Travel tales, a great finish in Mexico, and unsubstantiated rumors

It's time to sprint through the finish line... kinda. Andy, Brendan!, Kevin Van Valkenburg, and PJ return for what may be the final installment of 2025's Year in Review, spanning from the Travelers Championship through Scottie Scheffler's win at The Open. Before the five-event recap begins, Andy is given ample time to celebrate a Victory Sunday (and Monday!) following the biggest Bears win in years on Saturday night. He talks plenty of smack about a Packers team that the Bears may see again in a playoff game very soon and anoints Caleb Williams as the best quarterback in the NFC North. Fear not, as there is a Nico Echavarria Minute to even things out later in this episode! Part 9 of The 2025 Year in Review begins with KVV handling the Travelers Championship, which was a triumphant week for his man Keegan Bradley and yet another collapse by Tommy Fleetwood. Brian Rolapp also burst on the scene with the official news of his hire as the PGA Tour's new CEO. Brendan picks things up at the Rocket Classic where podcast favorite Aldrich Potgieter won a never-ending playoff at a bomber's paradise in Detroit. LIV Dallas also ended in a playoff, won by Patrick Reed, but Bryson DeChambeau managed to be the star of the show anyway at his hometown event. The John Deere Classic featured another playoff at the end, but PJ instead focuses on a group of "olds" complaining about equity stakes in PGA Tour Enterprises as the biggest news of the week. Patrick Roy's son, Kevin, also provided what may be this podcast's Tweet of the Year! Andy then slips in a "Nico Minute" while discussing Chris Gotterup's breakout win at the Scottish Open. He also shares some enlightening quotes from Scottie Scheffler on links golf and Rory McIlroy's public detonation of PGA Frisco. The Open Championship is a team effort, with KVV handling the pre-tournament days of "Nihilist Scottie" and yet another newsworthy caddie-player breakup. Andy researches Thursday and Friday in Portrush, reminding folks of some early leaders like Jacob Skov Olesen and other Storylines Nobody's Talking About from that week. Remember when Matthew Jordan defeated par? Finally, Brendan brings us home as he walks through Scottie Scheffler's coronation and an emotional weekend for Rory McIlroy in his home country. That'll do it for Andy and Brendan on the feed in 2025, but "The Boys" have been tasked with giving Mr. 1,000 his just due after the powers that be decided to end their 2025 Year in Review at Royal Portrush.

22 Dec 3h 39min

This installment of The 2025 Year in Review does NOT contain any unforeseen interruptions but DOES start with a good, old-fashioned Football Minute! Andy is on the road but joins Brendan and PJ for a quick segment regarding a possible Bears move to Gary, Indiana. Andy cannot believe that Kevin Warren would sit awake in his bed and send this open letter on the week of the biggest game in years. The three also share some thoughts on the first-ever "Golf Channel Games" and find that the format might be the best "alt-golf" viewer experience yet. Unfortunately for the broadcast and its advertisers, no one was suckered into wagering on the event. Andy departs for his own mega-podcast session with Tom Doak, leaving Brendan and PJ to carry the baton for this look back at May and June. PJ begins with the Charles Schwab Challenge, a week where the olds took over both Colonial (on the PGA Tour) and Congressional Country Club (on the Senior Tour). He recaps his drive to DC to take in the Senior PGA in-person and provides plenty of Don Rea content for those wanting more from Part 7. Brendan then heads to "Jack's Place," now a proper noun on big letter hats, for the Memorial presented by Workday. Ben Griffin couldn't go back-to-back starts with a win as he was chased down by - who else? - Scottie Scheffler. Rickie Fowler also used his sponsor exemption for good, qualifying for The Open with a top-ten finish! Joseph LaMagna then joins the recording as PJ shares Cameron Young's triumph at U.S. Open Sectional Qualifying and his ensuing close call at the Canadian Open. The Canadian Open also featured the pro debut of Luke Clanton, who was being treated like Cooper Flagg by the PGA Tour ahead of this momentous occasion. Finally, Brendan, PJ, and Joseph recap the third men's major of the year, the U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club. They discuss the first-ever episodes of Lunch With The Boys, so much "Championship Rain," and J.J. Spaun's movies of choice, among other amusements from the week. Monday's episode will be a mega-recording as we attempt to finish the Open Championship ahead of Christmas!

