The Shotgun Start

Andy and Brendan return to an old favorite format, the SGS Spotlight. The subject of this episode is the 2005 U.S. Women’s Open at Cherry Hills, won by the relatively unknown and extreme longshot, Birdie Kim, who pulled off one of the greatest shots in major championship history to clinch her only LPGA win. They set up how that historic venue played (hard) for this Women’s Open and if it’s due for...

This Friday episode features a most special guest host in Spencer Hall of EDSBS and Shutdown Fullcast infamy. Is golf Spencer’s forte or area of interest? Absolutely not, but he’s as brilliant as they come and fits in well for a ramble on the heat, playing golf in pants, puka shell necklaces, his experiences covering golf up close, the current headline-making golf beef, his favorite college footba...

This Wednesday episode wanders around for an hour. It begins with a retroactive thirstbucket of the week award, discusses some airport fare, Gary Player designs, and the most pointless warm-up routine witnessed at Kiawah. There’s also angst about why Monday’s episode was slow-played by Apple, with a conspiracy theory emerging related to the CEO’s surname. Finally, it’s to the news of the week, mon...

It’s the end of a long week in Kiawah, but Andy and Brendan record their last episode from the 2021 PGA Championship after an exhilarating day at the Ocean Course. Andy abstains from arguing for Ernie but there is some evidence later offered for potential asterisks next to this win. They relay what it was like out there in the crowd, walking and watching both Phil and Brooks in the final pairing....

This Saturday episode recaps a great day on the ground from Andy and Brendan. Andy tells the tales of following the Brooksy group, while Brendan provides details from tracking the Mickelson-Mattress King duo. They assess the potential worst case and best case scenarios for Sunday, as well as the contenders and pretenders. There’s also some discussion about what a Kevin Streelman win could mean for...

Brendan and Andy are graced by the curmudgeonly Eamon Lynch for this Friday night episode fueled by Smith Devereux wines. They all react to the elderly co-leaders, the Mattress King and Phil Mickelson, as well as some of the uber talents that made late charges up the board in Brooksy and Hideki. Also the Thicc Boi, whose “great drive” ended up in some cabbage. There are check-ins on the course set...

Andy and Brendan are back at the Beverage Boys house to react to the first day at the PGA Championship. The flushers and strikers rose to the top. They discuss how the course played in the opener, how the wind wasn’t that bad, watching the Baton Boy up close, seeing some delectable shot shapes on the back nine par-3s, rooting on a club pro friend of the program, a slow play penalty actually assess...

Andy and Brendan are together in Kiawah for their first in-person recording in almost two years. They immediately jump into some impressions from a day spent walking The Ocean Course, people-watching at the PGA, and pondering the big stories (snake impacts) of the second men’s major championship of 2021. There will be wind, and they discuss the impacts it will have even as you’re about to be hit o...

Before Andy and Brendan get together in Kiawah on Monday, they chat for this truncated episode that begins with an apology tour. Then they celebrate the Husky Boy and his triumph in North Texas. There’s also reaction to another strong week from Sam Burns and Jordan Spieth. There’s a mini debate about whether the Nelson could now take the crown for the worst event on Tour, with a few other contende...

It’s a Friday episode heavy on disgust. There’s disgust over the NFL scheduling the Browns-Bears game for the one fall Sunday that Brendan and Andy really can’t ignore in the golf world. There’s disgust about the pitch-and-putt setup at TPC Craig T. Nelson. There’s disgust over the Thicc Boi suggesting he easily left six shots out there. There’s disgust over Jason Day saying he will not attempt to...

This Wednesday episode goes in a bunch of stupid directions, starting with some details that may or may not be true on real estate around TPC Craig Ranch. This then devolves into a discussion on people named Craig, the most famous Craigs, the haughtiness of Craig T. Nelson using his middle initial, and a couple other unrelated topics. The shhhedule for the week continues with the Champions Tour po...

It was a jam-packed weekend of golf and this Monday episode jumps right into it by flipping a coin and starting with a review of the Walker Cup. Andy and Brendan nominate their favorite “breakout” players from the weekend, what they loved most about Seminole, and wonder why there’s not a push to make this more of a top 10 event in the entire game. Is such a push or goal to make this bigger even de...

