“Playing in Pants”

Summary

The Tony Kornheiser Show – “Playing in Pants”

Episode Date: June 22, 2026

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Overview

This episode of "The Tony Kornheiser Show" centers on a deep dive into the 2026 U.S. Open golf tournament, the perception and performance of Wyndham Clark, shifting fan dynamics in golf, the intersection of sports and pop culture, and notable sports news, including the World Cup and Serena Williams. Tony’s signature wit, banter with Michael Wilbon and Steve Sands, and a rich mix of sports analysis and life anecdotes keep the tone conversational, insightful, and self-deprecating.

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Episode Structure & Sections

1. Opening Banter and Listener Correspondence (00:54–04:55)

• Shoutouts and Listener Gifts: Tony thanks listeners for gifts, discusses receiving Panamanian rum, and muses about never being a “rum person.”
• Travel Stories: Tony shares a weekend trip recap (Delaware and his dog’s peculiar car habits), rounds of golf, and age-related challenges.
  • Quote: “At my age now, that's—even though it's a three hour drive—you know, I have to take a nap afterwards. I'm tired.” (03:21)

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2. U.S. Open Recap & Wyndham Clark Analysis (04:55–18:14, 20:24–32:27)

Key Discussion Points:

• Wyndham Clark’s Wire-to-Wire Win

  • Tony & Sean analyze how Clark effectively won the tournament on Thursday with a 64, took a lead and never lost it.
  • Tony: “You can't win, you can only lose a tournament on the first day. ... But in fact, Wyndham Clark won the tournament on Thursday.” (05:42)

• The Course: Shinnecock’s Challenge

  • Only three players finished under par. Conversation about the tournament’s difficulty and USGA’s approach to set-up.
  • Sean: “They sent out a notice we're going to speed the greens up by about a foot... put these pins on some of those slopes...” (08:06)

• The Crowd: Hostility & Jeering

  • Discussion of fans rooting against Clark—atypical for a U.S. player.
  • Tony speculates this is tied to Clark’s prior incident at Oakmont (damaging lockers), and differentiates regret from apology: “There is a big difference between regret and sorrow.” (12:00)
  • Reports that the USGA removed particularly unruly fans.

• Wyndham Clark’s Mental Fortitude

  • The panel credits Clark for holding up under pressure from crowd hostility.
  • Acknowledgement of his relationship with sports psychologist Julie Elion for mental preparation.
  • Tony: “To go out there... they were cheering against him to such a degree. I was getting texts about this that people were yelling, 'Get in the bunker.'” (14:13)

• Clark’s Par Saves

  • Sean notes Clark was making 81% of putts in the par-saving range, especially key at a U.S. Open (09:48).

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3. Wilbon’s Perspective (20:24–32:27)

• Wilbon: “Really the most underwhelming US Open I have ever watched.” (20:44)

  • Found the finish unsatisfying and noted the lack of crowd excitement and sparse attendance, comparing the winning reaction to that for a good shot by a friend.
  • Observations on Scottie Scheffler’s near-miss, lack of broader performances.

• Other Sports: World Cup & Serena Williams

  • Wilbon praises young Spanish star Lamine Yamal, compares to Shohei Ohtani and Wembanyama as global icons.
  • U.S. men’s soccer team exceeding expectations.
  • Serena Williams’ potential comeback, challenges of competing at 44 in women’s tennis.
  • Wilbon: “I think women's tennis is the toughest sport of all to be 44 years old... There's people who are 16 and 17 who pop up every year who beat people's brains out.” (26:52)

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4. Wilbon’s Weekend: Obama Presidential Center Opening (27:52–31:41)

• Wilbon recounts attending the opening of the Obama Presidential Center, sharing vivid details about the event’s significance and performances from global entertainment icons.
  • “The music alone made it the greatest concert I’ve ever seen... It wound up with Bruce Springsteen saying, let me just introduce you people to one of my idols, Stevie Wonder.” (30:10)

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5. Steve Sands Interview: Behind the Scenes at Shinnecock (34:23–51:56)

Highlights:

• First-Hand Crowd Observations

  • Confirming the “vicious” crowd response toward Clark, with details about the USGA ejecting fans.
    • Steve Sands: “There were some seriously harsh things yelled at Wyndham Clark yesterday. He's an American... It was wild, man.” (35:15)
  • Discussion on changes in golf audiences as the sport seeks broader appeal.

• Why the Jeers?

  • Consensus: Part Oakmont aftermath, part Clark being less popular than Scheffler.
  • Sands: “I was shocked that there was so much vitriol towards Windham. I didn't realize that Oakmont... was that prevalent.” (37:29)

• Mental Strength and Pressure

  • Sands lauds Clark and psychologist Julie Elion for preparing him to weather the mental strain.
  • Comparison to Tiger Woods’ experience with heckling and fan pressure.

• Tournament Narrative

  • Why no one overtook Clark—no one shot a low enough round, and Clark maintained at least a share of the lead all four days.
  • Steve Sands: “He went wire to wire, Tony. You know how hard it is to win a regular PGA Tour event, let alone sleeping on the lead every night.” (42:22)
  • Key: the enormous importance of clutch lag putting—Clark’s 18th green approach praised as “one of the most remarkable things that PGA Tour players do.” (44:29)

• USGA’s Role & Course Setup

  • Affirmation that Shinnecock’s setup was fair and kept the tournament competitive without being unfair.
  • Noting that previous course changes (widening fairways, rough adjustment) kept challenge intact.
  • Sands: “Kudos to the USGA last week... they softened the course enough so that it was playable in those crazy winds.” (45:53)

• Absent “LIV” Stars

  • Noted that prominent LIV golf defectors failed to make the cut.

• Anecdote: “Playing in Pants”

  • Fan heckles Dustin Johnson post-round with “I guess Dustin Johnson can't handle playing in pants,”—a dig at LIV Golf’s permissive shorts policy. (49:47)

• Upcoming Events

  • Sands reveals next assignment: U.S. Senior Open at Scioto, with speculation about Tiger Woods’ possible entry.

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6. Listener Interludes and Show Traditions (Through End)

• Songs, Listener Mail & Personal Memories
  • Dan Bern tribute song to Cubs’ Pete Crow-Armstrong.
  • Email: Reflections on father-son golf, family stories, and generational connections.
  • Tony’s riffs on geography, state capitals, “Sturm und Drang,” and podcast in-jokes.

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Notable Quotes & Moments (with Timestamps)

• Tony on crowd behavior:
  “It was odd to me that they really didn't like Windham Clark... This is on Long Island, an American winning the United States National Championship. So that was surprising to me.” (11:54)

• Wilbon on crowd energy:
  “It was not satisfying for me... there was a decided lack of excitement whenever I watched from the venue.” (20:44)

• Steve Sands on fan vitriol:
  “It was vicious, man. There were some seriously harsh things yelled at Wyndham Clark yesterday.” (35:15)

• Steve Sands on mental strength:
  “To get through that yesterday and not have that make you go sideways... that was pretty strong effort.” (38:39)

• Wilbon on generational greatness:
  “I just think women's tennis is the toughest sport of all to be 44 years old, because there are people who are 16 and 17 who pop up every year who beat people's brains out…” (26:52)

• Wilbon recounting the Presidential Center opening:
  “The music alone made it the greatest concert I've ever seen... Springsteen and Stevie Wonder... it was just—greatest concert of my life.” (30:10)

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Important Segments & Timestamps

• [04:55] – Detailed start of U.S. Open analysis
• [11:54] – Crowd reactions, Clark/Oakmont backstory
• [14:28] – Mental coaching, sports psychology mentions
• [18:14] – Transition to Wilbon
• [20:44] – Wilbon critiques tournament atmosphere
• [27:52] – Wilbon’s Obama Center narrative
• [34:23] – Steve Sands describes the fan environment in detail
• [39:18] – Discussion of player impact, Woods anecdote
• [42:17] – “He won the tournament on Thursday”
• [45:53] – Course set-up, USGA decisions
• [49:47] – “Playing in pants” anecdote
• [50:41] – Preview of U.S. Senior Open and possible Tiger Woods milestone

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Overall Tone/Style

• Conversational, anecdotal, and rich with inside-baseball details.
• Traditional Kornheiser humor (“unburdened by memory”), cultural asides, personal stories, and warm nostalgia.

