Will Keegan Bradley now become a playing assistant at the Presidents Cup? | Golf Channel Podcast

hello and welcome and this edition of the Golf Channel podcast with Rex and lab Keegan Bradley is a winner once again on the PGA tour taking home the BMW Championship in the penultimate event of the PGA Tour season Keegan became just the third us Ridder Cup captain who won on the PJ tour after getting appointed to the captaincy joining Jack Nicholas and Davis Love III Rex good morning to you what was your reaction to all that unfolded last night at Castle resps I was watching the pregame show and brandle shambley and Paige McKenzie were having a conversation about this and brandle brought up a point that I hadn't really thought about that maybe in some way getting appointed that Ridder cup captaincy earlier this year I think somehow that impacted his confidence if you look at the way he's played and I think there might be something to it it's not as though he's ever you know he was a bad player or he was in the tank but you didn't expect this out of him the way he's played the last couple of weeks certainly the way he played at Castle Pines that to me was an impressive Performance Based on a couple things one it doesn't seem like the kind of golf course where he would excel at it seemed like that was going to be a bombers course we talked about it uh in the preview podcast it was always going to be the kind of course where you would expect a Roy maroy or Scotty or Xander someone who could bomb the ball someone that we saw those sort of eye popping numbers that's really not Keegan's game but man he was clutched coming down the stretch he certainly was clutched coming down the stretch uh as a driver of the golf ball he has always been one of the best on the PG tour I was a little skeptical of how he could play at Castle Pines because he hits it so high and and and height and not being able to VAR your trajectory was was sort of the kiss of death at Castle pin where you're playing it I mean the five iron at the last is probably a perfect example of that yeah was was unbelievable just get it up in the stratosphere and watch it drop close to the flag when you mentioned the the Ryder Cup campy and obviously that was a a surprise appointment ke Bradley was 19th in the world at the time he was named uh for the 2025 Us Rider cup captaincy we we always talk about oh you know maybe he could be a a playing C captain in the future we're not going to get in that discussion at this point because it's it's it's basically fruitless we're 13 months from the rder being played at Beth Page BL there's no point in projecting ahead but we have history on our side Rex where as soon as a guy gets uh app point to that captaincy his game just falls off whether it's because of distraction whether it's because it's sort of a a late acknowledgement that hey maybe my best golf is is behind him more power to Keegan Bradley for showing that can still do it at 38 years old competing against guys who are much younger than him who have not been on speedia tours as long as he has who doesn't have the scar tissue that he's accumulated over his decade Plus on the PGA tour you look at the trajectory that his career has taken off in just the past couple of weeks Rex barely got into the top 50 of the FedEx Cup race thanks to Tom Kim's uh collapse on the 7 on the the last four holes at TPC Southwind in Memphis that got Keegan Bradley into the Signature Events not so much so he can improve his playing status but I think also importantly so he can keep tabs on all of the other great players on the pich tour who he's going to want to have on his Us Rider Cup team I do think it carries weight for those guys in the team room next year knowing that Keegan's still competitive knowing that he still can beat these guys especially in sort of this 50 man limited field like we saw at the BMW uh I think you're right we shouldn't spin it ahead to the Ryder Cup but we should certainly spin it ahead to the President's Cup because where he stands right now and look you can make the argument for a lot of guys and I'm sure we'll get into this uh in the podcast on Wednesday you can make an argument for a lot of guys to get one of those six captains picks I think it's a big sprawling conversation but you also have to see what's going to happen at East Lake there is a theory there's a universe where he also plays well at East Lake and all of a sudden you're talking about someone that was going to be there in the team room as a Vice Captain instead maybe he deserves a spot as a captain I think that'd be a fun conversation as well it certainly would be a fun conversation one conversation that we're going to have Rex because ke Bradley is all the way up to 10th in the point standings the automatic qualifiers were just named uh that was no surprise there there was no movement on that front this is the last week to make an impression on Jim furck what do you think if Keegan Bradley's now up to 10th inside that top 12 bubble where he has not been the entirety of the year is Keegan Bradley after winning the BMW is he now a lock for a pick uh I don't think he's a lock simply because a lot of other things can happen when you look at that team uh I I think what Jim furick is going to struggle with is old versus new we had this conversation