Speaker 1: I miss a green, for example, I'm already upset. When
Speaker 1: I find my ball in the bunker, I'm really upset.
Speaker 1: And when I find my ball in a fried Egg.
Speaker 2: Friday Egg, the dreaded Frida Egg Friday, Frida Egg, Brian Egg,
Speaker 2: Frida Egg, Bride Egg Lie.
Speaker 1: I'm about ready to run off of the course.
Speaker 3: All right, Welcome back to another edition of the Frida
Speaker 3: Egg Golf Podcast. I am your host, Andy Johnson, and
Speaker 3: I am joined today by the Fried Egg's very own
Speaker 3: Meg Atkins. She's joining to talk about the twenty twenty
Speaker 3: four LPGA season, as well as the recent news of
Speaker 3: Molly Marku Simon h resigning, stepping down as LPGA Commissioner
Speaker 3: after what I would describe as a tumultuous ten year.
Speaker 3: So Meg, thanks for coming on. You've been busy. It's
Speaker 3: been peak merch season for you, Peek commerc season. Yes, yes, sales,
Speaker 3: sales galore, monitoring, monitoring the pro shop and yeah, busy,
Speaker 3: busy a couple of weeks, but all good, all good stuff.
Speaker 3: People are gonna be listening to this on Tuesday. Do
Speaker 3: we have any deals left in the pro Shop? Is
Speaker 3: there anything that our listeners can go snag on Tuesday.
Speaker 4: Yes, we.
Speaker 2: Take care of our procrastinators at Friday Golf. We our
Speaker 2: sale goes through the end of Tuesday. Yes, procrastinators rejoice.
Speaker 2: You can still get twenty percent off the entire shop
Speaker 2: with code black Friday twenty four. So, yes, time is limited,
Speaker 2: but deals are still there.
Speaker 3: Can they still get in that raffle for the free
Speaker 3: spot at an event?
Speaker 4: Oh yeah? Oh yeah, So how does that work?
Speaker 2: Yeah, you spend two fifty, We're gonna put you in
Speaker 2: a raffle for free entry into one of our events
Speaker 2: next year. We'll announce that, you know, probably in the
Speaker 2: next week ten days or so. We'll kind of get
Speaker 2: all the all the entries in there and we'll pick
Speaker 2: a lucky winner. So nothing to do on your end.
Speaker 2: If you spend two fifty, we will pull you from
Speaker 2: that list and get you in. So if you've been
Speaker 2: eyeing the really good, really really good events list for
Speaker 2: next year and want to have one of those on
Speaker 2: your radar and need to do some shopping, it's a
Speaker 2: win win there.
Speaker 3: I mean, yeah, some of the events you get entered
Speaker 3: into the raffle for you get good shopping.
Speaker 1: Obviously you could.
Speaker 3: I mean, if you're if you're just looking to upgrade
Speaker 3: your office, you could you could buy a print, or
Speaker 3: you're look into upgrade you know a room in your house,
Speaker 3: you could buy a print that gets you over that.
Speaker 3: But you know types of events that you get into
Speaker 3: the raffle for Marine Essex County country Club in New Jersey,
Speaker 3: so New York market. If you want to just go
Speaker 3: to Denver in September, that sounds like a delightful plan.
Speaker 3: There's Colorado Golf Club, so lots of different options. Skokie
Speaker 3: Country Clubs in that Chicago area one, so if you
Speaker 3: if you spend two fifty, you get a chance to
Speaker 3: get a free event entry, which is which is a
Speaker 3: good deal I think. So let's get into our LPGA
Speaker 3: chat here all right, Meg, What an LPGA season? I mean,
Speaker 3: I think sneaky, not sneaky at all. Actually, in terms
Speaker 3: of recent years, this was one of the most compelling years.
Speaker 3: I think we've been begging for this for you know,
Speaker 3: superstars to emerge and really establish themselves, and this year
Speaker 3: we had two really historic years in Nelly Corda and
Speaker 3: Lydia Co. What was your biggest takeaway from the LPGA season.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean we got to talk about the big
Speaker 2: names winning and and playing well and playing well at
Speaker 2: the same time for the most part, which we really
Speaker 2: haven't gotten to do. We've been, like you said, waiting
Speaker 2: for kind of the top names to to show out
Speaker 2: and and we got that this year, which you know,
Speaker 2: you would have told me at the beginning of the
Speaker 2: season you'd have first the Nelly streak and then the
Speaker 2: Lydia kind of you know, two crowning achievements on her
Speaker 2: career with the Open win and the and the Hall
Speaker 2: of Fame and the Olympic gold. I guess you can
Speaker 2: combine those into one.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I would have been thrilled with that.
Speaker 2: So to me, like, you know, you can get into
Speaker 2: the Nelly Lydia discourse, but like it's really tough for
Speaker 2: me to pick between those two.
Speaker 4: Like the streak was historic, it was.
Speaker 2: Incredible, It felt inevitable, you know, in the in the
Speaker 2: in the middle of it, like oh she's playing, Oh
Speaker 2: she's gonna win, and that's just so rare and uncommon
Speaker 2: in professional golf.
Speaker 4: But then like Lydia, you know, maybe that's.
Speaker 2: More of a feel good story for just how how
Speaker 2: long her career has been from you know, pretty much
Speaker 2: like child prodigy to now to kind of to kind.
Speaker 4: Of get the the big.
Speaker 2: Win at Saint Andrews joined you know, Stacy Lewis and
Speaker 2: Loreno chose the only golfers to do that with. Then
Speaker 2: you get, you know, the Olympic gold and the Hall
Speaker 2: of Fame. Whether you value the Hall of Fame as
Speaker 2: much as those an Olympic Golden Saint Andrews, who can say,
Speaker 2: But it's really tough for me to pick between those two.
Speaker 2: That's the season will be remembered for Nelly and Lydia.
Speaker 3: I think the Hall of Fame qualification for those that
Speaker 3: don't know, they use a point based qualification and you
Speaker 3: have to achieve a certain amount of points, and Lydia
Speaker 3: co achieved those this year, and.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 3: The fact that she wasn't already a Hall of Famer
Speaker 3: it's crazy to me, Like, had she retired at the
Speaker 3: beginning of the year and she wasn't in the Hall
Speaker 3: of Fame, it was insane. So I guess that like
Speaker 3: kind of makes it a huge achievement and also begs
Speaker 3: the question of whether that should exist.
Speaker 1: I think, like you know, in a way, the Corda
Speaker 1: and Co.
Speaker 3: You know, the way you described the two you know, accomplishments,
Speaker 3: whether it's Nelly winning five in a row, that I
Speaker 3: think it illustrates two of the things that like we
Speaker 3: watch golf for the reasons we watch golf for. The
Speaker 3: things that enamorous about golf is like all out dominance,
Speaker 3: which was displayed with Nelly winning five in a row,
Speaker 3: extraordinarily hard to do. It's extraordinarily hard to win one week,
Speaker 3: let alone two, three, four, five in a row. That's insane.
Speaker 3: That's something the Tiger, the type of dominance that I
Speaker 3: think made everybody just like like.
Speaker 1: Love Tiger.
Speaker 3: This idea of this is just something that's not possible
Speaker 3: to do. And I think the other thing that we
Speaker 3: love about golf is like the long winding road of
Speaker 3: a golf career. And I think that's the thing that
Speaker 3: that Lydia's you're really illustrated is that it's not like
Speaker 3: I think, with golf more so than like other sports,
Speaker 3: like if you compare them to other sports, like you know,
Speaker 3: like it's very rare for like a basketball player not
Speaker 3: to be great. You know, like they kind of like
Speaker 3: come up and become great and then they're really great
Speaker 3: and then they retire and they I think the difference
Speaker 3: is like golf, like you have these like air these
Speaker 3: periods of like the dul drums, and you get stuck
Speaker 3: and you get it's not just like, oh, this person
Speaker 3: is great and they're going to be great every time
Speaker 3: they step on the court or on the golf course.
