Mastes Final Round Recap: Kick Point Tour Issue
In this episode, Baz and Joe discuss Rory McIlroy's historic achievement - becoming only the fourth person to successfully defend the Green Jacket. They also cover Cameron Young's Major chances, Scottie Scheffler's Grand Slam hopes, Justin Rose's challenge and plenty more.
Video Transcript
Hello, and welcome to the final installment of our Kick Point Tour Issue 2026 Masters Specials.
The first three days had all the characteristics of a great major tournament, with a strong and relatively tight leaderboard.
But Must- Masters Sunday also delivered once again with plenty of jeopardy, drama, and a touch of magic from Rory McIlroy.
Joe, it's all over, mate, but we got a worthy winner in the end.
We did.
I still, even this morning, don't know what to make of what I just watched, for four days there.
It was one of the strangest major championships I think I've ever watched.
It started out as a procession.
It turned into a mini collapse.
Ultimately, did it become a story of resilience maybe?
I, I don't know.
At the start, we had no one tipping the likes of Scottie and Rory, saying they're out of form and blah, blah, blah, saying it was the most wide open Masters of all time, and we've ended up with the world number one, two, and three, essentially in first, second, and third, which I don't think has ever been done before.
It was a wildly entertaining week, and there's loads to get stuck into, isn't there?
Yeah, absolutely.
And, you know, history being made sort of left, right, and center, which I'm sure we'll, we'll cover shortly.
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Joe, we've started every single episode this week with Rory McIlroy, and perhaps that's because he's one of just four players in the last 40 years to at least share a lead wire- of every round, wire to wire.
So, you know, he had that impressive start, played really well on Friday.
Obviously, dropped the ball a little bit on Saturday.
Was really resilient in his comeback on Sunday.
But he's been there at the top of the leaderboard in at least a share every single round all the way through the tournament.
Does that speak to, obviously, the, the natural turbulence that we sometimes expect with Rory, and maybe a little bit that we sort of- that sort of endears us to him, but does it speak to his incredible resilience and the, the sort of amazing master champion, the amazing major champion that he is?
Yeah.
I, as I said in my sort of intro bit, I still don't know what to make of the whole tournament, and I certainly still don't know what to make of Rory's performance.
The, the first couple of days it, it was so confusing because we, we've covered this.
He was, he was all over the map with driver.
Self-proclaimed wasn't hitting his irons particularly well.
His short game was absolutely sensational.
It took him into a, into a s- historic six-shot lead without really having anywhere close to his best stuff.
So you just didn't quite know what to make of it.
We were thinking, you know, "Well, this is great," 'cause if he clicks into gear, he could lap the field.
However, could things catch up with him?
And they did.
I, I just think he did an incredible job overnight on Saturday when he said he spent some time at the range, figured some stuff out and, hey, like I said, I am not a swing guy at all, but he, in his press conference, said pretty much exactly what I was saying.
He, he was stuck inside.
It was coming too far from the inside, so he was hitting high rights and low lefts, and he just tried to neutralize that, and he did.
He, he hit it a lot, lot better on Sunday in patches, but just, just so difficult to grade what his performance was there.
At some points he had his absolute A game.
He hit some unbelievable shots in some crucial, crucial moments, like the t- the tee shot on 12 yesterday and, and to follow it up with a lovely little left to right putt.
To stand up under the pressure with the scar tissue he's got on the 13th tee, from years back and just wellie one with a little draw to put him comfortably in range of the green in two and make that seeming, you know, relatively straightforward as a four and take a bit of pressure off there.
Absolutely fantastic.
But as we- you alluded to, and we get with Rory, some pretty iffy shots still that he didn't quite, you know, he hadn't quite straightened out overnight, be it that tee shot on the fourth that he sort of double crossed left of the trap that led to his double bogey.
You know, th- and, and some down the stretch, which I'm gonna get to in a little bit.
It, it was a baffling performance, but ultimately he came out on top.
And to have the ability to I, I had it netted out at about a B-minus performance for him.
Like I said, some of his A stuff, some of his frankly D or F stuff, I thought it netted out around a B-minus.
