Answering YOUR questions on the eve of the 2025 Masters
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Hello and welcome into this edition of the Golf Jail Podcast with Rex and Lav. We are not in our home studios. We are not in Stanford, Connecticut. We're not actually even in Augusta, Georgia, getting ready for the Masters. Rex, where are we on this very special night? Aiken, South Carolina at Palmetto Golf Club. This is our tradition, unlike any other, as they say in these parts. You and I always take Sunday before the Masters to try to sneak over and get in. Tonight, actually, we got, what, 16 holes? That was pretty good, right? Yeah.

It was good. Shout out to Brooks, the head bro here at Palmetto Golf Club. Always so accommodating for the entire Golf Channel crew. Had a great time. About four hours, you and I, Rex, teamed up against Brentley Romine, our third wheel this week for GolfChannel.com, as well as our buddy Bulldog, a.k.a. Mark Schlebaugh.

of ESPN. Just a saucy up and down in near darkness on 16, little 60 drove the hill straight up, trickle out to kick in range for a par and a one-up victory. Boy, that sure is sweet. Rex, how was your master's week? And other than victory.

Very saucy up and down. Did you have another up and down all day long? You were screaming about nothing but bogeys all day long. No, just absolutely got bogey death out here, which tends to happen. That's going to happen with very fast undulating greens and very tightly mown turf as they do have here at Palmetto. So much fun. I highly recommend anyone who has the opportunity to come and play Palmetto. You and I both have an affinity for this McKenzie golf course. It's essentially Augusta National without the green grass. He built it.

on on pretty much the same type of land that you see at augusta which is only like 30 minutes away for here so it's really a cool spot uh when you ask me my favorite things this would rank very high up there having the opportunity to come play around here with you we do it like i said every sunday before the masters and then like getting here on sunday for you it was getting here on saturday you walked the entire course yesterday i can't wait to get your thoughts on the golf course but it's it's as pristine as it's ever going to be like i'm not

Not giving away any secrets. The fact of the matter is once you start letting patrons on property. Augusta National in immaculate condition. Who could have possibly imagined that? Yes. And it's as perfect as it's going to be. And it's I wanted to behind the tree today and just sort of soak it all in and sort of talk to a couple of people and got the vibe for the week. It's always fun to get here. It is. And I do want to start with this. When I have stayed in the same house now for 15 years here at Augusta.

And the owner is unbelievably nice. And he's very much a golf passionate person. So he always wants to come over and talk to us about it. When we drove in the neighborhood today and you saw the devastation and what this community has gone through, it is kind of heartbreaking. I mean, we all saw the pictures from the hurricane that came through last fall. And now when you see it firsthand, all these months later, it was heartbreaking to me.

Yeah, I mean, what was that? Helene, I believe, was the hurricane that came through here. And you and I both live in Florida. I live three or four miles from the Atlantic. You in Longwood are roughly an hour or so. And so we're used to hurricanes. We're used to hunkering down. We're used to sort of the devastation and the aftermath of hurricanes. But it was absolutely wild. Shout out Jason and Susie who are letting us rent their house again this year. We're in Martinez, you know, two and a half, three miles.

from Augusta National and the complete and utter devastation that we have in that neighborhood to the point, Rex, where I drove past the street that I was supposed to turn on to get to the house because it was unrecognizable. So many trees have been lost.

since the storm in September. Fortunately, Jason and Susie's house was spared, but others in the neighborhood were not as fortunate. And so like, as it pertains to, you know, the community outreach and the initiatives that Augusta National has done over the past couple months to support the community the best they can, obviously Augusta National took a toll as well. And that's going to be the primary focus of our podcast and our continuing coverage of

of the Masters on golfchannel.com. And I had an opportunity to walk all 18 holes.

On Saturday for the final round of Augusta National Women's Amateur, I was following the competition, but I was also, you know, sort of scouting the golf course, seeing what was noticeable, seeing what wasn't. I will say, and they lost, I believe, into the thousands of trees. Fred Ridley, the chairman of the Masters in Augusta National, is going to be meeting with the media at two o'clock on Monday to sort of address what is sort of the elephant in the room there.

They lost a significant number of trees. I don't see anything that would affect the playability of

of the golf courses all the trees that are that are nuisances for the players to sort of wrap their shots around either direction are still very much in play it might be a little bit more thinned out in areas i'm thinking like right of three certainly right of uh 16 maybe right of seven a little bit but i don't think from a playability factor it's going to make a huge difference what it will i

I think make a difference. If you were a longtime patron at the masters is just some of the views you are unaccustomed to seeing.

