Speaker 1: If you dig into the numbers, I just don't see
Speaker 1: how twenty and twenty five million dollars purses and five
Speaker 1: million dollars paid days. I just don't see how that
Speaker 1: is sustainable when the tournament is just not the compelling.
Speaker 1: Who's going to be watching? I got thoughts in my head.
Speaker 1: Can't get John not think what I'm thinking about my head,
Speaker 1: can't get them out, Jo think what I'm thinking about. Hello,
Speaker 1: this is Alan Chip Knock back for another fire Drill podcast.
Speaker 1: We have Michael Bamberger coming in hot from pontavidra beats
Speaker 1: the final round of the players. I just read your story, Michael,
Speaker 1: which is going to populate on Firepit Collective dot com
Speaker 1: any second now. I love the way you talked about Scottie.
Speaker 1: Scheffler is a throwback, the way he moves, the way
Speaker 1: he plays, the way he carries himself. You know, we've
Speaker 1: been it's been almost a year now since his Master's win,
Speaker 1: and we're still getting to know Scheffler. But what what
Speaker 1: is You seem to have some affection for the guy.
Speaker 1: What do you think about his performance today and his
Speaker 1: place in the game right now? I like your use
Speaker 1: of the phrase we seem to be getting to know Scheffler,
Speaker 1: as if there is a Scheffler that one can get
Speaker 1: to know. In other words, I don't have the sense
Speaker 1: that he's very complicated person. I do have this sense
Speaker 1: that he's a very intelligent person, but not someone who
Speaker 1: makes things more complicated than they are. But like early
Speaker 1: on before we even like heard him press conferences, who thought,
Speaker 1: oh this guy's a dullart. He's not a dullart at all.
Speaker 1: He's a thoughtful He just seems like a thoughtful, kind
Speaker 1: considerate person who's outstanding at golf and doesn't care that
Speaker 1: a swing is you know, not textbook forever reason he
Speaker 1: doesn't inspire you with awe like a Rory or Dustin
Speaker 1: Johnson or John ram Like definitely a level below that
Speaker 1: just in terms of how he goes about his business
Speaker 1: and the shots that he plays. But how can you
Speaker 1: argue with the masters contending all the time now a
Speaker 1: players and six wins in thirteen months. Yeah, incredible end,
Speaker 1: if you know. To me, it was really the Ryder
Speaker 1: Cup was when that was the breakthrough watching him. You know,
Speaker 1: John rom was was playing some of the best golf
Speaker 1: in the in the history of mankind that week and
Speaker 1: Scheffler took him down and singles, and that was to
Speaker 1: me the beginning of the ascent. So yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: he's been doing it now for a year and a
Speaker 1: half straight. And five birdies with the with the players,
Speaker 1: five birdies in a row with the players championship hanging
Speaker 1: in the balance, I mean, that's pretty spectacular. And um,
Speaker 1: what was what was the feeling like there at at
Speaker 1: the stadium courts? For just my personal feeling is if
Speaker 1: you see him over a six footer and we're playing maker, miss,
Speaker 1: I find myself saying miss, more than make, they go
Speaker 1: in one hundred percent when he wins, they go in
Speaker 1: one hundred percent of the time they don't go in.
Speaker 1: You know, as you have observed alan of Tiger, like
Speaker 1: Tiger would be annoyed if they didn't go in the
Speaker 1: right part of the hole. This guy seems to be
Speaker 1: happy if it goes in any part of the whole.
Speaker 1: It's not it's not it's just not beautiful, but it's uh,
Speaker 1: it's great. And I am definitely I'm just trying to
Speaker 1: speak honestly about him, but I'm definitely in the fan camp.
Speaker 1: I root for this guy. I love the fact that he, uh,
Speaker 1: he doesn't talk about money. He doesn't. You know, Rory's
Speaker 1: got a role in this game right now, and the
Speaker 1: subtext of that role is hard for a lot of
Speaker 1: people to swallow when you get right down to it,
Speaker 1: which is the elite golfers have to get paid more money. Now.