Speaker 3: In golf's case, there are just like peaks and valleys,
Speaker 3: and I think Lydia Coe's career illustrates that. I mean,
Speaker 3: there there were some years where there were some challenges
Speaker 3: and there are real questions about you know, there are
Speaker 3: times like our parents too involved, is she too much
Speaker 3: of a control freak? You know, the the all the
Speaker 3: swing instructor changes and the caddy changes, like and then
Speaker 3: you know this year kind of like I feel like
Speaker 3: cemented her as like this all timer.
Speaker 4: Yeah, absolutely it it.
Speaker 2: You know, the the Olympics were one thing, like she's
Speaker 2: got all the medals, but the Saint Andrews win, like
Speaker 2: that's going to be the image when when she retires whenever.
Speaker 2: That is like that's that's the lasting image that and
Speaker 2: you know, doing it at Saint Andrew's like that her
Speaker 2: name man Saint Andrews made a lot of sense together
Speaker 2: and it was really cool to see her come out
Speaker 2: of you know what had been. It wasn't like the
Speaker 2: tough times were five years ago, like this very recent.
Speaker 2: She didn't make the Tour championship last year, so that
Speaker 2: it was very very special season for her. And then
Speaker 2: you know, like like you said on the Nelly side,
Speaker 2: like the dominance, like you get to see the best
Speaker 2: of the best at their best, at their peak, and
Speaker 2: we saw that with Nelly, And you know, like she
Speaker 2: had her own little mini roller coaster too, probably two
Speaker 2: you know, the lows of pretty pretty low lows for
Speaker 2: her career outside of maybe like the injuries and the
Speaker 2: blood plot, which is very scary for her, but like
Speaker 2: to have that in the midst of one season, in
Speaker 2: the midst of you know, four or five months or so,
Speaker 2: the highest of highs low lows, and then coming back
Speaker 2: out of that at the end of the season, Like
Speaker 2: you can't really ask for much more in terms of
Speaker 2: storylines and performances in a golf season.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so I gotta make you pick. You said you
Speaker 3: don't want to pick, which season do you like more?
Speaker 1: Which is do you the.
Speaker 2: I think that I'm gonna take Lydia because of Saint
Speaker 2: Andrew's and the home of Golf and like like in
Speaker 2: the olympiclly, the Olympic Gold yep, the maybe not so
Speaker 2: much the Hall of Fame just my personal opinion, but
Speaker 2: those other two are pretty pretty sweet. If if Nelly's
Speaker 2: streak happens at a different time in the schedule, I'm
Speaker 2: probably taking hers, But like that beginning part of the
Speaker 2: schedule and that you know, this maybe gets into a
Speaker 2: larger discussion on the schedule, like think of it like
Speaker 2: that time frame on like the men's calendar, that's like
Speaker 2: your riv that's like, you know, some best part of
Speaker 2: like pre you know, before the Majors is that time
Speaker 2: frame when she did this streak and there wasn't Like
Speaker 2: her wins are fantastic, like the Shadow Creek one, especially
Speaker 2: in match play, combo strip play and match play is huge, but.
Speaker 4: Like those aren't.
Speaker 2: There's only a handful of really big tournaments that stand
Speaker 2: out on this schedule and really break through to like
Speaker 2: the non golf audience, and that goes kind of where
Speaker 2: her low lowest point in the season was. So this streak,
Speaker 2: you know, we will not see that streak again. I'm
Speaker 2: you know, for a while, and not to like you know,
Speaker 2: downplay that at all, but uh, the Open at Saint
Speaker 2: Andrew's in the Olympic Gold.
Speaker 4: It doesn't get much better than that.
Speaker 1: To me, it seems like there are and I don't
Speaker 1: want to I don't want.
Speaker 3: To be dismissive or talk down to any events, but
Speaker 3: to me, there seems like there's three events in women's
Speaker 3: golf that really stand above the rest. It's the Olympics,
Speaker 3: the US Women's Open, and the Women's Open, and those
Speaker 3: are the big three. I think the Women's PGA is
Speaker 3: like right there too, like maybe just like a half
Speaker 3: a notch below, and then there's a pretty you know,
Speaker 3: drastic fall off to the other two majors and and then.
Speaker 1: The rest of the event.
Speaker 3: And it's this is like, you know, I think like
Speaker 3: so much of a successful year for the best players
Speaker 3: in the world when you're talking about Aldia Co, when
Speaker 3: you're talking about Olili Vu, Annellie Corda Rojang, you know,
Speaker 3: I think she's got to obviously like get to winning
Speaker 3: a major, But is winning one of those two annual
Speaker 3: events or or the the Olympics, like those that's like
Speaker 3: the pinnacle of the sport. And I think it's a little,
Speaker 3: you know, obviously like the Masters and men's golf, and
Speaker 3: in the in the US Open, in the in the
Speaker 3: Open are great tournaments and they stand a little bit
Speaker 3: above the PGA. But I do feel like there's a
Speaker 3: little bit more of a cliff in women's golf. And
Speaker 3: this comes from a someone who follows it, But is
Speaker 3: it like I wouldn't say I'm like extraordinarily invested. It
Speaker 3: does feel like there is like a clear class system
Speaker 3: within the within the majors.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I agree, and that's what made it Like like
Speaker 2: being on site at Lancaster for the US Women's Open
Speaker 2: this year and that that Thursday, that the the ten
Speaker 2: that she had on twelve, Like I can't like the
Speaker 2: build up to that event, like this was the peak Nelly.
Speaker 2: This was you know, you still had kind of that
Speaker 2: inevitable feeling that she was going to come in and
Speaker 2: win that and like the air that went out of
Speaker 2: that place and the air that went out like honestly
Speaker 2: through for the weekend with her not there like that,
Speaker 2: Like looking back, you kind of have to wonder, like
Speaker 2: what if, you know, what if that ten doesn't happen?
Speaker 4: And you can play the what if game, and you
Speaker 4: know it's it's it's.
Speaker 2: Not changing anything, but you wonder if things had gone
Speaker 2: differently in Lancaster, like would her season have broken through
Speaker 2: to more of the mainstream audience than it did. Would
Speaker 2: what you know, what does that look like if if
Speaker 2: that that blow up on twelve doesn't happen, Because it
Speaker 2: is so important for the best players to play their
Speaker 2: best at those events for the sake of women's golf.
Speaker 2: There's no there's no riv there's no there's no Jack's Place,
Speaker 2: there's no bay Hill.
Speaker 1: You know what I mean.
Speaker 4: Like even those.
Speaker 2: Get you know, they they they bring in you know,
Speaker 2: past audiences who know those names and and all that
Speaker 2: and want to see you know, Arnold back in his
Speaker 2: day shake hands with the winner and all that, And
Speaker 2: there isn't that on the LPGA.
Speaker 3: I think we can probably talk a little bit more
Speaker 3: about that when we get into some recent news with
Speaker 3: the commissioner and and some of the LPGA struggles. Despite
Speaker 3: these historic years, I do think like pulling on that
Speaker 3: string a little bit more. It was definitely felt like
Speaker 3: a crescendo moment the streak in Lancaster. It was this
Speaker 3: this meeting of this you know, red hot player, historic
Speaker 3: stretch of play that we had never seen. And I
Speaker 3: think the thing about it was how quickly the era
Speaker 3: was out, like it being the second hole of the tournament. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 3: for her, it wasn't a She was in it until
Speaker 3: Saturday and it was just this Saturday disaster and we
Speaker 3: could just chalk it up as like this was a
Speaker 3: disaster and the whole that there were a lot of
Speaker 3: big numbers on that hole, but just to have this
Speaker 3: big moment and the moment just so like there was
Speaker 3: no hope beyond Thursday morning.
Speaker 1: It was just a deflating moment.
Speaker 3: I feel like for everything that had gone into, everything
Speaker 3: that had gone into that week, right, all the play
Speaker 3: that led into it, it was like the spotlight was
Speaker 3: on and it would just didn't happen, which like that's
Speaker 3: the reality of golf, but it did. Like I felt
Speaker 3: like it deflated the whole event and really like the
Speaker 3: entire streak.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it really did.
Speaker 2: I mean it was over by ten am on Thursday,
Speaker 2: you know, like before a lot of people had even
Speaker 2: tuned in or it was even on their radar.
Speaker 1: I don't think it was on TV. It was just
Speaker 1: streaming at that point. Yeah.
