What went down: The fall series is here! Post-Ryder Cup remains a packed schedule, but there’s still plenty on the guys’ minds on that front. Soly and D.J. are happy to embark on the task, and D.J. is happy to report there were no hat tan lines at Patrick Cantlay’s wedding.
(2:30) “A lesson in expectations,” D.J. calls it, as the Sanderson Farms ended right within the witching hour of NFL Football—but the golf still delivered! Enter a smorgasbord of a playoff in Ludvig Aberg (not phonetic) vs. a former mortgage officer vs. a guy recovering from the putting yips vs. a nearly decade-winless Scott Stallings vs. Henrik Norlander, former college teammate of Patrick Reed.
Allegedly, Luke List’s win probability after he finished 72 holes was a shocking 3 percent—then he sealed his victory with a 45-foot birdie on the very first playoff hole.
After spending a flight back home from Marco Simone with Aberg’s caddie, Jack, DJ was in total shock when he realized Ludvig was playing the Sanderson Farms the following week! A T2 finish is not a bad way to cap off two exhausting back-to-back weeks.
(9:00) It’s early, but how do we feel about the fall series? It’s hard to classify it as anything but a bleak, not-so-interim part of the golf season — it feels like a reverse summer school. Totally OK to admit if you have any PGA Tour golf fatigue—this is a safe space!
The PGA Tour event tier continues to be difficult to define—especially when there’s football and playoff baseball to compete with. Is any of it necessary to enjoy the big-hitter events? No, but there’s some crucial character development going on, and if you wanna be the “I always knew he’d be good” hipster, best to stay on top of fall series happenings.
(18:30) The guys *might* still be on a Ryder Cup high. Some extra thoughts in decompressing—check out D.J.’s Ryder Cup Team USA post-mortem and what he proposes they should do. How could it have gone so *wrong*?! Check out D.J. and Soly’s interview with Max Homa for his perspective on that, too.
The top TWO qualifiers have played in 24 matches in the last 3 Ryder Cups in Europe and have won *how many* matches?! Only 3.
What does culture mean? It’s so much more than the superficial songs and social media stuff, Soly says. Time for a clean slate—and figure some unity out!
Why should Hunter Mahan be involved in the Ryder Cup process? Is the Cat the answer?
(41:30) Hatgate—how real was the protest, and once again, do they have a point?
(46:00) James Nitties joins the guys fresh off of calling the Korn Ferry Tour Championship to talk in-depth about the new talent en route to the PGA Tour. Some fun factoids he dropped: 30 players will now embark on the PGA Tour this upcoming season, and 7 out of the 30 KFT grads are products of the PGA Tour pipeline: Pierceson Coody, Adrien Dumont de Chassart, Jacob Bridgeman, Joe Highsmith, Chris Gotterup, Mac Meissner, Parker Coody. But over half of them (18) are rookies!
(1:02:20) D.J. and Soly drop some rising star shoutouts before touching on some miscellaneous items:
- (1:04:00) 2023 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship was rained out, and His Excellency was out there playing under a pseudonym??? Hey, Andrew Waterman.
- (1:05:10) OWGR movement re: LIV?
- (1:07:30) LPGA: Hyoo Joo Kim earns her sixth LPGA title with a wire-to-wire win at The Ascendant LPGA, and chatting in-depth about the Lexi Thompson exemption to the Shriners Children’s Open.
- (1:12:20) 10 LPGA cards were handed out after the Epson Tour Championship this weekend: Gabi Ruffels, Natasha Andrea Oon, Auston Kim, Jiwon Jeon, Minji Kang, Agathe Laisne, Jenny Coleman, Roberta Liti, Isabella Fierro and Kristen Gillman.
- (1:14:05) Talking about the vandalism at Timuquana Country Club + and a mention of the fire over at Marco Simone.
- (1:16:10) Tommy Fleetwood, Tyrell Hatton, Shane Lowry and Tom Kim all joined the TGL. But uh, what is the TGL?
- (1:22:10) D.J.’s turn to talk about his Titleist fitting experience and how he’s enjoying his new irons, along with some chatter about the state of their games.
Best take: (9:00) Just hear to echo the guys’ sentiments on the fall series. Not sure how to feel about any of it, honestly! Is it worth staying on top of? Yes, but I don’t wanna get good stories’d to death like an NFL Draft broadcast. It’s just not men’s golf’s moment now – but then again, who's to say I’ll still feel this way when there’s no longer a wraparound schedule? I think golf’s greatest superpower oftentimes is its ability to shift the spotlight and amplify that in a really profound way. Like, KFT and Epson Tour finals had some huge implications this week – and the LPGA schedule is heating up as the end of the season approaches. I’m all in on that!
Worst take: You guys made worst take pretty hard this week. Can I get a bye week on worst take?
Quotables:
(17:40) “Watching you get transformed and fixated on solving the Ryder Cup problem this past week makes me feel so justified.” -Soly, on the success of his Ryder Cup brainwashing
(1:15:50) “This kind of thing didn’t happen when I was living down in Jax. People are walking all over you down there, Soly. You need to rule with an iron fist. Let them know this shit is not acceptable.” -D.J. on Soly solving the mystery of the destroyed Timuquana greens
Featured guest(s): James Nitties, Golf Channel Broadcaster and former PGA Tour Pro. Check out James’ Twitter over here.
Referenced works: (41:30) Hatgate Michael Bamberger story
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