The FAN Morning Show

Yusei Kikuchi & The Jays + The Conditions At Royal Troon

In the final hour of the week, The FAN Morning Show with Brent Gunning and Daniele Franceschi are joined by Kaitlyn McGrath, Blue Jays writer for The Athletic, who provides insight into Yusei Kikuchi’s season and if we may see him on the move ahead of the July 30th deadline (1:17). The discussion then shifts to the current state of Toronto’s catching position and the organization's path forward. Later, they welcome on Golf Digest’s Stephen Hennessey to dive into the 152nd iteration of The Open Championship, starting with the difficult conditions at the Royal Troon (26:11). The trio weigh in on Tiger Woods’ struggles before contrasting it with Scottie Schefflers’ consistent dominance. B&D end the show looking at the constantly changing expectations for Rory McIlroy.

The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.

Duration:: 49m
Broadcast on:: 19 Jul 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

We'll see you in a minute. >> The trials and tribulations of Shane Lowry continue. I told you I would update you on what's happened. He has been playing the 11th hole at Royal Trune for near 30 minutes now. >> That's insane. >> He just hit his fourth shot of the hole. It has been 20 minutes since he hit his second shot on the hole. That's when I thought the situation I laid out and if you missed it, Shane Lowry shanked the shot and shanked another one into a bush. We thought that was bad enough. He said, you know what? I'm not gonna find that ball. I hit in the bush. So I'm gonna hit what's called a provisional engulf. Just in case you can't find it, you play the one you have. He hit an amazing shot on the green only for some Scotsman to go, hey, Shane, oh, found the first one. So then they had to send him back to the bush to play as he is about to lose lead. And they cleared out the bush and then he's getting upset with the patrons and he's like, I don't associate with you peasants. Get out of my way. >> He is so mad right now. We've all been there just hot and bothered about something in life. And if you like watching pain and suffering, you should absolutely be listening to us right now. But go find whatever's been happening to Shane Lowry for the last 25 minutes and change pain and suffering. Maybe a cruel way to set up a Blue Jays conversation, but not an unfair one. This insider brought to you by Tom Valley, North Lexus, where you can expect excellence online and in the showroom, visit Don Valley, North Lexus.com. I'm very, very pleased to be joined by my friend and yours, Caitlin McGrath. Caitlin, how's it going on a Friday morning? >> It's good. Just getting ready to start second half, enjoyed my all-star break. >> Yeah, let's start there, Caitlin. The all-star break can come differently at different points in time and it comes at the same point in time. It certainly can feel different depending on how the season's gone. How much do you think the team kind of needed this one just to kind of get away from it for a few days? I mean, obviously, you know, some of the guys were down there for the all-star game. But it's funny. Sometimes the all-star break will hit in the team's rolling and you're saying, "Oh, you want to keep this going?" I would imagine the J's were perfectly content to take three, four, five days off here. >> Yeah. I mean, probably everybody needed a break. You know, everyone could reset. At the same time, I think, like, the all-star game hitting also means reality hits them. I think, like, you know, when they're not playing so well in May and June, they can kind of keep saying, "Well, there's a lot of season left. There's a lot of season left. We can turn things around." But once you hit the all-star break and you officially start the second half, I think it's a lot harder to kind of convince yourself that you'll be able to get back in it, especially because right after the all-star break, we all know the trade deadline hit. So, you know, if the Blue Jays are in a position, which it certainly seems they will be, that they're sellers, like, you kind of have to admit to yourself, like, the season is going nowhere. And while everybody sort of knew that for a long time now, I feel like it also is kind of reality hits you and the team is going to kind of realize, like, maybe this team isn't going to be together for a lot longer. As of today, we're now officially 11 days out from the trade deadline, which this year, Mark your calendar, it's July 30th. It's not 31, it's the 30th, which is a weird quirk in the major league baseball schedule and calendar this time around. Speaking of the deadline, speaking of some of the assets that the Blue Jays have at their disposal, that could be on the move. And as we know, it's going to be more of a soft sell than it is a wholesale sell for this team. And that probably entails just the guys that are impending free agents that could be on the move. But the most notable of the bunch is you say Kakuchi and they've made some adjustments to their starting rotation in terms of how it's going to be deployed here, coming out of the all-star break with the intention and the purpose of orchestrating an additional starting slot for Kakuchi before the deadline. So he's going to pitch tomorrow. He's going to also pitch on Thursday at home against the Rays. What do you make of that, Caitlin? The idea that the Blue Jays went out of their way to adjust the schedule, obviously, as we've already laid out, we know what type of position they're in here. But do you think there is a bit more urgency, at least from their standpoint, to see Kakuchi piece together a couple of starts here, does it place more weight on what these two starts mean for him going into that deadline? Well, I think they would say that they didn't do it that way. I think they would probably say, like, you know, we just ordered it this way to throw in the lefty between two varieties or, you know, I don't know what they would say. But I'm sure they wouldn't admit it to get him an extra start. But like, you know, reading into it, looking into it, certainly seems that way. I mean, I think that Kakuchi has had overall a good season. I think he's been kind of the guy that we think he can be. I think he's lived really, really lights out sometimes. Obviously, he's struggled. Other starts. I mean, it's, you know, equaled out to just being a fairly good season. I think that, you know, regardless of how he pitches, I think the potential is always there. And the strikeout potential, I think, is