Speaker 4: I think you're right. I think you're right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Yeah, It was so strange too, because like you know,
Speaker 2: there was there were like four groups waiting. There was
Speaker 2: like they had long wait and you just saw like
Speaker 2: the car crashes happening ahead of you. It was super windy,
Speaker 2: and it was like the whole sequence was so like
Speaker 2: it the air just went out of the whole place
Speaker 2: and I followed her, I think through the rest of
Speaker 2: that that nine and then came in and like you know,
Speaker 2: like they're like actual tears from fans. Like of a
Speaker 2: fellow media members was like, yeah, I overheard this daughter
Speaker 2: like bawling to her mom be like it's over the
Speaker 2: and the mom was like, it's okay, she's still got tomorrow.
Speaker 2: And the mom was like or the daughter was like,
Speaker 2: you don't know, golf, mom, it's over. And it was
Speaker 2: like that, like literal tears on the ground from people.
Speaker 4: It was.
Speaker 2: It was such a bummer because the spotlight really had
Speaker 2: never been brighter with what she had been doing, and
Speaker 2: then it was just you know, boom over, exit, exit,
Speaker 2: stage left. So yeah, it's too bad. That's uh, you know,
Speaker 2: in a season where there wasn't much to complain about
Speaker 2: from the storylines, and what happened, like that's the one.
Speaker 4: What if that's the that's the big regret I think
Speaker 4: for me.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it's.
Speaker 3: I think, like everybody while it was happening, while the
Speaker 3: streak was going, and like for the record, I think
Speaker 3: I'd take Lydia Coe's season just because of I was
Speaker 3: doing your review research and I came across this Victor
Speaker 3: have Und quote that was like about like, yeah, you
Speaker 3: could just give six million dollars to the winner of
Speaker 3: the John Deere, but I'd still rather win memorial. And
Speaker 3: you know, money's great, but it's like it's about events
Speaker 3: and and to me, like winning the Old Corps, the
Speaker 3: Women's Open at Saint Andrew's, uh is I mean in
Speaker 3: winning a gold medal in women's golf, there's like those
Speaker 3: are the two probably the two of the biggest ones.
Speaker 3: I think, like some of the Women's Open, the Women's
Speaker 3: US Open venues that are coming up when you talk
Speaker 3: about like winning at Shinnacock or you know, winning at L. A. C. C.
Speaker 3: Like those winning at Oakmont, Like those are those are
Speaker 3: types of where it's like, you know, I could only
Speaker 3: add to this, but like it's like, yeah, I want
Speaker 3: I want a US Women's Open.
Speaker 1: Oh where's you win. I wanted an elkmont Oh I
Speaker 1: won the Women's Open, Where'd you win? I want the
Speaker 1: whole course like that.
Speaker 3: The the second half of it is just you know
Speaker 3: it try it's equal to like for me, like I
Speaker 3: you know, I won on the LPGA ten times, like
Speaker 3: to be that like might be where like it might
Speaker 3: be worth ten LPGA wins.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it has a little bit more oomph than I
Speaker 2: won the Chevron at Carlton Woods.
Speaker 3: Yes, yes, way more, way more oomph.
Speaker 1: And I think like the.
Speaker 3: Lp Like, while the Nelly thing was going on, there
Speaker 3: were so many so much talk of like what Caitlin
Speaker 3: Clark's done for the w n b A and women's basketball.
Speaker 3: This was coming, This was happening as she was making
Speaker 3: the March Madness run. So this was like kind of
Speaker 3: women's college basketball. And now like we zoom out and
Speaker 3: we're it's it's six months later and we've seen what
Speaker 3: she did for the WNBA, which was like completely transformed
Speaker 3: the sport, and everybody was talking about Nelly and and
Speaker 3: the you know kind of what she's done, what could
Speaker 3: she be? This Caitlin Clark for the LPGA, and like
Speaker 3: she had an incredible year, the best thing she can
Speaker 3: do is play golf at a high level for the LPGA,
Speaker 3: but like it still hasn't gotten there, And like, I
Speaker 3: wonder if what your thoughts are on, Like I think
Speaker 3: everybody in every women's sport that's not basketball is saying, like,
Speaker 3: can we have a Kitlin Clark moment, a Caitlin Clark
Speaker 3: figure that transforms her sport. Do you have a thought
Speaker 3: on like what that could be for women's golf or
Speaker 3: could it be Nelly?
Speaker 2: It's certainly I mean she keeps winning, it certainly could be.
Speaker 2: I think your point is is very true. The best
Speaker 2: things she can do is keep winning and keep performing
Speaker 2: at the high level. That's kind of last week when
Speaker 2: or when seeing me when the season wrapped up, like
Speaker 2: that was kind of my takeaway is all this growth
Speaker 2: is fantastic, Like it's great for women's golf, what's happening
Speaker 2: in basketball and soccer and other women's sports.
Speaker 4: It's fantastic.
Speaker 2: But there's also the other side of the coin that
Speaker 2: they're you know, that's competition now too. You know, they're
Speaker 2: they have way more time on network TV than they
Speaker 2: did a few years ago. You're you need your top
Speaker 2: names to keep performing at the high level to keep
Speaker 2: eyes on women's golf. So that's I think I'm with
Speaker 2: you there that that's kind of the first important important
Speaker 2: key is we we cannot you know, the depth of
Speaker 2: the tour is great, but I think it will struggle
Speaker 2: next year if we go back to having twelve first
Speaker 2: time winners and leaderboards at majors with names that people
Speaker 2: aren't familiar with for a lot first time major winners.
Speaker 2: It's just very difficult for a niche sport like golf
Speaker 2: to have that type of parody where you're not even
Speaker 2: familiar with the first page of the leaderboard unless you're
Speaker 2: a die hard fan, right.
Speaker 3: And the hard thing is that's just the nature of golf, yes, right,
Speaker 3: I mean it's the same thing happens with the men's game.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 3: It's like, why aren't the best players dominating? It's like, well,
Speaker 3: these other players are really good too, you know, it's not.
Speaker 2: And it's something the league, the LPGA or the PGA
Speaker 2: Tour they have no control over, right, Like they have
Speaker 2: no control over how the stars are going to play,
Speaker 2: whether they're going to hit their stride, whether they're going
Speaker 2: to struggle next year. So it is a game a
Speaker 2: chance with how you know who's going to show.
Speaker 4: Up weekend week out right.
Speaker 2: As far as like the Caitlyn Clark moment, Like my
Speaker 2: opinion on that is that I don't think, you know,
Speaker 2: is golf ever going, Is women's golf ever going to
Speaker 2: be the leader and that aspect and create have a
Speaker 2: Kitlyn Clark, whether that's Nelly, and have the super you know,
Speaker 2: star breakthrough everything moment that Caitlyn Clark.
Speaker 4: Has brought to basketball. No, probably not.
Speaker 2: You know, it's a very niche sport, like I said,
Speaker 2: And the bigger problem is, you know, we don't like
Speaker 2: they don't have any sort of media rights deal that
Speaker 2: is going to break into other audiences right now in
Speaker 2: order to have exponential growth, right, Like, that's I think
Speaker 2: the key on top of the stars playing well. Okay one,
Speaker 2: So say say we do get Nelly and Lydia and
Speaker 2: they have a repeat next season, right, say Lilyvoo comes,
Speaker 2: it plays great next season two and you've got the
Speaker 2: stars aligning again. Do we repeat what happened this year
Speaker 2: where that doesn't quite break through because it's on Peacock,
Speaker 2: uh for you know, like Nellie's Round is on Peacock
Speaker 2: only and not anywhere else. The media deal is I
Speaker 2: think the major, the major hang up, like Caitlin Clark,
Speaker 2: that yes being had put the the groundwork in place
Speaker 2: to have that in front of their massive audience of eyeballs. Right,
Speaker 2: that's not in place for the for for women's golf.
Speaker 2: Their attack onto the PGA Tours rights deal, and they
Speaker 2: are you know, fourth on the on the on the ticket,
Speaker 2: they're an afterthought honestly for the PGA Tour. They're not
Speaker 2: They're not a part of the PGA Tours balance sheet.
