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00:00With me now on the Western Hotline, Brian Kozio, Tee to Green, Saturday mornings.
00:06DeChambeau is just off the range at what would be 10.30 local time.
00:11Fans still there watching him hit balls.
00:13He just wrapped up, gave his glove to an attendant who was manning that scorer's tent throughout the day,
00:19maybe apologizing to him for keeping him up so late.
00:22I don't know.
00:23Might sound like maybe Brian and I talked hours ago, and this is a recorded segment.
00:27No, he just – it's dark there, 10.30 at night, and he just got off the range.
00:33Let's get Brian in here for your interpretation of what happened today.
00:37So, Brian, what happened here?
00:41Well, yeah, I was excited to talk about two guys that got 62, but we're not.
00:46We're talking about –
00:47We'll see if we get there.
00:48Yeah, Bryson and his drama.
00:50So, anyway, for those that didn't see what happened,
00:53and on the fifth hole, Bryson DeChambeau hits his drive into the tall fescue area
00:59to the right of the green.
01:01It's a shorter hole.
01:02It was only playing 328, so he was trying to drive it.
01:05And a good hole for some good drama, and ultimately it led to that.
01:10So, he's about 50 yards, I'd say, maybe 40 or 50 yards short of the green
01:15in the fescue on the right.
01:17And he goes in and assesses his lie, and there's obviously, as we all know,
01:23there's four – there's spotters that are there, volunteers.
01:25They say, hey, we got your ball.
01:26He comes over.
01:27He says, oh, I got it.
01:28Thank you very much.
01:29The spotters walk away.
01:30He and his caddy assess the lie.
01:31They hit it.
01:32He hacks it out, goes on to the green, or toward the edge of the green.
01:36He makes one more tip and then ends up making a putt on that hole,
01:40just missing it for both.
01:41So, he makes a bogey.
01:43And what happened is he plays through.
01:45He goes into sign a scorecard, and they said, hey,
01:49we have some video from the fifth hole we'd like to talk with you about.
01:52We think that you may have, whether on purpose or inadvertently,
01:56improved your swing path in terms of all that fescue glass.
02:01So, he watched the video.
02:04They're going to assess him a two-stroke penalty.
02:05He obviously was very upset about it, protested.
02:07They actually were in there for 17 minutes.
02:10Then he went back.
02:11They actually went back out and essentially reenacted it all out there in the
02:17fescue.
02:17He actually had a club.
02:18He was swinging.
02:19They had two rules officials from the RNA there, him and his caddy.
02:23And he's very, very animated throughout this whole thing.
02:27Like, obviously, he knows maybe there's a two-throw penalty coming.
02:31Very upset.
02:32The video showed that he walked behind the ball to kind of assess what angle to
02:39take when he did so, he definitely stepped on some fescue grass.
02:44And then when he approached the ball back to get ready to hit it,
02:46he stepped on some more.
02:49Ultimately, when you're hitting a shot like that,
02:51you want to be really, really steep and vertical with your shot.
02:54You don't want to be shallow because otherwise you're going to catch all this
02:56grass.
02:56So, it looks like maybe, and he hits this out, that, you know, could there have
03:02been more fescue grass in his way and feeding his shot?
03:05But there wasn't as much because he had stepped on it.
03:08Ultimately, you know, did he do it intentionally?
03:12Did he not?
03:12Some players are saying yes.
03:14I mean, some of these analysts are saying yes.
03:15Some are saying no.
03:16But ultimately, some of them are saying it doesn't matter because he,
03:21whether he did it on purpose or inadvertently,
03:23it improved the area of his intended swing.
03:26And that's the ruling that they're going with.
03:28He's upset about it.
03:29He didn't want to talk to the media.
03:31Then there was a video showing him saying, I'm not going to,
03:34I may not play tomorrow to the RNA.
03:36Then asked on his way out, they asked, the media asked his agent.
03:40His agent said he'll decide in the morning.
03:42So, there's a whole other layer with this.
03:44We know Bryson has a lot of drama going with him.
03:46The fact that he's not talking to the media and not explaining his side
03:49of things on this adds another layer, I guess.
