It’s Scottie Scheffler and Nelly Korda’s world, we’re all just living in it | Golf Channel Podcast [Video]

0:00 | hello and welcome into this edition of the golf CH podcast with Rex and lav and what is surely going to sound like a

0:05 | repeat Scotty sheffler and Nell Corda both won tournaments again this week Scotty at the RPC Heritage the week

0:13 | after the Masters while Nelly won the Chevron championship for her second major title and fifth in a row only the

0:20 | third player since 1978 to accomplish that feat no sense comparing the two because Rex we can enjoy them equally

0:27 | but what stood out from the week that was in the world of golf why did they make any why did they make him come back

0:33 | in Hilton Head I I I know you play 72 holes and I know there’s there’s a live joke in there and whatever you want to

0:38 | make but did we really need to see Scotty Sheffer come back out this morning and and do what he did like bugging the last was that that was a bit

0:45 | of an outlier but the run that he’s on couldn’t we have all agreed last night in the darkness to be like yep it’s his

0:50 | let’s just send him on his way like that was the best part because that everyone knew that this was a forgone conclusion

0:56 | he was up by five he had three holes to play he just had an incredible par in the 15th and near Darkness saving par

1:03 | from the trees after hitting in the water after it was discovered it was a mud ball but even when it’s cold and

1:08 | windy even when the shots are two clubs longer than the previous couple days he was still hitting the correct shots I

1:15 | mean he was finding the Fairway he was the middle of the green he was no stress 18 was playing drastically different

1:21 | than he had been uh the the previous couple of days you know previously couple days you were you know hitting Freewood or long iron off the tea to

1:28 | kind of keep it short of the sound and then hitting a seven or eight iron into the green now he’s like ripping a driver

1:34 | and playing well right because it was it was absolutely howling like lud VI oer one of the longest straightest drivers

1:39 | of the golf ball was hitting three-wood into 18 so Scotty I think it was a little bit of a bummer to finish with

1:45 | the bogie ending a streak of what was 66 consecutive Holes without a drop shot

1:51 | but I think the the actual restart on Monday just like proved how his execution is just at another level right

1:59 | now and I think the the biggest surprise is that it came the week after what was such a momentous week at the Masters and

2:04 | they pointed out in The Telecast that when he came back out on Monday morning before the restart he actually was

2:10 | watching what was going on on the previous screen to the group behind him like he was curious of what was going to

2:16 | happen there and it kind of shows you how locked in this guy is and I will say I did appreciate the way they had to

2:21 | play 18 this morning Monday morning because that is reminiscent the way I play 18 it’s usually a driver and a

2:27 | three-wood into a wind and you don’t have any prayer of hitting it on the green you just want to blow it as far left as possible without hitting it into

2:34 | those condos but from an execution standpoint and they they flashed a graphic uh up during The Telecast and

2:41 | it’s the quickest to get from his first Victory to his 10th Victory and I think

2:46 | there was only one name ahead of his like it took Tiger Woods longer to get from one to 10 David Duval did

2:52 | it while Scott’s doing it in 50 I and I don’t remember like it was good context because it made me kind of go back and

2:58 | sort of remember how quickly youal started you know rattling things off which is it was probably a good lesson

3:05 | because I think this is only going to lead us more to get a little breathless about Scotty and start comparing him to

3:11 | Tiger Woods like I did last week and I think we probably need to take a bit of a pause because you do want to see how

3:18 | birth of his first child I mean that it’s GNA be great it’s gonna be a magical experience he’s gonna be a fantastic father but it impacts a player

3:25 | it impacts a person differently in in different stages of your your life you look at the fact he’s never won after

3:31 | this this could be his last win until next spring because he only seems to be able to really win in the spring he’s

3:37 | never won past April this this was the latest he’s ever won and it’s just a week after the Masters and it’s a

3:42 | statistical anomaly is all it is there’s I don’t think there’s anything to it but it is pretty amazing to think that

3:47 | because they brought this up on The Telecast that this could be his last victory of the year and he would still easily be Player of the Year just based

3:53 | on what he’s done to this point three in a row player of the year I mean a player would need to win at least one major

4:00 | championship probably too if they’re going to nip him uh For That season long award also isn’t it amazing how PJ tour

4:07 | players have have children at like the absolute optimal time where Meredith

4:12 | sheer is not didn’t have the baby during the Masters she’s not going to have it during the PGA Championship uh Scotty

4:18 | probably would have played the Nelson his hometown event when she is due next week but he wasn’t going to play the

4:23 | Zurich and now it seems he will not play the Wells Fargo Championship at Quil Hollow a signature on the PJ tour the

4:30 | week before PJ Championship it always just Falls perfectly Scotty said that the storyline was overblown at the

4:35 | Masters it appeared again overblown at the arbc Heritage uh she did not have the baby and now Scotty will be able to

4:42 | be home and enjoy that uh with his new growing family you mentioned the 10th

4:49 | win on the PGA tour Rex I’ve been struck with Scotty’s resume and the difficulty

4:56 | of the courses of the fields if you look at the those 10 wins all of those are

5:02 | either major championships they’re now Signature Events on the PJ tour or they were what

5:09 | would become Signature Events on the PJ tour with the top Fields whether it was

