Slip under the covers with us into Gary Woodland's inspiring victory at the Houston Open, shedding light on his personal struggles, triumphs, and his gear. We chat through Tiger Woods' car accident, the Valero San Antonio golf tournament, one-and-done picks, and the upcoming Masters tournament.
Transcript
Dominic Colangelo: Hello and welcome back to Under the Covers, a golf podcast where we deep dive each week into the latest PGA Tour winners bag. We're your hosts. My name is Dominic.
Matthew Zampello: I'm Matt, ⁓ Dom ⁓ the putter woes have continued and I'm now moving to the claw. So I'm at my true rock bottom of rock bottoms.
Dominic Colangelo: ⁓ jeez. We have to keep like a ticker of how many times you've changed your mind on putter.
Matthew Zampello: And I know, I know, I think this is true. I'm hanging out with SpongeBob and Patrick down at Bikini Bottom right now. I'm going through a tough time.
Dominic Colangelo: It actually is very fitting. ⁓ Me and Bri, we just recently started watching SpongeBob from the start. She's never seen it.
Matthew Zampello: Is there a start or does it just?
Dominic Colangelo: yeah, season one, episode one, baby.
Matthew Zampello: Is there like a s- there's no story?
Dominic Colangelo: ⁓ it's like, you know, 30 minute episodes include commercials to take out 10 minutes. And then it's like maybe five to 10 minutes per segment, almost like a skit. And then they switch off. So like the very first episode is him getting the job as a fry cook. And then it goes straight into like the leaf blower and the sandy cheeks and all those things and meeting Sandy. It's very, it's a very fun journey that we're.
Matthew Zampello: different than how I met your mother, but it's close.
Dominic Colangelo: Absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. There's no storyline at all, but there's like kind of a storyline. But anyways, yeah. But glad we're here. ⁓ You might be noticing that our boy Kevin is not with us tonight. He is having a much more fun night where he is on a work trip and he's playing one of our favorite courses, Paynes Valley in Branson, Missouri. Big Cedar Lodge.
Matthew Zampello: Right. Good spot.
Dominic Colangelo: ⁓ We actually haven't talked about it too much, I don't think, but our very own Matthew had his bachelor party there and we played a couple courses over there. Exciting course. I'm very curious what the shape is in whenever they go.
Matthew Zampello: It's probably, I mean, it's, guess they're just coming out of winter. So it's probably a little chilly, but still they, have it dialed up there. It'll be, it'll be nice either way.
Dominic Colangelo: Yeah, they don't have too many like crazy seasons, but I'm assuming it's still pretty pristine as they try to keep it every year.
Matthew Zampello: for No, we're excited to report back. think this is going to be one of the first courses that all three of us have finally played so we can finally maybe a couple course reviews. Yeah.
Dominic Colangelo: That's a great point. Speaking of courses that we've played, I had my first round in shorts today as a Minnesotan. Very exciting stuff. Yeah. It was a very impromptu decision, but was able to get out, played with some randos. It was a great time. We got some drinky poos after. It was a good day. Yeah, absolutely.
Matthew Zampello: Wow. There you go. That's good stuff. Speaking of courses I've played, hit the Houston Open. What's in the bag?
Dominic Colangelo: Heck yeah. Yeah, so what's in the bag? Children's Houston Open. That is a tongue twister that has plagued me for two weeks now. ⁓ Gary Woodland. I don't think there's a single person out there that hates Gary Woodland, ⁓ but is the winner of the ⁓ tournament week. It is his fifth career win, which I was surprised to hear that number. I thought it was way more. He is a major winner. He notoriously scores well at Memorial Park Golf Course. ⁓ If I remember correctly on the broadcast, there was a graphic. It was Scotty, Tony Finau, Gary Woodland, and then one other that I think their average score at Memorial was maybe like a 68, 67. And I I would have known that before I made my one and dones ⁓
Matthew Zampello: It's a bomber's paradise, man. It's just a big golf course, so.
Dominic Colangelo: It really is and this man bombs it. He's what 42 years old 41 and he's still hitting 195 ball speed Which is unreal. He was I think he led the field this week in ball speed and Just a really good win overall for Gary Woodland for his scores this week start off strong with a 64 and then a 63 65 67 so very low scores with the final total of 21 under
Matthew Zampello: Which is crazy.
Dominic Colangelo: believe it has a course record with it's Jake Knapp, Scotty, and Tony, all at a And they've all hit at different times. I believe Jake Knapp's was today. He had a 62. ⁓ Yeah, he was killing it, Gary Woodland, he has gone through it, man. And we won't get too much into it, because I feel like it's just been all over the...
Matthew Zampello: Mm. Hmm. Oh, that's right. He did have a really good day today. Yeah, yeah, yeah
Dominic Colangelo: the golf world these days, but the man had brain surgery in 2023. From that brain surgery, obviously there's a lot of stuff going on in your brain, in your head, in your mindset. And through that process, he's kind of, you know, acquired some PTSD, which is a very serious matter. And it got to the point where doesn't even like people behind him. You know, like he told us caddy, hey, I'm really going through it right now. I can't have anyone behind me.
Matthew Zampello: I play bad golf when have a issue on in my house or like something insignificant, right? In in in the grand scheme of things, ⁓ because like golf, have to be in a good mental state ⁓ usually. And you have to have like ⁓ it's it's to play golf when you have other going on outside of your life.
Dominic Colangelo: Mm-hmm.