Speaker 1: I don't know how Scottish Scheffer is player, couldn't think that,
Speaker 1: but he's not. He's the beneficiary of Rory's conversation and
Speaker 1: fills outbursts and sawty billions and all the rest. But
Speaker 1: he's sort of either risen above it or is floating
Speaker 1: aside it. I'm not sure how you would describe it,
Speaker 1: but it's just not a central part of his character,
Speaker 1: and it's it's very winning. What do you think on yeah,
Speaker 1: or he just won four point six million dollars and
Speaker 1: any normal human being would be like, this is a
Speaker 1: new crum about of money. I am so stoked, Like
Speaker 1: I don't need to ask for more, I don't need
Speaker 1: to throw a fit, like I'm so happy. I think,
Speaker 1: I think to your point, and he's kind of a
Speaker 1: normal guy. It's like he must be in disbelief the
Speaker 1: amount of money he's won in thirteen months, tens of
Speaker 1: millions of dollars. I think what you just said, Alan
Speaker 1: just speaks to a relatively not relatively a normal value system.
Speaker 1: You know, how much does any person need? And uh,
Speaker 1: you know, of course part of his thing for us.
Speaker 1: You know, he's twenty six and he has him been
Speaker 1: around very long, so it's not like, well, we've been
Speaker 1: seeing this scar for years, like Rory's young, but he
Speaker 1: has been around for a long time. But he really
Speaker 1: truly seems like he's well into his mid mid thirties. Hum,
Speaker 1: did did you uh? Did happen to notice the comparison
Speaker 1: to Steve Jones? I loved that. Yeah. In Michael's story
Speaker 1: he talked about how how Shuffler moves and looks like
Speaker 1: Steve Jones and has the same no nonsense, Because the
Speaker 1: ninety six US Open Oakland Hills was my second ever
Speaker 1: US Open And oh wow was that ninety six? Yeah? Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's burned into my brain. And I had honestly never
Speaker 1: even heard of Steve Jones going into that week. You know,
Speaker 1: he'd had that finger injury and he'd kind of fallen off.
Speaker 1: And I was so impressed by the guy. He just seemed,
Speaker 1: as you're saying, he just seemed like a regular dude
Speaker 1: who was really really good at golf. And that was
Speaker 1: the the US Opener. Everyone came apart. You know, Davis
Speaker 1: loved three putt of the same second hole and Tom
Speaker 1: Layman messed up the last hole and Jones just was
Speaker 1: just played golf and got it done. And I think
Speaker 1: it's a fabulous comparison. They there is a similarity there.
Speaker 1: I mean Steve Jones broad shoulder, lankiness and uh yeah,
Speaker 1: you know Steve. What was Steve's thing? Later? Did he
Speaker 1: fall off of a motorbiker or something? And everyone was
Speaker 1: really quite the same after that, but that he was
Speaker 1: he was the super talent. Well, no, that predated, that predated,
Speaker 1: and he had to learn to play golf again. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and but that was for a guy like Steve Jones,
Speaker 1: winning the US Open was the pinnacle. And I think
Speaker 1: at that point he was content. But I think Scottie
Speaker 1: Scheffler it you can't get the number one in the
Speaker 1: world that having like a deep reservoir of ambition. But
Speaker 1: you know, John John Ram obsesses about being number one,
Speaker 1: and it meant a lot to Dustin. You know, he
Speaker 1: was very prideful about it, and you know, Tiger and
Speaker 1: those guys Like I don't think Scottischeff like cares about
Speaker 1: that stuff so much. He just wants to hit golf
Speaker 1: shots and get the ball in the hole as fast
Speaker 1: as possible. And if you do that at the level
Speaker 1: he's doing it, everything comes your way, the money, the
Speaker 1: world ranking points, the fame, the glory. But if you
Speaker 1: focus on those things, it's easy to lose your way.
Speaker 1: So he seems to have just the absolute perfect disposition,
Speaker 1: like I'm just going to play golf and whatever comes
Speaker 1: my way, I'm going to enjoy. So it's impressive. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that that obsessive interests with becoming number one. It's insane
Speaker 1: because see, it means that you're putting so much faith
Speaker 1: in the architects of the system in the first place,
Speaker 1: putting more faith in them than you are what you've achieved.
Speaker 1: I mean to me, what's fun right now is you
Speaker 1: can argue John Ram, you can arguist Scottish Shopper if
Speaker 1: you cared do you can argue Roarriors or somebody else.
Speaker 1: But that's part of the fun of being a sports fan.
