WEBVTT - Debating the Proposed PGA Tour Changes 0:00:00.040 --> 0:00:02.800 I miss a green, for example, I'm already upset. When 0:00:02.800 --> 0:00:04.920 I find my ball in the bunker, I'm really upset. 0:00:05.000 --> 0:00:07.200 And when I find my ball in a frid Egg. 0:00:07.200 --> 0:00:11.520 Friday egg, the dreaded Friday Friday, Frida Egg brid Egg fridagg. 0:00:11.160 --> 0:00:13.239 Bride egg Lie, I'm about ready to run off of 0:00:13.280 --> 0:00:40.160 the hump. Welcome back to another edition of the Friday 0:00:40.320 --> 0:00:44.480 Golf Podcast. I am your host, Andy Johnson. Today I 0:00:44.560 --> 0:00:49.519 am going to talk about the new PGA Tour changes, 0:00:49.560 --> 0:00:54.000 the proposed PGA Tour changes for the twenty twenty six season. 0:00:55.320 --> 0:00:59.520 Long story short kind of what they entail a less 0:00:59.600 --> 0:01:03.240 exempt to less exemptions across the tour, one hundred exemp 0:01:03.280 --> 0:01:07.240 players down from one to twenty five, smaller fields, and 0:01:07.400 --> 0:01:10.319 a host of other things. So to join me in 0:01:10.480 --> 0:01:13.520 talking about this, I wanted to get some different perspectives, 0:01:13.760 --> 0:01:17.120 so I had Ryan French of Monday Q. He is 0:01:17.400 --> 0:01:24.000 Monday Q, a popular Twitter account, website, podcast is podcast 0:01:24.080 --> 0:01:29.840 is any Given Monday. Ryan is very kind of on 0:01:29.920 --> 0:01:32.800 the side of there should be more pathways, more spots, 0:01:33.400 --> 0:01:37.000 Monday qualifiers, so on, so forth for the PGA Tour. 0:01:37.959 --> 0:01:40.400 On the other side kind of, I guess I would 0:01:40.560 --> 0:01:44.800 describe myself in the middle as Joseph Lamania from Friday 0:01:44.959 --> 0:01:49.000 Golf regularly joins this podcast regularly writes in the Friday 0:01:49.360 --> 0:01:53.360 Golf newsletter. So we had a discussion kind of about 0:01:53.360 --> 0:01:56.360 these proposed changes where we'd like to see it go 0:01:56.720 --> 0:02:00.960 and and just kind of the state of men professional golf. 0:02:01.280 --> 0:02:02.160 So enjoy. 0:02:02.560 --> 0:02:07.320 Before we get to this discussion, let's talk about our sponsor, Stripe. 0:02:08.400 --> 0:02:11.600 Stripe has been a partner of this podcast for a 0:02:11.680 --> 0:02:14.320 long time, in the sense it's a silent partner really. 0:02:15.000 --> 0:02:19.799 They have been our payment you know, handled our payments 0:02:19.800 --> 0:02:22.920 at Friday Golf forever. 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They 0:02:58.680 --> 0:03:01.800 accept all different types of and They also can handle 0:03:01.919 --> 0:03:08.960 complex billing solutions such as like recurring usage based billing systems. 0:03:09.200 --> 0:03:11.800 So check out Stripe. If you want to learn more 0:03:11.880 --> 0:03:15.480 about how you can work with Stripe, visit stripe dot com. 0:03:15.800 --> 0:03:18.639 All right, let's get to this discussion with Joseph and 0:03:18.960 --> 0:03:28.840 Ryan French. All Right, we're going to talk about the 0:03:29.080 --> 0:03:34.480 proposed twenty twenty six changes to the PGA Tour, which 0:03:34.639 --> 0:03:38.440 was these are proposed, they are They're going to go 0:03:38.480 --> 0:03:42.640 in front of the policy board in November. Some pretty 0:03:42.720 --> 0:03:46.800 large changes, I would say on the PGA Tour. They 0:03:46.840 --> 0:03:51.800 involve a general reduction in field size kind of across 0:03:51.840 --> 0:03:54.160 the board, full field events, then also kind of your 0:03:54.160 --> 0:03:57.320 fall events where you have less daylight, those will be smaller. 