This Friday episode begins with some quick reactions to Phil Mickelson taking the early lead in Charlotte, which is an occasion to quickly pivot to his quotes that joining a PGL or SLG league for tens of millions of dollars will actually require selflessness. This leads to a pivot to discuss the report from Alan Shipnuck that these are, in fact, not the same thing and actually competitors, and boy...

This Wednesday episode begins with Courtesy and Brendan discussing their distaste for the whole May the 4th proliferation, as well as the one liquor that never seems to dwindle on their bars. Then they spend the first 30 minutes or so discussing the re-emergence and re-branding of the PGL. They go back-and-forth between synthesis of a day of reporting from multiple outlets and analysis of the impa...

This Monday episode gets back to some SGS roots, with a quick and unprepared whip around the results from the weekend in the golf world. It really, actually is a short one. They begin with the Valspar, where Sam Burns broke through for what could be the first of many wins on the PGA Tour. The dump in the cup award is back, as is the second edition of Thirstbucket of the Week. Other topics hit on a...

All golf talk is set aside at the start of this Friday episode, which was recorded minutes after the Bears traded up and drafted QB Justin Fields (and hours after reporting on Aaron Rodgers wanting out of Green Bay). A giddy Andy walks through his emotions of the day and proclaims the Bears “back.” Eventually, there is golf talk -- the Valspar chatter transitions to discussion on the PIP thirst th...

This Wednesday episode begins with Brendan having to answer to some angry Aussies and attempt to clarify his Leishman comp from Monday. It’s also a rambling episode with Andy on the road with a broken phone, an alarm clock that won’t go off, and a birthday date with Torrey Pines and Brendan trying to find a couple spare minutes in between childcare disruptions. There’s intel from the U.S. Women’s...

This Monday episode begins with Andy disclosing an explosive handicap scandal from his Fried Egg event over the weekend. Then they get to the golf from the weekend, beginning with the first to finish -- the LA Open on the LPGA. Brooke Henderson’s 10th career win is praised but the pace of play is lamented. There’s also a call for more primetime golf to fill the void of our boring lives on weekend...

This Friday episode begins with some reaction to both “town crier” and “baton boy” references making it onto featured group coverage on Billy Tour Live. There’s also some reaction to the Crier’s contention that TPC Louisiana was not built to be played in wind. There’s amusement over the explanation of the Bubba-Scheffler team and confusion over some brands of golf clothing. Then the news of the we...

After year off, the PGA Tour returns to New Orleans and while there may no longer be walk-up music at this event, the listeners demand that this annual game goes on. So Andy makes a playlist of songs hinting at the inane, insider, and downright specious. Play along as Brendan attempts to guess what Andy is getting at with some of these song choices for a few SGS favorites on Tour. This comes after...

This Monday episode begins with a discussion of some Chicago saloons, such as Lottie’s, the title sponsor of this week’s LPGA event, which Lydia Ko won on Saturday night. Brendan and Andy get into some of the astounding stats of Ko’s recent run, the brilliant pace of play, and what it could mean for a second peak. Then there’s an unplanned diversion into the Will County Amateur, where Tony Romo co...

It’s Friday and there is no script. Andy and Brendan begin with some thoughts on the first ever non-profit casino being built at TPC Scottsdale. Then there are some Mother’s Day gift ideas, like “tournament-used hazard water” on offer from TPC Sawgrass. The event of the week, the Western Intercollegiate, is reviewed, leading to some “bones to pick” with college coaches slowing down pace of play an...

The Masters has come and gone but Shotgun Start plays on with this Wednesday episode. They begin with some clean up from the first men’s major of the year, hitting on Hideki’s overly onerous modes of transportation after winning the Masters, the Town Crier’s attempt at an apology, and other post Masters “viral” moments. Then they’re on to the Harbour Town for the Heritage, highlighting the traits...

Andy and Brendan put a bow on a fantastic weekend at the Masters, beginning with Hideki Matsuyama playing his way into a green jacket. They dispute the notion that this was somehow a boring Sunday or middling Masters. The entire first portion of the podcast covers Hideki, from what it means to his home country, the excitement from Saturday night that will be a lasting memory from this 2021 edition...

A lively virtual Bixby House results in this punch-drunk Masters table-setter for Sunday. Andy and Brendan react to that outrageous inward 30 from Hideki Matsuyama, but not without first pondering a preposterous rules hypothetical related to JT. Then they run through the leaderboard with a manichean contender/pretender judgment for each player. Two of the four players at 7-under are dubbed pretend...