Matthew Zampello: Now imagine playing golf with having brain surgery, number one, and then to having massive anxiety and PTSD from said brain surgery. can't imagine having to commit to a four iron on a left to right wind, but with water on the right coming down the stretch of a. Right. Yeah. Whereas I can't, you know, when I.
Dominic Colangelo: with millions of dollars on the line on the one shot.
Matthew Zampello: have to worry about my plumbing issue. can't I play like crap on a on a random Saturday. Like I'll credit to him. It was all over the news. There's a ton of stuff you can go. think Rex Hoggard did like a whole story during the players week about his PTSD struggles and everything. So I would urge you to go listen slash read that. It's a pretty good story. But yeah, again, like you said, I don't think there's a guy on tour that doesn't like Gary Woodland.
Dominic Colangelo: Mm-hmm.
Matthew Zampello: I think everybody he's he's probably one of the one of the favorites out there and a lot of times I feel like the tour and the broadcast kind of is always ⁓ being this this is the best guy that's ever walked the planet, ⁓ Whoever's winning. Usually, kind of ⁓ don't believe it as It's kind of one of those things where they're they're definitely over exaggerating a little bit sometimes. I don't think they're over exaggerating it with Gary Woodland. I think he's truly probably one of the better guys out there on tour. So more Gary Woodland, better, I think.
Dominic Colangelo: For sure. And again, to harp on what you just said where it gets exaggerated a bunch, but the one thing that can probably reign true is percentage wise, he's probably one of the more loved players on tour. And I think, again, you even shouted out that awesome interview that he had, but even full swing on Netflix, like that's a great, it's not super in depth, but it kind of shows just the hardships he's been through. the things that he's had to do to get to this moment. And he really just crushed it. Like he won by six strokes. That's insane for, especially this tournament where you even said, if you bomb it, you'll be doing great. But with all those guys that bomb it in the field, ⁓ he still them, which is awesome. But I think talking about how well he bombs it, talking about how good of a person he is.
Matthew Zampello: You're in it. For sure.
Dominic Colangelo: I think we can definitely dive in and kind of get a good look at what's under the covers because he has some very interesting clubs
Matthew Zampello: Yeah, I believe we have been looking at some pretty stiff shafts for the last couple of weeks. Some of the X7s and stuff. ⁓ Gary takes it up a notch. ⁓ The driver, he uses the new Cobra Optum. ⁓ It's a nine degree head, but it's lofted down to about seven ish, eight ish degrees. Who knows, somewhere in there.
Dominic Colangelo: Mm-hmm. Yeah, dude.
Matthew Zampello: So basically what that means is Kerbo basically built the driver to, ⁓ to his specs. And then he plays a Fuji Kura Ventus black Velocore 8X, ⁓ which is insane. So, you know, 80 plus gram extra stiff. That's a stout driver shaft. ⁓ I play a 6X, Velocore blue, ⁓ ⁓ that probably feels like a wet noodle to him. So.
Dominic Colangelo: ⁓ yeah. And like most guys on tour, they're playing seven at most. So him having eight and being 40 plus years old is insane.
Matthew Zampello: Right, right. And he even tips it a few inches. So what that means is he, instead of cutting off the material at the back end of the driver, he cuts off the material towards the tip, which makes the entire thing a little bit stiffer. ⁓ yeah, pretty crazy. So the way you can tell is if you look at where his Velocore plus logo is compared to the head, like my Velocore plus logo is maybe like four or five inches above the head of the driver. His is like right next to the head of the driver. So it's like that they cut it off.
Dominic Colangelo: No way.
Matthew Zampello: they tip it, which is just another kind of trick that the manufacturers do to make it little stiffer out there.
Dominic Colangelo: And he kind of plays a lower degree too, which is, yeah. Which is very interesting too, because is that like kind of an old school mindset where you just grip it, rip it, and keep it low?
Matthew Zampello: ⁓ yeah. Yeah, I mean, he grew up in Kansas, ⁓ played golf in Kansas It's not, it's not the most calm place in the world. So you definitely get some wind. ⁓ And, and yeah, you kind of, when you grow up hitting it low, it's kind of what you feel comfortable with. Also, you know, he was a college basketball player too. So he's an athlete. I think when you see him, he's, he's sneaky big.
Dominic Colangelo: Mm-hmm.
Matthew Zampello: compared to a lot of the people out there. I think I saw him next to ⁓ Johnny Wonder, who he does a pretty good podcast, but Johnny Wonder's not a small dude and he was way smaller than Gary Woodland. was nuts.
Dominic Colangelo: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah, and then also to With that athlete mindset one. He knows how to handle those big moments, which is huge especially for golf but man when he was in the zone, I mean it seemed like he was in the zone all tournament but Towards his last few holes when the broadcasts were all kind of focused on him. He had that stare Where you did not want to mess with him? You know, like the Tom Brady where he's like looking down at when he's down 28, three, you know? He had that very pinpoint stare of I'm locked in, I'm focused, nothing's gonna get in my way. But on the other side of that, which we've talked about, he had all those inner demons battling him. So it's even more impressive that he was able to like hone that in and kind of figure that out.
Matthew Zampello: Yeah. for I put Gary Woodland with like a Brooks Kafka. Like he kind of reminds me of like that word. He gets that stare in his eyes. It's a little like, ooh, this guy's a little dick. Yeah.
Dominic Colangelo: ⁓ yeah. Big guy, hits it hard, can compete with anybody essentially.
Matthew Zampello: Yeah. Yeah, so moving on the three wood plays the ping G 440 max 15 degrees and he's playing the Ventus black Velocorp plus nine X big thing here. Another very stiff shaft, another very heavy shaft, a little tip, I think. So again, very flagpole like.
