Open qualifying makes us wonder: Do we need Golf's Longest Day 2.0?!
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Welcome to What's Next. For your community, for your career, and for the healthcare field. At Carrington College, we're training the next generation of allied healthcare professionals, bringing you the hands-on training to be ready for a career in healthcare.

We're building on a proven legacy of career training, going back over half a century. So if you're ready to train for your career and make a difference in your community, we're ready for you. For information about student outcomes, visit carrington.edu. Hello and welcome to this edition of the Golf Show Podcast with Rex and Lab. And Rex, this is all your fault, because on Monday's edition of Golf Today, you offered...

that we might want to consider a golf's longest day 2.0, or British style, however you want to phrase it. And after Tuesday and the excitement that we had across the pond,

I don't know. I think you may have been right. I think I volunteered, actually, for the Royal Sync Ports. There was four qualifiers. And I love that golf course. I love that area of England and the idea of how many stories there were in the field. I think I went through it. First, you had Ian Poulter trying to qualify for his first Open in a couple of years, playing with his son, Luke, which I thought was pretty cool. He's an amateur. He almost qualified for the U.S. Open at Oakmont. Eamon always goes one step further and brought up the dream scenario of a playoff.

between the Poulters for that final spot. Like that, like I would have never thought about that. Only Amon's mind goes to that. Probably GMAC, Graham McDowell was in that field as well and trying to get back to Port Rush. He played in the last open that was played there. Certainly you look at, I think he's 45 years old. You're not quite sure how many more opens he'll have.

opportunities he'll have to play and open in his home country. And we all know what that would mean to him at Royal Port Rush. And then just across the board, I mean, we can go through the results. I think Lee Westwood was probably the one that caught my attention the most, but I just think it would be cool. Hopefully our bosses weren't listening.

I mean, it would certainly be more of an expenditure than golf's longest day was. What do we have? Nine reporters at sites all around the country. That's just four sites. About a month ago. It is. I mean, it's very similar. It's just a scaled-down version. It's 36 holes. It's four sites. It's 20 spots overall, five spots at each, regardless of – I was sort of –

It seemed like a lot of the talent was bunched in one site and not really dispersed. I think at least the USGA probably does a little bit better job of spaying those out in terms of the number of spots available at each site based on the strength. And I think it's easy to look at

some of the strength of some of the qualifiers and shrug and say, you know, who cares about these guys? I would point to what happened just last year at Royal Troon. Both Justin Rose, who finished in a tie for second at Troon, and Daniel Brown, who was very much in the mix of 36 holes, both came through the 36-hole final qualifier. So these stories can happen, and I think they add a lot of flavor to the championship. When you look at some of the players, though, Rex,

Like you got through and live players won three of the four qualifiers. We'll get to Lee Westwood in a moment, but Lucas Herbert won his qualifier. Dean Burmester won his qualifier. Keep in mind, these guys just played the live golf event in Dallas and had to fly roughly 5,000 miles across the Atlantic to get there. They arrived late on Monday night as it related to Lucas Herbert.

Read a story that because the golf course was closed by the time he got in, he grabbed about 30 balls, went down to the beach near Birkdale and was just hitting like eight irons on the beach to, to groove his fuels that he saw. They thought he found in the final round of the live golf dolls event. Dean Burmester, meanwhile, shot 64.

In the second round of his qualifier, that was the best round of the second round by five shots. Called it one of the best rounds of his life at Royal St. Ports. Those are the sorts of stories that are great because those players probably deserve it. When you look at the live golf rankings, how those guys have played this season, I know they get the one automatic spot.

which is new this year, both in the U S open and the open championship. I've always probably felt that number is probably more deserving of about three based on the quality of those players. But to see that those guys put in the work flag across the pond, I know they're getting ready for next week's event at Valderrama, but they're, so they have to be over there anyway, but to go through the work,

and earn their spot, to me, has to be pretty satisfying. No, it is. And this kind of harkens back the way the RNA and the USGA as well have created these pathways. So the Scottish Open next week will have X number of spots available in the international final qualifier.