something that teams could really want, you know, especially at the deadline. The fact that he's left handed is something that's also goes in his favor. So I think that all eyes will be on him. I think that getting the extra start, yeah, it helps him showcase a little bit. It also can hurt them too, right? Like sometimes the fewer starts would be better, especially if, you know, one of them doesn't go well. So, you know, I think that it's, you know, we'll just see what happens. I think that I think he's going to be traded regardless. There's going to be teams that need start-up pitching and he's probably going to be one of the better options on the market. I think that it's going to be a pretty slow year in terms of starters being available and even just sellers being available just because of the way that the playoff format is these days. Right? Yeah, it certainly does give a lot of teams plenty of reason, at least if they want to twist themselves into it to hang on to assets. I mean, one of the teams that's going to have that exact question is the Tigers here. Do you think there's any connection to the market for Scooble versus Kakuchi because, I mean, yes, they are in fact both left-handed starters, but those are certainly different depths of water to be swimming in, not to denigrate, you say, Kakuchi, but he ain't Scooble. Do you think the two markets are kind of tied together or do you think that the trades kind of happen almost separate from one another? I'm not suggesting a team would go get both, but if you're looking at a lefty starter, I'd imagine you might not want to move on Kakuchi until the biggest piece is off the board. Yeah, I mean, I think there's sort of a question mark as to whether Scooble will be traded or not. I think he's less of a shoe in the way that Kakuchi is, I believe he still has years of control. Yeah. He's got two more. Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, the Tigers, like you said, can convince themselves, you know, maybe hard to convince themselves they'll be in it this year, but I feel like they could convince themselves that they can be in it next year, the central starting to look like a different division than it was in years past. And you know, their team that has had potential for a few years now and just hasn't been able to put it all together this season, again, like that, they have some real ups and downs. But I think that they would be able to sort of convince themselves, so why don't we hang on to him? I don't know how it is also like trading a central, you know, saw a young winner. I mean, I don't know. There's other favorites, obviously, in the American League that might be ahead of him, but I also think like, well, what does that mean to the fan base? Obviously, the Tigers fan base like hasn't had much to root for in a lot of years. And, you know, they've seen a lot of guys traded from their team, a lot of really talented guys trading from their team in years past. So, you know, it's an interesting question. I do agree with like your, your premise though, like I think teams probably would need to know yes or no, school was going to move before they would make move on Kukuchi, which makes me think that, you know, maybe it could go down to down to the wire in terms of what the Blue Jays are able to do with the deadline. Yeah, it's interesting because I think we, we have this perception and this interpretation that the Blue Jays are going to be major players given the number of assets that they might be looking to offload. But I do think part of that, not all of it, but some of it might be dependent on what the rest of the market looks like and how that shapes up. And there are so many teams that as you mentioned earlier, Caitlin are sort of on the periphery right now. They're kind of stuck in limbo. They're waiting to see pretty much up until the last moment where they end up sitting in relation to the playoff picture come July 30th before firmly deciding, okay, are we going to add pieces? Are we going to subtract? What is our approach going to be here? And I think that is an interesting quirk to all of this. One guy in particular that I wanted to focus on with you. And I, and frankly, I think it's one of the more under discussed, underrated storylines surrounding this baseball team right now. And that is Danny Jansen. And it's not the fact that Danny Jansen is an impending free agent. It's more about what the future of the position looks like for the Blue Jays because I think in isolation, the best decision or the most logical decision might be to trade Danny Jansen. He's an expiring asset. He's probably in a position where he's going to want to get paid now, whatever that looks like. I don't know. But certainly there will be a market for him out there in free agency. But it is interesting that the Blue Jays don't have an obvious solution at catcher. And I can't point to Kirk is that solution because he's never started more than six games in a row as a catcher in the major leagues throughout his entire career. So the sample size in terms of him being durable enough to do it just isn't there. Do you think what the Blue Jays do with Jansen will be instructive of how they view the state of their catching position? And by that, I mean, if they decide to hang on to him through the July 30 deadline, do you think then we're sitting here saying they're prioritizing, potentially resigning him and eyeing an extension? Yeah, I mean, I think that's a fairly good read on it. I mean, I also think it's possible that they could trade him, get something back for him and then re-find him. I don't know how that would go, if the perception from his end would not want to come back to the Blue Jays or not. I mean, I think he's a professional, he kind of knows how it goes. But it's one of those kind of awkward things, like we'd have seen trade him and then, you know, sign him a couple months later, we'll see as well as possible. But I think though that your premise or your read on the situation is a good one. Like, I think if you see that Danny Jansen's so on the Blue Jays on July 31, August 1, moving forward, then yeah, that's a pretty good signal that they probably want to sign him and want to keep him. I mean, it's hard to sign extensions, you know, in season, so it's, you know, not telling at all that they haven't signed him, you know, at this very moment, because, you know, once it doesn't happen, the season is probably not going to happen. But yeah, like catching is tough right now. I mean, I haven't looked ahead to see what