Before the year's toughest test, who is trending (and who is tumbling)?
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Substance use disorder and addiction is so isolating. And so, as a Black woman in recovery, hope must be loud.

It grows louder when you ask for help and you're vulnerable. It is the thread that lets you know that no matter what happens, you will be okay. When we learn the power of hope, recovery is possible. Find out how at startwithhope.com. Brought to you by the National Council for Mental Well-Being, Shatterproof, and the Ad Council. Hello and welcome into this edition of the Golf Show Podcast with Rex and Lab. We are full steam ahead to the U.S. Open, but first...

We had a couple of final tune-ups to play ahead of the year's third major. First, Ryan Fox outlasted Sam Burns on the fourth playoff hole to win the RBC Canadian Open on the PGA Tour. And Joaquin Neiman, as he has want to do, went out and shot a 63-yard

to win the Live Golf Virginia event, both of which, both tournaments, right, I think could potentially have some bearing on what happens the following week at Oakmont for the U.S. Open. Let's first start in Canada on the PGA Tour. It was, as Ryan Fox described it, a bit of a pillow fight in overtime against Sam Burns, but now Ryan Fox, the New Zealander, has won twice in

in his past three months. What impressed you most? You credited Ryan Fox to the pillow fight. That was actually Trevor Immelman who called it a pillow fight on the telecast. Ryan Fox said it without knowing that Trevor Immelman said it, in which case it really must have been a pillow fight.

It was very much a pillow fight. When you have two of the longer hitters on the PGA Tour playing a par five over and over and over again, and they continue to make pars, I felt bad for Stephen Cox, the PGA Tour official who's in charge. Because when you set up a playoff for PGA Tour players to play a par five, the worst case scenario is they just keep trading birdies.

The worst case scenario is they keep trading ugly pars. And that's what we ended up with, which is a little shocking. And I think it speaks to, I kept thinking about this as I was watching Cam Young play. And I think I had it in my head a few weeks ago. I don't even know why this came up that Tommy Fleetwood is the best player in the game right now without a PGA Tour victory.

However, I think Cam Young might be somewhere in that conversation. When you see the way he played, you rolled your eyes. I mean, no. I mean, Cam Young is a historic figure on the PGA Tour without a victory. His seven runner-up finishes are the most since the PGA Tour began tracking that statistic in 1983. Like, he is a historic figure.

as it relates to PGA Tour winning. And I think this was an example, the playoff I'm talking about, the pillow fight, aka pillow fight, of why it's so difficult. Like, I think sometimes we get caught up in the idea that we discount how difficult it is to win at the highest level, to win on the PGA Tour, certainly to win major championships. But you took two players who were clearly playing really good golf.

And I'm talking about Ryan Fox and Sam Burns. And you put them in a playoff, and between the two of them, I believe they played that hole four times, they were able to make one birdie, which is just shocking to me when you think about all the tools they have, the skill sets they had, and everything they had to do to get to that point. And I just think it speaks to how difficult it actually is to win at that level. You brought up Cam Young. I actually legitimately feel bad.

for Cameron Young. I actually thought this was going to be the site of his first PGA Tour victory. The guy is playing so much better golf currently over the past month than he did at the beginning of the year. He almost looked like a guy, I think a couple months ago, you're like, boy, was he going to be able to crack a

the top 100 in FedExCup points, be able to retain his status for the following year. Like that's how lost he was. And to see where he is now, he just qualified for the U.S. Open on Monday, got through in a playoff against Max Homa, Ricky Fowler. I believe you were covering that one. Also, he, by virtue of his finish this week at the RBC Canadian Open, he's going to be in the Open Championship.

which is a term he almost won three years ago. Like I thought that he was going to win this golf tournament. He was playing so well in the back nine, 16. He like flails the gap wedge out like 40 feet. That was a terrible shot. Like, like a cam young, like, what are you doing? Shot 17 blows it miles right into the forest. I thought he was going to have to take a drop and he was going to lose it that way and said, makes a miraculous par and the way that he played 18 Rex. So it was back into the wind. You mentioned the,

how 18 you thought it would have been, you know, worst case scenario of, of everyone just making birdies worst case scenario. It ends up was making pars the wind completely switched. And so as opposed to these guys reaching the par five quite easily with mid irons, if not short iron seven and eight irons, these are guys absolutely roasting three woods into the home hole at TPC Toronto, which is exactly what Cam Young did may have hit it too good. 177 mile an hour ball speed with a three wood off the deck.

