Support for this podcast comes from Progressive, a leader in RV Insurance. We've all made RVing mistakes like not pestproofing the RV for winter, but there's one mistake you shouldn't make, not ensuring your travel trailer. Progressive RV Insurance can protect your travel trailer when your auto or home insurance can. Get a quote at Progressive.com, progressive cash routine insurance company and affiliates. Between bad calls and intense rivalries, there's enough to stress about on game day. Keep your mind on the field and off your body odor, with Dove Men Plus Care Whole Body Deodorant, available at Walmart. Dove Men Whole Body Deo provides all-day auto protection from your pits, privates to feed. From pre-game analysis to halftime insights to unexpected over times, Dove Men Whole Body Deo gives you confidence that lasts all day. Pick it up at your local Walmart. ♪♪♪ I'm Smiley Coughton, and this is The Smiley Show. Alright guys, welcome back to another episode of The Smiley Show. We have James Nitti's back on the show. We had James join us last year to give us a bit of a preview of all the Cord Ferry Tour graduates. And James, last year, you gave us some incredible tidbits, a lot of guys to keep and watch on during the year. But the one that we have got to start with before we get into this new crop of Cord Ferry Tour players, I mean, Jake Knapp. I mean, we just got started doing one and done. It's right around after your interview. And Charlie, who's going to be in this interview in a bit, he was the first guy to say, you know what? I'm going to kind of lean on this Jake Knapp bar tender, bar hopper type of deal. This info that gave us in that interview. And we relied on your intel a lot. So I'm excited to have you back. Yeah, I don't feel like that was me. That was Charlie. He picked him pretty well. I think he said that he liked the way he made 14 cuts straight on the Cord Ferry Tour, which is pretty incredible, especially Knapp's one of those guys. Like you said, he worked as a bouncer at a nightclub, but he's probably one of the most jacked guys on the Cord Ferry Tour when he was out there and hits it, you know, one of the furthest. So, you know, usually you don't pair that with early success from the consistency standpoint. But man, he's a good looking cat. He's jacked. He's a good dude. California cool. And to get the W early, the first guy, he's not the guy I thought. So remember, I said ADDC. Yes. I was riding high on him all year. Yeah. Everyone was. And another one was Goddard, Chris Goddard, but Goddard, you know, getting that win in Myrtle Beach. But he's one that everyone kind of had their eye on coming out of college. He was a superstar. And so it was, look, it was a great graduation class. I'm always very fond of all the guys. I could say they're all going to win. But, look, Grazeman was a guy, Max Grazeman was a guy. I think he's the best out of that class. He's the only guy inside the top 60, I think. So one of the FedEx Cup points list, but, you know, 12 guys, I think currently are keeping their card. And it's pretty volatile, you know, it's tough to go from a corn free tour, especially as a rookie under the PGA Tour and just keep your card, let alone get a win. So props to you, Charlie. That was more so you. So I said, I like him, but you said you picked him for a win. That's crazy. Well, James, I think you got to take a little bit of credit here. Because I think you inspired a movement and anyone that's listening to this show or watching this show that, you know, was sprinkling a little cash on all of our one of done picks throughout the runway went on last year. Shoot James, a tweet or a DM or something and thinking because he inspired the movement. He got us going first win right out of the gate. You know, thanks to your intel. You got us going. You're allowed to take that credit, James. Okay. I'll take it. I'll take a beer from the winnings. That'll do. That's it. There you go. It's always easy to buy a pint. All right. Guess what? What would you call a beer and... Filsters? Well, filters? No, please. What's your mouth out with soap? We don't drink flosters in Australia. We call a beer in Australia like a schooner. It's more of a size, like a pint and a couple of good beers. A couple of good beers would be like either Toei's, Carlton or Coop. There's plenty. Australia's got plenty of good beers, but definitely not Fosters. You can use that to Woody Garden if you want. Last time I ever make that mistake. Thank you for schooling it up. We're ahead over there. Scooter it is. All right. So we're going to get James a scooter. Well, shoot. Let's get right into this whole class from this Corn Fairy to a graduate class. And the best place to start might as well be the most recent news in this past week in Utah. Matt McCarty from Santa Clara goes and wins three times in the Corn Fairy tour this year and then right away in his second start on the PGA tour goes on and wins. And Charlie and James, I'll quiz you right here. Do you know of another player that won in this second start on the PGA tour? You want to go first, James? Yeah. I need time. You go first, Charlie. Okay. I'm cheating a little bit. I saw a graphic. He's also left-handed. And he's South African. Gary Kiggo. Congaree. I think I have that right. Dude, it's me. What are you doing? Oh. What are we doing here, guys? Come on. It was a way up. Wow. What's a little bit using yourself as the answer to your own trivia question. Now that's a little questionable. We're going to have to chime in and see how the viewers feel about that. It's taking flex too. I like it, Smiley. What are we doing here, guys? It is. It is Shriners Open Week. That's right. The fifth major. It is the fifth major. Well said. Well said. So let's get into that. Right? Matt McCarty wins in Utah three time winner this year. I mean, from what you saw in his game this year, James, did you see that quickly? Right? I mean, he's obviously playing some incredible golf. But did you see it translating this fast on the PGA tour? No, no, definitely not. It's, you know, and that's not a slide against it. Matt, it just, he's a really good player, but it's, it's also hard to kind of get the eye test of off these guys on the corn free tour because they're playing, you know, most of the courses are around 7,000 yards and everyone's shooting 25 under. And it's a putting comp. You don't know if, you know, usually hitting a lot of fairways doesn't equate to going low, it's just about how far you hit it. So look, he, he's a guy that came to the tour, corn free tour championships last year. And after 35 holes, he was inside the top 30 and made a quadruple bogey at the last of Victoria National in the second round. And it took him a lot to recover from that. He just missed his car going to the PGA tour. He talked about how, you know, he wasn't ready. I think he kind of was, but, and then look three months ago, he hadn't had a single win on the corn free tour. And it came to the Ascendant in Colorado, where he had the 54 hole lead, shot 75 in the last round, didn't get it done. And then went out the next week, didn't, you know, didn't let it make him negative towards how his game was trending. And he went out and won the next week. And then we, look, me and Shane Bacon, when we do the corn free tour broadcast, we, we call a lot of these guys and we called him and he was just a kid in a candy store. And he said, you know what, I think I'm, I'm playing good enough now with a little security that I'm heading to the PGA tour because after the second and the, and the, the win, he locked up his PGA tour card. And then he went off and rattled another couple. And I want to say he had another top three in there as well. So a guy that on the corn free tour got, got himself into the top 60 in the world. There's not a lot of guys that have done that in the past. I think Michael Sim was one