker 2:
[39:42] I just try to say it as fast as I can. Keep it moving.

Speaker 1:
[39:46] Blanket. This is with my head.

Speaker 3:
[39:47] I've been working on these guys.

Speaker 1:
[39:49] I know this is not the trap draw, but just blanket mea culpus for any mispronunciations.

Speaker 3:
[39:54] For eternity.

Speaker 2:
[39:55] Yes. And honestly, I feel like I know how important it is and I know how much a sign of respect it is. I will sit here and read and go over these names. Then when you get to the point in the podcast, you're just sometimes you're just like, oh, my goodness.

Speaker 3:
[40:07] Panic.

Speaker 2:
[40:08] So please, please all the people like we're trying man.

Speaker 3:
[40:12] The hard thing is like, how do you say this? Like to say like a Japanese name, you almost have to do like a Japanese accent and it can sound like offensive when you do it, unless you like speak Japanese, you know, the proper way it gets. It's not like probably like they just enunciate a different, but then you sound like an idiot when you go that way. So when you try to say like your English way, it's extra confusing or extra brain melting. It is quite challenging.

Speaker 4:
[40:39] I mean, every time we reference a Japanese name, who's just guys and he'll spell it out phonetically with all.

Speaker 2:
[40:50] We're trying. Okay. And speaking of, I'm next on the list. Last year, we had an awesome winner in Mao Saigo at the Chevron Championship. And I mentioned earlier when I was talking about HJ. Kim.

Speaker 3:
[41:04] That's bailing on it.

Speaker 2:
[41:08] That like there's this new dominance in the Japanese women in the professional game. And it's so awesome to see they currently have five players in the top 20. That's the most by any other country. South Korea has four. The United States currently has three, excuse me, four. And then Australia has kind of the rest, besides the sampling of single representation there. Nine total in the top 50. They're absolutely dominating the game and they're showing up so deep. Will a Japanese player go back to back? And I would say that there's no other place that I kind of want to look. Not just back to back at the Chevron, but back to back major championships is the winner of our AIG Women's Open last year, Mio Yamashita, and I think that she is rounding into form at the right time of year. She does have one miss cut this year so far in Arizona, but that tournament truly doesn't count. She played really good at Shadow Creek, finished solo fourth there, and then had just been slowly plotting her way and getting warmed up for a season. She's so good. She was the LPGA Tour's rookie of the year last year, not only with the AIG Women's Open win, but also won in Maybank as well to round out the season out. She was not a rookie last year. She is so good at golf, and I think this could be a tournament, really good tournament for her.

Speaker 3:
[42:35] TC.

Speaker 4:
[42:37] Guys, I am once again wondering if Gino has that dog in her.

Speaker 3:
[42:43] Man, she slid down the board. I'm not going to lie.

Speaker 4:
[42:47] Does she even need it out here? How are they going to set it up? If it's a birdie fest, I think she has a better opportunity. Which is damning. Yeah, exactly. That's kind of been my platform with her for the last 12 to 18 months. It just seems like if it's an under 14 or 15, like if it's harder than 14 or 15 under par winning score, it seems to eliminate her from contention, whether it's a major or it just seems like she does well in the Turkey shoot events.

Speaker 1:
[43:23] In fact, of her eight LPGA wins, TC, the lowest to par she has been is 16 under. So there is some, now she's won by like four strokes at 17 under par, so she didn't need to get all the way there. But she, yeah, she's never won a difficult tournament on the LPGA Tour.

Speaker 3:
[43:46] I don't even mean close, to my memory. I mean, I don't mean that literally, but like it's not, there's no instances that come to mind of like when the going gets tough.

Speaker 4:
[43:55] Some of that's just, there's not that many tests out there that are set up in that form or fashion. But I don't know, like you look at, I think you look to it like her US Women's Open record, not good. She's got a solo T6. She missed the cut last year. Women's, Women's British Open, not good. She's got a T7, otherwise like pretty middling results. And I think those are the two, the two events that are set up properly every year to test all facets of your game. And she hasn't really passed the test with flying colors at those.

Speaker 1:
[44:32] So she just, yeah, just a few numbers to kind of back all this up. Last two full seasons, so 24 and 25, she's made 32 starts on the LPGA Tour outside of majors. And she has 23 top 10s. And in the 10 majors, in 24 and 25, she had three top 10s. A runner up at the Evian being kind of her closest, where Grace Kim quite honestly stole that from her. But yeah, we just haven't seen her be as, you know, the genotypicum that she is week to week on the LPGA Tour. We haven't seen that in majors. And I think the further we go without seeing that, it just becomes a bigger and bigger story. So yeah, I think this is a big one this week. Every major, I think, from here on out is like, it's a big spot for Gino until she wins at least one.

Speaker 3:
[45:32] She's not coming in with a very good Gino form either. I mean, she won in Thailand way back in February, but has had no top 10s since coming back stateside even before leaving the Asian swing, so.

