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Hello and welcome into this edition of the Golf Show Podcast with Rex and Lab. Well, another signature event is on the docket this week on the PGA Tour with the Truist Championship. A new name, at least for one year, a new location at Philadelphia Cricket Club. No world number one sky shoveler in the field this week. He is resting and preparing for next week's PGA Championship. However...

The other best players on the PGA Tour are all in Philadelphia, including the headliner, Roy McIlroy, playing for the first time in an individual tournament since he won the Masters and became the sixth player to complete the career Grand Slam. Rex, what has your attention this week? The golf course, first and foremost. You and I both were on golf today a few days ago and kind of

I think Philly Cricket Club is going to bring out the golf nerd in both of us. We're going to turn into a little bit like our friends over at the Friday and talk a lot about grass and architecture and green complexes. But it is a cool stop. And I would encourage everyone to tune in for what will be a really good field and what has been.

pretty much the season at the signature events, good finishes. However, I think the attraction, at least right now, as we talk on Wednesday, it's going to be the golf course. PGA tour rarely goes to these kinds of golden age architecture golf course. It's an AW Tillinghast. It was 1854 wrecks. Uh,

It's been around a minute. It was redesigned in 2014, so it's been modernized a little bit. But I think this is one of those courses, and we kind of rifled through the list of courses on the PGA Tour. And it's a surprisingly small list in my mind that if I asked you to name –

10 classic, really good golf courses outside of the majors that they play on the PGA tour. You'd probably be a little stumped to come up with 10. I think you and I both could come up with five. So when they do go to a course like this, they do it at the U S open with Marion and Oakmont and all the classic venues. They do it at the PGA championship, but very rarely do you get it at just a, I don't want to call a signature event, a run of the mill tour event, but that's what this is. And I think it's going to be a cool aspect to it.

Look, I think venues matter. They matter to the fans, particularly the hardcore golf fans, architecture geeks who really care about this stuff. They matter to the players. I think it matters where they win their PGA Tour stops or where they win their major championships. I think location matters too, whether it's in Philadelphia, whether it's in Chicago, whether it's in New York or Boston. I mean, if you live in the Northeast and you're a PGA Tour golf fan, you are starved.

for high level competition besides the travelers championship located in Connecticut, not exactly a golfing hotbed. I mean, there's no other regular PJ tour stop. And so this is, this is great for a golf mad community in Philadelphia. I know the PJ championships going to Ron and McNext year. And so they'll get, they'll fill that way. But I think, I think having a truest championship a signature event in the PJ tour at

Philadelphia Country, excuse me, Philadelphia Cricket Club is a great reminder that venues matter and location matters too. I'm with you. I think the golf course is going to be the star of the show. And I like it because it's different. I like it because it's new. At this point, it's like for you and I, sort of veteran golf scribes, I think of us as basically with veteran PGA Tour players.

but do where the schedule can become somewhat monotonous. There's a certain rhythm and flow to it. You look at practice rounds on the PGA tour. If you've been to a place like Torrey pines, what are you probably logging at most 18 holes of practice, basically just seeing what the conditions are going to be for the week. This is a little bit more cramming, a little bit more homework, a little bit more knowledge, uh,

I think it pays to sort of be a quick learner. It pays to have a really good caddy. And I'm just looking forward to seeing something new on TV this week. However, you did have some early week rain wrecks in Philadelphia. They're going in threesomes off split tees on Thursday with the anticipation of more rain. I do think that's a little bit of a shame because these classic golf courses, I know they've been renovated, but these classic golf courses, it's 7,100 yard golf course at par 70, uh,

they are meant to be with these extreme green complexes really firm and really fast. It just doesn't seem like we're going to be able to get that this week. No, but I still think you'll be able to get a taste of how

how good a classic course like this is and it it is going to be by comparison because let's be honest what happened last week and i've heard actually a lot from other media more more general sports media about how last week's finish with scotty scheffler completely lapping the field and blowing that golf course out of the water it isn't good for golf somehow that it's not good for the pga tour i would counter and it was good to ratings ratings were through the roof and i would counter and say even if it wasn't the world number one if you're watching someone play that level of