that got into inside the top 50 because he won three times in a year and, and was playing great golf. But look, he's a hottest, hottest player on the planet right now. And, and I would have told, I told a lot of people, hey, you, you should sprinkle some, some little bit of cash here on this guy over these next couple of events because, look, he didn't even have to compete at the corn free tour championships because he'd already extended his, his lead from second position by more than 600 points. And, you know, last year, last year, not even, you know, no, no one made it into two thousand point range. And this year two guys did in Max McGreeby and Matt Riccardi. So, look, he's, he's picked up distance over the years in Matt. He, he talked to us about how he's been thinking about that for the last year and a half. He wants to kind of prime himself at a PGA tour before he even gets there. And you hear him talk. He's just comfortable. He's a good kid. He's got a really mature head on his shoulders for a, for a young guy. And he does everything so well. And I don't know if you saw it at the, you know, the desert open last week, that two shot lead steps up on the last and pipes one down there, three, three quick TP pick up. So good. So good. So he's to tie a bow in it. He's just one of those guys that thrives for the moment. And I think he plays with that auto chip on his shoulder considering he's not, you know, the longest off the tee and doesn't pass like everyone's eye test straight away. But I think he's a guy that could, you know, obviously, he's already won. So it's like, I don't even need to say that he's a guy that could really go out there and do special things. Yeah. Now he's in the masters. He's not subject to a reshuffle. So he's in such a great position. Like he said, a second ago in that he can play with a bit of house money and not have to worry a bit about status. Kind of like you'd mentioned on he's playing that way and free at the end of the corn fairy tour season to eventually play his way into that battlefield promotion. So you've seen guys do that when I always, I've always said this, that players when they're comfortable on tour with their status and not worried about job security, that's when they play their best golf. I mean, that's, that's the most nervous. You ask any PGA tour player when they're their most nervous. They'll say, well, it's when I was at Q school. It was when I was on the cut line when it meant something, whether they were going to have a job or not. So now Matt has elevated himself into a position to where, you know, he can just go focus on improving and learning on how to travel and play on the PGA tour. But he's off to one heck of a start. But I want you to kind of sum up this, this class. I don't know why I want to call it a draft class. This is a draft. These guys earned their way out here. But what, you know, just describing this class versus maybe last year's or just something that is stuck out about these 30 guys. Anything that come to mind? Look, I thought last year was going to be incredible. I think I picked five winners coming from, you know, the corn free tour last year's graduates that we're, we're at three. So there's still a couple of events left to get to that five. But I thought, look, it's so difficult, you know, how it is. Smiley and getting into the PGA tour now, if you're not in those signature events, it's I think what only seven guys that didn't play in the signature events made it into the FedEx Cup playoff. So it's like it's such a leg up. And for these guys coming in off the corn free tour where they kind of slot in, I think Rafa Camposa finished 30th and got the last card last year. He's only played 20 events this year or 21 events. So it's, and his first event came at the farmers. So it's really, it's hard making up ground quickly. So you do need to do what a Jake Napa or a gutter. It doesn't go out and win early. But I think the difference between the two classes, it felt to me this year, there was just a lot more experience, even though we're going to have a lot of rookies. There was a lot of two time winners. So a lot of the points were sucked up into the top of the points list. So there wasn't as much. There was, there was a lot of separation around that 30 number. So I felt like, like you said before, and it's so important in professional golf is security turns you into a different golfer. So if you have that security, then you could be, it's, you could have a guy that could live on the cut line or win PGA tour events. It's that, it's that like valuable to have in your back pocket, knowing you've got a full season. So I think like guys like Harry Higgs heading back. Look, I think he talked about it himself. I think he needs to be a little nicer to himself when he's competing. But Tim Vitting, Swedish kid, he won back to back in the middle of the season. Frankie Sapp and he's a kid that shot 58 this year at the Veritex Bank Championship. He just got his first win and he's, he's a guy that I think, even though he's going to be a rookie, he just feels like he's been on tour for a couple of years and. It's happened. Yeah, Frankie Sapp and when he, he's a kid that just won, he's had a little success on the PGA tour of some sponsors imitation. But he just won at, you know, Ohio at the Scarlet Course, which I hate by the way, it's brutal. It's not fun. And I mean, he hit, I think he had won green in regulation over the last eight holes and still extended his lead. So he's, he didn't play his best, but he, it looked like he won very easily and he was never stressed. He was, he had the swagger, he was club twirling, even though he was missing greens, but the short game under that pressure when he hadn't won on the corn free tour before. I thought that was pretty impressive. So, look, there's, as I said, multiple winners, there's guys that are coming to the PGA tour that already know how to win. And look, I could go down the top 30, but if there's some other guys. Right. Right. Yeah. No, I think you just set it up kind of perfectly what we're going to talk about in another player too that actually shot. It was Christoball day. Del Solar. I guess is how you pronounce his name shot 57 this year. I believe that was down in Bogotol. Was that, is that correct? Is that where that one was? He shot it down in Bogotol. Look it. The course was 6,300 yards at elevation. I've played it. I've played it. I think I shot one over. So, yeah, what's the kind of move past that? The way I try to prop him up is he smashed the scoring record by four shots. So I'm like, okay, broke the course record by four. And he didn't get up and down from the front of the green on 17. And he said he's getting a bad read on 18 from six feet. Oh my gosh. It was just like a putt putt type of situation, man. Just some incredible golf. But I think Charlie and I, before we got on, we were kind of going through this top 30. And there were some names that stuck out. And Charlie had seen some of these guys play as well. So I know he wants to ask you about a couple of guys. I'll let him kind of take the floor here on some of the guys that he had circled. Well, I do want to get in that direction. Before we get too far off, Matt McCarty's win. This is a topic that Smiley and I discussed coming off this black desert championship. And I'm just curious about, and this is a bit of an abstract, bigger picture question, but just about venue selection on the corn fairy tour and the difference in the type of golf that's required to graduate and be one of those 30 guys that make their way to the PGA tour and what you're asked to play on the PGA tour. And, you know, this last week, you know, Matt talked a lot about he's a Scottsdale guy. This desert golf felt like at home for him. We saw a winning score in the twenties that was more akin to what you'd see on a corn fairy tour event where you're