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Episode 65 - Pinehurst Recap and Angel's Triumph image

Episode 65 - Pinehurst Recap and Angel's Triumph

Off The Tips
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20 Plays5 months ago

AC couldn't find the courage to front the pod this week after Rory’s loss, so Monty called in before boarding a plane to Europe for a recap of the U.S Open. The boys discuss Rory, Bryson and also, Angel Cabrera finding the winner's circle. That and plenty more, enjoy.

Transcript

AC's Absence and Rory McIlroy's US Open Performance

00:00:05
Speaker
That's your home
00:00:15
Speaker
Welcome back to the Off The Tips podcast. it's It's great to be back talking to you and ah joining me from Auckland is Monty. But Monty, before you say your introductions, can you tell ah the listeners why AC is not with us this stuff oh this afternoon, our time? He's being a coward like favorite his favourite golfer is my take. Yeah. It might be unfair. It could be unfair on on Rory, but not unfair on the AC comms, I reckon. the The big fella, if you don't follow us on social media, he he would like us to pass on a message. yeah and And I quote, this might I add is in note format, a lot like the release Rory did for
00:01:11
Speaker
post US Open ah and it says to the off the tips community. Like Rory skipping media, I will not be fronting the pod this week after the traumatic events that transpired Sunday night. I'm absolutely devastated from my guy and hate that such a great round of golf will be remembered for the missed parts on 16 and 18. I want to put it on record that the putt on 18 was much tougher than the media have portrayed. Any golfer knows how tricky a slippery left-to-rider is. I loathe to use the word, but I will admit the putt on 16 was a definite choke. However, I have no doubt Rory will bounce back and there's a storm about to hit Trune in 29 days time. Winning there will be even sweeter now. I have told Cal that I will wear a crusher's hat for the west rest of the year.
00:02:03
Speaker
if he doesn't win at Trone. Also, one last thing. Who gives a shit that he didn't shake Bryson's hand? I wouldn't either. Cheers, AC. What what do we what are our thoughts on that? I think it's very well said. I i ah struggle with pickety holes in it. The yeah only one under power isn't a great round of golf. You know you can't you can't just brush over the fact that he choked. yeah i thought I thought that comment was being a bit too kind on Rory, but um maybe I'm being a bit too harsh on A2. And I write with him on Not Shaking Hands. yeah yeah i mentioned um We can probably talk about it, but I i ah completely disagree with him missing the media.
00:03:01
Speaker
like you think that that was poor form? Yeah, very. You can't portray yourself as a thoughtful, critical thinker, as a bastion for the poor and then proceed to behave like that. You can't just front when you want to front. Everyone else has done similar things to him and been able to front. So I don't have any issues with the time away from the game over the next few weeks, but yeah, that's just wonderful. Yeah, I think it was poor, speeding out of the, out of the parking lot as our, our Yanks like to call it the car park as we call it on the side of the world. But yeah, I thought that sort of behavior was pretty poor. Um, yeah, like you said, Monty, you can't just do the media when, when everything's going your way.

Golf Travel and Monty's Adventures

00:03:55
Speaker
Like you've got to front and tell your fans how you feel. You've got to be do you think personable. do you think same Do you think Sam came on at the front of the red carded and lost the World Cup for the country that last year? No, I highly doubt that.
00:04:15
Speaker
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00:04:49
Speaker
Head to their Instagram or Facebook page at pinseekertravelstobooknow for the month of June, which is wrapping up fairly shortly. If you use the code OTT10 when inquiring, you will receive 10% off your overall fee. And Monty, I might as well segue into, we've been able all over the shop at the start of this pod, but have you been getting out on the golf course at all? And we'll get back to the US Open, but I haven't spoken to you in a while and I ah need to know how you've been hitting them. Yeah bits and pieces. I've probably been playing slightly worse than I expected but one of my fellow red team members Will and myself have been playing in a match play tournament till the ring he managed to win our semi-final on Sunday so I've got a final footy when I return from a week holiday in the Northern Hemisphere. so
00:05:44
Speaker
Look, your results have been good, but, uh, all by whole golf hasn't been spectacular, but about, uh, try, try my luck around the links from Scotland. So hopefully that brings about some more success. When are the boys hitting the road? I fly out of the country tomorrow, but, um, Scotland, uh, Scotland.

