Olympics Recap, Scottie Scheffler's Gold Medal | The Smylie Show, 8/6/24

thing all the way to the top. Now Hang in there it is. Smiley Kaufman for 61. Wow. I'm smiley Kaufman, and this is the smiley show. Welcome back to another episode of The Smiley Show. And smiley. This is one I'm fired up about because we got. We just got maybe the best Sunday leaderboard we've had all season long. And it was not in a major. It was not in a PGA tour event. It was in the Olympics. Just a fantastic. Even though it was a limited field sort of situation. Fantastic set of names at the top of the leaderboard. I'm Charlie Hume, he is of course, Smiley Kaufman. I'm on the road visiting the in-laws, joining you from my father in law's basement bar here. I could just tap you a beer right here behind me if you're watching on YouTube. Should you like that, lot. Lots to get to because, you know, many of you might have seen that I shot 66. No big deal. You know, post that on Instagram this weekend. And I just backed it up today with a cool 83. So we are all the way back and we will if we have time at the end of this episode, we will get into the 66 or the 83 really whichever direction the smiley wants to go. But the place where we must start this episode is another Scottie Scheffler win this year. We came off last week talking about where we stand in the whole Zander Scottie Player of the year race and this feels like it's almost put to bed with Scottie winning gold and really kind of taking the reigns on Sunday. So smiley, let's just start there. We were both watching this. We were texting the entire day. Scottie makes this charge on the back nine to shoot 62 to win a gold medal. How did Scottie get it done today? Man it's a great question because you know, when I think most of America on the East Coast or Central time, they woke up and they see the leaderboard and they see Jon Rahm as at 20 under par. He's got a four shot lead. And you're like, all right I'll go turn it on. Just to kind of see how well he's actually playing and see if anybody you know tries to make it somewhat interesting. And then within 20 30 minutes this thing just got as juicy as any golf tournament that we have had this entire year outside of maybe the US open, because this leaderboard, like you said, it was epic. You know, from you just look down from the first place all the way down to 15th place. It just, it was so packed in because the scoring was so low. Soft greens. No wind, but still a golf course that was was very penal. If you were offline or you shots. So bogeys and doubles were in play, which I think if you're a viewer, this was the epitome of what you want to watch because you got you got birdies flying everywhere. You got an awesome leaderboard. You have these these names that you're excited to watch, but also you see guys getting penalized when they do hit bad shots. So a really fun morning to watch golf Scottie Scheffler obviously going out and shooting a 62. He's at ten under par to start the day Xander Schauffele at 14 under. I believe it was Jon Rahm was at 13. And then Tommy Fleetwood was at 14. I don't know if I flip flop these two, but, I believe we had Xander and Rahm at 14 to begin the day, Scottie at ten, Tommy at 13. There you go. Well, you know, it was, it was such an interesting round, right? Because, you know, with Jon Rahm, he's a guy that, you know, he hasn't had too many rounds where you just feel like when he gets the lead, he he goes and finishes out the job. So I think that was you know, a lot of people's first impressions when they turned it on, they're like, oh, this is kind of weird as well. I'm going to blow this. And next thing you know, it's like Scottie is just just kind of surging and it kind of you really felt it, after he got up and down on 14 left and this like, heavy, rough that we saw multiple players get into. And Hideki was one of them who ends up winning the bronze. And then Jon Rahm, after he bogeyed the 11th hole, he bogeys the 12th hole, misses their fairway at 14, a hole in which is a par five that most of the guys, Charlie, have been birdying this hole. And Jon Rahm's got seven iron in this green. He hooks it left, hits it into that left rough chips it, short of the green chips it up makes double bogey. Meanwhile Scottie up on the same hill hits this beautiful from this terrible looking lie bump shot into the hill to a foot, makes birdie. And that was kind of the start of it from my perspective. Yeah I mean I think that that 14th hole is where it all turns right. I mean, I think that you've listed so many things there that I think are worth digging into the drama of this course. I mean, I was trying to not be too much of a prisoner of the moment and saying, wow, this is really producing some top tier, high end, low end moments and just keeping guys in the mix with the opportunities to make birdie. But also, there are a lot of holes where you can make some big numbers, as you noted, but you know, and I think I want to get into the course, I want to get into the event. I want to unpack. I mean, as a guy who picked Jon Rahm and one and done this week and was on the cusp of five wins this season and a gold medal and was just ready to kind of fly the banner for my impeccable picking. That was a heartbreaker. I want to get into how that all collapsed for him, but to continue on the Scottie theme, talking a little bit about him in final rounds this year, because I know this is something that you're really interested in. To me, the comparison I kept drawing in my own head was what happened at the Players Championship, where he comes into the day. He's five shots off Xander, he's four shots off Wyndham and he just starts creeping on the back nine, making birdie after birdie. Just kind of catching up. And obviously I mean I think for that to work out you have to have guys at the top of the leaderboard who are giving shots away or just not, you know, making more birdies and kind of creeping back into it. But it just he has this I don't want to call it Tiger esque yet because so many times we've drawn these Tiger Scottie comparisons and Tiger's, you know, stats are just otherworldly. When you look at what he was doing in his prime. But it's just that sense of scottie's out there. He's got some momentum, he's making some birdies. Maybe I'm getting a little bit nervous if I have a lead and lo and behold, here he is, you know, making birdies coming down the stretch. And he's got the number posted that everyone needs to chase. And they can't make it there. So a little bit of I'm just curious to hear your thoughts on Scottie and final rounds this year. Well, I think Tiger esque the way you frame that, I think, I think the way I see it is, is that he has an elite awareness right now of what it's going to take on a Sunday, and he's proven it multiple times this year to win from behind. He's wind, he's won with, being a part of the mix and being able to separate. But he's also, you know understood when he's out in front. Hey this is what we watched Tiger do, as kids right when he got the