What a, an absolute joy it must be to be able to win and defend a green jacket with your B-minus game.
Yeah, absolutely.
And we said, didn't we, over the weekend that he needed to start to improve off the tee, and he needed to sort of sharpen that area of his game up, in order to continue to contend around Augusta because he was, he was having to try and be very creative with the rest of his game to sort of save the- himself from the positions he'd put himself in.
And, and that happened, on Sunday.
He lost a little bit of distance in terms of, the driving distance averages, but he, massively improved his accuracy.
It was the best performance in terms of his accuracy of the whole week.
And actually every single round improved marginally towards Sunday.
So There was, like you said, clearly a shift on Sunday to be, more focused on that area of his game in, in trying to, sort of put his best foot forwards towards a green jacket, and, and obviously that clearly worked for him.
But interestingly, if you look at his tournament stats throughout the week, I mean, it was absolutely incredible if you look at the overall performance.
Ranked strokes gained second around the green, ranked strokes gained third tee to green, strokes gained first obviously for total, but his putting was also in the top 20.
There wasn't a weak area of his game if you look at every other element apart from driving accuracy, where he ranked 52nd.
And if he continues to play that level of golf for the rest of the year, this isn't gonna be the first time or last time-- Well, it will be the first.
It won't be the last time that we're talking about Rory McIlroy in 2026.
Yeah.
I, I'd exercise a little bit of caution there.
We, we see it so much ti- so, so often in the media, and, and I'm guilty of it, we're all guilty of it.
Someone wins, and you look at it, and you assume that's how it's gonna be for forever.
We, we all have this massive recency bias.
We did it last year with Rory.
Wow, he's got that monkey off his back.
The Grand Slam's done.
I can't see him not winning every major this year.
He could complete the Grand Slam this year.
We were, you know, pe-pe-people were saying, last, last time around.
It's, it's purely gonna be a question of his motivation and can he keep up the sort of desperate desire to, to do what it takes to put himself in these positions.
It seems like he probably does, you know, looking at what we've just, what we've just seen there.
But yeah, it'll be a fascinating, fascinating watch, for the rest of the year to see how this does transpire.
But yeah, I don't know.
It's, I, I don't wanna put any sort of downer on what is an unbelievable achievement, and this comes from a place of being one of the biggest McIlroy fans ever.
But I honestly don't know that I've ever seen someone with so much talent find the act of winning so very difficult, which sounds a little bit stupid given how much he's won.
But I mean, take the last two years, for example, coming down the stretch.
We, we, we're not gonna relitigate last year, but you know, the pitch on 13, the dunching the wedge shot into the bunker on 18, like just making it incredibly difficult for himself.
This year, you know, we, we looked down.
He, he almost seems to hit the wor- the worst possible shot in almost any pressure situation and seems to somehow get himself out of it.
So, you know, tournament in his hands, three ahead, 15th tee, big old push slice into the b- into the, into the trees to put himself under a lot of pressure there.
Ultimately got it out.
Iffy wedge shot, decent two putt.
16, easiest pin on the, on the hole, just wang it up the right, let that little bank turn it around.
Really easy for me to say sat here, isn't it?
But adrenaline whops it over the back of the green and sets himself up with a horrendous 30-foot breaking two putt, which he coped with incredibly well.
But again, just put himself in an unbelievably unnecessary under in- enormous pressure.
17th, gets it in play, 150 yards, just wang it 20 foot left of the pin, Rory.
No, comes out of it, misses it right, down the bank, leaves himself with a horrible chip shot under that pressure.
Made it look incredibly easy, but again, just should not have been there.
Right, great, we're over.
Two-shot lead, heading up the last, just cozy it down there, make yourself Big carve into the trees.
No idea whether you're gonna be in a bush, blocked out, penalty drop.
I, I've never, I've never seen anything like it.
And when you compare it, and it's very regular, and when you compare that to the way, a, a, a Tiger used to close out tournaments.
L- think back to 2019, you know, the ultimate in composure.
Let everyone just flit, fritter shots away into the pond on 12, hit the middle of greens, strategically just plod it up the l- like he just Y- you never doubt for a second he's gonna get it done.
Think of Scottie's couple of wins.
