Speaker 1: Welcome back to the fire Drill. Uh. First of all,
Speaker 1: I do want to talk about the grind. We cover
Speaker 1: it in the first part of this is of the podcast.
Speaker 1: It is our baby at the fire Pit. UM. Thank
Speaker 1: you to golf Tech for all their support from making
Speaker 1: this happen behind the scenes with golfers chasing their dream
Speaker 1: anything but millionaires. It's uh, we're super proud of it,
Speaker 1: and uh we go into it. So I won't cover
Speaker 1: it anymore. Just watch it, go to our YouTube channel,
Speaker 1: like subscribe, do those things. Uh. We're super happy about it,
Speaker 1: proud of it, and it'll start tomorrow. UM. And we
Speaker 1: covered in the first part of the podcast. We talked
Speaker 1: John rom obviously, I told the Davis Thompson story from
Speaker 1: the Barracuda. We talked about Drew Love Uh, we talked
Speaker 1: about the c W. We talked about Dawson's Creek. There's
Speaker 1: a couple of great stories. A great story about Claude
Speaker 1: Harmon that Michael has um, a great story about VG
Speaker 1: and Tiger UH from Alan. It's just awesome little anecdotal stories.
Speaker 1: I'm pretty proud of myself. I didn't even I didn't
Speaker 1: even mean to say that word. I like it. Didn't
Speaker 1: like write it down or anything. I just said anecdotal
Speaker 1: by myself, uh and used it correctly. I believe, I'm
Speaker 1: pretty sure. Um, without further ado, here's the three of
Speaker 1: us talking golf that got in my head. Can't get
Speaker 1: jan nothing what I'm thinking about, can't get him now, nothing,
Speaker 1: think well I'm thinking about all right, Well, gentlemen, it
Speaker 1: was quite an interesting weekend golf. We're gonna get to
Speaker 1: all of it, but first I want to talk about
Speaker 1: the most exciting thing that happened to the Firefit Collective
Speaker 1: in a while, which is the release of our docuseries
Speaker 1: The Grind. We've been talking about it and teasing it
Speaker 1: for a very long time. It's finally upon us on Tuesday,
Speaker 1: January twenty worth. We're gonna have the first episode available
Speaker 1: on our our website and fire Pit Collective dot com
Speaker 1: and of course on our YouTube channel. And uh, you know, Ryan,
Speaker 1: you're quite an inspiration for this whole project because it
Speaker 1: kind of builds upon your reporting and and you shining
Speaker 1: a light on on the fringes of professional golf and
Speaker 1: and the struggles and and the heartbreaks and the occasional triumphs. Um.
Speaker 1: So you've seen a lot of the early episodes, you
Speaker 1: make some very important cameos, especially in episode two. But um,
Speaker 1: what does this mean to you? Ryan? How excited are you?
Speaker 1: What do you think of these episodes? Like like bring
Speaker 1: the listeners into this little world. Yeah, I'm working on
Speaker 1: an article and the and the opening paragraph is is
Speaker 1: something that I've talked a lot about with Michael. I
Speaker 1: was in a campground one of the first caddy one
Speaker 1: of the first caddy trips that my dad and I made,
Speaker 1: and uh, next to me was a was a pro golfer.
Speaker 1: This was a public restroom at a campground and there
Speaker 1: was a pro golf for next to me, and it
Speaker 1: just blew my mind. Like I was like, what, you know,
Speaker 1: I have always been a golf nerd, but I didn't
Speaker 1: really think about life off the course as much. And
Speaker 1: so from that moment, which was eight twenty years ago, uh,
Speaker 1: to this a TV show about it has just been
Speaker 1: like just a crazy ride. And um, and I'm so
Speaker 1: excited because I think, you know, I've put a lot
Speaker 1: of thought into why my account as has become popular
Speaker 1: in those things, and I think it is the fact
Speaker 1: that most everybody can relate to someone chasing their dreams.
Speaker 1: It's hard to relate to the top players in the world,
Speaker 1: and not that we don't appreciate them and all those
Speaker 1: kind of things, but it's just hard to relate to.
Speaker 1: And I think all of us can can relate to
Speaker 1: the sacrifices that not only the player makes, their family makes,
Speaker 1: our friends make financially, time wise, on the road, all
Speaker 1: those kind of things, and uh, this show is going
Speaker 1: to take you inside of that and it's just super
Speaker 1: uh super awesome. On a quick aside note, the first
Speaker 1: one is kind of like the down of and the
Speaker 1: reality of progolf. The second one is up. Mark got
Speaker 1: an exemption into uh the A T and T and
Speaker 1: Mark Stowt and immediately went onto the range for five
Speaker 1: hours straight. He loved it. Uh, we love it. But
Speaker 1: you'll meet a bunch of people that are really like
Speaker 1: chasing their dream. It's awesome. Well, and the marking question
Speaker 1: is is Mark Baldwin. You know, we we've tracked him
Speaker 1: for a little while in different ways on on on
Speaker 1: this on this site, but these shows bring it to
Speaker 1: life in such an immediate sort of intimate way. Um.
Speaker 1: And we love typed articles and we love we love podcasts.
Speaker 1: You know, we all double in those mediums, but something
Speaker 1: about the cameras so revealing, and um, you know we're
Speaker 1: in the car, we're in the house that he's played,
Speaker 1: um for for all these players. It's not just Mark,
Speaker 1: I mean, um, he's fact. He's a huge part of
Speaker 1: episodes one and two. And then then we start telling
Speaker 1: other stories and UM, so it's it's really this. The
Speaker 1: scale this project is incredible. We had um a hundred
Speaker 1: and twenty hours of raw footage that we're filmed across
Speaker 1: most of two thousand and twenty two and including visits
Speaker 1: to Scotland and Ireland. Um, you know there was there
Speaker 1: was five field producers, eight video editors, a dozen cameramen.
Speaker 1: All of us have contributed words in different ways to
Speaker 1: voiceovers and and to the narrative storytelling. And it's just
Speaker 1: a monumental effort from everyone here at the collective. And
Speaker 1: you know, I've had chance to really drill down the
Speaker 1: first five episodes especially, and the the storytelling is just fantastic.
Speaker 1: And the production values are HBO quality or Netflix quality
Speaker 1: whatever you'd expect. When when when you when eque up
Speaker 1: what looks like a very big budget you know production,
Speaker 1: it's it's just incredible. So we're we're all super proud
Speaker 1: of it. Um. You know, Michael, you've you you've not
Speaker 1: been as intimately involved as Ryan, but you've been, you've
Speaker 1: been been a part of this and you've been you've
Speaker 1: been watching from afar. What kind of energy are you
Speaker 1: detecting around this? Well? I think this is storytelling at
Speaker 1: its best because, uh, you know, especially when you get
Speaker 1: to be my uh sixty two, you realize that it's
Speaker 1: the biggest, one of the oldest cliches known to mankind.
Speaker 1: But uh, it really is all about the journey and
Speaker 1: not the destination. And golf captures at so incredibly well.
