The Shotgun Start

It’s Friday! A delayed episode has Brendan and Andy full of enthusiasm to discuss early returns at the Sandersaon and Wentworth. A strong showing from internationals in Mississippi has them pondering the possibility of the Hitman Hearn making the Presidents Cup team. Across the pond, Rory’s quote on not trading his year with anyone else’s but Tiger’s season is critiqued. News of the Japan Skins Ga...

It’s a big week on the Shotgun Start as the PGA Tour swings down to Mississippi for the Sanderson Farms Championship, aka the Peacock Classic. Brendan and Andy review some of the, uh, well-traveled names in the field, which leads to a lengthy digression on the Stadler father-son duo and a scary inside detail about the state of Smylie Kaufman. Then they get to discussing Akshay Bhatia and if his de...

This Monday episode reacts to a wild Sunday of golf from across the globe, most notably at the Solheim Cup. Brendan and Andy review the weekend at Gleneagles, offering up a few critiques of the mowing patterns, pace of play, and some lineup choices before heaping praise on what was arguably the greatest finish to a team match event we’ve seen. Suzann Pettersen’s play on the 18th, before the clinch...

It’s Friday! Brendan and Andy are back together holed up in an NYC hotel to reflect on opening day of the PGA Tour season. They begin by discussing all the rookies and KFT grads populating the top of the leaderboard and the return of living under par with low scores aplenty. Then they get to the back-and-forth of the Solheim Cup, where Danielle Kang and Suzann Pettersen provided sustenance for the...

This Wednesday episode begins with an argument and admission that it’s take two following a record button mishap. We begin with a juicy and alarming quote from the range at the Greenbrier on the new driver testing, which may not change any behaviors at all in the coming PGA Tour season. The new color-coded system for testing is given a full review. Then we get into the Slovak Open and the Shotgun...

Victory Monday this is not, as a new week begins with the Bears and Browns both 0-1. This non-golf matter gets full attention at the top as Brendan processes all that went wrong and the emotional tumble that occurred throughout the day. Andy is also quite amused with a cheeky nickname he comes up with for the Browns coach. Rafa Nadal’s slow play penalty is applauded and put in contrast with just h...

This delayed Shotgun Start ends with a host plagued by hiccups but comes out of the gate discussing the Bears debut on Thursday night football. Is the season over or is the door ajar for optimism? Then we get to news that the PGA Tour has will put new driver testing in place for this coming season. We discuss what we like and where the policy leaves us wanting. Also, we plea for real-time public r...

  Brendan and Andy return from the long weekend to tidy up the place, doubling back to some of the action from across multiple Tours. Andy is disgusted with the LPGA not giving exemptions the next week to high finishers at an event, as we’ll see with Yealimi Noh following her near-win in Portland. Then they react to the Korn Ferry Tour Championship and enthusiastically welcome the son of the Swing...

A truncated Friday episode will wet your whistle heading into the holiday weekend. We begin with some scores from Europe, where Westy is lurking and Rory continued living under par. We address some comments on the “fair” test of the Swiss course from Mike Lorenzo-Vera, and start to compile a list of similar euphemisms. Then we move to Rory’s comments on the new major schedule and if his point abou...

The PGA Tour may take a break this week but the Shotgun Start does not. This Wednesday episode runs through the schedule for the week, hitting on some premo events on the LPGA and Euro Tour before crowning the last tournament of the Korn Ferry Tour season as the event of the week. We cover which bubble boys we’re watching this week and also relay some data that shows just how extremely volatile it...

A full weekend of golf is reviewed on this Monday episode, starting with the low gross AND net winner at East Lake, Rory McIlroy. Andy and Brendan review Sunday’s finale to the PGA Tour season and if the new format was validated by the leaderboard and Rory winning both ways. The Tour championship is graded, the constant money chatter is critiqued, one final Dump in the Cup is awarded, and a wild p...

It’s Friday! Brendan and Andy offer up some quick reactions to the first ever staggered start on the PGA Tour. There is a three-way tie already atop the leaderboard -- was the format a success or was this always how it was going to go? Rory McIlroy’s comments on the “legacy” impacts of a staggered start are reviewed, and Andy offers the take that the history of the Tour Championship is being kille...

It’s finally here: the season-ending Tour Championship with its net and gross leaderboards at East Lake. Andy, fresh off a maddening day at Mid Am qualifying (which he describes as well), feistily lays out his issues with the staggered start. Brendan attempts to make the case for why this new change is a curiosity worth lauding and watching, at least at the start. We lay out some dream and nightma...