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Summary Takeaways

• Wyndham Clark’s win was both historic and controversial, marked by a dominant early lead and an unusually hostile U.S. crowd—rooted in both the Oakmont locker incident and his status versus more popular rivals.
• Shinnecock’s course set-up was praised for fairness, even as it remained brutally challenging.
• Crowd decorum at golf is changing as the sport’s audience diversifies.
• Generational moments and star power in global sports are recurring themes (Lamine Yamal, Serena Williams, Shohei Ohtani).
• Wilbon’s non-sports weekend—attending the Obama Presidential Center opening—represented a career and personal highlight, fusing sports, politics, and culture.
• Show’s closing traditions packed with inside jokes, listener stories, and reflections on the importance of family and memory in sports and in life.

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This episode is a quintessential slice of the show: an intersection of sports, personality, memory, and the oddities of life (and golf) as seen through Tony Kornheiser’s eyes.

Transcript

[Tony Kornheiser]

Hey, it's Tony. On today's show, we will talk to Michael Wilbon about the U.S. open and the World Cup. We'll also check in with Steve Sands to get his thoughts on Wyndham Clark winning a second U.S. open amid jeering. But first, commerce. Previously on the Tony Kornheiser show in Toronto.

[Steve Sands]

Biggest city in Canada, biggest province in Canada. And what does FIFA do to help out the RBC Canadian Open and the good people at Golf Canada who run that event? What? Let's put Canada in Toronto in Game 1 of the World cup at 3pm on Friday. Head to head against the golf tournament. Oh, man. The people up there were not happy about the schedule in there from FIFA.

[Michael Wilbon]

But whatever.

[Steve Sands]

The World cup blows. Who cares?

[Announcer]

The Tony Kornheiser show is on now.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Sands will be on with us later. Sands always sends notes, like sports is great. I love sports. Apparently not soccer. No, not soccer. Let's do some business. Our dear friend Greg Garcia is appearing where and when? This weekend at the Arlington Cinema and Drafthouse this Friday and Saturday for four shows. He's opening up for Nick Thune. Okay, so his stand up. His burgeoning stand up career continues. Wonderful. Go see him. Go see him. Arlington Cinema and Drafthouse this. Go see him Saturday. We want to thank Barry Snyder. Barry Snyder, who writes. As I know, Dr. Tony receives gifts from littles and Bigs. I'd like to send some award winning Panamanian rum to Dr. Tony as a thank you for the countless hours of entertainment and for making me laugh when I need it most. Where can I send the rum? So the rum was sent to Nigel. That's right. With two bottles of rum and a hat. The hat was a cool hat. It is a cool hat. It's a nice Panama. It's a summer hat. It's not. It is a Panama hat. It's not a straw Panama hat, which I'm used to. No, it's a heavier material than that. It's very nice. And I have to confess, I am of course unburdened by memory. But I don't ever remember drinking rum in my life. I just don't. So I asked Nigel what is the number one characteristic of rum? And you said it was sweet.

[Announcer]

Yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So sugary. Sugary. And then you said that people have it with Coca Cola rum and Coke. Which I've heard of.

[Steve Sands]

Right.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Why would you add to the sweetness by dipping it in with other sweet stuff? I'm not a rum person. I'm not. I don't.

[Sean]

You never had a storm with all that time you spend on boats.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Nothing. No rum. We don't keep rum. As a captain, we thought for sure, you know, but maybe I've had it. But I don't recall it ever. Daiquiri or anything like that. I've seen daiquiris. I'm not sure I've ever had a daiquiri. I'm not sure, you know, it just. If I've had him. It was a long time ago. Michael, have you. Are you a rum person? I'm not a rum person.

[Sean]

To me, rum is something that it's very time and place. So like if you're. If you're at a setting where dark and stormy is appropriate all the. All the way.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Okay. So I'm not a rum guy. Did you open it? Did you open your bottle? I mean, we're very grateful for the bottle. I didn't, I did not sample it over the weekend, so you don't have to. But no, but, but I. On occasion I like rum, so I'm sure this is very good. So I was. Yeah, it's award winning.

[Steve Sands]

Yeah, sure.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So I went to Delaware on Friday, came back yesterday at my age now that's. Even though it's a three hour drive. It's, you know, I have to take a nap afterwards. I'm tired. A three hour tour. A three hour tour. Yeah. Because I'm not. Just because I'm old. I concentrate. You know, you're driving. You have the responsibility of making sure that everybody. Everybody in the car is okay, including Jessie. So. And Jesse is an. Is. I don't know this. I don't know what other dogs do. Jesse does not lay down during a car ride. She sits up, she's awake so that when she gets home she can nap for a while. But she's, you know, it's like she's driving too. She's very involved in that. I played golf a couple of times.

[Sean]

The. Do you find the drives through the small towns in Delaware just give your eyes a little bit of a break where you're.

[Steve Sands]

I like.

[Sean]

But it's not the same demands as being on 50 or being on the Beltway.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yes. Little. The little towns. The little towns where you're going 25 miles an hour. Yeah. Because they're speed traps. Yes. Don't go 20. Happy. Greenwood is one of them. Greenwood and Ellendale. Happy. Happy to be in them. Happy to be in them.

[Sean]

How's the.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Does the leg bother you on these drivers? No, it hasn't. I thought about that yesterday. That neither time has my hamstring Bothered me. So that was good. That was good. But I played golf twice, lost money. Once on a team we lost. We came in second or third. There were only three teams, so we had to come in second or third. We didn't win 15 bucks a man. It wasn't the worst thing in the world. I probably shot about 91, 93 somewhere in there both days. I mean, I.

[Sean]

Did you pick up some trash?

[Tony Kornheiser]

No, didn't pick up any trash because I didn't make any putts. I didn't make any putts with your bunker play? No. Well, I, you know, I luckily wasn't in the bunkers all that often when I was in. I just took a club to get out and didn't try to hit a sand shot, just tried to lift it out, you know what I mean? As if it were a pitching wedge from 50 yards out. I tried to do that and it was all right. The only thing I couldn't do, because I've got a shoulder problem now. I've got a rotator cuff problem. And I was in a lot of pain and I couldn't hit three wood at all. Topped it. Just kept it in the bag the second day. Topped it three times the first day. Put it in the bag, never took it out the second day. So, you know, maybe you can help me with that.

[Steve Sands]

No good.

[Tony Kornheiser]

It was no good, but it was fine. Fine to play, fine to come home. And then what I did is I watched the US Open yesterday, of course, the longest day. So we should all be sad because it gets worse from here. But I'm not going to go through that again. I'd go through that every year, but, you know, I watched a lot of the US Open yesterday. Got home certainly in time to do it. Left very early in the morning, got home and just watched. And I will say there's a couple of things. We'll talk to people about this. I say all the time that you can't win. You can only lose a tournament on the first day. You can't win a tournament on the first day. But in fact, Wyndham Clark won the tournament on Thursday. He continued to win it at various points. He went wire to wire. He shot 64, which I think might have been the lowest. Michael was at the lowest score in four days by anyone. 64, I think so. Yeah. And he shot it on Thursday. He's minus six going into Friday.

[Sean]

And a nice cushion.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah. He never loses the lead. He was never tied yesterday as badly as he played, and he said he played badly. He never Even was tied because Sam Burns, who I think is the best statistical putter on the tour, didn't make the putts. Now, they weren't like four foot putts. They were long.

[Steve Sands]

No.

[Sean]

Once he got to 17 and 18, those were very makeable birdies. The one on 17 in particular.

[Tony Kornheiser]

And he missed them both. He missed them both. So. So Wyndham Clark never felt the sting of being tied. Never could say to himself, well, I've blown the lead. He continued to lead all the way. Scottie Scheffler looked him in the eye and didn't beat him. Didn't beat him at all. You know, I mean, that's gonna make Wilbon happy because Wilbon just can't stand Scottie Scheffler because someone compares him to Tiger. So anybody who's compared to Tiger Wilburn hates. So it. Except Jack. It's okay. Jack's okay. But, you know, Scheffler had the opportunity head to head. Didn't do anything special. At the end of the tournament, there's only three people under par. After 72 holes, there's only three people under Par.