looking at some of these cut lines. And it looks like a misprint with how low some of these guys are having to go to make it to the weekend. Do you think, if you were to change, and I know some of the corn fairy tour venue selection is sponsored, dependent, it's host dependent, but is there, if it's like James, you're a corn fairy tour commissioner for a day. Is there a way you change venue selection or something you look for in a different sort of way to better prep these guys for the tests of golf they're going to arrive and have to play well to succeed on the PGA tour. One hundred percent. You hit the nail in the head, the one rumour that even when I was playing on the corn fairy tour amongst players and guys still now, it's almost that kind of feeling of knowing that you're going to a course that's, you know, the old school country club style of golf that doesn't hold up to technology and doesn't hold up to the speed that these guys swing it. And let's be honest, like the corn fairy tour and even college golf, they all swing it faster than the PGA tour. The wave is coming. So these courses, like you said, I would being on the corn fairy tour, I'd always be, those four or five events in a row, especially through the middle of summer where the cut was minus six minus seven, even minus eight. So you get out there and you get off to a slow start and you hit the first green, first six greens in reg, missed a couple of parts and you're like, feel like you're getting lapped. So it's a hard mentality to just be like, all right, I've got a bus driver as hard as I can and then, you know, make everything inside 15 feet. And there's, you're not even wearing out any club above a nine iron. And it just gets to the point where, look, I look at corn fairy tour stats every year. The way I know if a guy's a long, a good long line player is I just look at his par three stats because they're the only holes that play over 160 yards for, for a shot in for regulation for these guys. So look at exactly, I would, I would change the golf course setups and give us these guys an opportunity to play some different styles of golf. And there's about eight or nine events of the, the year that play really difficult, tough test golf courses. And that's why McCarty is so impressive because he got it done at the pinnacle bank. He got, he was in the lead at the send and, and then he did it at courses where he had to go to low. So it's, you know, it's, it's hard because there is some courses like that on the PGA tour where you just know everyone's going to go low. And there's, there's no separation. So when you've got the guys that come to the, to tee it up and they know it's like, all right, you kind of see it, I'm shrugging their shoulders and they're like, well, looks like I've got to shoot 65, 65 or I'm, you know, I'm not going to be inside the top 30. It just, it doesn't really show what the, the talents of these guys have. And, and that's why it's hard sometimes to dictate or, or kind of predict which guys are actually going to translate or, or really make the jump to the PGA tour seamlessly. Support for this podcast comes from Progressive, a leader in RV insurance. We've all made RVing mistakes like not pestproofing the RV for winter, but there's one mistake you shouldn't make. Not ensuring your travel trailer. Progressive RV insurance can protect your travel trailer when your auto or home insurance can. Get a quote at Progressive.com, Progressive Cash Retina insurance company and affiliates. Between bad calls and intense rivalries, there's enough distress about on game day. Keep your mind on the field and off your body odor with Dove men plus care whole body deodorant available at Walmart. Dove men whole body deal provides all day auto protection from your pits, privates to feed. From pregame analysis to halftime insights to unexpected over times. Dove men whole body deal gives you confidence that lasts all day. Pick it up at your local Walmart. It's interesting and you, you wonder if there are guys that get left behind in that shuffle that have a game that can suit the PGA tour, but maybe don't suit the corn fairy tour as well. With that said, hard turning here, as Smiley mentioned, some guys, we want to kind of run through a list and hit some guys of interest. And the, the first name I want to talk about is a man who might have had a scooter or two his life, a fellow countryman of yours, Koala Carl Villips. I'm told this is his nickname is a guy who we should take, maybe take a page out of his notebook. He's got 38,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel. So the guys doing well on, on both the golf course and the media world, we had a, a follower of this show that reached out in our DMS earlier this year and said, you got to get on Carl. Like this guy's got an incredible game, super interesting story for those who don't know much about him. Can you just give us the full background, the rundown on Carl? Why should we should be excited to see him this year on the PGA tour? Yeah. Exciting. And look, I'd be honest, I didn't know a lot about Carl Villips before, you know, a year ago. I knew who he was. I knew he was the stellar college player, lived in Australia to his about 13 dad from Perth. Dad, he's dad started the YouTube account for him and almost like a story of Carl growing up going through golf. So if you meet Carl, he's not really a YouTube golfer. Like he doesn't really want, like he, he appreciates it and, but it's not like he's leaning into the, you know, hey guys, subscribe, come join the check. You know, like he's not that guy, you know, he wants to be a PGA tour player. So you look at, I'm sure he's very appreciative for what his dad did there and obviously would have opened some doors, but he moved from Australia. He does not have the accent, if you know. So he moved from Australia when he's 13, eventually going to Stanford. And then look, I'll tell you how he got to this point of getting to the PGA tour very quickly. You know, he's playing the last hole at the NCAA championship and, you know, he's right around the lead and he's, he knows all these kids now in college, they're thinking about the PGA tour university program. Like that's the one goal they have at the start of the year is like, hey, I want to win, get that PGA tour exemption, or I want to finish top five and get the rest of the corn free tour year, like you'll get about 13 events on the corn free tour if you finish in the top five, and then you get the auto exemption to final stage of Q school. And then really these guys, you're going to turn that into basically, you know, a pretty much a full corn free tour card. So it's a good transition out of college. And he's coming down the last and he's right around the lead, he makes a bow unit, drops him from, from six to 10th. So it turns into top 10 gets your conditional corn free tour status, but you're not going to get any starts for the rest of the year. So he goes out in Monday qualifies into his first event. I think it was, I want to say was the ascendant top 25 should 66 in the final round in the price, price cut a charity champion, the very next week, top 25. So top 25 gets you into the next week. So I think he had two top 15 finishes, then he goes to the MV five invitational shoots like 63 or four in the final round finishes second. And then he goes to Utah, the very next week, and he wins the tournament. So it's like, he goes from having no starts, probably going back to second stage, because if you're not inside that top five, you don't get the final stage to turning it into a PGA tour card, not even being a month out of, you know, out of studying chemistry or something, whatever they do with those smart schools, it's dampened and stuff. So he's, and then I'll give you, he's a guy that passes the ITS. He averages about three 30 off the tee, another very mature for his age