Off The Deck Golf Podcast

Episode 044 – PGA Championship preview, why Rory will win

show@offthedeck.co.uk (Off The Deck) — Tue, 18 May 2021 10:00:00 +0000

The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island is the home to the 2021 PGA Championship this week, and the focus of almost the entirety of our podcast this week. The Ocean Course is the scene of Rory McIlroy’s record breaking win back in 2012 as he went on to win his second Major, and – spoiler alert – he is the favourite of both hosts this week, given his recent win at Quail Hollow under the tutelage of Pete Cowan, Bob Rotella, and Brad Faxon.

The other major headliner this week alongside Rory is Jordan Spieth and his return to form, which is whetting the appetite of both hardcore and amateur golf enthusiasts.

Outside of these two, there are a plethora of big names in the OWGR Top 20 flying underneath the radar that we discuss the merits of including – Justin Thomas, Jon Rahm, Viktor Hovland.

We also touch on Richard Bland’s marvelous win for the first time on the European Tour in 478 starts at the Betfred British Masters. An event that demonstrated again some of our “ones to watch” including Calum Hill and Adrian Meronk are getting used to life on the European Tour.

Ultimately, this week is about Rory. Can he win? Will he win? To both these questions, the answers from both hosts is unequivocally yes!

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Episode 043 – Rory McIlroy wins again at Quail Hollow

show@offthedeck.co.uk (Off The Deck) — Tue, 11 May 2021 08:00:00 +0000

Rory McIlroy is back!

Following a mini break after the Masters spending time with Swing Coach guru Pete Cowan, Putting Maestro Brad Faxon, and Mental Sensei Bob Rotella, Rory showed the golfing world that he was still a force to be reckoned with at a familiar stomping ground. For the third time in his career, Rory won the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow to catapult back into the top 10 of the OWGR and for his 19th PGA Tour win. It’s perfect timing before the PGA Championships at Kiawah Island in 10 days time.

On the LPGA Tour, the theme of resurrection continued with Ariya Jutanagarn shooting a final round 63 to storm through the field to win in her home country of Thailand.

On the European Tour, Garrick Higgo completed a South African sweep of the Canary Island swing with his second win in three starts to further demonstrate the 21 year-old will be a force in the years to come.

This week we turn our attention to the Betfred British Masters at The Belfry. Renato Paratore is defending this British Masters crown, although podcast favourite Rasmus Hojgaard was the last person to win a European Tour event on The Brabazon course at The Belfry. Last chances for players this week to get into the second men’s Major of the season.

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Episode 042 – Getting caught up

show@offthedeck.co.uk (Off The Deck) — Tue, 04 May 2021 09:00:00 +0000

Following a little hiatus, we wrap up the past three weeks of golf on the PGA, LPGA, and European Tours.

We discuss how the Zurich Classic is the perfect change of pace golf in this “quiet” stretch and we check in on how our “seven to watch” on the ET are getting on. You’ll notice that is mainly because Ben’s favourite – Adrian Meronk – is coming off a really good week in Tenerife.

There is some #PIP talk – the Player Impact Program – as we discuss the latest cash grab by the big boys on the PGA Tour, which aims to stave off the lurking PGL.

Finally, we look at the week ahead with the LPGA staying out in Asia, the PGA Tour is at Quail Hollow for Wells Fargo, and the European Tour remains at Costa Adeje for the secnd week running and the Canary Island Championship.

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Episode 041 – Hideki Matsuyama wins the 2021 Masters

show@offthedeck.co.uk (Off The Deck) — Tue, 13 Apr 2021 08:00:00 +0000

Hideki Matsuyama won the 85th edition of The Masters tournament, making history to become the first Japanese man to win a Major. For once, Hideki’s ball striking fiesta was complemented with a ‘hot’ putter as he managed to convert a four shot 54-hole lead to win by one stroke from Korn Ferry Tour star Will Zalatoris.

We break down how the tournament unfolded, going through as many of the main storylines as we could remember: Justin Rose’s epic first round; Jordan Spieth’s resurgence and madness; Rory McIlroy and Dustin Johnson ejecting early; Si-Woo Kim’s anger issues; another near miss for Xander; how Bryson cannot overcome Augusta; and a wrap-up of a good week from some of our European favourites.

Omedeto Hideki!!

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Episode 040 – Tavatanakit wins ANA Inspiration, 2021 Masters preview

show@offthedeck.co.uk (Off The Deck) — Tue, 06 Apr 2021 21:00:00 +0000

We kick off this week’s podcast focusing on Patty Tavatanakit winning the first major of the 2021 season (and her maiden title) at the ANA Inspiration, going wire-to-wire. In the Amateur game, Tsubasa Kajitana from Japan came out victorious at the second Augusta National Women’s Amateur in a playoff against Emilia Migliaccio.

The main focus of the show is naturally on The Masters, even more so after Jordan Spieth’s win at the Valero Texas Open last weekend, his first since the 2017 Open at Royal Birkdale. Despite Jordan dominating all the headlines, there are still plenty of other interesting stories to track over the course of the week: Rory’s mental state; Bryson speed training with Vijay; Rahm rolling with the ‘New Dad Bump’; Dustin Johnson potentially going back-to-back; and much more.

We are also running a small Masters’ picks league that you are very welcome to join.

Happy Masters week!