Speaker 1: And Ryan's beat captures that, uh so incredibly well. And
Speaker 1: even if you think back about Tiger and his Hall
Speaker 1: of Fame remarks, who was up there for roughly I
Speaker 1: would say twenty minutes. Sixteen in the minutes were about
Speaker 1: his amateur days playing you know, his mom dropped him
Speaker 1: off into junior ben and he and his dad, you know,
Speaker 1: hunting for golf balls in the woods whatever it was
Speaker 1: at the at the Navy course. So, uh, Ryan and
Speaker 1: this series and some of the stuff I've done about
Speaker 1: you know, catting for golfers trying to make it and
Speaker 1: you know, Alan, you're writing about Rich Beam and Steve
Speaker 1: to Plant. Just that storytelling never gets started because it
Speaker 1: reminds us on the most fundamental level of what we're
Speaker 1: trying to do with our lives. So I think it's
Speaker 1: absolutely beautiful, spectacular, Uh and a great nod of the
Speaker 1: of the cap, tip of the cap to uh, to
Speaker 1: all the people who make it possible for us to
Speaker 1: do the kind of storytelling that we're doing. Yeah, shout
Speaker 1: out to a golf tech. They're presenting sponsor of the
Speaker 1: of the Whole Grind docuseries, which will be fifteen episodes,
Speaker 1: and uh, yeah, I mean talking about the journey of
Speaker 1: the episode three, My is just so heartwarming. It follows
Speaker 1: page Crawford. She's, you know, thirty years old now, she's
Speaker 1: been chasing it for a long time. She was a
Speaker 1: high school basketball star. I mean, she's an athlete, came
Speaker 1: to golf a little bit late and um travels the
Speaker 1: rooms around the mini tours, living in a van with
Speaker 1: her girlfriend, who's a really delightful present, and they just
Speaker 1: have this this this very sweet relationship. Their skateboarding, they're
Speaker 1: rock climbing, they're they're hiking in the hills. I mean,
Speaker 1: they kind of remind me of some of the people
Speaker 1: I know who live in big sir. You know, they've
Speaker 1: got that free spirit energy. And and yet she's a
Speaker 1: very you know, she's a very determined athlete, and she's
Speaker 1: trying to make it to the LPGA and and you know,
Speaker 1: we're we're in the van with them and we're driving
Speaker 1: from Idaho to Oregon, and uh, they're cooking on their
Speaker 1: little stove and they've got the little dog. And it's
Speaker 1: just the most heartwarming, intimate portrayal of a professional athlete
Speaker 1: you can imagine. And and so yeah, there's that. That's
Speaker 1: the kind of those are the kind of surprises. And
Speaker 1: and you know these are not household names. That was
Speaker 1: the whole point. Um. You know, we all love watching
Speaker 1: Nelly core to play golf. But um, she's going to
Speaker 1: be fine whether she wins the Dinah Shore or not.
Speaker 1: You know, like she's on only one trajectory. And um,
Speaker 1: but these these players on the margins, it's you know,
Speaker 1: pages just just literally trying to make money to put
Speaker 1: they can they can barbecue dinner that night. And if
Speaker 1: if she's if he's not able to I mean she's
Speaker 1: she's going to find another job, and that that dramatic tension,
Speaker 1: as as Ryan has talked about so much, is just
Speaker 1: a different level of of interest for a fan. You know,
Speaker 1: they're they're playing for their their lives and that's what's
Speaker 1: so thrilling about it. Yeah, that that has been I mean,
Speaker 1: obviously I I've known it because I'm part of this world,
Speaker 1: but seeing it on the show has really driven home
Speaker 1: the selflessness of the people not that are not the players,
Speaker 1: uh my Mark's wife, Sarah Pages, uh girlfriend, Joe Hook's parents. Um,
Speaker 1: you know these are people that travel to events, Pages
Speaker 1: girlfriend some marketing jobs so remotely so you know they
Speaker 1: can afford their van life and dinner. And and these
Speaker 1: people behind the scenes that will introduce you to our
Speaker 1: sacrificing so their son or girlfriend or husband can chase
Speaker 1: their dream. And uh, that has been a very interesting
Speaker 1: part of this show. And I think you'll see that
Speaker 1: and that it isn't easy. Um, as we all know,
Speaker 1: marriage isn't isn't perfect, and uh, it's even harder when
Speaker 1: you're on the road six days a week, or in
Speaker 1: like Pages case, you're together two seven sixty five days
Speaker 1: a year. That says a lot about a relationship. Um,
Speaker 1: and so it is the ups and downs. The first
Speaker 1: episode is Mark Baldwin and us chasing Mondays and him
Speaker 1: not playing well and uh, some family stuff going on,
Speaker 1: and that's that's real life. And I always tell this
Speaker 1: story about that first episode is, Uh, Mark's son is
Speaker 1: having some health issues that you'll see in the episode,
Speaker 1: and uh, it's it's pretty hairy for a bit. And
Speaker 1: on Monday, Mark never brought it up with a playing
Speaker 1: group and I asked him about it. I said, why
Speaker 1: didn't you bring it up? And he said, you know,
Speaker 1: we're all going through something out here. No one's gonna
Speaker 1: feel sorry for me and they shouldn't. Uh, this is
Speaker 1: this is the life. So um it's I'm super excited
Speaker 1: about it. Yeah. And then episode episode two really traces
Speaker 1: um last year's Pellal Beach program where Ryan's catting from
Speaker 1: Mark and it's a perfect distillation of the highs and
Speaker 1: lows of the life of a Golver and a Gaddy
Speaker 1: for that matter, and all the people around them. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, from you can you can have you can
Speaker 1: have such a thrilling week and so many great things
Speaker 1: can happen, and then you miss judged the wind a
Speaker 1: couple of times, you make a couple of bad swings
Speaker 1: and you can go crashing on the leaderboard. But what
Speaker 1: could have changed your life turns out to be sort
Speaker 1: of a whole home finished and in the span of
Speaker 1: a couple of hours. Like I mean, you know chronicles
Speaker 1: you're despair Ryan When when when you as you're reliving
Speaker 1: these things now as you're watching the episodes, Um, you
Speaker 1: know you have a little distance of time from from
Speaker 1: when they actually transpired. Like what what? What emotions are
Speaker 1: inspired within you? Yeah? All of the same emotions that
Speaker 1: I feel now. Just uh Like I mean Mark and
Speaker 1: I talked about it privately. It's like you'll never be
Speaker 1: able to not think about the round at Sunday at
Speaker 1: Pebble and what it would have done had it been
Speaker 1: a sixty seven or sixty eight. And it's not like
Speaker 1: that's not a far fetched dream, right, I mean, he
Speaker 1: had shot a bogey free round at the hardest course
Speaker 1: in the rotation Spy last three days earlier. This isn't
Speaker 1: like we're not it's not a pipe dream to think
Speaker 1: that he could have shot sixty eight. He could have
Speaker 1: and it would have changed his life. Uh So, the
Speaker 1: emotions I got watching it. Uh, we're the same that
Speaker 1: I had that week. We were on top of the
Speaker 1: world on Saturday night and you feel like ship driving
Speaker 1: in a car, canceling flights, uh, finding another flight, And
Speaker 1: twenty four hours later, you're standing on a matt at
Speaker 1: a very average golf course playing a Monday qualifier where
Speaker 1: you have to shoot a sixty three to get in.
Speaker 1: And uh, that's that's the reality of pro golf in
Speaker 1: a nutshell and twenty in about a thirty six hour
Speaker 1: span Saturday, make the cut T nineteen, have a chance
Speaker 1: to change your life. Play poorly Sunday, fly to Phoenix
Speaker 1: playing a municipal course, having to shoot sixty three, don't
Speaker 1: play well there, and you're home at Tuesday and everybody's
Speaker 1: forgot about you. No one cares about you. Uh that's
Speaker 1: that's the reality of pro golf. Yeah, well not no one,
Speaker 1: because we we were. Our cameras are there, and I
Speaker 1: think when when when the viewers um And of course Mark,
Speaker 1: there may be some folks other saying, but I think
Speaker 1: I know a lot about Mark Balbum already. You know,
Speaker 1: you guys have written about him. But he's such a
Speaker 1: unique pro athlete, I mean, he's so smart and cerebral,
Speaker 1: and he has you can play the guitar, and his
Speaker 1: interests in books and music and movies or run really
Speaker 1: deep and he's he's very expressive about what he's going through.
Speaker 1: And um, his his wife pops into this story. She's
Speaker 1: she's really sweet and has a great perspective and everything.
