It's buddy week on the PGA Tour at the TPC Lousiana Zurich Classic. Learn which tandems are worth watching (or waggering on) and why this tourney is starting to feel a bit dated. Get the full recap from last week's RBC Heritage; including how we managed to get everything right and wrong at the same time. And, some candid feedback on LIV's $500M man -- Bryson DeChambeau! Follow the show on YouTube @nostrokes Follow Scott on X @kitun Follow Joe on Instagram @venmojoe
Venmo Joe (00:00.484)
You
Scott Kitun (00:01.691)
boy, episode four, Joe, we're still here. We're still making magic happen.
Venmo Joe (00:06.476)
Alright, still rocking and rolling, We got an audience that we're building here, man. No strokes to the moon.
Scott Kitun (00:09.442)
Well, this is a...
Scott Kitun (00:14.936)
Hey, know, family and friends first, family and friends first. I like to call this buddy week because it's a tournament with buddies. this is sort of the, you talked about the smiley coffin thing last couple of weeks ago. This is like where the kind of the bromance really starts. Like they, the little buddy group, they're playing together. You know, this is how you meet guys on tour and get to become friendly. You start seeing guys who are playing, you know, year after year after year with the same tandem. You get to see things like this week with the Fitzpatrick brothers playing.
which is cool and obviously is where I put my money, because I'm not gonna bet against the fucking guy three times in a row and lose. So we're just gonna take our licks and move on.
Venmo Joe (00:52.708)
Can we talk about really quick how you and I have contributed to Matt Fitzpatrick's success over the last month because you and I both were on him for like five straight tournaments. I got off him after the players. I was like, this guy's just never going to win after he squandered the players. And then what does he do? He wins the Valspar the following week and then a couple weeks later wins a signature event.
Scott Kitun (01:02.039)
Yeah.
Venmo Joe (01:22.444)
I have not profited on Matt Fitzpatrick even though I loved him for a lot of this season. So he can thank us for, yeah, he can thank us for, know, obviously it wasn't Jivan with us having money on him. We stopped betting him and now he's the hottest golfer in the world. So you're welcome, Matt Fitzpatrick.
Scott Kitun (01:28.398)
I think he owes us.
Scott Kitun (01:39.608)
He needed, you know, go Wildcats. He needed someone to believe in him. And I believe that we were the people who believed in him and make him feel confident when he wakes up. It's not his beautiful blonde wife, it's us. He sees us talking and not betting on him and he comes to play.
Venmo Joe (01:56.035)
Well hey, better us talking about him than Dan Rapoport who just like, my god, guy kisses his ass.
Scott Kitun (02:02.286)
I'm gonna cry. I just I'm gonna get emotional fucking guy We're not in the business of shitting on fellow podcast golf guys, but in some cases I will make I will make a make a slight change to that This is gonna be a fun show I think this week is you know, we've talked about this before this week is buddy week is about friends This should be a golf tournament coming up Zurich that that should be popular and yet in my mind it feels almost like a Bygone era of golf where this was a thing
Venmo Joe (02:05.092)
Ha
Scott Kitun (02:30.904)
where guys got together in Louisiana and hung out on Bourbon Street and tore up TPC. And it's something you've mentioned to me before the show, but it's true. You're coming off of the master signature, signature this, and then signature, signature PGA. It's not a great time if you're looking for the top guys to play, but we're not gonna let that stop you. We're still gonna talk about this tournament. I think there's some fun things to talk about. We are going to recap what we got right and what we got wrong.
Ironically enough, the same thing was gotten wrong with the RDC as it was the Masters. And then we got the $500 million elephant in the room, which is we left off the last show talking about live has an emergency announcement. It was basically a non announcement, like we said, but it was predictably like they're pretty much done. Like it's done, but it's going to go on the rest this year. And all of that was completely overshadowed.
by a story from the athletic on Bryce and DeChambeau's meetings during Masters week, which I thought was kind of funny. The guy's out taking meetings for Masters week and he didn't make the cut. Maybe there was something in common there. We will get into that towards the end of it, but I wanna start off where we left off, Joe, which was last week's tournament. We were dead on rights, correct, that it's gonna be a repeat winner. We circled it with repeat winners and then said, okay, the ones that we would pick if not them, if they have all their tools in the bag, you've got.
You know, you've got Berger, you've got a few guys who are going to have to play really, really well, everything working at fits. If not, they're probably not going to make it. That's kind of what happened. You've got all the guys who played extremely well, who've won before, pretty much made up the top 20. And then you've got Russell Henley, who I think was a good pick. And we talked about it while giving the pick. He doesn't win tournaments enough. And that would be the question. And I thought he played well, not well enough to contend really and win. But the people who were in it to win it was
Obviously the winner Fitzpatrick and and and and Scottie Shuffler who I think I let off by saying it's probably Scottie Shuffler who's gonna win. But you know if he doesn't this is what's gonna look like. So we came very close right. I was there something you what what did you learn from the tournament about the guys. What would you change.
Venmo Joe (04:29.176)
He should win.
Venmo Joe (04:41.764)
I think we were dead on, right? was course history, right? So we looked at, I think we gave that out, right? Look at the guys who've had success here. The guys that we threw out were Scotty, who was a guy who had won there, Fitz who had won there a couple of years ago. We gave out Speed, that was a little disappointed in Speed. He just never really got it cooking. It didn't deliver, but he just has this uncanny ability to give us the best.
Scott Kitun (05:00.236)
Yeah. Spieth Harbor, Spieth Town didn't never got going.
Venmo Joe (05:09.988)
images on a golf court where he just finds himself where you and I would find ourselves. He just has the ability to make par from there, where if we were stuck where he was off of some of his tee shots, we're making double or triple. So he always he keeps it exciting at least, but he didn't contend, you know, Fitz was running away with it for a little while. Hovland popped off, which like I think that's a guy that we've got a circle coming into the to the rest of the major season. He is, you know, back from the Scott show last year.