kind of guy, really good iron plaque, great putter. So he's look, you might have to polish that stone a little bit, but as far as like hitting a long way, having the tools like to walk under the PGA tour, he's super exciting. And the way he won in Utah after having little to no experience, and after finishing second the previous week, and as I said, he'd only been professional for a month. It was, it was really impressive. That's, I mean, koala, Carl, that is a heck of a nickname to us. That's a, that's, I mean, already, like, I have some questions written down here, but best nickname. I mean, that's a, that's a no brainer there, koala, Carl, Shaq. So we got that all sorted out, but I kind of want to get into who you think the most talented player of this entire bunch is because, you know, when I look at any, any corn fairy class that comes through, it's always about, you know, who is the next potential star, a guy that's like a Scotty Scheffler, a player that's a can't miss prospect. Well, look, it's a bit of a, you know, I'm leaning on the fact that Matt McCarty, just one on the PGA tour, statistically, the best golfer and who I think is going to be the star out of this class is two different people, you know, like McCarty's unbelievable fills up the stat sheet, he, or it gets it done in so many areas, but he doesn't quite look like that superstar athlete when he hits a golf shot. Like he, he looks like a lot of other golfers, he just does it very well. But then one of my favorite guys, and I've been banging on about this guy since the start of the season since pretty much the end of last year, when he didn't even have a corn free tour card, is Aldrich Podketer, he's a South African kid. And I've been, he won the AM championship at 17. So over in Europe, he was the second youngest to ever do that. He didn't go to college. He decided, hey, I'm going to get at my experience by turning pro and just seeing how I do. So he gets, he gets into the US Open, L-A-C-C makes a cut, that gets him an exemption into second stage, he then wins that by four and they brought in a new rule where if you win second stage, you get guaranteed eight starts on the corn free tour the following year, no matter what happens at final stage, which I think is a great rule, you know, you win second stage, you should get something. So yeah, it's a new one, if you're a medallist at second stage, you get the first eight starts on the corn free tour, no matter what happens at final stage the following year. So he turned that in wide, man, I don't know if I agree with that, it's a lot, that's four and maybe. It's a lot, maybe, look, I'm pretty sure it's eight, but it might be four, but I'm pretty sure it's eight, yeah. So he won by four there and then he goes and he wins the second event on the corn free tour in the Bahamas and I remember Tex and Shane and being like, we're not going to get this guy in our broadcast window because he's going to win three times before we even see him. So look, he, he struggled with it. Tell me about his game. I want to hear about his game because like the cuts, you know, it's 13 out of 24, but here's obvious super, super star in this kid. Yeah. Look, okay. He averages. I think he's, he's swing speeds one 27 ball speeds right around 190 and he says that's his cruising ball speed. He lived in Australia for a long time, so he had his speed early, so then he tried to hone his game. He apparently hits his, he's got 180 ball speed on a, on a driving line as well. So he learned to do that when he won the championship hits a great stinger, Australian under 15 wrestling champion, his South African obviously, but he spent a bit of time, learned how to flight shots. But yeah, he just great touch. He had to get up and down on the last hole. The tour championships effectively to get his PGA tour card. So yeah. I saw it up and out too. One easy. No. And he, look, he missed a green with a sandwich in his hand for his second, but he, look, he was feeling it and it's a security thing. Like you said, I think now he has security. He could do special things. He's still a little bit inexperienced in some certain areas in decision making needs to find more fairways. He's really pretty much dead last in accuracy on the corn free tour, but that's usually how it works when you hit at 340 average. So the fairway. I'm just, I'm excited and look, he nearly missed his card from winning the second event. I'm married. You remember a couple of years ago, I shared with Tia won the first event and then, and actually didn't get his PGA tour card. So it's a tough decision to know all year that you're inside the 30 and then you get around the bubble. But man, this kid's going to be exciting and, and you'll see it as soon as you watch him play, you'll just be like, wow, okay, as soon as this guy refines some things, he's going to do some, some really cool stuff. This is our guy, James. Last year we broke out the smiley show bandwagon for Aaron Rye. We were the rye guys. We rode that to the finish line. This year, we're taking the bandwagon back into the shop, fresh paint job. We're the pot heads this year, right? We're all in on Aldridge. We're the, we're going to, I cannot wait to see him tee at this year on the PGA tour. Everything you've said to me, the youngest winner on a PGA tour sanction tour at 19 years and whatever four months it was hits it, you know, 190 ball speed hits it 340 out the time. I cannot wait to see this guy play PGA tour golf. Yeah, he'll go, he'll go straight into the top five in driving distance. He just has to hit fairways. So it's, I don't know, it's, yeah, he shot 59. You know, obviously it was at that course, it was 6,300 yards, but he's still dead. He's still the youngest kid to ever shoot in the 50s and corn-free tour at PGA tour sanction event. So it's, yeah, he's, he's going to be real fun. Now I don't know, he's not, I don't know if he's my Jake Knapp. I don't, but, you know, if he, if he gets comfortable, he could easily go out and possibly win by two or three, maybe in one of those opposite field events. And as soon as he, as I said, just refine some things with his maturity, he's going to be really impressive, like a, just superstar style, really. Well, what about just talking about keeping in that same category? Maybe the best iron player that comes to mind or the best putter or short game from this group of group of former very tour graduates. So Frankie Sappen, he's the best, he'll be the best from around the greens and putting like he, he all year top five on the corn-free tour, he still hits a mile and great iron player. He just also accuracy struggled a fair bit down the stretch off the tee. I mean, we were even, there was some, when he tried to get his first victory, he was, there was holes where he was taking iron off the tee because he was just scared of the miss the previous day. But once again, the way he handled it, trying to get his first corn-free tour victory, missing greens and having to get up and down, I think as I said, the last couple of holes, he had to make three or four putts of around 12, 15 feet to get his first victory and he did it easy, poured him in. So he's the guy, I think with that short game, I think Frankie might get a win this year. And I think he'll do it because that short game and the clutch partying, especially in big moments, when he dials it in off the tee and like kind of has those weeks where it works out, the short game's going to save him and it's, you know, you can sit here and say, this guy's got a great short game, but it's almost like he thrives on that 12-foot putt when it means more. And I think that's just a big, there's a lot of guys coming off the corn-free tour that have the tools to get them in position to win. It's just making that two or three putts down the stretch when it really means the most with, you know, a PGA tour player that's