0:03:57.880 --> 0:04:02.200 There are less tour cards going to one hundred exempt 0:04:02.200 --> 0:04:05.080 players from one to twenty five. There's been a slight 0:04:05.200 --> 0:04:08.040 change in some of the priority rankings. I'm not going 0:04:08.080 --> 0:04:11.920 to get into the nitty gritty on every single change 0:04:11.960 --> 0:04:15.680 in priority rankings. And then the final kind of piece, 0:04:15.800 --> 0:04:19.120 the final piece of this news stump was a was 0:04:19.200 --> 0:04:22.679 a change in the slow play policy, which was maybe 0:04:22.680 --> 0:04:26.720 my favorite part about it. A more lax slow play policy. 0:04:28.040 --> 0:04:32.400 So to break down these I am joined by mister 0:04:32.520 --> 0:04:37.480 monday Q himself, Ryan French, as well as our Joseph Lamannia. 0:04:38.040 --> 0:04:40.560 I wanted to put together a group here that might 0:04:40.680 --> 0:04:46.320 have some differing opinions, differing viewpoints, and have a civil 0:04:46.360 --> 0:04:51.120 discussion about these changes the direction that the tour is 0:04:51.160 --> 0:04:55.599 heading in. Welcome on, Ryan, and welcome back Joseph. 0:04:55.600 --> 0:05:00.080 As always, thanks for having me on, Guys, I appreciate it. 0:05:00.720 --> 0:05:03.160 Well, you know, I'm a big admirer of your work, 0:05:03.200 --> 0:05:07.520 your your your golf forefront investigative journalists these days. 0:05:07.600 --> 0:05:10.919 Ryan. And for those that don't know, my big break 0:05:11.000 --> 0:05:14.840 and that mean this seriously is Andy Hadman this podcast. 0:05:14.880 --> 0:05:16.360 I think it was this one. I don't remember. 0:05:16.480 --> 0:05:19.320 Yeah it was this one. You you left your backpack 0:05:19.400 --> 0:05:22.720 at my old house. Yeah, you never came back to 0:05:22.720 --> 0:05:26.320 get it, and that that backpack went when uh when 0:05:26.360 --> 0:05:28.560 I think my wife sold in a garage sale for 0:05:28.920 --> 0:05:30.279 perfect perfect. 0:05:30.320 --> 0:05:34.320 So, I mean, obviously been super helpful to me and 0:05:34.960 --> 0:05:36.479 I appreciate it. Happy to be on. 0:05:38.000 --> 0:05:38.880 Let's get into it. 0:05:38.960 --> 0:05:41.200 I think we'll get we'll touch on probably more of 0:05:41.200 --> 0:05:44.200 than nitty gritty details. I wanted to kind of make 0:05:44.240 --> 0:05:47.479 this a little bit of a round table discussion. Uh, Ryan, 0:05:47.520 --> 0:05:50.760 I'm gonna give you you first first stab of this. 0:05:51.080 --> 0:05:53.280 Since we're all in this together, I wanted to start 0:05:53.279 --> 0:05:57.960 with the positives. What is your favorite change that the 0:05:58.000 --> 0:05:59.480 tour has proposed here? 0:05:59.720 --> 0:06:05.520 Man, I mean, okay, so I will say this as 0:06:05.560 --> 0:06:10.720 a without getting too deep. I'm not totally against the 0:06:10.760 --> 0:06:13.520 field size being reduced. I think they went too drastic, 0:06:13.960 --> 0:06:17.160 but there is a lot of like the past champions, 0:06:18.320 --> 0:06:22.400 you know, category has been widely discussed by a lot 0:06:22.440 --> 0:06:25.400 of people. I'm in agreement with that, like you know, 0:06:26.080 --> 0:06:30.240 when guys who won, When Carlos Franco is getting into 0:06:30.279 --> 0:06:35.320 fields like we've lost the plot. So the change in 0:06:36.360 --> 0:06:40.680 priority ranking is not I'm not totally against what's the 0:06:40.720 --> 0:06:44.880 most positive obviously totally biased. I don't see a lot 0:06:45.080 --> 0:06:46.360 positive in this change. 0:06:48.600 --> 0:06:51.360 Joseph, what are your thoughts? 