Hits it over the back, ends up making bogey. Cam Young, his time is coming. I'm glad to see that he's playing golf. I know he gets a bad rap from golf fans who think he's uninteresting. I actually think he's a very interesting guy. I love to see him. I love to watch him play golf. The variety of shots, the sheer physicality with which he plays the game. I do think Cam Young will eventually get over the line. I digress. Let's get back to the playoff. And yeah, first of all, I have never seen Rex

PGA tour officials change a whole location. I hadn't seen that. That that's a new one for me. Like if you're going to change the whole location, which was fine, they moved it from back left, essentially like mid right. A little bit. Yeah. Like essentially mid right. Move up the tee box. If you're already gonna change the whole location, move the tee box up 20, 25 yards. All of a sudden you have a decision to make between a fairway wood or a long iron, which makes it even more interesting. And,

And they brought that up during the telecast. And I'm not quite sure. I think Jim Nance kind of caught himself in midair with the ball because he said something about they should have maybe moved up the tee box and given them the opportunity to do what they actually did on the final playoff hole when both of them went for the green and both hit spectacular shots. It's still stunning to me that Sam Burns somehow three putted from where he was. I think it's

Jim's point was the players weren't necessarily prepared for the tee box to get moved up. I would counter and say they probably weren't prepared for a new hole to be cut either. Because, again, I'm with you. I'd never seen that before. So why couldn't you just move it up and just keep moving it up until you're eventually just playing a long par four? I mean, I think it would have made it more interesting. Again, I don't think the...

The whole location shift ultimately factored in. It was more the wind died down on the fourth playoff hole that finally allowed those guys to not just hit a five iron up there and leave themselves 75 to 100 yards and wedging in for their third shot. The wind died down from what was a pretty stiff, cold 20 mile an hour wind to about a five to 10 mile an hour wind. That was why both players took their head covers off, gave it a go. Ryan Fox hit what he said with a shot of his life.

to about six feet in the fourth playoff hole. Ended up only having a two-putt after Sam Burns gassed his. Ended up three-putting her par. He's a really interesting player, a very unorthodox, unique swing. But you can see, Rex, the confidence is flowing from Ryan Fox. And the way that he has played

overseas and some of the DP world tour events. That's how he initially got his card on the PGA tour was being the top 10, the European tours race to Dubai. Like I would not necessarily discount him either for the U S open. If he can continue sort of this run of form in the driving, uh,

that he has, but particularly the Open Championship. I think he's a very interesting player with just sort of his creativity, how he alters his trajectories and shot shapes. I think he's a very interesting player that way. I brought it up in the group chat, and neither you nor Lil' Russ bit on it, but...

But the idea that at some point during the telecast on Sunday, I kept waiting for Trevor Ullman to finally just own it. Like, yes, Ryan Fox should have been on that team that he was the captain. I'm sorry. It was a queer hollow. Now that I see it, now that I see all the tools that Ryan Fox would have brought to the table. And I know there's politics that went into it because at the time, Ryan Fox was not a PGA Tour member. And I...