Speaker 1: I don't need a computer driven log log rhythmic explanation
Speaker 1: of who number one is decided. Yeah, it's it's it's
Speaker 1: all about math, and they change it every couple of years,
Speaker 1: so it is. It is funny when people obsessed about
Speaker 1: like you're literally these guys couldn't even pass algebra in
Speaker 1: high school and now all they care about is a
Speaker 1: math equasy and it makes no sense at all. But
Speaker 1: have you ever have you ever heard a real number
Speaker 1: about what a guy gets contractually, what it might mean
Speaker 1: to him to become the number one player for a week,
Speaker 1: and then you know, I'm sure beyond that. The more
Speaker 1: weeks you have that, the more money you're gonna make.
Speaker 1: It's a real bonus and a lot of contracts, and
Speaker 1: it can be half a million, it can be a million.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's not inconsequential. But again, if you're getting
Speaker 1: to world number one, you're winning so many tournaments and
Speaker 1: making so much money, I don't think that bonus is
Speaker 1: going to change your life. But to the point about
Speaker 1: number one, it's quite an interesting debate because you know,
Speaker 1: Rory has been playing at an incredibly high level, John
Speaker 1: Ram has been on a tear. But if you're going
Speaker 1: to really debate who's number one to me, it comes
Speaker 1: down to cam Smith and Scottie Seffler, because they've each
Speaker 1: have won the crown jewel of the sport in the
Speaker 1: last twelve months, a green jacket and an old course
Speaker 1: at the Open. They've also each is one of players,
Speaker 1: and obviously we haven't seen a lot of Smith, but
Speaker 1: he went down to Australia in December. He won down there,
Speaker 1: like so it's funny that there's been so much focus
Speaker 1: on Rom and Rory, but I think they're looking at
Speaker 1: the wrong guys. I mean, if if I had to
Speaker 1: pick one dude to go out and win a tournament
Speaker 1: right now to save my life, it's gonna be It's
Speaker 1: probably gonna be Scottie Seffler, and number two is probably
Speaker 1: cam Smith depending on the setup. Even though I love
Speaker 1: Rory and I love Rom's game, but they're get The
Speaker 1: other two guys are just getting it done when it matters,
Speaker 1: most more recently so. But it's quite a conversation because
Speaker 1: you have you have four Strawn candidates. Snape, I'm right
Speaker 1: there with you, and I would probably as you say,
Speaker 1: it would really depend on the course, but I would
Speaker 1: say this, the tricker and shorter the course, the more
Speaker 1: I'm going down the cam Smith road and for really
Speaker 1: for real lung for for a master's pick. If you
Speaker 1: could only choose between those two, this is whacking for
Speaker 1: me to say, Uh, I would go with cam Smith.
Speaker 1: I mean when you can ship and pitch and put
Speaker 1: like he can, hits it plenty far enough, it would
Speaker 1: be amazing for those who are for anybody who's writing
Speaker 1: a book about live golf. If Cam Smith shall win
Speaker 1: the Masters. I can't say I'm rooting for it because
Speaker 1: you know, as you know Alan, that we've discussed many times.
Speaker 1: Really a traditionalist at our heart, But I don't know
Speaker 1: that Cam Smith and full you know. And I saw
Speaker 1: it up close at the Old Course, uh in last
Speaker 1: year at the Players. It's one of the It's one
Speaker 1: of the best you'll ever see. It's a little wild
Speaker 1: driving at times, but for getting in the hole, it's
Speaker 1: it's at the aloptable Sevy level. Yeah, so a fe
Speaker 1: people have meet the Tom Watson comparison, which I like
Speaker 1: as well. Yeah, but how about for you, Alan, if
Speaker 1: you could, leaving aside your book interests, if you could,
Speaker 1: if you as a as a gambler, if you could
Speaker 1: only if your only choice was Scheffler or Smith Um,
Speaker 1: which are those two golfers would you pick to win
Speaker 1: the Masters, Well, if if the course is really firm
Speaker 1: and fast, it's Smith every time. Um, if they get
Speaker 1: the you know the early week showers, which seems to
Speaker 1: factor in a lot of Masters, and it just takes
Speaker 1: a little fire out, I would go Scheffler. But Scheffler
Speaker 1: still has a genius for scoring. I mean, he just
Speaker 1: he just has a knack for pulling off the shot
Speaker 1: when you need to. And I mean you could see
Speaker 1: it today during the final round. It's I mean there's there,
Speaker 1: there's sluggers and you watch them hit the ball and
Speaker 1: it's all inspiring and they shoot seventy one. And then
Speaker 1: there's a guy like Scottie Scheffler who's whose foot works
Speaker 1: all over the plays who the club's flying and weird.