0:06:52.920 --> 0:06:57.800 My favorite we're going here? Yeah, not overall thoughts, right, Yeah, 0:06:59.120 --> 0:07:01.640 I mean, I think people have advocated for a simpler 0:07:02.279 --> 0:07:07.000 priority ranking system, and like Ryan is mentioning, I think 0:07:07.040 --> 0:07:08.760 there have been some ways to get into some of 0:07:08.800 --> 0:07:12.360 these fields that needed to go out the door a 0:07:12.400 --> 0:07:14.440 little bit, and that the bottom of the PGA tour 0:07:14.880 --> 0:07:17.840 has not always been the strongest, especially some of these 0:07:17.880 --> 0:07:20.040 spots between one hundred and first and one hundred and 0:07:20.040 --> 0:07:23.360 twenty fifth and the FedEx Cup standings, which is basically 0:07:23.440 --> 0:07:25.320 the group of players that's going to bear the brunt 0:07:25.360 --> 0:07:27.640 of these changes. So now when you look at on 0:07:27.800 --> 0:07:31.960 paper at the priority ranking, you're gonna have spots one 0:07:32.080 --> 0:07:35.840 through one hundred basically filled by the top finishers in 0:07:35.880 --> 0:07:38.600 the FedEx Cup standings. I'm oversimplifying a little bit, but 0:07:39.080 --> 0:07:41.400 then you're gonna have the top ten finishers on the 0:07:41.480 --> 0:07:44.400 DP World Tour in the top twenty from the Corn 0:07:44.440 --> 0:07:47.080 Ferry Tour. That's one hundred and thirty players right there. 0:07:47.680 --> 0:07:51.280 That's basically a full field, and you'd start to expect 0:07:51.280 --> 0:07:53.280 that those golfers are going to get into most of 0:07:53.320 --> 0:07:56.360 these full field events. After that, it's Q School and 0:07:56.400 --> 0:07:58.760 there's other categories that are going to round out the fields. 0:07:58.760 --> 0:08:02.840 But on paper, most of the open events, in the 0:08:02.880 --> 0:08:04.720 full field events are going to be filled out in 0:08:04.760 --> 0:08:07.080 a way that's clean now and the Corn Fairy Tour 0:08:07.160 --> 0:08:11.320 guys are getting a much better priority ranking spot at 0:08:11.360 --> 0:08:13.720 the expense of some of the bottom of the PGA Tour, 0:08:13.760 --> 0:08:15.560 which I think is a step in the right direction, 0:08:15.720 --> 0:08:18.800 so on the whole that to me is the most 0:08:18.880 --> 0:08:20.720 drastic change and by far the best. 0:08:22.200 --> 0:08:22.680 Yeah, I am. 0:08:23.320 --> 0:08:28.560 I'm a big proponent in the idea of what you 0:08:28.640 --> 0:08:30.880 just kind of laid out, Joseph. Like, I think the 0:08:31.080 --> 0:08:35.200 last recent recent years where you're corn Faery Tour player, 0:08:35.559 --> 0:08:40.280 I get my card in September and I get this, 0:08:40.360 --> 0:08:43.640 it's like the most excite Like you talk about the 0:08:43.640 --> 0:08:47.120 most exciting moment of your life as a professional golfer. 0:08:47.240 --> 0:08:49.960 I reached the top of the mountain, or I thought 0:08:50.000 --> 0:08:52.680 I reached the top of the mountain. I got my 0:08:52.760 --> 0:08:57.240 PGA Tour card. And then it's like, well, you kind 0:08:57.240 --> 0:08:59.800 of have it. You're actually at the back of the 0:09:00.120 --> 0:09:04.719 US and you're probably not gonna play golf until February, 0:09:05.520 --> 0:09:09.080 and you'll play once and then you might play in March, 0:09:10.080 --> 0:09:12.800 and then you might play in late April. And it 0:09:12.920 --> 0:09:17.720 was like this this mishmash of like I don't know 0:09:17.760 --> 0:09:20.480 when I'm starting, it's impossible to get in a rhythm. 0:09:20.640 --> 0:09:24.120 There are still some like huge issues with I think 0:09:24.200 --> 0:09:28.120 the journey of a corn Fairy Tour player to getting 0:09:28.160 --> 0:09:30.480 their PGA Tour card. I think they should immediately be 0:09:30.520 --> 0:09:33.680 playing golf on the PGA Tour. That's like, it's they're 0:09:33.720 --> 0:09:37.120 at a huge competitive disadvantage already that they miss fall, 0:09:37.520 --> 0:09:39.760 that all the other guys on tour get to play 0:09:39.840 --> 0:09:44.440 through the fall for you know, seven million dollars per week, 0:09:44.920 --> 0:09:48.880 and then they come in in January and are like, 0:09:49.320 --> 0:09:52.440 you know, starting behind in a way like they've they've 0:09:52.480 --> 0:09:56.640 missed three months straight of competitive golf. So like, to me, 0:09:56.880 --> 0:10:01.600 like this makes