Fore Play

It’s here. It’s finally here. The U.S. Open at Winged Foot has arrived, and the hype is REAL about the course condition, the difficulty, the “classic” U.S. Open expectations. We speak with Jason Gore (24:16), the USGA’s senior director of player relations & a member of the setup team, about the course, what the players can expect, and how he manages those expectations. Then we’re joined by Winged Foot’s head superintendent, Steve Rabideau (73:42), to dive deeper into this iconic venue, its famous greens, and the stellar team and commitment it takes to keep Winged Foot’s 36 holes in championship condition day in and day out!

The PGA champ (6:03) rejoins the show after first coming on April 27th. This is a really, really good one. We discuss Tiger telling Collin “welcome to the major club,” the back nine at the PGA, the decision to hit driver on 16, beating JT in a playoff at the Workday, the upcoming U.S. Open and MUCH more!

The tour championship has concluded about exactly as everyone predicted. That’s cool. DJ is the best and it’s not close. We discuss Novak Djokovic smoking a line judge with a tennis ball and getting booted from the Open but we’re not a tennis podcast. We discuss Islanders vs Lightning but we’re not a hockey podcast. We’re onto Winged Foot and onto several From The Galleries including: do you wear headphones to the range, how loud do you yell “FORE,” and where did Bryson go???

The tour finale is here. Dustin Johnson will tee off 10-under par and the winner takes home $15M. It’s an interesting week to say the least. Speaking of interesting, Phil dropped a praising-Tiger tweet from the clouds. We discuss all this, Jack’s 5.6 handicap index, a match play major, deadly snakes on the course and much more!!!

Olympia Fields just delivered an all time finish with Rahm and DJ draining MONSTER putts on 18 with everything on the line. We breakdown the BMW Championship, the conditions of the course, the latest with the Barstool Golf Society on PGA TOUR 2k21 and the upcoming U.S. Open. We also take several From The Galleries, including: Could we beat an 80 year old Jack? What would you shoot at Augusta if you began every hole at the farthest point on each green from the hole???

The most recent Major Champion, Sophia Popov (43:23) joins the show to breakdown her win and discuss her career. From overcoming Lyme disease, losing her LPGA Tour card, missing a short putt to get status last year, to just last week being ranked No. 304 in the world and winning at Royal Troon, Sophia’s story is amazing. Before, we discuss Frankie and Lurch’s experience at Winged Foot as things get heated, BMW Championship, Bryon’s odd fake dog story, and more!

Doug Ellin (creator) and Kevin Dillon (Johnny Drama) (56:44) from Entourage join the show. We get tales of Kevin snapping Tom Brady’s driver, Doug’s first-ever golf round playing with Wayne Gretzky, how Kevin recruited Phil Mickelson for a cameo on the show, and much more. In Headlines, DJ shot 30-under and won by 11, a magician rocked the Barstool Classic, we have our own golfing society on PGA TOUR 2k21, Kiz finished T4, and a massive underdog won the women’s British Open!

We are joined by two very, VERY special guests for today’s episode. First, the most recent PGA Tour winner Jim Herman (60:41) comes on to talk about his outrageous 61-63 weekend, what this win means to him, playing with Kiz, and more. Then we’re joined by Christopher McDonald 86:32 aka Shooter McGavin and he does not disappoint. He tells us the story behind Shooter’s finger guns, becoming a better golfer to play Shooter, his viral moment at the Barstool Sports Super Bowl party, and more. Then we talk Northern Trust, the Winged Foot logo, and tons more!

Segundo Oliva Pinto (93:58) was eliminated from the U.S. Amateur at Bandon Dunes because his caddie touched the sand on the 18th hole. He joins the show to discuss the incident, his natural instinct to defend his caddie, and declare he wants a rematch with eventual winner Tyler Strafaci. In a second interview, we’re also joined by the CEO & founder of Whoop, Will Ahmed, (64:14) who breaks down the origin of the band, how it detects COVID-19, and why it hates alcohol so much. In Headlines, Jim Herman posts 61-63 on the weekend to steal the Wyndham, Tiger & Charlie Woods are dominating junior tournaments, Kiz finishes T3 with his moon boot putting practice, and MUCH more!