last week right about the idea of how many players are you going to look at because they've historically been part of these teams Jordan Speed being the primary example here we'll go ahead and just name the elephant in the room how deep are you going to be willing to go for someone like that my guess is Jim furck being sort of a company man when it comes to those types of things goes pretty deep I don't think he goes Jordan Speedy but that suddenly puts Keegan Bradley in a very uncomfortable situation when you start looking at the Players around him going to have to pick some young guys anyway because start at seven you have Sam Burns Tony feno Russell Henley as you mentioned Keegan Bradley at 10 then then Brian Harmon and Max hom at 11 and 12 we know h's not playing well Brian Harmon didn't play particularly well he fell out of that top 30 didn't make it to East like go beyond that you start looking at some guys that you probably would want on that team you look at a guy uh your boy AE um a didn't didn't get it right let's try it again Chris Kirk is right there at 13th I don't think it's a matter of Keegan Bradley not deserving a pick I don't think it's a matter of Keegan Bradley not fitting into that team room he's going to be Captain next year of the team he's a Vice Captain this time around I just think it's going to be such a difficult decision for Jim furick to make because of the names not necessarily because he's got to make six picks it's because of who those six picks might be in my mind to me the way that I think about this Rex is you don't blow up your plans that you've had for months based on one week and I think back to what keeg Bradley said at his introductory press conference when he was named the US best Rider Cup captain and the talk of a playing Captain came up in 2025 and Keegan said I will not put myself in a position in which I would be picking myself I need to be among the automatic qualifiers make it easy on myself earn my spot on that team and then we can sort of address that later I don't see why this would be any different now with Keegan Bradley as an assistant Captain especially after a week like we just had at the BMW Championship kind of a one-off you're playing at 6,400 feet elevation we saw some quirky things you saw some of the top players not playing well it's essentially a precursor week sort of the in between between the cutof off theur events and then the culmination of the PG tour season with the Tour Championship I'm not saying that the P DMW Championship was unimportant but Keegan Bradley by and large had not done anything in three months and then he pops up he said he got a swing field during the proam and basically flushed it for the remainder of the week personally if if I were Jim furick I would pass Keegan Bradley over for pick again I know how difficult that would be to do I know how awkward rex that would be to do because Keegan Bradley would be in that team room knowing that he was passed over by Jim furick and the other assistant captains uh for one of the six Wild Card picks I do think that is probably weighing here I do expect him to get a pick and play on this team not just as a I I would expect him at this point yeah it's really hard to leave off the 11th rank player in the world I think that would be be really something to stomach particularly when you don't have all other six options playing particularly well this this time he's gonna have to have a couple of leaps of Faith here well that's the issue that you get to when you start taking the Deep dive into this that okay at number 10 Keegan Bradley may or may not be a pick to your point you're right that was a bit of a one-off what happened last week at Castle pins it was at elevation and it's not as though he had been on the radar at at what point though are you going to start picking guys I guess would be my answer because I just mentioned Max holes name and you sort of scoffed at me like of course not I'm with you at at 12 in the way he's playing right now I don't think Max would even want to be a part of that team how about your boy Harmon I mean he's at 11 so at at some point you got to start picking somebody don't you no I think that's where that's definitely working in Keegan's F kean's favor at this point like Sam Burns to me is a lock to get one of the picks he's turned around here lately had another good week at the BMW Championship Tony Tony fow uh is is going to be on this team as well six top 15s uh in recent form had a really good summer as well then I think after those two is when you can start to make some decisions personally I would take a a longard look at o batia he's made a huge jump in the owgr this year a really strong June and July got him inside that top 12 bubble he's one of the best players in the PG tour in terms of Strokes gain total there's three then you're essentially picking recks I think between guys like Billy horel who has President's Cup experience he had three straight top 10s uh before the BMW Championship where we had a little bit of a back issue that flirted up there Justin Thomas he has not been nearly as sharp this summer as he was in the spring the putter continues to be a question but at least he got through the Tour Championship a nice bounceback season in kind of that Jordan SP vain a guy who has experience