golf. It doesn't matter if it's Scotty or anyone else. I think there needs to be a level of appreciation of how much better he is than everyone else in the field. And I know blowouts can get a little boring in other sports, but I did appreciate what Scotty was doing, especially coming down the stretch, knowing that he's going to be able to do whatever he wants on this particular golf course. So it is going to be jarring going from that

a tpc a monday in tpc a tpc that's going to get dug up after last week's tournament going to this and because my guess is 30 something under par is not going to win at philly cricket club and i was reading a story that they did it could be 20 though could be 20. however i was reading and i was a little encouraged by this i was reading a story where they were doing a q a session with the superintendent at philly cricket club and he described it as the first six holes you get punched in the gut

And then the middle six holes are durable. You can score on them. And then the last six holes, you can get punched in the gut. And I thought, huh, that feels like every golf course I've ever played.

that is, that is the traditional routing though. I read the exact same thing. That's the traditional routing for Philly cricket club. They've actually changed it for the championship as they've done a couple of times over the past decade. And they've had the senior PGA, uh, the USJ four ball there. Now it's essentially the first seven holes are scorable where you can make your hay. And then it's hanging out for dear life. The remainder of, of the round, which I think makes for good TV. I'm sure that's why I did it as well as accessibility for the fans. Roy McRoy, uh,

on Wednesday morning during his press conference described it as sort of a bombs away strategy

He compared Philly Cricket Club basically to a smaller version of Oak Hill. And if you remember back to that PGA Championship, much was made of the renovation that Andrew Green had done. A lot of trees were removed. Some of the fairways were widened. It became a second shot golf course. This is like that on a much smaller scale. And Rory reflecting back on 2023 PGA, he said, you know, he played it very conservatively for the first two rounds. And then all of a sudden he realized this is a bomber's paradise.

And he just full send on every hole. You look at the players who are in the mix that week. Brooks Koepka won the golf tournament. Bryce Neshamba was very much in the mix as well. Roy said he's going to employ a very similar strategy this week. Just hammering driver as hard as he can, flying the bunkers at about a 310 carry. So for he, for Ludwig, Xander Schauffele, the rest of the long hitters in the field,

I do think you'll see that sort of strategy and make their birdies that way because the rough is not all that penal. How about Rex? Oh, sorry. Sasha's finger was up. Go ahead. Well, and I think you touched on it. The other part that will be interesting to me is Philly is very much a golf star starved region when it comes to top level golf. And you can say the same thing about the New York metropolitan area and the Washington DC area. However, I think Philly will be a little bit different because that is a really good fan base when it comes to golf. And I'm looking forward to see what the crowd's going to be like.

as well from a player standpoint I think Roy McIlroy is is obviously the the player to watch first individual term I know he played the Zurich Classic with partner Shane Lowry wasn't particularly sharp I think we can excuse that one away there's much to play for for the remainder of the season in particular next week at the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow a golf course that he dominates like none other Jordan Spieth joked earlier this week that that is Roy McIlroy country club

I know you want to talk about Rory. Anybody else in the field, though, Rex, that sort of has your eye, has your attention, not just this week for the signature event, but next week in the second major championship of the year? I think it'll be a good tune-up for Quail Hollow, and it's not a great comparison between Quail Hollow and Philly Cricket, but it's going to require probably the same amount of things that you're going to need at the PGA Championship in two weeks.

You're going to have to really control your ball off the tee box. We can get a good idea of where Rory is after probably taking a well-deserved few weeks off. And I would count New Orleans and the Zurich Classic as a week off, if I'm being honest. It seems to me he and Shane had more fun than anyone else in New Orleans during that week. So I'll be curious to see how he drives the ball, because you're right. Once he goes to Quail Hollow, he knows exactly what it takes to win there. And a couple of other players, probably Xander is at the top of my list, simply because we keep waiting and watching.

So we were waiting and watching for Scotty Scheffler to finally break through and win for the first time in 2025. And he did it in convincing fashion. I think Xander would be the next on that list. It seems to me if we're checking off boxes that you and I would have made in January to start the year, what do we want to see? Well, we want to see Scotty Scheffler continue to be Scotty Scheffler. And he seems to me he's back on that wagon. We want to see Rory McIlroy.

