What went down: Did the WASTE Management Phoenix Open manage to not manage any waste at all?
Sorry, but it reached peak messy this year, and some post-Super Bowl volunteers decided to sit down and talk about it and all the other golf news for this week’s Sunday recap. S/O to the brave Soly, Neil and D.J.
NICK TAYLOR WINS THE WASTE MANAGEMENT PHOENIX OPEN IN A TWO-HOLE PLAYOFF OVER CHARLEY HOFFMAN, LIV LAS VEGAS
(2:10) Tournament sponsor darling and heating pad aficionado Charley Hoffman defeats the #oldguy allegations by landing himself in a playoff against BIG playoff guy Nick Taylor. Hoffman’s win percentage was at one point just 8 percent on the back nine — but he was also at one point three shots ahead?!
(10:00) Did anyone see Nick Taylor’s drip, re: three stripe life? (I kept thinking he was in slides.) His choice in footwear couldn’t prevent him from losing two strokes off the tee, but it didn’t stop him from shooting 6-under in his final round, either.
(15:00) Don’t sir me!!!!!! Old ZJ yells at cloud. Just kidding, it was a group of spectators. But this year in particular, things ran amok – plenty of weather issues, closing off Saturday admission and alcohol sales. The pretends-to-be-shocked-of-it-all is of the PGA Tour, players and decorum freaks alike are hilarious – this tournament has traditionally welcomed chaos!
(22:00) Is there a world in which we could aptly convey Scottie Scheffler’s batting average? The SG to batting average conversion doesn’t quite match up, though D.J. makes a great analogy after Soly points out how ridiculously good of an iron player Scottie Scheffler is.
Soly declares Scottie possibly the best ball striker we have seen since Tiger!
That front nine almost made us believers, but Scottie’s putting demons caught up with him once again.
(34:00) Neil shares a wholesome anecdote in which the boys get #humbled by Charley Hoffman’s Rivian truck. Sahith and Spieth’s Sunday Scaries examination follows.
(45:00) Neil points out that parity might be diluting. But the good stories crowd is thriving! But is it the path forward??
We miss the heavyweight LIV guys! But LIV isn’t moving the needle…
(50:00) Hamsterdam: Kis is a welcome addition who brought a lot of great player insight into the broadcast. What else could the broadcast do? Bring in more former players for featured holes? Sign people to 3-tournament, low-obligation contracts? Something’s gotta revive the coverage.
(1:00:00) Preferred lies discourse means invalidating low scores – of which we had a lot of this week! It’s an asterisk we should be using more often. Where’s the fun in the easy way out? The game should welcome challenges more often.
(1:05:00) D.J. confesses he was excited to watch LIV, but it didn’t deliver! Course, Greg Norman gloating, shotgun start…not showing 2/3 final tee shots from the final group???
Chirpy Rahm tells a fan to turn their phone off while Bad Bunny plays in the background. But is straight up telling anyone with ears money was on his mind?
A number of LIV events either don’t air live in the United States or conflict directly with a big PGA Tour event.
Congrats to all bag chasers! But now the feds want to sniff your bags.
(1:22:00) You get equity, they get equity, I get equity, everybody gets equity? The PGA Tour released its equity breakdown — which is largely dependent on the impact (not just PIP!) of your career. Of course, they don’t get it all at once — but there’s some bags being dealt there, too!
But what can they do with any of this equity? Maybe they should give some thought to maximizing it, too — aka, continuing to find ways to better their product!
OTHER GOLF HEADLINES: CRISTOBAL DEL SOLAR’S 57 ON THE KORN FERRY TOUR, THE GOOD GOOD DESERT CLASSIC, JOHN MINNIUM’S YEAR IN REVIEW
(1:40:00) The world was (most likely) introduced to Cristobal Del Solar this past week when he carded the lowest score in a PGA Tour-sanctioned event: a 57!
Good Good teaches us people just wanna see some compelling golf! And might humble the sterile but talented folks.
(1:47:00) Neil devotes a major a shoutout to John Minnium, who released his annual Year in Review, which features highlights such as total rounds, lost balls, some career highs.
10 Highlights
- Total rounds 121.5 with a career high in 77 different courses played
- Low score of 75 and high of 97 with 2023 handicap at 7.0
- Career low of only 1 36 hole day but 54% of rounds walked and 25% of rounds played alone. Shout out to Brett and Tony, the two most loyal playing partners (36 and 29 rounds respectively)
- 91 lost balls | 15% more lost balls in 23
- 108 birdies (.89 birdies per round) and 2 eagles in 2023
- Longest stretch without golf (9 days, 3 times in 2023)
- Career High 14 Free Rounds: Let’s get JM to 15+ free ones in 2024!
- Career high: played golf in 22 different states
- TC snuck in a question in the back section: “what was the worst hole you played in 2023? The opener at Lake Geneva-Palmer Course.
Anything jump out?: “For the first time ever, I played a hole in par for the year (18 South at Legends). You wouldn’t think it’d be that hard!”
Other shoutouts go to: Kazuma Kobori, Wenyi Ding, Jim Knous and Bud Cauley.
Be sure to check out our Happy Hour live show previewing the Genesis Invitational on 2/14 at 4PM ET!
Best take: (1:35:00) D.J. is so real for emphasizing the need for people outside of golfers in these rooms to make golf better. Innovation in golf isn’t limited to the world’s best putters, for lack of better categorization. That’s not asking them to take a backseat, either. There’s gotta be some more sacrifice on their ends, too.
Worst take: (45:00) This isn’t a disagreement, as Neil kinda outlined the same point – but the parity conversation leaves me with mixed feelings when I look at it as it applies to other sports. There’s an appreciation for what the Chiefs have managed to do in four years, but there’s always accompanying fatigue. Parity brings some intrigue, but it feels unfocused unless you are super into it. So be tired or all over the place, I guess.
Quotables:
(20:00) (On walking with Bubba Watson during the Rickie-Hideki WM Playoff) “This was the year everyone was way out on Bubba…so there’s a little commotion (near the grandstands), but it can’t sustain, so Bubba and I are standing there, and it gets quite and this guy just goes ‘Hey Bubba, ‘F*** You!’” - D.J.
(1:05:00) “There’s so many colors on that leaderboard! It’s a sensory blitzkrieg. Shoutout to Brandel.” - Neil
(1:30:00) “They're not walking into a room and like dividing up $700 million, $900 million in cash. That's kind of how the early reports made it sound a little bit – was like, Scottie Scheffler, direct deposit, $45 million, $70 million, $80 million.” - D.J. (I’m just picturing Scottie Scheffler opening a vault and drowning)
Ads: (1:30) This year, we’re celebrating moments of joy brought to you by FootJoy! We’ll be discussing some of our favorite moments in the game everywhere – in a golf world that’s often felt a little less than, we’re gonna spread some positivity.
(1:45:24) A little in-house love for the No Laying Up Pro Shop! Is it ever too early for spring? We don’t think so, so we dropped so corduroy rope hats, script hats and a bunch of new polos. Spend $50 on anything at the pro shop and get a FREE NLU towel if you use the code “NLUpod” at checkout. Offer ends 2/16 – limit one use per customer and not to be combined with any other discounts.