I'm sure that the PGA Tour puts pressure on the international captain about trying to keep whatever picks, trying to keep your team, the PGA Tour members. But you're right. I think the breakthrough win in Myrtle Beach was huge for him. It's just from a confidence standpoint. Moving to the United States, and I talked to him the week afterwards at Quail Hollow about the idea that getting a base here instead of constantly bouncing around the country with your family in tow, a young family in tow, that's always going to be difficult. And I'm always shocked.

every time a player does this and somehow starts playing well and they're surprised

Like, man, who knew that I just needed a home? I needed somewhere to go to when I wasn't playing. Well, of course you do. Like, it's exhausting, the idea that you're going to come over here and live essentially, what, seven months out of the year out of a suitcase? That to me sounds awful. I mean, that was the whole Francesco Molinari thing, right? Yeah. No. And I think there's been other players. I think Siwoo Kim did it for a while, right? If I remember correctly, where he didn't really want to have a home base. Right.

Sung Jae Im for the first two or three years of his PGA Tour career. And every time that these players end up finding a spot and settling down wherever that might be, they always seem to end up playing better more times than not. And I'm still shocked that it takes a player so long just to get to the idea that, of course, I need to get away from hotel rooms and airports.

and bad airline food and everything else that goes into traveling and playing on the PGA Tour to finally get a piece of happiness. And that's where I think where Ryan Fox is right now. The win in Myrtle Beach was huge. I think this one will go even further just because of how he was pressed coming down the stretch. And he could have lost. There was a dozen ways he could have lost that tournament coming down the stretch and then end the playoff and then to pull it off. I think it's going to be huge for him.

Sam Burns also playing much better over the past month, similar to Cam Young and the trajectory that he's had in his PGA Tour season. Shot 62 in the final round. I'm sure he's probably kicking himself for the missed, what was that, six-footer on the first playoff hole? On the first playoff. The terrible wedge shot in the third playoff hole.

needed to get up and down just to salvage five. Get up and down. Send it to a fourth extra hole as well. But Sam Burns, the number one putter on the PGA Tour, probably kicking himself for letting a good chance go on that first extra hole. Other than that, though, Rex, it was a little bit of a hodgepodge of leaderboard. You had a Kevin Yu sighting, Matt McCarty sighting, Ben Onn, Andrew Putnam, a player we did not see. I mean, this was one of the worst tournaments of his entire career.

was Roy McIlroy. Actually nearly finished last. Beat just four players through 36 holes. Shot 78 in the second round. That was his worst score in a non-major in about four years. What's up with Roy?

Well, I think the driver is the easiest thing to say. And I'll say this. It is shocking to me that less than a month ago, probably, I mean, you're going to call me on the timing on this one, but you and I were probably having the same breathless conversation that everyone else was in the golf media about, man, how many majors can he win now? Unburdened.

Yes, unburdened. The weight's been lifted. Just imagine what he's going to be able to do now, now that he's free and he can go out and enjoy himself and he doesn't have all this pressure on him. You and I both know that the strength of Rory's game, everything flows from his ability to drive the ball better than anyone else. And when he's on, he's really, really tough to beat. And you end up with the player that won the Masters and the player that's won three times this year and a signature event, the Players' Championship and everything that went into it.

But very rarely do you see when he's playing bad, that bad. And if this is the driver, and again, he addressed it a little bit last week, but I think there's still probably some questions lingering about if the driver that was deemed nonconforming at Coyle Hollow

was the one you were so comfortable with and was the one you were able to do those unbelievable things. It's a testament to how difficult it is to actually find the perfect driver that somehow he can't do it and hasn't been able to do it. Because really, everything you saw in Canada and everything you saw at Coil Hollow during the PGA, everything I would say, they saw that they're a classic. I mean, they played decent, but that was more Shane Lowry than it was

was Rory McIlroy that that was all based on the driver. And if he's not comfortable now going into Oakmont, I don't know how he gets it there. Yeah. I don't, I legitimately do not know if we talked about this,

on Wednesday as it relates to Roy McIlroy, but he did have a different driver in the bag. So obviously his game or the one that he had used for a year, the one that he was playing, you know, some of the best golf of his career at the early part 2025, the driver and with which he finally completed the final leg of the career grand slam. That was the one that was deemed nonconforming. That was the Taylor made QI 10.