And they do that over the course of essentially the last year since the last open championship. So it doesn't hold as much sway as maybe they used to with these final qualifiers. But I remember being at golf week magazine years ago and Brad facts and making the trip over to try to do the,

Monday before qualifier, essentially before the open championship and just kind of following them around for a couple of days. And it became sort of this pilgrimage for a lot of tour players. If you weren't already qualified, you just kind of came over anyway. And if you qualified great, and if not, you probably spent some days in the UK, Scotland playing golf, hanging out and exploring that side of the world. I just think there's,

There's a romanticized feel to it. The idea that you are, and you're right. The live guys deserve a monsoon of credit here because going from Dallas to wherever like this.

drinking game, going from Dallas to wherever it is they went to, whether that was Dundon or or rural sink ports or any of the qualifying sites. It's not a small task. It's not an easy ask for these guys. I think it shows the importance of what this means to a Dean Brewmaster or Lee Westwood to to make the trip, to make the effort and to qualify for the Open Championship.

Yeah, Westy's an interesting one because he has not played an Open Championship, has not played a major championship since 2022. He said he really didn't have the desire to do so, and he only committed to play in this final qualifier about a week ago while getting ready for the Live Golf at Dallas event, decided why not. He showed at least a little bit.

of form in recent weeks, shot 62 in the final round of the live event in DC, ended up finishing inside the top 10. But other than that, I mean, he's like 42nd on live. He's, he's sort of just, just a middling performer on that circuit, but he decides to sign up, plays the live Dallas event,

Flies across the pond. He said he got in late Monday night, only walked the golf course because he's never been to Dundonnell Lakes before. Got one and a half hours of sleep, played 36 holes and shot seven under to pace the field. Again, there hadn't been many signs that this was coming.

But the fact that he even tried and did it, I think, is really impressive. And now I think when you sort of fast forward to the Open Championship, who knows? One of his best performances at the Open Championship came just six years ago at Royal Portrush when he finished in a tie for fourth. The Open, as we know, is the major that is friendliest to the old timers.

Because you can play the ball along the ground. You wouldn't say Augusta? I think Augusta might be. No, I don't think in recent years just because of the added length. Like you really have to, Bob. You might be able to scrape it by and make the cut like Bernhard Langer has tried to do over the past couple years. But the Open Championship.

whether it's Tom Watson, whether it's Greg Norman, whether it's Darren Clark, and even Lee Westwood just a couple years ago, Phil Mickelson, Hedrick Sensen, like all of these guys would seemingly be past their athletic primes, and yet they've still been very competitive. Justin Rose just a year ago. It sort of neutralizes the field just because it's a different style of play. And so who knows? I wouldn't be totally shocked

If Lee Westbrook could turn back the clock and be somewhat competitive through two or three rounds. And I think a lot of the live guys are starting to, let's call it the Joaquin Neiman effect where Joaquin went out of his way to play non live events, to get world ranking points, to keep his name relative in the ecosystem of golf.

despite his status on live golf. And I think a lot of these players have noticed that and seen that. And that's why you probably end up with those players gravitating over on the Monday before the Monday after an event in Dallas, just to give it a shot because you really never know. You're right. In the case of Lee Westwood, he's played the open championship enough. He has that institutional knowledge. I don't know that anybody would be surprised if he gets himself in the mix at Port Rush. A couple other stories I wanted to highlight.

From golf's longest day, 2.0 British style amateur Richard Teeter. I believe that's how you pronounce his name. Doubled his last hole. Apparently it was some sort of like rules controversy about where his ball ended up. Ended up making double bogey to fall into a playoff. Then he,

in a pretty magical moment, holes out for Eagle in the playoff to get through on the first playoff hole. Good for Richard Teeter, the first player from Estonia to ever play in the Open Championship. I also heard an interview with Justin Walters, who has now entered into his first Open Championship since 2014, two nights prior to the qualifier. He said that he spent all night

looking at a picture on his bedroom wall of his experience at the Open Championship. He was crying afterward in an interview with the Open. Folks called it a shining star after a couple of difficult years. These are the sort of stories, Rex, that we could be telling on Golf Channel.