Speaker 4:
[45:45] Yeah, and I think she's missed two of the last 10 cuts in majors. So and I get it, she's 23, like she just turned 23. Also, she's been a pro for five years, right? Or she's been playing majors. She's played 27 major championships already, right? So it's not like we're talking about a small sample size. So I would love nothing more than to see Gino and Nellie or Gino and LC square off down this stretch. But I think we're kind of reaching the point with Gino where it's like, all right, like it'd be one thing if it was kind of like the Ricky Fowler, you know, or JT before he won a major, like, all right, he's won a bunch, like he's won PGA Tour events or he's finished top five in a bunch of these things and he just hasn't gotten over the hump. I think with Gino, it's like she's like, she hasn't even finished top five in a bunch of these things. She's got five top fives and 27 of them, you know?

Speaker 3:
[46:42] Yeah, I'd struggle to reach back for a comp even on the men's side of somebody that, you know, wins a ton with great regularity.

Speaker 4:
[46:50] Kind of like Can't Lay.

Speaker 3:
[46:52] But like, she wins more than Can't Lay does, like...

Speaker 1:
[46:57] It's like super high floor, does win some now, but yeah, we just are not seeing in the majors yet.

Speaker 3:
[47:04] It would be, it would basically be like if, I'm not throwing, this is not a dog whistle here for TC. It would be like if Rom hadn't won two majors, like that's what it would be like. It's basically Rom level of play week to week basis, if Rom had never won two majors, that's basically what Gina would be. A bit of a stretch there, but I think we got there. I am going to say, I rarely end up picking Minji Lee, and she sneaks up on me more often than she probably should. But I just find it, I'm curious if she can elevate to becoming a four time major champion, like joining the likes of Laura Davies and Meg Malin and separating herself from Lydia Ko, like Lydia vs. Minji. I think Lydia's wider resume is better, but if Minji becomes a four time major winner, I like her chances more than I do Lydia's as it stands right now. And it feels like she should have more majors than Anna Nordquist, who also has three majors. Nancy Lopez, NG Chun all have three, and I think four would just put her in a completely different class in her era. And I'm stretching the word era a little bit. She didn't play with Seri Pak, but you know, Seri Pak has four, Yanni Sang has five, or sorry, Seri has five as well, I think. But kind of getting her closer to that level, I think we'll probably view Minji Lee's career through an entirely, entirely different lens. And I feel like we don't-

Speaker 4:
[48:33] Chuck, off course.

Speaker 3:
[48:34] I know, yeah.

Speaker 4:
[48:35] So that's up for her.

Speaker 3:
[48:36] Could be, if it plays firm, if it plays difficult, short game, like the way she scrambled around Frisco last year, like, and scored really well on a difficult setup there, has me thinking Minji, I'm not, it's almost like the Kepka thing. I'm not going to get caught forgetting about Minji ahead of this week.

Speaker 1:
[48:56] She, Sully, I think it's a great, it's a great point that it's weird taking out Yanni Sang, who is still playing and has won five majors, but it's not really competitive these days. The active leader on the LPGA Tour has three majors, and I, it just goes back to like, I think it'd be good for women's golf to kind of have somebody getting into that four, five, six major territory mark, just to set a standard, right? To have everybody else start really chasing.

Speaker 4:
[49:34] Especially with Lydia saying that she wants to start winding down her career in the coming years.

Speaker 1:
[49:40] Yeah. I am curious. So Minji has won the US Women's Open, she's won the KPMG and she's won the Evian. If she were to win the Chevron, would this count as a grand slam for her? Because I know the LPGA kind of does like, you have to win four out of the five for it to be a grand slam. So that might be, it's so convoluted, but that could be, if she were to win this week, I think maybe it would be a grand slam.

Speaker 3:
[50:06] I don't think the LPGA wants to open that door. I think because I think the answer there is, one of these things is not a major. If you could win four of the five, it would be considered a grand slam.

Speaker 1:
[50:17] Yeah. No, I agree with that, but I just don't know technically speaking if they would.

Speaker 3:
[50:24] I don't think, so she's not one of edgy women's open, right?

Speaker 1:
[50:28] Correct.

Speaker 3:
[50:29] There'd be no grand slam combination that wouldn't include that one, even though that became a major in 2013 or 2014 or something like that.

Speaker 1:
[50:36] Yeah. Just historically, and I know we're at a completely new golf course, this is the weakest of Minjee's majors, where she's had the least amount of success. Yeah, we'll see. Interesting. She is somebody that it's easy to forget about, but you don't want to forget about.

Speaker 3:
[50:56] Yeah, that would be a mistake. She won, was it 2022 US Women's Open at Pine Needles in North Carolina? Yeah, you can make, there's all kinds of great places to play golf around there. Now is actually the time to visit Pinehurst Resort. At the cradle of American golf, Pinehurst is more than the fame number two and anchor site of the US Open. It's Tom Doak's Masterful No. 10 for historic hotels and newly built luxury cottages at Pinehurst No. 8, the one of a kind Titleist shop at Pinehurst and the new Peter Millar Shop, a trio of dynamic dining experiences in Station 21, Plate and the upcoming Wiregrass. Pinehurst blends timeless charm with the very best in the game today. Visit pinehurst.com to plan your stay. Chevron might be a major guy because I'm in major championship segue form. I'm not going to lie.

