The Shotgun Start

It’s a new year at the Shotgun Start, and Andy and Brendan immediately begin with questions about names: who’s coming up with all these dramatic weather names and who’s naming some of these new drivers? They have lots of energy and are excited to be out from under the Year in Review. The fake vs. real Scott Stallings wins both the year’s first catnip and thirstbucket of the week. There’s also a fi...

The Year in Review comes to a close, and it’s shut down early before we get to the Net Tour Championship. So for the second year in a row, East Lake is given short shrift. This part does, however, cover the amusements from LIV NJ, a bonanza of lawsuits, TPC Initech, the dramatic TRO hearing, and the Delaware Delegation in mid August. This is the usual SGS approach to the year in review, focusing m...

The last men’s major of the year, the 150th Open, was also a celebration of the game’s history. It’s also where LIV’s Ian Poulter got booed on the first tee. It’s also where one unnamed LIV player, who we name in this episode now, furiously cursed out a reporter for asking about OWGR dangers. This part of the Year in Review covers The Open in detail, and then gets to some amusing Scott Piercy deve...

We’re past the U.S. Open and further into the summer of LIV on the Year in Review. This episode begins at the Travelers, where Brooks Koepka bolts the Tour and is labeled “duplicitous” while the PGA Tour announces some major changes, some of which would not last the year. The U.S. debut of LIV in Portland is also chronicled as well as some regrettable quotes from the JP McManus in Ireland as the f...

LIV officially launches, and the pace of this Year in Review series slows considerably. This part covers, essentially, two weeks -- the RBC Canadian Open, which was opposite the inaugural LIV London event, and the U.S. Open, arguably the championship of the year in men’s golf. Andy and Brendan delight in the absurdities of the first actual LIV event and some of the drama around it that carried ove...

This episode of the Year in Review begins with the newly-crowned Husky Boy Ranch at the Byron Nelson before moving to the second men’s major of the year at Southern Hills. It was there that the “pampered fcks” got worked up about sand, Tiger hobbled along, and a relatively flat major came to life in the final hour. Also included in this segment is the release of the first “LIV List,” Bryson findin...

It’s a beefy, old-school length episode of the Year in Review that begins with the Masters, where Tiger made his return to competitive golf. Andy and Brendan cover that major in great detail, then celebrate, sorta, Spieth’s victory at Hilton Head, some absurd re-writing of the record books at Zurich, and a whole lot of weird and forgotten LIV details that started to leak out during this time perio...

The Year in Review continues with the first major-ish event of 2022, the Players Championship. This edition will be remembered most for the breakout performance from Gold Boy, but it was also a big week for the PGA Tour Bot and the brand messaging from Jay Monahan’s team in response to Saudi rumors. Also included in this portion are the Valspar and Valero, some ANWA and the ANA farewell, and a WGC...

Andy and Brendan return after a week together out on the west coast, and they begin with tales of Baker coming back to haunt a survivor pool, birthday party overkill, and an overzealous kids tumbling class enforcer getting in Andy’s kitchen. On golf, they begin with The Match, and its success for the golf geeks everywhere. They praise JT, pan the amount of carts, question how we frame Tiger’s “pro...

The annual Year in Review series marches on as Andy and Brendan wrap up the West Coast swing with Riviera and move over to the Swamp Swing. This part covers the moment when everything blew up for real in the golf world, with Phil’s “scary mfers” quote coming to light via Alan Shipnuck, the reaction to it, and the fallout in the “pausing” and cancellation of sponsor deals. There’s also plenty of am...

This Monday episode begins with some brief reactions to Sunday action for both the Bears and Browns, as well as a harrowing weekend injury that nearly cost one host his career. Then Andy and Brendan are on to the light golf offering from the weekend, with some angst about the Hero World Challenge cannibalizing the potential for better Aussie Opens and events down under. There’s a review of Viktor’...

The annual Year in Review series continues after a shortened part 1 due to the stomach bug. This Part 2 takes on some meaty events, picking up at Farmers, weaving up to Pebble and the opposite Saudi International event full of ridiculous quotes, Bryson’s moving target of injury explanations and driving range dramas, and revisiting the birth of “Cannon Fodder Charley” in Phoenix. This is the usual...

