Masters Friday: Bryson, Rory, Scottie! A weekend unlike any other awaits
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Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile. I don't know if you knew this, but anyone can get the same premium wireless for $15 a month plan that I've been enjoying. It's not just for celebrities. So do like I did and have one of your assistants assistants switch you to Mint Mobile today.

I'm told it's super easy to do at mintmobile.com slash switch. Upfront payment of $45 for three-month plan, equivalent to $15 per month required. Intro rate first three months only, then full price plan options available. Taxes and fees extra. See full terms at mintmobile.com. Hello and welcome into this edition of the Golf Show Podcast with Rex and Lav. What is the same leader at the 8th and 9th Masters? That is Justin Rose, but the leaderboard behind him, my goodness, is

The heavy hitters that have come to play at Augusta National. Bryson DeChambeau, the big bop of the reigning U.S. Open champion. Just a single shot back. A familiar name. Roy McIlroy shooting a bogey-free 66. He's in the house at 6-under. Two shots back heading into the weekend. And, oh, yes.

defending champion, Scotty Scheffler, looking for his third green jacket in the past four years, shot one under on Friday and is now just three shots back. Rex, what a leaderboard we have heading into the weekend.

Two things. What a leaderboard we have, and it's exciting. It seems like this is the secret sauce when it comes to the Masters. Probably more importantly than that, and there's a cool story behind this. I just had a chance to meet Ken Griffey Jr. in the hallway, and if you grew up as a fan of baseball in the late 90s... The kid. I know. I'm so excited. I'm bubbling. What did the person say last night in the comments? That I was bouncing or vibrating or something? I'm not sure what that is a reference to.

I'm really bouncing now. He's actually shooting it this week. They're doing a documentary on it. It's going to be so cool. He's a photographer this week. It's going to be awesome. The leaderboard's incredible, and I started going through some machinations in my mind and jumping ahead, which is what any golfer shouldn't do, but certainly the journalists can do. Imagine the scenarios going into Sunday. I know we have 18 holes before we ever...

get to Sunday, but we know the dynamics between Bryson and Rory after last year's U.S. Open. I think that's fascinating. Scotty Scheffler coming back from what many people thought was the low point of his career and putting himself right back in contention with a wild second nine. I will say that. There was a very un-Scotty Scheffler-esque second nine. And then Rosie, like I think last night, at least on live from, I'm not quite sure how Brando put it, no disrespect, but he

He kind of looked at it as a, I think, as an outlier. Where if you're looking at the leaderboard and you're trying to figure out where I stand on the leaderboard, if you looked at what Rosie did on day one, you're probably thinking to yourself, nope, that's not sustainable. So in Rosie's defense, he actually did back it up with a really good round. So I think all of those things factor in to set up for a really cool weekend.

There's always a tactful way of trying to do that, isn't there? Brando was not trying to diminish anything that Justin Rose did on Thursday. He shot 65. He had the huge lead. He played out of his mind, played brilliantly. This is a world-class player, a player who's sort of on the brink, really, Rex, of going into the World Golf Hall of Fame. But he was saying, if you are Roy McRoy, who is the big story to me, on Thursday, you have to view...

the leaderboard as really it being four under par, which is where Scottie Scheffler resided after Bogey 360. Respectfully. Respectfully. Of course, basically just owing to Justin Rose's history. That was the fifth time that Justin Rose had led the Masters at the opening round, surpassing Jack Nicklaus, by the way, for the most all-time opening round leads. Just thinking...

Because he's age 44, because of his ball striking has fallen off a little bit because the pressure, because the golf course is going to be firming up in unimaginable ways over the weekend. You would think.

that Justin Rose would come back to the rest of the pursuers. All credit to him, Rex. I thought that was a very impressive round to maintain now the 36-hole lead. More on Justin Rose on NBCSports.com slash golf. Let's get into Roy McIlroy. We didn't quite bury him, but I forget even, Rex, what the headline was. Nope, nope, sausage finger. You, you, the we, that's the royal we, because it was all you. Let's circle this back around.

