Speaker 1: What is Tiger thinking right now as he's listening to
Speaker 1: this podcast? And Tiger, You've got myself call if you wish.
Speaker 2: But he's a little miffed. He's a little bit fuddled
Speaker 2: because one thing Tiger's not used to is being on
Speaker 2: the outside looking in.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be kind of weird for him not to
Speaker 1: be the most powerful person in golf anymore.
Speaker 2: I got daughts.
Speaker 3: Can't get him join, not the thing what I'm thinking about. Counts,
Speaker 3: can't get him out join, Not the thing what I'm
Speaker 3: thinking about.
Speaker 2: Hello, this is alan Ship. Like the Backgrother Fire Drill
Speaker 2: podcast with Michael Bamberger a year ago.
Speaker 1: On this occasion, we were at Brookline. Yes, if we
Speaker 1: were a three headed monster, then well, we have a
Speaker 1: live studio audience. We're in front of some sort of
Speaker 1: drunken beer.
Speaker 2: They're getting rowdy up here, and we've got the Hollywood
Speaker 2: Hills behind us, We've got glorious Southern California sunshine.
Speaker 1: Like they don't even get rowdy at Dodger Games. How
Speaker 1: could they get rowdy on the Tuesday of a US
Speaker 1: Open LA Country Club.
Speaker 2: Okay, I exaggerated, I'm pro hyperbole, Michael, but uh, we're here,
Speaker 2: what we are here? How great is the light?
Speaker 1: Whoever came up with the concept of the West Coast
Speaker 1: Open new it he or she or they were talking
Speaker 1: about it.
Speaker 2: It's the best. It was your friend Sandy Tatum.
Speaker 1: I believe no, because Hogan played in one forty eight.
Speaker 1: Lest we forget Yeah, at Riviera, we all know that. Alan,
Speaker 1: You're you lived in these parts for a long time.
Speaker 1: You went to college over the hill here at UCLA
Speaker 1: right over here. You know the Riviera course, Well you
Speaker 1: know this course to some degree?
Speaker 4: Do you know?
Speaker 2: Have you been here before? I have?
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: If you if you were the czar of the USGA,
Speaker 1: you could only pick one golf course to hold the
Speaker 1: National Open, Rivier or La North.
Speaker 2: Which would it be? And why? Excellent question? I mean
Speaker 2: I would say La North because I'm not a huge
Speaker 2: fan of having the majors at courses that already host
Speaker 2: a tour event. It's not a special I mean, we
Speaker 2: know riv intimately. It has its own history through the
Speaker 2: LA Open. You know the PGA. The Elkington one was
Speaker 2: kind of weird and nobody turned out for and the
Speaker 2: greens were wonky, like everyone's. Rivier is special for what
Speaker 2: it is, but this is a grander stage. I mean,
Speaker 2: I love Rivie A's a golf course, but it's a
Speaker 2: very tight little bandbox and you come out here. Just
Speaker 2: the scale of the US Open is incredible. I mean
Speaker 2: we were talking about this off mic, but like Oak
Speaker 2: Hill was tremendous, and it felt like a big ballpark
Speaker 2: when you were around the clubhouse and you got out
Speaker 2: through the other holes, and it just felt like, you know,
Speaker 2: it could have been a tour vent on some level.
Speaker 2: You get here and it's just the build out and
Speaker 2: the energy and the crowd, and this is a cool setting.
Speaker 2: I mean, you've got the buildings of you can see
Speaker 2: Century City, You've got Beverly Hills, You've got Hollywood. Like
Speaker 2: I'm driving up here, I felt it like I was
Speaker 2: on Sandmachel Boulevard, parbably, as you said, you know, I
Speaker 2: went to school at UCLA, and this this is a
Speaker 2: I don't spend a lot of time in La anymore,
Speaker 2: but when I get here, it's like, oh, this is cool.
Speaker 2: But like, wow, I'm going to make a left turn
Speaker 2: and I'm going to be at the US Open, even
Speaker 2: though I'm right in the heart of Los Angeles. So
Speaker 2: this is a really cool spectacle.
Speaker 1: Hey as well. This is the third major being played
Speaker 1: in the city limits so far this year. Augusta's in
Speaker 1: Augusta and Oakill's in Rochester. And here I think it's
Speaker 1: you know, as I say that, I think it's not correct.
Speaker 1: I think it's in Pittsford. But here we are in
Speaker 1: Los Angeles itself. It's absolutely astounding. I mean there were
Speaker 1: for those who don't know, there were thirty six holes here.
Speaker 1: It's as Alan was indicating, it's a big piece of property.
Speaker 1: It would be worth billions and millions of dollars, so
Speaker 1: it could somehow be developed. I learned this only recently
Speaker 1: that geologists come to this golf course to study what Angeles,
Speaker 1: Los Angeles was like a thousand years ago before it
Speaker 1: got all paved over. Well, I mean the Libreo tarpits
Speaker 1: are just down the road. I mean, yeah, that doesn't
Speaker 1: shock me, but yeah, nothing everything else is every other
Speaker 1: inch of Los Angeles has been built out right. Not
Speaker 1: only is it thirty six holes, but like just that
Speaker 1: double green at nine and eighteen plus the first tea,
Speaker 1: like it reminds me like Kingston Heath, Or's some other
Speaker 1: places where you get in that first tea box and
Speaker 1: it just feels big.
Speaker 2: Yeah. And then there's just this expanse and it's just
Speaker 2: all golf and it's super cool. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean, I guess you know this has been said
Speaker 1: by others, but I have to say I thought this
Speaker 1: when I first came here for the first time a
Speaker 1: few years ago. Whatever your notion of a US Open
Speaker 1: course was, this doesn't fill it. There's no US Open course.
Speaker 1: You know, Chambers Bay would probably be the closest thing
Speaker 1: to this. It's spectacular, it's beautiful. It's really really a
Speaker 1: special golf course. We were just talking with Gil Hans,
Speaker 1: who redid this George Thomas course, and you know, I
Speaker 1: wasn't joking. I said it's like Pine Valley meets Augustin National.
Speaker 1: But yeah, it's on a tree line golf course. It
Speaker 1: puts I don't think it puts really that much for
Speaker 1: a premium and driving it straight. The player are saying
Speaker 1: that's not the case. I trust you, Thank you all.
Speaker 1: But regardless, it's a spectacular setting. Yeah for US Open
Speaker 1: and a thrill.
Speaker 2: I mean, are any courses tree lined anymore?
Speaker 1: Ok So the Oakland, you know, oak Hill was a
Speaker 1: little bit but not really true.
Speaker 2: Yeah, No, I mean I agree, there was a template
Speaker 2: back in you know what my first US Open was
Speaker 2: was Oakmont, and they've lost ten thousand trees there, right,
Speaker 2: that was claustrophobic and tight, right, And there was a
Speaker 2: lot of courses like in the fill year.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was still pretty close.
Speaker 2: So the whole, the whole palette of golf has changed
Speaker 2: a little bit, and this this is is a part
Speaker 2: of that. But par will be a good score. Yer Like,
Speaker 2: it's definitely gonna be tough. And everyone's seen the videos
Speaker 2: of the ball just ping into the rough, But when
Speaker 2: you're walking round out there, I mean there's parts where
Speaker 2: it's patchy, like if you look the grass were standing
Speaker 2: on you, you're gonna be able to play out of it.