else the free agent market would include this year beyond Jansen at the catcher position, but the desert out there, Katelyn. Yeah. Yeah, not surprising, right? Like it's just, it's tough, I think we're pitching, sorry, with catching these days. It's best to develop it, you know, internally and it wasn't so long ago that the Blue Jays had a surplus of catchers, right? Like, obviously, I don't know if we want to go over that trade over and over again, but it's crazy how quickly things change, and I think the trajectory of Kirk didn't go necessarily as the Blue Jays probably had hoped or planned when they made that trade. Certainly he kind of fits way more into that backup role at this point, the way he's been playing. I mean, obviously, great defensive catcher at this point, but, you know, the bat hasn't really been as consistent as they hoped it would be, and as it showed, it was a couple years ago, just hasn't really reached that level. So I mean, personally, I think they need Janssen, just because, again, like you say, there's not a lot else out there. He's a guy that they know works really well with pitchers. He knows the organization really well, he's really well-liked in the organization, you know, it's somebody that everybody respects, and so, you know, to get, you know, a flyer back from him versus just, you know, keeping him in the organization and continuing to use him at the catcher position, he's a guy that, you know, hits for a lot of power, a little bit streaky. I mean, he's not swinging a bat so well after a few weeks early when he came back from injury, but I think still he gives you a lot, and, you know, he's a guy that I think any team would want. Yeah, we talk about Kakuchi as though he is as good as gone, and I think that's a fair assumption to make. There has been some talk about the idea of, you know, trading gosman while he still has years of control, and, you know, is this the time to move off of him before there is a, you know, a lesser asset there, quite frankly, next year? If the J's were to consider something like that, I mean, obviously the biggest consideration is what you're getting back, but how big of a question or how big of a hurdle would it be for them that there just aren't guys in the org to take those innings. I mean, we have talked about this for three, four, five years now, just the lack of that kind of quad A starting depth. Again, like I think Kakuchi will get delts more or less regardless, but how big of a consideration would that be for the team in terms of the back end depth to backfill if they were to trade a, you know, a gosman or even somebody like a Bassett per se? Yeah, I mean, I've sort of explored the idea of Bassett getting traded as well as because he, you know, he makes even more sense, I guess, than gosman just because he has a little bit less control, so teams might be more willing to take it on and he's having a better season. So maybe you get a little bit more for him back. So he's the guy that I sort of would be watching in terms of like, this signals, boogies are selling more than we thought they would or something, you know, unless some teams die and have gosman. But I would think that Bassett's probably the guy that, you know, if teams wanted, you know, sort of more front end starter, he would be who they were after. But anyway, to answer your question, yeah, I think it's a huge concern for the team in terms of, you know, they can't necessarily like sell, you know, their entire rotation because it's not like there's, you know, guys ready to go behind them. I mean, they've struggled to find stand in starters this year, right? Like Bowdoin Francis doesn't really look like he's a starter at this point, boogies tried. It hasn't really worked out. You know, Ricky Tiedemann has obviously has the, you know, prospect potential, like he just hasn't been able to fish this year. And he's been injured for most of the season, you know, spent a lot of time on the aisle last year. So just his level of development has obviously been very slowed down by those injuries. You look at, you know, Alec Manoa, you're not going to have him for probably at least half of next season or at least the first couple of months, so you don't even have, you know, that guy, that guy available to you. And so, yeah, I'm like, try to think of like who they could have. I mean, Adam Mack, Adam Mack, I was the name that we've heard a little bit this year, but now he's injured. So I feel like that might slow his progress. Maybe he still has an opportunity to at least get bumped up to AAA this year. Maybe we can see. But again, like reading on him, he's been a starter, but he could have some relief potential too. So I don't know if he's necessarily going to be a major league starter. We have to sort of let that play out. And so, yeah, like there's not a lot of guys that you can instantly pencil in for next year who have been pitching in AAA this year because they just don't exist. So the Blue Jays, you know, if they end up trading a bunch of guys this year, then they're just going to have to go out and find a bunch of guys in the off season, which, you know, maybe they'd like to do, I don't know, like maybe trading some of these guys now frees up some money for them to do that. But I think realistically trading guys that are on those expiring contracts are going to be free agents next year makes sense for the team, but probably holding on to most guys that have control just because that's the easiest way that you can kind of reset quickly and try to compete again next year and have one more go with the team that has basted on it. And, you know, obviously, Gosman and Vlad and Poe. OK, so on that point, Caitlin, do you see a viable pathway for them to actually be competitive then? Because I know we can kind of squint and close our eyes and maybe envision a scenario, but it feels like there are a lot of ifs attached to that. And I personally struggle with finding the pathway to them, not I hesitate to say relevant or competitive because in this day and age, as we know, given the way the playoff structure, the format is currently structured, it's there are a lot of teams that can be involved. But in terms of actually doing damage, is there a pathway for them to be in that position where they can feel like they're still in this window and the window hasn't fully closed yet? Do you see that being a viable, reasonable possibility for them in 2025? Well, I think it would look a lot like this year. And as you say, it would entail a lot of ifs, like it would probably