Dominic Colangelo: Mm-hmm. And is there a, what's the minimum degree for a three wood? Like he plays nine degrees for his driver and he bends it down to like eight. So is there a minimum degree for the three woods that people would go?
Matthew Zampello: Right. Yeah, not really. Like I would love I think we classify it as a three wood. What these guys are trying to do is is come up with a carry number, right? So they want what they'll go is I want my they don't care really how far the driver goes. They want the driver to go as far as possible. Right. And then they say, OK, I feel like I feel like I want my three wood, my next bat club in my bag to go to 80 or 275. They're dialing in for a specific distance that they're trying to hit.
Dominic Colangelo: Mm-hmm.
Matthew Zampello: Yes, we classify as a three wood, but a three wood could be a you could make a 12 degree three wood. You could make a 16 degree three wood, which kind of gets in or would write is really just it's a wood now. Standard loft on a three wood is kind of around 15 degrees historically, but these guys on tour, they're they're going for numbers. They're not going for, I guess, three wood, five wood, et cetera.
Dominic Colangelo: Yeah. That makes sense. guess because, and that's actually another thing with Gary Woodland specifically, is he changed all of his shafts two weeks ago, I think, if I remember correctly.
Matthew Zampello: That's right, yeah, when he started working back with Randy Smith. Yeah.
Dominic Colangelo: Mm-hmm, exactly.
Matthew Zampello: I mean, it seems like he went to a profile that he really likes and the event is black. It's a popular shaft. So lot of guys on tour play it. But yet moving on to the utility iron, Wilson Staff utility iron really Wilson makes some really great utility irons. you and irons in general, Wilson is one of the better iron companies out there. They definitely go under the radar. Not a ton of people play Wilson's. If you remember, Gary Woodman was actually sponsored by
Dominic Colangelo: Mm-hmm.
Matthew Zampello: Wilson when he won the US Open back in 2014. still keeps a keeps a few Wilson stuff in his bag. And he has the KBS tour, C-Taper 130X. I believe that's Kev's favorite, one of his favorites. Yeah, boy. Again, really stiff shaft. think Gary Woodland's kind of famous for that Instagram stinger. He's one of those guys. Yeah, where he.
Dominic Colangelo: Mm-hmm I was gonna say, our boy, he's basically a BGA Tour winner. Yeah, the TGL Skinner.
Matthew Zampello: He pulls that 18 degree thing out and hits that low bullet off the tee. In the irons, he's got the Cobra King Tour four and five iron and then the Cobra King MB six through pitching wedge. And again, C taper 130 X. So still this the same shaft throughout those.
Dominic Colangelo: I totally know, I definitely know the difference. But for our listeners, can you explain what is MB versus King Tour? Because I definitely know, I for sure know. But let us know, let the listeners know, because they probably don't, you know?
Matthew Zampello: Yeah, I mean, again, going King tour is just the the one with more with more forgiveness launches higher. Well, you know, you can hit it off the face a little bit differently. The MB is the blade, right? So it's the very old school type of iron, not super forgiving. But what you do get with that is you can it's easy to go work it left and right. It's easier to fade it easier to draw it gets through the turf a little bit better. You don't see a ton of guys that still play blades through the bag. You're looking at your Rory's Tommy Fleetwood, I believe, still has blades through the bag. Scotty still has blades through the bag, except the four iron. I mean, even in the four iron, he goes to a little bit of help. So again, the the the blade through the entire bag is is a little bit of a rare thing, even on tour nowadays.
Dominic Colangelo: Mm-hmm. Yeah, not as common anymore.
Matthew Zampello: So if somebody at PJ Tours Superstore is trying to sell you a bag of blades, don't buy.
Dominic Colangelo: Run immediately. to your local club fitter. They will care so much more to get you in the right fit rather than one of those big box brands who are just trying to get the better price tag. You know what mean? So with these wedges though, and we've talked a ton about difference of degrees. So Gary, he's in the Cobra Kings. He starts at a 48, which is essentially pitching wedge.
Matthew Zampello: That's right. Mm-hmm.
Dominic Colangelo: and then the Cobra SB for his 52 and 56 and then
Matthew Zampello: Quick, does SB stand for? You're not gonna get it, it's a tough one.
Dominic Colangelo: salty buns. Snake bite. Yeah, that was for last week. ⁓ I'm gonna guess cobra snake back. Something with like the cavity back.
Matthew Zampello: Snakebite. No, it's actually snake bite.
Dominic Colangelo: ⁓ okay, I thought you were joking. All right, perfect, nice. So the Cobra Snakebite, so that's a 52, 56. And then for his 60 degree, very interestingly, he goes away from the Cobra and he's at a Cleveland RTZ to Iraq for a 60. ⁓ So a very consistent four degree difference from each one, but he switches brands for a 60 degree. That's interesting.
Matthew Zampello: Next. Yeah. Yeah, I did some research on his wedges. Love a good wedge set. It's probably my favorite part of the bag that these tour guys play because I feel like they do the most customization on tour for putters and wedges for the tour guys. So if you look at his wedges, they're all kind of just custom grinds. He play. He basically takes like a ⁓ blank wedge and the tour guys grind it down to whatever he likes. So, you know, we always talk about Vokey K grind, Vokey M grind, T grind, whatever, You can buy all sorts of grinds out there. he kind of just has everything custom. So some super sick wedges out there ⁓ for Gary's bag. ⁓ these companies kind make similar wedges, right? Like Cobra is gonna, especially the tour ones, they're gonna make whatever the tour guys want. So that's pretty cool. And then the Cleveland, I mean, I think, The tour rack stuff, it's kind of their tour issue wedges. Super good wedge. Looking at it kind of looks like a, like a, like a big wide sole kind of bunker wedge. It seems like he plays. So I think that's kind of his bunker club, but yeah, some super super cool edges and, and, and a cool set, especially cause they're so customized to him.