the corn Faery graduate more relevant, right, 0:10:01.679 --> 0:10:04.000 They are more a part of the tour because the 0:10:04.240 --> 0:10:08.680 cleaner priority ranking. Now, like you could argue on the 0:10:08.679 --> 0:10:11.960 other side, there's less spots, but if you I think 0:10:12.040 --> 0:10:16.000 like the percentage wise, those twenty spots have a much 0:10:16.040 --> 0:10:20.400 better chance at retaining PGA Tour status, which I think 0:10:20.520 --> 0:10:23.360 is like one of the hardest things to do in 0:10:23.400 --> 0:10:25.640 the world of golf right now, is graduate from the 0:10:25.679 --> 0:10:29.360 corn Ferry in a you know, position less than tenth 0:10:29.600 --> 0:10:32.960 on their priority ranking and retain your card. It is 0:10:33.080 --> 0:10:36.160 you are you are as as your father probably told 0:10:36.200 --> 0:10:41.240 you walking uphill both ways in that scenario. So that's 0:10:41.320 --> 0:10:45.160 everybody's favorite, Ryan, what is your least favorite? 0:10:45.240 --> 0:10:45.480 You? 0:10:45.480 --> 0:10:47.839 You indicated that you might not love some of these 0:10:47.920 --> 0:10:50.040 changes and if you want to, you could take a 0:10:51.000 --> 0:10:53.280 wide view or a narrow view. You could you know, 0:10:53.360 --> 0:10:56.199 you could say that I don't like the general direction. 0:10:56.120 --> 0:11:00.360 Right, yeah, My here's the wide view is you can, 0:11:01.000 --> 0:11:04.199 like back to your point, Andy, like when you get 0:11:04.240 --> 0:11:06.880 your PGA Tour card, you kind of don't really get it. 0:11:08.679 --> 0:11:10.880 And I think it's still going to be some of that, 0:11:11.040 --> 0:11:13.120 even though I agree, you're going to get into a 0:11:13.160 --> 0:11:15.440 lot more events, but you're still with the signature events. 0:11:15.440 --> 0:11:17.440 It's not like you're going to get into any rhythm. 0:11:17.480 --> 0:11:21.400 But agreed, they're going to get a better chance to 0:11:21.520 --> 0:11:26.040 keep and retain their card. Here's my biggest issue overall 0:11:26.280 --> 0:11:30.080 is that it's become more closed door. Right. This brings 0:11:30.120 --> 0:11:33.600 more protection to the top players. It makes it more 0:11:33.679 --> 0:11:38.839 closed doors. Yes, it's less cards, but you're talking less 0:11:38.840 --> 0:11:43.559 exempt cards, less corn ferry cards, special temporary membership as 0:11:43.600 --> 0:11:46.480 far as I know, as far as i've heard, is 0:11:46.520 --> 0:11:52.240 going away, less Monday qualifiers. There's less pass to get 0:11:52.280 --> 0:11:57.199 onto the PGA Tour than there was before. And that's 0:11:57.320 --> 0:12:02.600 my biggest issue is this was already closed door, and 0:12:02.679 --> 0:12:07.520 now it's becoming even more. You know, the top players 0:12:07.520 --> 0:12:10.439 have built in a lot of protection. They have all 0:12:10.440 --> 0:12:15.520 the power. Understandably, they're protecting themselves. They've seen all of 0:12:15.559 --> 0:12:20.599 their other playing their former playing partners get hundreds of 0:12:20.600 --> 0:12:24.560 million dollars. They have the power, they've taken it. It's 0:12:24.720 --> 0:12:27.840 it's a closed door tour that's becoming more closed door 0:12:28.040 --> 0:12:29.080 in my opinion. 0:12:32.280 --> 0:12:35.559 Joseph, what's your least favorite part of that? 0:12:35.760 --> 0:12:38.520 Yeah, and I guess the only not that it needs 0:12:38.600 --> 0:12:41.560 to be a back like a rebuttal to everything. And 0:12:41.760 --> 0:12:44.400 I'm sure I agree with with Ryan on some of that. 0:12:45.840 --> 0:12:47.640 The part of the of the changes that probably went 0:12:47.720 --> 0:12:50.040 under reported a little bit or didn't get as big 0:12:50.080 --> 0:12:52.400 of a reaction is the way they're changing the FedEx 0:12:52.440 --> 0:12:56.760 cut point distribution to actually