A Reinstated Amateur Debate Rages, Faldo’s back, and KVV FBF on Mickelson’s Ryder Cup feud with Hal Sutton
A light week of golf leads us to this wide-ranging Friday episode, covering a potential new housecat, the return of a broadcast legend, and a legendary Ryder Cup Flashback. Andy and Brendan first discuss the U.S. Mid-Am and the fiery online debate about former pros getting their amateur status reinstated. Andy is adamant that these players should not be able to waltz back into amateur golf and outlines his ideal rules for the situation. Brendan and KVV react to Andy's rulings and wonder if some are too harsh for those looking to continue playing competitive golf after their pro careers end. There's a bit of golf news to cover with LPGA legend Stacy Lewis retiring and the PGA of America bringing the KPMG Women's PGA and the PGA Championship back to Bethpage in the coming years. In much-needed Ryder Cup broadcast news, Sir Nick Faldo will be on the call for NBC next week, teaming with Terry Gannon and Notah Begay for morning sessions. Blockie is also back in the fold for 2026, because of course he is! We'll see him at the AmEx next year. In the spirit of Bob Uecker, a Golf Advice emailer sent along a letter from a ghost of Ryder Cup past to be read before we help one of our favorite football podcasters out with a fantasy football punishment. KVV then unpacks a Flashback Friday segment on the 2004 Ryder Cup war between Phil Mickelson and American captain Hal Sutton, complete with a Texas accent you won't want to miss. Lastly, some Don Rea soundbites send us into the weekend, as only he can.
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1:18:06
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1:18:06
The Masters goes Amazon Prime, Tour bounces Kapalua, and Ryder Cup oversaturation
It sure seems like everyone is just counting down the days until the Ryder Cup at this point. With minimal golf news and no PGA Tour event to discuss, Andy instead starts this episode with a tale from his latest round of golf. Playing at one of America's great championship courses, Andy decided he wanted to recreate an iconic moment and ended up almost hitting some folks enjoying a Tuesday afternoon lunch on the patio. It's been a big week for paying homage to iconic figures, as Brendan shares the latest Bob Uecker tribute from the Milwaukee Brewers. Brendan is aghast at the team reading and posting a fake letter from the deceased Uecker, which leads into a discussion about which ghosts this year's Ryder Cup teams should (allegedly) hear from. The Europeans have made it to Long Island and dressed in some... interesting... clothing for their first practice rounds at Bethpage Black. Justin Rose thinks that New Yorkers will become "caricatures" of themselves in the crowd and thinks that the VR preparation is a sign that things have gone too far. In actual golf being played this week, the ultimate Game Within a Game is underway on the LPGA circuit: can the unique winner streak continue at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship? With 18 of this year's winners in the field, the odds are in favor of this incredible streak living on. Andy is fired up about the Stephens Cup and the U.S. Mid-Am, both of which are already underway as of this recording. The Celebrity Ryder Cup rosters have been released with big names such as Toni Kukoč, Pau Gasol, and Brooklyn Beckham facing off against Eli Manning, Colin Jost, and "Sticks Boy " Noah Kahan. In substantive golf news, Amazon Prime has acquired some Masters streaming rights for Thursday and Friday and - as first reported on this podcast - the PGA Tour will not open the season in Kapalua due to the water issues in Maui.
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56:48
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Scottie won’t stop, Ryder Cup Europe sets sail for America with VR headsets, and welcoming KVV
The combined 0-6 Bears, Browns, and Jets lost by a combined 74 points on Sunday. But it is still a victory Monday around here as we welcome Kevin Van Valkenburg to the Fried Egg Golf team. Though he has been a contributor to SGS in the past, he’s now on the FE ship full time so we bring him on to bat it around following the weekend of Brocore, Wentworth, and continued Ryder Cup hype. We discuss Scottie Scheffler — his mere presence — putting everyone around him on the fritz, like Ben Griffin, who could have, should have won the Brocore. Did it take a low stakes fall event to really convince us the Tiger invocations are not out of line? Maybe. They also discuss king mule Lanto’s involvement in the proceedings and Jackson Koivun needing to stay on Tour and not go back to school. At Wentworth, they discuss Alex Noren being a top 20 player in the world and for sure a top 12 option for Team Europe who will be relegated to the ass-cap role. Then the notion of VR headsets preparing the Euro Ryder Cup team for battle is also bandied about with some amusement. They close with some football chatter and laughs about PJ having to send cringe tweets for the Lions following the Browns wishing Deshaun a happy birthday on Sunday morning.