Speaker 2: I mean it's very hit or miss. I'm not I'm
Speaker 2: not a grass guy, but it feels like it's more
Speaker 2: of a lottery in this rough. You might get a
Speaker 2: good you might not. And that to me, I kind
Speaker 2: of like that. It's it's in the lap of the gods.
Speaker 2: So I think, what are you saying.
Speaker 1: Are you saying two eighty is gonna win or playoff?
Speaker 1: I mean.
Speaker 2: It's got a chance.
Speaker 1: Well, I beg to different I think it'll be much lower.
Speaker 1: I think it'll be too seventy will playoff there.
Speaker 2: Okay, heard disagree. As Gil told us, he just come
Speaker 2: from meeting and they're like, we love where the courses
Speaker 2: on Tuesday, but we're gonna start dialing it up a
Speaker 2: little bit. Like the forecast is perfect. You know, it's
Speaker 2: between seventy two and seventy five every day. It's quintessential La. Yeah,
Speaker 2: and the sun is out. It's been they've had all
Speaker 2: this May hayes and June gloom, but now the sun's out,
Speaker 2: so this place can get crispy. Yeah, I'm pre your
Speaker 2: AUGUSTA national comparison. Like there's some wicked greens out there,
Speaker 2: and they have some really fun little shelves. And if
Speaker 2: someone wins this at two seventy, I will be shocked.
Speaker 1: And we should know. It's breezy, and you know when
Speaker 1: it gets sunny here, it gets breezy. Yeah, when they
Speaker 1: have that marine layer, it can be very still and
Speaker 1: then you could kill it, but I would I would
Speaker 1: amend that. Yes, very much weather dependent. And isn't this
Speaker 1: a joy? We've been talking about golf now for about
Speaker 1: six minutes.
Speaker 2: More than six Well, I didn't you know, I'm not
Speaker 2: going to use a lot of hair product. I went
Speaker 2: extra light today so that the viewers could see the winds.
Speaker 2: You know, it's really they'll tell you, not yours. It
Speaker 2: doesn't doesn't quite work that way.
Speaker 1: No, you're more like green wind diagnostic, if that's a phrase.
Speaker 2: Yeah. But anyway, Yeah, I know we have been talking
Speaker 2: about golf. It is, it is pleasant.
Speaker 1: It gets getting lost actually, uh, And I mean people
Speaker 1: have been saying this, and it is true. People who
Speaker 1: like tennis. You like tennis, and I like tennis. A
Speaker 1: lot of people like tenesis. Nobody knows anything about professional
Speaker 1: tennis anymore except for the four majors. Yeah, and golf
Speaker 1: could be heading that way, which I guess is good
Speaker 1: for the majors, But I don't know if that's that's
Speaker 1: good for golf.
Speaker 2: No. I mean, did you hear Brooks at his press
Speaker 2: conference today at the end, see you guys in hard
Speaker 2: next week.
Speaker 1: I mean, now, interpret that for me. I really didn't
Speaker 1: know how to interpret that. First.
Speaker 2: The first thing, you know was Brooks is an absolute
Speaker 2: troll at heart, so he could have just been been
Speaker 2: taking the piss, as they say, across the ocean. That
Speaker 2: way but I don't know. I mean it if all
Speaker 2: if the whole point of this is daytone and and
Speaker 2: they're gonna try to reunify the game. If you're the
Speaker 2: tournament director at Hartford, do you want brooks Kopka the
Speaker 2: most dominant player in golf? Hell yeah? So maybe they
Speaker 2: gave him a sponsors exemption, Like I don't know why.
Speaker 1: Maybe you're showing up as a spectator. You can't even
Speaker 1: come to a player's meeting. There's no way.
Speaker 2: I mean, there was no way a week ago. But
Speaker 2: I don't know. Things are moving very.
Speaker 1: Quickly, and maybe maybe someone paying him two million dollars
Speaker 1: to show at a cocktail party.
Speaker 2: It could be.
Speaker 1: I mean, I mean, he's definitely not in the field.
Speaker 2: That's crazy you talk.
Speaker 1: He's on the suspended list. How How what was mont
Speaker 1: hand only kidding about that too?
Speaker 2: Well, the whole idea that they're gonna they're gonna hit
Speaker 2: these live guys super hard with penalties and fines, and
Speaker 2: that's not really any way to unify the sport, Like
Speaker 2: retribution and vengeance is not a good start if you're
Speaker 2: trying to bring the game back together. So I think
Speaker 2: that was bluster. I think that was posturing. I think
Speaker 2: the reality is that if you're trying to build a
Speaker 2: partnership between these different these warring tribes, like that's just
Speaker 2: not the way to do it. I mean, I think
Speaker 2: Monahan was trying to quiet his angry membership. He was
Speaker 2: trying to put a little spin on it. But when
Speaker 2: the rubber meets the road, the tour needs these guys,
Speaker 2: I mean, they just do. I mean, Brooks is the
Speaker 2: most dominant player in golf all of a sudden, and
Speaker 2: do they want to scare them away assuming that the
Speaker 2: lives live indoors, which from all the talk you know
Speaker 2: Dustin Johnson saying that you heard that right from Yasser, Like,
Speaker 2: those guys are happy over there. They're making a lot
Speaker 2: of money, they're having fun with this team element. If
Speaker 2: they want to lure them back to the tour, they're
Speaker 2: actually going to have to try. Otherwise I'll just keep
Speaker 2: stay and will stay over there. I mean, Brooks is
Speaker 2: happy with the majors, which he's in now for you know,
Speaker 2: that's not an issue as a champ as the winner
Speaker 2: of the PGA Championship doesn't even need the world ranking points.
Speaker 2: So Hartford needs Brooks more than Brooks needs Hartford, that's
Speaker 2: the bottom of Oh, that's definitely is the case. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I know you've been potting about this broad subject for
Speaker 1: a while, and of course you're writing a book about it.
Speaker 1: I haven't heard you on this specific question and the
Speaker 1: balance of power when you've got Yasser as chairman and
Speaker 1: Jamon is CEO, and a board that, in theory is
Speaker 1: controlled by tried and true people whom we know, yeah,
Speaker 1: players and American business people and that.
Speaker 2: Sort of thing.
Speaker 1: Yeah, where do you think the balance of power really
Speaker 1: will lie in this for profit side of things with
Speaker 1: Monahan and the board or is yes here going to
Speaker 1: get what Yes here wants?
Speaker 2: The latter I mean all this talk about the board,
Speaker 2: the board, the board. The PGA too had a board,
Speaker 2: it had a player advisory council, it had a whole
Speaker 2: system of governance, and Yasser reached golf over cigars. Like,
Speaker 2: I don't think you can put too much credence in
Speaker 2: the board. The board, the board. The board didn't even
Speaker 2: know this was coming, right, I think that's the answer, Like, Okay,
Speaker 2: there'll be another board. But the money is the power.
Speaker 2: Yasser has the money. But I do think what's been
Speaker 2: lost in all this it's not a merger between the
Speaker 2: PJ Tour and Live Golf. It's it's basically the PIFF
Speaker 2: is becoming a sponsor of the tour. That's it. That's all.
Speaker 2: And I think lives going to remain a going concern.
Speaker 2: That's more or less separate from that. Yaser will decide
Speaker 2: it's fate. If he wants to keep funding it and
Speaker 2: he sees a path to profitability, then he'll keep it going.