make it a little bit 0:12:56.800 --> 0:13:01.440 more so that your performance aligns better with the points 0:13:01.559 --> 0:13:03.200 you're given. So what it's actually going to do in 0:13:03.240 --> 0:13:06.280 practice is make some of those non signature events a 0:13:06.320 --> 0:13:09.480 little bit closer if you finish somewhere between like tenth 0:13:09.480 --> 0:13:12.760 and twentieth to the signature events. So I actually would 0:13:12.760 --> 0:13:15.600 push back a little bit that the top players have 0:13:15.640 --> 0:13:19.320 built in this huge layer of protections for themselves, and 0:13:19.320 --> 0:13:21.079 in a lot of ways, I think the PGA Tour 0:13:21.240 --> 0:13:24.120 now there are fewer of those protections than that were 0:13:24.120 --> 0:13:26.520 in the past, so I would counter that a little bit. 0:13:26.679 --> 0:13:30.160 My least favorite part of all of this is a 0:13:30.200 --> 0:13:33.079 line that I found am using in the whole email 0:13:33.080 --> 0:13:37.880 that went out two players. They're not expanding the field 0:13:37.920 --> 0:13:41.720 size for signature events, and I have a problem with 0:13:42.240 --> 0:13:45.360 I think in general, the signature events have lacked some 0:13:45.559 --> 0:13:48.280 buzz and none of this, None of these changes matter 0:13:48.800 --> 0:13:52.120 if people aren't interested in the signature events, because that 0:13:52.280 --> 0:13:54.880 is what the tour is anchoring itself to. If the 0:13:54.920 --> 0:13:58.200 signature events are special, everything else feeds up to that 0:13:58.280 --> 0:14:00.280 things are going well. If no one cares about the 0:14:00.280 --> 0:14:05.080 signature events, the tours in a has a serious problem 0:14:05.160 --> 0:14:07.480 on their hands, and the whole thing could fall apart. 0:14:07.559 --> 0:14:10.920 So in the email, the tour said that they explored 0:14:11.440 --> 0:14:15.040 the possibility of expanding the field sizes slightly from anywhere. 0:14:15.240 --> 0:14:17.959 Right now they're generally around seventy five seventy six players. 0:14:18.280 --> 0:14:20.840 They explored the possibility of extending that to eighty to 0:14:20.880 --> 0:14:23.600 one hundred and twenty players, and they're rationale for not 0:14:24.120 --> 0:14:27.480 doing that is that the subcommittees, this is a quote, 0:14:27.880 --> 0:14:30.920 gained an understanding of how all aspects of the schedule 0:14:31.000 --> 0:14:34.480 model are integrated to support the overall schedule and recognized 0:14:34.520 --> 0:14:37.720 any modifications at this stage would be disruptive and could 0:14:37.800 --> 0:14:44.360 increase fan confusion. That does not hold that fans ald 0:14:44.520 --> 0:14:47.520 are going to be confused about what a ninety five 0:14:47.680 --> 0:14:50.680 or one hundred player tournament means like now. 0:14:50.520 --> 0:14:51.520 They don't not even think. 0:14:53.000 --> 0:14:55.920 The fans don't understand the objective now of what's the 0:14:55.960 --> 0:14:58.360 point of the tournament? Like that doesn't make sense, And 0:14:58.440 --> 0:15:02.280 all the other changes are at least as disruptive as 0:15:02.320 --> 0:15:05.160 potentially expanding the field side. So I think that the 0:15:05.160 --> 0:15:10.520 PGA Tour seriously needs to consider expanding those fields to 0:15:10.600 --> 0:15:13.240 like ninety to one hundred players, restoring the meaning of 0:15:13.320 --> 0:15:16.880 making a cut on the PGA Tour, and leaning a 0:15:16.920 --> 0:15:18.920 little bit more into it being competitive. So that was 0:15:18.960 --> 0:15:21.640 my least favorite part of all this announcement, that they 0:15:21.720 --> 0:15:24.560 might not even be addressing their most valuable and like 0:15:24.880 --> 0:15:27.200 the key to the success of the tour is the 0:15:27.240 --> 0:15:29.880 signature events being special, and they might be shooting themselves 0:15:29.920 --> 0:15:31.080 in the foot by not addressing that. 0:15:31.680 --> 0:15:35.240 So Joseph to that point, I asked this to Billy, Right, 0:15:35.400 --> 0:15:38.920 is like the signature events last year and the signature 0:15:38.960 --> 0:15:42.560 events in twenty twenty six are exactly the same, like 0:15:43.280 --> 0:15:46.960 the sponsor. That's what I don't understand about all these changes. 