[Sean]

Finally got Shinnecock.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yes. I mean, let Shinnecock be Shinnecock. And without. With wide fairways, even with wide fairways for people to land. Well, nobody can say, right, Michael? Nobody can say anything other than it was a wonderful tournament. Yes, a wonderful tournament.

[Sean]

The USGA was outspoken that they wanted to finally get this one right at Shinnecock. And I think they probably erred too much on the caution side when you got to the fears of what the wind would have done on Thursday. So they probably made it a little bit too soft. But going into the weekend, they sent out a notice. We're going to speed the greens up by about a foot, a foot and a half. We're going to put these pins on some of those slopes where it's a little bit harder to hold the general area. You saw that on the final day. Shots look pretty good. They skirt by. You saw that all week at number seven. It's amazing to see those par threes play as difficult as they are when they don't look like much if you just look at the scorecard. But you think about Wyndham Clark SC staring down Scotty Scheffler after the round on Saturday. He spoke and said, I'm pretty happy to have this cushion of lead over that one guy. Scheffler would have been where he felt the pressure the most. He didn't really apply any. And Sam Burns just sort of ran out of gas to try and get to him at the end. I think this is a rehab tour for Wyndham Clark, who after yesterday's round openly spoke about hearing the. Hearing the people jeering him and actually underst. I understand why. And being very gracious about what Scheffler was trying to win in terms of finally closing out the career Grand Slam and understanding that, you know what? I, I sort of have to own a little bit of why you people are jeering me as well. And he compared it to what happened in 2023, which actually motivated when you had everyone rooting for Rory down the final stretch. So I think he gained a lot of fans. But I think you're right. It was a tournament that he sort of, he, he really wanted on day one.

[Tony Kornheiser]

He won it there. He gave himself a big lead there. He never relinquished the lead he made on Saturday and Sunday with not playing particularly well. He made some great par saving putts from 4 to 8ft.

[Sean]

Did you hear? Sad. I think he was making about 81% going into the final round. And those are the ones they always talk about, the par saves at US Opens.

[Tony Kornheiser]

He, those putts, he did those and he threw in a 35 foot birdie putt on 16. You know, this was there for the.

[Sean]

After being out of position off the tee and played the correct shot with that third.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, yeah. I mean, which bounced up onto the green. He, he did everything he was supposed to do. It did not look particularly pretty. And it was there for somebody else. It was there for Scheffler, it was there for Burns. You know, then, then other people just totally receded on Saturday and Sunday. You know, Matty Fitz, Wilbond's guy, gagged it up Saturday early. You know, like three bogeys in the first four or five holes. Rory McElroy on Friday and Saturday in the afternoon went backwards. And on Sunday, he's lost. Like he's, you know, plus six or plus seven.

[Sean]

He's no great super cut of. You know, you have, you have Spieth, who sort of is mock, you know, breaking his putter over his knee because he can't make anything right. The gala, losing the club in the fescue just because it's so difficult. Some weird stuff happened. You look at Keith Mitchell, who went out on the first nine, 70, 70,

[Tony Kornheiser]

70 all par rounds. He, he did something that's never before been done. It's a minor thing. It's like when Will Bunn goes 5, 5, 5, 5 and 5. He went all four rounds. He hit the same number 70. It's never been done.

[Michael Wilbon]

Par.

[Tony Kornheiser]

You know, we had a great tournament for him because he was not a threat to win. Nobody ever picked him to win or anything like that. So, I mean, I found it interesting to watch. Satisfying. Yes. And we'll talk to Sands about this.

[Sean]

If you were watching all weekend, what do you think of the crowds?

[Tony Kornheiser]

I thought the crowds. Look, I don't hear what they're saying because I'm watching it on television from hundreds of miles away, and I'm not. I can't hear anymore. I thought the crowds were very, very good. It was beautiful there. It was simply beautiful.

[Sean]

Emptied out the last couple hours, I guess.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I mean, maybe they don't, like.

[Sean]

Hard to get to.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah. Yeah. You want to get out? You want to make sure you're not stuck. Yeah. The end of Long Island. There are trains and buses to Manhattan or whatever was happening. I mean, I just. I felt it was odd to me that they really didn't like Windham Clark. I assume this has to be because of Oakmont, because here's Wyndham. Clark is American. He's an American winning the American National Championship. This is not the Ryder cup on Long island where people booed Royce. No, it's not that. This is on Long island an American winning the United States National Championship. So that was surprising to me. But he's the guy who destroyed the lockers, a few lockers at Oakmont last year at the Open. And I may be wrong about this. I believe he has said, prior to yesterday, he regretted what happened. I don't know that I ever heard him say, I'm sorry for what happened. There is a big difference between regret and sorrow. It's a big difference here. English majors understand this. Yesterday he said he was sorry for, I think, the first time in accepting the award, he said, yeah, you know, you guys don't like me. You know, he acknowledged that. And to go out there, and I will give credit to Julie Ellian, who is his sports psychologist, who is. Oh, they're not together. Yes, but they were on the range together.

[Sean]

Oh, maybe. I mean, this was. I thought there was a year ago where they were no longer working together.

[Tony Kornheiser]

No, I think they were on the range together yesterday. They showed that early in the round when. When Clark was getting ready. And she's got a book out.

[Announcer]

Yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

And I assume. I assume I shouldn't. Maybe. But I assume one of the things she did for Windham Clark was caution him. You may not be popular out here. You're in the same group as Scotty Scheffler, who is very popular out here, they may turn against you. Here is how you deal with that, right? Wouldn't you think that was part of it?

[Michael Wilbon]

I would.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I don't know. I mean, although I did, I did text Rick Elliot and last night and said congratulations to everybody. Because, you know, I, I. There's no reason to believe they're not together. Julie, Ellie. And, And Wyndham Clark.

[Michael Wilbon]

Right?

[Tony Kornheiser]

You were looking in your. Yeah, I'm looking this up. So look it up. So, you know, we can, we can work with that. But that's what I sort of assumed. And he was good. I mean, that they were cheering against him to such a degree. I was getting texts about this that people were yelling, get in the bunker.

[Sean]

Like escorted off the property.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, they were. People were thrown out. This doesn't happen. This doesn't happen. The USGA identified some people who were being particularly hard on Wyndham Clark and threw him out. Wyndham Clark, by the way, Wyndham Clark is not a guy I didn't think like Patrick Reed, who reveled in the fact that nobody likes him. Wyndham Clark. This is his second US Open. Now, if that's all you win is two US Opens, it doesn't mean you're one of the all time greats. Lee Jansen, not one of the all time greats. One two US Opens. But a second US Open is a pretty big deal. And he's won on both coasts. He won in Los Angeles Tracks. Yeah. Los Angeles Country Club in Shinnecock. These are heralded courses. Did you look it up? Yeah. From what I can tell, they are. They are still working together. That's what I thought. Yeah, that's what I thought. Because they showed her on the, on the driving range yesterday morning. So I assume if they were, you know. But things happen. Yes. You know, like Wyndham Clark dumped his caddy and brought on a new caddy. Right. Michael. Within the last year. Big wave, Dave.

[Sean]

Clearly, I need to do more of my homework on Wyndham Clark, but I can root for him again if he's working with Julie.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah. And if he said he was sorry, that, that's, that's important because what he did is really bad. And it's not. You can't just write a check I regret and make it good. It doesn't work that way. He destroyed lockers at Oakmont. Stop it. Stop it. Is that you didn't go into a pitch and putt and bang something down? This is Oakmont. This Is one of the revered tracks in America. This is in the rotation on the US Open. You can't just break a bunch of lockers. I mean, everybody wants to do that occasionally. But you don't, right, Michael? You don't do it. Yeah, do it. So, okay, did you see the thing? Forgive me for not remembering the name of the golfer, but he swapped out his caddy at 18 and. No, no, that was the young kid, the 17 year old with permission from the USGA. There were five amateurs who did great in this tournament. Absolutely great. And he was one of them. 17 year old kid. He's a lefty. Right? He's a lefty. And. And on the 18th fairway, he had already hit his second shot onto the green. His caddy went to the side of the ropes where the kid's father was the kid's father, put on the bib and carried the bag. Just a great honor. Yeah, it was just wonderful. Carried the bag all the way to 18. Although the kid didn't talk to him. It seemed. Right, Michael. It seemed like the kid didn't talk. Gotta try to post the numbers, you know. Yeah. So all things, all things considered, that is, you know, I'm not a big Father's Day person. It's a made up holiday. It's like Mother's Day and Father's Day. Stop. You know, but Grandparents Day, you know, okay. You know, it's not. They're made up, but it's a very warm feeling to see Wyndham Clark's dad being flown in on the red eye from Denver. And to come out, Wyndham Clark didn't know his dad was there. And that was a great. That's a great touch. So it was really, really nice. Anything you want to add, Michael?