So, you know, walking down left of 18 to get in sort of the heart of the golf course, you can now see all the way up to the fifth hole, which would have been unimaginable. You can see clear across two or three holes. You can see when you're on the first hole, you can see people putting on eight, which you never would have been able to do when you're walking down 10, you know, one of the steepest parts of the entire golf course, you can see all the way to Augusta country club, you know, 11 is thinned out behind 12 is thinned out again. You know, if, if you're a first time,

timer, you're not going to notice any different and you're going to be in absolute awe of the beauty and the majesty of the golf course. If you were a longtime patron, we're talking decades, you're going to be like, yeah, this looks a little bit different. It looks a little bit thinned out as it relates to the golf course. Don't see a huge, you know, factor or variable. The only thing I could think of Rex is if the wind is forecast to go to blow significantly, which I don't believe it is going to during master's week, you could see,

you know, shots be more altered by the wind than previously, just because you're not as sheltered as we're in years past. And I think golf digest.com did a really good job of showing some before and after shots. And I thought the more, the striking one for me was number 10 when you're looking sort of the trees down the left-hand side and Brooks, I do not need more light, but thank you.

He's fantastic. He's the best. Brooks Blackburn is the pro here, and he is by far one of the best human beings on the planet. Thank you, Brooks, so much for letting us come out. The trees down the left side of 10, how they've been thinned out, is pretty striking. I will say walking up behind the clubhouse and just seeing how far you can pretty much see all the way down to Amen Corner. Someone told me I didn't get a fix on this, but someone said from behind the clubhouse, you can actually see holes on Augusta Country Club.

up, which is next door. I didn't quite see that today, but you can see how it is going to have a little bit of a different feel. And I think you're right. And it's funny. We ran into this today because the wind was blowing a little bit when we started our round and it swirls and these trees and it's hard to get a mark on exactly where it's coming from. It seems like some holes are downwind. And then once you actually hit, you realize you were into the wind. And I think that's the beauty of Augusta when the wind swirls, I don't know how that would be impacted. I think you're right. I don't know from a playability standpoint,

standpoint. I think Rory talked about this a few weeks ago about how they tinkered with some greens, but it's always so subtle that unless you're Rory McIlroy or Tiger Woods or someone who's been coming here for so long and you know every nuance to every green, you're not going to notice this. It's not something that's going to stand out to you. I guess the part that gets me is, and we haven't gotten into this, but as of right now, there's a storm that's supposed to arrive here overnight and

And it's supposed to leave about two inches of rain, maybe a little bit more. And they have they they're not going to open the golf course up on Monday to patrons. I think there's going to be an update at 830. So if you're coming to Augusta, just be ready for a lot of rain and they may not open the golf course tomorrow. That's always kind of what I have my eye on, because if it gets that much rain early in the week, that sort of sets the standard on how the golf course is going to play.

Yeah, really tough situation, I feel, for all the folks who are, you know, out of state, out of the country, who are coming to the golf tournament. Maybe they only have, you know, Masters-only badges and they're sort of left in limbo with the patron gates being closed as of today.

Monday morning, again, hoping to get them back out there. But, you know, until we actually see the storm system that's going to blow through. And I don't think there's supposed to be, you know, significant weather or damaging winds like we've seen in the past couple of years here at Augusta National, just a lot of rain. And obviously Augusta National is equipped, unlike any golf course on the planet, to handle that. But I do think, you know, that's going to play more

of a factor than, you know, the found out trees that we got from the storm in September. All right. We have a lot to get to in this podcast, including our top 10 favorites, as well as a bevy of listener questions. We asked for them on the Wednesday podcast. You guys delivered. Can't wait to get to six or seven of those. But without further ado, Rex, let's go through our top

10 Masters favorites. Shout out Brian Harmon. Go Dawgs. Won the Valero Texas Open. I don't believe he was going to factor into your top 10 favorites for the Masters. Anyway, just wanted to shout him out. A good victory. First time he has won on the PGA Tour since, of course, that Open Championship win in 2023. But without further ado, who do you have here in the top 10 and why?