I loved Hovland at Oakmont. He contended there. He's a guy that I'm going to deep dive into for the PGA championship. he just seems like a guy that's going to win a PGA championship. Like he contended when Koepke won a couple of years ago. He contended when Zander won. You know, that's when he had like no semblance of a golf game. So like the PGA championship just seems to suit him. So coming out of RBC, I liked what I saw from Hovland final group on Saturday.
He did taper off, like, you he got, he got it to 13 under after two days. So he played some phenomenal golf. and then you just can't kill Scottie, right? Like Scottie was, four or five back heading into Sunday. And, you know, it's, it's seems like too big of a lead on, Sunday, especially at a course where he's got history at. I know you, you won some money off of Scottie on Saturday or on the bet you placed on Saturday, almost got it done. I was pretty shocked.
at his approach shot in the playoff. I just, you just don't, you don't see, I mean, you just don't see him do that with approach shots. And that was after, you know, Fitz had that one-handed finish where you were like, oh fuck, where's that going? Like did he lose that? And he put it to 13 feet and made a hell of a putt to win that. But that not really surprises. It's just what you're going to get on this show is that like, it's hard to get.
Scott Kitun (06:40.718)
What approach, shawty
Venmo Joe (07:04.63)
you and I excited and our audience excited about picking guys that are like anywhere from four to one to 15 to one, which is where Scotty and Fitz were. So we gave some longer shots that didn't come home, but that's always how I think we're going to approach these tournaments is, hey, this is who should win. But if you're looking for value, here are the guys that if they've got the potter rolling could contend. It just didn't happen at RBC.
Scott Kitun (07:33.004)
mean, look, if you want a short show, we can come on here every week and just tell you, Scotty Scheffler's the pick. And then, and then whoever runner up is, if Rory's in the field and he's number two, I'll tell you who did get themselves and shoot themselves in the foot repeatedly is our boy, Obed Terminator. It might be a problem. Fucking guy plays Sunday like it's a Thursday. Like he literally, he cannot not have a double. He cannot not, you know, we talk about the complimentary part of his game, which is like that he plays like a cyborg.
Venmo Joe (07:36.948)
Scotty Sheffler. Exactly. It's no fun.
Venmo Joe (07:48.717)
Hahaha
Scott Kitun (08:03.606)
Maybe that's part of the problem also is that, you know, the emotional ups and downs of a golf match, particularly get into Sunday and you kind of feel the ride. Like maybe part of the problem is that he's still just sort of like plays the course as it comes at him and isn't, isn't making changes. Cause he did not, he did not play Sunday in a way that looked like a guy who was either going to chase down Fitzpatrick nor a guy who was trying to preserve. He was taking kind of dumb shots, risky shots that were like ironically on holes that didn't have a payoff.
And on the holes that had like a payoff, he kind of took it like he took it easy. And then he'd shit the bed anyway. And I was like, what? I don't know what to make of it, which is going to lead to the kind of my next point is I was at the, you would imagine at the golf ball, I hit the range up, hit a couple of buckets, then played 45 holes on the same with my buddy on Sunday watching this. And we kept talking the whole time saying, what a boring ass tournament. Like this Sunday sucks. And I kept saying to him, wait for it.
Venmo Joe (08:36.664)
Yeah.
Scott Kitun (08:59.34)
This is this has everything written on it to be like a last one or two holes guys looking behind him guys looking behind him and he kind of ironically going back to the Masters flub of coverage we talked about a couple weeks ago. I said you can't fuck this up because the two guys playing for first or playing next to each other so they can't you can't screw it up. So really if Scottie just does what he's going to do and what he did do you're going to have a potential playoff at the end of it and really it's get within one stroke with a hole left.
and I don't care who you are other than Tiger Woods in his prime. I don't care who you are teeing off next to somebody with one stroke almost nil room for error on the 18th hole of the Sunday in any tournament is gonna bring on fireworks and we had it. so I thought it was a boring afternoon but it ended really cool and it would have been maybe even better if the two had a playoff that didn't result in a chunked wedge shot and a one-punch.
Venmo Joe (09:54.916)
Yeah, but what we talked about, Like dude, 16 through 18 on that course delivers, right? Like just a great finishing stretch, right? And I know you saw that tree that I was referencing on 16 that I went right behind. like that became like, that's a strategic shot that you've got to hit off of the tee because if you blast it, like you give yourself trouble with that tree because it's literally in the middle of the fairway. That part 317 was
Scott Kitun (10:08.342)
Yes, we all saw the tree.
Venmo Joe (10:25.028)
Especially on Sunday with the wind was playing super tough. Um, so a lot of drama got introduced into, into 17 and then 18 was, was playing like a bear. That's a terrifying tee shot. Um, and that's why Fitz, yeah, that's why we were in the playoff, right? Fitz didn't execute that tee shot on 18. Scotty did. Scotty just needed to par to get into that playoff, but yeah, you got to give Fitz credit on that playoff hole. He rips a drive. So he corrected whatever went wrong in regulation.
ripped a drive and then fought off that wind on that approach shot. And I mean, that was one of the best shots into 18 all week. And that was with everything on the line. So yes, boring for the most part, but that last couple of whole stretch really delivered. And RBC just seems to always get a playoff, which is great. We've had, I think, four playoffs out of the last five or six years.
And Fitzpatrick has been in two of them and won both of those playoffs. He beat Spieth a couple of years ago in a playoff. I think Spieth won in a playoff. Obviously this year we had another one like, you know, the drama on at least the back nine or last couple of holes at RBC always seems to deliver and get us a playoff.
Scott Kitun (11:41.112)
We got a new Matty Ice on our hands. Fits Patrick, he doesn't lose in playoffs.
Venmo Joe (11:43.64)
Yeah, he's a problem right now.
Scott Kitun (11:47.726)
He's been a problem for a while. It's just people don't, you he just has kind of a look about him like, you know, you just kind of ignore and under underwhelming and then he's got game for days. And then the thing that I liked the most about him was, you know, and the, the, you know, all the people were chanting USA. He didn't get all Zach Johnson on him. He was like, it's fucking great, man. And like they would never cross the line and it was fun and I beat him and I was like, all right, I don't know why it's Australian here, but he was and, and we got to work on it.