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1:26:01
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1:26:01
Lessons from Ryder Cup disasters past, Golf Advice on extremely weird rounds
This Whiparound Friday episode might as well be a show about nothing with not much going on in golf this week. Andy and Brendan start with a quick rundown of an early leaderboard at the Procore with players like Mackenzie Hughes and Matt Kuchar leading the way. They then move to the BMW PGA on the DP World Tour where auto-qualifier Rasmus Hojgaard struggled on Thursday. Andy takes that baton and runs with it, explaining that the Ryder Cup captains need to be more cutthroat and sit struggling players until Sunday singles if that's what is best for the team. This leads into an impromptu Flashback Friday on the 2018 Ryder Cup at Le Golf National in Paris, France. Andy and Brendan remember some crazy decisions made by the American side, such as making a "celebratory" Tiger Woods play four times that week and pairing a rookie Bryson DeChambeau with a wild Phil Mickelson. They bring up supporting characters such as Thorbjorn Olesen playing with Rory McIlroy and the European team of "Moliwood" that effectively won the event on their own. As for the 2025 event, the Americans are out in full force in Napa and Keegan Bradley is calling this the "closest team he's ever seen" - despite only seeing two teams prior to this. After a bunch of winding Ryder Cup chatter, some legendary Golf Advice emails send us into the weekend. A #HedgeBoy story from Cypress jogs Andy's memory about a horrendous round in the area before Brendan reads an email about a member-guest caddie's interactions with nature.
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1:07:00
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1:07:00
Ryder Cup pairing hints at BroCore, Rory’s future, Tiger appears, and Bears angst
It is NOT a Victory Wednesday (or Tuesday) episode for Andy, but he's back to join Brendan! for a preview of some September golf throughout the world. Things kick off with a quick Champions Tour Minute highlighting Thomas Bjorn's win in St. Louis that was ignored on Monday's Walker Cup recap. Bjorn took home one of the more interesting trophies in golf at the Stifel Charity Classic before working as an AssCap for Team Europe in a few weeks. Speaking of Ryder Cup preparations, 10 of the 12 Americans are in the field at the ProCore Championship in Napa. Tuesday's practice round has already brought some early "pods" and potential pairings. Scottie Scheffler looks like he'll run it back with Russell Henley after a strong showing at the Presidents Cup while his deputy, Sam Burns, played a round with Mr. 1,000 and No-Hat Pat. Team Europe is also gathering this week - they're almost all in the field at the BMW PGA at Wentworth in England. Rory McIlroy had some insightful comments regarding his future schedules in his pre-tournament press conference and stopped just short of naming some events he doesn't particularly care for. Also teeing it up at Wentworth is defending champion Billy Horschel, who makes his return to competitive golf following a mid-year injury. To preview this week's Champions Tour event in South Dakota, Andy runs down the Schwab Cup standings and once again wonders who Ricardo Gonzalez is. In news, future Champs Tour star Tiger Woods was seen hitting balls on a New Jersey range on Monday, sending the internet into a storm, per usual. To close the show, Andy comments on Monday night's Bears loss to the Vikings and has some questions about Caleb Williams.
The Shotgun Start with Andy Johnson and Brendan Porath of Fried Egg Golf is a podcast waiting for you early in the morning that quickly blasts through a variety of topics (usually) related to golf and (ideally) relevant to the day. It covers news from the pro tours around the world, amusing and important topics from the amateur game the rest of us play, and some irreverent stuff in between. There will be short interviews, previews, reviews, and dives into the archives. It provides what you need to know on golf through a rapid and fun catch-up discussion.
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