As I’m writing this, I’m in a pitch black hotel room in Moline, IL. Riedel is passed out in the bed to my left. Billie Eilish humming through my headphones, just the right vibe to jot a few notes down. It’s 11 pm. We’ve got a 6 am practice round tomorrow. Welcome to life on Tour.
Rocket Classic
The boys finished T26 in Detroit last week. A much-needed finish for morale — or for any of you Chadgoesdeep fans, our Stoke was boosted.
On a more serious note, Detroit Golf Club was awesome. The greens were immaculate. The design of the course was fun — a few challenging holes paired with tons of birdie opportunities if you drove the ball well. The crowds were electric, and the Detroit fans showed out.
It all culminated in Riedel birdieing 4 out of the final 5 to climb up the board. Instead of a deflating T50 finish, he dug in. It’s not easy to lock in and handle business on a day when it feels like every bounce is going against you. But that’s exactly what he did. #proud
A Long Car Ride
What do you do when you finish the Rocket Classic? Most normal people would hop on a flight — a fantastic excuse to bury yourself in a screen and drown out the world with headphones.
But us? We grabbed a rental car and made the six-hour trek across the Midwest to the Quad Cities. Because when you’ve spent every waking second with each other over an entire week, what’s an extra six hours?
We made a pit stop in Ann Arbor for dinner at Zingerman’s, a University of Michigan institution. A distractingly beautiful mess of a menu — and a sandwich that would rival any I’ve ever tried. Shout-out to Josie for the rec (she’ll never read this), 9.0 Beli score for those that keep score. Then we washed down our sammies with an abundance of caffeine at the coffee shop next door. Finally, we were off again.
There is something about a road trip with an old friend. The conversation flows. And meanders. The silences aren’t awkward. The vibes: consistent. We covered golf, relationships, friends, family, and of course, the Rockets. We listened to Big Cat, Simmons, Rogan, and Gladwell. Kendrick and Gracie Abrams. Taylor and Kanye. Electric Love and Electric Feel. From Michigan to Indiana to Illinois to (not quite) Iowa.
And at some point late in the night, we arrived at our hotel overlooking the Mississippi River.
It’s moments like these that make me smile. The long car rides. The winding conversations. The journey.
John Deere Thoughts
The golf course is good. Greens are smooth. The rough is thicccc. The back nine is #sick. This golf course is 10x more hilly than I thought it would be. Another prime example of a (seemingly) throw-away tournament on a delightful golf course. Good job, PGA Tour.
We have absolutely no clue where to start when trying to diagnose what is going on in the Quad Cities. What are the Quad Cities? Where are the Quad Cities? Are there even four cities? Is this a town-sized city? Or is this a city-sized town? We have no idea. The only thing I’m sure of: the Mississippi River is extremely underrated, and watching the sun set on it is ten out of ten.
Sock Intel
The most popular pair of socks that I own? The Heart Eyes Smiley (on sale below). Take that however you’d like, but they are a fan favorite (and a Murda favorite as well).
Peace,
Drew Murdock aka Murda