Speaker 2: Therefore they're an afterthought.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think I think that was you know, oh,
Speaker 3: we can get into Molly marcou Simon and her just
Speaker 3: her resign a resignation that happened this morning of this
Speaker 3: recording in the Pitfalls, but that I believe is a
Speaker 3: holdover from the one era where I think, like everybody
Speaker 3: speaks of the Mikewan area era with like you know,
Speaker 3: rose colored glasses. But I don't necessarily think it was
Speaker 3: like that much better. And I think that was one
Speaker 3: of the worst moves they did, was like tie themselves
Speaker 3: to the PGA Tour's right steel, because you you know,
Speaker 3: like you immediately are tying you're the most important aspect
Speaker 3: of your league is tied to a tour that's going
Speaker 3: that you're the least important aspect of their negotiation, right right,
Speaker 3: Like just the interest there's no possible way for your
Speaker 3: interest to actually align there. Getting back to the Kaitlyn
Speaker 3: Clark thing, and I think, like everybody and you can
Speaker 3: correct me if I'm wrong, but to me, I think
Speaker 3: the thing. I don't think like it's Kitlyn Clark's personality
Speaker 3: that like Pops, that makes people love her. It's really
Speaker 3: the style of play. It is the way she plays basketball.
Speaker 3: It is with freedom and this great creativity. It's like
Speaker 3: very to me, very reminiscent of the way Steph Curry
Speaker 3: plays basketball. Just the passing and the shooting, the just
Speaker 3: the ability to just pull from anywhere. And like when
Speaker 3: I think about like golf and Caitlyn Clark moments, like
Speaker 3: there's a very clear Kitlyn Clark moment that happened for golf.
Speaker 3: It just happened on in the men's game with Tiger Woods.
Speaker 3: And if you think about like Tiger Woods and why
Speaker 3: he was so pop, I think it was the demonstrative
Speaker 3: playing style he came out and it's this gentleman's sport
Speaker 3: you know, that's what we were told when I was
Speaker 3: a kid. You know, it's this, you know, you have
Speaker 3: to act the right way, you have to play the
Speaker 3: right way. And I remember I had like older uncle.
Speaker 3: I had an older uncle who like hated Tiger was
Speaker 3: because of his fist pumps and he's like, that's not
Speaker 3: the way you play golf, like you know, but like
Speaker 3: it was his playing style.
Speaker 1: It was the it was.
Speaker 3: This speed, the the the fist pumps, the demonstrative reactions
Speaker 3: to shots that that led to the popularity. It was
Speaker 3: the Nike marketing machine along with the way he played
Speaker 3: the game and then obviously the encore success. To me,
Speaker 3: like the thing like Nelly, and this is not Nelly's fault.
Speaker 3: She's playing golf the way that she's going to be
Speaker 3: the best golfer. The thing that's missing is that that
Speaker 3: that playing style, that that magnetism that comes with with
Speaker 3: a playing style that like you watch and you you
Speaker 3: can't take your eyes off it because you can't wait
Speaker 3: to see what's next.
Speaker 1: And to me, when you look at the women's.
Speaker 3: Game, they just haven't had that type of player emerge
Speaker 3: and it's not Rojang. And Rojang could be a great player,
Speaker 3: but like she's never going to pop off the page
Speaker 3: from that that style of play, and until there is
Speaker 3: a player that really comes and does things differently that
Speaker 3: looked that Like when you're watching them play, you think
Speaker 3: this is different. You know that I think is going
Speaker 3: to be the struggle and every and and this has
Speaker 3: to happen when you talk about these moments, this is
Speaker 3: any great player typically, like you feel that way while
Speaker 3: you're watching them.
Speaker 2: Sure, and you know, probably the last time the LPGA
Speaker 2: had that was maybe Nancy Lopez who just came in different,
Speaker 2: played the game different one heaps and heaps and.
Speaker 4: Really really quickly.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's that's not Nelly. You know, she's she's an introvert.
Speaker 2: She's come out of her shell more this year than
Speaker 2: she hasn't probably her whole career combined, probably, you know,
Speaker 2: And that's probably because she's been freed up, probably easier
Speaker 2: for her to come out of her shell after she's
Speaker 2: had a dominant stretch like she had, and she's was
Speaker 2: very you know, particular and calculated with the moves that
Speaker 2: she did outside of her comfort zone the met Gala,
Speaker 2: the SI swimsuit to to capture different audiences, right, But
Speaker 2: the playing style, like like she she's an introvert on
Speaker 2: on the course, she's an introvert. She doesn't, I mean,
Speaker 2: she's perfectly fine and and interviews and whatnot.
Speaker 4: But yeah, I'm with you.
Speaker 2: That that that style of play, that that whatever you
Speaker 2: want to call it factor, if that's what you want
Speaker 2: to call it. Yeah, Caitlin's got it for sure. And
Speaker 2: maybe Nancy Lopez was the last like it factor in
Speaker 2: women's golf. It wasn't Anica like like Anika, you know,
Speaker 2: for all her numbers, I don't think charisma is the
Speaker 2: word you think of when you describe her, right, I think.
Speaker 3: And I think like men's golf has this issue now too, right,
Speaker 3: like yeah, up Scotti sche Like the conversation was like
Speaker 3: almost the same about men's golf with Scotty Scheffler, like
Speaker 3: I you know, until he got arrested. Like their arrest
Speaker 3: like literally changed the discourse around Scotty Shuffler. It made
Speaker 3: him way more likable. It was like it was like
Speaker 3: this it was a crazy thing. Like but like that arrest,
Speaker 3: I think, like general general genuinely changed the trajectory public
Speaker 3: interest in Scotty Scheffler because like people watch how he
Speaker 3: handled it and they were like wow, like I can't believe,
Speaker 3: like he didn't say like it, And like since then,
Speaker 3: I think he's like used that and it's he he's.
Speaker 1: Like opened up a little bit more.
Speaker 3: But still I don't think Scotty Scheffler is like an
Speaker 3: electric personality, right, right, And like you look at the
Speaker 3: top of like, you know, men's golf had Tiger and
Speaker 3: then Rory became this heir apparent, and I think Rory
Speaker 3: and Spieth have had this like gravity towards them, but
Speaker 3: I don't think any player since then has even come close, right,
Speaker 3: And I think it's just a struggle.
Speaker 1: Golf is probably like one of.
Speaker 3: The hardest sports to have that charisma that you know, uh,
Speaker 3: I don't know what the right word, but that like
Speaker 3: gravitational pull with fans.
Speaker 1: It's just it's a very muted sport and it's.
Speaker 4: A very polite sport.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and politeness doesn't really you know, attract a lot
Speaker 2: of numbers and attention sometimes, Right, So I guess what
Speaker 2: we're saying is we need Officer Gillis to make his
Speaker 2: way down to Brandonton and arrest figure out some how
Speaker 2: to arrest Nelly Korda.
Speaker 3: So that's all We're going for Officer Gillis and his pants.
Speaker 4: Yep, yep.
Speaker 3: All right, let's take a quick break here to talk
Speaker 3: about our partner, Red Rooster. It's time to wake up
Speaker 3: your gift game this holiday season with Red Rooster Golf.
Speaker 3: Right now, they have a great deal these gloves, so
Speaker 3: much customer satisfaction. We this was our Club TFE member
Speaker 3: gift their gloves. We had like a fried Egg branded glove.
Speaker 3: I got texts from like so many people player Like,
Speaker 3: I got a text from somebody that's made it into
Speaker 3: like pretty deep in the US, Amy who said, is
Speaker 3: there any way I could buy a bunch of these
Speaker 3: because this is my favorite glove I've ever worn. So
Speaker 3: they right now have a buy one, get one deal
Speaker 3: a bogo that's what I think all the kids call
Speaker 3: a bogo deal. Buy one glove, get the second fifty
Speaker 3: percent off. I guess that's not a buy one, get one,
Speaker 3: it's a Bogo, but it's fifty percent off. So buy
Speaker 3: one glove, get the second fifty percent off with your
Speaker 3: exclusive code fifty fried This is a great stocking stuffer
Speaker 3: if you buy somebody golf gloves that my mom used
Speaker 3: to do that way back in the day, I'd open
Speaker 3: up my stocking. There'd be like three golf gloves. They
Speaker 3: go in the bag. I'd have golf gloves for like
Speaker 3: I'm not I don't run through golf clubs, so I'd
Speaker 3: have golf clubs for.