Speaker 2: If he thinks it's going to be this albatross, then
Speaker 2: he can shut it down. But I don't think Jayman
Speaker 2: will have any say in that, no matter what he's
Speaker 2: claiming publicly. And he's not.
Speaker 1: Shutting it down because this is a little toy for him.
Speaker 2: Why would you shoot? Why would you a little toy?
Speaker 2: And it loves golf.
Speaker 1: Now he's hanging out with Dustin Johnson.
Speaker 2: And maybe they have a way to make money now
Speaker 2: if they can use the tour distribution, all those platforms,
Speaker 2: if they have access now to all the tour sponsors,
Speaker 2: they've they've already invested what two billion dollars, So why
Speaker 2: just lose that money without at least trying to get
Speaker 2: it back? You know, you can at most to lose
Speaker 2: another half billy, but maybe there's a path forward. So
Speaker 2: I would be absolutely shocked. And then not to mention
Speaker 2: we have all the anti trust concerns like if if
Speaker 2: you have that, if you have the Department of Justice,
Speaker 2: you have various senators and other folks like up your ass.
Speaker 2: You can't just shut down a competitor, Like how's that
Speaker 2: gonna work? Right?
Speaker 1: But doesn't Tuesday's news just make the Department Justice more
Speaker 1: suspicious of golf, not less suspicious exactly.
Speaker 2: I mean, you know, Senator Blumenthal is already calling for investigations.
Speaker 2: So and you know Monaghan, he was a little overwhelmed
Speaker 2: by the moment for him to go on TV and say, yeah,
Speaker 2: we took a competitor off the board. That was the
Speaker 2: worst possible thing he could have said, Like, I guarantee
Speaker 2: that was not workshopped with Ed Hurley and other lawyers
Speaker 2: in his orbit. Yeah, that was a mistake. It felt rushed,
Speaker 2: It felt rush and and Jay would did not rise
Speaker 2: to the moment. So I don't think. I don't think
Speaker 2: Live Golf is going anywhere. Everyone wants it to disappear.
Speaker 2: Who were tour loyalists and they feel like, you know,
Speaker 2: it's become. That was part of the narrative like Live sucks,
Speaker 2: it's never gonna work. Now now the ground has shifted,
Speaker 2: it's like, okay, the new narrative is a Live is
Speaker 2: gonna get shut down by Jay, Like I don't think so.
Speaker 1: Why is Taylor Gutch not in this field down?
Speaker 2: Well, partly because he didn't rise to the occasion and
Speaker 2: go through Open qualifying like Sergio and others like it
Speaker 2: was a really curious decision on his part. I mean,
Speaker 2: the guy's been playing great golf. He's ascendant. You know,
Speaker 2: he said it was partly in protest and partly because
Speaker 2: it's a busy stretch. I mean, give me a break, Taylor,
Speaker 2: Like one day, one day, I mean, he did get
Speaker 2: jobbed by the by the USGA. You know, they had
Speaker 2: always exempted into the US Open anyone who qualified for
Speaker 2: the Tour Championship. Taylor Gooch made enough points during last
Speaker 2: year's fed X Cup season to earn a place in
Speaker 2: the Tour Championship even though he left for Live. So
Speaker 2: then the US changed the word and you say not
Speaker 2: only qualified, but eligible, And obviously he forfeited his eligibility
Speaker 2: when he went to Live. He's the only guy who
Speaker 2: was affected by that very arbitrary change in working. And
Speaker 2: you know that was a little window into the soul
Speaker 2: of Mike Wand and where he stands on this whole
Speaker 2: divide because he sanctioned all that, and it was interesting.
Speaker 2: It doesn't as fill of all people playting out. It
Speaker 2: doesn't serve the USGA well when you have a guy
Speaker 2: who's been playing at such a high level, right, I mean,
Speaker 2: shoot sixty two to sixty two in any tournament in
Speaker 2: the world is impressive, let alone against a lot of
Speaker 2: major championship winners and Hall of famers and Ryder Cuppers
Speaker 2: on a course it has a legit pedigree. I mean
Speaker 2: that course over in Singapore, it hosted Singapore Open a
Speaker 2: bunch of times. The role call of winners is really good.
Speaker 2: I mean, it's a legit golf course. So I don't
Speaker 2: know how it benefits USGA to exclude him, but that
Speaker 2: was their choice.
Speaker 1: It's kind of a weird thing to be focusing on
Speaker 1: one missing player on the eve of a great championship,
Speaker 1: but it does feel a little wrong. And you know,
Speaker 1: I'm yes, as you point out, he's sure to He
Speaker 1: could have, of course played in thirty six of qualif
Speaker 1: if he wanted to, and he didn't and he should have.
Speaker 2: I mean that was that was a mistake by him,
Speaker 2: but it was also you know, he said it was
Speaker 2: partly in protest to like kind of bringing attention to
Speaker 2: what the USGA did. And again, when you get into
Speaker 2: these issues of antitrust and callusion, it doesn't look good.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so we're here. Do you think this means that
Speaker 1: we're never going to see a us O part of
Speaker 1: me as a masking this, But I do think I
Speaker 1: know the answer. Tory Pines is not on not on
Speaker 1: the list for anything, is it right now? Not PJ
Speaker 1: or or US opens.
Speaker 2: Nothing.
Speaker 1: No, I mean the the as you were saying, it's
Speaker 1: got the annual event. Maybe that puts in a special category.
Speaker 1: But I thought those opens were special at Toroy. What
Speaker 1: we had too, We had two great.
Speaker 2: Winners to walk offs on the sev second hole. Are
Speaker 2: the kind kind of yeah, two amazing putts on the
Speaker 2: saving second hold. Yes, Tiger went on to do his
Speaker 2: two really really great players and beautiful backups. People the
Speaker 2: architecture walks don't like Tory Pines. It's it's a somewhat
Speaker 2: a mentory test. There's not a lot of imagination. I
Speaker 2: mean every hole, excuse me, every hole has bunkers, and
Speaker 2: every green is bunkers. The faerry, every green is guarded
Speaker 2: by bunkers. They just ask a very basic question like
Speaker 2: can you execute the same shot over can you hit
Speaker 2: the fairry? Can you hit it on the green. It's
Speaker 2: slightly ponderous, but it does sort of bring out the
Speaker 2: most precise and the best golfer, which was John Romson. Yeah,
Speaker 2: and it certainly looks great on TV. The San Diego
Speaker 2: community has turned out, but you know, pebbles an anchor site.
Speaker 2: I think this is gonna become an anchor site. Olympic
Speaker 2: is back in the mix after they've redone it, so
Speaker 2: something's got to give, and unfortunately it's probably Tory.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but as you said, they still have their winter events,
Speaker 1: so totally it.
Speaker 2: Feels out of it. They've been playing the San Diego
Speaker 2: Open for decades and decades.
Speaker 1: It's an interesting time in major championship golf because I
Speaker 1: think the PJA, even though he's better first, going to
Speaker 1: May has been a great move for them. But after
Speaker 1: you saw the great andess of course like go kill,
Speaker 1: I don't know, maybe this stuff they're building in Frisco
Speaker 1: is great, but yeah, it's hard to feel like I
Speaker 1: feel excited about it. But when you get there, oh
Speaker 1: this is spectacular.