Angel Cabrera's Comeback Story

00:06:14
Speaker
early July, we kick off for a couple of weeks. everybody I bet you're fired up for that. All right, that'll be good. And just one more thing before we get back to the US Open, which just to give the listeners a bit of a heads up, it's going to be a quick wrap as Monty's flying out of the country tomorrow and um ah I'm doing the pod on my partner's bed with the Lord's Prayer hanging above my head. So
00:06:42
Speaker
I bet Rory probably could have done with with the Lord's Prayer hanging over his head on Sunday. But, mate, a guy that will be asking for the Lord's Prayer and has been recently, our man, Angel Cabrera, got back in the winner's circle at the Paul Lowry match play. Like, geez, that's an news you love to wake up to on ah on a Monday morning, especially after Rory's just had the cleaners put through on by the big man.
00:07:11
Speaker
it It's a good new story of the year thus far. The comeback story's on. He'll be getting his invite back to Augusta soon enough. And yeah he's done it he's done it all all the while without without yeah improving the shape of his body post price the prison stint. He's looking as big as he ever had. He's an extreme talent.

Reflections on the US Open and Rory's Challenges

00:07:40
Speaker
Did that surprise you how he um came out of the pen? still because i was I kind of put it to AC the other week. cause i was like ah ah It wouldn't surprise me if he came out of prison the same way Mike Tyson had just absolutely jacked and started hitting it like Bryson. He's got a tried and true method. i'm I'm not sure if he wants to mess with it. He's obviously a supreme talent. Jokes are aside.
00:08:10
Speaker
Yeah, like, absolutely. Like, he's just come out. I believe it was a Legends Tour event, but don't quote me on that. It was um so like, it's ah it's a proper official event and he's gone out and and and he's won. He's only had about four or five starts since, you know, doing his time. But man, And you're talking about his rig, like, if you went to prison, ah do you think it'd be possible to over-consume cows or do you think you'd probably like have but have no choice but to? That's the interesting thing. I mean, you can't imagine they're giving him enough to sustain what he's what he's holding on his lower half. I mean, around his mid-jump.
00:08:58
Speaker
Yeah, maybe some sort of smuggling operation in the Argentine prison to support the... Yeah, and it might... he To be fair, I doubt Angel Cabrera was in a ma maximum security yeah penitentiary. I think he was probably in a... He would be short of a dollar to to promote some kind of... No, absolutely not. But mate, enough dribble. We've already said this is going to be a a pretty swift wrap of the US Open. I just want to hear your thoughts on the event as a whole. What did you think of the course and how it played throughout the weekend and the outcome? Yeah, hard to fault. I mean, I can't actually think. Yeah, I think the only other major in recent history history that I can
00:09:47
Speaker
compare as favorably would be the 150th Open, which as we know, Rory was a close second there as well, or third maybe, but um yeah I think it's an amazing golf course. The alterations that they've done visually is just outstanding. um yeah know I quite like the, there's an element of luck to playing that golf course, which is as always makes a good viewing versus what we typically get and yeah the US opens and the PGA so that was refreshing um yeah obviously very difficult which which is pleasing in light of some of the more recent um I guess scoring in major championships and
00:10:41
Speaker
yeah that finished like it I say it a lot, but sport gets no better than that. Like that was the momentum swings in those last two or three hours of like, you can't beat it. It was hard fault to fault the setup because. ah was yeah so It was an unbelievable finish. like though Yeah, like those momentum swings. It was it was just good, like ah obviously we're we're Rory fans and we've made we make that pretty clear. Monty and I probably not quite as much as I see, but um like we were definitely riding from down the stretch and it was actually it was really good to be watching a sports of event and just just fucking feeling something i every kind of minute. it was It was so good and then obviously it was very disappointing in the end.
00:11:31
Speaker