5:15 | in Phoenix used to have the match play uh basically like a WGC light Bay Hill

5:20 | Players Championship Masters to like to me that shows Scotty’s class where when

5:26 | the competition is at the best when the tournaments are the toughest when the golf courses are set up the most extreme

5:33 | that is when he prevails he’s not just picking off you know these these summer series events against light Fields like

5:40 | he’s doing it against the best of the best and to me that’s that shows Scotty’s Brilliance right now like if it

5:47 | it’s if it’s a difficult test you know if Scot doesn’t win he’s certainly going to be up there near the top of the

5:53 | leaderboard uh I can’t believe we’ve made it this far into the podcast and haven’t addressed this already you and I

5:59 | both have a m CA from last week’s podcast thanks to John from Connecticut for pointing out that you and I both uh

6:05 | messed up I actually said that the Yukon women’s team had won the NCAA Championship they most certainly did not

6:11 | uh the Yukon men’s team did and your problem was I’m gonna let you clean that up on your own

6:17 | Paige buers buers buers is that it Paige Paige

6:24 | buers is how you pronounce the standout player from Yukon who will soon to be in

6:31 | 2025 the first pick of a WNBA draft I butchered it last week apologies to the

6:37 | buers family and all of her Associated fans uh including our friend who em you

6:43 | and I both if we didn’t clean that up no no going to Stanford next week I did not need to see rioting in the streets uh

6:49 | did not want to see a protest uh when I arrived at LaGuardia uh didn’t want to

6:54 | go into the residence in in beautiful Stanford with people waving signs no lavner no

7:00 | that’s and I certainly don’t want people to boycott the show apologies to the buers and I do apologize I I gave the

7:05 | Yukon women’s team an extra National Championship which they do not need because they have plenty of them so apologies to South Carolina who actually

7:11 | won the national champion yes yeah in fact in fact we watched that game we were we P golf club we we watched the

7:17 | game and no Yukon was not playing what do you make Rex of Scotty’s sort of

7:23 | historical position at this point like we we kept saying it for months where he’s putting up ball striking numbers

7:29 | that we’ve not seen since Tiger Woods Prime now he’s putting up you know wins in a level of dominance we have not seen

7:36 | since Tiger Woods’s Prime now four wins in his last five starts and keep in mind the one he did not win was when he

7:41 | misread the four or five foot putt on the 72 hole at the Houston open no to lose to Stephen Jagger I’m gonna back on

7:49 | that this is crazy uh you’re gonna put it on that Scotty Miss read the put you know what Stephen jger that’s what

7:56 | happened Stephen joerger came and took it from him he took the thing from the world number one that’s right did he I

8:01 | was taker did nothing on that back nine I was taken last I’m joking of course I

8:08 | was taken last week when I was standing on the putting green and I was I was doing my story about how trying to compare this run that Scotty’s on right

8:15 | now to tiger and footnote this we always have to put the footnote in there like it’s not fair to compare anything anyone

8:21 | to Tiger Woods Tiger Woods was a generational player and did it for a generation is the line I kept coming back to Scotty has done it for two years

8:28 | it’s been a really really good two years but if he does it for another 20 then we can have a different conversation the

8:33 | part that got me as I was standing on the putting green though is I was trying to find it was really hard in these

8:38 | limited Fields now to find someone who played against Tiger Woods anywhere close to his prime think through it like

8:44 | you know who was in the field last week and you can kind of do it do the math yourself I could only really come up

8:49 | with four or five guys who did it Justin Rose played against him in his prime certainly Lucas Glover was one that that

8:56 | I sort of touched on that played against him in his prime Brian Harmon was the one that surprised me the most because

9:02 | 2013 and 14 13 was Harm’s rookie year on the PGA tour and that was kind of Tigers

9:07 | last two years as a truly dominant Player 13 and 14 he won he won eight times in 2012 and 2013 comand yeah so

9:14 | like 13 or 14 when that was kind of the last run that that tiger was on so it’s sort of hard but it stood out to me that

9:20 | the the one guy on the green I probably should have talked to was Steph Jagger didn’t didn’t play against tiger in his prime but he’s the only one in this run

9:27 | that’s taken down the world number one I mean he could end up being the answer to a trivia question yeah you know Steven

9:33 | Jagger again did nothing on the back down in Houston made nine consecutive pars and yet he is the only player since

9:39 | the beginning of March who has beaten Scotty Sheffer it does bring up a good point Rex where tiger didn’t really have

9:47 | a rival so to speak you know to have a rival there needs to be like a give and take and certainly Phil mikkelson Ernie

9:55 | Ells retif gusen VJ sing they all got their share

10:00 | during the Tiger Woods era but I wouldn’t say that he had a one-on-one rival right now it doesn’t feel like

10:06 | Scotty Sheffer has a one-on-one rival at all at all either he’s basically

10:12 | competing against the ghost of tiger Tiger’s ball striking stats Tiger’s run of dominance he’s basically just trying

10:18 | to equal or or match or get close to what Tiger Woods was doing in the mid

10:24 | 2000s to me this run could be even more cap activating to the golf world if sky

10:31 | sheffler does get a rival or at least a consistent threat I think we all hoped

10:38 | that Roy mroy would be that guy because he Roy has been sort of the central figure of everything that’s gone on over