Speaker 1: Like the year.
Speaker 3: Also, you can need to order by December thirteenth to
Speaker 3: get your gifts on time. They have some other stuff.
Speaker 3: They have leather glove Walletslet keep your glove flat and fresh.
Speaker 3: They have new hats, they have belts, they have other
Speaker 3: stuff on there. Go to redroostergolf dot com and check
Speaker 3: out those deals there. Let's get back to Meg. Let's
Speaker 3: talk about the news of the day. Mollie markou Simone
Speaker 3: is no more as commissioner. She stepped down as commissioner.
Speaker 3: I think like just generally over the course of her commissionership,
Speaker 3: it's been a rocky road. I think that I think
Speaker 3: there's been a lot of quiet behind the scenes anytime
Speaker 3: she's brought up in in my in my experience with
Speaker 3: people involved, this is a disaster. She's not good at
Speaker 3: her job. I think, like when we talk about, you know,
Speaker 3: ways to grow the LPGA sport is maybe some of
Speaker 3: those quiet conversations need to be more public. But you know,
Speaker 3: she steps down and it seems like I'd like to
Speaker 3: hear your perspective. This was accumulation of a lot of
Speaker 3: disappointing things, but maybe the final nail in the coffin
Speaker 3: was the Solheim Cup bus disaster.
Speaker 4: Yeah, absolutely that.
Speaker 2: I mean, if you know, we are a few months
Speaker 2: past that, we still don't know like how, why that
Speaker 2: miscalculation was made, what type of uh you know, compensation
Speaker 2: or what not was done for for fans like it
Speaker 2: there were no answers, and that was just you know,
Speaker 2: it is very apparent in person in that press conference
Speaker 2: at Solheim that this it was this was not leadership
Speaker 2: right coming from her, This was this was not a
Speaker 2: great leader and right like it's it's been rocky from
Speaker 2: the jump. I think, like looking back, you know, you
Speaker 2: didn't know it at the time, and hindsight is always
Speaker 2: twenty twenty, but her one hundred day like listening period
Speaker 2: to start off her tenure was the worst thing you
Speaker 2: could have done, Like the worst.
Speaker 4: This is twenty twenty one.
Speaker 2: Little did we know, Like the women's sports momentum, like
Speaker 2: the train was getting rolling, like picking up speed, picking
Speaker 2: up speed, and you've got someone who for their first
Speaker 2: three months listened and and and I don't like I
Speaker 2: get that, I get wanting to learn. I get that
Speaker 2: you didn't come from this. You know, you came from academia.
Speaker 2: You were an athletic director before, and you had to
Speaker 2: learn on the job. But you just you that having
Speaker 2: that one hundred days of nothing, I think you missed,
Speaker 2: you missed the boat. You if you had some one,
Speaker 2: you know, with experience who knew how to do the
Speaker 2: job come in and not. Sports are very different. But
Speaker 2: I look at the NWSL. I've brought up Jessica Berman before,
Speaker 2: the commissioner of that league, who came from the NHL
Speaker 2: and came into a debacle of a league with no
Speaker 2: player trust, scandals, teams folding, and got to work day
Speaker 2: one because you knew what the job was. Molly Marcusimon
Speaker 2: did not know how to do this job. So that's
Speaker 2: you know, I hope that's top of mind as this
Speaker 2: global search commences, is that you cannot you have to
Speaker 2: have somebody ready to go day one because.
Speaker 4: You had the wrong person in position.
Speaker 2: During a period where women's growth has never grown as
Speaker 2: much as it has.
Speaker 4: So that's too bad. Looking back.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think, I mean, it's it's very easy to
Speaker 3: to poke hole. I think, like I I haven't been
Speaker 3: impressed over the years in terms of I think like
Speaker 3: the biggest thing is just the lack of vision, like
Speaker 3: the lack of this is where we're going and this
Speaker 3: is you know. I think like when you look at
Speaker 3: the LPGA, there has to be a fresh perspective somebody
Speaker 3: that comes in and says, listen, I know we've been
Speaker 3: doing the things this way, and we're going to continue
Speaker 3: to do some of these things, but if we want
Speaker 3: to reach where we believe like and like I think
Speaker 3: like there's no reason why women's golf couldn't be the
Speaker 3: most popular professional golf played. There's it's not like there's
Speaker 3: some like dominant force that's that's holding this from happening.
Speaker 3: This is this is real possible. And thinking all right,
Speaker 3: how do we get there? Is to me what has
Speaker 3: to happen. I'm curious if if you were going to
Speaker 3: create a couple points of emphasis that you'd like to
Speaker 3: see from the new commissioner and what they would stress on,
Speaker 3: like trying trying to bring the LPGA to a higher
Speaker 3: level of fandom and viewership, what what would be the
Speaker 3: things that you would want to see stressed.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think you know, Mollie, what I'm looking
Speaker 2: for and what needs to be stressed is the willingness
Speaker 2: to make bold moves. Mollie didn't make any bold moves.
Speaker 2: Sure there was you know, the perse growth and all that, which,
Speaker 2: you know, the numbers are great, but like compared to
Speaker 2: what has been going on in other leagues and other
Speaker 2: women's sports, like, it's kind of the bare minimum honestly,
Speaker 2: So willingness to make make the bold move and willingness
Speaker 2: to differentiate yourself from the PGA tour. What has the
Speaker 2: LPGA done to differentiate itself from a tour from the
Speaker 2: PGA that has struggle, that has experienced a schism, that
Speaker 2: has uh, you know, disengaged many of its fans, you know,
Speaker 2: not much. The LPGA hasn't done much. It's kind of
Speaker 2: just doing the same thing but in a smaller scale.
Speaker 4: So bold moves.
Speaker 2: I think the first one that comes to mind is
Speaker 2: you've got to get your product to other eyeballs. I'll
Speaker 2: bring up the NWSL again. I know, like right now
Speaker 2: it's got a big CBS deal and it has more
Speaker 2: eyeballs on it than ever before, not that long ago.
Speaker 1: Thus the Women's Soccer League.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, National Women's Soccer League. So not long ago,
Speaker 2: their teams were playing in high school stadiums like here
Speaker 2: in Kansas City. Not that long ago, they were playing
Speaker 2: in high school stadiums. They were broadcasting their games on Twitch,
Speaker 2: you know what I mean. But that's how they started,
Speaker 2: Like they got on Twitch and got to different audiences
Speaker 2: that way. I think you have to be in control
Speaker 2: of how your product is distributed, and that's not the
Speaker 2: case right now. So I mean, that's a big change
Speaker 2: to separate yourself and to get out from under the
Speaker 2: PGA tour umbrella. But I think that has to happen.
Speaker 2: The other thing that you know is very attractive to
Speaker 2: me is the schedule and getting a more coherent schedule
Speaker 2: at more interesting venues. If you look at ways that
Speaker 2: the LPGA can differentiate itself, it plays a very different
Speaker 2: game than the men on a very different scale, which
Speaker 2: opens up many different courses to you. The schedule is, yeah,
Speaker 2: record breaking money, fantastic, But to what we spoke about earlier,
Speaker 2: what's memorable?
Speaker 4: Three or four events? Right? So those are those are
Speaker 4: those are my top two. I think they.
Speaker 3: Share this issue right with with men's golf. Right, I
Speaker 3: think men's golf one of the biggest problems with men's
Speaker 3: golf right now is like, how do we make more
Speaker 3: than five events a year relevant? This is I think
Speaker 3: this is just like this is the same problem that
Speaker 3: tennis is starting. I think, like with this modern era
Speaker 3: of television, on demand, choice, social media, and YouTube, Like
Speaker 3: when you combine all these different platforms and all the
Speaker 3: choices that people have for their time, everybody's trying to
Speaker 3: get people's time. One of the things that all of
Speaker 3: off has to confront is how how do we make
Speaker 3: more than four or five events on either side men's
Speaker 3: and women's relevant.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's not It's not easy.
