Kudos to all of you reading this right now. The Ryder Cup is over, the FedExCup is over, the 2017-2018 PGA Tour season is over, but you’re here. You’ll be rewarded too! This is going to be a disorganized newsletter with a lot of off-the-cuff takes and lots of random golf talk. The Cubs are playing the Rockies right now and I’m nervous as hell, hopefully I can stay focused. Here we go!

Best Tournament of the Year?

The Alfred Dunhill Links Championship gets underway in Scotland this weekend. Unlike the FedExCup, the Race to Dubai does not end until November and there is a lot of golf left to be played on the European Tour.

Big names like Brooks Koepka, Tommy Fleetwood, Tony Finau, Matt Kuchar, Tyrell Hatton and Louis Oosthuizen are all in the field this week. They will play the Old Course at St. Andrews, Kingsbarns and Carnoustie before playing the final round at the Old Course. Don’t worry, there will be plenty of coverage on Golf Channel in the mornings. Tee Times

Can Phil Break 80?

Believe it or not, the PGA Tour starts tomorrow. There was legitimately no offseason, but it’s a capitalist world and Big Grocery wants to make some money.

Anyway, The Safeway Open gets underway in Napa this weekend. The field is mainly comprised of young players and guys who finished low on the FedExCup points list last season. Oh and Phil Mickelson. He has played 5 events in 6 weeks but might as well play one more. He played like garbage last week in France, so we’ll see if this becomes a complete dumpster fire.

Two time defending champion Brendan Steele is also in the field and looks to complete the trifecta. Tee Times

Paulie’s Picks

A new season brings new strategy for one and done leagues. Check out Paulie’s one and done and daily fantasy picks HERE.

The Most Interesting Event in Golf?

While the Dunhill Links Championship is an outstanding event, the UL International Crown is definitely the most interesting of the weekend. This event was designed by the LPGA Tour to provide a way for their players to represent their countries. So many of the LPGA’s strongest players do not get to participate in the Solheim Cup (because they aren’t from Europe or the USA), and this event provides a great opportunity to wear their country’s flag. The event will take place in South Korea, a country that is exploding in the world of women’s golf.

The 8 teams participating this week are Korea, USA, Japan, England, Australia, Thailand, Sweden, and Chinese Taipei. Meet the teams.

Speaking of Crowns

How cool is this story? Ashley Gilliam, a future Mississippi State player, has achieved the triple crown of USGA events for women’s golf. The high school senior has already made it to match play at the U.S. Women’s Amateur and U.S. Women’s Junior Amateur, and on Monday qualified for the U.S. Women’s Four Ball. That’s dope.

Shotgun Start: Premium American Beef: DJ-Koepka and a Reed response

Andy and Brendan dissect all the Ryder Cup drama, which grows and expands with each passing day. They dive into the anonymous response calling Pat Reed “full of shit,” take a guess at who may be the source, and then go through Koepka-DJ tussling. The try to assess what it means and where we go from here. Finally, PGA Tour fantasy ace Paulie joins with a few names for the Safeway Open. Listen on iTunesStitcher or Spotify.

Campus Update

It’s been a while since we talked college golf, so let’s hum a few bars.

Duke, Northwestern, and Kansas all won events with really strong fields on Tuesday. Duke’s performance was the most impressive as they bested Texas, Clemson, Oklahoma, Stanford, USC, Wake Forest, and Vanderbilt to win the Nike Golf Collegiate Invite at Colonial Country Club. The Blue Devils now have two victories, a runner-up, and a 3rd place finish in four fall events this season. Chandler Eaton has a victory and two other top 10s so far. He and Alex Smalley are leading the way so far and will definitely be a factor come NCAA Championship time.

Quick Hooks

A New York Post article has shed more light on Patrick Reed’s Ryder Cup comments. A source inside the team room said “he’s full of shit.” Story