10:45 | the past couple years he has sort of this major competition with Brooks Kea it’s now five to four in Brooks’s favor

10:51 | he has a sort of give and take uh with Patrick Klay that came to a head last year at the rer cup and they’ve been

10:56 | fighting over the future of the PJ tour Roy back in 2022 and even some of 2023

11:03 | it was sort of the Roy versus Liv Dynamic it feels like John ROM could

11:08 | have been that player for Scotty sheffler to to rival him he’s just two years older than Scotty they had the

11:14 | duel with the 2021 Ridder cup that apparently sent Scotti off on these on these winning ways they had the back and

11:20 | forth last spring remember with six combined wins four for Rah two for

11:25 | Scotty through the end of the Masters who’s going to step up or is anyone going to step up and make this even more

11:33 | thrilling of a competition or we just going to sit back and watch Scotty cheffer do Scotty shefer things uh he made a mess of Monday morning but Lou V

11:40 | oberg would be the one that immediately comes to mind and look he’s very very young and I I don’t want to you’re usually the one that jumps on

11:47 | these uh uh yeah not that young and and much more accomplished than I think most people want to realize at this point and

11:53 | I I think the Masters I mean it showed probably the world a lot about louid but I think the bigger deal would be what it

11:59 | showed him is that he had never played in the major before how is he going to respond and I think he came out of that

12:05 | with boatload of confidence and you saw that even in Hilton Head like look he’s not quite there yet but I can imagine a

12:13 | scenario where six months from now 12 months from now we’re talking about that as a really good rivalry just because of

12:18 | the dynamic between those two you just mentioned how he’s I mean he’s a bit of a robot that one there’s no curve to his

12:24 | golf ball he hits a do they have the personalities though I mean don’t you have to have a a clash of personal I or

12:30 | conf we we we’ve addressed this I mean the tour is a Marvel movie without a villain is the line I used during the

12:35 | Masters and I think it that’s not a bad thing necessarily you have a lot of bleeding men and I think when you on the

12:41 | same weekend you had uh you had Scotty shler winning you had Billy horsa winning you had uh Nelly Cordo winning

12:49 | like all of those people are are unbelievably good at golf they’re all just touched by the hand of God but

12:55 | personality wise do they look like they’re going to conflict with anybody I mean I mean as edgy as Scotty has ever

13:00 | gotten I think it was at yeah beill this year that’s as edgy as I’ve ever seen him get in a press conference when he

13:07 | was asked something about live golf don’t even remember exactly what the question was and he s sort of shot back

13:12 | with a bit of an edge that why are you asking me ask the ones who joined live golf that’s as that’s that’s as

13:17 | controversial that’s as edgy as he’s ever been in his career you just don’t who who even if you had a player like

13:25 | let’s say it is going going to be I don’t know pick someone out of a hat that’s not not a live player yet is is

13:31 | there a personality conflict there not a live player yet not a live player yet is

13:37 | controversial there no if if Brooks comes back I could imagine that would be a pretty fun rivalry if John ROM comes

13:43 | back I mean those are all kind of big ifs I mean JN John was the was the obvious choice to me who could have

13:50 | Brook I think the Netflix Dynamic there and some of it’s manufactured and performative but I think there’s like a

13:56 | eight-year age gap between those two players um so I’m not I’m not so sure about that that’s why like I think

14:03 | ludvig oberg is a a phenomenal player and he’s clearly going to win his fair share of golf tournaments including

14:09 | major championships but I think to have a a full-blown rivalry there needs to be some sort of conflict Roy mcy is a very

14:15 | polarizing presence for not just PJ tour players but golf fans as well and so

14:20 | that’s why he’s sort of filled this rivalry void and taken on various foes

14:25 | over the past couple years the player who I think actually has the best chance you said you know throw a name in the

14:31 | Hat I think it could be Windham Clark Windham Clark now the top five in

14:36 | the world rankings take with the world rankings of the grand of salt at the moment it’s basically a PJ tour ranking but he at least has won a major

14:43 | championship over the past 10 months just like Scotty Sheffer has done he won uh Pebble Beach earlier this year a

14:48 | signature event he has three other top threes now including a couple runner-up finishes and then a top three uh this

14:55 | past week at the RBC Heritage and Signature Events to SK Scotty Sheffer but he has a personality where he is

15:02 | unafraid of Scotty Sheffer he relishes the CH the the chance and the challenge

15:07 | of going up against Sky Sher I’m not I’m not saying they’re going to be a a one- for one rival and that all of a sudden

15:14 | Wham Clark is going to put together a resume that looks like Tiger Woods is Prime in terms of the level of dominance

15:19 | that we’ve now seen from Scotty sheffler but I do think that he can sort of be a Perpetual Thorn inside in Scotty’s side

15:27 | so to speak win a couple Signature Events each year challenge him in the major championships he has all of the

15:34 | tools do Windham Clark to be that sort of player whether it’s length off the te

15:40 | uh whether it’s Skyhigh approach play uh whether it’s it’s being a very underrated putter if not a bit

15:47 | inconsistent but to me wam Clark is that guy at least currently who has the best

15:53 | chance to do so in 2024 uh I see what you’re saying like there’s some tools there I I would

15:58 | counter say you still don’t have any anything close to a personality conflict between those two and you’re not going