Venmo Joe (12:07.306)
He loves it.
Venmo Joe (12:13.124)
Yeah, we gotta work on your Fitzpatrick in person pictures there.
Scott Kitun (12:17.752)
I got to work on my, I'm married to an Irish broad. You'd think I'd be better at this. But either way, I like his attitude. I think he's a winner. And then, I guess the other part of it,
Venmo Joe (12:20.708)
hahahaha!
Venmo Joe (12:28.002)
Well, yeah, to your point, I like that he he's like embraced that villain role, right? And I think that I think this
Scott Kitun (12:35.448)
I don't think he embraced it. I think he just doesn't give a fuck. He's like, I'm awesome. I like to play in a competitive, you know, nature. I think he just, that's his spirit.
Venmo Joe (12:41.028)
No, dude, is no. Yeah, but he embrace. mean, dude, when he does this after he makes that putt to win the fucking golf tournament, it's just great to watch, though, right? Like that. Like you saw the same thing at the players. And unfortunately, you know, he couldn't he couldn't silence the crowd there. But when it came down to him and Cam Young at the players, the crowd was like 100 percent behind Cam Young. I think we called him the new captain America and like the crowd was loving him and like
Scott Kitun (12:47.694)
I just think that's him.
Venmo Joe (13:10.808)
You know, obviously it wasn't like it wasn't the craziness that was Bethpage, but it did have like some semblance of like, okay, like this is USA versus a Team Europe player and we want, we want the USA player to win. So it's been, it's been a fun wrinkle into those tournaments where he's been contending and you know, he's having to face his opponent on the course and then he's having to face the crowd.
Scott Kitun (13:34.486)
It's going to continue because we for once have, I think, a really good split of talented guys from across the Atlantic and talented guys from Asia and talented guys here in the U.S. We're like, I mean, if I'm betting on Ryder Cup, I'm not betting on U.S. for a while. I mean, to sound anti-patriotic, but the team is stacked.
Venmo Joe (13:51.393)
Europe, Europe, dude, Europe owns us, right? I mean, they, they, they own us. They want it. They've won another away rider cup, right? So until we can go on the road and win, like that's they've got our number, right? They've got all the bragging.
Scott Kitun (13:54.315)
It's, mean.
Scott Kitun (14:06.08)
Once Tiger's back, we'll be ready once Tiger's back. Yeah, it's coming, I'm waiting.
Venmo Joe (14:08.819)
yeah, I wouldn't hold your breath on that buddy.
Scott Kitun (14:13.506)
but wait for a while. Well, speaking of Fitzpatrick, we've got the Zurich coming up this week here. This is a course that I know from playing it several times, a big fan of Louisiana, New Orleans in particular, don't remember much, but I do remember that course a little bit.
Venmo Joe (14:29.156)
Something tells me you rolled into that course still hammered from Bourbon Street the night before. And you probably played pretty well because you play very good when you're coming in hot.
Scott Kitun (14:41.9)
Yeah, usually, usually I play pretty well when I'm loaded. I've played the course coming straight in off the airplane, getting all messed up on the course, then heading out to Bourbon Street or rec and walking down Bourbon Street with my clubs still on my shoulder. And then I've done the other one. I've done, I've done like, like Michelangelo, I whip the shit out and just like clubs doing this. It's there's a lot of good stories. It can be a different podcast in a second here.
Venmo Joe (14:54.893)
my god!
Scott Kitun (15:08.142)
And then I've also done the straight from bourbon. Should we play there? There's a spot open, let's go. And then we've done the, you know, played it straight up, waking up. It's a fun course. It's a course that I personally can tear up. So I just know these guys will shoot like a negative 45. You know, it's, it's a Pete die seven, par 72, 7,400. It's not terribly long. It's not, it's super wide. All I remember from it was like, I literally wondered if this course was built with the approach from the fairway neck into the green was purposely built to like,
funnel into the green. the greens are generally like, they're not massive, they're not super hard to putt. So in general, I expect this to be fun. And I want to get into the players and the picks and we will do that. The Fitzpatrick brothers to me is the highlight. Like you got, both won last week. Like it's kind of fun and cool. They clearly play with each other. Well, the big names out, which is what you're going to talk about. There's not a lot of guys that are, are on the master's major watch that are in this tournament with the exception of, guess, Fitzpatrick.
But what I want to talk about first, and I don't want to take anything away from this tournament because it should be cool. And I understand the timing of it isn't great where it falls in the schedule. But I'm kind of wondering, are we entering this like bygone tour stop era? This tournament reminds me of Tin Cup. All the guys come in, they're all having cocktails in the clubhouse. They're betting in downtown at, any of your beautiful French restaurants downtown on Bourbon Street. They're having a good time and they're just
you know, like the old school tour. And it's not like that anymore. It's PJs, it's commitments, it's brand things, it's families, it's families everywhere. The idea of playing a two man tournament that's not a week's long or week long Ryder Cup or TGL, which is like a fun stopover separate thing. It feels like this is a shoehorn tournament that used to be fun and it was a mix up for fans. And we're like, ooh, we get to see our two favorite guys tee it up together.
And now it's like, you fucking move on with like, let's get to the next tournament. And part of that might be gambling and it's hard to handicap these. Part of it, my guess is viewership is probably very poor. So I don't know, like I wanna like this because to your point at the top of the show, we play golf together, we have buddies who play golf together, we play games, we play all kinds of games. And so like, this is a game, this is like basically your buddy's golf match.
Venmo Joe (17:15.619)
Very hard.
Scott Kitun (17:34.956)
And yet it's, know, Koepke's there and Lowry's there, but like, it's not, it just, I don't know. It just feels like we're not, we don't do this shit anymore. This is like the dunk contest. It's just sort of like, okay, we've been here.