but man like you talk about that luck and it seemed like pretty much from the outset and throughout that that Bryson got those kind of got that luck and Rory didn't is that do you think that's fair to say it was kind of like every Bryson hit I don't know the stats in front of me because we're outrageously underprepared today and but he he barely had a fair way he and just somehow just had a lie yeah pretty much every time. I think you have to be clear in that that's for the final round only. like Final round only, yes. Yeah, pre pre that he was like the obvious most dominant player out there but yeah that final round his driver was was well off.
00:12:22
Speaker
mostly to the right, but then you lost the couple to the left as well. yeah And yeah, I got pretty lucky throughout. I wouldn't say Rory got particularly unlucky. I think the only shot that comes to mind was um number five was a little bit stiff and second into the par five. Yeah, that line he got when it rolled back, like it was clearly probably not enough club, but just settling, nestling down into that kind of sandy divot just looked like jail. Yeah. And although, yeah, he definitely had the rub of the green relatives to Rory on the last day. He still can't.
00:13:09
Speaker
You have to be critical, right, and say that. Yeah, absolutely. You got to a position to shut that tournament and... He did. You're right. When the luck didn't go his way, he yeah a still had he's still the opportunity to close the door. And I think where he lost the tournament was that that mistake on the Par 3, 17th, is when he pulled the wrong club. Like he hit that low... On 15. 15, sorry. Yeah. And he pulled that... Pull that seven iron and just hit it into like genuinely one of the worst spots on the golf course. Like man, eight iron was just always going to be enough club and you'd like to think he was jacked up. Man, he just, he just did not hit that high enough for a guy who hits the ball so high. That was just a genuine miss club. And I i reckon if AC was on the pot, he'd be calling for Harry Diamond's head at this point.
00:14:05
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, it was just the wrong shot. A massive momentum switch. And we can obviously talk about 16, but that was pretty well understood. And I hate using the word choke, but We can give him the one on 18, but 16 was bad. He looks so Like it is hard to tell on TV, obviously, but that part.
00:14:41
Speaker
It was just a straight three footer, wasn't it? ah like yeah's nothing didn't let them It was just routine. And man, it's just, do you think with Rory, this, this will just start adding to the, to the scar tissue now, because fuck this is, this is the worst one I've seen. Like this, this was proper. Like he had a two shot lead on the back nine and didn't even take extra holes. not like it's it's It's a bit of a melt. It was a massive melt. It's not like St Andrews a couple of years ago where he just played really poorly, you know, he just didn't have it all day. Whereas this was, he was lights out all day, like was playing superbly. You know, obviously putting, yeah, I think that's got to hurt the most, undoubtedly.
00:15:32
Speaker
I mean, it must add to the scar picture, but I don't think I think if we go back a week ago versus now, in his mind, nothing would have changed. And if anything, he probably gets on reflection over the next few weeks. He probably takes incrementally more confidence away, and particularly given his relatively patchy season thus far. But yeah,
00:16:03
Speaker
you've you've got a question. the closing ability as he now. Because he's he's beginning to rub that, like really poor round out of the mages, which is good to see. But then now we're encountering, well, we may encounter for another issue, but I back him. The Sunday Skerries. Yeah, I'm still, I'm still back him in. And yeah, he'll he'll ruin he'll get one.
00:16:35
Speaker
Yeah, I have no doubt he'll get one. i've I've said it and I'll die on this hill. It'll it'll be Port Rush. That's the one that he'll win. He'll he'll win the Open at Port Rush in Northern Ireland and it'll be, right it's ah it's a fairy tale waiting to be written 11 years on. um But mate, do you think around 14, and it maybe started to cross his mind. Like, fuck, have I done this here? Yeah, I don't know. He's quite well read and he's well experienced. I'd like to think he wasn't. He wasn't.
00:17:27
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know. What were your thoughts on ah guess the tournament as a whole? I