0:15:47.560 --> 0:15:51.000 It's not changing the non signature events. It's not like 0:15:51.200 --> 0:15:53.440 magically ten top guys are going to all of a 0:15:53.480 --> 0:15:55.440 sudden go like, oh, we have to support the three 0:15:55.680 --> 0:15:59.480 M or the John Deere. Right, the signature events aren't 0:15:59.560 --> 0:16:02.880 changing like the signature events last year. In twenty twenty five, 0:16:03.040 --> 0:16:05.240 all the top guys are gonna play. They're basically forced 0:16:05.280 --> 0:16:08.880 to play that there's enough money to play. So what 0:16:08.960 --> 0:16:13.600 has these changes done to make the product better? You know, 0:16:13.760 --> 0:16:17.600 like two sponsors and two fans and to me again 0:16:17.800 --> 0:16:21.040 totally biased, I'm not sure what they are. The signature 0:16:21.040 --> 0:16:23.320 events are basically going to be the same and the 0:16:23.360 --> 0:16:26.800 other events are basically going to be the same. I 0:16:26.840 --> 0:16:28.520 don't know what difference is. 0:16:28.640 --> 0:16:32.640 I think ay, like on one clear thing that's going 0:16:32.680 --> 0:16:36.920 to make the tournament from a competition standpoint better is 0:16:36.960 --> 0:16:41.000 the smaller feel by going to one hundred and twenty 0:16:41.040 --> 0:16:46.000 players in the fall these fall and early year events. 0:16:46.560 --> 0:16:50.800 Like when you think about the competition aspect of an event, 0:16:51.640 --> 0:16:54.480 whoever is at the back of the bus is completely screwed. 0:16:54.560 --> 0:16:57.720 It's like you're gonna play twelve holes. 0:16:58.840 --> 0:17:01.720 And it's gonna be pitch by the time you finish, 0:17:01.800 --> 0:17:03.600 it's gonna be dark, and then you have to come 0:17:03.640 --> 0:17:07.359 back tomorrow morning it's six and finish like you're at 0:17:07.400 --> 0:17:10.760 a competitive disadvantage if you have to, if you're at 0:17:10.760 --> 0:17:14.080 the back of the bus. So that alone, now, like 0:17:14.600 --> 0:17:19.120 the means of which you fix that competitive issue are 0:17:19.440 --> 0:17:22.359 There are probably a few ways you could maybe enforce 0:17:22.440 --> 0:17:23.800 some pace of play standards. 0:17:24.200 --> 0:17:25.480 They have gone the other way. 0:17:25.600 --> 0:17:30.600 For anybody wondering, my least favorite thing here is the 0:17:30.640 --> 0:17:36.240 pace of play policy getting relaxed, less fines, more time. 0:17:37.080 --> 0:17:38.080 I think it's insane. 0:17:38.359 --> 0:17:41.200 I think like every sport in the world is trying 0:17:41.240 --> 0:17:46.520 to to push for faster play for they know that 0:17:46.640 --> 0:17:51.159 the tension spans of fans is going down, and the 0:17:51.200 --> 0:17:54.920 PGA Tour somehow thinks it's a good idea to relax 0:17:54.960 --> 0:18:00.679 space and play policies. But anyways, sorry, go ahead. 0:18:00.480 --> 0:18:00.919 Go ahead. 0:18:00.960 --> 0:18:03.639 I mean, like you look at Major League Baseball, the 0:18:03.720 --> 0:18:08.080 shot clock has very literally changed the entire game, like 0:18:08.400 --> 0:18:12.960 it's made it wildly more popular. It's by all accounts, 0:18:13.000 --> 0:18:15.679 there's literally no one who's like, man, this is a 0:18:15.680 --> 0:18:19.679 bad change, and the PGA Tour what the complete opposite. 