Speaker 4:
[51:49] I spent a couple of days this week with Bill Core, Ben Crenshaw, and talking to them about Pinehurst No. 11. She's coming along and, oh my gosh, it sounds and looks so awesome. So yeah, I'm excited to get back up there later this year. Number two is just the more I play golf on that course, the more it's just the best public golf course in America.

Speaker 3:
[52:17] I'll continue to innovate there at Pinehurst every single year. So all right, last round here, Randy, one more go around to write out our 12 storylines.

Speaker 1:
[52:26] Okay. This storyline, I'm really curious how this hits you guys. It's not super specific to this week, but I think it's something TC we might just need to start monitoring.

Speaker 4:
[52:41] I think we have been monitoring.

Speaker 1:
[52:43] And I'm calling it, where did all the American stars go? My thesis is, I don't love where American women's professional golf is at the moment. It's you have Nellie Korda, okay, so you have somebody at the top. LC is currently ranked 12th in the world. She's the second best American. But you start going down the Rolex rankings, okay, and no shade to LC, but she's won three times, no major. The next American, Angel Yin, ranks 16th. Two LPGA wins, no majors. And then the other ones in the top 50 at the moment, Andrea Lee has one LPGA win, no major. Austin Kim has not won on the LPGA Tour, but she's ascending.

Speaker 4:
[53:34] She's up and coming, yeah.

Speaker 1:
[53:36] Kupcho and Lindy Duncan. And I just think, you know, like Yalini No is a name. What are we doing there? Megan Kang has never really materialized as a major winner. Alison Corpuz won the US Women's Open, but has not done much since then. Lillia Vu was on top of the world and because of injuries and whatnot, like she has fallen. Rose Zhang has not materialized like I think I thought she would at this point. So I just, you know, you go back at different points in time and just using the world rankings as a measuring stick, I just feel like there's not a ton going on right now in American women's pro golf outside of Nellie and you know, like if LC could win, that would be fantastic. But I'm just wondering like where this next real crop of elite players, who is it and when do we see them? Because we're not quite seeing it right now.

Speaker 3:
[54:44] Low-key kind of a lot of riding on this asterisk tally, ascension. I mean, yeah.

Speaker 1:
[54:49] You have Gianna Clemente on the Epson Tour. She'd be maybe another name, but you know, Cody talked about like the Japanese wave is here and they're not going anywhere. The Koreans are always strong. You know, it's I just feel like the Americans have not really kept up.

Speaker 2:
[55:07] Swedes are not strong. The Swedes stink, TC.

Speaker 4:
[55:10] No, the Swedes. Hold on.

Speaker 1:
[55:12] All right.

Speaker 4:
[55:12] Well, one of them won a major last year.

Speaker 2:
[55:15] The one that nobody expected to win.

Speaker 4:
[55:17] You got Ingrid should start winning at some point here. You've got like I feel like there's.

Speaker 3:
[55:24] They don't belong in that conversation is the point.

Speaker 4:
[55:26] I know, but I'm just saying from a relative perspective, like the Swedes or the Brits, there's some strength there relative to population size into, they're punching above their weight.

Speaker 2:
[55:44] I'm very disappointed in the Swedes play. To be completely honest, I think if you look at that, it still shocks me that in that class, coming out of the Academy, between Ludwig, Lin and Maya, that Maya's the only one with a major, that it's really like, you know, Ludwig has had chances there. I did not expect between Maya and Lin that she would be the shining star, and she burns bright when she does, but man, the lows are so low that it's hard to keep up with. Ingrid, I'll meet you there. I think she had a good start to the season, you know, her full year last year with that win in LA, and then just really had some rocky patches, and I think, you know, she's been pretty honest about trying to figure out how to play the professional game and professional life, and hope that she'll settle in there a little bit, but you're right, I do know that like, the amateurs that we have, and we have a good pool of amateurs that are teaming up in the Chevron this year, but like, Chiara Romero, nobody ever really talks about, she's the best amateur in the world right now. I know Astrid gets a lot of the headlines because of how young she is and where she shows up and things like that. But there are people, Pharoah Keefe, I just don't know like truly where the depth is big that you're kind of searching for, because it's not like it doesn't jump out at you.

Speaker 1:
[57:06] Right. It's like if LC hadn't won Shadow Creek, if she was kind of scuffling at the start of this year, outside of Nellie, there's really nobody that, like there's no American woman that's a threat, I don't think, to win a major right now. And that's like, just kind of prepping for this. I was like, holy shit. It just kind of hit me like, this isn't a great spot for American women at the moment.

Speaker 3:
[57:32] American men either, kind of different scales.