16:04 | to again I could give you all morning whams rubbed a couple people the wrong way not Scotty was sort of his

16:10 | confidence and rashness like you you really think Scotty cares one way or the other how how someone you know comes

16:15 | across like I I just don’t know that you’re going to have that based on the cast of characters we have right now

16:22 | like like so Grayson Murray has rubbed some people the wrong way like he has said some things we all know what was

16:27 | the exchange between Grayson and and Roy maroy at the meeting last June Canada uh

16:33 | not Rivals I mean they’re not I mean Grayson Murray’s won on the PGA tour he’s a fine player he’s not a rival of Rory certainly not a rival of Scotty I

16:39 | think that’s what you run into if it’s not going to be a Brooks or if it’s not going to be I don’t even know if John

16:45 | ROM qualifies in my mind because certainly he has the tools to rival and he he showed it over the last year to

16:50 | you know to be that number one number two in the world going back and forth kind of thing but a personality I mean

16:56 | from a personality standpoint it’s not there throughout tiger is John ROM’s personality is not conducive to having a

17:02 | a aing relationship I mean I think there’s a lot of mutual respect there’s a lot of mutual respect between those

17:08 | two I mean I certainly think John ROM can get under his skin I I maybe this has more to do with Scotty than it does

17:14 | with anyone else because I don’t think anyone is can at this point get under his skin not certainly the way he’s

17:19 | playing right now from a competitive standpoint but even a personality conflict when Tiger Woods was at his best golf was at its best when Phil was

17:26 | at its best because you always had tigers he was the constant but when Phil found a way to play some good golf and to challenge Tiger Woods that’s when you

17:33 | had the personality conflict you were either a tiger guy or a Phil guy there was nothing in between you really don’t

17:39 | have that now like how many times do you hear a golf fan say ah Scotty’s not my cup of tea no one says that no like who

17:45 | would say that no one and my pj tour players like absolutely love him they don’t talk just about the quality of his

17:51 | golf game but but how great of a human being it was Max H last week gushing about he’s a great player he’s a great

17:57 | person and that makes me angry cuz I really wish I could hate him that that was Max’s line last week like I wish I could hate him I wish I could have some

18:03 | animosity towards him but it’s just not there I do think we can enjoy it on its

18:08 | own and there’s always this this rush to to compare them and and sort of extrapolate what we’re watching in real

18:15 | time I wish we could just sit back and like enjoy it like skotty Sheffer is a joy to watch in person again I hear from

18:22 | my friends I hear from golf fans on social media we see the YouTube comments where they think Scotty sheffler is

18:28 | boring they think he’s Bland uh they think he’s just uninteresting again if you have the opportunity watch Scotty

18:34 | Sheffer in person and I think you will have a greater appreciation for what we’re actually watching I think I think

18:41 | I think like in 10 years we could be looking back and saying like wow like the Scotty shuffler ero we were we were

18:46 | part of it and it was absolutely breathtaking I I think the golf his brand of golf is entertaining like if

18:52 | you just took all the personality stuff out of it and just watched him play the game I mean just his swing is unique in

18:58 | it in and of itself you wouldn’t particularly teach that kind of footwork I had this conversation last week and I might have brought it up on the podcast

19:04 | the idea that someone said that right now your boy aberer oberg is is the best

19:10 | ball Striker on the tour o is the best ball Striker on the tour

19:16 | right now and the these guys I was playing golf with who are it was Andrew Bradley our producer and it was Colin

19:22 | swaton who works for XM serus Radio he a he’s a swing coach on tour and I pushed back saying no statistically Scotty

19:28 | shiffler is the is the best ball Striker on the PGA tour right now and it led to this this sort of debate about the idea

19:33 | that Scotty Sheffer is the best golfer in the world right now he knows how to play golf better than anyone else but

19:40 | Colin swen’s argument was and I get where he’s coming from from a just a purely if you’re were just going to teach the golf swing luig is probably

19:47 | the one you’re going to lean towards you’re not gonna teach but you don’t teach the golf swing you teach them you teach them how to score he’s about a

19:53 | play golf yeah yeah like l o Berg’s swing is is near Flawless like I don’t know enough about the golf swing to to

20:00 | say his swing is better than Adam Scott’s like I don’t know how Adam Scott ever Miss hit a shot in his career based on that that swing I mean you could sit

20:06 | there and break it down and people who are much smarter and know much more about the golf swing than me have done it I don’t know how he ever missed a

20:12 | shot I think luig is in that exact same category however when you put them on the golf course and you bring in all the

20:17 | variables that make golf such the the beautiful game that it is that’s when Scotty’s at his best skotty does

20:24 | everything well we we had said for months right that if if Sky Shuff just putts average he’s going to win by

20:31 | multiple shots well at the RBC Heritage he putted average he was outside the top 30 in putting and yet he won by three

20:38 | shots after the bogey on the 72nd hole just another level right now is Scotty

20:44 | sheffler speaking of in an inevitable try to say that three times fast well

20:49 | done Nelly Corda very similar situation Rex to Scotty at the Masters where Nelly

20:55 | Corda is entering the Chevron Championship as the prohibitive favorite she with stood a couple of challenges in

21:00 | the final round and then she pulled away like Scotty did for her second major title that’s now five in a row on the