Speaker 1: And um, I mean, if if you watch this episode
Speaker 1: and and you don't wind up love and Mark Baldwin
Speaker 1: or loving Page Crawford or Joe Hooks, who's a huge
Speaker 1: part of episodes four and five, Like these are athletes
Speaker 1: who were so easy to root for because they're just
Speaker 1: they're they're dreamers and then it's a it's almost an
Speaker 1: impossible dream, but they won't let go of it. And
Speaker 1: there's something admirable about that. You know, I think I'm
Speaker 1: we're probably too pragmatic, at least I am. I gotta
Speaker 1: you know, if I had if I had spent ten
Speaker 1: years trying to get hired by a local newspaper sending
Speaker 1: him stories and getting paid twenty bucks for them and
Speaker 1: and they never published any I would have found another
Speaker 1: line of work. But that's these guys just keep going
Speaker 1: and it's remarkable. How quick technical question for it. So
Speaker 1: how much do this how much does the viewer have
Speaker 1: to pay to watch these episodes? Well, thanks to the
Speaker 1: generosity of Golf Tech and the Firefloy Collective, they're gonna
Speaker 1: be They're gonna be free on on our website and
Speaker 1: on our YouTube channel. Um and so it's a very
Speaker 1: it's a very delightful viewing experience. Um. Kind. So a
Speaker 1: quick question about sixty three. Uh, I'm always talking about
Speaker 1: I'd like to know what you both think about this.
Speaker 1: So you know, Ryan mentioned you often have to shoot
Speaker 1: a sixty three, and these Monday qualifiers sixty three could
Speaker 1: play off, you might have to shoot sixty two. It's
Speaker 1: some of them. Uh, you never know. I mean there's
Speaker 1: a lot of good golfers out there. So the other
Speaker 1: day Alan will know this name, others may not. But
Speaker 1: Jim Langley was the long time had professional Cyperus Point.
Speaker 1: He tragically lost the use of his He had the
Speaker 1: course record at Cyperus Point with Hogan and others of
Speaker 1: sixty three. He tragically lost the use of his right
Speaker 1: hand after an accident. Then he shot a one handed
Speaker 1: left handed one at Cypress Point. You see were handed
Speaker 1: clubs now, I would say if you had to, so
Speaker 1: I wrote the following, there are probably five thousand golfers
Speaker 1: in the world who can shoot sixty three on any
Speaker 1: given day at Cypress Point. There might be a handful
Speaker 1: of people who can shoot a one handed. So somebody
Speaker 1: who read it said five thousand. There's no way. So
Speaker 1: here's my question to you both. How many people in
Speaker 1: the world do you think there are that can on
Speaker 1: a good Now Cypress is short, let's but let's just
Speaker 1: use Cypress as example. But think of any of course
Speaker 1: you wish. How many people in the world do you
Speaker 1: think there are that can shoot Because we often focus
Speaker 1: on just a hundred or two golfers, how many golfers
Speaker 1: are there in the world who can shoot sixty three
Speaker 1: at Cyprus Point on any given day. Well, just to
Speaker 1: just to get more granular, here are we talking about
Speaker 1: a cassle around? Are we talking to tournament pressure pencil
Speaker 1: in your pocket? You know, no gimmese note like it's
Speaker 1: a little different. I would say there's tens of thousands
Speaker 1: of guys who can shoot sixty three at Cyprus Point
Speaker 1: on any given day with their buddies. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of dude, you played college golf who
Speaker 1: now remembers at Whisper Rock. They're not playing competitively, but
Speaker 1: they can take it deep um Well said, So let's
Speaker 1: let's let's let's change the tournament conditions because I agree
Speaker 1: with that. It's tens of thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds
Speaker 1: of thousands possible. Ryan, what do you tournament conditions when
Speaker 1: it matters. There's a purse, there's fans, there's a score
Speaker 1: with a camera on camera on how many guys can
Speaker 1: shoot sixty three had a really good course? Not a thousand?
Speaker 1: I think. I think it's more you probably just looking
Speaker 1: across all the mini tours, all the professional tours, there's
Speaker 1: a few thousand guys who have a card right and
Speaker 1: they can do it. You're probably the four thousand. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I would. I think it's even on the right day,
Speaker 1: on the right day. But I mean, that's even what's interesting, Ryan,
Speaker 1: You track this all those guys that sixty three in
Speaker 1: the Mondays and there's pressure on the Mondays. We know that,
Speaker 1: but there's not a gallery, there's not really TV. There's
Speaker 1: it's it's it's just it's kind of this this gray
Speaker 1: area between tournament golf and playing with your your buddies.
Speaker 1: Right then they these guys go to the to the
Speaker 1: PGA Tour event. They're clearly playing well. They just got
Speaker 1: sixty three on the Monday, and you know, Corey Connors
Speaker 1: and a couple others have have have continued it for
Speaker 1: six more days. But um, you know what is make
Speaker 1: the cut or something like, yeah, make the cut and
Speaker 1: to go back to the Mondays. There is pressure once
Speaker 1: you're playing well. But I'll go to the one time
Speaker 1: I caddied in with Mark in the Barracuda where we
Speaker 1: got through. There's no pressure at the beginning because you
Speaker 1: know you have no chance. Basically it's like a crab shoots,
Speaker 1: so there's no real like it's we I remember what
Speaker 1: like my whe night Keddy from uh from Mark at
Speaker 1: that Baracouted Monday two years ago. We hadn't seen each
Speaker 1: other in a while and we were literally just catching
Speaker 1: up on the front nine. There's no expectations, like you know,
Speaker 1: you have to shoot a ridiculously low score and so
Speaker 1: all of a sudden on nine he was five under
Speaker 1: through nine and we're like, oh, like we're in this,
Speaker 1: you know, and then the pressure starts. But like before that,
Speaker 1: you're just like, like, again Scott faw said, who was
Speaker 1: a master of numbers and odds and those kind of things.
Speaker 1: Puts puts the like getting through a Monday at around
Speaker 1: seven percent. Okay, So like there is no real pressure
Speaker 1: when your tee off on the first hole, especially you
Speaker 1: make an early bogey. There's no pressure at all because
Speaker 1: you're just like, yeah, I'm out of it. I have
Speaker 1: no chance. Uh. But then yes, you got to go
Speaker 1: on the big stage and there's cameras and there's you
Speaker 1: have only had one day to prepare and you know
Speaker 1: that there's no tomorrow. That's going back to the sun.
Speaker 1: Day at Pebble is like we're playing with Alonto Griffin
Speaker 1: and Davis Riley. They played like crap to you know what,
Speaker 1: They're going to tee it up next week. Uh, we weren't.
Speaker 1: And so all of those factors equal of the guys
Speaker 1: that Monday making. Now that being said, a large portion
Speaker 1: of mondays you handed them a PGA Tour card, they
Speaker 1: would do just fine. It's the ultimate question all of sports,
Speaker 1: like why do you some players play better when the
Speaker 1: lights come on and some players don't. And you know,
Speaker 1: I was yesterday, I was at the Cowboys forty Niners
Speaker 1: playoff game had great seats close to the field and uh,
Speaker 1: you know there's we're behind the Cowboys on the Cowboys
Speaker 1: side and close enough. Like these guys are just you
Speaker 1: forget how what physical specimens they are. They're just like immense.
Speaker 1: They blot out the sun. And everyone who made in
Speaker 1: the NFL on a good team in the playoffs, these
Speaker 1: are the best of the best athletes on the whole
Speaker 1: land it and yet there's a razor thin divide there
Speaker 1: between the guys who can get it done when it
Speaker 1: really matters and and can't. And all the time, you know,
Speaker 1: pump an iron and watching film like that helps you.
Speaker 1: But some guys just make the plays and some don't.
Speaker 1: And I mean you extend that out to the professional
Speaker 1: golf as well. It's it's it's what's so fascinating about sports.