Speaker 2: It looks cool. And that's also Gil Hant, who also
Speaker 2: did an Olympic like there was an open doctor, you know,
Speaker 2: Rhys Jones or no sorry, Trent Jones, Robin Trent Jones. Yeah,
Speaker 2: and they kind of took it in a very penal,
Speaker 2: old old school smash mouth style. You know. Gill's a
Speaker 2: different aesthetic and it's still tough, but there's a lot
Speaker 2: more room to play. There's a lot more imagination around
Speaker 2: the greens, and obviously that we all prefer that. So
Speaker 2: I think he's found the secret sauce. So we'll see
Speaker 2: about Frisco. I mean, I've been it's a challenge for
Speaker 2: the PGA of America to fine venues that work. And
Speaker 2: I think it's a mistake to go to the old
Speaker 2: US open venues because, as you wrote in your excellent
Speaker 2: preview piece on firepitc Collective dot com, the you know,
Speaker 2: Oak Hill felt like a US open, right, And so I.
Speaker 1: I like the USGG it's its own field and he's
Speaker 1: other thing.
Speaker 2: And I think that's new courses. That's that's that's taken
Speaker 2: it to really different spots. So maybe Frisco becomes that.
Speaker 2: I would love for them to go to Bandon Dunes.
Speaker 2: I would.
Speaker 1: I would love for them that would be neat. I
Speaker 1: mean it would be need of Chambers Bay. Could Chambers
Speaker 1: Bay was spectacular, just wasn't quite there. Yeah, but it
Speaker 1: could get there. There's no reason why I couldn't.
Speaker 2: I know, well, I mean, and there was that period
Speaker 2: where the usg tried it. They went to Chambers and
Speaker 2: they went to Aaron Hills.
Speaker 1: Aaron never worked.
Speaker 2: Neither one was really an artistic success. All you had
Speaker 2: great winners. I mean the speed DJ shootout those shots
Speaker 2: on the last hole Chambers was amazing. I mean that
Speaker 2: was the rise of Koepka at Aaron Hills. So like
Speaker 2: the courses produced, but they didn't feel like US Opens
Speaker 2: like I would. They're better suited for what the PGA
Speaker 2: should be, something new, different, imaginative. I like the US
Speaker 2: Open at the traditional courses. And even though this is
Speaker 2: a new venue, this is an old golf course. I
Speaker 2: mean it George Thomas, it goes back to the twenties, like, yeah,
Speaker 2: it's golden era, and so I think it's cool that
Speaker 2: that they've brought it back into the fold. I expect
Speaker 2: that this is going to be an incredible week and
Speaker 2: that this they'll be back here again.
Speaker 1: Has your editor, Jophi Ferrari Adler, an avid reader presses
Speaker 1: he read the first draft or the submitted book at
Speaker 1: this point he has, Yeah, how's that going for you?
Speaker 2: Well, JOEFI, who's a friend and a colleague of both
Speaker 2: of ours. The colleagues nothing right word? What is it?
Speaker 2: He's like our overlord, he's our mentor, he's our big brother,
Speaker 2: he's our school principal.
Speaker 1: He's all those things and more.
Speaker 2: The editor fills a lot of roles. He loved it.
Speaker 2: I mean, he sent me the super flowery and he's
Speaker 2: gotta put this up against anything Bob Woodward ever done
Speaker 2: for real time reporting. And wow it was awesome. And yeah,
Speaker 2: so they're you know, I probably ate in the confusion
Speaker 2: when I my tweet when all the news broke. I
Speaker 2: had turned the book in Sunday night, like two in
Speaker 2: the morning Monday, like, I slept in, I took a bath,
Speaker 2: I took a nap. I've never felt so relaxed and
Speaker 2: happy in my life. And then Tuesday morning, the world
Speaker 2: was on fire. But when you turn into a book,
Speaker 2: it's not the end of the process. It's the beginning
Speaker 2: of a whole new process. Right, the editor gets the
Speaker 2: first pass. They have some big picture things you can
Speaker 2: incorporate or you ignore, you fight about, and then it
Speaker 2: goes to the copyetter, who's like the world's most uptight
Speaker 2: you know, English teacher, anyone's ever had, They fuss over
Speaker 2: every comma. There's a legal review like all that takes
Speaker 2: six to eight weeks at least. Then the book comes
Speaker 2: back to you and you can keep massaging it. So
Speaker 2: I was always going to update it, probably through the
Speaker 2: British Open and if there was a judication of the
Speaker 2: world ranking and all this stuff. So I have time
Speaker 2: and I'm reporting the story. I'm feverishly reworking the last chapters,
Speaker 2: adding new material, going through in massaging passages, amplifying things
Speaker 2: that we now know or turn out to be more
Speaker 2: significant than we thought. And so it's cool that people said.
Speaker 2: A few people had said to me, you know, well,
Speaker 2: why put the book out now? We don't know how
Speaker 2: the story ends, you know, And I was like, well,
Speaker 2: we don't exactly know the ending, but we just we
Speaker 2: just a huge plot to us has been revealed and
Speaker 2: it's cool. So the whole thing is in one tidy package.
Speaker 2: And if this news had broken in a month or
Speaker 2: two months now, I would have been crush because the
Speaker 2: books that say two months, the books at the printers,
Speaker 2: they are no getting it back and would have felt dated.
Speaker 2: So now it's going to be up to the minute.
Speaker 2: And actually our jophy and our friends are are having
Speaker 2: meetings like right now about moving the release date up
Speaker 2: two or three weeks, which is a lot, bring it
Speaker 2: to what early early to mid October, so the Halloween
Speaker 2: just just to ride this wave and it's all anyone's
Speaker 2: talking about, so why not? So yeah, I'm game. I mean,
Speaker 2: this is an intense week for me because I'm I
Speaker 2: have to get all the changes done and we're here
Speaker 2: to cover the national Championship. But it's all good. I mean, yes,
Speaker 2: I think.
Speaker 1: That book is more even handed than you might realize.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well I was going to ask you that, like
Speaker 1: in your mind, do you think it sort of bends
Speaker 1: over backwards to let the live story be told because
Speaker 1: the PGA tour has been sold by a very powerful
Speaker 1: pr machine for decades, yes, and the live people are
Speaker 1: new to it and then you don't have a powerful
Speaker 1: pr mission that's been around for decades, so you might
Speaker 1: have thought, oh, it's incumbent upon me to show this
Speaker 1: other story. But I read it as a very balanced
Speaker 1: piece of reporting.
Speaker 2: Well, thank you. That was my intention. I mean, i'd
Speaker 2: say my idea balance is to be critical of both
Speaker 2: sides and to celebrate celebrate both sides when they do
Speaker 2: something right. And that was you know, I kind of
Speaker 2: I think it swings back and forth where passages feel
Speaker 2: pro live, passages feel pro tour, passages are super critical
Speaker 2: of one person or one entity, and it just toggles
Speaker 2: back and forth. So it wasn't It's like a double dog.
Speaker 2: It's not a dead straight hole where I'm just trying
Speaker 2: to hit it straight every time, like I'm really, I'm
Speaker 2: trying to tack both directions and that that's anyone who
Speaker 2: plays golf knows it's more interesting that way. So but
Speaker 2: I appreciate that, and that was always my intention. It's
Speaker 2: it's been interesting in you know, the stories that I've
Speaker 2: I've typed in the podcast we've done since the news
Speaker 2: broke a week ago. Some people have been they've detected, Oh,
Speaker 2: you're suddenly pro live it's like, well, it's more like
Speaker 2: mon Hands out there talking, Jimmy Dunn's out there talking.