Andy and Brendan return from the weekend with much to discuss and begin with results -- from JT’s win on the dartboard in Chicago, to Pieters’ return to the winner’s circle, to some cards secured at the first KFT finals event, and finally to Doug Barron, the longshot monday qualifier who won on the Champions Tour. In the not-playing-for-cash department, they review the finals of the U.S. Amateur a...

We head into the weekend with a lively discussion on some of the early action from Chicago, Prague, Columbus, and Pinehurst. At the BMW, we lament the modern game overpowering what is a beast of a course in Medinah. We also discuss BMW’s stunning decision to reverse course and stay on as title sponsor. At the Czech Masters, we praise leader Gavin Green’s pre-tournament prep of “eating and sleeping...

This recording was done with Andy somewhere in the middle of the woods of the Upper Peninsula, so apologies for the choppy wifi. We run through the schedule for the week, which leads to a critique over the trimmed-down KFT Finals. Three weeks seems like a small snapshot for 25 cards when the first 25 cards were awarded after 7-plus months of play. The U.S. Amateur earns event of the week and we re...

The content gods smiled down on us all again in the golf world. Before we get to the slow play drama, we begin with some reflections on the final round of The Northern Trust and how different, inorganic, and frankly, boring it felt compared to the drama of other pros playing for their jobs at the Korn Ferry event in Portland. Is this a reaction you had as well? In addition to the FedExCup and Korn...

We begin this Friday episode with a discussion on what Andy calls a glimpse into the future: golf tournaments with no fans. The Northern Trust went fan-less to start the first round but the lack of distractions outside the ropes did Tiger’s game no favors. We get into Tiger’s decision to play this week and the statement “Tiger should retire” is even uttered at one point. Flashback Friday re-acquai...

At long last, the postseason arrives and we begin this Wednesday episode trying to talk ourselves into being excited for it. Does the new format work? What are the things, or single thing, we’re looking forward to watching throughout the FedExCup? Andy proffers a take that the Wyndham Rewards might have ruined the FedExCup. Brendan uses the occasion of the entire field auto-tweeting graphics of th...

As a disclaimer, this podcast was recorded with only one of our mics turned on, a problem that went unnoticed until minute 55 or so. We’ll let you guess whose mic was off and we offer our deepest apologies, although if you’re along for the ride at this point, you should expect it and embrace it. This episode dives into the incredible story of Hinako Shinbuno, who won the Women’s British Open and d...

The Friday episode begins with a check-in on the leaderboards from across the golf world. We lament PGA Tour Live’s decision not to cover The BfB’s run at 59 when they gave Cam Champ that treatment in Detroit. A special Flashback Friday begins with a spotlight on the Monday qualifier and Tiger Woods confidant that once won in Greensboro, and ends with a deep dive on a former U.S. Amateur champ who...

This Wednesday episode begins with a digression on highly ranked Champions Tour players using “cost” as a reason for not going to the Senior British Open. Then we get to the Women’s British Open at Woburn, which is argued as a wasted opportunity. At the Wyndham, Andy crunches some numbers and we spotlight some of the bubble boys -- the Asswagon, the Martin Zone, et al -- that have given this histo...

Brendan and Andy return from the weekend to discuss Brooks Koepka bagging the WGC Memphis, Wyndham Rewards and AON Risk-Reward Challenge in one fell swoop. We get into why Sunday seemed to fall flat, Rory’s no-show, and Brooksy’s motivations to earn elite status at Wyndham hotels. We also holler about why his Sunday arrival time was a non-story. In the interest of equal time, we also present a cou...

This Friday episode is recorded with Brendan on a beach house porch with beer in hand and Andy stowed away in a remote location working through some red wine. It’s a predictably winding road that begins with a late declaration for Event of the Week. They discuss early scores from across the world of golf, beginning in Memphis. News that this WGC Swampass event may be scheduled opposite the Irish O...

This Wednesday episode dives headlong into issues Brendan and Andy have with the WGC Swampass Invitational presented by Initech. News of Shane Lowry’s withdrawal and a smaller field of just 63 players is used as a jumping off point to illustrate all the ways in which they think it’s a bad idea. They give great praise and deference to the people of and town of Memphis, despite some sensitivities ab...