Venmo Joe (17:45.923)
Well, and just like the dunk contest, right? Why is the dunk contest struggling? You don't get superstars there, right? And that's what you're saying with this tournament now too, is that it really is just an unfortunate calendar slot for this, right? Like you now have with the introduction of the signature events over the last couple of years in the bigger purses, you just have...
Scott Kitun (17:52.641)
as the superstars I'm playing at.
Venmo Joe (18:09.698)
the tournaments that are the haves, right? Where everyone's going to go because the purse is huge and it's a signature event and like they're required to go. think you can miss one if you're, if you're in that, you know, qualifying field of the signature events. And this one unfortunately falls, you got masters RBC, which is a signature event. And then the next two weeks are signature events, signature events. So you're to get the top guys there and then you, you roll right into the PGA championship. So.
like unfortunately cool concept for the tournament, but based on where it falls on the calendar, you and I were searching and we're like, man, there's just not a lot of names here, right? There's just not a lot of teams to be super excited about. I think the one thing that I'll take from last year, right, is that Ben Griffin won, right, with Andrew Novak. And that was, that was a springboard for Ben Griffin, right? He had never won a PGA Tour event. And like, he got that monkey off of his back.
playing in a less stressful environment because you've got a teammate that you can rely on and on Sunday, you're only hitting half the shots, right? It's alternate shot. He won and then like springboarded that into becoming, you know, the hottest golfer on the planet outside of Scottie Scheffler for a couple of months stretch last year that springboarded him into winning individual tournaments and then making the fucking Ryder Cup team, right? Before him coming into this tournament last year.
I can guarantee you he was not on Keegan's short list from a captain's pick or qualifying perspective. then, you know, fast forward a couple of months later, and he's playing in Beth Paine. So you can look like I kind of am trying to look.
Scott Kitun (19:48.534)
You think this really does have like an impact? think people look at this, particularly around Ryder Cup, look at this and think, huh.
Venmo Joe (19:53.445)
I think, I think, I know, don't think this tournament, but like what my point is, is that he was able, he had not won a PGA Tour event. You get to win with a teammate. So there's kind of an asterisk on it, but like it is a PGA Tour event. And then it's springboarded. I think it gave him a ton of confidence in his game. He got the monkey off of his back where he's like, all right, I am a PGA Tour winner, albeit in a team event.
And then he won a signature event. He contended in the U S open and he made the rider cup. So like where I'm kind of looking at is, Hey, is there another like young guy that has like flirted with success on the PGA tour, but just hasn't gotten that win. And maybe, you know, switching it up team dynamics. Maybe there's a, you know, who's the next Ben Griffin this year that can use this tournament to springboard, you know, their individual play for the rest of the year.
Scott Kitun (20:47.342)
I mean, it like, like the people are gonna be talking about the Hughes-Pendrith grouping. Is that like kind of what you're looking at? That's the next Griffin?
Venmo Joe (20:54.016)
I there's there's one there's one guy really like in Michael Thor Thor Thor Thorby John so however you say his last name I just I just I just call him Thor because yeah Thor Sander like I I don't know that's the guy that I kind of gravitate towards just because he has contended in a lot of tournaments he's young he's a bomber he's
Scott Kitun (21:01.036)
Yeah. Thor, Thorbjornsen or whatever. Yeah. We're calling him Thor's hammer. He's Thor's hammer. I don't know.
Scott Kitun (21:17.102)
Is it Thor Bjornsson? Is that how you pronounce it? Thor Bjornsson? that? I don't know. I'm trying to throw some shit out here, man.
Venmo Joe (21:20.462)
Something like, I'm not even gonna try to say it, right? I mean, it's tough. Yeah, you're trying to throw it out. I'm just going Thor. He's paired up with his good buddy, Carl Vilps, or Villips. He's just, yeah, Carl, good to see you. I don't think Carl is like, I would never say, Carl should be a favorite in...
Scott Kitun (21:33.038)
Carl Carlson.
Venmo Joe (21:44.548)
a normal PGA Tour event, but I know him and Thor are good buddies. So that, that was the team that I originally gravitated towards, but something we were talking about, the odds just stink, right? I think they're like 20 to one to win. And it's just like, man, I want to bet Thor, but like, yeah. And what, and what, makes, what makes this impossible to handicap is Friday and Sunday, right? Cause alternate shot is just such a tough format to handicap because you know,
Scott Kitun (21:59.094)
You can't handicap this. You can't handicap this. That's the problem. Like everybody's...
Venmo Joe (22:13.41)
You could be playing great, but your partner is having trouble off the tee and he's putting you in shitty spots time and time again, every other hole.
Scott Kitun (22:21.186)
Well, that's, so Joe, like that's the, that to me is the part of this that is different. People, you're probably gonna laugh me and think this is stupid, but I'm telling you, the advancement of golf as a game since the days when we would watch like Nicholas play and stuff like this, and you'd watch, know, know, Lee Trevino. Like I remember watching this as a kid, seeing these kind of two-man partner games, sitting at the links and watching on the big TV, these like old dudes that were like legends playing together. We don't play that way anymore. I'm not saying that they didn't.
aim the fucking ball like they did. But the technology and the stuff that they had and where they were playing was about how long and how short, not where you are in position. And we now play a way where like, I don't know, can you think of anyone else who could play Scottie Shuffler's game? Like, yeah, you could say he bombs a ball, but that's not the whole story. You could say Rory McIlroy bombs a ball. That's not the whole story. It's where in the fair where they're comfortable. It's where in the greens they like to approach. Are they going downhill, uphill, up into the, you know. So when you
Venmo Joe (23:10.158)
No.
Venmo Joe (23:16.984)
Bingo, bingo, yeah.
Scott Kitun (23:20.194)
when you take a game that used to be like, it's played like you and I would play like, Scott, he's gonna bomb it off the tee. Joe is gonna make some putts. It's a simple game for us. For these guys, it's not. And I think it, not gonna say that they're not gonna score their asses off they are, but it just, it doesn't play the same. You got guys hitting shots they don't wanna fucking hit. You got guys hitting shots they do want. It's just a goofy match. It doesn't line up right.