Speaker 2: It all happened at a tour event. All the tour
Speaker 2: guys are talking, Rory is talking. You know, Live didn't
Speaker 2: have this platform, like, and the only guy who's not
Speaker 2: talking is Yaser because he doesn't have to talk. His
Speaker 2: money's loud enough. And so I felt like, well, then
Speaker 2: I was advocating for Li's point of view. I was
Speaker 2: explaining it, and I was trying to help. My roleness
Speaker 2: is to help people make sense of all this because
Speaker 2: so much has happened in the shadows. It's been so
Speaker 2: secretive this and it's it's so complex and nuanced, and
Speaker 2: so I feel like I'm a tour guide through this,
Speaker 2: this this maze in some ways, and so I've been
Speaker 2: interested there. It's like, oh, you're pro Live. It's like no,
Speaker 2: but I've been talking to Live people for a year
Speaker 2: and I can get him on the phone and I
Speaker 2: understand where they're coming from. But I was also talking
Speaker 2: to tour executive, tour players, tour agents, like I've really
Speaker 2: just tried to explain what's happening, but there's been there
Speaker 2: was so much coming out. It's like if you're listening
Speaker 2: to headphones, you know, and on one year has got
Speaker 2: the tour and the other live. The side coming bringing
Speaker 2: that the tour spin was a hell of a lot louder,
Speaker 2: and I feel like the whole debate needs more balance.
Speaker 1: Right right, What is your personal feelings about yes here,
Speaker 1: you've met him at least on one occasion, right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Yeah, we had a quick chat. Actually a dead minister,
Speaker 2: he's and I've talked to a lot of people about him.
Speaker 2: He's a very measured he's very careful, very soft spoken,
Speaker 2: and impressive in the energy he projects. He's not He's
Speaker 2: not a Greg Norman, who's who's loud and abrasive. He's
Speaker 2: not even a j Monaghan. You know, this hockey kid
Speaker 2: from Boston and the chip on his shoulder. He feels
Speaker 2: like a diplomat. He dresses like a diplomat.
Speaker 5: You know.
Speaker 2: I'm sure all this stuff is made on a Seville
Speaker 2: road and he carries himself like that. It's impressive. And
Speaker 2: I thought even the interview he did with Monahan was
Speaker 2: interesting because he was very deferential to Jay. He took
Speaker 2: the backsheat literally, Yeah, he let Jay do Moosa talk
Speaker 2: in there was no clothing, there was no victory lap,
Speaker 2: there was no sense that I just bought you. And
Speaker 2: you know, if you'd put Norman on that stage, it
Speaker 2: would have been very different. There's the reason why why
Speaker 2: why Yasir has become the guy, because he always was
Speaker 2: behind the scenes. I mean, he's always been the shot callar.
Speaker 2: This has been his baby. He's nurtured it, he's been
Speaker 2: he's micromanaged it, he's refereed every dispute, like he's been
Speaker 2: more involved than anyone really understands. But I thought it
Speaker 2: was impressive the way and as we talked about a
Speaker 2: minute ago, he's dropped out of site. He's not out
Speaker 2: there chirping, you know, Like you know Jimmy Dunn, well
Speaker 2: we all everyone in the golf world knows Jimmy Dunn,
Speaker 2: and he's an impressive individual. But like for him to
Speaker 2: go on the on the Golf channel and talk about
Speaker 2: like killing nine to eleven dudes with his bare hands,
Speaker 2: like that was sort of wildly inappropriate. And they obviously
Speaker 2: he's gone underground since then, Like no one's heard a
Speaker 2: peep really from Jimmy Dunn since that. Like, you know,
Speaker 2: y also would never make that mistake. He's never gonna
Speaker 2: get caught up in the moment. Like he's just a
Speaker 2: very careful Yeah, he parcels out every word very judiciously,
Speaker 2: and so he's the right guy for this moment, like
Speaker 2: cooler heads needed to prevail. It's not Jimmy Dunn, it's
Speaker 2: probably not Ja mo Han, It's definitely not Greg Norman,
Speaker 2: but it certainly is him.
Speaker 1: What do you think his relationship with MBS is, Like.
Speaker 2: Well, they're close friends and confidants, Like, you know, he's.
Speaker 1: Do you think you get him on the phone and
Speaker 1: he Jommy wants him?
Speaker 2: Oh, definitely, Yeah. I mean to run to run the
Speaker 2: Public Investment Fund makes you one of the most powerful
Speaker 2: people in the world. To run a Ramco, which is
Speaker 2: the most profitable corporation on the planet, makes you one
Speaker 2: of the most powerful people in the world when the
Speaker 2: same guy does both. Like that's absolute power.
Speaker 1: Multiplier effect there, Yes, in calculable.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I don't know what's your top five.
Speaker 2: It's it's probably Biden, it might it might be uh Putin,
Speaker 2: I mean you probably the NBS is there in Yosser,
Speaker 2: Like I don't know, it's like that's it like that
Speaker 2: those are the people who are moving all the pieces
Speaker 2: on the chess board. And so yeah, he's the fact
Speaker 2: that he loves golf so much is a big deal.
Speaker 2: Because there's a funny quote in the book from Keith Pelly,
Speaker 2: like he said, he said, if Yosa was a volleyball guy,
Speaker 2: they'd be building volleyball arenas and creating volleyball super leagues
Speaker 2: and trying to host volleyball World Championships. It's like a
Speaker 2: great blessing to every stakeholder that he loves golf so much.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, interesting, Well all right, let's let's get back
Speaker 1: to the golf course here for a second. Yeah, as
Speaker 1: it relates to live Phil top ten no top ten this.
Speaker 2: Week, I mean these are the grasses he grew up on.
Speaker 2: This is he's a southern California guy. I mean, that's
Speaker 2: a tough one I would if I had. If it's
Speaker 2: binary like that, I'll say top ten. Because there's he's
Speaker 2: the energy he had on Sunday Augusta. It was like
Speaker 2: he got his life back, he got his mojo back.
Speaker 2: All of a sudden, he was Phil Mickelson again. That's
Speaker 2: powerful and this is his chance to do it all
Speaker 2: over again. I think This is gonna be much more
Speaker 2: of a short game test than a traditional US Open,
Speaker 2: you know, So it's these it's gonna be It's gonna
Speaker 2: be fun to watch Phil out here. I think I
Speaker 2: think he wants it so bad. Like you talk about
Speaker 2: who's walks in the gate here dying to win this tournament.
Speaker 2: Some guys are just hoping to play well. Some are
Speaker 2: already already choking in the parking lot. Like Johnny Miller
Speaker 2: used to say, Phil is here to win this mofo.
Speaker 2: He wants it so bad. So we'll see if his
Speaker 2: game shows up. But if I would say top ten,
Speaker 2: what about.
Speaker 1: You, well, if he topped tens, he can contend, you know,
Speaker 1: does they really want to go crazy about it? It
Speaker 1: is most likely his last best chance to become one
Speaker 1: of the guys is one of the Curry Grand Slam.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I don't think you've got to drive it very straight here,
Speaker 1: h You maybe have to put irons in play here.
