2025 Open Championship Recap: Scottie's historic run and Rory's homecoming

The new decade is off to a rousing start on the PGA Tour and Brendan and Andy recap the fantastic late night playoff in Maui to get your Monday morning started. They discuss the sometimes underwhelming and nervy play from a star trio of characters vying for the first title of 2020. Who gagged the worst or did no one choke out of Xander, JT, and Pat Reed? The conditions on Maui are praised as are the different shotmaking skills required at this “refined” Kapalua course that produced some truly ugly plays down the stretch. The loud heckle of “Cheater!” during Pat Reed’s putt is discussed as well as the broadcast’s handling of the moment and Reed’s recent shoveling ignominy throughout the weekend. This will seem to be a recurring issue on Tour and the framing from the coverage will be under the microscope. Patrick Cantlay’s mai tai open mic night on Friday is also reviewed but fears of a chilling on the sounds from the course are conveyed. They wrap with some disgust over the benevolent drop given to DJ thanks to the 18th hole grandstands and some concern over Jordan Spieth withdrawing from the Sony.

6 Jan 202052min

The new year brings a fresh Friday episode where Brendan and Andy begin by discussing the creative categorization of majors by PXG. Is the FedEx Club a major now? Does it matter if a player was not using your clubs when they won it? These are the big questions asked as the new decade begins with some Shotgun Start red meat from PXG. Then they get to the action in Kapalua, discussing the soft conditions on a newly refreshed Plantation Course. The challenges of playing to different elevations and off uneven lies are praised before they turn to the possibility of some coming drama about another centerline bunker added at a regular PGA Tour stop. Will this be another litmus test for how much the members can be catered to in this member-run organization? Some brief 2020 predictions are made for the majors as well as potential hotspots and controversies. The episode wraps with a fun Flashback Friday on Danny Chops’ Kapalua win and the incomprehensible fact of someone winning Comeback Player of the Year in *consecutive* years.

3 Jan 202057min

With the New Year’s holiday falling on Wednesday, the mid-week Shotgun Start arrives on Tuesday morning. In this episode, Brendan and Andy preview the Tournament of Champions starting the calendar year on the PGA Tour. They discuss what makes Kapalua stand out as a course on the schedule, the depleted 2020 field, and make some one-and-done picks to start of the year. Then they get to the final installment of the 2019 Year in Review, covering Shane Lowry’s win at Portrush, JB and Rory’s Open disasters, the illegal driver scandal, Bryson’s slow-play meltdown at Northern Trust, and the Net Tour Championship in Atlanta.

31 Dec 20191h 58min

The year-in-review rolls on but not before Brendan and Andy discuss the closing of bitterly disappointing seasons for the Bears and Browns, who did not give Freddie Crockpot the time to make his meal. Then they move to the news of a relatively weak field at Kapalua and Bryson DeChambeau’s pick if given one choice to build a golf course. This leads to some brainstorming on what might be some of Bryson’s golf course architecture preferences should he go into the business. Then the arduous Year-In-Review march continues, hitting on Brooksy’s sleepy week in Hartford, “Area 313” in Detroit, and Bryson’s mind being blown by sticky note science in Minnesota. What was supposed to be the final part to this year-in-review exercise is cut short, however, as Brendan, who is parenting solo, has to tend to constantly interrupting children.

30 Dec 20191h 9min

A post-Christmas Friday edition of the Shotgun Start begins with some brief stories about holiday worse-for-the-wear woe. Andy also relays some #JupScoop on a rumor about the funhouse conditioning tactics of the PGA Tour for the Presidents Cup. Then an ad read for Journeyman turns into a discussion about DVD vending machines before they get to Part IV of the comprehensive, even exhaustive, year in review. This section starts the week after the Masters at the Heritage and runs through the U.S. Open. at Pebble Beach. They discuss the walkup music at Zurich, the brilliance of Brooksy and his near chokejob at Bethpage, the “Power Hour,” Matt Kuchar’s double ballmark, Bryson’s slow play angst, the intrusive Pebble Beach blimp, and much more from the national championship.

27 Dec 20191h 58min

This Monday episode picks up with more Year in Review discussion and goes deep on the historic Masters. But first, in news, Brendan and Andy hit on Adam Scott’s Aussie PGA win, Fred Couples’ disclosure that Tiger was not healthy enough to play Saturday at Prez Cup, and the 12 new names going to the 2020 Masters via the year’s final OWGR ranking. The Year-in-Review portion of the episode hits on Justine Reed bringing in David Leadbetter, a wild week of Kuch-Sergio drama at the Match Play, the legendary underdog Bjerregaard story, and Tony Romo’s DR adventures. Then they get to the Masters, where they re-live some of the amusing pre-Tournament storylines, Bryson figuring out how shafts really work, and the outrageous Friday of content from the slide tackle to ZJ’s false start to Kiradech’s tumble to the balloons. It concludes with some of the best moments of Tiger’s final round.

23 Dec 20191h 49min

This Friday episode begins with Andy calling in from an Uber, where, interestingly enough, the rider has a lower rating than the driver. Brendan and Andy quickly discuss the TaylorMade Christmas card and one notable omission from the Year in Review opener before getting to the second part of this Bryson-paced exercise. Part II picks up at Riviera, where Matt Kuchar put his foot in his mouth and quickly backtracked and J.B. Holmes became the subject a pitchfork mob. This part also includes the eventful Honda Classic, where the war over the new rules peaked, as well as the season’s “first major,” The Players. The start of the “season of championships” is remembered for Rory’s big win, oddball rules infractions, marketing word salad, and a true triumph of democracy in action. The episode wraps with an amusing story about an encounter with a PGA Tour executive at the Masters after the Fan Vote Friday coup at TPC Sawgrass.

20 Dec 20191h 28min

This Wednesday episode begins with some brief news on the engagement of Vegas Dave and Holly Sonders, and then quickly addresses the massive new media rights deal for the PGA Tour. Then Brendan and Andy turn to the second annual Shotgun Start year in review, which begins with a pace somewhere between Bryson and J.B. levels. It’s a comprehensive approach that will jog your memory on the some of the controversies and forgotten inanities that made this year so fun. It starts in Maui with Bryson short circuiting over how to take a knee-high drop and also putting with the pin in with great initial results. Rules furor, tipping scandals, Davis on Dru, Rickie overcoming adversity, and Phil wanting to play deep into the darkness at Pebble are some highlights of Part I but come for the smaller, forgotten side dishes with those main courses.

18 Dec 20191h 29min