Well, once it got deemed nonconforming, he put his backup in play, did not drive it particularly well off the tee at Quail Hollow, regardless of which driver that he was using. In those interim weeks between the PGA Championship and where he showed up at the RBC Canadian Open, he did some more head-to-head at-home testing and put in a new driver head, the QI35, which is TaylorMade's newest model. That driver head, if you recall, is the one that he briefly experimented with

at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Remember that over the first 54 holes, drove it poorly, ended up swapping out for the final round, and then went on a pretty epic tear, won the Players' Championship and won the Masters as well. It's clear there is still some testing that needs to be done because not only was it a different driver head,

He also experimented with shortening the driver shaft in theory, trying to put the ball in play more often, certainly with an eye on the U.S. Open and understanding how important find the fairways is going to be for the year's third major. It was just a complete disaster.

Off the tee heat, less than 50% of the fairways at TPC Toronto admitted as much in interview with reporters afterward and candidate like, yeah, I've, I've got two or three days at home and early week at Oakmont where I need to find something. Because if you're not finding fairways at Oakmont, it is going to be an almighty struggle. One thing that I do know that we discussed on Wednesday was sort of the motivation factor and Roy admitting himself to

That, you know, it's really tough for me at this point after having this life-altering moment to grind on the range for two, three, four hours. I'm assuming this was a wake-up call for him that he needed to do just that. But the U.S. Open is going to be a test of patience. It's going to be a test of guts. It's going to be a test of tenacity and perseverance for as much as Roy McIlroy's skill matters.

over the past couple of decades has been distilled into this awesome tantalizing power and these birdie binges and so much excitement and thrills. His U.S. Open record, Rex, is phenomenal. Every year since 2019,

He has finished instead of the top 10. He continues to get better. Obviously had the close call a year ago at Pinehurst, followed up with that at LACC as well. So like he understands how to play down and dirty golf and gritty golf and

does he currently have the game that's going to allow him to do that? Based on what we saw at the PGA, based on what we saw at Canada, I have a hard time imagining he's going to be keeping this top 10 streak alive. Even after Quayle, if you would have asked me, would Rory be one of the favorites going into Oakmont? The answer would have been absolutely yes. Like Scottie is clearly in a category by himself, but Rory was going to be close behind him. I'm not quite sure if he's on that list or at least the short list.

list, whatever it is we'll do on Wednesday night, as far as top five, maybe go simply because of the way he's driven the ball the last few events. And that's the one thing you absolutely can't do at Oakmont by every, every measure. It's going to be one of the most difficult driving tests that we've seen at the national championship and a long time to the point that I'm a little concerned. And I'm sure we're going to talk about this more next week about you always fall back on. They're trying to identify the,

the best golfer in the moment. This, I think, has the danger of embarrassing the best golfers because of not just how thick and long the rough is by all accounts, but also they're talking about green speeds in the 14 and 14 and a half on the step meter. That to me is just ridiculous. With five inch rough. Oh, yes. There's the agent of chaos that loves every minute of that. Yes. Yes. We'll get to the end of that. This podcast is certainly on the full preview edition on Wednesday. Let's shift gears, Rex.

To the live event, Live Golf Virginia, RTJ, outside of the nation's capital. Joaquin Neiman wins for the fourth time this year, the sixth time overall in his live career. That's the most of any player besting Brooks Koepka. Waco fresh off his first top 10 in a major championship as well a month ago at the PGA Championship. Do you feel finally that he is ready to make the next leap?

I do feel like that, although his major record, I mean, we can sit here and go through it. It's not as though he's blown you away in the major championships, but I've made the argument and I'm going to continue to fall back on this one. Bryson has become more of a complete player when you look at his game. Certainly you look at what he did last year at the U.S. Open and the opportunities he's had given himself in the major championships. But I have counted and said that Joaquin is by far the player in my mind who joined live and got better.