He, the right shots in the right situation.
He doesn't do that.
It's part of why we all love him and where we go on this sort of emotional rollercoaster with him, because maybe it's a little bit more relatable than, than the sort of robotic way some of these other players finish.
But it does just make you wonder, or maybe it doesn't, but it makes me wonder.
There's an argument that he's arguably more talented than any of the players I've just mentioned, maybe even including Nicklaus.
But if, if he had what they have in terms of the, the, the, the closer mentality of a, of a Tiger, a Nicklaus, even Scheffler, doesn't that make you wonder how many he'd have stacked up?
Yeah, and thankfully he did manage to get over the line despite all of the trials and tribulations, throughout the tournament actually for him.
And he becomes only the fourth man to defend the green jacket.
So a huge congratulations to Rory McIlroy.
One player who was in hot pursuit, but for me still sort of really felt like he never got going on Sunday, which was odd to say because he was still very, very good.
You know, he didn't make a single bogey over the weekend at Augusta National.
Scottie Scheffler is the first player to do that since World War II, I believe.
And, he's finished one shot back.
Could easily have put a lot of pressure on McIlroy to close out if he'd have made a few putts coming in.
What did you make of Scottie Scheffler's performance this week, Joe?
Yeah.
Second round obviously sort of cost him dear.
It was one of the, um- The sort of easier days, really, he alluded to when he was speaking afterwards.
That, that's what sort of put paid to his chances this week, starting the weekend 12 back.
You're not seriously, thinking you're probably in, in with a shout there.
He, he put himself in with a shout with an incredible Saturday round and obviously Rory coming back to the field a little bit there.
And I think, I honestly think it was, it was a little, two shots in the end, but it, it could have been even more.
I mean, there was a putt on 17, hit another great shot into where I thought Rory should just plonk it, just left of the stick.
Again, very easy for me to say.
And the putt just, I, I, still very difficult to see how it missed and just hovered on that left lip.
You know, that goes in, get to 11 under, who, who knows?
And then the, the wedge shot up at, at 18 was just a fraction short and span off, but he, he even gave the chip a good go at, at going in.
I think it was a, a very impressive performance over the weekend from Scheffler.
Some ominous signs for people who, including myself, who were, who were sort of expressing some doubts over his form.
I think personally, he, he must have a real heavy focus on, on the US Open because he's got a Grand Slam of himself to, to, to ach- to achieve, and he can do that in significantly less time than, than it took Rory to do so.
So I'd say that's gonna be a really interesting week when the US Open rolls around.
Yeah, I would 100% agree.
I was just about to, to mention that as well, Joe.
I think that the If you said, you know, "Can you see Scottie Scheffler being in the final group at the US Open this year?"
I think most people would agree that that is very, very likely to happen.
He's got the perfect game for a US Open style venue, and if he continues to improve, you know, from a few sort of stumbles at the start of the season, then, you know, we could be looking at another entry to that sort of pool of legends that have the career Grand Slam.
His, his game this week was, was really consistent actually across the board, but his putter, was statistically the weakest area of his game.
But as you mentioned on previous shows, obviously there was a lot of putts that he left an inch, that, that, that by all accounts should have gone in and, and sort of I think it's hard to overanalyze-- It's easy, sorry, to overanalyze Scottie, when really he played some pretty phenomi- phenomenal golf over the weekend.
He was just a birdie, a birdie shy of a playoff, a couple of birdies shy of a win, which on another occasion, if he'd have played those two rounds again, you know, he, he may well have, have had the, the legs to get over the line.
But I think what we, as you mentioned already at the start, what we, what we can say is this, this Masters Tournament really did allow the sort of the best players in the world to, to show their stuff because the, the, the world rankings, you can see one, two, three.
It just shows you, doesn't it, that the Masters really does bring the best out of the best players in the world.
Yeah.
Something I, I've not seen before.
I sort of chucked it on our work group chat last night and, sort of saying, "Has anyone Has this ever happened in a major?
Has anyone ever finished one, two, three in, in, in a tournament that's first, second and third in the world rankings?"
