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00:00I think you made a great observation, too, about Rory McIlroy and kind of keeping his binders up on that Sunday.
00:05And I think if you go all the way back to the U.S. Open at Pinehurst, Rory was pretty open about this in the months after the U.S. Open, where he missed those putts and just how he was not able to really focus on what was in front of him, a little bit focusing too much on Bryson behind him, where he maybe lapsed a little concentration, let's say the 16th hole.
00:27And even at the Players' Championship this year, he was having to focus a little bit on J.J. Spahn.
00:33So for him, I think being in that final group allowed him just, all right, let's just focus on this golf course today, not pay attention to the Bryson show.
00:41And I think there was a lot of comments made about, well, Bryson said that Rory didn't talk to him.
00:46Well, it's pretty normal in a two-some. You're trying to get and go.
00:50But I think that it showed a little bit of not maturity, but just knowing how to deal with a big day and not to get ahead of yourself.
01:00So I thought Rory handled that great.
01:02And in that two-some, too, right?
01:04And look, I love Bryson.
01:06What would you say if you asked me, what's your takeaway from the last U.S. Open and Masters?
01:13Like how much I miss Bryson?
01:15Yeah.
01:15I like him a lot.
01:18So I'm very lucky.
01:19Without going into a lot of detail, I got a chance to spend a good amount of time with him on a visit to Augusta several years ago.
01:25And just got to spend time with him.
01:28And I love his brain, his purpose, all that stuff.
01:34And I'm so excited that the switch has flipped and he is now the kind of man of the people-ish, right?
01:43There's a little bit of the Mickelson Daly-type love from fans for him.
01:49And I think the sport needs that, right?
01:52The sport needs a superhero WWE character type, right, who really wants to give back to the game.
02:01Like, I've always wondered if Bryson had, like, a Scheffler or a Rory run, would people start to say maybe these one-length clubs make sense?
02:14I question everything about my game.
02:16So I would definitely be curious about it, Mike.
02:19Like, I don't know if I'd go all in, but I would be like, well, you know what?
02:23If it helps me keep a golf ball or two in the bag or in the course of the day.
02:27But have you had the half-hour conversation with him about his clubs at any point over the stretch?
02:33I talked to him at the U.S. Open a little bit last year about his driver at length.
02:37And I walked away thinking, what did I just listen to?
02:40And am I all in?
02:42Right, right, right.
02:43That's it.
02:43He has a way of getting you all in.
02:46And I just think it's great.
02:49The game needs personalities.
02:51And we've got guys who can hit a 320.
02:53We've got guys who can lead the Tour and Strokes game putting, right?
02:57We've got, you know, we've got the short game wizards.
03:01We've got all that, right?
03:02Right.
03:03What we need is personality.
03:05Because remember, like, this Masters, like, the peak audience was 17 million.
03:11That was a high number, right?
03:13Okay, that's a below-average Sunday night football game, right?
03:18And so I don't say that because I'm blessed to be a part of Sunday night football.
03:22Just a reminder, all of us who love golf, golf is not the NFL or the NBA.
03:28It has its biggest moment has a big moment.
03:31The U.S. Open gives you a big moment.
03:33The Ryder Cup will.
03:34But the other stuff is like a really, really good college football game, which is fine.
03:40But just a reminder that the more people who come to the TV to see a personality, a star, that really helps the game because it keeps people attached.
03:51And that's what Bryson has in spades.
03:55Scotty is doing it because of his play.
03:58Rory does it in his play.
03:59A little bit of his style, the way he does it.
04:01But there are a JT does as well, right?
04:04But not many other guys.
04:06And Spieth, when he's Spieth-ing all over the golf course and he's making four from, you know, 100 yards right to the rest of the fairway, right?
04:13That thrills people.
04:15There aren't many other guys who kind of hit that magnet and go, man, I can't wait to see what he's going to do next.
04:21That was the magic of Tiger to me.
04:23Why did, like, my mom care about when Tiger was playing?
04:28Because you might see something with every shot that you've never seen before.
04:33And that was, to me, the magnetic quality.
04:36And those guys have a little bit of that.
04:38But there aren't a ton of them.
04:40So to have those guys in the mix on the big weeks, it's great for the game.