I would expect Justin Thomas to be on that team as well so all of a sudden you're looking at what four or five guys there then Jim furck is going to need to decide do I want Keegan who did have a playoff loss early this year at this Sony he wins the BMW he had a you know technically a run-up finish at Colonial where he wasn't really in the mix at all he was outside the top 20 in the world ranking before he won this one then do you pick a Keegan do you pick a a Russell Henley who had top 10 in both summer opens didn't play particularly well with the BMW this would be his first Cup team at 35 years old do you put Max hom who was in the mix at the Masters but has not done anything uh has has really struggled with his driver over the past couple months you have Brian Haron who has just won Top 10 since the PLAYERS Championship in March do you put Nick Dunlap who's 20 years old uh has played well in spurts this summer at two wins like if if I'm Jim furck I'm leaning into Dunlap I'm leaning into OE I'm building for the future making sure those guys get in the system as opposed to sort of going either to retreads or maybe a couple of reaches in terms of like a ke Bradley type uh Dunlap through me when you mentioned him he's 28th on the points list right now now to be fair because he because he did not receive points for the American the American Express win didn't count so I see what you're saying right there I I think that's a bit of a stre a stretch simply because of the guys you'd have to jump over who either have experience or do you want Nick Dunlap you want Nick Dunlap 20 years old two time this year or Russell Henley 35 years old never played on a cup team doesn't particularly know anyone you have no idea how he would fit with some of the other players probably would just be a one off it's not like you can count on him for future Cup teams I think that that's probably what the decision is going to be do you want a Keegan who's already assistant Captain you want a henley who's never done this before or do you want a Dunlap who's 20 and have has an entire Runway ahead of him and your default is always the younger kid that has a Runway ahead of him that's just what you're going to go to and maybe that's where Jim goes because we've talked about the President's Cup in the past being a bit of a Proving Ground for what's going to be next year at the Ryder Cup certainly if you can get Nick Dunlap into the mix if you can get another young player into the mix get them to understand what the team atmosphere is like get them to understand what the pressure relative to the Ryder Cup is going to be on that first te and what it this is a just a different tournament talking about the Ryder Cup than any anything else you've ever played in before I get that I'm not quite sure that's the direction he would go because again you've got to jump over a lot of guys to get to that and at that point you're telling the world that look I had a blueprint and it didn't really matter how everybody played coming down the stretch that's what it feels like if you make a jump that deep yeah that's going to be a very tough one uh to explain away I think I think the most interesting player Rex is going to be Max H who had sort of covered sort of he would he had lingered around that automatic cut off for the majority of the summer he has uh struggled mightily over these past couple months now he's down to 12th in points he's outside the top 20 in the world ranking he is obviously immensely popular among his peers and keep in mind at last year's Ridder cup he was the best player on that us team you know exactly what you're getting you can put him with K BAU and let them go away I think that is is is when you look at Jim track record as a captain the type of guys he wants to get in sort of that that boldface name the brand value I think it's gonna be very difficult for him to leave off Max homo why I think to you and I based on current form it would be a very easy decision to to leave him at home hasn't had a top 10 since the wels Fargo way back in may he only has two rounds under par in his last eight rounds it's he's just not playing well if if you watched him play at all not not only this week go back go back to last week in Memphis I don't think he's enjoying the game so I get what you're saying I understand there is some upside when it comes to Max certainly what he did last year and Rome would have your attention but man I don't know if that's the guy I want in the team room either because you and I both watched his body language just look at the last two weeks that's not a happy person no it's not a happy person did not uh agree to my interview request on Thursday at Castle pins I'm still smarting about that as well what else Rex stood out to you about the BMW Championship week because to me it was sort of a an odd week where Scotty Sheffer had his worst ball striking week in more than two years uh Roy maroy tossed his three-wood in the water then broke his driver shaft in the final round Xander shofy did what Xander shley did uh does and finish in the top five at yet another playoff event is this sort of like a one-week thing or do you think what we saw in Denver is symptomatic of of something else going on here uh when it comes to Scotty Sheffer no I don't think it's symptomatic I do