Roy, win the Masters. I think he's back on that wagon. Certainly win the Masters, win the career Grand Slam. I think the next on the list would be Xander. And we've talked about the injury and how it takes a while to recover from a rib injury. And there's certainly a level of frustration that he's experiencing and we're seeing with his game right now. But I would be curious to see because this seems like the kind of golf course that would set up perfectly for last year's version, if he can get back to that.

Yeah, I mean, certainly Quail Hollow sets up very well for Senator Shoffley. Remember, he had the big lead at the Wells Fargo Championship before Roy McIlroy went nuclear on the final day and passed him there. But the way that he drives the golf ball typically has not been that sort of story in 2025. If he's still trying to find the right swing slots with swing coach Chris Como, his putting has really suffered this year as well. But he has stacked a couple of nice –

encouraging performances on top of each other. Three consecutive top 20 finishes now heading in to this week's signature event. So I'm with you. Xander Shoffley is very interesting. Justin Thomas coming off a win at Harbortown, a long awaited win had not won since the 2022 PGA championship, despite putting up stats.

that Justin Thomas, I think, was quite happy with. And he was sort of preaching patience, expressing patience, wanting us to be patient with him. Actually got the long way to W. Now he's heads not just this week in Philly, but next week at Quail Hollow. He, of course, won the PGA last time it was held there in 2017. Jordan Spieth, I think, is still going to be a curiosity. Again, I'm not sure what sort of comparisons –

or parallels you can draw from his performance this week in Philly that would help him next week. But for me, Rex, I think the big player to watch actually is a little bit off the radar, and that's Victor Hovland.

One in Tampa, had a couple of other nice showings, both at the Masters where he was in the mix heading into the weekend, as well as Harvard Town where he had another top 15 finish as well. You look at the PGA Championships the last couple years, took Brooks right to the finish line at Oak Hill, nearly won out of nowhere at Valhalla for the PGA Championship. The way that the PGA of America officials set up their golf courses now, if Victor Hovland

is at his ball striking best, which he has shown at times that he's getting close to that. I think he's a very intriguing player. And so this week in Philly, Philly Cricket Club, with the emphasis that you're going to have with a second shot golf course, positioning your ball on the greens, away from the slopes, giving yourself the best angles and approaches for your putts, I think will be a good test for Victor Hovland and where his game is at the moment heading into the heart of major championship season.

No, and we kind of went round and round about this, I think, on Sunday when we were filling our 52 minutes. And we came up with the idea that you can come up with a really good list, and I'm sure we'll do it more as we move closer to Quail Hollow, of five, six, seven players who, not even favorites, I mean, they could easily win the PGA Championship. And I think Victor should be on that list. I mean, just by the way he's playing, and you're right, his history and that event would stand out and be encouraging to him. But I just think his game has finally come around. I mean, we...

I've talked endlessly about the idea that he is always searching. He's always looking for answers. And he seems to be in one of those, let's call them runs or windows where he seems to have the answers. Yeah. I would put Ludwig Oberg in that same sort of category. I just don't know which Ludwig Oberg is going to show up. Would you put Jordan Spieth on that list? In my five to six favorites? No. You being the primary homer here? No. Particularly when you look at the forecast. I'm not sure if you look at the forecast early week for Charlotte,

Seems a little early. Seems a little early if you'd be looking at the forecast. It is a little bit early, but it seems like this is going to be irreversible at this point. They're calling for three to four inches of rain. Right.

On Monday and Tuesday in Charlotte. That's not a system, Rex, that's just going to sort of skirt the area. Like you're going to see significant rainfall early week at the Wells Fargo Championship. What was that noise? That was a big old thumbs down. It does not look good at all. Roy McIlroy has to be licking his chops as he heads to the PGA Championship. Speaking of which, Rex.