0:18:19.720 --> 0:18:23.320 They're like, man, there's a like major League Baseball and 0:18:23.440 --> 0:18:27.520 golf have very much like it's relatively boring sport, right 0:18:27.600 --> 0:18:29.840 like Major League Baseball is slow. There's not a lot 0:18:29.840 --> 0:18:32.199 of ton going on, and so they're like, man, we 0:18:32.240 --> 0:18:34.800 got to make this faster. Let's do a shot clock 0:18:34.840 --> 0:18:38.960 pitch clock, and it's revolutionized the game. And the PGA 0:18:39.080 --> 0:18:41.480 Tour rolls out all these changes and they go the 0:18:41.680 --> 0:18:42.840 exact opposite way. 0:18:44.320 --> 0:18:47.679 PJ and I were talking, and PJ brought up a 0:18:47.720 --> 0:18:51.720 point that nobody's talking about is the health issues that 0:18:51.800 --> 0:18:55.320 are the pitchers are going through because of the pitch clock. 0:18:56.000 --> 0:18:59.679 But that's because like all the other advantages are outweighing 0:18:59.720 --> 0:19:02.760 the one disadvantage. And I think, like, when you bring 0:19:02.840 --> 0:19:06.560 up this this thing, and like, obviously people getting hurt 0:19:06.800 --> 0:19:09.960 is an issue, PJ says that there are rumors that 0:19:10.040 --> 0:19:12.480 golfers are saying they might get hurt, there might be 0:19:12.720 --> 0:19:17.680 more entries if there's a shot clock, which I can't 0:19:17.720 --> 0:19:21.560 contained myself, like that being a pushback, we're gonna get 0:19:21.560 --> 0:19:23.480 injured if we have to play a shop. 0:19:23.280 --> 0:19:25.359 Within forty five seconds. 0:19:25.720 --> 0:19:31.080 But anyways, I'm sorry, I can't say that good faith. 0:19:31.960 --> 0:19:35.320 The other thing that goes into like the pushback players 0:19:35.320 --> 0:19:39.800 are like, well, the logistics are impossible. The logistics are impossible. 0:19:40.040 --> 0:19:44.280 Like that's the one pushback that is constantly held and 0:19:44.320 --> 0:19:46.600 it's like, guys, has already happened. 0:19:46.720 --> 0:19:49.840 They did this on the European Tour and it was 0:19:49.880 --> 0:19:53.720 a smashing success. They had a shot clock they figured 0:19:53.720 --> 0:19:56.959 out on this tour that doesn't have the funds that 0:19:57.000 --> 0:19:59.399 the PGA Tour has, they figured out how to do 0:19:59.480 --> 0:20:03.399 shot clock like and what they saw is players actually 0:20:03.480 --> 0:20:08.000 played better, They played faster, rounds took less time. Like 0:20:08.080 --> 0:20:12.160 it is a you know, I think like from that standpoint, 0:20:12.280 --> 0:20:15.720 for me, that's the issue. But from a competition standpoint, 0:20:15.960 --> 0:20:20.280 I think people finishing rounds on the day that rounds 0:20:20.280 --> 0:20:22.720 are set to tee off is like a very important 0:20:22.720 --> 0:20:25.600 part of the competition. I don't want to dismiss that, 0:20:25.880 --> 0:20:28.720 get it pulling this back, but you know, like from 0:20:28.760 --> 0:20:31.919 the from the other standpoint, like I think that that 0:20:32.119 --> 0:20:34.480 is like one of the things that you look at 0:20:34.480 --> 0:20:38.360 with this and you just say, like to Joseph's point. 0:20:38.240 --> 0:20:41.400 Like what what what are we even changing here? 0:20:41.520 --> 0:20:45.280 Like is there you know, we we've been in this 0:20:45.359 --> 0:20:49.720 kind of purgatory as a golf fan, and whether you're 0:20:49.760 --> 0:20:51.639 on the on the fence of like there needs to 0:20:51.640 --> 0:20:55.520 be more playing opportunities, more pathways, or you're on the 0:20:55.520 --> 0:20:58.040 fence of there needs to be less pathways. I think 0:20:58.119 --> 0:21:03.280 like everybody in golf use the declining ratings, the you know, 0:21:03.520 --> 0:21:08.720 diminished product, and it says like something has to change, 0:21:08.720 --> 0:21:10.600 and you look at this and it's like this is it. 0:21:11.720 --> 0:21:15.119 This is what rolling out like unless like I'm missing 0:21:15.160 --> 0:21:17.520 something and