Speaker 1: But he just he plays shots and he gets the
Speaker 1: ball in the hole really fast. And I don't think
Speaker 1: you know, if you if you put Scotti Sheffler on
Speaker 1: the range at a corn Ferry event, people would think
Speaker 1: he's probably a hundredth on the money list. You know,
Speaker 1: is not as you said, it's not beautiful, but he
Speaker 1: just he just knows how to score and he knows
Speaker 1: how to do it. When it matters, and it's camp
Speaker 1: Smith's the same way. I mean that that's a certain
Speaker 1: level of genius and I'm not sure even Rory has that.
Speaker 1: You know, he can overpower a golf course. But you
Speaker 1: know I walked every every hole with him at the
Speaker 1: Old Course on Sunday, and that was all about scoring.
Speaker 1: You know, you're gonna drive it near the green on
Speaker 1: half the par fours at least, and he couldn't get
Speaker 1: it up and down and camp Smith could and that
Speaker 1: was really the difference. I mean, there's just you know,
Speaker 1: Jordan Spieth when he's playing well, he's got that. There's
Speaker 1: there's a magic to the scoring that it's hard to
Speaker 1: quantify even with shot link and Scottie Sheffler has it.
Speaker 1: It's just really fun to watch. Alan might post your
Speaker 1: question too apropos of the evening. Yes, why are there
Speaker 1: so few good golf moves? And one might say there
Speaker 1: are none? Yeah, it is Academy Awards night. You may
Speaker 1: hear some shouting in the background. That's my daughter's watching
Speaker 1: and they're very invested in who wins and loses some
Speaker 1: of these categories, which is cute. Um, It's just part
Speaker 1: of it is because it's such a highly specific skill
Speaker 1: and no actor can can master it right, Like, I
Speaker 1: don't know, it just it lacks that that versimilitude, right,
Speaker 1: And what's compelling about golf is the inner game, which
Speaker 1: is hard to capture, and it's that that sense of
Speaker 1: when a big moment and it's dead quiet and the
Speaker 1: whole world's watching, and it's just it's so the battle
Speaker 1: is so internal. And you know, the sports movies that work,
Speaker 1: they're funny, like Bull Durham or there there's a lot
Speaker 1: of they're heavy, like Raging Bull or I don't know.
Speaker 1: I don't think golf has those notes that well. I
Speaker 1: mean Tin Cup kind of Tin Cup worked as almost
Speaker 1: as like you know, it's sort of like comedy that
Speaker 1: the golf was a vehicle for it. I guess it's
Speaker 1: a golf movie, but I don't take the golf seriously.
Speaker 1: I mean, because no one's gonna do that in the
Speaker 1: last hole of the US Open. You're gonna lay it
Speaker 1: up and you're gonna try and win the tournament. But anyway,
Speaker 1: I don't know the answer. What's what's your what's your
Speaker 1: thinking on that? Michael? I mean, I like, even though
Speaker 1: I cite Caddysheck all the time. And I know the movie, well,
Speaker 1: I really think it's a it's of course it's so
Speaker 1: bad it's good. It's in that category. As our friend
Speaker 1: and colleague Gary Vinciglers would say, it's so bad it's good.
Speaker 1: It really is so bad that it's good, but so
Speaker 1: but short of Caddyshack. And there are some clever moments
Speaker 1: in Caddysheck, you know, it's just it is the thing
Speaker 1: onto itself. A sorry from caddy check. There's really not
Speaker 1: one golf movie that I would that I've even bothered
Speaker 1: to watch more than more than a second time. You know,
Speaker 1: Tommy's Honor tried so hard but was so earnest Uh
Speaker 1: tin cup with or all over the lot. Let's not
Speaker 1: even talk about that. If we may say the name
Speaker 1: that Will Smith dripping molasses thing, what was that called
Speaker 1: the legend of back of Vance, You know, I don't
Speaker 1: say the name from the fiftiesus heinous with john Ford
Speaker 1: takes his name. Uh. Did you ever see Alan? Uh?
Speaker 1: And I know this hits close to home for us.