21:08 | lpj only anuka storm Stam in 2004 2005 and Nancy Lopez in 1978 have done this

21:15 | winning five in a row she is Nelly Corda is in the field this week in La as she tries to hold the record for herself

21:23 | what do you think of Nelly continuing to be in a class of her own on the women’s store uh you did a really good story on

21:30 | NBC Sports uh.com backg golf sorry that doesn’t come out as easy as it used to

21:36 | tough day yesterday tough day middle kids 21st birthday we’re gonna get into

21:41 | it don’t you worry yeah I’m I’m not doing great this morning um I think it’s

21:46 | and again it’s hard to enjoy these things in the moment because you look at what she’s accomplished and I thought

21:52 | your story and there was another story I thought on ESPN that did a really good job of pointing out that it was less than two years ago when she was dealing

21:58 | with some major health issues like there is a compelling story here that I don’t think the average golf fan has taken the

22:04 | time to learn to understand and I would I would strongly suggest everyone does because even though a little bit like

22:10 | Scotty Sheffer in my mind she can come off as a bit of a robot sometimes and like I think the best in the game

22:16 | probably should come off as a bit of a robot sometimes because that it’s probably the way you should play the game if everybody played the game like

22:21 | Jordan Speed yes it would be wildly more entertaining but no one would be able to go on these dominant runs because since

22:27 | Jordan speed in 5 that’s kind of the beauty of his game he bounces around a lot you don’t know what you’re going to

22:33 | get when it comes to Nell or when it comes to Scotty Sheffer they are such known Commodities but unlike Scotty

22:38 | Sheffer I mean there’s a there’s a really compelling and interesting story that she was dealing with some some very very serious health stuff it wasn’t

22:44 | about golf less than two years ago it was about am I going to survive how am I going to be able to live a normal life

22:50 | so I I I think the middle of her the run that she’s in right now at least in my

22:55 | mind from a storytelling standpoint is much more compelling than what Scotty’s doing yeah and look Nelly Corda has been

23:01 | loed to discuss exactly what she was dealing with in 2022 what we do know is

23:06 | that she had a blood clot uh that required surgery that cost her a couple months during the 2022 season in fact

23:13 | she she pushed back and actually separated with with her swing coach Jamie Mulligan for a time period Jamie

23:18 | Mulligan longtime coach to Patrick Klay of course uh told golf week’s bethan Nichols that you know it was a pretty

23:25 | serious situation that happened the 22 2022 players Championship where Nelly was doing some sort of event and she

23:32 | felt like some numbness and some tingling and her her hands were turning color and all of a sudden Jamie Mullin had to call J Monahan who made some

23:39 | other calls and all of a sudden Ellie Corda was in the hospital and having surgery for what could be a pretty

23:45 | serious issue she has not wanted to really discuss this at all she did pull back the curtain as you mentioned though

23:50 | on Sunday night after winning to Chevron just saying how in 2021 Nelly Corda had

23:56 | a breakout year she won four times s she won her first major championship and then she had these setbacks first in

24:02 | 20222 with the blood clot she also had some back pain that costed her more than a month during 2023 but she had even

24:10 | said that doubt started to creep in she started listening to some quote unquote outside voices who were kind of

24:16 | wondering you know would she ever be healthy again could she ever put it all together during a magical season you

24:22 | know what would happen if she got fully healthy and put all together I think obviously now we know the answer this

24:29 | this is exactly what she is capable of doing over this stretch over her past five tournaments which is stretch since

24:35 | the end of January she’s won in a variety of different ways even in a variety of different formats winning

24:40 | both stroke play and the match play event as well she just seems Rex like such a spectacular player she has the

24:48 | length uh she has the Precision with the irons uh she’s a good enough if not

24:54 | above average Putter and chipper of the golf ball and she does seem to be getting increasingly comfortable in her

25:01 | own skin if you if you remove kind of the the injury and health related stuff which you clearly does not want to get

25:06 | into you know I think there’s this this want for her and we talked about on the podcast last week to take women’s game

25:12 | to new heights to basically be the lpga’s Caitlyn Clark to be more visible to stump for more coverage uh Nelly said

25:19 | on Sunday night that it’s sort of up to the TV Partners to give uh the lpj players a bigger stage but it is clear

25:27 | that she’s not doing so I I would say she’s not she’s not adamant you know she’s not pounding her her hands on the

25:34 | table and saying this this is what we want it’s clear that’s not her personality and I think it’s cool that she’s doing it her own way on her own

25:42 | terms and and right now just winning and this sort of clear and utter dominance

25:48 | should be enough for Nelly Corda and her fans right now it should be enough and again this is kind of the conversation

25:54 | we had last week and it’s just going to carry on as long as these two keep doing what they’re doing and dominating golf in a way and it goes to the personality

26:01 | like in Caitlyn Clark’s situation not only did she do amazing things on the basketball court and set records and and

26:07 | just be wildly entertaining she was also a personality she is a personality if you watch stting it live you came walked

26:13 | away with the idea oh wow she’s she’s really funny and self-deprecating all the things that we like to see in our athletes oh look at that Master’s cup

26:20 | where’d you get that um I I I don’t know if it’s in either one of their personality though to your point I think

26:26 | both Scotty and Nelly are very private people they don’t particularly like like they’re not going to show up on satday live that’s just not going to happen as