03:51But that's kind of, I made a short version, a long version,
03:55but that's kind of what it's at.
03:56So, he goes from minus five, I'm sorry,
03:58he goes from minus seven in the final group with Herbert down now to a tie
04:02for fifth and minus five with that two-stroke penalty on that fifth hole.
04:07And now maybe we wait to see if he's even going to play tomorrow or not.
04:10That obviously is still in question, which to me,
04:13I would never advise him to just walk away.
04:15I feel like that seems like a very poor decision if he ends up doing that,
04:21even if he totally disagrees with this really.
04:24Very good, Brian.
04:25So, ultimately, it sounds like, and it looked like, from what I could tell,
04:28the argument was that, so when I'm watching it,
04:32it's almost like he's stomping around the area where the ball is,
04:36as if you could look at that and think he's really trying to mat down the grass.
04:42But maybe DeChambeau is saying, well, what do you want me to do?
04:45I mean, I'm walking over here.
04:47I've got to walk here to play the shot.
04:49So, I think maybe that's a pretty subjective thing,
04:51where I could see this one being hotly contested,
04:54where, like, what am I supposed to do here?
04:56I'm not allowed to take steps?
04:58If the grass is going to lay down after I step on it,
05:00how is that a penalty?
05:01And, you know, in my opinion, when you see him arrive at the ball in the morning
05:06or whenever, like, during his round, he is, like, stomping on the grass,
05:11not looking down at it, but it didn't look completely, you know, honest to me.
05:17I think that's fair.
05:19I, upon watching this video a whole bunch of times,
05:23he's not being 100% careful in terms of how he's walking around in that area.
05:30And I think Smiley Kaufman from Golf Channel reenacted the whole thing a couple of times.
05:34I think if anybody's able to watch that at some point, that video's great.
05:38I think he explained it well.
05:39He said, look, while you can walk in the fescue to try to figure out, you know,
05:44the kind of shot you had, you also have to make sure that you're not doing anything
05:48that is changing what would be your intended swing.
05:52Now, again, by you walking around, I guess officially it could happen.
05:55But I do agree with you in that sense.
05:58He did not walk gingerly.
06:00So if there was the thought of he's trying to do something and maybe get away with it,
06:05I can see why the video would show that.
06:07Yeah.
06:08And it's this player.
06:09I mean, he comes with a reputation.
06:11Do we know how it was found out, like where the source of the video
06:18or just the question of his behavior came from?
06:21I haven't heard that yet.
06:23All I just heard is that the RNA approached him afterwards and said, hey, don't sign your scorecard.
06:29We've obtained some video that we'd like to go over with you from the fifth hole.
06:33So I don't know if it was from a viewer or from, you know, obviously there's little officials
06:39that are watching all the different TV coverages from all around the world to see, you know,
06:42as they're watching.
06:43But I don't know ultimately where they obtained it from.
06:46And you're right.
06:47It's being Bryson that adds a whole layer.
06:50Yeah.
06:51If other players, even if they 100% disagreed, probably would have just taken the high road out
06:58and just said, OK, I disagree.
06:59But, you know, here I am signing my card.
07:03Bryson went out there and was kind of really trying to argue his case.
07:06And, you know, some people might say, good, like if he thinks he didn't do anything wrong,
07:10he should argue his case.
07:11I can listen to that, I guess.
07:13But because of DeChambeau and all that goes with him, this is definitely a bigger story
07:18than if it was even Lucas Herbert who did it, you know.
07:21Right.
07:22Brian Cozio, my guest, Tita Green tomorrow morning.
07:25I wonder if you'll get to the guys who shot 62 tomorrow morning.
07:28You have an hour or two, so you probably will get to that.
07:31DeChambeau was a big story already.
07:34He had missed the cut in the three previous majors this year.
07:37But out here on a course that's not supposed to be suited for a player like him.
07:40I think I heard he hit four fairways yesterday.
07:43Supposed to be a course where you have to hit it straight.
07:45This guy's all over the place, but he's so long.
07:48And he putted great.
07:49Short game looked good.
07:50And here he is in second, or at least for a while.
07:52Now he's back to certainly not out of it.
07:55Three strokes.
