Ep29: Nick & Mark Name Their Best Player of the Year

The show starts today with a toast to a great man who the golfing world lost this week, Glenn Joyner, who passed far too young from the scourge that is cancer. Nick and Mark say a few words about Glenn.

And we also welcome Ping on board as a friend of the podcast, Nick has had a long involvement with Ping, and talks about the vault room at Ping HQ - there, there’s a pic on socials of Nick in the vault! The boys meander down memory lane on Ping putters.

We have to discuss Viktor Hovland, and how well he played at the weekend. His driving was incredible, his last round amazing. A brilliant performance, for Nick the turning point was the 14th hole - he explains what he was seeing, and he reckons that hole almost decided the tournament. Nick makes an observation on Hovland’s chipping.

The boys have a great discussion around who they feel would be regarded as the player of the year. Rahm? Scheffler? Hovland? Nick and Mark name the player who they feel it is. We then discuss if Trump should be considered player of the year given his 67 at the weekend. Surely he’s not making that up? Trump telling lies…no way, we don’t believe it. That would never happen.

Onto the Ryder Cup and at the time of the pod recording, the teams aren’t announced, so Nick and Mark debate who will be in. They have differing views on a number of the players. It will be fascinating to see how close the boys are to the actual teams. Will they, as Mark suggests, have egg on their face?

After the turn, Mark talks about how he’s got new grips - and he is extremely excited. Nick and Mark chat about how they like to wear their grips, both a little different. Mark tells a story about people with old grips being fitted with new grips and how it impacted their speed.

Damien from Tassie is on the phone with an observation about Gabi Ruffels from the weekend, and a great example of why she’s a fantastic human.

Nick runs us around the results from all over the world, with a focus on the Aussies. It’s been a big week, lots happening. One of the things that Nick and Mark noticed was Paul Goydos messing up a 2-foot putt at a key moment. The vision isn’t pretty to watch. Speaking of hard to watch - Nick explains what happened to Curtis Luck this week, not good….if you’re not across it, Nick explains. Of all the performances, one that stood out to Nick was Sue Wooster.

As usual - heaps of feedback this week, which we always love. Feedback, questions, and a whack for Nick.

Top 5 this week comes from Mark, and he looks at the Top 5 players in history with a perceived weakness in their short game, with a focus on Australian players. If you have any you think Mark has missed, let us know on socials. Nick and Mark have some homework to report back next week on what they felt was the weakness in their game through their career.

And today’s masterclass is from Nick O'Who, not Nick O'Hern, and he talks about using the tee to your advantage if you're prone to hitting fades.

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