have to be reliant on, you know, not necessarily say, oh, we want Vlad to have a good season, it's going to be like, well, now we need Poe to be more like himself and we need a lot of guys up and down the line up to perform better than they did. And, you know, maybe you can convince yourself, well, we'll have Spencer Horowitz for the whole year and we'll have us about a guy for the full year. Ralph Martinez is able to come back after his suspension and look the same and be a power bat for them. I mean, there's little pieces, little pockets of areas on the roster where you could convince yourself. But I think it would look a lot like this year and we know how that went, right? I think it would be a lot of, well, you know, we need the pitching to be great again and we need the guys to sort of hit the best possible. I mean, one thing that popped into my head and I don't know how likely it is, but maybe go out and sign Juan Soto, like, I think that would help. Yeah, exactly. Like, he's the name and we need, he's not quite showing out, Tony, but certainly he's going to be kind of similarly driving the market. Now obviously him being Yankee and Scott Bora, like, there's a lot of signs that suggest that maybe he's going to be Yankee for the next little while, you know, they're a good team right now. So you might want to stay there and, um, but yeah, I mean, that's, that's one, not, I'm going to say, you know, easy way to do it, but that's one way to do it, you know, find the best, best possible player out there. Yeah, they do that and then do it again, then win after that and then a couple, couple winners later. You got a team here. Caitlin, I love the chat, thanks so much for, for, for getting us through a Friday morning here. Appreciate it. Yeah, of course. Anytime, guys. There she goes. Caitlin McGrath, you can read her at the Athletic, that insider brought to you by Don Valley, North Lexus, where you can expect excellence online and in the showroom. Visit Don Valley, North Lexus.com. Now, Deniale, just dream with me for a second here. Let's close our eyes. Just all have a thaw. Have a think about this. I'll close my eyes. And it's not about what it means for the Blue Jays, though. It's about what it would do to New York. Can you, can we just live in a world for 30 seconds where Juan Soto spurns the Yankees in free agency and signs with the Blue Jays and you have all those New York guys just like pick, picture your, you got Don La Greca doing a great, and Toronto to Caitlin. Canada, we lost to Canada. What I would give all the sweet candy that would be for my soul. And again, it's like so, like the Soto of it all is almost secondary. It shouldn't be, but it is to me, then just the meltdown, because you know they would immediately go back to talking about it like he was going to be wearing beaver pelts on like George and Bay. They're like, oh, up in the north of Canada. Oh, what I would give, he won't be able to take off his jacket until July. I know it's not going to happen, like it will not happen. I, please prove me wrong, Juan Soto, please prove me wrong, Blue Jays, please prove me you're on Yankees. I don't think it'll happen. But what I would have for that sweet, sweet moment of New York media meltdown of if, oh, gosh, man, won't stroke a check, get off your wall and start better. Oh, oh, what I would give for that news cycle and like, hey, it'd be nice to be like spurn them for somebody else, but it wouldn't like if he signed, I don't think this is going to happen, but like if he signed with the Dodgers, it wouldn't be how could you lose out to the Dodgers. It would be the Toronto of it all again, probably not going to happen, but how sweet with that. I think the only thing that would top the Toronto side of it is if you just went across town. Oh, that's the, that's the ultimate Uncle Stevie comes in here, he's waving around the big chapbook. How your father would be ashamed. Your father would be ashamed. That's good. Yeah. Yeah, I can see it already. It's like a Salakata and, and Brandon Tierney ran because they are the goats of this when it comes to like over exaggerating, blowing things out of proportion. They're going to sit there and on WFAN, it's going to be an absolute malice fest when it comes to Juan Soto. I think the biggest would be if he did walk across town, but the Blue Jays are a fun secondary choice. Oh God. That'd be so good. Now again, probably, unfortunately, probably not going to happen. Yeah, probably. I'm likely the, the Soto free agency, it's, it's so funny to me how different it feels like it will play out in, in my opinion, compared to the Otani of it all. It's again, like the, it's still the weirdest thing about Otani to me is that like he's a guy who like loves his privacy and apparently hates being speculated about them pick a team. We would have stopped talking about it much, much sooner, waving your dog around, giving us fake names for him. He's another, he's an honestly, here's my quick Otani take. He's got a lot of this Aaron Rogers in him. I'm like, Hey everybody. Yeah. No, no, over here, over here, guys, guys, you're not, Hey, hey, everyone in baseball, stop paying attention to me for one millisecond. Don't ask me any questions though. I will not do anything other than exactly what I want, but look at me. Look at me. Everybody. God. So the, it's a wild thing to say. That's really good. It's a wild comp, but the Aaron Rogers is strong in show. Hey, Otani. You know, I, I can see it. I can understand and I, and I can, I can make the comparisons there. Let me tell you. Like, I know it wasn't like we don't really get this all over again, but it's like the idea that he ever would have gone somewhere to where they care about sports. And like, I know Dodgers fans care, but it's not the same as like a, a warmed up East Coast market. There's just angry all the time. Yeah. Like he's not, he was never going to a New York. No, no, he's not going to New York. And you know why? He wasn't going to Philly. You know why? Right. Cause you don't want the smoke. Just wants to be fed. Well, because just what on day, on day three of the season when he, when he declines to make himself available and nobody has seen him in three days except for when he steps into the box, people were like, where is this guy? Exactly. Why is he making bigger than everybody else? A very judge has to stand there and answer questions. Love this show. Hey, Tony's got to stand there and answer questions to us. What? What about the interpreter? Yeah. He threw his own guy under the bus. Is