Oh, yeah, my list right there. I appreciate it. So I went a little reverse of what Vegas did. Not quite chalk. I went Rory and then Scotty. And we can sit here and split hairs about it. And I certainly understand how Scotty is the betting favorite right now. But my argument has been, and I've made this argument on this podcast, that if you just did a blind taste test,

and you took the names off of it and I just showed you the resumes of those two players, you would lean towards Rory. He clearly is playing better golf this year. It's marginal. It's not by a whole lot, and I'm not going to be surprised if Scottie puts on the green jacket again on Sunday. However, I think those two are pretty easy one and two. Call him Morikawa for the reasons that we've talked about. He is –

We're going to probably say this a thousand times this week. It'd be a fun drinking game. If you guys want to play it at home, it's not a putting contest. It's a second shot golf course. And there aren't many people in the game who hit second shots, mid long irons, as well as Colin Morikawa. So I would put him third. I almost reversed course. You and I had an interesting conversation on the golf course today because the live guys are a whole different scenario and

and them playing throughout this week and how big boy golf course, Rex, big boy golf course. And you saw some of the big names not really deliver. So I have John Rom and, and Bryson D Shambo running, running out my top five. Bryson D Shambo did not play well on Sunday at Doral when conditions were difficult and,

that to me is a bit of an alarm bell. Again, this is the first time we've seen any of the Lube guys really play a golf course that we can compare to Augusta, at least when it comes to degree of difficulty. I still like Jon Rahm simply because I know he didn't play great here last year, and I know he didn't play particularly well in the majors last year, but I think there's some institutional knowledge, and I feel like he's probably turned a corner from where he was last year. Hideki Matsuyama.

He's won here before. That was kind of a gut feeling. I guess if one stood out to me. What has Hideki Matsuyama done over the past three months? I'll take out the century where he had the record-breaking 35 under par performance. It doesn't matter. I make this argument all the time about Hideki. What has he done since then?

I make this argument all the time about Hideki, that he is the most inconsistent superstar in the game where he can have two and three and four and five week stretches where it's either middle of the pack or maybe he was even missing the cut. And then suddenly he shows up and he's brilliant. Like he was at the century. He's brilliant. Like he was when he won here at Augusta national. He's brilliant. Like we've seen so many times out of his career. He's not consistent. We're not going to see, we're never going to confuse Hideki for Scotty Scheffler when it comes to consistency, but I still like the idea that he,

we know we can play this golf course. Well, as I just mentioned, it's the second shot golf course, everybody's rank. And I think he does all of those things. Well, I guess I'll skip right to the end of the list. I won't bore anyone with it, with the rest of it, going through it person by person. I went back and forth on this and you, you kind of threw this at me out of left field. I have to admit, I had like 15 minutes of,

minutes to put this together before we had to get on the road to get to Palmetto. I like Patrick Reed and you and I talked about this on the golf course today. It's not exactly, I don't think he would be a particularly popular champion, but I think there's something about this. He'd be a two-time champion, of course, at that point. But yeah, but I don't, there's something about this golf course, but I went back and forth between him and JT because I feel like

JT's game is in a position, but I don't know that he's played this golf course particularly well. So I don't feel great about the end of my lineup. If I'm being honest, Patrick Reed does however, have three top, excuse me, three,

top 12 finishes in his last four years played decently at times during the live derelvent. I don't hate that pick. In fact, I think like if you've got an office pool or you're playing daily fantasy or, you know, you got to, you know, figure out your fancy team for the week. Like I think Patrick Reed is probably a deeper sleeper, particularly if you're going off world rankings and you can now get quite a bargain as it relates. Well, and I ended up like, again, this was the wrestling match that I did between JT and Xander. Cause we all, we've talked a lot about Xander.

everything that Xander has been through this year with the injury. Clearly he wasn't happy with where his game was at the players championship. He might be a little bit closer now. I guess we're going to find out once the week starts, he's going to talk to the media on Monday. I ended up going with Xander, but it was, that one was tough. I mean, if you asked me which part of that list was the hardest, it was coming up with who I was going to put 10. All right.

This is my list, Rex. Again, many of the same names that you have, slightly different order, slightly different ending. You know, I think Scotty Scheffler and Rory McIlroy, I'm not going to, you know, I'm not going to hate on anyone who thinks that Rory is the favorite heading in here. If you look at strokes gain total, he is the number one player on the PGA Tour this year. He's top 30 in every major statistical category. From a strokes gain perspective, this is the second best Rory has ever been

heading into Augusta national. It's also the only time in his career that he has won twice. So again, if you, if you think the drinking game is second shot golf course at Augusta national, the drinking game is going to be that Thursday is the most important day of Roy McIlroy's entire year. I can absolutely not wait to walk all 18 holes with Roy McIlroy on Thursday is going to be must see TV and is going to set the tone for

The entire week. So I think those two are obvious. You mentioned Colin Morikawa, three consecutive top tens at the Masters. Obviously, we know about the Iron Player. He's the best Iron Player on the PGA Tour this year. Better than Rory, better than Scotty, better than Hideki, better than anyone else on the planet. And he's just a more complete player. Even when he won his major championships in 2020 and 2021. Jon Rahm, no surprise there as well. I don't feel great, Rex, about Ludwig Oberg.