lead. It was game over. And Scottie has proven that he's been able to do that this year. And Jack Nicklaus, you know, all the greats have been really great at understanding exactly what a good score is that day. And I just wanted to dig in a little bit into final rounds for Scottie Scheffler this year. And weeks that he has won, and what started Bay Hill final round 66. It was the lowest score by two shots. Players. The 64. You already mentioned it. That was a four horse race and then the Masters 68. That was the lowest round that day. I don't think we talked about that. He actually got Crystal for the lowest score when he's out in front. That's another one to consider for you know, being out in front or being really in the mix to that day. There was a lot of guys kind of around it, but he was able to go out and shoot a 68 Hilton Head I thought was interesting too, because that was a really weird day. A lot of starts and stops. I had to go out and finish on Monday, shot a 68 that day. But if you go and look at the leaderboard, you'll see that, oh, he didn't really go as low as quite as other guys, but other guys were able to finish before the storms came. He came out that that next day and a north wind, it's blowing 20, 30 miles an hour. It's like 15 to 20 degrees colder. So that was a very, very I would say a tough one to kind of, for, for a leader, it's easy to get out in front of yourself. And Scottie was able to keep one foot in front of the other, sleep on a, on a weird type of Sunday, finish on a Monday and still go out and win, Memorial, I think is a great example of what we watch Tiger and the greats do is get a lead, get out in front and on a really hard golf course like the Memorial was, which is, I think, maybe the hardest golf course we saw this entire year out on a Sunday where the scoring average was was close to 74, 75, 76. He goes out and shoots 74, and it was enough to win by a shot over Collin Morikawa. Travelers Championship that's this is this is now we're starting to get into okay. He's won on on every every test you got Bay Hill which is a firm firm golf course. So you got to be so dialed in. He was so good that day. Players in a coming from behind fashion masters everything on the line. But he's got chasers in a really tough golf course. Hilton head was crazy. Memorial was hard. But travelers this is the one I think was almost the most impressive to show what type of range that Scottie has now, which is this golf course. Everybody was shooting the lights out of it. You know, he shot 65 or 64 every single day. And on Sunday he shoots a 65. And honestly, he made the putts that we felt like he wasn't going to be able to keep up and make on a Sunday. So that was impressive from him. And then let's look at the Olympics, which we just saw today. And a final round 62 of 29 on the back nine. And now you look at that. All of that that I just talked about and all of his wins this year. And you're like you know what there's he's he's proven that he can do it in all ways. That race for the Cy Young pretty much as equally compelling and intriguing as the race for the wild card spots in the National League. And also, keep in mind, skins hasn't pitched the entire season, so his ERA gets affected much, much more if he has a poor outing. And let's just say Chris Sale or Zach Wheeler that's been there all season long, this would be a fun one to watch to play out. But the big loser last night were the Phillies and Zach Wheeler. The early line only on sports grid. Where are you at in terms of a starting lineup? What do you want to see from team USA? I think he'll get guys involved and the nature lock down defender at the point guard. The point of attack right. I do like Curry. I would then go with ant. I like ant over Booker. I think if you look at the way the Canada game was, they look kind of slow starting and then they kind of got rolling game time decisions only on sports grid. The silver and the bronze. I give you Canada France, Germany Serbia and Australia. Germany, more so than Canada. I think that their talent, it's a little more tiered. You know what Dennis Schroder is capable of? Franz Wagner, another player. Daniel Tyson, steps up and Mo Wagner as well. They're built to really take advantage of the mistakes that team USA makes. And they can make the effort plays. Newswire only on Sports Grid. However, many units are on the line. However many people, however many cocktails like it's a perfect score card and he was someone questionable in one hole. He was like, well, one thing I never get wrong is the scorecard. And then we're on like 13 and he's adding up and he's like, this is wrong. I looked back from number 13 and I'm likem missing $140 somewhere. I don't know where I'm missing it. And I'm looking back and I'm like, no, yeah, it doesn't match up on 11. And I got to track it back to like number seven only on sports Grid. Shifting over now to that final group of Jon Rahm, Xander Schauffele, Tommy Fleetwood, I mean, you and I have a shared note where we kind of jot, jot down our observations and kind of formulate what we're going to talk about when we recap tournaments, at the end of the day. And I was taking a victory lap very early of like, hey, how are we evaluating Jon Rahm season now that he didn't do well in any majors, had to withdraw from one. But he's got a gold medal and you know, he can still win a live individual championship. Like can we call this a success. And that was probably around maybe the 11th, 12th, 13th hole, he didn't even he did not even end up on the podium. Just makes double at 14. A really spectacular implosion. And yeah, Scottie had to go out and do what he did on that back nine to go out and win it. But I just this season for Jon Rahm doesn't make any sense at all to me. And yeah, of course he could go out and win an individual championship on live, win a team championship on live and look back and say there was some degree of success that was had. But I just wonder what stock you take after another near miss and one where he was in the driver's seat. And we expect him in those situations to finish those things out. That's that's his, you know Mo like that's these are situations where he thrives. Oh, totally. And he's he's going to get scrutinized more now that he's made the jump to live. So any situation where you know if John like he did today was not able to close it out, it's going to you know, people are always just going to say, you know what? If he had more reps of closing out tournaments that matter, then he would have closed this one out. I don't know if I look at it from that lens quite, quite as much as other people because he is getting reps. He is playing gol. But is it to the level of, of what it was like today? I don't know, I think it was just a little bit of nerves, to be honest. I think he got a little out in front of himself, the chip shot, I think on the 12th hole was just uncharacteristic. He was not a very difficult looking shot. DSL not committed. And then the 14th hole looks like just a bit of an error with the