Speaker 1: And one of the things that you know, watching just
Speaker 1: a little bit of play of football this year and
Speaker 1: you see the wild range of body types that make
Speaker 1: it to the NFL. You know, from the kickers to
Speaker 1: the lineman. It's just even from the defensive line in
Speaker 1: the offensive line. It's absolutely why. I mean, you see
Speaker 1: guys who are borderline obese. And then you see some
Speaker 1: guys d fifty five pounds and they play in the
Speaker 1: same game. But I take note of it because golf
Speaker 1: uniquely does you know, there are not so uniquely I
Speaker 1: mean tennis, I would say the same. You have to
Speaker 1: have it all in golf. Uh. And that's why Tiger
Speaker 1: and its prime was so stunning to watch. You have
Speaker 1: to you have to have it all. You can't just
Speaker 1: be that. You can't just be the place kicker, you
Speaker 1: can't just be the you know, the rusher. You gotta
Speaker 1: you have to do it all, and you have to
Speaker 1: have a body type that will do it all in
Speaker 1: mind that will do it all. And I don't know,
Speaker 1: just kind of occurred to me for the first time.
Speaker 1: It's one of the many things that makes golf special
Speaker 1: is that you can't be as super specialist. You can't
Speaker 1: just be a great putter. Just as a quick side
Speaker 1: into that, it relates to something you just said. Um.
Speaker 1: I was once asking Gary McCord about the great putters
Speaker 1: he had ever seen, and I was talking about you know,
Speaker 1: Trevino and Nicholas and and and Palm or Palmer was
Speaker 1: a great putter. And then I brought up Lauren Roberts
Speaker 1: and Brad Facts and who are famously part of the
Speaker 1: conversation with the great putters of all time. And then
Speaker 1: McCord said, well, what have they won? And to his
Speaker 1: point to this general conversation of you know, Sunday afternoon
Speaker 1: versus Monday qualifying, So in the afternoon to try to
Speaker 1: get into next week's event versus Monday qualifying. That's what
Speaker 1: this game, as we know it is all about. Is
Speaker 1: that point to Sunday afternoon and what are you gonna do?
Speaker 1: And uh so, for Mark Paul would get himself in
Speaker 1: position to play, meaning golf on a Sunday afternoon is
Speaker 1: one thing. But then to get it done on a
Speaker 1: Sunday afternoon, as Nicholas and Palmer and Tigert it again
Speaker 1: and again and again, that's completely on another level. Yeah. Well,
Speaker 1: and so just to broaden this conversation a little more,
Speaker 1: we should tip our cap to John Ram who is
Speaker 1: a guy who can shoot sixty three any day the
Speaker 1: week and actually is doing it right now. It seems like, yeah,
Speaker 1: that's always shooting, is sixty three shooting. And so I
Speaker 1: was at Cappalua where he went crazy deep and won
Speaker 1: the tournament crazy after bogey on one on Sunday, I know,
Speaker 1: nine back and at that the moment, and so he
Speaker 1: I sneaked into this little Q and A with with
Speaker 1: Monahan and and Rom that they do for the champion.
Speaker 1: They do it for the It's like this private function
Speaker 1: for the Century organizers. And Rom was coming up and
Speaker 1: I was coming up the stairs behind him, and this
Speaker 1: security guard almost didn't let him in because here's a guy.
Speaker 1: He's he's got kind of short legs, he's kind of
Speaker 1: he's kind of stumpy, and his shirt was a little untucked,
Speaker 1: and he wasn't he didn't have his hat on. His
Speaker 1: hair is all messy. He did not look like one
Speaker 1: of the most elite athletes roaming the planet right now.
Speaker 1: You know, you look at John rom he doesn't use
Speaker 1: that same athleticism that say a tiger did um when
Speaker 1: when he was prowling around out there, and it was
Speaker 1: just a funny reminder that you know, not that if
Speaker 1: you're not paying attention, like these guys don't necessarily look
Speaker 1: like quintessential professional athletes. But John Rom is um. You know,
Speaker 1: he's a prideful guy. And I think last year when
Speaker 1: a bunch of dudes went to number one and he
Speaker 1: wasn't one of them. I think, I think that little
Speaker 1: fire and you know, I asked him about that at
Speaker 1: Kapalua and he's he's talked about it since like he's um,
Speaker 1: he's fired up. I mean the guys on a rampage
Speaker 1: um now obviously UM. I will say, even though both
Speaker 1: Kappela and the Hope yield low scores, traditionally they're very
Speaker 1: different tests. I mean, Tap Lou, you have to play
Speaker 1: the wind and and the lie and the uphill downhill
Speaker 1: and funnel the ball off funky slopes, and it's very
Speaker 1: creative and manageative golf, whereas the Hope is just dome
Speaker 1: and you got yeah, one seventy two. It's just a
Speaker 1: stock eight iron right at the flag every time and
Speaker 1: for him for him to blow away the field, you know,
Speaker 1: on back to back on such a different kind of test,
Speaker 1: I think, is it's revealing of of how good this
Speaker 1: guy really is. Well, so you gotta play with a
Speaker 1: m though at the Hope for three days maybe before
Speaker 1: that's an issue too? Uh used to be five days?
Speaker 1: Can you imagine ninety holes? That was crazy? Michael. I
Speaker 1: have a question for you leave the flag in when
Speaker 1: you put now, don't you I do? Did you watch
Speaker 1: Davis Thompson's put on seventeen and as it changed your mind?
Speaker 1: I didn't? What did it? Did it hit it and
Speaker 1: not going? What happened? Yeah? He had a fifty ft
Speaker 1: around seventeen to time for the lead and it was
Speaker 1: going speedily. There is debate about whether it would have
Speaker 1: gone in anyway, but it pinched the flag and and
Speaker 1: pinched out. I don't know. That flag looks gonna help
Speaker 1: you more than hurt you. It's gonna do a little
Speaker 1: bit of both, but it's gonna help you more than
Speaker 1: hurt you. The only time I would really not leave
Speaker 1: that flag in is if it was if it was
Speaker 1: blowy and the flag stick was all over the place
Speaker 1: and it was one distracting you, and two could lean
Speaker 1: in and stop, you know about coming in at three
Speaker 1: o'clock and the flag six leaning towards three o'clock. And
Speaker 1: then of course then then skaltender. You know you don't
Speaker 1: want that. I've got enough of that in my life.
Speaker 1: But uh no, that's hard luck. I missed it. But
Speaker 1: I'm gonna tell my Davis Thompson's story. I've held out
Speaker 1: of this for a year and a half. Uh, this
Speaker 1: is no one else is holding onto it. David Thompson
Speaker 1: anecdote for for you know, year and a half. Uh, Jake,
Speaker 1: you're not allowed to use this as a social clip.
Speaker 1: So at the Barracuda Mark and I get paired with
Speaker 1: Davis Thompson. He is on the t He says hello,
Speaker 1: but it is very like just sticks out his hand.
Speaker 1: I'm not even sure he said the words hello. He
Speaker 1: never said And this is not an exaggeration. He never
Speaker 1: said a sing word the rest of the round. Not
Speaker 1: good shot, not go fund yourself. Not a single word,
Speaker 1: including on a hole. Now, I want to take the
Speaker 1: people listening back two. There was such a forest fire
Speaker 1: that the round was almost canceled. There's smoke everywhere. Okay,
Speaker 1: you could hardly see down the fairway. That's how bad.
Speaker 1: And think and all these volunteers are graciously out there,
Speaker 1: They've literally paid to be out there, right, and they're
Speaker 1: spotting and it has become even more important because the smoke,
Speaker 1: you can't see your ball land. So Mark is long.
Speaker 1: Davis is very long. On the fourth hole, fifth hole,
Speaker 1: he marking him hit one way down the fairway. Uh,
Speaker 1: volunteer comes out of the smoke and comes up and says, Wow, guys,
Speaker 1: I've been here all week and I haven't seen two
Speaker 1: people this far down. You know, I haven't seen two
Speaker 1: balls this far down. Mark, thank you so much. Davis
Speaker 1: doesn't even look at him, doesn't say a word to him.
Speaker 1: It was beyond bizarre. So I had to go back
Speaker 1: to talk to people who we played with the rest
Speaker 1: of the weekend. They're like, nothing, didn't say word, doesn't
Speaker 1: say anything. Mark chipped in for Eagle. Nothing, literally nothing.