We're versed in sports or whatever it's going to be called in a couple years' time. I don't think your partner in crime, Eamon, appreciated it like you did. You seem to have embraced it a little bit more than he had. I just got a sneer out of Eamon.

I mean, and Eamon's going to be just sitting in a studio kicking it to us hardworking correspondents who will be putting in two golf's longest days, potentially in the span of a month. Rex, there's something else as it relates to the qualifier that was also announced by the RNA. It doesn't take effect until next year, but I'm curious your thoughts on this. They announced this sort of one round on-site qualifier on Monday of Open Championship Week.

It's going to be contested at Royal Birkdale. It's going to be one spot. It's going to be 12 guys, 18 holes again on Monday of championship week. Just essentially think of a Monday qualifier on the PJ tour. That is what it's going to be to get into a major championship. You think this is gimmicky? You think this is cool?

I think it's cool. I'm not when it comes to the Open Championship, as you pointed out, it's all about the tradition. So this seems a little bit different. But what this boils down to is creating more content. Right. What they're doing is they're sort of answering the fans request for more golf. They want to see more competition. And they've kind of done that in this day and age of modern media and what every league is trying to do. I think you and I had a long conversation about the in-tournament competition.

I mean, the in-season tournament and the NBA. They essentially just created content out of it. The WNBA just did the same exact thing.

You look at what hockey did with the Four Nations this year. I mean, that was pretty cool. I'm not a hockey fan, but I think a lot of people sort of gravitated to that. So I think this is the golf's answer to that, which I'm all for. Anytime you can create more content, anytime you can create more opportunities for fans to enjoy the game, absolutely. There is an element in my mind, however, this is the curmudgeon coming out of me, that this is the oldest championship, major championship,

and golf. And to just plop something like this down out of thin air, I'm sure it's going to work. I'm sure it's going to be entertaining. I'm not quite sure this is the right venue for it.

Mark Darbin, the new chief executive of the RNA, said he's essentially just trying to create more live golf experiences for fans who are going to be attending the Open. So you're going to have this 18-hole qualifier on Monday. There's also something – they used to do this, I remember, certainly. Like a Legends Cup. Like a Legends Cup, like a four-hole type thing for fans to enjoy potentially on Tuesday as well. It certainly is ironic.

That the PGA Tour is largely doing away with Monday qualifiers to sort of cater to the members and making sure that they're getting spots in the field. While major championships, the oldest major championship is adding essentially a Monday qualifier to get guys in the field. Like that's a little bit different. That's a little bit suspect. I'm a little bit curious too, Rex.

how it's going to work in terms of how you're going to fill out that field of 12. Cause in theory, that's a much easier route. A is just 18 holes instead of 36. And you just have to be 11 other guys. Whereas Lee Westwood type is, is playing in a field of let's call it a hundred and having to grab one of the five spots. I would think that,

that the field of 12 would be rounded out by using the reserve list at these qualifiers. So if you couldn't play, for instance, at Dunn-Donald-Lynx and you were one of the top three who did not get through that way, I think you would then be in this qualifier, this 12-for-1 qualifier on Monday. You can't have a situation, I would think, where you're qualifying twice for the Open.

In other words, like a David Pooch, right, who did not get through his qualifier after second round 78. You can't fail on that qualifier and then put him into the Monday qualifier the week of. That would be inherently unfair. I would think, again, details have not yet been released on this from the R&A. I would think they would take the reserve list from the qualifier and then put them in this 12 for 1.