seven iron not leaving it out to the right, going and making par I think. Got a little too aggressive. And then missing a putt. You know that. You know it's a three and a half footer for a bogey. I know he probably was fuming at that point before he even missed. But you still got to make sure you make that putt to where, you know you give yourself an opportunity to find yourself on the medal stand. And what's kind of crazy when you look at the final eight holes of Scottie's day and John Rahm's day, is that Scottie beat John Rahm by ten shots on the last eight holes that is alarming. I mean, I know anything can happen on this back nine, but it was probably the easiest that golf course is ever going to play. It's soft greens, no wind. It's very challenging. Like you have to hit really good shots but still for John Rahm who's already played, you know just he's got nine more holes left in the tank and all he's got to do is just, you know just not blow up pretty much. And you're going to be right there, it's very shocking to see especially I think not winning is a whole one thing, but not ending up on the medal stand was something that was absolutely shocking from when I turned the TV on to when the golf tournament was over. Yeah, it is when you put it like that. He beat him by ten shots on that back nine. It is. It's inexplicable. I mean, especially for it'd be one thing if, you know, we saw a brilliant finish from Victor Perez today, but let's say there's someone who's playing in front of their home crowd and feeling that emotion too, and carrying a lead and maybe hasn't won a major or a huge event. And that's a different sort of thing for Rahm. We've seen him there multiple times. We've seen him close and finish it. So that that was shocking in a lot of ways. And I don't know, I think it's one of those seasons where you're going to kind of round up with your team and take stock and say, how do we do it a lot different next year? Because this was supposed to be a sort of breakout. You know, I'm now the face of Liv. I'm going to, you know, contend in some majors, maybe win a major, and really kind of make my stamp in this new league. And we really haven't seen that in the commingled events, commingled events at least this year, another one in that final group where you're talking about back nine scoring. I think Xander shot either a 38 or a 39 on the back and finishes two over for the day, 12 over for the tournament. Also did not meet 12 under. I'm sorry for the tournament. Also not on the medal stand from a guy that was playing in that final group and in a similar vein in our shared note, you know, I was we were talking about Scottie Zander, player of the year. How does this change if Xander wins silver and Scottie doesn't medal? You know, is there an argument to be made there? If Xander goes out and plays well in the playoffs, plays well at Eastlake, maybe wins the Fedex Cup, you know, does he have does he have an argument. And I'm not saying he can't still go out and play well in those events. But after watching that sort of reversal of fates on the back nine and the Olympics, I just wonder what to make of the day for Xander when it's really right now it's him and Scottie. I mean, these are the two guys that are the elites in pro golf right now, and it was just kind of wild to see a guy like that do what he did on that back nine today. You know, I think that's you. You frame that perfectly because it is the two guys that you kind of think about. You think about, you know, Scottie, obviously he's the alpha dog. But in that final group you look to Rahm and you look to Xander Schauffele, to having really good days. And so it was it was really surprising right. Like where he talked about Jon Rahm. But Xander wasn't that much better. He was four over his final seven holes. Which they they're very uncomfortable golf holes. Let's not let's not make it out to be these simple, easy shots. I mean, they they were it's not not easy. But guys of their caliber can make it look very easy. And there were two shots for Xander that let him down on the back nine. And it was an iron shot that he hit in the water out of the left. Rough. I believe he's on the 13th hole. And so he makes a makes a bogey. I believe it was a bogey there, it was actually kind of hard to follow Xander on the back nine. They weren't showing a whole lot. So I'm doing all this based on just on just memory here. But with Xander also, I mean, he there. I was told, that he hit it in the water as well on the 15th hole with an iron. So he hit two iron shots in the water, one being from the rough. And I assume the other one was from the fairway, even though I didn't see it. So that to me is, you know, for Xander, he was right there. Right. He was at 16 under par. He was only, you know, three shots back heading into that, that, that back nine and just not really, not showing, you know, just not really showing up on that back nine. Maybe it's just a little bit of, maybe just a little tired. I don't know, just some days you don't have it. Maybe today was one of those days. He didn't have it. We're definitely not going to question Zander's ability to close, because guess what? We just saw that a couple of weeks ago at the Open Championship, closing on a Sunday, where, you know, exactly like today where Scottie just went out and he was the best, just proved that he was the best golfer in the world. And Xander, showed that a couple weeks ago that he also can contend with that, notion that he can be the best player in the world. It's interesting. There's maybe more forgiveness right now for a guy like Xander with his resume this year than a guy like Jon Rahm, who we're just waiting for him to do something or anything this year in a big event, and he's coming down the stretch here and you're thinking, this could be it. Like this could be him making an impact this season. He gives it away in the fashion that he did, even though he played relative to Xander better than Xander today. Recently I feel like I'm not doing anything wrong. I'm not making bad swings. I don't feel like I'm making terrible decisions and just had got a little bit of a streak of bad luck on par fives, didn't birdie any of them at the open. Didn't birdie any of them today. It's just, you know, I didn't feel like I did anything terribly wrong. Right, but that's just golf. It happens. What's done is done. And this week is the most important week of the year. Right now. We landed pin high. He's going to be off over the pin position and leave himself a tough putt there. That should bite. Now He didn't like it by the looks of it, but he'll love it when he sees it. He's got this before that bunker put himself in a good position. Just a tiny little baby fade. Ideally placed to tie the lead at 16. He's played well, isn't he? Jon Rahm and OMG what a championship Sunday. We just witnessed. When I selfishly, you know you always want to get get that done, but you don't want to see a teammate and a good friend. You know missing a putt for that happen for me. The Liv golf League