that the type of personality we want in our room? These are all good takes. Correct. I should have had them. There we go. Let's see. That's also why he's going to hang out in LA and not get paid a dollar or tell the tell all of California is because nobody gives a crap if he does not take BP on a Tuesday. No, but if it's New York or if it's Philly, guess what? That is the lead story for 24 hours. Why is O'Tani not putting in the work? I would love to see him. Where is he? I'd love it. That's it. I'd also now I'm just, I don't know why, but thinking of him as a Yankee, I'm just picturing him with a mustache and that would look funny. I would like to see a world where that happened as well. I guess clean shave and plays either way. All right. Something that's being played right now. It's the 152nd edition of the Open Championship. They continue to torture me by making me watch Tiger Woods, Miss Parr and Bogey putts. It's not going well for our man. He's just in the house. One out of a bush. Hey, gets it on the green though. So I put a little respect on his name. Yeah. He better to be out there right now. Good job. Say a fan 13 over so far, not good Shane Lowry. I will update you quickly on the chaos he was enduring earlier on somehow just made double bogey and he is still tied for the lead golf, funny, funny game. I don't think he would have referred to it as funny while it was happening. But I think our next guest might Stephen Hennessy with Galt's digest. He's going to join us on the other side of the break here. Take a look at the goings on on Friday at the Open Championship. We got one segment in the books before the weekend for me anyways. A fan morning show on Sportsnet 5.9 of the fan covering the blue Jays from an analytical perspective, Jay's talk plus with Blake Murphy. Be sure to subscribe and download Jay's talk on Apple Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts final segment here and let me give you a little something before the final segment and that's something a chance to win some deaf leopard and journey tickets. They're coming to Rogers Center August 2nd and we are giving them tickets away to enter. All you have to do is tune in to the fan morning show. Listen to the code word then text the code word to 59590 standard data and message rates may apply. Today's code word is a clips text eclipse to 59590 right now to enter for your chance to win. Today is the last day of the giveaway. But if you don't win with us tickets are on sale at ticketmaster.ca something underway right now. Kind of the only thing in sports until baseball picks back up tonight is the 152nd playing of the open championship Shane Lowry is going through it right now. Although he has to look at bird as we speak and somebody who I'm sure has been watching the carnage. Stephen Hennessy managing editor for golf digest. Stephen, how are you doing this morning? Thanks for jumping on. Thanks for having me yet. I'm keenly watching it someone who bet on Shane Larry in a heck of a tumultuous morning. But you know that that's the open. We want the carnage. We want, you know, all the interesting things. You don't get to see on the usual PGA program. So we're definitely seeing that this morning. Yeah, you know, let's let's actually start there. You know, the the the idea of carnage at the open championship, it's a little different. There's two majors. I'd say that we want the carnage. We wanted the US open, but I'd say that's more of a a slow bill, at least for me. I like the course to get tougher and tougher in the greens to get shinier and shinier as the week rolls along with the open. It really is more. I'm accepting of it the luck of the draw, like the weather's going to punch you in the face or you're going to have a puncher's chance at these courses. What do you make of the idea of that? That it is a very different kind of struggling carnage. We get at the open championship as opposed to the US open. Yeah, a hundred percent, you know, we're used to waking up in the morning and seeing these guys in these, you know, rain jackets and in their hoodie caps and just they're tested in way different ways than we typically see. And the US open was always traditionally thicker up with the way to test these guys. And like you said, firm and fast conditions, which we typically see. But we've gotten a few US opens in recent memory that actually played quite easy. And, you know, I think that kind of took away from its character a little bit. The open championship, you know, you kind of always know what you're going to get. You do get some years where the weather doesn't quite turn off the way we'd hope it to. But, you know, with royal trune, it's right on the seaside there. You know, odds are all weekend, we're going to see a consistent 10 to 15 mile an hour win and gusts, 25 to 30. And, you know, it results in some really challenging conditions. And I think that's really interesting golf. And I think a lot of people enjoy watching it once a year. Stephen, there were two guys in particular that I think there was a fair amount of keen interest surrounding heading into this tournament, one, Rory McElroy, and we'll probably touch on him in a second. But I do want to, I want to zero in on Tiger for a moment. As of right, this moment, he's a hundred and fifty second out of a hundred and fifty four golfers. He's 13 over and it hasn't been good. And that goes without saying the one thing that is clear here is he's established enough cache to where obviously nobody's going to be in a position where, you know, you're going to say, okay, Tiger, maybe now is the time. But what do you make of this version of Tiger that we're seeing? And do we get to a point where this does border and teeter on the boundary of becoming incredibly challenging and difficult to watch in stomach, just as fans of Tiger and of as people that have watched him at his peak to see this version of him, what is it, what is it, what does that like? And how do you interpret what we're seeing from him at this particular juncture? Yeah, it's super interesting because we're not used to this version of Tiger at all, like you said, and, you know, all the chatter early in the week, actually before each of the majors this year, Tiger looks good, his body looks good, he still has all the shots. And ahead of this week, I had a few caddies telling me, you know, they walk the practice rounds with Tiger and he looks as good as he has all year, I think he's going to do well, make the cut, and then we get what the results we've seen so far this week, you