Speaker 4:
[57:37] But I think they're going to get smoked at this Allheim Cup.

Speaker 1:
[57:41] But if you say that every time, but they have to keep dragging out Lexi, you know, like that's, it's, yeah.

Speaker 2:
[57:50] And so if you, we can, I don't want to make this like an entire thing, but if you look at the US team right now, rankings wise, it's Nelly, Angel, Austin Kim, Yalini No, LC and Andrea Lee. That's your six.

Speaker 4:
[58:04] That's a solid six.

Speaker 2:
[58:05] The two highest that will come from Rolex will be Jen Cuppcho and Megan Kang. And then the rest will be picks. The names that we're missing out on that are like right there is going to be Lindy Duncan and Alison Corpus. That's a tough, tough list.

Speaker 4:
[58:27] And I'll say this Sarah Schmelzel or, yeah.

Speaker 2:
[58:30] I mean, Sarah's weight, she's like 12th in points right now, but then you get down there like Lucy Lee is 10th in points, Megan Kang's 11th, Schmelzel's 12th, Jenny Bay, Rose. Lexi's still in 15th. I think one of the shocking things for me when we look at it for a Solheim Cup specific on the European squad is how different that European team could look this year. And them coming off back to back, a retain and then an outright win. You have newcomers in Lottie, you're going to have Maya and Lynn. Celine will still be there and Carlotta. The rest of them is literally, the Ciara, Tamberlini, Helen Bream, Mimi Rhodes, Manon DeRoy, like a bunch of rookies. I think we're going to see this year for the European squad.

Speaker 4:
[59:23] That's where I think Lynn is so much stronger in match play or as a weapon in that, then she's just building a 72-hole score.

Speaker 1:
[59:35] If you took that American squad and they were playing a women's president's cup, they would be such big underdogs to an international women's, they might not win one of those for 50 years.

Speaker 3:
[59:51] Nellie said that, remember, she got caught in a hot mic. These women's open, but yeah, we get our ass kicked if there was a US versus Korea or something like that.

Speaker 4:
[60:02] I feel like as Americans, we like underdogs. Maybe that's the thing to do is set it up as like do that and then say like, yeah, maybe you're going to get smoked for the first few years, but this will make everybody come together and start doing the right stuff.

Speaker 3:
[60:14] I've been saying that about the US Ryder Cup team, but he's coming together, okay? I got Braydon saying Justin Litter should be the captain. Anyways, Cody, you're up next.

Speaker 2:
[60:24] Yeah, I was going to make a case here for Charlie Hall because I figure if somebody is in the top five in the world, and they're not really mentioned, but Big, you did an awesome job of mentioning her for people who should win a major. That's like a gaping hole in her and Gino's resume. So I'm going to flip it. We mentioned Minji, but there is a hotter player in the world than Minji Lee from Australia, and that's Hannah Green. Three wins so far this year, all either in Australia or part of Asian Swing. She's only played one of the mainland LPGA Tour events this year, and that was in Las Vegas, the Shadow Creek, and she missed the cut there. Not really too concerned about that. Well, we can throw that one out as an outlier. But man, so impressed with her, a major champion already, somebody who clearly has everything clicking. We mentioned it a couple of times, but she went back to back to back wins with her husband on the bag caddying for her. He's no longer the caddy. I think he's just moved over to manage her duties as they're trying to figure out what they're doing in the States. But there's nobody that's making more putts. She's just making everything. And I think if you look at Memorial Park that again, it's going to be gettable if you have a good short game and just keep it in the fairway. And it seems like the way Hannah goes about just plotting her things. She loves Wilshire and we're not getting Wilshire this year. But when I think of the layout of just plotting yourself around a map, I think that's a very good comp to Memorial Park. And that's why I think Hannah Greene continues to just like ring and ring and ring for me.

Speaker 1:
[62:09] Two quick just stats to back up what Cody is saying. Nobody happier to leave the Woodlands than Hannah Greene. She missed the cut all three years at the Woodlands. And shockingly, Cody does not have a top 10 in the last three years in major championships. So I think this season's majors are, yeah, they're big for Hannah. Like, let's, I think she's going to show up.

Speaker 4:
[62:38] It's really interesting to look at her year last year because she started finding form late, but she had, I mean, she missed, she was 68th at the KPMG Women's PGA, 16 over, which from a course perspective, you would think that firm and fast and dry would resonate her. Then missed the cut at the Evian, missed the cut at the Women's Open, missed the cut in Portland, missed the cut in Canada, and then started to find some form and then played great heading into the fall in Korea and at Maybank, and then just carried that over in the spring. It's one of those things you're just like, man, it's just Jekyll and Hyde with her, very streaky.

Speaker 1:
[63:26] Yeah, TC.