Heading into the Masters. Coming off back-to-back missed the cuts at the Players' Championship, where he made a number of double bogeys, missed the cut at Valero Texas Open, where, again, his iron play was so scratchy. And so this is a golf course that is going to demand precision. It would not surprise me at all.

if he's a little bit tighter at Augusta National, if he can use the driving machine that he has off the tee to put himself in better positions. He clearly knows how to play the golf course, even with a very limited sample size. In his master's debut last year, his major debut last year, he was leading the golf tournament with eight holes to play for an uncharacteristic mistake missing in the water.

And so I still like Ludwig Ober to put it all together. At the back half of the lineup here is where I think you can probably take a little bit of flyers. Russell Henley playing the best golf of his life. We've already seen what he can do on difficult, torturous golf course that absolutely demand precision and accuracy and patience.

at Bay Hill and winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational. So I like taking a flyer on Russell Henley and Patrick Cantlay. Again, sort of a poor man's version of Xander Shoffley in terms of being so complete, not having any weaknesses in his game, despite having his one top 10 career finish at the Masters, had a chance to win in 2019. Any commentary from you, Rex, in terms of what you like or don't like of my top 10? Yeah.

No, I was just comparing the list. So I guess the differences are, you know, when you break it down, you had no love for Pat P. Reid, which I certainly understand because, again, we've talked about this where the lip guys are just difficult to handicap. Well, I think I also think the significant rains that we're going to get on Monday is going to make Augusta National already a 7600 yard golf course play even longer. Obviously, distance is not a strong suit of his has a low ball flight. I think he could struggle in those sort of conditions.

Russell Henley feels like it's a homer pick, which I would expect out of you. Again, the bulldog thing always seems to rare its ugly head, and I'm sure you just felt like you had to get one in there. You don't feel comfortable with Bubba Watson. Apparently what Brian Harmon did on Sunday in San Antonio wasn't good enough for you. No, I like Sepp Straka, but he's probably going to finish top 15. I'm talking about guys who can, I think, legitimately win the golf tournament. It wouldn't surprise me if Sepp is in contention ahead of the weekend, but I think it's probably a stretch for him. He's never done it in a major before.

Yeah, I guess Russell Henley would be the only one. Patrick Cantlie, I kind of batted about a little bit. I don't know. Again, I guess I need to see him perform a little bit better on this golf course before I have that kind of confidence. Certainly, he has the game. You're right. When you break it down, the A through C things you need to do well on this particular golf course, he seems to do those things well. His resume would fit if you're looking for the prototype player who could contend for a green jacket. I think I need to see it.

a little bit more out of can't lane, but I certainly wouldn't debate it. I guess Luvick would be the one. I feel like I may have a little bit more confidence in him than you do. Although I think we both had him about the same spot. I think I had him sixth and you have him fifth.

So it's clearly you and I both feel like, yes, he could do this. I guess I'm seeing Lou Vig who did what he did when he won earlier this season. And I think you're maybe seeing a version of how inconsistent he was last year. And we've touched on this, the idea that I think last year was very much a misnomer. No, I think he's been inconsistent. I think he's been inconsistent this year. He'll have flourishes where he looks good. Obviously, he got sick.

around that Farm Insurance Open, Pebble Beach. I mean, missing the cut at the players was shocking. I think we both agree with that. I mean, that was something that neither one of us saw coming. However, given what he's done in a very, very early, small sample size on this golf course, given his skill set, given the fact that he seems to be the next player who would step up, and we've had this conversation before. If we're being honest –

we're probably going to go to 15 or 20 guys tops that I would truly feel comfortable would have a chance of winning this week, simply because of the field size and who's invited and everything else that goes into it. I feel like he's going to be on that list for a long time. I did want to turn it a little bit because we're getting into this on Wednesday and that, and the preview podcast, and we'll also do it for the website. However,

Give me the dark horse that you threw out there was fascinating to me. And this was this was off air. So you're probably not going to like it. But I threw Phil's name out there. Honestly, half joking, even though he played well at the route last week, he seems to be playing a little bit better golf this season. And I think your response was, oh, he'd be a good dark horse.

Yes, I think he absolutely be a good dark, dark course. I think you can sort of dismiss what he did earlier this year on live. He had a top three finish. I believe it was in Hong Kong. It was either Hong Kong or Singapore. I believe it's Hong Kong, but it was a very tight, very short golf course. He wasn't hitting driver. He was just sort of plotting his way around.

