00:00Of course, Smiley Kaufman is with us every week here on C2C.
00:06You can catch the Smiley Show right here on SportsGrid a couple times a week, new episodes
00:12from him and Charlie.
00:13Good to see him, as always, off of an unbelievably dramatic Sunday at Pinehurst.
00:21And honestly, Smiley, I saw the clip of you and Charlie talking about on the Smiley Show
00:26of where that moment and that last hour of golf.
00:31And I was thinking about it, and I'm not sure there's nothing that touches it, at least
00:36since I've really been watching over my lifetime.
00:38I know the Norman stuff.
00:39That was a little before me where he melted down at the Masters.
00:42The Tiger one was great at the Masters in 19, but it wasn't like a dramatic who's gonna
00:48win on 18.
00:50That was pound for pound one of the best 60 to 90 minutes closing of golf that you
00:56could ever possibly have, and you were there for step-by-step of it, my man.
01:01It was.
01:02It really was.
01:03It just was the best chess match ever between Rory McIlroy and Bryson.
01:07And the up and down that Bryson had on 18, yeah, it's debatable on where it ranks as
01:14one of the better shots of all time, as far as a major championship and a clutch situation
01:20goes.
01:21But when I kind of think about other ones as well, that kind of come to mind, you think
01:24about Tiger in 19, but you also think a little bit about Tiger Woods chip in at 16 at the
01:30Masters and Jack Nicholson's putt on 17, the Masters.
01:34So there's some best, there's definitely some moments that we don't want to sleep on.
01:38Larry Mize chipping in at 11, there's some incredible Masters moments.
01:41But as far as US Open to go, I mean, that has to be way, way up there on the list as
01:46far as just clutch shots and just great theater on the back nine.
01:51All right.
01:53Sitting at home, you could tell, you could just feel the tension with every shot that
01:59they were showing from both Bryson and Rory.
02:02You were with the Rory group up ahead with them.
02:06Did it standing there, was it, did you get that same feel?
02:10I mean, it came across on TV, like you saw more movement from Rory than we did on television.
02:16Was it as dramatic as we were watching?
02:19Was he really like looking back every shot Bryson was taking?
02:22What was the experience with Rory and how he was taking all of this in?
02:25No, you're exactly right.
02:27And I think it's what made it so fun to watch in person, but probably just as much fun to
02:34watch on TV because you knew that each player was waiting for the other to hit.
02:38So you knew that there was no like random roar for you to wait to see exactly what happened.
02:43Like you hear at some golf tournaments, these players, because of Pinehurst and how it's
02:47routed, everything's very close to the greens and tees.
02:51It's very like, you just don't want to hit while the other guy is because you don't want
02:56to get roared in the middle of your backswing.
02:59So that made for just awesome television because you knew it was just one guy trying to one
03:05up the other.
03:06And then towards the end, it was like, oh my gosh, who's going to be the guy that chokes
03:11this thing away?
03:12And it turned out to be Rory.
03:13It sure did.
03:16And I know that that's probably where a lot of people are going to put the remembrance
03:20of this tournament, right?
03:21Rory missing those pots on 16 and 18.
03:24But for me, Smiley, Bryson had to hit some incredible shots, not just that bunker shot,
03:29which is the one everyone will always remember to save there, but, and not just hitting the
03:35shots, the evolution of him becoming the crowd favorite.
03:39It seemed like at Pinehurst over the weekend, think about two years ago, Smiley, uh, him,
03:44the live guys, nobody will, these guys are leaving.
03:47Forget these guys.
03:48We don't like them.
03:49That guy's like a superhero.
03:50Now out there, he's captain America with what he did.
03:53He has become a fan favorite and the guys that live Norman and live, they must love
03:58what Bryson DeChambeau did this past weekend for them.
04:02Yeah, I think now that once Bryson has showed up to live Nashville this week for their
04:09tournament, it's just the reminder of, shoot, okay.
04:14We loved Bryson this past week, but now do we love him quite as much now that he's playing
04:19on the live golf tour and that we don't get to see him at the travelers.
04:23And that's just the old reminder of where we are in the game right now.
04:26And I'll say that, you know, it is pretty remarkable for how well liked he is now and
04:33how much he's, you know, just leaned into the content side and just having, you know,
04:40the lens to, to just open his world to everybody.
04:44And I think it's made him much more white.