Bryson DeChambeau's US Open Journey

00:17:35
Speaker
love the tournament. um i I loved how the Greens played. They were tricky. They weren't unfair. like thought they could have been I thought they could have been harder and faster if I was being if i was if i had my way, but I understand that that probably could get on this, you could let the golf course get away from the players, but i I like a US Open with a different kind of set up like that. I think it caters to more imagination and and more shot shaping, whereas, you know, and but but still not losing that tag of being a brutal test. I think it was, we kind of had the perfect balance this week. In short, it was a lot different to 99 in 2005 and then
00:18:25
Speaker
I still even think it was a bit different to 2014, you know, those, it didn't seem like those runoffs were as, was cut as short as they were in 2014. So I think like blokes had made more decisions around the green. Like it was still putting was still very manageable and often the option, but like you saw Rory, like, man, I haven't seen him. chipped the golf ball that well in a long time. like his He was opening the face up on some of those and like just it was it was proper golf and like I could barely take my eyes off the TV. Yeah, and his driving was like, seen a driver over there ah I That consistently over that many days as well. like
00:19:22
Speaker
There are some good signs. Yeah. Well, let's let's stop gloss ah glossing over the bloke that came second and maybe talk about the guy that lifted the trophy. a yeah Bryson DeChambeau. One of the more polarizing figures. he He was almost like trying to be sickly likable the whole week. I tend to see straight through that. like you can if If you have to try that hard to be a good guy, you're probably not a good guy. Although he's he's grown on me a lot in recent times and with his golf and some of his other content. But like some of that dribble he was spilling about winning it for Payne Stewart and stuff like that, like it was he was the reason I wore the cap. The cap that he wasn't even wearing, like
00:20:19
Speaker
right Hang on, like that that's contradictory to what he said in the past as well.
00:20:28
Speaker
like It's just disingenuous and cringe, probably if I had to pick two words to describe him. But he used to be a 2 out of 10 and he's now probably like a 5 in my books. I genuinely sort of applaud the way he is. ah guess turn himself round um like a character point of view he le becomes a across as less sort of a knob but At least he gives us something now. He polarises people.
00:21:06
Speaker
Oh mate, like the way he played this week was incredible. Like, and he's been sniffing all around it in these events all year. So it didn't surprise me in the slightest that he, that he came out and won. It just, it also proves to me, did you know he changed his driver head before the final round? Yeah, I heard that. Like what an absolute psychopath. hey and and He's so rare. The other one he won was was you know a good win, but that was there was a much more classy all round performance, like his passing and went to games and proved down the fight. Yeah, you have to give him a lot of credit.
00:21:51
Speaker
and fuck do salt might ah How about how he didn't get relief from there? I was so, so pumped. I was like, when he called the them over and I was like, Buck, he is going to, he's going to get relief here. And they just said, nah, I was like that. We've been crying out for that, for so that sort of shit for so long. And at the most crucial moment of a tournament that the rules official was just flopped his hog out and said, nah, mate, like,
00:22:23
Speaker
Fucking p play it you had it there. ah It was it was great and they should all do that from now on Where where would you put it? Where would have you put that bunker shot? Ah There'd be one or two places. It would have been in the grandstand or back in my footprints probably. My um my hands would have been shaking like I'm presuming and like we're talking about in the situation because, you know, ah occasionally you might get a bit bit lucky in that and and I'd like to think that I'd get it out, you know, kind of and to
00:23:08
Speaker
a chip on kind of thing eight times out of ten. But in that moment, there's absolutely fucking no chance. Do you know what club he hits? No. No, I don't either. Because um if that was me, I would have hit like a nine iron and just tried to like stack something out and run it up. hey Yeah. twenty four But it looks like he hit like a six and six, which just makes it even more impressive. Yeah, it was, yeah, it was, it was brass up there and like situationally, like it's, it's one of the best shots you'll see. You would have seen that stat, which I don't know how it was derived, but it was like the chances of hitting it inside four foot from that spot was 1.7%. Fuck. That's outrageous. saying I hadn't actually said that. They've probably been taking into account in the situation, which is a pretty outrageous stat. Yeah, it was,
00:24:04
Speaker
It was unbelievable. and like i i was When I saw him knock at relief, I was like, fuck. like like He'll be lucky to take this extra hole. it was like it's This has double written all over it. like It's going to hit that tree root and go backwards. And right so yeah, it was like he didn't have a stance or a swing like fair play to him. He played phenomenal all week. ah And man, two US opens like it's it's starting to join pretty elite territory. But Monty, ah do you have anything to add on Bryson?