Speaker 4:
[63:29] My next one was just, I think it's always an interesting case study when we get to see it this year, at US Women's Open as well, of comparing and contrasting the men's and women's games. I think from a course strategy and course management perspective from this place, sorry, I know it's been a haven for some BSIs on the men's side. I would say some would maybe consider a Brooke Henderson, maybe she's got a little BSI in her. She's got a female lady's BSI a little bit. Is the architecture actually going to shine here? Or are the women, there's so much more accurate off the tee. Are they going to just pick this place apart and be really patient? I think if they set it up long enough, they'll have to hit a lot of drivers and try to go for different angles and hit it over some of the doglegs. But yeah, I'm just, I don't know, I'm really, like I loved it when they did the back to back weeks at Pinehurst for the US Open, US Women's Open. I just think that's cool when we get context around, you know, certain expectations for certain shots on the golf course. And then you see a totally different side of the coin.

Speaker 3:
[64:52] Yeah, that's kind of transits into my final story line is just, will Memorial Park feel like a major championship venue? And I think that part of that goes to what you're talking about, of how the course is going to fit the scale of the women's game, and the shot's going to be interesting, or the hole is going to be memorable. And like, what's the environment going to be like? I think a big selling point for moving this from the suburbs into the city was the hope that it would feel a lot more connected to the community. I hope it's been promoted a lot better than it has been in the past, and I hope we get some crowds out there and some support out there that makes it feel big and elevated. Again, probably, I've been stuck on this of like, it takes a long time to create traditions, which I get some of the discussion around moving some of the old traditions into different golf courses that we talked about off the jump. But it's going to take time for this. You know, if it stays at this golf course for six, seven, eight years, who knows how long? I don't know what the future of this championship really holds, but it will be very different in year six, seven, or eight than it will be in this first year. And it's gonna be hard to, I don't wanna rush to a judgment on this, but I think it is a huge ask to have a golf course be, to have a golf course that is not a historic venue in terms of people's memory of it and have it be an annual stop. It's just gonna get graded on a really, really, really harsh curve because like the elevated events, I mean, Evian is one that's kind of in a similar bucket, which I think we've grown, that golf course has grown on all of this, but like flip over to men's side, like the constant is like Augusta and the Masters, right? And this isn't even trying to be anything close to that, but like that's the kind of, the what is exciting about the Osweim Women's Open, the KPMG Women's PGA and the IG Women's Open is the rotation and the visiting of historic venues. And it's going to just be a big hurdle to climb. And I know we've talked about that just clearing that signature event hurdle and feeling like a major championship is a massive one. And I'm suspect on this despite it being a good move. This is a better move than what they were doing. And I do want to celebrate that, but I'm still suspect in that field, that getting that itch and that feel like this is a major championship, so.

Speaker 1:
[67:15] I think it's a good point. I think it ties into our discussion previously about the broadcast partner and just how important it is for them to show us the golf holes. Get us familiar with this venue, right? And especially the back nine and the strategy and you know, if this tournament is going to be at this golf course for the foreseeable future, like we need to start learning these holes and the strategy and it just is, it's incumbent on NBC Golf Channel as well to really lift this up. And so, yeah, I know we've talked about all that, but it takes a whole effort.

Speaker 3:
[68:01] So on the golf course, so the scorecard yardage as it's listed, par 70 to 6,811 yards, just under 3,300 on the front nine, just over 3,500 on the back nine. I'm flagging this, guys. We could be potentially headed for a pace of play disaster. And I'm just going off of a long scorecard yardage and the flow of this, like five par fives, five par threes is not sound like ideal for pace of play. It opens par five, par three, par five, which the third is reachable as it stands now, 480, I would think would play more reachable than the first hole is going to play 533 as listed. That's less than ideal also. Like if you have people waiting for greens to clear on three, that can back all the way up to two. And I'm nervous about that. And I hate when we get to these women's events and the pace of play thing becomes like the story line of it and that's all anybody has to talk about. But I'm worried about that part. There are, if I'm counting right, five holes where it looks like they have the possibility of moving tees up. The 13th is listed at 384 yards, but there is a tee location at 260. I think that we've all agreed that's one of the most exciting holes to watch on the men's side is that short par four with dramatic Pinehurst-like runoffs to all sides, to the front part of that green. And that's the hole I'm most definitely most excited to watch the women play. The 14th hole is listed at 530, but can play as short as 487. The 16th hole listed at 548, but can move up to 514. And 17 is listed at 414, but there is also a tee listed at 264 there. So possibility of flexing that hole into a drivable four as well. I would think they would do that on Sunday if I was trying to create a little drama in the back nine there, with the final hole being 412 yard par four. So lengthy golf course, but possibility of flexing a couple of tees here and there, and gonna be plenty of birdie opportunities with the volume of par fives.

Speaker 4:
[70:16] Yeah, the men's, they set it up 7,400 plus 7,475 for a par 70 as well. So they cut down, there's three par fives when they set it up for the Houston Open there. So yeah, in like 3,800 yards from the tips. So I think it's definitely one of those things where like, I don't recall, I mean, maybe it's just because the pace of play is so bad week to week anyway on both tours. I don't recall any pace of play, massive nightmares from men's perspective, but also they're not setting this up to really challenge these guys like a major championship. It's a warm up event for the masters. So if they do really push it on the women's side, it could slow it down like crazy.