And the closest we sort of came up with was 2002, where I think it was Woods, Mickelson and Goosen were top three, and, and I think they were one, two and four in the world maybe, and Els was fifth, but he was third in the world.
So yeah, it was pretty, pretty close to that.
And I think, yeah, just absolute testament to the examination that that tournament and that golf course provides.
You are not faking it around there.
You It, it really seems to identify time after time the very best players who can perform under the most sort of tightrope of circumstances, the fine line that Augusta produces between good and bad shots.
It's very difficult to, to fake that.
I don't wanna pile on like a, a, a Hao Tong Li, but ultimately, if your skill set and your mentality isn't quite up to the level that your Rory's, your, your Cam Young's, your Scottie Scheffler's is, it has a funny way of finding out, doesn't it?
Yeah, it absolutely does.
But let's, let's get onto that world number three then.
Cam Young, we both said that we thought he had a, he had a great chance and probably one of the strongest chances to go and take the green jacket after round three.
But we also caveated that with saying, you know, it's hard to, to win a major and, you know, it's something he's not done before.
And it did prove in that final round that maybe it was one step too soon for him at this point, based on sort of his final round performance.
But having said that, where do you see him getting over the line in major championships?
And can you see that being this year with the makeup of, the venues that we've still got to play across the course of 2026?
Don't know, Baz.
The performance yesterday, far from disastrous, just didn't really put any pressure on McIlroy later in the round.
He had plenty of opportunities again.
He was hitting some good shots.
Had some pretty makeable birdie putts, none of which seemed to wanna drop.
And another day, two of those do, and you go into a playoff and, and jobs are good.
And so it, it's just such a, such an incredibly fine line, tournament golf at that level.
So it's really difficult to analyze that.
Clearly, his game's in great nick.
The confidence of recent wins and including obviously a very big one of the players put him in the position where he clearly felt he could go and win.
He didn't, but ne- so neither did 90 other players this week.
Um- So really difficult to judge.
He, he I could see USPGA.
Do I see him going particularly well at Birkdale?
Not sure.
But he's got that kind of all-round game that, yeah, feels like it could suit anywhere, I think.
He-- Don't, I don't know if I'm completely convinced yet that he's top, top tier.
He's clearly very, very good, but does he belong in that conversation alongside your Rorys and your Schefflers just yet?
Remains to be seen, but every chance.
Yeah.
And you, you know, Joe, from, my betting background, I'm always gonna rely sort of heavily on what the numbers are telling me, despite the fact that you, you've obviously mentioned a few times that they can tell us a slightly different story to, perhaps the one that they're painting in front of me.
But I mean, the, the consistency, as you mentioned, is, is incredible there.
He, he really is a player who has got everything, and I can see, him potentially contending.
I mean, I will be looking very closely at him for the PGA Championship.
I think that's the sort of major which really suits the profile of, of the player that he is, and I could easily see, far more easily than I could have seen him wearing a green jacket s- at this point of his career.
I can easily see him, contending and potentially winning, the PGA Championship, as we come around to the next major.
So that will be something that we'll be looking at heavily in our betting previews, and following his form between now and then, because obviously a lot can change in the world of professional golf.
But one player who will be, I'm, I'm sure, I mean, he, he's got to be kicking himself.
He was in contention once again.
He's maybe running out of chances to get this green jacket.
Justin Rose, when he made the turn and took that two-shot lead, heading into 11, I thought to myself, "This is it.
It's happening."
I was ready to, to, to, to get into party mode and, and say, you know, this could be one of the greatest outcomes that I've seen in the Masters since last year when Rory won it.
But, he, he didn't play Amen Corner well.
And I feel that that, that performance on 11, while it wasn't horrendous, it seemed to get in his head a little bit going into 12.
And standing on 12 tee, I had, I just had no confidence that that was gonna end in anything other than a bit of disaster really.
The writing seemed to be on the wall, and despite him really trying hard to fight back down the stretch, as you mentioned in the previous episodes, maybe he just wanted it a bit too much.
That's ultimately where, where I net out.
I thought it was a strange old week for, for Rose.
Played some brilliant golf.
His game is in really fine shape.
But really unusually for him, I thought he was out in his own way mentally a bit.
