One million tests, Mike Clayton on the glory days of the European Tour
This Monday episode begins with a brief reaction to the news from a Guardian report that the PGA Tour is hoping to secure 1 million coronavirus tests in order to complete its overhauled schedule. Then we are joined for a fantastic and enlightening interview with Mike Clayton, a golf renaissance man who also played on the European Tour during the heyday of the famous five, currently a subject of the SGS Spotlight series. Mike regales us with stories of Seve, Woosie, Lyle, Faldo, and the yippy Langer. We let him go with thoughts on how they immediately burst onto the scene, antagonism with the stateside tour pros, Ryder Cup legends, drinking tales, and why they all succeeded at Augusta National. Mike never holds back and this is a great first hand account of what made the Euro Tour and these Spotlight subjects so fun.
20 Huhti 20201h 15min
Pilgrim Rick, Nicklaus knockout, and the new PGA Tour schedule
This Friday episode begins by answering and discussing a few messages from listeners. What happens if Jack Nicklaus’ putter toss knocked out Doug Sanders? Did Brooksy expose the fan advantage during a recent interview and bolster Andy’s “no fans” idea even more? What bridge at Augusta will be “Woods bridge?” And can we expect any unique activations for a November Masters? Then, in the second half of the podcast, we discuss in detail the new schedule announcement from the PGA Tour. We wish the Tour the best of luck, view it with optimistic glasses, and celebrate some of the more amusing quirks and things we like from the schedule. Could it be a dream scenario for the Tour that the FedExCup is truly the one and only “Ultimate Prize” now for this season? Then we discuss a few of the obvious hurdles, some frustrating quotes about “independent contractors” from Tour reps, and what will have to take place for this to be pulled off.
17 Huhti 202055min
Winged Foot Fiascoes: Re-living Sunday at the 2006 U.S. Open
This is a different style episode for the Shotgun Start, focusing on the final round of the U.S. Open the last time it was at Winged Foot. The episode features clips from an interview with Geoff Ogilvy, the 2006 champ at WF, and some of the calls from the NBC broadcast on a day when Johnny Miller’s fastball was touching triple digits on the radar gun. In addition, we celebrate the many facets of this particular championship that align with the SGS oeuvre. Andy and Brendan set up the world of golf coming into that national championship, recall some now-forgotten moments, embrace the fashion peculiarities, discuss the brutal test that is Winged Foot West, and spotlight some of the critical moments that got it done for Ogilvy. Then there is considerable time spent on the collapses of Colin Montgomerie, Phil Mickelson, and a few others who may have escaped the infamy over time.
15 Huhti 20201h 43min
The Masters rewind experiment, 10 events we want saved, more AMA
Brendan and Andy return from the weekend with our golf appetites satiated in a way by the Masters Rewind on both ESPN and CBS. We discuss why this worked from the minor details to the obvious advantages, and if it is at all replicable for events that are less prestigious. Why are we not seeing more of these real-time lookbacks with player interviews and just more experimentation from the Tour? In news, we hit on the Tour’s plan for fan-less events and spotlight some of the achievements and quirks of Doug Sanders, who passed away over the weekend. Then we go back and forth on 10 events that would be the hardest to part with in the remaining year, or which 10 we most want to see for either giggles, intrigue, or schadenfreude. Finally, we conclude by knocking off a few more AMA questions on topics from a hypothetical Brooks vs. Ernie fight, TopTracer convincing every junior to hit a fade, hotel bed preferences, the SGS target audience, the infamous lost guest tape, and why we rarely have guests at all.
13 Huhti 20201h 12min
A Friday funhouse of random ramblings
It was a long week for Brendan and Andy, who are walking wounded into this Friday episode and just start talking about a sundry of topics before moving to some more AMA questions. First up is Andy’s harrowing fence problem at home. Next comes Tiger’s inability to do puzzles at his home. Then comes the overengerized Bryson and his huffing and puffing backyard range session. In the AMA portion, we respond to questions on Vijay vs. Phil, our favorite vegetables, the decrepit equipment in our golf bags, filming a one-on-one match, venues for a WGC tour, why we don’t have merch, favorite Outback menu items, and a critique of us for goofing on JJ Henry.
10 Huhti 20201h 21min
SGS Spotlight on Fred Couples and Masters qualifying clarified
This Wednesday episode begins with some brief news on Bryson releasing a fancy video with his Masters scripting despite the fact that there is no Masters this week. We also discuss the Masters field being finalized right now at 96 players, even though the tournament will not be played until November. Then our SGS Spotlight focuses Fred Couples. We dive into his upbringing in a middle class neighborhood in Seattle, learning to play at a local muni, and eventually working his way to Houston. His two Players wins, his Masters victory, and his peak years as the world No. 1 force are given the treatment. We also review the critiques from his contemporaries about his apathy, absentmindedness, and aversion to practicing. His struggles, both with tragedy in his personal life and with his injured back, are also discussed as consistent themes that kept popping up in research. This was an enjoyable one on Boom Boom, aka Mr. Skins aka the Czar of the Silly Season.
8 Huhti 20201h 42min
Eamon Lynch joins to discuss the new golf schedule
This quick pop-up podcast takes on the wave of schedule announcements that came from the various organizations on Monday. Eamon Lynch, a columnist at Golfweek and contributor at Golf Channel, reported on the discussions between golf’s organizing bodies last week and that reporting came official on Monday. Eamon discusses the process of the PGA Tour, R&A, USGA, PGA, and Augusta National coming together to create a makeshift schedule for the rest of 2020 immediately after The Players was abandoned. We discuss the R&A’s decision to cancel The Open and how the delay in reaching that caused some tension at the end of an otherwise collegial process. We also discuss the USGA’s “creativity” in the process, from cutting down its field to considering Riviera as a 2020 venue, as Eamon reported on Monday. And finally we consider what further changes may be coming and how tenuous this current schedule may be for the rest of the year. Thanks to Eamon for joining us for this interview.
6 Huhti 202026min
Have you ever been to the zoo? AMA Part 1
A break from the SGS Spotlight pace of the past couple weeks to follow up on a call for Ask Me Anything questions from the end of February. We tried this back around the holidays of 2018 with relative success and had planned one even before golf went on hiatus. We pore through your questions, in part 1 of what will be an attempt to answer every single one even if it is dodgy reply. We discuss mostly golf, our ideal major rota, what the Tour will look like after this crisis, our favorite fruits, the origins of this podcast, 5-year-olds saying the f-word, the best time zone, our past occupations, and if Andy has ever been to the zoo.
6 Huhti 20201h 15min