The field was finalized earlier this week by the PGA of America. If you're keeping score at home, 15 live golf regulars will be in the field for the year's second major. A couple of notable late additions, such as Dustin Johnson, Tom McKibben, and David Pooge. What stood out to you? I,

I think the PG of America seems to be on the forefront of this when it comes to creating a bridge for the live players. So you have to give them credit. I think they, they've decided that their field of 156 players is going to be the best field in golf, or at least major championship golf. So,

I give full credit to them. When you look at Joaquin Neiman has done on live golf, just not this year, but really the last two year cycle, you can only imagine where he would probably be in the world ranking. If they did get points, Tom McKibben seems to be playing well, seems to be a talented player. I certainly understand that. And I can probably go through the list and make good arguments for most of the players who did get those special invitations. The one that I cannot, and I know I'm going to like the bots are going to come after me. I know it like leave me alone. Don't don't do this. But,

I don't understand Dustin Johnson. And I say that only not based on his resume, because based on his resume, he's a hall of fame golfer. This has nothing to do with that. Even data golf, which you're a beloved data golf, which you will always go back to.

because they are the only ones that have found a way to bridge the gap between the two tours and come up with some sort of comparison. Even they have him at 141st in the world ranking right now, well outside of what would be the normal threshold for the PGA championship, which is the top 100 essentially is what they want to make sure to get into. Even on live golf this season against that limited number of competition, he's 28th on

on that points list. He's not playing well this year. He hasn't played particularly well on live golf or anywhere else for the last two years. I think the first year on live golf, he was, you could make an argument. He was dominant. I'm not quite sure how much interest he has in playing professional golf at this point. By most accounts of people I talk to who are out on live golf, they say he's pretty much,

I don't want to say mailed it in, but he's coasting. Sure. Like he got a very large paycheck to go play on live golf and he's making the most of it and he's enjoying himself. Nothing absolutely in the world wrong with that. My only point in all of this is why did he get that invitation? Okay. I think the DJ justification is,

could be not a past champion by the way if he was a past champion I wouldn't even understand that correct I think I think there's there's two parts to it one his five-year exemption for winning the 2020 Masters just expired it just expired last month at

at the Masters when he won the 2020 Masters in November. I could see giving a little bit of a grace period. That was a little bit of a weird situation, obviously, with November. Then he goes to this year, going in April. So I think the window for a five-year exemption for winning that tournament was shorter than it typically would have been. So I think that's one reasonable thing. And second, I think, is sort of the fan factor.

And Dustin Johnson is still a brand name. He's still a valued asset in the world of golf, even if he is not playing particularly well. Keep in mind, Ricky Fowler also got an exemption. And I was going to get around to that. Absolutely. Into the PGA championship. There's at least a dozen players.

If you look at the official world golf ranking who have a more viable case than Ricky Fowler does. And yet the PGA of America officials still deemed him worthy of getting an invitation as well. So I would, I think it's multifaceted when it comes to Dustin Johnson. I didn't have a huge issue with that. When you look at players like Tom McKibben,

and David Pooj, both of whom were just outside the top 100 in the official World Golf ranking. That's sort of the unofficial cutoff point for the PGA likes to give their special invitations to. That's pretty good. They've done that obviously based on how they performed in the DP World Tour starts, not getting world ranking points with Liv. If you're looking for omissions, if you're looking for snubs, I don't think there are many.

However, if you're a fan of live golf, you probably have some gripes that Carlos Ortiz, Lucas Herbert, and Sebastian Munoz, all of whom are ranked inside the top 10 in live's individual standings and have played some decent golf this year in those tournaments, did not get a special invitation to the PGA Championship. And so although the PGA may be more accommodating than the USGA or the RNA, which has created a very narrow pathway,

for the top-ranked player not already exempt to get into those major championships, they're still not ready to declare that the results in live tournaments mean as much as they do PGA Tour results or even on the DP World Tour. No, and I think that's 100% fair, and my guess is there is a new CEO at the PGA of America. Derek Sprague took over, and I think we would anticipate –

Plenty of questions on Tuesday or Wednesday, whenever it is the PGA of America holds their normal press conference along those lines where it is a very good point that if you created a more structured pathway from live golf to X, Y, Z, let's take the PGA championship out of it. If you're just creating a more structured pathway, it would be top 10 player that's in the top 10. That's not otherwise exempt or something along that idea. And all three of those players would be very good, would be very good options to be able to bring up.

Speaking of the PGA Rex, you have an interesting story that's going up on NBCSports.com slash golf on Wednesday. Give our listeners a little bit of a sneak peek about what that's about.