delivers every single event, doesn't it? I mean, what an incredible finish there. You know what Tyrrell Hatton I feel for him. He's been playing beautiful golf in fact since Miami. He's been the best player in our league. Based on the strokes gained metric. I'm really happy that I had my first Liv golf win. Now that Kelly and the kids are watching, just knowing that I'm bringing the trophy home for them, it feels good to say that it's coming home. The third guy in that group, Tommy Fleetwood, wins up on the podium with silver. I kind of want to play it forward a little bit with Tommy in a way, because he has a great day today. He shoots 66. You know the guy that played the best in that final grouping, I remember a couple of years ago when Will Zalatoris had a couple of near misses at majors and in big events, and we were just wondering, when is Will Zalatoris going to win a tour event for the first time? And I look at Tommy playing great here, ending up on the podium, having a lot of confidence rolling in the Fedex Cup playoffs. I'm curious, do you think this is, you know, in the same fashion that Will Zalatoris goes out and wins the Fedex Saint Jude, a couple years ago? Now that he has all the back issues on the back end of that, that's separate. But just do you think this sets Tommy up to maybe go out, play well in the playoffs, win one of these events and do you like him at you know better at TPC South Wind Castle Pines or Eastlake. You know then another venue. You know I haven't probably dug into that enough. I mean I feel like when you're playing good golf, it doesn't really matter where you're playing. You know, you're the scores are going to going to show up. And Tommy is really, you know, the Olympics this week and how well he's played at this golf course that le Golf National I mean this is should be Tommy. He should try to get a residence there or at least get a pro membership because he plays this golf course. So well, if you remember, Molinari and him were just dominating there back in 2018 at that Ryder Cup. But we talked about him this week. And you kind of refer to him, just a near misses like kind of like Will Zalatoris. I went back and just wanted to check to see Tommy Fleetwood's history. Just in majors, because I knew there was a bunch and I wanted to see how many there were. And it surprised me that he's had seven top fives in majors. And then you throw in this second place here, or silver medal here at the Olympics. You just look at, man, these are so many big events that he's given himself opportunities on the back nine. And whether it's not being able to capitalize or have a day like today where Tommy, even in the press conference after, it's just like I played good. You know, when you go out there and make eight birdies and he did make three bogeys, but still, you know, Scottie Scheffler went out and won the golf tournament. And really it just came down to the 17th hole which turned out to be a two shot swing. They're both in the left. Rough similar shots Scottie Scheffler was able to land on the front of the green, give himself 20ft and Tommy Fleetwood from the same position hits hits a good shot. Just came in flatter with less spin. Rolls over the back of the green, not it was not up against the collar, but enough to where he was thinking about it. I thought the pitch that he hit was very poor. I thought he could have done much better from there. Misses the putt. Hit a good putt, just broke more than he thought. Makes bogey. And there's the two shot swing that, I think inevitably decided, who won the gold medal? And then the third guy on the podium, of cours, today we talked Scottie. We talked Tommy, Hideki Matsuyama, who I believe shot 65 today, I think really Hideki, the story of his week was he was kind of done in by a rough performance on Saturday because he was leading after two days and just had had a rough round and then goes out and plays great again on Sunday, you know, where are we at on him? And we saw him win the Genesis earlier this year. We were just talking about with with Xander and Cantlay in that final group, and a guy who's finding some form heading into Fedex Cup playoffs. Like, is this a guy that could be hunting coming into playoff season? Oh yeah. Totally. So. And I think Hideki this year it's been a bit of a resurgence I feel like because I feel like maybe the prior couple of years I just I just didn't feel like Hideki was the same guy. And this year I think it was a wake up call. You know, being able to turn the TV off with 45 minutes left in the Genesis broadcast because I mean, Hideki just put on an absolute clinic at Riviera. So actually what's what's bookmark that in for four years for, when, when the Olympics is at Riviera, that Hideki has had some success there winning winning at Genesis this year. But, you know, he's had a year, he's had six top tens, I think, from watching him over the last couple of years. I'm I'm just constantly blown away at how good his short game is around the greens. His pitching, his bunker game. It is on this. It's on another level. And it's really been as good as it's ever been in his career. This year, and not that that was an X factor or why he got the bronze medal this year, because I actually think his, his iron game is, is what's really come back. We're so known for him. You know these iron shots where he just doesn't like them and you're like oh God, is it in the water? He's in the bunker and it's like ten feet. And that's the Hideki that we grew up watching and that we have come to love because he's, he's a monster. When he gets rolling, especially for him, he seems to me to be a guy that when he gets a hot putter, and that ball striking is there. And how good his short game can be. You know, he's he's not the longest player in the world, but he's he's also very much, past, to her average. And then he's also somewhat accurate with that drivers too. So if he's able to put the ball in the fairway, give himself opportunities. And he was able to do that this week. But you mentioned, Charlie, that Saturday wasn't his best. And I think I think back to Tokyo where, you know, he had an opportunity to win a gold medal there, and he is he is Japan like golf. Hideki Matsuyama, he is the superstar. He is the guy. So all that pressure and then getting in that crazy playoff for the bronze medal doesn't end up winning, so he's he's got the, the feeling of I want to win a medal at the Olympics and does that, this year with having to avoid a playoff, not having to, to, to have to sweat out another playoff and he's able to take a medal back home to his home country, Japan. What has happened? What has transpired here at the first Bank center here in Denver, Colorado? It wasn't just a big night of fights. It was a big night of memorable moments. Conor McGregor wins us here in Denver, Colorado. Left hand, right hand, right back for Mike Perry and now three and oh in cage dancing. Can I get a face off with Conor McGregor. Bam Thank. It's an incredible set up here. Incredible matchmaking incredible storytelling. All you had to come here all these fighters that step in here one year and all of my respect. And I mean to this game. Yeah we'll be into this. Yeah And we are live here in the Maverik Center here in Salt Rock, Utah. But what a night. It is going to be historic indeed for begins. He's 56. Whoever's the king of violence right here. This is going to be a great fight. Right hand for Mike, who's the king of my life. I am come back fighting in its purest form. Bare knuckle fighting in the city of angels. 