It is not. Listen, I was not burying Roy McIlroy. I was merely pointing out the historical trends that Roy McIlroy would have to reverse if he were to win this Masters. And of course, that that's that historical statistical trend was 18 of the past 19 Masters champions were within four shots of the lead heading into the second round.

It's happened before. Otherwise, it'd be 19 of 19. And we would have continued it even longer. But Roy McIlroy, after an opening round 72, even par, after making two double bogeys in his last four holes, there was plenty of work to do.

And Roy McIlroy got to work. He has vaulted all the way, Rex, from a tie from 27th all the way into a share of third after a bogey-free 66. The sixth bogey-free round for Roy McIlroy at the Masters. The most of any players in the last 30 years. The word that comes to mind for me is resilience. How about as it relates to Roy McIlroy and what you saw on Friday?

I started an email to our editor, Fred, and I was going to have him actually pluck that sound from last night's podcast. We have too much going on. There's too much work. We're all overworked this week. So I ended up not sending the email. But if we were able to pluck the sound, what you actually said was, based on this historical egg salad that you like to throw out of stats, which all the time I repeatedly tell you that, yes, it's important to understand what the trends are. It's context.

It's context. This is a volatile game that you can never actually write it off as this is going to be fact because golf does not subscribe itself to those types of odds.

Because you get bad bounces, you get weird breaks, you get people who hole out from fairways. There's too much volatility when it comes specifically to golf. So I've warned you against it. And your line last night was you read off six players of which Roy McIlroy was not one of them at even par. And your line was these are the six players that have a chance to win the Masters.

Historically speaking, statistically speaking, historically speaking, those were the six players who had a chance to win the Masters. I know Roy McIlroy is a generationally great player, but if you were going historically, if you were going statistically...

He had already run himself out of the mix. I'm asking you to dial back on the stat salad. Please just stop with the stat salad the rest of the week. I don't want to hear about what's happened nine out of the last ten times with the 36th hole lead. 18 of the last 19. 54 hole lead. You're being ridiculous. I will spare you.

I will spare you with the stats for this time, mostly because I don't have those trends in front of me, but it's, but it's fair to say the position that Roy McRoy is in now is much more beneficial because Roy did not talk to the media recs on Thursday. I did want to button up. It,

exactly what had happened on Thursday. I think that could sort of provide the context for what is going to happen for the remainder of the weekend. He said on 15, look, he hit two brilliant shots. The drive was fine. And the forehand that he hit over the back. What he said was that he was surprised at how firm the first bounce was.

on the green was. It wasn't necessarily a mishit. It wasn't, you know, a shot that he was trying that he wasn't necessarily prepared for or didn't execute properly. He was just a little bit surprised. He couldn't have possibly seen the players who had come before him, most notably Patrick Cantley, who chipped two into the water from that exact same position.

He could have. I thought this was very interesting. He said that he could have played that shot from the exact same position, but was still so stunned and bewildered at what had happened. He actually went all the way around to the drop zone. That may have cost him an additional shot, blasted 30 feet long, and then ended up taking a seven. What we saw from Roy Rex was really a continuation for what we saw, basically for the first 14 and a half holes on Thursday.

You know, his approach play has been phenomenal. If you take out the sort of overmailed approach out that he had on 17 that led to a double bogey on Thursday, he stuffed it on 10. He stuffed it on 11. He got a good break with the ball bouncing off the back and into the bushes. Then coming back out on 12, he was bold to take the shot out of the pine straw on 13 and made Eagle. He sort of was fortunate again to have a window on 14, but able to hoist 14.

a shot over the trees that he had also to a makeable range. And then he two-putted for birdie on 15. I mean, the phenomenal approach play is the reason why Roy McIlroy has a chance to win this golf tournament. And with conditions expected to get a little bit firmer and more intense over the weekend, I think he has to be thrilled at the position he's now in just two shots back.