Speaker 1: If it's breezy like this and the frairies are fast,
Speaker 1: I don't think guys are going to hit a lot
Speaker 1: of driver. And he's still he pitches the ball graat
Speaker 1: and he sometimes can put well it wouldn't shock me
Speaker 1: to see him contend at all, actually, based on how
Speaker 1: well he played Augusta National.
Speaker 2: I mean, I you can debate a lot of things
Speaker 2: about how the landscape has changed, but Phil was right,
Speaker 2: Like he called all this stuff a long time ago.
Speaker 1: He's advocated for it. Yeah and sing you what's up, Paul?
Speaker 1: Get here, come on in here. We need professional help,
Speaker 1: my exactly temporary. Why he looks ten years younger than I,
Speaker 1: I do not know, my man? How are you have
Speaker 1: you played this course much over the years?
Speaker 4: Yeah? I know the course reasonably well. It's a real
Speaker 4: tricky course, you know. And a couple of players think
Speaker 4: that there's going to be some complaining good play slow.
Speaker 2: Well, you know, the.
Speaker 4: USGA, they set it up for themselves. They want to
Speaker 4: set it up the way they want to do it,
Speaker 4: and they'll do it. They're not trying to make that.
Speaker 4: I hope they don't try to make the players happy,
Speaker 4: because that wouldn't be right.
Speaker 3: That wouldn't be them.
Speaker 4: It wouldn't be them. So it's it's I'm really looking
Speaker 4: forward to it. There's gonna be a lot of decisions
Speaker 4: that need to be made off the tee. I feel
Speaker 4: like and you know. I was just out there on
Speaker 4: number six. It's a real tricky hole. You know, you
Speaker 4: can go for it. It's a short hole. And I
Speaker 4: watched John Wood on Golf Channel this morning do a
Speaker 4: nice about a six minute segment on that hole, on
Speaker 4: how to play the whole. I got out there this
Speaker 4: afternoon and three caddies were out there. Tom Kim's Joey
Speaker 4: was out there, and home Ass caddy was out there,
Speaker 4: and Xander Softlei's caddy, and they were on the cell
Speaker 4: phone and one was on the tee, the other was
Speaker 4: down there by the green and they were throwing up
Speaker 4: models and trying to see each other on the line
Speaker 4: and all this stuff. This is how hard they work
Speaker 4: to get ready for what they're trying to do today
Speaker 4: or this week, and they were really trying to figure
Speaker 4: out how to play that hole.
Speaker 2: This is a strategic course.
Speaker 4: The local caddies could probably tell these guys they should
Speaker 4: hire a local caddy, I feel like, and let them
Speaker 4: go around with the players. That would be wise. I
Speaker 4: don't know if anybody's thought about it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I do not think you're gonna see guys hit
Speaker 1: a lot of driver. If it says dry like this,
Speaker 1: if the sun says out, the bakes out, why would
Speaker 1: you hit driver here?
Speaker 4: I don't know that they have to hit driver, but
Speaker 4: it feels wide to them. You know, the fairways aren't
Speaker 4: as wide as they look, maybe, but it feels wide
Speaker 4: to them.
Speaker 2: They may hit driver.
Speaker 4: I've heard everything from you know, they're gonna hit every
Speaker 4: club in the bag.
Speaker 2: I feel like, you know.
Speaker 4: I talked to Gil Hans the other day on the phone,
Speaker 4: Dan Hicks and I with Gil Capps. He put the
Speaker 4: call together and we got a real inside scoop on
Speaker 4: how gil Hans wants this course to be and how
Speaker 4: he wants it to play. And uh, you know the
Speaker 4: goal is you know again, it's like the USGA mantra,
Speaker 4: not to embarrass these guys, but to really identify him
Speaker 4: who's the best. And it's the kind of property that
Speaker 4: can do it. George Thomas is gil Hans's favorite architect,
Speaker 4: you know. And it's a masterpiece, you know. But a
Speaker 4: couple guys I think might explode and get all irritated
Speaker 4: about it. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Well, when you're in LA, how often you get mistaken
Speaker 1: for Dennis Quaid?
Speaker 2: Never yet?
Speaker 1: That is now, of course, when I ask Nick Valdohoefn
Speaker 1: he gets mistaken for Harrison forty says oh all the time.
Speaker 2: Oh, of course, he would say that.
Speaker 1: I could see what was your best US Open finish?
Speaker 4: Well, let's see, I probably Baltis Rawle. I had really
Speaker 4: some nice chances. I lost by three of Brookline. When
Speaker 4: Curtis won. I had a couple of weeks your Jansen won.
Speaker 4: I had a really good chance. I had a couple
Speaker 4: three chances, but it just didn't happen for me. You know.
Speaker 4: It was one of those things. Usually putting was always
Speaker 4: my issue.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, would you think is a good score this week?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 2: I did.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's a good score. It's a great score. Actually,
Speaker 4: it's a great score. Two eighty is probably going to
Speaker 4: be a winner.
Speaker 1: Well that's what Shipling says.
Speaker 2: Is that four under?
Speaker 1: Oh? Is it four under?
Speaker 5: Oh?
Speaker 4: I was?
Speaker 1: It was a seventy.
Speaker 4: But you never know, Like right now we have you know,
Speaker 4: we had fog all morning, you know, that marine layer
Speaker 4: and it was kind of brisk. It was a little
Speaker 4: bit breezy and cold, and then it burned off and
Speaker 4: got slick calmed in it and now look at.
Speaker 2: It, it's cooking.
Speaker 4: It's a it's this is a sea breeze, a standard
Speaker 4: sea breez. I think the guys are going to be
Speaker 4: out here playing in this. You know it won't be easy.
Speaker 4: You'll be on We'll be covering it all too on NBC.
Speaker 1: You know what you're out of you by handling LIV
Speaker 1: guys versus PJ tour gues.
Speaker 2: Oh on the broadcast, that's not my call.
Speaker 4: I mean, the producers are going to show the shots
Speaker 4: that need to be shown that Tommy Roy and Tommy
Speaker 4: Randolph and the director go are going to get it
Speaker 4: right there. There won't be any favoritism from those guys.
Speaker 4: I don't think.
Speaker 2: Will you address the whole changing landscape of professional golf
Speaker 2: on the telecast? I hope not.
Speaker 4: None of us know enough, But I just know I
Speaker 4: feel like the players need some representation, you know, like
Speaker 4: a union. I'm not saying that, but you know, they
Speaker 4: need somebody that you know, obviously they're out of the loop.
Speaker 2: When the when the Tour Players Association stuff was going
Speaker 2: on back with with Larry Rinker and Mark Brooks and
Speaker 2: those guys, what was your stance on that that was
Speaker 2: a quasi union back in the day.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I heard what they were saying, but I didn't
Speaker 4: think it was all that necessary at the time.
Speaker 2: You didn't pay your thousand dollars dues and join it.
Speaker 4: No, I didn't join. You know, I was against what
Speaker 4: Greg was trying to do. And back in the nineties, Arnold,
Speaker 4: you know, everybody whatever. Arnold, you know, and Jack were
Speaker 4: all about. That's what kind of what we were all about.
Speaker 4: But this is just such a shock, I think to
Speaker 4: all of our systems. We don't even know what's We
Speaker 4: don't know what's coming. You know, you don't know what's coming.