07:56If he's out of it, I'm dead in the bet because I've got players behind him only in
08:00Scheffler and Rom and Fleetwood.
08:02I wonder if my odds are the same, worse or better, than they were from before the tournament
08:09started.
08:09I feel like it's maybe about the same.
08:11I like that it's not exactly murderer's row in the top five.
08:17Although Cameron Young, who wasn't, I guess, playing that well coming in, is right there.
08:22Yeah.
08:22Yeah.
08:23And Burns, who was a runner-up at the U.S. Open, who's kind of been nipped a couple of
08:28times in majors, he's there.
08:30But you're right, I think, looking at your players, the McIntyre pick, Mike, is going
08:34to work out really nice for you in terms of the fact that he's right there with a chance
08:38going into the weekend.
08:38And then you've got some of the big names, including Scheffler, who, if he gets any putts
08:43going, I mean, his ball striking to the green has been excellent.
08:48So he didn't make any putts today.
08:50If he can get a couple to go tomorrow, I think he would definitely be in the mix here to
08:54win.
08:54I mean, you couldn't even possibly overstate this.
08:59Every hole, he's like 10 feet for birdie and missed.
09:02I feel like I haven't seen him make a putt in three years, Scheffler.
09:05But he's so good.
09:06And apparently, even though you do see him crack sometimes, like emotionally, he must
09:13be so patient that he'll go to the next hole and do the same thing and miss again and go
09:18to the next hole and do the same thing and miss again.
09:20Because that would rattle a lot of people.
09:23And he's not the only one.
09:25Fleetwood missed a real easy putt late.
09:27Rahm missed an easy putt late.
09:29Like there's, these greens must be a little bit more trickier to read than maybe they're
09:34seeing.
09:34Or even because the speed's a little slower, maybe that's, you know, bothering some of
09:38them.
09:38We know these greens are much slower than maybe what they're used to playing on the regular
09:42PGA Tour.
09:43I don't know.
09:43But yeah, for Scheffler, I mean, God, he's in such a good position.
09:47And even if he just made half of those putts that you're describing, he's definitely in
09:51the final group going into tomorrow.
09:54So, I mean, he's still in there with contention to win back-to-back open.
09:58So, yeah, I think, I think there's a ton of good storyline.
10:01Fleetwood, essentially this being his home course, growing up, hometown guy.
10:05Like, Rahm has some interesting stories.
10:08And then, you know, the two players that we mentioned earlier, Cam Young, Sam Burns, like
10:12these are guys that they won their first major.
10:14We would say, yep, this is their time for it.
10:16So, I mean, I think there's a lot of good stories in there with a couple of names that
10:19we all learn about each, you know, each major.
10:21There's always a couple here, whether it's Herbert or Suber or guys like that that are
10:25involved.
10:26So, yeah, it's a really, really good leaderboard.
10:28I like it.
10:28I guess we could still even argue that McIlroy's not out of it.
10:32He had a good day today, minus one now overall.
10:35He's shot three under today.
10:36So, that's maybe he'll get, you know, something early getting going to get involved in the story.
10:41But, obviously, now, you know, going into overnight and into tomorrow's round, the story is going
10:46to be a lot about Bryson.
10:48And, you know, I just don't know if how he handled it was how I would have advised.
10:53But, I mean, he's definitely going to get the stories here coming into tomorrow for sure.
10:57And, luckily, we have two hours tomorrow.
10:59I need to talk about it.
11:00Good, yeah.
11:02I wasn't watching when this fifth hole stuff happened, but I saw some of his round, maybe
11:08like right around then, and it's the crowd egging him on to hit driver on holes like that.
11:13Maybe it was that hole.
11:14I don't know.
11:15Maybe half asleep.
11:16It's one of those drivable holes.
11:17Yeah, the fifth.
11:18The crowd wants to see him pull the driver out.
11:20In fact, Scheffler played with him, and Scheffler hit a drive, and the crowd started going crazy
11:25while the ball was in the air, and it wasn't even that good a drive.
11:27If it's because they see DeChambeau take the driver out, like they want to see him do that.
11:33So, he has the crowd, right?