Venmo Joe (23:43.288)
No, that's a great call on all shot that I didn't really think about is that to your point, if you're playing your own ball, you're not thinking just, I have to bomb this. It's, much do I want left on my second shot? And when you're playing with a guy that either hits it longer than you or shorter, you're going to be in spots that if you were playing your own ball, it wouldn't be the number that you were playing to.
Scott Kitun (23:56.012)
You know exactly where you're putting the ball.
Venmo Joe (24:11.236)
So that's what makes Alt Shot, I I think it's a very interesting watch. I just think for our purposes, from a gambling handicap perspective, it's really a crap shoot, right? It's almost like, hey, pick the couple of teams that you know are gonna dominate in best ball and then hope you get lucky with Alt, Alt or an Alt Shot.
Scott Kitun (24:28.834)
I mean, you, you could almost just go and pick what you think is fun. Like just pick the group you like, cause you know, like the chapter thing. Yeah. This is the vibe coding.
Venmo Joe (24:33.72)
Yeah, based on vibes, right? Like seriously, pick based on vibes. don't, I don't love, it is weird to see Lowry not with Rory, right? And I know Rory played, did he play last year when he won the Masters? Maybe this time he's a two time Master Champion. He's just like, I don't want to play again. But I, I don't know that Lowry kept, they don't seem like they would have good vibes again.
Scott Kitun (24:51.438)
Who knows?
Scott Kitun (24:59.224)
that I'm sure they have a hell of a good time DJing something, but I don't know much after that. I don't know. Let's put it to the test. Okay. I'll let you pick any two guys in PGA. You can put them together, any two guys you want. And then I'm going to ask you a question after that. You pick anyone you want. if you, it doesn't matter. Currently active PGA, not even PGA, active golfer, professional golfer, you could put together as a pairing. Who would your two be that you think would win this thing? Who's the best?
What would you love to see the most?
Venmo Joe (25:29.836)
probably Spieth and Thomas just because those seem to be, I mean, those are true best friends that have had.
Scott Kitun (25:36.226)
You got something to do this weekend. You're not going to be knocking up. not going to watch it. They'll be over by the Friday.
Venmo Joe (25:42.436)
Yeah. I, those would be who I would pick because those.
Scott Kitun (25:45.55)
Kind of busy weekend. I'd like to see these two guys play Thursday and Friday.
Venmo Joe (25:52.589)
What?
Scott Kitun (25:54.038)
I'm just laughing because if it was any other tournament with cuts, the two guys you picked, the chance, like I would definitely bet they don't make the cut.
Venmo Joe (26:00.994)
Are you crazy? Like you're asking who would be like the best team that compliments each other, that riles each other up. Like, I mean, just go off of their Ryder Cup record, right? Those guys are like unstoppable in the Ryder Cup.
Scott Kitun (26:06.254)
Yeah.
Scott Kitun (26:11.04)
No, that's true. That's true. I can't ignore the fact I just saw a guy shoot like a fucking 80 like five days ago. One of those.
Venmo Joe (26:17.624)
Well, yeah, I I would say like in Justin Thomas's current form, probably not. But if you're if you're just looking at like who's probably going to have the most fun together, it would be it would be those two guys or you could even like sub in Ricky with with Spieth, right?
Scott Kitun (26:22.882)
Yeah.
Scott Kitun (26:28.087)
Yeah.
Scott Kitun (26:32.738)
I was just going to say Fowler in any of these is a good one. Fowler in JT, if they're playing at their peak would be good. Yeah. Does it?
Venmo Joe (26:37.252)
Burns and Scotty would be a great pair because those guys are like the same two dudes. They're best friends. live in Texas together. Scotty's one weakness has been historically putting. Sam Burns is the best putter in the world. And then Scotty can do everything else. So that would be a really formidable team. You're just not going to see Scotty play this tournament. So it doesn't really matter.
Scott Kitun (27:03.362)
Well, now under the powerful second follow-up question here, you got to pick from the best players in golf to pick your team for this tournament. Does it change anything and would it keep you glued to the television this weekend? Because it wouldn't for me.
Venmo Joe (27:17.218)
No, probably not. Like it's just...
Scott Kitun (27:18.486)
Yeah, so that's the problem, right? Like at the end of this, like I think it's a cool concept and turn. I just think they just got rid of the Hawaiian swing. I feel like and this is going to lead into the live conversation, but I feel like this is just part of the evolution of PGA Tour. We're starting to get into a place where it's like, yeah, you know, the funny thing is like the NBA, arguably too many games, NFL, they're trying to add games. All these sports are doing all these things to try to expand. And here golf is they literally have control. They can reduce the amount of courses.
that they're gonna play in tournaments you're gonna play and still make more money, still do bigger things. I hope that they make changes. I like this concept, but I think this is the TGL now. I think these kind of gimmick tournaments just don't for four days. I just don't think it can keep our attention. I think if I told you, you could have a Burns, Scheffler versus Ricky and JT, know, peak play one-on-one match, you'd watch one match. You'd watch the TGL that night. You'd watch team game. You'd watch the match on TNT.
Venmo Joe (28:13.945)
Yeah.
Scott Kitun (28:18.358)
Like that's, I think that's what this is now. I think we're off of this shit. Four days, it's just done. And I think the same thing for a lot of these tournaments that are kind of non-signature. I really think that we're going to start seeing the PGA like cut the fat, maybe bring up some of their Q school talent into tournaments like this and let them during the middle of season, get a pass on to this, get a pathway to get on the season midway. I think this is, this is the new way.
Venmo Joe (28:42.02)
I like that. I like that. I like that idea. I think they are going to have to switch it up because the problem that they're going to have is that the sponsors, the sponsors that they have for these tournaments that are the have-nots, right? That aren't getting the best fields. Like whenever they're having to renegotiate those, sponsorship contracts, like if I'm Zurich, I'm like, Hey, I got two guys in the top 30 of the world golf rankings. Like I'm not getting the value of my sponsorship here. So I'm going to pull the plug.