like the twenty twenty seven is going to 0:21:17.680 --> 0:21:20.199 introduce these sweeping changes, which I don't think is going 0:21:20.280 --> 0:21:22.920 to be like like what we've seen is usually there 0:21:22.920 --> 0:21:25.280 are changes and then it's like we aren't going to 0:21:25.359 --> 0:21:28.320 do anything for five years and that maybe we'll change 0:21:28.320 --> 0:21:32.359 something else. So it's like this is from this is 0:21:32.400 --> 0:21:36.240 what golf's going to look like for the next five years, and. 0:21:36.359 --> 0:21:39.359 And and what has what is going to be different 0:21:39.440 --> 0:21:41.760 about the product outside of a smaller field to the 0:21:41.800 --> 0:21:45.800 casual golf fan which makes up of like we're in 0:21:45.800 --> 0:21:50.320 this little bubble, like what is going to change about 0:21:50.359 --> 0:21:56.200 the product? Like absolutely nothing that's the answer. 0:21:57.600 --> 0:22:01.720 That's where I'm with you, Ryan, is that I think 0:22:01.800 --> 0:22:05.800 this reflects delusion of a lot of these players that 0:22:05.840 --> 0:22:08.800 spent a ton of time in conference rooms coming up 0:22:08.840 --> 0:22:13.040 with reinventing the tour, and this is what they landed on. 0:22:13.119 --> 0:22:15.000 Like to me, that's my issue with the changes is 0:22:15.040 --> 0:22:18.720 this doesn't change virtually anything. And I guess where you 0:22:18.720 --> 0:22:20.639 and I would probably disagree is like I think the 0:22:20.640 --> 0:22:24.280 elimination of the Monday qualifiers and the slight reduction in 0:22:24.320 --> 0:22:26.800 these field sizes to get these rounds in by daylight, 0:22:27.080 --> 0:22:28.320 I don't think it's going to have much of an 0:22:28.359 --> 0:22:31.640 impact on any players or on the product pretty much 0:22:31.960 --> 0:22:34.640 at all. And I also think the pathways are still 0:22:34.680 --> 0:22:37.080 pretty clear for how a player gets to the PGA Tour. 0:22:37.200 --> 0:22:41.399 So to me, like these changes are mostly negligible for 0:22:41.840 --> 0:22:44.800 ninety nine percent of fans, and if again, like I 0:22:44.840 --> 0:22:47.439 already said, if the signature events aren't popping for people, 0:22:48.440 --> 0:22:50.679 these are sweeping changes that don't change much of anything. 0:22:51.600 --> 0:22:55.439 Yeah, I don't know how you take this change, but 0:22:55.480 --> 0:22:57.880 again I agree with you Joseph in the most part 0:22:57.920 --> 0:23:01.280 that Monday qualifiers are not trying to pretend like they're 0:23:01.280 --> 0:23:03.959 a huge part of the PJA Tour as much as 0:23:04.000 --> 0:23:07.320 I love them and say that often on Twitter, like 0:23:07.359 --> 0:23:11.080 I'm not trying to pretend like they are a significant part. Obviously, 0:23:11.080 --> 0:23:14.600 it's very biased. I think they've been a part of 0:23:14.680 --> 0:23:16.919 the history of the PGA Tour. Andy said it on 0:23:17.080 --> 0:23:20.679 the Shotgun Start, I would love if they want seventy 0:23:20.680 --> 0:23:23.520 player fields and the rest is filled by Monday qualifiers, right, 0:23:23.560 --> 0:23:27.680 like that was it would be obviously biased. But my 0:23:28.440 --> 0:23:33.520 I don't know how you sell this to AT and 0:23:33.560 --> 0:23:35.600 T when you go and you're like, what are they 0:23:35.600 --> 0:23:38.840 getting that's any different? Like, hey, here's all our changes. Okay, 0:23:38.960 --> 0:23:42.040 what is it different to the AT and T Double 0:23:42.040 --> 0:23:44.920 Beach Pro Am? Nothing? Literally nothing. 0:23:47.040 --> 0:23:49.800 I think the signature events is something to zoom in 0:23:50.040 --> 0:23:53.439 on a little bit obviously. I think Joseph makes a 0:23:53.480 --> 0:23:58.320 great point about them being like if this isn't compelling, 0:23:58.600 --> 0:23:59.399 what are we doing? 0:23:59.720 --> 0:24:01.760