80s. We've got the biggest announcement in the BKFC history. We're about to make. So let's make that announcement. What's up? Knuckle mania? The notorious Conor McGregor here. Ladies and gentlemen, the huge announcement that I have for you today, Conor McGregor, myself and McGregor sports and entertainment is now an owner of Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship. Welcome to the big leagues, David Feldman. Baby. We did it. He's now an owner of BKFC with us. And we're going to take this thing all the way to the top. Now. To zoom out a little bit. Big picture on Olympics because we you know, you tweeted about this a bunch. We tweeted this from the show account. Like looking at this leaderboard last night, looking in the early stages today of just the way it was developing. Arguably the best Sunday leaderboard we've seen all year long, and even moving to the back nine, all the movement and the action we were seeing it was just compelling across the board. Every time you were cutting to a different shot. That shot had weight and it was a player that you knew like it was. There was brand value across the board. It was super compelling, thrilling stuff. You know, I want to talk about that for sure. But the place my mind went first was, man, we criticized so much. Maybe not criticize, but just we looked at all the PGA tour signature events this year with the limited fields. And our gripe was you get these leaderboards where there's nobody at the top contending look no further than Rory pulling away at the Wells Fargo from Zander. And you just it's just that the field is too thin to have a good chasing pack at the top, and it's like this was the best case scenario of that. A very limited field. Yet the top ten, even down to 15, were all guys you'd heard of and all guys that had a real chance to win this tournament. And maybe this is what signature events or maybe a smaller smaller tour can be like where you have leaderboards like this more consistently. I think you've seen bits and pieces of what it could look like with signature events. Have had the Sundays gone, the way the, the tour wants and the networks want or the fans want? Probably not. You've had some runaways like you mentioned with Rory or, day like Bay Hill this year where you had this awesome leaderboard and scottie's, like, all right, see you, y'all, y'all go, y'all go hit balls on the back nine because this thing's over. Maybe that's the fix is we. If Scottie is in contention on Saturday, we just dock him like five shots and we make him come from behind because we had we have like a gross flight and we have a net flight and we just we just we start Scottie. It's like it's like monopoly. You can win the gross. But like still have players. Oh man. Yeah. It was golly. You know I think signature events I think they can be exactly like they were today. It was 60, 60 man field. And that's all Scotty's won this year. I think all of his events, he's won her signature events. So he's. I know the last full field event, I guess that he has won is man, that our stats department really needs to get hard to work because I don't really know where where it was probably Phoenix. Maybe, say Phoenix last year. Probably last year. Yeah, because. No. Was it a signature event last year? It was, it was a but but were they doing limited last year or was it, was it did they. Because golly now I really got to go back and look. Oh you know what I think it may have been that that would be I think it may have been listed as a signature or a designated event is what they're calling it. Last year they were they were not limiting the fields of guys. Yeah. Okay. So it had been Phoenix last yea, but, Scotty's obviously proven he can beat the best of the best. And, you know, I think this this event was just incredible, you know, I, I am I am one for really being hard on the Olympics. Just over the last three years, I really feel like I've been banging the drum like, yeah, Olympics in golf. I just I'm not there yet, you know? Tokyo. It was on in the middle of the night. You know, we're watching high. We're watching the, you know, rear. Later in the day. It just didn't have the same juice, it's also in Tokyo. The crowds were not the same because of, I believe it was around Covid or after Covid, where it was limited supposed to happen in 2020, and then they moved it to 2021, but still obviously not a limited it's not the same. Right. So I think, just you know, the buzz at this place had this week, there's 30,000 people a day and I just felt like, all right, if the Olympics in golf is going to work 72 hole stroke play event, you know, we do that every single week. Maybe we should look at a team type deal, with whether it's mixed with male and female or match play. Something to make us interested because I, I just really struggled with with 72 holes actually being, you know, the way to for the Olympics, golf for people to care. But after finishing what I felt like was the best viewing event of the year, you know, to me it had the feeling of this means a lot to these guys. And the only other event that you can maybe compare it to is the one that they're also not playing for money. They're paying for their country, or you know, for the Ryder Cup purposes or playing for a continent. So comparing those two, I think it's like, all right, these guy, you know, when you get the guys to buy in and really care, and maybe they did care at the last Olympics and maybe just I just didn't get the feeling that they did. But this, this Olympics, you really could tell that these players really had an incredible experience. Well, it's such a tough one. And it's interesting you bring up different formats too, because I feel like it is when it's good, like today. Good. You're like, don't roll that exact same thing back out. That was I want to watch that again and again and again. But when it's bad it's you know, it's kind of like why am I supposed to care about this? And I think that, like, it's interesting because I look over like track and field and you se, you know, runners and athletes that can do multiple events. You know, you have men who are running in, you know, the hunter meter and the 200 meter, and they're running in. You know, relays, but they're also running like mixed relays. Yeah. And it's hard to have that equivalent of like, hey, we'll still we'll do a men's individual stroke play, but we'll also do a mixed team event that feels like the Ryder Cup with men and women. And then we're also going to have the women's competition, you know, like it's