Speaker 1: I've never saw it. There is a there is a
Speaker 1: movie version of Golf in the Kingdom. Are you from
Speaker 1: the everything. Have you seen it? Oh yeah, yeah, it
Speaker 1: was filmed. It was filmed at Bandon Dunes, and the
Speaker 1: early Bandon had just was like just raw basically, And
Speaker 1: I have watched it. It's kind of a mess in
Speaker 1: not in a terrible way, because the book is like
Speaker 1: that as well. I mean the second half of the
Speaker 1: book especially, Um it's it's it's worth watching and you
Speaker 1: should probably microdose mushroom as while you do it. It's
Speaker 1: just it's metaphysical and kind of trippy, but it's worthwhile.
Speaker 1: I don't know. I think the actual drama of golf
Speaker 1: is so compelling, Like if you watched our five episodes
Speaker 1: of the Grind, which you can find on the Firepit
Speaker 1: YouTube or on our homepage, Like that human drama is
Speaker 1: so compelling if you if you follow you know some
Speaker 1: of these stories of these guys are they're playing for
Speaker 1: their livelihood. Um it's it's such raw human emotion and
Speaker 1: so it just it doesn't quite translate to the screen.
Speaker 1: I don't because that those those stakes are stripped away.
Speaker 1: I don't know, because it is a mystery in that
Speaker 1: movies can reproduce all walks of life, I mean, and
Speaker 1: they can they can make you care about professions that
Speaker 1: you've you're never going to experience or interact with, and
Speaker 1: so they should be able to do it with golf.
Speaker 1: Maybe I don't know, maybe we're too close to it.
Speaker 1: Maybe the average viewer enjoy in the movies that drive
Speaker 1: us crazy. Well, I love a good movie, just dis quesion,
Speaker 1: But let's let's just talk about the early week drama.
Speaker 1: The Academy Award for Best Actor in a Press Conference
Speaker 1: goes to Jay Monahan, who did his annual State of
Speaker 1: the Union press conference on Wednesday and said, everything's hunky dorry,
Speaker 1: We're doing great. Nothing nothing to see here. It's been
Speaker 1: funny to chart his um. You know two last year
Speaker 1: at the at the at the Players, it was like,
Speaker 1: we're about legacy, not leverage. We're moving on. Well that
Speaker 1: didn't quite work out, and now there's been a whole
Speaker 1: year of live golf for half a year anyway, and
Speaker 1: Monahan came in and talked about the state of things.
Speaker 1: You were there, Michael, what was your take on Monahan's performance?
Speaker 1: And and then the related news about you know, how
Speaker 1: the tours were shaping stuff. We talked already about, um,
Speaker 1: you know, the cuts or the no cuts, but in
Speaker 1: a previous podcast, but just the feeling on the ground
Speaker 1: at Sawgrass as as this is. You know, players championships
Speaker 1: become an important for charting the course of the PGA tour.
Speaker 1: What are your thoughts on that? You know, as we
Speaker 1: have seen at the at the Masters and in the
Speaker 1: US Open especialized to somebody read the British Open. Uh.
Speaker 1: These pre tournament press car conferences, uh, from the from
Speaker 1: the men and one woman who are have such important
Speaker 1: positions in the game are really important for setting the
Speaker 1: tone for the game. I don't know if they should
Speaker 1: be or not, but they're they're very much directed to
Speaker 1: people like us. Uh, you know, and can you win
Speaker 1: over the constituency. Uh. And if you think about where
Speaker 1: where Jay was in twenty twenty versus twenty two and
Speaker 1: twenty three, you know, twenties dealing with the uh, the
Speaker 1: uncertainty of the pandemic Washington Shore and twenty two it
Speaker 1: was you know, fisticuffs and will show you and uh
Speaker 1: in twenty three he was really very confident, very informed,
Speaker 1: and uh he gave you the feeling that this PGA
Speaker 1: tour is going to is going to carry on. UM,
Speaker 1: So you know, to use the word you used, Alan,
Speaker 1: I think it's an appropriate one. As a performance. It
Speaker 1: was very effective if you dig into the numbers. I
Speaker 1: just don't see how twenty and twenty five million dollars
Speaker 1: purses and five million dollars pay days. I just don't
Speaker 1: see how that is sustainable when you have weeks like
Speaker 1: this week's, when when the tournament is just not the compelling,
Speaker 1: Who's who's going to be watching? Uh? I don't know,
Speaker 1: I don't know where? You know? There there there he
Speaker 1: bought a year very cleverly, he took up he really did,
Speaker 1: uh take part of Phil Michelson's playbook and made it
Speaker 1: the tours when it's all said and done. Uh, But
Speaker 1: there's so focused on these elite players at the expense
Speaker 1: of the journeyman, and I think at the expense of
Speaker 1: the fan. I really I'm not I'm not at all
Speaker 1: a financial analyst type person. I'm not good at that
Speaker 1: at all. But I just don't see how this is sustainable.