And he, he, he's very out of character in terms of his demeanor.
I said this to you a couple of times already.
He was berating himself quite a lot, sort of slapping himself on the thigh, a lot of sort of letting out the odd expletive here and there.
Just really very clearly showing that he was desperate for it.
And when you get desperate, and you're pushing, and you're forcing and things like that, it, it very often doesn't go well at, at any level of golf.
There was all this sort of double-checking going on with the caddy.
He did it on the 10th.
You know, he was over it ready to hit.
"Are you sure about this club?"
"Yep, we're sure, Justin.
Hit it."
Same again on the 11th.
Backed off it, checking again.
"Are we happy with this?"
"Yeah, we're, we're happy with this.
We've been through this."
and there was a huge sort of massive let out scream on the 17th when he, when he carved it into the right.
Just really, really unusual for Rose, one of the most composed and calm players you'll ever see.
And just saw it time and time again this week.
Augusta's in his head.
He- time is not on his side, and you could see the sort of behavior of a man that was so desperate to win.
And at, at the point where you were talking coming off 11, I, I thought I was gonna absolutely have to eat my words.
I did sort of caveat it yesterday and say I could be completely wrong.
Maybe this sort of desperation and this extra edge is exactly what he's needed to get over the line.
Ultimately, it didn't prove that way yesterday, and it just, you know, it's difficult to, to fully explain it.
11, I wasn't too worried.
I think there's so many people, it's just such a difficult hole.
It's such a When you've got a two-shot lead there, the, the sort of little flail out to the right with the approach shot, fully expected.
Relatively conservative with the chip 'cause you don't wanna get that running away from you towards the water and just, just missed a whatever it was, seven or eight-foot putt.
That happens.
That didn't worry me too much.
But the, the sort of way the chip shot on 12 was, again, the, the sort of speed he played it, the speed he was moving, he, he just looked like he was really out of his normal rhythm and out of control.
And 13 for me was just indicative of what I'm saying here.
That's what can happen when you're just trying so very hard to force the issue.
He, he hit a brilliant approach shot, nearly hit the stick, and then, you know, has he seen a green jacket in his eyes?
Has he seen glory?
He's just battered this first putt seven foot past and missed the return.
Chance gone there, and I think that's, we see that a lot when people are just desperate and forcing things.
A putt like that, he's just trying to force it and will it into the hole.
Clearly wasn't the time for that.
I mean, obviously I'd be saying a completely different thing had that rattled off the back of the cup and in for an eagle to back to 12 under, but it didn't.
So yeah, bit of a shame for Rose.
Time is running out.
Um- Could it just make it even sweeter next year if he gets it done?
Who knows?
We'll see, Barry.
Well, I think we can, we can agree he'll probably be in contention again based on his recent record.
So, same time again next year, Mr. Rose.
One other player who seemed to decide he wanted to get into the party late was Tyrrell Hatton.
He's been, he's been a great watch in the majors over the past few.
Obviously, he was close at the US Open.
He, was 16th at the Open Championship to follow up, and then has obviously gone and done this at the Masters with a sort of a backdoor climb up the leaderboard.
But, you know, at one point looked like he needed to sort of stay relatively loose just in case, with, with 10 under par in the clubhouse.
What, what does Tyrrell need to do?
'Cause we've been in this situation so many times with him where he's just been one or two short.
What does he need to do to win a major?
Because he's clearly got the talent and the ability to be able to do so.
Pure circumstances for me.
When you're-- I, I think we, we, we can sometimes get a little bit carried away than we do with your, your Hattons, your Fleetwoods, your Fitzpatricks of the world.
Really great players, really excellent golfers, win a lot of tournaments, high-level players, but they're simply not as good as Rory, as Scotty.
They don't have the, the distance control that Scheffler does.
They don't have the extra gears that Rory does.
And you can say everything you like, statistically and about performances in majors and stuff, but ultimately it's like going into a boxing match, and if the bloke in front of you is just way bigger than you and is gonna hit you really hard, you've got to do some really clever stuff to, to kinda get round that.
So there, there will be chances because Rory and Scotty don't play well every week.