Scott Kitun (29:11.084)
I mean, and I don't know the actual numbers, obviously it's a lot higher than I'm gonna pretend right now, but I'm gonna bet you that you could create a par three contest on the front end or some kind of post, you know, didn't make the cut next nine kind of play at the players championship and get as much worth and eyeballs on that little nine hole scramble at the end of the guys who didn't make the cut as you would get on an entire four day tournament of this tournament. The Zurich playoff and like you got it.
Venmo Joe (29:36.654)
Yeah, fair.
Scott Kitun (29:40.782)
The interest in golf is going up to such a degree that I really don't think finding a place for the dollars is gonna be a problem, which I'm just gonna bring into it. It's the reason I said to you a couple of weeks ago about the Liv stuff, and you said to me, you know, they gotta find a way to get these guys back on the tour, Koepke negotiated his thing. I think they're just gonna say, fuck it, let's move on, okay? All the players are tired of this. They're gonna have some kind of ramp, but I think the Liv thing is gonna be done at the end of the year unless somebody else comes.
and says we want to buy it and turn it into something else. Whatever it is, it's not going to be the same thing. No, no one's no one's going to do that. But the Saudi guys are not going to going to hold up. Like if you guys want to take the shit that's the skeleton, no one's going to cause a problem. I don't think it's going to happen. Just saying that's the only way that this doesn't fold at the end of the year.
Venmo Joe (30:12.59)
No, no one's gonna fund that operation. No one.
Venmo Joe (30:26.37)
I mean, dude, you've raised funding for your career. You're very good at it, right? If you're trying to go to different investors for Liv, how do you sell that product? It's been losing hundreds of millions of dollars. They're not going to get new funding in there unless someone is just absolutely batshit crazy and just viewing it as like, I want to own something in sports. I know it's not going to make money.
I just don't see, without the Saudi money, I don't see any other venture capitalist group saying, hey, I'm gonna sink a couple hundred million dollars into a losing operation.
Scott Kitun (31:00.514)
Yeah, mean, I'm just making shit up on the fly here when you ask me that question. I'm getting into bed with the PGA and I'm basically saying I wanna turn this into our like, you know, I know that we talked about this before Horvat and those guys doing the YGL. I'm gonna turn this into like the NBA DL. I know Corn Fur is supposed to be that, but it's not really. I'm gonna turn into this little micro league that's gonna be a lot of fun and has an entry pass onto the tour.
and it's a place where guys can kind of bounce back and forth. I don't know. I turn it into NBA All-Star weekend, I guess. I don't know what I would do with it. It's not a property that really works, I think, and it's proven out to work, but somebody out there will try to do something. They'll try to put something together.
Venmo Joe (31:41.708)
And the problem is, think the one thing that Liv uncovered was there is an appetite for world-class golf across the world. And that's the one area that the PGA Tour really doesn't service. The biggest successes on Liv have been in the places, in the countries that haven't had professional golf. Adelaide.
Like the PGA Tour should really, like if Liv folds up, should take the top three locations that Liv had and be like, hey, we're gonna go there and we're gonna service Australia, because Australia, yes, seriously though, right? Like how can you, how can PGA Tour look at the success that Liv had at Adelaide and be like, hey, we're gonna ignore Australia. Like, or we're gonna ignore South Korea. Like there's a couple of these places where it's like.
Scott Kitun (32:17.09)
The next Zerk Classic.
Venmo Joe (32:34.254)
They could make a shit ton of money and like the crowds would be crazy. That's the one piece that I would take from Liv, but that's not proprietary intelligence from Liv, right? It's just like, hey, they've just shown us that there's a blueprint to go have some tournaments outside of the United States.
Scott Kitun (32:43.478)
No, no, no, like I said, there's always...
Scott Kitun (32:52.482)
There's always a Trump-like entrepreneurial figure. And they don't care if it's gonna succeed or not. They will go after IP and say, Liv, like somebody spent a ton of money to put Liv on hats and send it all over the place. Now, whether you like it or not is a different thing, but you've got a known brand that you can take and do something with. I'm not saying that's gonna happen or it's even worth doing, but I do think someone will kick the tires on it. And maybe that's how it stays in business. I don't know. If not.
It is done. Regardless, all the best players are going to leave it and they will come back on the PGA Tour. And I think we could sit here and debate about how pissed off, know, Rory McIlroy is a unique case. He's, you know, elite, he's one of the, among the best and he was the face of the PGA for a little bit. Yeah, he has a complaint. But like all the other guys, would you not rather just have the best players every week and have bigger tickets and bigger packages and bigger price and bigger payout? Like you would. So like, yeah, I'm fucking pissed.
that this whole thing happened, but let's move on. Like just get these guys back on tour. Like let's go.
Venmo Joe (33:50.116)
Yeah, but like, yeah, I don't disagree. My point would be, I feel there's very few guys from Liv that are going to move the needle and move eyeballs and create more revenue for the PGA Tour. It's like a handful of guys at the max, right? So yes, yeah.
Scott Kitun (34:09.698)
Yeah, but three of them might be among the best in the top 15 that we have. One of them's young.
Venmo Joe (34:14.69)
Yeah, but there's guys that are going to find their way back to Pat Perez. Well, dude, you know, he got, you know, he got kicked off the four aces after the first year because he was that bad, but he did get a bag. He did get a bag of money. So good for Pat Perez because he certainly wouldn't have won much money on the PGA tour.
Scott Kitun (34:17.44)
You don't think there's room for Pat Perez here? Come on.
Fat press, you know what I mean? There's no room for fat press.
Scott Kitun (34:38.136)
Jesus, my God.
Venmo Joe (34:39.502)
Hey, before we move off of Zurich though, two questions for you. One, who's your pick there? And then give our audience, right, because this does spur the, hey, the buddy game. Like what's your favorite game to play on the course when you're going out with your buddies on a Friday, right? Like is it best ball? Is it all shot? Is it wolf? Is it scotch? Like give the audience something that you like playing with your buddy.