But he's clearly found something in his game, Rex. He's showing, I think, finally at this age, you know, you talk about like older pitchers who can no longer just throw heat on the outside corner. You sort of have to paint it. You have to pitch differently. You have to be a little bit more strategic. I finally feel like Phil is at that stage in his career where he's not just the swashbuckler anymore. Like he's finally learned to adapt. Okay, you know, I can try and hit bombs, but I really just need to –

do my best to be middle of the pack at this point. And he can still do damage with his wedges. He can still do damage with his scoring clubs. He can still get hot with the putter. And obviously his short game skills have never really left him. And so I think we've started to see that evolution from Phil, you know, take what you want,

from the live results over the past couple months, again, played well last week at Doral, an entirely different test than what he did and how he performed a month or so ago. I mean, he finished in a tie for second just a couple years ago, and he was nowhere near in this sort of form. That really came out of nowhere. So he clearly knows how to play the golf course, and now I think he has a command in his game that I would not totally discount him

as sort of a wild card or maybe like an each-way bet finishing inside the top six, not out of the realm of possibilities. For those of you who are joining us for the first time, you and I never seem to agree on dark horses. Like the definition of a dark horse is actually what we don't agree with. Bill would be a dark horse. Patrick Reed would be a dark horse.

I don't know if I particularly agree with that because we can't. I mean, under normal circumstances, you and I try to set a line, top 20 in the world, top 30, whatever the case may be. Now, with how skewed the rankings are, I think it's really difficult. You're probably right. I would tend to agree with that. However, it'll be fun on Wednesday because we never seem to agree. You always seem to hiss at me because I pick someone. I pick Rory McIlroy as my dark horse. No, God, stop it.

Yeah, your limb is about this wide. Let's go ahead and take some chances as we tend to do. I like Chuck. NCAA tournament's all Chuck. I like Chuck. It really is. That's how Cam is leading our family bracket. That's my six-year-old who is leading our family bracket. Duke lost. He did lose. He was very upset on Sunday morning. Let's get in direct to these listener questions because we have a bunch of them. Thank you guys for heeding the call.

to actually weigh in. Let's be good. This one Rex from Mark Edwards, who said, should the masters be considered a major? If the field is too limited, of course, less than 100. Once again, this week at Augusta national, what do you think?

Mark, no, that's dead. You're way out of bounds. I'm not playing that game with you. And look, it's a larger conversation about maybe the politics of the moment where we're arguing about field size for live golf. We're arguing about field size and signature events on the PGA Tour. And I get like this is part of the narrative at the moment. The Masters has always had almost the exact same size field. It's somewhere between 90 and 100 players. I think you and I have argued repeatedly on this very podcast that that's problematic.

probably the right number. If you're coming up with some sort of special number that you want your special events to be, whatever the Masters does, whatever that secret sauce is that they pull off, it's pretty good. Now, you can sit and pick apart the field. I'm not going to sit and debate that with you where the past champions get in and the amateurs get in. And there's a lot of, I guess, for lack of a better term, and again, we just had this conversation. Fluffed.

I wasn't even going to say that there's a lot of players that really have no opportunity to win, to be quite frank. And we've seen Bernhard Langer easiest, easiest major to win without a doubt. Yeah. We've seen Bernhard Langer play well in recent years at an advanced age. We've seen it from Freddie couples. We will probably see it from Tiger woods again, sometime in the future. How,

How it Phil Mickelson, another great example, but now man, like there's a reason why this one is so good. This is a, they, they, whatever the secret sauce is, they have figured out that that field size is perfect. And then on Sunday afternoon, they're going to let, let the players go out and have as much fun as they possibly can. And I think year out, it's more entertaining than not.

considered a major. The Masters is the major. If you polled anyone in the field, which major championship do you want to win the most? All of them would say the Masters because of the history, because of the prestige, because of the legacy, because of the notoriety.

because of the traditions that you would now be a part of. There's a reason why every single Masters champion breaks down on the 18th green, because their entire life, not just their career, their entire life just changed because they just became a Masters champion. Yes, it is the easiest major to win. That does not discount it from being a major championship. You look at the rest of the major championships as well. The PGA has the club pros. The US Open and the Open Championship have open qualifiers, which historically speaking have virtually no shot

to win the golf tournament as well. Yes, it's a very limited number who could win just because of what the golf course presents and who actually has a chance to win. That is...

Does not matter at all. It's not a major. It is the major and the one these guys absolutely want to win. Mark, we appreciate your question. We really do. But no, we don't agree with you. Sorry. Yes. Sorry, Mark. How about this one? This was a play Rex on something that we talked about on the podcast last week. So sort of saying if if you could sort of gin up a ideal run up to the Masters, what would it look like and why Terlingua is

Sorry if I'm absolutely butchering that said isn't isn't isn't seasonal weather, you know, i.e. Florida, California, Texas, the reason why the PGA Tour does what it does.