[Sean]

No, just the, the golf course looked beautiful. Great job with the visuals. And I think for those who are trying to get into golf course architecture, they did a very good job of showing these series of triangles as to why the holes become so difficult. When you're trying to get a different wind, you're trying to feel comfortable, and every hole is playing into a slightly different breeze. And it's just these little triangles that you see all around the golf course really starts from that clubhouse that, you know, you couldn't. The clubhouse felt like it was the, you know, is sort of the, the final character boss trying to get through a chinnegock.

[Tony Kornheiser]

The. Yeah, the quintessential shabby chic.

[Michael Wilbon]

Right.

[Tony Kornheiser]

It is nothing better than this, you know, that sort of wood shingled, beautiful clubhouse. Not Ornate. Just great out there in the wind. Just, Just great. And I'm deferring to. Deferring to Michael's. Michael's not with us physically. Sean is helping us today, and Michael is not here. But we'll be back on Wednesday, so we'll take a break. Is it Wilbon when we return? Michael Wilbon. When we return. We'll see if he'll blast Scotty Scheffer.

[Michael Wilbon]

I'm Tony Kornheiser.

[Tony Kornheiser]

You're listening to the Tony Kornheiser show.

[Announcer]

Pete Crowe Armstrong hit for the cycle. Wilbon will be happy guessing that Michael Ray's a glass of Chardonnay for PCA. Pete Crowe Armstrong hit for the cycle. In 2016, the Cubs broke the curse. Ten years later, PCA has a cycle in reverse. Homer, triple, double, single, then gets picked up first. But in the end, Cubs win. So it could have been worse. Pete Armstrong hit for the cycle, but the Cubs could use some pitching. Fergie Jenkins, Dallas Kaiko. For young kids in Chicago, PCA is their idol. And now PCA hit for the cycle. Holy cow.

[Tony Kornheiser]

How great was that? Wil Bond. How great was that?

[Michael Wilbon]

Yeah, he's certainly paying much more attention to the Cubs than I am. Yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Dan Byrne. It's the great Dan Byrne. I should read this from Bill Fisher in Elmwood park in Illinois, the woman to whom I'm related by marriage for the last 38 years. And I attended Dan Byrne's show last night at Fitzgerald Historic Music Venue in Berwyn, Illinois, outside of Chicago. After getting a TK salute from Dan for shouting out lecheserie, Dan proceeded to call my wife Lodian. L O D E A N Lodean Lodium up on stage to hold lyrics to Pope Italian Beef. I'm including a photo of that as well as a picture of Dan and I giving the salute. Right back at you. Isn't that nice? That's lovely. What is. Is there a siren? Is that. Yeah. Is that out outside where you are?

[Michael Wilbon]

Is that where you were outside where I'm driving? Yep.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Okay.

[Michael Wilbon]

That's fine. Columbia, near your house?

[Tony Kornheiser]

Okay. How much of. How much of the open did you watch?

[Michael Wilbon]

I got to watch Sunday. Really? Only Sunday, Right? You know, snippets, snippets before that. But it was not a weekend for television for me, so. But I got to watch everything that was important yesterday in really the most underwhelming US Open I have ever watched.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Are you satisfied with the winner?

[Michael Wilbon]

See, that's great, sonny. Did you use that word? You know, it was not satisfying for Me.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Okay.

[Michael Wilbon]

But that doesn't mean anything. He should be. I mean, you win a second US Open if you want them. Clark or a fan of when the. Clark. I mean, that's pretty incredible.

[Steve Sands]

The.

[Michael Wilbon]

The list of people who've won two, and then there's only, I don't know, nine or whatever. One. Wire to wire. I don't care about wire to wire, but. And I guess he was tied, if that counts, for a hole yesterday. But it was. I. I was. It wasn't satisfying for me. Part of it was there was a decided lack of excitement whenever I watched from the venue.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah.

[Michael Wilbon]

And then I've been reading and listening to people who said there was. It was very sparsely attended, just by design. I'm sure it's not like metropolitan New York can't come up with fans to watch golf, but it wasn't, you know, a big attendance. And I'm not looking for the waste management in Scottsdale. I'm not looking for that. But then, I mean, yesterday when Clark won and Matthew said, this has been following golf for five years, he just goes, dad, that sounds like the reaction when you made a good shot, not won the US Open. And I. I could not have said it any better myself. But anyway, I don't want to, like, try to rain on his parade. It just. For me, it was like, all right, that wasn't. That was definitely the least of the three major championships this year.

[Tony Kornheiser]

But I know you were very satisfied that Scottie Scheffler, who was in position, won't be in position to overtake Wyndham Clark, as it turned out. I know you were happy. That's not that he didn't. But like, you did say to me yesterday, I don't want to hear about this. I don't want to hear that he's the greatest player ever, because it was. It was out there for him, and it was right.

[Michael Wilbon]

It was. It was. Listen, it was first of all. But I don't think Scotty Shepard didn't do anything wrong. I mean, the course beat up everybody. How many people finished under par? 2 or 3?

[Tony Kornheiser]

3. Just 3. Just 3.

[Michael Wilbon]

So the coach beat up the course. Shinnecock Hills, which we were. You know, we were told that. And we know that the US Open is supposed to be a torture chamber. It prides itself on that. And Scotty Scheffler, you know, people need to stop with. And again, I told you, the thing I like about Scotty Scheffler the most, other than he's a great player, is that he has Said when people have brought up in press conferences Tiger and Jack and sort of comparisons, Sheffield has said out loud, stop, stop, stop, stop. Don't. I'm not in that conversation. Don't put me in that conversation. And I like that, that he just thinks that's nonsense because we go too far and now we're going to go too far on Wyndham Clark. We go too far on everybody. It's just that it was Scotty Shefford

[Steve Sands]

the last three years.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Did you watch any soccer over the weekend?

[Michael Wilbon]

I mean, I didn't, but yeah, I got to watch. Yeah, I watch a little soccer every day. Including last night with New Zealand. Yeah, yeah, I watched some, I watched some of the World cup every day and you know, I wanted to see Spain, I wanted to see Lamina Mall. I watched him score a goal in a three nothing first half for Spain. And I, I don't know what happened after that because then I was like, okay, I got no sleep on Saturday night with travel on Sunday morning at 4am Let me get a nap. And I did that until the main draw of golf started. But Lamina Mall is to me again, not just to me, to people the world over. Watching 18, still 18 year old Lamina Mall of Spain is like watching, you know, Shohei or like watching Wimby. And these are three international, these are global icons who people are obsessed with watching and look and they don't disappoint you. That's the thing. Now maybe they're not ready to win the whole thing yet. Shohei has and is with. Shohei is also 13 years older than Lamina Mall.

[Tony Kornheiser]

That's right.

[Michael Wilbon]

And I think eight years older than Wemby. And so Shohei has delivered as promised and the other two are in the process of it. But Lamina Mall, man, the goal he scored yesterday was just scream out loud. And so yes, I, I'm watching some of World cup every day.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Is there any team that is decidedly better or worse than you thought going in? I mean this is not a question.

[Michael Wilbon]

United States so far better. Yeah, you know, going in with those two wins, decisive wins, worse.

[Steve Sands]

Brazil

[Michael Wilbon]

and you know, Spain got out of that category yesterday while I don't know the final score by winning big and you know, no, maybe not. I mean England hasn't done anything spectacular yet. But the teams, Tony, the thing is because they're now 40, whatever, 48 teams, 48 and 30, 32 are going to advance. So it's only 16 teams that aren't advancing. And so those are sort of, yeah, you know, there's, there's, there's eight third place teams advancing. Well, we're not at the place to answer.

[Steve Sands]

Yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

If they're at 32 in the next round, is this, does that begin the one and done knockout?

[Michael Wilbon]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Beyond group play at 32.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Okay. So it's a knockout situation. Okay. All right. You want to talk about Serena Williams?