I would think so too, because, and I tend to agree with you, you can't get two bites at the apple in this particular case. But what you would end up with is a player like a David Pooch who knows where he is on the alternate list and knows that he would be one of those 12 to get access to that 18-holer. So you wouldn't go to final local qualifying. So you would do away with the stories that we just spent 10 minutes talking about how much we love. So that is a bit of an odd situation because otherwise you're sort of opening it up

to cronyism for lack of a better term. How else are you going to fill out the field? Like that's in my mind, that's the fairest, best way to do it. Essentially, you're just taking the alternate list and picking off the top 12 guys.

Yeah. So you actually you actually don't want to get into the field for the final qualifier because it would be much much more difficult to play 36 holes and get a top five. Again, this does not happen until next year. I'm sure it's something that you and I will be covering next year at Royal Birkdale. Let's turn our attention to the PGA Tours John Deere Classic two weeks ahead of the season's final major.

Aldrich Potgeeter, last week's win at the Rocket Classic, is in the field. Anything else stand out to you that you sort of have your eyes and ears on?

The sort of the idea behind the John Deere, it was always sort of that last chance. We were talking about qualifying for the Open, but there was always that idea that the guy could win on Sunday and then the mad scramble starts for the passport and trying to get over to the Open Championship before the Scottish Open sort of took over that week before the Open Championship. But I still think there's an element to that for a lot of players. Keep in mind, the Scottish Open is only essentially half a PGA Tour field. The other half of the field is DP World Tour. So there is sort of that romance.

where you can do a classic. It's sort of your last-ditch effort. But it's also the other half of it that I would watch this week that I'm looking forward to is what we touched on on Monday when I was on golf today with you and Eamon, just the idea of how important the numbers are now. They've always been there. We've always kept an eye on the bubbles, whether if it's 125 or top 30 for the tour championship or whatever the case may be. But this year they seem so exaggerated.

because you end up with the guy who's going to finish one-on-one is going to end up losing his job essentially on some level. Like there's elements to this. There's varying degrees of it. Whereas in for decades and decades before this year, if you finished a hundred and first, you probably felt like a decent season, but,

I think as a result, you're seeing players scrambling a lot. I was taken as I was kind of looking down the leaderboard on Sunday last week at the Rocket Classic. How many starts a lot of these guys have? Like for a lot of these guys, it's their 18th, 19th start of the season, and there's still golf to be played. So even before you get to the fall of the playoffs, you're looking at guys who are going to end up playing maybe 25 times.

And that to me is outrageous. And it's all about because of how important these numbers are. Top 50 to make sure you qualify for next year's signature events. Top 100 just to keep your job. Top 70 just to get inside the playoffs. And I think it's so condensed now. It feels like a pressure cooker. And I think players are starting to show that. Yeah, the deer has certainly taken on a bit of a transformation in recent years. As you mentioned, it used to be sort of that last ditch effort thing.

That now has sort of been granted to the Scottish Open with the three spots available to the top finishers not already eligible for the Open Championship. There's no direct way for players. Let's say you win the deer championship.

to get into the open. Now there's still other perks, right? Like you're going to be in the signature events. You're going to be in the masters. There's plenty to play for, but I do think it's now become sort of a FedEx cup cruncher. And I think that's sort of the, the, the interesting shift that we've seen because you and I have talked endlessly on this podcast about this sleepy summer stretch. And, and,

And what do these tournaments mean? The fields usually aren't that good. And that's sort of shifting in this first year that we've seen since the goalposts have been moved from top 125 to top 100. We had Andrew Lehman on Tuesday's Golf Today. He's the tournament director for John Deere. Three years ago, the John Deere Classic had the worst field strength of schedule wise of any tournament on the PGA Tour.