Speaker 1: It was the most bizarre thing I've ever been a
Speaker 1: part of. Like, hey, listen. The next day we played
Speaker 1: with Joseph Bramlett. Super quiet but very nice. Okay, like
Speaker 1: I don't mind quiet, you want to be quiet and
Speaker 1: be in your own world. Totally get it. It was
Speaker 1: the wildest thing I have ever seen. Doesn't talk to anybody,
Speaker 1: and I don't know if you saw any clips, it
Speaker 1: hasn't changed much. The dude barely raises his hands, has
Speaker 1: no emotion. Wild Mark tried to engage him in a
Speaker 1: thing and goes, hey, man, you went to Georgia hau
Speaker 1: and he went yep. That was the only word he
Speaker 1: said for the first time. It was insane. It was insane. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean it gets to the point like, like you say,
Speaker 1: it's fine everyone everyone in a competitive environment is going
Speaker 1: to do it a different way. But that's almost distracting
Speaker 1: to your play partners. It's kind of rude, honestly, like
Speaker 1: you're not even in using the basic social graces of
Speaker 1: of being a playing partner. Yeah, and the volunteer one
Speaker 1: was like you, it was offensive. I mean, like the
Speaker 1: guy is standing out in literal smoke. You could at
Speaker 1: least say thank you or give him a head nod
Speaker 1: or something. You know. Well, Michael, I mean you've caddied
Speaker 1: um famously European Tour and and the PGA Tour, and
Speaker 1: you've probably seen some some unusual behavior. Shall we say,
Speaker 1: Where where does that land for you? It's almost psychopathic,
Speaker 1: you know, to be completely isolated from the activity around you.
Speaker 1: But it does have a lot of precedent golf. This
Speaker 1: story is not true, but people but Claude Harmon, Butcher's
Speaker 1: father used to tell it to make the point. Uh,
Speaker 1: you guys will probably know it, but maybe not. Uh.
Speaker 1: Claude Harmon, for those who don't know, was famously the
Speaker 1: head pro at both Wingfoot and Seminal. And while he
Speaker 1: had those two head pro jobs, basically while going from
Speaker 1: his winter job at Seminole to his summer job at Wingfoot,
Speaker 1: stopped at Augustin National, played in the Masters and won
Speaker 1: it and he was the last club pro uh twent
Speaker 1: But anyway he was close to Hogan and uh and
Speaker 1: as the story goes, uh, uh he made a one.
Speaker 1: Claude Harmer made a one on twelve of the Part
Speaker 1: three over raised Creek, and Hogan stiff didn't. Hogan didn't
Speaker 1: say a thing to his friend. Hogan stiffs one. Uh
Speaker 1: makes his own putt and walking to thirteen, all Hogan
Speaker 1: says to Claure Harman is I do believe that's the
Speaker 1: first two I've made there in quite some time, or
Speaker 1: something with something along those lines. Uh. But golf will
Speaker 1: reveal the soul like nothing else. And uh. Now, Peter
Speaker 1: Turvan and a guy caddied for in your he was
Speaker 1: he was conversant with himself if he wasn't really conversing,
Speaker 1: but he was a classic New Englander and one of
Speaker 1: his things if he was long with a wooden driver
Speaker 1: whale wooden driver laminated Wilson whale. Uh wonging he was
Speaker 1: he was, you know too eighty in the air maybe
Speaker 1: maybe and uh but anyway, if another guy killed one
Speaker 1: and was out there with Peter, Peter would say yep,
Speaker 1: and you know that was that was high praise from Peter. Uh.
Speaker 1: I did see a guy Sarah Gate blank on his
Speaker 1: name right now, but he was an Argentine golfer and
Speaker 1: he missed her short. Punny took his butter head and
Speaker 1: was scared to watch, and he smashed his forehead not
Speaker 1: with the head of the putter, but with the shaft
Speaker 1: right in the forehead walking off the green after missing short.
Speaker 1: That's the most psychopathic behavior I had ever seen because
Speaker 1: there wasn't any blood, but you had he caught it
Speaker 1: the wrong way, it would have been a mess. Uh uh. Anyway, Yeah,
Speaker 1: golful Alan, who are we with recently? Who oh rich kind?
Speaker 1: You and I were with his kind with Al and
Speaker 1: I were talking to the actor which on the other day,
Speaker 1: and he's like, you know, no, gentleman, we ever throw
Speaker 1: a golf club on the course. That was funny. You
Speaker 1: gotta be kidding me. I don't know anybody, man, woman
Speaker 1: or child who's not throwing a golf golf Club. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Every now then you got to release attention. Um. I mean,
Speaker 1: my my favorite story about this is back I think
Speaker 1: it's oh three when VJ was on his run and
Speaker 1: and you surved Tiger for a while and they were
Speaker 1: going at it and there was no love lost between them,
Speaker 1: and you know the story, Michael. They're on the first
Speaker 1: t final round. I think it was in Boston where
Speaker 1: VG beat him. But um, Tiger says, you know, good luck,
Speaker 1: and VD says, titlist one. There weren't a lot of
Speaker 1: words spoken the rest of that day. But um, you know,
Speaker 1: it's that's a little different. I mean, those are guys
Speaker 1: with history and they are they are battling for number
Speaker 1: one in the world, and like if they want to
Speaker 1: be in their own world, I think it almost makes sense.
Speaker 1: That's like Hagler hearns, you know. But um, I love
Speaker 1: the Barracuda. I love the Barracuda, as you all know.
Speaker 1: I love it. But when you're tight, okay on Saturday
Speaker 1: at the Barracuda, maybe loosen up a little bit, you know,
Speaker 1: not out here changing lives. I had a quick question.
Speaker 1: I had a quick question for Ryan about this Baracuta tournament.
Speaker 1: There's one tournament that gets called routinely by its corporate name,
Speaker 1: that's Honda. Guys will actually say you're playing Honda. They
Speaker 1: don't say are you playing West Palm Beach or Palm
Speaker 1: Beach Gardens? They are you playing Honda? What is this
Speaker 1: baracouta tournament? Is that Vegas or Reno? What is it
Speaker 1: used to? How open is Baracuda? What? And what is Barracuda?
Speaker 1: What do they do their insurance? All right, people on
Speaker 1: the end, Michael call it the Kuda. Don't say Kuda.
Speaker 1: I've heard you use that. Please as a non starter. Well,
Speaker 1: let me pay you some rhyme about nicknames. Nicknames have
Speaker 1: to be clever, like uh when when when Tiger Woods
Speaker 1: called streets Seves, Strigger Stricks. That's not clever. But who
Speaker 1: is that famous good dresser? There was a famous Masters
Speaker 1: winner who's a great dresser, one of the Texas guys,
Speaker 1: and they called him Wardrobe. That's a great nickname. Cooda
Speaker 1: is not a nickname, that's nothing. Burnt biscuits is a
Speaker 1: great nickname. That's a great Those are the all the
Speaker 1: gust of caddies, right like he swipes some some baked
Speaker 1: goods out of a window and after that they called
Speaker 1: him burnt biscuits. Um. Yeah, So in generally, in all
Speaker 1: my typing, but especially in my books when I have
Speaker 1: I never used the corporate names. I mean, it's a
Speaker 1: San Diego Open, it's l A Open, it's the Hawaiian Open.
Speaker 1: Then you can't imagine how people are offended by that,
Speaker 1: Like it's called the Sony. But I'm I'm like future
Speaker 1: proofing the book because, as we know, corporations come and
Speaker 1: go it. Yeah, it might it might not be the
Speaker 1: Sony in a year. Like why are people so attached
Speaker 1: these corpet names? The Honda is no longer the Honda
Speaker 1: after this year, is it not? Well, yeah, it's not
Speaker 1: as what is the Honda enough? I mean it's the
Speaker 1: Honda this year, but this is the last year. Okay.
Speaker 1: By the way, that that that golfer was Jimmy demerit
Speaker 1: was it was Wardrobe anyway. Um, all right, we touched
Speaker 1: on John rom very briefly, but let the other big
Speaker 1: thing that happened in golf in recent days was John
Speaker 1: John roman Eper once going he was wearing pajamas. I mean,
Speaker 1: this guy, most of these guys you can tell right away.