[Michael Wilbon]

Well, I, you know, every day, every day we've been hit with a big finish question in our show. End of the show, you know, rapid response about Serena playing doubles with whomever. And I have said, we know where this is going. This is going one place. I mean, Serena Williams is on television advertising GLP stuff and talking about weight loss and talking about the condition she feels she's in athletically and personally. And we know, we just, to me, all of this forecast where we're going, which is Serena feels great and she's going to come back and play at 44 years old.

[Tony Kornheiser]

That's right.

[Michael Wilbon]

And so this is an enormous story. I have no idea how good she will be, although I just think women's tennis is the toughest sport of all to be 44 years old, because there are people who are 16 and 17 who pop up every year who beat people's brains out for a couple of years and then sort of maybe fade back into the woodwork. And they are not Serena Williams. They do not have her impact on the game the way Serena Williams has, but they can beat you. And so she's going to get the final, you know, wild card spot into Wimbledon. And I can't wait to see it. Like, is she going to crush some girl who's going to say, idolize Serena Williams from the time I was three, or is somebody who has been idolizing her from the age of three going to crush her? And I think that that's a really, really, really fascinating thing to watch in the week ahead.

[Tony Kornheiser]

And all of this is nice to talk about, but why don't you tell people what you did over the weekend?

[Michael Wilbon]

Well, I didn't. You know, sports was not the number one thing on my agenda this weekend because I went to my hometown to celebrate with a lot of other people the opening of the Presidential center, the Obama Presidential Center, Barack and Michelle, which is located on a street that I have driven down 2,000 times in my life. Stony island in Chicago and south side of Chicago, and the opening ceremonies, if you will, plural, of the Obama center were way, way, way, way, way, way more. I mean, we anticipated everybody who was involved went. And by involved I mean, the most famous people, some of the most famous people on the planet were there, particularly in entertainment, you know, when you have everybody who's done late night, you know, it seems since Johnny Carson, people who command enormous audiences and Oprah Winfrey and Tom Hanks and people, again, entertainment and media who are enormous. People who have been sort of fans of not just Obama, but progressive life in America, which I'm a fan of. I am a non noticeable part of it, but that's the life I care about in America. People gathered to support the Obamas opening the presidential center in Chicago. And that opening was the music alone made it the greatest concert I've ever seen. Which early on in the proceedings, early on, not the showstopper, early on included U2, you know, Jennifer Hudson, Chicago's own from the south side, from that neighborhood sang the national anthem and it went on from there through, you know, U2 and through, you know, I'm gonna forget people who wound up, you know, Common and John Legend and people again, Common from the south side. But it wound up with. It wound up with Bruce Springsteen saying, after doing an incredible song saying, let me just introduce you people to one of my idols, Stevie Wonder. And Stevie Wonder then does, you know, I signed Seal delivered.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah.

[Michael Wilbon]

So I was with Bruce Springsteen.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, it's pretty good.

[Michael Wilbon]

And all these people go back to the stage and they do this stuff together with like John Legend is now accompanying them. And it's so. Greatest concert of my life. And the speeches were, you know, I went back and watched Barack's speech, which I loved more. But the second time around, Michelle Obama delivered one of the great pieces of oratory I have ever experienced. And I'm a fan of speeches in public life. And I was amazed and like many people had, you know, tears streaming down my face while sitting there listening to and watching her as she sat as the backdrop behind her, our presidents, you know, her husband Clinton and Bush and

[Tony Kornheiser]

Biden and their spouse.

[Michael Wilbon]

It was just.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, it's great.

[Michael Wilbon]

Yeah. And I was asked to do something which was, you know, I was asked to do something BY President number 44 when he thought about opening this center. And I certainly obliged. And it was a weekend that David Letterman, when I talked to him, called,

[Tony Kornheiser]

yeah, he's your best friend now, right? Letterman's your best friend.

[Michael Wilbon]

Yeah. One of the most uplifting of his life.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah.

[Michael Wilbon]

And there are plenty of places you can see David Letterman and Tom Hanks talk about the weekend to that effect on whatever social media you follow. But so for me, it was One of the great weekends of my life.

[Tony Kornheiser]

That's great. That's great. All right. I will see you later. I'll see you later.

[Michael Wilbon]

All right, Tone. Thank you, Michael.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Michael Wilbon, boys and girls, we will take a break. Steve Sands will join us when we return. He doesn't have to talk about soccer. He can talk about golf.

[Michael Wilbon]

I'm Tony Kornheiser, and we're live from the living room.

[Steve Sands]

As Doug eyes up the machete spread,

[Tony Kornheiser]

he's reaching for the buffalo wing.

[Michael Wilbon]

Perfect. Hang on.

[Tony Kornheiser]

What's this? Oh, he's gone for a can of Pepsi, too.

[Michael Wilbon]

Incredible. What a finish.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Sensational combination. Look at the delight on his face. There's no doubt about it. It just tastes better. Match days deserve Pepsi. Food deserves Pepsi. Grab a pack of Pepsi. Zero sugar. For today's match, it's poetry in motion.

[Announcer]

You're listening to the Tony Kornheiser Show. Tony K. Sails the sea with the weather in hand Salt on his skin like the grains of the sand his boat named Free to cuts through the spray but in the off season he dreams of clay Tony Cade digs in the dirt so deep where the ocean ends and the fields don't sleep from the brine to the soil his heart does wrong A captain at sea, the farmer at home he plants his rose where the sailors carry each potato seed like treasury no stormy waves, no rolling tide Just a quiet patch where his dreams reclaim

[Tony Kornheiser]

let's understand something. This is sent to us by Jesse, the pen box lady from Mikatowski Woodworking. She writes this song masterfully, crafts a narrative around a man defined by two distinct yet equally potent aspirations. One part of him yearns for the deck of a boat, the thrill of leadership and the endless expanse of the ocean. The other finds solace and purpose in the rich soil, dreaming of rows of flourishing potatoes. It's a beautiful, intricate look at the paradox of his passions, where the call of the captain and the quiet ambition of the farmer coexist, creating a compelling portrait of a life between two worlds. That's brilliant in and of itself. This thing is AI. This song is. It's not a person. No, it's AI. Yeah. And it's really good. And it's freakish. It's just completely freakish. We played it before. We're playing it again because we like Jenny so much. It plays in Steve Sands. And I have this note. Steve, from Mark lynch in Cambie in Camby, Indiana. Do me a favor. The next time Steve Sands is on, ask him how he feels about Duke soccer. That's funny. Comment on Duke, Sock.

[Michael Wilbon]

Yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah.

[Michael Wilbon]

Okay. All right.

[Steve Sands]

F. Duke with all things Duke.

[Michael Wilbon]

Yeah.

[Steve Sands]

Mark from Indiana, by the way. Mark, My. My middle son, Mark from Camby, Indiana. My middle son is an IU grad. He got to go to the national championship game and enjoy the Hoosiers with that run winning.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Oh, the football. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Announcer]

But.

[Steve Sands]

But I like. I like Indiana, Mark. I do not like Duke also.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Okay, let me get to this. To start with, I. I wasn't aware of it, and it was finally mentioned on the show, and then it was became a talking point of some importance. People were rooting against Wyndham Clark yesterday. Right? Like. Like you could hear it, you could sense it. Yes.

[Steve Sands]

Tony. You weren't aware of it? Not.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Not as much as I should have been, no.

[Steve Sands]

Wow. It was. It was vicious, man. There were some seriously harsh things yelled at Wyndham Clark yesterday. He's an American. It wasn't like it was a Ryder cup on Long island if that stays black.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah.

[Steve Sands]

Like, it was wild, man. It was. Look, I've said this to you before, Tony, and I don't mind this, and I'm the right guy.

[Michael Wilbon]

Won.

[Steve Sands]

And he handled his business and he did not react too badly to all of the things that were said to him and all the boos and the jeers and the cheers when he hit a bad shot, those kinds of things. But when you allow sports fans into the golf world and you're trying to grow the game, if you will, there's that phrase, grow the game. If you're trying to grow the game to the masses, and the major championships do that more than the regular season PGA Tour events, more of a golf core audience there. But if you're going to have the game be broadened out to football and basketball and hockey and baseball and horse racing and hennis and every other sport, you are going to get fans who are going to get unruly. And we saw a lot of that yesterday. Windham was roughed up yesterday. I don't mean that physically. I just mean verbally.

