Gearing up for the US Open

Gary Williams, Five Clubs Golf is joining us from LACC here on the Adam Gold Show. This is the first time that I can remember a venue in which basically nobody has any any idea how it's going to play. We have nothing. We have nothing to go by. Everybody's flying blind.

What do you think? I'm very disappointed in you that you did not watch the Walker Cup in 2017 that was played at Los Angeles Country Club. If you loved it as much as I think and know you do, that's very disappointing.

Oh my gosh. Nobody has seen it. You know, if you look back though, the USGA has made, you know, they've tried to, and look, they've kind of done an about face as far as the rotation, but when they went to Chambers Bay in 2015, you know, they had played a U.S. amateur there when they went to Aaron Hills in 2017.

That was new for everybody. Again, they had played a U.S. amateur there, but similarly, into a even lesser degree, the Walker Cup is, you know, is a very small, intimate team competition put on by the USGA, but you're right. Look, to play a U.S. Open in a market like Los Angeles, for the first time since the late 40s, when Ben Hogan won at Riviera, it's pretty extraordinary, and I think a lot of people, Adam, are going to see this golf course and then go, wait a second, that's where I think it is, right? Like that's Beverly Hills? Yeah. That's Hollywood, a couple miles away in the shadows of downtown Los Angeles, right off of Wilshire Boulevard?

Yes, it's incredible. Gary Williams, Five Clubs Golf, is joining us here. We know that Chambers Bay was a logistical nightmare for a lot of people, and I know the conditions were a little spotty.

The entire course was fescue. I know Aaron Hills was a score fest, which can be, in many ways, weather-related. I did see some video where, if you miss the fairway, your ball goes right to the bottom in four-inch thick rough. Are we expecting the conditions to be like that, where if you miss the fairway, it's a half-shot penalty?

I think it's possible. They've had a very wet winter, early spring, the marine layer out here, which I don't profess to understand completely. The point is, it's been cloudy here for months, and they've gotten a significant amount of rainfall in comparison to what they're accustomed to getting. So the rough is, it's not as dense as they would, I think, like it to be.

There are spots that it is. One of the things is, look, they're playing a U.S. Open with Bermuda Rough for the first time since Pinehurst in 2005. When they went back to Pinehurst in 2014, they stripped off Bermuda Rough. That's all, as you know, that's all, you know, sandy and native areas now. So that is new.

It's going back to something they haven't experienced in a while. The other thing about this golf course that is different from most U.S. Opens is that, you know, we think the U.S.

Opens, and it's a lot of plotting. It's a lot of tight fairways. And like you said, dense, whether it is Kentucky Bluegrass or Bentgrass, kind of a longer blade. Bermuda Grass, it's weird. It's kind of evil.

It doesn't look bad. And then you, then you go, where's my ball? And it gets to the bottom. Right. So, but, but there are a lot of fairway height surrounds on this golf course. So, so if you miss a green, there's going to be a lot of options.

This is not a hack and a hope kind of situation. If you miss a green, yeah, there, there are a lot of, you know, gnarly fescue areas around these, these very cavernous and, and kind of brawny bunker bunkers that you, you see on this golf course. It's different. The ground will be more of a factor. You're going to place some shots along the ground. It's, it is firm. Now it's going to get firmer.

If they get some sun as the week progresses, there's no rain in the forecast. This place is going to be bouncy by the weekend. Gary Williams, Five Clubs Golf is joining us here on the Adam Gold show.

All right, now to the, the elephant, the giant elephant, the Dumbo in the room. This is the first time that we have all the players, the best players in the world together since the announcement of the, we'll just call it partnership or the investment from the public investment fund into the world of professional golf here in the US and in Europe. So what is, I mean, I guess everybody is still angry. So your thoughts on where they sit as we're about a week removed from the announcement. I think they sit with a lot of questions, right? And I don't, you know, I just sat through three press conferences, did a one-on-one interview with Kyle Morakawa, but asked the question of John Rahm and, and about 10 minutes ago of Brooks Koepke. And I didn't ask any of them about that. And yes, there were questions asked of them and, and the consistent refrain from all three of those guys was, look, I don't, I don't have any more answers. I don't know any more than I do last week. They're, they're over talking about it. And I, I'm not trying to be, I'm not being lazy.

I just know that I'm not what I would get if I asked a question, yes, work. And, and just like you, like, I'm going to wait and it's going to take some time for us to kind of understand what the details are. And I, I think based on what I know, they're not a lot of details other than like you said, this, this partnership slash framework of an agreement to, to basically look, here's what we know that they wanted to end the litigation, both parties did so that we know definitively is going to happen beyond that. I think a lot of people are guessing, and then Adam, finally, and very quickly, two things about like this week, one, this is, this is not the PGA tours business this week.

This is not a tour event. It's a major and, and because it's a major, major, like these players are trying to move past those questions as quickly as they can. And I get it. I totally get it.