Speaker 2: No, like the and and and negotiating a new media
Speaker 2: deal is not easy. Neither of these are easy things
Speaker 2: to do. But you've you haven't done much on that front.
Speaker 2: I mean, nothing's been done with the media rights deal.
Speaker 2: You added some ESPN plus streaming this year, but you
Speaker 2: are you're you are handcuffed the MIC one deal. You
Speaker 2: have no flexibility, right, so how you get out of that?
Speaker 2: Like one, just getting out of that is is not
Speaker 2: easy to do. And two, like going on your own
Speaker 2: path is not easy at all, but it's it's it's
Speaker 2: easier today than it was three four years ago, that's
Speaker 2: for sure, I think.
Speaker 3: And if and like just to zoom in on this
Speaker 3: this uh, this contract and why it's so bad for
Speaker 3: the LPGA. This is like why it's bad. So they
Speaker 3: got there, lumped in the PGA Tour, negotiated the contract
Speaker 3: and they are basically a tag along on the PGA
Speaker 3: Tour contract. If you compare that to college golf. College
Speaker 3: golf negotiated on its own with Golf Channel. Golf Channel
Speaker 3: got this college golf package and they have like so
Speaker 3: they have this college golf the NCAA Championships and they're
Speaker 3: broadcasting it and it was like oh wow, like but
Speaker 3: there's no other college golf on TV at the point
Speaker 3: they get this, but they realize, like, oh, we made
Speaker 3: this big investment in college golf in the NCAAs. You
Speaker 3: know what we have to do because we have this property,
Speaker 3: we have to cover more college golf. So there's more
Speaker 3: college golf programming today. You know, I don't know how
Speaker 3: many years ago, maybe six or seven years ago when
Speaker 3: they got the deal for the college Golf Championships, when
Speaker 3: it became a big part of their spring programming. Today
Speaker 3: there is way more college golf on Golf Channel because
Speaker 3: they have the rights. And it's like, oh, we need
Speaker 3: to cover this because we paid for these rights.
Speaker 1: Who paid?
Speaker 3: They paid the PGA Tour for the PGA Tour rights.
Speaker 3: It's not like obviously the PGA Tour rights is a huge,
Speaker 3: huge part of Golf Channel, but the LPGA just being
Speaker 3: a tag along minute like they Golf Channel is beholden
Speaker 3: to the PGA Tour. That's who they negotiated this rights
Speaker 3: deal with. Golf Channel works with the NCAA, so they
Speaker 3: want to promote uh, college golf more so they show
Speaker 3: more college golf like.
Speaker 1: This is this is exactly what they need. You have
Speaker 1: to have that one to one relationship up with your
Speaker 1: right partner.
Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, it's insane not to have that that you know,
Speaker 2: the the one to one relationship there, Like you cannot
Speaker 2: be a professional sports league and have somebody else in
Speaker 2: charge and in control of that.
Speaker 4: Yes, that's that's why.
Speaker 2: That's my number one, and I think that maybe makes
Speaker 2: the number two. The venues, Like if you have a
Speaker 2: new contract, if you have new avenues for you know,
Speaker 2: the schedule and the events to be shown. That's a
Speaker 2: lot more attractive to some courses. That's a lot more
Speaker 2: attractive to some sponsors to know they're not going to
Speaker 2: be tape delayed, to know they're not going to be
Speaker 2: on Peacock for two hours and then to see NBC
Speaker 2: for an hour, and then to NBC for an hour
Speaker 2: and a half, and like the third one, the marketing,
Speaker 2: like the marketing of this league needs a complete and
Speaker 2: total revamp in my opinion. And like when we talk
Speaker 2: about the snaffos and debacles of Molly Marcus Simon's tenure,
Speaker 2: like she like the vision was not there, but she
Speaker 2: did harp on marketing and growing that team within the LPGA,
Speaker 2: and I think, I mean that's where they've failed this
Speaker 2: year was marketing Lydia and Nelly And what they did
Speaker 2: this year, like we they around this time last year
Speaker 2: was when they announced that big deal with Naomi Osaka's
Speaker 2: company to like promote the athletes and everything. We got
Speaker 2: absolutely nothing from that. And last week she announced that
Speaker 2: internally they were going to do some player marketing moving forward.
Speaker 2: So like you're pushing, you're growing your internal team, you're
Speaker 2: going outside, Like I don't think Naomi Osaka. I don't
Speaker 2: think that like was a cheap deal. I don't think
Speaker 2: they got that on sale. I think it was probably
Speaker 2: pretty expensive. So that's I think it needs a complete
Speaker 2: revamp in how you present this league, which is a
Speaker 2: trailblazing league, which is has has run for seventy five years.
Speaker 2: This year coming up is there seventy fifth year. While
Speaker 2: other women's sports leagues have folded, renamed, rebranded all this,
Speaker 2: the LPGA for seventy five years has been doing this
Speaker 2: through leadership and innovation from its founders early on, and
Speaker 2: you got to tell that story, especially in its seventy
Speaker 2: fifth year coming up.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think I think the marketing leaves a lot
Speaker 3: to be desired. But I think like what are we
Speaker 3: marketing is like a real question, like what is it
Speaker 3: we're marketing? And how are we going to differentiate our sport?
Speaker 3: And I think, like I think in general, when you
Speaker 3: look at I think like when you look at the
Speaker 3: future of the lp IS, it has to be focused
Speaker 3: on differentiating the product from men's professional golf. This is
Speaker 3: how we're different and how we're actually more watchable. You know,
Speaker 3: the shot the shots are are, you know, like the
Speaker 3: golf course matters more like the features of a golf
Speaker 3: course matters more. We're more accurate, so you know their
Speaker 3: strategy on holes. But I think, like, really, where I
Speaker 3: think like the biggest opportunity is broadcast innovation. This is
Speaker 3: something like, could you explore showing golf completely different, showing
Speaker 3: golf a completely different way than men's golf shows golf.
Speaker 3: That to me would be something that would be on
Speaker 3: the top of my thing that I would want to
Speaker 3: invest time, energy and resources into is what if we
Speaker 3: showed golf in a different manner. The other thing that
Speaker 3: I would really stress is like pace of play. It
Speaker 3: just cannot be it. I find myself a lot of
Speaker 3: nights I watched a ton of golf at night. Now
Speaker 3: when after I put my daughter's sleep, I record basically
Speaker 3: all live golf and then I pop it on and
Speaker 3: I find even with a DVR, I struggle with just
Speaker 3: the pace pace of women's golf. The pace of play
Speaker 3: is like a real issue, and I know it's boiling.
Speaker 3: It's like I think like it's hitting a point where
Speaker 3: like top players are speaking out about it where we
Speaker 3: might actually get some changes, you know, with Charlie Hole
Speaker 3: saying like they should lose their tour card with like
Speaker 3: Nelly Corda speaking out, like that's what you need. You
Speaker 3: need the top players speaking out about it. But this
Speaker 3: is something that has to change, like the adherence of
Speaker 3: like and understanding how it goes back to this this
Speaker 3: product standpoint, Like we want to show people that there
Speaker 3: is a better a golf product and we have it.
Speaker 3: And part of that is has got to be the
Speaker 3: pace of shots and we see it like people like
Speaker 3: to see a lot of shots. They want to be like,
Speaker 3: they do not want to watch somebody.
Speaker 1: Get ready for a shot for a minute and a half.
Speaker 1: That just can't be. That's not good to TV.
Speaker 4: And they would like to see.
Speaker 2: The drama of penalties of slow play, you know, like
Speaker 2: it adds that adds to the broadcast as well. Yeah,
Speaker 2: that's that's got to be top of mind. I'm hopeful
Speaker 2: that something changes with that during during the off season
Speaker 2: and that there's a new policy in place for next year.
Speaker 2: But yeah, and to your point about the player speaking
Speaker 2: out about slow play, more of that, please, More of
Speaker 2: more of speaking out on on things you're dissatisfied with,
Speaker 2: things you'd like to see change. You know, if if
Speaker 2: something changes with slow play. Maybe they will see that.
Speaker 2: Oh when I speak my mind, I do have a
Speaker 2: say and and I do get listened to. Because from
Speaker 2: the marketing of things, it is a two way street.