been there before and you haven't, I just think he has that kind of, I don't know, that dog in him that really, it doesn't bother him. The big situation. So he's another guy, look at it, Max McGreevy, I talked about, I said he was my comp to the corn-free tour's end to shelf lay because every statistic I went through, I was like, this guy's not outside the top 50 in anything. So like, I was like, so he wins twice, he lost his card on the PGA tour, but he wasn't down in the, you know, the higher 180s, it was like 135 on the FedEx Cup points list. So he's a guy, I think, now having that second year, he doesn't hit a long way, but he kind of gets it done very surgical. And then you've got some young kids, like we're now coming out of Pepperdine, he just got his card, he's kind of exciting to watch, Castillo, the Florida kid that, coming out Florida Gator, that he's just really impressive, he won his first event as a professional baby agent, de Montesche, Sartre, he didn't get his PGA tour card, but he's another exciting one to watch. There's the same, I said Steven Fisk again, a kid that moves a long way, friendly, being under six feet, a really good iron player. So it's, look, once again, I could get down to top 30 and tell you something about all of them. - Of course. - Is there any... - Charlie, anyone else that's speaking of your interest? - Yeah. - Charlie, the Walker Cup, who were the players that you saw? You saw Ricky... - That's true. - Exactly right. James, I have a little bit of show until four years, I have a little piece of memorabilia from the 2021 Walker Cup, Little Mother's Day fan, and there were three guys on that American team. I watched all three of them play. You mentioned Ricky Castillio, John Pock, and Quaid Cummins, which as a kid, they talk a lot about aura, Quaid had a real aura about him, and I love watching him following him around. So I was just curious, obviously a few years removed from that team in 2021, but just those three guys linked via that team, what do you think their prospects are on the PGA tour? - Yeah. So we hit a bit on Castillio, he's kind of one of those players that knows he's good, like it just... He finds his way into contention a lot, top to bottom, same thing, does everything well. Maybe I'd like him to have a little bit of a better attitude towards himself. He gets pretty hard on himself when he's not delivering or not doing what he's meant to, like we all can on the golf course, but I feel like if he's kind of outlook about being a little kind to do himself, I think he'll be able to really dial it in and jump hard. - I like his swagger. - Good swagger. - I think he's a cockershell necklace, I want to say. - Yeah. There you go. Yeah. - I had to listen to that. - That's a fly, you know? It's good. I dig that too and it's, look, John Park's kind of the same. The Park's like a, they were all having fun and I might have, Park took in a libation after they got their cards with them and just watching them celebrate and a little different guy, Park coming out of PGA Tour University won every award in college and then he was the number one on PGA Tour University right before they actually gave the PGA Tour card away, you know, to the guys like they have over the last couple of years and then he went on and to have no success at all on the Cornfury Tour, lost his card, really had to come back and turn it back into a PGA Tour card like he did when he got a victory this year and then who is, but he does everything well, doesn't hit a long way but doesn't miss Fairway's top five in accuracy, you know, very, very efficient from the Fairway because he has to be and then the last one you mentioned there was quite comings, it's funny you say that, he has that air about him where it's super nice guy but he's held like really high from all his peers, it's almost like he's kind of been out there a long time and everyone always talks about quite like, oh man, quite, he's so good, this guy like, you know, and he's pretty quiet kid, he's not outgoing and you know, he's not going to notice him when he walks into a room but he's the guy that apparently, you look, I saw it a little bit on show this year but he has, I heard the greatest short game ever, like all the guys out of that oak tree national hotbed which is about 20 tour players that play out of that course, like Zach Boesch who was talking to me about, hey man, I just hang around and quite comings as much as I can, I learn, he's one of those guys that uses every part of the wedge to hit shots, like it's kind of really cool and also he was the best putter on the corn free tour this season and apparently, I need to ask him this, but apparently he doesn't use his gamer when he's at Oak Tree National in Oklahoma, he uses a different putter on the road than he does when he's home, because it's like a decky type of stuff going on and I get it, the greens at Oak Tree are like super fast and you know, can send shivers down your spine but yeah, he's a guy that just is apparently a magician with the wedge in his hand and he does, once again, he got his card really easily this year without a W and didn't look stressed at all, almost knew that he was going to get it so I'm excited to watch him, you know, play big boy golf and especially with how everyone else talks about him. The name. Yeah, go ahead, Troy. I was just going to say the short game, that was what stood out and following him around, just like some tight lines of Seminole, you know, you get short sighted there. It's tough to get up and down. He, I mean, he has some good mitts on him. And that was in a solid squad. Davis Thompson on that squad, Cole Hammer, there were some very legit players. So I'm really excited to see how those three fair getting promoted this year earned their cards. You're really good at using just one part of the wedge. Yeah. So I'm a big hossell guy, James. You could do a lot about the hossell. It's, you know, it's, it's, you just, you got to, you got to really learn how to, how to use it to a, you get some funky spots, but you trust me, once you get comfortable with it, it's, it's a great piece of the wedge to you. Charlie, the, the, the hossell's much closer to the sweet spot than the toes. So you're not far away. That's what I've heard. That's what I've heard many people saying that. When you said every part of the wedge is like, this is too easy. I mean, I got Charlie on here most of the time of these Wednesdays. Charlie's hanging out in the background, but I had to, had to throw him under the bus on now. He's promoting an upcoming video, James, when we had just one of the sweetest hossell shanks you'll ever see around the green. So I will look forward to that on the YouTube channel. Oh, gosh, man, man. Oh, man, it's fun to play golf. But Charlie, I've played with James, Charlie, actually him and I've played together. I don't know where we've got paired together. Do you recall? Oh, it's, I know, corn free tour, maybe Portland, maybe? No, I don't know. Yeah, it's somewhere that wasn't a common place. Put it that way. I know that. Yeah. Yeah. That sounds about right. When you started talking about these. I was like, I was like, oh, these kitties, you know, it's fine. He was, you, you like to, you like to, you swagger a little bit. I was like, all right, he's, these kids are not going to spend much time on the corn free tour. That's for sure. The way, the way I was like, he's, he's pretty confident. Support for this podcast comes from Progressive, a leader in RV insurance. We've all made RV in mistakes like not pestproofing the RV for winter, but there's one mistake you shouldn't expect, not ensuring your travel trailer. Progressive RV insurance can protect your travel trailer when your auto or home insurance can. Get a quote at progressive.com progressive cash routine insurance company and affiliates. [inaudible] The glad girl grew coming at