04:48Not that he always wasn't really fun to watch on TV, but combine what his antics on, uh,
04:54when he plays golf, which is super enjoyable to watch.
04:57And then what he's doing off the golf course and how he's, you know, creating an audience
05:02and continuing to grow the game by, you know, doing fun things and, and, and really having
05:08a large reach, um, he's reaching a mass massive audience and he's, you know, he's box office
05:17Bryson right now.
05:19And I think it helps that it's, it happened at the U S open.
05:21Right.
05:22Cause isn't that like, that's the people's championship.
05:25Like I think that that's even, even though Phil had all those seconds there, like that's,
05:30I think why people love Phil so much as performances in the U S open and how I just feel like it
05:35kind of ties in that way, Smiley, uh, with Bryson doing that on that stage, uh, and being
05:40at the U S open championship and he, man, as he had gotten some mileage out of it, Fallon
05:45morning shows.
05:46I mean, he's, I don't know how he's going to play in Nashville this week.
05:49Smiley, uh, to be quite honest with you, exactly who cares.
05:53I know I won't be playing him.
05:54That's for sure.
05:55Uh, I think smart by Rory, your thoughts, Rory, not going to Cromwell this week.
06:01TPC river Highlands.
06:02He's going to go take a rest, get ready for across the pond, Scottish and the open championship.
06:05Yeah.
06:06Not surprising at all.
06:08And everything that's, that's happened since Rory lost on the 18th hole, you know, should
06:13he have done media?
06:14That was a big question mark.
06:16My answer is no.
06:17Could he have hung around and just give Bryson a fist bump maybe.
06:21Um, but from watching from where I, from where I stood and knowing exactly what happened,
06:28it's, you can't imagine how crushing that is.
06:31You, you can try to compare it to other sports.
06:34Um, the only thing I can maybe compare it to is that you have three free throws.
06:40The game is dead in a NBA finals and all you have to do is make one and you miss all three.
06:46It's that's kind of what it feels like.
06:50Just, you know, you just had the easiest layup of, of something that you naturally do every
06:55single day.
06:56And, and for whatever reason, when the moment was the biggest, you didn't come up clutch.
07:02And, and I'll say that Rory had so many clutch moments during that day that, that we're always
07:09going to forget how well he played that day.
07:13And we're going to look at those pots and it's, and it's sad that we have to do it that
07:16way.
07:17But listen, if he had his, if you know, if he would've gotten beat a different way, it,
07:22we wouldn't be having this conversation.
07:24But you know, it feels like Rory lost this thing much more than, I mean, Bryson did go
07:28and win that thing, went up and down an 18, but still, um, you get my point.
07:33That's precisely it.
07:34Him making that shot in the sand makes it more, he won it, uh, than just Rory giving
07:39it to him.
07:40He needed to man, it was a hell of a shot he hit.
07:42The second shot was pretty good too, smiling that he hit into the sand considering he was
07:47underneath a tree.
07:48Uh, we got about a minute here.
07:49The Travelers this week, TPC River Highlands, another elevated event, no Rory.
07:55Who are you looking at?
07:56Uh, who do you like this week?
07:57Do you, in fact, you know, do you like guys who played well this past week?
07:59Where are you looking?
08:00I've loved, loved, loved the way that Sam Burns has been trending.
08:05His game is turning the corner.
08:07I've been on him for, uh, three weeks now just seeing the improvement.
08:12I think Sam Burns coming off an awesome U.S. Open, his Memorial, uh, RBC, all these weeks,
08:18he's just kind of starting to stack weeks together.
08:21And typically you start to see a guy, you know, go and win when they, when they have
08:26like really solid weeks in a row and you see that one week where they put it together,
08:30Sam Burns will probably be my one and done pick this week.
08:33But I think Patrick can't lay, uh, he's got such good history at River Highlands and TPC.
08:39That'd be hard to ignore.
08:40Patrick can't wait coming off a really nice U.S. Open, but have to wonder a little bit
08:45about where his energy levels are going to be because he grinded so hard to end up where
08:50he ended up at the top of the leaderboard.
08:52So those are the two guys that my on Sam Burns and Patrick can't lay.
08:55I'm with you on can't lay.
08:57And you probably just made me add a little bit on Sammy Burns, uh, here this week up
09:01in Cromwell smiley, tremendous job as always.
09:04We'll catch you this week on the smiley show.
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