00:00So it just I've never seen a golf course play U.S. Open hard like Justin Thomas said it was
00:06the hardest round of his PGA Tour career.
00:08And then on the other side of the coin, what we saw today, which was like, do they need to
00:13toughen up Muirfield Village?
00:14It's like I've never seen two ends of the spectrum in in in one weekend.
00:20Just crazy or one week, I should say.
00:22Well, it's so funny because when you say that, I just think about this the whole week and the talk
00:27about the golf course,
00:28some of the stuff Jack said early in the week and the the thinking about Augusta this year,
00:34where like Thursday was crazy, crispy and then put some water out of the course changes.
00:38You wonder if it got too easy. This, of course, it was it was out of their hands this week.
00:42It was it was the rain mother nature that brought all that in that made the course softer.
00:46I was talking to someone about this this weekend.
00:48I wanted to hear your perspective on does it feel like this is built to the exact specs of what
00:56a tour pro would want
00:57in terms of a challenge. And I say that juxtaposed against Iran to make where it was almost like perplexing
01:03to some guys,
01:04like the type of challenge it was the way the rough was set up with no sort of grading to
01:08it,
01:09the way the green complex is how difficult they were.
01:12It's like that was I think a lot of fans and viewers enjoyed the Iran to make test,
01:16but it was it was unique for most tour pros, whereas this feels like this is the standard.
01:21We're going to separate the men from the boys like this.
01:24This is a proper test. Would you agree with that?
01:26Oh, it's it's one of the best tests that we have on the entire year.
01:29Now, a lot has changed at Muirfield over the years.
01:33You know, Jack is, you know, played with this golf course a lot.
01:35Like he's he's got the bulldozers all out.
01:38It seems like every other year to change something.
01:40Is it perfect? No.
01:42Like I think a lot of guys, you know,
01:45when they talk about courses on the PGA Tour that have been changed many times,
01:50the players will always say it was better before.
01:53You know, I think you ask players about Colonial.
01:55You ask players about Muirfield Village.
01:57I'm sure there's plenty of other courses I'm not thinking about in my head,
02:01but those are the two that come to mind.
02:02And many of them will say, yeah, I'm sure it's better for the members.
02:06Now, maybe not Muirfield Village.
02:07I can't imagine playing that place every day.
02:08It would be impossible.
02:12But it's you know, there's a lot of really great stuff about this course.
02:17You know, I love how Jack Nichols will give you on a short par four.
02:22He'll give you a wide fairway.
02:23He's like, hey, we all you have to do is just don't fall asleep at the wheel.
02:28Hit this fairway with a four iron or hit it with a seven would hit it with a five or
02:32whatever it is.
02:32Get in the fairway.
02:33But then I'm going to test you with your wet shot.
02:35I'm going to make you really have to hit your number and your line and the shot shape.
02:39And I think that's such a unique part about this golf course that I don't think we see quite often
02:47on the PGA Tour that has this variety,
02:50you know, having four par fives that aren't necessarily like gimme birdie holes, like very easily sevens very easily could
02:58be a three.
02:59I think players might say that the fifth hole, Dalek right par five is a funky par five.
03:06Is it the you know, is it the architecturally the my favorite par five in the world?
03:11Absolutely not.
03:12But is it interesting?
03:13Is it is it has it, you know, seen a lot of different strategies that come out over over the
03:20years?
03:20Yeah.
03:21Even today, Sam Burns is in the middle of the fairway.
03:23How often have you ever seen Sam Burns lay up twice in one week on this fifth hole?
03:28He laid up once from 225 and once from 245 today.
03:31This is one of the longest players on the PGA Tour.
03:33He's like, you know what?
03:35I don't like anything where I'm going to leave it up around the green.
03:38And I think too often on the PGA Tour, there's always a bailout.
03:41And I think in Muirfield Village, you're not gifted bailouts sometimes.
03:45And that if you're going to take on the shot, you're going to have to pull it off.
03:49And I think that's where maybe some players will say, you know what?
03:52We we deserve a bailout here.
03:54Well, do you?
03:56You know, why don't you just play, you know, just a little bit different strategy, play a little bit more
04:00conservative to what would be, you know, the fat part of the green 50 feet away if you don't want
04:05to take the shot on.
04:06And that I I I love that about this golf course, because it it makes you have to hit, you
04:12know, you have to be so precise with some wedge shots.
04:14And then you have to be very, very precise with a five iron into the eighth hole par three or
04:20the 12th hole at Augusta.
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