you with a throwback jam that was glad for his flex drawstring trash bags featuring pine salt original simp. And that's better than all good. It's all glad. Yeah, I was pretty hard on myself too. So when you've talked about some of these young kids that just play aggressively, have swagger, you know, just, you know, they just can't accept failure. That was, I can relate to that as a young kid, because that's how I approached the corn fairy tour. I got excited when I got to a golf course that I felt like was PGA tour worthy. And so when I got to those events, the guys that have been beating me on these, these kind of rickying golf courses, I was like, all right, let's see what kind of game you got this week. So that's really where I'm at. And you kind of answered it with a couple of guys, Max McReevey's probably the one player and of course, Matt McCarty, who would be the most PGA tour ready this coming year for a guy that's going to show up their games going to be, you know, ready to compete on, you know, let's talk about just a golf course, not the fall, but which these guys aren't going to be playing the fall like they used to. But who's going to be able to go play at Torrey Pines right away and be able to play some big boy golf? Yeah. So I mean, I, okay, we, so we're taking you know, McCarty out of it, obviously, because yeah, McCarty McGreevey or two guys, you've already kind of mentioned that I feel like it kind of fit that category of elite and just, you know, fill up the stat sheet. There's a reason why they're wanting to on the corn ferry points list this year. I like another guy, Ryan Gerard, who played, you know, really well, especially after he turned pro and then played a couple of events on the corn free tour and PGA tour Canada. But then when Monday qualified for the Honda Classic, everyone knows went on to, I think he went on to finish fourth there. And then trying to work his way to that kind of temporary membership on the PGA tour and the FedEx Cup points list. It's hard to do. I think he led through three rounds at the Barracuda and ended up finishing top five there. But man, I mean, he was close to getting his PGA tour card all the way from Monday qualifying. And then he comes out under the corn free tour this year. And he didn't even, I'm not sure how it shaped out, but he didn't have great status on the corn free tour, even after having that stellar season on PGA tour. It worked out to be got the first four starts or something through the where he finished last year. So he, he went out, he got himself, you know, a full card pretty early. And then, you know, he came and won the BMW charity program. And the way he did it, it was just so impressive. And he probably should have had another victory at the Simmons Bank Open, Simmons Bank Championship no longer go. But he was just a guy top to bottom, great iron player, putts great, hits it long enough and straight enough. It's always, look, there's always the guys that hit it long enough on coming off the corn free tour. But then you can almost predict by the yardage where they rank in accuracy. You know, it's, it's very, and then once you see a guy like a drud where you're like, okay, he's top 50 in that distance off the tee, but he's also top 40 in accuracy, like, okay, that pairs up beautifully because, you know, you're only giving up 10 to 10 to 12 yards to the longest, but you're also hitting three or four more fairways than them per day. So it just turns into a little bit of his game and knowing, you know, like his wedge play was unbelievable. But like you said, smiley, I think he, it's easy. I cheated a little bit because he's already had a little success on the PGA tour. But there's also a lot of guys. Yeah, and it, but there's also a lot of guys on the corn free tour. And look, I, I couldn't shake a stick of these guys and I'm sure, but there are guys that will go up and down from the PGA tour to the corn free tour because the different style of golf. And you know, there's some guys that really like a, you know, Stephen Yager that he was that guy. He bounced up and down from the corn free tour four or five years. And then now he realized he had to change some things in his game, bit of distance, iron play. And now he's that guy that solidified as being like a, a, a mainstay on the PGA tour. So yeah, it's, there's plenty of guys that I know that bounce up and down because they know all the corn free tour courses back to front, they go get their win couple top two finishes. They go back to the PGA tour. And then it's almost like they're learning again, instead of being like, okay, what did I do last time? You know, you got these veterans that get their card on the corn free tour. And they're like, oh, I need to change my swing. I need to do this. But no, you just need to become a little bit more productive and consistent on the big boy tour. So it's, yeah, there's always those guys every year like, all right, he's going to get his card, but it might seem back here next year. And then there's, there's the guys that are like, which it's really hard. I said there's only one guy that's in the top 60 from last year's graduate class. So it's very hard to succeed in your first year as a rookie. So, but there are the guys we are like, all right, if he puts these things together, like a Steven Fisk or a Tim Vitting where they have the tools of distance off the tee, fairly accurate, but also good iron players, like it's hard to get a lot of the stats off the corn free tour. But as far as the eye test goes, they're the zos guys. And then the guys you know, that just really hit a lot of fairways, wedge it well and make parts, you know. Yeah. And the big rig kind of fits that category too, right? Because he's a player that Stephen Yeager, you know, he's a guy that's gone back and forth. You just said it. And, and maybe, you know, the big rig coming back down and finding his game a bit, I think that's the one player that I have circled from this entire top 30 list. I think Ryan Gerard, a great call, but it just seems like a guy like Harry Higgs has had success on the PGA tour. He's made the FedEx Cup playoffs twice. So he's going to be probably the most confident knowing that he can do it. But it's always the question mark of, you know, being in that category, that corn free tour category, it's a tough place to play off. You got to get off to such a quick start. Yeah. And look, big rig, big beautiful. He's a he for a guy that doesn't hit it a long way. He's played well at difficult golf courses, you know, PGA championship where he played well there at Keohar and, you know, there's other places where he's kind of done well with not having the weapons that a lot of the, you know, the flashy young kids have hitting off the tee and all that sort of stuff. But yeah, I think it's just an attitude thing with the with big, beautiful. He said it himself. He needs to be a little bit more positive on the golf course. He needs to have a little bit more fun and realize he's, you know, gets to play golf for a living. And I liked it because after he won, he's back to back wins on the corn free tour. And he played a couple more times, but then he just went on a vacation and just took some time away from the game instead of really trying to grow. We just caught him. We actually interviewed him right at that time because he was wearing an eye patch because he, I think it was an eye patch because he had just gotten some skin cancer stuff removed and he was about to go over to Europe. So we had caught him right around that time after those wins. So yeah, it was, it was fun to got to get a guy's perspective of winning, especially twice in a row and how he won, which was insane, by the way, that chip that he made from 60 or so yards was just insane for that ball to go in almost feels like a bit, a bit of fate, you know, is at the hands of Harry Higgs on that