think it was interesting that I believe it was Friday when the frustration seemed to boil over the most for Scotty at least what we could hear from the outside on The Telecast looking in and I get why the attention was focused on the world number one suddenly not really playing or feeling or talking like the world number one I get why the fascination was there but I've seen him get aggravated over the course of the last two years it's not as though everything is always roses and and rainbows and unicorns on the golf course when he's walking around he does get aggravated he does get animated from time to time certainly I think what we saw at Castle Pines was a bit of the extreme but as you pointed out it's it's worth ball striking round of the year if not probably the last two years maybe you could probably say if you want to go back and and take a deeper dive he didn't do anything particularly well I get why he's aggravated because you're coming into a situation where you only really have one more week left and you need to pour everything into it and you know your record on that Golf Course especially when you're head-to-head with Xander chafl so you certainly don't want to give up the two-stroke lead that you would at least like to have coming in you don't know how the golf course is going to play different I I get that he's probably like most of the guys who's ended up going on to East Lake you're happy but you're also pretty tired that stood out to be but not to the extreme that some others Adam Scott being the primary example where he is such this conundrum now and having covered him at the Scottish open when he came up just short it looked like the guy that was 24 years old and when he was young and you thought he he was going to be a world beater and he was going to win multiple majors and everything that was on his Horizon not the guy who is 44 years old who sometimes looks vulnerable sometimes looks like he's a bit lost on the golf course his ball striking was as good as it ever has been this dials back a couple weeks now where you felt like he got the equipment right it was the putting coming down the stretch where you're kind of we sort of focused on the US team when it comes to the President's Cup when it comes to the international team the only chance in my mind they're really going to have with no disrespect to the young players on that team Tom Kim and Ben on and so many good players it's going to be the veteran play because they never get very good veteran play out of anybody I'm not laying this on Adam Scott or Jason day or Hideki matuyama but if you are the international Captain if you're Mike Weir there is a silver lining of Hope Paradigm of Hope as it were where you have Hideki winning last week and granted there was an injury that forced to WD that that's probably a little concerning and then you have Adam Scott probably playing the best golf he has played in a decade I don't know we can go back and look at that I think that is where if he could find a way to get a performance out of those two I'm not saying those two need to go five and0 but they certainly have to have winning records and then you're kind of counting on one of the young players doing what Tom Kim did two years ago at Quil Hollow that would be the recipe to have any kind of hopeall for the international team oh yeah I mean you have to absolutely ride your stallins and you have to ride them as hard as possible you had they at least have to go three- two more likely 4- one you probably need a 5-0 to pop up there whether it's Hadi whether it's Tom Kim whether it's sunj IM I think when you look at at some of the picks I think a Min wo Lee type could could sort of inject the same sort of energy that Tom Kim did a couple years ago at qu Hollow we'll get into the international team most certainly on that Wednesday Adam Scot's putting from 4 to eight feet on not just it wasn't even just Sunday on Saturday as well I mean he was making less than 50% of his attempts from four to8 feet when he was making everything of the first two rounds it was so frustrating it seemed like this was his tournament uh to win and he could not do it and still it's great to see Scotty doing what he's doing at the age of 44 as it relates Rex to these sort of big four that I would put them at and and sort of the boiling frustration that we saw from Scotty Sheffer Xander talked about sort of Dipping into the patience bucket and what little he has left we talked about the Rory decapitation of his driver and half-hearted toss into the water the Hideki WD I do think this is somewhat symptomatic of a long season that's catching up to these guys and I'll go back to what zaner sh said a couple weeks ago where he saw Roy maroy playing alongside him at East Lake and he felt like he was absolutely gassed and he did not understand how a guy who's essentially a couple years old than he is was was blowing past him just so much fitter than him had so much more energy and Xander has taken it upon himself heading into this year to make sure that he is in Prime position for East Lake which it certainly feels like it's going to it's I think that's going to play actually a big factor this week at the Tour Championship you know it's going to be insufferably hot uh you know it's going to be take a lot of early week prep