26:33 | the ultimate litmus test on this and it kind of came up in a radio interview I did this weekend is it and it’s sort of

26:38 | the sports radio cliche but it should is it better when the game has a dominant player versus just a collective Group

26:45 | which is what we’ kind of had in men’s professional golf for the last few years and the answer is not very easy for me

26:51 | because it depends on who that dominant player is if it’s Tiger Woods and he’s doing generational things and he’s

26:56 | bringing people to the game Who aren’t really associated with golf anymore and even Tiger Woods at his best on the

27:03 | course was at his worst with the media where he just didn’t give us anything he was still a very compelling figure just

27:09 | because of what he was able to do on the golf course by comparison if you have a player like Scotty or neelly who are

27:15 | still doing wonderful things on the golf course but neither one of them particularly want to be performative which I can appreciate like you were out

27:21 | here to compete I’m out here to win and to play golf as well as I can I don’t need to stand up on stage and perform

27:27 | for you this is what my performance is what I do when I have a golf club in my hand the the the opposite of that and

27:34 | I’ve had conversations with folks from the tgl from the golf league that’s going to start that’s very much performative like the idea being that

27:40 | you can’t be that player with the blinders on if you’re going to get on stage and do this for us so it is a

27:46 | compelling interesting conversation because there’s so very few people who

27:51 | are like take Brooks for example when he was dominant he was he was still entertaining because of how indifferent

27:57 | he was to everything around him Scotty doesn’t have any of that Nelly doesn’t have any of that yeah like I remember

28:03 | back in the mid 2000s when the Rena Ooa kind of burst on the scene and Lena Ooa

28:10 | if you guys forgot won 14 tournaments in 2016 and 2007 combined that run I

28:17 | remember as a golf fan felt very energizing and very vibrant and it felt

28:23 | like something special was happening because I think in large part because of her personality she was such a bubbly

28:30 | present she she adored the cameras she loved the fans she was very open about

28:35 | her uh professional and even her personal goals like she she let us in as

28:41 | golf fans and I think that’s what what helped drive her personality and I think that’s why everyone was so shook when

28:47 | when she when she retired sort of abruptly after a 27- win career which which really came sort of hot and heavy

28:54 | Nelly is not going to I don’t think ever get to that point where she’s going to let us in as fans it it is it is amazing

29:02 | how at the exact same time we have uh number one in the world Americans who

29:08 | are in their mid 20s who are very similar personality-wise who are very

29:13 | grounded who are very family first Nelly is extremely Family First with both her

29:18 | parents going to every single tournament obviously her sister Jessica who just had a baby it was a longtime starart on

29:24 | the lpj as well you think about Scotty and now having a baby but his parents his sisters are always sort of

29:30 | omnipresent at golf tournaments as well I’m not saying it’s good or bad but it is it is remarkable how these players

29:38 | who talk about their bubble who talk about being grounded who talk about being humble have now achieved sort of

29:45 | not unprecedented success but success we haven’t seen in two decades and the the

29:50 | the parallels and the similars are pretty striking well and when you look and I think it was in the espn.com story

29:56 | that I was reading about and I guess on sstan was on Golf Channel and she was talking about this is what Nelly would

30:02 | be thinking and I love the idea that anuka went straight back to the Assassin she went back to the coldblooded

30:08 | competitive killer where it was you don’t pay attention to what you’ve done the last five weeks like going to Los Angeles next week trying to win for the

30:14 | six week in a row or sixth event in a row everything that’s happens behind you that has nothing to do with anything

30:20 | going forward and it shows a side of what it takes to be able to pull something like this off like we so

30:26 | rarely see these types of runs and it’s because you have to be so cold blooded

30:31 | you have to just be the robot you have to forget about there is no celebrating I mean we we kid about Scotty all the

30:37 | time and oh he slipped into some sort of Dive Bar in Dallas and had one dram to celebrate the Masters I’m like well

30:43 | what’s the use like just go home but that’s kind of what it takes it takes that sort of singular mentality and

30:48 | Nelly has it and you’re right I mean even though I think personality wise they’re different I I do think Scotty

30:55 | will be a little bit playful and he’ll crack the door a little bit if you give him an opportunity I haven’t seen that

31:01 | from Nelly but certainly when it comes to you’re right keeping the circle really really small keeping the focus

31:06 | very hyperfocused going forward nothing behind yeah they’re the same creatures

31:12 | sincere apologies as it is Monday morning 9:30 a.m. when we were doing this podcast and the long guy has just

31:18 | busted out the blower he’s doing so on our front patio so I’ll try to make this brief as I kick it to you we talked so

31:25 | much about what they uh Scotty sheffler and quarter are doing now how about about Rex what could be and

31:32 | 15-year-old miles Russell a Jacksonville Beach native just tied for 20th at the

31:40 | cour fery Tour event in Florida that was enough to earn another start this week

31:45 | on the kft as someone who just celebrated his son’s 21st birthday by

31:51 | drinking around the world at Epcot we’ll certainly get into uh exact breakdown of

31:56 | what was consumed what are your thoughts on what this kid is accomplishing at such a young age when you look across

32:03 | the board and and this you know this kid you call him the 15-year-old is probably the best example where it just seems