If everyone remembers, and I'm sure anyone that follows the Ryder Cup does, they came out with pricing for individual tickets for competition days at $750. And I think all of us, I think most people agreed that seems outrageous. Now, to be fair, that includes food and all non-alcoholic drinks. And also to be fair, they have sold out all but Tuesday and Wednesday. So all of the competition days have been sold out. So the argument there in a free market is,

Your product is worth what people are willing to pay for it. And clearly there was people who more than I believe it was you as well were in the lottery. Didn't you, didn't you sign up for the lottery? Yes. Yes. My wife did sign up for it. And did you pay your $750? I said, hopefully we can get tickets another way. Julius looking at you. Uh,

I think the argument can be made to be fair if I was an economics professor that, yeah, that's what people were willing to pay. Like you can be critical. Premium event, I believe, was the terminology.

Well, and if you look at the competition, I think that's what you end up with. So what the PGA of America is announcing or did announce today being Wednesday is that they're going to do, I think it's called a people's perk. And they're essentially going to give away 3000 tickets to the Ryder Cup to New York area golfers. And they're going to do that over the summer. It's going to be kind of a grassroots kind of program where they're going to go to the local public golf courses.

around the New York metropolitan area and let them decide who's the most passionate golfer, who should, who, who from your club should be the one. And essentially this is a bit of a trade-off and there's a couple of things I want to address. This is a bit of a trade-off that when normally a PGA championship or a Ryder cup goes to a club, Quail Hollow being a good example in two weeks for the PGA championship, that club gets X number of tickets, 2000, 3000, whatever the case may be. So in this case,

They were thinking because Bethpage Black is a very public golf course, that that's the way they were going to do that. I think all of that is very cool. And the way it's going to unfold, there's going to be a lot of cool stories. And I appreciate what the PGA of America is doing here. And I had a chance to talk to the championship.

director about this, Brian Carnes, who, look, he was put in the hot seat when these ticket prices came out and had to do a lot of justification. And my very first question right out of the gates was, this looks reactionary. This looks like you guys are just trying to do a make good. His counter to me was that they started thinking about this, the People's Park, giving away these tickets long before they ever actually came up with the final pricing. And he also wanted to make it perfectly clear, this is not going to be a silver bullet. This

This isn't going to make everything okay with the New York area fans who probably got priced out of what is not just a national event, an international event, but I will give them credit for trying. I'll give them a credit for trying two things. It does feel a little bit like the golden ticket and Willy Wonka.

Sure. Where, you know, you're just you're trying to get that golden ticket to the Ryder Cup and there's going to be a lot of fanfare surrounding it. There's going to be fighting. I'm not sure how they're going to actually determine which which people at the club are going to be getting them. I'm sure Rex, the skeptic in me, is going to be scoffing and cringing at some of the videos that the PGA of America is going to be putting out.

Totally spontaneous with the unveiling of the tickets and the celebratory reactions for those fine folks who are getting them. Still, again, it's not going to be a silver bullet, as you mentioned. It's not a magic elixir. No one is going to forget that they were price gouged out.

of attending the Ryder Cup. However, I scouched that, that, that, that seems like a bit of a hot take price gouged. I, we just had a whole economics conversation. It is not price gouging when people are willing to pay for it. Look, it's, it's not going to affect the Ryder Cup whatsoever. You're still going to have 50,000 fans. It's still going to be delirious. It's still going to be glorious madness.

I don't think it's going to be all of a sudden like the 2023 US Open where it's basically just folks in hospitality who are on site and the vibes are not high. Like, I'm not worried about it at all. Credit to the PGA of America for at least trying to do something different. Speaking, Rex, of the Ryder Cup,

Billy Horschel could be lost for the remainder of the PGA Tour season, said he was going to be undergoing hip surgery, said he hoped to return in late summer or early fall. Obviously, the way he had played over the past year or so, you would think he would be under strong consideration, if not to make mistakes.