Dominic Colangelo: Mm-hmm. yen What was the ⁓ like a Cam Young was playing? It was the dynamic gold. Was it the S400 ⁓ is it X100?
Matthew Zampello: No, he plays X100s in his wedges, right? Same as Garret. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So still very stiff, stiff shafts in his wedges, but...
Dominic Colangelo: Mm-hmm. Yeah, but then that 60 degree is more of an S400, so it's a little bit softer. I guess he's not doing full swings of that 60 then.
Matthew Zampello: Yeah, it kind of goes back to, know, not a lot of times you're putting a full Gary's not putting his full energy into the into that into the 60. But again, when you're whatever he is, six, six, four, six, five, and you're an ex college basketball player, right. And an athlete, you're going to swing hard at the golf ball. That's just that's just a fact so he can handle it.
Dominic Colangelo: Mm-hmm. Yeah, for sure. So what about his putter? What does he got in the bag there?
Matthew Zampello: Yes, super sweet putter. Scotty Cameron Golo tour prototype. Basically, it's the Golo shape. So it's kind of that rounded shape. And Scotty welded a center shaft on there for him. Yeah, really cool putter. One of our one of our listeners here plays a very, very similar Golo with a center shaft.
Dominic Colangelo: It's sick. Is that little half moon shape? Yeah.
Matthew Zampello: made I shouted that out for him. Yeah.
Dominic Colangelo: Love that. Any first name or protecting privacy here?
Matthew Zampello: No, we're protecting privacy here. All I know is he does leave a lot of putt short with that putter. So tough scene.
Dominic Colangelo: Never I respect the putter game, it's fine. If you leave some short, whatever. So that might have been a little bit shorter than you're used to. ⁓ As you can see, we're clearly missing our boy Kevin. ⁓ He is more of the club guru. He has a lot more insight on club specs than we do. I hope he got enough out of that. Obviously we love Gary Woodland, ⁓ but I think it would do him justice to also talk about a little bit about the tournament that went on. ⁓ Comparing the Texas Children's versus the Valspar. seemed like, correct me if I'm wrong, it seemed like the players kind of liked the course a little bit more for some reason. I don't know if that's based on it's a little bit easier, you can swing away, but like it's, you absolutely, and if there was a few times, I mean, Finau was ripping him left. He was pulling him so hard, but he was on a fairway still.
Matthew Zampello: definitely going away.
Dominic Colangelo: you know, and that just doesn't happen in Florida a little bit more.
Matthew Zampello: Yeah, Park is a pretty wide piece of property and They overseed it for this tournament. So what that means is it's usually Bermuda grass. They have it overseeded with ryegrass right now. So it's very nice the players. ⁓ And if you were right, the rough is like was was like barely like an inch thick. ⁓ Now, the reason why they do that.
Dominic Colangelo: Mm-hmm.
Matthew Zampello: is to mimic playing conditions at Augusta National because Augusta National is famous for wide fairways, having very little rough. So to entice a lot of big time players to come to the Houston Open, ⁓ make the conditions very similar to Augusta National. It more players into the field ⁓ as that kind of preparation thing for Augusta. But the course is a ball speed paradise. mean, Every year it's been really right Gary Woodland Rasser I think it was Nikolai Hogard. I can't believe I can never remember if it's Rasmus or Nikolai like when I'm watching it. It was Nikolai. Okay He crushed the golf ball. If you saw that drive on 16 on on Sunday, he hit it like 392 I think it was
Dominic Colangelo: It was Nikolai. Yeah. Yeah, and on that same hole, Gary Woodland had, I think it was 365, and that was his farthest of the day. So that means Nikolai crushed it. It was insane.
Matthew Zampello: I know it's nuts, but yeah, I mean Houston open is a cool spot. I mean, it's cool that they play. one of the few courses that's played on a true public golf course. Like if you're in Houston, if you live in the Houston area, you can play that golf course for, I think it's like less than $70, which to have a PJ tour event on is pretty insane, especially with how much play that course gets. So I would, I would hope that they continue to prioritize.
Dominic Colangelo: Mm-hmm.
Matthew Zampello: one of the public gems out there in the United States. played it so much growing up. It is definitely like one of those courses that is one of my favorites, even though it might not be the best, right? It's just has so many memories there. So it's cool to actually see it on tour and everything.
Dominic Colangelo: Yeah. I think a good question, and I've talked to this a lot recently where some people ask you, what's your favorite bourbon? What's your favorite whiskey? What's your favorite glass of wine? What's your favorite this, that? What's your favorite golf course? And I think the best answer is more, what's your favorite experience? So what's your favorite experience with a glass of whiskey? What's your favorite round? Like, ⁓ I played Pebble Beach and it was awesome. Insane course top three course ever but like one of my favorite rounds was whenever we went to tobacco road You know what mean? Like that was just such a fun day. So like one of those experiences is top tier, you know, so it's it's almost like Memorial could be that one of your top ten top five even though it's not a top ten top five course
Matthew Zampello: Dom, you're gonna make me blush.
