Who Actually Fits Royal Birkdale? | Mailbag Go to https://kachava.com and use code WINGO for 15% off your first order. Golf Live wraps the episode with an Open Championship mailbag from Royal Birkdale. Trey Wingo and Justin Ray answer viewer questions on which players benefit most from the firm and fast setup, whether this year’s major venues have been fair, what to make of Scottie Scheffler’s season, and which non-obvious Open winner would create the best story. They also get into Tom Kim’s future, the state of the DP World Tour and why Birkdale may not reward the same players we usually expect at a major. Who Benefits Most at Birkdale? The first big question is about fit. With Royal Birkdale playing firm and fast, Trey thinks almost everybody is in play. Distance does not carry the same advantage when the ball is running this much, and the shortest players in the field may have a better chance than usual. Justin points to accurate players who can control their ball flight: Russell Henley, Collin Morikawa and Tom Kim. Those players may not have the same extra gear off the tee, but this setup can narrow that gap. On the other side, Justin is staying away from Cameron Young because of how much he has struggled on the greens. Have the Major Setups Been Good? Trey and Justin also discuss the major setups this year. Justin thinks they have been strong overall. Everyone is going to complain about the U.S. Open setup, but he thought the USGA did a good job with what it had. Trey agrees. He thought the courses have generally been difficult but fair, and he expects Royal Birkdale to create its own kind of test because of the weather and firm conditions. There will be strange bounces. There will be shots that make players wonder how the ball ended up there. But that is part of the Open. Is Scottie’s Season a Failure Without Another Major? The answer from both Trey and Justin is no. Scottie Scheffler has set the bar so high that anything short of constant winning starts to feel disappointing, but Justin says he is still statistically elite across the board. He compares it to Nelly Korda’s season after her seven-win run: still excellent, even if the wins do not come as easily. Trey’s point is that Scottie’s hold on world No. 1 is still massive. It would take a huge drop from him and a huge leap from someone else to change that. The Best Open Storylines The mailbag also looks at which non-obvious Open winner would create the best story. Tommy Fleetwood winning in England would be huge. Justin Rose would be emotional. Robert MacIntyre winning would have a Scottish-conquers-England feel. Jon Rahm remains fascinating. And Bryson DeChambeau trying to avoid missing the cut in all four majors is another storyline to watch. There are a lot of ways this week could get interesting. Tom Kim and the DP World Tour Trey and Justin also talk about Tom Kim’s future after his Scottish Open win. Kim turned pro at 15, won early on the PGA Tour and became a Presidents Cup star before hitting a rough stretch. Now, he may be coming out of it. The episode closes with a bigger DP World Tour discussion. Justin says the tour still has strong events ahead, especially with the national opens and late-season championship run. A strong European tour is good for the entire golf world. And at Royal Birkdale, the mailbag question is pretty simple: Who actually fits the test? Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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