Other Players' Performances and Future Tournaments

00:24:38
Speaker
We're kind of going to, we're going to speed this pot up and and and get through to the end because mate, I don't want you to miss your airport run.
00:24:48
Speaker
No, leave it there. That's good. Um, did anyone else kind of surprise you this week apart from, you know, Matthew Pavon of France and the final group that I didn't have that on my bigger card at the so start of the week. Uh, a great, great week from him. Uh, can't lay, uh, doesn't normally front at these things and, and had a great week, but it was, it was really, it was a two horse race. Essentially I didn't, I didn't feel threatened. I still didn't feel threatened by can't lay them even when he got to five.
00:25:21
Speaker
No, I agree, but, you know, that's, you know, he'll be obviously betterly disappointed because he had a genuine shot. I think Fiannel was pleading to see him actually do something in one of these somewhat similar to the cat life.
00:25:44
Speaker
Bunch of disappointments on the other side, like, Obviously see a lot of those notable MCs, but then guys like, even the Cam Smith and Brooks Kipker and things like Schiff, like, fuck. Yeah. Yeah, I suppose. He's allowed a week off, but sort of with these guys, like, the Cam Smith and the Tickers just sort of, I don't know what to make. He's swaying in the wind a little bit. know what
00:26:17
Speaker
yeah yeah like I'm unsure about him. i like hey is He is one guy that was kind of, well he was, he was in the absolute prime of his career when he went to live and now he's come back in. He's just like, when he comes back, he just barely fronts. Like he had a couple of good finishes last year at the majors that were pretty backdoor. Like fuck it's yeah. Like I thought like an on paper, we said it last week, but like Pinehurst is an unbelievable fit for Cam Smith. Like, and he was super, super disappointing, but Foxy seventh major cut made in a row. Pretty impressive stuff from Foxy.
00:27:02
Speaker
Yeah, I'd love to know um how many have done that because I know after the Open last year they put out the list and I think there's probably about 10 guys that made all four last year. So you would assume it's probably six or eight now have done that same seven. But I had a sort of stat today that showed the cumulative scores to par. this year of those players who'd made all cuts and he was dead last of those. I think there was about 16 of them by some margin. So Bison was number one and in Foxy was so yeah I mean pretty impressive but we've said it a lot before and we'll say it again. It's time for you know to show us if you're good or not.
00:27:58
Speaker
Yeah. And Tom slowly running out. It's like we've done everything. Sure. And yeah, well, Tom will tell on it. I think I still think open championships fit him to the ground. And I think like, hopefully at Trone, we can see him, you know, put pushing towards the top of the leaderboard. But Mate, do you have anything anything to add from the US Open? I got one i got one thing in playoff holes for you. We had a couple of listener takes, but we might leave those this week. But do you have any parting words for the US Open? Just just more of those. we need to get We need to get it more regularly on the rotor. And and even the not even on the rotor, the USGA should genuinely consider a rotor. There's been a lot of plop events for the marquee event. So hopefully,
00:28:50
Speaker
I can use this year as a bit more of a blueprint. Yep, absolutely mate. i've got I've got nothing really more to add on the US Open, but i I'll tell you one thing. I am looking forward to the the KPMG Women's PGA Championship this week. I think the it looks tight, looks tough at Saali Country Club. I'm looking forward to that and hopefully you know we're we have something good to talk about. another major next week and hopefully it lives up to the one that's kind of preceded it. But mate, we'll head into playoff holes and unless you've got something to tee off on, I've just got a kind of a question to ask you. No, you're a fan. Well mate, I'm back here in Christchurch and I've been getting up. I didn't take any leave so I've been working.
00:29:45
Speaker
i I've set up my station, my workstation at ah the University of Canterbury where I am, alumni, and I've just been in the library and I've just got a take for you. is How many years out of s school is too many to be wearing your leavers jersey? oh the it's it's a very It's a very good question because it's
00:30:16
Speaker
It's socially provoking. and
00:30:22
Speaker
I'm going to say, I reckon you can get away with it for two years. Two years? Okay. I saw a lot of 22s. I'm not that big on it. Yeah, 22s, I can... I'll let them off the hook, but if you're seeing 21s, I'm just... All right. Come on. Move on. Move on. As at what? Like, just put that in the closet for a school union. I think that's that's a fair take. I just... i
00:30:58
Speaker
Yeah, well, maybe I'm just a bit better because I'm walking through the Uni library with my work kit and I'm just thinking, holy fuck, how much older than all these kids am I? Like in like 2021, 22, 23, believers jerseys. I'm like, mate, I'm 10 years out of NCA next year, mate. It's just, it's a long time. I was like, fuck, I'm probably too old to be in here, but my take is probably similar to you. I kind of, air on the side of like wear it for your first year uni and then maybe just hang it up in the closet and bring it out for maybe ah occasions maybe you're going i don't know a rugby game or going to support or or like i said a school union it's just yeah um um youre a we you're in a area where you're not a mature student but or at least perceived to be one and you're too old to really be there it's it must be a weird setup
00:31:58
Speaker
Yeah, it's it's weird. Like it's a it's it's it's a foreign territory, like. But hey, you really got to be confident in it. You got to be confident in yourself. Yeah, well, I'm pretty I'm pretty strictly either in the campus cafe or or straight up to a silent level where I just can't be can't be disturbed by any punters. Well, I'm sure it's productive. Yeah, well, it's just it's ah it's a quiet work area and I can get into my get into the tools up there Start firing out golf yarns, but Monty mate appreciate you joining joining me tonight at that short notice ah And Cheers guys for tuning in safe travels over to to Europe and I'm sure the listeners can't wait to see your golf content, but cheers for tuning in guys Hope you enjoyed the US s Open and
00:32:53
Speaker
enjoy the woman's pgi this week because it's gonna ask's gonna be an
00:33:14
Speaker
Enjoy the woman's PGA this week because it's going to be an absolute wrap-through.