32:09 | like younger golfers are better prepared bigger stronger faster than they ever were in the past because if you’d have

32:14 | told me this 20 years ago and I think Ty Tran probably would be the comp going back all of those years I mean he was he

32:21 | was special that was generational what Tai was doing and I remember having the big long conversation about well he’s

32:26 | going to go straight from high school to the PGA Tour and everyone was just clutching pearls because it was going to

32:32 | it was going to ruin the game that we can’t have this we can’t have players going straight from high school to the PGA Tour because they’re not equipped

32:38 | either from a personality standpoint or from a competitive standpoint or from a physical standpoint my argument then and

32:43 | it kind of came to pass is we’re not going to run into this like this isn’t going to happen very often most 99.9% of

32:50 | the time a player is going to be really good coming out of high school but they’re still going to go to to some sort of one of these you know mercenary

32:57 | College like Oklahoma State where they can go and essentially be you know tour Pros who masquerade as college players I

33:04 | I think that was then now I don’t know if this is going to be a surprise I I read that story last night and I wasn’t

33:11 | overly surprised shocked by it and I am shocked in the context that yes I have three kids and to imagine that any of

33:17 | them could have done anything at that level at 15 kind of is impossible for me to wrap my mind around but you see it

33:22 | better than I do covering the college game which you’ll get into here shortly they’re just better prepared I mean as

33:29 | much as we wanted to look at ludig and say no he’s not prepared for for the professional ranks no coming out of

33:34 | Texas Tech no he’s not prepared for the rider cup no he’s not prepared for his first major of course he is like why wouldn’t he be they have all they have

33:41 | access to all the things that a modern tour pro have so why wouldn’t they be prepared this is going to be a very

33:47 | fascinating case study in my opinion because miles Russell is clearly an incredible and a precocious Talent who

33:54 | by all accounts I’ve got a friend who knows the family quite well like a very grounded kid at at at age 15

34:01 | knock you look at his accomplishments where he was the agga player of the year breaking Tiger Wood’s age record in the

34:08 | process he’s already won the junior players which is a AJ invitation he’s already won the junior PGA by seven

34:13 | shots like as someone who grew up in the tide Tryon era I’m always a little hesitant to see stories like this but

34:20 | the other part of me as you mentioned is I’m not really surprised like I covered Justin Thomas making the cut at the

34:26 | Windham Championship I covered Jordan be make the cut as a 16-year-old at the 2010 Nelson uh we were both at the

34:33 | Masters when guantan long made the cut which is still amazing accomplishment I don’t think we talk about this enough

34:39 | 14-year-old guantan long who is in the Masters field by virtue of winning the Asia Pacific amateur Championship made

34:44 | the cut at the Masters at the age of 14 he not paned out at all but that is

34:50 | still uh definition of precocious like I’m I’m not surprised in that sense

34:55 | because we’ve seen it and players today have access to better technology they have better training they have better

35:01 | Advanced statistics that could help optimize their games and I I think Miles

35:06 | Russell is so young now that we have time to see how this is all going to play out even if he does ISO College

35:12 | like he can’t join the tour the PJ tour until he’s 18 years old so like he’s only gonna get bigger he’s only get

35:18 | faster he’s only gonna get stronger in theory he would only get better on the other side of the coin though Rex as you

35:24 | mentioned there is definitely a growing Trend among the best players to stay in

35:29 | school longer with the opportunities that have Arisen through PJ tour University sort of incentivizing players

35:36 | to stay through at least their junior year and in some cases even their senior year to get PJ tour status Gordon

35:41 | Sergeant literally just did it he’s the number one ranked amateur in the world traditionally those players whether it was JT whether it was spe whether it was

35:48 | Ricky they’re leaving after three semesters after two years after three years if they really wanted to get some

35:54 | additional seasoning you’re not seeing that now you’re seeing more fully formed individuals playing on the PJ tour and

36:01 | for proof all you need to do is look at the top 10 players in the world ranking Scotty sheffler fouryear player wendam

36:07 | Clark fouryear player John Rom fouryear player uh Max H fouryear player KY

36:14 | morawa four-year player ludvick oberg fouryear player like that is now the

36:19 | trend that when you get on the PJ tour at 21 22 23 years old you’re a fully formed adult and can have success right

36:26 | away so there’s there’s two interesting Dynamics at work where you have a really young precocious talent but you have

36:34 | this trend that is I think a clear indicator that more seasoning can kind of better prepare you for what PJ tour

36:41 | life is going to be it’s it’s going to be interesting to see how that plays out over the next two or three years and if he even goes to college well and the

36:48 | other side of that coin would be Nick Dunlap which we had long conversations about earlier this year and I think you

36:55 | actually sort of flirted with the idea you walked to the line you you weren’t willing to jump on the other side but you flirted with the idea maybe he stays

37:01 | in school you know one more year after winning at the American Express I immediately pushed back and said I I see

37:07 | where you’re coming from and there is certainly something to be said for doing a full four years in college because

37:13 | you’re right when you when they turn pro and ly again is the best example of this fully formed adults they’re ready for a

37:19 | PGA Tour career in this particular case though and maybe based on what we’ve seen out of Nick Dunlap since the

37:25 | American Express maybe he would would have been better off with one more year in school however given what was up for