Dominic Colangelo: I don't cry, don't cry, don't get choked up a little bit, but it's okay. ⁓ So, you know, to get a little goofy now. No, so I always, I really like paying attention to announcers during these tournaments, because you get little like random tidbits. ⁓ I was texting you and Kevin about Ricky Fowler. And I was just kind of, kind of giggling where it's like, is he ever going to be able to finish? Like he started so strong on Thursday.
Matthew Zampello: it. Yeah.
Dominic Colangelo: And then Friday wasn't the best. And then there was one specific instance, 17Tbox, the announcers were talking about the exact same thing. And then they literally said, and I'm quoting here, he's never missed a fairway in all 19 times that he's played this course. And then as soon as they say that, he'd push fade, push slice right into the water. every, not that he missed the. Not that he hit the fairway or the bunker on that hole. He's hit the fairway every time that he's played this course. And as soon as they say that, boom, water takes him out of like even contention.
Matthew Zampello: Yeah, the announcer first man, it's real.
Dominic Colangelo: It's ridiculous. Every single time. Poor Ricky.
Matthew Zampello: I think the last big piece of Houston Open recap ⁓ Gary Woodland gets a spot in the Masters, So I don't think he was qualified for the Masters ⁓ before And with this win, he is in the Masters. So super excited to see him in the Masters. I don't know if he has a very good record at the Masters. ⁓ I remember seeing his name up there a ton, but ⁓ excited to see him out to the field.
Dominic Colangelo: Yep Oh absolutely. And I'm curious how this is gonna go, cause you know, with his history, I'm curious if like, maybe because he's won this year, maybe he stops competing as much. I know his big thing now is if he can help somebody that's going through the same thing, then that's a plus. But I'm curious if maybe this could be a swan song, you know? Kinda going through all the tournaments, maybe enjoying it a little bit more, and then taking a back seat and hanging out with his family, but. Maybe this could be one of those masters tournaments where he kind of just lets loose.
Matthew Zampello: Yeah. You never know when you're, when you're freed up, maybe he's freed up and he goes out and just continues to dominate. mean, a week isn't that long, right? You can still have the same feels and still have the same. And again, like I said, Memorial park was in a very similar condition as Augusta was. It's a very similar course set up, Wide, fair way. Tough approach shot, et cetera, et cetera.
Dominic Colangelo: Mm-hmm. Yeah. And in Augusta, it rewards people with every aspect of their game on point. And this weekend, every aspect of Gary Woodland's play was on point. And it was fun. It was fun.
Matthew Zampello: Yeah, for sure. I think we got to touch on news of the week, unfortunately. Our boy T-Dub. So as everybody kind of saw, Tiger his car Friday afternoon, You know, it ⁓ was a ⁓ moment. feel I was ⁓ sitting there I
Dominic Colangelo: Yeah
Matthew Zampello: Got a notification and it was like Tiger Woods in an accident. And I was like, Oh gosh. Um, I think this is like fourth car accident at this point. So that's tough, man. I, I for T-dub. What's your take?
Dominic Colangelo: Fourth, Mm-hmm. It's very unfortunate. ⁓ Like you said, it's his fourth time kinda getting in a wreck where alcohol or some other substance is involved. And it's really hard because he blew, yeah, he blew zero zero and then he has every right in the world to refuse a urine test and that's totally fine. I'm sure the...
Matthew Zampello: Well, he blew 0-0. So he did blow... He blew 0-0. Yeah.
Dominic Colangelo: His lawyers told him to do that regardless of what happens. ⁓ And I bet there's probably some kind of painkiller or some kind of medication in his system. Who knows if that was affecting his driving ability because what the officer said in that interview was there's a man with some kind of lawn care service or whatever with a trailer behind him. And Tiger was clearly trying to get around him and it was a 30 mile an hour lane. He hit the corner of it. Maybe just cut it too close. He didn't only roll over once, but he also skid a while. So he's saying it's safe to assume he's going way too fast. ⁓ So, you know, definitely some impaired judgment there is really tough because he's kind of like an idol to a lot of people. And then he continues to make like really weird decisions and he has all this money and you know, every commercial, every advertisement about drinking and driving is just pay for an Uber, it's cheaper than a DUI. And then these people that we look up to, they continue not to do that. So it's kind of like, you have millions of dollars, just go get your car the next day, it's fine. Don't worry about all this, it's weird.
Matthew Zampello: Yeah, I think the biggest thing right is like, how does he not have
Dominic Colangelo: Exactly.
Matthew Zampello: But, and into that fact, why doesn't he have a Tesla that just drives itself if he sometimes, know, but I like, mean, I know. ⁓ I think, yeah. I think it sucks. mean, Tiger is an idol for sure. The thing that I felt like I was thinking about this week.
Dominic Colangelo: That's a great point. Get a Waymo!
Matthew Zampello: was obviously like, feel bad for Tiger. Obviously he needs to go get help. Obviously he needs to stop trying to play golf because he has to take, it seems like some sort of medication to be able to play golf, allegedly. So I think like, he needs to figure out how to do that, either pain free or if he's going to do that, obviously don't drive. I think that's like the number one thing, but he needs to get help. I hope that happens. But really what I was thinking about was,
Dominic Colangelo: Mm-hmm.
Matthew Zampello: this was any like if you look at tiger and Phil, tiger and Phil are seen as so different like is at a very low level right now of like ⁓ Stuff he's That's like not good and he's not seen as like a great guy Whereas like tiger I feel like even with the stuff he's done and arguably he's done worse things he's seen ⁓ as a person or better more idolized. I don't want to better person, more idolized than Phil. And I just found that to be interesting. Yes, Phil has had some questionable run ins with the Saudi government. Yes, Phil has been snippy with reporters. So has Tiger. Yes, Phil has done some weird stuff, allegedly, with the stock market recently, allegedly.