This Wednesday episode begins with Andy bundled up in his unheated shed and Brendan nice and warm indoors in Maryland prepared for the various seasons. They then jump into Tiger’s press conference from the Hero, covering a range of topics from cooperation with LIV, Sharky hatred, the use of carts, the Tour taking out a loan and Phil’s contradiction of that, and the notion of players wanting to com...

The annual Year in Review series is back, but it starts off worse for the wear with Andy battling a stomach bug and Brendan having the kids at home for an unexpected “snow” day off following the Thanksgiving vacation. So plans are cut short and this Part 1 gets us through the first few events of 2022. The episode begins as always with Kapulua, where preferred lies were in play, Phil and Bryson wer...

This Wednesday episode begins with some initial thoughts on Thanksgiving dinner prep and travel before a brief discussion on the majors maybe no longer accepting the kind of contact ball that one big Aussie prefers to play. Andy and Brendan then dive into the official PIP results for this past year, with some absolutely preposterous and disrespectful NFL QB x Spieth comps. They also ponder just ho...

This Monday episode begins with tales of woe from a mostly losing sports weekend for both Andy and Brendan. Then they jump into the results from around the globe, beginning in Dubai with Jon Rahm winning the season-ending event on the DP World Tour and Rory McIlroy winning the season-long points race. They go through each of those players’ seasons of scant starts on the Euro Tour, compared to say,...

This is a fun beefy Friday episode before Thanksgiving week . Andy and Brendan begin with some thoughts on Cole Hammer’s instant success at RSM, DL3’s thumb on the scale, a new nickname for Mac Hughes, and the notion of Ryder Cup captain advice. At the CME, we get word from the ground from a friend who’s playing (and chopping at) the other Tiburon course, which is open, while the women play for th...

This Wednesday episode was not without its technical difficulties, but Andy and Brendan got it across the line. They begin with Rory’s quotes on Greg Norman and his needing to go and exit stage left for the two sides in pro golf to come together. They examine the changing tones, conciliatory shifts, and likelihood that this does happen the way Rory stated from Dubai. Then they get to the big news...

It’s a quick whiparound Monday episode, which begins with Andy lamenting his double-loss weekend and Brendan disgusted with the latest Browns debacle. Then they get to the main event, the Chuck Cup, and what it says about the Champs Tour that Steven Alker and a couple other select few just live at the top of these leaderboards every week. At the Houston Open, they praise the arrival of Tony Finau...

This Friday episode begins with some thoughts about the ping pong abilities of golfers. Then Andy and Brendan get to some of the golf, and one big thirstbucket of a move down at the Houston Open. News hits on the report that NBC will be replacing Roger Maltbie and Gary Koch on their golf broadcasts, and the odd backlash that followed. It also touches on the report that Mark King, formerly of Taylo...

This Wednesday episode begins with the announcement of a new gimmick at SGS that will try to include your feedback more often. Then Andy and Brendan meander on a variety of topics, from Big Ten football to Deshaun Watson to Niblicks season in review content. Then they get to the schedule for the week, beginning with the Houston Open, which returns to an intriguing Memorial Park. The LPGA finishes...

This is a disaster of a recording situation with poor Wifi creating a horrible delay on both ends, but Andy and Brendan march on with a meandering Monday episode. They begin with a couple quick comments on their weekend at The Tailgate down in Georgia. They award multiple Thirstbuckets of the Week for Jarmo Sandelin exploitation and rotisserie chicken exploitation. On the golf, the WWT Championshi...

It’s whiparound Wednesday. Andy and Brendan begin this episode with just a handful of topics and no real plan during this quiet time for professional golf. They discuss the notion of “scoops” on LIV team trades being reported on ESPN and elsewhere and how it’s all just a sham to keep the juice flowing. They discuss Pat Reed’s latest lawsuit, and how LIV might feel about that continuing to make fur...

Andy and Brendan close out the month of October with this Monday episode on the weekend that was in golf and their annual golf-related Halloween costumes segment. There’s some follow up, and backlash to Andy’s Kim Swan “take” from the end of last week. There’s some praise for Seamus Power, Harrison Crowe, and Jordan Smith as winners from around the world over the weekend. Then they get into the LI...

It’s Friday! Brendan and Andy cobble together this episode, starting with some random segments on a Boy from Bratislava copycat situation with the Man from Marseille. Then the Mid-Am Minute is back with a few more details on the DR event with less than 30 players that gets one mid-am player into a PGA Tour event. That transitions to a 65-year-old who sits on the board of trustees of the host cours...