Shame on Justin Thomas for not thinking about the kids when a hot mic picked up him using the F word! Think about the kids! We dive into one of the hottest topics in the golf world this week, talk about the U.S. Amateur, and try to figure out which of us will get to play Winged Foot. Then we answer a ton of From The Gallery questions such as should the Open Championship always be played at St Andrews, what defines a long par 3, Is there any period in the future when you will be able to beat Tiger in a match, and more!!!

The PGA Championship just wrapped up. Collin Morikawa stole the show in phenomenal fashion. We breakdown everything that was PGA Championship week: Morikawa’s brass balls, Brooks’ dramatics, Tiger, Phil, ESPN+, Spieth’s demons, coverage, and MUCH more!

The first major in 13 months is upon us. We get into: Tiger using a new putter, Brooks going for the 3-peat, Riggs’ onsite encounters with Shackelford, JT, Kiz and more, Spieth going for the career grand slam, Rory going for his first major since 2014 and everything PGA. In From The Gallery, how does Tiger store his Elder Wand Scotty when he’s not using it, and what are the most important factors for you when ranking golf courses???

Riggs calls in live as he follows Tiger Woods’ Monday practice round at Harding Park. We hear an interaction with Joey LaCava, some Tiger shots, and get realtime insight from the first fanless major. How’s Harding playing? Who’d he run into? Who looks good? How’s Tiger look? In Headlines, we breakdown Bryson DeChambeau saying he wants to live to be 140 years old and calling for relief from fire ants, Brooks trolling Bryson again, JT winning and become no. 1 in the world again, and more. It’s major week!!!

Brandel Chamblee (23:32) joins the show and breaks down a lot. He describes the situation with brooks Koepka and the pardon my take guys. He dissects Bryson’s distance gains and, more importantly, his swing changes. And he gets into Tiger, Rory, Rahm and many more!

Once again it’s been an eventful 5 days since our last show. Frankie was in the Oval Office, Finau posted another non-winning top-10 finish, and Major League Baseball has returned only to immediately suffer a COVID outbreak. We hear all about the White House experience, discuss how soccer was on Golf Channel on Sunday morning, react to Michael Thompson’s elite 40-yard bunker shot, and debate if you play the 18th hole or not if you’re 1-under through 17 and your pregnant wife calls and says her water just broke. Interesting show. Let’s go!

Bubba Watson, 2-time Masters winner and 12-time PGA TOUR winner, joins the show. It’s his first time with the entire crew. We talk about his mental struggles on the course, his insecurities both on and off the course, his confidence in his physical golf abilities, players who are bad and good to be paired with, prioritizing family and professional golf and much more. Bubba opens up and we’re here for it. In From The Gallery, if an Augusta member invited you to play but said you could only bring 4 clubs, which 4 are you bringing and why???

Poor Trent is ill and misses the show. RIP. Brian Baumgartner (61:52), known widely as Kevin from The Office, joins the show to talk golf matches, filming The Office, and time tell all kinds of behind the scenes stories. In Headlines we breakdown A LOT from the Memorial: Rahm wins while taking a penalty, Tiger returns, Phil conducts classic Phil antics, Bryson records a 10, the course stands strong and much more!

Breaking News: Turns out our very own Frankie Borrelli might have dishonored the rules of golf and besmirched his name amongst fans of the show. We get into bunker-gate with Frankie, including a call from his Pinehurst caddie Logan to find out if Frankie really did in fact cheat. After, we discuss Bryson’s comments on Tiger, Jack Nicklaus texting JT congrats after his 50-foot putt last week, and more. Then friend of the show, Kyle Rudolph (40:53) joins us to talk about his experience at a variety of pro-ams including last week's American Century Championship!

A thrilling finish between Collin Morikawa and Justin Thomas at the Workday Charity Open leads to a debate. Why? Because the memorable finish complete with the 3-hole playoff wasn’t on TV! We get into coverage, the beauty of “dad golf,” Bryson causing a stir among the R&A, Tiger returning and much more!

Brook Koepka throws perhaps his strongest shade yet at Bryson DeChambeau and we’re here for it. In From The Gallery, who would win: The Fore Man Scramble or Dave Portnoy with unlimited mulligans? We also weigh in on calling an Arnold Palmer drink a “half n half,” the tour playing Muirfield Village back to back weeks, the Ryder Cup officially postponing until next year, and how to rule on COVID putts that “should” have gone in!