And we do need to button up a second thing, by the way. Thanks to all the readers on YouTube, all the comments that you made. Thanks to some friends here inside the media building from England. Pointed out exactly. We got sort of lost in the weeds when it came to Indian summer and Justin Rose referring to this stage of his career. I think both you and I understand what Indian summer means. Like it's a very late and the

let's say early fall, whatever the case may be, heat wave. And what the reference was, and it took you and I a long time to come around on, so thank you very much, Neil, is that what he was saying that I'm hitting a late heat wave in my career. He's in the autumn of his career and he said a heat wave. We got it now. Thank you. We were a little slow on that one. To go back to the original question, resilient is what Rory said.

about today's round and you use the word resilience. And I was fascinated by the idea that he didn't beat himself up a lot. He talked about, he left here yesterday and he went home and he put Poppy, his daughter to bed and he didn't spend a lot of time dwelling on it. My guess in the past, he probably would have stomped over to the range and tried to hit some balls and tried to figure out exactly what happened on those two holes that sort of robbed him. I'm still,

Again, go back to earlier in the week. I did not have enough bass in my voice. I will own it when the end of the week comes, even if Rory would win, that when you ask me my winner because of everything we know about this place and the emotion and everything that goes into it. But there is no other way to say, let's call it the bounce back on Friday. Wildly impressive given what the emotions must have been leaving property on Thursday night, thinking to yourself that I've done it again, that I've

Ryan Lavner is right. I've ruined my chances because I played poorly on Thursday. This is such a, just, he's just poking you in the eye now. Now he's just playing you specifically.

I mean, but this is what you love to see from Roy McIlroy. This is exactly what we've seen from him over these past four years in the major championships. Each year he has given himself an agonizingly close chance to win a major championship has come away. I'm not saying that that's how this is going to end. In fact, I think I would probably put him as my favorite at this point in the championship, but you have to credit him for not panicking, for realizing he's playing good golf, to sticking with the game plan that he had Jack Nicklaus play

the greatest Masters champion of all, the greatest Grand Slam champion of all, basically validate him and say that is exactly how I would go shot by shot at Augusta National. His game plan to this point, at least after 36 holes, a huge turnaround, and now he has a chance to finally win.

claim that green jacket in that elusive final leg of the career grand slam. Let's go to Bryce Nishambo Rex, a player who you and I both did not really talk about on Thursday's podcast. I'm not sure if we were hesitant. We're a little scarred from what happened last year. Remember he shot 65, shared the opening round lead. I did not break par the rest of the way and finished in a tie for sixth place last year at the masters. That was still by far,

Bryson's best career finish at the Masters. Previous to that, it was tied for 21st in 2016 as an amateur. What have you seen from big, beefy, bold Bryson as he now sits in the final group, just one shot back, of Justin Rose?

I mean, I think it's clear he's comfortable in his own skin. And we started to see that transformation a little bit before Pinehurst and certainly when he wins the Open and everything that happens from there. I think he's kind of found his niche in golf. And it's probably been difficult because he is so different from everyone else. And I am taken by the idea that we can slap a lot of layoffs.

on Bryson. I mean, I call him the mad scientist. Some people call him the ultimate golf nerd, whatever the case may be. I'm fascinated this week about how he's an Ironman. And I love go to masters.com. They have a tracker on every shot that's hit on the practice area. And of those shots, let's forget about the 137 that Bryson has taken through the first two rounds.

through the first four days because he got here on Tuesday, 874 shots on the range. Now he's trying to dial in drivers. He's trying to make sure that what he perceives is reality. He's still the mad scientist. I still love what he is because it's so different from the norm. That 874 number, by the way, blows away second place by a long shot. It's not even close. And I

You look at this specific test and you could see it in the press conference today when he was talking about it. It baffles him and his mind is spinning and he's trying to figure it out. And it's such a game and it's so entertaining that we both open this podcast with how excited we are. The one player I am very excited about that entire leaderboard. I could maybe point out one or two that I could do without. But most names, name, names, name, names. Yeah.

But the one I'm really excited to see over the weekend is Bryson because you and I both know he could go either way really quickly. That if the math doesn't start adding up and the wind starts swirling and the equations that he thinks should be right aren't working out the way he wants them to, he can get sideways really quick or he could absolutely overpower this golf course. You look at what he's leading the field by, I think, almost 20 yards in driving distance. I mean, that is not a small amount. And I think that could be very...

it could end up being like the determining factor on a golf course that I think most of the time we're always talking about approach play or maybe short game or putting whatever the case may be. Very rarely do we say, Oh yeah, ever since they tiger proofed it, this golf course could be overpowered. It could be if he continues down this path.

