Ep43: The Open Analysed, The Ball Rollback & Bifurcation, & is Nick Leaving the Pod?!?

What a week. What a week!The Australian Open has been run and won, some wonderful performances across the weekend. Nick O'Hern and Mark Allen break it down and have a look at the incredible golf played, and whether the 'experiment' of 3 tournaments in one worked. Nick was there commentating, and has the inside word on how it went.A wonderful win from Joaquin Niemann in the mens, who was impressive all weekend. And Ash Buhai with a fantastic performance to go back to back. The conditions were tough, particularly on Sunday, and Nick talks us through what he saw. Minjee Lee and Min Woo Lee finished 2nd and 3rd respectively, couldn't quite get over the line - although Minjee's performance on Sunday was exceptional. Min Woo was excellent, and Mark calls him a lock for a major next year.Both Nick and Mark have a couple of concerns about the structure of the tournament and the vagaries that it tossed up. Mark believes that the national tournament has to be fair, and both Nick and Mark feel there are some lessons to be taken from this year; Adam Scott may have been disadvantaged by the Udraw. Nick and Mark discuss what happened to Scotty on the 7th hole and our man, rules official Stuart McPhee, was the guy who made the ruling - and he told Nick the background to his call.We get a voicemail from Michael who is concerned about the proposed rules to roll back the ball. Nick and Mark both have strong views and discuss at length.Tiger Woods played in the Bahamas at the weekend, Nick saw none of it, Mark saw a fair bit and has some observations on how Tiger is going.As usual lots of feedback, and a bunch of questions for Nick and Mark - we love them, so keep them coming.We give Scott a call who has a couple of questions and comments for Nick and Mark, he went to the PGA in Brisbane and has a question about what he saw. He also a suggestion for Nick regarding a potential new job....could be awkward.Nick takes us around the world with the PING global results, and there's a lot to like this week. A great Top 5 this week from Mark, he looks at some of the greatest playoff performances in history. Mark may poke the bear a bit by bringing up one of Nick's most lamented moments. And for the second week in a row we have a Masterclass inspired by Min Woo Lee, this time from Nick, hitting out of a dodgy lie.Talk Birdie To Me, new episodes weekly wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and you'll never miss an episode! We'd love you to share the podcast with them, and if you can rate and review us wherever you get your podcasts that would be great.Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok, or send a voicemail to us here.We're live from Titleist and FootJoy HQ thanks to our great partners:Hostplus, Talk Birdie To Me's official retirement partnerBMW, luxury and comfort for the 19th hole;Titleist, the #1 ball in golf;FootJoy, the #1 shoe and glove in golf;Golf Clearance Outlet, they beat everyone's prices;Betr, the fastest and easiest betting app in Australia;The Find My Player app - follow every player on every tour;And Southern Golf Club. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.