just you can really can only ask them to do one thing unless you want to shrink the length of each of those competitions. You know, I would love to see a mixed competition at the Olympics, at the Olympics, simply because we don't see that anywhere else. And I also feel like there's just that element at the Olympics where if you are playing for your country, shouldn't that kind of feel more like a team thing, you know, like where you're all kind of waving the flag together and you have someone alongside? I mean, it's amazing as an American to see Scottie Scheffler on the podium, you know, clearly overwhelmed with emotion for doing something for his country. But it's also, you know, it's a little bit like yeah I mean we see Scottie Scheffler win all the time on tour. And that's that's largely just Scottie Scheffler up there winning. So I don't know. I mean because because that's maybe what more of what I, what I said entering the week. But then I watched what I watched today and I was like yes, more of that please. Like I'd rather have that a million times over. I mean, to me, I thought the coolest part, and it's a shame that Victor Perez didn't end up on the medal stand. Yeah, because just seeing the French support and that hard charge on the back nine and just him coming so close, that to me was one of the coolest parts of this competition. You know, we picked two French players at the beginning of the week. And how'd you guys do? I took Matthieu Pavon thinking like, you know what, that's the guy that we've been talking about. This year, and you're like, oh, I'll take Victor Perez. And of course, Victor Perez went absolute psycho on the back nine. He was six under on a five hole stretch from, I believe it was 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16 and just, gave himself an opportunity. He came up one shot short, but, Scotty was actually talking, he was, saying in the press conference that, a bunch of the players were talking that Victor Perez and, like, Matthieu Pavon were getting Tiger like treatments this week. As far as the crowd, they really felt the presence of, of just, you know, a country getting behind a player, which, you know, Tiger had that support everywhere he went. But that's what they said it. It looked and felt like so huge props, by the way, to all the people that showed up to make this a really cool venue and make it really sing on TV, because you could really feel the energy from the crowd, just a, I mean, just epic, epic day. But the one, the one thing that I think you and I should talk about when it comes to Olympics golf, and now that there there seems to be that the players care, that the media seems to have a more of an interest in it and feels like it can be something really big, but what we talked about this a little bit in the lead up and that this golf tournament from Official World Golf Ranking standpoint was getting 50 points. And if you look at the Official World Golf Ranking 50 points list on, on on an event that's comparable to that, you look at like Valspar, when I say 50 points, 50 points to the winner, Valspar is also similar to that. If you go, if you go and just just glance at the Valspar leaderboard and then you look at the leaderboard here at the Olympics, they're not the same. So we've got to either find a way to elevate the Olympics to where it's in the same category as signature events, because I just don't see how that that what we just watch wasn't at the top echelon of what I feel like professional golf is, which they should be rewarded with, with rankings if they're going to rank and give player world ranking points for this. Hopefully they learned their lesson. Hey, this ain't the NBA bro. You don't have six fouls and they will check you on this stuff. And Brooks has a reputation coming into this. You can tell the refs are watching him and they were on him all the time. This was 1012 years ago Canada playing Greece with that type of led that they had, they probably would have mentally crumbled and lost against Greece by like 3 or 4 points in the final minute of that ball game. Sports rage late night only on sports grid. Try and set the stage for what should be a great year of NFL action. There's a handful of teams that potentially can compete for a Super Bowl championship. Confusion and uncertainty this year, more than some in the past, this team looks like it's ready to make a move, but we just don't know if it's bad or good this year, J.J. McCarthy is eventually going to take over, but it's like it's a no lose situation for them. I mean, they suck. They were seven only on Sports Grid. That race for the Cy Young pretty much as equally compelling and intriguing as the race for the wild card spots in the National League. And also, keep in mind this team doesn't pitch the entire season, so his ERA gets affected much, much more if he has a poor outing than, let's just say, Chris Sale or Zack Wheeler that's been there all season long. This would be a fun one to watch it play out, but the big loser last night were the Phillies and Zack Wheeler. The early line only on sports grid. Their coach has a personality that is new York City tough, grinding, defensive, no holds barred. We muck this game up and we make you play it our way. And Tibbs has been rewarded and he should be rewarded for what he's done with the Knicks betting above the rim only on sports grid. It's so strange to sit here and have so many conversations about live events with with 48 plus players or whatever, wherever that now 52, and talk about how, you know, these signature events, they're they're they're too small. We want them to go like 100 players and then to look at a field like this this week, which I think was like 60 to enter the week. And I think maybe two guys withdrew. I might have the numbers a little bit off there. But, you know, not a huge field at all and say, yes, give that more points. Again, I think it's to a certain degree like I'll put my hand up and say I'm a little bit of a prisoner of the moment because all the cream rose to the top and, and, and the best guy showed up. And so winning today's event was a massive, massive achievement, I think there's got to be a happy medium there. It's got to be more than 50 points to the winner. I don't know how many points it is, and I don't know if it's like where it lands against a, you know, against a major against a signature event. It's tough to say, but it definitely if you have more and I think what's going to happen too is they're going to they're going to kind of springboard off of what we just saw today and really kind of make some changes and adjustments as we kind of, you know, head to the next Summer Olympics because I think that, you know, this thing started what, you know, in Brazil in 2016 was the first iteration of this thing. Then you had Tokyo was supposed to be in 2020. They ended up being in 2021. So this is like the third time in, if I remember correctly, back in Brazil, the same guy, Rory, who was, you know, talking after this event about what an amazing experience this