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Episode 039 – Kenya times two, WGC Match Play and the ANA Inspiration

show@offthedeck.co.uk (Off The Deck) — Tue, 30 Mar 2021 08:00:00 +0000

Golf is officially back in the UK, and giddy with excitement we review a jam packed couple of weeks on the European Tour, the PGA Tour, and the LPGA Tour.

Billy Horschel wrapped up a somewhat dull final day at the WGC Matchplay in Austin defeating fellow American Scottie Scheffler in the final. The star from a European perspective was Victor Perez who put some stunning performances en route to a fourth place finish. Other promising Euro showings over the week came from Bob MacIntyre, Sergio Garcia, Tommy Fleetwood, and Ian Poulter.

The European Tour had a whirlwind 10 days in Kenya with the Magical Kenyan Open and Kenya Savannah Classic back-to-back with South African winners of both events in Justin Harding and Daniel Van Tonder. The latter claimed his fifth win in his past 12 starts!

Finally on the LPGA Tour, Inbee Park went wire-to-wire at the Kia Classic to win by five shots in her first outing of 2021. We finish up this week’s podcast previewing the first Major of the year at the ANA Inspiration, and whether or not Charley Hoffman can produce any heroics at the Texas Valero Open to make the Masters next week.

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Episode 038 – Westwood, THE PLAYERS, Qatar, Kenya and our Magnificent Seven

show@offthedeck.co.uk (Off The Deck) — Tue, 16 Mar 2021 17:30:00 +0000

Two weeks running on the Lee Westwood bandwagon on the PGA Tour, as another bridesmaid finish at THE PLAYERS netted Lee a cool $1.6m. The winner was Justin Thomas. His 14th victory on the PGA Tour was secured with an extremely impressive final two rounds of ball striking. Positive news elsewhere for European Ryder Cup hopefuls with top 10 finishes for Paul Casey, Shane Lowry, Jon Rahm, Sergio Garcia, Victor Perez, and Matthew Fitzpatrick.

On the European Tour, Antoine Rozner became the fastest Frenchman to two ET wins by capturing the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters in just his 29th start. Rozner holed a 60 foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole to win by one, in what were some extremely challenging wind conditions.

The rest of this week’s podcast focuses on profiling seven up-and-coming players: Adrian Meronk, Richard Mansell, Ondrej Lieser, Maverick Antcliff, Robin Sciot-Siegrist, Wilco Nienaber, and Calum Hill. As the European Tour competes with WGCs and some big events on the PGA Tour, this is the perfect time in the season for these players to break through and earn some much needed Race to Dubai points. Look out for their performances in the back-to-back tournaments at the Karen Country Club in Nairobi at the Magical Kenya Open this weekend.

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Episode 037 – Bryson v Westood, THE PLAYERS and Qatar

show@offthedeck.co.uk (Off The Deck) — Tue, 09 Mar 2021 10:15:00 +0000

An emotional week for us this week as our “Spiritual Leader” Lee Westwood came so close to winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational. An intriguing week at Bay Hill, with storylines galore, from Jordan Spieth’s rollercoaster weekend to Rory McIlroy’s emotive post tournament comments, was capped off with Bryson DeChambeau being the worthy winner and claiming his eighth PGA Tour victory.

On the LPGA, Austin Ernst made it three wins in three tournaments for Americans to start 2021, as she romped to her third LPGA Tournament at the Drive On Championship at the Golden Ocala Golf Course.

This week sees the return of the European Tour at the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters, although most of the golfing eyeballs will be on the PGA Tour HQ at TPC Sawgrass for THE PLAYERS. A fascinating week for all, with youngsters and aspiring pros on the ET trying to get their season off to a good start, whilst the established stars will be chasing the biggest cash money prize in GOLF.

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Episode 036 – Morikawa wins, LPGA returns, European golf in Florida

show@offthedeck.co.uk (Off The Deck) — Tue, 02 Mar 2021 10:30:00 +0000

This week’s podcast could only start with us touching on Tiger Woods and his shocking car crash last week and the impact it has had across the golfing landscape.

On the course this week, it was about marvelling at some of the dominant young talent on display. Collin Morikawa’s imperious iron play set him up for his first World Golf Championship at The Concession which – along with his Major win last year – puts him firmly as the cream of the crop of the young talent on the PGA Tour.

In the women’s game, Nelly Korda followed up her sister Jessica’s win on the LPGA Tour by winning the Gainbridge LPGA by three shots.

Finally we cover off some European Tour news as the prospect of a “Florida Swing” could be on the horizon if the Iberia swing cannot take place due to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic and we touch on this week’s golf at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

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Episode 035 – 2021 LET schedule, Pebble Pro-Am, Genesis

show@offthedeck.co.uk (Off The Deck) — Tue, 16 Feb 2021 09:30:00 +0000

Despite the lack of Tier One golfers present, the Pebble Beach Pro-Am delivered a host of interesting storylines and a worthy winner in Daniel Berger. We hit head on the inevitable “Is Spieth back?” topic amongst other things.

In other news in the world of golf, the Ladies European Tour had a great week despite not golf as they announced the ARAMCO Team Series, four team events spread over three continents each with a $1 million purse.

This week, all eyes will be on Riviera Country Club for the Genesis Invitational as a star studded field assembles for one of the premier events on the PGA Tour.

Get in touch: show[at]offthedeck.co.uk

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