Speaker 2: You know, if they bring in have a new marketing
Speaker 2: you know, plan or whatever for the seventy fifth season,
Speaker 2: like a lot of that's you know, in order to
Speaker 2: be successful, as on the players too, opening up, being
Speaker 2: open to trying new things, speaking out more, whatever the
Speaker 2: case may be.
Speaker 4: Like, that's an important piece of the puzzle too.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I echo that.
Speaker 3: All right, Let's take a quick break to talk about
Speaker 3: our partner, Stripe. Stripe serves millions of businesses of all
Speaker 3: sizes around the world. In fact, one percent of the
Speaker 3: global GDP is powered by Stripe. We have been proud
Speaker 3: users of Stripe for years. They were really one of
Speaker 3: the first technology platforms that I installed. The way we
Speaker 3: installed it was so we could take payments. They help
Speaker 3: small businesses like ours. They also help massive businesses enterprises
Speaker 3: such as AMC, Alaska Airlines, BMW, Door, Dash, Hertz, Instacart, Lift, Mind, Body, Marriotte,
Speaker 3: open Ai, Postmates, the PGA Salesforce, Squarespace, Toyota, WordPress, and Zoom.
Speaker 3: Those are all massive companies that use Stripe, but I
Speaker 3: can speak from personal experience. Stripe has been a valuable
Speaker 3: business partner for us for years. Stripe has a number
Speaker 3: of different products. They have the general plug in that
Speaker 3: lets you take payment. They also have a billing platform.
Speaker 3: Stripe Billing helps more than three hundred thousand businesses. That's
Speaker 3: more than anybody else grow with advanced billing software to
Speaker 3: handle even the most complex business models. Whether the company
Speaker 3: needs flat rate monthly subscriptions, usage based billing, invoicing, or
Speaker 3: anything in between. Stripe Building helps businesses grow with smarter
Speaker 3: recurring revenue management. If you are looking to learn more
Speaker 3: about Stripe, visit stripe dot com. Big thanks to Stripe
Speaker 3: and let's get back to meg Atkins. Let's get back
Speaker 3: to positives. Here is do you have a favorite moment
Speaker 3: from twenty twenty four one that one that particularly stands out?
Speaker 3: It could be either personal or.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think.
Speaker 2: Like from from the from the golf side of things,
Speaker 2: Yu Causasso's five iron lancaster on uh on Sunday on
Speaker 2: the fifteenth, Like that that shot could to kind of
Speaker 2: just seal the deal.
Speaker 4: The ball was like way above her feet.
Speaker 2: It was like a cut you know, she cut it
Speaker 2: in there when like it would have it's easier to
Speaker 2: play a draw in there.
Speaker 4: I think that was.
Speaker 2: Yeah, she birdied that, and then sixteen the short part
Speaker 2: four is right after drove the green there, birdied that
Speaker 2: and then she's you know, that was like four birdies in.
Speaker 4: Five holes and stealed the deal.
Speaker 2: But like that shot, I was like, you know, that
Speaker 2: was you don't see like five irons like that very
Speaker 2: often anymore, especially on like the men's side of thing.
Speaker 2: To your point about like differentiating the games a little bit,
Speaker 2: like that shot, I will stick with me for a while,
Speaker 2: I was, Yuka, you know, you know, she may only
Speaker 2: show up and be in contention a couple of times
Speaker 2: each year, but when she does, it's it's fun to watch.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: I just that's like a great example of how a
Speaker 3: golf like how the women's game could be so compelling
Speaker 3: because of like the venues that they can play. Lancaster
Speaker 3: was a spectacular women's open venue, lots of fans, but
Speaker 3: the golf course was really starred, and like I think,
Speaker 3: like Lancaster's a really good golf course, but by no
Speaker 3: means would I say it's like great. I think it's like,
Speaker 3: you know, listen like it. I'm not trying to pull it,
Speaker 3: but like, you know, it is. It is really good.
Speaker 3: I would love to play Lancaster on a regular basis,
Speaker 3: but it's not somewhere i'd like get on a plane
Speaker 3: and go play. And like you think about the Women's
Speaker 3: Open and where it's going and where like the types
Speaker 3: of golf courses that women's tournaments can be held at.
Speaker 3: It's extraordinary because like Lancaster is an example of a
Speaker 3: club like that's it's not unrealistic that you could have
Speaker 3: ten to fifteen LPGA events a year at courses at
Speaker 3: the level of Lancaster. It is a really good It's like,
Speaker 3: you know, without a doubt, one of the three hundred
Speaker 3: best golf courses in America, like one of the two hundred.
Speaker 3: Probably it's between one hundred and two hundred, I would say.
Speaker 3: But like it's not unrealistic to think, like, okay, like
Speaker 3: we could have a you know, and you know, I
Speaker 3: don't know about like the memberships at all these like
Speaker 3: wanting regular events, but like we could pop in and
Speaker 3: have a a women's event at a course like Quaker Ridge.
Speaker 3: We could have a women's event at a course like
Speaker 3: you know, uh, I don't know, Skokie in Chicago, we
Speaker 3: could have it, you know, like these are the types
Speaker 3: of golf courses that are available to the women's game.
Speaker 3: And like you say, you mentioning Lancaster just like I mean,
Speaker 3: it made me just think back to that that week
Speaker 3: and how much like enamorment there was with like the women,
Speaker 3: the style of play and how interacted with the golf
Speaker 3: course and how that could be a regular occurrence on
Speaker 3: the LPGA.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the courses do a disservice for how the how
Speaker 2: the best women play the game, the normal courses on
Speaker 2: their on their schedule, on their calendar, and then you
Speaker 2: have a Lancaster pop up and you're like, oh my god,
Speaker 2: this course fits their game perfectly. It's challenging them in
Speaker 2: all the right areas. And that's yeah, that's what it
Speaker 2: can be. Like it there's there's so much room for improvement,
Speaker 2: Like if you're if you're you know, looking, if you're
Speaker 2: a candidate, if if you're part of this global search,
Speaker 2: Like that's one of the big pros is there's so
Speaker 2: much room for improvement and so much potential there. Like
Speaker 2: it's not like this league is tapped out on everything
Speaker 2: they're doing, like there there's so much that can be done,
Speaker 2: and and yeah.
Speaker 4: Courses are absolutely top of the list.
Speaker 3: Well, and it's also like why not go down to Austin? Sure,
Speaker 3: Like why don't we have an event in Austin. There's
Speaker 3: tons of corporations. The PGA Tour left by all signs
Speaker 3: like the Austin wanted Pro Golf and the PGA Tour
Speaker 3: just left. Also, like I think about like the the
Speaker 3: Dow Team Championship. It's at Midland, Michigan. Uh in Midland, Michigan,
Speaker 3: And it's because Dow is right there, right.
Speaker 2: There.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but like somebody needs to say to Dow, like,
Speaker 3: you know, listen, Like the golf course just isn't up
Speaker 3: to the standards that we have. Midland Country Club is
Speaker 3: just not up to snuff. We ho, those are the
Speaker 3: best women in the world. We need to host it
Speaker 3: in a world class golf course. And one I think
Speaker 3: one of the things is like that it like ticket
Speaker 3: like at an event. I could be wrong about this,
Speaker 3: but I can't imagine that like on course the ticket
Speaker 3: revenue and on course is like so great that it
Speaker 3: like pushes anything over the edge. Why don't you approach
Speaker 3: somewhere like forest dunes or something like that and say hey,
Speaker 3: we want to host this at the loop or reversible
Speaker 3: golf course. Like all of sudden, then it's like, Okay,
Speaker 3: we have a team championship on a reversible golf course.
Speaker 1: We're going to play the.
Speaker 3: Golf course on on Thursday and Saturday this way, and
Speaker 3: Friday and Sunday this way, and that all of sudden
Speaker 3: has a lot more appeal, Like these are the things
Speaker 3: that could be done. It just needs there needs to
Speaker 3: be somebody that thinks about them on like, how do
Speaker 3: we make more than four or five events stand out?
Speaker 3: And one of those one of the five events in
Speaker 3: women's golf, one of the probably four events in boom's golf,
Speaker 3: which we didn't mention yet, is ANWA arguably the biggest event.