Speaker 2:
[71:05] It slows up on 16 on the men. A lot of people waiting on 16 to hit their second shots in there, and then 17, same thing, like if they have it up or if the wind's helping a little bit, just because you can throw it all the way up to the left and have it run down to the green. That's the only spot that really sticks out from watching the main PGA Tour's coverage. But I agree, Solly, I don't know, what do you guys think of 72 verse 70? Do you think the LPGA Tour went through that thought process at all, of bringing it down, or truly like, it's just a number, doesn't matter?

Speaker 3:
[71:48] I wish I knew, like specifically more details about the course to be able to say, well, I mean, if you change the par on three, like, you know, the third hole is designed to be a par five, and for this reason alone, maybe I can answer that by the end of the week, Cody, but you know where I'm at on camp on the actual par, like it doesn't really actually matter, but I guess maybe counter to what I've been saying, like maybe that is again, a bit of an encouraging sign of how difficult they might plan to make it, knowing they don't probably want 20 under to win, but with the five par fives, maybe they lean a little harder into the setup and into the challenge of it. That's a hope, I think. I mean, we saw that with the men's this year, like there's some pins like that pin, I think it was on the fourth hole, where everybody was having a mess, but you can make some difficult pins on this golf course. It's probably not going to be Thursday, Friday, they got to get everyone through on that level, but over the course of the weekend, I think they can make this a pretty decent challenge.

Speaker 1:
[72:48] Do you guys know, famously, because on the PGA Tour, they're trying to use it as a setup for Augusta, and so there's not much rough to speak of. Cody, have you heard anything on, will there be, I assume we'll see more rough this week, right? Will the grass and the course look different?

Speaker 2:
[73:13] I believe it said that the rough is going to be two and a half inches, and maintained it two and a half. So not a lot of rough at all. Everything's basically, it's cut tight all the way around, and then runoffs into that first cut, I think it was two inches maybe, but not what you'd think of. There's no gonna be any long rough, but then again, big as we know from, you know, being out at LPGA Tour events and things like that, they don't really miss a lot of fairways.

Speaker 1:
[73:45] So that's true.

Speaker 4:
[73:46] Cody, has it been dry, like super dry in Texas too?

Speaker 2:
[73:49] And windy.

Speaker 4:
[73:50] Yeah. So it's one of those things too. Like I think you'd almost rather have a ponderance of short grass that is gonna just make for a bunch of weird short sighted stuff.

Speaker 2:
[74:02] Yeah. I think it was a weird year for us because we didn't get very much rain at all from like November through the beginning of January when over seeded rye really needs moisture to keep going. So it's kind of a later growing for the rye, which has been interesting to watch around here just courses battle because you can definitely see the like the over seed now is struggling because the temperature is up and you're struggling to maintain it. But at the same time, like you just have like the gnarly Bermuda coming through, like trying to choke it out. So you could see some very, very interesting pitches and chips and stuff like that, which I think is perfect. That's how Memorial Park should play. So we'll see how it plays out.

Speaker 3:
[74:52] All right. We've stretched it out. That was 12 storylines plus the golf course. It is time. We are done beating around the bush. It is time to make our picks. Who will win? Who will not win? I don't know if I've done this yet. Like I made this agenda. I don't know if I have my pick in place. I might have to play off some of your guys. So I'll start with you, Randy. Who's your pick to win and who will not win?

Speaker 1:
[75:16] All right. Let me start with who won't win. God, this kills me to say. I'm going to take Gino for won't win. I just, her form hasn't been great. I just don't have a ton of confidence this week, unfortunately. So she is my pick to not win, trying to fly close to the sun there. My pick to win. Oh God, I'm stuck between my head and my heart. My heart obviously would be LC. What a great moment that would be. I'm going to be born. I think it's Nellie. I think, God, she's played such good golf. She's had really good success in this event. I know it's a new course, but everything points to her being in Contention Sunday. And I'll take, I mean, it's not much of a stretch here, but I'll take Nellie Corder to win.

Speaker 3:
[76:08] Brave, brave, brave man. I'm gonna take it. It's fine to take Nellie if you take G-Note not to win. I think that's still a brave take. Cody, you're next.

Speaker 2:
[76:17] That's very well said, Big. You literally took my picks. I don't know what else to do. Maybe I'll go out on the limb here and no, I'm not. Nellie is gonna win this tournament. I love the fact that she's not playing this week and getting a bunch of practice in. I think it sets up very, very well for her and her style of game. But also, she's gonna absolutely feast Gary Woodland-esque, totally utilizing her power and distance and is just gonna eat that golf course apart. Gino ain't gonna win. Nellie's gonna bring it.

Speaker 3:
[76:53] She's TC.