37:31 | grabs this particular year and this is just a 2024 issue with the designated events and what he was suddenly

37:37 | qualified for and the opportunities that he had I thought it was ridiculous to even consider anything else and I I’m

37:43 | going to stick with that take but I see where you’re coming from just just to put a fine point on this I did not say

37:49 | he should stay in school for another year I said he should stay in school for a couple more months see the end of his

37:55 | sophomore season through when you look at Nick dunlap’s statistics on the PJ tour does not have a single top 10 since

38:02 | winning the American Express I don’t think it’s because it was a it was a fluke performance at PJ West in fact I

38:07 | think he’s a very good player who have a very good career it’s just so much happening so quickly that he was Ill

38:14 | prepared to make the jump at this time when a couple more months to get settled would I think have behooved him again I

38:22 | understand the different Dynamics I understand that he had to jump at that point to maximize his profitability uh

38:27 | to maximize his status give the best Runway to have success in the PJ tour

38:33 | but I don’t think it’s any surprise at this point that he has not done all that well on the PJ tour we mentioned Rex

38:40 | your son we’ll call him Trevor we don’t want to get uh him uh getting any sort

38:46 | of feedback from the folks on YouTube how was the 21st birthday at Epcot and

38:51 | if you guys have not done it drinking around the world can you film the folks at home uh it was his idea to do this

38:56 | I’m not quite sure why I don’t know where he got the idea from but there’s a couple of things apparently this is like this is this is something like I I

39:03 | suggest anyone Google it who has any interest in it because there’s like a detailed plan that you have to have going into this so you start in in

39:09 | Mexico that’s that’s if you come into the park and you take a left that’s the first country you come to and Mexico was

39:14 | perfect had a light lunch had had a little cesa it’s easy a light start you can get going uh where we immediately

39:21 | ran into trouble was is I don’t know if you know this the next country is Norway and I I don’t know if you know this

39:27 | there’s no real beer associated with Norway at least not in what Epcot believes Norway to believe so you’re

39:33 | already going down a bad road because you end up having some sort of really heavy alcohol coffee type thing I forget

39:40 | what it was called like a like yeah like a you just have like vodka like a viking and yeah like whatever it was called it

39:46 | got us off to a really really bad start and everything kind of spirals from there I I will say the highlight of the

39:52 | day is clearly Italy which we spent the most amount of time in yeah France was

39:57 | best drinks uh best food best drinks uh Italy was fun France was fun the the one that throws me and I sent you a picture

40:03 | of this just to make the point is so when we got to the American exhibit country whatever it is

40:10 | you want to call it like give me the distinctly American drink and I guess whiskey would be the obvious

40:15 | choice yeah I I mean Jack Daniels if you want to be truly American I I I threw out Miller light as like a distinctly

40:22 | American drink not saying good butt heavy is just so disgusting please don’t please don’t please don’t add me it’s

40:29 | not it’s not good uh oh you set yourself up for pain on that one anyway there there wasn’t one there and uh as a side

40:36 | note I think I sent you a picture of the smoker in front of the American display which both of us very americ uh

40:42 | distinctly American thing but as I sent this to you my son was standing next to me and he goes dad that’s not a real

40:48 | smoker and I’m go what are you talking about look there’s actually smoke coming out of it it is it’s not a real smoker it’s it’s a Disney it’s a display like

40:55 | and they do have smoke coming out of it and there’s like stains on the side of it and I’m like oh no no now you can see

41:00 | the smoke coming out of it and then I realize they’re not doing anything like that’s me and that’s what happens after

41:06 | you do like six to seven drinks is all of a sudden you start imagining

41:11 | imagining smokers dead that’s absolutely that’s absolutely not true so it is it

41:16 | is like 10 stops is it not uh I believe it’s 11 stops if if my wife’s post on

41:22 | Facebook was correct last night it’s 11 stops and by the time we got to the last one you called it like that laat laatz

41:28 | blue I think I did it right laatz blue that did not go down well that’s a that’s a tough way to end the day that’s

41:34 | a tough scene you’re really you’re really choking it down and trust me I love beer as much as anyone but the bats

41:39 | blue at the end of a very long day it’s typically very hot whenever you drink around the world uh in at Epcot like it

41:46 | just it just sits very heavy particularly on that Uber ride uh back home we’re recording this podcast at

41:52 | 9:45 a.m. uh Trevor has not yet been seen M after his trip around the world

41:59 | although you look bright-eyed and bushy tailed Kudos yeah I feel like I actually

42:04 | went around the world not just at Epcot but I feel like I walked around the world yesterday that’s what I feel like

42:09 | Mel and hogard yeah could start calling him that from now on that is going to do it for this edition of the golf Cho

42:15 | podcast with Rex and lab we’ll be back in about 48 hours for a preview podcast

42:21 | of a pretty busy week in a world of golf whether it’s a Zurich Classic live Adelaide I’m sure you’ve seen all the

42:27 | promotion material for that one as well as Nelly cord’s bid for a record setting

42:33 | six in a row so again be back on Wednesday 48 hours from now for a preview podcast in the meantime you guys

42:39 | know the drill NBC sports.com golf for the latest news updates features and column from the World of Golf thanks as

42:46 | always for listening thanks for the support we’ll talk to you guys in a couple of days

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