learning a brand new golf course essentially after the work that Andrew Green has done on East Lake I I do think it's somewhat concerning to see at least three of those players in the head space that they are at the moment heading into what is a season finale at the end of a very dened stretch of golf with the majors the Signature Events and the Olympics thrown in there as well well and it's not only that it's not that's the amount of golf we run into this pretty much every year towards the end of the season it's kind of where the golf happened right we remember what Memphis was like just brutally hot and you know it was hot and humid guys are having a hard time getting around there you were there last week I looks like you've recovered you're not quite as flush as you were last week when we had the conversation you you've caught your breath and the colors come back to your face I'm glad it it was a it was a long hard walk it was warm it wasn't hot and you're right East Lake will be East Lake which will be just sizzling hot in that time of year I just think physically it takes a toll and and that's a really good point I think when you talk about Scotty Sheffer getting aggravated last week I don't think you can discount the idea that you're just tired man that you've been out here they people roll their eyes when you say this but you're out on the golf course between warm up and warm down and and the round itself six six and a half seven hours sometimes and it's hot and you're trying to be focused and you're trying to do your best and it's not always easy there was one more element that I wanted to get your thought on just because you're probably GNA hijack me on today's golf today which you're co-hosting with George savz am I right about that correct correct Geor you and Georgie uh you're probably gonna hijack me on this one so I'm gonna throw it at you in the podcast before we have a chance to do it ludvig your boy had a chance to win again or at least put himself into serious contention is there anything that you're seeing from him on Sunday afternoons when he's in this this hunt like you we saw it at the Scottish open where he just doesn't get it done uh I mean at the Scottish open he had the worst his worst ball striking performance of the year I think on Sunday yesterday at Castle pins it was more his par five play he had absolutely dominated the par five us 1200 par on the longest holes for the first three rounds played them an even par on Sunday he just still seems prone to make 14 stop there at the 14th hole you want to talk about par five play that was a 414 yard Drive I think he had what a six iron in a little six iron probably and he was posing over it and it never had a chance to cover that water that waterous I mean it's just it's just a Critic iCal mistake at a very inopportune time in a short game is not quite good enough yet to to bail him out and and let him to recover I think that's I think it's I think it points to some of the the frailties in his game but I'm also quick Rex like I think Xander scha is the perfect example what's Xander now 29 or 30 years old and and for years we sort of criticized him for not being able to get over the line and he's not a fully formed product at this point and now at this stage in his career he can he can run it off I think we want a lot from these play ERS right away and ludvig oberg has such obvious talent and such obvious tools that that yeah I think it's it's natural to have elevated expectations for him I I still want to give him time at at 24 years old he just finished his first full year as a professional I don't think we'll be having this conversation about lud Vig three or four years from now where I think he has at least the potential to be a world beater but right now yeah there's certainly some some weaknesses in his game and he's making just he's just making the wrong decision at the absolute worst time which I think has cost him and why he does not have a victory yet in 2024 your thoughts and well when you got the nose bed on Saturday I kept thinking I bet a lab got one of those walking up and down those Hills in the thin air you just kind of suddenly oh no this is happening uh give him credit no I think that was well put I think when you look at where he has right now in the development of his game he has to be ahead of the curve for 98% of the players who who join the PGA Tour given his age given the fact that what less than a year and a half ago he was at Texas Tech he was right there alongside his teammates he was thinking about college golf he wasn't thinking about Pro Golf and you're right short game needs to get buttoned up H decision- making coming down the struts he certainly has the elements on his bag his cadd Joe scavron is one of the best in the business so I think he's doing a good job of keeping his head in it again whatever it is that happened on the 14th hole though is emic of what it seems like happens when he gives himself an opportunity now and you don't want to read too much into it because I think it's been less than a year still that he's been on the PGA tour and he has wins and he played the way he played in the rder cup all of the things that he's been able to do since he was professional but you're right it does show some weaknesses that he needs to develop played well the