00:00You know, as you know, the golf course from, you know, past U.S. Opens and seeing guys that are
00:05trending and guys that are maybe falling off a little bit.
00:08Is there a certain player that you kind of have your eye on as you head into Shinnecock?
00:14Gosh, that's a great question. I, you know, I put some thought into it.
00:18And I, you know, when you look back at the history of it, it really when you look who's won
00:23there, I mean, Ray Floyd won there in 86.
00:28You know, before that, it was literally 90 years prior, 100, 100 years prior that they last played Shinnecock before
00:35they came back in 86 when Ray Floyd won.
00:37And then you go from a player like Ray Floyd to to Corey Pavin in 95.
00:43So it really doesn't. I don't know that it favors one particular player.
00:48However, you know, obviously Ratif could hit it out there. And then, you know, for a great putter, great driver,
00:55the golf ball Ratif was.
00:58And then you go to 2018 and Brooks Koepka. And when you look at what Brooks did around there, I
01:03mean, his iron, his iron play in 18 was stupid, was a joke.
01:08It was a joke. And he putted and he putted incredibly well, too.
01:12I mean, he dominated putting and iron play that week. And so when you look at guys who are I
01:20mean, basically, you want to be able to pick a guy like that who's dominating putting who's diving in iron
01:25play.
01:25Because if if if what we you and I are hearing from boots on the ground up there recently that
01:32they're good, that there's some room off the tee, that's going to allow the longer hitters a lot more leeway,
01:40obviously.
01:41So people like Rory, people like, you know, maybe even a Wyndham Clark, who I mean, L.A. North was
01:47really wide when he won in 23.
01:49That was a very wide U.S. Open. They had the big corridors and the fairways were wider than normal.
01:54And, you know, John Bodenhammer has talked about how he wants to maintain the, you know, the integrity of the
02:02architecture at U.S. Opens.
02:04And so if Shinnecock originally was meant to play with some width and create you're meant to create angles, I
02:11would I think John and the USGA is are going to adhere to that to a certain extent, which are
02:16I think are going to bring in.
02:18It's going to bring in more people. It's going to bring in guys that maybe aren't great aren't great drivers
02:24of the golf ball,
02:24which is what you typically would put with a U.S. Open style setup.
02:29So we'll see. I mean, I think that I think it's I think it's I think it's more wide open
02:34than people realize.
02:35But I also think that it's it's hard to bet against the guy when those greens get firm and fast.
02:40If we don't get weather, you're going to need to bring it in.
02:42You're going to need to drop it out of a blimp to get it close to some of these flags.
02:46And so I think that that that's going to bring in the guys who can hit it high and stop
02:50it soft.
02:50And then that brings in Scotties and Rory's and and those guys, you know, and Brooks again.
02:56You know, I wouldn't put it past Brooks again to be right there.
02:59So, yeah, I it's but I do think that it's that I don't have a one particular player that I
03:06think that this is going to that that's going to.
03:10It's going to it's going to fit perfectly.
03:12I think it's a from from my research, my limited research up to this point.
03:17It seems like a golf course.
03:18It's going to be but hopefully very fair based on the setup.
03:21I know they've had some issues with setups in the past year.
03:24Let's hope we don't have those problems again.
03:27But I think that it's you know, you can kind of bite off as much as you want off the
03:32tee and then attack from there.
03:33Yeah, I'll leave you with this.
03:35So Aaron Rye, of course, was a surprise winner at the PGA Championship.
03:38I think nobody would have had him pegged winning the second major of the year.
03:43You see J.T. Poston winning at Muirfield.
03:46You see Christopher Rayton winning at in Charlotte.
03:50So, I mean, there's there's possibilities that you could see another surprise winner of a major championship.
03:57We've talked so much about Scotty and Rory and how they're the best two in the game right now.
04:01But is there somebody that you have your eye on that you're kind of excited about heading into the third
04:07major of the year at the U.S. Open?
04:09Three second place finishes.
04:11And I know I'm a kind of a I'm a creature of the moment.
04:13But, you know, Ryan Gerrard.
04:15I mean, you want to talk about an outside the box pick for the U.S. Open who's just playing
04:20with a ton of confidence right now and just feels like really good and a very good iron player hits
04:26it a mile, you know.
04:28But but there's sometimes there's no substitute for confidence either, you know, and I well, I loved what I saw
04:35from him coming down the stretch yesterday.
04:37I know he lost the playoff, but what he needed when he needed to do it, he did it.
04:42And he's he's a gutsy player, man.
04:44So I like that.
04:45Yeah.
04:46You know, I you know, I will see.
04:48I mean, I know he doesn't have a ton of major championship experience, but neither did Aaron Rye.
04:54So are we and that was down the stretch, right down the stretch.
04:58Yeah.
04:58So, I mean, that was it was phenomenal to watch here and do what he did at the PGA championship.
05:02So we could have a surprise winner.
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