Scott Kitun (34:42.094)
Yeah. Yeah.
Scott Kitun (35:07.97)
Yeah, a lot of times we have a no show fourth and we'll play nine, which is a game you can basically combo with three guys and just kind of goes around. I like you like that game, even though I prefer to play with our full set of four, we never, we never deviate from like playing your own ball. So usually it ends up being like match play. So like me and Doug, my guy, Doug will have a one-on-one match play season long. Me and Dan will have a one-on-one match play season long. Doug and Dan will have one match play season long.
Venmo Joe (35:24.28)
God.
Scott Kitun (35:36.846)
And then as a foursome, you you're doing your normal, you know, green and rag, you know, closest to the, you prox basically, prox low score, low total. And then you can do the normal betting press roll throughout the round. Sometimes we'll, because it's been the same four of us for so long, it's usually we get there and it's like me and Doug versus Dan and Matt or me and Dan versus Doug and kind of all equals out. Lately we have been changing it up at the half, which I think just complicates the fucking math to be honest with you.
So in general, we're pretty standard and don't usually mess around with the ball.
Venmo Joe (36:12.676)
Kind of making me jealous that you've got golf buddies that aren't me, but yeah, it's all good.
Scott Kitun (36:17.774)
Didn't you hear the beginning? We have a fourth that doesn't show up sometimes, so there's a spot for you.
Venmo Joe (36:21.228)
Yeah, well I heard that. I heard that. I heard that. Sure my wife will love hearing that on this podcast. Hey, sign up for some more golf.
Scott Kitun (36:29.088)
I, what? Come on over and hang out with Jen and the kids. They should be making, you know, they could grill, they could make us dinner so when we come home, we're all hungry, you know? Now we're really in trouble.
Venmo Joe (36:38.98)
There you go. All right, so who do you like this week? there any team that, you know, we talked about the Fitzpatricks, we talked about Koepka and Lowry and Griffin and Nova. Is there any one further down the board that you see some value in or at least could be a fun watch for the audience this weekend?
Scott Kitun (36:58.06)
I mean, I threw it on our rundown. Hardy and Davis Riley, I don't know. It's long, long odds, 2023 winners, so they've been around. I mean, T'Galla and Aaron Rye are also just playing really well. Like, I don't know what they play like together, but they individually are playing pretty well, at least till the part of the night on Sunday.
Venmo Joe (37:04.835)
I like that.
Venmo Joe (37:12.568)
I like that one.
Venmo Joe (37:19.438)
Well, was one, there's one thing, there's one thing you, there's one thing that you said about TPC Louisiana that, makes me like Saad. You said the fairways are, are very wide cause he, that's where he gets in trouble, right? Is that his driver kind of goes, goes anywhere, but where he wants it to go. So that could be some value there. He's not going to get in trouble off the tee. I do like him. Problem with betting Aaron rise. You got to watch a guy play golf with two golf gloves on, which is just an unsettling site.
Scott Kitun (37:28.524)
Yeah. Yeah.
Scott Kitun (37:50.626)
There's a couple of these guys on tour that are just really like what I would call in real life a tough hang. Really a tough hang. any guy who wears, I wear no gloves, so I'm really out there, but the two glove guys, the putt with the glove guys, I can't take it. For entertainment's sake, I'm rooting for the Fitzpatrick brothers, because I just think it's kind of cool. I don't know. Good to see brothers who are both playing really well right now, kind of get back and forth and watch how they go back to childhood basically and do shit we used to do in high school golf. That part is fun to me.
But in general, we've talked about it. How do you handicap this? I don't know. these guys, I guess I would say this, if I really, really wanted to bet on this, I would go try to find out who are the guys who practice together in between tournaments and maybe this is what that is. Maybe this is most of these groups. But generally, that's probably the best you could do because you just don't know what you're gonna get out of a team game. I don't know.
Venmo Joe (38:45.028)
Agreed. Agreed.
Scott Kitun (38:47.566)
Well, I hope that that doesn't detour people from watching this, because I certainly am going to. think just to close up shop, we've talked about the Liv thing, and I know you think that these guys, there's not a ton of guys.
Venmo Joe (38:58.5)
Can we talk Bryson a little bit though and just his behavior? Yeah, good God. He did the unthinkable. And we talked about this last year, right? Where it's like we were getting the right amount of Bryson between no one really paying attention to Liv. And then if you wanted to consume his content, you could go to his YouTube channel. And he went from really unlikable.
Scott Kitun (39:02.562)
That way, yeah, that's where I was about to go. Yeah.
Venmo Joe (39:26.616)
Like his last couple of years on the PGA tour, right? Like he was getting bullied by Koepka. he just, the crowd had turned on him, right? Like it just, his stick had kind of like, it just had worn on people. And then all of a sudden he goes to live. He's not around all the time. And like the, the temperature on him changed and like people liked him and people were cheering for him against Rory. Like.
at the 2024 US Open when he won and at the Masters last year. But now it's like, I don't know, I feel like he's becoming unlikable again. Like his behavior at the Live Mexico City event, like, was just like a, he was just like a, he was throwing temper tantrums.
Scott Kitun (40:09.4)
Did you see the trap he was in?
Venmo Joe (40:12.226)
Yeah, yeah.
Scott Kitun (40:13.422)
There was grass poking out of the bottom. First off, you got paid a ton of money to go play for live, so I don't feel bad for you at all. But I have been in bunkers in Western Chicago suburbs that have more fucking sand in them than those traps had. You could see the netting underneath the sand from the camera angle. The course was a shit show, that's what they chose that route, so I don't feel bad.
Venmo Joe (40:24.672)
Exactly right. You know what you were getting into.
Venmo Joe (40:42.094)
That's what they signed up for. That's what they signed up for.