Speaker 4:
[76:56] Yeah, Gino's my pick not to win. So, but I was thinking about getting cute with Austin Kim or Hannah Greene or Yamashita, especially with Mal Sigo is gonna get her champions dinner. Hopefully, Thomas Keller is the chef again this year. Last year, it was Nellie and they had a caviar, tuna tartare, mushroom soup, Snake River Farms fillet, a really proper meal. And I hope this year, there's a nice Japanese inspiration element to it. But all that said, I want to go with Lydia. I think Lydia, all the stuff we've talked about just with regard to kind of precision with your iron play and navigating some tricky greens and obviously can put lights out when she's on. And it's one of those things. I think she's got all the shots and she's got the wisdom, the patience to kind of tackle a pretty strategic, pretty dried out test for the most part.

Speaker 1:
[78:09] So that'd be awesome. Can you imagine a Lydia Nellie duel? I mean, that would be amazing. Sorry, Sully. You know, I'm going to pick in.

Speaker 3:
[78:19] What I teased here, I'm going to take Lauren. I think that's a homer pick, but I'm going to go with it. I want to take Nellie not to win just for the fun sake, but I think she will finish minimum like top three. So it's probably not a smart thing to say. If you're going to take Lydia, I'll say Lydia will not win. TC, I do not. I'm not feeling Lydia this week. And I'll do a Big Randy here. I feel confident. Gina is not going to win also. I'll put two names in the bucket.

Speaker 4:
[78:47] That's four for four on Gina.

Speaker 2:
[78:50] Come on, Gina.

Speaker 1:
[78:50] That's tough.

Speaker 4:
[78:52] Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[78:53] I like Gina now.

Speaker 3:
[78:56] All right, now to the highlight of the pod. There's going to be a pool near the 18th green that the winner is going to be jumping into. This was heavily circulated on the social medias over the last several weeks. Randy, I'm curious your opinion on this attempt at moving a transition of Poppy's Pond to the lake, the alligators, and now a pond, a pool, whatever it is that they've installed here next to the 18th green of their municipal course.

Speaker 1:
[79:27] Yeah. Truthfully, when I first heard it, I thought it was the dumbest thing I've ever heard. I thought, you know, why this is not where we need our focus and attention prior to this championship.

Speaker 4:
[79:40] We get some course flyovers, please. Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[79:44] Let's nail the setup. Let's nail the broadcast. Like that's where I really want the attention to be. I think the jump means more to the players than we realize. And so I think if the players are saying like, hey, this is a good tradition and one we want to keep going, like does the pool ultimately have any bearing on this will be a good championship or not? Like I don't think so. So I think it's largely like a fun story, a dumb story, but not a super important story. And I guess I net out like, if the players want it, great, do it. Where I'm a little bit more reserved is like turning this pool into like a giant pond and really messing with the idea of the design and like what this course is. But if they want to have a temporary pool during Championship Week, great. And I, you know, there are some pictures floating around, like it looks very bad right now, but there's going to be hospitality built up around it. Like I think when we actually see it tournament week, it's not going to like look as weird as it does. So I'm kind of on the fence here. I wish I could get more worked up about it than I can. I just, yeah. If they nail the broadcast and they nail the setup, like jump your heart out. Let's all jump in the pool. Honestly, I feel like we'll all have won.

Speaker 3:
[81:20] And Randy, I got to admit, I have like a slightly different opinion of this since going to the Masters last week as we're recording this of like, walked around there for three days, practice rounds. All anybody cares about during the practice rounds is the skip it shot. Like it's like the thing, all right, it's skip it. All the players are skipping over the water. I saw a caddy hit a shot. He skipped it over. It's all anybody on the grounds is talking about. And there is an appeal for like a casual fan, a something to be known by. Like is this thing designed for, you know, the people that are gonna go an hour and a half on a preview on a podcast. Like it's not, of course not. And it's silly. It's very silly. Shouldn't be the top priority. Like again, if they're nailing all the other stuff, that's fine. But there is, and I've evolved on this since it happened. I really thought it was the dumbest thing ever. But now I'm like, all right, if you are trying to like keep like the tradition of this tournament, I like this better than the lake at Chevron. That should have never happened. Like that was silly. That's because Poppy's, Poppy's pond was like a little manmade, it was almost like a hot tub anyways.

Speaker 4:
[82:29] Poppy's pond was too shallow.

Speaker 3:
[82:32] Right. So Caddy broke his leg jumping into it at one point. But so I think this is better than the pond. I think the pond would be a disaster to put in on 18. I'd rather than keep the pool than install a huge pond for players to jump into. So there is, if you want to grow, galvanize the community a little bit, giving like just a little something to know the tournament by of like, oh yeah, the winner runs and jumps in the pond is not the worst, jumps in the pool, not the worst thing you could have. So yeah, they're taking a beating publicly. Again, I think that has more to do with the idea of installing a pond for like municipal golfers short right of the 18th green, which like was not in Tom Tok's architectural plans when he redid this golf course. So I'm closer to being okay on this one with understanding it's not for me. I have no idea where TC is gonna go.