But to me, the way I view it, the sort of the, the next tier are relying on a couple of people not playing well for a start, and then you're battling around 20 players that are, that are kind of at a very similar level to you.
So I don't know what he can do.
He's not gonna all of a sudden put on 30 yards because he's not the world's longest hitter.
He's got a different skill set to that.
People will say he needs to maybe check his attitude and keep his, keep his temper in check a little bit more to contend in major championships.
I don't see that.
I think part of, part of his makeup is that sort of fire and an edge that he's got.
Y- y- just the way golf is, we wanna sort of make sense of everything, but I think sometimes people just stumble into a major.
J.J. Spaun stumbled into a major last year.
We see it all the time that not necessarily the best player wins.
They don't have to do much different.
Circumstances.
Golf's just such a random sport.
The right course, the right day, the right draw, the right weather, the right bounce.
You've just gotta keep putting yourself there and ultimately you'll fall across the line at some point potentially.
Yeah.
Well, one thing is for sure, when he does eventually get over the line, I will be absolutely overjoyed 'cause I think he's a, a fantastic, person to have in the game.
I love his attitude and approach, and I know that sometimes draws some criticism from other people, but I feel it's quite refreshing and, I for one will be very pleased if he does manage to get over the line in one of these big events.
But we know, speaking of frustrations, that, Augusta National can, can do that to you.
It can sort of lead you to become overly frustrated.
It can lead you to, make some, decisions which you might not make elsewhere.
And we sort of saw that from Sergio Garcia this week, Joe.
So talk to us a little bit about, Sergio Garcia's week at the Masters.
Yeah, you're being very kind there with, your phraseology of how very frustrating can make you do things you wouldn't ordinarily do.
I don't know that's the case that's applicable to Sergio because we see it a lot.
I don't really wanna spend that much time on it, as I don't wanna sully one of the funnest Masters in years by sort of over-litigating this kind of petulance.
But I'll, I'll just say this, I've been a big fan of Garcia for, in terms of his game, for, for years, but his behavior yesterday was nothing short of embarrassing, particularly for a man of his age.
And sadly, it's absolutely nothing new for him at all.
It's become very consistent with his character and conduct over the past few years.
The level of disrespect that he showed for a course that, let's not forget, he's a member of, coupled with the sort of defiant disdain and arrogance that he showed what was a very respectful me- post, sort of post-round media, which I've had some personal experience of within myself, funnily enough.
I just think there's every chance the green jackets might well get in touch and let him know he's not welcome back.
And I don't think that too many of us would have masses of sympathy for him nowadays because it's been-- it's not an isolated incident in terms of this, this petulance and level of behavior that's, not great to see.
And when you juxtapose that with what we saw, what we saw from him yesterday with the image of Hideki's caddy literally bowing with humility and respect to the golf course when, when Hideki won, it's really not difficult to see why, in my opinion, he's sort of setting fire to his legacy and, and losing fans by the day.
And yeah, real shame.
Sad to see, but that's where I am on it.
Yeah.
And you know, it- these sorts of the week, weeks highlight, don't they, that, you know, conducting yourself with, an element of decorum and, the right etiquette and, you know, th- this is one of the most historic and traditional events on our golfing calendar.
It's a You know, one of the golf courses which most people consider to be, you know, heaven on earth.
And, and to see behavior on that stage, in keeping with what we've seen from Garcia this week, it is troubling because, you know, if there's a week where you are gonna put yourself in the, in, in, in a positive light in, in showing your best qualities on a golf course, you'd think it would want to be at Augusta National, but sadly, that wasn't the case.
If we move away from, as you mentioned, sort of that type of conversation back towards what, as we said, was an incredibly fun week at the Masters.
It was very fun for Haotong for, for quite a lot of the week.
He managed to get into one of the final groups with Scottie Scheffler, a pairing which he will have been comfortable with because he's done that before at the, Open Championship.
But, it, it didn't go well for him in the final round.
Is, is that just what Augusta National can do to you?
I guess so, yeah.
Having not, having not competed in the Masters myself, we, we do see it a lot though from players who maybe are exceeding their level for a period of time.
It, it does have a A- and I don't mean that in any disrespectful way.