Dominic Colangelo: Mm-hmm.
Matthew Zampello: But like we see Tiger at this weird different thing. And I'll be honest, like I'm going to the Masters next week and I amped go see Tiger. Like that was, I'm not amped to go see Jordan. I'm not amped to go see ⁓ Rory. I'm excited about that. But like the one thing on my mind was I've seen Tiger once in person before ⁓ at Waste Management Phoenix Open. And my thing was I'm gonna get to see Tiger one more time, right? And maybe my last time I'll ever seen Tiger in person.
Dominic Colangelo: Mm-hmm.
Matthew Zampello: And I thought that that was like the first thing that popped in my head was like, man, I'm not going to get to see Tiger at the masters anymore. it's just crazy. I think I feel bad for him,
Dominic Colangelo: Yeah. Mm-hmm Yeah, that's a big thing. It's I mean same thing with the over the years a kid his first NBA game is a LeBron and then LeBron's taking minutes because he's trying to kind of you know limit his time and get that the thing but with with Tiger This was it. I don't think he comes back for another tournament after this like he was saving himself He was building itself up He had that little bit of test on himself for a little bit competitive golf with TGL and he played, yeah, competitive. He played well, I would say. He didn't shoot too many shots because they got smoked, but he had some great shots, you know? Like he looked pretty good. I was even debating on coming on here and saying like, why isn't the PGA Tour just letting him get ⁓ a golf cart for being handicapped, like the Champions Tour?
Matthew Zampello: I know. Yeah?
Dominic Colangelo: But now it did. I mean, now it's kind of a moot point where he doesn't have the luxury. He's kind of just, he's painting the PGA into a very tough corner to deal with all this.
Matthew Zampello: Yeah. you look at the of the best athletes, Tom Brady, let's put Brett Favre in there. ⁓ Even LeBron, ⁓ MJ, Tiger Nobody retires gracefully and they all do it in their own little way. ⁓ If think like, right, like like Brett Favre was like playing on the on the jets or whatever at one point, right. And like speaking up the joint, ⁓ Aaron is doing his whole thing or his whatever. And LeBron is now trying to play with his kid on the same team. ⁓ Michael for the Wizards like we all wish we forgot about when he played for the friggin Wizards. Tom Brady was like, am I going to come back? Am I not going to come back? Whatever. And then ⁓
Dominic Colangelo: Yeah. Yeah. Now he's playing flag football. Yeah.
Matthew Zampello: Now, yeah, and he got into crypto and all that sort of stuff, right? They all do it in their own way and Tigers is individual to him, but it's not, it's the best player. They just can't seem to let go.
Dominic Colangelo: That's it. Yeah. Mm-hmm, and it's never the same way. Like, Favre is siphoning money from Mississippi, allegedly. You know, like, there's certain, there's just weird quirks that all these guys have when they get older. It's like, I think a...
Matthew Zampello: Yeah. Right. Yeah, like Right. The only, the only one I can think of is what like Calvin Johnson. He just was like, peace.
Dominic Colangelo: Oh yeah, he was like, my body hates myself. I'm just gonna go smoke weed and just like have a good life. And you gotta respect that, you know? It's insane. It's just interesting how they almost have this complex of I'm the best at what I do. I'm a massive superstar.
Matthew Zampello: Yeah?
Dominic Colangelo: Let me just kind of, let me just test the limits of what I can do. And then they get, then they get got, you know what mean? Big time.
Matthew Zampello: So we're praying for Tiger, hopefully he gets better, hopefully he figures it out. I would love to see if he shows up for the Champions Dinner on Tuesday night, I don't know. PR, feel like it's gonna be a media nightmare. But if you wanna be protected from the media somewhere, Augusta National is the place to do it. So.
Dominic Colangelo: It can be interesting. Exactly. Yeah.
Matthew Zampello: All right. So go into the Valero preview. TPC San Antonio, Texas swing, ⁓ Greg Norman golf course. ⁓ So the ⁓ the live man, ⁓ they probably will not talk about that that much this but.
Dominic Colangelo: ⁓ yeah.
Matthew Zampello: Thing to note about TBC San Antonio, it's one of the harder courses on tour and they have a famous hole number 16 where there is a center of the green bunker. So you get lot of chipping off the green there.
Dominic Colangelo: I didn't know that. Isn't there two courses at that place?
Matthew Zampello: There is. Yeah. This is the Scorset think another one's the canyons. Yeah.
Dominic Colangelo: Okay, gotcha, because Oaks, believe ⁓ Sergio had a little bit of say in that one, didn't he?
Matthew Zampello: in the, which were the canyons?
Dominic Colangelo: in the Oaks.
Matthew Zampello: I don't remember. I don't know if it was. I know that the main designer was Greg, but maybe he did. I don't remember. It's cool. It's a cool golf course,
Dominic Colangelo: the only thing that I know about TP San Antonio ⁓ is shout out Tony Tony CC construction he had played in the ⁓ veterans ⁓ Tournament there, and I think actually was a canyons course if I if I remember right but He had played there and it's just like, it might have been middle of August. Whatever it was, the pictures he sent me was, it looks so pure regardless of what time of year it is. And in Texas, it's hard to do with how little rain you get, especially in San Antonio. But it looks like it's gonna be a fun course. Even though it's before the Masters, I'm actually pretty excited to watch it.