11:35Like, as much of a villain type as he is, he has a lot of detractors.
11:41But I think on a golf course, he has the fans.
11:45Yeah, because he's super exciting to watch.
11:48And I think if you're there and you're kind of stuck into the moment, like, who wants to
11:54see him pull out a six iron?
11:55And if you're sitting there right on the rope on the tee, right, you want to see him
12:00absolutely unload on it.
12:02And, you know, I guess, unfortunately for him, if he doesn't have this rules and fraction
12:08penalty saga thing here, you and I are probably talking about how great he's played over two
12:13days, how he took a lot of criticism from Nick Faldo for not having a strategy and has
12:18essentially come out and played with great strategy.
12:20And looks like his short game has been the best it ever has been in an open and really
12:25maybe turned around from what we had talked about pre-tournament was, wow, what a terrible
12:30major season he's had with three missed cuts.
12:32Now he's going into the weekend as the favorite to win.
12:36But, you know, obviously maybe that's going to take a backseat to this storyline here.
12:39I really hope he doesn't withdraw.
12:42I'm not saying that that wouldn't be a major story because like, geez, when would that
12:46have ever happened?
12:46A guy that has a chance to win a major just withdraws because he disagrees with a ruling.
12:51I think it, I think it'll add some good drama to see how he reacts to this going forward.
12:56He clearly can still win this.
12:57He's only three back with 36 holes to play.
13:00So I kind of would want to see that play out just to be like, okay, he is, so he's
13:04coming
13:05back here to play.
13:05Like, let's see how this affects him and how he handles it going forward.
13:08Absolutely.
13:09I would want to see that play out over the next two days.
13:12For sure.
13:13Last thing, Brian.
13:14So 262s.
13:15We know who Sam Burns is.
13:17Lucas Herbert.
13:18Australia.
13:20And Liv player, too.
13:22So that's why we really haven't seen him much on the PGA Tour.
13:25He actually won a Liv event.
13:28Let's see here.
13:29Three events ago.
13:30Yeah.
13:31Liv Golf Virginia.
13:33He finished first in that event.
13:35So I know you follow that quite a bit.
13:37I still have a Liv Golf Virginia pennant from when I was a wee lad.
13:42My dad bought it for me.
13:43He did play in the US Open, missed the cut.
13:45But, yep, he has a win this year at Liv Golf Virginia.
13:50If you ask me any more about where that was played, I can't give you that.
13:53Sorry.
13:53You've done enough.
13:54You've said enough.
13:55I've asked you some Jackson Suber and this guy and all the rule stuff.
14:00You've definitely come through great.
14:02Thanks for your time.
14:03Where are you guys going to be tomorrow?
14:05We're at Niagara Falls Country Club.
14:07Two hours in addition to talking about this Bryson drama.
14:09It's the Porter Cup.
14:10It's the final round.
14:11So we'll kind of set the stage.
14:13If anybody wants to come watch tomorrow, it's free admission up in Niagara Falls.
14:18And by the way, Bryson DeChambeau is a Porter Cup alum.
14:21He has played in it.
14:23Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, David Duvall, Ricky Fowler, Justin Thomas, Brooks Koepka, a lot of these guys.
14:28But, yes, Bryson DeChambeau also had played in the Porter Cup in previous outings.
14:32So, obviously, they've played then through the air quality stuff.
14:37They've played through it.
14:38Yes, they have.
14:39They have.
14:39They have.
14:39And they have seemingly, from everything that I've been told, no delays or anything like that.
14:45So they played through all that, even though, obviously, that had to have been tough.
14:48Especially a lot of these players are carrying their own bags.
14:51So, I mean, you know, I'm not saying that they're doing construction work out here, but, you know, it's taxing
14:57on the body to do, for sure.
14:59Have golf courses been closing or no?
15:02I think it's been kind of more of just, like, play at your own risk.
15:06I don't think I've heard anybody officially of closing, at least in Erie County, that area, or Niagara County.
15:11So I haven't heard any that have been closed, no.
15:13Okay, very good.
15:14Thank you for this week, Brian.
15:16It's been great.
15:17For sure.
15:18Enjoy the weekend.
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