Speaker 4:
[83:27] No, I think that's where I'm at. Like I'm not gonna feign any outrage here. I have very similar evolution of my thoughts first, too. Like, oh, like that is so stupid. We're gonna mess with you. Architectural integrity of this, not only Tom Doak, but Brooks Koepke design. Okay.

Speaker 2:
[83:48] And the great man, John Bredemus, the original guy.

Speaker 4:
[83:51] Yes.

Speaker 2:
[83:51] You know, I mean.

Speaker 4:
[83:52] And yeah, but all that said, I think Cody raised some interesting questions.

Speaker 2:
[83:59] No, I'm gonna get there. Don't, don't, don't steal my.

Speaker 4:
[84:05] He's asked.

Speaker 2:
[84:07] I do have some questions here. Okay. First of all, I agree. If this is what the players say, they love the fact that the Dinah Shore, the Nabisco, the ANA, you know, any name that we want to call it, if we want to stick with tradition and the jump is what sticks to them. I'm all for it. And yeah, it looks super goofy and the Internet's going to be the best place to put it. And we've already seen updated pictures and it looks a heck of a lot better with some build out and stuff around that. But as TC said, I do have some concerns because this is a municipal run facility. I think part of this tournament is it's happening. And if you listen to the Chevron recrafts the last three years, I said in every single one, why don't we just move this tournament out of Carlton Woods to Memorial Park? So I feel like if I'm anti-Memorial Parker, if this doesn't go good, a lot of this is on my shoulders. And listen, I'll carry that weight with me. But it's a public run facility. First of all, it seems like they constructed this a little quick. I'm concerned with the codes, permitting issues. I don't know if the size of the wall, they might have some insurance things coming on because it's not that deep. Sully, you mentioned it. People have broke their legs before jumping in out in California. I think this one's only like four feet deep. Troubling. Because it's also a public swimming pool on city on ground, does there have to be a lifeguard around? Like, does it have to be manned? I feel like there's, again, insurance and coding concerns that are going on. To the great man Jim Crane and the Astros Foundation, I feel like instead of making this temporary pool this year, we could have went down and just rented a dunk tank for the year and put a banner or something to add around it.

Speaker 4:
[85:58] Again, Roger Clemens to throw baseballs against the dunk tank.

Speaker 2:
[86:03] Of course, TC, there just seems like there's so many more options. If you're telling me that this pool that's just to the right of the sand trap on the right front portion of that green, that's going to be done. And I just don't know how this pool is going to hold up with. We got nothing but rock in the ground around there. Is the earth going to start to push this pool back out? That's not going to make Doke happy at all. He's going to have to come back and redo the 18th hole. So, I don't know. A bunch of silliness there. But in all honesty, I don't care. Because if it's a tradition that they want to keep, as Big said at the top of the show, great on them. People are going to get their jokes off, and that's fine. But I respect and I appreciate.

Speaker 4:
[86:51] People getting their jokes off is fine. For sure. Because it brings more attention to the tournament on that front. And then if they're getting the important shit, like the broadcast and the setup right, then people are going to stick around and become fans.

Speaker 1:
[87:05] It's just a little bit more pressure to get the other stuff right. Where it's like, oh, you went through the trouble of putting in this pool, but the broadcast sucked or the setup sucked. No, it's like they're putting a little bit more pressure on themselves.

Speaker 2:
[87:18] I'll say this, in the history of the Chevron, there's never been more pre-tournament chatter about the Chevron than this year. So it's doing something. Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[87:27] Will this pool be red-staked? Is it part of a TIO grandstand? I would love to see a shank into it.

Speaker 4:
[87:40] People in hospitality gets it like, could you jump in the pool if you're a fan or if you're cool? Is this reserved only for the players?

Speaker 2:
[87:49] It is very close.

Speaker 4:
[87:50] You think it's going to be open for like, it's like a VIP area. There's two pools at the Jags Stadium. There's a pool there. I don't know if they still have one out in Arizona, the Diamondback Stadium. There's a pool out there.

Speaker 2:
[88:07] I did ask if it was open for sponsorship. They said it's already been sold. So, before I propose that to you, Randy.

Speaker 1:
[88:15] I think if they open it up to hospitality, we should think about getting some path, like we should be in the pool for a tournament.

Speaker 4:
[88:23] It's like how the Wyndham Championship has that beach out there with the big castle. They should just lean all the way into it and have a big tiki bar thing out there.

Speaker 3:
[88:37] All right. That is it for-

Speaker 1:
[88:39] Major, more than a tiki bar and fake beach, but I love it.

Speaker 3:
[88:43] That is it for our Chevron preview. Everyone enjoy the tournament. Me, myself, Cody and Big will be live this upcoming Sunday to recap the tournament. Come join us on Sunday evening. We're going to have a lot to talk about, I'm sure. Thank you everyone for tuning in. We'll see you here on Sunday. Crack on. Cheers.