And I say that because when he went to live, he was a very good player. I didn't imagine him being a world beater like he is right now, where he's winning four times in a single season. Now, I still want to see that translate into the major championships. And it's such a small snapshot. It's such a small window for those players. We've talked about the idea that for some of the live guys, and I would put Joaquin in this category,

you're always going to put more pressure on yourself going into majors now than probably you ever did before, because you know, this is your one opportunity to prove yourself under the most intense spotlight. When you're going up against the best players from both tours, there aren't any more excuses and the entire world is paying attention. I still want to see him take that, that step. And I certainly think it's in them, but you look at well, how well he has played on live this year and beyond when he's played in the Asian series events and, and,

the other things that he's done on the outside, he has turned into a brilliant player. He most certainly has. I'm with you. I did not anticipate that we'd be talking about Joaquin Neiman, live golf world beater, but that's exactly what he has become. He's a thrill to watch. I mean, you talk about Cam Young and sort of the shots that he can hit. Joaquin Neiman is the exact same. When he's driving it,

As he was driving it at RTJ, particularly down the stretch. I mean, it's on a frozen rope. The shot making, he had a really sick, like 40, 50 yard pitch shot. I believe on 17 that dance around the cup for a kick in birdie. Obviously he can fill it up. That's why he's a, it was a multiple time winner on the PJ tour as well. One at Riviera. Like the guy clearly has the goods. If there's anything that's held him back at the major championships, I think it's twofold. One,

He tends to have a lower ball flight, and that tends to be problematic at major championships where some of the pins are tucked, the greens are firmer. He has admitted that he has tried to work on that, elevating some of his shots, knowing that he's going to need them for the major championships. Obviously, Quail Hollow was a good test for that. He did not have a legitimate chance to win that golf tournament on the weekend, but still a T8.

is a T8. Very curious to see how he plays at Oakmont. He can, when he's, when he's cooking, drive it incredibly straight with very little curve and,

Can his iron play stand up to the rigors of a U S open? Can he play with the patients and the discipline that's going to be required? Can his distance control be spot on? Can he sort of salvage himself? If he does get out of position, I think Joaquin Neiman is one of the most interesting players to watch at the year's third major. I think it was everything that you wanted to see this past week, Rex from Bryson to Shambo and,

In John Rom, Bryson was T4, had a chance to win the golf tournament. That's now six straight top five finishes. John Rom. Team win. You're right, Bryson, but the team win with the crushers as well. John Rom extended his streak, I believe of 21 consecutive live events in a row, finishing inside the top 10. That is every single live event that he has played, although he is still winless this season. Which player, Rom or Bryson, would you put higher in your power rankings at this point? Uh,

It's going to be Bryson simply because we've seen what he's done when he's gotten to these US Open venues. He did it at Wingfoot to a lesser degree, to a different degree, I would say. He did it last year at Pinehurst. And I think when he did it at Wingfoot, I remember us having the conversation about is he reinventing

the game because of the way he was able to stand on just tee boxes and just launch it. I don't know if he'll be able to do that at Oakmont. My heart tells me, no, probably not that of all the golf courses that can defend themselves against that particular onslaught. I would put Oakmont probably somewhere on that list simply because of the test, how demanding it's going to be. But again,

What we've seen out of Jon Rahm this year, certainly at the major championships, is much more encouraging than probably what we saw last year. When everything he was doing in the majors was being put under the microscope because of his decision to join Liv Goff. I think he's a little bit more comfortable in that situation now. And certainly his game seems to be rounding into shape. Probably the one that stands out to me, though, is Phil Mickelson. He ended up finishing tied for fourth.