So you and I are sharing from the same script here. Bryce was who I wrote for mcsports.com slash golf. Oh, no, I stole your thunder. Did I steal your thunder? You certainly did. I went with that lead as well, because for the first time with this sort of range data from the tournament practice area, like we're getting a fascinating glimpse into to Bryce DeChambeau's curious mind.

We always know that he is a tireless worker. We know about the marathon rain sessions. It feels like every major at live from with the show is typically like 7 to 9. Bryson is going to be on the rain. Every night he's out there. I'm sitting in that field lonely with Todd. It's me, Todd, and Bryson. He's always doing it, but now we actually have concrete evidence to show that this guy is manic to a point that it is bewildering to the other players on the PGA Tour. On Tuesday alone,

Again, he played a nine-hole practice run on Tuesday. On the range area alone, he hit 393 balls. Tuesday. That is roughly nine rounds of golf. Again, and then he went out to go play nine holes. What he is, of course, searching for is a feeling. And he has not, Rex, liked the approach play that he has had.

over the past couple of weeks on live and what he has carried through the two rounds here at the master is actually losing strokes at the field with his approach play. That has to be tightened up. If he's going to end up slipping into a green jacket, but he says at least that he had sort of a light bulb moment on the fifth tee and

and the ninth tee where he finally sort of slotted his swing in a way and the sequence is swinging away that he could hit that high towering draw that he is always in search of. He equated it, Rex, to like the motion you'd make if you're trying to hit like a forehand spinner with ping pong, which is very, very interesting. He said that he had sort of that light bulb moment. We'll see if that carries in. It has to be sharper because he's blowing away the field

at least off the tee. Hitting 11 of 14 fairways each of the past two rounds while leading the field in driving distance at 331 yards a pop is unbelievable stuff. And with the greens getting firmer, his advantage will only be heightened.

If he can hit his approach shots a little bit closer and not leave him in spots where he's going to have to scramble for part. His scrambling was very good. His scrambling and putting were very good on Friday, but I'm very curious to see where this goes for Bryson because we always talk about Augusta national being this grueling physical examination, right? And Bryson's doing it even more. So Bryson's doing that exactly like everyone else. And then he's putting in the extra time. He needs to be at his sharpest mentally at this weekend. We'll see if Bryson,

is up to the task. How about Scotty Scheffler? What stood out to you in his eventful round of one under 71 that leaves him just three shots back heading into the weekend?

Yeah, it wasn't what we saw on Thursday. What we saw on Thursday was textbook Scottie. It was what we come to expect. Bogey free, never really put himself into too much trouble. When he did put himself in trouble, he just has that magical short game that seems to always be there, always willing to bail him out. This was especially on the back nine when he started the back nine bogey. Second nine, second nine.

For a second nine, that's a $5 fine. Bogey, bogey, birdie. And the birdie may have been the most crazy birdie I've ever seen on 12 in my life. He should have been in the azaleas long. It bounced out of the azaleas. Should have been a double probably. Yeah, you're right. That's probably no less than a three-stroke swing based on the fact that he was able to chip it in. Like, look, there's –

humongous amount of talent that goes into that. But my guess is Scotty, he and he had to make some media rounds. So we didn't have the opportunity to talk to him before we did this podcast. This one, it was probably exhausting. We talked about how tired Bryson was. I think mentally this was draining on Scotty because he clearly did not have his best stuff. And yet he found a way to grind it out. And he's still right there. I don't think anybody anticipates anything different going into Sunday. I would be shocked if we're not talking about him in the same breath as

on tomorrow night's podcast because he has found whatever it is, that groove that had been missing this season. He's put the reps in. He's much more comfortable. And now he's doing this where on a day that's real difficult. I didn't look what the scoring average is, but it had to be over par on a day that's really difficult and you didn't have your best stuff and you still stay right in the hunt.