the team on points to at least be considered by captain Keegan Bradley. Do you think that this dooms his Ryder cup hopes? Are you still holding out any sort of hope that if he can return to competition in time, you know, July, maybe early August that he could do enough to convince captain Bradley that he should be on the team. I don't know how you can have much hope when you're pretty much taking yourself out of the complete window and you're right. But what you've removed here is all of the years remaining major championships. And that's where the majority of the points,

the lion's share of the points get awarded when it comes to the Ryder Cup for both teams, America and Europe. And I think Billy would have been a very strong candidate based on his performance the last two years, based on his performance on the President's Cup, based on what we all know about how passionate he is. I am curious because I was with him early in the week in New Orleans when he first mentioned that his hips just started hurting him kind of randomly after Hilton Head. And then we had talked at Hilton Head.

extensively just about all manner of things. And he hadn't even brought it up. So it was very much on a, that is a fine for me. Wow. Um,

But he had brought it up, just the idea that it just kind of cropped up Monday, Tuesday, whatever the case may be at TPC Louisiana. So that is a little concerning that you went from zero to 160 that quickly, that surgery was your only option to get through it. I don't have any doubt that he's able to bounce back from this. I've seen enough players go through this procedure and have success afterwards. I just think when it comes to this year's Ryder Cup, you're getting rid of the

The three more events that really matter when it comes to at least being a pick. Like I would, I would think it would be difficult for him at this point to get through enough points to automatically qualify. And if you're not playing in the major, you're really not giving Keegan Bradley, the captain much of a choice. Well, look, I would put Billy Horschel on the U S Ryder cup team. Oh, and I would, I would, I would put him as a member of Keegan Bradley's backroom staff.

This is a player who is sort of, if this model is going to work, Rex, of a player who is still very much active on the PGA Tour, still very much competitive on the PGA Tour, if he's still very much one of the team, even if he is not among the 12 playing guys. I think Billy Horschel fits that mold perfectly. 38 years old. He's played in one President's Cup, had the time of his life.

I don't know if Keegan Bradley is going to do it, though, if he's actually going to follow through with this and add a Billy Horschel to his backroom staff. Here's why. He has Webb Simpson, Kevin Kisner,

Jim Furyk and Brant Snedeker as his four vice captains. And he has one more. There's an opening for one. There is, there is a to be determined pick. If you were looking at that combination of four, uh, uh, four assistants, only Jim Furyk really has a bevy of experience as it relates to the Ryder cup, the president's cup and all that goes on. This is a very green staff. Uh,

adding Billy Horschel who would be in that role for the very first time would sort of only add to the inexperience however I think Billy Horschel does make a lot of sense to be the next guy in that vein if it does prove successful he's as passionate as anyone about his country he works well with others I think all you need to do is watch a couple matches of TGL to see how much he sort of

thrives in that team atmosphere. Obviously, the President's Cup at Quail Hollow was another sort of feather in his cap as well. He's getting up there in his career where it's going to be much harder for him to make these teams on his own merit. I would get him in the pipeline now. I wouldn't criticize Keegan Bradley for not doing it,

But I think Billy Horschel in a supportive role as an assistant captain with an eye on the future makes a ton of sense for 2025 and beyond. No, I like that idea. You zigged when I expected you to zag. I think he'd be perfect in that team room. I think he would fit in very well. My guess is, to your point, it would go to a Steve Stricker or Davis Love or someone else just because of the experience factor. And I'll go to Paul McGinley did an interview and I cannot remember who he did it with.

But I was taken by how passionate that he and the rest of the Europeans seem to be about that continuity that they do so well going into this specific Ryder Cup because they know how difficult it's going to be, not just to win an away Ryder Cup. I think we've seen that now for the last two decades, that that's pretty much the program that we're in. It's home and aways.

Now is what this has boiled down to. But this one specifically for the Europeans. The whole idea of bringing back Luke was only because they know how difficult it's going to be to win at Bethpage. And they wanted to go with a captain who already had a proven successful record. And you hear Paul McGinley talk about how their team room

is going to be geared around all of the things that they've learned over the last two plus decades of winning and losing in Ryder Cups. It does put it into focus of exactly what it would mean to bring another person into the U.S. team room, like a Billy Horschel, as passionate as they come. But there is a lack of experience there.