know, I think he's too proud of a golfer to ever resign himself to the fact that he doesn't have a chance to win. But, you know, we do know this is a different version of Tiger, you know, in all conversations you hear from other golfers is, you know, he's a little kinder, he's, you know, he's more buddy-buddy with these guys and maybe he has lost a little of that competitive zest, and, you know, maybe that will lead to him realizing, hey, I really don't have that great of a chance, everything else has to fall my way more than ever before. You know, he got a few bad breaks this week and it just really compounded themselves. You know, the old Tiger Woods would have bounced back from, you know, the bogey that happened with a birdie or, you know, stringed together a bunch of pars, and Tiger doesn't have that competitive experience nowadays, he's only playing four or five times a year. And what happens is, you know, you do lose that competitive experience and he obviously has a lot of experience, but it's the recent reps of playing in competition against the best players in the world. He's just starting, you know, way behind the eight ball comparative, these other guys. And yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if this offseason, you know, he and his team have a real conversation about, you know, the real expectations that they have for him going into next year. You know, I still think we see him in all four majors next year, if he's healthy enough, but, you know, beyond that, the senior tour is coming up and I do know that he's excited about playing that at some point that that might just be an accelerated timeline based on what we've seen this far, man, that is, like, I believe you to hear it, but I, I just have such a hard time seeing it. Like the idea of Tiger Woods out there with, I don't know, Rockle Media again, like, yeah, I like his chances, I guess out there, but man, it's just, it's so far from what we think of him. And I think it's also tough that what complicates it is the idea that he now has the exemption in all the elevated events. Like, I think we see him at the four majors, but I think he's going to try to give at least a few of those ago as well. It's, it's, it's been fascinating to see, but I'd be lying to tell you it wouldn't be a little bit sad. Just as I heard you kind of talking about the competitive reps and guys kind of getting it back or going away, the, the person, I mean, part of it's that he was on my TV screen, but also part of it is a, I think he fits in well with this is Justin Thomas, like, this is the guy who appeared to be kind of ascending on a trajectory, winning majors, and you think, okay, here we go. He is one of the guys and he kind of had a year lost in the wilderness there. Good result last week in Scotland, you're playing well this week. Are you surprised to see him kind of back to finding his former? Is this just a reminder that golf is hard and even for guys like that, it can kind of go away for longish periods of time. Yeah, that's well said, I think that is the case because what we've seen flashes from Justin Thomas this year way more than his buddy Jordan Steve, who has really struggled all year and, you know, really hasn't had any signs of success, but Justin Thomas had a string of top 10s earlier this year and, you know, had a decent PGA championship as well as home state of Kentucky, and I didn't really have much expectations for Justin Thomas this week. You know, he could be pretty erratic off the tee and, you know, I thought that would be costly at Royal Trune, where there's such a penalty for missing the fairway. But, you know, yesterday, at least we saw a great brand of golf from Justin Thomas clubbing down, just, you know, playing smart and, you know, that's, that's in Justin Thomas' DNA. You know, he has that gear. We haven't seen it consistently from him and the putter has been really bad, but we know Royal Trune, you know, there's some tough greens, but they're slower and they're, they're flatter for the most part than your typical tour green. So, you know, it's not a huge surprise that he's playing well thus far. And I think you're right, Brad. It's a reminder of, you know, just the talent there, and, you know, we hope that he continues to have a decent week. I think he's won over thus far and is round, so he's too under overall, but very much in the thick of it. Yeah. You want to talk about sweating it. I gave him out his round one leader, so I was feeling pretty good about that early on. And then Shane Lowry had to do, but I guess if, I guess if one of us has to be in a good spot, that's good. Steven, with, with your Lowry play there, nice job. On the kind of flip side of what we just said about Thomas, I, I almost feel like the bad guy for doing it, but I feel like I've been the town crier regarding Scotty Scheffler of this won't last forever. Enjoy it. Well, it lasts. Believe it or not, folks, he's not going to win 20 majors in his career. And hey, he may very well go win this week, but it is always jarring to me how whenever a guy gets on a run like that, and I don't want to diminish what Scotty did. It truly was tiger-esque. We always seem to jump to the idea that this is just going to last forever. And you know, you go back to the last major, not the best result there. The open typically is not going to play Scotty's thrive. He feels like the exact kind of flip side of the coin with what we just talked about with Thomas there for me anyway, Steven. Oh my gosh. Yeah. And it's been two plus years of this thus far, and then the chatter was, oh, Scotty can't win. He can't win. And then this year came, and he's won six times very much like Arnold Palmer, who actually won six times coming into royal trune, and he won here as well. So I thought there were some interesting parallels. But yeah, I mean, and Scheffler could have won the PGA, too. That could have fallen way differently if the police weren't involved there. So I mean, we might be talking about a truly historic season. We already are. You know, I do think his brand of golf is just such consistent play. You know, it's boring golf. It's as vanilla of a brand of a superstar golf as we've seen. But that's kind of, that's, that works really well in golf. You want to make golf boring to, you know, to succeed at it. You know, you know, the Jordan speed, peak Jordan speed of being like, you know, way at a bounce and hitting the recovery shots. We love that, but that doesn't breed success in golf typically unless, you know, you're super human like him. So