Speaker 1: How about you, Alan, You've you've delved much deeper into
Speaker 1: the to the numbers where golf is right now? What's
Speaker 1: your sense of just as a numbers game is what
Speaker 1: Jay Monahan is preaching is it sustainable. Well, and I'll
Speaker 1: add to that. Today um A Ramco released its earnings
Speaker 1: and it had made a record amount of money. I
Speaker 1: think it's one hundred and forty one billion in the
Speaker 1: last the last quarter. I can't remember the number. It
Speaker 1: was an astronomical number. And of course that's what feeds
Speaker 1: into the Saudi Public Investment Fund, and that's what's that's
Speaker 1: what's floating live golf. So when people talk about, you know,
Speaker 1: live having unlimited resources, it's basically true. In the PGA tour,
Speaker 1: it's much more fine. And you know, I did a
Speaker 1: story a few days ago. I got a tournament director
Speaker 1: on the phone of a non elevated event and he
Speaker 1: opened a vein and was speaking for a lot of
Speaker 1: his colleagues. It's a real challenge to get corporations to
Speaker 1: sign up for these these non elevated events because they're
Speaker 1: not getting the eyeballs, they're not getting the players. The
Speaker 1: price is only going up. And you know, as as
Speaker 1: another as a Silicon Valley bank collapses, and that throws
Speaker 1: a whole tech world into question, Like they just lost
Speaker 1: Dell computers, how are you going to keep finding a company?
Speaker 1: Put in fifteen eighteen and then million dollars for a
Speaker 1: regular event and twenty five to twenty eight for an
Speaker 1: elevated it's a tough sell. I think there's going to
Speaker 1: have to be some contraction of the schedule, and then
Speaker 1: that reduces playing opportunities for the journeyman. There's gonna be
Speaker 1: some tough decisions ahead for for the PGA Tours organization.
Speaker 1: You know, whether that means the Senior Tour, that means
Speaker 1: Latino America or China or Canada. But if they're gonna
Speaker 1: if the entire institutional focus is on the top players
Speaker 1: and everyone else is going to feel some pain. And
Speaker 1: so I think, you know, it's been a fun first
Speaker 1: three months of the season. I mean, elevated events have
Speaker 1: definitely added some energy to the whole thing, and it's
Speaker 1: not only been a talking point, but it's been some
Speaker 1: great golf and we are all enjoying seeing the top
Speaker 1: players together. But the long term is very much in question.
Speaker 1: And you know, the center has held for twenty three.
Speaker 1: We're going to find out more about who reups or
Speaker 1: doesn't in twenty four and twenty five, and that that's
Speaker 1: going to have a huge effect on the future of
Speaker 1: the PGA Tour and if there is a lot of
Speaker 1: attrition among the sponsors, then finding a middle ground would live.
Speaker 1: It becomes a lot more attractive because if you could
Speaker 1: keep this energy with all these players and you have
Speaker 1: someone else paid for it, that would be the dream. Right.
Speaker 1: So you know, I like this idea of bringing letting
Speaker 1: the live players back on the PGA Tour, but they
Speaker 1: have to play the non elevated events, Like that'd be
Speaker 1: great for everybody. You get all the stars if they
Speaker 1: wanted to play a half dozen times and try and
Speaker 1: play their way into some bigger events. Um, I don't know.
Speaker 1: There's various people, whether it's Rory or Ram or whoever,
Speaker 1: have have talked about the need to find a compromise.
Speaker 1: And as the financials play out and as sponsors leave
Speaker 1: the PGA Tour, that's going to add more pressure to
Speaker 1: the whole thing. So the last chapter has not been
Speaker 1: written in my book or this this long saga. It's uh.
Speaker 1: I don't think we're gonna know for a while how
Speaker 1: what it all means that So, um, you know, I
Speaker 1: I think Jaymonhan definitely did what he had to do
Speaker 1: and he had that that that that sound of confidence
Speaker 1: in his voice. But I'm not sure how much of
Speaker 1: that was acting and how much that was was legit. Well,
Speaker 1: I'm before we click off here. Uh, you're off to Tucson,
Speaker 1: Arizona for the first in the United States. Uh, this year.