Yeah. Again, I don't think it's going to happen. I think they'll go with a seasoned player. You mentioned a stricker type, a Davis love type, just because Beth page is going to be unhinged. Like we've never seen before. I think this is going to be the strongest European team they've ever assembled, particularly one that's going to be crashing down in the U S and trying to win once again in the States and

The U.S. team, I think at this point, you know, four months out from the matches, it has a lot of question marks in its roster. I think they're probably going to lean towards experience. But if they want to get fun, they want to have an eye towards the future. They want to do something that I think could be very beneficial. I think they should go Billy Horsh. Speaking of the U.S. Ryder Cup, our friend and insider Todd Lewis reported on Tuesday that there was a U.S. Ryder Cup dinner.

in Philadelphia, in which Keegan Bradley invited all 20 players who were ranked in the U.S. current team standings, as well as members of the 2023 U.S. Ryder Cup team and 2024 President's Cup team. Two players who I think were most interesting and compelling who were invited to that dinner and who apparently attended that dinner

were bryson ashambo and brooks kepka both of whom play of course for live golf what did you make of that development as it related to the us team dinner i don't think it's

out of the realm of what the captain should have done based on what Bryson has done the last two years. And you wouldn't expect him to slow down. I mean, I think when we were having that conversation about give me the top six, seven, eight favorites going into Quail Hollow, Bryson's name is going to be on that list. Top three favorite for sure. Yeah. I mean, somewhere up on that list, Brooks, you would expect him. He hasn't exactly had that form in the majors that we've anticipated, but he's been an important part.

about that U S team. And I think this goes to what Keegan Bradley made has made very clear on numerous occasions that he's taken the politics out of this. He wants the best 12 players to win the Ryder cup. He's not going to get bogged down in sort of the optics of what looks right and what doesn't. I think the game has moved on from that.

To be honest with you, the first time it happened, it probably was a little awkward, was probably a little uncomfortable in team rooms and trying to get over the elephant in the room. I don't think we're there anymore. I think we've come to this conclusion and we've had this conversation just two days ago for the podcast on Monday where we're just on two parallel tracks now.

And it's probably safe to say that the talks between the two sides, the PGA Tour and Live Golf and essentially the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, they have stalled, if not stopped, which means that these two tours are just going to be moving along at their own pace on parallel tracks and still remain separate, which means that.

It's up to the rest of the game to figure out how to make sure the best players play in the major championships. We just talked about a pathway and the best players play on each team, both Europe and the United States. That's going to be Bryson. That's going to be Brooks. And I wouldn't be surprised if another player cropped up from the golf. Yeah. Kiki Bradley has been very clear all the way back to the introductory press conference late last summer that he is going to be putting the 12 best players, regardless of tour affiliation,

On that team, Bryce Nishambo is going to be on the U.S. Ryder Cup team, barring an injury later this season. He's number four in the current standings. He's got four top 10 finishes in his last five major championship starts. He is undoubtedly an asset that you can pair with a lot of other American players that would give the Americans their best chance to win. Brooks Koepka is an interesting case. Obviously, he was invited because he was a member of the 2023 draft.

U.S. Ryder Cup team when of course he was a part of live and that was not really a storyline that week in Rome he's 91st in the current standings hasn't done anything in the major championships for a year and a half now yes he still has friendly relationships with a lot of prospective U.S. team members but I'm curious to see particularly as this American squad takes shape

If Brooks does anything either on live or in the major championships, whether his experience and for previous Ryder cup appearances matters at all to a Keegan Bradley who has played against Brooks Koepker for the better part of a decade. Now they may want someone who has been in that arena who is one of

on that golf course before the PGA championship in 2019, if that's going to matter and whether that could be sort of a deciding factor against a would be rookie, let's say like a Akshay Bhatia who might be on the captain's cutoff. Well, and it's, we just had a long conversation about Billy Horschel being in the captain's room and maybe he'll want someone with experience to

to be in one of those vice captain chairs. I think you can make the same argument when it comes to players. And I think when it comes to Brooks, he certainly has the resume to bring him into that situation. He's not going to be bothered by anything that happens inside the ropes at Beth page. I wonder if he's going to be playing well enough because he's,

I think this kind of applies to the conversation you and I had about Joaquin Neiman, where as well as he has played on live golf and other spots around the world, the international series and whatever the case may be, he hasn't played his best golf in the majors. And I think there's an added level of pressure when it comes to the lib players, because they know they only get in Joaquin's,

plays two or three, because he rarely plays all four majors, chances a year to really prove himself against the best players in the world, all of the best players in the world. To a certain degree, I think that Brooks would probably feel that same thing as well. And you also wonder how he would fit into the team room at this point. At this point, you would start looking at matchups.