Maybe to a certain degree. I would argue that we should not be playing Pebble Beach in February. There's a reason why it's called Crosby weather. If you want to play that golf course, Pebble Beach, under the best of circumstances, you wouldn't play it in February. Certainly, you want to both live in Florida, so we know what the conditions are like in the spring. You're more times than not going to end up with a lot more windy or a lot more difficult conditions. That counts Cognizant. That's Bay Hill, certainly the Players' Championship, and we even saw it.

at the basketball championship this year. So all of those things. No, I'm good. Thank you though. Appreciate you. Berkshire's offering me a drink. Nicest man. So sweet. So I, and this goes back to the fun game that we always play. If I, if I gave you a blank piece of paper, I'm not going to try to pronounce that name. If I gave you a blank piece of paper and

And if you were coming up with the best schedule, we're probably not going to play Pebble Beach in February. We're not going to play the Florida swing when we do it. But yes, I think that's part of it where everyone was complaining early in the season about at the American Express when they shot 20, whatever under par. I mean, I was saying these golf courses are too hard. There was an ebb and flow to the tour season. Like you. Yes, you get some low hanging fruit early in the year and then you end up in the Florida swing and you get ready for the Masters and it kind of goes back and forth.

throughout the course of the season. I think that's the beauty of the PGA Tour schedule to a certain degree. I mean, I'll die on this hill, but I think the PGA Tour should be beginning their season later. Going up against football is absolute madness. I would start, I mean, I have no problem starting in Hawaii, but I would do so during the NFL's off week

leading into the Super Bowl, like why you're going up against either late regular season games that have a bunch of meaning and have divided people's attentions or God forbid, playoff games is beyond me. Once you start from that line where you're starting later in the season, then I think you can make a natural progression from Hawaii to Phoenix to South Florida. I'd love to see, again, seeing it this week for the Doral event on Live. Like I'd love to see that reincorporated into the PGA Tour schedule somehow. And then you make your way up naturally, right?

to get through Florida until you get to Augusta. But again, it starts with the baseline of starting the season later. The fact that it doesn't, and you have holes in the schedule to fill, I think is the issue that you have right now. How about this one, Rex? From Joseph Boza, who wants to know, what does a normal week look like for Rex and Lab at the Masters? Well, you're seeing Sunday, the Sunday before. So this is our tradition. So we come here, we ask questions.

This is us. So we were at the golf course early in the morning. Like I show up, you're here on Saturday. You do the Augusta National Women's Amateur. And then on Monday, I think that's when we really get going. We're already started talking about meetings early in the morning. We have live from I think our hit is three 30 somewhere around in there. I have live from in the evenings and it moves fast. Actually, I will say of all the majors and we kind of complain sometimes because it seems like the buildup can get a little monotonous.

But this week, everything moves so fast. But from the time you and I get back to the house tonight to the time that the ceremonial tee shots are hit on Thursday, it seems like it goes at warp speed because we have a lot of things going on. We have a Godfriars Association meeting on Monday night that will last an hour or two. Then we have the Godfriars dinner on Wednesday and then everything else in between that goes into it. So it's a fun week, but it is tiring. By the time you and I drive out of here on Monday, we're exhausted.

Rex is a little too shy to say so, but he is about to become the president of the Golf Rides Association of America. Massive kudos to Rex on that great honor. He'll be on the wall at Augusta National. Eventually, once he hits a certain number of masters attended, he'll get a parking spot.

It's a great honor. Congrats to Rex. So, yeah, we have that on Monday. But I think to answer Joseph's question, you know, during tournament days, you and I will most likely have a hit on live from an eight to ten minute segment where we're talking about all the biggest storylines of the day, either from previous round or head to head.

with Steven Sands, who is, of course, a guest on the Golf Jump Podcast with Wrexham Lab. Recently, an eight to ten minute segment. We'll strip, at least I will strip out of the clown suit, put on our work clothes, go out on the golf course, watch who we want to follow for that day, who we think could be an emerging story, interview the players, and then at least I will be blogging, writing, doing columns. I'm not going to be doing that.

Who knows, depending on what sort of TV duties you would have. Of course, you and I, to answer Joseph's question, will be doing mini pods each and every night at the tournament rounds. And so, I mean, it's a to answer your question, it's a busy day. It's a it's a 14 to 15 hour day on every medium possible. We are we are writing. We are podcasting. We are doing TV at least once in a day. And so it is very busy. But there's obviously nowhere we would rather be than right here.

in Augusta, Georgia. This is a question, Rex, that pertains to the final tune-up on the PGA Tour, which of course was the Valero Texas Open. MTO 3009 says, why would pros want to play San Antonio before the Masters if it is such a different test? What do you think?