Yeah, I'm with you. Five bogeys could have undermined and sort of torpedoed his chances to win this Masters. Instead, he did just enough good with scrambling his tail off. Some of the shots that he hit, particularly on that second nine, just to stay in it, just to sort of hold serve and find it until you get to a par five, I thought was incredible. Again, this was not Scottie Scheffler's best round, but I think if he goes on to win on Sunday, he'll look back

at what he did on Friday and some of the shots that he had to pull off just to sort of come into the house with a 71 to give himself a shot. Go ahead. Well, and 12 was phenomenal. You're right. I think at the end of the, if we're talking to him on Sunday night and he's putting on the green jacket again, it'll be 12. What he did, as we pointed out, could have been a three stroke swing and then 13 to make a par there after putting it in the water. I mean, everything he kind of did was that sort of magic act that it makes him Scottie Scheffler.

All right, Rex, it is time now for moving forever forward presented by workday. What are you most looking forward to this jam packed Saturday? Third round at the masters. Someone has to blink, right? As we sit here and talk, we talked about Scotty Scheffler overcoming what was a really difficult round. We talked about Rory McIlroy bouncing back after what was an awful finish on Thursday. We talked about Bryson DeChambeau somehow, uh,

overpowering this golf course in a way that we really haven't seen in a long time, maybe since Tiger Woods. We talked about Justin Rose. Can he continue on this clip? And you're right. When you look at the scoring difference historically between the first round and the second round, I think it was over two and a half strokes was the difference in scoring average. So you would anticipate, to Brandel's point, respectfully, you would have anticipated today would have been the day when he would have faded and it didn't happen. Something has to break.

Something has to give. We can't continue at this pace for this much longer. And look, I thought Friday afternoon was by far the toughest conditions that players have faced this

so far this week. I don't have the wave splits in front of me, but Roy McIlroy clearly benefited from more benign conditions than I think players were anticipating. They went out and got it, and all credit to them for Scottie to play. What was 20 to 25 mile an hour winds on Friday to get through with this while still giving himself a shot? I go, Rex, to the condensed nature

Of this leaderboard, what do we have here? Four, excuse me, 11 players within four shots of the lead. The weather conditions that we are going to have on the weekend is phenomenal. 70, sunny, light breeze. The rain that we had overnight on Thursday has softened this golf course up enough that I still think numbers are going to be out there.

on early Saturday and early Saturday afternoon. So if you're a Xander Shoffley, if you're a Colin Morikawa, if you're a Ludwig Oberg, all those players two under or better at this stage of the golf tournament, I still think a 66-67 is a realistic score on Saturday. And all of a sudden, Sunday gets even a little bit more hectic.

This is completely opposite of what you tried to pitch last night. Now everyone's in the mix. Last night, it was just six players could win. Forget it. This thing is over. We should just finish with those six players. Historically speaking, statistically speaking, I have no idea what the trends are saying, but I know what my eye test is telling me.

Anyone that made the cut now, if you made the cut, you have an opportunity. That's all I have to say. And like we can't, we're not going to get into, there were surprises. I mean, there was Brooks Koepka missed the cut. I mean, there were some shocking players, some top players who missed the cut. And I'm sure we'll get into that later. But going into the weekend, I think you're right. I think this leaderboard is much more wide open than even I thought it was. And I wasn't the one leaning into the stat salad.

You mentioned the missed cuts. Players like Russell Headley, who was one of my sleepers this week. Brooks Koepka played his last two holes in five or made eight holes.

in the 18th hole. Pretty shocking to see Big Bad Brooksy bow out for the year's first major. Cam Smith, unable to get it done. Cam Young, unable to get it done. One of the stories, Rex, that I'm actually writing for NBCSports.com slash golf on Friday, which I'm going to encourage everyone to go out and read, is what happened to Nick Dunlap.

The young phenom, 21 years old, shot 90 in the opening round, came back with a 71. But I think there's more to the story than just that turnaround, just that bounce back. This is a player who I think is going to be worth rooting for in the foreseeable future.

All right. That is going to do it for this edition of the golf channel podcast with Rex and lav. You guys have a drill NBC sports.com slash golf for our latest news notes and updates. Rex and I'll be back on Saturday night for a full recap of the third round of the 89th masters. We absolutely cannot wait to bring it to you. It's going to be a great day. Thanks for listening. Thanks for the support. Talk to you guys. 24 hours.

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