was, was like Pooh poohing the idea of playing in Brazil. It's like, this is a fabricated thing. Well, I think it was the Zika virus, if you remember that. Exactly. All the all the guys that were like thinking about having kids were like worried totally that it's, you know, and I don't I don't blame him for it at all. Like I if anything, it was funny. I was sitting watching the final round today with my wife, and Amanda was like, so do you guys care about this? Like what? Like what's what's the significance of this event? And it's so strange because it doesn't really have any history. And I also want to get into the venue itself. Le Golf National, but different than any other golf event. We watch. It's not like venue selection is a huge part of it. It's basically like, hey, this is the host natio. Let's look in the greater area and try to find the best course. We can find in that area. A lot of times you get good options, and I think this was a very good one, but it's not like the venue is this key central piece. It's like we're just we're going to Paris regardless. We're going to Tokyo regardless. Let's find something there. And Brazil, they had to have Gil Hanse come down and build a bunch of courses. So like like to me, it's like it's not history, it's not venue. I think the thing about it that probably makes it cool is a lot of these kids grew up and they were athletes and they played a lot of different sports, and they undoubtedly were at home watching the Olympics every year and seeing how cool it was for those athletes and those sports to win a medal and represent their country. And so for these guys now, they're they're more and more coming around to the idea of, man, it'd be so cool to stand up wearing USA colors on that podium with a gold medal around my neck. And boy, do we see that today with Scottie Scheffler, you know. And that's you make a great point to talking about Brazil and just the start that it got because the golf course like you mentioned Gil Hanse comes down and builds some courses and it didn't look good on TV. You know the fans weren't out there supporting it quite as much. And then fast forward, we already talked about Tokyo. You know, it's a year after the doesn't have the same buzz. It's a limited type of fan experience. I'm sure it's a great golf course. But now this year, you finally had venue fans and then buy in from players and that's why it was, I think, so successful. Yeah. And I think I'd love to get your thoughts on Le Golf National because it's just it's I think I saw Ron Carter tweeting about this, who has been more than vocal about his distaste for Valhalla. And he's certainly entitled to his own opinion, and I think he has some fair criticisms there. But the Scotty wins at 19, Xander won the PGA Championship at 21. You can look at that leaderboard and say, what's the difference? I thought there was just and we already kind of touched a little bit on it in this earlier in the conversation. But just what did you like about this venue? Like to me, I thought there was great risk reward. I thought that it was just the whole thing was it was very interesting. Even if it wasn't a storied venue or a classic venue. I thought it was just it's set up perfectly for dramatic golf, which is what you want in an event like this. You give guys soft fairways, you give them soft greens and you give them no wind. It doesn't matter where they're going to play, they're going to take it deep. If you want to play the compare and contrast game with Valhalla and Le Golf National, which I don't think is a they're just they're just so diff like so different. Right. You got a golf course that that one has all the risk reward. Reminds me much more like a players championship where you have to sit up on every. You just can't take a shot off. Where at Valhalla you felt like you could take shots off and get away with some, not to say that it's not a hard golf course because you know, I think for, for most people it would be a difficult golf course. But the way it played that week with all the rain they got at Valhalla, it was, you know, there's not a ton of slopes around the greens of Valhalla. So there's nothing about that golf course that I felt like was going to make it play firm and firm enough to really challenge the players. Let's say it had Bermuda greens and it was firm. You know, maybe we're talking a little differently about Valhalla, but, the way it's set up, you know, for the PGA this year they got some rain. You know, just it felt like it just came down to, you know, who could who could hit a seven iron the best. And it seemed like Xander was, the best at that without a doubt. Well, I think that, you know, obviously a smashing success, a few items worth getting in the notes. I think you and I both said in our in our individual contributions to our shared note, props to Wyndham Clark, who kind of got roasted on the way in and then played that rough first round for making this team above Bryson or any number of other Americans that people would have liked to see there better, and then went on and played a very solid final three rounds, including on Sunday, to kind of, you know, put himself in and around it. So props to you, Wyndham. Yes, 100%. And I think, a lot of people forget how well he played from the US open last year at Lake to I mean, it was probably through, gosh, it was I guess Players Championship which just was put the halt on it there like that stretch that he played. It was it was some some good golf and his every time I kept watching him, he just kept reminding me of Brooks, you know, just the way that he was carrying himself, how confident he is, was with himself and with the media, whether that was right or wrong, he was. He said what was on his mind. And that's kind of what reminded me of Brooks. And then just how he was playing to it, just playing fades and, and just playing, his golf, which was, I tell you, when he had it going, when he, when he drives it. Well, my gosh, because he's got low one 90s ball speed, I think people are talking like him. Like he's not an elite player. He is, he just had a tough second half of the year with his golf swing. You've seen bits and pieces of really hot rounds. He saw it on Sunday at the Scottish Open. So there is there is some good golf in in Wyndham I think, maybe through the playoffs. He's a guy that I got my eye on, for one particular week coming up, so, yeah, props to props to win. And we definitely didn't deserve all the criticism, the whole system with the world ranking and how it is. And, these live players not getting points. And that's a whole nother debate that that we can get into if you want. But I think when a undoubtedly earned his spot, the way the system is set up and, I thought he represented his country. Well, maybe not the first 18 holes, but the last 54 holes. Really? Well. Recently I feel like I'm not doing anything wrong. I'm not making bad swings. I don't feel like I'm making terrible decisions and just had got a little bit of a streak of bad luck on par fives, didn't birdie