This year, the John Deere Classic has its strongest field in its history, at least in the OWGR era. That is largely because there are just five events remaining on the regular season schedule for the PGA Tour. And so players like Ricky Fowler, who's just inside the top 70 and trying to make sure he's exempt for the playoffs or get inside the top 50, make sure he's exempt for the signature events next year so he doesn't have to get the sponsor exemptions that were so scrutinized this year. He's a player who's going to be exempt

who's teeing up for the first time. You have a player like Max Homa, who would never a couple of years ago would have even considered playing the John Deere classic. Instead,

Now he's 122 in the FedEx Cup, and although he is exempt on the PGA Tour for a couple more years because of his resume, he still wrecks in a situation where he wants to get inside that top 70 as well. So I think there's a trickle-down effect. We've already seen tournaments like the 3M Open, which is being played the week after

the Open Championship, so the penultimate regular season event on the PGA Tour, already boasting about its field with 30 of the top 80 in the world already signed up for that tournament. And so, you know, whereas these were sort of lost tournaments before, easy to dismiss, they're certainly getting a boost in relevance just because of the new structure of the PGA Tour. And I think overall, that's a great thing for the tour.

And I think you're probably going to see this become the new norm. I was talking with the tournament director at the Wyndham Championship a few days ago just about the idea of that event, Mark Brazel's event, has turned into a de facto playoff event. The idea that guys show up that week looking specifically to making sure I get in the top 70 to make it to the next event. So technically, it's not a playoff event.

but what guys have turned it into because of that participation. And you're right. Like when the 3M Open and the John Deere and the Wyndham can point specifically to this, and I think you referred to it in the podcast on Sunday as sort of the story of the second season. Because once we get past the major championships, all the attention is going to turn to the playoffs and where you are on that points list on the varying degrees of it. And these tournaments are uniquely positioned, and they're going to benefit for this with better fields.

It's certainly going to be interesting too, because the deer has always been synonymous with like the youth movement and Claire Peterson, who's Andrew Lehman's predecessor as tournament director of the deer always made it a priority to invite like these young rising stars. And they've done it again this year with a, with a Jackson Quaven, who's a top rank damage from the world. Ben James is a great player out of Virginia. Michael Assasso is the reigning NCAA champion. And,

Preston Summerhays just turned pro. Like they've, they've made it a point to give those guys sponsor exemptions. Well, I think when you look at, at the players who would potentially be fighting for their, uh, PGA tour livelihoods, I wonder if that ethos is, is going to shift and to just acknowledge the changing landscape of the PGA tour that, that, yeah, do the, do the young guys, um, do they, uh,

Do they deserve probably not a right word, but do they warrant consideration for these spots to get them some experience before they eventually jumped to the big time? Sure. I certainly think that's possible, but I do wonder in coming years if, if the deer will evolve and make it more so about giving these guys legitimate opportunities to log another start, especially with just so few regular season starts for many, I think that's going to be interesting to watch.

As well, Rex, you are about to head to Scotland. You are covering the Scottish Open as a Golf Central reporter leaving in a couple of days.

What are you most looking forward to before we catch back up again on Sunday? It's going to be three weeks over there. So one week in Scotland, then of course the open in Northern Ireland and work. My family's taking a bit of a vacation in Ireland afterwards. So we've done this the last couple of years and I can't wait. Like it's just, you and I both talk about it all the time. It's my favorite time of the year on the golf calendar because everything is

is new and different and you and I get to play a little bit of golf and it's just an enjoyable experience. I love the Scottish open as sort of the backdrop to getting ready for the open championship. Certainly what Bobby McIntyre did last year was really cool. What Rory did the year before. So it's always fun to do this. You sound absolutely terrible. I look forward to sharing a house with you. Undoubtedly, undoubtedly I will get sick over the next week and a half. It will also be the return of bunk mate.

Rex's wife will be joining us across the pond. Looking forward to that. Rex and I will be back. He'll be doing the show at like 11 o'clock local time, p.m. from Scotland on Sunday night. But if you guys have any questions for the Sunday night show, I know we only got to three of the five last week. We'll get to the two that we didn't have as well as any additional ones. Plenty of time to get to those on Sunday. Please send it our way.

Thank you for listening. Thanks for supporting you guys on the drill. In the meantime, NBCSports.com slash golf for all latest news, notes, and updates. Talk to you guys on Sunday night. Have a great Fourth of July. Those of you listening in the States. Good gaming time.