[Tony Kornheiser]

The USGA removed people at the turn, right?

[Steve Sands]

Yeah. There's something on the back of a ticket. I don't know exactly what it says, but just like any other sporting event, if you cross a certain line, you're out of there. And sometimes players on the PGA Tour have people removed. Most of the time. 99% of the time, they just take it. They don't care. They realize they're athletes again. They realize that the broadening of golf into the mainstream sports world is going to bring in sports fans who don't normally have the same decorum as old school golf people, but they know that and they understand that Wyndham understands that. But the USGA had enough of a few people yesterday. They crossed the line in their estimation and they tossed them out.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Was this about Oakmont? I assume, then the lockers, I assume was about Oakmont.

[Steve Sands]

It was about the locker room, which, you know, we've talked about before, what Wyndham did last year after the U.S. open at Oakmont. And, you know, it was also about Scotty trying to win the career Grand Slam. It was Scotty's birthday. It was, you know, all things Scotty being in that final group, having a chance to complete the career Grand Slam. Scott is just a more popular player amongst fans with Windham compared to Windham. But I was shocked that there was so much vitriol towards Windham. I didn't realize that that Oakmont piece of the puzzle was that prevalent or was that well known, if you will, outside of the golf circles. He's also addressed it a few times professionally, addressed it personally. And man, he. He was, he was really roughed up yesterday. And to handle that, Tony, I mean, you know, mentally, you know, for him, he works a lot with Julie Elliott. He was a sports psychologist, who, by the way, is a D.C. gal.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yes.

[Steve Sands]

And she's great. And man, they've had their work cut out for them. And it worked yesterday because to get through that yesterday and not have that make you go sideways, not just in your mind, but in your game, that was pretty strong effort.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I will say that I saw Scheffler's postgame press conference and he was asked about this and he said, look, I just don't want to go into this. I don't. I'll say this once. This is. There is, you know, there's fans who do what they do and you'd rather it didn't happen. You don't like it. But I don't want to keep talking about this. So I imagine this is out there, that this whole thing affected the other golfers. It must.

[Steve Sands]

Oh, without question. Tiger woods used to tell me all the time, in his heyday, beyond his heyday, when he was in his heyday, he said, these people have never heard anything until they've been me. I've heard it all. And I'm talking about pre trouble and post trouble, the personal stuff, all that kind of stuff, because I've heard it all. He goes, that's just the way fans are. That's the way sports is. Yeah, it has not creeped its way into golf as much, but it certainly has in certain spots. You could go back to Beth Page Black. We chatted about this with Rory, with the fans and Rory, but Wyndham's American. Wyndham is a United States guy. And I just didn't realize, I don't think anybody realized that yesterday was going to go the way it did. I think it was more that he was playing with Scotty, who is beloved, than it was what happened with Oakmont. But having said that, he really heard it yesterday and man, man, he was, he was tough from the collarbones up to get.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I would give him tremendous credit for, for hanging in there. And he did not play well. He said afterwards he didn't play well. He was three over on the day. Did you think at any point that he would actually lose the tournament?

[Steve Sands]

You know, it's funny, I never thought he was going to lose it. We were. I was on the first half of the air before getting out of there on NBC the second half. And when we were on, we were talking. I was with Jim Fury up there and Kurt Byram and Aaron Oberholzer and all of our crew and we were all talking about it on and off the air. And I just thought, you know, six shots, 20 out of 21 times in the history of the sport, Tony, as someone had a six shot leader more at a major championship and gone on to win the only time. The 1990s. Exactly. The 1996 Masters with Greg Norman. Norman shot 76 that day. Felder shot 67. So if, if Scott, not Scotty, but If Windham shot 76 yesterday, all right, 76. Scotty would have had a broken par to win. It's which he did break par. It's hard to break par. You know, there are a lot of guys who started the day six shots back, but let's just go with Scotty. And I never thought he was going to lose it, only because I just didn't think anybody was going to be able to shoot a crazy low number. I'm not talking about 66, 67, talking about 63, 64. And that didn't happen. And Wyndham hung in there, shot 73, which a lot of people shoot 73 at a US Open, especially on a Sunday. And he had enough of a cushion that allowed him. That's why Thursday, these guys tell us all the time, they miss a little one on Thursday, it comes back to haunt them on Sunday. Well, he didn't miss any of Those little ones on Thursday, shot 64.

[Tony Kornheiser]

He had the best round of the tournament. He won the tournament on Thursday. He did.

[Steve Sands]

He went wire to wire. Tony.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah.

[Steve Sands]

You know, hard it is to win a regular PGA Tour, eventually sleeping on the lead every night. He had the lead the entire U.S. open and held onto it and won. I know he only won by one. I know it was tight in the end, but, man, was he money. Coming down the stretch when he had to be 17.

[Tony Kornheiser]

The birdie on 15, 16, rather. Yeah, that. That. That clinched it. Nobody really pressured him. Nobody ever tied him. He never got in a position where he could look at the board and say, oh, I am not the sole leader anymore. I bet that's a big deal.

[Steve Sands]

Oh, I think it's a huge deal. And if you relate that to sports, since we're talking about sports and golf, you know, being as one, we see it all the time in the NFL or college football or the NBA or college basketball. You make these. You get out to this big lead, and the other team makes a run, unless that team actually grabs the lead, not just gets it to within one or two or gets it to within a touchdown or gets it to win one possession. In basketball, if they actually get the lead, that changes the narrative. Well, in this case, Sam Burns made a massive run. Now, if Sam Burns makes that putt at 18, which he barely missed, and he had that great reaction when he missed, and he ties them there, that may have changed the way things went at the end, but nobody got right there. They got close, but they never got right there with him or beyond him. And I think that was a huge boon to win them. Every time he looked up at a leaderboard, and there are leaderboards everywhere.

[Tony Kornheiser]

On every hole, he's in the lead.

[Steve Sands]

Every time he looked. Exactly. Every time he looked at the leaderboard, Tony, he saw Clark on top of it. And that had to allow him to breathe a little easier.

[Tony Kornheiser]

If Burns had made that putt after. After Wyndham Clark Bogey 17, it's an entirely different deal. And he hit another bad tee shot. He had bad shot after bad tee shot, but he made his approach. Putt on 18 was fabulous. Right. Landed within a half a foot, right? Fabulous.

[Steve Sands]

I've said this on the air before. The least sexiest part of the game at the highest level is lag putting. No one ever talks about it. No one ever thinks about it. No one ever mentions it. That putt was so good, Tony. Can you imagine? You would imagine, like the first he had Augusta, his hands and arms had to be trembling there. His mind had to be racing there. He had to buckle down and get that thing within a couple of feet. He got it within a couple of inches, almost.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah.

[Steve Sands]

And if that was a four or five footer different, that's. They're probably still playing. I mean, it was. That was such a great lag putt. And no one ever talks about lag playing. It is one of the most, maybe the most remarkable thing that PGA Tour players do day in, day out. Their putting from a long distance. To cozy it up there and tap it in is something that, you know, all of us who play the game, we dream of doing that.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So much was made of the fact that the previous couple of Opens at Shinnecock were really hard on the players. So they widened the fairways and you know the phrase, let Shinnecock be Shinnecock. And in the end, there's only three guys under par. In the end, after 72 holes, the course wins, right? It wins. And should.

[Michael Wilbon]

It is.

[Steve Sands]

I've never been a boss. I've never hired and fired anybody. I've only worked for people my whole life. But I think the best bosses, the best leaders, are the ones who not only criticize you in a manner in which it's going to improve your standing or your work or your position, but they also praise you when you do something correct. And as much as the USGA gets crap for losing the golf course and goofing it up and doing this or doing that, kudos to the usg. Last week, the forecast called for crazy wind. They dialed it back. They don't want people getting the low numbers. They did not get afraid when someone shot an Opening Day 64 in Wyndham Clark. They did not get afraid the next day when a couple of players shot 65. They softened the course enough so that it was playable in those crazy winds. They knew the forecast was coming. The fairways were widened a little bit, but that what the whiting of the fairways didn't matter. The ball still tumbled in.

[Tony Kornheiser]

It did went into the rough.

[Michael Wilbon]

They.