19 Dec 3h 16min

In a plot twist that absolutely no one saw coming, Don Rea is somehow NOT the star of this episode recapping the 2025 PGA Championship. Masters winner Rory McIlroy joins Andy, Brendan!, KVV, and PJ to share some thoughts about his own historic year. Rory discusses the Masters win that made him a grand slam champion, his recent travels to Australia, the 2025 Ryder Cup, and much, much more. He even breaks some HUGE TGL news that may lead to one (1) Ballfrog win in 2026! After committing to a future appearance on "Lunch With The Boys," Rory departs and sets the stage for a look back at the 2025 PGA Championship: The Rise of Rea. Andy is tasked with researching the early-week festivities, including dumping rain and a sparsely-attended champions dinner. He then transitions to the main event: Tuesday's press conference featuring Derek Sprague, Kerry Haigh, and Don Rea Jr. Andy reads quotes from our live show from that very day, remembering when PGA members were referred to as "first responders" and recalling his own investigative journalism from a phone call to Augusta Ranch. Kevin Van Valkenburg picks things up for the first two days of play, detailing a leaderboard that prominently featured Jhonattan Vegas, Cam Davis, and Ryan Gerard. Mudballs run rampant after days of rain at Quail Hollow and players like Xander, Scottie, and more are very unhappy! KVV also has the honor of presenting on this year's installment of Blockie-mania, as Michael Block missed the cut after a decent first round. Brendan brings this episode home as he chronicles Scottie Scheffler's dominant Saturday performance that resulted in his third major championship. The 2025 Year in Review, although delayed, will continue on Friday!

17 Dec 2h 33min

Despite the almost four-hour runtime of Part 5, the show must go on as the self-imposed Christmas deadline inches closer and closer. Andy and Brendan are once again joined by PJ and KVV to chat through a set of four events following Rory's win at the Masters. Before the Year in Review gets back underway, the four recap this week's biggest news: Alejandro Tosti's performance at PGA Tour Q-School. Everyone is giddy to have Tosti back for another season on the big tour and they commend him for fighting through Q-School for a second time. Andy, Brendan, and Kevin also discuss some late-breaking golf news regarding the National Links Trust and the Trump administration's plan to renovate the three public golf courses in Washington D.C. The Year in Review resumes with a look back at the RBC Heritage and the immediate wake of one of the greatest wins in golf history. PJ runs through a week's worth of Rory reactions before unveiling the important stuff, such as Grant Horvat's Barracuda exemption (unused) and Wesley Bryan's PGA Tour suspension (still seemingly ongoing). Justin Thomas returned to the winner's circle in Hilton Head, getting over the finish line for the first time since the 2022 PGA Championship. Andy is next up with the Zurich Classic, where Rory McIlroy made his return to golf in a team event alongside Shane Lowry. Andy rediscovers the backboarding that occurred at a disastrous Chevron Championship and the power outage that led to the golf world being exposed to a Champions Tour Sunday on national TV. He also shares that one of the great technological achievements of our time happened this week! Brendan has the honor of recapping PGA Tour history, as Scottie Scheffler burned down TPC Craig T. Nelson Ranch and tied the all-time scoring record in a runaway win. All that may be great, but Brendan is most excited about the children in attendance chanting while a bulldozer wrecked the practice green ahead of Lanny's renovation. KVV comes in to close things out again, handling the first-ever Truist Championship. His findings lead the group down a rabbit-hole of past HSBC photo shoots, complete with a flying Henrik Stenson and Yao Ming. The 2025 Year in Review returns on Wednesday with the long-awaited Rise of Rea.

15 Dec 2h 7min

Less than halfway through this podcast, Andy asks the assembled group if this will be the "longest episode ever." As you could probably imagine, he was right. Per usual, he's joined by Brendan!, KVV, and PJ as they finally get through the first major of 2025 for the annual Year in Review. KVV, or more accurately known as "K-J Hawk," starts off the show with a recap of the Valspar Championship. He closes out the Florida Swing with notes from Viktor Hovland's improbable win in a Sunday duel against Justin Thomas before Andy and Brendan run through the two Texas events preceding the Masters. At the Texas Children's Houston Open, Dr. Chipinski didn't make any calls late on Sunday but was able to secure a big win over Gary Woodland, Scottie Scheffler, and Alejandro Tosti. Andy also has the honor of recapping the first-ever TGL Finals during Houston week, which leads to a debate about re-naming the SoFi Dome after Billy Horschel. Brendan is tasked with detailing Brian Harman's runaway win at the Valero Texas Open, but is also sure to note that the Cleeks were "trying to become the Yankees" and plenty of other LIV news from the tour's week in Miami. The last two hours of this episode are spent recapping "the tournament of a lifetime," the 2025 Masters. Andy, Brendan, and Kevin each share the biggest moments and memories from different parts of the week, resulting in a comprehensive recap of Rory McIlroy's triumphant completion of the career grand slam. Using their on-the-ground insights and usual research findings, the three provide a detailed picture of one of the great moments in golf history. The 2025 Year in Review will return on Monday as the dawn on Don Rea inches closer and closer.