Speaker 1: John Ram you cannot. You always ready to fall asleep
Speaker 1: off the course. And I like the fact I never
Speaker 1: ever and Al and I have talked about ever so
Speaker 1: Tiger off the course. John rom you see everywhere and
Speaker 1: he always looks like he's wearing pajamas. Have fallen asleep? Yeah,
Speaker 1: the anti wardrobe. Yeah, yes, together it was wearing a
Speaker 1: T shirtther they said dad bod, which I thought was
Speaker 1: funny because it's very accurate. Um. Yeah. So the other
Speaker 1: big news in recent days in in the larger golf
Speaker 1: landscape is that Live Golf finally landed it's TV deal
Speaker 1: with the c W, which a network I remember, like
Speaker 1: I'm just young enough that like when Dawson's Creek and
Speaker 1: those those trashy teen shows were a thing I was
Speaker 1: sort of adjacent to asn't and so I've always known
Speaker 1: the CW, but I honestly didn't even know it was
Speaker 1: still in business. And I haven't thought about this c
Speaker 1: W in decades. But it has been funny to me
Speaker 1: the YouTube nostalgia, like on golf Twitter like, oh, this
Speaker 1: is a terrible move. You know, YouTube is the biggest
Speaker 1: platform in the world. When when they were only when
Speaker 1: Live was only on YouTube, people like, oh, it's a joke.
Speaker 1: They're only on YouTube. They can't even get on TV.
Speaker 1: Now they're on TV, and everyone's like, oh, this is
Speaker 1: the wrong network, like they sort of can't win. I
Speaker 1: agree that, you know, it's not it's not ESPN, it's
Speaker 1: not Fox whatever. But it was a necessary first step. Uh,
Speaker 1: but what do you guys think of this news? It
Speaker 1: was weird to me, was that you that YouTube broadcast.
Speaker 1: I watched a little bit and it was good. Uh
Speaker 1: they did, I mean for their first year of being
Speaker 1: in the in the business of putting golf tournaments on
Speaker 1: they're they're broadcast was good. I mentioned, they'll do a
Speaker 1: good job with it. Uh, you know, you can buy
Speaker 1: talent in the TV business. You're putting on a show.
Speaker 1: I menagined they'll do very well with it. People people
Speaker 1: want to watch it. They're gonna find their way to it.
Speaker 1: It was good, but it wasn't. It was unsustainable. Part
Speaker 1: I was so good was no commercials, you know, and
Speaker 1: they they you know, in the world we live in,
Speaker 1: you need TV revenue to the survive as a as
Speaker 1: a global sports you know, franchise. So I think, yeah,
Speaker 1: it wasn't. How can I take exceptional because, uh, the
Speaker 1: Mastress has proved that's not true. The Mastress has more
Speaker 1: money than God. The only group that has more money
Speaker 1: than the masters of course the Saudis. So I don't
Speaker 1: know if that's necessarily the case. I mean, like what
Speaker 1: I made fun My joke was, uh, who's going to
Speaker 1: tell the animals? Because on Sunday there's World's Funniest Animals
Speaker 1: is on c W. So I was like, who, who's
Speaker 1: going to tell the animals that cancel? But um, like,
Speaker 1: I think if you look at it objectively and I'm
Speaker 1: trying my best, is a sports organization started one year
Speaker 1: ago or a little over a year ago has dropped.
Speaker 1: They didn't announce till March. Okay, yeah, less than a
Speaker 1: year ago. They've taken some of the best players in
Speaker 1: the world, including maybe Ram's ahead now probably the second
Speaker 1: best player in the entire world. Right Uh, and now
Speaker 1: they're on TV and they are competing against what was
Speaker 1: a monopoly forever. Uh. And so yes, it's the c W. Yes,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna make fun of it. Yes, so is everybody else.
Speaker 1: But if you are objective and you don't think that
Speaker 1: they're making strides and affecting golf. You're just flat out wrong.
Speaker 1: It's just all there is to it. It's the same stuff. Like, yes,
Speaker 1: it's a joke that it's on the CW all of it.
Speaker 1: Everything is. But if like March eleven months ago, they
Speaker 1: were No. One and they have maybe four or five
Speaker 1: of the top twenty or thirty players in the world,
Speaker 1: and they're on a TV network and they have a
Speaker 1: relatively full schedule, and I just they it's kind of wild. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And to to Michael's point, I mean, the key for
Speaker 1: Live is to make the telecasts unique and different. You
Speaker 1: don't want to just look like Phil in the Booth,
Speaker 1: but fill both Phil in the Booth, Phil and David
Speaker 1: Ferty that they would choose some So, okay, now you're
Speaker 1: on TV great now show us what that could look
Speaker 1: like in a different fashion, because to try and look
Speaker 1: like the PG Tour but not quite as good makes
Speaker 1: no sense for them. So like they've got to they've
Speaker 1: got to really blow up the template of what a
Speaker 1: tour telecast is. And if they do that, they will
Speaker 1: win some hearts and minds, because we all know that
Speaker 1: the number one pastime of of golf fans is complaining
Speaker 1: about the telecast so I'll be curious if they can
Speaker 1: reimagine if they have the if they have the brain
Speaker 1: power and the sensibilities, and also the runway because their
Speaker 1: first telecast is like a month away, like, so it's
Speaker 1: not they clearly they've had time to play on in
Speaker 1: this offseason. But if you I don't know, I just
Speaker 1: I just hope they don't go down the conventional route,
Speaker 1: because what's the point of that. As as J Monahan said,
Speaker 1: it's not product against products, and the tour product is
Speaker 1: established and it's it's it's the it's what we all
Speaker 1: are accustomed to, and it's traditional and it's pleasant in
Speaker 1: its own way. So if liv really wants to be
Speaker 1: the great disruptor, then show me something different so I
Speaker 1: have a reason to watch. I think golf is heading
Speaker 1: you know, Marketing said us to me, Uh, marketing, The
Speaker 1: former o CEO of Taylor made no stills talk us
Speaker 1: for a living, not out of a truck, and he
Speaker 1: said this, he said, we're five years from now, we'll
Speaker 1: be heading towards a world where there's two really prominent
Speaker 1: national world tours so to speak, the PGA Tour and
Speaker 1: and the and and Live golf, and things are moving
Speaker 1: in that direction. Uh, they just they just it may
Speaker 1: not be good for golf long long term, but things
Speaker 1: seem to be moving in that direction. I don't know
Speaker 1: how anyone really could argue otherwise. I am uh we
Speaker 1: I've brought this up I think three podcast in but
Speaker 1: the car R r L fight and uh and yesterday
Speaker 1: drove it home again as the PGA tour, UH tweeted
Speaker 1: out a picture of or a video of Xander making
Speaker 1: his albatross and then saying this was worth three thousand dollars.
Speaker 1: And I cannot tell you how quickly that is going
Speaker 1: to turn people off, Like some tweeted at me today.
Speaker 1: You know, Uh, I guess Xander has made fifty four
Speaker 1: million dollars playing golf like that. Three hundred thousand is
Speaker 1: kind of irrelevant. First of all, the shot wasn't worth
Speaker 1: three hundred. All of the shots were worth three hundred.