any of them at the open. Didn't birdie any of them today. It's just, you know, I didn't feel like I did anything terribly wrong. Right, but that's just golf. It happens. What's done is done. And this week is the most important week of the year. Right now. Villains. Opinion. He's going to be off over the pin position and leave himself a tough putt there. That should bit. Now. He didn't like it by the looks of it, but he'll love it when he sees it. This before that bunker put himself in a good position. Just a tiny little baby fade. Ideally placed to tie the lead at 16. He's played well, isn't he? John Rahm and OMG what a championship Sunday we just witnessed. When selfishly you know you always want to get get that done, but you don't want to see a teammate and a good friend, you know, missing a putt for that happen. For m. The Liv golf League delivers every single event doesn't it? I mean, what an incredible finish there. You know what I feel for him. He's been playing beautiful. In fact, since Miami. He's been the best player in our league. Based on the strokes gained metric. I'm really happy that I had my first Liv golf win. Now that Caleb and the kids are watching, just knowing that I'm bringing the trophy home for them, it feels good to say that it's coming home. I loved the Victor Perez heater on Sunday. I mean, mainly because he was my freshman. I was like, let's go. But I mean, I think just I want to see I want more Victor Perez in my life. He was if I'm I might be mistaken, but I think he was one of those guys that earned their tour cards through the DP World Tour last year and has had a very solid year. And in fact, this is probably where's he at in the Fedex Cup? This is look at look at how seamless of a segue that we're doing right now. We're segwaying right into our discussion about the precursor, the finale of the regular season. As we head into the Fedex Cup, which is the Wyndham Championship. And so I sent over a list of some guys that are just outside the top 70, because if we remember last year, we were talking about Justin Thomas, we were talking about Adam Scott, we were talking about Shane Lowry. That had to kind of play well to make their way in. And so this year, the list of guys I'm looking at are Victor Perez sitting at 71st. I you know, you got to think I, I would assume if he's seven I need to look at a Wyndham field list which I have not done yet, to be fair, but I mean, I'd assume that a guy that is sitting right there is going to play the Wyndham in an effort to make it in, and capitalizing on on his momentum of playing well in that final round of the Olympics, Davis Riley, at 72nd, which is like, this guy won this year and is still 72nd. That's kind of an interesting sort of scene, Andrew Putnam at 73, Andrew and Lucas Glover at 76 are two that I find interesting as guys who were in in the playoff last year in signature events this year who are still on the outside looking in, Keith Mitchell 79 I think is an interesting one because he's a guy that did not have the benefit of signature events. So, you know, I don't know if there's any thoughts you have on any of those guys or maybe some guys that are inside the top 70 that you're really keeping an eye on this week, you know, to see that that final movement of guys that are going to make it in the Fedex Cup. And then, you know, obviously there's the cut to get in. And then there's the all important, you know, play at the Fedex Saint Jude to see who can get in that top 50 category to make their way into 2025 signature events. Well, of the names that you just mentioned, I think, the one that I'm probably going to be focusing, watching to see how he plays the most is who you had mentioned at 79. I think Keith Mitchell is probably the most interesting one because he hasn't had a bad year. He's actually played pretty well, just hasn't quite had enough high finishes to get enough points. But he's a guy that we I mean, if you listen to the last couple episodes, we've really dove into the Fedex Fedex Cup distribution points list and how, you know, being in signature events, just being in those events, how important it is to you know, earn your points in those. And for guys that aren't haven't been in them like Keith, you know, he's he's actually played pretty well this year. He's just you know he's he's not playing at events that are giving enough points away. And you could see it in his stats. You can see it in his in his strokes gained overall he's in the you know, he's a top 15 type of player in that category. So that's got to be frustrating as a player knowing that, man, I just didn't quite get enough bats in these these big events to, you know, go out at a pebble beach in the past in which he's played well and go finish top ten that week and basically lock yourself up in the top 70. All it takes is one week with a good year. Like he's had and he just hadn't had the opportunity. So that that's the one player I want to see. It's like, can you go out? Even though I'm sure you're mad and frustrated as hell with the system and go out and finish top five here this week at at the Wyndham, play yourself in the top 70 and then go play well at Saint Jude. Play yourself in the top 50. Next thing you know, you're in the signature event, so you can always play yourself into a different category by just, you know, just putting the tee in the ground and going and doing it. But I feel like Keith is in that category of guys being like, God, man, just just I needed some more bats. Another guy on the official list that I was looking at that I want to bring up at 96, Tyrrell Hatton. We know he's a great fit at Bay Hill. I'm just wondering how you think his game fits. Sedgefield Dude, I would absolutely pick him this week and one and done. If Tyrrell Hatton was there. Oh, my God, it would be such a great fit. He would. It's an auto top ten. A lot of people saying top ten lock at Sedgefield. You know 96 is a long way to go to 70. But anything could happen. Oh God, I hope, I hope we have enough listeners that have been on the ride with this and all of our episodes to know that Tyrrell Hatton, that we picked him to, to play like that week and they're like, oh, wait, he's not even on, he's on with like, what are we doing? Smiley? Do you have any final thoughts before we close this thing out? USA that's it baby USA come on Scotty, way to way to bring it home USA. Very good, very good. Well, well actually. Final thought. Okay. Six biggest events Americans wo. Oh, how about that? You're talking about six, six biggest events in golf or the six biggest events in the Olympics? No, in golf, that's right. For majors players in the Olympics. Yeah And the Shriners, who won the Shriners this year? We don't know yet. That's right. Tend to fall off. Stay tuned. The seventh event. Yeah. Very good. Well, I guess look out for some Wyndham one and done picks for us on social media. And for another guest dropping the feed soon. Yeah. And with that said, thanks so much for watching, watching and listening. And we'll talk to you very, very soon.