12 Dec 3h 44min

The Year in Review returns after a week off and things are still moving at a snail's pace. Per usual, Andy has real concerns about finishing this eighth installment up before Christmas or even the start of 2026, but the group soldiers on despite some wanting to "pull a Notre Dame." This episode begins with a bevy of golf news, far too much for the second week in December. Andy, Brendan, KVV, and PJ discuss a potential LIV departure by Brooks Koepka, TGL's new trading card deal, and the 10th anniversary of Fried Egg Golf. Brendan repeatedly attempts to transition to the Year in Review, but Andy holds him up with a burning desire to unpack Philip Rivers signing with the Indianapolis Colts. Finally, as promised, the Arnold Palmer Invitational recap gets underway! Brendan recalls NBC missing the shot that won the tournament, a chip by Russell Henley on the 16th hole to take the lead over Collin Morikawa, as well as Morikawa's ensuing media controversy. THE PLAYERS is next up on the schedule, complete with Tosti Tales, a Will Zalatoris sighting, J.J. Spaun's rise toward the U.S. Open, and another Rory win. Andy, Brendan, and PJ all contribute with on-site memories from a week in the swamp resulting in a segment that goes so long that the Valspar is pushed to Friday's episode. Will we get to the Masters this week? Stay tuned to find out!

10 Dec 1h 51min

For the first time in six weeks, this is NOT a Victory Monday episode of The Shotgun Start. Andy and Brendan are both deflated after losses by the Bears and Browns but at least a great weekend of professional golf made up for it! Despite zero wins, a Football Minute kicks off the show with plenty of ranting and raving about the College Football Playoff and its selection process. To tie this back to golf, Andy ponders which golfer would "pull a Notre Dame" by taking their ball and going home after not getting an exemption into an event. After that detour, the Australian Open is first up on the weekend recap. The two focus on how to make this event the fourth men's major instead of the PGA and wonder whether a new date on the schedule would convince more top players to make the trip down under. Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen picked up his biggest win to date and an invite to next year's Masters. Cam Smith and Adam Scott also popped on the leaderboard in their home country to secure some OWGR points and in Scott's case, a spot in the 2026 Open. The Nordic takeover continued at the Nedbank where Kristoffer Reitan withstood some heat from Dan Bradbury to shore up his own trip to Augusta in April. Finally, Andy and Brendan begrudgingly discuss the Hero World Challenge. Wyndham Clark was unhappy with the conditions at this "hit-and-giggle" event and Tiger joined his Jup Links teammate Kevin Kisner in the booth to reminisce about Kisner's infamous bunker shot at the SoFi Dome. After another sleepy tournament week, Andy and Brendan are left wondering why this event even exists. After a brief bit of news, PJ is called on to unpack a bizarre Skechers World Champions Cup and his trip to Madison Square Garden to watch the Utah Jazz's great young core. The 2025 Year in Review (probably) resumes on Wednesday!

8 Dec 1h 9min

A good old-fashioned Whiparound Friday episode kicks off the first weekend of December. Andy and Brendan are pleased with the early returns from Wednesday's "Save the Mules" campaign, which launched with its very own PSA! TGL is also raising awareness for its second season with a social media video featuring new architect Gil Hanse. Gil walked out of the player tunnel in an empty SoFi Dome, creating a piece of content that will last a lifetime. Andy and Brendan bat around ideas about how this video came to be and what we may be able to expect from Hanse's designs on the big screen. In more TGL news, the league announced its newest drink sponsor on Thursday in a moved that stirred up early-2000s memories. There is actual golf being played this week in the Bahamas and South Africa, but the main focus of this podcast is on the Australian Open at Royal Melbourne. The two share their thoughts after watching the first round of the event and wish that the world's top players had more chances to play these types of courses across the globe. For a last piece of Friday news, Jordan Spieth told Adam Schpak that he's planning to play his way into 2026 Signature Events and "does not want" to use exemptions anymore.

5 Dec 56min