Speaker 1: But like this whole competition of showing how much money
Speaker 1: these guys make is that's what happened to the cart
Speaker 1: and I R L rich people trying to get richer
Speaker 1: and it ended IndyCar Uh And viewership is down on
Speaker 1: the PGA tour. Not a ton of people are watching live,
Speaker 1: Like people are getting turned off by this ship and
Speaker 1: for them to dive in, uh, you know, trying to
Speaker 1: show like you know, who has a bigger bicep? Yes,
Speaker 1: you're welcome guys for pg NG that and you thought
Speaker 1: I was going somewhere else. Uh, like who has a
Speaker 1: bigger bicep? Is is just going to turn golf fans
Speaker 1: off eventually, just all there is to it. And that's
Speaker 1: where I'm afraid golf is going, right, I mean, I
Speaker 1: would you when someone makes an albatross, the stat is like,
Speaker 1: how many albatrosses are there in the history of the
Speaker 1: PGA Tour. It's the rarest thing there is, are way
Speaker 1: more rare than a hole on one. Don't tell me
Speaker 1: about who cares about three? Kay? Like, you're absolutely right, Ryan,
Speaker 1: it's but that's that's the livification of the discourse. But
Speaker 1: I I really don't understand it from the PGA Tour's
Speaker 1: perspective because the money is like if that was on live,
Speaker 1: it would be seven hundred thousand dollars shot because like
Speaker 1: they can't They've openly admitted they can't admit like compete
Speaker 1: on a dollar to dollar basis. So I just anyway,
Speaker 1: it's Uh, it's frustrating. Yeah, I mean that. So that
Speaker 1: was that was the big deal, was getting the tv
Speaker 1: UM situation settled and announced. The next big announcement is
Speaker 1: the forty eight man we can call forty man because
Speaker 1: that's what it's gonna be roster for live golf for
Speaker 1: two thousand twenty three. You know, last year during the
Speaker 1: beta test year, of course, they're bringing players on UM
Speaker 1: in in sort of the staggered erratic fashion. They kept
Speaker 1: having to move people from team to team, like their
Speaker 1: planned all along for two thousand twenty three is to
Speaker 1: have everything baked out. These are our forty eight guys,
Speaker 1: These are the twelve teams, and um they keep delaying
Speaker 1: this announcement and it's gonna be weeks ago. Either it's
Speaker 1: because they're finalizing a bunch of deals and they're gonna
Speaker 1: rock our worlds with a bunch of big announcements, or
Speaker 1: they're desperately trying to get anyone to say yes it is.
Speaker 1: It's probably one of the two, and there hasn't been
Speaker 1: a lot of buzz. I mean, the the the usual
Speaker 1: suspects who have been rumored in the past, like they've
Speaker 1: seen more and more entrenched with the PGA Tour. They're
Speaker 1: certainly making a hell of a lot money on the PGA,
Speaker 1: a lot more money on the PGA Tour than they
Speaker 1: had been previously. So, like Live knows, it's gonna look
Speaker 1: like a a public relations defeat if they can only
Speaker 1: announce you know, Medo Pereira or or some other semi
Speaker 1: fringe players. So I'm sure the offers are going up.
Speaker 1: I'm sure the agents are licking their chops. The there's
Speaker 1: probably some players and their wives are anguishing. But that's
Speaker 1: the next big announcement, and and I think that will
Speaker 1: have obviously we'll define this season for Live. It'll it'll
Speaker 1: it'll in people's minds, maybe settle the the US against them,
Speaker 1: like the two the sides will have been drawn once
Speaker 1: they announced this, Like it'll be pretty clear what professional
Speaker 1: golf is gonna look like for a long time. I
Speaker 1: don't see a ton of movement throughout this season, so
Speaker 1: um that that's a very freighted announcement that's gonna come
Speaker 1: down any day now. And how many names are you
Speaker 1: looking for? Own? Well? The you know, I was talking
Speaker 1: to some Live folks like two to three weeks ago,
Speaker 1: and they they were hoping to have a handful. What
Speaker 1: that's can be defined? How big are your hands? But um,
Speaker 1: you know if if it's only one, yeah, Ryan impressive,
Speaker 1: So um we'll see. I mean that they the problem.
Speaker 1: The problem for Live is they've built their whole business
Speaker 1: model on on buzz and on on hype, and so
Speaker 1: if you've got to keep feeding that because I think product,
Speaker 1: you know again, product against product, Uh, they fall short
Speaker 1: in a lot of people's eyes. So um, it's a
Speaker 1: mad scramble right now to sign some players, and I'll
Speaker 1: be very curious how it plays out. So I don't
Speaker 1: really agree with that because I think, you know, if
Speaker 1: they if they signed Colin Mark how which would be
Speaker 1: extremely unlikely. Uh, then he goes over and plays there
Speaker 1: and we forget about him. If you're if you forget
Speaker 1: about if you play the PGA Tour, and if you
Speaker 1: if you follow the PGA Tour closely, just like you
Speaker 1: know how often you think about Brooks cup Can Bryson Deshambo.
Speaker 1: Now if you're aren't following Live, So I I think
Speaker 1: as long as they're forty A and the PGA Tour
Speaker 1: is still committed to six, then when on product versus product,
Speaker 1: it's just two really very differ from products. And uh,
Speaker 1: they signed some guys their names. Now, that doesn't mean
Speaker 1: they're gonna be names in five years. You know, Phil
Speaker 1: Mickelson's not gonna be a name in five years. It's
Speaker 1: just gonna be another golfer in his mid leave fifties
Speaker 1: who had a great, great, great career that you hardly
Speaker 1: think about. David Duval had a great, great, great career
Speaker 1: that you hardly ever think about. So they're just sort
Speaker 1: of names. I don't think it's so important. Interesting, Well,
Speaker 1: the marketplace will decide um before we go, let's just
Speaker 1: touch on the Davis Love Drew Love situation. It's quite interesting.
Speaker 1: Ryan explained to people why the whole world is suddenly
Speaker 1: obsessed again with Drew Love. Yeah, Um, Drew was in
Speaker 1: the I was perusing the final stage of Asian Toque School,
Speaker 1: which is total normal nerd golf nerd stuff. Uh, but
Speaker 1: Drew Love was there and I really didn't think about it.
Speaker 1: Um just assumed he got through first stage at some place,
Speaker 1: and uh he hadn't. I mean he got an exemption
Speaker 1: into final stage. And the pettiness on both sides. Greg
Speaker 1: J the PJ Tour, everyone right, it's kind of like
Speaker 1: taking camp Smith's parking spot at TPC Sawgrass, you know,
Speaker 1: press releases on the same day, all that kind of pettiness.
Speaker 1: You would think that Greg gave him exemption into Asian
Speaker 1: Tour status so he would play himself into onto the
Speaker 1: Asian Tour, which he did. Finished thirty cards available fourth
Speaker 1: round sixty two. By the way, the dude has some talent,
Speaker 1: There's no argument about that. And then, uh, you would
Speaker 1: think maybe he plays well in a few Asian Tour events,
Speaker 1: or even before he plays on the Asian Tour, that
Speaker 1: Greg is petty enough to give him an invite to
Speaker 1: live because Davis has been so I was spoken, and
Speaker 1: that is when I would love to be at the
Speaker 1: dinner table of the Loves. When we had Davis on
Speaker 1: the podcast months ago, I mean I titled it the
Speaker 1: Voice of the Establishman. I mean that as you're saying, Ryan,
Speaker 1: it's really Davis has found his voice late in life
Speaker 1: as this crusator for the tour. And so, yeah, it
Speaker 1: is interesting because perusing Asian Tour qualifying results used to
Speaker 1: be high nerd, but now, as we've discussed many times
Speaker 1: in the past, the Asian Tour has become much more relevant.
