00:00What encouraged you the most about the way Xander played this week
00:03and kind of makes you feel like, hey, this could be the full bounce back
00:06to the guy we saw winning two majors in 2024?
00:08Well, Iron Game was just top-notch at times this week.
00:13And, you know, Driver, I don't think this was a good week
00:16to really tell how good you were driving the golf ball
00:19with how it seemed to play where everybody was just trying to mash it off the tee.
00:24But I was really – I was happy to see that he had really some good putting days
00:28like the first couple of days putted really poorly on the weekend,
00:31which is why you saw him a little bit further down the leaderboard.
00:34But putts well on the weekend.
00:36He's right up there having a chance to win the golf tournament.
00:38Yeah.
00:39I mean, it's just – I remember the putter last year.
00:42We were talking about like Loft was off.
00:43There's all sorts of weird stuff happening to him.
00:45But nice to see that result.
00:47Let's start naming some names, Smiley.
00:49And I'm going to bunch these first two together
00:51because they were both on your Smiley 7,
00:54a potential breakout candidate to start the year, okay?
00:57Kurt Kitayama, Aldrich Potgieter, okay?
01:00And I'm saying this.
01:02I'm not putting this on you.
01:04Why are Kurt Kitayama and Aldrich Potgieter using blade putters?
01:08Like we just talked about it last week.
01:09This is the era of the mallet.
01:10These guys are so good at everything.
01:13That's the one part of their game that they have trouble with.
01:16Can we please get both those guys into mallets?
01:18Are you saying guys can't putt good with blades now?
01:21Are you giving up?
01:22Have you given up?
01:24I'm close to giving up.
01:26Can you give up on yourself?
01:27Yeah.
01:28I'm a mallet guy.
01:29I am a mallet guy now.
01:31And that literally happened in July of 2025.
01:37There was too many guys going that way.
01:39I said, look, man.
01:41Why am I making the game harder for myself?
01:44And so here we are.
01:45Gosh, isn't it so nice?
01:48So the element of feel that you have with the blade when it's on.
01:52Oh, that's great.
01:53But there's nothing more frustrating when you're missing putts inside of six feet with the blade.
01:58It is the worst, especially if you're pulling them.
02:01I hate that feeling.
02:03When I remember, I don't know how many years ago this was, but Adam talking about Adam Scott talking about.
02:09He'll bring his blade out every once in a while just to practice with it, you know, practice just to
02:13get some feel with it.
02:14But then he goes back to his broomstick, you know, because that's the one that's more reliable.
02:20But I actually do, from time to time, do what Adam does where I'll just take the blade out for
02:24a day.
02:25I'll just to make sure I haven't lost, you know, a connection to the field of putting process.
02:31It's nice.
02:31I need to do the same.
02:31Yeah.
02:32Yeah.
02:33Yeah.
02:35Kitayama and Paki.
02:36Well, this was a great week for Aldrich.
02:39You know, this top five, I think they said on the broadcast, is the youngest player to ever have a
02:45top five since Al Guyberter, like 50 years ago.
02:48So there was, I don't know who came up with that nugget, but shout out to the stats guy over
02:53at CBS ripping that one.
02:54Because that was a great one.
02:56And it's just a friendly reminder how young Paki is.
02:59Having him on the show, just listening to some of the things he was having to deal with, with having
03:0520-yard gaps with his irons, like wedge.
03:07His wedges were always coming up long to front pinch.
03:10Just things that, like, normal humans don't have to deal with.
03:13But he's just such a yoked, bulked-up dude that just can't do anything but just smash the golf ball.
03:21Now, I know his swing is definitely improving.
03:24But, hey, that's a big week.
03:27You know, with the right course matchup right now for him, it seems like if you get him in a
03:31place where he can find his golf ball, he's going to have such an advantage.
03:36He's such an advantage off the tee.
03:38Just smashes it.
03:39And then Kitayama, he's got a very well-rounded game.
03:44He really does.
03:45It's, like, across the board with his irons, driver.
03:48And then the thing that I talked about, the reason why I brought it up, is that, dude, his driving
03:53distance.
03:54He's, like, he was, like, top 10 in driving distance last year.
03:57And it completely threw me for a loop.
03:59He's, you know, low to mid-180s ball speed guy.
04:02Like, what?
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