major championships this year again just has not gotten it across the line and and to go back at what I said about Keegan I I sort of I sort of dismiss Castle Pines as as a one-off on this tour schedule you never see players of this caliber hitting some of the shots and struggling with the distance control like we saw over the weekend you never see Scotty sheffler uh just absolutely explode after missing the Green from 80 yards you never see ludig oberg missing the green with a six Iron by 20 yards you never see Adam Scott with a chance to put a lot of pressure uh on Keegan Bradley missing the green by what 15 20 yards with with a lob wedge it's it's just what happens when you play at elevation and it's so important to nail your trajectory and you can say look if you're controll your golf ball you can you can dial it in it's still essentially an educated guess that they're making when you factor in Wind when you factor in elevation when you factor in the uh temperature when you factor in spin uh when you factor in uphill and downhill like it's essentially an educated guess I don't think too much of what we saw from Lou oberg and we should draw anything from that I do think Rex when you look now it's sort of like the starting Strokes I think hadaki matama is a huge question mark he was in second place when he was forced out of the BMW Championship with a back injury he still did not drop a spot in the standing which is sort of amazing he's third overall will begin the week at seven underpar Roy mroy has already played more PJ Tour golf this year than he ever has that was the case even heading into the BMW Championship and he just seems like he wants the season to be over with and yet when you look at his magical starting Strokes here he's just six shots back the exact same position he was a couple years ago we will get into that on the Wednesday podcast for sure what did you make of any of the other action Rex at the BMW whether it was the race for the top 30 or how things are settling up for East Lake in the chase for $25 million I I was surprised and I think we had this conversation last week about how much movement there was inside and outside well last week it was the top 50 I think it was five in five out last week this week it was four in and four out and I'm not sure where that ranks but that's got to be towards the top at least since we've come into this new era of the FedEx cup with the way the points are distributed you just don't see that type of movement I I was a bit surprised that Brian Harman being the primary example where he fell out and I didn't feel like he played that badly compared to everyone else I I felt like that he probably had an opportunity but that shows you how thin the margin was for points and I'm not sure if that's because of the new points distribution with the Signature Events this year if it just was the math of the way this time the way it turned out this time around but I was a bit taken by the idea that there was a lot of movement there and there was a lot of reasons to pay attention to that movement it's added a a level to these events and a level of interest that normally we don't see this time of year yeah well said Justin Thomas is the Bubble Boy got in at number 30 by the slimmest of margins the four players who got in Keegan Bradley Adam Scott who are obviously in contention uh for the title Tommy Fleet with the silver medalist at the Olympics that you covered as well as Chris Kirk a signature winner on the PJ tour in the season opener at capala the four guys who missed out Brian Haron Jason day uh Davis Thompson and Denny McCarthy to your point Rex about the volatility of the points I can think back to Nick Dunlap uh in Memphis in the playoff opener where he had a chance to win and then all of a sudden he was backsliding a little bit and all of a sudden like the top 50 cut off became quite real for him Alex noren was that player at the BMW just two shots off the lead at one point ended up bogeying his last three holes and missed out on the top 30 he dropped all the way to like 36 to 37th which was pretty surprising there but just some of the some of the mini meltdowns that we saw late I think always add a layer of compelling drama to the BMW Championship whether it was Brian Harman making double whether it's Alex nor and bogi's last three whether it's Jason day going triple bogy double bogy uh Midway through the back nine to miss out as well I do love that sort of aspect about the BMW championship before we get out of here we do have to give a shout out to Lydia Co your girl who a couple weeks after completing the Olympic Trifecta claiming the gold medal uh in Paris wins the AIG women's open in a pretty compelling final round with a leader board as good as it can get in women's golf with Nelly Corda and Lil Vu also up there it seems Rex like she has Lio has always been like a legendary figure and an icon uh in in women's game particularly over the past decade and a half and yet it seems like she's in an even higher level now Olympic gold in her first major championship in eight years uh probably gonna get my hand slapped for this but I would highly recommend anyone who is curious about this and everyone should be curious because Lydia Co is having such a magical summer to go check out our colleague be and Nichols