day. Yeah. And then he's second when he, you hold like a 25 footer for Eagle against Frankie Sappen in the playoff. So it's a shirt off. Next time Rick, we want to trade by, but no, look, and just to touch on his, you know, his positive outlook and maybe trying to change things up. It's funny how you set it before Smiley, where you said you were a tenacious competitor and you were pretty hard on yourself. And, you know, sometimes you see that with a lot of these younger kids. And the one thing I hear doing corn free tour broadcast, the one thing I hear of all the veterans that have dropped back to the corn free tour, all the guys that are a little older, it's, they're all, I just want to have, they all say one thing. I want to have a little bit more fun. I want to play golf like a kid again. I kept making it too much of a job. And I didn't realize, you know, how lucky I was. And I put too much pressure on myself in this era of track man and having a perfect swing and dialing in all your numbers and living on the range. A lot of these kids and veterans forgot how to play the game. So it just, that's what I hear. It's a common trend. I hear a lot of guys that are just trying to talk about just being a little less, you know, down on themselves all the time, when it's not going their way and just allowing themselves the freedom to, to play golf again. James, another guy who I think for a lot of people landed on their radars for the first time a year ago, this week is a guy that has a ton of game. I recognize them a lot. We're in the San Francisco 49ers hat, big Bay area, 49ers guy, Isaiah Salinda. What can you speak to in terms of his game? Because I feel like every time I've seen him play, it's like, wow, this guy, this is one of the guys that does really pass the eye test. I said the same thing, Charlie too. Yeah. He, I said it when we were covering him. I'm like, I don't know what he's doing because I look at his stat sheet and I don't know how he hasn't had multiple wins. Like he, it just, he's, he, and he did, he didn't make a lot of cuts this year. So it was really weird. It's like when he does make a cut and when he got his win in Panama and I'm sure, I'm not sure if you ever played Panama, Smiley, but it's a, it's a rite of passage, man, for the corn tree to her. It's one of the, it's one of the more difficult courses on the corn free tour. And, you know, usually the cuts two, three over the ranges from five under to 15 under winning. And I mean, he went out and shot 64 in the final round and one by eight. So it's, and I think he finished it maybe 12 under. So, you know, you go shoot eight under in the final round and when, you know, the winning score was meant to be five or six under par and at a course like that. And another guy where I was like, all right, Cylinda finally, he's got comfortable. He's got his security now. Can he go and do something special? And when I look at his statistically and I watch him play and I'm like, I don't know what's going on. You hit it miles, you hit it straight, you're part great. Like there's where, what's not matching up here. So yeah, he's one guy that passes the eye test, but I think needs to learn how to play golf a little better. I suppose like making turns into, you know, one or two under opposed to one or two over, especially on the corn free tour. But, but I think he's another one there's a there's about 12 guys that I think their game fits the PGA tour a little bit better with, you know, you can, like you said before, smiley, you get to a tough golf course and you know, you can separate from the rest of the field opposed to being like, okay, if I don't booty the first three out of five holes and I'm falling behind and you know, everyone's going to make parts like it's just a different mindset. So there's a there's a fair few guys out of this class that didn't do as well on the corn free tour. Like got their tour band status and went to the corn free went to they're going to the PGA tour, but I kind of expect them to do some better things on the PGA tour. And you know, that doesn't always it's not always winning, but it's like reeling off some good results when they didn't really do that on the corn free tour. They had their moments, but not the consistency. Yeah, that's so interesting you say that too, because I look down this list of the top 30 guys, Isaiah Salinda, a player who I feel like has one of the highest ceilings that of any of the top 30 guys, I think his four is too low, you know, if he's able to get his four up, you know, much more to where he's making cuts like you're talking about missing too many cuts. But winning by eight shots, that tells you everything you need to know about a player, especially at a golf course, like Panama, in which if you've been on that bus to and from the city of Panama back to that golf course, that is the right of passage for any chord very to a player sitting next to, I mean, you're just so in their tight. It's so hot. Everybody's sweaty. It's so gross. And yeah, a child win at that places quite quite the win. But there as we kind of closed this conversation here, James, there's two, two things I want to get into and in both our storyline related. I think I would like to hear first off, do we have any storylines that are somewhat in the weird category, kind of like our magic nap, who was a bouncer, you know, he had to work his way through. Is there a storyline that comes to mind from that as well as just maybe the most easiest guy to root for with a story that, you know, well, it's it's heart wrenching or anything that that comes to mind from a player in which that we need a favorite for a guy that we should be able to root for. Yeah, that's a tough one. It's I'm running down because it's so you put me up against Jake Knapp and the guy works. He's a bouncer and, you know, look, a guy that didn't get his card that I think will find his way to the PGA tool was Sam Bennett, obviously, you know, right that he'll probably get a fair few sponsor invitations and and may possibly turn it into a PGA to a card this year. He, you know, he's played in four majors, never missed a card, nearly was right there. Top three in the Masters through two rounds as an amateur. He was the bubble boy going in to the corn free tour finals and and look it came down to the last hole where you had Doc Redmond had to win the tournament. He had to hold a chip shot to get into a playoff. If he didn't win, he doesn't go to the PGA tour. If he wins, he goes to PGA tour and then you got Brian Campbell was already going to the PGA tour. He had a 50 footer for ego on the last. So you've got he's got nothing to lose. So he's going to try to roll that pipe by and make it because he wants to win. And then Redmond's going to gas this chip shot because he's got to make it. So you've got no good ones like sitting right there in the clubhouse. If both these guys get up and down or two part and get up and down, good ones in. And then Alice said, Doc, he needed one of them to either three part or not get up and down and it come down to, you know, why about cover? It was just awesome because for me, it's like, all right, Redmond doesn't know that Alistair's sitting there wanting him not to get this up and down or good one wants him to get it up and down. He's just trying to win the tournament because he has to win. And then he got on the Brian Campbell, said it to me after the broadcast. He's like, man, I didn't know that my putt meant some guy that's not going to the PGA tour. Like, I didn't know it was that tight. And some guy got to go because I made it. So it, that was like a rough story because of Bennett's, you know, he's had so much success, USM champion. But look, there's so many, like Trevor Cone, another guy, I think he's, you know, no one really knows who he is, but he's a guy I think could possibly do some really cool stuff. As far as