Speaker 1: What are your expectations for it? Are we sort of
Speaker 1: at a moment of business as usual? Ors there never
Speaker 1: anything usual with with with live golf, No, I think so,
Speaker 1: you know last year was was this this chaotic um
Speaker 1: just trying to trying to build the organization wall conducting tournaments.
Speaker 1: Now the whole models baked out, the teams are set,
Speaker 1: the players are set. No one, there's gonna be no
Speaker 1: no new players are gonna be added, and no, there's
Speaker 1: gonna be no attrition, I mean barring injury. And even
Speaker 1: then they have they have a few guys on stand
Speaker 1: by to fill in, like an Andeogal Tree or a
Speaker 1: Lori Cantor. So. I think it's gonna be it's gonna
Speaker 1: be almost boring in that it's gonna look and feel
Speaker 1: very much like the Mayakoba event did team uniforms. That
Speaker 1: was fun and fresh the first time. Now it's gonna
Speaker 1: be okay. Um, you know, I think again to quote
Speaker 1: Jay Monahan's product against product, So this will you know,
Speaker 1: we're going to see how what the level of play
Speaker 1: is on a course that has a long history of
Speaker 1: the PGA Tour. Of course, the match play was out
Speaker 1: there at that at that venue in Tucson, and um,
Speaker 1: it's it's the biggest question around live golf. Can it
Speaker 1: actually generate interests? Just in the Gulf, it's been living
Speaker 1: on buzz and hype and intrigue and drama, um this
Speaker 1: whole time. At some point the golf has to take
Speaker 1: center stage. And you know, if you get if you
Speaker 1: get Phil wins, if you get a Brooks Dustin shootout,
Speaker 1: you know, if camp Smith goes thirty under, then I
Speaker 1: think people will pay attention. If if Charles Howe, you know,
Speaker 1: kind of cruises to victory, it's going to be hard
Speaker 1: to draw the eyeballs. So um, you know, there there
Speaker 1: was there's It's funny how everyone cooks the books. What
Speaker 1: the ratings were, how many people actually tuned in um
Speaker 1: on the CW and on the app and all that.
Speaker 1: The numbers that Live put out were pretty bust. What
Speaker 1: some other folks cited. We're significantly smaller, so we need
Speaker 1: more of a sample size. And I think you know
Speaker 1: if they can, if they can draw a good crowd electronically,
Speaker 1: that that would be a huge step forward and try
Speaker 1: and create some viewing habits. By now everyone knows about
Speaker 1: where they can watch live, not only on the CW,
Speaker 1: but they've launched their own platform for streaming, and so
Speaker 1: I think it's going to feel like a golf tournament.
Speaker 1: I don't think it's going to feel like a side show.
Speaker 1: That that's good or bad, depending on your perspective, because
Speaker 1: the live has kind of needed the side show. But
Speaker 1: I'm looking forward to seeing it and continuing just to
Speaker 1: report on what's going on out there. But I guess
Speaker 1: my expectations are low from an intrigue standpoint and from
Speaker 1: a competitive standpoint, we'll see. Okay, well, it's very late
Speaker 1: in pont Abure Beach, where Michael Bamberger has already typed
Speaker 1: a story and done a podcast. The guy is tireless.
Speaker 1: We're gonna let Michael gets some rest. But always the
Speaker 1: fun conversations Sunday night fire drills will keep them coming.
Speaker 1: AUGUSTA National is only three or four weeks away, so
Speaker 1: it's time to get excited about that. I was already excited,
Speaker 1: but you know, the players really is a benchmark, so
Speaker 1: I think we have we have an idea of who
Speaker 1: the favorites are head into Augusta, even though we already
Speaker 1: had a hunch. But as always, thanks for listening. We
Speaker 1: appreciate your fidelity. That was Michael Bamberger. This is ound
Speaker 1: ship Nut signing off from this fire drill, and we'll
Speaker 1: do it again next week. Thanks. I've been big and
Speaker 1: I played the win, made a fortune within my ship
Speaker 1: game in I ran the table, never thought I could fall.
Speaker 1: Then the winter time hit me like a cannon the
Speaker 1: ball and now I can't shake this losing the stream.
Speaker 1: Every road I take is a dead end stream. I
Speaker 1: got thoughts in my head, can't get joy, not the
Speaker 1: thing what I'm thinking about. I got fronts in my head,
Speaker 1: can't get them out. Trying not to think what I'm
Speaker 1: thinking about.