Speaker 4: I don't know what's coming.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, Al and I were saying earlier, and I'm
Speaker 1: like to hear your take on it. But all the
Speaker 1: chaos and golf right now, it only makes the majors
Speaker 1: more major.
Speaker 4: You know, I look at it like this, what an
Speaker 4: interesting time to be in the sport of golf. I mean,
Speaker 4: we don't even realize it, but we're on a heck
Speaker 4: of a run, guys, I mean, really are We're getting
Speaker 4: to watch it all, you know, we all of us
Speaker 4: got to watch Tiger and we got to you know,
Speaker 4: I got to play were But you have different runs.
Speaker 4: I think we all go through like ten year runs
Speaker 4: at least I do that seems like I do. But
Speaker 4: I'm on a good run right now. I'm, you know,
Speaker 4: pretty happy to be in the game off and covering it.
Speaker 4: It's pretty exciting because nobody knows what's happening. We don't
Speaker 4: know what's going on. It's it's I just I really
Speaker 4: feel I wish the players would get somebody to represent
Speaker 4: him in some capacity.
Speaker 2: Yeah you know that's what I'm saying. Yeah, yeah, Paul.
Speaker 2: Great for you to stop with us. We appreciate it.
Speaker 1: You have yourself a great week without Roger. I don't
Speaker 1: know who handles the wine decisions at dinner.
Speaker 4: Roger was here today. It was great to see him.
Speaker 4: It was great to see him. I wish that Roger
Speaker 4: was still working in Gary too, because we love him.
Speaker 4: But times everything changes.
Speaker 1: John is going to be in the house tomorrow.
Speaker 2: He doesn't change.
Speaker 1: Paul does not change.
Speaker 2: Timeless.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, thanks both.
Speaker 2: Yeah, who the hell was that?
Speaker 5: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's he's holding a he's holding a yard is guide.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, Paul.
Speaker 1: Now, you and I don't watch a lot of golf
Speaker 1: on TV, but I know that, or tell people I
Speaker 1: know that are well, we're here watching it.
Speaker 2: We're in person.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Hi, guys, But honest to god, people go crazy
Speaker 1: about their golf announcers. I know Paul Easier, first off,
Speaker 1: he's super knowledgeable about golf.
Speaker 2: Yes, he sees a.
Speaker 1: Shot and he describes it. Why do people have such
Speaker 1: polarizing feelings about Paul Easier.
Speaker 2: There's this weird element of golf Twitter that there's obsessed
Speaker 2: with commenting on TV, Like there's an easy solution. I
Speaker 2: mostly have it on mute. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Like, but even Nick Faldo he knows a lot about golf,
Speaker 1: a lot more than you and I, and he describes shots.
Speaker 2: Very very well.
Speaker 1: I actually prefer Paul Johnny Miller, well, he was outstanding.
Speaker 1: I mean, we've had a lot of good golf broadcasters
Speaker 1: over the years.
Speaker 2: It's it's such a it's such an intimate thing. They're
Speaker 2: in your living room with you, you know, like you. It's
Speaker 2: it's like they're they're a guest when he weekends a year,
Speaker 2: and they follow you into the bathroom, maybe while you're
Speaker 2: eating a meal.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: It's like a real relationship you have with these people, and.
Speaker 1: So I generally like them, like Mackay. I've said this
Speaker 1: to Mackay many times. Mackay's thing, he knows a lot
Speaker 1: about golf. He'd see the ball in the lie and
Speaker 1: tell you what the guy could do out of that lie. Well,
Speaker 1: if you talk to Tom Watson, he says, the line
Speaker 1: tells you everything. Yeah, the line takes the shot, including
Speaker 1: the line when the ball is sitting on a team
Speaker 1: and what the wind's doing and everything else. But golf's
Speaker 1: a thinking person's game. And I just think it's neat
Speaker 1: that we've got so many former players who are well spoken.
Speaker 1: You know, Phil, for the twenty minutes that he did,
Speaker 1: it was brilliant.
Speaker 2: This is an underrated aspect. Phil's back, baby, Like all
Speaker 2: the things that it's looked like he gave up, they
Speaker 2: were taken away. He could be in the tower. He
Speaker 2: can be an honorary start at the Masters. You can
Speaker 2: be a Ryder Cup captain.
Speaker 4: Huh.
Speaker 2: Like if the game is going to get put back
Speaker 2: together and reunified, like all the things that we thought
Speaker 2: Phil had had given up, like they're attainable again. And
Speaker 2: Phil in the in the CBS Tower would be spectacular,
Speaker 2: and so you know that was probably gonna happen. It was,
Speaker 2: it was. It was a lost opportunity. And now he's
Speaker 2: back in the mix.
Speaker 1: Well, that's interesting. I mean, right now, he's still such
Speaker 1: a polarizing figure, but he could, he could potentially get there.
Speaker 1: We've seen bigger reclamation projects.
Speaker 2: Bill, you beat me, Joe. Well, I mean, polarizing is good,
Speaker 2: Like that's if you're in the entertainment business. That's I mean,
Speaker 2: that's why Stephen A. Smith works. That's why you know,
Speaker 2: Skip what's his name? Bayless works? Like, yeah, polarizing is
Speaker 2: the name of the game. Like, why wouldn't you have
Speaker 2: Phil in there? He would he would be so entertaining.
Speaker 2: Some people would hate it, but it would they would
Speaker 2: always be talking about it if you so obviously create
Speaker 2: buzz like why not?
Speaker 1: But people sometimes say to mean, what's Alan?
Speaker 2: Like, you know Alan? What is Alan? Really? Like what
Speaker 2: you said?
Speaker 1: He has a very unusual personality defect that he works
Speaker 1: to his advantage. He does not care if people are
Speaker 1: pissed off at.
Speaker 2: I mean, yes and no, I do sort of. I
Speaker 2: enjoy the banter. I kind of enjoy the shrapital. But
Speaker 2: I'm up human, you know, like you believe I Shakespeare.
Speaker 2: But I mean my my my compact is with the reader,
Speaker 2: right like that that's.
Speaker 1: My ultimate where the same class.
Speaker 2: I'm willing to put it out there, and yeah, I
Speaker 2: get chirped at people. You know, Justin Thomas trolls me
Speaker 2: on Instagram. But if, if, if that's gonna inhibit you
Speaker 2: from from saying what you believe or reporting like something
Speaker 2: like that that you believe is really insightful, then you're
Speaker 2: a pussy. And she got the business Like that's the
Speaker 2: equivalent of a guy who's got you know, two forty
Speaker 2: over water into the wind on the same second hole.
Speaker 2: Is he gonna try to win the tournament or is
Speaker 2: he trying to protect second place? Like, either you go forty,
Speaker 2: don't And.
Speaker 1: So unless you're David Thoms, yeah, well then you lay
Speaker 1: up pitch pitcher, beautifully, make the put and win.
Speaker 2: That's a that's an excellent rebuttle.
Speaker 1: But well, there's more than one way to make for.
Speaker 2: There's more than one way to make for.
Speaker 1: The point is like, is Jake distracted by something?
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's checking out the girl in the green dress.
Speaker 2: I mean, Jake, clean it up, man. I will say,
Speaker 2: have you noticed how much attention we're getting just by
Speaker 2: holding these microphones? Like we should definitely do this down
Speaker 2: in like Abbot Kinney or a place where the where
Speaker 2: the beautiful people are and pass out business cards like
Speaker 2: it would be you'd make the week a lot more interesting,
Speaker 2: especially for me.