That's his second top. Did you see the pitch in? I wish that we had the capabilities, you and I. We don't have our extraordinaires Dom or Goldie. We simply just have Fred logged onto this podcast. And we'd be able to show you the Phil Mickelson hole out if you missed it from...

left the green feet were inside the bunker, basically like a baseball swing, lobbed it over his right shoulder and trickling in one of the best shots in a career full of them for Phil Mickelson T4 Rex. Are you saying there's a chance that Phil Mickelson at Oakmont, arguably the most difficult golf course in the world could be the site for soon to be 55 year old Phil Mickelson.

complete the final leg of the career grand slam. You're saying that's going to happen. No, but that's not going to stop me from dusting off that old column. Fred is coming your way probably Tuesday, whenever he's going to, I'm going to get him to talk because this is essentially going to be his last chance. Right. And we said this,

A million times. And I would say, I think I've written it on numerous occasions, that the ship has sailed of Phil Mickelson winning, finally winning the U.S. Open after all of those runner-up finishes, finally winning the career Grand Slam. No, at 55 years old on that particular golf course, I don't see the golf gods finally stepping in and allowing Phil to do that. However, it is encouraging when you consider that this is probably going to be it for him when it comes to the U.S. Open, unless something spectacular happens.

And so it will be an interesting sendoff where he's coming in, actually playing some decent golf for a change because he hasn't been last year was abysmal. This year has been better. And it will be curious to see if he's able to show up and do anything at all. And again, I don't anticipate him being able to win, especially on that golf course, but imagine the buzz around that place. If he does put himself somewhere close. I mean, isn't it amazing that it it's soon to be 55 years old and

He is still, I know it's not week in, week out competitive, but he certainly played better this year. Had an opportunity to win. Remember he had a T2 at the Masters a couple years ago. This week at RTJ, a pretty stout test for these players. 15 under par was the winning score. I mean, Phil shot 65 in the final round. He was right up there.

with a with with Bryson he he beat Rom DJ was up there Hatton I mean these are world-class players and Phil Mickelson is still holding his own again I don't think it's going to happen at Oakmont I'm not sure you could find a better a worse golf course for him at this point in his career than that one but it's still cool to see him I know there was there was talk at least in his pre-tournament press conference like hey you know I'm not sure how much longer

I'm going to continue to do this. I know it's the final year of my U S open exemption by virtue of his 2021 PGA championship victory. Keep in mind at that point in his career, he had tailed off in the world rankings to a point that we thought that that was going to be the final year he was going to do. He was going to be able to be eligible for the majors ends up winning the thing in a, in a route at Kia where he stares down Brooks Koepka and beats him head to head. Who knows? He's such a, I mean, his longevity is,

I feel like we'll be, I know his legacy has been complicated Rex over the past couple of years. His longevity is amazing. He has been an amazing golfer, an amazing golfer for like 45 consecutive years. Like it's just crazy to think about.

And the fact he's been relatively injury free. I mean, I think that's that when you look at it and it certainly has a swing that would do it. I did find it interesting. You referenced him talking earlier in the week about the idea that when it comes time to step away, he'll know when. And I find that comical because I don't think any player knows when when it's actually time to step for the good for the good of the team. Right. For the good of the high flyers, he would be willing to step away.

And but to his point, and I actually had to go look this up after I read the transcript about he is, if not his team's best player, then at least right now, his team's second best player. So, yeah, I get where he's coming from. He still feels like he can contribute. And I'm just curious, how much longer is the motivation going to be there? Because at 55 years old, my guess is he had to put he had probably work harder this offseason than he ever has before. Phil Mickelson tweeted on Sunday that he had a tap in.

Right after a rain delay to tie the lead, he said, I am having so much fun. As long as Phil Mickelson continues to have fun, as long as he continues to be a productive member of the High Flyers, even if he is not in a couple major championships, I still see him playing some pretty good golf at least once in a while. All right, you and I both have 4.30 a.m. shuttles to the airport. We're going to be on Oakmont for the next couple of days doing live from the U.S. Open coverage.

What's something you're looking forward to uncovering over these next couple of days before we end up doing the full preview podcast on Wednesday?