Matthew Zampello: Oof. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, no, for sure. It's a cool, cool golf course. Cool. San Antonio is a cool city. If you've ever been would highly recommend lots of cool golf there. ⁓ but I think that pulls us right into some trivia. So instead of Kevin asking you to read, we're going to ask trivia questions to ourselves, ⁓ to each other. ⁓ so I'll go first. okay. Little TPC ⁓ San Antonio trivia you. ⁓
Dominic Colangelo: Mm-hmm. Yep.
Matthew Zampello: Somebody at TBC San Antonio recorded a 16 on hole number nine.
Dominic Colangelo: What?
Matthew Zampello: I'll give you four people and you have to tell me who did it. Because if I just let you guess, I don't know if you'd get it. It's a tough name, but I'll give you four people. tell me the name. Aaron Wise, Sergio Garcia.
Dominic Colangelo: Okay. OK. OK, got it. OK, I'm ready.
Matthew Zampello: Kevin Nah. Matt Every.
Dominic Colangelo: Okay, I was trying to watch your face to see if you gave it away at all, but you really didn't. It was impressive. Okay, so Kevin Na, Matt Every, ⁓ Sergio.
Matthew Zampello: Sergio Garcia, Aaron Wise.
Dominic Colangelo: don't know much better than wise. ⁓ I was gonna ask when it was, but that could potentially give it away. A 16?
Matthew Zampello: He put down for 16.
Dominic Colangelo: ⁓ jeez. Using deductive reasoning, let me tell you my thought process. think Matt Evry, I think you pulled that out of your hindquarters because we've talked about it before. I think Sergio, I mean, you prepared this question, so there's no way that you would know that I was gonna mention Sergio, but that could be a funny one.
Matthew Zampello: Okay. We have.
Dominic Colangelo: ⁓ jeez. Nah, give me Sergio. Is it Sergio?
Matthew Zampello: Sergio? No, it Kevin Na-
Dominic Colangelo: No, I won't!
Matthew Zampello: He went into the woods and was just hacking it out of the woods and missed the ball a couple times. And then he was like on like a Friday I think and he was like, well I'm not making the cut anyway so he just continued to try to hack it.
Dominic Colangelo: Did he A little tin cup situation. Give me the ball. Give me the ball. ⁓ Kevin, that's tough, Okay. God, I haven't seen much of Kevin now. I did a couple walk-ins.
Matthew Zampello: Well, I didn't wear my iron iron my iron heads hat for for Kevin now. He's no longer part of live. I wonder if he's ever going to make his way back on the on PGA tour.
Dominic Colangelo: ⁓ there you go. I hope so, it'd be fun to see some more walk-ins. Just some like absurdly confident walk-ins.
Matthew Zampello: Mm. I don't know if Kevin Noss, who Brian Rollapp's going for on this new PGA tour, I hate to tell you.
Dominic Colangelo: That's true. Okay, so my question, I don't know if this is a good one, but I'm just gonna ask it anyway. So, this person, he won this tournament. And when he won this tournament, was his last chance to qualify for the Masters. Who was this person? And I will give you a hint. It is... 2010 and on so it's within the last 16 years This guy won the tournament and it's what brought him into the Masters that same year that next week
Matthew Zampello: Akshay.
Dominic Colangelo: No. It was older than him. I'll give you this. I'll give you, was in the 2010s. And I'm asking this question because you and I love this man. And I don't know if that's gonna give you enough hint or not. We love this man.
Matthew Zampello: We love this man. Who won the Valero Texas Open?
Dominic Colangelo: I'm giving you between 10 options. 2010 to 2020.
Matthew Zampello: Okay, man, I don't remember a lot of golf back then. feel like I mean I do but not not a ton.
Dominic Colangelo: Yeah, it's not often when you see a guy who, you know, throughout these last few tournaments, it's like, this guy needs to get T60 to be able to qualify. needs to get T10 to qualify. So this man, we would classify him as mayor of Tempo Town.
Matthew Zampello: Yeah. Take a
Dominic Colangelo: No, Cory Connors. You dirty dog, the Canadian fiend. He has 2019 when he won this tournament. ⁓ And then that next week he was able to play in the Masters.
Matthew Zampello: ⁓ little c- yeah, Cory Khan. Yeah. Yeah. ⁓ K. That was a good one, that was a good one. That was really, that was good stuff.
Dominic Colangelo: And I was like, you know, it's not quite Kevin level. Again, we miss him. We need him on this pod to be complete. But yeah, it's a fun one. And, you know, we'll see if we need to chug when he gets back. But I think it's a good a good segue into our one and duns. So, as you know, if you haven't checked it out yet, we had Kenny Riley of Gimme Golf Club on last week and it was an incredible, incredible episode.
Matthew Zampello: Yeah. I know. That's right.
Dominic Colangelo: but we kind of extended our one and dones to our guests as well. And I think what we're gonna do moving forward is each guest that we get, we're gonna average out their placement and then compare it to our average rather than addition, cause you know, that just wouldn't make sense. So to start off, Kenny, as elite as he is at Club Knowledge, he is also elite at one and dones. He chose Min Woo Lee this week who had a T3 placement, which it kind of makes sense. You he won previously. He hits the ball long way. And this is the perfect tournament to kind of get your swing back and check when you're just trying to hit the mess out of the ball. ⁓ But yeah, he was doing just that, ended up having some really, really good rounds moving forward. So Min Woo Lee, T3, Kenny Riley currently leading the one and done's for under the covers. And then we get to us. Matthew. He you try to go a little bit off the reservation and went with Mr. Toasty. And let me tell you. You're right, you're right. I don't know his game did. I don't did it. Deserve respect, who knows? He missed the cut, which honestly. I don't know much about Alejandro Toasty.
