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Critics Say the Travelers Championship Is Trash. The Leaderboard Says Otherwise.

20 min · 1. juli 2026
Billede af episoden Critics Say the Travelers Championship Is Trash. The Leaderboard Says Otherwise.

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Critics Say the Travelers Championship Is Trash. The Leaderboard Says Otherwise. This episode is sponsored by Quince. Free shipping and 365-day returns at Quince.com/wingo Every year the Travelers Championship delivers something nobody sees coming. And every year a certain corner of golf media decides it is not a real tournament. This week Trey and Justin push back on that take — hard. The History of Wild Finishes Let's start with what TPC River Highlands has actually produced over the last fifteen years. Kevin Streelman with seven consecutive birdies in 2014 to win out of nowhere. Jordan Spieth holing out from the bunker on 18 in 2017 — a month before winning the Open Championship. Dustin Johnson winning one of the first events back after COVID. Harris English and Kramer Hickok going eight playoff holes. Sahith Theegala almost getting his first PGA Tour win before Xander Schauffele clipped him. Keegan Bradley setting a scoring record. The Scotty Scheffler and Tom Kim playoff. Keegan Bradley again last year, breaking Tommy Fleetwood's heart on the last hole. And now Victor Hovland winning his eighth career PGA Tour title in a playoff over Scotty Scheffler — both players hitting unbelievable approach shots on the first playoff hole, Hovland making birdie, Scotty's putt slipping out. In a week that also featured Norwegian World Cup fans creating a miniature Ryder Cup atmosphere in the stands that nobody saw coming. Scotty Scheffler shot a 60 in one round this week and did not win. That is the Travelers Championship. That is what this tournament does. The Leaderboard Argument The criticism of the Travelers tends to center on the golf course itself — the layout, the scoring, the birdie-fest nature of TPC River Highlands. Trey's counterargument is simple and direct. Look at the leaderboard from Sunday. Victor Hovland. Scotty Scheffler. Colin Morikawa. Matt Fitzpatrick. Wyndham Clark. Akshay Bhatia. Corey Conners. Alex Fitzpatrick. JJ Spaun. Robert MacIntyre. Ben Griffin. Name a tournament on the PGA Tour where you would not immediately sign up for that leaderboard. The score to par does not change who is on it. The architectural concerns do not change what those names mean to a golf fan watching on Sunday afternoon. For comparison — the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am regularly produces similar scoring ranges. Nobody is calling Pebble Beach trash. The criticism of the Travelers is about the course layout specifically, and that is a legitimate architectural opinion. What it is not is a reason to call the tournament bad. What the Travelers Actually Is Trey talked to players on-site this week — Lucas Glover, Chris Gotterup, Colin Morikawa, Xander Schauffele among others. Every single one of them said the same thing. The Travelers understands what it is. And more importantly it understands what it is not. It is not the US Open. It is not the Players Championship. It is not Arnie's event or Jack's event. It is the week after the US Open — a deliberate breather on the schedule where players can reset, families can come out, and the golf can be genuinely fun without being punishing. The Celtics do not play the Knicks every week in the NBA. The Chiefs and Bills do not meet every single Sunday in the NFL. Sometimes you get a breather. The question is whether you embrace it or fight against it. The Travelers embraced it. That is why it works. Chris Gotterup put it best — we are spoiled every week, but the Travelers goes one step further. Courtesy cars for caddies. Food on the range. The dining room stays open late so players and their families can eat after a long day. Small things that compound into a week that feels genuinely welcoming. That is what the Travelers does. That is why players keep coming back. The Scotty Scheffler Question Scotty forced a playoff with a par putt on 18 that had every Golf Live viewer convinced the drought was finally over. 13 straight events without a win. Two under his belt for the season heading into the Open Championship. And then Hovland made his birdie on the first playoff hole and Scotty's almost identical putt just slipped out. Justin's read on where Scotty actually is — do not panic. His putting numbers at the Travelers were exceptional and continue to improve, now 12th on the PGA Tour in strokes gained putting. His iron play ranked sixth in the field last week in strokes gained approach and third in greens in regulation. He leads the PGA Tour in strokes gained total and scoring average. He is gaining strokes in every facet of the game. The putts are not falling in the moments that count. They are going to start. Justin would not be surprised to see Scotty win both the Scottish Open and the Open Championship heading into the playoffs. The gap between him and Rory at number two in the world rankings is roughly the same as the gap between Rory and Bud Cauley at number three. He is not going anywhere. The drought is a math problem that is about to solve itself. The Alex Fitzpatrick ATM Update Since winning the Zurich Classic with his brother Matt in April outside New Orleans, Alex Fitzpatrick has been on one of the most remarkable money-making runs in recent PGA Tour history. T9 at the Cadillac for $500,000. Fourth at the Travelers for $960,000. T6 at the Memorial for $730,000. Top 25 at the US Open for another significant check. $623,000 at the Travelers this week. He is now inside the top 60 in the world and top 17 in the FedEx Cup standings. Justin notes he is drifting toward automatic qualifying at the majors. Trey's take — if he keeps this up, there is no way he is not on the Ryder Cup team at Adare Manor in 2027. The conversation that seemed premature two months ago is now entirely appropriate. Justin gives the overall rookie of the year edge narrowly to Chris Ratan given his PGA Tour win, but calls it a genuinely interesting race heading into the back half of the season. The Bottom Line The Travelers Championship is not a perfect golf course. Nobody is arguing that. But perfect golf courses do not guarantee great tournaments. Great tournaments are built on great fields, great finishes, and a genuine identity that players and fans both buy into. The Travelers has all three. And this week delivered another chapter in a fifteen-year run of memorable Sundays at TPC River Highlands. Trash? The leaderboard says otherwise. 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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223 episodes