And I got to tell you, I'm, I'm exhausted from what the last week has been in terms of trying to understand it and realizing that nobody knows very much. And, and the posturing that the PGA tour side has done primarily through the thoughts of Jimmy Dunn, it was kind of the broker on this entire deal. That's one side of the story. We haven't heard anything from Yasser who is, you know, the man who runs the public investment fund and live is, you know, he is, you know, he's the point guy on live.

Greg Norman is no longer the point guy. We know he's going to be out altogether soon enough. So it's, it's hanging around.

But people are trying to kick Dumbo out of the tent. All right. Final thing about this.

And I just your, your thoughts. Do you think that the live tour exists in 2024? The new Chevy Silverado HD puts you in command own strength with its enhanced available Duramax 6.6 liter turbo diesel V8 on the lake with its available advanced towing technology and own technology with an available 13.4 inch diagonal touch screen. The new Chevy Silverado HD own work own play own life. Learn more at chevy.com.

Find new roads, Chevrolet. Um, I think, I think it's possible there could be a handful of events. Um, but my, my, my instinct tells me, my instinct tells me no, but I'm not going to say that emphatically. I think that the likelihood is that it doesn't, but I won't be shocked if there is some type of, um, you know, mutated form of live, whether it's half of the events. Um, I, but I, my, my gut tells me it won't. Um, but if it does it all, it's not going to be 14 events like it was this year. Yeah. My guess, if I was going to speculate, I would say that it would be events that, you know, the best players in the world qualified for and play in the fall when the rest of the tour is playing in those other events to qualify, to get back into, uh, whatever the tour looks like. And who knows what that's going to look like as all the plans that we had in the past might end up being, uh, torn up and starting over from scratch based on everything that is happening. Gary Williams, Five Clubs Golf is joining us from LA Country Club.

All right. Does this course, does it favor any particular player? I mean, it's not overly long. It's only listed at 7,200 yards. I don't know how long it's going to play. It might play longer. It might play shorter.

Does, uh, does this course have a favorite type of player? Um, I think that there is, there's the ability for us to see variety this week because of, um, the fact that there is width to the fairways. I think the, the actual effective width is less than what the statistics are going to tell you. Like if the average width of the fairways is 43 yards, I just asked column or account of what he thinks the actual number is. He said he thinks a third less of that because of the amount of slope and, and kind of camber that you have on, you know, for instance, three, five, eight, 13, all have spines that will propel the ball in, in wider, whether it's left or right.

And literally a ball at center was in the center of the fairly could find itself in the right or left rough. Um, with that being said, I do think that there is a creative component that could be on display. I think this golf course is going to allow these guys to show off, which I don't think is something that you normally associate with, with the U S open.

And I think because there is, you know, visually you see, you know, you see scale and you do see like there is room particularly on the, on the second nine. But I do think that people have talked about Australia golf and the sand belt. I like Kim Smith. I liked him last week.

I've been out here before. Um, he's not the greatest driver, the golf ball, but he's not going to have to be necessarily. And also I think that, you know, these greens are very exacting. They're not particularly big greens. Um, but again, options around the greens, I think speed, if this risk is right, this could be as good a chance as he has of picking off his second U S open.

But you know, I'll start at the top of the food chain. I mentioned Brooks Koepka. He is the favorite in my mind.

I didn't pick him to win. Just I'll play the odds of, you know, guys don't win a lot of back-to-back major championships and then Scottie Scheffler as well, because there's nothing he doesn't do exceptionally well, except putt. And all he has to be is average this week. If he does everything else, like he's been doing it, there's no reason to believe he won't be right there to the end.

But I do think that we're going to see more styles that have a chance to contend. Gary Williams is joining us. Is Scottie Scheffler just it's automatic. He's going to be in the mix. It seems like I can't remember the last time he wasn't. And I realized last year, he finished outside the top 40 at Congaree, uh, the CJ cup and he was gassed. He just played the president. Yeah.

I mean, it's ridiculous. All right. You, you mentioned president's cup. So final thing, and I'll let you go, Gary Williams.

I appreciate your time. Um, you think Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson will be on this year's Ryder cup team? I think Koepka is a lock. I think DJ, um, you know, if he shows some form in the, in the final two majors, I just don't know how much that I like Zach Johnson. I couldn't get before, you know, an assembled media scrum and say, well, you know, he played well at Trump's around.

I mean, he's not going to do that. I think he has to show something. And I also think, you know, the intangible part of this is, you know, is that look, guys like DJ, the guys who were the core of that team, he's not going to disrupt the mojo and the team room. So I think Koepka is a lock.

I think DJ has a reasonable champ. Yeah, I, I agree. I remember calling more cow was saying, I believe it was before the president's cup, how much he missed Dustin Johnson. There was a, they think the same thing. Yeah.

They, they like, I don't think the same is going to happen for the European side. Uh, at, uh, you know, I don't think we're going to see Sergio or Polter or Westwood or those guys, uh, or Thomas Peters, although they could probably use somebody like Thomas Peters, whether or not he has played very well or not this year, Gary Williams, five clubs golf at Gary Williams on Twitter, Gary Williams, one up on Twitter. I appreciate your time, sir. Enjoy the open and I'll talk to you soon, Adam. Thank you, buddy.

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