I want to see the golf course. I mean, this is a bear. This is a brute. Everyone talks about it. They talked about slowing the green speeds down for the U.S. Open. That always leads me to do the ultimate eye roll emoji because you're like, why would you want to be a member at a golf course that has to slow their greens down for the U.S. Open? That never makes any sense to me. But it is like one of those American when it comes to the U.S. Open, an institution where you show up at this place and you know exactly what you're going to get. I did find it funny last week when I was at Memorial Park.

And there was a lot of talk about the golf course and Justin Thomas had just gotten back from his counting trip. So a lot of us were talking to him, but when you ask Jack Nicholas about the eighth hole, which is the impossibly long par three and how dismissive he was of it, it wasn't like he,

He said, no, not my cup of tea. It wasn't like he tried to talk around it at all. It was hate it. Hate everything about it. If you have to make a 280 yard par three, then you've probably made a bad 280 yard par three. But I do think it's so unique. And I know I'm with you on that one, but it's so unique as a test. And the best part is why you've got that glint in your eye, that gleam in your eye right now, because, you know, the chaos is coming.

Like a 290-yard par 3, I actually have no problem with it. And look, PGA Tour players aren't going to like it because PGA Tour players like par 3s, which they can make birdies. There's nothing wrong with recording a 3 on a 290-yard par 3 and moving on to the next hole and another potential birdie chance. PGA Tour players don't like it because it's going to be really, really difficult to make a 2, and they're accustomed to firing at flags too.

And going low that way. I got no issue with it. Yeah. Like over the next couple of days, I just want to see the golf course. Mike Juan, CEO of the USGA sent a pretty ominous tweet saying that he was thankful for the media members. The hundreds of media members were going to be descending upon Oakmont, Pennsylvania, but said, bring your boots 13 inches of rain over the past 10 weeks, not past 10 days, past 10 weeks. I know it has been rainy over the past couple of days. It was a flood watch, uh,

in the area on Sunday. It has not been torrential, but we've probably seen an inch or two over the past five or so days. And so, yeah, that's going to take a little bit of the fire out of the golf course, but that's okay. There was rain during the 2016 U S open as well. Dustin Johnson played one of the rounds of his life and won that golf tournament at 400 par. I think the thing that I'm most interested in seeing Rex is whether this really is a quintessential U S open or

where it's got to be fairways and greens and pars are great, or does it sort of descend into what wing foot became in 2020, where if the fairways are so hard to hit that it just becomes a bomb and gouge fest and whoever can just hit it furthest and advance it close to the green and get up and down that way is going to prevail. Is it going to be a Sep Straka, Shane Lowry type thing?

plotters who find a lot of fairways or is it going to be a Bryson to Shambo who, who just hammers it away. If he hits the fairway, great. He might be able to take advantage. If not. All right. He still hits his irons really upright. He's going to have less loft going into the greens and can get in, can make a score that way. So I think that's, that's something I'm really interested in seeing because I don't, I think both of those styles of play right now, as we sit here from home,

a couple of days out from the U S open. I think both of those styles, like I've really feel good about Shane Lowry. And I really feel good about a Scotty Scheffler or a Bryson and shampoo. I think it's gonna be very interesting to see you and I will both be on a live from the U S open coverage beginning on Monday afternoon. I'll be on the desk Tuesday, Wednesday, you'll be hashtag reporting all three days as well in the lead up to the tournament, as well as doing your typical song and dance with Mr. Boop.

Todd Lewis for 90 seconds of bad TV. All right. That is going to do it for this edition of golf show podcast with Rex and live. You guys are the drill NBC sports.com slash golf for all latest news notes and updates. We'll have the full preview edition on Wednesday, as well as many pods after each and every tournament round. Then Rex and I will be doing the full recap on

on Sunday night, not just on YouTube, but also linear television as well. So much coverage is coming your way. Absolutely cannot wait to get up to Oakmont. Thanks for listening. Thanks for the support. We'll talk to you guys in a couple of days. This Father's Day, help dad be all he can be with a gift from the Home Depot because he's not just dad. He's the handyman of the house, the plumber in a pinch, and the emergency mechanic.

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