stories go, you know, pot getter living all over the world and being such a superstar at a young age. And, you know, I always like to say that he was the, you know, under 15 wrestling champion and that was kind of cool. And, you know, I've always wanted him this year on the Corn Free tour, maybe him and Kyle Westmore and, you know, in a cage match because right there you go, he was a combative instructor at the Air Force Academy. So, you know, and he's massive and the nicest guy ever bit. Look, there's just, you've got another Paul Peterson played on, I think, seven different tours. He's traveled to something like 200, 150 different countries or something. And he's been on six continents. And this guy just comes over here and gets his wins and gets his PGA tour card. You know, he's been through three or four passports. And so, yeah, there's, I'm sure there's some pretty cool stories that'll come out of it. And, you know, a lot of them's injury related where these guys haven't been heard of because, you know, if Steven Fiss coming out of college eight time winner, and then I didn't mention to, actually, this is a pretty cool story. The guy that won the Corn Free Tour Championships, you've got in the fact that he needed coming into the tournament to win. And he was, I'm trying to work out where he was on the points list. Braden Thornberry, 51 on the points list coming into the Corn Free Tour Championships, he had to win. And it came down to him getting up and down on the last hole. At that point, he was three shots, two shots back. So, we were like, yes, my giggle on the last. And then you got Zack Boshu with a couple holes remaining. He needed to finish top four. He was currently in the lead. And then, like I said, Doc Redman had to finish to win. And then those two guys drop out. Thornberry, who was once the number one amateur in the world, he won ten times in college. He finished fourth in Memphis as an amateur on the PGA Tour. Like this kid was supposed to be the prodigy. Then he's like playing all over the world. He gets a full card on the Corn Free Tour like five, six years later. And then he finishes fourth at Boise to get himself to this position to 51st and then goes out and wins this tournament to go to the PGA Tour. That's probably the more heartfelt story, you know, a guy that's touted to be one of the best in the world. And, you know, he comes out of college, everyone knows who he is. And then now he's on the PGA Tour nine years later, not one or two years later. So, yeah, there's always one guy that came in. So, yeah, this year we had one guy in and one guy out. And that guy was Thornberry. And obviously Bennett was a guy that left last year in the Corn Free Tour Championship. There was five guys in and five guys out. So it was just, you know, there was so much more on the line. But it was a really cool story. It's always sad to see someone miss. But, you know, it's always a really, you know, Bennett, he missed. But he kind of knew he was missing throughout the middle of his final round because he had to do so much work. So, you know, Goodwin gets his card hole in a 15 footer on the last pot getter, gets his card, getting up and down out of a bunker and then Thornberry gets it by winning the Corn Free Tour Championships. It was pretty cool. Yeah, that's all well said. Thornberry would be the guy that comes to mind of that heartfelt story. Guy was the number one and we're in the world. And I love the way how he plays the game. If he's a quick, you know, fast Twitch type of player, really good putter, interesting, unique golf swing. It's not quite like the modern player. It's very, you know, his way, which I think is going to be fun to watch for people to get to watch his game and to talk a little bit about Paul Peterson's played on six continents. And I was on a bus with him and Jakarta, Indonesia to play in the Indonesian open Paul Peterson. So I have a lot of respect for this guy because to go and play the professional game of golf all across the world, you know, being married, having kids and doing all that is impossible to do. And for him to find his way to the PGA Tour, the dream that he's probably had going to all of those different countries, wondering where he's going to end up in this game to achieve the goal of making it there. I think is the one that I have circled in hearted and you, you said it best there too. So I couldn't be more in agreement with you James on, on those two guys. So I think we're dialed in. I mean, I'm, I'm excited for, for these guys to see what they're made of at the Sony Open. I know it's going to be important for these guys to get off to hot starts because beginning of the year, it's challenging golf courses, windy conditions. And you'll see kind of in the summer, a lot of these players that get off to bad starts kind of get more on these corn fairy tour type of golf courses. And that's where you start to see maybe some of these guys that aren't quite fit for the PGA Tour golf courses, but you might see some of these players pick off a win in the summer. So all in all, again, James, I love doing this with you because you're so knowledgeable. You, you put in, you do your homework and it's incredible how, you know, you get to know these guys and you help us get to know them as well. And I know all the people that listen to this pod, I feel like they got a head start heading into this 2025 season and we, we appreciate you. Yeah, thanks. I'm always a lover of the corn fairy tour. If you listen to our broadcast, it's more about pumping the tires and the stories and really hoping for these guys to do as good as they can. And being objective when I can be, but it's really, it's just so fun learning about these, you know, really cool stories and superstars before anyone gets to see them. So yeah, get a little leg in the door then. It's just fun. I really enjoy it. So it's, it's not really study for me. It's, it's just a joy. Absolutely. And Charlie, you owe James a shooter, I believe. So I guess what to make that happen to. Scooter. Scooter. Scooter. I think you're a red shooter. That's like the line. We're just just, so pot gator, pot Gator. How we saying his last name? Yeah. So it's, look, it's, I just say pot Gator, pot Gator. It's like a, it's like a wheat, like geek top, but putt gator, you said it's fine. So yeah, okay. I'll just pot Gator, everyone's on the bandwagon. We're all pot heads going into 2025. Let's go. All right. Wow. And that's it's a fast and fancy bandwagon too. That thing is going to be flying around the corners. Oh man, I can't wait to watch these guys this year. They were the pot heads or yeah, we owe my man a beer. So our scooter, I should say. And yeah, James, thanks again, man. And look forward to talking to you next year to hear about the next crop. Awesome boys. Really enjoy it anytime. Support for this podcast comes from Progressive, a leader in RV insurance. We've all made RVing mistakes like not pest proofing the RV for winter, but there's one mistake you shouldn't make, not ensuring your travel trailer. Progressive RV insurance can protect your travel trailer when your auto or home insurance care. Get a quote at progressive.com. Progressive cash routine insurance company and affiliates. Between bad calls and intense rivalries, there's enough distress about on game day. Keep your mind on the field and off your body odor with Dove men plus care whole body deodorant available at Walmart. Dove men whole body deal provides all day order protection from your pits, privates to feed from pre game analysis to halftime insights to unexpected over times. Dove men whole body deal gives you confidence that lasts all day. Pick it up at your local Walmart. [BLANK_AUDIO]
Join Smylie Kaufman and Charlie Hulme on The Smylie Show as they welcome Korn Ferry Tour analyst James Nitties back on the show to break down the 2024 KFT graduating class!