episode Ryan Fox Just Made the Biggest 36-Hole Comeback in Major History artwork

Ryan Fox Just Made the Biggest 36-Hole Comeback in Major History

Ryan Fox Just Made the Biggest 36-Hole Comeback in Major History Head to cozyearth.com and use code WINGO for an exclusive 20% off. Ryan Fox is the Champion Golfer of the Year, and his Open Championship win was even crazier than it looked. Trey Wingo and Justin Ray break down how Fox went from T-52 after 36 holes to winning The Open Championship at Royal Birkdale, completing the biggest 36-hole comeback by position in men’s major championship history. Ryan Fox Makes History Fox completely changed the tournament with a Saturday 62, then finished the job on Sunday with a birdie on the 72nd hole. Justin explains why that comeback was not just rare, but record-setting. The previous biggest 36-hole comeback by position in a men’s major came from 39th place. Fox came from outside the top 50. A Throwback Champion Trey and Justin also explain why Fox became such a popular winner. His swing is not picture-perfect. His game is not overly mechanical. His pace of play is fast, simple, and refreshing. He sees the shot, hits the shot, and moves on. At a time when golf can feel overanalyzed, Fox won The Open by playing golf his own way. The New Zealand Legacy Fox also joins one of the most exclusive lists in New Zealand golf history. Trey and Justin discuss his sporting background, his family’s athletic roots, and why this win puts him alongside New Zealand’s major champions. Why Birkdale Delivered Royal Birkdale produced four rounds of 62 in Open Championship history, including three this week alone. But the winning score was still only 10-under, which made the week feel different from a normal birdie-fest. Justin explains why the course allowed historic low rounds while still producing a dramatic and difficult championship finish. Ryan Fox rewrote the record book, won his first major, and gave golf one of the best stories of the year. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Yesterday20 min
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21. juli 20261 h 11 min
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19. juli 202625 min
episode Bryson DeChambeau Still Has a Chance. But He Has to Get Out of His Own Way. artwork

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18. juli 202625 min
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Bryson DeChambeau’s Two-Stroke Penalty Changed The Open Championship Head to cozyearth.com and use code WINGO for an exclusive 20% off. Subscribe to support the channel: https://www.youtube.com/@treywingopresents?sub_confirmation=1 Bryson DeChambeau thought he had shot a 66 in the second round of The Open Championship at Royal Birkdale. Instead, everything changed after he walked into the scoring area. The R&A rules officials reviewed Bryson’s actions on the fifth hole, where his drive ended up in deep fescue. The question was whether Bryson had improved his lie by walking around the ball and pressing down the grass behind it before hitting his shot. After a long and animated discussion, officials assessed a two-stroke penalty. That moved Bryson from seven-under to five-under. Instead of sitting one shot off the lead and playing in the final group on Saturday, he dropped farther down the leaderboard. Trey Wingo breaks down why the penalty matters, why the R&A was never going to bend on protecting the integrity of the rules, and why Bryson had to be careful not to let his frustration ruin the entire tournament. Because according to Trey, if Bryson had disqualified himself over the penalty, it would have been one of the worst decisions in professional golf history. Even after the penalty, Bryson is still right in the mix. The leaderboard entering the weekend is wide open. Lucas Herbert leads at eight-under after shooting 62. Jackson Suber, Cameron Young and Ryan Gerard are at six-under. Sam Burns and Bryson are at five-under. Behind them are names like Scottie Scheffler, John Rahm, Tommy Fleetwood, Robert MacIntyre and Francesco Molinari. And that is what makes this so interesting. Many of the players ahead of Bryson have never won a major. Bryson has won two U.S. Opens. He knows what it takes to close on the weekend. The biggest question now is whether he can calm down, reset mentally, and turn this controversy into fuel. Trey also explains why the penalty changed the Saturday pairings. Without it, Bryson would have played in the final group with Lucas Herbert. Instead, Herbert now gets Jackson Suber. That is a very different dynamic. The Open now has everything heading into the weekend: controversy, record-setting rounds, young players at the top, proven major champions lurking, and Bryson DeChambeau trying to turn his entire year around. The penalty hurt him. But it did not end his championship. More Straight Facts Homie! Episodes: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLihC6TAafKWcDbvIlAMc87HibcOlDYf8c&si=sPioGmRdOG8yZOVk Find us on all platforms here: https://linktr.ee/thewingonetwork Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

17. juli 202620 min