Speaker 3: And why is it the biggest event because of the venue?
Speaker 4: Exactly right?
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's uh uh yeah, that's uh, that's it. It
Speaker 2: moved a major, it moved, it bumped a major from.
Speaker 4: It's it's spot that it had held. Uh.
Speaker 2: That's the power of these courses, Like sure, Augusta is Augusta,
Speaker 2: but that's that's the power of going to important venues
Speaker 2: with name recognition that people want to see the best
Speaker 2: of the best play on. And if you're not, if
Speaker 2: you're not asking and having those questions, those conversations with
Speaker 2: these courses, you're not, You're you're doing the whole league
Speaker 2: of disservice.
Speaker 3: You know the other thing I'd like love to see
Speaker 3: and and you know, I think that the tour dabbled
Speaker 3: a little bit with this with UH with like Monday matches,
Speaker 3: but like the LPGA schedule is such that there's no
Speaker 3: reason that you couldn't create like a select series where
Speaker 3: you where you brought like eight people to really fast
Speaker 3: and eight and golf courses around the world, and it
Speaker 3: was this like small series of events. It's almost there exhibitions,
Speaker 3: but their matches, and you could do one at like
Speaker 3: just throwing out there, like Banded Dunes, you do they
Speaker 3: go play Pacific Dunes and there's four matches that are
Speaker 3: played there and maybe you do a second day so
Speaker 3: the travel makes sense, and you do it at Old McDonald. Again,
Speaker 3: this would require having a relationship with your broadcast partner, right,
Speaker 3: so you could get these things televised. Maybe you go
Speaker 3: and there's a match at Sunningdale, you know, maybe when
Speaker 3: you're in the UK swing, like maybe there's like these
Speaker 3: are the types of things that I think, Like if
Speaker 3: I was running the LPGA, I'd be thinking about, is
Speaker 3: like how do we how do we get our product
Speaker 3: out there in new ways? Different ways, like fun ways.
Speaker 3: We know, like we know we've seen the success, Like
Speaker 3: how did ANWA rise so quickly? Well, obviously they have
Speaker 3: the Masters and Augustina National behind it, but like a
Speaker 3: lot of the reason that people like that event is
Speaker 3: maybe maybe the biggest annual women's event.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, from from a viewership standpoint, and it all revolves
Speaker 3: like for the most they're watching amateur golfers who many
Speaker 3: of whom they don't know.
Speaker 1: Play a golf course.
Speaker 3: So like, how do we like take some key themes
Speaker 3: from that and build from there? And like some of
Speaker 3: these golf course I bet would be very amical to
Speaker 3: them filming a couple matches for a couple of days,
Speaker 3: you know, and like that's a great TV product.
Speaker 1: That's some sign me up for that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, how about a dynamic postseason that's missing on the
Speaker 2: men's side of things too, you know, get creative that way,
Speaker 2: Go match go match play for your postseason. Get that
Speaker 2: get it, not at a at a Tiberon, you know,
Speaker 2: like let's get away from that for our final, you
Speaker 2: know event that's it's there. But your your point is
Speaker 2: is that none of that happens unless you own how
Speaker 2: your product is distributed and presented. And we have seen
Speaker 2: like like we have the Grant Thornton coming up. That's
Speaker 2: probably the only thing you're gonna get from the PGA
Speaker 2: Tour is a silly season, you know, thirty person thing at.
Speaker 4: At Tibi Rod like that.
Speaker 2: You're if you're holding out hope that there's that you're
Speaker 2: gonna have Nelly and Charlie Hole invited to TGL, It's
Speaker 2: not gonna happen. If you're holding out hope you're gonna
Speaker 2: they're gonna be in the next match, not gonna happen.
Speaker 2: If you're holding out hope that there's gonna be a
Speaker 2: mixed President's Cup, not gonna happen. Like the waiting game
Speaker 2: and waiting for that type of stuff that needs the
Speaker 2: PGA Tour to agree to do.
Speaker 4: Is not going to happen. Like how many they need
Speaker 4: to there's our lesson.
Speaker 3: There they need to feocus on creating things that the
Speaker 3: PGA Tour and other things want to be a part of.
Speaker 1: Yes, and they don't.
Speaker 3: They don't have enough of those types of things because
Speaker 3: like the big their biggest properties are extremely serious competitions
Speaker 3: that you can't change.
Speaker 2: Correct, correct, Yeah, Yeah, we got to get outside the
Speaker 2: box and and own own something from how the product
Speaker 2: looks and is presented.
Speaker 3: All right, twenty twenty fives kind of around the corner.
Speaker 3: What are one or two things that you're most looking
Speaker 3: forward to?
Speaker 2: Yeah, Like I said, the seventy fifth season, which should
Speaker 2: be talked about and it's a big deal. Like there's
Speaker 2: not very many women's sports leagues that have been around
Speaker 2: for seventy five years.
Speaker 4: I'm interested to see what they do around that.
Speaker 2: Like when we talk about I mentioned like there's no
Speaker 2: there's no tournament, like there's you got Jack and Arnie
Speaker 2: and all the on the men's side of things, Like
Speaker 2: why isn't there like a tournament that you know, Beth
Speaker 2: Daniel runs or whatever. Like there's a lot that can
Speaker 2: be done bringing back and the people that made the
Speaker 2: LPGA what it is. I'd like to see something done
Speaker 2: there as far as like tournaments go. I'm pumped for
Speaker 2: the Open at Royal Porth Call just to hopefully get
Speaker 2: some insane weather in Wales again like we did.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that was some of like the most entertaining golf
Speaker 2: I've watched in the past couple of years. It was
Speaker 2: so so good to watch Aaron Hills for the US
Speaker 2: Women's Open. You know, we haven't seen that since the
Speaker 2: men's US Open.
Speaker 4: Again.
Speaker 2: I think that will be a much more intriguing tournament
Speaker 2: if there's some wind, the wind that you didn't get
Speaker 2: when the men were there.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 2: International Crown is back. It's in Korea this year, so
Speaker 2: they're going to be in South Korea during the fall
Speaker 2: a swing, So makes a lot of sense. As you know,
Speaker 2: there was a long layoff with the International Crown with
Speaker 2: COVID to you know the first the first one back
Speaker 2: was at San Francisco at Harding Park. I think it
Speaker 2: makes a lot of sense to take it to South Korea.
Speaker 2: It's like thirty minutes from Seoul. I think that will
Speaker 2: be like very cool to watch the way that is
Speaker 2: received over there from the crowds and the excitement around that. Yeah,
Speaker 2: and then we'll see Frisco for the first time for
Speaker 2: the KPMG Women's PGA, so that will be kind of
Speaker 2: the first of many, many, many majors down there. Yeah,
Speaker 2: so those are those are the highlights. Absolutely, that's great.
Speaker 1: That's great.
Speaker 3: All right, Meg, we'll have you on I don't know,
Speaker 3: sometime soon as the LPGA kicks off. That was a
Speaker 3: fun twenty twenty four and look forward to hear more
Speaker 3: from you in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 4: Awesome.
Speaker 3: Thanks Andy, all right, thank you for listening to another
Speaker 3: edition of the Friday Golf Podcast.
Speaker 1: Big thanks to PJ.
Speaker 3: Clark for editing and producing this podcast. If you're looking
Speaker 3: for a great gift for the holiday season other than
Speaker 3: the ones we talked about at the top, check out
Speaker 3: Club tf This is our annual membership. If somebody's really
Speaker 3: into golf, I guarantee that they will see they will
Speaker 3: really love this gift.
Speaker 1: We have tons and tons of.
Speaker 3: Written content in there, and one of the great things
Speaker 3: is we're two years in now. If you give the
Speaker 3: gift of clip TFFE, there is a two year backlog
Speaker 3: of content you have to siphon through. Tons of great
Speaker 3: golf course write ups in there and videos as well.
Speaker 3: So if you are looking for a gift for golf lover,
Speaker 3: check out Club TFE. It's one hundred and twenty dollars
Speaker 3: for the year. You can sign up at the fried
Speaker 3: egg dot com slash membership. All right, we'll be back
Speaker 3: later this week with another episode, and thanks for tuning in.
Speaker 3: I hope everybody had a great Thanksgiving