I do think Scheffler sustains this for quite a while based on that boring, granite golf. If he could keep making it boring, you know, it's going to lead to even more wins. I did want to dig deeper on Scheffler there, Steven, and I'm glad Brent referenced him. But in sort of thinking about this season as a whole, and you mentioned the five wins and 16 starts 13 top 10s, like he's just been on an insane, insane role here. But does he need to win whether it's this tournament or maybe it's the FedEx Cup? Like does he need to win another of these marquee events to kind of put his stamp on what this season really means in terms of the context of how historic it has been. In order for it to resonate, do we need to see him win one of these other big ones instead of it just being, you know, I don't want to say run of the Mo PGA tour event, but instead of it being one of those, those normal PGA tour events where he is able to now look back and reflect and say 2024, yeah, there are two majors in the bag and, you know, maybe there's a FedEx Cup title as well attached to it. Like how important is it for him to punctuate it with another marquee achievement on his resume in 2024? Yeah, that's a great point. I think his season goes on the Mount Rushmore of, you know, of all time modern seasons. If he wins this major and then, you know, take home another FedEx Cup event or two, you know, he's right up there with Tiger, a couple Tiger seasons of VJ Singh season and that's probably it. You know, if he doesn't win this major and wins a few FedEx Cup events coming down the stretch, you know, it's still a top five or six season of, you know, the modern era. So, you know, you have to put it all in context. It's going to be historically relevant, you know, whatever he does the next couple months, but it could really, it could really be, you know, top two, top three seasons ever. If he rows off another couple wins and especially this week, you know, it's all about the majors really. It wouldn't surprise anybody if he wins, you know, the FedEx, St. Jude, and then the Torx Championship, you know, it's a ton of money. I don't know how much it really matters to a lot of people. It's all about this week and he is right there for back and I think he's got a birdie look coming up. It wouldn't surprise me at all, you know, if he's right there, come Sunday. Yeah. I think it will be. And I think that it's, you know, it's so funny. We've seen this before. Obviously Rory's bugaboo when it comes to the majors. Well, I mean, lately it's been all of them, but specifically that I'm a Rory guy. So I'm allowed to say that the Masters has been the one, but I would almost and, you know, Scotty's got a long way to go before he wins the career grand slam here, but I would almost hold not being able to win the open against someone more than I would any other tournament. And forever, like we said, the US Open has been the toughest test of golf, but it's exactly that. It's a tough test of golf. The US or sorry, the open championship feels like just a completely different challenge for these guys. And I do kind of look at somebody in a little bit of a lesser light, again, among the games greats of all time. If they're not able to win one of those kind of open championships, it does make me feel a little differently about a guy. And again, Scotty's got a long time to go. He might win one this weekend, but how do you feel about that? The idea that if a guy is able to win a US Open and PGA Masters, obviously, that's a great career, but it feels to me like missing the open championship is a bigger kind of missing link in the chain than the other three would be. Yes. Yeah. That's interesting because if you look at some of the guys who have just one leg of the grand slam, who they never completed, you know, film Nicholson in the US Open fans need as well, you know, they all had that open, they all had that open championship. So it's a great point. You know, Scotty's link history is very limited thus far, you know, he's from Texas, so you would think the ability to play in the wind, you know, isn't a nice thing for him. But you know, there are some other nuances to link golf that maybe he's just, you know, a little inexperienced compared to the field. So, you know, like you said, I'm sure it's a matter of time. You know, and he only has one top 10 in an open championship, which is sort of surprising based on the success elsewhere. Yeah. I do think, you know, that is something you could point to in Scotty Sheppler's career right now that it's lacking, but you know, I have a feeling it's trending in the right direction as we speak. All right. This is a crazy one to throw at you to end, but I was just thinking about this as I posited the last nuts question I just asked. What's less likely in their careers that Rory wins at Augusta or Bryson DeChambeau ever wins an open championship. Because right now it feels to be like just a 0% chance for her for either. Quite frankly, for either of them. Yeah. I mean, Rory could have two green jackets. As we're speaking, I'd, you know, there's really not a world in which Bryson has a open championship. You know, he hasn't been really close at all on the one top 10 of St. Andrews. And that's really the only venue that suits his game to be on it. Exactly. Anyway, yeah, so I'm still going to believe in Rory getting it done at Augusta. I don't know that it happened, but it's more than a 0% chance, I think that's my answer. Yeah. I don't think they're going to start playing golf and domes over there anytime soon. And that's about Bryson's only chance. I would think Steven, I've loved the chat. Good luck to your boy this weekend anyway, Shane Lowry and enjoy the golf. Appreciate it. You got to take care. There he goes. Steven Hennessey. Who doesn't love ending the week? How do you see managing out of your golf digest there? Yeah. I mean, you can't go wrong with that. Yeah. There you go. I guarantee you that it's not the first or last time he'll have heard that in his life. Definitely. That's for sure. So Rory there. I mean, he is, he is still, it's funny. I think a lot in parallels and they're not the same guy. They're very different. Well, not that different, but of Rory and LeBron. And I think about them in this regard and that, you know, Rory has a blow up in the first round of a major. It is the story. We talk about other great players can have embrace and admin. And we certainly talk about it, but it is not the blinking light. And to me, that has always been the thing that has shown just how how