Matthew Zampello: specific Alejandro Toasty. Put some respect in his name Dom.
Dominic Colangelo: And I apologize if you're listening, please don't hurt me. ⁓ Just the fact that Matt chose him. That's how I knew you were going to miss the cut. Just saying. He ended up ⁓ at 108 Pretty good. ⁓ And then Kevin, he went, think he strictly went on placement for a world tour ranking. ⁓ And I think he was 30 at the time. I don't know what he is now. It's probably lower, but he also missed the cut and he ended up getting 89th place. And that was Mr. Gerard. So tough showing out of the two. And then I don't really know what else to say. I'm trying not to be like rude about it, but man, I'm kicking y'all's ass. I had Tony Finau. I'm I'm going with more bigger names. Y'all are going like so niche. We don't have that many tournaments to choose from. So I went to Tony Finau, previous champion. He was looking very good. He was kind of in that top 20 range most of the weekend. And then last round, I believe he was even par something like that, but
Matthew Zampello: Yeah.
Dominic Colangelo: In this kind of tournament, this kind of course, even par is not going to get you many places. So he ended up being ⁓ 39th place. So not too shabby, not too bad. Our his first placement is T3. It's going to be hard to kind of follow that up for a next person, but. Very good for Kenny there. ⁓ Matthew is at 387.
Matthew Zampello: It's still early.
Dominic Colangelo: It's still early. There's a lot of tournaments left. It's a tough week for old Matty Poo. Kevin, he gets down to 250 with Gerard going at 89. And then I am currently, I finally hit that three digit mark. I'm at 119, 119. I know, I was really hoping he would stay under 20 so I can stay under 100 after mentioning it last week, but I did call it out.
Matthew Zampello: killing us.
Dominic Colangelo: You know, I thought it was coming. But anyways.
Matthew Zampello: So that'll get us to our picks this week. So we have a write-in from Mr. Kev himself. He sent me. Maverick McNeely for Kevin's pick this week. Yeah, so little Mav McNeely. ⁓
Dominic Colangelo: You're wild, Maverick!
Matthew Zampello: What's the, that's Top Gun. Top Gun, Top Gun, all right, yeah.
Dominic Colangelo: Top Gun. Yeah, that's fun. I like that pick. He's actually, he's been pretty solid lately. Yeah. I can see that.
Matthew Zampello: I like that pick. No, he's a good he's a good player. He could be on the Ryder Cup team this year. Really. I am going with. Mr. TGL himself, TGL superstar, Joop ⁓ ace the hole, Tom ⁓ Simbaby, Kim, give me Tom Kim.
Dominic Colangelo: That's a wild pick and I hate it, but I'll cheer for you. Tom Kim, do you think he's gonna like get mad at his competitors for not giving him putts or?
Matthew Zampello: Well, here's, well, he could. Here's my take is he's gonna think 16 with the bunker in the middle is a TGL hole and he's gonna play really good. Except what's gonna happen is the person behind the scenes isn't gonna hit the hole in one button whenever he hits a shot to automatically give him a hole in one. So he's gonna get really mad. But I still think he's gonna play well. Because TBC San Antonio is kind of a tricked out golf course. So he, it'll feel like TGL for him, you know?
Dominic Colangelo: Yeah, for sure. I like that. Okay. ⁓ you know, I really have no idea who to choose. I'm just going to go with a guy who I've seen in the news a lot. Not in the news, on the scoreboards a lot. And I pronounced his name flawlessly last week. But give me Adrian Dumont de Chassard.
Matthew Zampello: Wow, that was, you practiced that one, that was good.
Dominic Colangelo: Hell yeah I did, you kidding me? I'm not gonna get made fun of again. Yeah, I think he's just like kind of the young gun. He hits it far, he plays well, he's got control of his stuff. ⁓ I, you know, he's on the T-sheet. That's a good plus for old, that's a good plus for old Domie Poo, but yeah, I like Adrian this week.
Matthew Zampello: Good. That's a win. Yeah, that's a win. Yeah. All right. I think that's it. I think that's all we got.
Dominic Colangelo: Yeah, beautiful.
Matthew Zampello: think we got some Masters specific podcasts coming up over the next two weeks. ⁓ you know, make sure you're subscribed to anything because we got some cool Masters stuff coming, some insane ⁓ takes I think we all have, you know, worth thinking about we got on. And then ⁓ might to do a little, you know, debrief ⁓ post-Master's round. little live from situation, so We'll see how it goes. We'll see how I go
Dominic Colangelo: Live from Augusta, baby. It's going to be great. Yeah, I love it. Turn on those that bell, whatever you want to call it for whichever podcast you use, because that way you can. Anytime we post, we're not super consistent. We're trying to get, you know, Tuesday, Wednesday, if possible. Yeah. Throw that bell on so you can actually, you know, get a notification whenever we post. But yeah, follow us on all of our socials. We got Spotify, Apple, YouTube at another covers golf. X as well under covers G because it's too long but excited to watch TPC San Antonio get some ⁓ yardstick margaritas and some river floating potentially but yeah it's gonna be fun to see what's under the covers next week we'll see you
Matthew Zampello: That's right. That's right. Dom, it's the best time of the year. Masters, masters in the spring. Can't wait.