[Steve Sands]

And they did something brilliant. I thought one of the things they did brilliantly was they widened the fairways, but they didn't have a graduated rough. It went from fairway to primary rough. Not the fescue stuff, but primary rough. The primary rough was almost more difficult than the fescue stuff. And when you widen fairways that way and then you have a little bit of rough before it gets big, now you're widening them even farther. They widen those fairways out to an average of 48 yards from 42 the last time in 2018. But because they started the primary rough right on the edge, it was still incredibly penal. The greens were the key, though, Tony. When you roll greens 11 and a half, 12, 12 and a half at Shinnecock, when the wind is gusting to 43, 48 miles per hour, you can't play golf. They would have had to stop play. The only time they stopped play was because of fog. The FOG Thursday morning, 7:05am to 9:05am Other than that, they didn't have to hold play because they did the right thing and slowed the golf course down. And in the end, like you said, Nobody got the 15, 16 under par. The winning score was four, three guys were under par. And it was a great US Open.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, really was. And I would just point out, and I know that we do this all the time, but you know, the, the main live guys, John Rahm, Bryson, DeChambeau, Cam Smith, they didn't make the cut. They did not make the cut. They all finished plus five or whatever it was and did not make the cut. And kept. Who had been there, you know, and who had won on this course. He didn't make the cut either. Right.

[Steve Sands]

I'll give you one. One funny quote that I heard. So I'm getting out of the booth on Friday. Let's see, NBC and Friday. Yes, NBC on Friday. It's on these different channels. It's crazy. I know you love that stuff. But yeah, it was. We're getting. I was getting out of the booth and I was walking back to the TV compound. Dustin Johnson at one point was four under par and was one back, was in it.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Was in it.

[Steve Sands]

He then, he then had a crazy deal going on at 11. Kept it in the bunker a few times and then sculled one over, made an eight. The Holly just craziness. Went from four under one shot back of the lead on Friday afternoon to four over par and was basically out of it. And as I was walking out of the booth to go to the TV compound, which is about a 15 minute walk, to the right of us is the 18th hole. He's coming up 18. Some guy looks at me, yells la Cheesary. Which is very nice. Yellow. Got a million of those last week. Yells like he's a re. And then looks, I wave, I go, thank you. How you doing? And I stop and say hello. And the guy looks at me, straight face, same guy, yo, but Jesus looks at me and says, I guess Dustin Johnson can't handle playing in pitch pants, which is a.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Which is a dig.

[Steve Sands]

Which is a dig at live players because they play in shorts in that league. It was. It was a very funny one.

[Tony Kornheiser]

It's his birthday today, Dustin Johnson's birthday today, and at least he made the cut, you know? At least he made the cut. So.

[Sean]

Anyway.

[Tony Kornheiser]

All right, thank you so much. And are you going to the British Open?

[Steve Sands]

Of course.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Good. So we'll. We'll talk to you from the British Open.

[Steve Sands]

Oh, are you going to Royal Brickdale?

[Tony Kornheiser]

Are you going to. To Bristol for the tournament this week

[Steve Sands]

that will not be in Hartford?

[Tony Kornheiser]

The Bristol Open for the fifth.

[Steve Sands]

For the fifth major now?

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah,

[Steve Sands]

I will not be in Hartford this week. I'm off this week. Next week is actually pretty cool. Do something I've never done. I'm doing a chance of at the US Senior Open. Go back and see some of the old guys who I haven't seen in a long time. Be fun to see Ernie Elson, guys like that. Mike Weir.

[Tony Kornheiser]

That's in Seoto, right? That's in Ohio.

[Steve Sands]

Scioto. Yeah. Originally, before Tiger got into his mess, and I'm so glad that he's trying to get healthy again and all that type of thing. But before he went over to Switzerland and did that, there was a little bit of chatter and a lot of chatter actually, that he was going to play U.S. senior Open. So I'm going to be in the booth for that. I haven't done that event ever, and I'm looking forward to seeing some of those guys that we used to cover years ago. But it's the biggest event on the PGA Tour Champions, and next week I'll be doing that. Interestingly, one of the reasons Tiger wants to play in that, and he will attempt to play in it next year. If he doesn't go in next week, I can't imagine he's going to play next week. But who knows? No one in the history of the sport, Tony, has ever won the U.S. junior Amateur, U.S. amateur, U.S. open, and U.S. senior Open. Not even Jack. Nobody has ever won all four of those big USGA events in men's golf, and Tiger has a chance to do it, and he wanted to do it so badly at Scioto next week because that's Jack's hometown.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Jack's course.

[Steve Sands]

Ohio.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, Jack's Course.

[Steve Sands]

So that would have been really cool. So I will not be in Hartford. I'll be in Columbus, Ohio, next week.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I won't be in Hartford either. All right, we'll talk to you in a couple of weeks. Thanks Steve.

[Steve Sands]

You got to take care.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Steve Sands Boys and girls. We will come back with email and jingle. I'm Tony Cornhol.

[Announcer]

This is the Tony Kornizer Show.

[Steve Sands]

Tony Kornizer Show.

[Announcer]

Here comes Tony's mailbag. Gonna read some faxes and your notes. Here comes Tony's mail back. Gonna read some for you folks. Gonna read some for all of your awful hoops.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Tom Mosser being accompanied by Dan Byrne. Love that. One of the things that make us laugh all the time. You want to do the Bethesda Bagel ad?

[Michael Wilbon]

Yes.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Bagel Sandwich day. Michael, you missed it. Yeah, sorry. Sean, you missed it. Yeah, sorry guys. But we love them and you will as well. Just go to Bethesda Bagels.com for the location in the DC area nearest you. Then pop on in and you will be thrilled. And before we get to the mailbag, let me just say imagine me and you I do I think about you day and night. It's only right to think about the girl you love and hold her tight. So happy together. We play that because Howard Kalin, one of the two lead singers in the Turtles. This is 79th birthday today. Thanks to our guests today, Michael Wilbon and Steve Sands. Thanks as well to today's sponsors. Remember, you can listen to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Odyssey. Get the show through Apple Podcasts. Please leave us a review.

[Sean]

Glad you Father's Day.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Hmm. Who did?

[Sean]

Glad you. Glad you had a good Father's Day. I know, I know you're big believer in the holiday.

[Tony Kornheiser]

No, not much for me. But I'm glad you had a good Father's Day. Yeah. From our friend Sam angel in Silver Spring, Maryland. Happy Father's Day. Grandpa, how did Carol shoot? Could she find her way out of the traps? That's funny. That's funny. Frank Kelly in Scituate, Massachusetts. Dear Potato Farmer, I've been fortunate to have several emails read over the years. Calling Bob Rose Ryan on the floor at the LA Forum during a Celtics Lakers game to settle a bet. The time I celebrated getting his PhD from Harvard by umpiring my farm league third grade baseball game where the old man squeezed the pitcher me when I threw the ball over the backstop and he called it a ball. But you and Michael and Bootsy playing in the Father Son tournament brought back another memory of me and the old man on the golf course. Because it sounds like the time you two stop talking on the third hole. It was the early 80s. We were playing the Governor Tobin Memorial Member guest at Hatherly Country Club in North Scituate, Massachusetts. The old man's cap was, I think 17 and due to a sandbagging incident a couple years earlier, playing unattached, I was assigned a 10 handicap. Forty years later, the best index has been 13. The old man, like you do, Tony, had a crew of several guys who tossed the balls up on Saturday and Sunday morning and play together. We had won our first match on Friday and on Saturday we were playing two gentlemen brothers who we were meeting for the first time. The member was a 20 who mostly played with his son and daughter after work. The brother was the guest, was a 24 from a club that was known to be an easier layout than Hatherley. We started on 10 and they were kicking the snot out of us. I think we were five down on our ninth hole as the 24 was two over on his own ball. I'd been hitting first but told dad, let's change the batting order. 18 is a 189 yard par three with a back to front sloping green field of rough on the right side. Giant rocks in the clubhouse on the left. The old man puts his Titleist on the tee, hits his three iron and the ball is tracking the stick. Great shot, Dad, I say as he spins around and says, it's on the damn roof. And sure enough, the ball hits the Giant rocks on the left and bounces onto the clubhouse roof. He looks at me with smoke coming out of his ears. Great shot, huh? I don't say anything, put my Titleist on the tee and knock my forearm two feet below the stick. They make me putt it out. We walk to one now, down by four. I birdied one to get us down to three, but there the historic comeback ends as I put two objects into McCarthy's front lawn on two and we ended up losing four and three. The old man has been gone for 31 years. On July 3, what I wouldn't do just to have 18 more holes with him. This is lovely.