properly regarded Rory is as truly one of the greats, not for his era, but of all time. We just hold him to a different standard. Definitely. It is not the standard that quite frankly, we even hold Scotty Scheffler to. Scotty Scheffler can go blow himself out of a major right now and we say that's fine. Yeah. But you chef was credit, he deserves that. He's had the run of success right now, but Justin Thomas, he'd go be lost in the wilderness for years on end. Jordan Spieth, same thing. We go, man, Jordan being Jordan, maybe I've got one more. But with Rory, we look at it as every single tournament is a referendum on his greatness. And at LeBron's absolute peak, every single game of consequence felt like not just hey, how's he going to do tonight? It was a referendum on where he is in the pecking order. And it's always to me, just that is the most naked admission of exactly how you feel about these guys. The stratosphere, or the level that they are held to compared to their peers. I love that you reference LeBron. They always do. Tiger. If Tiger is Jordan, Rory is LeBron feels that way. There's no question. That's sort of, it's the idea that he's this polarizing figure. It's the accomplishments, but also now that brief period in between where, well, not brief, it's prolonged at this point, where it seems desolate in terms of capturing the ultimate prize, yet still being such a prominent figure, both on and off the course, he is deeply ingrained within the fabric of the sport. I will say, you know, what transpired yesterday and he hasn't teed off yet for his round today. He was seven over. I thought that was particularly disappointing because for whatever reason, like he was even par through through seven, going onto the eighth and that's where things kind of unraveled for him a little bit. But it just showed a lack of composure that generally speaking with him, even in the moments where he hasn't been great and he's had his fair share of struggles over the years and certainly at majors, but the composure in the poise has always kind of been there. And yesterday, it felt like for the first time in a while, you saw that there was just a little bit more uncertainty and discomfort than what we've been accustomed to seeing. And I think part of that is the remnants of what happened at the US Open Horse. Like that is that's there. It's still in the back of his mind thinking, Oh man, here we go again, allowing those thoughts to creep into his head in the very slightest way. And I think you saw it manifest yesterday in that particular instance in that situation where he's trying to, he understands what the narrative is. He knows that after Sunday, it's another 260 odd days until there's another major on the calendar and your 10 goes to year 11 without a major on his resume. So he's keenly aware of all these things. And yesterday was the first point in a while where I looked at and I said, man, he's kind of lost his composure. He's lost his head a little bit. And I didn't think I would say that about Rory really at any point. So it was a bit of a jarring situation to see that unfold and to see his reaction and how he seems to be processing what's happening at this particular point. Yeah, I think I think the other thing about it is just links golf is a different beast. You've got to stay in it in in such a way when things start to spiral, there is not the, you know, your typical regular PGA to her course, even your typical major. I mean, let's go to the masters, the one he isn't able to win, but he's going to make the turn on the backdine and he's he's struggling and he's going to know there are two or three at the very least birdie holes out there for him for a guy like that who needs to be in attack mode. He is not Scotty Shelfer. He is not play hangback golf. Rory wants to go win something 20 under something along those lines. The one it starts to spiral in this way. You see it. And then how can this guard tissue of what happened at the US Open, not kind of play into it here? There's just no way you suffer a loss like that in a team sport where you have other people to point the finger at and you have other people to help pick you back up. How can it not affect you? Was a guy who took three weeks off, which he never does, the guy who skirts the media, which he never does. It's all just proof positive of how jarring a loss that is for him. And it's just quite frankly, something that he needs the time to get over still, I think. The other funny thing about this, it feels very on brand for Rory is I should go place a bet on him right now to wing gold at the Olympics because it would be something where I could be like, look, this is big. All the guys are. It's only good players here and guy who cares, not a major. Get out of here. It feels very on brand that he would take a little time, exhale, clear his head, go to Paris, back with his wife or whatever happened there and then you exhale your live it. It just feels so on brand, but it's not the one this weekend. But I keep going back to it that the fact that he is always, always, always the guy we talk about. There are two tentpole conversations in golf and Scotty Sheffler is made of himself to be a third this year, but it's Tiger, it's Rory, and now it's Sheffler and there's always a fourth, be it Bryson for five minutes or Smith or Thomas or whoever it's going to be. Brooks. Yeah. Right. Whoever. But it's always Tiger. It's always Rory and until Sheffler stops doing this, it's going to be him as well, but the fact that Rory hasn't done anything that matters in again, has he run Ryder cups, is he one to yes, yes, yes, yes, but for the casual fan, nothing that matters for a decade. And he's still the one we all go to. It just proves the expectations that he rightfully has placed upon him. Yeah, no, I think that's a very terrific point. The last thing I will say on Rory is I think today will be very telling because I do think it's a bit of a, it's a, it's a gut check moment where he needs to, he needs to be respectable today. And I don't mean make the cut, but he's got to be able to put out a serviceable round of golf today, just to be able to kind of hold his head high, go home with his tail between his legs, but still feel good about what he did. I grow the other way. I want to see him do that. Oh, yeah. The fun. Melt time. No, I just wanted to leave on the third hole if he's not feeling it. Okay. Coach, do it to yourself, Rory. It's been another fun addition to the fan morning show on Sportsnet 590. The fan. Good morning. (dramatic music)