Scott Kitun (40:44.314)
And also, sorry, I don't give a shit about a guy who plays all of his irons in the same length. I don't give a shit about your take. You chose to... You can cut your irons down, brother. Like, you don't have to do this. You don't have to print the fucking things in your garage.
Venmo Joe (40:56.06)
I think he's got to stop with those, the 3D irons, the same stuff. It's just like, think he's doing himself a disservice with those clubs, like he's made, yeah, well, and he, but the problem is he's made it like his identity. So it's like, maybe he's too, it's not, but like his ego and his pride is getting in the way of I think him truly being one of the best players in the world.
Scott Kitun (41:04.181)
Stop talking about it.
Scott Kitun (41:10.444)
Right, well then it's not going anywhere.
Venmo Joe (41:21.124)
Because he's struggling with his irons. That's what got him in trouble at Augusta in 25 and this year. Like he's struggling with his irons.
Scott Kitun (41:21.708)
I think he's...
Scott Kitun (41:30.542)
He is a person, is incredibly talented. He's got demons. I don't mean that in a tiger way. I mean, in his own way, like he's got, there's definitely like the dorky kid who became cool and now he's gonna be like, show you how cool I always was. And he's just got this attitude that personally, it's a fucking turnoff. I don't like him. I never did like him. So I'm not a flip-flop guy, but it's a friction that draws attention. And I think that he,
has you know gigantic YouTube channel and part of the the lib the biggest cost of the PGA from live is not going to be these guys come back on tour and what they had to pay and create. It's going to be what happened with Bryson because he's only the first of many many guys to come who are going to come to the tour with baggage like this where they've got their own YouTube channel. They make so much money off the PGA tour that they don't need your shit. They are very difficult to manage. You can't tell them to tone it down because he's like I make more money here than this and that like
The problem is we're gonna have these individual personalities now and we're gonna have to deal with it. It used to be personalities that were manufactured like Tiger Woods, like Michael Jordan by Phil Knight and Nike. They manufactured this guy who's gonna be an epic hero or an anti-hero in some cases. Now these dudes are making the shit up as they go. And like any other creator or person on TikTok, they're flaky and they're fucking crazy. And there's nothing you can do about it. It's entertaining, but it's also like volatile.
And it's, know, for some golfers, it's a turnoff and irritating, but there'll be the Kepkas out there that roll their eyes and everyone gets behind them. So I think Bryson, the bigger story to me on Bryson is like finding out that he, the Atlantic posted the thing I said, but like finding out he spent the master's week negotiating a way out off the live and $500 million man is what I want. And then he played like shit and it's like, well, maybe if you're paying attention, you'd be, you know, I think more so than his irons.
Venmo Joe (43:14.98)
That's crazy.
Scott Kitun (43:24.044)
His issue is he's got too many things that he's focused on. And that's the problem. That's the problem.
Venmo Joe (43:27.214)
thousand percent.
Yeah, if I had a ticket on Bryson from the Masters, I'd be really pissed reading that athletic article and being like it's clearly his head was not not in the game.
Scott Kitun (43:41.218)
It would seem, I don't know. I guess in the end here, I think Bryson is good for tour. think that if he wants to be, he's a mechanic. He's always been this way. He's always gonna be a guy who, you'll look back at, we can look back at Tiger Woods and see if he didn't do some of these things, his career is better, if he doesn't go to Matt Foley, all these different things. Guys who are just perpetually driven to be the very best at what they do, not against the field, but against themselves, will inherently.
go through phases where they do something that you objective, know, know, half as much as they do in golf would be like, what the hell are you doing? And he'd be like, I could get just this much better, which makes me the best ever. And it's worth it to me. And I think he's a tinker like that. He'll do it. So he'll go through phases where he's freaking terrible. Hovland like that too, little headcase, but like tinker, tinker, tinker, can't let it go. And I think it makes him amazing golfers, but also makes him go through these weird spells. In the end, I think guys like Bryson, Rom,
Venmo Joe (44:33.539)
Mm-hmm.
Scott Kitun (44:37.122)
You know, we talk about Neiman, Hatton, these guys are gonna come back on tour. The tour is just gonna let them on. They may say whatever they gotta say in the press to make it seem like they had to do whatever. They'll do some community service or shit. I really think that they have to recognize that it's just better to have all the best guys either on tour or playing. Maybe they have to re-certify. have to go back and get their fucking card again. Maybe that's what it is. But like, it is better to have the best players on. It just is.
It's better for the tour, it's better for the fan. It's obviously better for those guys, but it's really even better for their tour peers, because it's bigger purses. So you don't get an opportunity very often when a competitor comes out of nowhere, forces you to get a little bit better, steals half of your crop of people, and then shits down their leg and you get to take them all back and become the hero. For a period of time, all we did is talk about how the PGA Tour blew this opportunity, know, CEO's out.
all this in-fighting, it's all terrible. And somehow they're gonna come back looking like the sympathetic, know, the stalwart that was always here. That's never happened. So I hope they don't blow it. We have so much awesome stuff coming. I just hope that they learn from some of these, you know, some of these changes, some of these different guys, different courses that just don't work in the modern tour. And we can come on here, you know, it's okay. We can miss a week. It's not the end of the
Venmo Joe (45:36.535)
Yeah.
Scott Kitun (46:00.054)
Alrighty, well, I'm gonna watch, you know, probably Thursday a little bit and then Sunday. And then I don't imagine I'm glued to it, but who knows? We got Paw Patrol to watch here, so choice.
Venmo Joe (46:10.711)
Well, we'll have tickets on it, right? So we'll be, if we got a guy, if we got a team that's in it on Sunday, you're gonna watch. If you don't, you're probably not gonna watch much. That's what it comes down to. There you go, there you go. I'm gonna go Thor, I'm gonna go Thor. All right, good to see you too, buddy. See you next week. There you go, see ya.
Scott Kitun (46:20.758)
I just did Fitzpatrick's and that's it. That's all I did. So we shall see. Good to see you.
Thor Bjornsson. Take care, buddy. Thor Bjornsson. See ya.