And who are you going to pair Scottie with? And who are you going to pair Xander and Patrick? Did not work with Scottie and Brooks in Rome. I believe it lost 9-7. It did not. So at that point, as a captain, if you're Keegan, you need to start –

seeing that, okay, he might be the experience that he wants, but does he check off those other boxes? And I don't know that he does. Yeah, six or seven major championships in a row now for Brooks Koepka, in which he has been a non-factor in the majors. Hugely important focus for him. Quail Hollow and Oakmont coming up. Needs to play well, I think, if he wants to be on that American team. Rex, I wrote down in my little notes here, save five minutes on the back end for Rex. I was not giving you five.

Please, the floor is yours. It's not going to be five. Anyone, long-time listeners of the podcast will, and I've been thinking about this since we did golf today. I believe it was on Tuesday. No, I'm sorry, Monday. Long-time listeners of the podcast would probably have by now picked up on our frustration when it comes to a lack of an advertiser, a lack of a sponsor, a lack of a presenting sponsor, whatever the case may be. We've said enough subtle things.

jabs in that direction. I think people have finally read between the lines and have figured it out. And during that hit on Monday, our good friend and the general conspiracy theorist that is Eamon Lynch called you out specifically for making the argument about where signature events should fall on the schedule of

versus what your previous hot take was, you shouldn't play anything around majors. The week before and after a major, we should not even play PGA Tour golf, which seems ridiculous. I'm not going to relitigate that. We're not getting into that at all. It seems to me that on this podcast, we have a good amount of hot takes. It's kind of a 70-30 split, just like everything else on this podcast. You're 70, I'm 30.

So I'm throwing it out there just as a humble idea that we do hot takes presented by, I'm not going to get this wrong, Fred's Red Hot Wing Sauce. All right? And I'm not leaning just into Fred. I also did. I believe it's Frank's. I know you can't read. It is Frank's Red Hot Sauce. It is. As someone who sprays those on wings. And then, yeah, Texas Pete. Texas Pete. And we can have a sound bingo.

Bing Bing Hot Takes by Texas Pete Hot Sauce. Go, Lav. I mean, sauces, seasonings. Whatever. All of that would be very good stuff. Guys, this is just a little tip. If you've never done the Frank's Red Hot Sauce, dip one of those little spray bottle tops. You know what I'm talking about where you can change it from like

you know, spray to, to stream. Now get one of those and put it in your Frank's red hot sauce bottle. Okay. So you have the spray at the top.

And have a little dusting when you're doing your chicken wings on the grill. Over like the last 10, 15 minutes or so. Spray them. Let it coat on there. It is perfect. That way they're not messy when you're trying to eat them afterward. But the flavor of the hot sauce is already sort of caked onto the wing. It caramelizes as well, especially when you're cooking at higher temperatures to render the skin. Helpful little tip. I'm with you. I like the hot sauces. I like the seasonings.

If anyone else is listening and they want to sponsor this podcast, we'll take anybody at this point. You want to be on TV for two hours every Monday? Texas Pete. Whatever. We love it all. We love all of your products. We just like to be in business with you. Find us on Instagram. Find us on the Twitter's.

Find us on our emails as well. All right. That is going to do it for this edition of the Golf Show Podcast with Rex and Lab. You guys are on the drill. NBCSports.com slash golf for our latest news, notes, and updates from the Truist Championship. Rex and I will be back on Sunday night for a regular record, not our usual 52-minute show, which, of course, will then appear on Monday. That is because there is no Monday show today.

During PGA Championship Week, Gary Williams and the Five Club Gang has a two-hour preview. They are based in Charlotte, ahead of Coil Hollow. A very big week for them. Best of luck to G-Dub and the rest of the gang for that. So just your typical record on Sunday night. Catch it wherever you get your podcasts or on Golf Channel's YouTube page. Thanks for listening. Thanks for the support. Talk to you guys Sunday night.

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