Speaker 1: It's the future system in to live. It's it's going
Speaker 1: to become a center of gravity for young inspiring players
Speaker 1: because the money is going up. So the Asian Tours
Speaker 1: a much bigger deal and ever has been. But um,
Speaker 1: I mean, do you know how unusual it is to
Speaker 1: be granted an exemption into I assume that rarely happens. So, uh,
Speaker 1: the Asian Tour has been somewhat famous for you could
Speaker 1: buy your way into the fame, but that was before
Speaker 1: they had any money, like they you know, needed money
Speaker 1: to keep tournaments going and those kind of things. Um uh,
Speaker 1: I just got as we were on and I have
Speaker 1: to confirm it, but one of uh Phil's buddies evidently
Speaker 1: missed by one at the Arizona so but was magically
Speaker 1: in final stage and got his card. Uh. So you know,
Speaker 1: it's it's still like it's still kind of a buddy system,
Speaker 1: but it's pretty unusual. No one broadcasted. I reached out
Speaker 1: to the Asian Tour through somebody and they didn't have
Speaker 1: any comment or they just sent me a list of
Speaker 1: the reasons that someone could get an exemption. There's a
Speaker 1: bunch and the main one is one of the ones
Speaker 1: that would fall under all of these categories. Is the
Speaker 1: tournament committee has the right to grant any sort of exemption. So, um,
Speaker 1: it didn't actually say that this person's father is a
Speaker 1: Ryder Cup captain that which, right, who who talks about
Speaker 1: live all the time and we would like to get
Speaker 1: him on. Yeah, it's super weird, but it does start
Speaker 1: to bring into sharp relief something Andy Ogletree told Allen
Speaker 1: to me a while back, and it was it was
Speaker 1: so telling. Young Bryan's professional life is devoted to this statement.
Speaker 1: Young golfers looking for places to play, and Uh, Davis
Speaker 1: isn't gonna begrudge his son for that is my reading
Speaker 1: of it. Even with all the weirdness. Davids stands for
Speaker 1: one thing, Davis is the voice of establishment, but on
Speaker 1: another on another level, you know, Drew's a you know,
Speaker 1: a good young golfer looking for a place to play.
Speaker 1: I think that's an easy conversation Michael on the Asian Tour.
Speaker 1: I think it's a little more difficult on the Lift Tour,
Speaker 1: especially if he gets an exemption. Uh. And to the
Speaker 1: people that like Listen, Drew gets a lot of hate
Speaker 1: for all of the exemptions he's gotten and those kind
Speaker 1: of things. Don't bregrudge him for that. Listen, Mark Baldwin
Speaker 1: got two exemptions because of social media presence, so like
Speaker 1: whatever the reasons are, no problem. No one's gonna turn
Speaker 1: it down. All of us would take it. So no
Speaker 1: problem with Drew getting uh an exemption into final stage again,
Speaker 1: it's just kind of be upfront about it, right, like,
Speaker 1: uh it is. It's going to be wild because I mean,
Speaker 1: I just don't know. I don't know why Greg wouldn't.
Speaker 1: I mean it like, I mean, of course, like, no
Speaker 1: one's gonna go where's Henny quid? Question for you? Is
Speaker 1: that purported or is that the fact that he the
Speaker 1: exemption to the final stage. Yeah, it's it's a fact. Well,
Speaker 1: And to to your point, I'm not even sure there's
Speaker 1: gonna be much conversation about Live because when you think
Speaker 1: of the ultra uptight conservative, longtime member of the establishment,
Speaker 1: it's Wally you Line and his son's making a killing
Speaker 1: on Live. So uh and he was you know he
Speaker 1: wasn't you know, Peter your Line had a great amstra career,
Speaker 1: but he could never stick on the PGA tour. He doesn't.
Speaker 1: He tried for years, So I think, um, I think
Speaker 1: when you know the dads are pragmatic and they know
Speaker 1: how hard how hard it is to make it, and
Speaker 1: um if they have a route to professional golf and
Speaker 1: but anyway, yeah, so it is, Michael, can you ask
Speaker 1: Davis if I could come over for dinner for that conversation.
Speaker 1: I went to more than once I've had dinner with
Speaker 1: with Drew and Davis and uh eight years ago. I
Speaker 1: mean Drew was a little kid, and uh there everyone
Speaker 1: was rarding dinner and uh, I said, you know, what
Speaker 1: are the fish specials today? And everybody else was ruding
Speaker 1: steak and uh, and Drew said, you know he he
Speaker 1: doesn't order steak, and David says, you, yeah, that's because
Speaker 1: Michael dosney neat doesn't eat red meat. And then Drew says, well,
Speaker 1: then what does he eat? I have a Drew I
Speaker 1: have a Drew love story. Uh. Colorado Colorado opened. Uh,
Speaker 1: Drew is near the lead. I'm out there covering it.
Speaker 1: And Drew's caddy has uh flip flops on. I take
Speaker 1: a picture of his flip flops, not him, just of
Speaker 1: his flip flops. Put it up on Twitter. Sometimes I
Speaker 1: forget like that. I have a passionate you know, following,
Speaker 1: and they just hammered the poor dude, like I mean,
Speaker 1: just lighting him up like a Christmas tree. And Drew
Speaker 1: getting rapnel too. You know, there's taking a guy who
Speaker 1: doesn't care. And so I'm sitting in the in the
Speaker 1: cart and Drew comes off the green of like twelve
Speaker 1: and he starts walking towards me and he goes, hey, man,
Speaker 1: can you take that tweet down? My kid? He's just
Speaker 1: getting hammered And all we're doing is getting a million
Speaker 1: messages on our phone about it. And I was like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I take it down. He's also had the most earnest
Speaker 1: caddy ever, his Davis Caddy for Drew, and Drew qualified
Speaker 1: for the UH for the US Open. UH no special
Speaker 1: anything there of course and UH. And it was so clear,
Speaker 1: you know, Drew wanted and Davis wanted it more, and
Speaker 1: Davis was catting his bottom off. But he couldn't talk
Speaker 1: his our memory, he couldn't talk of, he couldn't talk.
Speaker 1: Drew at a driver in one particular only drove into
Speaker 1: the rough, made a bog and I think he missed
Speaker 1: by a shot. I love that well to You're the
Speaker 1: flip flop thing. When I was in during a practice
Speaker 1: round at the Rio Olympics. I was out there on
Speaker 1: the course and it was empty, and this ball came
Speaker 1: rolling up from sort of adjacent fairway and it was
Speaker 1: a titlist. It was number sixty nine and it was
Speaker 1: it was Scott hend and I took a photo of
Speaker 1: it and I put it and I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: you know, what a dirty bird or something, and everyone
Speaker 1: everyone was so upset. Ian Baker Finch, the most mild
Speaker 1: manner guy in golf. I got my business like and uh,
Speaker 1: I was like, first of all, if you put sixty
Speaker 1: nine on your golf ball, you're asking for people to notice.
Speaker 1: And he could have a put to win the gold
Speaker 1: medal and they'll zoom it on the ball and it'll
Speaker 1: be a sixty nine. Like I didn't make him do it.
Speaker 1: And it was like, it's just funny, Like people do
Speaker 1: things and I guess they think no one's gonna notice.
Speaker 1: But it's not the world we lived in. So Scott,
Speaker 1: this was you know, now seven years ago. If you're
Speaker 1: still sore about that, UM, I have no regrets. Um anyway, UM,
Speaker 1: this has been, as as always, a very eclectic fire drill.
Speaker 1: But UM, the key takeaway for you the Listeners is
Speaker 1: on on Tuesday, Earth, presumably tomorrow. When you listen to
Speaker 1: this um, go to the YouTube of the fire Pick
Speaker 1: Collective or go to fire Pi Collective dot com watch
Speaker 1: the first episode of the grind docuseries. Hopefully you'll enjoy it.
Speaker 1: If you feel moved to, you know, talk about on
Speaker 1: social media, we wouldn't mind. But we're very proud of this.
Speaker 1: We're very excited about it, and we hope you guys
Speaker 1: will tune in. But even if you don't, we'll keep
Speaker 1: bringing you these fire drills every week. So for Michael
Speaker 1: Bamberger and Ryan Frances Alan Schufnik, thank you for listening,
Speaker 1: and we'll be back at it again soon. That's the end.
Speaker 1: A bed big play to win, made a fortune within
Speaker 1: my ship game. I run the table and thought I
Speaker 1: could fall. Then the win hit me like a cannon
Speaker 1: the ball and now can't shake this losing the street.
Speaker 1: Every road I take is a dead end stream. I
Speaker 1: got thoughts in my head, can't get him out, trying
Speaker 1: not to think what I'm thinking about. I gott thoughts
Speaker 1: in my head. I can't get him out, trying not
Speaker 1: to think what I'm thinking about