Speaker 1: Very Well said, Uh, it's been interesting to see how
Speaker 1: your profile has grown in the past year. I mean,
Speaker 1: what's it like for you now? But Phil, the book
Speaker 1: came out and suddenly your profile changed with it, And
Speaker 1: I noticed the last year at the US Open and
Speaker 1: even here today.
Speaker 2: What's happened like for you? Yeah, I mean it's fun,
Speaker 2: you know whatever. I will tell you. The thing that
Speaker 2: that made my brain melt was I took the train
Speaker 2: down from Boston last year during the US Open into
Speaker 2: New York City to have a celebratory lunch with my
Speaker 2: editor and and my agent because you know, the book
Speaker 2: was on bestseller list and all that, and and then afterwards,
Speaker 2: I was walking in the East Village and I was
Speaker 2: crossing the street like I was dressed to go out
Speaker 2: in New York City in the East Village is not golf,
Speaker 2: so it's not no, it's not the Upper east Side
Speaker 2: and West or west Chester, Yeah exactly. And it was
Speaker 2: like I was wearing like four different golf logos and
Speaker 2: I was walking across the street and some dude's like, hey,
Speaker 2: are you allan ship? I was like, yeah, he's like
Speaker 2: I love the book like that was that was weird? Yeah,
Speaker 2: that was weird. It's one thing we're standing next to
Speaker 2: the tenth fairway here right at the US Open, people
Speaker 2: are going to recognize members of the golf media, but
Speaker 2: when you're out of contact. I was even pizza in
Speaker 2: the Chicago airport. Weird things like that. But you know,
Speaker 2: I mean, we're we have public facing lives.
Speaker 1: So well, I think Jake probably wants to wrap this up,
Speaker 1: But how do you feel about it? On would you
Speaker 1: like to keep going? Would you like the listener to?
Speaker 1: Should we release the listener?
Speaker 2: You're steal in my lines, you can't win the US
Speaker 2: Open on Tuesday, but you can definitely lose your audience
Speaker 2: if the podcast too long. So yeah, well we'll let
Speaker 2: the We'll let our people go. But it's always fun.
Speaker 2: Michael and well, I think the plans we're gonna do
Speaker 2: one on Friday, grating halfway mark. Certainly do it Sunday. Yes,
Speaker 2: we have a winner and we can look and we.
Speaker 1: Will have a winter on Sunday, because says all as All, No,
Speaker 1: there are no playoffs anymore in the major championships, so well,
Speaker 1: excuse me, no eighth and hole Monday playoffs?
Speaker 2: Can we how lame? Is two holes like either be
Speaker 2: sudden death or be four holes? Two holes is like
Speaker 2: is this weird? Like splitting the baby? Like, yme on, Yeah,
Speaker 2: it is cool, though I haven't seen the closing TV window,
Speaker 2: but you know they're going to push it deep on
Speaker 2: Sunday because then you get the primetime East Coast audience.
Speaker 2: Like I love the idea that the US Open is
Speaker 2: live and being decided and people are watching it in
Speaker 2: the dark. I don't know why that's so cool to me,
Speaker 2: but it is in the United States, but I'll talk
Speaker 2: about in England.
Speaker 1: Right right, So do you know that there was once
Speaker 1: a thirty six hole playoff for the US Open back.
Speaker 4: In the day.
Speaker 2: That's that's mot So that's old school USGA. They've gotten
Speaker 2: too kinds is patchy rough two whole playoffs.
Speaker 1: I was a little surprised by Zing because I thought
Speaker 1: he'd be more aligned with the PJ with the U
Speaker 1: s G as your you know, your fierce of.
Speaker 2: Father and it was no. But all the players, the
Speaker 2: players of the players, they resent the us GA. They
Speaker 2: feel like one week of year these blue coats and
Speaker 2: these bureaucrats like dictate to them how to play the game,
Speaker 2: and half the time they screw it up. Like the
Speaker 2: anti PGA sentiment runs really deep among the players, and
Speaker 2: it's only it's only becoming more exaggerated with all the
Speaker 2: course screw ups.
Speaker 1: The last time, I think you unwillfully misspoke. You said
Speaker 1: the anti PJ tour, but you're you're you were looking
Speaker 1: for anti USGA. I think you're right. It works both
Speaker 1: ways right now.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's yeah, in this weird intersection of Tiger thinking
Speaker 2: right now as he's listening to this podcast and Tiger,
Speaker 2: you've got myself call if you wish. But well, Patrick, mean,
Speaker 2: he's so this was interesting. No, I can't say I'll
Speaker 2: spoil something that's good in the book, but yeah, Tiger
Speaker 2: is he's a little miffed. He's a little bit fuddled
Speaker 2: because one thing Tiger's not used to is being on
Speaker 2: the outside looking in. And he got kind of hoodwinked
Speaker 2: like a lot of people in this whole deal. And
Speaker 2: that's true, and he put himself out there and took
Speaker 2: a strong stance in favor. He didn't really go down
Speaker 2: the moralistic route because he kind of probably intuitively knew
Speaker 2: that was a mistake tactically, but he went down the
Speaker 2: route of, you know, it's not real competition, it's not
Speaker 2: a meritocracy, it's not golf of the highest level. But
Speaker 2: look at what's happening with the elevated events, no cut,
Speaker 2: Like the tour product was beginning to converge with the
Speaker 2: live product anyway, Like Tiger had kind of lost the
Speaker 2: argument as it was, so he's probably a little disenchanted.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's gonna be kind of weird for him not
Speaker 1: to be the most powerful person in golf anymore, because
Speaker 1: if you were, his tournament would be at least one
Speaker 1: hundred and twenty players with a cut.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's still I mean, both him and Jack are
Speaker 2: now advocating public before a cut, even if they go
Speaker 2: from like eighty to sixty, you know, which is kind
Speaker 2: of silly, but just yeah, that's still everything's up for grabs. Now,
Speaker 2: whatever we thought was gonna happen, nobody knows, Like the
Speaker 2: elevated events could get completely reconfigured. All it's all it's
Speaker 2: all up in the air now, So we'll see how
Speaker 2: that plays out. I mean, all right, I get a
Speaker 2: store or d of course, yeah, okay, thank you. I
Speaker 2: love when Michael gets angry. It's good for the listeners.
Speaker 2: All right, this is the tenth Fairway of Los Angeles
Speaker 2: Country Club. That's Michael Bamberger. I'm Alan ship Nook. Thanks
Speaker 2: for listening to this Fire Drill podcast. We'll be back
Speaker 2: in your ear on Friday and on Sunday and typing
Speaker 2: in between, so thanks for listening. That's the end.
Speaker 3: I'm Ben Big and I played the wind, made a
Speaker 3: fortune when my shit game and.
Speaker 5: Ran the table and never thought I could fall. Then
Speaker 5: the win hit me lack a canon, and now I
Speaker 5: can't shake this losing streak. Every road I take is
Speaker 5: a dead hand street.
Speaker 3: I got thoughts in my head, can't get them out,
Speaker 3: trying not to think what I'm thinking about. I've got
Speaker 3: thoughts in my head. I can't get them out, trying
Speaker 3: not to think what I'm thinking about.