It is a massively different test. You're never going to get like, we can't really compare anything to Augusta National to be fair. However, and we talked about this a lot, like Houston, I think does a really good job at least setting the golf course up that players can at least try to hit shots that they're going to need this week at the Masters.

nothing about TPC San Antonio. I think it's a fine golf course. I actually think it'd be fun to go out and play, but nothing about that would you compare. I mean, it's very much a point A to point B golf course. You're better at playing that the week before the players championship to get ready for TPC Sawgrass than you are to do it for this week. I think the only advantage is,

For a player, and I probably would say Jordan Spieth would be the best example in this situation, was to get some sort of momentum, to get some sort of feel that you can carry into this week that's going to give you some sort of confidence. And it is. I mean, players use the cliche all the time. It's different when you have the scorecard in your back pocket. You can play as much as you want at home, but to actually put the scorecard in your back pocket and to have to –

to grind out a score on a tough golf course. Like the scores we saw on the weekend at San Antonio were not forgiving. So to do that, I think, isn't a terrible way to get ready for any big event, regardless whether that's the Masters or not.

Yeah, like I don't think you want to play a track meet the week before because I don't think that's going to get you in the right headspace when you're probably going to need to be playing patient and sort of disciplined golf. And so I think in that respect, playing teams in San Antonio, a difficult golf course is helpful. You know, it's going to be windy in San Antonio. It was brutally windy.

over the last two rounds on the weekend. That's why the scores were so high. That's why Brian Harmon was able to shoot over par in the final round and still win by three shots. So I'm not sure that was necessarily helpful. You could develop some bad habits, just putting too much weight in front of the foot, pulling the ball too far back, whatever the case may be. But I also think, Rex, there's some things –

not even like strategy wise or game wise, I think a lot of players either want to find some momentum and carry that with them. But I also think they want to keep away from the distraction and,

and thinking about the Masters too much. Roy McIlroy has talked about this, where he just wants to be inside the ropes and having to focus on something else other than the potentially career-defining achievement that will be seven days away. So I think there's something to be said for that as well, is keeping your mind occupied. As it relates to Roy and Scotty, they played Houston, had the week off, sort of fine-tuned their games, then headed to Augusta National. Kyle Morikawa, by the way, who was third on both of our power rankings lists, has not played

since the Players' Championship had three weeks off. That was something that a lot of players did not want to do. They thought that that was too much time between competitive reps. We'll see how Colin Morikawa plays this week. Here's a couple questions, Rex, for people who would either be curious about our experience or sort of what we'd get to do. Is it all-time media perk? This is from Johnny Beam, who said, what to do for a first-timer, especially if you're going to attend on Wednesday? What to get in the merch tent? Favorite food? Go.

I actually, I argue Wednesday's the best day. If you're only going to come one day, Wednesday is by far the best day. And the trick here is, so the par three starts a little afternoon, I think is the scheduling of that.

And they close down the main golf course when the par three starts. But the trick is they make an announcement and like people filter off slowly. The trick is right around 1130, when they start to close down the main golf course, try to be as far out as you possibly can somewhere. I would argue somewhere, maybe on the fifth green, as far away from the par three course as you possibly can, because then you can kind of loiter. You can kind of wander around. You can kind of mosey. Our friend Todd Lewis is really good at this. And it

by the time you actually get to aiming corner, let's say as you're walking in, you have the course to yourself about as much as you're ever going to have it. So that's the first thing I would tell people as far as what to do, as far as what to eat. I think you and I are, we have a little bit different ideas, but we're under the same mindset because I have, I thought pimento cheese early in my career was disgusting. However, I have taken to the idea that I enjoy it. It's really good. And now you love the biscuits.

You're a big biscuit guy, and I'm a big fried chicken sandwich guy. So some combination of those things. Okay, there's a lot to get into here. You mentioned that you can do everything on Wednesday. You can go watch the par three. You could watch all 18 holes. It's going to be a very light work day for the players. I think the only people who are going to be any sort of intensely grinding are those who are going to have late tee times today.

on Thursday. Otherwise, it's going to be pretty sparse as it pertains to players who are trying to get in that work. I'm a big fan, actually, of Friday. Obviously, all the players are still there, and you also have sort of the storylines already coalescing, and so you know who to watch. And so I'm a big fan of Friday. If I had to pick a practice round day, I would pick Tuesday. That's the most intense work day. But I hope Johnny Beam has a great time. What to get in the merch tent

Funny you should ask. I have done all of my shopping immediately. The shopping recs has gotten out of control as it pertains to the mattress. And I have a theory, and my wife is as guilty of this as anyone, but like the TikTok culture, the Instagram culture of the influencers who will go at, you know, I think they open at 8, will