He's clearly a great player, but he, that, that was kind of rarefied air for him.
But, I mean, talk about someone who's handling that in a, in the right way.
He, I don't know if you saw his social media post he put of him up sort of, up in the, in the bushes on 13, comparing it with, with another picture from a famous film.
That was really funny.
And yeah, it, it's just one of those, it's, there's the, the, the ultimate mental test, that golf course.
If you, if you let your guard slip for just a second, couple of bad swipes, things can get away from you.
I mean, he got away heavily with a 10 down the, down the 13th, which And I think ultimately finished with an 80, didn't he?
So he's, he's spent an awful lot of money there, and unfortunately, I don't think he's finished in the positions where he gets an automatic invite back.
So if we wanna see more sort of Haotong fun next year, he's gonna have to, he's gonna have to earn it another way.
Yeah, he is.
And I've, I came out on the podcast very early this year and said that I can see, I can quite easily see Haotong Li winning a, an alternate field or maybe weaker field PGA Tour event this year and, and, and s- you know, securing his PGA Tour stuff for longer than he is, but also potentially getting himself into some more majors because he's got un- undeniable talent, and he's great for the game.
He's got a great sense of humor.
You know, I think people around the world who haven't seen much of Haotong Li will start to, appreciate the, just the nice guy, the, the positive impact that he is for the game.
And obviously, having seen him quite a lot on the DP World Tour, we also know that he's, he's incredibly talented.
So I'm sure he will brush off this 80, and, and move on quite quickly, as hopefully will, the likes of, Shane Lowry, who also didn't have a, a great final round, among others.
Joe, the Masters is now behind us, and we need to look ahead now to the rest of the majors for 2026.
What would you say if you could pick sort of a, a major hope for 2026, maybe a player to win one of the events or, something to happen across those, those three remaining majors in the men's professional game?
What would it be?
I'll give you Right, I'll give you two sensible and one ridiculous.
I would love to see Scottie Scheffler get the Grand Slam done.
I think that'd be really fascinating to have two active players waltzing around as, as Grand Slam champions.
I think that could spark a, a rivalry that could, that could last for a number of years, seeing those two going head-to-head and, and, and flexing their majors at one another.
I would absolutely love to see that.
I'd also love to see Tommy Fleetwood win his home open at Birkdale, essentially just around the corner from where he grew up.
I think that could be an absolutely Shane Lowry at Portrush-esque story.
That'd be absolutely beautiful to see.
That's something I really am very, very hopeful of, and I think as much as Scheffler will be earmarking that US Open, I think Tommy will have a big fat circle around the, the Open Championship at Birkdale this year.
So I'm really hoping he's in good form going into that.
Finally, the USPGA, frankly, Barry, I couldn't give a monkeys.
I would like to see them go, "Yeah, sorry, we're not a major.
Let's make the Australian Open a major.
Let's make the Players a major."
What- whatever it is.
I It's not one I sit and enjoy particularly very much.
It just feels like a glorified tour event to me.
So for all I care, Haotong Li can win that one, Barry.
Oh, wouldn't that be nice?
Yeah, okay.
I, I'm, I'm sort of somewhat inclined to agree with you on the, the PGA Championship, but that's perhaps a debate for another day.
Tommy Fleetwood, you've stolen mine.
You know, I think we'd all love to see him win the Open Championship, especially on, on pretty much sort of his home, home patch.
But the, the other player I'd love to see get over the line in the majors this year is Viktor Hovland.
He had a fantastic final round at the Masters.
I think if he can string his best stuff together for four rounds, he's gonna be well in contention.
Him doing that is proving to be a struggle at this moment in time, but I've no doubt, with, with his personality and the way that he looks at the game, that will come.
And hopefully it will be in 2026.
The only thing that's left to say is a huge thank you to our sponsors this week, Callaway, and, to say thank you to you, Joe, for your company over the last four days.
I hope, you've enjoyed it as much as I have, and, we will, I'm sure, be chatting again as soon as, we get back into the thick of the PGA Tour action.
Been a lot of fun.
Thank you, Barry.
Go on, Rory.
Yeah, well done, Mr McIlroy.
Take care.
Bye-bye.