goof we.com because she wrote a really good piece just kind of on the reinvention of Lydia Co and it's it's hard to overstate sort of the ups and downs of her career over the last few years to the point that when she won that gold medal in re in Rio and uh in Paris I got my Olympics confused in Paris I I have producers in my ear before she walks up to do the interview about presser for about retirement and I was a little confused because I was like she has talked about the idea that she doesn't want to play past 30 years old this was clearly a simal and a career divining moment where you're right she gets the podium slam whatever you want to call it bronze metal silver medals she gets into the Hall of Fame she gets that final Point like all of the things that came together in Paris but and so I sort of try to press her on the idea that that could this be the the walkoff song could this be it the you know the okay let's just drop the mic and walk away and it was clear she had no interest at all her mind immediately went to no got St Andrews coming up in two weeks and that's important to me and I'd love to be able to win a major championship there and even Beyond about some the things she wants to do before the end of the season so the idea that somehow she's coming to the end of her career I think has been wildly overstated she has done just a magical job of going through those Peaks and valleys that every professional goes through but she's done it with such presence and such Poise and it's pretty amazing to watch what she's been able to do not just this summer but coming from where she was even just two years ago I don't know if it's been overstated she stated it herself she stated herself that she wants to wrap up her playing career by the time she's 30 now she does regret putting that out into the open because everything that has happened since then has essentially been colored by her the comments that she made about a decade ago I'm I'm so impressed with Lydia because I think one of the most difficult things you can do as an athlete is to be a child or a teenage Prodigy and then as a professional either meet or exceed those expectations like you think of tiger LeBron Bryce Harper Serena Williams like those were all very dominant athletes as a teenager and then they have gone on to decorated careers some of the best that we've ever seen Lydia Co was the greatest teenager in the history of the sport winning major championships taking the LPGA by storm winning more than a dozen events and yet she stands here now at the age of 27 and she hasn't been broken like yes she had three or four years where she was sort of wandering through the Wilderness yes she went uh eight years without winning a major championship yes coaches in there Cades and coaches and Club decisions but she has remained perseverant she has made maintained her her persistence she is still as elegant of a person and a player as she has always been and the the thing that I love about Lydia Rex is that she's not long like she doesn't have the length like Nelly Corda she's not particularly accurate she's not like a ANUK Soren Stam in that respect she's not the world's best putter that we've ever seen like in Park and yet she continually Rises to the moment and she's clutch and I think that that was apparent over the final hour at the old course the up and down on 16 the three went into 17 the wedge and then the left to right slotter with the birdie putt on 18 there's just an art and a a gift to Lydia CO's game that is not always apparent and it she'll now go down as a legendary figure in the sport all right oh no doubt I mean I I think I just want to button that up I think you're absolutely right when you look back at her making the comment about at this stage in my life and she's not the first professional athlete who has done this and now to get here the amazing part is is she clearly wants more now where all right 30 was a good number at some point in my life but she's clearly still interested and motivated to compete at the highest level still three major championships all three different Majors she has top three finishes in the other two you wonder at the age of 27 does she want to try and pick off fourth career Major is the career Grand Slam still in sights I I actually am surprised that she is continuing at this point I wouldn't have not have blamed her at all if it was a mic drop moment after getting Olympic gold I certainly wouldn't be have been a surprise if she walked away uh after winning the Open Championship at the home of golf Lydia Co has more to achieve apparently and we'll be there to watch and document it all right that is going to do it for this edition golf CH podcast with Rex and lab you guys will ad drill NBC sports.com golf for our latest news notes and updates I will be on golf today for the next three days Rex will be joining me on the show at about noon eastern time on Monday before he heads to hot and steamy Atlanta for the PGA Tours season finale should be a great week the European and American uh solheim Cup teams will be finalized earlier this week as well we can touch on that rex on Wednesday since I know you've been pouring over some of the BIOS all right thanks for listening thanks for the support we'll talk to you guys on Wednesday afternoon live from East Lake