We'll get there. They'll get in line. They get their hall. Then they go back to their car, go back to their hotel, go back to the house, whatever the case may be. And they do these reveals on Instagram and Tik TOK of what they got this year. And if you have a huge audience and if people, you know, you're very influential in that respect, people like my wife are going to eat it up and be like, yep, got to have that too. And so, uh, shout out Russ. Uh, she helped me a lot with what my wife's wishlist was. There's like a sweatshirt on there. Uh,

Um, there's a straw hat that she wants to get. That was different. There's a coffee cup. I got a couple of hats for myself. Um, you know, who else, who knows what else she got on there, but like, if you're trying to get a gnome, which I guess is the most popular item over the past couple of years, those sell out in the first 30 minutes, uh, the straw hats can be very popular with the women as well. And so, I mean, you can spend a hundred dollars in there.

or you can spend $5,000 in there. It's really up to you, Johnny beam on what you want to do as it pertains to food. Yeah. I eat anything and everything. I know Darren Revell went viral on social media for sort of poo pooing the food options at Augusta national. I'm a big fan. I always end up gaining like five to 10 pounds.

And I have to walk the golf course just to burn off just so much bread, so many sandwiches. But, God, they are delicious for seven days. All right. Final one as it relates to Augusta. Great listener question here from JD. What would you shoot on your best and worst day at Augusta with the Sunday setup? First of all, Rex, explain the media perk unlike any other and also answer the question as it pertains to the score.

You've gotten the media perk twice. So you've played in the Monday lottery. So there's a lottery for media folks to play at Augusta. Mine was years ago. It's when Trevor won. I'm trying to remember what year that would have been. Thank you very much. Oh, wait. And it's really a once in a lifetime experience. I mean, I can't.

overstates it is insane it is an insane perk let's just be honest yes like it's an amazing opportunity and it is essentially sunday conditions which you play on monday the pins are the exact same the greens might be a half foot slower i don't think they're much slower they're still very very firm it's not as though they put a ton of water on them overnight so i can tell you exactly what i shot in the sunday conditions and it wasn't pretty and we're playing from the members tees and

I don't know what the difference would be. It'd probably be over a thousand yards from the members. Yeah. I believe it. I believe the members T is 6,400. It's pretty manageable to be honest with you. I think the difficulty of the golf course, it's not difficulty to green. Yeah. It's not a particularly difficult golf course. Well, no, I take that back. It's not a difficult driving golf course. Correct. But it's so exacting on your, there's no, there's no rough, but the approach shots are so difficult. It's so tight. Yeah.

And unless you're really on with your approach play, you're just going to struggle to impart enough spin to hold the greens. You know, just the ball flights that we have in the shot shapes that we're coming into the greens with. It's not like we're hitting these high soaring fades that can stop on the top shelf. Like we're coming in there a little bit lower with less spin. It's going to skip to the back and then you're dead on a lot of occasions. Both times that I've played recs,

I got off the golf course thinking, man, I could have been so much better, which I think is like the temptress that is Augusta national. That's why it's so much fun to play because you can only imagine on your best day that you could actually get it going and

And you could make birdies on the par five. You could hit it close if you funnel it. You know, if you're if you're playing the slopes right in your in your exact with your approach play. I shot 88 and 89 from member T, which I'm a six handicap. Again, that was that almost felt like that was the worst I could have played. Plenty of media members shoot in the 70s from the members tees when they play on the Monday after. It's an incredible perk. It's like hitting. It's like taking batting practice.

in Yankee Stadium. It's like shooting jumpers at Madison Square Garden. It is absolutely insane. We're so thankful that Augusta National still has this perk for media. They treat the media with a lot of respect. The craft that we have telling the story of the Masters over the years, that absolutely is an incredible perk. So what can I shoot on my best day? Yeah, I think I could shoot somewhere in the mid-70s. All right.

That is going to do it for this edition of the Golf Channel Podcast with Braxton Lab. Just as a reminder, we'll be back on Wednesday from Augusta National with a full preview pod reacting to the pressers, the biggest storylines, what the players are talking about publicly, what they're saying privately. It should be a hearty discussion that we'll have for you on Wednesday from Augusta National. And then once the tournament begins,

Thursday through Saturday, we'll be doing mini pods after each and every tournament round on Sunday. We'll be back to the 52 minute edition, which will appearing on not just the YouTube page on Sunday night of the masters, but also the Monday after at 9. AM and 11. AM Eastern time on golf. So plenty to get to on the podcast front. Of course you can find us on NBC sports.com slash golf for all our written content as well, as well as catching us on live from each and every day with Steve stands on the set. All right.

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