[Sean]

Isn't that great?

[Tony Kornheiser]

Treasure the time out there, even if the boys are just riding in the cart with you. It's a gift. And as a matter of fact, one of the days out in Rehoboth, I played with a father, a son and a grandson. And the son, the grandson, was five and hit four putts on the back of at least 10ft. The kid is a whiz. The kid was a wizard. Lovely, just lovely. From Kyle Morricone, Honolulu, Hawaii. Building on the Nigel's suggestion for the Capital Weather website, Littles could subscribe to A Cornheiser to which includes access to a daily weather check of the 2015AMichael, is it raining? Button Reginald picking between snow shovels and golf clubs for a winter weather preview and live webcam views of the growing potato crop. Also, it may be a little past the warranty date, but just had to comment on Mr. Tony's comment. As people say, the storm and drong. Exactly what people are you referring to? Goethe? Schiller, Another poet or writer circa 1800. There's probably the first sports podcast to use that phrase since the last time this podcast used that phrase. Love the show. Please tell David Taba or Taba in Honolulu to eat it. Jeff Barger in Hillsboro, North Carolina. Last week my family traveled to West Virginia and Pennsylvania. In Pittsburgh, we made a stop based on your recommendation. Jenny's ice cream was fabulous.

[Announcer]

Yes.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Below on the right is my combination of darkest chocolate and salted peanut butter. It was terrific. Very reasonably priced. Best waffle cone I've ever had. Thank you, Jenny. Oh, it just looks lovely. I look great. Looks just great. From Peter. Peter Mayer, who writes I'm a friend of Claudia and Paul, now retired from doj. We sat together at Guy Mason Field once watching Michael Golf. I'm 75. I'm 5 foot 5. I play once in a while. Yes. His remark about Roy is 190. Pitching wedge. I might drive at 175. I hit it on the screws. Just asking what a good drive not career is for you these days. 165, 170. I'm thrilled. Answer can be as short as three digits. It's from Peter who said that. Michael, do you remember playing at Guy Mason? You were like all the time 12, right.

[Sean]

To play under the lights.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So this is a long time ago. Yeah.

[Steve Sands]

Yes.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I don't remember.

[Sean]

I then took my kids to that playground behind the Mason.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, it's lovely. Lovely. Matthew McElroy Dear Tony, on the June 3 episode, you received an email from the mayor of Frankfort, Kentucky. Well, I'm familiar with that capital. As a high school history teacher, I dedicate a fair amount of time to geography. Plus, my dad was a geography buff, so I became one as well. Similar to you counting things when I can't go to sleep, I lift state capitals sometimes north to south, east to west. Alphabetical. You get the idea. Anyway, one of the most embarrassing moments of my Life came in November 2021 on a little show you may have heard of called Jeopardy. I was doing fairly well when they asked a question about the only Southern capital that was captured by the Union forces. I immediately buzzed in and confidently said, lexington. That's Kentucky, if memory serves. Correct. I lost $600 on that guess. I went on to finish second. When I returned to Wildwood, New Jersey, everyone in the barbershop immediately gave me hell. You see, my barber has a long standing bet that when someone. He asks someone what the capital of Kentucky is, they will say Lexington or Louisville. And I told my barber why I was getting my hair cut in late November that year, he would have come quiz me on the capital of Kentucky, and who knows how the game would have turned out. Because it's Frankfurt. It's not Lexington. No, you got it wrong. Now, every time I review the capital of Kentucky with my high school students, I tell them it's worth $600. That's lovely. And, yeah, there's a picture of him on Jeopardy. That's wonderful. Justin Winkleman, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. While you were unburdened by memory, Uncle Al Michaels is clearly not. The stories he has are amazing. The Littles want more. Yeah, you know, I. I wrote Uncle Big Al yesterday, and he said he could be on any time.

[Steve Sands]

That's great.

[Tony Kornheiser]

You know, so we'll call him. We'll make sure it happens. From Steve the Sicko Fan. Dear Grandpa Satchmo, Captain Potato Goat, my Legion idol. Want to feel really, really old? Satch, remember Brian Wilson's Beach Boys hit good vibrations from 1966? We're now 12 years farther away from that classic than its release date was from the end of World War I. Do you feel ancient now? Try this. The Ford Model T was first produced in 1908, and that is closer in time to the release of Good Vibration than our present day is. 58 to 60 years. I'm heading directly to the old folks home to listen to a Motown hits compilation from Ben in Port Wainimi. That's how it's pronounced. Wainimi.

[Steve Sands]

Okay.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Mike Tam in Weatherville, California's AI creation, El tama cancion del Saca de Correios is the greatest prompting of technology since Katherine Johnson calculated the trajectory that sent Alan Jeffer to space on May 5, 1961. That was the song that we had. Yes, that was the great. Yeah, we'll play that again from John Taglia Rainey in Ankeny, Iowa. I ended up at Wrigley on Friday to watch the Midwest showdown between the Cubs and the Toronto Blue Jays for science. In your show, I asked every person I saw in a Blue Jay jersey if they considered Toronto a Midwest City. I'm happy to report 679 to 0 said no. Kenny Ray Fort Walton Beach, Florida Someone needs to get Tommy Fleetwood to use the Johnny O Code at the US Open in Shinnecock. It looked like he went to Goodwill looking for a pair of 3,232 trousers, which they didn't have. So he settled for the 35, 36. Use the code, Tommy. He also wore a Shinnecott kill shirt yesterday.

[Sean]

He always does that. It's the best.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I'll take one of those. How can you not love Tommy Fleetwood? How can you not love him?

[Michael Wilbon]

I do.

[Tony Kornheiser]

One more. Years ago, when my daughter moved to LA to get married, she lived in Brentwood. Took me to Tuscana. To Toscana. Al Michaels was sitting next to us. Dj, he's got a table. He's there every night. If you're out on your bike, as always, do wear white.

[Michael Wilbon]

Who is Tony?

[Tony Kornheiser]

Tony Kornhouser.

[Michael Wilbon]

Who is that?

[Steve Sands]

That's a PTI guy on espn.

[Michael Wilbon]

Okay.

[Announcer]

Pete Crow Armstrong hit for the cycle. Wilbon will be happy guessing that Michael raised a glass of chardonnay for peace. PCA Pete Crowe Armstrong hit for the cycle. In 2016, the Cubs broke the curse. Ten years later, PCA has a cycle in reverse. Homer, triple, double, single, then gets picked up first. But in the end, Cubs won, so it could have been worse. Pete Armstrong hit for the cycle. But the Cubs could use some pitching. Fergie Jenkins, Dallas Kyko. For young kids in Chicago, PCA is their idol. And now PCA hit for the cycle. Holy cow. Tony K. Sails the sea with a weather in hand Salt on a skin like the grains of the sand is Bowdonade free cuts through the spray but in the off season the dreams are clay Tony K. Digs in the dirt so deep where the ocean ends and the fields don't sleep from the brine to the soil his heart does wrong A captain at sea, a farmer at home he plants his rose with the sailors carry each potato seed like a treasurer no stormy waves, no rolling tide Just a quiet patch where his dream dreams reclaim Tony Cade digs in the dirt so deep where the oceans and the fields don't sleep from the vine to the soil his heart does roam A captain at sea, a farmer at home he plants his rose with a sailor's care each potato sea like a treasure rare no stormy waves, no rolling tire Just a quiet patch where his dreams are clay Tony Cade digs in the dirt so deep where the ocean ends and the fields don't sleep from the brine to the soil his heart does roam A captain at sea A farmer at home when the frost creeps in and the sails unfurled he trades his compass for a simpler world A man of two lives with a single grim Both the waves and the earth Call the down well the fun Come spring he'll sail but he'll even know two spuds that sprout near his fishing boat Tony Kay lives where two dreams meet A sailor's soul and the farmer's beat Tony K. Digs in the dirt so deep where the ocean ends and the fields don't sleep from the brine to the soil his heart does roam the captain at sea A farmer at home A farmer at. A farmer at home.